1029-23 NY Times Crossword 29 Oct 23, Sunday

Constructed by: Alina Abidi
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: Fabric-ations

Themed answers come in pairs, and both elements of each pair only use letters found in a FABRIC cited in the corresponding clues:

  • 61A Having similar qualities … or what four pairs of answers in this puzzle are? : CUT FROM THE SAME CLOTH
  • 23A Holiday building material (GABARDINE) : GINGERBREAD
  • 25A Stay up all night finishing a book, maybe (GABARDINE) : BINGE-READ
  • 38A Washington post (SATEEN) : SENATE SEAT
  • 40A Thumbs-up (SATEEN) : ASSENT
  • 79A Precursor to the main act (NEOPRENE) : OPENER
  • 81A Liable to make mistakes (NEOPRENE) : ERROR PRONE
  • 101A Grabbing distance (CASHMERE) : ARMS REACH
  • 103A Philadelphia specialty (CASHMERE) : CREAM CHEESE

Bill’s time: 21m 46s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 OutKast or Black Star : RAP DUO

OutKast is a hip hop duo consisting of rappers André 3000 and Big Boi.

Black Star is a hip hop duo composed of rappers Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def) and Talib Kweli. The pair got together in Brooklyn, New York in 1997.

20 Character who lives on the “tippy-top floor” of the Plaza Hotel : ELOISE

Kay Thompson wrote the “Eloise” series of children’s books. Kay Thompson actually lived at the Plaza Hotel in New York, the setting she would choose for her “Eloise” stories. Eloise started out as a hit song for Thompson, a success that she parlayed into the book franchise.

21 What integrals calculate : AREA

Remember doing calculus at school, and all those derivatives and integrals? Well, you probably also remember that an integral calculates the area under a curve (for example), and a derivative calculates the slope of a tangent at a particular point on a curve.

23 Holiday building material (GABARDINE) : GINGERBREAD

The first documented use of gingerbread shaped in the form of human figures was in the court of Queen Elizabeth I. She used to have figures made to represent her important guests.

26 Chocolate brand with a mountain logo : ANDES

Andes Chocolate Mints were first produced by a company called Andy’s Candies, established in 1921 by Andrew Kanelos in Chicago. Kanelos learned that men didn’t like giving boxes of candy to their wives and girlfriends if there was another man’s name on the box, so he changed his business to Andes Candies, for the South American mountain range.

33 “Siddhartha” author : HESSE

The 1922 novel “Siddhartha” by Hermann Hesse focuses on the spiritual journey of a man called Siddhartha. Even though the Buddha’s name was Siddhartha Gautama before he renounced his former life, Hesse’s Siddhartha is a different character who lived around the time of the Buddha.

34 Elixir : TONIC

An elixir is a solution of alcohol and water that is used to deliver a medicine. The term “elixir” can also be used to mean a medicine that has the power to cure all ills.

37 Captcha target : BOT

A CAPTCHA is a challenge-and-response test that is used to determine if a user is a human or some automated program. The acronym “CAPTCHA” stands for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart”.

Alan Turing created the Turing test in 1950 as a way of checking a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligent behavior indistinguishable from a human. The essence of the test is an evaluation of a text conversation between machine and human. The evaluation is carried out by someone who only knows that one of the conversants is a machine, but not which one is which.

38 Washington post (SATEEN) : SENATE SEAT
40 Thumbs-up (SATEEN) : ASSENT

Sateen is a cotton fabric. It has a weave that is “four over, one under”, meaning that most of the threads come to the surface to give it a softer feel.

44 James of “The Blacklist” : SPADER

Actor James Spader’s breakthrough role was the male lead in the 1989 film “Sex, Lies and Videotape”. After building a successful career on the big screen, Spader played some high-profile characters on the small screen in shows like “The Practice”, “Boston Legal” and “The Blacklist”. Spader worked as a yoga instructor while he was starting out his career, and indeed met his ex-wife while working at a yoga studio in the eighties.

47 Site with a “Culturally Jewish” option : JDATE

Spark Networks is a company that owns several special-interest dating sites online. The most famous is probably ChristianMingle.com, but there is also BlackSingles.com, LDSSingles.com, JDate.com and CatholicMingle.com.

50 “Calvin and Hobbes” bully : MOE

The comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes” is still widely syndicated, but hasn’t been written since 1995. The cartoonist Bill Watterson named the character Calvin after John Calvin, the 16th century theologian. Hobbes was named for Thomas Hobbes, a 17th century English political philosopher.

51 The Diamondbacks, on scoreboards : ARI

The Arizona Diamondbacks (also “D-backs”) joined Major League Baseball’s National League in 1998. By winning the World Series in 2001, they became the fastest expansion team to do so in Major League history.

57 Lead-in to wife or life : MID-

A midwife is someone trained to assist women in childbirth. The term comes from Middle English “mid wif” meaning “with woman”.

59 Mongolian word in an honorary title : DALAI

The Dalai Lama is a religious leader in the Gelug branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The current Dalai Lama is the 14th to hold the office. He has indicated that the next Dalai Lama might be found outside of Tibet for the first time, and may even be female.

60 Brooklyn art school : PRATT

The Pratt Institute is an art college in Brooklyn, New York. The school started out as an engineering college in 1887, founded by oil industry pioneer Charles Pratt. However, the engineering program was dropped in 1993 due to small enrolment numbers.

66 Rapper who popularized Auto-Tune : T-PAIN

“T-Pain” is the stage name of rap artist Faheem Rasheed Najm from Tallahassee, Florida. He is known for his contributions to the popular use of Auto-Tune in his recordings, which gives his voice a robotic sound. He collaborated with an iPhone app developer to produce the app “I Am T-Pain” that allows users to mimic his particular style of Auto-Tune in karaoke.

75 Where Six Flags theme parks originated : TEXAS

The Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an operator of amusement parks that is headquartered in Grand Prairie, Texas. Six Flags owns more amusement parks than any other company in the world. The first of these properties to open was Six Flags Over Texas. The park’s name was chosen as a homage to the flags of the six nations that have governed Texas, namely Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the United States of America, and the Confederate States of America.

79 Precursor to the main act (NEOPRENE) : OPENER
81 Liable to make mistakes (NEOPRENE) : ERROR PRONE

Neoprene is the trade name given by DuPont to polychloroprene, a synthetic rubber made by polymerizing chloroprene. Neoprene is perhaps most-readily associated with the manufacture of wetsuits. The version used in wetsuits is foamed neoprene, a material containing gas cells that provide heat insulation.

85 Object of wishful thinking? : GENIE

The “genie” in the bottle (or lamp) takes his or her name from “djinn”. “Djinns” were various spirits considered lesser than angels, with people exhibiting unsavory characteristics said to be possessed by djinn. When the book “The Thousand and One Nights” was translated into French, the word “djinn” was transformed into the existing word “génie”, because of the similarity in sound and the related spiritual meaning. This “génie” from the Arabian tale became confused with the Latin-derived “genius”, a guardian spirit thought to be assigned to each person at birth. Purely as a result of that mistranslation the word genie has come to mean the “djinn” that pops out of the bottle. A little hard to follow, I know, but still quite interesting …

93 “Pop ___,” British show that launched Simon Cowell’s TV career : IDOL

Simon Cowell was invited to be a judge on “Pop Idol”, a British show that spawned “American Idol”. Cowell was then asked to take part in the US spin-off, and we haven’t stopped seeing him since …

100 Country that’s more than 2,600 miles long : CHILE

The nation of Chile has a very distinctive shape. It is a narrow strip that runs up the west coast of South America. The average width of the country is only a little over 100 miles, and yet its length is about 2,700 miles. Chile is touted as the longest country in the world, although I am not so sure what that means exactly. I mean, Russia extends about 4,800 miles from east-to west, so maybe “longest” implies long in the north-south direction?

101 Grabbing distance (CASHMERE) : ARMS REACH
103 Philadelphia specialty (CASHMERE) : CREAM CHEESE

Cashmere wool comes not only from the Cashmere goat, but also from other types of goat. Technically, cashmere isn’t really wool, but rather hair. Unlike hair, wool is elastic and grows in clusters.

106 Jamaican tangelo : UGLI

The fruit called a tangelo is a hybrid between a tangerine and either a grapefruit or a pomelo (which gives it the name). A pomelo is a very large, pear-shaped citrus fruit native to Southeast Asia. The Jamaican form of tangelo is known as the ugli fruit.

Down

6 “Love, Reign ___ Me” (song by the Who) : O’ER

The Who were an English rock band formed in 1964, bringing together famed musicians Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Keith Moon. According to “Rolling Stone” magazine, the Who were the third arm of the holy trinity of British rock, alongside the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

7 Formula 1 event : CAR RACE

In motor racing, the designation “formula” is a set of rules that all participants and cars must abide by. The definition of “Formula One” was agreed back in 1946, with the “one” designating that it is the most advanced of the “formulae”, and the most competitive.

11 Famed New York City deli : ZABAR’S

Zabar’s is a famous food store and deli in Manhattan that shows up a lot in TV shows and movies. Zabar’s ran into some problems a few years ago when a journalist reported that the store’s lobster salad, which had been a hit for 15 years, did not in fact contain any lobster. The spread is now called “Zabster Zalad”.

13 Bugaboos : BANES

“Bugaboo” is another term for “bogeyman”, an imaginary and scary creature used to frighten children.

14 Dungeons & Dragons and others, for short : RPGS

Role-playing game (RPG)

15 Did a great job, in Gen Z lingo : ATE

Definitions vary, but it seems that the term “Generation Z” is reserved for the children of “Generation X”, and for the generation that follows the “Millennials” (Generation Y). Gen-Zers are also known as “Zoomers”, a portmanteau of “Z” and “boomer” (as in “baby boomer”).

17 Components of a mind map : IDEAS

A mind map (also “idea map”) is a great tool (I think) for brainstorming. It’s a tree-like structure with a central idea at the center and various trains of thought branching outwards. In fact, I used a mind map when I was first thinking about blogging, eventually deciding to focus on crosswords.

18 Super-big fans : STANS

“Stan” is a song by rapper Eminem (featuring Dido) that was recorded in 2000. The title refers to a fictional Eminem fan named “Stan” who becomes obsessed with the rapper, and who grows irate when his letters to his idol go unanswered. Stan’s final act is to make a voice recording as he drives into a river, with his pregnant girlfriend locked in the trunk. One of the legacies of the song is that “stan” is now used as a slang term for an obsessed and maniacal fan.

24 Toy with verbal commands : BOP IT

Bop It is a line of toys with a speaker that issues commands to activate input devices on the toy, devices such as handles, cranks, wheels and switches. The commands come in a series of increasing length, and at increasing speed. So, I guess Bop It is a test of memory and dexterity.

28 Lancaster of old Hollywood : BURT

Burt Lancaster was a Hollywood movie star from New York City. He started out his performance career working as an acrobat with the Kay Brothers circus, but had to retire from the Big Top due to injury. After serving as an entertainer with the US Army during WWII, Lancaster took up acting in New York, where he was discovered by a Hollywood agent and started his film career. He was often cast as a good-looking tough guy, but I personally preferred the movies in which he played the more off-beat roles, e.g. “Separate Tables” (1958), “Judgment at Nuremberg” (1961), “Birdman of Alcatraz” (1962) and “Local Hero” (1983).

32 Galette fruit : PEAR

A galette is a flat, round bakery item in French cuisine. The term “galette” includes items such as pancakes and crepes, and even large cookies.

36 Kind of moss : PEAT

Peat moss is actually sphagnum moss that has partially decayed and dried. The term “peat” moss is used as sphagnum moss is often found in “peat” bogs. Sphagnum moss has the ability to store large quantities of water, so the dried form is used by gardeners to condition soil, i.e. to increase the soil’s capacity to retain moisture.

38 Gave in : SAID UNCLE

To say uncle is to submit or yield. This peculiarly American use of “uncle” dates back to the early 1900s, but nobody seems to know how “uncle!” came to mean “stop!”

47 A red one is sweeter than a green one : JALAPENO

The jalapeño is a chili pepper, and a favorite of mine. The pepper’s name translates from Spanish as “from Xalapa”. Xalapa (also “Jalapa”) is the capital of the Mexican state of Veracruz, and the traditional origin of the jalapeño pepper. A smoke-dried jalapeño, called a chipotle, is used for seasoning.

55 “As It ___” (Harry Styles hit) : WAS

Harry Styles is a singer from England who got his big break when he appeared on the British version of “The X Factor”, from which he was selected as an original member of the boy band One Direction. Styles turned to acting, and had a significant role in the 2017 war movie “Dunkirk”. Reading the gossip columns reveals that he dated Taylor Swift for a while in 2012.

62 Common Father’s Day gift : TIE

Not in this house …

Father’s Day was added as an official holiday in 1972, although bills to create the holiday had been with Congress since 1913. By rights, the holiday should be called “Fathers’ Day” (note the punctuation), but the bill that was introduced in 1913 used the “Father’s Day” spelling, and that’s the one that has stuck.

69 “Hip Hop Is Dead” musical artist : NAS

“Hip Hop is Dead” is a 2006 recording by rap singer Nas. The song as recorded was highly censored, removing a lot of profanity and gun references.

72 Dark plain on the moon’s surface : MARE

A mare is a large dark area on the moon. “Mare” is the Latin for “sea”. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Mare Tranquillitatis, the Sea of Tranquility.

76 Baguette topper : BRIE

“Baguette” is the French word for “wand, baton” as in “baguette magique” (magic wand). We’ve only been calling long, thin loaves of French bread “baguettes” since the late 1950s.

80 TV ratings name : NIELSEN

Arthur Nielsen founded his Nielsen Media Research company to track brand advertising. He quickly moved into market analysis of radio audiences in the thirties, and today the company is famous for tracking television audiences. I remember watching the last episode of the TV series “Becker”, in which Ted Danson played a doctor. Given that the show had been ordered off the air due to declining viewership, there’s a great line in the last episode when Becker asks for the chart of a patient called “Nielsen”. He looks at the lab results and announces “I don’t know what everyone is talking about … these numbers aren’t so bad!” Great stuff …

83 Rainbow creator : PRISM

When light passes through a prism, it splits up (disperses) into differing wavelengths. It then becomes clear that white light is actually a mixture of different colors, which show up as a beautiful spectrum.

86 Trick-taking card game : EUCHRE

Euchre is a card game that probably came to the US from Germany, introduced by German farmers who settled in Wisconsin. Euchre is a trick-taking game usually played by four people in two partnerships. Unlike bridge, Euchre is played with a stripped down deck of 24 or 32 cards. The verb “to euchre” is slang for “to cheat, swindle”, a term that presumably comes from the card game.

90 Car model whose name comes from the Japanese word for “crown” : CAMRY

Toyota’s Camry takes its name from the Japanese word for “crown”. Toyota management likes the idea of naming their cars after the word “crown”, as they did with the Toyota Crown, followed by the Toyota Corona (Latin for “crown”) and the Toyota Corolla (Latin for “small crown”).

91 Who said “Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance” : 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.

94 Painter Rivera : DIEGO

Diego Rivera was a prominent Mexican painter and muralist who is best known for his large-scale murals that depict social and political issues of his time. He was married four times, including to the artist Frida Kahlo, who was his third wife. Rivera was an outspoken communist and a strong supporter of the Soviet Union. This led to some controversy in his home country of Mexico, as well as in the US, where his political beliefs were viewed with suspicion during the Cold War. In 1933, Rivera was commissioned to paint a mural in the Rockefeller Center in New York City, but it was later destroyed due to its controversial political themes.

95 “WandaVision” actress Elizabeth : OLSEN

“WandaVision” is a TV miniseries featuring characters from Marvel Comics. The title characters are Wanda Maximoff (aka Scarlet Witch) played by Elizabeth Olsen and Vision played by Paul Bettany. I am by no means a fan of screen adaptations of comic characters, but I might take a look at “WandaVision”. Wanda and Vision are living in suburbia, trying to conceal their superhero identities. Each episode progresses the storyline through several decades, using situations encountered in sitcoms of the day. Episodes use the format of shows such as:

  • The Dick Van Dyke Show
  • I Love Lucy
  • Bewitched
  • I Dream of Jeannie
  • The Brady Bunch
  • Good Times
  • The Mary Tyler Moore Show
  • Full House
  • Malcolm in the Middle
  • Modern Family
  • Out of this World
  • The Twilight Zone

Sounds very intriguing …

96 ___ United, English soccer team : LEEDS

Historically, Leeds United is one of the most successful clubs playing professional soccer in England, and is a team with a passionate fan base. The club is based in the city of Leeds in West Yorkshire, and the club badge features the White Rose of York.

99 Ship that may have inspired Homer’s “Odyssey” : ARGO

In Greek mythology, Jason and the Argonauts set sail on the Argo from the city of Iolcos in search of the Golden Fleece. Jason’s vessel was called the “Argo” in honor of a man named Argus, who designed and constructed it with the help of the goddess Athena.

102 Old car inits. : REO

The REO Motor Company was founded by Ransom Eli Olds (hence the name REO). The company made cars, trucks and buses, and was in business from 1905 to 1975 in Lansing, Michigan. Among the company’s most famous models were the REO Royale 8 and the REO Flying Cloud.

103 Part of a Yahtzee set : CUP

The dice game Yahtzee was introduced in 1956 and is a variant of earlier dice games, especially the game “Yacht” (which even has a similar name). Yahtzee is required entertainment in our house during holidays. The game involves the rolling of five dice, with the intent of getting certain combinations. A lot of those combinations resemble poker hands, such as a straight, three of a kind, four of a kind and a full house.

104 Pharmacy giant : CVS

The name of the drugstore chain CVS once stood for “Consumer Value Stores”, although these days the company uses the initialism to denote “Convenience, Value and Service”.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 OutKast or Black Star : RAP DUO
7 Shift neighbor : CTRL
11 Striped minnow used in drug development : ZEBRAFISH
20 Character who lives on the “tippy-top floor” of the Plaza Hotel : ELOISE
21 What integrals calculate : AREA
22 Got comfortable with : ADAPTED TO
23 Holiday building material (GABARDINE) : GINGERBREAD
25 Stay up all night finishing a book, maybe (GABARDINE) : BINGE-READ
26 Chocolate brand with a mountain logo : ANDES
27 Like some language exams : ORAL
28 Slangy term of endearment : BABES
29 “You ___?” : RANG
30 Without : LESS
31 Lighter alternative to a laptop : IPAD
32 Makes some stitches : PURLS
33 “Siddhartha” author : HESSE
34 Elixir : TONIC
36 In itself : PER SE
37 Captcha target : BOT
38 Washington post (SATEEN) : SENATE SEAT
40 Thumbs-up (SATEEN) : ASSENT
44 James of “The Blacklist” : SPADER
46 Location for a tragus piercing : EAR
47 Site with a “Culturally Jewish” option : JDATE
50 “Calvin and Hobbes” bully : MOE
51 The Diamondbacks, on scoreboards : ARI
52 Fare that’s filled and folded : OMELET
55 Fends (off) : WARDS
56 Makes a decision : OPTS
57 Lead-in to wife or life : MID-
58 “Pay attention!” : FOCUS!
59 Mongolian word in an honorary title : DALAI
60 Brooklyn art school : PRATT
61 Having similar qualities … or what four pairs of answers in this puzzle are? : CUT FROM THE SAME CLOTH
65 French film director Claire : DENIS
66 Rapper who popularized Auto-Tune : T-PAIN
67 Hawkins who wrote “The Girl on the Train” (2015) : PAULA
68 Mother ___ : HEN
70 Latin “Behold!” : ECCE!
71 Clog in a bathtub drain, maybe : HAIRS
72 Monkeys (around) : MESSES
73 Part of an old-age plan, for short : IRA
74 Nev. neighbor : CAL
75 Where Six Flags theme parks originated : TEXAS
76 Severe punishment : BAN
77 Floors : AMAZES
79 Precursor to the main act (NEOPRENE) : OPENER
81 Liable to make mistakes (NEOPRENE) : ERROR PRONE
84 Follower of sit or stand : -INS
85 Object of wishful thinking? : GENIE
87 “___ we all?” : AREN’T
88 Like most running shoes : LACED
91 Easily shockable sort : PRUDE
92 Recipe verb : STIR
93 “Pop ___,” British show that launched Simon Cowell’s TV career : IDOL
97 List ender : ET AL
98 Voting groups : BLOCS
99 12-month rentals, often: Abbr. : APTS
100 Country that’s more than 2,600 miles long : CHILE
101 Grabbing distance (CASHMERE) : ARMS REACH
103 Philadelphia specialty (CASHMERE) : CREAM CHEESE
105 Carnival performer : FIRE EATER
106 Jamaican tangelo : UGLI
107 Got close to, with “on” : VERGED …
108 “Understood” : SAY NO MORE
109 Big ask? : POLL
110 Reacts to a grand gesture, maybe : SWOONS

Down

1 Grand : REGAL
2 Skirt style : A-LINE
3 Ornate garden features : PONDS
4 Broken down : DIGESTED
5 Visits, as a restroom : USES
6 “Love, Reign ___ Me” (song by the Who) : O’ER
7 Formula 1 event : CAR RACE
8 Sole protector? : TREAD
9 True : REAL
10 Young fellow : LAD
11 Famed New York City deli : ZABAR’S
12 Weed gummy, e.g. : EDIBLE
13 Bugaboos : BANES
14 Dungeons & Dragons and others, for short : RPGS
15 Did a great job, in Gen Z lingo : ATE
16 Pride : lions :: business : ___ : FERRETS
17 Components of a mind map : IDEAS
18 Super-big fans : STANS
19 ___ conjecture, one of math’s Millennium Prize Problems : HODGE
24 Toy with verbal commands : BOP IT
28 Lancaster of old Hollywood : BURT
31 Ready for battle, say : IN ARMOR
32 Galette fruit : PEAR
33 “Weapon” in a backyard water fight : HOSE
35 Unrepeated instances : ONE-OFFS
36 Kind of moss : PEAT
37 What vampires don’t turn into, in “Twilight” : BATS
38 Gave in : SAID UNCLE
39 Get seriously conked : SEE STARS
41 Understand someone else’s side : EMPATHIZE
42 Away : NOT THERE
43 Try out : TEST
44 Altman who’s the C.E.O. of OpenAI : SAM
45 Energy sanctions measure : PRICE CAP
47 A red one is sweeter than a green one : JALAPENO
48 Soaps, e.g. : DRAMAS
49 Goodbyes : ADIEUS
53 Carbon levy, for instance : ECO-TAX
54 Filipino spring roll : LUMPIA
55 “As It ___” (Harry Styles hit) : WAS
56 It’s found next to mercurio on the periodic table : ORO
59 Bear’s home : DEN
60 Type of quasiparticle : PLASMON
62 Common Father’s Day gift : TIE
63 Towel word : HIS
64 How everything appears in hindsight : CLEARER
65 Visual arts style : DECO
69 “Hip Hop Is Dead” musical artist : NAS
71 Towel word : HERS
72 Dark plain on the moon’s surface : MARE
75 Take care of : TEND
76 Baguette topper : BRIE
78 “It must be exhausting always rooting for the ___” (Taylor Swift lyric) : ANTI-HERO
80 TV ratings name : NIELSEN
81 Extrema : ENDS
82 Kind of comb : RAT TAIL
83 Rainbow creator : PRISM
85 Mr. Whipple of old commercials, e.g. : GROCER
86 Trick-taking card game : EUCHRE
88 Thumbs (through) : LEAFS
89 Some hotel lobbies : ATRIA
90 Car model whose name comes from the Japanese word for “crown” : CAMRY
91 Who said “Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance” : PLATO
92 Something that may be cast : SPELL
94 Painter Rivera : DIEGO
95 “WandaVision” actress Elizabeth : OLSEN
96 ___ United, English soccer team : LEEDS
98 Grin with a glow : BEAM
99 Ship that may have inspired Homer’s “Odyssey” : ARGO
100 Masticate : CHEW
102 Old car inits. : REO
103 Part of a Yahtzee set : CUP
104 Pharmacy giant : CVS