0702-25 NY Times Crossword 2 Jul 25, Wednesday

Bill’s time: 8m 10s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A ___ salad : COBB

Ty Cobb’s first cousin, Robert H. Cobb, owned the Brown Derby chain of restaurants. One of his regular customers was the famous Sid Grauman, who ran Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Late one night, Grauman asked for a snack, and Cobb came up with a chopped salad simply made from ingredients he happened to have in the refrigerator. Grauman liked it so much that he continued to request it, and the Cobb salad was born.

5A Site for techies : CNET

CNET is a technology website, with the acronym “CNET” standing for “computer network”. It started out in 1994 as a television network specializing in technology news. The host of “American Idol”, Ryan Seacrest, started off his career as host of a CNET show.

9A One of the hues in a Crayola eight-pack : BLACK

Crayola has made the decision to rename colors of crayons a few times, often with a nod to changing attitudes in society. Some examples are:

• “Flesh” to “Peach” (1962 … not all flesh is peach-colored)
• “Prussian Blue” to “Midnight Blue” (1958 … as the Cold War was raging)
• “Indian Red” to “Chestnut” (1999 … even though the name wasn’t a reference to “American Indian”)

15A Fit as a fiddle : HALE

Someone who is as fit as a fiddle is very fit, very well. When the idiom “as fit as a fiddle” was coined around 1600, the phrase meant “suitable for purpose” as “fit” was more often used in that sense.

17A Did you know?! The most common bar name in the U.K. is The Red Lion : PUB TRIVIA

Yes, I did …

20A W.W.E. star Dumas : AMY

Amy Dumas is a professional wrestler who used the ring name “Lita”. After retiring from full-time WWE competition in 2006, she became the lead singer of a punk rock band called the Luchagors.

21A Portfolio portion, in brief : IRA

Our word “portfolio” comes from the Italian “portafoglio” meaning “case for carrying loose papers”. The Italian term comes from “porta” meaning “carry” and “foglio” meaning “sheet, leaf”.

23A Did you know?! The oldest known porno movie is the 1907 short film “El Satario” : GRAPHIC DETAIL

I did not …

27A One might charge el capote rojo : TORO

In Spanish, the “toro” (bull) might charge at “el capote rojo” (the red cape).

29A 2014 Winter Olympics host : SOCHI

Sochi is a city in the west of Russia on the Black Sea coast. It is the largest resort city in the whole country. Sochi is going through a busy phase in its life. It hosted the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, the Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2014, and served as host for some games of the 2018 World Cup in soccer.

30A Iridescent gemstones : OPALS

An opal is often described as having a milky iridescence known as opalescence.

32A Bingo relative : KENO

The name of the game keno has French or Latin roots, with the French “quine” being a term describing five winning numbers, and the Latin “quini” meaning “five each”. The game originated in China and was introduced into the West by Chinese immigrants who were working on the first Transcontinental Railroad in the 1800s.

34A Squid’s ink holder : SAC

Octopodes and squid have the ability to release a dark pigment into the water as a means of escape. The dark pigment is called cephalopod ink (the squid and octopus belong to the class cephalopoda) and is stored in an ink sac. The dark color is created by melanin, the same substance that acts as a pigment in human skin.

37A Did you know?! Engaging in leisure activities has been shown to reduce stress levels by over 30% : FUN FACT

Makes sense …

40A Did you know?! Before mastering fire, cave men ate uncooked meat for the first million years of human existence : RAW DATA

Yikes …

42A Official currency of Ecuador and Guam: Abbr. : USD

“Ecuador” is the Spanish word for “equator”, which gives the country its name.

Guam is a US territory in the western Pacific Ocean, and is the largest of the Mariana Islands. Guam is also the first territory in the United States to see the sun rise on any particular day. As such, the territory has adopted the motto, “Where America’s day begins”. During WWII, the US territory of Guam was occupied by the Japanese for 31 months until it was liberated in the Battle of Guam in July 1944. Of the 18,000 Japanese men holding the island, only 485 surrendered, so almost all perished in the invasion. One Japanese sergeant hid out on the island for an incredible 28 years, finally surrendering in 1972!

45A Cabinet department since 1913 : LABOR

The US Department of Labor (DOL) was founded as the Bureau of Labor in 1889 under the Department of the Interior. The Bureau’s status was elevated to Cabinet level by President William Howard Taft in 1913, with a bill he signed on his last day in office. The DOL has been headquartered in the Frances Perkins Building in Washington, D.C. since 1975. The building was named for Frances Perkins who served as Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945 and who was the first female cabinet secretary in US history.

50A Did you know?! America’s first chartered money supplier opened in Philadelphia on January 7, 1782 : BANK STATEMENT

America’s first chartered bank was the Bank of North America, opened in Philadelphia in 1782. It was established by the Continental Congress and largely funded to help finance the final stages of the Revolutionary War.

56A Enemy vessels in W.W. II : U-BOATS

The term “U-boat” comes from the German word “Unterseeboot” (undersea boat). U-boats were primarily used in WWII to enforce a blockade against enemy commercial shipping, with a main objective being to cut off the supplies being transported to Britain from the British colonies and the US. The epic fight for control of the supply routes became known as the Battle of the Atlantic.

57A Outfit that might have satin lapels, informally : TUX

Apparently, the style of men’s evening dress called a “tuxedo” was first worn to a country club event in 1886 in New York. The use of a dark dinner jacket without tails became fashionable at the club with the members, and the tradition spread from there. The country club was located in Tuxedo Park, New York, giving the style of dress its name.

61A Spanish island with many nightclubs : IBIZA

Ibiza is a Mediterranean island located almost 100 miles off the Spanish coast. It is a very popular tourist destination, largely for its legendary nightlife.

62A Did you know?! Diamonds are 58 times more resistant to pressure than rubies or sapphires : HARD TRUTH

The Mohs scale of mineral hardness was developed in 1812 by Friedrich Mohs. Basically Mohs took minerals and scratched them with other minerals. In this way he was able to determine which minerals were hardest (most scratch resistant) and which softest. On the scale, diamond is the hardest (and rated 10), while talc is the softest (and rated 1).

65A “___ est mort” (“the king is dead”) : LE ROI

The famous French phrase “Le roi est mort, vive le roi!” (The king is dead, long live the king!) is a proclamation made upon the death of a monarch and the immediate succession of their heir. It dates back to medieval France, with one of the earliest documented uses being at the funeral of Charles VI in 1422.

66A Modern aerosol emitter, for short : E-CIG

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 …

68A Boxer nicknamed “Kid Dynamite” : TYSON

Boxer Mike Tyson, nicknamed “Iron Mike”, has said some pretty graphic things about his opponents. For example:

• About Lennox Lewis: “My main objective is to be professional but to kill him.”
• To Razor Ruddock: “I’m gonna make you my girlfriend.”
• About Tyrell Biggs: “He was screaming like my wife.”

70A “College GameDay” airer : ESPN

There are several sports shows on ESPN called “College GameDay”, the oldest of which is the one covering college football.

Down

1D ___ América (international football competition) : COPA

The Copa América is the oldest international soccer tournament in the world, having been first contested in 1916. The tournament was established for international teams from South America, as the South American Football Championship. In 1993, the name “Copa América” was adopted, and teams were invited from Central and North America, and the Caribbean.

2D Tube descender : OVUM

The Fallopian tubes stretch from the ovaries of female mammals to the uterus. They are named for the 16th-century Italian anatomist Gabriello Fallopio, who was the first to describe them.

3D Step up from an upright piano : BABY GRAND

A grand piano is one with the frame supported horizontally on three legs. An upright piano has the frame and strings running vertically. Grand pianos come in many sizes. For example, the length of a concert grand is about 9 feet, a parlor grand is about 7 feet, and a baby grand is about 5 feet.

6D Language of W.W. II “code talkers”: Var. : NAVAHO

There are more speakers of the Navajo (also “Navaho”) language than any other Native American language north of the US-Mexico border. Famously, the Navajo language was used by the “code talkers” in the Pacific Theater during WWII to send secure communications by radio. These Navajo “coded” messages were used in fast tactical communications, with one bilingual Navajo speaker talking over the radio to another speaker, and the two acting as translators at either end of the conversation. The Navajo code was never broken by the Japanese.

7D Inventor Whitney : ELI

Inventor Eli Whitney is best known for inventing the cotton gin. Whitney also came up with the important concept of “interchangeable parts”. Parts that are interchangeable can be swapped out of equipment or perhaps used in related designs.

8D Beverage in Wonderland : TEA

In Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, the Mad Hatter makes his first appearance in a chapter called “A Mad Tea-Party”. This event is usually described as “The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party”, even though the Mad Hatter was just a guest. The host was the March Hare. In fact, the phrase “Mad Hatter” doesn’t appear anywhere in Lewis Carroll’s novel, although the character, the Hatter (and sometimes “Hatta”), is described as “mad”.

11D Pet safety org. : ASPCA

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)

12D Chamber group instruments : CELLI

Chamber music is a style of classical musical that is written for a small group of instruments, as opposed to a full orchestra. That number of players should be able to stage a performance in a “chamber”, traditionally a large room in a palace or other grand residence.

13D Genuflect : KNEEL

Our verb “to genuflect” means “to bend the knee, in worship”. The term comes to us via French from the Latin “genu” meaning “knee” and “flectere” meaning “to bend”.

22D “Uncut Gems” actress Menzel : IDINA

Actress and singer Idina Menzel came to public attention when she was a member of the original Broadway cast of “Rent”. She is known on the small screen for playing Shelby Corcoran on the musical TV show “Glee”. On the big screen, her most noted performance was as the voice actor behind Queen Elsa in the Disney hit “Frozen”. It is Menzel who sings the Oscar-winning song “Let It Go” in “Frozen”.

“Uncut Gems” is a 2019 comedy thriller film starring Adam Sandler as a gambling addict. As well as gambling, Sandler’s character works as a jeweler in the Diamond District of New York, so one can perhaps imagine the gist of the storyline. The critics really liked this one …

24D “The Sound of Music” antagonist : ROLF

“The Sound of Music” is a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that was made into a celebrated movie in 1965 starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The musical is based on “The Story of the Trapp Family Singers”, a memoir by Maria von Trapp. The von Trapp family ended up in Stowe, Vermont after World War II. One family descended from the Vermont von Trapps lives in the same town in which I used to live in California.

26D Only acting Oscar winner in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame : 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”.

34D Ones wreaking havoc : SABOTEURS

There is a story that disgruntled textile workers would kick their wooden shoes, called “sabots”, into the looms in order to disable them so that they didn’t have to work. This act of vandalism was named for the shoe, an act of … “sabotage”.

35D ___ bomb : ATOM

There are two classes of nuclear weapons, both of which get the energy for the explosion from nuclear reactions. The first nuclear bombs developed, called atomic bombs (A-bombs), use fission reactions. Uranium nuclei are split into smaller nuclei with the release of an awful lot of energy in the process. The second class of nuclear weapons are fusion bombs. These devices are called thermonuclear weapons or hydrogen bombs (H-bombs). In a fusion reaction, the nuclei of hydrogen isotopes are fused together to form bigger nuclei, with the release of even greater amounts of energy.

36D No-no in many fad diets : CARB

Perhaps most notably, the eating of relatively few carbohydrates is central to the diet proposed by Robert Atkins. Atkins first laid out the principles behind the Atkins diet in a research paper published in 1958 in the “Journal of the American Medical Association”. He popularized his diet starting in 1972 with his book “Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution”.

39D Low-pitched musical instrument : TUBA

The tuba is the lowest-pitched of all brass instruments, and one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra (usually there is just one tuba included in an orchestral line-up). “Tuba” is the Latin word for “trumpet, horn”. Oom-pah-pah …

41D “Rosy-fingered” time of day in the “Odyssey” : DAWN

In Greek mythology, Eos is the goddess of the dawn who lives at the edge of the ocean. Eos wakes each morning to welcome her brother Helios the Sun. The Roman equivalent of Eos is Aurora. Rather delightfully, Homer referred to Eos as “rosy-fingered dawn” in both “Iliad” and “Odyssey”.

47D Onetime geometric game fad : TETRIS

Tetris is a very addictive video game that was developed in the Soviet Union in 1984. The name Tetris comes from a melding of the prefix “tetra-” (as all the game pieces have four segments) and “tennis” (a favorite sport played by the developer). Since 2005 there have been more than 100 million copies of the game installed on cell phones alone.

52D “The Third Man” and “Kiss Me Deadly,” for two : NOIRS

The expression “film noir” has French origins, but only in that it was coined by a French critic in describing a style of Hollywood film. The term, meaning “black film” in French, was first used by Nino Frank in 1946. Film noir often applies to a movie with a melodramatic plot and a private eye or detective at its center. Good examples would be “The Big Sleep” and “D.O.A”.

53D Creator of a lot of buzz in the music scene : KAZOO

The modern instrument we know today as the kazoo was invented by one Alabama Vest of Macon, Georgia in the 1800s. The kazoo first came to the public’s attention at the Georgia State Fair of 1852, when it was known as the “Down-South Submarine” (because of its shape, I would imagine …).

60D Jackie of martial arts films : 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.

Something described as martial is suited for war. The term “martial” ultimately derives from Latin and means “Arts of Mars”, a reference to Mars, the Roman god of war.

63D Femur/tibia connector, in brief : ACL

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of four major ligaments that support the knee. It is located in the center of the knee and connects the femur (thigh bone) to the tibia (shin bone).

64D Issa of Hollywood : RAE

Issa Rae rose to prominence with her highly popular web series “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl”, which premiered in 2011. This led to her co-creating and starring in the acclaimed HBO comedy series “Insecure”, which garnered her multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. She’s also expanded into film roles and has her own media company, Hoorae.