LA Times Crossword 3 Apr 19, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Kevin Christian & Jules Markey
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Twisted Mind

Themed answers all include the letters MIND, with the order of those letters TWISTED around:

  • 63A Trait for an evil genius … and a hint to what can literally be found in 17-, 23-, 39- and 51-Across : TWISTED MIND
  • 17A When the dot-com bubble began : MID-NINETIES
  • 23A Form of the game of tag : BLIND MAN’S BLUFF
  • 39A Small Apple tablet : IPAD MINI
  • 51A Ad boast for a relaunched product : NEW AND IMPROVED

Bill’s time: 5m 59s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Specially formed : AD HOC

The Latin phrase “ad hoc” means “for this purpose”. An ad hoc committee, for example, is formed for a specific purpose and is disbanded after making its final report.

6 Suffix with Jumbo : -TRON

A JumboTron is a big-screen television system developed by Sony, one often seen in sports stadiums. The brand name “JumboTron” is used pretty generically now for any big-screen system in such venues, even though Sony exited the business in 2001.

10 Outback : BUSH

In Australia, the land outside of urban area is referred to as the outback or the bush. That said, I think that the term “outback” is sometimes reserved for the more remote parts of the bush.

14 Avian crops : CRAWS

“Craw” is another name for “crop”, a portion of the alimentary tract of some animals, including birds. The crop is used for the storage of food prior to digestion. It allows the animal to eat large amounts and then digest that food with efficiency over an extended period. The expression “to stick in one’s craw” is used one when one cannot accept something, cannot “swallow” it.

15 Disney film set in Polynesia : MOANA

“Moana” is a 2016 animated feature film and the 56th animated Disney movie. The title character is the daughter of a Polynesian chief who heads off in search of the demigod Maui, hoping that he can save her people.

The term “Polynesia” was coined in 1756 by the author Charles de Brosses, when he used it to describe all the islands in the Pacific. This was later restricted to what we now refer to as a subregion of Oceania.

17 When the dot-com bubble began : MID-NINETIES

The dot-com bubble was a phenomenon seen in 1997 to 2000 during which speculation led to the overvaluation of poorly-understood Internet stocks. The bubble burst on March 10, 2000. Within ten days, the value of the NASDAQ was down by over 10%.

20 Energy Star co-mgr. : EPA

The Energy Star standard was created by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) during the Clinton Administration. In general, an item marked with an Energy Star uses 20-30% less energy than that mandated by federal standards. Not too long ago, we put an Energy Star roof on our house, and noticed a remarkable difference in our energy bills.

21 Backless slippers : MULES

A mule is a shoe without a back and usually with a closed toe. The original mule was a shoe worn by the highest magistrates in Ancient Rome.

22 Country’s Haggard : MERLE

Merle Haggard was a country singer and songwriter whose most famous recording has to be “Okie from Muskogee” released in 1969. Haggard would tell you that the song was actually meant as a spoof, but it has become a country “anthem”.

23 Form of the game of tag : BLIND MAN’S BLUFF

The children’s game blind man’s buff is sometimes known as blind man’s “bluff”, although the latter name is derivative of the former. The word “buff” in this context is related to the term “buffet”, and describes a small push. I guess the idea is that the blindfolded player is groping around, trying to find the other players and given them a buff, a small push.

27 River formations : DELTAS

A river delta is a triangular landform at the mouth of a river created by the deposition of sediment. The Nile Delta in Northern Egypt is one of the world’s largest river deltas, and covers 150 miles of coastline on the Mediterranean. The most famous “delta” in the United States isn’t actually a delta at all. The Mississippi Delta is an alluvial plain that lies 300 miles north of the river’s actual delta, yet it is known as the “Mississippi River Delta”. Very confusing …

29 Kiwi-shaped : OVAL

What we call kiwifruit today (and sometimes just “kiwi”) used to be called a Chinese gooseberry. Marketing folks in the fifties decided to call it a “melonette”, and then New Zealand producers adopted the name “kiwifruit”.

31 Aplomb : POISE

Back in the early 1400s, “poise” meant “quality of being heavy”. We’ve been using the term to mean “steadiness, composure” since the mid-1600s, in the sense of being equally “weighted” on either side.

“Aplomb” is such a lovely word, one meaning “confidence, assurance”. It is a French word that literally means “perpendicularity”, or “on the plumb line”. The idea is that someone with aplomb is poised, upright, balanced.

34 Hieroglyphics bird : IBIS

The ibis is a wading bird that was revered in ancient Egypt. “Ibis” is an interesting word grammatically speaking. You can have one “ibis” or two “ibises”, and then again one has a flock of “ibis”. And if you want to go with the classical plural, instead of two “ibises” you would have two “ibides”!

38 Court figs. : DAS

District Attorney (DA)

39 Small Apple tablet : IPAD MINI

The iPad mini is a line of smaller iPads that was introduced by Apple in 2012. The iPad mini has a screen size of 7.9 inches, whereas the regular iPad’s screen is 9.7 inches.

42 D-Day vessel : LST

The initialism “LST” stands for Landing Ship, Tank. LSTs are the large vessels used mainly in WWII that have doors at either ends through which tanks and other vehicles can roll off and onto beaches. The design concept persists to this day in the huge fleet of commercial roll-on/roll-off car ferries, all inspired by the LST.

The most famous D-Day in history was June 6, 1944, the date of the Normandy landings in WWII. The term “D-Day” is used by the military to designate the day on which a combat operations are to be launched, especially when the actual date has yet to be determined. What D stands for seems to have been lost in the mists of time although the tradition is that D just stands for “Day”. In fact, the French have a similar term, “Jour J” (Day J), with a similar meaning. We also use H-Hour to denote the hour the attack is to commence.

43 Uninvited picnic arrivals : ANTS

Our term “picnic” comes from the French word that now has the same meaning, namely “pique-nique”. The original “pique-nique” was a fashionable potluck affair, and not necessarily held outdoors.

45 Short or tall thing (and neither refers to height) : ORDER

That would “in short order”, and “a tall order”.

46 Zany : LOONY

Something described as loony is insane, crazy. “Loony” is short for “lunatic”, an adjective that is now considered offensive. The term arose in the late 1400s when it meant “affected with periodic insanity”, insanity attacks brought on by the cycles of the moon. “Lunatic” comes from the Latin “luna” meaning “moon”.

Something described as zany is clownish and bizarre. “Zany” can also be a noun, a term used for a clown or a buffoon. The original noun was “Zanni”, a Venetian dialect variant of Gianni, short for Giovanni (John). Zanni was a character who appeared in comedy plays of the day, and was someone who aped the principal actors.

48 Soupçon : HINT

“Soupçon” translates from French into English as “suspicion”, and can be used in the sense that a “suspicion” of something is a just a hint, a crumb.

50 Acme’s best customer? : COYOTE

The Acme Corporation is a fictional company used mainly by Looney Tunes, and within the Looney Tunes empire it is appears mostly in “Road Runner” cartoons. Wile E. Coyote is always receiving a new piece of gear from Acme designed to finally capture the Road Runner, but the equipment always leads to his downfall.

57 Hoover rival : ORECK

The Oreck Corporation is named after founder David Oreck and makes vacuum cleaners and air purifiers. The company started out selling vacuum cleaners by mail, a new concept in 1963. David Oreck himself appears regularly as a spokesman in the company’s ads and infomercials.

The first practical portable vacuum cleaner was invented by James Spangler in 1907. Spangler sold the patent for the design to his cousin’s husband, William Henry Hoover. Hoover then made his fortune from manufacturing and selling vacuum cleaners. Hoover was so successful in my part of the world that back in Ireland we don’t use the verb “to vacuum” and instead say “to hoover”. Also, a hoover is what we call a vacuum cleaner, regardless of who makes it.

58 Patterned fabric : TOILE

Toile fabric can be used as upholstery, as wallpaper, or even as a fabric for clothing. The name “toile” comes from the French word for “canvas, linen cloth”.

62 Almond __ : MILK

I’m a big fan of plain, unsweetened almond milk. Basic almond milk is made by combining almonds and water in a blender, and then straining out the almond pulp. Almond milk is now the most popular plant milk in the US, with soy milk being the second-most popular.

66 Censorship-fighting org. : ACLU

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has its roots in the First World War when it was founded to provide legal advice and support to conscientious objectors. The ACLU’s motto is “Because Freedom Can’t Protect Itself”. The ACLU also hosts a blog on the ACLU.org website called “Speak Freely”.

67 __ Hawkins Day : SADIE

Sadie Hawkins is a character in Al Capp’s comic strip “Li’l Abner”. Sadie was in search of a husband and so declared a “Sadie Hawkins Day” in which she chased the local men in a foot race, with marriage as the prize when one was caught. Starting in 1938, Sadie Hawkins Dances were introduced in schools across the US, to which the woman invites the man of her choosing.

68 Ancient Greek region : IONIA

The geographic region called Ionia is located in present day Turkey. Ionia was prominent in the days of Ancient Greece although it wasn’t a unified state, but rather a collection of tribes. The tribal confederacy was more based on religious and cultural similarities than a political or military alliance. Nowadays we often refer to this arrangement as the Ionian League.

70 Proof word : ERAT

The initialism “QED” is used at the end of a mathematical proof or a philosophical argument. QED stands for the Latin “quod erat demonstrandum” meaning “that which was to be demonstrated”.

Down

5 Forensic TV spin-off : CSI: MIAMI

I quite enjoyed the “CSI” franchise of television shows, all except “CSI: Miami”. I find the character played by David Caruso to be extremely annoying. “CSI: Miami” was cancelled in 2012. No loss …

6 Carved emblem : TOTEM

“Totem” is a word used to describe any entity that watches over a group of people. As such, totems are usually the subjects of worship. Totem poles are really misnamed, as they are not intended to represent figures to be worshiped, but rather are heraldic in nature often celebrating the legends or notable events in the history of a tribe.

7 Mrs. Gorbachev : RAISA

Raisa Gorbacheva was the wife of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. There’s no doubt that Raisa’s charm and personality helped her husband as he worked to change the image of the Soviet Union.

8 Number of gods worshipped in Zoroastrianism : ONE

Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest religions in the world, and held sway in the pre-Islamic Iranian empires from around 600 to 650 BCE. Followers of the tradition worship a single creator god, and follow the teachings of the prophet Zoroaster (also known as “Zarathustra”).

9 “Stillmatic” rapper : NAS

Rapper Nas used to go by an earlier stage name “Nasty Nas”, and before that by his real name “Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones”. Nas released his first album “Illmatic” in 1994, and inventively titled his fifth studio album “Stillmatic”, released in 2001. Not my cup of tea, I would say …

10 Italian tenor Andrea : BOCELLI

Andrea Bocelli is a classically-trained tenor from Italy who sings popular music, and hence is a so-called cross-over artist. Bocelli was born with poor eyesight and then became totally blind at the age of 12 when he had an accident playing soccer.

11 Swahili for “freedom” : UHURU

The Uhuru Movement is an organization that works for the cause of all native Africans and their descendants around the world. While focused mainly on the welfare and development of native Africans on the continent itself, another goal is the release of all African-American prisoners in US prisons. “Uhuru” is the Swahili word for “freedom”.

12 Walmart stock holder? : SHELF

Walmart (previously “Wal-Mart”) takes in more revenue than any other publicly traded company in the world. Over in my homeland, Walmart operates under the name Asda. Walmart’s worldwide headquarters are in Bentonville, Arkansas, the home of Sam Walton’s original Five and Dime. You can actually go into the original store, as it is now the Walmart Visitor Center.

13 HDTV part, for short : HI-DEF

High-definition television (HDTV)

18 Many “Call the Midwife” characters : NUNS

“Call the Midwife” is a BBC drama about midwives working in the East End of London in the late fifties and early sixties. I must admit, one of the reasons I am intrigued by this show is that I can well remember the midwife coming to our house in the East End of London in 1959 for the delivery of my younger brother. I am sure the attending nurse was a wonderful person, but I remember being scared every time she pulled up outside our flat on her bicycle!

22 CFO’s degree : MBA

A chief financial officer (CFO) might have a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree.

24 USPS unit : LTR

The US Postal Service (USPS) is a remarkable agency in many ways. For starters, the government’s right and responsibility to establish the Post Office is specifically called out in Article One of the US constitution. Also, the first postmaster general was none other than Benjamin Franklin. And, the USPS operates over 200,000 vehicles, which is the largest vehicle fleet in the world.

26 “Frozen” reindeer : SVEN

“Frozen” is a 2013 animated feature from Walt Disney Studios that is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Snow Queen”. The film is all about the exploits of Princess Anna, the younger sister of Elsa, Snow Queen of Arendelle. Spoiler alert: Prince Hans of the Southern Isles seems to be a good guy for most of the film, but turns out to be a baddie in the end. And, a snowman named Olaf provides some comic relief.

“Sven” is a Scandinavian name. “Sven” is derived from the Old Norse word for “young man” or “young warrior”.

28 Pizazz : ELAN

Pizazz (also “pizzazz”) is energy, vitality. There’s a kind of cool thing about the “pizzazz” spelling, namely that it is the only 7-letter word in English that cannot be played in Scrabble. You can get close by using the Z-tile with the two blank tiles to get to three of the required four Zs, but there’s no way to get to the fourth Z.

33 “__ Mine”: Beatles song : I ME

“I Me Mine” is one of the relatively few Beatles songs to have been written by George Harrison (and indeed performed by him). Harrison chose the same title for his autobiography, which was published in 1980 just a few weeks before John Lennon was assassinated in New York City.

36 “Freedom __ free”: salute to military sacrifice : ISN’T

“Freedom isn’t free” is an idiom that expresses the sentiment that freedom only comes with the sacrifices of brave men and women in uniform.

37 Ocular malady : STYE

A stye is a bacterial infection of the sebaceous glands at the base of the eyelashes, and is also known as a hordeolum.

40 Spot for a koi or a decoy : POND

Koi are fish that are also known as Japanese carp. Koi have been bred for decorative purposes and there are now some very brightly colored examples found in Japanese water gardens.

44 Move in together : SHACK UP

A couple that shacks up is a couple that lives together. The use of the phrase “shack up”, in this context, first appeared in print in Zora Neale Hurston’s 1935 collection of African-American folklore titled “Mules and Men”.

50 King with a pipe : COLE

Old King Cole was a merry old soul
And a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl
And he called for his fiddlers three.
Every fiddler he had a fiddle,
And a very fine fiddle had he;
Oh there’s none so rare, as can compare
With King Cole and his fiddlers three.

51 SportsNet LA analyst Garciaparra : NOMAR

Nomar Garciaparra is one of only thirteen former players to have hit two grand slams during a single game in the Majors. He accomplished that feat in 1999 for the Boston Red Sox against the Seattle Mariners. Garciaparra married World Cup champion soccer star Mia Hamm in 2003.

52 Writer Jong : ERICA

The author Erica Jong’s most famous work is her first: “Fear of Flying”, a novel published in 1973. Over twenty years later, Jong wrote “Fear of Fifty: a midlife memoir”, published in 1994.

54 Crete peak: Abbr. : MT IDA

There are two peaks called Mount Ida that are sacred according to Greek mythology. Mount Ida in Crete is the island’s highest point, and is where one can find the cave in which Zeus was reared. Mount Ida in Asia Minor (located in modern-day Turkey) is where Ganymede was swept up by Zeus in the form of an eagle that took him to Olympus where he served as cupbearer to the gods.

55 Put forth : POSIT

To posit is to assume as fact, to lay down as a “position”.

61 Outback greeting : G’DAY

In Australia, the land outside of urban area is referred to as the outback or the bush. That said, I think that the term “outback” is sometimes reserved for the more remote parts of the bush.

63 Mao __-tung : TSE

Mao Zedong (also “Mao Tse-tung”) was born on December 16, 1893 in the Hunan Province of China. As Mao was the son of a peasant farmer, his prospects for education were limited. Indeed he left school at age 13 to work on the family farm but did eventually get to secondary school in Changsha, the provincial capital. In the years following, Mao continued his education in Beijing and actually turned down an opportunity to study in France.

64 “__Games”: 1983 Matthew Broderick film : WAR

“WarGames” is a really fun 1983 movie starring Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy. There was a sequel that was released in 2008 called “WarGames: The Dead Code”. I haven’t seen it, and I fear I might be disappointed …

Matthew Broderick is an actor from Manhattan, New York. Broderick played two of my favorite characters in movies, namely the title role in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and the lead in “WarGames”. Broderick is a somewhat controversial character in parts of Ireland as he caused a car accident there in 1987 while driving with his then girlfriend actress Jennifer Grey. The mother and daughter in the other car involved in the accident were killed instantly. Broderick was charged with causing death by dangerous driving (his car was on the wrong side of the road) but was found guilty of a lesser charge and fined $175.

65 Curly associate : MOE

If you’ve seen a few of the films starring “The Three Stooges” you might have noticed that the line up changed over the years. The original trio was made up of Moe and Shemp Howard (two brothers) and Larry Fine (a good friend of the Howards). This line up was usually known as “Moe, Larry and Shemp”. Then Curly Howard replaced his brother when Shemp quit the act, creating the most famous trio, “Moe, Larry And Curly”. Shemp returned when Curly had a debilitating stroke in 1946, and Shemp stayed with the troupe until he died in 1955. Shemp was replaced by Joe Besser, and then “Curly-Joe” DeRita. When Larry Fine had a stroke in 1970, it effectively marked the end of the act.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Specially formed : AD HOC
6 Suffix with Jumbo : -TRON
10 Outback : BUSH
14 Avian crops : CRAWS
15 Disney film set in Polynesia : MOANA
16 “Fancy meeting you here!” : OH HI!
17 When the dot-com bubble began : MID-NINETIES
19 Prompted on stage : CUED
20 Energy Star co-mgr. : EPA
21 Backless slippers : MULES
22 Country’s Haggard : MERLE
23 Form of the game of tag : BLIND MAN’S BLUFF
27 River formations : DELTAS
29 Kiwi-shaped : OVAL
30 Eye-opener? : ALARM
31 Aplomb : POISE
34 Hieroglyphics bird : IBIS
38 Court figs. : DAS
39 Small Apple tablet : IPAD MINI
42 D-Day vessel : LST
43 Uninvited picnic arrivals : ANTS
45 Short or tall thing (and neither refers to height) : ORDER
46 Zany : LOONY
48 Soupçon : HINT
50 Acme’s best customer? : COYOTE
51 Ad boast for a relaunched product : NEW AND IMPROVED
57 Hoover rival : ORECK
58 Patterned fabric : TOILE
59 Fuel for the fire : LOG
62 Almond __ : MILK
63 Trait for an evil genius … and a hint to what can literally be found in 17-, 23-, 39- and 51-Across : TWISTED MIND
66 Censorship-fighting org. : ACLU
67 __ Hawkins Day : SADIE
68 Ancient Greek region : IONIA
69 Abrasive tool : RASP
70 Proof word : ERAT
71 Itsy-bitsy : TEENY

Down

1 Pinnacle : ACME
2 Water waster : DRIP
3 Whooped it up : HAD A BLAST
4 Dominate : OWN
5 Forensic TV spin-off : CSI: MIAMI
6 Carved emblem : TOTEM
7 Mrs. Gorbachev : RAISA
8 Number of gods worshipped in Zoroastrianism : ONE
9 “Stillmatic” rapper : NAS
10 Italian tenor Andrea : BOCELLI
11 Swahili for “freedom” : UHURU
12 Walmart stock holder? : SHELF
13 HDTV part, for short : HI-DEF
15 Mix together : MELD
18 Many “Call the Midwife” characters : NUNS
22 CFO’s degree : MBA
24 USPS unit : LTR
25 Private reply? : NO, SIR!
26 “Frozen” reindeer : SVEN
27 Bit of baby talk : DADA
28 Pizazz : ELAN
31 Start of a series : PART I
32 A little bit off : ODD
33 “__ Mine”: Beatles song : I ME
35 Sequence of direct ancestors : BLOODLINE
36 “Freedom __ free”: salute to military sacrifice : ISN’T
37 Ocular malady : STYE
40 Spot for a koi or a decoy : POND
41 “That was awesome!” : I LOVED IT!
44 Move in together : SHACK UP
47 “Listen up,” to Luis : OYE
49 Pen filler : INK
50 King with a pipe : COLE
51 SportsNet LA analyst Garciaparra : NOMAR
52 Writer Jong : ERICA
53 Water sources : WELLS
54 Crete peak: Abbr. : MT IDA
55 Put forth : POSIT
56 Solemn ceremony : RITE
60 “Come __!” : ON IN
61 Outback greeting : G’DAY
63 Mao __-tung : TSE
64 “__Games”: 1983 Matthew Broderick film : WAR
65 Curly associate : MOE