1119-25 NY Times Crossword 19 Nov 25, Wednesday

Bill’s time: 7m 05s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

14A Gun in an action flick : UZI

The first Uzi submachine gun was designed in the late 1940s by Major Uziel “Uzi” Gal of the Israel Defense Forces, who gave his name to the gun.

16A Times noted in Captain Kirk’s logs : STARDATES

“Stardates” are fictional dates used in the “Star Trek” universe.

According to the storyline in “Star Trek”, Captain James Tiberius Kirk was born in Riverside, Iowa on March 22, 2233. The town of Riverside displays a plaque, noting Riverside as the “future birthplace of James T. Kirk”, but the date given is March 22, 2228. I sense a disturbance in the space-time continuum …

19A Poet Pound : EZRA

Ezra Pound was an American poet who spent much of his life wandering the world, and spending years in London, Paris, and Italy. In Italy, Pound’s work and sympathies for Mussolini’s regime led to his arrest at the end of the war. His major work was the epic, albeit incomplete, “The Cantos”. This epic poem is divided into 120 sections, each known as a canto.

20A Topaz and turquoise : GEMS

Topaz is a semiprecious stone made from silicate containing aluminum and fluorine. Topaz is the state gemstone of Utah, and the rare blue topaz is the state gemstone of Texas.

“Turquoise” is the Old French word for “Turkish”. The name was given to the blue mineral because much of it was brought into Europe from Turkey, although most of the turquoise mines were located in the Khorasan Province of Iran.

21A Spanish island with a lively club scene : IBIZA

Ibiza is a Mediterranean island located almost 100 miles off the Spanish coast. It is a very popular tourist destination, largely for its legendary nightlife.

22A Holland in Hollywood : TOM

Tom Holland is an English actor whose big break came when he was cast in London’s West End production of “Billy Elliot the Musical”. Several years later, Holland landed the part of Spider-Man, starting with the 2016 film “Captain America: Civil War”. Tom’s father is Dominic Holland, who is quite a successful stand-up comedian in the UK.

23A Some loud dogs … or food critics : YELPERS

yelp.com is a website that provides a local business directory and reviews of services. The site is sort of like Yellow Pages on steroids, and the term “yelp” is derived from “yel-low p-ages”.

26A Fancy spirals in calligraphy : CURLICUES

Calligraphy is the art of fine handwriting. The term “calligraphy” comes from the Greek “kallos” meaning “beauty” and “graphein” meaning “to write”.

40A Harness for oxen : YOKE

A yoke is a wooden beam used between a pair of animals so that they are forced to work together.

41A Kindergarten basics : ABCS

“Kindergarten” is a German word, one translated as “children’s garden”. The term was coined by the German education authority Friedrich Fröbel in 1837, when he used it as the name for his play and activity institute that he created for young children to use before they headed off to school. His thought was that children should be nourished educationally, like plants in a garden.

53A Fish for fish sticks : COD

Fish sticks are known as fish fingers in the UK and Ireland.

56A Conductor Seiji of the Boston Symphony : OZAWA

Seiji Ozawa is most famous for his work as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, although he is also the principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera. Ozawa is renowned for wearing a white turtleneck under his dress suit when he conducts, rather than the traditional starched shirt and white tie.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is one of the Big Five in the US (along with the New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras). The BSO was founded in 1881, and has been calling Boston’s Symphony Hall its home since the building was purpose-built for the orchestra in 1900. The BSO’s first conductor was German-born British baritone and conductor George Henschel, who was a close friend of composer Johannes Brahms.

59A Rice lookalike : ORZO

Orzo is pasta that has been formed into granular shapes, much like barley. And indeed, “orzo” is the Italian word for “barley”. Orzo is also called “risoni”, meaning “large rice”.

64A Earliest drug approved to treat H.I.V. : AZT

“AZT” is the abbreviated name for the drug azidothymidine, which is used extensively in the treatment of HIV/AIDS. AZT was originally developed in the seventies as a potential treatment for retroviruses (cancer-causing viruses), although it was never approved for use in treatment. In 1984, it was confirmed that AIDS was caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), so scientists turned to known antiviral drugs in the search for a viable treatment. Burroughs-Wellcome came up with a treatment regime using AZT, and filed a patent in 1985. The patent was challenged in court but the patent expired anyway in 2005 without any decision being made. There are now at least four generic forms of AZT approved for sale in the US.

65A ___ Dame : NOTRE

“Notre Dame” is French for “Our Lady”.

Down

2D Flatbread eaten during Passover : MATZO

Matzo is an unleavened flatbread used in Jewish cuisine, and which plays a central role in the Seder ritual feast that marks the beginning of Passover.

4D Author ___ Neale Hurston : ZORA

Zora Neale Hurston was an American author who is most famous for her 1937 novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God”.

6D Chocolaty spread : NUTELLA

Nutella is a delicious hazelnut-chocolate spread made by Ferrero, a company based in Italy. Sadly, 70% of the Nutella recipe is saturated fat and processed sugar.

7D Antidiabetes drug taken by many for weight loss : OZEMPIC

Ozempic, initially approved in 2017 for type 2 diabetes, later gained significant attention and high demand for its use in weight management. It is sold as Wegovy.

9D Something shown in a sonogram : WOMB

A sonogram is an image made using ultrasound. “Ultrasound” is the name given to sound energy that has frequencies above the audible range.

11D Finito or kaput : DUNZO

“Kaput” is a familiar term meaning “incapacitated, destroyed”, and comes to us from French (via German). The original word “capot” means “not having won a single trick” in the French card game Piquet.

23D Space race cosmonaut Gagarin : YURI

Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space when his spacecraft Vostok I made a single orbit of the Earth in 1961. Sadly, Gagarin died only seven years later in a plane crash.

27D Some outfits for Bollywood films : SARIS

“Bollywood” is the informal name given to the huge film industry based in Mumbai in India. The term “Bollywood” is a melding of “Bombay” (the former name of Mumbai), and “Hollywood”.

29D Potty, to Potter : LOO

The author of the amazingly successful “Harry Potter” series of books is J. K. Rowling. Rowling wrote the first book when she was living on welfare in Edinburgh in Scotland, and in longhand. She would often write in local cafes, largely because she needed to get her baby daughter out of the house (she was a single mom), and the youngster would tend to fall asleep on walks. Within five years, the single mom on welfare became a very rich woman, and is now worth about $1 billion!

33D “Inside Politics” channel : CNN

“Inside Politics” is a CNN news program that had an original run of over 20 years. It was hosted by Judy Woodruff from 1993 to 2005, and was resurrected in 2014 with John King as host.

37D Its alphabet starts with Alfa and ends with Zulu : NATO

The NATO phonetic alphabet is also called the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) phonetic alphabet. Alfa, Bravo, Charlie … X-ray, Yankee, Zulu.

43D Spanish sausage : CHORIZO

Chorizo is a type of pork sausage that is made with different recipes around the world. The term “chorizo” originated in the Iberian Peninsula.

44D Intro to writing? : SILENT W

The “introductory” letter to the word “writing” is a silent letter W.

47D “Encore!” : AGAIN!

“Encore” is French for “again, one more time”, and is a shout that an audience member will make here in North America to request perhaps another song. But, the term is not used this way in France. Rather, the audience will shout “Bis!”, which is the Italian for “twice!”

48D Big hit in the ring : KAYO

A kayo is a knockout (KO).

50D Layer wrapping Earth : OZONE

Ozone gets its name from the Greek word “ozein” meaning “to smell”. It was given this name as ozone’s formation during lightning storms was detected by the gas’s distinctive smell. Famously, there is a relatively high concentration of the gas in the “ozone layer” in the Earth’s stratosphere. This ozone layer provides a vital function for animal life on the planet as it absorbs most of the sun’s UV radiation. A molecule of ozone is made up of three oxygen atoms (O3), whereas a “normal” oxygen (O2) has just two atoms.

51D “Get me?,” to beatniks : YA DIG?

The term “beatnik” was coined by journalist Herb Caen in 1958 when he used it to describe the stereotypical young person of the “beat generation”, which is oft associated with the writer Jack Kerouac. That stereotypical beatnik would be playing the bongos, rolling his or her own cigarettes. Male beatniks tended to sport goatees and wear berets.

53D Center of the ancient Minoan civilization : CRETE

Crete is the largest of the Greek Islands, and figures heavily in Greek mythology. Zeus was born in a cave at Mount Ida, the highest peak on the island. Crete was also home to the Labyrinth where the Minotaur was slain by Theseus. Icarus and Daedalus, after having crafted the Labyrinth, escaped from the island using wings that they crafted.

The Minoans were a Bronze Age people that lived on the island of Crete from about 270 to 1450 BCE. Evidence of the Minoan civilization was uncovered by the British archaeologist Arthur Evans at the beginning of the 20th century. Evans coined the term “Minoan” after King Minos of myth, who was said to have built the Labyrinth on the island that housed the Minotaur.

54D Netflix crime drama set in rural Missouri : OZARK

“Ozark” is an excellent TV crime show starring Jason Bateman and Laura Linney as a married couple who relocate from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks. The couple fall foul of a Mexican drug lord after a money laundering scheme goes awry. The show is set at a lake resort in the Ozarks, although filming actually takes place at lakes in the Atlanta area in order to take advantage of tax breaks offered by the State of Georgia.

59D Great Plains native : OTOE

The Great Plains lie between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains in North America. This vast grassland is known as “the Prairies” in Canada.

62D I.C.U. staffers : RNS

A registered nurse (RN) might work in an intensive care unit (ICU).