0326-20 NY Times Crossword 26 Mar 20, Thursday

Constructed by: Alex Eaton-Salners
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Mercury or …

Themed clues each include the planet MERCURY and one heavenly body:

  • 17A Mercury or Sun, e.g. : WNBA TEAM
  • 26A Mercury or Venus, e.g. : ROMAN GOD
  • 35A Mercury or Earth, e.g. : INNER PLANET
  • 48A Mercury or Mars, e.g. : MUSICIAN
  • 58A Mercury or Saturn, e.g. : AUTO MAKE

… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 10m 17s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

8 Teleprompter user : ORATOR

The world’s first teleprompter was built in1950, and sold under the trademarked name “TelePromTer”.

14 Late Surrealist Turner : ALAN

The cultural movement known as Surrealism emerged in the 1920s, and grew out of the Dada activities that were a response to WWI. The term “surrealist” was coined by Guillaume Apollinaire, when he used it in the preface of his play “Les Mamelles de Tirésias”.

17 Mercury or Sun, e.g. : WNBA TEAM

The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) was founded in 1996. The WNBA had to compete with the American Basketball League (ABL), a professional women’s basketball league that started playing games the same year the WNBA was founded. The ABL folded in its third season.

20 Sporty 1980s Pontiac : FIERO

General Motors produced the two-seater Pontiac Fiero sports car from 1984 to 1988. “Fiero” means “proud” in Italian and “wild, fierce, ferocious” in Spanish.

21 Reprobate : ROGUE

A reprobate is a depraved or unprincipled person, and in particular is a lost soul, one rejected by God.

24 Some diplomats working in N.Y.C. : UN REPS

The United Nations (UN) headquarters in Manhattan, New York City was completed in 1952. The organization also has three main offices around the world, in Geneva (opened in 1946), in Nairobi (opened in 1996) and in Vienna (opened in 1980).

26 Mercury or Venus, e.g. : ROMAN GOD

All of the planets in the Solar System, except for Earth, were named for Greek and Roman gods and goddesses:

  • Mercury was Roman god of travel
  • Venus was the Roman goddess of love and beauty
  • Mars was the Roman god of war
  • Jupiter was the king of the Roman gods
  • Saturn was the Roman god of agriculture
  • Uranus was the Greek god of the sky
  • Neptune was the Roman god of the sea
  • (also, Pluto was the Roman god of the underworld)

28 ___ Lobos : LOS

Los Lobos are an American Chicano rock band, who released their first LP in 1978 and are still going strong today. The band’s name “Los Lobos” translates from Spanish as “The Wolves”.

31 Bronze Age fertility deity : ASTARTE

Astarte was an ancient fertility goddess who was worshiped throughout the Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean. “Astarte” is the name that the Greeks gave to her, although Astarte was absorbed into Greek mythology as the goddesses Aphrodite and Artemis.

32 ___ Pass (means of foreign travel) : EURAIL

In my days as a student, the way to backpack around Europe was using a Europass. Nowadays that is known as a Eurail pass. The Eurail pass gives you access to most trains (and some shipping lines) right across the continent.

35 Mercury or Earth, e.g. : INNER PLANET

In our solar system, the four planets nearest the sun (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) are known as terrestrial planets, and are composed mainly of silicate rocks and metal. The remaining four planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) are referred to as gas planets, as they have no solid rock or metal. The gas planets do not have a solid surface, although they are sometimes said to have a “rocky center”. This is actually liquid metal or rock formed by the high temperatures and pressures at the centers of the gas planets.

40 Invented : COINED

To coin a phrase is to invent a new phrase or expression. The greatest “coiner” of them all has to be William Shakespeare. Here are a few everyday expressions that were created by the Bard:

  • The game is afoot (Henry IV, Part I)
  • Brave new world (The Tempest)
  • Break the ice (The Taming of the Shrew)
  • Dead as a doornail (Henry VI, Part II)
  • Eaten me out of house and home (Henry IV, Part II)
  • Forever and a day (As You Like It)
  • For goodness’ sake (Henry VIII)
  • Knock knock! Who’s there? (Macbeth)
  • Set my teeth on edge (Henry IV, Part I)
  • Wild-goose chase (Romeo and Juliet)

44 “Bill ___ Saves the World” : NYE

“Bill Nye Saves the World” is a Netflix show hosted by science communicator Bill Nye. In each episode, Nye explores scientific issues that affect our lives, such as alternative medicine, climate change and video games.

45 Shots fired? : BBS

A BB gun is an air pistol or rifle that shoots birdshot known as BBs. Birdshot comes in a number of different sizes, from size 9 (0.070″ in diameter) to size FF (.230″). Birdshot that is size BB (0.180″ in diameter) gives the airgun its name.

48 Mercury or Mars, e.g. : MUSICIAN

Freddie Mercury was a British singer-songwriter who was lead singer for the rock group Queen. Mercury wrote many of Queen’s hits, including “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Somebody to Love”, “Don’t Stop Me Now” and “We Are the Champions”. Mercury’s real name was Farrokh Bulsara, and he was born to Parsi parents in Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania) in East Africa. He grew up mainly in India, and arrived in England at the age of 17 when his family had flee from the Zanzibar Revolution.

Bruno Mars is a singer-songwriter from Honolulu who has been active in the music business since 2006. “Bruno Mars” is a stage name, as Mars was born Peter Hernandez.

50 ITV spot : ADVERT

ITV is a British television network that has been around an awfully long time. It was launched in 1955 as “Independent Television”, and was a direct competitor to the BBC (which has been on the air since 1932!).

52 Handel’s “___ for St. Cecilia’s Day” : ODE

George Frideric Handel was the King of the Oratorio. Handel’s most famous oratorio is “Messiah”, which had its debut performance in Dublin, Ireland back in 1742.

55 Carson City’s lake : TAHOE

Lake Tahoe (often referred to simply as “Tahoe”) is up in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and is located right on the border between California and Nevada. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in the country, and the largest lake in general, behind the five Great Lakes. It’s also the second deepest lake, with only the beautiful Crater Lake in Oregon being deeper. Given its location, there are tall casinos that sit right on the shore on the Nevada side of the state line where gambling is legal.

Carson City is the capital of the state of Nevada, and was named for the Carson River. The river was named for Kit Carson, the scout who accompanied the team of European Americans who first arrived in the area in 1843. Carson City was designated state capital in 1864.

58 Mercury or Saturn, e.g. : AUTO MAKE

The Mercury brand of car was made by Ford from 1938 until 2011. Mercury was introduced by Henry Ford’s son Edsel Ford. Mercury vehicles were positioned as being more luxurious that the regular Ford models, and more economical than Ford’s high-end Lincoln models.

Saturn was a brand of automobile introduced by General Motors (GM) in 1985. The Saturn line was GM’s response to the increase in sales of Japanese imports, and was initially set up as a relatively independent division within the company. Saturn had its own assembly plant, and its own network of retailers.

61 Vegas casino with the Penn & Teller Theater : RIO

The Rio casino in Las Vegas was opened in 1990, originally targeting the local population as it is located off the famous Strip where most of the tourists hang out. Famously, the Rio opened up the adults-only Sapphire Pool in 2008, a pay-to-enter (only men paid) topless pool club that featured music and dancers. A year later the Sapphire Pool was closed down after there were eleven arrests for drugs and prostitution offences during an undercover police operation.

62 Kennington cricket ground, with “the” : OVAL

The Oval cricket ground in London is one of the most famous grounds in the UK used for international Test cricket. The Oval is also the home ground for Surrey County Cricket Club.

63 Waged a long campaign against : SIEGED

Our word “siege” comes from a 13th century word for a “seat”. The military usage derives from the concept of a besieging force “sitting down” outside a fortress until it falls.

Down

2 Current event? : EL NINO

When the surface temperature of much of the Pacific Ocean rises more than half a degree centigrade, then there is said to be an El Niño episode. That small temperature change in the Pacific has been associated with climatic changes that can stretch right across the globe. El Niño is Spanish for “the boy” and is a reference to the Christ child. The phenomenon was given this particular Spanish name because the warming is usually noticed near South America and around Christmas-time.

5 ___ of Providence (image on a dollar bill) : EYE

If you look at the back of a one-dollar bill there is an eye sitting above a pyramid. This is known as the Eye of Providence, and is similar to the Eye of Horus that we see so often in ancient Egyptian designs and hieroglyphs. The Eye of Providence is a common Christian emblem from the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

8 Poppy products : OPIUMS

The opium poppy produces a latex that can be dried, producing the drug known as opium. The drug has been used since ancient times, and was usually absorbed by smoking it. The latex contains several alkaloids that have a profound effect on human metabolism, including morphine and codeine. Opium’s morphine is particularly significant for the illegal drug trade. The morphine can be extracted from the opium and converted to heroin.

10 Wiimote batteries : AAS

“Wiimote” is an alternative name for the Wii Remote, the controller for the Nintendo Wii gaming console.

11 Only movie for which John Wayne won an Oscar : TRUE GRIT

The classic 1969 western movie “True Grit” starring John Wayne is a screen adaptation of a 1968 novel by Charles Portis. The Coen brothers released another big screen adaption of the novel using the same title in 2010 starring Jeff Bridges in the Rooster Cogburn role previously played by John Wayne.

John Wayne was named Marion Mitchell Morrison at birth, after his grandfather who was a Civil War veteran. When young Marion was a little boy, a local fireman used to call him “Little Duke” because he was always seen walking with his large dog called “Duke”. Marion liked the name “Duke” and so he called himself Duke Morrison for the rest of his life. That said, Duke Morrison also used John Wayne as a stage name.

12 Striped and spotted felines : OCELOTS

The ocelot is a wildcat found mainly in South and Central America, although there have been sightings as far north as Arkansas. An ocelot doesn’t look too different from a domestic cat, and some have been kept as pets. Perhaps most famously, Salvador Dali had one that he carried around everywhere with him.

18 Highest-grossing movie of 1986 : TOP GUN

“Top Gun” is an entertaining action movie released in 1986 starring Tom Cruise and the lovely Kelly McGillis. The movie is all about pilots training at the US Navy’s Fighter Weapons School. A lot of footage was shot on board the Navy’s carrier the USS Enterprise during flight operations. At one point in a day’s shooting, the commander of the Enterprise changed course as needed for normal operations, but this altered the light for the cameras that were filming at the time. Director Tony Scott asked for the course to be changed back, but was informed that a course change would cost the Navy $25,000. Scott wrote out a check there and then, and he got another five minutes of filming with the light he needed.

30 Only performer with a speaking part in 1976’s “Silent Movie” : MARCEAU

Marcel Marceau was the most famous mime of all time, and a native of Strasbourg in France. He is perhaps most associated with the character Bip the Clown who he played onstage. Marceau made a cameo appearance in Mel Brooks’ “Silent Movie”, portraying himself. In the scene, Mel Brooks is asking Marceau to appear in his movie (a question asked silently of course, in subtitles), and Marceau turns to the camera and speaks the only word in the whole film, “Non!” (French for “No!”). The mime speaks! Brilliant …

32 Slender Japanese mushroom : ENOKI

Enokitake (also known as “enoki”) are long and thin white mushrooms often added to soups or salads.

33 Bit of Wall St. news : IPO

An initial public offering (IPO) is the very first offer of stock for sale by a company on the open market. In other words, an IPO marks the first time that a company is traded on a public exchange. Companies have an IPO to raise capital to expand (usually).

36 Novelist Seton : ANYA

“Anya Seton” was the pen name of Ann Seton, an author of historical romances from New York City. Seton’s 1944 novel “Dragonwyck” was released into theaters in 1946 and starred Gene Tierney and Walter Huston.

38 Unconscious assimilation : OSMOSIS

Osmosis is the movement of a solvent (often water) across a semipermeable membrane. In the process of osmosis, the solvent tends to flow from an area of less concentration to an area of higher concentration. This sense of absorbing water effortlessly gives rise to the expression “learning by osmosis”.

39 Subject of the 2006 biography “Escape!” : HOUDINI

“Harry Houdini” was the stage name of Hungarian-born escapologist and magician Erik Weisz (later changed to “Harry Weiss”). Many people are under the impression that Houdini died while performing an escape that went wrong, an impression created by the storyline in a couple of movies about his life. The truth is that he died of peritonitis from a burst appendix. It is also true that a few days prior to his death Houdini took a series of punches to his stomach as part of his act, but doctors believe that his appendix would have burst regardless.

43 ___ Age (late 19th century) : GILDED

“The Gilded Age” was a phrase coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in a book they wrote together. It describes the period of growth in the economy and the population following the Civil War. One of the men to profit during this time of expansion was Diamond Jim Brady. Brady started out as a bellboy and messenger, but at a young age made his fortune. He was known for having a big appetite for jewels (hence the moniker “Diamond Jim”), as well as a huge appetite for food. One restaurateur described him as “the best 25 customers I ever had”.

46 NBC Nightly News anchor before Brian Williams : BROKAW

Tom Brokaw is a much-respected television journalist who is mostly seen on NBC. Brokaw is also the author of the excellent 1998 history of WWII and its aftermath called “The Greatest Generation”.

57 It’s a job : GIG

Musicians use “gig” to describe a job, a performance. The term originated in the early 1900s in the world of jazz. The derivative phrase “gig economy” applies to a relatively recent phenomenon where workers find themselves jumping from temporary job to temporary job, from gig to gig.

59 Little dog : TOY

The toy group of dogs is made up of the smallest breeds. The smallest of the small breeds are sometimes called teacup breeds.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Amount to make do with : LESS
5 Slip up : ERR
8 Teleprompter user : ORATOR
14 Late Surrealist Turner : ALAN
15 Second person : YOU
16 Country singer Carly : PEARCE
17 Mercury or Sun, e.g. : WNBA TEAM
19 Volume 1, Number 1 and others : ISSUES
20 Sporty 1980s Pontiac : FIERO
21 Reprobate : ROGUE
23 Common man’s name from Hebrew : ELI
24 Some diplomats working in N.Y.C. : UN REPS
26 Mercury or Venus, e.g. : ROMAN GOD
28 ___ Lobos : LOS
29 Something to chew on : GUM
31 Bronze Age fertility deity : ASTARTE
32 ___ Pass (means of foreign travel) : EURAIL
34 Smack : KISS
35 Mercury or Earth, e.g. : INNER PLANET
38 “Yikes!” : OH NO!
40 Invented : COINED
41 Liquid absorbed by surrounding soil : SOAKAGE
44 “Bill ___ Saves the World” : NYE
45 Shots fired? : BBS
48 Mercury or Mars, e.g. : MUSICIAN
50 ITV spot : ADVERT
52 Handel’s “___ for St. Cecilia’s Day” : ODE
53 72 things in this puzzle : CLUES
55 Carson City’s lake : TAHOE
56 Lightly burned : SINGED
58 Mercury or Saturn, e.g. : AUTO MAKE
60 Deep down : INSIDE
61 Vegas casino with the Penn & Teller Theater : RIO
62 Kennington cricket ground, with “the” : OVAL
63 Waged a long campaign against : SIEGED
64 Place for a slop bucket : STY
65 Patches (up) : SEWS

Down

1 Within bounds : LAWFUL
2 Current event? : EL NINO
3 They go into battle at the sides of cavalrymen : SABERS
4 Capture : SNARE
5 ___ of Providence (image on a dollar bill) : EYE
6 Sound in a circus act : ROAR
7 Buzz : RUMOR
8 Poppy products : OPIUMS
9 Upgrade to a box, perhaps : RESEAT
10 Wiimote batteries : AAS
11 Only movie for which John Wayne won an Oscar : TRUE GRIT
12 Striped and spotted felines : OCELOTS
13 Lives : RESIDES
18 Highest-grossing movie of 1986 : TOP GUN
22 Not hold back : GO ALL-IN
25 Positive : SURE
27 Uncovered : NAKED
30 Only performer with a speaking part in 1976’s “Silent Movie” : MARCEAU
32 Slender Japanese mushroom : ENOKI
33 Bit of Wall St. news : IPO
35 So to speak : IN A SENSE
36 Novelist Seton : ANYA
37 Must : NEED TO
38 Unconscious assimilation : OSMOSIS
39 Subject of the 2006 biography “Escape!” : HOUDINI
42 Submit : ACCEDE
43 ___ Age (late 19th century) : GILDED
45 Parent’s admonition : BEHAVE!
46 NBC Nightly News anchor before Brian Williams : BROKAW
47 Braces : STEELS
49 Gets in the neighborhood of : NEARS
51 “Let’s go!,” in Spanish : VAMOS!
54 Hearts, but not minds : SUIT
57 It’s a job : GIG
59 Little dog : TOY