0831-24 NY Times Crossword 31 Aug 24, Saturday - NYXCrossword.com (2024)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Liquid found in some pens : VAPE JUICE

An electronic cigarette (also called an “e-cigarette”) is a battery-powered device that resembles a real cigarette. The e-cigarette vaporizes a solution that contains nicotine, forming a vapor that resembles smoke. The vapor is inhaled in a process called “vaping”, delivering nicotine into the body. The assumption is that an e-cigarette is healthier than a regular cigarette as the inhaled vapor is less harmful than inhaled smoke. But, that may not be so …

14 The old man? : CRO-MAGNON

Remains of early man, dating back to 35,000 years ago, were found in Abri de Cro-Magnon in southwest France, giving the name to those early humans. Cro-Magnon remains are the oldest human relics that have been discovered in Europe.

16 Fast-food order that comes in four shapes: bells, balls, boots and bow ties : MCNUGGETS

Chicken nuggets were invented by a food science professor named Robert C. Baker at Cornell University in the 1950s. Fundamentally, Baker’s invention was a way to keep ground meat clumped without a skin, and a batter that stayed on the clumps despite being frozen and then deep-fried.

18 Like some supplements, for short : OTC

Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs don’t need a prescription (Rx).

19 10-point play : Z-TILE

The game of Scrabble has been produced in many international versions, and each of these editions has its own tile distribution to suit the local language. For example, in English we have two tiles worth ten points: one “Q” and one “Z”. If you play the game in French then there are five tiles worth ten points: one “K”, one “W”, one “X”, one “Y” and one “Z”.

21 Franchise that moved back to Vegas in 2021 : CSI

The “CSI” franchise of TV shows has been tremendously successful, and seems to really have legs. “CSI: Miami” (the “worst” of the franchise, I think) was canceled in 2012 after ten seasons. “CSI: NY” (the “best” of the franchise) was canceled in 2013 after nine seasons. The original “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” was set in Las Vegas, and hung in there until 2015 when it ended with a two-hour TV movie. Then there was “CSI: Cyber”. It lasted for two seasons, before being canceled in 2016. “CSI: Vegas”, a sequel to the original “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”, launched in 2021.

22 Ex ___ (out of nothing) : NIHILO

The Latin phrase “ex nihilo” means “out of nothing”. The extended phrase “creatio ex nihilo” describes the concept that God created the world out of nothing.

30 Smallish smart device from Amazon : ECHO DOT

Amazon Echo is a voice-controlled hardware device that can be used to provide several services including playing radio programs and music, recording of shopping lists, and managing a calendar. The device just sits in the home listening, until it hears a “wake up” command.

31 Modern words of encouragement : YAS, QUEEN!

“Yas” is a slang term used in place of the interjection “yes!”, when it expresses pleasure and excitement. The exclamation often takes the form “Yas, queen!”

44 Rapper who shares his name with the 29th U.S. president : WARREN G

“Warren G” is the stage name of rapper Warren Griffin III. He was a member of the supergroup hip hop trio 213, along with Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg.

Warren G. Harding became US president in 1921. His presidency was viewed positively while he was in office, but his reputation tarnished quite dramatically due to subsequent revelations of political and personal intrigue. For example, a bribery incident known as the Teapot Dome Scandal resulted in one of Harding’s cabinet members going to jail. Also, several years later it was revealed that Harding fathered a child with his secretary just before he moved into the White House, and had an affair with the lady in question right through his presidency. Harding died in office, after suffering a heart attack in San Francisco at the end of a West Coast tour. He was succeeded by his vice president, Calvin Coolidge.

52 Aunt ___ of “Oklahoma!” : ELLER

“Oklahoma!” was the first musical written by the great duo Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The storyline comes from a 1931 stage play called “Green Grow the Lilacs”.

54 Cue preceder : PEE

In the English alphabet, the letter P (pee) precedes the letter Q (cue).

55 Island known for its nightlife : IBIZA

Ibiza is a Mediterranean island located almost 100 miles off the Spanish coast. It is a very popular tourist destination, largely for its legendary nightlife.

57 Line outside a box office : ONE, PLEASE

At a box office, a person might ask, “One (ticket), please”.

63 Best Picture-winning film adapted from the 1999 memoir “The Master of Disguise” : ARGO

“Argo” is a 2012 movie that is based on the true story of the rescue of six diplomats hiding out during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. The film was directed by and stars Ben Affleck and is produced by Grant Heslov and George Clooney, the same pair who produced the excellent “Good Night, and Good Luck”. I highly recommend “Argo”, although I found the scenes of religious fervor to be very frightening …

Down

1 Some start-up funding, in brief : VC MONEY

Venture capital (VC)

2 Ancient continent that included present-day Siberia : ARCTICA

Siberia is a vast area in Eurasia and Northern Asia. The region’s industrial development started with the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway from 1891 to 1916, which linked Siberia to Russia in the west.

3 Wet weather wear : PONCHOS

A poncho is a typical South American outer garment that has been used by Native American peoples since pre-Hispanic times. One of the iconic uses of a poncho was by Clint Eastwood in spaghetti westerns.

4 This will not fly! : EMU

The emu has had a tough time in Australia since man settled there. There was even an “Emu War” in Western Australia in 1932 when migrating emus competed with livestock for water and food. Soldiers were sent in and used machine guns in an unsuccessful attempt to drive off the “invading force”. The emus were clever, breaking their usual formations and adopting guerrilla tactics, operating as smaller units. After 50 days of “war”, the military withdrew. Subsequent requests for military help for the farmers were ignored. The emus had emerged victorious …

5 Bender : JAG

The terms “jag” and “bender” describe periods of unrestrained activity, particularly those involving alcohol. Both words have been in use since the 1800s.

6 Big name in comfy footwear : UGG

Uggs are sheepskin boots that were first produced in Australia and New Zealand. The original Uggs have sheepskin fleece on the inside for comfort and insulation, with a tanned leather surface on the outside for durability. “Ugg” is a generic term Down Under, although it’s a brand name here in the US.

8 Panna ___ (Italian dessert) : COTTA

Panna cotta is an Italian dessert made from cream, sugar and gelatin and perhaps some flavoring. The name “panna cotta” really wasn’t used in Italy until the 1960s, and the dish became popular in the US starting in the 1990s.

10 Many a Theravada Buddhist : LAO

The present-day nation of Laos can trace its roots back to the historic Lao kingdom of Lan Xang that existed from 1354 to 1707. The full name of the kingdom was “Lan Xang Hom Khao”, which translates as “The Land of a Million Elephants and the White Parasol”.

The Buddhist tradition has two major branches. The Theravada is “the School of the Elders”, and the Mahayana is “the Great Vehicle”. The Theravada is the older of the two schools, whereas the Mahayana split from the Theravada around the 1st century CE.

11 The Mexican state of Michoacán produces 5.5+ billion pounds of this annually : AVOCADO

The wonderful avocado comes from a tree that is native to Mexico and Central America. The avocado fruit is sometimes called an avocado pear, because of its shape, even though it is not related to the pear at all. The fruit might also be referred to as an alligator pear, due to the roughness of the green skin of some avocado cultivars.

20 Ontario, e.g., to the Québécois : LAC

In French, one of the Great Lakes is “Lac Ontario” (Lake Ontario).

A “Québécois” is someone from Quebec.

27 Drink once sold as Fruit Smack : KOOL-AID

The drink we know today as Kool-Aid was invented by Edward Perkins and his wife in Perkins’ mother’s kitchen in southwest Nebraska. Kool-Aid is now the Official Soft Drink of the state.

35 One party to 2020’s Abraham Accords: Abbr. : UAE

The Israel-UAE normalization agreement signed in 2020 is officially known as the Abraham Accords. By signing the pact, the UAE became the third Arab country to normalize relations with Israel, after Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.

37 Where “uncommon valor was a common virtue,” per Admiral Chester Nimitz : IWO JIMA

Iwo Jima is a volcanic island located south of Tokyo that today is uninhabited. The name is Japanese for “Sulfur Island”, referring to the sulfur mining on which Iwo Jima’s economy once depended. There were about a thousand Japanese civilians living on the island prior to WWII. In 1944, there was a massive influx of Japanese military personnel in anticipation of the inevitable US invasion. As the Japanese military moved in, the civilians were forced out and no one has lived there since. Control of the island was wrested from the Japanese in the five-week Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. Said battle was one of the bloodiest in the Pacific theater in WWII.

Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz is perhaps best remembered as the commander of fleet operations in the Pacific in WWII. Above and beyond the many honors formally awarded to Admiral Nimitz, he was chosen in 1945 to sign the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on the decks of the Missouri, as the official representative of his country.

38 Establishment serving hot shots : SAKE BAR

We refer to the Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice as “sake”. We’ve gotten things a bit mixed up in the West. “Sake” is actually the word that the Japanese use for all alcoholic drinks. What we know as sake, we sometimes refer to as rice wine. Also, the starch in the rice is first converted to sugars that are then fermented into alcohol. This is more akin to a beer-brewing process than wine production, so the end product is really a rice “beer” rather than a rice “wine”.

41 Graphic designer’s shortcut : CLIP ART

Clip art is a collection of ready-made images that can be cut and pasted as perhaps an illustration. The original clip art was “clipped”, i.e. cut, from existing printed works for use in some other published works.

42 Like Gregory Peck’s character in Hitchco*ck’s “Spellbound” : AMNESIC

“Amnesia”, meaning “loss of memory”, is a Greek word that we imported into English in the 17th century. The Greek term comes from combining the prefixes “a-” meaning “not” and “mnesi-” meaning “remembering”.

“Spellbound” is a 1945 Hitchco*ck film starring Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck. It is a psychological thriller in which Bergman and Peck play psychoanalysts. That’s all I’ll say, to avoid spoiling the film for potential viewers. I will say that Hitchco*ck makes his traditional cameo appearance in the movie, although it occurs relatively late in the plot. Hitch can be seen exiting an elevator carrying a violin case and smoking a cigarette about 43 minutes into the film.

Gregory Peck was an iconic Hollywood actor, who hailed from La Jolla, California. Peck was recognized as a great actor as soon as he started acting in films in 1944. He was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for “The Keys of the Kingdom” (1944), “The Yearling” (1946), “Gentleman’s Agreement” (1947) and “Twelve O’Clock High” (1949). Peck finally won his Academy Award with the fifth nomination, for playing Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962).

45 Kraken’s home, for short : NHL

The Kraken are an NHL team based in Seattle. They played their first league game in Seattle in 2021, marking the first time that Seattle hosted a professional hockey team since the days of the Seattle Totems in 1975.

46 Dances in duple time : GALOPS

A galop is a type of dance that was especially popular in Parisian society in the 1800s. It is a fast-paced dance named after the fastest running gait of a horse (a gallop). The most famous exponent of the form was Johann Strauss II.

49 Pillar, of a sort : TENET

A tenet is an article of faith, something that is held to be true. “Tenet” is Latin for “he/she/it holds”.

58 Spot at a casino table : PIP

The spots on dice are called pips.