LA Times Crossword Answers 17 May 17, Wednesday










Constructed by: Alex Eaton-Salners

Edited by: Rich Norris

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

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Theme: Treetops

Each of today’s themed answers is in the down-direction, with a type of TREE on the TOP:

  • 55A. Canopy creators … or what can literally be found in 6-, 10-, 24- and 34-Down : TREETOPS
  • 6D. Brain part that produces melatonin : PINEAL GLAND (has “pine” at the top)
  • 10D. Cartographer’s table : MAP LEGEND (has “maple” at the top)
  • 24D. Reason for a parking restriction : FIRE HYDRANT (has “fir” at the top)
  • 34D. “Wascally wabbit” hunter : ELMER FUDD (has “elm” at the top)

Bill’s time: 6m 09s

Bill’s errors: 0




Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies

Across

10. Finance majors’ degs. : MBAS

The world’s first Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree was offered by Harvard’s Graduate School of Business Administration, in 1908.

14. Kagan associate : ALITO

Associate Justice Samuel Alito was nominated to the US Supreme Court by President George W. Bush. Alito is the second Italian-American to serve on the Supreme Court (Antonin Scalia was the first). Alito studied law at Yale and while in his final year he left the country for the first time in his life, heading to Italy to work on his thesis about the Italian legal system.

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 …

16. Strong lobby for seniors : AARP

“AARP” is now the official name for the interest group that used to be called the American Association of Retired Persons. The name change reflects the current focus of the group on all Americans aged 50 or over, as opposed to just people who have retired.

23. Albacore, e.g. : TUNA

Skipjack tuna would be called medium-sized, growing to about three feet long. Albacore tuna is a little larger.

25. 19th Greek letter : TAU

Tau is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet, the letter which gave rise to our Roman “T”. Both the letters tau (T) and chi (X) have long been symbolically associated with the cross.

28. Eight pts. : GAL

The name of our fluid measure called a “gallon” ultimately comes from the Medieval Latin term “galleta” meaning “bucket, pail”.

A US pint is made from 16 fluid ounces, and an imperial pint is 20 fluid ounces. The term “pint” comes into English via Old French, ultimately from the Latin “picta” meaning “painted”. The name arose from a line painted on the side of a beer glass, marking a full measure of ale.

35. “An Officer and a Gentleman” star : GERE

Richard Gere has played such great roles on the screen, and I find him to be a very interesting character off the screen. Gere has been studying Buddhism since 1978 and is a very visible supporter of the Dalai Lama and the people of Tibet.

“An Officer and a Gentleman” is a 1982 film starring Richard Gere as a candidate in the US Navy flight school who meets up and falls in love with a local girl played by Debra Winger. Despite the love shown on the screen between the characters played by Gere and Winger, it is fairly well known that the two leading actors did not get on well at all during the making of the film. At one point, Winger referred publicly to Gere as a “brick wall”.

38. Castro of Cuba : RAUL

Raul Castro is the younger brother of Fidel Castro. Raul has been President of Cuba since 2008, when Fidel stepped aside.

40. Statistician Silver of ESPN’s FiveThirtyEight : NATE

Nate Silver is a statistician who first gained notoriety by developing a forecasting system that predicted the future performance of baseball players. He then made a name for himself in the world of politics by predicting the outcome of the 2008 US presidential race at the website FiveThirtyEight.com. Silver successfully predicted the outcome of the election in 49 of the 50 states, missing out on Indiana, which Barack Obama won by less than 1% of the vote. Then, along came the 2012 presidential race, which so many pollsters got wrong …

41. British baby buggy : PRAM

Another word used in the UK that’s rarely used over here is “pram”, which in my day was the most common term for what is called a baby carriage in the US. “Pram” is short for “perambulator”.

42. “The cow is of the bovine ilk / One end is moo, the other, milk” poet : NASH

Ogden Nash the poet was well known for his light and humorous verse, such as:

The cow is of the bovine ilk;
One end is moo, the other, milk.

43. Floppy disk successor : CD-ROM

CD-ROM stands for “compact disc read only memory”. The name indicates that you can read information from the disc (like a standard music CD for example), but you cannot write to it. You can also buy a CD-RW, which stands for “compact disc – rewritable”, with which you can read data and also write over it multiple times using a suitable CD drive.

I don’t think my kids really know what a floppy disk is. A floppy disk is made up of a thin and flexible magnetic material that can store data, enclosed in a protective case. I’ve used 8-inch floppies in my time, and many 5.25-inch floppy disks. Until fairly recently, I had a desktop that would take 3.5-inch disks, although I think the last 3.5-inch floppy disappeared from the house several years ago …

44. Solemn ending? : SILENT N

There’s a silent letter N at the end of the word “solemn”.

50. TiVo products : DVRS

TiVo was introduced in 1999 and was the world’s first commercially successful Digital Video Recorder (DVR).

59. Free speech org. : ACLU

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has its roots in the First World War when it was founded to provide legal advice and support to conscientious objectors. The ACLU’s motto is “Because Freedom Can’t Protect Itself”. The ACLU also hosts a blog on the ACLU.org website called “Speak Freely”.

67. Prefix with foam : STYRO-

Styrofoam is an extruded polystyrene foam made by The Dow Chemical Company. Styrofoam has loads of applications, including home insulation and use as a buoyancy aid. It is also formed into “peanuts” used as a packaging filler.

Down

2. Panache : ELAN

Our word “élan” was imported from French, in which language the word has a similar meaning to ours, i.e “style” or “flair”.

Someone exhibiting panache is showing dash and verve, and perhaps has a swagger. “Panache” is a French word used for a plume of feathers, especially in a hat.

5. Haitian island whose name is Spanish for “turtle” : TORTUGA

Tortuga is a Haitian island located off the northwest coast of Hispaniola. The island was used as a major base of operations for Caribbean pirates in the mid- to late-17th century. “Tortuga” is Spanish for “turtle”.

6. Brain part that produces melatonin : PINEAL GLAND (has “pine” at the top)

The pineal gland is a small gland located in the epithalamus, near the center of the brain. The gland gets its name from its shape, like a tiny pine cone. The pineal gland produces melatonin, a hormone that helps maintain our circadian rhythm, so varying levels of melatonin control our sleep-wake cycle.

11. Indonesian island : BALI

Bali is both an island and a province in Indonesia. It is a popular tourist spot, although the number of visitors dropped for a few years as a result of terrorist bombings in 2002 and 2005 that killed mainly tourists. Bali became more popular starting in 2008 due to a significant and favorable change in the exchange rate between the US dollar and the Indonesian rupiah.

12. “Iliad” war god : ARES

The Greek god Ares is often referred to as the Olympian god of warfare, but originally he was regarded as the god of bloodlust and slaughter. Ares united with Aphrodite to create several gods, including Phobos (Fear), Deimos (Terror) and Eros (Desire). Ares was the son of Zeus and Hera, and the Roman equivalent to Ares was Mars.

“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”.

18. Forearm part : ULNA

The radius and ulna are bones in the forearm. If you hold the palm of your hand up in front of you, the radius is the bone on the “thumb-side” of the arm, and the ulna is the bone on the “pinkie-side”.

22. New Deal prog. : NRA

The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was one of the first agencies set up under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal program. On the one hand the NRA help set minimum wages and maximum working hours for workers in industry, and on the other hand it helped set minimum prices for goods produced by companies. The NRA was very popular with the public, and businesses that didn’t opt to participate in the program found themselves boycotted. The NRA didn’t survive for long though, as after two years of operation it was deemed to be unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court and so it ceased operations in 1935.

25. Camping cover-ups : TARPS

Originally, tarpaulins were made from canvas covered in tar that rendered the material waterproof. The word “tarpaulin” comes from “tar” and “palling”, with “pall” meaning “heavy cloth covering”.

26. Centipede creator : ATARI

Centipede is an arcade game from Atari (it was my favorite!). The game was designed by Ed Logg and Dona Bailey, with Bailey being one of the few female game designers back then (it was released in 1980). Perhaps due to her influence, Centipede was the first arcade game to garner a significant female following.

32. Redcoat, to a Minuteman : ENEMY

Back in the colony of Massachusetts Bay, the local militia was made up of all the able-bodied males in the colony who were aged between 16 and 60. These men were called to service only when necessary. Some of the men in towns around the colony were trained for rapid deployment, and were known as “minutemen”.

Here in the US, we refer to the British soldiers fighting in the revolutionary war as “Redcoats”, a reference to the color of their uniforms. Nowadays in the British Army, the red tunic is reserved only for ceremonial purposes. The vivid color proved to be a detriment after the invention of the rifle.

34. “Wascally wabbit” hunter : ELMER FUDD (has “elm” at the top)

Elmer Fudd is one of the most famous of all the Looney Tunes cartoon characters, the hapless nemesis of Bugs Bunny. If you have never seen it, check out Elmer and Bugs in the marvelous “Rabbit of Seville”, a short cartoon that parodies Rossini’s “Barber of Seville”. Wonderful stuff …

36. Sci-fi visitors : ETS

Extraterrestrial (ET)

43. Board game with an “Unemployment Office” corner : CAREERS

Careers is a board game that Parker Brothers introduced in 1955. Believe it or not, Careers was initially sold at the price of $2.95!

47. Penultimate word of many fairy tales : EVER

… and they all lived happy ever after.

51. Classic guitar, briefly : STRAT

The Stratocaster (often “Strat”) is an electric guitar made by Fender since 1954. The company that made Fender electric guitars was founded in Fullerton, California in 1946 by Leo Fender.

52. Shindig : BASH

“Shindig” is such a lovely word, I think, describing a party that usually includes some dancing. Although its origin isn’t really clear, the term perhaps comes from “shinty”, a Scottish game that’s similar to field hockey.

58. Houston athlete, for short : ‘STRO

The Houston baseball team changed its name to the Astros (sometimes “’Stros”) from the Colt .45s in 1965 when they started playing in the Astrodome. The Astrodome was so called in recognition of the city’s long association with the US space program. The Astros moved from the National League to the American League starting in the 2013 season.

61. Status __ : QUO

“Status quo” translates from Latin as “state in which”, and in English is used to mean the existing condition or state of affairs.

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Complete List of Clues and Answers

Across

1. Produced, biblically speaking : BEGAT

6. Racetrack stops : PITS

10. Finance majors’ degs. : MBAS

14. Kagan associate : ALITO

15. Not yet out of the running : IN IT

16. Strong lobby for seniors : AARP

17. One who wants to come home? : BASE RUNNER

19. Insanity, in court : PLEA

20. Makes eligible for, with “to” : ENTITLES

21. Sign up : ENLIST

23. Albacore, e.g. : TUNA

24. Price of a crosstown ride : FARE

25. 19th Greek letter : TAU

28. Eight pts. : GAL

29. “Just think!” : IMAGINE!

33. In unfamiliar territory : AT SEA

35. “An Officer and a Gentleman” star : GERE

37. Black, in poetry : EBON

38. Castro of Cuba : RAUL

39. Adjust to fit : ALTER

40. Statistician Silver of ESPN’s FiveThirtyEight : NATE

41. British baby buggy : PRAM

42. “The cow is of the bovine ilk / One end is moo, the other, milk” poet : NASH

43. Floppy disk successor : CD-ROM

44. Solemn ending? : SILENT N

46. Vote in favor : YEA

48. What’s up to you? : SKY

49. Cheese coat : RIND

50. TiVo products : DVRS

52. Confuse : BAFFLE

55. Canopy creators … or what can literally be found in 6-, 10-, 24- and 34-Down : TREETOPS

59. Free speech org. : ACLU

60. Three, to nine : SQUARE ROOT

62. Get rid of : SHED

63. Change directions : TURN

64. Box cutter insert : RAZOR

65. Top dog : HEAD

66. Not hard : SOFT

67. Prefix with foam : STYRO-

Down

1. Innocent one : BABE

2. Panache : ELAN

3. Heart of the matter : GIST

4. Absorbed the loss : ATE IT

5. Haitian island whose name is Spanish for “turtle” : TORTUGA

6. Brain part that produces melatonin : PINEAL GLAND (has “pine” at the top)

7. Overnight stops : INNS

8. 50-50, e.g. : TIE

9. Party decoration : STREAMER

10. Cartographer’s table : MAP LEGEND (has “maple” at the top)

11. Indonesian island : BALI

12. “Iliad” war god : ARES

13. Petty argument : SPAT

18. Forearm part : ULNA

22. New Deal prog. : NRA

24. Reason for a parking restriction : FIRE HYDRANT (has “fir” at the top)

25. Camping cover-ups : TARPS

26. Centipede creator : ATARI

27. Garden-variety : USUAL

30. Bridge beams : I-BARS

31. Against the rules : NOT OK

32. Redcoat, to a Minuteman : ENEMY

34. “Wascally wabbit” hunter : ELMER FUDD (has “elm” at the top)

36. Sci-fi visitors : ETS

39. Colonies crawling with critters : ANT NESTS

43. Board game with an “Unemployment Office” corner : CAREERS

45. Zip : NIL

47. Penultimate word of many fairy tales : EVER

51. Classic guitar, briefly : STRAT

52. Shindig : BASH

53. Bruise symptom : ACHE

54. One in the doghouse? : FLEA

55. Gang land : TURF

56. Like slime : OOZY

57. Substandard : POOR

58. Houston athlete, for short : ‘STRO

61. Status __ : QUO

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10 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword Answers 17 May 17, Wednesday”

  1. Am I the first ? Where is everybody ? I had a little tough time with the puzzle. The long answers eventually fell into place, but it was a challenge. This is Wednesday, after all.

    Elena Kagan was also dean of the Harvard law school and a finalist for the job for president of Harvard College. Amazing person. Too bad, she had no time to find a marriage partner.

    Famous last words on the current presidential election:::
    “You know the election was fair, when even all the pollsters got it wrong”…… ( Only the L A Times was barely correct. )

    Regarding the terrorism that has occured in Bali, based on several news sites, …. apparently the terrorism has been caused by islamic militants/ terrorists from the rest of Indonesia who are jealous / vengeful / hateful of Bali’s pseudo- hindu heritage. Indonesia is the largest muslim nation in the world, by population, and Bali is an anachronism, in that it still has a pseudo-hindu pagan culture.

    Finally, a wonderful Google doodle today, on the Antikythera mechanism – an analog Greek computer – third century BCE, to show planetary movements and an orrery ( there’s a new word for you ! ) . Should be of great interest to the denizens on our blog ……

    Have a nice day, all.

  2. 10:34, no errors. Easy puzzle, but, for no apparent reason, the online interface malfunctioned: It blew the grid up so as to show me only a small fraction of it at any one time – six squares across by seven squares high. A very difficult solve that way, and I can’t find anything in the interface that controls this. Computers … grrr … ?

  3. Quick solve by Wednesday standards. A lot of crosswordese in this one EBON, TAU, ULNA, STRO, ELAN, STRAT, SILENT N, ETS, ATARI, BALI….to name some.

    Clever theme. I particularly liked MAPLE out of map legend although it gave me a craving for a Belgian waffle or something similar.

    Best –

  4. 20 minutes, 3 errors on this one. Just not on in any way at all doing this one for some reason.

    @Bill
    I just happened to notice this and kind of surprised I haven’t to this point, given the prevalence and fame of this name in crossword-land, and that it’s repeated over a number of grids here (and correct on the NYT blog). The constructor’s name is Alex Eaton-SaLners. Thank you for the blogs as always.

    1. Thanks for spotting the error, Glenn. That’s an important one to correct. All fixed now.

  5. So many distractions this morning. Get up, do this, do that.
    Finally alone with the puzzle, but still made a mistake.
    What’s up to you? SAY!
    I have a SAY in it. Sheesh.
    And SILENT N didn’t fool me this time.
    Good puzzle, but I didn’t finish correctly.

  6. Ditto Pookie.

    I have a Loonie Tunes collection for the grandkids. They love it. It’s amazing, and sad, how “everyday” cartoon art has deteriorated over the decades.

  7. @Carrie
    That’s how the Saturday Stumpers do me – I get about 1/4 of the grid and get stuck, then check and find 1/4 to 1/2 of it is off and sometimes off in a direction I would have never thought (TERRIERMIX instead of MIXEDBREED for instance in a past grid).

    I find often to be successful with those, you have to be willing to second-guess yourself on a whole lot of what you fill in just in case you are on the wrong track. Unless you have partials filled in you’re confident with. But usually once I get enough of a foothold by one way or the other, I do well enough to finish, as long as it doesn’t call for some piece of trivia I don’t know (like a lot of these grids will).

    Last one I actually completed was with only 4 clues I had to correct, so I figure that’s par for the course. Problem with these as with the other grids I do is trying to be sure I gave it enough of a shot before I do go give myself a nudge forward by correcting answers or giving myself an answer. But always try if you can (I’m actually 1 for however many grids came out after I told Dave about them, so I actually did finish one unaided).

    All you can do with any of this is just keep trying. 🙂

  8. Pretty quick puzzle, but I had the same error as Pookie. For some reason I couldn’t get the cross either: Not On, Nonos….grr.

    Worst president ever!

  9. Hi everyone!!?
    This one went really quickly for me. The theme helped — I looked at the key theme clue, figured it had to do with trees, and I was on my way. I did have a misstep at first with FIRE HYDRANT, thinking it was STREET CLEANING– which of course didn’t fit.

    Glenn! Thanks for the tips! I’ll apply your advice. I’m taking my LAT Saturday approach: each square is a letter. There are 26 letters (plus Roman numerals.) So, we’re presented with a FINITE number of letters and squares. The odds are not so bad.

    DIRK — too true. Wonder how long it will take….

    Be well~~™?

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