google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner

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May 15, 2018

Tuesday, May 15, 2018, Joe Kidd

"Bad Penny"

17. Purina product for a young tabby: KITTEN CHOW.

22. Nickname for Coolidge: SILENT CAL.  “You can’t know too much, but you can say too much.”

51. Toe-tapping number: DANCE TUNE.

57. Riviera gambling destination: MONTE CARLO.   It is probably not possible to place a bet for one hundredth of a Euro at a Monte Carlo casino.

CENT appears in each of the four answers, but not spelled as such.   Thus, they are incorrect or invalid, or "bad."

35. With "a," someone undesirable ... and what's found in the circled letters?: BAD PENNY.

"Pennies today are viewed as nearly worthless by many people (although not so many as a year ago), but when the term “bad penny” first appeared in the 18th century, pennies were serious money.  This made them ripe targets for counterfeiters, and to reach into your pocket or purse and discover that you had ended up with such a counterfeit coin, a “bad” penny, was a depressing and annoying experience."

"A bad penny always turns up” is a very old proverb that dates back to at least the mid-18th century and is probably much older.  The general sense of the phrase is, as the Oxford English Dictionary puts it, “the predictable, and often unwanted, return of a disreputable or prodigal person after some absence, or (more generally) to the continual recurrence of someone or something.”  A “bad penny” is a person whose presence is unwelcome on any occasion, but whom fate perversely employs to torment you by making said person appear (“turn up”) repeatedly, often at the worst possible times."
Source: The Word Detective. 

Across:
1. Lymph __: NODE.

5. Offended smack: SLAP.


9. Catch some rays?: FISH.

13. Universal blood type, for short: O NEG.

14. Cursed: SWORE.   Not here, please.

15. First bet in a summer World Series: ANTE.  World Series of Poker.

16. Sharp tooth: FANG.

19. Actress Hagen: UTA.

20. Comes down with: GETS

21. Boca __, Florida: RATON.

25. Looks embarrassed: IS RED

27. Popeye's energy source: SPINACH.

28. Syst. for the hearing-impaired: ASL.  American Sign Language

30. Sci-fi writer Bradbury: RAY.  A favorite of mine was Fahrenheit 451.  “You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”  - Ray Bradbury

31. Extreme degree: NTH.

32. Grand Canyon State sch.: ASUArizona State University.

33. Theater level: LOGE.

34. __ Dhabi: Persian Gulf port: ABU.

36. Fragrant evergreens: PINES.

38. More than pique: IRE.

39. Nutritious berry: ACAI.

40. Fitting: APT.

41. Toy dog, briefly: POM.  Pomeranian.  Sorry, Irish Miss.  We get another Spitz breed of dog.  Last time I had a dog in the cw it was the Shiba Inu. 


43. "__ be an honor": IT'D.  Really, it would.

44. Tokyo's former name: EDO.

45. Most obsequious: OILIEST.

49. Force back: REPEL.

53. Classroom fixtures: DESKS.

55. Mai __: tiki drinks: TAIS.

56. Burgundy on screen: RON.  "Ron Burgundy is San Diego's top-rated newsman in the male-dominated broadcasting of the 1970s, but that's all about to change for Ron and his cronies when an ambitious woman is hired as a new anchor."  IMDb.

59. Group activity at a Jewish wedding: HORA.

60. Mystical old letter: RUNE.

61. Bargaining group: UNION.

62. Still unfilled, as a position: OPEN.

63. Ocular woe: STYE.

64. TV screen meas.: DIAG.

65. Sassy: PERT.


Down:

1. Easy to prepare, in adspeak: NO FUSS.

2. How bettors may act: ON A TIP.

3. Alaska's __ National Park: DENALI.

4. Breakfast staple: EGG.

5. Light activator: SWITCH.

6. Heaps of, informally: LOTSA.

7. Sculpture, paintings, etc.: ART.

8. Look closely (at): PEER.

9. Britannica fodder: FACTS.

10. How people react to slasher films: IN HORROR.

11. Prehistoric period: STONE AGE.

12. Chop with an axe: HEW.

14. Book of drawing paper: SKETCH PAD.

18. Clipper's target: NAIL.

20. Annoying flying insect: GNAT.


23. Boredom: ENNUI.

24. Cut with a surgical beam: LASE.

26. Easter coloring: DYE.

29. "Sneaking" feeling: SUSPICION.


32. Annoying crawling insect: ANT.

33. Word after time or term: LIMIT.

34. Pantomimed: ACTED OUT.   Played a part.

37. Apple with earbuds: IPOD.

39. "Into Thin __": Jon Krakauer book: AIR.  After reading "Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster" you may want to read "The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest" by Anatoli Boukreev. 

42. Corrida cheers: OLES.

44. Actress Sommer: ELKE.

45. Bump's place, idiomatically: ON A LOG.

46. Liechtenstein locale: EUROPE.   Europe : LIECHTENSTEIN


47. Nighttime noisemaker: SNORER.

48. Lodger: TENANT.

50. Makeup maven Lauder: ESTEE.

52. Sunlit lobbies: ATRIA.

54. Gulf War weapon: SCUD.

57. Dash of flavor?: MRS.


58. "Wheel of Fortune" purchase: AN I.

59. Make like a bunny: HOP.

See all y'all later n'at !

Here's the grid:


Oh wait.   One more.   For Irish Miss: