0907-24 NY Times Crossword 7 Sep 24, Saturday

Bill’s time: 22m 15s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Labor tactic : LAMAZE

The Lamaze technique for childbirth was developed by a French obstetrician named Fernand Lamaze. He introduced the technique in the west after observing similar practices in the Soviet Union during a visit there in 1951.

7 Ding-dong : DOOFUS

“Doofus” (also “dufus”) is student slang that has been around since the sixties. Apparently the word is a variant of the equally unattractive term “doo-doo”.

16 Family inheritance? : GENE POOL

The set of all genes in a particular population is known as the “gene pool”, a term coined in Russian by geneticist Aleksandr Sergeevich Serebrovskii in the 1920s. In general, the larger the gene pool, the more diverse and robust the population.

25 Tesla, for one : MAKE

Tesla Motors was founded in 2003 as a manufacturer of electric vehicles based in Palo Alto, California. Tesla is noted for producing the first electric sports car, called the Tesla Roadster. The company followed the sports car with a luxury sedan, the Model S. The Model S was the world’s best selling plug-in electric vehicle of 2015. Tesla Motors shortened its name to Tesla in early 2017.

27 Pain ___ (French toast, in French) : PERDU

The dish made from bread soaked in milk with beaten eggs and then fried is usually called French toast in the US, but it also goes by the names German toast and Spanish toast. In France, the dish is known as “pain perdu”, which translates as “lost bread”. This name is a reference to the fact that “lost” or “stale” bread can be reclaimed by dipping it in a mixture of milk and eggs and then frying it.

28 Like soffritto ingredients : DICED

Soffritto is a mix of diced onions, carrots, and celery that is gently cooked in olive oil or butter. The Italian word soffritto means “slightly fried,” and describes the process of cooking the vegetables slowly until they release their flavor.

31 Methods for sharing pirated material : BITTORRENTS

In the digital world, torrenting is a form of peer-to-peer sharing, one that uses the BitTorrent network (hence the name). BitTorrent allows a user to download a file from several other users at the same time, and also allows the upload of a file to several users simultaneously. Torrenting makes it very easy to share files, and so is often associated with piracy of copyright-protected movies, music, games and software.

33 One of the Goonies in “The Goonies” : MIKEY

“The Goonies” is a 1985 movie based on a story written by Steven Spielberg. It is an adventure film, with the title characters being a group of young treasure hunters from the fictional Goon Docks neighborhood of Astoria, Oregon (hence the movie’s title). I haven’t seen this one …

39 Word in two African country names : CONGO

The Republic of the Congo is an African nation located on the western coast of the continent, straddling the equator. The Congo made up most of the French Congo starting in 1882, and became fully independent from France in 1960.

The African nation once called Zaire is a neighbor of Rwanda. The genocide and war in Rwanda spilled over into Zaire in 1996, with the conflict escalating into what is now called the First Congo War. As part of the war’s fallout there was a regime change, and in 1997 Zaire became the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

41 Poivre go-with : SEL

In French, one might season one’s food with “sel” (salt) and “poivre” (pepper).

46 Sporting venue also known as a dohyo : SUMO RING

Sumo is a sport that is practiced professionally only in Japan, the country of its origin. There is an international federation of sumo wrestling now, and one of the organization’s aims is to have the sport accepted as an Olympic event.

48 Fast-food chain with palm trees on its packaging : IN-N-OUT

In-N-Out Burger is a fast food chain that’s very popular out here on the left coast. Unusually for a fast food business, In-N-Out Burger has no franchises and is privately owned. The company also prides itself on paying all employees above minimum wage. Also, if you check the packaging of the food and drink items, you’ll find a bible verse discreetly printed on the bottom of cups and wrappers, reflecting the Christian beliefs held by the company ownership. In-N-Out Burger was founded in 1948 by Harry and Esther Snyder, and is now owned by Lynsi Snyder, the couple’s only grandchild.

49 First word in the opening crawl for “Star Wars: Episode I” : TURMOIL

“Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” was the fourth film released in the “Star Wars” franchise, and the first in a prequel trilogy (the first three films were Episodes IV, V & VI). “The Phantom Menace” was released in 1999, twenty-two years after the original “Star Wars” movie, and sixteen years after the previous episode, “Return of the Jedi”.

51 Where you might say “That’s the spirit!” : SEANCE

“Séance” is a French word meaning “sitting”. We use the term in English for a sitting in which a spiritualist tries to communicate with the spirits of the dead.

Down

1 Impasse : LOGJAM

“Impasse” is a French word describing a blind alley or an impassable road, and we use the term to mean “stalemate”.

2 Iris feature : AREOLA

An areola (sometimes “areole”) in anatomy is a small ring of color, as in the areola surrounding the nipple, and the areola surrounding the pupil of the eye. “Areola” (plural “areolae”) comes from Latin, meaning “small open space”, and is a diminutive of the Latin word “area”, meaning “open space”.

3 Flunky : MINION

A minion is a servile follower, a yes-man. The term “minion” comes from the French word “mignon” meaning “favorite, darling”.

8 Relative of a heckelphone : OBOE

A heckelphone is a musical instrument like an oboe, but pitched an octave lower. The heckelphone was invented in 1904 by a manufacturer of woodwind instruments in Germany named Wilhelm Heckel.

25 Like mojitos : MINTY

A mojito is a Cuban cocktail, although the exact origins appear to be unclear, as does the derivation of the name. Want one? Put 4 mint leaves in a glass, and add the juice of half a lime and a teaspoon of powdered sugar. Muddle the ingredients, smashing them together with a muddler or a spoon. Add some crushed ice, two ounces of white rum and stir. Top with a couple of ounces of club soda, and garnish with a sprig of mint and/or a slice of lime. Cheers!

27 Small-minded : PETTY

The word “petty”, meaning “small-minded”, comes from the French word for small, “petit”. When “petty” first came into English it wasn’t used disparagingly, and was used more literally giving us terms like “petty officer” and “petty cash”. The word “petty” evolved into a prefix “petti-” with the meaning of “small”, as in the word “petticoat”.

30 Competitor of Chewy : PETCO

Petco is a chain of retail stores that sells live animals and pet supplies. The Petco logo includes the two company mascots, Red Ruff the dog and Blue Mews the cat.

33 Mountain grouping : MASSIF

“Massif” is a geological term describing a section of the earth’s crust that moves upwards due to the action of tectonic plates. The whole massif retains its structure, with movement taking place at surrounding fault lines. The term “massif” is also used for a group of mountains formed by such geological action. “Massif” is French for “massive”.

40 City famous for its ham and cheese : PARMA

Parma is a city in northern Italy that is famous for its ham (prosciutto) and cheese (parmesan). The adjective “Parmesan” means “of or from Parma”.

42 Surgeon/writer Gawande : ATUL

Atul Gawande is a surgeon and author. One of his books is a 2009 work titled “The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right”, in which he makes a powerful argument that formal checklists improve efficiency, consistency and even safety.

47 Some fraternity letters : MUS

The Greek letter mu is the forerunner to our Roman letter M.