LA Times Crossword Answers 27 Apr 17, Thursday










Constructed by: Neville Fogarty

Edited by: Rich Norris

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

Quicklink to comments

Theme: Order Up!

Today’s themed answers are written in the down-direction. Each contains the hidden word “ORDER” written in the UP-direction:

  • 40D. Diner call … and what the answer to each starred clue literally contains : ORDER UP!
  • 2D. *One of a romantic dozen : RED ROSE
  • 8D. *Neighborhood TV host? : FRED ROGERS
  • 17D. *Computer network component : WIRED ROUTER
  • 26D. *Many a dorm accommodation : SHARED ROOM

Bill’s time: 12m 06s

Bill’s errors: 2

  • OERTER (Oorter)
  • REWED (rowed!!!)



Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies

Across

6. Tabloid fodder : AFFAIR

Tabloid is the trademarked name (owned by Burroughs, Wellcome and Co,) for a “small tablet of medicine”, a name that goes back to 1884. The word “tabloid” had entered into general use to mean a compressed form of anything, and by the early 1900s was used in “tabloid journalism”, applied to newspapers that had short, condensed articles and stories printed on smaller sheets of paper.

12. Pop singer Spektor : REGINA

Regina Spektor is a Moscow-born American singer, songwriter and pianist. Spektor’s genre of music is described as “anti-folk”, whatever that is …

14. Safari guide’s weapon : DART GUN

“Safari” is a Swahili word, meaning “journey” or “expedition”.

17. Auburn University’s avian battle cry : WAR EAGLE!

Auburn University in Alabama was chartered in 1856, as the East Alabama Male College. The school was renamed when it was granted university status in 1960. Auburn’s sports teams are known as the Tigers, for which supporters use the battle cry “War Eagle!”

18. Jewish ceremony for a newborn son : BRIS

A mohel is a man who has been trained in the practice of brit milah (circumcision). Brit milah is known as “bris” in Yiddish. The brit milah ceremony is performed on male infants when they are 8-days old.

21. Elastic wood : YEW

Yew is the wood of choice for the longbow, a valued weapon in the history of England. The longbow is constructed with a core of yew heartwood (as the heartwood resists compression) that has a sheath of yew sapwood (as the sapwood resists stretching). The yew was in such demand for longbows that for centuries yew trees were in short supply in Britain and the wood had to be imported from all over Europe.

22. __ fide : BONA

“Bona fide(s)” translates from the Latin as “in good faith”, and is used to indicate honest intentions. It can also mean that something is authentic, like a piece of art that is represented in good faith as being genuine.

23. Four-time discus gold medalist : OERTER

Discus thrower Al Oerter is one of only three competitors to have won a gold medal in four consecutive Olympic Games in the same individual event. The other two sportsmen to have achieved the feat are Carl Lewis in the long jump and Paul Elvstrom in sailing.

24. “The Gold-Bug” author : POE

“The Gold-Bug” is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, a mystery tale about a man who was bitten by a gold-colored bug. The story first appeared in three installments in the ”Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper” in 1843, and became very popular. He had submitted the story to a writing contest sponsored by the paper, and it was published as the winning entry. The grand prize also included $100 in cash, which was likely the largest sum that Poe ever received for a work in his lifetime.

27. Bentley of “Ghost Rider” : WES

Wes Bentley is an actor who is perhaps best known for playing Ricky Fitts, the voyeuristic son of the homophobic Colonel Frank Fitts in the 1999 blockbuster film “American Beauty”. A 2009 documentary called “My Big Break” tells of Bentley’s career taking off after “American Beauty” was released, and his subsequent struggles which addiction to drugs and alcohol that led to financial ruin. Bentley is well on the road to recovery, and has been appearing regularly on the small and large screens since 2010.

28. 1930s N.Y. Giants star Lefty : O’DOUL

Lefty O’Doul was a baseball player and manager from San Francisco. O’Doul was instrumental in spreading the popularity of the sport in Japan both before and after WWII. In fact, the Tokyo Giants were named by O’Doul, a reference to the New York Giants franchise with whom he spent the last years of his playing career. O’Doul also owned a restaurant in San Francisco that bears his name and which still operates today (near Union Square). There’s a bridge near AT&T Park, the Giant’s relatively new ballpark, that’s called Lefty O’Doul Bridge.

33. Land mentioned in the spiritual “Go Down, Moses” : EGYPT

“Go Down, Moses” is a Christian spiritual song created by African slaves in the US.

When Israel was in Egypt’s land:
Let my people go,
Oppress’d so hard they could not stand,
Let my People go.

Go down, Moses,
Way down in Egypt’s land,
Tell old Pharaoh,
Let my people go.

34. 1959 Gidget player : SANDRA DEE

The actress Sandra Dee started out as a model before moving into film. After a promising start to her career it seemed to peter out, and the public became more interested in her 7-year marriage to Bobby Darin. And of course she will forever be remembered from the song in the movie and stage-show “Grease” called “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee”.

“Gidget” is an early “beach party film” that was released in 1959. The movie stars Sandra Dee as a teenage girl who falls in love with a young surfer. The surfer’s gang gives the young lass the nickname “Gidget”, a portmanteau of “girl” and “midget”.

36. Classic V-8 : T-BIRD

Ford manufactured the Thunderbird (T-Bird) from 1955 to 2005, originally as a two-seater sporty convertible. The T-Bird was introduced as a competitor to Chevrolet’s new sports car, the Corvette.

47. Ohio aviation city : DAYTON

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is located just east of Dayton, Ohio. The first aircraft operations on the land now occupied by the base were conducted way back in 1904. There, Orville and Wilbur Wright made the initial test flights in their Wright Flyer III aircraft.

50. Literary alter ego : HYDE

Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” was first published in 1886. There are many tales surrounding the writing of the story including one that the author wrote the basic tale in just three to six days, and spent a few weeks simply refining it. Allegedly, Stevenson’s use of cocaine stimulated his creative juices during those few days of writing.

54. Nabisco chocolate treat : MALLOMAR

The first chocolate-coated marshmallow confection was created in Denmark about 200 years ago, and today Denmark produces more of the treats than any other nation. The US version is known as a Mallomar and is produced by Nabisco, generally from October through April. Mallomars melt easily, and so aren’t made available in the warmer months.

56. Extra number : ENCORE

“Encore” is French for “again, one more time”, and is a shout that an audience member will make here in North America to request another song, say. But, the term is not used this way in France. Rather, the audience will shout “Bis!”, which is the Italian for “twice!”

58. Hose connections : SPIGOTS

Back in the 15th century, a spigot was specifically a plug to stop a hole in a cask. Somewhere along the way, a spigot had a valve added for variable control of flow.

59. Tottenham tint : COLOUR

Tottenham is an area in north London in England. It is home to a famous football (soccer) club called Tottenham Hotspur, the team that I used to follow as a kid many moons ago …

60. John of “Fuller House” : STAMOS

On the sitcom “Full House”, the character Jesse Katsopolis is played by John Stamos. Stamos reprises the role occasionally on the Netflix sequel “Fuller House”.

Down

3. Versus : AGAINST

Versus (Vs.) is the Latin for “turned toward or against”.

7. __ Islands: Danish archipelago : FAROE

The Faroe Islands (also Faeroe Islands) are a group of islands lying halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are part of the Kingdom of Denmark and were granted the power of self-governance in 1948.

8. *Neighborhood TV host? : FRED ROGERS

The “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” TV show starred Fred Rogers. It was the second-longest running series on PBS television after that other iconic children’s show “Sesame Street”.

10. The Stooges frontman : IGGY POP

Iggy Pop is a punk rock performer from Muskegon, Michigan. When he was in high school, he was a drummer for a local band called the Iguanas, and so was given the nickname “Iggy”. He was vocalist for a band called the Stooges.

15. Banister post : 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.

By some accounts, a “banister” is a handrail of a stairway. By other accounts, the banister is actually the handrail and the supporting structures (called “newels”).

17. *Computer network component : WIRED ROUTER

In the world of computing, a router is a device that helps direct traffic, as it were. A router in a house is often found in combination with a modem, and directs traffic between the Internet and the computers in the home.

33. Istanbul : Constantinople :: Tokyo : __ : EDO

Edo is the former name of the Japanese city of Tokyo. Edo was the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate, a feudal regime that ruled from 1603 until 1868. The shogun lived in the magnificent Edo Castle. Some parts of the original castle remain and today’s Tokyo Imperial Palace, the residence of the Emperor of Japan, was built on its grounds.

Istanbul, Turkey is the only metropolis in the world that is situated in two continents. The city extends both on the European side and on the Asian side of the Bosphorus river. Historically, Istanbul was also known as Constantinople and Byzantium.

40. Diner call … and what the answer to each starred clue literally contains : ORDER UP!

Diner lingo, the verbal slang used by the staff, can be very colorful. Here are a few examples:

  • Adam & Eve on a raft: two poached eggs on toast
  • Adam & Eve on a raft and wreck ’em: two scrambled eggs on toast
  • Burn one: put a hamburger on the grill
  • Burn one, take it through the garden and pin a rose on it: hamburger with lettuce, tomato and onion
  • Down: on toast
  • Whiskey down: on rye toast
  • Cluck and grunt: ham and eggs

45. Chewing gum ingredient : CHICLE

Chicle is a natural gum or latex that can be extracted from the Manilkara chicle tree that is native to Mexico and Central America. Companies like Wrigley were major users of chicle prior to the sixties as the product was used as the base ingredient in chewing gum. Today chewing gum manufacturers generally use a synthetic rubber that is cheap to manufacture as a replacement for natural chicle. I am so happy I don’t chew gum!

49. Tiny bit of time: Abbr. : NSEC

“Nanosecond” is more correctly abbreviated to “ns” (as opposed to “nsec”) and really is a tiny amount of time: one billionth of a second.

55. Airport near Citi Field: Abbr. : LGA

The three big airports serving New York City (NYC) are John F. Kennedy (JFK), La Guardia (LGA) and Newark (EWR).

Citi Field is the relatively new baseball stadium used by the New York Mets that sits right next door to the site of Shea stadium, where the Mets had played for decades. And the new facility’s name comes from corporate sponsor Citigroup.

57. Masked drama : NOH

Noh is a form of musical drama in Japan that has been around since the 14th century. Many of the Noh performers are masked, allowing all the roles to be played by men, including the female parts.

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Complete List of Clues and Answers

Across

1. Letter from school : GRADE

6. Tabloid fodder : AFFAIR

12. Pop singer Spektor : REGINA

14. Safari guide’s weapon : DART GUN

16. Saws with wisdom : ADAGES

17. Auburn University’s avian battle cry : WAR EAGLE!

18. Jewish ceremony for a newborn son : BRIS

19. Photographer’s buy : TRIPOD

21. Elastic wood : YEW

22. __ fide : BONA

23. Four-time discus gold medalist : OERTER

24. “The Gold-Bug” author : POE

25. Admin. aides : ASSTS

27. Bentley of “Ghost Rider” : WES

28. 1930s N.Y. Giants star Lefty : O’DOUL

30. Earn : GET

31. Pay attention to : HEED

33. Land mentioned in the spiritual “Go Down, Moses” : EGYPT

34. 1959 Gidget player : SANDRA DEE

36. Classic V-8 : T-BIRD

38. What the nose knows : ODOR

39. “That’s amazing!” : WOW!

42. Blow one’s top : GO APE

43. Chum : BUD

44. Alarm : SCARE

46. Remote button : REC

47. Ohio aviation city : DAYTON

50. Literary alter ego : HYDE

51. Comic strip outburst : ACK!

52. Matures : RIPENS

53. Treated with a pack : ICED

54. Nabisco chocolate treat : MALLOMAR

56. Extra number : ENCORE

58. Hose connections : SPIGOTS

59. Tottenham tint : COLOUR

60. John of “Fuller House” : STAMOS

61. Gives a hand : HELPS

Down

1. Source of party gifts : GRAB BAG

2. *One of a romantic dozen : RED ROSE

3. Versus : AGAINST

4. Tries to unearth : DIGS AT

5. Storm’s dir. : ENE

6. Learns new technology, say : ADAPTS

7. __ Islands: Danish archipelago : FAROE

8. *Neighborhood TV host? : FRED ROGERS

9. __ crossroads : AT A

10. The Stooges frontman : IGGY POP

11. Remove from consideration : RULE OUT

13. Regarding : AS TO

15. Banister post : NEWEL

17. *Computer network component : WIRED ROUTER

20. Took another plunge? : REWED

26. *Many a dorm accommodation : SHARED ROOM

29. Vat filler : DYE

32. Last part : END

33. Istanbul : Constantinople :: Tokyo : __ : EDO

34. Nurse : SIP

35. Extra purchase : ADD-ON

36. Boot reinforcements : TOE CAPS

37. Like some e-readers : BACKLIT

39. “Outstanding!” : WAY COOL!

40. Diner call … and what the answer to each starred clue literally contains : ORDER UP!

41. Gardening tools : WEEDERS

42. Lab units : GRAMS

43. Way around the city : BYPASS

45. Chewing gum ingredient : CHICLE

48. “We __ please” : AIM TO

49. Tiny bit of time: Abbr. : NSEC

55. Airport near Citi Field: Abbr. : LGA

57. Masked drama : NOH

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17 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword Answers 27 Apr 17, Thursday”

  1. Zero errors, 35 minutes. As with most of these, I zapped through everything but the upper right, which I finally got to fall in about the last 20 minutes or so. 43 minutes, zero errors on the WSJ if Tony wanted to know.

    1. Hey Glenn…I’ll be tackling the WSJ grid when I get to work later but thanks for the early preview of probable level of difficulty today!

  2. Hard to believe that I’m first up (and when this posts I’ll probably be number two in the queue – which is usually what happens!). In any case I found this puzzle challenging, without being frustratingly difficult. It especially helped that I’ve always been a real track & field buff and so knew who Al Oerter was and how to spell his name when it came to 23 Across (and I note that even Bill got tripped up on that particular clue/answer).

    Hope everyone has a good day and I look forward to meeting you all back here tomorrow to see how diabolical the Friday grid maker is in their torture of all of us.

  3. I used to go to a diner in Chicago’s loop many years ago and sit at the counter, watching the short order cooks crank out a steady stream of dishes. The waitresses would come up to the window and call out their orders, some slang terms, the cooks would never stop moving, nor would they write anything down. The food kept popping up in the window, with few, if any mistakes. It was really fascinating to watch. I think those days have gone, too bad.

  4. Another tough one athough I had a few self-inflicted wounds along the way that made it worse than it should have been.

    I kept being frustrated that “Mr. RoDgers” didn’t fit for FRED ROGERS… Classic V-8 I kept thinking of something to do with the vegetable juice. I thought of someone like Ted Healy as the Stooges front man. Did not understand IGGY POP even after I got it by crosses until the blog. But the worst was reading the main theme clue as “DinNer call…” Sheesh.

    I did know Al OERTER, however.

    42 minutes later I figured all of this out. Did today’s NYT in about half this time which is very unusual for a Thursday over there.

    Best –

    1. That NYT really was easy for a Thursday, Jeff. Theme was unsatisfying and a couple of clues were goofy, too. I hope you liked it more than I did.

      1. Joe B –

        Those are kind of Catch-22 situations. You’re happy you finished so fast, but then you are disappointed that it was too easy. Probably tough to get the degree of difficulty just right for a given day of the week.

        I’m sure we’ll pay in tomorrow’s and/or Saturday’s NYT puzzle for the pass we got today..

        Best –

  5. I got slashed and burnt, and the puzzle was very challenging. But the puzzle itself was very nice and I throughly enjoyed it. Thank you. I remember Al Oerter, a superman in his own time (!) he won gold medals in successive Olympics. Just like Bruce Jenner.

    Anon, it is indeed remarkable how much memory we had to keep in the old days, before computers and Google. I think we have gone much more less smart in the ensuing years …. and our short term memory and rememberance of common tasks is reducing drastically …. or is it my Alzheimers acting up again ?

    Regarding Bris millat, the postnatal circumcision, …… prior to 1990, babies rarely had any anesthesia, because (a) the risk inherent in the anesthetic procedure, and (b) it was medically ‘assumed’ that the babies did not feel pain. Fortunately, now, most babies do get, at the very minimum, a Lidocaine/Benzocaine topical anesthetic. Some even get general anesthesia or sometimes a local nerve block.
    One rabbi has written, that sometimes the best procedure is a full shot of vodka – for each and both the parents, as a way to relieve THEIR anxiety !

    Have a happy day, all.

    1. Vidwan – I knew a mohel who did circumcisions as kind of a side business. He did ok with it. He made about $20,000/year plus tips…..

  6. 11:29, but alas 2 errors. “Mellomar” for “mallolar,” and “toeceps” (!) for “toe caps.” Aarggh!

    1. @Nolanski, don’t feel bad … I kept trying to make toe TAPS work, since it made more sense to me. Your word has potential, though:
      Toeceps (n., pl.) — Foot muscles flexed by extreme bodybuilders ? .

  7. This looked impossible to start. Did not get the parts from 27A all the way diagonally up to 6A.
    Epic failure today.
    Couldn’t even think of FRED. IGGY POP a stooge? Never heard of it either.
    All I could think of was a WIRELESS ROUTER.
    TAKE OUT was wrong, for RULE OUT.
    Sheesh.

  8. My all time favorite Olympian is Parry O’Brien… so naturally I wrote his name (in ink) before realizing that it didn’t fit (Oerter). I am from Santa Monica (as was shot-putter O’Brien), and as a kid I used to “chase” his shots at the local Jr. High (Lincoln) — and carry them back to him so that he could “put” it again. Maybe we’ll get his name in another puzzle down the line….

  9. Just completed the WSJ grid and it didn’t seem too difficult today. On the same level, if not even a bit easier, than the LAT’s today. I don’t time myself, but they probably were close in terms of start to finish.

  10. Pretty challenging Thursday for me, which I managed to finish error free in about 45 minutes. Last to fall was MALLOMAR, which I didn’t remember, but after looking them up, have definitely had plenty of. Had erupt before GOAPE and Ronnie before REGINA and eek before ACK. The theme really helped me solve this one.

    It was Iggy Pop’s 70th birthday just the other day.

    The Faroe Islands were just in the news the other day. It seems that a lot of the younger women are leaving the islands for opportunities elsewhere and they are having to import quite a few young Asian women. It takes them a while to get used to the cold temperatures, with one young Thai refusing to leave the vicinity of a furnace.

    I checked out Regina Spektor on You tube and Wiki. Pretty interesting and quite talented. Anti-folk is apparently a genre that started with musicians unable to get gigs in typical Greenwich Village folk clubs, requiring them to start their own clubs.

    @Bill Tottenham is doing well this year; should be in the Champions League next season. I was a fan while Klinsmann played with Teddy Sheringham. They made a great team. The Spurs poached our (1. FC Koln) central defender (Wimmer) and now won’t let him return 🙁

  11. Success, finally, after many missteps!!!
    PLEEZ tell me I wasn’t the only one who had Lefty GROVE before O’DOUL!!!
    I did know IGGY POP, which helped in that corner, but I really didn’t know FAROE; I’m glad the WAR EAGLE clue mentioned both “avian” and “battle”, or I woulda had a serious Natick there.
    It’s windy as heck in LA, so my yard is a MESS and I’ve got Airbnb guests checking in Friday. My morning will feature a whole lotta sweeping…
    JEFF–LOL! I saw that!!! I could rejoin with an off-color comeback but I’ll restrain myself….
    Be well~~™???

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