0415-25 NY Times Crossword 15 Apr 25, Tuesday

Bill’s time: 6m 53s

Bill’s errors:

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6 Beer pong locale : FRAT

The game of beer pong is also known as “Beirut”. It apparently originated as a drinking game in the fraternities of Dartmouth College in the fifties, when it was played with paddles and a ping-pong net on a table. The origin of the “Beirut” name is less clear, but it probably was coined while the Lebanese Civil War was raging in the late seventies and eighties.

10 Tight-lipped : MUM

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.

13 Figure once marketed as “America’s movable fighting man” : GI JOE

G.I. Joe was the original “action figure”, the first toy to carry that description. G.I. Joe first hit the shelves in 1964. There have been a few movies based on the G.I. Joe figure, but, more famous than all of them I would say is the 1997 movie “G.I. Jane” starring Demi Moore in the title role. I thought that “G.I. Jane” had some potential, to be honest, but it really did not deliver in the end.

15 ___ for sore eyes (www.optometrists.com?) : SITE

Starting in the mid-1700s, a device known as an optometer was used for measuring prescriptions for eyeglasses. Over time, a professional using an optometer came to be known as an optometrist.

19 Lisa Simpson’s musical instrument : SAX

Lisa Simpson is Bart’s brainy younger sister on TV’s “The Simpsons”. She is voiced by actress Yeardley Smith. In a 2008 episode of the show, Lisa enters a crossword tournament. Crossword celebrities Merl Reagle and Will Shortz make appearances in that episode, basically playing cartoon versions of themselves.

22 Ben & Jerry’s flavor honoring a jam band legend : CHERRY GARCIA

Ben & Jerry’s introduced the Cherry Garcia flavor of ice cream in 1987. The flavor is named after Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead.

28 Potter : wheel :: painter : ___ : EASEL

The term “easel” comes from an old Dutch word meaning “donkey”, would you believe? The idea is that an easel carries its load (an oil painting, say) just as a donkey would be made to carry a load.

29 ___ chic (fashion style) : BOHO

Boho-chic is a style of fashion that grew out of the bohemian and hippie looks.

32 Water-testing org. : EPA

The main legislation governing water pollution in the US is the Clean Water Act (CWA), which became law in 1972.

35 Not quite right … or a hint to this puzzle’s circled letters : CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR

The expression “close, but no cigar” is a reference meaning that one can come close in a competition, but may not win the prize, the cigar.

40 D.E.A. agent, informally : NARCO

“Narc” and “narco” are slang terms describing a law enforcement officer who tracks down criminals associated with illegal drugs. Both words are short for “narcotics officer”. Narcs might work for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

41 Lit ___ : CRIT

Literary studies, also called literary criticism (lit crit), is the evaluation and interpretation of literature.

44 Herculean tasks : LABORS

“The Twelve Labors of Hercules” is actually a Greek myth, although “Hercules” is the Roman name for the hero that the Greeks called “Heracles”.

46 Genre for Gabriel García Márquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude” : MAGIC REALISM

“One Hundred Years of Solitude” (“Cien años de soledad” in Spanish) is a 1967 novel by Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez.

56 Online marketplace with a “barter” category : CRAIGSLIST

Craigslist (usually written as “craigslist”) is an online network of communities that features classified advertisements organized geographically. Craigslist was started by Craig Newmark in 1995, originally as an email distribution list for his friends who lived and worked in the San Francisco Bay Area.

60 Six-time French Open champ Björn : BORG

Björn Borg is a retired tennis player from Sweden, and a former World No. 1. Borg won 41% of the 27 Grand Slam singles tournaments that he entered, which is a record that stands to this day. He was known for reacting very calmly under pressure on the tennis court and hence earned the nicknames “Ice Man” and “Ice Borg”, the latter being my personal favorite.

63 Moore of “The Substance” : DEMI

Demi Moore was born Demetria Guynes and took the name Demi Moore when she married her first husband, Freddy Moore. Moore’s second husband was Bruce Willis. She changed her name to Demi Guynes Kutcher a few years after marrying her third husband, Ashton Kutcher. However, Kutcher and Moore split in 2013.

64 Prenatal : FETAL

The word “fetus”, used for an unborn young animal, comes from Latin as one might expect. “Fetus” is the Latin word for the act of hatching or bringing forth a young animal or child. The mistaken spelling “foetus” is seen occasionally, but there’s no historical basis for adding that “o”.

Down

1 March V.I.P.s?: Abbr. : SGTS

Sergeant (sgt.)

2 Old Italian money : LIRA

The word “lira” is used in a number of countries for currency. “Lira” comes from the Latin for “pound” and is derived from the British pound sterling, the value of a Troy pound of silver. For example, the lira (plural “lire”) was the official currency of Italy before the country changed over to the euro in 2002.

3 Cleaning product with a mythical name : AJAX

Ajax cleanser has been around since 1947, and it’s “stronger than dirt!” That was the most famous slogan over here in the US. On my side of the pond, the celebrated slogan was “it cleans like a white tornado”.

4 Yuletide drink : NOG

It’s not really clear where the term “nog” (as in “eggnog”) comes from although it might derive from the word “noggin”, which was originally a small wooden cup that was long associated with alcoholic drinks.

Yule celebrations coincide with Christmas, and the words “Christmas” and “Yule” (often “Yuletide”) have become synonymous in much of the world. However, Yule was originally a pagan festival celebrated by Germanic peoples. The name “Yule” comes from the Old Norse word “jol” that was used to describe the festival.

5 Performer at ozashiki parties : GEISHA

The Japanese term “geisha” best translates as “artist” or “performing artist”.

7 Something heard through the grapevine : RUMOR

There are competing stories about the etymology of the phrase “heard it through the grapevine”, meaning “heard it by means of gossip or rumor”. One is that it is a reference to the Grapevine Tavern in Greenwich Village in New York City. The Grapevine was a popular meeting place for Union officers and Confederate spies during the Civil War, and so was a great spot for picking up and spreading vital gossip.

8 News anchor Melber : ARI

Ari Melber is a television journalist and the chief legal correspondent for MSNBC. He started hosting his own daily show called “The Beat with Ari Melber” in 2017.

9 Private eye, in old crime novels : TEC

“Tec” is a slang term meaning “private detective” or “private investigator” (PI).

10 Big name in fertilizers : MIRACLE-GRO

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company was founded in 1868 by one Orlando Scott, and initially sold seed to the agricultural industry. In the early 1900s, Scotts started to sell to homeowners, and mainly supplied lawn seed. The company merged with the gardening company Miracle-Gro in 1955, and then with TruGreen in 2016.

12 High-I.Q. society : MENSA

Mensa is a high-IQ society that was founded in Oxford, England in 1946. The founders were two lawyers: Australian Roland Berrill and Englishman Lancelot Ware. Apparently, the elitist founders were unhappy with the development of Mensa, given that most members came from the working and lower classes.

17 The so-called “Goddess of Pop” : CHER

“Cher” is the stage name used by singer and actress Cherilyn Sarkisian. Formerly one half of husband-wife duo Sonny & Cher, she is often referred to as the Goddess of Pop. In her acting career, Cher was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar of 1984 for her performance in “Silkwood”. She went further in 1988 and won the season’s Best Actress Oscar for playing Loretta Castorini in “Moonstruck”.

23 Like the questions asked in Guess Who? : YES/NO

Guess Who? is a guessing game aimed at children that was introduced in 1979. The game has been criticized over the years for a lack of diversity in the list of characters depicted in the game. As a result, recent versions of Guess Who? include more women and are more racially diverse.

24 Feline, to Felipe : GATO

In Spanish, a “gato” (cat) is a “felino doméstico” (domestic feline).

27 Camera-friendly : PHOTOGENIC

When the word “photogenic” was coined back in the 1830s, it had the meaning “produced by light”, and came from “photo-” meaning “light” and “-genic” meaning “produced by”. Back then, the new technology of photography was referred to as “photogenic drawing”. “Photogenic” evolved into the current meaning of “photographing well” in the 1920s.

30 Container for keys, wallet, razor, etc., in a modern portmanteau : MURSE

A “murse” is a “man purse”.

31 World clock std. : UTC

Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard used to regulate clocks around the world. Because the Earth’s rotational speed is decreasing ever so slowly, UTC can vary slightly from solar time. As a result, leap seconds are added as required to UTC, on average about once every 19 months. Leap seconds are always added on June 30th or December 31st.

34 Lincoln Center focus : ARTS

The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts takes its name from the neighborhood in which it is situated, i.e. Lincoln Square in the Upper West Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan.

36 Son of Cain : ENOCH

According to the Bible’s Book of Genesis, Enoch was the son of Cain, and therefore the grandson of Adam and Eve. According to some religious traditions, Enoch’s mother was Awan, who was also Enoch’s aunt (Cain’s sister).

37 Former attorney general Bill : BARR

William Barr was US Attorney General for two years in the administration of President George H. W. Bush before being appointed Attorney General by President Donald Trump in 2019. When not working, Barr is a very enthusiastic player of the Scottish bagpipes.

38 Warhead weapon, in brief : ICBM

An Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with the range necessary to cross between continents. Being ballistic (unlike a cruise missile), an ICBM is guided during the initial launch phase, but later in flight just relies on thrust and gravity to arrive at its target. It is defined as intercontinental as it has a range greater than 3,500 miles. ICBMs are really only used for delivering nuclear warheads. Scary stuff …

49 Video game character in a green hat : LUIGI

Mario Bros. started out as an arcade game back in 1983, developed by Nintendo. The more famous of the two brothers, Mario, had already appeared in an earlier arcade game “Donkey Kong”. Mario was given a brother called Luigi, and the pair have been around ever since. In the game, Mario and Luigi are Italian American plumbers from New York City.

52 River residue : SILT

Today, we mostly think of silt as a deposit of sediment in a river. Back in the mid-1400s, silt was sediment deposited by seawater. It is thought that the word “silt” is related to “salt”, as found in seawater.

54 ___+C (“copy” on a PC) : CTRL

The Control (CTRL) key on a PC keyboard is used to modify the function of other keys. For example, pressing CTRL+C copies a selection to the clipboard, and CTRL+V pastes the contents of the clipboard to a location defined by the cursor. Control keys were introduced on teletypewriters to generate “control characters”, which are non-printing characters that instruct a computer to do something like print a page, ring a bell etc.

56 Ingredient in some trendy gummies, for short : CBD

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a chemical extracted from cannabis plants that is used as a herbal drug. It does not contain the chemical tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is responsible for the marijuana “high”.