LA Times Crossword Answers 21 Nov 2017, Tuesday

Advertisement

[ad_above_grid]

Constructed by: C.C. Burnikel
Edited by: Rich Norris

Advertisement

Advertisement

Today’s Theme: Lint Trap

Each of today’s themed answers includes the hidden word LINT, TRAPPED within:

  • 40D. Dryer screen used to “catch” a hidden word in 16-, 22-, 51- and 60-Across? : LINT TRAP
  • 16A. Advocacy group descriptor : SPECIAL INTEREST
  • 22A. Decathlon event : JAVELIN THROW
  • 51A. Draw upon : CALL INTO PLAY
  • 60A. 1999 Winona Ryder drama set in a mental hospital : GIRL, INTERRUPTED

Bill’s time: 4m 37s

Bill’s errors: 0

Advertisement

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

13. Color similar to khaki : TAN

“Khaki” is an Urdu word that translates literally as “dusty”. The word was adopted for its current use as the name of a fabric by the British cavalry in India in the mid-1800s.

14. Bowling venue : ALLEY

Bowling has been around for an awfully long time. The oldest known reference to the game is in Egypt, where pins and balls were found in an ancient tomb that is over 5,000 years old. The first form of the game to come to America was nine-pin bowling, which had been very popular in Europe for centuries. In 1841 in Connecticut, nine-pin bowling was banned due to its association with gambling. Supposedly, an additional pin was added to get around the ban, and ten-pin bowling was born.

15. Florida senator Marco : RUBIO

Marco Rubio became the junior US Senator for Florida in 2011. Famously, Rubio ran for the Republican nomination for president in the 2016 race, losing out to future president Donald Trump.

20. Pyramid scheme, e.g. : SCAM

A pyramid scheme is a type of business that depends on the energetic recruitment of others into the scheme. New members typically make a payment of some sort to join, and are pressured to recruit their own circle of new paying recruits. Shares of the recruitment payment proceed up the chain so that those in the higher echelons can make a lot of money. The scheme breaks down as more and more members find themselves competing for fewer and fewer potential recruits.

21. “Can’t Fight This Feeling” band __ Speedwagon : REO

REO Speedwagon is an American rock band that formed in 1967, and is still going strong. The band’s biggest hits are “Keep On Loving You” (1980) and “Can’t Fight This Feeling” (1985). The founding members chose the name for the REO Speed Wagon flatbed truck. Note that the band’s name is one word “Speedwagon”, whereas the vehicle’s name uses two words “Speed Wagon”.

22. Decathlon event : JAVELIN THROW

The decathlon event is a track and field competition, with the name “decathlon” coming from the Greek “deka” (ten) and “athlos” (contest). The ten events in the men’s decathlon are:

  • 100 meters
  • Long jump
  • Shot put
  • High jump
  • 400 meters
  • 110 meters hurdles
  • Discus throw
  • Pole vault
  • Javelin throw
  • 1500 meters

26. One in Montréal : UNE

The original name of Montreal was Ville-Marie, meaning the City of Mary. Ville-Marie is now the name of a borough in the city, the borough which includes the downtown area and “Old Montreal”. The present-day city covers most of the Island of Montreal (in French, Île de Montréal) that is located where the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers meet. The name “Montreal” comes from the three-headed hill that dominates the island and is called “Mount Royal”.

28. Disruptive forum commenter : TROLL

In Internet terms, a troll is someone who attempts to disrupt online group activities. The fishing term “troll” is used to describe such a person, as he or she throws out off-topic remarks in an attempt to “lure” others into some emotional response. Sad, sad people …

33. Actor Sharif : OMAR

Omar Sharif was a great Hollywood actor from Egypt, someone who played major roles in memorable movies such as “Doctor Zhivago” and “Lawrence of Arabia”. But to me, he was my bridge hero (the card game). In his heyday, Sharif was one of the best bridge players in the world.

36. Two-dimensional calculations : AREAS

The dimension of an object is defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify each point in the object. Therefore a line is one-dimensional, as you only need an x-coordinate to specify a particular point on the line. A surface is two-dimensional, as you need both an x-coordinate and a y-coordinate to locate a point on the surface. The inside of a solid object is then three-dimensional, needing an x-, y- and z-coordinate to specify a point, say within a cube.

38. Mighty Dog shelfmate : ALPO

Alpo is a brand of dog food first produced by Allen Products in 1936, with “Alpo” being an abbreviation for “Allen Products”. Lorne Greene used to push Alpo in television spots, as did Ed McMahon and Garfield the Cat, would you believe?

Mighty Dog is a brand of dogfood made by Purina.

39. Kathmandu’s country : NEPAL

Although Kathmandu is the capital city of the lofty nation of Nepal, it sits in a bowl-shaped valley and so is only at an elevation of 4,600 ft. Air pollution is a huge problem in the city. Industry and residents launch a lot of smog into the air, and given the surrounding geography and climate, any pollution blown away during the day tends to fall back into the valley at night.

41. Apple juice eponym : MOTT

Samuel R. Mott was a producer of apple cider and vinegar. In 1842 he founded his own company to market and sell his products. The Mott’s company owns brands such as Mr & Mrs T, Hawaiian Punch and ReaLime/ReaLemon.

42. Bathroom bars : SOAPS

Soap is basically made by adding a strong alkali (like lye) to a fat (like olive oil or palm oil). The fats break down in the basic solution in a process called saponification. The crude soap is extracted from the mixture, washed, purified and finished in molds.

44. Freeway hauler : SEMI

A “semi” is a “semi-trailer truck”. The vehicle is so called because it consists of a tractor and a half-trailer. The half-trailer is so called because it only has wheels on the back end, with the front supported by the tractor.

48. Gerund syllable : ING

A gerund is a form of a verb that can be used as a noun. For example, the gerund of the verb “to act” is “acting”, as in the phrase “we really enjoyed the acting”.

58. Bread with tikka masala : NAAN

The word “tikka” in Indian cuisine refers to a cutlet of meat.

Masala is the Hindi word for “mixture”, and describes a mixture of spices. A dish named “masala” uses the spices incorporated into a sauce that includes garlic, ginger, onions and chili paste. Who doesn’t love Indian food? Yum …

59. Wiggled digits : TOES

Our word “digit”, comes from the Latin “digitus” meaning “finger, toe”. We use the term in a numeric sense because of the practice of counting small numbers using the fingers of the hand.

60. 1999 Winona Ryder drama set in a mental hospital : GIRL, INTERRUPTED

“Girl, Interrupted” is a memoir first published in 1993 written by Susanna Kaysen. The book tells of her time spent in a psychiatric hospital in the sixties suffering from borderline personality disorder. The book was adapted into a very successful film released in 1999 in which Winona Ryder played Kaysen. The title of book and film refer to the painting by Vermeer called “Girl Interrupted at her Music”.

The Hollywood actress Winona Ryder’s real name is Winona Horowitz. Ryder was born near the town of Winona in Minnesota, from which she got her name. Her success on the screen has garnered as much media attention as her life off the screen. The papers had a field day when she was arrested in 2001 on a shoplifting charge followed by a very public court appearance. Her engagement with Johnny Depp in the early nineties was another media frenzy. Depp had “Winona Forever” tattooed on his arm, which he had changed after the breakup to “Wino Forever”. A man with a sense of humor …

65. Bath-loving Muppet : ERNIE

For many years, I believed that the “Sesame Street” characters Bert and Ernie were named after two roles played in the Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life”. In the movie, the policeman’s name is Bert and his taxi-driving buddy is named Ernie. However, the “Sesame Street” folks have stated that the use of the same names is just a coincidence. Aww, I don’t wanna believe that’s a coincidence …

66. Zagreb native : CROAT

Zagreb is the capital city of the Republic of Croatia. Zagreb has been around a long, long time, and dates back to the diocese of Zagreb that was founded at the end of 11th century.

68. Kia headquarters city : SEOUL

Kia Motors is the second largest manufacturer of cars in South Korea, behind Hyundai (and Hyundai is a part owner in Kia now). Kia was founded in 1944 as a manufacturer of bicycle parts, and did indeed produce Korea’s first domestic bicycle. The company’s original name was Kyungsung Precision Industry, with the Kia name introduced in 1952.

69. URL opener : HTTP

“http” are the first letters in most Internet links. “http” stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol.

70. Archery bow 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.

Down

>

1. Martians, e.g., for short : ETS

Extraterrestrial (ET)

3. Bogey : ONE OVER PAR

The term “Bogey” originated at the Great Yarmouth Golf Club in England in 1890, and was used to indicate a total round that was one-over-par (and not one-over-par on a particular hole, as it is today). The name Bogey came from a music hall song of the time “Here Comes the Bogeyman”. In the following years it became popular for players trying to stay at par to be “playing against Colonel Bogey”. Then, during WWI, the marching tune “Colonel Bogey” was written and named after the golfing term. If you don’t recognize the name of the tune, it’s the one that’s whistled by the soldiers marching in the great movie “The Bridge on the River Kwai”.

6. Jefferson, religiously : DEIST

Deism (from the Latin “deus” meaning god) is the belief that a supreme being created the universe, a belief based on observation and reason and without the need for faith. Further, a deist does not accept divine intervention and rather believes that the supreme being, having created the universe, leaves the world to it own devices.

8. Coffee-mate competitor : CREMORA

Cremora is a non-dairy creamer made for lightening coffee by Borden.

Coffee-mate is a non-dairy creamer made by Nestlé. I think that the term “non-dairy creamer” is quite misleading. Such products don’t contain any lactose, but they often do contain casein, which is a protein that comes from milk.

10. Lyft alternative : UBER

Uber is a ridesharing service that was founded in 2009 and is based in San Francisco. The service is somewhat controversial and has been described as an illegal taxicab operation. Central to Uber’s service is the company’s mobile app, which can use the client’s GPS location to help find the nearest available ride. Uber’s main competitor is Lyft.

12. Dog that bit Miss Gulch : TOTO

Toto is Dorothy’s dog in the film “The Wizard of Oz”, and in the original book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum. Toto was played in the movie by a dog called Terry, but Terry’s name was soon changed to Toto in real life due to the success of the film.

Miss Almira Gulch is the woman who gets bitten by Dorothy’s dog Toto right at the start of “The Wizard of Oz”. In Oz, Miss Gulch manifests herself as the Wicked Witch of the West.

22. Last Supper traitor : JUDAS

Judas Iscariot was one of the twelve original apostles who studied with Jesus. Notably, it was Judas who betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, a transaction that led to the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

24. Roster entries : NAMES

Our word “roster”, meaning “list, register”, actually comes from the same root as our word “roast”, would you believe. “Roster” came into English from the Dutch “rooster”, meaning “table, list”. An alternative use of the Dutch “rooster” was “gridiron”, from the “roosten” meaning “to roast”. The connection is that a roster of names is often listed on a sheet of paper that has grid lines resembling the marks left by a gridiron on roasted meat. Quite interesting …

25. Rewards for early birds? : WORMS

The early bird catches the worm.

29. “Anna Karenina” novelist : LEO TOLSTOY

I have to admit to not having read Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina”, but I did see the excellent 1977 British television adaptation starring Nicola Pagett. I also saw the 2012 film adaptation with a screenplay by Tom Stoppard, and found that to be far from excellent, awful in fact. I am no Stoppard fan …

30. Salma Hayek or Sofia Vergara : LATINA

Salma Hayek is a Mexican actress. Hayek was the first Mexican national to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, for her portrayal of artist Frida Kahlo in the 2002 movie “Frida”.

Sofía Vergara is an actress and model from Barranquilla, Colombia who is perhaps best known from playing Gloria on the hit TV sitcom “Modern Family”. In 2016, “Forbes” magazine reported that Vergara was the highest paid actress on television.

32. Debate issue : TOPIC

Our verb “to debate” meaning “to argue, discuss” comes from the Old French “debattre”, which translated as “to batter down”. I used to think that derivation a little extreme, but then I watched the 2016 US presidential election debates …

34. Gibbon, e.g. : APE

Gibbons are referred to as lesser apes as they differ in size and behavior from the great apes e.g. chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and humans.

40. Dryer screen used to “catch” a hidden word in 16-, 22-, 51- and 60-Across? : LINT TRAP

Lint”, meaning “fluff”, is one of those terms that I had to learn when I moved to the US. We call the same thing “fuzz” on the other side of the pond …

43. Droopy-eared pooch : SPANIEL

Spaniels are gun dogs or bird dogs, hunting dogs bred to find and retrieve game. The etymology of “spaniel” suggests that the breed is Spanish in origin, as the term came into English from the Old French “espaigneul” meaning “Spanish”.

47. Stylish vigor : ELAN

Our word “élan” was imported from French, in which language the word has a similar meaning to ours, i.e “style” or “flair”.

57. First Bond movie : DR NO

“Dr. No” may have been the first film in the wildly successful James Bond franchise, but it was the sixth novel in the series of books penned by Ian Fleming. Fleming was inspired to write the story after reading the Fu Manchu tales by Sax Rohmer. If you’ve read the Rohmer books or seen the films, you’ll recognize the similarities between the characters Dr. No and Fu Manchu.

61. Lucy of “Elementary” : LIU

Lucy Liu is an actress from Queens, New York. Liu’s big break came when she was chosen to play the Ling Woo character in “Ally McBeal”. I liked her in the 2000 film “Charlie’s Angels” but as I am no fan of Quentin Tarantino, I did not enjoy the movie “Kill Bill”. I am having fun watching one of Liu’s more recent projects, in which she plays Jane Watson, one of the two lead characters in the TV crime drama “Elementary”.

If you’ve seen the American television show “Elementary”, you will know that it is an adaptation of the classic tales by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that are set in the present day. “Elementary” is similar in look and feel to the excellent BBC series “Sherlock”, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch as a modern-day Holmes. We can pick up “Sherlock” in some parts of the country as part of “Masterpiece Mystery” on PBS.

62. Poppycock : ROT

It is thought that the relatively gentle term “poppycock”, meaning “nonsense”, comes from a Dutch word for “dung” combined with a Latin word for “excrete”. Not so gentle after all …

Advertisement

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Swelled head : EGO
4. Short-lived fashions : FADS
8. Tennis venue : COURT
13. Color similar to khaki : TAN
14. Bowling venue : ALLEY
15. Florida senator Marco : RUBIO
16. Advocacy group descriptor : SPECIAL INTEREST
19. Remove from power : OUST
20. Pyramid scheme, e.g. : SCAM
21. “Can’t Fight This Feeling” band __ Speedwagon : REO
22. Decathlon event : JAVELIN THROW
26. One in Montréal : UNE
27. Period often named for a leader : ERA
28. Disruptive forum commenter : TROLL
31. Pub projectile : DART
33. Actor Sharif : OMAR
36. Two-dimensional calculations : AREAS
38. Mighty Dog shelfmate : ALPO
39. Kathmandu’s country : NEPAL
41. Apple juice eponym : MOTT
42. Bathroom bars : SOAPS
44. Freeway hauler : SEMI
45. Tend to a simmering sauce : STIR
46. Raise a stink : GRIPE
48. Gerund syllable : ING
50. __ roll: winning : ON A
51. Draw upon : CALL INTO PLAY
55. Toss in : ADD
58. Bread with tikka masala : NAAN
59. Wiggled digits : TOES
60. 1999 Winona Ryder drama set in a mental hospital : GIRL, INTERRUPTED
65. Bath-loving Muppet : ERNIE
66. Zagreb native : CROAT
67. “I don’t __ you anything!” : OWE
68. Kia headquarters city : SEOUL
69. URL opener : HTTP
70. Archery bow wood : YEW

Down

1. Martians, e.g., for short : ETS
2. Hole in one’s story : GAP
3. Bogey : ONE OVER PAR
4. Old-fashioned clothes presser : FLATIRON
5. Every last bit : ALL
6. Jefferson, religiously : DEIST
7. Lip-__: mouth the words : SYNCH
8. Coffee-mate competitor : CREMORA
9. “It can be __ little secret” : OUR
10. Lyft alternative : UBER
11. Climb : RISE
12. Dog that bit Miss Gulch : TOTO
14. Supermarket walkway : AISLE
17. Pool stick : CUE
18. Sharp-tasting : TART
22. Last Supper traitor : JUDAS
23. Like old watches : ANALOG
24. Roster entries : NAMES
25. Rewards for early birds? : WORMS
29. “Anna Karenina” novelist : LEO TOLSTOY
30. Salma Hayek or Sofia Vergara : LATINA
32. Debate issue : TOPIC
34. Gibbon, e.g. : APE
35. Insert with force : RAM IN
37. Wander from the path : STRAY
40. Dryer screen used to “catch” a hidden word in 16-, 22-, 51- and 60-Across? : LINT TRAP
43. Droopy-eared pooch : SPANIEL
47. Stylish vigor : ELAN
49. Date, with “with” : GO OUT
52. Bathroom stall fastener : LATCH
53. Motionless : INERT
54. Oomph : PEP
55. Quite some time : AGES
56. Threatening : DIRE
57. First Bond movie : DR NO
61. Lucy of “Elementary” : LIU
62. Poppycock : ROT
63. Farm female : EWE
64. Morning moisture : DEW

Advertisement

11 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword Answers 21 Nov 2017, Tuesday”

  1. Decided to do about everything today (last night): LAT: 5:33, no errors. WSJ: 23:59, no errors. For the short week, Mike Shenk must have decided to run one of his harder puzzles? Jonesin: 7:39, no errors. Newsday: 7 minutes (written), no errors.

  2. LAT: 7:43, no errors. WSJ: 11:02, no errors. Newsday: 6:16, no errors on my part, but with an egregious error right smack in the middle of the puzzle: For 29D, the clue is “Piece of pollen” and the answer they want is SPORE. No, no, no, a thousand times no! … ?, ?, ?, … (and ?).

    (In defense of Newsday, I would point out that the title of their puzzle is “UNREAL”, so perhaps the mistake was intentional?)

      1. Well, it was an automatic write-in for me, too, because a lot of people get it wrong, but … Botany 101: A pollen grain is a male reproductive cell produced by a flowering plant and it is incapable of growing into a new plant by itself. The word “spore” is usually used to refer to a cell (or, apparently, a collection of cells), produced by something like a fern or a mushroom, that is capable of growing into a new plant on its own. I am not familiar with its use to refer to a “seed”, but, in any case, one would never use it to refer to “a piece of pollen”.

  3. A typical Tuesday puzzle that I completed swiftly and without incident. How’s that for interesting commentary??

    @Carrie
    AJANGLE?? Really? How did I miss that one? I might not have recovered from that if I had seen in live in a crossword..

    Best –

  4. I took a long time to finish the puzzle – my grandkids are visiting for their once-a-year visit, so I was continuously interrupted. I had a good time though, and although the cluing was a teeny bit difficult, the central long answers helped a lot.

    I read, with avid interest, the difference between a pollen and a spore, in the discussion, as above. I can’t believe I never even thought of such things…

    There are so many masalas in my indian cooking – it is generally more convenient to just buy them, premixed in factories, ‘off the shelf’ – except that it is very cumbersome, with all those packets, on the kitchen shelf. I have found easier to just make a compromise, and make a rough approximation, as and when necessary. Most of the dry masalas deteriorate fairly quickly, ( within a couple of years, or so – ) even in a cool, dry place.

    The biggest boon, as far as I am concerned, in Indian cooking, has been the explosion of recipe blogs, for every major area and even every sub-sect ( by language and dialect ) of the population. That and the plethora of youtube videos has really, really helped. Plus, even some of the rarest spices – stone fungi, cinnamon buds and even dried kapok bloom remnants are now available, in some major cities or on Amazon,

    Have a great day, a great Thanksgiving and a great long weekend, all.
    ( Don’t shop too much …. )

    Per the discussion, yesterday, on famous last words, before dying …. who said.’ Dying is easy, comedy is hard’ ,,,,?
    I just read it was a shakespearean actor, Edmund Kean, who had a both brilliant and tragic life.

  5. Today’s Tim Croce (#312): somewhere between one and two hours, with no errors, but with the usual weird progression from undoable to done. I also completed #225 (from 2017/01/20) today, but I broke down and used Google to figure out what “Sister brand of Shock Top” meant, after which I finished the rest of the puzzle. I now have little doubt that the earlier Croce puzzles are harder than more recent ones.

  6. Hi folks!
    Nl errors; may have used the theme on one answer but mostly didn’t apply it. I do have an image in my mind of Ms Burnikel at home cleaning out her LINT TRAP when the idea for this grid came to her…?
    Dave! Stay on your high horse! It seems to me you’re “sorta” right. It’s funny; I read your first comment and wondered what you meant. Without reading further comments, I googled around to figure it out. I see! It’s not actually pollen! Then I come back here and see that the topic had been discussed!
    Hey Jeff! Y’know, it could be that I saw A-JANGLE in ONE OF MY OWN comments, wherein I complained about A-words!! The predictive text on my tablet showed A-JANGLE when I mentioned my hated A-words, which means I’ve typed that before! Maybe it was in the context of griping in a comment, rather than appearing in a puzzle. ?
    Be well~~™?

    1. Weird!! Forgot to sign in– but y’all know who it is! Misspelled “no errors-​” — but y’all know what I meant! ?

Comments are closed.