1117-24 NY Times Crossword 17 Nov 24, Sunday

Bill’s time: 16m 09s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 James for whom a NASA telescope is named : WEBB

The James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021, and entered into service in 2022. It uses infrared radiation to observe objects, and also produces images with higher resolution than the Hubble Space Telescope that started operating in 1990. The Webb is named for James E. Webb, the NASA administrator who served from 1961 to 1968.

5 The other way around : VICE VERSA

“Vice versa” is a Latin phrase meaning “with position turned”. We always pronounce this term “incorrectly”. In Latin, a “c” is a hard sound, and a “v” is pronounced like a “w”. The pronunciation should be something like “wee-kay wehr-sa”.

18 M.I.A. : AWOL

AWOL (absent without leave)

21 Amazon streaming content? : AGUA

The Amazon River of South America is the world’s largest in terms of volume, and accounts for an amazing one-fifth of the world’s total river flow. Perhaps even more amazing is that there are no bridges across the Amazon! There isn’t even one, mainly because the river flows through tropical rainforest where there are few roads and cities.

24 Actress Russell : KERI

Actress Keri Russell’s big break in television came with the title role in the drama show “Felicity” that ran from 1998 through 2002. The lead character in the show is Felicity Porter, a young lady introduced to the audience with a head of long curly blonde hair. Famously, Russell cut her hair extremely short at the start of the second season, an action that was associated with a significant drop in the show’s viewership. Russell had to grow out her hair over the season. I haven’t seen “Felicity”, but I really do enjoy Russell playing one of the leads in the entertaining Cold War drama called “The Americans” that is aired by FX.

25 Soave or sangiovese : DRY WINE

Soave is a dry white wine produced in the area around the city of Verona in northeast Italy. Soave is a small town located near Verona.

30 Mandarin : xièxie :: Japanese : ___ : ARIGATO

“Domo arigato” is Japanese for “thank you very much”.

37 Litter of a cockapoo and a puggle, say : MUTTS

Poodle hybrids are sometimes described as “designer dogs”. Examples are the Labradoodle (Labrador retriever and poodle cross), cockapoo (cocker-spaniel and poodle cross), maltipoo (Maltese and poodle cross) and Jack-A-Poo (Jack Russell and poodle cross).

41 Mum’s word? : SHH!

The phrase “mum’s the word” has been around since the early 1700s. “Mum” has been used to mean “silent” for centuries, the idea being that “mum” is the sound made when the lips are tightly sealed.

43 Movie in which the Wet Bandits get “scammed by a kindygartner” : HOME ALONE

“Home Alone” is a 1990 film starring Macaulay Culkin that has become a Christmas classic. Culkin was nominated for a Best Actor Golden Globe for his performance, becoming the youngest actor ever to be so honored. And, there are four “Home Alone” sequels.

46 Helpful toehold for a French learner, say : COGNATE

Two things that are cognate are generically alike, or have the same ancestry. For example, the English word “night” and the German word “nacht” are cognate, in that they both come from the Proto-Germanic “nahts”.

48 Record of the year : ANNAL

“Annal” is a rarely used word, and is the singular of the more common “annals”. An annal would be the recorded events of one year, with annals being the chronological record of events in successive years. The term “annal” comes from the Latin “annus” meaning “year”.

56 “The Penguin” airer : HBO

The Penguin is an enemy of Batman in the comic book series and its spin-offs. The villain first appeared in 1941 and was inspired by the advertising mascot of Kool cigarettes at that time, a penguin with a hat and cane. Famously, the Penguin was played by Burgess Meredith in “Batman” TV series in the 1960s. The character was also portrayed by Danny DeVito in the 1992 film “Batman Returns”.

57 “And what’s he then that says I play the villain?” speaker : IAGO

Iago is the schemer in Shakespeare’s “Othello”. He is a soldier who fought alongside Othello and feels hard done by, missing out on promotion. Iago hatches a plot designed to discredit his rival Cassio by insinuating that Cassio is having an affair with Desdemona, Othello’s wife.

58 One of the Torah’s four foremothers : LEAH

According to the Bible, Leah was one of the two wives of Jacob, the other being Leah’s sister Rachel. Jacob’s intention had been to marry Rachel, but Leah and Rachel’s father “switched” his daughters and provided Leah as the veiled bride. Jacob married Rachel a week later, and lived with the two wives concurrently.

63 Feline hybrid : LIGER

The tiger is the largest species in the cat family. Tigers have been known to breed with lions. A liger is a cross between a male lion and female tiger. A tigon is a cross between a female lion and a male tiger.

77 Coupon clipper’s acronym : BOGO

Buy one, get one (BOGO) or buy one, get one free (BOGOF).

78 Lively get-togethers : SHINDIGS

“Shindig” is such a lovely word, I think. It describes a party that usually includes some dancing. Although its origin isn’t really clear, the term perhaps comes from “shinty”, a Scottish game that’s similar to field hockey.

82 Article in Alsace : LES

Of the 27 regions of metropolitan France (i.e. the territory of France within Europe), the smallest is Alsace. Alsace sits at the very east of the country, right on the border with Germany. The political status of Alsace was disputed by France and Germany for over three centuries, and was formally handed over to French control after Germany’s defeat in WWII.

83 Soaks up some sun : GETS A TAN

Melanin is a natural pigment found in most organisms. In humans, melanin is the pigment in the skin, the production of which accelerates in response to UV radiation causing a “tan”. Melanin is also what is released as cephalopod ink, a defensive cloud squirted into the water by squids and octopodes.

88 Aptly named plug-in hybrid : VOLT

The Chevrolet Volt first went on sale at the end of 2010, and is a plug-in hybrid car that runs on batteries. The Volt has a gasoline engine that can be used to run an electric generator when needed. The Volt also uses a regenerative braking system.

90 Participant in the annual “S.N.L.” Christmas joke swap : JOST

Comedian Colin Jost is perhaps best known as co-host of “Weekend Update” on “Saturday Night Live” (SNL), along with Michael Che (and how great are they together?). Offscreen, Jost shared a dorm with 2020 US presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, and ended up portraying him on “SNL”. While on the “SNL” cast, Jost met actress Scarlett Johansson on one of the occasions she hosted the show. They married in 2020.

91 Glass artist Chihuly : DALE

American artist Dale Chihuly is best known for his large glass sculptures. The largest permanent exhibit of his work is at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, although I’ve personally seen large amounts of his work at Chihuly Garden and Glass in Seattle and at the Bellagio resort and hotel in Las Vegas.

92 Biblical sanctuary : ARK

The term “ark”, when used with reference to Noah, is a translation of the Hebrew word “tebah”. The word “tebah” is also used in the Bible for the basket in which Moses was placed by his mother when she floated him down the Nile. It seems that the word “tebah” doesn’t mean “boat” and nor does it mean “basket”. Rather, a more appropriate translation is “life-preserver” or “life-saver”. So, Noah’s ark was Noah’s life-preserver during the flood.

93 Whimsical method of transportation depicted in this puzzle’s grid : HOT-AIR BALLOON

The first manned flight in a hot-air balloon took place in 1873 when Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier was carried aloft in a tethered flight. The balloon that he used was invented by Étienne and his brother Joseph-Michel Montgolfier. If you go see the Paris Las Vegas hotel, you can see a giant replica of the Montgolfier balloon alongside a replica of the Eiffel Tower.

102 Some luxury cars : AUDIS

The Audi name has an interesting history. The Horch company was founded by August Horch in 1909. Early in the life of the new company, Horch was forced out of his own business. He set up a new enterprise and continued to use his own name as a brand. The old company sued him for using the Horch name so a meeting was held to choose something new. Horch’s young son was studying Latin in the room where the meeting was taking place. He pointed out that “horch” was German for “hear” and he suggested “Audi” as a replacement, the Latin for “listen”.

115 Lumpy-looking fruit : UGLI

The ugli fruit is a hybrid of an orange and a tangerine that was first discovered growing wild in Jamaica where most ugli fruit comes from today. “UGLI” is a trademark name that is a variant of “ugly”, a nod to the fruit’s unsightly wrinkled rind.

116 Activist Yoko : ONO

Yoko Ono was born in 1933 in Tokyo into a prosperous Japanese family, and is actually a descendant of one of the emperors of Japan. Yoko’s father moved around the world for work, and she lived the first few years of her life in San Francisco. The family returned to Japan, before moving on to New York, Hanoi and back to Japan just before WWII, in time to live through the great firebombing of Tokyo in 1945. Immediately after the war the family was far from prosperous. While Yoko’s father was being held in a prison camp in Vietnam, her mother had to resort to begging and bartering to feed her children. When her father was repatriated, life started to return to normal and Yoko was able to attend university. She was the first woman to be accepted into the philosophy program of Gakushuin University.

117 Bit of swag that may be screen-printed : TEE

Swag is loot, stolen property, and a term that started out as criminal slang in England in the 1830s. “Swag” is also the name given to the promotional freebies available at some events. That said, there’s an urban myth that the promotional version of “swag” is an acronym standing for “stuff we all get”.

123 Bit of quinoa : SEED

Quinoa is a grain crop that is more closely related to beetroots and spinach that it is to cereals and grasses. Quinoa is mainly cultivated for its edible seeds, which are high in protein. The seeds are also gluten free, which seems to be a big deal these days. I do like my quinoa …

Down

1 Jesmyn ___, first woman to win two National Book Awards for Fiction : WARD

Novelist Jesmyn Ward is the only woman to have won the National Book Award for fiction twice, doing so in 2011 for her novel “Salvage the Bones”, and again in 2017 for her novel “Sing, Unburied, Sing”.

4 Seminal protest song written at a Greenwich Village cafe : BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND

Bob Dylan wrote the famous song “Blowin’ in the Wind” in 1963, apparently taking all of ten minutes to finish the whole composition. “Blowin’ in the Wind” has been covered many, many times, with a Peter, Paul and Mary version in 1963 the most commercially successful.

5 Use a pen, say : VAPE

An electronic cigarette (also called an “e-cigarette”) is a battery-powered device that resembles a real cigarette. The e-cigarette vaporizes a solution that contains nicotine, forming a vapor that resembles smoke. The vapor is inhaled in a process called “vaping”, delivering nicotine into the body. The assumption is that an e-cigarette is healthier than a regular cigarette as the inhaled vapor is less harmful than inhaled smoke. But, that may not be so …

9 From, in Frankfort : VON

“Frankfort”, really? I am guessing this is a typo and should read “Frankfurt”.

Frankfurt is the fifth largest city in Germany. It is more properly called Frankfurt am Main, to distinguish it from Frankfurt an der Oder, a town near the Polish border. The larger Frankfurt is located on the Main River, hence the name.

13 Like over half the residents of Dearborn, Michigan, the largest U.S. city with this distinction : ARAB

Okay, who knows the link between Augusta, Maine and Dearborn, Michigan? Dearborn, Michigan is named after US patriot Henry Dearborn, and Augusta, Maine, is named after his wife, Augusta Dearborn.

19 Asian bean variety : MUNG

Mung beans are native to India and are used in both savory and sweet dishes in many Asian cuisines.

20 Texted reply of gratitude : TYSM

Thank you so much (TYSM)

30 “I love,” in Lima : AMO

Lima is the capital city of Peru. It was founded in 1535 by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, who named it “la Ciudad de los Reyes” (the City of Kings). He chose this name because the decision to found the city was made on January 6th, the feast of the Epiphany that commemorates the visit of the three kings to Jesus in Bethlehem. Lima is home to the oldest university in all of the Americas, as San Marco University was founded in 1551 during the days of Spanish colonial rule.

31 Hindu god of rights and responsibilities : RAMA

In the Hindu tradition, the god Vishnu has several different avatars i.e. incarnations or manifestations. Rama is the seventh of these avatars.

32 “The L Word” creator Chaiken : ILENE

Ilene Chaiken is the co-creator of the Showtime drama series “The L Word”. The show deals with lesbian, bisexual and transgender people living in West Hollywood. The title refers to “the L word”: lesbian.

33 Saliva secreter : GLAND

An endocrine gland is one that secretes hormones directly into the bloodstream. Examples of endocrine glands are the hypothalamus, the thyroid and the adrenal glands. An exocrine gland is one that secretes its essential product by way of a duct. Examples of exocrine glands are sweat glands, salivary glands and mammary glands.

34 Bronze statue outside of 30 Rockefeller Plaza : ATLAS

The iconic bronze statue of Atlas that faces Fifth Avenue in Rockefeller Center is the work of sculptor Lee Lawrie. It is not to be confused with the bronze gilded statue of a reclining Prometheus that looks over Rockefeller Plaza.

35 Jack, for one : TOOL

“Jack” is a nickname for “John”. Back in the 1500s, the term “jack” came to be used colloquially to describe any man of low status (as in “jack of all trades, master of none”). The usage was extended to describe any tool that saved work, perhaps replaced menial labor. By the end of the 1600s, the term “jack” became particularly associated with a portable device used to lift heavy weights using leverage.

45 Cloying : SUGARY

To cloy is to cause distaste by oversupplying something that would otherwise be pleasant, especially something with a sweet taste.

51 Matt of “Magic Mike” : BOMER

Actor Matt Bomer’s first TV acting roles were on the soaps “All My Children” and “Guiding Light”. His breakthrough role was playing con artist Neal Caffrey in the cop show “White Collar”.

54 HOMES component : ERIE

A well-known mnemonic for remembering the names of the Great Lakes is HOMES, an acronym standing for Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior. Another mnemonic serving the same purpose is “super heroes must eat oats”.

61 Tushies : BUMS

“Tush”, a word meaning “backside”, is an abbreviation of “tochus” that comes from the Yiddish “tokhes”.

64 Outer edge of brie : RIND

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 Everyone in Georgia? : Y’ALL

What is now the US state of Georgia, was the last of the original Thirteen colonies to be established. It was named for King George II of Great Britain.

67 ___ mind : HIVE

“Hive mind”, “group mind” and “social mind” are all alternative terms for “collective consciousness”. Collective consciousness is a set of shared ideas that act as a unifying force in a society.

71 Cynthia of 2024’s “Wicked” : ERIVO

British actress Cynthia Erivo’s big break came on the stage, when starred in the Broadway revival of “The Color Purple” from 2015 to 2017. Her Hollywood film breakthrough came with the title role in the 2019 biopic “Harriet”, portraying Harriet Tubman and earning herself a Best Actress nomination.

78 ___ and Jan Berenstain, co-creators of “The Berenstain Bears” : STAN

Stan and Jan Berenstain were a married couple from Philadelphia famous for creating the series of books for children called “Berenstain Bears”. The first in the series was published in 1962 and now over 250 million copies have been sold with over 300 titles.

81 Ice belt? : SLAP SHOT

A slap shot in ice hockey involves slapping the ice just behind the puck with the stick, causing the stick to bend and store up extra energy. When the stick finally hits the puck, all that extra energy is released along with the energy from the swing resulting in the hardest shot in hockey.

85 Like Swiss Army knives : ALL-IN-ONE

Swiss Army knives are multi-tools made by the Swiss company Victorinox. The device was first produced in 1891 when Victorinox’s predecessor company was awarded the contract to supply the knife to the Swiss Army. The name “Swiss Army knife” was actually an American invention as it was the term used by American GIs during and after WWII as an alternative to pronouncing the more difficult German “Schweizer Offiziersmesser” (Swiss Officer Knife).

86 Scottish loch : NESS

Scotland’s Loch Ness is famous for its fabled “monster”, referred to affectionately as “Nessie”. The loch is the second-largest lake in the country (Loch Lomond is the largest). Loch Ness takes its name from the River Ness that flows from the loch’s northern end.

94 Moroccan metropolis : RABAT

Rabat is the capital city of the Kingdom of Morocco. After WWII, the United States maintained a major Air Force Base in Rabat, part of Strategic Air Command (SAC). Responding to pressure from the Moroccan government of King Mohammed V, the USAF pulled out in 1963.

95 Rose of “Bridesmaids” : BYRNE

“Bridesmaids” is a 2011 comedy movie co-written by and starring Kristen Wiig. I wasn’t crazy about this film until Chris O’Dowd turned up as a traffic cop. Wiig and O’Dowd were great together, I thought. Pity about the rest of the movie …

97 Cosmetic product whose name is a portmanteau of its result : NAIR

Nair is a hair-removal product that has some pretty harsh ingredients. The most important active constituents are calcium hydroxide (“slaked lime”) and sodium hydroxide (“caustic soda”). Other Nair components seem to be there to soothe the skin after the harsher chemicals have done their job. The name “Nair” probably comes from combining “no” and “hair”.

100 Purveyors of pastrami and pickles : DELIS

In the US, pastrami was originally called “pastrama”, and was a dish brought to America by Jewish immigrants from Romania in the second half of the nineteenth century. The original name may have evolved from the Turkish word “pastirma” meaning “pressed”. “Pastrama” likely morphed into “pastrami” influenced by the name of the Italian sausage called salami.

103 Optic layers : UVEAS

The uvea is the middle of the three layers that make up the eyeball. The outer layer is called the fibrous tunic, and the inner layer is the retina.

110 Creator of the G.O.P. elephant : NAST

Thomas Nast was an American caricaturist and cartoonist. He was the creator of the Republican Party elephant, the Democratic Party donkey, Uncle Sam and the image of the plump and jocular Santa Claus that we use today. Thomas Nast drew some famous cartoons in which he depicted the Tammany Society as a vicious tiger that was killing democracy. Nast’s use of the tiger symbology caught on and was used by other cartoonists to harp at the society.

111 Kennedy for American, e.g. : HUB

The Republican Party has had the nickname Grand Old Party (GOP) since 1875. That said, the phrase was coined in the “Congressional Record” as “this gallant old party”. The moniker was changed to “grand old party” in 1876 in an article in the “Cincinnati Commercial”. The Republican Party’s elephant mascot dates back to an 1874 cartoon drawn by Thomas Nast for “Harper’s Weekly”. The Democrat’s donkey was already an established symbol. Nast drew a donkey clothed in a lion’s skin scaring away the other animals. One of the scared animals was an elephant, which Nast labeled “The Republican Vote”.

114 A Kennedy : TED

Ted Kennedy was the youngest boy in a family that included older brothers Joseph Jr. (killed in action in WWII), John (assassinated) and Robert (assassinated). Ted went into the US Senate in 1962 in a special election held after his brother became US President. He remained in the Senate until he passed away in 2009, making Ted Kennedy the fourth-longest-serving Senator in history. The 2017 movie “Chappaquiddick” gives some insight, albeit somewhat speculative, about the darker side of Ted Kennedy’s life. It focuses on the events surrounding the infamous Chappaquiddick incident in which Kennedy drove off a bridge, resulting in the death of his 28-year-old passenger Mary Jo Kopechne.