0428-22 NY Times Crossword 28 Apr 22, Thursday

Constructed by: Pao Roy
Edited by: Will Shortz

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Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Down Arrow

The letters IV represent the word DOWN in themed down-answers, as together they resemble a DOWN-arrow:

• 1D Part of a sun salutation, in yoga : DOWNWARD FACING DOG
• 4D Cut the small talk : GOT DOWN TO BUSINESS
• 7D Concept in Reaganomics : TRICKLE-DOWN THEORY
• 10D Handles discreetly : KEEPS ON THE DOWN LOW

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Bill’s time: 12m 21s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

12 Wordle, e.g., in 2022 : CRAZE

Wordle is a web-based word game that a Welsh software engineer developed to play with his partner during the COVID pandemic. The name “Wordle” is a play on the engineer’s own name: Josh Wardle. Wardle published the game on its own website in 2021, primarily for the use of Wardle’s family. One month later, the game had 90 players, and a month later 300,000 players. A week later, the number of daily players had grown to two million! The New York Times purchased Wordle in 2022 “for an undisclosed price in the low-seven figures”.

14 What’s in the stars : KISMET

“Kismet” is a Turkish word meaning “fate, fortune, lot”.

16 Titular Disney protagonist of 1942 : BAMBI

The 1942 Disney classic “Bambi” is based on a book written by Felix Salten called “Bambi, A Life in the Woods”. There is a documented phenomenon known as the Bambi Effect, whereby people become more interested in animal rights after having watched the scene where Bambi’s mother is shot by hunters.

17 Ranch dressing? : CHAPS

Chaps are leather leggings that are worn when riding a horse. The purpose of the garment is to provide protection for the legs when riding through bushy terrain, perhaps a heavy thicket. The name “chaps” comes from the Spanish name for the leggings, which is “chaparejos” or “chaparreras”. The Spanish term comes from chaparro, a Spanish word that can be used for a low-growing thicket.

18 Boxer’s warning : GRR!

The boxer breed of dog (one of my favorites) originated in Germany. My first dog was a boxer/Labrador mix, a beautiful combination. Our current family dog is a boxer/pug mix, and is another gorgeous animal.

19 Hosp. hookups : IVS

Intravenous (IV) drip

21 Letters before an alternate name : AKA

Also known as (aka)

27 “Double Fantasy” Grammy winner : ONO

“Double Fantasy” is an album released by John Lennon and Yoko Ono on 17 November 1980. Three weeks later, John Lennon was gunned down by Mark Chapman outside Lennon’s apartment building in New York City.

28 Many attachments : PDFS

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format introduced by Adobe Systems in 1993. PDF documents can be shared between users and read using many different applications and platforms, making them more universally accessible than documents saved by one particular program.

31 ___ B’rith : B’NAI

B’nai B’rith is a Jewish service organization founded in New York City in 1843. “B’nai B’rith” is Hebrew for “Sons of the Covenant”.

32 Novelist Jennifer : EGAN

Jennifer Egan is an author who grew up in San Francisco. Egan’s 2010 work “A Visit from the Goon Squad” won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Usually termed a novel, “A Visit from the Goon Squad” is structured in such a way that it is sometimes described as a collection of linked short stories.

34 Hamilton producers? : ATMS

The obverse of the US ten-dollar bill features the image of Alexander Hamilton, the first US Secretary of the Treasury. As such, ten-dollar bills are sometimes called “Hamiltons”. By the way, the $10 bill is the only US currency in circulation in which the portrait faces to the left. The reverse of the ten-dollar bill features the US Treasury Building.

35 Illinois city that was the first home of the Chicago Bears : DECATUR

The city of Decatur in Central Illinois is known as “the Soybean Capital of the World”. The city’s most famous resident was Abraham Lincoln, and it was in Decatur that the future US President gave his first political speech.

The Chicago Bears were founded in Decatur, Illinois in 1919 and moved to Chicago in 1921. The Bears are one of only two franchises in the NFL that were around at the time of the NFL’s founding (the other being the Arizona Cardinals, also based in Chicago in 1921).

37 Send beyond the baseline of a tennis court, say : OVERHIT

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.

39 Plans for some seniors, in brief : IRAS

Individual retirement account (IRA)

40 Kid : TYKE

“Tyke” has been used playfully to describe a young child since at least 1902 For centuries before that, a tyke was a cur or mongrel, or perhaps a lazy or lower-class man.

41 It begins with “In the beginning …” : GENESIS

The Book of Genesis is the first book in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles. Some of the main figures in the book are Adam and Eve, Noah, Moses and Abraham. “Genesis” is a Greek word meaning “origin, creation”.

44 Video game with a “rosebud” cheat code that grants free money : THE SIMS

SimCity is a very clever computer game. Players build and grow cities and societies by creating the conditions necessary for people (the Sims) to move in and thrive. SimCity was launched in 1989, and to this day it is consistently ranked as one of the greatest computer games of all time.

47 :-O : OMG

“OMG” is text-speak for “Oh My Gosh!” “Oh My Goodness!” or any other G-words you might care to use …

48 Potato-stuffed pastries : KNISHES

A knish is a snack food from Germany and Eastern Europe that was made popular in the US by Jewish immigrants. A knish has a filling, often made of mashed potato and ground meat, covered by a dough that is baked or fried.

51 Zippo : NADA

“Nada” is the Spanish word for “nothing”. “De nada” translates literally from the Spanish as “of nothing”, and is used to mean “you’re welcome” or “don’t mention it”. The French have the same expression “de rien”, also translating to “of nothing” and used the same way.

The use of the words “zip” and “zippo” to mean “nothing” dates back to the early 1900s, when it was student slang for being graded zero on a test.

53 When el Día de los Reyes is celebrated : ENERO

The holiday in the Christian tradition known as the Epiphany falls on January 6th. In some Spanish-speaking countries, the Epiphany is known as “Día de los Reyes”, and in others as “Día de Reyes” (Day of Kings).

54 Pole, e.g. : SLAV

The Slavic peoples are in the majority in communities covering over half of Europe. This large ethnic group is traditionally broken down into three smaller groups:

• the West Slavic (including Czechs and Poles)
• the East Slavic (including Russians and Ukrainians)
• the South Slavic (including Bulgarians, Croats and Serbs)

55 Utah’s ___ Canyon : ZION

To me, the most spectacular feature of southwestern Utah’s Zion National Park is the magnificent Zion Canyon. The canyon cuts through red Navajo sandstone and truly is a beautiful sight.

56 Flavor : SAPOR

“Sapor” is another word for “flavor, a quality that can be tasted”. “Sapor” is Latin for “taste, flavor”.

57 Home to Caesar’s palace : ROME

According to tradition, Rome was founded by the twin brothers Romulus and Remus. The pair had a heated argument about who should be allowed to name the city and Romulus hit Remus with a shovel, killing him. And so, “Rome” was born, perhaps instead of “Reme”!

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.

60 Mating call? : I WIN

In the game of chess, when the king is under immediate threat of capture it is said to be “in check”. If the king cannot escape from check, then the game ends in “checkmate” and the player in check loses. In the original Sanskrit game of chess, the king could actually be captured. Then a rule was introduced requiring that a warning be given if capture was imminent (today we announce “check!”) so that an accidental and early ending to the game doesn’t occur.

Down

3 Outs : ALIBIS

“Alibi” is the Latin word for “elsewhere” as in, “I claim that I was ‘elsewhere’ when the crime was committed, I have an ‘alibi’”.

5 “Grey’s Anatomy” settings, in brief : ERS

The very successful hospital drama “Grey’s Anatomy” has been on television since 2005. The title is a reference to the show’s central character, Meredith Grey (played by Ellen Pompeo), as well as a reference to the classic human anatomy textbook commonly called “Gray’s Anatomy”.

7 Concept in Reaganomics : TRICKLE-DOWN THEORY

In the world of economics, “trickle-down theory” refers to the reduction of taxes on businesses and the wealthy in order to stimulate the economy at large. The idea is that everyone benefits when businesses and the wealthy do well. Hmm …

The economic policies promoted by the Reagan administration in the eighties came to be known as “Reaganomics”. The policy had four main elements:

1. Reduction in the growth of government spending
2. Reduction in the rate of federal income tax and capital gains tax
3. Reduction in government regulation
4. Tightening of the money supply

8 Walk like you own the place : SASHAY

To sashay is to strut along in a showy manner. “Sashay” is an Anglicized form of the French word “chassé”, a sliding step used in square dancing.

9 Princess in L. Frank Baum books : OZMA

L. Frank Baum wrote a whole series of books about the Land of Oz. Princess Ozma appears in all of them except the one that’s most famous, namely “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”.

10 Handles discreetly : KEEPS ON THE DOWN LOW

Something described as on the down low is secret. The phrase “on the down low” is often shortened to “on the DL”, The same abbreviated expression can also mean “on the disabled list” in sports.

13 Trim : ABRIDGE

The words “abridge” and “abbreviate” both come from the same Latin root “abbreviare”, meaning to “make short”.

15 Seismologist’s concern : TSUNAMI

“Tsunami” is a Japanese word meaning “harbor wave”.

20 Title for Don Quixote : SENOR

The full name of Cervantes’s novel is “The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha”. In the story, Don Quixote is a retired country gentleman who heads out as a knight-errant and who renames himself Don Quixote of La Mancha. In his mind he designates a neighboring farm girl called Aldonza Lorenzo as his lady love, and renames her Dulcinea del Toboso.

21 Pepper used in mole sauce : ANCHO

An ancho is a dried poblano pepper used in Mexican cuisine. The poblano is a mild chili.

29 Part of a drum kit : SNARE

Snare drums are so called because they have a set of wire strands (snares) stretching across the bottom surface of the drum. When the drum is struck, the snares vibrate against the bottom drumhead producing a unique sound.

41 Muppet whose self-identified species is “Whatever” : GONZO

Gonzo the Great is a character in “The Muppets”. Gonzo was actually given top billing in the 1999 movie “Muppets from Space”.

43 Biblical mount : SINAI

According to the Bible, Mount Sinai is the mountain on which Moses was given the Ten Commandments. The Biblical Mount Sinai is probably not the mountain in Egypt that today has the same name, although this is the subject of much debate. The Egyptian Mount Sinai has two developed routes that one can take to reach the summit. The longer gentler climb takes about 2 1/2 hours, but there is also the steeper climb up the 3,750 “steps of penitence”.

45 Only U.S. city bordered by two national parks : MIAMI

The city of Miami in Florida takes its name from the nearby Miami River, which is itself named for the Mayaimi Native American people who lived around nearby Lake Okeechobee.

46 Nitrogen, on the periodic table : SEVEN

The chemical element nitrogen (atomic number 7) was first isolated and discovered by Scottish physician and chemist Daniel Rutherford in 1772. Rutherford did not identify nitrogen as an element, but isolated it as a gaseous component of air that did not support combustion, and that he called “noxious air”.

54 Honorific from Sanskrit : SRI

Sanskrit is an Indo-Aryan language and one of the 22 scheduled languages of India. It has a rich tradition and is the language in which many historical and religious texts are written. There aren’t many speakers of the language today although efforts are underway to revive spoken Sanskrit.

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Thumbnail, e.g. : IMAGE
6 “No worries” : IT’S OK
11 Guts : VALOR
12 Wordle, e.g., in 2022 : CRAZE
13 Lies ahead : AWAITS
14 What’s in the stars : KISMET
16 Titular Disney protagonist of 1942 : BAMBI
17 Ranch dressing? : CHAPS
18 Boxer’s warning : GRR!
19 Hosp. hookups : IVS
21 Letters before an alternate name : AKA
22 Adding purpose? : SUM
24 Backing : AID
25 How many reprimands are issued : STERNLY
27 “Double Fantasy” Grammy winner : ONO
28 Many attachments : PDFS
30 Postponed : ON ICE
31 ___ B’rith : B’NAI
32 Novelist Jennifer : EGAN
33 Enlightenment, in Buddhism : BODHI
34 Hamilton producers? : ATMS
35 Illinois city that was the first home of the Chicago Bears : DECATUR
37 Send beyond the baseline of a tennis court, say : OVERHIT
39 Plans for some seniors, in brief : IRAS
40 Kid : TYKE
41 It begins with “In the beginning …” : GENESIS
44 Video game with a “rosebud” cheat code that grants free money : THE SIMS
47 :-O : OMG
48 Potato-stuffed pastries : KNISHES
50 Struggle : VIE
51 Zippo : NADA
53 When el Día de los Reyes is celebrated : ENERO
54 Pole, e.g. : SLAV
55 Utah’s ___ Canyon : ZION
56 Flavor : SAPOR
57 Home to Caesar’s palace : ROME
58 2018 Literature Nobelist Tokarczuk : OLGA
59 Do nothing : SIT BY
60 Mating call? : I WIN

Down

1 Part of a sun salutation, in yoga : DOWNWARD FACING DOG
2 Title with an apostrophe : MA’AM
3 Outs : ALIBIS
4 Cut the small talk : GOT DOWN TO BUSINESS
5 “Grey’s Anatomy” settings, in brief : ERS
6 ___ factor : ICK
7 Concept in Reaganomics : TRICKLE-DOWN THEORY
8 Walk like you own the place : SASHAY
9 Princess in L. Frank Baum books : OZMA
10 Handles discreetly : KEEPS ON THE DOWN LOW
13 Trim : ABRIDGE
15 Seismologist’s concern : TSUNAMI
18 Hung open : GAPED
20 Title for Don Quixote : SENOR
21 Pepper used in mole sauce : ANCHO
23 Dewy : MOIST
26 Purge : RID
29 Part of a drum kit : SNARE
31 Pound sounds : BARKS
36 Item on a list : TASK
38 Sight seers : EYES
41 Muppet whose self-identified species is “Whatever” : GONZO
42 “This meeting could’ve been an ___” : EMAIL
43 Biblical mount : SINAI
44 Pulsate : THROB
45 Only U.S. city bordered by two national parks : MIAMI
46 Nitrogen, on the periodic table : SEVEN
49 46-Down, in French : SEPT
52 Filmmaker ___ Lily Amirpour : ANA
54 Honorific from Sanskrit : SRI

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