1130-25 NY Times Crossword 30 Nov 25, Sunday

Bill’s time: 20m 49s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

8A Historical Dutch settler : BOER

“Boer” is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for “farmer”, and a word that was used to describe the Dutch-speaking people who settled parts of South Africa during the 1700s.

13A Vapid : INANE

We use the adjective “vapid” today to describe something that is dull, that lacks liveliness. Back in the 1600s, the term was used to describe drinks that were flat. “Vapid” comes from the Latin “vapidus”, which translates literally as “that has exhaled its vapor”.

17A Puzzle type that was the Oxford Dictionaries’ 2005 U.K. “word of the year” : SUDOKU

The Oxford University Press, publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), announces a Word of the Year annually, for both the UK and the US. Here are some examples:

• 2005: sudoku (UK) & podcast (US)
• 2007: carbon footprint (UK) & locavore (US)
2013: selfie (UK & US)
• 2014: vape (UK & US)
• 2016: post truth (UK & US)
• 2021: vax (UK & US)

27A Mountains where St. Bernards were originally bred : ALPS

The St. Bernard dog originated in the Italian and Swiss alps, and was indeed specially bred for rescue. The breed dates back at least to the early 1700s when the dogs worked from the traveler’s hospice at the St. Bernard Pass in the Alps between Italy and Switzerland. The breed took its name from this famously treacherous route through the mountains.

28A Former Portuguese colony on the Malabar Coast : GOA

Goa is the smallest state in India, and is located in the southwest of the country. The Portuguese landed in Goa in the early 1500s, at first peacefully carrying out trade, but then took the area by force creating Portuguese India. Portugal held onto Portuguese India even after the British pulled out of India in 1947, until the Indian Army marched into the area in 1961.

29A Chemical essential to cellular metabolism, for short : ATP

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a chemical used in the body to transfer energy for cell-to-cell. One of the main uses of ATP is to shorten muscles, so that they can do work.

30A ___ feed (news reader) : RSS

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.

32A ___ Sea, Kazakh/Uzbek body of water : ARAL

The Kazakhstan–Uzbekistan border runs almost 1,500 miles, from the point where the Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan borders meet to the point where Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan borders meet. One notable section in the north of the border traverses the ecologically challenged Aral Sea.

33A Spiral-shelled mollusk : NAUTILUS

The marine creature called a nautilus (plural “nautili”) is referred to as a “living fossil”, as it looks just like the spiral-shelled creatures that are commonly found in fossils. The spiral shape is a great example of the Fibonacci series defining a natural phenomenon, as the spiral is a Fibonacci spiral, described by the famous series of numbers. The nautilus moves using jet propulsion, by ingesting water at one end and then squirting it out at the other.

35A Org. for Penguins and Ducks : NHL

The Penguins are a professional hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They have been around since 1967, and were one of the first expansion teams when the NHL grew from six to twelve teams. The expansion team were to play in Pittsburgh’s Civic Arena, a domed structure known locally as the Igloo. It was the “Igloo” name that inspired a fan to suggest the “Penguins” moniker, which won a contest to choose the name of the new franchise.

The Walt Disney Company founded the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim hockey team in 1993, with the franchise’s name being a nod to the 1992 Disney movie called “The Mighty Ducks”. The name was changed to the Anaheim Ducks when Disney sold the team before the 2006-2007 season.

39A “W” on a light bulb : WATT

James Watt was a Scottish inventor. He figured prominently in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, largely due to the improvements he made to the fledgling steam engine. The SI unit of power is called the watt, and was named in his honor.

42A Singer with the 2014 #1 album “1,000 Forms of Fear” : SIA

“Sia” is the stage name of Australian singer Sia Furler from Adelaide. She is a cousin of Australian Christian Rock musician Peter Furler. Sia is a very private person, and even covers her face with a blond wig while performing.

43A Dealer’s manager : PIT BOSS

The pit is part of a casino that usually holds the tables for craps, blackjack and roulette, and perhaps some other games. The tables are arranged around the pit, with players on the outside and dealers on the inside. The area is supervised by a pit manager (often “pit boss”).

49A ___ Castorp, protagonist of Thomas Mann’s “The Magic Mountain” : HANS

“The Magic Mountain” is a 1924 novel by Thomas Mann, first published in German as “Der Zauberberg”. “The Magic Mountain” was originally intended as a humorous novella, a follow-up to Mann’s more famous 1912 work “Death in Venice”.

50A Summa cum ___ : LAUDE

When an academic degree is awarded, a level of distinction can be noted depending on the degree of success achieved by the student. There are three types of honor, each with a Latin name:

• cum laude: meaning “with honor” (literally “with praise”)
• magna cum laude: meaning “with great honor”
• summa cum laude: meaning “with highest honor”

52A College voter? : ELECTOR

The US Constitution requires that the Electoral College appoint the president and vice president every four years. The states, and the District of Columbia, are responsible for appointing electors to the college. The number of electors assigned to each state (and DC) is equal to the combined number of representatives and senators each state sends to the US Congress. If no candidate gets an absolute majority of votes for president or vice president, then a contingent election is held in the US House and/or the US Senate. The House would then elect a president, and the Senate would elect a vice president.

56A Taxes levied during trade wars : TARIFFS

Tariffs are taxes imposed by a government on imported goods or services. They serve several purposes, including protecting domestic industries by making imported goods more expensive, generating revenue for the government, and influencing international trade policy. While tariffs can protect domestic producers from foreign competition, they can also lead to higher prices for consumers and potentially trigger retaliatory tariffs from other countries, leading to trade wars.

59A Chop house? : DOJO

The Japanese word “dojo” translates literally as “place of the way”. Originally the term applied to training halls that were found in or beside temples. The teaching in a dojo was not limited to the martial arts, but in the Western world we use the dojo as the name for a training facility for judo, karate and the like.

60A Cancer research agcy. : NIH

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) organization is made up of 27 different institutes that coordinate their research and services. Examples of member institutes are the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Aging.

64A Matador’s opponent : TORO

The term “torero” is used to describe all bullfighters. The term “matador” is reserved for the bullfighter whose job is to make the final kill. Aptly enough, “matador” is Spanish for “killer”.

68A Beat badly : CLOBBERED

The verb “to clobber” means “to batter severely”. This use originated in 1941 in the RAF, and at that time was probably echoic of the sound of bombs exploding. The usage has expanded to also mean “to defeat overwhelmingly”.

81A Lethargy : SOPOR

“Sopor” is a Latin word that we’ve absorbed into English. It translates as “deep sleep” or “lethargy”.

84A Grammy-winning Paramore hit of 2014 : AIN’T IT FUN

“Ain’t It Fun” was a huge single for Paramore, released in 2014. The accompanying music video set an official Guinness World Record for “Most World Records Set in a Music Video”, which included such feats as “Fastest time to smash 30 clocks with guitars” and “Longest time spinning a vinyl record on a finger”. Quite interesting …

86A Actress Thompson of “Sorry to Bother You” : TESSA

Tessa Thompson is an actress from Los Angeles who is known for playing the supporting role of Jackie Cook on the TV show “Veronica Mars”, and for playing student leader Diane Nash in the 2014 film “Selma”. She also portrays superheroine Valkyrie in movies based on Marvel Comics characters.

90A Bok ___ : CHOY

Bok choy is a variety of Chinese cabbage. “Bok choy” translates as “white vegetable”.

92A Co-star of 2025’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” to fans : JLO

“Kiss of the Spider Woman” is a musical first staged in 1990 that is based on a 1976 novel of the same name (“El beso de la mujer araña”, in Spanish) by Argentine writer Manuel Puig. Both the musical and novel are about a man in a prison in Argentina. The prisoner escapes the prison routine by imagining movies. One of the imaginary characters is the spider woman, who kills with a kiss.

98A Egypt/Sudan border region : NUBIA

Nubia is a region shared by Egypt and Sudan that lies along the Nile river. The name “Nubia” comes from the Nuba people who settled in the area in the 4th century.

100A Noodling in a jazz tune : VAMPING

To vamp is to improvise musically, usually on a piano. A vamp is often an accompaniment to a solo.

106A 1994 co-Nobelist Shimon : PERES

Shimon Peres was an Israeli statesman who was born in Poland, in a township that is now part of Belarus. Peres served as President of the State of Israel from 2007 to 2014. Born Szymon Perski, Peres was the oldest head of state in the world while he served as president of Israel. While serving as foreign minister, he represented Israel in the secret negotiations that led to the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. For that work, Peres was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat.

107A Greasy spoon, e.g. : EATERY

“Greasy spoon” is a familiar term describing a restaurant, usually a diner, that is less than pristine and that serves cheap food.

Down

13D Ending with mammal or Mendel : -IAN

Gregor Mendel was an Austrian monk, and a scientist who achieved fame after his passing when his work in the field of genetics was rediscovered. The conclusions he drew from his studies of garden peas led to him earning the moniker “father of modern genetics”.

16D With 87-Down, idiom about wasting one’s efforts … as seen in four columns in this puzzle? : PEARLS BEFORE …
87D See 16-Down : … SWINE

To cast or throw pearls before swine is to offer something valuable to someone who does not appreciate the value. The phrase comes from the Bible. According to the Book of Matthew, Jesus states in the Sermon on the Mount:

Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.

17D Italian sub ingredient : SALAMI

“Salame” (note the letter E at the end) is an Italian sausage that is traditionally associated with the peasant classes. The meat in the sausage is preserved with salt, and it can be hung and stored for as long as ten years. The name “salame” comes from “sale”, the Italian word for salt, and “-ame”, a suffix indicating a collective noun. Our English word “salami” is actually the Italian plural for “salame”.

20D Diamonds can sometimes be found in them : STADIA

The Greek word “stadion” was a measure of length, about 600 feet. The name “stadion” then came to be used for a running track of that length. That “running track” meaning led to our contemporary term “stadium” (plural “stadia”).

23D Malt-drying kiln : OAST

Malt is germinated cereal grains that have been dried. The cereal is germinated by soaking it in water, and then germination is halted by drying the grains with hot air.

24D “O, had I but followed the ___!”: “Twelfth Night” : ARTS

William Shakespeare wrote his comedy “Twelfth Night” as a Christmas entertainment (Twelfth Night being the end of the Christmas season). The play’s protagonist is a young woman named Viola. The plot calls for Viola to dress as a eunuch named Cesario who goes into the service of Duke Orsino. Orsino has Cesario go to Duchess Olivia to express his love for her. But Olivia falls for Cesario, Cesario (Viola) falls for Orsino, and hilarity ensues …

28D 2022 sequel to “Knives Out” : GLASS ONION

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” is a 2022 sequel to “Knives Out”, with both films written and directed by Rian Johnson and starring Daniel Craig as private investigator Benoit Blanc. Johnson wrote “Glass Onion” during the COVID-19 lockdown, and set the film against the backdrop of the pandemic. The score for both films was written by Nathan Johnson, Rian’s cousin.

37D Arm of the police department : TASER

Victor Appleton wrote a novel for young adults called “Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle”. The company that developed the TASER electroshock weapon partly named its product as a homage to the novel. The acronym “TASER” stands for “Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle”.

44D Essayist Francis : BACON

The English philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon wrote a celebrated and respected collection of essays called “The Essayes”, first published in 1597. My favorite of these essays is “Of Simulation and Dissimulation”, which observes

Dissimulation, in the negative; when a man lets fall signs and arguments, that he is not, that he is… Simulation, in the affirmative; when a man industriously and expressly feigns and pretends to be, that he is not.

45D Comedian Wong : ALI

Ali Wong is a stand-up comedian from San Francisco who is a protégé of Chris Rock. She made two very successful Netflix stand-up specials “Baby Cobra” and “Hard Knock Wife”, and also worked as a writer for the hit sitcom “Fresh Off the Boat”.

46D Cash on the Ginza : YEN

Ginza is a district in Tokyo that is noted for its western shops, and especially the leading fashion stores.

52D 1999 Ron Howard film about a reality show : EDTV

“EDtv” is a comedy film directed by Ron Howard starring Matthew McConaughey that was released in 1999. The plot has a “Big Brother” feel to it, as it is about a TV show broadcasting someone’s life, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

53D Actress Petty of “A League of Their Own” : LORI

Lori Petty is the actress who played the character Kit Keller in the fabulous movie “A League of Their Own”. Petty also played the title role in a 1995 science fiction film called “Tank Girl”.

“A League of Their Own” is a comedy drama film released in 1992 that tells a tale about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League active during WWII. The lead actors were Tom Hanks and Geena Davis. The film spawned one of the most famous quotes in movie history: “There’s no crying in baseball!”

54D Anti-mob law acronym : RICO

The RICO Act is more fully called the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The law was used largely to prosecute members of the Mafia in the seventies, and has been applied more broadly since.

57D Act the worrywart : FRET

The term “worrywart”, meaning one who dwells unnecessarily on troubles, comes from a cartoon strip. Worry Wart was a character introduced in 1956 in the strip “Out Our Way” that was drawn by American cartoonist J.R. Williams. Worry Wart the character caused others to do the worrying, which is the opposite of the meaning we give the term “worrywart” today.

61D Sauce served with Peking duck : HOISIN

Hoisin sauce is named after the Chinese word for “seafood”. However, hoisin sauce contains no seafood, and nor is it served with seafood!

Peking duck is a traditional dish from Beijing. The duck that is served is mainly the skin, skin that has been made very crispy by roasting. In order to get the skin easily away from the meat, after the duck is slaughtered, air is pumped under the skin to separate it from the underlying fat. Sounds very appetizing …

63D Michelle Obama or Jill Biden, in brief : FLOTUS

First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS)

67D It’s a gas : NEON

Neon (Ne) was discovered in 1898 by two British chemists, Sir William Ramsay and Morris Travers. They chilled a sample of air, turning it into a liquid. They then warmed that liquid and separated out the gases that boiled off. Along with nitrogen, oxygen and argon (already known), the pair of scientists discovered two new gases. The first they called “krypton” and the second “neon”. “Krypton” is Greek for “the hidden one” and “neon” is Greek for “new”.

76D Patron of lost causes : ST JUDE

Saint Jude was one of the twelve apostles, and one who went by the name Thaddeus. In the Roman Catholic tradition, Jude is the patron saint of lost causes and desperate cases.

77D Literary runt of the litter : WILBUR

“Charlotte’s Web” is a children’s novel by author E. B. White. Charlotte is a barn spider, who manages to save the life of a pig named Wilbur. Wilbur is a pet pig, owned by the farmer’s daughter, Fern Arable. The story also includes a gluttonous rat named Templeton who provides some light and comical moments.

78D “L’___ du Nord” (Minnesota motto) : ETOILE

Minnesota is called the North Star State because it is the northernmost state in the contiguous United States. The state’s motto, “L’Étoile du Nord,” is French for “The Star of the North.” The North Star is still a symbol of Minnesota, and is featured on the state flag and seal.

80D Dictatorial figure : DESPOT

A despot is a ruler with absolute power, and often one who wields that power oppressively. “Despot” is an old French term from the 14th century that is ultimately derived from the Greek “despotes” meaning “master of a household, absolute ruler”.

81D Open-weave fabric : SCRIM

“Scrim” is the name given to that transparent fabric that hangs down onto a theater’s stage. It is often used with special lighting for various effects.

83D “Th-th-th-that’s all, folks!” speaker : PORKY

Porky Pig was the first of the characters created by Warner Bros. to become a hit with audiences. Porky Pig is the guy with the line at the end of each cartoon, “Th-th-th-that’s all folks!” If you don’t mind a little adult language, there’s a very funny 11-second Porky Pig clip that the studio released on a blooper reel in 1938. Porky Pig stutters out “Son of g-g-gun”, only he doesn’t say “gun” …

85D Flare up? : NOVA

A nova (plural “novae”) is basically a star that suddenly gets much brighter, gradually returning to its original state weeks or even years later. The increased brightness of a nova is due to increased nuclear activity causing the star to pick up extra hydrogen from a neighboring celestial body. A supernova is very different from a nova. A supernova is a very bright burst of light and energy created when most of the material in a star explodes. The bright burst of a supernova is very short-lived compared to the sustained brightness of a nova.

94D Farmer Hoggett’s entrant in a sheepherding contest : BABE

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…

97D Turf ___ (football injury) : TOE

Turf toe is a sports injury associated with play on artificial turf or any other surface without much give. It is a sprain of the ligaments around one or more toe joints, particularly the big toe. The medical term for the injury is “metatarsophalangeal joint sprain”.

99D @ @ @ : ATS

The “at symbol” (@) originated in the commercial world, as shorthand for “each at, per” and similar phrases. I suppose we see the symbol most commonly these days as part of email addresses.

101D Inits. at Grand Central Terminal : MTA

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has public transportation responsibility in the state of New York (as well as part of Connecticut).

Grand Central Terminal in New York City is the largest railroad station in the world in terms of the number of platforms (44). Those platforms are all underground, and on two levels. The official name for the facility is “Grand Central Terminal”. The name “Grand Central Station” is very common, and is actually the name of the facility that the terminal replaced in 1913.