Constructed by: Trey Mendez
Edited by: Will Shortz
Not your puzzle? Try today’s …
… syndicated NY Times crossword
Today’s Theme (according to Bill): RIgID Cluing?
Themed answers each start and end with postal abbreviations of states:
- 18A What follows a plane going from Richmond to Chicago? : VAPOR TRAIL (VA-Virginia & IL-Illinois)
- 26A Part of a plane traveling from New Orleans to Little Rock? : LANDING GEAR (LA-Louisiana & AR-Arkansas)
- 45A Former airline from Denver to Birmingham? : CONTINENTAL (CO-Colorado & AL-Alabama)
- 56A Duration of air travel from Miami to Bangor? : FLYING TIME (FL-Florida & ME-Maine)
Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers
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Bill’s time: 7m 00s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
10 Woman’s name hidden inside “assumed name” : EDNA
The phrase “assumed name” includes the name “EDNA” hidden within.
14 Georgia ___, Atlanta school : TECH
The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly “Georgia Tech”) is located in Atlanta. The school was founded in 1885 as part of the reconstruction effort to rebuild the infrastructure in the South after the Civil War. President Theodore Roosevelt delivered an address to the school in 1905, and then shook hands with every single student. Back then the school didn’t have over 20,000 students as it does today …
16 ___ Spring, uprisings of the early 2010s : ARAB
The term “Arab Spring” has been applied to the wave of protests, riots and civil wars that impacted the Arab world from 2010 to 2012. The uprisings were sparked by the Tunisian Revolution at the end of 2010 that led to the ouster of the longtime president and the institution of democratic elections. The period of instability that followed in some Arab League countries has been dubbed the “Arab Winter”
18 What follows a plane going from Richmond to Chicago? : VAPOR TRAIL
(VA-Virginia & IL-Illinois)
We talk so often about global warming these days but there is another fascinating phenomenon that is related, and known as “global dimming”. Global dimming is the reduction in the amount of heat that radiates daily from the planet due to the insulating effect of pollution and vapor trails (contrails) from aircraft that are present in the atmosphere. The effect has been touted as a theory for decades but dramatic empirical data became available in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Planes were grounded and the skies over America were clear for three days. There was a stark change in the temperature range measured across the US for these three days, demonstrating the impact that air travel has on our climate.
20 ___ Ray, celebrity chef : RACHAEL
Rachael Ray is a celebrity chef and host of several shows on the Food Network television channel. Ray comes from a family that owned and managed a number of restaurants in the northeast of the country. One of Ray’s TV shows is “$40 a Day”, in which she demonstrates how to visit various cities in North America and Europe and eat three meals and a snack on a daily budget of just $40.
34 “Her name was ___ …” (“Copacabana” lyric) : LOLA
The Copacabana of the 1978 Barry Manilow song is the Copacabana nightclub in New York City (which is also the subject of the Frank Sinatra song “Meet Me at the Copa”). The Copa opened in 1940 and is still going today, although it is struggling. The club had to move due to impending construction and is now “sharing” a location with the Columbus 72 nightclub.
Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl
With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there
She would merengue and do the cha-cha
And while she tried to be a star
Tony always tended bar
Across the crowded floor, they worked from 8 ’til 4
They were young and they had each other
Who could ask for more?
35 Ancient inhabitants of Crete : MINOANS
The Minoans were a Bronze Age people that lived on the island of Crete from about 270 to 1450 BCE. Evidence of the Minoan civilization was uncovered by the British archaeologist Arthur Evans at the beginning of the 20th century. Evans coined the term “Minoan” after King Minos of myth, who was said to have built the Labyrinth on the island that housed the Minotaur.
40 Share one’s seat? : MOON
The first recorded mooning incident took place in 66 AD during the First Roman-Jewish War. Roman soldiers decided to moon Jewish pilgrims as they traveled to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.
44 What makes clay clammy? : EMS
We can turn the word “clay” into “clammy” by inserting a couple of letters M (ems).
48 Mounts Shasta, Rainier and Hood : VOLCANOES
Our word “volcano” comes from “Vulcano”, the name of a volcanic island off the coast of Italy. The island’s name comes from Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. The Romans believed that the island of Vulcano was the chimney of the forge belonging to the god Vulcan. The Romans also believed that the eruptions on Mount Etna in Sicily were caused by Vulcan getting angry and working his forge so hard that sparks and smoke flew out of the top of the volcano.
Mount Shasta is in northern California. The origin of the name “Shasta” seems to be unclear. It may have come from the Russian “tchastal” meaning “white, clean, pure”, a name given to the volcanic peak by early Russian immigrants.
Mount Rainier is an active volcano in the state of Washington in the Cascade Mountain Range. Native Americans first called the peak “Tacoma” and “Tahoma” meaning “mother of waters”. When Captain George Vancouver discovered Puget Sound in 1792, he named the peak in honor of his friend Rear Admiral Peter Rainier. There have been movements to change the name back to Tacoma, but these seem to have “petered” out (pun!).
Mount Hood is a volcanic peak in northern Oregon. It is the highest peak in the state, and is located about 50 miles southeast of Portland. There are six ski areas on the mountain, including a resort called Timberline that has North America’s only lift that operates year-round for skiing.
49 Classic Ravel composition : BOLERO
Maurice Ravel’s “Boléro” is a remarkable piece of music that has a very insistent theme that just builds and builds, with instruments being added to the mix as the piece develops. Famously, “Boléro” played a significant role in the 1979 film “10” starring Bo Derek, Dudley Moore and Julie Andrews. Not a bad movie …
Maurice Ravel was a great French composer of the Romantic Era. Ravel’s most famous piece of music by far is his “Bolero”, the success of which he found somewhat irksome as he considered it a trivial work. Personally though, I love the piece’s minimalism and simplicity …
60 Helsinki native : FINN
Helsinki is the capital city of Finland, and is by far the country’s biggest urban area. In English we tend to stress the “-sink-” in “Helsinki”, whereas the Finns stress the “Hel-”.
61 Smidgens : IOTAS
Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet, and one that gave rise to our letters I and J. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small, as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.
Our word “smidgen” (sometimes shortened to “smidge”) is used to describe a small amount. The term might come from the Scots word “smitch” that means the same thing or “a small insignificant person”.
63 “All My ___,” Arthur Miller play : SONS
Arthur Miller was a remarkable playwright, best known for his plays “Death of a Salesman” and “The Crucible”. Famously, Arthur Miller left his first wife to marry Marilyn Monroe in 1956. The two divorced five years later, just over a year before Monroe died of an apparent drug overdose.
64 Molson ___ (brewing company) : COORS
Adolph Coors founded the Coors brewing company in 1873, in Golden, Colorado. Coors was originally from the Rhine Province in Prussia, and worked in various brewers around what is today Germany before immigrating to the US in 1868. Despite all of his success as a brewer here in America, Coors ended up taking his own life in 1929, by jumping to his death out of a hotel window.
The Molson Brewery in Montreal is the oldest brewery in North America, having been established in 1786. In fact, Molson (now owned by Coors) is the second oldest company in Canada, after the Hudson’s Bay Company.
65 Deputy on “The Dukes of Hazzard” : ENOS
Enos Strate (played by Sonny Shroyer) was the small-town deputy in the television sitcom “The Dukes of Hazzard”, and the success of his character merited a follow-on show. The spin-off “Enos” only ran for 18 episodes.
“The Dukes of Hazzard” is a comedy adventure TV show that originally aired from 1979 to 1985. The title characters are Bo and Luke Duke, two cousins from the rural part of the fictional county of Hazzard in Georgia. The pair drive around in the General Lee, a flashy Dodge Charger stock car. Other notable characters in the show were Daisy Duke (played by Catherine Bach) and Boss Hogg (played by Sorrell Booke).
Down
1 Michelin rating unit : STAR
Michelin is a manufacturer of tires that is based in France. The company was founded by brothers Édouard and André Michelin in 1888. The brothers were running a rubber factory at the time, and invented the world’s first removable pneumatic tire, an invention that they used to launch their new company. Michelin is also noted for rating restaurants and accommodation in its famous Michelin Travel Guides, awarding coveted Michelin stars.
2 Princess with a “cinnamon buns” hairstyle : LEIA
Princess Leia is Luke Skywalker’s twin sister in the original “Star Wars” trilogy and was played by Carrie Fisher. Carrie Fisher has stated that she hated the famous “cinnamon bun hairstyle” that she had to wear in the films, as she felt it made her face look too round. She also had to sit for two hours every day just to get her hair styled. Two hours to get your hair done? It takes me just two seconds …
3 “Highway to Hell” rockers : AC/DC
The Heavy Metal band known as AC/DC was formed by two brothers Malcolm and Angus Young in Australia. Malcolm and Angus chose the name “AC/DC” after their sister Margaret noticed them on a sewing machine (the abbreviation for alternating current/direct current). The group is usually called “Acca Dacca” down under.
4 River that Albany and Poughkeepsie are on : THE HUDSON
The Hudson River flows through eastern New York State from Henderson Lake in the Adirondacks to the Port of New York and New Jersey. The river is named for the English explorer Henry Hudson, who navigated the waterway in 1609.
New York’s state capital of Albany was founded as a Dutch trading post called Fort Nassau in 1614. The English took over the settlement in 1664 and called it Albany, naming it after the future King of England James II, whose title at the time was the Duke of Albany. It became the capital of New York State in 1797.
The City of Poughkeepsie is located in the Hudson River Valley in New York State. The city’s name comes from a Wappinger word that can be translated as “the reed-covered lodge by the little-water place”.
6 Where to find edible ants? : ON A LOG
Ants on a log is a snack food prepared by spreading something like peanut butter or cream cheese on celery and placing raisins on top. If you leave out the raisins, the snack becomes “ants on vacation”.
8 Card game with a spinoff called Dos : UNO
UNO! is a card game that was developed in the early seventies and that has been sold by Mattel since 1992. UNO falls into the shedding family of card games, meaning that the goal is to get rid of all your cards while preventing opponents from doing the same.
21 Santa ___ Handicap, Seabiscuit’s last race : ANITA
Santa Anita Park is a racetrack for horses located in Arcadia, California. The most famous races on the track’s calendar are the Santa Anita Derby and the Santa Anita Handicap.
24 Many a charity, for short : NGO
Non-governmental organization (NGO)
28 Boys, in Bolivia : NINOS
Bolivia is a landlocked country in South America that is bordered by Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Peru and Argentina. The land now occupied by Bolivia was originally part of the Inca Empire. The country declared independence from Spain in 1809, which led to 16 years of war. When the Republic was finally named, “Bolivia” was chosen in honor of Venezuelan-born revolutionary leader, Simón Bolívar.
36 Like a recently coined word or phrase : NEOLOGIC
A neologism is a new word or phrase, or a new meaning or usage for an existing word.
39 Bloc that no longer includes Great Britain, for short : THE EU
The UK held a referendum in June 2016 in which 52% of voters chose to leave the European Union (EU). The term “Brexit” was used for the vote, a portmanteau of “Britain” and “exit”. The vote led to some debate about the future of the UK. The Scottish electorate voted for the UK to stay in the EU, and so that revived speculation about Scotland leaving the UK. There is also some discussion about Northern Ireland’s future in the UK, as the Northern Irish electorate also voted to stay in the EU.
42 H, to Homer : ETA
Eta is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, and is a forerunner of our Latin character “H”. Originally denoting a consonant, eta was used as a long vowel in Ancient Greek.
Homer was a famous poet of ancient Greece who is believed to be the author of the two classic epic poems “Iliad” and “Odyssey”. However, some scholars believe that Homer did not actually exist, but rather he is the personification of oral tradition that was passed down through the ages.
45 Big crop in Iowa : CORN
The Corn Belt (sometimes “Grain Belt”) is a region in the Midwest where, since the mid-1800s, corn has been the major crop. Geographically, the Corn Belt covers Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and parts of Michigan, Ohio, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota and Missouri. About 40% of the world’s corn production comes from the region, and most of that production is used for the feeding of livestock.
46 Director Bergman : INGMAR
Ingmar Bergman was a director of movies, stage and television from Sweden. Late in his life, Bergman ceased working for several years and left Sweden when he was wrongly charged with tax evasion, an event that caused him to have a nervous breakdown. Despite pleas from even the Swedish Prime Minister to return to his homeland, Bergman stayed in Germany for eight years before finally picking up his life again in Sweden.
48 Blood lines : VEINS
Arteries are vessels that carry blood away from the heart, and veins are vessels carrying blood to the heart.
49 Bosom buddies : BFFS
Best friend forever (BFF)
50 Grab bag : OLIO
“Olio” is a term meaning “hodgepodge, mixture” that comes from the mixed stew of the same name. The stew in turn takes its name from the Spanish “olla”, the clay pot used for cooking.
51 Suburb of Boston : LYNN
Lynn is a city in Massachusetts located just ten miles north of downtown Boston. The city was named for the port town of King’s Lynn in Norfolk, on the east coast of England.
54 Exxon, overseas : ESSO
The Esso brand 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.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Part of a wooden bench : SLAT
5 Recovered from being knocked to the floor : GOT UP
10 Woman’s name hidden inside “assumed name” : EDNA
14 Georgia ___, Atlanta school : TECH
15 Silly : INANE
16 ___ Spring, uprisings of the early 2010s : ARAB
17 Helper : AIDE
18 What follows a plane going from Richmond to Chicago? : VAPOR TRAIL (VA-Virginia & IL-Illinois)
20 ___ Ray, celebrity chef : RACHAEL
22 Tax filing status : SINGLE
23 Payment by many a factory worker : UNION DUES
26 Part of a plane traveling from New Orleans to Little Rock? : LANDING GEAR (LA-Louisiana & AR-Arkansas)
29 Modern dance move : DAB
32 Be real : EXIST
33 Word before or after age : OLD
34 “Her name was ___ …” (“Copacabana” lyric) : LOLA
35 Ancient inhabitants of Crete : MINOANS
38 Share with, as a secret : LET IN ON
40 Share one’s seat? : MOON
41 Ogle : EYE
43 Commotion, informally : HOO-HA
44 What makes clay clammy? : EMS
45 Former airline from Denver to Birmingham? : CONTINENTAL (CO-Colorado & AL-Alabama)
48 Mounts Shasta, Rainier and Hood : VOLCANOES
49 Classic Ravel composition : BOLERO
52 Drank noisily : GLUGGED
56 Duration of air travel from Miami to Bangor? : FLYING TIME (FL-Florida & ME-Maine)
59 In addition : ALSO
60 Helsinki native : FINN
61 Smidgens : IOTAS
62 Midterm or final : TEST
63 “All My ___,” Arthur Miller play : SONS
64 Molson ___ (brewing company) : COORS
65 Deputy on “The Dukes of Hazzard” : ENOS
Down
1 Michelin rating unit : STAR
2 Princess with a “cinnamon buns” hairstyle : LEIA
3 “Highway to Hell” rockers : AC/DC
4 River that Albany and Poughkeepsie are on : THE HUDSON
5 Relent : GIVE IN
6 Where to find edible ants? : ON A LOG
7 Choose, as a running mate : TAP
8 Card game with a spinoff called Dos : UNO
9 Win over : PERSUADE
10 Obtains through hard work : EARNS
11 Force an aircraft must overcome : DRAG
12 Word after door or before polish : NAIL
13 Qualified : ABLE
19 Part of a wedding cake : TIER
21 Santa ___ Handicap, Seabiscuit’s last race : ANITA
24 Many a charity, for short : NGO
25 Small, shaded valley : DELL
26 “___ at ’em!” : LEMME
27 “Practice makes perfect” or “Haste makes waste” : AXIOM
28 Boys, in Bolivia : NINOS
29 Start of a warning : DO NOT …
30 Honolulu hello : ALOHA
31 Trite : BANAL
34 Production company behind “The Hunger Games” and the “Saw” films : LIONSGATE
36 Like a recently coined word or phrase : NEOLOGIC
37 Lip-___ : SYNC
39 Bloc that no longer includes Great Britain, for short : THE EU
42 H, to Homer : ETA
45 Big crop in Iowa : CORN
46 Director Bergman : INGMAR
47 “… if you can believe it” : … NO LESS
48 Blood lines : VEINS
49 Bosom buddies : BFFS
50 Grab bag : OLIO
51 Suburb of Boston : LYNN
53 Secluded narrow valley : GLEN
54 Exxon, overseas : ESSO
55 They precede com, org and edu : DOTS
57 In addition : TOO
58 “Who am ___ question?” : I TO
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