Constructed by: Damon J. Gulczynski
Edited by: Will Shortz
Not your puzzle? Try today’s …
… syndicated NY Times crossword
Today’s Theme: None
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Bill’s time: 9m 17s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
7 Where gowns are worn, for short : ORS
Surgery (surg.) is usually performed in an operating room (OR).
10 Eponymous Dutch town : EDAM
Edam cheese takes its name from the Dutch town of Edam in North Holland. The cheese is famous for its coating of red paraffin wax, a layer of protection that helps Edam travel well and prevents spoiling. You might occasionally come across an Edam cheese that is coated in black wax. The black color indicates that the underlying cheese has been aged for a minimum of 17 weeks.
14 One of a tribe of mythical warriors : AMAZON
The Amazons of Greek mythology were a tribe of female warriors who were the daughters of Ares and Harmonia.
17 The People’s Princess, to the people : LADY DI
Charles, Prince of Wales married Lady Diana Spencer in 1981 at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. The wedding was a huge television event, with about 750 million people tuning in worldwide. Although the event was billed as a fairytale wedding, the couple separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996. Famously, Lady Diana died in a car crash in Paris the following year.
21 Singer Bareilles : SARA
Sara Bareilles achieved success with her 2007 “Love Song” with the help of the iTunes online store. In one week in June of that year, iTunes offered the song as “free single of the week” and it quickly became the most downloaded song in the store, and from there climbed to the number spot in the charts.
22 Key chain? : ISLES
A key (also “cay”) is a low offshore island, as in the Florida “Keys”. Our term in English comes from the Spanish “cayo” meaning “shoal, reef”.
23 It’s not merely a yen : NEED
The word “yen”, meaning “urge”, has been around in English since the very early 1900s. It comes from the earlier word “yin” imported from Chinese, which was used in English to describe an intense craving for opium.
26 Actor in “The Office” and “The Hangover” : ED HELMS
Comedic actor Ed Helms got his big break in television on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show”, after which he joined the cast of “The Office”. Helms is now making a name for himself on the big screen. Notably, he co-stars in “The Hangover” series of films.
40 Inits. at the top of some brackets : NCAA
“Bracketology” is a term used to describe the process of predicting which college basketball teams will advance in a bracket in the annual NCAA Basketball Tournament. President Barack Obama famously participates in an ESPN segment called “Baracketology” in which he predicts the outcome of the tournament, game by game.
41 Conclusive proof provider : ACID TEST
Gold is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Au. Gold is extremely unreactive. Silver and other base metals dissolve in nitric acid, and so testing an unknown sample with nitric acid can confirm the presence of gold. This assaying practise gave rise to the figurative use of the term “acid test” to describe any definitive test.
46 Place to buy and sell online : ETSY
Etsy.com is an e-commerce website where you can buy and sell the kind of items that you might find at a craft fair.
47 Jazz fan, presumably : UTAHN
A Utahn or Utahan is someone from Utah.
The Utah Jazz professional basketball team moved to Salt Lake City in 1979. As one might guess from the name, the team originated in New Orleans, but only played there for five seasons. New Orleans was a tough place to be based because venues were hard to come by, and Mardi Gras forced the team to play on the road for a whole month.
58 Bygone mode of transportation : ZEPPELIN
The zeppelin airship was developed by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the design of which was granted a US patent in 1899. When zeppelins went into service, they were operated by the company Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-AG (DELAG), making that company the world’s first commercial airline. DELAG was operating commercial flights even before WWI. Famously, that big spire at the top of the Empire State Building was designed to be a docking point for zeppelin airships. However, after several attempts to use it as such, the idea was abandoned as the updrafts coming up from the streets below made docking too hazardous a maneuver.
59 Defector, perhaps : EMIGRE
An émigré (fem. “émigrée”) is an emigrant. The term is French in origin, and particularly applies to someone who is a political refugee from his or her native land.
61 Starter follower : ENTREE
“Entrée” means “entry” in French. An entrée can be something that helps one get “a way in”, an interview for example perhaps helped along by a recommendation letter. In Europe, even in English-speaking countries, the entrée is the name for the “entry” to the meal, the first course. I found the ordering of meals to be very confusing when I first came to America!
62 Big ___ (40-Across conference) : EAST
(40A Inits. at the top of some brackets : NCAA)
The Big East collegiate athletic conference was founded in 1979. The conference went through a major realignment between 2010 and 2013 with 14 schools departing, and 15 schools joining the lineup.
Down
2 City in which Malcolm X was born : OMAHA
Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska in 1925. He told his own life story in the incredibly successful book “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”, on which he collaborated with author Alex Haley. Malcolm Little changed his name when he joined the Nation of Islam, choosing “X” to represent the African family name that he could never know.
3 Former presidential candidate who wrote “Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!” : NADER
Ralph Nader has run as a third-party candidate for the office of President of the United States four times now, in every election from 1996 to 2008. Nader’s name was first first linked with the presidential race in 1971, when the famous Dr. Benjamin Spock offered to stand aside as candidate in the 1972 race if Nader would agree to run, but he declined.
4 The “king of kings,” per a famous sonnet : OZYMANDIAS
“Ozymandias” is a sonnet written by Percy Bysshe Shelley that was first published in 1818:
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
5 Nuclear fuel containers : RODS
A common nuclear fuel is uranium dioxide (UO2). The UO2 comes in powder form and is compacted into pellets that are fired at high temperature producing ceramic pellets. The pellets are ground into a near-perfect cylindrical shape and are then stacked inside tubes made of zirconium alloy. These tubes are what we usually refer to as nuclear fuel rods.
7 Most valuable player awards? : OBIES
The Obies are the Off-Broadway Theater Awards. The Obies have been presented annually since 1956. The recipients used to be chosen by “The Village Voice” newspaper, but now are jointly administered with the American Theatre Wing.
10 “We All Love ___: Celebrating the First Lady of Song” (2007 tribute) : ELLA
Ella Fitzgerald, the “First Lady of Song”, had a hard and tough upbringing. She was raised by her mother alone in Yonkers, New York. Her mother died while Ella was still a schoolgirl, and around that time the young girl became less interested in her education. She fell in with a bad crowd, even working as a lookout for a bordello and as a Mafia numbers runner. She ended up in reform school, from which she escaped, and found herself homeless and living on the streets for a while. Somehow Fitzgerald managed to get herself a spot singing in the Apollo Theater in Harlem. From there her career took off and as they say, the rest is history.
13 Winter hrs. in Yellowstone : MST
Mountain Standard Time (MST)
Yellowstone was the first National Park to be established in the world, when it was designated as such by President Grant in 1872. What a great tradition it started! The American National Parks truly are a treasure.
24 A few minutes after your Lyft arrives, say : ETD
Estimated time of departure (ETD)
Lyft is a ridesharing service that is based in San Francisco, as is Uber, Lyft’s biggest competitor.
29 G.I. rations, for short : MRES
The Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) comes in a lightweight package that’s easy to tote around. The MRE replaced the more cumbersome Meal, Combat, Individual (MCI) in 1981, a meal-in-a-can. In turn, the MCI had replaced the C-ration in 1958, a less sophisticated meal-in-a-can with a more limited choice.
31 Prince in “Frozen” : HANS
“Frozen” is a 2013 animated feature from Walt Disney Studios that is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Snow Queen”. The film is all about the exploits of Princess Anna, the younger sister of Elsa, Snow Queen of Arendelle. Spoiler alert: Prince Hans of the Southern Isles seems to be a good guy for most of the film, but turns out to be a baddie in the end. And, a snowman named Olaf provides some comic relief.
33 Smoothie bar stock : 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.
34 Group electing officers in Sept., maybe : PTA
Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)
43 Zoom call status : MUTED
Zoom is a videoconferencing app that became remarkably popular in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The market deemed Zoom to be the easiest to use of the free videoconferencing apps. I’ve been using it, but really prefer Google’s Meet offering …
44 Lago di Como locale : ITALIA
In Italian, a “lago” (lake) is full of “acqua” (water).
Lake Como is a glacial lake in Lombardy in Italy. Lake Como has long been a retreat for the rich and famous. Lakeside homes there are owned by the likes of Madonna, George Clooney, Gianni Versace, Sylvester Stallone and Richard Branson.
50 Belligerent, in British slang : AGGRO
“Aggro” is a term that we use a lot in Ireland, and probably more so than in the UK. It can mean an “annoyance” (short for “aggravation”) but is more often used to mean “trouble”, as in someone caused trouble, created aggro.
51 Cousin of a mole : SHREW
Shrews are mammals that look like small moles or long-nosed mice. They are the only terrestrial mammals that are known to echolocate, using a series of ultrasonic squeaks to examine their nearby surroundings.
52 Dutch painter Jan : STEEN
Jan Steen was a painter from the Netherlands who was active in the Dutch Golden Age, the 17th century. Steen’s most famous work is probably “The Feast of Saint Nicholas”, which we can see at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
53 Actress Malone of the “Hunger Games” films : JENA
Jena Malone is an American musician and actress. Malone played Johanna Mason, one of the combatants in three of “The Hunger Games” series of films.
54 Supermarket IDs : UPCS
Universal Price Code or Universal Product Code (UPC)
57 Hilton competitor : OMNI
Omni Hotels & Resorts is headquartered in Dallas, Texas and has properties in the US, Canada and Mexico.
58 Half of a jazz duo : ZEE
The is a duo of letters Z (zee) in the word “jazz”.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Graduation props? : HONORS
7 Where gowns are worn, for short : ORS
10 Eponymous Dutch town : EDAM
14 One of a tribe of mythical warriors : AMAZON
15 Showboaty home run celebrations : BAT FLIPS
17 The People’s Princess, to the people : LADY DI
18 Statement of readiness : I’M ALL SET
19 “Win some, lose some” : THEM’S THE BREAKS
21 Singer Bareilles : SARA
22 Key chain? : ISLES
23 It’s not merely a yen : NEED
26 Actor in “The Office” and “The Hangover” : ED HELMS
31 Mentally exhilarating experience : HEAD TRIP
35 Seconds, say : MORE
36 “It’s nobody’s fault” : ACCIDENTS HAPPEN
40 Inits. at the top of some brackets : NCAA
41 Conclusive proof provider : ACID TEST
42 Enormous in proportion : SEISMIC
46 Place to buy and sell online : ETSY
47 Jazz fan, presumably : UTAHN
49 Cheek or lip : SASS
53 “Called it!” : JUST AS I THOUGHT!
58 Bygone mode of transportation : ZEPPELIN
59 Defector, perhaps : EMIGRE
60 What keywords are used for : ENCODING
61 Starter follower : ENTREE
62 Big ___ (40-Across conference) : EAST
63 Number often seen before a plus sign : AGE
64 Repudiate : DISOWN
Down
1 Shuts down : HALTS
2 City in which Malcolm X was born : OMAHA
3 Former presidential candidate who wrote “Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!” : NADER
4 The “king of kings,” per a famous sonnet : OZYMANDIAS
5 Nuclear fuel containers : RODS
6 Huff : SNIT
7 Most valuable player awards? : OBIES
8 Go on tangent after tangent : RAMBLE
9 Didn’t merely peek : STARED
10 “We All Love ___: Celebrating the First Lady of Song” (2007 tribute) : ELLA
11 Plate, e.g. : DISK
12 Brutes : APES
13 Winter hrs. in Yellowstone : MST
16 Peach part : FLESH
20 Used as a lair : HID IN
24 A few minutes after your Lyft arrives, say : ETD
25 What can come before long : ERE …
27 Incompetent execs : EMPTY SUITS
28 Easy pace : LOPE
29 G.I. rations, for short : MRES
30 Text message status : SENT
31 Prince in “Frozen” : HANS
32 Latin “Lo!” : ECCE!
33 Smoothie bar stock : ACAI
34 Group electing officers in Sept., maybe : PTA
37 Whiff : SCENT
38 Sellout : HIT
39 “Remove ___” (in-app come-on) : ADS
43 Zoom call status : MUTED
44 Lago di Como locale : ITALIA
45 Door or window frame : CASING
48 Depend (on) : HINGE
50 Belligerent, in British slang : AGGRO
51 Cousin of a mole : SHREW
52 Dutch painter Jan : STEEN
53 Actress Malone of the “Hunger Games” films : JENA
54 Supermarket IDs : UPCS
55 Word before check … or a pattern alternative to a check : SPOT
56 Opposite of disregard : HEED
57 Hilton competitor : OMNI
58 Half of a jazz duo : ZEE
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