1103-13 New York Times Crossword Answers 3 Nov 13, Sunday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Andy Kravis & Victor Barocas
THEME: Stolen Produce … we have several answers today that have had some letters “stolen”. The letters that have been removed are the names of fruits. Each of the fruits is used in another answer that is written to indicate that the fruit is absconding:

23A. Many service dogs, after 29-Across? : GERMAN SHEPHERDS (after GRAPE leaves)
29A. They get stuffed at Greek restaurants : GRAPE LEAVES

40A. Serious break, after 48-Across? : COMPOUND FRACTURE (after DATE books)
48A. Schedule planners : DATEBOOKS

60A. Legendary Scottish swimmer, after 66-Across? : LOCH NESS MONSTER (after LEMON drops)
66A. Tart treats : LEMON DROPS

81A. Circus founders, after 89-Across? : BARNUM AND BAILEY (after BANANA splits)
89A. Ice cream treats : BANANA SPLITS

99A. Where Margaret Thatcher studied chemistry, after 108-Across? : OXFORD UNIVERSITY (after FRUIT flies)
108. Short-lived pests … or an alternative title for this puzzle : FRUIT FLIES

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 21m 44s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Winner of the 2005 and 2007 Grammys for Best Spoken Word Album : OBAMA
I think that there is an error in the clue as President Obama won those Grammy Awards in 2006 and 2008.

The Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album has been won by three US Presidents:Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. In each case, the album was the audio version of a book:

– Bill Clinton for “My Life” in 2005
– Barack Obama for “Dreams from My Father” in 2006
– Jimmy Carter for “Our Endangered Values” in 2007
– Barack Obama for “The Audacity of Hope” in 2008

19. Setting for Henry James’s “The American” : PARIS
“The American” is an 1877 novel by American-born British author Henry James. It tells of a kind-hearted but naive 19th-century American businessman on his first visit to Europe.

20. Actress Chaplin of “Game of Thrones” : OONA
Oona Chaplin is an actress from Madrid in Spain. Chaplin is getting a lot of airtime these days as she plays Talisa Maegyr on HBO’s hit fantasy series “Game of Thrones”. Oona is the granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin, and is named for her maternal grandmother Oona O’Neill. the daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill.

HBO’s “Game of Thrones” is a fantasy television drama that was adapted from a series of novels by George R. R. Martin called “A Song of Ice and Fire”. “Game of Thrones” is actually made in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

21. Company whose logo was, appropriately, crooked : ENRON
After all the trials following the exposure of fraud at Enron, several of the key players ended up in jail. Andrew Fastow was the Chief Financial Officer. He plea-bargained and received ten years without parole, and became the key witness in the trials of others. Even Fastow’s wife was involved and she was sentenced to one year for helping her husband hide money. Jeffrey Skilling (ex-CEO) was sentenced to 24 years and 4 months. Kenneth Lay (CEO) died in 2006 after he had been found guilty but before he could be sentenced. The accounting firm Arthur Andersen was found guilty of obstruction of justice for shredding thousands of pertinent documents and deleting emails and files (a decision that the Supreme Court later overturned on a technicality). But still, Arthur Andersen collapsed under the weight of the scandal and 85,000 people lost their jobs (despite only a handful being directly involved with Enron).

26. ___ Stanley Gardner : ERLE
I must have read all of the Perry Mason books when I was in college. I think they kept me sane when I was facing the pressure of exams. Author Erle Stanley Gardner was himself a lawyer, although he didn’t get into the profession the easy way. Gardner went to law school, but got himself suspended after a month. So, he became a self-taught attorney and opened his own law office in Merced, California. Understandably, he gave up the law once his novels became successful.

27. French colony until 1953 : LAOS
The official name for the country of Laos is the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. In the Lao language, the country’s name is “Meuang Lao”. The French ruled Laos as part of French Indochina, having united three separate Lao kingdoms. As there was a plural of “Lao” entities united into one, the French added the “S” and so today we tend to use “Laos” instead of “Lao”.

28. The Warrior Princess : XENA
The Xena character, famously played by New Zealander Lucy Lawless, was introduced in a made-for-TV movie called “Hercules and the Amazon Women”. Lawless reprised the role in a series called “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys”. Xena became so popular that a series was built around her character, with Lawless retained for the title role.

31. Rapper with the 2013 #1 album “Born Sinner” : J COLE
J. Cole is the stage name of American rap artist Jermaine Cole. J. Cole was born in Germany, on the US Army base in Frankfurt.

34. Eighty-sixes : IXNAYS
Pig Latin is in effect a game. One takes the first consonant of an English word and moves it to the end of the word, and then adds the letters “ay”. So the Pig Latin for the word “nix” is “ix-n-ay” … ixnay, and for “scram” is “am-scr-ay”

“To eighty-six” something is to eject it, to throw it out. The origin of the term is unclear. One story is that it originated in the days of prohibition in the West Village of Lower Manhattan, New York City. When there was a scheduled raid on the establishment called Chumley’s, an informant would call ahead and tell the bartender to “86” his customers i.e. to send them out the door on 86 Bedford Street. The cops would then turn up at the entrance on Pamela Court.

35. Foil user’s words : EN GARDE
“En garde” is a French term that has been absorbed into the sport of fencing. Originally a warning “on guard!”, it is spoken at the start of an encounter to warn the fencers to take a defensive position.

39. A/C measures : BTUS
In the world of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), the power of a heating or cooling unit can be measured in British Thermal Units (BTUs). This dated unit is the amount of energy required to heat a pound of water so that the water’s temperature increases by one degree Fahrenheit.

40. Serious break, after 48-Across? : COMPOUND FRACTURE (after DATE books)
I guess the verb “to book” means “to leave”, although it’s not a term I’ve ever used in that context …

42. Author John Dickson ___ : CARR
John Dickson Carr was an American author of crime fiction. Carr’s most famous work is “The Hollow Man” published in 1935, a so-called “locked room mystery” in which two murders are committed in apparently impossible circumstances. “The Hollow Man” was selected in 1981 as the best “locked room mystery” of all time.

43. Mao ___-tung : TSE
Mao Zedong (also “Mao Tse-tung”) was born on December 16, 1893 in the Hunan Province of China. As Mao was the son of a peasant farmer, his prospects for education were limited. Indeed he left school at age 13 to work on the family farm but did eventually get to secondary school in Changsha, the provincial capital. In the years following, Mao continued his education in Beijing and actually turned down an opportunity to study in France.

50. Years, for Cicero : ANNI
Cicero was a very influential senator in Ancient Rome, in part due to his renowned ability to deliver a persuasive speech.

51. On the q.t. : IN SECRET
“On the qt” is a slang term for “on the quiet”. It has been around since the 1870s.

53. Sail extender : SPRIT
A sprit is a pole that extends out from a mast, often supporting a special sail called a spritsail.

54. She, overseas : ELLE
“Elle” is French for “she”.

56. Greek goddess of witchcraft : HEKATE
Hecate (sometimes “Hekate”) was a three-faced goddess in the Greek and Roman traditions. She was associated with many phenomena, including magic and witchcraft.

59. Salinger title girl : ESME
J. D. Salinger wrote a short story called “For Esme – with Love and Squalor”, originally published in “The New Yorker” in 1950. It is a story about a young English girl called Esme and an American soldier, and is set in WWII.

60. Legendary Scottish swimmer, after 66-Across? : LOCH NESS MONSTER (after LEMON drops)
The Loch Ness monster has been talked about for centuries, but modern interest started in 1933 when a spate of sightings was reported. Those sightings don’t seem to have stopped, with photographs of what is purported to be the monster really sparking the imagination.

71. Gulf of ___ : ADEN
The Gulf of Aden is the body of water that lies south of the Red Sea, and just north of the Horn of Africa.

72. Marx without much to say : HARPO
Harpo Marx was the second oldest of the Marx brothers. Harpo’s real name was Adolph, and he earned his nickname because he played the harp. Famously he didn’t speak on screen, a routine he developed after reading a review that he performed really well when he just didn’t speak!

81. Circus founders, after 89-Across? : BARNUM AND BAILEY (after BANANA splits)
James Anthony Bailey collaborated with P. T. Barnum to establish Barnum and Bailey’s Circus. It was Bailey who negotiated the deal to buy a famous elephant from London Zoo in 1882, the one called “Jumbo”. It was the exposure that Jumbo got in the circus that brought into common usage our term “jumbo” meaning “huge”.

84. “The Lion King” lioness : NALA
In “The Lion King”, Nala is a lioness and the childhood friend of Simba.

87. Swelled head? : ESS
The letter S (ess) is the head letter of the word “swelled”.

88. Ice cream brand : EDY’S
Dreyers’ ice cream sells its products under the name Dreyers in the Western United States, and Edy’s in the Eastern states. The company’s founders were William Dryer and Joseph Edy.

89. Ice cream treats : BANANA SPLITS
The banana split was created in Latrobe, Pennsylvania in 1904. This particular sundae was the idea of David Stickler, a young apprentice pharmacist at the Tassel Pharmacy’s soda fountain.

91. Shield border : ORLE
In heraldry, an orle is a decorative band that lies close to the edge of the front surface of a shield. With such a design, the orle necessarily takes on the shape of the shield.

92. Mastodon features : TUSKS
Mastodons were large mammals that were related to the modern elephant. Mastodons roamed the forest of North and Central America until they became extinct about 10,000 to 11,000 years ago. Their extinction is believed to have come about due to a rapid change in climate.

93. Clobber : SHELLAC
“To shellac” is a slang term meaning “to defeat decisively, to strike severely”.

94. Jet Ski competitor : SEA-DOO
Sea-Doo is a brand name of personal water craft (PWC). Other well-known brands are Jet Ski and WaveRunner.

99. Where Margaret Thatcher studied chemistry, after 108-Across? : OXFORD UNIVERSITY (after FRUIT flies)
Margaret Thatcher served as Prime Minister of the UK from 1979 to 1990, making her the longest serving leader of the country in the 20th century. Thatcher’s nickname in the press was the “Iron Lady”, a moniker bestowed on her by a Soviet journalist. The “Iron Lady” was born Margaret Hilda Roberts, the daughter of a grocer. She studied chemistry at Oxford University and worked for a while as a research chemist.

101. Winglike : ALAR
“Alar” means “wing-shaped”, and comes from the Latin word “alaris” meaning “wing”.

102. “The King and I” role : ANNA
“The King and I” is a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical based on a book by Margaret Landon called “Anna and the King of Siam” first published in 1944. Landon’s book is based on a true story, told in the memoirs of Anna Leonowens. Leonowens was the governess of the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the 1860s, and she also taught the king’s wives.

106. Ulrich of Metallica : LARS
Lars Ulrich is a drummer from Denmark, and one of the founding members of the American heavy metal band called Metallica. Lars is the son of former professional tennis player Torben Ulrich, the oldest Davis Cup player in history.

108. Short-lived pests … or an alternative title for this puzzle : FRUIT FLIES
The common fruit fly is used in biological research because it is easy to care for, it breeds very quickly, and lays lots of eggs. The average lifespan of a fruit fly in nature is about a month.

112. Guam, e.g.: Abbr. : TERR
Guam is a US territory in the western Pacific Ocean, the largest of the Mariana Islands. Guam is also the first territory in the United States to see the sun rise on any particular day. As such, the territory has adopted the motto, “Where America’s day begins”. During WWII, the US territory of Guam was occupied by the Japanese for 31 months until it was liberated in the Battle of Guam in July 1944. Of the 18,000 Japanese men holding the island, only 485 surrendered, so almost all perished in the invasion. One Japanese sergeant hid out on the island for an incredible 28 years, finally surrendering in 1972!

113. Only inanimate zodiac sign : LIBRA
The constellation of Libra is named for the scales held by the goddess of justice. Libra is the only sign of the zodiac that isn’t named for a living creature.

114. Lee of Marvel Comics : STAN
Stan Lee did just about everything at Marvel Comics over the years, from writing to being president and chairman of the board.

116. Northeast vacation locale, with “the” : CAPE
Cape Cod is indeed named after the fish. It was first called Cape Cod by English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602 as his men caught so many fish there.

117. “The Lion’s Share” author : AESOP
Aesop wrote several fables in which a lion takes large share by force. These tales give rise to our idiomatic expression “the lion’s share”.

Down
1. Car with a lightning bolt in its logo : OPEL
Adam Opel founded his company in 1863, first making sewing machines in a cowshed. Commercial success brought new premises and a new product line in 1886, namely penny-farthing bicycles. Adam Opel died in 1895, leaving his two sons with a company that made more penny-farthings and sewing machines than any other company in the world. In 1899 the two sons partnered with a locksmith and started to make cars, but not very successfully. Two years later, the locksmith was dropped in favor of a licensing arrangement with a French car company. By 1914, Opel was the largest manufacturer of automobiles in Germany. My Dad had an Opel in the seventies, a station wagon (we’d say “estate car” in Ireland) called an Opel Kadett.

2. The Tide : BAMA
The athletic teams of the University of Alabama (“Bama”) are nicknamed the Crimson Tide, a reference to the team colors: crimson and white.

3. River of Pisa : ARNO
The city of Pisa is right on the Italian coast, sitting at the mouth of the River Arno, and is famous for its Leaning Tower. The tower is actually the campanile (bell tower) of the city’s cathedral, and it has been leaning since it was completed in 1173. Just shows you how important good foundations are …

6. Poe poem : TO HELEN
Edgar Allen Poe wrote two versions of his poem “To Helen”. The “Helen” in the poems might be the Greek goddess of light or perhaps Helen of Troy. If fact Poe wrote the poem in honor of Jane Stanard, who was the mother of one of his childhood friends.

7. Tony winner Lena : HORNE
Lena Horne was an American jazz singer, actress, dancer and civil rights activist. Horne started out her career as a nightclub singer and then began to get some meaty acting roles in Hollywood. However, she ended up on the blacklist during the McCarthy Era for expressing left wing political views. One of Horne’s starring roles was in the 1943 movie “Stormy Weather” for which she also performed the title song.

9. Second word of “A Tale of Two Cities” : WAS
“A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens is the most printed book that was originally written in English. The two cities in the title are of course London and Paris. The novel’s famous opening words are:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness …

The novel’s closing words are almost as famous:

It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.

11. N.B.A.’s Shaquille and Jermaine : O’NEALS
Shaquille O’Neal is one of the heaviest players ever to have played in the NBA (weighing in at around 325 pounds). Yep, he’s a big guy … 7 foot 1 inch tall.

Jermaine O’Neal is a professional basketball player from Columbia, South Carolina. O’Neal currently plays for the Golden State Warriors.

14. Glenfiddich bottle size : ONE LITRE
Glenfiddich is a well-known single malt Scotch. The name translates as “Valley of the Deer”. As a result, the bottles of Glenfiddich have a stag on the label.

16. Caterpillar, for one : LARVA
Caterpillars are the larval form of butterflies and moths.

17. Dancer Alvin : AILEY
Alvin Ailey was a dancer who formed his own group in New York in 1958, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. The most famous work that Ailey choreographed was called “Revelations”.

24. Book in which Moses is born : EXODUS
The Book of Exodus is the second book in the Bible, and deals with Moses leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. The name “exodus” comes from the Greek “exodos” meaning “departure”.

29. Split the check : GO DUTCH
Strictly speaking, when people “go Dutch” they each pay for themselves, as opposed to “splitting the tab”. That said, there is a suggestion that the term “go Dutch” originated with the Dutch door. Dutch doors had a top and a bottom equally divided in area.

30. They’re way out : EXURBS
Derived from the term “suburb”, an “exurb” is an area beyond the suburbs at the very outskirts of a city. Often the “exurb” is used to denote an area inhabited by more wealthy people.

32. Buds : CRONIES
A crony is a friend or companion. The term originated as slang in Cambridge University in England in the 1600s. “Crony” is probably derived from the Greek “khronios” meaning “long-lasting”.

33. Ball game : BOCCE
The Italian bowling game of “bocce” (anglicized as “bocci”) is based on a game played in Ancient Rome. “Bocce” is the plural of the Italian word “boccia” meaning “bowl”.

35. Med. test : ECG
An EKG measures electrical activity in the heart. Back in my homeland of Ireland, an EKG is known as an ECG (for electrocardiogram). We use the German name in the US, Elektrokardiogramm, giving us EKG. Apparently the abbreviation EKG is preferred as ECG might be confused (if poorly handwritten, I guess) with EEG, the abbreviation for an electroencephalogram.

36. Saints’ home, for short : NOLA
The city of New Orleans, Louisiana has the nickname “The Big Easy”. This name might come from the early 1900s when musicians found it relatively “easy” to find work there. The city is also known by the acronym NOLA, standing for New Orleans, LA.

37. Feds : G-MEN
The nickname “G-men” is short for “Government Men” and refers to agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

38. Frederick’s of Hollywood purchases : BRAS
The Frederick’s of Hollywood chain of lingerie stores was founded by Frederick Mellinger in 1947. Mellinger is the man who invented the push-up bra.

42. Twin-hulled vessel : CATAMARAN
A catamaran is a boat that has two hulls. Catamarans have been around along time, with the design having being used by the Ancient Greeks. Notably, the design was used by the locals in the Bay of Bengal and it was this design that was adopted by European boat builders. The name “catamaran” comes from the Tamil language of southeastern India, with “kattu maram” meaning “logs tied together”.

43. Many a broken statue : TORSO
“Torso” (plural “torsi”) is an Italian word meaning the “trunk of a statue”, a word that we imported into English.

45. Politico Kefauver : ESTES
Estes Kefauver was a Democratic politician from Tennessee. In 1956 Kefauver was the running mate of Adlai Stevenson when Stevenson made a bid for the presidency. The pair of course lost to the Eisenhower-Nixon ticket.

48. Hockey fake : DEKE
A deke, also known as a dangle, is a technique used to get past an opponent in ice hockey. “Deke” is a colloquial shortening of the word “decoy”.

51. “Here’s looking at you, kid” addressee : ILSA
“Here’s looking at you, kid” is a line spoken in “Casablanca” by Rick (Humphrey Bogart) to Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman).

I love the words of one critic describing the chemistry between Bogart and Bergman in the film “Casablanca” … “she paints his face with her eyes”. Wow!

52. Mother, e.g.: Abbr. : REL
Mother is a relative (rel.)

55. Psychedelic drug : LSD
LSD (colloquially known as “acid”) is short for lysergic acid diethylamide. A Swiss chemist called Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938 in a research project looking for medically efficacious ergot alkaloids. It wasn’t until some five years later when Hofmann ingested some of the drug accidentally that its psychedelic properties were discovered. Trippy, man …

57. Mary Lincoln, nee ___ : TODD
Mary Todd moved in the best of the social circles in Springfield, Illinois and there met the successful lawyer, Abraham Lincoln. The path to their marriage wasn’t exactly smooth, as the engagement was broken once but reinstated, with the couple eventually marrying in 1842.

61. Santa ___ : CLAUS
Saint Nicholas of Myra is the inspiration for Santa Claus. Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra (now in modern-day Turkey) during the 4th century AD, and was known for being generous to the poor. Centuries after he died, his remains were desecrated by Italian sailors and moved to Bari in Italy. One legend has it that the relics were moved again centuries later and reburied in the grounds of Jerpoint Abbey in Co. Kilkenny in Ireland, where you can visit the grave today. I choose to believe that Santa Claus’s relics are indeed buried in Ireland …

63. “Law & Order: SVU” force : NYPD
“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” is a spin off the TV crime drama “Law & Order”. “SVU” has been on the air since 1999, and is set in New York City. Interestingly, since 2007 there has been a very successful Russian adaptation of the show that is set in Moscow.

64. Many a collector’s resource : EBAY
eBay was founded in 1995 as AuctionWeb as part of a computer programmer’s personal website. One of the first items purchased was a broken laser pointer, for $14.83. The buyer collected broken laser pointers …

67. Fourth-longest river of Europe : DNIEPER
The Dnieper River rises in Russia, and travels through Belarus and Ukraine to empty into the Black Sea.

73. Puck’s master : OBERON
Oberon and Titania are the King and Queen of the fairies in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.

75. “Over There” soldiers : YANKS
The term “Yankee” originated back in the 1600s when Dutch settlers used to called English colonists “Jankes”, a disparaging term meaning “Little Johns”.

“Over There” is a song that was popular in both WWI and WWII. “Over There” was written in 1917 by George M. Cohan, soon after the US declared war against Germany. The song’s title refers to being “over there” in Europe fighting the good fight.

78. Does what George Washington couldn’t? : TELLS A LIE
The famous story about George Washington cutting down a cherry tree as a child has been shown to be fiction. He supposedly was confronted by his father after taking an axe to a tree and confessed with the words, “I’m sorry father, I cannot tell a lie”. Not true …

79. Oscar winner Jannings : EMIL
Emil Jannings, an actor from Switzerland, was the first person to receive an Oscar. He was the star of the 1928 silent movie called “The Last Command”.

80. Lead-in for physics … and pieman? : META- (or “MET A”)
The word “metaphysics” comes from the Greek “meta” (beyond) and “physika” (physical), and is a branch of philosophy that investigates reality beyond the principles of science. Not something I would understand …

The first verse of the English nursery rhyme is:

Simple Simon met a pieman,
Going to the fair;
Says Simple Simon to the pieman,
Let me taste your ware.

83. Grease dissolver : LYE
To clean out drains we might buy Crystal Drano which is sodium hydroxide (lye) mixed with sodium nitrate, sodium chloride (table salt) and aluminum. The contents of Drano work in concert to clear the clog. The lye reacts with any fats creating soap which may be enough to break up the clog. Also, the finely-divided aluminum reacts with water creating tremendous heat so that that mixture boils and churns, then any hair or fibers are cut by the sharp edges of the nitrate and chloride crystals. Having said all that, I find that boiling water poured down the drain almost always does the job …

86. Medal awarded to MacArthur in W.W. I and W.W. II : DSC
The Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) is the second highest honor awarded to members of the US Army. The DSC is equivalent to the Navy Cross and the Air Force Cross.

General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was one of the US’s most famous military men, truly a legend in his own time. MacArthur has been played on the screen many times. Famous portrayals are by:

– Henry Fonda in “Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur”, a TV movie from 1976
– Gregory Peck in “MacArthur”, the biopic from 1977
– Laurence Olivier in “Inchon”, a movie set during the Korean War, released in 1982

89. Superlative for Atlanta International Airport : BUSIEST
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the world’s busiest airport, as measured by passenger traffic. Atlanta has had that distinction since 1998, and has been the world’s busiest in terms of take-offs and landings since 2005. Over 50% of Atlanta’s traffic comes from Delta Airlines.

90. “Holiday Inn” co-star : ASTAIRE
The 1942 classic movie “Holiday Inn” stars Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, and is noted for the song “White Christmas”. And yes, the movie is the inspiration for the name of the Holiday Inn chain of hotels.

96. Vessel with an arch : AORTA
The aorta originates in the heart and extends down into the abdomen. It is the largest artery in the body.

100. Andrews of Fox Sports : ERIN
Erin Andrews is a sports reporter. I don’t watch much in the line of sports but I do know Ms. Andrews for her appearances on “Dancing with the Stars” in 2010. She did quite well and made it to the final of the show.

103. Penpoints : NIBS
“Nib” is a Scottish variant of the Old English word “neb”, with both meaning the beak of a bird. This usage of “nib” as a beak dates back to the 14th century, with “nib” meaning the tip of a pen or quill coming a little later, in the early 1600s.

104. Great-grandson of Mark Antony : NERO
The Roman emperor Nero had quite the family life. When Nero was just 16-years-old he married his stepsister, Claudia Octavia. He also had his mother and stepbrother executed.

Marc Antony rose to power in Ancient Rome as the very loyal friend of Julius Caesar. Before he was assassinated, Caesar was the lover of Cleopatra, ruler of Egypt, and they had a child together. After Caesar’s death, Antony maintained a strong political alliance with Cleopatra, and in time the two became lovers. Antony and Cleopatra sided against Julius Caesar’s legal heir (later to be known as Augustus), leading to the Final War of the Roman Republic. Antony and Cleopatra were defeated at the Battle of Actium, and soon after the lovers committed suicide. Antony stabbed himself with his sword, and Cleopatra used a venomous asp.

108. Org. “protecting America’s consumers” : FTC
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was established in 1914 with the mission of protecting consumers. The FTC runs the National Do Not Call Registry which can limit the amount of telemarketing calls that consumers receive. To register your number, simply go to the website www.donotcall.gov.

109. Marco Rubio’s home: Abbr. : FLA
Marco Rubio is the junior US Senator from Florida, a member of the Republican Party who has been in office since January 2011. Senator Rubio’s name has been closely associated with the Tea Party movement.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Winner of the 2005 and 2007 Grammys for Best Spoken Word Album : OBAMA
6. Relief for the snowbound : THAW
10. Seal words : MOTTO
15. Put one’s hands together : CLAP
19. Setting for Henry James’s “The American” : PARIS
20. Actress Chaplin of “Game of Thrones” : OONA
21. Company whose logo was, appropriately, crooked : ENRON
22. Burrow, perhaps : LAIR
23. Many service dogs, after 29-Across? : GERMAN SHEPHERDS (after GRAPE leaves)
26. ___ Stanley Gardner : ERLE
27. French colony until 1953 : LAOS
28. The Warrior Princess : XENA
29. They get stuffed at Greek restaurants : GRAPE LEAVES
31. Rapper with the 2013 #1 album “Born Sinner” : J COLE
33. Sees red : BOILS
34. Eighty-sixes : IXNAYS
35. Foil user’s words : EN GARDE
38. Foreshadows : BODES
39. A/C measures : BTUS
40. Serious break, after 48-Across? : COMPOUND FRACTURE (after DATE books)
42. Author John Dickson ___ : CARR
43. Mao ___-tung : TSE
46. Harvests : GLEANS
47. “I don’t know why ___ this way” : I ACT
48. Schedule planners : DATEBOOKS
50. Years, for Cicero : ANNI
51. On the q.t. : IN SECRET
53. Sail extender : SPRIT
54. She, overseas : ELLE
56. Greek goddess of witchcraft : HEKATE
59. Salinger title girl : ESME
60. Legendary Scottish swimmer, after 66-Across? : LOCH NESS MONSTER (after LEMON drops)
66. Tart treats : LEMON DROPS
68. Potter’s base : CLAY
69. Painted crudely : DAUBED
71. Gulf of ___ : ADEN
72. Marx without much to say : HARPO
74. Cruiser repair site : NAVY YARD
77. List component : ITEM
81. Circus founders, after 89-Across? : BARNUM AND BAILEY (after BANANA splits)
84. “The Lion King” lioness : NALA
85. Overflowed : TEEMED
87. Swelled head? : ESS
88. Ice cream brand : EDY’S
89. Ice cream treats : BANANA SPLITS
91. Shield border : ORLE
92. Mastodon features : TUSKS
93. Clobber : SHELLAC
94. Jet Ski competitor : SEA-DOO
97. Forces from office : OUSTS
98. Begins to wake : STIRS
99. Where Margaret Thatcher studied chemistry, after 108-Across? : OXFORD UNIVERSITY (after FRUIT flies)
101. Winglike : ALAR
102. “The King and I” role : ANNA
106. Ulrich of Metallica : LARS
107. Obliterate : ERASE
108. Short-lived pests … or an alternative title for this puzzle : FRUIT FLIES
110. Prefix with -genarian : OCTO-
111. Money holders : TILLS
112. Guam, e.g.: Abbr. : TERR
113. Only inanimate zodiac sign : LIBRA
114. Lee of Marvel Comics : STAN
115. Beginning : ONSET
116. Northeast vacation locale, with “the” : CAPE
117. “The Lion’s Share” author : AESOP

Down
1. Car with a lightning bolt in its logo : OPEL
2. The Tide : BAMA
3. River of Pisa : ARNO
4. Tokyo beauty, maybe : MISS JAPAN
5. Smokestack emission : ASH
6. Poe poem : TO HELEN
7. Tony winner Lena : HORNE
8. All that ___ bag of chips : AND A
9. Second word of “A Tale of Two Cities” : WAS
10. “The more the ___” : MERRIER
11. N.B.A.’s Shaquille and Jermaine : O’NEALS
12. Psychedelic experiences : TRIPS
13. Shape (up) : TONE
14. Glenfiddich bottle size : ONE LITRE
15. Wipes off, say : CLEANS
16. Caterpillar, for one : LARVA
17. Dancer Alvin : AILEY
18. Iron : PRESS
24. Book in which Moses is born : EXODUS
29. Split the check : GO DUTCH
30. They’re way out : EXURBS
32. Buds : CRONIES
33. Ball game : BOCCE
35. Med. test : ECG
36. Saints’ home, for short : NOLA
37. Feds : G-MEN
38. Frederick’s of Hollywood purchases : BRAS
39. Flutter, as one’s eyes : BAT
41. Adjusts carefully : FINE-TUNES
42. Twin-hulled vessel : CATAMARAN
43. Many a broken statue : TORSO
44. Tighten one’s belt : SKIMP
45. Politico Kefauver : ESTES
48. Hockey fake : DEKE
49. Phone button : OPER
51. “Here’s looking at you, kid” addressee : ILSA
52. Mother, e.g.: Abbr. : REL
55. Psychedelic drug : LSD
57. Mary Lincoln, nee ___ : TODD
58. Jackson-to-Birmingham dir. : ENE
60. Earthy pigment : OCHRE
61. Santa ___ : CLAUS
62. Damages : HARMS
63. “Law & Order: SVU” force : NYPD
64. Many a collector’s resource : EBAY
65. Preacher, for short : REV
67. Fourth-longest river of Europe : DNIEPER
70. Powerful line : DYNASTY
73. Puck’s master : OBERON
75. “Over There” soldiers : YANKS
76. Word of woe : ALAS
78. Does what George Washington couldn’t? : TELLS A LIE
79. Oscar winner Jannings : EMIL
80. Lead-in for physics … and pieman? : META- (or “MET A”)
82. Enthusiastic reply : I’D LOVE TO
83. Grease dissolver : LYE
85. Casual top : T-SHIRT
86. Medal awarded to MacArthur in W.W. I and W.W. II : DSC
89. Superlative for Atlanta International Airport : BUSIEST
90. “Holiday Inn” co-star : ASTAIRE
91. Favored against the field : ODDS ON
92. Scrap : TUSSLE
94. Performs unaccompanied : SOLOS
95. Perfect : EXACT
96. Vessel with an arch : AORTA
97. Some exams : ORALS
98. Drink loudly : SLURP
100. Andrews of Fox Sports : ERIN
101. Vicinity : AREA
103. Penpoints : NIBS
104. Great-grandson of Mark Antony : NERO
105. Quickly, quickly : ASAP
108. Org. “protecting America’s consumers” : FTC
109. Marco Rubio’s home: Abbr. : FLA

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