LA Times Crossword 14 Dec 23, Thursday

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Constructed by: Catherine Cetta
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Spin a Tale

The grid includes four sets of four squares of circled letters that spell out TALE. Those TALES SPIN in an anticlockwise direction as we descend the grid:

  • 62A Embellish the truth, and what the sets of circled letters do? : SPIN A TALE

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

Bill’s time: 5m 53s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

15 “The View” co-host Navarro : ANA

Ana Navarro is a Nicaraguan-born, American political strategist and commentator. Navarro is a lifelong Republican who worked for Governor Jeb Bush and for Senator John McCain. However, she was very critical of presidential candidate Donald Trump during his 2016 campaign. She was so vehement in her anti-Trump views that she ended up voting for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the election.

19 Reflexology targets : SOLES

Reflexology is an alternative medicine that involves the application of pressure to specific zones on the feet, hands and ears in order to effect a physical change in the body. The basic idea behind reflexology is that every part of the body is reflected in a zone on the soles of the feet or palms of the hand.

20 The “you” of “Do You Want To Build a Snowman?” : ELSA

“Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” is a very popular song from the 2013 Disney musical film “Frozen”. It is performed by three of the cast members who play Anna, Princess of Arendelle, at various stages in her life, i.e. Katie Lopez (Anna at 5 years old), Agatha Lee Monn (Anna at 9 years old) and Kristen Bell (Anna at 18 years). It is one of the best-selling holiday songs of all time.

21 Trumpet, e.g. : HORN

We get our word “trumpet”, describing the brass instrument, from the Old French word “trompe”. A “trompe” was a long, tube-like instrument, and a “trompette” was a smaller version.

22 One of Australia’s six : STATE

The Commonwealth of Australia is a federation of six states:

  • New South Wales
  • Queensland
  • South Australia
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia

29 Lined up for a cornhole toss : AIMED

Cornhole is a game in which contestants throw bean bags towards a tilted-up platform with a hole in it. Bags that land in the hole score 3 points, and bags that land on the board score 1 point.

31 Strikes and rebounds : CAROMS

A carom is a ricochet, the bouncing of some projectile off a surface. “Carom” has come to describe the banking of a billiard ball, the bouncing of the ball off the side of the table.

34 Moore of “G.I. Jane” : DEMI

Demi Moore was born Demetria Guynes and took the name Demi Moore when she married her first husband, Freddy Moore. Moore’s second husband was Bruce Willis. She changed her name to Demi Guynes Kutcher a few years after marrying her third husband, Ashton Kutcher. However, Kutcher and Moore split in 2013.

G.I. Joe was the original “action figure”, the first toy to carry that description. G.I. Joe first hit the shelves in 1964. There have been a few movies based on the G.I. Joe figure, but, more famous than all of them I would say is the 1997 movie “G.I. Jane” starring Demi Moore in the title role. I thought that “G.I. Jane” had some potential, to be honest, but it really did not deliver in the end.G.I. Joe was the original “action figure”, the first toy to carry that description. G.I. Joe first hit the shelves in 1964. There have been a few movies based on the G.I. Joe figure, but, more famous than all of them I would say is the 1997 movie “G.I. Jane” starring Demi Moore in the title role. I thought that “G.I. Jane” had some potential, to be honest, but it really did not deliver in the end.

45 Deli slice : SALAMI

“Salame” (note the letter E at the end) is an Italian sausage that is traditionally associated with the peasant classes. The meat in the sausage is preserved with salt, and it can be hung and stored for as long as ten years. The name “salame” comes from “sale”, the Italian word for salt, and “-ame”, a suffix indicating a collective noun. Our English word “salami” is actually the Italian plural for “salame”.

46 Penne, essentially : TUBES

Cylindrical pasta is known in general as “penne”, and there are many variants. For example, ziti is a particularly large and long tube with square-cut ends. “Penne” is the plural of “penna”, the Italian for “feather, quill”.

53 Emmy-winning journalist Connie : CHUNG

Journalist Connie Chung has been a news anchor and reporter for several television networks over the years. Most famously, she was co-anchor on the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather in the 1990s. Chung is married to talk show host Maury Povich.

57 Test the weight of : HEFT

The heft of something is its weight, its heaviness. The term “heft” is derivative of the verb “to heave” meaning “to lift, raise”.

61 Alabama city in civil rights history : SELMA

The Alabama city of Selma was settled in 1815. It was named in 1820 by Alabama politician William R. King, who would later serve briefly as US Vice President under President Franklin Pierce. Meaning “high seat, throne”, King chose the city’s name from the Ossianic poem “The Songs of Selma”. Today, the city is perhaps best known for the Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches, which ultimately led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The Bloody Sunday march took place between Selma and Montgomery, Alabama on 7 March 1965. The 600 marchers involved were protesting the intimidation of African-Americans registering to vote. When the marchers reached Dallas County, Alabama they encountered a line of state troopers reinforced by white males who had been deputized that morning to help keep the peace. Violence broke out with 17 marchers ending up in hospital, one nearly dying. Because the disturbance was widely covered by television cameras, the civil rights movement picked up a lot of support that day. The route of the march is memorialized as a US National Historic Trail called the Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights Trail.

62 Embellish the truth, and what the sets of circled letters do? : SPIN A TALE

The phrase “to spin a yarn”, meaning “to tell a tall tale”, originated in the early 1800s with seamen. The idea was that sailors would tell stories to each other while engaged in mindless work such as twisting yarn.

64 HP rival : EPSON

Seiko Epson is a Japanese company, and one of the largest manufacturers of printers in the world. The company has its roots in the watch business, roots that go back to 1942. Seiko was chosen as the official timekeeper for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and was asked to supply a timer that produced a printed record. This request brought Seiko into the business of printer production. The company developed the world’s first mini-printer for the 1964 Games and called it EP-101 (with “EP” standing for Electronic Printer). In 1975 Seiko introduced the next generation of EP printers which was called EPSON, from “SON of EP”. Cute, huh?

67 Romanov rulers : TSARS

The House of Romanov was the second and last imperial dynasty to rule over Russia, after the Rurik dynasty. The reign of the Romanovs ended when Emperor Nicholas II abdicated following the February Revolution of 1917. Famously, Nicholas II and his immediate family were murdered soon after he stepped down, and other members of the Romanov Dynasty were sent into exile by the Bolsheviks.

Down

1 Agricultural giant whose mascot is Bobby Banana : DOLE

Dole’s principal mascot is an anthropomorphic banana named Bobby Banana. You might also come across Pinellopy Pineapple as well.

2 __ Sea: lake documented in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register : ARAL

The former Soviet Union decided to divert the two rivers feeding the Aral Sea in order to irrigate food and cotton crops. Once the fourth largest lake in the world, the Aral Sea began to shrink dramatically in the 1960s due to the loss of water. Today, the Aral Sea is no more. Instead, there are two relatively small bodies of water labeled as the North Aral Sea and the South Aral Sea.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) initiated its Memory of the World program in 1992. The goal of the program is to preserve and provide access to the world’s documentary heritage, and also to increase awareness of the existence and threats to that heritage.

3 2019 World Series champs : NATS

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.

4 Takes it on the lam : CLEARS OUT

To be on the lam is to be in flight, to have escaped from prison. “On the lam” is American slang that originated at the end of the 19th century. The word “lam” also means “beat” or “thrash”, as in “lambaste”. So “on the lam” might derive from the phrase “to beat it, scram”.

6 Potatoes-and-peas pastry : SAMOSA

A samosa is quite the tasty appetizer. It is usually a triangular-shaped savory that often has a vegetarian filling. The word “samosa” is primarily used on Indian menus, and the name comes from “sanbosag”, the name for the dish in Persia.

7 Obstacle to progress : INERTIA

Newton’s first law of motion states that a body that is moving maintains the same velocity unless it is acted upon by an external force. That resistance to changing velocity is known as inertia. Johann Kepler introduced the Latin word “inertia” to describe the physical phenomenon in the 17th century. The Latin term translates as “apathy, inactiveness”. We started using the Latin “inertia” in English to mean the same thing only in the 19th century, after the term had bopped around in science texts for a couple of centuries.

9 Doped (out) : SUSSED

Apparently, “to dope out” is a slang term meaning “to figure out, infer from available information”. Our use of the word “dope” to mean “inside information” probably comes from horse racing. The idea is that a bettor might have information about which horse has been drugged (doped) to influence its performance.

11 Map lover’s book : ATLAS

The famous Flemish geographer Gerardus Mercator published his first collection of maps in 1578. Mercator’s collection contained a frontispiece with an image of Atlas the Titan from Greek mythology holding up the world on his shoulders. That image gave us our term “atlas” that is used for a book of maps.

12 Island with the ancient Minoan palace at Knossos : CRETE

Knossos was a city on the island of Crete that is widely believed to be the oldest city in Europe. The ruins of Knossos date back to the Bronze Age and have been extensively excavated since their discovery in 1878.

13 Artist’s support : EASEL

The term “easel” comes from an old Dutch word meaning “donkey”, would you believe? The idea is that an easel carries its load (an oil painting, say) just as a donkey would be made to carry a load.

24 Units of resistance : OHMS

The unit of electrical resistance is the ohm (with the symbol omega) named after German physicist Georg Simon Ohm. Ohm was the guy who established experimentally that the amount of current flowing through a circuit is directly proportional to the voltage applied, (V=IR) a relationship that every school kid knows as Ohm’s Law.

27 Chipotle order : TACO

Chipotle Mexican Grill is a chain of casual dining restaurants that was founded and is now headquartered in Denver, Colorado. For several years, the major investor in Chipotle was McDonald’s. The chain is named for the smoke-dried jalapeño called a “chipotle”.

28 Lines on a flight-tracker map : ARCS

When navigating between two points on the Earth, the shortest path is known as a great circle route. Using a globe, it’s easy to see that a great circle route is the shortest past. However, on a mercator projection map, a great circle route appears curved, because of the distortion caused by artificially making lines of longitude parallel. A straight line on a mercator projection map is known as a rhumb line. Navigators might follow a rhumb line for convenience, as the compass direction remains the same for such a course.

32 Gangnam District city : SEOUL

The Gangnam District is a very fashionable area of Seoul, South Korea. The name “Gangnam” translates as “South of the River”, a reference to the Han River that flows through the city.

34 On cloud nine : DELIGHTED

I don’t think that anyone is really certain of the etymology of the term “on cloud nine” meaning “elated”, but I do like the following explanation. The 1896 “International Cloud-Atlas” was a long-standing reference used to define cloud shapes that was based on a classification created by amateur meteorologist Luke Howard some decades earlier. The biggest and fluffiest of all cloud shapes (and most comfortable-looking to lie on) is cumulonimbus. And you guessed it, of the ten cloud shapes defined in the atlas, cumulonimbus was cloud nine …

36 Spider-Man pointing, e.g. : MEME

The “Spider-Man pointing” meme consists of two Spider-Men pointing, accusing each other of being imposters. Originating in 2011, it is used primarily to mock people who claim to be different, but who act similarly.

37 Spring perennial : IRIS

Iris is a genus of flowering plants that come in a wide variety of flower colors. The term “iris” is a Greek word meaning “rainbow”. Many species of irises are called “flags”. One suggestion is that the alternate name comes from the Middle English “flagge” meaning “reed”. This term was used because iris leaves look like reeds.

44 America’s Test Kitchen output : RECIPES

“America’s Test Kitchen” is a PBS cooking show that is affiliated with “Cook’s Illustrated” magazine. Before each episode, the two or three recipes used on the show are “tested” 40-60 times.

46 Giants : TITANS

The Titans were a group of twelve older deities in Greek mythology, the twelve children of the primordial Gaia and Uranus, Mother Earth and Father Sky. In the celebrated Battle of the Titans, they were overthrown by the Olympians, who were twelve younger gods. We use the term “titan” figuratively to describe a powerful person, someone with great influence.

47 __ cocktail : SHRIMP

A shrimp cocktail (also “prawn cocktail”) comprises shelled, cooked prawns served on a bed of lettuce with cocktail sauce. In the US, cocktail sauce is usually a mixture of ketchup and horseradish. On the other side of the pond, cocktail sauce is usually a mix of ketchup and mayonnaise.

The terms “prawn” and “shrimp” are often used interchangeably on menus. Over in the UK, the term “prawn” is most common, while “shrimp” is seen more often here in North America. Sometimes there is a differentiation from a food standpoint, with “prawn” being used for larger species and “shrimp” for smaller species. As a result, “jumbo prawns” seems to be an acceptable descriptor for a dish, whereas “jumbo shrimp” seems to be an oxymoron.

54 SEAL’s org. : USN

“SEAL” is an acronym used by the US Navy’s SEa, Air and Land teams. The SEALs were born out of the Navy’s special warfare groups from WWII, like the Underwater Demolition Teams and the Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons. The Navy SEAL unit was established soon after President Kennedy’s famous speech in which he announced the plan to put a man on the moon, as in the same speech the president allocated $100m of funding to strengthen special operations forces. The Navy used some of this money to set up guerrilla and counter-guerrilla units, which soon became the SEALs.

56 Tennis icon Arthur : ASHE

Arthur Ashe was a professional tennis player from Richmond, Virginia. In his youth, Ashe found himself having to travel great distances to play against Caucasian opponents due to the segregation that still existed in his home state. He was rewarded for his dedication by being selected for the 1963 US Davis Cup team, the first African-American player to be so honored. Ashe continued to run into trouble because of his ethnicity though, and in 1968 was denied entry into South Africa to play in the South African Open. In 1979, Ashe suffered a heart attack and had bypass surgery, with follow-up surgery four years later during which he contracted HIV from blood transfusions. Ashe passed away in 1993 due to complications from AIDS. Shortly afterwards, Ashe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.

59 Pest that pesters pets : FLEA

An endoparasite is one that lives inside the host, an example being a parasitic worm. Parasites living outside the host, such as fleas and lice, are known as ectoparasites.

60 “__ me about it!” : TELL

Please don’t …

63 Soccer star Krieger : ALI

Ali Krieger was a member of the 2015 Women’s World Cup-winning US soccer team. Krieger lived for five years in Germany, playing for FFC Frankfurt.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Have a ball? : DANCE
6 Part of the fam : SIB
9 Parking unit : SPACE
14 Some foreign language exams : ORALS
15 “The View” co-host Navarro : ANA
16 Super-duper : ULTRA
17 Fashionable sort? : LATECOMER
19 Reflexology targets : SOLES
20 The “you” of “Do You Want To Build a Snowman?” : ELSA
21 Trumpet, e.g. : HORN
22 One of Australia’s six : STATE
23 Crow bar? : ROOST
25 Ship : VESSEL
26 Store : STASH
29 Lined up for a cornhole toss : AIMED
31 Strikes and rebounds : CAROMS
33 Copy : APE
34 Moore of “G.I. Jane” : DEMI
38 Pointed a finger at : ACCUSED
40 Welcoming presence : GREETER
42 “That’s the __ ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!” : MOST
43 Rowing need : OAR
45 Deli slice : SALAMI
46 Penne, essentially : TUBES
48 Stirs up : RILES
49 Attack : ASSAIL
53 Emmy-winning journalist Connie : CHUNG
55 Begin : START
56 Televises : AIRS
57 Test the weight of : HEFT
61 Alabama city in civil rights history : SELMA
62 Embellish the truth, and what the sets of circled letters do? : SPIN A TALE
64 HP rival : EPSON
65 Garment edge : HEM
66 Even : LEVEL
67 Romanov rulers : TSARS
68 Mind reader’s claim : ESP
69 Optimal : IDEAL

Down

1 Agricultural giant whose mascot is Bobby Banana : DOLE
2 __ Sea: lake documented in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register : ARAL
3 2019 World Series champs : NATS
4 Takes it on the lam : CLEARS OUT
5 Keyboard panic button : ESC
6 Potatoes-and-peas pastry : SAMOSA
7 Obstacle to progress : INERTIA
8 Rural sight : BARN
9 Doped (out) : SUSSED
10 Tracts : PLOTS
11 Map lover’s book : ATLAS
12 Island with the ancient Minoan palace at Knossos : CRETE
13 Artist’s support : EASEL
18 “Why, what’s this!?” : OHO!
24 Units of resistance : OHMS
25 Zigs or zags : VEERS
26 Con : SCAM
27 Chipotle order : TACO
28 Lines on a flight-tracker map : ARCS
30 EPA concern : MPG
32 Gangnam District city : SEOUL
34 On cloud nine : DELIGHTED
35 Latin abbreviation in a bibliography : ET AL
36 Spider-Man pointing, e.g. : MEME
37 Spring perennial : IRIS
39 Smack-__ in the middle : DAB
41 Merit : EARN
44 America’s Test Kitchen output : RECIPES
46 Giants : TITANS
47 __ cocktail : SHRIMP
49 Selling point : ASSET
50 Choreography units : STEPS
51 Topping for a 27-Down : SALSA
52 Knight’s protection : ARMOR
54 SEAL’s org. : USN
56 Tennis icon Arthur : ASHE
58 Roof projection : EAVE
59 Pest that pesters pets : FLEA
60 “__ me about it!” : TELL
63 Soccer star Krieger : ALI

15 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword 14 Dec 23, Thursday”

  1. Just challenging enough to annoy me. I got stuck at the top on silly things like deciding 6D had to be a Brit pastry and how could 2D be a sea AND a lake? I finally looked up ARAL and it all came together.
    I didn’t bother with the circles…one of my least favorite in crossword grids.

  2. No errors..

    Once the theme revealed itself, I started putting those letters in the circles.

    The odd clues took care of themselves in the crosses..

    Did not know SAMOSA but I’m not sure about potatoes and peas?

  3. Finished in about 6:30. I find it interesting how some puzzles just “click,” while others leave me struggling. Earlier this week I actually beat Bill’s time (o.k., it was by a whopping two or three seconds…) but yesterday’s puzzle took me 14+ minutes; the clues–and answers thereto–just weren’t in my wheelhouse. Then I completed today’s puzzle in what for me, at least, was a respectable time.

  4. Didn’t find this nearly as easy as Bill obviously did given his solve time. Finally finished without final error.

  5. Not that hard if you’re a good guesser, which I did for most of the names. I wanted 8D to be CORN but failed to find an answer for 6A that ended in a C. A little over 30 minutes. Speed isn’t one if my strong points.

  6. 10:38, no errors, and I don’t exactly know why, but it bothers me that the TALEs are “spun” counterclockwise. (A completely silly complaint, perhaps, but … there it is … 😳. I also would have put the TALE with the “T” in the upper left corner in … the upper left corner. I know, I know … totally anal … but esthetics matter, don’t they? … 😉.)

  7. 17:33 – needed help with SAMOSA.

    Did not find it easy, although it seemed about the right difficulty for a Thursday.

    The theme (I guess “clever”) was, as almost usual for me, absolutely no help. You could have put a gun to my head and I would not have seen it.

    Be Well.

  8. 8 mins 30 sec, and no errors … but the NE corner had me entering and re-entering multiple times. None of my initial guesses worked… Good grid.

  9. 10:32 – no errors or lookups. False starts: DELIRIOUS (as in deliriously happy)>DELIGHTED. Had thought that “strikes and rebounds” were more statistics than CAROMS.

    New or forgotten: “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?”, “Bobby Banana,” SAMOSA (maybe), “Knossos,” ALI Krieger.

    Got the theme early enough to help pre-fill two of the circled sets of letters. Not terrible.

    Would have figured on KNEES for “Reflexology targets” before SOLES; and SPACED (out) before SUSSED (out), given the use of “doped” in the clue.

  10. Mostly easy Thursday for me; took a symmetric 13:13 with no peeks or errors. Paper didn’t arrive in time to take to my market, so had to do it later on-line at home. Had a few false starts: silo before BARN and knee before SOLE.

    Just had too wait for crosses on ELSA and DOLE, even though both were guessable.

    @Dave – I don’t know which way the clocks in your house turn, but in mine – well actually mine are all digital – but still I believe the puzzle’s theme turned CW. Of course, I initially saw LATE, rather than TALE, and that turns CCW 🙂

    @J Haley – Recently I’ve learned that people dope things out, to mean the same thing as suss things out. Not an expression that I’ve used however.

    1. @Dirk …

      Hmmm. Bill says this:

      The grid includes four sets of four squares of circled letters that spell out TALE. Those TALES SPIN in an anticlockwise direction as we descend the grid.

      And I agree with him. What I see is that the letters spelling out TALE in the 2×2 squares move only one position, clockwise, from one step to the next, rather than three. (But maybe that’s a way to resolve my problem; just assume the clock is running faster … 😜.)

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