0202-24 NY Times Crossword 2 Feb 24, Friday

Bill’s time: 14m 38s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

10 “In-tents” getaways : CAMPS

“In-tents” sounds like “intense”.

16 Mononymous singer with numerically titled albums : ADELE

“Adele” is the stage name of English singer Adele Adkins. Adele’s debut album is “19”, named after the age she was during the album’s production. Her second album was even more successful than the first. Called “21”, the second album was released three years after the first, when Adele was three years older. Her third studio album “25”, released in 2015, broke the first-week sales records in both the UK and the US. “30” followed in 2021.

17 Footwear with distinctive yellow stitching : DR MARTENS

“Doc Martens” is the more familiar term for the British shoe brand “Dr. Martens”. The first Doc Martens were made in Germany just after WWII, by a doctor named Klaus Martens. He found his army-issue boots too uncomfortable for an injured foot, so he developed a boot with soft leather and an air-cushioned sole, the trademarks of today’s Doc Martens.

18 New Delhi’s ___ Temple : LOTUS

New Delhi is the capital city of India. New Delhi resides within the National Capital Territory of Delhi (otherwise known as the metropolis of Delhi). New Delhi and Delhi, therefore, are two different things.

23 2019 World Series champs, familiarly : NATS

The 2019 World Series was played between the American League’s Houston Astros and the National League’s Washington Nationals. The Nationals emerged victorious, and were crowned champions for the first time. The last time a D.C. team won the world series was back in 1924, when the Washington Senators beat the New York Giants.

24 Southwest city that gets about 350 days of sunshine a year : TUCSON

Tucson is the second largest city in Arizona (after Phoenix). The founding father of the city was Hugh O’Conor, yet another Irishman, but one who was raised in Spain. O’Conor was a mercenary working for Spain when he authorized the construction of a military fort called Presidio San Augustín del Tucsón in 1775, which eventually grew into the city that we know today. The Spanish name “Tucsón” comes from the local name “Cuk Ṣon”, which translates as “(at the) base of the black (hill)”.

27 Isle of ___ (historic region of England) : ELY

The Isle of Ely in England isn’t an island as we would usually know it, and instead is the name of the area surrounding the city of Ely. Centuries ago, the region was an island surrounded by a fen, a type of swamp. The name “Isle of Ely” is said to derive from “Island of Eels”, a reference to the large number of eels caught in the area’s rivers.

28 Noted cairn terrier of film : TOTO

Toto is Dorothy’s dog in the film “The Wizard of Oz”, and in the original book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum. Toto was played in the movie by a dog called Terry, but Terry’s name was soon changed to Toto in real life due to the success of the film.

The cairn terrier breed originated in the Highlands of Scotland. The breed is named for the original task given to the dog, rooting out rats and other rodents from man-made piles of stones called cairns.

31 Odysseus’ faithful dog in the “Odyssey” : ARGOS

According to Homer’s “Odyssey”, Argos is a dog, and the faithful companion of Odysseus. Odysseus leaves his home, and his dog, for twenty years to wage battle in Troy. When Odysseus returns, he must enter his house disguised as a beggar in order to rescue his wife Penelope from unwelcome suitors. Odysseus sees his dog, neglected, lying on a pile of manure and close to death. Much as he wants to comfort the dog, Odysseus maintains his disguise and ignores Argos. The dog just manages to wag his tail on seeing his master’s return, but has not the strength to greet him. As Odysseus enters his house, Argos dies.

38 Thrifty competitor : ALAMO

The third-largest car rental company in recent years is Alamo, which was founded in 1974. Alamo made inroads (pun!) into the market by popularizing the idea of “unlimited mileage”.

42 The Black Knights of the N.C.A.A. : ARMY

The Army Black Knights are the athletic teams of the United States Military Academy. The team’s were the Black Knights of the Hudson, as the academy’s football team wore black uniforms and West Point is situated on the Hudson River in New York State.

46 Lead role of a 1979 Broadway hit : EVA

Eva Perón was the second wife of President Juan Perón who was in office from 1946 to 1955. The Argentine First Lady was known affectionately by the people as “Evita”, the Spanish language diminutive of “Eva”. “Evita” is also the title of a tremendously successful musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice that is based on the life of Eva Perón.

51 Papal issue : BULL

A bulla (also “bull”) is a type of seal impression. A papal bull is a formal document from the Vatican that has such a seal attached, hence the name of the document.

52 Medieval Latin for “great” : MAGNA

European history is often divided in three major periods: classical antiquity and the modern period, with the Middle Ages in between. Specifically, the Middle Ages are said to have begun in 476 AD, when the last Roman Emperor was deposed by a Germanic chieftain. The end date for the Middle Ages is less specific, but is about 1500 AD. The list of events signaling the end of the Middle Ages includes Christopher Columbus’s first voyage to the New World (1492) and the Protestant Reformation (1517). The term “medieval” is used to describe something belonging to the Middle Ages.

56 Seattle slew? : RAINY DAYS

The Washington city of Seattle was founded on a site that had been occupied by Native Americans for over 4,000 years before the first Europeans arrived in the area. The name “Seattle” was chosen in honor of the Suquamish and Duwamish Chief Seattle, who had a reputation for welcoming white settlers.

59 Places to see lots of lutzes : ICE ARENAS

In figure skating, a Lutz is a toe-pick-assisted jump that one starts skating backwards and ends skating backwards (there’s more to it that I don’t really understand!). The maneuver is named after Alois Lutz, an Austrian skater who first performed it in competition way back in 1913. Lutz wowed the crowd with a single jump, and today both men and women are landing triple Lutz jumps. No one has landed a clean quadruple Lutz in competition.

61 1979 hit whose title is stuttered : MY SHARONA

“My Sharona” is a hit single from 1979 released by a band called the Knack. The group’s guitarist wrote the song after meeting a 17-year-old girl named Sharona, who later became his girlfriend. Young Sharona appears on the cover sleeve for the record. Three decades later, Sharona was a real estate agent in LA.

Down

2 Garden-variety : NORMAL

On the other side of the pond, something quite ordinary can be described as “common or garden”, a phrase that has been in use since the 17th century. It is likely that the original “common or garden” was a variety of plant so ubiquitous that it was found both on the “commons” (community land) and in “gardens”. On this side of the Atlantic, we use the sister term “garden-variety”, which might be derivative of its English relative.

5 Some Olympus offerings, in brief : SLRS

The Japan-based Olympus Corporation is probably most famous as a manufacturer of cameras and lenses. Olympus was founded in 1919 as a supplier of microscopes and thermometers. Today, the company supplies about 70% of the world’s gastrointestinal endoscopes, which is equivalent to about $2 billion in sales.

10 Bit of energy, for short : CAL

I wish we’d stop using the term “calorie”, because it is so confusing. In terms of physics, a calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree celsius (at one atmosphere of pressure). The so-called “food calorie” is one thousand times as large, as it is defined in terms of kilograms instead of grams. In attempts to differentiate between these two definitions, the former is sometimes referred to as the “small calorie” and is given the symbol “cal”. The latter is referred to as the “large calorie” and given the symbol “Cal”, with a capital C. If only we’d use the SI system of units, we’d be thinking in just joules, instead of large and small and food calories.

24 Lomé locale : TOGO

Lomé is the capital city of Togo in West Africa. It is located on the Gulf of Guinea, and is the country’s largest port.

30 TV tavern whose owner bribes Mayor Quimby to pass a health inspection : MOE’S

The regulars on “The Simpsons” hang out at Moe’s Tavern, which is named for and run by Moe Szyslak. The most popular beer at Moe’s is Duff Beer. The name “Duff” is a reference to the real-life Duffy’s Tavern that used to be East 13th Street in Eugene, Oregon. “The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening used to frequent Duffy’s regularly, and Moe’s looks very much like Duffy’s in terms of decor and floor plan.

35 Flop : LAY AN EGG

Apparently the expression “to lay an egg”, meaning “to perform or play really badly” comes from the resemblance of the number 0 to an egg. One laying an egg scores zero.

37 Shade providers at the National Mall : ELMS

The National Mall is a park in downtown Washington, D.C. It is home to several museums that are part of the Smithsonian, as well as the National Gallery of Art.

43 Where Midori Ito lit the Olympic cauldron : NAGANO

Midori Ito is a Japanese figure skater. She was the first woman to land a triple/triple jump and a triple axel in competition. In fact, Ito landed her first triple jump in training when she was only 8 years old. Ito won Olympic silver in 1992, and was chosen as the person to light the Olympic cauldron at the commencement of the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.

44 John or Paul : BUNYAN

John Bunyan was an English author and Puritan preacher. He is best remembered for his theological fiction book “The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come”. Written in 1678, “The Pilgrim’s Progress” has never been out of print.

Paul Bunyan is a character of American myth. He is a skilled lumberjack, and has a sidekick called Babe the Blue Ox. Both Bunyan and Babe are gigantic in size.

48 Holiday celebrated by reading the Megillah : PURIM

“Megillah” is the Hebrew word for “scroll”. In the Hebrew Bible there are Five Scrolls (Megillot), namely “Song of Songs”, “Ruth”, “Lamentations”, “Ecclesiastes” and “Esther”.

49 Actor Bill of “Barry” : HADER

Bill Hader is an actor and comedian best known as a member of the cast of “Saturday Night Live”. Hader was introduced to Lorne Michaels (producer of “Saturday Night Live”) by Megan Mullally, co-star of the sitcom “Will & Grace”.

“Barry” is a dark comedy TV series starring Bill Hader as an Ohio hitman who questions his life of crime. Veteran actor Henry Winkler plays an award-winning supporting role as the teacher of an acting class that the hitman joins.

52 Gore Vidal’s “___ Breckinridge” : MYRA

Gore Vidal’s 1968 novel “Myra Breckinridge” was considered controversial in its day. I haven’t read it, but I understand it addresses transsexuality and other sexual practices considered outside the norm at the time. There was a movie version of the novel made in 1970, with Raquel Welch in the title role.

54 Nation whose currency is the dirham: Abbr. : UAE

United Arab Emirates (UAE)