LA Times Crossword 8 Jun 21, Tuesday

Advertisement

Constructed by: Jeff Stillman
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Twisted Sister

Themed answers each include the letter sequence “SISTER”, but the order of those letters has been TWISTED:

  • 56A ’80s hard rock quintet, and what’s literally found in each set of circles : TWISTED SISTER
  • 20A Prime time for vacationers : TOURIST SEASON
  • 29A Work out of the office? : BUSINESS TRIP
  • 46A Pacific spot named for the day it was discovered : EASTER ISLAND

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

Bill’s time: 5m 48s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Welsh dog : CORGI

The Welsh corgi is a herding dog that originated in Britain, with two recognized breeds: the Pembroke and Cardigan. Corgis aren’t fast enough to do their job by running around livestock like collies, and instead nip at the heels. “Corgi” is Welsh for “dwarf dog”.

6 Voice mails: Abbr. : MSGS

Message (msg.)

14 Atom with a negative charge : ANION

As we all recall from science class, a positive ion is called a cation and a negative ion is an anion. The names “cation” and “anion” come from Greek, with “kation” meaning “going down” and “anion” meaning “going up”.

15 German mark successor : EURO

One of the currencies replaced by the euro was Germany’s Deutsche Mark (known as “deutschmark” in English).

18 Mideast’s Gulf of __ : ADEN

The Gulf of Aden is the body of water that lies south of the Red Sea, and just north of the Horn of Africa.

24 Small amount : TAD

Back in the 1800s, “tad” was used to describe a young child, and this extended into our usage of “small amount” in the early 1900s. The original use of “tad” for a child is very likely a shortened version of “tadpole”.

26 Childcare writer LeShan : EDA

Eda LeShan wrote several nonfiction books including “When Your Child Drives You Crazy” and “The Conspiracy Against Childhood”. LeShan was also host of the PBS television show “How Do Your Children Grow?”

32 King’s rabid dog : CUJO

“Cujo” is a Stephen King horror novel, which means that I haven’t read it (I don’t do horror). The character Cujo is a rabid St. Bernard dog which besieges a young couple for three days in their stalled car. King tells us that he lifted the dog’s name from real life, as Cujo was the nickname of Willie Wolfe, one of the men responsible for the 1974 kidnapping of Patty Hearst by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

36 Like some waves : TIDAL

Even though the terms “tidal wave” and “tsunami” are often used interchangeably by the lay person, scientists use the terms to describe two related but different phenomena. A tsunami is an ocean wave triggered by the large displacement of water caused by a large earthquake (usually). A tidal wave is a wave triggered by the displacement of water under the gravitational influence of the Sun, Moon and Earth.

37 Chevy subcompact : AVEO

The Chevrolet Aveo is a subcompact automobile that has been around since 2002. The Aveo is manufactured by GM Daewoo, the GM subsidiary in South Korea. Although the Aveo name is still used in some markets, here in North America the Aveo has been sold as the Chevrolet Sonic since 2012. By the way, GM Daewoo is the third largest manufacturer of automobiles in South Korea, after Hyundai and Kia.

41 Half of Mork’s sign-off : NANU

The sitcom “Mork & Mindy” was broadcast from 1978 to 1982. We were first introduced to Mork (played by Robin Williams) in a special episode of “Happy Days”. The particular episode in question has a bizarre storyline culminating in Fonzie and Mork having a thumb-to-finger duel. Eventually Richie wakes up in bed, and alien Mork was just part of a dream! Oh, and “Nanu Nanu” means both “hello” and “goodbye” back on the planet Ork. “I am Mork from Ork, Nanu Nanu”. Great stuff …

42 Greek cheeses : FETAS

Feta is a Greek cheese made from sheep’s milk, or a mixture of sheep and goat’s milk. The cheese is salted and cured in a brine solution for several months before it is eaten.

44 Washington NLer : NAT

The Washington Nationals (“Nats”) started out life as the Montreal Expos in 1969, and were the first Major League Baseball team in Canada. The Expos moved to Washington in 2005 becoming the Nats.

45 Cavefish’s functionless parts : EYES

The term “cavefish” is used to describe any species of fish that has adapted to life in caves. One example of such an adaptation is the lack of eyes, as they don’t need them in a pitch dark environment.

46 Pacific spot named for the day it was discovered : EASTER ISLAND

“Rapa Nui” is the Polynesian name for what we are more likely to call “Easter Island”. The European name was coined by the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who came across the island on Easter Sunday in the year 1722. Chilean-owned Easter Island is inhabited and is a location that is remarkably distant from neighboring civilization. The nearest inhabited island is Pitcairn Island, which is almost 1300 miles away.

51 Elton’s “Rocket __” : MAN

Elton John’s 1972 hit “Rocket Man” was inspired by a short story of the same name written by Ray Bradbury. It’s a great song that tells the story of an astronaut heading out for a routine space mission.

56 ’80s hard rock quintet, and what’s literally found in each set of circles : TWISTED SISTER

Twisted Sister was a heavy metal band from New Jersey that was active intermittently from 1976 through 2016. The band’s biggest hit is probably “We’re Not Gonna Take It” released in 1984.

60 Lightsaber wielders : SITH

The Sith are characters in the “Star Wars” universe who use the “dark side” of “the Force”, and as such are the antithesis of the Jedi Knights. Members of the Sith use the title “Darth” before their name, as in Darth Vader. The last made of the six “Star Wars” movies is called “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith”.

62 Dove’s home : COTE

The Old English word “cote” was used for a small house. Our modern word “cottage” comes from “cote”. We now use “cote” to describe a small shelter on a farm for sheep or birds.

63 Wavy pattern : MOIRE

A moiré pattern is a phenomenon in physics, a so-called interference pattern. If you lay two sheets of mesh over each other for example, slightly offset, then what you see is a moiré pattern. “Moiré” is the French name for a textile that we know simply as “moire”. The rippled pattern of the textile resembles that of the interference pattern.

65 Beheaded Boleyn : ANNE

Anne Boleyn was the second wife of Henry VIII of England. Anne was found guilty of high treason after about a thousand days of marriage to Henry, accused of adultery and incest (probably trumped-up charges). She was executed, but perhaps her legacy lived on in her only child, as her daughter reigned for 45 very prosperous years as Queen Elizabeth I.

66 Kate’s TV sidekick : ALLIE

The sitcom “Kate & Allie” ran from 1984 to 1989, starring Susan Saint James as Kate, and Jane Curtin as Allie. Jane Curtin won two Emmy awards for her work on the series, while Susan Saint James … did not.

67 Legal memo phrase : IN RE

The term “in re” is Latin, and is derived from “in” (in) and “res” (thing, matter). “In re” literally means “in the matter”, and is used to mean “in regard to” or “in the matter of”.

68 Cordelia’s father : LEAR

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

  • Goneril
  • Regan
  • Cordelia

Down

3 Make into confetti : RIP UP

The word “confetti” is related to “confection”. The original confetti were small candies thrown during carnivals in Italy. This custom migrated to England, and eventually evolved into the practice of tossing small pieces of paper instead of confections.

5 At its original position : IN SITU

“In situ” is a Latin phrase meaning “in the place”, and we use the term to mean “in the original position”.

8 776 BC Olympics locale : GREECE

It is generally noted that the first Olympic Games were held in 776 BCE. This date was noted by the Greek teacher Hippias of Elis about 400 years after the event, when he compiled a list of Olympic victors. Some archaeologists have placed the date of the first games nearer to 700 BCE.

9 Undersea trackers : SONARS

The British developed the first underwater detection system that used sound waves. Research was driven by defence demands during WWI, leading to production of working units in 1922. This new sound detection system was described as using “supersonics”, but for the purpose of secrecy the term was dropped in favor of an acronym. The work was done under the auspices of the Royal Navy’s Anti-Submarine Division, so ASD was combined with the “IC” from “superson-ic-s” to create the name ASDIC. The navy even went as far as renaming the quartz material at the heart of the technology “ASDivite”. By the time WWII came along, the Americans were producing their own systems and coined the term SONAR, playing off the related application, RADAR. And so, the name ASDIC was deep-sixed …

13 Fine-grained wood : YEW

The family of trees and shrubs known as yews propagate by producing a seed surrounded by soft, sweet and brightly colored aril. Birds eat the fruit and then disperse the seed in their droppings. The birds leave the seed undamaged, and so are unharmed by the potent poisons taxane and taxol that are found within the seed. The seeds are highly toxic to humans.

22 Part of GPS: Abbr. : SYST

Global positioning system (GPS)

27 “Cheers” server : DIANE

Actress Shelley Long is best known for playing Diane Chambers on the sitcom “Cheers”. There are lots of stories out there about tension on the set of “Cheers”, particularly between Long and her co-star Ted Danson. Long decided to leave the show after the fifth season, but “Cheers” kept running, for eleven seasons in all.

30 Vegas lights : NEONS

The Neon Museum in Las Vegas opened in 1996 and features many old signs from the heyday of the Las Vegas Strip. Much of the museum is a “boneyard”, housing about 150 signs on 6 acres of land.

33 Eye parts with irises : UVEAS

The uvea is the middle of the three layers that make up the eyeball. The outer layer is called the fibrous tunic, and the inner layer is the retina.

34 Traveler in life’s fast lane : JET SETTER

The jet set comprises wealthy individuals who frequent the fashionable resorts around the world. The term “jet set” was coined in 1951, and actually predated (slightly) the introduction of jet planes for commuter flights.

39 Stag : MALE DEER

A male deer is usually called a buck, and a female is a doe. However, the male red deer is usually referred to as a stag. The males of even larger species of deer are often called bulls, and females cows. In older English, male deer of over 5 years were called harts, and females of over 3 years were called hinds. The young of small species are known as fawns, and of larger species are called calves. All very confusing …

40 Paparazzi targets : STARS

The title of the celebrated 1960 Federico Fellini film “La Dolce Vita” translates from Italian as “The Good Life”. There is a character in the film called Paparazzo who is a news photographer. It is this character who gives us our word “Paparazzi”, a term used for photographers who make careers out of taking candid shots of celebrities.

43 Interstate hauler : SEMI

A “semi” is a “semi-trailer truck”. The vehicle is so called because it consists of a tractor and a half-trailer. The half-trailer is so called because it only has wheels on the back end, with the front supported by the tractor.

48 Emulate the Gregorians : INTONE

The word “Gregorian” is an adjectival form of the name “Gregory”. I suppose the most common uses of the term are in “Gregorian chant” and “Gregorian calendar”. Gregorian chant is named for Pope Gregory I, and the Gregorian calendar is named for Pope Gregory XIII.

49 Upscale retailer __ Marcus : NEIMAN

Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband A. L. Neiman, were partners with a tidy profit of $25,000 from a business they had founded. This was 1907 Atlanta, and they were offered the chance to invest in a new company that was just starting to make “sugary soda drinks”, a company called Coca-Cola. The partners declined, instead returning to their home of Dallas and founding a department store they called “Neiman-Marcus”.

54 Falcon’s nest : AERIE

There are about 40 species of the birds of prey classed as falcons, with examples being several species of kestrel. Falcons differ from hawks and eagles in that they kill their prey with their beaks, as opposed to their talons. Famously, falcons swoop down on their prey at great speed. Peregrine falcons have been clocked at well over 200 miles per hour, making them the fastest-moving creatures on the planet.

55 2015 “Rocky” films sequel : CREED

“Creed” is a 2015 boxing movie, the seventh in the “Rocky” franchise. Sylvester Stallone returns as Rocky Balboa, but this time as a trainer. Rocky trains Apollo Creed’s son Adonis. Stallone was nominated for an Oscar for his supporting role in the film. It was the first Academy Award nomination he had received since the first “Rocky” film, which was released almost forty years earlier.

58 Highest Italian peak south of the Alps : ETNA

Mount Etna on the island of Sicily is the largest of three active volcanoes in Italy, and indeed the largest of all active volcanoes in Europe. Etna is about 2 1/2 times the height of its equally famous sister, Mt. Vesuvius. Mt. Etna is home to a 110-km long narrow-gauge railway, and two ski resorts. It is sometimes referred to as “Mongibello” in Italian, and as “Mungibeddu” in Sicilian. The English name “Etna” comes from the Greek “aitho” meaning “I eat”.

60 Schuss, e.g. : SKI

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”.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Welsh dog : CORGI
6 Voice mails: Abbr. : MSGS
10 Heed : OBEY
14 Atom with a negative charge : ANION
15 German mark successor : EURO
16 Very hot state : RAGE
17 Works on a keyboard : TYPES
18 Mideast’s Gulf of __ : ADEN
19 __ job: deception : SNOW
20 Prime time for vacationers : TOURIST SEASON
23 Informal affirmative : YUP
24 Small amount : TAD
25 Weep : CRY
26 Childcare writer LeShan : EDA
29 Work out of the office? : BUSINESS TRIP
32 King’s rabid dog : CUJO
35 Laugh sound : HEE
36 Like some waves : TIDAL
37 Chevy subcompact : AVEO
38 Basic building blocks : ATOMS
41 Half of Mork’s sign-off : NANU
42 Greek cheeses : FETAS
44 Washington NLer : NAT
45 Cavefish’s functionless parts : EYES
46 Pacific spot named for the day it was discovered : EASTER ISLAND
50 Chicago-to-Miami dir. : SSE
51 Elton’s “Rocket __” : MAN
52 Prior to, poetically : ERE
53 Baglike structure : SAC
56 ’80s hard rock quintet, and what’s literally found in each set of circles : TWISTED SISTER
60 Lightsaber wielders : SITH
62 Dove’s home : COTE
63 Wavy pattern : MOIRE
64 __ socks : KNEE
65 Beheaded Boleyn : ANNE
66 Kate’s TV sidekick : ALLIE
67 Legal memo phrase : IN RE
68 Cordelia’s father : LEAR
69 Prominent : NOTED

Down

1 Like a remark evoking a “Rowr!” : CATTY
2 “The joke’s __!” : ON YOU
3 Make into confetti : RIP UP
4 Active type : GOER
5 At its original position : IN SITU
6 Carnivore’s regimen : MEAT DIET
7 Frothy water : SUDS
8 776 BC Olympics locale : GREECE
9 Undersea trackers : SONARS
10 About : OR SO
11 Time to celebrate : BANNER DAY
12 Vanity : EGO
13 Fine-grained wood : YEW
21 Nickname for Alexandra : SASHA
22 Part of GPS: Abbr. : SYST
27 “Cheers” server : DIANE
28 Top mark : A-PLUS
29 Hiss, as a villain : BOO AT
30 Vegas lights : NEONS
31 Pronged : TINED
32 Bookstore eateries : CAFES
33 Eye parts with irises : UVEAS
34 Traveler in life’s fast lane : JET SETTER
39 Stag : MALE DEER
40 Paparazzi targets : STARS
43 Interstate hauler : SEMI
47 Mischief-maker : RASCAL
48 Emulate the Gregorians : INTONE
49 Upscale retailer __ Marcus : NEIMAN
53 Clown’s heightening prop : STILT
54 Falcon’s nest : AERIE
55 2015 “Rocky” films sequel : CREED
57 Amusement park cry : WHEE!
58 Highest Italian peak south of the Alps : ETNA
59 Stag : SOLO
60 Schuss, e.g. : SKI
61 Lodging with a “keeper” : INN