1113-19 NY Times Crossword 13 Nov 19, Wednesday

Constructed by: Ed Sessa
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Reveal Answer: Balloon Darts

The grid includes five squares with circles, each of which represents a BALLOON. The circles contain the word “POP”, the sound made when we burst the BALLOONS with DARTS:

  • 56A Carnival projectiles that might be directed at parts of this puzzle? : BALLOON DARTS
  • 16A In : POPULAR
  • 20A Ones that like to wallow in mud : HIPPOPOTAMUSES
  • 38A “Obviously! (Duh!)” : IS THE POPE CATHOLIC?!
  • 50A Continuing story about life : SOAP OPERA
  • 61A So-called “Godfather of Punk” : IGGY POP
  • 4D Symbolic flower of Flanders Fields : RED POPPY
  • 5D Candy with a chewy center : TOOTSIE POP
  • 9D Blind rage : APOPLEXY
  • 47D Unclasp, as a coin purse : SNAP OPEN
  • 51D One Direction and OneRepublic : POP BANDS

Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 8m 12s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Graffiti signatures : TAGS

A tag is a particular type of graffiti. A tag usually isn’t a picture, but rather words that include the author’s name.

“Graffiti” is the plural of “graffito”, and is the Italian for “scribbling”. The word was first used to describe ancient inscriptions on the walls in the ruins of Pompeii.

9 Creator of Creative Cloud software : ADOBE

Adobe Systems is a San Jose-based enterprise that is best known for developing Photoshop image editing software and the Portable Document Format (PDF). The company was founded in 1982 by John Warnock and Charles Geschke, in Warnock’s garage. The Adobe Creek ran behind that garage, and the founders borrowed the name of the waterway for the company’s moniker.

14 “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down ___” (Elton John hit) : ON ME

Elton John had nine number-one hits in the US:

  • “Crocodile Rock” (1972)
  • “Bennie and the Jets” (1974)
  • “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” (1974)
  • “Philadelphia Freedom” (1975)
  • “Island Girl” (1975)
  • “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” (1976)
  • “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” (1991)
  • “Something About the Way You Look Tonight” (1997)
  • “Candle in the Wind 1997” (1997)

15 Like sardines in a can : OILY

Sardines are oily fish related to herrings. Sardines are also known as pilchards, although in the UK “sardine” is a noun reserved for a young pilchard. Very confusing …

20 Ones that like to wallow in mud : HIPPOPOTAMUSES

The name “hippopotamus” comes from the Greek for “river horse”. Hippos are the third-largest land mammals, after elephants and rhinos. The closest living relatives to hippos don’t even live on land. They are the whales and porpoises of the oceans.

25 U.S.S.R.’s Tu-144, e.g. : SST

The first supersonic transport (SST) to fly was the Tupolev Tu-144, which was constructed in the Soviet Union. The Tu-144 first flew in 1968, but did not carry passengers until 1977. The aircraft was permanently grounded as a passenger craft in 1978 due to concerns about safety (there had been two Tu-144 crashes). The second SST to fly was the Anglo-French Concorde, which operated at a profit for over 27 years until it was withdrawn from service in 2003. There was one Concorde crash, in Paris in July 2000. Since then, there have been no commercial SST services.

37 Part of Caesar’s boast : VENI

The oft-quoted statement “Veni, vidi, vici” (“I came, I saw, I conquered”) is believed by many to have been written by Julius Caesar. The words date back to 47 BCE and refer to the short war between Rome and Pharnaces II of Pontus.

43 Peut-___ (maybe: Fr.) : ETRE

“Peut-être” is French for “maybe, perhaps”. A literal translation into English might be “it is able to be”.

44 It’s a little under a football field in area : ACRE

At one time, an acre was defined as the amount of land a yoke of oxen could plow in a day. Then, an acre was more precisely defined as a strip of land “one furrow long” (i.e. one furlong) and one chain wide. The length of one furlong was equal to 10 chains, or 40 rods. An area of one furlong times 10 rods was one rood.

45 You, in a billet-doux : TOI

In French, the pronouns “toi” and “vous” both mean “you”, with the former being used with family and friends, and children. “Vous” is more formal, and is also the plural form of “toi”.

“Billet-doux” is a French term meaning “love letter”. A “billet” is a short note, and “doux” means sweet.

50 Continuing story about life : SOAP OPERA

The original soap operas were radio dramas back in the fifties. Given the structure of society back then, the daytime broadcasts were aimed at women working in the home as housewives. For some reason the sponsors of those radio shows, and the television shows that followed, were soap manufacturers like Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Lever Brothers. And that’s how the “soap” opera got its name …

53 Linguist Chomsky : NOAM

Noam Chomsky is a professor of linguistics at MIT. Chomsky is known as one of the fathers of modern linguistics.

61 So-called “Godfather of Punk” : IGGY POP

Iggy Pop is a punk rock performer from Muskegon, Michigan. When he was in high school, he was a drummer for a local band called the Iguanas, and so was given the nickname “Iggy”. He was the vocalist for a band called the Stooges, and is often referred to as the Godfather of Punk.

64 Former attorney general Holder : ERIC

Eric Holder was the Attorney General of the United States from 2009 to 2015, the first African American to hold the position. Holder was close to President Obama during the presidential campaign. Holder was the campaign’s legal advisor and was also one of the three members on the Obama vice-presidential selection committee that recommended future Vice President Joe Biden.

68 Young explorer of TV : DORA

“Dora the Explorer” is a cartoon series shown on Nickelodeon. Part of Dora’s remit is to introduce the show’s young viewers to some Spanish words and phrases.

70 Order since 1868 : ELKS

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE) was founded in 1868, and is a social club that has about a million members today. It started out as a group of men getting together in a “club” in order to get around the legal opening hours of taverns in New York City. The club took on a new role as it started to look out for poor families of members who passed away. The club now accepts African Americans as members (since the seventies) and women (since the nineties), but atheists still aren’t welcome. The list of US presidents that have been members of the BPOE includes Presidents Eisenhower, Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy and Ford.

71 Right away : STAT

The exact etymology of “stat”, a term meaning “immediately” in the medical profession, seems to have been lost in the mists of time. It probably comes from the Latin “statim” meaning “to a standstill, immediately”. A blog reader has helpfully suggested that the term may also come from the world of laboratory analysis, where the acronym STAT stands for “short turn-around time”.

Down

1 Inducing an “Ooh-la-la,” say : POSH

No one really knows the etymology of the word “posh”. The popular myth that “posh” is actually an acronym standing for “port out, starboard home” is completely untrue, and is a story that can actually be traced back to the 1968 movie “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”. The myth is that wealthy British passengers travelling to and from India would book cabins on the port side for the outward journey and the starboard side for the home journey. This trick was supposedly designed to keep their cabins out of the direct sunlight.

4 Symbolic flower of Flanders Fields : RED POPPY

The WWI battlefields in West Flanders, East Flanders (both in Belgium) and French Flanders are often referred to in English as “Flanders Fields”. The phrase was coined by Canadian physician Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae in his 1915 poem “In Flanders Fields”.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

5 Candy with a chewy center : TOOTSIE POP

Tootsie Pops were developed as a derivative product from the popular Tootsie Roll candy. How popular, I hear you say? About 60 million Tootsie Rolls and 20 million Tootsie Pops are produced every day!

6 Verdi work that may include camels : AIDA

“Aida” is a celebrated opera by Giuseppe Verdi that is based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette. Mariette also designed the costumes and stages for the opening performance. The opera was first staged in 1871 in an opera house in Cairo. In the storyline, Aida is an Ethiopian princess brought into Egypt as a slave. Radames is an Egyptian commander who falls in love with her, and then complications arise!

7 Latches (onto) : GLOMS

“Glom” is a slang term meaning “steal”, although it can also be used to mean “latch onto” when used as “glom onto”. The term probably comes from the Scots word “glam” meaning “to snatch at”.

21 Spanish direction : OESTE

“Oeste” (west) is a “dirección” (direction), in Spanish.

22 Word with cow, dog or horse : SEA

Manatees, also known as “sea cows”, are very large marine mammals that can grow to 12 feet in length. The manatee is believed to have evolved from four-legged land mammals and probably shares a common ancestor with the elephant.

“Sea dog” and “old salt” are familiar terms for a sailor, especially one that has lots of experience.

Seahorses belong to the genus Hippocampus. The genus name comes from the Greek “hippo” meaning “horse” and “kampos” meaning “sea monster”. It’s the male seahorse who carries the fertilized eggs, and not the females. The region of the brain known as the hippocampus, is so called because it resembles a seahorse in shape.

25 Gracefully thin : SVELTE

“Svelte” comes into English from Latin, via the Italian “svelto” meaning “stretched out”. Something or someone described as svelte would be slender and graceful.

27 Nixon daughter : TRICIA

President Richard Nixon had two children, both daughters. The oldest is Tricia, who married Edward Finch Cox. The youngest is Julie, who married David Eisenhower, a grandson of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

28 One of three in the Buick logo : SHIELD

David Dunbar Buick was an inventor working in Detroit, Michigan who founded the Buick Motor Company in 1903. Buick sold his interest in Buick Motors just three years later. He passed away in 1929, practically penniless. Still, over 30 million vehicles have been built that bore the Buick name.

31 Dundee denial : NAE

The city of Dundee lies on the north bank of the Firth of Tay in Scotland. The origins of the name “Dundee” are a little obscure, although the omnipresent “dùn” in place names all over Scotland and Ireland is the Celtic word for “fort”.

33 Lacto-___ vegetarian : OVO

A lacto-ovo vegetarian is someone who does not consume meat or fish, but does who eat eggs (ovo) and dairy (lacto) products.

39 Wise (to), in dated slang : HEP

The slang term “hep” meaning “cool” has the same meaning as the later derivative term “hip”. The origins of “hep” seem unclear, but it was adopted by jazz musicians of the early 1900s.

48 2015 Verizon acquisition : AOL

Telecom giant Verizon acquired AOL in 2015, and Yahoo! in 2017. Just after the latter purchase, Verizon launched Oath, a subsidiary company that served as the umbrella under which AOl and Yahoo! continued to operate. Oath was renamed to Verizon Media Group after a corporate reorganization at the end of 2018.

49 Writer Gay : TALESE

Gay Talese is an American author, famous as a journalist in the sixties at “The New York Times”. His 1981 book “Thy Neighbor’s Wife” is a study of sexuality in America in the early fifties. Apparently, as research for the book, Talese had sexual relations with his own neighbor’s wife for several months at a sexuality resort in Southern California called Sandstone Retreat.

51 One Direction and OneRepublic : POP BANDS

One Direction is a UK-based boy band. Each member of the band competed in the reality show “The X Factor”, and didn’t do very well. The five were then combined in a boy band at a later stage of the competition. They only finished in third place, but I don’t think they care. They’re doing very, very well for “losers” …

OneRepublic is a pop rock band that formed in 2002 in Colorado Springs. Initially, the band used the name “Republic”, but changed to “OneRepublic” to avoid possible conflict with similar band names.

54 Parable message : MORAL

A parable is a story told to illustrate a lesson or principle. It is similar to a fable, differing in that a fable uses mainly animals as characters, and a parable uses humans.

56 Computer data unit : BYTE

In the world of computing, a bit is the basic unit of information. It has a value of 0 or 1. A “byte” is a small collection of “bits” (usually 8), the number of bits needed to uniquely identify a character of text. The prefix mega- stands for 10 to the power of 6, so a megabyte (meg) is 1,000,000 bytes. The prefix giga- means 10 to the power of 9, and so a gigabyte (gig) is 1,000,000,000 bytes. Well, those are the SI definitions of megabyte and gigabyte. The purists still use 2 to the power of 20 for a megabyte (i.e. 1,048,576), and 2 to the power of 30 for a gigabyte.

58 The Gaelic “uisge beatha,” meaning “water of life,” for “whiskey” : ROOT

“Aqua vitae” is Latin for “water of life”. The original use of the term was for a concentrated solution of ethanol. Over time “aqua vitae” became the term used for distilled spirits and wine. “Water of life” translates into Scots Gaelic as “uisge-beatha” and into Irish as “uisce beatha”. These terms give rise to our modern word “whiskey”.

59 Said three times, a war film about Pearl Harbor : TORA

The predetermined code word to be used by the Japanese if they managed to achieve surprise in their attack on Pearl Harbor was “tiger”, or “tora” in Japanese. This gave the title to the excellent 1970 movie “Tora! Tora! Tora!”.

60 32-card card game : SKAT

When I was a teenager in Ireland, I had a friend with a German father. The father taught us the game of Skat, and what a great game it is. Skat originated in Germany in the 1800s and is to this day the most popular card game in the country. I haven’t played it in decades, but would love to play it again …

61 401(k) alternative : IRA

A 401(k) account resembles an IRA in that contributions can be made from a paycheck prior to the deduction of income taxes. A 401(k) differs from an IRA in that it is an employer-sponsored plan, with payments taken by the employer directly from an employee’s paycheck. Additionally, contributions can be fully or partially matched by an employer.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Low poker holding : PAIR
5 Graffiti signatures : TAGS
9 Creator of Creative Cloud software : ADOBE
14 “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down ___” (Elton John hit) : ON ME
15 Like sardines in a can : OILY
16 In : POPULAR
17 Nose decoration : STUD
18 Cause of nose-wrinkling : ODOR
19 Perilous perch : LEDGE
20 Ones that like to wallow in mud : HIPPOPOTAMUSES
23 Foot, in medical dictionaries : PES
24 Eyewear, informally : SPEX
25 U.S.S.R.’s Tu-144, e.g. : SST
28 Eschews the night life : STAYS IN
32 Repeat : SAY OVER
34 Bears : HAS
35 Sign of sadness : TEAR
37 Part of Caesar’s boast : VENI
38 “Obviously! (Duh!)” : IS THE POPE CATHOLIC?!
43 Peut-___ (maybe: Fr.) : ETRE
44 It’s a little under a football field in area : ACRE
45 You, in a billet-doux : TOI
46 Eagerly embraces, as an opportunity : LEAPS AT
50 Continuing story about life : SOAP OPERA
52 Used up, as a well : DRY
53 Linguist Chomsky : NOAM
55 City, informally : URB
56 Carnival projectiles that might be directed at parts of this puzzle? : BALLOON DARTS
61 So-called “Godfather of Punk” : IGGY POP
64 Former attorney general Holder : ERIC
65 Corner recess : NOOK
66 Way to go : ROUTE
67 Fit to be tried, say : SANE
68 Young explorer of TV : DORA
69 Some jingle writers : ADMEN
70 Order since 1868 : ELKS
71 Right away : STAT

Down

1 Inducing an “Ooh-la-la,” say : POSH
2 Naysaying : ANTI
3 “My turn to go” : I’M UP
4 Symbolic flower of Flanders Fields : RED POPPY
5 Candy with a chewy center : TOOTSIE POP
6 Verdi work that may include camels : AIDA
7 Latches (onto) : GLOMS
8 Some cough remedies : SYRUPS
9 Blind rage : APOPLEXY
10 Club requirement : DUES
11 In disuse : OLD
12 Abandon, in slang : BAG
13 Before, in verse : ERE
21 Spanish direction : OESTE
22 Word with cow, dog or horse : SEA
25 Gracefully thin : SVELTE
26 High-ranking : SENIOR
27 Nixon daughter : TRICIA
28 One of three in the Buick logo : SHIELD
29 One eating before a king : TASTER
30 Off the mark : ASTRAY
31 Dundee denial : NAE
33 Lacto-___ vegetarian : OVO
36 Maker of Colortrak TVs, once : RCA
39 Wise (to), in dated slang : HEP
40 Products made by Friedrich, for short : ACS
41 Shellacs : TROUNCES
42 Got word (of) : HEARD
47 Unclasp, as a coin purse : SNAP OPEN
48 2015 Verizon acquisition : AOL
49 Writer Gay : TALESE
51 One Direction and OneRepublic : POP BANDS
54 Parable message : MORAL
56 Computer data unit : BYTE
57 Trough call : OINK!
58 The Gaelic “uisge beatha,” meaning “water of life,” for “whiskey” : ROOT
59 Said three times, a war film about Pearl Harbor : TORA
60 32-card card game : SKAT
61 401(k) alternative : IRA
62 Role for John Huston in 1966’s “The Bible” : GOD
63 Iconic Russian department store facing Red Square : GUM