1118-22 NY Times Crossword 18 Nov 22, Friday

Constructed by: Robyn Weintraub
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: None

Bill’s time: 10m 39s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Nickname for the Los Angeles Angels : HALOS

The Anaheim Angels baseball team is today more correctly called the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (LAA). The “Angels” name dates back to 1961 when the team was founded in the “City of Angels”, Los Angeles. When the franchise moved to Anaheim in 1965 they were known as the California Angels, then the Anaheim Angels, and most recently the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Angels are also known as “the Halos”.

10 Part of many commands: Abbr. : CTRL

The Control (CTRL) key on a PC keyboard is used to modify the function of other keys. For example, pressing CTRL+C copies a selection to the clipboard, and CTRL+V pastes the contents of the clipboard to a location defined by the cursor. Control keys were introduced on teletypewriters to generate “control characters”, which are non-printing characters that instruct a computer to do something like print a page, ring a bell etc.

16 Resort hotel with the slogan “This is how we Vegas” : ARIA

The Aria hotel on the Las Vegas Strip opened at the end of 2009. Architecturally, it is noted for a design that minimizes energy consumption. In fact, it is the largest hotel in the world to have earned a LEED Gold certification.

19 Compound used to make soft pretzels : LYE

What we call “lye” is usually sodium hydroxide (NaOH), although historically the term “lye” was used for potassium hydroxide. Lye has many uses, including to cure several foodstuffs. Lye can make olives less bitter, for example. The chemical is also found in canned mandarin oranges, pretzels and Japanese ramen noodles. More concentrated grades of lye are used to clear drains and clean ovens. Scary …

Pretzels originated in Europe and are especially popular in Southern Germany where a pretzel is known as “Brezel”. Pretzels were introduced into the US in the 1800s by immigrants from Germany and Switzerland who came to be known over here as the Pennsylvania Dutch.

29 Twin daughter on “Black-ish” : DIANE

“Black-ish” is a sitcom starring Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross that premiered in 2014. The lead actors play Dre and Rainbow Johnson, a married couple leading an upper-middle class black family. The show is noted for tackling tough issues such as racism, police brutality, attitudes toward the LGBT community, and the 2016 US presidential election.

31 “Old Possum’s Book of Practical ___” (T. S. Eliot collection) : CATS

“Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” is a 1939 collection of poems by T. S. Eliot (TSE). The collection of whimsical poetry was a favorite of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber when he was a child. Webber used Eliot’s poems as inspiration for his megahit musical “Cats”.

34 Torah holders : ARKS

The Torah ark is found in a synagogue, and is the ornamental container in which the Torah scrolls are stored. The word “Torah” best translates as “teaching” or “law”, I am told.

37 Where a doctor might check for a monosynaptic reflex : KNEE

The foot naturally kicks forward when the tendon/muscle at the front of the leg is tapped just below the knee. The kick takes place due to a reflex reaction, an impulse sent along nerves from the site of the tap to the spine and back to the leg muscle, without direct involvement of the brain.

40 Specialized group : CADRE

A cadre is most commonly a group of experienced personnel at the core of a larger organization that the small group trains or heavily influences. “Cadre” is a French word meaning “frame”. We use it in the sense that a cadre is a group that provides a “framework” for the larger organization.

45 Gray in a picture? : DORIAN

“The Picture of Dorian Gray” is a novel by Oscar Wilde, in fact Wilde’s only novel. In the story, the title character is a young man appearing in a painting. Jokingly, Dorian sells his soul to the devil so that the painting would age rather than him.

47 Curmudgeon : GRUMP

“Curmudgeon” is a favorite word used by my wife to describe me. A curmudgeon is a bad-tempered person full of resentment and stubborn notions. I am sure she uses the term very affectionately …

53 “The Horse Fair” artist Bonheur : ROSA

Rosa Bonheur was a painter and sculptor from France who was noted for her works that featured animals as subjects. Bonheur’s two most-famous works are “Ploughing in the Nivernais” depicting a team of oxen, and “The Horse Fair”, depicting some spirited horses.

56 St. ___ (destination in a rhyming riddle) : IVES

You might remember the nursery rhyme “As I was going to St. Ives” from the third “Die Hard” movie, “Die Hard With a Vengeance” as it is used as a riddle in the film’s storyline. The rhyme goes like this:

As I was going to St Ives
I met a man with seven wives
Each wife had seven sacks
Each sack had seven cats
Each cat had seven kits
Kits, cats, sacks, wives
How many were going to St Ives?

There is more than one place called St. Ives in England, but most think the reference is to the seaside town of St. Ives in Cornwall. By the way, the answer to the riddle is “one”, because just the narrator was going to St. Ives, and the rest were characters he met along the way.

57 Toy from a place that no longer exists : POMERANIAN

The Pomeranian is a small breed of dog named for the Pomerania region of Europe (part of eastern Germany and northern Poland). The breed was much loved by the royalty of Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the 19th century, Queen Victoria owned a particularly small Pomeranian. Due to the notoriety of the monarch’s pet, the Pomeranian was bred for small size, so that during the Queen’s admittedly long reign, the size of the average “pom” was reduced by 50% …

Down

1 Web code inits. : HTML

The initialism “HTML” stands for HyperText Markup Language. HTML is the language used to write most Internet web pages (including this one).

2 Call of port? : AHOY!

“Ahoy!” is a nautical term used to signal a vessel. When the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell, he suggested that “ahoy” be used as a standard greeting when answering a call. However, Thomas Edison came up with “hello”, and we’ve been using that ever since.

8 Roger’s relative? : COPY THAT

The term “roger”, meaning “yes” or “acknowledged”, comes from the world of radiotelephony. The British military used a phonetic alphabet in the fifties that included “Roger” to represent the letter “R”. As such, it became customary to say “Roger” when acknowledging a message, with R (Roger) standing for “received”.

9 They left behind one of their own in a 1982 film : ETS

1982’s classic science fiction movie “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” was directed by Steven Spielberg. The idea behind the film came from Spielberg himself, and the character E.T. was based on an imaginary friend that he conjured up as a child after his parents divorced in 1960.

11 Raccoon, humorously : TRASH PANDA

The raccoon is native to North America. In captivity, raccoons can live to over 20 years of age, but in the wild they only live two or three years. The main causes for the shorter lifespan are hunting and road traffic.

21 Title for a Benedictine monk : DOM

The honorific “Dom” is used in English for monks of certain orders, such as Benedictines and Carthusians. The term is a shortened form of the Latin “dominus” meaning “master, owner”.

A member of the Benedictine Order is a monk who follows the precepts laid down for religious life by St. Benedict of Nursia. The Benedictine “way” is a moderate path, considered neither zealous nor institutionally formulaic.

22 1962 #1 hit that’s a Halloween favorite : MONSTER MASH

“Monster Mash” is a fun novelty song released by Bobby Pickett in 1962. Pickett sings “Monster Mash” in a voice that imitates Boris Karloff.

24 La Rana ___ (Kermit’s name in the Latin American version of “Sesame Street”) : RENE

Kermit has to be the most readily recognized puppet character created by the late great Jim Henson. Henson came up with Kermit way back in 1955 when he appeared on a puppet show called “Sam and Friends” that aired in Washington, D.C. Kermit is loved so much that he even has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

26 Pre-euro currency : LIRE

The word “lira” is used in a number of countries for currency. “Lira” comes from the Latin for “pound” and is derived from the British pound sterling, the value of a Troy pound of silver. For example, the lira (plural “lire”) was the official currency of Italy before the country changed over to the euro in 2002.

27 Superior dwellings, say : LAKE HOUSES

Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes, and the largest freshwater lake in the world by area. The lake was referred to by the first French explorers as “le lac supérieur”, which translates literally as “the upper lake”. The British anglicized the name to “Lake Superior”.

32 Polo on television : TERI

Teri Polo’s most prominent role on the big screen was Pam Focker in “Meet the Fockers” and its sequels. Pam is the wife of the character played by Ben Stiller. Polo also played the wife of Presidential candidate Matt Santos in “The West Wing”.

35 Kind of butter used in skin cream : SHEA

Shea butter is a common moisturizer and lotion used as a cosmetic. It is a fat that is extracted from the nut of the African shea tree. There is evidence that shea butter was used back in Cleopatra’s Egypt.

36 Lender requiring collateral up front : PAWNSHOP

I remember the bad old days growing up in Dublin, Ireland, when my mother had to go to the pawnshop (bad times!). I’d wait outside with my brother, looking up at the pawnbroker’s sign, three gold balls hanging down from a metal bar. This traditional sign used by pawnbrokers is said to date back to the Medici family as the sign had symbolic meaning in the province of Lombardy where the Medici family reigned supreme. Because of this connection, pawnshop banking was originally called Lombard banking.

42 Current phenomenon : RIP

A rip current (wrongly called a rip “tide” sometimes) is a localized current that flows seaward from near the shore. Rip currents are dangerous as they can pull swimmers out to sea.

45 Spent some time in the Outback, perhaps : DROVE

The Subaru Outback is a station wagon with off-road capability that is made by Japan’s Fuji Heavy Industries.

49 Browser button : HOME

A web browser is a piece of software used to access the World Wide Web. The first web browser was called “WorldWideWeb” and was invented in 1990 by Tim Berners-Lee, the man who created the World Wide Web. The browser known as Mosaic came out in 1993, and it was this browser that drove so much interest in the World Wide Web, and indeed in the Internet in general. Marc Andreessen led the team that created Mosaic, and he then set up his own company called Netscape. Netscape created the Netscape Navigator browser that further popularized the use of the Web starting in 1994. Microsoft responded by introducing Internet Explorer in 1995, which sparked the so-called “browser war”, a war that Microsoft clearly won. As Netscape floundered, the company launched the open-source Mozilla project which eventually led to the Firefox browser. Apple then came out with its own Safari browser in 2003. Google’s Chrome browser, introduced in 2008, is by far the most popular way to view the Web today.

50 Dice in Monopoly, e.g. : PAIR

The commercial game of Monopoly is supposedly a remake of “The Landlord’s Game” created in 1903 by a Quaker woman named Lizzie Phillips. Phillips used her game as a tool to explain the single tax theory of American economist Henry George. The Landlord’s Game was first produced commercially in 1924. The incredibly successful derivative game called Monopoly was introduced in 1933 by Charles Darrow, who became a very rich man when Parker Brothers bought the rights to the game just two years later in 1935.

55 “Ambient 1: Music for Airports” artist, 1978 : ENO

Brian Eno was one of the pioneers of the genre of ambient music. Eno composed an album in 1978 called “Ambient 1: Music for Airports”, which was the first in a series of four albums with an ambient theme. Eno named the tracks, somewhat inventively, 1/1, 1/2, 2/1 and 2/2.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Nickname for the Los Angeles Angels : HALOS
6 Part of a watch : FACE
10 Part of many commands: Abbr. : CTRL
14 “Great job you did for me,” sarcastically or not : THANKS A LOT
16 Resort hotel with the slogan “This is how we Vegas” : ARIA
17 Bill collectors? : MONEY CLIPS
18 Woodworking tool similar to a kitchen zester : RASP
19 Compound used to make soft pretzels : LYE
20 Eccentric : DOTTY
21 Monitor locales : DESKS
22 Selfish toddler’s cry : MINE!
23 It’s equivalent to a cup : TROPHY
25 Here, there and everywhere : ALL OVER THE MAP
29 Twin daughter on “Black-ish” : DIANE
30 Put in the paper : RAN
31 “Old Possum’s Book of Practical ___” (T. S. Eliot collection) : CATS
34 Torah holders : ARKS
35 Malice : SPITE
37 Where a doctor might check for a monosynaptic reflex : KNEE
38 Arrive at the same point : MEET
39 A glengarry is one in the shape of a boat : HAT
40 Specialized group : CADRE
41 “I’ve heard this a thousand times already!” : HERE WE GO AGAIN!
45 Gray in a picture? : DORIAN
46 Word that can follow anything : … ELSE
47 Curmudgeon : GRUMP
48 Foundation specification : SHADE
50 Stockholder? : POT
53 “The Horse Fair” artist Bonheur : ROSA
54 Time spent on land, maybe : SHORE LEAVE
56 St. ___ (destination in a rhyming riddle) : IVES
57 Toy from a place that no longer exists : POMERANIAN
58 Work harmoniously : MESH
59 Made like : APED
60 Sci-fi author’s creation : WORLD

Down

1 Web code inits. : HTML
2 Call of port? : AHOY!
3 One of 26 in Texas’s Katy Freeway : LANE
4 What a raised index finger might represent : ONE
5 Get out while you’re still up? : SKYDIVE
6 Hesitate : FALTER
7 Hit the ground : ALIT
8 Roger’s relative? : COPY THAT
9 They left behind one of their own in a 1982 film : ETS
10 Shipment that might include a note saying “Miss you!” : CARE PACKAGE
11 Raccoon, humorously : TRASH PANDA
12 Fit for a daredevil : RISKY
13 Goes around in circles? : LAPS
15 Cafe offering : SCONE
21 Title for a Benedictine monk : DOM
22 1962 #1 hit that’s a Halloween favorite : MONSTER MASH
24 La Rana ___ (Kermit’s name in the Latin American version of “Sesame Street”) : RENE
25 Guy at the front of a long line : ADAM
26 Pre-euro currency : LIRE
27 Superior dwellings, say : LAKE HOUSES
28 Stale : TRITE
32 Polo on television : TERI
33 Spotted : SEEN
35 Kind of butter used in skin cream : SHEA
36 Lender requiring collateral up front : PAWNSHOP
40 It follows precedent : CASE LAW
42 Current phenomenon : RIP
43 Outfitted, with “up” : GEARED …
44 What you always get on your birthday : OLDER
45 Spent some time in the Outback, perhaps : DROVE
47 Ominous : GRIM
49 Browser button : HOME
50 Dice in Monopoly, e.g. : PAIR
51 Like zeroes : OVAL
52 Watch over : TEND
54 Where you might get cucumbers and oil : SPA
55 “Ambient 1: Music for Airports” artist, 1978 : ENO