0928-22 NY Times Crossword 28 Sep 22, Wednesday

Constructed by: Jeff Stillman
Edited by: Will Shortz

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Today’s Reveal Answer: Initial Here

Themed answers are names, missing a middle INITIAL:

• 38A Contract directive … or a hint to what’s missing from 17-, 20-, 58- and 62-Across : INITIAL HERE

• 17A “Fargo” actor : WILLIAM MACY (William H. Macy)
• 20A Mad magazine symbol : ALFRED NEUMAN (Alfred E. Neuman)
• 58A Pioneering journalist who helped expose McCarthyism : EDWARD MURROW (Edward R. Murrow)
• 62A Rodent with a restaurant chain : CHUCK CHEESE (Chuck E. Cheese)

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Bill’s time: 7m 24s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Coveted Michelin designation : STAR

Michelin is a manufacturer of tires that is based in France. The company was founded by brothers Édouard and André Michelin in 1888. 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.

5 Quinoa or oats, for short : CARB

Quinoa is a grain crop that is more closely related to beetroots and spinach that it is to cereals and grasses. Quinoa is mainly cultivated for its edible seeds, which are high in protein. The seeds are also gluten free, which seems to be a big deal these days. I do like my quinoa …

17 “Fargo” actor : WILLIAM MACY (William H. Macy)

William H. Macy is a favorite actor of mine, and one who appears in several of my favorite movies, including “Fargo” and “Air Force One”. He is also magnificent in the US version of the British TV show “Shameless”. In 1997, Macy married fellow actor Felicity Huffman, someone found guilty of fraud in the infamous case about college admissions bribery. Macy was never charged.

20 Mad magazine symbol : ALFRED NEUMAN (Alfred E. Neuman)

Alfred E. Neuman is the mascot of “Mad” magazine, although the image of the smiling, jug-eared youth had been around for decades before the magazine. “Mad” first used the likeness in 1955, and young Mr. Neuman has appeared on the cover of almost every issue of the magazine since then. Neuman’s name was inspired by American composer Alfred Newman, a prolific writer of film scores.

26 Et ___ (and others) : ALII

“Et alii” (et al.) is the equivalent of “et cetera” (etc.), with “et cetera” being used in place of a list of objects, and “et alii” used for a list of names.

27 Easy mark : SAP

“Sap” is slang for “fool, someone easily scammed”. The term arose in the early 1800s in Britain when it was used in “saphead” and “sapskull”. All these words are derived from “sapwood”, which is the softwood found in tree trunks between the bark and the heartwood at the center.

30 Site with tech reviews : C|NET

c|net is an excellent technology website. It started out in 1994 as a television network specializing in technology news. The host of “American Idol”, Ryan Seacrest, started off his career as host of a c|net show.

41 Scale note : SOL

The sol-fa syllables are: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la & ti.

44 Flea market sights : STANDS

Flea markets are known by various names around the world. In Australia, the term “trash and treasure market” is used. Such outdoor events are called car boot sales in Britain and Ireland, whereas indoor versions might be jumble sales or bring-and-buy sales.

47 On Sunset Blvd., say : IN LA

The Los Angeles thoroughfare Sunset Boulevard is 22 miles long, stretching from downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Ocean. The most famous part of Sunset Boulevard is the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, a 1½-mile stretch that is home to high-end boutiques, restaurants and nightclubs.

52 Yellow Teletubby with a curly antenna : LAA-LAA

“Teletubbies” is a children’s television show produced by the BBC in the UK and shown over here on PBS. The show attracted a lot of attention in 1999 when Jerry Falwell suggested that one of the Teletubbies characters (Tinky Winky) was a homosexual role model for children.

58 Pioneering journalist who helped expose McCarthyism : EDWARD MURROW (Edward R. Murrow)

Famed journalist and war correspondent Edward R. Murrow really came into the public eye during WWII with a series of radio broadcasts to the US from Europe. Notably, Murrow’s reporting and broadcasts contributed to the end of McCarthyism. The excellent George Clooney film “Good Night and Good Luck” explores the conflict between Murrow and Senator McCarthy.

62 Rodent with a restaurant chain : CHUCK CHEESE (Chuck E. Cheese)

Chuck E. Cheese is a sit-down pizza restaurant that features entertainment for children. The original Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre was opened in San Jose, California in 1977 by founder Nolan Bushnell. Bushnell had already achieved success in the business world as the founder of Atari.

66 Number after due : TRE

“One, two, three” in Italian is “uno, due, tre”.

68 Place to get a date, maybe : OASIS

An isolated area of vegetation in a desert is called an oasis (plural “oases”). As water is needed for plant growth, an oasis might also include a spring, pond or small lake. We often use the term “oasis” more generally to describe a haven, a place of rest.

Date palms can be either male or female. Only the female tree bears fruit (called “dates”).

Down

2 ___ chi : TAI

More correctly called “t‘ai chi ch‘uan”, tai chi is a martial art that is mostly practiced to improve overall health and increase longevity.

3 In which crossing one’s fingers makes the letter “R,” in brief : ASL

American Sign Language (ASL)

5 Accord competitors : CAMRYS

Toyota’s Camry takes its name from the Japanese word for “crown”. Toyota management likes the idea of naming their cars after the word “crown”, as they did with the Toyota Crown, followed by the Toyota Corona (Latin for “crown”) and the Toyota Corolla (Latin for “small crown”).

8 Breakout caused by a sweaty uniform, perhaps : BACNE

Back acne (“bacne”)

11 Recent arrival : NEONATE

A neonate is a newborn infant.

13 Large storage site : SILO

“Silo” is a Spanish word that we absorbed into English. The term ultimately derives from the Greek “siros”, which described a pit in which one kept corn.

15 Eschews gray, say : DYES

“To eschew”, meaning “to avoid, shun”, comes from the Old French word “eschiver” that means the same thing.

21 Proof-of-purchase letters : UPC

The initialism “UPC” stands for Universal Price Code or Universal Product Code. The first ever UPC-marked item to get scanned in a store was on June 26, 1974 at 08:01 a.m. at Marsh’s supermarket in Troy, Ohio. It was a 10-pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing gum.

23 Yale student : ELI

Elihu Yale was a wealthy merchant born in Boston in 1649. Yale worked for the British East India Company, and for many years served as governor of a settlement at Madras (now Chennai) in India. After India, Yale took over his father’s estate near Wrexham in Wales. It was while resident in Wrexham that Yale responded to a request for financial support for the Collegiate School of Connecticut in 1701. He sent the school a donation, which was used to erect a new building in New Haven that was named “Yale” in his honor. In 1718, the whole school was renamed to “Yale College”. To this day, students of Yale are nicknamed “Elis”, again honoring Elihu.

28 Marble material : AGATE

Agate is a micro-crystalline form of quartz (and so is related to sand/silica). Some agate samples have deposited layers that give a striped appearance, and these are called “banded agate”.

Even though the game of marbles has been around since the early 1700s, the use of “marbles” meaning “one’s faculties, common sense”, probably has nothing to do with the game. Rather, the French word “meubles” meaning furniture, was brought into English as “marbles” in the mid-1800s to mean “personal effects, furniture”. It was “marbles” in this sense that evolved into “having one’s marbles”, a slang term from the late twenties meaning “having one’s faculties”.

39 Spectrum or Xfinity, for short : ISP

Internet service provider (ISP)

40 Slicker, e.g. : RAINWEAR

A slicker is a waterproof jacket or coat that is typically worn to protect the body from rain. Back in the mid-19th century, a slicker was a tool used for smoothing (slicking) leather. The term was adopted in the 1880s for a raincoat made from such leather. By 1900, a slicker was also a clever and crafty (slick) person.

45 Bird in the crow family : DAW

Daws are better known today as jackdaws and belong to the crow family. The jackdaw features in a famous pangram (i.e. a short sentence containing all 26 letters of the alphabet), i.e. “Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz”.

46 Part of CBS: Abbr. : SYS

CBS used to be known as the Columbia Broadcasting System. CBS introduced its “eye” logo in 1951. That logo is based on a Pennsylvania Dutch hex sign.

50 Margarine whose ads once featured a talking tub : PARKAY

Parkay is a brand of margarine that was introduced in 1937. Parkay is one of the many food products that takes advantage of the success of lobbyists influencing the Food and Drug Administration. Parkay contains trans fats, but the amount is less than half a gram. The FDA allows manufacturers to report such levels as “0g of trans fat”. I tend to go for products that display the wording “no trans fats”.

54 Makeshift : AD HOC

The Latin phrase “ad hoc” means “for this purpose”. An ad hoc committee, for example, is formed for a specific purpose and disbanded after making its final report.

56 Reactor oversight org. : NRC

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) oversees most aspects of the safety of nuclear power plants and nuclear fuel in the US.

A nuclear reactor (originally “atomic pile”) is a device designed to maintain a self-contained nuclear chain reaction. Nuclear fission generates heat in the reactor core. That heat is transferred out of the core by a nuclear reactor coolant, and is used to turn steam turbines. Those steam turbines usually drive electrical generators, or perhaps a ship’s propellers.

57 Pirate chant opener : YO HO …

The fictional sea shanty called “Dead Man’s Chest” was introduced in Robert Louis Stevenson’s great novel, “Treasure Island”. In the book, Stevenson only describes the chorus, which goes:

Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest–
…Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest–
…Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

64 Kind of card : SIM

Most cell phones have SIM cards these days. SIM cards hold the personal information of the subscriber, with the acronym being short for “Subscriber Identity Module”.

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Coveted Michelin designation : STAR
5 Quinoa or oats, for short : CARB
9 Six-pack unit : CAN
12 Mitigates : EASES
14 Closer to the finish line, say : AHEAD
16 Shout of support : OLE!
17 “Fargo” actor : WILLIAM MACY (William H. Macy)
19 Italian pronoun : MIO
20 Mad magazine symbol : ALFRED NEUMAN (Alfred E. Neuman)
22 Clergy house : RECTORY
25 Wife, in Spanish : ESPOSA
26 Et ___ (and others) : ALII
27 Easy mark : SAP
30 Site with tech reviews : C|NET
31 Switches gears, as in a business strategy : PIVOTS
34 Word that commentators may extend to five or more seconds : GOAL!
37 Chicago-to-Miami dir. : SSE
38 Contract directive … or a hint to what’s missing from 17-, 20-, 58- and 62-Across : INITIAL HERE
41 Scale note : SOL
43 Growth under the skin : CYST
44 Flea market sights : STANDS
47 On Sunset Blvd., say : IN LA
49 Sparkle : PEP
51 “My word!” : I SAY!
52 Yellow Teletubby with a curly antenna : LAA-LAA
55 “What’s the latest?” : ANY NEWS?
58 Pioneering journalist who helped expose McCarthyism : EDWARD MURROW (Edward R. Murrow)
61 Bill blocker : NAY
62 Rodent with a restaurant chain : CHUCK CHEESE (Chuck E. Cheese)
66 Number after due : TRE
67 Casual greeting : HOLLA
68 Place to get a date, maybe : OASIS
69 According to : PER
70 Court material : CLAY
71 Easy win : ROMP

Down

1 Wrap (up) : SEW
2 ___ chi : TAI
3 In which crossing one’s fingers makes the letter “R,” in brief : ASL
4 No ___ (what Mary Tyler Moore is to Dudley Moore) : RELATION
5 Accord competitors : CAMRYS
6 Sighed words : AH ME
7 ___ the room : READ
8 Breakout caused by a sweaty uniform, perhaps : BACNE
9 Not standing in an open field during a lightning storm, say : COMMON SENSE
10 BTS’s V, Suga and RM, e.g. : ALIASES
11 Recent arrival : NEONATE
13 Large storage site : SILO
15 Eschews gray, say : DYES
18 Where Igbo and Kanuri are spoken: Abbr. : AFR
21 Proof-of-purchase letters : UPC
22 Sound at the door : RAP
23 Yale student : ELI
24 One handling personal injury claims, e.g. : CIVIL LAWYER
28 Marble material : AGATE
29 D.C. dealmaker : POL
32 Idiosyncratic behavior : TIC
33 Good place to wallow : STY
35 Sounds of satisfaction : AHS
36 Gave the OK : LET
39 Spectrum or Xfinity, for short : ISP
40 Slicker, e.g. : RAINWEAR
41 Psalm beginning? : SILENT P
42 How some regrettable actions are done : ON A DARE
45 Bird in the crow family : DAW
46 Part of CBS: Abbr. : SYS
48 ___ mode : A LA
50 Margarine whose ads once featured a talking tub : PARKAY
53 Part of a foot : ARCH
54 Makeshift : AD HOC
56 Reactor oversight org. : NRC
57 Pirate chant opener : YO HO …
59 Ponder : MULL
60 Team that signed to join the Big Ten in 2024 : UCLA
63 “Cómo es ___?” (Spanish for “How come?”) : ESO
64 Kind of card : SIM
65 Psychic’s claim : ESP

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