1101-25 NY Times Crossword 1 Nov 25, Saturday

Bill’s time: 13m 49s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

15A Gift of Athena to Athenians : OLIVE TREE

According to myth, the goddess Athena competed with Poseidon for the privilege of being the patron of the city we now call Athens. Poseidon gave the city a salt water spring, and Athena offered an olive tree. As the olive tree was a source of wood, oil and food, Athena won the competition, and the city was named “Athens” in her honor.

16A Drilling site : MOLAR

Molars are grinding teeth. The term “molar” comes from the Latin “mola” meaning “millstone”.

18A Campus opening? : HIPPO-

Seahorses belong to the genus Hippocampus. The genus name comes from the Greek “hippo” meaning “horse” and “kampos” meaning “sea monster”. It’s the male seahorse who carries the fertilized eggs, and not the females. The region of the brain known as the hippocampus, is so called because it resembles a seahorse in shape.

19A “Read Me” readers : USERS

A readme (or “read me”) file is usually a simple text file that is issued with software when it is distributed. It often contains the latest information about the application, including bugs that were found at the last minute just before release.

20A Mandolin accessory : CAPO

A capo is a clamp-like device that is placed around the neck of a guitar or other stringed instrument to shorten the strings, and hence raise the pitch. The full name, rarely used these days, is “capo tasto”, which is Italian for “head tie”.

A mandolin is a stringed instrument in the lute family. There is also a mandola, a similar instrument that is a little larger. In fact, “mandolin” comes from the Italian word for “little mandola”.

22A Malediction : HEX

“Hexen” is a German word meaning “to practice witchcraft”. The use of the word “hex” in English started with the Pennsylvania Dutch in the early 1800s.

24A St. Peter’s Basilica attraction : PIETA

The Pietà is a representation of the Virgin Mary holding in her arms the dead body of her son Jesus. The most famous Pietà is undoubtedly the sculpted rendition by Michelangelo that is located in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. That particular sculpture is thought to be the only work that Michelangelo signed. In some depictions of the Pietà, Mary and her son are surrounded by other figures from the New Testament. Such depictions are known as Lamentations.

The Basilica of St. Peter in Rome was built during the late Renaissance and has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world, capable of holding 60,000 people. There is a popular misconception that St. Peter’s is the cathedral of Rome, but actually it isn’t, and instead is a papal basilica. The Basilica of St. John Lateran is the cathedral church of Rome.

27A The Rock’s signature W.W.E. move : PEOPLE’S ELBOW

Dwayne Johnson is a former professional wrestler whose ring name was “the Rock”. He has used his success as a character in the ring, to cross over into television and movies. He is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as getting the highest payment for a first starring role, an incredible $5.5 million.

33A Components of décadas : ANOS

In Spanish, “años” (years) are grouped into “décadas” (decades).

34A Spit it out! : SALIVA

Ultimately, our contemporary term “saliva” is the Latin word for “spittle”.

35A Only mammals that can crack Brazil nut shells with their teeth : AGOUTIS

The term “agouti” is used for some rodents in Central and South America that have fur with bands of light and dark pigmentation.

38A Materialistic type of the 1980s : YUPPIE

The term “yuppie” first appeared in the 1980s and is short for “young urban professional”. Yuppies are generally regarded as upper middle class or upper class men and women in their twenties or thirties.

45A Name of eight popes : URBAN

There have been eight popes named Urban who have led the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Urban I was in office from 222 to 230 and is the only one of the eight to have been sanctified. Urban VII’s papacy was the shortest in the history of the church. He died from malaria just 13 days after having been chosen as Pope in September 1590.

50A FYI advertisement : PSA

Public service announcement (PSA)

51A ___ Games (Fortnite company) : EPIC

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.

53A Commercial lead-in to -matic, once : INSTA-

Kodak introduced its line of Instamatic cameras in 1963. Instamatics were so easy to use that the term is erroneously applied sometimes today to any point-and-shoot camera.

58A High-performance British sports car : LOTUS

Lotus is a British manufacturer of sports cars and racing cars. If you remember the car driven by James Bond in “The Spy Who Loved Me”, the one that converted into a submarine, that was a custom built Lotus Esprit S1 nicknamed “Wet Nellie”. Wet Nellie was purchased by Elon Musk in 2013, and it actually travels underwater.

60A Nook book, e.g. : E-TEXT

The Barnes & Noble electronic-book reader is called the Nook. The reader’s name is intended to evoke the usage of “nook” as a familiar place to sit and read quietly.

Down

4D One way to enjoy the great outdoors, informally : RV TRIP

Recreational vehicle (RV)

5D They break after some drives : TEES

A tee is a small device on which, say, a golf ball is placed before striking it. The term “tee” comes from the Scottish “teaz”, which described little heaps of sand used to elevate a golf ball for the purpose of getting a clean hit with a club.

6D Boarding datum, in brief : ETD

Estimated time of departure (ETD)

7D Basic baseball stat : ERA

Earned run average (ERA)

8D Toyota models from 1978 to 1999 : TERCELS

The Tercel was the first front-wheel drive car made by Toyota, and what a success it was. It was manufactured under various guises from 1978 to 2000. The name “Tercel” comes from the Latin word for “one third”. The name was chosen as the Toyota Tercel is about one-third smaller that the Toyota Corolla.

9D Greek goddess whose name becomes a Mexican beer if you change the first letter to T : HECATE

Hecate (sometimes “Hekate”) was a three-faced goddess in the Greek and Roman traditions. She was associated with many phenomena, including magic and witchcraft.

Tecate is a Mexican beer that takes its name from the city of Tecate in Baja California. Tecate is a brand produced by Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery, along with beers such as Dos Equis, Bohemia and Carta Blanca.

10D Texter’s disclaimer : IMHO

In my humble opinion (IMHO)

11D “___ am your father” (often-misquoted film line) : NO, I

“The Empire Strikes Back” is a 1980 sequel to the hit movie “Star Wars”. The most famous line from “The Empire Strikes Back” is spoken by Darth Vader as he reveals his relationship to Luke Skywalker: “No, I am your father” (with emphasis on the “I”). This is often misquoted as “Luke, I am your father”.

12D Product with the onetime slogan “An adventure in every bowl!” : ALPHA-BITS

Alpha-Bits is a Post breakfast cereal that was introduced in 1958, and taken off the shelves in 2006. The cereal was relaunched in 2008 with “0% Sugar!” tagline, but I guess that didn’t sell too well. The original Alpha-Bits formulation was reintroduced in 2008. Sugar, sugar, sugar …

14D Conflicts waged on behalf of third-party powers : PROXY WARS

Our word “proxy”, meaning “the agency of one who acts instead of another”, comes from the Latin “procurare” meaning “to manage”. So, “proxy” has the same root as our word “procure”.

24D Settled a debt reluctantly : PONIED UP

“To pony up” means “to pay”. Apparently, the term originated as a slang use of the Latin “legem pone” that was once used for “money”. “Legem Pone” was the title of the Psalm that was read out on March 25 each year, and March 25 was the first payday of the year in days gone by.

25D When many take stock, informally? : IPOS

An initial public offering (IPO) is a significant event for a company as it marks the first time it becomes a publicly traded company. IPOs are often accompanied by a so-called “lock-up period.” This is a period of time, typically 90 to 180 days after the IPO, during which company insiders, such as executives and early investors, are not allowed to sell their shares on the open market. The purpose of the lock-up period is to prevent a flood of shares from hitting the market and potentially driving down the price of the stock.

26D Fr. title : MLLE

“Señorita” (Srta.) is Spanish, and “Mademoiselle” (Mlle.) is French, for “Miss”.

39D Certain smock : LAB COAT

Our term “laboratory”, often shortened to “lab”, comes from the Medieval Latin word “laboratorium” meaning “place for labor, work”. This in turn comes from the Latin verb “laborare” meaning “to work”.

49D Founder of the record label Aftermath : DR DRE

“Dr. Dre” is the stage name of rapper Andre Romelle Young. He is known for his own singing career as well as for producing records and starting the careers of others such as Snoop Dogg, Eminem and 50 Cent.

54D Certain fancy attire, for short : 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.

56D Cara ___ (Italian term of affection) : MIA

“Cara mia” is Italian for “my beloved” or “my dear”.

57D Prez with a V.P. nicknamed “Cactus Jack” : FDR

John Nance Garner was Speaker of the House when he ran against New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt for the Democratic nomination for the presidential race in 1932. When it was clear that Roosevelt was to win the nomination, Garner cut a deal with FDR and joined the ticket as candidate for vice president. When the two Democrats won, they were sworn into office on March 4, 1933. As he was still Speaker of the House at the time, Garner is the only person to have held the office of both Speaker and Vice President on the same day.