Category: Lee Glickstein

The name’s William Ernest Butler, but please call me Bill. I grew up in Ireland, but now live out here in the San Francisco Bay Area. I’m retired now, from technology businesses that took our family all over the world. I answer all emails, so please feel free to email me at bill@paxient.com, or leave a comment below.

If you are working on the New York Times crossword in any other publication, you are working on the syndicated puzzle. Here is a link to my answers to today’s SYNDICATED New York Times crossword. To find any solution other than today’s, enter the crossword number (e.g. 1225, 0107) in the “Search the Blog” box above.

This is my solution to the crossword published in the New York Times today …

COMPLETION TIME:  20m 19s
THEME: REARRANGED CLUES … I am going to get loads of emails, I just know it, because some folks are going to hate this puzzle. Personally I liked it. For April Fools Day, the clues have been fooled with and the order of the words in each clue has to be changed in order for the clue to make sense.
ANSWERS I MISSED:

TODAY’S WIKI-EST, AMAZONIAN GOOGLIES
Across
1. Talks little : CHATS
Little talks

6. Short chest, for muscles : PECS
Chest muscles, for short

10. Funny co-star in “Barbra’s Girl” : OMAR
Barbra’s co-star in “Funny Girl”
I’ve always wondered if the Fanny Brice from Jane Austen’s “Mansfield Park” was somehow related to the Fanny Brice that Barbra Streisand played in “Funny Girl“. It turns out there is no connection. Fanny Brice of musical fame was a real person, as man of you probably knew. She was a theater and film actress, and the musical was very loosely based on her life story. Fanny Brice was born into a Hungarian Jewish family in New York City, with the real name of Fania Borach.

14. Washington’s Sound ___ : PUGET
Washington’s ____ Sound
George Vancouver was a British explorer, and an officer in the Royal Navy. As well as exploring the coast of Australia, he is best known for his travels along the northwest coast of North America. Of course the city of Vancouver was named in his honor. Travelling with him on his Vancouver voyage was a lieutenant Peter Puget, and in his honor, Vancouver named the waters south of the Tacoma Narrows, Puget’s Sound. Nowadays, the name Puget Sound covers an area much greater than Vancouver had envisioned.

15. Main contents of the Spanish : AGUA
Contents of the Spanish Main

16. Clothing court : ROBE
Court clothing

17. Like the clues in all the words in this puzzle : REARRANGED

19. The Terrible ___ : IVAN
____ the Terrible
The Grand Prince of Moscow, Ivan IV, became known as Ivan the Terrible. The name “terrible” is a translation from Russian, but perhaps gives the wrong impression. The Russian word if “Grozny”, which is more akin to “strict” and “powerful” rather than “cruel” or “abominable”.

20. As a grasshopper prepares : MIXES
Prepares, as a grasshopper
One recipe for the cocktail known as a grasshopper is one part green creme de menthe, one part white creme de cacao, and one part fresh cream. The grasshopper takes its name from the green color imbued by the creme de menthe.

21. Food process : DIGEST
Process food

23. Faith without a person : INFIDEL
Person without a faith
Infidel is an English word, created by the Roman Catholic Church to describe someone who did not believe in the Catholic dogma. The word comes from Latin “infidelis” meaning “unfaithful”. During the time of the Crusades, the word “infidel” came to mean any non-Christian, and particular the Saracens of North Africa.

26. Years of plenty : DECADES
Plenty of years

27. Fine with choked sand : SILTED
Choked with fine sand

28. Date for many a place : CINEMA
Place for many a date
The word “cinema” comes from the Greek “Kinama” meaning “movement”. The name was applied to the new technology of “moving” pictures. So, cinema has the same root as “kinetic” as in “kinetic energy”.

29. Visitor space : ALIEN
Space visitor

30. Drive off the top? : PAVE
Top of the drive?

31. “___ Dies” : IRAE
“Dies ____”
Dies Irae is Latin for “Day of Wrath”. It is the name of a famous melody in Gregorian Chant, and is often used as part of the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass.

34. Music backdrop of “The Sound” : ALP
“The Sound of Music” backdrop
“The Sound of Music” is a Rogers and Hammerstein musical, made into a celebrated movie in 1965 starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The musical is based on “The Story of the Trapp Family Singers“, a memoir by Maria von Trapp. The von Trapp family ended up in Stowe, Vermont after the war. One family descended from the Vermont von Trapps lives here in the same town that I live in California.

35. Alley ___ : TORNADO
____ Alley
Tornado Alley has no precisely defined area, but generally lies between the Rockies and the Appalachians. It is of course he area in the US where tornadoes occur most frequently.

38. General program for a future, maybe: Abbr. : OCS
Program from a future general, maybe
Officer Candidate School.

39. Of kind society : CAFE
Kind of society
Cafe society was the name given to a somewhat elitist and bright group of people that gathered in the places to be in the late 1800s. One mainly found cafe society in Paris, London, Vienna and New York City. From the fifties onwards, the name “jet set” tended to be used to describe the same type of people.

41. Supply nursery : POTS
Nursery supply

42. Faces sulky : POUTS
Sulky faces

44. Places small American flags for : LAPELS
Places for small American flags

46. Mouse ___ : MINNIE
____ Mouse
Minnie and Mickie were both introduced to the world in 1928. Minnie was original known as Minerva, and sometimes still is.

47. Old like some painted cars : TWO TONE
Like some old painted cars

49. Cleared home at the plate? : DINED IN
Cleared the plate at home?

50. Tool fencing : RAPIER
Fencing tool

51. Union in the European capital : SOFIA
Capital in the European Union
Sofia is the capital of Bulgaria. Natives pronounce the name “Sofia” with the emphasis on the “o”, while the rest of tend to stress the “i”. Bulgarians do agree with us though when it comes the girl’s name “Sofia”, then they stress the “i” like we do!

52. Channel game : ESPN
Game channel.

53. Like the clues in all the words in this puzzle : OUT OF ORDER

58. Some served veterans there: Abbr. : VIET
Some veterans served there: Abbr.

59. Cry ___ : A FAR
___ cry

60. Brief blowup, in “Big” : N-TEST
“Big” blowup, in brief
That would be a test of a nuclear bomb.

61. Opening China? : INDO
China opening

62. Example, for boxers : DOGS
Boxers, for example

63. For one square : SHAPE
Square for one

Down
1. Revival of a cause, briefly : CPR
Cause of a revival, briefly
CardioPulmonary Resuscitation used to involve the simultaneous compression of the chest to pump blood using the heart, and artificial respiration by blowing air into the lungs. Nowadays emergency services are placing more emphasis on the heart compressions, and less on the artificial respiration (I just discovered).

2. Cry of partner : HUE
Partner of cry

3. Respect of Eastern title : AGA
Eastern title of respect
Aga, or agha, is a title that was used by both civil and military officials in the Ottoman Empire.

4. Of a colony member : TERMITE
Member of a colony

5. Having a sound grating : STRIDENT
Having a grating sound

6. Show part of a game : PANEL
Part of a game show

7. With spurs on : EGGS
With on, spurs

8. Go on to signal : CUE
Signal to go on

9. Low on the side : SADDENED
On the low side

10. Craft paper : ORIGAMI
Paper craft
The word origami is derived from ori (folding) and kami (paper).

11. Like the clues in all the words in this puzzle : MOVED AROUND

12. In lower rank : ABASE
Lower in rank
Meaning, it’s the verb “to lower in rank”.

13. Letters for checks : RENTS
Checks for letters

18. In a split way : AXED
Split in a way

22. Cooler drink : ICE
Drink cooler

23. Stern violinist : ISAAC
Violinist Stern
Isaac Stern was Ukranian-born, but moved with his family to San Francisco at a very young age. A wonderful violin vituoso …

24. Wafer ___ : NILLA
____ wafer
As one might expect, Nilla is a shorted from of “vanilla”. However, you won’t find any vanilla in any Nilla cookies or wafers. They always been flavored with vanillin, synthetic vanilla. Is nothing sacred?

25. Like the clues in all the words in this puzzle : FLIP-FLOPPED

26. Attitude with singers : DIVAS
Singers with attitude

28. Secret thieves of slang : CANTS
Secret slang of thieves
Thieves’ cant was also known as Rogues’ cant, and was just that, a secret language used among thieves. It was used by miscreants in Britain mainly, but has largely disappeared.

30. Worker routine : PROLE
Routine worker
George Orwell introduced us to the proles, the working class folk in his famous novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four“. Collectively, the proles made up the section of society known as the proletariat.

32. Half of a musical second : ACT II
Second half of a musical

33. City steel in Europe : ESSEN
Steel city in Europe
I knew a man back in Ireland, a German national. He had a very sad story from the war, lost his (socialist) parents during the Nazi purges. He lived in Essen. Towards the end of the war, he was in school, living with his grandmother. He was drafted into the army, along with the rest of his class (14 years old he told me). His platoon leader was his old school teacher, so he kept up with classes. One day, he was on guard duty with his class/platoon at the dam above the city. Along come the Dam Busters, with their bouncing bombs. The raid was successful, but he described some terrible famine after the war in the whole of the Ruhr Valley.

36. Drivers of love : OPEN ROAD
Love of drivers

37. Judges of written works : OPINIONS
Written works of judges

40. Part of drain : EAT INTO
Drain part of

43. Heaven, not in here : ON EARTH
Here, not in heaven

45. A dreary poet upon midnight, once : POE
“Once upon a midnight dreary” poet
This is the opening line of Edgar Allen Poe’s famous narrative poem “The Raven“, first published in 1845.

46. Off tee : MIFF
Tee off

47. Fountain ___ : TREVI
____ Fountain
The Trevi Fountain is a huge fountain in the Rome, the largest constructed in the Baroque style. The tradition is that if one throws a coin in the fountain, one is guaranteed a return visit to the city one day. Tourist throw in an amazing 3,000 euros (over $4,000) every day. The money is collected and is used to stock a supermarket for the needy of the city.

48. “When Flower ___ Knighthood” (1922 film) : WAS IN
“When Knighthood ____ Flower” (1922 film)
“When Knighthood Was in Flower” was originally a novel, written by Charles Major (pseudonym of Edwin Caskoden) and published in 1898. The 1922 movie adaptation was famously financed by media magnate William Randolph Hearst. Coincidently, his mistress Marion Davies was selected as the female lead.

49. Opportunities to speak so : DOORS
Opportunities so to speak (I think that’s it!)

51. Does partner for : STAG
Partner for does

54. Light sky, maybe : UFO
Sky light maybe

55. Traffic group that may stop: Abbr. : DEA
Group that may stop traffic
The Drug Enforcement Administration.

56. To know one way : ESP
One way to know
Extra Sensory Perception

57. Offering G.P.S. : RTE
G.P.S. offering