LA Times Crossword 20 Jun 22, Monday

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Constructed by: Susan Gelfand
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: The Name is Apt

Themed answers are locations appropriate to the name of the person cited in the clue:

  • 20A Where Clay went to make a ceramic vase? : POTTERY STUDIO
  • 25A Where Penny went to deposit money? : SAVINGS BANK
  • 47A Where Viola went to perform with an orchestra? : CONCERT HALL
  • 53A Where Dean went to meet with professors and students? : COLLEGE CAMPUS

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

Bill’s time: 5m 39s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Shoot the breeze : CHAT

To shoot the breeze is to participate in casual inconsequential conversation. The idiom “shoot the breeze” arose in the US in the early- to mid-20th century. The phrase probably evolved from the use of “breeze” as a slang term meaning “rumor”.

15 Blue-green hue : TEAL

The beautiful color teal takes its name from the duck called a teal, which has dark greenish-blue (teal) markings on its head and wings.

16 Poetry muse : ERATO

In Greek mythology, Erato was the Muse of lyric poetry. She is often depicted with a wreath of myrtle and roses, and playing a lyre.

18 Tabula __: blank slate : RASA

Tabula rasa (plural “tabulae rasae”) is the idea that people are born with a “blank, clean slate”, and that knowledge comes from experience and perception. “Tabula rasa” translates literally from Latin as “scraped tablet”.

19 Rolls of fabric : BOLTS

“Bolt” is the name given to a roll of cloth of specific length, especially one coming directly off a loom.

23 Calligrapher’s tool : PEN

Calligraphy is the art of fine handwriting. The term “calligraphy” comes from the Greek “kallos” meaning “beauty” and “graphein” meaning “to write”.

25 Where Penny went to deposit money? : SAVINGS BANK

The official name of our smallest denomination coin is “cent”, and our use of the word “penny” is just a colloquialism derived from the British coin of the same name. In the UK, the plural of penny is “pence”, whereas we have “pennies” in our pockets.

33 Olympic skater’s leap : AXEL

An axel is a forward take-off jump in figure skating. The maneuver was first performed by Norwegian Axel Paulsen at the 1882 World Figure Skating championships.

44 Golden yrs. fund : IRA

Individual retirement account (IRA)

46 Mornings, briefly : AMS

Something described as “antemeridian” takes place before noon. The related term “ante meridiem” means the same thing, and is abbreviated to “a.m.”

47 Where Viola went to perform with an orchestra? : CONCERT HALL

The viola looks like and is played like a violin, but is slightly larger. It is referred to as the middle voice in the violin family, lying between the violin and the cello.

59 Doctor Who player Whittaker : JODIE

Actress Jodie Whittaker made a little history at the end of 2017. She took over from Peter Capaldi in the role of “Doctor Who”, becoming the Doctor’s thirteenth and first female incarnation.

61 Say grace, say : PRAY

A grace is a short prayer recited before or after a meal.

65 Quiche ingredients : EGGS

The classic dish called quiche is made with eggs (“oeufs” in French). Even though the quiche is inextricably linked to French cuisine, the name “quiche” comes from “Kuchen”, the German word for “cake”. The variant called “quiche lorraine” includes bits of smoked bacon as an ingredient.

66 Stately home : MANSE

A manse is a minister’s home in various Christian traditions. “Manse” derives from “mansus”, the Latin for “dwelling”. The term can also be used for any stately residence.

67 Laryngitis docs : ENTS

Ear, nose and throat specialist (ENT)

The suffix “-itis” is used to denote inflammation, as in laryngitis (inflammation of the larynx), otitis (inflammation of the ear), tendinitis (inflammation of a tendon), tonsillitis (inflammation of the tonsils) and sinusitis (inflammation of the sinuses).

Down

1 Tax prep pro : CPA

Certified public accountant (CPA)

2 Triangular stringed instrument : HARP

Guinness trademarked its famous harp logo way back in 1862. The harp is also a symbol of Ireland. When Ireland became a Free State from the United Kingdom in 1922, the new Irish government had to come up with a different symbol so as not to infringe trademark laws. That’s why Ireland’s harp points in the opposite direction of Guinness’ harp. ‘Tis true, ‘tis true …

3 Voice above tenor : ALTO

In choral music, an alto (plural “alti”) is the second-highest voice in a four-part chorus made up of soprano, contr(alto), tenor and bass. The word “alto” describes the vocal range, that of the deepest female singing-voice, whereas the term “contralto” describes more than just the alto range, but also its quality and timbre. An adult male’s voice (not a boy’s) with the same range as an alto is called a “countertenor”.

6 Run like the dickens : TEAR

The phrase “like the dickens” is used to mean “a lot” (it hurts like the dickens) or “quickly” (ran like the dickens). The phrase has nothing to do with the author Charles Dickens, and rather “dickens” is a euphemism for the “devil”.

8 Blood component : PLASMA

Plasma (sometimes “plasm”) is the clear, yellow-colored liquid component of blood and lymph in which cells are suspended.

9 Shows to be untrue : DEBUNKS

The word “bunk” is short for “bunkum”, the phonetic spelling of “Buncombe”, which is a county in North Carolina. Supposedly, a state representative made a dull and irrelevant speech that was directed to his home county of Buncombe, bringing the term “bunkum” into the language with the meaning of “nonsense”. The derivative word “debunk” first appeared in a novel by William Woodward in 1923, when he used it to describe “taking the bunk out of things”.

11 Landlocked African nation west of Niger : MALI

The Republic of Mali is a landlocked country in western Africa located south of Algeria. Formerly known as French Sudan, the nation’s most famous city is Timbuktu. Mali is the third-largest producer of gold on the continent, after South Africa and Ghana.

The Republic of Niger is a landlocked country in Western Africa that gets its name from the Niger River. 80% of the country lies within the bounds of the Sahara Desert.

12 Springfield Elementary bus driver : OTTO

Otto Mann drives the school bus on the TV show “The Simpsons”. He is a Germanic character voiced by Harry Shearer, and his name is a play on “Ottoman Empire”. Whenever Bart sees him, he greets Otto with the words “Otto, man!”

13 “Help!” letters : SOS!

The combination of three dots – three dashes – three dots, is a Morse signal first introduced by the German government as a standard distress call in 1905. The sequence is remembered as the letters SOS (three dots – pause – three dashes – pause – three dots). That said, in the emergency signal there is no pause between the dots and dashes, so “SOS” is really only a mnemonic. Similarly, the phrases “Save Our Souls” and “Save Our Ship” are back-formations that were introduced after the SOS signal was adopted.

22 Altoids container : TIN

Altoids breath mints have been around since 1780, when they were introduced in Britain. The famous tin in which Altoids are sold is often reused for other purposes. The most famous use is as a container for a mini-survival kit.

25 Father Christmas : SANTA

A central figure on Christmas Day is Santa Claus, aka “Father Christmas”, and “Père Noël” in French.

27 Five-time Wimbledon singles champion Williams : VENUS

Venus Williams is the older of the two Williams sisters playing professional tennis. In 2002, Williams became the first African-American woman to earn the World No. 1 ranking by the Women’s Tennis Association in the Open Era.

28 Dead __ Scrolls : SEA

The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered over a period of years, between 1947 and 1956, in eleven caves (the Qumran Caves) on the shores of the Dead Sea. The scrolls are believed to have been written by an ancient Jewish sect called the Essenes, although this has been called into question recently. Many of the texts are copies of writings from the Hebrew Bible.

30 American __: U.S. territory in the South Pacific : SAMOA

American Samoa is a US territory in the South Pacific located southeast of the nation of Samoa. Home to about 55,000 people, it is the southernmost American territory. American Samoa’s capital is the busy port city Pago Pago.

31 Disney mermaid : ARIEL

“The Little Mermaid” is a 1989 animated feature from Disney that is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name. It tells the story of a mermaid princess named Ariel who falls in love with the human Prince Eric. Ariel’s father is chief merman King Triton. Her best friend is Flounder, who despite his name is not a flounder at all and is actually a tropical fish. Ariel is also friends with Sebastian, a red Jamaican crab whose full name is Horatio Thelonious Ignacious Crustaceous Sebastian.

32 Streisand title role : YENTL

“Yentl” is a play that opened in New York City in 1975. The move to adapt the play for the big screen was led by Barbra Streisand, and indeed she wrote the first outline of a musical version herself as far back as 1968. The film was eventually made and released in 1983, with Streisand performing the lead role.

39 Tuscany three : TRE

Tuscany is a beautiful region in central Italy, the capital of which is the city of Florence. Tuscany is considered to be the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, which was centered around Florence. It was home to great artistic icons such as Dante, Botticelli, Michelangelo, da Vinci, Galileo and Puccini.

40 Designates for a specific purpose, as funds : EARMARKS

Political earmarks are provisions on bills that are inserted by an interested party to funnel funds towards a particular project or district. The earmark takes away from the Executive Branch the ability to manage certain funds associated with the bill that were meant to support the bill’s original intent.’

43 Like triangles with unequal sides : SCALENE

A scalene triangle is one in which all three sides are of unequal length.

48 “__ to Joy”: segment of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony : ODE

“Ode to Joy” is a poem written in 1785 by German poet Friedrich Schiller. Famously, Ludwig van Beethoven used “Ode to Joy” in the fourth movement of his Ninth “Choral” Symphony that was first performed in 1824.

Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9” has to be one of the most recognizable pieces of music in the classical repertoire. “Ode to Joy”, based on the final movement of the work, is now the anthem of the European Union. If you’d like to see a fictional tale that explores Beethoven’s life at the time he was writing the “Ninth Symphony”, I highly recommend you take a look at the 2006 movie “Copying Beethoven”. Ed Harris plays Beethoven, and the soundtrack is superb.

50 Pitcher Seaver who won three Cy Young Awards : TOM

Tom Seaver is a former baseball pitcher, noted for his ten-year stint with the New York Mets from 1967 to 1977. Seaver earned the nickname “Tom Terrific”, and in 1988 became the first Met player to have his jersey number retired. When he quit baseball he moved out here to California and opened up a small winery in Calistoga. Keep an eye out for the vineyard’s name, “Seaver Family Vineyards”, and their cabernets “Nancy’s Fancy” and “GTS”.

54 Thor’s father : ODIN

According to Norse mythology, the god Odin had a pair of ravens that flew all over the world each day to get him information. The ravens were named Huginn and Muninn.

55 “Dear __ Hansen”: 2017 Best Musical Tony winner : EVAN

“Dear Evan Hansen” is a 2015 stage musical about a young man with awkward social skills and his efforts to make friends.

58 Poultry herb : SAGE

In Britain and Ireland, sage is listed as one of the four essential herbs. And those would be “parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme”.

59 English muffin topper : JAM

In North America, a muffin is a sweet, cupcake-like sweetbread. In Great Britain and Ireland, a muffin is a part-raised flatbread that is usually leavened with yeast. The latter is referred to as an “English muffin” here in North America.

62 Monogram of a French fashion house : YSL

Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) was an Algerian-born French fashion designer. Saint Laurent started off working as an assistant to Christian Dior at the age of 17. Dior died just four years later, and as a very young man Saint-Laurent was named head of the House of Dior. However, in 1950 Saint Laurent was conscripted into the French Army and ended up in a military hospital after suffering a mental breakdown from the hazing inflicted on him by his fellow soldiers. His treatment included electroshock therapy and administration of sedatives and psychoactive drugs. He was released from hospital, managed to pull his life back together and started his own fashion house. A remarkable story …

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Shoot the breeze : CHAT
5 Ladder rung : STEP
9 How-to presentations : DEMOS
14 Lacking color : PALE
15 Blue-green hue : TEAL
16 Poetry muse : ERATO
17 Dance, music, sculpture, etc. : ARTS
18 Tabula __: blank slate : RASA
19 Rolls of fabric : BOLTS
20 Where Clay went to make a ceramic vase? : POTTERY STUDIO
23 Calligrapher’s tool : PEN
24 Selfish shout : MINE!
25 Where Penny went to deposit money? : SAVINGS BANK
30 Verbalize : SAY
33 Olympic skater’s leap : AXEL
34 Herbal beverage : TEA
35 Stock unit : SHARE
37 Boy, in Spanish : NINO
38 Speed : HASTE
41 “Sign me up!” : I’M IN!
42 Talks up : TOUTS
44 Golden yrs. fund : IRA
45 Verse writer : POET
46 Mornings, briefly : AMS
47 Where Viola went to perform with an orchestra? : CONCERT HALL
51 Lose color : FADE
52 Cow’s sound : MOO!
53 Where Dean went to meet with professors and students? : COLLEGE CAMPUS
59 Doctor Who player Whittaker : JODIE
60 Declare : AVER
61 Say grace, say : PRAY
63 Sci-fi visitor : ALIEN
64 Gas holder : TANK
65 Quiche ingredients : EGGS
66 Stately home : MANSE
67 Laryngitis docs : ENTS
68 Film spool : REEL

Down

1 Tax prep pro : CPA
2 Triangular stringed instrument : HARP
3 Voice above tenor : ALTO
4 Aerospace employee who assesses new aircraft : TEST PILOT
5 Force : STRENGTH
6 Run like the dickens : TEAR
7 “Nothing to it!” : EASY!
8 Blood component : PLASMA
9 Shows to be untrue : DEBUNKS
10 Wear away : ERODE
11 Landlocked African nation west of Niger : MALI
12 Springfield Elementary bus driver : OTTO
13 “Help!” letters : SOS!
21 Number of millimeters in a centimeter : TEN
22 Altoids container : TIN
25 Father Christmas : SANTA
26 Widely accepted truth : AXIOM
27 Five-time Wimbledon singles champion Williams : VENUS
28 Dead __ Scrolls : SEA
29 No-frills : BASIC
30 American __: U.S. territory in the South Pacific : SAMOA
31 Disney mermaid : ARIEL
32 Streisand title role : YENTL
36 Rap devotee : HIP-HOPPER
39 Tuscany three : TRE
40 Designates for a specific purpose, as funds : EARMARKS
43 Like triangles with unequal sides : SCALENE
48 “__ to Joy”: segment of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony : ODE
49 Cancel out : NEGATE
50 Pitcher Seaver who won three Cy Young Awards : TOM
51 Swatter’s targets : FLIES
53 Pepsi or Coke : COLA
54 Thor’s father : ODIN
55 “Dear __ Hansen”: 2017 Best Musical Tony winner : EVAN
56 Small change : CENT
57 Strong desire : URGE
58 Poultry herb : SAGE
59 English muffin topper : JAM
62 Monogram of a French fashion house : YSL