LA Times Crossword Answers 13 Jul 15, Monday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Gail Grabowski & Bruce Venzke
THEME: Opening Words … each of today’s themed answers ends with a synonym of OPENING:

59A. Introductory remarks … and, in a different sense, what the ends of 20-, 35- and 42-Across are OPENING WORDS

20A. Place for a brewski WATERING HOLE
35A. No longer valid NULL AND VOID
42A. Imbalance of income distribution ECONOMIC GAP

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 6m 15s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

5. Three-sided sails JIBS
A jib is a triangular sail that is set at the bow of a sailboat.

15. Middle layer of the eye UVEA
The uvea is the middle of the three layers that make up the eyeball.

16. Main blood vessel AORTA
The aorta originates in the heart and extends down into the abdomen. It is the largest artery in the body.

20. Place for a brewski WATERING HOLE
“Brewski” and “suds” are slang terms for “beer”.

23. Wood decay DRY ROT
Dry rot is a fungal infection that causes wood to decay as the fungus digest those parts of the wood giving it strength and structure. Despite the name, dry rot does indeed require the presence of some moisture to thrive. Wet rot is a similar condition, but one requiring a higher moisture content.

25. Scientist Wernher __ Braun VON
Wernher von Braun was a renowned scientist who is credited with inventing the V-2 rocket for Nazi Germany during WWII and the Saturn V rocket for the US during the Space Race. While living in his native Germany, von Braun was a member of the Nazi Party, and later a member of the SS. AS Germany’s defeat became inevitable, von Braun and his team managed to arrange relocation to Austria where in order to surrender to the Americans and avoid capture by the Russians. The scientists were then relocated to the US as part of an OSS program called Operation Paperclip, which ultimately transferred over 1,500 scientists from Germany and the rest of occupied Europe just after WWII. The V-2 team were settled eventually in Huntsville, Alabama where von Braun was to live and work for the next twenty years.

28. Ms. enclosure SASE
An editor (ed.) might receive a manuscript (MS) with a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE).

30. Affluent Los Angeles district ENCINO
Encino is a district in the City of Los Angeles on the north slope of the Santa Monica Mountains. The area takes its name from a historic parcel of land called Rancho Los Encinos (Ranch of the Evergreens).

32. Bygone intl. carrier TWA
Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a big carrier in the US, but was perhaps even more recognized for its extensive presence in Europe and the Middle East. For many years, especially after the collapse of Pan-Am, TWA was considered the unofficial flag carrier for the US. The company started in 1930, the product of a forced merger of Transcontinental Air Transport and Western Air Express. The Transcontinental and Western Air that resulted (the original meaning of the acronym TWA) was what the Postmaster General wanted, a bigger airline to which the Postal Service could award airmail contracts.

38. “The __ of the Ancient Mariner” RIME
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is an epic poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge first published in 1798. The publication of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is said to mark the beginning of the Romantic period of British literature.

40. Linden or Holbrook HAL
The actor and musician Hal Linden is best known for playing the title role in the sitcom “Barney Miller” in the seventies and eighties. Linden started his entertainment career as big band musician and singer. After achieving success as an actor, he decided to revive his career in music and has toured with his cabaret act since the early 1980s. Linden plays the clarinet and sings with backing from a big band.

51. Confucian “path” TAO
The Chinese character “tao” translates as “path”, but the concept of Tao signifies the true nature of the world.

The sayings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius are collected in a work called “The Analects” or “Linyu”. It wasn’t Confucius who wrote down his thoughts though, but rather his pupils, some 40 or so years after his death in 479 BC.

52. Northern Nevada county or its seat ELKO
The city of Elko, Nevada came into being in 1868 as a settlement built around the eastern end of a railway line that was constructed from California and that was destined for Utah. When that section of the line was completed, the construction crews moved on towards the Nevada/Utah border, and the settlement was left behind to eventually form the city of Elko

61. Insurance giant AETNA
When the health care management and insurance company known as Aetna was founded, the name was chosen to evoke images of Mt. Etna, the volcano in Italy.

64. Baseball family name ALOU
Jesus Alou played major league baseball, as did his brothers Matty and Felipe, and as does Felipe’s son Moises.

65. “The Scarlet Letter” letter RED A
The main character in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel “The Scarlet Letter” is Hester Prynne. When Prynne is convicted by her puritanical neighbors of the crime of adultery, she is forced to wear a scarlet “A” (for “adultery”) on her clothing for the rest of her life, hence the novel’s title, “The Scarlet Letter”.

66. ’70s New York congresswoman Bella ABZUG
Bella Abzug was one of the leader’s of the Women’s Movement that founded the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971. Abzug was elected to the US Congress the same year, helped along by a famous campaign slogan “This woman’s place is in the House – the House of Representatives”.

68. Qatari bigwig EMIR
Qatar is a sovereign state in the Middle East occupying the Qatar Peninsula, itself located in the Arabian Peninsula. Qatar lies on the Persian Gulf and shares one land border, with Saudi Arabia to the south. Qatar has more oil and gas reserves per capita of population than any other country in the world. In 2010, Qatar had the fastest growing economy in the world, driven by the petrochemical industry.

Down
2. __ Module: moon lander LUNAR
Three countries have sent lunar rovers to the Moon. Famously, the Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle (aka “moon buggy”) carried American astronauts across the Moon’s surface, on the last three missions of the Apollo program in the early seventies. Before the landing of the Apollo vehicles, the Soviet Union sent two unmanned, remote-controlled rovers to the Moon, called Lunokhod 1 & 2. Years later, in 2013, the Chinese landed a lunar rover called Yutu (or “Jade Rabbit”.

4. Fragrant compounds ESTERS
Esters are very common chemicals. The smaller, low-molecular weight esters are usually pleasant smelling and are often found in perfumes. At the other end of the scale, the higher-molecular weight nitroglycerin is a nitrate ester and is very explosive, and polyester is a huge molecule and is a type of plastic. Fats and oils found in nature are fatty acid esters of glycerol.

5. Japanese self-defense method JUJITSU
Jujitsu (also “jiujitsu”) is a group of martial arts associated with Japan. The name “jujitsu” comes from “ju” meaning “gentle” and “jitsu” meaning “technique”. The name was chosen to represent the principle of using the opponent’s force against himself, rather than relying on one’s own strength.

6. Netman Lendl IVAN
Ivan Lendl is a former professional tennis player from Czechoslovakia. Lendl appeared in eight consecutive US Open finals in the eighties, a record that stands to this day.

7. Antarctic floaters BERGS
An iceberg is a large piece of freshwater ice that is floating freely after having broken off (“calved”) from a glacier or ice shelf. Our use of “iceberg” comes from the Dutch word for the same phenomenon “ijsberg”, which translates literally as “ice mountain”.

8. Youngest Obama SASHA
Sasha is the younger of the two Obama children, born in 2001. She is the youngest child to reside in the White House since John F. Kennedy, Jr. moved in with his parents as a small infant. Sasha’s Secret Service codename is “Rosebud”, and her older sister Malia has the codename “Radiance”.

9. Caboose’s place TAIL END
The word “caboose” originally came from Middle Dutch and was the word for a ship’s galley. When the last car in a train in North America was given a stove for the comfort of the crew, it took on the name “caboose”. The term has also become slang for a person’s backside.

11. Golden-yrs. income source IRA
Individual Retirement Account (IRA)

12. “Mars Attacks!” enemies, for short ETS
“Mars Attacks!” is a 1996 science fiction-comedy movie directed by Tim Burton.The film parodies sci-fi B movies and has an impressive ensemble cast that includes Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Sarah Jessica Parker, Martin Short, Natalie Portman, Rod Steiger, Michael J. Fox and Tom Jones. The film is all about Martians invading Earth, and I watched it because of the cast. I hated it …

13. Notes before sols FAS
The solfa syllables are, in order: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la & ti.

21. Reddish equine ROAN
A roan horse has an even mixture of white and colored hairs on the body with the head, lower legs, mane and tail having a more solid color.

22. Where baguettes bake OVEN
“Baguette” is the French word for “wand, baton” as in “baguette magique” (magic wand). The term was first applied to the long stick of bread with a crisp crust in the 1920s.

25. String quartet member VIOLA
A standard string quartet is made up of two violins, a viola and a cello. A string quintet consists of a standard string quartet with the addition of a fifth instrument, usually a second viola or cello.

26. Vidalia veggie ONION
Vidalia onions are sweet onions grown most famously in and around Vidalia, Georgia, where they’ve been growing since the 1930s. That area has soil which is relatively low in sulfur, which leads to the unusually sweet taste. The Vidalia onion has been the official state vegetable of Georgia since 1990.

29. Pre-college, for short ELHI
“Elhi” is an informal word used to describe anything related to schooling from grades 1 through 12, i.e. elementary through high school.

31. Walgreens rival CVS
The name of the drugstore chain CVS once stood for Consumer Value Stores, although these days the company uses the acronym to denote Convenience, Value and Service.

Walgreens is the largest chain of drugstores in the United States, with over 7,500 retail outlets. The company is named for the owner of the first store and founder of the chain, Charles R. Walgreen.

33. Modern witch’s religion WICCA
Wicca is a relatively new phenomenon, a Neopagan religion that developed in the twentieth century. A follower of Wicca is called a Wiccan or a Witch.

34. BP merger partner AMOCO
Amoco is an abbreviation for “American Oil Company”, which was acquired by BP in 1998 Amoco was the first oil company to introduce gasoline tanker trucks and drive-through filling stations. I wonder did they know what they were starting …?

BP is an oil and gas company headquartered in London, UK. BP started out as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1909 with the remit of exploiting oil discovered in Iran. The company name was changed to British Petroleum in 1954, and today the name used is simply “BP”.

36. Fond du __, Wisconsin LAC
“Fond du lac” is French and translates as “bottom of the lake”, an apt name for the city of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin located at the foot of Lake Winnebago. If you like to play the lottery, you might want to stop off in Fond du Lac as there is a stretch of South Main Street called “Miracle Mile”. Back in 1993, someone bought a ticket there and won $100 million. Then in 2006, another store sold a ticket that won $209 million. These things always come in threes, so buy your tickets now …

39. Tonsillitis-treating MD ENT
Ear, Nose and Throat specialist (ENT)

The palatine tonsils are located at the back of the human throat. The exact role that tonsils play isn’t completely understood, but it is known that they are in the first line of defense in the body’s immune system. They provide some level of protection against pathogens that are ingested and inhaled.

The suffix “-itis” is used to denote inflammation, as in laryngitis (inflammation of the larynx), tonsillitis (inflammation of the tonsils) and sinusitis (inflammation of the sinuses).

43. Recommended résumé length ONE PAGE
A résumé is a summary of a person’s job experience and education and is used as a tool by a job seeker. In many countries, a résumé is equivalent to a curriculum vitae. “Résumé” is the French word for “summary”.

44. Burrowing animal MOLE
One of the more commonly known facts about my native Ireland is that there are no snakes in the country. A less known fact is that there are no moles either. There are plenty of snakes and moles in Britain, just a few miles away. Over a pint we tend to give the credit to Saint Patrick, but the last ice age is more likely the responsible party …

53. Jack in a deck KNAVE
We’ve been using “knave” to mean a cad since about 1200, and as an alternative name for the jack in a deck of cards since the mid-1500s. “Knave” comes from the Old English word “cnafa”, a “boy, male servant”.

54. Crude carrier OILER
An “oiler” is an oil tanker, an ocean-going vessel used to transport crude oil.

56. Krispy __: doughnut chain KREME
The Krispy Kreme chain of doughnut stores was founded in 1937 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The company introduced the Whole Wheat Glazed doughnut in 2007, great for folks looking to eat a healthy diet, I am sure …

57. Actor Redmayne of “The Theory of Everything” EDDIE
English actor Eddie Redmayne played mainly supporting roles, such as Marius Pontmercy in 2012’s “Les Misérables”, until he wowed the world starring as Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything”. Fans of the fantasy genre might in interested to hear that Redmayne is slated to star as Newt Scamander in the Harry Potter spinoff “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”.

58. Old Russian rulers TSARS
The term czar (also tsar) is a Slavic word that was first used as a title by Simeon I of Bulgaria in 913 AD. “Czar” is derived from the word “Caesar”, which was synonymous with “emperor” at that time.

60. Gritty film genre NOIR
The expression “film noir” has French origins, but only in that it was coined by a French critic in describing a style of Hollywood film. The term, meaning “black film” in French, was first used by Nino Frank in 1946. Film noir often applies to a movie with a melodramatic plot and a private eye or detective at its center. Good examples would be “The Big Sleep” and “D.O.A”.

61. Duracell size AAA
Duracell is a brand of batteries made today by Procter & Gamble. “Duracell” is a portmanteau of “durable” and “cell”.

63. Shih __: Tibetan dog TZU
The Shih Tzu is one of the oldest breeds of dog, a breed that originated in China. Shih Tzus have long hairy coats but they don’t shed.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Crossword hint CLUE
5. Three-sided sails JIBS
9. Crook THIEF
14. Home plate crossings RUNS
15. Middle layer of the eye UVEA
16. Main blood vessel AORTA
17. “Put a lid __!” ON IT
18. Pickle containers JARS
19. “No bid,” in bridge I PASS
20. Place for a brewski WATERING HOLE
23. Wood decay DRY ROT
24. Keep in reserve SAVE
25. Scientist Wernher __ Braun VON
28. Ms. enclosure SASE
30. Affluent Los Angeles district ENCINO
32. Bygone intl. carrier TWA
35. No longer valid NULL AND VOID
38. “The __ of the Ancient Mariner” RIME
40. Linden or Holbrook HAL
41. Opening for a coin SLOT
42. Imbalance of income distribution ECONOMIC GAP
47. “That’s __-brainer” A NO
48. Credit card ID ACCT NO
49. Feels poorly AILS
51. Confucian “path” TAO
52. Northern Nevada county or its seat ELKO
55. Launched capsule ROCKET
59. Introductory remarks … and, in a different sense, what the ends of 20-, 35- and 42-Across are OPENING WORDS
61. Insurance giant AETNA
64. Baseball family name ALOU
65. “The Scarlet Letter” letter RED A
66. ’70s New York congresswoman Bella ABZUG
67. Ore layer VEIN
68. Qatari bigwig EMIR
69. Rough up ABUSE
70. Plays the wrong golf ball, say ERRS
71. Witnesses SEES

Down
1. Two : company :: three : __ CROWD
2. __ Module: moon lander LUNAR
3. Togetherness UNITY
4. Fragrant compounds ESTERS
5. Japanese self-defense method JUJITSU
6. Netman Lendl IVAN
7. Antarctic floaters BERGS
8. Youngest Obama SASHA
9. Caboose’s place TAIL END
10. Cross one’s fingers HOPE
11. Golden-yrs. income source IRA
12. “Mars Attacks!” enemies, for short ETS
13. Notes before sols FAS
21. Reddish equine ROAN
22. Where baguettes bake OVEN
25. String quartet member VIOLA
26. Vidalia veggie ONION
27. Acknowledge with a head gesture NOD TO
29. Pre-college, for short ELHI
31. Walgreens rival CVS
32. Reward for a pet trick TREAT
33. Modern witch’s religion WICCA
34. BP merger partner AMOCO
36. Fond du __, Wisconsin LAC
37. Pond organism ALGA
39. Tonsillitis-treating MD ENT
43. Recommended résumé length ONE PAGE
44. Burrowing animal MOLE
45. Pellet shooters AIR GUNS
46. Work the fields PLOW
50. Crosses home plate SCORES
53. Jack in a deck KNAVE
54. Crude carrier OILER
56. Krispy __: doughnut chain KREME
57. Actor Redmayne of “The Theory of Everything” EDDIE
58. Old Russian rulers TSARS
59. Burden ONUS
60. Gritty film genre NOIR
61. Duracell size AAA
62. Flow back EBB
63. Shih __: Tibetan dog TZU

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14 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword Answers 13 Jul 15, Monday”

  1. Easy, nice puzzle, completed very quickly (for me). 2 dumb errors, though, one involving the Natick clue at 52-Across (though NOT a Natick b/c of 54-Down), the other a spelling error.

    Need to be getting these things eliminated, somehow.

  2. As Rhoda would say, "Guten Morgenstern." Waiting to catch a plane to Boston –> Hanover, NH for 3 days at Dartmouth. ENCINO is a rich area of L.A.? Huh? RPV, Bel-Air, Mally-boo get no love? Jeez. Weak stuff like ACCTNO is at last balanced by Balla ABZUG. Perhaps there's some elegance in having AORTA and VEIN in the same grid. I leave the final word on 20A to Ted: Brewskies. Have a good week, all!

  3. @Glenn – ELKO is one of those favorite crossword puzzle words. I keep my own list of them. Reno is one, also, simply because it also has as many vowels as consonants. After a while, you expect them.

    I had "staff" before THIEF because I misinterpreted the meaning of "crook."
    Never noticed the theme, which is a common problem of mine.

    @Especial dislike ACCTNO crossing ENT, that is, abbrevs crossing. Nice word, Morgenstern, meaning morning star. Loved Bella ABZUG. Wish we still had her around.

  4. A little tricky for a Monday. WICCA messed me up as did ABSUG/TSU. Quick..yes; accurate…not so much.

    Barney Miller – hands down one of my favorite shows of all time.

    I like the Wernher Von Bruan reference today as New Horizons passes by Pluto tomorrow at about 32,000 mph in what should be a huge day for that group. It launched 9 years ago and has travled 3 billion miles to get there. In fact, Pluto was still a planet when it started out.

    There is an amazing account of what happened to the craft just last weekend (Washington Post maybe??) – New Horizon's own Apollo 13 moment. After all this time and distance, the craft just shut itself off when it detected a problem. When the craft goes into this mode, it automatically starts spinning as that makes diagnosis easier. However, it renders photos/videos worthless. So the entire mission was about to unravel just a few days away from its completion after a 9 year wait!!

    The mission crew had to do a bunch of diagnostics and reboot the computer systems in order to fix the issue – a problem complicated by the fact that it takes about 4.5 hours for a signal to go to or from New Horizons. To put that in perspective, it takes about a second for a signal to reach the moon.

    Big day for human exploration coming up tomorrow morning if you're interested in such things –

    Best –

  5. This was one of those puzzles that suck you in, then when you're hooked, they give you a Friday!
    Matt

  6. Nice and Easy puzzle. Finished in record time. ( Now, I feel cheated ….) Bill, your blog was very nice and entertaining – but, for the first time, I didn't learn anything new. I must be reading your blogs for a long time now – so now I am familiar with all your comments.

    Jeff, very interesting about the Pluto explorer. Must read up more on that. It takes 4 – 5 hours to send a command to the spacecraft ? It takes 8 years for a rubber tree to start producing, 9 years for a mango tree and 16 years for a sandalwood tree to yeild anything. It took only 17 hours for the ECU to come to an agreement on the Greek deal. ( the Agreek-ment ). I hope it will last for another 50 years.

    Have a nice day, all.

  7. Indeed it was the Washington Post – an article by Joel Achenbach from 3 days ago. This gives a pretty good summary of what happened. They also seem to be following the mission itself better than other sources –

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/the-inside-story-of-new-horizons-apollo-13-moment-on-its-way-to-pluto/2015/07/10/fb361248-25ad-11e5-b72c-2b7d516e1e0e_story.html?wprss=rss_homepage

    I wish I knew better how to put a link onto the blog, but there it is cut and pasted

  8. @Vidwan – yes it's amazing. 3,000,000,000 miles at the speed of light – 186,000 miles per second = 16,129 seconds = 268 minutes = 4.48 hours. 3 billion miles is quite a distance by earthly standards

    That's just to send the signal. It's another 4.48 hours for the response to arrive back to earth –

  9. Wow! 3 billion miles travel to take a quick look at a former planet that is only 1500 miles diameter, or roughly half the land distance of the United States. Let's hope some significant insights on the Universe can be achieved. Nine years ago we could fund a project like this, probably not today.

  10. Doesn't the ROCKET launch the capsule?
    VIOLA is the instrument, not the member of the string quartet.
    ACCT NO?

  11. Jeff, thank you for your insightful knowledge, on the New Horizons' aircraft or er, spacecraft, which I took so cavalierly.

    For others who may be interested The inside story of New Horizons' "Apollo 13" moment on its way to Pluto …

    Jeff, you can easily learn how to capture a page or a URL and put it in hypertext.

    There must be many many pages where they can teach you, literally spoon feed you. ( I am such a novice dork in computerese myself -). If you go to the LA Crossword Corner blog website and see all the menus on the Right hand side there will be explicit directions on how to do this simple procedure. Practice makes perfect.

    Cheerio.

  12. In fact there is a wonderful GOOGLE DOODLE, Today, showing a simulated 'fly by' around Pluto …..

    And if you click on the doodle, it leads to a wonderful article on WIRED magazine.

    My hats off to those wonderful and brilliant NASA people WHO THOUGHT OF EVERYTHING THAT COULD GO WRONG …. AND MORE.

    Its truly their 'baby'.

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