LA Times Crossword 9 Mar 21, Tuesday

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Constructed by: Mark McClain
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Old

Themed answers each start with a synonym of “not OLD”:

  • 65A Unlike the starts of this puzzle’s four longest answers : OLD
  • 17A Wind of 19-24 mph, on the Beaufort scale : FRESH BREEZE
  • 59A “The Hunger Games” trilogy, e.g. : NOVEL SERIES
  • 10D Genre for a John Lewis quartet : MODERN JAZZ
  • 29D Patriots’ home : NEW ENGLAND

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

Bill’s time: 5m 14s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Water filter brand : BRITA

Brita is a German company that specializes in water filtration products. Brita products do a great job of filtering tap water, but they don’t “purify” it as they don’t remove microbes. That job is usually done by a municipality before the water gets to the faucet.

6 Voice below baritone : BASS

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

The baritone is the second-lowest of male voices, above the bass and below the tenor. The term “baritone” comes from the Greek word “barytonos” meaning “deep-sounding”.

10 Major Web portal : MSN

The Microsoft Network (MSN) used to be an Internet service provider (ISP). These days, MSN is mainly a Web portal.

17 Wind of 19-24 mph, on the Beaufort scale : FRESH BREEZE

The Beaufort wind scale is named after Irishman Sir Francis Beaufort, a Rear-Admiral in the Royal Navy. Beaufort was a hydrographer as well as a career navy man.

20 Swimmer that may be furry : SEAL

Male seals are called bulls, females are cows, and babies are pups.

21 Inlet, vis-à-vis the sea : ARM

We can use the French phrase “vis-à-vis” as a preposition meaning “compared with”. When used as an adverb or adjective, it means “face-to-face”, which is a more literal translation from French.

22 Classic Lanvin scent : ARPEGE

Jeanne Lanvin was a Parisian fashion designer and founder of the Lanvin fashion house and perfumerie. Lanvin introduced its signature fragrance Arpège in 1927.

26 Big name in bouillon cubes : KNORR

When I was growing up in Ireland, we never saw Campbell’s soup on the shelves. It was basically all Knorr products, and dehydrated soup from a packet at that. How times have changed. Knorr is a German brand, now owned by the Anglo-Dutch Company Unilever.

Bouillon is broth made from water in which have been simmered bones meat or vegetables. There’s a lot of money made selling dehydrated bouillon in cubes.

27 Japanese living art form : BONSAI

The term “bonsai” is used more correctly to describe the Japanese art of growing carefully shaped trees in containers, although it has come to be used as the name for all miniature trees in pots.

30 Iberian dance for two : FANDANGO

A fandango is a dance from Spain performed by a couple who are usually playing castanets.

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”.

33 Summer on the Seine : ETE

In French, the season of “été” (summer) starts in “juin” (June) and ends in septembre (September). Note that the names of months are not capitalized in French.

The Seine is the river that flows through Paris. The Seine empties into the English Channel to the north, at the port city of Le Havre.

34 Danes of “Homeland” : CLAIRE

Claire Danes is an actress from New York City who played the title role in the HBO movie “Temple Grandin”. More recently, she has been starring as Carrie Mathison in the excellent Showtime drama series “Homeland”.

“Homeland” is a psychological drama on Showtime about a CIA officer who is convinced that a certain US Marine is a threat to the security of the United States. The show is based on a series from Israeli television called “Hatufim” (Prisoners of War”). I saw the first few seasons of this show and highly recommend it …

36 Kept the party hopping, briefly : DJED

The world’s first radio disc jockey (DJ) was one Ray Newby of Stockton, California who made his debut broadcast in 1909, would you believe? When he was 16 years old and a student, Newby started to play his records on a primitive radio located in the Herrold College of Engineering and Wireless in San Jose. The records played back then were mostly recordings of Enrico Caruso.

39 Albuquerque sch. : UNM

The University of New Mexico (UNM) is a school in Albuquerque, founded in 1889. The sports teams of UNM are called the Lobos, and there are two mascots who work the crowds called Lobo Louie and Lobo Lucy.

40 Dahl who wrote “Fantastic Mr Fox” : ROALD

“Fantastic Mr Fox” is a children’s novel by Roald Dahl. It was adapted into a 2006 animated film directed by Wes Anderson.

44 Zen opening? : ZEE

The letter named “zed” has been around since about 1400, and derives from the Greek letter zeta. The spelling and pronunciation “zee”, used in America today, first popped up in the 1670s. The spelling and pronunciation “zed” is still used in Britain and Ireland.

Zen is a Buddhist school that developed its own tradition in China back in the 7th century AD. Zen is a Japanese spelling of the Chinese word “chan”, which in turn derives from the Sanskrit word “dhyana” meaning “meditation”.

45 Pointy flags : PENNANTS

By definition, a pennant (also “pennon”) is a flag that tapers, is larger at the hoist (near the flagpole) than the fly (the “tail”). Pennants tend to be triangular, tapered or triangular swallow-tailed.

47 Sports coat : BLAZER

A blazer is a less formal version of a suit jacket, usually one with a less formal cut and often metal buttons. The original “blazer” was a red jacket worn by members of the rowing club at Cambridge University in England. The “blazer” is so called because the Cambridge version was “blazing red” in color.

49 Full of chutzpah : GUTSY

Our word “chutzpah” meaning “nerve, gall, impudence” is derived from the Yiddish “khutspe”, which has the same meaning.

51 What a voter fills out : BALLOT

Today, a ballot is a piece of paper or equivalent used to cast a vote. Back in the 1500s, a “ballot” was a small “ball” used in the process of voting.

54 Soybean product : TOFU

“Tofu” is a name for bean curd, and is a Japanese word meaning just that … bean that has curdled. Tofu is produced by coagulating soy milk, using either salt or something acidic. Once the protein has coagulated, the curds are pressed into the familiar blocks. Personally I love tofu, but my wife, she absolutely hates it …

58 Gershwin brother : IRA

Ira Gershwin was the lyricist who worked with his brother George to create such American classics as the songs “I Got Rhythm” and “Someone to Watch Over Me”, as well as the opera “Porgy and Bess”. After George Gershwin died, Ira continued to create great music, and worked with the likes of Jerome Kern and Kurt Weill.

59 “The Hunger Games” trilogy, e.g. : NOVEL SERIES

“The Hunger Games” is a 2008 novel by Suzanne Collins, and the first in a series of titles that also includes “Catching Fire” (2009) and “Mockingjay” (2010). “The Hunger Games” was adapted into a very successful movie released in 2012, with the sequels following soon after. Amazon.com reports more sales of “The Hunger Games” series books than even the “Harry Potter” series.

64 “Divine Comedy” poet : DANTE

Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy” is an epic poem dating back to the 14th century. The first part of that epic is “Inferno”, which is the Italian word for “Hell”. In the poem, Dante is led on a journey by the poet Virgil, starting at the gates of Hell on which are written the famous words “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here”.

66 Site for handmade gifts : 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.

67 Little ones : TYKES

“Tyke” has been used playfully to describe a young child since at least 1902 For centuries before that, a tyke was a cur or mongrel, or perhaps a lazy or lower-class man.

Down

1 Inseparable pals, briefly : BFFS

Best friend forever (BFF)

4 Popular electric cars : TESLAS

Tesla Motors shortened its name to just “Tesla” in early 2017.

6 Grand Canyon pack animal : BURRO

Our word “burro”, meaning “donkey”, comes from the Spanish word for the same animal, namely “burrico”.

8 The Beatles’ “__ Loves You” : SHE

The Beatles song “She Loves You” was released in 1963. It was one of five songs that together achieved an amazing feat in the US charts. At one point that year, those five songs were in the top five positions. The top five songs were:

  1. “Can’t Buy Me Love”
  2. “Twist and Shout”
  3. “She Loves You”
  4. “I Want to Hold Your Hand”
  5. “Please Please Me”

Further down the charts, and still in the top 100, were seven more Beatles songs.

9 Somers who played Chrissy on “Three’s Company” : SUZANNE

Suzanne Somers is an actress whose big break came playing the ditzy Chrissy Snow on the sitcom “Three’s Company”. When contracts came up for renewal for the cast in the fifth season, the relationship between Somers and the producers soured rapidly. Somers went on a strike of sorts and for most of the fifth season made only token appearances in the show in scenes that were filmed without other members of the regular cast. The Chrissy Snow character was replaced in the sixth season.

The tremendously successful US sitcom “Three’s Company” ran from 1977 to 1984. The show was actually a remake of an equally successful British sitcom called “Man About the House”. I must, I was a fan of both shows. The American show started its run with three roommates, played by Joyce DeWitt, Suzanne Somers and John Ritter. The trio lived in an apartment building owned by characters Stanley and Helen Roper. The Ropers were eventually replaced by landlord Ralph Furley, played by the marvelous Don Knotts.

10 Genre for a John Lewis quartet : MODERN JAZZ

John Lewis was a jazz pianist who founded the Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) in 1952. Most of the MJQ, including Lewis, had played together in the rhythm section of Dizzy Gillespie’s big band in the 1940s.

11 Layered hairstyle : SHAG

A shag cut is a layered hairstyle. Actress Meg Ryan famously sported a shag cut for many years, as did fellow actress Farrah Fawcett.

12 Bering Sea port : NOME

In 1899, the Alaska city of Nome was briefly known as Anvil City by locals to avoid confusion with the nearby city of Cape Nome. However, the US Post Office refused to approve the change, and so the name was immediately changed back to Nome.

The Bering Sea, in the very north of the Pacific Ocean, is named for the Danish navigator Vitus Bering, who was the first European to systematically explore the area in 1728. Many believe that the first humans arrived in the Americas from Asia when the waters of the Bering Sea were lower during the last ice age, over what is known as the Bering land bridge.

15 King in “Jesus Christ Superstar” : HEROD

Herod Antipas was a ruler of Galilee and Perea in the 1st century CE. Even though he never held the title of “king”, he is referred to in the New Testament of the Christian Bible as “King Herod”. So, it was Herod Anitipas who was so instrumental in the executions of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth.

“Jesus Christ Superstar” is a rock opera that was first released in album form in 1970, before being adapted for the stage in 1971. The music was composed by Andrew Lloyd Weber and the lyrics by Tim Rice.

18 Thai cuisine herb : BASIL

Traditionally, basil is considered “the king of herbs”. In fact, the herb’s name comes from the Greek “basileus” meaning “king”.

23 Madrid museum : PRADO

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.

Madrid is the most populous city in Spain, and is the nation’s capital. It is located very close to the geographical center of the country. Madrid is the second-largest city in the European Union by population, after Berlin. People from Madrid called themselves Madrileños.

26 Destiny : KARMA

Karma is a religious concept with its basis in Indian faiths. Karma embraces the notion of cause and effect. Good deeds have good consequences at some later point in one’s life, one’s future life, or one’s afterlife. And, bad deeds have bad consequences.

27 Early form of 10-Down : BEBOP
(10D Genre for a John Lewis quartet : MODERN JAZZ)

The jazz term “bebop” probably came from “Arriba! Arriba!”, which were words of encouragement uttered by Latin-American bandleaders to their musicians.

28 Common blood group : O-TYPE

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

29 Patriots’ home : NEW ENGLAND

The geographical region of New England comprises the six northeastern states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The name “New England” was given to the region by English explorer John Smith in 1616.

The New England Patriots football team was founded in 1959 as the Boston Patriots. The “Patriots” name was selected from suggestions made by football fans in Boston. The team played at several different stadiums in the Boston area for just over ten years, before moving to their current home base in Foxborough, Massachusetts. At the time of the move, the “Boston” name was dropped and changed to “New England”.

30 Helsinki natives : FINNS

Helsinki is the capital city of Finland, and is by far the country’s biggest urban area. In English we tend to stress the “-sink-” in “Helsinki”, whereas the Finns stress the “Hel-”.

31 Hair salon application : GELEE

Gelee is a hair styling product, apparently. I wouldn’t know …

43 Vintage ski lifts : T-BARS

A T-bar is a ski lift on which the skiers are pulled up the hill in pairs, with each pair standing (not sitting!) either side of a T-shaped metal bar. The bar is placed behind the thighs, pulling along the skiers as they remain standing on their skis (hopefully!). There’s also a J-bar, which is a similar device but with each J-shaped bar used by one skier at a time.

Back in the early 1600s, the term “vintage” was first used in English to describe a harvest of grapes or the yield of wine from a vineyard (“vinum” is Latin for “wine”). By the mid-1700s, the vintage of a wine was its age or year. In the late 1800s, the term “vintage” was used more generally as an adjective meaning “of an earlier time”.

51 __-Honey: candy bar : BIT-O

Bit-O-Honey is a candy bar consisting of pieces of almond in a honey-flavored taffy. Bit-O-Honey has been around since 1924.

52 Depleted Eurasian sea : ARAL

The Aral Sea is a great example of how man can have a devastating effect on his environment. In the early sixties the Aral Sea covered 68,000 square miles of Central Asia. Soviet irrigation projects drained the lake to such an extent that today the total area is less than 7,000 square miles, with 90% of the lake now completely dry. Sad …

53 Push-up targets : PECS

“Pecs” is the familiar name for the chest muscle, which is more correctly known as the pectoralis major muscle. “Pectus” is the Latin word for “breast, chest”.

55 Sow sound : OINK!

A male pig is a boar, and a female is a sow. Young pigs are piglets.

60 Racetrack doc : VET

A veterinarian (vet) is a professional who treats animals for disease and injury. The word “veterinary” comes from the Latin “veterinae” meaning “working animals, beasts of burden”.

61 D.C. summer hrs. : EDT

Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Water filter brand : BRITA
6 Voice below baritone : BASS
10 Major Web portal : MSN
13 Grows faint : FADES
14 Informal okay : UH-HUH
16 “Now I get it!” : OHO!
17 Wind of 19-24 mph, on the Beaufort scale : FRESH BREEZE
19 Reservoir structure : DAM
20 Swimmer that may be furry : SEAL
21 Inlet, vis-à-vis the sea : ARM
22 Classic Lanvin scent : ARPEGE
24 In addition : ALSO
26 Big name in bouillon cubes : KNORR
27 Japanese living art form : BONSAI
30 Iberian dance for two : FANDANGO
33 Summer on the Seine : ETE
34 Danes of “Homeland” : CLAIRE
36 Kept the party hopping, briefly : DJED
37 Scenic road, maybe : BYWAY
39 Albuquerque sch. : UNM
40 Dahl who wrote “Fantastic Mr Fox” : ROALD
41 Ready for business : OPEN
42 Present from birth : INNATE
44 Zen opening? : ZEE
45 Pointy flags : PENNANTS
47 Sports coat : BLAZER
49 Full of chutzpah : GUTSY
50 States : SAYS
51 What a voter fills out : BALLOT
53 Golf scorecard word : PAR
54 Soybean product : TOFU
58 Gershwin brother : IRA
59 “The Hunger Games” trilogy, e.g. : NOVEL SERIES
62 Light brown : TAN
63 Upright : ERECT
64 “Divine Comedy” poet : DANTE
65 Unlike the starts of this puzzle’s four longest answers : OLD
66 Site for handmade gifts : ETSY
67 Little ones : TYKES

Down

1 Inseparable pals, briefly : BFFS
2 Seldom spotted : RARE
3 Half-baked thought, perhaps : IDEA
4 Popular electric cars : TESLAS
5 Shade of gray : ASH
6 Grand Canyon pack animal : BURRO
7 “May I say something?” : AHEM!
8 The Beatles’ “__ Loves You” : SHE
9 Somers who played Chrissy on “Three’s Company” : SUZANNE
10 Genre for a John Lewis quartet : MODERN JAZZ
11 Layered hairstyle : SHAG
12 Bering Sea port : NOME
15 King in “Jesus Christ Superstar” : HEROD
18 Thai cuisine herb : BASIL
23 Madrid museum : PRADO
25 Like some bridal dresses : LACY
26 Destiny : KARMA
27 Early form of 10-Down : BEBOP
28 Common blood group : O-TYPE
29 Patriots’ home : NEW ENGLAND
30 Helsinki natives : FINNS
31 Hair salon application : GELEE
32 More unusual : ODDER
35 Mommy’s sis : AUNTY
38 Invalidate : ANNUL
40 Depend (on) : RELY
42 About to happen : IN STORE
43 Vintage ski lifts : T-BARS
46 Make amends : ATONE
48 Off the right path : ASTRAY
50 Like sea water : SALTY
51 __-Honey: candy bar : BIT-O
52 Depleted Eurasian sea : ARAL
53 Push-up targets : PECS
55 Sow sound : OINK!
56 Big celebration : FETE
57 Puts in the lineup : USES
60 Racetrack doc : VET
61 D.C. summer hrs. : EDT