1104-22 NY Times Crossword 4 Nov 22, Friday

Constructed by: Juliet Corless
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: None

Bill’s time: 16m 03s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 “We choose to go to the moon” speaker, for short : JFK

President John F. Kennedy’s “We choose to go to the moon” speech was delivered in September 1962 at Rice Stadium in Houston. The aim of the speech was to persuade the American people that the US could take the lead in the Space Race. The general perception was that the Soviet Union was setting the pace, having launched the first satellite (Sputnik) and putting the first man in space (Yuri Gagarin).

4 Collection awaiting analysis : RAW DATA

Our word “data” (singular “datum”) comes from the Latin “datum” meaning “given”. The idea is that data are “things given”.

11 Childhood vaccine combo : DPT

The DPT vaccine is a combination vaccine providing protection against diphtheria (D), pertussis (P) and tetanus (T).

15 Amorphous, in a way : AMOEBIC

An ameba (also “amoeba”) is a single-celled microorganism. The name comes from the Greek “amoibe”, meaning change. The name is quite apt, as the cell changes shape readily as the ameba moves, eats and reproduces.

16 Singer Carly ___ Jepsen : RAE

Carly Rae Jepsen is a singer/songwriter from Mission, British Columbia. Jepsen got her start on TV’s “Canadian Idol” when she placed third in the show’s fifth season.

17 Six-time Dodgers All-Star Ron : CEY

Ron Cey played third base for the Dodgers, the Cubs and the A’s.

20 Auntie Em and Uncle Henry, for two : KANSANS

In the children’s novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum, Dorothy Gale lives with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry.

27 2009 Beyoncé hit containing the lyric “I got my angel now” : HALO

Beyoncé Knowles established herself in the entertainment industry as the lead singer with the R&B group Destiny’s Child. She launched her solo singing career in 2002, after making her first appearance as an actor. In 2006 she played the lead in the very successful movie adaptation of the Broadway musical “Dreamgirls”. Beyoncé is married to rap star Jay-Z. She is also referred to affectionately as “Queen Bey”, a play on the phrase “the queen bee”. Her fan base goes by the name “Beyhive”.

30 Head of House Stark on “Game of Thrones” : NED

Ned Stark is the protagonist in George R. R. Martin’s fantasy novel “A Game of Thrones”, although his character doesn’t exactly come out on top by the end of the story. Stark is played by actor Sean Bean in the HBO television adaptation of the novel.

32 Predatory relatives of coral : ANEMONES

The name “anemone” means “daughter of the wind” in Greek, and at one time it was believed that the wind was what actually caused the flower to bloom. The sea anemone is named for the terrestrial plant even though the sea anemone isn’t a plant at all. The sea anemone is a predatory animal found on the ocean floor.

34 Truffle hunting option : GODIVA

Godiva is a brand of chocolates that was founded in Brussels, Belgium in 1926. The founder chose the brand name in honor of the legend of Lady Godiva.

A chocolate truffle is a (delicious) confectionery comprising a chocolate coating surrounded by chocolate that may be coated in cocoa powder or chopped nuts. The confection is named for the edible fungus called a truffle, which has a similar shape.

35 Some smartphones : LGS

LG is a very large South Korean manufacturer of electronics, chemicals and telecom products. The company used to be known as Lucky-Goldstar, whence the initialism “LG”.

38 Geom. figure : CIR

Circle (cir.)

39 Pomeranian, for one : LAPDOG

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% …

44 Ford or Lincoln : CAR

Industrialist Henry Ford was born in Michigan, and was the son of an Irish immigrant from County Cork. Ford’s most famous vehicle was the one that revolutionized the industry: the Model T. Ford’s goal with the Model T was to build a car that was simple to drive, and cheap to purchase and repair. The Model T cost $825 in 1908, which isn’t much over $20,000 in today’s money.

Lincoln is a luxury brand in the Ford Motors portfolio. The Lincoln name originated as the Lincoln Motor Company in 1917 when it was founded by Wilfred Leland. The company was named for President Abraham Lincoln, someone for whom Leland actually got to vote for in 1864.

52 Actress Angela of “Malcolm X” : BASSETT

Angela Bassett is an actress from New York whose breakthrough role was playing Tina Turner in the 1993 film about the pop icon’s life “What’s Love Got to Do with It”. Bassett married fellow actor Courtney B. Vance in 1997, having first met him while both were studying at Yale School of Drama.

“Malcolm X” is a 1992 biographical film about the African American activist Malcolm X. The movie starred Denzel Washington in the title role and was co-written and directed by Spike Lee.

54 Play-___ : DOH

Back in the 1930s, a manufacturer in Cincinnati produced a doughy compound that was used to clean wallpaper. Twenty years later, school-kids started using the cleaning material as a modeling compound, so the manufacturer reworked the formula, and sold it to local schools. It was given the name “Play-Doh”.

55 Style moderne : ART DECO

Art Deco is a style of design and architecture of the 1920s that actually had its roots in Belgium and then spread throughout Europe before arriving in North America. Celebrated examples of Art Deco architecture are the magnificent Chrysler Building in New York City completed in 1930, and the GE Building that sits in the middle of New York City’s Rockefeller Center with the address of “30 Rock”.

57 Cause of some head-scratching : NIT

A nit is an egg of a louse.

Lice (singular “louse”) are small wingless insects, of which there are thousands of species. There are three species of lice affecting humans, i.e. head lice, body lice and pubic lice. Most lice feed on dead skin found on the body of the host animal, although some feed on blood. Ick …

59 Star that’s actually three stars : POLARIS

Because the orientation of the Earth’s axis shifts, albeit very slowly, the position of north relative to the stars changes over time. The bright star that is closest to true north is Polaris, and so we call Polaris the “North Star” or “Pole Star”. Because of the relatively stable position of Polaris in the Northern Sky, it is a useful navigational tool. 14,000 years ago, the nearest bright star to true north was Vega, and it will be so again in about 12,000 year’s time.

60 Phillipa ___, original Eliza in “Hamilton” : SOO

Phillipa Soo is an actress and singer who is perhaps best known for portraying Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, the title character’s wife in the original Broadway production of “Hamilton”.

61 French possessive : SES

“Ses” is the French word for “his”, “her” or “its” when referring to a group of items or individuals.

62 Professor ___ : EMERITA

“Emeritus” (female form “emerita”, and plural “emeriti”) is a term in the title of some retired professionals, particularly those from academia. Originally an emeritus was a veteran soldier who had served his time. The term comes from the Latin verb “emerere” meaning to complete one’s service.

63 One backward musician? : ENO

Brian Eno started his musical career with Roxy Music. However, Eno’s most oft-played composition (by far!) is Microsoft’s “startup jingle”, the 6-second sound you hear when the Windows operating system is booting up. Eno might have annoyed the Microsoft folks when he stated on a BBC radio show:

I wrote it on a Mac. I’ve never used a PC in my life; I don’t like them.

Down

3 Conference highlights : KEYNOTE SPEECHES

The keynote is the lowest note in a musical scale, as one might imagine. The term started to be used to mean a leading idea in the late 1700s, and the expression “keynote address” dates back to 1905.

4 Tennis’s Nadal, informally : RAFA

Rafael “Rafa” Nadal is a Spanish tennis player. He is noted for his expertise on clay courts, which earned him the nickname “The King of Clay”.

7 German article : DER

The definite article in German is der, die or das, for masculine, feminine and neuter nouns. The indefinite article is ein, eine or ein, again depending on the gender of the noun. A further complication, relative to English, is that the masculine form (and only the masculine form) of the article changes when used in the accusative case, when used with the object of a sentence. The accusative forms are “den” and “einen”.

9 “___ Andronicus” : TITUS

“Titus Andronicus” is one of Shakespeare’s tragedies, perhaps even the first that he wrote. I’ve never seen the play and apparently it is very gory, perhaps the reason why it was quite popular in Shakespeare’s own lifetime. Over the decades, sensibilities have changed and as a result, “Titus Andronicus” is performed less often today than his other works.

12 Failing a drug test or leaving the state, maybe : PAROLE VIOLATION

“Parole” is a French word that we use in English, with the French “parole” meaning “word, speech”. Of particular interest is the French phrase “parole d’honneur” which translates as “word of honor”. In the early 1600s we started using “parole” to mean a promise by a prisoner of war not to escape, as in the prisoner giving his “word of honor” not to run off. Over time, parole has come to mean conditional release of a prisoner before he or she has served the full term of a sentence.

23 Trumpeter Jones : THAD

Thad Jones was a jazz trumpeter and bandleader from Pontiac, Michigan. Thad came from a very musical family. His older brother was Hank Jones the jazz pianist, and his younger brother was Elvin Jones the jazz drummer.

26 Kisses, symbolically : XES

In the sequence letter sequence “X-O-X”, the X represents a kiss, and the O a hug. “O-O-O” is a string of hugs, and “X-X-X” a string of kisses. Hugs and kisses …

31 Biblical peak : HOREB

In the Book of Deuteronomy, it is stated that Moses was given the Ten Commandments on Mount Horeb. In other parts of the Bible the same event is described as taking place on Mount Sinai. So, many think that Horeb is an alternative name for Sinai.

33 Badger or hound : NAG

To badger is to harass. The verb “to badger” comes from the cruel practice of badger-baiting, which dates back to medieval times. Badger-baiting is a blood sport in which a dog is used as bait for a badger in its den, to draw it out into the open. The den is an artificial structure built to resemble a natural badgers’ den, complete with a tunnel entrance. The dog is sent down the tunnel causing the badger and dog to lock their jaws on each other. The badger and dog are then removed from the den by pulling on the dog’s tail. Horrible …

34 Wander : GAD

To gad about is to move around with little purpose. The word “gad” comes from the Middle English “gadden” meaning “to hurry”.

37 Thiamine deficiency disease : BERIBERI

Thiamine is also known as vitamin B1. A deficiency of thiamine causes the disease known as beriberi, which is a disorder of the nervous system.

44 Make a certain chess move : CASTLE

In the game of chess, the move known as “castling” involves the king moving two squares towards one of the rooks, and then placing that rook in the square over which the king crossed. It is the only chess move involving two pieces at the same time.

47 Obsolescent PC insert : CD-ROM

“CD-ROM” stands for “compact disc read only memory”. The name indicates that you can read information from the disc (like a standard music CD for example), but you cannot write to it. You can also buy a CD-RW, which stands for “compact disc – rewritable”, with which you can read data and also write over it multiple times using a suitable CD drive.

Something described as “obsolescent” is going out of use, becoming “obsolete”.

53 Slammin’ Sammy : SOSA

Sammy Sosa was firmly in the public eye in 1998 when he and Mark McGwire were vying to be the first to surpass the home run record held by Roger Maris. McGwire fell out of public favor due to stories of steroid abuse (stories which he later admitted were true) while Sosa fell out of favor when he was found to be using a corked bat in a 2003 game.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 “We choose to go to the moon” speaker, for short : JFK
4 Collection awaiting analysis : RAW DATA
11 Childhood vaccine combo : DPT
14 Will be present? : ARE
15 Amorphous, in a way : AMOEBIC
16 Singer Carly ___ Jepsen : RAE
17 Six-time Dodgers All-Star Ron : CEY
18 Ceramic iron compound that’s nonconductive : FERRITE
19 Usher’s offering : ARM
20 Auntie Em and Uncle Henry, for two : KANSANS
22 Dry cleaner : DUST MOP
24 “I already said I would!” : OK! OK!
25 Battle of the ___ : SEXES
27 2009 Beyoncé hit containing the lyric “I got my angel now” : HALO
28 Be accepted by one’s peers : FIT IN
30 Head of House Stark on “Game of Thrones” : NED
31 Critic, in modern lingo : HATER
32 Predatory relatives of coral : ANEMONES
34 Truffle hunting option : GODIVA
35 Some smartphones : LGS
36 Bit : TAD
37 One isn’t good for cellphone service : BAR
38 Geom. figure : CIR
39 Pomeranian, for one : LAPDOG
41 Send out again : REDEPLOY
43 Refinement : TWEAK
44 Ford or Lincoln : CAR
45 Muscly : BUILT
46 Old movie unit : REEL
47 “Shut up!” : CAN IT!
49 ___ v. Alston (landmark 2021 Supreme Court antitrust decision) : NCAA
50 Takes the throne, say : ASCENDS
52 Actress Angela of “Malcolm X” : BASSETT
54 Play-___ : DOH
55 Style moderne : ART DECO
57 Cause of some head-scratching : NIT
58 Suffix in linguistics : -EME
59 Star that’s actually three stars : POLARIS
60 Phillipa ___, original Eliza in “Hamilton” : SOO
61 French possessive : SES
62 Professor ___ : EMERITA
63 One backward musician? : ENO

Down

1 Certain multitasker? : JACK OF ALL TRADES
2 Amazeballs : FREAKING AWESOME
3 Conference highlights : KEYNOTE SPEECHES
4 Tennis’s Nadal, informally : RAFA
5 Good faith agreements? : AMENS
6 Went downhill : WORSENED
7 German article : DER
8 Accepted without objection : ABIDED
9 “___ Andronicus” : TITUS
10 Nails : ACES
11 Freedom for a screenwriter, say : DRAMATIC LICENSE
12 Failing a drug test or leaving the state, maybe : PAROLE VIOLATION
13 Erasable ink? : TEMPORARY TATTOO
21 Go through lightly : SKIM
23 Trumpeter Jones : THAD
26 Kisses, symbolically : XES
29 Taboo : NOT OK
31 Biblical peak : HOREB
33 Badger or hound : NAG
34 Wander : GAD
37 Thiamine deficiency disease : BERIBERI
40 Hollow : DALE
41 Took off : RAN
42 “Queen of denial” and “knight and day” : PUNS
44 Make a certain chess move : CASTLE
47 Obsolescent PC insert : CD-ROM
48 Implied : TACIT
51 Resting spot for some buns : NAPE
53 Slammin’ Sammy : SOSA
56 Give: Sp. : DAR