LA Times Crossword 8 Mar 19, Friday

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Constructed by: David Alfred Bywaters
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Ending

Themed answers are each common phrases to which have been added a letter G at the end:

  • 73A. Conclusion … or, in three parts, what four answers in this puzzle unexpectedly do : ENDING … or, END IN G
  • 18A. Didn’t just knock? : ALSO RANG (“also-ran” + G)
  • 29A. Barbecue dinner followed by dyspepsia? : RACK AND RUING (“rack and ruin” + G)
  • 49A. Part for a robot vampire? : ELECTRIC FANG (“electric fan” +G)
  • 62A. Eagerly excited for an extended period of time? : LONG AGOG (“long ago” + G)

Bill’s time: 7m 44s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

14. “Amen” : SO BE IT

The word “amen” translates as “so be it”. “Amen” is said to be of Hebrew origin, but it is also likely to be influenced by Aramaic and Arabic.

15. Complement for a tango : TWO

It takes two to tango …

The dramatic dance called the tango originated in the late 1800s in the area along the border between Argentina and Uruguay. Dancers and orchestras from Buenos Aires in particular traveled to Europe and beyond in the early twentieth century and brought the tango with them. The tango craze first struck Europe in Paris in the 1910s, and from there spread to London and Berlin, crossing the Atlantic to New York in 1913.

23. Arctic trout : CHAR

The Arctic char is cold-water fish that is found in freshwater bodies in the very north of our planet, as the name suggests. In fact, no other freshwater fish is found as far north as the Arctic char.

29. Barbecue dinner followed by dyspepsia? : RACK AND RUING (“rack and ruin” + G)

The phrase “rack and ruin” (also “wrack and ruin”), meaning “complete destruction”, is a derivative of “wreck and ruin”.

34. Bad Ems and Marienbad, for two : SPAS

Bad is the German word for “bath”, and is found in the names of many spa towns such as Bad Ems, Bad Nauheim, Marienbad and Baden-Baden.

Bad Ems is a spa town in western Germany that was a extremely popular with the elite, especially in the 19th century. Frequent visitors to the town include Kaiser Wilhelm I, Tsar Nicholas I, Richard Wagner and Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Mariánské Lázně is a relatively young spa town in the west of the Czech Republic that is located close to the border with Germany. Known in German as “Marienbad”, the town was a very popular getaway for the European elite and was visited by the likes of Frédéric Chopin, Thomas Edison, and Richard Wagner, as well as the UK’s King Edward VII, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, and Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. Most of the ethnic Germans in Marienbad, which was part of Sudetenland, were expelled after WWII, and it came under communist control along with the rest of Czechoslovakia as a result of the 1948 coup d’état. The town was largely closed to foreigners for decades, but has been flourishing again as a tourist destination since the return of democracy in 1989.

43. Muhammad’s son-in-law : ALI

The Islamic sects of Sunni and Shia Muslims differ in the belief of who should have taken over leadership of the Muslim faithful after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. Followers of the Sunni tradition agree with the decision that the Prophet Muhammad’s confidante Abu Bakr was the right choice to become the first Caliph of the Islamic nation. Followers of the Shia tradition believe that leadership should have stayed within the Prophet Muhammad’s own family, and favoured the Prophet’s son-in-law Ali.

44. Ready to drive : TEED

That would be golf.

47. Trailer follower : MOVIE

The term “trailer” was originally used in the film industry to describe advertisements for upcoming features. These trailers were originally shown at the end of a movie being screened, hence the name. This practice quickly fell out of favor as theater patrons usually left at the end of the movie without paying much attention to the trailers. So, the trailers were moved to the beginning of the show, but the term “trailer” persisted.

53. Prop for a Tell skit : APPLE

Supposedly, William Tell came from Uri, a canton in the German part of Switzerland. Altdorf is the capital of Uri and is the city where William Tell shot the apple off his son’s head using a crossbow, at least according to legend. There is a bronze statue of Tell that was erected in the city’s marketplace in 1895 to memorialize the event.

56. Label caveat : AS IS

A caveat is a warning or a qualification. “Caveat” is the Latin for “let him beware”.

60. Game with 25 squares : BINGO

Our game called “Bingo” is a derivative of an Italian lottery game called “Il Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia” that became popular in the 16th-century.

68. O.T. book after Neh. : ESTH

Esther was a Jewish queen, wife of the Persian king Ahasuerus, and the heroine of the Book of Esther in the Bible. By the way, Esther is the only book in the Bible that doesn’t mention the word “God”.

69. Pedi pinkie : TOE

The use of “pinkie” or “pinky” for the little finger or toe comes into English from “pinkje”, the Dutch word for the same digit. Who knew …?

70. French teacher : MAITRE

In French, one might learn from a “maître” (master) in an “école” (school).

72. “I think my love as rare / As any __ belied by false compare”: Shak. : SHE

Here is the full text of William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130”:

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

Down

3. 2010 health statute, informally : OBAMACARE

The correct name for what has been dubbed “Obamacare” is the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (ACA).

5. Belmonts frontman : DION

Dion and the Belmonts were a vocal group from the fifties who had success in the late fifties. The four singers were from the Bronx in New York, with two living on Belmont Avenue, hence the name that was chosen. Perhaps the biggest hits for Dion and the Belmonts were “A Teenager in Love” and “Where or When”.

7. School org. : PTA

Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)

8. Hogwarts mail carrier : OWL

In the “Harry Potter” universe, messages are sent by owl post, which uses owls as mail carriers.

9. Discard : TOSS

Back in the late 16th century, to discard was to throw away a “card” in card game. We now use the term to describe the rejection of anything, and not only cards.

10. Simple island garments : SARONGS

“Sarong” is the Malay word for “sheath”, and the term originally described a garment worn by Malay men and women around their waists. The Malay sarong is actually a tube of fabric, about a yard wide and two-and-a-half yards long. Many variations of the sarong are worn all over South Asia and the Pacific Islands. I had occasion to wear one in Hawaii many years ago, and found it very … freeing!

24. World Court site, with “The” : HAGUE

Den Haag is the Dutch name for the city in the Netherlands that we know in English as The Hague. Even though the Hague is the seat of the Dutch parliament and is where Queen Beatrix resides, it is not the country’s capital city. That honor goes to Amsterdam.

International Court of Justice (ICJ) is commonly referred to as the World Court, and is based in the Hague in the Netherlands. Housed in a building known as the Peace Palace, the ICJ is the main judicial branch of the United Nations. One of the court’s functions is to settle disputes between UN member states. The US no longer accepts the jurisdiction of the ICJ, after the court’s 1986 decision that the US’s covert war against Nicaragua was in violation of international law. The UN Security Council is charged with enforcing ICJ rulings, and so the US used its veto power in the Nicaragua v. United States case.

27. Continental currency : EURO

The Euro is the official currency of most of the states in the European Union, but not all. The list of EU states not using the Euro includes the UK, Denmark and Sweden.

31. Scottish John : IAN

The name “John” translates into Scottish as “Ian”, into Russian as “Ivan”, into Italian as “Giovanni”, into Spanish as “Juan”, into Welsh as “Evan”, and into Irish as “Seán”.

35. “King of the High C’s” : PAVAROTTI

Luciano Pavarotti was one of the most celebrated tenors of all time. He was able to appeal to audiences beyond the traditional fans of opera, helped by his performances with the Three Tenors: Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras. Pavarotti made his final performance on stage at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, where he sang his famous rendition of the moving aria “Nessun dorma” and brought the house down. Pavarotti passed away from pancreatic cancer the following year, at the age of 71.

37. “Iliad” topic : SIEGE

Our word “siege” comes from a 13th century word for a “seat”. The military usage derives from the concept of a besieging force “sitting down” outside a fortress until it falls.

“The Iliad” is an epic poem by the Greek poet Homer that tells the story of the ten-year siege of Ilium (also known as “Troy”) during the Trojan war. “The Odyssey”, also attributed to Homer, is sometimes described as a sequel to “The Iliad”.

41. Costa __ : RICA

Costa Rica is a country in Central America that is bordered by Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the South. Costa Rica is remarkable in my opinion, a leader on the world stage in many areas. It has been referred to as the “greenest” country in the world, the “happiest” country in the world, and has a highly educated populace. In 1949, the country unilaterally abolished its own army … permanently!

42. “Preacher” airer : AMC

AMC, formerly known as “American Movie Classics”, is one of my favorite television channels. Although the channel’s focus has shifted from airing classic movies to including other programming, there’s still a lot of quality output. AMC’s flagship shows are “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad”.

“Preacher” is a TV series based on a comic book superhero series of the same name. Doesn’t sound like my cup of tea …

48. Independent of public utilities : OFF-GRID

To be off-the-grid is to adopt a lifestyle that eschews the support of remote infrastructure, such as the electrical grid and public sewer system. My personal observation is that more and more people in the West are striving to live off-the-grid, although not many seem interested in breaking the link to the Internet …

55. Slacks : PANTS

The term “pants”, meaning trousers, is an abbreviated form of “pantaloons” and first appeared in the 1840s. Pantaloons were a kind of tights named for a silly old male character in Italian comedy named “Pantaloun” who always wore tight trousers over skinny legs.

The term “slacks” was introduced in the early 1800s with the the meaning “loose trousers”. Those early slacks were part of a military uniform.

61. 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 …

66. Fish-eating bird : ERN

The ern (sometimes “erne”) is also known as the white-tailed eagle or the sea eagle.

67. Brief rule? : REG

Regulation (reg.)

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Fencing needs : SWORDS
7. Soup holder : POT
10. Web creation : SITE
14. “Amen” : SO BE IT
15. Complement for a tango : TWO
16. Sharp : ACID
17. Fill with love : ENAMOR
18. Didn’t just knock? : ALSO RANG (“also-ran” + G)
20. Like a male lion : MANED
22. Housecleaning aid : SPONGE
23. Arctic trout : CHAR
25. Completely erase : WIPE
28. PC key above Shift : ENTER
29. Barbecue dinner followed by dyspepsia? : RACK AND RUING (“rack and ruin” + G)
32. Audibly amazed : AGASP
33. Period : ERA
34. Bad Ems and Marienbad, for two : SPAS
38. Animal protection agent : FUR
39. Public face : PERSONA
43. Muhammad’s son-in-law : ALI
44. Ready to drive : TEED
46. Contend : VIE
47. Trailer follower : MOVIE
49. Part for a robot vampire? : ELECTRIC FANG (“electric fan” +G)
53. Prop for a Tell skit : APPLE
56. Label caveat : AS IS
57. Wandering the range, say : FREE
58. Thinking things : BRAINS
60. Game with 25 squares : BINGO
62. Eagerly excited for an extended period of time? : LONG AGOG (“long ago” + G)
65. Containing more lemon : TARTER
68. O.T. book after Neh. : ESTH
69. Pedi pinkie : TOE
70. French teacher : MAITRE
71. Remainder : REST
72. “I think my love as rare / As any __ belied by false compare”: Shak. : SHE
73. Conclusion … or, in three parts, what four answers in this puzzle unexpectedly do : ENDING … or, END IN G

Down

1. Memphis-to-Mobile dir. : SSE
2. Outplayed an opponent : WON
3. 2010 health statute, informally : OBAMACARE
4. They may be nasty : REMARKS
5. Belmonts frontman : DION
6. Thrown around : STREWN
7. School org. : PTA
8. Hogwarts mail carrier : OWL
9. Discard : TOSS
10. Simple island garments : SARONGS
11. “__ even!” : I CAN’T
12. Bit of color : TINGE
13. Landscaping tool : EDGER
19. Taking customers : OPEN
21. Completed : DID
23. Boat, or the building of one : CRAFT
24. World Court site, with “The” : HAGUE
26. Car stereo conveniences : PRESETS
27. Continental currency : EURO
30. Dictionary on a phone, say : APP
31. Scottish John : IAN
35. “King of the High C’s” : PAVAROTTI
36. Dress style : A-LINE
37. “Iliad” topic : SIEGE
40. Party time : EVE
41. Costa __ : RICA
42. “Preacher” airer : AMC
45. Gladden : DELIGHT
48. Independent of public utilities : OFF-GRID
50. Singer Horne : LENA
51. Tease : RIB
52. Self-reflective thought : IS IT ME?
53. Not so ham-handed : ABLER
54. Verse alternative : PROSE
55. Slacks : PANTS
59. PD ranks : SGTS
61. Bread with tikka masala : NAAN
63. “That’s amazing!” : OOH!
64. “That’s interesting” : GEE
66. Fish-eating bird : ERN
67. Brief rule? : REG

16 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword 8 Mar 19, Friday”

  1. 30:54 no errors. NYT 0201 was IMO a total waste of time except for you pros which I am not one of..

  2. I cannot believe I had no Googles on a Friday. The theme guided me through. Thank you Mr. Bywaters.

    The last clue I filled in was SHE. It had often been claimed this was a negress, but I did a little Google research, and a Prof. Burl believes it was the wanton wife of an Italian translater, Florio. Supposedly, Sonnets 127-154 refer to this woman.

    Our snow is expected to melt this weekend, so probably flooding.

  3. LAT: 11:48, no errors; got the theme (and, as far as I can see, there are no misspellings in it … bbut, bboy … you just never know when a bbad bblunder is gonna slip bby you 😜). Newsday: 10:53, no errors. WSJ: 15:43, no errors; got the meta and submitted it, which makes me an extra in a cast of thousands (but hey, at least I won’t be stewing about it all weekend, like last week and the week before 😜). Croce at 4 … news at 11 …

  4. 14:35. Pretty easy for a Friday. I’d never heard of the expression RACK AND RUIN(G) so it took me a while to see the theme. I’ll get to the NYT later.

    Dirk – Regarding “Breaking Bad” yesterday. I read an interesting post-series article about that very subject – i.e. the lack of a “good guy” in the series. They intentionally made Walt a less and less sympathetic character as the series continued. I guess they didn’t want a good guy associated with the meth trade so everyone (except maybe Jesse) turned into some form of a bad guy in the series.

    Best –

  5. Could only do like 75% on Thursday and Friday- worked really hard,
    just too difficult.

  6. Don’t worry Mr John Daigle … fortunately there are far more important things in life …. than solving crosswords…
    Hey, Jeff, nice to see you and hear from you again … I take it your Central America trips are behind you, now. I thought of you when Breakjng Bad turned up yesterday (?) since you introduced me to this series … which I have yet to scan ….

    I had a moderately good time with today’s puzzle … and horrors, I did it again (!) on line … a tad faster the second time around…. Lol

  7. 13 minutes, 50 seconds, no errors. A theme so stupid, you just have to ask, “Why?” Seems to be a common thing this week.

  8. The previous comment was me or I or whatever … I have yet to unpack my computer and this iPhone is too confusing …. I just darkened my screen by mistake to inky or ebon or sable or whatever…

    ‘Tikka’ as I understand it, is a word for a dot ( as on the forehead -) or a patty or a mark or tally check. Tikkha however means pungent as a chili pepper. Many Indians use that word, tikkha, and avoid using the word hot because hot could also imply temperature.

    I did not know Denmark does not use the Euro … must be interesting while driving over from Germany to Belgium thru Denmark ….

    Indians males, in southern India also use a form of sarong as an everyday dress, but it’s called something else.
    Now to read up on Somnet 130

    Have a great weekend all

  9. I cannot find the word “ris” in the dictionary. Only thing on line are acronyms. No relation to “tease”.

    1. @Ann – That answer should be “rib” (not “ris”) with the “b” starting the across answer of “bingo”

  10. Pretty easy Friday; took 25 minutes with no errors, even with my fading pen about to give up the ghost. Actually saw the theme while doing the puzzle, which helped immensely.

    Did have to change AvID to make I CANT work.

    @Jeff – Yeah, I kind of figured that might be part of it, and Jesse, except for a few times, didn’t really draw that much sympathy from me. There were really cool and amusing extras on the Blu-ray DVDs, including “Cop Talk” with Dean Norris and a funny “bondage” skit between Hank and Marie.

    @Vidwan – Although Denmark, Sweden and Norway(non-EU) don’t use the Euro, you can travel directly between Germany and Belgium. I’m given to understand that you can spend Euros in Denmark, by a Danish friend.

  11. Hey y’all!!🐔

    Had to cheat on two words in the center left !!– couldn’t get CRAFT!! This was a hard one for me. Not sure why, but I’m having a tough time with puzzles this week!! 🤔 Does not bode well for Saturday….

    Re Breaking Bad– I always found Jesse to be a sympathetic character, and in fact he’s my fave on the show. Also love Hank — wonder if I can find his “Cop Talk” on YouTube!!😯

    Be well ~~😎

  12. There is an error: contrary to the clue the Book of Esther precedes the Book of Nehemiah.

    1. @ No name – According to Google Ezra precedes Nehemiah and Esther follows. There is a very nice full color line up of all the books I found by Googling “old testament books in order” (without the quotation marks).

      You aren’t a horse that rode through the desert by any chance?

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