0331-24 NY Times Crossword 31 Mar 24, Sunday

Bill’s time: 24m 22s

Bill’s errors: 4

• TONEME (tonede)
• SHA (sea)
• EAT THE RICH (eat the rice)
• NO ME GUSTA (no degusta)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6 Musical speeds : TEMPI

The tempo (plural “tempi”) of a piece of music is usually designated with an Italian word on the score. For example, “grave” is slow and solemn, “andante” is at a walking pace, “scherzo” is fast and light-hearted, and “allegro” is fast, quickly and bright.

15 Like many creatures in modern sci-fi movies, for short : CGI

Computer-generated imagery (CGI)

18 Light wood : BALSA

Balsa is a very fast-growing tree that is native to parts of South America. Even though balsa wood is very soft, it is actually classified as a hardwood, the softest of all the hardwoods (go figure!). Balsa is light and strong, so is commonly used in making model airplanes. In WWII, a full-size British plane, the de Havilland Mosquito, was built largely from balsa and plywood. No wonder they called it “The Wooden Wonder” and “The Timber Terror”.

21 Spot for a shot : ARM

An injection using a hypodermic needle might be termed a “shot” in North America, and a “jab” in Britain and Ireland.

22 Spook some creatures in an aquarium’s touch tank? : ALARM THE RAYS (from “raise the alarm”)

Rays are fish with flattened bodies that have gill slits on their underside. There are many, many species of ray, including stingrays and skates. Rays are close relatives of sharks, with both being cartilaginous fish, as opposed to bony fish.

26 Band with the 1994 hit “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” : REM

“What’s the Frequency, Kenneth” is a song recorded in 1994 by REM. The song was first released in 1987 by the Band Game Theory, and it was inspired by an incident involving the television journalist Dan Rather. Rather was mugged while walking home along Park Avenue one day in 1986. He was attacked by two men, one of whom kept repeating the question, “Kenneth, what is the frequency?” No one seems to know why …

30 “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” playwright Edward : ALBEE

“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” is an Edward Albee play that premiered on Broadway in 1962. The play won a Tony in 1963, and was adapted into a successful film in 1966 starring Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, George Segal and Sandy Dennis. The stage version is a lengthy production lasting over three hours.

31 Bad material for a silk purse, proverbially : SOW’S EAR

Apparently, the old proverb “you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear” was coined by English clergyman Stephen Gross in his 1579 story “Ephemerides”. Gosson wrote therein “Seekinge too make a silke purse of a Sowes eare.”

33 Deliver a blow to Dracula? : DAZE THE COUNT (turn “count the days”)

“Dracula” is a novel written by the Irish author Bram Stoker and first published in 1897. Dracula wasn’t the first vampire of literature, but he certainly was the one who spawned the popularity of vampires in theater, film and television, and indeed more novels. Personally, I can’t stand vampire fiction …

38 Brand whose stock price increased 50% in the first six months of 2020 : CLOROX

Clorox bleach was first produced by a business called the Electro-Alkaline Company in 1913, just a few miles from where I used to live on San Francisco Bay. I used a generic version of Clorox as the source of chlorine for my swimming pool for many years. It’s the same chemical solution as that sold for pools, just half as concentrated and a lot cheaper!

40 Blooms named for their shape : ASTERS

Apparently, most aster species and cultivars bloom relatively late in the year, usually in the fall. The name “aster” comes into English via Latin from the Greek word “astéri” meaning “star”, a reference to the arrangement of the petals of the flower.

45 No. calculated from letters : GPA

Grade point average (GPA)

47 References a Vatican Library source? : CITES THE SEE (turn “see the sights”)

Vatican City is a sovereign city-state that is walled off within the city of Rome. Vatican City is about 110 acres in area, and so is the smallest independent state in the world. With about 800 residents, it is also the smallest state in terms of population. Although the Holy See dates back to early Christianity, Vatican City only came into being in 1929. At that time, Prime Minister Benito Mussolini signed a treaty with the Holy See on behalf of the Kingdom of Italy that established the city-state.

49 Went down a slippery slope : LUGED

A luge is a small sled used by one or two people, on which one lies face up and feet first. The luge can be compared to the skeleton, a sled for only one person and on which the rider lies face down and goes down the hill head-first. Yikes!

50 ___ Palmas, Canary Islands : LAS

The Spanish province of Las Palmas comprises about half of the islands of Gran Canaria, and several other small islands, located off the northwest coast of Africa. Gran Canaria is perhaps better known as the “Canary Islands” in English. The province takes its name from Las Palmas, the capital city of Gran Canaria island.

53 Certain Ivy Leaguer : YALIE

The term “Ivy League” originally defined an athletic conference, but now it is used to describe a group of schools of higher education that are associated with both a long tradition and academic excellence. The eight Ivy League Schools are: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale.

60 Referees a Tennessee football game poorly? : SCREWS THE TITANS (turn “tightens the screws”)

The Tennessee Titans football team is based in Nashville, having relocated to Nashville from Houston in 1997. The team was called the Tennessee Oilers for two seasons, before adopting the “Titans” moniker.

64 Common pet fish : BETTA

The betta is a small freshwater fish. It is quite colorful, and so is a popular fish for an aquarium. Bettas are aggressive little creatures, and are commonly called Siamese fighting fish. Apparently, housing two males in a relatively small aquarium will result in the death of one.

67 Superlative held by the Atacama Desert : DRIEST

Even deserts get rain at some point in the year, with very few exceptions. One of those exceptions is the Atacama Desert in South America, which receives no rain at all. The Atacama has such an otherworldly appearance that it has been used by TV and film studios, and NASA, to represent the surface of Mars.

68 “Barry” or “Ballers” : HBO SHOW

“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.

“Ballers” is an HBO comedy-drama about a retired NFL player who now works as a financial manager for other NFL players. Dwayne Johnson plays the lead character.

72 Stadium sounds : RAHS

The Greek word “stadion” was a measure of length, about 600 feet. The name “stadion” then came to be used for a running track of that length. That “running track” meaning led to our contemporary term “stadium” (plural “stadia”).

74 Cap’s place : KNEE

The patella is the kneecap. The bone’s Latin name “patella” is a diminutive form of “patina”, the word for “pan”. The idea is that the kneecap is pan-shaped.

76 It might be a stretch : LIMO

The word “limousine” derives from the name of the French city of Limoges. The area around Limoges is called the Limousin, and it gave its name to a cloak hood worn by local shepherds. In early motor cars, a driver would sit outside in the weather while the passengers would sit in the covered compartment. The driver would often wear a limousin-style protective hood, giving rise to that type of transportation being called a “limousine”. Well, that’s how the story goes …

77 Suffix with Manhattan or meteor : -ITE

The island we know as Manhattan was inhabited by the Lenape Indians when the first Europeans explorers arrived in the area. According to the logbook of one of the officers on explorer Henry Hudson’s yacht, the island was called “Manna-hata” in the local language, from which the modern name derives.

A meteoroid is a small rocky or metallic body traveling through space. Once in the atmosphere, the meteoroid is referred to as a “meteor” or “shooting star”. Almost all meteoroids burn up, but if one is large enough to survive and reach the ground then we call it a meteorite. The word “meteor” comes from the Greek “meteōros” meaning “high in the air”.

79 Write an ode to a caffeinated soda? : HONOR THE DEW (turn “do the honor”)

Mountain Dew was originally created as a mixer for alcoholic beverages, and was marketed as “zero-proof moonshine.” The original formula included caffeine and sugar, which helped to make it a popular mixer for whiskey and other spirits.

85 Nip and tuck, so to speak : EVEN

The phrase “nip and tuck” means “closely contested”, as in “it was nip and tuck until the final days of the campaign”. The phrase is also used to describe a skin-tightening cosmetic surgery procedure.

90 Start preparing borscht? : HEAT THE BEETS (turn “beats the heat”)

Borscht is a beetroot soup that originated in Ukraine. Borscht can be served both hot and cold.

97 Garnet is its birthstone: Abbr. : JAN

Garnets are silicate minerals that come in many colors. However, the color that we call “garnet” is a dark red.

101 “Bather in the Woods” painter : PISSARRO

Camille Pissarro was a French artist noted for working in both the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist styles. As such, Pissarro is sometimes considered as a father figure for many of the famous Impressionist painters that admired him, including Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin.

111 Major artery : AORTA

The aorta originates in the heart and extends down into the abdomen. It is the largest artery in the body.

112 ___ cha beef (Chinese dish) : SHA

Sha cha beef is a dish from Chinese cuisine that is native to the Chinese province of Gansu.

113 Jumped over, as a checkers piece : TOOK

“Checkers” is yet another word that I had to learn moving across the Atlantic. In Ireland, the game is called “draughts”.

114 Michelangelo work whose name translates to “compassion” : PIETA

The Pietà is a representation of the Virgin Mary holding in her arms the dead body of her son Jesus. The most famous Pietà is undoubtedly the sculpted rendition by Michelangelo that is located in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. That particular sculpture is thought to be the only work that Michelangelo signed. In some depictions of the Pietà, Mary and her son are surrounded by other figures from the New Testament. Such depictions are known as Lamentations.

Down

3 Mission San Antonio de Valero, more familiarly : ALAMO

The famous Alamo in San Antonio, Texas was originally known as Mission San Antonio de Valero. The mission was founded in 1718 and was the first mission established in the city. The Battle of the Alamo took place in 1836, a thirteen-day siege by the Mexican Army led by President General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Only two people defending the Alamo Mission survived the onslaught. One month later, the Texian army got its revenge by attacking and defeating the Mexican Army in the Battle of San Jacinto. During the surprise attack on Santa Anna’s camp, many of the Texian soldiers were heard to cry “Remember the Alamo!”.

5 World’s oldest capital city, settled in the third millennium B.C. : DAMASCUS

Damascus is the second largest city in Syria (after Aleppo), and is the country’s capital. Damascus has the distinction of being the oldest, continuously-inhabited city in the world, having been settled in the 2nd millennium BC. Also, it has the nickname “City of Jasmine”.

7 Makes a gaffe : ERRS

Our word “gaffe”, meaning “social blunder”, comes from the French “gaffe” meaning “clumsy remark”, although it originally was a word describing a boat hook. The exact connection between a boat hook and a blunder seems to be unclear.

8 “Mamma ___!” : MIA

The hit musical “Mamma Mia!” was written to showcase the songs of ABBA. I’m a big fan of ABBA’s music, so I’ve seen this show a couple of times and just love it. “Mamma Mia!” is such a big hit on the stage that on any given day there are at least seven performances going on somewhere in the world. There is a really interesting film version of the show that was released in 2008. I think the female lead Meryl Streep is wonderful in the movie, but the male leads … not so much! By the way, one can tell the difference between “Mamma Mia” the ABBA song and “Mamma Mia!” the musical, by noting the difference in the punctuation in the titles.

9 “Gangnam Style” rapper : PSY

“PSY” is the stage name of South Korean rapper Park Jae-sang. PSY became an international star when his 2012 music video “Gangnam Style” went viral on YouTube. That video had over 1 billion views on YouTube in about six months, making it the most viewed YouTube video clip of all time. The title of the song refers to a lifestyle experienced in the Gangnam District of Seoul.

10 Comment from someone exiting the mall on Black Friday : IT’S A ZOO

In the world of retail, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving in the US. It is also the day when many stores start the holiday shopping season, and so offer deep discounts to get ahead of the competition.

11 Pedal-operated instrument : HI-HAT

In a drum kit, a hi-hat is a pairing of cymbals that sits on a stand and is played by using a foot pedal. The top cymbal is raised and lowered by the foot, hence creating a crashing sound.

12 That, in Toledo : ESO

Toledo is a city in central Spain that is located just over 40 miles south of the capital Madrid. Toledo is sometimes called the “City of Three Cultures”, due to the historical co-existence of Christian, Muslim and Jewish traditions.

14 Struck out : REDACTED

Our word “redact”, meaning to revise or edit, comes from the past participle of the Latin “redigere” meaning “to reduce”.

19 Kind of seeds in a healthful smoothie : CHIA

Chia is a flowering plant in the mint family. Chia seeds are an excellent food source and are often added to breakfast cereals and energy bars. There is also the famous Chia Pet, an invention of a San Francisco company. Chia Pets are terra-cotta figurines to which moistened chia seeds are applied. The seeds sprout and the seedlings become the “fur” of the Chia Pet.

29 ___ Luthor, nemesis of Superman : LEX

Lex Luthor is the nemesis of Superman in comics. Luthor has been portrayed in a number of guises in the comic world as well in movies and on the small screen. For example, he appeared as Atom Man in the 1950 film series “Atom Man vs. Superman”, and was played by actor Lyle Talbot, opposite Kirk Alyn’s Superman.

36 Lauder of cosmetics : ESTEE

Estée Lauder was a very successful businesswoman, and someone with a great reputation as a salesperson. Lauder introduced her own line of fragrances in 1953, a bath oil called “Youth Dew”. “Youth Dew” was marketed as a perfume, but it was added to bathwater. All of a sudden women were pouring whole bottles of Ms. Lauder’s “perfume” into their baths while using only a drop or two of French perfumes behind their ears. That’s quite a difference in sales “volume” …

39 Do some light work on? : LASE

The term “laser” is an acronym standing for “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation”. It has been pointed out that a more precise name for laser technology is “light oscillation by stimulated emission of radiation”, but the resulting acronym isn’t quite so appealing, namely “loser”.

41 Barcelona museum subject : MIRO

Joan Miró was a Spanish artist. He immersed himself in Surrealism, so much so that Andre Breton, the founder of the movement, said that Miró was “the most Surrealist of us all”. There are two museums dedicated to Miró’s work. The Fundació Joan Miró is in his native Barcelona, and the Fundació Miró Mallorca is in Palma de Mallorca, where the artist spent much of his life.

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain, after the capital Madrid. It is also the largest European city that sits on the Mediterranean coast, and the capital city of the autonomous community of Catalonia.

43 “The Lorax” setting : THNEEDVILLE

“The Lorax” is a 1971 children’s book written by Dr. Seuss. It is an allegorical work questioning the problems created by industrialization, and in particular its impact on the environment. At one point in the story, the Lorax “speaks for the trees, for the trees have no tongues”. “The Lorax” was adapted into an animated film that was released in 2012, with Danny DeVito voicing the title character.

He was shortish, and oldish, and brownish and mossy. And he spoke with a voice that was sharpish and bossy.

44 Actress Cravalho who voiced Moana : AULI’I

Auliʻi Cravalho is an actress who made her debut voicing the title character in the 2016 animated feature “Moana”. Cravalho is a native of Hawaii, and reprised her role as Moana in a Hawaiian-language dubbed version of the film.

“Moana” is a 2016 animated feature film and the 56th animated Disney movie. The title character is the daughter of a Polynesian chief who heads off in search of the demigod Maui, hoping that he can save her people. Unlike many of the previous Disney Princess films, Moana’s story is not centered around romance. In fact, she is the first Disney Princess who doesn’t have a love interest.

53 Chuck, slangily : YEET

In contemporary slang, to yeet is to throw away, discard. “To yeet” usually implies the use of force and a general disregard for what is being discarded. As in, “I really want to yeet the word ‘yeet’ …”

54 Final phase of a video game, perhaps : BOSS LEVEL

In the world of video gaming, a significantly strong computer-controlled opponent is referred to as a boss. A fight against a boss is a boss battle or boss fight.

59 ___-Caps (candy) : SNO

Sno-Caps are a brand of candy usually only available in movie theaters. Sno-caps have been around since the 1920s, would you believe?

61 Birds known for their loud, complex songs : WRENS

The wren is a small songbird belonging to the family troglodytidae and the genus troglodytes. Wrens are known for making dome-shaped nests. Despite their small size, they are known for their loud and complex songs. Male wrens often sing to attract mates and to establish territory, They have been known to attack much larger birds that get too close to their nests.

64 Gooey pairing with fig jam : BRIE

Brie is a soft cheese that is named for the French region in which it originated. Brie is similar to the equally famous (and delicious) Camembert. Brie is often served baked in puff pastry with fig jam.

66 Its water is nearly 10 times saltier than ocean water : THE DEAD SEA

The Middle East’s Dead Sea lies more than 1,400 feet below sea level, making it the lowest point on the Earth’s landmass. It is also one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world, with a salt content that is almost ten times that of most oceans.

74 Toy brand for a budding engineer, maybe : K’NEX

The construction toy with the name K’Nex is the phonetic spelling of the word “connects”. The toy was invented by Joel Glickman, who came up with the idea while playing with straws as he sat at a table after a wedding. He launched K’Nex in 1993, and it is still sold in stores.

79 Police captain on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” : HOLT

“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” is a sitcom set in the 99th precinct of the NYPD in Brooklyn. Star of the show is “Saturday Night Live” alum Andy Samberg, who plays Detective Jake Peralta.

90 Neighbors of the Navajos : HOPIS

Many members of the Hopi nation live on a reservation that is actually located within the much larger Navajo reservation in Arizona.

91 One-named singer born in Reykjavik : BJORK

Björk is a rather eccentric singer-songwriter from Iceland who is a big hit in the UK in particular. Björk is the daughter of a nationally-recognized union leader in her home country.

Reykjavik is the capital city, and indeed the only city, of Iceland. It is also the most northerly capital city of any country. It isn’t very large, relatively speaking, with a population of only 200,000 in the Greater Reykjavik Area.

93 What Ove’s name was changed to for the American film adaptation of “A Man Called Ove” : OTTO

“A Man Called Otto” is a marvelous 2022 comedy-drama movie starring Tom Hanks as a grumpy old man who gets dragged, reluctantly, into the lives of his neighbors. It is a remake of the 2015 Swedish film “A Man Called Ove”, which in turn is an adaptation of the 2012 novel of the same name by Fredrik Backman. In flashbacks, young Otto is played by Truman Hanks, one of Tom Hanks’ sons.

94 Like neon : INERT

An inert gas can be different from a noble gas. Both are relatively non-reactive, but a noble gas is an element. An inert gas might be a compound, i.e. made up of more than one element.

Neon (Ne) was discovered in 1898 by two British chemists, Sir William Ramsay and Morris Travers. They chilled a sample of air, turning it into a liquid. They then warmed that liquid and separated out the gases that boiled off. Along with nitrogen, oxygen and argon (already known), the pair of scientists discovered two new gases. The first they called “krypton” and the second “neon”. “Krypton” is Greek for “the hidden one” and “neon” is Greek for “new”.

98 Sibilant summons : PSST!

“Sibilant” is a lovely word that describes a sound of speech, i.e. the sound of an “s” or “z”, a hissing sound. The word “sissies”, for example, has three sibilant sounds.

100 “South Park” boy : STAN

“South Park” is an adult-oriented cartoon series on Comedy Central. I don’t do “South Park” …

103 1990s Indian prime minister : RAO

P. V. Narasimha Rao was Prime Minister of India from 1991 to 1996. Rao is seen by most as the leader who transformed his country’s economy into the market-driven engine that it is today.

105 Sch. in N.Y. : RPI

The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) is a private school in Troy, New York. The university is named after its founder Stephen Van Rensselaer who set up the school in 1824. The goal of RPI has always been the “application of science to the common purposes of life”, an objective set by the founder. Given that, the name for the school’s sports teams is quite apt: the Engineers.