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Constructed by: Annemarie Brethauer
Edited by: Patti Varol
Today’s Reveal Answer: Left Out
Themed answers are common phrases, but we need to place OUT to the LEFT of each in order to match the corresponding clue:
- 61A Excluded, and what 18-, 22-, 38-, and 56-Across need to match their clues? : LEFT OUT
- 18A Pillow filling bought at wholesale? : (OUT)LET DOWN
- 22A Specialized session of baseball practice? : (OUT)FIELD DAY
- 38A Crown, scepter, and ermine robe? : (OUT)FIT FOR A KING
- 56A Barbie, bush telly, choccy biccy, etc.? : (OUT)BACK TALK
Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers
Want to discuss the puzzle? Then …
… leave a comment
Bill’s time: 7m 31s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
1 View from much of U.S. Highway 101 : PACIFIC
The Pacific Ocean was given its name by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. When Magellan sailed into the ocean on his 1521 circumnavigation of the globe, he encountered favorable winds and so called it “Mar Pacifico” meaning “peaceful sea”.
US Route 101 runs in the north-south direction along the west coast of the country, through California, Oregon and Washington. US 101 is an important thoroughfare here in the San Francisco Bay Area, but along most of its length, traffic tends to use the parallel Interstate 5.
11 __ Dhabi : ABU
Abu Dhabi is one of the seven Emirates that make up the federation known as the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The two largest members of the UAE (geographically) are Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the only two of the seven members that have veto power over UAE policy. Before 1971, the UAE was a British Protectorate, a collection of sheikdoms. The sheikdoms entered into a maritime truce with Britain in 1835, after which they became known as the Trucial States, derived from the word “truce”.
14 Oval-shaped instrument : OCARINA
An ocarina is an ancient wind-instrument that sounds like and is played like a flute. Usually an ocarina has an egg-shaped body with a number of finger holes cut into the material making up the instrument (usually ceramic). There is a tube protruding from the body through which one blows to make sounds. The air vibrates within the body of the instrument, and the pitch of the vibrations is changed by covering and uncovering the finger-holes. Ocarinas date back as far as 12,000 years ago when they were used both in China and Central America. The ocarina was brought to Italy in the 1800s where it became popular as a child’s toy, but also as a serious instrument. It was given the name “ocarina” as its shape resembles that of a goose, and “ocarina”is a diminutive word stemming from “oca”, the Italian word for “goose”.
15 One of the only two South American countries that doesn’t border Brazil : ECUADOR
“Ecuador” is the Spanish word for “equator”, which gives the country its name.
The only South American countries that do not border Brazil are Chile and Ecuador.
17 Compete in a hybrid winter sport : PARASKI
Paraskiing is skiing across snowy terrain while being pulled along by a parachute.
18 Pillow filling bought at wholesale? : (OUT)LET DOWN
Down feathers are the very fine feathers found under the tougher exterior feathers of a bird. There is fossil evidence that some non-avian dinosaurs had down-like feathers.
29 Sound engineer’s slider : FADER
A fader is a knob (more usually, a slider) that gradually increases or decreases the level of an audio signal. You’ll often see audio engineers at a performance or in a recording studio sliding buttons up and down. Those are faders.
30 Starship Enterprise letters : NCC
The USS Enterprise is a starship in the “Star Trek” universe (pun!). There have been several generations of starships with the name Enterprise, starting with the vessel numbered NCC-1701, which appeared in the original TV series. My favorite “Star Trek” series is “Next Generation”, which features USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D.
35 Fossey subject : APE
Dian Fossey carried out her famous study of gorilla populations in the mountain forests of Rwanda. She wrote a 1983 autobiographical account of her work titled “Gorillas in the Mist”, which served as a basis for a 1988 film of the same name starring Sigourney Weaver as Fossey. Sadly, Fossey was found dead in her cabin in Rwanda in 1986, murdered in her bedroom, her skull split open by a machete. The crime was never solved.
37 Genesis maker : SEGA
Genesis is a video game console sold in the US by the Japanese company Sega. Genesis is sold as Mega Drive in the rest of the world, as Sega couldn’t get the rights to the Mega Drive name in the US.
38 Crown, scepter, and ermine robe? : (OUT)FIT FOR A KING
A scepter (“sceptre” in Britain and Ireland) is a ceremonial staff, one often held by a monarch.
The stoat has dark brown fur in the summer, and white fur in the winter. Sometimes the term “ermine” is used for the animal during the winter when the fur is white. Ermine skins have long been prized by royalty and are often used for white trim on ceremonial robes.
41 Home of the Muscat Gate Museum : OMAN
The Muscat Gate Museum is located atop the magnificent Muscat Modern Gate that sits on the site of the original Muscat Gate, which was the official entrance for the old city of Muscat.
43 “Let You Love Me” singer Rita : ORA
“Let You Love Me” is a 2018 song that was Ora’s thirteenth to reach the top-ten in the UK. As such, it allowed Ora to beat the record for the most top-ten songs by a female solo artist from the UK.
44 Fall Out Boy genre : EMO
Fall Out Boy is a rock band from Chicago that formed in 2001. They take their name from a character on “The Simpsons”, a superhero called “Fallout Boy”.
45 Benatar in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame : PAT
Pat Benatar is a singer from Brooklyn, New York who was born Patricia Andrzejewski. She married her high school boyfriend Dennis Benatar in 1972 when she was 19 years old, but they divorced in 1979. Presumably, she kept the Benatar name as her career was already showing signs of taking off. Benatar’s biggest hits are “Hit Me with Your Best Shot”, “Love is a Battlefield” and “We Belong”.
46 Yukon XL maker : GMC
The GMC Yukon is basically the same vehicle as the Chevrolet Tahoe.
56 Barbie, bush telly, choccy biccy, etc.? : (OUT)BACK TALK
“Barbie” is a nickname for “barbecue”, especially in Australia. Let’s throw shrimp on the barbie!
“Bush telly” is Australian slang for a campfire. It serves as a telly (TV) when out in the bush (Australian outback).
68 Hosp. triage expert : ER NURSE
Triage is the process of prioritizing patients for treatment, especially on the battlefield. The term “triage” is French and means “sorting”.
Down
2 National park on the Maine coast : ACADIA
Acadia National Park in Maine was created in 1919, although back then it was called Lafayette National Park in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette who famously supported the American Revolution. The park was renamed to Acadia in 1929.
4 Writer Levin : IRA
As well as writing novels, Ira Levin was a dramatist and a songwriter. Levin’s first novel was “A Kiss Before Dying”, and his most famous work was “Rosemary’s Baby” which became a Hollywood hit. His best known play is “Deathtrap”, a production that is often seen in local theater (I’ve seen it a couple of times around here). “Deathtrap” was also a successful movie, starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve. My favorite of Levin’s novels are “The Boys from Brazil” and “The Stepford Wives”.
5 Grafton’s “__ for Fugitive” : F IS
Sue Grafton wrote detective novels, and her “alphabet series” features the private investigator Kinsey Millhone. She started off with “’A’ Is for Alibi” in 1982 and worked her way up to “‘Y’ is for Yesterday” before she passed away in 2017.
7 Large Central American reptile : CAIMAN
Caimans are relatively small, crocodile-like reptiles that inhabit Central and South America. That said, the largest species can grow to 13 feet in length, but many are about 3 feet long.
9 Amtrak service that caters to business travelers : ACELA
The Acela Express is the fastest train routinely running in the US, as it gets up to 150 mph at times. The service runs between Boston and Washington D.C. via Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. Introduced in 2000, the brand name “Acela” was created to evoke “acceleration” and “excellence”.
11 Brouhaha : ADO
“Brouhaha”, meaning “ado, stir”, was a French word that back in the 1550s meant “the cry of the devil disguised as clergy” . Wow!
21 “¡Dios mío!” : AY CARAMBA!
“Caramba” is an oath uttered in Spanish. Apparently, it’s a softer version of a more vulgar word.
26 Univ. donor type : O-NEG
In general, a person with type O-negative blood is a universal donor, meaning that his or her blood can be used for transfusion into persons with any other blood type: A, B, AB or O, negative or positive (although there are other considerations). Also in general, a person with type AB-positive blood is a universal recipient, meaning that he or she can receive a transfusion of blood of any type: A, B, AB or O, negative or positive.
27 Tabloid : RAG
A low-quality newspaper is often referred to as a “rag”. There are lots of rags out there …
28 Former JFK flyer : TWA
The TWA Hotel that opened in 2019 uses the main part of the TWA terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport that serves New York City. The magnificent TWA Flight Center was designed by Eero Saarinen, opened in 1962, and closed in 2001. The building was repurposed as a hotel and opened for business in 2017. As of 2022, it is the only hotel operating on the grounds of JFK.
31 No. cruncher : CPA
Certified public accountant (CPA)
34 West Coast luggage tag letters : SFO
The San Francisco Bay Area is served by three major airports: San Francisco (SFO), Oakland (OAK) and San Jose (SJC).
49 Tartar sauce ingredient : CAPERS
Tartar sauce is basically mayonnaise with some chopped pickles, capers and onion or chives. The recipe was invented by the French (as “sauce tartare”) with the name somehow linked to the Tatars, a people who once occupied Ukraine and parts of Russia.
50 Div. of the Blue Jays and the Rays : AL EAST
The Toronto Blue Jays baseball franchise was founded in 1977. The Blue Jays are the only team based outside the US to have won a World Series, doing so in 1992 and 1993. And since the Montreal Expos relocated to Washington, the Blue Jays are the only Major League Baseball team now headquartered outside of the US.
The Tampa Bay Rays MLB team is a relatively young franchise, having been formed in 1998. The initial name of the franchise was the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. While known as the Devil Rays, the team finished last in the league almost every year. The name was changed to the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008, and I am told the Rays started into a streak of winning seasons soon after.
53 When Lear divides his kingdom : ACT I
Shakespeare was inspired to write his famous drama “King Lear” by the legend of “Leir of Britain”, the story of a mythological Celtic king.
59 Fleming and Orwell’s school : ETON
The world-famous Eton College is just a brisk walk from Windsor Castle, which itself is just outside London. Eton is noted for producing many British leaders, including prime ministers David Cameron and Boris Johnson. The list of Old Etonians also includes Princes William and Harry, the Duke of Wellington and George Orwell. Author Ian Fleming was also an Eton alumnus, as was Fleming’s iconic character James Bond, although 007 was expelled by the school.
61 Actress Tyler : LIV
Actress and model Liv Tyler is the daughter of Steven Tyler, lead singer with Aerosmith, and Bebe Buell, a celebrated model and singer. Apparently, Buell hid the fact that Tyler was Liv’s father until Liv was 8 years old. Buell wanted to insulate her child from the rock-and-roll lifestyle. Liv Tyler plays the Elf maiden Arwen Undómiel in Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
65 Demo stuff : TNT
Trinitrotoluene (TNT)
/p>
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 View from much of U.S. Highway 101 : PACIFIC
8 Water stopper : DAM
11 __ Dhabi : ABU
14 Oval-shaped instrument : OCARINA
15 One of the only two South American countries that doesn’t border Brazil : ECUADOR
17 Compete in a hybrid winter sport : PARASKI
18 Pillow filling bought at wholesale? : (OUT)LET DOWN
19 Unusual : ODD
20 Contacted with a click : EMAILED
22 Specialized session of baseball practice? : (OUT)FIELD DAY
25 Separate by type : ASSORT
29 Sound engineer’s slider : FADER
30 Starship Enterprise letters : NCC
32 “Don’t reckon so” : NAW
33 Some govt. lawyers : DAS
35 Fossey subject : APE
37 Genesis maker : SEGA
38 Crown, scepter, and ermine robe? : (OUT)FIT FOR A KING
41 Home of the Muscat Gate Museum : OMAN
43 “Let You Love Me” singer Rita : ORA
44 Fall Out Boy genre : EMO
45 Benatar in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame : PAT
46 Yukon XL maker : GMC
48 Killer whales : ORCAS
52 Cooks in a bamboo basket : STEAMS
56 Barbie, bush telly, choccy biccy, etc.? : (OUT)BACK TALK
58 Share a course? : CO-TEACH
60 Vegetable soup bit : PEA
61 Excluded, and what 18-, 22-, 38-, and 56-Across need to match their clues? : LEFT OUT
64 Uncomfortable situation : HOT SEAT
67 Emphatic denial : I SAID NO!
68 Hosp. triage expert : ER NURSE
69 TiVo antecedent : VCR
70 Oft-redacted ID : SSN
71 Has no use for : DETESTS
Down
1 Rant : POP OFF
2 National park on the Maine coast : ACADIA
3 Stopped at the door, perhaps : CARDED
4 Writer Levin : IRA
5 Grafton’s “__ for Fugitive” : F IS
6 Signed in pen : INKED
7 Large Central American reptile : CAIMAN
8 Grocery section : DELI
9 Amtrak service that caters to business travelers : ACELA
10 Silences with a button : MUTES
11 Brouhaha : ADO
12 Fiddle stick : BOW
13 Ornate garden pot : URN
16 Tots up : ADDS
21 “¡Dios mío!” : AY CARAMBA!
23 Ushered : LED IN
24 “Cripes!” : DRAT!
26 Univ. donor type : O-NEG
27 Tabloid : RAG
28 Former JFK flyer : TWA
31 No. cruncher : CPA
34 West Coast luggage tag letters : SFO
36 Make (out) : EKE
37 Horse noise : SNORT
38 Lot : FATE
39 Gp. : ORG
40 “No broken bones!” : IM OK!
41 Photo __ : OPS
42 Bathroom rug : MAT
47 Stashed away : CACHED
49 Tartar sauce ingredient : CAPERS
50 Div. of the Blue Jays and the Rays : AL EAST
51 Hockey gear : SKATES
53 When Lear divides his kingdom : ACT I
54 Humors : MOODS
55 Bowls over : STUNS
57 Gofer’s task : CHORE
59 Fleming and Orwell’s school : ETON
61 Actress Tyler : LIV
62 Key next to F1 : ESC
63 At a distance : FAR
65 Demo stuff : TNT
66 Go after, in a way : SUE
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11 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword 10 Nov 23, Friday”
Comments are closed.
Ok… no errors but the theme eluded me for several minutes….
LEFTLET DOWN???
LEFTFIELD DAY??? (maybe?)
LEFTFIT FOR A KING????
oh, wait…
OUTLET
OUTFIELD
yadda yadda yadda
DOH!
No errors…It took a while to figure out that cot each was coteach. BTW my spell checker doesn’t accept coteach as a word😠
Stay safe😀
“coteach isn’t a word. But “co-teach” is.
Didn’t get the theme but that’s nothing new!
Stuck on CAIMAN and its cross OCARINA and I finally just looked it up. Didnt help that I had USS instead of NCC…shame on me as a fan of the Star Trek TV shows..so I didn’t “see” AYCARAMBA even when I filled it in.
Expected Friday challenge
No one knows what NCC even stands for.
13:36 – no errors or lookups. False starts: USS>NCC, SST>TWA, DUN>SUE.
New or forgotten: “Muscat Gate Museum,” “Let You Love Me,” “bush telly,” “choccy biccy.”
First thought that “Univ. donor” was “University donor.”
Had only halfway figured out the theme construction by putting OUT in front of the leftmost word of the four answers, and those made sensible words. However, I did not use it for the complete phrase, and so the first and fourth ones didn’t make sense to me until I read Bill’s explanation to use the whole phrase. I then realized that OUTLET meant a store and not a wall plug, and that “Barbie” was Aussie-speak instead of a doll.
14:45 – 2 Check Grids.
Thought it was fairly easy for a Friday, but fun.
Be Well.
10 mins 38 sec, and 6 “errors” that needed Check Help to figure out.
Once again, poor judgment by the editor allows this idiotic theme to stain our newspapers. LEFT OUT; pfffff. That’s such a stretch it’s not funny.
Just STOP IT.
Was naticked by ocarina and caiman otherwise finished the puzzle clueless about the theme.
Mostly easy Friday for me; took 17:00 with no peeks or errors. Danced around OCARINA, PARA SKI and CAIMAN for a little bit and one or two clues in the bottom half, but got them soon enough. At least here in Northern California, 101 is a bit inland from the Pacific, and doesn’t reach the coast until Eureka in the north and San Luis Obispo in the south.
I’ve been catching up with all the Star Trek shows, that I missed after my tv blew up, and just got to season 2 of Discovery…boy is that a bit different from all the others. I accidentally skipped Enterprise, so will have to watch that series next, but I’ve been assured that Discovery is so different that I won’t feel any discontinuity.
In any case, NCC is widely believed to stand for Naval Construction Code, but there is a more esoteric explanation, that it stands for Navy-Curtis Craft, owing to the existence of a Curtis Industries, a future S.F. based industrial shipwright hired by Starfleet to build its ships. The second explanation seems to carry the most weight.
And, in case anyone was wondering, a “choccy biccy” is a chocolate biscuit. 🙂
NCC is explained on the Wikipedia page for USS Enterprise:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_(NCC-1701)
This a long page. Do a search on the word “Yorktown”. The meaning of “NCC” is in the same paragraph.