LA Times Crossword 27 Feb 19, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Bryant Shain
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Shuffleboard

Themed answers each include a string of letters that are circled in the grid. Those letters can be SHUFFLED to spell out a type of BOARD:

  • 54A. Game played on a floor or table, and a hint to this puzzle’s circled letters : SHUFFLEBOARD
  • 20A. Particular : HARD TO PLEASE (containing “DART” shuffled)
  • 28A. Hospital bigwig : CHIEF SURGEON (containing “SURF” shuffled)
  • 44A. Formally accuse of wrongdoing : PRESS CHARGES (containing “CHESS” shuffled)

Bill’s time: 6m 06s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. Old Russian ruler : TSAR

The term “czar” (also “tsar”) is a Slavic word that was first used as a title by Simeon I of Bulgaria in 913 AD. “Czar” is derived from the word “Caesar”, which was synonymous with “emperor” at that time.

5. Landlocked African nation : MALI

The Republic of Mali is a landlocked country in western Africa located south of Algeria. Formerly known as French Sudan, the nation’s most famous city is Timbuktu. Mali is the third-largest producer of gold on the continent, after South Africa and Ghana.

9. Wedding registry category : CHINA

The ceramic known as “porcelain” can be referred to as “china” or “fine china”, as porcelain was developed in China.

14. Famous final question : ET TU?

It was Shakespeare who popularized the words “Et tu, Brute?” (meaning “And you, Brutus?”). They appear in his play “Julius Caesar”, although the phrase had been around long before he penned his drama. It’s not known what Julius Caesar actually said in real life (if anything at all) as he was assassinated on on the steps of the Senate in Rome.

15. “Ducky” Mallard’s alma mater, on “NCIS” : ETON

Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard is the chief medical examiner on the TV show “NCIS”. Played by David McCallum, Mallard is a Scottish-born and attended Eton College. There’s a line in one episode of the show in which the question is posed, “What did Ducky look like when he was younger?” The answer is “Illya Kuryakin”, who is the Russian agent on the 1960s show “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” Well, actor David McCallum played Kuryakin on that show. Nice one …

Scottish actor David McCallum got his big break playing Illya Kuryakin on “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”, alongside Robert Vaughn playing Napoleon Solo. McCallum also appeared in the 1963 movie “The Great Escape”, working with Charles Bronson. There was good and bad about this project, as after McCallum introduced his wife Jill Ireland to Bronson, Ireland left her husband and married Bronson five years later.

17. Prefix in juice names : CRAN-

When early European settlers came across red berries growing in the bogs of the northern part of America, they felt that the plant’s flower and stem resembled the head and bill of a crane. As such, they called the plant “craneberry”, which later evolved into “cranberry”.

19. ’50s four-wheeled failure : EDSEL

The Edsel brand of automobile was named for Edsel Ford, son of Henry. Sadly, the name “Edsel” has become synonymous with “failure”, which was no fault of Edsel himself who had died several years before the Edsel line was introduced. When the Ford Motor Company introduced the Edsel on 4 September 1957, Ford proclaimed the day to be “E Day”.

20. Particular : HARD TO PLEASE (containing “DART” shuffled)

Darts is a wonderful game that’s often played in English and Irish pubs, even over here in America. The scoring in a traditional game of darts is difficult to describe in a sentence or two, but the game of darts called “Round the Clock” is simply hitting the numbers 1 through 20 on the dartboard in sequence.

31. Gig gear : AMP

An electric guitar, for example, needs an amplifier (amp) to take the weak signal created by the vibration of the strings and turn it into a signal powerful enough for a loudspeaker.

Musicians use “gig” to describe a job, a performance. The term originated in the early 1900s in the world of jazz. The derivative phrase “gig economy” applies to a relatively recent phenomenon where workers find themselves jumping from temporary job to temporary job, from gig to gig.

36. Some trucks : DIESELS

There are two main types of internal combustion engine. Most cars in the US use spark injection engines (gasoline engines) in which a spark plug sparks in order to ignite the fuel-air mixture. A diesel engine, on the other hand, has no spark plug per se, and uses the heat generated by compressing the air-fuel mixture to cause ignition.

38. The North Pole, for Santa : ADDRESS

If you want to send a note to Santa in Canada, he has his own special postal code: “North Pole, HOH OHO”. The US Postal Service suggests that we send mail for Santa to zip code 99705, which directs it to the city of North Pole, Alaska.

41. Opposite of endo- : ECTO-

The prefix “ecto-” is used to mean “outside”, and the opposite “ento-” (also “endo-”) is used to mean “within”.

42. Flat-bottomed vessel : SCOW

A scow is a flat-bottomed boat with squared-off ends that’s often used for transportation, usually pushed or pulled by a barge. Often a scow can be seen carrying junk or garbage.

43. Daisy Ridley’s “The Last Jedi” role : REY

Rey is a central character in the “Star Wars” universe. She first appeared in 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”. Rey is played by British actress Daisy Ridley.

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” is a 2017 movie from the “Star Wars” film franchise, and the second installment of the “Star Wars” sequel trilogy. The title character is Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill. Ah, but is Luke in fact the “last Jedi”?

49. Blue Jays’ home: Abbr. : TOR

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.

51. Small lizard : GECKO

The word “gecko” comes from an Indonesian/Javanese word “tokek”, which is imitative of the reptile’s chirping sound. In making such a sound, geckos are unique in the world of lizards. More interesting to me than a gecko’s chirping is its ability to cling to walls and to other vertical surfaces. Their feet are specially adapted with “toes” that make extremely intimate, close contact to a surface. The toes have millions of hairs called setae that enable the clinging. It isn’t suction that supports them, but rather van der Waals forces (weak “gravitational” attractions). Fascinating stuff …

54. Game played on a floor or table, and a hint to this puzzle’s circled letters : SHUFFLEBOARD

The game of shuffleboard has been around for a long time. King Henry VIII was fond of playing, and in fact he prohibited commoners from playing the game. Shuffleboard is also known as shovelboard, a reference perhaps to the shovel-like paddles used to propel the pucks.

57. Fluffy-eared “bear” : KOALA

The koala bear really does look like a little bear, but it’s not even closely related. The koala is an arboreal marsupial and a herbivore, native to the east and south coasts of Australia. Koalas aren’t primates, and are one of the few mammals other than primates who have fingerprints. In fact, it can be very difficult to tell human fingerprints from koala fingerprints, even under an electron microscope. Male koalas are called “bucks”, females are “does”, and young koalas are “joeys”. I’m a little jealous of the koala, as it sleeps up to 20 hours a day …

60. Hair-removal brand : NAIR

Nair is a hair-removal product that has some pretty harsh ingredients. The most important active constituents are calcium hydroxide (“slaked lime”) and sodium hydroxide (“caustic soda”). Other Nair components seem to be there to soothe the skin after the harsher chemicals have done their job. The name “Nair” probably comes from combining “no” and “hair”.

61. Vintage ski lift : T-BAR

A T-bar is a ski lift on which the skiers are pulled up the hill in pairs, with each pair standing (not sitting!) either side of a T-shaped metal bar. The bar is placed behind the thighs, pulling along the skiers as they remain standing on their skis (hopefully!). There’s also a J-bar, which is a similar device but with each J-shaped bar used by one skier at a time.

63. Basic French verb : ETRE

The French for “to be” is “être”.

64. Theta follower : IOTA

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.

65. Tank fish : TETRA

The neon tetra is a freshwater fish that is native to parts of South America. The tetra is a very popular aquarium fish and millions are imported into the US every year. Almost all of the imported tetras are farm-raised in Asia and very few come from their native continent.

67. Provide job support for? : ABET

The word “abet” comes into English from the Old French “abeter” meaning “to bait” or “to harass with dogs” (it literally means “to make bite”). This sense of encouraging something bad to happen morphed into our modern usage of “abet” meaning to aid or encourage someone in a crime.

Down

2. Classic Fender guitar, for short : STRAT

The Stratocaster (often “Strat”) is an electric guitar made by Fender since 1954. The company that made Fender electric guitars was founded in Fullerton, California in 1946 by Leo Fender.

3. Arcade pioneer : ATARI

At one point, the electronics and video game manufacturer Atari was the fastest growing company in US history. However, Atari never really recovered from the video game industry crash of 1983.

Our word “arcade” comes from the Latin “arcus” meaning “arc”. The first arcades were passages made from a series of arches. This could be an avenue of trees, and eventually any covered avenue. I remember arcades lined with shops and stores when I was growing up on the other side of the Atlantic. Arcades came to be lined with lots of amusements, resulting in amusement arcades and video game arcades.

4. “Walk This Way” rap trio : RUN-DMC

Run-DMC was a hip hop group from Queens, New York. The trio took its name from two of the group’s members: Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels.

“Walk This Way” is a 1975 song by Aerosmith that was famously covered by rap trio Run-DMC in 1986. The latter recording sparked a resurgence in popularity for the Aerosmith. Aerosmith and Run-DMC appeared together in a hit music video featuring “Walk This Way”.

12. French word in bios : NEE

“Née” is the French word for “born” when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”.

13. Syst. for the hearing-impaired : ASL

American Sign Language (ASL)

22. Sun Devils’ sch. : ASU

Arizona State University (ASU) has a long history, and was founded as the Tempe Normal School for the Arizona Territory in 1885. The athletic teams of ASU used to be known as the Normals, then the Bulldogs, and since 1946 they’ve been called the Sun Devils.

25. Passover feast : SEDER

The Passover Seder is a ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish Passover holiday, celebrating the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. One of the traditions at the meal is that the youngest child at the table asks “The Four Questions”, all relating to why this night is different from all other nights in the year:

  • Why is it that on all other nights during the year we eat either bread or matzoh, but on this night we eat only matzoh?
  • Why is it that on all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs, but on this night we eat only bitter herbs?
  • Why is it that on all other nights we do not dip our herbs even once, but on this night we dip them twice?
  • Why is it that on all other nights we eat either sitting or reclining, but on this night we eat in a reclining position?

27. On pins and needles : ANTSY

The word “antsy” embodies the concept of “having ants in one’s pants”, meaning being nervous and fidgety. However, “antsy” has been used in English since the 1830s, whereas “ants in the pants” originated a century later.

30. Berlin’s home: Abbr. : GER

Berlin is the capital and largest city in Germany, and is the second most populous city in the European Union (after London).

32. Prefix with brewery : MICRO-

Originally, the term “microbrewery” applied to smaller breweries. In contemporary usage, a microbrewery really describes a brewery that competes in the market on the basis of quality and diversity, rather than on the basis of price and advertising. The really small brewing operations are now referred to as “nanobreweries”.

33. Rocker Frampton : PETER

Peter Frampton is a rock musician from London, England who is best known for his solo career. Frampton attended the same school as David Bowie. Although Bowie was three years older than Frampton, the two would hang out, often listening to Buddy Holly records. Years later, Bowie and Frampton would tour together.

37. Scrubbing brand : SOS

“S.O.S” is a brand name of scouring pads made from steel wool impregnated with soap. The product was invented as a giveaway by an aluminum pot salesman in San Francisco called Ed Cox. His wife gave it the name “S.O.S” as an initialism standing for “Save Our Saucepans”. Note the punctuation! There is no period after the last S, and that is deliberate. When Cox went to register the trademark, he found that “S.O.S.” could not be a trademark because it was used as an international distress signal. So he dropped the period after the last S, and I hope made a lot of money for himself and his wife.

38. Unlike this ans. : ACR

This is a down-answer, and not an across-answer.

39. Technically flawed comic poetry : DOGGEREL

“Doggerel” is a term used to insult poetry that has little value as literature. The term probably comes from “dog”, perhaps in that it is “only fit for dogs”.

40. Nerdy sort : DWEEB

“Dweeb” is relatively recent American slang that came out of college life in the late sixties. Dweeb, squarepants, nerd; they’re all not-nice terms that mean the same thing, i.e. someone excessively studious and socially inept.

45. Much of North Africa : SAHARA

The name “Sahara” means “greatest desert” in Arabic. The Sahara is just that, a great desert covering almost 4 million square miles of Northern Africa. That’s almost the size of the United States.

46. PC brain : CPU

The central processing unit (CPU) is the main component on the motherboard of a computer. The CPU is the part of the computer that carries out most of the functions required by a program. Nowadays you can get CPUs in everything from cars to telephones.

47. Noted bunny lover : HEFNER

Hugh Hefner (often called “Hef”) was from Chicago. His first publishing job was in the military, where he worked as a writer for a US Army newspaper from 1944-46. He went to college after his military service and then worked as a copywriter for “Esquire” magazine. He left “Esquire” to found his own publication that he called “Playboy”, which first hit the newsstands in 1953. “Playboy” has been around ever since.

Playboy Bunnies are waitresses at a Playboy Club. Playboy Bunnies wear costumes that are reminiscent of the Playboy rabbit mascot, with a collar, cuffs and a fluffy tail.

48. Nova __ : SCOTIA

The Canadian province of Nova Scotia (NS) lies on the east coast of the country and is a peninsula surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. The area was settled by Scots starting in 1621, and Nova Scotia is Latin for “New Scotland”.

52. Skewered meat : KABOB

The term “kebab” (also “kabob”) covers a wide variety of meat dishes that originated in Persia. In the West, we usually use “kebab” when talking about shish kebab, which is meat (often lamb) served on a skewer. “Shish” comes from the Turkish word for “skewer”.

55. Turkey bacon? : LIRA

The currency of Turkey is the Turkish lira, which is divided into 100 kuruş. In 1927, the Turkish lira replaced the Ottoman lira, which had been in use since 1844.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Old Russian ruler : TSAR
5. Landlocked African nation : MALI
9. Wedding registry category : CHINA
14. Famous final question : ET TU?
15. “Ducky” Mallard’s alma mater, on “NCIS” : ETON
16. Support people : AIDES
17. Prefix in juice names : CRAN-
18. Tends to the lawn : MOWS
19. ’50s four-wheeled failure : EDSEL
20. Particular : HARD TO PLEASE (containing “DART” shuffled)
23. Kitchen counter? : TIMER
24. “__ thought” : IT’S A
25. Place to unwind : SPA
28. Hospital bigwig : CHIEF SURGEON (containing “SURF” shuffled)
31. Gig gear : AMP
34. Lessen : EASE
35. Tweak, as text : EDIT
36. Some trucks : DIESELS
38. The North Pole, for Santa : ADDRESS
41. Opposite of endo- : ECTO-
42. Flat-bottomed vessel : SCOW
43. Daisy Ridley’s “The Last Jedi” role : REY
44. Formally accuse of wrongdoing : PRESS CHARGES (containing “CHESS” shuffled)
49. Blue Jays’ home: Abbr. : TOR
50. Mimicked : APED
51. Small lizard : GECKO
54. Game played on a floor or table, and a hint to this puzzle’s circled letters : SHUFFLEBOARD
57. Fluffy-eared “bear” : KOALA
60. Hair-removal brand : NAIR
61. Vintage ski lift : T-BAR
62. Arouse, as wrath : INCUR
63. Basic French verb : ETRE
64. Theta follower : IOTA
65. Tank fish : TETRA
66. “Keep it __” : REAL
67. Provide job support for? : ABET

Down

1. __ support : TECH
2. Classic Fender guitar, for short : STRAT
3. Arcade pioneer : ATARI
4. “Walk This Way” rap trio : RUN-DMC
5. Many a D.C. landmark : MEMORIAL
6. Perched on : ATOP
7. Good-for-nothing : LOWLIFE
8. Mini-maps : INSETS
9. 14-Across speaker : CAESAR
10. Go underground : HIDE
11. Cards checked at the door : IDS
12. French word in bios : NEE
13. Syst. for the hearing-impaired : ASL
21. Giggle : TEHEE
22. Sun Devils’ sch. : ASU
25. Passover feast : SEDER
26. Self-assurance : POISE
27. On pins and needles : ANTSY
29. Curvy letter : ESS
30. Berlin’s home: Abbr. : GER
31. Showing mastery : ADEPT
32. Prefix with brewery : MICRO-
33. Rocker Frampton : PETER
37. Scrubbing brand : SOS
38. Unlike this ans. : ACR
39. Technically flawed comic poetry : DOGGEREL
40. Nerdy sort : DWEEB
42. Tragic end : SAD FATE
45. Much of North Africa : SAHARA
46. PC brain : CPU
47. Noted bunny lover : HEFNER
48. Nova __ : SCOTIA
52. Skewered meat : KABOB
53. Give a political speech : ORATE
54. Put-down : SLUR
55. Turkey bacon? : LIRA
56. “Well, shoot” : DRAT
57. Modeling convenience : KIT
58. Tip jar bill : ONE
59. Perform : ACT