0831-26 NY Times Crossword 31 Aug 26, Monday

Bill’s time: 5m 57s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5A Sch. with the Daily Bruin newspaper : UCLA

The Bruins are the athletic teams representing the University of California, Los Angeles. When the school was founded in 1919, as the Southern Branch of the University of California, the nickname “Cubs” was used by the football team. The “Cubs” name was chosen as the school was regarded as the younger partner of the California Bears in the existing University of California, Berkeley. That name was changed to “Grizzlies” in 1923, and finally to Bruins in 1926.

17A Redding with two posthumous Grammys : OTIS

Otis Redding is often referred to as the “King of Soul”, and what a voice he had. Like so many of the greats in the world of popular music it seems, Redding was killed in a plane crash, in 1967 when he was just 26 years old. Just three days earlier he had recorded what was to be his biggest hit, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”.

18A “Sesame Street” character who was once sung to sleep by Andrea Bocelli : ELMO

Andrea Bocelli is a classically-trained tenor from Italy who sings popular music, and hence is a so-called cross-over artist. Bocelli was born with poor eyesight and then became totally blind at the age of 12 when he had an accident playing soccer.

24A Letter after sigma : TAU

Tau is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet, and the letter that gave rise to our Roman “T”. Both the letters tau (T) and chi (X) have long been symbolically associated with the cross.

25A One dining on Friskies : CAT

The Friskies brand is known today as a cat food, although it was first introduced as a dry dog food in 1930.

28A Role for Selena Gomez on “Only Murders in the Building” : MABEL

Selena Gomez is an actress and singer from Grand Prairie, Texas. Gomez’s first television role was in the children’s show “Barney & Friends”. She then played the lead in the TV series “Wizards of Waverly Place”. Gomez’s fans often refer to themselves as “Selenators”. Offscreen, Gomez made a splash as the girlfriend of Canadian singer Justin Bieber for a couple of years. More recently, she has been playing a lead role in the hit TV show “Only Murders in the Building” alongside Steve Martin and Martin Short.

“Only Murders in the Building” is a hit comedy-mystery series, co-created by Steve Martin. It stars Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez as three residents of an affluent Upper West Side apartment building in New York City. The trio bonds over their obsession with true-crime podcasts and decide to start their own to investigate murders in their building. The guest cast is essentially a Rolodex of Steve Martin and Martin Short’s real-life best friends and colleagues. The show feels like it is a group of famous actors playing in their New York backyard. I love this show …

31A Umbrella-shaped sea creature : JELLYFISH

Jellyfish are found all over the ocean, right across the whole planet. They have been around for 500-700 million years, and so are the oldest multi-organ animal extant.

34A Director DuVernay : AVA

Ava DuVernay is a filmmaker who became the first African American woman to win the Best Director Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, a feat she achieved in 2012 for her feature film “Middle of Nowhere”. “Middle of Nowhere” tells the story of a woman who drops out of medical school to focus on her husband when he is sentenced to 8 years in prison. DuVernay also directed the 2014 film “Selma” about the 1965 voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

37A Took shots first, then paid for them later : RAN A TAB

When we run a “tab” at a bar, we are running a “tabulation”, a listing of what we owe. Such a use of “tab” is American slang that originated in the 1880s.

40A Clothing sizes for shorter women : PETITES

In French, one might be “petite” (small), “comme une jeune fille” (like a young girl/lady).

41A Ski in zigzags : SLALOM

“Slalom” is an anglicized version of the Norwegian word “slalåm” that translates as “sloping track” or “sloping trail”. There is a longer version of the traditional slalom that is called giant slalom.

44A Newlyweds’ getaway : HONEYMOON

The concept of a honeymoon vacation only started in the early 1800s. In Britain, wealthy couples would take a “bridal tour” together after the wedding, visiting those friends and relatives who could not attend the ceremony. The etymology of “honeymoon” isn’t very clear, and may even have a negative derivation as it might suggest that the sweetness (honey) of love is doomed to wane like a passing phase of the moon. The equivalent terms in other languages are “moon of honey” (French), “honey month” (Welsh) and “tinsel weeks” (German).

48A Actress de Armas : ANA

Ana de Armas is an actress from Cuba. Having attended the National Theater School of Cuba, she moved to Spain at the age of 18. There, she made a name for herself in a Spanish TV series called “El Internado”. De Armas moved to Los Angeles in 2014, after which her performance opposite Ryan Gosling in 2017’s “Blade Runner 2049” earned her critical acclaim.

49A 401(k) relative : IRA

A 401(k) account resembles an IRA in that contributions can be made from a paycheck prior to the deduction of income taxes. It differs from an IRA in that it is an employer-sponsored plan, with payments taken by the employer directly from an employee’s paycheck. Additionally, contributions can be fully or partially matched by an employer.

50A “Need an ark? I Noah guy,” e.g. : PUN

Here are some of my favorite puns:

• What do you call a snowman with a six-pack? An abdominal snowman.
• Parallel lines have so much in common. It’s a shame they’ll never meet.
• I told my wife she was drawing her eyebrows too high. She looked surprised.
• What do you call a parade of rabbits hopping backwards? A receding hare-line.

58A Inuit for “house” : IGLOO

The Inuit word for “house” is “iglu”, which we usually write as “igloo”. The Greenlandic (yes, that’s a language) word for “house” is very similar, namely “igdlo”. The walls of igloos are tremendous insulators, due to the air pockets in the blocks of snow.

62A Tennis locale : COURT

Our modern sport of tennis evolved from the much older racquet sport known as real tennis. Originally just called “tennis”, the older game was labeled “real tennis” when the modern version began to hold sway. Real tennis is played in a closed court, with the ball frequently bounced off the walls.

63A Pre-Easter observance : LENT

In Latin, the Christian season that is now called “Lent” was termed “quadragesima” (meaning “fortieth”), a reference to the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert before beginning his public ministry. When the church began its move in the Middle Ages towards using the vernacular, the term “Lent” was introduced. “Lent” comes from “lencten”, an Old English word meaning springtime, or the month of March.

Down

2D Attire for the Sugar Plum Fairy : TUTU

In Tchaikovsky’s delightful ballet “The Nutcracker”, much of the action takes place in the Land of Sweets, which is ruled by the Sugar Plum Fairy. The Sugar Plum Fairy’s dance is performed to music that usually features the keyboard instrument known as a celesta, resulting in a unique and memorable sound.

4D Pulverizing tool : PESTLE

I’ve loved the sound of the words “mortar” and “pestle”, ever since I was first introduced to them in the chemistry lab. The Romans called a receptacle for pounding or grinding things a “mortarium”, giving us “mortar”. Mortarium was also the word for the product of pounding and grinding, which gives us our “mortar” that’s used with bricks to build a wall. And further, short stubby cannons used in the 16th century resembled a grinding bowl and so were called “mortars”, which evolved into our contemporary weapon of the same name. As far as the pestle is concerned, it is also derived from its Latin name “pistillum”, which comes from the word for “crush”.

6D Baby whale : CALF

Male whales are referred to as bulls, females are cows, and the young are calves.

10D Composer Stravinsky : IGOR

Composer Igor Stravinsky’s most famous works were completed relatively early in his career, when he was quite young. His three ballets “The Firebird”, “Petrushka” and “The Rite of Spring” were published in 1910-1913, when Stravinsky was in his late twenties and early thirties.

11D Ham on an antipasto platter : PROSCIUTTO

The word “prosciutto” is used in Italian to mean “ham”, however it is prepared. In English, we use the word to describe the dry-cured ham that is served raw, in thin slices. Apparently, prosciutto can be made out of the meat from the leg of a pig, or from the thigh of a wild horse!

Antipasto (plural “antipasti”) is the first course of a meal in Italy. “Antipasto” translates as “before the meal”.

29D Island of Arthurian legend : AVALON

Avalon is a legendary island featured in the Arthurian legends. The name “Avalon” probably comes from the word “afal”, the Welsh word for “apple”, reflecting the fact that the island was noted for its beautiful apples. It is where King Arthur’s famous sword “Excalibur” was forged, and supposedly where Arthur was buried.

30D Fruit-resembling mollusk : BANANA SLUG

Banana slugs can be a bright yellow color. They also are shaped like the fruit, hence the name “banana slug”.

31D The “one” of a one-two : JAB

That would be boxing, and a one-two punch, or should it be punches?

33D Part of the week that workers look forward to: Abbr. : FRI

The name “Friday” comes from an Old English word meaning “day of Frigg”. Frigg was a goddess from Norse mythology who was usually depicted as the wife of Odin.

38D Ginger ___ : ALE

The brand most closely associated with ginger ale is Canada Dry. “Canada Dry Pale Ginger Ale” was first formulated in 1904 by a Canadian chemist called John McLaughlin from Ontario. Prohibition in the United States helped sales of the drink as it was particularly effective in masking the taste of illegally-produced, homemade liquor.

42D Support staff for a rock band : ROADIES

A “roadie” is someone who loads, unloads and sets up equipment for musicians on tour, on the “road”.

45D Soothsayer : 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.

A soothsayer is someone who claims to have the ability to predict the future. The term “soothsayer” comes from “sooth”, an archaic word for “truth”. So a soothsayer was supposedly one who told the “truth” (about the future).

56D Bibimbap base : RICE

The name of the Korean dish bibimbap translates literally as “mixed rice”, with “bibim” meaning “mixed ingredients” and “bap” meaning “rice”. Generally, the dish comes as a bowl of white rice topped with sautéed vegetables flavored with chili pepper paste. Variants often include a fried egg and sliced beef.