0806-18 NY Times Crossword 6 Aug 18, Monday

Constructed by: Andrea Carla Michaels & Mark Diehl
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): 60s Slogan

If we take the first words from the themed answers we get the 60s slogan “MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR”:

  • 54D. Decade that spawned the slogan found at the starts of 19-, 31-, 40- and 51-Across : 60S
  • 19A. “Hurry up!” : MAKE IT SNAPPY!
  • 31A. Magical drink that gets someone smitten : LOVE POTION
  • 40A. Less fortunate : NOT SO LUCKY
  • 51A. L.B.J. campaign to help the poor : WAR ON POVERTY

Bill’s time: 5m 44s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

8. Seafood often served on a toothpick : PRAWN

The terms “prawn” and “shrimp” are often used interchangeably on menus. Over in the UK, the term “prawn” is most common, while “shrimp” is seen more often here in North America. Sometimes there is a differentiation from a food standpoint, with “prawn” being used for larger species and “shrimp” for smaller species. As a result, “jumbo prawns” seems to be an acceptable descriptor for a dish, whereas “jumbo shrimp” seems to be an oxymoron.

13. Clean Air Act org. : EPA

The Clean Air Act of 1963 is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

14. Anaconda, e.g. : SNAKE

Anacondas are native to the tropical regions of South America. The green anaconda is one of the world’s largest snakes, growing to 17 feet long and weighing up to 550 pounds! Anacondas are not venomous, and prefer to kill their prey by coiling around it and then squeeeeeezing …

18. President elected with the slogan “Yes we can” : OBAMA

The 2008 campaign that resulted in the election of President Barack Obama used the slogan “Change we can believe in”, along with the associated chant “Yes We Can”. The words “Yes We Can” were perhaps borrowed from the United Farm Workers, which organization uses the motto “Sí, se puede”. “Sí, se puede” translates as “Yes, it is possible” and is a phrase very much associated with labor leader Cesar Chavez.

22. It can get you into a lather : SHAMPOO

Back in the 1760s, the verb “to shampoo” was an Anglo-Indian word meaning “to massage”. A century later we started to shampoo our hair.

23. ___ Shriver, sister of J.F.K. and founder of the Special Olympics : EUNICE

Eunice Kennedy was the sister of President John F. Kennedy. Eunice married Sargent Shriver, the running mate of George McGovern in the 1972 presidential race (which was won by the incumbent President Nixon). Shriver founded Camp Shriver in 1962, a day camp for children with intellectual disabilities. Camp Shriver became an annual event and was extended to communities across the country with funding from the Kennedy Foundation. A 1968 Chicago derivative of Camp Shriver developed the first “Olympics-style” competition, and at this competition Shriver announce the formation of the Special Olympics Games that we know so well today.

27. Computer glitch : BUG

Back in 1947, famed computer programmer Grace Hopper noticed some colleagues fixing a piece of equipment by removing a dead moth from a relay. She remarked that they were “debugging” the system, and so Hopper has been given credit for popularizing that term.

30. Electrical unit : OHM

The unit of electrical resistance is the ohm (with the symbol omega) named after German physicist Georg Simon Ohm. Ohm was the guy who established experimentally that the amount of current flowing through a circuit is directly proportional to the voltage applied, (V=IR) a relationship that every school kid knows as Ohm’s Law.

37. Frequently, to Frost : OFT

The wonderful poet Robert Frost was a native of San Francisco, but lived most of life in New England. He also spent a few years in England, just before WWI. Frost was well recognized for his work during his lifetime, and received four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry. He was also Vermont’s first Poet Laureate, a position that he held from 1961 until his death in 1963.

38. Actor/director Eastwood : CLINT

The actor and director Clint Eastwood is a native of San Francisco, California. As many of us perhaps remember, Eastwood’s big break was playing the supporting role of Rowdy Yates in the TV show “Rawhide” in the late fifties and early sixties. He then became the face of the spaghetti western genre of movie in the sixties, most notably in the classic “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”. In later years Eastwood has branched out into directing and producing with remarkable success. And of course in the late eighties he also served as mayor of his hometown, Carmel-by-the-Sea.

39. Hamilton’s bills : TENS

The obverse of the US ten-dollar bill features the image of Alexander Hamilton, the first US Secretary of the Treasury. As such, ten-dollar bills are sometimes called “Hamiltons”. By the way, the $10 bill is the only US currency in circulation in which the portrait faces to the left. The reverse of the ten-dollar bill features the US Treasury Building.

42. Word on a wine label : CRU

“Cru” is a term used in the French wine industry that means “growth place”. So, “cru” is the name of the location where the grapes are grown, as opposed to the name of a specific vineyard. The terms “premier cru” and “grand cru” are also used, but the usage depends on the specific wine region. Generally it is a classification awarded to specific vineyards denoting their potential for producing great wines. “Grand cru” is reserved for the very best vineyards, with “premier cru” the level just below.

43. Calligrapher’s collection : PENS

Calligraphy is the art of fine handwriting. The term “calligraphy” comes from the Greek “kallos” meaning “beauty” and “graphein” meaning “to write”.

44. Bill’s “excellent adventure” partner : TED

“Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” is a 1989 comedy sci-fi film, starring Alex Winter as Bill and Keanu Reeves as Ted. It’s about two lazy students traveling through time in preparation for a history assignment, with a lot of “Dude!” and “Excellent!” scattered throughout the dialog. Reading the plot, this isn’t a movie that I’d normally go for, but somehow, I enjoyed it …

51. L.B.J. campaign to help the poor : WAR ON POVERTY

The Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) was created during the Lyndon Johnson administration. The agency was responsible for administering the War on Poverty programs that were part of the President Johnson’s Great Society agenda. The OEO was shut down by President Nixon, although some of the office’s programs were transferred to other agencies. A few of the OEO’s programs are still around today, e.g. Head Start.

57. Velvet-voiced Mel : TORME

Mel Tormé was a jazz singer, with a quality of voice that earned him the nickname “The Velvet Fog”. Tormé also wrote a few books, and did a lot of acting. He was the co-author of the Christmas classic known as “The Christmas Song”, which starts out with the line “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire …”

59. Like a diet that allows only fats and protein : 0-CARB

The eating of relatively few carbohydrates is central to the diet proposed by Robert Atkins. Atkins first laid out the principles behind the Atkins diet in a research paper published in 1958 in the “Journal of the American Medical Association”. He popularized his diet starting in 1972 with his book “Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution”.

64. High trains in Chicago : ELS

The Chicago “L” is the second largest rapid transit system in the US, with the New York City Subway being the largest. The “L” is also the second oldest, again with the New York City Subway system having the honor of being around the longest. Note that the official nickname for the system is the “L” (originally short for “elevated railroad”), although the term “El” is also in common use (especially in crosswords as “ELS”). The L is managed by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA).

Down

2. The “O” of O magazine : OPRAH

The full name of the publication usually called “O”, is “O: The Oprah Magazine”. Since the magazine’s founding in 2000, Oprah has appeared alone on the cover of each issue, with two exceptions. On the April 2009 cover Oprah was shown with First Lady Michelle Obama, and on the December 2009 cover Oprah shared the limelight with Ellen DeGeneres.

3. Ski jacket : PARKA

A parka is a hooded jacket that is often lined with fur, and that is worn in cold weather. The original parka was a pullover design, but nowadays it is usually zipped at the front. “Parka” is the Russian name for the garment, and it was absorbed into English in the late 1700s via the Aleut language.

5. Dustin Hoffman’s role in “Midnight Cowboy” : RATSO

Enrico Salvatore “Ratso” Rizzo is one of the characters in the groundbreaking 1969 movie “Midnight Cowboy”. Rizzo is a down-and-out con man played by Dustin Hoffman.

The 1969 movie “Midnight Cowboy” is a Hollywood adaptation of a novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. It’s a pretty depressing story about a young Texan named Joe Buck (played by Jon Voight) who heads to New York City to make money as a hustler, hiring himself out to women for sex. Pretty soon the young man ends up selling his body for sex with males as well. Prior to release the MPAA gave the movie an R-rating, but the United Artists studio took advice and decided to release it with an X-rating. When “Midnight Cowboy” won the Best Picture Academy Award in 1969, it became the only X-rated film to be so honored.

7. “Game of Thrones” actress Headey : LENA

English actress Lena Headey is best known for playing Cersei Lannister on the fantasy series “Game of Thrones”. Although a British citizen, Headey was actually born Bermuda, where her father was stationed as a police officer.

9. English rocker Hitchcock : ROBYN

Robyn Hitchcock is English singer-songwriter who was formerly with the band the Soft Boys.

10. Simon & Garfunkel’s “I ___ Rock” : AM A

“I Am a Rock” is a lovely song written by Paul Simon that appears on the Simon and Garfunkel album “Sounds of Silence”.

11. Typist’s stat, in brief : WPM

Words per minute (WPM)

12. Hush-hush grp. : NSA

National Security Agency (NSA)

21. Hammer’s end : PEEN

The peen of a hammer is on the head, and is the side of the head that is opposite the striking surface. Often the peen is in the shape of a hemisphere (as in a ball-peen hammer), but usually it is shaped like a claw (mainly for removing nails).

24. Like some Greek columns : IONIC

The Ionic was one of the three classical orders of architecture, the others being the Doric and the Corinthian. An Ionic column is relatively ornate. It usually has grooves running up and down its length and at the top there is a “scroll” design called a “volute”. The scroll motif makes Ionic columns popular for the design of academic buildings. The term “Ionic” means “pertaining to Ionia”, with Ionia being an ancient territory that is located in modern-day Turkey.

29. Tykes : TOTS

“Tyke” has been used playfully to describe a young child since at least 1902, but for centuries before that a tyke was a cur or mongrel, or perhaps a lazy or lower-class man.

32. “The Magic Flute,” for one : OPERA

Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute” today is performed more often than any other opera in the repertoire worldwide.

33. Planet between Mercury and Earth : VENUS

The planet Venus is the second brightest object in the night sky, after our Moon.

34. Bugs Bunny or Wile E. Coyote : TOON

Bugs Bunny first said “What’s up, Doc?” in the 1940 cartoon short “A Wild Hare”, addressing the hunter Elmer Fudd.

Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner are two much-loved cartoon characters from Warner Bros. Wile E. Coyote was created first, and Road Runner was invented as someone for Wile E. to play off. I love this cartoon; definitely one of the best …

38. Splits in two : CLEAVES

I’ve always found “to cleave” an interesting verb. When used with an object, to cleave something is to split it, as one would would using a cleaver. When used without an object, to cleave is to cling, to adhere, as in “to cleave to one’s principles in the face of adversity”. Although not exactly so, the two definitions seem to have opposite meanings to me …

40. “… ___ the twain shall meet” : NE’ER

The phrase “never the twain shall meet” originated in a Rudyard Kipling poem from 1892. The full quotation is:

Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.

Kipling’s reference here is to the British (the “West”) and the people of India (the “East”), and the lack of understanding that existed between the two in the days of the Raj.

41. Cushioned footstool : OTTOMAN

The piece of furniture known as an ottoman can be a couch, usually with a head but no back or sides. Here in the US, the term more usually applies to a padded and upholstered seat or bench that can also be used as a footrest. The original ottoman couch came from the Ottoman Empire, hence the name.

46. Swashbuckler’s weapon : SWORD

A swashbuckler is a flashy swordsman. The term “swashbuckler” probably derives somehow from “swash” meaning “fall of a blow”, and “buckler” meaning “small round shield”.

49. Fred Mertz’s wife in 1950s TV : ETHEL

In the hit television show “I Love Lucy”, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz play Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. The Ricardos’ best friends are also their landlords, Fred and Ethel Mertz. The Mertz’s are played by William Frawley and Vivian Vance.

50. “___ Hope” (soap opera) : RYAN’S

“Ryan’s Hope” is a soap opera that ran on ABC from 1975 to 1989. The show’s storyline centers on an Irish-American family in New York City. Never saw it …

52. Redding who sang “(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay” : OTIS

“(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” is song that Otis Redding started composing in 1967 while sitting on a houseboat in Sausalito, on San Francisco Bay. Redding finished the song soon after, with the help of co-writer Steve Cooper. “The Dock of the Bay” was released in January of 1968, just one month after Redding was killed in a plane crash. The song became the first posthumous single to reach number in the US charts. As an aside, Janis Joplin’s recording of “Me and Bobby McGee” achieved the same feat in 1971.

56. Competed in a marathon : RAN

The marathon commemorates the legendary messenger-run by Pheidippides from the site of the Battle of Marathon back to Athens, and is run over 26 miles and 385 yards. The first modern Olympic marathon races were run over a distance that approximated the length of the modern-day Marathon-Athens highway, although the actual length of the race varied from games to games. For the 1908 Olympics in London, a course starting at Windsor Castle and ending in front of the Royal Box at White City Stadium was defined. That course was 26 miles and 385 yards, the standard length now used at all Olympic Games. Organizers of subsequent games continued to vary the length of the race, until a decision was made in 1921 to adopt the distance used in London in 1908.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. “Let’s take it from the ___” : TOP
4. Kind of exam that’s not written : ORAL
8. Seafood often served on a toothpick : PRAWN
13. Clean Air Act org. : EPA
14. Anaconda, e.g. : SNAKE
15. Lopsided wins : ROMPS
16. Mess up : ERR
17. Open the door for : LET IN
18. President elected with the slogan “Yes we can” : OBAMA
19. “Hurry up!” : MAKE IT SNAPPY!
22. It can get you into a lather : SHAMPOO
23. ___ Shriver, sister of J.F.K. and founder of the Special Olympics : EUNICE
27. Computer glitch : BUG
28. “Watch your ___!” : STEP
30. Electrical unit : OHM
31. Magical drink that gets someone smitten : LOVE POTION
35. Use shears : SNIP
36. Impersonators : APERS
37. Frequently, to Frost : OFT
38. Actor/director Eastwood : CLINT
39. Hamilton’s bills : TENS
40. Less fortunate : NOT SO LUCKY
42. Word on a wine label : CRU
43. Calligrapher’s collection : PENS
44. Bill’s “excellent adventure” partner : TED
45. Give a hard time : HASSLE
47. Walk drunkenly : STAGGER
51. L.B.J. campaign to help the poor : WAR ON POVERTY
54. Midrange golf club : 6-IRON
57. Velvet-voiced Mel : TORME
58. “So that’s your game!” : AHA!
59. Like a diet that allows only fats and protein : 0-CARB
60. Creative thoughts : IDEAS
61. Bear’s home : DEN
62. Posts, as a letter : SENDS
63. What children should be, and not heard, they say : SEEN
64. High trains in Chicago : ELS

Down

1. Overflows (with) : TEEMS
2. The “O” of O magazine : OPRAH
3. Ski jacket : PARKA
4. “Almost finished!” : ONE TO GO!
5. Dustin Hoffman’s role in “Midnight Cowboy” : RATSO
6. Comparable (to) : AKIN
7. “Game of Thrones” actress Headey : LENA
8. Prevent from falling, perhaps : PROP UP
9. English rocker Hitchcock : ROBYN
10. Simon & Garfunkel’s “I ___ Rock” : AM A
11. Typist’s stat, in brief : WPM
12. Hush-hush grp. : NSA
14. Boo-boos : SLIP-UPS
20. Smoldering remains : EMBERS
21. Hammer’s end : PEEN
24. Like some Greek columns : IONIC
25. Armor flaw : CHINK
26. Like some promises and gas tanks : EMPTY
28. Painstakingly sorts (through) : SIFTS
29. Tykes : TOTS
31. Door fastener : LATCH
32. “The Magic Flute,” for one : OPERA
33. Planet between Mercury and Earth : VENUS
34. Bugs Bunny or Wile E. Coyote : TOON
35. Muddy deposit : SLUDGE
38. Splits in two : CLEAVES
40. “… ___ the twain shall meet” : NE’ER
41. Cushioned footstool : OTTOMAN
43. Alternatives in case things don’t work out : PLAN BS
46. Swashbuckler’s weapon : SWORD
47. Wild shopping expedition : SPREE
48. A+ or C- : GRADE
49. Fred Mertz’s wife in 1950s TV : ETHEL
50. “___ Hope” (soap opera) : RYAN’S
52. Redding who sang “(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay” : OTIS
53. Bump on a log, literally : NODE
54. Decade that spawned the slogan found at the starts of 19-, 31-, 40- and 51-Across : 60S
55. Cubes in a freezer : ICE
56. Competed in a marathon : RAN