1004-26 NY Times Crossword 4 Oct 26, Sunday

Bill’s time: 18m 07s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

17A 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.

20A Liver’s output : BILE

The human liver has many functions, one of which is to store vital substances. The list of substances stored in the liver includes glucose (as glycogen), vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin B12, vitamin K, iron and copper. Another function of the liver is to produce bile, a substance stored in the gallbladder that aids in the digestion of fats. It also acts as a sophisticated filtration plant, processing 1.5 quarts of blood every single minute.

21A “10-4” : UNDERSTOOD

There is a set of “ten-codes” that were developed in 1937 for the use of law enforcement departments. As of 2006, the US federal government is recommending that they be replaced by plain language due to a lack of standardization in ten-codes. Examples of ten-codes are:

• 10-1 meaning “bad reception”
• 10-4 meaning “understood”
• 10-9 meaning “say again”
• 10-33 meaning “emergency, all units stand by”

29A “___ the One” (song on Springsteen’s “Born to Run”) : SHE’S

“Born to Run” is a 1975 album released by Bruce Springsteen, and the third of his career. “Born to Run” was to be Springsteen’s “breakout” album and really established him as a popular artist.

34A Philippine currency : PESO

The writing on bank notes in the Philippines used to be in English, so the national currency was recorded as the “peso”. Since 1967 the language on the notes has been Filipino, and now the name of the currency is written as “piso”.

35A Certain graphical shapes : PIES

A pie chart can also be referred to as a circle graph. It is often stated that Florence Nightingale invented the pie chart. While this is not in fact true, she is due credit for popularizing it, and for developing the pie chart variation known as the polar area diagram. The earliest known pie chart appears in a book published in 1801 by Scottish engineer William Playfair.

48A “Most definitely!,” in Mexico City : SI, SI!

Mexico City is the capital of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. It is also the oldest capital city in all the Americas, having been founded in 1325 as Tenochtitlan.

52A “The 12 Days of Christmas” bird : DOVE

The fabulous Christmas carol called “The Twelve Days of Christmas” dates back at least to 1780 when it was first published in England, though it may be French in origin. The concept of twelve days of Christmas comes from the tradition that the three kings came to visit the Christ Child twelve days after he was born. This same tradition is the origin of the title to Shakespeare’s play “Twelfth Night”.

63A ___ Nublar, fictional setting of “Jurassic Park” : ISLA

“Jurassic Park” is a 1990 novel by Michael Crichton that was adapted into a hugely successful movie by Steven Spielberg in 1993. One of the main premises of the novel is that dinosaur DNA could be harvested from mosquitoes trapped in amber (fossilized tree resin), the DNA coming from the dinosaur blood consumed by the mosquitoes. The dinosaur DNA is then sequenced and used to create clones of the original beasts. Apparently, that’s a clever idea, but not very practical …

64A Pizzicato’s opposite, musically : ARCO

“Arco” is a musical direction instructing a string player to return to normal bowing technique after a passage played using some other technique (perhaps pizzicato).

“Pizzicato” is an Italian term meaning “plucked, pinched”. It is used as a musical direction on a score, instructing the player of a stringed instrument to pluck the strings instead of using the bow.

71A Classic brand with the slogan “When it rains it pours” : MORTON SALT

Morton Salt started doing business in 1848 in Chicago, and now is the largest producer of salt in North America. The product’s logo is the Morton Salt Girl, a young girl walking with an open umbrella in the rain, while scattering salt behind her from a cylinder. The product’s motto is “When it rains, it pours”, which originated in 1914 after Morton started to use magnesium carbonate as an additive to ensure that the salt poured freely.

78A Org. created in response to 67-Down : NASA
[67D Pioneering satellite launched 10/4/57 : SPUTNIK ONE]

The Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite towards the end of 1957 in a development that shocked the establishment in the US. Within months, President Eisenhower created the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA, now DARPA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Space Race had begun …

85A ___ cake : LAVA

Molten chocolate cake is chocolate cake with a warm and liquid chocolate center. A dessert often called “lava cake”, it was invented by French chef Michel Bras, and dates back to 1981. It was popularized in the US by French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, initially in his New York restaurant.

86A Son of Adam and Eve : SETH

According to the Bible, Seth was the third son of Adam and Eve, coming after Cain and Abel. Adam and Eve had several children, but Cain, Abel and Seth are the ones mentioned by name. According to the Book of Genesis, Seth was born after Cain had slain his brother Abel.

89A Hawaiian goose : NENE

The nene is a bird that is native to Hawaii, and is also known as the Hawaiian goose. The name “nene” is an imitation of its call. When Captain Cook landed on the islands in 1778, there were 25,000 nene living there. By 1950, the number was reduced by hunting to just 30 birds. Conservation efforts in recent years have been somewhat successful.

96A Doc who might screen for HPV : GYNO

“Gyneco-” is a prefix meaning female, as in “gynecology”. “Andro-” is a prefix meaning male, as in “androgen”, a steroid hormone that controls the development of masculine characteristics.

98A Source of the Mississippi River : LAKE ITASCA

Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota is the main source of the Mississippi River. Known by Native Americans as “Elk Lake”, the name was changed by Henry Schoolcraft, who led the 1832 expedition to find the source of the Mississippi River. The name “Itasca” is formed from the Latin words for “truth” (ver-ITAS) and “head” (CA-put).

113A Lewis who wrote “The Taste of Country Cooking” : EDNA

Edna Lewis was a celebrated chef and cookbook author who played a pivotal role in preserving and popularizing traditional Southern cooking. She was born in Freetown, Virginia, a farming community founded by freed slaves. Her cookbooks, like “The Taste of Country Cooking” (1976) are considered classics, featuring authentic flavors of the rural South.

116A Both digits on Groundhog Day : TWOS

Punxsutawney is a borough in Pennsylvania that is located about 80 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. Punxsutawney Phil is the famous groundhog that lives in the area. Phil comes out of his hole on February 2 each year and if he sees his shadow he goes back into his hole predicting six more weeks of winter weather. February 2 is known as “Groundhog Day”.

Down

2D Ginóbili in the Basketball Hall of Fame : MANU

Manu Ginóbili is a retired NBA player from Argentina. Before joining the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA, he played professional basketball in Italy. He is one of only two players to have won a EuroLeague title, an NBA championship, and an Olympic Gold. The other is Bill Bradley.

4D Conform : TOE THE LINE

The idiomatic expression “to toe the line” means “to obey”. The etymology of the phrase is disputed, although it is likely to come from the Royal Navy. Barefooted sailors were required to stand to attention for inspection lined up along the seams of the wooden deck, hence “toeing the line”.

8D Drawback to a brownstone : OLDER PIPES

Brownstone is a reddish-brown form of sandstone that is a popular building material, especially in the Northeastern United States. The term “brownstone” is often used to describe a townhouse constructed from such a stone, or a similar material.

13D Resident of a Mideast capital : ABU DHABIAN

Abu Dhabi is an island city in the Persian Gulf that is capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). “Abu Dhabi” translates literally from Arabic as “Father of Gazelle”, a name honoring the animal that reportedly led the Bani Yas tribe to a fresh water source on the island in 1761. The Bani Yas then established a fort and some housing in the area. That fort is now the oldest stone building in the city today.

15D ___ Romeo : ALFA

The “Alfa” in “Alfa Romeo” is actually an acronym, one standing for Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili (“Lombard Automobile Factory, Public Company”). ALFA was an enterprise founded in 1910 and which was taken over by Nicola Romeo in 1915. In 1920 the company name was changed to Alfa Romeo.

25D Seven-plus-hour exam with a lunch break, in brief : MCAT

Medical College Admission Test (MCAT)

37D Library ID : ISBN

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) was invented by one Gordon Foster who was a professor at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. The code was originally developed for booksellers, so that they had a unique number (and now a barcode) for each publication. ISBNs are ten digits long if assigned before 2007. Since the start of 2007, ISBNs have been thirteen digits long.

42D Egyptian god of the sun disk : ATEN

“Aten” was the name given to the disk of the sun in ancient Egypt. Aten came to be deified in Egypt, and was worshiped as an aspect of the sun god Ra.

44D Beyoncé or Harry Styles, now : SOLO ARTIST

Beyoncé Knowles established herself in the entertainment industry as the lead singer with the R&B group Destiny’s Child. She launched her solo singing career in 2002, after making her first appearance as an actor. In 2006 she played the lead in the very successful movie adaptation of the Broadway musical “Dreamgirls”. Beyoncé is married to rap star Jay-Z. She is also referred to affectionately as “Queen Bey”, a play on the phrase “the queen bee”. Her fan base goes by the name “Beyhive”.

Harry Styles is a singer from England who got his big break when he appeared on the British version of “The X Factor”, from which he was selected as an original member of the boy band One Direction. Styles turned to acting, and had a significant role in the 2017 war movie “Dunkirk”. Reading the gossip columns reveals that he dated Taylor Swift for a while in 2012.

65D Dowels, e.g. : PEGS

A dowel is a rod made from plastic, wood or metal. In its complete form, it is referred to as a “dowel rod”. We are perhaps more used to the rod cut into short lengths known as “dowel pins”.

67D Pioneering satellite launched 10/4/57 : SPUTNIK ONE

The Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite towards the end of 1957. The first in a series of space missions, the satellite was just a 23-inch diameter “ball” trailing four antennas. Sputnik 2 was launched just a month later, and carried the first living passenger into orbit, namely a dog named Laika. The word “sputnik” means “co-traveler” in Russian.

73D Large photovoltaic arrays : SOLAR FARMS

Solar farms, also known as photovoltaic power stations, are large-scale, grid-connected solar power systems designed to supply power at the utility level. A 2023 study in Canada highlighted the country’s significant potential for “agrivoltaics”, a dual-use land strategy where solar energy production is integrated with agriculture. This study suggests that installing agrivoltaic systems on just 1% of Canada’s agricultural land could generate between 25% and 33% of the country’s electricity needs.

83D “Now ___ me down to sleep” : I LAY

One of the prayers that I was taught as a child goes:

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
If I shall die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

84D Title for Horatio Magellan Crunch : CAP’N

The first Cap’n Crunch commercials aired in 1963, at the time the product line was launched. The Cap’n’s full name is Captain Horatio Magellan Crunch, would you believe? Crunch’s voice was provided for many years by Daws Butler, the same voice actor who gave us Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound. Cap’n Crunch is commander of the S.S. Guppy.

93D Hall-of-Fame catcher Carlton : FISK

Carlton “Pudge” Fisk is a retired professional baseball player. Fisk played for both the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox.

94D Start of a fairy tale : ONCE

The stock phrase “Once upon a time …” has been used in various forms as the start of a narrative at least since 1380. The stock phrase at the end of stories such as folktales is often “and they all lived happily ever after”. The earlier version of this ending was “happily until their deaths”.

104D Language written from right to left : URDU

Urdu is one of the two official languages of Pakistan (the other being English), and is one of the 22 scheduled languages in India. Urdu partly developed from Persian and is written from right to left.

106D Style of singing on Louis Armstrong’s “Heebie Jeebies” : SCAT

Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans in 1901. He had a poor upbringing, and only stayed in school until he was 11 years old. The exact origin of Louis’s nickname “Satchmo” seems to be a little unclear. One story is that he used to dance for pennies in New Orleans as a youngster and would hide those pennies in his mouth away from the other kids. For this he earned the nickname “satchel mouth”, which was shortened to “Satchmo”.