0202-20 NY Times Crossword 2 Feb 20, Sunday

Constructed by: Brian Herrick & Christopher Adams
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: Audubon Society

Themed answers are LADY BIRDS, i.e. famous names of LADIES with BIRDS as family names:

  • 115A 2017 film nominated for Best Picture … or a hint to the answers to the eight starred clues : LADY BIRD
  • 23A *”Soak Up the Sun” singer, 2002 : SHERYL CROW
  • 25A *Fictional protagonist who attends elementary school in Maycomb County : SCOUT FINCH
  • 38A *Actress in “Alien” and “Avatar” : SIGOURNEY WEAVER
  • 112A *First African-American U.S. poet laureate : RITA DOVE
  • 43D *Portrayer of Fallon Carrington Colby on “Dynasty” : PAMELA SUE MARTIN
  • 46D *”The Silence of the Lambs” protagonist : CLARICE STARLING
  • 49D *Singer with the most American Music Awards of all time (29) : TAYLOR SWIFT
  • 50D *Janet Leigh played her in “Psycho” : MARION CRANE

… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 18m 51s

Bill’s errors: 2

  • APOLUNE (apotune)
  • RILKE (Ritke)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Part of L.G.B.T., for short : TRANS

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)

14 Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore : ALBUS

Professor Albus Dumbledore is the headmaster of the school for wizards called Hogwarts, in the Harry Potter universe. Dumbledore’s specialties are nonverbal spells and alchemy. Author J. K. Rowling chose the name Dumbledore as it is an Early English word for a bumblebee. Apparently she pictured him wandering around, humming to himself.

19 “The Jungle Book” bear : BALOO

“The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling was originally published in 1894, and is a collection of adventure stories or fables featuring the animals of the jungle and a young boy named Mowgli. Baloo is a sloth bear that teaches the cubs of a wolf pack the Law of the Jungle. Baloo’s most challenging pupil however is no lupine, but rather the man-cub Mowgli.

21 Do for a few months? : PERM

“Perm” is the common name given to a permanent wave, a chemical or thermal treatment of hair to produce waves or curls.

22 “Lovergirl” singer Marie : TEENA

Teena Marie was a very successful R&B singer who was born Mary Christine Brockert in Santa Monica, California.

23 *”Soak Up the Sun” singer, 2002 : SHERYL CROW

Famously, Sheryl Crow dated cyclist Lance Armstrong from 2003-2006. Armstrong has stated publicly more than once that Crow’s music cured his cancer.

25 *Fictional protagonist who attends elementary school in Maycomb County : SCOUT FINCH

Atticus Finch is the protagonist in Harper Lee’s great novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Atticus is the father of Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, the narrator of the piece, and of Scout’s older brother Jeremy Atticus “Jem” Finch.

28 Onetime “Come hungry. Leave happy” sloganeer : IHOP

The International House of Pancakes (IHOP) was founded back in 1958. IHOP was originally intended to be called IHOE, the International House of Eggs, but that name didn’t do too well in marketing tests.

29 Tolkien trilogy, for short : LOTR

“Lord of the Rings” (LOTR)

30 Hawk : SELL

The verb “to hawk” has a Germanic origin, and comes from the Low German word “hoken” meaning “to peddle”. A hawker is actually slightly different from a peddler by definition, as a hawker is a peddler that uses a horse and cart, or a van nowadays perhaps, to sell his or her wares.

33 Nat ___ (documentary channel, for short) : GEO

The National Geographic Channel (Nat Geo) is jointly owned by Fox and the National Geographic Society, and was launched in 2001.

38 *Actress in “Alien” and “Avatar” : SIGOURNEY WEAVER

Actress Sigourney Weaver was born Susan Weaver in New York City. She chose the stage name “Sigourney” from Mrs. Sigourney Howard, a minor character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby”. After playing a few minor roles in major films, Weaver’s big break came with the lead in the 1979 blockbuster “Alien”.

Ellen Ripley is the protagonist in the “Alien” movie franchise, and is played by actress Sigourney Weaver. Weaver’s casting as Ripley for 1979’s “Alien” marked her first lead role in a film, and indeed her career breakthrough. English actress Veronica Cartwright was initially cast as Ripley, but she was recast as navigator Joan Lambert when Weaver was brought on board.

2009’s epic “Avatar” is a science fiction film from James Cameron, who was the director, writer and producer. It was an expensive movie to make and to promote, but was destined to become the highest-grossing film in the history of cinema. 20th Century Fox made a deal with Cameron to produce three “Avatar” sequels.

45 Patois : DIALECT

“Patois” is a word that we imported from French, in which language it also means “native or local speech”.

48 Grace’s partner on Netflix : FRANKIE

“Grace and Frankie” is a Netflix original comedy series starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin in the title roles, alongside Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston. Grace & Frankie are two ex-wives who decide to live together after their longtime husbands announce that they are in love and intend to get married.

49 Symbolic item : TOTEM

“Totem” is a word used to describe any entity that watches over a group of people. As such, totems are usually the subjects of worship. Totem poles are really misnamed, as they are not intended to represent figures to be worshiped, but rather are heraldic in nature often celebrating the legends or notable events in the history of a tribe.

56 Speck in la mer : ILE

In French, an “île” (island) is “terre dans la mer” (land in the sea).

57 Ivanovic who won the 2008 French Open : ANA

Ana Ivanovic is a Serbian tennis player, and former world number one. As well as playing tennis, she also studied finance at university in her native Belgrade.

58 Lend a hand when one shouldn’t : ABET

The word “abet” comes into English from the Old French “abeter” meaning “to bait” or “to harass with dogs” (it literally means “to make bite”). This sense of encouraging something bad to happen morphed into our modern usage of “abet” meaning to aid or encourage someone in a crime.

67 #carpediem : YOLO

You only live once (YOLO)

“Carpe diem” is a quotation from Horace, one of ancient Rome’s leading lyric poets. “Carpe diem” translates from Latin as “seize the day” or “enjoy the day”. The satirical motto of a procrastinator is “carpe mañana”, “translating” as “seize tomorrow”.

71 Iowa college city that isn’t Iowa City : AMES

The Iowa city of Ames was founded as a stop on the Cedar Rapids and Missouri Railroad in 1864. It was named for US Congressman Oakes Ames from the state of Massachusetts in honor of the role that Ames played in the building of the transcontinental railroad.

Iowa State University of Science and Technology (ISU) is located in Ames, Iowa. Among many other notable milestones, ISU created the country’s first school of veterinary medicine, in 1879. The sports teams of ISU are known as the Cyclones.

73 Corrida combatants : TOREROS

The term “torero” is used to describe all bullfighters. The term “matador” is reserved for the bullfighter whose job is to make the final kill. Aptly enough, “matador” is Spanish for “killer”.

Spanish bullfighting is known locally as “corrida de toros”, literally “race of bulls”.

75 One of the Spice Girls : MEL C

Melanie C is a member of the English girl band the Spice Girls, with whom she has the nickname “Sporty Spice”. “Mel C” got the gig with the Spice Girls by replying to an ad in “The Stage” magazine, and auditioning alongside about 40 women who responded to the same ad. Sporty Spice really is quite sporty, and has completed the London Triathlon, twice.

76 Swedish vodka brand : ABSOLUT

I must admit, if I ever do order a vodka drink by name, I will order the Absolut brand. I must also admit that I do so from the perspective of an enthusiastic amateur photographer. I’ve been swayed by the Absolut marketing campaign that features such outstanding photographic images.

80 Hamilton and Burr, e.g. : DUELERS

Alexander Hamilton was one of America’s Founding Fathers, chief of staff to General George Washington and the first Secretary of the Treasury. It was Hamilton who established the nation’s first political party, the Federalist Party. He is also famous for fighting a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr, which resulted in Hamilton’s death a few days later.

Aaron Burr was the third vice-president of the US, and served under Thomas Jefferson from 1801 to 1805. In the final year of his term in office, Burr fought an illegal duel and killed his political rival Alexander Hamilton. Burr was charged with several crimes as a result, but those charges were eventually dropped. The Democratic-Republican Party had already decided not to nominate Burr as candidate for vice president to run alongside Jefferson in the 1804 election, largely because the relationship between Vice President Burr and President Jefferson was so poor. The subsequent fallout resulting from the killing of Alexander Hamilton effectively ended Burr’s political career.

85 You might gain knowledge through this : OSMOSIS

Osmosis is the movement of a solvent (often water) across a semipermeable membrane. In the process of osmosis, the solvent tends to flow from an area of less concentration to an area of higher concentration. This sense of absorbing water effortlessly gives rise to the expression “learning by osmosis”.

86 Direction from Tampa to Orlando, for short : ENE

The Florida city of Tampa has been known as “the Big Guava” since the seventies. The term is imitative of New York’s “Big Apple”, and refers to the unsuccessful search for the reported wild guava trees that were once hoped to be the basis of a new industry for the area. Tampa has also been called “Cigar City”, a reference to the cigar industry that fueled the area’s growth starting in the 1880s.

Orlando in Central Florida is the largest inland city in the state. Orlando was the most visited cities in the US in 2009. That’s mainly because it is home to many theme parks, including Walt Disney World, Universal Studios Florida and SeaWorld. Orlando has a few nicknames, including “O-Town” and “Theme Park Capital of the World”.

89 Dipsomaniacs : DRUNKS

Dipsomania is a craving for alcohol to the point of damaging one’s health. “Dipsa” is the Greek for “thirst”, hence dipsomania is a “manic thirst”.

92 Costco competitor, informally : SAM’S

Sam’s Club is a warehouse club that is owned and operated by Walmart. It is named after the company’s founder Sam Walton.

94 Italian wine region : ASTI

Asti is in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. It is perhaps most famous for its Asti Spumante sparkling white wine. Moscato d’Asti is produced from the same grape (Moscato Bianco). Moscato is a much sweeter wine with a lower alcohol content, and is usually served as a dessert wine.

95 Bottom of Britain? : ARSE

Well, the word “arse” would never make it into a crossword in Britain and Ireland, as it would be considered too rude. I have a similar reaction to the word “shag” as in “The Spy Who Shagged Me”. The film would never have been released with that name in the UK.

99 Some woolen blankets : AFGHANS

An afghan is a blanket or a wrap that is knitted or crocheted from very colorful yarns.

105 Ballerina’s balancing aid : BARRE

A barre is a handrail used by ballet dancers for warm-up exercises and to provide support when practicing certain moves.

109 Anne with the Pulitzer-winning novel “Breathing Lessons” : TYLER

Anne Tyler is a novelist from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Most of Tyler’s novels are set in Baltimore, Maryland, where she now resides. Tyler’s most famous title has to be “The Accidental Tourist”, which was adapted into a 1988 film starring William Hurt, Kathleen Turner and Geena Davis. Tyler might be considered somewhat of a recluse in her professional life, as she rarely makes personal appearances to promote her books.

112 *First African-American U.S. poet laureate : RITA DOVE

Poet Rita Dove received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1987, and was the second African American to be so honored (the first being Gwendolyn Brooks).

115 2017 film nominated for Best Picture … or a hint to the answers to the eight starred clues : LADY BIRD

“Lady Bird” is a 2017 coming-of-age movie starring Saoirse Ronan in the title role, a high school senior who has a strained relationship with her mother (played by Laurie Metcalf). Roman and Metcalf earned themselves Oscar nominations for their performances.

117 Northern race : IDITAROD

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race covers an incredible 1,161 miles, from Anchorage to Nome in Alaska. The race starts every year on the first Saturday in March, with the first race having been held in 1973. Finishing times range from over 8 days to 15 days or more. The first few races only used a northern route, but then a southern route was added to the roster every second year. It’s kind of a good thing, because when the racers take the northern route they don’t even pass through the town of Iditarod!

119 Lone female Argonaut : ATALANTA

In Greek mythology, Atalanta was a virgin huntress who had no interest in getting married, despite the urging of her father. Atalanta had several suitors, and eventually agreed to a foot race with them. The terms were that if she won the race, she need not marry. If she lost the race, she would marry the winner. Atalanta managed to outrun the field, except for Hippomenes. Hippomenes emerged victorious due to cunning rather than speed.

120 “Copacabana” hitmaker, 1978 : MANILOW

Barry Manilow’s real name is Barry Alan Pincus. Barry took his mother’s family name, Manilow, as the time of his Bar Mitzvah. When he was young, Manilow attended the Juilliard performing arts school, and then practiced his craft on the New York City music circuit. He worked in the sixties and seventies writing jingles for advertisements. “Like a good neighbor, Statefarm is there …”, that’s the work of Mr. Manilow!

Copacabana is a neighborhood in the city of Rio de Janeiro that is home to a famous (and much-used) beach. The neighborhood is named for a chapel there, dedicated to the Virgen de Copacabana (Our Lady of Copacabana). The Virgen de Copacabana is the patron saint of Bolivia, with the original Copacabana being a Bolivian town located on the southeastern shore of Lake Titicaca.

Down

1 Amt. of cooking oil : TBSP

Tablespoon (tbsp.)

2 Bobby in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America : RAHAL

Bobby Rahal is an auto racing driver and team owner. Rahal won the 1986 Indianapolis 500 as a driver, and won the 2004 Indianapolis 500 as a team owner (the driver was Buddy Rice).

3 Advil alternative : ALEVE

“Aleve” is a brand name used for the anti-inflammatory drug Naproxen sodium.

8 Romeo or Juliet : ELOPER

In Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, it is explicitly stated that Juliet is 13 years of age, and the assumption is that Romeo is perhaps a little older.

9 Mountain ___ : DEW

If you check the can, you’ll see that “Mountain Dew” is now marketed as “Mtn Dew”.

13 N.S.F.W. stuff : SMUT

“Smut” means “dirt, smudge” and more recently “pornographic material”. The term comes from the Yiddish “schmutz”, which is a slang word used in English for dirt, as in “dirt on one’s face”.

14 Antismuggling grp. : ATF

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) today is part of the Department of Justice (DOJ). The ATF has its roots in the Department of Treasury dating back to 1886 when it was known as the Bureau of Prohibition. “Explosives” was added to the ATF’s name when the bureau was moved under the Department of Justice (DOJ) as part of the reorganization called for in the Homeland Security Act of 2002.

16 Elaine on “Seinfeld” : BENES

The character Elaine Benes, unlike the other lead characters (Jerry, Kramer and George), did not appear in the pilot episode of “Seinfeld”. NBC executives specified the addition of a female lead when they picked up the show citing that the situation was too “male-centric”.

17 Cry from the defeated : 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!”

18 Jokester Mort : SAHL

Mort Sahl is a Canadian-born actor and comedian who moved to the US with his family when he was a child. Sahl became friends with John F. Kennedy. When Kennedy became president, Sahl wrote a lot of jokes for the President’s speeches, although he also told a lot of Kennedy jokes in his acts. After the President was assassinated in 1963, Sahl was intensely interested in finding out who was behind the crime and even got himself deputized as a member of one of the investigating teams. He was very outspoken against the results of the Warren Commission report on the assassination, and soon found himself out of favor with the public. It took a few years for him to make his comeback, but come back he did.

24 Trattoria dish : LINGUINE

Linguine is a type of pasta that is similar to spaghetti, except that in cross-section linguine is elliptical whereas spaghetti is round. The correct name for the dish is “linguine” meaning “little tongues” in Italian. That said, the misspelling “linguini” is given in some dictionaries as an acceptable Americanized variant..

26 Labors : TRAVAILS

A travail is a really difficult task or burden. “Travail” is the French word for “work”.

34 Baked, in a way : ON POT

“Potiguaya” is the Mexican-Spanish word for “marijuana leaves”. The slang name “pot” comes from “potiguaya”.

35 Herman Melville’s first book : TYPEE

Herman Melville mined his own experiences when writing his novels. Melville sailed from New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1841 on a whaler heading into the Pacific Ocean (a source for “Moby-Dick”). Melville ended up deserting his ship 18 months later and lived with natives on a South Pacific Island for three weeks (a source for “Typee”). He picked up another whaler and headed for Hawaii, where he joined the crew of a US navy frigate that was bound for Boston (a source for “Omoo”).

37 Fracas : MELEE

Our term “melee” comes from the French “mêlée”, and in both languages the word means “confused fight”.

“Fracas”, meaning “noisy quarrel”, is a French word that we absorbed into English. In turn, the French usage evolved from the Italian “fracasso” meaning “uproar, crash”.

40 Vittles : EATS

“Victuals” is a term for food that is fit for consumption. We tend to pronounce “victuals” as “vittles”, and we use the term “vittles” and “victuals” interchangeably.

42 Island whose name rhymes with a popular thing to do there : ARUBA

“Aruba” rhymes with “SCUBA”.

Aruba is one of the so-called ABC Islands located off the northern coast of Venezuela. “ABC Islands” is a name given to the three westernmost islands of the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean. The nickname comes from the first letters of the island names: Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. All three of the ABC Islands are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

43 *Portrayer of Fallon Carrington Colby on “Dynasty” : PAMELA SUE MARTIN

Actress Pamela Sue Martin is perhaps best known for playing Nancy Drew on the “The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries” TV series in the seventies, and spoiled heiress Fallon Carrington Colby in the nighttime soap “Dynasty” in the eighties. Interestingly, Martin left both shows of her own accord, so that the roles had to be recast.

“Dynasty” was ABC’s shot at CBS’s incredibly successful soap opera “Dallas”. Both shows were centered on wealthy oil families, with “Dynasty” starring John Forsythe and Linda Evans in the lead roles. The show didn’t really make much impact on the viewing figures for “Dallas” until season two, when Joan Collins joined the cast as the scheming ex-wife Alexis. “Dynasty” had a very successful run then, from 1981 to 1989. The 1980s “Dynasty” was rebooted under the same title starting in 2017.

46 *”The Silence of the Lambs” protagonist : CLARICE STARLING

“The Silence of the Lambs” is a 1991 psychological drama based on a novel of the same name by Thomas Harris. Jodie Foster plays FBI trainee Clarice Starling, and Anthony Hopkins plays the creepy cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter. “The Silence of the Lambs” swept the Big Five Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay) for that year, being only the third movie ever to do so. The other two so honored were “It Happened One Night” (1934) and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975).

48 Kegger locale : FRAT

Keg party (kegger)

49 *Singer with the most American Music Awards of all time (29) : TAYLOR SWIFT

Singer Taylor Swift had one of her first gigs at the US Open tennis tournament when she was in her early teens. There she sang the national anthem and received a lot of favorable attention for the performance.

50 *Janet Leigh played her in “Psycho” : MARION CRANE

The classic Alfred Hitchcock suspense film “Psycho”, released in 1960, is based on a 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. The Bloch novel in turn is loosely based on actual crimes committed by murderer and grave robber Ed Gein. The female protagonist is named Mary Crane in the novel, but that name was changed to Marion Crane in the movie. Marion Crane, portrayed by Janet Leigh, died in a celebrated and terrifying shower scene

My guess is that the actress Janet Leigh’s most remembered performance is as the woman who gets killed in the shower in the Hitchcock classic “Psycho”. Leigh’s third husband was the actor Tony Curtis, and their daughter is the lovely Jamie Lee Curtis.

59 Asian island divided between two countries : TIMOR

Timor is an island in Maritime Southeast Asia. The island is politically divided into West Timor, belonging to Indonesia, and the independent state of East Timor. The name “Timor” comes from a Malay word for “east”, and is used as Timor lies at the eastern end of the Lesser Sunda Islands.

61 One on a bender, perhaps : SOT

Our word “sot” comes from the Old English “sott”, meaning “fool”. The word “sot” started to be associated with alcohol and not just foolery in the late 1500s.

The terms “jag” and “bender” describe periods of unrestrained activity, particularly those involving alcohol. Both words have been in use since the 1800s.

64 Arroz accompanier, often : POLLO

In Spanish, “pollo” (chicken) might be served with “con arroz” (with rice).

68 Keynote, say : ORATE

The “keynote” is the lowest note in a musical scale, as one might imagine. The term started to be used to mean a leading idea in the late 1700s, and the expression “keynote address” dates back to 1905.

69 R2-D2 or C-3PO : DROID

Artoo’s proper name is R2-D2 (also “Artoo-Detoo”). R2-D2 is the smaller of the two famous droids from the “Star Wars” movies. British actor Kenny Baker, who stood just 3 ft 8 ins tall, was the man inside the R2-D2 droid for the first six of the “Star Wars” movies.

C-3PO, or “Threepio”, is the protocol droid that appears in the “Star Wars” movie franchise.

77 ___ fide : BONA

“Bona fide(s)” translates from the Latin as “in good faith”, and is used to indicate honest intentions. It can also mean that something is authentic, like a piece of art that is represented in good faith as being genuine.

78 M.M.A. stats, for short : TKOS

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact combat sport in which competitors use a variety of techniques from a variety of traditional combat sports and martial arts.

81 Money in the Mideast : RIAL

The rial is the currency of Oman (as well as Yemen, Iran, Cambodia and Tunisia). Generally, there are 1,000 baisa in a rial.

82 1040 figures, for short : SSNS

Here in the US we can choose one of three main forms to file our tax returns. Form 1040 is known as the “long form”. Form 1040A is called the “short form”, and can be used by taxpayers with taxable income below $100,000 who don’t itemize deductions. Form 1040EZ is an even simpler version of the 1040, and can be used by those with taxable income less than $100,000 who take the standard deduction and who also have no dependents. Form 1040 was originally created just for tax returns from 1913, 1914 and 1915, but it’s a form that just keeps on giving, or should I say “taking” …?

90 “The Little Mermaid” villain : URSULA

“The Little Mermaid” is a 1989 animated feature from Disney that is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name. It tells the story of a mermaid princess named Ariel who falls in love with the human Prince Eric. Ariel’s father is chief merman King Triton. Her best friend is Flounder, who despite his name is not a flounder at all and is actually a tropical fish. Ariel is also friends with Sebastian, a red Jamaican crab whose full name is Horatio Thelonious Ignacious Crustaceous Sebastian.

93 Certain clouds : STRATI

Stratus (plural “strati”) clouds are very common, and as they are wider than they are tall and flat along the bottom, we might just see them as haze in a featureless sky above us. Stratus clouds are basically the same as fog, but some distance above the ground. Indeed, many stratus clouds are formed when morning fog lifts into the air as the ground heats up.

96 Stonewall Inn, e.g. : GAY BAR

The police raided a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn on June 29th, 1969. That raid triggered to a spate of violent demonstrations led by the LGBT community. Now known as the Stonewall riots, those demonstrations are viewed by many as a significant event leading to the modern-day fight for LGBT rights in the US. Since then, June has been chosen as LGBT Pride Month in recognition of the Stonewall riots.

98 Make it to the podium : MEDAL

“Podium” (plural “podia”) is the Latin word for “raised platform”.

100 App with an envelope icon : GMAIL

Gmail is a free webmail service provided by Google, and my favorite of the free email services. Gmail made a big splash when it was introduced because it offered a whopping 1GB of storage whereas other services offered a measly 2-4MB on average.

101 Kind of voice or dog : HUSKY

The Siberian Husky is one of the oldest breeds of dog, and originated in northern Asia. Siberian Huskies were imported into Alaska in great numbers in the early 1900s for use as sled dogs during the gold rush.

106 Hit musical with music by Elton John : AIDA

The rock musical “Aida” is based on Giuseppe Verdi’s original opera. It premiered in 1998 and is still performed today. Music is by Elton John and lyrics are by Tim Rice.

108 ___ in three (chess challenge) : MATE

In the game of chess, when the king is under immediate threat of capture it is said to be “in check”. If the king cannot escape from check, then the game ends in “checkmate” and the player in check loses. In the original Sanskrit game of chess, the king could actually be captured. Then a rule was introduced requiring that a warning be given if capture was imminent (today we announce “check!”) so that an accidental and early ending to the game doesn’t occur.

110 The Father of Art Deco : ERTE

“Erté” was the pseudonym of French (Russian-born) artist and designer Romain de Tirtoff. “Erté” is the French pronunciation of his initials “R.T.” Erté’s diverse portfolio of work included costumes and sets for the “Ziegfeld Follies” of 1923, productions of the Parisian cabaret show “Folies Bergère”, as well as the 1925 epic movie “Ben-Hur”. Erté’s most famous work by far is an image titled “Symphony in Black”. It depicts a tall and slender woman dressed in black, holding a black dog on a leash.

111 Nutrition figs. : RDAS

Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs) were introduced during WWII, and were replaced by Recommended Daily Intakes (RDIs) in 1997.

113 Guadalajara gold : ORO

Guadalajara is a populous city in the Mexican state of Jalisco. The Mexican city is named after the city of the same name in the center of Spain.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Part of L.G.B.T., for short : TRANS
6 Like wine, but not grape juice : AGED
10 Chances : ODDS
14 Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore : ALBUS
19 “The Jungle Book” bear : BALOO
20 Part of a theater? : ROLE
21 Do for a few months? : PERM
22 “Lovergirl” singer Marie : TEENA
23 *”Soak Up the Sun” singer, 2002 : SHERYL CROW
25 *Fictional protagonist who attends elementary school in Maycomb County : SCOUT FINCH
27 Smooth over : PAVE
28 Onetime “Come hungry. Leave happy” sloganeer : IHOP
29 Tolkien trilogy, for short : LOTR
30 Hawk : SELL
31 Pick up from school : LEARN
33 Nat ___ (documentary channel, for short) : GEO
35 Gentle attention-getter : TAP
36 Divert : AMUSE
38 *Actress in “Alien” and “Avatar” : SIGOURNEY WEAVER
42 Farthest orbital point from the moon : APOLUNE
44 ___ smear : PAP
45 Patois : DIALECT
48 Grace’s partner on Netflix : FRANKIE
49 Symbolic item : TOTEM
51 Avoids attention for now : LIES LOW
53 Ingredient in bananas Foster : RUM
54 Cease : END
55 Completely lost : AT SEA
56 Speck in la mer : ILE
57 Ivanovic who won the 2008 French Open : ANA
58 Lend a hand when one shouldn’t : ABET
60 “Cool your jets!” : EASY!
62 Directs : RUNS
64 Really, really hope : PRAY
65 Aqib ___, five-time Pro Bowl cornerback : TALIB
67 #carpediem : YOLO
69 Kitchen timer sound : DING!
70 Labors : TOILS
71 Iowa college city that isn’t Iowa City : AMES
73 Corrida combatants : TOREROS
75 One of the Spice Girls : MEL C
76 Swedish vodka brand : ABSOLUT
79 Tease relentlessly : RAG ON
80 Hamilton and Burr, e.g. : DUELERS
83 “Nice job, dude!” : YOU ROCK!
84 Poker-faced : STOIC
85 You might gain knowledge through this : OSMOSIS
86 Direction from Tampa to Orlando, for short : ENE
87 “Don’t include me in this!” : WHO’S WE?
89 Dipsomaniacs : DRUNKS
91 Bronze : TAN
92 Costco competitor, informally : SAM’S
94 Italian wine region : ASTI
95 Bottom of Britain? : ARSE
96 Some square dance participants : GALS
97 Bill passers, briefly : ATMS
99 Some woolen blankets : AFGHANS
103 Peter or Paul (but not Mary) : TSAR
105 Ballerina’s balancing aid : BARRE
107 Exhibition mounter : ART MUSEUM
109 Anne with the Pulitzer-winning novel “Breathing Lessons” : TYLER
112 *First African-American U.S. poet laureate : RITA DOVE
114 Uraeus, in ancient Egypt : ASP
115 2017 film nominated for Best Picture … or a hint to the answers to the eight starred clues : LADY BIRD
117 Northern race : IDITAROD
118 President whose veep was Dick : IKE
119 Lone female Argonaut : ATALANTA
120 “Copacabana” hitmaker, 1978 : MANILOW
121 ___ St. James, first female Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year : LYN
122 Comes to light : EMERGES

Down

1 Amt. of cooking oil : TBSP
2 Bobby in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America : RAHAL
3 Advil alternative : ALEVE
4 “Because I felt like it” : NO REASON
5 Makeup of some meat substitutes : SOY
6 Prefix with conservative : ARCH-
7 Ignore orders : GO ROGUE
8 Romeo or Juliet : ELOPER
9 Mountain ___ : DEW
10 Covert ___ : OPS
11 Render harmless, so to speak : DECLAW
12 Wasn’t stiff : DROOPED
13 N.S.F.W. stuff : SMUT
14 Antismuggling grp. : ATF
15 Idle periods : LEISURES
16 Elaine on “Seinfeld” : BENES
17 Cry from the defeated : UNCLE!
18 Jokester Mort : SAHL
24 Trattoria dish : LINGUINE
26 Labors : TRAVAILS
32 Rainer Maria ___, writer of “Letters to a Young Poet” : RILKE
34 Baked, in a way : ON POT
35 Herman Melville’s first book : TYPEE
37 Fracas : MELEE
39 “Eventually …” : ONE DAY …
40 Vittles : EATS
41 Sick : AILING
42 Island whose name rhymes with a popular thing to do there : ARUBA
43 *Portrayer of Fallon Carrington Colby on “Dynasty” : PAMELA SUE MARTIN
46 *”The Silence of the Lambs” protagonist : CLARICE STARLING
47 Like the Vietnamese language : TONAL
48 Kegger locale : FRAT
49 *Singer with the most American Music Awards of all time (29) : TAYLOR SWIFT
50 *Janet Leigh played her in “Psycho” : MARION CRANE
52 How, with “the” : … WAYS
59 Asian island divided between two countries : TIMOR
61 One on a bender, perhaps : SOT
63 Young ___ : ‘UNS
64 Arroz accompanier, often : POLLO
66 In the hold : BELOW
68 Keynote, say : ORATE
69 R2-D2 or C-3PO : DROID
70 Overflows (with) : TEEMS
72 “For example …?” : SUCH AS …
74 Bigheadedness : EGO
75 Weapon with a lock, stock and barrel : MUSKET
76 Passing judgments? : AYES
77 ___ fide : BONA
78 M.M.A. stats, for short : TKOS
80 Mob bosses : DONS
81 Money in the Mideast : RIAL
82 1040 figures, for short : SSNS
88 Gawked : STARED
90 “The Little Mermaid” villain : URSULA
93 Certain clouds : STRATI
96 Stonewall Inn, e.g. : GAY BAR
98 Make it to the podium : MEDAL
100 App with an envelope icon : GMAIL
101 Kind of voice or dog : HUSKY
102 Wood that’s good for matchmaking : ASPEN
104 Word with house or high : STYLE
105 Hat part : BRIM
106 Hit musical with music by Elton John : AIDA
107 Swear : AVOW
108 ___ in three (chess challenge) : MATE
110 The Father of Art Deco : ERTE
111 Nutrition figs. : RDAS
113 Guadalajara gold : ORO
116 Horse’s female parent : DAM