LA Times Crossword 23 Jan 23, Monday


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Constructed by: John Michael Currie
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Treat

Themed answers each start with a command given to a dog, the obeying of which might earn it a TREAT:

  • 66A Reward for a pup who obeys the commands at the starts of 17-, 23-, 39-, 47-, and 61-Across : TREAT
  • 17A Sound that may accompany a salute : HEEL-CLICK
  • 23A Inexpensive way to spend time off : STAYCATION
  • 39A “Mention you, and there you are!” : SPEAK OF THE DEVIL!
  • 47A Ride shotgun : SIT UPFRONT
  • 61A “Come again?” : BEG-PARDON

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Bill’s time: 4m 27s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies Across 6 Like some moody punk music : EMO

“Emo” is short for “emotional hardcore”.

20 Novelist Tyler : ANNE

Anne Tyler is a novelist from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Most of Tyler’s novels are set in Baltimore, Maryland, where she now resides. Tyler’s most famous title has to be “The Accidental Tourist”, which was adapted into a 1988 film starring William Hurt, Kathleen Turner and Geena Davis. Tyler might be considered somewhat of a recluse in her professional life, as she rarely makes personal appearances to promote her books.

22 Golden Fleece ship : ARGO

The Golden Fleece was the fleece of a winged ram made from pure gold that was held by King Aeëtes in Colchis, a kingdom on the eastern coast of the Black Sea. The fleece is central to the tale of Jason and the Argonauts, who set out on a quest to steal the fleece by order of King Pelias.

32 Appropriate inappropriately : USURP

To usurp is to seize and hold by force. The term “usurp” comes to us from Latin via French, from “usus” (a use) and “rapere” (to seize).

39 “Mention you, and there you are!” : SPEAK OF THE DEVIL!

“Speak/talk of the devil” is used when someone being discussed turns up unexpectedly. The phrase is a short form of the idiom “speak of the devil and he doth appear” that dates back to the 16th century.

42 “Inside the NBA” airer : TNT

“Inside the NBA” is a postgame show that airs on TNT. The list of regulars on the show includes ex-players Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal.

44 “Goodnight, __”: Lead Belly song : IRENE

“Goodnight, Irene”, also known as “Irene, Goodnight”, is a lovely American folk song that was first recorded commercially back in 1932 by blues singer Lead Belly. The song made it to number one in the charts for the Weavers in 1950 and for Frank Sinatra in the same year.

“Lead Belly” was the nickname of blues guitarist Huddie Ledbetter. Ledbetter’s name was often written as “Leadbelly” on many of his records, although he himself wrote it as “Lead Belly”.

47 Ride shotgun : SIT UPFRONT

The person riding alongside the driver of a vehicle is said to be “riding shotgun”. Even though the phrase is a reference to the armed guard who rode beside the driver of a stagecoach in the Old West, the term wasn’t coined until the early 20th century.

54 Early Ron Howard role : OPIE

Opie Taylor is the character played by Ron Howard on “The Andy Griffith Show”. Opie lives with widowed father Andy Taylor (played by Andy Griffith) and his great-aunt Beatrice “Aunt Bee” Taylor (played by Frances Bavier). Ron Howard first played the role in 1960 in the pilot show, when he was just 5 years old. Howard sure has come a long way since playing Opie Taylor. He has directed some fabulous movies including favorites of mine like “Apollo 13”, “A Beautiful Mind” and “The Da Vinci Code”.

55 At one’s __ and call : BECK

To be at someone’s beck and call is to be ready to do what that person wants. The term “beck” describes a muted signal used to “beckon”.

65 PayPal alternative : VENMO

Venmo is a smartphone payment app that is now owned by PayPal. The first version of the product was introduced in 2009 by two entrepreneurs who had met as freshman students at the University of Pennsylvania. They sold the company in 2012 for over $26 million, and then PayPal acquired it the following year for a whopping $800 million. I wonder if PayPal ever buys blogs …

Down 2 Genesis garden : EDEN

According to the Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve lived in a garden “in” Eden, with Eden being geographically located by reference to four rivers, including the Tigris and the Euphrates. Some scholars hypothesize that Eden was located in Mesopotamia, which encompasses much of modern-day Iraq.

3 Prayer ending : AMEN

The word “amen” translates as “so be it”. “Amen” is said to be of Hebrew origin, but it is also likely to be influenced by Aramaic and Arabic.

7 Coffee-and-chocolate flavor : MOCHA

Mocha is a port city in Yemen on the Red Sea and was once the principal port for the capital city of Sana’a. Mocha was the major marketplace in the world for coffee until the 1600s, and gave its name to the Mocha coffee bean, which in turn gave its name to the mocha brown color, and the flavor of coffee infused with chocolate.

9 “Butter” K-pop band : BTS

BTS is a boy band from South Korea with seven members. The initialism “BTS” stands for the phrase “Bangtan Sonyeondan”, which translates literally as “Bulletproof Boy Scouts”. BTS is the best-selling musical act in the history of South Korea.

11 Game company since 1972 : ATARI

Founded in 1972, electronics and video game manufacturer Atari was once the fastest-growing company in US history. However, Atari never really recovered from the video game industry crash of 1983.

12 Snapple’s __ Madness : MANGO

Originally, “Snapple” was the name of just one type of juice made by a company called Unadulterated Food Products. The drink’s name was a contraction of “snappy apple”. The company’s name was changed to the Snapple Beverage Corporation in the early 1980s. Snapple was sold in 1994, and is now a brand name owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group.

13 John who sings “Cold Heart” with Dua Lipa : ELTON

Elton John had nine number-one hits in the US:

  • “Crocodile Rock” (1972)
  • “Bennie and the Jets” (1974)
  • “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” (1974)
  • “Philadelphia Freedom” (1975)
  • “Island Girl” (1975)
  • “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” (1976)
  • “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” (1991)
  • “Something About the Way You Look Tonight” (1997)
  • “Candle in the Wind 1997” (1997)

Dua Lipa is a singer-songwriter and fashion model from England. She was born in London to Albanian parents, and considers her native language to be Albanian. She also speaks English with a British accent.

27 “NBA Today” airer : ESPN

The initialism “ESPN” stands for Entertainment Sports Programming Network. ESPN is a cable network that broadcasts sports programming 24 hours a day, and was launched back in 1979. ESPN has a lot of ardent fans. Several parents have named their children Espn (usually pronounced “Espen”) in honor of the network.

29 “You for Me” singer Rita : ORA

Rita Ora is a British singer who was born Rita Sahatçiu in Pristina, Yugoslavia to Albanian parents. The family name “Sahatçiu” comes from a Turkish word meaning “watchmaker”. Rita’s parents changed their name to make it easier to pronounce. So, the family name morphed from “watchmaker” to “time”, which is “ora” in Albanian.

33 Painter’s deg. : BFA

The degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is primarily designed for students intent on pursuing a career in the visual or performing arts.

34 QB stat : ATT

In football, one statistic (stat) used to track the performance of a quarterback (QB) is attempts (ATT).

35 “Nevertheless, __ persisted” : SHE

The powerful phrase “Nevertheless, she persisted” was used by Senator Mitch McConnell in reference to Senator Elizabeth Warren’s comments criticizing the civil rights record of future Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The term went viral soon after, and has been adopted by the feminist movement.

37 Queue : LINE

Our word “queue”, meaning “waiting line”, comes from French. “Queue” is the French word for “tail”, and the phrase “queue à queue” translates as “one after another” (literally “tail to tail”).

40 “Frozen” snowman : OLAF

In the 2013 animated film “Frozen”, Olaf is a happy-go-lucky snowman who provides a lot of comic relief in the movie. He is voiced by actor and comedian Josh Gad.

45 Nyong’o of “Black Panther” : LUPITA

Lupita Nyong’o is a Kenyan-Mexican actress who was born in Mexico, raised in Kenya, and educated in the US. Nyong’o got her big break in movies with an Oscar-winning supporting role in the 2013 film “12 Years a Slave”. She was named “People” magazine’s “ Most Beautiful Woman” in 2014.

“Black Panther” is a 2018 superhero film starring Chadwick Boseman in the title role. Black Panther is a Marvel Comics character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. When not a superhero, Black Panther is the king of the fictional African nation of Wakanda, and goes by the name “T’Challa”.

49 MLB exec Joe who was the Yankees’ manager for 12 seasons : TORRE

As a manager, Joe Torre was part of four World Series wins, all of them with the New York Yankees baseball team. Torre is an Italian American who was born in Brooklyn, New York. During the run up (pun intended!) to the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Torre carried the Olympic flame part of the way through Florence in Italy, handing it over to the next runner at the famous Ponte Vecchio. I’d guess that was quite a thrill for him …

50 Automaton : ROBOT

Karel Čapek was a Czech writer noted for his works of science fiction. Čapek’s 1921 play “R.U.R.” is remembered in part for introducing the world to the word “robot”. The words “automaton” and “android” were already in use, but Capek gave us “robot” from the original Czech “robota” meaning “forced labor”. The acronym “R.U.R.”, in the context of the play, stands for “Rossum’s Universal Robots”.

51 Word with space or soap : … OPERA

Space opera is a type of science fiction with storylines that resemble those in westerns, but set in outer space in the future. The term “space opera” derives from “horse opera”, which is used to describe formulaic western films.

The original soap operas were radio dramas back in the fifties. Given the structure of society back then, the daytime broadcasts were aimed at women working in the home as housewives. For some reason the sponsors of those radio shows, and the television shows that followed, were soap manufacturers like Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Lever Brothers. And that’s how the “soap” opera got its name …

52 Landlocked nation in West Africa : NIGER

The Republic of Niger is a landlocked country in Western Africa that gets its name from the Niger River. 80% of the country lies within the bounds of the Sahara Desert.

56 Poet __ St. Vincent Millay : EDNA

Edna St. Vincent Millay was an American poet and playwright, and the third woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (in 1923 for “The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver”). Millay was noted not only for her work, but also for the open arrangement that she and her husband had in their marriage. Millay took many lovers, including the poet George Dillon for whom she wrote a number of sonnets.

62 Principal on ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” : AVA

“Abbott Elementary” is a sitcom in the mockumentary genre. The show was created by and stars Quinta Brunson as a cup-half-full second-grade teacher in a Philadelphia public school. The premise of “Abbott Elementary” is that a film crew is making a documentary about the lives of teachers working in underfunded schools.

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Complete List of Clues/Answers Across

1 Throw with effort : HEAVE
6 Like some moody punk music : EMO
9 Hold responsible : BLAME
14 Own up to : ADMIT
15 Slip on : DON
16 Complete : TOTAL
17 Sound that may accompany a salute : HEEL-CLICK
19 Meager : SCANT
20 Novelist Tyler : ANNE
21 Dull pain : ACHE
22 Golden Fleece ship : ARGO
23 Inexpensive way to spend time off : STAYCATION
26 Escorted to the door : LED OUT
31 Freezer cubes : ICE
32 Appropriate inappropriately : USURP
33 Moisten while cooking : BASTE
36 Pixie : ELF
39 “Mention you, and there you are!” : SPEAK OF THE DEVIL!
42 “Inside the NBA” airer : TNT
43 Make joyful : ELATE
44 “Goodnight, __”: Lead Belly song : IRENE
45 Grazing field : LEA
46 Gawked : STARED
47 Ride shotgun : SIT UPFRONT
53 Smack hard : WHOP
54 Early Ron Howard role : OPIE
55 At one’s __ and call : BECK
59 Spooky : EERIE
61 “Come again?” : BEG-PARDON
63 Says goodbye : PARTS
64 Mined resource : ORE
65 PayPal alternative : VENMO
66 Reward for a pup who obeys the commands at the starts of 17-, 23-, 39-, 47-, and 61-Across : TREAT
67 Roofing goo : TAR
68 Change to fit : ADAPT

Down

1 “Good joke!” : HA HA!
2 Genesis garden : EDEN
3 Prayer ending : AMEN
4 Despicable : VILE
5 And so on: Abbr. : ETC
6 Formal decree : EDICT
7 Coffee-and-chocolate flavor : MOCHA
8 Perfectly pitched : ON KEY
9 “Butter” K-pop band : BTS
10 Pinpoint : LOCATE
11 Game company since 1972 : ATARI
12 Snapple’s __ Madness : MANGO
13 John who sings “Cold Heart” with Dua Lipa : ELTON
18 Final : LAST
24 Quote as a source : CITE
25 Crushed the test : ACED IT
26 Romance novel emotion : LUST
27 “NBA Today” airer : ESPN
28 Song for two : DUET
29 “You for Me” singer Rita : ORA
30 Property manager’s responsibility : UPKEEP
33 Painter’s deg. : BFA
34 QB stat : ATT
35 “Nevertheless, __ persisted” : SHE
36 At any point : EVER
37 Queue : LINE
38 Ran away : FLED
40 “Frozen” snowman : OLAF
41 Stretch of history : ERA
45 Nyong’o of “Black Panther” : LUPITA
46 Ladder rung : STEP
47 Cleaned the floor : SWEPT
48 “Word on the street is … ” : I HEAR …
49 MLB exec Joe who was the Yankees’ manager for 12 seasons : TORRE
50 Automaton : ROBOT
51 Word with space or soap : … OPERA
52 Landlocked nation in West Africa : NIGER
55 Raised, as farm animals : BRED
56 Poet __ St. Vincent Millay : EDNA
57 Give for free : COMP
58 Hardwood flaw : KNOT
60 Approximate fig. : EST
62 Principal on ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” : AVA

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