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: Kelsey Boes
THEME: Reverse the Order … all the theme answers are well-known expressions in the format “A the B”, except that to match the clue, the first and last words are swapped, giving “B the A”:
20A. Directs rush-hour traffic? : CONTROLS THE JAM (jam the controls)
25A. Posts abusive comments about a team supporter? : FLAMES THE FAN (fan the flames)
43A. Blend an illegal street drug? : WHIP THE CRACK (crack the whip)
52A. Ask “Is this really diet soda?,” for instance? : QUESTION THE POP (pop the question)
COMPLETION TIME: 13m 06s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
5. Noncom naval personnel : CPOS
A Chief Petty Officer (CPO) is a non-commissioned officer in the Navy and Coast Guard. The “Petty” is derived from the French word “petit” meaning “small”.
Shari Lewis was the original puppeteer behind the PBS children’s show “Lamb Chop”. After she died in 1998, Lewis’s daughter Mallory took over her role.
15. Russia’s ___ Mountains : URAL
The eastern side of the Ural Mountains in Russia is generally regarded as the natural divide between the continents of Europe and Asia.
The mega-hit TV show “Dallas” started out life as a five-part mini-series in 1978. Who can remember who it was that shot J.R.?
23. “Aladdin” prince : ALI
The Disney animated feature “Aladdin” was released in 1992 and is one of the best features to come out of the studio, in my opinion, largely due to the great performance by Robin Williams who voiced the Genie. “Aladdin” was the most successful film of 1992, earning over $500 million worldwide, an unusual feat for an animated movie.
24. Prefix with metric : ISO-
The word “isometric” comes from Greek, and means “having equal measurement”. Isometric exercise is a resistance exercise in which the muscle does not change in length (and the joint angle stays the same). The alternative would be dynamic exercises, ones using the joint’s full range of motion.
25. Posts abusive comments about a team supporter? : FLAMES THE FAN
We’ve been using the verb “to flame” to describe a “verbal” attack online since the eighties.
The New Jersey Devils are the professional ice hockey team based in Newark. The club was founded in 1974 in Kansas City, originally as the Mohawks, and then quickly renamed the Scouts. The franchise moved to Denver in 1976, becoming the Colorado Rockies. The move to Newark happened in 1982, when the team was renamed the New Jersey Devils.
“‘Tis” was Frank McCourt’s sequel to “Angela’s Ashes”, the story of his life growing up in Ireland. Frank McCourt passed away in 2009.
37. Woodrow Wilson is the only U.S. president to have one : PHD
Woodrow Wilson was a professor at Princeton from 1890 to 1902 at which time he was promoted to president of the university. Professor Wilson had earned his PhD. at John Hopkins University in 1886, so that when he was elected 28th President of the United States in 1912, he became the only US President to hold a PhD.
“Grease” was, and still is, a very successful stage musical with a blockbuster film version released in 1978. In the story the leader of “The Pink Ladies” is Betty Rizzo, played by Stockard Channing in the movie.
40. Duke’s athletic grp. : ACC
Duke University’s sports teams are known as the Blue Devils, and are a member of the NCAA’s Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
Duke University was founded in 1838 as Brown’s Schoolhouse. The school was renamed to Trinity College in 1859, and to this day the town where the college was located back then is known as Trinity, in honor of the school. The school was moved in 1892 to Durham, North Carolina in part due to generous donations from the wealthy tobacco industrialist Washington Duke. Duke’s donation required that the school open its doors to women, placing them on an equal footing with men. Trinity’s name was changed to Duke in 1924 in recognition of the generosity of the Duke family.
The Wii is the biggest selling game console in the world. Two distinguishing features are the impressive wireless remote control and its WiiConnect24 system which allows the console to get messages and updates wirelessly in standby mode. I have my kids unplug the darn thing when they aren’t using it, as even in standby mode it sucks up bandwidth on my wireless network here at the house.
Eileen Collins was the first female pilot of a Space Shuttle, and the first female commander of a Space Shuttle mission. She was also the first astronaut to fly the shuttle through the 360-degree, rendezvous pitch maneuver. This maneuver became routine for Shuttles in docking with the International Space Station. The idea is to for the spacecraft to perform a back-flip so that the crew of the Space Station can photograph the Shuttle’s heat-shield to verify integrity prior to reentry.
43. Blend an illegal street drug? : WHIP THE CRACK
Crack cocaine is manufactured from powdered cocaine in a simple process. The powder is dissolved in an aqueous solution of baking soda, and the liquid is boiled off leaving a solid residue. The residue is broken up into chunks, and sold as crack. Apparently the crack is smoked, delivering an awful lot of cocaine into the body very quickly though the lungs. Nasty stuff …
Stephen Rea is an Irish actor, whose most famous role was that of the “retired” IRA man in the brilliant 1992 film “The Crying Game”. He also starred in the chilling movie “Stuck”, a 2007 film that is based on a true story about a woman who commits a hit and run on a homeless man. The woman leaves the scene of the crime with the victim still “stuck” in her windshield. The woman then leaves the man to die in her garage. Chilling, eh? But as I said, a true story …
48. G.I.’s entertainment provider : USO
The United Service Organization (USO) was founded in 1941 at the request of FDR, “to handle the on-leave recreation of the men in the armed forces”. A USO tour is undertaken by troupe of entertainers, many of whom are big-name celebrities, to troop locations that often include combat zones.
“The Night of the Iguana” is a play by Tennessee Williams, based on a short story that he wrote in 1948. Famously, the play was adapted for the screen in a 1964 movie of the same name, with powerful performances by Richard Burton, Ava Gardner and Deborah Kerr.
Lena Horne was an American jazz singer, actress, dancer and civil rights activist. she passed away not long ago, on May 9, 2010. She started out her career as a nightclub singer, and then started to get some meaty acting roles in Hollywood before being blacklisted during the McCarthy Era for expressing left wing political views. One of her starring roles was in the 1943 movie “Stormy Weather” for which she also performed the title song.
62. They’re often taken in rehab : STEPS
Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A) was founded in 1935, by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio. As the organization grew, the guiding principles established by the founders were formatted into a 12-step program that was in place by the the forties.
63. Part of Y.M.C.A.: Abbr. : ASSN
The YMCA is a worldwide movement that has its roots in London, England. There, in 1844, the Young Men’s Christian Association was founded with the intent of promoting Christian principles through the development of “a healthy spirit, mind and body”. The founder, George Williams, saw the need to create YMCA facilities for young men who were flocking to the cities as the Industrial Revolution flourished. He saw that these men were frequenting taverns and brothels, and wanted to offer a more wholesome alternative.
Down
Vasco da Gama left on his first voyage of discovery in 1497, leaving Lisbon with four ships. He journeyed around the Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost tip of Africa, and across the Indian Ocean making landfall in India. Landing in India, his fleet became the first expedition to sail directly from Europe to the sub-continent. Vasco da Gama was well known for acts of cruelty, especially on local inhabitants. One of his milder atrocities was inflicted on a priest that he labelled as a spy. He had the priest’s lips and ears cut off, and sent him on his way after having a pair of dog’s ears sewn onto his head.
From 1996 to 2006 Apple sold a relatively cost-effective line of laptops they called the iBook. Basically, an iBook was a stripped-down version of the high-end PowerBook, in a different form factor and targeted at the consumer and education markets. The iBook was replaced by the MacBook in 2006.
4. Mo. of Mexican Independence Day : SEPT
Mexico celebrates Independence Day on September 16 each year. The day was chosen as the Mexican War of Independence started on September 16, 1810.
5. Cathedral toppers : CUPOLAS
A cupola is a small dome-like structure on the top of a building. “Cupola” comes from the Latin “cupula” meaning “small cup”.
7. Scull propellers : OARS
A scull is a boat used for competitive rowing. The main hull of the boat is often referred to as a shell.
8. Airplane wing component : SLAT
In an airplane wing, a slat is a moving surface on the leading edge of the wing, primarily having the same effect as the flap on the trailing edge. With slats and flaps deployed, a plane can fly more slowly, and take off or land in a shorter distance.
Many of his contemporaries regarded Jimi Hendrix as the greatest electrical guitarist in the history of rock music. Hendrix was from Seattle, and had a less than stellar start to his working life. He didn’t finish high school, and fell foul of the law by getting caught in stolen cars, twice. The courts gave him the option of the army or two years in prison. Hendrix chose the former, and soon found himself in the famous 101st Airborne. In the army, his less than disciplined ways helped him (as he would have seen it) because his superiors successfully petitioned to get him discharged after serving only one year of his two-year requirement, just to get him out of their hair.
27. Grauman of Grauman’s Chinese Theater : SID
Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles is famous for its celebrity hand and footprints preserved in cement in the forecourt. This tradition started by accident in the mid-twenties when the theater was still under construction. The story is that the actress Mary Pickford (although some say it was Norma Talmadge) stepped in wet cement by mistake. Grauman decided to invite other stars to leave their prints as a permanent record of their celebrity.
28. Discombobulate : FAZE
To discombobulate is to faze, disconcert, to confuse.
An adze (also adz), while similar to an axe, is different in that the blade of an adze is set at right angles to the tool’s shaft. The blade of an axe is set in line with the shaft.
33. Part of Caesar’s boast : VICI
The oft-quoted “Veni, vidi, vici” (“I came, I saw, I conquered”) is believed by many to have been written by Julius Caesar. The words date back to 47 BC and refer to the short war between Rome and Pharnaces II of Pontus.
Ricoh is a Japanese company that started out in 1936, and by the year 2000 was the biggest manufacturer of copiers in the world. The company is also well known as a supplier of cameras.
George Eastman founded the Eastman Kodak Company, named after the Kodak camera that he had invented four years earlier. He came up with the name of Kodak after careful consideration. Firstly he was a big fan of the letter “K”, calling it “strong, incisive”. He also wanted a word that was short, easy to pronounce and difficult to mispronounce, and a word that was clearly unique with no prior associations. “Kodak” fit the bill.
45. Magnetic induction units : TESLAS
The Tesla unit measures the strength of a magnetic field, and is named after the Yugoslavian-American physicist Nikola Tesla.
Nikola Tesla was born in Serbia, but later moved the US. His work on mechanical and electrical engineering was crucial to the development of alternating current technology, used by equipment that is at the backbone of modern power generation and distribution systems.
50. “À ___ santé!” : VOTRE
“À votre santé” is French for “to your health”. Cheers!
51. Cathedral areas : APSES
The apse of a church or cathedral is a semicircular recess in an outer wall, usually with a half-dome as a roof, and often where there resides an altar. Originally, apses were used as burial places for the clergy and also for storage of important relics.
56. Coin with a map on its back : EURO
The European Union today stands at a membership of 27 states. The Euro is the official currency of only 16 of those 27 states. The list of states not using the Euro includes the UK, Denmark, Sweden and Norway.
For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Limo-riding sorts : VIPS
5. Noncom naval personnel : CPOS
9. Puppeteer Lewis : SHARI
14. Adept : ABLE
15. Russia’s ___ Mountains : URAL
16. Bird that flies with its neck retracted : HERON
17. “Dallas,” e.g. : SOAP OPERA
19. Keep an ___ : EYE ON
20. Directs rush-hour traffic? : CONTROLS THE JAM
22. Green-lights : OKS
23. “Aladdin” prince : ALI
24. Prefix with metric : ISO-
25. Posts abusive comments about a team supporter? : FLAMES THE FAN
31. New Jersey hockey squad : DEVILS
34. “Angela’s Ashes” follow-up : ‘TIS
35. Hubbub : ADO
36. Like days when you forget to take an umbrella, all too often? : RAINY
37. Woodrow Wilson is the only U.S. president to have one : PHD
38. Betty ___ (“Grease” role) : RIZZO
40. Duke’s athletic grp. : ACC
41. Source of lots of living-room arm-waving : WII
42. Astronaut Collins : EILEEN
43. Blend an illegal street drug? : WHIP THE CRACK
47. Stephen of “V for Vendetta” : REA
48. G.I.’s entertainment provider : USO
49. Gardner of “The Night of the Iguana” : AVA
52. Ask “Is this really diet soda?,” for instance? : QUESTION THE POP
57. Hearing-related : AURAL
58. Beachwear : SWIMSUITS
59. Summation signifier, in math : SIGMA
60. “Stormy Weather” singer Horne : LENA
61. Like a total solar eclipse : RARE
62. They’re often taken in rehab : STEPS
63. Part of Y.M.C.A.: Abbr. : ASSN
64. Rightmost column in an addition : ONES
Down
1. Explorer ___ da Gama : VASCO
2. Old Apple : IBOOK
3. Schedules : PLANS
4. Mo. of Mexican Independence Day : SEPT
5. Cathedral toppers : CUPOLAS
6. Event before the main event : PRELIM
7. Scull propellers : OARS
8. Airplane wing component : SLAT
9. “You’ve got to be kidding!” : SHEESH
10. Jimi Hendrix’s first single : HEY JOE
11. Base times height, for a rectangle : AREA
12. No ___ at the 13-Down : ROOM
13. See 12-Down : INN
18. By mouth : ORALLY
21. Web site visits : HITS
25. Feature of many a 1950s car : FIN
26. Work ___ : ETHIC
27. Grauman of Grauman’s Chinese Theater : SID
28. Discombobulate : FAZE
29. Woodworking tool : ADZE
30. Lunchtime, often : NOON
31. Inconclusive outcome : DRAW
32. Every one : EACH
33. Part of Caesar’s boast : VICI
37. Crusty dish : PIE
38. Some cameras : RICOHS
39. Kind : ILK
41. “Come again?” : WHAT
42. George who founded Kodak : EASTMAN
44. Roadie’s tote : PREAMP
45. Magnetic induction units : TESLAS
46. Confrontations : RUN-INS
49. Beelike : APIAN
50. “À ___ santé!” : VOTRE
51. Cathedral areas : APSES
52. Throw in the towel : QUIT
53. Desire : URGE
54. Cuba, por ejemplo : ISLA
55. Is in the red : OWES
56. Coin with a map on its back : EURO
57. Animal present at Jesus’ birth, in tradition : ASS
Return to top of page