1101-21 NY Times Crossword 1 Nov 21, Monday

Constructed by: Fiona Taylor
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Reveal Answer NFL

Themed answers each end with an NFL team:

  • 56A Org. that’s home to the ends of 20-, 32-, 41- and 52-Across : NFL
  • 20A Things modern travelers pack : PHONE CHARGERS
  • 32A Forms of some kids’ multivitamins : GUMMY BEARS
  • 41A Breakfast side at a diner : HASH BROWNS
  • 52A Government-backed investments : TREASURY BILLS

Bill’s time: 6m 09s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

10 Father on a stud farm : SIRE

The word “stud”, meaning “male horse kept for breeding”, is derived from the Old English word “stod”, which described a whole herd of horses. The term “stud” can be used figuratively for a “ladies’ man”.

14 Tennis star Osaka : NAOMI

Naomi Osaka is a Japanese-born tennis professional who became the first Asian player to be ranked number-one in singles.

15 Cookie whose packaging shows a splash of milk : OREO

Nabisco offers customized packets of Oreo cookies through its OREOiD website. Users of the stie can choose filling colors and decorations, and can add a photo or a message to the cookie itself.

23 Woodman’s makeup in “The Wizard of Oz” : TIN

Actor Jack Haley played the Tin Man in “The Wizard of Oz”. Haley was the second choice for the role, as it was originally given to Buddy Ebsen (who later played Jed Clampett in “The Beverly Hillbillies”). Ebsen was being “painted up” as the Tin Man when he had an extreme, near-fatal reaction from inhaling the aluminum dust makeup that was being used. When Haley took over, the makeup was changed to a paste, but it was still uncomfortable and caused him to miss the first four days of shooting due to a reaction in his eyes. During filming, Haley must have made good friends with the movie’s star, Judy Garland, as years later Jack’s son married Judy’s daughter, Liza Minnelli.

25 Dickens’s Oliver Twist or Kipling’s Mowgli : ORPHAN

“Oliver Twist” is an 1838 novel by Charles Dickens. The title character is an orphan who escapes from an oppressive apprenticeship with an undertaker. He gets drawn into the criminal underworld of London, where he meets up with some colorful characters such as the Artful Dodger, Fagin and Bill Sykes. Television, stage and film adaptations of “Oliver Twist” tend to lift the overall mood of the story, which in the novel is pretty bleak.

“The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling was originally published in 1894, and is a collection of adventure stories or fables featuring the animals of the jungle and a young boy named Mowgli. Baloo is a sloth bear that teaches the cubs of a wolf pack the Law of the Jungle. Baloo’s most challenging pupil however is no lupine, but rather the man-cub Mowgli.

29 Decrease in size, as the moon : WANE

The verbs “to wax” and “to wane” come from Old English. To wax is to increase gradually in size, strength, intensity or number. To wane is to decrease gradually.

32 Forms of some kids’ multivitamins : GUMMY BEARS

Gummy bears were a 1920s creation of a confectioner from Bonn, Germany named Hans Riegel, Sr. They were originally sold as Dancing Bears, and back then were made from gum arabic (hence the generic name “gummy” bears). The gum arabic was eventually replaced with gelatin, which remains a key ingredient to this day.

38 ___-tac-toe : TIC

When I was growing up in Ireland we played “noughts and crosses” … our name for the game tic-tac-toe.

41 Breakfast side at a diner : HASH BROWNS

Hash, beef and vegetables mashed together, is a very American dish and one that really surprised me when I first came across it. “Hash” just seems like such an unappetizing item, but I soon found out how delicious it was. The name “hash” in this context comes from the French “hacher” meaning “to chop”. Back in the early 1900s the dish called “hashed browned potatoes” was developed, which quickly morphed into “hash browns”. From there the likes of corned beef hash was introduced.

43 “___, humbug!” : BAH

The classic 1843 novella “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens has left us with a few famous phrases and words. Firstly, it led to popular use of the phrase “Merry Christmas”, and secondly it gave us the word “scrooge” to describe a miserly person. And thirdly, everyone knows that Ebenezer Scrooge uttered the words “Bah! Humbug!”.

45 One who cries “Yer out!” : UMP

Back in the 15th century, “an umpire” was referred to as “a noumpere”, which was misheard and hence causing the dropping of the initial letter N. The term “noumpere” came from Old French “nonper” meaning “not even, odd number”. The idea was that the original umpire was a third person called on to arbitrate between two, providing that “odd number” needed to decide the dispute.

52 Government-backed investments : TREASURY BILLS

A Treasury note (T-note) is a government debt that matures in 1-10 years. A T-note has a coupon (interest) payment made every six months. The T-note is purchased at a discount to face value, and at the date of maturity can be redeemed at that face value. A Treasury bill (T-bill) is a similar financial vehicle, but it matures in one year or less, and a T-bond matures in 20-30 years.

58 The Cowboys’ five-pointed star or the Colts’ horseshoe : LOGO

The Dallas Cowboys play in the National Football Conference (NFC) of the NFL. The Cowboys are famous for a lengthy streak of 20 consecutive winning seasons, from 1966 to 1985. They are the highest-valued sports franchise in the country. The only team in the world that’s worth more money is the UK’s Manchester United soccer team.

The Indianapolis Colts professional football team has been in Indiana since 1984. The team traces its roots back to the Dayton Triangles, one of the founding members of the NFL created in 1913. The Dayton Triangles relocated and became the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1930, and then the Brooklyn Tigers in 1944. The team merged with the Boston Yanks in 1945, and then played in Boston. The Yanks were moved to New York in 1949, and then to Dallas in 1952 as the Dallas Texans. The Texan franchise moved to Baltimore in 1953, forming the Colts. The Colts made their last move in 1984, to Indianapolis. Whew!

59 Listings on an actor’s IMDb page : ROLES

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) website was launched in 1990, and is now owned by Amazon.com. It’s a great site for answering questions one has about movies and actors.

60 Melee : FRAY

Our term “melee” comes from the French “mêlée”, and in both languages the word means “confused fight”.

64 Ocular swelling : STYE

A stye is a bacterial infection of the sebaceous glands at the base of the eyelashes, and is also known as a hordeolum.

Down

2 Healthful Kellogg’s cereal brand : KASHI

Kashi is a food company that primarily produces breakfast cereals. Founded in 1984, the name “Kashi” is a melding of “kashruth” (i.e. kosher), and “Kushi”. Michio Kushi helped to introduce the macrobiotic diet to the US in the fifties.

4 “Toe” of the Arabian Peninsula : OMAN

The Arabian Peninsula is shaped like a boot, with the Sultanate of Oman occupying the toe of that boot.

5 Smart alecks : WISE GUYS

Apparently, the original “smart Alec” (sometimes “Aleck”) was one Alec Hoag, a pimp, thief and confidence trickster who plied his trade in New York City in the 1840s.

6 High schoolers who dress in black, maybe : GOTHS

The goth subculture developed from the gothic rock scene in the early eighties, and is a derivative of the punk music movement. It started in England and spread to many countries around the globe. The term “goth” comes from the Eastern Germanic tribe called the Goths.

7 Calculation in calculus : AREA

In the world of calculus, the integration function calculates the area between a curve and the x-axis or y-axis.

9 Mythological monsters with snakes for hair : GORGONS

The Gorgons were feared female creatures of Greek mythology. They were three sisters who had hair made up of living snakes. Anyone who looked at their faces would be turned to stone instantly.

10 Steep embankment : SCARP

A scarp is a steep slope or a line of cliffs, especially one created by erosion. An alternative name for the same feature is “escarpment”.

11 Traditional St. Patrick’s Day dish : IRISH STEW

The exact recipe of what’s known as “Irish stew” isn’t really specific, but it does include some kind of meat and at least one root vegetable. The most common recipe calls for mutton, potatoes, onions and parsley. Believe it or not, my (very Irish) mother used to make it with bacon and sausages. Yep, boiled bacon and boiled sausages …

The first Saint Patrick’s Day celebration in the US was held in 1600, in St. Augustine, Florida. There is some evidence that the first St. Paddy’s Day parade was held the following year, in the same locale. The annual parade in Boston dates back to 1737, in New York City dates back to 1762, and in Chicago dates back to 1843.

21 Low-___ diet : CARB

Perhaps most notably, the eating of relatively few carbohydrates is central to the diet proposed by Robert Atkins. Atkins first laid out the principles behind the Atkins diet in a research paper published in 1958 in the “Journal of the American Medical Association”. He popularized his diet starting in 1972 with his book “Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution”.

22 “Able was I ___ I saw Elba” : ERE

The three most famous palindromes in English have to be:

  • Able was I ere I saw Elba
  • A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!
  • Madam, I’m Adam

One of my favorite terms is “Aibohphobia”, although it doesn’t appear in the dictionary and is a joke term. “Aibohphobia” is a great way to describe a fear of palindromes, by creating a palindrome out of the suffix “-phobia”.

26 Like Russia, east of the Urals : ASIAN

The eastern side of the Ural Mountains in Russia and Kazakhstan is generally regarded as the natural divide between the continents of Europe and Asia.

28 Southern Siberian city : OMSK

Omsk is a city in southwest Siberia. It is located over 1400 miles from Moscow and was chosen as the destination for many internal exiles in the mid-1900s. Perhaps the most famous of these exiles was the author Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

30 St. Louis landmark : ARCH

The Gateway Arch in St. Louis is located on the banks of the Mississippi River, and is the tallest monument in the United States. It was designed by Eero Saarinen, with the help of structural engineer Hannskarl Bandel. They did their design work back in 1947, but construction wasn’t started until 1963. In 1980, a daredevil took it upon himself to parachute onto the top of the arch, intending to further jump from the apex of the arch and parachute to the ground. He hit the arch all right, and slid all the way down one of the arches to his death. No comment …

33 Inuit boat : UMIAK

There is a type of boat used by Inuit people called an “umiak”. . The term “umiak” means “woman’s boat”, whereas “kayak” means “man’s boat”.

34 Whiskey cocktail … or where it was invented : MANHATTAN

The cocktail called a manhattan is made from whiskey, sweet vermouth and Angostura bitters. I favor my own version of a brandy manhattan, using brandy, sweet vermouth and orange bitters.

47 Three-point shots, informally : TREYS

A trey is a three in a deck of cards. The term “trey” can also be used for a domino with three pips, and even for a three-point play in basketball.

54 Pretty ___ (oxymoron) : UGLY

The word “oxymoron” is in itself an oxymoron. It is derived from the Greek words “Oxys” and “moros” meaning “sharp” and “stupid” respectively.

55 Hawkeye State : IOWA

Iowa is nicknamed the Hawkeye State in honor of Chief Black Hawk, a leader of the Sauk people during the War of 1812 and the Black Hawk War.

56 Org. that’s home to the ends of 20-, 32-, 41- and 52-Across : NFL

The National Football League (NFL) was founded in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the current name being adopted into 1923. The NFL merged with the American Football League (AFL) in 1970.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 “No need to say it again” : I KNOW
6 Group of criminals : GANG
10 Father on a stud farm : SIRE
14 Tennis star Osaka : NAOMI
15 Cookie whose packaging shows a splash of milk : OREO
16 What might give “caws” for concern for a farmer? : CROW
17 “Cómo ___?” (“How are you?”: Sp.) : ESTAS
18 Droplet of happiness or sadness : TEAR
19 Assistant : AIDE
20 Things modern travelers pack : PHONE CHARGERS
23 Woodman’s makeup in “The Wizard of Oz” : TIN
24 Auto tankful : GAS
25 Dickens’s Oliver Twist or Kipling’s Mowgli : ORPHAN
28 In the year of ___ Lord : OUR
29 Decrease in size, as the moon : WANE
31 NNW’s opposite : SSE
32 Forms of some kids’ multivitamins : GUMMY BEARS
36 Direction after adding sugar : STIR
37 Stockpile : AMASS
38 ___-tac-toe : TIC
39 Road Work ___ (highway sign) : AHEAD
40 Ice hockey venue : RINK
41 Breakfast side at a diner : HASH BROWNS
43 “___, humbug!” : BAH
44 Exam : TEST
45 One who cries “Yer out!” : UMP
46 Ice hockey player : SKATER
48 Ironically humorous : WRY
49 Score 100% on : ACE
52 Government-backed investments : TREASURY BILLS
56 B# or B♭ : NOTE
58 The Cowboys’ five-pointed star or the Colts’ horseshoe : LOGO
59 Listings on an actor’s IMDb page : ROLES
60 Melee : FRAY
61 Idiot : DOLT
62 Cognizant (of) : AWARE
63 Camera’s “eye” : LENS
64 Ocular swelling : STYE
65 Items on a to-do list : TASKS

Down

1 Like a butterfingers : INEPT
2 Healthful Kellogg’s cereal brand : KASHI
3 Off, palindromically : NOT ON
4 “Toe” of the Arabian Peninsula : OMAN
5 Smart alecks : WISE GUYS
6 High schoolers who dress in black, maybe : GOTHS
7 Calculation in calculus : AREA
8 In the neighborhood : NEAR
9 Mythological monsters with snakes for hair : GORGONS
10 Steep embankment : SCARP
11 Traditional St. Patrick’s Day dish : IRISH STEW
12 Support for a shower curtain : ROD
13 Farm animal that sounds like a letter of the alphabet : EWE
21 Low-___ diet : CARB
22 “Able was I ___ I saw Elba” : ERE
26 Like Russia, east of the Urals : ASIAN
27 Jocks’ counterparts, stereotypically : NERDS
28 Southern Siberian city : OMSK
29 Dress part that may be taken in : WAIST
30 St. Louis landmark : ARCH
32 Clothes : GARBS
33 Inuit boat : UMIAK
34 Whiskey cocktail … or where it was invented : MANHATTAN
35 When planes are due in, for short : ETAS
36 Engage in some “retail therapy” : SHOP
39 Kid with military parents : ARMY BRAT
41 Some angels … or some newspapers : HERALDS
42 Hide in a hard-to-find spot : BURY
44 Prop for a football kickoff : TEE
47 Three-point shots, informally : TREYS
48 Jotted down : WROTE
49 Star student’s report card, maybe : ALL AS
50 Worker for a Supreme Court justice : CLERK
51 Twisty curves : ESSES
53 Chimney buildup : SOOT
54 Pretty ___ (oxymoron) : UGLY
55 Hawkeye State : IOWA
56 Org. that’s home to the ends of 20-, 32-, 41- and 52-Across : NFL
57 Mineral-bearing rock : ORE