LA Times Crossword 5 Jan 20, Sunday

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Constructed by: David Kwong
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Theme: Initial Offerings

Themed answers comprise three words, and each includes the initials of those three words as a hidden sequences with the same answer:

  • 23A When the Commodore 64 computer was released : NINETEEN EIGHTY-TWO
  • 30A World capital since 1931 : NEW DELHI, INDIA
  • 52A 1982 Physical Tour singer : OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN
  • 67A “Excuse me … ” : PARDON THE INTERRUPTION …
  • 85A What a shutout lowers : EARNED RUN AVERAGE
  • 104A Capital near Siena College : ALBANY, NEW YORK
  • 116A Highest grossing movie of 1980, with “The” : … EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

Bill’s time: 14m 28s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Extra NHL periods : OTS

The National Hockey League (NHL) was formed in 1917 in Montreal as a successor to the defunct National Hockey Association (NHA) that had been founded in 1909.

18 Like a nonexistent chance : FAT

“Fat chance” means “there’s only a slim chance”, somewhat paradoxically …

19 Provides an excuse : ALIBIS

“Alibi” is the Latin word for “elsewhere” as in, “I claim that I was ‘elsewhere’ when the crime was committed … I have an ‘alibi’”.

20 Queen Amidala’s “Star Wars” home : NABOO

In the “Star Wars” universe, Padmé Amidala is the Queen of the planet Naboo. Played very ably by Natalie Portman, Padmé becomes the secret wife of Anakin Skywalker, later revealed to be Darth Vader. As such, Padmé is also the mother of Luke Skywalker and his sister, Princess Leia Organa.

21 Rink move : AXEL

An axel is a forward take-off jump in figure skating. The maneuver was first performed by Norwegian Axel Paulsen at the 1882 World Figure Skating championships.

22 Christmas buy : FIR

Firs are evergreen coniferous trees, with several species being popular as Christmas trees. The most commonly used species during the holidays are the Nordmann fir, noble fir, Fraser fir and balsam fir. We also see a lot of Douglas fir trees at Christmas, but they’re not actually true firs.

23 When the Commodore 64 computer was released : NINETEEN EIGHTY-TWO

The Commodore 64 was a home computer introduced in 1982. Up to 17 million units of the Commodore 64 were sold in all, making it the highest-selling computer model of all time (according to the Guinness World Records). Back in 1977, the “big three” of personal computers were Apple, Commodore and Tandy. Well, at least Apple is still around …

26 Clean Air Act org. : EPA

The Clean Air Act of 1963 is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

28 Looks for prints : DUSTS

In the world of criminology, there are three classes of fingerprints:

  • Patent prints are those which are obvious, easily spotted by the naked eye.
  • Impressed prints are those made when the fingertips apply pressure to a soft material or surface, such as the skin.
  • Latent prints are those that are invisible to the naked eye, but which can be detected using special equipment and materials.

29 Driveway hoops game : HORSE

H-O-R-S-E is a simple game played with a basketball and a hoop. The idea is that one player makes a basket using a certain move and technique, and then subsequent players have to make a basket the same way. Anyone failing to make a basket is assigned a letter in the word H-O-R-S-E, and after five letters, you’re out. A quicker game is called P-I-G.

30 World capital since 1931 : NEW DELHI, INDIA

New Delhi is the capital city of India. New Delhi resides within the National Capital Territory of Delhi (otherwise known as the metropolis of Delhi). New Delhi and Delhi, therefore, are two different things.

34 Bart Simpson’s grandma : MONA

Mona Simpson is a character on “The Simpsons” that has been voiced by a number of actresses over the years, including the wonderful Glenn Close. Mona is Homer Simpson’s mother, and hence Bart’s grandmother. Mona is named for the author Mona Simpson, who is the younger sister of Apple founder Steve Jobs, and wife of “The Simpsons” writer Richard Appel.

35 One might be slipped : DISC

Our intervertebral discs are composed mainly of cartilage. They perform the crucial functions of separating the vertebrae while allowing slight movement, and also absorbing shock. A “slipped disc” isn’t really a disc that has “slipped”, but rather a disc that “bulges”. If that bulge causes pressure on the sciatic nerve then the painful condition known as sciatica can result.

36 California’s Santa __ River : ANA

The Santa Ana River rises in the San Bernardino Mountains and empties into the Pacific Ocean 96 miles downstream. The Santa Ana is the largest river in Southern California.

37 Character who said about her father, “Yet he hath ever but slenderly known himself” : REGAN

“King Lear” is one of William Shakespeare’s tragedies. Lear’s three daughters figure prominently in the story line. The three are, in order of age:

  • Goneril
  • Regan
  • Cordelia

40 Amigo of Fidel : CHE

Ernesto “Che” Guevara was born in Argentina, and in 1948 he started to study medicine at the University of Buenos Aires. While at school he satisfied his need to “see the world” by taking two long journeys around South America, the story of which are told in Guevara’s memoir later published as “The Motorcycle Diaries”. While travelling, Guevara was moved by the plight of the people he saw and their working conditions and what he viewed as capitalistic exploitation. In Mexico City he met brothers Raul and Fidel Castro and was persuaded to join their cause, the overthrow of the US-backed government in Cuba. He rose to second-in-command among the Cuban insurgents, and when Castro came to power Guevara was influential in repelling the Bay of Pigs Invasion and bringing Soviet nuclear missiles to the island. Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to continue his work as a revolutionary. He was captured by Bolivian forces in 1967, and was executed. Fidel Castro led the public mourning of Guevara’s death, and soon the revolutionary was an icon for many left-wing movements around the world.

47 Tennis great : ASHE

Arthur Ashe was a professional tennis player from Richmond, Virginia. In his youth, Ashe found himself having to travel great distances to play against Caucasian opponents due to the segregation that still existed in his home state. He was rewarded for his dedication by being selected for the 1963 US Davis Cup team, the first African American player to be so honored. Ashe continued to run into trouble because of his ethnicity though, and in 1968 was denied entry into South Africa to play in the South African Open. In 1979, Ashe suffered a heart attack and had bypass surgery, with follow-up surgery four years later during which he contracted HIV from blood transfusions. Ashe passed away in 1993 due to complications from AIDS. Shortly afterwards, Ashe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.

52 1982 Physical Tour singer : OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN

Olivia Newton-John is an Australian singer and actress, although she was born in Cambridge, England. Newton-John’s father was an officer in the British Security Services and worked on the Enigma code-breaking project during WWII. Through her mother, Olivia is also the granddaughter of Max Born, the atomic physicist and Nobel Prize winner.

“Physical” is a 1981 song recorded by Olivia Newton-John that was to become her biggest hit in the US.

57 Corrida participant : TORO

Spanish bullfighting is known locally as “corrida de toros”, literally “race of bulls”.

60 Prey for a Hauskatze : MAUS

In German, a “Maus” (mouse) is prey for a “Hauskatze” (domestic cat, house cat).

61 Starchy roots : TAROS

The corm of some taro plants is used to make poi, a traditional Hawaiian dish (that I think tastes horrible). When a taro plant is grown as an ornamental, it is often called Elephant Ears due to the shape of its large leaves.

62 Card game shout : UNO!

UNO is a card game that was developed in the early seventies and that has been sold by Mattel since 1992. UNO falls into the shedding family of card games, meaning that the goal is to get rid of all your cards while preventing opponents from doing the same.

63 “Cotton Candy” jazzman : HIRT

Al Hirt was a trumpeter and bandleader. Hirt’s most famous recordings were the song “Java” and the album “Honey in the Horn”, as well the theme song used “The Green Hornet” TV series in the sixties.

65 Low-pH stuff : ACID

As we all recall from chemistry class, a pH of 7 is considered neutral. Anything less than 7 is an acid, and anything above 7 is a base.

74 Son of Seth : ENOS

Enos was the son of Seth, and therefore the grandson of Adam and Eve. According to the ancient Jewish work called the Book of Jubilees, Enos married his own sister Noam.

75 “Gigi” playwright : LOOS

Anita Loos was an American screenwriter and author who was most famous for her novel “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” that was first published in 1925. “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” was originally published as a series of short stories in “Harper’s Bazaar”. The heroine of the story was Lorelei Lee, a “flapper” who was less interested in marriage than she was in collecting expensive gifts from her many gentleman admirers.

“Gigi” is a very popular 1958 musical film starring Leslie Caron in the title role. The movie’s screenplay is based on a 1944 novella of the same name by French author Colette. Colette’s “Gigi” was also adapted into a 1951 stage play by Anita Loos, in which Audrey Hepburn played the title role in the original Broadway production.

77 Cal Poly campus site, initially : SLO

The city of San Luis Obispo is one of the oldest communities in California. The name “San Luis Obispo” translates as “Saint Louis, the Bishop of Toulouse”. In 1990, San Luis Obispo was the first municipality in the world to ban smoking in all indoor public areas.

“Cal Poly” is the more familiar name for California Polytechnic State University. There are actually two Cal Poly institutions, one in San Luis Obispo (the most famous) and one in Pomona. The Pomona institution was founded in 1938 as the southern campus for Cal Poly in 1938, but became independent from the northern school in 1966.

81 “Beloved” novelist Morrison : TONI

“Beloved” is a 1987 novel by author Toni Morrison. The Pulitzer-winning book was adapted into a 1998 movie of the same name starring Oprah Winfrey.

82 Lab dish eponym : PETRI

Julius Richard Petri was a German bacteriologist and was the man after whom the Petri dish is named. The petri dish can have an agar gel on the bottom which acts as a nutrient source for the specimen being grown and studied, in which case the dish plus agar is referred to as an “agar plate”.

84 Word on a bill : UNUM

From 1776, “E pluribus unum” was the unofficial motto of the United States. The phrase translates from Latin as “Out of many, one”. It was pushed aside in 1956 when an Act of Congress designated “In God We Trust” as the country’s official motto. “In God We Trust” had appeared on US coins since 1864, but was only introduced on paper currency in 1957.

85 What a shutout lowers : EARNED RUN AVERAGE

Earned run average (ERA)

91 Aspiring atty.’s exam : LSAT

Law School Admission Test (LSAT)

92 Sushi roll wrap : NORI

Nori is an edible seaweed that we used to know as “laver” when I was living in Wales. Nori is usually dried into thin sheets. Here in the US, we are most familiar with nori as the seaweed used as a wrap for sushi.

93 Camera move : PAN

To “pan” a camera is to move in such a way as to create a “panoramic” effect, to sweep from one side of a scene to another.

98 Org. giving G’s and R’s : MPAA

The Motion Picture Association of America’s (MPAA) film-rating system (PG-13, R, etc.) is purely voluntary and is not backed by any law. Movie theaters agree to abide by the rules that come with the MPAA ratings in exchange for access to new movies.

104 Capital near Siena College : ALBANY, NEW YORK

New York’s state capital of Albany was founded as a Dutch trading post called Fort Nassau in 1614. The English took over the settlement in 1664 and called it Albany, naming it after the future King of England James II, whose title at the time was the Duke of Albany. It became the capital of New York State in 1797.

Siena College is a Roman Catholic school, a Franciscan liberal arts college founded in 1937 in Loudonville, New York near Albany. The college is named for Saint Bernardino of Siena, a Franciscan friar who lived in the 15th century.

110 Stiller’s partner : MEARA

Anne Meara married fellow comedic actor Jerry Stiller in 1954. The couple’s children are actors Ben and Amy Stiller. Meara co-starred with Carroll O’Connor and Martin Balsam in the eighties sitcom “Archie Bunker’s Place”, a spin-off from “All in the Family”.

112 Lucas droid : ARTOO

Artoo’s proper name is R2-D2. R2-D2 is the smaller of the two famous droids from the “Star Wars” movies. British actor Kenny Baker, who stood just 3 ft 8 ins tall, was the man inside the R2-D2 droid for the first six of the “Star Wars” movies.

115 Hindu title : SRI

“Sri” is a title of respect for a male in India.

116 Highest grossing movie of 1980, with “The” : … EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

“The Empire Strikes Back” is a 1980 sequel to the hit movie “Star Wars”. The most famous line from “The Empire Strikes Back” is spoken by Darth Vader as he reveals his relationship to Luke Skywalker: “No, I am your father” (with emphasis on the “I”). This is often misquoted as “Luke, I am your father”.

122 Attach with twine : TIE ON

Our word “twine”, meaning “light string”, has the same root as our word “twin”. The original Old English “twin” was a double thread.

127 One of the vitals : PULSE

One’s pulse is the rhythmic throbbing of arteries that is usually detected at the wrist or the neck. The contraction of the heart creates a pressure wave in the blood that moves the arterial walls, which is detected as the pulse.

128 With 87-Down, fairly : PRO …
(87D See 128-Across : … RATA)

“Pro rata” is a Latin phrase meaning “in proportion”.

Down

2 National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall site : TAIPEI

Chiang Kai-Shek was the leader of the Nationalist Movement in China right through to the end of WWII. The Nationalists lost out in a Civil War to the Communists backed by the Soviet Union after the war, and Chiang Kai-Shek and his government were forced to flee to Taiwan. Chiang Kai-shek claimed rule over China from Taiwan until his death in 1975.

4 Architect Saarinen : ELIEL

Eliel Saarinen was a Finnish architect who designed entire city districts in Helsinki. He immigrated to the United States where he became famous for his art nouveau designs. He was the father of Eero Saarinen, who was to become even more renowned in America for his designs, including the Dulles International Airport terminal, and the TWA building at JFK.

5 Alice’s cat : DINAH

Dinah is Alice’s pet cat, and a companion that she mentions quite often in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and in “Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There”.

6 Andorra’s region : IBERIA

The Iberian Peninsula in Europe is largely made up of Spain and Portugal. However, also included is the Principality of Andorra in the Pyrénées, a small part of the south of France, and the British Territory of Gibraltar. Iberia takes its name from the Ebro, the longest river in Spain, which the Romans named the “Iber”.

Andorra is a small principality nestled in the Pyrénées between France and Spain. Andorra is a very prosperous country, mainly due to its status as a tax haven and thriving tourist industry. We used help out the tourist industry there in the winters, enjoying a couple of skiing holidays there. Happy memories …

7 Op. __ : CIT

“Op. cit.” is short for “opus citatum”, Latin for “the work cited”. Op. cit. is used in footnotes to refer the reader to an earlier citation. It is similar to ibid, except that ibid refers the reader to the last citation, the one immediately above.

8 Half a fly : TSE

The tsetse fly is responsible for the transmission of sleeping sickness, a disease that is more correctly called African trypanosomiasis. The disease is only observed in humans who have been bitten by a tsetse fly that is infected with the trypanosome parasitic protozoan.

9 Ho-hum feeling : ENNUI

“Ennui” is the French word for “boredom”, and a word that we now use in English. It’s one of the few French words we’ve imported that we haven’t anglicized, and actually pronounce “correctly”.

10 Type of salad : CAESAR

The caesar salad was created by restaurateur Caesar Cardini at the Hotel Caesar’s in Tijuana, Mexico. The original recipe called for whole lettuce leaves that were to be lifted up by the stem and eaten with the fingers.

11 Parting words? : OBIT

Our word “obituary” comes from the Latin “obituaris”. The Latin term was used for “record of the death of a person”, although the literal meaning is “pertaining to death”.

12 Quaffs with punch : NOGS

It’s not really clear where the term “nog” (as in “eggnog”) comes from although it might derive from the word “noggin”, which was originally a small wooden cup that was long associated with alcoholic drinks.

14 Ersatz silk : RAYON

Rayon is a little unusual in the textile industry in that it is not truly a synthetic fiber, but nor can it be called a natural fiber. Rayon is produced from naturally occurring cellulose that is dissolved and then reformed into fibers.

Something described as ersatz is a copy, and usually not a good one. “Ersatz” comes from the German verb “ersetzen” meaning “to replace”.

16 Seats arranged in rows : PEWS

A pew is a bench in a church, one usually with a high back. The original pews were raised and sometimes enclosed seats in the church used by women and important men or families. “Pew” comes from the Old French “puie” meaning “balcony, elevation”.

17 Shrub with a purple fruit : SLOE

The sloe is the fruit of the blackthorn bush, and the main flavoring ingredient in sloe gin. A sloe looks like a small plum, but is usually much more tart in taste.

24 Baseball Hall of Famer Roush : EDD

Edd Roush was a big hitter who played Major League Baseball, starting in 1913 for the Chicago White Sox. He jumped ship to the Federal League in 1914, a league set up to compete with the already well-established National and American Leagues. The upstart league only lasted a couple of seasons. When Edd Roush passed away in 1988 at the age of 94, he was the last surviving player from the short-lived Federal League.

31 Lowest multiple of CLI that fits in this space : DCIV

Clever clue! In Roman numerals:
1 x 151 = 151 (CLI)
2 x 150 = 302 (CCCII)
3 x 150 = 453 (CDLIII)
4 x 150 = 604 (DCIV)
So, the first multiple of CLI that takes up exactly four spaces is DCIV.

33 Creator of the GOP elephant : NAST

The Republican Party has had the nickname Grand Old Party (GOP) since 1875. That said, the phrase was coined in the “Congressional Record” as “this gallant old party”. The moniker was changed to “grand old party” in 1876 in an article in the “Cincinnati Commercial”. The Republican Party’s elephant mascot dates back to an 1874 cartoon drawn by Thomas Nast for “Harper’s Weekly”. The Democrat’s donkey was already an established symbol. Nast drew a donkey clothed in a lion’s skin scaring away the other animals. One of the scared animals was an elephant, which Nast labeled “The Republican Vote”.

34 “Death in Venice” author : MANN

Thomas Mann was a German novelist whose most famous work is probably his novella “Death in Venice”. That book published originally in German in 1912 as “Der Tod in Venedig”. The story was famously adapted for the big screen in 1971, in a movie starring Dirk Bogarde.

38 Freudian topics : EGOS

Sigmund Freud created a structural model of the human psyche, breaking it into three parts: the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is that part of the psyche containing the basic instinctual drives. The ego seeks to please the id by causing realistic behavior that benefits the individual. The superego almost has a parental role, contradicting the id by introducing critical thinking and morals to behavioral choices.

39 “Dilbert” cry : GAH!

“Dilbert” is a comic strip drawn by Scott Adams, who used to be a “neighbor” of mine when I lived in the Bay Area. Adams used to be co-owner of a restaurant at the end of my street that had a menu replete with “Dilbertesque” comments.

41 Subway fare? : HERO

The SUBWAY chain of fast food restaurants is the largest single-brand restaurant in the world. I’m a big fan of SUBWAY sandwiches, especially the toasted ones …

42 God with a quiver : EROS

The name of Eros, the Greek god of love, gives rise to our word “erotic” meaning “arousing sexual desire”. Eros was referred to in Latin as both “Amor” (meaning “love”) and “Cupid” (meaning “desire”).

45 First quarterback to exceed 5,000 passing yards in a season : MARINO

Dan Marino played his whole football career with the Miami Dolphins. Marino is widely regarded as one of the game’s greatest quarterbacks, even though he never played on a team that won the Super Bowl.

48 Superfamily including gibbons : HOMINOIDS

“Hominoid” is an alternative name for “ape”.

The tailless primates known as apes (also “hominoids”) are divided into two main branches: gibbons (lesser apes) and hominids (great apes). The hominids are the great apes, and belong to the family of primates called Hominidae. Extant genera that make up the family Hominidae are:

  • chimpanzees
  • gorillas
  • humans
  • orangutans

51 German town : STADT

“Stadt” is the German word for “city, town”.

52 “Movin’ __”: ’70s-’80s sitcom theme song : ON UP

“Movin’ On Up” is the theme song for “The Jeffersons”, a sitcom that originally aired in the seventies and eighties.

53 “Smallville” character : LANA

Lana Lang is a character in the DC Comics universe. She grew up in Smallville, and was a friend of the young Clark Kent. As an adult, Lana became a rival to Lois Lane for the adult Kent’s affections. Lang has been portrayed by several actresses on the big and small screens. A unique portrayer of Lang is Annette O’Toole in the 1983 film “Superman III”. O’Toole went on to play Martha Kent, Clark Kent’s adoptive mother on the TV show “Smallville”. Apparently, the producers of “Smallville” cast O’Toole as Clark’s mother without realizing that she had once played Clark’s girlfriend.

54 Horror film helper : IGOR

In the world of movies, Igor has been the assistant to Dracula, Frankenstein and Young Frankenstein among others. Igor is almost invariably portrayed as a hunchback.

55 O.T. queen : 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”.

56 Artful dodge : JUKE

To juke is to duck or dodge. The term “juke” evolved into the early 1970s as a variant of “jook”. “Jook” is a Scottish term with the same meaning that dates back to the 1500s.

61 More under the influence : TIPSIER

The term “tipsy” comes from the verb “to tip” meaning “to overturn, knock over”, and has been meaning “drunk” since the late 1500s.

64 Soccer great Messi : LIONEL

Lionel “Leo” Messi is a soccer player from Argentina. Messi was awarded FIFA’s Ballon d’Or (Golden Ball) award from 2009 to 2013. The Ballon d’Or is presented to the player who is considered the best in the world in the prior year.

65 Inverse trig function : ARCTAN

The most familiar trigonometric functions are sine, cosine and tangent (abbreviated to “sin, cos and tan”). Each of these is a ratio: a ratio of two sides of a right-angled triangle. The “reciprocal” of these three functions are cosecant, secant and cotangent. The reciprocal functions are simply the inverted ratios, the inverted sine, cosine and tangent. These inverted ratios should not be confused with the “inverse” trigonometric functions e.g. arcsine, arccosine and arctangent. These inverse functions are the reverse of the sine, cosine and tangent.

66 Big name in tequila : CUERVO

Jose Cuervo is the world’s best-selling brand of tequila. Produced in Mexico, key to Jose Cuervo’s success was the smuggling of tequila into the US during Prohibition.

69 SpaceX CEO Musk : ELON

Elon Musk is a successful businessman who has founded or led some very high-profile companies, namely PayPal, Tesla Motors and SpaceX. Musk received a lot of publicity in early 2018 during a test launch by SpaceX of the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle. A Tesla Roadster belonging to Musk was carried into space as a dummy payload.

70 Nothing, in Nantes : RIEN

Nantes is a beautiful city located on the delta of the Loire, Erdre and Sèvre rivers. It has the well deserved nickname of “The Venice of the West”. I had the privilege of visiting Nantes a couple of times on business, and I can attest that it really is a charming city …

71 Madonna’s “La __ Bonita” : ISLA

“La Isla Bonita” (Spanish for “The Beautiful Island”) is a song recorded by Madonna as a single in 1987. It had appeared as a track on her studio album “True Blue” the year before.

72 Cassini of fashion : OLEG

French-born American fashion designer Oleg Cassini had two big names particularly associated with his designs. In the sixties he produced the state wardrobe for First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, and he was also the exclusive designer for Hollywood’s Gene Tierney, who was Cassini’s second wife.

79 “Lonely Boy” singer : ANKA

Canadian-born Paul Anka’s big hit was in 1957, the song entitled “Diana”. Anka was the subject of a much-lauded documentary film in 1962 called “Lonely Boy”.

80 Testing subject : GUINEA PIG

The guinea pig species of rodent is also known as a cavy. Guinea pigs aren’t related to pigs, and not are they from Guinea (in West Africa). Guinea pigs actually come from the Andes. They were commonly used for research in the 1800s and 1900s, and as a result we use the term “guinea pig” for a test subject to this day.

81 Palm smartphone : TREO

The Treo is a smartphone that was originally developed by a company called Handspring. Handspring was bought by Palm Inc. Subsequently, the Treo was phased out and replaced by the Palm Pre.

82 World leader who’s a judo black belt : PUTIN

Vladimir Putin became acting President of Russia at the very end of 1999 when Boris Yeltsin resigned. Putin was elected in his own right in 2000, re-elected in 2004, and then ran up against a term limit in 2008. In 2008 Putin was appointed by his successor, President Dmitry Medvedev, to the position of Prime Minister. Putin is a controversial figure, inside and outside Russia. On the one hand he led the country out of an economic crisis into a period of stability and relative prosperity. On the other hand he has been associated with government corruption and accused of allowing private concerns to have undue influence on government actions. And then, along came the 2016 US presidential election …

88 Frost-covered : RIMY

Rime is the beautiful coating of ice that forms on surfaces like roofs, trees and grass, when cold water freezes instantly under the right conditions.

97 One of two in a crash : CYMBAL

Cymbals are concave metal plates that are played as a percussion instrument by striking them with a drumstick or by clashing them together as pairs. The term “cymbal” ultimately comes from the Greek “kymbe” meaning “bowl, drinking cup”, which is a reference to the shape of the instrument.

106 __ choy : BOK

Bok choy is a variety of Chinese cabbage. “Bok choy” translates as “white vegetable”.

108 Run the show : EMCEE

The term “emcee” comes from “MC”, an initialism used for a Master or Mistress of Ceremonies.

109 Bowl-shaped pans : WOKS

“Wok” is a Cantonese word, and is the name for the frying pan now used in many Asian cuisines.

111 John’s first partner on American TV’s “The Avengers” : EMMA

“The Avengers” was must-see television when I was growing up. “The Avengers” was a sixties comedy spy series set in England during the days of the Cold War. The hero was John Steed, played ably by Patrick MacNee. Steed had various female partners as the series progressed, the first of which was Cathy Gale, played by Honor Blackman (who also played Pussy Galore in “Goldfinger”). Following Ms. Gale was Emma Peel played by the wonderful Diana Rigg. Finally there was Tara King, played by Linda Thorson.

112 Clearance item caveat : AS IS

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

118 FRA neighbor, to the IOC : ESP

Spain is the second largest country in the European Union (after France). “Spain” is an anglicized form of the Spanish name “España”, which comes from the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula “Hispania”.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) uses its own set of three-letter abbreviations for country names, e.g. HUN (Hungary), ECU (Ecuador), ESP (Spain) and CRO (Croatia).

119 Onetime Beatle Sutcliffe : STU

Stu Sutcliffe was one of the original four members of The Silver Beatles (as The Beatles were known in their early days), along with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. Sutcliffe apparently came up with the name “Beatles” along with John Lennon, as a homage to their hero Buddy Holly who was backed by the “Crickets”. By all reports, Sutcliffe wasn’t a very talented musician and was more interested in painting. He went with the group to Hamburg, more than once, but he eventually left the Beatles and went back to art school, actually studying for a while at the Hamburg College of Art. In 1962 in Hamburg, Sutcliffe collapsed with blinding headaches. He died in the ambulance on the way to hospital, his death attributed to cerebral paralysis.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Extra NHL periods : OTS
4 Official order : EDICT
9 Prefix suggesting savings : ECONO-
14 Weightlifting units : REPS
18 Like a nonexistent chance : FAT
19 Provides an excuse : ALIBIS
20 Queen Amidala’s “Star Wars” home : NABOO
21 Rink move : AXEL
22 Christmas buy : FIR
23 When the Commodore 64 computer was released : NINETEEN EIGHTY-TWO
26 Clean Air Act org. : EPA
27 Eye drop : TEAR
28 Looks for prints : DUSTS
29 Driveway hoops game : HORSE
30 World capital since 1931 : NEW DELHI, INDIA
34 Bart Simpson’s grandma : MONA
35 One might be slipped : DISC
36 California’s Santa __ River : ANA
37 Character who said about her father, “Yet he hath ever but slenderly known himself” : REGAN
40 Amigo of Fidel : CHE
43 Doctrines : ISMS
47 Tennis great : ASHE
50 Hood : GANGSTER
52 1982 Physical Tour singer : OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN
57 Corrida participant : TORO
58 Bug : NAG
59 Novel makeup : PROSE
60 Prey for a Hauskatze : MAUS
61 Starchy roots : TAROS
62 Card game shout : UNO!
63 “Cotton Candy” jazzman : HIRT
64 Defeat : LICK
65 Low-pH stuff : ACID
67 “Excuse me … ” : PARDON THE INTERRUPTION …
74 Son of Seth : ENOS
75 “Gigi” playwright : LOOS
76 Assures, as a win : ICES
77 Cal Poly campus site, initially : SLO
78 Zoo features : CAGES
81 “Beloved” novelist Morrison : TONI
82 Lab dish eponym : PETRI
83 Give the chance to : LET
84 Word on a bill : UNUM
85 What a shutout lowers : EARNED RUN AVERAGE
89 Place to get a lift : SKI SLOPE
91 Aspiring atty.’s exam : LSAT
92 Sushi roll wrap : NORI
93 Camera move : PAN
94 Ahead : ON TOP
96 Personal quirk : TIC
98 Org. giving G’s and R’s : MPAA
102 Declines : EBBS
104 Capital near Siena College : ALBANY, NEW YORK
110 Stiller’s partner : MEARA
112 Lucas droid : ARTOO
114 Quick reminder : MEMO
115 Hindu title : SRI
116 Highest grossing movie of 1980, with “The” : … EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
120 X, at times : TEN
121 Cut out : OMIT
122 Attach with twine : TIE ON
123 Unsettling looks : STARES
124 Bread grain : OAT
125 Living __ : WAGE
126 Professional gps. : ASSNS
127 One of the vitals : PULSE
128 With 87-Down, fairly : PRO …

Down

1 Insult : OFFEND
2 National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall site : TAIPEI
3 Soda shop supply : STRAWS
4 Architect Saarinen : ELIEL
5 Alice’s cat : DINAH
6 Two-nation region : IBERIA
7 Op. __ : CIT
8 Half a fly : TSE
9 Ho-hum feeling : ENNUI
10 Type of salad : CAESAR
11 Parting words? : OBIT
12 Quaffs with punch : NOGS
13 Massage reaction : OOH!
14 Ersatz silk : RAYON
15 Tool for removing broken screws : EXTRACTOR
16 Seats arranged in rows : PEWS
17 Shrub with a purple fruit : SLOE
19 Chip in a pot : ANTE
24 Baseball Hall of Famer Roush : EDD
25 Beachwear for the immodest : THONG
31 Lowest multiple of CLI that fits in this space : DCIV
32 Thunderstruck : IN AWE
33 Creator of the GOP elephant : NAST
34 “Death in Venice” author : MANN
38 Freudian topics : EGOS
39 “Dilbert” cry : GAH!
41 Subway fare? : HERO
42 God with a quiver : EROS
44 Drawing tools : SIPHONS
45 First quarterback to exceed 5,000 passing yards in a season : MARINO
46 Derisive sounds : SNORTS
48 Superfamily including gibbons : HOMINOIDS
49 Makes into law : ENACTS
51 German town : STADT
52 “Movin’ __”: ’70s-’80s sitcom theme song : ON UP
53 “Smallville” character : LANA
54 Horror film helper : IGOR
55 O.T. queen : ESTH
56 Artful dodge : JUKE
61 More under the influence : TIPSIER
64 Soccer great Messi : LIONEL
65 Inverse trig function : ARCTAN
66 Big name in tequila : CUERVO
68 Thinks : DEEMS
69 SpaceX CEO Musk : ELON
70 Nothing, in Nantes : RIEN
71 Madonna’s “La __ Bonita” : ISLA
72 Cassini of fashion : OLEG
73 Reference book reference : NOTE
78 Verge : CUSP
79 “Lonely Boy” singer : ANKA
80 Testing subject : GUINEA PIG
81 Palm smartphone : TREO
82 World leader who’s a judo black belt : PUTIN
85 Long times : EONS
86 Pertinent : APT
87 See 128-Across : … RATA
88 Frost-covered : RIMY
90 Kind of pneumonia : LOBAR
95 Benefactor : PATRON
97 One of two in a crash : CYMBAL
99 Recovery place : POST-OP
100 Overdue debt more commonly pluralized : ARREAR
101 Quite a bit like : AKIN TO
103 Shiny, in product names : BRITE
105 Butcher shop cuts : LOINS
106 __ choy : BOK
107 Is closer to reaching : NEARS
108 Run the show : EMCEE
109 Bowl-shaped pans : WOKS
110 “I’m ready to come in now” : MEOW
111 John’s first partner on American TV’s “The Avengers” : EMMA
112 Clearance item caveat : AS IS
113 Highways: Abbr. : RTES
117 Bus sched. letters : ETA
118 FRA neighbor, to the IOC : ESP
119 Onetime Beatle Sutcliffe : STU

15 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword 5 Jan 20, Sunday”

  1. 53:17 no errors…I kept staring at the circles and then it finally came to me what they were…..I got several answers via crosses such as sixty and seventy seven across

  2. 15:43. I thought it was a fun Sunday puzzle… pretty smooth sailing and mostly enjoyable. The theme was sort of “meh” but at least it was easy to uncover and then really did help with the remaining theme answers.

    I liked ARTOO right on top of EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

  3. I missed the intersection of LICK/JUKE.
    Look at how many foreign words are present in this puzzle-
    German, Japanese, Hawaiian, Indian, Latin, Spanish, French, and Lucas-speak. Also Chinese and Finnish.
    I feel so cosmopolitan now.

    I wouldn’t have gotten the Lucas-speak if I hadn’t just watched those 2 Star Wars movies with the grandkids. I can’t believe how old the first movie is–1977!

  4. I thought it was mostly pretty easy, but with problem spots. I got hung up on Madonna’s song and the Cal Poly site, which is apparently San Luis Obispo. And I never heard of juke, except for juke box.

  5. Bill explains this **stupid** theme, and I’m still like, “Whaaaaaaaaat???”

    28 mins and change, 3 naticks for a DNF and four errors besides.

  6. I always find it ironic when one decides to use the “s” word to describe something that one was unable to figure out for oneself … 🙄.

  7. Did this mostly easy Sunday on-line; took me 39:20 with one peek at the end to get the M from MEOW/MEARA. I was expecting more red letters but there was just the “P” that I had where the “M” belonged.

    Forgot to look at the theme, since the theme answers came so easily.

  8. Still trying to figure out the theme! Fun to figure out the pattern but frustrating as heck to not know what it means!

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