LA Times Crossword Answers 12 May 16, Thursday

Quicklink
Jump to a complete list of today’s clues and answers

CROSSWORD SETTER: C.C. Burnikel
THEME: Cross Street … each of themed answers includes the name of a famous STREET. Pairs of those STREETS CROSS each other, intersecting at a circled letter in the grid:

63A. Intersecting road … and one of a pair indicated by each puzzle circle CROSS STREET

17A. Breakfast order SESAME BAGEL (giving “Sesame Street”)
35A. Breakfast order OVER EASY (giving “easy street”)
57A. Where the world is really flat? WALL MAP (giving “Wall Street”)
5D. North Dakota symbol ELM TREE (giving “Elm Street”)
11D. Line in a utility network WATER MAIN (giving “Main Street”)
34D. United Federation of Planets affiliate STARFLEET (giving “Fleet Street”)

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 7m 52s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Carmen of jazz MCRAE
Carmen McRae was a jazz singer from Harlem in New York City. McRae’s inspiration was singer Billie Holiday, whom McRae met when she was 17 years old.

15. “Bleeding Love” singer Lewis LEONA
Leona Lewis rocketed to fame after winning the British TV show called “The X Factor” (the show that spawned the UK’s “Pop Idol” and America’s “American Idol”).

16. Legendary fighter ALI
The boxer Muhammad Ali was classified as ineligible for the draft in 1964 due to poor writing and spelling skills. The standards were lowered in 1965, and Ali was notified in 1966 that he was eligible to serve in the US Armed Forces. When notified as such, Ali publicly declared himself a conscientious objector on religious grounds. Ali was in fact drafted and refused to serve in 1967. At that point his boxing license was suspended and he was stripped of his World Heavyweight title. Ali was convicted for refusing to to report for induction during the Vietnam War. Ultimately, the US Supreme Court reversed the decision to convict on the grounds that the government had failed to properly specify why Ali’s application for conscientious objector classification had been denied.

17. Breakfast order SESAME BAGEL (giving “Sesame Street”)
The bagel was invented in the Polish city of Kraków in the 16th century. Bagels were brought to this country by Jewish immigrants from Poland who mainly established homes in and around New York City.

Back in 1966, the Carnegie Institute allocated money to study the use of television to help young children prepare for school. The institute gave an $8million grant to set up the Children’s Television Workshop with the task of creating an educational TV program for young people. The program began to come together, especially after Jim Henson (of Muppet fame) got involved. The name “Sesame Street” was chosen simply because it was the “least disliked” of all names proposed just before the program went on the air.

19. Tee, for one TOP
That would be a tee-shirt.

22. Grand cousins SPINETS
A spinet is the name given to a smaller version of keyboard instruments, such as the harpsichord, piano or organ. Spinets are still made today, as smaller and cheaper versions of full-size instruments.

A grand piano is one with the frame supported horizontally on three legs. An upright piano has the frame and strings running vertically.

24. Goth accessory NOSE RING
The goth subculture developed from the gothic rock scene in the early eighties, and is a derivative of the punk music movement. It started in England and spread to many countries around the globe. The term “goth” of course comes from the Eastern Germanic tribe called the Goths. Frankly, I don’t understand the whole goth thing …

27. Sugarloaf lift T-BAR
A T-bar is a type of ski lift on which the skiers are pulled up the hill in pairs, with each pair standing (not sitting!) either side of T-shaped metal bar. The bar is placed behind the thighs, pulling along the skiers as they remain standing on their skis (hopefully!). There’s also a J-bar, a similar device, but with each J-shaped bar used by one skier at a time.

30. Austen classic EMMA
Jane Austen’s novel “Emma” is the tale of Emma Woodhouse and the wonderful George Knightley. At the end of the story, Emma marries Knightley and her young friend Harriet marries Robert Martin, who had been trying to get Harriet’s attention practically from page one of the novel!

32. Egypt’s second president NASSER
Gamal Abdel Nasser was the second president of Egypt, from 1956 until he died in 1970. He stood alongside Muhammad Naguib, Egypt’s first president, during the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 that overthrew the ruling monarchy of Egypt and Sudan. Nasser was an advocate of Pan-Arabism, an ideology promoting unification of Arab peoples and countries. President Nasser went so far as forming the United Arab Republic (UAR), a union between Egypt and Syria that started in 1958 but fell apart in 1961 when Syria withdrew.

38. Summer hrs. in Philly EDT
Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)

51. Wig out FLIP
The idea behind the expression “to wig out”, meaning “to go crazy”, is that there is so much going on in your brain that it might “lift your hair/wig”.

53. Mentor’s offering GUIDANCE
A mentor is a trusted teacher or counselor. The term comes Homer’s “Odyssey” in which there is a character called Mentor. Mentor is a friend of Odysseus, although he is a relatively ineffective old man. However, the goddess Athena takes on Mentor’s appearance in order to guide Odysseus’s young son Telemachus through difficult times.

57. Where the world is really flat? WALL MAP (giving “Wall Street”)
New York’s famous “Wall Street” was originally named by the Dutch as “de Waal Straat”.

60. Part of M.S.: Abbr. SCI
Master of Science (“M.S.” in the US, “M. Sc.” in Canada and Britain).

61. Seaside raptor ERN
The ern (also erne) is sometimes called the white-tailed eagle, or the sea-eagle.

“Raptor” is a generic term for a bird of prey, one that has talons to grip its victims.

69. Enjoy oysters, say EAT
There is a traditional warning that one shouldn’t eat shellfish in a month without an R i.e. May through August. That’s because these are the warmer months here in the northern hemisphere when algae blooms can spread toxins that are soaked up by clams, mussels and oysters. Personally, I only eat shellfish in months containing a Q. That would be never …

70. Runner of 1992 PEROT
Ross Perot graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1953, as president of his class. Perot served his 4-year commitment but then resigned his commission, apparently having become somewhat disillusioned with the navy. He was ranked number 101 on the Forbes 400 List of Richest Americans in 2012, and at that time was worth about $3.5 billion. Back in 1992, Perot ran as an independent candidate for US president. He founded the Reform Party in 1995, and ran as the Reform Party candidate for president in 1996.

71. Like Satchmo’s singing voice RASPY
Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans in 1900. Armstrong had a poor upbringing, and only stayed in school till he was 11 years old. The exact origin of Louis’s nickname “Satchmo” seems to be a little unclear. One story is that he used to dance for pennies in New Orleans as a youngster and would hide those pennies in his mouth away from the other kids. For this he earned the nickname “satchel mouth”, which was shortened to “Satchmo”.

Down
2. Set of beliefs CREDO
A creed or credo is a confession of faith, or a system of belief or principles. “Credo” is Latin for “I believe”.

4. Class for baseball’s Durham Bulls AAA
The Durham Bulls are the Triple-A minor league baseball team based in Durham, North Carolina. The team was established in 1902 as the Durham Tobacconists, and are now the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. It was the Durham Bulls who featured in the 1988 movie Bull Durham starring Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon.

6. White whale, e.g. ALBINO
An “albino” is an organism lacking normal pigmentation. The term comes from “albus”, Latin for “white”.

7. Org. with a “Raise Your Hand” campaign NEA
The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the country, and mainly represents public school teachers.

8. Wardrobe TOGS
The verb “tog”, meaning to dress up, comes from the Latin “toga”, the garment worn in Ancient Rome. “Tog” can be use as an informal word for a coat or a cloak. Back in Ireland, togs are what we call swimming shorts.

10. Ammunition measurement CALIBER
The caliber of a firearm is the diameter of its barrel (approximately). Bullets are just a little smaller than the diameter of the barrel, so bullets are also classified by caliber. So, a “forty-five”, has a diameter of 0.45 inches.

11. Line in a utility network WATER MAIN (giving “Main Street”)
The most common street name in the US is “Second Street”. “First Street” comes in only at number three, and this is because many cities and towns forego the use of “First” and instead go with “Main” or something more historical in nature. “Elm Street” appears on the list at number fifteen.

13. Turbulent currents RIPS
A rip current (wrongly called a rip “tide” sometimes) is a localized current that flows seaward from near the shore. Rip currents are dangerous as they can pull swimmers out to sea.

18. Nation east of Sudan ERITREA
Eritrea is a country located in the Horn of Africa, surrounded by Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti and the Red Sea. Some scientists believe that the area now known as Eritrea was the departure point for the anatomically modern humans who first left Africa to populate the rest of the world.

23. Sonny or Cher NAME
Sonny Bono was a recording artist who later moved into the world of politics. As a musical entertainer, Bono was most famous for his recordings as a duo with Cher, who later became his second wife. The couple divorced, but continued to work together. Bono went into politics, first as the mayor of Palm Springs, California and later as a representative for a California district in the US House of Representatives. Sadly, Bono was killed in a skiing accident in 1998. Coincidently, Michael Kennedy (son of Robert F. Kennedy) had died in a similar skiing accident just one week earlier. The epitaph on Bono’s gravestone reads “And the Beat Goes On”, a reference to the 1967 Sonny & Cher hit “The Beat Goes On”, which was written by Sonny.

Cher’s real name is Cherilyn Sarkisian, born in 1946. In her acting career, Cher was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar of 1984 for her performance in “Silkwood”. She went further in 1988 and won the Best Actress Oscar for playing Loretta Castorini in “Moonstruck”.

25. RNs’ workplaces ERS
One might find a registered nurse (RN) or a medical doctor (MD) in an emergency room (ER).

26. Compliment to a boxer GOOD DOG
The boxer breed of dog (one of my favorites!) originated in Germany. My first dog was a boxer/Labrador mix, a beautiful animal. Our current family dog is a boxer/pug mix, another gorgeous creature.

29. Half of CXII LVI
In Roman numerals, half of CXII (112) is LVI (56).

32. Service stopper NET
That would be a tennis serve, perhaps …

33. Adderall target ADHD
Adderall is a drug used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as well as narcolepsy. Adderall is also misused as a recreational drug as it is considered an aphrodisiac and a euphoriant.

34. United Federation of Planets affiliate STARFLEET (giving “Fleet Street”)
In the “Star Trek” universe, Starfleet is the military service maintained by the United Federation of Planets. Famously, Starfleet is also tasked with deep-space exploration, to boldly go where no man has gone before …

Fleet Street in London used to be home to most British national newspapers, but not anymore. The last British news office moved out of the high-priced neighborhood in 2005. It is now home to investment banking, legal and accountancy firms. The street is named for the River Fleet, which is the city’s largest underground river.

40. Little beef NIT
A “beef” is a complaint or a grievance. It’s not quite clear how “beef” came to have this meaning, but one suggestion is that derives from the habit of soldiers at the end of the 1800s complaining about the quality or availability of beef in their rations.

46. Reviewer of books AUDITOR
In accounting, an auditor is a person who examines and verifies accounts and records. The term “auditor” comes from the Latin verb “audire” meaning to hear. The official examination of accounts used to be an oral procedure.

50. McDonald’s potato variety RUSSET
The full name of the potato that we commonly refer to as a “russet” is a “russet Burbank”. The russet is probably a mutation of the Burbank potato. One Luther Burbank developed the Burbank potato as a disease-resistant Irish potato, and gave the strain its name. The russet Burbank is a relatively large potato. As such, it is the favored potato for restaurant chains like McDonald’s as it can produce long French fries.

52. Break down, as a sentence PARSE
The verb “to parse” means “to state the parts of speech in a sentence”. “Parse” comes from the Latin word “pars” meaning “part”.

58. Calculus calculation AREA
In the world of calculus, the integration function calculates the area between a curve and the x-axis or y-axis.

64. __-Caps: candy SNO
Sno-Caps are a brand of candy usually only available in movie theaters. Sno-caps have been around since the 1920s, would you believe?

65. Nutritional stat RDA
Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs) were introduced during WWII and are a set of recommendations for the standard daily allowances of specific nutrients. RDAs were effectively absorbed into a broader set of dietary guidelines in 1997 called Recommended Daily Intakes (RDIs). RDIs are used to determine the Daily Values (DV) of foods that are printed on nutrition fact labels on most food that we purchase.

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Carmen of jazz MCRAE
6. Ludicrous ANTIC
11. It may be declared WAR
14. Popular font ARIAL
15. “Bleeding Love” singer Lewis LEONA
16. Legendary fighter ALI
17. Breakfast order SESAME BAGEL (giving “Sesame Street”)
19. Tee, for one TOP
20. Hymn relative ODE
21. __-color pasta salad TRI
22. Grand cousins SPINETS
24. Goth accessory NOSE RING
27. Sugarloaf lift T-BAR
28. Make equipment changes RETOOL
30. Austen classic EMMA
32. Egypt’s second president NASSER
35. Breakfast order OVER EASY (giving “easy street”)
38. Summer hrs. in Philly EDT
39. Call off the affair END IT
41. Expert follower? -ISE
42. “However … ” THAT SAID …
45. Regular hangouts HAUNTS
48. Shootout shout DRAW!
49. In shreds TORN UP
51. Wig out FLIP
53. Mentor’s offering GUIDANCE
57. Where the world is really flat? WALL MAP (giving “Wall Street”)
60. Part of M.S.: Abbr. SCI
61. Seaside raptor ERN
62. Explosive state IRE
63. Intersecting road … and one of a pair indicated by each puzzle circle CROSS STREET
66. Price of admission FEE
67. All together AS ONE
68. Stranger ODDER
69. Enjoy oysters, say EAT
70. Runner of 1992 PEROT
71. Like Satchmo’s singing voice RASPY

Down
1. Worker with blocks MASON
2. Set of beliefs CREDO
3. Stops lying RISES
4. Class for baseball’s Durham Bulls AAA
5. North Dakota symbol ELM TREE (giving “Elm Street”)
6. White whale, e.g. ALBINO
7. Org. with a “Raise Your Hand” campaign NEA
8. Wardrobe TOGS
9. Ham-handed INEPT
10. Ammunition measurement CALIBER
11. Line in a utility network WATER MAIN (giving “Main Street”)
12. Gazillions A LOT
13. Turbulent currents RIPS
18. Nation east of Sudan ERITREA
23. Sonny or Cher NAME
25. RNs’ workplaces ERS
26. Compliment to a boxer GOOD DOG
29. Half of CXII LVI
31. Coach’s aide: Abbr ASST
32. Service stopper NET
33. Adderall target ADHD
34. United Federation of Planets affiliate STARFLEET (giving “Fleet Street”)
36. Ones bonded by a common culture ETHNICS
37. “Sounds good” YES
40. Little beef NIT
43. Like most supermodels TALL
44. Pool wear SWIM CAP
46. Reviewer of books AUDITOR
47. Put __ fight UP A
50. McDonald’s potato variety RUSSET
52. Break down, as a sentence PARSE
54. They may be pressing NEEDS
55. Move at a snail’s pace CREEP
56. Contest submission ENTRY
57. Certain partner WIFE
58. Calculus calculation AREA
59. Lame, as an excuse POOR
64. __-Caps: candy SNO
65. Nutritional stat RDA

Return to top of page

18 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword Answers 12 May 16, Thursday”

  1. LAT: Finished, but too much time. A BAGEL doesn't exist in my world (really, never laid eyes on one), so I thought of BREAD instead.

    WSJ: DNF. Managed half the grid with a lot of time and a whole lot of guessing, but the whole thing was too screwed up for me to get anywhere and the answers I did see didn't make a whole lot of sense.

  2. I never know the singers like Leona from X-factor. Got sesame but didnt think of a bagel. Sounds like a dreadful thing to have for breakfast. Took a lot of time to finish

  3. Some of the clues were ludicrous, others just ired me with their obscurity. I now must go to a tbar and have an egg nog overeasy.

  4. Tougher than most Thursdays but not quite as tough as a Friday. I'll call this a Thursday and a half puzzle. Finished but took me a while as well. North Central was the last to fall…LEONA etc.

    A lotto mull over with this grid. A few random thoughts:

    OVER EASY is how you have your breakfast order cooked not the order itself. However, you could say that was how you ordered your breakfast (order?) so it MIGHT get through the crossword police, but I didn't care for it. Minor nit.

    Did not know that "RIP tide" was incorrect. Another one of those things I'll mention the next time I hear someone say it and pretend I've known it forever and be all condescending about it…..Can't wait.

    I actually got caught up in a very mild one once. I didn't panic. I just swam a little parallel to the shore, waited for an incoming wave and rode that in. The whole experience lasted about 2 minutes, but I've never forgotten the sensation.

    The Durham Bulls are a Triple A team, but they were portrayed as single A in the movie.

    I'm just the right age to remember when Sesame Street came out. I never liked it that much even as a little kid. The much better show came a few years later (when I was 8) called The Electric Company. It starred none other than Morgan Freeman. I always recognized him as the Electric Company guy before he made it big in Hollywood.

    Best –

  5. Just to expand on Bill's entry for NIT, the word refers to the egg of a head louse. It is attached to the shaft of a single hair, so to "nit pick" is to search through the hair with a fine-tooth comb — another idiom — for these tiny pests.

  6. WHAAAT???
    The ones I got stuck on weren't mentioned in Bill's write-up.
    How is ANTIC Ludicrous?
    How is NET a Service stopper?
    Leona Lewis???? Never heard of her.
    What a frustrating puzzle.

  7. A net is a "service stopper" if you are playing tennis (or even ping-pong).

    The first definition I saw in Dictionary.com for antic was:

    Usually, antics.

    a playful trick or prank; caper.
    or a grotesque, fantastic, or ludicrous gesture, act, or posture.

    This came together, but not quickly. Now, on to the WSJ grid.

  8. @Pookie
    Antic is usually a noun like Tony mentions. But antic can also be an adjective which it must be in this case to match ludicrous. It means grotesque or bizarre or strange. That only loosely goes with ludicrous IMHO, but I guess the case can be made…

  9. Thanks, Tony and Jeff. Service stopper just dawned on me.
    Tennis…and yes! ping-pong, which I DIDN'T think of.
    Jeff, I never thought of ANTIC as an adjective.
    Example: Is he up to his old antic antics? Sheesh.

  10. Just finished the WSJ puzzle successfully and I am going to bask in the glow of getting the middle N section to finally come to fruition. This was quite a challenge and I didn't get the theme until the grid was filled in and I thought over the title "Going Fifty-Fifty" and then looked at each long answer to finally see what the theme was about. Whew! That was a true mental struggle. I guess my brain does still work…

  11. Had no concept of the theme–again. Some of the clues were incorrectly misleading as Jeff pointed out. I got LEONA Lewis right off. I was introduced to her singing "Whole Lotta Lova" at the close of the 2008 Olympics with Jimmy Page accompanying link.

    I can't conclude without The Knights Who Say NIT! 😉

  12. Rather tough puzzle that I finally managed to finish. ( I'm reaching my limit ….) Some of the names were rather obscure, and no help at all.

    Pookie, from yesterday, thank you for the smart crows. They've indeed survived and outlasted and coped with the humankind. A crow funeral is a good way to learn from other people's ( er, crow's) mistakes.

    Jeff, I loved the ant tic. Since ants can't scratch themselves, thus a ludicrous expression (?). My wife will kill an ant on sight, even if she's on the telephone. Me …. I prefer to 'pick them up' in a paper towel, and deposit them, alive, outside the house. Less bad karma to worry about.

    Jeff, I came across Chinese Magic mirrors in my search for puzzles. I had never heard of a concave solid brass mirror that can reflect the logo on the REVERSE FACE, in a reflection on the wall…. as IF the mirror face were transparent ! Apparently the technology is from 300 A.D. – Han dynasty.

    …..and also a mathematician's (!!!) attempt to Attempt to put a Laplace transform, Mo-Jo on it. ! . As an aside, tooo many grants are being handed out !@#@!

    Have a nice day, folks.

  13. An old joke which relates to the inverse relationship of 'caliber' to the
    'bore' of a gun ….

    Whats a 'big shot' ? …… small caliber, big bore.

  14. Fun puzzle; made me think a little bit, but put it all together even though I never heard of LEONA. I suspected ANTIC even though ludicrous didn't make sense until I later looked at the dictionary.

    Leona may be good and definitely good looking but Robert Plant does Whole Lotta Love a whole lot more entertainingly indulgent, just the way I remember it.

  15. Hi gang!
    I enjoyed this puzzle, tho it was a hard slog to finish. I finally did. I just winged it on things that didn't seem correct. E.G., I kept thinking, "It CAN'T be ANTIC!!" But it was.
    @Glenn, you've never even SEEN a BAGEL??! I looove bagels. I was in grade school when they became popular among gentiles. Anyone? Maybe around 1971? Bagel shops started popping up in my hood, LA's Westside. At first my mom would pronounce BAGEL wrong, rhyming it with "haggle." It was incumbent upon us kids to tease her about that…?
    Be well~~™

Comments are closed.