LA Times Crossword 5 Dec 21, Sunday

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Constructed by: Jill Singer
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Theme: Sounds of the Sea

Themed answers SOUND like common phrases, and all refer to fish in THE SEA:

  • 23A Commander of primitive fish? : STURGEON GENERAL (from “Surgeon General”)
  • 35A Festival for dugong relatives? : MANATEE FAIR (from “Vanity Fair”)
  • 49A Tiny crustacean herald? : KRILL THE MESSENGER (from “kill the messenger”)
  • 67A Help for little fish? : HERRING AIDS (from “hearing aids”)
  • 82A Reason to go to a seafood restaurant? : JUST FOR THE HALIBUT (from “just for the hell of it”)
  • 94A Crustacean seller? : PRAWN BROKER (from “pawnbroker”)
  • 115A Marine mammal in the air? : A HIGHER PORPOISE (from “a higher purpose”)

Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 20m 16s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 The Phillie Phanatic and Bernie Brewer : MASCOTS

The Phillie Phanatic is the mascot for the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team. The Phanatic replaced the older mascots Philadelphia Phil and Philadelphia Phillis in 1978.

The official mascot of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team is Bernie Brewer. He is a cheerful fellow with a big mustache, and was introduced to the crowds in 1973 as a tribute to ardent Brewers fan Milt Mason. 69-year-old Mason decided to live in a trailer atop the scoreboard in 1970, and to stay there until the struggling Brewers team attracted a sell-out crowd. It took 40 days to achieve the required 40,000 attendees, and Mason was able to leave his perch by sliding down a rope. In honor of that stunt, Bernie Brewer slides down a plastic yellow slide into a giant mug of beer every time the Brewers score a home run.

20 How big dogs may travel : IN CARGO

Cargo is freight carried by some vehicle. The term “cargo” comes into English via Spanish, ultimately deriving from the Latin “carricare” meaning “to load on a cart”.

21 Berry, for one : ACTRESS

Actress Halle Berry was the first African-American woman to win a Best Actress Oscar, which she received for her performance in the 2001 movie “Monster’s Ball”. Berry also won a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress in 2005 for playing the title role in “Catwoman”, and she very graciously accepted that award in person. Good for her!

23 Commander of primitive fish? : STURGEON GENERAL (from “Surgeon General”)

Sturgeons are sometimes classed a primitive fish, meaning that their characteristic features are relatively unchanged when compared to the earliest fossil records. Several species of sturgeon are farmed for their roe, which is made into caviar.

26 Ginseng and rooibos : HERBAL TEAS

The word “ginseng” comes from a Chinese term meaning “man root”. The term is used as the root of ginseng is forked and is said to resemble the legs of a man.

Red tea is made from the leaves of the South African rooibos plant. The name “rooibos” translates as “red bush”.

27 Early hrs. : AMS

Something described as “antemeridian” takes place before noon. The related term “ante meridiem” means the same thing, and is abbreviated to “a.m.”

28 Muslim judge : HAKIM

The term “hakim” is used, especially in Muslim countries, to describe a a wise or learned man, or a physician, governor or judge.

29 NFL commentator Michael : IRVIN

Michael Irvin played football for the Dallas Cowboys. I don’t follow American Football (forgive me!) but did see Irvin on “Dancing with the Stars” on television, and I thought that he acquitted himself quite well …

35 Festival for dugong relatives? : MANATEE FAIR (from “Vanity Fair”)

Manatees, also known as “sea cows”, are very large marine mammals that can grow to 12 feet in length. The manatee is believed to have evolved from four-legged land mammals and probably shares a common ancestor with the elephant.

The dugong is a large marine mammal related to the manatee, and an ugly-looking brute. It feeds upon seagrass, and is the only marine mammal that is a strict herbivore.

William Makepeace Thackeray subtitled “Vanity Fair” using the words “A Novel without a Hero”. He meant this as a warning to us that there are no unflawed characters in the story. I very much enjoyed the 2004 “Vanity Fair” movie adaptation starring Reese Witherspoon.

41 Disney’s “__ and the Detectives” : EMIL

“Emil and the Detectives” is a novel first published in 1929. It was originally written in German and was titled “Emil und die Detektive”. The Disney company released a film adaptation in 1964.

43 Tons : SLEWS

Our usage of “slew” to mean “large number” has nothing to do with the verb “to slew” meaning “to turn, skid”. The noun “slew” came into English in the early 1800s from the Irish word “sluagh” meaning “host, crowd, multitude”.

49 Tiny crustacean herald? : KRILL THE MESSENGER (from “kill the messenger”)

Krill are small, shrimp-like crustaceans that live in the oceans. Krill feed on plankton, and in turn, krill are the main part of the diet of larger animals such as whales, seals and penguins. There’s an awful lot of krill in the world, an estimated 500,000,000 tonnes of it. That’s about twice the biomass of humans on the planet!

56 Blood system letters : ABO

Here is an approximate distribution of blood types across the US population:

  • O-positive: 38 percent
  • O-negative: 7 percent
  • A-positive: 34 percent
  • A-negative: 6 percent
  • B-positive: 9 percent
  • B-negative: 2 percent
  • AB-positive: 3 percent
  • AB-negative: 1 percent

58 Former Yugoslav leader : TITO

Marshal Josip Broz Tito led the Yugoslav resistance during WWII. After the war, he led the country as Prime Minister and then President.

66 Italian wine region : ASTI

Asti is in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. It is perhaps most famous for its Asti Spumante sparkling white wine. Moscato d’Asti is produced from the same grape (Moscato Bianco). Moscato is a much sweeter wine with a lower alcohol content, and is usually served as a dessert wine.

67 Help for little fish? : HERRING AIDS (from “hearing aids”)

The herring is an oily food fish that is often served smoked (sometimes known as “kippers”), pickled or salted. The abundance and commercial importance of herring made it a major contributor to the founding and growth of cities like Amterdam, Copenhagen and Great Yarmouth.

72 Magician who is a two-time “America’s Got Talent” winner : SHIN LIM

“Shin Lim” is the stage name of Canadian-American illusionist Liang-Shun Lim. He is described as a close-up magician, and his tricks have earned much acclaim on TV shows like “America’s Got Talent” and “Penn & Teller: Fool Us”. Lim is self-taught, and got much of his training by watching videos on YouTube.

74 Natural light refractor : CORNEA

The cornea is the transparent part of the eye in the front, and the part that covers the iris and the pupil. Even though the cornea is not part of the eye’s lens, it acts as a lens. In fact, the cornea does most of the work focusing light coming in through the eye. It is, in effect, a fixed-focus lens passing on light to the variable-focus lens that is inside the eye.

A beam of light can change direction when passing from one medium into another. This change of direction is known as refraction.

75 Eco-friendly certification letters : LEED

LEED is a green building certification program. The acronym stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

76 Most stylish : TONIEST

Something described as tony is elegant or exclusive. “Tony” is derived from the word “tone”.

82 Reason to go to a seafood restaurant? : JUST FOR THE HALIBUT (from “just for the hell of it”)

Halibuts are flatfish. The common name “halibut” comes from the earlier terms “hali” (holy) and “butte” (flatfish). The adjective “holy” is a reference to the popularity of halibut as a replacement for meat on holy days in the Roman Catholic calendar.

88 Danson of TV : TED

Actor Ted Danson is noted in particular for three successful roles that he has played on television. He played Sam Malone on the sitcom “Cheers”, the title role on the sitcom “Becker”, and eventually led the cast on the drama series “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”. Danson has been married to actress Mary Steenburgen since 1995.

89 Disney’s vision of tomorrow : EPCOT

EPCOT Center (now just called “Epcot”) is the theme park beside Walt Disney World in Florida. EPCOT is an acronym standing for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, and is a representation of the future as envisioned by Walt Disney. Walt Disney actually wanted to build a living community for 20,000 residents at EPCOT, but he passed away without that vision being realized.

94 Crustacean seller? : PRAWN BROKER (from “pawnbroker”)

The terms “prawn” and “shrimp” are often used interchangeably on menus. Over in the UK, the term “prawn” is most common, while “shrimp” is seen more often here in North America. Sometimes there is a differentiation from a food standpoint, with “prawn” being used for larger species and “shrimp” for smaller species. As a result, “jumbo prawns” seems to be an acceptable descriptor for a dish, whereas “jumbo shrimp” seems to be an oxymoron.

I remember the bad old days growing up in Dublin, Ireland, when my mother had to go to the pawnshop (bad times!). I’d wait outside with my brother, looking up at the pawnbroker’s sign, three gold balls hanging down from a metal bar. This traditional sign used by pawnbrokers is said to date back to the Medici family as the sign had symbolic meaning in the province of Lombardy where the Medici family reigned supreme. Because of this connection, pawnshop banking was originally called Lombard banking.

98 “Terrible” czar : IVAN

The Grand Prince of Moscow, and first Tsar of Russia, Ivan IV became known as “Ivan the Terrible”. The name “terrible” is a translation from Russian, and perhaps creates the wrong impression about the man. The Russian word is “Grozny”, which is more akin to “strict” and “powerful” rather than “cruel” or “abominable”.

102 Status car : PORSCHE

We tend to say the name “Porsche” in English as if it is perhaps French, pronouncing it as one syllable. In German, it is pronounced with two syllables, i.e. Por-sche.

106 Architect Jones : INIGO

Inigo Jones was a British architect, and a native of London. The most famous of Jones’ designs is probably London’s Covent Garden Square.

107 Dispensed, with “out” : METED …

To “mete out” is to distribute by allotments. The verb comes from the Old English word “metan” meaning “to measure”, which is also believed to be the root of our word “meter”.

108 Bout decision : TKO

Technical knockout (TKO)

114 Actor Quinn : AIDAN

Aidan Quinn is an Irish-American actor. Quinn was born in Chicago but spent some years growing up in Ireland. Mainly known as a movie actor, Quinn is currently playing the role of Captain Tommy Gregson on the excellent TV series “Elementary” that is centered on a modern-day Sherlock Holmes.

115 Marine mammal in the air? : A HIGHER PORPOISE (from “a higher purpose”)

Porpoises are aquatic mammals. Studies of porpoises in captivity have shown that they have an unusual sleep pattern. Basically, while one hemisphere of the brain rests, is asleep, the other hemisphere remains alert.

120 Baden-Powell who co-founded the Girl Guide movement : AGNES

As every little boy (of my era) knows, the Scouting movement was founded by Lord Baden-Powell, in 1907. He also founded the Girl Guide and Girl Scout organization in 1910, along with this sister Agnes Baden-Powell. The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) soon followed, also in 1910. The Boy Scouts motto is “Be Prepared”.

121 Marginal moves : INDENTS

To indent a line of text is to move it to the right (assuming one is writing in English).

122 2002 Soderbergh sci-fi film : SOLARIS

“Solaris” is a 2002 film adaptation of a 1961 novel of the same name by Polish author Stanislaw Lem. The movie stars George Clooney as a clinical psychologist on a solo mission from Earth to a space station orbiting the planet Solaris.

Steven Soderbergh first came to international attention as a director at only 26 years old, for his 1989 indie film “Sex, Lies, and Videotape”. Since then, he has directed many box-office hits, such as “Erin Brockovich”, “Traffic” and all of the “Ocean’s 11” films.

Down

1 Tennis error : MISHIT

Our modern sport of tennis evolved from the much older racquet sport known as real tennis. Originally just called “tennis”, the older game was labeled “real tennis” when the modern version began to hold sway. Real tennis is played in a closed court, with the ball frequently bounced off the walls.

2 Opposite of retro- : ANTERO-

“Antero-” is a combining form meaning “situated in front” (and is related to “ante”). The antonym “retro-” means “situated behind”.

4 Union __, Dow Chemical subdivision : CARBIDE

Union Carbide is a chemical company that was founded in 1917 with the merger of four existing chemical manufacturers. The name “Union Carbide” is inextricably linked with the 1984 Bhopal Disaster, a release of poisonous gas in Bhopal, India that left 16,000 people dead and 40,000 people maimed or disabled.

5 Skin, e.g. : ORGAN

The skin is the largest organ in the human body by surface area. The largest organ by mass is the liver.

6 Shampoo brand : T/GEL

Back in the 1760s, the verb “to shampoo” was an Anglo-Indian word meaning “to massage”. A century later we started to shampoo our hair.

8 Discoverer of the first ocean route to India : DA GAMA

Vasco da Gama left on his first voyage of discovery in 1497. da Gama journeyed around the Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost tip of Africa, and across the Indian Ocean making landfall in India. Landing in India, his fleet became the first expedition to sail directly from Europe to the sub-continent. Vasco da Gama was well known for acts of cruelty, especially on local inhabitants. One of his milder atrocities was inflicted on a priest whom he labelled as a spy. He had the priest’s lips and ears cut off, and sent him on his way after having a pair of dog’s ears sewn onto his head.

14 Connection letters : DSL

The initialism “DSL” originally stood for Digital Subscriber Loop, but is now accepted to mean (Asymmetric) Digital Subscriber Line. It is a technology that allows Internet service to be delivered down the same telephone line as voice service, by separating the two into different frequency signals.

15 Vader creator : LUCAS

Producer and director George Lucas has amassed an incredibly large fortune, primarily due to the phenomenal success of his movie franchises “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones”. Worth about $3 billion, Lucas has gone the way of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, agreeing to give half of his fortune to charity as part of “The Giving Pledge”.

The top 5 movie villains in the American Film Institute’s list “100 Years … 100 Heroes & Villains” are:

  1. Dr. Hannibal Lecter in “The Silence of the Lambs”
  2. Norman Bates in “Psycho”
  3. Darth Vader in “The Empire Strikes Back”
  4. The Wicked Witch of the West in “The Wizard of Oz”
  5. Nurse Ratched in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”

16 Sukiyaki ingredient : ENOKI

Enokitake (also known as “enoki”) are long and thin white mushrooms often added to soups or salads.

Sukiyaki is a Japanese soup/stew prepared and served in a “nabe”, a Japanese hot pot.

19 QBs’ targets : TES

In American football, a quarterback (QB) might throw to a tight end (TE).

24 “And the people bowed and prayed / To the __ god they made”: Paul Simon, “The Sound of Silence” : NEON

“Sounds of Silence” is a 1966 studio album released by Simon & Garfunkel. The album title reflects the name of the first track “The Sound of Silence”. Fans of the duo are probably familiar with the album cover, which features the pair walking down a wooded trail, and looking back towards the camera. That picture was shot in Franklin Canyon Park in Los Angeles.

31 New Age musician John : TESH

John Tesh is a pianist and composer, as well as a radio and television presenter. For many years Tesh presented the show “Entertainment Tonight”. For “ET” he once covered the filming of an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. As part of the piece, he volunteered to act as a Klingon warrior. If you see the “Star Trek: TNG” episode called “The Icarus Factor” in reruns, watch out for John Tesh engaging in ritual torture with Mr. Worf as his victim.

36 Boxer Laila : ALI

Laila Ali is the daughter of the great Muhammad Ali, and a very capable boxer in her own right. Laila’s professional record is an impressive 24 wins, including 21 knockouts. Now retired, she never lost a fight, and nor did she ever draw. One of those victories was against Jackie Frazier-Lyde, daughter of her father’s nemesis Joe Frazier. Laila is not a bad dancer either, coming in third place in the fourth season of “Dancing with the Stars”.

38 Disaster response gp. : FEMA

Federal emergency management has been structured for over 200 years, but what we know today as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was created in 1979 in an Executive Order issued by President Jimmy Carter.

42 NYSE, e.g. : MKT

The roots of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) go back to 1792 when a group of 24 stock brokers set up the New York Stock & Exchange Board. They did so in an agreement signed under a buttonwood tree outside 68 Wall Street. That document became known as the Buttonwood Agreement. Today, the NYSE is located in a National Historic Landmark building with the address 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City.

47 Word with whiskey or wolfhound : IRISH …

“Aqua vitae” is Latin for “water of life”. The original use of the term was for a concentrated solution of ethanol. Over time “aqua vitae” became the term used for distilled spirits and wine. “Water of life” translates into Scots Gaelic as “uisge-beatha” and into Irish as “uisce beatha”. These terms give rise to our modern word “whiskey”.

The Irish wolfhound is considered the tallest of all breeds of dog, although not the heaviest as its body shape resembles that of a greyhound. As is the case with most large breeds, the Irish wolfhound has a relatively short lifespan, averaging about 7 years.

48 Solo’s opposite, in music : TUTTI

“Tutti” (singular “tutto”) are pieces of music performed by all the artists in a group, as opposed to “soli” (singular “solo”). “Tutto” is the Italian for “all”.

50 Comic actor Bert : LAHR

Bert Lahr’s most famous role was the cowardly lion in “The Wizard of Oz”. Lahr had a long career in burlesque, vaudeville and on Broadway. Lahr also starred in the first US production of Samuel Beckett’s play “Waiting for Godot”, alongside Tom Ewell.

52 Amos at the piano : TORI

Tori Amos is an American pianist and singer. She started playing the piano at two years old, and was composing piano pieces by age five. Amos was playing in piano bars (chaperoned by her father) when she was 14. I’m going to have to find some of her music …

53 Chips partner : SALSA

“Salsa” is simply Spanish for “sauce”.

59 Twill fabric : CHINO

Chino is a twill cloth that is most often used to make hard-wearing pants. The pants have come to be referred to as chinos. Chino cloth was originally developed for use by the military, but quickly became popular with civilians.

The verb “to twill” means to weave a cloth (called “twill”) that has a pattern of diagonal parallel ribs.

61 Pittsburgh’s __ Park : PNC

PNC Park is home to the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team. The park is sponsored by PNC Financial Services, the sixth largest bank in the US, and one founded and based in Pittsburgh.

64 Author Binchy : MAEVE

Maeve Binchy was a fabulous Irish novelist, and in my day a famous newspaper columnist whose column I would read daily. A few of her novels have made it to the big screen, including two I would recommend: “Circle of Friends” starring Chris O’Donnell and Minnie Driver, and “Tara Road” starring Andie MacDowell.

68 Many a Prado painting : GOYA

Francisco Goya was a Spanish painter who was often called the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Two of Goya’s most famous works are “The Nude Maja” and “The Clothed Maja”.

The Museo del Prado is in Madrid, the capital of Spain, and has one of the finest art collections in the world. The gallery’s most famous work is “Las Meninas” By Velazquez.

69 Name near Uzbekistan, on maps : ARAL

The Aral Sea is a great example of how man can have a devastating effect on his environment. In the early sixties the Aral Sea covered 68,000 square miles of Central Asia. Soviet irrigation projects drained the lake to such an extent that today the total area is less than 7,000 square miles, with 90% of the lake now completely dry. Sad …

The Republic of Uzbekistan is a former Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR). Uzbekistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia, and is in fact surrounded by countries which are also landlocked. This means that to reach a coastline from Uzbekistan, you have to cross at least two international borders. There are only two “doubly landlocked” countries in the world: Uzbekistan in Central Asia, and Liechtenstein in Central Europe.

70 Crucifix letters : INRI

The letters written on the cross on which Jesus died were INRI. “INRI” is an initialism standing for the Latin “Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum”, which translates into English as “Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews”.

In many of the Christian traditions, a crucifix is a representation of Jesus on the cross. The term “crucifix” comes from the Latin “cruci fixus” meaning “fixed to a cross”.

73 It’s often an attic : LOFT

An attic or loft is a room or space located below the roof of a building. The term “attic” is a shortened form of “attic story”, the uppermost story or level of a house. This term “attic story” originally applied to a low, decorative level built on top of the uppermost story behind a building’s decorative facade. This use of decoration at the top of buildings was common in ancient Greece, and was particularly important in the Attica style. That Attica style was so called because it originated in the historical region of Attica that encompassed the city of Athens. And that’s how our attics are linked to ancient Greece.

77 Jazzy James : ETTA

“Etta James” was the stage name of celebrated blues and soul singer Jamesetta Hawkins. James’ most famous recording was her 1960 hit “At Last”, which made it into the pop charts. James performed “At Last” at the age of 71 in 2009 on the reality show “Dancing with the Stars”, which was to be her final television appearance. She passed away in 2012.

79 Besides Mo., the only state that borders eight others : TENN

Two US states border eight other states:

  • Tennessee shares a border with Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri.
  • Missouri shares a border with Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska.

81 NHL Flames’ home : ATL

The Flames are a professional hockey team based in the Alberta city of Calgary. The team has been in Calgary since 1980, but was founded in 1972 in the US as the Atlanta Flames.

82 Off-road vehicle : JEEP

The Jeep is the original off-road vehicle. It was developed by the American Bantam Car Company in 1940 at the request of the US government who recognized the upcoming need for the armed forces as American involvement in WWII loomed. The Bantam Company was too small to cope with demand, so the government gave the designs to competing car companies. The design and brand eventually ended up with AMC in the seventies and eighties.

85 Lang. of about 200,000 Americans : HEBR

Hebrew is perhaps the only example of a dead language that was successfully revived. The revival of the mother tongue that is modern Hebrew was initiated in the late 1800s in Palestine, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire. Today, the US has the second-largest population of fluent speakers of Hebrew, second only to Israel.

86 Letters in old dates : BCE

The designations Anno Domini (AD, “year of Our Lord”) and Before Christ (BC) are found in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The dividing point between AD and BC is the year of the conception of Jesus, with AD 1 following 1 BC without a year “0” in between. The AD/BC scheme dates back to AD 525, and gained wide acceptance soon after AD 800. Nowadays a modified version has become popular, with CE (Common/Christian Era) used to replace AD, and BCE (Before the Common/Christian Era) used to replace BC.

87 Old Mideast org. : UAR

The United Arab Republic (UAR) was a union between Egypt and Syria established in 1958. The UAR dissolved in 1961 when Syria pulled out of the arrangement.

92 Seat of New York’s Nassau County : MINEOLA

The name of Mineola on Long Island is derived from the Native American word for “pleasant place”. The town is surrounded by flat plains, and has favorable winds for flying. The Wright Brothers, and indeed Igor Sikorsky, spent time in Mineola, using the good conditions for testing of their various aircraft.

94 Prof.’s degree : PHD

“Ph.D.” is an abbreviation for “philosophiae doctor”, Latin for “teacher of philosophy”. Often, candidates for a PhD already hold a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, so a PhD might be considered a “third degree”.

96 Earth tones : OCHRES

Ocher is a light, yellowish-brown color, although variations of the pigment are possible such as red ocher and purple ocher. “Ocher” is usually spelled “ochre” on the other side of the pond.

99 More jungly : VINIER

Strictly speaking, the terms “rainforest” and “jungle” are related, but different. A healthy rainforest has a thick canopy of leaves so that the ground below is relatively clear of vegetation due to a lack of sunlight. When the canopy thins, the increase in sunlight promotes growth of tangled vegetation at ground level producing the habitat that we refer to as “jungle”.

100 1999 ATP Player of the Year : AGASSI

Retired tennis professional Andre Agassi has been married to fellow player Steffi Graf since 2001. Agassi wrote an autobiography called “Open”, published in 2009. An amazing revelation in the book is that Agassi’s famous head of hair was actually a wig for much of his playing career. Can you imagine how hard it must have been to play tennis at his level with a rug stuck on?

The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is an organization that looks out for the interests of male tennis professionals. The equivalent organization for women is the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).

101 To boot : NO LESS

The noun “boot” was used once to describe something of advantage in trying to accomplish a goal. This obsolete term really only exists in the adverb “to boot” meaning “in addition, over and above”, literally “to advantage”.

109 17th-century privateer : KIDD

William Kidd was a Scottish privateer who went by the name “Captain Kidd”. Although Kidd was a privateer, someone authorized by the government to attack foreign shipping, he was eventually arrested and executed for piracy. There is a common opinion held today that the charges against Kidd were actually trumped up. Captain Kidd’s story was the basis of a 1945 film called “Captain Kidd” starring Charles Laughton in the title role. Laughton also appeared as Captain Kidd in 1952’s comic movie “Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd”.

110 Folklore fiend : OGRE

An ogre is a monster of mythology and folktales that has the appearance of a man, and which eats human beings. The term “ogre” comes to us via French from the name of the Etruscan god Orcus, who feasted on the flesh of humans.

112 Toi et moi : NOUS

In French, one might say that “nous” (we) minus “moi” (me) is just “toi” (you).

114 Simile words : AS A

A simile is a figure of speech in which a comparison is made between two things that are unalike. For example, a person might be described as “cute as a kitten” or as “busy as a bee”.

115 NFC West team : ARI

The Arizona Cardinals were founded in 1898 as the Chicago Cardinals. That makes the Cardinals the oldest, continuously-run, professional football team in the whole country.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 The Phillie Phanatic and Bernie Brewer : MASCOTS
8 Like some goods : DAMAGED
15 Minimal : LEAST
20 How big dogs may travel : IN CARGO
21 Berry, for one : ACTRESS
22 Not warranted : UNDUE
23 Commander of primitive fish? : STURGEON GENERAL (from “Surgeon General”)
25 Goes (through) carefully : COMBS
26 Ginseng and rooibos : HERBAL TEAS
27 Early hrs. : AMS
28 Muslim judge : HAKIM
29 NFL commentator Michael : IRVIN
30 Leave out : OMIT
32 Longings : DESIRES
34 Open-__ shoes : TOED
35 Festival for dugong relatives? : MANATEE FAIR (from “Vanity Fair”)
40 Rage : IRE
41 Disney’s “__ and the Detectives” : EMIL
43 Tons : SLEWS
44 Burn lightly : SINGE
46 Went for the worm : BIT
49 Tiny crustacean herald? : KRILL THE MESSENGER (from “kill the messenger”)
54 Lose it : ERUPT
56 Blood system letters : ABO
57 Informal clothes : CASUALS
58 Former Yugoslav leader : TITO
59 Key next to D : C-SHARP
62 Unsurpassed : ALL-TIME
66 Italian wine region : ASTI
67 Help for little fish? : HERRING AIDS (from “hearing aids”)
71 Words with a hand up, maybe : I CAN
72 Magician who is a two-time “America’s Got Talent” winner : SHIN LIM
74 Natural light refractor : CORNEA
75 Eco-friendly certification letters : LEED
76 Most stylish : TONIEST
80 Pirate’s cry : YAR!
81 Jumping, as a joint : ALIVE
82 Reason to go to a seafood restaurant? : JUST FOR THE HALIBUT (from “just for the hell of it”)
88 Danson of TV : TED
89 Disney’s vision of tomorrow : EPCOT
90 Make up (for) : ATONE
91 Pre-storm state : CALM
93 Warrior prefix : ECO-
94 Crustacean seller? : PRAWN BROKER (from “pawnbroker”)
98 “Terrible” czar : IVAN
102 Status car : PORSCHE
105 Contrary to popular belief, throwing it won’t endanger birds : RICE
106 Architect Jones : INIGO
107 Dispensed, with “out” : METED …
108 Bout decision : TKO
111 Amazing : PHENOMENAL
114 Actor Quinn : AIDAN
115 Marine mammal in the air? : A HIGHER PORPOISE (from “a higher purpose”)
117 Silly joke response, perhaps : SNORT
118 Symbol of love : RED ROSE
119 Without value : USELESS
120 Baden-Powell who co-founded the Girl Guide movement : AGNES
121 Marginal moves : INDENTS
122 2002 Soderbergh sci-fi film : SOLARIS

Down

1 Tennis error : MISHIT
2 Opposite of retro- : ANTERO-
3 Reduced-speed road sign symbol : S-CURVE
4 Union __, Dow Chemical subdivision : CARBIDE
5 Skin, e.g. : ORGAN
6 Shampoo brand : T/GEL
7 What sweeps sweep : SOOT
8 Discoverer of the first ocean route to India : DA GAMA
9 Nails the final : ACES IT
10 High pt. : MTN
11 Neighborhood : AREA
12 Origin : GERM
13 Those, to José : ESAS
14 Connection letters : DSL
15 Vader creator : LUCAS
16 Sukiyaki ingredient : ENOKI
17 Looking up to : ADMIRING
18 Sink : SUBMERGE
19 QBs’ targets : TES
24 “And the people bowed and prayed / To the __ god they made”: Paul Simon, “The Sound of Silence” : NEON
28 Nautical pronoun : HER
31 New Age musician John : TESH
32 Talk out of, with “from” : DISSUADE …
33 One reading signs : SEER
35 Peace, in Russian : MIR
36 Boxer Laila : ALI
37 Power source: Abbr. : ELEC
38 Disaster response gp. : FEMA
39 Stupefies : AWES
42 NYSE, e.g. : MKT
44 React to falling prices, perhaps : SELL
45 Gradually impart : INSTILL
46 Almost-ready products : BETAS
47 Word with whiskey or wolfhound : IRISH …
48 Solo’s opposite, in music : TUTTI
50 Comic actor Bert : LAHR
51 Angle iron : L-BAR
52 Amos at the piano : TORI
53 Chips partner : SALSA
55 Indicate : POINT TO
59 Twill fabric : CHINO
60 Degree of uncommonness, in some games : SEMI-RARE
61 Pittsburgh’s __ Park : PNC
63 Suggestion for a sprain : ICE IT
64 Author Binchy : MAEVE
65 Stopped : ENDED
68 Many a Prado painting : GOYA
69 Name near Uzbekistan, on maps : ARAL
70 Crucifix letters : INRI
73 It’s often an attic : LOFT
77 Jazzy James : ETTA
78 Demonstrate : SHOW
79 Besides Mo., the only state that borders eight others : TENN
81 NHL Flames’ home : ATL
82 Off-road vehicle : JEEP
83 Yet to happen : UPCOMING
84 Got a goal against : SCORED ON
85 Lang. of about 200,000 Americans : HEBR
86 Letters in old dates : BCE
87 Old Mideast org. : UAR
92 Seat of New York’s Nassau County : MINEOLA
94 Prof.’s degree : PHD
95 Most developed : RIPEST
96 Earth tones : OCHRES
97 Hang on to : KEEP
99 More jungly : VINIER
100 1999 ATP Player of the Year : AGASSI
101 To boot : NO LESS
103 Look parents caution children about : STARE
104 __ on the dollar : CENTS
106 Urge forward : IMPEL
108 “If so … ” : THEN …
109 17th-century privateer : KIDD
110 Folklore fiend : OGRE
112 Toi et moi : NOUS
113 Roughly : OR SO
114 Simile words : AS A
115 NFC West team : ARI
116 Term of endearment : HON