0606-25 NY Times Crossword 6 Jun 25, Friday

Bill’s time: 15m 23s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Novelist Patchett : ANN

Ann Patchett is an author who lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Her most famous work is probably her novel “Bel Canto”, published in 2001. In 2012, “Time” included Patchett in the magazine’s list of 100 most influential people in the world. Also, Patchett co-owns Parnassus Books, an independent bookstore in Nashville

4A Adviser to an acting president? : DRAMA COACH

Barack Obama earned the nickname “No Drama Obama” during the 2007-2008 presidential campaign, as his progress towards the White Office was viewed by many as relatively cautious and error-free.

17A One of two ingredients used to make chapati : ATTA

Atta is a whole-wheat flour used to make flatbreads in South Asian cuisine, such as chapati and naan. “Atta” is the Hindi or Urdu word for “dough”.

30A Meme of the star of “John Wick” looking downcast : SAD KEANU

Actor Keanu Reeves was sitting on a park bench one day in 2010, eating a sandwich. He was hungry, and just thinking about things. Someone snapped a photograph, and the pensive look and pose was easily interpreted as indicative of sadness. The photo was shared online, and “Sad Keanu” became a thing, and Internet meme. Now there’s even a Cheer-up Keanu Day observed every year on June 15th.

32A ___ Núñez de Balboa, Isthmus of Panama explorer : VASCO

Vasco Núñez de Balboa was a Spanish explorer, and the man who led the 1513 expedition across the Isthmus of Panama to become the first European to set eyes on the Pacific Ocean. On reaching the ocean, Balboa walked into the water up to his knees, raised his sword and an image of the Virgin Mary, and claimed possession of the ocean (that he named the South Sea) and all adjoining lands in the name of the king and queen of Spain.

34A Means of taking a trip : LSD

LSD was first synthesized in 1938 by Albert Hofmann, a Swiss chemist. Its psychedelic properties were not discovered until 1943, when Hofmann accidentally ingested a small amount.

35A Cultural draw of Shanghai’s M50 district : ART SCENE

Shanghai’s M50 district, also known as Moganshan Road 50, is a contemporary art district that developed from a collection of disused warehouses and factories. It has become a hub for galleries, studios, and art institutions, playing a significant role in China’s contemporary art movement.

43A Culture center? : LAB

Our term “laboratory”, often shortened to “lab”, comes from the Medieval Latin word “laboratorium” meaning “place for labor, work”. This in turn comes from the Latin verb “laborare” meaning “to work”.

46A Flavor enhancer in many pho recipes : BONE MARROW

Pho (pronounced “fuh”) is a noodle soup from Vietnam that is a popular street food. It is often ordered with a side of hanh dam, pickled white onions.

54A Support when building bridges : CANTILEVER

A cantilever is usually a beam that is anchored at only one end to a vertical support from which it protrudes. Cantilevers can be found in bridge construction, balconies, and even airplane wings.

Down

1D Adjective on taco truck menus : ASADA

The name of the dish called “carne asada” translates from Spanish as “roasted meat”.

4D Snow fence accumulations : DRIFTS

Snow fences are designed to create snowdrifts in specific, desired locations, rather than preventing snow from accumulating entirely. By strategically placing fences, engineers can force snow to deposit in areas where it won’t interfere with roads, railways, or buildings, thereby reducing the need for plowing.

9D A model way to work? : CATWALK

The term “catwalk” originally referred to narrow, elevated walkways, such as those found on ships, in factories, or backstage in theaters. The name was given because one had to cross them with the careful, agile steps of a cat. Its application to fashion show runways, where models display clothing, began around the 1940s.

12D Part of a hammock : CORD

Our word “hammock” comes via Spanish from Haiti, and evolved from a word used to describe a fishing net.

13D BP rival : HESS

Hess Corporation is an oil company based in New York City. In 1964, the company started selling toy trucks with the Hess logo on them, in Hess gas stations. The company has been selling them ever since, bringing out new models just before Christmas. Hess toy trucks have become quite collectible and the old ones can fetch a pretty penny.

BP is an oil and gas company headquartered in London, UK. BP started out as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1909 with the remit of exploiting oil discovered in Iran. The company name was changed to British Petroleum in 1954, and today the name used is simply “BP”.

15D Fails to keep cool : PANICS

In Greek mythology, Pan was a lecherous god who was part-man and part-goat, and one who fell in love with Echo the mountain nymph. Echo refused Pan’s advances so that he became very angry. Pan’s anger created a “panic” (a word derived from the name “Pan”) and a group of shepherds were driven to kill Echo.

25D Source of a cephalopod’s defensive ink : SAC

Cephalopods are a class of molluscs with arms or tentacles, a prominent head and a body with bilateral symmetry. Most cephalopods have the ability to squirt ink as a defensive mechanism. Examples of the class are the octopus, squid and cuttlefish. The name “cephalopod” comes from the Greek for “head-feet”.

30D Sioux Falls-to-Sioux City dir. : SSE

Sioux Falls is the largest city in the state of South Dakota. The city is named for the cascades on the Big Sioux River on which Sioux Falls is built.

Sioux City, Iowa has a history that is inextricably linked with the Missouri River. The city grew from a camp established by the Lewis and Clark expedition that traveled up the river in 1804. Today, Sioux City is the navigational head of the Missouri, the furthest point upstream that is accessible by general cargo ships.

36D Cupboard component : SILENT P

The letter P in the word “cupboard” is silent, not pronounced.

Back in the 1500s, a cupboard was just that, a board on which one might place cups and similar items. By the 1700s, “cupboard” described an open or closed cabinet, one mainly used for storing food-related items.

38D Charles Mingus specialty : BOP

Charles Mingus was a jazz composer, bandleader and double bass player from Nogales, Arizona. He was as famous for his musical talent as he was for his fiery temper, a temper that would often lead to violent outbursts while onstage. This led to him being dubbed “the Angry Man of Jazz”.

39D ___ Howard, Yankee who was the 1963 A.L. M.V.P. : ELSTON

Elston Howard was the first African American to play for the New York Yankees, and was the first African American to become the American League’s MVP, an honor he received in 1963. Howard also goes down in history as the inventor of the batting donut, the lead weight that slips around a bat to make it feel heavier.

41D Propels, like a shuffleboard disk : SHOVES

The game of shuffleboard has been around for a long time. King Henry VIII was fond of playing, and in fact he prohibited commoners from playing the game. Shuffleboard is also known as shovelboard, a reference perhaps to the shovel-like paddles used to propel the pucks.

46D 2003 and 2021 Super Bowl champs, informally : BUCS

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers joined the NFL in 1976, along with the Seattle Seahawks, as an expansion team. The Bucs had a tough start in the NFL, losing their first 26 games. Things went better in the early eighties, but then the team went through 14 consecutive losing seasons. Their luck changed again though, and they won the Super Bowl at the end of the 2002 season.

47D Milky resource found in the outback : OPAL

97% of the world’s opals come from Australia, so it’s no surprise perhaps that the opal is the national gemstone of the country. The state of South Australia provides the bulk of the world’s production, i.e. about 80%.

50D Noted name in raga performance : RAVI

Ravi Shankar was perhaps the most famous virtuoso (to us Westerners) from the world of Indian classical music, and was noted for his sitar playing. Shankar was the father of the pop singer Norah Jones.