0221-26 NY Times Crossword 21 Feb 26, Saturday

Bill’s time: 15m 10s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

11A European city on the Bay of Angels : NICE

The French city of Nice is on the Mediterranean coast in the southeast of the country. Although Nice is only the fifth most populous city in France, it is home to the busiest airport outside of Paris. That’s because of all the tourists flocking to the French Riviera. Something described as “à la niçoise” is “of Nice”.

15A Film subgenre exemplified by “The Thing” or “The Fly” : BODY HORROR

The 1986 sci-fi horror film “The Fly” stars Jeff Goldblum as a scientist who gradually turns into a fly-like creature as the result of a teleportation experiment that goes awry. The 1986 film is loosely based on a 1957 short story by George Langelaan. I saw the original 1958 movie adaptation of that story when I was just a lad, and it really scared me. I’ve managed to avoid the two sequels and the 1986 remake …

20A The third primary chakra is located just above it : NAVEL

Chakras are energy centers in the body that are believed to correspond to different aspects of the physical, emotional, and spiritual self. There are seven main chakras, located along the spine from the base of the spine to the crown of the head. Each chakra is associated with a different color, element, and emotion.

21A Foundations of many dad jokes : PUNS

Wanna hear some bad puns?

• Why did the bicycle fall over? Because it was two-tired!
• What do you call a fish with no eyes? Fsh!
• What do you call a sad strawberry? A blueberry.
• I only know 25 letters of the alphabet. I don’t know Y.
• What do you call a sleeping bull? A bulldozer.
• What’s orange and sounds like a parrot? A carrot.

24A Yom Kippur topic : SIN

Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people. It is also known as the Day of Atonement.

25A Certain slip-on : PONCHO

A poncho is a typical South American outer garment that has been used by Native American peoples since pre-Hispanic times. One of the iconic uses of a poncho was by Clint Eastwood in spaghetti westerns.

29A Author of “The Fisherman and His Flute” : AESOP

Aesop is remembered today as a fabulist, a writer of fables. Aesop lived in ancient Greece, probably around the sixth century BC. Supposedly he was born a slave, somehow became a free man, but then met with a sorry end. Aesop was sent to the city of Delphi on a diplomatic mission but instead insulted the Delphians. He was tried on a trumped-up charge of stealing from a temple, sentenced to death and was thrown off a cliff.

31A Clip-on mic, for short : LAV

A lavalier microphone is quite small and is usually attached to some item of clothing. The term “lavalier” originally referred to a pendant worn around the neck. Early lavalier microphones were quite large and rested on the chest with support from a strap that went around the neck, hence the use of the term “lavalier”.

34A Architect’s tool : T-SQUARE

A T-square is a technical drawing instrument used for drawing horizontal lines. You can also get a drywall T-square, which is used in measuring and cutting drywall.

36A A cow can produce about 200 pounds of it a year : METHANE

Methane (CH4) is the main component of natural gas, with ethane (C2H6) being the second largest component.

40A Items of some import? : EXOTICA

The word “exotic” means “belonging to another country”, and is derived from the Greek “exo-” meaning “outside”. Exotica are things that are excitingly strange, often from foreign parts.

42A Savory latke topping : LOX

Lox is a brine-cured salmon filet that is finely sliced. The term “lox” comes into English via Yiddish, and derives from the German word for salmon, namely “Lachs”.

A latke is a delicious potato pancake (I’m Irish, so anything made with potatoes is delicious, to be honest).

43A Sidney who directed “12 Angry Men” : LUMET

As a movie director, Sidney Lumet had a great string of celebrated films to his name including “12 Angry Men”, “Dog Day Afternoon”, “Network” and “The Verdict”. Although nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director for each of these films, he never won an individual Oscar. However, the Academy gave Lumet the recognition he deserved in 2005 by presenting him with an Honorary Award.

The powerful 1957 movie “12 Angry Men” was directed by Sidney Lumet, and has a stellar cast of “jury members” including Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Klugman and Ed Begley. If ever there is a movie that clearly was based on a play, it’s this one. Practically the whole film takes place on one set, the jury room.

49A Formula 1 star, e.g. : DRIVER

In motor racing, the designation “formula” is a set of rules that all participants and cars must abide by. The definition of “Formula One” was agreed back in 1946, with the “one” designating that it is the most advanced of the “formulae”, and the most competitive.

57A The W.N.B.A.’s Mercury, on scoreboards : PHX

The Phoenix Mercury play in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded in 1997 and was owned by businessman Robert Sarver, who also owned the Phoenix Suns of the NBA. Sarver sold both the Mercury and the Suns to Mat Ishbia in 2023.

58A Steps to a lively tune : JIGS

The jig is a dance most associated with Ireland and Scotland. In traditional Irish dancing, the jig is second in popularity only to the reel. The most famous Irish jig is probably “The Irish Washerwoman”. I may not dance a jig, but I sure do know the tune of “The Irish Washerwoman” …

Down

2D Mrs. John Quincy Adams : LOUISA

Louisa Adams was the wife of President John Quincy Adams. She was actually born in London, and so was the only First Lady of the US not born in this country, until Slovenian-born Melania Trump moved into the White House with President Donald Trump.

4D Overseer of the Erie Canal, in brief : NYS

New York State (NYS)

The Erie Canal runs from Albany to Buffalo in the state of New York. What the canal does is allow shipping to proceed from New York Harbor right up the Hudson River, through the canal and into the Great Lakes. When it was opened in 1825, the Erie Canal had an immediate impact on the economy of New York City and locations along its route. It was the first means of “cheap” transportation from a port on the Atlantic seaboard into the interior of the United States. Arguably it was the most important factor contributing to the growth of New York City over competing ports such as Baltimore and Philadelphia. It was largely because of the Erie Canal that New York became such an economic powerhouse, earning it the nickname of “the Empire State”. Paradoxically, one of the project’s main proponents was severely criticized. New York Governor DeWitt Clinton received so much ridicule that the canal was nicknamed “Clinton’s Folly” and “Clinton’s Ditch”.

5D “Star Trek” villain played by Ricardo Montalbán : KHAN

In the 1982 movie “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” William Shatner played James T. Kirk, and the evil Khan was played by Ricardo Montalbán. Leonard Nimoy didn’t want to appear in the sequel, and only agreed to do so when the producers agreed to “kill off” Spock at the end of the story (but he comes back … and back … and back …).

Actor Ricardo Montalbán had such a long career and so many roles on the big and small screens. I suppose that I remember him most playing the title villain in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”, as well as playing the same character on the original TV series. And of course, Montalbán portrayed Mr. Roarke on the TV show “Fantasy Island” in the seventies and eighties. His wife of many, many years was actress Georgiana Young, who was the younger half-sister of Hollywood star Loretta Young.

6D Some diner drinks : SODAS

The name of the beverage called “soda” comes directly from chemistry. Early carbonated water was made by adding sodium bicarbonate to water, and because the key ingredient was a sodium compound, the drink became known as “soda water”, later shortened to just “soda”.

7D They might have all the answers : TRIVIA TEAM

Trivia are things of little consequence. “Trivia” is the plural of the Latin word “trivium” which means “a place where three roads meet”. I guess the idea was that folks would meet at road junctions and chat, exchanging (trivial) snippets of news. Now that’s what I call a trivial fact …

8D Pink-furred cat in “Garfield” : ARLENE

Arlene is a pink stray cat who is fond of the title character in the “Garfield” comic strip by Jim Davis. Garfield is pretty rude to Arlene though, and often makes fun of the gap in her teeth.

10D New ___ (official cap maker for M.L.B.) : ERA

The New Era Cap Company is a headwear manufacturer based in Buffalo, New York. It is New Era that supplies all the official baseball caps used by the Major League teams.

14D Herd at Yellowstone : ELK

Yellowstone was the first National Park to be established in the world when it was designated as such by President Grant in 1872. What a great tradition it started! The American National Parks are truly a treasure …

23D Chinese symbol of prosperity : EIGHT

The number 8 is considered to be lucky in Chinese culture. This is because the Mandarin for “eight” sounds very similar to the Mandarin for “wealth”.

25D Group of companions : POSSE

Our word “posse” comes from an Anglo-Latin term from the early 15th century “posse comitatus” meaning “the force of the county”

33D Rack up : INCUR

The verb “to rack up”, meaning “to accumulate”, first appeared in print in 1943, in “Billboard”. It’s likely that the term comes from the system of scoring points in pool halls.

37D Free spirits? : EXORCISE

An exorcist is a religious figure who is believed to be able to cast out demons that have possessed a person or perhaps a building.

38D Hydrogen sulfide, e.g. : TOXIC GAS

Firedamp is the name given to a number of flammable gases encountered in a coal mine. The most common gas to get the name is methane. The more general “damp” is used for any gas other than air found in a mine, with the term deriving from the German “Dampf” meaning “vapor”. In addition to the flammable firedamp, blackdamp is carbon dioxide, afterdamp is the poisonous carbon monoxide, and stinkdamp is hydrogen sulfide, which has a characteristic odor of rotten eggs.

44D Big times : EPOCHS

Geologic time is divided into a number of units of varying lengths. These are, starting from the largest:

• supereon
• eon (also “aeon”)
• era
• period
• epoch
• age

46D You might hear a hiss when it’s pulled : POP TAB

The term “pop-top” refers to a whole family of designs for opening the top of a soda can. The oldest method is the “pull tab” or “ring pull”, invented in Canada in 1956. The design was long-lived, but it had its problems, so the world heaved a sigh of relief with the invention of the stay-on-tab in 1975. The new design led to fewer injuries and eliminated all those used pull tabs that littered the streets.

47D Defunct image editor : IPHOTO

iPhoto is a digital photo manipulation application that Apple no longer supports, having replaced it with the Photos app.

48D Chile con carne cuisine : TEX-MEX

The full name of the dish that is often called simply “chili” is “chili con carne”, Spanish for “peppers with meat”. The dish was created by immigrants from the Spanish Canary Islands in the city of San Antonio, Texas (a city which the islanders founded). The San Antonio Chili Stand was a popular attraction at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and that stand introduced the dish to the rest of America and to the world.

50D Hornet genus : VESPA

A hornet is a large type of wasp, with some species reaching over two inches in length.

55D Cunning : FOXY

Foxes are often described as cunning or sly. This is a reference to their reputation for eluding hunters.

58D Play together, in a way : JAM

The use of “jam”, meaning an improvised passage performed by a whole jazz band, dates back to the late twenties. This gave rise to “jam session”, a term used a few years later. The use of “jam” in this context probably stems from the meaning of “jam” as something sweet, something excellent.

59D Phase for dreamers : REM

“REM” is an acronym standing for “rapid eye movement”. REM sleep takes up 20-25% of the sleeping hours and is the period associated with one’s most vivid dreams.