LA Times Crossword 13 Sep 20, Sunday

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

Today’s Theme: On the Horizon

Themed answers each start with S- and end with -IGHT:

  • 112A Visible … or, literally, where most inner letters of this puzzle’s eight other longest Across answers are situated : WITHIN SIGHT
  • 23A Problem for an aspiring thespian : STAGE FRIGHT
  • 29A “The Mask of Zorro” scene : SWORD FIGHT
  • 35A “My bad” : SERVES ME RIGHT
  • 50A Help explain, with “on” : SHED SOME LIGHT
  • 65A Real predicament : SORRY PLIGHT
  • 83A NBC debut of 1975 : SATURDAY NIGHT
  • 95A Discovery voyage : SHUTTLE FLIGHT
  • 102A Tucking-in wish : SLEEP TIGHT

Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 12m 52s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

10 Bargain bin caveat : AS IS

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

18 Amethyst hue : LILAC

Amethyst is a form of quartz that is purple in color. There was a belief that the stone protected the owner from drunkenness, which is how amethyst got its name. The Ancient Greek “ἀméthystos” means “not intoxicated”.

21 Org. for women drivers : LPGA

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) was founded in 1950 by a group of 13 lady golfers, and today it is the oldest ongoing women’s sports professional organization in the US.

23 Problem for an aspiring thespian : STAGE FRIGHT

A thespian is an actor. The term derives from the name of the Greek poet of the 6th century, Thespis, who is known as the father of Greek tragedy.

25 Bird clumsy on land : LOON

The common loon (also “great northern diver”) is the provincial bird of Ontario, and the state bird of Minnesota. The loon once appeared on Canadian $20 bills and also appears on the Canadian one-dollar coin, giving the coin the nickname “the loonie”.

27 Handspeak.com subj. : ASL

American Sign Language (ASL)

29 “The Mask of Zorro” scene : SWORD FIGHT

“The Mask of Zorro” is a 1998 action film starring Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones. The movie was a big hit, and led to a less well-received sequel titled “The Legend of Zorro” in 2005.

32 “New Rules” author Bill : MAHER

Bill Maher is a stand-up comedian and political commentator. Maher has an HBO television show called “Real Time with Bill Maher” which is essentially a follow-on from the very successful “Politically Incorrect” program that started out on Comedy Central.

44 Barilla alternative : RAGU

The Ragú brand of pasta sauce is owned by Unilever. The name ” Ragù” is the Italian word for a sauce used to dress pasta, however the spelling is a little off. In Italian, the word is “Ragù” with a grave accent over the “u”, but if you look at a jar of the sauce on the supermarket shelf it is spelled “Ragú” on the label, with an acute accent. Sometimes I think we just don’t try …

Barilla is a supplier of Italian foods that is headquartered in Parma, Italy. It was founded as a bakery shop in Parma back in 1877, and now supplies almost 50% of the pasta sold in Italy, and about 15% of pasta sold in the US.

45 Story-telling dance : HULA

The hula is a native dance of Hawaii that uses arm movements to relate a story. The hula can be performed while sitting (a noho dance) or while standing (a luna dance).

46 Panamanian pronoun : ESA

The nation that we now know as Panama sits on an isthmus that formed about 3 million years ago. The isthmus was the result of a land bridge forming between North and South America as two tectonic plates of the Earth’s crust slowly collided. Man first attempted to create a waterway across the Isthmus of Panama in 1881, but the 48-mile long Panama Canal only opened for business in 1914.

54 Energizer specification : AAA

We are all fairly familiar with the Energizer Bunny, I am guessing. The Energizer Bunny was introduced in 1989 to promote Energizer batteries, by parodying the Duracell Bunny that had been introduced in 1973.

55 Prestige : CACHET

“Cachet” is a French word that we use in English for an official seal, usually one applied to a document. We also use the term figuratively. When we say that something has “a certain cachet”, we are implying that it has a certain level of prestige, as if some authority has given it a seal of approval.

57 Resistance units : OHMS

The unit of electrical resistance is the ohm (with the symbol omega) named after German physicist Georg Simon Ohm. Ohm was the guy who established experimentally that the amount of current flowing through a circuit is directly proportional to the voltage applied, (V=IR) a relationship that every school kid knows as Ohm’s Law.

58 Hirsch of “Into the Wild” : EMILE

Emile Hirsch is an actor from Topanga, California. Hirsch’s most famous role was the lead in the 2007 drama “Into the Wild”.

“Into the Wild” is an interesting film directed by Sean Penn that is based on a nonfiction book of the same name by Jon Krakauer. The book and movie tell the true story of Christopher McCandless, a young man who hiked into the Alaskan wilderness with very little food and equipment, seeking an extended period of solitude. After four months alone he was found dead from starvation. At time of death, he weighed only 67 pounds.

59 “Tik Tok” singer : KESHA

“Kesha” (formerly “Ke$ha”) is the stage name used by singer Kesha Rose Sebert.

61 Did a farrier’s work : SHOED

A blacksmith is someone who forges and shapes iron, perhaps to make horseshoes. A farrier is someone who fits horseshoes onto the hooves of horses. The term “blacksmith” is sometimes used for one who shoes horses, especially as many blacksmiths make horseshoes and fit them as well.

62 Prado display : ARTE

The Museo del Prado is in Madrid, the capital of Spain, and has one of the finest art collections in the world. The gallery’s most famous work is “Las Meninas” By Velazquez.

70 Cameo stone : ONYX

Onyx is a form of quartz that comes in many different shades, but most often it’s the black version that’s used for jewelry. The name “onyx” comes from the Greek word for “fingernail”, as onyx in the flesh color is said to resemble a fingernail.

Cameo is a method of carving, often the carving of a gemstone or a piece of jewelry. The resulting image is in relief (sits proud of the background), whereas an engraved image would be produced by the similar carving method known as intaglio. Nowadays, the term “cameo” is used for any piece of oval-shaped jewelry that contains the image of a head, usually in profile (maybe even a photograph).

73 Country bordering Vietnam : LAOS

The present-day nation of Laos can trace its roots back to the historic Lao kingdom of Lan Xang that existed from 1354 to 1707. The full name of the kingdom was “Lan Xang Hom Khao”, which translates as “The Land of a Million Elephants and the White Parasol”.

74 Leavening agent : YEAST

Leaven is a substance that causes bread to rise, perhaps yeast or baking powder. The term comes into English via French from the Latin “levare” meaning “to rise”.

76 Mother of Eric and Donald Jr. : IVANA

Ivana Zelníčková was born in Czechoslovakia. She married an Austrian named Alfred Winklmayr, in an arrangement that allowed her to leave Communist Czechoslovakia. The marriage was dissolved within two years, and Zelníčková settled in Canada. She was an excellent skier, and was named as an alternate for the 1982 Czech Olympic Team. She was promoting the Montreal Olympics in New York in 1976 when she met Donald Trump. Ivana and Donald’s marriage was very public and well-covered by the media, but not nearly as well-covered as their very litigious divorce in the early nineties.

Eric Trump is the second son of Donald Trump and his first wife Ivana Zelníčková. Eric works for his father, and in particular manages Donald’s golf courses and the Trump Winery in Charlottesville, Virginia. Eric also used to appear in the boardroom alongside his Dad on the reality show “The Apprentice”.

Donald Trump Jr. is the oldest child of President Donald Trump and his first wife Ivana Trump née Zelníčková. Soon after his father was elected president, Donald Jr. was named trustee of the Trump Organization, along with his brother Eric and company CFO Allen Weisselberg.

77 “Ghostbusters” (2016) director Paul : FEIG

As a director, actor and filmmaker Paul Feig is known for his collaborations with actress and comedian Melissa McCarthy. Their joint projects include the films “Bridesmaids” (2011), “The Heat” (2013), “Spy” (2015) and “Ghostbusters” (2016).

The 2016 reboot of the 1986 hit comedy “Ghostbusters” has females playing the lead characters. The latest Ghostbusters are Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones.

78 Instagram logo image : CAMERA

Instagram (often abbreviated to “Insta”) is a photo-sharing application, one that is extremely popular. Instagram started in San Francisco in 2010. Facebook purchased Instagram two years later, paying $1 billion. The billion-dollar Instagram company had just 13 employees at the time of the sale …

80 Meat in a typical Denver omelet : HAM

A Western omelet (sometimes “omelette”) is also known as a Southwest omelet or a Denver omelet. The usual ingredients include diced ham, onions and green bell peppers.

83 NBC debut of 1975 : SATURDAY NIGHT

NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) was named “NBC’s Saturday Night” during its first season. This was to differentiate it from the ABC show airing at that time, called “Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell”. Chevy Chase uttered the famous line “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night” in the very first SNL episode on October 11, 1975. That careful wording has persisted, even though the NBC show’s name was changed to “Saturday Night Live” after Cosell’s show went off the air in 1976.

88 “Spare me the deets” : TMI

Too much information (TMI)

“Deets” is slang for “details”.

89 Nordstrom rival : SAKS

Saks Fifth Avenue is a high-end specialty store that competes with the likes of Bloomingdale’s and Neiman Marcus. The original Saks & Company business was founded by Andrew Saks in 1867. The first Saks Fifth Avenue store was opened on Fifth Avenue in New York City in 1924. There are now Saks Fifth Avenue stores in many major cities in the US, as well in several locations worldwide.

90 Aparicio of Cooperstown : LUIS

Luis Aparicio is a former baseball player who played shortstop in the majors from 1956 to 1973. Aparicio is from Venezuela.

93 4 or 5 is a good one for a coll. hopeful : AP SCORE

The Advanced Placement (AP) program offers college-level courses to kids who are still in high school (HS). After being tested at the end of an AP course, successful students receive credits that count towards a college degree.

95 Discovery voyage : SHUTTLE FLIGHT

Space Shuttle Discovery, first launched in 1984, was the third of five shuttles to go into full service, and the first to be retired (in 2011). It takes its name from four British vessels including HMS Discovery, one of the ships in the third expedition led by Captain James Cook during which he discovered the Hawaiian Islands in 1778. One of Space Shuttle Discovery’s missions involved a return to space for astronaut John Glenn at age 77, making him the oldest human to have left the Earth’s atmosphere. The retired Discovery is now on display at the National Air and Space Museum annex at Washington Dulles Airport.

99 First animal in the Chinese zodiac : RAT

The Chinese Zodiac is a scheme that relates each year to the attributes of a particular animal in a 12-year cycle. So, the Chinese Zodiac has one sign for each of twelve years, whereas the Western Zodiac has one sign for each of the twelve months.

106 One in a Sun Salutation sequence : ASANA

“Asana” is a Sanskrit word that translates literally as “sitting down”. The asanas are the poses that a practitioner of yoga assumes. The most famous is the lotus position, the cross-legged pose called “padmasana”.

111 Isaac’s eldest : ESAU

Esau was the grandson of Abraham and the twin brother of Jacob, the founder of the Israelites. When Esau was born to Isaac and Rebekah, the event was described with “Now the first came forth, red all over like a hairy garment”. Esau is portrayed later in life as being very different from his brother Jacob, as a hunter and someone who loves the outdoor life.

116 Sources of quick cash : ATMS

Automatic Teller Machine (ATM)

120 “The Simpsons” watering hole : MOE’S

The regulars on “The Simpsons” hang out at Moe’s Tavern, which is named for and run by Moe Szyslak. The most popular beer at Moe’s is Duff Beer. The name “Duff” is a reference to the real-life Duffy’s Tavern that used to be East 13th Street in Eugene, Oregon. “The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening used to frequent Duffy’s regularly, and Moe’s looks very much like Duffy’s in terms of decor and floor plan.

121 Winter Palace rulers : TSARS

The Winter Palace is a magnificent building in St. Petersburg in Russia that was home to the Russian tsars (and tsarinas). Today, the Winter Palace houses the famous Hermitage Museum. I was lucky enough to visit the Palace and museum some years ago, and I have to say that I have rarely been more impressed by a historical building.

Down

1 Queen of Arendelle : ELSA

“Frozen” is a 2013 animated feature from Walt Disney Studios that is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Snow Queen”. The film is all about the exploits of Princess Anna, the younger sister of Elsa, Snow Queen of Arendelle. Spoiler alert: Prince Hans of the Southern Isles seems to be a good guy for most of the film, but turns out to be a baddie in the end. And, a snowman named Olaf provides some comic relief.

3 Mideast airline : EL AL

El Al Israel Airlines is the flag carrier of Israel. The term “el al” translates from Hebrew as “to the skies”. The company started operations in 1948, with a flight from Geneva to Tel Aviv. Famously, El Al only operates six days a week, not flying on the Sabbath.

5 Another name for a car’s spoiler : AIR DAM

A car’s spoiler is a device designed to disrupt (spoil) unfavorable air movement across the vehicle’s body. A spoiler at the front of a car is also known as an “air dam”.

7 “Othello” flag-bearer : IAGO

Iago is the schemer in Shakespeare’s “Othello”. He is a soldier who fought alongside Othello and feels hard done by, missing out on promotion. Iago hatches a plot designed to discredit his rival Cassio by insinuating that Cassio is having an affair with Desdemona, Othello’s wife.

11 Animal trail : SPOOR

“Spoor” is both a verb and a noun. The word describes the track left by an animal, or the act of following said track. We’ve been using it in English since the early 1800s, having imported it from the Afrikaans language.

12 Composer Stravinsky : IGOR

Composer Igor Stravinsky’s most famous works were completed relatively early in his career, when he was quite young. His three ballets “The Firebird”, “Petrushka” and “The Rite of Spring” were published in 1910-1913, when Stravinsky was in his early thirties.

14 Sorrento sandwiches : PANINI

In Italy, a sandwich made from sliced bread is called a “tramezzino”, while sandwiches made from non-sliced breads are called “panini” (singular “panino”). We’ve imported the term “panini” into English to describe a pressed and toasted sandwich.

Sorrento is a small town on the Italian coast that sits on a peninsula overlooking the Bay of Naples. It is an extremely popular tourist destination. The island of Capri lies off the western tip of the Sorrento Peninsula.

15 Designer Cassini : 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.

16 Bear who loves “hunny” : POOH

Winnie-the-Pooh’s favorite food is “hunny”, i.e. “honey”.

19 Face-off spot : CENTER ICE

A face-off is a technique used to start or restart play in a number of sports, e.g. hockey. The idea is that one player from each team faces the other and the ball or puck is dropped between them so that they can contest for possession.

33 Shivering fit : AGUE

An ague is a fever, one usually associated with malaria.

35 He hit 60+ homers three times without leading the league : SOSA

Sammy Sosa was firmly in the public eye in 1998 when he and Mark McGwire were vying to be the first to surpass the home run record held by Roger Maris. McGwire fell out of public favor due to stories of steroid abuse (stories which he later admitted were true) while Sosa fell out of favor when he was found to be using a corked bat in a 2003 game.

36 Sundance’s sweetie : ETTA

Etta Place is the schoolteacher character played by Katharine Ross in the superb 1969 movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”.

37 Bird hunted by gauchos : RHEA

The rhea is a flightless bird that is native to South America. The rhea takes its name from the Greek Titan Rhea. It’s an apt name for a flightless bird as “rhea” comes from the Greek word meaning “ground”.

A gaucho is someone who lives in the South American pampas, the fertile lowlands in the southeast of South America. The term “gaucho” is also used as the equivalent of our “cowboy”.

38 Level, in Liverpool : RASE

Liverpool is a large port city in the northwest of England located on the estuary of the River Mersey. With a sense of humor that is typical of the area, people from Liverpool are often called “Liverpudlians”. The term comes from the jocular “Liver-puddle”, a diminutive of “Liver-pool”.

41 Large furniture chain : ASHLEY

Ashley is a manufacturer and retailer of furniture items that was founded in 1945 in Chicago. The company moved its headquarters to Arcadia, Washington in the early 1970s.

42 For adults only : RATED-X

When the Motion Picture Association film rating system was introduced in 1968, the most restrictive class was an X-rating. Persons under 16 were not admitted to such films. A few years later, the guidelines were changed for all ratings, and no one under the age of 17 was admitted to films rated X. Over time, the term “X-rating” became associated with pornographic films, and so the under-17 restriction was relabeled in 1990 to “NC-17”.

48 Glaswegian girl : LASS

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and sits on the River Clyde. Back in the Victorian Era, Glasgow earned a reputation for excellence in shipbuilding and was known as “Second City of the British Empire”. Glasgow shipyards were the birthplaces of such famous vessels as the Lusitania, the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth. People for Glasgow are known as Glaswegians.

49 Amazon smart speaker brand : ECHO

Amazon Echo is a voice-controlled hardware device that can be used to provide several services including playing radio programs and music, recording of shopping lists, and managing a calendar. The device just sits in the home listening, until it hears a “wake up” command.

52 Feng __: decorating philosophy : SHUI

Feng shui is the ancient Chinese tradition of arranging objects, buildings and other structures in a manner that is said to improve the lives of the individuals living in or using the space. “Feng shui” translates as “wind-water”, a reference to the belief that positive and negative life forces ride the wind and scatter, but are retained when they encounter water.

56 Road hogs : HARLEYS

The Harley-Davidson motorcycle company was founded in the very early 1900s by two childhood friends, William Harley and Arthur Davidson, . Their first design was in effect an engine hooked up to a pedal bicycle, but the 116 cc cylinder capacity simply couldn’t generate enough power to get up the hills of their native city of Milwaukee. The pair came up with a redesigned model that had a cylinder capacity of 405 cc, which the partners built in a shed at the back of Davidson’s house. In 1906, the partners built their first factory, located where the company’s headquarters is to this day, on Juneau Avenue in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Famously, Harley motorcycles are nicknamed “hogs”.

59 Reeves of “John Wick” : KEANU

Keanu Reeves is a Canadian actor whose most celebrated roles were a metalhead in “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” (1989), a cop in “Speed” (1994) and the protagonist Neo in “The Matrix” series of films. Although Reeves is a Canadian national, he was born in Beirut, Lebanon. Reeves has some Hawaiian descent, and the name “Keanu” is Hawaiian for “the coolness” or “cool breeze”.

“John Wick” is a 2014 action movie starring Keanu Reeves in the title role. Reeves plays a retired hitman who goes on a killing spree to avenge the murder of his dog. There’s quite the body count …

60 Lost driver’s aid, briefly : GPS

A global positioning system (GPS) is known as a satellite navigation system (Sat Nav) in Britain and Ireland.

62 __ Nashville: country record label : ARISTA

Arista Records was set up as part of Columbia Pictures by one Clive Davis. He chose “Arista” as it was the name of the New York City Honor Society to which Davis belonged.

63 Overhaul : REVAMP

The vamp is that part of a shoe upper that extends from behind the toe to the back of the heel. Prior to the 1650s, the verb “new-vamp” was used to describe the replacement of the vamp, in order to extend the life of a show. After 1650, the verb evolved into “revamp”. We now use “revamp” figuratively, to mean “remake, renovate”.

64 To wit : THAT IS

The verb “to wit” means “to know”. The verb really isn’t used anymore except in the phrase “to wit” meaning “that is to say, namely”.

67 Hindu mystic : YOGI

A yogi is a practitioner of yoga.

In the West, we tend to think of yoga as just a physical discipline, a means of exercise that uses specific poses to stretch and strengthen muscles. While it is true that the ancient Indian practice of yoga does involve such physical discipline, the corporeal aspect of the practice plays a relatively small part in the whole philosophy. Other major components are meditation, ethical behavior, breathing and contemplation.

68 Lab order? : HEEL

The Labrador (Lab) breed of dog has been around at least since 1814. The breed comes in three registered colors: black, yellow and chocolate.

69 Fictional Georgia spread : TARA

In Margaret Mitchell’s novel “Gone with the Wind”, Scarlett O’Hara’s home is the Tara plantation. Tara was founded not far from the Georgia city of Jonesboro by Scarlett’s father, Irish immigrant Gerald O’Hara. Gerald won the square mile of land on which Tara was built in an all-night poker game. He named his new abode after the Hill of Tara back in his home country, the ancient seat of the High King of Ireland. Rhett’s rival for the affections of Scarlet is Ashley Wilkes who lives at the nearby Twelve Oaks plantation.

72 Coast in a tub? : BAR SOAP

Coast is a brand of soap that was introduced in 1976, and is primarily marketed to men.

78 Water slide : CHUTE

A chute is an inclined plane or channel through which things pass under the influence of gravity.

80 Nixon’s last chief of staff : HAIG

Alexander Haig was secretary of state under President Reagan, and White House chief of staff under Presidents Nixon and Ford. Famously, Haig took over temporary control of the country immediately after President Reagan was shot in 1981. To do so was a pragmatic move, while waiting on Vice President Bush to arrive in Washington. There was much debate at the time about the legality of the steps taken, as the presidential line of succession called out in the US Constitution is vice president, speaker of the House, president pro tempore of the US Senate, and then secretary of state.

84 Group in a pub competition : DART TEAM

Darts is a wonderful game that’s often played in English and Irish pubs, even over here in America. The scoring in a traditional game of darts is difficult to describe in a sentence or two, but the game of darts called “Round the Clock” is simply hitting the numbers 1 through 20 on the dartboard in sequence.

87 Ritual for some eight-day-olds : BRIS

A mohel is a man who has been trained in the practice of brit milah (circumcision). Brit milah is known as “bris” in Yiddish. The brit milah ceremony is performed on male infants when they are 8 days old.

91 “Friday the 13th” horror genre : SLASHER

Can you believe that the “Friday the 13th” franchise of horror movies comprises twelve films (so far)? The bad guy in the series is Jason Voorhees, a boy who drowned at summer camp. “Friday the 13th” is an incredibly successful franchise, something that I just do not understand …

95 Downhill ski run : SCHUSS

A schuss is a very fast run downhill in skiing, one with no turns taken to slow the pace of the descent. “Schuss” is a German word for “shot”.

98 Resident on the Gulf of Bothnia : FINN

The Gulf of Bothnia is the most northerly part of the Baltic Sea, and is located between Finland to the west and Sweden to the east.

107 Toaster Swirlz brand : EGGO

Eggo is a line of frozen waffles and related products made by Kellogg’s. When they were introduced in the 1930s, the name “Eggo” was chosen to promote the “egginess” of the batter. “Eggo” replaced “Froffles”, the original name chosen by melding “frozen” and “waffles”.

109 Amazon Handmade rival : ETSY

Etsy.com is an e-commerce website where you can buy and sell the kind of items that you might find at a craft fair.

114 Points to, maybe : IDS

Identity document (ID)

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Scratches (out) : EKES
5 Serving perfectly : ACING
10 Bargain bin caveat : AS IS
14 Really stands out : POPS
18 Amethyst hue : LILAC
20 Really sore : IRATE
21 Org. for women drivers : LPGA
22 Sunscreen additive : ALOE
23 Problem for an aspiring thespian : STAGE FRIGHT
25 Bird clumsy on land : LOON
26 Brightly colored : NEON
27 Handspeak.com subj. : ASL
28 Acknowledge silently : NOD TO
29 “The Mask of Zorro” scene : SWORD FIGHT
31 Bothered a lot : ATE AT
32 “New Rules” author Bill : MAHER
34 Paper mate? : PEN
35 “My bad” : SERVES ME RIGHT
39 Like in many ways, with “to” : SIMILAR …
43 Survey choice : OTHER
44 Barilla alternative : RAGU
45 Story-telling dance : HULA
46 Panamanian pronoun : ESA
47 Superclean, as surgical tools : STERILE
50 Help explain, with “on” : SHED SOME LIGHT …
54 Energizer specification : AAA
55 Prestige : CACHET
57 Resistance units : OHMS
58 Hirsch of “Into the Wild” : EMILE
59 “Tik Tok” singer : KESHA
60 Art class adhesive : GLUE
61 Did a farrier’s work : SHOED
62 Prado display : ARTE
65 Real predicament : SORRY PLIGHT
70 Cameo stone : ONYX
71 Athlete’s road to recovery : REHAB
73 Country bordering Vietnam : LAOS
74 Leavening agent : YEAST
76 Mother of Eric and Donald Jr. : IVANA
77 “Ghostbusters” (2016) director Paul : FEIG
78 Instagram logo image : CAMERA
80 Meat in a typical Denver omelet : HAM
83 NBC debut of 1975 : SATURDAY NIGHT
86 Reveal : LAY BARE
88 “Spare me the deets” : TMI
89 Nordstrom rival : SAKS
90 Aparicio of Cooperstown : LUIS
92 It may be negotiable : PRICE
93 4 or 5 is a good one for a coll. hopeful : AP SCORE
95 Discovery voyage : SHUTTLE FLIGHT
99 First animal in the Chinese zodiac : RAT
100 Sharp : ACUTE
101 Parisian gal pals : AMIES
102 Tucking-in wish : SLEEP TIGHT
106 One in a Sun Salutation sequence : ASANA
107 Lady in a flock : EWE
110 “Sup” : HIYA
111 Isaac’s eldest : ESAU
112 Visible … or, literally, where most inner letters of this puzzle’s eight other longest Across answers are situated : WITHIN SIGHT
115 Part of a list : ITEM
116 Sources of quick cash : ATMS
117 Agent’s collection : INTEL
118 Noses out : EDGES
119 Suffix denoting quality : -NESS
120 “The Simpsons” watering hole : MOE’S
121 Winter Palace rulers : TSARS
122 Japanese video game giant : SONY

Down

1 Queen of Arendelle : ELSA
2 Handy collections : KITS
3 Mideast airline : EL AL
4 Give a little : SAG
5 Another name for a car’s spoiler : AIR DAM
6 Beastie : CRITTER
7 “Othello” flag-bearer : IAGO
8 Ultimate degree : NTH
9 Figure out : GET
10 Not even close : ALL WET
11 Animal trail : SPOOR
12 Composer Stravinsky : IGOR
13 Construction site convenience : SAND PILE
14 Sorrento sandwiches : PANINI
15 Designer Cassini : OLEG
16 Bear who loves “hunny” : POOH
17 Text status : SENT
19 Face-off spot : CENTER ICE
24 Those opposed : FOES
29 “Zip it!” : SHH!
30 Sow and cow : FEMALES
31 State as fact : AVER
32 Could possibly : MIGHT
33 Shivering fit : AGUE
35 He hit 60+ homers three times without leading the league : SOSA
36 Sundance’s sweetie : ETTA
37 Bird hunted by gauchos : RHEA
38 Level, in Liverpool : RASE
39 Totals : SUMS
40 Multitude : LEGION
41 Large furniture chain : ASHLEY
42 For adults only : RATED-X
45 Family workout place : HOME GYM
48 Glaswegian girl : LASS
49 Amazon smart speaker brand : ECHO
51 One in a tiny house : DOLL
52 Feng __: decorating philosophy : SHUI
53 “Crack a window, will ya?” : I’M HOT
56 Road hogs : HARLEYS
59 Reeves of “John Wick” : KEANU
60 Lost driver’s aid, briefly : GPS
62 __ Nashville: country record label : ARISTA
63 Overhaul : REVAMP
64 To wit : THAT IS
66 Drops in a forecast : RAIN
67 Hindu mystic : YOGI
68 Lab order? : HEEL
69 Fictional Georgia spread : TARA
72 Coast in a tub? : BAR SOAP
75 “Ask nicely” : SAY PLEASE
77 Fraudulent : FAKE
78 Water slide : CHUTE
79 Bickering : AT IT
80 Nixon’s last chief of staff : HAIG
81 Part of a foot : ARCH
82 Bump into : MEET
84 Group in a pub competition : DART TEAM
85 Excess : GLUT
87 Ritual for some eight-day-olds : BRIS
91 “Friday the 13th” horror genre : SLASHER
94 Trounces : CREAMS
95 Downhill ski run : SCHUSS
96 Castaway’s shelter : HUT
97 Buildups for many returning vacationers : EMAILS
98 Resident on the Gulf of Bothnia : FINN
100 Athlete’s best effort : A-GAME
102 Place for a pad : SHIN
103 Lo-cal : LITE
104 Spider’s eight, usually : EYES
105 What “:” can mean : IS TO
106 “That’s the” shorthand : ATTA
107 Toaster Swirlz brand : EGGO
108 Question of time : WHEN?
109 Amazon Handmade rival : ETSY
112 Quick quality : WIT
113 Seat winners : INS
114 Points to, maybe : IDS

22 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword 13 Sep 20, Sunday”

  1. Quick solve.. Certainly not 12 minutes like Glen.. More like 50 minutes.. But quick for me. Had to change pens three times.
    For 77A , I had FEIN, not FEIG.. Even though I’ve watched all those movies. Hadn’t heard of 55A either, CACHET., I Certainly haven’t used it.,

  2. 19:37, no errors. Straightforward. Up early (or late) again. (Would have tried to roll over and go back to sleep, but Venus and the Moon captured my attention. Maybe later.)

    Today’s Sunday Washington Post crossword (49:17, no errors), by Evan Birnholz, is quite remarkable. (And yes, I do understand how it was constructed; nevertheless, it’s … quite remarkable … 😜.)

    1. Nonny-

      The Sunday Washington Post puzzle was terrific. Very very clever. My type of puzzle…. even though I did miss one theme answer. Can’t tell you which one as I don’t want to ruin it for anyone. Thanks for mentioning and I recommend it as well.

    2. Birnholz is always good, which is why it’s been in my rotation for quite some time. This one (29:10, 2 dumb errors) was no exception. A lot of that time lost thinking it might be a rebus puzzle of some kind (when you do five Fireball books and encounter them in a ton of other places like last Thursday’s splendid BEQ grid, you always are paranoid about that) and finally figuring out different.

      1. @Glenn … Oddly enough, though I liked it well enough, I wasn’t quite as impressed with that BEQ, since it was basically just a 15×17 puzzle, with two rows compressed into one near the top and and another two stuck together near the bottom. (Mind you, thought of that way, it’s still a clever construction!)

        One final delight in the WP puzzle was observing, at the end, that all of the theme entries were legitimate, clue-able entities by themselves, independently of the gimmick. One could re-clue all of them and end up with an excellent puzzle hiding a rather complicated secret. (It would make a fiendishly difficult metapuzzle!)

  3. Enjoyable Sunday puzzle. Theme worked. Knew IGHT ended every long answer pretty early on but it took me a bit to realize the revealer was “within sight”.

  4. 23:41. Had FRIGHT and FIGHT early and though it would be some variation on that. Then realized that the theme answers would end in IGHT. Bill gave me the “true” revealer.

  5. Took me a good 45 minutes and the last five of that was after it was all filled in. I had itta and isana. Duh, I guess. So “atta girl” is short for “that’s the girl”? Seems awkward to me. Saying “that’s the girl” would seem pretty formal, but “atta girl” isn’t formal at all. That’s just my little rant for the day. It was a fun Sunday puzzle. And now I’ve learned bris.

  6. Struggled for a bit with 117 Across clue “Agent’s collection” because I was looking and looking for a “whole” word for the answer when it was an abbreviation. I say the clue should have read “Agt’s collection” or some such abbreviation or had “abbrv.” appended after the Agent’s collection part. YMMV

    1. Tony-

      I think intel stands on its own….. like recon for reconnaissance… or photo op for photo opportunity.

  7. One dumb error because I didn’t check the grid over. I had gpscore
    thinking it was grade point score for 93A, but didn’t pay attention enough to
    realize it didn’t work with 62down. Nuts!

  8. 48:10 no errors…mark this date down…I got the theme early and actually used it to help with the solve😀😀😀
    Stay safe (go Ravens)

  9. 44 Across: Barilla is pasta. Ragu is sauce. Sauce is not an alternative to pasta.
    84 Down: No one’s ever called it a “dart team.” It’s “darts.”
    38 Down: RASE has nothing to do with Liverpool, or even England. It’s a variant of “raze.”
    Got all three of those anyway. But 106 Down: ATTA is not “shorthand.” Needs a better clue, e.g., “_____ girl (you go).” We gave up because we had nothing for ASANA either.

    1. @Russell Hunt …

      A little research indicates that both the Barilla and Ragu companies sell many different kinds of pasta sauces. Various dictionaries list “rase” as a British variant of “raze”, so that’s probably how one would spell the word in Liverpool. “Atta” is indeed a shorthand (shortened) way of saying, “That’s the …” I won’t weigh in on “dart team” (as it’s not really in my bailiwick … 😜). Research, research, research!

  10. That was fun! Got the theme early on, and then jumped around the puzzle, working out from the theme answers. Got PRADO mixed up with Prada momentarily, wanted to put in shoe, but but resisted.

  11. 18:20 no errors

    The theme helped me fill in a couple of long ones, but near the end, there were two squares I just couldn’t figure out. Then CACHET popped into my head, and that was it.

    Today I learned of Luis Aparicio, Ashley Furniture, and the existence of Amazon Handmade. Sorry guys, Etsy was first.

  12. 27 minutes, 10 seconds, and needed “Check grid” to ferret out 6 entries. Had a lot of trouble all over this grid; was annoyingly difficult to get a grip on.

  13. Nice fun Sunday for me; took me 37:19 on-line, with a “check grid” to reveal one error. I had SPOre before correcting to SPOOe, which I unfortunately left that way, neglecting to check the cross of MAHEe.

    The theme helped a lot and even though I didn’t know a few things, crosses came to the rescue.

    Still smokey as hell here, but I’ve kind of gotten used to it. They say we’ll have breathable air on Tuesday, so here’s hoping!

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