0326-26 NY Times Crossword 26 Mar 26, Thursday

Bill’s time: 9m 00s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

14A First Disney film with songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda : MOANA

“Moana” is a 2016 animated feature film and the 56th animated Disney movie. The title character is the daughter of a Polynesian chief who heads off in search of the demigod Maui, hoping that he can save her people. Unlike many of the previous Disney Princess films, Moana’s story is not centered around romance. She is only the second Disney Princess who doesn’t have a love interest, the first being Merida in the 2012 feature “Brave”.

Lin-Manuel Miranda is a composer and playwright from New York City, and the creator and star of the hit Broadway musicals “Hamilton” and “In the Heights”. Miranda also co-wrote the songs for the 2016 Disney animated feature “Moana”. He started composing early, and wrote jingles as a child.

15A Mushroom sold in clusters : ENOKI

Enokitake (also known as “enoki”) are long and thin white mushrooms often added to soups or salads.

17A Literally, “rumbling ghost” : POLTERGEIST (POL EGRET IST)

A poltergeist is a spirit or ghost that makes its presence known by making noises or by moving objects. The term “Poltergeist” is German, coming from “poltern” meaning “to rumble” or “to make a noise”, and “Geist”, the German for “ghost” or “spirit”.

20A Beachgoer’s consideration, in brief : SPF

In theory, the sun protection factor (SPF) is a calibrated measure of the effectiveness of a sunscreen in protecting the skin from harmful UV rays. The idea is that if you wear a lotion with say SPF 20, then it takes 20 times as much UV radiation to cause the skin to burn than it would take without protection. I say just stay out of the sun …

21A Nobelist Morrison : TONI

Writer Toni Morrison won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. Amongst other things, Morrison is noted for coining the phrase “our first Black President”, a reference to President Bill Clinton.

22A Coffee grown on the Big Island : KONA

Kona coffee is cultivated on the Big Island of Hawaii, on the slopes of Mauna Loa and Hualalai, two of the five volcanoes on the island. Coffee plants were brought to Kona in 1828 and late in the 19th century, coffee became a viable and worthwhile crop. Today Kona is one of the most expensive and popular coffees in the world.

33A Pet renowned for its agreeableness : GOLDEN RETRIEVER (GOLDE TERN RIEVER)

The breed of dog called the golden retriever originated in Scotland in the mid-1800s. The breed was developed to retrieve game that had been downed by hunters, whether the game was to be found in water or on land. Existing retrievers (which worked well on land) were crossed with water spaniels (which worked well in water) to come up with the golden retriever breed.

43A One inside the Trojan horse : SPARTAN

The story of the Wooden Horse of Troy is told in Virgil’s poem “The Aeneid”. According to the tale, the city of Troy finally fell to Greeks after a siege that had lasted for ten years. In a ruse, the Greeks sailed away in apparent defeat, leaving behind a large wooden horse. Inside the horse were hidden 30 crack soldiers. When the horse was dragged into the city as a victory trophy, the soldiers sneaked out and opened the city’s gates. The Greeks returned under cover of night and entered the open city.

50A “The Departed” actor : MARK WAHLBERG (MAR HAWK LBERG)

Marky Mark was frontman for the band Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch in the nineties. We know Marky Mark these days as noted movie actor Mark Wahlberg, leading actor in the likes of “The Italian Job” and “Shooter”.

Martin Scorsese’s 2006 film “The Departed” is a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong crime-thriller “Infernal Affairs”. The American version is set in Boston, and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson.

52A West Coast gas brand : ARCO

The company name “ARCO” is an acronym standing for “Atlantic Richfield Company”. One of ARCO’s claims to fame is that it is responsible for the nation’s largest Superfund site. Mining and smelting in the area around Butte, Montana polluted the region’s water and soil, and ARCO has agreed to pay $187 million to help clean up the area.

54A Cry from Miss Piggy : OUI!

The Muppet named Miss Piggy has a pretentious air, and so refers to herself as “moi”. In 1998, Miss Piggy even released her own perfume called “Moi”.

63A Actress Rapp of “Mean Girls” : RENEE

Singer and actress Renée Rapp’s big break came with a starring role in the musical “Mean Girls” on Broadway. She played “mean girl” Regina George on stage from 2019 to 2020, and also in the big-screen adaptation released with the same title in 2024.

The 2024 musical film “Mean Girls” is based on the 2017 stage musical, and in turn on the 2004 movie, all of the same name. Tina Fey wrote both of the screenplays, as well as the book accompanying the musical.

64A Starr on the Hollywood Walk of Fame : RINGO

Ringo Starr is a musician, best known as the drummer for the Beatles. Beyond his music career, Ringo Starr has appeared in a number of films. In addition to his film work, Ringo Starr has also done voiceover work for several animated television shows and movies. He has lent his distinctive voice to characters in shows like “Thomas & Friends” and “The Simpsons”.

66A Solar revolutions : YEARS

A year is defined as the time it takes for the Earth to orbit the Sun. The other planets in our solar system take varying lengths of time to complete their orbits:

1. Mercury: ~ 3 Earth months
2. Venus: ~ 7 Earth months
3. Earth: 1 Earth year
4. Mars: ~ 2 Earth years
5. Jupiter: ~ 12 Earth years
6. Saturn: ~ 30 Earth years
7. Uranus: ~ 84 Earth years
8. Neptune: ~ 165 Earth years

67A Bumpkin : YOKEL

“Bumpkin” is really a not-so-nice term for someone from a rural area. The term has an even less nice derivation. It comes from the Middle Dutch “bommekijn” meaning “little barrel”. “Bumpkin” was used as a derogatory term for Dutch people, who were regarded as short and plump.

Down

5D Like a motley crew : RAGTAG

Something described as motley is mottled, marked with different-colored spots. The term probably comes from the Old English word “mot” meaning “speck”. We can use the term “motley” figuratively to mean “diverse, heterogeneous”.

7D Zany behavior : ANTIC

Something described as zany is clownish and bizarre. “Zany” can also be a noun, a term used for a clown or buffoon. The original noun was “Zanni”, a Venetian dialect variant of Gianni, short for Giovanni (John). Zanni was a character who appeared in comedy plays of the day, and was someone who aped the principal actors.

11D What might come with a bottle of rum? : YO-HO-HO!

The fictional sea shanty called “Dead Man’s Chest” was introduced in Robert Louis Stevenson’s great novel, “Treasure Island”. In the book, Stevenson only describes the chorus, which goes:

Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest–
…Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest–
…Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

12D The real Slim Shady : EMINEM

The Shady Records label was founded by rapper Eminem and his manager in 1999. The label’s name comes from Eminem’s album “The Slim Shady LP” released earlier that year.

22D “I’m Just ___” (Best Original Song nominee from “Barbie”) : KEN

“I’m Just Ken” is a song from the soundtrack of the hit 2023 movie “Barbie”. It is sung by actor Ryan Gosling, who played Ken in the film. Also playing on the track are guitarists Slash (from Guns N’ Roses) and Wolfgang Van Halen, as well as drummer Josh Freese from Foo Fighters.

27D Work contract-to-contract : GIG

Musicians use “gig” to describe a job, a performance. The term originated in the early 1900s in the world of jazz. The derivative phrase “gig economy” applies to a relatively recent phenomenon where workers find themselves jumping from temporary job to temporary job, from gig to gig.

28D Genre for Dashboard Confessional : EMO

Dashboard Confessional is an emo band from Boca Raton, Florida.

32D OB/GYNs, e.g. : DRS

A medical doctor (MD) might be an expert in obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN).

34D James in the Blues Hall of Fame : ETTA

Inaugurated in 1980, the Blues Hall of Fame used to be just a list of people who made significant contributions to the blues genre of music. There is now a music museum with the name Blues Hall of Fame, located in Memphis.

36D It’s found in a Nook : E-INK

The Barnes & Noble electronic-book reader is called the Nook. The reader’s name is intended to evoke the usage of “nook” as a familiar place to sit and read quietly.

39D Street name associated with nightmares : ELM

“A Nightmare on Elm Street” is a Wes Craven slasher-horror film that was released in 1984. As I don’t do “slasher” or “horror”, I was surprised to learn that Johnny Depp was in the movie, making his feature film debut.

40D Actress Issa : RAE

Issa Rae rose to prominence with her highly popular web series “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl”, which premiered in 2011. This led to her co-creating and starring in the acclaimed HBO comedy series “Insecure”, which garnered her multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. She’s also expanded into film roles and has her own media company, Hoorae.

44D Untouchable : PARIAH

“Pariah” is an anglicized version of the Tamil word “Paraiyar”. The Paraiyar are a social group of about 9 million people found in some Indian states and in Sri Lanka. The term “pariah” came to be a general term for members of the lowest caste in society, outcasts.

45D Spot for a pinball machine : ARCADE

Our modern game of pinball evolved from an earlier table game called bagatelle that used balls, pins and holes (and I remember playing bagatelle as a boy in a pub in Ireland). The first pinball machine was made by a British inventor who settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. He modified the game of bagatelle, adding a coiled spring and a plunger to introduce balls at the end of the table, a device that is still in use today. From there, manufacturers developed coin-operated versions of pinball, which became popular during the depression as they provided a little entertainment for a few pennies. One distributor of the coin-operated pinball machines started manufacturing them himself as he couldn’t source new games fast enough. He called his pinball game Ballyhoo, and eventually named his company Bally, a brand name well known in the gambling industry to this day.

51D Biblical untouchable : LEPER

The horrible disease known as leprosy is also called Hansen’s disease, named after the Norwegian physician famous for isolating the bacterium that causes the disease. We can use the term “leper” to mean someone in general who is shunned by society.

56D Billy who had a #1 hit with “Mony Mony” : IDOL

“Mony Mony” was a hit for Tommy James and Shondells back in 1968. Billy Idol came out with a successful cover version of the song in 1987. The title of the song apparently was inspired by a MONY sign on the Mutual of New York (MONY) Building in Manhattan.

59D Spike in Hollywood : LEE

Shelton Jackson “Spike” Lee is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is known for his films that explore race relations, urban crime and poverty and other political issues, including “Do the Right Thing,” “Malcolm X,” and “BlacKkKlansman.”

61D Social media squib : BIO

A “squib” is a short and humorous piece in a newspaper or magazine. The term might possibly be imitative of the small firework called a squib, as a newspaper’s squib might be intended to ignite thinking and discourse.