LA Times Crossword Answers 23 Jun 2018, Saturday

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Constructed by: Debbie Ellerin
Edited by: Rich Norris

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Today’s Theme: None

Bill’s time: 11m 19s

Bill’s errors: 0

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. “The __ Book” : JUNGLE

“The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling was originally published in 1894, and is a collection of adventure stories or fables featuring the animals of the jungle and a young boy named Mowgli. Baloo is a sloth bear who teaches the cubs of a wolf pack the Law of the Jungle. His most challenging pupil however is no lupine, but rather the man-cub Mowgli.

7. Eyjafjallajökull output : ASH

The Eyjafjallajökull volcano of Iceland was the one that spewed ash into the atmosphere over Europe in 2010, disrupting air travel for weeks.

17. Treaty of Versailles region : ALSACE

Of the 27 regions of metropolitan France (i.e. the territory of France within Europe), the smallest is Alsace. Alsace sits at the very east of the country, right on the border with Germany. The political status of Alsace was disputed by France and Germany for over three centuries, and was formally handed over to French control after Germany’s defeat in WWII.

The 1919 Treaty of Versailles ended the war between Germany and the Allied Powers, and was the most significant treaty signed at the close of WWI. The war itself ended in November of 1918, but it took six months of negotiations at a peace conference in Paris to hammer out a peace treaty. The treaty called for reparations to be paid by Germany to the Allies, an amount so heavy that it could have taken Germany until the 1980s to settle the debt in full. As it turned out, the agreement was not honored consistently by Germany, and when Adolf Hitler came to power, reparation payments were halted altogether.

19. Website with a Certified Fresh seal : ROTTEN TOMATOES

Rotten Tomatoes is a website that mainly provides reviews and ratings of movies, although it now covers TV shows as well. The site was launched in 1998 and takes its name from the practice of audience members throwing rotten tomatoes at a unappreciated performer on stage.

21. “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” singer : EVA

“Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” is a hit song that came out of the 1976 concept album “Evita” by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Recorded by English singer Julie Covington, it is sung by the character Eva Perón on the album and in the subsequent stage musical. Covington opted out from appearing in the musical, and so the role of Eva went to Elaine Paige.

22. Word sung after the ball drops : AULD

The song “Auld Lang Syne” is a staple at New Year’s Eve (well, actually in the opening minutes of New Year’s Day). The words were written by Scottish poet Robbie Burns. The literal translation of “Auld Lang Syne” is “old long since”, but is better translated as “old times”. The sentiment of the song is “for old time’s sake”.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

23. Ivan the Terrible, e.g. : TSAR

The Grand Prince of Moscow Ivan IV became known as “Ivan the Terrible”. The name “terrible” is a translation from Russian, and perhaps creates the wrong impression about the man. The Russian word is “Grozny”, which is more akin to “strict” and “powerful” rather than “cruel” or “abominable”.

25. Frat letters : ZETAS

Zeta is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet, and is a precursor of our Roman letter Z. The word “zeta” is also the ancestor of the letter name “zed”, which became “zee”, the term that we use here in the US.

31. Gun designer __ Gal : UZI

The first Uzi submachine gun was designed in the late 1940s by Major Uziel “Uzi” Gal of the Israel Defense Forces, who gave his name to the gun.

32. Object : DEMUR

To demur is to voice opposition, to object. It can also mean to delay and has it roots in the Latin word “demorare”, meaning “to delay”.

43. Big name in publishing : KNOPF

The publishing house Alfred A. Knopf was founded in 1915 and is based in New York City. Knopf places a distinctive emblem on the title page of the books that it publishes. That emblem is a borzoi dog shown in silhouette.

46. Hundred Acre Wood denizen : ROO

Hundred Acre Wood is where Winnie-the-Pooh lives with his friends. According to a map illustrating the books by A. A. Milne, Hundred Acre Wood is part of a larger forest, with Owl’s house sitting right at the center.

47. Makeup exam? : ASSAY

One might assay an ore to determine its composition, its makeup.

49. Bergen’s dumbest dummy : SNERD

Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen’s most famous character was Charlie McCarthy, but Bergen also worked with Mortimer Snerd.

51. Fox relative : SAUK

The Sac (also “Sauk”) are a group of Native Americans who probably originated in the northeast along the St. Lawrence River. Over time, they migrated south and west, and after a turbulent journey ended up on reservations in Oklahoma. The Meskwaki tribe is also known as the Fox, and had similar origins as the Sacs, and similar migrations. The two tribes eventually merged into the Sac and Fox Nation.

53. One with a unicorn as a heraldic symbol : SCOT

A unicorn is a mythical creature that resembles a horse with horn projecting from its forehead. The term “unicorn” comes from the Latin “uni-” (one) and “cornus” (horn).

55. “The __ of Pooh” : TAO

The author Benjamin Hoff is best known for his 1982 book “The Tao of Pooh”, and a successor title published in 1992 called “The Te of Piglet”. Both books use the “Winnie the Pooh” stories to illustrate Taoist beliefs.

63. Particle name that Fermi introduced to the scientific community : NEUTRINO

Neutrinos are small subatomic particles that do not carry an electric charge. The term “neutrino” is Italian for “small neutral one”, and was coined by physicist Enrico Fermi in 1932. There are three types of neutrino: electron neutrinos, muon neutrinos and tau neutrinos.

64. Alligator kin : CAIMAN

Caimans are relatively small, crocodile-like reptiles that inhabit Central and South America. That said, the largest species can grow to 13 feet in length, but many are about 3 feet long.

65. Bone on a menu : OSSO

“Osso” is the Italian word for bone, as in the name of the dish “osso buco”, which features braised veal shanks.

66. IRS ID : SSN

Social Security number (SSN)

67. Cars that misfired badly? : EDSELS

The Edsel brand of automobile was named for Edsel Ford, son of Henry. Sadly, the name “Edsel” has become synonymous with “failure”, which was no fault of Edsel himself who had died several years before the Edsel line was introduced. When the Ford Motor Company introduced the Edsel on 4 September 1957, Ford proclaimed the day to be “E Day”.

Down

1. City across the river from El Paso : JUAREZ

The Mexican city sitting across the border from El Paso is more correctly called Ciudad Juárez. Juárez used to be called El Paso del Norte (the North Pass). It was to be the younger settlement on the northern side of the Rio Grande which would retain the “El Paso” name.

3. Wolfpack’s home : NC STATE

The sports teams of North Carolina State are known as the Wolfpack, with the female teams called the Lady Wolfpack. The Wolfpack name was adopted in 1922 after it was coined by a fan who was actually disgruntled at the time. He described the fans at a sports event behaving “like a wolf pack”, and the name stuck.

5. Causes of some head scratching : LICE

Lice (singular “louse”) are small wingless insects of which there are thousands of species, three of which are human disease agents. The three kinds of lice affecting humans are head lice, body lice and pubic lice. Most lice feed on dead skin found on the body of the host animal, although some feed on blood. Ick …

6. John Paul’s successor : ELENA

Elena Kagan was the Solicitor General of the United States from 2009 until 2010, when she replaced Justice John Paul Stevens on the US Supreme Court. That made Justice Kagan the first female US Solicitor General and the fourth female US Supreme Court justice. Kagan also served as the first female dean of Harvard Law School from 2003 to 2009.

John Paul Stevens retired as an associate justice on the US Supreme Court in 2010 after having served for over 34 years. That made him the third longest serving justice in the history of the court. Stevens had been nominated by President Gerald Ford to replace Justice William O. Douglas, who had been the longest serving justice in the court (at over 36 years).

7. Team-ranking surveys, briefly : AP POLLS

The Associated Press Poll (AP Poll) ranks the top 25 teams in several college sports every week.

8. Sure thing : SLAM DUNK

In basketball, a player makes a slam dunk by jumping up and powering the ball downward into the basket with his or her hands over the rim. The term “slam dunk” was coined by Chick Hearn, an announcer for the L.A. Lakers. The NBA even holds an annual Slam Dunk Contest.

9. “Hava Nagila” dance : HORA

“Hava Nagila” is a Hebrew folk song, with the title translating into “Let Us Rejoice”. The melody is from a Ukrainian folk song. The words to “Hava Nagila” were composed in 1918 to celebrate the British victory in Palestine during WWI.

12. Cliff Palace dwellers : ANASAZI

The Ancient Pueblo Peoples were Native Americans who lived in what is now called the Four Corners area of the US. Archaeologists sometimes refer to these ancestral Pueblo peoples as the Anasazi, a Navajo word meaning “Ancient Ones”. The Pueblo name was given by early Spanish explorers in reference to the villages that they found. “Pueblo” is Spanish for “village”.

Mesa Verde National Park is in Colorado. Mesa Verde is home to ancient cliff dwellings built by the Puebloan people, also know as the Anasazi. The most spectacular of these dwellings is know as Cliff Palace, which is the largest cliff dwelling in North America.

13. “The Joy of __”: Brandreth’s book for word buffs : LEX

Gyles Brandreth is an extremely colorful character in the UK. He is a prolific author, a very successful broadcaster, and a former Member of Parliament. On top of all that, Brandreth is a former European Monopoly champion and is the honorary president of the Association of British Scrabble Players.

16. Body image? : TAT

The word “tattoo” (often shortened to “tat”) was first used in English in the writings of the famous English explorer Captain Cook. In his descriptions of the indelible marks adorning the skin of Polynesian natives, Cook anglicized the Tahitian word “tatau” into our “tattoo”. Tattoos are also sometimes referred to as “ink”.

24. Musical dir. : RIT

Rit. (or sometimes ritard.) is the abbreviation for “ritardando”, a musical direction to slow down the tempo.

27. Bacteria-fighting drug : SULFA

“Sulfa drug” is a common term used for sulphonamides. Many sulfa drugs have antibacterial properties, and were the first antimicrobial drugs developed. The first sulphonamide introduced to treat bacterial infections was named Prontosil, and was developed by Bayer AG in Germany.

30. Pickup game team : SKINS

In a casual game of say basketball, teams can be identified by one side wearing shirts, and the other not. You’d want me to be on the shirts team, trust me. Not a pretty sight on the skins team …

35. Henry VI founded it in 1440 : ETON

Eton College near Windsor in the south of England was founded way back in 1440 by King Henry VI. Originally known as “The King’s College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor”, the school was intended to provided free education to poor boys. Free education today at Eton? Not so much …

37. Some winds : BASSOONS

Our modern bassoon first appeared in the 1800s and has had a place in the concert orchestra ever since.

39. Rear ends? : ARS

There is a letter R (ar) at either end of the word “rear”.

41. Gig transport : TOUR BUS

Musicians use “gig” to describe a job, a performance. The term originated in the early 1900s in the world of jazz. The derivative phrase “gig economy” applies to a relatively recent phenomenon where workers find themselves jumping from temporary job to temporary job, from gig to gig.

42. Animal in a Beatles ballad : RACCOON

“Rocky Raccoon” is a song by the Beatles that they released in 1968. The song’s title inspired the creation of Marvel Comics superhero Rocket Raccoon, who features prominently in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies.

45. Repeating geometric pattern : FRACTAL

A fractal is a fascinating geometric shape, one that can be split into parts, each of which is a smaller version (almost identical to) of the larger shape. The name “fractal” comes from the Latin “fractus” meaning “broken” or “fragmented”. Fractals are found all over nature, most notably the shapes created by ice crystals. It can be hard to tell the difference between the shapes of ice as it freezes on glass, viewed with the eye or viewed under a microscope. Fractals can also be seen in clouds, snowflakes, and even in cauliflower and broccoli!

48. “With or Without __”: U2 song : YOU

“With or Without You” is a 1987 song that was a huge hit for Irish band U2. It originally appeared on the 1987 album “The Joshua Tree”. “With or Without You” was also U2’s first chart topper in North America.

50. Elders : DOYENS

A doyen (feminine form “doyenne”) is the senior member of a group or class. The term is Middle French in origin, in which language it meant “commander of ten”.

52. 1997 protocol city : KYOTO

The Kyoto Protocol is designed to fight global warming and was adopted on 11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan. Almost 200 states have since signed the protocol and have committed to achieving the year 2012 targets laid down in the document. The most notable signature absent on the document is one representing the United States, as we are responsible for over one third of the greenhouse gases emitted across the world. The other significant polluters that have not ratified the agreement are China, India and Brazil.

57. Favor preceder? : POR …

“Por favor” is Spanish for “please”.

59. Consume Food & Wine, say : READ

“Food & Wine” is a high-end monthly magazine published since 1978. The magazine was sold to American Express in 1980, who passed it on to Time Inc. in 2013.

60. Most massive known dwarf planet : ERIS

Eris is the largest known dwarf planet in our solar system. It is also the ninth largest body orbiting the sun, a fact that helped relegate Pluto (the tenth largest body) from its status of planet in 2006. Eris was discovered in 2005.

61. Beatle bride : ONO

John Lennon and Yoko Ono married at the height of the Vietnam War in 1969. The couple decided to use the inevitable publicity surrounding their wedding and honeymoon to promote peace in the world. They honeymooned in the Presidential Suite of the Amsterdam Hilton, inviting the world’s press to join them and to witness their “bed-in”. They spent the week talking about peace, and an end to war. The marriage and bed-in is chronicled by the Beatles in their song “The Ballad of John and Yoko”.

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. “The __ Book” : JUNGLE
7. Eyjafjallajökull output : ASH
10. “C’mon, be __!” : A PAL
14. Straighten out : UNCOIL
15. It often has twists : PLOT LINE
17. Treaty of Versailles region : ALSACE
18. Apparent displacement due to observer movement : PARALLAX
19. Website with a Certified Fresh seal : ROTTEN TOMATOES
21. “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” singer : EVA
22. Word sung after the ball drops : AULD
23. Ivan the Terrible, e.g. : TSAR
25. Frat letters : ZETAS
28. Loses focus : BLURS
31. Gun designer __ Gal : UZI
32. Object : DEMUR
34. Hostile environment : SNAKE PIT
36. Neatnik’s nemesis : SLOB
38. Work on a muffler : KNIT
39. Invasion, for example : ACT OF WAR
43. Big name in publishing : KNOPF
46. Hundred Acre Wood denizen : ROO
47. Makeup exam? : ASSAY
49. Bergen’s dumbest dummy : SNERD
51. Fox relative : SAUK
53. One with a unicorn as a heraldic symbol : SCOT
55. “The __ of Pooh” : TAO
56. Online exchange medium : CRYPTOCURRENCY
61. Sarcastic “What a shame” : OH BOO HOO
62. Make sparkle, in a way : AERATE
63. Particle name that Fermi introduced to the scientific community : NEUTRINO
64. Alligator kin : CAIMAN
65. Bone on a menu : OSSO
66. IRS ID : SSN
67. Cars that misfired badly? : EDSELS

Down

1. City across the river from El Paso : JUAREZ
2. Far from popular : UNLOVED
3. Wolfpack’s home : NC STATE
4. Far from a fan favorite : GOAT
5. Causes of some head scratching : LICE
6. John Paul’s successor : ELENA
7. Team-ranking surveys, briefly : AP POLLS
8. Sure thing : SLAM DUNK
9. “Hava Nagila” dance : HORA
10. Dole out : ALLOT
11. Accumulates : PILES UP
12. Cliff Palace dwellers : ANASAZI
13. “The Joy of __”: Brandreth’s book for word buffs : LEX
16. Body image? : TAT
20. Popcorn buy : TUB
24. Musical dir. : RIT
26. Schoolyard comeback : AM SO!
27. Bacteria-fighting drug : SULFA
29. Private, for one : RANK
30. Pickup game team : SKINS
33. Spats : ROWS
35. Henry VI founded it in 1440 : ETON
37. Some winds : BASSOONS
39. Rear ends? : ARS
40. Manager’s staff : COACHES
41. Gig transport : TOUR BUS
42. Animal in a Beatles ballad : RACCOON
44. Term of endearment : PET NAME
45. Repeating geometric pattern : FRACTAL
48. “With or Without __”: U2 song : YOU
50. Elders : DOYENS
52. 1997 protocol city : KYOTO
54. Bit : TRACE
57. Favor preceder? : POR …
58. It’s not that : THIS
59. Consume Food & Wine, say : READ
60. Most massive known dwarf planet : ERIS
61. Beatle bride : ONO

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10 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword Answers 23 Jun 2018, Saturday”

  1. LAT: 35 minutes, 3 errors. About 20 minutes of that trying to work out one small section. Often how it goes. WSJ: 33:30, no errors. Again 5-10 minutes working out one or two small sections with a complete mess in them, most notably 38-D.

  2. LAT: 43 minutes but two or three clues causing half the time. 39 Down (Rear ends) almost made me give up, but after about ten minutes it came to me and solved the other two clues (Fox relative and Wood denizen) I didn’t know.

  3. 17:15. Admittedly a lot of things in my wheelhouse in this one.
    The muons (before becoming neutrinos) that Bill alludes to are one of the few things on earth that help illustrate special relativity. Rather than drone on about it, here is an article if anyone wants to read about it. It’s not overly technical…at all.. and is a pretty straightforward read

    http://www.alternativephysics.org/book/MuonRelativity.htm

    I’m off on a two week trip to Houston (business), Puerto Vallarta (tequila) and Florida (family). I’ll check in when I can. I won’t abandon you totally like Dave did 😛 I guess it’s up to you to decide if that’s a good or bad thing…

    Best –

  4. @Carrie
    From yesterday, I hadn’t thought of the grammer of LAIN. I even looked it up to be certain. It’s the past participle of lie, and you’re right. “I had LAIN in bed all morning” is the correct usage. I don’t see “placed” as a substitute, but perhaps we’re missing something.

  5. LAT: 9:58, no errors. Newsday: 35:36, no errors. WSJ: 34:44, no errors.

    Sadly, a missed connection caused a cascade of other missed connections that led to our abandoning the attempt to catch up to a cruise ship and return to the US. A very long story; I will only say that Murphy was working overtime to screw this trip up … and I will never again book a flight on a certain airline … 😳

    So, I’m playing catch-up, but I’m here … 😜

    1. And I forgot one: Friday’s Tim Croce: 50:02, no errors … which is something of a miracle, considering the state that I’m in … 😳

  6. Too tough for me; I got the top 2/3 but the bottom foiled me again, although I had most of the SW. Basically fouled up SAUK, CRYPTOCURRENCY, ARS and almost all of the SE.

    At least my team at the WC did better than I did and led to me attempting this puzzle slightly under the influence…

    @David – That’s really too sad that you ended up missing your flight(s) and a ship. I was checking out your destination in the north of Norway and it seemed like it would be a wonderful place to visit, if a bit chilly. Care to divulge the airline?

  7. Hello folks!! 🙃
    One wrong letter, which is quite frustrating, but I thought I might have missed 2 or 3 so I guess I can’t complain. 😐 Didn’t know ERIS; I put EROS, which left me with CAOMAN– shoulda grokked that last word! Everything sounds right in retrospect!!
    Dirk! Both our teams won!! 🥂 Salud and Prost!!
    Kind of a surprising World Cup so far. I can’t believe Argentina is dead last in their group.
    Dave!!! Wait, you mean you’ve missed your trip entirely?? That is terrible!! 😰
    Jeff– yes, that was an error….The only explanation I can see is that Wechsler “over-corrected” there. Sometimes people (who think they know) avoid a word that is often misused, like “laid.” Or, a person overuses “whom” all the time, even incorrectly, just to show that they know the word….!!! As in: “Can you tell me whom is speaking?” !!!!
    Be well~~🇲🇽

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