0811-24 NY Times Crossword 11 Aug 24, Sunday - NYXCrossword.com (2024)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

8 Saudi’s neighbor : IRAQI

Iraq is often called the “Cradle of Civilization” as it was home to Sumer, which was the earliest known civilization on the planet. By 5000 BC the Sumerian people were practicing year-round agriculture and had a specialized labor force. For the first time, a whole race was able to settle in one place by storing food, instead of having to migrate in a pattern dictated by crops and grazing land.

21 Japanese takeout option : BENTO

A bento is a single-person meal that is eaten quite commonly in Japan. A bento can be purchased as a take-out meal, or it may be packed at home. A bento is usually sold as a “bento box”.

22 Best of all possible worlds : UTOPIA

The word “Utopia” was coined by Sir Thomas More in his book “Utopia” published in 1516 to describe an idyllic fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. More’s use of the name Utopia comes from the Greek “ou” meaning “not” and “topos” meaning “place”. By calling his perfect island “Not Place”, More was apparently making the point that he didn’t think that the ideal could actually exist.

26 Le Mans race unit: Abbr. : KIL

Le Mans is a city in northwestern France. It is famous for the 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car race that has been held annually since 1923. The 24-hour race uses the city’s race track, but closed city streets are also used for part of the circuit.

28 “Once Upon a Mattress” prop : PEA

“The Princess and the Pea” is a fairy tale from the pen of Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The essence of the story is that a prince’s mother tests the royal blood of an apparent princess by placing a pea under a pile of mattresses on which the young girl sleeps. The girl complains of a restless night, demonstrating a physical sensitivity that can only be attributed to a princess. And they all lived happily ever after …

29 Longtime hair removal brand : NEET

The hair removal product “Neet” was launched in Canada in 1901, and was also sold as “Immac”. Today, it is sold under the name “Veet”.

32 Sewing machine pioneer Howe : ELIAS

Elias Howe was an American inventor. Howe wasn’t the first to come up with the idea of a sewing machine, but he was the first to develop one that was functional.

44 Like many London skies : GREY

The spellings “gray” and “grey” are used on both sides of the Atlantic, but “gray” appears about twenty times more often than “grey” in the US. That same ratio is reversed over in Britain and Ireland.

56 “The Kiss” sculptor : RODIN

“The Kiss” is a beautiful sculpture created in 1889 by Auguste Rodin. I’ve had the privilege of standing beside a large, life-size marble version of the work on a few occasions in the Rodin Museum, my favorite of all museums in Paris. The Musée Rodin is very special in that the building and garden that hold all of the works were Rodin’s actual home and studio. Well worth a visit if you make it to Paris …

60 Blue dye : ANIL

“Anil” is another name for the indigo plant, as well as the name of the blue indigo dye that is obtained from it. The color of anil is relatively close to navy blue. The main coloring agent in indigo dye is a crystalline powder called indigotin.

61 Inits. for a hit : SRO

Standing room only (SRO)

62 Dept. store inventory : GDS

A warehouse (whse.) is usually filled with goods (gds.).

73 Like the view from Big Sur : COASTAL

Big Sur is a lovely part of the California Coast located south of Monterey and Carmel. The name “Big Sur” comes from the original Spanish description of the area as “el sur grande” meaning “the big south”.

77 Setting for the musical “Two by Two” : ARK

“Two By Two” is a 1970 musical with lyrics that is based on “The Flowering Peach”, a play by Clifford Odets. Both the musical and play tell the story of Noah and the Great Flood. The musical was only produced one time, on Broadway with Danny Kaye playing the lead.

81 E-bike alternative : MOPED

The word “moped” was coined in 1952 by a Swedish journalist named Harald Nielsen. The term is a portmanteau of “motor” and “pedal”.

93 Job listing abbr. : EOE

Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE)

94 One might be organized by habitat : ZOO

The world’s first zoo opened in Britain in 1820. Now known as “London Zoo”, the facility was referred to back then as the “Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society of London”. The term “zoo” is a shortening of “zoological”.

95 “A Death in the Family” novelist : AGEE

“A Death in the Family” is a 1957 novel by James Agee. It is about the death of a father and the impact it has on his family. The novel won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1958, and was adapted into a 1963 film “All the Way Home” starring Jean Simmons and Robert Preston.

97 Wall St. debut : IPO

An initial public offering (IPO) is the very first offer of stock for sale by a company on the open market. In other words, an IPO marks the first time that a company is traded on a public exchange. Companies have an IPO to raise capital to expand (usually).

106 Org. with a PreCheck option : TSA

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) operates its precheck program known as “TSA Pre✓” (or “TSA PreCheck”). Members of the program receive expedited screening at most airports. In order to become a member, a traveler must apply online, appear in person at a designated office for a background check and fingerprinting, and pay a fee for a 5-year membership.

109 River through Florence : ARNO

The Arno is the principal river in the Tuscany region of Italy, and passes through the cities of Florence and Pisa. Famously the Arno flooded in 1966, the worst flood in the region for centuries. There were numerous deaths and extensive destruction of priceless art treasures, particularly in Florence.

114 Lukewarm : TEPID

The obsolete adjective “luke” meant “tepid, moderately warm”. Said adjective used to exist in words like “luke-hot” and “luke-hearted”, but now only survives in the word “luke-warm” (usually “lukewarm”). So, I guess “lukewarm” means “tepidly tepid” …

124 Rim protector : HUBCAP

Hubcaps cover the hub of a wheel, and not much else. Wheel covers cover the entire face of the wheel, and attach to the wheel’s rim. There is a tendency to call wheel covers “hubcaps”, and I think that’s just to drive pedantic old me crazy …

126 Where the entire “Newhart” series actually took place : IN A DREAM

“Newhart” is a very entertaining sitcom starring Bob Newhart and Mary Frann as innkeepers in rural Vermont. The show is remembered by many for its last episode, which aired in 1990. In that final episode, Bob Newhart wakes up in bed and suggests that the whole of the show’s eight-year run was just a dream. He is lying beside actress Suzanne Pleshette who played his wife in an earlier sitcom “The Bob Newhart Show”. Very, very clever …

128 Hollandaise sauce ingredients : YOLKS

Hollandaise sauce is a mixture of egg yolk and melted butter that is then seasoned, usually with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Hollandaise has an exalted position in French cuisine. Although the origin is debated, some say that the recipe was invented in the Netherlands and taken to France by the Huguenots, hence the name “Hollandaise”, meaning “of Holland”.

Down

1 Stuff served in a horn at a Renaissance faire, perhaps : ALE

A Renaissance faire (Ren faire) is an outdoor public event in which many participants recreate historical settings by dressing in costume. Usually held in North America, many such fairs are set during the English Renaissance, and more particularly during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The definition of “Renaissance” is often stretched quite a bit, with fairs also set during the reign of Henry VIII, and maybe even during medieval times.

2 Red or White follower : … SOX

The Boston Red Sox are one of the most successful Major League Baseball teams and so command a large attendance, but only when on the road. The relatively small capacity of Boston’s Fenway Park, the team’s home since 1912, has dictated that every game the Red Sox have played there has been a sell-out from May of 2003 to April 2013. I had the pleasure of touring Fenway Park some years ago. It’s quite a place …

The Chicago White Sox Major League Baseball team was established in Chicago in 1900 and originally was called the White Stockings. The name was changed because the abbreviation “Sox” for “Stockings” was regularly used in newspaper headlines.

5 Subject of Bravo’s “Selling Sunset” : REALTY

The terms “realty” and “real estate” actually date back to the late 1600s. Back then, the terms meant “real possessions, things owned that are tangible and real”.

7 Company whose name is derived from “Service Games” : SEGA

Sega is a Japanese video game company headquartered in Tokyo. Sega actually started out in 1940 as Standard Games and was located in Honolulu, which at that time was a city in the US Territory of Hawaii. The owners moved the operation to Tokyo in 1951 and renamed the company to Service Games. The name “Sega” is a combination of the first two letters of the words “Se-rvice” and “Ga-mes”.

8 Airline based in Madrid : IBERIA

The airline called Iberia is the flag carrier for Spain and is based in the country’s capital city at Madrid-Barajas Airport.

11 Stick in a makeup kit : Q-TIP

Cotton swabs were originally marketed under the name “Baby Gays”. This was changed in 1926 to “Q-Tips”, with the Q standing for “quality”.

12 Skye of “Say Anything …” : IONE

Ione Skye is an American actress born in London, England. She is best known for portraying the character Diane Court in the 1989 high school romance movie “Say Anything…”, starring opposite John Cusack. Skye is the daughter of the Scottish folk singer Donovan.

13 Word on a candy heart : LUV

The forerunner to Sweethearts candy was introduced in 1866, with the famous sayings written on the candy tailored for use at weddings. One of the original expressions was, “Married in pink, he will take a drink”. The original candy was a lot bigger, to fit all those words! The smaller, heart-shaped candy hit the shelves in 1901. We’ve been able to buy Sweethearts with the words “Text me” since 2010.

16 Maker of tiny trunks : SPEEDO

Speedo brand swimwear was first produced in Australia in 1928, by a hosiery company that wanted to diversify. The brand name was chosen after a slogan competition among employees was won by “Speed on in your Speedos”. It was a long time ago, I guess …

17 Loser in the 2024 Stanley Cup final : OILER

The National Hockey League’s Edmonton Oilers are so called because they are located in Alberta, Canada … oil country.

The Stanley Cup is named for Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor General of Canada from 1888 to 1893. Lord Stanley’s sons became avid fans of ice hockey while in Canada, and so he donated the trophy in 1909, originally as a challenge cup for the country’s best amateur club.

24 Dr. Marcus of old TV : WELBY

“Marcus Welby, M.D.” is a television series that originally aired from 1969 to 1976. The title role was played by Robert Young.

25 Greek goddess of the earth : GAIA

The Greek goddess personifying the earth was Gaea (also “Gaia”, and meaning “land” or “earth” in Greek). The Roman equivalent goddess was Terra Mater, “Mother Earth”.

30 Alfresco dining spot : PATIO

Our word “alfresco” means outdoors, in the fresh air. The term came into English from Italian.

38 Compote fruit : PEAR

A compote is a fruit mixture stewed in syrup. The word “compote” comes to us from French and has the same etymology as our word “compost”! “Composte” is an Old French word for “mixture”.

39 Language whose name starts and ends with the same letter : URDU

Urdu is one of the two official languages of Pakistan (the other being English), and is one of the 22 scheduled languages in India. Urdu partly developed from Persian and is written from right to left.

40 Looney Tunes bunny : LOLA

Bugs Bunny’s girlfriend is Lola Bunny. She first appeared in the 1996 movie “Space Jam”.

50 Panini maker, e.g. : PRESS

In Italy, a sandwich made from sliced bread is called a “tramezzino”, while sandwiches made from non-sliced breads are called “panini” (singular “panino”). We’ve imported the plural term “panini” into English, to describe a single pressed and toasted sandwich.

51 Textbook example : EPITOME

The more common meaning of “epitome” is “perfect example of a group, quality, type”. An epitome is also an abstract or summary of a book or article.

53 First word of a Stevie Wonder hit : ISN’T

“Isn’t She Lovely” is a Stevie Wonder song that he released in 1976. The song refers to Wonder’s daughter Aisha Morris, who was born in the prior year.

54 Part of a joule : ERG

An erg is a unit of mechanical work or energy. It is a small unit, with one joule comprising 10 million ergs. It has been suggested that an erg is about the amount of energy required for a mosquito to take off. The term comes from “ergon”, the Greek word for work.

58 Likely victim on April Fools’ Day : SAP

April Fools’ Day is celebrated on April 1st in the Western world. In the US (and Ireland) one can make practical jokes all day long if one wants, but in the UK there is a noon deadline. Anyone pranking after midday is called an “April Fool”.

59 Actress Hagen : UTA

Uta Hagen was a German-born American actress. Hagen married Jose Ferrer in 1938, but they were divorced ten years later after it was revealed that she was having a long-running affair with Paul Robeson. Her association with Robeson, a prominent civil rights activist, earned her a spot on the Hollywood Blacklist during the McCarthy Era. This forced her away from film, but towards a successful stage career in New York City.

65 Final purpose, to Aristotle : TELOS

“Telos” is a Greek word for “purpose, goal”. In the world of philosophy, a telos is an end or a purpose, and is a concept that is central to the philosophical method known as teleology.

69 Hazard for a jet skier : WAKE

“Jet Ski” is actually a brand name owned by Kawasaki Heavy Industries of Japan. The generic term, not often used, is “personal watercraft”. Most people use the term “jet ski” generically, although “WaveRunner” is also popular. But that’s another brand name, one owned by Yamaha.

72 Its prime minister is known as the Taoiseach: Abbr. : IRE

The Prime Minister of Ireland is referred to, both in English and in Irish, by the Irish name for the office: “an Taoiseach”. The Irish term translates into English as “chief, leader”. “Taoiseach” is reserved for the Prime Minister of Ireland. When referring, in Irish, to a prime minister of another country, the more generic term “príomh-aire” is used, which translates as “chief minister”.

74 “___ y plata” (state motto of Montana) : ORO

“Oro y Plata” means “gold and silver”, and is the state motto of Montana. The motto was written in Spanish, apparently because “it had a nice ring to it”.

80 Ill-gotten gains : LOOT

“Loot” is the name given to anything taken by dishonesty or force, particularly during war. The term came into English from the Hindi “lut” meaning “goods taken from an enemy”.

82 Milkweed leaves, for a monarch caterpillar : DIET

The monarch butterfly has very recognizable orange and black wings, and is often seen across North America. The monarch is the state insect of several US states and was even nominated as the national insect in 1990, but that legislation was not enacted.

Common milkweed is a perennial herb that is found growing wild in much of North America. The plant’s name comes from the white latex sap that exudes when almost any part of the plant is cut or broken. The fruit of the common milkweed is a green pod, which dries out and turns brown before bursting open to disseminate fluffy seeds.

84 Athena’s gift to Athens : OLIVE TREE

According to myth, the goddess Athena competed with Poseidon for the privilege of being the patron of the city we now call Athens. Poseidon gave the city a salt water spring, and Athena offered an olive tree. As the olive tree was a source of wood, oil and food, Athena won the competition, and the city was named “Athens” in her honor.

86 Bright light in the big city : NEON

The basic design of neon lighting was first demonstrated at the Paris Motor Show in 1910. Such lighting is made up of glass tubes containing a vacuum into which has been introduced a small amount of neon gas. When a voltage is applied between two electrodes inside the tube, the neon gas “glows” and gives off the familiar light.

89 Type of type : FONT

We tend to use the terms typeface and font interchangeably. Technically, a typeface and font are not the same thing. A complete set of characters with a common design is referred to as a typeface (common examples being Helvetica and Arial). That typeface consists of a whole collection of fonts, all varying in weight and size. One set of Helvetica fonts, for example, might be Helvetica 14 point or Helvetica 16 point, i.e. a specific size. Another set might be Helvetica bold, or Helvetica italic. The difference between fonts and typefaces mattered a great deal when printers had collections of individual letters to make up blocks of text. Thankfully, we don’t have to worry about that these days.

96 Early NASA program : GEMINI

Famously, President Kennedy launched the Apollo space program in 1961. The Mercury program had been the project that put Americans into space, and NASA decided that more development work was needed to bridge the gap in capabilities needed between what was known from Mercury and what was needed to land a man on the moon, the objective of the Apollo program. So, the Gemini program was born, in which astronauts learned to spend extended periods in orbit, rendezvous and dock spacecraft, walk in space, and improve the reentry and landing stage of a space flight.

98 Europe’s second-longest river : DANUBE

The Danube is the second-longest river in Europe (after the Volga). It flows through four European capitals (Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade and Bratislava).

99 Chutzpah : GALL

Our word “chutzpah” meaning “nerve, gall, impudence” is derived from the Yiddish “khutspe”, which has the same meaning.

101 Some farm machines : DEERES

John Deere invented the first commercially successful steel plow in 1837. Prior to Deere’s invention, farmers used an iron or wooden plow that constantly had to be cleaned as rich soil stuck to its surfaces. The cast-steel plow was revolutionary as its smooth sides solved the problem of “stickiness”. The Deere company that John founded uses the slogan “Nothing Runs Like a Deere”, and has a leaping deer as its logo.

102 Kappa follower : LAMBDA

The letter lambda, the 11th in the Greek alphabet, is equivalent to our Latin letter L. An uppercase lambda resembles the caret character on a keyboard.

113 Embarassing mistake? : TYPO

That’s a typo: “embarassing” should be spelled “embarrassing”.

115 Sea turtle nesting site : DUNE

Sea turtles don’t reach sexual maturity until they are decades old. Turtles mate at sea and then the females head to the shore to lay their eggs. Oftentimes, the female turtle returns to the very same beach where she herself hatched.

118 Indian lentil dish : DAL

I love dal dishes, which are prepared from various peas or beans (often lentils) that have been stripped of their outer skins and split. Dal is an important part of Indian cuisines. I suppose in Indian terms, split pea soup (another of my favorites) would be called a dal.

119 Many debut releases, in brief : EPS

An extended-play (EP) record, CD or download contains more music than a single, but less than a long-play (LP) record.

120 Mule of old song : SAL

The song “Fifteen Miles on the Erie Canal” was written in 1905. The lyrics are nostalgic and look back to the days when traffic on the canal was pulled by mules, bemoaning the introduction of the fast-moving engine-powered barges. The first line is “I’ve got an old mule and her name is Sal”.

122 Barber’s obstacle : EAR

Our term “barber” comes to us via Anglo-French from the Latin “barba” meaning “beard”. Barbers originally offered a wide range of services, including surgery. Henry VIII restricted barbers to just haircutting … and dentistry!