0724-21 NY Times Crossword 24 Jul 21, Saturday

Constructed by: Adam Aaronson & Ricky Cruz
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme None

Bill’s time: 16m 37s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

17 French preposition : ENTRE

In French, something might perhaps be discussed “entre deux” (between two) or “entre nous” (between us).

18 Palm products, for short : PDAS

Personal digital assistant (PDA)

Palm handhelds were Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) that were introduced in 1996 by Palm Computing. The original products were known as Palm-Pilots, and very successful they were too. However, Palm failed to stave off the competition and so the company was purchased by HP in 2010. The Palm brand name is now a thing of the past, with all products now labelled “HP”.

20 Hallux, less formally : BIG TOE

The big toe is referred to anatomically as the hallux (plural “halluces”). The thumb is referred to as the pollex (plural “pollices”).

23 Physicist Nathan with an early theory of wormholes : ROSEN

A wormhole is a theoretical shortcut that connects two points in the space-time continuum. Got that …?

30 Curry, for one : NBA PLAYER

Stephen Curry is a professional basketball player who was selected by the Golden State Warriors in the 2009 draft. Steph’s father is former NBA player Dell Curry, and his younger brother is current player Seth Curry. Steph Curry is noted for accuracy in shooting. Curry set the record for three-pointers made in a regular season in 2013, broke that record in 2015, and broke it yet again in 2016.

35 Some spring births : GEMINIS

“Gemini” is the Latin word for “twins”.

37 French word whose plural is its English translation backward : ETAT

In French, an “état” (state) is an “entité politique” (political entity).

41 “Spare me the details!” : TMI!

Too much information (TMI)

46 Findings of Myers-Briggs personality tests : TYPES

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was created in 1962, by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers. The MBTI has been a popular tool used by businesses and business consultants for decades. The MBTI is built on the theories of Carl Jung and is designed to assess an individual’s personality type and give insight into how that individual interacts with other personality types.

52 Heart diagnostic, briefly : EKG

An EKG measures the electrical activity in the heart. Back in my homeland of Ireland, an EKG is known as an ECG (for electrocardiogram). We use the German name in the US, Elektrokardiogramm, giving us EKG. Apparently the abbreviation EKG is preferred, as ECG might be confused (if poorly handwritten, I guess) with EEG, the abbreviation for an electroencephalogram.

54 Cold and damp : DANK

“Dank” is such a lovely word that has largely been superseded by “damp”, another nice word. It is thought that “dank” came into English from Scandinavia some time before the 14th century. The modern Swedish word “dank” means “moist place”.

55 Sellers of product lines like Joxtorp and Knorrig : IKEAS

Every IKEA store features a restaurant that serves traditional Swedish food, including Swedish meatballs and lingonberry jam. Each store also has a Swedish Food Market where customers can purchase specialty foods from Sweden.

58 Ethnic minority in North Macedonia : SERBS

Serbs are an ethnic group native to the Balkans in southeastern Europe. Although Serbs exist as a minority group in many countries in the region, they are the majority ethnic group in Serbia, in Montenegro and in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

North Macedonia is one of the nations that emerged following the breakup of Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1992. It occupies the northern third of the geographic and historical region known as Macedonia, sharing the area with Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia and Kosovo. North Macedonia used the disputed name “Macedonia” after gaining independence in 1991, but agreed to change the name to “North Macedonia” starting in 2019.

59 Sports bet : OVER-UNDER

An over-under bet is a wager that a number will be over or under a particular value. A common over-under bet is made on the combined points scored by two teams in a game.

61 Racing game with speed-boosting mushrooms : MARIO KART

“Mario Kart” is a go-kart racing video game series from Nintendo.

Down

5 Discography section : EPS

An extended-play (EP) record, CD or download contains more music than a single, but less than an LP.

7 Eremite, e.g. : LONER

The Greek word for “uninhabited” is “eremos”, which is the root for “eremia” meaning both “desert” and “solitude”. The Greek word eremites then means “a person of the desert”. This was absorbed into Latin as “ermita”, meaning someone who lived in solitude or in an uninhabited area. We use “eremite” to mean the same thing, although the derivative term “hermit” is more common.

8 Ingredient in a classic Caesar salad : ANCHOVY

Anchovies are saltwater fish that are quite small, although their adult size can vary from under an inch to over 15 inches depending on the species. Vegans should beware, as they are an ingredient in several common foods including Worcestershire sauce and Caesar salad dressing.

The caesar salad was created by restaurateur Caesar Cardini at the Hotel Caesar’s in Tijuana, Mexico. The original recipe called for whole lettuce leaves that were to be lifted up by the stem and eaten with the fingers.

11 Stuff that’s hard to get off your chest? : TATTOO INK

The word “tattoo” (often shortened to “tat”) was first used in English in the writings of the famous English explorer Captain Cook. In his descriptions of the indelible marks adorning the skin of Polynesian natives, Cook anglicized the Tahitian word “tatau” into our “tattoo”. Tattoos are sometimes referred to as “ink”.

12 Starting point of the annual Spartathlon : ACROPOLIS

The term “acropolis” translates from Greek as “high city” or “city on the extremity”. In English we use the term “citadel” to mean the same thing. The most famous citadel bearing the name is the Acropolis of Athens. This Acropolis is a large, flat-topped rock in the city of Athens that rises almost 500 feet above sea level. The most recognizable building that stands on the Acropolis is the Parthenon, also known as the Temple of Athena.

13 Show that awards plays : THE ESPYS

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.

24 Campaign that may involve catapults and trebuchets : SIEGE

Our word “siege” comes from a 13th-century word for a “seat”. The military usage derives from the concept of a besieging force “sitting down” outside a fortress until it falls.

31 Garment that might not be worn around the house : BRASSIERE

The word “brassière” is French in origin, but it isn’t the word that the French use for a “bra”. In France, what we call a bra is known as a “soutien-gorge”, translating to “held under the neck”. The word “brassière” is indeed used in France but there it describes a baby’s undershirt, a lifebelt or a harness. “Brassière” comes from the Old French word for an “arm protector” in a military uniform (“bras” is the French for “arm”). Later “brassière” came to mean “breastplate” and from there the word was used for a type of woman’s corset. The word jumped into English around 1900.

32 “Sailor Moon” genre : ANIME

Anime is cartoon animation in the style of Japanese manga comic books.

34 Like Frida Kahlo’s art : FEMINIST

Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter famous for her self-portraits. She was married to the equally famous artist Diego Rivera. Kahlo was portrayed by actress Salma Hayek in a film about her colorful life called “Frida” released in 2002.

39 Daughter of Metis and Jupiter, in Roman myth : MINERVA

Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom, and the equivalent of the Greek goddess Athena. Minerva is often depicted with an owl, signifying her association with wisdom.

47 2008 Beijing Olympics mascot : PANDA

There were five mascots for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. They were called the “Fuwa”, a word meaning “good-luck dolls” in Chinese. One of the Fuwa was a panda named Jingjing. Jingjing was assigned to the sports of strength, like weightlifting and judo.

49 Garment on a tennis court : SKORT

The garment called a “skort” is a hybrid between a “skirt” and “shorts”.

53 ___ Halliwell, real name of Ginger Spice : GERI

Geri Halliwell was nicknamed Ginger Spice when she was with the Spice Girls, because of her red hair. Halliwell was quite a bit older than the rest of the group and so sometimes she was less charitably referred to as “Old Spice”. After launching her solo career, Halliwell released a fabulous 2001 version of the song “It’s Raining Men”, which was originally recorded by the Weather Girls in 1982. Great song …

56 Certain toy, briefly : POM

The Pomeranian is a small breed of dog named for the Pomerania region of Europe (part of eastern Germany and northern Poland). The breed was much loved by the royalty of Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the 19th century, Queen Victoria owned a particularly small Pomeranian. Due to the notoriety of the monarch’s pet, the Pomeranian was bred for small size, so that during the Queen’s admittedly long reign, the size of the average “pom” was reduced by 50% …

57 Tweedledum and Tweedledee, e.g. : DUO

Tweedledee and Tweedledum are characters in Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There”. Carroll didn’t invent the characters though, as they were already part of a well-known nursery rhyme:

Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Agreed to have a battle;
For Tweedledum said Tweedledee
Had spoiled his nice new rattle.
Just then flew down a monstrous crow,
As black as a tar-barrel;
Which frightened both the heroes so,
They quite forgot their quarrel.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Popular brand of alcoholic seltzer : WHITE CLAW
10 Average, maybe : STAT
14 One might be off the hook : HOME PHONE
15 Blunt end? : ROACH
16 At bottom : IN ESSENCE
17 French preposition : ENTRE
18 Palm products, for short : PDAS
19 Word of indifference : MEH
20 Hallux, less formally : BIG TOE
21 More with it : SANER
23 Physicist Nathan with an early theory of wormholes : ROSEN
25 Some are performed in a theater, for short : OPS
26 Camera setup : RIG
28 YouTuber’s creation, informally : VID
29 Certain apartment : CO-OP
30 Curry, for one : NBA PLAYER
33 Like a masseuse’s hands, often : OILY
34 Add to an overstuffed suitcase, say : FORCE IN
35 Some spring births : GEMINIS
37 French word whose plural is its English translation backward : ETAT
38 Long, unproductive activities : TIME SINKS
40 Can of worms : MESS
41 “Spare me the details!” : TMI!
42 Sound produced by a dental click : TSK!
43 “___ on!” : IT’S
44 Seven-year stretch : TEENS
46 Findings of Myers-Briggs personality tests : TYPES
50 Deck builder’s tool : NAILER
52 Heart diagnostic, briefly : EKG
54 Cold and damp : DANK
55 Sellers of product lines like Joxtorp and Knorrig : IKEAS
56 Asked nosy questions about : PRIED INTO
58 Ethnic minority in North Macedonia : SERBS
59 Sports bet : OVER-UNDER
60 Very, to Véronique : TRES
61 Racing game with speed-boosting mushrooms : MARIO KART

Down

1 Fancy cars, in modern slang : WHIPS
2 Auto pioneer Soichiro : HONDA
3 Corrective phrase : I MEAN
4 The wrinkle in “A Wrinkle in Time” and the Cosmic Cube in Marvel Comics, for two : TESSERACTS
5 Discography section : EPS
6 With 51-Down, where solutions are kept, in brief : CHEM …
7 Eremite, e.g. : LONER
8 Ingredient in a classic Caesar salad : ANCHOVY
9 Like some hours : WEE
10 Track, say : SONG
11 Stuff that’s hard to get off your chest? : TATTOO INK
12 Starting point of the annual Spartathlon : ACROPOLIS
13 Show that awards plays : THE ESPYS
15 Pull (in) : REIN
20 Just what the doctor ordered, perhaps : BED REST
22 Ready : RIPE
24 Campaign that may involve catapults and trebuchets : SIEGE
27 Crafts supply that’s difficult to clean up : GLITTER
29 Happenstance, cutely : COINKYDINK
30 Record producer? : NOTE TAKER
31 Garment that might not be worn around the house : BRASSIERE
32 “Sailor Moon” genre : ANIME
34 Like Frida Kahlo’s art : FEMINIST
36 Airdrops? : MIST
39 Daughter of Metis and Jupiter, in Roman myth : MINERVA
44 Supermodel Holliday : TESS
45 One needing a lift? : SKIER
47 2008 Beijing Olympics mascot : PANDA
48 Try one’s luck in, say : ENTER
49 Garment on a tennis court : SKORT
51 See 6-Down : … LABS
53 ___ Halliwell, real name of Ginger Spice : GERI
56 Certain toy, briefly : POM
57 Tweedledum and Tweedledee, e.g. : DUO