0822-19 NY Times Crossword 22 Aug 19, Thursday

Constructed by: Emily Carroll
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Reveal Answer: Dive Bar

Themed answers take a DIVE downwards in the grid:

  • 40A Seedy hangout … or a hint to finishing four Across answers in this puzzle : DIVE BAR
  • 1A Extremely slow speed : NAIL’S PACE
  • 11A Sign of spring : GEMINI
  • 49A Conveys : TRANSPORTS
  • 62A Something to hold money in : ESCROW

Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 10m 08s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

11 Sign of spring : GEMINI

“Gemini” is the Latin word for “twins”.

15 Scholarly sorts : LITERATI

Literati are men and women of letters, learned people. The Latin “literatus” means “lettered”.

17 Blood component : PLASMA

Plasma (sometimes “plasm”) is the clear, yellow-colored liquid component of blood and lymph in which cells are suspended.

18 1971 title role for Charlton Heston, with “the” : OMEGA MAN

“I Am Legend” is a 1955 science fiction novel by Richard Matheson that tells of an apparent sole survivor of a pandemic. The survivor has to fight off zombie-like vampires who come out at night. “I Am Legend” was famously adapted into a 1971 movie called “The Omega Man” starring Charlton Heston, and then into a 2007 film using the same title as the novel that stars Will Smith.

19 Cotillion V.I.P. : DEB

“Cotillion” is an American term that we’ve been using since about 1900 for a formal ball. In France, a cotillion was a type of dance, with the term deriving from an Old French word for a petticoat. I guess the cotillion dance was one in which the lady would flash her petticoats as she did a twirl!

20 Victoria’s Secret spec : B-CUP

Victoria’s Secret was founded in 1977 in San Francisco, California. The founder wanted to create an environment where men were comfortable buying lingerie for their wives or girlfriends, an alternative to a department store.

23 They’re served with spoon straws : ICEES

Slush Puppie and ICEE are brands of frozen, slushy drinks. Ostensibly competing brands, ICEE company now owns the Slush Puppie brand.

26 Pizazz : FLAIR

Pizazz (also “pizzazz”) is energy, vitality. There’s a kind of cool thing about the “pizzazz” spelling, namely that it is the only 7-letter word in English that cannot be played in Scrabble. You can get close by using the Z-tile with the two blank tiles to get to three of the required four Zs, but there’s no way to get to the fourth Z.

36 Apple platform : IOS

iOS is what Apple now call their mobile operating system. Previously, it was known as iPhone OS.

38 Word with cap or crab : SNOW …

Snow crabs are sometimes called queen crabs, especially in Canada.

39 E.R. inserts : IVS

One might see an intravenous drip (IV) in an intensive care unit (ICU), operating room (OR) or emergency room (ER).

40 Seedy hangout … or a hint to finishing four Across answers in this puzzle : DIVE BAR

We’ve been using the word “dive” in American English for a run-down bar since the latter half of the 19th century. The term comes from the fact that disreputable taverns were usually located in basements, so one had to literally and figuratively dive into them.

43 When “Roseanne” aired for most of its original run: Abbr. : TUE

The comedian Roseanne Barr is perhaps best known as the star of her own sitcom called “Roseanne” in which she played the character Roseanne Conner. In 2012, Barr unsuccessfully vied for the Green Party’s nomination for US President. She didn’t give up though, and was successful in winning the nomination of the Peace and Freedom Party. In the 2012 presidential election she earned over 60,000 votes, and placed sixth in the list of candidates.

46 Something a push-up strengthens, for short : PEC

“Pecs” is the familiar name for the chest muscle, which is more correctly known as the pectoralis major muscle. “Pectus” is a the Latin word for “breast, chest”.

47 Mrs. John Quincy Adams : LOUISA

Louisa Adams was the wife of President John Quincy Adams. Louisa was actually born in London, and so was the only First Lady of the US not born in this country, until Slovenian-born Melania Trump moved into the White House with President Donald Trump.

51 Born, in Bordeaux : NEE

Bordeaux is perhaps the wine-production capital of the world. Wine has been produced in the area since the eighth century. Bordeaux has an administrative history too. During WWII, the French government relocated from Paris to the port city of Bordeaux when it became clear that Paris was soon to fall to the Germans. After the Germans took France, the capital was famously moved to Vichy.

56 Oscar winner for “Shakespeare in Love” : DENCH

Dame Judi Dench is an outstanding English actress who has appeared for decades in her home country on stage and screen. Dench’s film career took off in the nineties with a relatively trivial role as “M” in the James Bond series of films. Since then she has played leading roles in several excellent movies including “Shakespeare in Love”, “Mrs. Brown”, “Notes on a Scandal” and “Philomena”.

I found the 1998 movie “Shakespeare in Love” to be an entertaining romantic comedy. It is a fictional account of Shakespeare having a love affair while in the middle of writing his famous “Romeo and Juliet”. The great cast includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Colin Firth and Judi Dench, with Joseph Fiennes in the title role.

61 “Should ___ acquaintance …” : AULD

The song “Auld Lang Syne” is a staple at New Year’s Eve (well, actually in the opening minutes of New Year’s Day). The words were written by Scottish poet Robbie Burns. The literal translation of “Auld Lang Syne” is “old long since”, but is better translated as “old times”. The sentiment of the song is “for old time’s sake”.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

62 Something to hold money in : ESCROW

One type of escrow account is held by a trusted third party for two parties who have some contractual arrangement, an arrangement that is often in dispute. The third party only releases the funds when both parties have fulfilled their contractual obligations.

70 Shade on the visible spectrum : INDIGO

The name of the color “indigo” ultimately comes from the Greek “indikon” meaning “blue dye from India”.

71 Versatile offensive football positions, for short : TES

In American football, a quarterback (QB) might throw to a tight end (TE).

73 Vacillate wildly : SEESAW

“To vacillate” is to be indecisive, to waver. The term comes from the Latin “vacillare” meaning “to sway to and fro”.

Down

1 Dirty Harry’s grp. : SFPD

“Dirty Harry” Callahan was the protagonist in a series of five movies starring Clint Eastwood:

  • “Dirty Harry” (1971)
  • “Magnum Force” (1973)
  • “The Enforcer” (1976)
  • “Sudden Impact” (1983)
  • “The Dead Pool” (1988)

2 It flows past Memphis : NILE

Memphis was an ancient city on the River Nile. The ruins of Memphis are located just south of Cairo, Egypt. It was a magnificent city that eventually failed due to the economic success of the city of Alexandria, which was located further down the river and right on the Mediterranean coast.

3 Locale for much of the world’s oil shipping : ARABIAN SEA

The Arabian Sea is an arm of the Indian Ocean that lies off the coasts of Oman, Yemen, Pakistan and Iran. It is bounded in the west by Somalia, and in the east by India.

4 Responds to on WhatsApp, say : IMS

Even though instant messaging (sending and receiving IMs) has been around since the 1960s, it was AOL who popularized the term “instant message” in the eighties and nineties. The “AOL Instant Message” service was known as AIM.

WhatsApp is a popular messaging service used on smartphones that sends messages and other files from one mobile phone number to another. Launched in 2011, WhatsApp is incredibly popular, and indeed the most popular messaging service used today. Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014, paying over $19 billion.

7 Hardly Michelin-star fare : GLOP

Michelin is a manufacturer of tires that is based in France. The company was founded by brothers Édouard and André Michelin in 1888. The brothers were running a rubber factory at the time, and invented the world’s first removable pneumatic tire, an invention that they used to launch their new company. Michelin is also noted for rating restaurants and accommodation in its famous Michelin Travel Guides, awarding coveted Michelin “stars”.

12 Latin catchall : ET AL

“Et alii” (et al.) is the equivalent of “et cetera” (etc.), with “et cetera” being used in place of a list of objects, and “et alii” used for a list of names. In fact, “et al.” can stand for “et alii” (a group of males, or males and females), “et aliae” (a group of women) and “et alia” (a group of neuter nouns, or a group of people where the intent is to retain gender-neutrality).

27 Neighbor of the gallbladder : LIVER

The human liver has many functions, one of which is to store vital substances. The list of substances stored in the liver includes glucose (as glycogen), vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin B12, vitamin K, iron and copper. Another function of the liver is to produce bile, a substance stored in the gallbladder that aids in the digestion of fats.

The human gallbladder is a pear-shaped organ that mainly helps with the digestion of fat. The gallbladder stores and concentrates bile, which is made in the liver. The bile is released from the gallbladder when fat enters the digestive tract. The bile acts as a surfactant, emulsifying the fat in food so that it can be more easily digested.

35 Halloween decoration letters : RIP

Rest in peace (RIP)

37 Actor Mineo : SAL

The actor Sal Mineo’s most famous role was John “Plato” Crawford, the kid who was in awe of the James Dean character in “Rebel Without a Cause”. Sadly, Mineo was murdered in 1976 when he was just 37 years old. He was attacked in the alley behind his Los Angeles apartment and stabbed through the heart. When an arrest was made it was discovered that the murderer had no idea that his victim was a celebrity, and that his plan was just to rob anyone who came along.

45 Mail man? : KNIGHT

Chainmail is a type of armor consisting of a mesh made from small metal rings linked together.

48 N.C.A.A. hoops powerhouse : UNC

The University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill started enrolling students way back in 1795, making it the first public university in the country to open its door to students.

52 Campus extension? : EDU

The .edu domain was one of the six original generic top-level domains specified. The complete original list is:

  • .com (commercial enterprise)
  • .net (entity involved in network infrastructure e.g. an ISP)
  • .mil (US military)
  • .org (not-for-profit organization)
  • .gov (US federal government entity)
  • .edu (college-level educational institution)

59 Creative influence : MUSE

In Greek mythology, the muses are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. The number of muses is a subject of debate at times, but the most popular view is that there are nine:

  • Calliope (epic poetry)
  • Clio (history)
  • Erato (lyric poetry)
  • Euterpe (music)
  • Melpomene (tragedy)
  • Polyhymnia (choral poetry)
  • Terpsichore (dance)
  • Thalia (comedy)
  • Urania (astronomy)

Before the adoption of the nine muses of Greek mythology, there were originally three muses, the three Boeotian Muses. These were:

  • Mneme (memory)
  • Melete (meditation)
  • Aoede (song)

60 Goddess depicted with horns : ISIS

Isis was the ancient Egyptian goddess of fertility, as well as the protector of the dead and the goddess of children. She was the personification of the pharaoh’s power. The name “Isis” translates as “throne”, and she is usually depicted with a headdress shaped like a throne.

61 NASA’s ___ Research Center : AMES

The Ames Research Center is just down the road here, located at Moffett Field at the southern tip of San Francisco Bay. Joseph Ames was a member of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics when it was formed in 1915, and chaired the committee from 1919-1939.

63 Nintendo rival : SEGA

Sega is a Japanese video game company headquartered in Tokyo. Sega actually started out 1940 in the US as Standard Games and was located in Honolulu, Hawaii. The owners moved the operation to Tokyo in 1951 and renamed the company to Service Games. The name “Sega” is a combination of the first two letters of the words “Se-rvice” and “Ga-mes”.

64 Brag : CROW

The verb “to crow” meaning “to exult in triumph” is imitative of the sound made by a crow, perhaps as it settles over some dead animal that it has found …

66 Opposite of closeted : OUT

Back in the 1950s, to come “out of the closet” was to admit to being an alcoholic. By the seventies, the phrase mainly referred to gay people shrugging off secrecy about their sexual orientation.

68 Sophocles’ “___ to Man” : ODE

Sophocles was one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived. The first of these was Aeschylus, the second Sophocles, and the third Euripides. Sophocles is believed to have written 123 plays, the most famous of which are “Antigone” and “Oedipus the King”.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Extremely slow speed : SNAIL’S PACE
7 Have a sudden inspiration? : GASP
11 Sign of spring : GEMINI
14 Finalize, as plans : FIRM UP
15 Scholarly sorts : LITERATI
17 Blood component : PLASMA
18 1971 title role for Charlton Heston, with “the” : OMEGA MAN
19 Cotillion V.I.P. : DEB
20 Victoria’s Secret spec : B-CUP
22 Hebrew song whose title means “My God! My God!” : ELI ELI
23 They’re served with spoon straws : ICEES
25 Outdoor section of a zoo : APES
26 Pizazz : FLAIR
28 “Look to the ___, thou sluggard” (Proverbs 6:6) : ANT
30 What a shift shifts : GEARS
34 Stick around : LINGER
36 Apple platform : IOS
38 Word with cap or crab : SNOW …
39 E.R. inserts : IVS
40 Seedy hangout … or a hint to finishing four Across answers in this puzzle : DIVE BAR
43 When “Roseanne” aired for most of its original run: Abbr. : TUE
44 What junkyards do : REEK
46 Something a push-up strengthens, for short : PEC
47 Mrs. John Quincy Adams : LOUISA
49 Conveys : TRANSPORTS
51 Born, in Bordeaux : NEE
53 Beneath: Ger. : UNTER
54 Device that runs 36-Across : IPAD
56 Oscar winner for “Shakespeare in Love” : DENCH
58 Often-abbreviated outburst : OMIGOD!
61 “Should ___ acquaintance …” : AULD
62 Something to hold money in : ESCROW
65 Grow quickly : MUSHROOM
67 More relaxed : LOOSER
69 “For real?” : IS IT TRUE?
70 Shade on the visible spectrum : INDIGO
71 Versatile offensive football positions, for short : TES
72 Hardens : SETS
73 Vacillate wildly : SEESAW

Down

1 Dirty Harry’s grp. : SFPD
2 It flows past Memphis : NILE
3 Locale for much of the world’s oil shipping : ARABIAN SEA
4 Responds to on WhatsApp, say : IMS
5 Proceeded heavily and awkwardly : LUMBERED
6 Elbow room : SPACE
7 Hardly Michelin-star fare : GLOP
8 Order in target practice : AIM!
9 Brew : STEEP
10 Pirate’s prop : PEG LEG
11 Up for it : GAME
12 Latin catchall : ET AL
13 Certain skirt : MINI
16 Employee incentives : RAISES
21 2019 Women’s World Cup winner : USA
24 Quick smoke? : CIG
25 Simple step : A TO B
26 Use goo-goo eyes and make small talk, say : FLIRT
27 Neighbor of the gallbladder : LIVER
29 One crying “Uncle!,” maybe : NIECE
31 Converse : ANTITHESIS
32 Get out of bed : ROUSE
33 Admit to office, with “in” : SWEAR …
35 Halloween decoration letters : RIP
37 Actor Mineo : SAL
41 What soda and snack machines do : VEND
42 Start of a fight : ROUND ONE
45 Mail man? : KNIGHT
48 N.C.A.A. hoops powerhouse : UNC
50 Has on : SPORTS
52 Campus extension? : EDU
55 Be crazy about : ADORE
57 Jill ___, winning 2019 Women’s World Cup coach : ELLIS
58 Overlook : OMIT
59 Creative influence : MUSE
60 Goddess depicted with horns : ISIS
61 NASA’s ___ Research Center : AMES
63 Nintendo rival : SEGA
64 Brag : CROW
66 Opposite of closeted : OUT
68 Sophocles’ “___ to Man” : ODE