1006-19 NY Times Crossword 6 Oct 19, Sunday

Constructed by: Howard Barkin & Victor Barocas
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: Initial Public Offerings

Themed answers come in pairs found side-by-side in the grid. One answer in each pair is the name of a famous person. The other comprises the INITIALS of that person:

  • 24A N.Y.C.-based dance troupe : ABT
  • 25A ↑ Memoirist : ALICE B TOKLAS
  • 39A ↓ Journalist and author : HUNTER S THOMPSON
  • 42A Maui setting: Abbr. : HST
  • 54A Org. for the Demon Deacons and Blue Devils : ACC
  • 55A ↑ Sci-fi author : ARTHUR C CLARKE
  • 73A ↓ Famed rights advocate : SUSAN B ANTHONY
  • 75A Agcy. that supports entrepreneurs : SBA
  • 88A The so-called “winter blues,” for short : SAD
  • 89A ↑ Noted politician and orator : STEPHEN A DOUGLAS
  • 106A ↓ American composer and lyricist : GEORGE M COHAN
  • 109A Canyon maker : GMC

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

Bill’s time: 17m 44s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 What helicopter rotors do : WHIR

Our term “helicopter” was absorbed from the French word “hélicoptère” that was coined by Gustave Ponton d’Amécourt in 1861. d’Amécourt envisioned aircraft that could fly vertically using rotating wings that “screwed” into the air. He combined the Greek terms “helix” meaning “spiral, whirl” and “pteron” meaning “wing” to give us “helicopter”.

5 “___ to Psyche” : ODE

The poet John Keats is famous for writing a whole series of beautiful odes. The most renowned are the so-called “1819 Odes”, a collection from the year 1819 that includes famous poems such as “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, “Ode to a Nightingale” and “Ode to Psyche”.

8 Bartók and Lugosi : BELAS

Bela Bartók was a composer and a pianist. After Liszt, Bartók is considered by many to be Hungary’s greatest composer.

Bela Lugosi was a Hungarian stage and screen actor who was perhaps best known for playing the title role in the 1931 film “Dracula” and for playing the same role on Broadway. Lugosi found himself typecast for the rest of his career and almost always played the role of the villain, often in horror movies. When he passed away in 1956, his wife had him buried in the costume he wore playing Count Dracula on Broadway.

13 Seven Sisters school that went coed in 1969 : VASSAR

Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York is now a coeducational school, after over a century of operating as a women’s college since its founding in 1861. The school was officially declared co-ed in 1969, although it had accepted a handful of male students on the GI Bill after WWII.

The Seven Sisters are a group of (traditionally women’s) colleges in the northeast of the country that were founded to parallel the all-male (as they were then) Ivy League colleges. The seven are:

  • Mount Holyoke
  • Vassar
  • Wellesley
  • Smith
  • Radcliffe
  • Bryn Mawr
  • Barnard

19 Famous feature of the Florence Cathedral : DOME

“Duomo” is an Italian word that translates as “cathedral”. The term probably comes from the Latin “domus” meaning “house”, and used in the sense of a cathedral being a house of God, or perhaps the house of a bishop.

20 Romulus, exempli gratia : REX

The Latin “exempli gratia” means “for the sake of example”, and is a phrase we often use in English. “Exempli gratia” is almost always shortened to “e.g.”

According to tradition, Rome was founded by the twin brothers Romulus and Remus. The pair had a heated argument about who should be allowed to name the city and Romulus hit Remus with a shovel, killing him. And so, “Rome” was born, perhaps instead of “Reme”!

The word “rex” translates from Latin as “king”.

23 Cereal mascot since 1933 : SNAP

Snap, Crackle and Pop are three elves employed as the mascots for Kellogg’s Rice Krispies. The trio first appeared in an ad campaign in 1933, although the phrase “snap, crackle and pop” had been used for the cereal for some time in radio ads. By the way, the elves are selling “Rice Bubbles” in Australia, and the elves have different names in other parts of the world (like “Cric!, Crac! and Croc! in Quebec).

24 N.Y.C.-based dance troupe : ABT

The American Ballet Theatre (ABT) was founded in New York City in 1939. ABT was officially recognized by the US Congress as “America’s National Ballet Company” in 2006.

25 ↑ Memoirist : ALICE B TOKLAS

Gertrude Stein was a great American writer who spent most of her life in France. Gertrude Stein met Alice B. Toklas in Paris in 1907, and the two were life partners until Stein died in 1946. Cleverly, Stein published her own memoir in 1933 but called the book “The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas”. It was to become Stein’s best selling title.

26 Psalm 63 opening : O GOD …

Psalm 63 starts with the words:

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

38 Rapper Lil ___ X : NAS

“Lil Nas X” is the stage name of rapper Montero Lamar Hill. He was born and raised just outside of Atlanta. His first hit was “Old Town Road”, which is classified as country rap.

39 ↓ Journalist and author : HUNTER S THOMPSON

Famously, journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson had a wild and rocky career, with his name consistently associated with the use of drugs. His early life was tough too, as he didn’t get to finish high school and instead found himself in jail as a convicted accessory to robbery. The end of his life was pretty tragic. With failing health he committed suicide when he was 67 years old. Thompson left very specific instructions for his funeral ceremony. His ashes were fired out of a cannon, in the presence of a long list of friends including Johnny Depp, Senator John Kerry and Jack Nicholson.

42 Maui setting: Abbr. : HST

Hawaii–Aleutian Standard Time (HST)

Maui is the second largest of the Hawaiian islands. It is sometimes called the “Valley Isle” as it is composed of two volcanoes to the northwest and southeast of the island, each with numerous beautiful valleys carved into them.

44 Downwind : ALEE

Alee is the direction away from the wind. If a sailor points into the wind, he or she is pointing aweather.

47 Raise one’s spirits : TOAST

The tradition of toasting someone probably dates back to the reign of Charles II, when the practice was to drink a glass of wine to the health of a beautiful or favored woman. In those days, spiced toast was added to beverages to add flavor, so the use of the word “toast” was an indicator that the lady’s beauty would enhance the wine. Very charming, I must say …

51 Gangster’s gun : GAT

“Gat” is a slang term for a gun that is derived from “Gatling gun”, the precursor to the modern machine gun. The Gatling gun was invented by Dr. Richard J. Gatling in 1861. Apparently he was inspired to invent it so that one man could do as much damage as a hundred, thereby reducing the size of armies and diminishing the suffering caused by war. Go figure …

54 Org. for the Demon Deacons and Blue Devils : ACC

Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)

58 Observance on Yom Kippur or during Ramadan : FAST

Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people, and is also known as the Day of Atonement.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and is traditionally a period of fasting. The faithful who observe Ramadan refrain from eating, drinking and sexual relations from dawn to dusk everyday, a lesson in patience, humility and spirituality.

61 H.S. class for future engineers, say : AP PHYSICS

The Advanced Placement (AP) program offers college-level courses to kids who are still in high school. After being tested at the end of an AP course, successful students receive credits that count towards a college degree.

63 Guides of a sort : GURUS

“Guru” is a Hindi word meaning “teacher” or “priest”.

64 “From where I sit,” briefly : IMO

In my opinion (IMO)

66 Word appearing on only one current U.S. coin (the nickel) : CENTS

The 5-cent American coin known as a nickel is actually made up of 75% copper and 25% nickel. The first nickel was introduced in 1866, and was named the Shield nickel due to the shield design on the front of the coin. The current design is the Jefferson nickel, which was introduced in 1938.

72 Medium on display at Brickworld : LEGO

Lego is manufactured by Lego Group, a privately held company headquartered in Billund, Denmark. The company was founded by a carpenter called Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1934 and the now-famous plastic interlocking blocks were introduced in 1949. The blocks were originally sold under the name “Automatic Binding Bricks” but I think “Lego” is easier to remember! The name “Lego” comes from the Danish term “leg godt” meaning “play well”.

75 Agcy. that supports entrepreneurs : SBA

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is a government agency with the mission of assisting small businesses. The SBA doesn’t give loans itself, but it does act as a guarantor under the right circumstances. The SBA was set up in 1953, and isn’t a favorite with fiscal conservatives.

78 Sounds during a strep test : AHS

Streptococcus bacteria multiply and divide along a single axis so that they form linked chains. That behavior gives the genus of bacteria its name, as “streptos” is Greek for “easily twisted, like a chain”. I had to battle with streptococcal pharyngitis (strep throat) twice in the past few years and it was not at all pleasant, I must say. Another species of streptococcus is responsible for that terrible “flesh-eating” infection that makes the news from time to time.

84 Buenos ___ : AIRES

Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina, and is located on the estuary of the Ria de la Plata. As it is a port city, the people of Buenos Aires are known as porteños (“people of the port”).

86 Isn’t in the black : OWES

To be in the red is to be in debt, to owe money. The expression “in the red” is a reference to the accounting practice of recording debts and losses in red ink in ledgers. The related phrase “in the black” means “solvent, making a profit”.

89 ↑ Noted politician and orator : STEPHEN A DOUGLAS

Stephen A. Douglas was a US Senator from Illinois, and the Democratic Party’s nominee in the 1860 presidential election. Famously, Douglas was defeated by the Republican Party’s candidate Abraham Lincoln, a result that helped to precipitate the American Civil War. Despite opposing Lincoln in the election, Douglas rallied support for the Union cause after the outbreak of war.

93 “Honor”-able org. : BSA

As every little boy (of my era) knows, the Scouting movement was founded by Lord Baden Powell, in 1907. The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) soon followed, in 1910. And, the Boy Scouts motto is “Be Prepared”.

97 Largest cell in the human body : OVUM

A gamete is a reproductive cell that has half the full complement of genes needed to make a normal cell. In sexual reproduction, it takes two gametes, one from each parent, to fuse into one cell which then develops into a new organism. The female gamete is the ovum, and the male the sperm.

99 Yeats’s homeland : EIRE

Irish poet and dramatist William Butler Yeats won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923 for “inspired poetry” that gave “expression to a whole nation”. Yeats was Ireland’s first Nobel laureate.

103 Award for Best Moment, e.g. : ESPY

The ESPY Awards are a creation of the ESPN sports television network. One difference with similarly named awards in the entertainment industry is that ESPY winners are chosen solely based on viewer votes.

106 ↓ American composer and lyricist : GEORGE M COHAN

I suppose much of what many of us know about American entertainer George M. Cohan comes from the 1942 film about his life called “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, which stars Jimmy Cagney as Cohan. There is an 8-foot bronze statue of Cohan on Broadway in New York City that was erected in 1959 at the behest of the lyricist Oscar Hammerstein.

109 Canyon maker : GMC

GMC is a division of General Motors (GM) that was established in 1901 and started out as “GMC Truck”.

114 Half of a blackjack : ACE

The card game known as “twenty-one” was first referred to in print in a book by Cervantes, the author famous for writing “Don Quixote”. He called the game “ventiuna” (Spanish for “twenty-one”). Cervantes wrote his story just after the year 1600, so the game has been around at least since then. Twenty-one came to the US but it wasn’t all that popular so bonus payments were introduced to create more interest. One of the more attractive bonuses was a ten-to-one payout to a player who was dealt an ace of spades and a black jack. This bonus led to the game adopting the moniker “Blackjack”.

116 Star of the “Taken” film series : NEESON

Irish actor Liam Neeson got his big break when he played Oskar Schindler in the Spielberg epic, “Schindler’s List”. Neeson was in the news some years ago when he lost his wife, actress Natasha Richardson, in a tragic skiing accident in 2009.

“Taken” is a fabulous thriller movie released in 2008. It stars Liam Neeson as kind of an older James Bond-ish character, and he is great in the role. “Taken 2” followed in 2012 and it wasn’t a bad sequel, I must say. 2014’s “Taken 3” was just “okay” …

118 “Erie Canal” mule : SAL

The song “Fifteen Miles on the Erie Canal” was written in 1905. The lyrics are nostalgic and look back to the days when traffic on the canal was pulled by mules, bemoaning the introduction of the fast-moving engine-powered barges. The first line is “I’ve got an old mule and her name is Sal”.

119 Certain IDs : SSNS

The main purpose of a Social Security Number (SSN) is to track individuals for the purposes of taxation, although given its ubiquitous use, it is looking more and more like an identity number to me. The social security number system was introduced in 1936. Prior to 1986, an SSN was required only for persons with substantial income, so many children under 14 had no number assigned. For some years the IRS had a concern that a lot of people were claiming children on their tax returns who did not actually exist. So, from 1986 onward, it is a requirement to get an SSN for any dependents over the age of 5. Sure enough, seven million dependents “disappeared” in 1987.

Down

1 MS. units : WDS

The size of a manuscript (MS) can be measured in words (wds.).

2 Site of the first Ironman race (1978) : HONOLULU

An Ironman Triathlon is a race involving a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a marathon run of just over 26 miles. The idea for the race came out of a debate between some runners in the 1977 Oahu Perimeter Relay. They were questioning whether runners, swimmers or bikers were the most fit athletes. The debaters decided to combine three local events to determine the answer, inviting athletes from all three disciplines. The events that were mimicked in the first triathlon were the Waikiki Roughwater swim (2.4 miles), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (115 miles) and the Honolulu Marathon (26.2 miles). The idea was that whoever finishes first would be called “the Iron Man”. The first triathlon was run in 1978, with fifteen starters and only twelve finishers. The race format is used all over the world now, but the Hawaiian Ironman is the event that everyone wants to win.

5 ___ pro nobis : ORA

“Ora pro nobis” translates from Latin as “pray for us”. It is a common phrase used in the Roman Catholic tradition and is often shortened to “OPN”.

8 Actor on Time’s list of the 100 most important people of the 20th century : BRANDO

Actor Marlon Brando really hit the big time with his Oscar-winning performance in the 1951 movie “A Streetcar Named Desire”. Brando went on to win another Best Actor Oscar for his performance in 1972’s “The Godfather”, which gave him the platform to establish himself as a political activist. He turned down the award and didn’t attend the ceremony. Instead he sent a Native American rights activist called Sacheen Littlefeather who made a speech protesting the depiction of Native Americans in Hollywood movies. Brando wasn’t the first person to refuse an Oscar. George C. Scott did the same thing when he won for playing the title role in 1970’s “Patton”. Scott just didn’t like the whole idea of “competing” with other actors.

9 California’s ___ River : EEL

The Eel River in California was named in 1850 by explorer Josiah Gregg after he made a trade with some Native Americans, swapping a frying pan for a large catch of eels.

11 Hex’d : ACCURST

“Hexen” is a German word meaning “to practice witchcraft”. The use of the word “hex” in English started with the Pennsylvania Dutch in the early 1800s.

12 Playing on both sides : STEREO

Monophonic sound (“mono”) is sound reproduced using just one audio channel, which is usually played out of just one speaker. Stereophonic sound is reproduced using two audio channels, with the sound from each channel played out of two different speakers. The pair of stereo speakers are usually positioned apart from each other so that sound appears to come from between the two. Quadraphonic sound (4.0 surround sound) uses four audio channels with the sound played back through four speakers that are often positioned at the corners of the room in which one is listening.

15 Parts of a portfolio: Abbr. : STKS

Stock (stk.)

16 Iconic environmental book : SILENT SPRING

DDT is dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (don’t forget now!). DDT was used with great success to control disease-carrying insects during WWII, and when made available for use after the war it became by far the most popular pesticide. And then Rachel Carson published her famous book “Silent Spring”, suggesting there was a link between DDT and diminishing populations of certain wildlife. It was the public outcry sparked by the book, and reports of links between DDT and cancer, that led to the ban on the use of the chemical in 1972. That ban is touted as the main reason that the bald eagle was rescued from near extinction.

17 Maker of the classic Radarange : AMANA

The Amana Corporation takes its name from the location of its original headquarters, in Middle Amana, Iowa. Today, the Amana name is very much associated with household appliances. The company was founded in 1934 to manufacture commercial walk-in coolers.

22 “Ghosts” playwright : IBSEN

Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen wrote “Ghosts” in 1881, although he disputed the popular English translation of his original title. His title of “Gengangere” really means, “The Ones Who Return”, or “Again Walkers”.

27 Forest mother : DOE

A male deer is usually called a buck, and a female is a doe. However, the male red deer is usually referred to as a stag. The males of even larger species of deer are often called bulls, and females cows. In older English, male deer of over 5 years were called harts, and females of over 3 years were called hinds. The young of small species are known as fawns, and of larger species are called calves. All very confusing …

29 River through Dortmund : RUHR

The Ruhr is a river in Germany that flows into the lower Rhine. The river gives its name to the Ruhr River Valley and the Ruhr district, the largest urban agglomeration in the country.

Dortmund is a city in the western part of Germany. Historically, the city was very industrial, with many steel mills and coal mines. Dortmund has changed its image in recent decades, and is noted for devoting a lot of space to waterways, woodlands, parks and other green spaces.

32 Model of vengeful obsession : AHAB

Captain Ahab is the obsessed and far from friendly captain of the Pequod in Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick”. The role of Captain Ahab was played by Gregory Peck in the 1956 John Huston film adaptation. Patrick Stewart played Ahab in a 1998 miniseries in which Peck made another appearance, as Father Mapple.

33 Part of a Swiss bank account : FRANC

Not only is the Swiss Franc legal tender in Switzerland, it is also the money used in Liechtenstein and the Italian exclave of Campione d’Italia.

35 One good at reading emotions : EMPATH

“Sympathy” and “empathy” are related but different terms. A person exhibiting sympathy acknowledges another person’s emotional distress. A person exhibiting empathy also acknowledges distress, but understands the emotions felt as they have had a similar experience, or can at least put themselves in the shoes of the person affected.

37 Boating hazard : SHOAL

A shoal is an underwater ridge or bank that is covered with a material such as sand or silt.

41 Epigrammatic : PITHY

An epigram is a short and clever statement, poem or discourse.

43 Brand in the dessert aisle : SARA LEE

In 1935, businessman Charles Lubin bought a chain of three bakeries in Chicago called Community Bake Shops, and soon expanded the operation into seven stores. Lubin introduced a cream cheesecake that he named after his daughter who was only 8-years-old at the time, Sara Lee Lubin. The cheesecake was a hit and he renamed the bakeries to Kitchen of Sara Lee. The business was bought out by Consolidated foods in 1956, but the brand name Sara Lee persists to this day, as does Ms. Sara Lee herself who now goes by the name Sara Lee Schupf.

47 Clue collectors, for short : TECS

“Tec” is a slang term for a private detective, a private investigator (PI).

52 Includes surreptitiously : BCCS

A blind carbon copy (bcc) is a copy of a document or message that is sent to someone without other recipients of the message knowing about that extra copy.

55 Left on board : APORT

The left side of a ship used to be called the “larboard” side, but this was dropped in favor of “port” as the pronunciation of “larboard” was easily confused with “starboard”, the right side of the vessel. The term “port” was chosen as it was customary to dock a ship, for loading in port, with the left side of the vessel against the dock.

56 High percentage of criminals? : USURY

Usury used to be the practice of simply lending money at interest, but the term now refers to lending at rates of interest that are excessive.

59 Truism based on a line by Gertrude Stein : A ROSE IS A ROSE

“Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose” is a line from a poem called “Sacred Emily” that was written by Gertrude Stein. In the poem, Rose is actually a person. In later writings Stein used the phrase “a rose is a rose is a rose” to mean “things are what they are”.

60 Major source of coffee beans : SUMATRA

Sumatra is a very large island in western Indonesia. It is the sixth largest island in the world and home to 22% of the country’s population.

61 Mass-produced response? : AMEN

The principal act of worship in the Roman Catholic tradition is the Mass. The term “Mass” comes from the Late Latin word “missa” meaning “dismissal”. This word is used at the end of the Latin Mass in “Ite, missa est” which translates literally as “Go, it is the dismissal”.

64 Nobelist Pavlov : IVAN

Ivan Pavlov was studying gastric function in dogs in the 1890s when he observed that his subject dogs started to salivate before he even presented food to them. This “psychic secretion”, as he called it, interested him so much that he changed the direction of his research and studied the reactions of dogs to various stimuli that were associated with the presentation of food. Famously, he discovered that a dog could be conditioned to respond as though he was about to be fed, just by sensing some stimulus that he had come to associate with food. This might be a bell ringing, an electric shock (poor dog!) or perhaps the waving of a hand. Nowadays we might describe someone as “Pavlov’s Dog” if that person responds just the way he/she has been conditioned to respond, rather than applying critical thinking.

68 U.K. honours : OBES

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry in the UK that was established in 1917 by King George V. There are five classes within the order, which are in descending seniority:

  • Knight Grand Cross (GBE)
  • Knight Commander (KBE)
  • Commander (CBE)
  • Officer (OBE)
  • Member (MBE)

69 Choreographer Twyla : THARP

I love Twyla Tharp’s choreography, and her “patented moves”. Tharp was born in Portland, Indiana in 1941. She was named for Twila Thornburg, the “Pig Princess” of the 89th Annual Muncie Fair in Indiana. That’s one to tell the grandkids …

71 Northern borders? : ENS

The letters at either end of the word “northern” are letters N (ens).

79 What causes a will-o’-the-wisp : SWAMP GAS

The terms “jack-o’-lantern” and “will-o’-the-wisp” are colloquial names for “ignis fatuus”. Ignis fatuus is an eerie light seen at night over bogs and marshes, caused by the spontaneous oxidation (burning) of phosphine and/or methane that emanates from the bog.

80 Ann and Andy, notably : RAG DOLLS

Raggedy Ann is a rag doll that was created by Johnny Gruelle in 1915 for his daughter, Marcella. He decided to name the doll by combining the titles of two poems by James Whitcomb Riley, “The Raggedy Man” and “Little Orphan Annie”. Gruelle introduced Raggedy Ann in a series of books three years later. Sadly, Marcella died at 13 years of age with her father blaming a smallpox vaccination she was given at school. Gruelle became very active in the movement against mass vaccination, for which Raggedy Ann became a symbol.

81 The King of Latin Pop : IGLESIAS

Spanish singer Julio Iglesias’ real name is Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva. He took up playing the guitar as a young man while recovering from a devastating car accident that injured his spinal cord. “Immediate” recovery took three years, but he still receives therapy for his weakened legs.

83 ExxonMobil abroad : ESSO

The brand name Esso has its roots in the old Standard Oil company as it uses the initial letters of “Standard” and “Oil” (ESS-O). The Esso brand was replaced by Exxon in the US, but ESSO is still used in many other countries.

The Exxon Corporation was a descendant of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company. Exxon merged with Mobil (yet another descendant of Standard Oil) in 1999 to form ExxonMobil.

94 Número de Maravillas del Mundo Antiguo : SIETE

In Spanish, there are “Siete Maravillas del Mundo Antiguo” (Seven Wonders of the Ancient World).

100 Bits of work : ERGS

An erg is a unit of mechanical work or energy. It is a small unit, with one joule comprising 10 million ergs. it has been suggested that an erg is about the amount of energy required for a mosquito to take off. The term comes from “ergon”, the Greek word for work.

104 “It’s fun to stay at the ___” (1978 hit lyric) : YMCA

“YMCA” was released in 1978 by Village People and has been adopted as an anthem by the gay community. The song was written by Victor Willis, a straight member of the mostly gay band, and he clarifies that the lyrics are extolling the virtues of the “YMCA” as a source of recreation for black urban youth. I think he might have been winking when he said that …

107 Miracle-___ : GRO

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company was founded in 1868 by one Orlando Scott, and initially sold seed to the agricultural industry. In the early 1900s, Scotts started to sell to homeowners, and mainly supplied lawn seed. The company merged with the gardening company Miracle-Gro in 1955, and then with TruGreen in 2016.

108 Org. for docs : AMA

American Medical Association (AMA)

110 Bit of animation : CEL

In the world of animation, a cel is a transparent sheet on which objects and characters are drawn. In the first half of the 20th century the sheet was actually made of celluloid, giving the “cel” its name.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 What helicopter rotors do : WHIR
5 “___ to Psyche” : ODE
8 Bartók and Lugosi : BELAS
13 Seven Sisters school that went coed in 1969 : VASSAR
19 Famous feature of the Florence Cathedral : DOME
20 Romulus, exempli gratia : REX
21 It goes up with alcohol consumption : REACTION TIME
23 Cereal mascot since 1933 : SNAP
24 N.Y.C.-based dance troupe : ABT
25 ↑ Memoirist : ALICE B TOKLAS
26 Psalm 63 opening : O GOD …
28 Unable to choose : TORN
30 Blood drive worker : NURSE
31 On the way : SENT
32 Many : A LOT OF
34 Tactless : RUDE
36 Marsh flora : REEDS
38 Rapper Lil ___ X : NAS
39 ↓ Journalist and author : HUNTER S THOMPSON
42 Maui setting: Abbr. : HST
44 Downwind : ALEE
45 Mimic : APER
46 Quarry, e.g. : PIT
47 Raise one’s spirits : TOAST
49 Weighed on : BURDENED
51 Gangster’s gun : GAT
52 Large print source : BEAR PAW
54 Org. for the Demon Deacons and Blue Devils : ACC
55 ↑ Sci-fi author : ARTHUR C CLARKE
58 Observance on Yom Kippur or during Ramadan : FAST
61 H.S. class for future engineers, say : AP PHYSICS
62 Spoke with a forked tongue : LIED
63 Guides of a sort : GURUS
64 “From where I sit,” briefly : IMO
65 Increases : UPS
66 Word appearing on only one current U.S. coin (the nickel) : CENTS
67 Bit : ATOM
68 Yonder : OVER THERE
72 Medium on display at Brickworld : LEGO
73 ↓ Famed rights advocate : SUSAN B ANTHONY
75 Agcy. that supports entrepreneurs : SBA
77 Many a middle schooler : PRETEEN
78 Sounds during a strep test : AHS
79 1976 hit whose title is sung just before the line “Take it easy” : SLOW RIDE
84 Buenos ___ : AIRES
85 Sis’s sib : BRO
86 Isn’t in the black : OWES
87 Information on a game box : AGES
88 The so-called “winter blues,” for short : SAD
89 ↑ Noted politician and orator : STEPHEN A DOUGLAS
93 “Honor”-able org. : BSA
95 Gush : SPURT
97 Largest cell in the human body : OVUM
98 Got by : MADE DO
99 Yeats’s homeland : EIRE
101 Brings up : REARS
103 Award for Best Moment, e.g. : ESPY
105 The “1” of 10-1, say : LOSS
106 ↓ American composer and lyricist : GEORGE M COHAN
109 Canyon maker : GMC
111 Kissers : LIPS
113 “I can’t understand this at all” : IT’S GREEK TO ME
114 Half of a blackjack : ACE
115 Hideout : LAIR
116 Star of the “Taken” film series : NEESON
117 Wind ___ : SHEAR
118 “Erie Canal” mule : SAL
119 Certain IDs : SSNS

Down

1 MS. units : WDS
2 Site of the first Ironman race (1978) : HONOLULU
3 Words accompanying “Uh-oh!” : I’M A GONER!
4 Moved, as in a greenhouse : REPOTTED
5 ___ pro nobis : ORA
6 Factor affecting a bond’s rating : DEBT
7 Took by threat : EXTORTED
8 Actor on Time’s list of the 100 most important people of the 20th century : BRANDO
9 California’s ___ River : EEL
10 Reclined : LAIN
11 Hex’d : ACCURST
12 Playing on both sides : STEREO
13 “I ___” (sticker message) : VOTED
14 “I’ll take that as ___” : A NO
15 Parts of a portfolio: Abbr. : STKS
16 Iconic environmental book : SILENT SPRING
17 Maker of the classic Radarange : AMANA
18 Concludes one’s case : RESTS
22 “Ghosts” playwright : IBSEN
27 Forest mother : DOE
29 River through Dortmund : RUHR
32 Model of vengeful obsession : AHAB
33 Part of a Swiss bank account : FRANC
35 One good at reading emotions : EMPATH
37 Boating hazard : SHOAL
40 Something a house might be built on : SPEC
41 Epigrammatic : PITHY
43 Brand in the dessert aisle : SARA LEE
47 Clue collectors, for short : TECS
48 Grow a fondness for : TAKE TO
50 Grub : EATS
51 Assoc. : GRP
52 Includes surreptitiously : BCCS
53 Melds : WEDS
55 Left on board : APORT
56 High percentage of criminals? : USURY
57 No longer green, say : RIPE
58 Popular sans-serif typeface : FUTURA
59 Truism based on a line by Gertrude Stein : A ROSE IS A ROSE
60 Major source of coffee beans : SUMATRA
61 Mass-produced response? : AMEN
63 Inspiration for a horror movie? : GASP
64 Nobelist Pavlov : IVAN
66 Hammer feature : CLAW
68 U.K. honours : OBES
69 Choreographer Twyla : THARP
70 Trio often heard in December : HO HO HO!
71 Northern borders? : ENS
74 Can’t do without : NEEDS
75 Runners support it : SLED
76 Place of security : BOSOM
79 What causes a will-o’-the-wisp : SWAMP GAS
80 Ann and Andy, notably : RAG DOLLS
81 The King of Latin Pop : IGLESIAS
82 Popular sports news website : DEADSPIN
83 ExxonMobil abroad : ESSO
85 Promise : BETROTH
86 Heavy responsibility : ONUS
89 Comment following an unrepentant admission : SUE ME
90 Symbolic socioeconomic divider : TRACKS
91 Less bumpy : EVENER
92 Suffix with sex or text : -UAL
93 Get the show on the road : BEGIN
94 Número de Maravillas del Mundo Antiguo : SIETE
96 Get one’s hair just right : PREEN
100 Bits of work : ERGS
102 Something a cobbler may hold : SHOE
104 “It’s fun to stay at the ___” (1978 hit lyric) : YMCA
107 Miracle-___ : GRO
108 Org. for docs : AMA
110 Bit of animation : CEL
112 About one-quarter of a high school: Abbr. : SRS