0322-23 NY Times Crossword 22 Mar 23, Wednesday

Constructed by: Madeline Kaplan
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Movie Genres

Themed answers are common phrases reinterpreted as movie genres that suit the corresponding clue:

  • 20A “Malcolm X” or “Milk”? : PROFILE PICTURE
  • 25A “Titanic” or “Jaws”? : WATER FEATURE
  • 41A “Wild” or “The Road”? : WALKIE-TALKIE
  • 47A “Freaky Friday” or “The Parent Trap”? : FLICK OF A SWITCH

Bill’s time: 7m 19s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Actress Swinton : TILDA

Tilda Swinton is an English actress, one who is quite famous in her native land. Swinton made a big name for herself outside the UK when she played the “baddie” in the 2007 movie “Michael Clayton”, opposite the “goodie” played by George Clooney.

17 Oracle : SEER

In ancient Greece and Rome, an oracle was someone believed to be inspired by the gods to give wise counsel. The word “oracle” derives from the Latin “orare” meaning “to speak”, which is the same root for our word “orator”. One of the most important oracles of ancient Greece was Pythia, the high priestess to Apollo at Delphi.

18 What a captcha tries to detect : ROBOT

A CAPTCHA is a challenge-and-response test that is used to determine if a user is a human or some automated program. The acronym “CAPTCHA” stands for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart”.

19 Exam for jrs. : PSAT

Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT)

20 “Malcolm X” or “Milk”? : PROFILE PICTURE

“Malcolm X” is a 1992 biographical film about the African American activist Malcolm X. The movie starred Denzel Washington in the title role and was co-written and directed by Spike Lee.

“Milk” is a 2008 biopic based on the life of activist and politician Harvey Milk, with Sean Penn playing the title role. In 1977, Milk became the first openly gay person to be elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Tragically, Milk was assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone in 1978 by former city supervisor Dan White.

25 “Titanic” or “Jaws”? : WATER FEATURE

When James Cameron made his epic movie “Titanic”, released in 1997, it was the most expensive film ever made and cost about $200 million. It was a good investment for the studio as it became the highest-grossing film of all time, bringing in over $1.8 billion. “Titanic” remained the highest-grossing film until 2010, when Cameron eclipsed the prior record with “Avatar”.

“Jaws” is a thrilling 1975 movie directed by Steven Spielberg that is based on a novel of the same name by Peter Benchley. The film has a powerful cast, led by Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw. “Jaws” was perhaps the first summer blockbuster and had the highest box office take in history up to that time, which was a record that stood until “Star Wars” was released two years later.

30 QB protectors, for short : O-LINE

Offensive line (O-line)

35 Instrument prominently heard in both Seal’s “Kiss From a Rose” and Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe” : OBOE

Seal’s song “Kiss From a Rose” was originally released in 1994, and re-released in 1995 when it was included in the soundtrack of the movie “Batman Forever”.

“I Got You Babe” is a duet that was released in 1965 by Sonny & Cher. The lyrics and music for the song were written by Sonny Bono himself. In 1993, Sonny and Cher did a version of the song with the animated characters Beavis and Butt-head. One has to ask, “Why …?”

39 Bozos : BOOBS

Boobies are seabirds. There is a suggestion that the name “booby” comes from the Spanish slang “bobo” meaning “stupid”. Boobies were said to be stupid as they were known to land on sailing ships and were easily captured and eaten.

The unsavory word “bozo” describes a person with a low IQ, and someone who is usually quite muscular. The term has been used since the early 1900s, and possibly comes from the Spanish “bozal” that was used to describe someone who spoke Spanish poorly.

41 “Wild” or “The Road”? : WALKIE-TALKIE

The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) runs mainly through National Forest and protected wilderness. The southern end of the trail is near Campo, California on the US-Mexico border. The trail’s northern terminus is on the US-Canadian border on the edge of Manning Park, British Columbia. The 2014 movie “Wild” starring Reese Witherspoon, is based on the true story of Cheryl Strayed who hiked much of the PCT by herself in 1995.

“The Road” is a Pulitzer winning novel by Cormac McCarthy. It tells of a man and his son trekking across a grim landscape after most life has been destroyed on Earth by some apocalyptic event. In the movie adaptation of the book, Viggo Mortensen has the starring role of “the man” (we never learn his name).

47 “Freaky Friday” or “The Parent Trap”? : FLICK OF A SWITCH

“Freaky Friday” is a well-known children’s novel, written by Mary Rodgers and published in 1972. The basic story is that one Friday, a mother and her teenage daughter have their bodies switched due to the effects of an enchanted fortune cookie. Hilarity ensues! Disney adapted the novel into a movie three times in all:

  1. In 1976, starring Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster
  2. In 1995, starring Shelley Long and Gaby Hoffman
  3. In 2003, starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan

“The Parent Trap” is a very cute 1961 romantic comedy based on a 1949 novel “Lottie and Lisa” by German author Erich Kästner. The film stars English actress Hayley Mills in a dual role, playing identical twins who were separated at birth. The film was such a success for Disney, that three television sequels were made, as well as a 1998 film remake starring Lindsay Lohan. None are as good as the original though, in my humble opinion …

52 ___ bean : FAVA

The fava bean is also known as 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.

54 ___ pyrite (fool’s gold) : IRON

Pyrite is a mineral also known as iron pyrite. Famously, it has an appearance very similar to gold, so has the nickname “fool’s gold”. Pyrite does find its way into some baubles, which go by the name of marcasite jewelry.

Down

3 Classic kids’ game that tests motor skills : OPERATION

The game called Operation was invented by John Spinello and was first produced in 1965 by Milton Bradley. The game is based on the old electric wire loop game where players had to guide a loop along a winding wire without touching it. Touching the wires completed a circuit causing a buzzer to go off and/or a light to come on.

4 Lamp oil : KEROSENE

Kerosene is a mixture of hydrocarbons that is used mainly as a fuel. Kerosene is volatile, but is less flammable than gasoline. Over in the UK and Ireland, we call the same fuel “paraffin”.

6 K-pop star, e.g. : IDOL

K-pop (Korean pop) is a genre of music from South Korea that emerged in the early nineties.

9 Many treasured heirlooms : ANTIQUES

Our word “loom”, meaning “weaving machine”, originally described any tool or implement. An “heirloom” was such a device that was inherited. The meaning was extended to include any property passed down after a death.

22 What falls by the wheyside? : CURD

When milk curdles it separates into two parts, the solid curds and the liquid whey.

26 Actress Jessica : ALBA

Actress Jessica Alba got her big break when she was cast in the Fox science fiction show “Dark Angel”. Alba had a tough life growing up as she spent a lot of time in hospital and so found it difficult to develop friendships. As a youngster she twice had a collapsed lung, frequently caught pneumonia, suffered from asthma, had a ruptured appendix and a tonsillar cyst. On top of all that, Alba acknowledges that she suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder as a child.

28 Suspect’s need : ALIBI

“Alibi” is the Latin word for “elsewhere” as in, “I claim that I was ‘elsewhere’ when the crime was committed, I have an ‘alibi’”.

36 “S.N.L.” sketch that kicks off the show : COLD OPEN

A cold open of a TV show or movie is a scene that is shown before the title sequence or opening credits. Cold opens became quite the rage on television starting in the mid-sixties.

40 Island near Java : BALI

Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. It is known as the “Island of the Gods” due to its rich and unique culture, which is steeped in religious and spiritual beliefs.

Java is a large island in Indonesia that is home to the country’s capital, Jakarta. With a population of over 130 million, Java is the most populous island in the world, with even more people than Honshu, the main island of Japan.

43 Meat market scraps : OFFAL

The internal organs and entrails of a butchered animal are referred to collectively as “offal”. Examples of dishes that make use of offal would be sausages, foie gras, sweetbreads and haggis. The term is a melding of the words “off” and “fall”, and dates back to the 14th century. The idea is that offal is what “falls off” a butcher’s block.

44 Olympic symbol : FLAME

A flame is used as the symbol for the Olympic Games in commemoration of the theft of fire for humanity by Prometheus from Zeus in Greek mythology. The symbolic flame was introduced to the Modern Olympics in the 1928 Summer Games in Amsterdam. The tradition of the Olympic torch relay started out as political theater devised and funded by Nazi Germany for the 1936 Summer Games in Berlin.

45 Bills with an estimated life span of 5.5 years (appropriately) : FIVES

The US five-dollar bill is often called an “Abe”, as President Abraham Lincoln’s portrait is on the front. An Abe is also referred to as a “fin”, a term that has been used for a five-pound note in Britain since 1868.

48 Numismatic rating : FINE

A numismatist is a coin collector. The term “numismatics” comes into English via French from the Latin word “nomisma” meaning ”coin”.

50 March Madness number : SEED

“March Madness” is the name given to the NCAA Men’s Division 1 Basketball Championship (among others), that is held in the spring each year. Another name is “the Big Dance”.

51 Plate umpire’s place : HOME

Back in the 15th century, “an umpire” was referred to as “a noumpere”, which was misheard and hence causing the dropping of the initial letter N. The term “noumpere” came from Old French “nonper” meaning “not even, odd number”. The idea was that the original umpire was a third person called on to arbitrate between two, providing that “odd number” needed to decide the dispute.

55 #s : NOS

The # symbol is usually referred to as the “number sign”, but here in the US the name “pound sign” is very common as well, as is “hash mark”.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 “All right, already!” : OK OK!
5 Actress Swinton : TILDA
10 Lemon meringue pie ingredient : ZEST
14 Singer Aguilar with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame : PEPE
15 Decorate : ADORN
16 Crushing on : INTO
17 Oracle : SEER
18 What a captcha tries to detect : ROBOT
19 Exam for jrs. : PSAT
20 “Malcolm X” or “Milk”? : PROFILE PICTURE
23 “Not in a million years!” : AS IF!
24 Shushes : QUIETS
25 “Titanic” or “Jaws”? : WATER FEATURE
30 QB protectors, for short : O-LINE
31 Run, as dye : BLEED
32 Max : CAP
35 Instrument prominently heard in both Seal’s “Kiss From a Rose” and Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe” : OBOE
36 Change : COINS
37 Prefix with syllabic : MONO-
38 Completely miss the ball : FAN
39 Bozos : BOOBS
40 Live tweeters, of a sort : BIRDS
41 “Wild” or “The Road”? : WALKIE-TALKIE
43 Commit an illegal act : OFFEND
46 Some pub orders : ALES
47 “Freaky Friday” or “The Parent Trap”? : FLICK OF A SWITCH
52 ___ bean : FAVA
53 Loved from afar, say : PINED
54 ___ pyrite (fool’s gold) : IRON
56 “You said it!” : AMEN!
57 Direction at the beginning of a stage script : ENTER
58 Firm communication? : MEMO
59 In case : LEST
60 Attention-hoarding, say : NEEDY
61 Members of a flock : EWES

Down

1 Covert ___ : OPS
2 Stay fresh : KEEP
3 Classic kids’ game that tests motor skills : OPERATION
4 Lamp oil : KEROSENE
5 Duty : TARIFF
6 K-pop star, e.g. : IDOL
7 Section of the brain : LOBE
8 Delete : DROP
9 Many treasured heirlooms : ANTIQUES
10 Plastic fastener : ZIP TIE
11 Follow : ENSUE
12 Be on the A-team, say : START
13 Popular gifts in pledge drives : TOTES
21 Sack : FIRE
22 What falls by the wheyside? : CURD
25 Sound from one at the end of one’s leash : WOOF!
26 Actress Jessica : ALBA
27 Novel novel format : E-BOOK
28 Suspect’s need : ALIBI
29 Anxious : TENSE
32 Move in spirals : CORKSCREW
33 “Me, myself ___” : AND I
34 Something you might have to sit still for : POSE
36 “S.N.L.” sketch that kicks off the show : COLD OPEN
37 Important number for a middle-distance runner : MILE TIME
39 Count (on) : BANK
40 Island near Java : BALI
41 Words shared by forbidden lovers, maybe : WE CAN’T
42 Tacky and loud : TAWDRY
43 Meat market scraps : OFFAL
44 Olympic symbol : FLAME
45 Bills with an estimated life span of 5.5 years (appropriately) : FIVES
48 Numismatic rating : FINE
49 Pot part : ANTE
50 March Madness number : SEED
51 Plate umpire’s place : HOME
55 #s : NOS