1107-22 NY Times Crossword 7 Nov 22, Monday

Constructed by: Jill Singer
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Reveal Answer: What’s Bugging You?

Themed answers are common phrases including a type of BUG:

  • 36A “Why the troubled look?” … or a hint to 17-, 24-, 48- and 58-Across : WHAT’S BUGGING YOU?
  • 17A With 58-Across, “I’m so nervous! There are …” : BUTTERFLIES …
  • 58A See 17-Across : … IN MY STOMACH
  • 24A “I can’t stop thinking about it! There’s a …” : BEE IN MY BONNET
  • 48A “I can’t sit still! There are …” : ANTS IN MY PANTS

Bill’s time: 5m 55s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

15 Opposite of baja, in Spanish : ALTA

In Spanish, “baja” is “low” and “alta” is “high”.

19 Prominent feature of an elephant or dachshund : EAR

There are only three species of elephant living today, with all others being extinct. These are the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant (or “Indian elephant”). As is well known, the African elephant is distinguished from the Asian/Indian elephant by its much larger ears. The African bush elephant is the largest living land animal.

The dachshund breed of dog was originally bred to chase and flush out badgers. The name “dachshund” is German and translates as “badger dog”.

22 ___ and Caicos Islands : TURKS

The Lucayan (also “Bahama”) Archipelago is part of the West Indies, and is located in the western North Atlantic Ocean. There are two territories in the archipelago, namely the Bahamas and the British Overseas Territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

24 “I can’t stop thinking about it! There’s a …” : BEE IN MY BONNET

To have a bee in one’s bonnet is to be preoccupied with an idea. An earlier and related phrase is “to have bees in one’s head”.

30 German luxury auto : AUDI

The Audi name has an interesting history. The Horch company was founded by August Horch in 1909. Early in the life of the new company, Horch was forced out of his own business. He set up a new enterprise and continued to use his own name as a brand. The old company sued him for using the Horch name so a meeting was held to choose something new. Horch’s young son was studying Latin in the room where the meeting was taking place. He pointed out that “horch” was German for “hear” and he suggested “Audi” as a replacement, the Latin for “listen”.

31 Cards worth 1 or 11 in blackjack : ACES

In the card game blackjack, an ace has the point value of one or eleven. When one of the two cards dealt to a player is an ace, the hand is called “soft”. This means that the player cannot go bust by taking another card, as the ace can be revalued at “one” if necessary in order to stay under 21.

33 “I’ll return soon,” in a text : BRB

Be right back (brb)

42 Prefix with sphere : IONO-

The ionosphere is the layer of the atmosphere that is ionized by solar radiation. One of the most important characteristics of the ionosphere is that it reflects radio waves, and so is an important factor in the propagation of radio signals over long distances.

43 Flightless Australian birds : EMUS

The emu has had a tough time in Australia since man settled there. There was even an “Emu War” in Western Australia in 1932 when migrating emus competed with livestock for water and food. Soldiers were sent in and used machine guns in an unsuccessful attempt to drive off the “invading force”. The emus were clever, breaking their usual formations and adopting guerrilla tactics, operating as smaller units. After 50 days of “war”, the military withdrew. Subsequent requests for military help for the farmers were ignored. The emus had emerged victorious …

44 Color of unbleached linen : ECRU

The color ecru is a grayish, yellowish brown. The word “ecru” comes from French and means “raw, unbleached”. “Ecru” has the same roots as our word “crude”.

53 Figs. that include interest : APRS

Annual percentage rate (APR)

57 What hips don’t do, per a Shakira hit : LIE

Shakira’s 2006 song “Hips Don’t Lie” broke a record soon after it was released. It became the most-played pop song in a single week in the history of American radio.

63 Where India is : ASIA

The vast Asian country of India takes its name from the Indus River. The name “Indus” in turn comes from the Sanskrit “Sindhu” that can be translated as “a body of trembling water”. India is the second-most populous country in the world (after China), and the most populous democracy.

65 6-3, 6-2 or 7-6 : SET

That would be tennis.

66 D.C. ball club, informally : NATS

The Washington Nationals (“Nats”) started out life as the Montreal Expos in 1969, and were the first Major League Baseball team in Canada. The Expos moved to Washington in 2005 becoming the Nats.

Down

1 Japanese buckwheat noodle : SOBA

Soba is a thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat flour. In Japan, the word “soba” tends to describe any thin noodle, in contrast with the thicker noodle called “udon”.

Despite the name, “buckwheat” is not related to wheat, and nor is it a grass. Buckwheat is related to rhubarb. As the seeds are eaten, it is known as a “pseudocereal”. The name comes from “beech wheat”, a reference to the resemblance of buckwheat seeds to beech nuts from the “beech” tree, and the fact that buckwheat seeds are used like “wheat”.

3 What baba ghanouj is often served with : PITA BREAD

Baba ganoush (also “baba ghanouj”) is an Arab dish with the main ingredient of mashed eggplant. It is sometimes served as a (delicious) dip.

6 Senator Sanders : BERNIE

Bernie Sanders has served as a US Senator from Vermont since 2007. Sanders often describes himself as a democratic socialist, and used to appear on the ballot as an independent. Prior to joining the Democratic Party in 2015, Sanders had been the longest-serving independent in the history of the US Congress.

7 Witch trials locale : SALEM

The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings held in 1692 and 1693 in colonial Massachusetts, most famously in Salem. As a result of mass hysteria, twenty people were convicted of practicing witchcraft and were executed. The events were deemed to be a terrible injustice almost immediately. As early as 1696, there was a legal ruling by the Massachusetts General Court that referred to the outcome of the trials as a tragedy. In 2001, the Massachusetts legislature officially exonerated all of those convicted.

8 One of the Mannings : ELI

Eli Manning is a retired footballer who played quarterback for the New York Giants. Eli’s brother Peyton Manning retired from football as the quarterback for the Denver Broncos in 2015. Eli and Peyton’s father is Archie Manning, who was also a successful NFL quarterback. Eli, Peyton and Archie co-authored a book for children titled “Family Huddle” in 2009. It describes the Mannings playing football together as young boys.

10 Extinct megafauna species whose name derives from the Greek for “breast tooth” : MASTODON

Mastodons were large mammals that were related to the modern elephant. Mastodons roamed the forest of North and Central America until they became extinct about 10,000 to 11,000 years ago. Their extinction is believed to have come about due to a rapid change in climate.

23 Prefix with cycle or code : UNI-

In 2007, a student rode a unicycle for 24 hours around the athletic track at Aberystwyth University. In so doing, the young man broke the record for the longest ride on a unicycle without feet touching the ground, a distance of 105.57 miles. He also covered a total distance of 282 miles over the full 24-hour period.

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) lists codes for 32 “control” characters, as well as the 95 printable characters. These binary codes are the way that our computers can understand what we mean when we type, say a letter or a number. Unicode is a more contemporary standard, and is like “Ascii on steroids”, encompassing more characters.

26 Yin’s counterpart : YANG

The yin and yang can be illustrated using many different metaphors. In one, as the sun shines on a mountain, the side in the shade is the yin and the side in the light is the yang. The yin is also regarded as the feminine side, and the yang the masculine. The yin can also be associated with the moon, while the yang is associated with the sun.

27 “___ have promises to keep, and miles to go …”: Robert Frost : BUT I

When I was a schoolkid back in Ireland, Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” was our first introduction to American poetry, and what a lovely introduction it was:

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

28 One of 16 on a chessboard : PAWN

In the game of chess, the pawns are the weakest pieces on the board. A pawn that can make it to the opposite side of the board can be promoted to a piece of choice, usually a queen. Using promotion of pawns, it is possible for a player to have two or more queens on the board at one time. However, standard chess sets come with only one queen per side, so a captured rook is often used as the second queen by placing it on the board upside down.

32 One in a Freudian trio : EGO

Sigmund Freud created a structural model of the human psyche, breaking it into three parts: the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is that part of the psyche containing the basic instinctual drives. The ego seeks to please the id by causing realistic behavior that benefits the individual. The superego almost has a parental role, contradicting the id by introducing critical thinking and morals to behavioral choices.

39 E pluribus ___ : UNUM

From 1776, “E pluribus unum” was the unofficial motto of the United States. The phrase translates from Latin as “Out of many, one”. It was pushed aside in 1956 when an Act of Congress designated “In God We Trust” as the country’s official motto. “In God We Trust” had appeared on US coins since 1864, but was only introduced on paper currency in 1957.

40 Hanukkah money : GELT

In the Jewish tradition, it is common to gift small amounts of money during the festival of Hanukkah. This money is referred to as Hanukkah gelt, or simply “gelt”. Recipients of the gelt are usually children, and perhaps teachers. “Gelt” is the Yiddish word for “money”.

45 Facebook and Pinterest : APPS

If you’ve seen the movie “The Social Network”, you might remember that Facebook started off as “Facemash”, a site created by Mark Zuckerberg while he was attending Harvard. Facemash became “Thefacebook” and membership was opened to students beyond Harvard, initially including Ivy League schools and then most colleges across North America.

Pinterest is a free website which can be used to save and manage images (called “pins”) and other media. For some reason, the vast majority of Pinterest users are women.

46 Record of drinks ordered : BAR TAB

When we run a “tab” at a bar, we are running a “tabulation”, a listing of what we owe. Such a use of “tab” is American slang that originated in the 1880s.

47 Dr. Scholl’s product : INSOLE

William Scholl worked part time as a cobbler and then in a shoe retailer in Chicago. Noting that many people had similar foot problems he went to night school and qualified as a podiatrist in 1904. Soon after he started his own company making footcare products, giving us the brand name Dr. Scholl’s.

48 World record? : ATLAS

The famous Flemish geographer Gerardus Mercator published his first collection of maps in 1578. Mercator’s collection contained a frontispiece with an image of Atlas the Titan from Greek mythology holding up the world on his shoulders. That image gave us our term “atlas” that is used for a book of maps.

49 Bête ___ : NOIRE

“Bête noire” translates from French as “black beast”, and is used in English to describe something or someone that is disliked.

51 “Get Yer ___ Out!” (Rolling Stones album) : YA-YA’S

“Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!” is a live album that the Rolling Stones released in 1970. The title “Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!” is a slang phrase exhorting one to live life to the full.

55 Stage name for rapper Tracy Lauren Marrow : ICE-T

Rapper Ice-T must be tired of having his name come up as an answer in crossword puzzles (I know I am!). Born Tracy Marrow, Ice-T has been interested in acting for decades and made his film debut in the 1984 movie about breakdancing called “Breakin’”. He has also played Detective Fin Tutuola in the TV show “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” since the year 2000.

59 Intelligence org. : NSA

The National Security Agency (NSA) was set up in 1952 by President Truman, a replacement for the Armed Forces Security Agency that had existed in the Department of Defense (DoD) since 1949. The NSA has always been clouded in secrecy and even the 1952 letter from President Truman that established the agency was kept under wraps from the public for over a generation. I really like the organization’s nickname … “No Such Agency”.

60 Sch. for aspiring engineers : MIT

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was founded in 1861 and first offered classes in 1865, in the Mercantile building in Boston. Today’s magnificent campus on the banks of the Charles River in Cambridge opened in 1916.

61 Everest and Denali: Abbr. : MTS

Mount Everest was named by the Royal Geographical Society in 1865 for Welsh surveyor George Everest, who had served as Surveyor General of India from 1830 through 1843. Everest actually objected initially to the use of his name, given that he had nothing to do with the peak’s discovery, and given that he believed “Everest” was difficult to write and to pronounce in Hindi.

“Denali” means “the high one” in the native Athabaskan language, and is the name used for the peak formerly known as Mount McKinley. Denali’s summit stands at 20,237 feet, making it the highest mountain peak in North America. I was surprised to learn that there is a Denali State Park, as well as the Denali National Park. The two are located adjacent to each other (which makes sense!). The State Park is undeveloped for all practical purposes, with just a few campgrounds and trailheads.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Outstanding : SUPERB
7 Clothes line? : SEAM
11 Toothed tool : SAW
14 “Now it makes sense” : OH, I SEE
15 Opposite of baja, in Spanish : ALTA
16 How many it takes to tango : TWO
17 With 58-Across, “I’m so nervous! There are …” : BUTTERFLIES …
19 Prominent feature of an elephant or dachshund : EAR
20 “Now it makes sense!” : AHA!
21 Word with jerk or joint : KNEE-
22 ___ and Caicos Islands : TURKS
24 “I can’t stop thinking about it! There’s a …” : BEE IN MY BONNET
28 Marched in an attention-seeking way : PARADED
30 German luxury auto : AUDI
31 Cards worth 1 or 11 in blackjack : ACES
32 Opposite of exo- : ENTO-
33 “I’ll return soon,” in a text : BRB
36 “Why the troubled look?” … or a hint to 17-, 24-, 48- and 58-Across : WHAT’S BUGGING YOU?
41 Edgar’s nickname, perhaps : NED
42 Prefix with sphere : IONO-
43 Flightless Australian birds : EMUS
44 Color of unbleached linen : ECRU
45 Skill : ABILITY
48 “I can’t sit still! There are …” : ANTS IN MY PANTS
52 Cloth to dry off with : TOWEL
53 Figs. that include interest : APRS
54 Extra amount for a waiter : TIP
57 What hips don’t do, per a Shakira hit : LIE
58 See 17-Across : … IN MY STOMACH
62 “___ we there yet?” : ARE
63 Where India is : ASIA
64 It has the same function as “Option” on a Mac : ALT KEY
65 6-3, 6-2 or 7-6 : SET
66 D.C. ball club, informally : NATS
67 Attacks : BESETS

Down

1 Japanese buckwheat noodle : SOBA
2 “No siree!” : UH-UH!
3 What baba ghanouj is often served with : PITA BREAD
4 Approx. : EST
5 Stunk : REEKED
6 Senator Sanders : BERNIE
7 Witch trials locale : SALEM
8 One of the Mannings : ELI
9 Had breakfast, say : ATE
10 Extinct megafauna species whose name derives from the Greek for “breast tooth” : MASTODON
11 Rear of a ship : STERN
12 No longer in slumberland : AWAKE
13 ___-case scenario : WORST
18 Ward (off) : FEND
23 Prefix with cycle or code : UNI-
25 Sunrise direction : EAST
26 Yin’s counterpart : YANG
27 “___ have promises to keep, and miles to go …”: Robert Frost : BUT I
28 One of 16 on a chessboard : PAWN
29 Pain : ACHE
32 One in a Freudian trio : EGO
33 How one sends an embarrassing email to the entire office? : BY MISTAKE
34 Sound defeat : ROUT
35 Kind of phone signal that’s nearly obsolete : BUSY
37 Like thick-crust, rectangular pizza : SICILIAN
38 Created : BORN
39 E pluribus ___ : UNUM
40 Hanukkah money : GELT
44 Language suffix : -ESE
45 Facebook and Pinterest : APPS
46 Record of drinks ordered : BAR TAB
47 Dr. Scholl’s product : INSOLE
48 World record? : ATLAS
49 Bête ___ : NOIRE
50 Something a bird or celebrity might do : TWEET
51 “Get Yer ___ Out!” (Rolling Stones album) : YA-YA’S
55 Stage name for rapper Tracy Lauren Marrow : ICE-T
56 ___ Ed (gym class) : PHYS
59 Intelligence org. : NSA
60 Sch. for aspiring engineers : MIT
61 Everest and Denali: Abbr. : MTS