Constructed by: Andrew J. Ries
Edited by: Will Shortz
Not your puzzle? Try today’s …
… syndicated NY Times crossword
Today’s Theme: None
Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers
Want to discuss the puzzle? Then …
… leave a comment
Bill’s time: 31m 02s
Bill’s errors: 4
TIP (pip)
O MAGAZINE (e-magazine!!!)
TANGRAM (pangram!)
DUBOSE (Dubese)
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
6. High note? : C-SPOT
“C-note” and “C-spot” are slang terms for a $100 bill.
11. Balkan land, on Olympic scoreboards : CRO
“C-note” and “C-spot” are slang terms for a $100 bill.
14. Island that’s the first word of the Beach Boys’ “Kokomo” : ARUBA
Aruba is one of the so-called ABC Islands located off the northern coast of Venezuela. “ABC Islands” is a name given to the three westernmost islands of the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean. The nickname comes from the first letters of the island names: Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. All three of the ABC Islands are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
“Kokomo” is song released by the Beach Boys in 1988. It describes a trip taken by a couple to a fictional island off the Florida Keys called Kokomo. The success of the song led to at least one Florida resort adopting the name.
Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya
Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego,
baby why don’t we go,
Jamaica
15. Central principle of the Baha’i faith : UNITY
The Baha’i Faith is relatively new in the scheme of things, and was founded in Persia in the 1800s. One of the tenets of the religion is that messengers have come from God over time, including Abraham, the Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, and most recently Bahá’u’lláh who founded the Baha’i Faith. Baha’i scripture specifies some particular architectural requirement for houses of worship, including that the building have nine-sided, circular shape. It is also specified that there be no pictures, statues or images displayed within a temple.
16. Work containing more than 3.5 million citations, for short : OED
The “Oxford English Dictionary” (OED) contains over 300,000 “main” entries and 59 million words in total. The longest entry for one word in the second edition of the OED is the verb “set”. When the third edition was published in 2007, the longest entry for a single word became the verb “put”. Perhaps not surprisingly, the most-quoted author in the OED is William Shakespeare, with his most quoted work being “Hamlet”. The most-quoted female author is George Eliot (aka Mary Ann Evans).
17. Balm of Gilead, e.g. : RESIN
The Balm of Gilead tree is also known as the balsam poplar. The tree’s resin is extracted for use in cough syrups and as a first-aid salve.
18. Practice roster for an N.F.L. team : TAXI SQUAD
The scout team (or “taxi squad”) is a group of football players whose job is to play like future opponents for the main team. The scout team may not be the best athletes, but they learn particular plays designed to help the main team prepare for an upcoming game.
20. Half of a 1980s sitcom duo : KATE
The sitcom “Kate & Allie” ran from 1984 to 1989, starring Susan Saint James as Kate, and Jane Curtin as Allie. Jane Curtin won two Emmy awards for her work on the series, while Susan Saint James … did not.
21. Scratch on the table? : TIP
Lettuce, cabbage, kale, dough, scratch, cheddar, simoleons, clams and moola(h) are all slang terms for money.
27. Florentine, for example : TUSCAN
Florence is the capital city of the Tuscany region in Italy. Something from or related to Florence is described as “Florentine”. The city is known as “Firenze” in Italian.
35. V8 ingredient : CARROT JUICE
The beverage V8 is a mixture of eight different vegetable juices, hence the name. It was introduced in 1933 by the New England Products Company as “ege-min 8”.
39. Bananas : DAFT
The expression “to go bananas” is one that I would have imagined had a clear etymology but that doesn’t seem to be the case. A further surprise is that we’ve only been “going bananas” since the sixties, in the days of flower power. One apt theory about the hippy roots of the phrase is that there was an unfounded belief that ingesting roasted banana peels had a similar hallucinogenic effect as magic mushrooms.
43. Name for a big wheel : FERRIS
The first Ferris Wheel was built for the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. That wheel was designed and constructed by George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. who lent his name to wheels built from then on.
47. Kind of pressure : SINUS
In anatomical terms, a sinus is a cavity in tissue. Sinuses are found all over the body, in the kidney and heart for example, but we most commonly think of the paranasal sinuses that surround the nose.
50. Superhuman, in a way : BIONIC
Bionic limbs are in fact a reality, although a relatively small number of amputees have been fitted with them. Bionic limbs depend on the fact that the brain continues to send out messages to nerves that have been truncated through amputation. The nerve stub is redirected to a set of chest muscles, so when the person thinks “open the hand” say, that cause a chest muscle to contract. Electrodes placed on the surface of the chest muscle detects its movement, and that signal is sent to the prosthetic limb, causing it to move. Science can be so wonderful …
54. Periodical whose founder has appeared on every cover since its 2000 launch : O MAGAZINE
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.
57. ___ score : 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”.
58. Lab dept. : R AND D
Research and development (R&D)
60. 1994 U.S. Open champ : ELS
Ernie Els is a South African golfer. Els a big guy but he has an easy fluid golf swing that has earned him the nickname “The Big Easy”. He is a former World No. 1 and has won four majors: the US Open (1994 & 1997) and the British Open (2002 & 2012).
62. Excalibur’s place : VEGAS
The Excalibur Hotel and Casino is a Medieval-themed resort. The exterior of the building is reminiscent of a castle, and there’s a famous dinner show featuring knights and horses called “Tournament of Kings”.
Down
4. Stage award : OBIE
The Obies are the “Off-Broadway Theater Awards”. The Obies have been presented annually since 1956. The recipients are chosen by “The Village Voice” newspaper.
7. Ones sharing some shots : SNAPCHAT FRIENDS
Snapchat is a messaging system that allows users to send photos and video clips to a limited list of recipients. The photos and clips, called “snaps”, can be viewed for only a few seconds before they are deleted from the recipient’s device, and from the Snapchat servers.
9. Moving walkway maker : OTIS
Otis is a manufacturer of elevators, escalators and moving walkways. By some accounts, Otis is the world’s most popular transportation company, with the equivalent of the whole world’s population travelling on Otis devices every few days.
10. Boxer with a cameo in “The Hangover” : TYSON
The boxer Mike Tyson, nicknamed “Iron Mike”, has said some pretty graphic things about his opponents. For example:
- About Lennox Lewis: “My main objective is to be professional but to kill him.”
- To Razor Ruddock: “I’m gonna make you my girlfriend.”
- About Tyrell Biggs: “He was screaming like my wife.”
Even in my day, a cameo role was more than just a short appearance in a movie (or other artistic piece). For the appearance to be a cameo, the actor had to playing himself or herself, and was instantly recognizable. With this meaning it’s easy to see the etymology of the term, as a cameo brooch is one with the recognizable carving of the silhouette of a person. Nowadays, a cameo is any minor role played by a celebrity or famous actor, regardless of the character played.
“The Hangover” is a comedy film released in 2009. The action revolves around a bachelor party in Las Vegas. The critics liked this one, although I didn’t really enjoy it too much.
11. Links : COURSE
The oldest type of golf course is a links course. The name “links” comes from the Old English word “hlinc” meaning “rising ground”. “Hlinc” was used to describe areas with coastal sand dunes or open parkland. As a result, we use the term “links course” to mean a golf course that is located at or on the coast, often amid sand dunes. The British Open is always played on a links course.
19. Celine Dion, by birth : QUEBECER
French-Canadian singer Céline Dion first came to international attention when she won the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest, in which she represented Switzerland in the competition that was hosted in Dublin, Ireland. She is now the the best-selling Canadian artist of all time.
21. Seven-piece puzzle : TANGRAM
A tangram is a flat puzzle consisting of seven different shapes that must be arranged to form specific shapes. The game was invented in China, and the name for the puzzle in Chinese translates as “seven boards of skill”. The seven shapes are called “tans” hence the “tangram” name used in English.
24. Dancer’s support : BARRE
A “barre” is a handrail used by ballet dancers for warm-up exercises and to provide support when practicing certain moves.
25. Certain pilgrim : HADJI
“Haji” (also “Hajji” and “Hadji”) is the term used for someone who has made a pilgrimage to Mecca, and it is sometimes also used as a form of address for such a person. The journey itself goes by the name “haj”, “hajj” or “hadj”.
33. III, in Ithaca : IOTAS
Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet, one that gave rise to our letters I and J. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small, as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.
Ithaca is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. The island features in Homer’s “Odyssey” as it was the home of the mythological hero Odysseus, who was Ithaca’s king.
38. Member of the Hoboken Four : SINATRA
Frank Sinatra was the only child of Italian immigrants living in Hoboken, New Jersey. Like so many of our heroes, Sinatra had a rough upbringing. His mother was arrested several times and convicted of running an illegal abortion business in the family home. Sinatra never finished high school, as he was expelled for rowdy conduct. He was later arrested as a youth on a morals charge for carrying on with a married woman, which was an offence back then. But Sinatra straightened himself out by the time he was twenty and started singing professionally.
39. “Porgy” novelist ___ Heyward : DUBOSE
“Porgy and Bess” is an opera with music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and libretto by DuBose Heyward. The storyline of the opera is based on the novel “Porgy” written by DuBose Heyward and and wife Dorothy. “Porgy and Bess” was first performed in 1935, in New York City, but really wasn’t accepted as legitimate opera until 1976 after a landmark production by the Houston Grand Opera. The most famous song from the piece is probably the wonderful aria “Summertime”.
40. Many an Aesop character : ANIMAL
Aesop is remembered today as a fabulist, a writer of fables. Aesop lived in Ancient Greece, probably around the sixth century BC. Supposedly he was born a slave, somehow became a free man, but then met with a sorry end. Aesop was sent to the city of Delphi on a diplomatic mission but instead insulted the Delphians. He was tried on a trumped-up charge of stealing from a temple, sentenced to death and was thrown off a cliff.
41. Jerks’ creations : FLOATS
In the halcyon days of yore, a “soda jerk” was usually a young person whose main job was to serve ice cream sodas in a drugstore. The server would “jerk” the handle on the soda fountain to dispense the soda water, giving the job its distinctive name.
55. 1099-___ (bank-issued tax form) : INT
IRS Form 1099 is a series of forms used to report various types of income, other than wages, salaries and tips that are reported on Form W-2. Examples are Form 1099-INT used to report interest income, and 1099-DIV used to report dividend income.
56. Head, for short : LAV
Our word “lavatory” (sometimes “lav”) originally referred to a washbasin, and comes from the Latin “lavatorium”, a place for washing. In the 1600s, “lavatory” came to mean a washroom, and in the 1920s a toilet.
In old sailing ships the toilet area for the regular sailors was located in the forward part (the head) of the ship, hence the term “head” that has been used since then for any toilet on board a boat.
Read on, or …
… return to top of page
Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1. Principal : MAJOR
6. High note? : C-SPOT
11. Balkan land, on Olympic scoreboards : CRO
14. Island that’s the first word of the Beach Boys’ “Kokomo” : ARUBA
15. Central principle of the Baha’i faith : UNITY
16. Work containing more than 3.5 million citations, for short : OED
17. Balm of Gilead, e.g. : RESIN
18. Practice roster for an N.F.L. team : TAXI SQUAD
20. Half of a 1980s sitcom duo : KATE
21. Scratch on the table? : TIP
22. Horse’s mouth, so to speak : SOURCE
23. Follower of Kennedy or Clinton : … ERA
24. Baker’s unit : BATCH
26. Fits snugly : NESTS
27. Florentine, for example : TUSCAN
29. Cons : HAS
31. One-up : BEST
32. Only facility in the world to have hosted the Olympics, Super Bowl and Final Four : GEORGIA DOME
35. V8 ingredient : CARROT JUICE
37. People at a theater who didn’t pay for their tickets : SEAT FILLERS
39. Bananas : DAFT
42. Crack, say : MAR
43. Name for a big wheel : FERRIS
45. Dark : UNLIT
47. Kind of pressure : SINUS
49. Small square : ONE
50. Superhuman, in a way : BIONIC
52. Smoked delicacy : EEL
53. Whole grain component : BRAN
54. Periodical whose founder has appeared on every cover since its 2000 launch : O MAGAZINE
56. Speaks with a pleasing rhythm : LILTS
57. ___ score : SAT
58. Lab dept. : R AND D
59. Esteem highly : ADORE
60. 1994 U.S. Open champ : ELS
61. Like many student films : ARTSY
62. Excalibur’s place : VEGAS
Down
1. Sell : MARKET
2. It provides only partial coverage : AREA RUG
3. “Hold your horses!” : JUST A SEC
4. Stage award : OBIE
5. Went quickly : RAN
6. Do the job : CUT IT
7. Ones sharing some shots : SNAPCHAT FRIENDS
8. Movies, informally : PIX
9. Moving walkway maker : OTIS
10. Boxer with a cameo in “The Hangover” : TYSON
11. Links : COURSE
12. Changes color, say : REACTS
13. Farthest out there : ODDEST
19. Celine Dion, by birth : QUEBECER
21. Seven-piece puzzle : TANGRAM
24. Dancer’s support : BARRE
25. Certain pilgrim : HADJI
28. Resting on one’s laurels : COASTING
30. Deeply felt : SOULFUL
33. III, in Ithaca : IOTAS
34. Quite a ways : MILES
36. Useful list when troubleshooting a computer : ERROR LOG
38. Member of the Hoboken Four : SINATRA
39. “Porgy” novelist ___ Heyward : DUBOSE
40. Many an Aesop character : ANIMAL
41. Jerks’ creations : FLOATS
44. Wits : SENSES
46. Accessory for a bride, maybe : TIARA
48. Indigent : NEEDY
51. Industry authority : CZAR
53. Remain : BIDE
55. 1099-___ (bank-issued tax form) : INT
56. Head, for short : LAV
Leave a comment (below), or …
… return to top of page