0322-26 NY Times Crossword 22 Mar 26, Sunday

Bill’s time: 16m 10s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

19A Green ___ : BERET

The US Army Special Forces are known as the Green Berets because they wear … green berets. The Green Beret is also worn by the Royal Marines of the British Army. When US Army Rangers and OSS operatives were trained by the Royal Marines in Scotland during WWII, graduates of the gruelling training program were awarded green berets by their British instructors. The US soldiers, although proud of their new headgear, were not allowed to wear it as part of their uniform. They had to wait until 1961, when President Kennedy authorized the green beret for exclusive use by US Special Forces.

21A Bygone bird : DODO

The dodo was a direct relative of the pigeon and the dove, although the fully-grown dodo was usually three feet tall. One of the reasons the dodo comes to mind when we think of extinction of a species, is that it disappeared not too long ago (last recorded alive in 1662) and humans were the reason for its demise. The dodo lived exclusively on the island of Mauritius and when humans arrived, we cut back the forests that were its home. We also introduced domestic animals, such as dogs and pigs, that ransacked the dodo’s nests. The dodo was deemed to be an awkward flightless bird and so the term “dodo” has come to mean a dull-witted person.

24A Prerelease prototypes : BETAS

In the world of software development, the first tested issue of a new program is usually called the alpha version. Expected to have a lot of bugs that need to be fixed, the alpha release is usually distributed to a small number of testers. After reported bugs have been eliminated, the refined version is called a beta and is released to a wider audience, but with the program clearly labeled as “beta”. The users generally check functionality and report further bugs that are encountered. The beta version feeds into a release candidate, the version that is tested just prior to the software being sold into the market, hopefully bug-free.

30A Nauru’s capital : YAREN

Nauru is the world’s smallest island nation, and is located in the South Pacific 300 km to the west of Kiribati. The island was taken as a colony by Germany in the late 1800s, and came under the administration of Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom after WWI. The Japanese invaded during WWII, but Nauru was one of the islands that was bypassed in the US advance across the Pacific towards Japan. Nauru achieved independence in 1968.

33A Canon competitor : EPSON

Seiko Epson is a Japanese company, and one of the largest manufacturers of printers in the world. The company has its roots in the watch business, roots that go back to 1942. Seiko was chosen as the official timekeeper for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and was asked to supply a timer that produced a printed record. This request brought Seiko into the business of printer production. The company developed the world’s first mini-printer for the 1964 Games and called it EP-101 (with “EP” standing for Electronic Printer). In 1975 Seiko introduced the next generation of EP printers which was called EPSON, from “SON of EP”. Cute, huh?

37A Eucalyptus eater : KOALA

Koalas are not bears, but are marsupials, which means they carry their young in a pouch.They are known for their diet of eucalyptus leaves, which are toxic to most other animals. To cope with this, koalas have a special digestive system that allows them to break down the toxins and extract the nutrients from the leaves. Koalas are one of the sleepiest animals in the world, sleeping up to 20 hours a day. This is because eucalyptus leaves provide very little energy.

39A Liturgical book : MISSAL

Missals came into being in medieval times and were used primarily by priests and ministers. A missal is a book containing all the texts necessary for the celebration of Mass through the liturgical year. Nowadays missals are used by the congregation and not just by the celebrants. The term “missal” comes from the Latin for “Mass book”.

51A Power suffix? : -ADE

Powerade is one of those sports drinks, and is the only real competitor to Gatorade.

52A Harvard extension : EDU

Harvard University was founded in 1636 as New College, the college at New Towne. The school was renamed three years later after John Harvard, a deceased clergyman who donated books and money.

56A Gussied (up) : DUDED

To gussy up is to dress showily. The term “gussy” was a slang term that was used to describe an overly-dressed person.

58A “Totally tubular!” : RAD!

“Tubular” is a slang from the 1980s meaning “awesome, excellent”. Apparently, the term has its roots in surfers using “tube” as slang for a hollow and curling wave considered best for surfing.

62A Tony winner ___ Lenya : LOTTE

Lotte Lenya was an Austrian singer and actress. She was married to composer Kurt Weill, and was noted for her performances of his works. Late in her career she played Rosa Klebb, one of the main villains in the 1963 Bond movie “From Russia With Love”. Klebb was the character who had the knife that popped out from the toe of her shoe.

64A Highchair wear : BABY BIB

The word “bib” comes from the Latin “bibere” meaning “to drink”, as does our word “imbibe”. So, maybe a bib is less about spilling the food, and more about soaking up the booze …

67A The circles in 64-Across? : BEELINE

To make a beeline for somewhere or something, one takes a direct route. The term derives from the excellent homing instinct of bees.

71A Lisa with the 1994 #1 hit “Stay (I Missed You)” : LOEB

“Stay (I Missed You)” is a 1994 song by singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb. It gained significant popularity after being featured in the 1994 film “Reality Bites,” starring Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke.

79A Each of the tiny tufts of a dandelion has one : SEEDLET

The name “dandelion” comes from the French “dent de lion” meaning “lion’s tooth”. The name is a reference to the coarse, tooth-like edges of dandelion leaves.

82A Addams Family member : 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.

85A One of a pair of lines drawn in hangman : ARM

The word-guessing game Hangman seems to have been played first in Victorian England. At one time it was known as “Birds, Beasts and Fishes” as the words to be guessed had to be types of animal.

86A ___ Haute, Ind. : TERRE

Terre Haute, Indiana is a city close to the state’s western border with Illinois. The city is home to a federal prison which in turn is home to the federal government’s death row. The name “Terre Haute” was chosen by French explorers in the 18th century to describe the location, as “terre haute” is French for “high ground”.

87A Seven days in San Juan : SEMANA

In Spanish, the “número de días en una semana” (number of days in a week) is “siete” (seven).

San Juan is the capital of Puerto Rico. The city was founded in 1521 by the Spanish, who called it “Ciudad de Puerto Rico” (Rich Port City).

96A “Secret” holiday figures : SANTAS

The Christmas tradition known as “Secret Santa” is often used for gift-giving by a group of friends or colleagues. Each person is randomly assigned another member of the group to whom they give a gift. The identity of the gift-giver is kept secret, hence the name of the tradition.

97A 1980s video game character who hops between cubes : Q*BERT

Q*bert is an arcade game that dates back to 1982. In the game, Q*bert is a character who starts at the top of a pyramid of cubes, and who is then moved around the pyramid by the player.

98A MacFarlane who voiced Ted in “Ted” : SETH

“Ted” is a 2012 movie written, directed, produced and starring Seth MacFarlane. In the story, MacFarlane voices a somewhat irreverent teddy bear who is the best friend of a character played by Mark Wahlberg. The audiences liked the film, and “Ted 2” followed in 2015.

100A Numbers game : LOTTO

Originally, lotto was a type of card game, with “lotto” being the Italian for “a lot”. We’ve used “lotto” to mean a gambling game since the late 1700s.

105A Altiplano animal : LLAMA

The Altiplano is a part of the Andes mountain range in South America, an area of high plateau (“Altiplano” is Spanish for “high plain”). The highest navigable lake in the world is located in the Altiplano, namely Lake Titicaca.

111A Family members : MAFIOSOS

A Mafioso is a member of the Mafia, with the plural being Mafiosi (or sometimes “Mafiosos”).

113A Romeo’s last words : I DIE

In Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, the last words uttered by Romeo are:

O true apothecary!
Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.

Juliet’s last words are:

Yea, noise? then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die.

115A Nickname of Oak Ridge, Tenn., built in 1942 for the Manhattan Project : ATOMIC CITY

The Manhattan project was the joint US-Canada-UK project to develop an atomic bomb during WWII. Initially, the Army headquarters for the program was located on the 18th floor of a building on Broadway in New York City. Eventually, because of that first location, the project adopted the name “Manhattan”.

117A Some reds, for short : ZINS

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.

119A Nasal cavity : SINUS

In anatomical terms, a sinus is a cavity in tissue. Sinuses are found all over the body, in the kidney and heart for example, but we most commonly think of the paranasal sinuses that surround the nose.

120A Winslet with five Golden Globes : KATE

Kate Winslet is one of my favorite actresses, one known for taking both the big Hollywood roles while still finding the time to act in smaller independent films. Perhaps Winslet’s most famous part was opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in “Titanic”, although she won her Oscar for a more dramatic role in “The Reader”. But my favorite of her performances is in the romantic comedy “The Holiday” from 2006. I love that movie …

121A Part of E.S.L.: Abbr. : ENG

English as a Second Language (ESL)

122A Dresden denials : NEINS

The German city of Dresden was almost completely destroyed during WWII, especially as a result of the famous firebombing of the city in 1945. Restoration work in the inner city in recent decades led to it being designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2009, when the city built a highway bridge close to the city center, UNESCO took Dresden off the list. This marked the only time a European location has lost World Heritage status.

123A Where the Rosetta Stone was discovered : EGYPT

Rosetta is a coastal city and port on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt. The Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian artifact of tremendous importance in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics. Carvings on the stone are actually three translations of the same passage of prose, one in Egyptian hieroglyphics, one in Egyptian Demotic language, and one in classical Greek. The stone was discovered by the French military during Napoleon’s 1798-99 campaign in Egypt. Before the French could get it back to France, the stone somehow ended up in enemy hands (the British), so it is now on display in the British Museum. Ownership of the stone is very much in dispute. The French want it and, understandably, the Egyptians would like it back.

Down

1D Jay Gatsby’s obsession in “The Great Gatsby” : DAISY

“The Great Gatsby” is a 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald that tells of the prosperous life of Jay Gatsby during the Roaring 20s. Gatsby develops an obsessive love for Daisy Fay Buchanan, a girl he met while serving during WWI, and meets again some years later after he has improved his social standing.

2D Breathing issue : APNEA

Sleep apnea (“apnoea” in British English) can be caused by an obstruction in the airways, possibly due to obesity or enlarged tonsils.

9D James in the Blues Hall of Fame : ETTA

Inaugurated in 1980, the Blues Hall of Fame used to be just a list of people who made significant contributions to the blues genre of music. There is now a music museum with the name Blues Hall of Fame, located in Memphis.

10D Cooking vessel used in making angel food cake : TUBE PAN

Angel food cake is an American creation, with the name being a reference to the sponge’s lightness, as if it is “food of angels”. The chocolate butter cake called Devil’s food cake came along later, and is considered to be a counterpart to the more angelic variety.

11D Excels at Simon Says, say : OBEYS

“Simon Says” is a kids’ game. The idea is for the players of the game to obey the “controller” who gives instructions. But the players should only obey when the controller uses the words, “Simon says …”. The game has very old roots, with a Latin version that uses the words “Cicero dicit fac hoc” (Cicero says do this).

12D Hashtag that trended in 2017 : ME TOO

The use of the #MeToo hashtag was encouraged initially by actress Alyssa Milano in 2017 to draw attention to sexual assault and sexual harassment. Milano was acting in response to the growing number of allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein. The use of the phrase “Me Too” in the context of sexual misconduct dates back to 2006. Social activist Tarana Burke started to use the phrase on the Myspace social network after a 13-year-old girl told her that she had been sexually assaulted. Apparently, Burke had no response at the time the girl confided in her, but later wished she had responded, “Me too”.

14D Austin music-and-media festival, familiarly : SXSW

South by Southwest, also known as “SXSW”, is an annual festival that has been taking place in Austin, Texas since 1987. SXSW is a melded event, combining a music festival, a film festival and an interactive festival.

16D Bulge in some throats : ADAM’S APPLE

The voice box or larynx is where pitch and volume of sound are manipulated when we talk. The structure called the Adam’s apple that protrudes from the human neck is formed by the thyroid cartilage that surrounds the larynx. The Adam’s apple of males tends to increase in size during puberty, so the feature tended to be associated more with males in days gone by, perhaps leading to the name “Adam’s” apple. A doctor specializing in treating the larynx is a laryngologist.

32D ___ bene : NOTA

“Nota bene” is Latin for “note well”, and is abbreviated to “NB”.

36D Eliminated for not following the rules, informally : DQED

“DQ” is short for “disqualify”.

39D Granola kin : MUESLI

“Muesli” is a Swiss-German term describing a breakfast serving of rolled oats, nuts, fruit and milk. The dish can be soaked overnight in milk before serving (“overnight oats”). “Muesli” is a diminutive of the German word “Mues” meaning “puree”. Delicious …

The names “Granola” and “Granula” were trademarked back in the late 1800s for whole-grain foods that were crumbled and baked until crisp. Granola was created in Dansville, New York in 1863.

40D Hurdle for an aspiring atty. : LSAT

Law School Admission Test (LSAT)

42D Language of Pakistan’s national anthem : 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.

43D Illegal activity generating considerable interest? : USURY

Usury used to be the practice of simply lending money at interest, but the term now refers to lending at rates of interest that are excessive.

45D Captain’s subordinate: Abbr. : CDR

Commander (Cdr.)

49D Component of fertilizer and gunpowder : NITER

The chemical name for saltpeter (also “saltpetre, niter, nitre”) is potassium nitrate. The exact origin of the name “saltpeter” isn’t clear, but it may have come from the Latin “sal petrae” meaning “stone salt”. The main use for potassium nitrate is as a fertilizer, a source of potassium and nitrogen. As it is a powerful oxidizing agent, it is also used in amateur rocket propellants. Anyone who has ignited one of those “engines” would have noticed the lilac-colored flame, indicating the presence of potassium.

54D Key ___ : FOB

A fob is attached to an object to make it easier to access. And so, a key fob is a chain attached to a key so that it can be retrieved easily. There are also watch fobs, and the pocket in a vest in which a watch can be placed is called a fob. In fact, the original use of the term “fob” was for a small pocket in which one could carry valuables.

55D Iris holder : STEM

Iris is a genus of flowering plants that come in a wide variety of flower colors. The term “iris” is a Greek word meaning “rainbow”. Many species of irises are called “flags”. One suggestion is that the alternate name comes from the Middle English “flagge” meaning “reed”. This term was used because iris leaves look like reeds.

57D Israel’s first U.N. ambassador : EBAN

Abba Eban was an Israeli diplomat and politician. He was born Aubrey Solomon Meir Eban in Cape Town, South Africa. While working at the United Nations after WWII, Eban changed his given name to “Abba”, the Hebrew word for “father”. Reportedly, he made this change as Eban saw himself as the father of the nation of Israel.

60D Some radio tubes : DIODES

A diode is a component in a circuit, the most notable characteristic of which is that it will conduct electric current in only one direction. Some of those vacuum tubes we used to see in old radios and television were diodes, but nowadays almost all diodes are semiconductor devices.

66D “The Fresh Prince of ___-Air” : BEL

“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” sitcom originally ran from 1990 to 1996. It starred Will Smith as a teenager from Philadelphia who arrives in Bel Air to live in a mansion with his wealthy aunt and uncle.

69D Arrived en masse : STREAMED IN

“En masse” is a French term, one that best translates as “as a group”

72D Film crew assistant : BEST BOY

In a film crew, a best boy is an assistant to the department heads known as the gaffer and the key grip. The gaffer heads up the electrical department, and the key grip heads up the lighting and rigging department. The term “best boy” comes from the old English apprentice system, in which it referred to the oldest and most experienced apprentice to the master craftsman.

75D From Bhutan or Bangladesh : SOUTH ASIAN

Bhutan is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is located high up in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and India to the south, east and west. It has been a constitutional monarchy since 2008, and has been ranked by “Businessweek” as the “happiest” country in Asia.

The independent nation of Bangladesh was established after the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, when the province of East Pakistan was seceded by the State of Pakistan. The struggle for independence really started when the British exited the region, dividing British India into the Union of India and the Dominion of Pakistan in 1947. The Union of India became today’s Republic of India, and the Dominion of Pakistan eventually split into today’s Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

77D “South Park” co-creator Parker : TREY

Trey Parker is one of the co-creators of the animated television show “South Park”, along with Matt Stone.

78D Exams for srs. : SATS

Today, the standardized test for admission to colleges is known as the SAT Reasoning Test, but it used to be called the Scholastic Aptitude Test and Scholastic Assessment Test, which led to the abbreviation “SAT”.

81D Chapeau perch : TETE

In French, on one’s “tête” (head), one might wear “un chapeau” (a hat) or “un béret” (a beret), perhaps.

88D Actress Sorvino : MIRA

Mira Sorvino is an American actress, and a winner of an Oscar for her supporting role in the 1995 Woody Allen movie “Mighty Aphrodite”. Sorvino also played a title role opposite Lisa Kudrow in the very forgettable “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion”.

92D Equilibria : STASES

Our word “equilibrium” meaning “state of balance”, comes from the Latin “aequus” meaning “equal” and “libra” meaning “balance, pair of scales”.

94D Batteries for brains? : IQ TESTS

Although it is correct these days to say that the abbreviation IQ stands for “intelligence quotient”, the term was actually coined by German psychologist William Stern, and so is actually an abbreviation for the German “Intelligenz-Quotient”.

95D Archaeologist’s find : RELIC

“Archaeology” is a word that looks like it’s British English, and one might be forgiven for using the spelling “archeology” in American English. Even though the latter spelling has been around for a couple of hundred years, the former is the standard spelling on both sides of the Atlantic.

100D Surge protector? : LEVEE

A levee is an artificial bank, usually made of earth, that runs along the length of a river. It is designed to hold back river water at a time of potential flooding. “Levée” is the French word for “raised” and is an American term that originated in French-speaking New Orleans around 1720.

104D Block, beaver-style : DAM UP

Beavers build dams so that they can live in and around the slower and deeper water that builds up above the dam. This deeper water provides more protection for the beavers from predators such as bears. They are nocturnal animals and do all their construction work at night.

106D Memorable saying : MOTTO

“Motto” came into English directly from Italian, and is ultimately derived from the Latin word “muttire”, meaning “to mutter, mumble”.

109D It may be hard to believe : YARN

The phrase “to spin a yarn”, meaning “to tell a tall tale”, originated in the early 1800s with seamen. The idea was that sailors would tell stories to each other while engaged in mindless work such as twisting yarn.

116D Comedian Notaro : TIG

Tig Notaro is a stand-up comedian known for her deadpan delivery. More recently, she has turned to acting and has a recurring role as Chief Engineer Jett Reno on “Star Trek: Discovery”.