1009-26 NY Times Crossword 9 Oct 26, Friday

Bill’s time: 10m 49s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Mensches : CLASS ACTS

“Mensch” is a word that comes to us via Yiddish, and is ultimately derived from the German “mensch” meaning “human being”. We use the term to describe someone of integrity and honor.

10A “Super Dry” brewer : ASAHI

Asahi is a Japanese beer, and the name of the brewery that produces it. “Asahi” is Japanese for “morning sun”. Asahi introduced a “dry beer” in 1987, igniting a craze that rocketed the brewery to the number one spot in terms of beer production in Japan, with Kirin close behind.

16A Persona non grata : LEPER

The horrible disease known as leprosy is also called Hansen’s disease, named after the Norwegian physician famous for isolating the bacterium that causes the disease. We can use the term “leper” to mean someone in general who is shunned by society.

A persona non grata (plural “personae non gratae”) is someone who is not welcome. The phrase is Latin for “an unacceptable person”. The opposite phrase is “persona grata”, meaning “acceptable person”.

22A Cackling carnivores : HYENAS

The spotted hyena of Sub-Saharan Africa is also known as the laughing hyena because of the sound it often makes, which resembles maniacal laughter.

25A World’s third-largest river by discharge, after the Amazon and the Congo : ORINOCO

The Orinoco is a major river in South America that flows over 1,320 miles through Venezuela and Colombia, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean.

27A Miserly sorts, informally : SCROOGES

Ebenezer Scrooge is the main character in the novella “A Christmas Carol” By Charles Dickens. Through the course of the story, Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come, who show him the consequences of his miserly behavior. His name “Scrooge” has become a part of the English language as a term to describe someone who is stingy and mean with money.

32A Mango leftovers : PITS

The delicious mango is the national fruit of India, Pakistan and the Philippines. Almost half of the world’s supply of mangoes comes from India.

33A The astronomer Tycho Brahe, for one : DANE

Tycho Brahe was a Danish astronomer, and a contemporary of Galileo. Brahe lost his nose in a duel, and wore a replacement made from either silver or gold that was pasted onto his face!

34A Org. concerned with screenings : TSA

A millimeter wave (mmw) scanner is an imaging device typically used to screen whole bodies. The full body scanners that we encounter at airports are often millimeter wave scanners. These devices use non-ionizing radiation in the microwave range. The range of wavelengths falls between 1 mm and 10 mm, hence the name “millimeter wave”.

35A Wine leftovers : LEES

The dregs in wine, the sediment that settles during fermentation (and sometimes in the bottle), are also called “lees”.

40A NPR program since 1987 : FRESH AIR

“Fresh Air” is a marvelous radio talk show broadcast on NPR, and hosted by Terry Gross. The first broadcast of the program was made in 1975, with Judy Blank hosting. Terry Gross took over a few months later, and Gross has been presenting and producing the show ever since. I had the privilege of hearing Terry Gross give a talk here in my hometown some years ago. What a fascinating woman she is, full of great stories about her experiences interviewing so many interesting personalities.

43A Kind of roll : KAISER

The Kaiser roll was invented in Vienna, Austria. It is thought that the “Kaiser” name was applied to the crusty roll in honor of Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I.

50A “Do I ___ to eat a peach?”: T.S. Eliot : DARE

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, the famous poem by T. S. Eliot, includes the line “Do I dare to eat a peach?”

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is a poem by T. S. Eliot that was first published in 1915. The rather odd name of “Prufrock” seems to have just come to Eliot, although there was a Prufrock-Littau Company in St. Louis while he lived there.

51A Record of the year? : ANNAL

“Annal” is a rarely used word, and is the singular of the more common “annals”. An annal would be the recorded events of one year, with annals being the chronological record of events in successive years. The term “annal” comes from the Latin “annus” meaning “year”.

52A Drawing on another’s life : PARASITIC

Our word “parasite” comes from the Greek “parasitos”, which describes a person who eats at the table of another, i.e. one who lives at another’s expense. “Parasitos” comes from “para-” (beside) and “sitos” (bread, food). I guess the idea is that a parasite is feeding right beside one.

56A Much-anticipated rivalry game in soccer’s La Liga : EL CLASICO

The premier division of Spanish club soccer is the “Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División”, or more usually “La Liga” (The League).

57A Hidden element of FedEx’s logo : ARROW

FedEx began operations in 1973 as Federal Express, but now operates very successfully under its more catchy, abbreviated name. Headquartered in Memphis with its “SuperHub” at Memphis International Airport, FedEx is the world’s largest airline in terms of tons of freight flown. And due to the presence of FedEx, Memphis Airport has the largest-volume cargo operation of any airport worldwide.

58A Extremely difficult and ultimately futile : SISYPHEAN

In the Greek myth, Sisyphus is condemned by Hades to roll a boulder up a hill, watch it fall back, then roll it up the hill again for eternity.

Down

2D Morgan ___, sorceress in King Arthur stories : LE FAY

Morgan le Fay is a character in Arthurian legend. She is a powerful sorceress, and indeed the term “fay” means “magician, sorceress”. In one of the legends, Morgan is said to be the half-sister of King Arthur on his mother’s side.

4D What Odysseus’ crew waxed on about? : SIREN SONG

In Greek mythology, the Sirens were seductive bird-women who lured men to their deaths with their song. When Odysseus sailed close to the island home of the Sirens he wanted to hear their voices, but in safety. He had his men plug their ears with beeswax and then ordered them to tie him to the mast and not to free him until they were safe. On hearing their song Odysseus begged to be let loose, but the sailors just tightened his bonds and the whole crew sailed away unharmed. We sometimes use the term “siren” today to describe a seductively charming woman, and “siren song” to describe an utterance that is particularly appealing.

5D Mahjong grouping : SET

Mahjong (also “mahjongg” and “mah-jongg”) is the Chinese word for “sparrow”. Mahjong is a game that originated in China, and is usually played by four players. There is a myth that the game was developed by the Chinese philosopher, Confucius. The myth also suggests that Confucius was fond of birds, and hence chose the name “sparrow”.

6D Org. concerned with screenings : AFI

The American Film Institute (AFI) was founded in 1967 by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). One of the AFI’s more visible programs is the “100 Year Series”, including lists of Best Movies in several categories and a list of the Best Movie Quotes in 100 years of movie-making.

8D Zero out, in a way : TARE

Tare is the weight of a container that is deducted from the gross weight to determine the net weight, the weight of the container’s contents.

10D Accounts for checking? : ALIBIS

“Alibi” is the Latin word for “elsewhere” as in, “I claim that I was ‘elsewhere’ when the crime was committed, I have an ‘alibi’”.

11D Compact, maybe : SEDAN

The American sedan car is the equivalent of the British and Irish saloon car. By definition, a sedan car has two rows of seating and a separate trunk (boot in Britain and Ireland), and in some models the engine can be at the rear of the car.

13D Some Navy aircraft during W.W. II : HELLCATS

The F6F Hellcat was the mainstay carrier-borne aircraft for the US Navy during WWII. The Hellcat also saw service with the British Fleet Air Arm under the Lend-Lease Act.

14D Org. requiring crypto disclosures beginning in 2025 : IRS

A cryptocurrency is a digital asset that I simply do not understand. Apparently, an essential aspect of cryptocurrency is that it has no central administration. The first, and most famous, decentralized cryptocurrency is bitcoin.

21D Glenn who co-founded the Eagles : FREY

Musician Glenn Frey was a founding member of the rock band Eagles. He shared the frontman role for the group with Don Henley, and the pair wrote most of the Eagle hits, including “Take It Easy”, “Tequila Sunrise”, “Lyin’ Eyes” and “New Kid in Town”.

24D Broadway show inits. : SRO

Standing room only (SRO)

26D Psy-___ : OPS

Psychological Operations (“PSYOP” or “psy-ops”) is a contemporary name for propaganda, the “winning of hearts and minds” in a combat zone.

28D Near failure, colloquially : ON THE ROPES

Someone who is “on the ropes” is in a desperate situation and close to defeat. The phrase probably comes from the world of boxing. A boxer who is backed up against the rope hasn’t much room to maneuver and is at a distinct disadvantage.

29D Fertile place : OASIS

The most famous oasis in the US is … Las Vegas, which is located in the middle of the Mojave Desert.

31D Swiss Army knife component : CAN OPENER

Swiss Army knives are multi-tools made by the Swiss company Victorinox. The device was first produced in 1891 when Victorinox’s predecessor company was awarded the contract to supply the knife to the Swiss Army. The name “Swiss Army knife” was actually an American invention as it was the term used by American GIs during and after WWII as an alternative to pronouncing the more difficult German “Schweizer Offiziersmesser” (Swiss Officer Knife).

32D Aid for someone studying a culture : PETRI DISH

Julius Richard Petri was a German bacteriologist and was the man after whom the Petri dish is named. The petri dish can have an agar gel on the bottom which acts as a nutrient source for the specimen being grown and studied, in which case the dish plus agar is referred to as an “agar plate”.

35D Princess who says “Governor Tarkin! I should have expected to find you holding Vader’s leash. I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board” : LEIA

Princess Leia is Luke Skywalker’s twin sister in the original “Star Wars” trilogy and was played by Carrie Fisher. Carrie Fisher has stated that she hated the famous “cinnamon bun hairstyle” that she had to wear in the films, as she felt it made her face look too round. She also had to sit for two hours every day just to get her hair styled. Two hours to get your hair done? It takes me just two seconds …

37D Habeas corpus, e.g. : WRIT

The Latin term “habeas corpus” translates literally as “you are to have the body”, and is a legal action (i.e. a writ) that is used to release a prisoner from unlawful detention.

38D Cricket’s Men in Green, on scoreboards : PAK

Cricket was introduced into Pakistan by the English during their colonial rule of British India, and it is now the most popular sport in the country. One of the most successful players of the game was Imran Khan, who led the national team to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup. He also led the nation of Pakistan from 2018 to 2022, as the country’s 22nd prime minister.

40D Dormant : FALLOW

Farmers use the technique of crop rotation in order to avoid one crop depleting the same set of nutrients from the soil in one particular field. In addition to rotating crops, farmers will usually let a field lie fallow for one season, i.e. leave it unplanted in order to give the soil time to recover.

42D Student of Socrates : PLATO

Plato was a Greek philosopher and mathematician. He was a student of the equally famous and respected Socrates, and Plato in turn was the teacher and mentor of the celebrated Aristotle. Plato wrote a series of about 30 Socratic dialogues, prose works that feature Socrates as the main character.

44D “Gymnopédies” composer : SATIE

Erik Satie was a French composer best known for his beautiful composition, the three “Gymnopédies”. I have tried so hard to appreciate other works by Satie but I find them so very different from the minimalist simplicity of the lyrical “Gymnopédies”.

45D Jong who wrote “Fear of Flying” : ERICA

Author Erica Jong’s most famous work is her first: “Fear of Flying”, a novel published in 1973. Over twenty years later, Jong wrote “Fear of Fifty: a midlife memoir”, published in 1994.

48D Artist with an absurdist humor book all about his mustache : DALI

The famous surrealist Salvador Dalí was born in Figueres, Spain. I had the privilege of visiting the Dalí Museum in Figueres some years ago, just north of Barcelona. If you ever get the chance, it’s a “must-see” as it really is a quite magnificent building with a fascinating collection of art.

Absurdism is a philosophy holding that the universe is meaningless and irrational. Further, it is the search for meaning that leads to individual and global conflict.

49D Sauron’s soldiers in “The Lord of the Rings” : ORCS

In J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings”, Sauron is the actual “Lord of the Rings”. He was the Dark Lord Morgoth’s trusted lieutenant.

53D Gymnast Raisman : ALY

Aly Raisman is a retired gymnast. She captained the US gold-winning teams in the Olympics in 2012 (“The Fierce Five”) and in 2016 (“The Final Five”).