Constructed by: Aimee Lucido
Edited by: Will Shortz
Not your puzzle? Try today’s …
… syndicated NY Times crossword
Today’s Reveal Answer: Butt Heads
Themed answers are each HEADED by a synonym of “BUTT”:
- 64A Disagree … or a hint to the starts of 17-, 26-, 40- and 49-Across : BUTT HEADS
- 17A Wander locally with no plans : BUM AROUND
- 26A Hitchcock movie with James Stewart and Grace Kelly : REAR WINDOW
- 40A Backstage : BEHIND THE SCENES
- 49A Final amount : BOTTOM LINE
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Bill’s time: 5m 13s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
1 Elizabeth of cosmetics : ARDEN
“Elizabeth Arden” was the business name used by Canadian-American Florence Nightingale Graham. Arden built a cosmetics empire that made her one of the wealthiest women in the world. Arden had a famous rivalry with fellow cosmetics entrepreneur Helena Rubinstein, and that rivalry even spawned a 2016 stage musical called “War Paint”.
6 Residents of London’s 10 Downing St. : PMS
10 Downing Street is one of the most famous street addresses in the world and is the official London residence of the British Prime Minister. Although it may not look it on television, it’s a spacious pad, actually a larger house made by combining three older houses back in the 1700s. Although Number 10 has over one hundred rooms, they are mostly offices and reception rooms and the actual residence itself is quite modest. It was so modest that when Tony Blair came to power he opted to move himself and his family into the more spacious residence next door at Number 11, an apartment traditionally reserved for the Chancellor of the Exchequer (the UK equivalent of the Secretary of the Treasury).
15 Singer Carly ___ Jepsen : RAE
Carly Rae Jepsen is a singer/songwriter from Mission, British Columbia. Jepsen got her start on TV’s “Canadian Idol” when she placed third in the show’s fifth season.
16 ___ bar (toffee candy) : HEATH
The Heath candy bar was created by brothers Bayard and Everett Heath in the 1920s.
20 Blue Angels’ org. : USN
“Blue Angels” is the popular name for the US Navy’s Flight Demonstration Squadron. The group was formed in 1946 and is the oldest of the US military’s flying aerobatic teams. The squadron took its nickname back in ‘46 from the Blue Angel nightclub that was around at that time in New York City.
23 Before, to bards : ERE
The original bards were storytellers, poets and composers of music in medieval Britain and Ireland, with the term coming from the Old Celtic word “bardos” that described a poet or singer. I guess the most famous bard was William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon.
26 Hitchcock movie with James Stewart and Grace Kelly : REAR WINDOW
“Rear Window” is a fabulous 1954 Hitchcock movie that is based on a short story called “It Had to Be Murder” by Cornell Woolrich. Stars in the film are James Stewart, Grace Kelly, with Raymond Burr playing the “bad guy”. Great, great movie …
Alfred Hitchcock was an English film director from Leytonstone, just outside London. A very good friend of mine is a close friend of one of his granddaughters, and met “Hitch” many times in her youth. She tells a very nice story of sitting in a restaurant with the family when someone came over to the table to say “hi”. That was Jimmy Stewart …
American actress Grace Kelly led the US delegation to the Cannes Film Festival in 1955 and there she met Prince Rainier III, at a photo-op in the Palace of Monaco. Twelve months later the pair were married and Kelly retired from acting at the age of 26. She suffered a stroke while driving her car in 1982, not long before her 53rd birthday. Kelly died in the resulting car crash but her daughter, Princess Stéphanie, survived the accident.
28 Purina alternative : IAMS
Iams dog food was introduced by the animal nutritionist Paul Iams. He felt that household pets were suffering somewhat by being fed a diet of table scraps, so he developed a dry dog food that he felt was more nutritious and suitable for pet dogs. He founded the Iams company, now part of Procter & Gamble, in 1946.
Purina began business in 1894 as an operation for producing feed for farm animals. A few years later, in 1902, the Ralston name was introduced when Webster Edgerly joined the business. Edgerly was the founder of a controversial social movement called Ralstonism. Central to the movement was personal health, with RALSTON standing for Regime, Activity, Light, Strength, Temperation, Oxygen and Nature.
30 Water under le pont : EAU
In French, “eau” (water) flows under a “pont” (bridge).
45 John who’s the subject of 2019’s “Rocketman” : ELTON
“Elton John” is the stage name of English singer and pianist Reginald Dwight. John is an avid football (soccer) supporter, and is especially enthusiastic about Watford Football Club, which was his local team growing up. After he achieved financial success, John was able to purchase Watford FC, and owned the club from 1976 to 1987, and again from 1997 until 2002.
48 Food company with a sunburst in its logo : DOLE
James Dole lent his name to today’s Dole Food Company. James Dole was known as the Pineapple King, as he developed the pineapple industry in Hawaii and founded the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, the forerunner to the Dole Food Company. Dole might have had some help on the way, as he was cousin to Sanford B, Dole, President of the Republic of Hawaii from 1894 to 1900.
55 Asia’s ___ Sea : ARAL
The Aral Sea is a great example of how man can have a devastating effect on his environment. In the early sixties the Aral Sea covered 68,000 square miles of Central Asia. Soviet irrigation projects drained the lake to such an extent that today the total area is less than 7,000 square miles, with 90% of the lake now completely dry. Sad …
61 Rx watchdog : FDA
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has its roots in the Division of Chemistry (later “Bureau of Chemistry”) that was part of the US Department of Agriculture. President Theodore Roosevelt gave responsibility for examination of food and drugs to the Bureau of Chemistry with the signing of the Pure Food and Drug Act. The Bureau’s name was changed to the Food, Drug and Insecticide Organization in 1927, and to the Food and Drug Administration in 1930.
There seems to some uncertainty about the origin of the symbol “Rx” that’s used for a medical prescription. One explanation is that it comes from the astrological sign for Jupiter, a symbol put on prescriptions in days of old to invoke Jupiter’s blessing to help a patient recover.
66 Street in “Perry Mason” : DELLA
Della Street is Perry Mason’s very capable secretary in the Erle Stanley Gardner novels. Street was played on the TV show by Barbara Hale.
67 Basket part grabbed after slam-dunking : RIM
Basketball is truly a North American sport. It was created in 1891 by Canadian James Naismith at the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts. His goal was to create something active and interesting for his students in the gym. The first “hoops” were actually peach baskets, with the bottoms of the baskets intact. When a player got the ball into the “net”, someone had to clamber up and get the ball back out again in order to continue the game!
68 Prince Harry, to Prince George and Princess Charlotte : UNCLE
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex is the younger of the two sons of Charles and Diana, Prince and Princess of Wales. Famously, Prince Harry married American actress Meghan Markle in 2018. The groom’s name was Prince Henry of Wales until the marriage, at which time his name changed officially to “Prince Harry”.
Prince George of Cambridge was born to Prince William and Catherine, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in July 2013. Young Prince George immediately became third in line to the British throne after Prince Charles (his grandfather) and Prince William (his father).
Princess Charlotte of Cambridge (b. 2015) is the second child of Prince William and Catherine, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Charlotte has a relatively high ranking in succession to the British throne compared to her female ancestors. Before the rules were changed in 2011, Charlotte would have been bumped down the line of succession when her younger brother Louis was born in 2018, just because he was a male and she was not.
70 Downed, as a sandwich : ATE
Meats placed between slices of bread was first called a sandwich in the 18th century, named after the Fourth Earl of Sandwich. The Earl was fond of eating “sandwiches” while playing cards at his club.
Down
4 Work done while tethered to a space station, for short : EVA
Extravehicular activity (EVA) is the name given to any work done by an astronaut outside of his or her spacecraft. The term would encompass walking on the moon, as well as making a space walk i.e. floating around in space tethered to spacecraft.
6 Dried plum : PRUNE
A prune is a dried plum. The name “prune” comes from the Latin “prunum”, the word for “plum”.
7 Japanese comic art : MANGA
The Japanese word “manga” means “whimsical pictures” and is an apt term to describe the Japanese style of comic book. Manga publications are more diverse than American comic books and have a larger audience. Manga cover many subjects including romance, sports, business, horror, and mystery.
8 Passover meal : SEDER
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. One of the traditions at the meal is that the youngest child at the table asks “The Four Questions”, all relating to why this night is different from all other nights in the year:
- Why is it that on all other nights during the year we eat either bread or matzoh, but on this night we eat only matzoh?
- Why is it that on all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs, but on this night we eat only bitter herbs?
- Why is it that on all other nights we do not dip our herbs even once, but on this night we dip them twice?
- Why is it that on all other nights we eat either sitting or reclining, but on this night we eat in a reclining position?
9 Twain who sang “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” : SHANIA
Shania Twain is a country and pop singer from Windsor, Ontario. Shania’s birth name is “Eileen Edwards”, and this changed to “Eilleen Twain” when her mother remarried. Twain changed her name to Shania in the early 1990s, around the same time that her musical career started to take off.
10 ___ Aviv : TEL
The full name of Israel’s second largest city is Tel Aviv-Yafo. “Tel Aviv” translates into “Spring Mound”, and is a name that was chosen in 1910.
12 In ___ (unborn) : UTERO
“In utero” is a Latin term meaning “in the uterus”. The Latin “uterus” (plural “uteri”) translates as both “womb” and “belly”. The Latin word comes from the Greek “hystera” that also means “womb”, which gives us the words “hysterectomy”, and “hysterical”.
22 Jesse of the 1936 Olympics : OWENS
Jesse Owens is famous for winning four gold medals at the Berlin Olympic Games in 1936, much to the chagrin of Adolf Hitler. Jesse’s real name was James Cleveland Owens, and he went by “JC” as a child. However, his Alabama accent was misconstrued at school when his family moved to Cleveland, so teachers and classmates called him “Jesse” instead of “JC”, and the name stuck.
25 Like bunny slopes, among all ski runs : EASIEST
In North America, ski runs are given a standardized rating in terms of skiing difficulty. The ratings are:
- Green circles: easy to ski, often termed “bunny slopes”.
- Blue squares: medium difficulty
- Black diamond: steep and challenging terrain
- Double black diamond: experts only (I’ve never braved one!)
27 Chocolaty spread : NUTELLA
Nutella is a delicious hazelnut-chocolate spread made by Ferrero, a company based in Italy. Sadly, 70% of the Nutella recipe is saturated fat and processed sugar.
29 Everest, e.g.: Abbr. : MTN
Mount Everest was named by the Royal Geographical Society in 1865. The peak is named for Welsh surveyor George Everest, who had served as Surveyor General of India from 183o through 1843.
31 Honest ___ : ABE
Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth President of the US. There are several stories told about how he earned the nickname “Honest Abe”. One story dates back to early in his career as a lawyer. Lincoln accidentally overcharged a client and then walked miles in order to right the wrong as soon as possible.
33 Group whose activities pick up in Sept. : PTA
Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)
34 Tuna type : AHI
Yellowfin and bigeye tuna are usually marketed as “ahi”, the Hawaiian name. They are both big fish, with yellowfish tuna often weighing over 300 pounds, and bigeye tuna getting up to 400 pounds.
35 When U.S. election results are usually published: Abbr. : WED
Election day was chosen by Congress back in 1845. The month of November was selected as it suited an agricultural society, following the fall harvest and yet not too far into winter, which could make travel difficult. Tuesday was chosen so that people had time to travel to polling stations. Monday elections might have meant that some would have to start out on Sunday, and that could interfere with Christian services.
39 I.R.S. digits: Abbr. : SSN
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, from 1986 onward, it is a requirement to get an SSN for any dependents over the age of 5. Sure enough, seven million dependents “disappeared” in 1987.
41 Emmy genre : DRAMA
The Emmy Awards are the television equivalent of the Oscars from the world of film, the Grammy Awards in music and the Tony Awards for the stage. Emmy Awards are presented throughout the year, depending on the sector of television being honored. The most famous of these ceremonies are the Primetime Emmy Awards and the Daytime Emmy Awards. The distinctive name of “Emmy” is a softened version of the word “immy”, the nickname given to the video camera tubes found in old television cameras.
42 Co. leader : CEO
Chief executive officer (CEO)
48 Book after Num. : DEUT
Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible. The English title “Deuteronomy” comes from a Greek word that translates as “second law”.
51 Nikola who invented the induction motor : TESLA
Nikola Tesla was born in Serbia, but later moved to the US. Tesla’s work on mechanical and electrical engineering was crucial to the development of alternating current technology, the same technology that is used by equipment at the backbone of modern power generation and distribution systems.
52 Cooperative, balanced type, they say : LIBRA
The constellation of Libra is named for the scales held by the goddess of justice. Libra is the only sign of the zodiac that isn’t named for a living creature.
53 Arctic people : INUIT
The Inuit peoples live in the Arctic, in parts of the US, Russia, Greenland and Canada.
57 Intense beam : LASER
The term “laser” is an acronym standing for “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation”. It has been pointed out that a more precise name for laser technology is “light oscillation by stimulated emission of radiation”, but the resulting acronym isn’t quite so appealing, namely “loser”.
60 Ergo : THUS
“Ergo” is a Latin word meaning “hence, therefore”, and one that we’ve absorbed directly into English.
65 Tonsillitis-treating doc : ENT
Ear, nose and throat specialist (ENT)
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), tonsillitis (inflammation of the tonsils) and sinusitis (inflammation of the sinuses).
The palatine tonsils are located at the back of the human throat. The exact role that tonsils play isn’t completely understood, but it is known that they are in the first line of defense in the body’s immune system. They provide some level of protection against pathogens that are ingested and inhaled.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Elizabeth of cosmetics : ARDEN
6 Residents of London’s 10 Downing St. : PMS
9 Walk proudly : STRUT
14 “Go now!” : LEAVE!
15 Singer Carly ___ Jepsen : RAE
16 ___ bar (toffee candy) : HEATH
17 Wander locally with no plans : BUM AROUND
19 Change : ALTER
20 Blue Angels’ org. : USN
21 Basement of a castle, perhaps : DUNGEON
23 Before, to bards : ERE
24 Little more than : MERE
26 Hitchcock movie with James Stewart and Grace Kelly : REAR WINDOW
28 Purina alternative : IAMS
30 Water under le pont : EAU
31 Unsettled feeling : ANGST
33 “___ Stars” (long-running show in which experts appraise and buy antiques) : PAWN
36 Tuna holders : TINS
40 Backstage : BEHIND THE SCENES
43 Suffix with bachelor or kitchen : -ETTE
44 Visit at 2 a.m., say, as a fridge : RAID
45 John who’s the subject of 2019’s “Rocketman” : ELTON
46 Place to get pampered : SPA
48 Food company with a sunburst in its logo : DOLE
49 Final amount : BOTTOM LINE
55 Asia’s ___ Sea : ARAL
58 Opposite of WSW : ENE
59 Weather-related game cancellation : RAIN-OUT
61 Rx watchdog : FDA
62 It’s a good thing : ASSET
64 Disagree … or a hint to the starts of 17-, 26-, 40- and 49-Across : BUTT HEADS
66 Street in “Perry Mason” : DELLA
67 Basket part grabbed after slam-dunking : RIM
68 Prince Harry, to Prince George and Princess Charlotte : UNCLE
69 Suddenly stop, as an engine : STALL
70 Downed, as a sandwich : ATE
71 Have the wheel : STEER
Down
1 Photo display option : ALBUM
2 Find a second function for : REUSE
3 “Hell, yeah!” : DAMN RIGHT!
4 Work done while tethered to a space station, for short : EVA
5 Superbrainy sort : NERD
6 Dried plum : PRUNE
7 Japanese comic art : MANGA
8 Passover meal : SEDER
9 Twain who sang “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” : SHANIA
10 ___ Aviv : TEL
11 Assigned stars to : RATED
12 In ___ (unborn) : UTERO
13 Intentionally lost : THREW
18 Not just mine : OURS
22 Jesse of the 1936 Olympics : OWENS
25 Like bunny slopes, among all ski runs : EASIEST
27 Chocolaty spread : NUTELLA
29 Everest, e.g.: Abbr. : MTN
31 Honest ___ : ABE
32 Final amount : NET
33 Group whose activities pick up in Sept. : PTA
34 Tuna type : AHI
35 When U.S. election results are usually published: Abbr. : WED
37 Communicate (with) : INTERFACE
38 Prefix with liberal : NEO-
39 I.R.S. digits: Abbr. : SSN
41 Emmy genre : DRAMA
42 Co. leader : CEO
47 Website’s access page : PORTAL
48 Book after Num. : DEUT
49 Alternative to a door between rooms : BEADS
50 Beginning : ONSET
51 Nikola who invented the induction motor : TESLA
52 Cooperative, balanced type, they say : LIBRA
53 Arctic people : INUIT
54 Response to “Who broke this?!” : NOT ME!
56 Confuse : ADDLE
57 Intense beam : LASER
60 Ergo : THUS
63 Right angle : ELL
65 Tonsillitis-treating doc : ENT
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