LA Times Crossword 28 May 19, Tuesday

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Constructed by: Craig Stowe
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Northern Lights

Themed answers are all in the down-direction. The top (“northern”) word is a type of LIGHT:

  • 14D Arctic spectacle … and what the answers to starred clues have? : NORTHERN LIGHTS
  • 3D *The next one starts in 2026 : YEAR OF THE HORSE (giving “light year”)
  • 10D *Iffy : TOUCH AND GO (giving “light touch”)
  • 21D *Rare medical service these days : HOUSE CALL (giving “lighthouse”)
  • 29D *Exhibiting : SHOWCASING (giving “light show”)

Bill’s time: 5m 55s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

19 Director Howard : RON

Ron Howard sure has come a long way since playing Opie Taylor on “The Andy Griffith Show”. He has directed some fabulous movies including favorites of mine like “Apollo 13”, “The Da Vinci Code” and “A Beautiful Mind”, the latter earning Howard a Best Director Oscar.

22 Like dad jokes : CORNY

I tell dad jokes all the time, just to annoy the kids …

  • I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. It’s impossible to put down!
  • If you see a robbery at an Apple Store does that make you an iWitness?
  • A termite walks into a bar and asks, “Is the bar tender here?”
  • Two guys walk into a bar, the third one ducks.
  • What’s the best part about living in Switzerland? I don’t know, but the flag is a big plus.

23 Aberdeen resident : SCOT

The Scottish city of Aberdeen is located amidst plentiful supplies of granite that were actively quarried until the 1970s. Many local buildings incorporate the granite in their structure. Aberdeen granite is especially prized for its high levels of mica, which can cause the stone to sparkle like silver. It’s no surprise then, that the list of Aberdeen’s nicknames includes “Granite City” and “Silver City”.

25 Symbol on Nike stores : SWOOSH

I remember seeing a lady named Carolyn Davidson on the television show “I’ve Got a Secret”. Davidson created the Nike “swoosh” back in 1971 when she was a design student at Portland State. She did it as freelance work for Blue Ribbon Sports, a local company introducing a new line of athletic footwear. The “swoosh” is taken from the wing of the Greek goddess of victory, Nike. Years later, BRS changed its name to Nike, so I suppose the company should be grateful to Carolyn for both the great design, and a great company name.

28 1980s sitcom ET : ALF

“ALF” is a sitcom that aired in the late eighties. The title character is a hand-puppet, and supposedly an alien named Gordon Shumway from the planet Melmac. The alien crash-landed into the house of amateur radio enthusiast Willie Tanner. Tanner renamed the intruder “ALF”, standing for “alien life form”.

29 Junior in the Pro Football Hall of Fame : SEAU

Junior Seau was an NFL linebacker, first playing for the San Diego Chargers and then the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots. Sadly, Seau was found dead in his home in 2011, having committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest.

30 “Love __ reason, reason none”: Shak. : HATH

“The Phoenix and the Turtle” is a 1601 poem by William Shakespeare. The “turtle” in the title does not refer to the reptile, but rather to the turtledove bird. The poem is an allegorical work about the death of ideal love. The Phoenix is an emblem of perfection, and the “turtle” an emblem of devoted love.

Love has reason, reason none,
If what parts can so remain.

32 Volleyball court divider : NET

In volleyball, each team can only touch the ball a maximum of three times before it returns to the other side of the net. The three contacts are often a “bump” (a preliminary pass) and a “set” (setting up the attacking shot) followed by a “spike” (a shot into the opposing court).

33 Half a matched set : HERS

His ‘n Hers.

37 Google alternative : YAHOO!

Jerry Yang and David Filo called their company “Yahoo!” for two reasons. Firstly, a Yahoo is a rude unsophisticated brute from Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels”. Secondly, Yahoo stands for “Yet another Hierarchical Officious Oracle”.

39 MBA or Ph.D. : DEG

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

“Ph.D.” is an abbreviation for “philosophiae doctor”, Latin for “teacher of philosophy”. Often, candidates for a PhD already hold a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, so a PhD might be considered a “third degree”.

41 Villainous Vader : DARTH

The top 5 movie villains in the American Film Institute’s list “100 Years … 100 Heroes & Villains” are:

  1. Dr. Hannibal Lecter in “The Silence of the Lambs”
  2. Norman Bates in “Psycho”
  3. Darth Vader in “The Empire Strikes Back”
  4. The Wicked Witch of the West in “The Wizard of Oz”
  5. Nurse Ratched in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”

42 Combo in the ring : ONE-TWO

That would be boxing, and a one-two punch, or should it be punches?

47 Pawn : HOCK

The phrase “in hock” is an American invention. Back in the mid-19th century “in hock” meant both “in debt” and “in prison”. The word “hock” comes from the Dutch “hok” meaning “jail”.

I remember the bad old days growing up in Dublin, Ireland, when my mother had to go to the pawnshop (bad times!). I’d wait outside with my brother, looking up at the pawnbroker’s sign, three gold balls hanging down from a metal bar. This traditional sign used by pawnbrokers is said to date back to the Medici family as the sign had symbolic meaning in the province of Lombardy where the Medici family reigned supreme. Because of this connection, pawnshop banking was originally called Lombard banking.

54 Sushi ingredient : RICE

Sushi is a Japanese dish that has as its primary ingredient cooked, vinegared rice. The rice is usually topped with something, most often fish, and can be served in seaweed rolls. If we want raw fish by itself, then we have to order sashimi.

58 Circle div. : SEG

A segment (seg.) is part of a circle (circ.).

67 Like hollandaise sauce : EGGY

Hollandaise sauce is a mixture of egg yolk and melted butter that is then seasoned, usually with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Hollandaise has an exalted position in French cuisine. Although the origin is debated, some say that the recipe was invented in the Netherlands and taken to France by the Huguenots, hence the name “Hollandaise”, meaning “of Holland”.

Down

2 Olive or Castor of toondom : OYL

“Thimble Theater” was the precursor comic strip to the famous “Popeye” drawn by E. C. Segar. Before Popeye came into the story, the brother and sister characters Castor Oyl and Olive Oyl were the protagonists. And then along comes a sailor …

3 *The next one starts in 2026 : YEAR OF THE HORSE (giving “light year”)

The 12-year cycle in the Chinese calendar uses the following animals in order:

  • Rat
  • Ox
  • Tiger
  • Rabbit
  • Dragon
  • Snake
  • Horse
  • Goat
  • Monkey
  • Rooster
  • Dog
  • Pig

4 Natty neckwear : ASCOT

An Ascot is a horrible-looking (I think!), wide tie that narrows at the neck, which these days is only really worn at weddings. The tie takes its name from the Royal Ascot horse race at which punters still turn up in formal wear at Ascot Racecourse in England.

A natty dresser is one who dresses smartly. The term “natty” may come from the Middle English “net” meaning “fine, elegant”, in which case it shares its etymology with the word “neat”.

5 Cross the threshold : GO IN

Years ago I was taking a tour of a beautiful Elizabethan manor house in England, and was told a little “threshing” story by the guide as we stood in one of the rooms. She reminded us that threshing was the removal of seeds from chaff, and told us that back in the day the “chaff” was sometimes called the “thresh”. Thresh would be used on the floors, particularly in the kitchen areas where it would soak up spills and provide some thermal insulation, much as sawdust was used in my favorite pubs many moons ago. She pointed to two slots at the bottom of the door jambs where she said a low board was placed upright on the floor, to “hold” the “thresh” in the room. The board was called a “thresh-hold”, giving us our contemporary word “threshold”. I am not sure if all of that is really true, but it makes a nice story …

6 Stat for Jacob deGrom : ERA

Jacob deGrom is a baseball pitcher who made his Major League debut with the New York Mets in 2014. Apart from his performance on the field, DeGrom was famous for wearing his hair unusually long for a couple of seasons. There was even a promotional Jacob DeGrom Hair Hat given away at games during the 2016 season.

7 Actress who won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for “Once and Again” : SELA WARD

Actress Sela Ward turns up in crosswords a lot. Ward played Teddy Reed in the TV show “Sisters” in the nineties, and was in “Once and Again” from 1999-2002. I don’t know either show, but I do know Ward from the medical drama “House” in which she played the hospital’s lawyer and Greg House’s ex-partner. That was a fun role, I thought. More recently, Ward played a lead role on “CSI: NY” and was a very welcome and much-needed addition to the cast. And, Ward played Dr. Richard Kimble’s murdered wife in the 1993 film version of “The Fugitive”.

“Once and Again” is a TV series that originally aired from 1999 to 2002 about the romantic relationship between a single mother and a single father, played by Seal Ward and Billy Campbell. The show had a somewhat unique structure in that characters were “interviewed” in asides throughout each episode, revealing otherwise unaired thoughts and memories.

8 Low opera voice : BASSO

The bass is the lowest male singing voice. A man with such a voice might be called a “basso” (plural “bassi”). In an opera, the villain of the piece is usually played by a basso.

9 Granite State sch. : UNH

The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is the largest university in the state. It was founded as the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts in 1866. The school’s athletic teams are known as the Wildcats.

New Hampshire is called the Granite State, because it has lots of granite quarries and granite formations.

11 Jackson 5 brother : TITO

The Jackson 5 singing group was originally made up of brothers Tito, Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael. The four eldest brothers continued to perform, using the name “The Jacksons”, after Michael went solo.

14 Arctic spectacle … and what the answers to starred clues have? : NORTHERN LIGHTS

The spectacular aurora phenomenon is seen lighting up the night sky at both poles of the earth (the Aurora Borealis in the north, and the Aurora Australis in the south). The eerie effect is caused by charged particles colliding with atoms at high latitudes.

16 “Come Sail Away” rock band : STYX

Styx is a band that formed in Chicago in 1972. Their biggest hit was “Babe” from 1979, and “Mr. Roboto” from 1983.

“Come Sail Away” was a hit for the Chicago band Styx. It was released in 1977, and peaked in the charts the following year. However, “Come Sail Away” is one of those songs that seems to maintain a level of popularity that persists over the decades.

23 Japanese electronics giant : SANYO

Sanyo is a Japanese electronics manufacturer based near Osaka and founded in 1947. The company name means “three oceans” reflecting the company’s original aim to sell its products all around the world (across three oceans: the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Indian).

26 Moo __ pork : SHU

Moo shu pork (also “mu shu pork”) is a traditional dish from northern China, with the main ingredients being shredded pork and scrambled egg. In North America, the dish is served with tortilla-like wrappers that are sometimes referred to as “moo shu pancakes”.

35 Hard to read, facially : STOIC

Zeno of Citium was a Greek philosopher famous for teaching at the Stoa Poikile, the “Painted Porch”, located on the north side of the Ancient Agora of Athens. Because of the location of his classes, his philosophy became known as stoicism (from “stoa”, the word for “porch”). And yes, we get our adjective “stoic” from the same root.

36 Number of Chicago Cubs’ World Series wins : THREE

The Chicago Cubs baseball team was supposedly subject to the “curse of the Billy Goat” from 1945 until 2016. Billy Sianis, the owner of a Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago, took his pet goat with him to a World Series game against the Detroit Tigers at Wrigley Field. Fans sitting nearby didn’t like the smell of the goat, and so the owner was asked to leave. As he left, Sianis yelled out, “Them Cubs, they ain’t gonna win no more.” And that is how a curse is born …

38 Platte River native : OTO

The Platte River used to be called the Nebrakier, which is an Oto word meaning “flat river”. Indeed, the state of Nebraska takes its name from “Nebrakier”. For a while it was also called the River Plate as “plate” is the French word “flat”. Later this became “Platte”, the phonetic spelling of the French “plate”.

40 Zeus or Ares : GREEK GOD

In Greek mythology, Zeus served as the king of the Olympic gods, and the god of the sky and thunder. He was the child of Titans Cronus and Rhea, and was married to Hera. Zeus was the equivalent of the Roman god Jupiter, who had similar realms of influence.

The Greek god Ares is often referred to as the Olympian god of warfare, but originally he was regarded as the god of bloodlust and slaughter. Ares united with Aphrodite to create several gods, including Phobos (Fear), Deimos (Terror) and Eros (Desire). Ares was the son of Zeus and Hera, and the Roman equivalent to Ares was Mars.

43 Authorized, briefly : OK’D

Back in the late 1830s, there were some slang abbreviations coined mainly in Boston. The craze called for two-letter abbreviations of deliberately misspelled phrases. For example “no use” became “KY” from “know yuse”, and “enough said” became “NC” from “nuff ced”. Fortunately (I say!), the practice was short-lived. But, one of those abbreviations persists to this day. “All correct” was misspelled to give “oll korrect”, abbreviated to “OK”.

45 Horace’s “__ Poetica” : ARS

The full name of Horace’s work is “Ars Poetica, Epistula ad Pisones” (The Art of Poetry, Letters to Piso). The work describes the technical aspects of poetry in Ancient Rome, and the term “ars poetica” has come to mean the poetry of that period.

51 Help for a stumped solver : HINT

Back in the early 1400s, the verb “to stump” meant “to stumble over a tree stump”. In the early 1800s, the meaning extended to mean “to baffle, bring to a halt by introducing obstacles”.

53 Lulu : DILLY

We call a remarkable thing or a person a “lulu”. The term was coined in honor of Lulu Hurst, the Georgia Wonder, who was a stage magician active in the 1880s.

56 Raison d’__ : ETRE

“Raison d’être” is a French phrase meaning “reason for existence”.

58 Escalator part : STEP

Escalators have an advantage over elevators in that they can move larger numbers of people in the same time frame. They can also be placed in just about the same physical space that would be needed for a regular staircase. Patents for escalator-type devices were first filed in 1859, but the first working model wasn’t built until 1892 by one Jesse Reno. It was erected alongside a pier in Coney Island, New York, with the second escalator being placed at an entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge. Soon after, the Otis elevator company purchased the necessary patents and went into the business.

60 Internet connectivity annoyance : LAG

In Internet terms, lag is a delay in response caused by network latency. We might notice lag when streaming a video, for example.

62 “Killing __”: TV thriller starring Sandra Oh : EVE

“Killing Eve” is a spy thriller series about an MI5 agent on the trail of a female assassin. The agent is played by Canadian actress Sandra Oh, and the assassin by English actress Jodie Comer. The storyline comes from a series of novellas titles “Codename Villanelle” by British author Luke Jennings.

Canadian actress Sandra Oh is very much associated these days with the role of Dr. Cristina Yang on “Grey’s Anatomy”. However, my favorite of Oh’s performances are in the movies “Under the Tuscan Sun” and “Sideways”.

63 Land in l’eau : ILE

In French, an “île” (island) is “terre dans la mer” (land in the sea).

64 Australian airport code : SYD

Australia’s Sydney Airport (SYD) is located just five miles south of the city center, and next to Botany Bay. There have been plans dating back to the 1940s to build a second airport on the outskirts of the city.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Long sails : VOYAGES
8 Interrupt, with “in” : BUTT
12 Unsightly sight : EYESORE
13 Christens with oil : ANOINTS
17 Frigid : GLACIAL
18 Game that’s pointless for one team? : SHUTOUT
19 Director Howard : RON
20 Sighs of pleasure : AHS
22 Like dad jokes : CORNY
23 Aberdeen resident : SCOT
25 Symbol on Nike stores : SWOOSH
27 Put a strain on : TAX
28 1980s sitcom ET : ALF
29 Junior in the Pro Football Hall of Fame : SEAU
30 “Love __ reason, reason none”: Shak. : HATH
32 Volleyball court divider : NET
33 Half a matched set : HERS
34 Disturbed state : UNREST
37 Google alternative : YAHOO!
39 MBA or Ph.D. : DEG
41 Villainous Vader : DARTH
42 Combo in the ring : ONE-TWO
44 Jagged rock : CRAG
46 Neither companion : NOR
47 Pawn : HOCK
48 Aviation prefix : AERO-
49 It’s not true : LIE
50 “Now I get it!” : OHO!
52 Leaves confused : ADDLES
54 Sushi ingredient : RICE
55 Tangle behind many a desktop : WIRES
57 Type : ILK
58 Circle div. : SEG
59 Teach bit by bit : INSTILL
61 “Here’s the best part” : GET THIS
65 Lasting forever : ETERNAL
66 In plain sight : OVERTLY
67 Like hollandaise sauce : EGGY
68 Removed from power : DEPOSED

Down

1 Chill (out) : VEG
2 Olive or Castor of toondom : OYL
3 *The next one starts in 2026 : YEAR OF THE HORSE (giving “light year”)
4 Natty neckwear : ASCOT
5 Cross the threshold : GO IN
6 Stat for Jacob deGrom : ERA
7 Actress who won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for “Once and Again” : SELA WARD
8 Low opera voice : BASSO
9 Granite State sch. : UNH
10 *Iffy : TOUCH AND GO (giving “light touch”)
11 Jackson 5 brother : TITO
14 Arctic spectacle … and what the answers to starred clues have? : NORTHERN LIGHTS
15 Sushi ingredient : TUNA
16 “Come Sail Away” rock band : STYX
21 *Rare medical service these days : HOUSE CALL (giving “lighthouse”)
23 Japanese electronics giant : SANYO
24 Concealing no weapons : CLEAN
25 Drop in on : SEE
26 Moo __ pork : SHU
29 *Exhibiting : SHOWCASING (giving “light show”)
31 Song syllable : TRA
35 Hard to read, facially : STOIC
36 Number of Chicago Cubs’ World Series wins : THREE
38 Platte River native : OTO
40 Zeus or Ares : GREEK GOD
43 Authorized, briefly : OK’D
45 Horace’s “__ Poetica” : ARS
50 Boo-boo : OWIE
51 Help for a stumped solver : HINT
53 Lulu : DILLY
54 Back in style : RETRO
56 Raison d’__ : ETRE
58 Escalator part : STEP
60 Internet connectivity annoyance : LAG
62 “Killing __”: TV thriller starring Sandra Oh : EVE
63 Land in l’eau : ILE
64 Australian airport code : SYD

20 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword 28 May 19, Tuesday”

  1. LAT: 8:09, no errors. Newsday: 5:37, no errors. WSJ: 9:24, no errors. Croce later.

    1. Croce’s latest: 45:07, no errors. Relatively easy for a Croce puzzle. I think the arrival of a son has mellowed him even further … 😜.

  2. No errors, but sure didn’t get the connection between the theme and
    the starred clues until I read Bill’s explanation.

    1. I’m with you there. Spent untold minutes looking for some type of light that read upwards in the starred clues. And this is only Tuesday. Yikes!

    2. Same here – puzzle wasn’t that hard but didn’t get the clue connections at all.

  3. This felt tougher than Sunday’s puzzle.
    Thanks for the dad jokes. I sent them on to my kids because that’s exactly the kind of joke their dad tells. He goes one better, though. If someone says something that sounds like a song lyric he knows, he sings it.
    “He’s just too good to be true…”

  4. 8:54. Very granite-y puzzle today. I liked the “two men walk into a bar…” joke the best. Ready for the late week puzzles .

    Best –

  5. 7 mins 46 sec, no errors.

    Here’s a great example of a “theme” that is a colossal waste of time. If it takes an entire paragraph to explain it, then it’s not worth the effort to begin with.

    1. Allen –
      I might agree with you about that, but today’s theme was explained by Bill in 17 words.

      (Coincidentally, so was my rebuttal….)

  6. No kind of fast time, but we never are anyway. Finally solved the thing
    after searching the dictionary and making some changes. Did not catch
    on to either the theme or some of the answers, but 100% is 100%, no
    matter how you slice it.

  7. Well, I don’t know why people get so crazy about the “theme.” I, for one, hardly ever figure it out and can still do the puzzles. So what’s the problem? I can usually figure it out after I’ve finished. This wasn’t a hard one at all.

    1. >I don’t know why people get so crazy about the “theme.”

      Because it’s part of the puzzle and since it is, people want to figure it out. Typically I don’t ever notice a theme when I do these things, myself, and it doesn’t bother me that much. However, the problem I run into is that if I want to start making crossword puzzles, I have to have a grasp on them in order to make these things as expected. (People do expect themes in their grids.)

  8. I only notice the theme if I’m having a hard time. I needed it today.

    I had to Google (on a Tuesday!) for SELA WARD. I had “down” before STEP, “goo” before SHU, “shoe” before HERS, HOme visit before HOUSE CALL. Never heard of SEAU.

  9. Greetings!!😎

    No errors, but for some reason i started off really slowly– I actually had to check and make sure it wasn’t a Friday or something! Just couldn’t get VOYAGES/VEG. Things fell into place quickly once i solved that corner.

    Be well ~~🌺🌻🌹

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