LA Times Crossword 7 Jun 19, Friday

Advertisement

Constructed by: Bruce Haight
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): S for Siesta?

Themed answers start with something associated perhaps with a siesta. They also sound like common words or phrases, but with an S-sound added at the front:

  • 18A Paul Bunyan resting his eyes? : SLUMBERJACK (s-lumberjack)
  • 28A What a boring sermon might precipitate? : SLEEP OF FAITH (s-leap of faith)
  • 48A Like lectures after a big meal? : SNOOZE-WORTHY (s-newsworthy)
  • 62A Unexpectedly mild storm? : SNORE-EASTER (s-nor’easter)

Bill’s time: 11m 31s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

4 Cheese made from cow’s milk : GOUDA

Gouda is a cheese that originated in the Dutch city of the same name, although today Gouda is produced all over the world and very little of it comes from the Netherlands. Gouda is often smoke-cured, which gives it a yellowish-brown outer skin and that characteristic smoky taste.

9 Space Invaders platform : ATARI

Space Invaders is one of my favorite video games. It is truly a classic from the good old days (not that I play video games anymore). When Space Invaders was first released in video arcades in Japan in 1978, it was so popular that it caused a shortage of 100-yen coins.

14 Swing adviser : PRO

That might be golf, perhaps, or maybe baseball.

17 Play critic? : REF

Back in the early 17th century, a referee was someone who examined patent applications. We started using the same term for a person presiding over a sporting event in the 1820s. “Referee” is derivative of the verb “to refer”, and literally describes someone who has the authority to make a decision by “referring to” a book, archive etc.

18 Paul Bunyan resting his eyes? : SLUMBERJACK (s-lumberjack)

Paul Bunyan is a character of American myth; Bunyan is a skilled lumberjack, and has a sidekick called Babe the Blue Ox. Both Bunyan and Babe are gigantic in size.

22 Pool tactic : MASSE

In billiards, a massé shot is one in which the cue ball makes an extreme curve due to the player imparting heavy spin on the ball with his or her cue held relatively vertically.

24 Highly season, as eggs : DEVIL

Deviled eggs are hard-boiled eggs that have been shelled and sliced in two. The egg’s yolk is mixed with primarily mayonnaise and mustard, and then spooned into the hard-boiled egg white. The eggs are then sprinkled with paprika and served cold. Some people make deviled eggs on Halloween, dropping an olive slice in the middle so that the whole thing resembles an eyeball! The term “deviled” has been used for zesty or spicy foods since the 1700s.

32 Opposite of stiff : TIP

The etymology of our verb “to stiff”, meaning “to fail to tip”, seems unclear. The usage originated in the late 1930s, and is possibly an extension of the noun “stiff” meaning “corpse”. The idea is that dead men don’t leave tips.

33 Belgian city in 1917 headlines : YPRES

Ypres is a Belgian city located close to the French border. In WWI, Ypres was the scene of three devastating battles that resulted in almost a million casualties, including many who suffered in gas attacks.

34 Region bordering Mex. : SOCAL

Southern California (SoCal)

38 Project Mercury chimp : ENOS

Enos was a chimpanzee that was launched into Earth orbit in 1961 by NASA on a Mercury Atlas 4 rocket. Enos’s flight was a rehearsal for the first orbital flight made by an American, astronaut John Glenn. Enos returned from his mission safely, but died the following year from dysentery.

The goal of NASA’s Project Mercury was to put a human being in orbit around the Earth before the Soviet Union. NASA lost this first leg of the space race, as cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin achieved the feat in April 1961. Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space, in May 1961. The John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth, in February 1962.

45 ’70s TV talk show : DINAH

“Dinah!” was a daytime talk show hosted by singer Dinah Shore that aired in the seventies. The show was renamed to “Dinah and Friends” in 1979, and kept that name until cancellation in 1980. “Dinah!” always featured a musical number or two to break up all the chat.

Dinah Shore had a lot of success as a singer in the forties and fifties in the Big Band Era, and then in the sixties as a hostess of variety programs on television. Shore was also a big fan of golf, both as a player and a spectator. She founded the Colgate Dinah Shore golf tournament which is now the Kraft Nabisco Championship, one of the four majors on the LPGA Tour.

47 Suzuki’s Quadracer, for short : ATV

All-terrain vehicle (ATV)

Suzuki is a japanese manufacturer, mainly of cars, motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles. The company was founded in 1909 by Michio Suzuki, initially to build weaving looms for the silk industry.

51 NFLer who was a 2017 Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year honoree : JJ WATT

J.J. Watt is an American football defensive end who was drafted by the Houston Texans in 2011. Watt was the first player in the NFL to record two 20+ sack seasons in a career. J.J.’s younger brother is Derek Watt, a fullback for the LA Chargers.

56 Drifters : HOBOS

No one seems to know for sure how the term “hobo” originated, although there are lots of colorful theories. My favorite is that “hobo” comes from the first letters in the words “ho-meward bo-und”, but it doesn’t seem very plausible. A kind blog reader tells me that according to Click and Clack from PBS’s “Car Talk” (a great source!), “hobo” comes from “hoe boy”. Hoe boys were young men with hoes looking for work after the Civil War. Hobos differed from “tramps” and “bums”, in that “bums” refused to work, “tramps” worked when they had to, while “hobos” traveled in search of work.

60 Celebrations with nos. : B’DAYS

Birthday (b’day)

62 Unexpectedly mild storm? : SNORE-EASTER (s-nor’easter)

A nor’easter is a storm that blows from the northeast.

65 Prefix with -bar : ISO-

An isobar is a line on a weather map connecting points of equal barometric pressure.

69 “Love Story” author : SEGAL

Erich Segal wrote two hit screenplays, “Yellow Submarine” (the Beatles’ animated movie) and “Love Story” (starring Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw). He wrote the novel “Love Story” after the screenplay. As the novel was published before the film was released, there’s a popular misconception that the movie is based on the book.

70 __ bar : TAPAS

“Tapa” is the Spanish word for “lid”, and there is no clear rationale for why this word came to be used for an appetizer. There are lots of explanations cited, all of which seem to involve the temporary covering of one’s glass of wine with a plate or item of food to either preserve the wine or give one extra space at the table.

71 Part of GPS: Abbr. : SYS

Global positioning system (GPS)

Down

1 Financing figs. : APRS

Annual percentage rate (APR)

2 Depression Era sight : BREADLINE

The Great Depression (sometimes “Depression Era) was a worldwide phenomenon in the decade or so that preceded World War II. The depression was sparked by a dramatic drop in stock prices in the US in September 1929, which eventually made the news around the world following the stock market crash of October 29th of that year, now known as Black Tuesday. US unemployment rose to 25% during the Great Depression, and in some countries unemployment was as high as 33%. Many economists believe that World War II played a large role in ending the depression, at least here in the US. Government spending on the war increased employment dramatically, although many of those jobs were in the front lines. During the war, unemployment fell back below 10%.

6 One for the money? : UNUM

From 1776, “E pluribus unum” was the unofficial motto of the United States. The phrase translates from Latin as “Out of many, one”. It was pushed aside in 1956 when an Act of Congress designated “In God We Trust” as the country’s official motto. “In God We Trust” had appeared on US coins since 1864, but was only introduced on paper currency in 1957.

7 Russian legislative body : DUMA

A duma is a representative assembly in Russia. The Russian word “dumat” means “to think, consider”.

8 LAPD messages : APBS

An All Points Bulletin (APB) is a broadcast from one US law enforcement agency to another.

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is the third largest local law enforcement agency in the country, after New York PD and Chicago PD. Among other things, LAPD is famous for creating the first Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team in the US, in 1965.

10 __ Boston: luxury hotel : TAJ

The luxury hotel known today as the Taj Boston was opened in 1927 as the Ritz Carlton.

12 Drone job : RECON

A “recon” (reconnaissance) might provide “intel” (intelligence).

13 Miffed : IRKED

To miff is to put out, to tee off. “To miff” is a verb that has been around since the early 1600s. Interestingly, in 1824 Sir Walter Scott described the word “miffed” as “a women’s phrase”. That should get him a slap, I’d say …

19 Morales of “Ozark” : ESAI

The actor Esai Morales is best known in the world of film for the 1987 movie “La Bamba”, which depicted the life of Ritchie Valens and his half-brother Bob Morales (played by Esai). On the small screen, Morales plays Lt. Tony Rodriguez on “NYPD Blue” and Joseph Adama on “Caprica”.

“Ozark” is a TV crime show starring Jason Bateman and Laura Linney as a married couple who relocate from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks. The couple fall foul of Mexican drug lord after a money laundering scheme goes awry. The show is set at lake resort in the Ozarks, although filming actually takes place at lakes in the Atlanta area in order to take advantage of tax breaks offered by the State of Georgia.

21 “The serpent deceived me” speaker : EVE

In the Christian tradition, the “fall of man” took place in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve succumbed to the temptation of eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This went against the bidding of God, and was at the urging of the serpent. As a result, Adam and Eve were banished from Eden to prevent them becoming immortal by eating from the tree of life. The first humans had transitioned from a state of innocent obedience to a state of guilty disobedience.

29 Tolkien hero : FRODO

Frodo Baggins is a principal character in J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings”. Frodo is a Hobbit, and is charged with the quest of destroying Sauron’s Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. Frodo is portrayed by American actor Elijah Wood in Peter Jackson’s film adaptations of the novels.

30 Start of a seasonal Spanish greeting : FELIZ …

“Feliz Navidad” is Spanish for “Happy Christmas”.

35 Metaphorical influence : COATTAILS

Back in the 1600s, to do something on one’s own coattail meant to do it at one’s own expense, not depending on another. Starting in 1949, to ride someone’s coattails was to use the influence of someone more powerful.

37 Duty : LEVY

A levy is a tax. The term “levy” comes from Old French in which “levée” means “raising”. So a levy is a tax that has been “raised” (in the sense of “collected”, not “increased”).

39 Cub slugger : SOSA

Sammy Sosa was firmly in the public eye in 1998 when he and Mark McGwire were vying to be the first to surpass the home run record held by Roger Maris. McGwire fell out of public favor due to stories of steroid abuse (stories which he later admitted were true) while Sosa fell out of favor when he was found to be using a corked bat in a 2003 game.

44 Officially injured, in previous baseball lingo : ON THE DL

In the world of sports, the phrase “on the DL” means “on the disabled list”.

46 Men of La Mancha : HOMBRES

In Spanish, a “niño” (boy) turns into a “hombre” (man).

La Mancha is a region in Spain, a plateau lying south of Madrid. The area became famous after publication of the novel “Don Quixote de La Mancha” by Miguel de Cervantes.

49 Siouan people : OTOE

The Otoe (also “Oto”) Native American tribe originated in the Great Lakes region as part of the Winnebago or Siouan tribes. The group that would become the Otoe broke away from the Winnebago and migrated southwestward, ending up in the Great Plains. In the plains the Otoe adopted a semi-nomadic lifestyle dependent on the horse, with the American bison becoming central to their diet.

50 Hot __ : ROD

A hot rod is an American car that has been modified for speed by installing a larger than normal engine. A street rod is generally a more comfortable type of hot rod, with the emphasis less on the engine and more on custom paint jobs and interiors. By definition, a street rod must be based on an automobile design that originated prior to 1949.

52 __ and Jack, 2019 Gap acquisition : JANIE

Janie and Jack is a chain of retail outlets selling children’s clothing. Janie and Jack was acquired by the Gap in 2019.

58 Org. concerned with plants : OSHA

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was created in 1970 during the Nixon administration. OSHA regulates workplaces in the private sector and regulates just one government agency, namely the US Postal Service.

63 Blues-rocker Chris : REA

Chris Rea is a singer-songwriter and respected blues guitar player from England. Rea’s biggest hit is a song that he wrote himself called “Fool (If You Think It’s Over”), released in 1978.

64 Radon-regulating org. : EPA

The element radon (Rn) is a radioactive gas, and a byproduct produced when uranium decays naturally in the earth. Radon gas can collect and accumulate in buildings and rooms that are particularly well insulated with very little air exchange. The danger is very real, as radon is listed as the second most frequent cause of lung cancer after cigarette smoke.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Leading trio : A, B, C …
4 Cheese made from cow’s milk : GOUDA
9 Space Invaders platform : ATARI
14 Swing adviser : PRO
15 Come clean : OWN UP
16 More cold and wet : RAWER
17 Play critic? : REF
18 Paul Bunyan resting his eyes? : SLUMBERJACK (s-lumberjack)
20 They might be cracked : SAFES
22 Pool tactic : MASSE
23 Sushi garnish : ROE
24 Highly season, as eggs : DEVIL
26 Head for the hills? : ASCEND
28 What a boring sermon might precipitate? : SLEEP OF FAITH (s-leap of faith)
32 Opposite of stiff : TIP
33 Belgian city in 1917 headlines : YPRES
34 Region bordering Mex. : SOCAL
38 Project Mercury chimp : ENOS
40 Helpless numbers? : SOLOS
42 Ask : POSE
43 “Same here” : ME TOO
45 ’70s TV talk show : DINAH
47 Suzuki’s Quadracer, for short : ATV
48 Like lectures after a big meal? : SNOOZE-WORTHY (s-newsworthy)
51 NFLer who was a 2017 Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year honoree : JJ WATT
54 Cuffed, old-style : SMOTE
55 Attention : EAR
56 Drifters : HOBOS
60 Celebrations with nos. : B’DAYS
62 Unexpectedly mild storm? : SNORE-EASTER (s-nor’easter)
65 Prefix with -bar : ISO-
66 Pronged : TINED
67 “Fingers crossed” : I HOPE
68 Case study? : LAW
69 “Love Story” author : SEGAL
70 __ bar : TAPAS
71 Part of GPS: Abbr. : SYS

Down

1 Financing figs. : APRS
2 Depression Era sight : BREADLINE
3 Morning aroma source : COFFEE POT
4 Spewing dirt? : GOSSIPY
5 Night __ : OWL
6 One for the money? : UNUM
7 Russian legislative body : DUMA
8 LAPD messages : APBS
9 Stops : ARRESTS
10 __ Boston: luxury hotel : TAJ
11 Clued in : AWARE
12 Drone job : RECON
13 Miffed : IRKED
19 Morales of “Ozark” : ESAI
21 “The serpent deceived me” speaker : EVE
25 Cuts : LOPS
27 Cut of meat : CHOP
28 Curtail : STEM
29 Tolkien hero : FRODO
30 Start of a seasonal Spanish greeting : FELIZ …
31 Together : AS ONE
35 Metaphorical influence : COATTAILS
36 According to the proverb : AS THEY SAY
37 Duty : LEVY
39 Cub slugger : SOSA
41 Cuts : SAWS
44 Officially injured, in previous baseball lingo : ON THE DL
46 Men of La Mancha : HOMBRES
49 Siouan people : OTOE
50 Hot __ : ROD
51 Kids : JESTS
52 __ and Jack, 2019 Gap acquisition : JANIE
53 “Guess again” : WRONG
57 Tempt : BAIT
58 Org. concerned with plants : OSHA
59 “Hold it right there!” : STOP!
61 Scatters in a field : SOWS
63 Blues-rocker Chris : REA
64 Radon-regulating org. : EPA