0718-25 NY Times Crossword 18 Jul 25, Friday

Bill’s time: 11m 36s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

13A “Psycho” screenwriter Joseph ___ : STEFANO

The classic Alfred Hitchcock suspense film “Psycho” released in 1960 is based on a 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. The Bloch novel in turn is loosely based on actual crimes committed by murderer and grave robber Ed Gein. When “Psycho” was making its initial run in theaters, latecomers were not granted admission, abiding by a policy instigated by Hitchcock himself. He felt that anyone missing the opening scenes would not enjoy the film.

19A Humdingers : CORKERS

A corker is something astonishing, and also something that settles a debate or discussion. The term probably comes from putting a cork in a bottle, an act of finality.

A humdinger or pip is someone or something outstanding. “Humdinger” is American slang dating back to the early 1900s, and was originally used to describe a particularly attractive woman.

20A Certain fraternity guy, informally : SIG

Sigma (sig)

21A “Les Misérables” number with a number in its name : ONE DAY MORE

The 1980 musical “Les Misérables” is an adaptation of the 1862 novel of the same name by Victor Hugo. The show opened in London in 1985, and is the longest running musical in the history of London’s West End. My wife and I saw “Les Miz” in the Queen’s Theatre in London many years ago, but were only able to get tickets in the very back row. The theater seating is very steep, so the back row of the balcony is extremely high over the stage. One of the big events in the storyline is the building of a street barricade over which the rebels fight. At the height we were seated we could see the stagehands behind the barricade, sitting drinking Coke, even smoking cigarettes. On cue, the stagehands would get up and catch a dropped rifle, or an actor who had been shot. It was pretty comical. I didn’t really enjoy the show that much, to be honest. Some great songs, but the musical version of the storyline just didn’t seem to hang together for me.

23A Instrument with a deep, rounded back : LUTE

The lute is a stringed instrument with a long neck and usually a pear-shaped body. It is held and played like a guitar, and was popular from the Middle Ages right through to the late Baroque era. A person who plays the lute can be referred to as a “lutenist”.

29A Winter athlete : LUGER

“Luge” is a French word meaning “sled”. It describes a small sled used by one or two people, on which one lies face up and feet first. The luge can be compared to the skeleton, a sled for only one person and on which the rider lies face down and goes down the hill head-first. Yikes!

33A Shepherd’s warning : GROWL

The lovely German shepherd breed of dog isn’t one of the older breeds, and only dates back to 1899. It is the second-most popular breed in the US, after the Labrador retriever.

34A Olympian Owens : JESSE

Jesse Owens is famous for winning four gold medals at the Berlin Olympic Games in 1936, much to the chagrin of Adolf Hitler. Jesse’s real name was James Cleveland Owens, and he went by “JC” as a child. However, his Alabama accent was misconstrued at school when his family moved to Cleveland, so teachers and classmates called him “Jesse” instead of “JC”, and the name stuck.

35A Receiving end? : GEE

The end of the word “receiving” is a letter G (gee).

41A Explicit subject for her? : ANTECEDENT

In grammar, an antecedent is the noun or pronoun that a pronoun refers back to. For example, in the sentence “Mary solved the crossword, and she did it in ink”, “Mary” is the antecedent for the pronoun “she”.

43A Figure skater Midori : ITO

Midori Ito is a Japanese figure skater. She was the first woman to land a triple/triple jump and a triple axel in competition. In fact, Ito landed her first triple jump in training when she was only 8 years old. Ito won Olympic silver in 1992, and was chosen as the person to light the Olympic cauldron at the commencement of the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.

44A Concocts : CREATES

To decoct is to extract the flavor of a liquid by boiling down and increasing the concentration. A related term is “to concoct”, meaning “to boil together”. We use the verb “to concoct” in a figurative sense to mean to contrive, devise.

50A Mixing board : PALETTE

A palette is a board on which an artist holds and mixes paints. A classical palette is oval in shape, and has a thumbhole and an insert for brushes. Not every artist uses a classical palette. For example, Picasso used a sheet of newspaper.

Down

1D Deity who helped Hercules through his sixth labor : ATHENA

1D Deity who helped Hercules through his sixth labor : ATHENA

In a fit of madness induced by the goddess Hera, Hercules tragically killed his own children. To atone for this horrific act, the Oracle of Delphi commanded him to perform a series of seemingly impossible tasks. These became known as the Twelve Labors of Hercules:

1. Slay the Nemean Lion
2. Slay the Lernaean Hydra
3. Capture the Ceryneian Hind
4. Capture the Erymanthian Boar
5. Clean the Augean Stables
6. Slay the Stymphalian Birds
7. Capture the Cretan Bull
8. Obtain the Mares of Diomedes
9. Obtain the Girdle of Hippolyta
10. Obtain the Cattle of the Monster Geryon
11. Steal the Apples of the Hesperides
12. Capture Cerberus

6D Whiskey distiller’s mixture : SOUR MASH

Sour mash is a whiskey that is distilled using mash from a previous batch to start fermentation. The sour mash process is analogous to the process used to make sourdough bread.

8D French possessive : NOTRE

“Notre” is a French word meaning “our”.

9D Classic hot rods : GTOS

The initialism “GTO” was used on several touring cars (including a famous Pontiac) and stands for “Gran Turismo Omologato”. Italian car manufacturers started the tradition of calling their luxury performance cars “Gran Turismo”, and calling those cars they approved for racing “Gran Turismo Omologato”. The phrase “gran turismo omologato” translates as “grand touring homologated”, “homologated” being a technical term signifying official approval.

12D Quisling, e.g. : TRAITOR

We use the word “quisling” for a person who is a collaborator with enemy forces during wartime. The term comes from Norwegian Vidkun Quisling, who led a regime during WWII that collaborated with the occupying Nazi forces.

13D Blade sharpener : STROP

A strop is a strip of leather used to sharpen a razor.

17D Tiny bit : SKOSH

“Skosh” is a slang term meaning “a little bit”. It was originally military slang that came out of the Korean War. “Skosh” derives from the Japanese word “sukoshi” which translates as “few, little, some”.

23D Driver’s license, e.g. : LEGAL ID

It took me years to stop using the term “driving licence” (and that spelling is correct) after I moved to the US. That’s what we call a driver’s license back in Ireland.

28D Dijon season : ETE

Dijon is a city in eastern France in the Burgundy region. Dijon is famous for its mustard, a particularly strong variation of the condiment. The European Union doesn’t protect the name “Dijon” so anyone can use it on a label. That seems fair enough to me, given that 90% of the mustard made in and around Dijon is produced using mustard seed imported from Canada!

29D Luang Prabang native : LAO

Luang Prabang is a city in north central Laos that is well known for having many Buddhist temples and monasteries. The name “Luang Prabang” translates as “Royal Buddha Image”.

31D They glisten in a classic Irving Berlin tune : TREE TOPS

“White Christmas” is a song composed by Irving Berlin. The famous 1942 recording of “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling single of all time.

34D Where Mandela and Nehru worked on their autobiographies : JAILS

As a young man, Nelson Mandela led the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). Mandela was eventually arrested and admitted to charges of sabotage and was sentenced to life in prison in 1964. He remained behind bars for 27 years, mainly in the infamous prison on Robben Island. As the years progressed, Mandela became a symbol of the fight against apartheid. He was released in 1990, and immediately declared his commitment to peace and reconciliation with South Africa’s white minority population. Mandela was elected president of the Republic of South Africa (RSA) in 1994, an office that he held until 1999. Nelson Mandela passed away on December 5, 2013.

Jawaharlal Nehru was the first prime minister of India, serving from 1947-64. Nehru was basically the heir to his mentor Mahatma Gandhi. Nehru’s only daughter Indira, also became prime minister (known as Indira Gandhi through marriage, though she was not related to Mahatma).

35D Rock with bands : GNEISS

Gneiss is a metamorphic rock containing bands of different colors and compositions. The term “gneiss” comes from the Middle High German “gneist” meaning “to spark”, which is a reference to the rock’s tendency to glitter.

37D Akkadian or Phoenician : SEMITE

The word “Semitic” comes from the Greek for “Shem”, one of the three sons of Noah. A Semite is one of a large list of peoples, from the Assyrians and Babylonians to the Hebrews. The term “anti-Semite” however, almost always refers to anti-Jewish sentiment.

42D Comedian Wyatt : CENAC

Wyatt Cenac is a comedian and writer from New York City who was raised in Dallas. Cenac worked for three years as a writer for the TV show “King of the Hill” before joining “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” as writer and correspondent.