LA Times Crossword 16 Nov 23, Thursday

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Constructed by: Bruce Venzke
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Picked up the Pace

Today’s grid includes a word ladder that PICKS UP THE PACE, going from SLOW to FAST in eight steps:

  • 35A Hurried, and what this puzzle’s word ladder literally did in eight steps? : PICKED UP THE PACE
  • 16A #1 : SLOW
  • 19A #2 : SLOT
  • 25A #3 : SOOT
  • 29A #4 : LOOT
  • 43A #5 : LOST
  • 50A #6 : POST
  • 54A #7 : PAST
  • 57A #8 : FAST

Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 8m 19s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Air Force hotshot : ACE

A flying ace (also “air ace”) is an aviator who has shot down a number of enemy planes during combat. The qualifying number of kills seems to vary, but five is common. The first use of “ace” was during WWI, when the French newspapers dubbed pilot Adolphe Pegoud “l’as” (French for “the ace”) when he shot down his fifth German plane.

8 New Jersey city south of Paramus : LODI

Lodi, New Jersey was named in honor of the city of Lodi in Italy. One of Lodi’s claims to fame is that it is home to the Satin Dolls go-go bar, which was used for location shoots for the fictional Bada Bing bar in “The Sopranos”.

13 Club __ : SODA

We call carbonated water “club soda”, because “Club Soda” used to be a brand name. The Club brand of drinks is actually Irish, and is owned by a company now known as C&C. As kids, we grew up on Club Orange and Club Lemon. Club Soda, not so much …

21 One learning the ropes : TRAINEE

As one might expect perhaps, the phrase “learning the ropes” is nautical in origin. A new recruit on a sailing vessel would have to learn how to tie the appropriate knots and learn which rope controlled which sail or spar.

26 E-file org. : IRS

E-file: that’s certainly what I do with my tax return …

27 Roger Rabbit and Bugs Bunny : TOONS

“Who Framed Roger Rabbit” is a clever 1988 film featuring cartoon characters that interact directly with human beings. The most memorable cartoon characters have to be goofy Roger Rabbit, and vampish Jessica Rabbit. The film is based on a novel written by Gary K. Wolf called “Who Censored Roger Rabbit?” There is a prequel floating around that has never been produced, which is titled “Who Discovered Roger Rabbit”.

Bugs Bunny debuted in the 1940 animated short “A Wild Hare”. Since then, Bugs has appeared in more films than any other cartoon character.

28 Hindu sage : GURU

“Guru” is a Hindi word meaning “teacher” or “priest”.

30 Home of the NCAA’s Buckeyes : OSU

Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus was founded back in 1870 as the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College. The athletic teams of OSU are called the Buckeyes, named after the state tree of Ohio. In turn the buckeye tree gets its name from the appearance of its fruit, a dark nut with a light patch thought to resemble a “buck’s eye”. The school’s athletic mascot was introduced in 1965, and is an anthropomorphic buckeye nut named Brutus Buckeye.

31 Hamilton notes : TENS

The obverse of the US ten-dollar bill features the image of Alexander Hamilton, the first US Secretary of the Treasury. As such, ten-dollar bills are sometimes called “Hamiltons”. By the way, the $10 bill is the only US currency in circulation in which the portrait faces to the left. The reverse of the ten-dollar bill features the US Treasury Building.

40 Mata __ : HARI

“Mata Hari” was the stage name used by Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, born in the Netherlands in 1876. After an unsuccessful and somewhat tragic marriage, Zella moved to Paris in 1903 where she struggled to make a living. By 1905 she was working as an exotic dancer and using the name Mata Hari. She was a successful courtesan, notably moving in various circles of high-ranking military officers. She apparently worked as a double agent, both for the French and the Germans. When Mata Hari was accused by the French of passing information to the enemy, she was tried, found guilty and executed by firing squad at the height of WW1, in 1917.

42 Wearable souvenir : TEE

A souvenir is a memento, a token of remembrance. We imported “souvenir” from French, in which language it has the same meaning. The term comes from the Latin “subvenire” meaning “to come to mind”, or literally “to come up”.

49 Flight coordinators: Abbr. : ATC

The concept of air traffic control (ATC) was introduced to the world in 1920, at Croydon Airport in South London, England.

51 Crystal-lined stones : GEODES

A geode is a rock in which there is a cavity that is lined or filled with crystal formations. The crystals inside a geode form when mineral-rich water seeps into a cavity in a rock, leaving behind dissolved minerals that gradually build up over time. Some of the largest geodes ever discovered have been as big as a room and can take millions of years to form.

52 False testimony : PERJURY

An act of perjury is the willful giving of false testimony under oath. The term “perjury” ultimately comes from the Latin “per” meaning “away” and “iurare” meaning “to swear”.

62 North __ Sea: Kazakh lake : ARAL

The former Soviet Union decided to divert the two rivers feeding the Aral Sea in order to irrigate food and cotton crops. Once the fourth largest lake in the world, the Aral Sea began to shrink dramatically in the 1960s due to the loss of water. Today, the Aral Sea is no more. Instead, there are two relatively small bodies of water labeled as the North Aral Sea and the South Aral Sea.

The Republic of Kazakhstan in Central Asia is the world’s largest landlocked country. Kazakhstan was also the last of the former Soviet Republics (SSRs) to declare itself independent from Russia.

63 Desierto’s lack : AGUA

In Spanish, “agua” (water) is “lo que un desierto no tiene” (what a desert does not have).

64 Oodles : TONS

It’s thought that the term “oodles”, meaning “a lot”, comes from “kit and caboodle”.

In the idiomatic expression “the whole kit and caboodle”, “caboodle” (sometimes spelled “kaboodle”) is an informal term describing a bunch of people, or sometimes “the whole lot”.

65 Useful Scrabble tile : ESS

The game of Scrabble has been produced in many international versions, and each of these editions has its own tile distribution to suit the local language. For example, in English we have two tiles worth ten points: one “Q” and one “Z”. If you play the game in French then there are five tiles worth ten points: one “K”, one “W”, one “X”, one “Y” and one “Z”.

Down

6 Future stallion : COLT

There are lots of terms to describe horses of different ages and sexes, it seems:

  • Foal: horse of either sex that is less than one year old
  • Yearling: horse of either sex that is one to two years old
  • Filly: female horse under the age of four
  • Colt: male horse under the age of four
  • Gelding: castrated male horse of any age
  • Stallion: non-castrated male horse four years or older
  • Mare: female horse four years or older

8 Petty of “Orange Is the New Black” : LORI

Lori Petty is the actress who played the character Kit Keller in the fabulous movie “A League of Their Own”. Petty also played the title role in a 1995 science fiction film called “Tank Girl”.

“Orange Is the New Black” is a very entertaining comedy-drama series made by Netflix about an upper middle-class woman who goes to jail for a drug-related offense committed ten years earlier, in her youth. The series is based on a memoir by Piper Kerman called “Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison”.

10 Cabbage for tacos? : DINERO

“Dinero” is a Spanish word meaning “money”, as well as a slang term for money here in the US.

Apparently, we sometimes refer to money as “cabbage” because a bunch of green bills resembles a head of cabbage.

14 Wealthy New York family on HBO’s “The Gilded Age” : ASTOR

John Jacob Astor was the patriarch of the famous American Astor dynasty. He was the country’s first multi-millionaire, making his fortune in the trade of fur, real estate and opium. In today’s terms, it has been calculated that by the time of his death he has accumulated a fortune big enough to make him the fourth wealthiest man in American history (in the company of the likes of Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Bill Gates, Henry Ford and John D. Rockefeller).

“The Gilded Age” is a period drama created and written by Julian Fellowes, who also created the hit drama “Downton Abbey”. The former show is set in New York City in the 1880s, when the nation was enjoying an economic boom.

23 Start of a Mozart opera title : COSI …

Mozart’s comic opera “Così fan tutte” is also known in English as “The School for Lovers”. The literal translation of the opera’s Italian title is “Thus do all (women)”, or “Women are like that”.

28 African grazer : GNU

The gnu is also known as the wildebeest, and is an antelope native to Africa. “Wildebeest” is a Dutch word meaning “wild beast”.

34 Keanu of “The Matrix” : REEVES

Keanu Reeves is a Canadian actor whose most celebrated roles were a metalhead in “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” (1989), a cop in “Speed” (1994) and the protagonist Neo in “The Matrix” series of films. Although Reeves is a Canadian national, he was born in Beirut, Lebanon. Reeves has some Hawaiian descent, and the name “Keanu” is Hawaiian for “the coolness” or “cool breeze”.

The 1999 movie sensation “The Matrix” was meant to be set in a nondescript urban environment. It was actually shot in Australia, as one of the co-producers of the film was the Australian company, Village Roadshow Pictures. You can pick up all sorts of clues about the location when watching the film, including a view of Sydney Harbour Bridge in a background shot. Also, traffic drives along on the left and there are signs for the “lift” instead of an “elevator”.

36 “WandaVision” actress Dennings : KAT

Kat Dennings is the stage name of actress Katherine Litwack, who is noted today for her co-starring role on CBS’s sitcom “2 Broke Girls”. Dennings is an avid blogger, and you can check out her video blog on YouTube.

“WandaVision” is a TV miniseries featuring characters from Marvel Comics. The title characters are Wanda Maximoff (aka Scarlet Witch) played by Elizabeth Olsen and Vision played by Paul Bettany. I am by no means a fan of screen adaptations of comic characters, but I might take a look at “WandaVision”. Wanda and Vision are living in suburbia, trying to conceal their superhero identities. Each episode progresses the storyline through several decades, using situations encountered in sitcoms of the day. Episodes use the format of shows such as:

  • The Dick Van Dyke Show
  • I Love Lucy
  • Bewitched
  • I Dream of Jeannie
  • The Brady Bunch
  • Good Times
  • The Mary Tyler Moore Show
  • Full House
  • Malcolm in the Middle
  • Modern Family
  • Out of this World
  • The Twilight Zone

Sounds very intriguing …

38 Gospel singer Winans : CECE

CeCe Winans (real given name “Priscilla”) is a Gospel music singer. She is part of a duo with her brother, BeBe Winans (real name Benjamin).

44 Verdi opera set in Cyprus : OTELLO

Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Otello” was first performed in 1887 at La Scala Theater in Milan. The opera is based on Shakespeare’s play “Othello” and is considered by many to be Verdi’s greatest work.

Cyprus is an island nation in the Mediterranean Sea, and a member of the European Union. Cyprus is a divided island, with the Republic of Cyprus controlling about 60% of its area. The remaining 40% calls itself the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and is occupied by Turkish forces.

46 Safe havens : ASYLA

Asylum (plural “asyla”) is a Latin word meaning “sanctuary”.

50 Pre-euro Irish coin : PUNT

The “punt” (also “Irish pound”) was the currency of Ireland until the euro went into circulation in 2002.

51 Iona University athletes : GAELS

Iona College is a Roman Catholic school run by Christian Brothers in New Rochelle, New York. The Brothers named the college for the island of Iona off the west coast of Scotland on which is located Iona Abbey, which was founded by St. Columba. The school’s sports teams are called the Iona Gaels, and the team mascot goes by the name “Killian”.

/p>

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Smartphone software : APPS
5 Air Force hotshot : ACE
8 New Jersey city south of Paramus : LODI
12 Take risks : DARE
13 Club __ : SODA
15 “Climb aboard!” : HOP IN!
16 #1 : SLOW
17 Forming a tight group : CLUSTERING
19 #2 : SLOT
21 One learning the ropes : TRAINEE
22 Rebel, in a way : ACT OUT
25 #3 : SOOT
26 E-file org. : IRS
27 Roger Rabbit and Bugs Bunny : TOONS
28 Hindu sage : GURU
29 #4 : LOOT
30 Home of the NCAA’s Buckeyes : OSU
31 Hamilton notes : TENS
33 Smile that may be silly : GRIN
35 Hurried, and what this puzzle’s word ladder literally did in eight steps? : PICKED UP THE PACE
40 Mata __ : HARI
41 Get (into) carefully : EASE
42 Wearable souvenir : TEE
43 #5 : LOST
45 Careful phrasing, perhaps : TACT
47 Feature of some 42-Acrosses : V-NECK
49 Flight coordinators: Abbr. : ATC
50 #6 : POST
51 Crystal-lined stones : GEODES
52 False testimony : PERJURY
54 #7 : PAST
55 Metaphor for a fresh start : CLEAN SLATE
57 #8 : FAST
61 All eyes and ears : ALERT
62 North __ Sea: Kazakh lake : ARAL
63 Desierto’s lack : AGUA
64 Oodles : TONS
65 Useful Scrabble tile : ESS
66 Easy win : ROMP

Down

1 Pitches : ADS
2 Intimate : PAL
3 Debate side : PRO
4 Attaches, as a button : SEWS ON
5 Fancy neckwear : ASCOT
6 Future stallion : COLT
7 Dean’s email suffix : EDU
8 Petty of “Orange Is the New Black” : LORI
9 Stubbornly clinging to preconceived notions : OPINIONATED
10 Cabbage for tacos? : DINERO
11 Gulp down : INGEST
14 Wealthy New York family on HBO’s “The Gilded Age” : ASTOR
15 Furnace output : HEAT
18 Farm structures : TROUGHS
20 Sheen : LUSTER
22 On : ATOP
23 Start of a Mozart opera title : COSI …
24 ATM feature : TOUCH SCREEN
25 Questionable : SUSPECT
28 African grazer : GNU
29 Gloss recipient : LIP
32 Copy cats? : EDITORS
34 Keanu of “The Matrix” : REEVES
36 “WandaVision” actress Dennings : KAT
37 Parlor art, informally : TAT
38 Gospel singer Winans : CECE
39 Surprised cries : EEKS
43 Purring snuggler : LAP CAT
44 Verdi opera set in Cyprus : OTELLO
46 Safe havens : ASYLA
48 Within walking distance, say : NOT FAR
50 Pre-euro Irish coin : PUNT
51 Iona University athletes : GAELS
53 Disturbs : JARS
54 K-12 fundraising gps. : PTAS
56 “__ you for real?” : ARE
58 Before now : AGO
59 Total : SUM
60 Activate, as a 24-Down : TAP