0918-25 NY Times Crossword 18 Sep 25, Thursday

Bill’s time: 10m 51s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Customizable, all-in-one internet digest : RSS FEED

Many websites and blogs publish content in a format known as Rich Site Summary (RSS). The “feed” can be read using an RSS reader. The advantage of using an RSS reader is that the user doesn’t have to check the website for new content. That new material is fed to the RSS reader as soon as it is published.

15A Game played on an 8×8 board : OTHELLO

The game of Reversi is also sold as Othello. The name “Othello” was chosen as a nod to the play by William Shakespeare.

17A Meditation chant, in a sense : TOO MUCH (OM in TOUCH)

“Om” is a sacred mystic word from the Hindu tradition. It is sometimes used as a mantra, a focus for the mind in meditation.

20A Something you might change on a bed : DIAPER

“Diaper” is another word that I had to learn when I moved to America. What are called “diapers” over here, we call “nappies” back in Ireland. The term “diaper” is actually the original term that was used in England for the garment, where “diaper” referred to the cloth that was used. The term “diaper” was brought to the New World where it stuck. Back in Britain, “diaper” was displaced by the word “nappy”, a diminutive of “napkin”.

22A ___ Ulrich, Metallica drummer : LARS

Lars Ulrich is a drummer from Denmark, and one of the founding members of the American heavy metal band Metallica. Lars is the son of former professional tennis player Torben Ulrich, the oldest Davis Cup player in history.

25A Tennis do-over, in a way : ROULETTE (LET in ROUTE)

The term “roulette” means “little wheel” in French, and the game as we know it today did in fact originate in Paris, in 1796. A roulette wheel bears the numbers 1-36. A French entrepreneur called François Blanc introduced the number “0” on the wheel, to give the house an extra advantage. Legend has it that Blanc made a deal with the devil in order to unearth the secrets of roulette. The legend is supported by the fact that the numbers 1 through 36 add up to a total of “666”, which is the “Number of the Beast”. Spooky …

27A Counterparts of countesses in British peerage : EARLS

In the ranking of nobles, an earl comes above a viscount and below a marquis. The rank of earl is used in the British peerage system and is equivalent to the rank of count in other countries. Other British ranks have female forms (e.g. marquis and marchioness, viscount and viscountess), but there isn’t a female word for the rank of earl. A female given the same rank as an earl is known as a countess.

28A Equine hybrid : HINNY

A hinny is the offspring of a male horse (the “h-” from h-orse) and a female donkey/ass (the “-nny” from je-nny). A mule is more common, and is the offspring of a female horse and male donkey/ass.

29A One in Bonn : EIN

After WWII, Bonn was chosen as the capital of West Germany. That choice was promoted by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer who was from the area. After German reunification, the nation’s capital was moved to Berlin.

30A Sch. with a satellite campus in Calexico : SDSU

San Diego State University (SDSU)

34A Superman portrayer Christopher, in so many words : RARE EVENT (REEVE in RANT)

Actor Christopher Reeve was most associated with his portrayal of Superman in the late seventies and early eighties. Reeve became paralyzed from the neck down when he fell from a horse in a jumping event in 1995. He published a best-selling autobiography 1999 called “Still Me”, and sadly passed away in 2004.

The 1978 movie “Superman” was directed by Richard Donner and stars a relatively unknown Christopher Reeve in the title role. Many critics cite “Superman” as the film that launched the reemergence of interest in superhero films, a level of interest that has only grown since then.

37A Heart-pumping stuff? : PLASMA

Plasma (sometimes “plasm”) is the clear, yellow-colored liquid component of blood and lymph in which cells are suspended.

41A ___ Kong : HONG

Hong Kong became part of the British Empire after the First Opium War in 1842. In 1898, Britain signed a 99-year lease to retain control of Hong Kong. That control ended 99 years later in 1997 with a formal transfer of sovereignty back to China.

45A Steeplechase unit : LAP

Back in the 1700s there was a race called a “steeplehunt”, a horse race from a fixed location to some church in the distance which had a steeple visible. This evolved into the race that we know today as a “steeplechase”.

48A Borderer of the Indian state of Sikkim : NEPAL

The nation of Nepal shares a border to the north with China. The remaining border to the south, east and west is shared with India.

49A Passport or driver’s license, in a manner of speaking : ACCIDENT (ID in ACCENT)

Identity document (ID)

51A Who wrote “Existentialism Is a Humanism,” 1945 : SARTRE

In a 1946 lecture titled “Existentialism Is a Humanism”, French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre said:

We are left alone, without excuse. That is what I mean when I say that man is condemned to be free. Condemned, because he did not create himself, yet is nevertheless at liberty, and from the moment that he is thrown into this world he is responsible for everything he does.

53A Spread some dirt : GOSSIP

Our word “gossip” comes from the Old English “godsibb” meaning “godparent”. Back then, the term was used for female friends who attended a birth, and later for anyone engaging in idle talk.

To dish the dirt is to talk about someone or something without regard to veracity. The phrase comes from “dish” (in the sense of dishing out food) and “dirt” (in the sense of negative information). To be dishy is to be given to gossip.

55A Gershwin brother : IRA

Ira Gershwin was the lyricist who worked with his brother George to create such American classics as the songs “I Got Rhythm” and “Someone to Watch Over Me”, as well as the opera “Porgy and Bess”. After George Gershwin died, Ira continued to create great music, and worked with the likes of Jerome Kern and Kurt Weill.

56A Muscle car whose name evokes a U.S. road trip : TRANS AM

The Trans Am, produced from 1969 to 2002, was a specialty version of the Pontiac Firebird. My favorite Trans Am is KITT, the artificially intelligent car in the eighties TV show “Knight Rider” …

58A Action star Jet, in a nutshell : PELICAN (LI in PECAN)

The pelican is an example of a piscivore. A piscivorous animal is actually a carnivore, but one that lives on fish.

Actor Jet Li’s real name is Li Jian Jie. He is a martial artist and international film star from Beijing, China. Li played a villain in “Lethal Weapon 4”, and had a leading role in the 2000 movie “Romeo Must Die”.

62A O-O and O-O-O, in chess notation : CASTLES

In the notation used to record moves in games of chess, castling with the kingside rook can be recorded as O-O, and with the queenside rook as O-O-O.

Down

3D Rosh Hashana horns : SHOFARS

A shofar is a musical instrument used in Jewish rituals. It is a relatively simple instrument, made from an animal’s (usually a ram’s) horn.

Rosh Hashanah is loosely referred to as “Jewish New Year”. The literal translation from Hebrew is “head of the year”.

6D Nickname for the medieval Spanish knight Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar : EL CID

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar was known as El Cid Campeador, which translates as “The Champion” or perhaps “The Lord, Master of Military Arts”. El Cid was a soldier who fought under the rule of King Alfonso VI of Spain (among others). However, he was sent into exile by the King in 1080, after acting beyond his authorization in battle. El Cid then offered his services to his former foes, the Moorish kings, After a number of years building a reputation with the Moors, he was recalled from exile by Alfonso. By this time El Cid was very much his own man. Nominally under the orders of Alfonso, he led a combined army of Spanish and Moorish troops and took the city of Valencia on the Mediterranean coast in 1094, making it his headquarters and home. He died in Valencia, quite peacefully, in 1099.

7D Mideast capital : DOHA

Doha is the capital city of the Persian Gulf state of Qatar. The name “Doha” translates from Arabic as “big tree” or “roundness”.

9D Sports bet based on total points scored : OVER-UNDER

An over-under bet is a wager that a number will be over or under a particular value. A common over-under bet is made on the combined points scored by two teams in a game.

10D Sister of Helios, in Greek myth : EOS

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”.

11D Barrier to entry, perhaps : STILE

A stile is a structure allowing people to pass over or through a fence, while at the same time preventing livestock from escaping. The derivative term “turnstile” describes a revolving structure in a wall or fence that allows the controlled passage of people.

13D Slothfulness : INERTIA

“Sloth”, meaning “indolence, sluggishness”, comes from the Middle English word “slowe”, which is also the root of our contemporary word “slow”. The animal, the sloth, is so named as it exhibits slow-moving behavior.

24D Curved lines on sheet music : SLURS

In the world of music, a slur is a curved line that connects neighboring notes that are to be played smoothly, without separation.

26D France’s third-largest city, after Paris and Marseille : LYON

The city of Lyon in France is sometimes known as “Lyons” in English. It is the second-largest metropolitan area in the country, after Paris, and is located just to the north of the confluence of the Rhône and Saône Rivers.

28D Quality to which a unique six-character code is assigned, in graphic design : HUE

A hex code works by defining the intensity of Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) that make up a specific color on a screen. The code is formatted as #RRGGBB:

• The first two characters (RR) represent the amount of Red.
• The middle two characters (GG) represent the amount of Green.
• The last two characters (BB) represent the amount of Blue.

31D Arcade staple with a joystick : CRANE GAME

The arcade claw machine dates back to the 1890s. Amazingly (to me), the original machines were designed to resemble the massive steam shovels used to dig the Panama Canal. The first patented claw machine was called the Erie Digger. It was introduced in 1926, and named for a different waterway: the Erie Canal. These early machines were filled with candy, nuts, or other small trinkets, instead of the plush toys that are common today.

In an airplane, a joystick is the control device that operates the elevators and the ailerons. The word “joystick” also describes any control stick capable of moving in two or more directions. The term originated as aviator slang in the early 1900s.

38D Constellation whose name is Latin for “lizard” : LACERTA

Lacerta is a faint constellation, one that is quite hard to make out. “Lacerta” is Latin for “lizard”.

39D U.S. History or Calculus BC, e.g. : AP CLASS

The Advanced Placement (AP) program offers college-level courses to kids who are still in high school (HS). After being tested at the end of an AP course, successful students receive credits that count towards a college degree.

47D Garden guardians : GNOMES

In English folklore, the fairy’s anti-hero is the diminutive gnome, an evil ugly character. Although the characteristics of gnomes vary in folklore, typically they are described as diminutive humanoids who live underground. Over the centuries, the gnome has become more lovable. We now have garden gnomes, and even the Travelocity Gnome.

48D Italy’s third-largest city, after Rome and Milan : NAPLES

Naples (“Napoli” in Italian) is the third largest city in Italy. The name “Napoli” comes from the city’s Ancient Greek name, which translates as “New City”. That’s a bit of a paradox as today Naples is one of the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world.

51D Invader’s tactic : SIEGE

Our word “siege” comes from a 13th-century word for a “seat”. The military usage derives from the concept of a besieging force “sitting down” outside a fortress until it falls.

57D Its youngest host was a 7-year-old Drew Barrymore in ’82 : SNL

The youngest person to host “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) was Drew Barrymore, at age 7 in 1982. The oldest host was Betty White, at 88 in 2010.

Drew Barrymore has quite the pedigree, being a granddaughter of Hollywood icon John Barrymore. She appeared in her first movie at the age of five, in 1980’s “Altered States”, but her big break was in 1982’s “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial”. That same year she became the youngest host of “Saturday Night Live” at the age of seven. She has been invited back to host the show quite a few times and has now hosted six times, more than any other female celebrity.

59D “If u ask me …” : IMO …

In my opinion (IMO)