LA Times Crossword Answers 6 Jul 2018, Friday

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Constructed by: Susan Gelfand
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Cars

Themed answers are parts of CARS, although are clued as if not:

  • 57D. What the answers to starred clues are part of : CARS
  • 17A. *Footwear that slows you down? : BRAKE SHOES
  • 38A. *Satchels with vents? : AIRBAGS
  • 60A. *Headwear with a power supply? : BATTERY CAP
  • 11D. *Leg covering with a warmer? : HEATER HOSE
  • 29D. *Trouser support with rhythm? : TIMING BELT

Bill’s time: 11m 46s

Bill’s errors: 0

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. Kid : JOSH

When the verb “to josh”, meaning “to kid”, was coined in the 1840s as an American slang term, it was written with a capital J. It is likely that the term somehow comes from the proper name “Joshua”, but no one seems to remember why.

10. Layered hairstyle : SHAG

A shag cut is a layered hairstyle. Actress Meg Ryan famously sported a shag cut for many years.

14. Germany’s von Bismarck : OTTO

Germany first became a country of her own in 1871 when the Princes of the various independent German states met at Versailles outside Paris to proclaim Wilhelm of Prussia as the Emperor of the German Empire. The man behind this historic development was Wilhelm’s Ministerpräsident, Otto von Bismarck. Von Bismarck was a powerful figure in Prussia and indeed on the world stage, earning him the nickname of the “Iron Chancellor”.

15. Capital on the Aar : BERNE

Bern (sometimes “Berne”, especially in French) is the capital city of Switzerland. The official language of the city is German, but the language most spoken in Bern is a dialect known as Bernese German.

The Aar (also called the “Aare” in German) is the longest river entirely in Switzerland. The Aar is a major tributary of the Rhine, and flows through Bern, the nation’s capital.

17. *Footwear that slows you down? : BRAKE SHOES

The drum brake was invented in 1902 by Louis Renault (founder of Renault, the automobile company). In a drum brake, there is a set of brake shoes that usually presses on the inner surface of the drum to slow down rotation. Nowadays, the disc brake system is more popular, a design which uses brake pads instead of brake shoes.

19. Pro __ : RATA

“Pro rata” is a Latin phrase meaning “in proportion”.

20. Fancy pillow material : SATIN

The material known as “satin” takes its name from “Zayton”, the medieval Arabic name for the Chinese port city of Quanzhou. Quanzhou was used for the export of large amounts of silk to Europe.

21. Takes a gander at : EYES

To take a gander is to take a long look. “Gander” is a term we’ve been using in this sense since the 1880s, coming from the idea that in taking a long look one might be craning one’s neck like a goose (or gander).

23. Dutch export : EDAM

Edam cheese takes its name from the Dutch town of Edam in North Holland. The cheese is famous for its coating of red paraffin wax, a layer of protection that helps Edam travel well and prevents spoiling. You might occasionally come across an Edam cheese that is coated in black wax. The black color indicates that the underlying cheese has been aged for a minimum of 17 weeks.

37. Flee : LAM

To be on the lam is to be in flight, to have escaped from prison. “On the lam” is American slang that originated at the end of the 19th century. The word “lam” also means to “beat” or “thrash”, as in “lambaste”. So “on the lam” might derive from the phrase “to beat it, to scram”.

38. *Satchels with vents? : AIRBAGS

A satchel is a soft-sided bag, one usually with a strap that is often worn diagonally across the body. When we were kids in Ireland, we’d carry our books to and from school in a backpack satchel. Virtually every Irish schoolchild had a satchel back then.

40. Big Ten sch. with eight national football championships : 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”.

43. Diminish : BATE

To bate is to restrain, as in “with bated breath” meaning “with restrained breath”. The term can also mean to lessen, and is a shortening of “abate”.

45. “Walker, Texas Ranger” star : NORRIS

Chuck Norris is a martial artist and an actor from Ryan, Oklahoma. Norris’s first real exposure to martial arts was in the US Air Force when he was serving in South Korea. When he left the service Norris opened up a chain of karate schools, and among his clients were Steve McQueen and his son, as well as Donny and Marie Osmond.

“Walker, Texas Ranger” is an action TV show starring Chuck Norris in the title role. The TV show was inspired by the 1983 action movie “Lone Wolf McQuade” in which Norris also played a Texas Ranger.

47. Name on the cover of “Death in the Afternoon” : ERNEST

“Death in the Afternoon” is a 1932 non-fiction book by Ernest Hemingway about bullfighting. He was a fan …

51. Furniture giant : IKEA

Every IKEA store features a restaurant that serves traditional Swedish food, including Swedish meatballs and lingonberry jam. Each store also has a Swedish Food Market where customers can purchase specialty foods from Sweden.

55. “But I don’t want to go among mad people” speaker : ALICE

Here are some lines from Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”:

“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
Oh, you can’t help that, said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
How do you know I’m mad? said Alice.
You must be, said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”

64. LPGA golfer __ Pak : SE-RI

Se-Ri Pak is a South Korean golfer playing on the LPGA tour. Having a Korean name, we really should be calling her Pak Se-Ri as she is known in her homeland. Korean names always start with the family name.

65. 1974 Peace Nobelist from Japan : SATO

Prime Minister Eisaku Sato of Japan won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974 (sharing it with Irishman Sean MacBride). He won for “his renunciation of the nuclear option for Japan and his efforts to further regional reconciliation”. Sato defined Japan’s nuclear policy in the sixties by laying out “Three Non-Nuclear Principles”. The principles are that Japan will not possess, nor manufacture nuclear weapons, not permit introduction of nuclear weapons into Japanese territory.

67. Hardy title teenager : TESS

In Thomas Hardy’s novel “Tess of the d’Urbervilles”, the heroine and title character is Tess Durbeyfield. Her father is an uneducated peasant and when he hears that his name is a corruption of the noble name of “D’Urberville”, the news goes to his head.

Down

2. Other, in Oviedo : OTRA

Oviedo is a cathedral city in northern Spain located just over ten miles from the Bay of Biscay coast.

4. Most contrived : HOKIEST

“Hokum” was originally theater slang, meaning “melodramatic, exaggerated acting”. Now the term just means “empty talk”. It is also the root for our word “hokey” meaning “silly, old-fashioned”.

7. Horse victim? : TROY

The ancient city of Troy was located on the west coast of modern-day Turkey. The Trojan War of Greek mythology was precipitated by the elopement of Helen, the wife of the king of Sparta, with Paris of Troy. The war itself largely consisted of a nine-year siege of Troy by the Greeks. We know most about the final year of that siege, as it is described extensively in Homer’s “Iliad”. The city eventually fell when the Greeks hid soldiers inside the Trojan Horse, which the Trojans brought inside the city’s walls. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts …

11. *Leg covering with a warmer? : HEATER HOSE

The word “hose” meaning “covering for the leg” has the same roots as the contemporary German word “Hose” meaning “trousers, pants”.

18. Köln closing : ENDE

Cologne is the fourth largest city in Germany, and is known as “Köln” in German.

24. Hun king, in Norse legend : ATLI

Atli is a character in the Volsunga Saga of 13th century Icelandic lore. It is believed that the Atli character is loosely based on Attila the Hun. According to myth, Atli was murdered by his wife Gudrun.

30. Big brass : TUBAS

The tuba is the lowest-pitched of all the brass instruments, and one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra (usually there is just one tuba included in an orchestral line-up). “Tuba” is the Latin word for “trumpet, horn”. Oom-pah-pah …

35. Medical suffix : -OSIS

The suffix “-osis” is found in medical terms. The suffix indicates a disorder in general, with the prefix providing more specificity. Examples are silicosis (a lung disease caused by the inhalation of silica dust), and psychosis (a serious mental illness). The plural of “-osis” is usually “oses”, but “osises” is out there as well.

39. Computer whiz : GEEK

Originally, a geek was a sideshow performer, perhaps one at a circus. We use the term today for someone regarded as foolish or clumsy, or for someone who is technically driven and expert, but often socially inept.

44. Wall Street figure : ANALYST

New York’s famous Wall Street was originally named by the Dutch “de Waalstraat”.

50. Ancient Greek region : IONIA

Lydia and Ionia were ancient territories in a part of the world now covered by modern-day Turkey. Both territories eventually fell under Greek and then Roman rule.

58. Christian denom. : EPIS

The Episcopal Church in the US is a branch of the Anglican Communion, and so is associated with the Church of England. The Episcopal Church is descended from the Church of England’s presence in the American colonies, prior to the American Revolution. The American Anglicans split with mother church, largely because the clergy of the Church of England are required to swear allegiance to the British monarch. Members of the Episcopal Church are known as Episcopalians. “Episcopal” is an adjective and “Episcopalian” is a noun.

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Kid : JOSH
5. Affected : ARTSY
10. Layered hairstyle : SHAG
14. “The Simpsons” bus driver : OTTO
15. Capital on the Aar : BERNE
16. Relate : TELL
17. *Footwear that slows you down? : BRAKE SHOES
19. Pro __ : RATA
20. Fancy pillow material : SATIN
21. Takes a gander at : EYES
22. Urban extensions? : -ITES
23. Dutch export : EDAM
25. Backpack features : ZIPPERS
27. Prepare : GET SET
30. Clipped to a greater extent : TERSER
31. Ramp sign : EXIT
32. Glorify : LAUD
34. Virtually can’t be beaten : IS HOT
37. Flee : LAM
38. *Satchels with vents? : AIRBAGS
40. Big Ten sch. with eight national football championships : OSU
41. Request before a shot : SMILE
43. Diminish : BATE
44. “In your dreams!” : AS IF!
45. “Walker, Texas Ranger” star : NORRIS
47. Name on the cover of “Death in the Afternoon” : ERNEST
49. Goes overboard, in a way : PIGS OUT
51. Furniture giant : IKEA
52. Jewelry location : LOBE
53. Muffin choice : BRAN
55. “But I don’t want to go among mad people” speaker : ALICE
59. Singles : ONES
60. *Headwear with a power supply? : BATTERY CAP
62. What flowers may do : WILT
63. Kitchen additions? : -ETTES
64. LPGA golfer __ Pak : SE-RI
65. 1974 Peace Nobelist from Japan : SATO
66. Passes out cards : DEALS
67. Hardy title teenager : TESS

Down

1. Positions : JOBS
2. Other, in Oviedo : OTRA
3. Stolen bases, e.g. : STAT
4. Most contrived : HOKIEST
5. Hunk’s pride : ABS
6. Bring up again? : REHEM
7. Horse victim? : TROY
8. Treated as unimportant : SNEEZED AT
9. Polite affirmation : YES, SIR
10. Highway markings : STRIPES
11. *Leg covering with a warmer? : HEATER HOSE
12. Make changes to : ALTER
13. Wine __ : GLASS
18. Köln closing : ENDE
24. Hun king, in Norse legend : ATLI
26. Pitchfork-shaped letters : PSIS
27. Some goop : GELS
28. Knowledge determinant : EXAM
29. *Trouser support with rhythm? : TIMING BELT
30. Big brass : TUBAS
33. Resolve, in a way : ARBITRATE
35. Medical suffix : -OSIS
36. Clump : TUFT
38. Space beginning : AERO-
39. Computer whiz : GEEK
42. Finishes behind : LOSES TO
44. Wall Street figure : ANALYST
46. Massaged : RUBBED
48. Tail : REAR
49. Farm equipment : PLOWS
50. Ancient Greek region : IONIA
51. Debriefing info : INTEL
54. “__ girl!” : ATTA
56. Cold drink brand : ICEE
57. What the answers to starred clues are part of : CARS
58. Christian denom. : EPIS
61. Curved shape : ESS

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