"BOB" - The first letter of each of the theme answers.
17. Relative of "The pen is mightier than the sword": BRAINS OVER BRAWN.
25. Rear-window alert about an infant: BABY ON BOARD.
43. Dog show award: BEST OF BREED.
54. Arizona stadium renamed Chase Field as a result of a financial merger: BANK ONE BALLPARK.
56. Short haircut, and a hint to 17-, 25-, 43- and 54-Across: BOB.
Bonus: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. We have a crossword pangram today; every letter of the alphabet is used !
Please welcome Abbie Higashi on her LA Times Crossword debut, as she teams with Kevin Christian to give us this fun puzzle. This is Kevin's 28th appearance on the LA Times Crossword stage.
Across:
1. Whopper inventors: LIARS. On April 1st, 1998, Burger King took out a full page ad in USA Today, and announced it would start serving the left-handed Whopper. The burger contained the very same ingredients but it was rotated a full 180° to better suit and offer a better grip on the bun to the left-handed consumer. In addition, all the condiments were also rotated. Can you guess what happened ?
6. Toss of a coin: FLIP. Supposedly truly random as to whether it will land heads or tails, but a caught coin has a 1 % greater chance of showing heads if it started out heads up, and a 1 % greater chance of showing tails if it started out tails up. This according to a UCSB article on a Stanford paper, DYNAMICAL BIAS IN THE COIN TOSS.
10. Trick: FLAM. A lie or hoax, a deception.
14. Bosc relative: ANJOU. Pear Varieties From Anjou to Williams
15. "Doctor Zhivago" heroine: LARA.
16. Himalayas locale: ASIA.
20. Census datum: SEX. Jinx, the answer is Male or Female, not Yes.
21. Tear: RIP. The clue/answer made me think of Rip Torn.
22. Levy that led to a 1773 "party": TEA TAX. In fact, the tea tax had been around for six years. It was the 1773 Tea Act that gave the the British East India Company a monopoly on tea sales in the colonies that was the final straw.
23. Morass: BOG.
24. 2000 election dangler: CHAD.
30. "__ Sera, Sera": QUE. The song and scenes from The Man Who Knew Too Much:
33. "See ya later!": I'M OFF.
34. Altar neighbor: APSE.
35. Ahi, for one: TUNA. Yellowfin.
36. __ avis: RARA. Latin. Through time, from rare bird to strange bird to peculiar person, to a unique person or thing. Dennis Rodman ?
37. Wooden storage container: CRATE.
38. Mental acuity: WITS.
39. Former Russian ruler: CZAR. Czar rule lasted over 400 years in Russia. Here's the Top 10 list
40. Frau's mister: HERR. Damen and Herren are on some doors in Germany. Good thing for the images to teach foreigners that Da Men use the one marked Herren.
41. Nest for an eaglet: AERIE.
42. In a lather, with "up": HET.
45. Small salamander: NEWT.
46. Show curiosity: ASK.
47. Melodious piece: ARIOSO. Let's have some more J.S. Bach...
50. God in the Vatican: DIO.
51. Dust jacket blurb: BIO.
58. Play opener: ACT I. After DIO and BIO, wanted an answer of maybe RIO or TIO.
59. Nano or Shuffle: IPOD.
60. Bravery: VALOR.
61. Lugosi of "Dracula" fame: BELA. Halloween is right around the corner.
62. Keep __ on: observe: TABS.
63. Justice Kagan: ELENA.
Down:
1. Chocolate dogs: LABS.
2. Pertaining to, on memos: INRE.
3. Early competitor of Mr. Clean: AJAX. Mr. Clean - 1958. Ajax - 1947.
4. Versailles royal: ROI.
5. Movable sports car top: SUNROOF. Not sure why sports car is specified. Anyway, sunroofs slide open and moonroofs tilt open a little bit. 40 % of all new cars sold in 2017 had either a sunroof or moonroof.
6. Intentional fall, in basketball: FLOP. In basketball, a flop is an intentional fall by a player after little or no physical contact by an opposing player in order to draw a personal foul call by an official against the opponent. - Wikipedia.
7. British washroom: LAV.
8. Choler: IRE.
9. 100-yard golf hole, say: PAR THREE. No Par 4s or 5s on this local 9 hole course:
10. Capacitance unit: FARAD. So named in honor of Michael Faraday.
11. Future JD's exam: LSAT. Doctor of Jurisprudence / Law School Admission Test.
12. Old Sony brand: AIWA.
13. Tailless cat: MANX. The cat from the Isle of Man.
18. Omen: SIGN.
19. Rosary feature: BEAD.
23. How landslide victories are won: BY FAR.
24. Fidel or Raúl: CASTRO.
25. Tree whose sap is used in a soft drink: BIRCH. Never had one, but I read that Birch soda is commonly found in New England and Newfoundland.
26. Dazzle: AMAZE.
27. Baron Cohen's Kazakh journalist: BORAT.
28. Least furnished, as a room: BAREST.
29. Eye-bending paintings: OPART.
30. 24 sheets of paper: QUIRE.
31. Free from bonds: UNTIE.
32. Slacked (off): EASED.
35. Dance provocatively: TWERK.
37. What a dog will do with a bone: CHEW ON IT.
41. Exculpate: ABSOLVE.
43. Kiss from Carlos: BESO.
44. Epic __: disaster: FAIL.
45. Finnish electronics giant: NOKIA.
47. Basic rhyme scheme: ABAB.
48. Speed competition: RACE.
49. Part of IBM: Abbr.: INTL. International Business Machines.
50. Barq's rival: DADS. Root Beers. A&W, Hires, Mug, IBC etc.
51. Block of hay: BALE.
52. Press: IRON.
53. Gumbo vegetable: OKRA.
55. Radon-regulating org.: EPA.
57. Bro: PAL.
Notes from C.C.:
Happy
Birthday to dear CrossEyedDave, who has entertained us for so many years with his fun links.
