0615-24 NY Times Crossword 15 Jun 24, Saturday - NYXCrossword.com (2024)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 16th-century coinage of geographer Gerardus Mercator : ATLAS

The famous Flemish geographer Gerardus Mercator published his first collection of maps in 1578. Mercator’s collection contained a frontispiece with an image of Atlas the Titan from Greek mythology holding up the world on his shoulders. That image gave us our term “atlas” that is used for a book of maps.

6 Fur-lined outerwear : ANORAKS

Anoraks really aren’t very popular over here in America. Everyone has one in Ireland! An anorak is a heavy jacket with a hood, often lined with fur (or fake fur), and is an invention of the Inuit people.

14 Minuscule machine : NANOBOT

Nanorobots (also “nanobots”) are tiny devices that range from 0.1 to 10 micrometers in size. The technology of nanorobotics is in its infancy, but it is hoped that nanobots might be used (for example) in medicine one day. The oft-cited application is the use of nanobots inserted inside the body to identify and destroy cancer cells.

17 ___ Lou Wood, “Sex Education” actress : AIMEE

“Sex Education” is a marvelous Netflic comedy-drama show made for Netflix that stars Gillian Anderson as a single-mother and sex therapist, and Asa Butterfield as her insecure teenage son. Highly recommended …

19 Final track on Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” : AMEN

“Cowboy Carter” is a 2024 album released by Beyoncé. Also titled “Act II: Cowboy Carter”, it is the second in a trilogy of albums that started with 2022’s “Act I: Renaissance”. Several artists make guest appearances on “Cowboy Carter”, including Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton and Miley Cyrus.

24 A.M.A. member? : ASK

Ask me anything (AMA)

25 Hymn whose final couplet is known as “Pie Jesu” : DIES IRAE

“Dies Irae” is Latin for “Day of Wrath”. It is the name of a famous melody in Gregorian Chant, one that is often used as part of the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass.

29 Crepes often served with chutney : DOSAS

A dosa is a thin, savory pancake from South Indian cuisine. Dosas are made using a fermented batter consisting of ground black lentils and rice. They are usually served hot, and often with chutney and sambar, a lentil-based vegetable stew.

31 Church section : NAVE

In large Christian churches, the nave is the main approach to the altar, and is where most of the congregation are seated.

37 Genoese sauces : PESTOS

Pesto sauce is more completely called “pesto alla genovese”, i.e. pesto from Genoa. A traditional recipe calls for crushed garlic, pine nuts, salt, basil leaves, parmesan cheese and olive oil. Yum …

39 Classic tune used as an ice cream truck jingle, with “The” : … ENTERTAINER

Ragtime music was at the height of its popularity in the early 1900s. It takes its name from its characteristic “ragged” rhythms. The most famous ragtime composer was Scott Joplin, who had a big hit with his “Maple Leaf Rag” when it was published in 1899. He followed that up with a string of hits, including the “Pine Apple Rag” (sic). Ragtime fell out of favor about 1917 when the public turned to jazz. It had a resurgence in the forties when jazz musicians started to include ragtime tunes in their repertoires. But it was the 1973 movie “The Sting” that brought the true revival, as the hit soundtrack included numerous ragtime tunes by Scott Joplin, including the celebrated “The Entertainer” originally published in 1902.

43 Got one’s phone dirty? : SEXTED

Sexting (a portmanteau of “sex” and “texting”) is the sending of explicit dialog and images between cell phones. The term “sexting” was coined by the UK’s “Sunday Telegraph Magazine” in a 2005 article.

44 ___ bean : FAVA

The fava bean is also known as the broad bean. “Broad bean” is used “broadly” (pun!) in the UK, whereas “fava bean” is common in the US. “Fava” is the Italian name for the broad bean.

45 Anita nicknamed the “Jezebel of Jazz” : O’DAY

“Anita O’Day” was the stage name of jazz singer Anita Colton. She chose the name as “O’Day” is Pig Latin for “dough”, a slang term for “money”. O’Day had problems with heroin and alcohol addiction leading to erratic behavior, earning her the nickname “The Jezebel of Jazz”.

49 Noted tempter : SATAN

Satan is the bringer of evil and temptation in the Abrahamic religions. The name “Satan” is Hebrew for “adversary”.

54 Sauce made with Parmesan : ALFREDO

Alfredo sauce is usually associated with the Italian dish called fettuccine Alfredo. The sauce is made from Parmesan cheese and butter, and is named for the Italian restaurant owner Alfredo Di Lelio. Di Lelio’s nephews still own and run a restaurant in Rome called “Il Vero Alfredo”. Here in the US, we often add other ingredients to the basic cheese and butter recipe. The name “fettuccine Alfredo” won’t be found on a menu in Italy today, and instead one can order “fettuccine al burro”.

55 Cone made of canvas, say : TEPEE

A tepee (also written as “tipi” and “teepee”) is a cone-shaped tent traditionally made from animal hides that is used by the Great Plains Native Americans. A wigwam is a completely different structure and is often a misnomer for a tepee. A wigwam is a domed structure built by Native Americans in the West and Southwest, intended to be a more permanent dwelling. The wigwam can also be covered with hides but more often was covered with grass, reeds, brush or cloth.

Down

3 Mine find : LODE

A lode is a metal ore deposit that’s found between two layers of rock or in a fissure. The mother lode is the principal deposit in a mine, usually of gold or silver. “Mother lode” is probably a translation of “veta madre”, an expression used in mining in Mexico.

4 Interjection in Innsbruck : ACH!

Innsbruck is the capital city of the Austrian state of Tyrol. Located in the Alps, Innsbruck is a famous center for winter sports and has hosted two Winter Olympic Games, in 1964 and 1976. The name “Innsbruck” translates as “Inn bridge”, with the Inn being the river on which the city is built.

5 Blew a fuse, say : SHORTED

Fuses include a metal component that melts when too much current passes through it, hence breaking the circuit.

6 Galaxies, e.g. : ANDROIDS

Google’s Android operating system is used by many manufacturers of smartphones. Google partners with several companies to produce Android One phones. The beauty of the Android One is that it runs an unadulterated version of the Android operating system, one that hasn’t been “customized” by the likes of T-Mobile or Verizon.

The Galaxy is a series of mobile computing devices made by Samsung that was introduced in 2009. Almost all of the Galaxy devices have used Google’s Android operating system, until a Windows 10 Galaxy device was introduced by Samsung in 2016.

8 Small cube : ONE

3 cubed is 3 x 3 x 3 = 27; 2 cubed is 2 x 2 x 2 = 8; 1 cubed is 1 x 1 x 1 = 1

10 Oppenheimer’s creation … which “Oppenheimer” certainly wasn’t : A-BOMB

J. Robert Oppenheimer was a key member of the Manhattan Project team, the man who led the group of scientists and engineers who designed and built the first atomic bombs. After WWII, Oppenheimer became a chief advisor to the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). Like many scientists who worked on the development of atomic weapons, Oppenheimer spent many years lobbying against nuclear proliferation.

“Oppenheimer” is an epic 2023 film starring Cillian Murphy in the title role. The movie follows J. Robert Oppenheimer, “the father of the atomic bomb”, from his student days right through World War II and beyond. Directed by Christopher Nolan, the film has an amazing ensemble cast that includes:

• Matt Damon (General Leslie Groves)
• Robert Downey Jr. (Lewis Strauss)
• Josh Hartnett (Ernest Lawrence)
• Kenneth Branagh (Niels Bohr)
• Tom Conti (Albert Einstein)
• Gary Oldman (Harry S. Truman)

11 What the ancient Chinese referred to as “Rivers and Mountains Embroidered on Silk” : KOREA

Korea was occupied by the Japanese military from 1910 until Japan surrendered at the end of WWII in 1945. While the UN was working towards a trusteeship administration for Korea, the Soviet Union managed the Korean Peninsula north of the 38th parallel and the US managed the south. The UN’s plans came to naught as the Cold War dictated the establishment of the two separate states of North Korea and South Korea. North Korea invaded the South in 1950, leading to the Korean War. After three years of fighting, the border between the two states became the demarcation line between the two military forces on the day the Armistice Agreement was signed. That line runs diagonally across the 38th parallel, and is better known as the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

12 Songwriter Jule : STYNE

Jule Styne was an English songwriter who made a name for himself in America with a series of popular musicals. Styne wrote a number of famous songs including “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from “Funny Girl”, “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” from “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”, and “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” from “Gypsy”.

15 Panamanian pads : CASAS

The nation that we now know as Panama sits on an isthmus that formed about 3 million years ago. The isthmus was the result of a land bridge forming between North and South America as two tectonic plates of the Earth’s crust slowly collided. Man first attempted to create a waterway across the Isthmus of Panama in 1881, but the 48-mile long Panama Canal only opened for business in 1914.

32 Steak often crusted in sesame seeds : AHI TUNA

Ahi tuna is also known as yellowfin tuna and is a popular fish for sushi and sashimi. However, due to overfishing, ahi tuna populations are at risk.

33 Head of the Corleone family : DON VITO

Mario Puzo created the Corleone Mafia family in his 1969 novel “The Godfather”. The head of the family is Vito Corleone (whose birth name was Vito Andolini), a native of Corleone in Sicily. He was given the name Corleone by immigration officers at Ellis Island. Don Corleone was played so very memorably, with a distinctive rasping voice, by Marlon Brando in the 1972 movie adaptation directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

35 Untruthfully? : ON A DARE

The party game truth or dare has been around a long time. A variant from the early 1700s as attested as a “Christmas game”, under the name “questions and commands”.

36 Tenor, alto, soprano, etc. : SAXES

Saxophones are made of brass, but they also have some features in common with woodwind instruments, such as the use of a reed to create sound. Because of that reed, the “sax” is classified not as a brass instrument, but as a woodwind.

38 Upcoming schedule : SLATE

An item that has been slated has been put on the agenda, scheduled. The verb “to slate” comes from the notion of writing something down on a slate board.

40 Onetime subject of King Gyanendra : NEPALI

Nepal lies to the northeast of India. Today, the state is known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. In 2008, the Communist Party of Nepal won the country’s general election. Soon after, the Assembly voted to change the form of government, moving away from a monarchy and creating a secular republic.

46 Alma mater of three consecutive U.S. presidents : YALE

Five US presidents attended Yale University:

• William Howard Taft
• Gerald Ford
• George H. W. Bush
• Bill Clinton
• George W. Bush

48 One of the “grandchildren on your knee” in the Beatles’ “When I’m Sixty-Four” : VERA

“When I’m Sixty-Four” is a 1967 Beatles song composed by Paul McCartney. McCartney may have been looking forward to “when he’s sixty-four”, but he wrote the song when he was only 16 years old.

50 Born, in Québec : NEE

Québec is the largest province in Canada, and the only one with French as its sole official language. The name “Québec” comes from an Algonquin word “kebec” meaning “where the river narrows”. This refers to the area around Quebec City where the St. Lawrence River narrows as it flows through a gap lined by steep cliffs. The province has voted twice in referenda asking whether or not Quebec should become an independent country, once in 1980, and again in 1995. The 1995 result was 49% in favor of sovereignty, up from 40% in 1980.

52 Chain letters? : KFC

The famous “Colonel” of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) fame was Harland Sanders, an entrepreneur from Henryville, Indiana. Although not really a “Colonel”, Sanders did indeed serve in the military. He enlisted in the Army as a private in 1906 at the age of 16, lying about his age. He spent the whole of his time in the Army as a soldier in Cuba. It was much later, in the 1930s, that Sanders went into the restaurant business making his specialty deep-fried chicken. By 1935 his reputation as a “character” had grown, so much so that Governor Ruby Laffoon of Kentucky gave Sanders the honorary title of “Kentucky Colonel”. Later in the fifties, Sanders developed his trademark look with the white suit, string tie, mustache and goatee. When Sanders was 65 however, his business failed and in stepped Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s. Thomas simplified the Sanders menu, cutting it back from over a hundred items to just fried chicken and salads. That was enough to launch KFC into the fast food business. Sanders sold the US franchise in 1964 for just $2 million and moved to Canada to grow KFC north of the border. He died in 1980 and is buried in Louisville, Kentucky. The Colonel’s secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices is indeed a trade secret. Apparently there is only one copy of the recipe, a handwritten piece of paper, written in pencil and signed by Colonel Sanders. Since 2009, the piece of paper has been locked in a computerized vault surrounded with motion detectors and security cameras.