Constructed by: Ed Sessa
Edited by: Rich Norris
Quicklink to a complete list of today’s clues and answers
Quicklink to comments
Theme: None
Bill’s time: 25m 42s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1…Alaska’s Alaskan Malamute, for one..STATE DOG
The Alaskan Malamute was bred as a working dog, in particular to pull sleds. The breed takes its name from the Mahlemut tribe of Inuit people. The Alaskan Malamute was designated as Alaska’s official state dog in 2010.
16…Tennyson’s “lily maid of Astolat”..ELAINE
“The Lady of Shalott” is a beautiful poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The storyline is based on the Arthurian legend of Elaine of Astolat. The opening lines are:
On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky.
And thro’ the field the road runs by
To many-tower’d Camelot.
17…Volcanic glass..OBSIDIAN
Obsidian is a volcanic glass, an igneous rock. Obsidian has many functional and decorative uses. I find the use of obsidian to make glass knives to be of particular interest. Well-made obsidian knives can have a cutting edge that is many times sharper than even the highest quality of steel.
18…Omitted from a speech?..ELIDED
“To elide” is to pass over, omit or slur a syllable when speaking.
22…__ United: English soccer team..LEEDS
Historically, Leeds United is one of the most successful clubs playing professional soccer in England, and is a team with a passionate fan base. The club is based in the city of Leeds in West Yorkshire, and the club badge feature the White Rose of York.
23…Serious order shortage?..MELEE
Our word “melee” comes from the French “mêlée”, and in both languages the word means “confused fight”.
24…Ideal: Abbr…STD
Standard (std.)
26…Where Andorra is..IBERIA
The Iberian Peninsula in Europe is largely made up of Spain and Portugal. However, also included is the Principality of Andorra in the Pyrenees, a small part of the south of France, and the British Territory of Gibraltar. Iberia takes its name from the Ebro, the longest river in Spain, which the Romans named the “Iber”.
33…Iranian city known for its carpets..TABRIZ
Tabriz is a large city in the very northwest of Iran that once served as the country’s capital. The city is famous for its hand-woven rugs and jewelry.
36…Where Andorra is..EUROPE
Andorra is a small principality nestled in the Pyrenees between France and Spain. Andorra is a very prosperous country, mainly due to its status as a tax haven and thriving tourist industry. We used help out the tourist industry there in the winters, enjoying a couple of skiing holidays there. Happy memories …
38…Few are chosen..SURNAMES
What we usually refer to as a “family name” here in the US is routinely called a “surname” in British English.
40…Hamlet..DORP
“Thorp” (also “dorp”) is an archaic term from Old English meaning “hamlet, village”.
41…”Moulin Rouge” (1952) co-star, familiarly..ZSA ZSA
Zsa Zsa Gabor is a Hungarian American actress, born in Budapest as Sári Gábor (the older sister of the actress Eva). Zsa Zsa Gabor has been married a whopping nine times, including a 5-year stint with Conrad Hilton and another 5 years with the actor George Sanders. One of Gabor’s famous quips is that she was always a good housekeeper, as after every divorce she kept the house!
“Moulin Rouge” is a 1952 film that tells the story of French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Directed by John Huston, the movie stars José Ferrer as the artist and Zsa Zsa Gabor as Jane Avril, a can-can dancer who becomes the subject for some of his artworks.
44…__-wip..REDDI
Reddi-Wip is a brand of sweetened whip cream that comes out of a pressurized can. The propellant used in the can is nitrous oxide, also called “laughing gas”, which is the same gas used by dentists as an anesthetic.
52…Southwestern native..PUEBLO
The Pueblo peoples are Native Americans from the American Southwest who are known for their construction of towns and villages comprising buildings made from adobe and stone. The Pueblo inhabited pit houses dug into cliffs prior to c. 1050 CE. After this date, they started to develop planned village that included apartment-like structure often located on ledges of rock that were easy to defend. The largest of these villages extant today is the magnificent Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. It is a “must see” when visiting the area …
53…Hyphenated frozen food brand..ORE-IDA
Ore-Ida frozen foods are all made using potatoes. The company is located in Oregon, just across the border from Idaho. “Ore-Ida” is a melding of the two state names.
56…Analgesic rub..BENGAY
Bengay is sold as a painkilling heat rub, to relieve aching muscles. It was developed in France by a Dr. Jules Bengue (hence the name) and was first sold in America way back in 1898.
58…Auto options..SEDANS
The American “sedan” car is the equivalent of the British “saloon” car. By definition, a sedan car has two rows of seating and a separate trunk (boot in the UK), although in some models the engine can be at the rear of the car.
Down
4…F-A-C, e.g…TRIAD
A triad is a group of three, and specifically in music is a chord is made up of three notes.
5…One barely working?..ECDYSIAST
An “ecdysiast” is a striptease artist. The term was coined by the writer H. L. Mencken in 1940 at the request of burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee. She wanted a word for her profession that had more dignity than “stripper”. The term comes from the Greek “ecdysis” meaning “to molt”.
6…Place of honor..DAIS
Ultimately our word “dais”, meaning “raised platform for a speaker”, comes from the Latin “discus” meaning a “disk-shaped object”. I guess that many a dais was disc-shaped …
7…__ pro nobis..ORA
“Ora pro nobis” translates from Latin as “pray for us”. It is a common phrase used in the Roman Catholic tradition and is often shortened to “OPN”.
8…Pair in many languages..GENDERS
About one quarter of the world’s languages collect nouns into genders, of which there are usually two or three. The most common gender divisions are masculine, feminine and neuter. Modern English really does not have grammatical genders, although there are some hangovers from Old English such as “he, she and it”, “tiger and tigress” and “duke and duchess”.
9…Britain’s Yeoman Warders, familiarly..BEEFEATERS
“Beefeater” is the popular name for a Yeoman Warder of the Tower of London. The official responsibility of a beefeater is to guard any prisoners in the Tower, and to look after the crown jewels. But the cadre of beefeaters actually spend their day guiding tours around the magnificent castle. No one really knows where the origin of the name “beefeater”. Any time you are in London, be sure to check out the Tower. As you leave the Tower, turn left and walk down to the river. There you can catch a water taxi to Westminster which will take you by St. Paul’s and drop you off at the Houses of Parliament, just around the corner from Westminster Abbey. A great day out …
10…”Hyperbole and a Half” blogger Brosh..ALLIE
“Hyperbole and a Half” is a webcomic cum blog written by Allie Brosh since 2009. Brosh used some of her blog posts as the basis for a “Hyperbole and a Half” book that was released in 2013.
14…__ XING..PED
Pedestrian Crossing (Ped Xing)
21…”The Good Wife” crisis manager Gold..ELI
“The Good Wife” is a legal drama showing on CBS starring Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick, a litigator who returns to practicing the law after spending 13 years as a stay-at-home mom. I binge-watched a few series of the show some time back. I find it to be well-written, with a great cast and great acting …
23…Rx..MED
There seems to some uncertainty about the origin of the symbol “Rx” that’s used for a medical prescription. One explanation is that it comes from the astrological sign for Jupiter, a symbol put on prescriptions in days of old to invoke Jupiter’s blessing to help a patient recover.
28…Yellow Pokémon species that ultimately evolves to Alakazam..ABRA
“Pokémon” is the second-biggest video game franchise in the world, second only to the “Mario” franchise. “Pokémon” is a contraction of “Pocket Monsters”.
29…Roaring group..PRIDE
A group of lions is known as a “pride” of lions. It’s possible that the term “pride” in this context derives from the Latin “praeda” meaning “prey”.
30…What “love is like,” in a 1960s hit..LEMON TREE
The 1965 Trini Lopez hit “Lemon Tree” is a folk song that was written by Will Holt earlier in the sixties. Holt’s song is based on a Brazilian folk song “Meu limão, meu limoeiro”.
When I was just a lad of ten, my father said to me,
“Come here and take a lesson from the lovely lemon tree.”
“Don’t put your faith in love, my boy,” my father said to me,
“I fear you’ll find that love is like the lovely lemon tree.”
32…No small feat..COUP
A coup d’état (often just “coup”) is the sudden overthrow of a government, and comes from the French for “stroke of state”. The Swiss-German word “putsch” is sometimes used instead of “coup”, with “Putsch” translating literally as “sudden blow”. We often use the shortened version “coup” to describe a successful and unexpected accomplishment.
34…Bare..AU NATUREL
“Au naturel” is a French phrase, simply meaning “in a natural state”. We use the term in the same sense, and also to mean “nude”.
38…Bad news metaphor..SAD NOTE
If we end an address with bad news, we end on a “sad note”.
39…Eponymous weapon..UZI
The first Uzi submachine gun was designed in the late 1940s by Major Uziel “Uzi” Gal of the Israel Defense Forces, who gave his name to the gun.
42…Star Wars, initially..SDI
One of the positive outcomes of President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, also “Star Wars”) was a change in US defense strategy. The new approach was to use missiles to destroy incoming hostile weapons, rather than using missiles to destroy the nation attacking the country. The former doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction went by the apt acronym of MAD …
44…Godzilla ally, at times..RODAN
Rodan is a flying pterosaur appearing in a series of Japanese monster movies, created by the same studio that had earlier come up with Godzilla.
Godzilla is a Japanese creation. The first in a very long series of films was released way back in 1954. The original name in Japanese was “Gojira”, but this was changed to Godzilla for audiences outside of Japan. “Gojira” is a combination of “gorira” and “kujira”, the Japanese words for gorilla and whale, apt because Godzilla is a big ape-like creature that came out of the deep.
46…Prefix with tropic..HELIO-
Many plants grow towards the light, usually the light from the sun. That behavior is known as heliotropism.
47…FDR bought the first one in 1941..E BOND
Series E Savings Bonds were introduced in 1941, just before the start of WWII, as “defense bonds”. After the attack on Pearl Harbor they became known as “war bonds”.
48…Champagne holder..FLUTE
The narrow bowl of a champagne flute is preferred over the wide bowl of a champagne coupe as the smaller surface area of the wine helps retain its carbonation.
49…Kerfuffles..TO-DOS
“Kerfuffle” comes from the Scottish “curfuffle”, with both words meaning “disruption”.
51…University of Latvia locale..RIGA
Riga is the capital city of Latvia. The historical center of Riga is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, declared as such because of the city’s magnificent examples of Art Nouveau architecture.
52…Lineup member, hopefully..PERP
Perpetrator (perp.)
What we know in American English as a “police lineup” is referred to as an “identity parade” in British English.
53…Delivery pros..OBS
Obstetrics specialist (Ob)
55…__ populi..VOX
The Latin phrase “vox populi” translates as “voice of the people”. The expression is used in the world of broadcasting to describe interviews with members of the public.
Complete List of Clues and Answers
Across
1…Alaska’s Alaskan Malamute, for one..STATE DOG
9…Have rounds all around..BARHOP
15…Locks maintenance..HAIR CARE
16…Tennyson’s “lily maid of Astolat”..ELAINE
17…Volcanic glass..OBSIDIAN
18…Omitted from a speech?..ELIDED
19…Calms..ALLAYS
20…Spells out..DEFINES
22…__ United: English soccer team..LEEDS
23…Serious order shortage?..MELEE
24…Ideal: Abbr…STD
26…Where Andorra is..IBERIA
28…__-American..AFRO
29…Picketing displays..PLACARDS
33…Iranian city known for its carpets..TABRIZ
35…Rest..REPOSE
36…Where Andorra is..EUROPE
37…Ascribe (to)..IMPUTE
38…Few are chosen..SURNAMES
40…Hamlet..DORP
41…”Moulin Rouge” (1952) co-star, familiarly..ZSA ZSA
43…Storm dir…ENE
44…__-wip..REDDI
45…Underhanded undertaking..THEFT
50…Bonus..THROW-IN
52…Southwestern native..PUEBLO
53…Hyphenated frozen food brand..ORE-IDA
54…Ear-piercing..OVERLOUD
56…Analgesic rub..BENGAY
57…Gave the business..TORE INTO
58…Auto options..SEDANS
59…Blows..EXPLODES
Down
1…Marine hazard..SHOAL
2…China setting..TABLE
3…Theater access..AISLE
4…F-A-C, e.g…TRIAD
5…One barely working?..ECDYSIAST
6…Place of honor..DAIS
7…__ pro nobis..ORA
8…Pair in many languages..GENDERS
9…Britain’s Yeoman Warders, familiarly..BEEFEATERS
10…”Hyperbole and a Half” blogger Brosh..ALLIE
11…__ check..RAIN
12…Avoids being seen by..HIDES FROM
13…Private sign?..ONE STRIPE
14…__ XING..PED
21…”The Good Wife” crisis manager Gold..ELI
23…Rx..MED
25…Drops off..DOZES
27…Some house-to-garage links..BREEZEWAYS
28…Yellow Pokémon species that ultimately evolves to Alakazam..ABRA
29…Roaring group..PRIDE
30…What “love is like,” in a 1960s hit..LEMON TREE
31…Take in..APPREHEND
32…No small feat..COUP
34…Bare..AU NATUREL
38…Bad news metaphor..SAD NOTE
39…Eponymous weapon..UZI
42…Star Wars, initially..SDI
44…Godzilla ally, at times..RODAN
46…Prefix with tropic..HELIO-
47…FDR bought the first one in 1941..E BOND
48…Champagne holder..FLUTE
49…Kerfuffles..TO-DOS
51…University of Latvia locale..RIGA
52…Lineup member, hopefully..PERP
53…Delivery pros..OBS
55…__ populi..VOX
OK, then. Gave up after about :20, and only half done. I knew this wouldn’t be pretty coming from Ed Sessa. There’s something psychological about Saturday grids that I can’t overcome. The only thing I came come up with is the vagueness of the clues, because the answers certainly aren’t *that* esoteric. I think I’ll just finish my scone and tea and get ready for a long day of canoeing.
DORP?
DNF. Couldn’t get going on anything past the lower left hand corner, especially given my two wrong answers I picked up along the way. I agree with Willie, it’s the vagueness of the clues in at least getting a start in some sections. I’ll try to finish it later to practice but still …
Working on the big WSJ and LAT Sun now in my paper. Been way behind this week given summer plans and the number of crosswords I’ve been able to get and try.
And I DNF the WSJ 21×21 worse than Thursday. Guess lack of knowledge and enough screwballedness to not be able to get good crosses to even make good proposals at the answers. Like with Sessa, can’t really do the grid if you are left with nothing to go on.
Like I say every once in a while: There’s those times when I DNF enough stuff (3 in a row now), that I’m reminded that I really can’t do crossword puzzles.
DNF. This is a puzzle for people who actually know what they’re doing with these things. OBSIDIAN and ECDYSIAST intersecting was downright cruel. DORP rather than Dane for Hamlet was as well. THROWIN ALLIE and ELAINE intersecting as well. Tough end to an otherwise good week of puzzles.
Best
LOVE IS LIKE A HEATWAVE
DNF
Ridiculous. Very unsatisfying nonsense – I have to admire those who even try, and even more those who complete. If I see Ed Sessa again, I won’t waste one second.
You said it better than I could
Just could not get “melee” for the answer to 23 Across: Serious order shortage. I’m still not feeling too bad as I thought about halfway through this thing I would never get it even close to solved.
See you all tomorrow, or Monday, depending on when I can get to the Sunday grid.
@anon: Hand up on DORP … new one on me, too. This puzzle was sho-nuff-Sat’dy-tough, and almost beat me (which ain’t sayin’ much, but still … ) I pretty much worked from the center out, starting with the gimme UZI. That Z led right to ZSA ZSA, which in turn gave me BREEZEWAY to get me going. Cluing wasn’t stellar, but the crosses gave me enough to suss out the head-scratchers. Overall, a real challenger, Mr. Sessa!
Pretty tough puzzle. Started out well guessing BREEZEWAY and ZSAZSA but made unrecoverable errors: DANE for DORP and CHORD for TRIAD which made it impossible to finish without cheating. Agree with others that DORP is almost cruel. Also crossing TABRIZ with ABRA is just not fair 🙂
All of the above!
I’m not ready to condemn Ed Sessa for such a tough grid. He does these routinely for the NYT. I just think he was a little too rough on the LAT crowd with this one today. Last full day in DC tomorrow; only plans are the Second City comedy troop’s “Almost Accurate Guide to America” at the Kennedy Center. Then back to the southwestern furnace. I just hope the plane has enough lift on final approach.
Bill, the formatting of the new site is getting comfortable. You did a great job with this.
Hi y’all! I guess I’m proud to have gotten as far as I did with this one; finished more than 80%. It’s probably because I worked on it off and on thru the day.
I did have DORP correct but no idea what it was.
Who says “AFRO American??”
Brutal grid, but it kinda kept my attention.
My Saturday technique is working, sort of: I just throw letters at the puzzle and see what sticks.
Hoping never to see ECDYSIAST again, dressed or otherwise…
Sweet dreams~~?