09.01.13 — Persons of Note

Benjamin Franklin close-up from 100-dollar bill

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Sunday, September 1, 2013

Persons of Note, Puzzle by John Farmer / Edited by Will Shortz

DON’T TAKE ANY OF / IT AT FACE VALUE (31D. With 33-Down, Skeptic’s advice … or a “noteworthy” hint to seven Across answers in this puzzle)

In January 2009, Aretha Franklin made international headlines for performing

"My Country 'Tis of Thee" at President Barack Obama's inaugural ceremony

with her church hat becoming a popular topic online.

With a large black-square dollar sign smack-dab in the middle of this rich crossword, the seven denominations of U. S. paper currency (one, two, five, ten, twenty, fifty, one hundred) notes each share a square with the name of the person appearing upon said currency:

• DENZEL [WASHINGTON] (1A. Star of four Spike Lee films) with [1] SEC (7D. “Be right there!”)
• LOU [GRANT] (14A. Longtime Ed Asner role) with [50] CENT (17D. Rapper who feuded with Ja Rule and Nas
• MATCHBOX [20] (39D. Pop/rock group with a 2002 hit co-written with Mick Jagger) with BO [JACKSON] (89A. Baseball All-Star who was also a football Pro Bowler
• HAIRCUT [100] (43D. 1980S British band) with ARETHA [FRANKLIN] (88A. Singer at Obama’s 2009 inauguration)
• HIGH [5] (95D. Celebratory gesture) with ELMO [LINCOLN] (119A. First film Tarzan)
• HANGS [10] (97D. Does a surfboard stunt) with LINDA [HAMILTON] (123A. “The Terminator” co-star)
• AGE [2] (113D. “Terrible” toddler time) with GEORGE [JEFFERSON] (124A. Neighbor of Archie Bunker)

Other — AA LARGE / EGG (115A. Certain 111-Across specification), AMESLAN (91D. Acronym for the hearing-impaired), 1918’s Battle of the ARGONNE Forest; ELASTICITY (5D. Stretchiness), HISTORY (35A. “Gossip well told,” per Elbert Hubbard), HIT IT FAT (53A. Strike turf before the ball, in golf), MEDIA BIAS (42D. Story coloring?), NOT LONG AGO (77D. Recently), OCTAGON (107A. It has 135-degree angles), ORIOLES (18A. Birds at a ballpark), PHENOMS (94A. Hot prospects, say), PLANETS (22A. Gustav Holst septet), SAMURAI (19A. 1954 film septet), TANAGER (36D. Colorful songbird), VELOCITY (82A. Radar reading), VIRTUOSO (45D. Paganini or Rachmaninoff).

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Puzzle available on the internet at
THE NEW YORK TIMES — Crossword Puzzles and Games.