LA Times Crossword 11 Aug 22, Thursday

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Constructed by: Rebecca Goldstein
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Space Invaders

Themed answers are each common phrases with something from SPACE INVADING, inserted to create a different phrase:

  • 49A Classic arcade game with pixelated aliens, and what three answers in this puzzle have : SPACE INVADERS
  • 17A Film festival hype? : SUNDANCE FEVER (“dance fever” + “sun”)
  • 27A Bucket list item for an aspiring astronaut? : COLLECT STARDUST (“collect dust” + “star”)
  • 33A Nagging newlywed? : HONEYMOON BADGER (“honey badger” + “moon”)

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

Bill’s time: 8m 17s

Bill’s errors: 2

  • MONTERO (Moltero)
  • CONE (Cole)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Seat on the sidewalk : BENCH

Back in Ireland, the “pavement” is what we call the “sidewalk, footpath” (because the footpath is “paved”, often with “paving” stones!). It’s very confusing when you arrive in this country from Ireland, and a little dangerous when one has been taught from a young age to “walk on the pavement” …

6 Guatemalan girl : CHICA

In Spanish, a “niña” is a young girl, a child. The term “chica” applies to an older girl or perhaps a young woman. The term “muchacha” applies to girls in general, I think …

Guatemala in Central America became independent from Spain in 1821, first becoming part of the Mexican Empire, and then becoming completely independent two years later.

14 Airport city east of Los Angeles : ONTARIO

The California city of Ontario is located 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, in San Bernardino County. Some of the land on which the city sits was once owned by brothers George and William Chaffey. They named the settlement that they developed “Ontario” after the Canadian province in which they were born.

16 Lil Nas X song subtitled “Call Me by Your Name” : MONTERO

“Lil Nas X” is the stage name of rapper Montero Lamar Hill. He was born and raised just outside of Atlanta. His first hit was “Old Town Road”, which is classified as country rap.

17 Film festival hype? : SUNDANCE FEVER (“dance fever” + “sun”)

The Sundance Film Festival is the largest independent film event in the country, and takes place every year around the Sundance Resort near Provo, Utah. The festival has its roots in the Utah/US Film Festival which started in Salt Lake City in 1978. Management of the festival was taken over by Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute in 1985. The festival has become a bit of a media feeding frenzy in recent years, as a lot of A-list celebrities attend. The Festival organizers introduced a “Focus on Film” campaign in 2007 in an attempt to offset some of the madness.

19 Small songbirds : LARKS

Larks are small songbirds that are found all over the world, although only the horned lark species is found here in North America. Despite their size, larks are sometimes considered game birds, and can be served up as food. It’s not uncommon to find a dish containing lark meat in southern Europe.

20 Excel function : SORT

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program included in the Microsoft Office suite of applications. Microsoft’s first spreadsheet program was introduced back in 1982 and called Multiplan. Multiplan’s popularity waned due to the success of the competing product Lotus 1-2-3. Microsoft then introduced Excel, initially just for the Macintosh. When Excel was extended to Windows, Lotus was slow to respond and Microsoft took over the market.

21 Himalayan ox : YAK

The English word “yak” is an Anglicized version of the Tibetan name for the male of the species. Yak milk is much prized in Tibetan culture. It is made into cheese and butter, and the butter is used to make a tea that is consumed in great volume by Tibetans. The butter is also used as a fuel in lamps, and during festivals the butter is even sculpted into religious icons.

23 NYC airport on Flushing Bay : LGA

Fiorello La Guardia was the Mayor of New York from 1934 to 1945, racking up three full terms in office. The famous airport that bears La Guardia’s name was built at his urging, stemming from an incident that took place while he was in office. He was taking a TWA flight to “New York” and was outraged when the plane landed at Newark Airport, in the state of New Jersey. The Mayor demanded that the flight take off again and land at a small airport in Brooklyn. A gaggle of press reporters joined him on the short hop and he gave them a story, urging New Yorkers to support the construction of a new commercial airport within the city’s limits. The new airport, in Queens, opened in 1939 as New York Municipal, often called “LaGuardia” as a nickname. The airport was officially relabeled as “LaGuardia” (LGA) in 1947.

Flushing Bay is a tidal embankment in New York City that takes its name from the town of Flushing. Flushing was settled in 1645 by the Dutch and was named for the port of Vlissingen in the southwest Netherlands. “Flushing” is the English name for the Dutch port.

24 Frozen Four game : SEMI

The semi-finals and finals of the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Championship tournaments are collectively referred to as the “Frozen Four”. This term is a play on “Final Four”, which is the name given to the final round of the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship tournament.

25 Dip in the Mediterranean? : AIOLI

To the purist, especially in Provence in the South of France, aioli is prepared just by grinding garlic with olive oil. However, other ingredients are often added to the mix, particularly egg yolks.

27 Bucket list item for an aspiring astronaut? : COLLECT STARDUST (“collect dust” + “star”)

A bucket list is a list of things one wants to achieve before dying, before “kicking the bucket”. The expression hasn’t been used in this context for very long, only a decade or so, but was popularized by the 2007 film “The Bucket List” starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.

31 Cookbook writer Garten : INA

Ina Garten is an author as well as the host of a cooking show on the Food Network called “Barefoot Contessa”. She is a mentee of Martha Stewart, and indeed was touted as a potential “successor” to the TV celebrity when Stewart was incarcerated in 2004 after an insider trading scandal. Garten has no formal training as a chef, and indeed used to work as a nuclear policy analyst at the White House!

32 Traditional March 14 dessert : PIE

The first three digits of the mathematical constant pi are 3.14. Pi Day has been celebrated on March 14th (3/14) every year since 1988, when it was inaugurated at the San Francisco Exploratorium. In countries where the day is usually written before the month, Pi Day is July 22nd, reflecting the more accurate approximation of pi as 22/7. Interestingly, March 14th is also Albert Einstein’s birthday.

33 Nagging newlywed? : HONEYMOON BADGER (“honey badger” + “moon”)

The concept of a honeymoon vacation only started in the early 1800s. In Britain, wealthy couples would take a “bridal tour” together after the wedding, visiting those friends and relatives who could not attend the ceremony. The etymology of “honeymoon” isn’t very clear, and may even have a negative derivation as it might suggest that the sweetness (honey) of love is doomed to wane like a passing phase of the moon. The equivalent terms in other languages are “moon of honey” (French), “honey month” (Welsh) and “tinsel week” (German).

To badger is to harass. The verb “to badger” comes from the cruel practice of badger-baiting, which dates back to medieval times. Badger-baiting is a blood sport in which a dog is used as bait for a badger in its den, to draw it out into the open. The den is an artificial structure built to resemble a natural badgers’ den, complete with a tunnel entrance. The dog is sent down the tunnel causing the badger and dog to lock their jaws on each other. The badger and dog are then removed from the den by pulling on the dog’s tail. Horrible …

The honey badger is found in most of Africa, as well as other parts of the world. It is also called a “ratel”, which is the Afrikaans word for the little beastie.

42 Menzel who won a Tony for playing Elphaba in “Wicked” : IDINA

Actress and singer Idina Menzel came to public attention when she was a member of the original Broadway cast of “Rent”. She is known on the small screen for playing Shelby Corcoran on the musical TV show “Glee”. On the big screen, her most noted performance was as the voice actor behind Queen Elsa in the Disney hit “Frozen”. It is Menzel who sings the Oscar-winning song “Let It Go” in “Frozen”.

“Wicked” (more completely, “Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz”) is a 2003 stage musical that is a retelling of the L. Frank Baum novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”. The musical is based on a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire” called “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West”.

43 Iowa State city : AMES

Iowa State University of Science and Technology (ISU) is located in Ames, Iowa. Among many other notable milestones, ISU created the country’s first school of veterinary medicine, in 1879. The sports teams of ISU are known as the Cyclones.

44 Good Grips brand : OXO

The OXO line of kitchen utensils and housewares is designed to be ergonomically superior to the average household tools. The intended user of OXO products is someone who doesn’t have the normal range of motion or strength in the hands e.g. someone suffering from arthritis.

45 Sausalito summer hrs. : PDT

Pacific Daylight Time (PDT)

The California city of Sausalito is located just on the northern side of the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County. The city’s name comes from the Spanish term “sauzalito” meaning “small willow grove”. During WWII, Sausalito was known as a shipbuilding center. Today, it is more closely associated with artists, and the wealthy.

46 Bygone Russian royal : TSAR

The term “czar” (also “tsar”) is a Slavic word that was first used as a title by Simeon I of Bulgaria in 913 AD. “Czar” is derived from the word “caesar”, which was synonymous with “emperor” at that time. We tend to use the “czar” spelling, as opposed to “tsar”, when we describe a person today with great power or authority, e.g. “Drug Czar”.

47 H.S. class with a unit on heredity : AP BIO

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.

49 Classic arcade game with pixelated aliens, and what three answers in this puzzle have : SPACE INVADERS

Space Invaders is one of my favorite video games. It is truly a classic from the good old days (not that I play video games anymore). When Space Invaders was first released in video arcades in Japan in 1978, it was so popular that it caused a shortage of 100-yen coins.

54 Citation software : ENDNOTE

EndNote is a software application designed to manage bibliographies and references when composing reports, articles and essays.

56 National park in Utah : ARCHES

The gorgeous Arches National Park is located in eastern Utah, just outside of Moab. The main focus of the park is the preservation of over 2,000 natural sandstone arches. The arches are relatively fragile, and 43 have collapsed since 1970, mainly due to erosion caused by wind and rain.

57 Fiddle (with) : TINKER

To tinker with something is to adjust or experiment with it. Back in the late 1500’s, “to tinker” was “to work as a tinker”. In those days, a tinker was someone who mended pots and pans.

58 Outwitted a Predator? : DEKED

A deke, also known as a dangle, is a technique used to get past an opponent in ice hockey. “Deke” is a colloquial shortening of the word “decoy”.

The Nashville Predators played their first NHL games in the 1998-99 season, joining the league as an expansion team. They play their home games in the Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville.

Down

1 Dude : BRO

Our term “dude” arose as slang in New York City in the 1880s, when it was used to describe a fastidious man. In the early 1900s, the term was extended to mean “city slickers”, easterners who vacationed in the West. The first use of the term “dude ranch” was recorded in 1921.

2 When dinosaurs roamed the earth : EONS AGO

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

3 __ gas : NATURAL

Natural gas that is piped into our homes is naturally odorless. A tiny amount of odorant is added to assist in the detection of leaks. A common additive is tert-Butylthiol, which is said to impart the smell of rotten eggs.

4 Jack-in-the-box appendage : CRANK

A Jack-in-the-box is a child’s toy. It’s a box with a crank handle at the side. Turning the crank causes a tune to play (usually “Pop Goes the Weasel”), and at the right moment the lid pops open and a spring loaded clown character jumps up out of the box.

6 David who won the 1994 AL Cy Young Award : CONE

David Cone is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher who played from 1986 to 2003. He pitched a perfect game in 1999, the sixteenth in the history of baseball.

7 “House Hunters” channel : HGTV

“House Hunters” is an HGTV show that follows individuals who are searching for a new home with the help of a real estate agent. Supposedly, three houses are presented to the potential buyer, and the buyer chooses one of the three. However, reality is that the buyer is already in escrow with the favored house before filming starts. The other two houses presented are those that were considered and already rejected. There are several spin-offs to the show, including “Tiny House Hunters” in which participants are looking to downsize to a house smaller than 600 square feet.

9 Pens in : CORRALS

“Corral” is Spanish word that we’ve imported into English describing an enclosure for livestock. Ultimately, the term comes from the Vulgar Latin “currale” meaning “enclosure for carts”, itself coming from “currus”, the Latin for “cart”.

12 Part of una semana : DIA

In Spanish, the “número de días en una semana” (number of days in a week) is “siete” (siete).

18 Dot-__ : COMS

A dot-com is a company that primarily makes it money by providing products and services using its online presence.

19 Business ltrs. : LLC

A limited liability company (LLC) has a structure that limits the liability of the owner or owners. It is a hybrid structure in the sense that it can be taxed as would an individual or partnership, while also maintaining the liability protection afforded to a corporation.

22 Baby fox : KIT

Kits are the young of several mammalian species, including the ferret and fox. “Kit” is probably a shortened form of “kitten”.

24 Phony deal : SCAM

Something or someone described as phony (sometimes “phoney”) is not genuine or real. There is a suggestion that the term “phony” comes from “fawney”, which was a gold-plated brass ring used by swindlers in place of a one made of pure gold.

25 Diva’s time to shine : ARIA

The term “diva” comes to us from Latin via Italian. “Diva” is the feminine form of “divus” meaning “divine one”. The word is used in Italy to mean “goddess” or “fine lady”, and especially is applied to the prima donna in an opera. We often use the term to describe a singer with a big ego.

26 Carded : ID’ED

Identity document (ID)

28 Home security? : LIEN

A lien is a right that one has to retain or secure someone’s property until a debt is paid. When an individual takes out a car loan, for example, the lending bank is usually a lien holder. The bank releases the lien on the car when the loan is paid in full.

29 New Age singer from County Donegal : ENYA

Enya’s real name is Eithne Ní Bhraonáin, which can translate from Irish into Enya Brennan. Her Donegal family (in the northwest of Ireland) formed a band called Clannad, which included Enya. In 1980 Enya launched her very successful solo career, eventually becoming Ireland’s best-selling solo musician. And, she sure does turn up a lot in crosswords!

“Donegal” is the name of the most northerly county in Ireland, and is also the name of the town that gave the county its name. It is the anglicized form of the Irish “Dún na nGall” meaning “fort of the foreigners”. County Donegal is a really beautiful part of the country …

30 Silver Alerts, e.g. : APBS

An All Points Bulletin (APB) is a broadcast from one US law enforcement agency to another.

A Silver Alert broadcasts information about a missing senior, especially someone suffering with some form of dementia. The system was introduced in 2005 in Oklahoma, and has spread across the nation since then. When inaugurated, it was described as an “AMBER Alert for seniors”.

36 Grove of palm trees, maybe : OASIS

An isolated area of vegetation in a desert is called an oasis (plural “oases”). As water is needed for plant growth, an oasis might also include a spring, pond or small lake. We often use the term “oasis” more generally to describe a haven, a place of rest.

37 Muscat’s country : OMAN

Muscat is the capital of Oman. The city lies on the northeast coast of the state on the Gulf of Oman, a branch of the Persian Gulf.

38 Chutzpah : NERVE

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

41 Kanga’s kid : ROO

Kanga is a friend of A. A. Milne’s “Winnie-the-Pooh”, and is a kangaroo. She is the mother of Roo, who appears more frequently in the storyline.

46 Hamilton bills : TENS

The obverse of the US ten-dollar bill features the image of Alexander Hamilton, the first US Secretary of the Treasury. As such, ten-dollar bills are sometimes called “Hamiltons”. By the way, the $10 bill is the only US currency in circulation in which the portrait faces to the left. The reverse of the ten-dollar bill features the US Treasury Building.

48 Tubular pasta : PENNE

The pasta known as penne comes in two main types, i.e. penne lisce (which is smooth) and penne rigate (which is furrowed).

50 Tennis great profiled in ESPN’s “30 for 30” special “Arthur and Johnnie” : ASHE

“30 for 30” is a series of ESPN documentary films that has aired since 2009. The series originated as a celebration of ESPN’s 30th birthday. To recognize that anniversary, the network commissioned 30 filmmakers to make 30 one-hour films covering the big stories in ESPN’s 30-year history. The series was so well received that ESPN continues to make similar documentaries using the “30 for 30” umbrella title.

51 Like Sarah Lawrence since 1968 : CO-ED

Sarah Lawrence College is a private school in Yonkers, New York that was established in 1926 by real-estate mogul William Van Duzer Lawrence. He named the institution in honor of his wife Sarah, who died that same year. The school was originally intended to provide an education in the arts and humanities for women students, although back then the curriculum included modeling, shorthand, typing and applying makeup. Things have changed a little since then …

55 Triage ctrs. : ERS

Triage is the process of prioritizing patients for treatment, especially on the battlefield. The term “triage” is French and means “sorting”.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Seat on the sidewalk : BENCH
6 Guatemalan girl : CHICA
11 Guffawed : ROARED
13 Enters a password : LOGS ON
14 Airport city east of Los Angeles : ONTARIO
16 Lil Nas X song subtitled “Call Me by Your Name” : MONTERO
17 Film festival hype? : SUNDANCE FEVER (“dance fever” + “sun”)
19 Small songbirds : LARKS
20 Excel function : SORT
21 Himalayan ox : YAK
23 NYC airport on Flushing Bay : LGA
24 Frozen Four game : SEMI
25 Dip in the Mediterranean? : AIOLI
27 Bucket list item for an aspiring astronaut? : COLLECT STARDUST (“collect dust” + “star”)
31 Cookbook writer Garten : INA
32 Traditional March 14 dessert : PIE
33 Nagging newlywed? : HONEYMOON BADGER (“honey badger” + “moon”)
42 Menzel who won a Tony for playing Elphaba in “Wicked” : IDINA
43 Iowa State city : AMES
44 Good Grips brand : OXO
45 Sausalito summer hrs. : PDT
46 Bygone Russian royal : TSAR
47 H.S. class with a unit on heredity : AP BIO
49 Classic arcade game with pixelated aliens, and what three answers in this puzzle have : SPACE INVADERS
53 French houses : MAISONS
54 Citation software : ENDNOTE
56 National park in Utah : ARCHES
57 Fiddle (with) : TINKER
58 Outwitted a Predator? : DEKED
59 Requirements : NEEDS

Down

1 Dude : BRO
2 When dinosaurs roamed the earth : EONS AGO
3 __ gas : NATURAL
4 Jack-in-the-box appendage : CRANK
5 Collections of cattle : HERDS
6 David who won the 1994 AL Cy Young Award : CONE
7 “House Hunters” channel : HGTV
8 “That’s a terrible hiding spot” : I SEE YOU
9 Pens in : CORRALS
10 “Should I take that as __?” : A NO
12 Part of una semana : DIA
13 Studio site, maybe : LOFT
15 Beginning : ONSET
16 Scholarship basis : MERIT
18 Dot-__ : COMS
19 Business ltrs. : LLC
22 Baby fox : KIT
24 Phony deal : SCAM
25 Diva’s time to shine : ARIA
26 Carded : ID’ED
28 Home security? : LIEN
29 New Age singer from County Donegal : ENYA
30 Silver Alerts, e.g. : APBS
33 Toddler’s perch, at times : HIP
34 “If I had to bet … ” : ODDS ARE …
35 Sweat the small stuff : NITPICK
36 Grove of palm trees, maybe : OASIS
37 Muscat’s country : OMAN
38 Chutzpah : NERVE
39 Lose it completely? : GO BROKE
40 Lived and breathed : EXISTED
41 Kanga’s kid : ROO
46 Hamilton bills : TENS
47 Use as an ingredient : ADD IN
48 Tubular pasta : PENNE
50 Tennis great profiled in ESPN’s “30 for 30” special “Arthur and Johnnie” : ASHE
51 Like Sarah Lawrence since 1968 : CO-ED
52 Social insect : ANT
53 Furious : MAD
55 Triage ctrs. : ERS