0518-23 NY Times Crossword 18 May 23, Thursday

Constructed by: Kiran Pandey
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): For Fun

Themed clues are (deceptively) in the format “X for Y”. Themed answers define what X is for Y, literally. Oh, and it helps to ignore the comma in the clue:

  • 17A Slang, for many : ZILLIONS
  • 24A I, for one : ROMAN NUMERAL
  • 37A Scientific definition, for short : ELECTRICAL FAULT
  • 49A Length, for example : SEVEN LETTERS
  • 61A Anagram, for instance : ANCIENTS

Bill’s time: 16m 15s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

8 The “home” in “There’s no place like home” : KANSAS

“Home! Sweet Home!” is a song that has been around at least since 1827. The melody was composed by Englishman Sir Henry Bishop, using lyrics written by American John Howard Payne.

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home;
A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there,
Which seek thro’ the world, is ne’er met elsewhere.
Home! Home!
Sweet, sweet home!
There’s no place like home
There’s no place like home!

14 Chloé who directed “Nomadland” : ZHAO

Chloé Zhao is a Chinese filmmaker who gained international recognition with the film “Nomadland” (2020), which she wrote, directed, edited, and produced. In addition to her work in film, Zhao is also a trained classical pianist and has played in orchestras in both China and the United States.

“Nomadland” is a 2020 American drama film based on the non-fiction book “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century” by Jessica Bruder. Both the movie and book explore the experiences of older Americans who have lost their homes and jobs and now live on the road as “nomads.” The film stars Frances McDormand as Fern, a widow who becomes a nomad after losing her job and home in a Nevada mining town. Great movie …

16 Nipple ring? : AREOLA

An areola (sometimes “areole”) in anatomy is a small ring of color, as in the areola surrounding the nipple, and the areola surrounding the pupil of the eye. “Areola” (plural “areolae”) comes from Latin, meaning “small open space”, and is a diminutive of the Latin word “area”, meaning “open space”.

20 With 2-Down, the oldest sister city in the U.S. : TOLEDO, …
[2D See 20-Across : … OHIO]

Toledo, Ohio lies in the northwest of the state, at the western end of Lake Erie. Toledo was founded as a result of the prosperity that hit the area when the Miami and Erie Canal was constructed in the 19th century connecting Cincinnati to the Great Lakes. Toledo is known as the Glass City as several glass companies originated there, including Owens Corning and Pilkington North America. There is a large exhibition of glass art at the Toledo Museum of Art.

30 Opposite of a heads up? : TAILS

The two sides of a coin are known as the “obverse” and the “reverse”. The obverse is commonly referred to as “heads”, as it often depicts someone’s head. The reverse is commonly called “tails”, as it is the opposite of “heads”.

41 “My words fly up, my thoughts remain ___”: “Hamlet” : BELOW

The full title of William Shakespeare’s play that we tend to call “Hamlet” is “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”. It is the most performed of all Shakespeare’s plays and it is also his longest, the only one of his works comprising over 4,000 lines. That’s about a 4-hour sitting in a theater …

43 Simu ___, portrayer of Marvel’s Shang-Chi : LIU

Simu Liu is a Chinese-born Canadian actor. One of his more famous roles was playing the title character in the Marvel Comics 2021 superhero movie “Shang-Chi and the legend of the Ten Rings”.

44 Keats or Wordsworth : ODIST

English poet John Keats died in Rome in 1821, and is buried there in the Protestant Cemetery. His last wish was that his grave be marked with a tombstone bearing just the words “”Here lies One whose Name was writ in Water”, and no name nor a date. Keats’ friends honored his request to some extent, as the words were included on the stone and no name is given. The full epitaph reads:

This Grave
contains all that was Mortal
of a
Young English Poet
Who
on his Death Bed, in the Bitterness of his Heart
at the Malicious Power of his Enemies
Desired
these Words to be
engraven on his Tomb Stone:
Here lies One
Whose Name was writ in Water.
24 February 1821

The great English poet William Wordsworth is intrinsically linked with the Lake District in the north of England, where he lived from much of his life. The Lake District is a beautiful part of the country, and I’ve been fortunate enough to visit Dove Cottage in Grasmere a couple of times, where Wordsworth lived with his sister Dorothy …

49 Length, for example : SEVEN LETTERS

There are seven letters in the word “example”.

52 ___ Bo : TAE

Tae Bo isn’t an ancient martial art, even though it perhaps sounds like one. The discipline was developed as a form of aerobic exercise in the 1990s by taekwondo expert Billy Blanks who gave it the name Tae Bo, a melding of “taekwondo” and “boxing”.

53 Fracas : ADO

“Fracas”, meaning “noisy quarrel”, is a French word that we absorbed into English. In turn, the French usage evolved from the Italian “fracasso” meaning “uproar, crash”.

61 Anagram, for instance : ANCIENTS

“Ancients” is an anagram of “instance”.

63 Guy who inspired an early 2010s hip-hop dance : DOUGIE

The Dougie is a hip-hop dance that originated in Dallas. The dance took its name from the rapper Doug E. Fresh, who made similar moves during his performances. And no, I can’t Dougie …

64 Trifling amount : SOU

A sou is an old French coin. We use the term “sou” to mean “an almost worthless amount”.

65 “99 Luftballons” singer : NENA

Nena is a German singer (“Nena” became the name of her band as well) who had a big hit in 1984 with one of my favorite songs of the eighties “99 Luftballons”. The English translation of the German title (“99 Red Balloons”) isn’t literal, with the color “red” added just so that the title had the right number of syllables for the tune. “Luftballon” is the name given to a child’s toy balloon in German.

67 Material for demolition : TNT

“TNT” is an abbreviation for “trinitrotoluene”. Trinitrotoluene was first produced in 1863 by the German chemist Joseph Wilbrand, who developed it for use as a yellow dye. TNT is relatively difficult to detonate so it was on the market as a dye for some years before its more explosive properties were discovered.

Down

3 Chain letter? : MALL

A mall might “let” space to a chain store.

4 Cuban song genre that shares its name with a Spanish dance : BOLERO

The word “bolero” is used to describe slow-tempo Latin music that can be both a dance and a song.

5 Like Eeyore vis-à-vis his storybook companions : GLOOMIER

Eeyore is the donkey character in A. A. Milne’s “Winnie-the-Pooh”. Eeyore is very lovable, but has a gloomy and pessimistic outlook on life.

8 Coffee liqueur brand : KAHLUA

Kahlúa is a rum-based liqueur from Mexico that has a coffee flavor.

9 “Hereditary” director Aster : ARI

Ari Aster is a film director from New York City. He is into horror films, and I am not …

10 What’s rustled in a swish : NET

A swish shot is a basketball shot that goes through the hoop without touching the rim or the backboard, and you can hear that “swish” as it just passes through the net, so they tell me …

12 Haim who co-starred in 2021’s “Licorice Pizza” : ALANA

Haim is a Los Angeles band consisting of three Haim sisters: Este, Danielle and Alana.

13 Place to get a C.D. : S AND L

Savings and Loan (S&L)

18 Golden calf, e.g. : IDOL

According to the Book of Exodus in the Bible, Moses’ brother Aaron made a golden calf as an idol for the Israelites to worship while Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments. When Moses returned, he became angry on seeing the calf and destroyed it.

22 Companywide communication system : INTRANET

An intranet is a computer network that has limited access, usually only to members of a particular organization. An extranet is like an intranet, but is structured to allow access to authorized parties outside of the organization.

26 Put out : MIFF

To miff is to put out, to tee off. “To miff” is a verb that has been around since the early 1600s. In 1824, Sir Walter Scott described the word “miffed” as “a women’s phrase”. That should get him a slap, I’d say …

27 Civil rights activist Baker : ELLA

Ella Baker was a human rights activist and champion of civil rights for African Americans. As well as fighting racism in America, she fought sexism within the civil rights movement.

29 First film appearance of Herbie, a sentient 1963 Volkswagen Beetle : THE LOVE BUG

“The Love Bug” is a 1969 film from Walt Disney, the star of which is a 1963 Volkswagen Bug named Herbie. Believe it or not, the movie is based on a book called “Car, Boy, Girl” written by Gordon Buford. “The Love Bug” spawned a series of sequels such as “Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo” (1977) and “Herbie: Fully Loaded” (2005).

33 Critical hospital dept. : ICU

An intensive care unit (ICU) is found in a hospital (hosp.).

35 Ballet bend : PLIE

The French word for “bent” is “plié”. In the ballet move known as a plié, the knees are bent. A “demi-plié” is a similar move, but with less bending of the knees. A fondu is similar to a plié, except that only one leg remains on the ground.

38 Write in Python, say : CODE

Python is a computer language, apparently one that my computing son uses quite often. The developers of the language tried hard to make it fun to use, and even chose its name from the comedy show “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”.

39 Romulus or Remus : TWIN

According to tradition, Rome was founded by the twin brothers Romulus and Remus. The pair had a heated argument about who should be allowed to name the city and Romulus hit Remus with a shovel, killing him. And so, “Rome” was born, perhaps instead of “Reme”!

45 Tickets : SLATES

In an election, a slate is a group of candidates running on a common platform.

47 Psionic counselor on “Star Trek: T.N.G.” : TROI

Deanna Troi is a character on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” who is played by the lovely Marina Sirtis. Sirtis is a naturalized American citizen and has what I would call a soft American accent on the show. However, she was born in the East End of London and has a natural accent off-stage that is more like that of a true Cockney.

55 Mini display? : KNEE

Carnaby Street is in Soho in London, and is famous for its fashion boutiques. It gained a reputation for leading the mod and hippie styles of dress in the late fifties and sixties. Mary Quant, who introduced the world to the miniskirt, had her boutique in Carnaby Street, and bands like the Rolling Stones and the Who worked and socialized in the area in the Swinging Sixties.

56 Where Zeus trapped the monster Typhon, in myth : ETNA

Typhon was known as the “father of all monsters” in Greek mythology, and he was married to the “mother of all monsters”, Echidna. Typhon had a huge human torso with a hundred dragon heads. His lower body was made up of gigantic viper coils. Although all the gods feared Typhon, Zeus finally defeated him and trapped him underneath Mount Etna.

57 Bolshevik’s bane : TSAR

At the second party congress of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1903, a split developed. The faction with the most support was led by Vladimir Lenin. As they were in the majority, the group became known as the “Bolsheviks”, a term derived from the Russian word for “more” or “majority”. Lenin and the Bolsheviks led the October Revolution of 1917, as a result of which Lenin came to power. He headed the new Soviet State during its formative years.

62 Sine qua ___ : NON

“Sine qua non” is a Latin phrase that we use to mean “the essential element or condition”. The literal translation is “without which not”. One might say, for example, “a challenging crossword is the sine qua non of a good newspaper”. Well, crossword fans might say that …

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Total dud : BOMB
5 Science fair locale, often : GYM
8 The “home” in “There’s no place like home” : KANSAS
14 Chloé who directed “Nomadland” : ZHAO
15 Grazing ground : LEA
16 Nipple ring? : AREOLA
17 Slang, for many : ZILLIONS
19 Video game franchise featuring a clone assassin : HITMAN
20 With 2-Down, the oldest sister city in the U.S. : TOLEDO, …
21 Massage parlor supply : OIL
23 Dead ___ : END
24 I, for one : ROMAN NUMERAL
28 Betraying no emotion : STOLID
30 Opposite of a heads up? : TAILS
31 When repeated, a sound from a brass instrument : WAH!
32 Mideast leader : EMIR
34 Big to-dos : FLAPS
37 Scientific definition, for short : ELECTRICAL FAULT
41 “My words fly up, my thoughts remain ___”: “Hamlet” : BELOW
42 Aroma that may induce meowing : TUNA
43 Simu ___, portrayer of Marvel’s Shang-Chi : LIU
44 Keats or Wordsworth : ODIST
46 Darlington Hall, in “The Remains of the Day” : ESTATE
49 Length, for example : SEVEN LETTERS
52 ___ Bo : TAE
53 Fracas : ADO
54 Go through the roof : ROCKET
58 Optimistic : UPBEAT
61 Anagram, for instance : ANCIENTS
63 Guy who inspired an early 2010s hip-hop dance : DOUGIE
64 Trifling amount : SOU
65 “99 Luftballons” singer : NENA
66 “Heavens to Betsy!” : YE GODS
67 Material for demolition : TNT
68 Valued : DEAR

Down

1 [Wrong answer!] : [BZZT!]
2 See 20-Across : … OHIO
3 Chain letter? : MALL
4 Cuban song genre that shares its name with a Spanish dance : BOLERO
5 Like Eeyore vis-à-vis his storybook companions : GLOOMIER
6 Want : YEN
7 Wall builder : MASON
8 Coffee liqueur brand : KAHLUA
9 “Hereditary” director Aster : ARI
10 What’s rustled in a swish : NET
11 Low turnover? : SOMERSAULT
12 Haim who co-starred in 2021’s “Licorice Pizza” : ALANA
13 Place to get a C.D. : S AND L
18 Golden calf, e.g. : IDOL
22 Companywide communication system : INTRANET
25 Let in : ADMITTED
26 Put out : MIFF
27 Civil rights activist Baker : ELLA
28 Not for ___ : SALE
29 First film appearance of Herbie, a sentient 1963 Volkswagen Beetle : THE LOVE BUG
31 Nexus : WEB
33 Critical hospital dept. : ICU
35 Ballet bend : PLIE
36 Nickname that drops -art : STU
38 Write in Python, say : CODE
39 Romulus or Remus : TWIN
40 Like some diamonds : LASER CUT
45 Tickets : SLATES
47 Psionic counselor on “Star Trek: T.N.G.” : TROI
48 Be on the up and up? : ASCEND
49 Sketch done in preparation for a finished piece : STUDY
50 “The Facts in the Case of ___” (Andrew Sinclair novel that pays homage to a mystery writer) : E A POE
51 Dead meat, so to speak : TOAST
55 Mini display? : KNEE
56 Where Zeus trapped the monster Typhon, in myth : ETNA
57 Bolshevik’s bane : TSAR
59 Something to feed or stroke : EGO
60 Backing : AID
62 Sine qua ___ : NON