L. A.Times Crossword -- Wednesday, November 17, 2021. Paul Coulter

Theme: Done, but not with E's.  Theeclues would need a long "E" sound added at the end for the theme fill to make sense.  And even better, the "i.e." in the clue, suggesting "for example" is also the letter combo that needs to be added to the base clue to supply that sound.  Quite elegant.

17. Cook, i.e.?: BAKED TREAT.  Add the "E" sound for the COOKIE, not the baker.

23. Pink, i.e.?: LITTLE FINGER.  Not a Game of Thrones character, but add the "E" sound to get your PINKIE.

37. Rook, i.e.?: FIRST YEAR PLAYER.  With the added "E" sound a chess piece becomes a newly minted pro athlete.

61. Sort, i.e.?: AIR MISSION.  With the added "E: sound we get, not a separation and arrangement of things, but rather a SORTIE, defined as a deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an aircraft, ship, or troops, from a strongpoint - or something of that SORT. The term originated in siege warfare.  So the fill is a bit too specific for the clue.

50. E'er, i.e.?: BONE CHILLING.  When you add the "E"sound, it's not a Great Lake nor a response to seeing an elephant, but rather a reaction to something strange and frightening. 

Hi Gang, JazzBumpa here to E's us through this puzzle.  This is a clever theme, but a bit gimmickEE for my taste.  Let's see what else is going on.

Across:

1. "Encore!": AGAIN.  A request for another tune at the end of a performance.

6. Small strings: UKES.

 

Mandatory

 10. Big zero: NADA. Nothing in Spanish, adopted into American slang

14. Ballet bend that's a homophone for a cheese dish: FONDU. Watch this video - which is not at all cheesy -  and you can have fun doing it.

 

 15. One chip, maybe: ANTE. Start of a poker hand.

16. Love, in Lima: AMOR.  Spanish

19. Canceled: NO GO.

20. 1953 Alan Ladd classic: SHANE.

 

 21. Many a dictator's quality: EGOMANIA.  

25. Actress Ryan of "Courage Under Fire": MEG.   Meg Ryan [b 1961] is an American actress and producer. Ryan began her acting career in 1981 in minor roles before joining the cast of the CBS soap opera As the World Turns in 1982.

 

 28. Nickname of 1950s Reds slugger Ted: KLU.  Theodore Bernard Kluszewski [1924 - 1988] also known as "Big Klu", was an American professional baseball player known for his bulging biceps and mammoth home runs in the 1950s decade. He played from 1947 through 1961 with four teams in Major League Baseball.

29. Meds-approving agcy.: FDA. Food and Drug Administration.

30. Climbing vine: IVY.

31. Brian of Roxy Music: ENO.    Brian Peter George Eno [b. 1948] is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his pioneering work in ambient music and contributions to rock, pop and electronica.

33. Upright: ON END.

42. Elevator stop: FLOOR.

43. Leaves in small bags: TEA.  Then boiled in water - just that.

44. Pitcher's stat: ERA.

45. Univ. dorm mentors: RAS. Resident Assistant is a live-in position held by students. Generally, the goal of an RA is to create a safe and comfortable environment for the residents of a dorm.

47. Enero begins it: ANO.  January is the first month of the year in Spain and many other countries.

49. __ Jones: DOW.  Dow Jones & Company, Inc. is an American publishing firm owned by News Corp and led by CEO Almar Latour.  The company publishes The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch, Mansion Global, Financial News and Private Equity News.  Every day they publish the Dow Jones Industrial Average, a price-weighted measurement stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States.  I have commentary on my blog every business day, if you are interested.

56. City north of Des Moines: AMES, IOWA.  The home of Iowa State University.

57. Must-haves: NEEDS.  Self explanatory.

60. Stare open-mouthed: GAWP.  Yes, this is actually a word, and this is what it means.

64. Inner: Prefix: ENTO-. Or endo-  always need perps.

65. USAF noncom: TSGT.  Technical Sargent.

66. Lombardy's land: ITALY.  Northern region

67. Smartphone call record, say: LIST.

68. Citi Field predecessor: SHEA.  CITI is the home of the Mets. It was completed in 2009.  It replaced SHEA, with was built in 1964

69. Pluralizers: ESSES.  English language word construction.

Down:

1. Edwards, in Calif.: AFB.  Air Force Base

2. Dress like, for the costume party: GO AS. Impersonate someone.

3. Egyptian cross: ANKH.

Symbol of life

4. Utopian: IDEAL.  Just about perfect.

5. Annoying sort: NUDNIK.  One who is a bore or a nuisance.

6. Old Mideast alliance: Abbr.: UAR.  United Arab Republics

7. Show respect, in a way: KNEEL.   A position in which the body is supported by a knee or the knees, as when praying or showing submission.

8. Eiffel Tower level: ETAGE.  Similar to the story of a house - in French.

9. Detonate: SET OFF.  Cause to explode.

10. Part of the "Hey Jude" refrain: NANANANA.  This goes on forever, and for my money, ruins an otherwise decent song.  YMMV.

11. "You're __ friends": AMONG.  Here among the cornerites.

12. Range rover?: DOGIE.  A motherless calf in a range herd

13. Loud, as a crowd: AROAR.  At a sporting event, frex.

18. Big name in 43-Across: TETLEY.   Founded in 1837 in Yorkshire, England. It is the largest tea company in the United Kingdom and Canada, and the second largest in the United States by volume.

22. Pain relief brand marketed to women: MIDOL.

24. Ditty: TUNE.  A simple song

25. Annoy: MIFF.  Be a NUDNIK.

26. Like villains: EVIL.  Well sure - they're the bad guys.

27. Greek lamb sandwich: GYRO.  The meat is a dense lamb meat loaf cooked on a rotating [hence gyro] vertical spit.

32. Breakfast cereal grain: OAT.

34. Checked out: EYED.  Leered or ogled, maybe.

35. Lyre-playing emperor: NERO.   Imperator Nero Cladius Divi Claudius filius Caesar Augustus Germanicus [37 - 68 CE] was the fifth emperor of Rome. He was adopted by the Roman emperor Claudius at the age of thirteen, and succeeded him to the throne. Nero seems to have been popular with his Praetorian guards, and with lower-class commoners in Rome and the provinces, but was deeply resented by the Roman aristocracy.

36. Sketch: DRAW.

38. Touchy subject: SORE SPOT.  Something difficult to talk about.

39. Singing sister of Toni Braxton: TRACI.  [b. 1971] is an American singer, reality television personality and radio personality. 

40. Authentic: REAL.  Not ersatz.

41. Pressed Italian sandwich: PANINI.  A grilled sandwich made with Italian bread.

46. Young hogs: SHOATS.  Weaned piglets.

48. Single-piece outfit for a baby: ONESIE.

50. Breakfast item: BAGEL.   A dense bread roll in the shape of a ring, made by boiling dough and then baking it.

51. Muscat native: OMANI.  Oman is a country on the south-east cleat of the Arabian peninsula.

52. Older efts: NEWTS. Semi-aquatic salamanders.

53. "If only": I WISH.  

54. Coffeehouse order: LARGE. Grande, perhaps.

55. Exploits: GESTS.  Adventures.

58. Sabado y domingo, por ejemplo: DIAS.  Saturday and Sunday, for example, are days of the week.

59. Exclusive: SOLE.  One and only - like a selected fish is a sole sole; or consider the bottom of a specific foot.

62. L.A. commuter org.: MTA.  Metropolitan Transportation Authority.    Not exclusive to L.A.

 

 63. Albany is its cap.: NYS.  Capitol of New York State.

That wraps up our Wednesday - not too hard and not too EEzy.  Did you brEEze through it?

Cool regards!

JzB

L.A. Times Crossword Wednesday, November 3, 2021 August Miller

Theme: Here it is from Hans and Franz.

 

Let's lift up the unifier first.  59 A. Overpowered ... or how the Across answers with circles might be described?: OUT-MUSCLED.  Out-manned and outgunned - unable to compete.  In the puzzle, significant muscles are abbreviated and featured as book ends in the theme fill.  Hence the use of "OUT" to indicate that the muscles are severed in the grid. [Ouch!]. So let's build them back up.

24 A. Opposite of a roast: GLOWING TRIBUTE.  In a roast, the guest of honor is humorously showered with [presumably] good-natured disrespect.  So, definitely the opposite.  GLUTES come in large, medium and small varieties, as illustrated in this cut away, and they follow you wherever you go.

Keep them strong

29. Fictional legal secretary: DELLASTREET.  From the old Perry Mason TV show, played by Barbara Hale [1922 - 1917].

Tribute

DELTS are shoulder muscles and also travel in threes.

Pump them up

42. Three-horned dinosaur: TRICERATOPS.  This behemoth wandered in North America between 66 and 68 million years ago.

Herbivore

The TRICEPS, as the name suggests, also are a trio, located in the back of the arm.

They extend the elbow joint

49. Job for the police: LAW ENFORCEMENT.   Responsibilities for enforcing laws, maintaining public order, and managing public safety.   The Latissimus Dorsi Muscle, aka, "LAT," is a large, flat triangular muscle that is not used strenuously in common daily activities but is an important muscle in many exercises such as pull-ups, chin-ups, lat pulldowns, and swimming.

Don't let them get too tight

Hi, Gang.  JazzBumpa here to do the heavy lifting.  Let's exercize our grey muscles and see what we can build up.

Across:

 1. Site-hop, Webwise: SURF.  You can find anything on the web.  Just be skeptical.

5. Watched closely: EYED.  

9. Beetle relative: JETTA.  Volkswagen Marques.

14. "Small world": OH, HI. Spoken at an unexpected meeting.

15. Fish that ought to go well with a cobbler?: SOLE.  An entrée, a desert, a shoe part and a shoe maker, all together in neat word play.

16. Paddled: OARED.  Moved a boat by arm power.  Which muscles are involved?

17. Not at all biased: FAIR.  

18. Yeast-free loaf: QUICK BREAD.  Bread made with a leavening agent (such as baking powder or baking soda) that permits immediate baking of the dough or batter mixture.

20. Au courant, with "in": TUNED.  Aware, maybe even woke.

22. Common lunch hour: NOON.  

23. Instrument for Este Haim of the pop rock trio Haim: BASS.

27. "When They See Us" creator DuVernay: AVA.   Ava Marie DuVernay is an American filmmaker. She won the directing award in the U.S. dramatic competition at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival for her second feature film 'Middle of Nowhere," becoming the first black woman to win the award.   When "They See Us"  is a 2019 American crime drama television miniseries created, co-written, and directed by Ava DuVernay for Netflix, that premiered in four parts on May 31, 2019

28. Become less brilliant, as colors: FADE.

35. Org. impacted by the Real ID Act: DMV.  Department of Motor Vehicles.

38. "CHiPs" actor Estrada: ERIK.   Henry Enrique "Erik" Estrada [b 1949] is an American actor and police officer. He is known for his co-starring lead role as California Highway Patrol officer Francis (Frank) Llewelyn "Ponch" Poncherello in the police drama television series CHiPs, which ran from 1977 to 1983.

39. Kitten's cry: MEW.

40. Place in an overhead bin, say: STOW.

41. Not looking good: WAN.  Pale, so therefore not looking healthy.

46. Self-__: CARE.   The process of taking care of oneself with behaviors that promote health and active management of illness when it occurs.

48. Hoppy brew letters: IPA.  

56. DEA agent: NARC.  The Drug Enforcement Agency deals with narcotics, hence the ugly nick-name for their agents.

57. Valley: DALE.   The name is used when describing the physical geography of an area. It is used most frequently in the Lowlands of Scotland and in the North of England;

58. Application of small drops: SPRAY.  As paint or nasal decongestant.

62. Bends: ARCS.  Smooth curves. 

63. Surg. holding area: PRE-OP.  Last stop before surgery.

64. Save for later, as a TV show: TIVO.  A digital recording device. 

65. Pacific salmon: COHO.   One of 5 Pacific salmon species.

66. Puts in the work for: EARNS.   An honest day's work for an honest day's pay.

67. Appear: SEEM. Look like.

68. Suffix with Jumbo: -TRON.  A video display using large-screen television technology.   It is typically used in sports stadiums and concert venues to show close up shots of an event or even other sporting events occurring simultaneously. 

Down:

1. What Germany has that Greece doesn't?:  SOFT G.   Phonetics, peeps.

2. DIY mover: U-HAUL.  Commercial truck and trailer renting company.

3. Mighty mammal with keratin horns: RHINO.

4. Rite of passage involving hot embers: FIRE WALK.   Walk bare foot over hot embers.  Where does this happen?

5. Law firm abbr.: ESQ.   Esquire: a title appended to a lawyer's surname.

6. Kits and cubs: YOUNG.  Animal babies.

7. "Silas Marner" author: ELIOT.  George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans [1890 - 1880.]

8. Interior design: DECOR.   The furnishing and decoration of a room.

9. Role: JOB.  Position in an organization chart?  I don't understand this.

10. iPod accessory: EAR BUD.  A very small headphone, worn inside the ear.

11. Showed, as a good time: TREATED TO.   Picked up the bill.

12. Rag on: TEASE.  I don't think so.  Teasing is playful, ragging on is hostile.

13. Puts into the mix: ADDS.

19. Carver's tool: KNIFE. 

21. Soprano superstar: DIVA.  A famous and highly regarded female singer in opera or pop music

25. Rapper Lil __ X: NAS.   Montero Lamar Hill [b. 1999), known by his stage name Lil Nas X, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter.

26. Upside-down sleeper: BAT.  They hang around in the day time and get active at night.

29. Dawn phenomenon: DEW.  Moisture condensing on grass and other plants.

30. Slice of history: ERA.  A period of time notable for some important person or characteristic.

31. Author who wrote the Thongor fantasy series: LIN CARTER.  Linwood Vrooman Carter [1930 - 1988] was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor, poet and critic. 

32. "That's enough!": TMI.  Too Much Information: tell me no more.

33. Word with hall or room: REC.  Short for recreation.

34. Woolly mama: EWE.  Female sheep.

36. Unruly head of hair: MOP.

37. 9-Across et al.: VWS.  Volkswagen vehicles.

40. Short-lived 1765 legislation: STAMP ACT.   The Stamp Act of 1765 was the first internal tax levied directly on American colonists by the British Parliament. The act, which imposed a tax on all paper documents in the colonies, came at a time when the British Empire was deep in debt from the Seven Years' War (1756-63) and looking to its North American colonies as a revenue source. 

42. Amount past due?: TRE.  Two and three in some European language.

43. Tears to shreds: RENDS.

44. Rocker Ocasek: RIC.   Richard Theodore Otcasek [1944 – 2019], known as Ric Ocasek, was an American singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. He was the primary co-lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, songwriter, and frontman for the rock band the Cars. 

 

 45. Goodall subjects: APES.  Jane Goodall is best known for her 60-year study of social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees since she first went to Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania in 1960, where she witnessed human-like behaviors among chimpanzees, including armed conflict.  The chimpanzee  is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. I

47. "You gotta be kidding!": AW, C'MON.  Gimme a break.

49. Linney of "Ozark": LAURA.   Laura Leggett Linney [b. 1964] is an American actress and singer. She is the recipient of several awards, including two Golden Globe Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards, and has been nominated for three Academy Awards and five Tony Awards.

50. Indisputable evidence: FACTS.   Things that are known or proven to be true.

51. Skateboard leap: OLLIE.   Here is how to do it.

 

 52. Christopher who played Superman: REEVE.   Christopher D'Olier Reeve [1952 - 2004] was an American actor, director, and activist, best known for playing the titular main character in the film Superman and its three sequels.

53. Boot on a diamond: ERROR.  Misplay a batted ball in base ball.

54. Cheesy chip: NACHO.  A dish of tortilla chips topped by or dipped into melted cheese and often also other savory toppings.

55. Cicely of "Roots": TYSON.   She [1924 - 2021] was an American actress and model. In a career which spanned more than seven decades, she became known for her portrayal of strong African-American women. 

56. "Ain't gonna happen": NOPE.  Slangy denial.

60. Market advances: UPS.  When the indexes are rising.  So far, so good, this week.

61. Bubbly title: DOM.  Part of the name of a champagne brand.

That does it for another Wednesday.   I had a rather difficult time finding footholds with this one, but it all worked out [so to speak] in the end.  Also had a couple nits, but overall, a fun puzzle.  Hope you didn't strain anything.

Cool Regards!

JzB