0129-17 New York Times Crossword Answers 29 Jan 17, Sunday

QuickLinks:
Solution to today’s crossword in the New York Times
Solution to today’s SYNDICATED New York Times crossword in all other publications
Solution to today’s New York Times crossword found online at the Seattle Times website
Jump to a complete list of today’s clues and answers

CROSSWORD SETTER: Jim Hyres & David Steinberg
THEME: Hit the Deck
We have a “showdown” in a hand of TWENTY-ONE today. The circled letters spell out the names of the cards in the PLAYER’s hand (down the left of the grid) and in the DEALER’s hand (down the right of the grid). The PLAYER’s hand adds up to TWENTY-ONE, so he or she declares “I WIN”. The DEALER’s hand adds up to twenty-four, so the DEALER is BUST:

69A. Game depicted in the shaded squares : TWENTY-ONE

1A. One side of a 69-Across showdown : PLAYER
26A. Lieutenant, informally : TWO-STRIPER
47A. Fairy tale family : THREE BEARS
86A. Amount of separation, in a party game : SIX DEGREES
106A. “The Call of the Wild” author : JACK LONDON
123A. 1-Across’s cry : I WIN!

14A. Other side of the showdown : DEALER
28A. It’s unreturnable : SERVICE ACE
52A. Celebratory request : GIVE ME FIVE!
88A. Investment seminar catchphrase : CASH IS KING
110A. March Madness stage : ELITE EIGHT
126A. 14-Across’s result : BUST

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 18m 47s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

20. Collective works : OEUVRE
The sum of an artist’s work in his or her lifetime is known as his or her “oeuvre”.

21. “Get lost!” : VAMOOSE!
To vamoose is to “to leave”, coming from the Spanish “vamos” meaning “let’s go”.

22. Pinball wizard’s hangout : ARCADE
Our word “arcade” comes from the Latin “arcus” meaning “arc”. The first arcades were passages made from a series of arches. This could be an avenue of trees, and eventually any covered avenue. I remember arcades lined with shops and stores when I was growing up on the other side of the Atlantic. Arcades came to be lined with lots of amusements, resulting in amusement arcades and video game arcades.

Our modern game of pinball evolved from an earlier table game called bagatelle which used balls, pins and holes (and I remember playing bagatelle as boy in a pub in Ireland). The first “pinball” machine was made by a British inventor who settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. He modified the game of bagatelle, adding a coiled spring and a plunger to introduce balls at the end of the table, a device that is still in use today. From there, manufacturers developed coin-operated versions of pinball, which became popular during the depression as they provided a little entertainment for a few pennies. One distributor of the coin-operated pinball machines started manufacturing them himself as he couldn’t source new games fast enough. He called his pinball game Ballyhoo, and eventually named his company Bally, a brand name well known in the gambling industry to this day.

23. Mother ___ : TERESA
Mother Teresa was born in 1910 in the city that is now called Skopje, the capital of Macedonia. At birth she was given the names Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (“Gonxha” means “little flower” in Albanian). She left home at the age of 18 and joined the Sisters of Loreto, and headed to Loreto Abbey in Rathfarnham in Dublin, Ireland in order to learn English. Her goal was to teach in India, and English was the language used there for instruction by the nuns. After Mother Teresa passed away in 1997 she was beatified by Pope John Paul II, a step on the road to canonization. In order for her to be beatified there had to be documented evidence of a miracle that was performed due to her intercession. The miracle in question was the healing of a tumor in the abdomen of a woman due to the application of a locket containing a picture of Mother Teresa. Documentation of a second miracle is required for her to be declared a saint. The canonization process seems to well underway, with Pope Francis recognizing a second miracle in December 2015.

24. Entertainment on a Jamaican cruise, perhaps : SKA BAND
Ska originated in Jamaica in the late fifties and was the precursor to reggae music. No one has a really definitive etymology of the term “ska”, but it is likely to be imitative of some sound.

25. Kind of paper or test : LITMUS
Litmus is a mixture of naturally-occurring dyes that responds to acidity by changing color. Litmus was probably first used around 1300 by the Spanish alchemist Arnaldus de Villa Nova, who extracted the blue dye from lichens. One suggestion is that the term “litmus” comes from the Old Norse “litmose” meaning “lichen for dyeing”. Litmus is often absorbed onto filter paper, creating “litmus paper” or “pH paper”.

31. Green plant? : MONEY TREE
In the Buddhist tradition, donations are sometimes collected on a “money tree”. Banknotes are tied to the tree by donors, so that the notes resemble the tree’s foliage.

33. Path to enlightenment : ZEN
Zen is a Buddhist school that developed its own tradition in China back in the 7th century AD. Zen is a Japanese spelling of the Chinese word “chan”, which in turn derives from the Sanskrit word “dhyana” meaning “meditation”.

34. Cannon in movies : DYAN
The actress Dyan Cannon is perhaps best known for playing Alice in the 1969 film “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice”, for which she received a Best Actress Oscar nomination. Cannon is also famous for having been on Cary Grant’s long list of wives, from 1965 to 1968 (and he was 33 years her senior).

37. Samoan staple : POI
The corm of some taro plants is used to make poi, the traditional Hawaiian dish (that I think tastes horrible). When a taro plant is grown as an ornamental, it is often called Elephant Ears due to the shape of its large leaves.

The official name for the South Pacific country formerly known as Western Samoa is the Independent State of Samoa. “Samoa” is the western part of the island group, with American Samoa lying to the southeast. The whole group of islands used to be known as Navigators Island, a name given by European explorers in recognition of the seafaring skills of the native Samoans.

38. Bullets legend Unseld : WES
Wes Unseld is a former professional basketball player who spent his entire career playing with the Baltimore/Capital/Washington Bullets.

41. Sushi restaurant wrap? : OBI
The sash worn as part of traditional Japanese dress is known as an obi. The obi can be tied at the back in what is called a butterfly knot.

43. Moxie : SPUNK
We’ve been using the word “spunk” to mean “pluck, courage” since the late 1700s. Prior to that it was a Scottish word meaning “spark”, a word that we absorbed into English.

Back as far as 1876, Moxie was a brand name of a “medicine” peddled with the claim that it “built up your nerve”. In 1924, Moxie was registered as a trademark for a bitter, non-alcoholic beverage (no more claims of nerve-building). And we’ve used the term “moxie” to mean “nerve” ever since …

45. X-File subject : UFO
“The X-Files” is a very successful science fiction show that aired on the Fox network from 1993 to 2002. The stars of the show are David Duchovny (playing Fox Mulder) and the very talented Gillian Anderson (playing Dana Scully). By the time the series ended, “The X-Files” was the longest running sci-fi show in US broadcast history. An “X-Files” reboot started airing in 2016 with Duchovny and Anderson reprising their starring roles.

47. Fairy tale family : THREE BEARS
The story of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” was first recorded in 1837, in England, although the narrative was around before it was actually written down. The original fairy tale was rather gruesome, but successive versions became more family-oriented. The character that eventually became Goldilocks was originally an elderly woman, and the three “nameless” bears became Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear.

65. Sand wedge, e.g. : IRON
That would be golf.

66. Sean Lennon’s mother : ONO
Sean Lennon is the only child of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Sean’s godfather is Elton John. Sean is a musician and composer, and has a band called the Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger.

67. Thanksgiving dish : YAMS
Although in the US we sometimes refer to sweet potatoes as “yams”, the yam is actually a completely different family of plants. True yams are more common in other parts of the the world than they are in this country, and are especially found in Africa.

69. Game depicted in the shaded squares : TWENTY-ONE
The game of “twenty-one” was first referred to in a book by Cervantes, the author famous for writing “Don Quixote”. He called the game “ventiuna” (Spanish for “twenty-one”). Cervantes wrote his story just after the year 1600, so the game has been around at least since then. Twenty-one came to the US but it wasn’t all that popular so bonus payments were introduced to create more interest. One of the more attractive bonuses was a ten-to-one payout to a player who was dealt an ace of spades and a black jack. This bonus led to the game adopting the moniker “Blackjack”.

72. Carpenters with small jobs? : ANTS
Carpenter ants can wreak havoc in a wooden structure. They burrow into damp wood creating galleries and pathways that form a complex network of nests. Unlike termites though, carpenter ants don’t feed on the wood.

73. Last mustachioed president : TAFT
William Howard Taft may have been the 27th President of the United States, but his lifelong ambition was to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. President Taft was able to realize that dream in 1921, eight years after losing his bid for re-election as president. As Chief Justice, this former US President swore in two new presidents: Calvin Coolidge (in 1925) and Herbert Hoover (in 1929). William Howard Taft is also remembered as the most obese president. In the last year of his presidency, he weighed about 340 pounds (he was 5 feet 11 inches tall). Twelve months after leaving the White House, President Taft had dropped 80 pounds and substantially lowered his blood pressure.

79. Place where taps may be heard : BARRACKS
“Taps” is played nightly by the US military, indicating “lights out”. It’s also known as “Butterfield’s Lullaby” as it is a variation of an older bugle call named the “Scott Tattoo”, arranged during the Civil War by the Union Army’s Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield. The tune is called “Taps”, from the notion of drum taps, as it was originally played on a drum, and only later on a bugle. The whole tune comprises just 24 notes, with there only being four different notes within the 24, i.e. “low G”, C, E and “high G”. Minimalism at its best …

82. Skype alternative : FACETIME
FaceTime is an Apple video-telephony application. I guess it’s similar to Skype. Personally, I gave up on Skype and am now an avid user of Google Hangouts …

86. Amount of separation, in a party game : SIX DEGREES
Kevin Bacon is an actor from Philadelphia who appeared first on the big screen in the 1978 comedy “National Lampoon’s Animal House”. That wasn’t to be the big break that Bacon needed though, which came with “Footloose” in 1984. A fun fact about him is that he is the subject of a popular trivia game called “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” in which players have to show that a particular actor can be related to Kevin Bacon in fewer than six links, with each link being a movie in which two actors appear together.

91. Big retailer in women’s fashion : ANN TAYLOR
There was no actual person called Ann Taylor associated with the Ann Taylor line of clothes. The name was chosen by the marketing professionals because “Ann” was considered to be “very New England” back in 1954 when the stores first opened, and “Taylor” suggested that clothes were carefully “tailored”.

93. Upscale bag brand : FENDI
Fendi is an Italian fashion house, founded in 1925 by Adele Casagrande. Fendi started out as a fur and leather shop in Rome, and these days is famous for its line of handbags.

95. Indy 500 winner A. J. : FOYT
A. J. Foyt is a retired racing driver. Foyt is the only driver to have won the Indianapolis 500 (four times, in fact), the Daytona 500, the 24 Hours of Daytona as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

97. Silly Putty holder : EGG
Silly Putty is a silicone polymer that is marketed as a toy, usually sold in an egg-shaped plastic container. It is a remarkable material that can flow like a liquid and can also bounce. Silly Putty was one of those accidental creations, an outcome of research during WWII in search of substitutes for rubber. The substitution became urgent as Japan invaded rubber-producing countries all around the Pacific Rim.

98. Standard poodle name : FIFI
The standard Poodle breed of dog is considered to be the second most intelligent breed, after the Border Collie. The name “poodle” comes from a Low German word meaning “to splash about”, reflecting the original use of the breed as a water retriever.

102. Countenances : MIENS
One’s “mien” is one’s bearing or manner. “Mien” shares the same etymological root as our word “demeanor”.

104. Confession subjects : SINS
A member of the Roman Catholic church can participate in the sacrament of confession. A penitent confesses to a priest, starting with the words, “Bless me Father, for I have sinned. It has been [time period] since my last confession …”

106. “The Call of the Wild” author : JACK LONDON
“The Call of the Wild” is the most widely published novel of writer Jack London. The book tells the story of a dog named Buck that is forced into the hard life of a sled dog in the Yukon. When I was at school in Ireland, we got to read London’s follow-up novel “White Fang”. “White Fang” is a companion novel that the tells the tale of a wolf-dog that is born in the wild but eventually settles into a domesticated life.

110. March Madness stage : ELITE EIGHT
In the NCAA Division I Basketball Championship, the teams remaining at various stages of the tournament are known as:

  • The “Sweet Sixteen” (the regional semi-finalists)
  • The “Elite Eight” (the regional finalists)
  • The “Final Four” (the national semi-finalists)

117. “___ Care of Business” (1974 Bachman-Turner Overdrive hit) : TAKIN’
Takin’ Care of Business” is a 1973 song that perhaps falls into the family of “rock anthems”. It was written by Randy Bachman and recorded by his band Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO). The song was used for many years in an advertising campaign by Office Depot.

118. Eins + zwei : DREI
In German, “eins und zwei” (one and two) comes to “drei” (three).

121. Lieu : STEAD
As one might perhaps imagine, “in lieu” comes into English from the Old French word “lieu” meaning “place”, which in turn is derived from the Latin “locum”, also meaning “place”. So, “in lieu” means “in place of”.

125. With 76-Across, like Arial and Helvetica : SANS …
(76A. See 125-Across : … SERIF)
Serifs are details on the ends of characters in some typefaces. Typefaces without serifs are known as sans-serif, using the French word “sans” meaning “without” and “serif” from the Dutch “schreef” meaning “line”. Some people say that serif fonts are easier to read on paper, whereas sans-serif fonts work better on a computer screen. I’m not so sure though …

Down
2. Wiggle room : LEEWAY
Our word “leeway” meaning “spare margin” is nautical in origin. A vessel’s leeway is the amount of drift motion away from her intended course that is caused by the action of the wind.

3. Light show : AURORA
The spectacular aurora phenomenon is seen lighting up the night sky at both poles of the earth (the Aurora Borealis in the north, and the Aurora Australis in the south). The eerie effect is caused by charged particles colliding with atoms at high latitudes.

4. The “Y” of Y.S.L. : YVES
Yves Saint-Laurent (YSL) was a French fashion designer, actually born in Algeria. Saint-Laurent started off working as an assistant to Christian Dior at the age of 17. Dior died just four years later, and as a very young man Saint-Laurent was named head of the House of Dior. However, in 1950 Saint-Laurent was conscripted into the French Army and ended up in a military hospital after suffering a mental breakdown from the hazing inflicted on him by his fellow soldiers. His treatment included electroshock therapy and administration of sedatives and psychoactive drugs. He was released from hospital, managed to pull his life back together and started his own fashion house. A remarkable story …

9. Linc’s portrayer in 1999’s “The Mod Squad” : OMAR EPPS
Omar Epps is the actor who played Eric Forman on the excellent television series “House”. Prior to playing Dr. Forman, Epps had a recurring role playing Dr. Dennis Grant on “ER”. And, in another link to the world of medicine, Epps was born in Savannah, Georgia to single mom, Dr. Bonnie Epps.

The 1999 movie “The Mod Squad” was an adaptation of the seventies television show of the same name. The part of Lincoln “Linc” Hayes was played by Omar Epps, Claire Danes played Julie Barnes and Giovanni Ribisi played Peter Cochran.

12. “Up” voice actor : ASNER
“Up” is the tenth movie released by Pixar studios, featuring wonderful animation as we have come to expect from Pixar. The film earned itself two Academy Awards. The main voice actor is Ed Asner, whose animated persona as Carl Fredricksen was created to resemble Spencer Tracy, as Tracy appeared in his last film, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”.

14. Artist who said “I don’t do drugs. I am drugs” : DALI
The famous surrealist painter Salvador Dalí was born in Figueres, Spain. I had the privilege of visiting the Dalí Museum in Figueres some years ago, just north of Barcelona. If you ever get the chance, it’s a “must see” as it really is a quite magnificent building with a fascinating collection.

15. Speed skater Heiden : ERIC
Eric Heiden is a former American speed skater, the most successful athlete to compete in any single Winter Olympics. He won five gold medals at the 1980 games in Lake Placid. After retiring from the ice, Heiden became a doctor and is now an orthopedic surgeon in Salt Lake City.

16. Entr’___ : ACTE
The term “entr’acte” comes to us from French, and is the interval “between two acts” (“entre deux actes”) of a theatrical performance. The term often describes some entertainment provided during that interval.

17. Delivery instructions? : LAMAZE
The Lamaze technique for childbirth was developed by a French obstetrician called Fernand Lamaze. He introduced the technique in the west after observing similar practices in the Soviet Union during a visit there in 1951.

18. Infers from data : EDUCES
“To educe” is to draw out, although the term can also have a similar meaning to deduce.

27. “I think,” in texts : IMO
In my opinion (IMO)

35. Holiday air : NOEL
“Noël” is the French word for the Christmas season, ultimately coming from the Latin word for “birth” (natalis). Noel has come to be used as an alternative name for a Christmas carol.

36. Tabloid issue : LIBEL
The word “libel”, meaning a published or written statement likely to harm a person’s reputation, comes into English from the Latin “libellus”, the word for a small book. Back in the 1500s “libel” was just a formal written statement, with the more damaging meaning arising in the 1600s.

Tabloid is the trademarked name (owned by Burroughs, Wellcome and Co,) for a “small tablet of medicine”, a name that goes back to 1884. The word “tabloid” had entered into general use to mean a compressed form of anything, and by the early 1900s was used in “tabloid journalism”, applied to newspapers that had short, condensed articles and stories printed on smaller sheets of paper.

40. Citi rival, informally : B OF A
Bank of America (B of A)

42. Neuwirth of “Frasier” : BEBE
Bebe Neuwirth is a wonderful actress and dancer, very famous for portraying Dr. Lilith Sternin, the wife of Dr. Frasier Crane on “Cheers” and “Frasier”. Neuwirth is a fabulous dancer, having studied ballet at Juilliard. In more recent years she has had starring roles on Broadway, and in 2010 played opposite Nathan Lane in “The Addams Family”. Neuwirth also plays a leading role on the show “Madame Secretary”.

43. Some SAT takers: Abbr. : SRS
Today the standardized test for admission to colleges is known as the SAT Reasoning Test, but it used to be called the Scholastic Aptitude Test and Scholastic Assessment Test, which led to the abbreviation SAT.

47. Super Fro-Yo seller : TCBY
TCBY is a chain of stores selling frozen yogurt, founded in 1981 in Little Rock, Arkansas. The acronym TCBY originally stood for “This Can’t Be Yogurt”, but this had to be changed due to a lawsuit being pressed by a competitor called “I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt”. These days TCBY stands for “The Country’s Best Yogurt”.

48. “Hava Nagila” dance : HORA
The hora is a circle dance that originated in the Balkans. It was brought to Israel by Romanian settlers, and is often performed to traditional, Israeli folk songs. The hora (also horah) is a regular sight at Jewish weddings. Sometimes the honoree at an event is raised on a chair during the hora.

“Hava Nagila” is a Hebrew folk song, with the title translating into “Let Us Rejoice”. The melody is from a Ukrainian folk song. The words to “Hava Nagila” were composed in 1918 to celebrate the British victory in Palestine during WWI.

54. Jane Rochester, nee ___ : EYRE
Jane Eyre is a celebrated novel written by Charlotte Brontë, under the pen name Currer Bell. Over the years, I’ve shared here on my blogs that the “Jane Eyre” story line is a little too dark and Gothic for my taste, but a very persuasive blog reader convinced me to look more at the romantic side of the story and give it a second chance. I watched a wonderful 4-hour television adaptation of the novel made by the BBC a while back and I have to say that because I was focused on the relationship between Jane and Rochester, I was able to push past the Gothic influences (that depress me) so I really enjoyed the story. I thoroughly recommend the 2006 BBC adaptation to fans of the novel.

57. Matchmaker of myth : EROS
Eros, the Greek god of love, gives rise to our word “erotic”, meaning “arousing sexual desire”. Also known as Amor, the Roman counterpart to Eros was Cupid.

62. Suffix with acetyl : -ENE
Acetylene is one of the simplest hydrocarbons, and has the formula C2H2. About 20% of the acetylene produced in the world is used for oxyacetylene gas welding and cutting.

63. Printer paper size: Abbr. : LTR
Letter (ltr.)

68. Famed Broadway restaurateur : SARDI
Sardi’s is a renowned restaurant in the Theater District of Manhattan that was opened in 1927 by Italian immigrant Vincent Sardi, Sr. Sardi’s is famous for attracting celebrities who pose for caricatures that are then displayed on the restaurant’s walls. After the death of actress and director Antoinette Perry in 1946, her friend and partner Brock Pemberton was having lunch at Sardi’s and came up with idea of a theater award that could be presented in Perry’s honor. The award was to be called the Tony Award. In fact, Vincent Sardi, Sr. was presented with a special Tony at the first award ceremony, held in 1947.

70. Ruhr industrial city : ESSEN
Essen is a large industrial city located on the River Ruhr in western Germany.

71. Butcher’s discards : OFFAL
The internal organs and entrails of a butchered animal is referred to as “offal”. Examples of dishes that make use of offal would be sausages, foie gras, sweetbreads and haggis. The term is a melding of the words “off” and “fall”, and dates back to the 14th century. The idea is that offal is what “falls off” a butcher’s block.

75. Laser ___ : TAG
The name “Laser Tag” is really a misnomer as lasers are rarely used in the game. The “guns” actually send out infrared light, and not laser light, which is picked up by infrared detectors worn by the players.

77. Maui memento : LEI
Maui is the second largest of the Hawaiian islands. Maui is sometimes called the “Valley Isle” as it is composed of two volcanoes to the northwest and southeast of the island, each with numerous beautiful valleys carved into them.

81. Superman, at other times : KENT
Superman’s comic book creators gave their title character’s alter-ego the name “Clark Kent” by melding the names of Clark Gable and Kent Taylor, two leading men of the cinema at the time Superman was created. However, they modeled Clark’s character more on the silent film actor Harold Lloyd.

84. Like the sign of the fish : CHRISTIAN
The Ichthys was a secret Christian symbol used in the early church. The symbol is composed of two intersecting arcs and resembles the profile of a fish. The Ichthys reemerged in the early 1970s as an icon for modern Christianity, at which time it was given the nickname “Jesus Fish”. Many Christians nowadays place the symbol on the rear of their cars or wear it as a pendant.

85. Marijuana, in modern slang : ENDO
“Endo” is a slang term for marijuana that is grown indoors, usually using hydroponics. The prefix “endo-” comes from the Greek “endon” meaning “within, inner”.

86. “___ cheese!” : SAY
Photographers often instruct us to say “cheese”, to elicit a smile-like expression. Even Japanese photographers use the word “cheese” for the same effect. Bulgarians use the word “zele” meaning “cabbage”. The Chinese say “eggplant”, the Danish “orange”, the Iranians “apple” and the most Latin Americans say “whiskey”.

88. Young swans : CYGNETS
An adult male swan is called a “cob”, and an adult female is a “pen”. Young swans are called “swanlings” or “cygnets”.

89. Part of a tour : GIG
Musicians use “gig” to describe a job, a performance. The term originated in the early 1900s in the world of jazz.

96. “Lawrence of Arabia” star : O’TOOLE
Irish actor Peter O’Toole got his big break in movies when he played the title role in the 1962 epic film “Lawrence of Arabia”. But my favorite of O’Toole’s movies is much lighter fare, namely “How to Steal a Million” in which he stars opposite Audrey Hepburn.

Lawrence of Arabia” is a 1962 movie that recounts the real life story of T. E. Lawrence, a British army officer famous for his role in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I. The title role in the film is played by Irish actor Peter O’Toole. The role of Sherif Ali ibn el Kharish is played by Omar Sharif.

101. City that’s home to the Firestone Country Club : AKRON
For part of the 1800s, the Ohio city of Akron was the fasting growing city in the country, feeding off the industrial boom of that era. The city was founded in 1825 and its location, along the Ohio and Erie canal connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio River, helped to fuel Akron’s growth. Akron sits at the highest point of the canal and the name “Akron” comes from the Greek word meaning “summit”. Indeed, Akron is the county seat of Summit County. The city earned the moniker “Rubber Capital of the World” for most of the 20th century, as it was home to four major tire companies: Goodrich, Goodyear, Firestone and General Tire.

Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio was established in 1929 as a park for the employees of Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. Today, the club has three golf courses and is a regular venue on the PGA Tour.

Firestone is a tire company founded by Harvey Firestone in 1900. The Firestone company took off when it was selected by Henry Ford as the supplier of tires for his Model T.

102. Divider in the Bible? : MOSES
Moses is an important prophet in Christianity and Islam, and the most important prophet in Judaism. It fell to Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt across the Red Sea. He was given the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, and then wandered the desert with his people for forty years. Moses then died within sight of the Promised Land.

The Red Sea (sometimes called the Arabian Gulf) is a stretch of water lying between Africa and Asia. The Gulf of Suez (and the Suez Canal) lies to north, and the Gulf of Aden to the south. According to the Book of Exodus in the Bible, God parted the Red Sea to allow Moses lead the Israelites from Egypt.

106. “Twister” actress Gertz : JAMI
The actress Jami Gertz is probably best known for playing one of the leads in the sitcom “Still Standing”. Gertz is married to wealthy businessman Antony Ressler. Together, the couple were listed as the number-one donor to charity of any celebrity in the year 2010.

108. Intimate garment, for short : CAMI
A camisole (also “cami”) is a sleeveless undergarment worn by women that extends down to the waist. “Camisole” is a French word that we imported into English, which ultimately derives from the Latin “camisia” meaning “shirt, nightgown”.

111. Company with a noted catalog : IKEA
The IKEA furniture stores use the colors blue and yellow for brand recognition. Blue and yellow are the national colors of Sweden, where IKEA was founded and is headquartered.

112. Dull color, in Düsseldorf : GRAU
“Grau” is a German word meaning “gray”.

Düsseldorf lies in the west of Germany, fairly close to the border with France. The city is located on the River Rhine.

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. One side of a 69-Across showdown : PLAYER
7. Strip of buttons : TOOLBAR
14. Other side of the showdown : DEALER
20. Collective works : OEUVRE
21. “Get lost!” : VAMOOSE!
22. Pinball wizard’s hangout : ARCADE
23. Mother ___ : TERESA
24. Entertainment on a Jamaican cruise, perhaps : SKA BAND
25. Kind of paper or test : LITMUS
26. Lieutenant, informally : TWO-STRIPER
28. It’s unreturnable : SERVICE ACE
30. Musicianship : EAR
31. Green plant? : MONEY TREE
33. Path to enlightenment : ZEN
34. Cannon in movies : DYAN
36. Developer’s purchase : LOT
37. Samoan staple : POI
38. Bullets legend Unseld : WES
40. Top-shelf : BEST
41. Sushi restaurant wrap? : OBI
43. Moxie : SPUNK
45. X-File subject : UFO
47. Fairy tale family : THREE BEARS
52. Celebratory request : GIVE ME FIVE!
58. “Great!” : COOL BEANS!
59. One doesn’t hold stock for long : DAY TRADER
60. “My man” : BRO
61. “What ___?” : ELSE
62. Storied workshop worker : ELF
65. Sand wedge, e.g. : IRON
66. Sean Lennon’s mother : ONO
67. Thanksgiving dish : YAMS
69. Game depicted in the shaded squares : TWENTY-ONE
72. Carpenters with small jobs? : ANTS
73. Last mustachioed president : TAFT
76. See 125-Across : … SERIF
77. Easy-breezy tune : LILT
79. Place where taps may be heard : BARRACKS
82. Skype alternative : FACETIME
86. Amount of separation, in a party game : SIX DEGREES
88. Investment seminar catchphrase : CASH IS KING
90. Lost big : ATE IT
91. Big retailer in women’s fashion : ANN TAYLOR
93. Upscale bag brand : FENDI
94. “Damn right!” : YES!
95. Indy 500 winner A. J. : FOYT
97. Silly Putty holder : EGG
98. Standard poodle name : FIFI
100. Hound : DOG
101. Digital camera mode : AUTO
102. Countenances : MIENS
104. Confession subjects : SINS
106. “The Call of the Wild” author : JACK LONDON
110. March Madness stage : ELITE EIGHT
115. In the distance : AFAR
116. Having a lot to lose, maybe : OBESE
117. “___ Care of Business” (1974 Bachman-Turner Overdrive hit) : TAKIN’
118. Eins + zwei : DREI
119. Message with a subject line : MEMO
120. Unlikely partygoer : LONER
121. Lieu : STEAD
122. Bring in : EARN
123. 1-Across’s cry : I WIN!
124. Tel. no. add-ons : EXTS
125. With 76-Across, like Arial and Helvetica : SANS …
126. 14-Across’s result : BUST

Down
1. Like houseplants : POTTED
2. Wiggle room : LEEWAY
3. Light show : AURORA
4. The “Y” of Y.S.L. : YVES
5. Once, at one time : ERST
6. Behind : REAR
7. Campaign expense : TV SPOT
8. Wine barrel descriptor : OAKEN
9. Linc’s portrayer in 1999’s “The Mod Squad” : OMAR EPPS
10. One may get smashed : LOB
11. Chest-thumping : BOASTING
12. “Up” voice actor : ASNER
13. Changed, as voting districts : REDREW
14. Artist who said “I don’t do drugs. I am drugs” : DALI
15. Speed skater Heiden : ERIC
16. Entr’___ : ACTE
17. Delivery instructions? : LAMAZE
18. Infers from data : EDUCES
19. Feel bitter about : RESENT
27. “I think,” in texts : IMO
29. Neckline shape : VEE
32. Word shortened to its last letter in texts : YOU
35. Holiday air : NOEL
36. Tabloid issue : LIBEL
39. Total : SUM TO
40. Citi rival, informally : B OF A
42. Neuwirth of “Frasier” : BEBE
43. Some SAT takers: Abbr. : SRS
44. Tease : KID
46. Item by many a reception desk : FERN
47. Super Fro-Yo seller : TCBY
48. “Hava Nagila” dance : HORA
49. Hotel bill add-ons : ROOM TAXES
50. Right on a map : EAST
51. From square one : ANEW
53. Marked by futility : VAIN
54. Jane Rochester, nee ___ : EYRE
55. “O.K. by me” : I DON’T MIND
56. Blow off steam : VENT
57. Matchmaker of myth : EROS
62. Suffix with acetyl : -ENE
63. Printer paper size: Abbr. : LTR
64. BTW : FYI
68. Famed Broadway restaurateur : SARDI
70. Ruhr industrial city : ESSEN
71. Butcher’s discards : OFFAL
72. How great minds are said to think : ALIKE
74. Worried : FRETFUL
75. Laser ___ : TAG
77. Maui memento : LEI
78. “O.K. by me” : IT’S FINE
79. Word after snake or sound : BITE
80. Container that may have a sharpener : CRAYON BOX
81. Superman, at other times : KENT
83. Starting on : AS OF
84. Like the sign of the fish : CHRISTIAN
85. Marijuana, in modern slang : ENDO
86. “___ cheese!” : SAY
87. Composer Max who was called “the father of film music” : STEINER
88. Young swans : CYGNETS
89. Part of a tour : GIG
92. Basis of some discrimination : AGE
96. “Lawrence of Arabia” star : O’TOOLE
99. Maniacs : FIENDS
101. City that’s home to the Firestone Country Club : AKRON
102. Divider in the Bible? : MOSES
103. Venetian blind parts : SLATS
105. Bottom of an LP : SIDE B
106. “Twister” actress Gertz : JAMI
107. Some : A FEW
108. Intimate garment, for short : CAMI
109. Bit of progress : DENT
111. Company with a noted catalog : IKEA
112. Dull color, in Düsseldorf : GRAU
113. Word on a towel : HERS
114. Shade : TINT

Return to top of page