1117-18 NY Times Crossword 17 Nov 18, Saturday

Constructed by: Doug Peterson & Erik Agard
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: None

Bill’s time: 12m 23s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

15. Player of the mother on “Black-ish” : TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

“Black-ish” is a sitcom starring Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross that premiered in 2014. The show is noted for tackling tough issues such as racism, police brutality, attitudes toward the LGBT community, and the 2016 US presidential election.

20. ___ king : A LA

A dish prepared “a la king” (usually chicken or turkey), is food prepared in a cream sauce, with mushrooms, pimentos, green peppers and sherry.

21. High-ranking suits : CEOS

Chief executive officer (CEO)

22. Susquehannock Indian relatives : ERIES

The Erie people lived on lands south of Lake Erie, in parts of the modern-day US states of New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. The Erie were sometimes referred to as the Cat Nation, a reference to the mountain lions that were ever-present in the area that they lived. The name “Erie” is a shortened form of “Erielhonan” meaning “long tail”, possibly a further reference to the mountain lion or cat, which was possibly used as a totem. The Erie people gave their name to the Great Lake.

23. Part of Q.E.F. : ERAT

“Quod erat faciendum” (QEF) is similar to the phrase “quod erat demonstrandum” (QED), both of which were used by Euclid in his theorems. “Quod erat faciendum” means “what was to have been done”, and is used at the end of a proposition that was not intended as a proof, but rather as a construction.

24. Basic cable inits. : HSN

The Home Shopping Network (HSN) was the first national shopping network, and was launched locally as the Home Shopping Club in Florida in 1982.

25. Mantle’s cover : CRUST

The mantle of a terrestrial planet is the layer between the planetary core and planet’s crust. The Earth’s mantle has a thickness of just under 1,800 miles, and is a silicate rocky shell.

27. Name on 2016 campaign buttons : KAINE

Tim Kaine took office as US Senator for Virginia in 2013, having served as the state’s governor from 2006 to 2010. He was also chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2009 until 2011. Famously, Senator Kaine ran as vice presidential running mate in Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2016.

28. Vessels with sharp bows : DORIES

A dory is a small boat that’s around 20 feet long with a shallow draft, a flat bottom and a sharp bow. Dories are commonly used for fishing.

29. Features of jack-in-the-boxes : CRANKS

A Jack-in-the-box is child’s toy. It’s a box with a crank handle at the side. Turning the crank causes a tune to play (usually “Pop Goes the Weasel”), and at the right moment the lid pops open and a spring loaded clown character jumps up out of the box.

32. Animal cry in a nursery rhyme : BAA BAA

The old English nursery rhyme “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” is usually sung as:

Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes, sir, yes, sir,
Three bags full;
One for the master,
And one for the dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane.

The tune that accompanies the rhyme is a variant of the French melody “Ah! Vous dirai-je, Maman”, which we know best in English as the tune for “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”.

34. Singer of the 1989 #1 hit “Opposites Attract” : ABDUL

Paula Abdul is primarily a singer and dancer, and someone who endeared herself even more to the American public in recent years as a judge on “American Idol”. Abdul had a famous husband for a couple of years, as she was married to actor Emilio Estevez from 1992-94.

36. It’s measured in degs. : LAT

Lines of latitude are the imaginary horizontal lines surrounding the planet. The most “important” lines of latitude are, from north to south:

  • Arctic Circle
  • Tropic of Cancer
  • Equator
  • Tropic of Capricorn
  • Antarctic Circle

41. Georgia ___ : TECH

The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly “Georgia Tech”) is located in Atlanta. The school was founded in 1885 as part of the reconstruction effort to rebuild the infrastructure in the South after the Civil War. President Theodore Roosevelt delivered an address to the school in 1905, and then shook hands with every single student. Back then the school didn’t have over 20,000 students as it does today …

42. “Baudolino” novelist : ECO

Umberto Eco is an Italian writer who is probably best known for his novel “The Name of the Rose”, published in 1980. In 1986, “The Name of the Rose” was adapted into a movie with the same title starring Sean Connery.

43. Foal : horse :: cria : ___ : LLAMA

Many female mammals lick off their newborn. That’s not an option for llamas as their tongues only reach out of their mouths about half an inch. Instead, llama dams nuzzle their young and hum to them.

44. Word from the Italian for “crush” : PESTO

The Italian term “pesto” applies to anything made by pounding. What we tend to know as pesto sauce is more properly called “pesto alla genovese”, pesto from Genoa in northern Italy. I love, love pesto sauce …

45. 2011 musical with the highest-charting Broadway cast album since “Hair” in 1969 : THE BOOK OF MORMON

“The Book of Mormon” is a satirical musical by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (of “South Park” fame) and Robert Lopez (of “Avenue Q” and “Frozen” fame). The show follows two missionaries from the Mormon Church seeking converts in a remote village in Uganda.

50. Removes roots and all : TWEEZES

Tweezers are small metal pincers used in handling small objects. Back in the 1600s, “tweeze” was the name given to the case in which such an implement was kept, and over time the case gave its name to the device itself. “Tweeze” evolved from “etweese”, the plural of “etwee”, which came from “étui “, the French word for a “small case”.

Down

2. Apex predators of the past : T REXES

The Tyrannosaurus rex (usually written “T. rex”) was a spectacular looking dinosaur. “Tyrannosaurus” comes from the Greek words “tyrannos” (tyrant) and “sauros” (lizard) and “rex” the Latin for “king”. They were big beasts, measuring 42 feet long and 13 feet tall at the hips, and weighing 7.5 tons.

3. Big name in late-night : FALLON

Jimmy Fallon was a cast member for a number of years on “Saturday Night Live” before getting his own talk show in 2009, “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”. Fallon took over “The Tonight Show” from Jay Leno in 2014. I’m not a big Fallon fan …

4. Some causes of brain freeze : ICEES

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

8. Hang in there! : CLOSET

In Old French a “clos” was an enclosure, with the diminutive form “closet” describing a small enclosure or private room. Over time this evolved into our modern usage of “closet”, describing a cabinet or cupboard.

10. Play honor : ESPY

The ESPY Awards are a creation of the ESPN sports television network. One difference with similarly named awards in the entertainment industry is that ESPY winners are chosen solely based on viewer votes.

11. Cards on a scoreboard : ARI

The Arizona Cardinals were founded in 1898 as the Chicago Cardinals. That makes the Cardinals the oldest, continuously-run professional football team in the whole country.

12. Retro picture : POLAROID

Instant film is a film that contains the chemicals necessary to develop and fix the photo without subsequent processing. Instant film was first introduced in 1972 by Polaroid.

22. Actress Alexander of “Get Out” : ERIKA

“Get Out” is a 2017 horror movie, I don’t do horror, but I do hear that this one is well made …

25. Amsterdam feature : CANAL

Amsterdam is the cultural capital and the commercial capital of the Netherlands, but not the administrative capital. That honor goes to the Hague. Amsterdam’s name translates as “Dam on the river Amstel”.

27. World capital that’s an anagram of Azerbaijan’s capital + L : KABUL

Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. The city has been the site of major conflict for much of the 3,500 years that it has been in existence. In the past, this conflict was mainly driven by the city’s strategic location on the major trade routes of south and central Asia.

Baku is the capital city of Azerbaijan and sits on the Caspian Sea. It’s thought that the name “Baku” comes from the Persian “Bad-kube” meaning “wind-pounded city”.

28. Pacific types : DOVES

The dove is a symbol of peace, and the hawk is a symbol of war.

31. Kia Rio competitor : HONDA FIT

The Honda Fit (“Honda Jazz” in some markets) is a subcompact hatchback. We looked at the Fit when shopping for a new car not that long ago, but opted for the larger Toyota Prius instead, a choice that we have not regretted …

32. System used for computer code : BASE-TWO

We use a base-ten numbering system, with ten digits (0 – 9). The binary system, or base-two, uses just two digits (0 & 1). The binary system is used at a fundamental level in computing, because the number 0 and 1 can be represented by microcircuits being switched “on” or “off”.

36. Tony-winning musical with three B’way runs : LES MIZ

The 1980 musical “Les Misérables” is an adaptation of the 1862 novel of the same name by Victor Hugo. The show opened in London in 1985, and is the longest running musical in the history of London’s West End. My wife and I saw “Les Miz” in the Queen’s Theatre in London many years ago, but were only able to get tickets in the very back row. The theater seating is very steep, so the back row of the balcony is extremely high over the stage. One of the big events in the storyline is the building of a street barricade over which the rebels fight. At the height we were seated we could see the stagehands behind the barricade, sitting drinking Coke, even smoking cigarettes. On cue, the stagehands would get up and catch a dropped rifle, or an actor who had been shot. It was pretty comical. I didn’t really enjoy the show that much, to be honest. Some great songs, but the musical version of the storyline just didn’t seem to hang together for me.

40. Novelist Mario Vargas ___ : LLOSA

Mario Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian writer of renown, and one of the most significant authors from Latin America by all accounts. Llosa is also very active politically, and in 1990 ran unsuccessfully for the Peruvian presidency.

41. Homme land? : TERRE

That would be French.

43. Rich store : LODE

A lode is a metal ore deposit that’s found between two layers of rock or in a fissure. The mother lode is the principal deposit in a mine, usually of gold or silver. “Mother lode” is probably a translation of “veta madre”, an expression used in mining in Mexico.

47. Catlike Pokémon with an onomatopoeic name : MEW

“Pokémon” is the second-biggest video game franchise in the world, second only to the “Mario” franchise. “Pokémon” is a contraction of “Pocket Monsters”.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Going in : AT FIRST
8. Inferior-quality item, informally : CHEAPIE
15. Player of the mother on “Black-ish” : TRACEE ELLIS ROSS
17. Pitch for a whole season? : TELEVISION PILOT
18. Couple on the road? : AXLES
19. “Yum!” : TASTY
20. ___ king : A LA
21. High-ranking suits : CEOS
22. Susquehannock Indian relatives : ERIES
23. Part of Q.E.F. : ERAT
24. Basic cable inits. : HSN
25. Mantle’s cover : CRUST
26. Dashed off, say : WROTE
27. Name on 2016 campaign buttons : KAINE
28. Vessels with sharp bows : DORIES
29. Features of jack-in-the-boxes : CRANKS
31. *scratches head* : HOW ODD
32. Animal cry in a nursery rhyme : BAA BAA
33. Dolly user : MOVER
34. Singer of the 1989 #1 hit “Opposites Attract” : ABDUL
35. Plied, in a way : WINED
36. It’s measured in degs. : LAT
39. Dirty : SOIL
40. Is up on : LEADS
41. Georgia ___ : TECH
42. “Baudolino” novelist : ECO
43. Foal : horse :: cria : ___ : LLAMA
44. Word from the Italian for “crush” : PESTO
45. 2011 musical with the highest-charting Broadway cast album since “Hair” in 1969 : THE BOOK OF MORMON
48. Band since 1922 : WORLD SERIES RING
49. Doing super-well : ON A TEAR
50. Removes roots and all : TWEEZES

Down

1. Staple, e.g. : ATTACH
2. Apex predators of the past : T REXES
3. Big name in late-night : FALLON
4. Some causes of brain freeze : ICEES
5. Guns : REVS
6. Die on one side of Italy? : SEI
7. Trials : TEST RUNS
8. Hang in there! : CLOSET
9. “It has one syllable” and “Its fourth letter is T” : HINTS
10. Play honor : ESPY
11. Cards on a scoreboard : ARI
12. Retro picture : POLAROID
13. Set apart : ISOLATED
14. End of some affluent community names : ESTATES
16. Work together (with) : LIAISE
22. Actress Alexander of “Get Out” : ERIKA
23. Missed out, e.g. : ERROR
25. Amsterdam feature : CANAL
26. Blown away : WOWED
27. World capital that’s an anagram of Azerbaijan’s capital + L : KABUL
28. Pacific types : DOVES
29. Gem that’s been polished but not faceted : CABOCHON
30. Heyday of many serials : RADIO ERA
31. Kia Rio competitor : HONDA FIT
32. System used for computer code : BASE-TWO
33. Spanish term of endearment : MI AMOR
35. More watery : WEAKER
36. Tony-winning musical with three B’way runs : LES MIZ
37. Play starter : ACT ONE
38. Summer slip-ons : THONGS
40. Novelist Mario Vargas ___ : LLOSA
41. Homme land? : TERRE
43. Rich store : LODE
44. Ask : POSE
46. Melt alternative, for short : BLT
47. Catlike Pokémon with an onomatopoeic name : MEW