LA Times Crossword Answers 5 Aug 16, Friday




LA Times Crossword Solution 5 Aug 16







Constructed by: Jeffrey Wechsler

Edited by: Rich Norris

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

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Theme: Slides

Each of today’s themed answers has the same clue, namely “Slide”.

  • 17A…Slide..MICROSCOPE MOUNT
  • 30A…Slide..PLAYGROUND CHUTE
  • 45A…Slide..RUNNER’S MANEUVER
  • 59A…Slide..TROMBONE SECTION

Bill’s time: 11m 00s

Bill’s errors: 0




Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies

Across

7…Told..APPRISED

Our verb “to apprise”, meaning “to inform”, comes from the French “apprendre”, which has the same meaning. The past participle of “apprendre” is “appris”.

15…Like the Godhead..TRIUNE

“Triune” is another word for a trinity, three beings in one. The term is often associated with triple deities.

The term “Godhead” is used in many traditions, with varying meanings. In the most general sense, the term refers to the essential nature of a god or divinity. The word comes from an Old English word “godhad” meaning “godhood”, the state of being a god. In Christianity, Godhead can refer to the Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

17…Slide..MICROSCOPE MOUNT

Microscope slides are thin pieces of glass on which are mounted samples for examination. Often a “cover slip”, a smaller and thinner sheet of glass, is placed on top of the sample. Originally called “sliders”, such specimens would “slide” into the gap between the stage and the objective lens on a microscope.

19…”Defending Liberty Pursuing Justice” org…ABA

The American Bar Association (ABA) was founded back in 1878 and is a voluntary association for lawyers and law students. The ABA focuses on setting academic standards for law schools and setting ethical codes for the profession. The organization’s motto is “Defending Liberty, Pursuing Justice”.

20…Org. for Sharapova and Kournikova..WTA

The former World No. 1 tennis player Billie Jean King founded the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and won the first ever WTA Tour Championship.

Maria Sharapova is professional tennis player from the town of Nyagan in the Russian Federation. She is a former World No. 1.

Not only is Anna Kournikova a world class tennis player, but she is also a model. She apparently has a lot of fans because her name is one of the most commonly searched for terms on Google’s search engine …

22…Exaggerates, as a résumé..PADS

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”.

27…Ref. with quarterly online updates..OED

The first digital version of the Oxford English Dictionary was published on CD-ROM in 1988. There has been an online version available since 2000, and indeed all future editions of the OED will likely only be offered in electronic form.

35…Not your average joe?..LATTE

The term “latte” is an abbreviation of the Italian “caffelatte” meaning “coffee (and) milk”. Note that in the correct spelling of “latte”, the Italian word for milk, there is no accent over the “e”. An accent is often added by mistake when we use the word in English, perhaps meaning to suggest that the word is French.

It seems that no one really knows why we refer to coffee as “joe”, but we’ve been doing so since early in WWII.

36…Video game hero with a kart..MARIO

“Mario Kart” is a go-kart racing video game series from Nintendo.

Mario Bros. started out as an arcade game back in 1983, developed by Nintendo. The more famous of the two brothers, Mario, had already appeared in an earlier arcade game “Donkey Kong”. Mario was given a brother called Luigi, and the pair have been around ever since. In the game, Mario and Luigi are Italian American plumbers from New York City.

40…Epic including the Catalogue of Ships..ILIAD

Book 2 of Homer’s epic poem “Iliad” includes the “Catalogue of Ships”, a list of the contingents of the Greek army that sailed to Troy to lay siege to the city.

“The Iliad” is an epic poem by the Greek poet Homer, which tells the story of the ten-year siege of Ilium (also known as Troy) during the Trojan war. “The Odyssey”, also attributed to Homer, is sometimes described as a sequel to “The Iliad”.

45…Slide..RUNNER’S MANEUVER

That would be in baseball.

50…Shocked letters..OMG

OMG is text-speak for Oh My Gosh! Oh My Goodness! or any other G words you might think of …

51…Colleague of Ruth and Sonia..ELENA

Elena Kagan was the Solicitor General of the United States who replaced Justice John Paul Stevens on the US Supreme Court. That made Justice Kagan the first female US Solicitor General and the fourth female US Supreme Court justice. I hear she is a fan of Jane Austen, and used to reread “Pride and Prejudice” once a year. Not a bad thing to do, I’d say …

Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg serves on the US Supreme Court. Justice Ginsburg was the second woman to join the Court, nominated by President Bill Clinton. She was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1999 and underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. During that time she did not miss one day on the bench. In 2009 Justice Ginsburg had surgery for pancreatic cancer, and was back to work 12 days later.

Sonia Sotomayor is the first Hispanic justice on the US Supreme Court, and the third female justice. Sotomayor was nominated by President Barack Obama to replace the retiring Justice David Souter.

53…Kit Carson House site..TAOS

The town of Taos, New Mexico is named for the Native American village nearby called Taos Pueblo. Taos is famous for its art colony. Artists began to settle in Taos in 1899, and the Taos Society of Artists was founded in 1915.

Kit Carson was a frontiersman who moved west from Missouri when he was just 16 years old. Kit Carson’s life was immortalized in the novels of John C. Fremont, an explorer who hired Carson as a guide for his travels through California, Oregon and Nevada. Carson later served with the US Army. He is thought to be the only American to have achieved the rank of general without being able to read or write.

56…Texter’s “Keep the rest to yourself”..TMI

Too much information! (TMI)

58…Moo __ pork..SHU

Moo shu pork is a traditional dish from northern China, with the main ingredients being shredded pork and scrambled egg.

59…Slide..TROMBONE SECTION

The brass instrument known as a trombone takes its name from the trumpet. The Italian for trumpet is “tromba”, and the suffix “-one” means “big”. So, “trombone” means “big trumpet”.

65…Looked for a school, perhaps..SEINED

A seine is a type of fishing net. It is long and thin, with floats along one long edge (the top) and weights along the bottom edge so that it hangs down in the water. A seine is usually paid out into the water from a boat, as the vessel moves slowly in a circle driving fish into the center of the net.

66…Tape container..CASSETTE

The French for “box” is “casse”. So, a “cassette” is a “little box”.

67…Jousting mounts..STEEDS

Jousting can involve the use of a number of different weapons, but when lances are used the competition is called “tilting”.

Down

1…Bank smartphone offering..ATM APP

ATM (Automatic Teller Machine)

3…Noisy bug..CICADA

Cicadas are insects that are found all over the world. Although they resemble locusts, cicadas are an unrelated family. The name “cicada” is Latin and translated as “tree cricket”. However, the name is imitative of the clicking sound the insect makes using parts of its exoskeleton known as “tymbals”.

4…”In __ Time”: Hemingway story collection..OUR

“In Our Time” is the first collection of short stories that Ernest Hemingway had published, in 1925. Hemingway took the title from a phrase found in the English Book of Common Prayer: “Give us peace in our time, O Lord”.

7…Mil. mail drop..APO

Army post office (APO)

8…Unchallenging reading material..PAP

One meaning of “pap” is soft or semi-liquid food for babies and small children. “Pap” comes into English via French, from the Latin word used by children for “food”. In the 1500s, “pap” also came to mean “an oversimplified” idea. This gives us a usage that’s common today, describing literature or perhaps TV programming that lacks real value or substance. Hands up those who think there’s a lot of pap out there, especially on television …

10…Frosty film..RIME

Rime is that beautiful coating of ice that forms on surfaces like roofs, trees and grass, when cold water freezes instantly under the right conditions.

12…Walter Johnson’s career-leading 110..SHUTOUTS

Walter Johnson was a professional baseball pitcher who played his whole career with the Washington Senators. Even though Johnson retired from playing in 1927, his record-setting 110 career shutouts has never been bested.

14…Summer hrs…DST

On the other side of the Atlantic, Daylight Saving Time (DST) is known as “summer time”. The idea behind summer/daylight-savings is to move clocks forward an hour in spring (i.e. “spring forward”) and backwards in the fall (i.e. “fall back”) so that afternoons have more daylight.

18…Boat better not rocked..CANOE

The boat called a canoe takes its name from the Carib word “kenu” meaning “dugout”. It was Christopher Columbus who brought “kenu” into Spanish as “canoa”, which evolved into our English “canoe”.

23…Many a recent refugee..SYRIAN

Since the onset of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, a refugee crisis has developed involving almost 7 million internally displaced persons and almost 5 million displaced persons outside of Syria (as of February 2016). Those are staggering numbers, especially when one compares them to the estimated Syrian population of 17 million in 2014.

25…”Arise, fair __, and kill the envious moon”: Romeo..SUN

There’s a famous couplet in William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” spoken by Romeo as he spots Juliet above him at a window or on a balcony:

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

Romeo continues with:

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.

I reckon Romeo is smitten …

26…Sturm __ Drang..UND

“Sturm und Drang” translates from the German into “Storm and Stress” or perhaps “Storm and Impulse”. “Sturm und Drang” was the name given to a movement in German literature and music in the latter half of the 18th century. The writer Johann Goethe was a major proponent of the movement, which took its name from a play by Maximilian Klinger. The term “Sturm und Drang” has come to mean “turmoil, upheaval”.

28…Incredulous rebuke..ET TU?!

It was Shakespeare who popularized the words “Et tu, Brute?” (And you, Brutus?), in his play “Julius Caesar”, although the phrase had been around long before he penned his drama. It’s not known what Julius Caesar actually said in real life just before he was assassinated on the steps of the Senate in Rome.

31…Amethyst source..GEODE

A geode is a rock in which there is a cavity lined or filled with crystal formations.

Amethyst is form of quartz that is purple in color. There was a belief that the stone protected the owner from drunkenness, which is how amethyst got its name. The Ancient Greek “ἀméthystos” means “not intoxicated”.

32…”I Fall to Pieces” singer..CLINE

Patsy Cline was a country music singer who managed to cross over into the world of pop music where she enjoyed great success. Cline is one of a long list of musical legends who died in plane crashes. Cline was 30 years old when she was killed in 1963 in a Piper Comanche plane piloted by her manager, Randy Hughes. Hughes and Cline decided to make that last flight despite warnings of inclement weather, and it was a severe storm that brought down the plane in a forest outside Camden, Tennessee.

Patsy Cline had a number-one hit in the country charts in 1961 with “I Fall to Pieces”. The song was Cline’s second hit to cross over to the pop charts, after 1957’s “Walkin’ After Midnight”.

36…Catalan surrealist..MIRO

Joan Miró was a Spanish artist. Miro immersed himself in Surrealism, so much so that Andre Breton, the founder of the movement, said that Miro was “the most Surrealist of us all”.

Catalonia is an autonomous community in the very northeast of Spain. The capital of Catalonia is the city of Barcelona. Sandwiched between Catalonia and France to the north, is the lovely Principality of Andorra, nestled in the Pyrenees.

37…Fund-raising target, often..ALUM

An “alumnus” (plural … alumni) is a graduate or former student of a school or college. The female form is “alumna” (plural … alumnae). The term comes into English from Latin, in which alumnus means foster-son or pupil. “Alum” is an informal term used for either an alumna or an alumnus.

41…Broadband letters..DSL

The abbreviation “DSL” originally stood for Digital Subscriber Loop, but is now accepted to mean (Asymmetric) Digital Subscriber Line. DSL is the technology that allows Internet service be delivered down the same telephone line as voice service, by separating the two into different frequency signals.

42…Gallic soul..AME

“Ame” is the French word for “soul”.

The Gauls were a Celtic race, with Gaul covering what is now known as France and Belgium. We use the term “Gallic” today, when we refer to something pertaining to France or the French.

47…Clear Eyes rival..VISINE

Visine is a brand of eye drops made by Johnson & Johnson, advertised to “get the red out”. The red in the eye is reduced because Visine contains tetrahydrozoline hydrochloride, a vasoconstrictor. The blood vessels creating the redness constrict when Visine is applied, and you “get the red out” as the blood is “squeezed” away from the surface of the eye.

54…Tour gear..AMPS

Roadies working with a musical band on tour have to tote amps from venue to venue.

55…Drama prize..OBIE

The Obies are the “Off-Broadway Theater Awards”. The Obies are presented annually and the recipients are chosen by “The Village Voice” newspaper.

57…TV co-star of Hargitay and Belzer..ICE-T

Rapper Ice-T must be sick of having his name come up as an answer in crossword puzzles (I know I am!). Ice-T has been interested in acting for decades and made his film debut in the 1984 movie about breakdancing called “Breakin’”. He has also played Detective Fin Tutuola in the TV show “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” since the year 2000.

Mariska Hargitay is the actress who plays Olivia Benson on the long-running police drama “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”. Mariska’s father was actor and former Mr. Universe Mickey Hargitay. Her mother was Hollywood star Jayne Mansfield.

Richard Belzer started his entertainment career as a stand-up comedian. Today, Belzer is perhaps best-known for playing John Munch on the police drama “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”, a role that he had to 23 years. Belzer is a first cousin of fellow actor Henry Winkler.

60…Usually single-stranded molecule..RNA

RNA and DNA are very similar molecules. One big difference is that RNA is a single-strand structure, whereas DNA is famously a double-helix. Another difference is that RNA contains ribose as a structural unit, and DNA contains deoxyribose i.e. ribose with one less oxygen atom. And that ribose/deoxyribose difference is reflected in the full name of the two molecules: ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).

62…Août season..ETE

In French, “août” (August) is a month in “l’été” (the summer).

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Complete List of Clues and Answers

Across

1…Without markup..AT COST

7…Told..APPRISED

15…Like the Godhead..TRIUNE

16…Where flocks assemble..PARISHES

17…Slide..MICROSCOPE MOUNT

19…”Defending Liberty Pursuing Justice” org…ABA

20…Org. for Sharapova and Kournikova..WTA

21…Base or case closer..-MENT

22…Exaggerates, as a résumé..PADS

24…Follow..ENSUE

27…Ref. with quarterly online updates..OED

30…Slide..PLAYGROUND CHUTE

34…Respond to a failed delivery..RESEND

35…Not your average joe?..LATTE

36…Video game hero with a kart..MARIO

39…”To wrap up … “..IN SUM …

40…Epic including the Catalogue of Ships..ILIAD

41…Willing to take risks..DARING

45…Slide..RUNNER’S MANEUVER

50…Shocked letters..OMG

51…Colleague of Ruth and Sonia..ELENA

52…Trillionth: Pref…PICO-

53…Kit Carson House site..TAOS

56…Texter’s “Keep the rest to yourself”..TMI

58…Moo __ pork..SHU

59…Slide..TROMBONE SECTION

64…Way to be there when you can’t be there..IN SPIRIT

65…Looked for a school, perhaps..SEINED

66…Tape container..CASSETTE

67…Jousting mounts..STEEDS

Down

1…Bank smartphone offering..ATM APP

2…Type of chief or custom..TRIBAL

3…Noisy bug..CICADA

4…”In __ Time”: Hemingway story collection..OUR

5…White fall..SNOW

6…Quality control personnel..TESTERS

7…Mil. mail drop..APO

8…Unchallenging reading material..PAP

9…Specialized undergrad track..PREMED

10…Frosty film..RIME

11…Will go ahead as planned..IS ON

12…Walter Johnson’s career-leading 110..SHUTOUTS

13…Yet, poetically..E’EN

14…Summer hrs…DST

18…Boat better not rocked..CANOE

23…Many a recent refugee..SYRIAN

25…”Arise, fair __, and kill the envious moon”: Romeo..SUN

26…Sturm __ Drang..UND

28…Incredulous rebuke..ET TU?!

29…Believe..DEEM

31…Amethyst source..GEODE

32…”I Fall to Pieces” singer..CLINE

33…Inhibition..HANG-UP

36…Catalan surrealist..MIRO

37…Fund-raising target, often..ALUM

38…Fair game..RING TOSS

41…Broadband letters..DSL

42…Gallic soul..AME

43…Agitated blog posts..RANTS

44…Muddled..IN A MESS

46…One often has a golf course..RESORT

47…Clear Eyes rival..VISINE

48…Seconded..ECHOED

49…Hospital routines..ROUNDS

54…Tour gear..AMPS

55…Drama prize..OBIE

57…TV co-star of Hargitay and Belzer..ICE-T

59…Spasm..TIC

60…Usually single-stranded molecule..RNA

61…Trivial thing..NIT

62…Août season..ETE

63…Draw..TIE




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12 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword Answers 5 Aug 16, Friday”

  1. Very difficult puzzle. Still it is a pleasure to come to Bill’s carefully crafted blog and understand the puns and complex conundrums and sophisticated alternate meanings that comprise this puzzle. When all has been understood, nothing is lost and no time was wasted.

    So, thats what a shut out is in basedall, and consequently a perfect game. A learning moment for the sports challenged. Also, never heard of Triune before ….. a godhead, itself, is only a vague idea.

    A Friday puzzle is meant to be a wake up call ( or a sharp knock on the head – ) for us uppity amateurs of the Early-Day-saints that we should move on to the more pressing daily chores of life.

    I tried to pronounce Latte, without the accent, at a local Starbucks, last week, ( in my defence, I had a valuable S’bucks gift cert, which I didn’t want – but had to use up anyway ) ….. and the barrista barrister looked at me like I was a moron ….. I tell you they should be forced and condemned to read Bill’s LAX blog, before they get the job.

    Have a nice day, all. and a nice weekend.

  2. 14:04, no errors, iPad. Pretty straightforward.

    To me, DSL always suggests “Dutch as a Second Language”. I thought of that when I first saw the acronym and have never been able to get it out of my head (but hey, any time I see “broadband connection” as the clue for a three-letter entry, it’s a gimme, so I’m not complaining … 🙂 .)

    Lots of interesting tidbits in the blog today. Speaking of cicadas: just now, in my neighborhood in Colorado, there are large green katydids in my neighbor’s aspens. They’re quite difficult to locate, but they create an incredible racket at certain times of the day …

    The people at “cruciverb.com” finally okayed my registration, so I can now download various puzzles in “.puz” format. I tried it out yesterday and then I remembered: “AcrossLite” for the iPad Mini is one of the most annoying apps I’ve ever come across. (Unlike on my Macs, where it’s fine.) Oh, well … the search continues …

  3. I didn’t approach Bill’s solve time (no surprise there) but I did finally get this grid to come out without any final errors. The “mount” part of microscope mount was vexing for quite a while. But once I got the “shut” part of shutouts then I finally twigged to “mount” and that was that.

    Hope you all have a good “gateway” day to the weekend. See you all tomorrow.

  4. @Vidwan a shutout is when no one scores. A perfect game is when no one gets on base. 27 up 27 down.
    I was 6 letters short of completing. MOUNT got me, as well as PARISHES.

    1. Sorry, I meant no one on the opposing team scores. And no one on the opposing team gets on base.
      Otherwise it would be a tie into infinity. 🙂

  5. Not a very tough puzzle for a Friday, but then not easy enough to bore a veteran solver. Congrats to those who zipped on through it. I don’t time myself. That’s fine for other folks (and self-competition is an especially good thing, I think). But for me, it would be a little self-defeating, because not caring how long it’s taking is part of the fun I have solving puzzles. (It’s a pastime, right?) Anyhow, Mr. Wechsler, thanks for another good ‘un.

    1. Kudos, Joe, on your attitude regarding timing. To me, accuracy is much more important than timing, especially since newspaper-and-pencil (no ink for me!) solving can rarely compete with marking entries on a computer.

  6. @ Joe Bleaux: Great comment. I think the crossword world contains two types of solvers: Competitors and Edifiers. The former races through a puzzle in order to compete with others and oneself for time accomplishment. The latter are the philosophers of crossword and enjoy chewing on the subtle and perhaps tricky clues in a puzzle without the pressure of time. Great enjoyment can be had by either approach depending on personality. I have sometimes found that racing through a puzzle can produce better results, but I more enjoy thinking hard about each clue.

  7. @Joe – ya must be smaht.

    DNF for me. I started with Dali for MIRO and Noth for ICET. This would have been an opportunity to use someone other than ICET?
    Thought “keep the rest to yourself” meant the texter was telling a secret, not telling his textee to Shaddup, already.

    I think that if I did this on iPad, etc., I woudl have been corrected early on and not have gone on making booboos. So, is the iPad, iphone, etc. causing puzzles to get harder to make up for that?

    @Dave – what’s happened with lightening bugs? I don’t know any kids who’ve ever seen them.

    Sorry if I’m sharp today. Feeling very New Yahk.

  8. I agree with @Joe Bleaux and @Piano Man. I’m one of the people who just leisurely goes through it for the challenge of it. I thought this was a great puzzle all around. Kudos to JW.

  9. Tough puzzle but I finished without error, even though I was going to give up a bunch of times. I had Dali before MIRO and RINGTOSS – a fair game, really? CLINE took awhile as did TAOS. After about an hour it all came together. Wow!

    On to Saturday…

  10. Hi y’all! Good puzzle, and I completed it with minimal angst. I tussled with the NE, first putting CHURCHES, then PASTURES, before getting PARISHES finally.
    Hey Sfingi, was Chris Noth ever a regular on SVU? He was on the original “Law & Order,” tho i seem to remember that his character crossed over at some point.
    Interesting chat about the two types of solvers. I never time myself, partly because I’m kinda lazy and don’t want to push myself, but also because I like to skip around on the grid, as well as savor the clever clues and bemoan the lousy ones.
    Hey Dave, once a GIGANTIC grasshopper hopped into my kitchen — it was like 5 inches long! Scared the bejesus outta me!! Was that a katydid?!
    I won’t share again my story of the PERFECT GAME I ATTENDED ONCE!! Amazing experience.
    Sweet dreams~~™?

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