0420-18 NY Times Crossword Answers 20 Apr 2018, Friday

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Constructed by: Joel Fagliano
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: None

Bill’s time: 12m 19s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

15. Winner of eight Winter Olympics medals in the 2000s : APOLO OHNO

Speed-skater Apolo Ohno has won more Winter Olympics medals than any other American. Ohno also did a great job winning the 2007 season of television’s “Dancing with the Stars”.

18. Rapper who was part of N.W.A : EAZY-E

“Eazy-E” was the stage name of rapper Eric Lynn Wright. Eazy-E had a pretty liberal lifestyle, fathering seven children with six different women. In 1995, he died due to complications from AIDS. He was only 32 years old.

28. Fair-hiring inits. : EOE

Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE)

31. Animal with the longest gestation, at nearly two years : ELEPHANT

The gestation period for elephants is around two years, with only one calf being born at a time, and rarely two. The newborn calf weighs about 260 pounds. Female elephants become secually mature at about nine years of age, whereas males mature at 14-15 years. Typically, elephants live to 60 or 70 years old, with at least captive male reported to have lived for 86 years.

38. Supply for sautéing : OLIVE OIL

Virgin olive oil is oil produced from olives with no chemical treatment involved in the production process at all. To be labelled “virgin”, the oil must have an acidity level of less than 2% and must be be judged to have “a good taste”. Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) comes from virgin oil production, and is the portion with acidity levels of less than 0.8% acidity that is judged to have “superior taste”.

“Sauté” is a French word. The literal translation from the French is “jumped” or “bounced”, a reference to the tossing of food while cooking it in a frying pan.

39. Org. in “Inglourious Basterds” : OSS

The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was formed during WWII in order to carry out espionage behind enemy lines. A few years after the end of the war the OSS functions were taken up by a new group, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that was chartered by the National Security Act of 1947.

I tried hard to enjoy the 2009 movie “Inglourious Basterds”, but I find the violence in a Quentin Tarantino film so very hard to take. However, it got good reviews, so maybe you shouldn’t let me put you off.

43. His number 33 is retired by the Lakers : KAREEM

Basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s name at birth was Ferdinand Lewis “Lew” Alcindor. Alcindor changed his name when he converted to Islam.

48. Fossey who studied gorillas : DIAN

Dian Fossey carried out her famous study of gorilla populations in the mountain forests of Rwanda. Sadly, Fossey was found dead in her cabin in Rwanda in 1986, murdered in her bedroom, her skull split open by a machete. The crime was never solved.

51. Pocket of the Mideast : PITA BREAD

Pita is a lovely bread from Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines. Pita is usually round, and has a “pocket” in the center. The pocket is created by steam that puffs up the dough during cooking leaving a void when the bread cools.

Down

1. Cousin of a crow : DAW

Daws are better known today as jackdaws and belong to the crow family. The jackdaw features in a famous pangram (i.e. a short sentence containing all 26 letters of the alphabet), i.e. “Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz”.

2. Prefix with -genetic : EPI-

DNA contains nucleotide base sequences called genes, which are blueprints used in the manufacture of proteins needed by the body. Our DNA is also “decorated” with epigenetic markers that modify the activity level of genes, and can even turn genes off. These epigenetic markers respond to environmental conditions, so that organisms with the same DNA can exhibit differences in behavior and appearance, as a result of differing environments. This explains why identical twins develop differences in appearance over time.

3. Topic of the mnemonic “Eat An Apple As A Nighttime Snack” : CONTINENTS

The mnemonic “Eat an apple as a nighttime snack” helps us remember the seven continents:

  • Europe (eat)
  • Asia (an)
  • Africa (apple)
  • Australia (as)
  • Antarctica (a)
  • North America (nighttime)
  • South America (snack)

4. Paintings such as “Cat and Bird” and “The Goldfish” : KLEES

The artist Paul Klee was born in Switzerland, but studied art in Munich in Germany. You can see many of Klee’s works in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. If you get to Bern in Switzerland, even more of them can be seen at the Zentrum Paul Klee that was opened in 2005. Klee’s most celebrated work is his pointillist painting from 1932 called “Ad Parnassum”, which is owned by the Kunstmuseum, also located in Bern.

9. Anti-slippage substances : ROSINS

Rosin is a solid form of resin derived from plant sources. Rosin is formed into cakes that players of stringed instruments use to rub along the hairs of their bows to help improve sound quality. The rosin increases the degree of friction between the strings and the bow. That same friction-increasing property comes into play when baseball pitchers use rosin to get a better grip on the ball, or when dancers apply rosin to the soles of their shoes.

11. Kepler’s contemporary and assistant : BRAHE

Tycho Brahe was a Danish astronomer, and a contemporary of Galileo. Brahe lost his nose in a duel, and wore a replacement made from either silver or gold that was pasted onto his face!

13. Distance in astronomy: Abbr. : LT YR

A light-year (lt. yr.) is a measure of distance, not time. It is the distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year, which is almost six trillion miles. The accepted abbreviation for a light-year is “ly”. A light-second is a much shorter distance: about 186,282 miles.

22. 100+ million-selling band that once held a Guinness record for loudest concert : THE WHO

The English rock band the Who was formed in 1964, bringing together famed musicians Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Keith Moon. According to “Rolling Stone” magazine, the Who were the third arm of the holy trinity of British rock, alongside the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

23. Sol’s counterpart : HELIOS

Helios was the god of the Sun in Greek mythology. He was the brother of Selene, the goddess of the moon, and Eos, the goddess of the dawn. Helios drove his chariot of the sun across the sky during the day, returning to the East at night be travelling through the ocean. The Roman equivalent to Helios was Sol.

27. German city on the Elbe : HAMBURG

Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany (after Berlin), and the third largest port in Europe (after Rotterdam and Antwerp).

The River Elbe rises in the Czech Republic and travels over a thousand kilometers before emptying into the North Sea near the port of Hamburg in Germany.

29. Simple skate park tricks : OLLIES

An ollie is a skateboarding trick invented in 1976 by Alan “Ollie” Gelfand. Apparently it’s a way of lifting the board off the ground, while standing on it, without touching the board with one’s hands. Yeah, I could do that …

36. Stick (onto) : GLOM

“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”.

43. Birds on New Zealand dollar coins : KIWIS

The kiwi is an unusual bird in that it has a highly developed sense of smell and is the only one of our feathered friends with nostrils located at the tip of its long beak.

44. “To the power of” symbol : CARET

The character known as a caret was originally a proofreading mark, one used to indicate where a punctuation mark was to be inserted. “Caret” is Latin for “it lacks”.

45. Foretell the future : SCRY

To descry is to catch sight of, to discern. The derivative verb “to scry” is used to mean “to see images that reveal the past or foretell the future”.

49. Some early computers : IBMS

Tech giant IBM was founded as the Tabulating Machine Company in 1896. The company changed its name to the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation (CTR) in 1911 and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1916. The name of International Business Machines (IBM) was given first to the company’s Canadian subsidiary, and then its South American subsidiary. In 1924, it was decided to adopt the International Business Machines name for the whole company. Good choice …

53. A.C.A. part : ACT

The correct name for what has been dubbed “Obamacare” is the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (ACA).

54. “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” woman : DEE

Deandra “Sweet Dee” Reynolds is a character played by Kaitlin Olson on the sitcom “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”.

“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” is a long-running sitcom that premiered in 2005 and that is set in an Irish bar in South Philly. The show has a talented lineup of actors, but the big name in the cast is Danny DeVito.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Cruise seat : DECK CHAIR
10. Fastener with a crosspiece : T-BOLT
15. Winner of eight Winter Olympics medals in the 2000s : APOLO OHNO
16. Corresponded with : WROTE
17. Household item usually stored upside down : WINE GLASS
18. Rapper who was part of N.W.A : EAZY-E
19. Class struggle? : TEST
20. Couple’s matching pair, informally : HIS ‘N’ HERS
22. ___ end up : THIS
24. Pledge drive plea : DONATE
25. Lady bird : HEN
26. Desperately in need of approval, in modern slang : THIRSTY
28. Fair-hiring inits. : EOE
31. Animal with the longest gestation, at nearly two years : ELEPHANT
33. “Wouldn’t that be nice!” : IF ONLY!
35. Charming : WINSOME
36. Diner fixture : GRIDDLE
37. Warm place to chill : HOT TUB
38. Supply for sautéing : OLIVE OIL
39. Org. in “Inglourious Basterds” : OSS
40. Under the specified word, in a reference book : SUB VOCE
42. Shipping or handling : FEE
43. His number 33 is retired by the Lakers : KAREEM
44. Put in play? : CAST
45. Part-time newspaper employee : STRINGER
48. Fossey who studied gorillas : DIAN
50. Stand too close to : CROWD
51. Pocket of the Mideast : PITA BREAD
55. Back now after going out? : RELIT
56. Net sales : E-COMMERCE
57. “Oh, for heaven’s sake!” : YEESH!
58. Entrenched network inside a government : DEEP STATE

Down

1. Cousin of a crow : DAW
2. Prefix with -genetic : EPI-
3. Topic of the mnemonic “Eat An Apple As A Nighttime Snack” : CONTINENTS
4. Paintings such as “Cat and Bird” and “The Goldfish” : KLEES
5. Teeth : COGS
6. Otter’s den : HOLT
7. “How clever!” : AHA!
8. Words of summation : IN SHORT
9. Anti-slippage substances : ROSINS
10. With 26-Down, the place of today’s puzzle among all New York Times crosswords : TWENTY-FIVE …
11. Kepler’s contemporary and assistant : BRAHE
12. Muck : OOZE
13. Distance in astronomy: Abbr. : LT YR
14. Shots are taken off of them : TEES
21. Like HBO’s “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” : SATIRIC
22. 100+ million-selling band that once held a Guinness record for loudest concert : THE WHO
23. Sol’s counterpart : HELIOS
24. Sup : DINE
26. See 10-Down : -THOUSANDTH
27. German city on the Elbe : HAMBURG
28. Historical transition point : END OF AN ERA
29. Simple skate park tricks : OLLIES
30. Space for a lace : EYELET
32. S.F. winter setting : PST
34. Lit class reading : ODE
36. Stick (onto) : GLOM
38. Not neat : OVER ICE
41. Confirmed being locked, as a car : BEEPED
43. Birds on New Zealand dollar coins : KIWIS
44. “To the power of” symbol : CARET
45. Foretell the future : SCRY
46. Diagram of possibilities : TREE
47. Capacity : ROLE
48. Like unfinished laundry : DAMP
49. Some early computers : IBMS
52. One out of 10 : TOE
53. A.C.A. part : ACT
54. “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” woman : DEE