LA Times Crossword Answers 4 Oct 2017, Wednesday










Constructed by: C.C. Burnikel

Edited by: Rich Norris

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

Quicklink to comments

Theme: Broken Record

Today’s themed answers each start with the letter L and end with the letter P. In other words, the letters LP are BROKEN up by the letters in between; we have BROKEN LPs, BROKEN RECORDS:

  • 26A. With 49-Across, it keeps repeating itself … and, based on the first and last letters, an apt description of each answer to a starred clue : BROKEN …
  • 49A. See 26-Across : … RECORD
  • 17A. *Vodka cocktail often served with a sugared rim : LEMON DROP
  • 60A. *Largely bygone penal colony : LABOR CAMP
  • 3D. *Store website feature : LOCATOR MAP
  • 8D. *Shari Lewis puppet : LAMB CHOP
  • 30D. *Totally drunk : LIQUORED UP
  • 39D. *Light source with hypnotic bubbles : LAVA LAMP

Bill’s time: 6m 23s

Bill’s errors: 0




Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies

Across

10. OutKast rapper Big __ : BOI

“Big Boi” is the stage name of rapper Antwan André Patton who is best known as one half of the duo Outkast, performing alongside André 3000.

13. Hi in Hawaii : ALOHA

The Hawaiian word “Aloha” has many meanings in English: affection, love, peace, compassion and mercy. More recently “aloha” has come to mean “hello” and “goodbye”, but only since the mid-1800s.

14. Senior golfer Aoki : ISAO

Isao Aoki is one of Japan’s greatest golfers. Aoki’s best finish in a major tournament was runner-up to Jack Nicklaus in the 1980 US Open.

17. *Vodka cocktail often served with a sugared rim : LEMON DROP

A lemon drop is a sweet-and-sour, vodka-based cocktail, with the “sweet” coming from triple sec and simple syrup, and the “sour” coming from lemon juice. The lemon drop was invented in the seventies here in San Francisco, in a bar called Henry Africa’s.

19. Text update from an Uber driver: Abbr. : ETA

Uber is a ridesharing service that was founded in 2009 and is based in San Francisco. The service is somewhat controversial and has been described as an illegal taxicab operation. Central to Uber’s service is the company’s mobile app, which can use the client’s GPS location to help find the nearest available ride. Uber’s main competitor is Lyft. Personally, I love the service and have only had good experiences …

20. Trippy ’60s drug : LSD

LSD (known colloquially as “acid”) is short for lysergic acid diethylamide. A Swiss chemist called Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938 in a research project looking for medically efficacious ergot alkaloids. It wasn’t until some five years later when Hofmann ingested some of the drug accidentally that its psychedelic properties were discovered. Trippy, man …

23. Mai __: rum drinks : TAIS

The mai tai cocktail is strongly associated with the Polynesian islands, but the drink was supposedly invented in 1944 in Trader Vic’s restaurant in Oakland, California. One recipe is 6 parts white rum, 3 parts orange curaçao, 3 parts Orgeat syrup, 1 part rock candy syrup, 2 parts fresh lime juice, all mixed with ice and then a float added of 6 parts dark rum. “Maita’i” is the Tahitian word for “good”.

25. Post-CrossFit woes : ACHES

CrossFit is a trademarked fitness, strength and conditioning program that was introduced in 2000.

29. Down with the flu : ILL

Influenza (flu) is an ailment that is caused by a virus. The virus is readily inactivated by the use of soap, so washing hands and surfaces is especially helpful in containing flu outbreaks.

32. NFLer again in 2016 : LA RAM

The Los Angeles Rams are the only franchise to have won NFL championships in three different cities, i.e. Cleveland (1945), Los Angeles (1951) and St. Louis (1999). The Rams were based in Cleveland from 1936 to 1945, in Los Angeles from 1946 to 1994, in St. Louis from 1995 to 2015, and returned to Los Angeles in 2016.

36. Casino cash source : ATM

The term “casino” originated in the 1700s, then describing a public room for music or dancing. “Casino” is a diminutive of “casa” meaning “house”.

37. Oft-injured knee part, for short : ACL

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of four major ligaments that support the knee.

40. Bit of texting tact : PLS

Please (pls)

41. Sine __ non : QUA

“Sine qua non” is a Latin phrase that we use to mean “the essential element or condition”. The literal translation is “without which not”. One might say, for example, “a challenging crossword is the sine qua non of a good newspaper”. Well, crossword fans might say that …

50. Burton of “Star Trek: TNG” : LEVAR

The actor LeVar Burton is very much associated with two iconic roles on television: young Kunta Kinte in “Roots”, and Geordi La Forge in “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. Burton also hosted the children’s PBS show “Reading Rainbow” for many years. His portrayal of Kunta Kinte in 1977 was Burton’s first acting job. Indeed, Burton’s audition for the part was the first in his professional career!

62. “Paper Moon” girl : ADDIE

“Paper Moon” is a 1973 comedy film that tells the story of a father and daughter during the Great Depression. The onscreen father and daughter are played by real-life father and daughter Ryan and Tatum O’Neal. The original choices for the lead roles were Paul Newman and his daughter Nell Potts, but they left the project after director John Huston also dropped out.

66. Brownish gray : TAUPE

Taupe is a dark, gray-brown color. The word “taupe” comes from the Latin name of the European Mole, which has skin with the same color.

67. Susan of “L.A. Law” : DEY

The actress Susan Dey first appeared on “The Partridge Family” when she was 17-years-old when she had no acting experience. Years later, Dey won a Golden Globe for playing the leading role of Grace Van Owen in “L. A. Law”.

68. Fix, as a feline : SPAY

Our verb “to spay”, meaning “to surgically remove the ovaries of” (an animal) comes from an old Anglo-French word “espeier” meaning “to cut with a sword”.

Down

5. Education financing company, familiarly : SALLIE MAE

“Sallie Mae” is a nickname for SLM Corporation, created in 1972 by the US government as the Student Loan Marketing Association. By 2004 the government had severed all its ties with Sallie Mae, and today SLM is basically a profit-focused lender.

6. Coat, as jewelry : GILD

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

8. *Shari Lewis puppet : LAMB CHOP

Shari Lewis was the original puppeteer behind the PBS children’s show “Lamb Chop”. After Shari Lewis died in 1998, her daughter Mallory took over the role of puppeteer on the show.

9. Place for a break? : POOL HALL

The more correct name for the game of pool is pocket billiards. The name “pool” arose after pocket billiards became a common feature in pool halls, places where gamblers “pooled” their money to bet on horse races.

18. Maiden name intro : NEE

“Née” is the French word for “born” when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”.

21. Nine-digit ID : SSN

A Social Security number (SSN) is divided into three parts i.e AAA-GG-SSSS, Originally, the Area Number (AAA) was the code for the office that issued the card. Since 1973, the Area Number reflects the ZIP code from which the application was made. The GG in the SSN is the Group Number, and the SSSS in the number is the Serial Number. However, this is all moot, as since 2011 SSN’s are assigned randomly. However, some random numbers have been excluded from use, i.e. Area Numbers 000, 666 (!) and 900-999.

24. Wanted poster letters : AKA

Also known as (aka)

25. Duke’s conf. : ACC

The collegiate athletic conference known as the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) was founded in 1953. The seven charter members of the ACC were Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina and Wake Forest.

Duke University was founded in 1838 as Brown’s Schoolhouse. The school was renamed to Trinity College in 1859, and to this day the town where the college was located back then is known as Trinity, in honor of the school. The school was moved in 1892 to Durham, North Carolina in part due to generous donations from the wealthy tobacco industrialist Washington Duke. Duke’s donation required that the school open its doors to women, placing them on an equal footing with men. Trinity’s name was changed to Duke in 1924 in recognition of the generosity of the Duke family. Duke’s athletic teams are known as the Blue Devils.

26. Cry from a sheep : BLAT

To blat is to cry, especially like a sheep. In other words, to “blat” is to “bleat”.

31. “Today” co-host Matt : LAUER

Matt Lauer became the news anchor for NBC’s “The Today Show” when he landed the gig as co-host after Bryant Gumbel retired from the job in 1997.

35. Pie crust fat : LARD

Fat, when extracted from the carcass of an animal, is called suet. Untreated suet decomposes at room temperature quite easily so it has to be rendered or purified to make it stable. Rendered fat from pigs is what we call lard. Rendered beef or mutton fat is known as tallow.

38. Mountain climber’s piton spots : CREVICES

A piton is a piece of mountaineering equipment, an anchor designed to protect a climber if he or she falls. It is a metal spike driven into a crack in the rock face with a hammer. The piton has an eyehole through which a rope is attached using a carabiner. “Piton” is a French word for a “hook”.

39. *Light source with hypnotic bubbles : LAVA LAMP

The lava lamp was invented in 1960 by a British man, Edward Craven-Walker. The “lava” is a mixture of wax and carbon tetrachloride, floating in a water/glycerol mix. The wax reduces in density as it picks up heat from the incandescent bulb in the lamp’s base. The wax rises, cools, and then sinks to the bottom of the liquid only to be heated again.

43. Artillery bursts : SALVOS

A salvo is a simultaneous discharge of guns. Ironically, “salvo” comes from the Latin “salve” meaning “be in good health”. Salvo was originally the name given to the firing of guns in the air as a sign of respect or greeting for an important visitor. Good health!

44. Essen article : DER

The definite article in German is der, die or das, for masculine, feminine and neuter nouns. The indefinite article is ein, eine or ein, again depending on the gender of the noun. A further complication, relative to English, is that the masculine form (and only the masculine form) of the article changes when used in the accusative case, when used with the object of a sentence. The accusative forms are “den” and “einen”.

Essen is a large industrial city located on the River Ruhr in western Germany.

49. Hitter’s stat : RBI

Run batted in (RBI)

55. “Buy It Now” site : EBAY

eBay is an auction site with a twist. If you don’t want to enter into an auction to purchase an item, there’s a “Buy It Now” price. Agree to pay it, and the item is yours!

58. Like orange or red persimmons : RIPE

The persimmon is the edible fruit of several species of tree, and in botanical terms is actually a berry.

61. Athletes for Hope co-founder Hamm : MIA

Mia Hamm is a retired American soccer player, a forward who played on the US national team that won the FIFA women’s World Cup in 1991. Hamm has scored 158 international goals, more than other player in the world, male or female. Amazingly, Hamm was born with a clubfoot, and so had to wear corrective shoes when she was growing up.

63. Calendar square : DAY

Our word “calendar” ultimately derives from the Latin “calendae”. “Calends” were the first days of each Roman month. The Latin “calendarium” was an account book, as the debts fell due and accounts were reckoned on the first day of each month.

Return to top of page

Complete List of Clues and Answers

Across

1. Fancy parties : GALAS

6. [This is gonna be really bad!] : GULP!

10. OutKast rapper Big __ : BOI

13. Hi in Hawaii : ALOHA

14. Senior golfer Aoki : ISAO

15. Lends support to : AIDS

16. Likely to speak out : VOCAL

17. *Vodka cocktail often served with a sugared rim : LEMON DROP

19. Text update from an Uber driver: Abbr. : ETA

20. Trippy ’60s drug : LSD

22. Milked for all it’s worth : BLED DRY

23. Mai __: rum drinks : TAIS

25. Post-CrossFit woes : ACHES

26. With 49-Across, it keeps repeating itself … and, based on the first and last letters, an apt description of each answer to a starred clue : BROKEN …

28. “__-ching!” : CHA

29. Down with the flu : ILL

32. NFLer again in 2016 : LA RAM

33. Early American furniture style : COLONIAL

36. Casino cash source : ATM

37. Oft-injured knee part, for short : ACL

40. Bit of texting tact : PLS

41. Sine __ non : QUA

42. Interest-arousing promo : TEASER AD

45. More accurate : TRUER

47. Mud bath offerer : SPA

48. Night before : EVE

49. See 26-Across : … RECORD

50. Burton of “Star Trek: TNG” : LEVAR

52. Wild swine : BOAR

53. Win out : PREVAIL

56. Tiny drink : SIP

57. Go wrong : ERR

60. *Largely bygone penal colony : LABOR CAMP

62. “Paper Moon” girl : ADDIE

64. Notable times : ERAS

65. Mideast dignitary : EMIR

66. Brownish gray : TAUPE

67. Susan of “L.A. Law” : DEY

68. Fix, as a feline : SPAY

69. Promoted heavily : HYPED

Down

1. Conceded, with “up” : GAVE

2. Tons : A LOT

3. *Store website feature : LOCATOR MAP

4. “I thought so!” : AHA!

5. Education financing company, familiarly : SALLIE MAE

6. Coat, as jewelry : GILD

7. Put in the game : USE

8. *Shari Lewis puppet : LAMB CHOP

9. Place for a break? : POOL HALL

10. Dove or robin : BIRD

11. Campfire attraction : ODOR

12. Kids’ game for car trips : I SPY

15. Includes : ADDS IN

18. Maiden name intro : NEE

21. Nine-digit ID : SSN

24. Wanted poster letters : AKA

25. Duke’s conf. : ACC

26. Cry from a sheep : BLAT

27. Motel postings : RATES

30. *Totally drunk : LIQUORED UP

31. “Today” co-host Matt : LAUER

34. Manipulative health care practitioner : OSTEOPATH

35. Pie crust fat : LARD

38. Mountain climber’s piton spots : CREVICES

39. *Light source with hypnotic bubbles : LAVA LAMP

43. Artillery bursts : SALVOS

44. Essen article : DER

46. Electronics giant : RCA

49. Hitter’s stat : RBI

51. Sound-detecting organ : EAR

53. Claimed in court : PLED

54. Hard to find : RARE

55. “Buy It Now” site : EBAY

56. Agile : SPRY

58. Like orange or red persimmons : RIPE

59. Marsh plant : REED

61. Athletes for Hope co-founder Hamm : MIA

63. Calendar square : DAY

Return to top of page

23 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword Answers 4 Oct 2017, Wednesday”

  1. Fred from Monday! I really like what you did in coming up with clues for the long answers, after figuring the answers blind. Excellent approach! Just wanted to post my comment here, as I’m usually a late-night poster and you might not have seen it. ?

    1. Thanks Carrie, I usually try that approach to the puzzles on Monday – Wednesday (a little easier). This morning I had to look at the clues to get the L—-P pattern.

  2. Good Wednesday puzzle. Got hung up on the TeaSer-ad as blaT and Salvos were new to me. Thought the theme was going to be alcohol or drinking related as I got lemon drop and liquored up first. Too bad. 😉

    Bill, I would say a good crossword is the sine qua non of any paper really. I usually get the paper just for the crossword! Haha. My husband didn’t think that was very economical so we no longer recieve the local one and I have to get my crossword fix online. Thankfully I have an app on my iPad that allows me to write on PDFs so it is almost like getting the print version, just without the paper waste.

    Hope everyone has a great day!

    -Megan

    1. @Megan. You are right about CW being SQN. About saving paper (trees) this comment was making the rounds: ” A 24×7 ATM using 4 tube lights and 2 ACs suggested to me to save paper by not printing out a transaction slip”
      My bete noire are proper names of sports persons, not so well known (to me) writers and entertainers.

      @Bill- the new date access format is excellent. Thank you.
      Francophile

  3. Carrie, from yesterday …. so sorry, for all the sad news that has inundated you. I hope and pray that God gives you strength to bear and the courage to face the future. This too, shall pass …. with the passage of time. I hope you feel better.

    I had an enjoyable time with the puzzle by the formidable CC Burnickel. I was not familiar with ACC, or Big BOI ( as Bill would say, I don’t do rap … ) but the crosses helped. The long answers were especially helpful. I should read up on ‘the rendering of fat’ …. sounds interesting.

    Raw persimmons, if eaten regularly, can cause a form of a ‘hair ball’ ( like that for a cat – ) to form in the human stomach and intestines. They are called bezoars, or phyto bezoars or even dio-spyro-bezoars. Unlike bezoars formed by insoluble plant fibre matter, these persimmon bezoars cannot be dissolved / broken up by ingesting low pH Coca Cola, but may need surgical intervention. So, eat only the ripe fruits.

    Have a nice day, all.

    1. @Widvan. You mean people consume low pH soft drinks to dissolve insoluble plant fibre matter? That would be scary. Baba Ramdev ( Yoga Guru) has a word of advice- ‘Colas are excellent only for cleaning toilets’. People have said it is not good to eat curry leaves for similar reasons. At this rate, people would stop eating food. IMO if ingested in moderation, no harm, the human body system can handle it. Where did I read about Russian soldiers surviving on paint mixed with saw dust in war time?
      Francophile.

  4. LAT: 10:28, no errors. Newsday: 6:01, no errors. WSJ: 19:58, no errors (but I found it unusually difficult).

    @Vidwan … I’d never heard that tidbit about persimmons. Scary. On the other hand, having accidentally tasted an unripe persimmon, I can say that I would be highly unlikely to repeat the experience. If you cook them (think baked goods, as in a recipe I have for persimmon cookies), are the bezoars still likely to form? Weird …

    @Carrie … I, too, can empathize. I can’t think of another time in my life when I have felt so inundated by bad vibes from all directions …

    @Megan … What is the name of that app on your iPad? It sounds like something I could use.

    1. Hi Dave. No problem with today’s LAT’s grid, but the WSJ puzzle was really tricky in its cluing and a challenge to figure out. This was an example of the art of CWP constructing that made me feel really smart when I finally finished it successfully.
      That feeling will probably last all the way until tomorrow when one or both of the daily puzzles that I do whips my sorry behind for my momentary act of hubris!

  5. On my way to the airport to get back to Houston for the weekend to deal with the house. I’ll get to the puzzle later. President Trump is coming to Las Vegas today to console the victims’ families and what not. I just hope that doesn’t affect air traffic too much today. I once had to circle St Louis airport for 3 hours waiting for George HW Bush to take off out of Lambert Field. We had to fly to Chicago to refuel and then come back to St Louis and land. Crazy. I don’t have it in me to deal with that today…..

    @Dave
    Interesting bit yesterday on the methodology used in the LIGO studies. I’m probably more knowledgeable on the underlying physics than I was on the actual study. That is truly amazing. I once dated a girl with OCD who could detect if I had moved any of her stuff one ten-thousandth of a proton’s length from its correct spot. Perhaps she aided in this study…….

    @Carrie –
    You’re consistently one of the most upbeat people on this board. You’re entitled to a “sad day”….

    Best –

      1. @Dave@Jeff
        I have OCD. Wife knows. Opposites attract. Don’t tell her I said so.
        Francophile

      2. I came across a statistic some years back that found the “opposites attract” theory a myth as so many divorces are the results of opposites not meshing.

  6. Bill’s typo of the day: Re 6D, to gild would be to coat with gold, not cold 🙂

    @Carrie: I too was shocked and dismayed at the death of Tom Petty. One of my favorites and a Rock and Roll legend. 🙁 Also, the senseless tragedy in LV has really bummed everybody out.

    1. @Piano Man
      Thanks for proof-reading help, as always.

      There’s an idea … a Typo of the Day competition 🙂

  7. 9:01, no errors. Didn’t feel like my brain was switched on enough for this one for some reason.

    @Carrie
    That’s been my life, pretty much, for a very long time for both personal and worldly things. But I agree with the others, you are very much entitled to have a bad day.

    @Megan
    Pretty much the same here. I tend to read the papers I get when I feel like it, but I bought several papers simply to get to do the crossword in them in my time with this. It’s much more economical (far so) to subscribe to the New York Times crossword, especially given everything else they give you. I probably would be at the moment, except for the way they handle their payment methods. As the market goes, someone else benefited, and I’m very much enjoying those puzzles – as far as I can get them done. Maybe in the future, but for right now I’ve found someone that’s agreed to supply me with papers after they’re done with them, so I’m getting the New York Times that way. A lot of the garbage cluing and other factors frustrate me with them some, but I get exposure to them so hopefully I can get somewhat better. Just don’t post on Bill’s other blog as much because I can often have a 3 or more day delay (got 7 days worth sitting here right now I’ll probably work on later today) and no one over there probably sees when I post on puzzles anyway.

    Unfortunately for the newspaper, about all they print otherwise is grief and bad journalism, so I would forgo that crossword if it meant subscribing to a paper to get it.

  8. @Dave
    PDF printers are incredibly useful for numerous things. With puzzles, I use them to save ones that I can’t save otherwise, or to be able to duplex print things I can’t otherwise do. Then otherwise, I used it a lot to save readable copies of my blog posts, and save things I find when I web browse that I want to read for later. The one I use on my PC is PDFCreator, but I’m sure there’s a few that work on the IPad too.

    1. @Glenn … On my iMac, when I “print” a text file or a graphics file, I can, instead of sending it to an actual printer, create a “.pdf” file. (It sounds as if this is what PDFCreator does.) I often use this feature, but I also download a lot of “.pdf” files directly from various crossword sites and then send them to an actual printer. What Megan seemed to be talking about was an iPad app allowing one to display a “.pdf” file containing a crossword puzzle and enter the characters of the solution in such a way as to modify the file (but perhaps I have misunderstood). There are such things as “writable PDF’s” (IRS forms, for example) and, on my iMac, Adobe Reader allows me to make entries in them (although the results are not always satisfactory). I just examined a number of PDF’s that I have downloaded from various crossword sites and none of them appear to be writable in this way. Given the name of the app Megan mentioned, I can read about it and see if it would be useful to me. (It would be nice to avoid burning through any more reams of paper and barrels of ink than I have to.)

      1. I just did a Google search. Candidate iPad apps appear to include “PDF Reader” and “Wondershare PDF element for IOS”. Research continues …

        1. I downloaded and installed the “Adobe Acrobat Reader” app on my iPad and experimented a bit. I’m going to guess that Megan has a full-size iPad instead of an iPad Mini and a pen/stylus instead of a finger to write with. I see how that could work …

  9. Pretty straight forward Wednesday; forgot to time it, but about 15 minutes with no errors. Just had to change ISee to ISPY, LamAR to LEVAR and HYPEs to HYPED. I’m not too sure about BLAT though.

    @Carrie I hear ya; some days I just stay in bed for an extra few hours. Walter Becker’s (Steely Dan) passing really affected me, along with the ongoing disaster of the Trump administration. But…Chin up, all things pass and Spring will arrive again.

  10. 14:26. Good theme, but I forgot to look for it while I did the puzzle.

    Could not believe it when I checked in for my flight they said the President wouldn’t be leaving for a few hours and that my flight would be long gone before then. In fact, right as we pulled from the gate they announced we were waiting on Air Force 1. I thought my worst nightmare was coming true. Ultimately we were delayed only about 15 minutes, but it put a good scare into me.

    Best –

    1. @Jeff. Good, I guess you didn’t have to radio ‘Houston we have a problem’ (insert a suitable emoticon, which I am unable to do)
      Francophile.

  11. Hi everyone!! ?
    You are all so nice! Thanks everyone for the kind comments, both yesterday and today! These really helped me feel better. ? I have also, a few times, turned off the news and escaped to my car (better CD player!) to listen to old Tom Petty songs…?
    As to the puzzle: pretty good; no errors, but the theme seemed too complex to figure out as I was working it. I knew Bill would save the day!
    Hey Vidwan and Francophile! I’m reminded of something I heard years ago: if you place a tooth in a glass of coca cola it will dissolve in a few hours. Wonder if that’s true…. I’m not exactly inclined to yank out a tooth just to test it…?
    Be well~~™?

Comments are closed.