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Constructed by: Gail Grabowski & Bruce Venzke
Edited by: Rich Norris
Today’s Reveal Answer: Bucket of Bolts
Themed answers each end with a synonym of “JALOPY, BUCKET OF BOLTS”:
- 38A Jalopy found at the ends of four other long answers : BUCKET OF BOLTS
- 18A Organic gardening staple : COMPOST HEAP
- 24A One experiencing too much stress : NERVOUS WRECK
- 51A Shipping need : PACKING CRATE
- 59A Aggressive male gorilla, for one : CHEST-BEATER
Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers
Want to discuss the puzzle? Then …
… leave a comment
Bill’s time: 6m 13s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
1 Drug used in microdosing therapies : LSD
Psychedelic microdosing is the practice of taking extremely low doses of psychedelic drugs in order to promote creativity and well-being. Drugs commonly used are lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin (found in “magic mushrooms”). Hmm …
13 Prefix for a lifesaving “Pen” : EPI-
EpiPen is a brand of epinephrine auto-injector. An EpiPen delivers a measured dose of epinephrine, which is a common treatment for an extreme allergic reaction.
14 WWII wolf pack unit : U-BOAT
The term “U-boat” comes from the German word “Unterseeboot” (undersea boat). U-boats were primarily used in WWII to enforce a blockade against enemy commercial shipping, with a main objective being to cut off the supplies being transported to Britain from the British colonies and the US. The epic fight for control of the supply routes became known as the Battle of the Atlantic.
16 Irish actor Milo : O’SHEA
Milo O’Shea was a great Irish character actor from Dublin who has appeared in everything from “Romeo and Juliet” to “The West Wing”. O’Shea passed away in 2013, in New York City.
17 __-relief : BAS
In bas-relief, an image projects just a little above the background, as in perhaps a head depicted on a coin.
18 Organic gardening staple : COMPOST HEAP
Composting is the process of decomposing organic matter to make the soil conditioner known as “compost”. The term “compost” ultimately comes from the Latin “com” (together) and “ponere” (to place). Compost is best made by “putting together” green waste that is rich in nitrogen, with brown waste that is rich in carbon, all in the presence of water and air.
20 Crafts, in Sevilla : ARTES
The city of Seville (“Sevilla” in Spanish) is the capital of Andalusia in southern Spain. Seville is a favored setting for many operas including “The Barber of Seville” by Rossini, “Fidelio” by Beethoven and Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and “The Marriage of Figaro”.
29 Former province of eastern Cuba : ORIENTE
Oriente was one of six provinces of Cuba, up until 1976 when it was split up into five new provinces. The name “Oriente” is now used for the eastern part of the country. “Oriente” is the Spanish for “east”.
32 Calligrapher’s tip : NIB
“Nib” is a Scottish variant of the Old English word “neb”, with both meaning the beak of a bird. This usage of “nib” as a beak dates back to the 14th century, with “nib” meaning the tip of a pen or quill coming a little later, in the early 1600s.
Calligraphy is the art of fine handwriting. The term “calligraphy” comes from the Greek “kallos” meaning “beauty” and “graphein” meaning “to write”.
33 Post-WWII alliance : NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded not long after WWII in 1949 and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. The first NATO Secretary General was Lord Ismay, Winston Churchill’s chief military assistant during WWII. Famously, Lord Ismay said the goal of NATO was “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.”
36 Bend at the barre : PLIE
The French word for “bent” is “plié”. In the ballet move known as a plié, the knees are bent. A “demi-plié” is a similar move, but with less bending of the knees.
A barre is a handrail used by ballet dancers for warm-up exercises and to provide support when practicing certain moves.
38 Jalopy found at the ends of four other long answers : BUCKET OF BOLTS
The origins of our word “jalopy”, meaning “dilapidated, old motor car”, seem to have been lost in time, but the word has been around since the 1920s. One credible suggestion is that it comes from Xalapa, Mexico as the Xalapa scrap yards were the destination for many discarded American automobiles.
42 Texas ALer : ‘STRO
The Houston baseball team changed its name to the Astros (sometimes “’Stros”) from the Colt .45s in 1965 when they started playing in the Astrodome. The Astrodome was so called in recognition of the city’s long association with the US space program. The Astros moved from the National League to the American League starting in the 2013 season.
American League (AL)
43 H.H. Munro’s pen name : SAKI
Hector Hugh Munro was a British writer, actually born in Burma. Munro was famous for his short stories, which he published using the pen name “Saki”. His most well-known story is “The Open Window”, which ends with the great line “Romance at short notice was her specialty”.
44 DDE’s WWII command : ETO
Dwight D. Eisenhower (DDE) was the 34th US president, but he wanted to be remembered as a soldier. He was a five-star general during WWII in charge of the Allied Forces in the European Theater of Operations (ETO). President Eisenhower died in 1969 at Walter Reed Army Hospital. He was buried in an $80 standard soldier’s casket in his army uniform in a chapel on the grounds of the beautiful Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas.
46 Many, many moons : EONS
Geological time is divided into a number of units of varying lengths. These are, starting from the largest:
- supereon
- eon (also “aeon”)
- era
- period
- epoch
- age
54 Jazz horn : SAX
The saxophone was invented by Belgian musician Adolphe Sax, hence the name. Sax developed lip cancer at one point in his life, and one has to wonder if his affliction was related to his saxophone playing (I am sure not!). I had the privilege of visiting Sax’s grave in the Cemetery of Montmartre in Paris a few years ago.
57 Part of a Swiss skyline : ALP
There are eight Alpine countries:
- Austria
- Slovenia
- France
- Switzerland
- Liechtenstein
- Germany
- Monaco
- Italy
58 Movie with gunslingers : OATER
The term “oater” that is used for a Western movie comes from the number of horses seen, as horses love oats!
59 Aggressive male gorilla, for one : CHEST-BEATER
The gorilla is the largest primate still in existence, and is one of the nearest living species to humans. Molecular biology studies have shown that our nearest relatives are in fact the species in the genus Pan (the chimpanzee and the bonobo), which split from the human branch of the family 4-6 million years ago. Gorillas and humans diverged at a point about 7 million years ago. The term “gorilla” derives from the Greek “gorillai” meaning “tribe of hairy women”. Wow …!
64 Stage legend Hagen : UTA
Uta Hagen was a German-born American actress. Hagen married Jose Ferrer in 1938, but they were divorced ten years later after it was revealed that she was having a long-running affair with Paul Robeson. Her association with Robeson, a prominent civil rights activist, earned her a spot on the Hollywood Blacklist during the McCarthy Era. This forced her away from film, but towards a successful stage career in New York City.
65 OB/GYN test : AMNIO
Amniocentesis (“amnio” for short) is the prenatal test which involves the removal of a small amount of the amniotic fluid surrounding the fetus using a hypodermic needle. The fluid naturally contains some fetal cells, the DNA of which can then be tested to determine the sex of the child and to check for the presence of genetic abnormalities.
66 Dickens’ “The Mystery of __ Drood” : EDWIN
“The Mystery of Edwin Drood” is an unfinished novel by Charles Dickens. The story itself is centered not on the title character, but on Edwin Drood’s uncle, a choirmaster named John Jasper.
70 Application file suffix : EXE
In the Windows operating system, a file with the extension .exe is an “executable” file.
Down
1 Israel’s northern neighbor : LEBANON
Lebanon lies at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. The nation has a rich cultural history, and was home to the ancient civilization of Phoenicia. The name “Lebanon” derives from the Semitic word “lbn” meaning “white”, and is probably a reference to the snow that caps the mountain range known as Mount Lebanon, which parallels the Mediterranean coast.
2 Slab on the grill : SPARERIBS
Spareribs are so called because “spare” can indicate the absence of fat.
4 Seat of Pima County, Arizona : TUCSON
Tucson is the second largest city in Arizona (after Phoenix). The founding father of the city was Hugh O’Conor, yet another Irishman, but one who was raised in Spain. O’Conor was a mercenary working for Spain when he authorized the construction of a military fort called Presidio San Augustín del Tucsón in 1775, which eventually grew into the city that we know today. The Spanish name “Tucsón” comes from the local name “Cuk Ṣon”, which translates as “(at the) base of the black (hill)”.
5 Blood-typing letters : ABO
Here is an approximate distribution of blood types across the US population:
- O-positive: 38 percent
- O-negative: 7 percent
- A-positive: 34 percent
- A-negative: 6 percent
- B-positive: 9 percent
- B-negative: 2 percent
- AB-positive: 3 percent
- AB-negative: 1 percent
6 URL ending : COM
An Internet address (like NYXCrossword.com and LAXCrossword.com) is more correctly called a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
9 __ Wednesday : ASH
In the Christian tradition, the first day in the season of Lent is called Ash Wednesday. On Ash Wednesday, Palm Crosses from the prior year’s Palm Sunday are burned. The resulting ashes are mixed with sacred oil and then used to anoint worshipers on the forehead with the shape of a cross.
10 “Better Call Saul” actress Seehorn : RHEA
Rhea Seehorn is an actress best known for playing lawyer Kim Wexler in the TV crime drama “Better Call Saul”.
“Better Call Saul” is a spin-off drama series from the hit show “Breaking Bad”. The main character is small-time lawyer Saul Goodman, played by Bob Odenkirk, who featured in the original series. “Better Call Saul” is set six years before Goodman makes an appearance in the “Breaking Bad” storyline. The lawyer’s real name is James Morgan McGill, and his pseudonym is a play on the words “S’all good, man!”
19 Crock-Pot dish : STEW
We often use the term “crockpot” as an alternative for “slow cooker”. The generic term comes from the trademark “Crock-Pot”, which is now owned by Sunbeam products.
21 “Not a creature was stirring” time : EVE
The poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” was published anonymously in 1823, and is better known today by its first line “‘Twas the night before Christmas”. Most scholars believe that the poem was written by Clement Clarke Moore, a theologian from New York City. Others say that it was written by Henry Livingston, Jr., a poet from Upstate New York.
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ’kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash …
25 Magazine founder Eric : UTNE
The “Utne Reader” is known for aggregation and republishing of articles on politics, culture and the environment from other sources in the media. It was founded in 1984 by Eric Utne, with management taken over by Eric’s wife Nina Rothschild Utne in 1990.
26 Senate posts : SEATS
The US Senate comprises 100 senators, with each of the fifty states being represented by two popularly elected senators. US senators were appointed by their state legislators from 1798 through 1913, until the Seventeenth Amendment called for popular elections.
27 Consigliere’s boss : CAPO
A consigliere (plural “consiglieri”) is a trusted advisor and confidant to a Mafia boss. “Consigliere” is Italian for “counselor”. The pecking order in a Mafia family is boss, underboss, consigliere.
More properly called a caporegime, a capo is a high-ranking member of the Mafia (Cosa Nostra).
28 Decide not to run : KILL
The catch and kill technique used by some tabloid newspapers got a lot of public attention in recent years due to revelations that the maneuver was employed by the “National Enquirer” to benefit some high-profile individuals. The “catch” is the purchase of exclusive rights to publish a damaging story about an individual. The “kill” is the decision not to publish.
37 Levy put on heirs : ESTATE TAX
In many jurisdictions, there is a difference between an estate tax and an inheritance tax. An estate tax is applied to the assets of the deceased, whereas an inheritance tax is applied to a legacy received by a beneficiary of an estate.
40 Hawaiian coffee district : KONA
Kona coffee is cultivated on the Big Island of Hawaii, on the slopes of Mauna Loa and Hualalai, two of the five volcanoes on the island. Coffee plants were brought to Kona in 1828 and late in the 19th century, coffee became a viable and worthwhile crop. Today Kona is one of the most expensive and popular coffees in the world.
41 Microsoft search engine : BING
Bing is the search engine from Microsoft. Bing is the latest name for an engine that Microsoft used to call Live Search, Windows Live Search and MSN Search.
52 Swiss abstractionist Paul : KLEE
Artist Paul Klee was born in Switzerland, but studied art in Munich in Germany. We can see many of Klee’s works in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. If you get to Bern in Switzerland, even more of them can be seen at the Zentrum Paul Klee that was opened in 2005. Klee’s most celebrated work is his pointillist painting from 1932 called “Ad Parnassum”, which is owned by the Kunstmuseum, also located in Bern.
53 Tablets at a Genius Bar : IPADS
The technical support desk found in Apple Retail Stores is rather inventively called the Genius Bar. The certified support technicians are known as “Geniuses”. The trainees are called GYOs: Grow-Your-Own-Geniuses.
56 Princess played by Lucy Lawless : XENA
The Xena character, played by New Zealander Lucy Lawless, was introduced in a made-for-TV movie called “Hercules and the Amazon Women”. Lawless reprised the role in a series called “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys”. Xena became so popular that a series was built around her character, with Lawless retained for the title role. The fictional Xena supposedly came from the “non-fictional” Greek city of Amphipolis.
61 Hasbro product : TOY
The Hasbro toy company was founded in 1923, to sell textile remnants. The founders were Herman, Hillel and Henry Hassenfeld, three brothers and hence the name “Hasbro”. The company diversified into toys in the early forties, with the first real market success being Mr. Potato Head.
Read on, or …
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Drug used in microdosing therapies : LSD
4 Corkboard item : TACK
8 Whoop it up : PARTY
13 Prefix for a lifesaving “Pen” : EPI-
14 WWII wolf pack unit : U-BOAT
16 Irish actor Milo : O’SHEA
17 __-relief : BAS
18 Organic gardening staple : COMPOST HEAP
20 Crafts, in Sevilla : ARTES
22 So yesterday : OUT
23 Donkey : ASS
24 One experiencing too much stress : NERVOUS WRECK
29 Former province of eastern Cuba : ORIENTE
30 Cry like a baby : WAIL
32 Calligrapher’s tip : NIB
33 Post-WWII alliance : NATO
36 Bend at the barre : PLIE
38 Jalopy found at the ends of four other long answers : BUCKET OF BOLTS
42 Texas ALer : ‘STRO
43 H.H. Munro’s pen name : SAKI
44 DDE’s WWII command : ETO
46 Many, many moons : EONS
48 Ensnared : IN A TRAP
51 Shipping need : PACKING CRATE
54 Jazz horn : SAX
57 Part of a Swiss skyline : ALP
58 Movie with gunslingers : OATER
59 Aggressive male gorilla, for one : CHEST-BEATER
64 Stage legend Hagen : UTA
65 OB/GYN test : AMNIO
66 Dickens’ “The Mystery of __ Drood” : EDWIN
67 Word before or after pack : RAT
68 Like some pasta sauces : MEATY
69 Male deliveries : SONS
70 Application file suffix : EXE
Down
1 Israel’s northern neighbor : LEBANON
2 Slab on the grill : SPARERIBS
3 Hand out : DISTRIBUTE
4 Seat of Pima County, Arizona : TUCSON
5 Blood-typing letters : ABO
6 URL ending : COM
7 “Bam!” : KAPOW!
8 Greenhouse vessel : POT
9 __ Wednesday : ASH
10 “Better Call Saul” actress Seehorn : RHEA
11 Herbal brews : TEAS
12 Shrill barks : YAPS
15 Take in the sights : TOUR
19 Crock-Pot dish : STEW
21 “Not a creature was stirring” time : EVE
25 Magazine founder Eric : UTNE
26 Senate posts : SEATS
27 Consigliere’s boss : CAPO
28 Decide not to run : KILL
31 English major’s field : LITERATURE
34 Come __ standstill : TO A
35 Next __: close relative : OF KIN
37 Levy put on heirs : ESTATE TAX
39 Farm output : CROP
40 Hawaiian coffee district : KONA
41 Microsoft search engine : BING
45 Manage : OPERATE
47 Sign of healing : SCAB
49 Future oaks : ACORNS
50 __-la-la : TRA
52 Swiss abstractionist Paul : KLEE
53 Tablets at a Genius Bar : IPADS
54 Bogus offer : SCAM
55 Sighed lament : AH ME
56 Princess played by Lucy Lawless : XENA
60 “Take a load off” : SIT
61 Hasbro product : TOY
62 Couple : TWO
63 A, in German class : EIN
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21 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword 17 Jun 20, Wednesday”
Comments are closed.
5:25, no errors.
@Elaine (yesterday)
Efficiency, mainly. Then with experience, you start learning to read the clues well enough (if they’re accurate or don’t have non-word answers) to associate words right out of the gate. Even though, there’s solvers that compete in the ACPT that are twice to three times as fast as most of us here.
No errors.. Quick finish.. Didn’t know Genius Bar was an Apple thing. Never heard of them..
Watched a pseudo-documentary about the sinking of the Lusitania. A research group found it about a mile underwater and about 12 miles off the Irish coast. The ship brass was in mint condition. They could read the makers of the brass products it was so clear. The kicker was the reading of the UBOAT captains log. The UBOAT fired one torpedo and the ship was listing heavily within 7 minutes. He decided not to fire a second torpedo because of the ‘poor souls’ He saw jumping in the water. Women and children among them.. Kind of a contorted conscientious moment. Why did he fire on a cruise liner to begin with? It was a cruise liner.. What did he think he would see ?? It did have gun mounts so I guess it was considered a target.
The ship was carrying ammunitions, a LOT of ammunition. These were found when ship was found. Sad for those in board, but part of war. Also Germany embassy had an ad in the paper next to add for passenger ships, that all ships flying flags of enemy, England ,U.S. etc and in waters off the English Isles were in war areas and would be fired on. Erik Larson has a great book about sinking of Luisitania, Dead Wake. Great read, all his books are great reads as far as I’m concerned. He takes a historical event and tells the story with facts but in a wonderful way.
As I understand it, the hierarchy of the mob goes, soldier, capo, underboss, boss with the consigliere off to the side reporting to the upper leadership. So the clue should be ‘Soldier’s boss’.
Good puzzle. Nice theme. Lots of long answers. Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venzke are 2 of the better constructors out there.
@chris is right about 27d, capo. The lawyers boss is the godfather or main boss, like Gotti & all the rest. Ok puzzle & theme, but never heard of a jalopy called a beater.
In Australia, those who repair damaged cars are called ‘panel beaters’…
Mostly easy, no Googles. Had SCAr before SCAB, Alas before AHME. in my opinion, the latter is lame. Maybe they had Alas first. Didn’t know LSD was used this way. Back in the 60’s it was my drug of choice, but I took it seriously, and would hesitate to use it that way.
I do the puzzles very slowly, and as my eyes aren’t what they used to be, even more slowly than a few years ago. I believe some of these speedy solvers operate from their spinal chords and not from conscious thinking; thus, similarly to musicians, basketball players, even knitters.
7:55, no errors, no complaints.
Good time. I I had higher hopes for us, but we could only drag out 70%. Pop Quiz
for the math whizzes – how many squares did we either miss or leave blank?
Answer tomorrow. The method was given either yesterday or the day before.
I hope you got my letter by now. You can Google GOLFCROSS and watch videos of
the game being played in New Zealand with the oval-shaped ball. It is neat; when
you get near the “green”, there is no hole in t he ground, rather a structure that looks
like football goalposts and it has a net. The idea is to hit the ball into the net. If your
ball is to either side of the tructure, the structure can be manually rotated 90 degrees
to face you. Where did you find the oval ball that started this interesting search? I
understand that they sell them, but they are quite pricey. Google GOLFCROSS SHOP.
Fun and games. Hi to Jeff and thanks for recommending me; I’m having fun.
@John Daigle …
This puzzle had 181 non-black squares. If you filled 126 of those squares correctly, your percentage was approximately 69.613, which rounds to 70. If you filled 127 of them correctly, your percentage was approximately 70.166, which also rounds to 70. So the proper answer to your pop quiz is … one can’t be sure … 😜.
As for the golf ball question: I have not yet received your response. As I tried to say in my letter to you, though, the ball I found (as shown in the first photo I sent) is definitely not a GolfCross ball (as shown in the second photo I sent). It looks a lot like the ball I found for sale on eBay (as shown in the third photo I sent).
I had read a good deal about the game of GolfCross and found it quite interesting, but was unable to find very much online about the ball I found (which was half-buried in dirt beside a road and had probably been there for quite a while).
So … still looking forward to reading your letter.
Another doable puzzle.
Eddie
12:37, no errors. Got bogged down a bit in North Central, but endured to the finish.
Nice theme — was reminded of some cars I owned! Bill, thanks for explanation on Tucson. I spent some time there but never knew where the name came from. Stay safe everyone!
As someone noted earlier, GG and BV are indeed a skilled pair. Today’s offering was a fine midweek puz, with a well-executed theme. IMHO, the only glaring weak spots are in the NE (proper nouns — an Irish actor and an American TV actress — crossing at the very heart of the quadrant is poor form) and SW, with AHME (hi, Ms. Blando) at 55D. Oh, yeah … 29A answer ain’t exactly a household name, but crosses made it easy enough to suss out. (And, uh, at 28D uh … “Decide not to run” means KILL anywhere outside a newsroom or programmers’ meeting? If you say so.)
19:34 no errors…when I got up this morning something told me I would need to know a former province of eastern Cuba…turns out I was right.
I am a big fan of BETTER CALL SAUL and now I know where he got his name. Thanks Bill.
Stay safe.
6:25 no errors
Words I’ve leaved from crosswords put to use today:
OATER
‘STRO
EXACT same finishing time as yesterday, 10 mins, 10 seconds, and no errors. Pretty straightforward.
Bill, you misspoke by saying U-Boats were “primarily WWII craft”. Their use in WWI was one of the primary reasons America joined the Allies in 1917. WWII was a second act for them (although, you can actually find evidence of such vessels as early as the Civil War; they weren’t very effective, though)
Interesting! I would have guessed that U-Boats were a WWII thing. I’m surprised that the technology was around during WWI. Operating one must have been a dangerous occupation?
And I now realize that the sinking of the Lusitania was a WWI event! Live and learn … and forget … and relearn … repeat from above … 🙂.
Pretty easy Wednesday for me; took 14 minutes with 1 error by inattention. I goofed up SAKe/BeNG, which happened due to me using lower case letters and not seeing a “g” instead of an “a.” *Tsk*
I also had to change Weep to WAIL to get that slightly confusing section fixed.
@Carrie – So, what kind of stuff was in that blog that so upset the ebay clowns. I gather it was from some of the comments left on the blog entries, but no idea on what they were.