LA Times Crossword Answers 3 Jul 14, Thursday

Share today’s solution with a friend:
FacebookTwitterGoogleEmail

CROSSWORD SETTER: Greg Johnson
THEME: US Postal Codes … each of today’s themed answers is written using a combination of 2-letter abbreviations used for state names by the US Postal Service:

14A. *Approach COME NEAR (CO ME NE AR)
16A. *Overly ornate FLORID (FL OR ID)
24A. *Messing with one’s head MIND GAME (MI ND GA ME)
49A. *Tom Wolfe coinage for the 1970s “ME” DECADE (ME DE CA DE)
62A. *Drink of the gods NECTAR (NE CT AR)
63A. *Simple forecasting aid WIND VANE (WI ND VA NE)
5D. *Sell weaponry DEAL ARMS (DE AL AR MS)
39D. *Appalachian resource COAL MINE (CO AL MI NE)

36A. What the answers to starred clues are comprised of US POSTAL CODES

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 8m 11s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

5. Hip-hop’s Run-__ DMC
Run-D.M.C. was a hip hop group from Queens, New York. The trio took its name from two of the group’s members: Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels.

14. *Approach COME NEAR (CO ME NE AR)

CO – Colorado
ME – Maine
NE – Nebraska
AR – Arkansas

16. *Overly ornate FLORID (FL OR ID)

FL – Florida
OR – Oregon
ID – Idaho

18. Provoke FOMENT
To foment is to promote the growth of.

19. Sports drink suffix -ADE
Gatorade was developed at the University of Florida by a team of researchers at the request of the school’s football team. And so, Gatorade is named after the Gators football team.

20. Healing aid, briefly TLC
Tender loving care (TLC)

21. Some August babies LEOS
Leo is the fifth astrological sign of the Zodiac. People born from July 13 to August 23 are Leos.

22. Cyrus the Great’s domain PERSIA
Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Persian Empire and ruled from 559BC to 530BC. Some say that Cyrus’s legacy is that he established the concept of an empire that was ruled centrally, but which operated for the welfare and benefit of its subjects.

24. *Messing with one’s head MIND GAME (MI ND GA ME)

MI – Michigan
ND – North Dakota
GA – Georgia
ME – Maine

28. Right in an atlas EAST
The famous Flemish geographer Gerardus Mercator published his first collection of maps in 1578. Mercator’s collection contained a frontispiece with an image of Atlas the Titan from Greek mythology holding up the world on his shoulders. That image gave us our term “atlas”.

29. Author Dahl ROALD
Roald Dahl’s name is Norwegian. Dahl’s parents were from Norway, although Dahl himself was Welsh. Dahl became one of the most successful authors of the twentieth century. Two of his most famous titles are “James and the Giant Peach” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.

32. High-tech debut of 1981 IBM PC
The original IBM Personal Computer is model number 5150, which was introduced to the world on August 12, 1981. The term “personal computer” was already in use, but the success of the IBM 5150 led to the term “PC” being used for all computer products compatible with the IBM platform.

36. What the answers to starred clues are comprised of US POSTAL CODES
The official “code’ used by the US Postal Service (USPS) is the ZIP Code, introduced in 1963. The USPS also has a list of “official” abbreviations used in addresses. There are three classes of abbreviation:

– States (e.g. AL for Alabama, AK for Alaska)
– Street Suffixes (e.g. AVE for Avenue, ST for Street)
– Secondary Units (e.g. APT for Apartment, BLDG for Building)

40. Dressing vessel CRUET
A cruet is a small glass bottle for holding a condiment or perhaps a dressing. The word “cruet” comes from the Old French word for an earthen pot.

42. Minor concern, maybe AGE
A minor is a person under the age that demarcates childhood from adulthood.

49. *Tom Wolfe coinage for the 1970s “ME” DECADE (ME DE CA DE)

ME – Maine
DE – Delaware
CA – California
DE – Delaware

The term “‘Me’ Decade” was applied to the 1970s by novelist Tom Wolfe. His point was that the seventies was an era for the individual which compared starkly with the communal focus of the sixties, the hippy age.

52. “60 Minutes” first name LESLEY
Lesley Stahl has worked on “60 Minutes” since 1991. She is married to author “Aaron Latham”. As a journalist, it was Latham who wrote the article that inspired the movie “Urban Cowboy”.

55. Minute measures: Abbr. CMS
Centimeters (cms.)

56. Rehab concern, familiarly DTS
The episodes of delirium that can accompany withdrawal from alcohol are called Delirium Tremens (the DTs). The literal translation of this Latin phrase is “trembling madness”.

62. *Drink of the gods NECTAR (NE CT AR)

NE – Nebraska
CT – Connecticut
AR – Arkansas

63. *Simple forecasting aid WIND VANE (WI ND VA NE)

WI – Wisconsin
ND – North Dakota
VA – Virginia
NE – Nebraska

64. Eucharist plates PATENS
The paten and chalice hold a special place in many Christian services. The paten is the plate that holds the bread and the chalice the wine, used to represent the body and blood of Christ.

65. Suffix for Brooklyn or Manhattan -ITE
The New York City borough of Brooklyn used to be its own city, but was annexed by its larger neighbor in 1989. Brooklyn takes its name from the original village that was settled by the Dutch, which they called Breuckelen. The village in turn took its name from the town of Breukelen back in the Netherlands.

The island we know as Manhattan was inhabited by the Lenape Indians when the first Europeans explorers arrived in the area. According to the logbook of one of the officers on explorer Henry Hudson’s yacht, the island was called “Manna-hata” in the local language, from which the modern name derives.

Down
3. Earthy colors UMBERS
Umber is an earthy, brown shade, and originally described a pigment made from earth found in Umbria, the region in central Italy. Similarly, the shade of “sienna” was originally a pigment made from earth found around Siena in Tuscany.

4. Angela Merkel’s country: Abbr. GER
The formidable politician Angela Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany, the country’s head of state. Merkel is the first female German Chancellor and when she chaired the G8 in 2007 she became only the second woman to do so, after the UK’s Margaret Thatcher. Merkel grew up in East Germany under Communist rule.

5. *Sell weaponry DEAL ARMS (DE AL AR MS)

DE – Delaware
AL – Alabama
AR – Arkansas
MS – Mississippi

6. Like the days of the week, in Span. MASC
In Spanish (Span.), the days of the week are masculine (masc.) nouns. Unlike in English, the days of the week in Spanish are not capitalized when used in the middle of a sentence:

lunes – Monday
martes – Tuesday
miércoles – Wednesday
jueves – Thursday
viernes – Friday
sábado – Saturday
domingo – Sunday

7. Old PC component CRT
Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)

10. Asian menu assurance NO MSG
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the sodium salt of a naturally-occurring,non-essential amino acid called glutamic acid. It is used widely as a flavor enhancer, particularly in many Asian cuisines. Whether or not it is harmful seems to be still under debate. I say that something produced in a “test tube” shouldn’t be in our food …

13. D.C. summer setting EDT
Eastern daylight savings time (EDT)

15. “The Little Red Hen” denial NOT I
“The Little Red Hen” is an old folk tale, probably from Russia. In the story, the little red hen finds a grain of wheat and asks for help to plant it. “Not I” is the response she gets, repeatedly. She does the work herself, eventually baking bread from the harvested grain. She asks for help in eating the bread, and gets lots of volunteers. But, the hen decides to save the bread for herself and her chicks, seeing as no one would help her plant the wheat in the first place.

21. Short, for short LIL
“Lil” is a little word that’s short for “little”.

23. Michael of R.E.M. STIPE
Michael Stipe was the lead vocalist for the band R.E.M. that was active from 1980 through 2011.

27. Major TV logo EYE
CBS introduced its “eye” logo in 1951.

33. AI game competitor BOT
A bot is computer program that is designed to imitate human behavior. It might “crawl” around the Web doing searches for example, or it might participate in discussions in chat rooms by giving pre-programmed responses. It might also act as a competitor in a computer game.

Artificial intelligence (AI)

38. Housing plan unit LOT
The use of the term “lot” to mean “plot of land” originated in the 1600s. The term comes from the notion of “lots” in an auction, a group of items or parcels of land auctioned off in one piece.

39. *Appalachian resource COAL MINE (CO AL MI NE)

CO – Colorado
AL – Alabama
MI – Michigan

The Appalachian Mountains in the east of North America once had elevations that rivalled the Rocky Mountains as well as the Alps in Europe. Those heights have been eroded away substantially over the 480 million year since the range was formed. “Appalachian” comes from the name “Apalchen” of a Native American village near present-day Tallahassee, Florida that explorers encountered in 1528. The village’s name was applied to the mountains by Spanish cartographers in 1540.

43. Half-goat creatures of myth SATYRS
The satyrs of Greek mythology came with a very high sex drive. They are the “rude” male subjects drawn on the side of old Greek vases. The nubile maidens known as nymphs were often the object of attention for the satyrs.

51. Late-night host O’Brien CONAN
Before Conan O’Brien came to fame as a late night talk show host he was a writer. He wrote for both “Saturday Night Live” and “The Simpsons”.

53. Business sign abbr. ESTD
Established (estd.)

55. IOU CHIT
A chit is a note or a short letter. The term tends to be used these days in the sense of an amount owed (as in a poker game). The word used to be “chitty”, which is now obsolete but was closer to the original Hindi term. I feel a tad obsolete myself because when we are at school we would be excused class if we had a “chitty”.

57. Econ. yardstick GNP
A country’s Gross National Product (GNP) is the value of all services and products produced by its residents in a particular year. GNP includes all production wherever it is in the world, as long as the business is owned by residents of the country concerned. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is different, and is the value of all services and goods produced within the borders of the country for that year.

58. “In Dreams” actor Stephen REA
Stephen Rea is an actor from Belfast in Northern Ireland. Rea’s big break in movies came with his role in the 1992 film “The Crying Game”, a role for which he was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar.

“In Dreams” is a 1999 thriller film directed by the great Neil Jordan. The movie features Annette Bening as a suburban housewife who develops a psychic connection with a serial killer who murdered her own daughter. I haven’t seen this one …

60. Doughboy’s conflict, briefly WWI
The American soldiers that headed overseas during WWI wear often known as “doughboys”. The term had been used as early as the 1840s and persisted till WWII, when it was quickly replaced by “GI”. There are a number of theories about the origins of “doughboy”, but the exact etymology isn’t too clear.

61. Actress Mendes EVA
I best know the actress Eva Mendes as the female lead in the movie “Hitch”, opposite Will Smith. Mendes was known off the screen for dating actor Ryan Gosling from 2011 to 2013.

Share today’s solution with a friend:
FacebookTwitterGoogleEmail

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Just the right amount of tight SNUG
5. Hip-hop’s Run-__ DMC
8. Significant OF NOTE
14. *Approach COME NEAR (CO ME NE AR)
16. *Overly ornate FLORID (FL OR ID)
17. Beef at the dinner table RIB ROAST
18. Provoke FOMENT
19. Sports drink suffix -ADE
20. Healing aid, briefly TLC
21. Some August babies LEOS
22. Cyrus the Great’s domain PERSIA
24. *Messing with one’s head MIND GAME (MI ND GA ME)
28. Right in an atlas EAST
29. Author Dahl ROALD
31. Cease, with “off” LAY
32. High-tech debut of 1981 IBM PC
34. Butcher’s offering T-BONE
36. What the answers to starred clues are comprised of US POSTAL CODES
40. Dressing vessel CRUET
41. “Oh, yeah!” BOOYA!
42. Minor concern, maybe AGE
43. In a way, informally SORTA
45. Cries of pain YOWS
49. *Tom Wolfe coinage for the 1970s “ME” DECADE (ME DE CA DE)
52. “60 Minutes” first name LESLEY
54. Choice usually made secretly VOTE
55. Minute measures: Abbr. CMS
56. Rehab concern, familiarly DTS
57. Like old videos GRAINY
60. Zealous to the extreme WHITE-HOT
62. *Drink of the gods NECTAR (NE CT AR)
63. *Simple forecasting aid WIND VANE (WI ND VA NE)
64. Eucharist plates PATENS
65. Suffix for Brooklyn or Manhattan -ITE
66. “Lemme __!” AT ‘EM

Down
1. Tough spot SCRAPE
2. “I’m stumped” NO IDEA
3. Earthy colors UMBERS
4. Angela Merkel’s country: Abbr. GER
5. *Sell weaponry DEAL ARMS (DE AL AR MS)
6. Like the days of the week, in Span. MASC
7. Old PC component CRT
8. Transgress OFFEND
9. __ insurance FLOOD
10. Asian menu assurance NO MSG
11. Gold or silver source ORE
12. Pie holder TIN
13. D.C. summer setting EDT
15. “The Little Red Hen” denial NOT I
21. Short, for short LIL
23. Michael of R.E.M. STIPE
24. Gruesome MACABRE
25. Hand lotion ingredient ALOE
26. __ best friend MAN’S
27. Major TV logo EYE
30. Go (for) OPT
33. AI game competitor BOT
34. Play (with) TOY
35. Annual celebrations, casually B’DAYS
36. Impulse URGE
37. Took to court SUED
38. Housing plan unit LOT
39. *Appalachian resource COAL MINE (CO AL MI NE)
40. Rotating piece CAM
43. Half-goat creatures of myth SATYRS
44. Lines of praise ODE
46. Dated OLD-HAT
47. Sloppy kiss WET ONE
48. Nervous __ SYSTEM
50. Cybernotice for a party E-VITE
51. Late-night host O’Brien CONAN
53. Business sign abbr. ESTD
55. IOU CHIT
57. Econ. yardstick GNP
58. “In Dreams” actor Stephen REA
59. Fake being ACT
60. Doughboy’s conflict, briefly WWI
61. Actress Mendes EVA

Return to top of page