0226-21 NY Times Crossword 26 Feb 21, Friday

Constructed by: Chuck Deodene
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: None

Bill’s time: 15m 57s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

7 Painting technique used in van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” : IMPASTO

Impasto is a painting technique in which a canvas is either partially or completely covered in a thick layer of paint in which the brush or painting-knife strokes are clearly visible. This texture results in a painting that appears to have paint coming out of the canvas. “Impasto” is an Italian word meaning “dough, mixture”.

“The Starry Night” is a Van Gogh masterpiece depicting what the artist could see from the window of his room in a sanitarium near the village of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. It is a lovely piece …

14 Good as gold, and others? : ERRATA

“Errata” is the past participle of the Latin word “errare” meaning “to err”. We use “errata” (singular “erratum”) to describe a list of errors that have been noted in some publication.

The word “good” might be written as “gold” if there’s a typo perhaps.

16 One having a certain video chat : SKYPER

The main feature of the Skype application when introduced was that it allows voice communication to take place over the Internet (aka VoIP). Skype has other features such as video conferencing and instant messaging, but the application made its name from voice communication. Skype was founded by two Scandinavian entrepreneurs and the software necessary was developed by a team of engineers in Estonia. The development project was originally called “Sky peer-to-peer” so the first commercial name for the application was “Skyper”. This had to be shortened to “Skype” because the skyper.com domain name was already in use.

22 Revolution around o sol : ANO

In Portuguese, the Earth travels around “o sol” (the Sun) in one “ano” (year).

31 One who might meet with angels, for short : CEO

An angel investor is one who provides capital very early in a business’s life cycle. The term “angel” is borrowed from Broadway, where angels were wealthy people who provided funds to stage theatrical productions.

32 Things used by star witnesses? : SPACE TELESCOPES

The first patent application for a telescope was filed in 1608 in the Netherlands to eyeglass maker Hans Lippershey. However, research has shown that there is some evidence that telescopes were built before 1608, perhaps as early as the mid-1500s. But it is clear that reports of Lippershey’s design spread quickly around Europe. By 1609, Galileo had built his own telescope and started to explore the night sky.

39 Creator’s leeway : ARTISTIC LICENSE

Our word “leeway” meaning “spare margin” is nautical in origin. A vessel’s leeway is the amount of drift motion away from her intended course that is caused by the action of the wind.

40 Jill Biden ___ Jacobs : NEE

“Née” is the French word for “born” when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”. The term “née” is mainly used in English when referring to a married woman’s birth name, assuming that she has adopted her husband’s name, e.g. Michelle Obama née Robinson, Melania Trump née Knavs, and Jill Biden née Jacobs.

41 Mauna ___ : LOA

Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii is the largest volcano on the planet (in terms of volume). The name “Mauna Loa” is Hawaiian for “Long Mountain”.

43 Fencing sport with bamboo swords : KENDO

Kendo is a Japanese martial art based on sword fighting.

46 Film composer Morricone : ENNIO

Ennio Morricone is an Italian composer best known for writing music for films and television shows. It was Morricone who wrote the fabulous scores for the Spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone, including the theme for “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”.

48 Seat occupier, for short : REP

Representative (rep)

51 Stylish : TONY

Something described as tony is elegant or exclusive. “Tony” is derived from the word “tone”.

54 It has its faults, informally : CALI

California (informally “Cali”)

60 How many Amish barns are raised : IN ONE DAY

The Amish are members of a group of Christian churches, and a subgroup of the Mennonite churches. The Amish church originated in Switzerland and Alsace in 1693 when it was founded by Jakob Ammann. It was Ammann who gave the name to the Amish people. Many Amish people came to Pennsylvania in the 18th century.

61 Robinhood competitor : E-TRADE

E-Trade is mainly an online discount brokerage. It was founded in 1982 in Palo Alto, California, and I used to drive by its headquarters almost every day. The company is now run out of New York City. E-Trade used to produce those famous Super Bowl ads with the talking babies staring into a webcam.

63 Indenting aid : TAB SET

Like most features on our computer keyboards, the tab key is a hangover from the days of typewriters. When using a typewriter, making entries into a table was very tedious, involving lots of tapping on the spacebar and backspace key. So, a lever was added to typewriters that allowed the operator to “jump” across the page to positions that could be set by hand. Later this was simplified to a tab key which could be depressed, causing the carriage to jump to the next tab stop in much the same way that the modern tab key works on a computer.

Down

1 Producer of 15-Acrosses : TESLA
(15A High-m.p.g. vehicle : GREEN CAR)

Tesla Motors shortened its name to just “Tesla” in early 2017.

2 Oscar nominee for “Argo” : ARKIN

Actor Alan Arkin won his only Oscar (Best Supporting Actor) for his role in “Little Miss Sunshine” from 2006 (a movie that I just did not understand!). More recently, Arkin appeared alongside Michael Douglas in the TV show “The Kominsky Method”. Arkin plays the character Norman Newlander. Arkin chose the name “Newlander” in honor of his wife Suzanne Newlander.

“Argo” is a 2012 movie that is based on the true story of the rescue of six diplomats hiding out during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. The film was directed by and stars Ben Affleck and is produced by Grant Heslov and George Clooney, the same pair who produced the excellent “Good Night, and Good Luck”. I highly recommend “Argo”, although I found the scenes of religious fervor to be very frightening …

3 Narcissist’s ploy : CRY FOR ATTENTION

Narcissus was a proud and vain hunter in Greek mythology. He earned himself a fatal punishment, being made fall in love with his own reflection in a pool. So, take was he by his own image, that he could not leave it and wasted away and died by the pool. Narcissus gives us our term “narcissism” meaning “excessive love of oneself”.

5 Follower of McCarthy : -ITE

Joseph McCarthy served as US Senator from Wisconsin from 1947 until he passed away in 1957. McCarthy chaired the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for several years, which he used as a vehicle to uncover alleged Communist subversion and espionage in the government and private industry. His tactics resulted in the destruction of the careers of many career federal employees, as well as notable figures in universities and the film industry. McCarthy was eventually reined in, and in 1954 he became one of the few US senators to be censured by the body.

6 Boatload : CARGO

Cargo is freight carried by some vehicle. The term “cargo” comes into English via Spanish, ultimately deriving from the Latin “carricare” meaning “to load on a cart”.

7 Levin who wrote “The Stepford Wives” : IRA

As well as writing novels, Ira Levin was a dramatist and a songwriter. Levin’s first novel was “A Kiss Before Dying”, and his most famous work was “Rosemary’s Baby” which became a Hollywood hit. His best known play is “Deathtrap”, a production that is often seen in local theater (I’ve seen it a couple of times around here). “Deathtrap” was also a successful movie, starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve. My favorite of Levin’s novels are “The Boys from Brazil” and “The Stepford Wives”.

“The Stepford Wives” is a 1972 novel by Ira Levin about a Connecticut community in which the husbands replace their wives with docile robots. There have been two film adaptations of the book, the first released in 1975 and starring Katharine Ross (my favorite). The second movie adaptation, released in 2004, isn’t as good in my opinion, although Bette Midler plays a great supporting role.

8 Team with “Mr.” and “Mrs.” mascots : METS

Mr. Met is the mascot of the New York Mets. He is a guy with a large baseball as a head. There’s also a Mrs. Met, a mascot who was previously known as Lady Met.

11 What Grand Canyon tourists enjoy : SCENIC PANORAMAS

The Grand Canyon is in Arizona. The canyon continues to be carved out of layers of rock by the Colorado River. It is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide and over a mile deep.

20 Dolt : IMBECILE

The unsavory word “imbecile” was formerly used by the medical community to describe someone with moderate to severe mental retardation. The term comes from the Latin “imbecillus” meaning “weak, feeble”, which was extended to mean “weak-minded”. Back in the early 1900s, IQ tests were used to classify those suffering from mental retardation into categories:

  • “idiot” … IQ of 0-20
  • “imbecile” … IQ of 21-50
  • “moron” …IQ of 51-70

23 James Beard award winners : CHEFS

James Beard was a chef from Portland, Oregon who was noted for popularizing French cooking in the fifties here in North America.

24 Northernmost part of the U.K. : SHETLAND

The Shetland Islands in Scotland have given their name to a few breeds of animals, including Shetland cattle, Shetland ponies, Shetland sheep, Shetland sheepdogs and Shetland geese. The Shetlands lie about 110 miles northeast of the Scottish mainland.

27 “Lovely ___ You” (song by the Moody Blues) : TO SEE

The Moody Blues are an English rock band that was formed in 1964. The Moody Blues were noted in the early days for fusing classical music with rock and released a famous 1967 album in that style called “Days of Future Passed”.

29 Flavoring of Cedilla liqueur : ACAI

Açaí (pronounced “ass-aye-ee”) is a palm tree native to Central and South America. The fruit has become very popular in recent years and its juice is a very fashionable addition to juice mixes and smoothies.

33 Setting for a blender : PUREE

A purée is a food that has been made smooth by straining or blending. “Purée” is a French term, which I believe is now used to mean “pea soup” (more completely written as “purée de pois”). The French verb “purer” means “to strain, clean”, from the Latin “purare” meaning “to purify, clean”.

34 Pic on a pec, say : TAT

“Pecs” is the familiar name for the chest muscle, which is more correctly known as the pectoralis major muscle. “Pectus” is the Latin word for “breast, chest”.

36 Equatorial plantation crop : CACAO

The flowers of the cacao tree grow in clusters, directly on the trunk and on older branches. The pollinated flowers turn into ovoid cacao pods, each of which contain 20-60 seeds or beans. The seeds are used as the main ingredient in chocolate.

37 Force on Earth, in brief : ONE G

The force of gravity (g-force) that we all feel is referred to as “one G”. As gravity is an accelerating force, acceleration is measured relative to that force of gravity. So, if we are sitting in a vehicle that accelerates at 3G, then we are experiencing a force that is three times that which we feel from the gravitational pull of the earth. Zero G is weightlessness that is experienced when in space, and outside the influence of the earth’s gravity.

44 “Go, and catch a falling star” poet : DONNE

John Donne was one of England’s most celebrated poets, and was active at the start of the 17th century. He spent much of his life in poverty and even spent a short time in prison for having married his wife without procuring the appropriate permissions. After his release, his wife bore him 12 children in 16 years, passing away a few days after the twelfth child was born.

50 Lab tube : PIPET

A pipette (also “pipet”) is a tool used in a lab to transport an accurately measured volume of liquid. Back in my day, we would suck up the liquid into the pipette by applying our mouths to the top of the instrument. This could be quite dangerous, as one ended up with a mouthful of something unsavory if one lifted the top of pipette out of the liquid too soon. Nowadays, things are much safer.

52 Diminutive master of film : YODA

In the “Star Wars” series of films, the character named Yoda has a unique speech pattern. He often uses the word order object-subject-verb. For example:

  • Patience you must have …
  • Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is.
  • To answer power with power, the Jedi way this is not.

57 ___ of This Swirled (Ben & Jerry’s flavor) : OAT

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield did a correspondence course on making ice-cream in 1977 that was given by Pennsylvania State University’s creamery. The following year they opened an ice cream parlor in an old gas station in Burlington, Vermont. Today Ben & Jerry’s has locations in over 20 countries around the world, and theirs was the first brand ice-cream to go into space.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Bit of strategy : TACTIC
7 Painting technique used in van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” : IMPASTO
14 Good as gold, and others? : ERRATA
15 High-m.p.g. vehicle : GREEN CAR
16 One having a certain video chat : SKYPER
17 This just in! : LATE NEWS!
18 What happens while you’re busy making other plans, it’s said : LIFE
19 Italian architect Ponti : GIO
21 ___ and Ole (stock characters in Upper Midwest jokes) : SVEN
22 Revolution around o sol : ANO
23 Makers of parts : COMBS
25 Be present : EXIST
28 Expression of support : RAH!
30 Expression of contempt : BAH!
31 One who might meet with angels, for short : CEO
32 Things used by star witnesses? : SPACE TELESCOPES
38 Meet somebody you’ve heard lots about : PUT A FACE TO A NAME
39 Creator’s leeway : ARTISTIC LICENSE
40 Jill Biden ___ Jacobs : NEE
41 Mauna ___ : LOA
42 Something found after many years? : … AGO
43 Fencing sport with bamboo swords : KENDO
46 Film composer Morricone : ENNIO
48 Seat occupier, for short : REP
51 Stylish : TONY
53 Like 2021 : ODD
54 It has its faults, informally : CALI
55 Club’s premier venue : MAIN ROOM
58 Bring aboard, sci-fi-style : BEAM UP
60 How many Amish barns are raised : IN ONE DAY
61 Robinhood competitor : E-TRADE
62 Patronized, in a way : DINED AT
63 Indenting aid : TAB SET

Down

1 Producer of 15-Acrosses : TESLA
2 Oscar nominee for “Argo” : ARKIN
3 Narcissist’s ploy : CRY FOR ATTENTION
4 It’s on a roll : TAPE
5 Follower of McCarthy : -ITE
6 Boatload : CARGO
7 Levin who wrote “The Stepford Wives” : IRA
8 Team with “Mr.” and “Mrs.” mascots : METS
9 Irritant : PEEVE
10 Appropriate : ANNEX
11 What Grand Canyon tourists enjoy : SCENIC PANORAMAS
12 Large marble : TAW
13 Choice words : ORS
15 Capital of every country? : GLOBAL ECONOMY
20 Dolt : IMBECILE
23 James Beard award winners : CHEFS
24 Northernmost part of the U.K. : SHETLAND
26 “___ legit” : SEEMS
27 “Lovely ___ You” (song by the Moody Blues) : TO SEE
29 Flavoring of Cedilla liqueur : ACAI
32 Defeat soundly, slangily : SPANK
33 Setting for a blender : PUREE
34 Pic on a pec, say : TAT
35 Amour de ___ (self-love: Fr.) : SOI
36 Equatorial plantation crop : CACAO
37 Force on Earth, in brief : ONE G
44 “Go, and catch a falling star” poet : DONNE
45 Stop here ___ (traffic sign) : ON RED
47 “Intuition tells me …” : I’D BET …
49 Sidestep : ELUDE
50 Lab tube : PIPET
52 Diminutive master of film : YODA
54 Potato or pasta, informally : CARB
55 Prefix with century : MID-
56 What Friday has, unlike any other day of the week? : AN I
57 ___ of This Swirled (Ben & Jerry’s flavor) : OAT
59 Pilot’s info, for short : ETA