Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: January 31, 2021

My time: 17:25, seven minutes faster than average.

Theme: "Product Displacement."  In several well-known phrases, one word has been replaced by a brand name of that word, and the phrase is clued as it is them read.

Probably the easiest example to understand is NATURE ABHORS A HOOVER, where the word vacuum has been replaced with the vacuum brand Hoover.  The clue is decidedly prolix: "Reason that the prestigious scientific journal refuses articles from President Herbert's relatives?"  Man, I see that and I just glaze over catch, catch "President Herbert" and think of phrases with "vacuum" in them.

I also like WORKED FOR PLANTERS.  I wonder how many people who know nothing about boxing are confused by TALE OF THE SCOTCH?  In case you haven't grown up watching boxing like me, tale of the tape is a phrase meaning the comparison of the two fighters' measurements before the fight.

The funniest one is MY SOLO RUNNETH OVER, mostly because of the clue: "apology from a musician to the other band members?"  Seems like it could be a "New Yorker" cartoon.

And now, the fill.  There's A TON to go over.

I was surprised, but I guess I shouldn't have been, that the PESO is the currency of the Philippines.  Also called a piso, one Philippine peso currently equals 0.021 United States Dollar.

I had *GROAN for "sound of exertion" instead of GRUNT, and that cost me no little time.  I also foolishly put *AYE for "Senate support" when it's YEA.  Also, I put *SEAL for "state symbol" instead of STAR.

Never heard of the 1957 Jimmy Dorsey hit "SO RARE."  It was composed in 1937 by composer Jerry Herst and lyricist Jack Sharpe.  Jimmy Dorsey's version, which had a decidedly rhythm and blues feel unlike the earlier versions, became the highest charting song by a big band during the first decade of the rock and roll era.

Apparently the PARSLEY on a Seder dinner plate represents the arrival of springtime.  They also use celery; the fresh vegetable that symbolizes the arrival of springtime and new life is called karpas.  It is often dipped in salt water to symbolize the salty tears that the Jews shed in their slavery in Egypt.  Other items on the Seder plate are roasted bone, bitter herb, "clay" (a fruit and nut mixture), and egg.

Because "one up" was in the puzzle on January 20 to mean "tied," I immediately put *TIE and thought I was so clever.  But it's TOP.

For "one temporarily entrusting property to another," I hazarded a guess, *LIENEE, that turned out to be wrong.  It's BAILOR.

"Supergiant in Orion" is RIGEL.   It is about 870 light-years from the sun, 80 times the diameter, and 47,000 times as luminous.

I have heard of Johnny UNITAS, but could not have told you he was a quarterback for the Colts. 

"Cloth woven from flax fibre" is IRISH LINEN.  The Irish Linen Guild has defined Irish linen as yarn which is spun in Ireland from 100% flax fibres.  Fabric which is woven outside Ireland and brought to Ireland to be bleached/dyed and finished cannot carry the Irish Linen Guild logo, which is the Guild trademark, and signifies the genuine Irish Linen brand. 

RPI just keeps coming up, the last time only a few days ago.  So, again, it's the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, located in Troy, New York, established in 1824 for the "application of science to the common purposes of life," and is described as the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world.

I didn't know about STU Lou Who of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  I only know the book, which has Cindy Lou Who.  The movie has all sorts of Whos. 

Haydn's "The Creation" is one of his ORATORIOS.  It tells, in German, the Judeo-Christian Creation story as related in John Milton’s 1667 poem Paradise Lost.  An oratorio is a (usually) sacred work for soloists, chorus and orchestra intended for concert performance.

I really should have quickly put down PAMPA for "prairie east of the Andes."  I thoughtlessly put *PLAYA instead.

"Common call on a 3rd and 1" is QB SNEAK.  This term came up on August 5, 2020.  I have no idea what "3rd and 1" means.

Lena OLIN has also appeared quite a few times. Today is clued for her role in Chocolat.

Paul ANKA is another frequent flier in the NYT crossword.  Today he's clued for his song "Lonely Boy," as he was on December 17, 2017.

The KONA Coast, a coffee-growing region of Hawaii, is also a repeat customer.

Clever clues: "Power symbol" is CARET, as in exponents.  "General practice?" is WAR.  "Place to surf" is WEB (I put *SEA, like some n00b).  

This was a nice Sunday puzzle!  I got a smile out of the theme.  However, the rest of the fill was pretty straightforward, without the usual late-week punnery.  HEY!  (Does hey mean "stop right there?"  According to this puzzle it does.)

Saturday's New York Times crossword solved: January 30, 2021

My time: 8:09, thirty seconds short of the record!  I didn't think this one was exactly ROCKET SCIENCE.  Let's GET GOING.

Obviously, I never knew (or cared) that ATL "blew a 28-3 Super Bowl lead" in the third quarter.  This was Super Bowl LI (2017), where the Falcons really dropped the ball against the Patriots.  Final score?  34-28.

"Setting of a 1945 conference" is tricky because there was one at YALTA, also known as the Crimea Conference and code-named Argonaut, held February 4–11, 1945, between Stalin, Churchill, and FDR.  However, there was also one at MALTA held from January 30 to February 3, 1945 between FDR and Churchill without Papa Joe.  The first one, y'all are ta come!  The Malta conference is only for me and my friend Churchill.

I remembered that a ROO is called a boomer, flyer, or buck when I was reminded of it by the clue about the word for female kangaroo, doe, this Thursday.

The first black sorority in America, AKA, came up on October 21, 2018.

I enjoyed the plethora of clever and wry clues: "Lock holder?" is MOUSSE.  "Like some brows and berets" is KNIT.  "Frosty air?" is ICINESS.  Likewise, "de-frosting?" is DETENTE.  "Lines in an application?" is CODE.  "Holding up the line for?" is CUING.

 I love crosswords that have such long and little-used fill, like YOU HATE TO SEE IT, IT'S NOW OR NEVER, and MORE POWER TO YOU.  In all, I think this one was remarkably easy for a Saturday.

Friday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: January 29, 2021

My time: 8:48, six and half minutes faster than average.  Shall we do the fill?  We will.  DONE DEAL.

It took me a couple of minutes to remember that a tarboosh is a hat much like a FEZ. 

I knew NASA had a fancy acronym for a spacewalk, but didn't remember what.  It's EVA, for Extra-Vehicular Activity.

I never saw the movie Sherlock Gnomes, so didn't know that Johnny DEPP voiced the title character.  I think it's a sequel to Gnomeo and Juliet?  They both sound terrible.

Molly Ivins said SATIRE is "the weapon of the powerless against the powerful" in a 1991 "People" interview.  A pretty useless weapon.  I think the powerless would rather have power or money.

MRS. (Nellie?) Lovett is the accomplice of Sweeney Todd who bakes his victims into meat pies.  In the movie she was played by Helena Bonham Carter.  To date, all actresses (who have been eligible) to play the role on Broadway have earned Tony Award nominations.

"George Washington signed America's first one in 1790" got me thinking it might be treaty, but it's PATENT.  It was to Samuel Hopkins, for his new method of making pot ash.  I didn't actually put down treaty, which is good because 1790 is way, way later than the first US treaties (starting immediately in 1776.)

LIESL Von Trapp came up on November 25, 2020, but although I noted then that she's 16 going on 17, I didn't note that she sings a song entitled "Sixteen Going on Seventeen."

HMM... There were very many clever or tangential clues today.  "One might be forever" is STAMP.  "Union deserters" made me laugh when I found out it was EXES.  However, I saw SLEEPER CAR coming from the clue, "choice for those eager to retire and travel."  "Bar exam?" is PUB TRIVIA.  "Basic cleaner" is LYE.  "Talk up?" is PRAY.  "Org. concerned with lab safety?" is SPCA.

I liked the unusual fill today, like CRISIS MODE, PICKY EATER, ACCENT RUG, TERRA COTTA, and BERT AND ERNIE.

Thursday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: January 28, 2012

My time: 6:39, two seconds slower than my record!  Missed it by [Maxwell Smart voice] that much!

Theme: This one is a bit meta.  It features common phrases with the last word of each turned into an adverb, and the clues read as if the adverb is modifying the previous part of the phrase.  It helps to imagine a comma in the answer.

For example!  "Golden blades that may be tenderly chew'd by equine or bovine beings" is HAY, LOFTILY.  That is, it describes hay, but does it in a lofty way, or loftily.  It's a play on hayloft.

Second example: "The cat's meow, baby.  Dig?" is ALL THAT, JAZZILY.  "The cat's meow" is an old-fashioned bit of slang meaning what the Youths of Today would call all that, or something great.  And the clue is written in jazz talk, baby.  Or jazzily.  It's a play on "All That Jazz."

I'm not going to type of the clue that means the last item, but suffice to say the clue is extremely wordy.  So the answer is THE LAST, WORDILY.  

And so forth.  There is no capper or any clue in the puzzle that the theme answers describe how the clues are written.  And now, the fill, hopefully not too wordily.

The only girl group I know with three letters is TLC.  Apparently they had a #1 album in 1999 called FanMail.  I'm not a fan, and didn't send mail.

Since the Parisian food market LES Halles was demolished in 1971, perhaps this is a terrible choice from among the infinite ways to clue LES? 

I also don't think the clue "four-star" for RAVE really works.  RAVE is either a noun or verb; "four-star," with hyphen, is an adjective.  I don't think they're interchangeable in sentences.  You'd have to add review to "four-star" to get a RAVE.

"What crystal jellies do when disturbed" is GLOW.  I've never heard of crystal jellies!  It can expand its mouth when feeding to swallow jellies more than half its size. When disturbed, it gives off a green-blue glow because of more than 100 tiny, light-producing organs surrounding its outer bell. 

We all know AOL, but I musta forgot about NETZERO, even though I'm sure I tinkered with pretty much everything from the late '90s.  It's still around!

ILENE Chaiken is a TV producer most famous for "The L Word" and "The Handmaid's Tale."

Speaking of people being old, I wonder if the youths solving the puzzle were baffled by the concept of an EJECT button on a "tape recorder" (whatever the hell that is).

I wrote that a female kangaroo is called a DOE on December 19, 2020, but I forgot.

I did remember that a Hawaiian shirt can be called an ALOHA shirt, from July 12, 2018, however. 

I forgot author Donna TARTT's name again, even though it came up on November 28, 2020.

Clever clue: "Passing comment?" is AYE.  "90s, say" is A AVERAGE.  "Follower of pigs or cows" is E-I-E-I-O. "Common congestion points" is NOSES — this is doubly devious, as my first instict was to put *NODES.

This was one of my best times, surprisingly!  I think this is a puzzle that's going to irritate or rankle many a solver today because of the unusual theme.  But me, I enjoyed it.  I'm the prime audience for these kinds of wordplay shenanigans.

Wednesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: January 27, 2021

My time: 6:50, three minutes faster than average.

Theme: wordplay based on the position of the answers in relation to other answers.  "Despicable... or where this answer goes?" is BENEATH CONTEMPT, because this means "despicable" and is also under, or beneath, the answer SCORN, which is contempt.

"Sick... or where this answer goes?" is UNDER THE WEATHER, because that means "sick" and also is placed beneath the answer MONSOON, which I suppose is a type of weather.

Okay then.

SCORN comes with a rather recondite clue: a line in a George Bernard Shaw play.  This turns out to be "As Far as Thought Can Reach," the fifth part of his five-park work "Back to Methuselah."  This play is set in 31,920 AD.  The character Ecrasia tells Arjillax, "Silence is the most perfect expression of SCORN." because the latter seems to venerate the past in an era when no one else does.

In actual history, Servius Tullius is the legendary sixth king, or REX, of Rome.  He is credited with the Servian Constitution, which divided citizens into five classes according to wealth.  He is also credited, probably incorrectly, with introducing silver and bronze coinage.

Clever clue: "Knuckleheaded act?" is NOOGIE.  "A hot one is timely" is TIP.  "Drive... or drive mad?" is TEE OFF.

I think this was a pretty easy Wednesday.  Most of the clues were straightforward and the theme was one of those that helps you fill in the answers quickly once you get the idea.  I'm very impressed with the grid-building skills that placing the key words above the long themed answers requires.

Tuesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: January 26, 2021

My time: 7:14, about 15 seconds faster than average.

Theme: "Game in which the answers to the starred clues are legal plays but cannot be formed even if you have both blanks."  Well, I didn't need to know any of the themed answers to know that a game with two blanks is SCRABBLE.

So, the theme answers contain four Zs, or four Ks, or 7 Ss, all of which are not possible in SCRABBLE, which has only one Z, one K, and four S tiles.

Supermarket chain IGA has been in the blog a couple of times now, but today clued as having the slogan "Hometown Proud." 

Here's a truly new item: ICE DAM, a "cold weather roofing problem."  An ICE DAM is buildup of snow and ice on the roof, preventing snow and water from draining off the slope.

I'm aware of the 1933 Glass-STEAGALL Act, but have a hard time spelling the name.

Are some prognosticators really called "crystal GAZERS?"  Not crystal ball gazers?  yes.  Yes, they are.

RPI, the tech school in Troy, NY, appears today for the third time. 

Georgia's state flower the AZALEA came up on June 25, 2020.

Clever clue: "Lava, e.g." is SOAP.

Whew!  I thought this was fairly difficult for a Tuesday.  While I love the theme, I'm not enamored of the words PIZZAZZY or STRESSLESSNESS.  The amount of Zs and Ks in the puzzle necessitate some rare words, like TANZANIA and GAZERS, and odd letter stretches like the eaea of SEA EAGLE.  But beyond that, I don't think words like POTTAGES and PLIGHTS, for example, are typical Tuesday material.

Monday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: January 25, 2021

My time: 4:40, fifty seconds faster than average.

Today's theme is maybe a teensy bit tone-deaf during a pandemic that has caused the loss of over 20 millions jobs.  "Dreaded cry from a boss" is YOU'RE FIRED, and the themed answers all end in a synonym for fire: boot, can, axe, sack.

I didn't know what a "football blitz" was, so QUARTERBACK SACK had to come from crosses.  During a blitz, a higher than usual number of defensive players will rush the opposing quarterback, in an attempt either to tackle him or force him to hurry his pass attempt.

Texas A AND M (A&M) is in College Station, north of and about an hour and half away from both Austin and Houston.

"Give a makeover" is REHAB?  That seems wrong.

Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida" takes place during the Trojan War.  Troilus, a Trojan prince, falls in love with Cressida, a Trojan who has defected to the Greek side.  Troilus is a minor character in the original ILIAD, in which he is ambushed and killed by Achilles.  The love story with Cressida is a medieval invention dating to the 12th century.

I remembered TEAK as "wood for boat decks," as it's appeared in the blog a few times.

Clever clue: "Cover gray, perhaps" is DYE.  "English channel, informally" is the BEEB; they had me thinking about the body of water.  I put in *POND, lamely, thinking that wasn't right.

This was a good Monday.  Not too easy, with a few reasonably challenging clues, like "talk, talk, talk" for YAP — it could have been *GAB, for example.  I like there to be at least a little uncertainty, even on a Monday.  I thought the theme was unfortunate in these trying times.

Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: January 24, 2021

My time: 16:05, eight minutes faster than average, despite the fact that I put a lot of wrong answers in at first.

Theme: "Sugar, Sugar" is the title.  The themed answers are the names of candies all running together, clued to express a phrase.

For example, "supernova in our galaxy?" is MILKY WAY STARBURST.  And "bookworms call dad?" is NERDS RING POP.  My favorite is "some astronomy PhDs?" which is MARS SMARTIES.

It's a pretty simple theme, and once the idea clicks, filling in the answers is easy.

The BMW Z4 was a clue just recently, in January 17.  The other BMW in the clue is the X6, a "sports activity coupe."

For "Doctors Without Borders, e.g." I put *NGO but it's the much more prosaic ORG.  For "false accusation, informally," I put *BAD RAP, but it's BUM RAP.  My wrong answer led to more confusion on the crossing clue "result of a breast pocket mishap, maybe."  I had *INK SPOT at first, then it changed to *INK DARK which makes little sense and puzzled the heck out of me, until finally the bum in BUM RAP showed me it was INK MARK.

I doff my cap at the arcane word ARCANUM for "deep secret."

The Mark Twain play "IS HE Dead?" is based on his own 1893 short story "Is He Living or Is He Dead."  It concerns a painter who fakes his own death to increase the value of his work and thereafter dresses as a woman to avoid detection.  Apparently even Twain scholars conclude that the play is Not Good.

Never heard of TONI Watson, an Australian singer (nom de stage: Tones and I) with a 2019 hit called "Dance Monkey." 

I only got "do core exercises all day, every day?" from the theme and context.  CRUNCH NOW AND LATER makes perfect sense, but I think of Crunch bars as Nestlé Crunch.  I didn't imagine the right candy until I searched it for this blog entry.

Spike Lee seems pretty obviously a guy who went to NYU (he got an MFA in 1982 from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts), but so did Donald Glover (also TSOA, 2006).  So did Aziz Ansari and Audrey Plaza.

For "members of the crow family" I put *DAWS.  But it's JAYS!  I didn't know they were related.  They are all Corvidae.  Crows are genus corvus; jays are genus cyanocitta.

The UTES are University of Utah basketball team, which I feel like has probably come up before.  Thsi time they are clued as the Runnin' UTES.

I have a very extensive vocabulary, but didn't think of BUR for "prickly covering of a seed."

"The BRAIN --- is wider than the Sky" is a poem by Emily Dickinson.  Because the brain can hold the sky and you besides, do you see? Also, the brain is just the weight of God.  Because they're both infinite?  Maybe.

The SPY is "the only Stratego piece with a letter on it."  The letter is S.  The other pieces had the number one to nine on them.  The Scout is 9, and the Marshal is 9.  At least in the classic game.  This has been revised.

OSAKA has come up a lot in the puzzle, mostly as the city but sometimes as the tennis pro Naomi Osaka.  On January 2, 2018, I noted in passing that OSAKA is known as "Japan's kitchen."  Today's clue is "Japan's street food mecca."  It has been said that the people of Osaka spend more on food than on anything else, and the term kuidaore ("eat until you drop") is used to describe the food culture there. 

Apparently the Detroit Lions play in FORD Field. The team is owned by Martha Firestone Ford's children. She served six seasons (2014-19) as the Detroit Lions Owner and Chairman.

"Volt-amperes" are WATTS.  The watt is the SI unit of power, equivalent to one joule per second, corresponding to the power in an electric circuit in which the potential difference is one volt and the current one ampere.

Clever clues: "Company whose business is picking up?" is UBER.  "Cutting edge?" is HAIRLINE.  "It helps in passing" is YEA.

This was a fun Sunday.  I thought it was easier than most.  The theme is quite straightforward and once you've solved one the others come quickly.  Also, I thought the clues were not nearly as tricky as on some other later-week puzzles.  For example, "they go wherever the wind blows" is not a particularly recondite clue for VANES.  In all, this was an amusing breather in what is normally a head-scratching day.

Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: January 23, 2021

My time: 13:33, six minutes faster than average.

MABEL is the role of a soprano in "Pirates of Penzance," a ward of Major-General Stanley, and the love interest of pirate Frederic. 

Did you know the National TOY Hall of Fame is in Rochester, NY?  Now you do!  It's located within The Strong, an interactive, collections-based educational institution devoted to the study and exploration of play.  That's an odd name.

Esther ROLLE played Florida Evans on both "Maude" and "Good Times."

I usually have a broader interpretation of the clues' words, but "gags" had me only thinking about choking or muffling, so the joke meaning eluded me for a bit.  It's PUT-ONS.

I've never watched any shows on SHARK WEEK, but I got it instantly from "the 'Dominating the Deep' DVD set." 

Instead of the Jezebel of Jazz Anita, today we get a different O'DAY, Danny O'Day, the dummy for ventriloquist Jimmy Nelson.  Wikipedia: "He is most famous for commercials for Nestlé chocolate featuring Farfel the Dog."  That's kind of poignant, isn't it?

"Finance co. rebranded as Ally Financial" is GMAC.  The company was founded in 1919 by General Motors (GM) as the General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC) to provide financing to automotive customers.

I've actually heard this before but couldn't recall it clearly: the source of the word paparazzi is a character in LA DOLCE VITA, named Paparazzo.  The surname itself is of no special significance in the film; it is said to be a common one in Calabria, and Fellini is said to have borrowed it from a travel book, By the Ionian Sea, in which occurs the name of hotel owner Coriolano Paparazzo.

ETON is a crossword frequent flier.  It's near Windsor, it was founded by Henry VI, it's a cap, it's a collar, Chariots of Fire was partly filmed there.  How to clue it in a way that isn't old hat?  Just list an alum!  "Early educator of George Orwell."  Done. 

I'm not a science guy, so "10 micronewtons" means nothing to me. It's DYNE.  A DYNE is the force required to accelerate a mass of one gram at a rate of one centimeter per second squared.  An erg is the amount of work done by a force of one dyne exerted for a distance of one centimeter.  I'm confused already.

For "Grammy winner with the surname Adkins," I put *TRACE, but it's ADELE, as was discussed on November 18, 2020.

"Star NFL receiver" ODELL Beckham Jr. has appeared twice before.  I always forget him.

Clever clues: "Bands popular in the '70s" is MOOD RINGS.  "Offer sheet?" is HIT LIST, because the names on it are people to be offed.  "Reached the point of no return?" is BROKE EVEN.  "Things that generate a lot of cookie dough?" is BAKE SALES.  "Course division" had me stumped for a while, because I only thought about college courses, not golf courses: HOLE.

I liked this puzzle!  Great fill like WORDS FAIL ME, I BELIEVE SO, ESPERANTO, POT DE CREME, and OLD SMOKEY.  Fair but challenging clues.  Too hard?  NAW.

Friday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: January 22, 2021

My time: 8:30, seven minutes faster than average.

So, let's get to it.

"Need for translation, in biology" is RNA, referring to the process of translating the sequence of a messenger RNA (mRNA) molecule to a sequence of amino acids during protein synthesis.

VAL Demings is a Democratic U.S. Representative from Florida. 

It turns out that RENO, the seat of Washoe County and home to the minor league baseball team the Aces, is also where copper-riveted jeans were invented in 1871 by Russian immigrant Jabob Davis.

"Rally feature" is PEP BAND.  I didn't even know what "rally" could signify until the answer came to me.

N*SYNC has a 2000 song called "This I Promise You."  I am utterly uninterested in it, this I promise you.

I didn't know that TLC is owned by the Discovery Channel. Discovery’s portfolio of premium brands also includes Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, Travel Channel, Animal Planet, and Science Channel, and Oprah's OWN.

The University of Wyoming is located in LARAMIE.  The University of Wyoming was established as a land grant university in 1886, when Wyoming was still a territory. The new campus was located on ten acres of land that had served as Laramie’s City Park, deeded to the town by the Union Pacific Railroad when “Laramie City” was first laid out. 

Armand ASSANTE is an actor mostly known for Gotti.   The other actor named Armand is Armand Hammer, but he goes by Armie.

In other acting news, MARLA Gibbs is best known for playing the feisty maid on "The Jeffersons."  She was also in "227" and "Martin."

I like the positionally parallel clues "cause of a trip" (LSD) and "once in a lifetime trip" (HAJ).

Clever clues: "Place for free spirits" is OPEN BAR.  "Test in chemistry?" is HOT DATE.

I loved the fill on this one: E.R. NURSE, LOLCATS, IPAD PRO, ALOHA O'E, SLUMDOG, CYLON, PSYCHED, and more.  Such a refreshing grid!

Thursday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: January 21, 2021

My time: 12:07, two and half minutes faster than average, despite this one's tricky theme!  YAY ME!

That theme is the TURN SIGNAL.  At each circled square in the puzzle, the answer going through it must make a 90 degree turn to the right or left.  The remainder of the answer in the fill, going straight across or down as one normally would, is irrelevant to the clue and can be disregarded.

For example, in the northwest corner, the Across clue "not radical" gives us the answer MODERNISTS.  This is not the right answer.  Instead, at the circled square (in this case the R, for right), you must take a right turn (as I have indicated by the green line) and read it as MODER/A/T/E.  And that means "not radical."  The intersecting clue is "feeling on a lo-o-ong car trip," and the grid shows BORATE when filled.  Again, not the right answer.  Instead, take a right turn at the R, and reading backwards down the Across row (along the purple line I drew), we get BOR/E/D/O/M.  Which works!  (By the way, BORATE is a salt of boric acid.)

"Cry from a survivor" may not clue you in to this trick, as the given answer comes out to I'M ALONE, which also fits.  But if you turn left at the L (L for left!), you get the more correct I'M AL/I/V/E.  The intersecting clue?  Turn left at the L and you see "Satan" is the EVIL /O/N/E, not EVIL EYE.

And now let's turn our attention to the fill.  Ha!  I'm so witty.

So, HABIB is an Arabic name, but also an honorific, with the meaning "beloved" or "most loved."

I haven't heard of AMARO, an Italian herbal liqueur.  There are several types of amari, made with grappa, or herbs, or really anything that gives it its hallmark bitter taste.

The Egyptian Temple of Dendur is a structure from 10 BC, currently located in the MET.

CLARA Barton, well known founder of the Red Cross, is in the National Women's Hall of Fame.  It's located in Seneca Falls, New York.

"Many celebrity golf events" are PRO-AMS, which turns out to just mean pro and amateur mixed invitationals.

AUG is one of the months with federal holidays.  Also, March, April, and June. 

STAD means "city" in Swedish and Dutch.  For example, Karlstad, Sweden.

Speaking of cities in the frozen north, SITKA served as the U.S. Government Capital of the Department of Alaska (1867–1884) and District of Alaska (1884–1906). 

I got tricked by "soccer star on a 1999 Wheaties box."  I put *PELE like the Old Person I am, when the year more clearly indicates Mia HAMM. 

The fill contains both the CDC and Dr. Anthony FAUCI.  Did you know the CDC is based in Atlanta?  I shall endeavor to remember that. 

"Classic figure killed off in a 2019 Super Bowl ad campaign" is MR. PEANUT.  First, what?  Why would they kill poor Mr. Peanut?  And second, "classic" figure?  That's weasel wording.  He's a mascot or an advertising figure.  I think they've brought him back as a baby nut, like a sort of Groot thing?

The NYT crossword only ever lists NAS as a rapper.

Clever clue: "Like taxis and Julius Caesar, once" is HAILED.  "Big Apple?" is IMAC.

This was a terrific puzzle!  I loved the extremely clever theme that took a bit to DECODE.  And the fill is fairly impressive to boot: YES OR NO, BIG IFS, FEEDBACK, PURE CHANCE, FAUCI, BAD TAKES.

Wednesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: January 20, 2021

My time: 6:37, three minutes faster than average.

We have an appropriate theme for this Inauguration Day, especially for a president who has pledged to unite the states (although the damage done by the orange guy may be irreparable, his people are so far removed from reality).  It's THE UNITED STATES!

Basically, the four themed answers are phrases that include words related to being united: pairing, joint, melding, etc.  But wait, there's more.  The second word of each of these phrases is made up of two US postal codes.  For example, in JOINT PAIN, pain is PA and IN, noted in the clue as "arthritis symptom [Altoona, South Bend]".  Altoona is a city in Pennsylvania, and South Bend you'll find in Indiana.

MIND MELDING is "sharing thoughts like a Vulcan [Detroit, Fargo]," indicating the mind part of the clue is made up of MI (Michigan) and ND (North Dakota).

So you see, the states are being united, quite literally, in the puzzle.  Quite clever!

Okay, fill time.  Let's WOK right INN to it!

"God is the perfect POET," wrote Robert Browning in (apparently?) the subtitle of his book-length poem, The Ring and the Book.

"Wise alternative" is UTZ, a brand of snacks.  In this case, then, Wise is a maker of chips.  Its logo is an owl eye in yellow.

I've watched some "Shark Tank," but didn't know it was an ABC show.  I can't keep track of such fripperies.

CESSNA is a familiar aircraft company — actually a brand under the Textron Aviation company — but did you know it's headquartered in Wichita, Kansas?

I feel like the phrase "one up" should mean that you're ahead by one, shouldn't it?  Like, we're one up on you.  But it apparently means the score is TIED?  Sports are weird.

The Gulf of SIDRA is on the northern coast of Libya and has been mentioned in the Bible (Acts 27, as Syrtis).  It has been the site of a few international incidents.  Gaddafi declared it the Line of Death, the crossing of which would invite a military response.  In 1981 two Libyan fighters were shot down by American Tomcats over the gulf.

The name CRISCO is derived from "crystallized cottonseed oil."  Cooks who know trust Crisco.

If I'd known that the radial nerve is located in the forearm, I'd have known quicker that it controls the TRICEP.

"Sports grp. founded by Billie Jean King" is the WTA, or Women's Tennis Association, in 1973.

The Hill of TARA, in County Meath, Ireland, is traditionally the inauguration place and seat of the High Kings of Ireland. Tara consists of numerous monuments and earthworks, from the Neolithic to the Iron Age, including a passage tomb (the "Mound of the Hostages"), burial mounds, round enclosures, a standing stone (believed to be the Lia Fáil or "Stone of Destiny"), and a ceremonial avenue.

Clever clues: "An oil, maybe" is ART.  "They might click on the dance floor" is CASTANETS.

There was quite a lot of new stuff today, but I still was only about a minute away from my record!  I'm getting somewhat okay at this solving thing.

Tuesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: January 19, 2021

My time: 6:22, one minute faster than average.

Theme: CAKE!  The five themed answers are all compound words, and both parts of each compound word can be followed by CAKE.  For example, WHITE RICE: white cake and rice cake.  Or FRUIT CUP: fruitcake and cupcake.

Mmm.... cake. 

Did you notice there were two Mickeys in the puzzle?  MANTLE and ROURKE.  Missing Rooney.

I was a bit puzzled by "buildup at the mouth of a river."  It's DELTA, but I thought that referred to the shape of the river, or the place where the river opened up.  Apparently, I've been using this incorrectly all my life!  It turns out that a DELTA is a landform created by deposition of sediment that is carried by a river as the flow leaves its mouth and enters slower-moving or stagnant water.

AS FOR "workers' right grp. since 1965," I put *OSHA but it's EEOC.  I have made that exact mistake before.  So, OSHA was established in 1971 under President Nixon, that worker-loving left-wing pinko commie.  And the EEOC was established, as the clue says, in 1965 by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

ARI Melber, legal correspondent for MSNBC, last appeared on November 25, 2020.

Clever clues: "Driving force?" is MOTOR.  "Figure of speech?" is ORATOR.

I enjoyed this theme!  It's interesting that so many words not only can precede cake but that so many of those words can form compound words.  It was fairly easy, so I don't know why I didn't URN a better time.  Too busy thinking about CAKE I guess.

Monday's New York Times crossword puzzle csolved: January 18, 2021

My time: 4:48, 48 seconds faster than average.

Theme: American cities that share the name of European cities, clued as "City where you won't find [European landmark in the namesake city]." 

For example, "city where you won't find the Eiffel Tower" is PARIS, TEXAS.  It gets gradually more recondite from there.  The Parthenon is in Athens, Greece, not ATHENS, GEORGIA, but I didn't know Virgil's tomb is in Naples (not NAPLES, FLORIDA).  Virgil is not actually buried there; it's more of a monument.

El Greco was mentioned has having lived and done landscapes of Toledo, Spain on September 27, 2018. But I forgot that, so didn't know right off that the El Greco Museum is in Toledo.  (Not TOLEDO, OHIO.)

I have seen a few of the Bourne movies, but didn't know whether he worked for the CIA or the *NSA.

While there was no new material, I still thought this was pretty difficult for a Monday.  The city theme gave me, a geography idiot, pause; and I thought somewhat sly clues like "get ready to hem, say" for PIN UP deviated from the typical straight definitions of a Monday.  And PASCHAL isn't really a Monday word.  Also, there were some either/or spots like *KRAMER instead of ELAINE for Jerry Seinfeld's pal, or PEALS instead of *TOLLS for "rings, as a church bell." 

I did like the clue "Here comes Poindexter!" for NERD ALERT.

Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: January 17, 2021

My time: 19:41, exactly five minutes faster than the average.

Theme: "Double-Crossed."  That title, and the note that "in the newspaper version of this puzzle, each of the six circled squares contains a slash that divides the square in two," clued me in early that this would be a rebus.

So, in each circled square you must enter two sets of double letters.  For example, "some entertainers at children's birthday parties" is BA[LLOO]N ARTISTS.  But!  This arrangement of the two doubles will not work going the other way.  The answer intersecting the circled square will feature the two pairs in reverse order.  As in, "Sallie Mae products," which is SCH[OOL L]OANS.

Another example: "visual phenomenon created by short flashes of light" is STROB[E EFF]ECT.  And so, the word crossing that must contain ff ee, because the double pair is reversed.  That answer, for "Nestlé creamer," is CO[FFEE] MATE.

I hope that's clear.  And now, the fill.

The BBC as a Corporation might have been established by Royal Charter in 1926, but it was founded in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company.

Gilbert ARENAS was a basketball player who played in... arenas?

In other sports news, did you know that Chris EVERT won at least one Grand Slam title for a record 13 straight years?  Famous golfer Jack Nicklaus called this “The greatest record in sports.”

And more (sigh) sports: SID the Kid is the nickname for Sidney Crosby, center for the NHL Pittsburgh Penguins.

I'm not up on my royals.  Princess EUGENIE is Prince Andrew's youngest daughter.

Miosis means excessive contraction of the pupil.  The adjective form, MIOTIC, means having or causing constriction of the pupils.

A MESON is a subatomic particle composed of a quark and an antiquark.  Mesons are bosons!  Three quark combos are called baryons.

I don't think I've heard of the Sleeves Up campaign, but it's pretty easy to guess that it's about vaccinations, or, as is the right answer, a BL[OOD D]RIVE. 

"Beer in a green bottle" is STE[LLA A]RTOIS.

The three UNESCO World Heritage Sites in AGRA are the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, and Fatehpur Sikri.  They're all very impressive!

"Word before bag or bar" is GRAB.  Grab-bag I know; a grab bar is a bathroom safety feature for people who need help with their balance in the bath or shower. 

Here's a new way to have hoary old chestnut AIDA in the fill: name a song from it!  "Every Story is a Love Story" is the opening song from the Broadway musical version, by Elton John and Tim Rice.

MISSOULA is home to the University of Montana.

A Z4 is a BMW roadster convertible two-seater.  A Q50 is an Infiniti sports sedan.  So they are both a kind of CAR.

Tony winner IDINA Menzel was in the clue on October 28, 2020.  It asked about a role for her, which is Maureen Johnson, from "Rent."

I never seem to get it through my thick skull that the VOLGA is the longest river in Europe, despite its many appearances in this blog.

The OAS, the Organization for American States, last appeared on December 2, 2020.

Famed firefighter Red ADAIR was mentioned on September 26, 2019.

Actress EVA Green of Casino Royale appeared a couple of times. 

"QB's passing stat" is, once again, ATT, for Attempted Passes.

The word for immature egg cell, OOCYTE, appeared on September 14, 2018.

Easy two-pointer LAY-UP was clued as "easy buckets" on August 12, 2018.

Clever clue: "What's more, it's said" is LESS.  "One whose calling is making calls?" is UMP.  "What tots might go after?" is TATER.

Whew!  This was an interesting puzzle.  I think things might have gone differently, and I might have been more frustrated than challenged, if I hadn't read the title and descriptor of the two-art squares first.  If I could just remember all these little answers that come up so often I might even be able to solve a bit faster.

Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: January 16, 2012

My time: 13:10, six minutes faster than average.  So, what's new?  Quite a lot. Let's get AT IT:

Sir GARETH is one of the Knights of the Round Table, the youngest son of King Lot and Morgause of Orkney, the youngest brother of Sir Gawain.  He is killed by his idol, Sir Lancelot.

I've heard of a banjolele, but not a guitalele, a "small hybrid instrument with six strings."  It is also called a kīkū.

EASTON, in today's puzzle, is not Bret Ellis, but a city in Philadelphia on the Delaware River. 

"Like a deaccessioned book" took a beat, because of the obscure term.  But it's EX LIB, which is taken out of the library.

STYRENE is a synthetic chemical that is used extensively in the manufacture of plastics, rubber, and resins.

"Company at which business always comes before pelasure?" was the first long clue I got: MERRIAM-WEBSTER.  Terrific fill, old joke.

The SARANAC River is an 81-mile river in New York that begins in the Adirondacks and empties into Lake Champlain at Pittsburgh.

I guess I never knew that bouillabaisse was a seafood dish.  The tidbit found in it may be a SCALLOP. 

I also didn't know that Bela Lugosi has a biography called The Immortal Count, but I knew he was Dracula so it was a pretty easy get.

"Comment that prompts the reply 'doitashimashite'" had me baffled.  I kept trying to parse the apparent gibberish.  Do it as him a shite?  But it's Japanese for you're welcome, so the answer is ARIGATO.

Apparently some Harry Potter scenes were filmed in BUSHEY, a town northwest of London.  Ha ha!  Bushey.

I've never heard of baseball poker.  In it, each player receives one card face down and then one card face up, dealt one at a time in rotation.  And bets are made in between deals.  And threes and NINES are wild for some reason.

Clever clue: "Be in charge: as a doctor?" is CALL THE SHOTS.  "Remains to be seen, say" is MUSEUM EXHIBIT.  "Layperson?" is MASON.  "Bass organ" is GILL.

This was a fun one!  I loved the long answers and the unusual fill like AT EASE, SOLDIER.

Friday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: January 15, 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 15:17, a whole three seconds faster than average.  There wasn't a whole lot of new material today, just some deviously ambiguous clues.  That's the kind of challenge I like!

Kudos for cramming SQUATTERS' RIGHTS into the grid!

I am not too familiar with the phrase EGO DEATH, I'll give you that.  It's a term used in Jungian psychology as well as mysticism.  It can be a transformation of one's own self through psychology or a loss of sense of self through psychedelics. 

Another thing I've never heard of is Marillenschnaps, a German fruit brandy distilled from APRICOTS.

Although I've watched and enjoyed a little bit of "Modern Family," I couldn't come up with the name of Julie BOWEN, who plays Claire Dunphy.  And she was on "Boston Legal," another show that I quite enjoyed way back in the day.

"Prominent part of a pump" is HEEL.  I kept thinking of a pump, not a pump!

County TYRONE, Northern Ireland, is in the province of Ulster.

I have heard of PATTIE Boyd, at one time or another.  She apparently inspired Eric Clapton's "Layla" and "Wonderful Tonight."  She is also said to have inspired George Harrison's songs "If I Needed Someone," "Something," and "For You Blue."

I like "kind of manual" (HOW-TO) and "uses a manual, say" (SHIFTS) being close together.

For "captured, in a way" I put *ON RECORD but it turned out to be ON CAMERA.

"Fashion designer's portfolio" is LOOKBOOK, which is a funny word.  

COE College, in Cedar Rapid, Iowa, was most recently in the blog on October 12, 2020.

YEP, there was a long list of clever clues today: "Ballpark figure" is BAT BOY.  "There's often a lot of them for sale" is a dad joke punchline involving USED CARS.  "Nested layers?" is HENS.  I like "breakneck... or something to break" for FAST.  "One getting fired up for competition?" is quite literally STARTER PISTOL.  And then there's "shower heads, perhaps" — MAIDS OF HONOR, as in bridal shower managers; that one was tough.  I also like "where one might hear a call for action" for MOVIE SET.  "Peels off?" is ZESTS.  "Frost accumulation" is POEMS — that's a good one!

Whew, that's a whole GOB of puns!  Frankly, I don't CARROT all for such groaners.

Thursday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: January 14, 2012

My time: 9:21, five minutes faster than average.

Theme: SPIN THE BOTTLE.  This is somewhat tricky.

Five circled squares contain the letters b-o-t-t-l-e, in a ring, as highlighted above.  But it runs both ways.  That is, the answers work one way if the B is at the bottom of the ring going clockwise, and the other set of answers intersecting the circled squares work if the B is at the top of the ring going clockwise.

For example: The Across clue, "ancient unit of length," is CUBIT.  That's all fine and good.  But a B doesn't work in that circled square when it comes to "petrol unit," the intersecting Down clue.  So on my grid it reads as LIBRE, but should be read as litre. (I probably should have entered both as a rebus, but I didn't.)

Similarly, the clue "moves like molasses."  That's seeps, but in my grid it appears as STEPS.  The intersecting clue is "spud," for TATER.  (It could easily be the other way around, seeps and eater.)  Another example: GATOR crosses with lubes, that on my grid reads as LUTES.  The substitutions all make legitimate words, even if they don't fit the clues.

And now that your head is spinning, the fill.

North American baitfish is CHUB, a type of minnow.

ABUSE "of power (common impeachment charge)" is a rather apt clue for this historic day.  Also in the fill: POTUS and AOC.

"Home of Baikal, the world's deepest lake" turns out to be ASIA, which isn't exactly informative.  Oh, it's located somewhere in one-third of Earth's land mass, is it?  Great, that narrows it down.  It's in southeast Siberia.

OLIVIA, niece of Sir Toby Belch, is the lover of Cesario in "Twelfth Night."  Cesario, of course, turns out to be Viola in disguise. Her other two suitors, entirely unwanted, are Orsino and Sir Andrew Aguecheek.

"90 Day Fiancé," which sounds simply dreadful, is on the TLC network.  Now I know what to avoid! 

Stephen Curry was born in AKRON, Ohio, home to Minor League Baseball's RubberDucks.  So was LeBron James!  In the same hospital!

"Docs treating vertigo" are ENTS?  Yes, it's usually a symptom of the inner ear, and not of crippling anxiety and obsession with mysterious beauties.

I have never heard the word ABOUTNESS, defined as "relevance of text, in librarian's lingo."  I'm not sure we need this word!

Clever clues: "Core features" is ABS.  "What a letter needs" is a LEASE; that's very tricky.  Here a letter is someone who lets or rents a house.  "Uses a light scalpel on?" is LASES.

Well, this one was a BLAST.  Sort of.  I enjoyed the clever theme, but figuring out which letters went in the circled squares was tough for me.  It was only until after I'd solved the whole thing that I saw, finally, that the Bs were at the top and bottom of the ring and turned in sequence.  I was all set to draw a web of lines to show the "switched" letters!

Wednesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: January 13, 2012

My time: 6:39, three minutes faster than average.

Theme: phrases clued as jokes about NBA teams.  THE KING'S SPEECH is not clued as the movie but "address by a Sacramento NBA player?"  The first one I got was "Charlotte NBA player in charge of recycling," which is THE GREEN HORNET.  However, "Game notes for a New Orleans NBA player?" (THE PELICAN BRIEF) came slowly to me, because I totally spaced that the Jazz have not been a New Orleans team for quite some time.  I kept thinking, Jazz... notes?  But "notes" is already in the clue!

Anyhoo.

I have commented before how very often UTAH comes up as an answer clued by yet another park or natural attraction.  This time it's as home of the Anasazi State Park Museum.  There, you can explore an Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) village that was likely occupied from A.D. 1050 to 1200, one of the largest communities west of the Colorado River.  Outside the museum, there is a six-room replica of an ancient dwelling.  Inside, tourists view artifacts excavated from this site and learn the ways of these people.  The Anasazi people appeared as an answer on December 11, 2017.

I grew up on classic arcade games but have no memory of ASTRO Blaster.  It seems to be similar to Space Invaders.  It came out in 1981 and used speech synthesis.  It is the first video game to have a copyright registered in Japan.

"Flavorers in Italian cookery" is a tricky clues because the clue is plural but the answer does not end in the expected S.  It's ERBE, the Italian plural of erba, herb.

Clever clue: "Two-or four-seater, maybe?" is USHER.  "Grateful?' is ASHES.

Well, SCHIST, this was an easy one for me!  I felt like this puzzle was a breeze and should have run Tuesday, while yesterday's should have run today. I was impressed by some of the fill, like HIT THE WEIGHTS, MINORED IN, and CUTE AS A BUTTON.

Tuesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: January 12, 2021

My time: 6:53, only 40 seconds faster than average.

Theme: THIS TOO SHALL PASS.  The themed answers are all things that pass, like a BRIEF MOMENT, a BIPARTISAN BILL, or — ha! — a KIDNEY STONE.

The first fill that gave me pause was "base on balls."  I had no clue what that referred to. I imagined someone setting up the base of a polygon on little spheres.  It's WALK, from baseball.  This occurs when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls balls, and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out.  Well, I knew that, but I never retained the phrase.

I was slowed down when I went with *ALSO for "not to mention..." when it required PLUS.

"Well, alrighty..." is OK NOW.  Hmm.  Weak clue, weak fill.

Also, IT'S A LOT for "vague comment akin to 'More than you might think.'"  Do the young people say IT'S A LOT as a phrase?  Or is that cap?

I was unaware that the córdoba is the monetary unit of Nicaragua, so was initially unable to complete the analogy with Cuba's PESO.  Currently one Nicaraguan córdoba equals 0.029 United States Dollar.

MOONFISH, "so named for its roundish, silvery body," was in the puzzle as its other name, opah, on December 20, 2020.

I got basketball play alley-OOP right off from its previous displays in the puzzle, most recently on September 25, 2020.

Likewise, my sports-not-knowing head remembered the oddly-spelled Pistons point guard ISIAH Thomas, from his appearance way back on April 21, 2018. 

The USS Intrepid, now a museum, was explained on February 13, 2019.

I had a hard time remembering the beginning of T-BAR, "transport up a bunny slope," even though it's been showcased in the blog many times.

Clever clues: "Queen's realm?" is ANT COLONY, although I really hoped it would be rock opera.  "Bit in a horse's mouth?" is OAT.  "Santa's coat?" is SOOT.  "Paper you take to go on a trip?" is LSD TAB.

Weirdly, although there was very little new material to me, this felt like a tough Tuesday.  It played more like a Wednesday in my opinion.  I thought one of the theme answers was a little contrived: PRO QUARTERBACK.  The PRO part is possibly extraneous.  Also, the cross of MTV with TV HOSTS is, I believe, a crossword no-no to people who care about that sort of thing.  (However, I would have been delighted to see EDDY cross with ice cream brand EDYS.)

Monday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: January 11, 2021

My time: 3:49, nineteen seconds short of my best.

Theme: DELI sandwiches.  The names of types of sandwiches start the themed clues, as in SUBREDDIT, CLUBHOPPING, CUBAN CIGARS, and WRAP PARTY.

ELISA Donovan is an actress who played Amber in Clueless and Morgan, Sabrina's best friend, in "Sabrina the Teenage Witch."

For "it can used for welcoming or wrestling" I put *ARM!  It's MAT, ha ha!

"Vitamin also known as PABA" is B-TEN or B10 as it's usually written.  PABA stands for Para-aminobenzoic acid.

Supermarket chain IGA appeared on November 27, 2020. 

Clever clue: "Without exception, as in dry counties?" is BAR NONE.

And so a nice easy Monday comes to an end.  I wish they hadn't already used wrap so I could say, "that's a wrap!"  I can't think of any other dumb sandwich puns.  If I'm not careful, they're going to bahn mi from the pun club.

Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: January 10, 2021

My time: 17:58, seven minutes faster than average.

Theme: "Oh, Fourpeat's Sake!"  This simply indicates that the themed answers contain a four-letter string that is repeated.  For example, in the phrase WELCOME HOME, HON, the string o-m-e-h occurs twice in a row.  In PRIME TIME TV, the letters i-m-e-t are repeated.  So there's no need to change the answers in the fill or figure out pun clues; the theme just reveals itself as the answers are entered.

I had a hard time getting to SPIFF, a verb, for "neaten (up)."  I'm much more familiar with the adjectival form, spiffy.

ARNIE the Doughnut is a book series by Laurie Keller.  He appears in both colored picture books and that kind of quasi-graphic novel format with black and white pictures like Timmy Failure.

I've heard of SOHO, but didn't know it was west of Covent Garden.  Still, unless I'm a London taxi driver, I can't say I ever really need to know that.

Byelorussia (with extraneous e) is an SSR, but I did not connect the other example, Kirghizia, with its modern-day equivalent, Kyrgyzstan.

ALGA used to be the hot new savior of biofuel, but has since fallen in popularity.  Intractable problems have been encountered in terms of the energy balance of lipid extraction, maintaining suitable growing conditions in open ponds, and the immense volumes of water, CO2, and fertiliser required to allow the algae to photosynthesize fast enough at large scales.

ARTURO Schomburg was a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance.  Born in Puerto Rico to a black mother and father of German ancestry, he became one of the premier collectors of literature, art, and other artifacts pertaining to people of African descent.  He also wrote many articles about black peoples' history.

I'd heard of, but forgotten, ILE de la Tortue, the name of the Haitian commune that occupies Tortuga.

I also have heard of, but could not spell without help, KING KAMEHAMEHA, of Hawaii.  The holiday celebrating him appeared in the blog on January 26, 2018.

"Click the circular arrow button, say" is RELOAD.  I don't know what this refers to.

A HAWK is an "Atlanta hoopster."  They've been named that and located in Atlanta since 1968, but I would never have identified them as an NBA team, let alone their city, on my own.

At last, some etymology trivia.  Apparently the word for BIDET comes from an old French word for "small horse" or "pony," presumably because of the way you straddle fixture.

The ELI Whitney Museum is in Hamden, Connecticut.  According to their website, it is an experimental learning workshop for students, teachers, and families. They collect, interpret, and teach experiments that are the roots of design and invention.  In 1798, four years after Eli Whitney began manufacturing the cotton gin in New Haven, he made arms for the U.S. government at a mill site in Hamden, where a waterfall provided a good source of power. 

"Prez #34" caused me some trouble because I put *DDE but it's IKE!

The STUARTS are Queen Anne's royal family.  I got confused there when I glanced at it and somehow thought it was about Princess Anne.  They're the Windsors!

For some reason, I couldn't come up with Mary Tyler MOORE as the costar of "The Dick Van Dyke Show."  She played his wife, Laura Petrie, of course! I also thought it might be *MOREY as in Morey Amsterdam, who played his friend Buddy.

In poker, two ACES in the pocket in Texas Hold 'Em are called "pocket rockets."  I've read this many times but had forgotten.  I was like, tens?

Nobel Peace prize winner Oscar ARIAS was described on November 18, 2018.  He was the president of Costa Rica.

Los Angeles port district SAN PEDRO came up on February 13, 2019.

"Parenthood" actress ERIKA Christensen was clued the same way on May 10, 2018.

The play "RUR" by Karel Čapek was in the blog on December 6, 2020.

Clever clues: "Pin number?" is TEN, as in bowling pins.  "Makes Don nod?" is REVERSES.  "Base of an arch" is SOLE.

And now, another Sunday is OVA.  This was a relaxing, pleasant one, with no brain-teasers or hair-pullingly frustrating ciphers. 

Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: January 9, 2021

My time: 10:44, nine minutes faster than average.  Whoo!

I very much enjoy John Coltrane's "My Favorite Things," but I know nothing about musical phrasing, times, and what have you, so I didn't know it was a JAZZ WALTZ. 

Although I could not have told you what a netsuke was, I saw it for the Japanese word it was and quickly assumed it was part of an OBI.  Here's the story: Traditional Japanese kimonos (and their twins, kosode) had no pockets to store personal belongings. Their solution was to place such objects in containers (called sagemono) hung by cords from the robes' sashes (obi). The most popular containers were beautifully crafted boxes (inrō), which were held shut by ojime, which were sliding beads on cords. Whatever the form of the container, the fastener that secured the cord at the top of the sash was a carved, button-like toggle called a netsuke.  Japanese craftsmanship being what it was, these became delicately decorated sculptures in their own right.

I found "some letters and lines" for DOTTED to be an odd choice of clue.  Is dotted letters really so popular a phrase outside of pre-k and kindergarten classrooms?

Never heard of JAMAL Crawford, an NBA point guard who played for many different teams.  Crawford is regarded as one of the best ball handlers in NBA history; and he is, along with Lou Williams, the only three-time NBA Sixth Man of the Year winner.  Among other distinctions, Crawford remains the NBA all-time leader in four-point plays. On April 9, 2019, he became not only the oldest player to score 50+ points in an NBA game, but also the first player to have 50-point outings with four franchises.

In the Bible, SETH, son of Adam and Eve, lived to be 912 years old.  He is the common ancestor of all humanity, if you believe that sort of thing.  Genesis 5:6-8 says, "Seth lived one hundred and five years, and begot Enosh.  After he begot Enosh, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters.  So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died."

While I've never heard of the album Live Peace in Toronto 1969, it's not too hard to guess from the title that Yoko ONO sings on it.

"Result of a clutch hit, maybe" is RBI.  Clutch hitting, which may not even be a thing?, is hitting when the score is down or it's late in the game or pressure is on, I guess?  I guess it makes sense you are awarded runs batted in after... getting a hit?  Look, I don't know what the clutch has to do with it.

I needed a little fill to put together JOJOBA, a southwestern shrub known for its oil. 

ANUBIS, Egyptian god of the afterlife, is usually referred to as jackal-headed, not "wolf-headed" as in today's clue.

I don't think I've ever had a LOQUAT.  Kumquat, yes.  In addition to being cultivated for its small orange fruit, its leaves are used to make tea.

I didn't know "ODE TO JOY" is the anthem of the European Union.  In 1972, the Council of Europe adopted Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" theme as its anthem. In 1985, it was adopted by EU leaders as the official anthem of the European Union.

North Carolina's unremarkable ASHE county came up on September 12, 2018.

The cocktail sazerac came up on October 24, 2020 as requiring rye whiskey.  Now it tells us we need a LEMON PEEL garnish!

Clever clues: "Roman leader?" is GRECO-.  "Crow's home" is TEEPEE.  "Gets down" is LEARNS.  "In a swing state?" is MOODY.  "Finish line?" is TA-DA.

This was an incredible puzzle!  I just loved the ambitious fill that includes such phrases as JAZZ WALTZ, JACK SQUAT, JOE SCHMO, CZAR, ZEN MONK, JUNOESQUE, AMSCRAY, and more.  Well done!