0617-25 NY Times Crossword 17 Jun 25, Tuesday

Bill’s time: 7m 16s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Ride-or-dies, in brief : BFFS

The phrase “ride or die” emerged as biker slang in the 1950s, signifying that a biker would rather die than not ride. Over the years, its meaning evolved to describe individuals, usually friends or partners, who are fiercely loyal and supportive through any challenge or circumstance.

5A Healthy ones may be square : MEALS

A square meal is one that is substantial and nourishing. According to some sources, the phrase “square meal” originated with the Royal Navy, and the square wooden plates on which meals were served. However, this centuries-old practice has an unlikely origin as the phrase was first seen in print in the US, in 1856. An advertisement for a restaurant posted in a California newspaper offers a “square meal” to patrons, in the sense of an “honest, straightforward meal”. The “honest” meaning of “square” was well-established at the time, as in “fair and square”, “square play” and “square deal”.

15A Skate park trick : OLLIE

An ollie is a skateboarding trick invented in 1976 by Alan “Ollie” Gelfand. Apparently it’s a way of lifting the board off the ground, while standing on it, without touching the board with one’s hands. A similar move can be performed on a snowboard. Yeah, I could do that …

17A Classic Beatles song written and sung by George Harrison : HERE COMES THE SUN

“Here Comes the Sun” is a song on the Beatles album “Abbey Road”. It is one of the few Beatles recordings that was written by George Harrison. And, he wrote it in Eric Clapton’s garden in early 1969.

21A Shakespeare’s Globe, e.g. : THEATRE

The Globe Theatre was built in London in 1599, and was used mainly for staging works by William Shakespeare and his theater company called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. The theater was destroyed by fire in 1613. A second Globe was built on the site a year later, and it remained open until 1642. The original theater was reconstructed on a nearby site by the Thames and opened in 1997. I had the privilege of seeing a fabulous performance of “As You Like It” in Shakespeare’s Globe (as the new theater is called) about a decade ago. Seeing a play in that remarkable theater is tremendous entertainment, much recommended for anyone visiting London.

26A Mathematician/philosopher who wrote “I think, therefore I am” : RENE DESCARTES

The great French philosopher Rene Descartes made the famous statement in Latin, “Cogito ergo sum”. This translates into French as “Je pense, donc je suis” and into English as “I think, therefore I am”. Anything pertaining to the philosophy of Descartes can be described by the adjective “Cartesian”.

40A With 41-Across, popular candy represented by the circled letters in 17-, 26- and 57-Across? : REESE’S …

41A See 40-Across : … PIECES

In the 1982 movie “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial”, young Elliott lures E.T. into his house by leaving a trail of Reese’s Pieces candy. Such was the success of the film, that Hershey saw a significant and enduring increase in sales of Reese’s Pieces. Apparently, producers first sought permission to use M&M’s in the scene, but Mars, Incorporated refused.

43A Many an I.R.S. employee : CPA

Certified public accountant (CPA)

47A Went through the air like a perfectly thrown football : SPIRALLED

When a football is thrown with a perfect “spiral”, it’s about aerodynamics. The spiral motion stabilizes the ball, reducing drag and making its flight path more predictable and accurate. This is similar to how a rifle’s grooves (rifling) cause a bullet to spin, increasing its stability and range.

50A Shady, in modern lingo : SUS

The slang term “sus” is a shortened form of “suspicious” or “suspect”.

54A Insta upload : PIC

Instagram (often abbreviated to “Insta”, or “IG”) is a photo-sharing application.

62A Bloke : FELLA

“Bloke” is British slang for “fellow”. The etymology of “bloke” seems to have been lost in the mists of time.

64A “Chandelier” singer, 2014 : SIA

“Chandelier” is a 2014 song by Australian singer Sia. I don’t know the song myself, but it sounds like it’s a bit of a downer, dealing with alcoholism, addiction and excessive hedonism.

Down

1D Money in Thailand : BAHT

The baht is the currency of Thailand. One baht is subdivided into 100 satang.

2D Skedaddle : FLEE

“Skedaddle” is a slang term meaning “run away”, one that dates back to the Civil War.

6D Street liners in parts of New England : ELM TREES

Elm trees have a unique ability to tolerate urban environments, making them a popular choice for city planners looking to add greenery to their landscapes. They have a high tolerance for air pollution, compacted soil, and other stresses commonly found in urban areas, which allows them to thrive in these environments where other tree species might struggle.

7D Word after ginger or pale : … ALE

The brand most closely associated with ginger ale is Canada Dry. “Canada Dry Pale Ginger Ale” was first formulated in 1904 by a Canadian chemist called John McLoughlin from Ontario. Prohibition in the United States helped sales of the drink as it was particularly effective in masking the taste of illegally-produced, homemade liquor.

Pale ale is a beer made using mainly pale malt, which results in a relatively light color for a malted beer.

8D Online post whose title may begin “The Top 10 Best …” : LISTICLE

A “listicle” is a form of writing used by some journalists and bloggers that is basically a list, but which is fleshed out with extra information for each list item. Typically, listicles have titles such as “10 Ways to …”, “The 100 best …” or “The 10 Most …” The term “listicle” is a portmanteau of “list” and “article”.

9D Rogen of “The Studio” and “The Interview” : SETH

“The Studio” is a 2025 satirical comedy TV series created by Seth Rogen and others. The show delves into the inner workings of a floundering Hollywood movie studio, Continental Studios. Seth Rogen himself stars as Matt Remick, the newly appointed studio head. I haven’t seen the show, but it sounds interesting, with many actors making cameo appearances …

Seth Rogen co-directed and starred in the 2014 satirical comedy “The Interview”, a movie that sparked significant international controversy. The film’s plot involved a fictional assassination attempt on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which apparently upset somebody with influence. There followed a major cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment, which the U.S. government attributed to North Korea.

24D Subj. for some new U.S. residents : ESL

English as a Second Language (ESL)

35D Garage sale caveat : AS IS

A caveat is a warning or a qualification. “Caveat” is the Latin for “let him beware”.

38D R&R : TIME OFF

Rest and relaxation/recuperation/recreation (R&R, R‘n’R)

45D Tennis’s Gibson who won back-to-back Wimbledons and U.S. Opens : ALTHEA

Althea Gibson was known as “the Jackie Robinson of tennis” as she broke the “color barrier” and became the first African-American woman to win a Grand Slam title, in France in 1956. She was quite the athlete and was a great golfer as well as a great tennis player. She was the first African-American woman to play in the Ladies PGA tour, although she never had a win. Outside of sport, she sang a little and recorded an album, and even appeared in a movie (“The Horse Soldiers”) with John Wayne and William Holden. Sadly, towards the end of her life she ended up destitute and on welfare. When her plight was made known in a tennis magazine, well-wishers from all over the world sent her gifts of money, a total of nearly one million dollars. Quite a story …

49D Wireless standard inits. : LTE

In the world of telecommunications, the initialism LTE stands for Long-Term Evolution, and is wireless broadband communication standard. In general terms, LTE improves broadband speeds. As I understand it, LTE technology allows a 3G network to perform almost as well as a true 4G network, and so LTE is sometimes marketed as 4G LTE, even though it’s really “3G plus”.

51D Language in which the first four counting numbers are ek, do, tin, char : URDU

Urdu is one of the two official languages of Pakistan (the other being English), and is one of the 22 scheduled languages in India. Urdu partly developed from Persian and is written from right to left.

52D 18-wheeler : SEMI

An 18-wheeler semi-trailer truck has eight wheels under the trailer, i.e. four on each of the two rear axles. There are 10 wheels under the tractor unit. Two of the ten wheels are on the front axle, and eight are on the rear two axles that sit under the front of the trailer.

54D Sports star who debuted with the New York Cosmos in 1975 : PELE

“Pelé” was the nickname of Edson de Nascimento, a soccer player who used the name “Pelé” for most of his life. For my money, Pelé was the world’s greatest ever player of the game. He was the only person to have been a member of three World Cup winning squads (1958, 1962 and 1970), and was a national treasure in his native Brazil. One of Pele’s nicknames was “O Rei do Futebol” (the King of Football).

The New York Cosmos are a Brooklyn-based soccer team that joined the North American Soccer League (NASL) in 2013. The current Cosmos team takes its name from the original NY Cosmos founded in 1970 that folded in 1985. Apparently, the “Cosmos” name was chosen with reference to the moniker of the NY Mets baseball team. The concept was that the baseball team was “metropolitan”, and the new soccer team was to be “cosmopolitan”.

55D Tahiti, e.g. : ISLE

Tahiti is the most populous island in French Polynesia, which is located in the central Southern Pacific. Although Captain Cook landed in Tahiti in 1769, he wasn’t the first European to do so. However, Cook’s visit was the most significant in that it heralded a whole spate of European visitors, who brought with them prostitution, venereal disease and alcohol. Included among the subsequent visitors was the famous HMS Bounty under the charge of Captain Bligh.

56D Jackie of “Rush Hour” : CHAN

Jackie Chan is an actor from Hong Kong who is noted for his action and martial arts films. When Chan was 17-years-old he featured as a stunt actor in Bruce Lee movies. He also starred in the 1982 Hong Kong action film “Dragon Lord” which includes a fight scene that required an amazing 2900 takes, a record in the movie industry.

“Rush Hour” (1998) is a buddy cop action-comedy film about two mismatched detectives: James Carter (Chris Tucker), a fast-talking LAPD detective, and Lee (Jackie Chan), a disciplined and skilled Hong Kong inspector. Beyond the movie’s success with audiences, “Rush Hour” played a pivotal role in the creation of the popular movie review website Rotten Tomatoes. The site’s founder, Senh Duong, was a dedicated Jackie Chan fan and created the website as a way to gather reviews of Chan’s films, with “Rush Hour” serving as the catalyst for its launch.