0705-25 NY Times Crossword 5 Jul 25, Saturday

Bill’s time: 17m 00s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5A French musician/composer ___ Tiersen : YANN

The music of French composer Yann Tiersen is perhaps best known for its inclusion in the 2001 film “Amélie”. Tiersen is known for incorporating a diverse mix of classical and contemporary instruments in his works. He has gone as far as using a toy piano and a typewriter, and for “Amélie”, he even used a bicycle wheel.

16A Zhou of Chinese history : ENLAI

Zhou Enlai (also “Chou En-lai”) was the first government leader of the People’s Republic of China and held the office of Premier from 1949 until he died in 1976. Zhou Enlai ran the government for Communist Party Leader Mao Zedong, often striking a more conciliatory tone with the West than that of his boss. He was instrumental, for example, in setting up President Nixon’s famous visit to China in 1972. Zhou Enlai died just a few months before Mao Zedong, with both deaths leading to unrest and a dramatic change in political direction for the country.

22A Eerie phenomenon when a robot seems too lifelike : UNCANNY VALLEY

The “uncanny valley” is a hypothesis in the field of robotics and that suggests that as robots and animated figures become more humanlike, they become more appealing, until a certain point where their resemblance to humans is almost perfect but not quite. At this point, the uncanny valley, the slight deviations from human appearance can cause feelings of unease or revulsion in observers. It’s that eerie feeling you get when something looks almost human, but your brain signals that something is “off.”

25A Bone, in Bologna : OSSO

Bologna is a city in northern Italy. It is home to the University of Bologna that was founded way back in 1088, making it the oldest existing university in the world.

26A Neutralize bad karma, say : ATONE

Karma is a religious concept with its basis in Indian faiths. Karma embraces the notion of cause and effect. Good deeds have good consequences at some later point in one’s life, one’s future life, or one’s afterlife. And, bad deeds have bad consequences.

27A Bad guys : CADS

Our word “cad”, meaning “person lacking in finer feelings”, is a shortening of the word “cadet”. “Cad” was first used for a servant, and then students at British universities used “cad” as a term for a boy from the local town. “Cad” took on its current meaning in the 1830s.

29A Michigan’s ___ Marquette River (waterway named for a missionary) : PERE

The Pere Marquette River in Michigan is indeed named after Father Jacques Marquette, the French Jesuit missionary and explorer, and founder of Sault Ste. Marie.

37A Babe, for one : PIG

The hit 1995 film “Babe” was produced and filmed in Australia. The movie is an adaptation of a 1983 novel called “The Sheep-Pig” written by Dick King-Smith. “Babe” was a smash hit at the box office and was extremely well received by the critics. The film was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, but lost out to “Braveheart”. However, it did win the Oscar for Best Visual Effects by beating out “Apollo 13”, which was an amazing feat, I’d say…

38A Muscle named for its shape, for short : DELT

The deltoid “muscle” is actually a group of muscles, the ones that cover the shoulder and create the roundness under the skin. The deltoids (delts) are triangular in shape resembling the Greek letter delta, hence the name.

41A Getting in one guess, as Wordle : ACING

Wordle is a web-based word game that a Welsh software engineer developed to play with his partner during the COVID pandemic. The name “Wordle” is a play on the engineer’s own name: Josh Wardle. Wardle published the game on its own website in 2021, primarily for the use of Wardle’s family. One month later, the game had 90 players, and a month later 300,000 players. A week later, the number of daily players had grown to two million! The New York Times purchased Wordle in 2022 “for an undisclosed price in the low-seven figures”.

45A Like Brutalist architecture : BLOCKY

Brutalist architecture emerged in the UK during the 1950s. It is characterized by its “blocky” and minimalist constructions, often featuring exposed, unpainted concrete or brick, angular geometric shapes, and a monochrome color palette. The term “Brutalism” sounds pretty harsh, but it actually comes from the French phrase “béton brut” meaning “raw concrete”.

46A Subject of the books “Jonathan Loved David” and “Take Back the Word” : QUEER THEOLOGY

Queer theology operates on the premise that gender variance and queer desire have always existed in human history, and are represented in sacred texts like the Jewish Scriptures and the Bible.

54A Gal(lic) pal : AMIE

The Gauls were a Celtic race, with Gaul covering what is now known as France and Belgium. We use the term “Gallic” today, when we refer to something pertaining to France or the French.

55A Glass production : OPERA

Philip Glass is by far my favorite composer of contemporary classical music. His Violin Concerto No. 1 is a piece that I listen to at least as often as my favorite works from Beethoven and Mozart. I was lucky enough to attend a very small and intimate piano recital that he gave a few years ago, and it was a very, very memorable event.

56A Brendon of Panic! at the Disco : URIE

Panic! at the Disco was formed as a pop rock band from Las Vegas in 2004. Two of the original four members left the group in 2009, to form their own band, and Panic! at the Disco was reinvented as a duo. One of the two remaining musicians also moved on, in 2015, leaving just the original lead vocalist Brendon Urie. Urie decided to continue performing as Panic! at the Disco, and treats it as a solo project.

57A “99 Luftballons” singer : NENA

Nena is a German singer (“Nena” became the name of her band as well) who had a big hit in 1984 with one of my favorite songs of the eighties “99 Luftballons”. The English translation of the German title (“99 Red Balloons”) isn’t literal, with the color “red” added just so that the title had the right number of syllables for the tune. “Luftballon” is the name given to a child’s toy balloon in German.

Down

4D 3-D diagnostic test : PET SCAN

A PET scan is a medical diagnostic tool that relies on the detection of gamma rays emitted indirectly by a radioactive tracer isotope introduced into the body. Usually, the tracer isotope is incorporated into a glucose-like sugar and then injected into the bloodstream. After about an hour, the radioactive compound has been concentrated in areas of high metabolic activity, perhaps a malignant tumor. As the isotope decays, it emits positrons. The positrons interact with electrons resulting in annihilation of the particles with emission of gamma photons. These gamma photons are detected and are drawn on a map showing where the molecular tracer has concentrated. The acronym PET stands for positron emission tomography.

8D It’s a straight shot : NEAT VODKA

The distilled beverage vodka takes its name from the Slavic word “voda” meaning “water”, with “vodka” translating as “little water”.

11D Pain relief brand : ALEVE

“Aleve” is a brand name used for the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug Naproxen sodium.

12D Drew on a TV : CAREY

Drew Carey always strikes me as a stand-up guy who does stand-up comedy. Before turning to comedy, Carey served six years with the US Marine Corps.

19D Dance move that slid into English as “sashay” : CHASSE

A chassé is a step used in ballroom and other styles of dance. It has a gliding character and is a triple-step movement. The term “chassé” comes to popular dance from ballet.

To sashay is to strut along in a showy manner. “Sashay” is an Anglicized form of the French word “chassé”, a sliding step used in square dancing.

23D They’re not as sweet as porters : ALES

Porter is a dark beer that originated in London in the 1700s. It is named for the street and river porters with whom it was very popular. Porter is a well-hopped beer made using brown malt, which gives it the dark color.

30D Fortnite developer : EPIC GAMES

Fortnite is a very, very popular online game that was released in 2017. There are several versions of the game, including the original Fortnite: Save the World.

35D Earth : sun :: ___ : sol : TIERRA

In Spanish, “la Tierra” (the Earth) circles the “Sol” (sun).

46D Record-keeping device made of strings and knots : QUIPU

A quipu is a device that was used by the Incas for recording numbers. It is made of colored threads that are knotted, and uses the base-ten number system. The word “quipu” is sometimes translated as “talking knots”.

48D Like a perilous situation : HAIRY

The word “hairy” can describe a perilous or difficult situation. This use of the term is said to come from the idea of something being “hair-raising,” meaning it causes the hair on your body to stand on end due to fear or excitement.