Constructed by: Greg Johnson
Edited by: Rich Norris
Quicklink to a complete list of today’s clues and answers
Quicklink to comments
Theme: None
Bill’s time: 10m 12s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Annual July 1 celebration marking the 1867 signing of the British North America Act : CANADA DAY
Canada’s national day is known as Canada Day, and has been held on July 1st annually since 1879. The holiday was originally referred to as Dominion Day, and recognizes the date in 1867 when the British colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were united into one dominion within the British Empire using the name “Canada”. Dominion Day became Canada Day in 1982.
10. Some Australian carvings : ABORIGINAL ART
Even though the term “aborigine” is often associated with the indigenous peoples of Australia, in the widest sense “aboriginal” refers to any indigenous race. The Aborigines were a people in Roman mythology, the oldest inhabitants of central Italy.
17. Old Andorran currency : PESETA
The peseta is the former currency of Spain, and the de facto currency of Spain’s neighbor, the Principality of Andorra. The peseta was replaced by the euro in 2002.
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 …
19. Dickensian denouncement : BAH!
The classic 1843 novella “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens has left us with a few famous phrases and words. Firstly, it led to popular use of the phrase “Merry Christmas”, and secondly it gave us the word “scrooge” meaning a miserly person. And thirdly, everyone knows that Ebenezer Scrooge uttered the words “Bah! Humbug!”.
23. Get out of Dodge : FLEE
The phrase “get out of Dodge”, meaning “scram, flee”, is a reference to Dodge City, Kansas. The phrase became a cliché on TV westerns (mainly “Gunsmoke”, I think) and was then popularized by teenagers in the sixties and seventies.
24. Australian Stock Horses, perhaps : POLO PONIES
The sport of polo originated in Iran, possibly before the 5th century BC. Polo was used back them primarily as a training exercise for cavalry units.
The Australian Stock Horse is a breed that can be traced back to the very first batch of nine horses that were imported into Australia in 1788. From that time onwards, horses were bred for stamina and strength in the Australian environment, with one result being today’s Australian Stock Horse.
29. Yusufislam.com musician : CAT STEVENS
The singer-songwriter that I mainly know by the name “Cat Stevens” has had a few monikers in his life. He was born in London as Steven Georgiou and adopted the stage name “Steve Adams” in the mid-sixties. A year later he changed his stage name to “Cat Stevens”, with which he had most of success. During this time he had hits with classic songs like “Wild World”, “Moonshadow” and “Morning Has Broken”. He also wrote the song “The First Cut Is the Deepest”, which became a hit for four different artists. In 1977, Stevens converted to Islam and took the name Yusuf Islam in 1978.
30. Having a short cut : BOB-HAIRED
A “bob cut” is a short hairstyle in which the hair is cut straight around the head, at about the line of the jaw. Back in the 1570s a “bob” was the name given to a horse’s tail that was cut short, and about a century later it was being used to describe short hair on humans. The style became very popular with women in the early 1900s (as worn by actress Clara Bow, for example), with the fashion dying out in the thirties. The style reemerged in the sixties around the time the Beatles introduced their “mop tops”, with Vidal Sassoon leading the way in styling women’s hair in a bob cut again. Personally, I like it …
31. Like home, say : FOUR-LETTER
“Home” is a four-letter word, a word comprising four letters.
40. 4/8/74 record breaker : AARON
Hank Aaron hit his 715th career home run on 8th April 1974, breaking the record of 714 career home runs held by Babe Ruth. Aaron went on to hit 755 home runs prior to his retirement from the game in 1976.
41. Brie who played Trudy on “Mad Men” : ALISON
Alison Brie is an actress best known for playing Trudy Campbell, the wife of Pete Campbell, on the TV drama “Mad Men”.
45. Home Depot work apparel : APRONS
The Home Depot is the largest home improvement retail chain in the US, ahead of Lowe’s. Home Depot opened their first two stores in 1979. The average store size if just over 100,000 square feet. The largest Home Depot outlet is in Union, New Jersey, and it is 225,000 square feet in size. That’s a lot of nuts and bolts …
46. Spicy meatless dish : VEGETABLE CHILI
The full name of the dish that is often called simply “chili” is “chili con carne”, Spanish for “peppers with meat”. The dish was created by immigrants from the Spanish Canary Islands in the city of San Antonio, Texas (a city which the islanders founded). The San Antonio Chili Stand was a popular attraction at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and that stand introduced the dish to the rest of America and to the world.
50. Legacy Hartsfield-Jackson tenant : DELTA AIRLINES
Delta was the world’s largest airline for a while (after merging with Northwest Airlines in 2008) and is also the oldest airline still operating in the US. Delta’s roots go back to 1924 before it started carrying passengers and was called Huff Daland Dusters, a crop dusting company based in Macon, Georgia. The name Delta Air Service was introduced in 1928.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the world’s busiest airport, as measured by passenger traffic. Atlanta has had that distinction since 1998, and was the world’s busiest in terms of take-offs and landings from 2005 until 2013. Over 50% of Atlanta’s traffic comes from Delta Airlines.
Down
1. Beardie, for one : COLLIE
The bearded collie is essentially a working dog, although it makes an excellent pet and is very tolerant of high-energy children. The breed originated in Scotland, where it is used to herd sheep and cattle.
2. Former senator Specter : ARLEN
Arlen Specter was the US Senator for Pennsylvania, famous for switching from the Republican to the Democratic Party in 2009. In 2010 he lost the Democratic primary and his seat went to Pat Toomey, a Republican. Spector developed a reputation for himself of being hard to work with over the years, earning the nickname “Snarlin’ Arlen”.
3. Twizzlers pieces : NIBS
Twizzlers candy has been produced since 1845, although back then the only flavor available was licorice. Famously, Twizzlers come in a variety of shapes and sizes, namely Twists, Bites and Nibs. My wife is addicted to strawberry Twizzlers. Can’t stand the stuff myself …
8. Winglike parts : ALAE
In Latin, an “avis” (bird) has “alae” (wings).
9. Centuries-old Asian wool sources : YAKS
The English word “yak” is an Anglicized version of the Tibetan name for the male of the species. Yak milk is much prized in the Tibetan culture. It is made into cheese and butter, and the butter is used to make a tea that is consumed in great volume by Tibetans. The butter is also used as a fuel in lamps, and during festivals the butter is even sculpted into religious icons.
16. Imaging company once big in film : AGFA
Agfa was founded in Germany in 1867 as a company focused on the manufacture of dyes. The full name of the enterprise was Aktiengesellschaft für Anilinfabrikation, shortened to Agfa, and translating as “Corporation for Aniline (a dye) Production”. Agfa merged with the Belgian company Gevaert in 1894, getting them into the photographic business. Agfa 35mm film hasn’t been produced for a few years now, but there is still inventory out there and purists are buying it when they can.
20. Ancient French region : ALSATIA
Alsace is a region in the east of France that we sometimes refer to as Alsatia, its Latin name. Alsace is home to Strasbourg, a beautiful city that I had the privilege to visit some years ago. Strasbourg is home to many international organizations, including the European Court of Human Rights.
24. Artist Picasso : PABLO
The artist Pablo Picasso’s full name was Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso, a name he was given right from birth. Got that?
25. Netanyahu’s predecessor : PERES
Shimon Peres was an Israeli statesman who was born in Poland, in a township that is now part of Belarus. Peres served as President of the State of Israel from 2007 to 2014. Born Szymon Perski, Peres was the oldest head of state in the world while he served as president of Israel. While serving as foreign minister, he represented Israel in the secret negotiations that led to the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. For that work, Peres was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat.
Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu has been the Prime Minister of Israel since 2009. Netanyahu is the only leader of the country to date who was born in the state of Israel. After graduating high school, he served in the Israeli special forces and participated in several combat missions, and was wounded on multiple occasions. After leaving the army in 1972, Netanyahu studied at MIT in the US, earning bachelors degree in architecture and a masters degree in business.
26. CBer’s punctuation : OVER
A CBer is someone who operates a Citizens’ Band radio. In 1945, the FCC set aside certain radio frequencies for the personal use of citizens. The use of the Citizens’ Band increased throughout the seventies as advances in electronics brought down the size of transceivers and their cost. There aren’t many CB radios sold these days though, as they have largely been replaced by cell phones.
27. Friend of Homer : NED
Ned Flanders lives next door to Homer on TV’s “The Simpsons”. Ned is voiced by actor Harry Shearer and has been around since the very first episode aired in 1989.
29. “Harold and Maude” co-star Bud : CORT
Bud Cort is the actor who played the title role in the 1970 film “Brewster McCloud”, and Harold in the 1971 movie “Harold and Maude”.
“Harold and Maude” is a somewhat dark comedy film released in 1971. I found the storyline to be quite bizarre when I saw it many years ago, with a death-obsessed young man taken to driving a hearse as his private vehicle. The young man makes friends with a 79-year-old woman who, like him, is in the habit of attending the funerals of people she never knew. It’s not my cup of tea, quite frankly …
30. Mover of many : BUS
We use the term “bus” for a mode of transportation, an abbreviated form of the original “omnibus”. We imported “omnibus” via French from Latin, in which language it means “for all”. The idea is that an omnibus is a “carriage for all”.
33. Sentence ender : PAROLE
The term “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.
34. Head turner : ADONIS
In Greek mythology, Adonis is a beautiful young god loved by Aphrodite. Adonis dies in a hunting accident (gored by a boar), but not before he gives Aphrodite a child. Adonis was originally a Phoenician god “absorbed” into Greek lore (Phoenicia is modern day Lebanon). The child born of Adonis to Aphrodite was called Beroe, after which is named Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon. We also use the term “adonis” to mean “beautiful male”.
36. Many a Balkan : SLAV
The Slavic peoples are in the majority in communities covering over half of Europe. This large ethnic group is traditionally broken down into three smaller groups:
- the West Slavic (including Czechs and Poles)
- the East Slavic (including Russians and Ukrainians)
- the South Slavic (including Bulgarians and Serbs)
The Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe is usually referred to as “the Balkans”. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains located in present-day Bulgaria and Serbia. “Balkan” is Bulgarian for “mountain”.
40. Plant-ruining genus : APHIS
Aphids are called “greenfly” back in the British Isles where I come from. The most effective way to control aphids in my experience is to make sure there are plenty of ladybugs in the garden (called “ladybirds” in Ireland!).
45. Rights org. : ACLU
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has its roots in the First World War when it was founded to provide legal advice and support to conscientious objectors. The ACLU’s motto is “Because Freedom Can’t Protect Itself”. The ACLU also hosts a blog on the ACLU.org website called “Speak Freely”.
48. In most mammals, the upper one has a groove called a philtrum : LIP
The vertical groove on our upper lip, just under our nose, is known as the philtrum or medial cleft. “Philtrum” is a Latin term coming from the Greek “philtron” meaning “love charm”. Not sure why that is …
Complete List of Clues and Answers
Across
1. Annual July 1 celebration marking the 1867 signing of the British North America Act : CANADA DAY
10. Some Australian carvings : ABORIGINAL ART
14. Elaborate sci-fi costume component : FULL BODY MAKEUP
16. Supermarket count : AISLES
17. Old Andorran currency : PESETA
18. Arrive : GET IN
19. Dickensian denouncement : BAH!
22. Guided : LED
23. Get out of Dodge : FLEE
24. Australian Stock Horses, perhaps : POLO PONIES
28. Annex : ADD
29. Yusufislam.com musician : CAT STEVENS
30. Having a short cut : BOB-HAIRED
31. Like home, say : FOUR-LETTER
33. Hang (around) : PAL
36. They may be excuses : SOB STORIES
37. Didn’t miss, as a bus : MADE
38. “Gr8 joke!” : LOL
39. Unisex nickname : SAM
40. 4/8/74 record breaker : AARON
41. Brie who played Trudy on “Mad Men” : ALISON
45. Home Depot work apparel : APRONS
46. Spicy meatless dish : VEGETABLE CHILI
50. Legacy Hartsfield-Jackson tenant : DELTA AIRLINES
51. Thinking indicator : LONG PAUSE
Down
1. Beardie, for one : COLLIE
2. Former senator Specter : ARLEN
3. Twizzlers pieces : NIBS
4. Ancient history adjective : AGO
5. Completed : DID
6. This, that or the other : ANY
7. Not soaked yet : DAMP
8. Winglike parts : ALAE
9. Centuries-old Asian wool sources : YAKS
10. Off-topic : AFIELD
11. Out of order : BUSTED
12. Catch from the pier : REEL IN
13. Learners, hopefully : TUTEES
15. Shoulder protection : PADS
16. Imaging company once big in film : AGFA
19. Bugs : BOTHERS
20. Ancient French region : ALSATIA
21. It flies off store shelves : HOT ITEM
24. Artist Picasso : PABLO
25. Netanyahu’s predecessor : PERES
26. CBer’s punctuation : OVER
27. Friend of Homer : NED
29. “Harold and Maude” co-star Bud : CORT
30. Mover of many : BUS
31. Misled : FOOLED
32. Do a favor for : OBLIGE
33. Sentence ender : PAROLE
34. Head turner : ADONIS
35. It helps you focus : LENS
36. Many a Balkan : SLAV
37. Nautical : MARINE
40. Plant-ruining genus : APHIS
42. Make believable : SELL
43. Palindromic fellow : OTTO
44. Palindromic bread : NAAN
45. Rights org. : ACLU
47. Lunch holder : BAG
48. In most mammals, the upper one has a groove called a philtrum : LIP
49. Memorable time : ERA
47 minutes, no errors on this. Pretty straightforward outside some of the center.
@Dave
34 minutes, no errors on the Saturday Stumper. Fun to do one of these that quickly (now 3 for…) but a little disappointing it fell like that. Though as I understand, the NYT Fri/Sat in the last three weeks or so (save last Sat) have been easier than usual too. Bill’s effort today is his 21st fastest on a Saturday grid, and yesterday’s was his 16th fastest.
I’ll do the WSJ later today (Puzzle #1000 it so says).
@Carrie
I didn’t respond to what you wrote last weekend, but I wanted to say to not let any of us influence you on whether to try things we talk about. As I’ve always thought, I want to get better and that means being willing to try anything – if it’s harder than what I can do or harder than the usual for me, I need to learn. How I see it anyway. Though still disappointing when I do DNF something. Hopefully though, I will learn to do a better job with them.
5 errors, 47 minutes for the WSJ. Several weird derivatives of things I never heard of – mainly due to 30A and 64A.
Have a good weekend, everybody.
Thank you, David Kennison and Carrie, for the Vidwan reference. Ha-ha.
A vidwan is basically a wise man – and, to the best of my knowledge, it has never been used sarcastically or in a demeaning manner. While it may seem presumptious and pompous, to have assumed such a name for an avatar, I can assure you, I have no such pretentions. I am only too aware of how ignorant I am. I have a deep love for learning, about all fields, and also an urge to share the learning with others, not as an ego builder, but just altruism, if you can call it that.
In a blog, we share only a thin part of our lives, a part that we choose to share with the world. The vidwan avatar reminds me constantly, that I am supposed to be nice, fair, helpful and considerate to all the others. I hope I never forget that. Thank you.
Have a nice day, all.
16:20, no errors. Slowed by first entering vegetable “curry” before the down crosses revealed “chili” and the grid was completed.
2:50, no errors … okay … so maybe I should explain … ? … Because of the problems I had with the LAT site, I again printed a copy of today’s puzzle and did it on paper in … ahem … 15:50. Then, as a test, I went back to the LAT site and entered my answers there, just to see if the site is still malfunctioning … and that took 2:50, with no errors. I intend to try the web site again tomorrow, because I’m unhappy with the formatting of the printed version: I’ve tried two different methods and both are lousy.
@Vidwan … As Carrie said, your pseudonym fits you … and I have always appreciated your contributions here … ?
@Glenn … Today’s WSJ (which I did yesterday) took me 24:24, with no errors. I haven’t gotten to the Saturday Stumper yet. I’m running a bit late today and the latest batch of Miyamoto kenkens just appeared on the kenken web site, so that’s likely to take some of my time … and I have yard work to do … and I still have a leaky faucet upstairs … ?
For 30D “Mover of many” I first got the “S” at the end so I was looking for something plural. When I got BUS via crosses, I’m thinking what on earth are “BU’s??? I don’t think I had my “A” game today. Wow my mind is out to lunch. 42 minutes. A lot of tough cluing in this one. Thankfully some of the long answers were easier than they first appeared.
August 1 I’m headed out West with youse guys for a 6 month stint. Won’t quite make it to SoCal (though I’m sure I’ll visit). I’ll be in Henderson, NV (Read: Las Vegas) August through January working on several projects. In all seriousness, I think the stress of accepting this opportunity is playing havoc between my ears. It’s shown up in my blank stares at crosswords recently – including this one (BU’s???). I don’t leave for a month, and I already miss my house in Houston…..
….and yes the answer to the “puzzle” yesterday in “what comes next..” is E. OTTFFSSE is just one two three four five…etc.
The other one – How many matches does it take to complete a 7 round 64 team single elimination tournament requires some advanced calculations: Since every match eliminates one team, and one is the champ: 64-1=63 matches to eliminate 63 teams 🙂
Did a more complicated one last night that was fun. Maybe I’ll post later.
Best –
This grid seemed on the easier side, along with the easy Friday grid yesterday. Maybe the constructors were giving us a break because it’s the weekend leading up to the 4th of July?
Don’t want to spoil it, but think about the WSJ and how long they have published, so I doubt that the puzzle today is really number 1000.
It wasn’t about how many puzzles they’ve published (you are right to doubt that it could only be 1000) but rather it was the hint to the theme, which stuck in the letter “M” (which is 1000 in the Roman numeral system) in the long answers to make the normal saying something else.
And I finished without any final errors. I never know my time as I am getting up to work with customers at my wife’s store and then, when they leave, I go back to working on the grid again.
I wouldn’t count to specifically verify, but can always double-check with some quick calculations to get a good estimate. I have roughly 687 puzzles on record from 2013 to present (an estimate, I’m not going to count). It is notable that while they started daily publication in 09-15-2015, they published weekly 21x21s far before then (hence the 2013 part).
So we have 313 puzzles left to account before 2013. We can assume roughly 50 puzzles per year if they publish exactly weekly, so 6 years before 2013 (2007) would fulfill the 1000 puzzles published. Amazon has a book entitled “The Wall Street Journal Crossword Puzzles, Volume 1”, published in 2001 in which the synopsis states “The Wall Street Journal has presented a specially-commissioned weekly crossword puzzle since 1998.”
So while I agree it’s a super-easy theme hint more than anything, it’s incredibly more likely that there are more than 1000. But the possibility of 1000 puzzles is entirely plausible at least. But honestly I don’t know for sure, myself. It was just a fun thought, I suppose.
@Glenn … I did the Saturday Stumper on paper and “finished” (filled in the last square of) it in 25:51, but I was pretty sure there was something wrong with one square, so I kept staring at it until 29:20, at which point I gave up and resorted to Googling. I had HDDVH/HAZING. Duh. If I had looked at it longer, I might have seen HDDVD/DAZING. (And then again, maybe not. High-Definition DVD is kind of a logical guess, but I’d never heard of it, as far as I know.) I didn’t find the puzzle all that much easier than previous Saturday Stumpers, and I’d say you did right well.
Dave/Glenn – I love the LAT and NYT. I’m sure I’d love the WSJ…which is why I steer clear of it. No time. The Newsday puzzle intrigues me because the Saturday stumper is only once a week. Is the “Saturday Stumper” just what they call it because it’s a tough puzzle, or is there more to it than a standard crossword? Just want to know what I’m getting into before I add to what I already don’t have time for….
Best-
@Jeff … The Newsday puzzles are typically very easy until Friday, which can be a bit harder, and Saturday, a themeless puzzle which is typically a bear, not because the answers are obscure or weird, but simply because of the cluing. (The resident anonymous malcontent over on the NYT blog would have apoplexy if he tried even one of them!) That said, they have that peculiar quality I love in a puzzle: when you think of the right answer, it seems so right for the clue that you wonder why you didn’t think of it sooner.
They do take longer to do, though … and you have to be patient …
Finished after about an hour and a half with one leeetel error: tELL rather than SELL. Very fun puzzle with a lot of work in the NW – probably a half hour. Didn’t know NIBS and had ell before ADD and ARLoN before ARLEN and ANa before ANY.
Thought I aced it, before seeing ALISON, reading through the answers. Geez… Still, I’m glad I got through what I did, on my own.
Hi every buddy!! ?
No errors, but a slight Moral Quandary: when I saw the clue “Annual July 1 celebration” I instinctively looked at my calendar, and it actually said CANADA DAY!! So I had to work around that answer on the grid, making SURE that I would have gotten CANADA DAY anyway, WITHOUT having noticed my calendar. I was diligent!!! I got all the surrounding answers and knew most of the crosses. So, no errors, and no cheating— amiright?? ?
Hey Glenn! I’m glad to consider trying puzzles y’all mention! The LAT Saturday is the toughest I regularly do, so it’s good to find something more challenging. Like playing tennis with someone who’s better than you, y’know??
….. The funny thing is, I somehow don’t find time lately for those harder puzzles… Hmmm….?
Vidwan, nicely stated! You certainly are “our” Vidwan here…?
Jeff, cool adventure~~now you HAVE to swing by LA for at least a playoff game!!! ….Not that I’m presuming you’d want to pay so much– but I have, in the past, literally driven by Dodger Stadium when there’s a big game, just to be involved….⚾⚾⚾
That’s plenty from me!
Be well~~™?