L.A. Times Crossword Puzzle Blogging

Wednesday, December 15, 2010 Julian Lim

Theme:  PURPLE HAZE ALL IN MY BRAIN!   (This will become clear later.)

16. Words of protest : WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?  Sarcasm - the idea isn't big at all.  I heard this so many times when I was kid!


21. King's memorable words : I HAVE A DREAM.  One of the most famous quotes of the 20th century, from a speech on August 28, 1963 by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr, who really did have big ideas.


33. Lennon's last album released before his death : DOUBLE FANTASY.  Not familiar with it.  Three weeks after it's release in 1980, John Lennon was killed on my birthday.


49. Pensive state : DEEP THOUGHT.  Also, the mega computer in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  At the time, it was a play on "Deep Throat."


And, of course, the unifier:  55. Sports psychologist's mantra ... or what can be said about the last word of 16-, 21-, 33- or 49-Across : IT'S ALL IN THE MIND.  Like a purple haze.

Hi gang, it's JazzBumpa, able to spend some quality time at The Corner and devote what's between my ears to puzzledom, now that the December performances are in the past tense.  Rather a rich musical sub-theme to this puzzle, too as we'll see and hear.  Is it in tune?  Let's find out.

ACROSS


1. 2007 Oscar winner (Best Original Screenplay) about a pregnant teenager : JUNO.  Didn't see it.

5. Greenish-blue : AQUA

9. Astronaut's thumbs-ups : A-OKS

13. "Gimme __": "Be right with you" : A SEC.  Short for a second, of course.  Someone who wants to take a little longer might say, "Gimme some secs."

14. Turn one's nose up at : SPURN.  Hell hath no fury like a woman who has been turned down, or whose nose has been turned up.  Yes, I know that's SCORNED not SPURNED, but - hey - close enough.

15. __ the fat : CHEW.   To CHEW the fat is to engage in idle chatter. Does anyone know the origin of this interesting expression?

19. High nest : AERIE.   I never know how to spell this word, so it always gives me an eerie feeling.

20. Very capable : ADEPT.  Like some left handed guitarists.

26. Sound during a massage : AAH.   Or, perhaps, "OOF!"  That depends on how deeply she's digging into my levator scapula.

27. Do a goalkeeper's job : DEFEND.  In soccer or hockey.   Get the puck out of here!  If you combined soccer with hockey, would it be sockey or hocker?

28. Island in the French West Indies, familiarly : ST. BART'S  According to Wikipedia, "officially the Collectivity of Saint Barthelemy (French: Collectivité de Saint-Barthélemy), is an overseas collectivity of France. Often abbreviated to Saint-Barth in French, or St. Barts in English, the collectivity is one of the four territories among the Leeward Islands in the northeastern Caribbean that comprise the French West Indies, along with Guadeloupe, Martinique and Saint Martin."  And, to complete our Caribbean holiday,
42. Island nation west of Haiti : JAMAICA.   JAMAICA is due south of Cuba, ST. BART'S is in the island chain due east of Puerto Rico.

30. Hockey great : ORR.  Bobby ORR was a Boston Bruin for many years. He was a defense man, but not a goalkeeper.  If it's hockey and 3 letters, fill in ORR and move on.  I wonder why we never see Borje Salming in X-words? 

31. Elect : VOTE IN.  You can be disappointed right away if your candidate loses, or later on if (s)he wins.

39. Uses a LaserJet : PRINTS.  Sadly, mine went kablooey last week, after 14 years of faithful service.

40. "Oh, what a tangled __ we weave": Scott : WEB.  " . . .When first we practise to deceive!"  From Canto VI, XVII of Sir Walter Scott's epic poem, Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field.  I can't wait to see "XVII" so clued!

45. Mineral used in glassmaking : SILICA, better known as sand.   Common window glass is called soda-lime-silica glass, after it's major components.  Attempts to substitute lemon for the lime have never been successful.  Soda - lime- gin in a glass is almost, but not quite, a gimlet.

48. "... man __ mouse?" : OR A.  The first of two really awkward partials.  A sour note, in my opinion.

52. Nairobi is its capital : KENYA.  A country in East-central Africa.

54. Kingdom : REALM.  Literally, the dominion of a king, from the old French  reaume.

61. Time for lunch : NOON. Synonymous, more or less.

62. Machu Picchu's range : ANDES.  The mountain range forming the backbone of South America.

63. Theater honor : OBIE.  Off-Broadway theater awards. 

64. Instrument in a Chinese temple : GONG.  I wanted to link to a YouTube vid, but they all seem to be several minutes long.  More long GONGing than I'm wanting.

65. Makes slick, in a way : OILS.  Lubricates with oil.

66. Letters at the end of a love letter : XOXO.  Hugs and kisses - retro textese.  Sok Csok in Hungarian.

DOWN

1. Boxer's target : JAW.  Occasionally, they seem to be made of soda-lime-silica.

2. Escort to a seat, in slang : USH.  Ish - a back formation:  to this way of thinking, an USHER is one who USHES; until the house falls, I suppose.

3. Cultural funding gp. : NEA.  The National Endowment for the Arts.

4. C to C, e.g. : OCTAVE.  Sadly, your resident trombonist need perp help for this one.   And I just improvised 16 measures against a C7 chord Monday night - using the G diminished scale.  Sounded weird, even to me.

5. Nuisance to gardeners : APHID.  Yesterday we had ant lions, today we have ant cows. 

6. Kooky : QUEER.  Strange, odd, outre, out of the ordinary.  "This is the rather old-fashioned and only slightly pejorative sense of the word," Tom  said, gaily.

7. Suffix with sub : URB.  According to Wikipedia a SUBURB can be a residential area within a city.  I have never heard it used that way.  In my experience, a SUBURB is a residential area within commuting distance of  a city. Also, the best place for a dressmaker's shop: on the outskirts of town.

8. Singer/songwriter DiFranco : ANI.  I guess this song is about Howard Johnson.

9. Low-pH substance : ACID.  If you must know, pH is the negative log of hydrated hydrogen ion concentration.  The scale runs from 0 to 14, with smaller number indicating higher acidity.  The neutral point is 7, and numbers between 7 and 14 are alkaline.  I'll let Al decide if there's going to be a quiz.

10. "Goodness!" : OH, DEAR, what can the matter be?

11. Try and try again : KEEP AT.  My motto is, If at first you don't succeed, the hell with it!

12. Mowed strips : SWATHS

14. Pricey strings, for short : STRAD.   A Stradivarius violin.   These instruments made by members of the Stradivari family in the late 1600's are valued in the millions.  You can get a decent used trombone for a few hundred bucks.

17. Witnessed : SEEN.   "I was witnessed," not "I witnessed.'  Passive voice is used in a tricky way here.

18. Chess sacrifice : GAMBIT. Not exactly. A GAMBIT might  involve a sacrifice, or just be a tricky move that presents your opponent with a bewildering array of alternatives.

21. Altar words : I DO.   The LW and I spoke these words at the Court House in Dearborn.  Not the best decision we ever made.  The venue, I mean.  The decision to get married was one of our best.

22. Gnus' group : HERD.  Heard of Gnus?  Could there be a wilder beast?   That is one tough mama!

23. Hairstyle for Hendrix : AFRO.  "Excuse me while I kiss this guy,"  and the explanation for today's theme.

24. These, in Juarez : ESTAS.  I wanted ESSOS.  Another spelling conundrum.

25. "... two fives for __?" : A TEN.  You decide if  this is a good trade.

29. Prefix with gram : ANA.   Aha! - An Anagram!  Jerome, we need you . . .

31. __ cavae: large blood vessels : VENAE.   Collectively, these are the superior VENA cava and inferior VENA cava, large veins that carry deoxygenated blood into the right auricle of the heart.

32. Frequently, to a bard : OFT.  "Often" is OFT thusly truncated - or so they would have us believe.

34. Dance-storm link : UP A.  The second awkward partial.  Which do think is superior or inferior?

35. Like some showers : BRIDAL.  The BRIDE-to-be is showered with gifts.  This is neither a rain storm not a wet t-shirt contest.

36. Wingless parasites : LICE.  I will not link.  The ant lion was bad enough.

37. Gulp from a flask : SWIG.  "Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle."

38. "Gross!" : YECH.  You might want to wipe it off before taking a SWIG.

41. Creature that "sees" using echolocation : BAT. The "blind as a BAT" creature uses it's own natural sonar to navigate.

42. Pulling one's leg : JOKING.   Another curious expression.

43. Schoolyard argument retort : ARE TOO.  You are one.  You and I are too!

44. Controversial rocker Marilyn : MANSON.  Not his real name, and not worthy of  link.

45. Old Persian rulers : SHAHS. 

46. Heracles' beloved : IOLE.  No idea.

47. Klutz : LUMMOX.  The origin of this clumsy word is unknown.  But it did lead me here.  Has anyone used this site?

50. Gearshift letters : PRNDL.  Acronym of Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive, Low, pronouced "prindle," almost like ersatz potato chips.

51. Heads, to Henri : TETES.  Alliteration suggests a foreign word, Henri suggests that it's French.   And inside those TETES is another possible connection to the theme.

53. Partner of yin : YANG.  Each completes the other.  "Within their closed circumference one can find/ Two curves in perfect fit, his YANG, her yin/ That in each cycle once again begin/ To cluster into love's sweet spiral bind."  AHH - poetry!

56. __-tzu : LAO.  A mystic philosopher of ancient China, author of the Tao Te Ching, who also exists in many variant spellings.

57. Pasta ending : INI.  An interesting non-self-referential affix clue.  An example would be ROTINI, since we were speaking of spirals.

58. Native of Nigeria : IBO.  The IBO, IGBO or IBOE are largest ethnic group in Nigeria.

59. Prohibit : NIX.  This comes to us from the German word "Nichts" meaning "nothing."  It is also a treatment for 36D (the answer, not a lingerie reference.)   Ixnay on the icelay!

60. "Gloria in Excelsis __" : DEO.  Glory to God in the highest.  "And peace to his people on earth," the words continue.  A prayerful and joyous end to today's puzzle.

There you have it folks, a nice Wednesday puzzle, fun to solve and fun to write up. Hope you enjoyed it.

Cheers!
JzB (who really does know it's "kiss the sky.")

Cross-posted at the Corner.