1112-21 NY Times Crossword 12 Nov 21, Friday

Constructed by: Patrick John Duggan
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme None

Bill’s time: 15m 56s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 San Francisco or Fire Island : GAY MECCA

A gay village (also “gayborhood”) is a part of a city that is home to and frequented by a large number of LGBT people. Famous gay villages around the world are Soho in London, Chelsea in New York City, the Castro in San Francisco and Boystown in Chicago.

9 Lift one’s spirits? : IMBIBE

To imbibe is to drink or take in. The verb “to imbibe” ultimately comes from the Latin “in-” (into, in) and “bibere” (to drink).

17 Orthodontist’s recommendation : RETAINER

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”.

18 Lengthy Twitter post, often : SCREED

A screed is a long speech or piece of writing, often one that is full of anger and emotion.

20 Units equivalent to 1/6 of an inch : PICAS

A pica is a unit of measure used in typography. One pica is equivalent to 1/6 of an inch. Also, each pica unit contains 12 points.

22 Hosp. diagnostic : MRI

An MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machine uses powerful magnetic fields to generate images that can be used by medical professionals to diagnose injury and disease.

34 Tusked beast : WARTHOG

The warthog is a wild animal from the pig family found in Sub-Saharan Africa. The animal takes its name from four wart-like protrusions on its head that serve as a means of defense, but are also reserves of fat.

37 Movie series set inside a simulated reality, with “The” : … MATRIX

The 1999 movie sensation “The Matrix” was meant to be set in a nondescript urban environment. It was actually shot in Australia, as one of the co-producers of the film was the Australian company, Village Roadshow Pictures. You can pick up all sorts of clues about the location when watching the film, including a view of Sydney Harbour Bridge in a background shot. Also, traffic drives along on the left and there are signs for the “lift” instead of an “elevator”.

38 Home to Mayan ruins like Caracol and Lamanai : BELIZE

Belize was formerly known as British Honduras, which explains why English is the country’s official language. Belize is located on the northeastern coast of Central America, and borders Mexico and Guatemala.

39 Many a bill’s name in Congress : ACRONYM

Strictly speaking, words formed from the first letters or other words are known as “initialisms”. Examples would be FBI and NBC, where the initials are spoken by sounding out each letter. Certain initialisms are pronounced as words in their own right, such as NATO and AWOL, and are called “acronyms”. So, acronyms are a subset of initialisms. As I say, that’s “strictly speaking”, so please don’t write in …

41 Spare clothes? : BIKINIS

The origin of the word “bikini”, describing a type of bathing suit, seems very uncertain. One story is that it is named after the Bikini Atoll, site of American A-bomb tests in the forties and fifties. The name “bikini” was chosen for the swim-wear because of the “explosive” effect it had on men who saw a woman wearing the garment …

42 Young stud : COLT

There are lots of terms to describe horses of different ages and sexes, it seems:

  • Foal: horse of either sex that is less than one year old
  • Yearling: horse of either sex that is one to two years old
  • Filly: female horse under the age of four
  • Colt: male horse under the age of four
  • Gelding: castrated male horse of any age
  • Stallion: non-castrated male horse four years or older
  • Mare: female horse four years or older

The word “stud”, meaning “male horse kept for breeding”, is derived from the Old English word “stod”, which described a whole herd of horses. The term “stud” can be used figuratively for a “ladies’ man”.

43 Troubadour : BARD

A troubadour was a composer and musician of the Middle Ages whose works dealt mainly with chivalry and courtly love. Troubadours were usually men, and a female troubadour would have been called a trobairitz, a lovely word …

45 Actress Amanda : PEET

Actress Amanda Peet studied acting with the celebrated Uta Hagen at Columbia University. Peet has appeared in a number of successful films including “The Whole Nine Yards” and “Syriana”. I remember her best from what I thought was a great TV show (but no one seemed to agree!) called “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”.

47 Subscripts on Scrabble tiles : VALUES

The game of Scrabble has been produced in many international versions, and each of these editions has its own tile distribution to suit the local language. For example, in English we have two tiles worth ten points: one “Q” and one “Z”. If you play the game in French then there are five tiles worth ten points: one “K”, one “W”, one “X”, one “Y” and one “Z”.

50 International cricket matches : TESTS

Test matches are played between international teams in the sport of cricket, although the teams have to be ranked as “first-class” in order to play. A test match can take five days to produce a result.

51 Neat and clean : KEMPT

The word “unkempt” means “disheveled, not well-combed”. It derives from the Old English word “cemban” meaning “to comb”. The opposite to the more common “unkempt” is … “kempt”.

56 Heartburn reliever : MAALOX

Maalox is a brand of antacid that has been on sale since 1949.

60 Dot-com whose name is styled with an asterisk : E*TRADE

E-Trade is mainly an online discount brokerage. It was founded in 1982 in Palo Alto, California, and I used to drive by its headquarters almost every day. The company is now run out of New York City. E-Trade used to produce those famous Super Bowl ads with the talking babies staring into a webcam.

61 Prepare on short notice : RUSTLE UP

To rustle up or scare up something is to find it by searching, by using some effort.

62 Greek locale once described as “the island of overmastering passions” : LESBOS

Lesbos is a Greek island in the northeast of the Aegean Sea. The Greek poet Sappho came from Lesbos, and she was a woman noted for her powerful emotional poems directed towards other females. It is because of the writings of Sappho from Lesbos that we have our word “lesbian”.

63 Hunter of fish : SEA EAGLE

The ern (sometimes “erne”) is also known as the white-tailed eagle or the sea eagle.

Down

1 Hiker’s handful : GORP

“Gorp” is a name sometimes used for trail mix, particularly by hikers. It’s not really known for sure how this name came about, but some say it stands for “good old raisins and peanuts” or perhaps “gobs of raw protein”.

3 “Monsters, Inc.” character who loves snow cones : YETI

The animated feature “Monsters, Inc.” was released in 2001, and was Pixar’s fourth full-length movie. It’s about cute monsters, and that’s all I know other than that the voice cast included the likes of John Goodman, Billy Crystal and Steve Buscemi.

4 Jason with the 2008 hit “I’m Yours” : MRAZ

Jason Mraz is a singer-songwriter from Mechanicsville, Virginia. Jason is of Czech descent, and his name “Mraz” translates as “frost”.

5 Architect Saarinen : ELIEL

Eliel Saarinen was a Finnish architect who designed entire city districts in Helsinki. He immigrated to the United States where he became famous for his art nouveau designs. He was the father of Eero Saarinen, who was to become even more renowned in America for his designs, including the Dulles International Airport terminal, and the TWA building at JFK.

10 Soft shoes, informally : MOCS

“Moc” is short for “moccasin”, a type of shoe. The moccasin is a traditional form of footwear worn by members of many Native American tribes.

14 Bauer of leisure apparel : EDDIE

The Eddie Bauer clothing chain was established in Seattle in 1920 by an outdoorsman named Eddie Bauer (unsurprisingly!). Bauer was the man who patented the first quilted down jacket, in 1940.

21 Arcade game feature : CLAW

Our word “arcade” comes from the Latin “arcus” meaning “arc”. The first arcades were passages made from a series of arches. This could be an avenue of trees, and eventually any covered avenue. I remember arcades lined with shops and stores when I was growing up on the other side of the Atlantic. Arcades came to be lined with lots of amusements, resulting in amusement arcades and video game arcades.

24 Miniaturist’s supply : EPOXY

Epoxy resins are thermosetting polymers that have high adhesive strength. In order to achieve mechanical and adhesive strength, the epoxy has to cure. The “curing” is a cross-linking reaction that takes place between individual molecules in the material. In some cases, the cross-linking is brought about by mixing the epoxy with a co-reactant known as a “hardener”. In other cases, the epoxy is cured by exposing it to heat.

26 2018 film for which Alfonso Cuarón won Best Director : ROMA

“Roma” is a 2018 drama film on which Mexican film director served as writer, co-producer, cinematographer, co-editor as well as director. It is a semi-autobiographical piece inspired by Cuarón’s early life in Mexico City’s Colonia Roma neighborhood.”Roma” won several Oscars, including Best Cinematography and Best Director for Cuarón himself.

Film director Alfonso Cuarón has been at the helm of some real blockbusters, including 2004’s “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” and 2013’s “Gravity”. When he won the Academy Award for Best Directing for the latter film, Cuarón became the first Mexican director to be so honored.

28 Copper containers? : PATROL CARS

“To cop” was northern-English dialect for “to seize, catch”, and is still a slang term meaning “to get hold of, steal”. This verb evolved in the noun “copper”, describing a policeman, someone who catches criminals. “Copper” is often shortened to “cop”.

33 By ___ of (due to) : DINT

A dint is an effort or power, as in “make it by dint of hard work”. “By dint of” is a new expression to me, but it has been around since the early 1300s. I must have been out that day …

36 Heroic exploit : GEST

Our word “gest”, meaning “great deed or exploit”, has been around since about 1300 and comes from the Old French word “geste” meaning the same thing. These days, “geste” can also mean “gesture”.

40 Ones who’ll manage somehow? : MBAS

The world’s first Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree was offered by Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, in 1908.

41 Succinct, if nothing else : BRUSQUE

Someone described as “brusque” is “gruff, abrupt and curt in manner”. The term comes into English from French, in which language it means “lively, fierce”.

46 Leviticus calls it “unclean” and not fit for consumption : CAMEL

In the Hebrew Bible, the Book of Leviticus comes after the Book of Exodus and before the Book of Numbers.

53 Video file format : MPEG

The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) was established in 1988 to set standards for audio and video compression. The standards they’ve come up with use the acronym “MPEG”.

54 Name of six popes, including one in the 20th century : PAUL

Pope Paul VI was head of the Roman Catholic Church from 1963 to 1978. Pope Paul VI was born in the village of Concesio in Lombardy, Italy as Giovanni Battista Montini. The future pope’s mother was from a noble family, and his father was a member of the Italian parliament.

55 Info described on a Tinder profile : TYPE

Tinder is a matchmaking app that uses Facebook profiles. Users “swipe” photos of potential matches, either to the right (“like”) or to the left (“not interested”). Users who “match” each other can then chat within the app.

59 2026 FIFA World Cup co-host : USA

The FIFA World Cup is the most prestigious tournament in the sport of soccer. The competition has been held every four years (excluding the WWII years) since the inaugural event held in Uruguay in 1930. The men’s World Cup is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, even outranking the Olympic Games. And, the women’s World Cup is fast catching up …

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 San Francisco or Fire Island : GAY MECCA
9 Lift one’s spirits? : IMBIBE
15 Brutish boss : OVERLORD
16 Unnatural : FORCED
17 Orthodontist’s recommendation : RETAINER
18 Lengthy Twitter post, often : SCREED
19 Not take for granted : PRIZE
20 Units equivalent to 1/6 of an inch : PICAS
22 Hosp. diagnostic : MRI
23 Throw or shoot : LET FLY
25 Imitation : FAKE
26 Primed (for) : RIPE
30 Serving with shawarma : PITA
31 Shrimp in a shell, maybe : TACO
32 Interminably : ON AND ON
34 Tusked beast : WARTHOG
37 Movie series set inside a simulated reality, with “The” : … MATRIX
38 Home to Mayan ruins like Caracol and Lamanai : BELIZE
39 Many a bill’s name in Congress : ACRONYM
41 Spare clothes? : BIKINIS
42 Young stud : COLT
43 Troubadour : BARD
45 Actress Amanda : PEET
46 Cherry-pick : CULL
47 Subscripts on Scrabble tiles : VALUES
49 C, for one : ARC
50 International cricket matches : TESTS
51 Neat and clean : KEMPT
56 Heartburn reliever : MAALOX
58 Focus of the 2009 Lilly Ledbetter act : EQUAL PAY
60 Dot-com whose name is styled with an asterisk : E*TRADE
61 Prepare on short notice : RUSTLE UP
62 Greek locale once described as “the island of overmastering passions” : LESBOS
63 Hunter of fish : SEA EAGLE

Down

1 Hiker’s handful : GORP
2 Swear : AVER
3 “Monsters, Inc.” character who loves snow cones : YETI
4 Jason with the 2008 hit “I’m Yours” : MRAZ
5 Architect Saarinen : ELIEL
6 Fan gathering, informally : CON
7 Entered quietly : CREPT IN
8 Purposeless : ADRIFT
9 “Imagine a case in which …” : IF SAY …
10 Soft shoes, informally : MOCS
11 Zero reaction? : BRR!
12 Hotel hummer : ICE MACHINE
13 Covering for a cold one : BEER KOOZIE
14 Bauer of leisure apparel : EDDIE
21 Arcade game feature : CLAW
24 Miniaturist’s supply : EPOXY
25 Accompanier of a black eye : FAT LIP
26 2018 film for which Alfonso Cuarón won Best Director : ROMA
27 Off the mark : INACCURATE
28 Copper containers? : PATROL CARS
29 Commit to a course : ENROLL
31 Long way to go : TREK
33 By ___ of (due to) : DINT
35 Countenance : ABIDE
36 Heroic exploit : GEST
40 Ones who’ll manage somehow? : MBAS
41 Succinct, if nothing else : BRUSQUE
44 Changes : ALTERS
46 Leviticus calls it “unclean” and not fit for consumption : CAMEL
47 Puzzles : VEXES
48 Be found not guilty, shockingly : SKATE
50 Rumpus : TO-DO
52 Civil rights activist Baker : ELLA
53 Video file format : MPEG
54 Name of six popes, including one in the 20th century : PAUL
55 Info described on a Tinder profile : TYPE
57 Where to fill a flask with alcohol : LAB
59 2026 FIFA World Cup co-host : USA