0129-26 NY Times Crossword 29 Jan 26, Thursday

Bill’s time: 9m 17s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Vehicle in which it’s often legal to drink alcohol : LIMO

The word “limousine” derives from the name of the French city of Limoges. The area around Limoges is called the Limousin, and it gave its name to a cloak hood worn by local shepherds. In early motor cars, a driver would sit outside in the weather while the passengers would sit in the covered compartment. The driver would often wear a limousin-style protective hood, giving rise to that type of transportation being called a “limousine”. Well, that’s how the story goes …

5A Jokesters : WAGS

A very amusing person might be referred to as a card, stitch, wag or riot.

9A Moistens, as a fern : MISTS

Ferns are unlike mosses in that they have xylem and phloem, making them vascular plants. They also have stems, leaves and roots, but they do not have seeds and flowers, and reproduce using spores. Spores differ from seeds in that they have very little stored food.

14A First lady’s partner : ADAM

According to the Bible, God created Adam from “the dust of the ground”. Eve was created as Adam’s companion, from Adam’s rib.

16A Oft-disparaged family member : IN-LAW

The verb “to disparage” comes from the Old French word “desparagier”, which meant “to marry someone of unequal rank”. It is a combination of “des-”, a prefix meaning “away, apart from”, and “parage”, meaning “rank, equality” (which is also the root of the word peer). So, to disparage someone was literally to move them away from their rank by marrying them to an inferior. Over time, the meaning broadened to the more general sense we use today, i.e. “to belittle, lower in esteem”.

17A Busiest French airport not serving Paris : NICE

The French city of Nice is on the Mediterranean coast in the southeast of the country. Although Nice is only the fifth most populous city in France, it is home to the busiest airport outside of Paris. That’s because of all the tourists flocking to the French Riviera. Something described as “à la niçoise” is “of Nice”.

18A Prefix with technology : NANO-

Nanotechnology is the study of the manipulation of matter at the atomic and molecular level. It is a discipline that is essential to the electronic and biomaterials industries.

19A Roman goddess often depicted with a bow and arrow : DIANA

Diana was the Roman goddess of the hunt, the moon and birthing. The Greek equivalent of Diana was the goddess Artemis. According to Roman mythology, Diana was the twin sister of Apollo, and the daughter of Jupiter and Latona.

23A Sonia Sotomayor or Clarence Thomas, once : YALIE

Sonia Sotomayor was the first Hispanic justice appointed to the US Supreme Court, and the third female justice. Sotomayor was nominated by President Barack Obama to replace the retiring Justice David Souter in 2009. She is the subject of a picture book in the series “Ordinary People Change the World” by Brad Meltzer. “I Am Sonia Sotomayor” was published in 2018.

Clarence Thomas is the second African American to serve on the US Supreme Court. Thomas replaced Thurgood Marshall who was the first American with African heritage to serve. Thomas is generally regarded as the most conservative member of the court. He doesn’t have a lot to say, verbally anyway. Thomas broke a “silent streak” of nearly 10 years by asking a series of questions in February 2016

24A Abbreviation in a help-wanted ad : EEO

“Equal Employment Opportunity” (EEO) is a term that has been around since 1964 when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was set up by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII of the Act prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin or religion.

25A Part of U.S.N.A.: Abbr. : NAV

The United States Naval Academy (USNA) is located in Annapolis, Maryland. It was founded in 1845 and educates officers for both the US Navy and the US Marine Corps. The motto of the USNA is “Ex Scientia Tridens”, which translates as “From Knowledge, Sea Power”.

27A @ @ @ : AT SIGNS

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.

30A Trippy stuff : LSD

LSD (known colloquially as “acid”) is lysergic acid diethylamide. A Swiss chemist named Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938 in a research project looking for medically efficacious ergot alkaloids. It wasn’t until some five years later when Hofmann ingested some of the drug accidentally that its psychedelic properties were discovered. Trippy, man …

35A Villain portrayer in “Rocky III” : MR. T
[1D Clubber ___, “Rocky III” villain : LANG]

“Rocky III” is the movie in which Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) goes up against Clubber Lang (Mr. T). It is a forgettable film, but Mr. T was grateful for his role no doubt, as it launched his career and landed him a spot on television’s “The A-Team”. Also making an appearance was professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, an appearance that raised his profile as well and kick-started his career outside of the ring. But for me, the most memorable thing is the song “Eye of the Tiger”, which was commissioned for “Rocky III”. A great tune …

41A Base x height, for a parallelogram : AREA

A parallelogram is a quadrilateral in which the opposite sides are parallel.

48A Texter’s declaration of affection : ILY

I love you (ILY)

49A Shags or bobs : DOS

A shag cut is a layered hairstyle. Actress Meg Ryan famously sported a shag cut for many years, as did fellow actress Farrah Fawcett.

A bob cut is a short hairstyle in which the hair is cut straight around the head, at about the line of the jaw. Back in the 1570s, “bob” was the name given to a horse’s tail that was cut short, and about a century later it was being used to describe short hair on humans. The style became very popular with women in the early 1900s (as worn by actress Clara Bow, for example), with the fashion dying out in the thirties. The style reemerged in the sixties around the time the Beatles introduced their “mop tops”, with Vidal Sassoon leading the way in styling women’s hair in a bob cut again. Personally, I like it …

50A 7-Elevens, e.g. : MARTS

The first precursor to the 7-Eleven store opened in Dallas, Texas in 1927. The stores were so named (much later, in 1946) because they were open longer than other stores, from 7am to 11pm.

60A ___-golf : MINI

Apparently, the first minigolf course in the world was built in St. Andrews in Scotland, and you can still play that course today. Back in 1867, about 100 years after the Royal and Ancient Golf Club was founded, the Ladies’ Putting Club was constructed by some of the golf club’s members so that the ladies could “have a go” at the sport. Back then it was believed that the energetic swing required to hit a ball on a full-size course was far from ladylike, so a small, 18-hole course of putting greens was deemed to be more acceptable. Different times …

63A City in NW Pennsylvania : ERIE

Erie is a port city in the very north of Pennsylvania, sitting on the southern shore of Lake Erie. The city takes its name from the Erie Native American tribe that resided in the area. Erie is nicknamed the Gem City, a reference to the “sparkling” water of Lake Erie.

64A God of war : ARES

The Greek god Ares is often referred to as the Olympian god of warfare, but originally he was regarded as the god of bloodlust and slaughter. He united with Aphrodite to create several gods, including Phobos (Fear), Deimos (Terror) and Eros (Desire). Ares was the son of Zeus and Hera, and the Roman equivalent to Ares was Mars.

66A Five train in Brooklyn : NETS

The NBA’s Brooklyn Nets were the New Jersey Nets until 2012, and were based in Newark. Prior to 1977, the team was known as the New York Nets and played in various locations on Long Island. Ten years earlier, the Nets were called the New Jersey Americans and were headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey.

67A Time when one might give up alcohol : LENT

In Latin, the Christian season that is now called “Lent” was termed “quadragesima” (meaning “fortieth”), a reference to the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert before beginning his public ministry. When the church began its move in the Middle Ages towards using the vernacular, the term “Lent” was introduced. “Lent” comes from “lencten”, an Old English word meaning springtime, or the month of March.

Down

2D “Capisce” : I DIG

“Capeesh?” is a slang term meaning “do you understand?” It comes from the Italian “capisce” meaning “understand”.

3D Like a listening device made out of a paper clip, a plastic straw and seven Lego blocks : MACGYVERED

“MacGyver” is an action-adventure TV show that started airing in 2016. It is described as a reboot of the successful show of the same name from the late eighties and early nineties. The title character is an agent with a unique ability to solve problems and jury-rig technical fixes when he is in a bind. Actor Lucas Till plays MacGyver this time round, whereas Richard Dean Anderson played him 25 years ago.

4D Symbol for ohms : OMEGA

The unit of electrical resistance is the ohm (with the symbol omega) named after German physicist Georg Simon Ohm. Ohm was the guy who established experimentally that the amount of current flowing through a circuit is directly proportional to the voltage applied (V=IR), a relationship that every school kid knows as Ohm’s Law.

5D Improvise : WING IT

To wing it is to improvise, to do something without sufficient preparation. There is some debate about the term’s etymology, but I like the idea that it came from the theater. An actor would be described as winging it if he or she learned lines while standing in the wings just before going on stage.

7D Signal to get off the stage, say : GONG

NBC’s “The Gong Show” was originally broadcast in the seventies and eighties, but it always seems to be showing somewhere on cable TV. I suppose the show was a forerunner of today’s “America’s Got Talent”, in that it was a talent show in which the acts can be cut off in mid-performance by the sounding of a gong (just like the 3 buzzers on “Talent”). Despite all the terrible acts that appeared, some famous names made it after the show e.g. Boxcar Willie, Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman) and Andrea McArdle (played “Annie” on Broadway).

9D Tiny flies : MIDGES

“Midge” is a familiar term used for many different kinds of small flies.

10D ___ Montoya, “The Princess Bride” character : INIGO

In the William Goldman novel “The Princess Bride”, the title character is kidnapped by a trio of outlaws that includes fencing master Inigo Montoya. In the 1987 film adaptation, Montoya is played by Mandy Patinkin.

11D Mining waste : SLAG

The better lead ores are processed in a blast furnace, to extract the metal. The waste from this process is called “slag”. Slag does contain some lead and it can be processed further in a slag furnace to extract the residual metal. Slag furnaces also accept poorer lead ores as a raw material.

12D Powdered drink used by NASA : TANG

Tang is a fruity drink that is sold in powdered form. The sales of Tang “took off” when John Glenn took Tang on his Mercury flight. However, it is a common misconception that Tang was invented for the space program. That’s not true, although it was included in the payload of many missions.

13D Thief’s haul : SWAG

Swag is loot, stolen property, and a term that started out as criminal slang in England in the 1830s. “Swag” is also the name given to the promotional freebies available at some events. That said, there’s an urban myth that the promotional version of “swag” is an acronym standing for “stuff we all get”.

22D Chaps : GENTS

“Chap” is an informal term meaning “lad, fellow” that is used especially in England. The term derives from “chapman”, an obsolete word meaning “purchaser” or “trader”.

25D Like some passages : NASAL

The nostrils are also known as the nares (singular “naris”).

28D “Toodles!” : I’M OFF!

The term “toodles” meaning “goodbye”, is a short form of “toodle-oo”, which in turn comes from the French “à tout à l’heure” which translates as “see you later”.

32D Second-largest city in Northern Ireland : DERRY

Derry is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland, after the capital city of Belfast. “Derry” is the anglicized version of the city’s name in Irish. The city’s legal name is “Londonderry”, a contentious name that was given when the city was granted a royal charter in the 17th century.

34D Country that has hosted the most Olympics : USA

The list of US-hosted Olympic Games is:

• Los Angeles, California (Summer 1932 & 1984)
• Squaw Valley, California (Winter 1960)
• Atlanta, Georgia (Summer 1996)
• Saint Louis, Missouri (Summer 1904)
• Lake Placid, New York (Winter 1932 & 1980)
• Salt Lake City, Utah (Winter 2002)

36D Common day to enjoy Thanksgiving leftovers: Abbr. : FRI

Thanksgiving Day was observed on different dates in different states for many years, until Abraham Lincoln fixed the date for the whole country in 1863. Lincoln’s presidential proclamation set that date as the last Thursday in November. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday to the fourth Thursday in November, arguing that the earlier date would give the economy a much-needed boost.

38D ___ beast (dish in Whoville) : ROAST

The Grinch is the title character in Dr. Seuss’s 1957 children’s book “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” He is a grouchy creature who lives as a hermit in a cave outside the town of Whoville. The Grinch’s only companion is his dog Max. Based on Seuss’s hero, we now use the term “grinch” for someone who is opposed to Christmas festivities or who is coarse and greedy in general.

54D Bamako’s land : MALI

Bamako is the capital of the African country of Mali. It is the fastest growing city on the whole continent. Located on the Niger River, the name “Bamako” translates from the local language as “crocodile river”.

55D Sign sought by one reading tea leaves : OMEN

Tasseography is the reading of fortunes by interpreting the patterns of tea leaves, coffee grounds and wine sediments that are left in the bottom of a cup or glass.

57D Major tennis tournament : OPEN

In the sport of tennis, the Grand Slam tournaments were opened up to professional players, and not just amateurs, in 1968. So, the period since 1968 has been called the “Open Era”.