0316-21 NY Times Crossword 16 Mar 21, Tuesday

Constructed by: Lindsey Hobbs
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Reveal Answer: Iced Tea

Themed answers are common phrases in which a starting letter T (“TEA”) has been removed (“ICED”):

  • 39A Beverage with a phonetic hint to 17-, 26-, 51- and 63-Across : ICED TEA
  • 17A Jane Goodall, at times? : APE RECORDER (from “tape recorder”)
  • 26A Corn farmer at harvest time? : EAR JERKER (from “tear jerker”)
  • 51A Lumberjacks in unsafe working conditions? : AX DODGERS (from “tax dodger”)
  • 63A Caterer’s coffee dispenser? : URN OF EVENTS (from “turn of events”)

Bill’s time: 6m 39s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Diving birds : GREBES

A grebe is a small- to medium-sized freshwater diving bird. Although they appear to be very different, recent molecular studies have shown that grebes and flamingos are closely related.

16 Diamond stat : RBI

Runs batted in (RBIs)

17 Jane Goodall, at times? : APE RECORDER (from “tape recorder”)

Jane Goodall is a British anthropologist famous for studying wild chimpanzees in Africa for 45 years. Working at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania, Goodall made many discoveries. She was the first to see chimps constructing and using tools, an activity thought to be limited to the human species. She also found out that chimpanzees are vegetarians.

19 English novelist McEwan : IAN

Ian McEwan is an English novelist with a track record of writing well-received novels. His most famous work of recent years I would say is “Atonement” which has benefited from the success of a fabulous movie adaptation released in 2007.

20 “Now, where ___ we?” : WERE

Right here …

24 Nabokov novel : ADA

“Ada” is a 1969 novel by Vladimir Nabokov. The story takes place in the 1800s on Antiterra, an Earth-like planet that has a history similar to ours but with interesting differences. For example, there is a United States, but that country covers all of North and South America. What we call eastern Canada is a French-speaking province called “Canady”, and western Canada is a Russian-speaking province called “Estody”. The storyline is about a man called Van Veen who, when 14 years old, meets for the first time his cousin, 11-year-old Ada. The two cousins eventually have an affair, only to discover later that they are in fact brother and sister.

31 Remove via a coup, say : OUST

A coup d’état (often just “coup”) is the sudden overthrow of a government, and comes from the French for “stroke of state”. The Swiss-German word “putsch” is sometimes used instead of “coup”, with “Putsch” translating literally as “sudden blow”. We also use the abbreviated “coup” to mean “sudden, brilliant and successful act”.

32 Role for George Clooney, Michael Keaton and Christian Bale : BATMAN

“Batman & Robin” is a 1997 superhero movie, with George Clooney and Chris O’Donnell in the title roles. Helping out the good guys in the film is Batgirl (Alicia Silverstone). The villains of the piece are Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman). I think it’s fair to say that “Batman & Robin” bombed at the box office …

Michael Keaton is an actor from Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. Keaton is perhaps best known for roles he played in Tim Burton films. Keaton had the title role in “Beetlejuice” in 1988, and the title role in “Batman” in 1989 and “Batman Returns” in 1992.

Christian Bale is an actor from Wales in the UK, although he is better known for his work on this side of the Atlantic. Bale’s big break in movies came in 1987 with the starring role in Spielberg’s “Empire of the Sun” at only 13 years of age. He has also played Batman three times, in “Batman Begins” (2005), “The Dark Knight” (2008) and “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012).

33 “If you obey all the rules, you miss all the ___” (quote attributed to Katharine Hepburn) : FUN

Katharine Hepburn has been nominated for a Best Actress Oscar 12 times, and holds the record for Best Actress wins at four. She won for her roles in:

  • “Morning Glory” in 1933
  • “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” in 1967
  • “The Lion in Winter” in 1968
  • “On Golden Pond” in 1981

38 Woman in a garden : EVE

According to the Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve lived in a garden “in” Eden, with Eden being geographically located by reference to four rivers, including the Tigris and the Euphrates. Some scholars hypothesize that Eden was located in Mesopotamia, which encompasses much of modern-day Iraq.

42 The city in 2002’s “City of God” : RIO

Rio de Janeiro is the second largest city in Brazil (after São Paulo). “Rio de Janeiro” translates as “January River”. The name reflects the discovery of the bay on which Rio sits, on New Year’s Day in 1502.

43 Garr of “Young Frankenstein” : TERI

Actress Teri Garr had a whole host of minor roles in her youth, including appearances in nine Elvis movies. Garr’s big break came with the role of Inga in “Young Frankenstein”, and her supporting role in “Tootsie” earned Garr an Academy Award nomination. Sadly, Teri Garr suffers from multiple sclerosis. She is a National Ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

I am not really a big fan of movies by Mel Brooks, but “Young Frankenstein” is the exception. I think the cast has a lot to do with me liking the film, as it includes Gene Wilder (Dr. Frankenstein), Teri Garr (Inga), Marty Feldman (Igor) and Gene Hackman (Harold, the blind man).

45 Abbr. on a photocopier tray : LTR

Our paper sizes here in North America don’t conform with the standards in the rest of the world. ISO standard sizes used elsewhere were chosen so that the ratio of width to length is usually one to the square root of two. This mathematical relationship means that when you cut a piece of paper in two each half preserves the aspect ratio of the original, which can be useful in making reduced or enlarged copies of documents. Our standard size of “letter” (ltr., 8.5 x 11 inches) was determined in 1980 by the Reagan administration to be the official paper size for the US government. Prior to this, the “legal” size (8.5 x 14 inches) had been the standard, since 1921.

46 Cat or goat breed : ANGORA

The Turkish Angora is a breed of domestic cat that is often called simply an Angora or Ankara cat. The Angora is particularly prized for its white coat, although the breed can come in a variety of colors.

The Angora goat produces the wool known as mohair. On the other hand, Angora wool comes from the Angora rabbit. Both rabbit and goat are named for Turkey’s capital Ankara, which was known as “Angora” in many European languages.

48 Honey-loving bear : POOH

Alan Alexander (A.A.) Milne was an English author who is best known for his delightful “Winnie-the-Pooh” series of books. He had only one son, Christopher Robin Milne, born in 1920. The young Milne was the inspiration for the Christopher Robin character in the Winnie-the-Pooh stories. Winnie-the-Pooh was named after Christopher Robin’s real teddy bear, one he called Winnie, who in turn was named after a Canadian black bear called Winnie that the Milnes would visit in London Zoo. The original Winnie teddy bear is on display at the main branch of the New York Public Library in New York.

56 Mecca resident : SAUDI

Mecca is in the Makkah province of Saudi Arabia. It was the birthplace of Muhammad and is the holiest city in Islam. Every year several million Muslims perform the Hajj, a holy pilgrimage to Mecca.

68 Jalopy : TIN CAN

The origins of our word “jalopy”, meaning “dilapidated, old motor car”, seem to have been lost in time, but the word has been around since the 1920s. One credible suggestion is that it comes from Xalapa, Mexico as the Xalapa scrap yards were the destination for many discarded American automobiles.

71 Passover meals : SEDERS

The Passover Seder is a ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish Passover holiday, celebrating the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.

The Jewish holiday of Passover (also “Pesach”) commemorates the Israelites being freed from slavery in Egypt, as recounted in the Book of Exodus in the Hebrew Bible. In that narrative, God inflicted ten plagues upon the Egyptians, the tenth being the death of their firstborn sons. God instructed the Israelites to mark their doorposts so that the plague would pass over the firstborn Israelites. This “passing over” gives the holiday its name.

Down

3 Final words of many a fairy tale : … EVER AFTER

The stock phrase “Once upon a time …” has been used in various forms as the start of a narrative at least since 1380. The stock phrase at the end of stories such as folktales is often “and they all lived happily ever after”. The earlier version of this ending was “happily until their deaths”.

5 Hot time in Paris : ETE

In French, the season of “été” (summer) starts in “juin” (June) and ends in septembre (September). Note that the names of months are not capitalized in French.

6 Shakers or Quakers : SECT

“Shakers” is the common name for the religious sect more properly called the “United Society of Believer in Christ’s Second Appearing”. The sect’s doctrine was based on the teachings of Ann Lee.

Members of the Religious Society of Friends are known as Friends or Quakers. The Christian sect started in England in the 1640s, led by George Fox. The principal tenet at that point was that Christians could have direct experience of Jesus Christ without the mediation of clergy, a reflection of the increasing dissatisfaction with the established church at that time. The term “Quaker” is thought to have been used earlier in reference to foreign religious sects whose followers were given to fits of shaking during religious fervor. Somehow that term became used for members of the Religious Society of Friends.

7 Late jazz pianist Chick : COREA

Chick Corea is an American jazz pianist. Corea is noted for his work in the area of jazz fusion, as well as for his promotion of Scientology.

10 High-calorie bakery offerings : TORTES

A torte is a type of cake made primarily with eggs, sugar and ground nuts (but no flour).

23 Word with liberal or language : … ARTS

The term “liberal arts” dates back to classical antiquity. The liberal arts were those subjects deemed essential to master for a citizen to take an active part in civil life. “Citizens” were “free people”, hence the use of the term “liberal arts”. The list of subjects studied in olden times were generally sevenfold: grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy/astrology.

25 Fruit from a palm : ACAI

Açaí (pronounced “ass-aye-ee”) is a palm tree native to Central and South America. The fruit has become very popular in recent years and its juice is a very fashionable addition to juice mixes and smoothies.

27 Capital near Glacier Bay National Park : JUNEAU

Given that it’s the capital of the vast state of Alaska, it is perhaps not surprising to learn that the municipality of Juneau is almost as big as the area of the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined. And yet, Juneau only has a population of about 31,000 people!

Glacier Bay in southeastern Alaska was declared a National Monument in 1925, and a National Park in 1980. UNESCO then declared the bay and surrounding area the largest UNESCO-protected biosphere in the world.

29 Where parishioners sit : NAVE

In large Christian churches, the nave is the main approach to the altar, and is where most of the congregation are seated.

33 N.Y.C.’s ___ Drive : FDR

The full name of the parkway known as FDR Drive in New York City is the Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive. The FDR is a parkway that runs along the East River for almost ten miles through Manhattan. A large portion of the road is built on rubble that came from Bristol, England during WWII. The rubble from the bombed city was loaded as ballast on ships returning to the US after having delivered war supplies to England.

35 “I now ___ you …” : PRONOUNCE

… husband and wife.

36 Like an atrium : AIRY

In modern architecture, an atrium (plural “atria” or “atriums”) is a large open space usually in the center of a building and extending upwards to the roof. The original atrium was an open court in the center of an Ancient Roman house. One could access most of the enclosed rooms of the house from the atrium.

40 Kind of cable : ETHERNET

“Ethernet” is the name given to a standardized configuration of local area networks (LANs). An ethernet cable is that one that has a connector on the end that looks like a regular telephone connector, but is about twice as wide. Ethernet dates back to the mid seventies, when it was developed by the Xerox Corporation.

44 ___ Touch : IPOD

The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant and gaming console with a Wi-Fi capability. Essentially, I think it’s a stripped-down version of an iPhone.

49 Strong aversions : ODIUMS

Odium is a strong dislike or aversion. The term is Latin in origin and relates to the Latin word “odi” meaning “I hate”.

51 Like pandas, yaks and snow leopards : ASIAN

Taxonomic classification of the giant panda has been a subject of great debate for years, the main question being whether it belongs to the bear or raccoon family. The accepted opinion these days, based on molecular studies, seems to be that the panda is in fact a true bear.

The English word “yak” is an Anglicized version of the Tibetan name for the male of the species. Yak milk is much prized in the Tibetan culture. It is made into cheese and butter, and the butter is used to make a tea that is consumed in great volume by Tibetans. The butter is also used as a fuel in lamps, and during festivals the butter is even sculpted into religious icons.

Snow leopards are creatures that tend to keep to themselves, living in high ground in the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. Given that they are so “secretive”, estimates of the size of the snow leopard population are pretty rough, with perhaps 3,500 to 7,000 in the wild.

52 Hobbyist’s knife : X-ACTO

The X-Acto knife was invented in the thirties by a Polish immigrant, although his intention was to come up with a scalpel for surgeons. The knife couldn’t cut it as a scalpel though (pun!), because it was difficult to clean. The inventor’s brother-in law suggested it be used as a craft knife, and it is still around today.

53 They might be put up during a fight : DUKES

“Dukes” is a slang term meaning “fists, hands”. The route taken by “dukes” to become fists seems very tortuous, but might just be true. The term “fork” was slang for “hand” for centuries (and gives rise to “fork out” meaning “hand over”). The slang term “fork” is expressed in Cockney rhyming slang as “Duke of York”, which is shortened to “duke”. As I said, tortuous …

58 Prince’s “___ Go Crazy” : LET’S

The singer Prince was born in Minneapolis, and he lived there most of his life. Born Prince Rogers Nelson, his given name honored his father, a jazz musician who used the stage name Prince Rogers. Prince died in 2016 due to an accidental fentanyl overdose at his home and recording studio located just southwest of Minneapolis. The home and studio, known as Paisley Park, is now a museum that is open to the public.

60 Castor or Pollux : STAR

The constellation of Gemini contains 85 stars that are visible with the naked eye, but the two brightest are Pollux and Castor. These two stars are named for the twins Pollux and Castor of Greek mythology. The name “Gemini” is Latin for “twins”.

61 Some I.R.S. data, in brief : SSNS

The main purpose of a Social Security Number (SSN) is to track individuals for the purposes of taxation, although given its ubiquitous use, it is looking more and more like an identity number to me. The social security number system was introduced in 1936. Prior to 1986, an SSN was required only for persons with substantial income, so many children under 14 had no number assigned. For some years the IRS had a concern that a lot of people were claiming children on their tax returns who did not actually exist. So starting in 1986, the IRS made it a requirement to get an SSN for any dependents over the age of 5. Sure enough, seven million dependents “disappeared” in 1987.

64 Old car that’s a homophone of another answer in this puzzle : REO

The REO Motor Company was founded by Ransom Eli Olds (hence the name REO). The company made cars, trucks and buses, and was in business from 1905 to 1975 in Lansing, Michigan. Among the company’s most famous models were the REO Royale 8 and the REO Flying Cloud.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Diving birds : GREBES
7 “That’ll ___ you” : COST
11 Lousy : BAD
14 Nay : NO-VOTE
15 Frozen yogurt flavor : OREO
16 Diamond stat : RBI
17 Jane Goodall, at times? : APE RECORDER (from “tape recorder”)
19 English novelist McEwan : IAN
20 “Now, where ___ we?” : WERE
21 Arborist’s interest : TREE
22 Aesthetic sense : TASTE
24 Nabokov novel : ADA
26 Corn farmer at harvest time? : EAR JERKER (from “tear jerker”)
28 Sharp, as a photo : IN FOCUS
31 Remove via a coup, say : OUST
32 Role for George Clooney, Michael Keaton and Christian Bale : BATMAN
33 “If you obey all the rules, you miss all the ___” (quote attributed to Katharine Hepburn) : FUN
34 Trade jabs (with) : SPAR
38 Woman in a garden : EVE
39 Beverage with a phonetic hint to 17-, 26-, 51- and 63-Across : ICED TEA
42 The city in 2002’s “City of God” : RIO
43 Garr of “Young Frankenstein” : TERI
45 Abbr. on a photocopier tray : LTR
46 Cat or goat breed : ANGORA
48 Honey-loving bear : POOH
50 Name of self-identification, as “Deutsche” for “Germans” : AUTONYM
51 Lumberjacks in unsafe working conditions? : AX DODGERS (from “tax dodger”)
55 Declaration in a swearing-in ceremony : I DO
56 Mecca resident : SAUDI
57 Make muddy, as water : ROIL
59 Figure (out) : SUSS
62 “Ewww!” : ICK!
63 Caterer’s coffee dispenser? : URN OF EVENTS (from “turn of events”)
66 Broke a fast : ATE
67 Fulfill, as expectations : MEET
68 Jalopy : TIN CAN
69 Directory listings: Abbr. : NOS
70 Lushes : SOTS
71 Passover meals : SEDERS

Down

1 Irk, with “at” : GNAW …
2 Part of a pulley : ROPE
3 Final words of many a fairy tale : … EVER AFTER
4 Reason to draw a doodle, maybe : BOREDOM
5 Hot time in Paris : ETE
6 Shakers or Quakers : SECT
7 Late jazz pianist Chick : COREA
8 Call to have food delivered : ORDER OUT
9 Match, in poker : SEE
10 High-calorie bakery offerings : TORTES
11 Invigorating, as a walk : BRISK
12 Ease : ABATE
13 Certain train car : DINER
18 Rock groups : ORES
23 Word with liberal or language : … ARTS
25 Fruit from a palm : ACAI
27 Capital near Glacier Bay National Park : JUNEAU
28 “Ri-i-i-ight!” : I BET!
29 Where parishioners sit : NAVE
30 Use a snake on, say : UNCLOG
33 N.Y.C.’s ___ Drive : FDR
35 “I now ___ you …” : PRONOUNCE
36 Like an atrium : AIRY
37 Proceed here and there : ROAM
40 Kind of cable : ETHERNET
41 “Nay” sayer : ANTI
44 ___ Touch : IPOD
47 Gift from above : GODSEND
49 Strong aversions : ODIUMS
50 “In your dreams!” : AS IF!
51 Like pandas, yaks and snow leopards : ASIAN
52 Hobbyist’s knife : X-ACTO
53 They might be put up during a fight : DUKES
54 Ancestry : ROOTS
58 Prince’s “___ Go Crazy” : LET’S
60 Castor or Pollux : STAR
61 Some I.R.S. data, in brief : SSNS
64 Old car that’s a homophone of another answer in this puzzle : REO
65 Fight (for) : VIE