LA Times Crossword 25 Apr 20, Saturday

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

Today’s Theme: None

Bill’s time: 10m 27s

Bill’s errors: 2

  • HOOP (hood!!!)
  • AREPA (areda)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

15 The Canadian film “Away From Her” is based on one of her short stories : ALICE MUNRO

Alice Munro is a writer from southwestern Ontario in Canada. Munro won the 2013 Nobel Prize for Literature.Alice Munro is a writer from southwestern Ontario in Canada. Munro won the 2013 Nobel Prize for Literature.

“Away from Her” is a 2006 film adaptation of the Alice Munro short story “The Bear Came Over the Mountain”. The movie’s storyline is centered on a couple who have to deal with the wife suffering from Alzheimer’s and moving into a nursing home. Julie Christie plays the stricken wife, and Gordon Pinsent the husband. I haven’t seen this one, but it was received well by critics and audiences alike.

16 Lima locale : OHIO

Lima is a city located in northwestern Ohio, about 70 miles north of Dayton. The city is home to the Lima Army Tank Plant, where the M1 Abrams battle tank is produced. Lima is also home to the fictional William McKinley High School that is the setting for the TV series “Glee”.

17 Turn sometimes prohibited : RIGHT ON RED

If you’re sitting behind a car that doesn’t make a right on red, it may just be a rental car driven by someone from Europe. Speaking as someone who learned to drive over there, I must admit I held up a few people at red lights when I first visited this country. That’s because in Europe we aren’t allowed to make any move past a red light, unless there is an accompanying green arrow. So, if you’re driving overseas, take care …

19 Historian Yuval Noah Harari’s country: Abbr. : ISR

Yuval Noah Harari is an Israeli historian and author. His most famous work is “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind”, which was published in 2011.

20 Target for a hook : HOOP

That would be basketball.

22 Fish in a poke bowl : AHI

Poke is a Native-Hawaiian dish featuring diced raw fish. “Poke” is a Hawaiian word meaning “to slice”.

25 “Patrick Melrose” network, briefly : SHO

“Patrick Melrose” is a TV drama based on a series of semi-autobiographical novels by English author Edward St Aubyn. Benedict Cumberbatch stars in the title role, playing a troubled man whose life is overshadowed by an abusive childhood.

30 Chutney fruit : APRICOT

Chutney is a typically southern Asian condiment made from spices with vegetables or fruit. The term “chutney” comes from the Sanskrit “caṭnī” meaning “to lick”.

33 “Elusive Butterfly” singer Bob : LIND

Bob LInd is a folk singer who had just one big hit, namely “Elusive Butterfly” released in 1966. Earlier in his career, Lind wrote for the supermarket tabloid “Weekly World News”. Along with editor Dick Kulpa, Lind fabricated the infamous “Bat Boy”, a fictional creature who is half human and half bat.

38 Traitor : JUDAS

A judas is a treacherous person, with “judas” derived from the disciple named Judas Iscariot. Iscariot was paid thirty pieces of silver to identify Jesus so that he could be arrested. He did so with a kiss, at which point he was taken by the soldiers of the High Priest Caiaphas and handed over to Pontius Pilate, the prefect of the Roman province of Judea.

39 __ stick : POGO

What we know today as a pogo stick was invented in Germany by Max Pohlig and Ernst Gottschall. The name “pogo” comes from the first two letters in each of the inventors’ family names: Po-hlig and Go-ttschall.

44 Ionic and Versa : FITBITS

Fitbits are wearable activity trackers that are mainly used to track the number of steps walked, although more and more features have been added over time. A Fitbit was even used as evidence in at least one murder case. A Connecticut man claimed that a home intruder had shot and killed his wife. Police used data from the wife’s Fitbit to disprove the husband’s story, and ended up charging him with the murder.

53 Berry on-screen : HALLE

Actress Halle Berry was the first African-American woman to win a Best Actress Oscar, which she received for her performance in the 2001 movie “Monster’s Ball”. Berry also won a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress in 2005 for playing the title role in “Catwoman”, and she very graciously accepted that award in person. Good for her!

55 Count equivalent : EARL

In the ranking of nobles, an earl comes above a viscount and below a marquis. The rank of earl is used in the British peerage system and is equivalent to the rank of count in other countries. Other British ranks have female forms (e.g. marquis and marchioness, viscount and viscountess), but there isn’t a female word for the rank of earl. A female given the same rank as an earl is known as a countess.

56 “The Good Doctor” actor Daniel __ Kim : DAE

Daniel Dae Kim is an American actor who is famous for playing Jin-Soo Kwon on “Lost”. Kim moved on to play one of the leads on the CBS remake of “Hawaii Five-O”, portraying the character Chin Ho Kelly.

“The Good Doctor” is a medical-drama TV series that first aired in 2017. The title character, played by English actor Freddie Highmore, is an autistic savant surgeon working at a hospital in San Jose, California. Actor Daniel Dae Kim produces the show, which is a remake of a very successful South Korean series of the same name.

58 Most prevalent grape in Chianti : SANGIOVESE

Sangiovese is a red wine grape from Italy that is most famous as the main component in blended Chianti wines. The name “Sangiovese” comes from the Latin “sanguis Jovis” meaning “the blood of Jupiter”, a reference to the Roman god.

Chianti is a red wine from the Chianti region of central Tuscany in Italy. Historically, Chianti was stored in a characteristically bulbous bottle wrapped in a straw basket. However, the pragmatists have won the day and regular wine bottles tend to be used nowadays.

61 Snapper rival : TORO

Toro is a manufacturer of lawn mowers and snow removal equipment that is based in Bloomington, Minnesota. The company was founded in 1914 to build tractor engines.

Snapper is a manufacturer of lawn mowers and snow removal equipment. The company was founded as Southern Saw Works in 1894 and the first lawnmower produced was called the “Snappin’ Turtle”. The inventor gave it that name because he felt that the mower “snapped” the grass, and he installed a turtle figurine on the front of the first model that was sold.

62 Longtime clothing tag : UNION LABEL

A union label is a mark that signifies that workers providing a service or product are union-represented. The first union label (actually a stamp) was created in San Francisco in 1869 and was used on products made by workers on an 8-hour workday (rather than a 10-hour workday).

63 Symbol of grace : SWAN

An adult male swan is a cob, and an adult female is a pen. Young swans are swanlings or cygnets.

Down

1 It’s thrown at rodeos : LARIAT

Our word “lariat” comes from the Spanish “la reater” meaning “the rope”.

“Rodeo” is a Spanish word that is usually translated into English as “round up”.

2 Cuthbert of “24” : ELISHA

Elisha Cuthbert is a Canadian actress who came to world attention playing Kim Bauer, Jack Bauer’s daughter on TV’s “24”. After “24”, Cuthbert played one of the lead characters on the sitcom “Happy Endings” that ran from 2011 to 2013.

“24” is an action-packed TV show with Kiefer Sutherland starring as counter-terrorism agent Jack Bauer in the show’s original incarnation. The title refers to the structure of the series. Each season has 24 episodes, with each episode representing an hour of real-time action in the story. The collection of 24 episodes builds up to a plot that lasts a full 24 hours.

3 River through Iraq : TIGRIS

The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers run parallel to each other through Iraq and parts of Syria, Turkey and Iran. The fertile land between the rivers was known as Mesopotamia (Greek for “land between two rivers”).

4 MIT, for one : SCH

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was founded in 1861 and first offered classes in 1865, in the Mercantile building in Boston. Today’s magnificent campus on the banks of the Charles River in Cambridge opened in 1916.

6 Style characterized by long bangs brushed to one side : EMO HAIR

“Bangs” is another word that caught me out when I arrived in the US. “Bangs” back in Ireland are called “a fringe”. Apparently the US term is somehow derived from the name given to the hair on a horse’s head.

8 2001 scandal subject : ENRON

After all the trials following the exposure of fraud at Enron, several of the key players ended up in jail. Andrew Fastow was the Chief Financial Officer. He plea-bargained and received ten years without parole, and became the key witness in the trials of others. Even Fastow’s wife was involved and she was sentenced to one year for helping her husband hide money. Jeffrey Skilling (ex-CEO) was sentenced to 24 years and 4 months. Kenneth Lay (CEO) died in 2006 after he had been found guilty but before he could be sentenced. The accounting firm Arthur Andersen was found guilty of obstruction of justice for shredding thousands of pertinent documents and deleting emails and files (a decision that the Supreme Court later overturned on a technicality). But still, Arthur Andersen collapsed under the weight of the scandal and 85,000 people lost their jobs (despite only a handful being directly involved with Enron).

9 Colombian cornmeal cake : AREPA

Arepa is a cornmeal cake or bread that is popular in Colombian and Venezuelan cuisines in particular. Each arepa has a flat, round shape and is often split to make a sandwich.

10 City served by Ben-Gurion airport : LOD

Ben Gurion International (TLV) is Israel’s main airport, and is located in the city of Lod just a few miles southeast of Tel Aviv. The airport is named for David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister.

13 Carrier with a Chengdu hub : AIR CHINA

Air China is a flag carrier for the People’s Republic of China, and is based in Beijing. The airline is not to be confused with China Airlines, the flag carrier of the Republic of China (aka “Taiwan”).

Chengdu (also “chengtu”) is the capital city of the landlocked province of Sichuan in Southwest China. The area surrounding the city is home to many giant pandas, and the city itself is home to the Chengdu Panda Base, a giant panda research and breeding facility.

21 Mexican menu preposition : CON

Our word “with” translates into “con” in Spanish, and into “avec” in French.

27 Card worth a fortune? : TAROT

Tarot cards have been around since the mid-1400s, and for centuries were simply used for entertainment as a game. It has only been since the late 1800s that the cards have been used by fortune tellers to predict the future. The list of tarot cards includes the Wheel of Fortune, the Hanged Man and the Lovers.

29 Dust jacket promo : BLURB

The use of the word “blurb”, to describe a publicity notice on a book jacket, dates back to 1907 when it was used by American humorist Gelett Burgess. Burgess used a picture of a fictitious young woman named Miss Belinda Blurb on the dust jacket of a limited run of his 1906 book “Are You a Bromide?” That jacket proclaimed “YES, this is a ‘BLURB’!” The term persists to this day, without the young damsel.

31 Collectible frame : CEL

In the world of animation, a cel is a transparent sheet on which objects and characters are drawn. In the first half of the 20th century the sheet was actually made of celluloid, giving the “cel” its name.

34 Unauthorized photos of yet-to-be-released cars : SPY SHOTS

In the automotive industry, a spy shot is a photo taken of a car without permission. Such pictures are usually snapped in the prototype stage, and are intended to reveal to the public future models before they hit the market.

36 “Beautiful” singer : AGUILERA

Christina Aguilera is a singer who got her start on television’s “Star Search”. From there she took a role on Disney’s “The Mickey Mouse Club”. Like several singers today it seems, Aguilera developed a more provocative alter ego for herself. She had a few body piercings, dyed her hair black and adopted the name “Xtina”.

38 “I Love Rock ‘n Roll” singer : JETT

“Joan Jett” is the stage name of rock guitarist and singer Joan Marie Larkin. She is best known as a member of the band Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, which formed in 1979.

“I Love Rock ‘n Roll” was recorded first by the Arrows, in 1975, and was written by the band’s lead singer Alan Merrill. The most famous version of the song was recorded in 1982 by Joan Jett & the Blackheads. Great song …

40 Generic surname : DOE

Though the English court system does not use the term today, “John Doe” first appeared as the “name of a person unknown” in England in 1659, along with the similar “Richard Roe”. An unknown female is referred to as “JaneDoe ”, and the equivalent to Richard Roe is Jane Roe (as in Roe v. Wade, for example). Variants of “John Doe” used outside of the courts are “Joe Blow” and “John Q. Public”.

45 Seeing red? : IN DEBT

To be in the red is to be in debt, to owe money. The expression “in the red” is a reference to the accounting practice of recording debts and losses in red ink in ledgers. The related phrase “in the black” means “solvent, making a profit”.

46 Plant with prickly leaves : TEASEL

“Teasel” is a common name given to plants in the genus dipsacus. The name comes from an Old English word meaning “to tease”. This derivation probably comes from the use of the dried plant heads in the textile industry “to tease” (raise up) the nap on woolen cloth.

47 “Fifty Shades of Grey” heroine Ana __ : STEELE

“Fifty Shades of Grey” is an incredibly popular erotic novel by British writer E. L. James. “Fifty Shades of Grey” is the fastest-selling paperback of all time. There are two other titles to complete the trilogy: “Fifty Shades Darker” and “Fifty Shades Freed”.

50 Bingo relative : BEANO

The game called Beano is a precursor to Bingo. Beano was so called as dried beans were used to cover the called numbers on a card.

51 Took to the cooler : RAN IN

The cooler, the pen, the joint, the slammer, the can … the prison.

54 City north of Marseille : LYON

The city of Lyon in France, is sometimes known as “Lyons” in English. Lyon is the second-largest metropolitan area in the country, after Paris. It is located just to the north of the confluence of the Rhône and Saône Rivers.

Marseille (often written “Marseilles” in English) is the second largest city in France, after Paris. Marseille is also the largest commercial port in the country. I used to live nearby, and can attest that Marseille and environs is a great place to visit …

58 South of Versailles? : SUD

Versailles is a city located just 10 miles from the center of Paris. It is famous as home to the magnificent Palace of Versailles. The palace started out as a hunting lodge built in the village of Versailles in 1624, built for Louis XIII. Louis XIII extended the lodge into a full-blown château, but it was Louis XIV who expanded it into one of the largest palaces on the planet. Louis XIV moved the royal court from Paris to Versailles starting in 1678.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 “Stop kidding yourself” : LET’S BE REAL
11 Hits or runs : STAT
15 The Canadian film “Away From Her” is based on one of her short stories : ALICE MUNRO
16 Lima locale : OHIO
17 Turn sometimes prohibited : RIGHT ON RED
18 Take risks : DARE
19 Historian Yuval Noah Harari’s country: Abbr. : ISR
20 Target for a hook : HOOP
21 Hidden difficulty : CATCH
22 Fish in a poke bowl : AHI
23 “Are you comin’?” : WANNA GO?
25 “Patrick Melrose” network, briefly : SHO
26 “Take a bite!” : TASTE IT!
28 Awaiting trial, maybe : ON BAIL
30 Chutney fruit : APRICOT
33 “Elusive Butterfly” singer Bob : LIND
34 Zero hour : START
37 “Not a huge fan” : MEH
38 Traitor : JUDAS
39 __ stick : POGO
40 Get the job done : DELIVER
42 “And here I thought I was the only one” : YOU TOO?
44 Ionic and Versa : FITBITS
48 __ run : SKI
49 Internet security company acquired by Carbonite in 2019 : WEBROOT
52 Bug snare : NET
53 Berry on-screen : HALLE
55 Count equivalent : EARL
56 “The Good Doctor” actor Daniel __ Kim : DAE
57 Conform to : OBEY
58 Most prevalent grape in Chianti : SANGIOVESE
61 Snapper rival : TORO
62 Longtime clothing tag : UNION LABEL
63 Symbol of grace : SWAN
64 “You deserve better” : DON’T SETTLE

Down

1 It’s thrown at rodeos : LARIAT
2 Cuthbert of “24” : ELISHA
3 River through Iraq : TIGRIS
4 MIT, for one : SCH
5 Ante matter? : BET
6 Style characterized by long bangs brushed to one side : EMO HAIR
7 Arrive as scheduled : RUN ON TIME
8 2001 scandal subject : ENRON
9 Colombian cornmeal cake : AREPA
10 City served by Ben-Gurion airport : LOD
11 Common mixer : SODA
12 “However … ” : THAT SAID …
13 Carrier with a Chengdu hub : AIR CHINA
14 Initial access points : TOEHOLDS
21 Mexican menu preposition : CON
23 Turned blue? : WEPT
24 Understood : GOT
27 Card worth a fortune? : TAROT
29 Dust jacket promo : BLURB
31 Collectible frame : CEL
32 “Oops, slipped my mind” : OH, I FORGOT
34 Unauthorized photos of yet-to-be-released cars : SPY SHOTS
35 Acknowledged applause : TOOK A BOW
36 “Beautiful” singer : AGUILERA
38 “I Love Rock ‘n Roll” singer : JETT
40 Generic surname : DOE
41 String section : VIOLINS
43 Be shy : OWE
45 Seeing red? : IN DEBT
46 Plant with prickly leaves : TEASEL
47 “Fifty Shades of Grey” heroine Ana __ : STEELE
50 Bingo relative : BEANO
51 Took to the cooler : RAN IN
54 City north of Marseille : LYON
58 South of Versailles? : SUD
59 Spirited cheer : OLE!
60 Winery vessel : VAT

7 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword 25 Apr 20, Saturday”

  1. 14:10, no errors. Had FISH before HOOP (which then took me a while to understand) and GONNA GO(?) before WANNA GO(?). Not familiar with SAN GIOVESE, but all the crosses were solid.

    And it’s as lonely around here as it is in my house … 😳 … 😜.

  2. 38D “I Love Rock ‘n Roll” singer : JETT – The second reference to Joan Jett’s group should be the BlackHEARTS, not the BlackHEADS (ewww).

  3. Both easy (top half) and kind of tough (bottom half) today. Finished in 40 minutes or so with no errors surprisingly – I didn’t know TEASEL or TORO, but guessed right. A lot of PPPs, most of who I didn’t know, but the crosses and good guessing got me through. I changed DAy to DAE, just because STyELE didn’t look right.

    @Bill – I agree with Peter, you got Blackhearts, right once, but the second time wrong.

    It is kind of quiet in here…

  4. Hi every buddy!!🦆

    Didn’t have time to do much more than a quarter of the puzzle but wanted to come here for Bill’s write-up and the comments. And I really like Burnikel! Guess the heat in LA is making me lazy.

    I like SPY SHOT and EMOHAIR– new terms to work into conversations (on Skype or facetime, I mean…)🤗

    Be safe ~~🍷

  5. Hi everybody, I just wanted a suggest a correction to the “1 Down: It’s thrown at rodeos : LARIAT” clue explanation.

    “Lariat” comes from the Spanish “la reata” not “la reater.” Reater is not a word in Spanish, and it looks like it’s just a typo here. Reata is Castilian Spanish for “rope” and comes from re-atar, to retie, as in lassos or ropes around horses. In rural Mexican ranchero culture, “la riata” also refers to rope/lasso; the spelling change probably occurred due to changes in pronunciation over time. Both “reata” and “riata” can also mean “a beating” and have vulgar connotations in Mexico and Central America.

    https://dle.rae.es/reata
    https://dle.rae.es/riata

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