0913-18 NY Times Crossword 13 Sep 18, Thursday

Constructed by: Alex Eaton-Salners
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Reveal Answers: Inbox & Outbox

We have a rebus puzzle today, with some BOXES in the grid containing the letters IN or OUT:

  • 69A. Where work piles up … with a hint to this puzzle’s theme : INBOX
  • 72A. Where finished work goes … with a hint to this puzzle’s theme : OUTBOX
  • 18A. Finding fault with : CARPING ABOUT
  • 30A. Goal for Ponce de León : THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
  • 47A. Incensed : FROTHING AT THE MOUTH
  • 60A. Colorful food fish : RAINBOW TROUT
  • 11D. One in a blue-and-yellow uniform : CUB SCOUT
  • 12D. Somewhat stocky : STOUTISH
  • 21D. Question to a returning pest : YOU AGAIN?
  • 33D. One way to stare : INTENTLY
  • 42D. Features of tapirs : SNOUTS
  • 59D. Become less crowded : THIN OUT
  • 62D. Weird : OUTRE

Bill’s time: 14m 50s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

10. IV units : CCS

Fluids in an intravenous drip (IV) might be measured in cubic centimeters (ccs).

13. French 101 verb : ETRE

The verb “to be” translates into German as “sein”, and into French as “être”.

14. Fermented milk drink : KEFIR

Kefir is a fermented milk drink that originated in the Caucasus region of Eurasia.

15. Pre-snap signal : HUT!

The quarterback (QB) starts each play in football with a snap (also called a “hike”). He announces to his teammates the exact moment of the snap by calling out signals, usually including the word “hut” one or more times in a prearranged sequence.

16. Made a false move? : DEKED

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”.

18. Finding fault with : CARPING ABOUT

The word “carp” used to mean simply “talk” back in the 13th century, with its roots in the Old Norwegian “karpa” meaning “to brag”. A century later, the Latin word “carpere” meaning “to slander” influenced the use of “to carp” so that it came to mean “to find fault with”.

20. Word with sauce or milk : SOY

Soy sauce is made by fermenting soybeans with a mold, in the presence of water and salt. Charming …

What are known as soybeans here in the US are called “soya beans” in most other English-speaking countries. So, I drink soy milk here in America, but when I am over in Ireland I drink “soya milk”.

22. Some R.S.V.P.s : NOS

RSVP stands for “répondez s’il vous plaît”, which is French for “answer, please”.

23. Bears: Lat. : URSI

Something described as ursine is related to a bear. The term “ursine” comes from “ursus” (plural (ursi”), Latin for “bear”.

27. Trader ___ : JOE’S

Trader Joe’s is a grocery store chain based in Monrovia, California that was founded in 1979 by Joe Coulombe. Trader Joe’s is very popular where I live, even though it stocks less than 10% of the items found in a typical grocery store. 80% of the items on the shelves are sold under a Trader Joe’s brand name, and are obviously chosen well. One of the more successful items is Charles Shaw wine, known as “Two Buck Chuck” here in California as it sold for many years at a price of $1.99.

29. They can be taxed like partnerships, for short : LLCS

A limited liability company (LLC) is a company structure that limits the liability of the owner or owners. It is a hybrid structure in the sense that it can be taxed as would an individual or partnership, while also maintaining the liability protection afforded to a corporation.

30. Goal for Ponce de León : THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH

The legend of the Fountain of Youth gained a lot of traction in the 1500s because a story developed that the Spanish explorer Ponce de León traveled to what is now Florida in search of the legendary spring.

Juan Ponce de León was a famous Spanish explorer and conquistador. Ponce de León led the Europeans to Florida, and it was he who gave the state its name (Spanish for “Flowery Land”). He was injured on his last voyage to Florida, supposedly by a poisoned arrow, and died from his wound in Havana, Cuba.

37. Bon ___ : VOYAGE

“Bon voyage” translates literally from French into English as “good journey”.

43. Actor Mark : HARMON

Actor Mark Harmon is best known today for playing the lead in the drama show “NCIS”. Harmon played a similar character for several episodes on “The West Wing”. Mark is the son of a football star Tom Harmon, and was the brother-in-law of rock and roll star Ricky Nelson and automotive executive John DeLorean (through his sisters). Harmon has been married since 1987 to actress Pam Dawber, who played the female title role on “Mork & Mindy”.

45. Tatooine has two of them : SUNS

Tatooine is the desert planet that features in almost every “Star Wars” movie. It is the home planet of Anakin and Luke Skywalker, and is also where Obi-Wan Kenobi first met Han Solo.

52. Successor of Carson : LENO

“The Tonight Show” has had six permanent hosts so far:

  • Steve Allen (1954-57)
  • Jack Paar (1957-62)
  • Johnny Carson (1962–92)
  • Jay Leno (1992–2009, 2010–14)
  • Conan O’Brien (2009–10)
  • Jimmy Fallon (2014–present)

56. Vietnamese new year : TET

The full name for the New Year holiday in Vietnam is “Tet Nguyen Dan” meaning “Feast of the First Morning”, with the reference being to the arrival of the season of spring. Tet usually falls on the same day as Chinese New Year.

60. Colorful food fish : RAINBOW TROUT

The steelhead and rainbow trout are actually the same species. The difference is that rainbow trout spend almost their whole lives in freshwater. Steelheads spend much of their lives in estuaries or open ocean, returning to freshwater to spawn.

Down

1. The end of mathematics? : QED

The initialism “QED” is used at the end of a mathematical proof or a philosophical argument. QED stands for the Latin “quod erat demonstrandum” meaning “that which was to be demonstrated”.

2. Western native : UTE

The Ute are a group of Native American tribes that now reside in Utah and Colorado. The Ute were not a unified people as such, but rather a loose association of nomadic groups. The word “Ute” means “Land of the Sun”, and “Ute” also gave us the state name “Utah”.

4. Middle of a puzzle? : ZEES

There are two letters Z (zees) in the middle of the word “puzzle”.

5. Org. concerned with good breeding : AKC

The American Kennel Club (AKC) is the organization that handles registration of purebred dogs The AKC also promotes dog shows around the country including the famous Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

9. “Dancing With the Stars” co-host Andrews : 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. And now, she is the show’s co-host alongside Tom Bergeron.

17. Place to get one’s kicks? : DOJO

The Japanese word “dojo” literally means “place of the way”. Originally the term applied to training halls that were found in or beside temples. The teaching in a dojo was not limited to the martial arts, but in the Western world we use the dojo as the name for a training facility for judo, karate and the like.

25. Gang weapon : SHIV

“Shiv” is a slang term for a weapon crudely fashioned to resemble a knife. Mostly we hear of shivs that have been fashioned by prison inmates to do harm to others.

26. ___ sabe : KEMO

“Kemosabe” is a term used by the Tonto character in the iconic radio and television program “The Lone Ranger”. “Kemosabe” doesn’t really mean anything outside of the show, and in fact was written as “ke-mo sah-bee” in the original radio show scripts. The term was created by longtime director of “The Lone Ranger”, Jim Jewell. To come up with the term, Jewell used the name of a boy’s camp that his father-in-law established called Kamp Kee-Mo Sah-Bee.

28. Sportscaster Dick : ENBERG

Dick Enberg was a sportscaster famous for uttering the words “Oh, my!” after particularly notable plays.

31. Fairylike : FEY

“Fey” is such a lovely word, one meaning “magical, fairy-like”. It comes from the Middle English word “feie” which has a less pleasant definition, “fated to die”. The term has been extended over the past century to mean “effeminate”.

32. Jargons : ARGOTS

“Argot” is a French term. It is the name given in the 17th century to “the jargon of the Paris underworld”. Nowadays argot is a set of idioms used by any particular group, the “lingo” of that group.

“Jargon” can mean nonsensical and meaningless talk, or the specialized language of a particular group, trade or profession. The term is Old French, with the more usual meaning of “a chattering”. How apt …

34. German direction : OST

“Ost” is German for “east”.

42. Features of tapirs : SNOUTS

All four species of tapir are endangered. Even though the tapir looks much like a pig, it is more closely related to the horse and the rhinoceros.

44. Headwaiter : MAITRE D’

The full title of a “maître d’” is “maître d’hôtel”, which means “master of the hotel”.

49. Three barleycorns, as defined by Edward II : ONE INCH

Edward II was King of England from 1307 to 1327. It was Edward II who lost to the Scottish forces led by Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn. Edward was also the first monarch to found colleges at Oxford and Cambridge.

50. Sepulcher : TOMB

A sepulcher is a burial vault. The term “sepulcher” ultimately comes from the Latin “sepelire” meaning “to bury, embalm”.

56. Mars candy : TWIX

I remember Twix bars from way back in 1967 when they were introduced in the British Isles. Twix bars made it to the US over a decade later, in 1979. The name “Twix” is a portmanteau of “twin bix”, short for “twin biscuit”.

57. Roman rebuke : ET TU

It was Shakespeare who popularized the words “Et tu, Brute?” (meaning “And you, Brutus?”). They appear in his play “Julius Caesar”, although the phrase had been around long before he penned his drama. It’s not known what Julius Caesar actually said in real life (if anything at all) as he was assassinated on on the steps of the Senate in Rome.

62. Weird : OUTRE

The word “outré” meaning “unconventional, bizarre” comes to us from French, as one might imagine. It is derived from the verb “outrer” meaning “to overdo, exaggerate”. “Outrer” is also the ultimate root of our word “outrage”.

65. John of Cambridge : LOO

The use of “john” as a slang term for a toilet is peculiar to North America. “John” probably comes from the older slang term of “jack” or “jakes” that had been around since the 16th century. In Ireland, in less polite moments, we still refer to a toilet as “the jacks”.

The famous university city of Cambridge in the England takes its name from an Old English term meaning “Bridge on the River Granta”. The river in question is now called the River Cam, with “Cam” being a back formation from “Cambridge”.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Interrogate : QUIZ
5. Leave flabbergasted : AMAZE
10. IV units : CCS
13. French 101 verb : ETRE
14. Fermented milk drink : KEFIR
15. Pre-snap signal : HUT!
16. Made a false move? : DEKED
18. Finding fault with : CARPING ABOUT
20. Word with sauce or milk : SOY
22. Some R.S.V.P.s : NOS
23. Bears: Lat. : URSI
24. “Fire away!” : ASK!
27. Trader ___ : JOE’S
29. They can be taxed like partnerships, for short : LLCS
30. Goal for Ponce de León : THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
35. Give the silent treatment? : MIME
36. Stops partway through : ABORTS
37. Bon ___ : VOYAGE
39. Costumes : GETUPS
43. Actor Mark : HARMON
45. Tatooine has two of them : SUNS
47. Incensed : FROTHING AT THE MOUTH
52. Successor of Carson : LENO
53. “___ of Dogs” (2018 animated movie) : ISLE
54. Univ. department : PSY
55. “Um, don’t look now, but …” : AHEM …
56. Vietnamese new year : TET
58. Still : YET
60. Colorful food fish : RAINBOW TROUT
63. Beach house? : SHELL
67. Key for exiting full-screen mode : ESC
68. Carafe size : LITER
69. Where work piles up … with a hint to this puzzle’s theme : INBOX
70. “Please keep it down” : SHH
71. Radiate : EXUDE
72. Where finished work goes … with a hint to this puzzle’s theme : OUTBOX

Down

1. The end of mathematics? : QED
2. Western native : UTE
3. Tick off : IRK
4. Middle of a puzzle? : ZEES
5. Org. concerned with good breeding : AKC
6. Will, if one can : MEANS TO
7. Start of some hybrid music styles : AFRO-
8. Speeds (along) : ZIPS
9. “Dancing With the Stars” co-host Andrews : ERIN
10. Oscar-winning Cliff Robertson title role : CHARLY
11. One in a blue-and-yellow uniform : CUB SCOUT
12. Somewhat stocky : STOUTISH
17. Place to get one’s kicks? : DOJO
19. Wide divide : GULF
21. Question to a returning pest : YOU AGAIN?
24. Cash cache, for short : ATM
25. Gang weapon : SHIV
26. ___ sabe : KEMO
28. Sportscaster Dick : ENBERG
31. Fairylike : FEY
32. Jargons : ARGOTS
33. One way to stare : INTENTLY
34. German direction : OST
38. “That feels so-o-o good!” : AHH!
40. Put into service : USE
41. What you might do with gas or a fist : PUMP
42. Features of tapirs : SNOUTS
44. Headwaiter : MAITRE D’
46. Prone to blushing, say : SHY
47. Skirt features : FLARES
48. Go over anew : REHASH
49. Three barleycorns, as defined by Edward II : ONE INCH
50. Sepulcher : TOMB
51. Partners of haws : HEES
56. Mars candy : TWIX
57. Roman rebuke : ET TU
59. Become less crowded : THIN OUT
61. “Hurrah!” : OLE!
62. Weird : OUTRE
64. Go back : EBB
65. John of Cambridge : LOO
66. 70, in old Rome : LXX