1009-25 NY Times Crossword 9 Oct 25, Thursday

Bill’s time: 10m 02s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

14A Hominidae member : APE

The tailless primates known as apes (also “hominoids”) are divided into two main branches: gibbons (lesser apes) and hominids (great apes). The hominids are the great apes, and belong to the family of primates called Hominidae. Extant genera that make up the family Hominidae are:

• chimpanzees
• gorillas
• humans
• orangutans

15A Like sci-fi’s Jabba the Hutt : OBESE

Jabba the Hutt is the big blob of an alien that appears in the “Star Wars” movie “The Return of the Jedi”. Jabba’s claim to fame is that he enslaved Princess Leia.

19A Storage device that has fallen out of fashion : CD-ROM

“CD-ROM” stands for “compact disc read only memory”. The name indicates that you can read information from the disc (like a standard music CD for example), but you cannot write to it. You can also buy a CD-RW, which stands for “compact disc – rewritable”, with which you can read data and also write over it multiple times using a suitable CD drive. A CD-R (compact disc-recordable) is a CD that can also be read, but can be written only one time.

21A Weapon seen in “RoboCop” : UZI

The first Uzi submachine gun was designed in the late 1940s by Major Uziel “Uzi” Gal of the Israel Defense Forces, who gave his name to the gun.

“RoboCop” is a film released in 1987 starring Peter Weller in the title role. Weller wore a very impressive robot suit for the film, the most expensive item on the set, costing over a million dollars. Weller would lose three pounds a day in sweat alone as temperatures inside the suit went to over 100 degrees F.

23A Word after fire or before farm : ANT

Fire ants are stinging ants, and many species are known as red ants. Most stinging ants bite their prey and then spray acid on the wound. The fire ant, however, bites to hold on and then injects an alkaloid venom from its abdomen, creating a burning sensation in humans who have been nipped.

“Formicary” is another name for “ant nest”, and comes from the Latin “formica” meaning “ant”. The phrase “ant colony” describes the ants living in an ant nest. A formicarium is similar to an aquarium, and used to house an ant colony perhaps for study. The phrase “ant farm” is usually reserved for ant nests built by an ant colony in a formicarium.

31A Storage device that has fallen out of fashion : ROLODEX

The brand name “Rolodex” is short for “rolling index”, and applies to a device that was invented back in 1956. Even in today’s world that is run by computers, Rolodexes are still quite popular.

32A One of 300 at the National Mall : ACRE

The National Mall is a park in downtown Washington, D.C. It is home to several museums that are part of the Smithsonian, as well as the National Gallery of Art.

34A Variable in Newton’s second law : MASS

Newton’s second law of motion tells us that a body accelerates when a force is applied to it, and the greater the mass of the object, the greater the force required to cause that acceleration. Mathematically, the law can be written as Force = mass x acceleration (F=ma).

39A Marvel series focused on Thor’s brother : LOKI

“Loki” is a TV series based on the Marvel Comics superhero of the same name. The show’s action takes place after the storyline in the 2019 movie “Avengers: Endgame”. In that movie, English actor Tom Hiddleston plays Loki, and he reprises the role in the TV series.

52A ___ de Armas, “Blade Runner 2049” actress : ANA

Ana de Armas is an actress from Cuba. Having attended the National Theater School of Cuba, she moved to Spain at the age of 18. There, she made a name for herself in a Spanish TV series called “El Internado”. De Armas moved to Los Angeles in 2014, after which her performance opposite Ryan Gosling in 2017’s “Blade Runner 2049” earned her critical acclaim.

“Blade Runner 2049” is a 2017 sequel to 1982’s “Blade Runner”. Harrison Ford appears in both movies. Ford has stated that he is open to appearing in another sequel, about which there is a lot of chatter.

53A What Zuckerberg dropped from before “Facebook” in 2005 : THE

If you’ve seen the movie “The Social Network”, you might remember that Facebook (FB) started off as “Facemash”, a site created by Mark Zuckerberg while he was attending Harvard. Facemash became “Thefacebook” and membership was opened to students beyond Harvard, initially including Ivy League schools and then most colleges across North America.

55A “The Burghers of Calais” sculptor : RODIN

Auguste Rodin was a French sculptor who was known for realistic representations of the human form. Two of Rodin’s most famous works started out as details from a larger work called “The Gates of Hell”. One of these details is “The Thinker”, and the other “The Kiss”.

58A Klutzy … and a hint to 17-, 25-, 35- and 49-Across : ALL THUMBS

A klutz is an awkward individual, with the term “klutz” coming from Yiddish. The Yiddish word for a clumsy person is “klots”.

63A Ivy League nickname : ELI

“Eli” is the nickname for a graduate of Yale University, and a term used in honor of the Yale benefactor Elihu Yale.

65A Space blanket material : MYLAR

Mylar is a brand of polyester film with many uses, one of which is to make reflective surfaces. Mylar can be used to make reflective solar sails, which are a fascinating form of spacecraft propulsion. Believe it or not, reflecting photons of light each provide a small amount of thrust, and enough of them can propel an object in the vacuum of space.

A space blanket is a very light-weight blanket made from a thin sheet of Mylar. They are often used in emergencies as the Mylar gives a very reflective surface, which serves to reduce heat loss from the body. Hikers can also use the blanket to reflect the sun as a signal in an emergency situation.

Down

2D ___ Theater, where Ella Fitzgerald debuted on an Amateur Night in 1934 : APOLLO

The Apollo Theater in the Harlem district of Manhattan, New York opened in 1914 as Hurtig and Seamon’s New Burlesque Theater. The original facility was a whites-only venue. When it was opened to African Americans in 1934, the name was changed to “The Apollo”.

Ella Fitzgerald, the “First Lady of Song”, made her real stage debut at the Apollo Theater in Harlem on Amateur Night when she was just 17 years old. She had intended to perform a dance routine, but decided to sing instead after seeing a superior dance act. She won the Amateur Night competition.

4D High-protein bean : SOYA

What are known as soybeans here in the US are called “soya beans” in most other English-speaking countries. So, I sometimes drink soy milk here in America, but when I am over in Ireland I drink “soya milk”.

6D Classic car based in Lansing, Mich. : REO

The REO Motor Company was founded by Ransom Eli Olds (hence the name REO). The company made cars, trucks and buses, and was in business from 1905 to 1975 in Lansing, Michigan. Among the company’s most famous models were the REO Royale 8 and the REO Flying Cloud.

Lansing, Michigan is unique among US state capitals in that it is not a county seat, even though it is located in Ingham County. Ingham County’s seat is Mason, Michigan.

8D Fogy : GEEZER

“Geezer”, “codger” and “coot” are all not-so-nice terms meaning “old man”.

An old fogey is someone with old-fashioned ideas, and is usually more advanced in years. The term “fogey”(sometimes “fogy”) comes to us from the Scottish “foggie”, which back in the late 1700s described an army pensioner or veteran.

9D Hail Mary’s path : ARC

A Hail Mary pass (also called “the long bomb”) is a desperation move in American football in which a long pass is thrown with very little chance of success, right at the end of a game or at the end of a half. The term dates back to the thirties, and was probably first used at Notre Dame. The “Hail Mary” is a prayer in the Christian tradition that is of particular significance in Roman Catholicism.

12D Dolly Parton and others : BLONDES

Dolly Parton is a country music singer-songwriter, as well as an actress. Parton has written over 3,000 songs, my favorite of which is “I Will Always Love You” that was a huge hit for herself and for Whitney Houston.

13D Plastic explosive used in many demolitions : SEMTEX

The plastic explosive known as Semtex was developed in former Czechoslovakia in the late fifties. The material is named for Semtin, a suburb of the city of Pardubice located just under 100 km east of Prague. Semtex was developed in Semtin.

27D Source of some nondairy milk : ALMOND

I used to be a big fan of plain, unsweetened almond milk. It is made by combining almonds and water in a blender, and then straining out the almond pulp. I moved on to oat milk …

35D Annual breast cancer awareness observance : NO BRA DAY

No Bra Day has been observed annually since 2011. Originally observed on July 9th, the day was moved to October 13th in 2014, so that it falls in the middle of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

37D Equivalent of five carats : GRAM

The carat is a unit of mass equal to 200 mg (0.2 grams). It is used in sizing gemstones.

39D Heroine of Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” : LEONORA

Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Il trovatore” is known in English as “The Troubadour”. It is one of the few operas with more than one version written by the same composer. Verdi wrote a French translation, with some revisions to the score, which goes by the name “Le trouvère”.

42D Direct deposit, in brief : EFT

Electronic funds transfer (EFT)

43D Break the Hippocratic oath, say : DO HARM

“First, do no harm” is a translation of the Latin phrase “Primum non nocere”. The phrase is a principle used in the world of medicine that reminds a provider of healthcare that to do nothing might be better than intervening in some situations. It is often said that “First, do no harm” is found in the text of the Hippocratic Oath, but that’s just not true. What is true is that the line “I will use those dietary regimens which will benefit my patients according to my greatest ability and judgment, and I will do no harm or injustice to them” is included.

46D Fictional character who says “I am a brain …. The rest of me is a mere appendix” : HOLMES

According to author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, his character Sherlock Holmes was based on a Dr. Joseph Bell for whom Doyle worked in Edinburgh. That said, Bell actually wrote a letter to Doyle in which he said “you are yourself Sherlock Holmes and well you know it”.

48D Cutesy name for a certain leviathan : NESSIE

The monster that is reputed to inhabit the depths of Loch Ness in Scotland is often referred affectionately as “Nessie”.

Something described as leviathan is huge, of immense size. The word was used for a sea monster mentioned in the Old Testament. As a result, “leviathan” has come to be associated with any large sea monster or creature.

56D PC discourse? : IMS

Instant message (IM)

57D Prefix with cortex : NEO-

The neocortex is part of the brain, the part of the cerebral cortex that is especially large in higher animals.

60D Grp. whose activities produce long lines : TSA

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is the agency that employs the good folks who check passengers and baggage at airports.