0323-26 NY Times Crossword 23 Mar 26, Monday

Bill’s time: 5m 16s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

13A “The ___ Game” (song that begins “Shirley Shirley bo-berley, bonana fanna fo-ferley” : NAME

Shirley Ellis was a soul music singer famous for her novelty songs, “The Clapping Song” from 1965 and “The Name Game” from 1964. “The Name Game” is also known as “The Banana Song”, and is really a children’s singalong rhyming game. But, it was a big pop hit all the same.

15A Reef around a lagoon : ATOLL

An atoll is a coral island that is shaped in a ring that encloses a lagoon. There is still some debate as to how an atoll forms, but a theory proposed by Charles Darwin while on his famous voyage aboard HMS Beagle still holds sway. Basically, an atoll was once a volcanic island that had subsided and fallen into the sea. The coastline of the island is home to coral growth which persists even as the island continues to subside inside the circling coral reef.

17A Popular character actor in both “The Godfather” and “Barney Miller” : ABE VIGODA

Abe Vigoda played Detective Sergeant Phil Fish in television’s “Barney Miller” in the seventies, and even got his own spin-off show called “Fish”. On the big screen, Vigoda played Sal Tessio in “The Godfather” and Grandpa Ubriacco in “Look Who’s Talking”. When Vigoda was 60 years old, he was mistakenly reported as dead by “People” magazine. In response, Vigoda had a photo published in “Variety” showing him sitting up in a coffin, holding a copy of the offending issue of “People”.

Sal Tessio is a character in Mario Puzo’s novel “The Godfather”. Tessio becomes a high-ranking confidante in Don Corleone’s crime organization. The character was played in the Francis Ford Coppola film by actor Abe Vigoda.

“Barney Miller” is a sitcom set in a Greenwich Village, New York police station. All of the action takes place actually within the station house, except for a once-a-year “special” that follows one of the detectives on a stakeout or in their home. The title character is the captain of the precinct, and is played by Hal Linden.

20A Gold seeker’s tool : PAN

When prospectors pan for gold, they do so by mixing soil and water in a pan. Because gold is very dense, gravel and soil can be washed over the side of the pan leaving the heavy precious metal at the bottom. The gold has been “panned out”, and so we often use “pan out” figuratively to mean “turn out, succeed”.

32A Waffle House alternative : IHOP

Waffle House is a chain of restaurants, located mainly in the Midwest and South, that specializes in Southern breakfast food. Most Waffle House outlets have jukeboxes, and the chain even has its own record label: Waffle Records.

40A Part of the federal government that includes the presidency : EXECUTIVE BRANCH

Article II of the US Constitution establishes and defines the powers of the executive branch of the federal government. The article specifically assigns those powers to the office of the president of the US (POTUS).

43A Amber or myrrh : RESIN

Amber’s technical name is “resinite”, reflecting its composition and formation. Amber starts out life as soft sticky tree resin but then under high temperature and pressure from overlying layers of soil, it fossilizes. The sticky resin can trap organisms or other plant matter, and this material can sometimes remain virtually intact inside the amber fossil giving us a unique gift from the past.

Frankincense and myrrh are both tree resins that are exuded when certain species of tree are damaged. The harvested resins are used to make essential oils for perfumes, and are also burned to give off a pleasant fragrance.

44A ___ a soul (nobody at all) : NARY

The adjective “nary” means “not one”, as in “nary a soul” or even “nary a one”.

50A Cinema lover : MOVIE BUFF

Back in the early 1900s, a buff was someone (usually a male) who admired firefighting. The term “buff” was a reference to the buff-colored uniforms that had been sported by volunteer firefighters in New York City since the 1820s. The use of the word “buff” spread over time to describe a person who was enthusiastic about any particular subject, e.g. film buff, WWII buff.

59A Works of Rossini and Bellini : OPERAS

Gioachino Rossini was a prolific and very successful composer from Pesaro, Italy. During his lifetime, Rossini was lauded as the most successful composer of operas in history. His best-known opera today is probably “The Barber of Seville”. His best-known piece of music is probably the finale of the overture from his opera “William Tell”.

Vincenzo Bellini was a composer of operas active in the Italian bel canto era of the early 1800s. Bellini’s most famous works are probably “Il pirata” (1827) and “Norma” (1831). Sadly, Bellini died at only 33 years of age, in 1835.

68A Satanic : EVIL

Satan is the bringer of evil and temptation in the Abrahamic religions. The name “Satan” is Hebrew for “adversary”.

70A Kind of terrier named after a Scottish island : SKYE

The Skye terrier is a breed of dog that is under threat of extinction. Some years ago, there were only 30 Skye terriers born in the breed’s native land of the UK. The breed was named for the Isle of Skye in Scotland.

The Isle of Skye is off the northwest coast of Scotland in the Inner Hebrides. It is the second largest island in the country, and has been linked to the mainland by a road bridge since 1995. I’ve never been there, but I hear the views are spectacular.

2D Shadowy plotting group : CABAL

A cabal is a small group of plotters acting in secret, perhaps scheming against a government or an individual. The use of “cabal” in this way dates back to the mid-1600s. It is suggested that the term gained some popularity, particularly in a sinister sense, during the reign of Charles II in the 1670s. At that time, it was applied as an acronym standing for “Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale”, a group of ministers known for their plots and schemes.

5D Best Picture Oscar winner set partially in Iran : ARGO

“Argo” is a 2012 movie that is based on the true story of the rescue of six diplomats hiding out during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. The film was directed by and stars Ben Affleck and is produced by Grant Heslov and George Clooney, the same pair who produced the excellent “Good Night, and Good Luck”. I highly recommend “Argo”, although I found the scenes of religious fervor to be very frightening …

6D Korean city that hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics : SEOUL

The 1988 Summer Olympic Games were held in Seoul, South Korea. They were the first Summer Olympics held in South Korea, and the second held in Asia (after Tokyo in 1964).

7D Pascal of “The Mandalorian” : PEDRO

Chilean American actor Pedro Pascal’s break came with a role on “Game of Thrones”, playing Oberyn Martell (aka “The Red Viper”). He then portrayed DEA agent Javier Peña on the biographic crime show “Narcos”. A third prominent role came with an offer to play the title character in the “Star Wars” spinoff “The Mandalorian”.

“The Mandalorian” is a TV series in the “Star Wars” universe that is set five years after the events in the 1983 film “Return of the Jedi”. The show was created by actor and filmmaker Jon Favreau, and has been well received. The title character is Din Djarin (played by Pedro Pascal), a bounty hunter with a ward named Grogu. Grogu is an infant of the same species as Yoda, and so is referred to by viewers as “Baby Yoda”.

8D Reggae-adjacent genre : SKA

Ska originated in Jamaica in the late fifties and was the precursor to reggae music. No one has a really definitive etymology of the term “ska”, but it is likely to be imitative of a sound.

9D Faddish 1980s plush toy : CARE BEAR

The Care Bears franchise includes a line of toys as well as TV shows and movies. The original Care Bears were characters created for greeting cards marketed by American Greetings starting in 1981.

10D Company behind the game Centipede : ATARI

Centipede is an arcade game from Atari (it is my favorite!). The game was designed by Ed Logg and Dona Bailey, with Bailey being one of the few female game designers back then (it was released in 1981). Perhaps due to her influence, Centipede was the first arcade game to garner a significant female following.

11D ___ Trend (magazine that chooses a Car of the Year annually) : MOTOR

“Motor Trend” is an auto magazine that has been published since 1949. The magazine has been giving its famous Car of the Year award since those early days, with the first award going to the 1949 Cadillac.

18D Tabloid twosome : ITEM

“Tabloid” is the trademarked name (owned by Burroughs Wellcome) for a “small tablet of medicine”, a name that goes back to 1884. The word “tabloid” had entered into general use to mean a compressed form of anything, and by the early 1900s was used in “tabloid journalism”, which described newspapers that had short, condensed articles and stories printed on smaller sheets of paper.

26D Onetime Dodge sports car … or a creature to be dodged : VIPER

The Dodge Viper is an American sports car with a V10 engine. The Viper was introduced in 1991, and finally discontinued in 2017.

28D Poe’s “The ___ and the Pendulum” : PIT

“The Pit and the Pendulum” is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe that was first published in 1842. It is a macabre tale about a prisoner who is being tortured at the hands of the Spanish Inquisition. For part of the tale, the prisoner is bound to a wooden board while a scythe-like pendulum wings above him, getting nearer and nearer with each oscillation.

30D The “p” of r.p.m. : PER

Revolutions per minute (rpm)

33D Like about 80% of Indians, religiously : HINDU

Hinduism is the world’s third largest religion, after Christianity and Islam.

37D Carrot on a stick, metaphorically : INCENTIVE

There is some debate about the “carrot/stick” metaphor. Some say that a carrot represents an incentive and a stick represents a threat, with the idea being that an incentive is more effective than a threat. Another version of the metaphor is that the carrot is dangled on a stick before a donkey, incentivizing the animal to move forward. There’s no threat, just a reward that never gets any more attainable …

50D “Carpet” on a forest floor : MOSS

There is a traditionally-held belief that in the northern hemisphere there is a heavier growth of moss on the north-facing side of trees. The assumption is that the sun creates a drier environment on the south side of the tree, an environment that is less conducive to the growth of moss.

52D Salsa ___ (condiment that might include tomatillos and cilantro) : VERDE

The main difference between red and green salsa is the primary ingredient. Red salsa (salsa roja) is made with tomatoes as its base. Green salsa (salsa verde) has tomatillos as its main ingredient.

What we know here in North America as cilantro is called coriander in my home nation of Ireland and in other parts of the world. “Cilantro” is the Spanish name for the herb.

55D Tinker Bell, for one : FAIRY

Tinker Bell is a fairy in the “Peter Pan” story by J. M. Barrie. “Tink” is a minor character in the original play and novel, but evolved into a major character in the many, many film and television adaptations of the tale.

57D Lower leg bone : TIBIA

The tibia is the shinbone, and is the larger of the two bones right below the knee. It is the strongest weight-bearing bone in the human body. “Tibia” is the Roman name for a Greek flute and it is thought that the shinbone was given the same name because flutes were often fashioned out of the shinbones of animals.

65D Animal doc : VET

“Vet” is an abbreviation for “veterinarian”, a professional who treats animals for disease and injury. The word “veterinary” comes from the Latin “veterinae” meaning “working animals, beasts of burden”.