LA Times Crossword Answers 20 Sep 16, Tuesday




LA Times Crossword Solution 20 Sep 16







Constructed by: Patti Varol

Edited by: Rich Norris

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

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Theme: Safety First

The FIRST word in each of today’s themed answers is one that is often seen following the word SAFETY:

  • 60A…Motto for the cautious … or a hint to the starts of 17-, 28-, 37- and 45-Across..SAFETY FIRST
  • 17A…Adjusted sales figure on which some royalties are based..NET RECEIPTS (giving “safety net”)
  • 28A…Wood-finishing tool..BELT SANDER (giving “safety belt”)
  • 37A…Brass instrument played like a trumpet..VALVE TROMBONE (giving “safety valve”)
  • 45A…Long, narrow mollusks..RAZOR CLAMS (giving “safety razor”)

Bill’s time: 5m 09s

Bill’s errors: 0




Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies

Across

16…Touchdown approx…ETA

Expected time of arrival (ETA)

19…Bus. get-together..MTG

Meeting (mtg.)

23…Headache treatment..ASPIRIN

Aspirin was a brand name for the drug acetylsalicylic acid. Aspirin was introduced by the German drug company Bayer AG in the late 1800s. As part of the war reparations paid by Germany after WWI, Bayer AG lost the use of the trademark “Aspirin” (as well as the trademark Heroin!) and it became a generic term.

26…Concerning, in memos..IN RE

The term “in re” is Latin, derived from “in” (in) and “res” (thing, matter). “In re” literally means “in the matter”, and is used to mean “in regard to”, or “in the matter of”.

27…Seasonal bug..FLU

Influenza (flu) is an ailment that is caused by a virus. The virus is readily inactivated by the use of soap, so washing hands and surfaces is especially helpful in containing flu outbreaks.

33…Tennessee senator __ Alexander..LAMAR

Lamar Alexander is one of the US Senators representing Tennessee. Alexander is a great classical and country piano player, and you can actually hear him playing on a re-recording that Patti Page made of her 1950 hit “Tennessee Waltz”.

36…Zoo critter with striped legs..OKAPI

The okapi is closely related to the giraffe, although it does have markings on its legs and haunches that resemble those of a zebra. The okapi’s tongue is long enough to reach back and wash its eyeballs, and can go back even further to clean its ears inside and out.

37…Brass instrument played like a trumpet..VALVE TROMBONE (giving “safety valve”)

A valve trombone looks like a trombone, but is played like a trumpet. Part of the instrument looks like it should “slide”, as in a slide trombone, but that part is actually fixed.

45…Long, narrow mollusks..RAZOR CLAMS (giving “safety razor”)

Razor clams have long, narrow shells that resemble straight razors in shape, hence their name.

50…Hotel divs…RMS

Rooms (rms.)

51…Poet Khayyám..OMAR

Omar Khayyam was a Persian with many talents. He was a poet as well as an important mathematician, astronomer and physician. A selection of his poems were translated by one Edward Fitzgerald in a collection called “Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam”. Here are some famous lines from that collection:

Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse — and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness —
And Wilderness is Paradise enow.

52…Place for meditation..YOGA MAT

In the West we tend to think of yoga as a physical discipline, a means of exercise that uses specific poses to stretch and strengthen muscles. While it is true that the ancient Indian practice of yoga does involve such physical discipline, the corporeal aspect of the practice plays a relatively small part in the whole philosophy. Other major components are meditation, ethical behavior, breathing and contemplation.

55…Intense personality..TYPE A

The Type A and Type B personality theory originated in the fifties. Back then, individuals were labelled as Type A in order to emphasize a perceived increased risk of heart disease. Type A personality types are so called “stress junkies”, whereas Type B types are relaxed and laid back. But there doesn’t seem to be much scientific evidence to support the linkage between the Type A personality and heart problems.

59…Actress Hagen..UTA

Uta Hagen was a German-born American actress. Hagen married Jose Ferrer in 1938, but they were divorced ten years later after it was revealed that she was having a long-running affair with Paul Robeson. Her association with Robeson, a prominent civil rights activist, earned her a spot on the Hollywood Blacklist during the McCarthy Era. This forced her away from film, but towards a successful stage career in New York City.

65…Washington MLBer..NAT

The Washington Nationals (“The Nats”) baseball team started out life as the Montreal Expos in 1969. The Expos moved to Washington in 2005 becoming the Nats. There are only two Major Leagues teams that have never played in a World Series, one being the Mariners and the other the Nats.

66…Mount in Exodus..SINAI

According to the Bible, Mount Sinai is the mountain on which Moses was given the Ten Commandments. The Biblical Mount Sinai is probably not the mountain in Egypt that today has the same name, although this is the subject of much debate. The Egyptian Mount Sinai has two developed routes that one can take to reach the summit. The longer gentler climb takes about 2 1/2 hours, but there is also the steeper climb up the 3,750 “steps of penitence”.

67…Lucky break..FLUKE

A “fluke” is a “stroke of luck”, and is a term that is thought to have originated as a lucky stroke in the game of billiards back in the mid-1800s.

68…Genetic info letters..DNA

DNA was first isolated in 1869 by Swiss physician and biologist. The molecular structure of DNA was identified in 1953, by the American and British team of James Watson and Francis Crick.

69…Seagoing mil. training group..NROTC

Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC)

The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) is a training program for officers based in colleges all around the US. The ROTC program was established in 1862 when as a condition of receiving a land-grant to create colleges, the federal government required that military tactics be part of a new school’s curriculum.

Down

1…QVC rival..HSN

The Home Shopping Network (HSN) was the first national shopping network, and was launched locally as the Home Shopping Club in Florida in 1982.

The QVC shopping channel was founded in 1986 in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The company now has operations not only in the US but also in the UK, Germany, Japan and Italy. That means QVC is reaching 200 million households. The QVC acronym stands for Quality, Value and Convenience.

4…Gracias, across the Pyrenees..MERCI

Once can say “thank you” with “merci” in French, with “gracias” in Spanish, and with “danke” in German.

6…”The Heart of the Matter” novelist Graham..GREENE

“The Heart of the Matter” is a 1948 novel by English author Graham Greene that is based on the writer’s own experiences as a British intelligence officer stationed in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The novel was adapted as a 1953 film of the same name starring Trevor Howard, and as a TV film in 1963 starring Jack Hedley.

7…Hawaiian floral rings..LEIS

“Lei” is the Hawaiian word for “garland, wreath”, although in more general terms a “lei” is any series of objects strung together as an adornment for the body.

11…Send back, as to a lower court..REMAND

“To remand” is to send back. In the law, the term can mean to send back into custody, or to send back a case to a lower court.

13…”Marvelous” Marvin of boxing..HAGLER

Marvin Hagler is a retired boxer from Newark, New Jersey. Hagler was the World Middleweight Boxing Champion from 1980 to 1987, successfully defending his title twelve times. “Marvelous Marvin” lost his title to Sugar Ray Leonard who came out of retirement for the fight with Hagler. Although the result was much-disputed, Hagler never fought again and turned to a career as an actor, and now lives in Italy.

22…Yellow “Despicable Me” character..MINION

“Despicable Me” is a 2010 animated comedy film. The main voice actor in the movie is the very funny Steve Carell. “Despicable Me” is a Universal Pictures production, although all of the animation was done in France. The 2010 film was followed by a sequel “Despicable Me 2” released in 2013, with a prequel/spinoff film called “Minions” released in 2015.

A minion is a servile follower, a yes-man. The term “minion” comes from the French word “mignon” meaning “favorite, darling”.

23…CIO partner..AFL

The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was founded in 1886, making it one of the first federations of unions in the country. Over time the AFL became dominated by craft unions, unions representing skilled workers of particular disciplines. In the early thirties, John L. Lewis led a movement within the AFL to organize workers by industry, believing this would be more effective for the members. But the craft unions refused to budge, so Lewis set up a rival federation of unions in 1932, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). The two federations became bitter rivals for over two decades until finally merging in 1955 to form the AFL-CIO.

24…Balkan native..SLAV

The Slavic peoples are in the majority in communities covering over half of Europe. This large ethnic group is traditionally broken down into three smaller groups:

  • the West Slavic (including Czechs and Poles)
  • the East Slavic (including Russians and Ukrainians)
  • the South Slavic (including Bulgarians and Serbs)

The Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe is usually referred to as “the Balkans”. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains located in present-day Bulgaria and Serbia. “Balkan” is Bulgarian for “mountain”.

25…Shoe company with a cat in its logo..PUMA

Puma is a German company that sells athletic shoes worldwide. Puma is most famous for its line of soccer boots.

29…Doone of Exmoor..LORNA

The novel “Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor” was written by Richard Doddridge Blackmore. R. D. Blackmore was an English novelist, very celebrated and in demand in his day (the late 1800s). His romantic story “Lorna Doone” was by no means a personal favorite of his, and yet it is the only one of his works still in print.

30…Ref’s ruling..TKO

In boxing, a knockout (KO) is when one of the fighters can’t get up from the canvas within a specified time, usually 10 seconds. This can be due to fatigue, injury, or the participant may be truly “knocked out”. A referee, fighter or doctor may also decide to stop a fight without a physical knockout, especially if there is concern about a fighter’s safety. In this case the bout is said to end with a technical knockout (TKO).

31…Retired newsman Donaldson..SAM

The broadcast journalist Sam Donaldson is best known as the White House correspondent for ABC for many years, as well as co-anchor of ABC’s Sunday show “This Week”. Donaldson had a famous exchange with President George W. Bush during a White House press conference in 2006. Donaldson shouted out a question about anti-semitic remarks made by actor Mel Gibson, to which President Bush joked, “Is that Sam Donaldson? Forget it … you’re a ‘has-been’! We don’t have to answer has-beens’ questions.” Donaldson gave a biting rejoinder, “Better to have been a has-been than a never-was.”

32…LAPD alerts..APBS

An All Points Bulletin (APB) is a broadcast from one US law enforcement agency to another.

34…1990s veep..AL GORE

Al Gore was born in Washington DC, the son of Al Gore, Sr., then a US Representative for the state of Tennessee. After deferring his military service in order to attend Harvard, the younger Gore became eligible for the draft on graduation. Many of his classmates found ways of avoiding the draft, but Gore decided to serve and even took the “tougher” option of joining the army as an enlisted man. Actor Tommy Lee Jones shared a house with Gore in college and says that his buddy told him that even if he could find a way around the draft, someone with less options than him would have to go in his place and that was just wrong.

35…Camper driver, for short..RVER

One using a “recreational vehicle” (RV) might be called an “RVer”.

41…Clever Bombeck..ERMA

Erma Bombeck wrote for newspapers for about 35 years, producing more than 4,000 witty and humorous columns describing her home life in suburbia.

44…Contractor’s fig…EST

Estimate (est.)

46…”The Joy Luck Club” novelist..AMY TAN

Amy Tan lives not too far from here, in Sausalito just north of San Francisco. Tan is an American writer of Chinese descent whose most successful work is “The Joy Luck Club”. “The Joy Luck Club” was made into a movie produced by Oliver Stone in 1993. The novel and movie tell of four Chinese-American immigrant families in San Francisco who start the Joy Luck Club, a group playing Mahjong for money and eating delicious food.

47…Mexican revolutionary played by Brando..ZAPATA

“Viva Zapata!” is a 1952 film directed by Elia Kazan, with Marlon Brando playing the title role. The film is based on the life the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, and has a screenplay written by John Steinbeck.

Emiliano Zapata was a leader in the Mexican Revolution that took place from 1910 to 1920. Zapata was the leader of the Liberation Army of the South, a force more commonly referred to as the Zapatistas.

48…Word before “Pizza” or “River,” in film..MYSTIC

Mystic Pizza is a coming-of-age film released in 1988. Included in the cast are Annabeth Gish and Julia Roberts. If you watch closely, you’ll also see Matt Damon speaking his first line in a movie. The title refers to the name of a pizza restaurant located in Mystic, Connecticut.

“Mystic River” is a 2003 drama film based on a novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane. The movie was directed by Clint Eastwood and stars Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon. The film has quite a dark storyline and deals with the difficult subject of pedophilia.

49…PlayStation maker..SONY

Sony introduced the PlayStation line of video game consoles in 1994.

53…Social faux pas..GAFFE

Our word “gaffe” , meaning a social blunder, comes from the French word “gaffe” meaning “clumsy remark”, although it originally was the word for “boat hook”. The exact connection between a boat hook and a blunder seems to be unclear.

The term “faux pas” is French in origin, and translates literally as “false step” (or “false steps”, as the plural has the same spelling in French).

56…Part of AAA: Abbr…ASSN

The American Automobile Association (AAA) is a not-for-profit organization focused on lobbying, provision of automobile servicing, and selling of automobile insurance. The AAA was founded in 1902 in Chicago and published the first of its celebrated hotel guides back in 1917.

58…Qualifying race..HEAT

The term “heat”, meaning a qualifying race, dates back to the 1660s. Originally a heat was a run given to a horse to prepare it for a race, to “heat” it up.

62…Capek’s robot play..RUR

Karel Čapek was a Czech writer noted for his works of science fiction. Čapek’s 1920 play “R.U.R.” is remembered in part for introducing the world to the word “robot”. The words “automaton” and “android” were already in use, but Capek gave us “robot” from the original Czech “robota” meaning “forced labor”. The acronym “R.U.R.”, in the context of the play, stands for “Rossum’s Universal Robots”.

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Complete List of Clues and Answers

Across

1…Pilothouse wheels..HELMS

6…Sphere in a library..GLOBE

11…Cheering syllable..RAH!

14…Use a broom..SWEEP

15…Lubricate again..RE-OIL

16…Touchdown approx…ETA

17…Adjusted sales figure on which some royalties are based..NET RECEIPTS (giving “safety net”)

19…Bus. get-together..MTG

20…Gentle touch..CARESS

21…Letter that opens with a click..EMAIL

23…Headache treatment..ASPIRIN

26…Concerning, in memos..IN RE

27…Seasonal bug..FLU

28…Wood-finishing tool..BELT SANDER (giving “safety belt”)

33…Tennessee senator __ Alexander..LAMAR

36…Zoo critter with striped legs..OKAPI

37…Brass instrument played like a trumpet..VALVE TROMBONE (giving “safety valve”)

42…”Sure, I’ll give you a ride”..GET IN

43…Sleep audibly..SNORE

45…Long, narrow mollusks..RAZOR CLAMS (giving “safety razor”)

50…Hotel divs…RMS

51…Poet Khayyám..OMAR

52…Place for meditation..YOGA MAT

55…Intense personality..TYPE A

57…Response to a clever put-down..OH SNAP!

59…Actress Hagen..UTA

60…Motto for the cautious … or a hint to the starts of 17-, 28-, 37- and 45-Across..SAFETY FIRST

65…Washington MLBer..NAT

66…Mount in Exodus..SINAI

67…Lucky break..FLUKE

68…Genetic info letters..DNA

69…Seagoing mil. training group..NROTC

70…Spine-tingling..EERIE

Down

1…QVC rival..HSN

2…Baaing mom..EWE

3…Tennis do-over..LET

4…Gracias, across the Pyrenees..MERCI

5…Hurled weapon..SPEAR

6…”The Heart of the Matter” novelist Graham..GREENE

7…Hawaiian floral rings..LEIS

8…”Uh-oh!”..OOPS!

9…Stand-up routine..BIT

10…Besides..ELSE

11…Send back, as to a lower court..REMAND

12…Clothing..ATTIRE

13…”Marvelous” Marvin of boxing..HAGLER

18…Bed with high sides..CRIB

22…Yellow “Despicable Me” character..MINION

23…CIO partner..AFL

24…Balkan native..SLAV

25…Shoe company with a cat in its logo..PUMA

29…Doone of Exmoor..LORNA

30…Ref’s ruling..TKO

31…Retired newsman Donaldson..SAM

32…LAPD alerts..APBS

34…1990s veep..AL GORE

35…Camper driver, for short..RVER

38…And so on: Abbr…ETC

39…Shop __ you drop..’TIL

40…Par..NORM

41…Clever Bombeck..ERMA

44…Contractor’s fig…EST

45…Portly..ROTUND

46…”The Joy Luck Club” novelist..AMY TAN

47…Mexican revolutionary played by Brando..ZAPATA

48…Word before “Pizza” or “River,” in film..MYSTIC

49…PlayStation maker..SONY

53…Social faux pas..GAFFE

54…Lots and lots..A PILE

56…Part of AAA: Abbr…ASSN

57…Point __ return..OF NO

58…Qualifying race..HEAT

61…__ conditioner..AIR

62…Capek’s robot play..RUR

63…Slide down the slopes..SKI

64…Collarless shirt..TEE




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9 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword Answers 20 Sep 16, Tuesday”

  1. 7:31, no errors, iPad. A puzzle composed almost entirely of gimmes. I needed that. Yesterday was one of those busy days when everything that can go wrong does, leaving you a week behind … 🙂

  2. I’ll reiterate something I’ve said many times here – that the blog is the best part of early week puzzles. However, there were some things new to me namely RAZOR CLAM and OKAPI. I Googled an image of an OKAPI, and it’s a very odd looking animal. I’m not sure I had ever seen one before. Maybe I should get to a zoo more often.

    OH SNAP??

    I guess Patti Varol is Rich Norris’s assistant. Given her pedigree as a solver and constructor, you wonder if it could just as easily be the other way around.

    Carrie – interesting note on ARR WE… and I think you’re right.

    Still fighting this awful cold. Like most men, I complain endlessly when I’m sick. Would eating soap render my cold virus inactive like the FLU? If I thought that would work, I’d do it. I’ve also heard tequila and lime works well on colds, and if it doesn’t, what have I lost?

    Last word on the Thursday the 15th NYT grid. Three days hence and I’m still obsessed with it. I had knocked out the earlier week puzzles on the flight home easily enough. There was maybe 30 minutes left of the flight when I started looking at that one. By the time I landed, I had filled in exactly 0 squares, and I wasn’t even close on anything.

    When I got home, I had to look at Bill’s NYT blog to see what I was missing. I’ll never know if I would have solved it on my own or not. Given the nature of that puzzle, I’m curious how Dave and/or Bill got any traction on it at all. You had to solve the theme to understand the puzzle, but you had to solve at least some of the puzzle to get the theme. Catch 22-ish.

    Best-

    1. @Jeff … My ex was as much of an animal person as I am a plant person; many, many trips to the Denver zoo with her and the kids familiarized me with quite a number of strange animals that hang out there. (And, often, in crossword puzzles – but I think the OH-SNAP is found only in puzzles … 🙂 .

      As for that Thursday NYT puzzle: Somehow, after reading through all of the clues two or three times, I began to have the odd sense that there was something more or less consistently wrong with all of them and I slowly zeroed in on a gimmick that would explain the wrongness. Even then, though, it took me quite a while to be convinced that I completely understood it. (There was even a final element that I missed until I read Bill’s comments.)

      Sometimes, when I’m really stuck in a partially-completed section of a puzzle, I ask myself, “Ignoring the clues, what collection of letters would suffice to complete this section?” Then, if something seems to fit, I try to figure out how on earth the clue could be interpreted to fit that particular answer. I think the technique allows my subconscious to come with things that would otherwise be blocked.

    2. Now that I look at the page itself for that one, I wonder if it’ll be easier for me if I end up remembering what to look for in six weeks time (I think the head-wink on that particular one reading Bill’s page is probably the spoiler clues). Of course, I wonder that in general: How much looking at Bill’s blog ends up giving me hints that others might not have, especially if I might have not gotten them otherwise? Hard to tell – I know I pick up some trying to correct my grids that I probably shouldn’t.

      The big question though for such is a grid is the issue of aid. It’s controversial in general – lots will use Google as a matter of course for these puzzles, but others like me have this view that doing them unaided is the only way to prove anything. Anagram solvers are easy-hat for programmers, so it’s not hard to find one (I made one even as part of those word-solve things I mentioned a week ago). I wonder how many figured out the theme and just started punching the first word of the clues into their anagram solvers, rendering the trick completely moot? Good question in any event.

      1. Interesting quote of illustration for what I wrote above from today’s constructor:

        Solve all the puzzles. All of them. Even the puzzles that, at first glance, look like the kind you don’t like, solve them. And if you don’t know the answers, look them up. There’s no such thing as cheating at a puzzle — it’s all simply research that makes you better at puzzles.

        I really can’t see how Google solving a grid really proves anything compared to someone who can solve a grid unaided, but different strokes for different folks of course.

  3. One letter off and it’s my own darn fault.
    Now, don’t I know that the abbreviation for association is ASSN. ????
    Don’t I? Well guess who put in C at the end, rather than O?
    Dumb!!
    @Jeff I just looked up that NYT puzzle you mentioned.
    Yikes! EVERY clue an anagram? That’s evil! 🙂
    @Carrie You’re right, I didn’t even notice there was no E in ARRE we there yet?

  4. Nice easy puzzle except for OKAPI, which I remembered from previous puzzles, but only vaguely.

    Fascinating history of Bayer Aspirin which bought their rights back in 1994 (at least in the US and Europe), just in time for its rebirth as a cardiac and stroke prevention drug.

  5. Hi every buddy!!
    EVERY CLUE IS AN ANAGRAM??!! Yikes–now I REALLY have to look up that puzzle!!
    Speaking of looking things up: I also wanted to Google this OKAPI creature, but I accidentally searched for OPAKI — and it still came up!! Spelling not corrected!! Next I googled OKAPI and got the same images. Maybe both spellings are correct?!
    I gotta say, I don’t agree with the setter who says looking it up isn’t cheating. Okay, try every puzzle you face, but once you look up an answer you’ve disqualified yourself from completing successfully, IMO. You’re still learning a lot, but you ain’t scoring a win.
    Just my two ¢…
    Jeff, feel better!!!
    Sweet dreams~~™?

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