0529-23 NY Times Crossword 29 May 23, Monday

Constructed by: Katie Hale & Zachary David Levy
Edited by: Will Shortz

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Today’s Theme (according to Bill): What’s the Use in the End?

Themed answers each end with a sound like “use”, the noun:

• 16A Longest side of a right triangle : HYPOTENUSE
• 23A Reckless way to play things : FAST AND LOOSE
• 38A Dessert made with cocoa and egg whites : CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
• 47A Quaint cry of surprise : WHAT THE DEUCE?!
• 60A Smoothie chain founded in 1990 : JAMBA JUICE

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Bill’s time: 4m 57s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Org. that operates the James Webb telescope : NASA

The Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite towards the end of 1957 in a development that shocked the establishment in the US. Within months, President Eisenhower created the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA, now DARPA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Space Race had begun …

9 “___, poor Yorick!”: Shak. : ALAS

In Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, there is a scene when Prince Hamlet holds in his hand the skull of the deceased court jester Yorick. Hamlet starts into a famous monologue at this point:

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is …

The opening line is often misquoted as “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him well.”

14 Sharif who played Doctor Zhivago : OMAR

Omar Sharif was a great Hollywood actor from Egypt, someone who played major roles in memorable movies such as “Doctor Zhivago” and “Lawrence of Arabia”. But to me, he was my bridge hero (referring to the card game). In his heyday, Sharif was one of the best bridge players in the world.

“Doctor Zhivago” is an epic novel by Boris Pasternak that was first published in 1957. I haven’t tried to read the book, but the 1965 film version is a must-see, directed by David Lean and starring Omar Sharif in the title role. The story centers on Yuri Zhivago, a doctor and poet, and how he is affected by the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War.

16 Longest side of a right triangle : HYPOTENUSE

The hypotenuse is the longest side of a right-angled triangle, i.e. the side opposite the right angle.

22 Jerry’s cartoon counterpart : TOM

“Tom and Jerry” is a series of cartoons produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera starting in 1940. These short films feature Tom Cat and Jerry Mouse who are always going at it, with Jerry usually emerging victorious.

31 Veer, as a ship : YAW

The word “yaw” means to deviate from the line of a course and is used mainly at sea and in the air. “Yaw” is derived from the Old Norse word “jaege” which means “to drive, chase”. As such, “yaw” is etymologically related to our word “yacht”.

38 Dessert made with cocoa and egg whites : CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

Our word “mousse” is an Old French term meaning “froth”.

41 Goldilocks’s complaint about the first bowl of porridge : TOO HOT

The story of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” was first recorded in 1837 in England, although the narrative was around before it was actually written down. The original fairy tale was rather gruesome, but successive versions became more family-oriented. The character that eventually became Goldilocks was originally an elderly woman, and the three “nameless” bears became Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear.

44 Public prosecutors, in brief : DAS

District attorney (DA)

45 Opus ___ : DEI

Opus Dei is a Roman Catholic institution that was founded in Spain in 1928, and officially approved by the church in 1950. In 2010, Opus Dei had over 90,000 members, mostly lay people. The institution’s mission is to promote certain aspects of Roman Catholic doctrine. Opus Dei was portrayed as a sinister organization by Dan Brown in his novel “The Da Vinci Code”.

46 ___ noire (bane) : BETE

“Bête noire” translates from French as “black beast”, and is used in English to describe something or someone that is disliked.

54 Bat, rat or cat, but not a gnat : MAMMAL

There are several main characteristics distinguishing mammals from other animals:

• Mammals have fur or hair
• Mammals are warm-blooded
• Mammals are born alive
• Mammals feed their young with milk produced by mammary glands
• Mammals have relatively complex brains

60 Smoothie chain founded in 1990 : JAMBA JUICE

The Jamba Juice chain of stores was founded in 1990 in San Luis Obispo, California and now has outlets across much of the US and as far as the Philippines and South Korea.

67 Large group of people or birds : BEVY

“Bevy” is a collective noun used for a number of types of bird, including quail and swans. “Bevy” is also sometimes used as a collective noun for women.

68 Bird seen on the drive to Haleakala National Park : NENE

The nene is a bird that is native to Hawaii, and is also known as the Hawaiian goose. The name “nene” is an imitation of its call. When Captain Cook landed on the islands in 1778, there were 25,000 nene living there. By 1950, the number was reduced by hunting to just 30 birds. Conservation efforts in recent years have been somewhat successful. The nene was named State Bird of Hawaii in 1957.

If you visit the island of Maui, a trip to the Haleakala National Park is a must. One section of the park features the spectacular Haleakala Crater, where you would swear you are on the moon. The second part of the park is the Kipahulu section, which features the very picturesque pools accessed along the Road to Hana. When we visited (quite a few years ago), the Road to Hana was a tad undeveloped and rental car companies would not allow you to drive their cars there. Funnily enough, the only cars you’d meet on the Road to Hana were rental cars …

Down

2 Some sound equipment on stage : AMPS

Concert amplifiers often use vacuum tubes (also known as valves) instead of modern solid-state transistors. Vacuum tubes were the primary technology used in early amplifiers, and while they have largely been replaced by transistors in many applications, they continue to be popular among musicians and audiophiles for their unique warm and rich sound.

3 Comedic sendups : SPOOFS

The word “spoof” came into the language in the 1880s with the meaning “hoax, deception”. The term was coined by British comedian Arthur Roberts as the name for a card game he invented that involved trickery and nonsense. The verb “to spoof” came to mean “to satirize gently” starting in the 1920s.

4 Ad ___ (Latin for “to the stars”) : ASTRA

“Ad Astra” translates from Latin as “To the Stars”, as in the title of the magazine published by the National Space Society, and as in the motto of my alma mater, University College Dublin …

6 Down Under bird : 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 …

9 Cairo cobra : ASP

The venomous snake called an asp was a symbol of royalty in ancient Egypt.

Cairo is the capital city of Egypt. It is nicknamed “The City of a Thousand Minarets” because of its impressive skyline replete with Islamic architecture. The name “Cairo” is a European corruption of the city’s original name in Arabic, “Al-Qahira”.

13 “___-ching!” : CHA

The interjection “cha-ching!” is used to celebrate a windfall, the unexpected reception of lots of money. The term is imitative of the sound made by a mechanical cash register when ringing up a transaction. “Cha-ching!” was popularized by the 1992 movie “Wayne’s World”. It was also used around the same time in a TV spot for Rally’s hamburgers that featured a young Seth Green.

17 U.F.O. pilots : ETS

One might speculate that an unidentified flying object (UFO) is flown by an extraterrestrial (ET).

24 “Gone With the Wind” estate : TARA

In Margaret Mitchell’s novel “Gone with the Wind”, Scarlett O’Hara’s home is the Tara plantation. Tara was founded not far from the Georgia city of Jonesboro by Scarlett’s father, Irish immigrant Gerald O’Hara. Gerald won the square mile of land on which Tara was built in an all-night poker game. He named his new abode after the Hill of Tara back in his home country, the ancient seat of the High King of Ireland. Rhett’s rival for the affections of Scarlet is Ashley Wilkes who lives at the nearby Twelve Oaks plantation.

25 Aided and ___ (helped illegally) : ABETTED

The word “abet” comes into English from the Old French “abeter” meaning “to bait” or “to harass with dogs” (literally “to make bite”). This sense of encouraging something bad to happen morphed into our modern usage of “abet” meaning to aid or encourage someone in a crime.

26 Island home to Honolulu : OAHU

Honolulu is the largest city in Hawaii, and the state capital. Located on the island of Oahu, the name “Honolulu” translates from Hawaiian as “place of shelter, calm port, sheltered bay”.

28 Cuatro + cuatro : OCHO

In Spanish, “ocho” (eight) is the sum of “cuatro y cuatro” (four plus four).

34 Ctrl-___-Del : ALT

Ctrl-Alt-Delete is a keyboard command on IBM PC compatible systems used for a soft reboot, or more recently to bring up the task manager in the Windows operating system. Bill Gates tells us that the command was originally just a device to be used during development and was never meant to “go live”. He once said that “Ctrl+Alt+Delete” was a mistake, and that he would have preferred a dedicated key on the keyboard that carried out the same function.

35 “If u ask me …” : IMO …

In my opinion (IMO)

36 Aspiring J.D.’s exam : LSAT

Law School Admission Test (LSAT)

The law degree that is abbreviated to “J.D.” stands for “Juris Doctor” or “Doctor of Jurisprudence”.

40 One of the Great Lakes : ERIE

Lake Erie is the fourth-largest of the five Great Lakes by area (Lake Ontario is the smallest). The lake takes its name from the Erie tribe of Native Americans that used to live along its southern shore. Erie is the smallest of the Great Lakes by volume and the shallowest, something for which nearby residents must be quite grateful. Being relatively shallow, much of Erie freezes over part way through most winters putting an end to most of the lake-effect snow that falls in the snow belt extending from the lake’s edge.

49 Head covering whose name means “curtain” in Arabic : HIJAB

Some Muslim women wear a hijab in the presence of males outside of their immediate family. A hijab is a veil covering the head and chest. Some also wear a niqab as part of the hijab, which is a cloth that covers the face. Other Muslim women wear a burqa, which covers the whole body from the top of the head to the ground.

50 Actress Thurman of “Pulp Fiction” : UMA

Uma Thurman started her working career as a fashion model, at the age of 15. She appeared in her first movies at 17, with her most acclaimed early role being Cécile de Volanges in 1988’s “Dangerous Liaisons”. Thurman’s career really took off when she played the gangster’s moll Mia in Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” in 1994. My favorite of all Thurman’s movies is “The Truth About Cats & Dogs”, a less acclaimed romcom released in 1996. She took a few years off from acting from 1998 until 2002 following the birth of her first child. It was Tarantino who relaunched her career, giving her the lead in the “Kill Bill” films.

I’m not a big fan of director Quentin Tarantino, nor his work. His movies are too violent for me, and the size of his ego just turns me right off. Having said that, I think “Pulp Fiction” is a remarkable film. If you can look past the violence, it’s really well written. And what a legacy it has. John Travolta’s career was on the rocks and he did the film for practically no money, and it turned out to be a re-launch for him. Uma Thurman became a top celebrity overnight from her role. Even Bruce Willis got some good out of it, putting an end to a string of poorly-received performances.

51 Cuisine style of Louisiana : CAJUN

Cajun cuisine is named for the French-speaking Acadian people who were deported from Acadia in Canada to Louisiana in the 18th century.

55 Personal appearance : MIEN

One’s mien is one’s bearing or manner. “Mien” shares the same etymological root as our word “demeanor”.

56 Land unit : ACRE

At one time, an acre was defined as the amount of land a yoke of oxen could plow in a day. Then, an acre was more precisely defined as a strip of land “one furrow long” (i.e. one furlong) and one chain wide. The length of one furlong was equal to 10 chains, or 40 rods. An area of one furlong times 10 rods was one rood.

57 “___ Misérables” : LES

The 1980 musical “Les Misérables” is an adaptation of the 1862 novel of the same name by Victor Hugo. The show opened in London in 1985, and is the longest running musical in the history of London’s West End. My wife and I saw “Les Miz” in the Queen’s Theatre in London many years ago, but were only able to get tickets in the very back row. The theater seating is very steep, so the back row of the balcony is extremely high over the stage. One of the big events in the storyline is the building of a street barricade over which the rebels fight. At the height we were seated we could see the stagehands behind the barricade, sitting drinking Coke, even smoking cigarettes. On cue, the stagehands would get up and catch a dropped rifle, or an actor who had been shot. It was pretty comical. I didn’t really enjoy the show that much, to be honest. Some great songs, but the musical version of the storyline just didn’t seem to hang together for me.

61 Cable channel that was launched with the words “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll” : MTV

The first video played at the launch of MTV the Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star” (I love that song), followed by Pat Benatar singing “You Better Run”.

62 San Francisco/Oakland separator : BAY

The San Francisco Bay Area comprises the nine counties that impinge on the San Francisco Bay itself: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma. The region also includes the major cities of San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland.

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Org. that operates the James Webb telescope : NASA
5 Money owed : DEBT
9 “___, poor Yorick!”: Shak. : ALAS
13 Sleeps out under the stars : CAMPS
14 Sharif who played Doctor Zhivago : OMAR
15 Not in danger : SAFE
16 Longest side of a right triangle : HYPOTENUSE
18 Funerary fire : PYRE
19 Arrange by category : ASSORT
20 Write-___ (protest votes, typically) : INS
22 Jerry’s cartoon counterpart : TOM
23 Reckless way to play things : FAST AND LOOSE
27 Fling : TOSS
30 Six-pack units, in brief : ABS
31 Veer, as a ship : YAW
32 Play component : ACT
33 Unadorned : BARE
35 Bisected evenly : IN HALF
38 Dessert made with cocoa and egg whites : CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
41 Goldilocks’s complaint about the first bowl of porridge : TOO HOT
42 Walked (on) : TROD
43 Bit of body ink, for short : TAT
44 Public prosecutors, in brief : DAS
45 Opus ___ : DEI
46 ___ noire (bane) : BETE
47 Quaint cry of surprise : WHAT THE DEUCE?!
52 Owns : HAS
53 Bro or sis : SIB
54 Bat, rat or cat, but not a gnat : MAMMAL
58 Very eager : AVID
60 Smoothie chain founded in 1990 : JAMBA JUICE
63 Give up, as territory : CEDE
64 Lead-in to boy or girl : ATTA …
65 App customers : USERS
66 Was certain of : KNEW
67 Large group of people or birds : BEVY
68 Bird seen on the drive to Haleakala National Park : NENE

Down

1 No votes : NAYS
2 Some sound equipment on stage : AMPS
3 Comedic sendups : SPOOFS
4 Ad ___ (Latin for “to the stars”) : ASTRA
5 Put on : DON
6 Down Under bird : EMU
7 Washtubs : BASINS
8 One might be statistically significant : TREND
9 Cairo cobra : ASP
10 Completely destroy : LAY TO WASTE
11 Voluminous hairstyles : AFROS
12 Worrisome note to get from a boss : SEE ME
13 “___-ching!” : CHA
17 U.F.O. pilots : ETS
21 Surreptitious gesture with the head : SLY NOD
24 “Gone With the Wind” estate : TARA
25 Aided and ___ (helped illegally) : ABETTED
26 Island home to Honolulu : OAHU
27 Good skill for a diplomat : TACT
28 Cuatro + cuatro : OCHO
29 Got out of the way : STOOD ASIDE
33 Gives a leg up : BOOSTS
34 Ctrl-___-Del : ALT
35 “If u ask me …” : IMO …
36 Aspiring J.D.’s exam : LSAT
37 Big bash : FETE
39 Converse : CHAT
40 One of the Great Lakes : ERIE
45 Argue back and forth : DEBATE
46 Perplex : BEMUSE
47 Off, in mob-speak : WHACK
48 Peaceful refuge : HAVEN
49 Head covering whose name means “curtain” in Arabic : HIJAB
50 Actress Thurman of “Pulp Fiction” : UMA
51 Cuisine style of Louisiana : CAJUN
55 Personal appearance : MIEN
56 Land unit : ACRE
57 “___ Misérables” : LES
59 Drops on a lawn : DEW
61 Cable channel that was launched with the words “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll” : MTV
62 San Francisco/Oakland separator : BAY

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