LA Times Crossword Answers 10 Feb 2018, Saturday

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Constructed by: Michael Weisenberg
Edited by: Rich Norris

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Today’s Theme: None

Bill’s time: 11m 44s

Bill’s errors: 0

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

11. RSVP part : S’IL

RSVP stands for “répondez s’il vous plaît”, which is French for “answer, please”.

15. Townshend of The Who : PETE

The musician Pete Townshend is best known as guitarist for the Who. Townshend also served as the main songwriter for the band, composing over one hundred songs that the Who recorded. Sadly, Townshend has paid the price for his exposure to loud rock music and had severe hearing problems. Because of this ailment, he provided the initial funding for a hearing advocacy group called Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers (HEAR).

16. Revelation setting : ARMAGEDDON

According to the Bible’s Book of Revelation, there will be a gathering of armies and a great battle during the “end of days”, and that battle between good and evil will take place at Armageddon.

17. Olympus neighbor : OSSA

Mount Ossa in Greece is located between Mount Pelion in the south, and the famed Mount Olympus in the north. Mount Ossa is also known as Kissavos.

24. Subject for Linnaeus : BOTANY

Carl Linnaeus was a botanist and physician from Sweden. Linnaeus who developed the system of biological classification that we still use today. He introduced us to kingdoms, classes, orders, families, genera and species in his 1735 publication “Systema Naturae”.

28. Maternally related : ENATE

Something that is enate is growing outward, and “enate” is used to describe ancestors related on the mother’s side. Something that is agnate comes from a common source, and “agnate” is used to describe relatives on the father’s side of the family tree.

29. “Dead Souls” novelist : GOGOL

Nikolai Gogol was a Russian writer, born in Ukraine. Gogol wrote a lot of satirical pieces that attacked corrupt bureaucracy in Russia, which led to his being exiled. His most famous work is probably “Taras Bulba”, from 1836.

30. “Billions” network, briefly : SHO

“Billions” is a Showtime drama series starring Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis. It’s about a federal prosecutor going after a hedge fund manager in New York. I haven’t seen this one, but hear good things. Must be good with Giamatti and Lewis starring …

31. Fake out : DEKE

A deke, also known as a dangle, is a technique used to get past an opponent in ice hockey. “Deke” is a colloquial shortening of the word “decoy”.

33. Sugar source : BEET

The biggest producer of sugar beets in the world is Russia, with France and the US in second and third place.

34. Sugar suffix : -OSE

Sugars are usually named using the “-ose” suffix e.g., glucose, fructose, sucrose.

35. Some pretenders : SNOBS

Back in the 1780s, a “snob” was a shoemaker or a shoemaker’s apprentice. By the end of the 18th century the word was being used by students at Cambridge University in England to refer to all local merchants and people of the town. The term evolved to mean one who copies those who are his or her social superior (and not in a good way). From there it wasn’t a big leap for “snob” to include anyone who emphasized their superior social standing and not just those who aspired to rank. Nowadays a snob is anyone who looks down on those considered to be of inferior standing.

36. Membre de la famille : FRERE

In French, a “frère” (brother) is a “membre de la famille” (member of the family).

40. Rocky of song : RACCOON

“Rocky Raccoon” is a folk rock song by the Beatles that they released in 1968. The song’s title inspired the creation of Marvel Comics superhero Rocket Raccoon, who features prominently in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies.

41. Munich title : HERR

In German, a “Mr.” (Herr) is married to a “Mrs.” (Frau), and they live together in a house (Haus).

Munich is the capital of the German state of Bavaria, and is the third largest city in the country (after Berlin and Hamburg). The city is called “München” in German, a term that derives from the Old German word for “by the monks’ place”, which is a reference to the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city in 1158.

42. Home of Canada’s Parliament : OTTAWA

Parliament Hill is on the banks of the Ottawa River in Ottawa, Canada’s capital city. The Parliament buildings were constructed in a Gothic Revival style, so there is a passing resemblance to the Houses of Parliament in London. There’s a Parliament Hill in London too, but it has no real connection to the Parliament buildings at the Palace of Westminster and is miles away.

43. Secular : LAIC

Anything described as laic (or “laical, lay”) is related to the laity, those members of the church who are not clergy. The term “laic” ultimately comes from the Greek “laikos” meaning “of the people”.

44. Phased-out refrigerant compound : CFC

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used to be widely used as propellants in aerosols, and as refrigerants in cooling systems. CFCs make their way up into the ozone layer and trigger a chain reaction that converts ozone (O3) into regular oxygen (O2). That conversion creates “holes” in the ozone layer. Regular O2 is good stuff, but we need O3 to absorb harmful UV radiation raining down on us. CFC is not good stuff …

47. “__Language”: 1993 comedy best-seller : SEIN

“Seinlangauge” is best-selling 1993 book by comedian Jerry Seinfeld. In the book, Seinfeld gives opinions on many subjects, from the prosaic to the profound. I hear that it’s pretty funny …

51. Amor counterpart : EROS

Eros, the Greek god of love, gives rise to our word “erotic”, meaning “arousing sexual desire”. Eros was referred to in Latin as both Amor (meaning “love”) and Cupid (meaning “desire”).

53. Three-part fig. : 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.

Down

1. Draft orders : IPAS

India pale ale (IPA) is a style of beer that originated in England. The beer was originally intended for transportation from England to India, hence the name.

2. “Juno” actor Michael : CERA

Michael Cera is a Canadian actor who played great characters on the TV show “Arrested Development”, and in the 2007 comedy-drama “Juno”. Cera is also quite the musician. He released an indie folk album titled “True That” in 2014.

“Juno” is a great comedy-drama released in 2007 that tells the story of a spunky teenager who is faced with an unplanned pregnancy. The title character is played by Ellen Page, with Michael Cera playing the father of her child. The film won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The relatively low-budget movie earned back its initial budget in the first day of its full release to the public. Low-budget blockbuster; my kind of movie …

4. Govt. employer of mathematicians : NSA

National Security Agency (NSA)

5. Treatment for losing one’s head? : ROGAINE

Rogaine is a brand name for the drug Minoxidil. It was developed as an oral medication to treat high blood pressure, but was found to have an exploitable side-effect. It caused an increase in the rate of hair growth. A topical solution was marketed to promote growth of hair especially in balding men. The drug seems to work well, but when the patient stops using it, things go back to normal in about 60 days. Wouldn’t dream of touching the stuff myself …

7. Like a full hold : LADEN

The verb “to lade” meaning “to load” comes from an Old English word “hladan”. “Lade” also used to mean “draw water” and indeed gave us our word “ladle”. So “lade” and “ladle” are close cousins.

8. Pierce portrayer : ALDA

Hawkeye Pierce is the lead character in the “M*A*S*H” novel, movie and TV series. Hawkeye was originally portrayed by Donald Sutherland in the film, and then by Alan Alda in the television show. Pierce is the only character appearing in all 250 episodes of the groundbreaking TV series.

9. Eastern way : TAO

The name of the Chinese character “tao” translates as “path”, but the concept of Taoism signifies the true nature of the world.

10. Sitcom sidekick whose wife sometimes calls him by his last name : ED NORTON

Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton are two characters in “The Honeymooners”, played by Jackie Gleason and Art Carney. Kramden is a bus driver, and Norton works with the New York City sewer department.

21. First name in astronautics : NEIL

Neil Armstrong was the most private of individuals. You didn’t often see him giving interviews, unlike so many of the more approachable astronauts of the Apollo space program. His famous, “That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind” statement; that was something that he came up with himself while Apollo 11 was making its way to the moon.

22. Stuff : SATE

“Sate” is a variant of the older word “satiate”. Both terms can mean either to satisfy an appetite fully, or to eat to excess.

23. “The Dance Class” painter : DEGAS

Edgar Degas’ 1874 painting “The Dance Class” can be seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It depicts ballet master Jules Perrot holding a class in a rehearsal room in the old Paris Opéra. The scene is imagined by the artist, as the building had been destroyed by fire the year before. The Musée d’Orsay in Paris owns a variant of the painting that goes by the title “The Ballet Class”, which was painted before the fire took place.

27. “Forbidden Planet” robot : ROBBY

“Forbidden Planet” is a 1956 sci-fi movie starring Walter Pidgeon that bears some resemblance to William Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest”. “Forbidden Planet” is notable for several reasons, including the fact that it was the first film showing humans traveling in a starship, and the the first set entirely on another planet. It was also the first film to feature a robot that had a personality. That’s Robby the Robot.

36. Grasping pair : FORCEPS

Forceps are a handheld instrument used to grasp objects, often objects too small to held securely by fingers. Nowadays, the use of the term “forceps” is almost exclusively limited to the medical profession. The various types of medical forceps resemble tweezers, tongs, pliers and clamps. “Forceps” is a Latin term originally describing a blacksmith’s tool used to grasp hot items.

46. PC key under Shift : CTRL

The Control (CTRL) key on a PC keyboard is used to modify the function of other keys. For example, pressing CTRL+C copies a selection to the clipboard, and CTRL+V pastes the contents of the clipboard to a location defined by the cursor. Control keys were introduced on teletypewriters to generate “control characters”, which are non-printing characters that instruct a computer to do something like print a page, ring a bell etc.

49. Airport in Peru’s cap. : LIM

Peru’s main airport is Jorge Chávez International Airport (LIM), and is located just a few miles from the nation’s capital Lima. The facility is named for Jorge Chávez, a pioneering Peruvian aviator who died in 1920 while attempting the first air crossing of the Alps.

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Empathetic words : I CAN RELATE
11. RSVP part : S’IL
14. One may run for a week : PERSONAL AD
15. Townshend of The Who : PETE
16. Revelation setting : ARMAGEDDON
17. Olympus neighbor : OSSA
18. Put forth : SAY
19. Metro __ : AREA
20. Grounded : ON LAND
22. Horoscope heading : SIGN
23. Wish for : DREAM OF
24. Subject for Linnaeus : BOTANY
27. Relocate in, as after one’s career : RETIRE TO
28. Maternally related : ENATE
29. “Dead Souls” novelist : GOGOL
30. “Billions” network, briefly : SHO
31. Fake out : DEKE
32. __ legend : URBAN
33. Sugar source : BEET
34. Sugar suffix : -OSE
35. Some pretenders : SNOBS
36. Membre de la famille : FRERE
37. Celebration honoring a saint : FEAST DAY
39. Crossed at a shallow spot : FORDED
40. Rocky of song : RACCOON
41. Munich title : HERR
42. Home of Canada’s Parliament : OTTAWA
43. Secular : LAIC
44. Phased-out refrigerant compound : CFC
47. “__Language”: 1993 comedy best-seller : SEIN
48. Ecstatic : BLISSED OUT
51. Amor counterpart : EROS
52. Game with wagering restrictions : LIMIT POKER
53. Three-part fig. : SSN
54. Bit of rifle range debris : EMPTY SHELL

Down

1. Draft orders : IPAS
2. “Juno” actor Michael : CERA
3. Fighting group : ARMY
4. Govt. employer of mathematicians : NSA
5. Treatment for losing one’s head? : ROGAINE
6. Going concern? : ENERGY
7. Like a full hold : LADEN
8. Pierce portrayer : ALDA
9. Eastern way : TAO
10. Sitcom sidekick whose wife sometimes calls him by his last name : ED NORTON
11. Bit of bun flavoring : SESAME SEED
12. Disappointed observation : IT’S NOT HERE
13. In danger of being ticketed : LEAD-FOOTED
15. Magnetic? : POLAR
21. First name in astronautics : NEIL
22. Stuff : SATE
23. “The Dance Class” painter : DEGAS
24. Easy Street kin : BED OF ROSES
25. Most bicycles : ONE-SEATERS
26. Do something : TAKE ACTION
27. “Forbidden Planet” robot : ROBBY
29. Punster’s reward? : GROAN
32. Impossible : UNDOABLE
33. Cold reaction : BRRR!
35. Put in a hold : STOW
36. Grasping pair : FORCEPS
38. Input methods : SCANS
39. Full of pluck : FEISTY
41. “Rumor __ … ” : HAS IT
43. Favor one side over the other : LIMP
44. Fountain choice : COKE
45. Drive : FUEL
46. PC key under Shift : CTRL
49. Airport in Peru’s cap. : LIM
50. [Head slap] : D’OH!

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12 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword Answers 10 Feb 2018, Saturday”

  1. LAT: 38 minutes, no errors. Pretty routine. WSJ: 31:41, 3 dumb errors.

    In other news, I finished with the word studies in puzzles. It’s interesting to see how consistent the usages are for certain words across the different puzzles I have here, with a few minor variations. For instance, BEQ favors ARE, ERA, ACE, APE, and ATE. Croce favors ETA, ORE, AHA, ALI, and ART. Jones favors ERA, OLE, AHA, AREA, and SPA. But the other words are pretty close-by.

    The interesting part of the prominence of certain words is the vowels to act as odd fillers in the creation of a grid. Again, I have to be amazed by the wide number of unique words and phrases used in these grids (over 50,000 in all the PUZ files I used).

    More over, I could explore creating a dictionary pretty readily, but not sure how that would fall from a copyright standpoint. But the word list will definitely be useful to study in the future to maybe prevent a BELDAME surprise like yesterday.

  2. LAT: 15:47, no errors, but I spent several minutes staring at “SEIN”, thinking, “Sein Language. Sein Language? To be (German) Language? Sign Language? That just can’t be right.” But I finally went with it … ?

    WSJ: 26:27, no errors; a little harder than usual, I thought.

    Newsday’s “Saturday Stumper”: 37:56, no errors; pretty typical outing; have to wonder if the answer for 46A is a subtle comment about the current political situation.

    Very grateful to have the Friday and Saturday puzzles (particularly today’s NYT puzzle!) behind me for another week … I’m obviously getting too old for this … ?

  3. ROBBY the robot, ROGAINE, ED NORTON, Rocky RACCOON! This one definitely wasn’t catering to GenX or Millennial solvers. I can’t speak for all geezers, but I loved it. Thanks, Mr. Wiesenberg! @Dave, this may be a stretch, but in light of “1993” and “comedy” in the 47A clue, you think it might be an allusion to SEINfeld?

    1. @Joe Bleaux … Re: SEINfeld. Yeah, so I discovered (after the fact). I’ve been mostly ignoring TV for a looong time … ? … so … big blind spot there. (On the other hand, BELDAME was a “gimme” for me … go figure … and I did enjoy the puzzle ?.)

  4. Slow but steady filled in the grid. No real missteps except for not knowing how to spell botany correctly (having an o where the a needed to be hung me up for awhile). On to the WSJ 21X21 later at work.

  5. 26:55. Fun challenge after the NYT today (as Dave alluded to as well) which I actually finished. I might print it out and frame the NYT as Bill had a DNF on it….and I’m sure he appreciates my advertising it here as well 🙂

    I had a history teacher (of all people) who always talked about the difference between the Greek EROS and “agape”. EROS was considered “self love” and agape was considered “selfless love”. And that’s “agape” – pronounced ah-GA-pay not the crossword fixture “agape” as in with mouth wide open.

    SEINfeld and Honeymooners references today. That has to make it a good puzzle…

    Best –

  6. I started out with Clergy for ENERGY. I like mine better.

    ED NORTON’s clue is in the present tense-slowed me down a lot. To the moon, Mr.Weisenberg.

    Linnaeus was an amazing man, to know so much about nearly every living thing.

  7. The WSJ 21X21 finally came to fruition without final errors. I got slowed down substantially while trying to sort out a self inflicted wound with my selection of the wrong animal for the start to the 74 Across clue of “Pen Lights.” Once that curly tail was straightened out the last bits of the grid fell into place for 62 and 63 Down (“Poker Target” and “Honey locust feature”).

  8. After an hour the NW corner was going nowhere, so I called it a day; 1 hr with about 12 errors.

    I had aleS instead of IPAS, didn’t know CERA, had unit instead of ARMY, ___AINE and ___RGY. My biblical knowledge is definitely limited so “Revelation setting” was new to me.

    I knew Ed Norton, Rocky Raccoon and of course Pete Townshend, but my TV blew up before “Seinfield” or “Friends” ever aired. From the short videos that I’ve seen, that’s a good thing.

  9. Good day one and all!! ✌
    No errors!! Fuzzle! ? Did not experience any crippling angst on this one, tho of COURSE I initially misspelled NEIL and left a C out for RACCOON.
    Michael CERA is a wonderful young actor. I recently watched all of Arrested Development — the cast is the best thing about the show, and he stands out.
    Be well~~™?

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