1031-23 NY Times Crossword 31 Oct 23, Tuesday

Constructed by: Kathy Lowden & Erik Piepenburg
Edited by: Will Shortz

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Today’s Theme (according to Bill): A Happy Halloween (Movie), Everyone!

• 17A Horror film franchise named after a holiday : HALLOWEEN
• 24A 2018 slasher set at a remote lake house : HE’S OUT THERE
• 34A Horror franchise with the antagonist Ghostface : SCREAM
• 41A 2017 horror film that won Best Original Screenplay : GET OUT
• 47A 1973 horror film starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland : DON’T LOOK NOW
• 60A 2011 dark-comedy slasher film that takes place during a family reunion : YOU’RE NEXT

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Bill’s time: 6m 59s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 “___ Don’t Lie” (#1 Shakira hit) : HIPS

Shakira’s 2006 song “Hips Don’t Lie” broke a record soon after it was released. It became the most-played pop song in a single week in the history of American radio.

14 “Pet” that’s a plant : CHIA

Chia is a flowering plant in the mint family. Chia seeds are an excellent food source and are often added to breakfast cereals and energy bars. There is also the famous Chia Pet, an invention of a San Francisco company. Chia Pets are terra-cotta figurines to which moistened chia seeds are applied. The seeds sprout and the seedlings become the “fur” of the Chia Pet.

17 Horror film franchise named after a holiday : HALLOWEEN

I really, really don’t do horror films. The one exception is the original “Halloween” movie, starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasance. To me, this first movie in the “Halloween” series is more in the style of Hitchcock’s “Psycho”, whereas the sequels were chock full of gore and graphic violence.

19 Yoga pose : ASANA

“Asana” is a Sanskrit word that translates literally as “sitting down”. The asanas are the poses that a practitioner of yoga assumes. The most famous is the lotus position, the cross-legged pose called “padmasana”.

20 Social media platform whose logo resembles a musical note : TIKTOK

TikTok is a video-sharing service that is based in China, and is very popular with the younger set (I am told). The TikTok mobile app provides tools facilitating production of sophisticated selfie videos that use special effects.

21 Things often named with ordinal numbers: Abbr. : STS

Street (st.)

31 Shredded salad ingredient in 2-Down cuisine : PAPAYA
[2D Southeast Asian cuisine : THAI]

The papaya (also “papaw”) tropical fruit is native to Mexico and South America. When cultivating papaya trees, only female plants are used. Female plants produce just one, high-quality fruit per tree. Male plants produce several fruit per tree, but they are very poor quality.

32 “The Time Machine” people : ELOI

In the 1895 novella by H. G. Wells called “The Time Machine”, there are two races that the hero encounters in his travels into the future. The Eloi are the “beautiful people” who live on the planet’s surface. The Morlocks are a domineering race living underground who use the Eloi as food.

33 Noah’s craft : ARK

According to the Bible’s Book of Genesis, Noah was instructed to build an ark using “gofer” (sometimes “gopher wood”). There doesn’t seem to be a lot of agreement on what is actually meant by “gofer”.

34 Horror franchise with the antagonist Ghostface : SCREAM

The first installment of the “Scream” franchise of horror films was released in 1996. Each movie features a murderer who adopts the persona of “Ghostface”, a man wearing a mask that resembles the subject in the Edvard Munch painting “The Scream”. Even though the murderer behind the mask changes in each film, the victim is always Sidney Prescott, played by Neve Campbell.

42 @@@ : ATS

The “at symbol” (@) originated in the commercial world, as shorthand for “each at, per” and similar phrases. I suppose we see the symbol most commonly these days as part of email addresses.

43 ___ Rachel Wood of “Westworld” : EVAN

Actress Evan Rachel Wood’s most famous role to date is perhaps one of the leads in the 2003 movie “Thirteen”. Wood’s private life draws a lot of attention, especially as she was romantically linked for some time with the “outrageous” musician Marilyn Manson.

“Westworld” is an HBO series that is based on a 1973 movie of the same name, which was written and directed by novelist Michael Crichton. Westworld is a high-tech theme park populated by androids that interact with the guests.

47 1973 horror film starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland : DON’T LOOK NOW

Julie Christie is a very talented British actress, who was actually born in British India. One of Christie’s most famous roles was Lara in the epic 1965 film “Doctor Zhivago”.

Donald Sutherland is an actor from Saint John, New Brunswick who I mainly associate with war movies from the sixties and seventies, notably “The Dirty Dozen” (1967), “The Eagle Has Landed” (1976), “M*A*S*H” (1970) and “Kelly’s Heroes” (1970). Donald is the father of actor Kiefer Sutherland.

51 Asian nursemaid : AMAH

“Amah” is an interesting word in that we associate it so much with Asian culture and yet the term actually comes from the Portuguese “ama” meaning “nurse”. Ama was imported into English in the days of the British Raj in India when a wet-nurse became known as an amah.

53 They can be grand or upright : PIANOS

A grand piano is one with the frame supported horizontally on three legs. An upright piano has the frame and strings running vertically. Grand pianos come in many sizes. For example, the length of a concert grand is about 9 feet, a parlor grand is about 7 feet, and a baby grand is about 5 feet.

62 Cricket noise : CHIRP

The sound made by crickets is usually referred to as chirping, although the scientific term is “stridulation”. The sound is made by male crickets as they rub the top of one wing along a serration on the other wing.

Down

1 Eight, in Essen : ACHT

Essen is a large industrial city located on the River Ruhr in western Germany. The city experienced major population growth in the mid-1800s that was driven by the iron works established by the Krupp family.

5 Ethan of “Boyhood” : HAWKE

“Boyhood” sounds like an interesting 2014 film. It’s about the coming-of-age of a young boy and his older sister. The film was actually shot over an 11-year period, so that the actors were seen to be growing up at the same time as the characters that they were playing. The critics loved this movie.

6 Epitome of coldness : ICE

The more common meaning of “epitome” is “perfect example of a group, quality, type”. An epitome is also an abstract or summary of a book or article.

8 Spoofed : SENT UP

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.

10 Upper Manhattan neighborhood also known as El Barrio : EAST HARLEM

The Manhattan district of Harlem is sometimes divided into Central Harlem, West Harlem and East Harlem. East Harlem is also known as “Spanish Harlem”.

25 Nimble, as a nonagenarian : SPRY

A nonagenarian is a person in his or her nineties.

26 Tickle Me Elmo maker : TYCO

The Tickle Me Elmo toy was a sensational fad in the late nineties, with stores raising prices dramatically above the recommended retail price to take advantage of demand. Reportedly, prices as high as $1500 were paid at the height of the craze. The toy’s manufacturer, Tyco, originally planned to market the “tickle” toy as Tickle Me Tasmanian Devil (after the “Looney Tunes” character), but then went with “Elmo” after they bought the rights to use “Sesame Street” names.

27 Floating chunk of 6-Down : BERG
[6D Epitome of coldness : ICE]

An iceberg is a large piece of freshwater ice that is floating freely after having broken away from a glacier or ice shelf. Our use of “iceberg” comes from the Dutch word for the same phenomenon “ijsberg”, which translates literally as “ice mountain”.

30 Musical interval used to convey sadness : MINOR THIRD

Experts, unlike me, can wax lyrical on the technical differences between major and minor keys and scales. To me, music written in major keys is very strident, often very joyful and “honest”. Music written in minor keys (usually my favorite) is more feminine, more delicate and often quite sad.

36 ___ impasse : AT AN

“Impasse” is a French word describing a blind alley or an impassable road, and we use the term to mean “stalemate”.

39 Burr-versus-Hamilton face-off : DUEL

Aaron Burr was the third vice-president of the US, and served under Thomas Jefferson from 1801 to 1805. In the final year of his term in office, Burr fought an illegal duel and killed his political rival Alexander Hamilton. Burr was charged with several crimes as a result, but those charges were eventually dropped. The Democratic-Republican Party had already decided not to nominate Burr as candidate for vice president to run alongside Jefferson in the 1804 election, largely because the relationship between Vice President Burr and President Jefferson was so poor. The subsequent fallout resulting from the killing of Alexander Hamilton effectively ended Burr’s political career.

Alexander Hamilton was one of America’s Founding Fathers, chief of staff to General George Washington and the first Secretary of the Treasury. It was Hamilton who established the nation’s first political party, the Federalist Party. He is also famous for fighting a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr, which resulted in Hamilton’s death a few days later.

40 Powerful engine : V-TEN

The engine known as a V10 is configured with two rows of five cylinders mounted on the crankcase. The rows of cylinders are offset from each other around the crankshaft at right angles, or perhaps a little less. This arrangement of ten cylinders in a V-shape gives rise to the name “V10”.

45 Immature egg cell : OOCYTE

An oocyte is an immature egg cell involved in reproduction.

47 Mr. of “Pride and Prejudice” : D’ARCY

Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy has to be one of the great romantic leads in English literature. He of course appears opposite Miss Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”. There have been many (terrible) “sequels” written for “Pride and Prejudice”, but I have read one “spin off” that I heartily recommend if you’d like to explore the story of Elizabeth and Darcy some more. There is a three-part novel called “Fitzwilliam Darcy: Gentleman” written by Pamela Aidan and published in 2003-2005. Ms. Aiden does a great job retelling the story of “Pride and Prejudice”, but from Darcy’s perspective. It really is a great read, even for die-hard Austen fans …

48 Largest city in Nebraska : OMAHA

Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska. It is located on the Missouri River, about 10 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River. When Nebraska was still a territory Omaha was its capital, but when Nebraska achieved statehood the capital was moved to the city of Lincoln.

49 Low point : NADIR

The nadir is the direction pointing immediately below a particular location (through to the other side of the Earth for example). The opposite direction, that pointing immediately above, is called the zenith. We use the terms “nadir” and “zenith” figuratively to mean the low and high points in a person’s fortunes.

50 Big name in media and philanthropy : OPRAH

What can you say about Oprah Winfrey that hasn’t been said already? Born into poverty to a single mother and with a harrowing childhood, Oprah is now the greatest African-American philanthropist the world has ever known. Oprah’s name was originally meant to be “Orpah” after the Biblical character in the Book of Ruth, and that’s how it appears on her birth certificate. Apparently folks had trouble pronouncing “Orpah”, so she’s now “Oprah”.

54 Overly meticulous : ANAL

The use of the word “anal” to mean “stiffly conventional” is an abbreviated form of “anal-retentive”, a term derived from Freudian psychology. Regardless, I’m not a big fan of the term …

55 Emperor beginning in A.D. 54 : NERO

Nero was Emperor of Rome from 54 to 68 CE, and towards the end of his reign participated in the Olympic Games in the year 67. The Roman leader raced in a ten-horse chariot, of which he lost control and nearly perished after being thrown from the vehicle. Acting and singing were Olympic events back then, and Nero also took part in those competitions. By all accounts, Nero performed badly in every event in which he vied, and yet somehow still managed to win Olympic crowns that he paraded around Rome on his return from Greece. Just before he died, Nero reportedly declared, “What an artist the world is losing in me!”

61 Tar Heels’ sch. : UNC

“Tar Heel” is a nickname for anyone living in, or from, the state of North Carolina. As such, it is the nickname for an athlete of the University of North Carolina (UNC). No one seems to know for sure where the term “Tar Heel” originated, but it is thought to be related to the historical importance of the tar, pitch and turpentine industries that thrived in the state due to the presence of vast forests of pine trees.

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Bill dispensers, in brief : ATMS
5 “___ Don’t Lie” (#1 Shakira hit) : HIPS
9 “Sweet!,” quaintly : NEATO!
14 “Pet” that’s a plant : CHIA
15 Land unit : ACRE
16 Less cooked : RAWER
17 Horror film franchise named after a holiday : HALLOWEEN
19 Yoga pose : ASANA
20 Social media platform whose logo resembles a musical note : TIKTOK
21 Things often named with ordinal numbers: Abbr. : STS
23 Horse’s gait : TROT
24 2018 slasher set at a remote lake house : HE’S OUT THERE
27 Soothing applications : BALMS
31 Shredded salad ingredient in 2-Down cuisine : PAPAYA
32 “The Time Machine” people : ELOI
33 Noah’s craft : ARK
34 Horror franchise with the antagonist Ghostface : SCREAM
38 In an emphatic manner : ROUNDLY
40 Break, as a rule : VIOLATE
41 2017 horror film that won Best Original Screenplay : GET OUT
42 @@@ : ATS
43 ___ Rachel Wood of “Westworld” : EVAN
44 State of rest : REPOSE
46 Warning signs : OMENS
47 1973 horror film starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland : DON’T LOOK NOW
51 Asian nursemaid : AMAH
52 Mac alternatives : PCS
53 They can be grand or upright : PIANOS
58 Word with signal or silence : RADIO …
60 2011 dark-comedy slasher film that takes place during a family reunion : YOU’RE NEXT
62 Cricket noise : CHIRP
63 Common sushi fish : TUNA
64 Realm : AREA
65 Football gains : YARDS
66 Make an impression? : ETCH
67 Yearn (for) : LONG

Down

1 Eight, in Essen : ACHT
2 Southeast Asian cuisine : THAI
3 Food for a baby mammal : MILK
4 Pepper’s partner : SALT
5 Ethan of “Boyhood” : HAWKE
6 Epitome of coldness : ICE
7 Washing machine setting : PRESOAK
8 Spoofed : SENT UP
9 Gun lobby org. : NRA
10 Upper Manhattan neighborhood also known as El Barrio : EAST HARLEM
11 In the loop : AWARE
12 Voice above baritone : TENOR
13 Speak to a crowd : ORATE
18 Cries at a fireworks display : OOHS
22 Condition of equilibrium : STASIS
25 Nimble, as a nonagenarian : SPRY
26 Tickle Me Elmo maker : TYCO
27 Floating chunk of 6-Down : BERG
28 Hand sanitizer ingredient : ALOE
29 Oaf : LOUT
30 Musical interval used to convey sadness : MINOR THIRD
33 Catchy-yet-quirky music genre : ALT-POP
35 Roof overhang : EAVE
36 ___ impasse : AT AN
37 Department store department : MEN’S
39 Burr-versus-Hamilton face-off : DUEL
40 Powerful engine : V-TEN
42 Invites on a date : ASKS OUT
45 Immature egg cell : OOCYTE
46 Scraped knee, perhaps : OWIE
47 Mr. of “Pride and Prejudice” : D’ARCY
48 Largest city in Nebraska : OMAHA
49 Low point : NADIR
50 Big name in media and philanthropy : OPRAH
54 Overly meticulous : ANAL
55 Emperor beginning in A.D. 54 : NERO
56 Yoked animals : OXEN
57 Without a plus-one, say : STAG
59 Black ___ : OPS
61 Tar Heels’ sch. : UNC

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