0527-18 NY Times Crossword Answers 27 May 2018, Sunday

Constructed by: Andrew Chaikin
Edited by: Will Shortz

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Today’s Theme: 21

The clues to themed answers are all the same, namely “21”. There are also 21 letters in each of those themed answers, and further references to 21 in several other clues:

  • 22A. 21 : AGE FOR DRINKING LEGALLY
  • 34A. 21 : NUMBER-ONE ALBUM BY ADELE
  • 51A. 21 : GUNS IN A MILITARY SALUTE
  • 74A. 21 : SPOTS ON ALL SIDES OF A DIE
  • 87A. 21 : WINNING BLACKJACK TOTAL
  • 106A. 21 : LETTERS IN THESE ANSWERS
  • 1A. New Hampshire’s is 21 kilometers long : COAST
  • 41A. Famous writer who entered West Point at 21 : POE
  • 97A. 21st-century currency : EURO
  • 50D. State whose capital is 21-Down: Abbr. : NSW
  • 94D. “21 Grams” actress DuVall : CLEA
  • 102D. Scandium’s is 21: Abbr. : AT NO

Bill’s time: 26m 01s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. New Hampshire’s is 21 kilometers long : COAST

The US state of New Hampshire takes its name from the former British colony known as the Province of New Hampshire. In turn, the colony was named for the English county of Hampshire by Captain John Mason, who was the first proprietor of the Province of New Hampshire.

13. Actress Rivera : CHITA

Chita Rivera is an actress best known for her work in musical theater. She was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.

18. Layer of the earth : MANTLE

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.

19. Knight in a medieval romance : TRISTAN

According to the legend of King Arthur, Tristan was a Knight of the Round Table from Cornwall in the south of England. Tristan was sent by his Cornish king to fetch an Irish princess called Iseult from her homeland, but Tristan and Iseult instead fall in love. Most famously, the couple’s story was retold by Richard Wagner in his opera “Tristan and Isolde”.

20. Monopoly pieces : HOTELS

In the game of Monopoly, one can purchase a hotel by “demolishing” four houses and by paying an extra amount equal to the price of one house.

22. 21 : AGE FOR DRINKING LEGALLY

The drinking age in the US is defined by state. However, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 in effect sets the standard across the country at 21 years. If any state chooses to allow drinking at an age below 21, it loses revenue from the federal government.

27. Practices crystal gazing : SCRIES

To descry is to catch sight of, to discern. The derivative verb “to scry” is used to mean “to see images that reveal the past or foretell the future”.

28. LAX listing, for short : ETD

Estimated time of departure (ETD)

29. Where the Bactrian camel is native : ASIA

The dromedary, also known as the Arabian Camel or Indian Camel, is the camel that has only one hump. The other species of camel is the Bactrian, which has two humps. The hump of a dromedary contains up to 80 pounds of fat, which can be broken down into water and energy if no food or water is available.

32. Scenery chewers : HAMS

The word “ham”, describing a performer who overacts, is apparently a shortened form of “hamfatter” and dates back to the late 1800s. “Hamfatter” comes from a song in old minstrel shows called “The Ham-Fat Man”. It seems that a poorly performing actor was deemed to have the “acting” qualities of a minstrel made up in blackface.

33. Former Nebraska senator James : EXON

J. James Exon was a US Senator from Nebraska and a former governor of the state. Exon was a Democrat, and one who never lost an election for office. When he passed away in 2005, Exon became the first person to lie in state in the rotunda of the Nebraska State Capitol.

34. 21 : NUMBER-ONE ALBUM BY ADELE

“Adele” is the stage name of English singer Adele Adkins. Adele’s debut album is “19”, named after the age she was during the album’s production. Her second album was even more successful than the first. Called “21”, the second album was released three years after the first, when Adele was three years older. Her third studio album “25”, released in 2015, broke the first-week sales records in both the UK and the US.

40. One might be cast in a Harry Potter film : SPELL

The incredibly popular “Harry Potter” films make up one of the highest-grossing film franchises of all time, up there with the “Marvel Comics”, “Star Wars” and “James Bond” movies series.

41. Famous writer who entered West Point at 21 : POE

Edgar Allan Poe enlisted in the US Army when he was 18 years old, although he claimed to be 22 at the time and used the false name “Edgar A. Perry”. While serving at Fort Independence in Boston Harbor, Poe released his first book “Tamerlane and Other Poems”, of which there are purported to be only 12 copies left in existence. Poe negotiated his way out of a 5-year obligation to the army by arranging entry to West Point. He managed to cut short his time at West Point by purposely getting court-martialed for gross neglect of duty and disobeying orders. Soon after returning to civilian life, Poe published his third volume of poems, with financing provided by several of this West Point classmates. Simply titled “Poems”, the work includes the line “To the U.S. Corps of Cadets this volume is respectfully dedicated”.

42. Alias of rapper Sean Combs : DIDDY

When Sean John Combs started his rapping career, he used the stage name “Puff Daddy”. Then he went with “P. Diddy”, and I think that he is now recording simply as “Diddy”. Having said that, he has to stick with “P. Diddy” in some countries as he lost a legal battle over use of the simpler “Diddy” name as there is another artist called Richard “Diddy” Dearlove.

43. Sadat and Arafat, e.g. : ARABS

Anwar Sadat was the third President of Egypt right up to the time of his assassination in 1981. Sadat won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978 along with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin for the role played in crafting the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty of 1978 at Camp David. It was this agreement that largely led to Sadat’s assassination three years later.

Yasser (also “Yasir”) Arafat was born in Cairo in 1929, the son of two Palestinians and the second-youngest of seven children. Arafat was beaten by his father as a child and so did not have a good relationship with him. Arafat did not attend his father’s funeral, nor did he visit his grave. The beatings were apparently administered because the young Arafat was repeatedly attending religious services in the Jewish quarter of Cairo. Arafat’s explanation was that he wanted to “study the mentality” of the Jewish people.

47. Polling abbr. : PCT

Percent (pct.)

51. 21 : GUNS IN A MILITARY SALUTE

The current tradition in the US calls for a 21-gun salute as the highest honor, which is accorded the US president, the nation’s fallen on Memorial Day, and foreign heads of state. However, tradition also dictates a 50-gun “National Salute” on Independence Day, with one round being fired for each state in the union.

59. What a hungover person might have had : ONE TOO MANY

The main cause of hangover symptoms seems to be dehydration. Ethanol causes increased urine production, leaving the body short of water and resulting in headaches, dry mouth and a lack of energy. The symptoms can be alleviated by drinking a lot of water.

60. Who said “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference” : ELIE WIESEL

Author and holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel had several things to say on the subject of indifference:

  • The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.
  • Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies.
  • Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil.

61. Line of work: Abbr. : OCC

Occupation (occ.)

62. Crunchy sandwich, for short : BLT

The BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato) is the second most popular sandwich in the US, after the plain old ham sandwich.

65. Replicas : FACSIMILES

A facsimile is a copy. The term comes from the Latin phrase “fac simile” meaning “make similar”, with “fac” being the imperative form of “facere”, to make.

74. 21 : SPOTS ON ALL SIDES OF A DIE

The numbers on dice are arranged so that the opposite faces add up to seven. Given this arrangement, the numbers 1, 2 and 3 all meet at a common vertex. There are two ways of arranging the 1, 2 and 3 around the common vertex, a so called right-handed die (clockwise 1-2-3) or a left-handed die (counterclockwise 1-2-3). Traditionally, dice used in Western cultures are right-handed, whereas Chinese dice are left-handed. Quite interesting …

76. Moreno and Hayworth : RITAS

The Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress Rita Moreno is one of the few performers to have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony. Moreno got her big break, and won her Oscar, for playing Anita in the 1961 screen adaption of “West Side Story”.

Rita Hayworth was born in Brooklyn as Margarita Carmen Cansino. Her father was a flamenco dancer from Spain and so his daughter fell naturally into dancing. The family moved to Hollywood where Hayworth’s father set up a dance studio, and there worked with the likes of James Cagney and Jean Harlow. The young Hayworth had a slow start in movies, finding herself typecast because of her Mediterranean features. When she underwent extensive electrolysis to change her forehead and dyed her hair red, she started to get more work (how sad is that?). In 1941 she posed for that famous pin-up picture which accompanied GIs all over the world.

77. B&B : INN

An intimate inn (in the US) is a bed & breakfast (B&B). A bed & breakfast back in Ireland is traditionally more basic accommodation, and at least used to be much cheaper than a comparable hotel room.

78. Old British firearms : STENS

The STEN gun is an iconic armament that was used by the British military. The name STEN is an acronym. The S and the T comes from the name of the gun’s designers, Shepherd and Turpin. The EN comes from the Enfield brand name, which in turn comes from the Enfield location where the guns were manufactured for the Royal Small Arms Factory, an enterprise owned by the British government.

79. What “you know you make me wanna” do, in a classic R&B song : SHOUT

“Shout” is a hit song that was written and released by the Isley Brothers in 1959. A huge hit it was indeed, but not at first. In fact, it was destined to become the first record to “go gold” based on its longevity rather than its initial sales. “Shout” has been covered many times. My personal favorite cover versions are by Otis Day and the Knights in the film “Animal House” in 1978, and by Scottish singer Lulu in 1964.

You know you make me wanna (Shout!)
Kick my heels up and (Shout!)
Throw my hands up and (Shout!)
Throw my head back and (Shout!)
Come on now (Shout!)

82. Loos : WCS

When I was growing up in Ireland, a bathroom was a room that had a bath and no toilet. The separate room with the commode was called the toilet or sometimes the W.C. (the water closet). Apparently the term “closet” was used because in the 1800s when homeowners started installing toilets indoors they often displaced clothes and linens in a closet, as a closet was the right size to take the commode.

It has been suggested that the British term “loo” comes from “Waterloo” (water closet … water-loo), but no one seems to know for sure. Another suggestion is that the term comes from the card game of “lanterloo”, in which the pot was called the loo!

83. Dirección toward sunset : OESTE

“Oeste” (west) is a “dirección” (direction), in Spanish.

87. 21 : WINNING BLACKJACK TOTAL

The card game known as “twenty-one” was first referred to in a book by Cervantes, the author famous for writing “Don Quixote”. He called the game “ventiuna” (Spanish for “twenty-one”). Cervantes wrote his story just after the year 1600, so the game has been around at least since then. Twenty-one came to the US but it wasn’t all that popular so bonus payments were introduced to create more interest. One of the more attractive bonuses was a ten-to-one payout to a player who was dealt an ace of spades and a black jack. This bonus led to the game adopting the moniker “Blackjack”.

96. “Out of Africa” author Dinesen : ISAK

Isak Dinesen was the pen name of the Danish author Baroness Karen Blixen. Blixen’s most famous title by far is “Out of Africa”, her account of the time she spent living in Kenya.

97. 21st-century currency : EURO

The Euro is the official currency of most of the states in the European Union, but not all. The list of states not using the Euro includes the UK, Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

98. Competitor of Allure : ELLE

“Elle” magazine was founded in 1945 in France and today has the highest circulation of any fashion magazine in the world. “Elle” is the French word for “she”. “Elle” is published monthly worldwide, although you can pick up a weekly edition if you live in France.

“Allure” is a magazine published by Condé Nast in New York that was founded in 1991 by Linda Wells. “Allure” contains articles on beauty, fashion and women’s health.

99. ___ bean : FAVA

“Fava bean” is an alternative name for the broad bean. “Broad bean” is used “broadly” (pun!) in the UK, whereas “fava bean” is common in the US. “Fava” is the Italian name for the broad bean.

100. The Stones’ “Aftermath” and “Flowers” : LPS

The first vinyl records designed to play at 33⅓ rpm were introduced by RCA Victor in 1931, but were discontinued due to quality problems. The first long play (LP) 33⅓ rpm disc was introduced by Columbia Records many years later in 1948, with RCA Victor following up with a 45 rpm “single” the following year, in 1949.

101. The U.S.S. Maine sank in its harbor : HAVANA

The USS Maine was a pre-dreadnought battleship launched in 1890. The Maine sunk in Havana Harbor in 1898 due to a massive explosion. A Naval Court of Inquiry found that the explosion was caused by a mine, a finding that helped precipitate the start of the Spanish-American War that began one month later. Those advocating the war were often heard crying, “Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!”

103. “M*A*S*H” actor David Ogden ___ : STIERS

David Ogden Stiers was an actor best known for playing Major Charles Winchester III on the TV show “M*A*S*H”. Stiers was also quite the musician, and spent many of his later years as conductor of the Newport Symphony Orchestra in Newport, Oregon.

110. Action hero Steven : SEAGAL

Steven Seagal is known in the US as a martial artist turned actor. Seagal started his career as an Aikido instructor in Japan and was the first foreigner to operate an Aikido dojo in that country.

111. Shape of every Baha’i temple : NONAGON

The prefix “nona-” is used to denote the number nine or ninth. An example is “nonagon”, a nine-sided polygon.

The Baha’i Faith is relatively new in the scheme of things, and was founded in Persia in the 1800s. One of the tenets of the religion is that messengers have come from God over time, including Abraham, the Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, and most recently Bahá’u’lláh who founded the Baha’i Faith. Baha’i scripture specifies some particular architectural requirement for houses of worship, including that the building have nine-sided, circular shape. It is also specified that there be no pictures, statues or images displayed within a temple.

112. Component of natural gas : ETHANE

Ethane is the second largest component of natural gas, after methane. Ethane’s main use is in the production of ethylene, a compound that is widely used in the chemical industry.

114. “Workers of the world, unite!” and others : SLOGANS

The “Communist Manifesto” written in 1848 by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels contains the phrase “Proletarians of all countries, unite!” (“Proletarier aller Länder vereinigt Euch!” in German). This evolved into the English saying “Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!” The words “Workers of all lands, unite“ are written on Karl Marx’s headstone in Highgate Cemetery in London.

115. Hurdles for aspiring D.A.s : LSATS

Law School Admission Test (LSAT)

Down

2. Erstwhile : ONE-TIME

“Erst” is an archaic way of saying “formerly, before the present time”. The term is mostly seen as part of the word “erstwhile”, an adjective meaning “of times past”.

3. Raiders’ org. : ATF

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is today part of the Department of Justice (DOJ). The ATF has its roots in the Department of Treasury dating back to 1886 when it was known as the Bureau of Prohibition. “Explosives” was added to the ATF’s name when the bureau was moved under the Department of Justice (DOJ) as part of the reorganization called for in the Homeland Security Act of 2002.

5. Hellion : TERROR

A hellion is a mischievous and wild person. “Hellion” is a North American term, probably derived for the word that we use for the same thing on the other side of the Atlantic, namely “hallion”.

6. Transport “to Sugar Hill way up in Harlem” : A TRAIN

The A Train in the New York City Subway system runs from 207th Street, through Manhattan and over to Far Rockaway in Queens. The service lends its name to a jazz standard “Take the ‘A’ Train”, the signature tune of Duke Ellington and a song much sung by Ella Fitzgerald. One version of the lyrics are:

You must take the A Train
To go to Sugar Hill way up in Harlem
If you miss the A Train
You’ll find you’ve missed the quickest way to Harlem
Hurry, get on, now, it’s coming
Listen to those rails a-thrumming (All Aboard!)
Get on the A Train
Soon you will be on Sugar Hill in Harlem.

10. End of an illness? : -ITIS

The suffix “-itis” is used to denote inflammation, as in laryngitis (inflammation of the larynx), otitis (inflammation of the ear), tendinitis (inflammation of a tendon) and sinusitis (inflammation of the sinuses).

11. Fu ___ : MANCHU

Warner Oland was a Swedish actor who is best remembered for his portrayal of Charlie Chan in a series of 16 highly successful Hollywood movies. Before playing Charlie Chan, Oland made a name for himself in another Asian role on screen, playing Dr. Fu Manchu.

12. Memory trace : ENGRAM

An engram is a hypothetical construct, an explanation for the brain’s ability to store memories. The idea is that some biophysical or biochemical changes take place in the brain in response to external stimuli.

13. Inferior in quality : CHEESY

“Cheesy” can mean “of poor quality”. Its usage dates back to the late 1800s and the word is derived from the Urdu “chiz” meaning “thing”. “Chiz” was used to describe a big thing, something important, and our word “cheesy” is an ironic derivative from that sense.

14. Harleys, e.g. : HOGS

The Harley-Davidson motorcycle company was founded in the very early 1900s by two childhood friends, William Harley and Arthur Davidson, . Their first design was in effect an engine hooked up to a pedal bicycle, but the 116 cc cylinder capacity simply couldn’t generate enough power to get up the hills of their native city of Milwaukee. The pair came up with a redesigned model that had a cylinder capacity of 405 cc, which the partners built in a shed at the back of Davidson’s house. In 1906, the partners built their first factory, located where the company’s headquarters is to this day, on Juneau Avenue in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Famously, Harley motorcycles are nicknamed “hogs”.

16. Sent an important message, once : TELEXED

Telex grew out of the world of the telegraph. What Telex brought to telegraphy was the ability to route messages. Instead of having to talk to an operator to route a particular message to the intended party, the user of a telex could route the message directly to another telex machine by way of a rotary dial, very similar to that on a telephone.

18. Settlers of the Yucatán Peninsula : MAYANS

The Maya civilization held sway in Central America and Mexico from about 350 AD, until the arrival of the Spanish in the 1500s.

The Yucatán Peninsula is located in southeastern Mexico, where it separates the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest from the Caribbean Sea to the southeast.

21. Summer Olympics host after Atlanta : SYDNEY

When the Summer Olympic Games were held in Sydney, Australia in 2000, it marked the second time that the event was hosted in the Southern Hemisphere, the first occasion being the 1956 games in Melbourne. Although the Sydney Games were a public relations success, the financial result was a major disappointment. The Australian government built several new venues in the Sydney Olympic Park and were planning on recouping the cost by renting out the facilities in the following years. Sadly, the required level of bookings failed to materialize and so the government’s bank balance took a hit.

24. Something a sea star can regenerate : LIMB

Starfish (sometimes known as “sea stars”) come in many shapes and sizes, but commonly have “pentaradial symmetry”, meaning they have symmetrical body-shapes with five points. Most starfish are predators, mainly living on a diet of mollusks such as clams and oysters.

35. California town whose name is Spanish for “the river” : EL RIO

El Rio is a town in Ventura County, California. The town was founded as New Jerusalem in 1875, then became Jerusalem, Elrio and finally El Rio in 1905.

38. Davis of old Hollywood : BETTE

I must confess that I have a problem watching movies starring Bette Davis. I think I must have seen her play one of her more sinister roles when I was a kid and it gave me nightmares or something.

39. He lost to Dwight twice : ADLAI

Adlai Stevenson (AES) ran for president unsuccessfully against Dwight D. Eisenhower (DDE) in 1952 and again in 1956. Some years after his second defeat, Stevenson served under President Kennedy (JFK) as Ambassador to the United Nations. Stevenson was always noted for his eloquence and he had a famous exchange in a UN Security Council meeting during the Cuban missile crisis. Stevenson bluntly demanded that the Soviet representative on the council tell the world if the USSR was installing nuclear weapons in Cuba. His words were “Don’t wait for the translation, answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’!” followed by “I am prepared to wait for my answer until Hell freezes over!”

44. Time span with a tilde : ANO

In Spanish, “el año” (the year) starts in “enero” (January) and ends in “diciembre” (December).

46. Parts of “at” symbols : SMALL AS

The “at symbol” (@) originated in the commercial word, as shorthand for “each at, per” and similar phrases. I suppose we see the symbol most commonly these days as part of email addresses.

48. Big hits : TRIPLES

That would be baseball.

49. It starts with E, in two different ways : EYE TEST

The letter E starts the term “eye test”, and is found at the top of Snellen eye chart.

The commonly used eye chart (that starts with the letters “E FP TOZ LPED”) is called a Snellen chart. The test is named after its developer Herman Snellen, who introduced it way back in 1862.

50. State whose capital is 21-Down: Abbr. : NSW
(21D. Summer Olympics host after Atlanta : SYDNEY)

New South Wales (NSW) is the most populous state in Australia and is home to Sydney, the most populous city in the country. New South Wales was founded in 1788. When the British took over New Zealand in 1840, for a while New Zealand was actually governed as part of New South Wales.

53. Brand of wafers : NECCO

Necco Wafers are the best-known product line of the candy manufacturer called the New England Confectionery Company. The firm’s name is abbreviated to “NECCO”, an acronym that has become synonymous with the wafers.

54. Dossier contents : INTEL

A dossier is a collection of papers with information about a person or subject. “Dossier” is a French term meaning “bundle of papers”.

56. You, in Yucatán : USTED

Yucatán is one of Mexico’s 31 states and is located in the east of the country, on the northern tip of the Yucatán peninsula.

57. Italian city where St. Valentine was born : TERNI

Saint Valentine’s Day was introduced by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD to honor various martyrs with the name Valentine. However, the saint’s’ day was dropped by the Roman Catholic church in 1969, by Pope Paul VI. Try telling that to Hallmark though …

66. White’s co-author of “The Elements of Style” : STRUNK

Strunk & White’s “The Elements of Style” was first published in 1918. “The Elements of Style” is a relatively thin book, when compared to its modern counterpart “The Chicago Manual of Style”. Both books give guidance on the correct use of American English. The Chicago version is one of the most frequently used references on my bookshelf, and a constant reminder of my inadequacies!

67. Query from Judas : IS IT I

At the Last Supper, Jesus told his apostles that one of them would betray him that day. According to the Gospel of Matthew:

And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?

68. Witty zinger : MOT

“Bon mot” translates from French as “good word”. We use “bon mot” (and sometimes just “mot”) to mean “quip, witticism”.

69. Guardian Angel Curtis ___ : SLIWA

The Guardian Angels is an organization of unarmed volunteers who patrol high-crime areas and make citizen arrests when necessary. The group was founded in 1979 and originally focused on patrols of the New York City subway system. Now there are Guardian Angels operating in 15 countries and 144 cities around the world. You might recognize a Guardian Angel from his or her distinctive red beret.

70. Capital of Belarus : MINSK

Minsk is the capital of Belarus, formerly known as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. One of Minsk’s more infamous residents was Lee Harvey Oswald, who lived there from 1960 to 1962.

73. Start for every Perry Mason title, with “The” : CASE OF …

I must have read all of the “Perry Mason” books when I was in college. I think they kept me sane when I was facing the pressure of exams. Author Erle Stanley Gardner was himself a lawyer, although he didn’t get into the profession the easy way. Gardner went to law school, but got himself suspended after a month. So, he became a self-taught attorney and opened his own law office in Merced, California. Understandably, he gave up the law once his novels became successful.

75. Old civil rights org. : SNCC

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was an organization that was very active in the Civil Rights Movement of the sixties. Apart from organizing protest events, the SNCC did a lot of work driving voter registration throughout the southern states.

89. Sirs, to Brits : GUVS

“Guv” is an informal word used in the UK, and a shortened form of “governor”. It is usually a friendly address to a man, sort of like our “Mac” or “Dad”.

91. Bygone Cambodian leader with a palindromic name : LON NOL

Lon Nol was a soldier and politician in Cambodia who later served twice as the country’s president. When the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975, Nol escaped the country to Indonesia. He eventually found a home in Fullerton, California, where he died in 1985.

92. George, Jane or Judy, on old TV : JETSON

“The Jetsons” is an animated show from Hanna-Barbera that had its first run in 1962-1963, and then was recreated in 1985-1987. When it was debuted in 1963 by ABC, “The Jetsons” was the network’s first ever color broadcast. “The Jetsons” are like a space-age version of “The Flintstones”. The four Jetson family members are George and Jane, the parents, and children Judy and Elroy. Residing with the family in Orbit City are Rosie the household robot and Astro the pet dog.

94. “21 Grams” actress DuVall : CLEA

“21 Grams” is a fascinating 2003 drama film starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts. The title refers to work done by American physician Duncan MacDougall in the early 1900s. MacDougall weighed six patients who were dying from tuberculosis in the old age home. When it was clear that the afflicted were hours away from death, the patient’s bed was placed on a large weighing scale. From this study, MacDougall asserted that the human body lost a mass of 21 grams at the moment of death, and that this change in weight represented the departure of the soul.

102. Scandium’s is 21: Abbr. : AT NO

The atomic number (at. no.) of an element is also called the proton number, and is the number of protons found in the nucleus of each atom of the element.

103. Sonic the Hedgehog creator : SEGA

Sonic the Hedgehog is a title character in a videogame and the mascot of Sega, the computer game developer. Sonic was set up as a rival to Nintendo’s mascot “Mario”.

104. Retired fliers, for short : SSTS

Supersonic transport (SST)

107. ___ Fridays : TGI

T.G.I. Fridays is an American restaurant chain that was founded in 1965 in New York City. Today there are over a thousand T.G.I. Friday’s restaurants in over 50 countries. I think that Fridays has always been particularly successful overseas. I used to visit one a lot with my family when we lived in the Philippines, and I believe the most successful Fridays restaurant anywhere in the world is the one in Haymarket Leicester Square in London in the UK.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. New Hampshire’s is 21 kilometers long : COAST
6. Simultaneously : AT A TIME
13. Actress Rivera : CHITA
18. Layer of the earth : MANTLE
19. Knight in a medieval romance : TRISTAN
20. Monopoly pieces : HOTELS
22. 21 : AGE FOR DRINKING LEGALLY
25. But nevertheless : YET
26. Chicken choice : BREAST
27. Practices crystal gazing : SCRIES
28. LAX listing, for short : ETD
29. Where the Bactrian camel is native : ASIA
31. Leave unsaid : OMIT
32. Scenery chewers : HAMS
33. Former Nebraska senator James : EXON
34. 21 : NUMBER-ONE ALBUM BY ADELE
40. One might be cast in a Harry Potter film : SPELL
41. Famous writer who entered West Point at 21 : POE
42. Alias of rapper Sean Combs : DIDDY
43. Sadat and Arafat, e.g. : ARABS
47. Polling abbr. : PCT
48. Certain dumbbell weight: Abbr. : TEN LB
51. 21 : GUNS IN A MILITARY SALUTE
59. What a hungover person might have had : ONE TOO MANY
60. Who said “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference” : ELIE WIESEL
61. Line of work: Abbr. : OCC
62. Crunchy sandwich, for short : BLT
63. Pick, with “for” : OPT …
64. Prefix with cycle : TRI-
65. Replicas : FACSIMILES
70. Doing evil : MALEFICENT
74. 21 : SPOTS ON ALL SIDES OF A DIE
76. Moreno and Hayworth : RITAS
77. B&B : INN
78. Old British firearms : STENS
79. What “you know you make me wanna” do, in a classic R&B song : SHOUT
82. Loos : WCS
83. Dirección toward sunset : OESTE
87. 21 : WINNING BLACKJACK TOTAL
96. “Out of Africa” author Dinesen : ISAK
97. 21st-century currency : EURO
98. Competitor of Allure : ELLE
99. ___ bean : FAVA
100. The Stones’ “Aftermath” and “Flowers” : LPS
101. The U.S.S. Maine sank in its harbor : HAVANA
103. “M*A*S*H” actor David Ogden ___ : STIERS
105. Agent, informally : REP
106. 21 : LETTERS IN THESE ANSWERS
110. Action hero Steven : SEAGAL
111. Shape of every Baha’i temple : NONAGON
112. Component of natural gas : ETHANE
113. Without smiling, say : DRILY
114. “Workers of the world, unite!” and others : SLOGANS
115. Hurdles for aspiring D.A.s : LSATS

Down

1. Pens : CAGES UP
2. Erstwhile : ONE-TIME
3. Raiders’ org. : ATF
4. One covered with food stains, say : SLOB
5. Hellion : TERROR
6. Transport “to Sugar Hill way up in Harlem” : A TRAIN
7. Sad, in French or Spanish : TRISTE
8. “___ that somethin’?” : AIN’T
9. Bit of a scolding : TSK
10. End of an illness? : -ITIS
11. Fu ___ : MANCHU
12. Memory trace : ENGRAM
13. Inferior in quality : CHEESY
14. Harleys, e.g. : HOGS
15. Suffix with señor : -ITA
16. Sent an important message, once : TELEXED
17. In sum : ALL TOLD
18. Settlers of the Yucatán Peninsula : MAYANS
21. Summer Olympics host after Atlanta : SYDNEY
23. Showcase : DEMO
24. Something a sea star can regenerate : LIMB
30. So much fun : A BLAST
33. Nonpoisonous, as mushrooms : EDIBLE
35. California town whose name is Spanish for “the river” : EL RIO
36. Put in (for) : APPLY
37. Sets of points on graphs : LOCI
38. Davis of old Hollywood : BETTE
39. He lost to Dwight twice : ADLAI
44. Time span with a tilde : ANO
45. Little girl, in Italy : BAMBINA
46. Parts of “at” symbols : SMALL AS
48. Big hits : TRIPLES
49. It starts with E, in two different ways : EYE TEST
50. State whose capital is 21-Down: Abbr. : NSW
51. Clowns : GOOFS
52. Twist open : UNCAP
53. Brand of wafers : NECCO
54. Dossier contents : INTEL
55. Lots : A LOAD
56. You, in Yucatán : USTED
57. Italian city where St. Valentine was born : TERNI
58. Movers and shakers : ELITE
66. White’s co-author of “The Elements of Style” : STRUNK
67. Query from Judas : IS IT I
68. Witty zinger : MOT
69. Guardian Angel Curtis ___ : SLIWA
70. Capital of Belarus : MINSK
71. Unfriend? : FOE
72. Otherwise : IF NOT
73. Start for every Perry Mason title, with “The” : CASE OF …
75. Old civil rights org. : SNCC
79. Guzzles : SWILLS
80. Unlike dial-up internet service, informally : HI-SPEED
81. How one might wish : ON A STAR
84. Ogle : STARE AT
85. Bars : TAVERNS
86. Tick away : ELAPSE
88. Almost : NEARLY
89. Sirs, to Brits : GUVS
90. Smarts : BRAINS
91. Bygone Cambodian leader with a palindromic name : LON NOL
92. George, Jane or Judy, on old TV : JETSON
93. Contents of a saucer, maybe : ALIENS
94. “21 Grams” actress DuVall : CLEA
95. Niblet : KERNEL
101. Get better : HEAL
102. Scandium’s is 21: Abbr. : AT NO
103. Sonic the Hedgehog creator : SEGA
104. Retired fliers, for short : SSTS
107. ___ Fridays : TGI
108. Witch : HAG
109. “Huh?” : WHA?