LA Times Crossword 24 Jul 19, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Howard Barkin & Sam Buchbinder
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Mixed Bag

Themed answers each include a set of circled letters that give a type of BAG when the letters are “un-MIXED”:

  • 54A Some of this, some of that … and a hint to the circled squares : MIXED BAG
  • 17A Target of campaign finance laws : SUPER PAC (giving “paper” bag)
  • 22A 19th-century education reformer : HORACE MANN (giving “camera” bag)
  • 34A Like a momentous event : EARTH-SHATTERING (giving “trash” bag)
  • 43A Dawg and bae, e.g. : SLANG TERMS (giving “garment” bag)

Bill’s time: 6m 21s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 King canine : CUJO

“Cujo” is a Stephen King horror novel, which means that I haven’t read it (I don’t do horror). The character Cujo is a rabid St. Bernard dog which besieges a young couple for three days in their stalled car. King tells us that he lifted the dog’s name from real life, as Cujo was the nickname of Willie Wolfe, one of the men responsible for the 1974 kidnapping of Patty Hearst by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

5 “The Good Wife” and “The Good Fight” network : CBS

“The Good Wife” is a legal drama showing on CBS starring Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick, a litigator who returns to practicing the law after spending 13 years as a stay-at-home mom. I binge-watched the show some time back and found it to be well-written, with a great cast and great acting …

“The Good Wife” is an excellent CBS web TV show that is a spinoff and sequel to the equally excellent legal drama “The Good Wife”. The main character in the sequel is Diane Lockhart, played by Christine Baranski. Recommended viewing …

14 “Moby-Dick” captain : AHAB

Captain Ahab is the obsessed and far from friendly captain of the Pequod in Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick”. The role of Captain Ahab was played by Gregory Peck in the 1956 John Huston film adaptation. Patrick Stewart played Ahab in a 1998 miniseries in which Peck made another appearance, as Father Mapple.

17 Target of campaign finance laws : SUPER PAC (giving “paper” bag)

A political action committee (PAC) is a private group that works to influence the outcome of a particular election or group of elections. Any group becomes a PAC by law when it receives or spends more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing the outcome of an election. In 2010 the Supreme Court ruled that PACS that did not make direct contributions to candidates or parties could accept unlimited contributions. These “independent, expenditure-only committees” are commonly referred to as “super PACs”.

20 Himalayan of legend : THE YETI

The yeti, also known as “the abominable snowman”, is a beast of legend. “Yeti” is a Tibetan term, and the beast is fabled to live in the Himalayan regions of Nepal and Tibet. Our equivalent legend in North America is that of Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch. The study of animals whose existence have not yet been substantiated is called cryptozoology, and a cryptid is a creature or plant that isn’t recognized by the scientific community, but the existence of which has been suggested.

21 Jazz dance : STOMP

A “stomp” is a jazz composition with a driving rhythm and a fast tempo.

22 19th-century education reformer : HORACE MANN (giving “camera” bag)

Horace Mann was Massachusetts politician, and the first Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education. Mann made sweeping educational reforms in the state, with other states around the country adopting many of the policies he developed. Such was his influence that he is known by historians as the “Father of the Common School Movement”. And as an aside, Mann was brother-in-law to author Nathaniel Hawthorne.

31 Travels like a shark : SWIMS

Up until the 1500s, sharks were referred to by seamen as “sea dogs”. And that’s how we got the name “dogfish” for the family of sharks.

32 Chocolate-and-toffee bar : SKOR

Skor is a candy bar produced by Hershey’s. “Skor” is Swedish for “shoes”, and the candy bar’s wrapping features a crown that is identical to that found in the Swedish national emblem. What shoes have to do with candy, I don’t know …

33 __ vera : ALOE

Aloe vera has a number of alternate names that are descriptive of its efficacy as a medicine. ancient Egyptians knew it as the plant of immortality, and Native Americans called it the wand of heaven.

37 Short holiday? : XMAS

The abbreviation “Xmas” that is used for “Christmas” comes from the Greek letter chi (X), which is the first letter of the Greek word for “Christ” (“Χριστός”).

38 Bad reviews : PANS

To pan something is to criticize it harshly.

42 Hill helpers : AIDES

Washington D.C.’s designer Pierre L’Enfant chose the crest of a hill as the site for the future Congress House. He called the location “Jenkins Hill” and “Jenkins Heights”. Earlier records show the name as “New Troy”. Today we call it “Capitol Hill”.

46 “Gilmore Girls” matriarch : EMILY

“Gilmore Girls” is a comedy show that originally aired from 2000 to 2007 on the WB. The title characters are mother and daughter Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, played by Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel.

47 Spirals : HELIXES

The plural of “helix” is “helices” (and sometimes “helixes”).

52 Hampton Inn rival : RAMADA

The Ramada Inn hotel chain takes its name from the Spanish word for a shady resting place. A ramada is a shelter with a roof and no walls, mainly found in the American southwest. Nowadays a ramada can be temporary or permanent, but originally ramadas were makeshift shelters constructed by aboriginal Indians from branches or bushes.

56 Deux divided by two : UNE

In French, half of “deux” (two) is “un, une” (one).

57 TV drama that begins with the crash of Oceanic Flight 815 : LOST

In the TV show “Lost”, the plane that crashed was operated by Oceanic Airlines. The fictional airline Oceanic Airlines or Oceanic Airways turns up a lot on the big and small screen. Try to spot Oceanic in the movies “Executive Decision” and “For Love of the Game”, and in episodes of the TV shows “Castle”, “Chuck”, “Flipper”, “The Goldbergs” and “The X-Files”.

58 Philly team : SIXERS

The Philadelphia 76ers basketball team is one of the oldest franchises in the NBA. The “Sixers” were formed in 1946 as the Syracuse Nationals. The team moved to Philadelphia in 1963, and the name 76er was chosen in a fan contest, a name that honors the men who fought for the country’s independence in 1776.

59 Deux, across the Pyrenees : DOS

The Pyrénées is a mountain range that runs along the border between Spain and France. Nestled between the two countries, high in the mountains, is the lovely country of Andorra, an old haunt of my family during skiing season …

60 Callers’ links to specific depts. : EXTS

Extension (ext.)

Down

1 Support after a bad break? : CAST

Plaster made using gypsum is commonly referred to as plaster of Paris. The original plaster of Paris came from a large deposit of gypsum mined at Montmartre in Paris, hence the name.

3 Mocking remark : JAPE

“To jape” means “to joke or quip”. The exact origins of “jape” are unclear, but it does seem to come from Old French. In the mid-1600s, “to jape” was a slang term meaning “to have sex with”. No joke!

8 Barista’s decoration : LATTE ART

“Latte art” is the name given to the designs that can be drawn on the surface of coffee drinks. Some of those designs can be quite intricate.

A barista is a person who serves coffee in a coffee shop. “Barista” is Italian for “bartender”.

10 Plant swelling : EDEMA

Both animals and plants can suffer from edema, which is a swelling caused by excessive accumulation of fluid.

11 Wham-O summer lawn toy that needs water : SLIP ‘N SLIDE

Wham-O was founded in 1948, with the company’s first product being the Wham-O slingshot. Since then, Wham-O has market a string of hit toys including the Hula Hoop, Frisbee, Slip ‘N Slide, Silly String, Hacky Sack and Boogie Board.

12 Base __ : TEN

Our base-10 numeral system is also known as the decimal (sometimes “denary”) numeral system. Another common numeral system is base-2, which is also known as the binary system.

13 Pigs out (on), for short : ODS

Overdose (OD)

23 With skepticism : ASKANCE

To look askance is to look with suspicion, or to look with a side glance.

24 “It’s __ fault” : NO ONE’S

Well, it’s certainly not my fault …

25 Hindu religious leaders : SWAMIS

A swami is a religious teacher in the Hindu tradition. The word “swami” can also mean “husband” in the Bengali and Malay languages.

26 Medicine man in “The Princess Bride” : MIRACLE MAX

“The Princess Bride” is a novel by William Goldman written in 1973. Famously, the book was adapted into a 1987 film of the same name directed by Rob Reiner that has become a cult classic.

27 CPR providers : EMTS

An emergency medical technician (EMT) might administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

31 Risqué message : SEXT

Sexting (a portmanteau of “sex” and “texting”) is the sending of explicit dialog and images between cell phones. The term “sexting” was coined by the UK’s “Sunday Telegraph Magazine” in a 2005 article.

“Risqué” is a French word, the past participle of the verb “to risk”. So in English we use “risqué” to mean “racy”, but in French it means “risky”.

32 Lean-to relative : SHANTY

Our word “shanty” is used for a rough cabin. It comes from the Canadian French word “chantier”, which is a “lumberjack’s headquarters”.

33 J.Lo’s fiancé : A-ROD

Baseball player Alex Rodriguez, nicknamed “A-Rod”, broke a lot of records in his career, albeit under a shroud of controversy due to his use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs. When he signed a 10-year contract with the Texas Rangers for $252 million in 2000, it was the most lucrative contract in sports history. In 2007, Rodriguez signed an even more lucrative 10-year contract with the New York Yankees, worth $275 million. Rodriguez retired in 2016.

“J.Lo” is the nickname of singer and actress Jennifer Lopez. “J.Lo” is also the title of her second studio album, one released in 2001.

41 Twisted Sister frontman Dee : SNIDER

Dee Snider is the frontman from the heavy metal band Twisted Sister from Long Island, New York. Not my kind of music …

Twisted Sister was a heavy metal band from New Jersey that was active intermittently from 1976 through 2016. The band’s biggest hit is probably “We’re Not Gonna Take It” released in 1984.

42 Some green cards? : AMEXES

“Amex” is short for “American Express”, the name of the financial services company that is best known for its credit card, charge card and traveler’s check businesses. The company name is indicative of its original business. American Express was founded in 1850 in Buffalo, New York as an express mail service.

45 Animal whose full name is from the Greek for “nose-horned” : RHINO

There are five types of rhinoceros that survive today, with the smaller Javan Rhino being the most rare. The rhinoceros is probably the rarest large mammal on the planet, thanks to poaching. Hunters mainly prize the horn of the rhino as it is used in powdered form in traditional Chinese medicine. The name “rhinoceros” comes from the Greek “rhino-” meaning “nose” and “keras” meaning “horn”.

49 GameCube rival : XBOX

The Xbox line of video game consoles is made by Microsoft. The original Xbox platform was followed by Xbox 360 and more recently by Xbox One. Microsoft’s Xbox competes directly with Sony’s PlayStation and Nintendo’s Wii.

The Nintendo GameCube video game console was the successor to the Nintendo 64, and the predecessor to the Nintendo Wii.

51 LAPD ranks : SGTS

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.

52 TD scorers : RBS

Running back (RB)

53 Boxer Laila : ALI

Laila Ali is the daughter of the great Muhammad Ali and is a very capable boxer in her own right. Laila’s professional record is an impressive 24 wins, including 21 knockouts. Now retired, she never lost a fight, and nor did she ever draw. One of those victories was against Jackie Frazier-Lyde, daughter of her father’s nemesis Joe Frazier. Laila is not a bad dancer either, coming in third place in the fourth season of “Dancing with the Stars”.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 King canine : CUJO
5 “The Good Wife” and “The Good Fight” network : CBS
8 Isn’t honest with : LIES TO
14 “Moby-Dick” captain : AHAB
15 14-Across’ yes : AYE
16 In a fog : ADDLED
17 Target of campaign finance laws : SUPER PAC (giving “paper” bag)
19 Fast-food toy giveaways, typically : TIE-INS
20 Himalayan of legend : THE YETI
21 Jazz dance : STOMP
22 19th-century education reformer : HORACE MANN (giving “camera” bag)
25 Bit of election season ugliness : SMEAR
28 In order (to) : SO AS
29 Cry bitterly : SOB
31 Travels like a shark : SWIMS
32 Chocolate-and-toffee bar : SKOR
33 __ vera : ALOE
34 Like a momentous event : EARTH-SHATTERING (giving “trash” bag)
37 Short holiday? : XMAS
38 Bad reviews : PANS
39 Network connections : NODES
40 Facial spasm : TIC
41 Set to the same time, say : SYNC
42 Hill helpers : AIDES
43 Dawg and bae, e.g. : SLANG TERMS (giving “garment” bag)
46 “Gilmore Girls” matriarch : EMILY
47 Spirals : HELIXES
52 Hampton Inn rival : RAMADA
54 Some of this, some of that … and a hint to the circled squares : MIXED BAG
55 Flares up : BLAZES
56 Deux divided by two : UNE
57 TV drama that begins with the crash of Oceanic Flight 815 : LOST
58 Philly team : SIXERS
59 Deux, across the Pyrenees : DOS
60 Callers’ links to specific depts. : EXTS

Down

1 Support after a bad break? : CAST
2 “Nope” : UH-UH
3 Mocking remark : JAPE
4 Follow the leader : OBEY
5 Hostage taker : CAPTOR
6 Via plane : BY AIR
7 “Just a __!” : SEC
8 Barista’s decoration : LATTE ART
9 They’re not meant literally : IDIOMS
10 Plant swelling : EDEMA
11 Wham-O summer lawn toy that needs water : SLIP ‘N SLIDE
12 Base __ : TEN
13 Pigs out (on), for short : ODS
18 Go over once more : REHASH
21 Hurries : SCOOTS
23 With skepticism : ASKANCE
24 “It’s __ fault” : NO ONE’S
25 Hindu religious leaders : SWAMIS
26 Medicine man in “The Princess Bride” : MIRACLE MAX
27 CPR providers : EMTS
30 Asks for a treat, dog-style : BEGS
31 Risqué message : SEXT
32 Lean-to relative : SHANTY
33 J.Lo’s fiancé : A-ROD
35 Sailor’s telescope : SPYGLASS
36 Strand, as in “57-Across” : ENISLE
41 Twisted Sister frontman Dee : SNIDER
42 Some green cards? : AMEXES
44 Elicit oohs and aahs : AMAZE
45 Animal whose full name is from the Greek for “nose-horned” : RHINO
48 Not doing much : IDLE
49 GameCube rival : XBOX
50 Dawn direction : EAST
51 LAPD ranks : SGTS
52 TD scorers : RBS
53 Boxer Laila : ALI
54 Sludge : MUD