01.02.11 — Works in Translation

The Angel of Death by Evelyn De Morgan, 1881

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Sunday, January 2, 2011

WORKS IN TRANSLATION, Puzzle by David Levinson Wilk, edited by Will Shortz

Appointment, back, one night, once upon a time, an American, death and a tree grows each translated into a different language constitutes the interrelated group of this sagacious Sunday crossword.

• APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA (27A. 1934 novel “تجهيزات”), see solution at end of puzzle for this crossword’s variation on the Arabic, if that is in fact the language, or if it even matters — is it Urdu? In the regular print version of this puzzle, the clues for 27-, 38- and 47-Across include words in foreign alphabets which cannot be displayed in Across Lite. English-letter transliterations are substituted. In the case of appointment, the substitution is “Maw’id”.
• BACK IN THE USSR (38A. 1968 hit song “Назад” [or “Nazad”])
• ONE NIGHT IN BANGKOK (47A. 1985 hit song “คืนหนึ่ง“ [or “Neung Keun”])
• ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO (68A. 2003 film “Érase una Vez)
• AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (90A. 1951 film “Une Personne des États-Unis”)
• DEATH IN VENICE (99A. 1912 novella “Morte”)
• A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (114A. 1943 novel “Whaddya Tink? A Sapling Stays a Sapling Fuhevah?”)

Other — ALAN KING (94D. Comic who said “A short summary of every Jewish holiday: They tried to kill us. We won. Let’s eat”), ARTISTE (36A. Creative sort), CLEANSING (17D. Purifying), ETERNAL (96D. Everlasting), I’M WAITING (81D. “Any day now”), IT’S A BET (105A. “You’re on!“), NILE BASIN and SENILE (80D. About 10% of Africa; 113A. 90% off?), NOT SO HOT (92D. Eh), OPPRESSES (16D. Puts under the yoke), PHONE TAG (5D. Failure to communicate?), STOP AT / MOTOR INN (3D. Visit during a trip; 4D. It’s often visited during a trip), TEARFUL (15D. Like some goodbyes).

Six-letter — ADVERB (8D. Daily or weekly), BILLER, EDITOR, ELOPER, ELYSEE, ENNEAD, HEARSE (31A. Harold’s car in “Harold and Maude”), KURALT (13D. “On the Road” journalist), NOGGIN, REASON, SNIFFS (60A. Reactions from the hoity-toity), TENETS, VIRILE, YAMAHA.

Five — ABATE, AVEDA, BLOND (66A. Light on the top?), CSINY, DINAR, DRACO, ELSIE (46A. Pitcher of milk?), ELWES, ENAMI, ENGLE, GIJOE, GREER, ILONA, ISSEI, ITALO, NEALS, NESTS, OCOME, PASEO, REPLY, SKOAL, SMEAR, SPAIN, STOCK and STORK, STOIC, TAPED, YALE U.

Short stuff — ABIE, ANIS, ASH, ALTO and ATMO, COB, COSI, CRI, DEPT, EACH, EEK and EEL (42D. “Yikes!“; 64A. Electrophorus electricus for one), ELHI and ELIA, ENE, ERIC, EYRE, FEDS, FENG shui, FUR, GOBI, GRES, HIND, HUR, ICI, IDEA, IKE, ILSE, INKY, IRS, ISNT, ITOR, KIAS, KILN, KOI pond, KYD, LESE, LILT, LIP, MAH, MARC, MDXI, MOOT, MSGR, NED, NEET and NYET, NOAM, NSA, NUNN, OCTA, OHSO and OJOS, O IS for owl, OLA and OLAV, OLEN, ONS, ORES, OSE, PAL, PLEA, RCMP, RIOT (85A. Brilliant display), RNA, SAC, SEAS, SRTA, STN, SYST, TAMI, TIKI, VIM, WONT, YESM.

"The Appointment in Samarra" (as retold by W. Somerset Maugham [1933]) — the speaker is Death: “There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture, now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.”

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Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES — Crossword Puzzles and Games.

Remaining clues — ACROSS: 1. Polite, old-fashioned assent; 5. Court action; 9. Baby bird?; 14. Inventory; 19. It’s high in Peru; 20. Rear; 21. Where Gerald Ford went to law sch.; 22. E-mail button; 23. Like some points; 24. Royal Norwegian Order of St. ___; 25. Slur; 26. Like boxers’ hands; 32 Subj. of the 2005 book “Many Unhappy Returns”; 33. Greeting in Lisbon; 43. NPR host Conan and others; 55. Portland-to-Spokane dir.; 56. “Ben-___”; 57. One of the Pac-Man ghosts; 58. Impassive; 59. Cath. Title; 76. Constellation next to Ursa Major and Ursa Minor; 77. Paisano; 78. Film worker; 79. Spanish liqueur; 82. ___-Turkish War, 1911-12; 88. Sweet suffix?; 89. Pep; 95. Robin Hood portrayer in “Robin Hood: Men in Tights”; 97. Little pocket; 98. Reveler’s cry; 109. Irish Rose’s guy; 111. It contains uracil; 113. 90% off?; 120. Hit CBS series beginning in 2004; 121. “The Story of ___” (1945 war film); 122. All’s partner; 123. German photographer ___ Bing; 124. Bahraini buck; 125. Actress Massey; 126. Prefix with sphere; 127. Classic brand of hair remover; 128. 2003 Economics Nobelist Robert; 129. Forest homes; 130. Abbr. in many a mail-order address; 131. Tests for coll. seniors. — DOWN: 1. Bike brand; 2. One forming a secret union?; 6. Music on a carnival ride; 7. As a friend: Fr.; 9. Part of GPS: Abbr.; 10. Novelist Hoag; 11. Author Steinhauer with the 2009 best seller “The Tourist”; 12. Use logic; 14. Muchacha: Abbr.; 18. English dramatist Thomas; 28. Immigrant from Japan; 29. Ultrasecret org.; 30. ___-jongg; 35. Feminist Germaine; 37. Pre-college yrs.; 39. Cookout discard; 40. Some Korean exports; 41. “And who ___?”; 44. D.C.’s Union ___; 47. Très; 48. Senate Armed Services Committee chairman after Goldwater; 49. Hockey’s Lindros; 50. Retail giant whose logo has blue letters in a yellow oval; 51. Dostoyevsky’s denial; 52. Area crossed by Marco Polo; 53. Pottery need; 54. Carol start; 59. Year of the first Spanish settlement in Cuba; 61. A.T.F. agents, e.g.; 62. Some trim; 63. Home of Galicia; 65. Something that may be glossed over; 67. “Waking ___ Devine” (1998 comedy); 69. Numerical prefix; 70. Linguist Chomsky; 71. Jacobs of fashion; 72. “The Praise of Chimney-Sweepers” essayist; 73. “Like ___ not ..”; 74. Mozart opera title opening; 75. Rich rocks; 79. Skin care brand; 83. ___-majesté; 84. Setting for Cervantes’s “El Galardo Español”; 86. Turn-___; 87. Kind of torch; 90. Bat wood; 91. Starting point on a French map; 93. 1990s Toyota coupe; 100. “South Park” sibling; 101. Gourd; 102. Manley; 103. ___ de coeur; 104. The Supreme Court, e.g.; 106. Invoice issuer; 107. Parisian palace; 108. Dogmata; 112. Drop off; 115. “Reader, I married him” heroine; 116. Iberian eyes; 117. Custom; 118. They may be high or heavy; 119. Forces on horses: Abbr.; 120. Alphabet trio.