LA Times Crossword Answers 3 Aug 2017, Thursday










Constructed by: Samuel A. Donaldson

Edited by: Rich Norris

Quicklink to a complete list of today’s clues and answers

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Theme: Breaking News

The circled letters in each of today’s themed answers spell out the name of a NEWSPAPER. But that name has been BROKEN, so that part is at the beginning and part is at the end of each answer:

  • 53A. Developing story, and what this puzzle’s circles illustrate : BREAKING NEWS
  • 20A. Forest canines : TIMBER WOLVES (breaking “Times”)
  • 29A. “Yankee” entrée : POT ROAST (breaking “Post”)
  • 37A. “Good heavens!” : GLORY BE! (breaking “Globe”)
  • 46A. Diver’s weapon : SPEARGUN (breaking “Sun”)

Bill’s time: 5m 31s

Bill’s errors: 0




Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies

Across

6. Omegas, to an electrician : OHMS

The unit of electrical resistance is the ohm (with the symbol omega) named after German physicist Georg Simon Ohm. Ohm was the guy who established experimentally that the amount of current flowing through a circuit is directly proportional to the voltage applied, (V=IR) a relationship that every schoolkid knows as Ohm’s Law.

10. Best Actor winner for “Ray” : FOXX

Jamie Foxx is the professional name used by Eric Marlon Bishop, an actor from Terrell, Texas. Foxx is a very versatile entertainer. He is an Oscar-winning actor (for playing the title role in “Ray”), and a Grammy Award winning musician. He is also a stand-up comedian and a talk-radio host.

Ray Charles came up with his stage name by dropping the family name from his real moniker, Ray Charles Robinson. His life was a wild ride, well represented in the excellent biopic called “Ray” released in 2004 and starring Jamie Foxx in the title role. Ray Charles was married twice and fathered 12 children with nine different women. As I said, a wild ride …

14. “The Big Bang Theory” co-creator Chuck : LORRE

Chuck Lorre created many great sitcoms that have stood the test of time. Included in the list of his shows are “Grace Under Fire”, “Cybil”, “Dharma & Greg”, “Two and a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory”. Lorre is famous for the “vanity cards” that appear for a few seconds at the end of his shows. The cards include a message directly from Lorre, perhaps an observation on life, and maybe something quite controversial. CBS has had to censor several of Lorre’s vanity cards, but you can read the uncensored versions on his website.

“The Big Bang Theory” is very clever sitcom aired by CBS since 2007. “The Big Bang Theory” theme song was specially commissioned for the show, and was composed and is sung by Canadian band Barenaked Ladies. The theme song was released in 2007 as a single and is featured on a Barenaked Ladies greatest hits album.

15. Gusto : ZEAL

“Gusto” is an Italian word meaning “taste”. We use it in English in the phrase “with gusto”, with great enjoyment.

17. Posh water : EVIAN

Évian-les-Bains (or simply Évian) is in the very east of France, on the shores of Lake Geneva directly across the lake from Lausanne, Switzerland. As one might imagine, Évian is the home of Évian mineral water, the most successful business in town. Personally, I can’t stand the distinctive taste of Évian water …

18. Diva’s number : ARIA

The term “diva” comes to us from Latin via Italian. “Diva” is the feminine form of “divus” meaning “divine one”. The word is used in Italy to mean “goddess” or “fine lady”, and especially is applied to the prima donna in an opera. We often use the term to describe a singer with a big ego.

20. Forest canines : TIMBER WOLVES (breaking “Times”)

The timber wolf is also known as the gray wolf, tundra wolf or lobo.

23. Island near Barbuda : ANTIGUA

Antigua is an island in the West Indies, and is the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. These twin islands take their names from the Spanish for “ancient” and “bearded”.

28. Secretary of state before Shultz : HAIG

Alexander Haig was Secretary of State under President Reagan, and White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Nixon and Ford. Famously, Haig took over temporary control of the country immediately after President Reagan was shot in 1981. To do so was a pragmatic move, while waiting on Vice President Bush to arrive in Washington. There was much debate at the time about the legality of the steps taken, as the presidential line of succession called out in the US Constitution is President, Vice President, Speaker of the House, President pro tempore of the US Senate, and then Secretary of State.

George P. Shultz served as US Secretary of State in the Reagan administration, from 1982 to 1989. Shultz is one of only two individuals to have held four US Cabinet posts (the other being Elliot Richardson). As well as being Secretary of State under President Reagan, Shultz was Secretary of the Treasury, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Secretary of Labor in the Nixon administration.

32. Close on film : GLENN

Glenn Close a wonderful actress who has played many varied roles, but is well known for her portrayals of less than wholesome characters. She play the crazy Alex Forrest in “Fatal Attraction”, and Cruella de Vil in “101 Dalmatians”. More recently, Close had a regular role on a TV show called “Damages”. Glenn Close is an avid fan of the New York Mets and regularly sings the national anthem before games.

34. Prefix with hertz : TERA-

The prefix “tera-” signifies a trillion, and comes from the Greek word “teras” meaning “monster”.

The unit of frequency measure is the hertz (Hz). It is the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. The unit is named for Heinrich Hertz, the German physicist who proved the existence of electromagnetic waves.

35. Big name in vodka : SKYY

Skyy Vodka is produced in the US, although the operation is owned by the Campari Group headquartered in Italy. Skyy first hit the shelves in 1992 when it was created by an entrepreneur from San Francisco, California.

41. 19th-century Arizona lawman : EARP

Wyatt Earp is famous as one of the participants in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Earp was a city policeman in Wichita, Kansas and also in Dodge City, Kansas. Earp was also deputy sheriff in Tombstone, Arizona where the O.K. Corral gunfight took place. Years later, Earp joined the Alaska Gold Rush and with a partner built and operated the Dexter Saloon in Nome.

48. Prohibitionists : DRYS

The 18th Amendment to the US Constitution was a great victory for the temperance movement (the “dry” movement), and in 1919 ushered in the Prohibition era. Highly unpopular (with the “wet” movement), Prohibition was repealed in 1933 by the 21st Amendment.

49. Sirius XM radio star : STERN

Howard Stern is one of the original “shock jocks” who seems now to have found his niche on uncensored satellite radio (SiriusXM).

XM Satellite Radio used to be in competition with Sirius Satellite Radio but the FCC allowed the two companies to merge in 2008 forming SiriusXM Radio.

60. Square cereal : CHEX

The original Chex cereal was introduced in 1937 by Ralston Purina, although it is now produced by General Mills. Ralston Purina had a logo with a checkerboard square on it, which gave the pattern to the cereal as well as its name. Chex used characters from the “Peanuts” comic strip in its advertising for many years.

61. Wine list heading : ROSES

Rosé wines get their color from the skins of the grapes, although the intensity of the color is not sufficient to make them red wines. Of the varying type of rosé wines available, we are most familiar with sweet White Zinfandels. Personally I am fond of the really dry Provençal rosé wines.

62. Mani mate : PEDI

Manicure & pedicure (mani-pedi)

63. Ritz-Carlton competitor : OMNI

Omni Hotels & Resorts is headquartered in Irvine, California and has properties in the US, Canada and Mexico.

César Ritz was a Swiss hotelier, who had a reputation for developing the most luxurious of accommodations and attracting the wealthiest clientèle. He opened the Hotel Ritz in Paris in 1898 and the second of his most famous hotels, the Ritz Hotel in London, in 1906. Ritz was lucky in his career, as before starting his own hotel chain he had been dismissed from the Savoy Hotel in London, implicated in the disappearance of a substantial amount of wine and spirits. Today’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company was founded in 1983, although the chain has its roots in the properties developed by César Ritz.

64. First name in cosmetics : ESTEE

Estée Lauder was a very successful businesswoman, with a reputation as a great salesperson. Lauder introduced her own line of fragrances in 1953, a bath oil called “Youth Dew”. “Youth Dew” was marketed as a perfume, but it was added to bathwater. All of a sudden women were pouring whole bottles of Ms. Lauder’s “perfume” into their baths while using only a drop or two of French perfumes behind their ears. That’s quite a difference in sales volume …

65. Rink jump : AXEL

An axel is a forward take-off jump in figure skating. The maneuver was first performed by Norwegian Axel Paulsen at the 1882 World Figure Skating championships.

66. Vegas glower : NEON

The basic design of neon lighting was first demonstrated at the Paris Motor Show in 1910. Such lighting is made up of glass tubes containing a vacuum into which has been introduced a small amount of neon gas. When a voltage is applied between two electrodes inside the tube, the neon gas “glows” and gives off the familiar light.

67. “The Tower” poet : YEATS

Irish poet and dramatist William Butler Yeats won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923 for “inspired poetry” that gave “expression to a whole nation”. Yeats was Ireland’s first Nobel laureate.

Down

1. Prince Valiant’s wife : ALETA

In the comic strip, Arn is the eldest son of Prince Valiant and Aleta is his wife. Edward, the Duke of Windsor, called the “Prince Valiant” comic strip the “greatest contribution to English Literature in the past one hundred years”. I’m not so sure …

2. Like the singin’ Spoonful : LOVIN’

The Lovin’ Spoonful is a New York band that had some big hits in the sixties, including “Do You Believe in Magic”, “Daydream” and “Summer in the City”.

3. Do some holiday decorating : TRIM THE TREE

The custom of decorating trees at Christmas seems to have originated in Renaissance Germany. Those first trees were placed in guildhalls and were decorated with sweets and candy for the apprentices and children. After the Protestant Reformation, the Christmas tree became an alternative in Protestant homes for the Roman Catholic Christmas cribs. The Christmas tree tradition was imported into Britain by the royal family because of its German heritage. That tradition spread from Britain into North America.

4. Versatile horse : ARABIAN

The Arab (also “Arabian”) breed of horse takes its name from its original home, the Arabian Peninsula. Like any animal that humans have over-bred, the horse falls prey to genetic diseases, some of which are fatal and some of which require the horse to be euthanized.

5. Weaseling out (on) : RENEGING

To renege on something is to back out of it. It’s a verb commonly used in card games like bridge and whist. A renege is when a player doesn’t follow suit, even though there may be a card of the suit led in his/her hand.

6. Longtime Boston Symphony maestro : OZAWA

Seiji Ozawa is most famous for his work as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, although he is also the principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera. Ozawa is renowned for wearing a white turtleneck under his dress suit when he conducts, rather than the traditional starched shirt and white tie.

7. Superman’s favorite sandwich? : HERO

“Hero” is another name for a submarine sandwich. The hero originated in New York City in the 1800s among Italian immigrants who wanted an Italian sandwich that reminded them of home. The name “hero” was coined in the 1930s, supposedly by a food critic in the “New York Herald Tribune” when he wrote that “one had to be a hero” to finish the gigantic sandwich. Hero is a prevalent term to this day in New York City, reserved for a submarine sandwich with an Italian flavor.

9. Pole, e.g. : SLAV

The Slavic peoples are in the majority in communities covering over half of Europe. This large ethnic group is traditionally broken down into three smaller groups:

  • the West Slavic (including Czechs and Poles)
  • the East Slavic (including Russians and Ukrainians)
  • the South Slavic (including Bulgarians and Serbs)

10. Diego Rivera works : FRESCOS

A “fresco” is a painting created on a moist plaster, usually on a wall or ceiling. The plaster is “freshly” laid when the image is created, and “fresco” is the Italian for “fresh”.

Diego Rivera was a Mexican painter, famous for his murals. His wife was the equally famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.

11. Charter __: historic Hartford landmark : OAK

The oak depicted on the Connecticut quarter is the Charter Oak. The tree earned its name from the legend that the original Royal Charter for the colony was hidden in a cavity of the tree for a while. The tree no longer exists, as it went down in a storm in the early 1800s.

12. Jag to remember : XKE

XK and XKE are models of Jaguar motor car.

Auto manufacturer Jaguar started out as a manufacturer of sidecars for motorcycles back in 1922, when the company was known as the Swallow Sidecar Company (SS for short). The company changed its name to Jaguar after WWII, because of the unfortunate connotations of the letters “SS” in that era (i.e. the Nazi paramilitary organization).

25. Go out in the afternoon? : TAKE A SIESTA

We use the word “siesta” to describe a short nap in the early afternoon, taking the word from the Spanish. In turn, the Spanish word is derived from the Latin “hora sexta” meaning “the sixth hour”. The idea is that the nap is taken at “the sixth hour” after dawn.

27. Fashionista’s concern : STYLE

The Spanish suffix “-ista” indicates a supporter or follower. Examples would be fashionista (a follower of fashion) and Sandinista (members of a Nicaraguan political party named after revolutionary Augusto César Sandino).

29. Evita’s married name : PERON

Eva Perón was the second wife of President Juan Perón who was in office from 1946 to 1955. The Argentine First Lady was known affectionately by the people as “Evita”, the Spanish language diminutive of “Eva”. “Evita” was also the follow-up musical to “Jesus Christ Superstar” for Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, and was based on the life of Eva Perón.

30. African antelope : ORYX

The oryx is a large antelope species, mainly found in Africa but also in the Arabian Peninsula. One species was introduced by man into the White Sands Missile Range. As a result, the oryx is now considered an invasive species in the neighboring White Sands National Monument.

31. Diet Coke predecessor : TAB

Tab was the first diet cola introduced by the Coca-Cola company, in 1963. It was produced as a competitor to the very successful Diet Rite cola that was made by RC Cola. The name “Tab” was used as the beverage was aimed at people who wanted “to keep tabs” on their weight.

Diet Coke is a sugar-free version of Coca Cola that was introduced back in 1982. If you drink Diet Coke around the world, you’ll receive a slightly different drink depending on where you are. Various artificial sweeteners are banned as health risks in various countries, so Coke varies its formulation to comply with local laws.

32. “Cagney & Lacey” co-star : GLESS

Sharon Gless is best known for playing Christine Cagney on the police drama “Cagney & Lacey” in the eighties. A few years after “Cagney & Lacey” ended its run, Gless married the show’s executive producer, Barney Rosenzweig. More recently, Gless had a recurring role playing Madeline Westen on the TV show “Burn Notice”.

34. Food that has an extra-firm option : TOFU

Tofu is another name for bean curd, and is a Japanese word meaning just that … bean that has “curdled”. Tofu is produced by coagulating soy milk, using either salt or something acidic. Once the protein has coagulated, the curds are pressed into the familiar blocks. Personally I love tofu, but my wife, she absolutely hates it …

39. Tea named for a nobleman : EARL GREY

The Earl Grey blend of tea is supposedly named after Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey who was Prime Minister of the UK from 1830 to 1834. Earl Grey tea has a distinctive flavor that is largely due to the addition of oil from the rind of the bergamot orange.

47. Time away from the base, for short : R ‘N R

Rest and relaxation/recuperation/recreation (R&R, “R ‘n R”)

48. Stevens of “Beauty and the Beast” (2017) : DAN

Dan Stevens is an actor from London who came to prominence playing Matthew Crawley on the period drama “Downton Abbey”. More recently, he played the Beast in the 2017 Disney hit “Beauty and the Beast”, opposite Emma Watson.

Disney’s 2017 romantic fantasy film “Beauty and the Beast” is based on the animated movie the same studio released in 1991. In turn, 1991’s “Beauty and the Beast” was an adaptation of the 18th-century version of the fairy tale “La Belle et la Bête” written by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont. Emma Watson and Dan Stevens play the title roles in the 2017 film, with both performances garnering critical acclaim.

52. Mississippi foursome : ESSES

There are four letters S (ess) in the word “Mississippi”.

54. Macro or micro subj. : ECON

Macroeconomics is the study of economies as a whole, rather than individual markets. Microeconomics is focused on the actions of individual entities like companies or individuals, and how these actions impact specific markets.

55. Wistful words : AH ME

“Wistful” is a lovely word, I think, one that can mean pensively sad, melancholy.

56. Numbers game : KENO

The name “Keno” has French or Latin roots, with the French “quine” being a term for five winning numbers, and the Latin “quini” meaning “five each”. The game originated in China and was introduced into the West by Chinese immigrants who were working on the first Transcontinental Railroad in the 1800s.

58. Bewitch : HEX

“Hexen” is a German word meaning “to practice witchcraft”. The use of the word “hex” in English started with the Pennsylvania Dutch in the early 1800s.

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Complete List of Clues and Answers

Across

1. Promising location? : ALTAR

6. Omegas, to an electrician : OHMS

10. Best Actor winner for “Ray” : FOXX

14. “The Big Bang Theory” co-creator Chuck : LORRE

15. Gusto : ZEAL

16. Tool for a landscaper : RAKE

17. Posh water : EVIAN

18. Diva’s number : ARIA

19. __ out a win : EKES

20. Forest canines : TIMBER WOLVES (breaking “Times”)

23. Island near Barbuda : ANTIGUA

24. Serve in the capacity of : ACT AS

28. Secretary of state before Shultz : HAIG

29. “Yankee” entrée : POT ROAST (breaking “Post”)

32. Close on film : GLENN

34. Prefix with hertz : TERA-

35. Big name in vodka : SKYY

36. Allowed : LET

37. “Good heavens!” : GLORY BE! (breaking “Globe”)

40. Slippery swimmer : EEL

41. 19th-century Arizona lawman : EARP

43. Sly as __ : A FOX

44. Die down : ABATE

46. Diver’s weapon : SPEARGUN (breaking “Sun”)

48. Prohibitionists : DRYS

49. Sirius XM radio star : STERN

50. Coming-down-with-something feeling : MALAISE

53. Developing story, and what this puzzle’s circles illustrate : BREAKING NEWS

57. “Buzz off!” : SHOO!

60. Square cereal : CHEX

61. Wine list heading : ROSES

62. Mani mate : PEDI

63. Ritz-Carlton competitor : OMNI

64. First name in cosmetics : ESTEE

65. Rink jump : AXEL

66. Vegas glower : NEON

67. “The Tower” poet : YEATS

Down

1. Prince Valiant’s wife : ALETA

2. Like the singin’ Spoonful : LOVIN’

3. Do some holiday decorating : TRIM THE TREE

4. Versatile horse : ARABIAN

5. Weaseling out (on) : RENEGING

6. Longtime Boston Symphony maestro : OZAWA

7. Superman’s favorite sandwich? : HERO

8. It may be registered : MAIL

9. Pole, e.g. : SLAV

10. Diego Rivera works : FRESCOS

11. Charter __: historic Hartford landmark : OAK

12. Jag to remember : XKE

13. Cancels (out) : XES

21. Throw __ : RUG

22. Bud holder? : EAR

25. Go out in the afternoon? : TAKE A SIESTA

26. To date : AS YET

27. Fashionista’s concern : STYLE

29. Evita’s married name : PERON

30. African antelope : ORYX

31. Diet Coke predecessor : TAB

32. “Cagney & Lacey” co-star : GLESS

33. Took off : LEAPT

34. Food that has an extra-firm option : TOFU

38. Hang back : LAG

39. Tea named for a nobleman : EARL GREY

42. Precook, in a way : PARBOIL

45. Close way to win : BY A NOSE

47. Time away from the base, for short : R ‘N R

48. Stevens of “Beauty and the Beast” (2017) : DAN

50. Recipe phrase : MIX IN

51. Short partner? : SWEET

52. Mississippi foursome : ESSES

54. Macro or micro subj. : ECON

55. Wistful words : AH ME

56. Numbers game : KENO

57. Cruise ship amenity : SPA

58. Bewitch : HEX

59. Dedicated piece : ODE

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