0305-26 NY Times Crossword 5 Mar 26, Thursday

Bill’s time: 12m 12s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6A “Baby ___” (2008 comedy) : MAMA

“Baby Mama” is a 2008 film starring Tina Fey as a successful single businesswoman who hires a surrogate mother (played by Amy Poehler). “Baby mama” is a term used these days as an alternative to “single mother”.

10A “Fiddlesticks!” : BAH!

We’ve been using “fiddlesticks” to mean “nonsense” since the early 17th century. Prior to that time, “fiddlestick” just referred to the bow of a fiddle.

17A User of the Force : JEDI

The Force is a metaphysical power much cited in all of the “Star Wars” movies. We may even hear someone in real life say “May the Force be with you”. Fans of the movie franchise even celebrate May 4th every year as Star Wars Day, using the pun “May the 4th be with you”!

21A Like cabernet sauvignon vis-à-vis white zinfandel : DRIER

The cabernet sauvignon (often just “cab”) grape has been around since the 17th century, and is the result of a chance crossing in southwestern France of the cabernet franc and sauvignon blanc grapes.

Rosé wines get their color from the skins of the grapes, although the intensity of the color is not sufficient to make them red wines. Of the varying type of rosé wines available, we are most familiar with sweet white zinfandels. Personally, I am fond of the dry Provençal rosé wines …

27A Carrier based in Ben Gurion Airport : EL AL

Ben Gurion International (TLV) is Israel’s main airport, and is located in the city of Lod just a few miles southeast of Tel Aviv. The airport is named for David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister.

29A Milan’s La ___ : SCALA

La Scala Opera House opened in 1778. It was built on the site of the church of Santa Maria della Scala, which gave the theater its Italian name “Teatro alla Scala”. Because of bomb damage in WWII, La Scala had to be rebuilt, and reopened in 1946.

33A Gomez’s cousin on 1960s TV : ITT

In the television sitcom “The Addams Family”, the family has a frequent visitor named Cousin Itt. He is a short man with long hair that runs from his head to the floor. Itt was played by Italian actor Felix Silla.

Gomez and Morticia (“Tish”) Addams were the parents in “The Addams Family”, a creation of cartoonist Charles Addams. In the sixties television show, Gomez was played by John Astin and Morticia was played by Carolyn Jones.

40A Otolaryngologist, for short : ENT

The ear, nose and throat (ENT) branch of medicine is more correctly called “otolaryngology”.

44A N.B.A. great ___ Archibald : NATE

Nate Archibald is a retired basketball player who played mainly for the Kansas City Kings and the Boston Celtics. Archibald could get the ball in the basket, but was also willing to pass to a teammate when advantageous. He is the only player to lead the league in assists and scoring in the same season.

47A Cabernet sauvignon et zinfandel : VINS

Zinfandel is one of my favorite red wine varietals. It amazes me that the rich and heavy red Zinfandel comes from the same grape as does the sweet White Zinfandel.

51A Center of a Scrabble board : STAR

The game of Scrabble has been around since 1938, and is the invention of an architect named Alfred Mosher Butts. Butts was born on April 13th, and we now celebrate National Scrabble Day on April 13th each year in his honor.

55A Puma’s pad? : INSOLE

The German sportswear company Puma was founded in 1948 by Rudolf Dassler, the elder brother of Adidas founder Adolf Dassler.

57A D.O.J. bigwigs, in brief : AGS

Attorneys General (AGs) head up the Department of Justice (DOJ). When the office of the Attorney General was created in 1789 it was a part-time job, with no departmental support. The Department of Justice came into being in 1870.

59A Bass, e.g. : ALE

The red triangle on the label of a bottle of Bass Ale was registered in 1875 and is UK Registered Trade Mark (TM) No: 00001, the first trademark issued in the UK.

60A CVS Health subsidiary : AETNA

When the healthcare management and insurance company known as Aetna was founded, the name was chosen to evoke images of Mount Etna, the Italian volcano.

61A Law enforcer in Leicester : CON[S]TABLE

Leicester is the county town of Leicestershire in the English Midlands. Leicester has been associated with many famous Englishmen including actor Richard Attenborough and his brother David, the world famous naturalist, both of whom grew up there. Graham Chapman of “Monty Python” was born there, and singer Engelbert Humperdinck, although born in India, grew up in Leicester. Leicester was in the news relatively recently when remains found under a car park were identified as those of Richard III, the last king of the House of York.

65A Labor Day follower: Abbr. : TUE

Labor Day is a federal holiday observed every year on the first Monday in September. The tradition of honoring workers with a holiday started in Boston in 1878, when a day of observance was organized by the Central Labor Union, the major trade union at the time. There was a bloody dispute in 1894 between labor unions and the railroads called the Pullman Strike, which led to the death of some workers when the US Military and US Marshals were instructed to maintain order. President Grover Cleveland submitted a “Labor Day” bill to Congress which was signed into law just six days after the end of the strike. The introduction of a federal holiday to honor the worker was a move designed to promote reconciliation between management and unions after the bitter conflict.

69A Prefix with -logue : EPI-

Our word “epilog” (also “epilogue”) applies to an addition at the end of a play or other literary work. The term ultimately comes from the Greek “epi-” signifying “in addition”, and “logos” meaning “speech”.

71A Feature of the Cyclops : ONE EYE

Cyclops was a one-eyed giant in Greek and Roman mythology. He lived inside Mount Etna, the Sicilian volcano.

73A With 58-Down, “Bugonia” actress : EMMA …
58D See 73-Across : … STONE

Actress Emma Stone is from Scottsdale, Arizona. She really came to prominence with her performance in the 2010 high school movie called “Easy A”, and won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance in the 2016 movie “La La Land”. Now one of the most sought-after actresses in Hollywood, Stone values her privacy and works hard to maintain a low profile. Good for her, I say …

Down

2D San Diego suburb : LA MESA

One of the most famous residents of La Mesa, a suburb of San Diego, California, was the actor Dennis Hopper.

3D Person reached by dialing 0: Abbr. : OPER

On the buttons of a phone you often see OPER (for “operator”) on the 0-key. Well, you used to …

5D Choreograph : ORC[H]EST[R]ATE

In its purest sense, choreography is the art of recording dance moves symbolically. The word “choreograph” comes into English via French, but originates in Greek. The Greek “khoreia” means “dance” and “graphein” means “to write”.

6D Magic power : MOJO

The word “mojo”, meaning “magical charm, magnetism”, is probably of Creole origin.

20D Letter in support, informally : REC

Recommendation (rec.)

22D “Blitzkrieg Bop” band : RAM[O]NES

“Blitzkrieg Bop” is a song by the punk rock band Ramones. The song opens with “Hey! Ho! Let’s go!”, a chant that is now used as a rallying cry at sporting events.

26D Winning hit at Wimbledon, maybe : PAS[S]ING [S]HOT

The Wimbledon Championships of tennis are held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club located in Wimbledon, a district of London. The Wimbledon Championships started in 1877, and have been played on grass since day one.

36D One-named artist who sang the U.S. national anthem at the Paris Olympics closing ceremony : HER

Gabriella Wilson is a singer/songwriter who uses the stage name H.E.R. (pronounced “Her”), which is an acronym standing for “Having Everything Revealed”.

38D Real genius : EINSTEIN

After Albert Einstein moved to the US in 1933, he became quite a celebrity and his face was readily recognizable. Einstein was frequently stopped in the street by people who would naively ask him if he could explain what “that theory” (i.e. the theory of relativity) was all about. Growing tired of this, he finally learned to tell people that he was sorry, but folks were constantly mistaking him for Albert Einstein!

39D Org. often concerned with fund-raising : PTA

Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)

41D Super Mario Bros. platform : NES

The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was sold in North America from 1985 to 1995. It was the biggest selling gaming console of the era.

42D Performs at a Thunderbirds show : AVIATES

The Thunderbirds are the air demonstration squadron of the USAF, based at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, Nevada. The squadron grew out of the 3600th Air Demonstration Team founded in 1953, and flew their first exhibition in June of that year. I visited the USAF Academy in Colorado Springs some time back(what an impressive campus it is!). Every year at graduation, the Thunderbird jets fly over the academy’s commencement, gathering precisely at the moment when the graduating cadets throw their hats in the air.

46D Big Dutch bank : ING

ING is a huge Dutch banking institution created via a merger in 1991. The company headquarters is in a spectacular building in Amsterdam called simply ING House. “ING” stands for Internationale Nederlanden Groep.

48D Leif, to Eric the Red : SON

According to Icelandic tradition, Erik the Red was the man responsible for founding the first Norse settlement in Greenland. Erik had a famous son: the explorer Leif Ericson.

Leif Erikson (sometimes “Ericson”) was a Norse explorer and the first European to land in North America, some 500 years before Christopher Columbus’s landing in 1492. The Norsemen named the area they discovered “Vinland”, which might translate as “Wine Land” or “Pasture Land”. Erikson built a small settlement called Leifsbudir, which archaeologists believe they have found in modern day Newfoundland, at L’Anse aux Meadows. The settlement discovered in Newfoundland is definitely Norse, but there is some dispute over whether it is actually Erikson’s Leifsbudir.

50D “Deadwood” actor McShane : IAN

Ian McShane is an English actor who is famous in his homeland, and to PBS viewers in the US, for playing the title role in “Lovejoy”. In this country, he is perhaps better known for playing the conniving saloon owner on the HBO western drama “Deadwood”.

“Deadwood” is a very enjoyable western series that aired on HBO from 2004 to 2006. The show is set in Deadwood, South Dakota in the 1870s. At that time, Deadwood was transitioning from an illegal settlement on Native American land thriving on the discovery of gold, into a fully-fledged frontier town. Some famous and colorful characters appear in the storyline, including Seth Bullock, Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. Recommended viewing …

52D Typewriter feature : TAB SET

Like many features on our computer keyboards, the tab key is a hangover from the days of typewriters. When using a typewriter, making entries into a table was very tedious, involving lots of tapping on the spacebar and backspace key. So, a lever was added to typewriters that allowed the operator to “jump” across the page to positions that could be set by hand. Later this was simplified to a tab key which could be depressed, causing the carriage to jump to the next tab stop in much the same way that the modern tab key works on a computer.

54D Pee Wee of baseball : REESE

Pee Wee Reese was a shortstop who played his professional career with the Brooklyn and LA Dodgers. Reese is remembered not only for his skill on the field, but for his very visible support for teammate Jackie Robinson, who famously struggled to be accepted as the first African-American player in the majors. As he was an outstanding marbles player as a child, Reese was given the nickname “pee wee” after the name for a small marble.

62D Gumbo ingredient : OKRA

Gumbo is a type of stew or soup that originated in Louisiana. The primary ingredient can be meat or fish, but to be true gumbo it must include the “holy trinity” of vegetables, namely celery, bell peppers and onion. Okra used to be a requirement but this is no longer the case. Okra gave the dish its name as the vernacular word for the African vegetable is “ki ngombo”, from the Bantu language spoken by many of the slaves brought to America.

64D Enemy of Wonder Woman : ARES

Superhero Wonder Woman first appeared in print in 1941, in a publication from DC Comics. As she was created during WWII, Wonder Woman’s first foes were the Axis powers. In the less realistic world her biggest foe was and still is Ares, a “baddie” named after the Greek mythological figure. Wonder Woman had several signature expressions, including “Merciful Minerva!”, “Suffering Sappho!” and “Great Hera!”. She also has several devices that she uses in her quest for justice, e.g. the Lasso of Truth, a pair of indestructible bracelets and a tiara that can be used as a deadly projectile. Wonder Woman uses the name “Diana Prince” when “out of uniform”.

67D Bocce player’s skill : AIM

The Italian bowling game of bocce (often anglicized as “bocci” or “boccie”) is based on a game played in ancient Rome. “Bocce” is the plural of the Italian word “boccia” meaning “bowl”.