0428-26 NY Times Crossword 28 Apr 26, Tuesday

Bill’s time: 6m 42s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5A Nail polish brand : OPI

Opi (originally “Odontorium Products Inc.”) is a manufacturer of nail polish based in North Hollywood, California. One of Opi’s marketing coups was the introduction of a line of Legally Blonde 2 polishes, which featured in the film. Opi also launched a collection of nail lacquers inspired by the hit Broadway musical “Wicked” in celebration of its 10th anniversary on Broadway.

15A Sink-or-swim competition? : WATER POLO

The sport of water polo is thought to have originated in Scotland, where it was a feature of fairs and festivals. Men’s water polo was introduced into the Olympic Games in 1900, making it one of the oldest team sports in the Games.

20A Site to build on : LOT

The “city lot” sense of “lot” is intertwined with the older practice of “casting lots”. Historically, land division was often determined by chance, particularly in early settlements or when distributing land among a group. “Lots” were physical objects, like stones or slips of paper, marked to represent different land parcels. These were drawn randomly, and the “lot” a person received corresponded to the specific piece of land assigned to that marker. This practice of “casting lots” directly led to the use of “lot” as a term for a defined piece of land, eventually giving us the modern usage in “city lot” and “parking lot.”

21A Gossip, slangily : TEA

Our word “gossip” comes from the Old English “godsibb” meaning “godparent”. Back then, the term was used for female friends who attended a birth, and later for anyone engaging in idle talk.

31A Bagel 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”.

39A Casual farewell often used outside its language of origin : CIAO

“Ciao” is Italian for “‘bye”. “Arrivederci” is more formal, and translates as “goodbye”.

40A Station set up in a kitchen : MISE EN PLACE

“Mise en place” is a French term that translates literally as “putting in place”. It is used in culinary circles to describe the laying out of all the ingredients needed prior to cooking.

46A Coins of Cuba : PESOS

As recently as 2020, Cuba was the only country in the world to have two official currencies. The Cuban peso (CUP) is referred to as the “national currency”. Only government workers were paid in CUPs, and CUPs were used to pay for government-provided services and price-controlled items such as fruit and vegetables. There was also the Cuban convertible peso (CUC) that was introduced in 1994, when its value was pegged to the US dollar. Most products available in stores are imported, and had to be purchased with CUCs. Cubans with access to CUCs, like hotel workers interfacing with tourists, tended to have better lifestyles than government workers in general. The CUC was withdrawn from circulation in 2021.

47A Ingredients in some tropical smoothies : PAPAYAS

The papaya (also “papaw”) tropical fruit is native to Mexico and South America. When cultivating papaya trees, only female plants are used. Female plants produce just one, high-quality fruit per tree. Male plants produce several fruit per tree, but they are very poor quality.

50A Madrid mister : SENOR

Madrid is the most populous city in Spain, and is the nation’s capital. It is located very close to the geographical center of the country. Madrid is the second-largest city in the European Union by population, after Berlin. People from Madrid call themselves Madrileños.

51A Church seat : PEW

A pew is a church bench, usually one with a high back. The original pews were raised and sometimes enclosed seats in the church used by women and important men or families. “Pew” comes from the Old French “puie” meaning “balcony, elevation”.

63A Astronomer Carl : SAGAN

Carl Sagan was a brilliant astrophysicist, and a great communicator. He was famous for presenting obscure concepts about the cosmos in such a way that we mere mortals could appreciate. Sagan also wrote the novel “Contact” that was adapted into a fascinating 1997 film of the same name starring Jodie Foster.

64A Irritable : TESTY

Somebody described as testy is touchy, irritably impatient. The term “testy” comes into English from Old French, ultimately deriving from “testu” meaning “stubborn, headstrong”, literally “heady”. So, our word “testy” comes from the same root as the French word “tête” meaning “head”.

65A [As written] : SIC

[Sic] indicates that a quotation is written as originally found, perhaps including a typo. “Sic” is Latin for “thus, like this”. The term is more completely written as “sic erat scriptum”, which translates as “thus was it written”.

66A Civil rights activist Parks : ROSA

Rosa Parks was one of a cadre of brave women in days gone by who refused to give up their seats on a bus to white people. It was the stand taken by Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955 that sparked the Montgomery, Alabama Bus Boycott. President Clinton presented Ms. Parks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996. When she died in 2005, Rosa Parks became the first ever woman to have her body lie in honor in the US Capitol Rotunda.

Down

2D Kind of seed or pet : CHIA

Chia is a flowering plant in the mint family. Chia seeds are an excellent food source and are often added to breakfast cereals and energy bars. There is also the famous Chia Pet, an invention of a San Francisco company. Chia Pets are terra-cotta figurines to which moistened chia seeds are applied. The seeds sprout and the seedlings become the “fur” of the Chia Pet.

5D Nocturnal hooter : OWL

Owls have 14 vertebrae in their necks (compared to our 7). The extra bones in the neck, along with other adaptations allow owls to rotate the head and neck about 270 degrees.

6D Painter Veronese : PAOLO

Paolo Veronese was a Renaissance painter from the Italian city of Verona (hence his name “Veronese”). Veronese is most famous for his paintings “The Wedding at Cana” and “The Feast at the House of Levi”. “The Wedding at Cana” is a massive work, measuring over 21 x 32 feet in size. It has the honor of being the largest painting in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

7D Langston Hughes poem : I, TOO

Langston Hughes was a poet active in the Harlem Renaissance, and someone who helped develop the literary form known as “jazz poetry”. His poem “I, Too” was published in 1926.

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.

Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed–

I, too, am America.

8D Due + 1 : TRE

In Italian, “uno” (one) plus “due” (two) makes “tre” (three).

12D Slugger Sammy : SOSA

Sammy Sosa was firmly in the public eye in 1998 when he and Mark McGwire were vying to be the first to surpass the home run record held by Roger Maris. McGwire fell out of public favor due to stories of steroid abuse (stories which he later admitted were true) while Sosa fell out of favor when he was found to be using a corked bat in a 2003 game.

14D “Raising Hell” rap trio : RUN-DMC

Run-DMC was a hip hop group from Queens, New York. The trio took its name from two of the group’s members: Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels.

18D Part of a piano or loom : PEDAL

Most modern pianos have three pedals. The soft pedal (also “una corda”), sostenuto pedal, and sustaining pedal (also “damper pedal”).

There are many types of loom used to weave cloth, but they all hold parallel threads in tension in one direction, while allowing the interweaving of threads in the perpendicular direction. The threads held under tension are the warp threads, and the “woven” threads are the “weft” threads.

26D Ray of McDonald’s : KROC

The original McDonald’s restaurant was opened in 1940 by Richard and Maurice McDonald as a barbecue restaurant. The brothers then moved into fast food hamburgers, eventually selling out to one of their franchise agents, Ray Kroc. It was Ray Kroc who really led the company to its worldwide success. He was played by Michael Keaton in the movie about Ray Kroc’s business life called “The Founder”.

27D Genre for Ziggy Stardust, informally : GLAM

I remember the days of glam rock so well, as it was a hugely popular genre of music in Britain and Ireland during the early seventies. Artistes wore the wildest of clothes, big hair, shiny outfits and really high platform boots. Names associated with glam rock are T. Rex, David Bowie, Roxy Music and the infamous Gary Glitter.

“David Bowie” was the stage name of English singer David Jones. He adopted the alter ego Ziggy Stardust during his glam rock phase in the 1970s. Sadly, Bowie passed away from liver cancer in early 2016.

28D Naan alternative : ROTI

In an Indian restaurant, naan bread is very popular. Roti is an unleavened cousin of naan.

29D Coalition that opposed the Allies in W.W. II : AXIS POWERS

Before WWII, Hungary’s prime minister was lobbying for an alliance between Germany, Hungary and Italy and worked towards such a relationship that he called an “axis”. The main Axis powers during the war were Germany, Italy and Japan. However, also included in the relationship were Romania, Bulgaria and the aforementioned Hungary.

30D Mexican wrap : SERAPE

“Serape” is the English pronunciation and spelling of the Spanish word “zarape”. A zarape is like a Mexican poncho, a soft woolen blanket, but without a hole in the middle for the head. Most serapes have colorful designs that use traditional Mayan motifs.

33D Kid-lit girl with a blueberry pail : SAL

“Blueberries for Sal” is a children’s storybook by Robert McCloskey that was published in 1948. It was a Caldecott Honor book in 1949, recognizing “Blueberries for Sal” as a distinguished picture for children released in the preceding year.

34D Greek goddess of the earth : GAIA

The Greek goddess personifying the Earth was Gaea (also “Gaia”, and meaning “land” or “earth” in Greek). The Roman equivalent goddess was Terra Mater, “Mother Earth”.

35D Brewing need : HOPS

The foodstuff that we call “hops” is actually the female flowers of the hop plant. The main use of hops is to add flavor to beer. The town in which I used to live here in California was once home to the largest hop farm in the world. Most of the harvested hops were exported all the way to the breweries of London, where they could fetch the best price.

41D Ballpark fig. : EST

The phrase “in the ballpark” means “within an acceptable range of approximation”. The term was coined in the mid-fifties as jargon used by scientists developing atomic weapons. The first “ballpark” in this sense was the broad area within which a missile was forecast to return to earth.

48D Overdue debt : ARREAR

To be in arrears is to have an unpaid obligation or debt. The term “arrears” came into English from the Old French “ariere” meaning “behind”.

49D Golfer Calvin or QB Rodney : PEETE

Calvin Peete was the most successful African American golfer on the PGA tour before Tiger Woods hit the circuit. Peete played on the Ryder Cup teams of 1983 and 1985.

50D Islam’s largest branch : SUNNI

The Islamic sects of Sunni and Shia Muslims differ in the belief of who should have taken over leadership of the Muslim faithful after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. Followers of the Sunni tradition agree with the decision that the Prophet Muhammad’s confidante Abu Bakr was the right choice to become the first Caliph of the Islamic nation. Followers of the Shia tradition believe that leadership should have stayed within the Prophet Muhammad’s own family, and favored the Prophet’s son-in-law Ali.

55D “Othello” villain : IAGO

In William Shakespeare’s “Othello”, Iago is the villain of the piece. At one point he readily admits this, saying “Thus do I ever make my fool my purse”. Here he is claiming to make money out of making fools of others. In this case, he takes money from Roderigo, who believes that Iago will help him bed Othello’s wife Desdemona.

56D Some supports : BRAS

The first modern bra was invented by a New York socialite named Mary Phelps Jacob in 1913. She was looking for a more comfortable and fashionable alternative to the corsets that were then commonly worn, and she fashioned a bra using two handkerchiefs and some ribbon. She later patented her invention, which she called the “Backless Brassiere.”

57D ___ Lewis, the “Grande Dame of Southern Cooking” : EDNA

Edna Lewis was a celebrated chef and cookbook author who played a pivotal role in preserving and popularizing traditional Southern cooking. She was born in Freetown, Virginia, a farming community founded by freed slaves. Her cookbooks, like “The Taste of Country Cooking” (1976) are considered classics, featuring authentic flavors of the rural South.

61D Not Rx : OTC

Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs don’t need a prescription (Rx).