1107-24 NY Times Crossword 7 Nov 24, Thursday

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

8 Not genuine : ERSATZ

Something described as ersatz is a copy, and usually not a good one. “Ersatz” comes from the German verb “ersetzen” meaning “to replace”.

14 Subject of many a grainy video : UFO

In 1952, the USAF revived its studies of reported sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) in a program called Project Blue Book. Project Blue Book ran from 1952 until it was shut down in 1969 with the conclusion that there was no threat to national security and that there were no sightings that could not be explained within the bounds of modern scientific knowledge.

15 Dungeons & Dragons beast : OGRE

Dungeons & Dragons (D&D, DnD) is a complex role-playing game (RPG) introduced in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules Incorporated (TSR). Dungeons & Dragons was probably the first of the modern role-playing games to be developed, and the most successful. It is still played by lots of people today, including my youngest son …

24 Lilliputian : TINY

The word “lilliputian” meaning “wee” or “very small”, comes from Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels”. In Swift’s tale, Lilliput and Blefuscu are two island nations that are inhabited by tiny people who are under six inches tall.

32 Gochujang paste or hoisin sauce : CONDIMENT

Gochujang is a red, fermented chili paste used in Korean cuisine. The traditional way of preparing the condiment is by allowing it to ferment for years in an earthenware pot on a stone platform in the back garden.

Hoisin sauce is named after the Chinese word for “seafood”. However, hoisin sauce contains no seafood, and nor is it served with seafood!

35 Genius Bar staffer, perhaps : IT GURU

The technical support desk found in Apple Retail Stores is rather inventively called the Genius Bar. The certified support technicians are known as “Geniuses”. The trainees are called GYOs: Grow-Your-Own-Geniuses.

38 Mario Kart character with a pink outfit and a mushroom cap : TOADETTE

“Mario Kart” is a go-kart racing video game series from Nintendo.

39 Encyclopedia division: Abbr. : VOL

An encyclopedia is a compendium reference work containing summary information about a branch of knowledge, or about all knowledge. The word “encyclopedia” comes from the Greek “enkyklios paideia” meaning “general education”, or literally “general rearing of a child”.

40 Given name of baseball’s Ozzie Smith : OSBORNE

Ozzie Smith is a former professional shortstop. Smith played for the San Diego Padres and the St. Louis Cardinals. After retiring in 1996, Smith served as the host of TV’s “This Week in Baseball” for about a year.

47 Home to the Van Gogh Museum : AMSTERDAM

Amsterdam is the cultural capital and the commercial capital of the Netherlands, but not the administrative capital. That honor goes to the Hague. Amsterdam’s name translates as “Dam on the river Amstel”.

Vincent van Gogh was a Dutch post-impressionist painter who seems to have had a very tortured existence. Van Gogh only painted for the last ten years of his life, and enjoyed very little celebrity while alive. Today many of his works are easily recognized, and fetch staggering sums in auction houses. Van Gogh suffered from severe depression for many of his final years. When he was only 37, he walked into a field with a revolver and shot himself in the chest. He managed to drag himself back to the inn where he was staying but died there two days later.

50 Will of “The Waltons” : GEER

Actor Will Geer died in 1978 just after filming the sixth season of “The Waltons”, in which he played Grandpa Zeb Walton. Geer was a noted social activist and was blacklisted in the fifties for refusing to appear before the all-powerful House Committee on Un-American Activities.

The very successful TV series “The Waltons” aired in the seventies and early eighties. It was based on a 1961 book “Spencer’s Mountain” written by Earl Hamner Jr., the show’s creator. The book was also the basis of a 1963 movie, also called “Spencer’s Mountain”, starring Henry Fonda and Maureen O’Hara.

51 Thornfield Hall governess : EYRE

Thornfield Hall is the home of Mr. Rochester, and where much of the action takes place in Charlotte Brontë’s novel “Jane Eyre”. Ultimately, Thornfield is destroyed by fire, a fire in which Mr. Rochester loses a hand and his eyesight. At the end of the story, Rochester and Jane get married and live together in an old house in the woods called Ferndean Manor.

61 Result in a photo finish : COME DOWN TO THE WIRE

To go down to the wire is to leave things unsettled until the last minute. The phrase comes from the world of horse racing, where the custom was to stretch a wire across and above the track at the finish line.

65 Banking giant based in 47-Across : ING

ING is a huge Dutch banking institution created via a merger in 1991. The company headquarters is in a spectacular building in Amsterdam called simply ING House. “ING” stands for Internationale Nederlanden Groep.

71 Carol contraction : ‘TIS

The music for the Christmas song “Deck the Halls” is a traditional Welsh tune that dates back to the 16th century. The same tune was used by Mozart for a violin and piano duet. The lyrics with which we are familiar (other than the “fa-la-la”) are American in origin, and were recorded in the 19th century.

“’Tis the season to be jolly, Fa la la la la la la la la!”

Down

1 Midwest city known as the “Capital of Route 66” : TULSA

Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma (after Oklahoma City). Tulsa started out as a settlement established by the Loachapoka and Creek Native American tribes in 1836. These early settlers called their new home “Tallasi” meaning “old town”, and this name morphed into “Tulsa” that we use today.

The famous old highway called Route 66 has largely been replaced by modern interstates. It ran from Chicago to Los Angeles, right through the heart of America, and so it was often called the “Main Street of America”. The road’s name really came into the public consciousness because of Nat King Cole’s song “(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66”, and also because of the sixties TV show called “Route 66”.

3 Freedom, per Janis Joplin : NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE

Janis Joplin recorded the song “Me and Bobby McGee” just a few days before she died in 1970. The song was released anyway, and it became Joplin’s only number-one single, topping the charts the following year. There have been just two posthumous number-one singles: Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee”, and Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay”.

Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose
And nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’ but it’s free
Feelin’ good was easy, Lord, when Bobby sang the blues
And buddy, that was good enough for me
Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee.

4 Stylish Miami neighborhood, in brief : SOBE

South Beach is a neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida that is often referred to by the nickname “SoBe”. SoBe is known for its active and vibrant LGBT community. The title of the marvelous 1996 film “The Birdcage” refers to a fictional Birdcage drag nightclub located in South Beach.

5 Everglades hunter : EGRET

Egrets are a group of several species of white herons. Many egret species were faced with extinction in the 1800s and early 1900s due to plume hunting, a practice driven by the demand for egret plumes that could be incorporated into hats.

The Everglades are tropical wetlands that cover much of southern Florida. The area was named “River Glades” by a British surveyor in 1773, and it is suggested that poor transcription of the word “river” led to the use of “ever”. The southern 20% of the Everglades is a protected region that we know as Everglades National Park. The park is the third-largest National Park in the lower 48 states, after Death Valley NP (the largest) and Yellowstone NP.

7 Pink-colored euro banknote : TEN

Euro coins carry a design on one side that indicates the country of issue (Ireland uses a harp, for example). Euro banknotes, on the other hand, lack any such indication. The banknotes all feature stylized architectural designs of bridges, arches and gateways that reflect the large number of historic structures found throughout the continent.

8 Online shop for some vintage items : ETSY

Etsy.com was founded in 2005 as a way for artists and craftspeople to sell their handmade goods online, and has since grown to include vintage items and crafting supplies as well. The company’s name is derived from the Italian word “etsi,” which means “oh, yes”? This was a nod to founder Rob Kalin’s love of Italy and his appreciation for the country’s history and artistry.

13 Debut character for Zadie Smith? : ZED

The first letter in the name “Zadie Smith” is a letter Z (zee, “zed” in the UK).

Zadie Smith is an author from the UK whose first novel, “White Teeth”, became an immediate best-seller in 2000. Apparently, a partial manuscript of “White Teeth” was so well-received by insiders that a bidding war developed for the rights to publish.

19 “I Will Survive” Grammy winner : GAYNOR

Gloria Gaynor is a singer who had most success during the disco era, most notably with “I Will Survive” in 1979. Gaynor released “I Will Survive” as a B-side to “Substitute”, a cover version to a Righteous Brothers song. “Substitute” made it to #107 in the charts in December 1978. “I Will Survive” hit the #1 spot three months later.

21 Gaming console that preceded the Switch : WII U

The Wii U video game console is the successor to Nintendo’s Wii. I’m wondering if “Wii U” is some sort of play on the pronouns “we” and “you”? Maybe I just think too much …

27 Not beat around the bush : GET RIGHT TO THE POINT

To beat around the bush is to prevaricate, to avoid coming to the point. The phrase originated with bird hunting in which locals were employed by the aristocratic hunters to beat the bushes, rousing the birds so that they could be shot as they flew off. So, beating around the bush was a preamble to the slaughter, in a sense a prevarication before getting to the main event.

31 Frequently recurring theme : TROPE

A trope is a figure of speech. The term “trope” comes from the Greek word “tropos” that has the same meaning. The term has evolved in meaning to also describe a common or overused device or theme.

36 Crooner Mel : TORME

Mel Tormé was a jazz singer with a quality of voice that earned him the nickname “The Velvet Fog”. Tormé also wrote a few books, and did a lot of acting. He was the co-author of the Christmas classic known as “The Christmas Song”, which starts out with the line “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire …”

46 Prepare, as scallops : SEAR

Scallops are marine mollusks that are served as seafood. They are often served baked in milk, and as a result this method of preparation has become known as “scalloping”. So, scalloped potatoes are potatoes baked in milk.

48 Claymation character of old “S.N.L.” : MR BILL

Mr. Bill is a clay figure who appeared in shorts broadcast on “Saturday Night Live”. During each episode, Mr. Bill inevitably falls foul of either a clay character called Sluggo or a live character called “Mr. Hands”. Mr. Bill first featured in a Super-8 reel that was shot by filmmaker Walter Williams and submitted to the show. Williams went on to become a full-time writer for the show.

Clay animation, also known as “claymation”, is a stop motion animation technique that has been around since the early 1900s. The list of famous claymation productions includes the “Gumby” series of TV show segments, the California Raisins musical group ad campaign, and “Wallace and Gromit” British comedy series.

54 Like the majority of Egyptians : SUNNI

The Islamic sects of Sunni and Shia Muslims differ in the belief of who should have taken over leadership of the Muslim faithful after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. Followers of the Sunni tradition agree with the decision that the Prophet Muhammad’s confidante Abu Bakr was the right choice to become the first Caliph of the Islamic nation. Followers of the Shia tradition believe that leadership should have stayed within the Prophet Muhammad’s own family, and favored the Prophet’s son-in-law Ali.

55 Crimped parts of ravioli : EDGES

Ravioli (singular “raviolo”) are filled dumplings served in Italian cuisine.

60 Org. with a white rabbit in its logo : PETA

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is famous for ad campaigns featuring implied nudity, often with celebrities appearing front and center. Networks showing the Super Bowl have been known to ban such ads.

61 Not trans : CIS

In Latin, the prefix “cis-” means “this side of”. The prefix “trans-” means “the other side of”.

63 L’état, à Louis XIV : MOI

“L’État, c’est moi” is a French phrase, supposedly spoken by Louis XIV on his deathbed. It translates to “I am the State”, and would appear to mean that Louis considered himself to be “above his station” as it were. However, many dispute the quotation, and argue that Louis actually said on his deathbed that even though he was dying, the State would live on.

64 2020 #1 hit for Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion : WAP

“Cardi B” is the stage name of rap artist Belcalis Almánzar from the Bronx in New York City. The name “Cardi B” comes from the brand name “Bacardi”.

“Megan Thee Stallion” is the stage name of rapper Megan Pete. Pete’s mother Holly Thomas was also a rap performer, one using the stage name “Holly-Wood”. Thomas would bring Megan to recording sessions rather than put her in daycare, and so exposed her young daughter to the recording business at an early age.