LA Times Crossword 3 Jun 26, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Shmuel Schmell

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Sweeping Changes

Themed answers each hide an item used for SWEEPING, but with the letter order CHANGED:

• 61A Overhauls that have lasting effects, or what can be found in this puzzle’s circled letters : SWEEPING CHANGES

• 17A One skilled in routine deliveries? : STAND-UP COMEDIAN (hiding “DUSTPAN” changed)
• 26A San Francisco counterculture center of the 1960s : HAIGHT-ASHBURY (hiding “BRUSH” changed)
• 46A Instrument that makes the sound of adults talking in “Peanuts” cartoons : SLIDE TROMBONE (hiding “BROOM” changed)

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

Bill’s time: 6m 48s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5A Thick-furred dog whose tail curls over its back : SPITZ

Spitz-type dogs are those with long thick fur that is usually white. Most spitz-type dogs seem to have originated in the Arctic and/or East Asia. Examples of breeds described as spitz-type are the Alaskan Malamute and the Canadian Eskimo Dog.

10A “hahahahahaha” : ROFL!

Rolling on floor laughing (ROFL)

14A Gillette razor : ATRA

Fortunately for crossword constructors, the Atra was introduced by Gillette in 1977, as the first razor with a pivoting head. The Atra was sold as the Contour in some markets and its derivative products are still around today.

15A “Yellow Odalisque” painter Matisse : HENRI

“Yellow Odalisque” is a 1937 painting by French artist Henri Matisse. The term “odalisque” comes from the Turkish “odalik”, which translates to “chambermaid”, and originally described a low-ranking female servant or slave in an Ottoman sultan’s harem. The model for the work was Hélène Galtzine-Mercier, a Russian princess in exile who became a Parisian fashion model and someone who posed for about twenty of Matisse’s paintings in the late 1930s.

20A Many a Sunday talk show panelist : PUNDIT

A pundit is a learned person to whom one might turn for an opinion. “Pundit” is derived from the Hindi word “pandit” meaning “learned man”.

21A “Today” producer : NBC NEWS

NBC’s “Today” show first aired way back in 1952 when it was the first “morning show” in the world. The first host of “Today” was Dave Garroway.

26A San Francisco counterculture center of the 1960s : HAIGHT-ASHBURY (hiding “BRUSH” changed)

Haight-Ashbury is a neighborhood in San Francisco that is centered on the intersection of Haight Street and Ashbury Street. The district was one of the epicenters of hippie life in the sixties, and was home to psychedelic rock performers of the day including Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin.

32A Love, in Verona : AMORE

Verona is a city in northern Italy. Famously, William Shakespeare set three of his plays in Verona: “Romeo and Juliet”, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” and “The Taming of the Shrew”.

34A Fig. in a QB’s completion percentage : ATT

In football, a quarterback’s (QB’s) performance can be measured by attempts (ATT), a statistic (stat).

39A Lee Child protagonist : REACHER

Lee Child is the pen name of British thriller writer Jim Grant. The hero of Child’s stories is an American ex-military policeman named Jack Reacher. The novel “One Shot” was adapted for the big screen as “Jack Reacher”, which was released in 2012 with Tom Cruise in the title role.

43A Gymnast Korbut : OLGA

Olga Korbut is from modern-day Belarus, but was born during the days of the Soviet Union. She competed for the USSR team in the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games. Korbut was 17 when she appeared in the 1972 Munich Games, and had been training in a sports school since she was 8 years old. The world fell in love with her as she was a very emotional young lady, readily expressing joy and disappointment, something that we weren’t used to seeing in athletes from behind the Iron Curtain. Korbut immigrated to the US in 1991 and settled in Scottsdale, Arizona.

45A TV executive Arledge : ROONE

Roone Arledge was an executive at ABC. Arledge made a name for himself in sports broadcasting and then took over ABC News in 1977, a position he held until his death in 2002.

46A Instrument that makes the sound of adults talking in “Peanuts” cartoons : SLIDE TROMBONE (hiding “BROOM” changed)

The brass instrument known as a trombone takes its name from the trumpet. The Italian for trumpet is “tromba”, and the suffix “-one” means “big”. So, “trombone” means “big trumpet”.

Charles M. Schulz was a cartoonist best known for his comic strip “Peanuts” that featured the much-loved characters Charlie Brown and Snoopy. “Peanuts” was so successful, running daily in over 70 countries and 21 languages, that it earned Schulz an estimated 30-40 million dollars annually.

51A Blood bank fluids : SERA

Blood serum (plural “sera”) is the clear, yellowish part of blood i.e. that part which is neither a blood cell nor a clotting factor. Included in blood serum are antibodies, the proteins that are central to our immune system. Blood serum from animals that have immunity to a particular disease can be transferred to another individual, hence providing that second individual with some level of immunity. Blood serum used to pass on immunity can be called “antiserum”.

52A Kylo Ren’s father in “Star Wars” : HAN SOLO

Kylo Ren is the son of Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa in the “Star Wars” universe. The character’s birth name was Ben Solo. He was trained as a Jedi knight by his uncle, Luke Skywalker. However, Ben came to embrace the Dark Side, and changed his name to Kylo Ren. Ren is played by actor Adam Driver.

56A Jewel box : CD CASE

A CD case is also known as a jewel box, and I am really not sure why. I’ve heard some explanations, but not one that I really buy …

64A Paddington, but not Waterloo : BEAR

Paddington Bear is a character from a series of books written by Michael Bond. Paddington is an immigrant from Peru who is found sitting on his suitcase in London Paddington railway station. He is a beloved character in the UK. When the two sides of the Channel Tunnel were linked in 1990 during construction, the first item passed by the British to the French was a Paddington Bear soft toy.

London Waterloo is the largest railway station in the UK by floor space, and has the most platforms. It opened in 1848 as “Waterloo Bridge” station, named for the nearby river crossing that commemorated the 1815 defeat of Napoleon.

65A Grey Goose rival : STOLI

Stolichnaya vodka originated in Russia, but now it’s made in Latvia. Latvia is of course a completely different country, so you won’t see the word “Russian” on the label anymore. But, the “Stoli” label still bears a drawing of the famous Hotel Moskva, which is located near Red Square in Moscow.

Grey Goose is a vodka that is produced in France. It was developed specifically for the American market using resources and expertise available in the French Cognac region.

67A USN officers : CDRS

Commander (Cdr.)

68A Schlepped : TOTED

Our word “schlep” (sometimes “schlepp”) means “carry, drag”. “Schlep” comes from Yiddish, with “shlepen” having the same meaning.

69A Starchy root in poi : TARO

The corm of some taro plants is used to make poi, a traditional Hawaiian dish (which I think tastes horrible). When a taro plant is grown as an ornamental, it is often called Elephant Ears due to the shape of its large leaves.

Down

2D Words said to Marcus Junius Brutus : ET TU

The most famous man with the name “Brutus” in ancient Rome was Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger. It was this Brutus that Julius Caesar turned to when he was assassinated on the steps of the Senate. William Shakespeare immortalized Brutus by featuring him in his play, “Julius Caesar”, and giving his victim the line “Et tu, Brute?”

3D Modern Persia : IRAN

Before 1935, the country we know today as Iran was referred to as Persia by the Western world. The official name of the country since the Iranian Revolution of 1979 is the “Islamic Republic of Iran”.

4D Pretoria currency : RAND

The rand is the currency of South Africa. Much of South Africa’s famed gold comes from mines around Johannesburg in the Witwatersrand (Afrikaans for “the ridge of white waters”). The rand currency takes its name from this ridge.

Pretoria is the executive capital of South Africa (RSA), and one of three capital cities in the country. Cape Town is the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein is the judicial capital.

8D Jumbo suffix : -TRON

A Jumbotron is a big-screen television system that is often seen in sports stadiums. The brand name “JumboTron” was introduced by Sony in 1985. “Jumbotron” is used pretty generically now for any big-screen system in such venues as Sony exited the business in 2001.

9D Country between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers : ZIMBABWE

The country now known as Zimbabwe started out as a British colony called Southern Rhodesia, and later just “Rhodesia”. The original colony was named for Cecil Rhodes, the British empire builder.

The Zambezi is the largest African river flowing into the Indian Ocean, and the fourth-longest river on the continent. The most famous spot along the Zambezi is Victoria Falls.

The Limpopo River rises in South Africa, flows through Mozambique, and empties into the Indian Ocean. At over a thousand miles long, it is the second largest African river draining into the Indian Ocean, after the Zambezi.

10D “It’s Always Something” memoirist Gilda : RADNER

Gilda Radner was a comedian and actress, and one of the original cast members of the hit television show “Saturday Night Live”. Radner left her first husband to marry comedic actor Gene Wilder, whom she met while they were both filming the Sidney Poitier movie “Hanky Panky”.

11D Theater honor : OBIE

The Obies are the Off-Broadway (“OB”) 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.

23D Do a bit of grapplin’ : RASSLE

“Rassle” is a slang word meaning “wrestle”.

24D Night school subj. : ESL

English as a Second Language (ESL)

26D Like some cider : HARD

The term “cider” is used in most English-speaking countries to describe the alcoholic drink made from fermented apple juice. Here in the US, we often use the term to describe sweetened, unfiltered apple juice, and use “hard cider” to describe the alcoholic beverage. So in Britain and Ireland, beware of what you order …

28D Bitty bits : IOTAS

Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet, and one that gave rise to our letters I and J. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small, as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.

29D Pre-MBA hurdle : GRE

Passing the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is usually a requirement for entry into graduate school here in the US.

30D Capital of 9-Down : HARARE
[9D Country between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers : ZIMBABWE]

Harare is the capital of Zimbabwe, and the African nation’s largest city. It was founded by the British in 1890 as Fort Salisbury (later just “Salisbury”). The outpost was named after Lord Salisbury, who was Prime Minister of the UK at the time. Salisbury was renamed to Harare in 1982, on the second anniversary of the independence of Zimbabwe. The name “Harare” applied to the area in which Fort Salisbury had been erected. “Harare” is a local word meaning “It doesn’t sleep”, a word applied to locations with constant noise.

35D Miss. neighbor : TENN

Tennessee ties Missouri for the state that borders the most other states in the U.S., with eight neighboring states: Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri itself.

40D Ocean fleet : ARMADA

“Armada” is a Spanish (and Portuguese) word meaning “naval fleet”.

44D Some classic muscle cars : GTS

In the automotive world, “GT” stands for “Grand Touring” or “Gran Turismo”.

49D Dragon’s mouth, e.g. : ORCHID

Orchids are a large group of flowering plants found almost all over the planet, but especially in the tropics.

52D U.K.-based bank : HSBC

HSBC is a UK-based financial services company that was the largest bank in Europe in 2018. It can trace its history back to 1865, when it was founded in British Hong Kong as the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank. The initialism “HSBC” stood for the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

57D Tech trends site : CNET

CNET is a technology website, with the acronym “CNET” standing for “computer network”. It started out in 1994 as a television network specializing in technology news. The host of “American Idol”, Ryan Seacrest, started off his career as host of a CNET show.

58D Indian tourist city with a mausoleum : AGRA

The most famous mausoleum in the world has to be the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. It was built after the death of the third wife of Shah Jahan, Mumtaz Mahal (hence the name of the mausoleum). The poor woman died in childbirth delivering the couple’s 14th child. When Shah Jahan himself passed away 35 years later, he was buried beside his wife Mumtaz, in the Taj Mahal.

59D Step in a scallops recipe : SEAR

Scallops are marine mollusks that are served as seafood. They are often served baked in milk, and as a result this method of preparation has become known as “scalloping”. So, scalloped potatoes are potatoes baked in milk.

60D Petro-Canada rival : ESSO

Petro-Canada started out as a government-owned corporation in 1976. “Petro-Canada” is now a brand name of Suncor Energy.

63D Guardians, on a scoreboard : CLE

The Cleveland baseball franchise started out in 1869 as the Forest Citys, named after Forest City, the nickname for Cleveland. After a number of transitions, in 1914 the team took on the name “Indians”. The media came up with the name “Indians” after being asked for suggestions by the team owners. “Indians” was inspired by the successful Boston team of the day, the Boston Braves. In 2021, the team dropped the insensitive “Indians” moniker and renamed itself to the Guardians. The “Guardians” name is a reference to four pairs of Art Deco statues on the city’s Hope Memorial Bridge known as the Guardians of Traffic.