LA Times Crossword 11 Oct 22, Tuesday

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Constructed by: Jared Goudsmit
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Athens

Themed answers each comprise two words, the first starting with A and THEN the second starting with S:

  • 65A Capital of Greece, or a three-word hint to the answers to the starred clues : ATHENS or A THEN S
  • 1A *”Yes, captain!” : AYE, SIR!
  • 18A *”Well, shoot” : AW SHUCKS
  • 27A *Immunotherapy injection : ALLERGY SHOT
  • 44A *Plane passenger’s selection : AIRLINE SEAT
  • 55A *Director’s “That’s a wrap!” : AND … SCENE!

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

Bill’s time: 6m 09s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

7 Kansas City cuisine, briefly : BBQ

Kansas City barbecue is characterized by the use of a wide variety of meats that are slow-smoked over wood, and by barbecue sauce that is thick and tomato-based.

10 “Quickly!” letters : ASAP!

As soon as possible (ASAP)

16 Greek philosopher known for a paradox : ZENO

Zeno of Elea was a Greek philosopher who lived in Elea, a Greek colony in Southern Italy. Zeno is famous for his paradoxes, a set of problems that really make you think! In the problem known as “Achilles and the Tortoise”, Zeno tells us that Achilles races a tortoise, giving the tortoise a head start (of say 100 meters). By the time Achilles reaches the starting point of the tortoise, the tortoise will have moved on, albeit only a small distance. Achilles then sets his sights on the tortoise’s new position and runs to it. Again the tortoise has moved ahead a little. Achilles keeps on moving to the tortoise’s new position but can never actually catch his slower rival. Or can he …?

20 Like many budget reno projects : DIY

Renovation (reno)

21 Aussie greeting : G’DAY

In Australia, one might say “G’day” to one’s mate/pal.

24 Underling : PEON

A peon is a lowly worker who has no real control over his/her working conditions. The word “peon” comes into English from Spanish, in which language it has the same meaning.

25 Little pigs count : THREE

The fairy tale about “The Three Little Pigs” has been around for centuries, although it first appeared in print in the 1840s. One little pig built a house using straw and another built one using wood. The cleverest little pig built its house using bricks.

27 *Immunotherapy injection : ALLERGY SHOT

The medical treatment known as allergen immunotherapy involves exposing the patient to larger and larger amounts of allergen. The intent is to bolster the immune system’s natural response to the allergen, hence making the patent more tolerant to that allergen.

37 Kayaking site : LAKE

There is a type of boat used by Inuit people called a “kayak”. The term “kayak” means “man’s boat”, whereas “umiak” means “woman’s boat”.

38 Scallion kin : CHIVE

Chives are the smallest species of edible onion, and a favorite of mine …

Scallions are edible plants with a mild onion flavor. They are also called green onions or spring onions.

39 Civil rights icon Parks : ROSA

Rosa Parks was one of a few brave women in days gone by who refused to give up their seats on a bus to white women. It was the stand taken by Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955 that sparked the Montgomery, Alabama Bus Boycott. President Clinton presented Ms. Parks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996. When she died in 2005, Rosa Parks became the first ever woman to have her body lie in honor in the US Capitol Rotunda.

41 Move, in Realtor lingo : RELO

“Real estate agent” is a general, generic term. “Realtor” is the name given to a member of the trade association known as the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The NAR has gone so far as to trademark the term “Realtor” in the US.

43 Dreaming sleep phase, briefly : REM

“REM” is an acronym standing for “rapid eye movement”. REM sleep takes up 20-25% of the sleeping hours and is the period associated with one’s most vivid dreams.

49 Janelle of “Moonlight” : MONAE

Janelle Monáe is a singer and actress. I’m not familiar with her as a singer, but did see Monáe play NASA engineer Mary Jackson in the excellent 2016 film “Hidden Figures”.

“Moonlight” is a 2016 semi-autobiographical film based on an unpublished play by Tarell Alvin McCraney titled “In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue”. “Moonlight” won the season’s Best Picture Oscar, thus becoming the first film to do so with an all-black cast, and the first with an LGBT storyline.

51 __ Strauss & Co. : LEVI

Levi Strauss was the founder of the first company in the world to manufacture blue jeans. Levi Strauss & Co. opened in 1853 in San Francisco. Strauss and his business partner were awarded a patent in 1873 for the use of copper rivets to strengthen points of strain on working pants.

52 Scrabble-like game app, briefly : WWF

“Words With Friends” (WWF) is a word game application that can be played on smartphones and other electronic devices. “Words With Friends” is basically Scrabble under a different name, or so I hear.

55 *Director’s “That’s a wrap!” : AND … SCENE!

When shooting of a film is concluded the movie is said to wrap, and everyone heads to the wrap party. There is one story that “wrap” is actually an acronym for “wind, reel and print”, a reference to the transition of the filming process into post-production. But, this explanation is disputed.

60 “Rhyme Pays” rapper : ICE-T

“Rhyme Pays” is a 1987 album released by musician Ice-T. It was the rapper’s first studio album, and is considered in retrospect to be perhaps the album that defined the genre now known as “gangsta rap”.

61 Job on a band’s tour : GIG

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.

63 Some long-lasting bulbs : LEDS

A light-emitting diode (LED) is a specialized form of semiconductor that when switched on releases photons (light). LEDs were used in early digital watches, and are getting more and more popular even though their use in electronic equipment is fading away. LEDs are used as replacements for the much less-efficient tungsten light bulbs. I replaced all of my tungsten Xmas lights many years ago and saved a lot on my electricity bill.

64 Good Grips kitchenware brand : OXO

The OXO line of kitchen utensils and housewares is designed to be ergonomically superior to the average household tools. The intended user of OXO products is someone who doesn’t have the normal range of motion or strength in the hands e.g. someone suffering from arthritis.

65 Capital of Greece, or a three-word hint to the answers to the starred clues : ATHENS or A THEN S

Athens is the capital city of Greece and is one of the world’s oldest cities, with a history that goes back around 3,400 years. In its heyday, Classical Athens was a remarkable center for the arts and philosophical debate, and was home to Plato and Aristotle. Athens is often called “the cradle of Western civilization” and “the birthplace of democracy”. The city was named for the Greek goddess Athena.

Down

2 Himalayan creature sometimes sought on “Finding Bigfoot” : YETI

“Finding Bigfoot” is a TV show featuring four explorers searching for evidence of North America’s cryptid hominid Bigfoot. The group of four comprises three enthusiastic Bigfoot researchers, and a skeptical scientist who very much doubts the creature’s existence.

3 Online crafts marketplace : ETSY

Etsy.com is an e-commerce website where you can buy and sell the kind of items that you might find at a craft fair.

6 Kid-lit’s Clifford, notably : RED DOG

“Clifford the Big Red Dog” is a series of children’s books by Norman Bridwell. The title character is the pet dog of an 8-year-old girl Emily Elizabeth, who Bridell named for his daughter. The books are published by Scholastic Corporation, which adopted Clifford as its mascot after the books’ success.

7 Donkey sound : BRAY

A bray is the sound made by a donkey. Hee-haw!

10 Sky blue : AZURE

The term “azure” came into English from Persian via Old French. The French word “l’azur” was taken from the Persian name for a place in northeastern Afghanistan called “Lazhward” which was the main source of the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli. The stone has a vivid blue color, and “azure” has been describing this color since the 14th century.

12 “My Way” songwriter Paul : ANKA

Canadian-born Paul Anka’s big hit was in 1957, the song entitled “Diana”. Anka was the subject of a much-lauded documentary film in 1962 called “Lonely Boy”.

The song “My Way” has lyrics that were written by Paul Anka in 1969, but the tune itself was composed two years earlier by Claude François and Jacques Revaux. The song had been released with completely different lyrics in France as “Comme d’habitude” (“As Usual”). When Anka heard the song on television in Paris he sought out and obtained the rights to use it himself, for free. Supposedly, “Comme d’habitude” has been recorded in more languages, by more artists than any other song in the contemporary repertoire.

And now, the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I’ll say it clear
I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain
I’ve lived a life that’s full
I traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

13 Small bouquet : POSY

“Poesy” was the name given to a line of verse engraved on the inner surface of a ring. The related word “posy”, for a bouquet of flowers, arose with the notion that giving a posy might be a message of love, just as a poesy inside a ring could have the same meaning.

19 Musical partner of Rodgers before Hammerstein : HART

Lorenz Hart was the lyricist in the songwriting team of Rodgers and Hart. The long list of hits with lyrics from Hart includes such classics as “Blue Moon”, “The Lady Is a Tramp”, “My Funny Valentine” and “Isn’t It Romantic?”

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were extremely successful writers of Broadway musicals in the forties and fifties. Rodgers composed the music and Hammerstein wrote the lyrics for hit shows such as “Oklahoma!”, “Carousel”, “South Pacific”, The King and I” and “The Sound of Music”.

24 Tosh of reggae : PETER

Peter Tosh was a musician from Jamaica, a member of the Wailers reggae band. Sadly, Tosh was murdered in a home invasion and extortion attempt in 1987.

25 NBC singing competition hosted by Carson Daly : THE VOICE

Carson Daly is a radio and television personality who is perhaps best known today as host of the reality show “The Voice”. If you stay up late enough on New Year’s Eve, you might also know him from NBC’s “New Year’s Eve with Carson Daly”.

27 Chicago’s __ Planetarium : ADLER

Chicago’s Adler Planetarium opened in 1930, making it the first and oldest planetarium in the Western Hemisphere. The facility is named for Max Adler, a former Sears executive and philanthropist who provided the funds for construction.

30 Con artist’s aide : SHILL

A shill is someone planted, perhaps in an audience, with the job of feigning enthusiasm.

33 Humongous : GIANT

Something humongous is very, very large. “Humongous” comes from the words “huge” and “monstrous”.

38 Nursery bed : CRIB

In Old English, the word “cribbe” applied to a manger, an open box holding fodder for livestock. Probably because of the association of a manger used as a bed for the infant Jesus, the word “crib” came to describe an enclosed bed for a child.

44 Smart __: wiseacre : ALEC

Apparently, the original “smart Alec” (sometimes “Aleck”) was one Alec Hoag, a pimp, thief and confidence trickster who plied his trade in New York City in the 1840s.

The word “wiseacre” dates back to the late 1500s, when it was a botched translation of the Middle Dutch word “wijsegger” meaning “soothsayer”. Originally, there was no derogatory connotation to the word, but over time a wiseacre had become a know-it-all.

45 Reno’s state : NEVADA

Reno, Nevada was named in honor of Major General Jesse Lee Reno, a Union officer killed in the Civil War. The city has a famous “Reno Arch”, a structure that stands over the main street. The arch was erected in 1926 to promote an exposition planned for the following year. After the expo, the city council decided to keep the arch and held a competition to decide what wording should be displayed, and the winner was “The Biggest Little City in the World”.

51 Danish toy maker : LEGO

Lego produces some wonderful specialized sets with which you can build models of celebrated structures, including:

  • The Statue of Liberty (2,882 pieces)
  • The Sydney Opera House (2,989 pieces)
  • The Eiffel Tower (3,428 pieces)
  • Tower Bridge (4,295 pieces)
  • The Taj Mahal (5,922 pieces)

53 Little songbird : WREN

The wren is a small songbird belonging to the family troglodytidae and the genus troglodytes. Wrens are known for making dome-shaped nests.

54 Govt. agents : FEDS

A fed is an officer of a US federal agency, although the term “fed” usually applies to an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was set up in 1908 as the Bureau of Investigation (BOI), with the name changing in 1935. The Bureau was set up at the behest of President Theodore Roosevelt. President Roosevelt was largely moved to do so after the 1901 assassination of President McKinley, as there was a perception that anarchists were threatening law and order. The FBI’s motto uses the organization’s initialism, and is “Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity”.

57 Shoot down : NIX

The use of “to nix” as a verb, meaning “to shoot down”, dates back to the early 1900s. Before that, “nix” was just a noun meaning “nothing”. “Nix” comes from the German “nichts”, which also means “nothing”.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 *”Yes, captain!” : AYE, SIR!
7 Kansas City cuisine, briefly : BBQ
10 “Quickly!” letters : ASAP!
14 Period of self-care : ME-TIME
15 Steal from : ROB
16 Greek philosopher known for a paradox : ZENO
17 “Things are bleak” : IT’S BAD
18 *”Well, shoot” : AW SHUCKS
20 Like many budget reno projects : DIY
21 Aussie greeting : G’DAY
23 Wide variety : ARRAY
24 Underling : PEON
25 Little pigs count : THREE
27 *Immunotherapy injection : ALLERGY SHOT
31 Playground game : TAG
34 God : DEITY
35 “Stop pouring” : WHEN
36 Start of a play : ACT I
37 Kayaking site : LAKE
38 Scallion kin : CHIVE
39 Civil rights icon Parks : ROSA
40 Happily __ after : EVER
41 Move, in Realtor lingo : RELO
42 Expand, as a highway : WIDEN
43 Dreaming sleep phase, briefly : REM
44 *Plane passenger’s selection : AIRLINE SEAT
46 “How about that!” : I’LL BE!
48 Surrender, as territory : CEDE
49 Janelle of “Moonlight” : MONAE
51 __ Strauss & Co. : LEVI
52 Scrabble-like game app, briefly : WWF
55 *Director’s “That’s a wrap!” : AND … SCENE!
58 Think highly of : ADMIRE
60 “Rhyme Pays” rapper : ICE-T
61 Job on a band’s tour : GIG
62 Immersed briefly : DIPPED
63 Some long-lasting bulbs : LEDS
64 Good Grips kitchenware brand : OXO
65 Capital of Greece, or a three-word hint to the answers to the starred clues : ATHENS or A THEN S

Down

1 In the thick of : AMID
2 Himalayan creature sometimes sought on “Finding Bigfoot” : YETI
3 Online crafts marketplace : ETSY
4 Sis or bro : SIB
5 Language that paints mental pictures : IMAGERY
6 Kid-lit’s Clifford, notably : RED DOG
7 Donkey sound : BRAY
8 Decoration on a wrapped present : BOW
9 NFL play callers : QBS
10 Sky blue : AZURE
11 Encryption for private messages : SECRET CODE
12 “My Way” songwriter Paul : ANKA
13 Small bouquet : POSY
19 Musical partner of Rodgers before Hammerstein : HART
22 No place in particular : ANYWHERE
24 Tosh of reggae : PETER
25 NBC singing competition hosted by Carson Daly : THE VOICE
26 Fine-tune, as skills : HONE
27 Chicago’s __ Planetarium : ADLER
28 Walk away : LEAVE
29 On the same wavelength : LIKE-MINDED
30 Con artist’s aide : SHILL
32 Hopelessly lost : AT SEA
33 Humongous : GIANT
36 Come to light : ARISE
38 Nursery bed : CRIB
42 “Teamwork makes the dream work!” : WE DID IT!
44 Smart __: wiseacre : ALEC
45 Reno’s state : NEVADA
47 Endures : LASTS
49 Postal delivery : MAIL
50 __ and for all : ONCE
51 Danish toy maker : LEGO
52 Clear, as data : WIPE
53 Little songbird : WREN
54 Govt. agents : FEDS
56 Sense of self : EGO
57 Shoot down : NIX
59 Freeway meas. : MPH