0314-26 NY Times Crossword 14 Mar 26, Saturday

Bill’s time: 19m 31s

Bill’s errors: 2

• TOKES (topes)
• BOOKTOK (BookTop)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5A 18th-century British P.M. William Pitt, e.g. : WHIG

William Pitt, the Elder was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1766 to 1768. Although a prominent figure in British politics for many years, Pitt refused to accept a title until he took over the government of the country. For this refusal, he earned the nickname “The Great Commoner”. It is William Pitt, the Elder who lent his name to the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

18A Des’ree’s “You ___ Be” : GOTTA

Des’ree is an R&B singer from London, England. One of her biggest hits is the song “Kissing You”, which was used in the 1996 film adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.

20A Sch. whose symbol is the Native American war leader Osceola : FSU

Chief Osceola was a leader of the Seminole Native Americans in Florida who actively resisted the removal of his people from their lands during the Second Seminole War. Osceola was captured when he was tricked into entering a US fort for peace talks. He died in prison a few months later. The Florida State University Seminoles football team uses a student dressed as Chief Osceola on his horse Renegade as a mascot at their games. This practice, approved by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, involves Chief Osceola riding onto the field and planting a flaming spear at the 50-yard line.

22A Title role for Paul Newman, 1963 : HUD

The modern-day, western movie called “Hud” was released in 1963 and has become a classic. “Hud” stars Paul Newman (in the title role) and Patricia Neal and is an adaptation of a novel by Larry McMurtry called “Horseman, Pass By”. Patricia Neal’s role in the film was relatively small, yet her performance was enough to earn her an Academy Award for Best Actress.

23A 41-Across maker : TOYOTA
[41A 23-Across debut of 1999 : TUNDRA]

Toyota management likes the idea of naming their cars after the word “crown”, as they did with the Toyota Crown, followed by the Toyota Corona (Latin for crown), the Toyota Corolla (Latin for small crown), and the Toyota Camry (Japanese for crown).

26A Flutters : BATS

At least as far back as the 1800s, the term “batting” was used in falconry to describe the fluttering of a hawk’s wings while on a perch or a fist, as if the bird intended to fly away. The usage of “batting” extended to the fluttering of a human’s eyelids, giving us the expressions “batting an eye” and “batting an eyelid”.

31A 007 feature of 1979 : MOONRAKER

“Moonraker” is the third of Ian Fleming’s “James Bond” novels, and was first published in 1955. It is unique in the series in that it is the only one in which all of the action takes place entirely in Britain. The title “Moonraker” was used for the eleventh in the series of “James Bond” movies, but the film’s plot was very different from that of the book, with the action taking place across the globe, and even in space.

32A Writer of the 1969 hit “The Boxer” : PAUL SIMON

Simon & Garfunkel’s 1969 hit “The Boxer” is remarkable for several reasons, I think, not least of which is the lovely chorus that simply uses the lyrics “lie-la-lie”. Paul Simon tells us that he originally intended to come up with words, and just used “lie-la-lie” as a placeholder, a temporary measure. Well, sometimes we don’t need to hear the words …

34A Bosom buddy : BFF

Best friend forever (BFF)

37A They croak as soon as they grow up : POLLIWOGS

“Polliwog” is another word for “tadpole”, which describes the larval stage of an amphibian such as a frog or a toad. The term “polliwog” has been around since the mid-15th century and probably comes from the Middle English words “pol” (head) and “wiglen” (wiggle).

40A “Some rise by ___, and some by virtue fall”: Shak. : SIN

“Measure for Measure” is one of William Shakespeare’s plays, ostensibly a comedy. The title “Measure for Measure” is actually a quotation from the Bible found in the Gospel According to Luke.

41A 23-Across debut of 1999 : TUNDRA
[23A 41-Across maker : TOYOTA]

The Toyota Tundra was the first full-size pickup truck to be manufactured in North America by a Japanese automobile company.

43A Deep-frying vessel : WOK

“Wok” is a Cantonese word, and is the name for the frying pan now used in many Asian cuisines.

44A Many an “SVU” extra : EMT

“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” is a police drama TV show that started airing in 1999. It features Mariska Hargitay as Captain Olivia Benson, the lead protagonist. Hargitay’s tenure as Benson is record-breaking: the longest-running regular character in live-action scripted television history.

52A Inner tube? : INTESTINE

The small intestine is that part of the alimentary canal in which most of the nutrients in food are absorbed. It is about 18 feet in length, and lies between the stomach and the large intestine. The large intestine is shorter than the small intestine, but the latter is narrower in diameter (hence the name “small”).

53A Takes a hit : TOKES

“Toke” is a slang term describing a puff on a marijuana cigarette, or on a pipe containing the drug.

55A U Beauty competitor : OLAY

Oil of Olay was developed in South Africa in 1952. When Oil of Olay was introduced internationally, it was given slightly different brand names designed to appeal in the different geographies. In Ireland we know it as Oil of Ulay, for example, and in France it is Oil of Olaz.

Down

2D Subject of outdoor paintings by Renoir, Monet and Homer : ROWBOAT

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French painter who was very much at the forefront of the Impressionist Movement. Renoir was a prolific artist, with several thousand works attributed to him. The largest collection of Renoirs is actually in the United States. You can see 181 of his paintings at the Barnes Foundation just outside Philadelphia.

French artist Claude Monet was one of the founders of the Impressionist movement, and indeed the term “Impressionism” comes from the title of his 1872 painting “Impression, Sunrise”. That work depicts the port of Le Havre, which was Monet’s hometown. Later in his life, Monet purchased a house in Giverny, and famously installed lily ponds and a Japanese bridge in the property’s extensive gardens. He spent two decades painting the water lily ponds, producing his most famous works. I was fortunate enough to visit Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny a few years ago. A beautiful place …

Winslow Homer was an American landscape painter and illustrator active in the second half of the 19th century. His most famous work is probably the oil painting depicting a man and three boys sailing, which bears the title “Breezing Up (A Fair Wind)”, and which can be seen in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C.

3D Follower : ACOLYTE

The word “acolyte” comes from the Greek “akolouthos” meaning “companion, attendant, helper”. In the Christian tradition, an acolyte is an individual who assists some way in a ceremony, by lighting candles for example. In more general terms, an acolyte is a devoted follower or attendant.

4D Vulgarians : YAHOOS

Yahoos are brutish creatures introduced by Irish author Jonathan Swift in “Gulliver’s Travels”. Their savage, slovenly ways gave rise to the use of “yahoo” in English to describe a lout or neanderthal.

A “vulgarian” is a person who is vulgar, but who is also wealthy and lacks good breeding.

6D “Bombshell: The ___ Lamarr Story” (2017 documentary) : HEDY

Hedy Lamarr was an American actress who was actually born in Vienna in modern-day Austria. Not only was Lamarr a successful Hollywood performer, during WWII she was the co-inventor of a frequency-hopping, spread-spectrum method of transmitting radio signals that is still used in wireless communication. Impressive …

9D Classic meat sauce : RAGU

Bolognese is a meat-based sauce originating from Bologna in Italy, hence the name. The recipe is usually referred to as “ragù alla bolognese” in Italian, or simply “ragù”. Note that the Ragú brand of sauces introduced in North America in 1937 takes its name from the same source (pun … sauce!). However, the brand name uses the wrong accent (“Ragú” instead of “Ragù”), which drives a pedant like me crazy ..

10D Freudian origin of defense mechanisms : EGO

Sigmund Freud created a structural model of the human psyche, breaking it into three parts: the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is that part of the psyche containing the basic instinctual drives. The ego seeks to please the id by causing realistic behavior that benefits the individual. The superego almost has a parental role, contradicting the id by introducing critical thinking and morals to behavioral choices.

15D Latvian, old-style : LETT

The nation of Latvia in Northern Europe is one of the three Baltic States, along with Estonia and Lithuania. Latvia is known for its vast forested areas, which cover more than half of the country’s territory.

21D Noted series with over 200 Emmys … and an Oscar : SESAME STREET

Back in 1966, the Carnegie Corporation allocated money to study the use of television to help young children prepare for school. The corporation gave a multimillion-dollar grant to set up the Children’s Television Workshop with the task of creating an educational TV program for young people. The program began to come together, especially after Jim Henson (of Muppet fame) got involved. The name “Sesame Street” was chosen simply because it was the “least disliked” of all names proposed just before the program went on the air.

23D Letters for those awaiting specifics : TBA

To be advised/announced (TBA)

29D Ring stats : TKOS

Technical knockout (TKO)

31D Promenade : MALL

Surprisingly (to me!), our word “mall”, meaning “shady walk” or “enclosed shopping space”, comes from the Italian for “mallet”. All of our shopping-style malls are named for “The Mall” in St. James’s Park in London. This tree-lined promenade was so called as it used to be a famous spot to play the croquet-like game called “pall-mall”. The game derived its name from the Italian for ball (palla) and mallet “maglio”. The London thoroughfare called the Mall still exists, at one end of which is Buckingham Palace. Indeed, parallel to the Mall is a street called Pall Mall.

32D Tanning target : PELT

A pelt is the skin of a furry animal.

Leather is made from animal skins. When the flesh, fat and hair is removed from the skin and it is dried, the resulting product is rawhide. Further treatment of the skin with chemicals that permanently alter the protein structure of the skin is known as tanning, and the resulting product is leather.

36D Title for a holy person : FRA

The title “Fra” (brother) is used to address Italian monks.

37D Lickety-split : PRONTO

The Spanish and Italian (and now English) word “pronto” is derived from the Latin “promptus” meaning “ready, quick”.

45D Flour used to make paratha : ATTA

Paratha is an unleavened flatbread from the Indian subcontinent that is made using a whole wheat dough. It is a thick, layered bread in which the individual folds of dough have been coated with ghee or oil.

50D Law of La Mancha : LEY

La Mancha is a region in Spain, a plateau lying south of Madrid. The area became especially famous after the publication of the novel “Don Quixote de La Mancha” by Miguel de Cervantes.