0104-26 NY Times Crossword 4 Jan 26, Sunday

Bill’s time: 19m 25s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

8A Egyptian god of the underworld : OSIRIS
9D Ready … or a word after ready : SET
13D He scattered his brother’s remains across the land and usurped his throne : SET

In ancient Egypt, Set (also “Seth”) was the god of deserts, storms and foreigners. Set was the brother of Osiris, Isis and Nephthys. In some accounts, Set murdered his brother Osiris, and married his sister Nephthys.

14A Dr.’s order? : AMA

American Medical Association (AMA)

24A Valletta’s land : MALTA

Valletta is the capital city of the island state of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. The city is named in honor of Jean Parisot de Valette, a French nobleman who commanded the resistance against the Ottomans at the Great Siege of Malta in 1565. With a population of about 9,000 (excluding the metro area), Valletta is the smallest national capital in the European Union.

25A Sci-fi protagonist who says “I don’t like the idea that I’m not in control of my life” : NEO
28A Morpheus, to 25-Across : MENTOR

Neo is the character played by Keanu Reeves in “The Matrix” series of films. One of Neo’s actions is to choose a red pill over a blue pill. The blue pill would have allowed him to remain in the Matrix, a fabricated reality. The red pill led to his escape into the real world, and a much more difficult life.

I’d guess that the most famous roles played by actor Laurence Fishburne are Morpheus in “The Matrix” series of movies, and Dr. Raymond Langston on the TV show “CSI”. Fishburne is married to the actress Gina Torres. The pair play a married couple on the TV show “Hannibal”.

35A General who crossed the Rubicon : CAESAR

Supposedly, when Julius Caesar marched back to Rome from Gaul, he defiantly “crossed the Rubicon” with his army while uttering the words “Alea iacta est” (“The die is cast”).

39A Ultimate end, to Aristotle : TELOS

“Telos” is a Greek word for “purpose, goal”. In the world of philosophy, a telos is an end or a purpose, and is a concept that is central to the philosophical method known as teleology.

40A TV E.T. : ALF

“ALF” is a sitcom that first aired in the late eighties. The title character is a hand-puppet, and supposedly an alien named Gordon Shumway from the planet Melmac. The alien crash-landed into the house of amateur radio enthusiast Willie Tanner. Tanner renamed the intruder “ALF”, standing for “alien life form”.

43A ___ Veronese, “The Wedding at Cana” painter : PAOLO

Paolo Veronese was a Renaissance painter from the Italian city of Verona (hence his name “Veronese”). Veronese is most famous for his paintings “The Wedding at Cana” and “The Feast at the House of Levi”. “The Wedding at Cana” is a massive work, measuring over 21 x 32 feet in size. It has the honor of being the largest painting in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

47A Classification that anyone can donate to : TYPE AB

In general, a person with type O-negative blood is a universal donor, meaning that their blood can be used for transfusion into persons with any other blood type: A, B, AB or O, negative or positive (although there are other considerations). Also in general, a person with type AB-positive blood is a universal recipient, meaning that they can receive a transfusion of blood of any type: A, B, AB or O, negative or positive.

49A With warts and all : AS IS

It is said that the phrase “warts and all” was coined by Oliver Cromwell, although there is no real evidence that he ever uttered the phrase. Cromwell had his portrait painted by Sir Peter Lely, an artist who had a reputation for producing works that flattered the subject. Cromwell was a puritan, and may indeed have instructed Lely to produce a less flattering and more objective image. Indeed, the painting includes warts on Cromwell’s face, imperfections that could easily have been omitted.

53A Pesto ingredients : PINE NUTS

Pesto sauce is more completely called “pesto alla genovese”, i.e. pesto from Genoa. A traditional recipe calls for crushed garlic, pine nuts, salt, basil leaves, parmesan cheese and olive oil. Yum …

58A Ozone no-no, for short : CFC

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used to be widely used as propellants in aerosols, and as refrigerants in cooling systems. CFCs make their way up into the ozone layer and trigger a chain reaction that converts ozone (O₃) into regular oxygen (O₂). That conversion creates “holes” in the ozone layer. Regular O₂ is good stuff, but we need O₃ to absorb harmful UV radiation raining down on us. CFC is not good stuff …

60A It’s a “tyrannical discipline,” said Sylvia Plath : POETRY

Sylvia Plath was a poet from Boston, Massachusetts who lived much of her life in the UK where she married fellow poet Ted Hughes. The couple had a tumultuous relationship, and Plath had a long battle with depression. Plath wrote just one novel, called “The Bell Jar”, which is semi-autobiographical. It describes the main character’s descent into mental illness. Plath herself lost her battle with depression in 1963, committing suicide at the age of 30 years, and just one month after “The Bell Jar” was published.

61A Titular role in a 2024 Disney prequel : MUFASA
50D Traumatize : SCAR
52D He led his brother to his demise by endangering his nephew : SCAR

In the 1994 movie “The Lion King”, the protagonist is Simba, a lion cub born to Mufasa and Sarabi. The main antagonist is Scar, Simba’s uncle and Mufasa’s brother. Simba is voiced by Matthew Broderick, and Scar is voiced by Jeremy Irons. “Simba” is Swahili for “lion, king, strong”.

63A Derived from gold : AURIC

The prefix “auri-” is used to mean “gold”. “Aurum” is Latin for “gold”.

66A Steals, informally : FILCHES

“Filch” is a slang word meaning “steal”. One suggestion is that the term derives from the German “filzen” meaning “comb through”.

70A Points to a church? : SPIRES

In general terms, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, often a church. More specifically, a steeple can be made up of several distinct parts:

1. Tower: the base of the steeple, which can often house a clock.
2. Belfry: the part that holds bells, often part of church steeples
3. Lantern: a decorative, windowed structure that admits light into the steeple
4. Spire: the tall, slender top

76A Certain drink + what that drink has a lot of = women’s lifestyle website : POPSUGAR

POPSUGAR was launched in 2006 in San Francisco by husband and wife team Brian and Lisa Sugar (hence the name).

80A “Horsefeathers!” : PISH!

“Horsefeathers” is probably a euphemism for a similar word that’s a little more crude. The term is said to have been coined by cartoonist Billy DeBeck in 1928. DeBeck’s most famous strip is called “Barney Google”.

82A “Fiddlesticks!” : DRAT!

We’ve been using “fiddlesticks” to mean “nonsense” since the early 17th century. Prior to that time, “fiddlestick” just referred to the bow of a fiddle.

86A Famed firefighter Red : ADAIR

Red Adair was a famous fighter of fires in oil fields, and was a native of Houston, Texas. Adair’s exploits were the inspiration for a 1968 movie called “Hellfighters” starring John Wayne.

90A L.A.P.D. unit? : LOS

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is the third-largest local law enforcement agency in the country, after New York PD and Chicago PD. Among other things, LAPD is famous for creating the first Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team in the US, in 1965.

91A The Lamb : JESUS
69D He sold out his master in exchange for silver : JUDAS

91D 2011 Lady Gaga hit : JUDAS

Judas Iscariot was one of the twelve original apostles who studied with Jesus. Notably, it was Judas who betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, a transaction that led to the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

100A Word before winner or after Wonder : BREAD

Wonder Bread was introduced in 1921 by the Taggart Baking Company of Indianapolis. Wonder Bread was introduced as “the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped”. The loaves were unsliced back then, with the sliced version being introduced nationally in the 1930s. It was the “wonder” of this sliced bread that eventually led to the idiom “the best thing since sliced bread”.

103A Buffalo’s home: Abbr. : NYS

Buffalo is the second-most populous city in the state of New York. The city takes its name from Buffalo Creek that runs through the metropolis (although the waterway is called Buffalo River within the city). The source of the name Buffalo Creek is the subject of much speculation, but one thing is clear, there were never any bison in the area.

104A “Sprechen ___ Deutsch?” : SIE

“Sprechen Sie Deutsch?” is German for “Do you speak German?”

106A Eponym of element 96 : CURIE

Marie Curie lived a life of firsts. She was the first female professor at the University of Paris, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and indeed was the first person to win two Nobel prizes (in Physics in 1903, and in Chemistry in 1911). Most of Curie’s work was in the field of radioactivity, and was carried out in the days when the impact of excessive radiation on the human body was not understood. She died from aplastic anemia, caused by high exposure to radiation. To this day, Curie’s personal papers are kept preserved in lead-lined boxes as they are highly radioactive, even her personal cookbook.

Pierre Curie was a French physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903, sharing the award with his wife Marie and Henri Becquerel. Pierre and Marie spent most of their working lives researching radioactivity. Marie eventually died as a result of prolonged exposure to radiation. Pierre would likely have had the same fate, if he hadn’t been killed in a street accident when he was 46 years old.

115A Country whose border shape is the world’s roundest : SIERRA LEONE

The Republic of Sierra Leone is a country in West Africa that lies on the Atlantic Coast. The capital city of Freetown was originally set up as a colony to house the “Black Poor” of London, England. These people were mainly freed British slaves of Caribbean descent who were living a miserable life in the run-down parts of London. Perhaps to help the impoverished souls, perhaps to rid the streets of “a problem”, three ships were chartered in 1787 to transport a group of Blacks, with some Whites, to a piece of land purchased in Sierra Leone. Those who made the voyage were granted British citizenship and protection. The descendants of these immigrants, and others who made the journey over the next 60 years, make up the ethnic group that’s today called the Sierra Leone Creole.

116A Zero : GOOSE EGG

The use of the phrase “goose egg” to mean “zero” is baseball slang that dates back to the 1860s. The etymology is as expected: the numeral zero and a goose egg are both large and round.

117A Co.’s $$$ head : CFO

The chief financial officer (CFO) is particularly concerned about his or her company’s profit and loss (P&L).

119A Whence the phrase “wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve” : OTHELLO
The phrase “wear one’s heart upon one’s sleeve” might apply to someone displaying their emotions quite openly. It dates back to the Middle Ages, and jousting tournaments. Knights would sometimes wear a token from their lady love, such as a scarf or favor, tied to their sleeve as a public declaration of affection and allegiance. The phrase first appeared in literature in Shakespeare’s “Othello”, as the villainous Iago says, “I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at”.

Down

1D Kelly of morning TV : RIPA

When Kelly Ripa secured the co-host spot on morning television with Regis Philbin, she was still acting in “All My Children” in a role she had been playing for over ten years. After a year of holding down two jobs, she eventually gave up the acting gig. Ripa has acted as spokeswoman for several brands over the years, including Electrolux and Rykä.

3D Name of Ohio State’s buckeye mascot : BRUTUS

Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus was founded back in 1870 as the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College. The athletic teams of OSU are called the Buckeyes, named after the state tree of Ohio. In turn the buckeye tree gets its name from the appearance of its fruit, a dark nut with a light patch thought to resemble a “buck’s eye”. The school’s athletic mascot was introduced in 1965, and is an anthropomorphic buckeye nut named Brutus Buckeye.

4D Wrinkly fruits : CASABAS

A casaba is a type of honeydew melon that ripens relatively late in the season, and so is classed as a winter melon. The casaba takes its name from the Turkish city of Kasaba, from where the fruit was imported into America in the late 1800s.

5D Parts of many online handles : 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.

6D Davis of “Thelma & Louise” : GEENA

As well as being a successful Hollywood actress, Geena Davis is an accomplished archer and came close to qualifying for the US archery team for the 2000 Summer Olympics. Davis is also a member of American Mensa. She is quite the lady …

“Thelma & Louise” is a thought-provoking movie, and one that is very entertaining. It was directed by Ridley Scott in 1991, and stars two fabulous leads in Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon. You’ll also spot Brad Pitt onscreen in his first significant movie role.

7D “___ quam videri” (North Carolina’s motto) : ESSE

The North Carolina motto “Esse quam videri” translates from Latin as “to be, rather than to seem to be”.

8D 1940s spy grp. : OSS

The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was formed during WWII in order to carry out espionage behind enemy lines. A few years after the end of the war the OSS functions were taken up by a new group, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that was chartered by the National Security Act of 1947.

10D Chemist’s variant : ISOMER

In the world of chemistry, isomers are two compounds with the same chemical formula (i.e. the same atomic constituents), but with a slightly different arrangement of the atoms relative to each other. The differing arrangement of atoms often leads to different chemical properties.

11D Violent seizure, as of property : RAPINE

The noun “rapine” means “plunder”. It comes from the Latin word for plunder: “rapina”.

15D Hawaiian for “long mountain” : MAUNA LOA

Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii is the largest volcano on the planet (in terms of volume). The name “Mauna Loa” is Hawaiian for “Long Mountain”.

17D War zone for Rambo, informally : NAM

“First Blood” was the original of the four “Rambo” films starring Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, a troubled Vietnam War veteran. I thought “First Blood” was a pretty good film actually, but the sequels were terrible, and way too violent for me. But, action all the way …

19D Poe’s “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon ___” : PYM

American author Edgar Allan Poe was noted mainly for his short stories and only wrote one complete novel in his short life, namely “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket”. The novel recounts the adventures of a young man who journeys to the South Seas aboard four different vessels. The book was to become an inspiration for the more famous “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville.

20D Wicket and Teebo of Endor, e.g. : EWOKS

The Ewoks are creatures that live on the moon of Endor in the “Star Wars” universe. First appearing in “Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi”, they’re the cute and cuddly little guys that look like teddy bears.

30D Believing his friend and ally had too much power, he led a party of conspirators to put an end to him : BRUTUS

The most famous man with the name “Brutus” in ancient Rome was Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger. It was this Brutus that Julius Caesar turned to when he was assassinated on the steps of the Senate. William Shakespeare immortalized Brutus by featuring him in his play, “Julius Caesar”, and giving his victim the line “Et tu, Brute?”

32D State capital that’s closest to the U.S. Capitol : ANNAPOLIS

The city of Annapolis is located on Chesapeake Bay, and is the capital of the state of Maryland. Annapolis also served for almost a year as the capital of the United States, right after the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which marked the end of the American Revolutionary War with Britain. The name “Annapolis” was chosen in 1694 by the British Governor of Maryland, honoring Princess Anne of Denmark and Norway who was destined to become Anne, Queen of Great Britain.

36D Kyrgyzstani mountain range : ALAI

The Alay (also “Alai”) Mountains are located in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The highest peak in the range is Pik Tandykul, which lies on the international border between the two countries.

Kyrgyzstan is a landlocked country in Central Asia that is a former Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR). The country name’s root “Kyrgyz” translates as “We are forty”. This is a reference to the forty united clans in the region that united under a legendary hero named Manas. The Kyrgyzstan flag also features a sun with forty rays, a further reference to the clans.

39D Where idols go head-to-head? : TOTEM

“Totem” is a word used to describe any entity that watches over a group of people. As such, totems are usually the subjects of worship. Totem poles are really misnamed, as they are not intended to represent figures to be worshiped, but rather are heraldic in nature, and often celebrating the legends or notable events in the history of a tribe.

42D Small part in a gig : BYTE

In the world of computing, a bit is the basic unit of information. It has a value of 0 or 1. A “byte” is a small collection of “bits” (usually 8), the number of bits needed to uniquely identify a character of text. The prefix mega- stands for 10 to the power of 6, so a megabyte (meg) is 1,000,000 bytes. The prefix giga- means 10 to the power of 9, and so a gigabyte (gig) is 1,000,000,000 bytes. Well, those are the SI definitions of megabyte and gigabyte. The purists still use 2 to the power of 20 for a megabyte (i.e. 1,048,576), and 2 to the power of 30 for a gigabyte.

44D British isle : AIT

Aits are little islands found in a river. Aits aren’t formed by erosion, but by the deposition of silt over time. As a result, aits often have a long and narrow shape running parallel to the banks as the sediment builds up with the flow of the water. Many of the islands in the River Thames in England have been given the name “Ait”, like Raven’s Ait in Kingston-upon-Thames, and Lot’s Ait in Brentford.

46D It’s in your jeans : DENIM

Nîmes is a lovely city in the south of France. One of the claims to fame of the city is the invention of denim fabric. The French phrase “de Nîmes” (from Nîmes) gives us the word “denim”.

54D “Not gonna lie …” : NO CAP …

The phrase “no cap” means “no lie” or “for real”. It gained popularity in the late 2010s, particularly in hip-hop culture. The “cap” refers to “capping”, which is slang for “bragging, exaggerating, lying”.

56D First enactors of democracy : ATHENIANS

Athens is the capital city of Greece and is one of the world’s oldest cities, with a history that goes back around 3,400 years. In its heyday, Classical Athens was a remarkable center for the arts and philosophical debate, and was home to Plato and Aristotle. Athens is often called “the cradle of Western civilization” and “the birthplace of democracy”. The city was named for the Greek goddess Athena.

60D Chemistry lab dropper : PIPET

A pipette (also “pipet”) is a tool used in a lab to transport an accurately measured volume of liquid. Back in my day, we would suck up the liquid into the pipette by applying our mouths to the top of the instrument. This could be quite dangerous, as one ends up with a mouthful of something unsavory if one lifts the top of the pipette out of the liquid too soon. Nowadays, things are much safer.

63D Chop-chop : ASAP

“Chop chop” is Chinese Pidgin English, and is just a reiteration of the word “chop” used in the sense of moving quickly.

64D Wrinkly fruit : UGLI

The ugli fruit is a hybrid of an orange and a tangerine that was first discovered growing wild in Jamaica where most ugli fruit comes from today. “UGLI” is a trademark name that is a variant of “ugly”, a nod to the fruit’s unsightly wrinkled rind. Another distributor uses the brand name “Uniq”, which does suggest a more appetizing treat.

71D Baby in a pouch : JOEY

In Australia, male kangaroos are known by several names including bucks, boomers, jacks or old men. Females are called does, flyers, or jills. There seems to be just one name for young kangaroos, i.e. joeys. A group of kangaroos might be called a mob, troop or court.

72D Pandemonium : UPROAR

The word “pandemonium” was coined in 1667 by John Milton in his epic poem “Paradise Lost”. It is the name he invented for the capital of Hell, “the High Capital, of Satan and his Peers”.

75D Title for a guru : SRI

“Guru” is a Hindi word meaning “teacher” or “priest”.

76D Survivor’s affliction, for short : PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

77D Elf portrayed by Cate Blanchett in “The Fellowship of the Ring” : GALADRIEL

Galadriel is a royal elf in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of The Rings” books. She is played by Cate Blanchett in the Peter Jackson movie adaptations of the novels.

78D Big name in makeup : AVON

In 1886, a young man called David McConnell was selling books door-to-door. To enhance his sales numbers he was giving out free perfume to the ladies of the houses that he visited. Seeing as his perfume was more popular than his books, he founded the California Perfume Company in New York City and started manufacturing and selling across the country. The company name was changed to Avon in 1939, and the famous “Avon Calling” marketing campaign was launched in 1954.

81D Disagrees (with) : HAS A BEEF

A beef is a complaint or a grievance. It’s not quite clear how “beef” came to have this meaning, but one suggestion is that it derives from the habit of soldiers at the end of the 1800s complaining about the quality or availability of beef in their rations.

84D Ixnays from Irkutsk : NYETS

Pig Latin is in effect a game. One takes the first consonant or consonant cluster of an English word and moves it to the end of the word, and then adds the letters “ay”. So, the Pig Latin for the word “nix” is “ixnay” (ix-n-ay), and for “scram” is “amscray” (am-scr-ay).

Irkutsk is one of the largest cities in Siberia. Its rich cultural heritage is owed to the policy of internal exile to Siberia after the Decembrist revolt against Tsar Nicholas I in 1825. Many of those exiled were artists, nobles and high-ranking military officers.

97D Floral victory symbol : LAUREL

To be “laureate” is to be “crowned with laurels”. In ancient Greece, poets and heroes were honored with a crown or wreath made from laurels.

98D Lead-in to Tech : CAL

Caltech is more properly known as the California Institute of Technology, and is a private research-oriented school in Pasadena. One of Caltech’s responsibilities is the management and operation of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. If you watch “The Big Bang Theory” on television like me, you might know that the four lead characters all work at Caltech.

103D ___ me tangere (Latin warning) : NOLI

“Noli me tangere” is Latin for “touch me not”. The words are the Latin translation of “cease holding on to me” written in Greek in the Gospel of John. They are words spoken by Jesus to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection.

105D Jafar’s parrot in “Aladdin” : IAGO

In the 1992 Disney feature “Aladdin”, there is a parrot called Iago. Iago is voiced by the comic Gilbert Gottfried.

Jafar is the bad guy in the animated film “Aladdin”. He was important enough to get his name front and center in the sequel called “Aladdin 2”, which is usually referred to as “The Return of Jafar”.

107D Driven by envy toward his comrades, he fabricated events that led to their downfall : IAGO

In William Shakespeare’s “Othello”, Iago is the villain of the piece. At one point he readily admits this, saying “Thus do I ever make my fool my purse”. Here he is claiming to make money out of making fools of others. In this case, he takes money from Roderigo, who believes that Iago will help him bed Othello’s wife Desdemona.

108D Official lang. of Liberia : ENG

Liberia is a nation in West Africa. The country was founded in 1847 by former American slaves who were repatriated to Africa. As a result, the Liberian flag resembles the US flag, and the country’s motto is “The love of liberty brought us here”.

112D Birth month of most Virgos: Abbr. : SEP

The astrological sign Virgo is the sixth sign in the Zodiac, and is associated with the constellation of the same name. The Virgo constellation is related to maidens (virgins), purity and fertility.

114D “Ruh-___!” (cry from Astro on “The Jetsons”) : ROH

“The Jetsons” is an animated show from Hanna-Barbera that had its first run in 1962-1963, and then was recreated in 1985-1987. When it debuted in 1963 on ABC, “The Jetsons” was the network’s first ever color broadcast. “The Jetsons” is like a space-age version of “The Flintstones”. The four Jetson family members are George and Jane, the parents, and children Judy and Elroy. Residing with the family in Orbit City are their household robot Rosie and pet dog Astro.