LA Times Crossword 26 Sep 18, Wednesday

Advertisement

Advertisement

Constructed by: Ed Sessa
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Bingo!

Themed answers each include a standalone letter. Working down the grid, those letters spell out the word BINGO:

  • 46D. Winning exclamation aptly arranged and spelled by the standalone letters in the answers to starred clues : BINGO!
  • 20A. *Niacin and riboflavin : B VITAMINS
  • 28A. *Twenty Questions question : WHO AM I?
  • 36A. *Earth, Wind & Fire hit album whose title means “everything considered” : ALL ‘N ALL
  • 43A. *Fighter pilot’s sensation : G-FORCE
  • 47A. *Bravura performance reaction, briefly : STANDING O

Bill’s time: 5m 44s

Bill’s errors: 0

Advertisement

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. Muslim pilgrimage : HAJJ

“Haji” (also “Hajji”) is the term used for someone who has made a pilgrimage to Mecca, and it is sometimes also used as a form of address for such a person. The journey itself goes by the name “haj”, “hajj” or “hadj”.

10. Valley with a Wine Train : NAPA

The Napa Valley Wine Train is an excursion train that runs between Napa and St. Helena, California along the original Napa Valley Railroad built in 1864. The line was built back then by pioneer Samuel Brannan to bring tourists from the San Francisco Bay Area to the resort town of Calistoga, which Brannan founded. Today’s Wine Train offers a 3-hour round trip, with a full dining car experience.

14. Melville’s “Typee” sequel : OMOO

Herman Melville mined his own experiences when writing his novels. Melville sailed from New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1841 on a whaler heading into the Pacific Ocean (a source for “Moby-Dick”). Melville ended up deserting his ship 18 months later and lived with natives on a South Pacific Island for three weeks (a source for “Typee”). He picked up another whaler and headed for Hawaii, where he joined the crew of a US navy frigate that was bound for Boston (a source for “Omoo”).

18. Jackrabbits, e.g. : HARES

A jackrabbit is a large hare that is native to North America. The animal was given its name because of its relatively long ears, with the term being a melding of “jackass” and “rabbit”.

20. *Niacin and riboflavin : B VITAMINS

Niacin is also known as vitamin B3. A deficiency of niacin causes the disease pellagra. Pellagra is often described by “the four Ds”, the symptoms being diarrhea, dermatitis, dementia and death.

Riboflavin is vitamin B2. At one time, riboflavin was known as vitamin G.

23. 7UP competitor since 1961 : SPRITE

Sprite is Coca-Cola’s answer to the very successful soft drink called 7UP. Sprite was introduced in 1961, and Coca-Cola used its muscle to topple 7UP from its dominant position in the market. Sprite has been the number-one selling lemon soda since 1978.

25. Harbinger : OMEN

A harbinger is a person or a thing that indicates what is to come. The word comes from the Middle English “herbenger”, a person sent ahead to arrange lodgings.

28. *Twenty Questions question : WHO AM I?

The parlor game called Twenty Questions originated in the US and really took off in the late forties as it became a weekly quiz show on the radio. Am I the only one who thinks that there aren’t enough quiz shows on the radio these days? I have to resort to listening to the BBC game shows over the Internet …

35. Part of LACMA : ART

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located next to the La Brea Tar Pits on Wilshire Boulevard in L.A. LACMA is the largest art museum in the US west of the Mississippi.

36. *Earth, Wind & Fire hit album whose title means “everything considered” : ALL ‘N ALL

Earth, Wind & Fire is a band that founded in 1970 in Chicago as an evolution of a previous band called the Salty Peppers. The band’s name was chosen by founder Maurice White. White’s star sign was Sagitarius, which his the primary elemental quality of Fire, and seasonal qualities of Earth and Air, hence the name Earth, Wind & Fire.

39. Some llama herders : PERUVIANS

Similar to the llama, the guanaco is a camelid that is native to South America. The wool of the guanaco is valued for its soft feel, and is even more highly prized that the wool of the llama.

41. Nuclear reactor component : CORE

A nuclear reactor is a device designed to maintain a self-contained nuclear chain reaction. Nuclear fission generates heat in the reactor core. That heat is transferred out of the core by a nuclear reactor coolant, and is used to turn steam turbines. Those steam turbines usually drive electrical generators, or perhaps a ship’s propellers.

42. Ceylon, now : SRI LANKA

The island nation of Sri Lanka lies off the southeast coast of India. The name “Sri Lanka” translates from Sanskrit into English as “venerable island”. Before 1970, Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon, a name given to the country during British rule.

43. *Fighter pilot’s sensation : G-FORCE

The force of gravity (g-force) that we all feel is referred to as “one G”. As gravity is a actually an accelerating force, acceleration is measured relative to that force of gravity. So, if we are sitting in a vehicle that accelerates at 3G, then we are experiencing a force that is three times that which we feel from the gravitational pull of the earth. Zero G is weightlessness that is experienced when in space, and outside the influence of the earth’s gravity.

45. Kikkoman sauces : SOYS

Kikkoman is a company headquartered in Japan that is noted in North America as a producer of soy sauce.

47. *Bravura performance reaction, briefly : STANDING O

Give ’em a big hand, maybe even a standing “O”, a standing ovation.

“Bravura” is an Italian word meaning “bravery, spirit”. We started using the term in English to describe a piece of music that is florid and colorful, and requires great skill to play. The meaning was extended in the early 1800s to also describe a show of brilliancy or daring.

54. Pogo stick sound : BOING!

What we know today as a pogo stick was invented in Germany by Max Pohlig and Ernst Gottschall. The name “pogo” comes from the first two letters in each of the inventors’ family names: Po-hlig and Go-ttschall.

55. Pac-12 team since 2011 : UTES

The Utah Utes are the athletic teams of the University of Utah.

59. Mule team beam : YOKE

A yoke is a wooden beam used between a pair of animals so that they are forced to work together.

A hinny is the offspring of a male horse (the “h-” from h-orse) and a female donkey/ass (the “-nny” from je-nny). A mule is more common, and is the offspring of a female horse and male donkey/ass.

61. Snapper rival : TORO

Toro is a manufacturer of mainly lawn mowers and snow removal equipment based in Bloomington, Minnesota. The company was founded in 1914 to build tractor engines.

Snapper is a manufacturer of lawn mowers and snow removal equipment. The company was founded as Southern Saw Works in 1894 and the first lawnmower produced was called the “Snappin’ Turtle”. The inventor gave it that name because he felt that the mower “snapped” the grass, and he installed a turtle figurine on the front of the first model that was sold.

63. Domingo, for one : TENOR

Plácido Domingo is a Spanish tenor who was born in Madrid. Famously, Domingo was one of the Three Tenors, the performing trio that brought classical arias to the masses. The other two “Tenors” were fellow-Spaniard José Carreras and Italian Luciano Pavarotti.

Down

2. Physicians’ gp. : AMA

American Medical Association (AMA)

3. Trevor’s predecessor on “The Daily Show” : JON

Comedian Jon Stewart is best known for hosting “The Daily Show” from 1999 until 2015. Stewart is a fan of crosswords. He proposed to his girlfriend and future wife in a personalized crossword that was created with the help of crossword editor Will Shortz.

Trevor Noah is a comedian from Johannesburg, South Africa. Noah took over as host of the Comedy Channel’s “The Daily Show” after Jon Stewart retired. Noah can speak several languages, including English, Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho, Afrikaans, and German.

5. South Seas island : TAHITI

Tahiti is the most populous island in French Polynesia, which is located in the central Southern Pacific. Although Captain Cook landed in Tahiti in 1769, he wasn’t the first European to do so. However, Cook’s visit was the most significant in that it heralded a whole spate of European visitors, who brought with them prostitution, venereal disease and alcohol. Included among the subsequent visitors was the famous HMS Bounty under the charge of Captain Bligh.

6. Striped quartz : AGATE

Agate is a micro-crystalline form of quartz (so is related to sand/silica). Some agate samples have deposited layers that give a striped appearance, and these are called “banded agate”.

7. Actress Sorvino : MIRA

Mira Sorvino is an American actress, and a winner of an Oscar for her supporting role in the 1995 Woody Allen movie “Mighty Aphrodite”. Sorvino also played a title role opposite Lisa Kudrow in the very forgettable “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion”.

9. Lucie’s dad : DESI

The actress and singer Lucie Arnaz is the daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Arnaz started acting at an early age, and turned up frequently on her mother’s television show “Here’s Lucy”. Lucie’s most famous appearance on the big screen was opposite Neil Diamond in 1980’s “The Jazz Singer”.

10. Rather and Cronkite : NEWSMEN

Journalist and former news anchor Dan Rather is from Texas, and began his career as a reporter for Associated Press in Huntsville, Texas. Rather was the man chosen to replace Walter Cronkite as anchor and Managing Editor of “CBS Evening News” when Cronkite retired in 1981.

The broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite was the anchor of the “CBS Evening News” for 19 years, from 1962 to 1981. Cronkite’s famous sign-off line was “And that’s the way it is …” Cronkite made many famous broadcasts, including coverage of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the Moon landings. Cronkite was so closely associated with the Apollo space missions that he was presented with a Moon rock, making him the only non-NASA person to be so honored.

11. Gardner of the silver screen : AVA

Ava Gardner is noted for her association with some big movies, but also for her association with some big names when it came to the men in her life. In the world of film, she appeared in the likes of “Mogambo” (1953), “On the Beach” (1959), “The Night of the Iguana” (1964) and “Earthquake” (1974). The men in her life included husbands Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra.

12. Sty denizen : PIG

Nowadays we use “denizen” to mean simply a resident, but historically a denizen was an immigrant to whom certain rights had been granted, somewhat like today’s “resident alien”.

21. Vitality : VIM

“Vim” and “pep” are words that both mean “energy, power”.

22. Prestigious prize : NOBEL

The Peace Prize is the most famous of the five prizes bequeathed by Alfred Nobel. The others are for Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature. There is also a Nobel Prize in Economics that is awarded along with the original five, but it is funded separately and is awarded “in memory of Alfred Nobel”. Four of the prizes are awarded by Swedish organizations (Alfred Nobel was a Swede) and so the award ceremonies take place in Stockholm. The Peace Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and that award is presented in Oslo.

24. The Supremes, e.g. : POP TRIO

The Supremes were the most successful vocal group in US history based on number-one hits. The group started out in 1959 as a four-member lineup called the Primettes. The name was changed to the Supremes in 1961. One member dropped out in 1962, leaving the Supremes as a trio. Lead singer Diana Ross began to garner much of the attention, which eventually led to a further name change, to Diana Ross & the Supremes.

27. What the ruthless show : NO MERCY

“Ruth” is a term meaning compassion or sorrow, pity for another. The term with the opposite meaning would be “ruthless”.

29. Exodus sustenance : MANNA

According to the Book of Exodus, manna was a food eaten by the Israelites as they traveled out of Egypt. The manna “fell” to Earth during the night, six days a week, and was gathered in the morning before it had time to melt.

31. Fashion initials : YSL

Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) was a French fashion designer, actually born in Algeria. Saint Laurent started off working as an assistant to Christian Dior at the age of 17. Dior died just four years later, and as a very young man Saint-Laurent was named head of the House of Dior. However, in 1950 Saint Laurent was conscripted into the French Army and ended up in a military hospital after suffering a mental breakdown from the hazing inflicted on him by his fellow soldiers. His treatment included electroshock therapy and administration of sedatives and psychoactive drugs. He was released from hospital, managed to pull his life back together and started his own fashion house. A remarkable story …

34. Reactive criticism : FLAK

“Flak” was originally an acronym standing for the German term for an aircraft defense cannon (FLiegerAbwehrKanone). “Flak” then became used in English as a general term for antiaircraft fire and ultimately a term for verbal criticism, as in “to take flak”.

36. Salt’s “Halt!” : AVAST!

“Avast” is a nautical term used to tell someone to stop or desist from what they are doing. The word comes from the Dutch “hou vast” meaning “hold fast”.

37. “Hamilton” creator __-Manuel Miranda : LIN

Lin-Manuel Miranda is composer and playwright from New York City, and the creator and star of the hit Broadway musicals “Hamilton” and “In the Heights”. Miranda also co-wrote the songs for the 2016 Disney animated feature “Moana”. He started composing early, and wrote jingles as a child. One of those jingles was later used by Eliot Spitzer in his 2006 gubernatorial campaign.

40. Once-banned James Joyce novel : ULYSSES

Regular readers will know that I am unashamedly supportive of my native Irish culture, but I have to tell you that I can’t stand many of the works of James Joyce. I have spent many a fine day traipsing around Ireland learning about him, but I find myself more absorbed by Joyce’s life than by his writing. Having said that, “Ulysses” is an interesting novel in that it chronicles just one ordinary day in the life of a Dubliner named Leopold Bloom. There’s a huge celebration of “Ulysses” in Dublin every year on June 16th, called Bloomsday. The festivities vary from readings and performances of the storyline, to good old pub crawls. “Ulysses” was made into a film of the same name in 1967 starring Milo O’Shea.

43. __ snap : GINGER

Ginger snap cookies are known as ginger nut biscuits back in Ireland where I come from …

46. Winning exclamation aptly arranged and spelled by the standalone letters in the answers to starred clues : BINGO!

Our modern bingo is a derivative of an Italian lottery game called “Il Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia” that became popular in the 16th-century.

50. Primatologist Fossey : DIAN

Dian Fossey carried out her famous study of gorilla populations in the mountain forests of Rwanda. She wrote a 1983 autobiographical account of her work titled “Gorillas in the Mist”, which served as a basis for a 1988 film of the same name starring Sigourney Weaver as Fossey. Sadly, Fossey was found dead in her cabin in Rwanda in 1986, murdered in her bedroom, her skull split open by a machete. The crime was never solved.

Advertisement

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Muslim pilgrimage : HAJJ
5. Made docile : TAMED
10. Valley with a Wine Train : NAPA
14. Melville’s “Typee” sequel : OMOO
15. Limber : AGILE
16. Malicious : EVIL
17. Bandit band : GANG
18. Jackrabbits, e.g. : HARES
19. Minimum __ : WAGE
20. *Niacin and riboflavin : B VITAMINS
23. 7UP competitor since 1961 : SPRITE
25. Harbinger : OMEN
28. *Twenty Questions question : WHO AM I?
29. “I could be wrong” : MAYBE NOT
33. Knocks firmly : RAPS
34. Pseudonym : FALSE NAME
35. Part of LACMA : ART
36. *Earth, Wind & Fire hit album whose title means “everything considered” : ALL ‘N ALL
38. “Nothing to shout about” : MEH
39. Some llama herders : PERUVIANS
41. Nuclear reactor component : CORE
42. Ceylon, now : SRI LANKA
43. *Fighter pilot’s sensation : G-FORCE
45. Kikkoman sauces : SOYS
46. Medical lab specimen : BIOPSY
47. *Bravura performance reaction, briefly : STANDING O
51. Copies : APES
54. Pogo stick sound : BOING!
55. Pac-12 team since 2011 : UTES
59. Mule team beam : YOKE
60. The way we word : USAGE
61. Snapper rival : TORO
62. Baaing mas : EWES
63. Domingo, for one : TENOR
64. Whack : STAB

Down

1. Ungenerous sort : HOG
2. Physicians’ gp. : AMA
3. Trevor’s predecessor on “The Daily Show” : JON
4. Women’s sportswear : JOG BRAS
5. South Seas island : TAHITI
6. Striped quartz : AGATE
7. Actress Sorvino : MIRA
8. Grade sch. level : ELEM
9. Lucie’s dad : DESI
10. Rather and Cronkite : NEWSMEN
11. Gardner of the silver screen : AVA
12. Sty denizen : PIG
13. Tavern offering : ALE
21. Vitality : VIM
22. Prestigious prize : NOBEL
23. They’re not selfish : SHARERS
24. The Supremes, e.g. : POP TRIO
26. Captivates : ENAMORS
27. What the ruthless show : NO MERCY
28. Gets a present ready to present : WRAPS
29. Exodus sustenance : MANNA
30. “That’s a shame” : ALAS
31. Fashion initials : YSL
32. Giggle : TE-HEE
34. Reactive criticism : FLAK
36. Salt’s “Halt!” : AVAST!
37. “Hamilton” creator __-Manuel Miranda : LIN
40. Once-banned James Joyce novel : ULYSSES
41. Weak excuses : COP-OUTS
43. __ snap : GINGER
44. Mariner’s hazard : FOG
46. Winning exclamation aptly arranged and spelled by the standalone letters in the answers to starred clues : BINGO!
48. Adjoin : ABUT
49. Bridge site : NOSE
50. Primatologist Fossey : DIAN
51. Pro vote : AYE
52. Comics punch sound : POW!
53. Scrape (out) : EKE
56. Little kid : TOT
57. Historical period : ERA
58. Cry out loud : SOB

Advertisement