LA Times Crossword 19 Aug 22, Friday

Advertisement

Constructed by: Rebecca Goldstein
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Where is the Lie?

Themed answers are common phrases with the letter string “LIE” removed:

  • 35A “You can’t deny it,” and a good question about the answers to the starred clues : WHERE IS THE LIE?
  • 18A *Sounds when Dad is on the roller coaster? : POP’S WHEES (“pops wheelies” – lie)
  • 24A *Football official who makes the absolute worst calls? : DISASTER REF (“disaster relief” – lie)
  • 47A *Extremely poor student? : LORD OF THE FS (“Lord of the Flies” – lie)
  • 56A *Woefully inadequate crust on a steak? : SORRY CHAR (“sorry Charlie” – lie)

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

Bill’s time: 10m 07s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Diamond-studded watch, e.g. : BLING

Bling-bling (often simply “bling”) is the name given to all the shiny stuff sported by rap stars in particular i.e. the jewelry, watches, metallic cell phones, even gold caps on the teeth. The term comes from the supposed “bling” sound caused by light striking a shiny metal surface.

6 Drama award : OBIE

The Obies are the Off-Broadway Theater Awards. They have been presented annually since 1956. The recipients used to be chosen by “The Village Voice” newspaper, but now are jointly administered with the American Theatre Wing.

10 Greek peak : OSSA

Mount Ossa in Greece is located between Mount Pelion in the south, and the famed Mount Olympus in the north. Mount Ossa is also known as Kissavos.

14 “On the Media” medium : RADIO

“On the Media” is a weekly radio program produced by WNYC in New York that covers journalism, technology and first amendment issues. The show is distributed to NPR stations nationwide.

16 Temple athletes : OWLS

Temple University chose the owl as its mascot and symbol way back in the 1880s. The school’s first costumed owl mascot was named Victor T. Owl, and was introduced in 1977. Victor was renamed to Hooter T. Owl in 1984. The choice of the owl as a symbol reflected Temple’s original mission as a night school, catering to individuals of limited means who had to hold down jobs during the day.

17 Former NBA center who made only one three-point shot in his career : O’NEAL

Retired basketball player Shaquille O’Neal now appears regularly as an analyst on the NBA TV show “Inside the NBA”. Shaq has quite a career in the entertainment world. His first rap album, called “Shaq Diesel”, went platinum. He also starred in two of his own reality shows: “Shaq’s Big Challenge” and “Shaq Vs.”

18 *Sounds when Dad is on the roller coaster? : POP’S WHEES (“pops wheelies” – lie)

To pop a wheelie is to lift the front wheels of a vehicle off the ground by accelerating rapidly with the rear wheels.

20 Tower of note : AAA

The American Automobile Association (AAA) is a not-for-profit organization focused on lobbying, provision of automobile servicing, and selling of automobile insurance. The AAA was founded in 1902 in Chicago and published the first of its celebrated hotel guides back in 1917.

23 Adjective on taco truck menus : ASADA

The name of the dish called “carne asada” translates from Spanish as “roasted meat”.

31 Margarita condimento : SAL

In Spanish, “sal” (salt) is a “condimento” (seasoning).

32 Span. title : SRA

In Spanish, a “dama” (lady) might be referred to as “Señora” (Mrs.).

33 Business closing? : INC

A company that has incorporated uses the abbreviation “Inc.” after its name. By incorporating, a company forms a corporation, which is a legal entity that has legal rights similar to those of an individual. For example, a corporation can sue another corporation or individual. However, a corporation does not have all the rights of citizens. A corporation does not have the Fifth Amendment right of protections against self-incrimination, for example. It is perhaps understandable that the concept of “corporations as persons” is a frequent subject for debate.

34 Florida NFLers : BUCS

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (the Bucs) joined the NFL in 1976, along with the Seattle Seahawks, as an expansion team. The Bucs had a tough start in the NFL, losing their first 26 games. Things went better in the early eighties, but then the team went through 14 consecutive losing seasons. Their luck changed again though, and they won the Super Bowl at the end of the 2002 season.

39 Old Royale 8’s : REOS

The REO Motor Company was founded by Ransom Eli Olds (hence the name REO). The company made cars, trucks and buses, and was in business from 1905 to 1975 in Lansing, Michigan. Among the company’s most famous models were the REO Royale 8 and the REO Flying Cloud.

47 *Extremely poor student? : LORD OF THE FS (“Lord of the Flies” – lie)

“Lord of the Flies” is such a great story! William Golding wrote the novel as an allegory of society. The most famous screen adaptation was made in 1963, directed by Peter Brook.

54 Bread served with saag paneer : ROTI

Palak paneer is a dish from Indian cuisine. It consists mainly of paneer (a freshly-made cheese) in a puréed spinach paste. Saag paneer is a more generic form of the dish, one in which other leafy vegetables can be used to make the paste, e.g. mustard greens, collard greens or broccoli.

55 Maracanã Stadium city : RIO

Maracanã Stadium is a soccer stadium in Rio de Janeiro that opened in 1950, when it acted as host for that year’s FIFA World Cup. The facility was partially rebuilt in time for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. It was also used during the 2016 Summer Olympics, most notably for the opening and closing ceremonies.

59 Single-sex group of experts : MANEL

A manel (portmanteau of “man” and “panel”) is a panel in which all of the participants are men.

62 The Hawkeye State : IOWA

Iowa is nicknamed the Hawkeye State in honor of Chief Black Hawk, a leader of the Sauk people during the War of 1812 and the Black Hawk War.

65 Study __ : SESH

Session (abbreviated to “sess.” formally, and “sesh” informally)

Down

2 Poipu patio : LANAI

A lanai is a type of veranda, and a design that originated in Hawaii. A kind blog reader tells me that the etymology of “lanai” seems unclear, but that the island name of “Lana’i” is not related.

Poipu is a town on the southern side of the Hawaian island of Kauai.

4 Actress Long : NIA

Nia Long is an American actress who is probably best known for playing Will Smith’s sometime girlfriend and fiancee Lisa Wilkes on the TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”.

6 Hawk in a duet : OSPREY

The osprey is also known as the sea hawk or fish eagle. Osprey nests are large heaps of sticks usually built in forks of trees and rocky outcrops. I’ve seen quite a few osprey nests built on the tops of light poles and utility poles. A pair of mating ospreys is known as a duet.

7 Bronx cheer leader : BOOER

What is known as a Bronx cheer in the US is called “blowing a raspberry” in the rest of the world. The term “Bronx cheer” is a reference to the sound made by some spectators in Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, in New York City.

8 Co. for surfers : ISP

An Internet service provider (ISP) is just what the name indicates, a company that provides its customers with access to the Internet. One way that ISPs differentiate themselves from each other is in the way in which end users are connected to the ISP’s network. So, there are cable ISPs, DSL ISPs, dial-up ISPs and satellite ISPs.

9 Maker of The Hero and The Fixer lip care products : EOS

eos Products is a company that was founded in 2006 in New York City. eoS sells beauty products such as lotions and creams, and is most famous for its lip balm. The initials “eos” stand for “Evolution of Smooth”.

11 Work-from-home attire, for many : SWEATSUIT

A sweatsuit is a combination comprising a sweatshirt and sweatpants.

12 The Iditarod, e.g. : SLED RACE

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race covers an incredible 1,161 miles, from Anchorage to Nome in Alaska. The race starts every year on the first Saturday in March, with the first race having been held in 1973. Finishing times range from over 8 days to 15 days or more. The first few races only used a northern route, but then a southern route was added to the roster every second year. It’s kind of a good thing, because when the racers take the northern route they don’t even pass through the town of Iditarod!

22 @ signs : ATS

The “at symbol” (@) originated in the commercial word, as shorthand for “each at, per” and similar phrases. I suppose we see the symbol most commonly these days as part of email addresses.

25 Buenos __ : AIRES

Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina, and is located on the estuary of the Ria de la Plata. As it is a port city, the people of Buenos Aires are known as porteños (“people of the port”). The name “Buenos Aires” can be translated from Spanish as “fair winds”.

26 Flat bread? : RENT

“Flat”, in the sense of an apartment or condominium, is a word more commonly used in Britain and Ireland than on this side of the pond. The term “flat” is Scottish in origin, in which language it used to mean “floor in a house”.

34 Rosé : BLUSH

The term “blush” has only been used in the world of wine since the late seventies, and is really only used here in the US. Today, we think of a blush as a relatively sweet pink wine, and a rosé as something more dry.

36 100 cents : EURO

The euro is divided into 100 cents, sometimes referred to as “euro cents”. Some countries within the European Union (Ireland, for example) have taken steps to withdraw the 1-cent and 2-cent coins from circulation by allowing cash transactions to be rounded to the nearest five cents. I found it a little odd when buying something in Ireland recently that was priced at 99 cents, and getting no change after handing over a euro coin …

37 Rangers goalie Shesterkin : IGOR

Igor Shesterkin is a hockey goaltender from Russia who started playing in the NHL with the New York Rangers in 2019.

49 “Rubber Duckie” singer : ERNIE

“Rubber Duckie” is a song performed by the muppet Ernie on “Sesame Street”. Rubber Duckie is also Ernie’s favorite toy, his rubber duck. “Rubber Duckie” was released as a single in 1970 and actually made it into the charts.

50 Sally of “Brothers & Sisters” : FIELD

Actress Sally Field first came to the public’s attention in the sixties with title roles in the TV shows “Gidget” and “The Flying Nun”. She has two Best Actress Oscars; one for “Norma Rae” (1979) and one for “Places in the Heart” (1984).

“Brothers & Sisters” is a TV drama that originally aired from 2006 until 2011. It tells the story of a wealthy family as it deals with the death of the patriarch, who founded the family business. Apparently, the show is loosely based on a British series called “The Brothers” that aired in the 1970s.

51 Red parts of Louboutin shoes : SOLES

Christian Louboutin is a fashion designer from Paris who is known for creating stiletto shoes with trademark, red-lacquered soles. His biggest individual client is American author Danielle Steel, who is said to own more that 6,000 pairs of Louboutin shoes!

57 Prefix with gender : CIS-

The term “cisgender” is used as the opposite of “transgender”. Cisgender people have a gender identity that matches the sex they were assigned at birth.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Diamond-studded watch, e.g. : BLING
6 Drama award : OBIE
10 Greek peak : OSSA
14 “On the Media” medium : RADIO
15 Underwhelming : SO-SO
16 Temple athletes : OWLS
17 Former NBA center who made only one three-point shot in his career : O’NEAL
18 *Sounds when Dad is on the roller coaster? : POP’S WHEES (“pops wheelies” – lie)
20 Tower of note : AAA
21 “You wouldn’t __!” : DARE
23 Adjective on taco truck menus : ASADA
24 *Football official who makes the absolute worst calls? : DISASTER REF (“disaster relief” – lie)
28 Start to cycle? : TRI-
29 Minute : ITSY
30 Ingest : EAT
31 Margarita condimento : SAL
32 Span. title : SRA
33 Business closing? : INC
34 Florida NFLers : BUCS
35 “You can’t deny it,” and a good question about the answers to the starred clues : WHERE IS THE LIE?
39 Old Royale 8’s : REOS
40 “I hate it” : UGH
41 “Trust your __” : GUT
42 Exist : ARE
43 For : PRO
44 Pen pals? : HOGS
46 Response from the underwhelmed : MEH
47 *Extremely poor student? : LORD OF THE FS (“Lord of the Flies” – lie)
52 Prefix meaning “light” : PHOTO-
54 Bread served with saag paneer : ROTI
55 Maracanã Stadium city : RIO
56 *Woefully inadequate crust on a steak? : SORRY CHAR (“sorry Charlie” – lie)
59 Single-sex group of experts : MANEL
61 “Yeah, don’t think so” : UM, NO
62 The Hawkeye State : IOWA
63 Banish : EXILE
64 Younger sibling, stereotypically : PEST
65 Study __ : SESH
66 Pond plants : REEDS

Down

1 Far-reaching : BROAD
2 Poipu patio : LANAI
3 Notes app entries : IDEAS
4 Actress Long : NIA
5 “Well done, you!” : GOLD STAR!
6 Hawk in a duet : OSPREY
7 Bronx cheer leader : BOOER
8 Co. for surfers : ISP
9 Maker of The Hero and The Fixer lip care products : EOS
10 Sounds of awe : OOHS
11 Work-from-home attire, for many : SWEATSUIT
12 The Iditarod, e.g. : SLED RACE
13 Goes after : ASSAILS
19 Drift, as an aroma : WAFT
22 @ signs : ATS
25 Buenos __ : AIRES
26 Flat bread? : RENT
27 A throw : EACH
32 Makes fit, in a way : SHOEHORNS
33 “Thereabouts” : ISH
34 Rosé : BLUSH
35 “Did you miss us?” : WE’RE HOME
36 100 cents : EURO
37 Rangers goalie Shesterkin : IGOR
38 Kitchen counter? : EGG TIMER
39 Increases quickly : RAMPS UP
43 Ruse : PLOY
44 “Yippee!” : HOORAH!
45 O’er and o’er : OFT
48 Doodles : DRAWS
49 “Rubber Duckie” singer : ERNIE
50 Sally of “Brothers & Sisters” : FIELD
51 Red parts of Louboutin shoes : SOLES
53 Moderate pace : TROT
57 Prefix with gender : CIS-
58 Gardener’s tool : HOE
60 Logger’s tool : AXE

26 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword 19 Aug 22, Friday”

  1. The real Temple Owl is a student in an owl costume who stands in the corner of the arena near the Temple bench who constantly flaps his wings during games. Check him out.

    Love your subtle sense of humor!

  2. So sorry! I was wrong about the Temple Owl. I was thinking of the St Joseph Owl…..another Philadelphia college.

    Check HIM out! He’s the one who flaps constantly during games. In addition, the kid who gets that job gets a scholarship and travels with the team. Big deal!

  3. No errors. Got the theme ok. Didn’t care for some of the other cluing.
    Never heard of a Bronx cheer, MANEL?, and no indication of abbreviations? SESH EOS AAA

    I give it a MEH.

    @dirk – loved the SNL link yesterday on the titanic.. ROFL

  4. 13:42, including 3 solid minutes of hunting for mistakes… would you believe it, it was the first S in POPSWHEES, derived from that common phrase ‘pops wheelies’ that people say all the time in the simple present tense.

    Two consecutive days of AAA (and that’s roughly what I feel like saying about it) – this time clued as ‘Tower of note’? I still have no clue what that means – Bill’s write-up talks about the American Automobile Association with no mention of any tower. I typed ‘AAA tower’ into a search engine and all I found was a 21-story residential building in Cambodia called ‘AAA Tower’, is that the one? Is it ‘of note’?

    My sensibilities were offended a few times by this grid (MANEL?? served up without even an ironic question mark to show that they know we know it’s dumb?) but finally for today I’m going to focus on that H where 65A (SESH) crosses 44D (HOORAH) because that seems like an easy area for improvement. Try on these revisions: change 44D to HOORAY (you probably wanted to do this anyway), change 48D to DRAWN, and 65A to SONY (‘Notable 2014 hacking victim’ or even ‘NFL’s Michel’). This leaves us with HOO at 58D, which is not great but could be clued as ’16 Across vocalization’

    1. Hi, Leah! Your comments tell me you’re a thoughtful solver. Maybe you can help me with the clue for 6D (“Hawk in a duet”). Unless Hawk and Osprey are a musical duo or some such, why does the clue include “duet”?

      PS — Tower, as in “one who tows” (yeah, but crossword license or whatever). The AAA tows a lot of cars, and hence …

      1. As Bill says above, a pair of mating ospreys is referred to as a “duet” and an osprey is a kind of hawk, so …

  5. “Meh” for sure!! The theme was easy to solve, but that didn’t help me on several of the other long-stretch clues. Seemed like there was too much slang in this puzzle for my tastes (and no indication of the clue being slang or abbreviated).

  6. The final letter in this grid fell with me tentatively inking in the m in “manel”. A very punny puzzle…(ha). No real problems today. Just a little more cogitation as I considered the clues. I’d say this was a pretty fun and funny crossword.

  7. Did not care for this puzzle at all. What does the Automobile Association of America have to do with a TOWER? I’m right there with you LEAH!!
    Too many “made up” answers in my opinion!
    Enjoy the weekend! 😊

  8. UGH! Even for a Friday a little too off the wall for my liking. Came close but no cigar. Couldn’t suss 18A, 56A, 65A or 6D.
    As to yesterday’s comment about no clue about location of themed words, I had to slap my hand to my forehead when it dawned on me in the middle of the night. D’oh.

  9. 15 mins 20 seconds and needed Check Help to ferret out mistakes on 8 fills.

    I’m hard pressed to remember a puzzle with more disingenuous clues and bullsh*t fills than this one.

    Horrible.

    1. I’m certainly no expert, but my Spanish dictionary tells me that a “ría” is an estuary and a Wikipedia article indicates that some think the geographical feature in question is too wide to be considered a mere river, but ought to be thought of as a bay or an inlet of the ocean.

  10. No look ups, no errors. 2 changes on the fly
    Buck/Euro and pigs/hogs. Got theme right
    away but it didn’t really help me. More
    annoying PPP’s but a decent challenge!
    Hoping for a good Saturday puzzle.

  11. 23:13 with revisions of ROLEX>OMEGA>BLING (took a while to recognize the answer was not a soecific brand), OLDS>REOS, PANEL>MANEL, NAAN>ROTI (again), UHNO>UMNO.

    New: “On the Media,” IGOR Shesterkin, “Louboutin” shoes (seems Danielle Steele has an unhealthy shoe fetish).

    Got the theme after the bottom two plus 35A were filled in. Not bad.

    I wondered about the 6D answer. Did not know that a pair of mating hawks is called a duet. Thanks, @Bill.

    Missed that “Tower of note” is tow-er. I did get sidetracked into reading about an apartment tower in the UAE, though.

  12. 11:41 1 lookup for The Fixer lip care made by EOS

    I would say MANEL is funny, but it reminds me that all male panels discussing abortion laws is still a thing.

  13. Fairly hard Friday for me; took 40:34 with numerous “check-grids” and a cat nap to get to the finish. Just not on the same page as the constructor, although I had a hard day of bee keeping behind me as well.

    I did get the theme and it helped get most of those in place, but I stuffed up SESh and numerous other entries. I did like a lot of clues though, so it’s probably just me being tired.

Comments are closed.