Constructed by: Joe Rodini
Edited by: Will Shortz
Not your puzzle? Try today’s …
… syndicated NY Times crossword
Today’s Reveal Answer(s): Sans Sans
Themed answer each start with the name of a California city sans (without) the word “San”:
- 1A French for “without” : SANS
- 70A After 1-Across, what the first names at 20-, 36-, 43- and 57-Across all are? : SANS
- 20A Spanish painter of “The Third of May 1808” : FRANCISCO GOYA (from “San Francisco”)
- 36A Mexican muralist twice married to Frida Kahlo : DIEGO RIVERA (from “San Diego”)
- 43A Chilean American actor of “The Mandalorian” and “Narcos” : PEDRO PASCAL (from “San Pedro”)
- 57A Puerto Rican singer with more than 50 albums, including “Feliz Navidad” : JOSE FELICIANO (from “San Jose”)
Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers
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Bill’s time: 6m 41s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
5 Like Superman’s chin, famously : CLEFT
Here’s a famous line from the “Superman” television show from the fifties:
It’s a bird. It’s a plane. it’s Superman!
10 When Romeo meets Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet” : ACT I
William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” is all about the love between the two title characters, which is forbidden as the pair come from two families who are sworn enemies. Early in the play, Romeo (a Montague) sneaks into a masquerade ball being held by the Capulets in the hope of meeting a Capulet girl named Rosaline. Instead, he meets and falls for Juliet, also a Capulet. Tragedy ensues …
‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy.
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet.
17 Equipment in tug of war : ROPE
Tug of war is a strength competition between two teams who pull on opposite ends of a rope, vying to pull the opponents over a marked line. The sport was an event in the Summer Olympic Games from 1900 until 1920. The USA teams won all three medals for the tug of war at the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis.
18 Common theater name that comes from Greek : ODEON
In ancient Greece, an odeon (also “odeum”) was like a small theater, with “odeon” literally meaning “building for musical competition”. Odea were used in both Greece and Rome for entertainments such as musical shows and poetry readings.
19 Some Wharton degs. : MBAS
Wharton is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. The school was established in 1881 largely due to a donation from industrialist Joseph Wharton, co-founder of Bethlehem Steel.
20 Spanish painter of “The Third of May 1808” : FRANCISCO GOYA (from “San Francisco”)
Francisco Goya was a Spanish painter who was often called the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Two of Goya’s most famous works are “The Nude Maja” and “The Clothed Maja”.
The California city of San Francisco takes its name from the Presidio of San Francisco and the nearby Mission San Francisco de Asís that were founded in 1776 by Spanish colonists.
25 1965 civil rights march locale : SELMA
The Bloody Sunday march took place between Selma and Montgomery, Alabama on 7 March 1965. The 600 marchers involved were protesting the intimidation of African-Americans registering to vote. When the marchers reached Dallas County, Alabama they encountered a line of state troopers reinforced by white males who had been deputized that morning to help keep the peace. Violence broke out with 17 marchers ending up in hospital, one nearly dying. Because the disturbance was widely covered by television cameras, the civil rights movement picked up a lot of support that day. The route of the march is memorialized as a US National Historic Trail called the Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights Trail.
29 ___ spray (allergy relief option) : NASAL
The common term “hay fever” describes a type of seasonal allergic rhinitis, inflammation of the nose due to an immune reaction to airborne allergens.
36 Mexican muralist twice married to Frida Kahlo : DIEGO RIVERA (from “San Diego”)
Diego Rivera was a Mexican painter who was famous for his murals. His wife was the equally famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
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 Item on a stage : PROP
We use the word “props” for objects that are used by actors on stage during a play. The term is a shortening of the older term “properties”, which was used with the same meaning up through the 19th century.
43 Chilean American actor of “The Mandalorian” and “Narcos” : PEDRO PASCAL (from “San Pedro”)
Chilean-American actor Pedro Pascal’s break came with a role on “Game of Thrones”, playing Oberyn Martell (aka “The Red Viper”). He then portrayed DEA agent Javier Peña on the biographic crime show “Narcos”. A third prominent role came with an offer to play the title character in the “Star Wars” spinoff “The Mandalorian”.
46 “Little piggy” in a nursery rhyme : TOE
This little piggy went to market,
This little piggy stayed home,
This little piggy had roast beef,
This little piggy had none,
And this little piggy went wee wee wee all the way home.
48 Western Pacific island nation : PALAU
Palau is a tiny island nation lying 500 miles east of the Philippines, and 2,000 miles south of Japan. Palau was once a Spanish possession and was sold by Spain to Germany in the late 19th century. During WWI, Japan invaded the islands (Japan had declared war on Germany) and was awarded the islands as a territory by the League of Nations at the end of hostilities. In WWII the US took Palau from the Japanese in a bloody battle in 1944. Palau emerged from American administration in 1994 and is now a sovereign state.
50 Athletic brand with a cougar in the logo : PUMA
Puma is a German company that sells athletic shoes worldwide. The company is most famous for its line of soccer boots.
57 Puerto Rican singer with more than 50 albums, including “Feliz Navidad” : JOSE FELICIANO (from “San Jose”)
Jose Feliciano is a celebrated Puerto Rican singer who is perhaps most famous for his rendition of “Feliz Navidad” heard every Christmas season. Feliciano has been blind from birth, suffering from congenital glaucoma.
61 Trident-shaped Greek letters : PSIS
Psi is the 23rd and penultimate letter of the Greek alphabet, and the one that looks a bit like a trident or a pitchfork.
64 Snap, Crackle and Pop, for one : TRIO
Snap, Crackle and Pop are three elves employed as the mascots for Kellogg’s Rice Krispies. The trio first appeared in an ad campaign in 1933, although the phrase “snap, crackle and pop” had been used for the cereal for some time in radio ads. By the way, the elves are selling “Rice Bubbles” in Australia, and the elves have different names in other parts of the world (like “Cric!, Crac! and Croc!” in Québec).
65 Prima donna type : DIVA
The term “diva” comes to us from Latin via Italian. It is the feminine form of “divus” meaning “divine one”. The word is used in Italy to mean “goddess” or “fine lady”, and especially is applied to the prima donna in an opera. We often use the term to describe a singer with a big ego.
The Italian operatic term “prima donna” is used for the lead female singer in an opera company. “Prima donna” translates from Italian as “first lady”. The lead male singer is known as the “primo uomo”. The term “prima donna assoluta” is reserved for a prima donna who is generally accepted as being an outstanding performer. We tend to use “prima donna” for a female performer who has an inflated ego.
66 Pink cocktail … or a fashion mag : COSMO
Like so many famous cocktails, the actual origins of the cosmopolitan are disputed. It is a very nice drink, in my humble opinion. One of the standard recipes is 4 parts citrus vodka, 1.5 parts Cointreau, 1.5 parts lime juice and 3 parts cranberry juice.
68 Figure skating jump : AXEL
An axel is a forward take-off jump in figure skating. The maneuver was first performed by Norwegian Axel Paulsen at the 1882 World Figure Skating championships.
69 Fall bloom : ASTER
Apparently, most aster species and cultivars bloom relatively late in the year, usually in the fall. The name “aster” comes into English via Latin from the Greek word “astéri” meaning “star”, a reference to the arrangement of the petals of the flower.
Down
1 Feudal laborers : SERFS
A serf was a member of the lowest feudal class, someone attached to land owned by a lord. “Serf” comes from the Latin “servus”, meaning “slave”.
Feudalism was a legal and military system that flourished in medieval Europe. Central to the system were the concepts of lords, vassals and fiefs. Lords would grant fiefs (land or rights) to vassals in exchange for allegiance and service.
4 Surgical tubes : STENTS
In the world of surgical medicine, a stent is an artificial tube inserted inside a vessel in the body, say an artery, in order to reduce the effects of a local restriction in the body’s conduit.
5 “Parasite” co-star ___ Woo-shik : CHOI
Choi Woo-shik is a Canadian actor who was born in South Korea. His most memorable role has to be the lead character Kim Ki-woo in the Oscar-winning movie “Parasite”.
“Parasite” is a 2019 comedy thriller movie from South Korea that became the nation’s highest-grossing film of all time. It was also the first movie not filmed in English to win the Oscar for Best Picture. I haven’t seen “Paradise” yet, but I hear great things from friends and family who have …
6 Many modern Christmas bulbs, in brief : LEDS
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a specialized form of semiconductor that when switched on releases photons (light). LEDs were used in early digital watches, and are getting more and more popular even though their use in electronic equipment is fading away. LEDs are used as replacements for the much less-efficient tungsten light bulbs. I replaced all of my tungsten Xmas lights many years ago and saved a lot on my electricity bill.
8 Event lasting 40 days and nights in the Bible : FLOOD
According to the Bible’s Book of Genesis, rain fell for forty days and forty nights, resulting in the Great Flood. All creatures on the land perished, except Noah, his family, and the animals that he brought into the ark.
9 Pacific nation whose name becomes a dance if its vowels are switched : TONGA
The Kingdom of Tonga is made up of 176 islands in the South Pacific, 52 of which are inhabited and scattered over an area of 270,000 square miles. Tonga was given the name Friendly Islands in 1773 when Captain James Cook first landed there, a reference to the warm reception given to the visitors. The nation’s capital is the city of Nukuʻalofa on the island of Tongatapu.
The dramatic tango dance originated in the late 1800s in the area along the border between Argentina and Uruguay. Dancers and orchestras from Buenos Aires in particular traveled to Europe and beyond in the early twentieth century and brought the tango with them. The tango craze first struck Europe in Paris in the 1910s, and from there spread to London and Berlin, crossing the Atlantic to New York in 1913.
10 Annual football game between rival military academies : ARMY-NAVY
The first Army-Navy football game took place in November 1890. The annual event is most often played in Philadelphia, as the city is about the same distance from the USMA at West Point, New York and the USNA at Anapolis, Maryland. One of the more memorable Army-Navy games (to trivia lovers) was played in 1893. That’s because Navy Midshipman Joseph M. Reeves wore a helmet, marking the first time a helmet was used for protection in a football game.
12 Spill the ___ (gossip) : TEA
To spill the beans is to divulge a secret. The expression first appeared in American English, in the early 1900s. The phrase arose as an alternative to “spoil the beans” or “upset the applecart”. The similarly meaning phrase “spill the tea” is more prevalent on the other side of the Atlantic.
21 Like Yale since 1969 : COED
Elihu Yale was a wealthy merchant born in Boston in 1649. Yale worked for the British East India Company, and for many years served as governor of a settlement at Madras (now Chennai) in India. After India, Yale took over his father’s estate near Wrexham in Wales. It was while resident in Wrexham that Yale responded to a request for financial support for the Collegiate School of Connecticut in 1701. He sent the school a donation, which was used to erect a new building in New Haven that was named “Yale” in his honor. In 1718, the whole school was renamed to “Yale College”. To this day, students of Yale are nicknamed “Elis”, again honoring Elihu.
27 Lead-in to physics : META-
The word “metaphysics” comes from the Greek “meta” (beyond) and “physika” (physical). Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy that investigates reality beyond the principles of science. Not something I would understand …
31 River that divides Florence : ARNO
The Arno is the principal river in the Tuscany region of Italy, and passes through the cities of Florence and Pisa. Famously the Arno flooded in 1966, the worst flood in the region for centuries. There were numerous deaths and extensive destruction of priceless art treasures, particularly in Florence.
33 Snapchat and Instagram, for two : APPS
Snapchat is a messaging system that allows users to send photos and video clips to a limited list of recipients. The photos and clips, called “snaps”, can be viewed for only a few seconds before they are deleted from the recipient’s device, and from the Snapchat servers.
Instagram (often abbreviated to “Insta”) is a photo-sharing application, one that is extremely popular. Instagram started in San Francisco in 2010. Facebook purchased Instagram two years later, paying $1 billion. The billion-dollar Instagram company had just 13 employees at the time of the sale …
35 Extinct bird that wasn’t really “dumb” : DODO
The dodo was a direct relative of the pigeon and the dove, although the fully-grown dodo was usually three feet tall. One of the reasons the dodo comes to mind when we think of extinction of a species, is that it disappeared not too long ago (last recorded alive in 1662) and humans were the reason for its demise. The dodo lived exclusively on the island of Mauritius and when humans arrived, we cut back the forests that were its home. We also introduced domestic animals, such as dogs and pigs, that ransacked the dodo’s nests. The dodo was deemed to be an awkward flightless bird and so the term “dodo” has come to mean a dull-witted person.
37 Killer whale : ORCA
The taxonomic name for the killer whale is “Orcinus orca”. The use of the name “orca”, rather than “killer whale”, is becoming more and more common. The Latin word “Orcinus” means “belonging to Orcus”, with Orcus being the name for the Kingdom of the Dead.
45 Relating to the congregation : LAIC
Anything described as laic (or “laical, lay”) is related to the laity, those members of the church who are not clergy. The term “laic” ultimately comes from the Greek “laikos” meaning “of the people”.
49 Hall-of-Fame QB Johnny : UNITAS
Footballer Johnny Unitas was nicknamed “the Golden Arm” as well as “Johnny U”. Unitas played in the fifties through the seventies, mainly for the Baltimore Colts. He held the record for throwing touchdown passes in consecutive games (47 games) for 52 years, until it was surpassed in 2012 by Drew Brees.
51 Hajj destination : MECCA
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.
54 Magna ___ : CARTA
The Magna Carta is a landmark document issued in England in 1215. It represents the first time that an English king had to submit to the will of his subjects, a group of barons who sought to limit the powers of the monarchy. In particular the Magna Carta calls out that no freeman could be punished except through the law of the land. And famously, the Magna Carta was an inspiration for the United States Constitution.
55 The “U” of the E.U. : UNION
European Union (EU)
57 “Jumpin’ ___” (Cab Calloway dance classic) : JIVE
Cab Calloway was a famous jazz singer and bandleader who enjoyed most of his fame in the thirties and forties. His best known recording was the song “Minnie the Moocher” which had a chorus that used the “words” “hi-de-hi” and “hi-de-ho”. Calloway became so associated with the song he earned the nickname “The Hi De Ho Man”.
59 Classic margarita flavor : LIME
No one seems to know for sure who first created the margarita cocktail. The most plausible and oft-quoted is that it was invented in 1941 in Ensenada, Mexico. The barman mixed the drink for an important visitor, the daughter of the German ambassador. The daughter’s name was Margarita Henkel, and she lent her name to the new drink. The basic recipe for a margarita is a mixture of tequila, orange-flavored liqueur (like Cointreau) and lime juice.
60 Frankenstein’s assistant : IGOR
In the world of movies, Igor has been the assistant to Dracula, Frankenstein and Young Frankenstein among others. Igor is almost invariably portrayed as a hunchback.
61 Smooching on the street, e.g., for short : PDA
Public display of affection (PDA)
62 Number of legs on an insect : SIX
An insect is a six-legged arthropod, i.e. a hexapod.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 French for “without” : SANS
5 Like Superman’s chin, famously : CLEFT
10 When Romeo meets Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet” : ACT I
14 Give off, as light : EMIT
15 Less formal “Salutations!” : HELLO!
16 Lamented : RUED
17 Equipment in tug of war : ROPE
18 Common theater name that comes from Greek : ODEON
19 Some Wharton degs. : MBAS
20 Spanish painter of “The Third of May 1808” : FRANCISCO GOYA (from “San Francisco”)
23 Small brawl : SET-TO
24 “Drat,” but stronger : DAMN
25 1965 civil rights march locale : SELMA
29 ___ spray (allergy relief option) : NASAL
33 Press “+” on a calculator : ADD
36 Mexican muralist twice married to Frida Kahlo : DIEGO RIVERA (from “San Diego”)
39 Item on a stage : PROP
41 Gawk (at) : STARE
42 Give a hard tug : YANK
43 Chilean American actor of “The Mandalorian” and “Narcos” : PEDRO PASCAL (from “San Pedro”)
46 “Little piggy” in a nursery rhyme : TOE
47 Faint with passion : SWOON
48 Western Pacific island nation : PALAU
50 Athletic brand with a cougar in the logo : PUMA
53 Acquire, as debt : INCUR
57 Puerto Rican singer with more than 50 albums, including “Feliz Navidad” : JOSE FELICIANO (from “San Jose”)
61 Trident-shaped Greek letters : PSIS
63 Former late-night host Kilborn or Ferguson : CRAIG
64 Snap, Crackle and Pop, for one : TRIO
65 Prima donna type : DIVA
66 Pink cocktail … or a fashion mag : COSMO
67 Elementary building block : ATOM
68 Figure skating jump : AXEL
69 Fall bloom : ASTER
70 After 1-Across, what the first names at 20-, 36-, 43- and 57-Across all are? : SANS
Down
1 Feudal laborers : SERFS
2 Love, Italian-style : AMORE
3 Bite playfully, as a puppy might : NIP AT
4 Surgical tubes : STENTS
5 “Parasite” co-star ___ Woo-shik : CHOI
6 Many modern Christmas bulbs, in brief : LEDS
7 Monthly util. bill : ELEC
8 Event lasting 40 days and nights in the Bible : FLOOD
9 Pacific nation whose name becomes a dance if its vowels are switched : TONGA
10 Annual football game between rival military academies : ARMY-NAVY
11 Actor Gooding Jr. : CUBA
12 Spill the ___ (gossip) : TEA
13 Picks out of a lineup, say : IDS
21 Like Yale since 1969 : COED
22 Prefix that means “everything” : OMNI-
26 Speech therapist’s concern : LISP
27 Lead-in to physics : META-
28 Audibly shocked : AGASP
30 Airplane ticket info : SEAT
31 River that divides Florence : ARNO
32 Summer camp setting : LAKE
33 Snapchat and Instagram, for two : APPS
34 Sketched : DREW
35 Extinct bird that wasn’t really “dumb” : DODO
37 Killer whale : ORCA
38 Genuine : REAL
40 Question that might have a ring to it? : PROPOSAL
44 Burden : ONUS
45 Relating to the congregation : LAIC
49 Hall-of-Fame QB Johnny : UNITAS
51 Hajj destination : MECCA
52 Some natural hairstyles : AFROS
54 Magna ___ : CARTA
55 The “U” of the E.U. : UNION
56 Hotel bookings : ROOMS
57 “Jumpin’ ___” (Cab Calloway dance classic) : JIVE
58 Sunrise direction : EAST
59 Classic margarita flavor : LIME
60 Frankenstein’s assistant : IGOR
61 Smooching on the street, e.g., for short : PDA
62 Number of legs on an insect : SIX
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