LA Times Crossword 24 Mar 20, Tuesday

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Constructed by: Gail Grabowski & Bruce Venzke
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Split the Pot

Themed answers each include a hidden word for some money that would go in the POT. But, that money has been SPLIT and placed at either ends of the answer:

  • 59A Divvy up poker hand winnings, and a hint to this puzzle’s circled letters : SPLIT THE POT
  • 16A Huff and puff : BREATHE HARD (hiding split “BREAD”)
  • 38A Lawn area where rainwater collects : LOW SPOT (hiding split “LOOT”)
  • 10D Bags for potatoes, say : BURLAP SACKS (hiding split “BUCKS”)
  • 23D Subject to, as the proverbial mud : DRAG THROUGH (hiding split “DOUGH”)

Bill’s time: 5m 25s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Christina of “Sleepy Hollow” : RICCI

Christina Ricci is an American actress who found fame on the big screen at an early age, playing the very young Wednesday Addams in the 1991 movie version of “The Addams Family”.

“Sleepy Hollow” is a Tim Burton film released in 1999. It is a screen adaptation of the short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving. Stars of the film are Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci.

13 Holliday pal : EARP

Wyatt Earp is famous as one of the participants in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Earp was a city policeman in Wichita, Kansas and also in Dodge City, Kansas. Earp was also deputy sheriff in Tombstone, Arizona where the O.K. Corral gunfight took place. Years later, Earp joined the Alaska Gold Rush and with a partner built and operated the Dexter Saloon in Nome.

The famous gunslinger Doc Holliday was from Georgia, and received the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery in Philadelphia. Holliday moved to the Southwest after he contracted tuberculosis, in the hope that the climate might be good for his health. He first settled in Dallas, where he soon discovered that he could make a better living gambling than by running a dental practice. It was while gambling in saloons that Holliday got involved in gunfights and built a reputation as a gunslinger. The most famous shootout in which he was involved was the Gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona when he fought alongside the Earp brothers. Holliday survived his many gunfights, but eventually succumbed to the disease in his lungs. He died in Glenwood Springs, Colorado at the age of 36.

15 Luau strings : UKE

The ukulele (uke) originated in the 1800s and mimicked a small guitar brought to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants.

18 Narrow inlet : RIA

A drowned valley might be called a ria or a fjord, and both are formed as sea levels rise. A ria is a drowned valley created by river erosion, and a fjord is a drowned valley created by glaciation.

19 Gland near the larynx : THYROID

The thyroid gland is found in the neck, just below the Adam’s apple. The gland produces several thyroid hormones, some of which control the rate at which the body uses energy i.e. the body’s rate of metabolism.

The voice box or larynx is where pitch and volume of sound are manipulated when we talk. The structure called the Adam’s apple that protrudes from the human neck is formed by the thyroid cartilage that surrounds the larynx. The Adam’s apple of males tends to increase in size during puberty, so the feature tended to be associated more with males in days gone by, perhaps leading to the name “Adam’s” apple. A doctor specializing in treating the larynx is a laryngologist.

21 Bollywood’s country : INDIA

“Bollywood” is the informal name given to the huge film industry based in Mumbai in India. The term “Bollywood” is a melding of “Bombay” (the former name of Mumbai), and “Hollywood”.

24 “Jeopardy!” material : TRIVIA

The TV show “Jeopardy!” first went on the air in 1964, and is another successful Merv Griffin creation. But it took the introduction of Alex Trebek as host in order to bring the show into the big times. Trebek has been the host since 1984.

26 Seed in some sauerkraut : CARAWAY

Caraway is a plant in the carrot family that is prized for its fruits. The caraway “seeds” that we use in cooking are actually caraway “fruits” that each contain a single “seed”.

32 List-ending abbr. : ET AL

“Et alii” (et al.) is the equivalent of “et cetera” (etc.), with “et cetera” being used in place of a list of objects, and “et alii” used for a list of names.

33 Ellipsis trio : DOTS

An ellipsis is a series of dots (usually three) used to indicate an omission in some text. The term comes from the Greek word “élleipsis”, which means “omission”.

36 Cotton thread : LISLE

Lisle is a cotton fabric that has been through an extra process at the end of its manufacture that burns off lint and the ends of fibers leaving the fabric very smooth and with a clean edge. Cotton lisle is mainly used in the manufacture of underwear and stockings. The process to make the thread was invented in the French city of Lille (formerly “Lisle”), hence the name.

37 Programming glitch : BUG

Back in 1947, famed computer programmer Grace Hopper noticed some colleagues fixing a piece of equipment by removing a dead moth from a relay. She remarked that they were “debugging” the system, and so Hopper has been given credit for popularizing the term “bug” in the context of computing.

“Glitch” comes into English from German via Yiddish. The original German word is “glitschen” meaning “to slip”. It is a relatively new term, and generally applied to computer software bugs.

40 Jurisprudence org. : ABA

American Bar Association (ABA)

41 “Mad TV” alum Lange : ARTIE

Artie Lange is a comedian who is best known perhaps for his daily radio appearances as a sidekick on “The Howard Stern Show” from 2001 to 2009.

“MADtv” is a television sketch show that ran for fourteen seasons starting in 1995. The show had nothing to do with the famous “Mad” magazine, although it did license the name and logo from the publication.

44 Taiwanese laptop giant : ACER

Acer is a Taiwanese company that I visited a couple of times when I was in the electronics business. I was very impressed back then with the company’s dedication to quality, although I have heard that things haven’t gone so well in recent years …

45 Lou portrayed in “The Pride of the Yankees” : GEHRIG

Baseball legend Lou Gehrig was known as a powerhouse. He was a big hitter and just kept on playing. Gehrig broke the record for the most consecutive number of games played, and he stills holds the record for the most career grand slams. His durability earned him the nickname “The Iron Horse”. Sadly, he died in 1941 at 37-years-old suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), an illness we now call “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”. The New Yankees retired the number four on 4th of July 1939 in his honor, making Lou Gehrig the first baseball player to have a number retired.

“The Pride of the Yankees” is a 1942 biopic about the life of baseball legend Lou Gehrig. Gary Cooper played the title character. Sadly, Hegrig passed away a year before the film was released, succumbing to ALS, which is now referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s disease”. The film’s closing line comes directly from Gehrig’s emotional farewell speech at Yankee Stadium in 1939:

Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.

55 Egyptian or Ethiopian : AFRICAN

The nation of Egypt straddles the geographical border between Asia and Africa. That land border is the 75-mile-wide Isthmus of Suez, which is crossed by the Suez Canal. The bulk of Egyptian territory is in Africa. The part of Egypt that is in Asia is the Sinai Peninsula.

Ethiopia is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation on the continent (after Nigeria) and, with 90 million inhabitants, the most populous landlocked country in the world. Most anthropologists believe that our Homo sapiens species evolved in the region now called Ethiopia, and from there set out to populate the planet.

58 Letters in an academic address : EDU

The .edu domain was one of the six original generic top-level domains specified. The complete original list is:

  • .com (commercial enterprise)
  • .net (entity involved in network infrastructure e.g. an ISP)
  • .mil (US military)
  • .org (not-for-profit organization)
  • .gov (US federal government entity)
  • .edu (college-level educational institution)

64 Norelco product : SHAVER

Norelco is a brand of shavers and personal care products made by Philips. The brand name was introduced as the company was barred from using “Philips” in the US in the early 1940s. The name Norelco was chosen as an acronym for “NOR-th American Philips EL-ectrical CO-mpany.

65 New Balance rival : NIKE

Nike was founded in 1964 in Eugene, Oregon by entrepreneur Phil Knight and track-and-field coach Bill Bowerman as Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS). BRS started out by distributing athletic shoes made in Japan. The company started making its own shoes in 1971 and changed its name to Nike, after the Greek goddess of victory.

New Balance is a footwear manufacturer based in Boston, Massachusetts.

67 Fall bloomer : ASTER

Apparently, most aster species and cultivars bloom relatively late in the year, usually in the fall. The name “aster” comes into English via Latin from the Greek word “astéri” meaning “star”, a reference to the arrangement of the petals of the flower.

68 Cubicle fixture : DESK

I’ve always assumed that the word “cubicle” is somehow related to “cube”. Not so, as “cubicle’s root word is “cubare”, Latin for “to lie down”. Back in the 15th century, a cubicle was a bedroom. The more general sense of “partitioned space” arose in the 1920s.

Down

3 Dr. with Grammys : DRE

“Dr. Dre” is the stage name of rapper Andre Romelle Young. Dr. Dre is known for his own singing career as well as for producing records and starting the careers of others such as Snoop Dogg, Eminem and 50 Cent.

4 Like some relations : SPATIAL

A spatial relation defines how an object is related in space to another object, i.e. where the two objects are positioned relative to each other.

8 Aerobic regimen, casually : CARDIO

Aerobic exercise is moderate activity designed to be at a low enough intensity that very little anaerobic activity takes place. In other words, the exercise is at a level where oxygen is taken in to burn fat and carbohydrate and to create energy. Anaerobic exercise is more intense and uses carbohydrate (glycogen) in the muscle to provide energy, without the need for oxygen. Aerobics are also called “cardio” as the exercises strengthen the cardiovascular system.

10 Bags for potatoes, say : BURLAP SACKS

Burlap, also called “hessian”, is a coarse woven fabric made from fibers taken from jute, sisal or hemp plants.

11 “The Grapes of Wrath” figure : OKIE

John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” is set during the Great Depression. The novel tells the story of the Joad family from Oklahoma, farmers who had to leave their home and head for California due to economic hardship.

20 __ Valley: Reagan Library site : SIMI

Simi Valley, California is perhaps best known as home to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. The library is a great place to visit, and there you can tour one of the retired Air Force One planes.

25 Chevy needing recharging : VOLT

The Chevrolet Volt went on sale at the end of 2010, and is a plug-in hybrid car that runs on batteries. The Volt has a gasoline engine that can be used to run an electric generator when needed. The Volt also uses a regenerative braking system.

30 Even if : ALBEIT

“Albeit”is a conjunction meaning “although, even if”. The term dates back to the 1300s, when it was a contraction of the phrase “al be it” meaning “although it be that”.

34 PreCheck org. : TSA

The Transportation Security Administration operates its precheck program known as “TSA Pre✓” or “TSA PreCheck”). Members of the program receive expedited screening at airports at most airports. In order to become a member, a traveler must apply online, appear in person at a designated office for a background check and fingerprinting, and pay a fee for a 5-year membership.

38 “Star Wars” twin sister : LEIA

Princess Leia is Luke Skywalker’s twin sister in the original “Star Wars” trilogy and was played by Carrie Fisher. Carrie Fisher has stated that she hated the famous “cinnamon bun hairstyle” that she had to wear in the films, as she felt it made her face look too round. She also had to sit for two hours every day just to get her hair styled. Two hours to get your hair done? It takes me just two seconds …

39 Thomas Gray’s “The Bard,” e.g. : ODE

“The Bard. A Pindaric Ode” is a 1757 work by English poet Thomas Gray. The title character is as Welsh bard who curses King Edward I as he marches with his army to conquer Wales.

48 Ousted Iranian ruler : SHAH

The last Shah of Iran was Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who was overthrown in the revolution led by the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. The post-revolution government sought the extradition of the Shah back to Iran while he was in the United States seeking medical care (he had cancer). His prolonged stay in the United States, recovering from surgery, caused some unrest back in Iran and resentment towards the United States. Some say that this resentment precipitated the storming of the US Embassy in Tehran and the resulting hostage crisis.

54 Yellow comics dog : ODIE

Jon Arbuckle is a fictional character, and the owner of Odie from Jim Davis’s comic strip “Garfield”. Garfield is Arbuckle’s orange tabby cat. Odie is his less-than-smart beagle.

56 Road in old Rome : ITER

“Iter” is Latin for “road”.

57 NFL snapper : CTR

Center (ctr.)

59 Org. funded by FICA : SSA

Social Security Administration (SSA)

The Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax (FICA) was introduced in the 1930s as part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal. FICA payments are made by both employees and employers in order to fund Social Security and Medicare.

60 Traditional March 14 dessert : PIE

The first three digits of the mathematical constant pi are 3.14. Pi Day has been celebrated on March 14th (3/14) every year since 1988, when it was inaugurated at the San Francisco Exploratorium. In countries where the day is usually written before the month, Pi Day is July 22nd, reflecting the more accurate approximation of pi as 22/7. Interestingly, March 14th is also Albert Einstein’s birthday.

62 Shatner’s “__War” : TEK

The “TekWar” series of science-fiction novels was co-authored by Ron Goulart and the actor William Shatner, although it’s only Shatner’s name that appears on the book covers. The stories center around the microchip “drug” called “tek” that dominates the TekWar universe.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Gives up the single life : WEDS
5 Christina of “Sleepy Hollow” : RICCI
10 Physique, briefly : BOD
13 Holliday pal : EARP
14 Headgear for shading one’s face : SUN HAT
15 Luau strings : UKE
16 Huff and puff : BREATHE HARD
18 Narrow inlet : RIA
19 Gland near the larynx : THYROID
20 Snow glider : SLED
21 Bollywood’s country : INDIA
24 “Jeopardy!” material : TRIVIA
26 Seed in some sauerkraut : CARAWAY
29 Brass band sound : OOMPAH
32 List-ending abbr. : ET AL
33 Ellipsis trio : DOTS
36 Cotton thread : LISLE
37 Programming glitch : BUG
38 Lawn area where rainwater collects : LOW SPOT
40 Jurisprudence org. : ABA
41 “Mad TV” alum Lange : ARTIE
43 Installed, as carpet : LAID
44 Taiwanese laptop giant : ACER
45 Lou portrayed in “The Pride of the Yankees” : GEHRIG
47 Do-it-yourself diagnostic tool : TEST KIT
49 Rolled in the aisles : ROARED
52 Spur-of-the-moment : HASTY
53 Animator’s output : TOON
55 Egyptian or Ethiopian : AFRICAN
58 Letters in an academic address : EDU
59 Divvy up poker hand winnings, and a hint to this puzzle’s circled letters : SPLIT THE POT
63 Fix, as a fight : RIG
64 Norelco product : SHAVER
65 New Balance rival : NIKE
66 Slangy word of indifference : MEH
67 Fall bloomer : ASTER
68 Cubicle fixture : DESK

Down

1 Organic flytrap : WEB
2 Piece of corn : EAR
3 Dr. with Grammys : DRE
4 Like some relations : SPATIAL
5 One with regrets : RUER
6 __ water: facing trouble : IN HOT
7 Waiting room seat : CHAIR
8 Aerobic regimen, casually : CARDIO
9 “__ be an honor” : IT’D
10 Bags for potatoes, say : BURLAP SACKS
11 “The Grapes of Wrath” figure : OKIE
12 Like a useless battery : DEAD
14 Not prone to mingling : SHY
17 Defrost : THAW
20 __ Valley: Reagan Library site : SIMI
21 Sprain soother : ICE BAG
22 The great outdoors : NATURE
23 Subject to, as the proverbial mud : DRAG THROUGH
25 Chevy needing recharging : VOLT
27 Commotion : ADO
28 Cry of distress : YOWL
30 Even if : ALBEIT
31 Robust : HEARTY
34 PreCheck org. : TSA
35 Hot rod? : SPIT
38 “Star Wars” twin sister : LEIA
39 Thomas Gray’s “The Bard,” e.g. : ODE
42 Resolve, with “out” : IRON …
44 Finally finished : AT AN END
46 Sales reports diagrams : GRAPHS
48 Ousted Iranian ruler : SHAH
50 D-sharp equivalent : E-FLAT
51 Take the wheel : DRIVE
53 Political stretch : TERM
54 Yellow comics dog : ODIE
56 Road in old Rome : ITER
57 NFL snapper : CTR
59 Org. funded by FICA : SSA
60 Traditional March 14 dessert : PIE
61 Thumbs-ups : OKS
62 Shatner’s “__War” : TEK