Constructed by: Martin Ashwood-Smith & George Barany
Edited by: Rich Norris
Quicklink to a complete list of today’s clues and answers
Quicklink to comments
Theme: None
Bill’s time: 16m 08s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
14…Freezer bar with Sir Isaac Lime and Alexander the Grape flavors..OTTER POP
Otter Pops are plastic tubes filled with frozen fruit juice. Well, Otter Pops are usually sold at room temperature and are frozen by the consumer before consumption.
15…Aleichem who created Tevye..SHOLEM
“Shalom aleichem” translates from Hebrew as “peace be upon you”. Sholem Aleichem was also the pen name of Yiddish author Solomon Rabinovich, who wrote the stories about Tevye the Dairyman who inspired the musical “Fiddler on the Roof”.
19…Sea lion, e.g…EARED SEAL
There are three families of seals. The first is the walrus family, the second the eared seals (like sea lions), and thirdly the earless seals (like elephant seals).
20…Galeón cargo..ORO
In Spanish, a “galeón” (galleon) might carry “oro” (gold).
21…Etym…DERIV
The etymology of a word is the derivation of that word.
24…Confession starter..MEA…
Many Roman Catholics are very familiar with the Latin phrase “mea culpa” meaning “my fault”, as it is used in the Latin Mass. The additional term “mea maxima culpa” translates as “my most grievous fault”.
29…Light carrier..FIBER OPTIC CABLE
Optical fibers are lengths of glass or plastic that are slightly thicker than a human hair. They are usually bundled into cables, and then used for transmission of data signals. Optical transmission has advantages over electrical transmission, especially in terms of interference and loss of signal strength.
35…Text ending in Panama?..A MAN, A PLAN, A CANAL …
The three most famous palindromes in English have to be:
- Able was I ere I saw Elba
- A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!
- Madam, I’m Adam
One of my favorite words is “Aibohphobia”, although it doesn’t appear in the dictionary and is a joke term. “Aibohphobia” is a great way to describe a fear of palindromes, by creating a palindrome out of the suffix “-phobia”.
38…Medicare card fig…SSN
President Obama signed “The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act” in April of 2015. Among other things, the bill calls for the removal of Social Security Numbers (SSNs) from Medicare cards, a move designed to protect cardholders from identity theft.
39…Go down..SET
The sun sets, goes down, for example.
40…__ Banos, California..LOS
Los Banos isn’t too far from here, and lies in the San Joaquin Valley of California. The original name of the city was “Los Baños”, the Spanish for “the baths”, a homage to the nearby source of water, the San Joaquin River. Even though the city’s name is spelled without the tilde, it is still pronounced “los banyos”. Go figure …
41…Spring time..APRIL
The exact etymology of “April”, the fourth month of our year, seems to be uncertain. The ancient Romans called it “mensis Aprilis”, which roughly translated as “opening month. The suggestion is that April is the month in which fruits, flowers and animals “open” their life cycles.
44…Courses for coll. credit..APS
The Advanced Placement (AP) program, as many of us parents know, offers college-level courses to kids who are still in high school. After being tested at the end of the courses, successful students receive credits that count towards a college degree.
52…Berkshire attraction for race fans..ASCOT
Ascot Racecourse is used for thoroughbred horse racing, and is located in the town of Ascot, Berkshire in England. The course is located just six miles from Windsor Castle, and is often visited by members of the royal family. Royal Ascot is the name given to the most famous race meeting in the year, at which members of the royal family attend each day, arriving in horse-drawn carriages amidst great ceremony.
57…Mae West’s final film..SEXTETTE
“Sextette” is a 1978 comedy-musical film starring the fabulous Mae West. The movie is based the play “Sex”, which West herself wrote and starred in on Broadway way back in 1926. “Sextette” was to West’s last film appearance, as she passed away two years later in 1980. From what I’ve read, it’s not a great movie at all, despite an outstanding cast that includes Timothy Dalton, Dom DeLuise, Tony Curtis, Ringo Starr, George Hamilton, Alice Cooper, Keith Moon Walter Pidgeon, Regis Philbin and George Raft. Whew!
59…Get smashed..TIE ONE ON
“To tie one on” is a slang expression meaning “to get drunk”.
Down
1…__ voce..SOTTO
“Sotto voce” literally means “under the voice” in Italian, and describes the deliberate lowering of one’s voice for emphasis.
3…Unborn, after “in”..UTERO
“In utero” is a Latin term meaning “in the uterus”. The Latin “uterus” translates as both “womb” and “belly”. The Latin word was derived from the Greek “hystera” also meaning womb, which gives us the words “hysterectomy”, and “hysterical”.
5…Algonquian language..CREE
The Cree are one of the largest groups of Native Americans on the continent. In the US most of the Cree nation live in Montana on a reservation shared with the Ojibwe people. In Canada most of the Cree live in Manitoba.
6…Credit fig…APR
Annual percentage rate (APR)
9…Sardine cousin..SHAD
The shad is also known as the river herring. The eggs (roe) of the female shad are prized as a delicacy in the Eastern US.
Sardines are oily fish related to herrings. Sardines are also known as pilchards, although in the UK “sardine” is a noun reserved for a young pilchard. Very confusing …
10…D.C. in-crowd..POLS
Politicians (pols.)
11…”__ awake at night”: “Pretty Boy” lyric..I LIE
“Pretty Boy” is a song released by the Norwegian pop duo M2M.
M2M were a pop duo from Norway comprising Marion Raven and Marit Larsen. The pair’s friendship began when they were only five years old, and they formed their first band, called “Hubba Bubba”, when they were at the ripe old age of eight years. At 12, they released an album for children under the name “Marion & Mariot”. It was this early name for the duo that evolved into “M2M”. The pair disbanded, with both now pursuing solo careers.
12…Name on the 1984 album “My Kind of Country”..REBA
Reba McEntire is a country music singer and television actress. McEntire starred in her own sitcom called “Reba” that aired on the WB and the CW cable channels from 2001 to 2007.
13…__ Sinclair, protagonist of Hesse’s “Demian”..EMIL
“Demían: The Story of Emil Sinclair’s Youth” is a coming-of-age novel by Hermann Hesse. When first published in 1919, Hesse used the pen name “Emil Sinclair”, the name of the story’s narrator.
15…”The Office” star..STEVE CARELL
The actor Steve Carell has achieved great success on both television and in movies. On the small screen, Carell came to prominence on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and then of course as the lead in the US version of “The Office”. On the big screen he starred in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin”, “Evan Almighty” and my personal favorite, ”Dan in Real Life”, starring opposite the wonderful Juliette Binoche.
22…French governing group..SENAT
In French, the “Parlement français” (French parliament) is divided into the “Sénat” (Senate) and the “Assemblée nationale” (National Assembly).
23…Qom inhabitants..IRANIS
Qom (also Qum) is a city in Iran located about 100 miles southwest of Tehran. Qom is a holy city in the Shi’a Islam tradition, and a pilgrimage destination.
26…Marryin’ Sam presided over his wedding..ABNER
Marryin’ Sam is a character in the “Li’l Abner” comic strip. Marryin’ Sam is a travelling preacher who is known for performing $2 weddings.
“Li’l Abner” was created and drawn by Al Capp for over 43 years starting in 1934. Al Capp stopped producing the strip in 1977, largely due to illness (he died from emphysema two years later). As the strip finished up, he went so far as to apologize to his long-standing fans, saying that he should have stopped 3-4 years earlier as he felt that the quality of his work had gone down in those latter years.
28…Big name in backpacks..KELTY
Kelty is company based in Boulder, Colorado that manufactures backpacks, tents and sleeping bags. The business was founded by Dick Kelty, who many consider to be the inventor of the aluminum-framed backpack.
30…Muslim clerics..IMAMS
An imam is a Muslim leader, often the person in charge of a mosque or perhaps a Muslim community.
33…Bite with un aperitivo..TAPA
In Spain, the “aperitivo” is a snack that usually includes drinks, and that takes place before lunch. It sounds like a “warmer upper” for lunch!
“Tapa” is the Spanish word for “lid”, and there is no clear rationale for why this word came to be used for an appetizer. There are lots of explanations cited, all of which seem to involve the temporary covering of one’s glass of wine with a plate or item of food to either preserve the wine or give one extra space at the table.
34…Willie of “Eight Is Enough”..AAMES
Willie Aames is an actor from Newport Beach, California. Aames is best known for playing Tommy Bradford on the TV comedy “Eight is Enough” that originally aired in the seventies.
43…JFK Library architect..IM PEI
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library is a splendid structure located right beside the Boston campus of the University of Massachusetts. President Kennedy chose the location for his library just one week before he was assassinated. The library itself was designed by architect I. M. Pei.
44…Less than right?..ACUTE
In geometry, there are several classes of angles:
- acute (< 90 degrees)
- right (= 90 degrees)
- obtuse (> 90 degrees and < 180 degrees)
- straight (180 degrees)
- reflex (> 180 degrees)
45…__ Alegre, Brazil..PORTO
Pôrto Alegre is the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil. The city was founded in 1772 by immigrants from the Azores, and later received a big influx of immigrants from Germany, Italy and Poland. Most of the residents of Pôrto Alegre today are descendants of those Europeans.
46…Rembrandt contemporary..STEEN
Jan Steen was a Dutch painter active in the Dutch Golden Age, the 17th century. Steen’s most famous work is probably “The Feast of Saint Nicholas”, which you can see at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
The celebrated Dutch painter’s full name was Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (sometimes Ryn). Rembrandt is perhaps most appreciated for his portraits, and left the world a remarkable collection of self-portraits.
49…Sharp brand introduced in 1977..ATRA
Fortunately for crossword setters, the Atra razor was introduced by Gillette in 1977. The Atra was sold as the Contour in some markets and its derivative products are still around today.
50…Lou Gehrig’s number..FOUR
Baseball legend Lou Gehrig was known as a powerhouse. He was a big hitter and just kept on playing. Gehrig broke the record for the most consecutive number of games played, and he stills holds the record for the most career grand slams. His durability earned him the nickname “The Iron Horse”. Sadly, he died in 1941 at 37-years-old suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), an illness we now call “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”. The New Yankees retired the number four on 4th of July 1939 in his honor, making Lou Gehrig the first baseball player to have a number retired.
53…Acronymous WWII gun..STEN
The STEN gun is an iconic armament that was used by the British military. The name STEN is an acronym. The S and the T comes from the name of the gun’s designers, Shepherd and Turpin. The EN comes from the Enfield brand name, which in turn comes from the Enfield location where the guns were manufactured for the Royal Small Arms Factory, an enterprise owned by the British government.
55…Pink-slip..AXE
The term “pink-slip” can be used as a verb meaning “to terminate an employee”. No one really seems to know for sure where the term originated, but there are lots of stories.
Complete List of Clues and Answers
Across
1…Line at the supermarket..SOUP CANS
9…Tapering part..SPIRE
14…Freezer bar with Sir Isaac Lime and Alexander the Grape flavors..OTTER POP
15…Aleichem who created Tevye..SHOLEM
16…It’s airtight..THE PERFECT ALIBI
18…Short and sweet..TERSE
19…Sea lion, e.g…EARED SEAL
20…Galeón cargo..ORO
21…Etym…DERIV
22…Base address..SIR
24…Confession starter..MEA…
26…”Just __”..ASK
29…Light carrier..FIBER OPTIC CABLE
35…Text ending in Panama?..A MAN, A PLAN, A CANAL …
36…Eviction consequence..VACANT APARTMENT
37…Investment in a relationship..EMOTIONAL ENERGY
38…Medicare card fig…SSN
39…Go down..SET
40…__ Banos, California..LOS
41…Spring time..APRIL
44…Courses for coll. credit..APS
47…Teachers’ lounge..STAFF ROOM
52…Berkshire attraction for race fans..ASCOT
54…Retire..PUT OUT TO PASTURE
56…Charge..ONRUSH
57…Mae West’s final film..SEXTETTE
58…Lacerations..TEARS
59…Get smashed..TIE ONE ON
Down
1…__ voce..SOTTO
2…Remaining..OTHER
3…Unborn, after “in”..UTERO
4…Fires (up)..PEPS
5…Algonquian language..CREE
6…Credit fig…APR
7…Credit card come-on..NO FEE
8…Fishing tool..SPEAR
9…Sardine cousin..SHAD
10…D.C. in-crowd..POLS
11…”__ awake at night”: “Pretty Boy” lyric..I LIE
12…Name on the 1984 album “My Kind of Country”..REBA
13…__ Sinclair, protagonist of Hesse’s “Demian”..EMIL
15…”The Office” star..STEVE CARELL
17…Record holder?..CRIMINAL
21…Be affected by gravity..DROP TO EARTH
22…French governing group..SENAT
23…Qom inhabitants..IRANIS
25…Bankbook ID..ACCT NO
26…Marryin’ Sam presided over his wedding..ABNER
27…Word on the street..SLANG
28…Big name in backpacks..KELTY
29…Pets..FAVES
30…Muslim clerics..IMAMS
31…Strips for brunch..BACON
32…Nursery item..PLANT POT
33…Bite with un aperitivo..TAPA
34…Willie of “Eight Is Enough”..AAMES
42…All-night bar?..ROOST
43…JFK Library architect..IM PEI
44…Less than right?..ACUTE
45…__ Alegre, Brazil..PORTO
46…Rembrandt contemporary..STEEN
47…Blemish..SPOT
48…Harmony..TUNE
49…Sharp brand introduced in 1977..ATRA
50…Lou Gehrig’s number..FOUR
51…Stir..FUSS
52…On the subject of..AS TO
53…Acronymous WWII gun..STEN
55…Pink-slip..AXE
This was very tough for me. So many long answers and not familiar with so many of the shorter clues. I have been carrying around backpacks for years and somehow never heard of Kelty.
How could tapas be the snack before lunch? Never could understand this. In pics, it always looks like a giant brunch.
I love Steve Carell and have not seen “Dan in Real Life” yet. I thought his performance in “The Big Short” was amazing.
Definitely looking forward to an easier puzzle.
Martin Ashwood-Smith (one of the co-constructors here):
I’d like to reply to your KELTY comment. Before we used that word, I actually polled (last year) a fairly large number of solvers about the suitability and fairness of the brand name KELTY for a hard puzzle (which of course this is intended to be). The results were an overwhelming “Yes”. Actually over 95% of respondents said that they thought it was dead easy, since Kelty was/is the “Cadillac” of camping equipment, are a very large American company. Moreover, Mr. Kelty invented the aluminum-framed backpack, that, for decades revolutionized back-packing/hiking. That plus the very high number of Google hits convinced us (and the editors) that KELTY was fair game for, at the very least, a medium to hard puzzle. Also, I should point out to solvers who are/were unfamiliar with KELTY, we made very sure that the “K” was fairly crossed. In this case it was crossed with the “K” of ASK, which was given an extremely easy clue. Therefore even if KELTY, perchance was problematic for a solver, we tried to make sure that all five letters of KELTY were crossed fairly, and in one case easily.
As a solver, as well as a constructor, I am well aware of what were once called “dirty double crossers”: squares which are impossible to get because BOTH words are very hard. I humbly suggest that this is not the case here. Nevertheless, I’m (genuinely) sorry that KETLY stumped you. For as a constructor, my job is to stump you… but only temporarily. So in that respect, regardless of my defense of KELTY, I am the one at fault, not you. And please believe me that your feedback, even if it’s not overly positive, it is noted, and taken seriously.
Regards,
-Martin
This finally came together when I a) figured out that it wasn’t a “break” room that those teachers got away from kids like me in and changed it to a “staff” room and 4 Down was NOT “revs” up but finally saw it was “peps” up and that was that. Challenging like Saturday ought to be, but doable.
Hope everyone has a nice weekend without floods, fires or traffic nightmares impinging upon them.
DNF. As someone said before, stuff like this is for people who actually know how to do crossword grids, though I did get almost all of the top 1/3. I don’t know if/when I’ll get to my other usual grids today or not. Going to try to make something special out of this day somehow.
Strange in that I got the long answers but struggled with some of the shorter answers. Finally had to do 2 Googles to cheat to the finish line. One rather comical error – I had “yea” rather than MEA. I was thinking something like yea I did it…Latin never occured to me…duh. That left “criyinal” for “Record holder?”. Thought it was just something I’d never heard of that stored old albums – some incarnation of “annual”. Yikes. Do these things make you look foolish at times or what?
Best –
Done in by SHOLEM/EMIL/I LIE and APS/ACUTE/SEXTETTE.
I really flunked out on yesterday’s “ring” theme.
But……. I.M. PEI didn’t get me this time.
“Ha! Take that!” she said smugly.
Just completed the weekend WSJ “big” grid. It wasn’t all that difficult, although I didn’t set any world speed records in completing it. I enjoy these larger format puzzles, mostly because I enjoy being lost in the solving of them. It really transports me away from everything else. I imagine it’s what those who meditate feel like. It really relaxes me while I concentrate on just the clue in front of me as my minds chews on the possible answers.
FWIW as I mentioned some time ago, I’ve been just doing LAT & WSJ, then Newsday and Longo’s 21x21s on the weekend. Of course, throw in the random NYT grid when I can get them. Trying for commensurate challenge I suppose, since I did other things before I took up the WSJ stuff. I’ll probably end up scaling back at least two of the 21x21s simply because they get tiring to me (and sometimes rather more pedantic than I can tolerate). Lately, I’ve been trying out CrosSynergy stuff just to see what that’s about, but mostly that hasn’t been too thrilling and I’ll probably drop most of it soon when I get to see all of the constructors at least once.
Sheesh… I’m all over this place right now! Sorry for the intrusion!
Regarding your CrosSynergy (Washington Post) comment, as a long time CS and the remaining founding member of the group (says me, ever so ‘umbly!). I have to say that our basic mandate is to create puzzles of mainly Tuesday-level (by NYT) standards of difficulty. This, we’re pretty much locked into right now, since our main client, The Washington Post wants this general difficulty-level (and so do most of our solvers). It seems to be the sweet spot for the greatest number of our and the WP’s solvers. But we are well aware that some solvers wish for trickier, often harder puzzles.
Also, regarding our 15×15 unthemed “Sunday Challenge” crosswords, we have been slowly upping the difficulty level. Although not usually to the NYT nor LAT levels of themeless (15×15) difficulty. (Although there is the occasional exception). However, you will still find many wide-open grids, including the occasional quad-stack and highly original-looking grids, but on average, filled with easier words.
We (although, I cannot speak officially for our group), at CS, hope that many solvers who still find the LAT and NYT 15x15s daunting, will find at CS and the WP, similar grids (with the same fill-quality) but with slightly easier clues.
If you do unsubscibe, you can still find all of the puzzles either in the printed Washington Post or interactively solvable on their website… provided your wiling to endure yet another “Axe For Men commercial for the 10,000th time 😉
[I’ll now leave you all MAS-free!]
Cheers,
-MAS
Hello Martin, and thank you for taking time out to contribute your thoughts here. It’s always welcome to hear from constructors regarding their work. Even more so, the opportunity to generically talk about grid solving (as opposed to specific grid focus as this blog and most others do) – it’s amazing there seems to be no place active where you can do that in any capacity.
As for CS grids, I would (mostly) agree with your assessment. Mon-Sat seem to be of fairly level difficulty (NYT Tue-Wed), the exact difficulty level depending on the constructor at hand. Hence, why I am waiting to see all the constructors at least once. As for the Sunday grid, my suggestion is for the constructors on that day to feel free to experiment and play a little too. But as you may have surmised, especially if you’ve read back on my blog comments, my skill level right now is around Thu-Fri LAT or Wed-Thu NYT with the occasional mess-up liable to happen at any day of the week. So in a way I’ve outgrown most of what I’ve seen so far in terms of challenge.
Per what I wrote here, CS seems to have a good market niche in those terms, along with Newsday. A good place to fill reputably, especially since USA Today had the theme theft scandal. In that sense, the CS grids all seem to be pretty well done, and I wouldn’t hesitate suggesting it as a “middle point” between the “easy” grids and LAT/NYT if I run into someone that feels “slammed” by those who want something more challenging than “easy” grids.
As far as specific critiques go, I’ve done CS grids since June 5, and have my observations logged. Since I don’t want to impose upon Bill any more than we already have with the WSJ grids, if you are interested, please feel free to let me know of an alternative place to talk and I can definitely share my thoughts.
Again, thank you for your observations.
16:45, no errors, on my iPad. A pleasant puzzle. I had somehow managed never to hear of Otter Pops, which gave me pause for a bit. This blog has made me aware of the WSJ puzzle. I downloaded one, but haven’t tried it yet, and I’m a bit reluctant to do so, given the number of puzzles of various sorts that I’m already doing every day. Maybe the web site lets you do a few and then insists that you subscribe? (I rather hope so, as it would save me from getting hooked on yet another puzzle.)
Dave: Actually all the WSJ puzzles are free to do. Most do them in either PDF or PUZ as the online interface is pretty messed up (aren’t most all of them?). As the LAT and NYT goes, as long as you know where to look you can find the entire run in PUZ format. As well, most of the PDFs remain if you find the right spot on the site.
As of late last year, their puzzles run Mon-Sat. They follow a generally typical difficulty curve. Monday is easiest (about a Tue or Wed LAT), Thursday is hardest. Friday is Meta Puzzle Day. Those grids vary in difficulty from moderate to hard, but have a meta puzzle of some kind (*) attached to it along with a small drawing for a super-special WSJ mug for those that can enter with the right answer. Saturday is 21×21 day, which is usually anywhere from moderate to very difficult depending on the constructor. Of course, if there’s anything else you’re curious about, let me know.
(*) – I’ve been trying them, but I’m nowhere near acing them. But I have offered in the past to suggest some things on solving them if anyone wants to hear.
Hey Dave, nicely done!
Mr. Ashwood-Smith, nice to see you here, and I appreciate your comments! I also had never heard of KELTY, tho I got it through crosses. Maybe they’re too expensive for me —
DNF, tho this seemed like a doable Saturday; my east coast friends got me started on the NYT Sunday puzzle, and that took up a lot of my puzzle-doing brain cells (haven’t finished that one — yet.)
OH I FORGOT re: REM song yesterday: yes, it’s not a happy love song but actually the “prop” is the song itself, not the lover. “A simple prop to occupy my mind,” as in, write a song to have something to do, to keep him company, now that the person is gone.
Sweet dreams~~™
Hey Carrie, you’re welcome to call me “MAS” (or “Martin). Most sovers do…
🙂
-MAS
“That’s “solvers” not “sovers”. So much for my spelling expertise or lack thereof.
Talk to you all next time around!
-MAS
Hi there, Martin.
Apologies for not acknowledging your visit before now (I’ve been on vacation for over a week now in Ireland … time zone issues). Thanks so much for dropping by and fielding questions. I’ve been an admirer of your puzzles for some years now. Please say “hi” to George for me. I had the pleasure of chatting with him on a couple of occasions at this year’s ACPT in Stamford.
Looking forward to your next offering, Martin!