NYXCrossword.com

Bill’s time: 21m 33s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

13A In Norse myth, world held up by the branches of the tree Yggdrasil : ASGARD

Yggdrasil is an enormous tree that is central to Norse mythology, and is known as the “world tree”. It is thought that it is an ash tree, and that the name “Yggdrasil” comes from the Norse word “igwja” meaning “ash tree”, but that fact is disputed.

Asgard is one of the Nine Worlds of Norse religions. It is where the Norse gods live, and is also home to Valhalla, the enormous hall ruled over by the god Odin.

21A Maker of the old Flying Cloud auto : REO

The REO Motor Company was founded by Ransom Eli Olds (hence the name REO). The company made cars, trucks and buses, and was in business from 1905 to 1975 in Lansing, Michigan. Among the company’s most famous models were the REO Royale 8 and the REO Flying Cloud.

22A Conical dwelling : TEEPEE

A tepee (also written as “tipi” and “teepee”) is a cone-shaped tent traditionally made from animal hides that is used by the Great Plains Native Americans. A wigwam is a completely different structure and is often a misnomer for a tepee. A wigwam is a domed structure built by Native Americans in the Northeast and Great Lakes regions, intended to be a more permanent dwelling. The wigwam can also be covered with hides but more often was covered with grass, reeds, brush or cloth.

23A W.W. I helmet : TIN HAT

The helmet worn by British and American soldiers for much of WWI was known colloquially as a “tin hat”, and more formally as a “Brodie helmet”. Inventor John Leopold Brodie patented the design in 1915 in London. The helmet was pressed from a single sheet of steel, lined with leather and included a leather chin strap.

27A “The Office” accountant who kept a cat in her desk drawer : ANGELA

Actress Angela Kinsey is best known for playing accountant Angela Martin on “The Office”. Although Kinsey was born in Louisiana, she grew up in Indonesia, and occasionally speaks Indonesian.

34A Religious title that translates to “ocean monk” : DALAI LAMA

The Dalai Lama is a religious leader in the Gelug branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The current Dalai Lama is the 14th to hold the office. He has indicated that the next Dalai Lama might be found outside of Tibet for the first time, and may even be female.

40A Stickler for military discipline : MARTINET

A martinet is someone who is a hard taskmaster and someone who sticks to the rules. Our use of the term “martinet“ is said to come from Jean Martinet, an Inspector General in the army of Louis XIV of France. Martinet was a noted drill master and disciplinarian.

41A Anora’s nickname in “Anora” : ANI

The 2024 movie “Anora” is about a young stripper from Brooklyn who impulsively marries the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch. The marriage is short-lived, as the groom’s parents send henchmen to find the couple and force an annulment. The film follows the aftermath as the stripper ends the marriage, leaving her in an emotionally vulnerable and uncertain state. The entire film was shot in 37 days, with one 25-minute sequence taking up 10 of those days. The sequence was a particularly demanding and disturbing home invasion scene.

47A Four Corners tribe : UTE

The Four Corners region of the US surrounds the meeting point of the four states of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. It is the only point in the US that is shared by four states.

49A Mammals also known as firefoxes : RED PANDAS

The red panda is a relatively small mammal with reddish-brown fur and white fur highlighting features on his head. A native of the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China, it is not closely related to the giant panda, and instead is related to the raccoon, weasel and skunk.

57A Condition treated with a CPAP machine : APNEA

Many people suffering from sleep apnea use a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine while sleeping. The patient wears a mask that supplies air to the upper respiratory tract at a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure. This positive pressure can prevent the collapse of the upper airway, which is the cause of obstructive sleep apnea.

58A Prefix with dermis : EPI-

The epidermis is the outermost layer of the skin. The thickest piece of epidermal tissue in humans is on the soles of the feet and the palms, and measures about 1.5 mm. The thinnest measures 0.1 mm, and that would be the human eyelid.

61A What a pictogram of a man with a walking stick might indicate : TRAILHEAD

A pictogram is a symbol that resembles a physical object, and that conveys its meaning through that resemblance. Many of our traffic signs are pictograms. For example, the “slow, school” sign shows a silhouette of a running child, and the “slow, pedestrians” sign features a silhouette of a walking man.

64A Xenon and krypton, e.g. : RARE GASES

The rare gases are better known as the noble gases, but neither term is really very accurate. “Noble” gas might be a better choice though, as they are all relatively unreactive. But “rare” they are not. Argon, for example, is a major constituent (1%) of the air that we breathe.

The element xenon was the first of the noble gases to be made into a compound, which was somewhat remarkable in that the noble gases were thought by many to be completely inert, unreactive.

Krypton (Kr) was discovered in 1898 by two British chemists, Sir William Ramsay and Morris Travers. They chilled a sample of air, turning it into a liquid. They then warmed that liquid and separated out the gases that boiled off. Along with nitrogen, oxygen and argon (already known), the pair of scientists discovered two new gases. The first they called “krypton” and the second “neon”. “Krypton” is Greek for “the hidden one” and “neon” is Greek for “new”.

68A The Orioles, on a scoreboard : BAL

The Baltimore Orioles (also the O’s, the Birds) are one of the eight charter teams of MLB’s American League, so the franchise dates back to 1901. Prior to 1901, the team had roots in the Minor League Milwaukee Brewers, and indeed entered the American League as the Brewers. In 1902 the Brewers moved to St. Louis and became the Browns. The team didn’t fare well in St. Louis, so when it finally relocated to Baltimore in the early fifties the team changed its name completely, to the Baltimore Orioles. The owners so badly wanted a fresh start that they traded 17 old Browns players with the New York Yankees. The trade didn’t help the team’s performance on the field in those early days, but it did help distance the new team from its past.

69A They’re cast in November : BALLOTS

Today, a ballot is a piece of paper or equivalent used to cast a vote. Back in the 1500s, a “ballot” was a small “ball” used in the process of voting.

Election Day was chosen by Congress back in 1845. The month of November was selected as it suited an agricultural society, following the fall harvest and yet not too far into winter, which could make travel difficult. Tuesday was chosen so that people had time to travel to polling stations. Monday elections might have meant that some would have to start out on Sunday, and that could interfere with Christian services.

71A Father of Zeus : CRONUS

“Chronos” is the Greek word for time, with the name applying in ancient Greece to a personification of time. He was not a Greek god, although Chronos has often been confused with the Titan Cronus of Greek mythology. The Titan Cronus was often depicted with a scythe, as this was the tool he used to castrate his father Uranus. The confusion of Chronos and Cronus led to the traditional depiction of “Old Father Time” with a scythe.

76A “The Rock” : ALCATRAZ

Alcatraz Island is located just a mile offshore from San Francisco in San Francisco Bay. Famously, it is home to an abandoned federal prison that operated from 1934 until 1963. Spanish naval officer Juan de Ayala entered San Francisco Bay in 1775, and charted the area. He named one of the islands in the bay “La Isla de los Alcatraces”, meaning “The Island of the Pelicans”. Somehow, this “Alcatraces” evolved into “Alcatraz”.

85A Levi’s competitor : LEE

The Lee company that is famous for making jeans was formed in 1889 by one Henry David Lee in Salina, Kansas.

86A No man’s land, for short : DMZ

A demilitarized zone (DMZ) is usually a border between two countries where military activity is banned according to some treaty between interested parties. The most famous DMZ today has to be the buffer zone between North and South Korea. The Korean DMZ snakes right across the Korean peninsula near the 38th parallel. The centerline of the DMZ is where the front was when the ceasefire came into effect in 1953 after the Korean War. According to the armistice signed, all troops had to move back 2,000 meters from the front line on both sides, creating the DMZ that is in place today. Paradoxically perhaps, the areas on either side of the DMZ form the most heavily militarized border in the world.

87A Flaky fish : COD

In Britain and Ireland, the most common fish that is used in traditional “fish and chips” is Atlantic cod. Cod has been overfished all over the world, and is now considered to be an endangered species by many international bodies. Confrontations over fishing rights in the North Atlantic led to conflicts called “the Cod Wars” between Iceland and the UK in the 1950s and the 1970s, with fishing fleets being protected by naval vessels and even shots being fired.

89A Predator that might hunt by electrolocation : EEL

Electric eels are so called because they are capable of delivering an electric shock that debilitates their prey. They are also able to electrolocate their prey. They do so by generating a weak electric field. The prey causes a distortion in this electric field, which is picked up by the eel’s electroreceptor organs.

90A Classic Andy Warhol subject : MARILYN

The “Marilyn Diptych” is a 1962 work by pop artist Andy Warhol. It features 50 images of actress Marilyn Monroe taken from a publicity photograph used to market the 1953 thriller film “Niagara”. Warhol created the painting by silkscreening 25 of the images in color on one side of the canvas, and 25 of the images in black and white on the other side. The color and black-and-white images are said to represent Monroe’s life and death. Warhol created the “Marilyn Diptych” just weeks after the actress died from a barbiturate overdose.

95A Show that inspired the famous misquote “Just the facts, ma’am” : DRAGNET

Sgt. Joe Friday may have said “No, ma’am” and “I’m a cop” a lot on “Dragnet”, but he never actually said the oft-quoted “Just the facts, ma’am”.

100A Polynesian title heroine of film : MOANA

“Moana” is a 2016 animated feature film and the 56th animated Disney movie. The title character is the daughter of a Polynesian chief who heads off in search of the demigod Maui, hoping that he can save her people. Unlike many of the previous Disney Princess films, Moana’s story is not centered around romance. She is only the second Disney Princess who doesn’t have a love interest, the first being Merida in the 2012 feature “Brave”.

102A Brand from Anheuser-Busch : MICHELOB

The Michelob brand of lager beer was introduced in 1896 by Adolphus Busch (co-founder of Anheuser-Busch). “Michelob” is the German name for the market town of Měcholupy, now in the Czech Republic. In 1978, Anheuser-Busch launched Michelob Light, and then Michelob Ultra in 2002.

108A Odd-numbered page : RECTO

The left and right pages of a book or magazine are known in publishing circles as verso and recto. Recto comes from the Latin for “right”, and verso comes from the Latin word for “turned”. The idea is that the left side of the page is “turned” and is the reverse of the recto/right side.

114A GarageBand platform : IOS

Garageband is an application for Apple products that is used to create music.

115A Unexpected upsides : SILVER LININGS

The idiom “every cloud has a silver lining” suggests that there is something good to be found in every bad situation. The phrase “silver lining” was coined by English poet John Milton in “Comus”, a piece of dramatic entertainment that was first performed in 1634. The relevant lines are:

Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night?
I did not err; there does a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night,
And casts a gleam over this tufted grove.

123A Carnaval locale, familiarly : RIO

The Rio de Janeiro Carnaval is the largest carnival celebration in the world. The city hosts about two million celebrants on its streets for the six days of the festival.

127A Hammer part : PEEN

The peen of a hammer is on the head, and is the side of the head that is opposite the striking surface. Often the peen is in the shape of a hemisphere (as in a ball-peen hammer). More often than not, the peen is replaced with a claw, primarily for removing nails.

Down

1D Flour in Indian cooking : ATTA

Atta is a whole-wheat flour used to make flatbreads in South Asian cuisine, such as chapati and roti. “Atta” is the Hindi or Urdu word for “dough”.

3D Japanese comic style : MANGA

Manga, Japanese graphic novels, can be grouped into five genres based on the target readership:

• Shonen: Manga targeted at tween and teen boys.
• Shojo: Manga targeted at tween and teen girls.
• Seinen: Manga targeted at adult men (18+).
• Josei: Manga targeted at adult women (18+).
• Kodomomuke: Manga targeted at young children.

4D Part of OTOH : OTHER

On the other hand (OTOH)

5D Common vessel for a cosmopolitan : MARTINI GLASS

Like so many famous cocktails, the actual origins of the cosmopolitan are disputed. It is a very nice drink, in my humble opinion. One of the standard recipes is 4 parts citrus vodka, 1.5 parts Cointreau, 1.5 parts lime juice and 3 parts cranberry cocktail.

9D Sporcle or Jeopardy! World Tour : TRIVIA APP

Sporcle.com is a trivia quiz website. The name is derived from the word “oracle” apparently. I like the web site’s mission statement: “We actively and methodically search out new and innovative ways to prevent our users from getting any work done whatsoever.”

10D Orbitz competitor : PRICELINE

Priceline.com is a travel website providing discount prices for airline tickets and hotel stays. Priceline’s most famous spokespeople in advertisements are William Shatner and Kaley Cuoco.

Orbitz is one of the big online travel companies, one that is based in Chicago. Orbitz was originally set up as a joint-venture of several airlines including Continental, Delta, Northwest and United.

11D Response to “Gracias” : DE NADA

In Spanish, one can respond to “Gracias” (Thank you) with “De nada” (It’s nothing).

12D Geezer : FOGY

An old fogey is someone with old-fashioned ideas, and is usually more advanced in years. The term “fogey”(sometimes “fogy”) comes to us from the Scottish “foggie”, which back in the late 1700s described an army pensioner or veteran.

“Geezer”, “codger” and “coot” are all not-so-nice terms meaning “old man”.

14D Alternatives to zippers on blue jeans : BUTTON FLIES

The term “fly” is used to describe the flap covering the buttons or zipper in the front of a pair of pants. Before “fly” was used for pants, it was the name given to a tent flap.

16D Speed skater Ohno : APOLO

Speed-skater Apolo Ohno has won more Winter Olympics medals than any other American. Ohno also did a great job winning the 2007 season of television’s “Dancing with the Stars”.

31D Gertrude who swam the English Channel : EDERLE

Gertrude Ederle was an American swimmer from New York City. Ederle became the first woman to cross the English Channel, in 1926. Only five men had made the same swim before Ederle, with the fastest crossing being in 16 hours 33 minutes. Ederle blew that record out of the water (pun!), arriving in Dover in 14 hours 39 minutes.

35D Had a couple of brats? : ATE

A bratwurst (sometimes simply “brat” in the US) is a German sausage. The name comes from “brät-” meaning “finely chopped meat”, and “Wurst” meaning “sausage”.

36D Many a hedge fund hire, in brief : MBA

Originally, a hedge fund was a fund that paired long and short positions in a strategy designed to hedge market risk, to avoid major losses. That’s far from the case today, as hedge funds are now relatively high risk/reward investments that are not available to the general public as they avoid or partially avoid regulatory oversight.

38D Company that made Missile Command : ATARI

Missile Command is a fun arcade game that was introduced by Atari in 1980. Playing the game involves protecting six cities that are being attacked by ballistic missiles. The original game’s design featured six cities in California, namely Eureka, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and San Diego.

44D Tree cluster : COPSE

A copse is a small stand of trees. The term “copse” originally applied to a small thicket that was specifically grown for cutting.

48D Kendo or aikido : MARTIAL ART

Martial arts are various fighting traditions and systems used in combat or simply to promote physical well-being. The term “martial” ultimately derives from Latin and means “Arts of Mars”, a reference to Mars, the Roman god of war.

Kendo is a Japanese martial art based on sword fighting. Participants wear protective armor, and use bamboo swords.

Aikido is a Japanese martial art that only dates back to the 1920s and 1930s. It was developed by Morihei Ueshiba, who is often referred to as “the Founder” or “Great Teacher”.

51D “Star Wars” title : DARTH

Darth Vader is (to me) the most colorful antagonist in the “Star Wars” universe. Born as Anakin “Ani” Skywalker, he was corrupted by the Emperor Palpatine and turned to “the Dark Side”. In the original films, Darth Vader was portrayed by English bodybuilder David Prowse, and voiced by actor James Earl Jones. Jones asked that he go uncredited for the first two “Star Wars” films, feeling that his contributions were insufficient to warrant recognition. I disagree …

52D “Mayor Pete” : BUTTIGIEG

Politician Pete Buttigieg is a former mayor of South Bend, Indiana and an unsuccessful candidate for US president in 2020 Democratic Party primaries. He is a Harvard graduate and also graduated from Oxford, which he attended on a Rhodes Scholarship. He served as an intelligence officer in the US Navy Reserve for eight years, and was deployed to Afghanistan for seven months in 2014. He was appointed as Secretary of Transportation in the Biden administration in 2021, making him the first openly gay cabinet secretary in the history of the US.

62D Early empire builder : INCA

The area of South America that we now know as Peru was home to the Inca Empire, one of the largest and most powerful empires in pre-Columbian America. The Inca Empire existed from the early 13th century until it was conquered in the 16th century by the Spanish, led by Francisco Pizarro.

65D Carne ___ : ASADA

The name of the dish called “carne asada” translates from Spanish as “roasted meat”.

66D Lead-in to futurism : AFRO-

Afrofuturism is a broad cultural movement that incorporates science-fiction and futuristic elements with the history and identity of the African diaspora. The term “Afrofuturism” was coined in 1994 by author and cultural critic Mark Dery.

72D Tired old advertising mascot? : MICHELIN MAN

Michelin is a manufacturer of tires that is based in France. The company was founded by brothers Édouard and André Michelin in 1889. The brothers were running a rubber factory at the time, and invented the world’s first removable pneumatic tire, an invention that they used to launch their new company. Michelin is also noted for rating restaurants and accommodation in its famous Michelin Travel Guides, awarding coveted Michelin stars.

75D It’s the end of the world : ARMAGEDDON

According to the Bible’s Book of Revelation, there will be a gathering of armies and a great battle during the “end of days”, and that battle between good and evil will take place at Armageddon. The term “Armageddon” comes from the Greek “Har Megiddo”, meaning “Mount of Megiddo”. Megiddo is an ancient city in Israel known for its strategic location and numerous battles throughout history, which gave rise to its symbolic association with a final conflict.

76D Longest book in the Book of Mormon : ALMA

“The Book of Alma: The Son of Alma” is the full name of the longest book in the Book of Mormon. Alma was a prophet, and was also known as Alma the Younger.

78D Potters, e.g. : CERAMISTS

A ceramic is a hard, heat- and corrosion-resistant material that is strong in compression but has a low tensile strength. Most ceramics are inorganic, non-metallic chemicals. As an aside, I have a degree in ceramics, believe it or not, after writing a thesis on the material used to make refrigerator magnets. Sad, really …

84D Utah ski town : ALTA

Alta ski resort lies within the Salt Lake City Metropolitan Area. The first ski lift in the resort was opened way back in 1939. Today, Alta is one of only three ski resorts in the country that prohibits snowboarding (along with Deer Valley, Utah and Mad River Glen, Vermont). The ski resort of Snowbird, located next to Alta, has been in operation since 1971.

94D Leader ousted in 1955 : PERON

Nowadays, President Juan Perón of Argentina is perhaps less well-known than his second wife, Eva Perón of “Evita” fame. Juan and Eva Perón were overthrown in a military coup in 1955, although Juan Perón was returned to power in 1973 after which he served for only nine months before he passed away. Juan was succeeded in office by his third wife, Isabel Perón.

96D Mass pardon : AMNESTY

A pardon is in effect a demonstration of pity and forgiveness for the crime. Amnesty is absolution while formally forgetting (“amnesty” is related to the term “amnesia”) that the crime took place. Further, a pardon can only be awarded to someone who has been convicted, whereas amnesty can be awarded to individuals who have not yet faced trial.

107D One of the Obamas : MICHELLE

Michelle Obama née Robinson grew up on the South Side of Chicago. Her brother is Craig Robinson, former coach of men’s basketball at Oregon State University. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Michelle Robinson worked as an associate at the Chicago office of the Sidley Austin law firm. Barack Obama joined the firm as a summer associate and Michelle Robinson was assigned to mentor him, and as they say, one thing led to another …

109D Muse of history : CLIO

Clio, the muse of history, held a prominent place among the nine muses of Greek mythology. Often depicted with a scroll or tablet in hand, she presided over the recording and interpretation of past events. It was Clio who inspired historians, poets, and other writers to document and recount the deeds of mortals and the stories of gods. Her name comes from the Greek word “kleio” meaning “to celebrate, make famous”, reflecting her role in immortalizing achievements and preserving the memory of the past for future generations.

110D Some expensive suits : ARMANIS

Giorgio “Gio” Armani was an Italian fashion designer and founder of the company that has borne his name since 1975. Although Armani was famous for his menswear, the company makes everything from jewelry to perfume.

112D Vegan cooking staple : TOFU

“Tofu” is a name for bean curd, and is a Japanese word meaning just that … bean that has curdled. It is produced by coagulating soy milk, using either salt or something acidic. Once the protein has coagulated, the curds are pressed into the familiar blocks. Personally I love tofu, but my wife absolutely hates it …

113D Moccasin, e.g. : SHOE

“Moc” is short for “moccasin”, a type of shoe. The moccasin is a traditional form of footwear worn by members of many Native American tribes.

118D Spleen : IRE

The association of “spleen” with bad temper comes from ancient Greek medicine. They believed in a theory called humorism, in which four bodily fluids (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile) determined a person’s temperament. They thought the spleen produced black bile, an excess of which caused melancholy and irritability.

119D Grp. on the right : GOP

The Republican Party has had the nickname Grand Old Party (GOP) since 1875. That said, the phrase was coined in the “Congressional Record” as “this gallant old party”. The moniker was changed to “grand old party” in 1876 in an article in the “Cincinnati Commercial”. The Republican Party’s elephant mascot dates back to an 1874 cartoon drawn by Thomas Nast for “Harper’s Weekly”. The Democrat’s donkey was already an established symbol. Nast drew a donkey clothed in a lion’s skin scaring away the other animals. One of the scared animals was an elephant, which Nast labeled “The Republican Vote”.