0418-16 New York Times Crossword Answers 18 Apr 16, Monday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Janice Luttrell
THEME: Bread … each of today’s themed answers end with a form of BREAD:

37A. Moolah … or the makeup of the ends of the answers to the starred clues : BREAD

18A. *1938 Horse of the Year : SEABISCUIT
54A. *Hunk : STUD MUFFIN
4D. *Provide funds for : BANKROLL
38D. *”Bat Out of Hell” singer : MEAT LOAF

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 5m 12s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

5. “___ and Punishment” : CRIME
“Crime and Punishment” is one of the two most famous novels by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky, the other being “The Brothers Karamazov”.

14. Capital of Italia : ROMA
In Italian, the city of “Roma” (Rome) is in “Italia” (Italy).

15. Fable writer : AESOP
Aesop is remembered today for his famous fables. Aesop lived in Ancient Greece, probably around the sixth century BC. Supposedly he was born a slave, somehow became a free man, but then met with a sorry end. Aesop was sent to the city of Delphi on a diplomatic mission but instead insulted the Delphians. He was tried on a trumped-up charge of stealing from a temple, sentenced to death and was thrown off a cliff.

16. “___ Karenina” : ANNA
I have to admit to not having read the Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina”, but I did see the excellent 1977 British television adaptation starring Nicola Pagett. In the stroyline, Anna Karenina’s lover is Count Alexei Vronsky.

18. *1938 Horse of the Year : SEABISCUIT
The 2003 hit movie “Seabiscuit” is based on a best-selling book by Laura Hillenbrand called “Seabiscuit: An American Legend”. The horse Seabiscuit was sired by a horse called Hard Tack, and “hard tack” is type of biscuit eaten by sailors at sea in days of yore. “Hard Tack” … “Seabiscuit”, get it …?

23. Unsophisticated sort : RUBE
A “rube” is person lacking sophistication, often described as “a country bumpkin”. The term derives from the masculine name “Reuben”, which was considered back in the early 1800s to be a typical name used in rural areas.

26. Actress/singer Pia : ZADORA
Pia Zadora is an American actress and singer. Zadora’s most famous role was in the 1982 film “Butterfly” in which she worked with Orson Welles and Stacey Keach. The film was based on the novel “The Butterfly” by James M. Cain and deals with the difficult subject of father-daughter incest.

29. Mensch : GOOD EGG
“Mensch” is yet another word that comes to us via Yiddish, ultimately derived from the German “mensch” meaning “human being”. We use the term to mean someone of integrity and honor.

33. Scarlett O’Hara, for one : BELLE
As casting proceeded for the movie version of “Gone With the Wind”, Clark Gable was a shoo-in from day one. The role of Scarlett was considered very desirable in the acting community, with Bette Davis on the short list, and Katherine Hepburn demanding an appointment with producer David O. Selznick to discuss the role. Vivien Leigh was an unlikely contender, an English actress for the definitive Southern belle role. Selznick was adamant though, and stuck by his choice despite a lot of protests.

34. “___ the land of the free …” : O’ER
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

The lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner” were written first as a poem by Francis Scott Key, inspired by the bombarding by the British of the American forces at Fort McHenry that he witnessed during the Battle of Baltimore in September 1814. The words were then set to the tune of a popular British drinking song penned by John Stafford Smith called “The Anacreontic Song”, with the Anacreontic Society being a men’s club in London.

36. Window base : SILL
A “sill plate” or simply “sill” is an architectural term for a bottom horizontal member to which vertical members are attached. A “window sill” is specific sill plate that is found at the bottom of a window opening.

37. Moolah … or the makeup of the ends of the answers to the starred clues : BREAD
The use of the word “bread” as a slang term for money dates back to the 1940s, and is derived from the term “breadwinner”, meaning the person in the house who puts bread on the table, brings in the money.

Lettuce, cabbage, kale, dinero, dough and moola (also moolah) are all slang terms for money.

40. “The Lorax” author : SEUSS
“The Lorax” is a children’s book written by Dr. Seuss. It is an allegorical work questioning the problems created by industrialization, and in particular its impact on the environment. At one point in the story, the Lorax “speaks for the trees, for the trees have no tongues”. “The Lorax” was adapted into an animated film that was released in 2012, with Danny DeVito voicing the title character.

41. About 39 inches, in England : METRE
On the other side of the Atlantic we use the French spelling for measurements that originated in French, so “metre” for “meter” and “litre” for “liter”.

42. Onetime rival of Facebook : MYSPACE
From 2005 to 2008, Myspace was the most popular social networking site in the world, getting even more hits than the Google website for a while in 2006. But, the site’s popularity is declining, as it loses market share to Facebook. In 2011 Myspace was sold to Specific Media, with singer Justin Timberlake taking a major ownership share in the company. Myspace now has a strong emphasis on music.

45A. With 24-Across, body of water that’s in four African countries : LAKE
24. See 45-Across : CHAD
Lake Chad is a very large and shallow lake in Africa, one that changes size dramatically in a very short space of time. Lake Chad shrank by a massive 95% from 1963 to 1998, but has been recovering ever since. Parts of the lake lie within the countries of Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria.

46. Condé ___ (magazine company) : NAST
Condé Nast has a very large portfolio of publications, including “Vogue”, “GQ”, “House and Garden”, “Golf Digest”, “Wired”, “Vanity Fair” and “The New Yorker”.

61. Roman god of love : AMOR
Cupid, the Greek god of desire, was also known as Amor. “Cupido” is Latin for “desire” and “amor” is Latin for “love”.

62. Idiot, in Canadian lingo : HOSER
The derogatory term “hoser”, meaning “foolish or uncultivated person”, is apparently attributed to Canadians, but is rarely used north of the border. Not a term I’ve ever heard of, I must admit …

63. Source of linseed oil : FLAX
Linseed oil is also known as flaxseed oil, as the oil is extracted from the dried seeds of the flax plant.

Down
1. Grasp, in slang : GROK
“To grok” is to understand, a slang word that’s really only used in “techie” circles. “Grok” is the creation of science fiction author Robert Heinlein, who coined the term in his 1961 novel “Stranger in a Strange Land”.

3. Popular desktop computer : IMAC
The iMac is a desktop computer platform from Apple introduced in 1998. One of the main features of the iMac is an “all-in-one” design, with the computer console and monitor integrated. The iMac also came in a range of colors, that Apple marketed as “flavors”, such strawberry, blueberry and lime.

5. Yellow-skinned melon : CASABA
A casaba is type of honeydew melon. The casaba takes its name from the Turkish city of Kasaba, from where the fruit was imported into America in the late 1800s.

6. Athlete/model Gabrielle : REECE
Gabrielle Reece is quite the athlete. She was on the team that won the first ever Beach Volleyball World Championship, in 1997. She is also a great golfer, and tried hard to make it onto the LPGA circuit.

7. Dinesen who wrote “Out of Africa” : ISAK
Isak Dinesen was the pen name of the Danish author Baroness Karen Blixen. Blixen’s most famous title by far is “Out of Africa”, her account of the time she spent living in Kenya.

8. Flash ___ (faddish assembly) : MOB
A flash mob is a group of people who gather to perform a sudden, brief act in a public location and then quickly disperse. Flash mobs originated in Manhattan in 2003, as a social experiment by an editor of “Harper’s Magazine” called Bill Wasik. Wasik’s first attempt to form a flash mob was unsuccessful, but the second attempt worked. The first successful flash mob was relatively tame by today’s elaborate standards, and consisted of about 130 people gathered on the 9th floor of Macy’s department store pretending to be shopping en masse for a “love rug”.

9. Prefix with -dermis : EPI-
The epidermis is the outermost layer of the skin. The thickest piece of epidermal tissue in humans is on the soles of the feet and the palms, measuring about 1.5 mm. The thinnest measures 0.1 mm, and that would be the human eyelid.

21. Actor Reynolds who was once married to 2-Down : BURT
(2D. Actress Anderson who was once married to 21-Down : LONI)
Loni Anderson’s best-remembered role was Jennifer Marlowe on the sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati”. Anderson has been married four times, most famously to actor Burt Reynolds from 1988 to 1993.

24. Pepsi and RC : COLAS
The Pepsi-Cola formulation was developed by one Caleb Bradham who made the drink at home and sold it as “Brad’s Drink”. Bradham’s aim was to provide a drink that was pleasant to taste, that would aid digestion and boost energy. Included in the formula were pepsin (a digestive enzyme) and kola nuts. These two ingredients inspired the brand name we use today: Pepsi-Cola.

“Nehi Corporation” was the nickname for the Chero-Cola/Union Bottle Works that introduced the Nehi drink in 1924. Years later the company developed a new brand, Royal Crown Cola (also known as RC Cola). By 1955, RC Cola was the company’s flagship product, so the “Nehi Corporation” became the “Royal Crown Company”. In 1954, RC Cola became the first company to sell soft drinks in cans.

28. Longtime name in Chicago politics : DALEY
Richard J. Daley was the Mayor of Chicago for 21 years (1955-1976), making him the longest-serving mayor for the city in history. His son, Richard M. Daley was mayor until relatively recently, and was the city’s second-longest serving mayor.

29. V fliers : GEESE
Apparently geese fly in a V-formation for a couple of reasons. One is that it makes for efficient flight and conserves energy. The leading bird gets no advantage, but every following bird gets to “slipstream” a little. It has been noted that the lead bird drops to the back of the formation when it gets fatigued. It’s also thought that the flock can stick together more easily when in formation, so it is more difficult to lose someone along the way.

33. Actor Willis : BRUCE
Actor Bruce Willis started to hit the big time when he got a lead role in the comedy detective series “Moonlighting” in the late eighties. Willis was born in Germany, where his father was stationed while serving in the US Army. Willis’ mother was German.

37. A toucan has a colorful one : BEAK
The toucan is a brightly-marked bird with a large, colorful bill. The name “toucan” comes into English via Portuguese from the Tupi name “tukana”. The Tupi were an indigenous people of Brazil.

38. *”Bat Out of Hell” singer : MEAT LOAF
Meat Loaf is the stage name of rock musician Marvin Lee Aday from Dallas, Texas. Meat Loaf’s second album is “Bat Out of Hell”, one of the best selling albums of all time. “Bat Out of Hell” still sells hundreds of thousands copies every year, and has sold over 40 million copies worldwide.

43. Mini-burger : SLIDER
Sliders are small hamburgers. One suggestion is that the “slider” originated in the US Navy, with the name being a reference to greasy hamburgers sliding back and forth across the grill as a ship pitches and rolls. More recently, the slider became associated with the White Castle fast food chain of restaurants. White Castle introduced the “Slyder” in 1985.

44. Original judge on “The People’s Court” : WAPNER
Joseph Wapner is a retired judge who was the first person to star in the reality show “The People’s Court”. With Wapner on the bench, the first manifestation of “The People’s Court” ran for almost 2,500 episodes, from 1981 to 1993. Prior to gracing our TV screens, Judge Wapner served for 18 years on the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

47. Employee protection org. : OSHA
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was created in 1970 during the Nixon administration. OSHA regulates workplaces in the private sector and regulates just one government agency, namely the US Postal Service.

49. Heavyweight wrestling : SUMO
Sumo is a sport that is practiced professionally only in Japan, the country of its origin. There is an international federation of sumo wrestling now, and one of the organization’s aims is to have the sport accepted as an Olympic event.

50. Corp. money managers : CFOS
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

51. German auto make : OPEL
Adam Opel founded his company in 1863, first making sewing machines in a cowshed. Commercial success brought new premises and a new product line in 1886, namely penny-farthing bicycles. Adam Opel died in 1895, leaving his two sons with a company that made more penny-farthings and sewing machines than any other company in the world. In 1899 the two sons partnered with a locksmith and started to make cars, but not very successfully. Two years later, the locksmith was dropped in favor of a licensing arrangement with a French car company. By 1914, Opel was the largest manufacturer of automobiles in Germany. My Dad had an Opel in the seventies, a station wagon (we’d say “estate car” in Ireland) called an Opel Kadett.

52. Michael of “Arrested Development” : CERA
Michael Cera is a Canadian actor, a very talented young man who is riding high right now. He played great characters on the TV show “Arrested Development”, and the 2007 comedy-drama “Juno”. More recently he played the title role in “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”.

53. Kentucky’s Fort ___ : KNOX
Fort Knox is actually a US Army base, but it lends its name to the adjacent facility that is more correctly called the United States Bullion Depository. Most of the US gold reserves are in “Fort Knox”, although it isn’t the biggest gold repository in the US. That honor goes to the vault under the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in Manhattan. Most of the gold stored in the New York vault belongs to foreign nations and banks.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Smooth-talking : GLIB
5. “___ and Punishment” : CRIME
10. Number in a quartet : FOUR
14. Capital of Italia : ROMA
15. Fable writer : AESOP
16. “___ Karenina” : ANNA
17. Send ___ errand : ON AN
18. *1938 Horse of the Year : SEABISCUIT
20. Relax : KICK BACK
22. Artificial jewelry : PASTE
23. Unsophisticated sort : RUBE
24. See 45-Across : CHAD
26. Actress/singer Pia : ZADORA
29. Mensch : GOOD EGG
32. Praise highly : EXALT
33. Scarlett O’Hara, for one : BELLE
34. “___ the land of the free …” : O’ER
36. Window base : SILL
37. Moolah … or the makeup of the ends of the answers to the starred clues : BREAD
38. Lion’s locks : MANE
39. Bathwater tester : TOE
40. “The Lorax” author : SEUSS
41. About 39 inches, in England : METRE
42. Onetime rival of Facebook : MYSPACE
44. Untrustworthy sort : WEASEL
45. With 24-Across, body of water that’s in four African countries : LAKE
46. Condé ___ (magazine company) : NAST
47. Watering spot in the desert : OASIS
50. KEY USED FOR THIS CLUE : CAPS LOCK
54. *Hunk : STUD MUFFIN
57. Like most businesses between 9 to 5 : OPEN
58. There’s no place like it : HOME
59. Orchard : GROVE
60. Prefix with dynamic : AERO-
61. Roman god of love : AMOR
62. Idiot, in Canadian lingo : HOSER
63. Source of linseed oil : FLAX

Down
1. Grasp, in slang : GROK
2. Actress Anderson who was once married to 21-Down : LONI
3. Popular desktop computer : IMAC
4. *Provide funds for : BANKROLL
5. Yellow-skinned melon : CASABA
6. Athlete/model Gabrielle : REECE
7. Dinesen who wrote “Out of Africa” : ISAK
8. Flash ___ (faddish assembly) : MOB
9. Prefix with -dermis : EPI-
10. Building front : FACADE
11. Burden : ONUS
12. Corporate division : UNIT
13. Put on a scale from 1 to 10, say : RATE
19. Garden shovel : SPADE
21. Actor Reynolds who was once married to 2-Down : BURT
24. Pepsi and RC : COLAS
25. “Please ___” (operator’s request) : HOLD
26. Verve : ZEST
27. Universal truth : AXIOM
28. Longtime name in Chicago politics : DALEY
29. V fliers : GEESE
30. Farm animals that butt : GOATS
31. Romance or science fiction : GENRE
33. Actor Willis : BRUCE
35. Fishing line holder : REEL
37. A toucan has a colorful one : BEAK
38. *”Bat Out of Hell” singer : MEAT LOAF
40. Jerk : SPASM
41. Pigsty : MESS
43. Mini-burger : SLIDER
44. Original judge on “The People’s Court” : WAPNER
46. Trustingly innocent : NAIVE
47. Employee protection org. : OSHA
48. Part of a molecule : ATOM
49. Heavyweight wrestling : SUMO
50. Corp. money managers : CFOS
51. German auto make : OPEL
52. Michael of “Arrested Development” : CERA
53. Kentucky’s Fort ___ : KNOX
55. “Yuck!” : UGH!
56. To’s partner : FRO

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