0215-26 NY Times Crossword 15 Feb 26, Sunday

Bill’s time: 19m 32s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

24A “Completely destroy with a blast” : BLOW TO SMITHEREENS

“Smithereens” is such a lovely word and I am proud to say that it comes from Irish. The Irish word “smiodar” means fragment. We add the suffix “-in” (anglicized as “-een”) to words to indicate the diminutive form. So, “little fragment” is “smidirin”, anglicized as “smithereens”.

27A “Gaia, by another name” : MOTHER EARTH

The Greek goddess personifying the Earth was Gaea (also “Gaia”, and meaning “land” or “earth” in Greek). The Roman equivalent goddess was Terra Mater, “Mother Earth”.

28A Something typically taken every 10 years : CENSUS

The taking of the nationwide census every ten years is a requirement specified in Article 1, Section 2 of the US Constitution. The first US census was taken in 1790. As stated in the Constitution, the main purposes of the census are to ensure fair representation by population, and fair assessment of direct taxes.

30A Certain bridge positions : EASTS

The version of the card game bridge that is played mostly today is contract bridge. Auction bridge is a similar game, and is a precursor to contract bridge.

33A The moon’s “maria” : SEAS

A mare is a large dark area on the moon. “Mare” is the Latin for “sea”. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Mare Tranquillitatis, the Sea of Tranquility.

36A Circa : AROUND

“Circa” is a Latin word meaning “around, near, about the time of”. We use “circa” directly in English to mean “about the time of”, as well as in derivative words such as “circle” and “circus”.

38A “Rhoda” actress Valerie : HARPER

Valerie Harper was best known for playing Rhoda Morgenstern on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, and on her own spin-off sitcom “Rhoda”. Harper was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009, and in 2013 was given just months to live. Despite the prognosis, and her age of 74 years, she decided to appear in the 17th season of “Dancing with the Stars”. Harper eventually passed away in 2019.

44A Salon substance : MOUSSE

Our word “mousse” is an Old French term meaning “froth”.

55A Conical shelter : TEEPEE

A tepee (also written as “tipi” and “teepee”) is a cone-shaped tent traditionally made from animal hides that is used by the Great Plains Native Americans. A wigwam is a completely different structure and is often a misnomer for a tepee. A wigwam is a domed structure built by Native Americans in the West and Southwest, intended to be a more permanent dwelling. The wigwam can also be covered with hides but more often was covered with grass, reeds, brush or cloth.

58A Skewered Indonesian dish : SATAY

The dish known as “satay” originated in Java, Indonesia and is marinated pieces of meat served on a skewer in a sauce, often a spicy peanut sauce. “Satay” is the Indonesian spelling, and “sate” is the Malay spelling.

70A Grilled South American fare : AREPA

An arepa is a cornmeal cake or bread that is popular in Colombian and Venezuelan cuisines in particular. Each arepa has a flat, round shape and is often split to make a sandwich.

79A Muckety-muck : NABOB

A nabob is a person of wealth and prominence. “Nabob” was once used as a title for a governor in India.

81A Fair-hiring inits. : EOE

Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE)

82A Chemical element whose use led to the first known law against poisoning : ARSENIC

Arsenic is element #33 in the periodic table, and has the chemical symbol “As”. Because of arsenic’s toxicity, it was very commonly used in pesticides. These compounds are getting banned over time, but it seems there is a long way to go. Arsenic in aquifers continues to be a problem around the world, including here in the US. China has introduced limits to the amounts of arsenic permitted in food as well as water, mainly as the Chinese staple of rice is particularly effective at accumulating arsenic from groundwater.

84A Herman ___ (potato chip entrepreneur) : LAY

Lay’s potato chips were introduced in 1938 by Herman W. Lay. Lay started selling his chips out the trunk of his car, traveling all over the US. In those days the chips were pretty much handmade, but Lay put an end to that in 1942. He invented the first continuous potato processor in 1948, and chips started to take over the world!

93A “Delicate, as beauty” : ETHEREAL

The Greek philosopher Empedocles proposed that there are four elements that made up the universe, namely earth, water, air and fire. Aristotle later proposed a fifth element which he called aether (also “ether”). Aether was the divine substance that made up the stars and planets. We’re still using the term “ether” with a similar meaning, and the extended term “ethereal” to mean “lacking material substance” and “marked by unusual delicacy”.

104A Duchess of ___ (noted Spanish title) : ALBA

María Cayetana de Silva was the 13th Duchess of Alba. She was a favorite subject of the Spanish painter Francisco Goya. The duchess is the subject in the famous portraits known as “La maja desnuda” (The Nude Maja) and “La maja vestida” (The Clothed Maja). “Maja” translates from Spanish as “beautiful lady”.

107A Reality TV franchise created by Tyra Banks : TOP MODEL

Tyra Banks is a tremendously successful model and businesswoman. Banks created and hosted the hit show “America’s Next Top Model “, and also had her own talk show. She was also the first African-American woman to make the cover of the “Sports Illustrated” swimsuit issue.

111A Ruby lookalike : GARNET

Garnets are silicate minerals that come in many colors. However, the color that we call “garnet” is a dark red.

113A Fort Collins sch. : CSU

Colorado State University (CSU) was founded in Fort Collins in 1870 as the Colorado Agricultural College. The school’s athletic teams are known as the Colorado State Rams, although back in the days of the Colorado Agricultural College, the teams were referred to as the Aggies.

118A Kind of paper in a lab : LITMUS

Litmus is a mixture of naturally-occurring dyes that responds to acidity by changing color. It was probably first used around 1300 by the Spanish alchemist Arnaldus de Villa Nova, who extracted the blue dye from lichens. One suggestion is that the term “litmus” comes from the Old Norse “litmose” meaning “lichen for dyeing”. Litmus is often absorbed onto filter paper, creating “litmus paper” or “pH paper”. We also use the phrase “litmus test” figuratively to describe any test in which a single factor decides the outcome.

129A Queen of the fairies : TITANIA

Oberon and Titania are the King and Queen of the Fairies in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.

132A Fruit also known as a “uniq” : 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.

133A Largest bird in North America : CONDOR

The condor is actually a vulture, and is the largest flying land bird in the Western Hemisphere. There are two species: the Andean Condor found in the Andes in South America, and the California Condor found in the west of the US and Mexico.

134A X-ray units : RADS

The rad is a unit used to measure radiation levels that is largely obsolete now. The “rad” has been superseded by the “rem”.

Down

1D “The Exchange” airer : CNBC

CNBC is a business news channel owned by NBC. Launched in 1989, “CNBC” was known as the Consumer News and Business Channel up until 1991.

16D M.L.B. team that once went by OAK on scoreboards : ATH

The Athletics baseball franchise was founded in 1901 as the Philadelphia Athletics. The team relocated to become the Kansas City Athletics in 1955 and then moved to Oakland in 1968, where they were known as the Oakland Athletics, or more commonly “the A’s”, for 57 seasons. After the 2024 season, the team left Oakland and to play temporarily in Sacramento, in anticipation of a move to Las Vegas.

18D Fashion designer Carolina : HERRERA

Carolina Herrera is a fashion designer who lives and works in the US although is originally from Venezuela. She is famous for having designed for several First Ladies, including Jacqueline Onassis, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama, and Melania Trump.

25D Behind : TUSHIE

“Tush”, a word meaning “backside”, is an abbreviation of “tochus” that comes from the Yiddish “tokhes”.

31D Singer whose “Hello” was the fastest video ever to reach 1 billion views on YouTube : ADELE

“Hello” is a 2015 song by English singer Adele that won her three Grammy Awards: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance. It was the first song to sell over one million digital copies in a single week in the US.

34D “People ___ Strange” (the Doors song) : ARE

The Doors formed in 1965 in Los Angeles. The band chose their name from a book by Aldous Huxley called “The Doors of Perception”.

37D World’s first billion-dollar corporation : US STEEL

US Steel was founded in 1901 with a merger of Carnegie Steel, Federal Steel and National Steel. The resulting company immediately became the world’s first billion-dollar corporation. US Steel reorganized in 1986 and changed its name to USX Corporation, but reverted to the US Steel name in 2001. I think I’m right in saying that the USX name was chosen because US Steel is traded under the symbol “X” on the New York Stock Exchange …

40D Game piece in Rummikub : TILE

Rummikub is a tile-based game that was created in the 1940s by Ephraim Hertzano in Israel. Hertzano’s game combines elements of mahjong with the card game rummy. Rummikub was the best-selling game in the US back in 1977.

49D P.D. alert : APB

An All Points Bulletin (APB) is a broadcast from one US law enforcement agency to another.

50D Prefix meaning “sun” : HELIO-

Helios was the god of the Sun in Greek mythology, and is the reason that we use the prefix “helio-” to mean “sun”. He was the brother of Selene, the goddess of the moon, and Eos, the goddess of the dawn. Helios drove his chariot of the sun across the sky during the day, returning to the East at night by traveling through the ocean. The Roman equivalent to Helios was Sol.

60D Chicago paper, informally : TRIB

“The Chicago Tribune” was first published in 1847. The most famous edition of “The Trib” was probably in 1948 when the headline was “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN”, on the occasion of that year’s presidential election. When it turned out that Truman had actually won, the victor picked up the paper with the erroneous headline and posed for photographs with it … a famous, famous photo, that must have stuck in the craw of the editor at the time.

62D N.Y.C. neighborhood that’s home to the Grey Art Museum : NOHO

“NoHo” is short for “North of Houston (street)”, and is the equivalent area to SoHo, South of Houston, both of which are neighborhoods in New York City.

65D J.F.K. predecessor : DDE

Dwight D. Eisenhower (DDE) was the 34th US president, but he wanted to be remembered as a soldier. He was a five-star general during WWII in charge of the Allied Forces in the European Theater of Operations (ETO). President Eisenhower died in 1969 at Walter Reed Army Hospital. He was buried in an $80 standard soldier’s casket in his army uniform in a chapel on the grounds of the beautiful Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas.

75D French wine region : LOIRE

The Loire is the longest river in France. It is so long that it drains one-fifth of the nation’s land mass. The Loire rises in the southeast, in the Cevennes mountain range, then heads north then due west, emptying into the Bay of Biscay at the city of Nantes. The Loire Valley is home to some of France’s most famous wine production, and includes the wine regions of Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé and Muscadet. It is also home to some of the nation’s most spectacular châteaux. There are over 300 castles along the river, built by French kings and their courtiers.

76D LeBron James or Nikola Jokic : NBA STAR

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.

Nikola Jokić is a professional basketball player who was born in former-Yugoslavia. He was playing in the Serbian League before being drafted in 2014 by the Denver Nuggets of the NBA. Jokić won a silver medal with the Serbian national team when they lost to the USA in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

85D Beverage infused with THC : WEED TEA

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the main psychoactive in cannabis.

88D County in western New York : ERIE

There are three Erie Counties in the US:

• Erie County, New York (with Buffalo as the county seat)
• Erie County, Ohio (with Sandusky as the county seat)
• Erie County, Pennsylvania (with Erie as the county seat)

103D ___ Valley (San Francisco neighborhood) : NOE

Noe Valley is a neighborhood in San Francisco. The area is named after José de Jesús Noé who was the last Mexican mayor of Yerba Buena, which is what San Francisco was called when it was part of Mexico.

109D Shell out : SPEND

One is said to shell out money when disbursing funds. The use of “shell out” is figurative, from the notion of extracting nuts from a shell.

110D Video game character aptly celebrated on Mar. 10 : MARIO

Mario Bros. started out as an arcade game back in 1983, developed by Nintendo. The more famous of the two brothers, Mario, had already appeared in an earlier arcade game “Donkey Kong”. Mario was given a brother called Luigi, and the pair have been around ever since. In the game, Mario and Luigi are Italian American plumbers from New York City.

120D ___ Millions (multistate lottery) : MEGA

The Mega Millions lottery game is available in most states of the US, as is its major rival called Powerball.

124D China’s largest ethnic group : HAN

The Han Chinese are the largest ethnic group in the world, making up about 18% of the global population and over 90% of China’s population.