0716-26 NY Times Crossword 16 Jul 26, Thursday

Bill’s time: 12m 42s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Smart : POSH

No one really knows the etymology of the word “posh”. The popular myth that “posh” is actually an acronym standing for “port out, starboard home” is completely untrue, and is a story that has circulated since at least the 1930s, though it was popularized by a song in the 1968 movie “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”. The myth is that wealthy British passengers traveling to and from India would book cabins on the port side for the outward journey and the starboard side for the home journey. This trick was supposedly designed to keep their cabins out of the direct sunlight.

16A Galápagos island that was home to Lonesome George, the last tortoise of his subspecies : PINTA

The Galápagos Islands lie over 500 miles west of Ecuador. They owe their celebrity to the voyage of HMS Beagle which landed there in 1835, with Charles Darwin on board. It was Darwin’s study of various species on the islands that inspired him to postulate his Theory of Evolution.

17A Who knows what preceded the Big Bang : NO ONE

According to the Big Bang theory, the universe came into being just under 14 billion years ago. The theory posits that the universe started out as a hot and dense mass that began to expand rapidly (in a “big bang”). Within three minutes of the “bang”, the universe cooled so that energy was converted into subatomic particles like protons, electrons and neutrons. Over time, subatomic particles turned into atoms. Clouds of those atoms formed stars and galaxies.

18A *Yes — three arduous ones : IRONMAN TRIATHLON

An Ironman Triathlon is a race involving a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a marathon run of just over 26 miles. The idea for the race came out of a debate between some runners in the 1977 Oahu Perimeter Relay. They were questioning whether runners, swimmers or bikers were the most fit athletes. The debaters decided to combine three local events to determine the answer, inviting athletes from all three disciplines. The events that were mimicked in the first triathlon were the Waikiki Roughwater swim (2.4 miles), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (115 miles) and the Honolulu Marathon (26.2 miles). The idea was that whoever finishes first would be called “the Iron Man”. The first triathlon was run in 1978, with fifteen starters and only twelve finishers. The race format is used all over the world now, but the Hawaiian Ironman is the event that everyone wants to win.

21A February 14, informally : V-DAY

Saint Valentine’s Day was introduced by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD to honor various martyrs with the name Valentine. However, the saint’s day was dropped by the Roman Catholic church in 1969, by Pope Paul VI. Try telling that to Hallmark though …

23A El ___ : CID

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar was known as El Cid Campeador, which translates as “The Champion” or perhaps “The Lord, Master of Military Arts”. El Cid was a soldier who fought under the rule of King Alfonso VI of Spain (among others). However, he was sent into exile by the King in 1080, after acting beyond his authorization in battle. El Cid then offered his services to his former foes, the Moorish kings. After a number of years building a reputation with the Moors, he was recalled from exile by Alfonso. By this time El Cid was very much his own man. Nominally under the orders of Alfonso, he led a combined army of Spanish and Moorish troops and took the city of Valencia on the Mediterranean coast in 1094, making it his headquarters and home. He died in Valencia, quite peacefully, in 1099.

29A *Yes — sometimes more than 1,000 : MILLIPEDE

Centipedes and millipedes are multi-legged arthropods. Centipedes can have varying numbers of legs, from about 30 to about 350 depending on species. Millipedes have segmented bodies with two pairs of legs in each segment. Millipedes typically have about 80 to 750 legs depending on species, though a species discovered in 2021 was found to have over 1,300 legs, making it the first to truly live up to its name.

31A Patooties : BUTTS

Back in the 1920s, the term “patootie” was used for a sweetheart, a very pretty girl. Somehow, the term has evolved into slang for the posterior, rear end.

35A Tire : FLAG

Our verb “to flag” meaning “to tire” was originally used in the sense of something flapping about lazily in the wind. From this it came to mean “to go limp, droop”, and then “to tire”.

43A Common garnish in a chirashi bowl : ROE

Chirashizushi is a type of sushi, with the name “chirashizushi” translating as “scattered sushi”. Each serving consists of vinegared rice in a bowl, with the raw fish and vegetable garnish “scattered” on top of the rice.

47A Article of lab wear : SMOCK

A smock is an outer garment that is often worn as protection for one’s clothing. Today, the term often applies to the protective garment worn by a painter.

53A Elizabethan curse : POX

A pox is any of the diseases that produces “pocks” on the skin, eruptive pustules. The pox might perhaps be smallpox or chickenpox. When cursing someone by saying “a pox on you”, the reference is to the “great pox”, namely syphilis.

54A Country that las islas Canarias are part of : ESPANA

The Canary Islands are located off the northwest coast of Africa. The islands aren’t named for the canary bird and in fact the bird is named for the islands. The name of the Canary Islands comes from the Latin “Canariae Insulae” which translates as “Island of the Dogs”. This was the original name for the third largest island, now called Gran Canaria. In the days of ancient Rome the island was noted as a home to a large number of very large dogs.

57A Important blood line : AORTA

The aorta originates in the heart and extends down into the abdomen. It is the largest artery in the body.

58A “___ is the proper task of life”: Nietzsche : ART

Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher. He’s not my cup of tea …

59A Business whose rewards program gives “Stackholder Perks” : IHOP

The International House of Pancakes (IHOP) was founded back in 1958. The company officially popularized the acronym “IHOP” in 1973 as part of a marketing campaign.

67A Popular Japanese brew : 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 Kirin close behind.

69A Literary heroine who says “I would always rather be happy than dignified” : EYRE

“Jane Eyre” is a classic 1847 novel by Charlotte Brontë, published under the pseudonym “Currer Bell”. It’s a coming-of-age tale in which the title character endures a harsh childhood and education before becoming a governess at Thornfield Hall. Jane falls in love with her brooding employer, Mr. Rochester, but there’s a rocky road to travel before the couple finally get to the altar.

70A Its capital is Sanaa : YEMEN

Sana (also “Sana’a” and “Sanaa”) is the capital city of Yemen. Sitting at an elevation of 7,380 feet, Sana is one of the highest capital cities in the world. Within the bounds of today’s metropolis is the old fortified city of Sana, where people have lived for over 2,500 years. The Old City is now a World Heritage Site. According to legend, Sana was founded by Shem, the son of Noah.

71A Heavens : ETHER

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”.

72A Debugging component? : DEET

“DEET” is short for “N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide”, an active ingredient in insect repellents. DEET is most often used to repel mosquitoes by applying it to the skin and/or clothing. It is also used to protect against tick bites.

Down

1D Letter after upsilon : PHI

Phi is the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet.

Upsilon is the 20th letter in the Greek alphabet, and the character that gives rise to the letter Y that we use in English.

2D Trireme tool : OAR

Triremes were galleys used in the Mediterranean by a number of cultures, including the Ancient Greeks and Romans. The trireme was so called because there were three rows of oars on each side of the vessel. The term “trireme” comes from the Latin “tres remi” meaning “three-oar”. There was also a less ambitious version of the trireme that had only two banks of oars, and that was known as a bireme.

3D Cleared, as snow : SHOVELED

A shovel is a manual tool used for lifting and throwing material such as earth and coal. Our words “shovel” and “shove” are related etymologically, as a “shovel” is used to “shove” things aside.

4D “Messiah” composer : HANDEL

“Messiah” is a famous oratorio composed by George Frideric Handel that was first performed in Dublin, Ireland in 1742. The libretto is a text from the King James Bible that was compiled by Handel’s friend Charles Jennens. Not long after he received the libretto from Jennens, Handel took just 24 days to compose the full oratorio. He was obviously on a roll, because Handel started into his next oratorio, “Samson”, just one week after finishing “Messiah”. He completed the first draft of “Samson” within a month.

5D Neuter : SPAY

Our verb “to spay”, meaning “to surgically remove the ovaries of” (an animal), comes from an old Anglo-French word “espeier” meaning “to cut with a sword”.

6D What a big hand indicates: Abbr. : MIN

Minute (min.)

9D World’s most populous Creole-speaking country : HAITI

“Creole” is the term used in Haiti to describe all of the native people, as well as the music, food and culture of the country. 80% of the Haitian Creole people are so-called black creoles, descendants of the original Africans brought to the island as slaves during the French colonial days.

11D Japanese drama : NOH

Noh is a form of musical drama in Japan that has been around since the 14th century. Many of the Noh performers are masked, allowing all the roles to be played by men, including the female parts.

12D Feline in a 2000s meme : LOLCAT

A lolcat is an image of a cat with a humorous message superimposed in text. Such images have been around since the late 1800s, but the term “lolcat” only surfaced in 2006 as the phenomenon was sweeping across the Internet. “Lolcat” is a melding of the acronym for “laugh out loud” (LOL) and “cat”.

14D Fast-food restaurant that sells Frostys : WENDY’S

Wendy’s fast-food restaurants are known for square burger patties and Frosty desserts. The chain was founded by Dave Thomas in 1969, and is named after Thomas’s fourth child, Melinda Lou “Wendy” Thomas. Dave Thomas himself was a high school dropout who later became a vocal advocate for education and adoption (he was adopted as an infant). He earned his GED in 1993 at the age of 61, stating he didn’t want his success to be an excuse for kids to quit school. Good man, Dave!

20D Oft-injured part of the knee, for short : ACL

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the stabilizing bands of tissue connecting the human thighbone to the shinbone. The term “cruciate” comes from the Latin “crux” meaning cross, which describes how the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments intersect to form an “X” shape inside the center of the knee joint.

24D Clock-setting std. : GMT

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the time at the Prime Meridian, the meridian that runs through Greenwich in London.

25D ___ Bravo (México/Tejas border) : RIO

The Rio Grande (Spanish for “big river”) is a waterway that forms part of the border between Mexico and the United States. Although we call the river the Rio Grande on this side of the border, in Mexico it is called the Río Bravo or Río Bravo del Norte (Spanish for “furious river of the north”).

26D Certain tie score : DEUCE

The exact origins of the scoring system used for a game in tennis seems to be a tad murky. One suggestion is that clock faces were once used to keep score, with a hand pointing to 15, 30, 45 and 60. When the rules were changed to ensure games were won with more than a one-point difference in the score, the concept of “deuce” was introduced. The hand on the clock was then moved back to 40 (for deuce), and 50 was used for “advantage”, with 60 continuing to represent “game”. This resulted in the scores 15, 30, 40 and game.

30D Frost piece : POEM

The wonderful poet Robert Frost was a native of San Francisco, but lived most of his life in New England. He also spent a few years in England, just before WWI. Frost was well recognized for his work during his lifetime, and received four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry. He was also Vermont’s first Poet Laureate, a position that he held from 1961 until his death in 1963.

35D Botanist’s study : FLORA

The fauna (plural “faunae”) is the animal life of a particular region, and the flora (plural “florae”) is that region’s plant life. The term “fauna” comes from the Roman goddess of earth and fertility who was called Fauna. Flora was the Roman goddess of plants, flowers and fertility.

40D Actress/union leader Drescher : FRAN

Fran Drescher’s real name is Francine Jane Drescher. She is a comedian and comic actress best known for playing Fran Fine on the sitcom “The Nanny”. Fran was born in Queens, New York (go figure!). Her big break came with a small role, but in a huge movie. You might recall in “Saturday Night Fever” that John Travolta was asked by a pretty dancer, “Are you as good in bed as you are on the dance floor?” Well, that young lady was Fran Drescher.

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was formed back in 1933, at a time when Hollywood stars were really being exploited by the big movie studios, especially the younger and less experienced performers. Early supporters of the Guild included famous names like Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney (you could imagine them in a negotiation!). Past presidents of SAG were also big names, such as Eddie Cantor, James Cagney, Ronald Reagan, Howard Keel, Charlton Heston, Ed Asner, Melissa Gilbert. SAG merged with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) in 2012 to create SAG-AFTRA. One of the more notable presidents of SAG-AFTRA was elected in 2021: Fran Drescher.

41D Symbol of spiritual insight, in Hinduism : THIRD EYE

The “third eye” is also known as the “inner eye”. The term refers to the concept of an invisible eye that allows one to perceive beyond ordinary sight, to gain insight.

48D Lugubrious : MOROSE

“Lugubrious” is such a lovely word, a favorite of mine. It means “mournful, gloomy” and comes from “lugere”, the Latin word for “to mourn”.

56D Composure : POISE

Back in the early 1400s, “poise” meant “quality of being heavy”. We’ve been using the term to mean “steadiness, composure” since the mid-1600s, in the sense of being equally “weighted” on either side.

62D ___-goat : SHE

Male goats are bucks or billies, although castrated males are known as wethers. Female goats are does or nannies, and young goats are referred to as kids.

65D Test for future Ph.D.s : GRE

Passing the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is usually a requirement for entry into graduate school here in the US.