0707-26 NY Times Crossword 7 Jul 26, Tuesday

Bill’s time: 8m 19s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A ___ ghanouj : BABA

Baba ganoush (also “baba ghanouj” and “baba ghanoush”) is an Arab dish with the main ingredient of mashed eggplant. It is sometimes served as a (delicious) dip.

14A Patron saint of Norway : OLAV

Of the many kings of Norway named Olaf/Olav (and there have been five), Olaf II is perhaps the most celebrated, as he was canonized and made the patron saint of the country. Olaf II was king from 1015 to 1028 and was known as “Olaf the Big” (or “Olaf the Fat”) during his reign. Today he is more commonly referred to as “Olaf the Holy”. After Olaf died he was given the title of “Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae”, which is Latin for “Norway’s Eternal King”.

15A Combustible rock : COAL

Coal forms from peat that is subject to heat and pressure deep in the ground over millions of years. The peat is dead plant matter from former wetlands that we now refer to as “coal forests”.

17A Charisma : MOJO

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

18A “Orinoco Flow” singer : ENYA

“Orinoco Flow” is a song by Irish singer Enya that she released in 1988. It was to be the number that launched Enya to global fame (it’s the one that goes “sail away, sail away, sail away …”). The title is a reference to the Orinoco River in Venezuela, and also a nod to the Orinoco Studios in London where the song was recorded.

28A *Frankfurters : HOT DOGS

A hot dog is a sausage served in a split roll. The term “hot dog” dates back to the 19th century and is thought to reflect a commonly-held opinion that the sausages contained dog meat.

The frankfurter sausage that is typically used in a North American hot dog gets its name from Frankfurter Würstchen. The latter is a German sausage that is prepared by boiling in water, just like a hot dog frank.

32A Subject of Weird Al Yankovic’s “The White Stuff” : OREO

“The White Stuff” is a 1992 song released by Weird Al Yankovic that parodies “You Got It (The Right Stuff)”, a 1988 single from New Kids on the Block.

34A Score that’s better than a bogey : PAR

The golfing term “bogey” originated at the Great Yarmouth Golf Club in England in 1890, and was used to indicate a total round that was one-over-par (and not one-over-par on a particular hole, as it is today). The name “bogey” came from a music hall song of the time “Here Comes the Bogeyman”. In the following years it became popular for players trying to stay at par to be “playing against Colonel Bogey”. Then, during WWI, the marching tune “Colonel Bogey” was written and named after the golfing term. If you don’t recognize the name of the tune, it’s the one that’s whistled by the soldiers marching in the great movie “The Bridge on the River Kwai”.

35A “Barbie” actress Issa : RAE

In the 2023 hit movie “Barbie”, actress Issa Rae plays President Barbie, the ruler of Barbieland.

36A *Relative of a grizzly that’s named for its bright chest patch : SUN BEAR

The sun bear is native to Southeast Asia, but is endangered due to deforestation that destroys its habitat. It is sometimes called the honey bear as it loves honey and honeycombs.

The North American brown bear is usually referred to as the grizzly bear. The name “grizzly” was given to the bear by Lewis and Clark. The term “grizzly” might mean “with gray-tipped hair”, or “fear-inspiring”. Both definitions seem to be apt …

40A Sgt., but not pvt., e.g. : NCO

Non-commissioned officer (NCO)

41A Orgs. that may hold raffles : PTAS

Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)

45A *Internet browser borrowing a nickname for the red panda : FIREFOX

Firefox is an open-source web browser produced by Mozilla. It was developed in 2002, and is in effect the successor to Netscape’s groundbreaking Navigator browser. Firefox was extremely popular in 2009, and challenged the domination of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer before succumbing to Google’s Chrome.

The red panda is a relatively small mammal with reddish-brown fur and white fur highlighting features on his head. A native of the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China, it is not closely related to the giant panda, and instead is related to the raccoon, weasel and skunk.

48A Slander : DEFAME

The word “libel” describes a published or written statement likely to harm a person’s reputation. It comes into English from the Latin “libellus”, the word for a small book. Back in the 1500s, libel was just a formal written statement, with the more damaging association arising in the 1600s. The related concept of slander is defamation in a transient form, such as speech, sign language or gestures.

59A Rebel Alliance princess : LEIA

In the “Star Wars” universe, the Rebel Alliance is at war with the Galactic Empire.

60A Portmanteau for a screened-in feline lounge : CATIO

A “catio” is an enclosed, outdoor space accessible to an “indoor cat”. It gives the cat safe access to the outdoors, while at the same time protecting wildlife. It’s a “cat patio”.

62A Sci-fi franchise with light cycles : TRON

Released in 1982, Disney’s “Tron” was one of the first mainstream films to make extensive use of computer graphics. The main role in the movie is played by Jeff Bridges. The original spawned a 2010 sequel called “Tron: Legacy”, as well as a 2012 TV show called “Tron: Uprising”. More recently, a 2025 movie “Tron: Ares” starred Jared Leto, with Bridges reprising his iconic role.

64A “Amazing Grace,” for one : HYMN

“Amazing Grace” is a very, very famous hymn, with words written by John Newton in 1772, and published in 1779. The words have been set to a number of different melodies, and what we are used to hearing today is music from a tune called “New Britain”.

Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
’Twas blind but now I see

65A Eurovision contest entry : SONG

We have a big event across Europe every year called the Eurovision Song Contest. Each nation enters one song in competition with each other, and then voters across the whole continent decide on the winner. That’s how ABBA got their big break when they won in 1974 with “Waterloo”.

Down

2D Soothing succulent : ALOE

Succulent plants are those with thickened stems and/or leaves that have evolved to retain water. As such, succulents are often found where the climate is particularly dry. The term “succulent” comes from the Latin “sucus” meaning “juice, sap”.

3D ___ California (Mexican border state) : BAJA

Baja California is both the most northern and the most western of the Mexican states. The name translates from Spanish as “Lower California”.

4D Fruit from a tree that can self-pollinate : AVOCADO

The wonderful avocado comes from a tree that is native to Mexico and Central America. The avocado fruit is sometimes called an avocado pear, because of its shape, even though it is not related to the pear at all. The fruit might also be referred to as an alligator pear, due to the roughness of the green skin of some avocado cultivars.

7D ___ Staley, original lead singer of Alice in Chains : LAYNE

Alice in Chains (AIC) is a rock band that formed in 1987 in Seattle.

8D Pizazz : ELAN

Pizazz (also “pizzazz”) is energy, vitality. There’s a kind of cool thing about the “pizzazz” spelling, namely that it is the only 7-letter word in English that cannot be played in Scrabble. You can get close by using the Z-tile with the two blank tiles to get to three of the required four Zs, but there’s no way to get to the fourth Z.

9D Last words on a pinball machine : GAME OVER

Our modern game of pinball evolved from an earlier table game called bagatelle that used balls, pins and holes (and I remember playing bagatelle as a boy in a pub in Ireland). The first pinball machine was made by a British inventor who settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. He modified the game of bagatelle, adding a coiled spring and a plunger to introduce balls at the end of the table, a device that is still in use today. From there, manufacturers developed coin-operated versions of pinball, which became popular during the Depression as they provided a little entertainment for a few pennies. One distributor of the coin-operated pinball machines started manufacturing them himself as he couldn’t source new games fast enough. He called his pinball game Ballyhoo, and eventually named his company Bally, a brand name well known in the gambling industry to this day.

13D ___ Xing : PED

Pedestrian crossing (Ped Xing)

21D “Curb Your Enthusiasm” network : HBO

“Curb Your Enthusiasm” is an improv comedy show aired by HBO that was created and stars Larry David, the creator of “Seinfeld”. As an aside, Larry David sat a few feet from me at the next table in a Los Angeles restaurant a few years ago. I have such a huge claim to fame …

22D “Let It Go” singer Menzel : IDINA

Actress and singer Idina Menzel came to public attention when she was a member of the original Broadway cast of “Rent”. She is known on the small screen for playing Shelby Corcoran on the musical TV show “Glee”. On the big screen, her most noted performance was as the voice actor behind Queen Elsa in the Disney hit “Frozen”. It is Menzel who sings the Oscar-winning song “Let It Go” in “Frozen”.

27D Geometrical corner : VERTEX

The word “vertex” comes from the Latin “vertere” meaning “to turn”. The idea of a turning point, or a peak, aligns with how we use “vertex” to describe the corner of a geometric shape, where lines “turn” or meet.

28D Like a triceratops : HORNED

A triceratops was a dinosaur that kind of looked like a rhinoceros, but with three horns. The name “triceratops” is derived from the Greek for “three-horned face”.

29D Delphi prophet : ORACLE

In ancient Greece and Rome, an oracle was someone believed to be inspired by the gods to give wise counsel. The word “oracle” derives from the Latin “orare” meaning “to speak”, which is the same root for our word “orator”. One of the most important oracles of ancient Greece was Pythia, the high priestess to Apollo at Delphi.

33D “This Old House” network : PBS

“This Old House” first aired in 1979, on PBS, with Bob Vila as host. After ten years on the show, Vila was able to make extra income with commercial endorsements. These earnings caused conflict with commercial-free PBS, and so Vila was replaced by Steve Thomas.

36D Monty Python musical with a portmanteau title : SPAMALOT

The hit musical “Spamalot” is a show derived from the 1975 movie “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”. In typical Monty Python style, the action starts just before the curtain goes up with an announcement recorded by the great John Cleese:

(You can) let your cell phones and pagers ring willy-nilly … (but) be aware there are heavily armed knights on stage that may drag you on stage and impale you.

Camelot is featured in Arthurian legend. It was King Arthur’s castle and his court.

38D “Illmatic” rapper : NAS

Rapper Nas used to go by an earlier stage name “Nasty Nas”, and before that by his real name “Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones”. Nas released his first album “Illmatic” in 1994, and inventively titled his fifth studio album “Stillmatic”, released in 2001.

44D Luau locale : HAWAII

The anglicized name of the Hawaiian feast “luau” comes from the Hawaiian word “lu’au”, which translates literally as “young taro tops”. Taro leaves and corms are often served at luaus.

47D Yellow card wielder : REF

A series of colored penalty cards is used by referees and umpires in several sports, most notably in soccer. The cards were first used in the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, after language difficulties created confusion during the prior competition in 1966. The main cards used are a yellow card indicating a caution, and a red card indicating expulsion from the game.

49D Job for Mrs. Doubtfire : NANNY

The 1993 comedy “Mrs. Doubtfire” is based on a 1987 novel called “Madame Doubtfire” by Anne Fine. The movie is set and was filmed in San Francisco. The title role is played by Robin Williams, who spent most of the movie dressed as the female Mrs. Doubtfire. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the movie won the Oscar for Best Makeup.

51D Sled dog command : MUSH!

Mushing is the use of one or more dogs to pull a sled. “Mush” is thought to come from the French “marche” meaning “go, run”.

52D Number of years that George Washington lived in the White House : ZERO

After George Washington was inaugurated as president in 1789, he lived in the Samuel Osgood House and then the Alexander Macomb House in New York City. When the capital moved to Philadelphia, President Washington occupied the Market Street Mansion, as did his successor John Adams. President Adams moved to the White House in the nation’s new capital in 1800.

53D Last U.S. national park alphabetically : ZION

To me, the most spectacular feature of southwestern Utah’s Zion National Park is the magnificent Zion Canyon. The canyon cuts through red Navajo sandstone and truly is a beautiful sight.

54D Bowen formerly of “S.N.L.” : YANG

Bowen Yang is an actor and comedian who joined the cast of “Saturday Night Live” in 2019, after working for a year with the show’s writing staff. When Yang became a cast member, he was the first Chinese American to appear regularly on SNL.