0609-25 NY Times Crossword 9 Jun 25, Monday

Bill’s time: 6m 02s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Refill at a Shell station, say : GAS UP

Royal Dutch Shell is the fourth largest company in the world in terms of revenue (Walmart is the largest) and is headquartered in the Hague, in the Netherlands. The company was formed in 1907 with the merger of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and Shell Transport and Trading company of the UK. The two companies merged in order to compete globally with the biggest US oil company of the day, John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil. Shell Oil Company is a US-based subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell that is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

6A Relative of a rapier : SABER

A saber (sometimes “sabre”) is a sword with a curved blade and a relatively large hand guard. It is thought that the term originated with the Hungarian verb “szabni” meaning “to cut”.

17A Dangerous thing to be inside : BELLY OF THE BEAST

The phrase “belly of the beast” refers to the heart of a dangerous or difficult situation.

23A Kimono-clad entertainer : GEISHA

The term “geisha” literally translates to “person of art”. While often misunderstood in the West, geisha are highly trained professional entertainers who perform various Japanese arts such as classical music, dance, and poetry.

26A Easter or Passover, but not Christmas : MOVABLE FEAST

A movable feast, in the ecclesiastical sense, is a religious holiday that occurs on a different calendar date each year, determined by cycles of the moon or other astronomical phenomena. Easter is the prime example, as its date dictates many other Christian holidays.

43A Valentine bouquet : ROSES

Saint Valentine’s Day was introduced by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD to honor various martyrs with the name Valentine. However, the saint’s day was dropped by the Roman Catholic church in 1969, by Pope Paul VI. Try telling that to Hallmark though …

45A Typical Caribbean cruise stop : ISLE

The Caribbean Sea takes its name from the Island Carib people. The Island Caribs are an American Indian people that live in the Lesser Antilles islands, part of the West Indies.

46A Beermaker’s supply : BREWER’S YEAST

Yeasts are unicellular microorganisms in the kingdom Fungi. The species of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been used for centuries in the making of wine and beer, and in breadmaking. Saccharomyces cerevisiae converts carbohydrates into carbon dioxide and alcohol in the process of fermentation. When making beer and wine, the carbon dioxide and alcohol may be captured by the liquid. When making bread, the carbon dioxide and alcohol is driven off by heat.

51A Small French eatery : BISTRO

“Bistro” was originally a Parisian slang term describing a little wine shop or restaurant.

68A Pond honker : GOOSE

A collection of geese is referred to as a “gaggle” when on the ground. When geese are in V-formation in flight, they are referred to collectively as a “skein”.

69A Instrument used in Hindustani classical music : SITAR

The sitar has been around since the Middle Ages. It is a stringed instrument that is played by plucking, and is used most often in Hindustani classical music. A key feature of the sitar is its set of sympathetic strings, which are not plucked but resonate in response to the main strings, contributing to its rich, shimmering sound. In the West we have been exposed to the instrument largely through the performances of Ravi Shankar and some music by George Harrison of the Beatles, a onetime student of Shankar.

Down

1D It’s often packed during the final few weeks of pregnancy : GO BAG

A bug-out bag (also “go bag”) is a portable collection of items that one would grab when evacuating from a disaster. One well-accepted guideline is that a bug-out bag contains all that would be needed to survive for 72 hours. A related kit is a get-home bag that might be kept in one’s car or place of work. A get-home bag contains the items needed to get back home in the absence of public transportation. My wife and I put together bug-out bags a few years ago, after moving into an area that is at high risk for wildfires …

2D Singer of the theme song to “Skyfall” : ADELE

Adele’s “Skyfall” theme song, released in 2012 for the James Bond film of the same name, earned her an Academy Award for Best Original Song, a Golden Globe, and a Grammy Award. It was the first Bond theme song to win an Oscar.

3D Georg ___, longtime Chicago Symphony conductor : SOLTI

Sir Georg Solti was a great Hungarian-British conductor who spent 22 years as music director of the Chicago Symphony, one of many prestigious positions he held in the world of classical music and opera. Solti was awarded 31 Grammy Awards, the most won by any individual in any genre of music. I think it’s kind of cool that Solti’s name comprises two notes in the solfa scale: sol-ti …

5D Hitchcock film given an R rating 24 years after its release : PSYCHO

Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” (1960) was initially released without an MPAA rating, as the rating system wasn’t fully established until 1968. It received an “R” rating in 1984, primarily due to its intense violence and mature themes. Great film …

8D Niels ___, physicist portrayed by Kenneth Branagh in “Oppenheimer” : BOHR

Niels Bohr was a Danish physicist who won his 1922 Nobel Prize for his work on quantum mechanics and atomic structure. Later in his life, Bohr was part of the team working on the Manhattan Project that developed the first atomic bomb. Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein had a series of public debates and disputes in the twenties and thirties. Although the two respected each other very highly, they held very different views on quantum theory, different views on the laws of physics at the atomic level. The passage of time has shown that Bohr was on the right side of those debates.

“Oppenheimer” is an epic 2023 film starring Cillian Murphy in the title role. The movie follows J. Robert Oppenheimer, “the father of the atomic bomb”, from his student days right through World War II and beyond. Directed by Christopher Nolan, the film has an amazing ensemble cast that includes:

• Matt Damon (General Leslie Groves)
• Robert Downey Jr. (Lewis Strauss)
• Josh Hartnett (Ernest Lawrence)
• Kenneth Branagh (Niels Bohr)
• Tom Conti (Albert Einstein)
• Gary Oldman (Harry S. Truman)

Kenneth Branagh is a much-respected Shakespearean actor and film director from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Not only is Branagh familiar with playing Shakespearean characters on stage, he is also noted for many performances in Shakespearean plays adapted for the big screen. Branagh was married to the magnificent actress Emma Thompson, and after their divorce spent years in a relationship with actress Helena Bonham Carter. I enjoyed watching Branagh in the crime TV series called “Wallander” that is set in Sweden.

12D Canadian gasoline brand : ESSO

The Esso brand has its roots in the old Standard Oil company as it uses the initial letters of “Standard” and “Oil” (ESS-O). The Esso brand was replaced by Exxon in the US, but ESSO is still used in many other countries.

18D Any of several kings of Norway : OLAV

Of the many kings of Norway named Olaf/Olav (and there have been five), Olaf II is perhaps the most celebrated, as he was canonized and made the patron saint of the country. Olaf II was king from 1015 to 1028 and was known as “Olaf the Big” (or “Olaf the Fat”) during his reign. Today he is more commonly referred to as “Olaf the Holy”. After Olaf died he was given the title of “Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae”, which is Latin for “Norway’s Eternal King”.

24D Captain Hook’s right-hand man : SMEE

Smee is often portrayed as a bumbling, hapless character in adaptations of “Peter Pan”, but in the original play by J.M. Barrie, he is actually a skilled pirate who is second-in-command to Captain Hook.

25D ___ Lingus : AER

Aer Lingus is my favorite airline! Well, the service isn’t that great, but when I get on board an Aer Lingus plane I feel like I am back in Ireland. Aer Lingus is the national airline of Ireland, with “Aer Lingus” being a phonetic spelling of the Irish “aer-loingeas” meaning “air fleet”. These days Aer Lingus can only lay claim to the title of Ireland’s oldest airline as it is no longer the biggest. That honor goes to the controversial budget airline Ryanair.

28D Colorful puppy of children’s TV : BLUEY

“Bluey” is a preschool TV show from Australia. The title character is an anthropomorphic blue heeler puppy whose full name is Bluey Christine Heeler. Her younger sister is Bingo Heeler. My granddaughter just loves Bluey …

30D Place for a flower box : SILL

“Sill plate”, or simply “sill”, is an architectural term describing a bottom horizontal member to which vertical members are attached. Window sills and door sills are specific sill plates found at the bottoms of windows and door openings.

34D Outliers in the data : EDGE CASES

An edge case is a situation that occurs at, or close to, the minimum or maximum operating parameter. Examination of edge cases is something that computer programmers have to do, to stress a program that otherwise is operating as expected. An example of an edge case is running the program using an “extreme” date, especially 29th February, leap day.

41D At ___ end (frazzled) : WITS’

To be “at wits’ end” is to be so worried, confused, or annoyed that you do not know what to do next. As an aside, the apostrophe after “wits” signifies the possessive plural, implying the “end” of one’s collective intellectual capacity, one’s wits. We often misplace that apostrophe …

52D One could be dominant or recessive : TRAIT

Whether an earlobe is free or attached is an example of genetic dominance at play. The dominant gene calls for free earlobes, and the recessive for attached. Among cultural groups, the Japanese and Chinese have a relatively high incidence of attached earlobes, running at about 65% of the population.

53D Follower of Haile Selassie, informally : RASTA

Rastafari, often shortened to “Rasta”, is an Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. Its adherents believe Haile Selassie I, the former Emperor of Ethiopia, is God incarnate and the returned Messiah.

55D Court surface for the French Open : CLAY

There are four different surfaces used for playing tennis competitively:

• Clay courts (used for the French Open)
• Hard courts (used for the US Open and the Australian Open)
• Grass courts (used for Wimbledon)
• Carpet courts

57D Bart Simpson’s bus driver : OTTO

Otto Mann drives the school bus on the TV show “The Simpsons”. He is a Germanic character voiced by Harry Shearer, and his name is a play on “Ottoman Empire”. Whenever Bart sees him, he greets Otto with the words “Otto, man!”

59D Groundhog’s home : HOLE

The woodchuck is also known as the groundhog, and is one in a group of large ground squirrels called marmots. Repeat after me:

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

62D Game with Skip cards : UNO

The classic card game Uno now comes in several versions. Uno ColorAdd allows people with color blindness to play, and there is also a Braille version that allows blind and sighted friends to play together.