0304-23 NY Times Crossword 4 Mar 23, Saturday

Constructed by: Ryan McCarty
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: None

Bill’s time: 15m 52s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Epsilon follower : ZETA

Zeta is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet, and is a precursor of our Roman letter Z. The word “zeta” is also the ancestor of the letter name “zed”, which became “zee”, the term that we use here in the US.

5 Targets of some orthodontic treatments : GAPS

Orthodontics is a branch of dentistry dealing with the straightening of teeth. The name comes from the Greek “orthos” meaning “straight” and “dontia” meaning “teeth”.

9 A good word for giving? : UNCLE

To say uncle is to submit or yield. This peculiarly American use of “uncle” dates back to the early 1900s, but nobody seems to know how “uncle!” came to mean “stop!”

15 Abrogate : UNDO

“To abrogate” is such a lovely sounding verb, I think. It means to annul or do away with, especially by using authority.

16 Tupperware alternative : SARAN

What’s known as plastic wrap in America, we call cling-film in Ireland. The brand name “Saran” is often used generically in the US, while “Glad” wrap is common down under. Plastic wrap was one of those unintended inventions, a byproduct of a development program to create a hard plastic cover for cars.

Back in the 1930s, Earl Tupper was working at the DuPont Chemical Company, and from DuPont obtained inflexible pieces of polyethylene slag. Tupper purified the slag and shaped it into unbreakable containers. He added airtight lids with a “burping seal” that provided tight seals similar to that provided by the lids on paint cans. He called his new product Tupperware.

17 End of March Madness, familiarly : NCAA FINAL

“March Madness” is the name given to the NCAA Men’s Division 1 Basketball Championship (among others), that is held in the spring each year. Another name is “the Big Dance”.

19 Over 95% of its residents live near a riverbank : EGYPT

Depending on definition, the Nile is regarded generally as the longest river on the planet. The Nile forms from two major tributaries, the White Nile and the Blue Nile, which join together near Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. From Khartoum the Nile flows north, traveling almost entirely through desert making it central to life for those living along its length.

20 Ancestral spirit in Pueblo mythology : KACHINA

Kachina dolls are wooden figures representing various Hopi spirits and deities. Traditionally, Kachina dolls were made by men and then passed on to the daughters of the village in a ceremony feting a particular spirit.

21 Big reference, but shortened : OED

Work started on what was to become the first “Oxford English Dictionary” (OED) in 1857. Several interim versions of the dictionary were published in the coming years with the first full version appearing, in ten bound volumes, in 1928. The second edition of the OED appeared in 1989 and is made up of twenty volumes. The OED was first published in electronic form in 1988 and went online in 2000. Given the modern use of computers, the publishing house responsible feels that there will never be a third print version of the famous dictionary.

27 People of Pikes Peak : UTE

Zebulon Pike was an American Army officer and explorer. On his first expedition for the military he discovered a mountain in the Rockies that had been dubbed El Capitan by Spanish settlers. It was later renamed to Pike’s Peaks (now “Pikes Peak”) in honor of the explorer.

30 Doughnuts, e.g. : TORI

A torus (plural “tori”) is a shape resembling a doughnut.

32 All-in-one meal that often includes rice : BENTO BOX

A bento is a single-person meal that is eaten quite commonly in Japan. A bento can be purchased as a take-out meal, or it may be packed at home. A bento is usually sold as a “bento box”.

35 Theme shared by “Great Expectations” and “The Great Gatsby” : CLASSISM

The novel “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens is written in the first person, through the eyes of the hero of the piece, a young orphan boy named Pip.

“The Great Gatsby” is a 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald that tells of the prosperous life of Jay Gatsby during the Roaring 20s. Gatsby develops an obsessive love for Daisy Fay Buchanan, a girl he met while serving during WWI, and meets again some years later after he has improved his social standing.

42 Leading position : VAN

The word “vanguard” comes to us from French, and describes the foremost position in an advancing army or navy. The term derives from “avant-garde” meaning “advance guard”. “Vanguard” is sometimes shortened to “van”, as in “in the van” meaning “in the lead”.

43 Big part of New England : BAY STATE

“The Bay State” is one of the nicknames of Massachusetts. Other nicknames for Massachusetts are “The Old Colony State” and “The Codfish State”.

The geographical region of New England comprises the six northeastern states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The name “New England” was given to the region by English explorer John Smith in 1616.

44 Title lyric after “Ours is a love …” in a 1950s hit : SO RARE

“So Rare” is a song that first became popular with a recording by Guy Lombardo in 1937. “So Rare” was to be a major hit for Jimmy Dorsey twenty years later, in 1957.

46 Adverb in the first line of the Gettysburg Address : AGO

I admit to having profound respect and admiration for great speeches delivered by great men and women. Forgive me as I reproduce here the full text of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address:

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that “all men are created equal.”

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it, as a final resting place for those who died here, that the nation might live. This we may, in all propriety do. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have hallowed it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here; while it can never forget what they did here.

It is rather for us the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

48 Many-time Emmy nominee who got her start from a YouTube web series : ISSA RAE

Issa Rae is a Stanford University graduate who created a YouTube web series called “The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl”. Rae also plays the title role in the series, a young lady named “J”. “Awkward Black Girl” was adapted into an HBO comedy-drama called “Insecure”, in which Issa Rae stars.

49 Morgan of “The Real Housewives of New York City” : SONJA

“The Real Housewives” reality television franchise is incredibly successful, and far reaching. The original show was “The Real Housewives of Orange County”, which started airing in 2006. Just a few of the many, many versions of the show are:

  • “The Real Housewives of New Jersey”
  • “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City”
  • “The Real Housewives of Dubai”
  • “The Real Housewives of Sydney” (Australia)
  • “Dublin Wives” (Ireland)
  • “The Real Housewives of Jersey” (UK)
  • “Les Vraies Housewives” (France)
  • “The Real Housewives of Toronto” (Canada)

55 Convenience store brand : ICEE

Slush Puppie and ICEE are brands of frozen, slushy drinks. Ostensibly competing brands, ICEE now owns the Slush Puppie brand.

56 Plants popular in xeriscaping : CACTI

A location described as “xeric” is extremely dry, arid. The Greek prefix “xero-” means “dry, withered”. The derivative “xeriscaping” is landscaping that reduces or eliminates the need for irrigation, i.e. drought-tolerant landscaping.

57 Stuff : SATE

“Sate” is a variant of the older word “satiate”. Both terms can mean either to satisfy an appetite fully, or to eat to excess.

Down

2 Film that gave Disney its longest-reigning Billboard chart-topper : ENCANTO

“Encanto” is a 2021 animated Disney film. It is about a Colombian family, named the Madrigals, who have magical powers that provide assistance to the people in their community (Encanto).

4 Component of a sake bomb, often : ASAHI

Asahi is a Japanese beer, and the name of the brewery that produces it. “Asahi” is Japanese for “morning sun”. Asahi introduced a “dry beer” in 1987, igniting a craze that rocketed the brewery to the number one spot in terms of beer production in Japan, with Sapporo close behind.

5 Neighbor of Senegal : GUINEA-BISSAU

The Republic of Guinea-Bissau is in West Africa, bordered by the countries of Senegal and Guinea. The country was a Portuguese colony for centuries under the name Portuguese Guinea. When independence was granted in 1974, the name Guinea-Bissau was chosen for the new country, as Bissau is the nation’s capital. The double-barrelled name helps to prevent confusion with the neighboring Republic of Guinea.

The Republic of Senegal is a country on the far western coast of Africa. For many years Senegal was a French colony, gaining independence in 1960. The capital of Senegal is Dakar. Dakar is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean, thus making it the westernmost capital on the African mainland.

6 Actress Chlumsky of “Veep” : ANNA

Anna Chlumsky launched her career as a child actress playing the title role in the films “My Girl” (1991) and “My Girl 2” (1994). After taking time out to attend college, Chlumsky resumed her run of success with a regular role in the political satire show “Veep”.

“Veep” is a political satire sitcom on HBO that is a remake of the British show “The Thick of It” (Warning: strong, strong language!). “Veep” is set in the office of fictional US Vice President Selina Meyer, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

7 French open activity, for short? : PDA

Public display of affection (PDA)

A kiss that involves touching of tongues is known as a French kiss, but no one seems to know why. Paradoxically, in Northern France, giving the same type of kiss is known as “baiser anglais”, i.e. English kissing!

11 Decodable device featured in “The Da Vinci Code” : CRYPTEX

“The Da Vinci Code” is a 2006 thriller mystery film based on the bestselling 2003 novel of the same name by Dan Brown. It is the first in the “Robert Langdon” series of films, with Tom Hanks playing the lead. The film is pretty controversial, and was harshly criticized by the Roman Catholic Church. It was also banned in several countries, including Syria, Jordan, Iran, Egypt and Pakistan. Well, I enjoyed it …

29 Likely holders of travel rewards cards : JET-SETTERS

The jet set comprises wealthy individuals who frequent the fashionable resorts around the world. The term “jet set” was coined in 1951, and actually predated (slightly) the introduction of jet planes for commuter flights.

34 Hot ___ : PASTRAMI

In the US, pastrami was originally called “pastrama”, and was a dish brought to America by Jewish immigrants from Romania in the second half of the nineteenth century. The original name may have evolved from the Turkish word “pastirma” meaning “pressed”. “Pastrama” likely morphed into “pastrami” influenced by the name of the Italian sausage called salami.

37 “The spur of industry,” according to David Hume : AVARICE

Our word “avarice”, meaning “desire for wealth”, ultimately derives from the Latin word “avere” meaning “to crave”.

David Hume was a philosopher and historian from Scotland. One of his greatest works is the massive “The History of England”, which was published in six volumes from 1754 to 1762. The massive tome covers the nation’s history from the Roman conquest of Britain led by Julius Caesar in 55 BCE, up to the Glorious Revolution of 1688 that removed King James II from the throne and replaced him with William III and Mary II.

38 Longtime name in baked goods : SARA LEE

In 1935, businessman Charles Lubin bought a chain of three bakeries in Chicago called Community Bake Shops, and soon expanded the operation into seven stores. Lubin introduced a cream cheesecake that he named after his daughter who was only 8-years-old at the time, Sara Lee Lubin. The cheesecake was a hit and he renamed the bakeries to Kitchen of Sara Lee. The business was bought out by Consolidated Foods in 1956, but the brand name Sara Lee persists to this day, as does Ms. Sara Lee herself who now goes by the name Sara Lee Schupf.

40 What has stories of East Asia? : PAGODA

Pagodas are tiered (“storied”) towers, found in various parts of Asia, that are usually built for religious purposes.

50 Quickly write (down) : JOT

A jot is something very small, with “jot” coming from the Latin “jota”. In turn, “jota” is from the Greek “iota”, which is the smallest letter in the Greek alphabet. The verb “to jot” comes from the noun, in the sense of making a small, short note.

52 One-named singer with the 2014 #1 album “1000 Forms of Fear” : SIA

“Sia” is the stage name of Australian singer Sia Furler from Adelaide. She is a cousin of Australian Christian Rock musician Peter Furler. Sia is a very private person, and even covers her face with a blond wig while performing.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Epsilon follower : ZETA
5 Targets of some orthodontic treatments : GAPS
9 A good word for giving? : UNCLE
14 ___ place : ONE’S
15 Abrogate : UNDO
16 Tupperware alternative : SARAN
17 End of March Madness, familiarly : NCAA FINAL
19 Over 95% of its residents live near a riverbank : EGYPT
20 Ancestral spirit in Pueblo mythology : KACHINA
21 Big reference, but shortened : OED
23 As-usual link : PER
24 Available for a service : ON HIRE
25 Document for some travelers : CAR TITLE
27 People of Pikes Peak : UTE
28 Leads, e.g. : MAJOR ROLES
30 Doughnuts, e.g. : TORI
32 All-in-one meal that often includes rice : BENTO BOX
33 Quick-tempered sorts : SPITFIRES
35 Theme shared by “Great Expectations” and “The Great Gatsby” : CLASSISM
36 Big to-do? : TASK
40 Go to the next line, perhaps : PRESS ENTER
42 Leading position : VAN
43 Big part of New England : BAY STATE
44 Title lyric after “Ours is a love …” in a 1950s hit : SO RARE
46 Adverb in the first line of the Gettysburg Address : AGO
47 Street wear? : RUT
48 Many-time Emmy nominee who got her start from a YouTube web series : ISSA RAE
49 Morgan of “The Real Housewives of New York City” : SONJA
51 Seedy business for college applicants : ESSAY MILL
53 Never say never, say : IDIOM
54 Fight site : RING
55 Convenience store brand : ICEE
56 Plants popular in xeriscaping : CACTI
57 Stuff : SATE
58 Cry out for : NEED

Down

1 Suddenly crash : ZONK OUT
2 Film that gave Disney its longest-reigning Billboard chart-topper : ENCANTO
3 One who’s all over the board : TEACHER
4 Component of a sake bomb, often : ASAHI
5 Neighbor of Senegal : GUINEA-BISSAU
6 Actress Chlumsky of “Veep” : ANNA
7 French open activity, for short? : PDA
8 Single player : SOLO ARTIST
9 Was, at one time : USED TO BE
10 Bug, in a way : NAG
11 Decodable device featured in “The Da Vinci Code” : CRYPTEX
12 Spots for tiny flags : LAPELS
13 Preposition in Spanish or French : ENTRE
18 Uncompromising : FIRM
22 Concerning computer display : ERROR MESSAGE
25 Jail : CONFINE
26 Postgame lament : I LOST
29 Likely holders of travel rewards cards : JET-SETTERS
31 Makeup of some chains : ISLES
34 Hot ___ : PASTRAMI
35 Kind of deep-freeze preservation : CRYONIC
37 “The spur of industry,” according to David Hume : AVARICE
38 Longtime name in baked goods : SARA LEE
39 Got down, in a way : KNEELED
40 What has stories of East Asia? : PAGODA
41 Promising : ROSY
43 Not complicated at all : BASIC
45 Force to fit : RAM IN
48 “___ it?” : ISN’T
50 Quickly write (down) : JOT
52 One-named singer with the 2014 #1 album “1000 Forms of Fear” : SIA