LA Times Crossword 2 Feb 19, Saturday

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Constructed by: C.C. Burnikel
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Theme: None

Bill’s time: 13m 21s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6. Fruit named for a horticulturist : BOSC

Bosc is a cultivar of the European pear that is grown mainly in the northwest of the United States. It is named for French horticulturist Louis Bosc. The cultivar originated in Belgium or France in the early 19th century. The Bosc is that pear with a skin the color of a potato, with a long neck.

10. Target Field athlete : TWIN

Target Field is a baseball park in Minneapolis, Minnesota that has been home to the Minnesota Twins since the stadium opening in 2010. Target Corporation, which is headquartered in Minneapolis, paid an undisclosed sum to get the naming rights of the park.

14. Smart timepiece : APPLE WATCH

The Apple Watch was announced in 2014 and started shipping in 2015. The device works as an extension to a user’s smartphone, although it also has capabilities of its own. I’m not a big fan of smartwatches; I don’t really see the point …

19. Vet : EXAMINE

The verb “to vet” comes from the term “veterinarian”. The idea is that to vet something is to subject it to careful examination, like a veterinarian checking out an animal.

20. Chicken __: fast food nuggets : MCBITES

McDonald’s offered Chicken McBites in the US North American market in the early 2010s. McBites were made from small pieces of chicken breast.

24. Hot spot : HADES

Hades was the god of the underworld to the ancient Greeks. Over time, Hades gave his name to the underworld itself, the place where the dead reside. The term “Hades” was also adopted into the Christian tradition, as an alternative name for hell. But, the concept of hell in Christianity is more akin to the Greek “Tartarus”, which is a dark and gloomy dungeon located in Hades, a place of suffering and torment.

26. Ski carriers : GONDOLAS

The word “gondola” was originally limited to the famous boats that travel along the canals of Venice. When man started to fly through the air in hot air balloons, “gondola” was used for the basket in which the passenger(s) traveled. By extension, the structure carrying passengers and crew under an airship is also called a gondola, as are the cars suspended from a cable at a ski resort.

29. Jordanian dough : DINAR

The dinar is the official currency in many countries, such as Iraq, Tunisia and Serbia. The gold dinar dates back to the early days of Islam, with the name deriving from the Roman currency called “denarius” meaning “ten times” (as it was originally a coin worth ten asses).

The nation that we know as Jordan takes its name from the River Jordan that forms part of the country’s border with Israel and Palestine to the west. Jordan achieved independence in 1946 after the UN approved the end of the British Transjordan Mandate. The Kingdom of Transjordan changed its name to Jordan in 1948.

30. Disney dog : LADY

“Lady and the Tramp” is a classic animated feature from Walt Disney, released in 1955. The title characters are a female American cocker spaniel and a male stray mutt. Who can forget the scene where the Tramp and Lady are “on a date”, and together eat that one strand of spaghetti? So cute!

31. Unpaid assistant in many offices : SIRI

Siri is a software application that works with Apple’s iOS operating system. “Siri” is an acronym standing for Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface. Voice-over artist Susan Bennett revealed herself as the female American voice of Siri a few years ago. The British version of Siri is called Daniel, and the Australian version is called Karen. Also, “Siri” is a Norwegian name meaning “beautiful woman who leads you to victory”, and was the name the developer had chosen for his first child.

32. Weather-sensitive stat, often : ETD

Estimated time of departure (ETD)

36. Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” for one : OIL

40. Beethoven’s “Rage Over a Lost Penny,” e.g. : RONDO

“Rage Over a Lost Penny, Vented in a Caprice” is a piano rondo by Ludwig Van Beethoven. The piece was originally called Rondo Alla in Grecia Casa Capriccio by the composer, but somebody else wrote the whimsical title on the original autograph manuscript. The latter title is the name under which the work is best known.

45. Han River city : SEOUL

Seoul is the capital city of South Korea. The Seoul National Capital Area is home to over 25 million people and is the second largest metropolitan area in the world, second only to Tokyo, Japan.

The Han River that runs through the South Korean capital of Seoul used to be known as the Hanshui, a name that is still used at times today.

49. Place to find the Silk Road : ASIA MAP

The Silk Road was a network of trading routes that crossed North Africa and Asia, connecting Europe to West Asia. The routes get the name from the lucrative trade in silk from China.

56. Gallic gal pal : AMIE

The Gauls were a Celtic race, with Gaul covering what is now known as France and Belgium. We use the term “Gallic” today, when we refer to something pertaining to France or the French.

57. Game whose heroine was played by Angelina Jolie in a 2001 film : TOMB RAIDER

Lara Croft was introduced to the world in 1996 as the main character in a pretty cool video game (or so I thought, back then) called “Tomb Raider”. Lara Croft moved to the big screen in 2001 and 2003, in two pretty awful movie adaptations of the game’s storyline. Angelina Jolie played Croft, and she did a very energetic job.

59. Beachgoers’ specs : SPFS

In theory, the sun protection factor (SPF) is a calibrated measure of the effectiveness of a sunscreen in protecting the skin from harmful UV rays. The idea is that if you wear a lotion with say SPF 20, then it takes 20 times as much UV radiation to cause the skin to burn than it would take without protection. I say just stay out of the sun …

Down

3. Org. for women drivers : LPGA

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) was founded in 1950 by a group of 13 lady golfers, and today it is the oldest ongoing women’s sports professional organization in the US.

4. County where the Golden State Warriors play home games : ALAMEDA

“Alameda” is Spanish for “a place full of poplars”. There are number of locations in the US and elsewhere with the name “Alameda”, including the county of Alameda, California where I am right now, writing this post. Alameda County is also home to the city of Alameda located on Alameda Island.

The Golden State Warriors are our local NBA franchise out here in the San Francisco Bay Area and are based in Oakland, California. The team was founded in 1946 as the Philadelphia Warriors, becoming the San Francisco Warriors when they moved to City by the Bay in 1962. They changed named again (to Golden State) when they relocated to Oakland in 1971. The statewide name reflected the fact that the team played some of their 1971-72 season games in San Diego, and as such were “California’s” team.

6. Diamond foursome : BASES

That would be a baseball diamond.

7. Some games end in them, for short : OTS

Overtime (OT)

9. Republic in southwestern Russia : CHECHNYA

Chechnya is a federal subject of Russia located in the North Caucasus in the very southwest of the country. The capital of Chechnya is Grozny. In the days of the USSR, Chechnya was part of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR). The former ASSR was subsequently divided into the Chechen Republic and the Republic of Ingushetia. The Chechen Republic declared independence from the Russian Federation, which resulted in the First Chechen War, fought from 1994 to 1996. Boris Yeltsin’s government in Moscow signed a peace treaty ending the war and ceding autonomy to Chechnya. However, Chechnya-based Islamic fighters invaded Dagestan in 1999, at which point Russian troops entered Chechnya again, starting the Second Chechen War. The second conflict raged until 2009, when the Russians withdrew many of their troops having severely disabled the capabilities of the Chechen separatists.

10. Pizza roll brand : TOTINO’S

The Totino’s brand of frozen pizza was founded by Rose and Jim Totino, a married couple who had been running a take-out pizzeria in Minneapolis since 1951.

11. Cats with light blond coats : WHITE LIONS

A small percentage of lions are white in color due to a rare genetic mutation. Starting in the 1970s, the rare white lions were removed from the wild and sent to zoos and circuses for breeding. There hasn’t been a spotting of a wild white lion since 1994.

24. Makes out too much, say : HITS A SLUMP

That could be baseball.

28. Farm structure : SILO

“Silo” is a Spanish word that we absorbed into English. The term ultimately derives from the Greek “siros”, which described a pit in which one kept corn.

35. Half a two-island country : TRINIDAD

Trinidad and Tobago is a republic in the southern Caribbean that largely comprises the two main islands of Trinidad and Tobago.

41. London locale : ONTARIO

The city of London, Ontario lies about halfway between Detroit, Michigan and Toronto, Ontario. Just like the city’s better known namesake in England, Canada’s London is located on the Thames River.

43. Mo. named for an emperor : AUG

Gaius Octavius Thurinus (often called Octavian) was the adopted son of Gaius Julius Caesar. After Julius Caesar was assassinated, Octavian came to power in Rome and teamed up with Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in what was called the Second Triumvirate. When the triumvirate fell apart, especially after Antony’s defeat at Actium, Octavian became more powerful within the Roman Republic. Several years later he wrested sufficient power from the Roman Senate to end the Republic and begin the Roman Empire. As the first Emperor of Rome, Octavian was given the name Caesar Augustus. The month of August, originally called “Sextilis” in Latin, was renamed in honor of Augustus.

44. Choir elevator : RISER

A riser is a platform that elevates a group of people above a crowd, and so is ideal for the performance of a choir.

47. First female Asian-American Cabinet member : CHAO

When President George W. Bush appointed Elaine Chao as Secretary of Labor, he made a bit of history as Chao became the first Chinese American in history to hold a cabinet post. It turned out that Chao became the only cabinet member to hold her post for President Bush’s full eight years in office. In 1993, Chao married Mitch McConnell, the Republican Leader of the US Senate.

51. Home of the Iowa State Daily : AMES

The “Iowa State Daily” is a newspaper serving the students of Iowa State University in the city of Ames. The publication was founded way back in 1890 as the “I.A.C. Student”. “I.A.C.” stood for “Iowa Agricultural College”, the name of the university at that time.

55. Global financial org. : IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established at the end of 1945 with 29 major economies supporting and funding an effort to stabilize economies across the globe after WWII. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., today the IMF has 187 member countries.

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Green side : SALAD
6. Fruit named for a horticulturist : BOSC
10. Target Field athlete : TWIN
14. Smart timepiece : APPLE WATCH
16. “That can’t be good” : OH NO
17. Reason for a case : LEGAL ISSUE
18. Neck and neck : TIED
19. Vet : EXAMINE
20. Chicken __: fast food nuggets : MCBITES
22. Special nights : EVES
23. Refined : HONED
24. Hot spot : HADES
26. Ski carriers : GONDOLAS
29. Jordanian dough : DINAR
30. Disney dog : LADY
31. Unpaid assistant in many offices : SIRI
32. Weather-sensitive stat, often : ETD
33. Get ugly with : SNIPE AT
36. Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” for one : OIL
37. Policy affecting returns : AS IS
39. Scrapes (out) : EKES
40. Beethoven’s “Rage Over a Lost Penny,” e.g. : RONDO
42. Tears : RAMPAGES
44. Light wash : RINSE
45. Han River city : SEOUL
46. Bits of thread : LINT
47. Resonated, in a way : CLANGED
49. Place to find the Silk Road : ASIA MAP
53. Left out to dry : HUNG
54. Film with dangerous jobs : CRIME DRAMA
56. Gallic gal pal : AMIE
57. Game whose heroine was played by Angelina Jolie in a 2001 film : TOMB RAIDER
58. Goes (for) : OPTS
59. Beachgoers’ specs : SPFS
60. Biblical verb : DOEST

Down

1. Spring __ : SALE
2. Pinnacle : APEX
3. Org. for women drivers : LPGA
4. County where the Golden State Warriors play home games : ALAMEDA
5. Drops off : DELIVERS
6. Diamond foursome : BASES
7. Some games end in them, for short : OTS
8. Ugly film : SCUM
9. Republic in southwestern Russia : CHECHNYA
10. Pizza roll brand : TOTINO’S
11. Cats with light blond coats : WHITE LIONS
12. What an extended thumb might indicate : I NEED A RIDE
13. Silent signals : NODS
15. Results of some press releases? : WINES
21. Compact figure? : BOD
24. Makes out too much, say : HITS A SLUMP
25. Words of reinforcement : AND I MEAN IT
26. Looks amazed : GAPES
27. Laudatory lines : ODES
28. Farm structure : SILO
29. Prized : DEAR
30. What an extended thumb might indicate : LIKE
34. Slights : NEGLECTS
35. Half a two-island country : TRINIDAD
38. Dish cleaners : SPONGES
41. London locale : ONTARIO
43. Mo. named for an emperor : AUG
44. Choir elevator : RISER
46. Gentle sorts : LAMBS
47. First female Asian-American Cabinet member : CHAO
48. Slight amount : DROP
50. Crafted : MADE
51. Home of the Iowa State Daily : AMES
52. Split up : PART
55. Global financial org. : IMF

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