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Constructed by: Adrian Johnson & Taylor Johnson
Edited by: Patti Varol
Today’s Reveal Answer: Let Me Repeat
Themed answers each include the letters ME REPEATED side by side:
- 51A “I’ll say it again,” and what 17-, 23-, and 44-Across literally do? : LET ME REPEAT
- 17A Permanent patrons : LIFETIME MEMBERS
- 23A Line at zero degrees longitude : PRIME MERIDIAN
- 44A Drastic actions : EXTREME MEASURES
Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers
Want to discuss the puzzle? Then …
… leave a comment
Bill’s time: 6m 29s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
4 “__! Humbug!” : BAH
The classic 1843 novella “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens has left us with a few famous phrases and words. Firstly, it led to popular use of the phrase “Merry Christmas”, and secondly it gave us the word “scrooge” to describe a miserly person. And thirdly, everyone knows that Ebenezer Scrooge uttered the words “Bah! Humbug!”.
10 Cal. neighbor : ORE
The Oregon Treaty of 1846 settled a dispute between the US and the UK over sovereignty of the Oregon Country. “The Oregon Country” was the name given by the Americans to a large swathe of land west of the Rocky Mountains. That same disputed land was known as the Columbia Department by the British. Oregon became a US state in 1859.
13 1950s prez : IKE
When the future president was growing up, the Eisenhowers used the nickname “Ike” for all seven boys in the family, as “Ike” was seen as an abbreviation for the family name. “Big Ike” was Edgar, the second oldest boy. “Little/Young Ike” was Dwight, who was the third son born. Dwight had no sisters.
16 Guinea pig or teacup pig : PET
The guinea pig species of rodent is also known as a cavy. Guinea pigs aren’t related to pigs, and they are not from Guinea (in West Africa). They actually come from the Andes. Guinea pigs were used widely for research in the 1800s and 1900s, and as a result we use the term “guinea pig” for a test subject to this day.
Miniature pigs (also “pygmy pigs, teacup pigs) are commonly kept as pets. They are intelligent creatures, and relatively easily house-trained.
20 “Say cheese!” : SMILE!
Photographers often instruct us to say “cheese” to elicit a smile-like expression. Even Japanese photographers use the word “cheese” to achieve the same effect. Bulgarians use the word “zele” meaning “cabbage”. The Chinese say “eggplant”, the Danish “orange”, the Iranians “apple” and many Latin Americans say “whiskey”.
21 In vitro cells : OVA
In vitro fertilization (IVF) is the process in which egg cells are fertilized by sperm cells outside of the body in vitro. The phrase “in vitro” translates from Latin as “in glass”. The process is usually carried out in a glass culture dish.
23 Line at zero degrees longitude : PRIME MERIDIAN
A meridian is a line of longitude, and the Prime Meridian is that line of longitude defined as 0 degrees. The Prime Meridian is also called the Greenwich Meridian as it passes through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich in southeast London. Of course the line of longitude that is used to represent 0 degrees is an arbitrary decision. 25 nations formally decided in 1884 to use the Greenwich Meridian as 0 degrees as it was already a popular choice. That is all except the French, who abstained from the vote and used the Paris Meridian as 0 degrees on French charts for several decades.
27 Green vegetable in samosas : PEA
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.
36 “Beef” Emmy winner Wong : ALI
Ali Wong is a stand-up comedian from San Francisco who is a protégé of Chris Rock. She made two very successful Netflix stand-up specials “Baby Cobra” and “Hard Knock Wife”. She also worked as a writer for the hit sitcom “Fresh Off the Boat”.
“Beef” is a comedy-drama TV show that debuted in 2023. It stars Steven Yeun and Ali Wong as two people in a prolonged feud after a road rage and car chase incident. The critics really like this one.
37 Florida home of the Ernest Hemingway House : KEY WEST
Key West in the Florida Keys is the southernmost city in the contiguous US, and is the southern terminus of US Route 1. The southernmost point in the continental US is Whitehead Spit, which is located within the bounds of Naval Air Station Key West.
Ernest Hemingway moved around a lot. He was born in Illinois, and after leaving school headed to the Italian front during WWI. There he served as an ambulance driver, an experience he used as inspiration for “A Farewell to Arms”. He returned to the US after being seriously wounded, but a few years later moved to Paris where he worked as a foreign correspondent. He covered the Spanish War as a journalist, from Spain, using this experience for “For Whom the Bell Tolls”. During the thirties and forties he had two permanent residences, one in Key West, Florida and one in Cuba. In the late fifties he moved to Ketchum, Idaho, where he committed suicide in 1961.
42 Avocado center : PIT
The wonderful avocado comes from a tree that is native to Mexico and Central America. The avocado fruit is sometimes called an avocado pear, because of its shape, even though it is not related to the pear at all. The fruit might also be referred to as an alligator pear, due to the roughness of the green skin of some avocado cultivars.
49 Hummus ingredient : TAHINI
“Tahini” is the Arabic name for a paste made from ground sesame seeds. It is a major ingredient in hummus, one of my favorite dishes.
61 Glissade garb : TUTU
The word “tutu”, used for a ballet dancer’s skirt, is actually a somewhat “naughty” term. It came into English from French in the early 20th century. The French “tutu” is an alteration of the word “cucu”, a childish word meaning “bottom, backside”.
In ballet, a glissade is a gliding step. “Glissade” comes from the French “glisser” meaning “to slip, slide”.
62 Valparaíso’s country : CHILE
Valparaíso is a major seaport in Chile, although the city’s importance has waned somewhat since the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914. Prior to that event, Valparaíso was a desirable stopoff point for ships rounding the tip of South America. As a result, the city became home to many immigrants from Europe, especially from Britain, Germany, France, Switzerland and Italy.
Down
3 Fermented milk drink : KEFIR
Kefir is a fermented milk drink that originated in the Caucasus region of Eurasia.
4 Evidence of a vampire attack : BITE MARK
Legends about vampires were particularly common in Eastern Europe and in the Balkans in particular. The superstition was that vampires could be killed using a wooden stake, with the preferred type of wood varying from place to place. Superstition also defines where the body should be pierced. Most often, the stake was driven through the heart, but Russians and northern Germans went for the mouth, and northeastern Serbs for the stomach.
7 Quarterback Jackson who was the NFL’s MVP in 2019 and 2023 : LAMAR
NFL player Lamar Jackson was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the 2018 draft. Prior to turning pro, Jackson won the Heisman Trophy while playing for the Louisville Cardinals. IN his rookie season, when he was just 21 years old, he became the youngest quarterback in NFL history to start a playoff game.
10 “The Phantom of the __” : OPERA
I’m a bit jaded with big stage musicals I must admit, but I will always have time for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s masterpiece “The Phantom of the Opera”. “Phantom …” is the longest running musical in the history of Broadway, and deservedly so. There is a sequel, titled “Love Never Dies”, that opened in London’s West End in March 2010. But, it hasn’t been well received.
15 “Scream” star Campbell : NEVE
Neve Campbell is a Canadian actress whose big break in the movies came with the “Scream” horror film series, in which she had a leading role. I don’t do horror films, so I haven’t seen any of the “Scream” movies. Nor have I seen the TV series “Party of Five” that launched the acting careers of both Campbell and Jennifer Love Hewitt in the nineties.
The first installment of the “Scream” franchise of horror films was released in 1996. Each movie features a murderer who adopts the persona of “Ghostface”, a man wearing a mask that resembles the subject in the Edvard Munch painting “The Scream”. Even though the murderer behind the mask changes in each film, the victim is always Sidney Prescott, played by Neve Campbell.
18 Schuyler sister who married Alexander Hamilton : ELIZA
Elizabeth “Eliza” Schuyler Hamilton was the wife of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. Eliza was with her husband when he passed away the day after his famous duel with Vice President Aaron Burr.
19 Prickly shrub : BRIAR
“Briar” (sometimes “brier”) is a generic name describing several plants that have thorns or prickles, including the rose. Famously, Br’er Rabbit lives in a briar patch.
25 Some hoppy brews, briefly : IPAS
India pale ale (IPA) is a style of beer that originated in England. The beer was originally intended for transportation from England to India, hence the name.
28 “Insert this” symbol : CARET
The character known as a caret (^) was originally a proofreading mark, one used to indicate where a punctuation mark was to be inserted. “Caret” is Latin for “it lacks”.
29 Name often said in a smart home : ALEXA
Alexa is a personal assistant application that is most associated with Amazon Echo smart speakers. Apparently, one reason the name “Alexa” was chosen is because it might remind one of the Library of Alexandria, the “keeper of all knowledge”.
30 Winter Olympian with a rifle : BIATHLETE
A biathlon is an event requiring expertise in two sporting disciplines. The most common biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing with rifle shooting. This traditional biathlon was born out of an exercise for Norwegian soldiers.
32 Tennis great Sampras : PETE
Pete Sampras is a retired Greek-American tennis professional. Sampras was rated number one in the world rankings for six years in a row in the nineties.
33 Attachment on the back of a Jeep : SPARE TIRE
The Jeep is the original off-road vehicle. It was developed by the American Bantam Car Company in 1940 at the request of the US government who recognized the upcoming need for the armed forces as American involvement in WWII loomed. The Bantam Company was too small to cope with demand, so the government gave the designs to competing car companies. The design and brand eventually ended up with AMC in the seventies and eighties.
34 “Did I do that?” TV nerd : URKEL
Steve Urkel is a character on the TV show “Family Matters” that originally aired in the late eighties and nineties. The Urkel character was the archetypal “geek”, played by Jaleel White. Urkel was originally written into the show’s storyline for just one episode, but before long, Urkel was the show’s most popular recurring character.
35 Sonnets, odes, and the like : POESY
“Poesy” is an alternative name for poetry, and is often used to mean the “art of poetry”.
A sonnet is a 14-line poem with a specific structure and rhyming scheme. A popular rhyming scheme for what is known as the Italian sonnet is ABBA, ABBA, CDECDE. Compare this with the Shakespearean sonnet which rhymes as ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG.
38 “Buena Vista Social Club” director Wenders : WIM
Wim Wenders is a German movie director and producer. He served as the president of the European Film Academy in Berlin, starting in 1996.
43 Art collection custodian : CURATOR
The term “curator” is Latin and applies to a manager, guardian or overseer. In English, the original curators were the guardians and overseers of minors and those with mental disease. Today, we use the term “curator” particularly for someone in charge of a museum, zoo or other exhibition.
45 Tonsillitis doc : 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).
The palatine tonsils are located at the back of the human throat. The exact role that tonsils play isn’t completely understood, but it is known that they are in the first line of defense in the body’s immune system. They provide some level of protection against pathogens that are ingested and inhaled.
47 Genius Bar computers : APPLES
The technical support desk found in Apple Retail Stores is rather inventively called the Genius Bar. The certified support technicians are known as “Geniuses”. The trainees are called GYOs: Grow-Your-Own-Geniuses.
53 Banister : RAIL
By some accounts, a banister is a handrail of a stairway. By other accounts, the banister is actually the handrail and the supporting structures (called “newels”).
55 “Just so you know” shorthand : BTW
By the way (BTW)
59 Bic product : PEN
Société Bic is a company based in Clichy in France. The first product the company produced, more than fifty years ago, was the Bic Cristal ballpoint pen that is still produced today. Bic also makes other disposable products such as lighters and razors.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Pose a question : ASK
4 “__! Humbug!” : BAH
7 Word before brow or blow : LOW …
10 Cal. neighbor : ORE
13 1950s prez : IKE
14 “My mind is blown!” : I’M IN AWE!
16 Guinea pig or teacup pig : PET
17 Permanent patrons : LIFETIME MEMBERS
20 “Say cheese!” : SMILE!
21 In vitro cells : OVA
22 Impressive spread : ARRAY
23 Line at zero degrees longitude : PRIME MERIDIAN
26 Ray gun sound : ZAP!
27 Green vegetable in samosas : PEA
28 Nightclub : CABARET
32 Uses a buddy system : PAIRS UP
36 “Beef” Emmy winner Wong : ALI
37 Florida home of the Ernest Hemingway House : KEY WEST
39 Con’s opposite : PRO
40 Text status : READ
42 Avocado center : PIT
43 Iced dessert : CAKE
44 Drastic actions : EXTREME MEASURES
49 Hummus ingredient : TAHINI
50 Entirely : PURELY
51 “I’ll say it again,” and what 17-, 23-, and 44-Across literally do? : LET ME REPEAT
55 Raised, as livestock : BRED
57 Poker declaration : I CALL
58 Bits of advice : TIPS
61 Glissade garb : TUTU
62 Valparaíso’s country : CHILE
63 Sandwich cookie : OREO
64 Mourn, maybe : WEEP
65 Shoe bottoms : SOLES
66 Rip apart : REND
Down
1 Isn’t 100% : AILS
2 Pinch pennies : SKIMP
3 Fermented milk drink : KEFIR
4 Evidence of a vampire attack : BITE MARK
5 French friend : AMI
6 Shoutout to a parent : HI, MOM!
7 Quarterback Jackson who was the NFL’s MVP in 2019 and 2023 : LAMAR
8 Carry a balance : OWE
9 Cry at the end of a long road trip : WE MADE IT!
10 “The Phantom of the __” : OPERA
11 Aired again : RERAN
12 Crafts website : ETSY
15 “Scream” star Campbell : NEVE
18 Schuyler sister who married Alexander Hamilton : ELIZA
19 Prickly shrub : BRIAR
24 Fencing blade : EPEE
25 Some hoppy brews, briefly : IPAS
28 “Insert this” symbol : CARET
29 Name often said in a smart home : ALEXA
30 Winter Olympian with a rifle : BIATHLETE
31 Do some screen writing? : TYPE
32 Tennis great Sampras : PETE
33 Attachment on the back of a Jeep : SPARE TIRE
34 “Did I do that?” TV nerd : URKEL
35 Sonnets, odes, and the like : POESY
38 “Buena Vista Social Club” director Wenders : WIM
41 Evaporated : DRIED UP
43 Art collection custodian : CURATOR
45 Tonsillitis doc : ENT
46 Copies : MIMICS
47 Genius Bar computers : APPLES
48 Bring legal action against : SUE
52 Sound that rebounds : ECHO
53 Banister : RAIL
54 French fashion magazine : ELLE
55 “Just so you know” shorthand : BTW
56 Deeply regret : RUE
59 Bic product : PEN
60 Landscaping roll : SOD
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17 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword 19 Mar 24, Tuesday”
Comments are closed.
No errors.
WIM WENDERS? what a name. So in german, is it pronounced VIM VENDERS?
Actually, it’s a bit more like VIM VENDUS. A popular director in the ’70’s art house movie scene. He’s 78.
No help or errors. Didn’t get theme until Bill explained it.
I got the there abd it helped on two answers. I prefer the ones that don’t require me to read backwards or upside down.
Only sticking point was 35D…I had it but was sure it was wrong. Even after reading Bill’s explanation, I still don’t think it’s a word, it’s just a crossword constructor’s fill-in!!!
See the following:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/poesy
Or, check pretty much any dictionary you can find … 🙂.
Although 35 D filled in, I never heard of “poesy.” I thought there was an editing mistake.
Poesy? Never heard of that word.
12″27 – clean.
Fair puzzle for a Wednesday, even with 2 constructors.
I think I’ve seen POESY elsewhere, and yeah, crossword word. And I’m sure some know-it-all will come up with 6 Googles as to why it’s a “good” word. It’s archaic and the setters have got to do better. Not that it hindered me, it just annoyed me a bit.
I don’t know but I just didn’t enjoy it.
Be Well.
22:59. The 50A/35D cross has me stumped for a bit. Otherwise, not too hard.
No errors…nice to see Lamar Jackson finally made the crosswords.
A little much for a Tuesday but it’s to be expected with 2 setters.
Stay safe😀
Easy one for once.
Easy one
Thought posey was wrong, but it fit.
Never heard of Urkel or poesy, and still don’t get the connection of entirely purely
Did not get iced dessert to be cake. Was trying in vain to get a frozen dessert.
@Dahunk..
ICED as in ICING..took me a minute too
It seems to me that “know-it-all” might be a good descriptor for one who declares a word to be archaic without checking to see if the dictionaries agree … 🤨.
Mostly easy for a dual constructor Tuesday; took 10:41 with no peeks or errors. Didn’t know ELIZA or LAMAR, but crosses did the trick there. I’ve seen POESY before and I think URKEL is that guy that says “What you talk’n about Willis?” but I’ve never seen the show, just clips. Did have to change it from POEms though.
Noticed the theme on the way down the grid and it helped get the 3rd theme answer.
Urkel’s catchphrase was a nasally sounding “Did I do that?” in a show called Family Matters. “What you talk’n about Willis?” is from a show called Different Strokes.
9:44 – no errors or lookups. False starts: WEREHOME>WEMADEIT, POEMS>POESY.
New or forgotten: “samosa,” “Beef,” WIM Wenders.
Saw the theme play out, but didn’t use it for solving.
I had trouble with this page yesterday. The comments section and day navigation buttons weren’t displayed.