0610-19 NY Times Crossword 10 Jun 19, Monday

Constructed by: Brad Wilber
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Reveal Answer: Purse

Themed answers end with something found in a purse:

  • 56D Where the endings of 17-, 33-, 43- and 63-Across are often found : PURSE
  • 17A Not strict adherence to what really happened, say : DRAMATIC LICENSE
  • 33A When a fresh factory crew arrives : SHIFT CHANGE
  • 43A Archipelago forming the southernmost part of the continental U.S. : FLORIDA KEYS
  • 63A Member of an N.F.L. team transplanted to Los Angeles in 2017 : SAN DIEGO CHARGER

Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 5m 12s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Old workplace sitcom with Danny DeVito as a dispatcher : TAXI

“Taxi” is a sitcom that aired in the late seventies and early eighties. “Taxi” was the big break for a host of great comic actors including Judd Hirsch, Jeff Conaway, Danny DeVito, Marilu Henner, Tony Danza, Christopher Lloyd and Andy Kaufman.

Danny DeVito’s big break as an actor came with the role of Louie De Palma on the sitcom “Taxi”. After parlaying his success on television into some major comic roles on the big screen, DeVito turned to producing. He co-founded the production company Jersey Films which made hit movies such as “Pulp Fiction” and “Garden State”. DeVito has been married to actress Rhea Perlman for well over 30 years.

9 Flashy effect : ECLAT

“Éclat” can describe a brilliant show of success, as well as the applause or accolade that one receives for that success. The word “éclat” derives from the French “éclater” meaning “to splinter, burst out”.

14 Honolulu’s island : OAHU

Honolulu is the largest city in Hawaii, and the state capital. Located on the island of Oahu, the name “Honolulu” translates from Hawaiian as “place of shelter, calm port, sheltered bay”.

15 “Terrible” Russian despot : IVAN

The Grand Prince of Moscow, and first Tsar of Russia, Ivan IV became known as “Ivan the Terrible”. The name “terrible” is a translation from Russian, and perhaps creates the wrong impression about the man. The Russian word is “Grozny”, which is more akin to “strict” and “powerful” rather than “cruel” or “abominable”.

23 Surefire winner : SHOO-IN

A shoo-in is a surefire winner, especially in politics. Back in the 1920s, a shoo-in was a horse that was prearranged to win a race, a race that was fixed.

25 Bewhiskered river swimmer : OTTER

Male and female otters are known as dogs and bitches, with the offspring called pups. Males and females are are sometimes referred to as boars and sows. A collection of otters is a bevy, family, lodge or perhaps a romp. When in water, a collection of otters can be called a raft.

33 When a fresh factory crew arrives : SHIFT CHANGE

In a three-shift working system, the shifts are known by various names:

  1. First shift, day shift
  2. Second shift, swing shift
  3. Third shift, night shift, graveyard shift

38 Singer Yoko : ONO

Yoko Ono was born in 1933 in Tokyo into a prosperous Japanese family, and is actually a descendant of one of the emperors of Japan. Yoko’s father moved around the world for work, and she lived the first few years of her life in San Francisco. The family returned to Japan, before moving on to New York, Hanoi and back to Japan just before WWII, in time to live through the great firebombing of Tokyo in 1945. Immediately after the war the family was far from prosperous. While Yoko’s father was being held in a prison camp in Vietnam, her mother had to resort to begging and bartering to feed her children. When her father was repatriated, life started to return to normal and Yoko was able to attend university. She was the first woman to be accepted into the philosophy program of Gakushuin University.

39 Elusive Tupperware components, often : LIDS

Back in the 1930s, Earl Tupper was working at the DuPont Chemical Company, and from DuPont obtained inflexible pieces of polyethylene slag. Tupper purified the slag and shaped it into unbreakable containers. He added airtight lids with a “burping seal”, which were provided tight seals similar to that provided by the lids on paint cans. He called his new product Tupperware.

40 Air quality watchdog created by the Nixon admin. : EPA

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was set up during the Nixon administration and began operation at the end of 1970.

41 Norway’s capital : OSLO

The Norwegian capital of Oslo is located at the northern end of a fjord known as Oslofjord. The fjord is home to 40 islands that lie within the city’s limits. Oslo also has 343 lakes.

42 Web address : URL

An Internet address (like NYXCrossword.com and LAXCrossword.com) is more correctly called a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

43 Archipelago forming the southernmost part of the continental U.S. : FLORIDA KEYS

The Florida Keys are a chain of low islands that stretch from the tip of the Florida peninsula, about 15 miles south of Miami. The westernmost inhabited island is Key West, and the westernmost uninhabited island is Dry Tortugas. Most of the inhabited islands are connected by US Highway 1, which traverses several impressive bridges.

47 Gloomy pal of Winnie-the-Pooh : EEYORE

Eeyore is the donkey character in A. A. Milne’s “Winnie-the-Pooh”. Eeyore is very lovable, but has a gloomy and pessimistic outlook on life.

50 Newborn horses : FOALS

There are lots of terms to describe horses of different ages and sexes, it seems:

  • Foal: horse of either sex that is less than one year old
  • Yearling: horse of either sex that is one to two years old
  • Filly: female horse under the age of four
  • Colt: male horse under the age of four
  • Gelding: castrated male horse of any age
  • Stallion: non-castrated male horse four years or older
  • Mare: female horse four years or older

57 Singer Edith known as “The Little Sparrow” : PIAF

“La Môme Piaf” (the Little Sparrow) was the nickname of France’s most famous singer, Édith Piaf. What a voice this woman had, and what gorgeous ballads she sang. Édith Piaf lived a life that was not without controversy. She was raised by her mother in a brothel in Normandy, and had a pimp as a boyfriend in her teens. She had one child, while very young, born illegitimately and who died at 2-years-old from meningitis. Her singing career started when she was discovered in the Pigalle area of Paris by nightclub owner Louis Leplée. Leplée was murdered soon after, and Piaf was accused of being an accessory to the murder but was later acquitted. During World War II she was branded a traitor by many as she frequently performed for the German occupying forces, although there are other reports of her supporting the resistance movement. Later in her life she was seriously injured in no less than three near-fatal car accidents, including one with her friend, Charles Aznavour. While recovering from her injuries she became addicted to pain medication, an addiction that lasted for the rest of her life. When she died in 1963 she was denied a Catholic funeral mass because of her lifestyle, but the crowds that turned out for her funeral procession managed to stop all traffic in Paris, the only time that has happened since the end of WWII.

62 “Despicable Me” character voiced by Steve Carell : GRU

“Despicable Me” is a 2010 animated comedy film. The main voice actor in the movie is the very funny Steve Carell. “Despicable Me” is a Universal Pictures production, although all of the animation was done in France. The 2010 film was followed by a sequel “Despicable Me 2” released in 2013, with a prequel/spin-off film called “Minions” released in 2015.

The actor Steve Carell has achieved great success on both television and in movies. On the small screen, Carell came to prominence on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and then as the lead in the US version of “The Office”. On the big screen, he starred in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin”, “Evan Almighty”. My personal favorite Carell movie is 2007’s ”Dan in Real Life”, in which he stars opposite the wonderful Juliette Binoche.

63 Member of an N.F.L. team transplanted to Los Angeles in 2017 : SAN DIEGO CHARGER

The Chargers were an AFL charter team, and so the franchise was founded in 1959. The Chargers played one season in Los Angeles, before moving to San Diego in 1961, and then returning to Los Angeles in 2017.

66 “Could you, would you, with ___?” (Dr. Seuss line) : A GOAT

Dr. Seuss’s famous children’s book “Green Eggs and Ham” was first published in 1960. “Green Eggs and Ham” now ranks twelfth in the list of top selling children’s books. By the way, “Harry Potter” books hold the top four slots in that list. The text of “Green Eggs and Ham” has a lot of “I am” going on. It starts with:

I am Sam
I am Sam
Sam I am

and ends with:

I do so like
green eggs and ham!
Thank you!
Thank you,
Sam-I-am

67 Black-and-white Nabisco cookie : OREO

If you take a close look at the embossed design on the front and back of an Oreo cookie, you’ll spot the main elements of the Nabisco logo. Those elements are an oval with a cross on top, a cross with two bars. Usually the company name “Nabisco” is inside the oval, but for the cookie it’s the brand name “Oreo”. The current embossed design was introduced 1952.

69 Annual awards … like the one actor Shalhoub won in 2018 : TONYS

The Tony Awards are more completely referred to as the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre. The awards are named for Mary Antoinette “Tony” Perry, who was a co-founder of the American Theatre Wing.

Actor Tony Shalhoub is probably best known to TV audiences for playing the title role in the comedy-drama detective mystery show “Monk”.

Down

3 Company that makes Frisbees : WHAM-O

Wham-O was founded in 1948, with the company’s first product being the Wham-O slingshot. Since then, Wham-O has market a string of hit toys including the Hula Hoop, the Frisbee, the Slip ‘N Slide, Silly String, the Hacky Sack and the Boogie Board.

The Frisbee concept started back in 1938 with a couple who had an upturned cake pan that they were tossing between each other on Santa Monica Beach in California. They were offered 25 cents for the pan on the spot, and as pans could be bought for 5 cents, the pair figured there was a living to be earned.

5 Passenger ship in a 1912 calamity : TITANIC

The RMS Titanic set off on her tragic maiden voyage in 1912, sailing from Southampton, England bound for New York City. Regulations only required that the ship have lifeboat capacity for 1,178 people, even though a full complement of passengers and crew was 3,547. When the order was given to abandon ship, the captain adhered to the traditional protocol of “women and children first”. As a result, only 20% of male passengers survived the disaster, compared to 75% of the female passengers. Perhaps more telling is that 61% of those in first class survived, and only 25% of those in third class. The crew fared even worse though, with only 24% making it.

6 Hertz rival : AVIS

Avis has been around since 1946, and is the second largest car rental agency after Hertz. Avis has the distinction of being the first car rental company to locate a branch at an airport.

7 Hobbyist’s knife brand : 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.

9 PC panic button : ESC

The escape key (Esc) was originally used to control computer peripherals. It was a key that allowed the computer operator to stop what the peripheral was doing (cancel a print job, for example). Nowadays the escape key is used for all sorts of things, especially in gaming programs.

12 Church recess : APSE

The apse of a church or cathedral is a semicircular recess in an outer wall, usually with a half-dome as a roof and often where there resides an altar. Originally, apses were used as burial places for the clergy and also for storage of important relics.

24 Lummoxes : OAFS

The word “lummox” comes from East Anglian slang , and describes an ungainly and often clueless person. The term is probably a contraction of “lumbering ox”.

33 Swivel around : SLUE

To slue (also “slew) is to turn sharply, or to rotate on an axis.

36 Mo. for fools and showers : APR

April Fools’ Day is celebrated on April 1st in the Western world. In the US (and Ireland) one can make practical jokes all day long if one wants. But in the UK there is a noon deadline. Anyone pranking after midday is called an “April Fool”.

The phenomenon known as April showers really applies to the UK and Ireland. Increased occurrence of rain during April is largely due to an annual change in the position of the jet stream.

37 Hair removal cream brand : NAIR

Nair is a hair-removal product that has some pretty harsh ingredients. The most important active constituents are calcium hydroxide (“slaked lime”) and sodium hydroxide (“caustic soda”). Other Nair components seem to be there to soothe the skin after the harsher chemicals have done their job. The name “Nair” probably comes from combining “no” and “hair”.

45 Annual Westminster event : DOG SHOW

The first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show was held in 1877, which makes it the second oldest sporting event in the country (narrowly beaten out by the Kentucky Derby that was first run in 1875). The show was originally limited to gun dogs and was established by a group of hunters who routinely met at the Westminster Hotel in Manhattan, New York.

46 Hawaiian greeting : ALOHA

The Hawaiian word “aloha” has many meanings in English: affection, love, peace, compassion and mercy. More recently, “aloha” has come to mean “hello” and “goodbye”, but only since the mid-1800s.

48 Time of lackluster performance : OFF DAY

Something described as lackluster is dull, it “lacks luster”. The term “lack-luster” was probably coined by the Bard himself. William Shakespeare used is in his play “As You Like It”, which was probably written in 1599:

And then he drew a dial from his poke
And, looking on it with lackluster eye,
Says very wisely, “It is ten o’clock.

51 Largest city and former capital of Nigeria : LAGOS

Lagos is a port and the biggest city in Nigeria. Lagos used to be the country’s capital, until it was replaced in that role in 1991 by Abuja, a city built for just for this purpose. Lagos is also the most populous city in the whole of Africa (followed by Cairo in Egypt).

54 Prod : EGG ON

The verb “to edge” has been used to mean to incite, to urge on, from the 16th century. Somewhere along the way “edge” was mistakenly replaced with “egg”, giving us our term “to egg on” meaning “to goad”.

57 Exam for sophs. or jrs. : PSAT

Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT)

58 “Othello” villain : IAGO

Iago is the schemer in Shakespeare’s “Othello”. He is a soldier who fought alongside Othello and feels hard done by, missing out on promotion. Iago hatches a plot designed to discredit his rival Cassio by insinuating that Cassio is having an affair with Desdemona, Othello’s wife.

59 In a little while : ANON

“Anon” originally meant “at once”, but the term’s meaning evolved into “soon” apparently just because the word was misused over time.

61 Drink that can cause brain freeze : ICEE

Slush Puppie and ICEE are brands of frozen, slushy drinks. Ostensibly competing brands, ICEE company now owns the Slush Puppie brand.

65 Abbr. on old vitamin bottles : RDA

Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs) were introduced during WWII, and were replaced by Recommended Daily Intakes (RDIs) in 1997.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Stitches : SEWS
5 Old workplace sitcom with Danny DeVito as a dispatcher : TAXI
9 Flashy effect : ECLAT
14 Honolulu’s island : OAHU
15 “Terrible” Russian despot : IVAN
16 Many a New Year’s resolution prescribes getting into it : SHAPE
17 Not strict adherence to what really happened, say : DRAMATIC LICENSE
20 Convenience at a business that doesn’t take credit cards : ATM
21 Confirmed the flavor of : TASTED
22 Biblical garden : EDEN
23 Surefire winner : SHOO-IN
25 Bewhiskered river swimmer : OTTER
27 Touched down : ALIT
29 “Be that as it may …” : ANYHOW …
33 When a fresh factory crew arrives : SHIFT CHANGE
38 Singer Yoko : ONO
39 Elusive Tupperware components, often : LIDS
40 Air quality watchdog created by the Nixon admin. : EPA
41 Norway’s capital : OSLO
42 Web address : URL
43 Archipelago forming the southernmost part of the continental U.S. : FLORIDA KEYS
47 Gloomy pal of Winnie-the-Pooh : EEYORE
49 Auditioner’s goal : ROLE
50 Newborn horses : FOALS
53 Run for a long football pass : GO DEEP
57 Singer Edith known as “The Little Sparrow” : PIAF
60 Disappear : VANISH
62 “Despicable Me” character voiced by Steve Carell : GRU
63 Member of an N.F.L. team transplanted to Los Angeles in 2017 : SAN DIEGO CHARGER
66 “Could you, would you, with ___?” (Dr. Seuss line) : A GOAT
67 Black-and-white Nabisco cookie : OREO
68 Medics : DOCS
69 Annual awards … like the one actor Shalhoub won in 2018 : TONYS
70 Fret (over) : STEW
71 Poker buy-in : ANTE

Down

1 Fizzy drinks : SODAS
2 Our planet : EARTH
3 Company that makes Frisbees : WHAM-O
4 Redundant word in front of “total” : SUM …
5 Passenger ship in a 1912 calamity : TITANIC
6 Hertz rival : AVIS
7 Hobbyist’s knife brand : X-ACTO
8 Cove : INLET
9 PC panic button : ESC
10 Upbeat : CHEERY
11 Touch down : LAND
12 Church recess : APSE
13 Someone who is not yet 20 : TEEN
18 Leaning : ATILT
19 Canine collar dangler : ID TAG
24 Lummoxes : OAFS
26 WSW’s opposite : ENE
28 Letter you don’t pronounce in “jeopardy” and “leopard” : THE O
30 Garden waterer : HOSE
31 “It’s ___ a matter of time” : ONLY
32 Pursues romantically : WOOS
33 Swivel around : SLUE
34 Add to the payroll : HIRE
35 Without really thinking : IDLY
36 Mo. for fools and showers : APR
37 Hair removal cream brand : NAIR
41 Approved : OK’ED
43 To and ___ : FRO
44 Order to party crashers : LEAVE
45 Annual Westminster event : DOG SHOW
46 Hawaiian greeting : ALOHA
48 Time of lackluster performance : OFF DAY
51 Largest city and former capital of Nigeria : LAGOS
52 Derisive laugh sound : SNORT
54 Prod : EGG ON
55 Standing upright : ERECT
56 Where the endings of 17-, 33-, 43- and 63-Across are often found : PURSE
57 Exam for sophs. or jrs. : PSAT
58 “Othello” villain : IAGO
59 In a little while : ANON
61 Drink that can cause brain freeze : ICEE
64 “___ never too late to learn” : IT’S
65 Abbr. on old vitamin bottles : RDA