0201-26 NY Times Crossword 1 Feb 26, Sunday

Bill’s time: 18m 02s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

8A Relative of a gazelle : IMPALA

“Impala” is the Zulu word for “gazelle”. When running at a sustained speed, gazelles can move along at 30 miles per hour. If needed, they can accelerate for bursts up to 60 miles per hour.

14A Office square : POST-IT

The Post-it note was invented at 3M following the accidental discovery of a low-tack, reusable adhesive. The actual intent of the development program was to produce a super-strong adhesive.

20A Food additive named one of Time’s 50 Worst Inventions : OLESTRA

Olestra is a fat substitute. Naturally-occurring fats are made of a glycerol molecule holding together three fatty acids. Olestra is instead made of several fatty acid chains held together by a sucrose molecule. Olestra has a similar taste and consistency as natural fat, but has zero caloric impact as it is too large a molecule to pass through the intestinal wall and passes right out of the body. Personally, I would steer clear of it. Olestra is banned in Britain and Canada due to concerns about side effects, but I guess someone knows the right palms to grease (pun intended!) here in the US, and so it’s in our food.

22A On which Apple Pay can be used : IPHONE

Apple Pay is a payment service that operates with many of Apple’s mobile devices. Apple Pay competes directly with Google Wallet. I like the idea behind Apple Pay and Google Wallet, but it has taken a long time to gain traction in the retail market …

23A “Canio in “Pagliacci,” e.g.?” : CLASSICAL CLOWN (from “class clown”)

“Pagliacci” (“ Clowns” in English) is an opera by Ruggero Leoncavallo that premiered in 1892 in Milan. Included in the opera is one of the most famous arias of all time, “Vesti la giubba” (“put on the costume”).

25A Noxious atmosphere : MIASMA

The word “miasma” was first used for the poisonous atmosphere thought to arise from swamps and rotting matter, and which could cause disease. Nowadays, a miasma is just a thick cloud of gas or smoke.

28A QB Drew whom Tom Brady ultimately replaced : BLEDSOE

Drew Bledsoe is a former NFL quarterback, one who most famously played for the New England Patriots in the 1990s. Today, Bledsoe is a partner in the Doubleback Winery in Walla Walla, Washington.

29A Get tuckered out : LOSE STEAM

The exact etymology of the verb “to tucker”, meaning “to tire”, seems to be uncertain. However, it seems to have originated in New England, and at least dates back to the 1830s.

32A Indian wedding wear : SARI

The item of clothing called a “sari” (also “saree”) is a strip of cloth, as one might imagine, unusual perhaps in that it is unstitched along the whole of its length. The strip of cloth can range from four to nine meters long (that’s a lot of material!). The sari is usually wrapped around the waist, then draped over the shoulder leaving the midriff bare. I must say, it can be a beautiful item of clothing.

46A Nearsighted person : MYOPE

A myope is someone suffering from myopia, short-sightedness. Far-sightedness or long-sightedness is known as hypermetropia or hyperopia .

47A Messing up on the big screen : DEBRA

Debra Messing is most famous for playing Grace Adler on the television series “Will & Grace”.

51A Italy’s third-largest island (after Sicily and Sardinia) : ELBA

I had a lovely two-week vacation in Tuscany once, including what was supposed to be a two-night stay on the island of Elba. I had envisioned Elba as a place full of history, and maybe it is, but it is also overrun with tourists who use it as a beach getaway. We left after one day and we won’t be going back again …

57A Great number : SLEW

Our usage of “slew” to mean “large number” has nothing to do with the verb “to slew” meaning “to turn, skid”. The noun “slew” came into English in the early 1800s from the Irish word “sluagh” meaning “host, crowd, multitude”.

58A Cute, cutesily : ADORBS

“Adorbs!” is a colloquial term meaning “So cute, so adorable!”

61A Dropbox and Roblox : APPS

Dropbox is a big name in the world of cloud data storage.

73A “Downton Abbey” countess : CORA

In the incredibly successful period drama “Downton Abbey”, the patriarch of the family living at Downton is Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham or Lord Grantham. The character is played by Hugh Bonneville. Lord Grantham married American Cora Levinson (played by Elizabeth McGovern). Lord and Lady Grantham had three daughters, and no sons. The lack of a male heir implied that the Grantham estate would pass to a male cousin, and out of the immediate family. The Grantham daughters are Lady Mary (played by Michelle Dockery), Lady Edith (played by Laura Carmichael) and Lady Sybil (played by Jessica Brown Findlay). Lady Sybil had the audacity to marry the family chauffeur, who was an Irish nationalist. The shame of it all …

74A Warm winter coats : PARKAS

A parka is a hooded jacket that is often lined with fur, and that is worn in cold weather. The original parka was a pullover design, but nowadays it is usually zipped at the front. “Parka” is the Russian name for the garment, and it was absorbed into English in the late 1700s via the Aleut language.

78A W.C. sign : MEN

When I was growing up in Ireland, a bathroom was a room that had a bath and no toilet. The separate room with the commode was called the toilet or sometimes the WC (the water closet). Apparently the term “closet” was used because in the 1800s when homeowners started installing toilets indoors they often displaced clothes and linens in a closet, as a closet was the right size to take the commode.

80A City where LeBron James was born : AKRON

For much of the 1800s, the Ohio city of Akron was the fastest-growing city in the country, feeding off the industrial boom of that era. The city was founded in 1825 and its location, along the Ohio and Erie canal connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio River, helped to fuel Akron’s growth. Akron sits at the highest point of the canal and the name “Akron” comes from the Greek word meaning “summit”. Indeed, Akron is the county seat of Summit County. The city earned the moniker “Rubber Capital of the World” for most of the 20th century, as it was home to four major tire companies: Goodrich, Goodyear, Firestone and General Tire.

Basketball player LeBron James (nicknamed “King James”) seems to be in demand for the covers of magazines. James became the first African-American man to adorn the front cover of “Vogue” in March 2008. That made him only the third male to make the “Vogue” cover, following Richard Gere and George Clooney.

82A Bit of a character? : SERIF

Serifs are details on the ends of characters in some typefaces. Typefaces without serifs are known as sans-serif, using the French word “sans” meaning “without” and “serif” from the Dutch “schreef” meaning “line”. Some people say that serif fonts are easier to read on paper, whereas sans-serif fonts work better on a computer screen. I’m not so sure though …

86A Spice Girl alongside Baby, Ginger, Scary and Posh : SPORTY

Melanie C (Chisholm) is a member of the English girl band the Spice Girls, with whom she has the nickname “Sporty Spice”. “Mel C” got the gig with the Spice Girls by replying to an ad in “The Stage” magazine, and auditioning alongside about 40 women who responded to the same ad. Sporty Spice really is quite sporty, and has completed the London Triathlon … twice.

94A “Shark’s singing rival in “West Side Story”?” : LYRICAL JET (from “Learjet”)

Leonard Bernstein’s musical “West Side Story” is based on William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”. The musical is set in New York City and features two rival gangs: the Sharks from Puerto Rico and the Jets with working-class, Caucasian roots. Tony from the Jets (played by Richard Beymer) falls in love with Maria (played by Natalie Wood) from the Sharks. All this parallels Romeo from the House of Montague falling for Juliet from the House of Capulet in the Italian city of Verona. The stage musical was adapted into a very successful 1961 movie with the same title.

Business jet manufacturer Learjet was founded in 1960 by William Powell Lear. The original Learjet was a modified Swiss ground-attack fighter aircraft. Some models were particularly groundbreaking. For example, the Learjet 23 was the first private jet to exceed Mach 0.8 (around 600 mph), while the Learjet 28/29 was the first private jet to be certified for operation at altitudes above 51,000 feet. Learjet was purchased by Bombardier in 1990. Bombardier halted production of Learjet models in 2022.

97A Corral : CAGE IN

“Corral” is a Spanish word describing an enclosure for livestock, a word that we’ve imported into English. Ultimately, the term comes from the Vulgar Latin “currale” meaning “enclosure for carts”, itself coming from “currus”, the Latin for “cart”.

98A Yankee great Gehrig : LOU

Baseball legend Lou Gehrig was known as a powerhouse. He was a big hitter and just kept on playing. Gehrig broke the record for the most consecutive number of games played, and he still holds the record for the most career grand slams. His durability earned him the nickname “The Iron Horse”. Sadly, he died in 1941 at 37-years-old suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), an illness we now call “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”. The New York Yankees retired the number four on 4th of July 1939 in his honor, making Lou Gehrig the first baseball player to have his number retired.

105A Never mind? : AMNESIA

“Amnesia”, meaning “loss of memory”, is a Greek word that we imported into English in the 17th century. The Greek term comes from combining the prefixes “a-” meaning “not” and “mnesi-” meaning “remembering”.

112A Two-___ schooner : MASTED

By definition, a schooner is a sailing vessel with two or more masts, but one on which the foremast is shorter than the rear mast(s).

113A “Frozen treat for Bruins fans?” : BOSTON POPSICLE (from “Boston Pops”)

The term “ice pop” has largely been supplanted in the US by “popsicle”, as the Popsicle brand of ice pop became so popular. We still use “ice pop” in Ireland, and in the UK the same thing is called an “ice lolly”, and in Australia it’s an “ice block”.

The Boston Bruins professional ice hockey team goes way back, and has been in existence since 1924. The National Hockey League back then was a Canadian-only league, but was expanded to include the US in 1923. The Bruins were the first US-team in the expanded league.

The marvelous Boston Pops orchestra specializes in playing light classical and popular music. It grew out of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), founded in 1885 by Henry Lee Higginson. Higginson instituted a series of performances by the BSO of lighter classics for the summer months, starting in 1885. These performances were originally known as the “Promenade Concerts”, and soon became year-round events. The name evolved into “Popular Concerts”, which was shortened to “Pops” and officially adopted in 1900.

121A Thickets : COPSES

A copse is a small stand of trees. The term “copse” originally applied to a small thicket that was specifically grown for cutting.

Down

3D Bogeymen : FEARS

The term “bogeyman” (and “bogeywoman”) seems to be derived from the Scottish word “bogle” meaning “ghost”.

4D Maker of Bikini So Teeny nail polish : ESSIE

Essie Cosmetics is a company that was founded by Essie Weingarten, and which is now owned by L’Oreal. Apparently, Queen Elizabeth II would only wear Essie’s Ballet Slippers color nail polish. Well, that’s what Wikipedia claims …

5D Breakthrough K-pop group : BTS

BTS is a boy band from South Korea with seven members. The initialism “BTS” stands for the phrase “Bangtan Sonyeondan”, which translates literally as “Bulletproof Boy Scouts”. It is the best-selling musical act in the history of South Korea.

6D Horror director Aster : ARI

Ari Aster is a filmmaker associated with horror and dark comedy movies, and films that include graphic violence. Probably not for me …

8D Like the Eid al-Fitr festival : ISLAMIC

Eid al-Fitr is a religious holiday in the Muslim tradition that is known in English as the “Festival of Breaking the Fast”. It marks the end of Ramadan, a period of dawn-to-sunset fasting.

9D Department store eponym : MACY

The original Macy’s store was opened by Rowland Hussey Macy in Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1851. This store, and several others that Macy opened, all failed. Macy picked himself up though, and started over again in New York City. Those early New York stores all focused on the sale of dry goods, but added departments quickly as the clientele grew. The Macy’s red star logo has been around since the company was first established. Macy chose the star because it mimicked the star tattoo that he got as a teenager when he was working on a whaling ship out of Nantucket.

10D Pale lager, informally : PILS

Pilsener (also “pilsner” or “pils”) is a pale lager. The name “pilsener” comes from the city of Pilsen, now in the Czech Republic. It was in Pilsen, in 1842, that the first bottom-fermented lager was produced. A bottom-fermented beer is much clearer than a top-fermented beer, and has a crisper taste. The “top” and “bottom” refers to where the yeast gathers during the brewing process.

11D ___ gobi (Indian potato dish) : ALOO

Aloo gobi is a very tasty vegetarian dish in Indian cuisine made from potatoes and cauliflower, flavored with traditional Indian spices. “Aloo” translates to “potato” and “gobi” to “cauliflower”.

13D ___ Taylor (fashion retailer) : ANN

There was no actual person named “Ann Taylor” associated with the Ann Taylor line of clothes. The name was chosen by the marketing professionals because “Ann” was considered to be “very New England” back in 1954 when the stores first opened, and “Taylor” suggested that clothes were carefully “tailored”.

14D Home of the Preakness Stakes : PIMLICO

Pimlico Race Course is a horse racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland that is most famous as host for the Preakness Stakes. The track opened in 1870 in an area that had been known as Pimlico since the mid 17th century. The “Pimlico” name was given by English settlers as a nod to Olde Ben Pimlico’s Tavern in London.

The Preakness Stakes is a thoroughbred horse race that’s run at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore in May of each year. The Preakness is the second most popular horse race in the US in terms of attendance, after the Kentucky Derby. The race was given its name by former Maryland Governor Oden Bowie in honor of the racehorse named Preakness. Preakness won the inaugural Dixie Stakes that was run at Pimlico in 1870.

15D Early TV role for Ron Howard : OPIE

Opie Taylor is the character played by Ron Howard on “The Andy Griffith Show”. Opie lives with widowed father Andy Taylor (played by Andy Griffith) and his great-aunt Beatrice “Aunt Bee” Taylor (played by Frances Bavier). Ron Howard first played the role in 1960 in the pilot show, when he was just 5 years old. Howard sure has come a long way since playing Opie Taylor. He has directed some fabulous movies including favorites of mine like “Apollo 13”, “A Beautiful Mind” and “The Da Vinci Code”.

16D Atlantic fish : SHAD

The shad is also known as the river herring. The eggs (roe) of the shad are prized as a delicacy, especially in the Eastern US.

17D Like Frisbees and some salads : TOSSED

The Frisbee concept started back in 1938 with a couple who had an upturned cake pan that they were tossing between each other on Santa Monica Beach in California. They were offered 25 cents for the pan on the spot, and as pans could be bought for 5 cents, the pair figured there was a living to be earned.

19D Hard-boiled Chinese snack : TEA EGG

The tea egg is a dish from Chinese cuisine made by boiling an egg in water, cracking the shell, and then reboiling the egg in tea or a spiced sauce. Often sold as a snack food, the tea egg is also called a marble egg, referring to the marbled appearance of the cracked shell after boiling in a colored liquid.

24D Sapporo competitor : ASAHI

Asahi is a Japanese beer, and the name of the brewery that produces it. “Asahi” is Japanese for “morning sun”. Asahi introduced a “dry beer” in 1987, igniting a craze that rocketed the brewery to the number one spot in terms of beer production in Japan, with Sapporo close behind.

28D Bowler’s edge : BRIM

I think that a bowler hat is usually called a derby here in the US. The bowler was first produced in 1849 in London by hatmakers Thomas and William Bowler, hence the name. The alternative name of “derby” comes from the tradition of wearing bowler hats at the Derby horse race (a major race held annually in England).

36D Barry Bonds and Shohei Ohtani, notably, for short : NL MVPS

Barry Bonds is a former baseball player who holds numerous records as a batter. He is a controversial figure in the sport, and was mired for years in baseball’s steroids scandal.

Shohei Ohtani is a baseball pitcher from Japan who started his professional career in 2013 playing for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. He was signed by the Los Angeles Angels in 2017, and in 2018 was named the American League’s Rookie of the Year.

37D Hammer wielder : THOR

The hammer associated with the Norse god Thor is known as Mjölnir. The name “Mjölnir” translates as “crusher”.

40D Mother of Helios, in myth : THEA

In Greek mythology, Theia (also “Thea”) is a goddess of the moon. Theia’s brother and consort is Hyperion, the god of the sun. Theia and Hyperion are the parents of Helios (the Sun), Selene (the Moon) and Eos (the Dawn).

42D Gen Z put-down of an elder : OK BOOMER

A baby boomer is someone who was born in the post-WWII baby boom. The rate of births had been falling fairly steadily in the US at least since 1900, but this trend was sharply reversed in 1946 after WWII. The higher birth rate continued until 1964, when it returned to pre-war levels. Since then the birth rate has continued to decline, although at a slower pace. The period between 1946 and 1964 is often defined as the “baby boom”.

52D 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.

53D Primatologist’s interest : APE

Primatology is the study of primates, especially non-human primates.

55D Give the cold shoulder, with “out” : ICE

To give someone the cold shoulder is to ignore the person deliberately. A little research into the etymology of “cold shoulder” reveals that there’s some dispute over the origin of the phrase. To me, the most credible suggestion is that the term was coined by Sir Walter Scott in his writings, and he simply used the imagery of someone “turning away, coldly”, to suggest the act of ignoring someone. Less credible is the suggestion that unwelcome visitors to a home in days gone by might be offered a “cold shoulder” of mutton, rather than a hot meal.

60D Rodgers and Hammerstein musical setting : SIAM

“The King and I” is a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical based on a book by Margaret Landon called “Anna and the King of Siam” first published in 1944. Landon’s book is based on a true story, told in the memoirs of Anna Leonowens. Leonowens was the governess of the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the 1860s, and she also taught the king’s wives.

63D Photog’s undergrad degree : BFA

Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)

67D Like Volvo and Nokia, by origin : NORDIC

Someone is described as Nordic if he or she is a native of Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland or Iceland.

Volvo is a Swedish manufacturer of cars, trucks and construction equipment. The Volvo name was chosen as “volvo” is Latin for “I roll”.

I do enjoy classical guitar music, but there isn’t a huge choice on CD. There is one very special piece called “Gran Vals” by Francisco Tárrega, written in 1902. This piece has a unique reputation as it contains a phrase that was once the most listened-to piece of music in the whole world. Just a few bars into the work one can hear the celebrated Nokia ringtone!

68D Gold, in Guadalajara : ORO

Guadalajara is a populous city in the Mexican state of Jalisco. The Mexican city is named after the city of the same name in the center of Spain.

75D Vodka in blue bottles : SKYY

Skyy Vodka is produced in the US, although the operation is owned by the Campari Group headquartered in Italy. Skyy first hit the shelves in 1992 when it was created by an entrepreneur from San Francisco, California.

77D New Zealander : KIWI

Unlike many nicknames for people of a particular country, the name “Kiwi” for a New Zealander isn’t offensive at all. The term comes from the flightless bird called the kiwi, which is endemic to New Zealand and is the country’s national symbol. “Kiwi” is a Maori word, and the plural (when referring to the bird) is simply “kiwi”. However, when you have two or more New Zealanders with you, they are Kiwis (note the “s”, and indeed the capital “K”!).

79D One studied in the art of invisibility : NINJA

The ninjas were around in Japan at the time of the samurai, but were a very different type of warrior. The ninjas were covert operatives, specializing in the use of stealth to accomplish their missions. As they were a secretive cadre they took on a mystical reputation with the public, who believed they had the ability to become invisible or perhaps walk on water. We now use the term “ninja” figuratively, to describe anyone highly-skilled in a specific field.

86D Loretta of “M*A*S*H” : SWIT

Loretta Swit started playing Major “Hot Lips” Houlihan on “M*A*S*H” in 1972. She and Alan Alda were the only actors who appeared in both the pilot and the series finale. Swit wrote a book on needlepoint, would you believe? It’s called “A Needlepoint Scrapbook”.

87D Small keg size : PONY

A pony keg is a beer container holding about 7¾ gallons. It looks like a regular, full-sized keg, but is half the size.

90D Director Kazan : ELIA

Elia Kazan won Oscars for best director in 1948 for “Gentleman’s Agreement” and in 1955 for “On The Waterfront”. He was recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences when he was given the 1998 Academy Honorary Award citing his lifetime achievement in the industry. Kazan also directed “East of Eden”, which introduced James Dean to movie audiences, and “Splendor in the Grass” that included Warren Beatty in his debut role.

91D Neighbors of premolars : CANINES

The canine teeth of a mammal are also called the eyeteeth or cuspids. The name “canine” is used because these particular teeth are very prominent in dogs. The prefix “eye-” is used because in humans the eyeteeth are located in the upper jaw, directly below the eyes.

94D Pack carriers : LLAMAS

The llama is a South American camelid that has been domesticated. They have been used as pack animals by Andean cultures since pre-Columbian times, as they are known for their calm demeanor and ability to carry heavy loads over long distances in rugged terrain. Llamas are also raised for their meat and wool.

101D Fill in a mill : GRIST

When grain has been separated from its chaff, to prepare it for grinding, it is called “grist”. Indeed, the word “grist” is derived from the word “grind”. Grist can be ground into a relatively coarse meal, or into a fine flour. The names can be confusing though. For example, the grist from maize when ground to a coarse consistency is called “grits”, and when ground to a fine consistency is called “corn meal”. There is an idiomatic phrase “grist for one’s mill”, meaning something used to one’s advantage. The grinding mechanism, or the building that holds the mechanism, is known as a “gristmill”.

102D Right-hand page : RECTO

The left and right pages of a book or magazine are known in publishing circles as verso and recto. Recto comes from the Latin for “right”, and verso comes from the Latin word for “turned”. The idea is that the left side of the page is “turned” and is the reverse of the recto/right side.

104D Mike or Michael in movies : MYERS

Mike Myers does a great British accent, witness his performance in the madcap “Austin Powers” movies. He has an advantage though, as both his parents are British, and live in Ontario, Canada.

The scary Michael Myers is the main antagonist in the “Halloween” series of horror movies. Although not specified in the storyline, the mask that Michael wears is actually a William Shatner Halloween mask that has been painted white.

106D Raison d’___ : ETRE

“Raison d’être” is a French phrase meaning “reason for existence”.

108D Invitation letters : RSVP

“RSVP” stands for “répondez s’il vous plaît”, which is French for “answer, please”.

109D Uber predictions, in brief : ETAS

When transportation company Uber went public in 2019, it was a well-subscribed offering. However, Uber’s shares dropped in value soon after trading opened, and finished the day 11% down. As a result, Uber shares suffered the biggest IPO first-day dollar loss in US history.

113D Zippo competitor : BIC

Société Bic is a company based in Clichy in France. The first product the company produced, more than fifty years ago, was the Bic Cristal ballpoint pen that is still produced today. Bic also makes other disposable products such as lighters and razors.

The first Zippo lighter was made in 1933, in Bradford, Pennsylvania. The name “Zippo” was simply a word invented by the company founder, George Blaisdell, as he liked the word “zipper”. You can buy one today for $12.95, or if you want the solid gold model … for $8,675.95.

114D Co-producer of the documentary “The Beatles: Get Back” : ONO

The Beatles song “Get Back” was first released in 1969. It is the only Beatles song that gives credit to another artist on the label, naming the keyboard player Billy Preston. Yes, the label actually says “Get Back” by The Beatles and Billy Preston.

115D “The Bells” poet : POE

Poe’s poem “The Bells” was not published until soon after his death. It is famous for the repetition of the word “bells” throughout, tolling away in the very words of the work itself.

116D Fenway team, familiarly : SOX

The Boston Red Sox are one of the most successful Major League Baseball teams and so command a large attendance, but only when on the road. The relatively small capacity of Boston’s Fenway Park, the team’s home since 1912, has dictated that every game the Red Sox have played there has been a sell-out from May of 2003 to April 2013. I had the pleasure of touring Fenway Park some years ago. It’s quite a place …