1116-21 NY Times Crossword 16 Nov 21, Tuesday

Constructed by: Drew Schmenner
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Reveal Answer That’s All … She Wrote

Themed answers are female authors known for WRITING just one novel, one quoted in the corresponding clue:

  • 18A With 63-Across, “The end” … or what can be said about the novels in the clues for 25-, 38- and 52-Across : THAT’S ALL …
  • 63A See 18-Across : … SHE WROTE
  • 25A Author of “The Bell Jar” (1963) : SYLVIA PLATH
  • 38A Author of “Black Beauty” (1877) : ANNA SEWELL
  • 52A Author of “Wuthering Heights” (1847) : EMILY BRONTE

Bill’s time: 6m 20s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Key above Caps Lock : TAB

Like most features on our computer keyboards, the tab key is a hangover from the days of typewriters. When using a typewriter, making entries into a table was very tedious, involving lots of tapping on the spacebar and backspace key. So, a lever was added to typewriters that allowed the operator to “jump” across the page to positions that could be set by hand. Later this was simplified to a tab key which could be depressed, causing the carriage to jump to the next tab stop in much the same way that the modern tab key works on a computer.

17 Many an evergreen : FIR TREE

Firs are evergreen coniferous trees, with several species being popular as Christmas trees. The most commonly used species during the holidays are the Nordmann fir, noble fir, Fraser fir and balsam fir. We also see a lot of Douglas fir trees at Christmas, but they’re not actually true firs.

18 With 63-Across, “The end” … or what can be said about the novels in the clues for 25-, 38- and 52-Across : THAT’S ALL …
63 See 18-Across : … SHE WROTE

No one seems to be very certain of the origin of “that’s all she wrote”, meaning “there’s nothing more to be said”. One popular story is that it stems from the unfortunate “Dear John” letters that some soldiers received during WWII.

21 Stella ___ (beer) : ARTOIS

The Belgian beer Stella Artois is named for the brewer Sebastianus Artois. Artois was the master brewer at the Den Hoorn Brewery in Leuven, Belgium in the early 1700s. The Den Hoorn Brewery has been around at least since 1366 … yes, 1366!

22 Sculler’s tool : OAR

A scull is a boat used for competitive rowing. The main hull of the boat is often referred to as a shell. Crew members who row the boat can be referred to as “oars”. And, a scull is also an oar mounted on the stern of a small boat. It’s all very confusing …

23 ___ score (400 to 1600) : SAT

Today, the standardized test for admission to colleges is known as the SAT Reasoning Test, but it used to be called the Scholastic Aptitude Test and Scholastic Assessment Test, which led to the abbreviation “SAT”.

24 Prefix with bot : NANO-

Nanorobots (also “nanobots”) are tiny devices that range from 0.1 to 10 micrometers in size. The technology of nanorobotics is in its infancy, but it is hoped that nanobots might be used (for example) in medicine one day. The oft-cited application is the use of nanobots inserted inside the body to identify and destroy cancer cells.

25 Author of “The Bell Jar” (1963) : SYLVIA PLATH

Sylvia Plath was a poet from Boston, Massachusetts who lived much of her life in the UK where she married fellow poet Ted Hughes. The couple had a tumultuous relationship, and Plath had a long battle with depression. Plath wrote just one novel, called “The Bell Jar”, which is semi-autobiographical. It describes the main character’s descent into mental illness. Plath herself lost her battle with depression in 1963, committing suicide at the age of 30 years, and just one month after “The Bell Jar” was published.

33 NPR host Cornish : AUDIE

Broadcast journalist Audie Cornish has hosted NPR’s “Weekend Edition Sunday” from 2011 to 2012, replacing Liane Hansen who hosted the show for over twenty years. Cornish then co-hosted “All Things Considered” until she resigned from NPR in 2022.

37 Actress Mirren : HELEN

Helen Mirren, one of my favorite English actresses, has played three different queens on film and television. She played Queen Elizabeth II on the 2006 film “The Queen”, the title role in the TV drama “Elizabeth I”, and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the wife of the title character in the 1994 film “The Madness of King George”. Mirren won the “Triple Crown of Acting” for playing:

  • Queen Elizabeth II in “The Queen” (winning Best Actress Oscar)
  • Queen Elizabeth II in “The Audience” (winning Best Actress in a Play Tony)
  • Detective Jane Tennison in “Prime Suspect” (winning Outstanding Lead Actress Emmy)

38 Author of “Black Beauty” (1877) : ANNA SEWELL

English novelist Anna Sewell only wrote one book in her life, which was the immensely popular “Black Beauty” first published in 1877. The book was written at the tail end of Sewell’s life, over a period of six years while her health was declining. “Black Beauty” was an immediate success, and is supposedly the sixth best selling title in the English language. Sewell died just five months after the book was published, but she did get to see its immediate success.

41 Sealy competitor : SERTA

Serta was founded in 1931 when a group of 13 mattress manufacturers came together, essentially forming a cooperative. Today, the Serta company is owned by eight independent licensees in a similar arrangement. Serta advertisements feature the Serta Counting Sheep. Each numbered sheep has a different personality, such as:

  • #1 The Leader of the Flock
  • #½ The Tweener
  • #13 Mr. Bad Luck
  • #53 The Pessimist
  • #86 Benedict Arnold

The Sealy Corporation makes mattresses. The company name comes from the city where it started out in 1881, namely Sealy, Texas. Sealy Corporation is now headquartered in Trinity, North Carolina.

44 Many a college prof : PHD

“Ph.D.” is an abbreviation for “philosophiae doctor”, Latin for “teacher of philosophy”. Often, candidates for a PhD already hold a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, so a PhD might be considered a “third degree”.

47 Difficult tooth for a dentist to fill : MOLAR

Molars are grinding teeth. The term “molar” comes from the Latin “mola” meaning “millstone”.

50 Mystical energy fields : AURAE

An aura (plural “aurae”) is an intangible quality that surrounds a person or thing, a “je ne sais quoi”. “Je ne sais quoi” is French for “I don’t know what”.

52 Author of “Wuthering Heights” (1847) : EMILY BRONTE

In terms of age, Emily Brontë was the middle of the three Brontë sisters, younger than Charlotte and older than Anne. Emily was a poet and a novelist, and is best remembered for her only novel, “Wuthering Heights”. Emily died very young, at 30 years old. She never recovered from a severe cold that she caught at the funeral service of Branwell Brontë, her only brother. The cold developed into tuberculosis, for which she eschewed medical attention. She passed away after three months of illness.

55 Slugger Sammy in the 1998 home run chase : SOSA

Sammy Sosa was firmly in the public eye in 1998 when he and Mark McGwire were vying to be the first to surpass the home run record held by Roger Maris. McGwire fell out of public favor due to stories of steroid abuse (stories which he later admitted were true) while Sosa fell out of favor when he was found to be using a corked bat in a 2003 game.

57 Prey for a barracuda : EEL

The fish called a barracuda is large and dangerous-looking, with a fierce looking jaw filled with fang-like teeth. I was surrounded by a large school of barracuda once, many years ago while scuba diving. A scary experience …

60 Question of apathy : DO I CARE?

Apathy is a lack of emotion. The term “apathy” comes quite directly from the Greek “”a-” meaning “without” and “pathos” meaning “emotion.

66 Met highlight : ARIA

The Metropolitan Opera (often simply “the Met”) of New York City is the largest classical music organization in the country, presenting about 220 performances each and every year. Founded in 1880, the Met is renowned for using technology to expand its audiences. Performances have been broadcast live on radio since 1931, and on television since 1977. And since 2006 you can go see a live performance from New York in high definition on the big screen, at a movie theater near you …

69 Some August births : LEOS

Leo is the fifth astrological sign of the Zodiac. People born from July 23 to August 22 are Leos.

70 Inc., abroad : LTD

In Britain and Ireland, the most common type of business (my perception anyway) is one that has private shareholders whose liability is limited to the value of their investment. Such a company is known as a private limited company, and has the abbreviation “Ltd.” after the name. If the shares are publicly traded, then the company is a public limited company, and has the letters “plc” after the name.

Down

1 Fairy queen in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” : TITANIA

Oberon and Titania are the King and Queen of the Fairies in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.

2 Hindu retreats : ASHRAMS

“Ashram” is a term used in the Hindu tradition to describe a place of spiritual retreat, one that is typically located in a remote location conducive to spiritual instruction and meditation.

3 Many a character in Kerouac’s “On the Road” : BEATNIK

The term “beatnik” was coined by journalist Herb Caen in 1958 when he used it to describe the stereotypical young person of the “beat generation”, which is oft associated with the writer Jack Kerouac. That stereotypical beatnik would be playing the bongos, rolling his or her own cigarettes. Male beatniks tended to sport goatees and wear berets.

Jack Kerouac’s 1957 novel “On the Road” is largely autobiographical, telling the story of Sal Paradise (Jack K.) and the road trips that he and his friends took across the country in the fifties.

6 One shaking hands and kissing babies, stereotypically : POL

Politician (pol)

7 Weekly show famously filmed in Studio 8H, in brief : SNL

NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) was named “NBC’s Saturday Night” during its first season. This was to differentiate it from the ABC show airing at that time, called “Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell”. Chevy Chase uttered the famous line “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night” in the very first SNL episode on October 11, 1975. That careful wording has persisted, even though the NBC show’s name was changed to “Saturday Night Live” after Cosell’s show went off the air in 1976.

11 Falcons, on a scoreboard : ATL

The Atlanta Falcons joined the NFL in 1965. The team name was suggested by a schoolteacher called Miss Julia Elliott. Elliot suggested that “the Falcon is proud and dignified, with great courage and fight. It never drops its prey. It is deadly and has a great sporting tradition.”

12 Vigorous campaign : CRUSADE

The Crusades were a series of religious wars fought between the 11th and 15th centuries. The term “crusade” came into English via French and Spanish from the Latin “crux” meaning “cross”. The use of the term was retrospective, with the first recorded use in English in 1757. The relevance of “crux” is that most crusaders swore a vow to reach Jerusalem from Europe, and then received a cloth cross that was then sewn into their clothing. The term “crusade” persists to this day, and is now used figuratively to describe any vigorous campaign in pursuit of a moral objective.

13 Protein in horns and hair : KERATIN

Keratin is a fibrous protein found in many vertebrates. Specifically, it is found in hair, nails, feathers, horns, claws, hooves and many other structural tissues.

19 Yogi Bear or Fred Flintstone : TOON

Yogi Bear made his debut for Hanna-Barbera in 1958, on “The Huckleberry Hound Show” before he was given his own series. Do you remember that collar that Yogi wore around his neck? That was a little trick from the animators. By using the collar, for many frames all they had to do was redraw everything from the collar up, saving them lots and lots of time. Yogi and Boo-Boo lived in Jellystone Park, and made Ranger Smith’s life a misery.

I once had the privilege of spending an afternoon in the room (Bill Hanna’s den) where Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera came up with the idea of “The Flintstones” …

26 It often has a gym and pool : YMCA

The YMCA (the Y) is a worldwide movement that has its roots in London, England. There, in 1844, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was founded with the intent of promoting Christian principles through the development of “a healthy spirit, mind and body”. The founder, George Williams, saw the need to create YMCA facilities for young men who were flocking to the cities as the Industrial Revolution flourished. He saw that these men were frequenting taverns and brothels, and wanted to offer a more wholesome alternative.

28 Dish associated with the Valencia region of Spain : PAELLA

Paella is sometimes referred to as the Spanish national dish, but not by Spaniards. In Spain, paella is regarded as a typical regional dish from Valencia. The name “paella” means “frying pan” in Valencian, and is a reference to the shallow vessel traditionally used to cook the dish over an open fire.

36 Tiny messenger : RNA

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA.

38 Asia’s ___ Sea : ARAL

The Aral Sea is a great example of how man can have a devastating effect on his environment. In the early sixties the Aral Sea covered 68,000 square miles of Central Asia. Soviet irrigation projects drained the lake to such an extent that today the total area is less than 7,000 square miles, with 90% of the lake now completely dry. Sad …

42 Snooty : ELITIST

“Snoot” is a variant of “snout”, and is a word that originated in Scotland. The idea is that someone who is snooty, or “snouty”, tends to look down his or her nose at the rest of the world.

44 N.F.L. all-star game : PRO BOWL

The AFC-NFC Pro Bowl is the NFL’s all-star game, and is played towards the end of the season around the time of the Super Bowl. The rules for the Pro Bowl differ from normal NFL games, in order to make the game safer. Apparently, NFL owners don’t want their players getting injured when they’re not playing for their own team.

48 American Kennel Club list : BREEDS

The American Kennel Club (AKC) is the organization that handles registration of purebred dogs The AKC also promotes dog shows around the country, including the famous Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

51 Leningrad’s land, for short : USSR

St. Petersburg in Russia is an absolutely beautiful city to visit. The city was renamed to Petrograd in 1914, Leningrad in 1924 and back to St. Petersburg in 1991.

54 Letters heard after “cow,” “pig” and “horse” : E-I-E-I-O

There was an old American version of the English children’s song “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” (E-I-E-I-O) that was around in the days of WWI. The first line of the older US version goes “Old MacDougal had a farm, in Ohio-i-o”.

59 “___ the night before Christmas …” : ‘TWAS

The poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” was published anonymously in 1823, and is better known today by its first line “‘Twas the night before Christmas”. Most scholars believe that the poem was written by Clement Clarke Moore, a theologian from New York City. Others say that it was written by Henry Livingston, Jr., a poet from Upstate New York.

62 Horace’s “___ Poetica” : ARS

The full name of Horace’s work is “Ars Poetica, Epistula ad Pisones” (The Art of Poetry, Letters to the Pisos). The work describes the technical aspects of poetry in ancient Rome, and the term “ars poetica” has come to mean the poetry of that period.

64 Charlemagne’s domain: Abbr. : HRE

Charlemagne was the first king to use the title “Holy Roman Emperor”, even though the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) was not actually founded per se until over a century later when Otto I was crowned Emperor. Otto was the first of an unbroken line of Holy Roman Emperors who ruled Central Europe from 962 until 1806.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Key above Caps Lock : TAB
4 Depletes, as of energy : SAPS
8 Goes on the offensive : ATTACKS
15 Suffix with expert : -ISE
16 “___ the case!” : I’M ON
17 Many an evergreen : FIR TREE
18 With 63-Across, “The end” … or what can be said about the novels in the clues for 25-, 38- and 52-Across : THAT’S ALL …
20 Sometimes it’s “not an option” : FAILURE
21 Stella ___ (beer) : ARTOIS
22 Sculler’s tool : OAR
23 ___ score (400 to 1600) : SAT
24 Prefix with bot : NANO-
25 Author of “The Bell Jar” (1963) : SYLVIA PLATH
30 Sending a Slack message, say : IM’ING
32 Secure, as a boat : MOOR
33 NPR host Cornish : AUDIE
34 “___ away!” (“Hit me!”) : ASK
35 Paths of lobs : ARCS
37 Actress Mirren : HELEN
38 Author of “Black Beauty” (1877) : ANNA SEWELL
41 Sealy competitor : SERTA
43 Bit of fishing equipment : REEL
44 Many a college prof : PHD
47 Difficult tooth for a dentist to fill : MOLAR
48 Help (out) : BAIL
50 Mystical energy fields : AURAE
52 Author of “Wuthering Heights” (1847) : EMILY BRONTE
55 Slugger Sammy in the 1998 home run chase : SOSA
56 Bit of fishing equipment : NET
57 Prey for a barracuda : EEL
58 “You don’t even want to know” : IT’S BAD
60 Question of apathy : DO I CARE?
63 See 18-Across : … SHE WROTE
65 Guaranteed : ENSURED
66 Met highlight : ARIA
67 Earn the most votes, say : WIN
68 Abhors : DETESTS
69 Some August births : LEOS
70 Inc., abroad : LTD

Down

1 Fairy queen in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” : TITANIA
2 Hindu retreats : ASHRAMS
3 Many a character in Kerouac’s “On the Road” : BEATNIK
4 Enthusiastic Spanish approval : SI SI!
5 Collect in volume : AMASS
6 One shaking hands and kissing babies, stereotypically : POL
7 Weekly show famously filmed in Studio 8H, in brief : SNL
8 Secret relationship : AFFAIR
9 Small crown : TIARA
10 El ___ (nickname for the Mexican national soccer team) : TRI
11 Falcons, on a scoreboard : ATL
12 Vigorous campaign : CRUSADE
13 Protein in horns and hair : KERATIN
14 Keep one’s anger at a low boil : SEETHE
19 Yogi Bear or Fred Flintstone : TOON
22 Egg: Prefix : OVO-
26 It often has a gym and pool : YMCA
27 The “1” in a 15-1 record : LOSS
28 Dish associated with the Valencia region of Spain : PAELLA
29 Slow period : LULL
31 Overhead support for interstate signs : GANTRY
36 Tiny messenger : RNA
37 ___-haw : HEE
38 Asia’s ___ Sea : ARAL
39 Popular name for an Irish girl : ERIN
40 Swollen mark : WELT
41 “Can’t say who” : SOMEONE
42 Snooty : ELITIST
44 N.F.L. all-star game : PRO BOWL
45 Makes an enthusiastic attempt : HAS AT IT
46 Wrong turn in a maze : DEAD END
47 Repaired : MENDED
48 American Kennel Club list : BREEDS
49 Former Time Warner partner : AOL
51 Leningrad’s land, for short : USSR
53 Visorless cap : BERET
54 Letters heard after “cow,” “pig” and “horse” : E-I-E-I-O
59 “___ the night before Christmas …” : ‘TWAS
61 Chalk one up? : CUE
62 Horace’s “___ Poetica” : ARS
63 Narrator of “On the Road” : SAL
64 Charlemagne’s domain: Abbr. : HRE