1012-22 NY Times Crossword 12 Oct 22, Wednesday - NYXCrossword.com (2024)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Vegetable rich in vitamin K, appropriately : KALE

Vitamin K is actually a group of vitamins that are essential to the process of blood coagulation. A form of vitamin K is also involved in photosynthesis in plants, so green leafy vegetables are the best source of the vitamin for humans.

5 Undergrad conferrals, for short : BAS

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

15 Gymnast Raisman : ALY

Aly Raisman is a retired gymnast. She captained the US gold-winning teams in the Olympics in 2012 (“The Fierce Five”) and in 2016 (“The Final Five”).

17 Top 10 funk hit from War with an iconic bass line (1975) : LOW RIDER

“Low Rider” is a 1975 song written and recorded by the band War. It was used as the theme song for the sitcom “George Lopez”, which ran from 2002 to 2007. Lopez referred to the song as the “Chicano National Anthem”.

20 Inspiration for some psychedelic music : LSD

The term “psychedelic” was coined in 1956 by British-born psychiatrist Humphry Osmond. He proposed the term to describe the effects of taking the drugs LSD and mescaline. He suggested that “psychedelic” be defined as “mind-manifesting”, from the Greek “psyche” (mind) and “delos” (manifest).

21 ___ Kondo, organizing guru : MARIE

Marie Kondo runs a very successful organizing consulting business that she founded when she was 19 years old, and while a student at Tokyo Woman’s Christian University. She wrote an extremely successful book titled “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing” that was first published in 2011. I’ve read it, and acted on at least some of the advice given therein …

24 Classic Wilson Pickett cover (1966) : MUSTANG SALLY

“Mustang Sally” is a 1965 song written and recorded by Mack Rice that became famous through a cover version released by Wilson Pickett the following year. Personally, my favorite rendition appears in the 1991 film “The Commitments”, sung by Andrew Strong (when he was just 16 years old).

31 Garment traditionally woven from white wool : TOGA

In ancient Rome, the classical attire known as a toga (plural “togae” or “togas”) was usually worn over a tunic. The tunic was made from linen, and the toga itself was a piece of cloth about twenty feet long made from wool. The toga could only be worn by men, and only if those men were Roman citizens. The female equivalent of the toga was called a “stola”.

32 Close chica : AMIGA

In Spanish, an “amigo” is a male friend, and an “amiga” a female friend.

In Spanish, a “niña” is a young girl, a child. The term “chica” applies to an older girl or perhaps a young woman. The term “muchacha” applies to girls in general, I think …

34 Cartoon collectible : CEL

In the world of animation, a cel is a transparent sheet on which objects and characters are drawn. In the first half of the 20th century the sheet was actually made of celluloid, giving the “cel” its name.

37 Sports trainer’s concern, for short : ACL

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of four major ligaments that support the knee.

38 Tracy Chapman hit with the line “I had a feeling I could be someone” (1988) : FAST CAR

“Fast Car” is a 1988 song written and recorded by Tracy Chapman. The song got a big boost that year when she performed it at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert broadcast around the world from Wembley Stadium in London.

41 Small dog : TOY

The toy group of dogs is made up of the smallest breeds. The smallest of the small breeds are sometimes called teacup breeds.

43 Water balloons on a hot day, say : AMMO

The word “munitions” describes materials and equipment used in war. The term derives from the Latin “munitionem” meaning “fortification, defensive wall”. Back in the 17th century, French soldiers referred to such materials as “la munition”, a Middle French term. This was misheard as “l’ammunition”, and as a result we ended up importing the word “ammunition” (often shortened to “ammo”), a term that we now use mainly to describe the material fired from a weapon.

48 Janis Joplin’s final recording, which had an anticonsumerism message (1970) : MERCEDES BENZ

“Mercedes Benz” is a 1970 song co-written and released by Janis Joplin. It was recorded just three days before Joplin died from a heroin overdose, and released the following year.

54 Proof finale, in brief : QED

The initialism “QED” is used at the end of a mathematical proof or a philosophical argument. QED stands for the Latin “quod erat demonstrandum” meaning “that which was to be demonstrated”.

57 Rich, fashionable sorts : JET SET

The jet set comprises wealthy individuals who frequent the fashionable resorts around the world. The term “jet set” was coined in 1951, and actually predated (slightly) the introduction of jet planes for commuter flights.

60 Modern music staple that’s a punny description of 17-, 24-, 38- and 48-Across : AUTO-TUNE

Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio process that is primarily used to alter pitch in a recorded track. One of the main uses of Auto-Tune is to correct voice tracks that are slightly off-pitch, which probably explains why even professional singers tend to sound better on a recording than they do live. More extreme levels of Auto-Tune adjustment are now quite common, creating a sound effect that distorts vocals. Such sound effects really took off with the release of Cher’s 1998 hit song “Believe”, in which you can really notice the vocal distortion.

64 People that built the Temple of Kukulkan : MAYA

The Mayan civilization held sway in Central America and Mexico from about 350 AD, until the arrival of the Spanish in the 1500s.

66 Winter hrs. in Boston : EST

The city of Boston, Massachusetts was founded in 1630 by Puritan colonists from England. The area was eventually named for the city of Boston in Lincolnshire, England from where several of the colonists hailed.

67 Printer toner color : CYAN

“Cyan” is short for “cyan blue”. The term comes from the Greek word “kyanos” meaning “dark blue, the color of lapis lazuli”.

Four-color printing uses four different color inks: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The black ink is also known as the “key”. The first letter of the colors (with black being ”key”) give the more common name for four-color printing, namely CMYK.

Down

2 Foofaraws : ADOS

Foofaraw is excessive or flashy ornamentation, or a fuss over something that is unimportant.

4 Home of the body’s vestibular system : EAR

The inner ear is primarily responsible for detecting sound and maintaining balance. It comprises two main parts. The cochlea is the sensory organ of hearing, and the vestibular system coordinates movement with balance.

7 Turkey is on top of this : SYRIA

The modern state that we know as Syria was established after WWI as a French mandate. Syria was granted independence from France in 1946.

9 “___ más!” : UNO

In Spanish, one might request “uno más” (one more) in a “cantina” (canteen, café).

10 Caterpillars and such : LARVAE

Caterpillars are the larval form of butterflies and moths.

12 Palace resident : ROYAL

Our word “palace” ultimately comes from the name of Rome’s Palatine Hill, “Mons Palatinus” in Latin. The original “palace” was the house of Augustus Caesar, which stood on the Palatine Hill.

13 “ur joking, right?!” : SRSLY?!

“Srsly?” is text-speak for “seriously?”

24 Sport with cage matches, in brief : MMA

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact combat sport in which competitors use a variety of techniques from a variety of traditional combat sports and martial arts.

25 Lady ___ : GAGA

“Lady Gaga” is the stage name of Stefani Germanotta. Germanotta is a big fan of the band Queen, and she took her stage name from the marvelous Queen song titled “Radio Ga Ga”.

28 Bonkers : LOCO

In Spanish, if one isn’t “sano” (sane) one might be described as “loco” (crazy).

The word “bonkers” meaning “crazy” originated in the fifties. The term might come from navy slang meaning “slightly drunk”, behaving as though one received a “bonk” on the head.

35 Friend of Telly and Zoe : ELMO

The “Sesame Street” character named Elmo has a birthday every February 3rd, and on that birthday he always turns 3½ years old. The man behind/under Elmo on “Sesame Street” for many years was Kevin Clash. If you want to learn more about Elmo and Clash, you can watch the 2011 documentary “Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey”.

38 Prix ___ : FIXE

On a restaurant menu, items that are “à la carte” are priced and ordered separately. A menu marked “table d’hôte” (also called “prix fixe”) is a fixed-price menu with limited choice. “Table d’hôte” translates from French as “table of the host”.

43 Woodcarving tool : ADZ

An adze (also “adz”) is similar to an ax, but is different in that the blade of an adze is set at right angles to the tool’s shaft. An ax blade is set in line with the shaft.

47 “___ the Wild” (2007 film) : INTO

“Into the Wild” is an interesting 2007 film directed by Sean Penn that is based on a nonfiction book of the same name by Jon Krakauer. The book and movie tell the true story of Christopher McCandless, a young man who hiked into the Alaskan wilderness with very little food and equipment, seeking an extended period of solitude. After four months alone he was found dead from starvation. At the time of death, he weighed only 67 pounds.

48 Minimum wage employment, informally : MCJOB

“McJob” is a slang term for a low-paying position that offers little chance for advancement. The term comes from front-line jobs at a McDonald’s fast-food restaurant.

49 Kagan of the Supreme Court : ELENA

Elena Kagan was the Solicitor General of the United States from 2009 until 2010, when she replaced Justice John Paul Stevens on the US Supreme Court. That made Justice Kagan the first female US Solicitor General and the fourth female US Supreme Court justice. Kagan also served as the first female dean of Harvard Law School from 2003 to 2009.

55 Singer born Eithne Ní Bhraonáin : ENYA

Enya’s real name is Eithne Ní Bhraonáin, which can translate from Irish into Enya Brennan. Her Donegal family (in the northwest of Ireland) formed a band called Clannad, which included Enya. In 1980 Enya launched her very successful solo career, eventually becoming Ireland’s best-selling solo musician. And, she sure does turn up a lot in crosswords!

59 Actor Danson : 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.