0713-12: New York Times Crossword Answers 13 Jul 12, Friday

QuickLinks:
Solution to today’s crossword in the New York Times
Solution to today’s SYNDICATED New York Times crossword in all other publications

CROSSWORD SETTER: Jim Horne & Jeff Chen
THEME: None
COMPLETION TIME: 17m 51s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0


Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

21. “Don’t Look Now” diretcor : ROEG
Nicolas Roeg is film director from England with quite the pedigree when it comes to association with great movies. He contributed to 1962’s “Lawrence of Arabia”, and he himself directed noted films like “Walkabout” (1972), “Don’t Look Now” (1973) and “The Man Who Fell to Earth” (1976).

30. 1950s heartthrob : FABIAN
“Fabian” is the stage name of singer Fabiano Anthony Forte, a teen idol from the fifties and sixties. Fabian came from South Philadelphia just like Frankie Avalon, and so Fabian was always somewhat in Avalon’s shadow. Now decades after his star faded, Fabian is on the road and performing with Avalon.

31. Dean Martin persona : SOT
Dean Martin was the stage name of singer and actor Dino Crocetti. Martin was famous for his numerous hit songs such as “That’s Amore”, “Volare” and Everybody Loves Somebody”, as well as his film career with Jerry Lewis. Off screen, Martin was a member of the famous “Rat Pack” as he was a great friend of Frank Sinatra. Martin was always associated with Las Vegas and when he passed away in 1995 the lights on the strip were dimmed in his honor.

34. El ___ : CID
Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar was known as El Cid Campeador, which translates as “The Champion” or perhaps “The Lord, Master of Military Arts”. El Cid was a soldier who fought under the rule of King Alfonso VI of Spain (among others). However, he was sent into exile by the King in 1080 after acting beyond his authorization in battle. El Cid then offered his services to his former foes, the Moorish kings, After a number of years building a reputation with the Moors, he was recalled from exile by Alfonso. By this time El Cid was very much his own man. Nominally under the orders of Alfonso, he led a combined army of Spanish and Moorish troops and took the city of Valencia on the Mediterranean coast, making it his headquarters and home. He died there, quite peacefully in 1099.

35. Sounds off? : HUSHES
I guess if you make “sound” go “off”, you “hush” it …

37. Some modern subscriptions : PODCASTS
A podcast is basically an audio or video media file that is made available for download. The name comes from the acronym “POD” meaning “playable on demand”, and “cast” from “broadcasting”. So, basically a podcast is a broadcast that one can play on demand, simply by downloading and opening the podcast file.

39. Neil Armstrong’s middle name : ALDEN
Neil Armstrong is the most private of individuals. You don’t often see him giving interviews, unlike so many of the more approachable astronauts of the Apollo space program. His famous, “That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind” statement, that was something that he came up with himself while Apollo 11 was making its way to the moon.

41. Home of the Aztec Ruins Natl. Monument : N MEX
The Aztec Ruins National Monument in New Mexico is really misnamed. The site preserves ancient Pueblo buildings that date back to the 11th through 13th centuries, although they have no connection with the Aztec civilization. The misattribution can be traced back to the 1800s, and the nearest town to the site is even called “Aztec, New Mexico”.

42. I.O.U. : CHIT
A chit is a note or a short letter, and tends to be used these days in the sense of an amount owed (as in a poker game). The word used to be “chitty”, a term now obsolete, but closer to the original Hindi term. I feel a tad obsolete myself because when we are at school we would be excused class if we had a “chitty”.

45. Chero-Cola, after a name change : NEHI
“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.

49. Blues guitarist ___ Mahal : TAJ
“Taj Mahal” is the stage name of blues musician Henry Fredericks from Harlem, New York. Fredericks says that his stage name came to him in a dream about Gandhi and India, and social tolerance.

51. Kato who testified against O. J. : KAELIN
The actor Kato Kaelin’s 15 minutes of fame came in 1964 when he was called as a witness in the trial of O. J. Simpson for the murders of his wife and Ronald Goldman. Kaelin had been staying at the guest house on the Simpson property and was called to account for some of the movements of O. J. on that fateful night.

53. Vinaigrette alternative : ITALIAN DRESSING
Don’t try asking for Italian dressing in Italy, as it’s a North American invention. Italians are fond of dressing their salads with olive oil, vinegar, salt and maybe some black pepper. Try it!

57. “Star Wars” catchphrase : USE THE FORCE
The “Star Wars” film series has made over 4 billion dollars of box office revenue. That makes it the third-highest-grossing film series of all time. The second most successful series is the James Bond franchise, and the top spot is held by the “Harry Potter” movies.

Down
3. Skye of “Say Anything …” : IONE
Ione Skye is an American actress born in Hertfordshire in England. She is best known for portraying the character Diane Court in the 1989 high school romance movie “Say Anything …”, starring opposite John Cusack. Skye is the daughter of the Scottish folk singer Donovan.

5. Inits. for Mitt Romney : LDS
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often abbreviated to “LDS”, is known colloquially as the Mormon Church.

Mitt Romney was born Willard Mitt Romney in 1947 in Detroit, Michigan. Romney’s parents named him after J. Willard Marriott (the hotel magnate) who was the father’s best friend, and after Milton “Mitt” Romney who was the father’s cousin and quarterback for the Chicago Bears.

6. Frank Rich piece : ESSAY
Frank Rich was until relatively recently the chief theatre critic for the New York Times. Prior to taking that position, Rich was an essayist and op-ed columnist for the same paper.

8. P.L.O.’s Arafat : YASIR
Yasser (also Yasir) Arafat was born in Cairo in 1929, the son of two Palestinians and the second-youngest of seven children. Arafat was beaten by his father as a child and so did not have a good relationship with him. Arafat did not attend his father’s funeral, nor did he visit his grave. The beatings were apparently administered because the young Arafat was repeatedly attending religious services in the Jewish quarter of Cairo. This infuriated his father, while Arafat’s explanation was that he wanted to “study the mentality” of the Jewish people.

10. Targets for QBs : WRS
Quarterbacks aim passes at wide receivers (so they tell me!).

11. Worrywarts, e.g. : NEUROTICS
The term “worry wart”, meaning one who dwells unnecessarily on troubles, somes from a cartoon strip. Worry Wart was a character introduced in 1956 in the strip “Out Our Way” that was drawn by American cartoonist J.R. Williams. The cartoon Worry Wart caused others to do the worrying, which is the opposite of the meaning we give to the term today.

12. Sir Trevor of the Royal Shakespeare Company : NUNN
Trevor Nunn is an English theater, film and television director. Two of his more famous stage productions are the blockbuster musicals “Cats” and “Les Misérables”.

14. Youth org. since 1910 : BSA
As every little boy (of my era) knows, the Scouting movement was founded by Lord Baden Powell, in 1907. The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) soon followed, in 1910.

15. Robin Hood and Helen of Troy : LEGENDS
Robin Hood is a figure from English folklore, celebrated in story and song. Some stories suggest that Robin Hood the outlaw was actually a real nobleman, the Earl of Huntington. Robin Hood’s famous companion was Maid Marian. Interestingly, the legend of Maid Marian (full name Lady Marian of Leaford) had been around for centuries before she became associated with Robin Hood starting in the 1700s.

In Greek mythology, Helen of Sparta was the daughter of Zeus and Leda. She became known as Helen of Troy, as the Trojan War started when she was abducted by Paris and taken from Sparta to Troy.

23. The heel of a geographical boot : YEMEN
The Arabian Peninsula is shaped like a boot, with the Sultanate of Oman occupying the toe of that boot, and the country of Yemen occupying the heel.

24. Snow ___ : PEAS
Snow peas are lovely vegetables, noted for having edible pods without that any inedible fiber.

26. “Foolish” singer, 2002 : ASHANTI
Ashanti Douglas is an American R&B singer who uses just “Ashanti” as her stage name.

28. “This somehow feels familiar …” : IT’S DEJA VU
“Déjà vu” is French for “already seen”.

38. Like Bourne in “The Bourne Identity” : AMNESIC
“The Bourne Identity” is a great spy novel written by Robert Ludlum, first published in 1980. “The Bourne Identity” has been ranked as the second best spy novel of all time, just behind the even more enjoyable “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold” by John le Carré. Ludlum wrote two sequels, and all three parts of “The Bourne Trilogy” have been made into very successful movies starring Matt Damon in the title role. Ludlum died before he could write more than three novels featuring Jason Bourne, but five more titles in the series have been published, written by Eric Van Lustbader. I must check them out …

46. Ludwig wrote für her : ELISE
“Fur Elise” is a beautiful piece of music written by Beethoven, and is also known as “Bagatelle in A Minor”. “Fur Elise” means simply “For Elise”, but sadly no one knows the identity of the mysterious Elise.

48. Dutch-based banking giant : ING
ING is a huge Dutch banking institution created via a merger in 1991. The company headquarters is in a spectacular building in Amsterdam called simply ING House. ING stands for Internationale Nederlanden Groep.

50. Locale of a Horatio Nelson victory : NILE
Lord Nelson was known as the Hero of the Nile after his decisive victory over the French at the Battle of the Nile in 1798.

Admiral Horatio Nelson is noted for his victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. The battle was a decisive win for the British during the Napoleonic Wars, fought against the combined fleets of France and Spain. Nelson was fatally wounded by a marksman from one of the French ships, but as he was conscious he continued to monitor the battle, dying three hours after he was shot. Nelson was much revered by his crew who felt that his body had to be returned to England. The body was placed in a barrel full of brandy and the barrel lashed to the mainmast of the Victory and placed under guard. The damaged flagship was towed to Gibraltar where the the body was transferred to a lead-lined coffin and the brandy replaced by aqua vitae, spirits of wine. While the body continued its journey home, dispatches reporting the outcome of the battle were carried to England on a ship called … HMS Pickle!

51. Casino activity : KENO
The name “Keno” has French or Latin roots, with the French “quine” being a term for five winning numbers, and the Latin “quini” meaning “five each”. However, Keno actually originated in China. The game was introduced to the West by Chinese immigrants who were working on the first Transcontinental Railroad in the 1800s.

52. Physics dept. offering : ASTR
Astronomy is studied in a physics department at a university.

54. Easter fleur : LIS
“Lys” (also “lis”) is the French word for “lily”, as in “fleur-de-lys”, the heraldic symbol often associated with the French monarchy.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Attempt to appear alert, say : STIFLE A YAWN
12. Unregulated : NO HOLDS BARRED
14. The same old, same old : BUSINESS AS USUAL
16. Skillfully snatched : SNARED
17. Grinding away : AT IT
18. Way with a no. : RTE
19. Logical conjunctions, in mathematics : ANDS
20. Certain leatherworker : DYER
21. “Don’t Look Now” diretcor : ROEG
22. Feature of the previous clue : TYPO
25. Ignore : LET BE
26. “In my opinion …” : AS I SEE IT
30. 1950s heartthrob : FABIAN
31. Dean Martin persona : SOT
32. Exemplar of masculinity : MAN’S MAN
34. El ___ : CID
35. Sounds off? : HUSHES
37. Some modern subscriptions : PODCASTS
39. Neil Armstrong’s middle name : ALDEN
40. Look : SEEM
41. Home of the Aztec Ruins Natl. Monument : N MEX
42. I.O.U. : CHIT
45. Chero-Cola, after a name change : NEHI
49. Blues guitarist ___ Mahal : TAJ
50. Trick or treat, e.g. : NOUN
51. Kato who testified against O. J. : KAELIN
53. Vinaigrette alternative : ITALIAN DRESSING
56. Lab figure who might cackle in glee : EVIL SCIENTIST
57. “Star Wars” catchphrase : USE THE FORCE

Down
1. “My heart bleeds” : SO SAD
2. Lusts : THIRSTS
3. Skye of “Say Anything …” : IONE
4. Ran : FLED
5. Inits. for Mitt Romney : LDS
6. Frank Rich piece : ESSAY
7. Lower : ABATE
8. P.L.O.’s Arafat : YASIR
9. Stuck in ___ : A RUT
10. Targets for QBs : WRS
11. Worrywarts, e.g. : NEUROTICS
12. Sir Trevor of the Royal Shakespeare Company : NUNN
13. Young, alluring sort : DATE BAIT
14. Youth org. since 1910 : BSA
15. Robin Hood and Helen of Troy : LEGENDS
20. Bump off : DO IN
21. Gray figure? : REB
23. The heel of a geographical boot : YEMEN
24. Snow ___ : PEAS
25. Renaissance fair sight : LANCE
26. “Foolish” singer, 2002 : ASHANTI
27. This bud’s for you : SOULMATE
28. “This somehow feels familiar …” : IT’S DEJA VU
29. Recipe abbr. : TSP
30. Sparkle a little less : FADE
33. Very, very : MOST
36. Kind of nut : HEX
38. Like Bourne in “The Bourne Identity” : AMNESIC
42. It’s clear when danger subsides : COAST
43. Feeling : HUNCH
44. Kind of rock : INDIE
46. Ludwig wrote für her : ELISE
47. Help for a guesser : HINT
48. Dutch-based banking giant : ING
50. Locale of a Horatio Nelson victory : NILE
51. Casino activity : KENO
52. Physics dept. offering : ASTR
54. Easter fleur : LIS
55. Target of fans’ scorn : REF

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