L. A. Times Crossword Puzzle Blogging Wednesday, June 1, 2016 C. C. Burnikel

Theme:  LET ME OUT OF HERE!  The final word of the three main theme entries can all precede the word ESCAPE, yielding a sensible, in-the-language phrase.

20A. Bar exhortation : DOWN THE HATCH.  Getting a drink to your interior as quickly as possible.  Probably the best way to handle Chicago right-of-passage liquor Malort.

An ESCAPE HATCH is an emergency exit on a submarine, ship or aircraft.

27A. "Defense of Fort McHenry" poet : FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.  This poem supplies the words for The Star Spangled Banner, the U. S. National Anthem.  Key wrote it while observing the British bombardment of the eponymous fort during the war of 1812.  

The melody, written by John Stafford Smith, was originally a British drinking song called Anacreon in Heaven.  It covers an octave and a fifth and is notoriously hard to sing.   I've hear anthem singers that made me shudder and wince; but Detroit's Karen Newman never disappoints.

And, of course, I would be terribly remiss if I failed to acknowledge 89-year-old holocaust survivor Hermina Hirsch, who fulfilled a life-long dream by singing the anthem before a recent Tigers game.




The ESCAPE KEY on your computer can sometimes be used to stop a runaway program, and is also used in shortcuts on Windows systems.

47 A. "Let's do it!" : SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN.  This expression offers approval for a suggested course of action.  An ESCAPE PLAN is a scheme, often sneaky or convoluted, to get out of a place or situation.

And the unifier -- 54 A. Magician suggested by the ends of 20-, 27- and 47-Across : ESCAPE ARTIST   My first thought is of Harry Houdini [1874-1926] Who escaped from all sorts of locks, traps, boxes and cells - all without a KEY.  And the word ESCAPE thus completes the theme concept.

Hi Gang - JazzBumpa here to lead you though and out of today's puzzle.  Is there a HATCH; will we need a KEY; do I have a PLAN?  Well - let's find out.

Across

1. Bid with a weak hand, often : I PASS.  One can dispute whether this is a bid or the absence of a bid, but with a weak hand it's generally the right call.

6. Nikon D5300, e.g. : Single Lens Reflex, a type of camera using a mirror and prism arrangement that allows the photographer to view through the lens and see exactly what image will be captured.

9. Team up with : JOIN.  This word has a number of senses relating to bringing people or things together in a variety of ways.  Here it indicates forming or becoming a part of a group.

13. "Ya think?!" : NO DUH.  Sarcastic agreement, like with something a bit too obvious.

14. Like newly Botoxed skin : TAUT.  Pulled tight or over-inflated.

16. Clip contents : AMMO.  For fire arms.

17. Young fella : KIDDO.  Would a young gal be a kiddett?

18. When Valjean adopts Cosette : ACT I.  From Les Miz.  Two of my grandsons were in a production a couple years ago and died on the barricade.  That was wrenching.

19. Sorento and Sedona : KIAS. Sorrento [note spelling] is a village overlooking the Bay of Naples in southern Italy; Sedona is a city in Arizona.  As presented here, they are two vehicle models from the KIA, South Korea's 2nd largest auto maker. 

23. Firetruck tool : AXE.  For getting into or ESCAPING from a burning place.

25. Kerfuffle : ADO.  Much Kerfuffle About Nothing just doesn't quite sound as good.

26. It can cover a lot : TAR.  Most likely a parking lot.

33. "Total Recall" (2012) director Wiseman : LEN.  Don't know him.

34. Out-and-out : UTTER.  Modifiers that amplify some action or feeling, and generally not in a good way: UTTER contempt, out and out nonsense.

35. Designer Klein : ANNE.  [1923 - 1974] Nee Hanna Golofski, An American fashion designer, who revolutionized styles for young women in the 1940's.

36. Acting coach Hagen : UTA. [1919 - 2004]  Born in Germany, her family migrated to the U. S. in 1924.  Because of her association with Paul Robeson she was on the Hollywood Black List, so her acting career was focused on New York theater instead of movies.

She also wrote about acting and cooking

37. "Don't text and drive" ad, briefly : Public Service Announcement.   Sadly, though, I see people doing it all the time.

38. Lodging provider : INN.

41. Up-in-the-air approx. : Estimated Time of Arrival, for airplane travel.

42. "This doesn't __ well ... " : BODE.  A good Anglo-Saxon word, from the Old English bodian, meaning to proclaim or foretell.  Modern usage seems to always be in anticipation of something unpleasant.  Also remotely related to "bid."

44. Wingtip strings : LACES.  I somehow got stuck on airplanes, not shoes.  [Say this with a brogue.]

46. Get someone's name wrong, e.g. : ERR.  Or muff a simple ground ball to extend the inning and allow three unearned runs to score, thus losing the game.  But I have forgiven Ian Kinsler for Sunday's ERRor.

51. Rim : LIP.  As of a cup, wine glass or volcano.

52. Wine stain color : RED.  When there is a slip between the cup and LIP.

53. Egyptian slitherer : ASP.  A snake in de Nile?

59. Sweet pea : DEAR.  Honey-snookems.

60. Seafood restaurant order : CRAB.  One of many possibilities.  FISH also fits; carp, sole, etc.

61. "In my view ... " : I'D SAY.  Offering an opinion.

65. Crew of buddies : GANG.

66. Long-drawn-out account : SAGA.   From old Norse, originally indicating a long prose narrative of heroic achievement.

67. Poppycock : TRIPE.  Nonsense, balderdash, blather; derived from 19th century Dutch dialect pappekak, from pap ‘soft’ + kak ‘dung.’   Perhaps of the kind left behind by bulls, though that is not specified.

68. Alternatively : ELSE. Either this, or ELSE that.  Those are your choices.

69. Get into the pool : BET.  And see if your bid BODES well.

70. Silver dollar topper : SYRUP.   Pancakes.  Had me buffaloed for the longest time.

Down

1. Medium of much Chinese art : INK.   Used in calligraphy and in picture drawing, generally with the same techniques [oils are not used] typically on paper or silk.

2. Luau chow : POI.   Made from the corm of the taro plant.

3. Tack on : ADD. 

4. Out-of-the-blue : SUDDEN. 

5. "Scat!" : SHOO.   Go away!

6. Shows confidence and pride : STANDS TALL.

7. Cause of much intolerance? : LACTOSE.  My favorite clue.  LACTOSE intolerance is an inability or difficulty in digesting this sugar, which occurs naturally in milk and dairy products.

8. Babe or Baby : RUTH.  George Herman "Babe" RUTH, iconic baseball star who played from 1914 - 1935, mostly with Yankees.  Baby RUTH is a candy bar originally developed by the Curtiss Candy Company, and named suspiciously.

9. Capital of Indonesia : JAKARTA.  Located on the NorthWest coast of Java.

10. Overlook : OMIT.  Leave out.

11. All-in-one Apple : I-MAC.   Computer.

12. Quick bite : NOSH.  From Yiddish.

15. Connect with : TIE TO.

21. Bides one's time : WAITS. Like this, if you have 5 minutes.

22. Bean cover? : HAT.  Bean bein' slang for one's head.

23. Playground response : ARE TOO.  Response to a taunt.

24. Second word of Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" : XANADU.

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

A stately pleasure-dome decree:

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

Through caverns measureless to man

Down to a sunless sea.

27. Blunders : FLUBS.  Makes an error.  I won't get into the sad events of Monday's game.

28. Flagstick holder : CUP.  On the green of a golf course.

29. It's swung by some pinch hitters : CRICKET BAT.   Well - this is a surprise.  A baseball-related misdirection. I didn't know there were pinch hitters in CRICKET.

30. Prepares to be knighted : KNEELS.  To recieve a pat on either shoulder with the flat of a sword.

31. Trick : ENTRAP.  With some sort of ruse or snare.

32. Long (for) : YEARN.  A strong desire to be with some one or some thing that is absent or missing.

From the Maxims section of The Exeter Book [ca. 975]

Longað þonne þy læs      þe him con leoþa worn, 

oþþe mid hondum con      hearpan gretan; 

hafaþ him his gliwes giefe,      þe him god sealde. 

As best I can remember, Tolkien translated this more or less as:

Longing is less troublesome to one who knows many songs, 

Or can touch the harp with his hands; 

He has his gleeful gift that God gave him.

Both "ð" and "þ" represent the modern digraph "th."  There seems to be no specific correspondence to the voiced and unvoiced pronunciations. 

39. "__ say more?" : NEED I.   Probably said too much already.

40. Decryption org. : National Security Agency.

43. Make easier to read, in a way : ENLARGE.  For old men with bifocals - like me.

45. Fits in a cabin? : AIR RAGE.  Wasn't familiar with the term, but it's easy enough to suss.  Per Wikipedia, "aberrant, abnormal, or violent behavior exhibited during the air travel process."  There is also a movie with this title.

48. Hummus, e.g. : DIP.   A thick sauce for dunking food items.  I can make a meal of hummus and the blue corn chips form Trader Joe's.

49. Publisher's guidelines : SPECS.  SPECifcationS.

50. Gently towel off : PAT DRY.  Instead of wiping, which can be harsh.

54. Slight lead : EDGE.  Relates ultimately back to the sharp edge of a blade, which can be how narrow the lead is.

55. Tough navy guy : SEAL.   Tough indeed.  These guys are elite.

56. Case units, often : CANS.  Of soup, motor oil, etc.  Usually 12 or 24, sometimes 36 or 48.  Strange when our maths are mostly base 10. 

57. Many a Meccan : ARAB.  Mecca is city in Saudi Arabia located about 50 miles inland from the Red Sea.

58. Tends tots : SITS.  As in baby sitting.

62. Military address : SIR.   Not a postal drop, but a way of speaking to superior officers.

63. Manjula's husband, on "The Simpsons" : APU.  Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is the operator of the Kwik-E-Mart on that TV show that I still have never watched.

64. "You betcha!" : YEP.  Fer sure.   My dad used to say, "You bet your life;" and I'm guessing "You betcha" is that in shortened form.

Well, folks, that wraps up another entry from our gracious hostess, whose puzzles now number in the hundreds.  Good one?  You betcha!  Hope you ESCAPED it unscathed.

Cool regards!
JzB