LA Times Crossword Answers 8 May 16, Sunday

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

CROSSWORD SETTER: Pam Amick Klawitter
THEME: Communication Update … each of today’s themed answers is a common phrase with something extra added to the end giving a reference to online, UPDATED COMMUNICATION:

23A. Tiny pair of media hosts? TWO PEAS IN A POD(CAST)
31A. Security for sailors? SAINT ELMO’S FIRE(WALL)
49A. Online photo exchange for redheads? GINGER SNAP(CHAT)
65A. Having returned to the world of public performances? BACK IN A FLASH (MOB)
85A. Emeril’s gateway? FOOD WEB (BROWSER)
100A. “Got a film to share?”? ANYTHING FOR YOU(TUBE)?
113A. End of a “Great Reuben!” tweet? CORNED BEEF HASH(TAG)

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 16m 37s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Kind of crazy? STIR-
The slang word “stir”, meaning a prison, probably has its roots in Start Newgate prison in London, where it was a nickname for the establishment.

15. Yahoo! rival MSN
MSN was originally called The Microsoft Network, and was introduced in 1995 as an integral part of Microsoft’s Windows 95 operating system. MSN is a whole bundle of services including email, instant messaging, and the MSN.com portal (which is the 9th most visited site on the Internet).

Jerry Yang and David Filo called their company “Yahoo!” for two reasons. Firstly, a Yahoo is a rude unsophisticated brute from Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels”. Secondly, Yahoo stands for “Yet another Hierarchical Officious Oracle”.

18. It divides banks in Bern AARE
The Aar (also called the “Aare” in German) is the longest river entirely in Switzerland.

Bern (or Berne) is the capital city of Switzerland. The official language of the city is German, but the language most spoken in Bern is a dialect known as Bernese German.

21. Bartlett cousin ANJOU
The Anjou pear is a cultivar of the European Pear. The Anjou pear is thought to have originated in Belgium or France (Anjou is a province in the Loire Valley of western France).

The Bartlett is the most commonly grown pear outside of Asia, a cultivar of the European pear. Back in the UK, where the Bartlett originated, it is called a Williams Pear, or more completely a Williams’ Bon Chretien (Williams’ good Christian). Several Williams trees were imported to the US in 1799 and planted in Massachusetts. The land on which the trees were planted was eventually bought by one Enoch Bartlett, and he started to distribute the pears and basically introduced the variety to the US. He didn’t know that the pears were called Williams, so he named them after himself!

22. Big foot letters  EEE
EEE is a shoe size, a wide one.

23. Tiny pair of media hosts? TWO PEAS IN A POD(CAST)
A podcast is basically an audio or video media file that is made available for download. The name comes from the acronym “POD” meaning “playable on demand”, and “cast” from “broadcasting”. So, basically a podcast is a broadcast that one can play on demand, simply by downloading and opening the podcast file.

31. Security for sailors? SAINT ELMO’S FIRE(WALL)
St. Elmo is the patron saint of sailors. He lends his name to the electrostatic weather phenomenon (often seen at sea) known as St. Elmo’s fire. The “fire” is actually a plasma discharge caused by air ionizing at the end of a pointed object (like the mast of a ship), something often observed during electrical storms.

39. Van Gogh inspiration ARLES
Quite a few years ago now, I had the privilege of living just a short car-ride from the beautiful city of Arles in the South of France. Although Arles has a long and colorful history, the Romans had a prevailing influence over the city’s design. Arles has a spectacular Roman amphitheater, arch, circus as well as old walls that surround the center of the city. In more modern times, it was a place Vincent van Gogh often visited, and where he painted his famous “Cafe Terrace at Night”, as well as “Bedroom in Arles”.

41. Latin lover’s word AMO
“Amo, amas, amat” … “I love, you love, he/she/it loves”, in Latin.

42. Naval NCO CPO
A Chief Petty Officer (CPO) is a non-commissioned officer (NCO) in the Navy (USN) and Coast Guard (USCG). The “Petty” is derived from the French word “petit” meaning “small”.

43. Some NCOs CPLS
Corporal (cpl.)

45. Scale starters DO, RE
The solfa syllables are: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la & ti.

49. Online photo exchange for redheads? GINGER SNAP(CHAT)
Snapchat is a messaging system that allows users to send photos and video clips to a limited list of recipients. The photos and clips, called “snaps”, can be viewed for only a few seconds before they are deleted from the recipient’s device and from the Snapchat servers.

“Ginger snap cookies” are known as “ginger nut biscuits” back in Ireland where I come from …

57. G.I. Joe’s outfit US ARMY
“GI Joe” became a nickname for American soldiers during WWII.

58. Former fillies MARES
There are lots of terms to describe horses of different ages and sexes, it seems:

– Foal: horse of either sex that is less that one year old
– Yearling: horse of either sex that is one to two years old
– Filly: female horse under the age of four
– Colt: male horse under the age of four
– Gelding: castrated male horse of any age
– Stallion: non-castrated male horse four years or older
– Mare: female horse four years or older

59. Crêpe cousin BLINTZE
A blintz (also “blintze”, and “blin”, plural “blini”) is a thin pancake similar to a crêpe although unlike a crêpe, a blintz may contain yeast.

61. Old Testament’s Queen of __ SHEBA
Sheba is referenced in the Bible several times. The “Queen of Sheba” is mentioned as someone who traveled to Jerusalem to behold the fame of King Solomon. No one knows for sure where the kingdom of Sheba was located, although there is evidence that it was actually the ancient Semitic civilization of Saba. The Sabeans lived in what today is Yemen, on the Arabian Peninsula.

63. Tees for Aristotle TAUS
Tau is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet, the letter which gave rise to our Roman “T”. Both the letters tau (T) and chi (X) have long been symbolically associated with the cross.

Aristotle was actually a student of Plato in Ancient Greece (and in turn, Plato was a student of Socrates). Aristotle’s most famous student was Alexander the Great.

64. Pound parts: Abbr. OZS
The unit of mass that we know today as a “pound” is descended from the old Roman unit of weight known as a “libra”. That “libra” connection is why we abbreviate “pound” to “lb”. The name “pound” though comes from the Latin “pondo” meaning “weight”. Our term “ounce” comes from the Latin “uncia”, which was 1/12 of a Roman “libra”.

65. Having returned to the world of public performances? BACK IN A FLASH (MOB)
A flash mob is a group of people who gather to perform a sudden, brief act in a public location and then quickly disperse. Flash mobs originated in Manhattan in 2003, as a social experiment by an editor of “Harper’s Magazine” called Bill Wasik. Wasik’s first attempt to form a flash mob was unsuccessful, but the second attempt worked. The first successful flash mob was relatively tame by today’s elaborate standards, and consisted of about 130 people gathered on the 9th floor of Macy’s department store pretending to be shopping en masse for a “love rug”.

70. Newfoundland comment? ARF!
The Newfoundland is a breed that originated as a working dog for fisherman in what was then the Dominion of Newfoundland. They were mainly used to haul heavy fishing nets.

73. Often saved comics heroine LOIS
Lois Lane has been the love interest of Superman/Clark Kent since the comic series was first published in 1938. Lois and Clark both work for the big newspaper in the city of Metropolis called “The Daily Planet”. The couple finally got hitched in the comics (and on television’s “Lois and Clark”) in 1996. But never mind all that – one has to wonder how good the crossword is in “The Daily Planet” …

74. Voicemail cues TONES
Speak after the tone …

81. Ontario natives CREES
The Cree are one of the largest groups of Native Americans on the continent. In the US most of the Cree nation live in Montana on a reservation shared with the Ojibwe people. In Canada most of the Cree live in Manitoba.

The Canadian province of Ontario takes its name from the Great Lake. In turn, Lake Ontario’s name is thought to be derived from “Ontari:io”, a Huron word meaning “great lake”. Ontario is home to the nation’s capital of Ottawa as well as Toronto, Canada’s most populous city (and the capital of the province).

85. Emeril’s gateway? FOOD WEB (BROWSER)
A food chain is a series of organisms, the smallest of which gets eaten by a larger one, which in turn feeds a still larger one, etc. Food chains are collected into a food web.

Emeril Lagasse is an American chef, born in Massachusetts. Lagasse first achieved notoriety as executive chef in Commander’s Palace in New Orleans. Now famous for his television shows, his cuisine still showcases New Orleans ingredients and influences. Lagasse started using his famous “Bam!” catchphrase in order to keep his crew awake during repeated tapings of his show.

90. Place to go in Gloucester LOO
When I was growing up in Ireland, a “bathroom” was a room that had a bath and no toilet. The separate room with the commode was called “the toilet” or sometimes the W.C. (the water closet). Apparently the term closet was used because in the 1800s when homeowners started installing toilets indoors they often displaced clothes and linens in a “closet”, as a closet was the right size to take the commode. It has been suggested that the British term “loo” comes from Waterloo (water-closet … water-loo), but no one seems to know for sure. Another suggestion is that the term comes from the card game of “lanterloo” in which the pot was called the loo!

Gloucester is a city in the southwest of England, close to the border with Wales.

91. “Xanadu” gp. ELO
The title song of the 1980 movie “Xanadu” was performed by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) and Olivia Newton-John (who starred in the film). Despite the popularity of ELO around the world, the song “Xanadu” was the band’s only number one hit back in their homeland of the UK.

92. Home of the John Denver Sanctuary ASPEN
Aspen, Colorado used to be known as Ute City, with the name change taking place in 1880. Like many communities in the area, Aspen was a mining town, and in 1891 and 1892 it was at the center of the highest production of silver in the US. Nowadays, it’s all about skiing and movie stars.

95. Illusionist Criss __ ANGEL
Criss Angel is the stage name of Chris Sarantakos, an illusionist from New York who has a big show in Las Vegas and who gets a lot of airtime on TV.

98. “Cutthroat Kitchen” host Brown ALTON
Alton Brown is a celebrity chef who is behind the Food Network show “Good Eats”, and the host of “Iron Chef America”.

100. “Got a film to share?”? ANYTHING FOR YOU(TUBE)?
YouTube is a video-sharing website, launched in 2005 by three ex-PayPal employees. Google bought YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion. Yep, $1.65 billion, less than two years after it was founded …

107. Dutch wheels EDAMS
Edam cheese takes its name from the Dutch town of Edam in North Holland. The cheese is famous for its coating of red paraffin wax, a layer of protection that helps Edam travel well and prevents spoiling. You might occasionally come across an Edam cheese that is coated in black wax. The black color indicates that the underlying cheese has been aged for a minimum of 17 weeks.

112. Sharp-toothed swimmer GAR
The fish known as a gar is very unusual in that it is often found in very brackish water. What is interesting about gar is that their swim bladders are vascularized so that they can actually function as lungs. Many species of gar can actually be seen coming to the surface and taking a gulp of air. This adaptation makes it possible for them to live in conditions highly unsuitable for other fish that rely on their gills to get oxygen out of the water. Indeed, quite interesting …

113. End of a “Great Reuben!” tweet? CORNED BEEF HASH(TAG)
A hashtag is word preceded by the symbol #. Hashtags are big these days because of Twitter, a microblogging service that I will never understand …

There are conflicting stories about the origin of the Reuben sandwich. One is that it was invented around 1914 by Arnold Reuben, an immigrant from Germany who owned Reuben’s Deli in New York.

120. Waxy compound STEROL
Sterols occur in nature in both plants and animals. The most famous of the animal sterols is cholesterol, found in all animals as it is a vital component of cell walls. Cholesterol is made within the body, so it isn’t a necessary part of the diet.

121. Writer Rice ANNE
Anne Rice is an American author of erotic and Gothic novels. Rice was born Howard Allen O’Brien (no wonder she changed her name!). Her famous series of novels “The Vampire Chronicles” centers on her character Lestat de Lioncourt, a French nobleman who was turned into a vampire in the 18th century. One of the stories, “Interview with the Vampire”, was adapted for the big screen in 1994 and features Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and others in a star-studded cast. Not my kind of movie though, as I don’t do vampires …

123. Air Force E-5’s SSGTS
Staff sergeant (SSgt)

124. Revue routines SKITS
“Revue” is the French word for “review”.

Down
1. Fill up SATE
“Sate” is a variant of the older word “satiate”. Both terms can mean either to satisfy an appetite fully, or to eat to excess.

2. Shooting marbles TAWS
In the game of marbles, the “taw” is the shooting marble, and is shot at the “ducks”.

3. __-Z: Camaro model IROC
The IROC-Z is a model of Camaro, introduced in 1978. The IROC-Z takes its name from a famous stock car race, the International Race of Champions.

5. Raccoon relative COATI
A coati is a member of the raccoon family and is also known as the Brazilian aardvark, or the snookum bear. The coati is native to Central and South America, but can also be found in the southwest of the United States.

6. Start of MGM’s motto ARS
It seems that the phrase “art for art’s sake” has its origins in France in the nineteenth century, where the slogan is expressed as “l’art pour l’art”. The Latin version “Ars gratia artis” came much later, in 1924 when MGM’s publicist chose it for the studio’s logo, sitting under Leo the lion. Who’d a thunk it?

7. Bryce Harper stat RBI
Bryce Harper is a MLB right-fielder who was chosen by the Washington Nationals as the first overall pick in the 2010 Draft.

8. Holiday sparklers TINSEL
The custom of decorating trees at Christmas seems to have originated in Renaissance Germany. Those first trees were placed in guildhalls and were decorated with sweets and candy for the apprentices and children. After the Protestant Reformation, the Christmas tree became an alternative in Protestant homes for the Roman Catholic Christmas cribs. The Christmas tree tradition was imported into Britain by the royal family because of its German heritage. That tradition spread from Britain into North America.

10. Underworld HADES
Hades was the god of the underworld to the ancient Greeks. Over time, Hades gave his name to the underworld itself, the place where the dead reside. The term “Hades” was also adopted into the Christian tradition, as an alternative name for hell. But, the concept of hell in Christianity is more akin to the Greek “Tartarus”, which is a dark and gloomy dungeon located in Hades, a place of suffering and torment.

11. Multi-vol. reference ENC
An encyclopedia is a compendium reference work containing summary information about a branch of knowledge, or about all knowledge. The word “encyclopedia” comes from the Greek “enkyklios paideia” meaning “general education”, or literally “general rearing of a child”.

12. 1977 Steely Dan album AJA
Steely Dan’s heyday was in the seventies when they toured for a couple of years, although the group mainly focused on studio work. The band was formed in 1972 and broke up in 1981. The core of the band reunited in 1993 and they are still going strong today. Steely Dan’s best-selling album is “Aja”, released in 1977.

13. Political platforms ROSTRA
A “rostrum” (plural “rostra”) is an elevated platform, particularly one for public speaking. The original rostrum was the platform used by public speakers in the Forum of ancient Rome.

15. Smart bunch MENSA
If you ever learned Latin, “mensa” was probably taught to you in lesson one as it’s the word commonly used as an example of a first declension noun. Mensa means “table”. The Mensa organization, for folks with high IQs, was set up in Oxford, England back in 1946. To become a member, you have to have an IQ that is in the top 2% of the population.

16. K-pop city SEOUL
K-pop (Korean pop) is a genre of music from South Korea that emerged in the early nineties. It’s a bit beyond me …

17. Staircase component NEWEL
A newel is a principal upright post that supports a handrail beside a staircase. Newels are found at the top and bottom of the banister, and sometimes in between. Newels are often adorned with decorative trim to set them apart from the other posts by the staircase.

20. Bombards with junk email SPAMS
Apparently the term “spam”, used for unwanted email, is taken from a “Monty Python” sketch. In the sketch (which I’ve seen) the dialog is taken over by the word Spam, a play on the glut of canned meat in the markets of Britain after WWII. So “spam” is used for the glut of emails that takes over online communication. I can just imagine nerdy Internet types (like me) adopting something from a “Monty Python” sketch to describe an online phenomenon …

25. Cortez’s gold ORO
Hernán Cortés (also “Hernando Cortez”) led the expedition from Spain to Mexico that eventually led to the fall of the Aztec Empire.

30. Author Stieg Larsson’s homeland SWEDEN
Stieg Larsson was a Swedish journalist and writer, and indeed one of his main characters in his Millennium series of novels is a journalist as well. The first two titles in the series are “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and “The Girl Who Played with Fire”. The last of the three titles in the Millennium series is “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest”, which was the most-sold book in the US in 2010. All of the books in the series were published after Larsson’s death. He passed away from a heart attack while climbing several flights of stairs, when he was just 50 years old.

33. 1982 Disney sci-fi film TRON
Released in 1982, Disney’s “Tron” was one of the first mainstream films to make extensive use of computer graphics. The main role in the movie is played by Jeff Bridges. The original spawned a 2010 sequel called “Tron: Legacy”, as well as a 2012 TV show called “Tron: Uprising”.

35. Org. whose roots date to the Civil War IRS
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was set up during the Civil War to raise money to cover war expenses. Prior to the introduction of income tax in 1862, the government was funded by levies on trade and property.

36. Sorcerer MAGUS
“Magi” is the plural of the Latin word “magus”, a term applied to someone who was able to read the stars. Hence, magi is commonly used with reference to the “wise men from the East” who followed the star and visited Jesus soon after he was born.

37. Simple-living sect AMISH
The Amish are a group of Christian churches, a subgroup of the Mennonite churches. The Amish church originated in Switzerland and Alsace in 1693 when it was founded by Jakob Ammann. It was Ammann who gave the name to the Amish people. Many Amish people came to Pennsylvania in the 18th century.

38. Whale tracker SONAR
The British developed the first underwater detection system that used sound waves. Research was driven by defence demands during WWI, leading to production of working units in 1922. This new sound detection system was described as using “supersonics”, but for the purpose of secrecy the term was dropped in favor of an acronym. The work was done under the auspices of the Royal Navy’s Anti-Submarine Division, so ASD was combined with the IC from “superson-ic-s” to create the name ASDIC. The navy even went as far as renaming the quartz material at the heart of the technology “ASDivite”. By the time WWII came along, the Americans were producing their own systems and coined the term SONAR, playing off the related application, RADAR. And so the name ASDIC was deep-sixed …

43. Revolutionary first name CHE
Ernesto “Che” Guevara was born in Argentina, and in 1948 he started to study medicine at the University of Buenos Aires. While at school he satisfied his need to “see the world” by taking two long journeys around South America, the story of which are told in Guevara’s memoir later published as “The Motorcycle Diaries”. While travelling, Guevara was moved by the plight of the people he saw and their working conditions and what he viewed as capitalistic exploitation. In Mexico City he met brothers Raul and Fidel Castro and was persuaded to join their cause, the overthrow of the US-backed government in Cuba. He rose to second-in-command among the Cuban insurgents, and when Castro came to power Guevara was influential in repelling the Bay of Pigs Invasion and bringing Soviet nuclear missiles to the island. Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to continue his work as a revolutionary. He was captured by Bolivian forces in 1967, and was executed. Fidel Castro led the public mourning of Guevara’s death, and soon the revolutionary was an icon for many left-wing movements around the world.

44. Kettle et al. PAS
The author Betty MacDonald wrote a memoir called “The Egg and I” that was published in 1945, telling the story of her life as a young wife on a chicken farm in Washington state. The book was adapted into a film of the same name in 1947, with the lovely Claudette Colbert playing Betty McDonald, and the great Fred MacMurray as her husband. Two other characters feature in the storyline, namely Ma and Pa Kettle. The latter characters were so well received by theater audiences that a whole series of films about them and their fifteen children was made between the years 1949 and 1957.

46. “The Simpsons” bus driver OTTO
Otto Mann drives the school bus on the TV show “The Simpsons”. Otto is a Germanic character voiced by Harry Shearer, and his name is a play on “Ottoman Empire”. Whenever Bart sees him, he greets Otto with the words “Otto, man!”

50. Vittles GRUB
“Victuals” is a term for food that is fit for consumption. We tend to pronounce “victuals” as “vittles”, and we use the term “vittles” and “victuals” interchangeably.

53. Early sunscreen ingredient PABA
Para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA), or now its derivatives, is the “active” ingredient in sunscreens in that it absorbs UV radiation. PABA derivatives are used today as PABA itself fell out of favor due to its tendency to stain clothes and to cause an allergic reaction in some users.

55. Horner’s surprise PLUM

Little Jack Horner
Sat in the corner,
Eating a Christmas pie;
He put in his thumb,
And pulled out a plum,
And said ‘What a good boy am I!

56. Trattoria order RISOTTO
Risotto is an Italian rice dish that is usually served as a first course in Italy, but as a main course here in North America.

59. Scroogean cries BAHS
The classic 1843 novella “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens has left us with a few famous phrases and words. Firstly, it led to popular use of the phrase “Merry Christmas”, and secondly it gave us the word “scrooge” meaning a miserly person. And thirdly, everyone knows that Ebenezer Scrooge uttered the words “Bah! Humbug!”.

63. Half a fly TSE
Tsetse flies live on the blood of vertebrate mammals. The name “tsetse” comes from Tswana, a language of southern Africa, and translates simply as “fly”. Tsetse flies are famous for being carriers of the disease known as “sleeping sickness”. Sleeping sickness is caused by a parasite which is passed onto humans when the tsetse fly bites into human skin tissue. If one considers all the diseases transmitted by the insect, then the tsetse fly is responsible for a staggering quarter of a million deaths each year.

66. “Get Smart” security device CONE
The “Cone of Silence” was an ineffective security device that featured on the espionage sitcom “Get Smart” in the sixties.

The satirical comedy series called “Get Smart” was the creation of Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, and starred Don Adams as Agent 86, Maxwell Smart. Agent 86 worked for the spy agency CONTROL, alongside the lovely Agent 99. CONTROL’s sworn enemy was the criminal organization called KAOS. Smart’s shoe phone was a hilarious prop used in almost every episode. When Smart dialed the number 117, the shoe converted into a gun. Cool stuff …

67. MGM co-founder LOEW
Marcus Loew was a New Yorker, born into a poor Jewish family. He started out in a penny arcade business and used its profits to buy into a nickelodeon. He built a whole chain of movie theaters, and then moved into the production of films so that he could guarantee supply of features that he could show in his theaters. Eventually he pulled together the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) film production company, and sadly passed away just three years after he inked the deal.

68. “As I Lay Dying” father ANSE
“As I Lay Dying” is a novel by William Faulkner first published in 1930. The book has an unusual structure, with stream of consciousness writing throughout. There is one whole chapter that I’d like to quote here:

My mother is a fish.
That’s a five-word chapter …

69. Coven concoction BREW
“Coven” is an old Scottish word meaning simply “gathering”. The first known application of the word to witchcraft came during the trial of a Scotswoman in 1662 accused of being a witch. At that time, “coven” came to mean a group of 13 witches.

77. Sky over Seville CIELO
The city of Seville is the capital of Andalusia in southern Spain. Seville is a favored setting for many operas including “The Barber of Seville” by Rossini, “Fidelio” by Beethoven and Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and “The Marriage of Figaro”.

78. __ Field, a former name of Minute Maid Park ENRON
Enron Field, as it was known, is a retractable-roof ballpark that was built next to Houston’s old Union Station. Enron paid $100 million to get its name on the field, and then when the world found out what a scam Enron actually was, the Astros bought back the contract for the name, for a mere $2.1 million. The stadium became Astros Field for a few months, until the Coke people paid $170 million for a 28-year contract to christen the stadium Minute Maid Park. A good deal for the Astros, I’d say.

83. Sign of success SRO
Standing room only (SRO)

86. Cheese couleur BLEU
In French, some cheese might be classified as “bleu” (blue) in “couleur” (color).

87. Aptly named track star BOLT
Usain Bolt is a Jamaican sprinter who won the 100m and 200m race gold medals in both the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. Back in Jamaica, Bolt was really into cricket and probably would have been a very successful fast bowler had he not hit the track instead.

89. “Big” London attraction BEN
Big Ben is the name commonly used for the large bell in the Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster (aka the Houses of Parliament). Big Ben’s official name is the Great Bell, and there is some debate about the origins of the nickname. It may be named after Sir Benjamin Hall who oversaw the bell’s installation, or perhaps the English heavyweight champion of the day Benjamin Caunt.

94. Mountaineering equipment PITONS
“Piton” is a French word for a “hook”.

95. Many Qatar natives ARABS
Qatar is a sovereign state in the Middle East occupying the Qatar Peninsula, itself located in the Arabian Peninsula. Qatar lies on the Persian Gulf and shares one land border, with Saudi Arabia to the south. Qatar has more oil and gas reserves per capita of population than any other country in the world. In 2010, Qatar had the fastest growing economy in the world, driven by the petrochemical industry. Qatar is scheduled to who the 2022 FIFA World Cup, although the nation’s eligibility to do so is under question after a far-reaching bribery scandal was uncovered at the sport’s governing body.

96. Queens team, briefly NY METS
The New York Mets baseball team was founded in 1962, a replacement for two teams that the city had lost, namely the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants. For several years the Mets played very poorly, finishing no better than second-to-last in their division. Then of course along came the “Miracle Mets” who beat the Baltimore Orioles in 1969 to claim the World Series in a huge upset.

Queens is the largest borough in New York City. Queens is an amazingly diverse location in terms of ethnicity. There is a population of over 2 million people, with almost 50% of that population being foreign-born. Apparently there are over 130 native languages spoken in the area. Queens was named for Catherine of Braganza (from Portugal), the Queen consort of King Charles II of England.

97. Half a kids’ game … GO SEEK
Hide and … go seek.

98. “Down with,” in Paris A BAS
“À bas” is French for “down with”, as in “À bas le roi!” meaning “Down with the king!”, and a phrase often heard during the French Revolution.

102. WWI battle site YPRES
Ypres is a Belgian city located close to the French border. In WWI, Ypres was the scene of three devastating battles that resulted in almost a million casualties, including many who suffered in gas attacks.

105. Border range URALS
The eastern side of the Ural Mountains in Russia is generally regarded as the natural divide between the continents of Europe and Asia.

109. Sicilian attraction ETNA
Mt. Etna is the largest of three active volcanoes in Italy. Mt Etna is about 2 1/2 times the height of its equally famous sister, Mt. Vesuvius. Etna is home to a 110-km long narrow-guage railway, and two ski resorts.

114. Short rule? REG
Regulation (reg.)

116. “Black” shopping time: Abbr. FRI
In the world of retail, “Black Friday” is the day after Thanksgiving in the US. Black Friday is when many stores start the holiday shopping season, and so offer deep discounts to get ahead of the competition.

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Kind of crazy? STIR-
5. Supermarket lines CARTS
10. Gossiper’s word HEARD
15. Yahoo! rival MSN
18. It divides banks in Bern AARE
19. Goes around ORBITS
21. Bartlett cousin ANJOU
22. Big foot letters EEE
23. Tiny pair of media hosts? TWO PEAS IN A POD(CAST)
26. Short order from mom NOW!
27. Go along with ESCORT
28. Extra SPARE
29. Sneezer’s need TISSUE
31. Security for sailors? SAINT ELMO’S FIRE(WALL)
36. Yacht staffs MASTS
39. Van Gogh inspiration ARLES
40. Clean the slate ERASE
41. Latin lover’s word AMO
42. Naval NCO CPO
43. Some NCOs CPLS
45. Scale starters DO, RE
49. Online photo exchange for redheads? GINGER SNAP(CHAT)
55. Like some income PRETAX
57. G.I. Joe’s outfit US ARMY
58. Former fillies MARES
59. Crêpe cousin BLINTZE
60. Garden adornment SHRUB
61. Old Testament’s Queen of __ SHEBA
63. Tees for Aristotle TAUS
64. Pound parts: Abbr. OZS
65. Having returned to the world of public performances? BACK IN A FLASH (MOB)
70. Newfoundland comment? ARF!
73. Often saved comics heroine LOIS
74. Voicemail cues TONES
75. Cessation of hostilities TRUCE
79. Opinion pieces COLUMNS
81. Ontario natives CREES
83. Intervene STEP IN
84. Go by ELAPSE
85. Emeril’s gateway? FOOD WEB (BROWSER)
88. Dispatch SEND
89. Brass __ BAND
90. Place to go in Gloucester LOO
91. “Xanadu” gp. ELO
92. Home of the John Denver Sanctuary ASPEN
95. Illusionist Criss __ ANGEL
98. “Cutthroat Kitchen” host Brown ALTON
100. “Got a film to share?”? ANYTHING FOR YOU(TUBE)?
106. Nothing new REPEAT
107. Dutch wheels EDAMS
108. High-quality RATED-A
112. Sharp-toothed swimmer GAR
113. End of a “Great Reuben!” tweet? CORNED BEEF HASH(TAG)
118. Cult following -URE
119. Get ready for an engagement? KNEEL
120. Waxy compound STEROL
121. Writer Rice ANNE
122. Road curve ESS
123. Air Force E-5’s SSGTS
124. Revue routines SKITS
125. Trails the pack LAGS

Down
1. Fill up SATE
2. Shooting marbles TAWS
3. __-Z: Camaro model IROC
4. Share on Facebook, e.g. REPOST
5. Raccoon relative COATI
6. Start of MGM’s motto ARS
7. Bryce Harper stat RBI
8. Holiday sparklers TINSEL
9. Office binder STAPLE
10. Underworld HADES
11. Multi-vol. reference ENC
12. 1977 Steely Dan album AJA
13. Political platforms ROSTRA
14. To-do list items DUTIES
15. Smart bunch MENSA
16. K-pop city SEOUL
17. Staircase component NEWEL
20. Bombards with junk email SPAMS
24. Memorable times ERAS
25. Cortez’s gold ORO
30. Author Stieg Larsson’s homeland SWEDEN
32. Short rests NAPS
33. 1982 Disney sci-fi film TRON
34. Pool surface FELT
35. Org. whose roots date to the Civil War IRS
36. Sorcerer MAGUS
37. Simple-living sect AMISH
38. Whale tracker SONAR
42. Shout CRY
43. Revolutionary first name CHE
44. Kettle et al. PAS
46. “The Simpsons” bus driver OTTO
47. Jeer RAZZ
48. Divorce consequences EXES
50. Vittles GRUB
51. Preserves, in a way EMBALMS
52. “You said it!” AMEN!
53. Early sunscreen ingredient PABA
54. Made skillfully CRAFTED
55. Horner’s surprise PLUM
56. Trattoria order RISOTTO
59. Scroogean cries BAHS
61. Enjoys a run, maybe SKIS
62. “To each __ own” HIS
63. Half a fly TSE
66. “Get Smart” security device CONE
67. MGM co-founder LOEW
68. “As I Lay Dying” father ANSE
69. Coven concoction BREW
70. Experts ACES
71. Part of a film ROLE
72. Custardlike dessert FLAN
76. Election surprise UPSET
77. Sky over Seville CIELO
78. __ Field, a former name of Minute Maid Park ENRON
80. Modernize UPDATE
81. One side of the fence CON
82. Casting aid ROD
83. Sign of success SRO
85. Venom dispenser FANG
86. Cheese couleur BLEU
87. Aptly named track star BOLT
89. “Big” London attraction BEN
93. Crude homes SHACKS
94. Mountaineering equipment PITONS
95. Many Qatar natives ARABS
96. Queens team, briefly NY METS
97. Half a kids’ game … GO SEEK
98. “Down with,” in Paris A BAS
99. Deadly LETHAL
100. Plead in court ARGUE
101. Reduces one’s distance from NEARS
102. WWI battle site YPRES
103. Senses FEELS
104. Not even ODD
105. Border range URALS
109. Sicilian attraction ETNA
110. “Shucks!” DANG!
111. Sits in a cellar, say AGES
114. Short rule? REG
115. Tuna catcher NET
116. “Black” shopping time: Abbr. FRI
117. __ water HOT

Return to top of page

8 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword Answers 8 May 16, Sunday”

  1. Zero errors. Actually, I think my first one for LAT 21x21s. Pretty straight forward quick solve overall.

    Re Typesetting, yesterday: Newspapers typically need to get the information from whatever sources into whatever they do to get it to print. Of course, they seem to have much license to change things around. To wit, that's how I ended up here. As a relative newbie, I was working a 21×21 grid with an indeterminate setter from an indeterminate place (tells you how much they change up in syndication) that was so mangled it was missing *clues*. Pumped in as many of the ones I knew, and came here.

    I guess a lot of hands have an opportunity to touch/edit/change anything in a newspaper between the author's hand and yours.

  2. Too much time, but actually completed a Sunday without throwing it across the room. ^0^
    I liked the puns. Normally, when I complete a long answer and the pun is, well, stupid, I just don't waste any more time on it.
    The social media hints really helped.
    Last to fall was TWO PEAS….because the rest of it looked really strange.
    @Bill are you doing paper and pencil to practice for next year?
    Happy Mother's day to all the moms!
    Shout-out at 26A… Do it! NOW! Does that really work?
    All we needed was the "Do it!" We never provoked the "NOW!" Or else…

  3. I thought this was much easier than the last few Sunday puzzles. No real problems or tricky clues for the majority of the grid.

    Happy Mother's Day to all those moms out there.

  4. Being an old mom and English teacher, the LAT stretches their definitions to the breaking point. I love the elasticity of English vocabulary but this puzzle had too many pun-like references that, frankly, I didn't understand. I just got back to solving crosswords to keep my mind sharp. If this puzzling mixture of bizarre definitions is the usual, maybe I should find a more syntactical hobby?

  5. @Anonymous
    Crossword grids go up in difficulty from Monday onward. Monday is the easiest while Saturday is the hardest. More or less, Monday grids feature more straightforward clues and less esoteric references. The Saturday grids are harder for more trivia references and clouded clues (by puns or whatever). With the way crossword puzzles work, a Sunday grid like this one would have been about a Thursday level.

    Difficulty also varies depending on the source that is involved. Some are always very easy/straight forward, while some are meant to be of high difficulty. LAT is roughly about a medium difficulty in terms of all the sources out there.

    If you need advice or anything explained that Bill didn't get into, always feel free to ask – as blogs like this are generally meant to facilitate such discussions. But remember too that it's a skill like anything else

  6. (cont, accidentally posted before finishing my thought)

    But remember too that it's a skill like anything else that takes time to learn and develop.

  7. Hey Anonymous, you'll be fine! I too am a English teacher, and the liberties they take with puns and definitions often irks me. They're especially confounding in late-week grids, as Glenn suggested. However, being an English teacher, you clearly have the skills to do these puzzles. In fact, wrestle 'em to the ground! And i think they've helped me stay sharp. Hope you keep at it.
    @Glenn, is the LAT grid syndicated? Either way, the puzzle has had the same TWO editors for years. I bet these lil mistakes are just typos (which cause BIG problems, NTS!)
    Be well~~™

  8. Anonymous, I'm with the others, don't give up. This puzzle was not one of the best. Though, even on a good day they can sometimes make you groan. But I do think they are good for keeping your mind sharp. They definitely make you think outside the box, sometimes waaaaay outside!

Comments are closed.