LA Times Crossword 27 Jun 20, Saturday

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Constructed by: Kyle Dolan
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Theme: None

Bill’s time: 9m 21s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Gym supplies : MATS

Our word “gymnasium” comes from the Greek “gymnasion” meaning “public place where exercise is taken”. The Greek term comes from “gymnos” meaning “naked”, as that physical training was usually done unclothed in ancient Greece.

9 Cut souvenirs : SCARS

A souvenir is a memento, a token of remembrance. We imported the word “souvenir” from French, in which language it has the same meaning. The term comes from the Latin “subvenire” meaning “to come to mind”, or literally “to come up”.

14 Without instruments : A CAPPELLA

A cappella music is sung without instruments accompanying. “A cappella” translates from Italian as “in the manner of the chapel”.

16 “Haystacks” painter : MONET

Claude Monet painted a series of twenty-five impressionist paintings titled “Haystacks”, in 1890 and 1891.

19 “The Twilight Zone” (2019) host Jordan : PEELE

Jordan Peele is a former cast member of the sketch comedy show “Mad TV”. Peele created his own sketch comedy show “Key & Peele” with fellow-Mad TV alum Keegan-Michael Key. Peele started hosting and producing the revival of “The Twilight Zone” in 2019.

The iconic television series “The Twilight Zone” first aired in 1959 and then ran for 156 episodes before being pulled in 1964. “The Twilight Zone” was revived for four years in the late eighties, and was also spun-off into a movie by Steven Spielberg in 1983. The series was further revived in 2019, when it was hosted and produced by comic actor Jordan Peele.

22 Ballet move : PLIE

The French word for “bent” is “plié”. In the ballet move known as a plié, the knees are bent. A “demi-plié” is a similar move, but with less bending of the knees.

29 “Semper Fidelis” composer : SOUSA

John Philip Sousa was a composer and conductor from Washington, D.C. Sousa was well known for his patriotic marches and earned himself the nickname “The American March King”. He served as a member of the US Marine Band from 1868 to 1875, and after leaving the Marines learned to conduct and compose. One of the Sousa compositions that is well-known around the world is called “The Liberty Bell”, a tune used as the musical theme for BBC Television’s “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”. Sousa also wrote “Semper Fidelis”, which is the official march of the US Marine Corps.

30 “Concord Sonata” composer : IVES

“Piano Sonata No. 2” by Charles Ives is often referred to as the “Concord Sonata”. It is so called because it was inspired by the works of the 19th-century Concord writers (such as Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Emily Dickinson).

34 Talked like Moses or Abraham? : SPAKE

“Spake” is an archaic past tense for the verb “to speak”.

37 In actuality : DE FACTO

Conceptually, “de jure” and “de facto” are related terms, one meaning “concerning, according to law”, and the other meaning “concerning, according to fact”. There is an example of the use of the two terms together from my homeland of Ireland. According to our constitution, Irish is the first language of the country, and yet almost everyone in the country uses English as his or her first language. One might say that Irish is the de jure first language, but English is the first language de facto.

39 The last pope named Clement : XIV

Pope Clement XIV presided over the Roman Catholic Church from 1769 until he died in 1774. Clement’s main legacy was his official approval of the suppression of the Jesuits around the world. In the decade or so before Clement XIV came to power, European nations steadily suppressed the influence of the Jesuit order all around the world. Clement eventually succumbed to political pressure and issued a papal brief in 1773 dictating “that the name of the [Society of Jesus] shall be, and is, for ever extinguished and suppressed.”

40 Cleaner brand with a macron on its first vowel : DRANO

A macron is a diacritical mark placed above a vowel. It is a horizontal line and is used to indicate that the vowel is long.

43 Cornmeal product : PONE

“Pone” is another name for corn bread, and comes from the Powhatan term “apan” meaning “something baked”.

48 Blizzard portmanteau : SNOWMAGEDDON

There have been some very colorful portmanteaus coined to describe particularly heavy snowstorms, including Snowmageddon (from “Armageddon”), Snowpocalypse (from “Apocalypse”), and Snowzilla (from “Godzilla”).

51 “Rub-__ … ” : A-DUB

The nursery rhyme “Rub-a-Dub-Dub” dates back to at least 1798 when it was first published in London:

Rub-a-dub-dub,
Three men in a tub,
And how do you think they got there?
The butcher, the baker,
The candlestick-maker,
They all jumped out of a rotten potato,
‘Twas enough to make a man stare.

52 Root that may be cubed : YAM

Although in the US we sometimes refer to sweet potatoes as “yams”, the yam is actually a completely different family of plants. True yams are more common in other parts of the world than they are in this country, and are especially common in Africa.

56 Realm of Tolkien’s Dwarves : MORIA

Moria is a Middle-earth location in Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” series of fantasy novels. Moria is home to the Dwarf clan called the Longbeards.

61 Cleared in a diner : BUSED

A busboy is a person who assists a waiter, mainly by clearing tables. The verb “to bus” arose in the early 1900s and is probably a reference to the wheeled cart that was used to carry dishes.

63 Nuclear trial : A-TEST

Atomic test (A-test)

64 Pamplona pronoun : ESOS

Pamplona, Spain is famous for its San Fermin festival held in July every year, the highlight of which is the Running of the Bulls. Every year, 200-300 people are injured in the bull run, and 15 people have been killed since 1910. If you get to Pamplona two days before the Running of the Bulls, you can see the animal-rights protest event known as the Running of the Nudes. The protesters are as naked as the bulls …

65 BFN alternative : TTYL

Talk to you later (ttyl)

‘Bye for now (bfn)

Down

2 “Rent-__”: 1988 film : A-COP

“Rent-a-cop” is a derogatory term for a security guard. The phrase was used in 1988 as the title for a much-panned comedy-action film starring Burt Reynolds and Liza Minnelli. Minnelli was named Worst Actress at the 1988 Golden Raspberry Awards for her performance in “Rent-A-Cop”, and also for “Arthur 2: On the Rocks” that came out the same year.

3 Unlikely to titillate : TAME

To titillate is to excite, pleasurably. The term comes from the Latin “titillare” meaning “to tickle”.

4 Small trunks : SPEEDOS

Speedo brand swimwear was first produced in Australia in 1928, by a hosiery company that wanted to diversify. The brand name was chosen after a slogan competition among employees was won by “Speed on in your Speedos”. It was a long time ago, I guess …

Swimming trunks are shorts used, usually by makes, when swimming. The term “trunks” is used because centuries ago, people routinely wore underwear that covered the entire “trunk” of the body. Swimming usually involved stripping down to those “trunks”. We’re less modest when swimming nowadays, but the term “trunks” has persisted.

6 Copacabana greeting : OLA

Copacabana is a neighborhood in the city of Rio de Janeiro that is home to a famous (and much-used) beach. The neighborhood is named for a chapel there, dedicated to the Virgen de Copacabana (Our Lady of Copacabana). The Virgen de Copacabana is the patron saint of Bolivia, with the original Copacabana being a Bolivian town located on the southeastern shore of Lake Titicaca.

7 Tree sacred to Athena : OLIVE

According to myth, the goddess Athena competed with Poseidon for the privilege of being the patron of the city we now call Athens. Poseidon gave the city a salt water spring, and Athena offered an olive tree. As the olive tree was a source of wood, oil and food, Athena won the competition, and the city was named “Athens” in her honor.

8 “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” group : PANEL

Chicago Public Radio produces one of my favorite radio shows, “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” It is indeed a fun game show, hosted by Peter Sagal. The “Morning Edition” newsreader Carl Kasell used to act as judge and scorekeeper, until he retired in 2014. There should be more game shows of that ilk on the radio, in my humble opinion …

9 Texting format, briefly : SMS

Short Message Service (SMS) is the name for the text messaging service that many of us still use on our cell phones to contact friends and family.

11 Norman Conquest victim : ANGLO-SAXON

Germanic tribes invaded Great Britain from the early 5th century and created the nation that we now call England. The Anglo-Saxons (sometimes simply “Saxons”), as these tribes came to be called, held sway in the country until the Norman Conquest in 1066. The Anglo-Saxons were descendants of three Germanic tribes:

  • The Angles, from Angeln in Northern Germany (and the tribe that gave the name “England”).
  • The Saxons, from Lower Saxony and Holland.
  • The Jutes, from the Jutland peninsula in Denmark.

The Battle of Hastings took place in the South East of England in 1066. The battle took place between the native Anglo-Saxons led by King Harold Godwinson, and the Norman-French led by Duke William II of Normandy. William emerged victorious, earning him the moniker William the Conqueror, and the crown of England as William I. That victory launched the Norman conquest of England.

12 2019 Best Supporting Actress winner for “If Beale Street Could Talk” : REGINA KING

Regina King won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance in the 2018 film “If Beale Street Could Talk”. On television, King plays the lead in the superhero drama series “Watchmen”.

13 They may be treated with compresses : STYES

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

15 Country in the Caroline Islands : PALAU

Palau is a tiny island nation lying 500 miles east of the Philippines, and 2,000 miles south of Japan. Palau was once a Spanish possession and was sold by Spain to Germany in the late 19th century. During WWI, Japan invaded the islands (Japan had declared war on Germany) and was awarded the islands as a territory by the League of Nations at the end of hostilities. In WWII the US took Palau from the Japanese in a bloody battle in 1944. Palau emerged from American administration in 1994 and is now a sovereign state.

The Caroline Islands are an archipelago of about 500 small islands located in the western Pacific to the north of New Guinea. The island group was named by the Spanish in the 17th century in honor of King Carlos II of Spain.

21 Strike symbols : XES

In bowling, a spare is recorded on a score sheet with a forward slash mark. A strike is recorded with a large letter X.

24 Source of livestock feed : CHAFF

The chaff is the dry husk that surrounds grains in cereal grasses, and it’s what’s left after threshing. We use the term “chaff” in a figurative sense as well, to mean “trivial or worthless matter”.

26 Deceptively adorn : GILD

To gild is to coat with gold. The phrase “to gild the lily” means to add unnecessary ornamentation, to try to improve something that is already ideal.

27 Transmission conclusion : OVER AND OUT

That would be a two-way radio transmission.

28 Start of typical “Star Trek” navigation orders : SET A COURSE …

When Gene Roddenberry first proposed the science fiction series that became “Star Trek”, he marketed it as “Wagon Train to the Stars”, a pioneer-style Western in outer space. In fact, his idea was to produce something more like “Gulliver’s Travels”, as he intended to write episodes that were adventure stories on one level, but morality tales on another. Personally, I think that he best achieved this model with the spin-off series “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (TNG). If you watch individual episodes you will see thinly disguised treatments of moral issues such as racism, homosexuality, genocide etc. For my money, “The Next Generation” is the best of the whole franchise …

43 Pesto ingredient : PINE NUT

Pesto sauce is more completely called “pesto alla genovese”, i.e. pesto from Genoa. A traditional recipe calls for crushed garlic, pine nuts, salt, basil leaves, parmesan cheese and olive oil. Yum …

48 Copacabana steps : SAMBA

The samba is a Brazilian dance that is very much symbolic of the festival of Carnival. Like so much culture around the world, the samba has its roots in Africa, as the dance is derived from dances performed by former slaves who migrated into urban Rio de Janeiro in the late 1800s. The exact roots of the name “samba” seem to have been lost in the mists of time. However, my favorite explanation is that it comes from an African Kikongo word “semba” which means “a blow struck with the belly button”. We don’t seem to have a need for such a word in English …

49 Faux pas : GAFFE

Our word “gaffe”, meaning a social blunder, comes from the French “gaffe” meaning “clumsy remark”, although it originally was the word for a boat hook. The exact connection between a boat hook and a blunder seems to be unclear.

The term “faux pas” is French in origin, and translates literally as “false step” (or “false steps”, as the plural has the same spelling in French).

50 Mideast dignitaries : EMIRS

An emir is a prince or chieftain, one most notably from the Middle East in Islamic countries. In English, “emir” can also be written variously as “emeer, amir, ameer” (watch out for those spellings in crosswords!).

55 Goranson of “The Conners” : LECY

Lecy Goranson is the actress who originated the role of Becky Conner, the eldest daughter on the sitcom “Roseanne”. It sounds like Goranson made some mature choices as the show ran, deciding to exit after five seasons in order to attend Vassar College. The producers did work with her, though, and brought her back for several episodes over the years. That was despite the fact that actress Sarah Chalke was given the role for several seasons. Chalke and Goranson played Becky in tandem for quite a while, giving the cast the opportunity to make some wry comments that broke the fourth wall in a few episodes.

57 Big name in home security : ADT

ADT is a home and small-business security company based in Boca Raton, Florida. The company was founded back in 1874 by Edward Calahan. Calahan invented the stock ticker several years earlier, and ran the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company. Calahan was awoken one morning by the sound of a burglar in his house, and so he decided to develop a telegraph-based security alarm system. The success of the system led to the founding of American District Telegraph, later known as ADT.

59 Summer sign : LEO

Leo is the fifth astrological sign of the Zodiac. People born from July 23 to August 22 are Leos.

60 FedEx rival : DHL

Back in the sixties, Larry Hillblom was making pocket money as a Berkeley law student by doing courier runs between San Francisco and Los Angeles. After law school, Hillblom decided to parlay his experience into his own business and set up a courier service flying bills of lading ahead of freight from San Francisco to Honolulu. He brought in two buddies, Adrian Dalsey and Robert Lynn, as partners and the three were soon hopping on and off commercial flights and gradually making more and more money. And DHL was born … D (for Dalsey) H (for Hillblom) L (for Lynn). DHL was acquired by Germany’s Deutsche Post in 2002.

FedEx began operations in 1973 as Federal Express, but now operates very successfully under it’s more catchy, abbreviated name. Headquartered in Memphis with its “SuperHub” at Memphis International Airport, FedEx is the world’s largest airline in terms of tons of freight flown. And due to the presence of FedEx, Memphis Airport has the largest-volume cargo operation of any airport worldwide.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Gym supplies : MATS
5 Affectionate-poke-on-the-nose word : BOOP!
9 Cut souvenirs : SCARS
14 Without instruments : A CAPPELLA
16 “Haystacks” painter : MONET
17 “What?” : COME AGAIN?
18 Soaked : SOGGY
19 “The Twilight Zone” (2019) host Jordan : PEELE
20 Distress : VEX
22 Ballet move : PLIE
23 Two-step tutorials, say : DANCE LESSONS
26 Take a bad turn : GO SOUTH
29 “Semper Fidelis” composer : SOUSA
30 “Concord Sonata” composer : IVES
31 Race units : LAPS
34 Talked like Moses or Abraham? : SPAKE
36 Tart finish? : -LET
37 In actuality : DE FACTO
39 The last pope named Clement : XIV
40 Cleaner brand with a macron on its first vowel : DRANO
42 Circulate : FLOW
43 Cornmeal product : PONE
44 Ones known for excellent service : ACERS
46 Many people make them at work : LIVINGS
48 Blizzard portmanteau : SNOWMAGEDDON
51 “Rub-__ … ” : A-DUB
52 Root that may be cubed : YAM
53 Big battery : D-CELL
56 Realm of Tolkien’s Dwarves : MORIA
58 Are useful : FILL A NEED
61 Cleared in a diner : BUSED
62 Proverbial nonexistent meal : FREE LUNCH
63 Nuclear trial : A-TEST
64 Pamplona pronoun : ESOS
65 BFN alternative : TTYL

Down

1 Buddy : MAC
2 “Rent-__”: 1988 film : A-COP
3 Unlikely to titillate : TAME
4 Small trunks : SPEEDOS
5 “Go easy on me” : BE GENTLE
6 Copacabana greeting : OLA
7 Tree sacred to Athena : OLIVE
8 “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” group : PANEL
9 Texting format, briefly : SMS
10 Confines : COOPS UP
11 Norman Conquest victim : ANGLO-SAXON
12 2019 Best Supporting Actress winner for “If Beale Street Could Talk” : REGINA KING
13 They may be treated with compresses : STYES
15 Country in the Caroline Islands : PALAU
21 Strike symbols : XES
24 Source of livestock feed : CHAFF
25 Okay : SO-SO
26 Deceptively adorn : GILD
27 Transmission conclusion : OVER AND OUT
28 Start of typical “Star Trek” navigation orders : SET A COURSE …
32 Buddy : PAL
33 Admonish : SCOLD
35 Tense times, maybe : EVES
37 School house : DORM
38 Turns idly, as a pencil : TWIDDLES
41 Green ones : NEWBIES
43 Pesto ingredient : PINE NUT
45 For example : SAY
47 Inclined to opine : VOCAL
48 Copacabana steps : SAMBA
49 Faux pas : GAFFE
50 Mideast dignitaries : EMIRS
54 Advanced : LENT
55 Goranson of “The Conners” : LECY
57 Big name in home security : ADT
59 Summer sign : LEO
60 FedEx rival : DHL