1102-23 NY Times Crossword 2 Nov 23, Thursday

Constructed by: Chase Dittrich & Christina Iverson
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): No Letters, Please!

Themed clues are words missing certain letter(s). Those letters are defined in the corresponding answers, while defining the original words. And, the answers resemble common phrases. Clever …

  • 17A “Beg your pardo_” : NO-N “APOLOGY” (Beg your pardon)
  • 28A Badly dilapida_ed : NO-T “TOO SHABBY” (Badly dilapidated)
  • 38 _ _cretary : NO-SE “JOB” (Secretary)
  • 46A Pe_ _ _phone : NO-RSE “GODDESS” (Persephone)
  • 61A Championship _ _ _t : NO-BEL “PRIZE” (Championship belt)

Bill’s time: 8m 44s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Jack, but not Jill : CARD

The playing card known as a jack is also known as a knave. “Knave” was the original term, the same term used for a male servant of a king and queen. The term “jack” came into usage in games played by “common folk” in the 1600s.

9 Pet safety org. : SPCA

Unlike most developed countries, the US has no umbrella organization with the goal of preventing cruelty to animals. Instead there are independent organizations set up all over the nation using the name SPCA. Having said that, there is an organization called the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) that was originally intended to operate across the country, but really it now focuses its efforts in New York City.

13 Non-Muppet owner of Hooper’s Store on “Sesame Street” : ALAN

Hooper’s Store on “Sesame Street” was owned originally by Mr. Hooper, hence the name. That changed when the actor who played Hooper, Will Lee, passed away in 1982. The existing character David (played by Northern Calloway) then took over, until 1989, just before Calloway also died. Alan (actor Alan Muraoka) became the proprietor of a modernized Hooper’s Store in 1998.

20 ___ Inu (Japanese dog) : SHIBA

The Shiba Inu is a Japanese breed of dog that was developed for hunting. Although the exact etymology of “Shibu” is unclear, the term translates as “brushwood”. “Inu” is Japanese for “dog”.

32 “Red” explorer : ERIK

According to Icelandic tradition, Erik the Red was the man responsible for founding the first Norse settlement in Greenland. Erik had a famous son: the explorer Leif Ericson.

35 Measurement that can be short or long : TON

Here in the US, a ton is equivalent to 2,000 pounds. In the UK, a ton is 2,240 pounds. The UK unit is sometimes referred to as an Imperial ton, long ton or gross ton. Folks over there refer to the US ton then as a short ton. To further complicate matters, there is also a metric ton or tonne, which is equivalent to 2,204 pounds. Personally, I wish we’d just stick to kilograms …

36 Ancient marketplace : AGORA

In early Greece, an agora was a place of assembly. The assemblies held there were often quite formal, perhaps for the reading of a proclamation. Later in Greek history, things became less formal as the agora evolved into a marketplace. Our contemporary word “agoraphobia” comes from these agorae, in the sense that an agoraphobe has a fear of open spaces, a fear of “public meeting places”.

41 Former Russian orbiter : MIR

Russia’s Mir space station was a remarkably successful project. It held the record for the longest continuous human presence in space at just under 10 years, until the International Space Station eclipsed that record in 2010. Towards the end of the space station’s life however, the years began to take their toll. There was a dangerous fire, multiple system failures, and a collision with a resupply ship. The Russian commitment to the International Space Station drained funds for repairs, so Mir was allowed to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up in 2001. “Mir” is a Russian word meaning “peace” or “world”.

46 Pe_ _ _phone : NO-RSE “GODDESS” (Persephone)

In Greek mythology, Persephone was made queen of the underworld after having been abducted by Hades, the god of the underworld.

50 Two early Icelandic literary works : EDDAS

“Poetic Edda” and “Prose Edda” are two ancient works that are the source for much of Norse mythology. Both Eddas were written in 13th-century Iceland.

51 Like a certain Dodger : ARTFUL

The Artful Dodger is a marvelous character in “Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens. The Dodger’s real name is Jack Dawkins, and he is a talented pickpocket and a favorite of the devious Fagin.

61 Championship _ _ _t : NO-BEL “PRIZE”

The Peace Prize is the most famous of the five prizes bequeathed by Alfred Nobel. The others are for Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature. There is also a Nobel Prize in Economics that is awarded along with the original five, but it is funded separately and is awarded “in memory of Alfred Nobel”. Four of the prizes are awarded by Swedish organizations (Alfred Nobel was a Swede) and so the award ceremonies take place in Stockholm. The Peace Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and is presented in Oslo.

65 Elitist sort : SNOOT

“Snoot” is a variant of “snout”, and is a word that originated in Scotland. The idea is that someone who is snooty, or “snouty”, tends to look down his or her nose at the rest of the world.

69 Gathering, casually : SESH

Session (abbreviated to “sess.” formally, and “sesh” informally)

Down

4 Valuable resource for the Human Genome Project : DNA BANK

The genome is all the hereditary information needed to reproduce an organism, in other words, all of its chromosomes. When scientists unravel the human genome, it takes up an awful lot of computer storage space, and yet all of this information is in almost every cell in our bodies. Each and every cell “knows” how to make a whole human being.

5 Steamed bun in Chinese cuisine : BAO

A baozi (also “bou, bao”) is a steamed, filled bun in Chinese cuisine.

8 Japanese Olympics city : NAGANO

Nagano is a city on Japan’s largest island, Honshu. It hosted the 1998 Winter Olympic Games.

10 Ruin a picture of, in a way : PHOTOBOMB

Photobombing is the act of intruding during the taking of a photograph as a practical joke. The term has gotten a lot of usage in recent years due to the proliferation of smartphone cameras. Collins English Dictionary named “photobomb” as Word of the Year for 2014.

11 John of wrestling fame : CENA

John Cena is a professional wrestler turned rapper and actor. Although wrestling, rapping and “Cena-style” movies wouldn’t be my cup of tea, I have to admire Cena’s philanthropic record. He holds the title for the most wishes granted by a single individual for the Make-A-Wish Foundation that benefits children with life-threatening medical conditions.

12 Hawkeye State college town : 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 is nicknamed the Hawkeye State in honor of Chief Black Hawk, a leader of the Sauk people during the War of 1812 and the Black Hawk War.

15 U-shaped instruments : LYRES

The lyre is a stringed instrument that is most closely associated with ancient Greece, and with the gods Hermes and Apollo in particular. According to myth, Hermes slaughtered a cow from a sacred herd belonging to Apollo and offered it to the gods but kept the entrails. Hermes used the entrails to make strings that he stretched across the shell of a tortoise, creating the first lyre. Apollo liked the sound from the lyre and agreed to accept it as a trade for his herd of cattle.

18 El ___ Alto, California redwood that’s more than 1,000 years old : PALO

The city of Palo Alto, California takes its name from a specific redwood tree called El Palo Alto (Spanish for “the tall stick”) that is located within the bounds of the city. The tree is 110 feet tall and over a thousand years old.

25 Classic Pontiacs : GTOS

The Pontiac GTO was produced by GM from 1964 to 1974, and again by a GM subsidiary in Australia from 2004 to 2006. The original GTO’s design is credited to Pontiac chief engineer at the time John DeLorean, who later founded the DeLorean Motor Company.

27 Literary character who cries “Talk not to me of blasphemy, man; I’d strike the sun if it insulted me” : AHAB

Captain Ahab is the obsessed and far from friendly captain of the Pequod in Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick”. The role of Captain Ahab was played by Gregory Peck in the 1956 John Huston film adaptation. Patrick Stewart played Ahab in a 1998 miniseries in which Peck made another appearance, as Father Mapple.

30 Creamy cheese : BRIE

Brie is a soft cheese that is named for the French region in which it originated. Brie is similar to the equally famous (and delicious) Camembert. Brie is often served baked in puff pastry with fig jam.

32 Pulitzer-winning author Jennifer : EGAN

Jennifer Egan is an author who grew up in San Francisco. Egan’s 2010 work “A Visit from the Goon Squad” won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Usually termed a novel, “A Visit from the Goon Squad” is structured in such a way that it is sometimes described as a collection of linked short stories.

39 Actress Pinkett Smith : JADA

Jada Pinkett Smith is an actress from Baltimore, Maryland. Pinkett Smith’s most famous role is the human rebel Niobe in “The Matrix” series of movies. Back in 1990, she auditioned for the TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, to play the girlfriend of the character played by Will Smith. She didn’t get the role but did get Will Smith, as the couple were married in 1997.

43 Psychedelic journey : LSD TRIP

LSD (known colloquially as “acid”) is lysergic acid diethylamide. A Swiss chemist named Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938 in a research project looking for medically efficacious ergot alkaloids. It wasn’t until some five years later when Hofmann ingested some of the drug accidentally that its psychedelic properties were discovered. Trippy, man …

48 Member of a 1970s singing family : OSMOND

The Osmond Brothers were performing at Disneyland in the early sixties when they were spotted by Andy Williams’ father. He was so impressed by their performance that he told Andy to book them on his TV show, after which they became regulars from 1962-69.

59 Meta field : TECH

Facebook, Inc. changed its name to Meta Platforms, Inc. in 2021 as part of a rebranding exercise.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Jack, but not Jill : CARD
5 What a freezer can do, paradoxically : BURN
9 Pet safety org. : SPCA
13 Non-Muppet owner of Hooper’s Store on “Sesame Street” : ALAN
14 Common default font : ARIAL
16 “Do you mind?!” : AHEM!
17 “Beg your pardo_” : NO-N “APOLOGY”
19 Like some wolves : LONE
20 ___ Inu (Japanese dog) : SHIBA
21 Smear : TAR
22 Features of many “On my way” texts : ETAS
23 Not digital : ANALOG
26 “Cool beans!” : NEATO!
28 Badly dilapida_ed : NO-T “TOO SHABBY”
32 “Red” explorer : ERIK
35 Measurement that can be short or long : TON
36 Ancient marketplace : AGORA
37 Citrine, for one : GEM
38 _ _cretary : NO-SE “JOB”
41 Former Russian orbiter : MIR
42 Fruit eaten on the Jewish New Year : APPLE
44 ___ system (GPS) : NAV
45 Not up : ABED
46 Pe_ _ _phone : NO-RSE “GODDESS”
50 Two early Icelandic literary works : EDDAS
51 Like a certain Dodger : ARTFUL
54 Punch ingredient? : FIST
56 “As I see it,” to a texter : IMO
58 Really bother : EAT AT
60 Grp. that launched 41-Across : USSR
61 Championship _ _ _t : NO-BEL “PRIZE”
64 Quarter follower : SEMI
65 Elitist sort : SNOOT
66 Baseball’s Marsh or Bohm : ALEC
67 Creep through cracks : SEEP
68 Cozy places : DENS
69 Gathering, casually : SESH

Down

1 Some recyclables : CANS
2 ___ shirt (colorful attire) : ALOHA
3 Rushed through the door : RAN IN
4 Valuable resource for the Human Genome Project : DNA BANK
5 Steamed bun in Chinese cuisine : BAO
6 Something underlined in many bibliographies : URL
7 Total hoot : RIOT
8 Japanese Olympics city : NAGANO
9 Bargain indicator : SALE TAG
10 Ruin a picture of, in a way : PHOTOBOMB
11 John of wrestling fame : CENA
12 Hawkeye State college town : AMES
15 U-shaped instruments : LYRES
18 El ___ Alto, California redwood that’s more than 1,000 years old : PALO
24 Palindromic man’s name : OTTO
25 Classic Pontiacs : GTOS
27 Literary character who cries “Talk not to me of blasphemy, man; I’d strike the sun if it insulted me” : AHAB
29 Standing upright : ON END
30 Creamy cheese : BRIE
31 Place for a swing set : YARD
32 Pulitzer-winning author Jennifer : EGAN
33 Seized car, for short : REPO
34 “Let’s see what you’ve got” : IMPRESS ME
38 More than a want : NEED
39 Actress Pinkett Smith : JADA
40 Word after blow or bowl : … OVER
43 Psychedelic journey : LSD TRIP
45 To the extent that : AS FAR AS
47 Investment goals : GAINS
48 Member of a 1970s singing family : OSMOND
49 Resign, with “down” : STEP …
52 Functional : UTILE
53 Kicks back : LAZES
54 To-do : FUSS
55 “That clears it up” : I SEE
57 Thin woodwind : OBOE
59 Meta field : TECH
62 Many lifetimes : EON
63 Low-ranking U.S.M.C. officers : LTS