0728-24 NY Times Crossword 28 Jul 24, Sunday - NYXCrossword.com (2024)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

9 Israeli desert : NEGEV

The Negev is a desert region in southern Israel. The largest city in the region is Beersheba. The Negev covers about 4,700 square miles, which is about 55% of Israel’s landmass.

14 Substance in a bagel-making “bath” : LYE

One step in the traditional process used to produce bagels is to boil them for 60-90 seconds in water before baking. That water may contain honey, baking soda, or even lye. These additives help create a crusty outside while keeping the inside soft and light.

17 Wedding role … or a description of 114-Across? : RING BEARER20 Artist’s diagram … or one of five for 114-Across? : COLOR WHEEL

The symbol of the Olympic Games consists of five interlocking rings, with each ring representing one of the five continents involved in the Olympics. The five continents are Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania and America (North and South combined). The symbol was designed in 1912, adopted in 1914, and introduced at the 1920 Games.

22 Multipiece furniture purchases : OTTOMAN SETS

The piece of furniture known as an ottoman can be a couch, usually one with a head but no back or sides. Here in the US, the term more commonly applies to a padded and upholstered seat or bench that can also be used as a footrest. The original ottoman couch came from the Ottoman Empire, hence the name.

24 $$$ : DOLLAR SIGNS

The dollar sign ($) was first used for the Spanish-American peso, in the late 18th century. The peso was also called the “Spanish dollar” (and “piece of eight”). The Spanish dollar was to become a model for the US dollar that was adopted in 1785, along with the dollar sign.

29 Cornhole attempts : TOSSES

Cornhole is a game in which contestants throw bean bags towards a tilted-up platform with a hole in it. Bags that land in the hole score 3 points, and bags that land on the board score 1 point.

33 Snapple competitor : NESTEA

Nestea is a brand of iced tea made by Nestlé. The name is a portmanteau of “Nestlé” and “tea”.

Originally, “Snapple” was the name of just one type of juice made by a company called Unadulterated Food Products. The drink’s name was a contraction of “snappy apple”. The company’s name was changed to the Snapple Beverage Corporation in the early 1980s. Snapple was sold in 1994, and is now a brand name owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group.

36 Detailed plan of action : BLUEPRINT

Blueprints are reproductions of technical or architectural drawings that are contact prints made on light-sensitive sheets. They were introduced in the 1800s and the technology available dictated that the drawings were reproduced with white lines on a blue background, hence the name “blue-print”.

48 Aptly named writers’ association : PEN

The PEN/Faulkner Award is presented annually to a living American author who has produced an outstanding work of fiction. The current award grew out of the William Faulkner Foundation Award that was inaugurated in 1961 using funds donated by writer William Faulkner from his 1949 Nobel Prize win. The PEN/Faulkner Foundation was established in 1980 after the William Faulkner Foundation was dissolved in 1970. The first PEN/Faulkner Award was presented in 1981. PEN International is an association of writers that was founded in London in 1921. PEN is the world’s oldest international literary organization.

49 “Uno ___!” : MAS

In Spanish, one might request “uno más” (one more) in a “cantina” (canteen, café).

55 Teletubby with a repetitive name : LAA-LAA

“Teletubbies” is a children’s television show produced by the BBC in the UK and shown over here on PBS. The show attracted a lot of attention in 1999 when Jerry Falwell suggested that one of the Teletubbies characters (Tinky Winky) was a hom*osexual role model for children.

59 Obsolescent book : YELLOW PAGES

A yellow pages phone directory is a listing of business and telephone numbers. The first yellow pages directory was introduced here in the US, back in 1886. The phrase “yellow pages” has become almost ubiquitous, although some countries (like my native Ireland) use “golden pages” instead. The term lives on in the modern era, as the name of the business review website Yelp.com is a contraction of “YEL-low P-ages”.

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

60 Brand in the frozen food section : GREEN GIANT

The Jolly Green Giant was introduced by Minnesota Valley Canning in 1925 to help sell the company’s peas. He was named after one of the varieties of pea that the company sold, the “Green Giant”. The Jolly Green Giant first appeared in a television commercial in 1953, walking through a valley with young boys running around at his feet. That first commercial proved to be so scary for younger viewers that it was immediately pulled off the air. In 1972, the Jolly Green Giant was given an apprentice called the Little Green Sprout.

61 Dance related to the Tongan tau’olunga : HULA

The hula is a native dance of Hawaii that uses arm movements to relate a story. The hula can be performed while sitting (a noho dance) or while standing (a luna dance).

64 Reason to award two gold medals : TIE

In the Ancient Olympic Games, the winner of an event was awarded an olive wreath. When the games were revived in 1896, the winners were originally given a silver medal and an olive branch, with runners-up receiving a bronze medal and a laurel branch. The tradition of giving gold, silver and bronze medals began at the 1904 Summer Olympic Games held in St. Louis, Missouri.

65 Cheers, for one : BAR

The wonderful sitcom “Cheers” ran for eleven seasons on NBC, from 1982 to 1993. “Cheers” spawned an equally successful spin-off show called “Frasier”, which also ran for eleven seasons and often featured guest appearances of characters from the original “Cheers”. The Cheers bar was styled on the Bull & Finch Pub in Boston (in which I’ve had a pint of Guinness or two!). The owner of the Bull & Finch cleverly agreed to the initial interior and exterior shots, charging only one dollar. Since then he has made millions from selling “Cheers” memorabilia, and also from increased trade.

68 Letters after Lucasfilm : … LTD

Lucasfilm Ltd. is a San Francisco production company founded in 1971 by George Lucas. The enterprise’s most famous movies are the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” franchises. The Walt Disney Company purchased Lucasfilm for over $4 billion in 2012.

69 Aid in seafloor mapping : SONAR

The British developed the first underwater detection system that used sound waves. Research was driven by defense demands during WWI, leading to production of working units in 1922. This new sound detection system was described as using “supersonics”, but for the purpose of secrecy the term was dropped in favor of an acronym. The work was done under the auspices of the Royal Navy’s Anti-Submarine Division, so ASD was combined with the “IC” from “superson-ic-s” to create the name ASDIC. The navy even went as far as renaming the quartz material at the heart of the technology “ASDivite”. By the time WWII came along, the Americans were producing their own systems and coined the term SONAR (Sound Navigation and Ranging), playing off the related application, RADAR. And so, the name ASDIC was deep-sixed …

78 Prereq for a Ph.D. program, maybe : GRE

Passing the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is usually a requirement for entry into graduate school here in the US.

79 Signature hit for Linda Ronstadt : BLUE BAYOU

“Blue Bayou” is a lovely ballad written by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson, released in 1963 by Orbison. Although the song never made it to the top of the charts over here in the US, it did in Ireland! Linda Ronstadt recorded a famous cover version in 1977. In baseball parlance, a fastball is sometimes called a “Linda Ronstadt”, as it is a pitch that “blew by you …”

98 Results of some fouls in soccer : YELLOW CARDS

A series of colored penalty cards is used by referees and umpires in several sports, most notably in soccer. The cards were first used in the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, after language difficulties created confusion during the prior competition in 1966. The main cards used are a yellow card indicating a caution, and a red card indicating expulsion from the game.

101 Playbill listing : CAST

I get quite a kick out of reading the bios in “Playbill” as some of them can be really goofy and entertaining. “Playbill” started off in 1884 in New York as an in-house publication for just one theater on 21st St. You can’t see any decent-sized production these days anywhere in the United States without being handed a copy of “Playbill”.

105 Character appearing twice in “Dumb and Dumber”? : SILENT B

“Dumb and Dumber” is a 1994 comedy starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels as two pretty dumb guys, Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne. There was a prequel released in 2003 titled “Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd”, and a sequel in 2011 called “Dumb and Dumber To”.

113 Chain that offers obedience training classes : PETCO

Petco is a chain of retail stores that sells live animals and pet supplies. The Petco logo includes the two company mascots, Red Ruff the dog and Blue Mews the cat.

121 They “wait for no man,” in a saying : TIME AND TIDE

Versions of the idiomatic expression “time and tide wait for no man” have been around since the early 1200s. Even though the phrase seems to conjure up images of King Canute trying to hold back the tide, there is no connection to the sea at all. Back in the 1200s, the word “tide” wasn’t associated with ocean currents but rather to a period of time, as in yule-tide, Christmas-tide, etc. So basically, the idiom says that man can’t put a halt to time, despite what one’s plastic surgeon might tell one …

125 Scottish word in a holiday song : SYNE

The song “Auld Lang Syne” is a staple at New Year’s Eve (well, actually in the opening minutes of New Year’s Day). The words were written by Scottish poet Robbie Burns. The literal translation of “Auld Lang Syne” is “old long since”, but is better translated as “old times”. The sentiment of the song is “for old time’s sake”.

Down

2 Poet Dove : RITA

Poet Rita Dove received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1987, and was the second African American to be so honored (the first being Gwendolyn Brooks). Dove was also the first African American to be appointed as Poet Laureate, a position she held from 1993 to 1995.

3 Prefix with war or hero : ANTI-

An “antihero” is a character perhaps in a movie or novel. He or she is the “hero” of the piece, but is also someone who doesn’t exhibit the qualities associated traditionally with a hero, such as bravery or moral fortitude.

4 Pioneer in computer chess : IBM

Deep Blue was a computer developed by IBM specifically for playing chess. In 1996 it became the first machine to win a chess game against a reigning world champion. The champion in question was the great Garry Kasparov, although he came out on top in the end by winning the 6-game competition 4-2.

5 Largest labor union in the U.S., in brief : NEA

Founded in 1857, the National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the country, and mainly represents public school teachers.

7 Alpha ___ Majoris (star in the Big Dipper) : URSAE

The constellation Ursa Major (Latin for “Larger Bear”) is often just called the Big Dipper because of its resemblance to a ladle or dipper. Ursa Major also resembles a plow, and that’s what we usually call it back in Ireland, the “plough”. The words “Ursae Majoris” mean “of Ursa Major”, and are found in the names of several stars in the constellation.

9 “Oppenheimer” director : NOLAN

British director Christopher Nolan was best known for some time for “rescuing” the floundering Batman movie franchise. In that series, Nolan directed “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight”. He was also at the helm of a couple of sci-fi movies that I really enjoyed, namely “Inception” (2010) and “Interstellar” (2014). And then, along came “Oppenheimer” …

“Oppenheimer” is an epic 2023 film starring Cillian Murphy in the title role. The movie follows J. Robert Oppenheimer, “the father of the atomic bomb”, from his student days right through World War II and beyond. Directed by Christopher Nolan, the film has an amazing ensemble cast that includes:

• Matt Damon (General Leslie Groves)
• Robert Downey Jr. (Lewis Strauss)
• Josh Hartnett (Ernest Lawrence)
• Kenneth Branagh (Niels Bohr)
• Tom Conti (Albert Einstein)
• Gary Oldman (Harry S. Truman)

10 Carl’s wife in Pixar’s “Up” : ELLIE

“Up” was the tenth movie released by Pixar studios, and features the wonderful animation that we have come to expect from Pixar. The film earned itself two Academy Awards. The main voice actor is Ed Asner, whose animated persona as Carl Fredricksen was created to resemble Spencer Tracy, as Tracy appeared in his last film, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”.

11 Sources of cashmere : GOATS

Cashmere wool comes not only from the cashmere goat, but also from other types of goat. Technically, cashmere isn’t really wool, but rather hair. Unlike hair, wool is elastic and grows in clusters.

13 Bugs, e.g. : VWS

“VW” stands for “Volkswagen”, which translates from German into “people’s car”. The original Volkswagen design was the Beetle and was built under a directive from Adolf Hitler, who wanted a cheap car built that ordinary people could afford to purchase. Hitler awarded the contract to engineer Ferdinand Porsche, whose name (paradoxically) would forever be associated with high performance, expensive cars. The Beetle was the official name of the VW model released in North America, but it was usually referred to as a “Bug” here in the US, and a “Beetle” elsewhere in the world.

14 Brick that doesn’t require mortar : LEGO

Lego produces some wonderful specialized sets with which you can build models of celebrated structures, including:

• The Statue of Liberty (2,882 pieces)
• The Sydney Opera House (2,989 pieces)
• The Eiffel Tower (3,428 pieces)
• Tower Bridge (4,295 pieces)
• The Taj Mahal (5,922 pieces)

18 Crime boss John : GOTTI

John Gotti was the boss of the Gambino crime family from 1985. He was known as the “Teflon Don” and took over leadership of the family from Paul Castellano when he was gunned down, allegedly on Gotti’s orders. Gotti remained head of the New York family until he was sentenced to life in prison in 1992. Gotti died of throat cancer after ten years behind bars.

21 Muslim head covering : HIJAB

Some Muslim women wear a hijab in the presence of males outside of their immediate family. It is a veil covering the head and chest. As part of the hijab, some also wear a niqab, which is a cloth that covers the face. Other Muslim women wear a burqa, which covers the whole body from the top of the head to the ground.

23 Prized violins, for short : STRADS

Generations of the Stradivari family produced violins and other stringed instruments, the most famous of which were constructed by Antonio Stradivari.

24 One of the stages of grief : DENIAL

Swiss psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross published a book called “On Death and Dying” in 1969. In this book she proposed a five-step model to describe the emotions experienced by patients after they are given a fatal diagnosis. That same model is often extended to describe the series of emotions experienced by survivors after losing a family member or intimate friend. In this context, the series is referred to as “the five stages of grief”.

1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance

31 Ailment whose name becomes an actress when its vowel is doubled : STREP

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.

Actress Meryl Streep won three Academy Awards over the course of her career:

1. Best Actress for “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979)
2. Best Actress for “Sophie’s Choice” (1982)
3. Best Actress for “The Iron Lady” (2011)

36 Like some Mideast nationalism : PAN-ARAB

Pan-Arabism is an ideology espousing the unification of the Arab world. The Arab world comprises the 22 countries that are members of the Arab League. Thoise countries are located in Northern Western and Eastern Africa, and in Western Asia.

38 Architect ___ van der Rohe : MIES

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a German architect who was routinely referred to simply as “Mies”. I am a philistine, I know, but Mies’ buildings look very plain to me. However, he did come up with two far-from-plain sayings, namely “less is more” and “God is in the details”.

43 They fly somewhere over the rainbow : BLUEBIRDS

“Over the Rainbow” is a classic song written especially for the 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz”. It was sung by the young Judy Garland (Dorothy) in the film, and it was to become her signature song. There is an introductory verse that wasn’t used in the movie, and is very rarely heard:

When all the world is a hopeless jumble
And the raindrops tumble all around,
Heaven opens a magic lane
When all the clouds darken up the skyway,
There’s a rainbow highway to be found
Leading from your window pane
To a place behind the sun,
Just a step beyond the rain.

45 Democratic stronghold : BLUE STATE

On political maps, red states are predominantly Republican and blue states predominantly Democrat. The designation of red and blue states is a very recent concept, only introduced in the 2000 presidential election by TV journalist, the late Tim Russert. In retrospect, the choice of colors is surprising, as in other democracies around the world red is usually used to describe left-leaning socialist parties (the reds under the bed!), and blue is used for conservative right-wing parties. In election cycles, swing/battleground states are often depicted in purple.

46 Ostracized family member : BLACK SHEEP

The practice of ostracism, freezing out or exclusion, dates back to ancient Greece. Back then citizens could write the names of men they thought were exceptionally dangerous on tiles that were publicly posted, resulting in a banishment of ten years. “Ostracize” derives from the Greek “ostrakon”, the word for a “tile”.

47 Extorts from, in a way : BLACKMAILS

To extort is to obtain by force or intimidation. The term “extort” comes from the Latin “ex” (out) and “torquere” (to twist).

48 Raccoonlike mammal of China : RED PANDA

The red panda is a relatively small mammal with reddish-brown fur and white fur highlighting features on his head. A native of the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China, it is not closely related to the giant panda, and instead is related to the raccoon, weasel and skunk.

50 Phenomenon allegorized in “The Crucible” : RED SCARE

After WWII, the United States went through a “Red Scare”, the fear of communist infiltration in American society and government. Senator Joseph McCarthy became a lightning rod for this movement when he chaired Senate hearings in the fifties designed to root out communist infiltrators. The period (1947-1956) is referred to as the Second Red Scare. The First Red Scare was at its height in 1919-1920, and was a fear of Bolshevism that arose after the Russian Revolution.

“The Crucible” is a 1952 play by Arthur Miller that tells the story of the Salem witch trials. Miller wrote it as an allegory for the House Committee on Un-American Activities hearings that were being chaired by Senator Joe McCarthy around that time. Miller was called before the Committee himself, and was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to “name names”.

54 Movie f/x : CGI

Computer-generated imagery (CGI)

56 It’s not long. : LAT

Lines of latitude are imaginary horizontal lines surrounding the planet. The most “important” lines of latitude are, from north to south:

• Arctic Circle
• Tropic of Cancer
• Equator
• Tropic of Capricorn
• Antarctic Circle

63 National park since 1872 : YELLOWSTONE

Yellowstone was the first National Park to be established in the world when it was designated as such by President Grant in 1872. What a great tradition it started! The American National Parks are truly a treasure …

65 Milquetoast : YELLOWBELLY

Someone described as a “milquetoast” is weak and timid. The term comes from a character called Caspar Milquetoast in the comic strip “The Timid Soul” drawn by H. T. Webster. Webster came up with Caspar’s name by deliberately misspelling “milk toast”, which is a bland food that is suitable for someone with a weak stomach.

66 Character who’s told “We’re all mad here” : ALICE

Here are some lines from Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”:

“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
Oh, you can’t help that, said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
How do you know I’m mad? said Alice.
You must be, said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”

67 Creedence Clearwater Revival song named after a place “where cool water flows” : GREEN RIVER

Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) was a rock band from San Francisco that played in a Southern rock style, with hits such as “Proud Mary”, “Bad Moon Rising”, “Down on the Corner” and “Who’ll Stop the Rain”.

69 Dip made from tomatillos : GREEN SALSA

Tomatillos are the fruit of the tomatillo plant and are used as vegetables, particularly in Mexican cuisine. The name “tomatillo” translates from Spanish as “little tomato”. Both the tomato and tomatillo belong to the nightshade family of plants.

72 Beat at an audition, maybe : OUTACT

A trial performance to appraise the merits of an entertainer is known as an audition. When a group of entertainers is involved, the informal term “cattle call” might be used instead of “audition”. The idea is that those auditioning are often corralled into a single, large room (like “cattle”) prior to performing.

75 Spice Girl Chisholm, casually : MEL

Melanie C (Chisholm) is a member of the English girl band the Spice Girls, with whom she has the nickname “Sporty Spice”. “Mel C” got the gig with the Spice Girls by replying to an ad in “The Stage” magazine, and auditioning alongside about 40 women who responded to the same ad. Sporty Spice really is quite sporty, and has completed the London Triathlon … twice.

80 Political slogan of the 2000s : YES WE CAN

The 2008 campaign that resulted in the election of President Barack Obama used the slogan “Change we can believe in”, along with the associated chant “Yes We Can”. The words “Yes We Can” were perhaps borrowed from the United Farm Workers, which organization uses the motto “Sí, se puede”. “Sí, se puede” translates as “Yes, it is possible” and is a phrase very much associated with labor leader Cesar Chavez.

86 Connection at Frankfurt Airport? : UND

The conjunction “and” translates into German as “und”.

Frankfurt is the fifth largest city in Germany. It is more properly called Frankfurt am Main, to distinguish it from Frankfurt an der Oder, a town near the Polish border. The larger Frankfurt is located on the Main River, hence the name.

88 “Law & Order” spinoff, for short : SVU

“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” is a spin-off from the TV crime drama “Law & Order”. “SVU” has been on the air since 1999, and is set in New York City. Interestingly (to me), there is a very successful Russian adaptation of the show that is set in Moscow.

91 Wooden shoe : SABOT

There is a story that disgruntled textile workers would kick their wooden shoes, called “sabots”, into the looms in order to disable them so that they didn’t have to work. This act of vandalism was named for the shoe, an act of … “sabotage”.

95 Part of a woman’s anatomy named for Dr. Ernst Gräfenberg : G-SPOT

The full name for the G-spot is the “Gräfenberg spot”, named after German doctor Ernst Gräfenberg. Gräfenberg is best known for developing the intrauterine device (IUD).

96 Jane Eyre, to the villainous Mrs. Reed : NIECE

“Jane Eyre” is a celebrated novel written by Charlotte Brontë, under the pen name Currer Bell. The love story is perhaps represented by the oft-quoted opening lines of the last chapter, “Reader, I married him”. There is a wonderful 4-hour television adaptation made by the BBC that I highly recommend to fans of the novel …

100 Not at all light : HEFTY

The heft of something is its weight, its heaviness. The term “heft” is derivative of the verb “to heave” meaning “to lift, raise”.

102 Soul singer Baker : ANITA

Anita Baker is an R&B and soul singer who was raised in Detroit, Michigan. Baker’s most successful song is the Grammy-winning “Sweet Love” that was released in 1986.

103 Adam of TV’s “Severance” : SCOTT

Adam Scott is an actor from Santa Cruz, California who is perhaps best known for playing Ben Wyatt on the hit sitcom “Parks and Recreation”. More recently, Scott has been playing the lead in the sci-fi TV show “Severance”.

106 Negative Nancy words? : NONS

Nancy is a city in northeastern France that was once the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine.

108 Hoppy choices at happy hour : IPAS

The foodstuff that we call “hops” are actually the female flowers of the hop plant. The main use of hops is to add flavor to beer. The town in which I used to live here in California was once home to the largest hop farm in the world. Most of the harvested hops were exported all the way to the breweries of London, where they could fetch the best price.

109 Sermon topic : SIN

Our word “sermon” comes from the Latin “sermonem” meaning “discourse, talk”. The literal translation of “sermonem” is “a stringing together of words”, from the Latin “serere” meaning “to join”, as in the related word “series”.

110 Some TV screens : LCDS

Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) are the screens that are found in most laptops today, and in flat panel computer screens and some televisions. LCD monitors basically replaced Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) screens, the old television technology.

116 Sumac a.k.a. the “Peruvian Songbird” : YMA

Yma Sumac was a Peruvian soprano. She had a notable vocal range of five octaves.

117 Maya who designed the Museum of Chinese in America : LIN

Maya Lin is a Chinese-American artist and architect from Athens, Ohio. Her most famous work is the moving Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Lin was only 21-years-old when she won a public design competition in 1981 to create the memorial. Although her design is very fitting, sadly Lin was not a popular choice for the work given her Asian heritage. As she said herself, she probably would not have been picked had the competition been judged with the knowledge of who was behind each submission.