Bill’s time: 5m 36s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 “Georgia on My Mind” singer Charles : RAY

Ray Charles came up with his stage name by dropping the family name from his real moniker “Ray Charles Robinson”. His life was a wild ride, and was well-represented in the excellent 2004 biopic called “Ray” starring Jamie Foxx in the title role. Ray Charles was married twice and fathered 12 children with nine different women. As I said, a wild ride …

“Georgia on My Mind” is a song composed in 1930 by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell. Gorrell’s lyrics refer to the state of Georgia, although there is a common assertion that the reference is instead to Hoagy’s sister Georgia Carmichael. Hoagy himself assures us that the former is the case, in his second autobiography “Sometimes I Wonder”. Hoagy Carmichael himself made the first recording, in 1930, but the most famous is the 1960 cover version by Ray Charles. “Georgia on My Mind” was made the official state song of Georgia in 1979.

4 Party music mix, briefly : DJ SET

The world’s first radio disc jockey (DJ) was one Ray Newby of Stockton, California who made his debut broadcast in 1909, would you believe? When he was 16 years old and a student, Newby started to play his records on a primitive radio located in the Herrold College of Engineering and Wireless in San Jose. The records played back then were mostly recordings of Enrico Caruso.

9 Keep from having kittens, say : SPAY

Our verb “to spay”, meaning “to surgically remove the ovaries of” (an animal) comes from an old Anglo-French word “espeier” meaning “to cut with a sword”.

17 Career-boosting political spending on local projects : PORK-BARREL BILLS

Pork-barrel politics have been around for a long time. The term “pork barrel” originated in 1863 in a story by Edward Everett Hale called “The Children of the Public”. Hale used the phrase in a positive way, describing any public spending by government for the benefit of citizens. By the 1870s the term “pork” had negative connotations, with references in the press to “pork-barrel bills” in Congress. Nowadays “pork” really applies to any government project designed to benefit a relatively small group of citizens (usually potential voters for a particular politician) with the bill being paid by the citizenry as a whole.

21 Smitten : IN LOVE

“Smitten” is the past participle of “to smite”, meaning “to inflict a heavy blow”. We tend to use “smitten” to mean “affected by love, love-struck”.

22 Dancer Duncan : ISADORA

Isadora Duncan was an American dancer who is regarded as the inventor of American modern dance. Duncan emphasised the torso in her moves, a break from the balletic tradition of moving from the feet. She left the US when she was 22 years old and moved to Europe around 1900, and from there emigrated to the Soviet Union. Duncan had a tragic passing. She loved to travel in open automobiles while wearing a long, flowing scarf. One day her scarf got wrapped around the spokes and axle of the car in which she was travelling, and that broke her neck.

25 Thurman who played The Bride in “Kill Bill” films : UMA

Uma Thurman started her working career as a fashion model, at the age of 15. She appeared in her first movies at 17, with her most acclaimed early role being Cécile de Volanges in 1988’s “Dangerous Liaisons”. Thurman’s career really took off when she played the gangster’s moll Mia in Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” in 1994. My favorite of all Thurman’s movies is “The Truth About Cats & Dogs”, a less acclaimed romcom released in 1996. She took a few years off from acting from 1998 until 2002 following the birth of her first child. It was Tarantino who relaunched her career, giving her the lead in the “Kill Bill” films.

“Kill Bill” is a 3-part Quentin Tarantino movie (I haven’t seen it, as I really don’t do Tarantino). “Kill Bill” started off as one film, but as the running time was over four hours, it was split into two “volumes”, released several months apart in 2003 and 2004. There has been a lot of talk about making “Kill Bill: Volume 3”.

30 Amateur radio hobbyist : HAM OPERATOR

Amateur radio enthusiasts were first called “ham operators” by professional telegraph operators, and the term was intended to be insulting. It came from the similar term “ham actor”, describing a person who is less than effective on the stage. But amateur operators eventually embraced the moniker, and so it stuck.

33 “Cats” poet’s monogram : TSE

T. S. Eliot (TSE) was born in New England but grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. Much of Eliot’s college education was at Oxford, and clearly he became comfortable with life in England. In 1927 he became a British citizen and lived the rest of life in the UK.

“Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” is a 1939 collection of poems by T. S. Eliot (TSE). The collection of whimsical poetry was a favorite of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber when he was a child. Webber used Eliot’s poems as inspiration for his megahit musical “Cats”.

34 Chief Norse god : ODIN

In Norse mythology, Odin was the chief of the gods. Odin’s wife Frigg was the queen of Asgard whose name gave us our English term “Friday” (via Anglo-Saxon). Odin’s son was Thor, whose name gave us the term “Thursday”. Odin himself gave us our word “Wednesday” from “Wodin”, the English form of his name.

35 “Great” dog : DANE

The Great Dane breed of dog isn’t actually from Denmark, and rather is from Germany.

36 Zeros : GOOSE EGGS

The use of the phrase “goose egg” to mean “zero” is baseball slang that dates back to the 1860s. The etymology is as expected: the numeral zero and a goose egg are both large and round.

43 Creme-filled cookie : OREO

The Oreo was the best-selling cookie in the 20th century, and almost 500 billion of them have been sold since they were introduced in 1912 by Nabisco. In those early days the creme filling was made with pork fat, but today vegetable oils are used instead. If you take a bite out of an Oreo sold outside of America you might notice a difference from the homegrown cookie, as coconut oil is added in the overseas version to give a different taste.

44 Rx : MED

There seems to be some uncertainty about the origin of the symbol “Rx” that’s used for a medical prescription. One explanation is that it comes from the astrological sign for Jupiter, a symbol put on prescriptions in days of old to invoke Jupiter’s blessing to help a patient recover.

47 Paltry sum : CHICKEN FEED

The adjective “paltry” comes from an older use of “paltry” as a noun meaning a “worthless thing”.

51 Madison in NYC, e.g. : AVE

Madison Avenue became the center of advertising in the US in the twenties, and serves as the backdrop to the great TV drama “Mad Men”. There aren’t many advertising agencies left on Madison Avenue these days though, as most have moved to other parts of New York City. The street takes its name from Madison Square, which is bounded on one side by Madison Avenue. The square in turn takes its name from James Madison, the fourth President of the United States.

54 Aspen getaway : SKI TRIP

Aspen, Colorado used to be known as Ute City, with the name change taking place in 1880. Like many communities in the area, Aspen was a mining town, and in 1891 and 1892 it was at the center of the highest production of silver in the US. Nowadays, it’s all about skiing and movie stars.

59 “There you have it!” : VOILA!

The French word “voilà” means “there it is”, and “voici” means “here it is”. The terms come from “voi là” meaning “see there” and “voi ici” meaning “see here”.

65 Prefix with sonic : ULTRA-

“Ultrasound” is the name given to sound energy that has frequencies above the audible range.

67 Sport played on horseback : POLO

A game of polo is divided into periods of play called chukkers (sometimes “chukkas”). The game usually lasts for two hours, plus the time between the chukkers that is used to change horses.

68 Africa’s Sierra __ : LEONE

The Republic of Sierra Leone is a country in West Africa that lies on the Atlantic Coast. The capital city of Freetown was originally set up as a colony to house the “Black Poor” of London, England. These people were mainly freed British slaves of Caribbean descent who were living a miserable life in the run-down parts of London. Perhaps to help the impoverished souls, perhaps to rid the streets of “a problem”, three ships were chartered in 1787 to transport a group of blacks, with some whites, to a piece of land purchased in Sierra Leone. Those who made the voyage were granted British citizenship and protection. The descendants of these immigrants, and others who made the journey over the next 60 years, make up the ethnic group that’s today called the Sierra Leone Creole.

69 Sgts.’ superiors : LTS

The rank of lieutenant (lt.) is superior to the rank of sergeant (sgt.), and below the rank of captain (capt.).

Down

4 Forensic evidence : DNA

Something described as forensic is connected with a court of law, or with public discussion or debate. The term comes from the Latin “forensis” meaning “of a forum, of a place of assembly”. We mainly use the word today to mean “pertaining to legal trials” as in “forensic medicine” and “forensic science”.

6 iPhone assistant : SIRI

Siri is a software application that works with Apple’s iOS operating system. “Siri” is an acronym standing for Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface. Voice-over artist Susan Bennett revealed herself as the female American voice of Siri a few years ago. The British version of Siri is called Daniel, and the Australian version is called Karen. Also, “Siri” is a Norwegian name meaning “beautiful woman who leads you to victory”, and was the name the developer had chosen for his first child.

9 Prison knife : SHIV

“Shiv” is a slang term describing a weapon crudely fashioned to resemble a knife. Mostly we hear of shivs that have been fashioned by prison inmates to do harm to others.

10 Cornmeal dish : POLENTA

Polenta is a porridge made from finely ground corn. The term “polenta” is Italian in origin.

11 “__ the President’s Men” : ALL

“All the President’s Men” is a marvelous book by “The Washington Post” journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. The book tells the remarkable tale of the investigation undertaken by Woodward and Bernstein into the Watergate scandal. The pair followed “All the President’s Men” with a sequel called “The Final Days” which told of President Nixon’s final months in office. One of my favorite movies of all time is the 1976 film adaption of “All the President’s Men” that stars Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman.

23 Swiss watch brand : RADO

Rado is a manufacturer of watches that is noted for pioneering the use of scratch-proof materials. Rado makes a watch that the Guinness Book of Records calls “the hardest watch on Earth”.

24 Friends in Lyon : AMIS

The city of Lyon in France, is sometimes known as “Lyons” in English. Lyon is the second-largest metropolitan area in the country, after Paris. It is located just to the north of the confluence of the Rhône and Saône Rivers.

36 Yukon automaker : GMC

The GMC Yukon is basically the same vehicle as the Chevrolet Tahoe.

37 “__ to you, matey!” : ‘ERE’S

A Cockney is someone who, according to tradition, is born within the sound of Bow Bells in the center of London. The Cockney accent is usually considered “working class”. Cockney speakers often use a wonderful form of speech called rhyming slang. So, Cockney’s drink a lot of “Rosie Lea” (tea), and climb the “apples and pears” (stairs) using their “plates of meat” (feet). Cockneys also tend to “drop their aitches”, so “home” becomes “‘ome” and “horse” becomes “‘orse”.

38 Many a techie : GEEK

Originally, a geek was a sideshow performer, perhaps one at a circus. Sometimes the term “geek” is used today for someone regarded as foolish or clumsy, and also for someone who is technically driven and expert, but often socially inept.

39 Bare-naked Lady : GODIVA

In the legend of Lady Godiva, the noblewoman rode naked through the streets of Coventry in England, basically as a dare from her husband in return for relieving the taxes of his tenants. Lady Godiva issued instructions that all the town’s inhabitants should stay indoors while she made her journey. However, a tailor in the town named Tom disobeyed the instructions by boring holes in the shutters on his windows, and “peeped”. As a result, Peeping Tom was struck blind, and the term “peeping Tom” has been in our language ever since.

40 Variety show hosts, briefly : MCS

The term “emcee” comes from “MC”, an initialism used for a Master or Mistress of Ceremonies.

41 Sushi tuna : AHI

Yellowfin and bigeye tuna are usually marketed as “ahi”, the Hawaiian name. They are both big fish, with yellowfish tuna often weighing over 300 pounds, and bigeye tuna getting up to 400 pounds.

48 Syrup brand since 1902 : KARO

Karo is a brand of corn syrup. It is an industrially-manufactured sweetener derived from corn.

50 Quik maker : NESTLE

Nestlé Quik was introduced in 1948, and is a flavored powdered milk drink. It was sold in Europe as “Nesquik”, and that brand name replaced “Quik” here in the US in 1999. The Nesquik mascot is the Quik Bunny. The Quik Bunny had a large “Q” on a collar around his neck, and with the brand name change this “Q” became an “N”, and he is now known as the Nesquik Bunny.

57 Director Preminger : OTTO

Otto Preminger was noted for directing films that pushed the envelope in terms of subject matter, at least in the fifties and sixties. Great examples would be 1955’s “The Man with the Golden Arm” that dealt with drug addiction, 1959’s “Anatomy of a Murder” that dealt with rape, and 1962’s “Advise and Consent” that dealt with homosexuality. If you’ve seen these films, you’ll have noticed that the references are somewhat indirect and disguised, in order to get past the censors.

58 “__ be in England … “: Browning : OH, TO

Robert Browning met fellow poet Elizabeth Barrett in 1845. Elizabeth was a sickly woman, confined to her parents’ house in Wimpole Street in London, largely due to the conservative and protective nature of her father. Robert and Elizabeth eventually eloped in 1846, and lived in self-inflicted exile in Italy. Away from the country of his birth, Browning was moved to write his now famous “Home Thoughts, From Abroad”, the first line of which is “Oh, to be in England …”

63 Daisy __: Li’l Abner’s wife : MAE

Daisy Mae Scragg is the vampish woman who chases Li’l Abner trying to goad him into marriage. This went on for 15 years in the cartoon strip until creator Al Capp succumbed to public pressure and married the couple at the end of March 1952. The marriage was such a big event that it made the cover of “Life” magazine.

The post LA Times Crossword 9 Dec 19, Monday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 5m 32s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Chinese sauce additive : MSG

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the sodium salt of a naturally-occurring,non-essential amino acid called glutamic acid. It is used widely as a flavor enhancer, particularly in many Asian cuisines. Whether or not it is harmful seems to be still under debate. I say that something produced in a test tube shouldn’t be in our food …

4 Olympic swimming star Ledecky : KATIE

Katie Ledecky is a swimmer who won her first Olympic gold medal at just 15 years of age, in the 800-meter freestyle. In 2016, Ledecky also became the youngest person to make “Time” magazine’s “Time 100” annual list of most influential people in the American world. Katie’s uncle is Jon Ledecky, owner of the New York Islanders hockey team.

9 L.L.Bean competitor : J.CREW

J.Crew is a clothing and accessory retailer. Never been there, but I’ve seen the name turn up on credit card statements somehow …

L.L.Bean (note the lack of spaces in the company name) was founded back in 1912 in Freeport, Maine as a company selling its own line of waterproof boots. The founder, Leon Leonwood Bean, gave his name to the enterprise. Right from the start, L.L.Bean focused on mail-order and sold from a circular he distributed and then from a catalog. Defects in the initial design led to 90% of the first boots sold being returned, and the company made good on its guarantee to replace them or give back the money paid.

15 Stereotypical Pi Day celebrants : NERDS

The first three digits of the mathematical constant pi are 3.14. Pi Day has been celebrated on March 14th (3/14) every year since 1988, when it was inaugurated at the San Francisco Exploratorium. In countries where the day is usually written before the month, Pi Day is July 22nd, reflecting the more accurate approximation of pi as 22/7. Interestingly, March 14th is also Albert Einstein’s birthday.

16 “Drab” color : OLIVE

Olive drab is a dull, light brown color. The term “drab” once described a dull, light brown color. We probably most associate olive drab with the color of uniforms worn by US soldiers during WWII. Many GIs referred to those uniforms as “ODs”, a reference to the olive drab color.

17 Handel’s “Messiah” et al. : ORATORIOS

An oratorio is a large musical work for orchestra, choir and solo singers. Oratorios usually have a religious theme and are similar to operas, but without the action, costume and scenery.

“Messiah” is a famous oratorio composed by George Frideric Handel that was first performed in Dublin, Ireland in 1742. The libretto is a text from the King James Bible that was compiled by Handel’s friend Charles Jennens. Not long after he received the libretto from Jennens, Handel took just 24 days to compose the full oratorio. He was obviously on a roll, became Handel started into his next oratorio, “Samson” just one week after finishing “Messiah”. He finished the first draft of “Samson” within a month.

19 Creepy film motel : BATES

Bates Motel and house were constructed on the backlot of Universal Studios for the 1960 HItchcock movie “Psycho”. They are still standing, and for me are highlights of the backlot tour that is available to visitors.

20 *Fruity adult beverage : WINE COOLER (white wine & water cooler)

A wine cooler is a drink made from wine and fruit juice, and often some soda.

23 Cowboys QB Prescott : DAK

Dak Prescott was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the 2016 draft as a backup quarterback for starting QB Tony Romo. The Cowboys needed Prescott as backup immediately, when Romo got injured before the first game of the season.

26 “Keystone” police : KOPS

The Keystone Cops (sometimes “Keystone Kops”) were a band of madcap policemen characters who appeared in silent movies. A 1914 short film called “A Thief Catcher” that was believed lost was rediscovered in 2010. “A Thief Catcher” featured the magnificent Charlie Chaplin in an early role as a Keystone Cop.

28 *Black-spotted orange flower : TIGER LILY (white tiger & water lily)

“Tiger Lily” is a common name applied to several species of lily that have orange flowers with black accents.

33 Prefix with center : EPI-

The epicenter is the point on the surface of the Earth that is directly above the focus of an earthquake.

34 __ Valley: Reagan Library site : SIMI

Simi Valley, California is perhaps best known as home to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. The library is a great place to visit, and there you can tour one of the retired Air Force One planes.

37 Pitcher’s stat : ERA

Earned run average (ERA)

38 *Toy pistols used on stage : CAP GUNS (whitecap & water guns)

Cap guns are toy guns that use as ammunition a small quantity of explosive that is shock-sensitive. The small disks of ammunition come as individual pellets or perhaps in plastic rings. The cap guns that I used as a child came with about 50 pellets of ammunition on a roll of paper. As a kid, I used to think that cap guns were so cool. Now, not so much …

42 Asian food breadcrumbs : PANKO

“Panko” is a breadcrumb used in some Japanese cuisine, primarily as a crunchy coating for fried foods.

44 Novelist Leon : URIS

Leon Uris is an American writer. Uris’s most famous books are “Exodus” and “Trinity”, two excellent stories, in my humble opinion …

45 They, to Thierry : ILS

“Ils” is the French for “they”, if not referring to feminine nouns (when “they” translates as “elles”).

46 *Toy car brand : HOT WHEELS (white hot & waterwheels)

The Hot Wheels brand of toy car was introduced by Mattel in 1968. Hot Wheels models are all die-cast, with many designs coming from blueprints provided by the manufacturers of the full-size car.

49 Artist Warhol : ANDY

American artist Andy Warhol was a leader in the pop art movement that emerged in the mid-1950s. Many of his works became the most expensive paintings ever sold. A 1963 Warhol canvas titled “Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)” fetched over 100 million dollars in 2013.

50 “The Good Earth” mother : O-LAN

Pearl S. Buck’s novel “The Good Earth” won a Pulitzer in 1932, and helped Buck win the Nobel Prize for literature a few years later. The novel tells of life in a Chinese village and follows the fortunes of Wang Lung and his wife O-Lan. Although “The Good Earth” has been around for decades, it hit the bestseller list again in 2004 when it was a pick for Oprah’s Book Club.

51 Some SAT takers : SRS

Today, the standardized test for admission to colleges is known as the SAT Reasoning Test, but it used to be called the Scholastic Aptitude Test and Scholastic Assessment Test, which led to the abbreviation “SAT”.

52 Olympian bigwig : ZEUS

In Greek mythology, Zeus served as the king of the Olympic gods, and the god of the sky and thunder. He was the child of Titans Cronus and Rhea, and was married to Hera. Zeus was the equivalent of the Roman god Jupiter, who had similar realms of influence.

55 Canoeing challenge whose first word can precede the start and whose second word can precede the end of the answers to starred clues : WHITEWATER

63 Talus : ANKLE BONE

The collection of seven bones in the foot just below the ankle are known collectively as the tarsus. One of those bones is the talus (plural “tali”), more commonly called the ankle bone. The talus is the lower part of the ankle joint and articulates with the lower ends of the tibia and fibula in the lower leg.

64 Orange Muppet : ERNIE

For many years, I believed that the “Sesame Street” characters Bert and Ernie were named after two roles played in the Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life”. In the movie, the policeman’s name is Bert and his taxi-driving buddy is named Ernie. However, the “Sesame Street” folks have stated that the use of the same names is just a coincidence. Aww, I don’t wanna believe that’s a coincidence …

66 ER VIPs : MDS

One might find a registered nurse (RN) and a medical doctor (MD) in an emergency room (ER).

67 Cockamamie : INANE

“Cockamamy” (sometimes “cockamamie”) is a slang term meaning “ridiculous, incredible”. The term goes back at least to 1946, but may have originated as an informal term used by children in New York City in the 1920s.

69 Automated spam creator : BOT

A bot is a computer program that is designed to imitate human behavior. It might crawl around the Web doing searches for example, or it might participate in discussions in chat rooms by giving pre-programmed responses. It might also act as a competitor in a computer game.

Down

2 Indian cover-up : SARI

The item of clothing called a “sari” (also “saree”) is a strip of cloth, as one might imagine, unusual perhaps in that is unstitched along the whole of its length. The strip of cloth can range from four to nine meters long (that’s a lot of material!). The sari is usually wrapped around the waist, then draped over the shoulder leaving the midriff bare. I must say, it can be a beautiful item of clothing.

3 Concert keyboard : GRAND PIANO

A grand piano is one with the frame supported horizontally on three legs. An upright piano has the frame and strings running vertically. Grand pianos come in many sizes. For example, the length of a concert grand is about 9 feet, a parlor grand is about 7 feet, and a baby grand is about 5 feet.

8 Ancient mystic : ESSENE

The Essenes were a Jewish religious group who are most noted these days perhaps as the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

11 Baptism or bris : RITE

Baptism is a rite admitting a candidate, often an infant, into many Christian Churches. The ceremony usually uses water as a sign of purification. Water may be poured on the head, or the candidate may be totally immersed in water.

A mohel is a man who has been trained in the practice of brit milah (circumcision). Brit milah is known as “bris” in Yiddish. The brit milah ceremony is performed on male infants when they are 8-days old.

12 Like Olympic years, numerically : EVEN

There is an Olympic Games held every two years, alternating between a Winter and Summer Games.

18 Oolong and pekoe : TEAS

The name for the Chinese tea called “oolong” translates into English as “black dragon”.

A pekoe (or more commonly “orange pekoe”) is a medium-grade black tea. There is no orange flavor in an orange pekoe tea. The “orange” name most likely derived from the name of the trading company that brought the tea to Europe from Asia.

21 1921 play that introduced the word “robot” : RUR

Karel Čapek was a Czech writer noted for his works of science fiction. Čapek’s 1921 play “R.U.R.” is remembered in part for introducing the world to the word “robot”. The words “automaton” and “android” were already in use, but Capek gave us “robot” from the original Czech “robota” meaning “forced labor”. The acronym “R.U.R.”, in the context of the play, stands for “Rossum’s Universal Robots”.

27 Celeb with her “OWN” network : OPRAH

Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN)

28 Andalusian aunt : TIA

Andalusia (“Andalucía” in Spanish) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities in the Kingdom of Spain, and is the most southerly. The capital of Andalusia is the old city of Seville. The name Andalusia comes from its Arabic name, Al-Andalus, reflecting the region’s history as the center of Muslim power in Iberia during medieval times.

30 Lively baroque dance : GIGUE

A gigue is a dance from the baroque era. Popular in France, the dance was derived from the British jig.

31 Red Square shrine : LENIN’S TOMB

Lenin’s Tomb is a mausoleum in which lie the embalmed remains of Vladimir Lenin. The tomb lies just outside the walls of the Kremlin in Red Square. Lenin died in 1924, after which his body was housed in a wooden structure in Red Square for viewing by mourners. The current marble and granite structure was completed in 1930. The body has rested there on display ever since, except for the years of WWII when there was a perceived danger of Moscow falling to the Germans. The body was evacuated to Tyumen in Siberia for the war years.

39 Often-bookmarked address, briefly : URL

An Internet address (like NYXCrossword.com and LAXCrossword.com) is more correctly called a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

40 Grafton’s “__ for Noose” : N IS

Sue Grafton wrote detective novels, and her “alphabet series” feature the private investigator Kinsey Millhone. She started off with “A Is for Alibi” in 1982 and worked her way up to “Y is for Yesterday” before she passed away in 2017.

43 “80’s Ladies” country singer : KT OSLIN

Singer K. T. Oslin is best known for her string of country hits in the eighties.

48 Surround, as with a saintly glow : ENHALO

The Greek word “halos” is the name given to the ring of light around the sun or moon, which gives us our word “halo” that is used for a radiant light depicted above the head of a saintly person.

49 Graceful steed : ARAB

The Arab (also “Arabian”) breed of horse takes its name from its original home, the Arabian Peninsula. Like any animal that humans have over-bred, the horse falls prey to genetic diseases, some of which are fatal and some of which require the horse to be euthanized.

52 Cube root of acht : ZWEI

In German, “zwei” (two) cubed is “acht” (eight).

54 Forearm bone : ULNA

The radius and ulna are bones in the forearm. If you hold the palm of your hand up in front of you, the radius is the bone on the “thumb-side” of the arm, and the ulna is the bone on the “pinky-side”.

57 Boxing ref’s calls : TKOS

In boxing, a knockout (KO) is when one of the fighters can’t get up from the canvas within a specified time, usually 10 seconds. This can be due to fatigue, injury, or the participant may be truly “knocked out”. A referee, fighter or doctor may also decide to stop a fight without a physical knockout, especially if there is concern about a fighter’s safety. In this case the bout is said to end with a technical knockout (TKO).

The post LA Times Crossword 10 Dec 19, Tuesday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 6m 28s

Bill’s errors: 2

• EDSEL (Edsil!!!) … embarrassing …
• STUPEFY (stupify!!!) … much more embarrassing …

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

15 MLB family name : ALOU

Jesus Alou played Major League Baseball, as did his brothers Matty and Felipe, and as does Felipe’s son Moises.

16 Voice mail signal : TONE

Wait for the beep …

17 Result of overexposure in the field? : FARMER’S TAN

A “farmer’s tan” or “golfer’s tan” is one that affects only the arms and neck, and is the result of wearing a sleeveless shirt.

20 Actress Mendes : EVA

I best know actress Eva Mendes as the female lead in the movie “Hitch”, in which she played opposite Will Smith. Mendes was known off the screen for dating actor Ryan Gosling from 2011 to 2013.

21 Brewpub orders : IPAS

India pale ale (IPA) is a style of beer that originated in England. The beer was originally intended for transportation from England to India, hence the name.

22 Fencing blades : EPEES

The sword known as an épée has a three-sided blade. The épée is similar to a foil and sabre, although the foil and saber have rectangular cross-sections.The sword known as an épée has a three-sided blade. The épée is similar to a foil and sabre, although the foil and saber have rectangular cross-sections.

23 Blitz by a linebacker : RED DOG

In football, a blitz (also “red dog”) is a maneuver by players in the line of scrimmage designed to quickly overwhelm the opposing quarterback.

26 Ill-fated Ford : EDSEL

Edsel Ford was the only child of automobile manufacturing pioneer Henry Ford. Edsel became president of Ford Motors, as Henry’s sole heir, and served in that capacity from 1919 until his death in 1943. Henry’s name is very much associated with the Model T, the Tin Lizzie. Edsel was the man behind the subsequent development of the more fashionable Model A. However, despite Edsel’s many successes, his name is inextricably linked with the highly unsuccessful Edsel line of cars.

28 Result of carelessness in a locker room? : ATHLETE’S FOOT

The skin condition known as tinea is more usually referred to as ringworm. Tinea pedis is commonly known as athlete’s foot.

33 Hot rod : DRAGSTER

Back in the 18th century “drag” was slang for a wagon or buggy, as it was “dragged” along by a horse or horses. In the 1930s, the underworld adopted “drag” as slang for an automobile. This sense of the word was imported into automobile racing in the forties, giving the name to “drag racing”. A drag race is basically a competition between two cars to determine which can accelerate faster from a standstill.

A hot rod is an American car that has been modified for speed by installing a larger than normal engine. A street rod is generally a more comfortable type of hot rod, with the emphasis less on the engine and more on custom paint jobs and interiors. By definition, a street rod must be based on an automobile design that originated prior to 1949.

36 Cellist with multiple Grammys : YO-YO MA

Yo-Yo Ma is a marvelous American cellist who was born in Paris to Chinese parents. Ma started studying the violin when he was very young, working his way up (in size) to the viola and finally to the cello. He has said that he wanted to play the double bass, but it was just too big for his relatively small frame.

38 Picks from a lineup : IDS

Identity document (ID)

40 Champagne label word : SEC

“Sec” is a term used in France for “dry”

49 Result of excessive practice in calligraphy class? : WRITER’S CRAMP

Calligraphy is the art of fine handwriting. The term “calligraphy” comes from the Greek “kallos” meaning “beauty” and “graphein” meaning “to write”.

51 Cloud, as of gnats : SWARM

Gnats are attracted to the smell of rotting food, and vinegar. Simple homemade traps that use vinegar are often constructed to attract and kill gnats.

52 Title Mozart valet who married Susanna : FIGARO

Figaro is the title character in at least two operas: “The Barber of Seville” (“Il barbiere di Siviglia”) by Rossini, and “The Marriage of Figaro” (“Le nozze di Figaro”) by Mozart. The two storylines are based on plays by Pierre Beaumarchais, with one basically being a sequel to the other.

56 “__ Health”: Quiet Riot album : METAL

Quiet Riot is a heavy metal band from Los Angeles that was founded in 1973. Two of Quiet Riot’s biggest hits are “Cum On Feel the Noize” and “Mama Weer All Crazee Now”, both of which are covers of songs originally recorded by British glam rock band Slade. I’m a big fan of Slade; Quiet Riot, not so much …

58 Hops hot spot : OAST

An oast is a kiln used for drying hops as part of the brewing process. Such a structure might also be called an “oast house” or “hop kiln”. The term “oast” can also apply to a kiln used to dry tobacco.

The foodstuff that we call “hops” are actually the female flower of the hop plant. The main use of hops is to add flavor to beer. The town in which I live here in California used to be home to the largest hop farm in the whole world. Most of the harvested hops were exported all the way to the breweries of London, where they could fetch the best price.

62 Greek Cupid : EROS

The name of Eros, the Greek god of love, gives rise to our word “erotic” meaning “arousing sexual desire”. Eros was referred to in Latin as both “Amor” (meaning “love”) and “Cupid” (meaning “desire”).

67 Free speech org. : ACLU

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has its roots in the First World War when it was founded to provide legal advice and support to conscientious objectors. The ACLU’s motto is “Because Freedom Can’t Protect Itself”. The ACLU also hosts a blog on the ACLU.org website called “Speak Freely”.

68 Sampler wisdom : ADAGE

A sampler is a piece of needlework that often includes letters and words. Also, samplers are often used to demonstrate skills used in cross-stitching and embroidery.

69 Eyelid irritation : STYE

A stye is a bacterial infection of the sebaceous glands at the base of the eyelashes, and is also known as a hordeolum.

71 Dancer cohort : COMET

We get the names for Santa’s reindeer from the famous 1823 poem called “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, although we’ve modified a couple of the names over the years. The full list is:

• Dasher
• Dancer
• Prancer
• Vixen
• Comet
• Cupid
• Donder (originally “Dunder”, and now often “Donner”)
• Blitzen (originally “Blixem”)

Rudolph was added to the list by retailer Montgomery Ward, would you believe? The store commissioned Robert L. May to create a booklet that could be handed out to children around Christmas in 1939, and May introduced us to a new friend for Santa, namely Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Down

2 Tequila plant : AGAVE

Tequila is a city in Mexico that is located about 40 miles northwest of Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco. The city is the birthplace of the drink called “tequila”. Local people made a variety of a drink called mezcal by fermenting the heart of the blue agave plant that is native to the area surrounding Tequila. It was the Spanish who introduced the distillation process to the mescal, giving us what we now know as “tequila”.

3 Spot for a Mercedes : CAR AD

Emil Jellinek was a European automobile entrepreneur whose claim to fame is that he commissioned the Mercedes 35 HP, a design that’s cited as the first modern car. Prior to 1901’s 35 HP, cars were really modified stagecoaches. Jellinek chose the name “Mercedes” in honor of his daughter Adriana, whose nickname was “Mercédès”.

4 Second-oldest Kardashian sister : KIM

Kim Kardashian is a socialite and television personality. She was introduced into society by her friend, Paris Hilton. Kardashian’s name first hit the headlines when a homemade sex tape, made by her and singer Ray J, was leaked.

5 Formula __ auto racing : ONE

In motor racing, the designation “formula” is a set of rules that all participants and cars must abide by. The definition of “Formula One” was agreed back in 1946, with the “one” designating that it is the most advanced of the “formulae”, and the most competitive.

6 Winged stinger : WASP

While the wasp is considered to be a nuisance by many, the insect is very important to the agricultural industry. Wasps prey on many pest insects, while having very little impact on crops.

7 Ski resort near Snowbird : ALTA

Alta ski resort actually lies within the Salt Lake City Metropolitan Area. The first ski lift in the resort was opened way back in 1939. Today, Alta is one of only three ski resorts in the country that prohibits snowboarding (along with Deer Valley, Utah and Mad River Glen, Vermont. The ski resort of Snowbird, located next to Alta, has been in operation since 1971.

9 Space heater? : SUN

Our sun is a sphere of hot plasma that forms the center of our solar system. The Sun’s mass has two main components, with almost three quarters made up by hydrogen, and a quarter by helium. The continual nuclear fusion reaction in the Sun’s core converts hydrogen into helium, and generates a lot of energy. We should all be pretty grateful to the Sun for generating that energy …

12 Novelist Tyler : ANNE

Anne Tyler is a novelist from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Most of Tyler’s novels are set in Baltimore, Maryland, where she now resides. Tyler’s most famous title has to be “The Accidental Tourist”, which was adapted into a 1988 film starring William Hurt, Kathleen Turner and Geena Davis. Tyler might be considered somewhat of a recluse in her professional life as she rarely makes personal appearances to promote her books.

13 Classic autos : REOS

The REO Motor Company was founded by Ransom Eli Olds (hence the name REO). The company made cars, trucks and buses, and was in business from 1905 to 1975 in Lansing, Michigan. Among the company’s most famous models were the REO Royale and the REO Flying Cloud.

22 Standard Oil brand : ESSO

The brand name Esso has its roots in the old Standard Oil company as it uses the initial letters of “Standard” and “Oil” (ESS-O). The Esso brand was replaced by Exxon in the US, but ESSO is still used in many other countries.

24 Former U.N. leader Hammarskjöld : DAG

Dag Hammarskjöld was the second secretary-general of the United Nations, right up until his death in a plane crash in Rhodesia in 1961. The crash was considered suspicious at the time as the bodyguards were found to have bullet wounds when they died, but this was put down to bullets exploding in the fire after the crash.

25 NFL periods forced by ties : OTS

Overtime (OT)

27 Susan of “L.A. Law” : DEY

Actress Susan Dey first appeared on “The Partridge Family” when she was 17-years-old when she had no acting experience. Years later, Dey won a Golden Globe for playing the leading role of Grace Van Owen in “L.A. Law”.

29 Hawaiian garland : LEI

What’s known as “May Day” around the world is also called “Lei Day” in Hawaii. Lei Day started in the twenties and is a celebration of native Hawaiian culture.

30 Triage MD : ER DOC

Triage is the process of prioritizing patients for treatment, especially on the battlefield. The term “triage” is French and means “sorting”.

34 Fanny : REAR

“Fanny” is a slang term for the buttocks, rump. You have to be careful using the slang term “fanny” if traveling in Britain and Ireland, because over there it has a much ruder meaning …

35 Difficult H.S. class covering U.S. or world events : AP HISTORY

The Advanced Placement (AP) program offers college-level courses to kids who are still in high school. After being tested at the end of an AP course, successful students receive credits that count towards a college degree.

39 Round Table title : SIR

King Arthur (and his Round Table) probably never really existed, but his legend is very persistent. Arthur was supposedly a leader of the Romano-British as they tried to resist the invasion of the Anglo-Saxons in the late 5th and early 6th centuries.

42 “I’m the culprit” : IT WAS ME

A culprit is a person guilty of a crime, or is perhaps the source of a problem. The term “culprit” comes from Anglo-French with an interesting etymology. Back in the day, a prosecutor opening a trial would use the words “Culpable: prest (d’averrer nostre bille)” meaning “guilty, ready (to prove our case”, which was abbreviated to “cul. prit”. The abbreviated French was mistakenly applied in English as a term to describe the defendant, the “culprit”.

43 “Cryptonomicon” novelist Stephenson : NEAL

“Cryptonomicon” is a 1999 novel by Neal Stephenson. The storyline is bifurcated into two time periods. The first involves cryptology experts stationed at the Allied code-breaking center at Bletchley Park in the UK during WWII. The second set of characters are cryptologists in the fictional Sultanate of Kinakuta working in the 1990s. I haven’t read this one, but it sounds like my kind of book …

46 ’90s trade pact : NAFTA

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is a treaty between Canada, Mexico and the United States. When NAFTA came into force in 1994, it set up the largest free trade zone in the world.

47 “Yuck, tell someone else!” : TMI!

Too much information (TMI)

48 Fuel efficiency stat : MPG

Miles per gallon (mpg)

53 The “A” in James A. Garfield : ABRAM

James Abram Garfield, the 20th President, was assassinated in office. He was shot twice, and one bullet could not be found (it was lodged in his spine). Inventor Alexander Graham Bell developed a metal detector in an attempt to locate the bullet, but apparently he was unsuccessful because of interference from the metal bed frame on which the president lay. Garfield died two months after being shot.

57 Middle proof word : … ERAT …

The initialism “QED” is used at the end of a mathematical proof or a philosophical argument. QED stands for the Latin “quod erat demonstrandum” meaning “that which was to be demonstrated”.

64 Efron of “Baywatch” (2017) : ZAC

Zac Efron is an actor from San Luis Obispo, California. Apparently Efron is a heartthrob to “tweenyboppers”. His big break came with the hit Disney movie “High School Musical”.

“Baywatch” is a 2017 comedy film that is based on the TV series of the same name that famously starred David Hasselhoff. The movie stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

65 Hubbub : ADO

The post LA Times Crossword 11 Dec 19, Wednesday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 6m 53s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Baseball Hall of Famer Speaker : TRIS

Tris Speaker was a Major League Baseball player, and the holder of the record for the most doubles hit in a career. He led the Boston Red Sox to two World Series championships, in 1912 and 1915.

5 Big name in interstellar communication : UHURA

Lt. Nyota Uhura is the communications officer in the original “Star Trek” television series, and is played by Nichelle Nichols. The role is significant in that Uhura was one of the first African American characters to figure front and center in US television. In a 1968 episode, Kirk (played by William Shatner) and Uhura kiss, the first interracial kiss to be broadcast in the US. Apparently the scene was meant to be shot twice, with and without the kiss, so that network executives could later decide which version to air. William Shatner claims that he deliberately ran long on the first shoot (with the kiss) and fluffed the hurried second shoot (without the kiss), so that the network would have no choice.

10 Window part : SASH

A movable (up-and-down) window frame is called a sash, from the French word for a frame “châssis”. The term is also applied to that part of a door or window into which windows are set.

14 Rope fiber : HEMP

Hemp, also known as “cannabis”, is a hardy, fast-growing plant that has many uses mainly due to the strength of the fibers in the plant’s stalks. Hemp is used to make rope, paper and textiles. The term “hemp” is sometimes reserved for varieties of the plant grown for non-drug use.

15 Weighs an empty container on, as a deli scale : TARES

Tare is the weight of a container that is deducted from the gross weight to determine the net weight, the weight of the container’s contents.

16 Oberlin’s state : OHIO

Oberlin, Ohio is a city southwest of Cleveland. The city is home to Oberlin College, the biggest employer in town. Oberlin was named after Jean-Frédéric Oberlin, a pastor from Alsace. Oberlin was the first college in the country to admit African American students (in 1835), and the first to admit female students (in 1837).

17 “Frozen” sister : ELSA

“Frozen” is a 2013 animated feature from Walt Disney Studios that is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Snow Queen”. The film is all about the exploits of Princess Anna, the younger sister of Elsa, Snow Queen of Arendelle. Spoiler alert: Prince Hans of the Southern Isles seems to be a good guy for most of the film, but turns out to be a baddie in the end. And, a snowman named Olaf provides some comic relief.

18 Early 2010s Mideast anti-government movement : ARAB SPRING

The term “Arab Spring” has been applied to the wave of protests, riots and civil wars that impacted the Arab world from 2010 to 2012. The uprisings were sparked by the Tunisian Revolution at the end of 2010 that led to the ouster of the longtime president and the institution of democratic elections. The period of instability that followed in some Arab League countries has been dubbed the “Arab Winter”

20 Mars : FOURTH PLANET

Because Mars is a greater distance from the Sun, the Martian year is about two Earth-years long.

22 American Red Cross founder : BARTON

Clara Barton was deeply disturbed by her experiences caring for the wounded during the Civil War. She dedicated herself after the war towards American recognition of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The American Red Cross was inevitably formed, in 1881, and Barton was installed as its first president.

32 “Te __”: Rihanna song : AMO

Singer Rihanna was born and grew up on the island of Barbados and moved to the US when she was 16-years-old to pursue a singing career. “Rihanna” is her stage name, as she was born Robyn Rihanna Fenty. The name “Rihanna” is derived from the Welsh name “Rhiannon”.

33 Mars : CHOCOLATE BAR

Having lived on both sides of the Atlantic, I find the Mars Bar to be the most perplexing of candies! The original Mars Bar is a British confection (and delicious) that was first manufactured in 1932. The US version of the original Mars Bar is called a Milky Way. But there is a candy bar called a Milky Way that is also produced in the UK, and it is completely different to its US cousin, being more like an American “3 Musketeers”. And then there is an American confection called a Mars Bar, something different again. No wonder I try not to eat candy bars …

36 Giants manager before Bochy : ALOU

Bruce Bochy was appointed manager of the San Francisco Giants baseball team in 2007. Bochy is a little unusual in the Major League Baseball world in that he was born in France (his father was a US Army officer stationed there). Bruce became the first European-born manager to win the World Series when the Giants emerged victorious in 2010.

Felipe Alou is a former professional baseball player and manager. Alou managed the Montreal Expos from 1992 to 2001, and the San Francisco Giants from 2003 to 2006. Alou was born and raised in the Dominican Republic and came to the US to play for the Giants in 1955. Felipe’s brothers Matty and Jesús followed him to the US, and into Major League baseball.

39 “Two Women” Oscar winner : LOREN

Sophia Loren certainly has earned her exalted position in the world of movies. In 1962 Loren won an Oscar for Best Actress for her role in the Italian film “Two Women”, marking the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English speaking performance. She received a second nomination for Best Actress for her role in “Marriage Italian-Style”, another Italian-language movie, released in 1964.

“Two Women” (“La Ciociara”, in Italian, meaning “The Woman from Ciociara”) is a 1960 film that won Sophia Loren that season’s Best Actress Oscar. The title characters are a widowed shopkeeper (played by Loren) and her 12-year-old daughter. The movie is set in WWII, and there is a very disturbing scene in which the two “women” are gang-raped by a group of soldiers. Actress Eleonora Brown played the daughter, and was actually only 12 years of age at the time of shooting. A tough scene to watch, and surely a tough scene to film …

40 Valentine letters : XOXO

Saint Valentine’s Day was introduced by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD to honor various martyrs with the name Valentine. However, the saint’s day was dropped by the Roman Catholic church in 1969, by Pope Paul VI. Try telling that to Hallmark though …

41 Mars : POP STAR BRUNO

Bruno Mars is a singer-songwriter from Honolulu who has been active in the music business since 2006. “Bruno Mars” is a stage name, as Mars was born Peter Hernandez.

44 Number one woman? : EVE

According to the Bible, Eve was created as Adam’s companion by God, creating her from Adam’s rib.

46 CBS news anchor Barnett : ERROL

Errol Barnett was a CNN anchor based in Johannesburg, South Africa and then Atlanta, Georgia before moving to Washington, D.C to work for CBS News in 2016. Barnett was born in England, but was educated in Phoenix, Arizona.

50 It’s in your jeans : DENIM

Denim fabric originated in Nimes in France. The French phrase “de Nimes” (meaning “from Nimes”) gives us the word “denim”. Also, the French phrase “bleu de Genes” (meaning “blue of Genoa”) gives us our word “jeans”.

52 Gap : LACUNA

A lacuna is a missing piece of text (or music) in a larger work. Usually the text has been lost due to damage of an older manuscript. Lacunae can be very controversial as experts vie with each other to suggest what words have been lost.

53 Mars : SON OF JUPITER

Jupiter, also known as Jove, was the king of the gods in the Roman tradition, as well as the god of sky and thunder. Jupiter was the Roman equivalent to the Greek god Zeus.

Mars was the god of war in ancient Rome. Mars was also viewed as the father of the Roman people and the father of Romulus and Remus, the twin brothers who founded Rome according to Roman mythology.

58 Yellow mollusk that became the U.C. Santa Cruz mascot : BANANA SLUG

The original mascot for the sports teams of UC Santa Cruz was the sea lion. The students apparently didn’t like this choice and changed the mascot to the banana slug after a campus referendum in 1986.

66 Big name in baseball cards : TOPPS

Topps was a relaunch of an older company called American Leaf Tobacco, with the Topps name used from 1938. The earlier company was in trouble because it could not get supplies of its Turkish tobacco, so it moved into another chewy industry, making bubblegum. Nowadays, Topps is known for including (mainly) sports-themed trading cards in the packs of gum.

1 DOJ division since 1908 : THE FBI

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was set up in 1908 as the Bureau of Investigation (BOI), with the name changing in 1935. The Bureau was set up at the behest of President Theodore Roosevelt. President Roosevelt was largely moved to do so after the 1901 assassination of President McKinley, as there was a perception that anarchists were threatening law and order. The FBI’s motto uses the organization’s initialism, and is “Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity”.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) was created in 1870 by the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant, although the office of the Attorney General had been operating since 1789. The DOJ Building in Washington, D.C. was completed in 1935, and was named the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building in 2001.

4 Gladiator played by Kirk Douglas : SPARTACUS

“Spartacus” is a famous 1960 historical drama directed by Stanley Kubrick. Based on a true story, the film tells the story of Spartacus and his role in the Third Servile War, the last of the unsuccessful slave rebellions of ancient Rome. Spartacus is played by Kirk Douglas, and indeed Douglas was very much the driving force behind making the movie. He had failed to win the title role in “Ben-Hur”, losing out to Charlton Heston. Douglas then decided to make a competing film, with a similar theme and setting. You judge which is best …

Megastar Kirk Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch in Upstate New York. One of Douglas’ coups was to purchase the film-making rights to the play “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, in which he starred on Broadway in the mid-sixties. He gave those rights to his son, actor Michael Douglas, who made it into the magnificent movie of the same name. Kirk Douglas celebrated his 100th birthday in December, 2016.

5 Jazz aficionado? : UTAHN

The Utah Jazz professional basketball team moved to Salt Lake City in 1979. As one might guess from the name, the team originated in New Orleans, but only played there for five seasons. New Orleans was a tough place to be based because venues were hard to come by, and Mardi Gras forced the team to play on the road for a whole month.

An aficionado is an enthusiast. Imported from Spanish, “aficionado” was originally used in English to describe a devotee of bullfighting.

7 Risk territory between Ukraine and Siberia : URAL

Risk is a fabulous board game that was introduced in France in 1957. It was invented by a very successful French director of short films called Albert Lamorisse. Lamorisse called his new game “La Conquête du Monde”, which translates into English as “The Conquest of the World”. A game of Risk is a must during the holidays in our house …

8 First name in country : REBA

Reba McEntire is a country music singer and television actress. McEntire starred in her own sitcom called “Reba” that aired on the WB and the CW cable channels from 2001 to 2007.

11 Big tuna : AHI

Yellowfin and bigeye tuna are usually marketed as “ahi”, the Hawaiian name. They are both big fish, with yellowfish tuna often weighing over 300 pounds, and bigeye tuna getting up to 400 pounds.

19 __ four: small cake : PETIT

A petit four is a small confection served at the end of a meal, either as a dessert or with coffee. The name “petit four” is French for “small oven”.

21 Peter of reggae : TOSH

Peter Tosh was a musician from Jamaica, a member of the Wailers reggae band. Sadly, Tosh was murdered in a home invasion and extortion attempt in 1987.

24 Mexican resort, for short : CABO

Cabo San Lucas is a major tourist destination at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula in Mexico. “Cabo” is sometimes referred to as the “Fort Lauderdale of Mexico”.

25 Big-screen format : IMAX

The IMAX Corporation, which is behind the IMAX film format, is a Canadian company. The impetus for developing the system came after Expo ’67 in Montreal. Back then large format screenings were accomplished using multiple projectors with multiple screens, with images basically stitched together. The team behind the IMAX technology set out to simplify things, and developed a single-camera, single-projector system.

26 Capa attacker : TORO

In Spanish, a “toro” (bull) attacks the “capa” (cape) in a bullfight.

29 Kevin who played Hercules on TV : SORBO

Actor Kevin Sorbo is best known for playing the leads in the TV shows “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” and “Andromeda”. Sorbo married actress Sam Sorbo in 1998, after meeting her on the set of “Hercules”.

31 Premier League rival of Arsenal, familiarly : MAN U

Manchester United (“Man U”) is one of the most successful football (soccer) clubs in England, having won more League titles than any other in the history of the game. The club is also famous for an airplane crash known as the 1958 Munich air disaster. The British European flight crashed during takeoff, resulting in the death of 23 passengers, including eight members of the Manchester United team.

Arsenal Football Club (nicknamed “the Gunners”) is an English soccer team based in the Holloway district of London. The club was founded in 1886 as Dial Square by workers at the Royal Arsenal munitions factory. Dial Square was the name given to the workshops at the center of the Royal Arsenal complex. After just a few weeks in existence, the club changed its name to Royal Arsenal, which was eventually shortened to just Arsenal.

35 Ways of dealing with inner demons? : EXORCISMS

An exorcist is a religious figure who is believed to be able to cast out demons that have possessed a person or perhaps a building.

42 Pumbaa’s “The Lion King” pal : TIMON

Timon and Pumbaa are a pair of characters in Disney’s 1994 animated film “The Lion King”. Timon is a meerkat, and was voiced by the great Nathan Lane. Pumbaa is a warthog, and was voiced by Ernie Sabella.

43 __ tide : NEAP

Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon on the oceans. At neap tide, the smaller gravitational effect of the sun cancels out some of the moon’s effect. At spring tide, the sun and the moon’s gravitational forces act in concert causing more extreme movement of the oceans.

47 Foster of folk music : RUTHIE

Ruthie Foster is a blues and folk singer from Texas. She served in the US Navy in her younger days, and sang in the naval band called Pride that performed at recruitment drives.

49 Pantry : LARDER

The Latin word for bacon or lard, is “lardum”, from which developed a Middle Latin word “lardarium” meaning a “room for meats”. This came into English as “larder” to describe a meat storeroom. Over time, our larders stored all types of foods and our fresh meats went into refrigerators.

The word “pantry” dates back to 1300, when it came into English from the Old French “panetrie” meaning a “bread room”. Bread is “pain” in French, and “panis” in Latin.

51 “Wicked Game” singer Chris : ISAAK

Chris Isaak is not only a rock musician, but also has had a lot of acting parts. Isaak had small roles in movies like “Married to the Mob” and “The Silence of the Lambs”, but I remember him as astronaut Ed White in the fabulous HBO miniseries “From the Earth to the Moon”.

52 Olympic racers : LUGES

A luge is a small sled used by one or two people, on which one lies face up and feet first. The luge can be compared to the skeleton, a sled for only one person and on which the rider lies face down and goes down the hill head-first. Yikes!

54 Condé __ : NAST

Condé Nast is a mass media corporation that has a very large portfolio of publications, including “Vogue”, “GQ”, “House and Garden”, “Golf Digest”, “Wired”, “Vanity Fair” and “The New Yorker”.

55 Nobel ceremony city : OSLO

The Norwegian Nobel Institute was established in Oslo in 1904. The main task of the Institute is to assist the Norwegian Nobel Committee in selecting the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and to organize the annual Nobel event.

60 Used to be called : NEE

“Née” is the French word for “born” when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”. The term “née” is mainly used in English when referring to a married woman’s birth name, assuming that she has adopted her husbands name, e.g. Michelle Obama née Robinson, and Melania Trump née Knavs.

The post LA Times Crossword 12 Dec 19, Thursday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 9m 01s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

11 “That cracks me up!” : LOL!

Laugh out loud (LOL)

14 Video game giant : ATARI

At one point, the electronics and video game manufacturer Atari was the fastest growing company in US history. However, Atari never really recovered from the video game industry crash of 1983.

17 “O Tannenbaum” and others? : PINE NUMBERS (trims to “PIN numbers”)

“O Tannenbaum” is a traditional German Christmas carol, the title of which is usually translated as “O Christmas Tree”. “Tannenbaum” is the German name for a fir tree.

One enters a Personal Identification Number (PIN) when using an Automated Teller Machine (ATM). Given that the N in PIN stands for “number”, then “PIN number” is a redundant phrase. And, given that the M in ATM stands for “machine”, then “ATM machine” is a redundant phrase as well. Grr …!

22 Styx home : HADES

Hades was the god of the underworld to the ancient Greeks. Over time, Hades gave his name to the underworld itself, the place where the dead reside. The term “Hades” was also adopted into the Christian tradition, as an alternative name for hell. But, the concept of hell in Christianity is more akin to the Greek “Tartarus”, which is a dark and gloomy dungeon located in Hades, a place of suffering and torment.

The River Styx of Greek mythology was the river that formed the boundary between the Earth and the Underworld (or “Hades”). The souls of the newly dead had to cross the River Styx in a ferry boat piloted by Charon. Traditionally, a coin would be placed in the mouths of the dead “to pay the ferryman”.

24 One trying to photograph a partridge during the holidays? : PEAR SHOOTER (trims to “peashooter”)

The fabulous Christmas Carol called “The Twelve Days of Christmas” dates back at least to 1780 when it was first published in England, though it may be French in origin. The concept of twelve days of Christmas comes from the tradition that the three kings came to visit the Christ Child twelve days after he was born. This same tradition is the origin of the title to Shakespeare’s play “Twelfth Night”.

30 Multilevel marketing giant : AMWAY

Founded in 1959, Amway is still going strong. It is one of the largest privately-held companies in the United States, with sales of around $8 billion and about 13,000 employees. The name “Amway” is short for “American Way”.

31 Most Belgraders : SERBS

Belgrade is the capital city of Serbia. The name “Belgrade” translates into “White City”.

38 Muchacho working with wood? : ELM NINO (trims to “El Nino”)

In Spanish a boy is a “niño” or a “muchacho”. One can call also an adult male a “muchacho”, as in “one of the boys”. Calling an adult male a “niño” would be an insult.

When the surface temperature of much of the Pacific Ocean rises more than half a degree centigrade, then there is said to be an El Niño episode. That small temperature change in the Pacific has been associated with climatic changes that can stretch right across the globe. El Niño is Spanish for “the boy” and is a reference to the Christ child. The phenomenon was given this particular Spanish name because the warming is usually noticed near South America and around Christmas-time.

41 Title for Jagger : SIR

The Rolling Stones lead singer’s full name is Sir Michael Philip Jagger. “Mick” was knighted for his services to popular music in 2003.

42 NRA member? : ASSN

National Rifle Association (NRA)

44 Actress Skye : IONE

Ione Skye is an American actress born in Hertfordshire in England. She is best known for portraying the character Diane Court in the 1989 high school romance movie “Say Anything…”, starring opposite John Cusack. Skye is the daughter of the Scottish folk singer Donovan.

47 Lacrosse need : STICK

A lacrosse stick is also known as a “crosse”.

50 Boob tube yule log residue? : ASH SEEN ON TV (trims to “as seen on TV”)

“Idiot box” and “boob tube” are nicknames for television.

A Yule log is a large log made from a very hard wood that is burned as part of the Christmas celebration. There is also a cake called a Yule log that is served at Christmas, especially in French-speaking parts of the world. The cake is made from sponge that is rolled up to resemble a wooden Yule log.

54 Air Force prog. that first admitted women in 1969 : ROTC

The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) is a training program for officers based in colleges all around the US. The ROTC program was established in 1862 when as a condition of receiving a land-grant to create colleges, the federal government required that military tactics be part of a new school’s curriculum.

59 Like rappers Jon and Wayne : LIL

Lil Jon is a rapper from Atlanta whose real name is Jonathan Mortimer Smith. Smith adopted his stage name early in his career, when collaborating with Big Sam and Lil’ Bo.

“Lil Wayne” is the stage name used by rap artist Dwayne Carter, Jr. from New Orleans.

60 Do some holiday decorating … and what you need to do to four puzzle answers to produce familiar phrases? : TRIM THE TREE

The custom of decorating trees at Christmas seems to have originated in Renaissance Germany. Those first trees were placed in guildhalls and were decorated with sweets and candy for the apprentices and children. After the Protestant Reformation, the Christmas tree became an alternative in Protestant homes for the Roman Catholic Christmas cribs. The Christmas tree tradition was imported into Britain by the royal family because of its German heritage. That tradition spread from Britain into North America.

63 Monopoly abbr. : AVE

The commercial game of Monopoly is supposedly a remake of “The Landlord’s Game” created in 1903 by a Quaker woman named Lizzie Phillips. Phillips used her game as a tool to explain the single tax theory of American economist Henry George. The Landlord’s Game was first produced commercially in 1924. The incredibly successful derivative game called Monopoly was introduced in 1933 by Charles Darrow, who became a very rich man when Parker Brothers bought the rights to the game just two years later in 1935.

64 “Biography” channel : A AND E

The A&E television network used to be a favorite of mine, with the “A&E” standing for “arts and entertainment”. A&E started out airing a lot of the old classic dramas, as well as biographies and arts programs. Now there seems to be more reality TV, with one of the flagship programs being “Dog the Bounty Hunter”. A slight change of direction I’d say …

65 Toroidal bread : BAGEL

The bagel was invented in the Polish city of Kraków in the 16th century. Bagels were brought to this country by Jewish immigrants from Poland who mainly established homes in and around New York City.

A torus (plural “tori”) is a shape resembling a doughnut.

67 “Understood” : ROGER

The term “roger”, meaning “yes” or “acknowledged”, comes from the world of radiotelephony. The British military used a phonetic alphabet in the fifties that included “Roger” to represent the letter “R”. As such, it became customary to say “Roger” when acknowledging a message, with R (Roger) standing for “received”.

Down

3 Clydesdale feature : MANE

The Budweiser Clydesdales were first used in 1933, when they carried the first case of beer produced by the Anheuser Busch Brewery in a ceremonial trip through St. Louis to celebrate the end of prohibition. The team of horses was then transported by rail to New York City, where they were used to present two cases of Budweiser to Al Smith, a former governor of New York who vigorously opposed prohibition.

7 Picture puzzle : REBUS

A rebus is a puzzle that uses pictures to represent letters and groups of letters. For example, a picture of a “ewe” might represent the letter “U” or the pronoun “you”, and a picture of an “oar” might represent the letter “R” or the conjunction “or”.

8 Zimbalist of “Remington Steele” : STEPHANIE

Stephanie Zimbalist is an actress who is best known for playing the female lead on the 1980’s detective show “Remington Steele”. Stephanie is the daughter of actor Efrem Zimbalist Jr., who starred in the TV shows “77 Sunset Strip” and “The F.B.I.”

The eighties detective show “Remington Steele” stars Stephanie Zimbalist as a private detective Laura Holt, and Pierce Brosnan as the handsome bad boy Remington Steele, who’s really a good boy. The show successfully melds the detective genre with elements of romantic comedy.

9 Hockey legend : ORR

Bobby Orr is regarded as one of the greatest hockey players of all time. By the time he retired in 1978 he had undergone over a dozen knee surgeries. At 31 years of age, he concluded that he just couldn’t skate anymore. Reportedly, he was even having trouble walking. While still 31 years old, in 1979, Orr became the youngest person inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Prior to that, in 1967, Orr became the youngest person named the NHL’s Rookie of the Year.

18 Its Space Command has HQ in Colorado : USAF

Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs is the headquarters of the US Air Force Space Command.

23 Not much at all : A TAD

Back in the 1800s, “tad” was used to describe a young child, and this extended into our usage of “small amount” in the early 1900s. The original use of “tad” for a child is very likely a shortened version of “tadpole”.

27 Cuban pronoun : ESTA

In Spanish, the “otra” (other) is neither “esta” (this) nor “esa” (that).

29 Financial report line : GROSS SALES

In a financial statement, “net sales” are “gross sales” net of customer discounts, customer returns and sales allowances paid if a product proves to be defective.

32 Caterpillar’s exhalation in Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland” : SMOKE RING

“Alice in Wonderland” is a 1951 Disnet animated feature that is based on both of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice” books: “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking-Glass”. Although now considered a Disney classic, “Alice in Wonderland” was originally panned by the critics and flopped at the box office.

33 Andy’s doll pal : ANN

Raggedy Ann is a rag doll that was created by Johnny Gruelle in 1915 for his daughter, Marcella. He decided to name the doll by combining the titles of two poems by James Whitcomb Riley, “The Raggedy Man” and “Little Orphan Annie”. Gruelle introduced Raggedy Ann in a series of books three years later. Sadly, Marcella died at 13 years of age with her father blaming a smallpox vaccination she was given at school. Gruelle became very active in the movement against mass vaccination, for which Raggedy Ann became a symbol.

39 Tiny parasites : LICE

Lice (singular “louse”) are small wingless insects, of which there are thousands of species. There are three species of lice affecting humans, i.e. head lice, body lice and pubic lice. Most lice feed on dead skin found on the body of the host animal, although some feed on blood. Ick …

48 Fictional title country in a 1987 film : ISHTAR

“Ishtar” is a 1987 film that really bombed at the box office. It stars Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman, as lounge singers working in Morocco! There’s a Cold War plot and, thank goodness, it’s a comedy. Apparently, the film is so bad that it never even made it to DVD.

49 Foot fraction : INCH

An inch is 1/12 of a foot. The term “inch” comes from the Latin “uncia” meaning “twelfth”.

51 __ plume : NOM DE

“Nom de plume” translates from French simply as “pen name”.

52 River swimmer : OTTER

Male and female otters are known as dogs and bitches, with the offspring called pups. Males and females are are sometimes referred to as boars and sows. A collection of otters is a bevy, family, lodge or perhaps a romp. When in water, a collection of otters can be called a raft.

56 Ship to Colchis : ARGO

In Greek mythology, Colchis was a wealthy land located at the edge of the world. It was in Colchis that Jason and the Argonauts found the Golden Fleece.

In Greek mythology, Jason and the Argonauts sailed on the Argo in search of the Golden Fleece. The vessel was called “Argo” in honor of the ship’s builder, a man named Argus.

61 ’90s Indian prime minister : RAO

P. V. Narasimha Rao was Prime Minister of India from 1991 to 1996. Rao is seen by most as the leader who transformed his country’s economy into the market-driven engine that it is today.

The post LA Times Crossword 13 Dec 19, Friday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 9m 41s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Ring in one’s ears? : CROP CIRCLE

Don’t believe what you hear. Crop circles are hoaxes …

11 Common dressage gait : TROT

The equestrian sport of dressage involves demonstration of how well as horse responds to training. “Dressage” is a French word meaning “training”.

16 Tanning target : HIDE

Leather is made from animal skins. When the flesh, fat and hair is removed from the skin and it is dried, the resulting product is called “rawhide”. Further treatment of the skin with chemicals that permanently alter the protein structure of the skin is called “tanning”, and the resulting product is “leather”.

17 Imperfections affecting diamond clarity : INCLUSIONS

In the world of gemology, an inclusion is a characteristic enclosed within a stone. Such characteristics might be another mineral, and may diminish the gem’s value.

18 ’60s pop singer Sands : EVIE

Evie Sands is a singer from Brooklyn, New York. Sands is also a noted songwriter, having penned songs that have been recorded by the likes of Barbra Streisand, Gladys Knight, Karen Carpenter, Linda Ronstadt and Dusty Springfield.

20 Trial for a would-be atty.? : LSAT

Law School Admission Test (LSAT)

22 Camera choices : SLRS

The initialism “SLR” stands for “single lens reflex”. Usually, cameras with changeable lenses are the SLR type. The main feature of an SLR is that a mirror reflects the image seen through the lens out through the viewfinder, so that the photographer sees exactly what the lens sees. The mirror moves out of the way as the picture is taken, and the image that comes through the lens falls onto unexposed film, or nowadays onto a digital sensor.

25 Trig function : COTAN

The most familiar trigonometric functions are sine, cosine and tangent (abbreviated to “sin, cos and tan”). Each of these is a ratio: a ratio of two sides of a right-angled triangle. The “reciprocal” of these three functions are cosecant, secant and cotangent. The reciprocal functions are simply the inverted ratios, the inverted sine, cosine and tangent. These inverted ratios should not be confused with the “inverse” trigonometric functions e.g. arcsine, arccosine and arctangent. These inverse functions are the reverse of the sine, cosine and tangent.

27 Pickett’s Charge charger : REB

Pickett’s Charge was an infantry assault that took place on the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg. The charge was a futile manoeuvre ordered by Confederate General Robert E. Lee that resulted in a loss of 50% of the attacking rebel forces. The defeat turned the course of the battle, and the Battle of Gettysburg turned the course of the Civil War.

36 Sign that may have a dog silhouette on it : KEEP OFF THE GRASS

A silhouette is an outline, usually of a person’s profile, which has been filled in with a solid color. One theory is that the term comes from the name of the French Minister of Finance in 1759, Étienne de Silhouette. Said minister made major cutbacks in spending to finance the Seven Years War, cutbacks that were not popular with the citizenry. His name came to be used for a cheap way of making someone’s likeness, a “silhouette”.

40 Future flounder : ROE

Flounder are flatfish that are typically found lying on the bottom of estuaries and coastal lagoons. Just after it hatches, a young flunder has eyes on either side of its brain. As the fish matures, one of these eyes migrates to the other side of its body. The adult flounder then has two eyes which face up as the fish lies camouflaged on the ocean floor.

41 Mulligan, e.g. : RETRY

There doesn’t seem to be a definitive account for the origin of the term “mulligan”, which is most often used for a shot do-over in golf. There are lots of stories about golfers named Mulligan though, and I suspect that one of them may be true …

43 Fix : AMEND

The verb “to amend” means “to change for the better, put right, alter by adding”. The related verb “to emend” is used more rarely, and mainly in reference to the editing of professional writing. Both terms are derived from the Latin “emendare” meaning “to remove fault”.

46 Retinal cells : RODS

The retina is the tissue that lines the inside of the eye, the tissue that is light-sensitive. There are (mainly) two types of cells in the retina that are sensitive to light, called rods and cones. Rods are cells that best function in very dim light and only provide black-and-white vision. Cones on the other hand function in brighter light and can perceive color.

50 Thorn in one’s side : BANE

Today, we tend to use the word “bane” to mean anathema, a source of persistent annoyance. A few centuries ago, a bane was a cause of harm or death, perhaps a deadly poison.

51 Hawaiian staple : TARO

The corm of some taro plants is used to make poi, a traditional Hawaiian dish (that I think tastes horrible). When a taro plant is grown as an ornamental, it is often called Elephant Ears due to the shape of its large leaves.

53 Word from the Hebrew for “teaching” : TORAH

The Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, are traditionally believed to have been written by Moses. As such, they are sometimes referred to as the Law of Moses, or Mosaic Law.

54 “Scientific American Frontiers” host : ALDA

“Scientific American Frontiers” is a companion TV show to the “Scientific American” magazine that aired for fifteen seasons from 1990 to 2005. For most of the show’s run, it was hosted by actor Alan Alda.

57 Each cha in cha-cha-cha : STEP

The cha-cha-cha (often simplified to “cha-cha”) is a Latin dance with origins in Cuba, where it was introduced by composer Enrique Jorrin in 1953.

59 Lawman who was also a boxing referee : EARP

Wyatt Earp is famous as one of the participants in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Earp was a city policeman in Wichita, Kansas and also in Dodge City, Kansas. Earp was also deputy sheriff in Tombstone, Arizona where the O.K. Corral gunfight took place. Years later, Earp joined the Alaska Gold Rush and with a partner built and operated the Dexter Saloon in Nome.

60 Green Hornet’s great-uncle : LONE RANGER

The Green Hornet is a masked crime-fighter who first appeared in a radio show in 1936. The alter ego of newspaper publisher Britt Reid, the Green Hornet fights crime in a long, green overcoat, green fedora hat and green mask. He also drives around in a hi-tech car called the Black Beauty that is driven by his masked partner Kato. Britt Reid’s use of a face mask to hide his identity is reminiscent of the Lone Ranger. That’s because the Lone Ranger was Reid’s great-uncle. Both “The Lone Ranger” and “The Green Hornet” originated as radio programs on local Detroit station WXYZ.

Down

1 Cheats, in a way : CRIBS

A crib is a plagiarism. It is most commonly the copying of an answer in an examination.

2 Nephric : RENAL

Nephrology is the medical field specializing in the treatment of kidney problems. “Nephros” is the Greek word for “kidney”.

3 Jazz pianist Peterson : OSCAR

Oscar Peterson was a musician from Montreal. Considered on the world’s greatest jazz pianists, Peterson was referred to by Duke Ellington as “the Maharaja of the keyboard”.

7 Upbraid : RAIL AT

To upbraid is to reproach, find fault with, and is a term of Swedish origin.

9 Dunham of “Girls” : LENA

Lena Dunham is a co-star in the HBO series “Girls”, and is also the show’s creator. Dunham garnered a lot of attention for herself during the 2012 US Presidential election cycle as she starred in an ad focused on getting out the youth vote. In the spot, she compared voting for the first time with having sex for the first time.

11 NYC landmark overlooking Central Park : THE PIERRE

The Pierre is a luxury hotel facing Central Park in New York City. The 42-story hotel opened in 1930. In the movie “Scent of a Woman”, the blind character played by Al Pacino dances his famous tango in the ballroom of the Pierre.

23 Tom who coined “radical chic” : WOLFE

American author Tom Wolfe started his career as a journalist, and was very much at the center of the New Journalism literary movement of the sixties and seventies. His first book of note was “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” that tells the story of Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters. Wolfe also wrote “The Right Stuff” about the post-war test pilots and the Project Mercury astronauts.

A person described a radical chic is celebrity or socialite who embraces a radical political position. The term “radical chic” was coined by author Tom Wolfe in a “New York” magazine article titled “Radical Chic: That Party at Lenny’s”. Wolfe’s argument at the time (1970) was that composer Leonard Bernstein was being absurd and hypocritical by hosting a fundraiser for the Black Panther Party.

24 Like a drunken sailor, in more ways than one? : GROGGY

Edward Vernon was a naval officer with the nickname “Old Grog”. In 1740, Vernon ordered that the daily ration of rum for his sailors should be watered down, in order to reduce discipline problems caused by drunkenness. The diluted rum was sweetened with sugar, and lemon or lime added to help preserve it on long voyages. This recipe, found to reduce scurvy among sailors (because of the citrus) spread throughout the Royal Navy, and “grog” was born. As an aside, George Washington’s older half-brother named the famous Washington Mount Vernon Plantation in honor of Edward Vernon. We use the derivative term “groggy” to mean “unsteady on the feet”, as if under the influence of “grog”.

25 Laid it on thick : CLOYED

To cloy is to cause distaste by oversupplying something that would otherwise be pleasant, especially something with a sweet taste.

26 Med. research agency : NIH

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) organization is made up of 27 different institutes that coordinate their research and services. Examples of member institutes are the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Aging.

29 Half a bray : HEE …

A bray is the sound made by a donkey. Hee-haw!

33 Ben Stiller’s mom : MEARA

Anne Meara married fellow comedic actor Jerry Stiller in 1954. The couple’s children are actors Ben and Amy Stiller. Meara co-starred with Carroll O’Connor and Martin Balsam in the eighties sitcom “Archie Bunker’s Place”, a spin-off from “All in the Family”.

35 Return ID : SSN

The main purpose of a Social Security Number (SSN) is to track individuals for the purposes of taxation, although given its ubiquitous use, it is looking more and more like an identity number to me. The social security number system was introduced in 1936. Prior to 1986, an SSN was required only for persons with substantial income, so many children under 14 had no number assigned. For some years the IRS had a concern that a lot of people were claiming children on their tax returns who did not actually exist. So, from 1986 onward, it is a requirement to get an SSN for any dependents over the age of 5. Sure enough, seven million dependents “disappeared” in 1987.

37 Wide partner : FAR

Far and wide …

42 Emulate Galway : TOOTLE

James Galway is Ireland’s most famous flute player. Born in Belfast, Galways now lives in Switzerland. Famously, Galway plays a gold flute that was manufactured to his own specifications.

43 Denigrate : ABASE

To denigrate is to defame, to cast aspersions on someone’s reputation. The term comes from the Latin verb “denigrare” meaning “to blacken”.

44 122-square-mile republic : MALTA

The island state of Malta is relatively small (122 square miles), but its large number of inhabitants makes it one of the most densely populated countries in Europe. Malta’s strategic location has made it a prized possession for the conquering empires of the world. Most recently it was part of the British Empire and was an important fleet headquarters. Malta played a crucial role for the Allies during WWII as it was located very close to the Axis shipping lanes in the Mediterranean. The Siege of Malta lasted from 1940 to 1942, a prolonged attack by the Italians and Germans on the RAF and Royal Navy, and the people of Malta. When the siege was lifted, King George VI awarded the George Cross to the people of Malta collectively in recognition of their heroism and devotion to the Allied cause. The George Cross can still be seen on the Maltese flag, even though Britain granted Malta independence in 1964.

46 __ candle : ROMAN

A Roman candle is a type of firework. It looks somewhat like a candle with a wick at the top. When lit, it shoots out stars or exploding shells. There is a tendency of the Roman candle to cause a lot of accidents, so it is banned in some countries.

47 Bornean beast : ORANG

Orangutans (also “orangs”) are arboreal creatures, the largest arboreal animals known to man. They are native to Indonesia and Malaysia, and live in rain forests. Like most species in rainforests these days, orangutans are endangered, with only two species surviving. The word “orangutan” is Malay, meaning “man of the forest”.

Borneo is the third largest island on the planet (after Greenland and New Guinea), and is located north of Australia in Maritime Southeast Asia. Most of the island is part of Indonesia (taking up 73% of the island) with almost all of the remainder being part of Malaysia (26%). The final 1% is home to the sovereign state of Brunei.

48 Hustle, say : DANCE

The hustle is a genre of disco dance that was popular in the seventies. The dance form really took off when Van McCoy released a song called “The Hustle”, to which an accompanying line dance became a big craze in 1975.

52 Word on some headstones : ANNO

The Latin word for year is “annus”. We often see it used in Latin phrases, but usually with a different spelling. In “anno Domini”, the “anno” is the ablative case of “annus” as the phrase means “in the year of the Lord”. Another example is “per annum”, in which “annum” is the accusative case as the literal translation of the phrase is “during the year”.

53 Costume in some Shakespeare plays : TOGA

In ancient Rome, the classical attire known as a toga (plural “togae” or “togas”) was usually worn over a tunic. The tunic was made from linen, and the toga itself was a piece of cloth about twenty feet long made from wool. The toga could only be worn by men, and only if those men were Roman citizens. The female equivalent of the toga was called a “stola”.

William Shakespeare used Ancient Rome as a setting in five of his plays:

• Antony and Cleopatra
• Coriolanus
• Julius Caesar
• Titus Andronicus
• Cymbeline

56 Key preposition : O’ER

Here are the words (and punctuation) of the poem “The Star-Spangled Banner” penned by Francis Scott Key in 1814:

O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bomb bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
Tis the star-spangled banner – O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto – “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

The post LA Times Crossword 14 Dec 19, Saturday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 20m 56s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Pulitzer-winning Ferber novel : SO BIG

“So Big” is a Pulitzer-winning novel by Edna Ferber that was first published in 1924. The book follows the life of Dutch-American Selina Peake De Jong, who is a character inspired by real-life immigrant Antje Paarlberg. In the story, De Jong has a child who she nicknames “So Big”, from the kiddy-talk “How big is baby” … “So-o-o-o big!” The novel has been adapted for the big screen several times. Barbara Stanwyck played the lead in a 1932 film, and Jane Wyman in 1953.

6 PC key not used by itself : CTRL

The Control (CTRL) key on a PC keyboard is used to modify the function of other keys. For example, pressing CTRL+C copies a selection to the clipboard, and CTRL+V pastes the contents of the clipboard to a location defined by the cursor. Control keys were introduced on teletypewriters to generate “control characters”, which are non-printing characters that instruct a computer to do something like print a page, ring a bell etc.

10 “Joy to the World,” e.g. : CAROL

“Joy to the World” is a very popular Christmas carol that dates back to the early 1700s. The hymn’s lyrics were written by Isaac Watts and are based on lines in the Bible’s Book of Psalms and Book of Genesis. The music for the version that we hear most often today was composed by Lowell Mason in the mid-1800s.

15 Costa del __ : SOL

Spain’s Costa del Sol (“Coast of the Sun”) is in Andalusia in the South of Spain. It lies sandwiched between two other “costas”, the Costa de la Luz and the Costa Tropical. The city of Malaga is on the Costa del Sol, as well as the famous European tourist destinations of Torremolinos and Marbella. The Costa del Sol was made up of sleepy little fishing villages until the 1980s when the European sunseekers descended on the region. I wouldn’t recommend it for a holiday quite frankly …

18 Mocedades song covered by Eydie Gormé as “Touch the Wind” : ERES TU

We have a big event across Europe every year called the Eurovision Song Contest. Each nation enters one song in competition with each other, and then voters across the whole continent decide on the winner. That’s how ABBA got their big break when they won in 1974 with “Waterloo”. In 1973, Spain’s entry was “Eres tú” (“It’s You”, literally “You Are”) sung by the band Mocedades. “Eres tú” came second in the competition, but should have won in my humble opinion.

20 Riskily off base : AWOL

MPs (military police officers) often track down personnel who go AWOL (absent without leave).

22 Peak pique : IRE

Our term “pique” meaning “fit of ill feeling” is a French word meaning “prick, sting, irritation”.

23 *Landmark near Waikiki : DIAMOND HEAD (black diamond & blackhead)

Diamond Head on the Hawaiian island of Oahu was given its name by British sailors in the 1800s. These sailors found calcite crystals in the rock surrounding the volcanic tuff cone and mistook the crystals for diamonds.

In North America, ski runs are given a standardized rating in terms of skiing difficulty. The ratings are:

• Green circles: easy to ski, often termed “bunny slopes”.
• Blue squares: medium difficulty
• Black diamond: steep and challenging terrain
• Double black diamond: experts only (I’ve never braved one!)

A blackhead is a clogged hair follicle that is also known as an open comedo. A closed comedo is known commonly as a whitehead.

26 Opposite of trans : CIS

The term “cisgender” is now used as the opposite of “transgender”. Cisgender people have a gender identity that matches the sex they were assigned at birth.

28 Printer supply : TONER

The key features of a laser printer (or copier) are that it uses plain paper and produces quality text at high speed. Laser printers work by projecting a laser image of the printed page onto a rotating drum that is coated with photoconductors (material that becomes conductive when exposed to light). The areas of the drum exposed to the laser carry a different charge than the unexposed areas. Dry ink (toner) sticks to the exposed areas due to electrostatic charge. The toner is then transferred to paper by contact and is fused into the paper by the application of heat. So, that explains why paper coming out of a laser printer is warm, and sometimes powdery.

29 *Down time on Wall Street? : BEAR MARKET (black bear & black market)

The terms “bull market” and “bear market” come from the way in which each animal attacks. A bull thrusts his horns upwards (an “up” market), whereas a bear swipes with his paws downward (a “down” market).

The American black bear is the most common bear found in North America, and indeed the world.

A black market is one involving illegal transactions. Transactions in a grey market are legal, but are unauthorized by the original supplier. In this context, the regular, legal market is known as the white market.

33 ’80s soap rebooted in 2017 : DYNASTY

“Dynasty” was ABC’s shot at CBS’s incredibly successful soap opera “Dallas”. Both shows were centered on wealthy oil families, with “Dynasty” starring John Forsythe and Linda Evans in the lead roles. The show didn’t really make much impact on the viewing figures for “Dallas” until season two, when Joan Collins joined the cast as the scheming ex-wife Alexis. “Dynasty” had a very successful run then, from 1981 to 1989. The 1980s “Dynasty” was rebooted under the same title starting in 2017.

35 __ podrida: Spanish dish : OLLA

Olla podrida is a Spanish stew based on pork and beans. The name “olla podrida” translates into English as “rotten pot”. Hmm …

36 “Sweeney Todd” tool : STROP

A strop is a strip of leather used to sharpen a razor.

“Sweeney Todd” was originally a 1936 film, and later in 1973 a play, then a 1979 musical and a movie adaptation of the musical in 2007. After Sweeney Todd has killed his victims, his partner in crime Mrs. Lovett helped him dispose of the bodies by taking the flesh and baking it into meat pies that she sold in her pie shop. Ugh!

38 Mary __ : KAY

Mary Kay Ash founded her skincare and cosmetics company, somewhat ominously on Friday, 13th September 1963. In 1968, Mary Kay Ash bought herself a pink Cadillac, specially painted to match the color of one of her compacts. The car became so famous that she gave away five of them to her top saleswoman, a tradition that endures to this day.

40 One-named Deco artist : ERTE

“Erté” was the pseudonym of French (Russian-born) artist and designer Romain de Tirtoff. Erté is the French pronunciation of his initials “R.T.” Erté’s diverse portfolio of work included costumes and sets for the “Ziegfeld Follies” of 1923, productions of the Parisian cabaret show “Folies Bergère”, as well as the 1925 epic movie “Ben-Hur”. Erté’s most famous work by far is an image titled “Symphony in Black”. It depicts a tall and slender woman dressed in black, holding a black dog on a leash.

45 Discipline with poses : YOGA

“Asana” is a Sanskrit word that translates literally as “sitting down”. The asanas are the poses that a practitioner of yoga assumes. The most famous is the lotus position, the cross-legged pose called “padmasana”.

46 2015 Best Actress Larson : BRIE

I mainly recognize actress Brie Larson from playing the daughter of Toni Collete’’s character on the excellent TV show “United States of Tara”. Larson is from Sacramento, and trained at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, where she was the youngest person ever admitted.

47 *It’s larger than a littleneck : CHERRYSTONE (black cherry & Black Stone)

Hard clams are labelled in fish markets by size. Starting with the smallest, these labels are:

• Countnecks or peanuts
• LIttlenecks
• Topnecks
• Cherrystones
• Quahogs or chowder clams

The Black Stone is rock in the Grand Mosque in Mecca that, according to Islamic tradition, fell from heaven to show Adam and Eve where to build an altar. Tradition also states that the prophet Muhammad set the Balck Stone into the wall of the Kaaba, the sacred building at the center of the Grand Mosque, where the stone resides today.

50 *Where land and ocean meet : SEABOARD (Black Sea & blackboard)

The Black Sea is in southeastern Europe just south of Ukraine. In the north of the Black Sea is the Crimean Peninsula.

54 Cascades peak : SHASTA

Mount Shasta is in northern California. The origin of the name “Shasta” seems to be unclear. It may have come from the Russian “tchastal” meaning “white, clean, pure”, a name given to the volcanic peak by early Russian immigrants.

Only two volcanoes in the Cascade Range in the northwest have erupted in the 20th century: Mount St. Helens in 1980 and Mount Lassen in 1915. The last significant eruption of Mount Shasta, a third volcano in the Cascades, was about 200 years ago. The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens resulted in ash being deposited in eleven US states and 5 Canadian provinces.

55 Bethesda medical agcy. : NIH

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) organization is made up of 27 different institutes that coordinate their research and services. Examples of member institutes are the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Aging.

The community of Bethesda in Maryland lies just northwest of Washington, D.C. The original settlement in the area was called “Darcy’s Store”. a reference to the original store that drew settlers to the location along the toll road between Georgetown and Rockville. The community’s name was changed to Bethesda in 1871 by a local postmaster, after a Presbyterian church called the Bethesda Meeting House. Bethesda is home to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Naval Medical Center. During WWII, Bethesda also hosted the Norwegian Royal Family while their country was occupied by German forces.

57 Society page word : NEE

“Née” is the French word for “born” when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”. The term “née” is mainly used in English when referring to a married woman’s birth name, assuming that she has adopted her husbands name, e.g. Michelle Obama née Robinson, and Melania Trump née Knavs.

58 Duck named for the long-feathered part of its anatomy : PINTAIL

The pintail is a large duck, the male of which has a conspicuous set of long tail feathers. Those tail feathers give the species its name.

63 “Straight Up” singer : ABDUL

Paula Abdul is primarily a singer and dancer, and someone who endeared herself even more to the American public in recent years as a judge on “American Idol”. Abdul had a famous husband for a couple of years, as she was married to actor Emilio Estevez from 1992-94.

73 Broad Eurasian region : SIBERIA

Siberia is a vast area in Eurasia and Northern Asia. The region’s industrial development started with the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway from 1891 to 1916, which linked Siberia to Russia in the west.

75 GATT successor : WTO

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The stated aim of the WTO is to liberalize international trade. The organization was founded in 1995 when an international agreement on trade was reached that effectively replaced the existing General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that was laid down in 1949.

81 *Negative-studier’s aid : LIGHTBOX (blacklight & black box)

A blacklight is a lamp that emits very little visible light, and mainly long-wave ultraviolet light. Blacklights are routinely used with materials that fluoresce in the presence of UV radiation.

In the aviation industry, a black box is an audio or data recorder installed in an aircraft as an aid in the event that an accident investigation is necessary. The “black” box is actually bright orange, so that it is easier to find after an accident.

83 *Kozy Shack dessert : RICE PUDDING (black rice & black pudding)

Kozy Shack puddings have been produced since 1967. The original recipe came from a delicatessen called the Cozy Shack in Brooklyn.

Black rice has a deep black color when raw, and turns dark purple when cooked.

Black pudding is a blood sausage that is very popular in Ireland (and Britain), where it is usually served as part of a traditional “full Irish breakfast”. The sausage is usually made using pork blood and pork fat, with a significant amount of oatmeal added.

86 MTV sci-fi show “__ Flux” : AEON

“Æon Flux” is an animated science-fiction television show that originally aired on MTV in the nineties. The TV show inspired a 2005 movie of the same name that starred Charlize Theron in the title role.

89 1964 Nobel Prize decliner : SARTRE

Jean-Paul Sartre was a leading French philosopher, as well as a writer and political activist. Sartre also served with the French army during WWII and spent nine months as a prisoner of war having been captured by German troops. He was one of the few people to have been awarded a Nobel Prize and to have then refused to accept it. Sartre was named winner of the prize for Literature in 1964, for his first novel “Nausea”. Before his win, Sartre knew that his name was on the list of nominees so he wrote to the Nobel Institute and asked to be withdrawn from consideration. The letter somehow went unread, so he found himself having to refuse the award after he had been selected.

93 Narc’s org. : DEA

“Narc” and “narco” are slang terms describing a law enforcement officer who tracks down criminals associated with illegal drugs. Both words are short for “narcotics officer”. Narcs might work for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

94 Best way to leave the casino : AHEAD

The term “casino” originated in the 1700s, then describing a public room for music or dancing. “Casino” is a diminutive of “casa” meaning “house”.

98 “A Death in the Family” writer : AGEE

James Agee was a noted American film critic and screenwriter. Agee wrote an autobiographical novel “A Death in the Family” that won him his Pulitzer in 1958, albeit posthumously. He was also one of the screenwriters for the 1951 classic movie “The African Queen”.

99 Land adjoining a mansion : DEMESNE

All of the land owned and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system was called “the demesne”. The demesne did not include land owned by the lord that was managed by tenants.

101 “Miss Saigon” setting : ‘NAM

“Miss Saigon” is a musical that premiered in London in 1989, and one that is based on Puccini’s opera “Madame Butterfly”. “Miss Saigon” was written by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, the duo responsible for “Les Misérables”. We saw both shows in London during their heyday, and I much preferred “Miss Saigon”. Back then the big thing was to have a big “special effect” in a stage musical, and for “Miss Saigon” this is the landing of a life-size helicopter on the stage. At the performance we attended there was an announcement that “the helicopter was broken”, so we had a fun time watching actors running around pretending there was a helicopter in that climactic scene …

103 TiVo predecessor : VCR

Video Cassette Recorder (VCR)

TiVo was introduced in 1999 and was the world’s first commercially successful digital video recorder (DVR).

104 *Fancy decoration particles : GOLD POWDER (black gold & black powder)

Oil is sometimes referred to as “black gold”, or “Texas tea”.

Gunpowder is the earliest known explosive chemical. Also called “black powder”, it is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal and saltpeter (i.e. potassium nitrate). The saltpeter is a powerful oxidizing agent, providing the oxygen to burn the sulfur and charcoal, which acts as the fuel in the mixture. Gunpowder was invented by the Chinese in 8th century.

109 Phony (up) : HOKE

“To hoke” is a slang term meaning “to create a false impression”. The term derives from the noun “hokum”. “Hokum” was originally theater slang, meaning “melodramatic, exaggerated acting”. Now the term just means “empty talk”. It is also the root of our word “hokey” meaning “silly, old-fashioned”.

110 The “E” in BCE : ERA

The designations Anno Domini (AD, “year of Our Lord”) and Before Christ (BC) are found in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The dividing point between AD and BC is the year of the conception of Jesus, with AD 1 following 1 BC without a year “0” in between. The AD/BC scheme dates back to AD 525, and gained wide acceptance soon after AD 800. Nowadays a modified version has become popular, with CE (Common/Christian Era) used to replace AD, and BCE (Before the Common/Christian Era) used to replace BC.

111 Alaskan native : ALEUT

The Aleuts live on the Aleutian Islands of the North Pacific, and on the Commander Islands at the western end of the same island chain. The Aleutian Islands are part of the United States, and the Commander Islands are in Russia.

112 *Former Queens home of the US Open : FOREST HILLS (Black Forest & Black Hills)

Forest Hills is a neighborhood in Queens in New York City. It is home to Forest Hills Stadium, which hosted the US Open tennis tournament for many years.

114 Not of the cloth : LAY

Anything described as laic (or “laical, lay”) is related to the laity, those members of the church who are not clergy. The term “laic” ultimately comes from the Greek “laikos” meaning “of the people”.

115 Victoria, to William IV : NIECE

William IV ascended to the British throne at the advanced age of 64 years old, following the death of his older brother George IV. William was king for just seven years, until he died in 1837. Although he had several illegitimate children with his Irish mistress Dorothea Jordan, he had no children with his wife Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen. William’s passing marked the demise of Britain’s House of Hanover. He was succeeded on the throne by his niece Victoria.

Queen Victoria ruled over the UK from 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign saw the expansion of the British Empire, especially with the incorporation of British possessions on the Indian subcontinent. Indeed, for the last quarter century of her reign, Victoria also used the title Empress of India.

121 Art of verse : POESY

“Poesy” is an alternative name for poetry, and is often used to mean the “art of poetry”.

Down

1 Papyrus plants, e.g. : SEDGES

Sedges are a family of plants that resemble grasses and rushes. Sedges are more properly called Cyperaceae.

The papyrus plant was commonly found in the Nile Delta of North Africa. The pith of the plant was used to make a thick paper-like material on which one could write. This writing material, which became known as papyrus (plural “papyri”), became a competitor for the most popular writing surface of the day known as parchment, which was made from animal skins.

3 Jalopy : BEATER

“Beater” is slang for an old car that is in poor condition, and is a term that dates back only to the 1980s.

The origins of our word “jalopy” meaning “dilapidated, old motor car” seem to have been lost in time, but the word has been around since the 1920s. One credible suggestion is that it comes from Xalapa, Mexico as the Xalapa scrap yards were the destination for many discarded American automobiles.

5 ’60s song car with “three deuces and a four-speed and a 389” : GTO

“Three deuces and a four-speed” are words appearing the song “G.T.O”, the debut recording for the surf rock group of the sixties known as Ronny & the Daytonas.

6 “Call Me Irresponsible” lyricist : CAHN

Sammy Cahn wrote for them all, including Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Doris Day. Cahn’s most famous song was probably “Three Coins in the Fountain”. He also wrote “All the Way”, made famous by Frank Sinatra.

“Call Me Irresponsible” is a 1962 song composed by Jimmy Van Heusen with lyrics by Sammy Cahn. Apparently, the song was originally written for either Judy Garland or Fred Astaire (there are conflicting stories), but today, the song is most associated with Frank Sinatra.

7 Outdoorsy, taste-wise : TWEEDY

Tweed is a rough woolen fabric that is very much associated with Scotland in the UK, and with County Donegal in Ireland. The cloth was originally called “tweel”, the Scots word for “twill”. Apparently a London merchant misinterpreted some handwriting in the early 1800s and assumed the fabric was called “tweed”, a reference to the Scottish River Tweed, and the name stuck …

8 Detroit Lions’ mascot : ROARY

There are a few sporting teams with a mascot named “Roary the Lion”. Here in the US, Roary is the mascot of the Detroit Lions football team. Over in the UK, there mascots named Roary for the Middlesbrough soccer club, as well as the England and Wales Cricket Board.

9 Honorary degree for attys. : LLD

The honorary degree of Legum Doctor (LL.D.) translates from the Latin as Doctor of Laws, a plural. This practice of using the plural originated in Cambridge University in England, as one was awarded an LL.D. after having been taught both Canon Law and Civil Law.

10 Sugar Plum Fairy’s instrument : CELESTA

A celesta (also “celeste”) is a keyboard instrument in which the keys operate hammers that strike a set of metal plates. The resulting sound is similar to that from a glockenspiel, although it is much softer in tone as the celesta’s plates are suspended over wooden resonators. I’d say that the most famous musical work featuring a celesta is Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from his ballet “The Nutcracker”.

13 City on Utah Lake : OREM

Orem, Utah was originally known as “Sharon” (a Biblical name), then “Provo Bench”, and in 1914 it was given the family name of a local railroad operator called “Orem”. Orem gave itself the nickname “Family City USA” and sure enough in 2010, “Forbes” rated Orem the 5th best place in the country to raise a family.

Utah Lake is a slightly saline freshwater body of water located in the Provo-Orem metropolitan area in Utah. The lakes salinity arises as over 40% of its water is lost to evaporation.

14 Vega’s constellation : LYRA

Vega is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra. Vega (along with Altair and Deneb from other constellations) is also part of the group of three stars that is called the Summer Triangle. Vega is the star at the right-angle of this triangle.

15 Tool with a curved blade : SICKLE

Sickles and scythes are similar tools that are used for reaping crops. A sickle has a short handle, forcing the user to stoop down. A scythe has a long handle, allowing it to be used while standing erect.

16 Protruding windows : ORIELS

An oriel window is a bay window that projects from a wall, but does not reach all the way to the ground.

17 “The Vampire Chronicles” vampire : LESTAT

Lestat de Lioncourt is the central character in Anne Rice’s series of erotic and Gothic novels “The Vampire Chronicles”. Lestat was played by Tom Cruise in the 1994 movie adaptation of Rice’s first novel “Interview with the Vampire”.

19 Word that may precede itself : UNTO …

The phrase “means unto itself” may apply to an activity that it worthwhile “in itself” regardless of what other benefit may be gained.

24 Shrek’s bestie : DONKEY

In the 2001 animated feature “Shrek”, the title character is voiced by Mike Myers. Eddie Murphy voices Shrek’s sidekick Donkey, and Princess Fiona is voiced by Cameron Diaz.

30 Loggers’ contest : ROLEO

The log-rolling competition traditionally engaged in by lumberjacks is referred to as “roleo”.

32 Peloponnesian War victor : SPARTA

The Peloponnesian War was fought from 431 to 404 BC between the Athenian Empire and the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Prior to the war, Athens was the strongest city-state in Greece. After the victory by the Peloponnesian League, Sparta emerged as the leading power.

34 Noble gas : NEON

Neon was discovered in 1898 by two British chemists Sir William Ramsay and Morris Travers. They chilled a sample of air, turning it into a liquid. They then warmed that liquid and separated out the gases that boiled off. Along with nitrogen, oxygen and argon (already known), the pair of scientists discovered two new gases. The first they called “krypton” and the second “neon”. “Krypton” is Greek for “the hidden one” and “neon” is Greek for “new”.

The rare gases are better known as the noble gases, but neither term is really very accurate. “Noble” gas might be a better choice though, as they are all relatively unreactive. But “rare” they are not. Argon, for example, is a major constituent (1%) of the air that we breathe.

37 Electra’s brother : ORESTES

Orestes is a character appearing in Greek mythology, and is the subject of several Ancient Greek plays. In a story by Homer, Orestes kills his mother Clytemnestra. He does so in revenge as Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon, who was her husband and father to Orestes. Agamemnon was killed by his wife for sacrificing his daughter Iphigenia in order to get favorable winds on a sea voyage. Heavy stuff …

Electra was a princess in Greek mythology, the daughter of Agamemnon. Electra had to mourn the death of her father who was murdered, and then the death of her mother Clytemnestra, who was also murdered.

39 PGA part: Abbr. : ASSN

The Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) was founded in 1916 and today has its headquarters (unsurprisingly) in Florida, where so many golfers live. Back in 1916, the PGA was based in New York City.

41 “Dies __” : IRAE

“Dies Irae” is Latin for “Day of Wrath”. It is the name of a famous melody in Gregorian Chant, one that is often used as part of the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass.

42 Early fall baby’s sign : LIBRA

The constellation of Libra is named for the scales held by the goddess of justice. Libra is the only sign of the zodiac that isn’t named for a living creature.

45 Talk Like a Pirate Day refrain : YO-HO-HO

The fictional sea shanty called “Dead Man’s Chest” was introduced in Robert Louis Stevenson’s great novel, “Treasure Island”. In the book, Stevenson only describes the chorus, which goes:

Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest–
…Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest–
…Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

International Talk Like a Pirate (TALP) Day is September 19th every year, a “holiday” that was created in 1995. The event started out as an inside joke between John Baur and Mark Summers of Albany, Oregon, but when they shared the notion with columnist Dave Barry, he promoted the idea and it took off.

46 Cuts at an angle : BEVELS

A beveled edged is like a chamfered edge. The edge of a mirror is often beveled, meaning that it is cut at an angle that isn’t perpendicular to the mirror’s surface.

47 Red wine : CHIANTI

Chianti is a red wine from the Chianti region of central Tuscany in Italy. Historically, Chianti was stored in a characteristically bulbous bottle wrapped in a straw basket. However, the pragmatists have won the day and regular wine bottles tend to be used nowadays.

48 Sad sack : HANGDOG

“Hangdog” is an adjective that can mean shamefaced and guilty, or downcast and intimidated. The word derives from the concept of a lowlife (a “dog”) that is only fit for “hanging”.

The slang phrase “sad sack” is used for a person who bungles things, someone who is pathetically inept. The phrase was coined in the twenties but gained popularity during WWII when it was used by a cartoon character in the US Armed Forces magazine “Yank”. The term is probably a shortened form of the much ruder phrase “sad sack of ****”.

51 Hearth item sometimes called a firedog : ANDIRON

Andirons (also “firedogs”) are those horizontal bars on which you rest logs to burn in an open fireplace. They usually come in pairs and can be quite decorative, and are often made out of wrought iron.

53 Mouth formations : DELTAS

A river delta is a triangular landform at the mouth of a river created by the deposition of sediment. The Nile Delta in Northern Egypt is one of the world’s largest river deltas, and covers 150 miles of coastline on the Mediterranean. The most famous “delta” in the United States isn’t actually a delta at all. The Mississippi Delta is an alluvial plain that lies 300 miles north of the river’s actual delta, yet it is known as the “Mississippi River Delta”. Very confusing …

56 Pin in a ring, say : SUBDUE

That could be wrestling.

61 Six-yr.-term pol : SEN

The six-year terms enjoyed by US senators are staggered, so that every two years about one third of the 100 US Senate seats come up for reelection.

68 Actress Swinton : TILDA

Tilda Swinton is an English actress who is quite famous in her native land. Swinton made a big name for herself outside the UK when she played the “baddie” in the 2007 movie “Michael Clayton”, opposite the “goodie” played by George Clooney.

74 Madhouse : BEDLAM

Bethlem Royal Hospital is a facility in London in the UK for treating mental illness. The original facility was a hospital way back in the 1300s, and had the name “Bedlam”. In the 1700s and 1800s the hospital actually made money out of its patients as it charged a penny to members of the public allowing them to visit the hospital and view the unfortunate inmates in their cells. Tens of thousands of such paid visits were made each year. Our word “bedlam”, meaning uproar and confusion, is derived from the hospital’s name, and it reflects the cruel and inhumane treatment endured by the inmates in days gone by.

77 Shawm descendant : OBOE

The shawm is a double-reed woodwind instrument that was at its height of popularity from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance. The name “shawm” came into English via a tortuous route, from the Latin “calamus” meaning “reed”. The shawm lost its popularity with the arrival of the oboe family of instruments.

79 Fraternal gp. : BPOE

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE) was founded in 1868, and is a social club that has about a million members today. It started out as a group of men getting together in a “club” in order to get around the legal opening hours of taverns in New York City. The club took on a new role as it started to look out for poor families of members who passed away. The club now accepts African Americans as members (since the seventies) and women (since the nineties), but atheists still aren’t welcome. The list of US presidents that have been members of the BPOE includes Presidents Eisenhower, Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy and Ford.

83 Indy entrant : RACER

The Indianapolis 500 race is held annually at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The race is run around a 2.5 mile oval, hence requiring 200 laps for completion. The first Indy 500 race was held on Memorial Day in 1911. The winner that day was one Ray Harroun. Harroun had seen someone using a rear view mirror on a horse-drawn vehicle, and decided to fit one on his Marmon “Wasp” motor car. Supposedly, that was the first ever use of a rear view mirror on a motor vehicle.

84 Egyptian fertility goddess : ISIS

Isis was the ancient Egyptian goddess of fertility, as well as the protector of the dead and the goddess of children. She was the personification of the pharaoh’s power. The name “Isis” translates as “throne”, and she is usually depicted with a headdress shaped like a throne.

85 Voyager 2 destination : URANUS

One of the unique features of the planet Uranus is that its north and south poles lie where most other planets have their equators. That means that Uranus’ axis of rotation is almost in its solar orbit.

NASA’s space probe Voyager 2 was launched in 1977, with the mission of exploring the outer planets. The probe is almost identical to Voyager 1, which paradoxically was launched 16 days after Voyager 2. Voyager 2 left our Solar System in 2018, entering interstellar space 6 years after Voyager 1.

87 Harvest goddess : DEMETER

In Greek mythology, Demeter was the goddess of the harvest. Her Roman equivalent was Ceres.

89 How Yoda spoke : SAGELY

Yoda is one of the most beloved characters of the “Star Wars” series of films. Yoda’s voice is provided by the great modern-day puppeteer Frank Oz of “Muppets” fame.

90 Trading places? : AGORAE

In early Greece, the agora was a place of assembly. The assemblies held there were often quite formal, perhaps for the reading of a proclamation. Later in Greek history, things became less formal as the agora evolved into a marketplace. Our contemporary word “agoraphobia” comes from these agorae, in the sense that an agoraphobe has a fear of open spaces, a fear of “public meeting places”.

96 “Supernatural” co-star Jensen __ : ACKLES

Actor Jensen Ackles is known for playing Dean Winchester on the horror series “Supernatural”, Eric Brady on the soap opera “Days of Our Lives” and Jason Teague on “Smallville”.

99 Dimwitted “We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story” dinosaur : DWEEB

“We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story” is a 1993 animated feature film that is based on a 1987 book of the same name by Hudson Talbott. The movie’s voice cast is quite impressive and eclectic, as it includes John Goodman and Martin Short, as well as the likes of Larry King, Walter Cronkite and even Julia Child!

102 Liberal __ : ARTS

The term “liberal arts” dates back to classical antiquity. The liberal arts were those subjects deemed essential to master for a citizen to take an active part in civil life. “Citizens” were “free people”, hence the use of the term “liberal arts”. The list of subjects studied in olden times were generally sevenfold: grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy/astrology.

106 Potpourri : OLIO

The French term “pot pourri” literally translates literally to “rotten pot”, but in France it used to mean “stew”. Over time, the term “potpourri” evolved in English usage to mean a “medley”, and eventually a mixture of dried flowers and spices.

108 Random House co-founder : CERF

I remember Bennett Cerf as a regular panelist on the great television game show “What’s My Line?” Cerf was a publisher and co-founder of Random House, and was the man responsible for winning publishing contracts with authors such as Eugene O’Neill, Truman Capote and James Michener. He was hilarious on “What’s My Line?”, appearing in almost every episode of the show which ran from 1951 to 1967. He had such a gentlemanly way of making the most puerile puns.

109 Hawaii County seat : HILO

Hilo is the largest settlement on the big island of Hawaii, having a population of over 43,000 (that’s not very many!). I love the Big Island …

112 Pelt : FUR

A pelt is the skin of a furry animal.

113 Kangaroo move : HOP

The word “kangaroo” comes from the Australian Aborigine term for the animal. There’s an oft-quoted story that the explorer James Cook (later Captain Cook) asked a local native what was the name of this remarkable-looking animal, and the native responded with “Kangaroo”. The story is that the native was actually saying “I don’t understand you”, but as cute as that tale is, it’s just an urban myth.

The post LA Times Crossword 15 Dec 19, Sunday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 5m 03s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

14 San Antonio landmark : ALAMO

The famous Alamo in San Antonio, Texas was originally known as Mission San Antonio de Valero. The mission was founded in 1718 and was the first mission established in the city. The Battle of the Alamo took place in 1836, a thirteen-day siege by the Mexican Army led by President General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Only two people defending the Alamo Mission survived the onslaught. One month later, the Texian army got its revenge by attacking and defeating the Mexican Army in the Battle of San Jacinto. During the surprise attack on Santa Anna’s camp, many of the Texian soldiers were heard to cry “Remember the Alamo!”.

The city of San Antonio, Texas was named by Spanish explorers. They came upon a Native American settlement in the area on 13 June 1631, the feast day of St. Anthony of Padua.

15 Almay rival : OLAY

Oil of Olay was developed in South Africa in 1949. When Oil of Olay was introduced internationally, it was given slightly different brand names designed to appeal in the different geographies. In Ireland we know it as Oil of Ulay, for example, and in France it is Oil of Olaz.

The Almay brand of cosmetics was established back in 1931. Almay was founded by Alfred and Fanny May Woititz, who melded their given names to come up with the brand name (Al-may). The couple were driven to invent the products as Fanny May needed cosmetics that did not irritate her skin.

19 Ferris wheel, e.g. : RIDE

The first Ferris Wheel was built for the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. That wheel was designed and constructed by George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. who lent his name to wheels built from then on.

20 Oblong pastry : ECLAIR

The name for the pastry known as an “éclair” is clearly French in origin. The French word for lightning is “éclair”, but no one seems to be too sure how it came to be used for the rather delicious bakery item.

21 Outback and Legacy autos : SUBARUS

Subaru is the automobile division of Fuji Heavy Industries, Japanese conglomerate. “Subaru” is the Japanese name for the Pleiades star cluster. As a result, the Subaru logo is also a cluster of stars.

23 Outdoor gear giant : REI

REI is a sporting goods store, with the initialism standing for Recreational Equipment Inc. REI was founded in Seattle by Lloyd and Mary Anderson in 1938 as a cooperative that supplies quality climbing gear to outdoor enthusiasts. The first full-time employee hired by the Andersons was Jim Whittaker, who was the first American to climb Mount Everest.

24 Chickadee kin : TITS

Chickadees are a group of birds in the tit family, with some species within the group called chickadees and some called tits. The name chickadee is imitative of the bird’s alarm call “chick-dee dee dee”.

28 Gucci or Versace, notably : FASHION HOUSE

Gucci was founded in Rome, in 1921, by Guccio Gucci. Guccio’s son Aldo took over the company after his father’s death in 1953. It was Aldo who established the international presence for the brand and opened the company’s first overseas store, in New York City.

Gianni Versace was an Italian fashion designer. Versace’s death was perhaps as famous as his life. He was murdered in 1997 outside his mansion in Miami Beach by one Andrew Cunanan. It is not certain that Cunanan knew who his victim was, as this was the last in a spree of five murders committed by him over a four month period. A few days after killing Versace, Cunanan used the same gun to commit suicide.

33 Nest egg letters : IRA

Individual retirement account (IRA)

41 Social slip-up : GAFFE

Our word “gaffe”, meaning a social blunder, comes from the French “gaffe” meaning “clumsy remark”, although it originally was the word for a boat hook. The exact connection between a boat hook and a blunder seems to be unclear.

42 Cole Porter’s “Well, Did You __?” : EVAH

“Well, Did You Evah!” is a song from the 1939 Cole Porter musical “DuBarry Was a Lady”. A more famous rendition of the song was by Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra in the 1956 movie “High Society”.

45 Grand Central, for one : TRAIN STATION

Grand Central Terminal in New York City is the largest railroad station in the world in terms of the number of platforms (44). Those platforms are all underground, and on two levels. The official name for the facility is “Grand Central Terminal”. The name “Grand Central Station” is very common, and is actually the name of the facility that the terminal replaced in 1913.

48 Civil War side: Abbr. : CSA

Confederate States of America (CSA)

50 Vanilla extract meas. : TSP

Teaspoon (tsp.)

The flavor extract that we call “vanilla” comes from the pod-like fruit of climbing orchids belonging to the genus Vanilla. Genuine vanilla is a relatively expensive spice, second only to saffron, due to the amount of work required to grow and harvest the fruit (also called “beans” and “pods”). Spanish and Portuguese explorers came across the Vanilla orchid while exploring the Gulf Coast of Mexico. They gave it the name “vainilla” meaning “little pod”.

63 Sailors’ patron saint : ELMO

Saint Elmo is the patron saint of sailors. More formally referred to as Erasmus of Formia, St. Elmo is perhaps venerated by sailors as tradition tells us that he continued preaching despite the ground beside him being struck by a thunderbolt. Sailors started to pray to him when in danger of storms and lightning. He lends his name to the electrostatic weather phenomenon (often seen at sea) known as St. Elmo’s fire. The “fire” is actually a plasma discharge caused by air ionizing at the end of a pointed object (like the mast of a ship), something often observed during electrical storms.

65 Partner of well : ALIVE

Crossword construction is alive and well, thank goodness …

66 Mathematician Turing : ALAN

Alan Turing was an English mathematician. He was well-respected for his code-breaking work during WWII at Bletchley Park in England. However, despite his contributions to cracking the German Enigma code and other crucial work, Turing was prosecuted for homosexuality in 1952. He agreed to chemical castration, treatment with female hormones, and then two years later he committed suicide by taking cyanide. Turing’s life story is told in the 2014 film “The Imitation Game” with Benedict Cumberbatch playing the lead. I thoroughly enjoyed that film …

68 Botox targets … or what 17-, 28-, 45- and 60-Across all have : LINES
Botulinum toxin is produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. The toxin is a protein that can cause botulism, an extremely dangerous illness in humans and animals. Botulinum toxin is sold under the trade name “Botox”. Botox is used therapeutically and in cosmetic applications to weaken muscles, perhaps muscles that are in an uncontrollable spasm. The cosmetic application involves the paralyzing of facial muscles in order to eliminate or reduce wrinkles, at least for a few months.

Down

1 Communion bread : WAFER

The Communion rite is the part of the Mass in the Roman Catholic tradition. The rite involves distribution of the Communion bread (the host, a wafer) to the faithful.

2 Wonderland visitor : ALICE

The title character in Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” is based on a child named Alice Liddell. Lewis Carroll (real name “Charles Lutwidge Dodgson”) met the Liddell family while he was photographing Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford, after which he befriended the Liddells. Carroll told the three Liddell sisters (including Alice) a story about a little girl named Alice and her adventures, in order to entertain the children while on a boating trip on the River Isis in Oxford. He elaborated on the story for the girls on a subsequent boat trip, and agreed to write down the tale as the children loved it so much. Carroll’s writings became a full-fledged manuscript, including the author’s own illustrations. It was first published in 1865, three years after that boat trip.

3 The 4 Seasons frontman Frankie : VALLI

Frankie Valli is a great singer who is best known for fronting the Four Seasons in the sixties. Valli had an incredible number of hits, with and without the Four Seasons. The extensive list includes, “Sherry”, “Big Girls Don’t Cry”, “Walk Like a Man”, “Rag Doll”, “My Eyes Adored You” and “Grease”.

4 Jane Austen classic : EMMA

Here is the opening paragraph of the novel “Emma”, by Jane Austen:

Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.

5 Spanish-speaking Muppet : ROSITA

On the children’s television show Sesame Street, Rosita is a character who is fluent in both English and Spanish. Rosita is operated by Puppeteer Carmen Osbahr. Osbahr originally worked on “Plaza Sésamo”, which is the version of Sesame Street that is broadcast in Mexico.

7 “Thrilla in Manila” victor : ALI

Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier had three memorable fights. The first was billed as the “Fight of the Century” and took place in 1971 in Madison Square Garden. It was a fight between two great boxers, both of whom were undefeated up till that point. Frazier won in a unanimous decision after fifteen rounds. A couple of years later, in 1973, Frazier lost his title to George Foreman. Ali and Frazier had a non-title rematch in 1974, with Ali coming out ahead this time, also in a unanimous decision. Later that year, Ali grabbed back the World Heavyweight Title in “The Rumble in the Jungle”, the famous “rope-a-dope” fight against George Foreman. That set the stage for the third and final fight between Ali and Frazier, “The Thrilla in Manila”. Ali won the early rounds, but Frazier made a comeback in the middle of the fight. Ali took control at the end of the bout, so much so that Frazier wasn’t able to come out of his corner for the 15th and final round. He couldn’t come out of his corner because both of his eyes were swollen shut, giving Ali a victory due to a technical knockout (TKO).

12 Pakistani tongue : URDU

Urdu is one of the two official languages of Pakistan (the other being English), and is one of the 22 scheduled languages in India. Urdu partly developed from Persian and is written from right to left.

18 “The Count of Monte __” : CRISTO

“The Count of Monte Cristo” is an 1844 novel by the French author Alexandre Dumas. Dumas’ other famous title is “The Three Musketeers”.

22 Iranian faith featuring a 19-day feast : BAHA’I

The Baha’i Faith is relatively new in the scheme of things, and was founded in Persia in the 1800s. One of the tenets of the religion is that messengers have come from God over time, including Abraham, the Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, and most recently Bahá’u’lláh who founded the Baha’i Faith. Baha’i scripture specifies some particular architectural requirements for houses of worship, including that the building have nine-sided, circular shape. It is also specified that there be no pictures, statues or images displayed within a temple.

26 __ card: smartphone component : SIM

Most cell phones have SIM cards these days. SIM cards hold the personal information of the subscriber, with the acronym being short for “Subscriber Identity Module”.

28 Stories by devoted readers : FAN FICTION

Fan fiction (also “fanfic”) is fiction created by fans of an original work that uses characters from that original work.

29 Percocet, e.g. : OPIATE

Opiates are the narcotic alkaloids found in the opium poppy plant, although some synthetic versions and derivatives of the same alkaloids are also called opiates. To produce opiates, the latex sap of the opium poppy is collected and processed. The naturally-occurring drugs morphine and codeine can both be extracted from the sap. Some synthesis is required to make derivative drugs like heroin and oxycodone.

Percocet is a trade name for the drug combination of oxycodone and paracetamol.

30 Great Salt Lake state : UTAH

The Great Salt Lake in Utah is extremely shallow, and so the area of the lake fluctuates greatly with the changing volume of water. Back in 1963 the lake shrunk to 950 square miles, whereas in 1988 the area was measured at a whopping 3,300 square miles.

31 Genesis creator : SEGA

Genesis is a video game console sold in the US by the Japanese company Sega. Genesis is sold as Mega Drive in the rest of the world, as Sega couldn’t get the rights to the Mega Drive name in the US.

32 That, in Toledo : ESO

Toledo is a city in central Spain that is located just over 40 miles south of the capital Madrid. Toledo is sometimes called the “City of Three Cultures”, due to the historical co-existence of Christian, Muslim and Jewish traditions.

34 Tennis rival of Roger, familiarly : RAFA

Rafael “Rafa” Nadal is a Spanish tennis player. He is noted for his expertise on clay courts, which expertise earned him the nickname “The King of Clay”.

37 Actor’s rep. : AGT

Agent (agt.)

40 1862 Tennessee battle site : SHILOH

The Battle of Shiloh was a major engagement in the Civil War, and was fought in 1862 at Pittsburg Landing in southwestern Tennessee. The battle started with a surprise attack by Confederate forces led by Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard. The attackers gained the upper hand on the first day over the Union forces led by Major General Ulysses S. Grant. Union reinforcements arrived during the night and the tide of the battle turned the next day and the Confederates were forced to withdraw. Almost 3,000 men died in the course of the Battle of Shiloh, thus making it the bloodiest battle in US history up to that point in time.

46 Former name of Vietnam’s most populous city : SAIGON

Hanoi (“Hà Nội” in Vietnamese) was the capital of North Vietnam, and Saigon the capital of South Vietnam. After the Vietnam War, Hanoi was made capital of the reunified state. Saigon, the larger metropolis, was renamed to Ho Chi Minh City. Hanoi is located in the delta of the Red River, and is just over 50 miles from the Gulf of Tonkin in the South China Sea.

47 Longtime chum : OLD PAL

A chum is a friend. The term “chum” originated in the late 1600s as an alternative spelling for “cham”. In turn, “cham” was a shortened form of “chambermate”, a roommate at university.

50 Easy hoops shot : TIP-IN

That would be basketball.

51 Tech mogul Jobs : STEVE

Steve Jobs certainly was a business icon in Silicon Valley. I don’t think it is too surprising to learn that the brilliant Jobs didn’t even finish his college education, dropping out of Reed College in Oregon after only one semester. Steve Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976, but in 1985 he was basically fired from his own company during the computer sales slump of the mid-eighties. Jobs then founded NeXT Computer, a company focused on supplying workstations to the higher education and business markets. Apple purchased NeXT in 1996, and that’s how Jobs found himself back with his original company.

55 __ mater : ALMA

The literal translation for the Latin term “alma mater” is “nourishing mother”. The phrase was used in ancient Rome to refer to mother goddesses, and in Medieval Christianity the term was used to refer to the Virgin Mary. Nowadays, one’s alma mater is the school one attended, either high school or college, usually one’s last place of education.

58 Surrealist Salvador : DALI

The famous surrealist painter Salvador Dalí was born in Figueres, Spain. I had the privilege of visiting the Dalí Museum in Figueres some years ago, just north of Barcelona. If you ever get the chance, it’s a “must see” as it really is a quite magnificent building with a fascinating collection.

61 Top pitcher : ACE

That would be baseball.

62 Scholar’s deg. : PHD

“Ph.D.” is an abbreviation for “philosophiae doctor”, Latin for “teacher of philosophy”. Often, candidates for a PhD already hold a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, so a PhD might be considered a “third degree”.

The post LA Times Crossword 16 Dec 19, Monday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 6m 13s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Tax law pros : CPAS

Certified public accountant (CPA)

14 Tune from “Tosca” : ARIA

Unlike so many operas, Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca” was a big hit right from day one, when it was first performed in 1900 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. Currently, “Tosca” is the eighth-most performed opera in America.

15 The “A” in SATB : ALTO

The voice types soprano, alto, tenor and bass can be abbreviated to the initialism “SATB”.

17 Very exciting episode : HIGH DRAMA (hiding “dram”)

I think that the dram is a confusing unit of measurement. It has one value as an ancient unit of mass, and two different values as a modern unit of mass, another value as a unit of fluid volume, and yet another varying value as a measure of Scotch whisky!

19 Rich boy in “Nancy” comics : ROLLO

“Nancy” is a comic strip that was originally called “Fritzi Ritz” when it first appeared in 1938. Nancy Ritz is a mischievous young girl, and Rollo is a friendly rich kid.

21 Responding to an Evite : RSVP’ING

“RSVP” stands for “répondez s’il vous plaît”, which is French for “answer, please”.

23 CD-__: data holders : ROMS

“CD-ROM” stands for “compact disc read only memory”. The name indicates that you can read information from the disc (like a standard music CD for example), but you cannot write to it. You can also buy a CD-RW, which stands for “compact disc – rewritable”, with which you can read data and also write over it multiple times using a suitable CD drive.

26 One doing the play-by-play : SPORTS ANNOUNCER (hiding “ounce”)

Our term “ounce” (abbreviated to “oz.”) comes from the Latin “uncia”. An “uncia” was 1/12 of a Roman “libra” (pound).

35 Snobbish attitude : AIRS

Back in the 1780s, a snob was a shoemaker or a shoemaker’s apprentice. By the end of the 18th century the word “snob” was being used by students at Cambridge University in England to refer to all local merchants and people of the town. The term evolved to mean one who copies those who are his or her social superior (and not in a good way). From there it wasn’t a big leap for “snob” to include anyone who emphasized their superior social standing and not just those who aspired to rank. Nowadays a snob is anyone who looks down on those considered to be of inferior standing.

36 Road service org. : AAA

The American Automobile Association (AAA) is a not-for-profit organization focused on lobbying, provision of automobile servicing, and selling of automobile insurance. The AAA was founded in 1902 in Chicago and published the first of its celebrated hotel guides back in 1917.

37 Irish New Ager : ENYA

Enya’s real name is Eithne Ní Bhraonáin, which can translate from Irish into Enya Brennan. Her Donegal family (in the northwest of Ireland) formed a band called Clannad, which included Enya. In 1980 Enya launched her very successful solo career, eventually becoming Ireland’s best-selling solo musician. And, she sure does turn up a lot in crosswords!

41 DDE’s WWII domain : ETO

Dwight D. Eisenhower (DDE) was the 34th US president, but he wanted to be remembered as a soldier. He was a five-star general during WWII in charge of the Allied Forces in the European Theater of Operations (ETO). President Eisenhower died in 1969 at Walter Reed Army Hospital. He was buried in an $80 standard soldier’s casket in his army uniform in a chapel on the grounds of the beautiful Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas.

42 Hula-Hoops and Pogs : FADS

Hula hoops were a big craze in the 1950s, but they have been around in various forms at least since the year 500 BCE.

The game of pogs was originally played with bottle caps from POG fruit juice. The juice was named for its constituents, passion fruit, orange and guava.

44 Stand-up comic who is a recurring panelist on “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me” : PAULA POUNDSTONE (hiding “pound”)

Paula Poundstone is a stand-up comedian who grew up in Sudbury, Massachusetts. She is a regular panelist on the NPR weekly news quiz show “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me”. I had the privilege of seeing Poundstone performing in a local theater a few years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

48 Orbiting research facility: Abbr. : ISS

The International Space Station (ISS) is a modular facility that comprises components launched into space by Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets, and by American Space Shuttles. The station has been occupied by astronauts and scientists continually since November, 2000.

54 Caviar choice : SHAD ROE

The shad is also known as the river herring. The eggs (roe) of the shad are prized as a delicacy in the Eastern US.

59 __ acids: protein components : AMINO

Amino acids are essential to life in many ways, not least of which is their use as the building blocks of proteins. Nine amino acids are considered “essential” for humans. These nine must be included in the diet as they cannot be synthesized in the body.

60 Subject of the 2019 biopic “Rocketman” : ELTON JOHN (hiding “ton”)

“Elton John” is the stage name of English singer and pianist Reginald Dwight. John is an avid football (soccer) supporter, and is especially enthusiastic about Watford Football Club, which was his local team growing up. After he achieved financial success, John was able to purchase Watford FC, and owned the club from 1976 to 1987, and again from 1997 until 2002.

Here in the US, a ton is equivalent to 2,000 pounds. Over in the UK, a ton is 2,240 pounds. The UK unit is sometimes referred to as an Imperial ton, long ton or gross ton. Folks over there refer to the US ton then as a short ton. To further complicate matters, there is also a metric ton or tonne, which is equivalent to 2,204 pounds. Personally, I wish we’d just stick to kilograms …

62 Baltimore NFLer : RAVEN

The name of the Baltimore Ravens football team has a literary derivation. Baltimore was the home of the writer Edgar Allan Poe, and so the team took its moniker from his most famous poem, “The Raven”. The name was selected in a fan contest. Baltimore’s mascot is a raven named Poe. Prior to the 2008 season, the Raven’s had a trio of avian mascots: Edgar, Allan and Poe.

64 Oklahoma city NNW of Oklahoma City : ENID

Enid, Oklahoma takes its name from the old railroad station around which the city developed. Back in 1889, that train stop was called Skeleton Station. An official who didn’t like the name changed it to Enid Station, using a character from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Idylls of the King”. Maybe if he hadn’t changed the name, the city of Enid would now be called Skeleton, Oklahoma! Enid has the nickname “Queen Wheat City” because is has a huge capacity for storing grain, the third largest grain storage capacity in the world.

66 PC scrolling key : PGDN

PGUP (Page Up) and PGDN (Page Down) are two navigation keys found on a PC keyboard.

67 British mil. honors : DSOS

The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a British military award that is usually presented to officers with the rank of major or higher.

Down

1 __ Men: “Who Let the Dogs Out” band : BAHA

The Baha Men are so called because they hail from the Bahamas. Their big hit was “Who Let the Dogs Out?” That song once ranked third in a list of the world’s most annoying songs!

2 Leprechaun land : ERIN

A leprechaun is a mischievous fairy of Irish folklore. Traditionally, leprechauns spend their days making shoes and hide all their money in a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Our word “leprechaun” comes from the Irish name for such a sprite, i.e. “leipreachán”.

4 Island near Maui : OAHU

Oahu has been called “The Gathering Place”, although the word “O’ahu” has no translation in Hawaiian. It seems that “O’ahu” is simply the name of the island. One story is that it is named after the son of the Polynesian navigator who first found the islands. The island is made up of two volcanoes, Wai’anae and Ko’olau, joined together by a broad valley, the O’ahu Plain.

Maui is the second largest of the Hawaiian islands. It is sometimes called the “Valley Isle” as it is composed of two volcanoes to the northwest and southeast of the island, each with numerous beautiful valleys carved into them.

5 Guitarist Santana : CARLOS

Carlos Santana is a Mexican American rock guitar player, famous for heading the band called Santana who melded rock music with Latin and African themes.

6 Red Cross supply : PLASMA

Plasma (sometimes “plasm”) is the clear, yellow-colored liquid component of blood and lymph in which cells are suspended.

Back in 1859, a Swiss businessman called Henri Dunant went to meet French emperor Napoleon III, to discuss making it easier to conduct commerce in French-occupied Algeria. The Emperor was billeted at Solferino, where France and Austria were engaged in a major battle. In one day, Dunant witnessed 40,000 soldiers die in battle and countless wounded suffering on the battlefield without any organized medical care. Dunant abandoned his business agenda and instead spent a week caring for the sick and wounded. Within a few years he had founded the precursor to the Red Cross, and in 1901 he was awarded the first ever Nobel Peace Prize.

7 Bodega convenience : ATM

“Bodega” is a Spanish term describing a winery, or these days a grocery store.

11 Colombian metropolis : CALI

In terms of population, Cali is the third largest city in Colombia (after Bogotá and Medellin). Santiago de Cali (the full name for the city) lies in western Colombia. Apparently, Cali is a destination for “medical tourists”. The city’s surgeons have a reputation for being expert in cosmetic surgery and so folks head there looking for a “cheap” nose job. Cali has also been historically associated with the illegal drug trade and money laundering.

18 Vader in “Star Wars” : DARTH

The top 5 movie villains in the American Film Institute’s list “100 Years … 100 Heroes & Villains” are:

1. Dr. Hannibal Lecter in “The Silence of the Lambs”
2. Norman Bates in “Psycho”
3. Darth Vader in “The Empire Strikes Back”
4. The Wicked Witch of the West in “The Wizard of Oz”
5. Nurse Ratched in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”

22 Stephen King work : STORY

Stephen King is a remarkably successful author. He has sold well over 350 million copies of his books, with many of them made into hit movies. I’ve tried reading two or three of the novels, and didn’t get too far. I really don’t do horror …

27 Vessel of 1492 : PINTA

Famously, Christopher Columbus used three ships in his first voyage across the Atlantic: the Santa Maria, the Niña and the Pinta. The Pinta was the fastest of the three, and it was from the Pinta that the New World was first spotted by a sailor named Rodrigo de Triana who was a lookout on the fateful day. Pinta was a nickname for the ship that translated as “the painted one”. The Pinta’s real name has been lost in the mists of time.

29 Color TV pioneer : RCA

Early television programming was broadcast in monochrome, i.e. black-and-white or grayscale. The introduction of color television built on the technology behind monochrome TV in the sense that color television images are a combination of three monochrome images. The colors of these three monochrome signals are red, green and blue (RGB).

31 “The Divine Comedy” segment : CANTO

A canto is a section of a long poem, and is a term first used by the Italian poet Dante. “Canto” is the Italian for “song”.

Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy” is an epic poem dating back to the 14th century. The first part of that epic is “Inferno”, which is the Italian word for “Hell”. In the poem, Dante is led on a journey by the poet Virgil, starting at the gates of Hell on which are written the famous words “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here”.

33 Salary increase : RAISE

It has been suggested that out term “salary” comes from the Latin “sal” meaning “salt”. The idea is that a Roman soldier’s “salarium” might have been an allowance to purchase salt.

40 Raid target : ANT

Raid insecticide has been killing bugs since 1956.

43 C.S. Lewis lion : ASLAN

In the C. S. Lewis series of books known as “The Chronicles of Narnia”, Aslan is the name of the lion character (as in the title “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”). “Aslan” is actually the Turkish word for lion. Anyone who has read the books will recognize the remarkable similarity between the story of Aslan and the story of Christ, including a sacrifice and resurrection.

45 Model train giant : LIONEL

Lionel is the brand name most associated with toy trains in the US. The first Lionel trains rolled off the production line in 1901 and they are still produced today, although the original Lionel Corporation is long gone. In 1995, the brand was bought by an investment company that included train enthusiast Neil Young (the singer), and operated as Lionel, LLC. Neil Young’s financial involvement ended after a 2008 reorganization of the company following a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, but the company is still producing and selling.

46 Stacked like Tupperware : NESTED

Back in the 1930s, Earl Tupper was working at the DuPont Chemical Company, and from DuPont obtained inflexible pieces of polyethylene slag. Tupper purified the slag and shaped it into unbreakable containers. He added airtight lids with a “burping seal” that provided tight seals similar to that provided by the lids on paint cans. He called his new product Tupperware.

50 They beat bogeys : PARS

The golfing term “bogey” originated at the Great Yarmouth Golf Club in England in 1890, and was used to indicate a total round that was one-over-par (and not one-over-par on a particular hole, as it is today). The name “bogey” came from a music hall song of the time “Here Comes the Bogeyman”. In the following years it became popular for players trying to stay at par to be “playing against Colonel Bogey”. Then, during WWI, the marching tune “Colonel Bogey” was written and named after the golfing term. If you don’t recognize the name of the tune, it’s the one that’s whistled by the soldiers marching in the great movie “The Bridge on the River Kwai”.

51 Apple computer : IMAC

The iMac is a desktop computer platform that Apple introduced in 1998. One of the main features of the iMac is an “all-in-one” design, with the computer console and monitor integrated. The iMac also came in a range of colors, that Apple marketed as “flavors”, such as strawberry, blueberry and lime.

52 “Choose-A-Sheet” paper towels brand : VIVA

VIVA is a Kimberly-Clark brand of paper towels.

53 Captain Sparrow portrayer : DEPP

Johnny Depp got his big break as an actor on television, in the eighties television show “21 Jump Street”. Depp’s first film success came when he played the title role in 1990’s “Edward Scissorhands”. He has twice been named Sexiest Man Alive by “People” magazine.

Captain Jack Sparrow is the protagonist in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series of movies, and is played by Johnny Depp. Depp has said that he based his portrayal of Sparrow partly on the Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. I could believe that …

55 Kept the party hopping, for short : DJ’ED

The world’s first radio disc jockey (DJ) was one Ray Newby of Stockton, California who made his debut broadcast in 1909, would you believe? When he was 16 years old and a student, Newby started to play his records on a primitive radio located in the Herrold College of Engineering and Wireless in San Jose. The records played back then were mostly recordings of Enrico Caruso.

56 Howard and Silver : RONS

Ron Howard sure has come a long way since playing Opie Taylor on “The Andy Griffith Show”. He has directed some fabulous movies including favorites of mine like “Apollo 13”, “The Da Vinci Code” and “A Beautiful Mind”, the latter earning Howard a Best Director Oscar.

Ron Silver has a long career playing relatively small roles on the big screen and television, with roles in well known films like “Mr. Saturday Night”, “Ali”, and “Garbo Talks”. Notably, Silver was the president of Actors’ Equity from 1991 to 2000.

57 Lake Erie state : OHIO

Lake Erie borders four US states (Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan) and one Canadian province (Ontario).

The post LA Times Crossword 17 Dec 19, Tuesday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 7m 56s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Transcript figs. : GPAS

Grade point average (GPA)

5 Letters for the princess? : HRH

His/Her Royal Highness (HRH)

15 Perrier, par exemple : EAU

In French, Perrier “par exemple” (for example) is a bottled “eau” (water).

Perrier is bottled from spring water that is naturally carbonated. The natural carbonation is lost during the purification process, and so has to be restored artificially before bottling. The spring used by Perrier is in the South of France, and has been used since Roman times as a spa.

19 Telescope parts : LENSES

The first patent application for a telescope was filed in 1608 in the Netherlands to eyeglass maker Hans Lippershey. However, research has shown that there is some evidence that telescopes were built before 1608, perhaps as early as the mid-1500s. But it is clear that reports of Lippershey’s design spread quickly around Europe. By 1609, Galileo had built his own telescope and started to explore the night sky.

20 “Star Wars” SFX : CGI

Computer-generated imagery (CGI)

The abbreviation “FX” stands for “effects” as in “special effects”. “Special effects” can also be shortened to “SFX”.

21 Dada co-founder : ARP

Jean Arp was a French artist renowned for his work with torn and pasted paper, although that wasn’t the only medium he used. Arp was the son of a French mother and German father and spoke both languages fluently. When he was speaking German he gave his name as Hans Arp, but when speaking French he called himself Jean Arp. Both “Hans” and “Jean” translate into English as “John”. In WWI Arp moved to Switzerland to avoid being called up to fight, taking advantage of Swiss neutrality. Eventually he was told to report to the German Consulate and fill out paperwork for the draft. In order to get out of fighting, Arp messed up the paperwork by writing the date in every blank space on the forms. Then he took off all of his clothes and walked with his papers over to the officials in charge. Arp was sent home …

Dadaism thrived during and just after WWI, and was an anti-war, anti-bourgeois and anti-art culture. The movement was launched in Zurich, Switzerland by a group of artists and writers who met to discuss art and put on performances in the Cabaret Voltaire. The same group frequently expressed disgust at the war that was raging across Europe.

22 Firewood measure : CORD

A cord of firewood has a volume of 128 cubic feet. More commonly it’s a neat stack measuring 4 feet high, 8 feet long and 4 feet deep.

23 Masters home : AUGUSTA NATIONAL

The Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia was founded in 1933 by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts. Famously, Augusta hosts the Masters Tournament each year. Augusta is very much a private club, and some of its policies have drawn criticism over the years. Prior to 1959, the club had a bylaw requiring that all caddies be African American. There were no African-American club members admitted until 1990, and no women until 2012.

Golf’s Masters Tournament is the first of the four major championships in the annual calendar, taking place in the first week of April each year. It is played at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, and has a number of traditions. One is that the winner is awarded the famous “green jacket”, but he only gets to keep it for a year and must return it to the club after twelve months.

30 Lay an egg : FLOP

Apparently the expression “to lay an egg”, meaning “to perform or play really badly” comes from the resemblance of the number 0 to an egg. One laying an egg scores zero.

31 Soup with tofu and seaweed : MISO

Miso is the name of the seasoning that makes miso soup. Basic miso seasoning is made by fermenting rice, barley and soybeans with salt and a fungus to produce a paste. The paste can be added to stock to make miso soup, or perhaps to flavor tofu.

32 Vancouver-to-Calgary dir. : ENE

Vancouver in British Columbia is a major port in western Canada. It is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the nation (after Toronto and Montreal), and the country’s most densely populated city. Vancouver grew out of a settlement called Gastown named for “Gassy” Jack Deighton, a steamboat captain from Yorkshire, England who opened a saloon in the area in 1867. Gastown became the town of Granville, named for the British Colonial Secretary at the time, Lord Granville. Granville incorporated as a city in 1886, and was named “Vancouver” in honor of Royal Navy officer George Vancouver who explored and charted the northwestern Pacific Coast of North America.

37 51-Down’s state: Abbr. : NSW
(51D 2000 Olympics city : SYDNEY)

New South Wales (NSW) is the most populous state in Australia and is home to Sydney, the most populous city in the country. New South Wales was founded in 1788. When the British took over New Zealand in 1840, New Zealand was actually governed for a while as part of New South Wales.

38 Southern nickname involving a brown bird : THE PELICAN STATE

The official nickname of Louisiana is the Pelican State, but it is also known as the Bayou State, the Child of Mississippi, the Creole State, the Sportsman’s Paradise and the Sugar State.

44 “Then again,” on Twitter : OTOH

On the other hand (OTOH)

45 Country N. of Kenya : ETH

Ethiopia is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation on the continent (after Nigeria) and, with 90 million inhabitants, the most populous landlocked country in the world. Most anthropologists believe that our Homo sapiens species evolved in the region now called Ethiopia, and from there set out to populate the planet.

48 New Age musician John : TESH

John Tesh is a pianist and composer, as well as a radio and television presenter. For many years Tesh presented the show “Entertainment Tonight”. For “ET” he once covered the filming of an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. As part of the piece, he volunteered to act as a Klingon warrior. If you see the “Star Trek: TNG” episode called “The Icarus Factor” in reruns, watch out for John Tesh engaging in ritual torture with Mr. Worf as his victim.

New-Age music is created to provide a relaxing and stress-free atmosphere. The New Age movement is often said to have begun with the release of an album called “Spectrum Suite” by Steven Halpern in 1975.

50 Tag sale caveat : AS IS

A caveat is a warning or a qualification. “Caveat” is the Latin for “let him beware”.

A tag sale is a sale of household belongings, so called because the prices are usually marked on tags attached to the items for sale.

54 “Double Indemnity” (1944) Oscar nominee : BARBARA STANWYCK

Actress Barbara Stanwyck started her showbiz career as a chorus girl in the “Ziegfeld Follies” when she was just 16 years of age. Her distinguished movie career included lead roles in such classics as “The Lady Eve” (1940), “Meet John Doe” (1941) and “Double Indemnity” (1944). In later years, Stanwyck was a regular on hit television shows, such as “The Big Valley” and “The Thorn Birds”.

“Double Indemnity” is a classic film noir released in 1944 and starring Fred MacMurray, Edward G. Robinson and Barbara Stanwyck. Based on the James M. Cain novella of the same name, it’s all about a woman who kills her husband for the insurance money. The title “Double Indemnity” refers to the double payout clause in the life insurance policy in the event of an accidental death. And that’s what the wife tried to show investigators, that the death was accidental.

58 Mani-pedi spots : SPAS

Manicure & pedicure (mani-pedi)

59 Game with 108 cards : UNO

In my youth I remember being taught a great card game by a German acquaintance of mine, a game called Mau Mau. Years later I discovered that UNO is basically the same game, but played with a purpose-printed deck instead of the regular deck of playing cards that’s used for Mau Mau. I hear that Mau Mau is derived from the game called Crazy Eights.

60 “Gloria in Excelsis __” : DEO

“Gloria in excelsis Deo” is a Latin hymn, the title of which translates as “Glory to God in the Highest”.

61 Brusque : ABRUPT

Someone described as “brusque” is “gruff, abrupt and curt in manner”. The term comes into English from French, in which language it means “lively, fierce”.

64 2003 Billy Bob Thornton title role … and a hint to each set of puzzle circles : BAD SANTA

“Bad Santa” is a black comedy, not one I really enjoyed, starring Billy Bob Thornton as the not-so-nice Santa Claus. There is an unrated version of the film available on DVD that is titled “Bad(der) Santa”.

I’ve always thought that the actor Billy Bob Thornton really knows how to give an understated performance, and he does it really well. Thornton came to the public eye as actor and screenwriter for the 1996 movie “Slingblade”. He won an Academy Award for screenwriting for that film. Thornton has been married five times in all, most famously to the actress Angelina Jolie.

66 NutraSweet developer : SEARLE

NutraSweet is a brand name for the artificial sweetener aspartame. Aspartame was discovered by a chemist working for Searle in 1965, but it took 15 years for the company to be granted approval for its sale. I wonder why …???

67 Modern art? : ARE

“Thou art” would be rephrased to “you are” in contemporary English.

68 Cocktail garnish : PEEL

Our word “cocktail” first appeared in the early 1800s. The exact origin of the term is not clear, but it is thought to be a corruption of the French word “coquetier” meaning “egg cup”, a container that was used at that time for serving mixed drinks.

70 Since Jan. 1 : YTD

Year-to-date (YTD)

71 Shaggy Scandinavian rugs : RYAS

A rya is a traditional Scandinavian rug that was originally used as heavy covers by mariners as an alternative to furs. The name “rya” comes from a village in southwest Sweden.

Down

1 Easy-to-swallow dosage : GELCAP

Gelatin capsules (gelcaps) might be an issue for those on a strict vegan diet. The gelatin used in the capsule is made from collagen extracted from animal skin and bone.

2 One of 10 in Exodus : PLAGUE

According to the biblical Book of Exodus, God inflicted ten plagues on Egypt to persuade the Pharaoh to release the Israelites from bondage. For example, the first was the changing of water in the Nile to blood, the eighth was a plague of locusts that consumed all the Egyptian crops, and the tenth was the death of firstborn sons.

6 Flutist Jean-Pierre : RAMPAL

Jean-Pierre Rampal was a French flautist, the son of Joseph Rampal who was a distinguished flutist in his own right. Outside of his native France, Jean-Pierre was especially popular in the US and Japan.

9 “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” host : FIERI

Guy Fieri is a restaurant owner and television personality. Fieri is known as “the face of the Food Network” as several of his television series on that channel are very popular.

“Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” is a reality show that has been airing on the Food Network since 2007. Hosted by Guy Fieri, each episode of the show features restaurant visits in a particular city. As the show’s title partially converys, the focus is on establishments that produce food that might be appreciated by a gourmet, but would not normally be classified as gourmet cuisine.

10 Like dice rolls : RANDOM

When rolling two dice, there are 36 possible outcomes. There are six outcomes that add up to seven (1-6, 2-5, 3-4, 4-3, 5-2, 6-1), making seven the most probable total thrown. The least probable totals are two (1,1) and twelve (6,6).

11 Bodybuilder’s pride : ABS

The abdominal muscles (abs) are more correctly referred to as the rectus abdominis muscles. They might be referred to as a “six-pack”, or even a “ten-pack”, in a person who has developed the muscles and who has low body fat. In my case, more like a keg …

12 Paris’ __ de la Cité : ILE

There are two famous “îles” (islands) in the middle of the River Seine in Paris, one being the Île de la Cité, and the other Île Saint-Louis. Île de la Cité is the most renowned of the two, as it is home to the cathedral of Notre Dame.

13 __ Plaines : DES

Des Plaines is a suburb of Chicago that is located next to O’Hare International Airport. The city is named for the Des Plaines river that runs through the area.

18 “One Mic” rapper : NAS

“One Mic” is a 2002 song recorded by rap singer Nas. Nas is a big fan of singer Phil Collins, and sampled the Collins song “In the Air Tonight” for “One Mic”.

22 “Meet John Doe” director : CAPRA

I can’t tell you how many of Frank Capra’s movies are on my list of all-time favorites. He directed such classics as “It Happened One Night”, “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town”, “Lost Horizon”, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”, “Meet John Doe”, “Arsenic and Old Lace” and the holiday favorite “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Capra was the first person to win three directorial Oscars: for “It Happened One Night”, “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” and “You Can’t Take It With You”. Capra also did his bit during WWII, enlisting just a few days after Pearl Harbor was attacked. Given his great talent, and the fact that he enlisted at the relatively advanced age of 44, the US Army put him to work directing 11 documentary war films in the “Why We Fight” series, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.

Frank Capra’s delightful comedy-drama “Meet John Doe” stars Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. Gary Cooper agreed to the role without even reading the script, as he had such respect for Capra after working with him on “Mr Deeds Goes to Town”.

24 U.S. sch. near the Mexico border : UTEP

The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) was founded in 1914 as the Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy. To this day, there is a mine shaft on the campus. The mascot of the school’s sports teams is Paydirt Pete, a prospector from the mining industry. The teams are also known as the UTEP Miners and Lady Miners.

The Rio Grande (Spanish for “big river”) is a waterway that forms part of the border between Mexico and the United States. Although we call the river the Rio Grande on this side of the border, in Mexico it is called the Río Bravo or Río Bravo del Norte (Spanish for “furious river of the north”).

25 Tally symbols : NOTCHES

Back in the mid-1600s, a tally was a stick marked with notches that tracked how much one owed or had paid. The term “tally” came from the Latin “talea” meaning “stick, rod”. The act of “scoring” the stick with notches gave rise to our word “score” for the number in a tally.

26 Ricci of fashion : NINA

The Nina Ricci fashion house was founded by Italian-born Maria “Nina” Ricci, in Paris in 1932.

27 CEO aide : ASST

Chief executive officer (CEO)

28 Actor Rob : LOWE

Actor Rob Lowe is one of the “founding members” of the so-called Brat Pack, having appeared in the movie “St. Elmo’s Fire”. More recently, he played a regular character on the TV show “Parks and Recreation”. My favorite of his roles though, was playing Sam Seaborn on Aaron Sorkin’s great drama series “The West Wing”. When “The West Wing” first aired, Seaborn was billed as the show’s main character, but outstanding performances from the rest of the cast and some great writing meant that Lowe’s role became “one of many”. This led to some dissatisfaction on Lowe’s part, and eventually he quit the show.

33 Opposite of paleo- : NEO-

The prefix “paleo-” means “prehistoric, primitive”. It comes from the Greek word “palaios” which means “old, ancient”. The prefix “neo-” would be the opposite, meaning “new, recent”.

36 Summer hrs. : DST

On the other side of the Atlantic, daylight saving time (DST) is known as “summer time”. The idea behind summer/daylight-savings is to move clocks forward an hour in spring (“spring forward”), and backwards in the fall (“fall back”) so that afternoons have more daylight. Here in the US, DST starts on the second Sunday of March, and ends on the first Sunday of November.

38 Windy City daily, familiarly : TRIB

“The Chicago Tribune” was first published in 1847. The most famous edition of “The Trib” was probably in 1948 when the headline was “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN”, on the occasion of that year’s presidential election. When it turned out that Truman had actually won, the victor picked up the paper with the erroneous headline and posed for photographs with it … a famous, famous photo, that must have stuck in the craw of the editor at the time.

It seems that the derivation of Chicago’s nickname “Windy City” isn’t as obvious as I would have thought. There are two viable theories. Firstly, that the weather can be breezy with wind blowing in off Lake Michigan. The effect of the wind is exaggerated by the grid-layout adopted by city planners after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The second theory is that “windy” means “being full of bluster”. Sportswriters from the rival city of Cincinnati were fond of calling Chicago supporters “windy” in the 1860s and 1870s, meaning that they were full of hot air in their claims that the Chicago White Stockings were superior to the Cincinnati Red Stockings.

39 “Today” co-anchor Kotb : HODA

Hoda Kotb is an Egyptian-American television journalist who is perhaps best known as co-host of the NBC morning show “Today”. She is also the author of the bestselling autobiography “Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee”.

41 Specks : IOTAS

Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet, and one that gave rise to our letters I and J. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small, as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.

47 Inane : ABSURD

Our word “inane” meaning silly or lacking substance comes from the Latin “inanitis” meaning “empty space”.

49 Comic-book store owner on “The Big Bang Theory” : STUART

On “The Big Bang Theory” sitcom, Stuart Bloom owns the comic store that the main group of characters frequent. Bloom is played by actor and comedian Kevin Sussman.

51 2000 Olympics city : SYDNEY

When the Summer Olympic Games were held in Sydney, Australia in 2000, it marked the second time that the event was hosted in the Southern Hemisphere, the first occasion being the 1956 games in Melbourne. Although the Sydney Games were a public relations success, the financial result was a major disappointment. The Australian government built several new venues in the Sydney Olympic Park and were planning on recouping the cost by renting out the facilities in the following years. Sadly, the required level of bookings failed to materialize and so the government’s bank balance took a hit.

53 Danish toasts : SKOALS

“Skoal” is a Scandinavian toast that has roots in the old Norse word “skaal” meaning “cup”.

55 Fuji, for one : APPLE

The Fuji apple is a cross between two American varieties of apple that was developed in Japan, i.e. a cross is between Red Delicious and old Virginia Ralls Genet.

56 Yelp contributor : RATER

yelp.com is a website that provides a local business directory and reviews of services. The site is sort of like Yellow Pages on steroids, and the term “yelp” is derived from “yel-low p-ages”.

61 Silent speech syst. : ASL

American Sign Language (ASL)

62 Quilting party : BEE

Back in 18th-century America, when neighbors would gather to work for the benefit of one of their group, such a meeting was called a bee. The name “bee” was an allusion to the social nature of the insect. In modern parlance, a further element of entertainment and pleasure has been introduced, for example in a quilting bee, or even a spelling bee.

64 Reddish-brown horse : BAY

Bay is a reddish-brown color. The term “bay” usually describes the coat of a horse, or a horse with a coat of such a color.

65 Busy mo. for a CPA : APR

April 15th wasn’t always Tax Day in the US. The deadline for returns was March 1st from 1913-18, when it was moved to March 15th. Tax Day has been April 15th since 1955.

The post LA Times Crossword 18 Dec 19, Wednesday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 6m 32s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Troubleshoots, as programs : DEBUGS

Back in 1947, famed computer programmer Grace Hopper noticed some colleagues fixing a piece of equipment by removing a dead moth from a relay. She remarked that they were “debugging” the system, and so Hopper has been given credit for popularizing the term “bug” in the context of computing.

10 Rain protection : TARP

Originally, tarpaulins were made from canvas covered in tar that rendered the material waterproof. The word “tarpaulin” comes from “tar” and “palling”, with “pall” meaning “heavy cloth covering”.

15 Brian of ambient music : ENO

Brian Eno was one of the pioneers of the ambient genre of music. Eno composed an album in 1978 called “Ambient 1: Music for Airports”, which was the first in a series of four albums with an ambient theme. Eno named the tracks, somewhat inventively, 1/1, 2/1, 2/1 and 2/2.

16 Diaper cream ingredient : ALOE

“Diaper” is another word that I had to learn when I moved to America. What are called “diapers” over here, we call “nappies” back in Ireland. The term “diaper” is actually the original term that was used in England for the garment, where “diaper” referred to the cloth that was used. The term “diaper” was brought to the New World where it stuck. Back in Britain, “diaper” was displaced by the word “nappy”, a diminutive of “napkin”.

17 Like nickels, to dimes : LARGER

The 5-cent American coin known as a nickel is actually made up of 75% copper and 25% nickel. The first nickel was introduced in 1866, and was named the Shield nickel due to the shield design on the front of the coin. The current design is the Jefferson nickel, which was introduced in 1938.

The term “dime”, used for a 10-cent coin, comes from the Old French word “disme” meaning “tenth part”.

18 Flashy accessories for a vagabond? : BUM BLING

Bling-bling (often simply “bling”) is the name given to all the shiny stuff sported by rap stars in particular i.e. the jewelry, watches, metallic cell phones, even gold caps on the teeth. The term comes from the supposed “bling” sound caused by light striking a shiny metal surface.

A vagabond is a person without a home who moves from place to place. The term derives from the Latin “vagabundus” meaning “wandering, strolling about”.

20 Swedish retail giant : IKEA

The IKEA furniture stores use the colors blue and yellow for brand recognition. Blue and yellow are the national colors of Sweden, where IKEA was founded and is headquartered.

22 “Moonlight” Oscar winner Mahershala : ALI

Mahershala Ali is an actor and sometime rapper. Among the more memorable roles Ali has had are lobbyist Remy Danton in TV’s “House of Cards”, and Colonel Boggs in “The Hunger Games” series of movies. He also won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for playing Juan in the 2016 drama “Moonlight”.

“Moonlight” is a 2016 semi-autobiographical film based on an unpublished play by Tarell Alvin McCraney titled “In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue”. “Moonlight” won the season’s Best Picture Oscar, thus becoming the first film to do so with an all-black cast, and the first with an LGBT storyline.

23 Most smooth : SUAVEST

The Latin word “suavis” translates as “agreeable, pleasant to the senses”. “Sauvis” is the root of the English word “suave” that describes someone who is gracious and sophisticated, and perhaps a somewhat superficial. “Sauvis” also gave us the English word “sweet” meaning “pleasing to the taste”.

30 One-named singer with 15 Grammys : ADELE

“Adele” is the stage name of English singer Adele Adkins. Adele’s debut album is “19”, named after the age she was during the album’s production. Her second album was even more successful than the first. Called “21”, the second album was released three years after the first, when Adele was three years older. Her third studio album “25”, released in 2015, broke the first-week sales records in both the UK and the US.

32 “By that logic … ” : ERGO …

“Ergo” is a Latin word meaning “hence, therefore”, and one that we’ve absorbed directly into English.

36 Ventricular outlet : AORTA

The aorta originates in the heart and extends down into the abdomen. It is the largest artery in the body.

The heart has four chambers. The two upper chambers (the atria) accept deoxygenated blood from the body and oxygenated blood from the lungs. The atria squeeze those blood supplies into the two lower chambers of the heart (the ventricles), “priming” the pump, as it were. One ventricle pumps deoxygenated blood to the lungs, and the other pumps oxygenated blood to the rest of the body.

37 Barn extension where pack animals sleep? : BURRO WING

Our word “burro”, meaning “donkey”, comes from the Spanish word for the same animal, namely “burrico”.

40 Martin Van __ : BUREN

Martin Van Buren was the eighth President of the US, and also served as Vice President and Secretary of State under President Andrew Jackson. Although Van Buren was the first president who was born a US citizen, he was the only president whose first language wasn’t English, as he grew up speaking Dutch.

43 “Heavens to Murgatroyd!” : EGAD!

Remember the catchphrase made famous by the cartoon character Snagglepuss, “Heavens to Murgatroyd!”? Snagglepuss stole that line from a 1944 movie called “Meet the People” in which it was first uttered by none other than Bert Lahr, the actor who played the cowardly lion in “The Wizard of Oz”.

48 Astrologer to the rich and famous : OMARR

Sydney Omarr was an astrology consultant to the rich and famous, and author of a horoscope column that appeared in the Los Angeles Times. While Omarr (real name Sidney Kimmelman) was in the US Army, he even wrote a horoscope column for “Stars and Stripes”. He claimed that he got the job of writing for “Stars and Stripes” after having giving a consultation to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

51 Boston’s Back __ : BAY

Back Bay is an expensive residential neighborhood in Boston that is home to rows of Victorian brownstones as well as the Boston Public Library. Before the area was reclaimed in the 19th century, Back Bay was a tidal bay, hence the name.

52 French chef’s “Ta-da!” : ET VOILA!

“Et voilà” is French for, “and there it is!”

59 Crunch at breakfast : CAP’N

The first Cap’n Crunch commercials aired in 1963, at the time the product line was launched. The Cap’n’s full name is Captain Horatio Magellan Crunch, would you believe? Crunch’s voice was provided for many years by Daws Butler, the same voice actor who gave us Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound. Cap’n Crunch is commander of the S.S. Guppy.

61 Heckle musician Gordon Sumner? : BOO STING

“Sting” is the stage name used by Gordon Sumner, who came to fame initially as the lead singer for the Police. Off stage, Sting is an avid chess player, and he once participated in an exhibition game with chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov.

63 Sex therapy subject : LIBIDO

“Libido” is a term popularized by Sigmund Freud. Freud’s usage was more general than is understood today, as he used “libido” to describe all instinctive energy that arose in the subconscious. He believed that we humans are driven by two desires, the desire for life (the libido, or Eros) and the desire for death (Thanatos).

66 Greek letter : ETA

Eta is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, and is a forerunner of our Latin character “H”. Originally denoting a consonant, eta was used as a long vowel in Ancient Greek.

69 French film ending word : FIN

“Fin” is the French word for “end”.

Down

1 Broadband initials : DSL

The initialism “DSL” originally stood for Digital Subscriber Loop, but is now accepted to mean (Asymmetric) Digital Subscriber Line. DSL is a technology that allows Internet service be delivered down the same telephone line as voice service, by separating the two into different frequency signals.

2 Online seller : E-TAILER

“E-tail” is the term used these days for online shopping (coming from “retail”). E-tail is often compared to regular shopping in the “real world” by juxtaposing it with a “brick and mortar” store.

5 Musical set at Rydell High : GREASE

“Grease” was, and still is, a very successful stage musical with a blockbuster film version released in 1978. The movie stars John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. Travolta wasn’t the first choice for the lead role. It was first offered to Henry Winkler of “Happy Days” fame in which he played “the Fonz”. Winkler turned down the role for fear of being typecast as a leather-clad fifties “hood”.

6 Turk. neighbor : SYR

True that ….

9 Some library volumes : TOMES

“Tome” first came into English from the Latin “tomus” which means “section of a book”. The original usage in English was for a single volume in a multi-volume work. By the late 16th century, “tome” had come to mean “large book”.

12 Youngest Weasley brother : RON

Former child actor Rupert Grint is famous for playing Ron Weasley, one of the three lead characters in the “Harry Potter” series of films. Grint is the oldest of the trio of “Harry Potter” leads, and was 11 years old when he was cast in the role.

13 Mastermind game piece : PEG

Mastermind is a code breaking game that uses colored pegs on decoding board. The “code maker” sets a hidden “code” of four colored pegs into one end of the board, and then the “code breaker” guesses the sequence of colors by laying four pegs into the decoding section of the same board. The code maker responds by revealing how many pegs are guessed correctly and in the right position, and how many are guessed correctly and in the wrong position. The codebreaker uses this information to break the code within a specified number of guesses.

19 WWII Philippine battleground : BATAAN

Bataan is a peninsula in the Philippines that is located on the side of Manila Bay opposite to the capital city. In WWII, Bataan was where American and Filipino forces made their last stand before the Japanese took control of the country. The Battle of Bataan lasted three months, at the end of which 75,000 captured prisoners were forced to march from Bataan to various prison camps. It is thought that between 6,000 and 11,000 men died on the march, many from the physical abuse above and beyond the rigors of the 5-6 day march without food or water. For obvious reasons, the 5-6 day trek is referred to as the Bataan Death March.

24 KGB country : USSR

The “Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti” (KGB) was the national security agency of the Soviet Union until 1991. The KGB was dissolved after the agency’s chairman led a failed attempt at a coup d’état designed to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.

The former Soviet Union (officially “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics”, i.e. USSR) was created in 1922, not long after the Russian Revolution of 1917 that overthrew the Tsar. Geographically, the new Soviet Union was roughly equivalent to the old Russian Empire, and comprised fifteen Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs).

26 Bottom-row PC key : ALT

The Alt (alternate) key is found on either side of the space bar on US PC keyboards. The Alt key evolved from what was called a Meta key on old MIT keyboards, although the function has changed somewhat over the years. Alt is equivalent in many ways to the Option key on a Mac keyboard, and indeed the letters “Alt” have been printed on most Mac keyboards starting in the nineties.

27 Samosa veggie : PEA

A samosa is quite a tasty appetizer. It is usually a triangular-shaped savory that often has a vegetarian filling. The word “samosa” is primarily used on Indian menus, and the name comes from “sanbosag”, the name for the dish in Persia.

31 Venetian magistrates of yore : DOGES

Doges were the elected chief magistrates of the former republics of Venice and Genoa.

34 Holiday quaff : NOG

It’s not really clear where the term “nog” (as in “eggnog”) comes from although it might derive from the word “noggin”, which was originally a small wooden cup that was long associated with alcoholic drinks.

“Quaff” is both a verb and a noun. One “quaffs” (takes a hearty drink) of a “quaff” (a hearty drink).

35 Hindu masters : SWAMIS

A swami is a religious teacher in the Hindu tradition. The word “swami” can also mean “husband” in the Bengali and Malay languages.

39 Show that launched Clay Aiken’s singing career, familiarly : IDOL

Clay Aiken is one of the singing stars discovered on “American Idol”. Aiken had filled out an application to appear on the show “Amazing Race”, but a friend persuaded him to try out for “American Idol” instead. Fans of Clay Aiken call themselves “Claymates”. Aiken ventured into politics in 2014, winning the Democratic primary in the race for House Representative in the second congressional district of North Carolina. Aiken ultimately lost the race to the Republican incumbent.

41 Actress Thurman : UMA

Robert Thurman was the first westerner to be ordained a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Robert raised his children in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and called his daughter “Uma” as it is a phonetic spelling of the Buddhist name “Dbuma”. Uma’s big break in the movies came with her starring role in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 hit “Pulp Fiction”. My favorite Uma Thurman film is the wonderful 1996 romantic comedy “The Truth About Cats and Dogs”.

42 Novelist Chandler : RAYMOND

Raymond Chandler was a novelist and screenwriter who turned to the pen relatively late in life, after losing his job in the oil business at the age of 44. Chandler’s first novel was published when he was published in his early fifties. That novel was “The Big Sleep”, which featured his famous detective Philip Marlowe”.

45 Warning at a spelling contest? : BEE PING

Back in 18th-century America, when neighbors would gather to work for the benefit of one of their group, such a meeting was called a bee. The name “bee” was an allusion to the social nature of the insect. In modern parlance, a further element of entertainment and pleasure has been introduced, for example in a quilting bee, or even a spelling bee.

46 Deborah Harry’s band : BLONDIE

Singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein founded the rock band Blondie in 1974. Blondie’s biggest hits were “Heart of Glass”, “Call Me”, “Rapture” and “The Tide is High”.

47 Tax form ID : SSN

The main purpose of a Social Security Number (SSN) is to track individuals for the purposes of taxation, although given its ubiquitous use, it is looking more and more like an identity number to me. The social security number system was introduced in 1936. Prior to 1986, an SSN was required only for persons with substantial income, so many children under 14 had no number assigned. For some years the IRS had a concern that a lot of people were claiming children on their tax returns who did not actually exist. So, from 1986 onward, it is a requirement to get an SSN for any dependents over the age of 5. Sure enough, seven million dependents “disappeared” in 1987.

50 Wisconsin city north of Chicago : RACINE

Racine is a Wisconsin city on Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Root River. French explorers set up a trading post in 1699 where the Root River emptied into the lake, which developed into today’s city. The name “Racine” is French for “root”.

54 Starbucks size : VENTI

Starbucks introduced us to coffee drinks in a whole range of volumes:

• Demi … 3 fl oz
• Short … 8 fl oz
• Tall … 12 fl oz
• Grande … 16 fl oz (Italian for “large”)
• Venti … 20 fl oz (Italian for “twenty”)
• Trenta … 30 fl oz (Italian for “thirty”)

55 “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” instrument : ORGAN

“In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” is a song performed by Iron Butterfly and released in 1968. The song goes on for a full 17 minutes and takes up the whole of the second side of the album of the same name. The song was supposed to be called “In the Garden of Eden”, but the lead singer got drunk during the recording session and slurred the words, and apparently everyone liked the effect!

58 Spot of wine? : ASTI

Asti is in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. It is perhaps most famous for its Asti Spumante sparkling white wine. Moscato d’Asti is produced from the same grape (Moscato Bianco). Moscato is a much sweeter wine with a lower alcohol content, and is usually served as a dessert wine.

62 Arles assent : OUI

Quite a few years ago now, I had the privilege of living just a short car-ride from the beautiful city of Arles in the South of France. Although Arles has a long and colorful history, the Romans had a prevailing influence over the city’s design. Arles has a spectacular Roman amphitheater, arch, circus as well as old walls that surround the center of the city. In more modern times, it was a place Vincent van Gogh often visited, and was where he painted many of his most famous works, including “Cafe Terrace at Night” and “Bedroom in Arles”.

The post LA Times Crossword 19 Dec 19, Thursday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 6m 54s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Cylindrical granary : SILO

“Silo” is a Spanish word that we absorbed into English. The term ultimately derives from the Greek “siros”, which described a pit in which one kept corn.

9 City in Illinois’ Little Egypt region : CAIRO

The Illinois city of Cairo is the most southerly city in the state. It sits at the confluence of two mighty rivers, where the Mississippi joins the Ohio. Cairo is surrounded by a region known as Little Egypt. It is thought that “Little Egypt” is a reference to the similarity of the area’s fertile soil to that in Egypt’s Nile Delta. The city name “Cairo” is said to reflect that same etymology.

14 Blessing ender : AMEN

The word “amen” translates as “so be it”. “Amen” is said to be of Hebrew origin, but it is also likely to be influenced by Aramaic and Arabic.

15 Letter-shaped auto feature : T-TOP

A T-top is a car roof that has removable panels on either side of a rigid bar that runs down the center of the vehicle above the driver.

16 Stomach trouble : ULCER

Until fairly recently, a peptic ulcer was believed to be caused by undue amounts of stress in one’s life. It is now known that 70-90% of all peptic ulcers are in fact associated with a particular bacterium.

17 Words before snapping : SAY “CHEESE”

Photographers often instruct us to say “cheese” to elicit a smile-like expression. Even Japanese photographers use the word “cheese” to achieve the same effect. Bulgarians use the word “zele” meaning “cabbage”. The Chinese say “eggplant”, the Danish “orange”, the Iranians “apple” and the most Latin Americans say “whiskey”.

19 Chophouse choice : T-BONE

The T-bone and porterhouse are related cuts of meat, with the latter being a larger version of the former, and both being cut from the short loin.

20 Estonia, once: Abbr. : SSR

Estonia is one of the former Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs) and is located in Northern Europe on the Baltic Sea due south of Finland. Estonia has been overrun and ruled by various empires over the centuries. The country did enjoy a few years of freedom at the beginning of the 20th century after a war of independence against the Russian Empire. However, Estonia was occupied again during WWII, first by the Russians and then by the Germans, and then reoccupied by the Soviets in 1944. Estonia has flourished as an independent country again since the collapse of the USSR in 1991.

26 Performed eye surgery on, maybe : LASED

LASIK surgery uses a laser to reshape the cornea of the eye to improve vision. The LASIK acronym stands for “laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis”.

33 Troll’s cousin : OGRE

An ogre is a monster of mythology and folktales that has the appearance of a man, and which eats human beings. The term “ogre” comes to us via French from the name of the Etruscan god Orcus, who feasted on the flesh of humans.

“Troll” is a term that comes from Norse mythology. Trolls are less than helpful creatures that tend to live on isolated mountains, in caves and under bridges.

44 Antarctic explorer James : ROSS

James Clark Ross was a Royal Navy officer and polar explorer. He is particularly known for his 4-year exploration of the Antarctic, starting in 1839. Ross and his team spent much of that expedition exploring the deep bay of the Southern Ocean that now bears his name, i.e. the Ross Sea. Ross discovered the continent’s Transantarctic Mountains and the volcanoes now known as Erebus and Terror. The two warships that Ross used for his expedition were names HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.

45 Spiral pasta : ROTINI

Rotini is a corkscrew-shaped pasta that is often used in pasta salads. Even though “rotini” sounds like it comes from a word meaning “twist, rotate”, the word “rotini” doesn’t exist in Italian other than as the name for the pasta.

58 Sushi garnish : ROE

Sushi is a Japanese dish that has as its primary ingredient cooked, vinegared rice. The rice is usually topped with something, most often fish, and can be served in seaweed rolls. If we want raw fish by itself, then we have to order sashimi.

60 Permanent purveyor : HAIR SALON

“Perm” is the common name given to a permanent wave, a chemical or thermal treatment of hair to produce waves or curls.

64 Magazine with a pronoun for a title : ELLE

“Elle” magazine was founded in 1945 in France and today has the highest circulation of any fashion magazine in the world. “Elle” is the French word for “she”. “Elle” is published monthly worldwide, although you can pick up a weekly edition if you live in France.

65 Baseball team whose original full name is rarely used : METS

The New York Mets baseball team was founded in 1962 as a replacement for two teams that the city had lost, namely the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants. For several years the Mets played very poorly, finishing no better than second-to-last in their division. Then along came the “Miracle Mets” (aka “Amazin’ Mets”) who beat the Baltimore Orioles in 1969 to claim the World Series in a huge upset.

Down

1 Low voices : BASSI

The bass is the lowest male singing voice. A man with such a voice might be called a “basso” (plural “bassi”). In an opera, the villain of the piece is usually played by a basso.

4 Letter abbr. : ENC

An envelope (env.) might include an enclosure (enc.).

5 Man cave setup : STEREO

“Man cave” is a slang term for a male sanctuary within a home. That sanctuary is often a spare bedroom (as it is in our house) or a converted garage.

7 __ Altos, California : LOS

Los Altos is a wealthy city located not far from here, and is a largely residential community serving Silicon Valley and San Francisco. “Los Altos” is Spanish for “the heights”.

10 Planetary reflected-light ratio : ALBEDO

Albedo is the reflective power of a surface. The concept is particularly important in the sciences of climatology and astronomy, and often refers to the proportion of incident light that is reflected back by the surface of a planet or moon. The term “albedo” is Latin for “whiteness”.

18 Breakfast theater offering? : HAMLET AND EGGS (from “ham and eggs”)

The full title of William Shakespeare’s play that we tend to call “Hamlet” is “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”. It is the most performed of all Shakespeare’s plays and it is also his longest, the only one of his works comprising over 4,000 lines. That’s about a 4-hour sitting in a theater …

23 Actor Morales : ESAI

Actor Esai Morales is best known in the world of film for the 1987 movie “La Bamba”, which depicted the life of Ritchie Valens and his half-brother Bob Morales (played by Esai). On the small screen, Morales plays Lt. Tony Rodriguez on “NYPD Blue” and Joseph Adama on “Caprica”.

25 Bagels and donuts, shapewise : TORI

A torus (plural “tori”) is a shape resembling a doughnut.

30 Hollywood’s latest canine discovery? : DOG STARLET (from “Dog Star”)

When you look up at the night sky, the brightest star you can see is Sirius. Sirius appears so bright to us because it is relatively close to the Earth. Sirius is commonly known as the “Dog Star” because it can be seen in the constellation Canis Major, the “Big Dog”.

35 Group dance with hand-holding : HORA

The hora is a circle dance that originated in the Balkans. It was brought to Israel by Romanian settlers, and is often performed to traditional, Israeli folk songs. The hora (also horah) is a regular sight at Jewish weddings. Sometimes the honoree at an event is raised on a chair during the hora.

37 Nasser’s org. : UAR

The United Arab Republic (UAR) was a union between Egypt and Syria established in 1958. The UAR dissolved in 1961 when Syria pulled out of the arrangement.

Gamal Abdel Nasser was the second president of Egypt, and was in office from 1956 until he died in 1970. He stood alongside Muhammad Naguib, Egypt’s first president, during the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 that overthrew the ruling monarchy of Egypt and Sudan. Nasser was an advocate of Pan-Arabism, an ideology promoting unification of Arab peoples and countries. President Nasser went so far as forming the United Arab Republic (UAR), a union between Egypt and Syria that started in 1958 but fell apart in 1961 when Syria withdrew.

40 Happy __ : HOUR

I personally think that Happy Hour is best enjoyed shaken, not stirred; and with a good crossword …

48 Poet’s honor : LAUREL

A poet laureate is a poet who is officially pointed by some institution to compose works for special occasions. The US Poet Laureate is more correctly known as the Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. To be “laureate” is to be “crowned with laurels”. In ancient Greece, poets and heroes were honored with a crown or wreath made from laurels.

54 Lettuce type : BIBB

Bibb is a variety of lettuce in the cultivar known as butterhead. All butterhead varieties have loose-leafed heads and a buttery texture.

56 Computer images, briefly : GIFS

A bitmap is an image file format used to store digital images. Basically, each pixel in a bitmap file is stored as a “bit” of information, hence the name “bitmap”. In 1987, CompuServe introduced a new type of image file called the Graphics Interchange Format (GIF). A GIF image takes the same information as a bitmap and then compresses it, resulting in a smaller file size. However, during compression the image may lose some resolution. The GIF format also handles short video clips, usually animations.

62 Athos, vis-à-vis Aramis : AMI

A male friend in France is “un ami”, and a female friend is “une amie”.

Alexandre Dumas’ “Three Musketeers” are Athos, Porthos and Aramis, although the hero of the novel is the trio’s young protégé D’Artagnan. A musketeer was an infantry soldier who was equipped with a musket. Funnily enough, the three “musketeers” really don’t use their muskets, and are better known for prowess with their swords.

The post LA Times Crossword 20 Dec 19, Friday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 12m 13s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

8 Elite list : WHO’S WHO

Several publications use the phrase “Who’s Who” in the title. The oldest and best known is the British reference “Who’s Who” that has been listing prominent British people since 1849. There is a sister publication called “Who Was Who” that lists prominent people who have died since 1897.

15 Tent event : REVIVAL

A revival meeting is a service in the Christian tradition that is held to provide inspiration to church members, or to gain converts.

18 Its namesake, a former Surveyor General of India, objected to having it named for him : EVEREST

Mount Everest was named by the Royal Geographical Society in 1865. The peak is named for Welsh surveyor George Everest, who had served as Surveyor General of India from 1830 through 1843. Everest actually objected initially to the use of his name, given that he had nothing to do with the peak’s discovery, and given that he believed “Everest” was difficult to write and to pronounce in Hindi.

19 Hip-hop subgenre : GANGSTA

Gangsta rap is a type of hip hop music with lyrics that reflect the violent lifestyle experienced by some inner-city youth.

20 ’20s tennis star Lacoste : RENE

René Lacoste was a French tennis player who went into the clothing business, and came up with a more comfortable shirt that players could use. This became known as a “tennis shirt”. When it was adopted for use in the sport of polo, the shirts also became known as “polo shirts”. The “golf shirt” is basically the same thing.

22 De bene __: literally, of well-being : ESSE

“De bene esse” is a legal term used to mean “conditionally, provisionally”. The literal translation from Latin is “of well being”.

28 Old Messina money : LIRA

Messina is a port, and the third largest city, on the Italian island of Sicily. The city’s natural harbor has a curved shape like that of a scythe. When founded by Greek colonists in the 8th century BC, the settlements first name was “Zancle”, from the Greek word for “scythe”. The port gives its name the Strait of Messina, the narrow passage between the island of Sicily and the Italian mainland.

31 __ operandi : MODI

“Modus operandi” (plural “modi operandi”) is the Latin for “mode of operating”, a term we’ve been using since the mid-1600s. It’s often used by the police when referring to the methods typically employed by a particular perpetrator of a crime, and is usually abbreviated to “M.O.”

33 Aromatic garland : LEI

“Lei” is a Hawaiian word meaning “garland, wreath”, although in more general terms a lei is any series of objects strung together as an adornment for the body.

38 Charles, until he’s in charge : HEIR TO THE THRONE

The British laws of royal succession changed in 2013. The centuries old law dictated that males in a family were ranked higher than all females, regardless of age. The current line of succession is:

1. Prince Charles (Elizabeth’s eldest son)
2. Prince William (Charles’ eldest son)
3. Prince George (William’s eldest child)
4. Princess Charlotte (William’s second-oldest child)
5. Prince Harry (Charles’ second-oldest son)

Under the old system, should Prince William have another son, then that male would have bumped Princess Charlotte down one rung of the ladder. Under the new system, Princess Charlotte gets to “hold her ground”.

42 Area of interest : BAG

The word “bag” can be used to describe something one does regularly, one’s area of interest. Crosswords, for example, have always been my bag.

43 Cold War leader Andropov : YURI

Yuri Andropov was the leader of the Soviet Union from 1982 until he passed away just 15 months after taking office. Andropov had also served as head of the KGB from 1967 to 1982, making him the longest-serving KGB chairman in its history.

The term “Cold War” was coined by the novelist George Orwell in a 1945 essay about the atomic bomb. Orwell described a world under threat of nuclear war as having a “peace that is no peace”, in a permanent state of “cold war”. The specific use of “cold war” to describe the tension between the Eastern bloc and the Western allies is attributed to a 1947 speech by Bernard Baruch, adviser to Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

44 Longbow wood sources : YEWS

Yew is the wood of choice for the longbow, a valued weapon in the history of England. The longbow is constructed with a core of yew heartwood (as the heartwood resists compression) that has a sheath of yew sapwood (as the sapwood resists stretching). The yew was in such demand for longbows that for centuries yew trees were in short supply in Britain and the wood had to be imported from all over Europe.

52 Like aspirin, briefly : OTC

Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs don’t need a prescription (Rx).

“Aspirin” used to be a brand name for the drug acetylsalicylic acid. Aspirin was introduced by the German drug company Bayer AG in the late 1800s. As part of the war reparations paid by Germany after WWI, Bayer AG lost the use of the trademark “Aspirin” (as well as the trademark Heroin!) and it became a generic term.

54 Sermon ender? : -ETTE

A sermonette is a short sermon.

56 Spot for a bowler : HAT TREE

I think that a bowler hat is usually called a derby here in the US. The bowler was first produced in 1849 in London by hatmakers Thomas and William Bowler, hence the name. The alternative name of “derby” comes from the tradition of wearing bowler hats at the Derby horse race (a major race held annually in England).

59 Kerosene cousin : COAL OIL

The terms “coal oil” and “kerosene” are sometimes used interchangeably. Even though coal oil and kerosene have similar uses, they are two distinctly different substances. Coal oil is extracted from a soft, oily coal known as cannel coal. Kerosene is refined from crude oil.

62 Like some light, fruity wines : UNOAKED

Oak barrels are sometimes used to store wine during fermentation and aging. The oak wood has a profound effect, usually changing the wine’s color, flavor and texture. If the wine is stored in stainless steel barrels, then a similar effect can be achieved by adding oak chips toe the liquid.

63 Annual February race site : DAYTONA

The coastal city of Daytona Beach in Florida is known for hard-packed sand on the beach. This makes a good surface for driving motorized vehicles, and resulted in Daytona Beach becoming a center for motorsports. The Daytona 500 is the event with the largest purse on the NASCAR calendar.

64 Croc or cobra : REPTILE

Reptiles are tetrapod (four-legged) vertebrates. That said, snakes are reptiles, and they have no legs at all. But, snakes are still categorized as reptiles because they descended from tetrapod ancestors.

Crocodiles and alligators do indeed bear a resemblance to each other, although they belong to distinct biological families. One of the main ways used to distinguish them is by their teeth and jaws. Both the upper and lower sets of teeth of a crocodile are visible when its mouth is closed, whereas only the upper teeth of an alligator are visible with the mouth shut.

“Cobra” is the name given to a group of snakes, some of which are in different families. The term is reserved for those snakes that can expand their neck ribs to create a hood. The name “cobra” is an abbreviated form of “cobra de capello” which translates from Portuguese as “snake with hood”.

Down

1 Crows : BRAGS

The verb “to crow” meaning “to exult in triumph” is imitative of the sound made by a crow, perhaps as it settles over some dead animal that it has found …

4 “Pulp Fiction” actor Rhames : VING

Ving Rhames is a Hollywood actor from New York City. I first noted him in the 1994 film “Pulp Fiction”, in which he played gangster Marsellus Wallace. Rhames also appears alongside Tom Cruise in the “Mission Impossible” series of films. In fact, only Cruise and Rhames appear in all of the “Mission Impossible” movies.

I’m not a big fan of director Quentin Tarantino. His movies are too violent for me, and the size of his ego just turns me right off. Having said that, I think “Pulp Fiction” is a remarkable film. If you can look past the violence, it’s really well written. And what a legacy it has. John Travolta’s career was on the rocks and he did the film for practically no money, and it turned out to be a re-launch for him. Uma Thurman became a top celebrity overnight from her role. Even Bruce Willis got some good out of it, putting an end to a string of poorly-received performances.

6 Boccaccio added “Divina” to the title of his masterpiece : DANTE

Dante Alighieri (usually just “Dante”) was an Italian poet of the Middle Ages. Dante’s “Divine Comedy” is widely considered to be the greatest literary work ever written in the Italian language. Dante actually gave his masterpiece the title “Comedy” (“Commedia” in Italian). Written in the early 1300s, none of Dante’s original “Comedy” manuscripts survive. Three copies made by author and poet Giovanni Boccaccio in the 1360s do survive. Boccaccio changed the title to “Divine Comedy” (“Divina Commedia”), and that title persists to this day.

Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet. Boccaccio’s most famous works are probably a collection of novellas called “The Decameron”, and a collection of biographies called “On Famous Women”.

7 Ancient : OLD AS METHUSELAH

Methuselah was the son of Enoch and the grandfather of Noah, and the man in the Bible who is reported to have lived the longest. Methuselah passed away seven days before the onset of the Great Flood, and tradition holds that he was 969 years old when he died.

9 __ to: halted, nautically : HOVE

A sailing vessel that is “hove to” is pointed into the wind, with the foresail “backed” so that it tries to push the bow away from the wind. At the same time, the mainsail works to push the bow into the wind. The end result is that the vessel remains relatively stationary. Another technique used to stop a sailboat is to “lie to”. A vessel “lying to” is usually pointed about 45-degrees off the wind, with the sails let loose, just flapping.

13 Part of HMS, at times : HIS

The ship prefix “HMS” is used by the warships of the Royal Navy, and stands for “Her/His Majesty’s Ship/Submarine”. The prefix “RMS” is used by ships of the merchant navy, and stands for “Royal Mail Ship/Steamer”.

14 Giants legend : OTT

Baseball legend Mel Ott played his whole career with the New York Giants, and even managed the team for the past few years of his playing career. At 5′ 9″, he weighed just 170 lb (I don’t think he took steroids!) and yet he was the first National League player to hit over 500 home runs. Sadly, Ott died in a car accident in New Orleans in 1958 when he was only 49 years old. And, according to Wikipedia, “Ott’s name frequently appears in crossword puzzles, on account of its letter combination and brevity.” True that …

25 Glee club voice : ALTO

A glee club is a choir group, usually of males, that sings short songs known as “glees”. A glee is a song scored for three or more voices that is performed unaccompanied.

26 Rounded tool part : PEEN

The peen of a hammer is on the head, and is the side of the head that is opposite the striking surface. Often the peen is in the shape of a hemisphere (as in a ball-peen hammer), but usually it is shaped like a claw (mainly for removing nails).

27 Trig function : SINE

The most familiar trigonometric functions are sine, cosine and tangent (abbreviated to “sin, cos and tan”). Each of these is a ratio: a ratio of two sides of a right-angled triangle. The “reciprocal” of these three functions are cosecant, secant and cotangent. The reciprocal functions are simply the inverted ratios, the inverted sine, cosine and tangent. These inverted ratios should not be confused with the “inverse” trigonometric functions e.g. arcsine, arccosine and arctangent. These inverse functions are the reverse of the sine, cosine and tangent.

29 Rival of Tiger : RORY

Rory McIlroy is a very successful golfer from Northern Ireland. McIlroy is a relatively young man and a former world number one on the circuit, so folks can’t help but compare him to Tiger Woods. He was the first European to win three different majors. Along with Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, McIlroy is one of only three people to win three majors before the age of 25.

Golfer Tiger Woods’ real name is Eldrick Tont Woods. “Tont” is a traditional Thai name. Tiger’s father Earl Woods met his second wife Kultida Punsawad in 1966, while on a tour of duty with the US Army in Thailand.

30 Giants in the 1954 horror film “Them!” : ANTS

“Them!” is a 1954 science fiction movie about giant ants attacking humans after receiving a dose of nuclear radiation in the New Mexico desert. “Them!” was the first of a whole host of “giant bug” films, of which I think I’ve seen … none …

32 Smidgen : IOTA

Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet, and one that gave rise to our letters I and J. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small, as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.

Our word “smidgen” (sometimes shortened to “smidge”) is used to describe a small amount. The term might come from the Scots word “smitch” that means the same thing or “a small insignificant person”.

35 Owner of Clairol and CoverGirl : COTY

Coty is a producer of beauty products that was founded in 1904 in Paris.

Clairol had been around since 1931 selling hair coloring products to salons, and then hit the big time with the introduction of a one-step hair coloring product for use at home. As famous as the product was the “does she … or doesn’t she” advertising campaign. Six years after the launch of the campaign, 70% of women in the US were coloring their hair.

CoverGirl is an American cosmetics company that was founded in 1961. CoverGirl’s primary marketing technique is to provide cosmetics to “cover girls”, celebrities who regularly appear on the front cover of magazines.

38 London-based financial corp. founded in Hong Kong : HSBC

HSBC is a UK-based financial services company that was the largest bank in Europe in 2018. It can trace its history back to 1865, when it was founded in British Hong Kong as the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank. The initialism “HSBC” stood for the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

39 Short space saver : ET AL

“Et alii” (et al.) is the equivalent of “et cetera” (etc.), with “et cetera” being used in place of a list of objects, and “et alii” used for a list of names. In fact, “et al.” can stand for “et alii” (a group of males, or males and females), “et aliae” (a group of women) and “et alia” (a group of neuter nouns, or a group of people where the intent is to retain gender-neutrality).

40 “It is the green-eyed monster … ” speaker : IAGO

Iago is the schemer in Shakespeare’s “Othello”. He is a soldier who fought alongside Othello and feels hard done by, missing out on promotion. Iago hatches a plot designed to discredit his rival Cassio by insinuating that Cassio is having an affair with Desdemona, Othello’s wife.

William Shakespeare was one of the first to associate the color green with envy. He called jealousy the “green-eyed monster” in his play “Othello”.

46 Brosnan role in ’80s TV : STEELE

The eighties detective show “Remington Steele” stars Stephanie Zimbalist as a private detective Laura Holt, and Pierce Brosnan as the handsome bad boy Remington Steele, who’s really a good boy. The show successfully melds the detective genre with elements of romantic comedy.

Pierce Brosnan is an Irish actor from Drogheda, a town north of Dublin. Brosnan’s big break in the US came when he was given the title role in the eighties television show “Remington Steele”. Famously, he also played James Bond on the big screen. Brosnan’s first appearance as Bond was in 1995’s “Golden Eye”. He was asked to take the role much earlier, in 1987, but Brosnan couldn’t get out of his contract for “Remington Steele”. Brosnan was the fifth actor to play Bond, after Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton.

48 Yazoo region : DELTA

A river delta is a triangular landform at the mouth of a river created by the deposition of sediment. The Nile Delta in Northern Egypt is one of the world’s largest river deltas, and covers 150 miles of coastline on the Mediterranean. The most famous “delta” in the United States isn’t actually a delta at all. The Mississippi Delta is an alluvial plain that lies 300 miles north of the river’s actual delta, yet it is known as the “Mississippi River Delta”. Very confusing …

The Yazoo River in the state of Mississippi was named by the French explorer La Salle after the Yazoo Native American tribe who lived near the river’s mouth. It was in the Yazoo River that a naval mine was used for the first time to sink a ship, in 1862. The Confederates successfully used a mine to sink the Union’s ironclad USS Cairo during the Civil War.

57 Drink copiously : TOPE

To tope is to drink alcohol excessively and habitually.

58 “Ciao!” : TA-TA!

“Ciao” is Italian for “‘bye”. “Arrivederci” is more formal, and translates as “goodbye”.

59 Streaming alternatives : CDS

The compact disc (CD) was developed jointly by Philips and Sony as a medium for storing and playing sound recordings. When the first commercial CD was introduced back in 1982, a CD’s storage capacity was far greater than the amount of data that could be stored on the hard drive of personal computers available at that time.

The post LA Times Crossword 21 Dec 19, Saturday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 14m 11s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

11 “Modern Family” network : ABC TV

“Modern Family” is a marvelous television show shown on ABC since 2009. The show’s format is that of a “mockumentary”, with the cast often addressing the camera directly. In that respect “Modern Family” resembles two other excellent shows: “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation”, both of which might also be described as “mockumentaries”.

16 Bush found in Florida : JEB

Jeb Bush is the son of President George H. W. Bush, and the brother of President George W. Bush. I always thought that Jeb was an American nickname for James or Joseph but I must be wrong, because George and Barbara’s son John Ellis Bush is called “Jeb”. A kind blog reader has suggested the name “Jeb” may have been chosen as JEB are the initials of John Ellis Bush.

19 Taiwanese superstar Jay : CHOU

Jay Chou is a musician, singer and actor who is considered a superstar in his native Taiwan. He made his Hollywood acting debut in the 2011 film “The Green Hornet”, in which he played the title character’s sidekick Kato.

20 Indiana Big Ten school : PURDUE

The Purdue Boilermakers are the athletic teams of Purdue University. The school picked up the nickname in 1891 after a football game with fellow Indiana school, Wabash College. A subsequent newspaper headline referred to Purdue as the “boiler makers”, a reference to the engineering education prevalent in Purdue at the time. And the name stuck …

21 Anne of comedy : MEARA

Anne Meara married fellow comedic actor Jerry Stiller in 1954. The couple’s children are actors Ben and Amy Stiller. Meara co-starred with Carroll O’Connor and Martin Balsam in the eighties sitcom “Archie Bunker’s Place”, a spin-off from “All in the Family”.

22 Kerfuffle : ADO

“Kerfuffle” comes from the Scottish “curfuffle”, with both words meaning “disruption”.

23 *Without hesitation : HOOK, LINE AND SINKER (Captain Hook)

Captain Hook is the bad guy in “Peter Pan”, the famous play by J. M. Barrie. Hook is Peter Pan’s sworn enemy, as Pan cut off Hook’s hand causing it to be replaced by a “hook”. It is implied in the play that Hook attended Eton College, just outside London. Hook’s last words are “Floreat Etona”, which is Eton College’s motto. Barrie openly acknowledged that the Hook character is based on Herman Melville’s Captain Ahab from the novel “Moby Dick”.

26 “Young Sheldon” network : CBS

“Young Sheldon” is a spinoff prequel to the hit sitcom “The Big Bang Theory” that follows the life of a 9-year-old Sheldon Cooper. The title character is played by child actor Iain Armitage. Jim Parsons, who plays Sheldon on “The Big Bang Theory”, is the narrator for the spinoff, and is also an executive producer. In another link between the shows, young Sheldon’s Mom is played by actress Zoe Perry. Perry is the real-life daughter of Laurie Metcalf, who plays “old” Sheldon’s mom in the original series.

27 Big-eyed bird : OWL

Much of an owl’s diet consists of small mammals. As a result, humans have used owls for centuries to control rodent populations, usually by placing a nest box for owls on a property. Despite the fact that owls and humans live together in relative harmony, owls have been known to attack humans from time to time. Celebrated English bird photographer Eric Hosking lost an eye when attacked by a tawny owl that he was trying to photograph. Hosking wrote a 1970 autobiography with the wry title “An Eye for a Bird”.

28 Johns in Scotland : IANS

The name “John” translates into Scottish as “Ian”, into Russian as “Ivan”, into Italian as “Giovanni”, into Spanish as “Juan”, into Welsh as “Evan”, and into Irish as “Seán”.

29 Thought of Monet : IDEE

French artist Claude Monet was one of the founders of the Impressionist movement, and indeed the term “Impressionism” comes from the title of his 1872 painting “Impression, Sunrise”. That work depicts the port of Le Havre, which was Monet’s hometown. Later in his life, Monet purchased a house in Giverny, and famously installed lily ponds and a Japanese bridge in the property’s extensive gardens. He spent two decades painting the water lily ponds, producing his most famous works.

30 Farm team links : YOKES

A yoke is a wooden beam used between a pair of animals so that they are forced to work together.

32 *Opponent of the U.S. entry into WWII : AMERICA FIRSTER (Captain America)

The America First Committee (AFC) was the most vocal organized group to oppose the US’s entry into World War II. It was founded in 1940 by several active students, including future US president Gerald Ford. The group’s most visible spokesperson was famed aviator Charles Laindburgh. The AFC disbanded in 1941, just three days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

41 “Speed-the-Plow” playwright : MAMET

“Speed-the-Plow” is a play by David Mamet, and a satire about the American movie business. Later, Mamet was to write the screenplay for a film called “Wag the Dog”, a satire about Hollywood.

45 Upbraids : SCOLDS

To upbraid is to reproach, find fault with. The term “upbraid” is of Swedish origin.

48 *”Sheik of … burning sand” in a Ray Stevens hit : AHAB THE ARAB (Captain Ahab)

“Ahab the Arab” is a 1962 novelty song that was most famously recorded by Ray Stevens. Despite the title, the hero of the song is Clyde the camel.

51 Michelangelo work : PIETA

The Pietà is a representation of the Virgin Mary holding in her arms the dead body of her son Jesus. The most famous Pietà is undoubtedly the sculpted rendition by Michelangelo that is located in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. That particular sculpture is thought to be the only work that Michelangelo signed. In some depictions of the Pietà, Mary and her son are surrounded by other figures from the New Testament. Such depictions are known as Lamentations.

52 Curable aliment : HAM

An aliment is an item of food, something that nourishes. The term comes from the Latin “alimentum” meaning “nourishment”.

55 “Death, be not proud” poet : DONNE

John Donne was one of England’s most celebrated poets, and was active at the start of the 17th century. He spent much of his life in poverty and even spent a short time in prison for having married his wife without procuring the appropriate permissions. After his release, his wife bore him 12 children in 16 years, passing away a few days after the twelfth child was born.

I don’t know about here in America, but at school in Ireland we all had to learn John Donne’s “Holy Sonnet X”, also known as “Death, Be Not Proud”.

56 Stylish Christian : DIOR

Christian Dior was a French fashion designer. As WWII approached, Dior was called up by the French military, drawing a temporary halt to his career in fashion. He left the army in 1942 and for the duration of the war designed clothes for wives of Nazi officers and French collaborators. After the war his designs became so popular that he helped to re-establish Paris as the fashion center of the world.

57 Espresso foam : CREMA

“Crema” is the name given to that brown foam that sits on the top of a freshly prepared cup of espresso. There’s no milk involved; just foamy coffee.

Espresso is made by forcing extremely hot water, under pressure, through finely ground coffee beans. The result is a thick and concentrated coffee drink, which contains quite a lot of solids and a lot of foam. An espresso machine was first patented in 1884 in Italy, although it was a machine to make the beverage in bulk. The first patent for a machine that made individual measures was applied for in 1901, also in Italy.

59 “Death Wish” star Charles : BRONSON

Actor Charles Bronson was was born Charels Buchinsky. He worked in the coal mines of the Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania, starting from the age of 10 years. He left the mines in 1943 to enlist in the US Air Force, served as an aerial gunner, and was awarded a Purple Heart for wounds he received in combat mission against the Japanese home islands. When his acting career took off, Bronson mainly got tough-guy roles in films such as “The Magnificent Seven”, “The Great Escape”, “Battle of the Bulge”, “The Dirty Dozen” and (most famously) the “Death Wish” series. Bronson was married for many years to English actress Jill Ireland, until her death in 1990.

The “Death Wish” series of movies stars Charles Bronson as a vigilante patrolling the streets of New York dishing out his perfunctory form of justice. The original 1974 “Death Wish” film was based on a 1972 novel of the same name by Brian Garfield.

65 Unkempt : SHABBY

The word “unkempt” means “disheveled, not well-combed”. It derives from the Old English word “cemban” meaning “to comb”. The opposite to the more common “unkempt” is … “kempt”.

66 Automation prefix : ROBO-

Karel Čapek was a Czech writer noted for his works of science fiction. Čapek’s 1921 play “R.U.R.” is remembered in part for introducing the world to the word “robot”. The words “automaton” and “android” were already in use, but Capek gave us “robot” from the original Czech “robota” meaning “forced labor”. The acronym “R.U.R.”, in the context of the play, stands for “Rossum’s Universal Robots”.

67 *Back-to-basics food regimen : CAVEMAN DIET (Captain Caveman)

The paleolithic (or “paleo, caveman”) diet is a fad diet that became popular in the 2000s. The idea is to eat wild plants and animals that would have been available to humans during the Paleolithic era (roughly the Stone Age). This period precedes the introduction of agriculture and the domestication of animals. As a result, someone on the diet avoids consuming grains, legumes, dairy and processed foods. The diet consists mainly of lean meat (about 45-65% of the total calorie intake), non-starchy vegetables, fruits, berries and nuts.

“Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels” is a Hanna-Barbera animated TV show that aired from 1978 to 1980. The show was a parody on the crime drama “Charlie’s Angels”, that was also airing around that time. Captain Caveman was voiced by the ubiquitous Mel Blanc.

71 “J’Accuse…!” author : ZOLA

The most famous work by French writer Émile Zola is his 1898 open letter “J’Accuse!” written to French president Félix Faure. The letter was published on the front page of a leading Paris newspaper, and accused the government of anti-Semitism in its handling of the trial of Captain Alfred Dreyfus. Dreyfus was a Jewish military officer in the French army, falsely accused and convicted of spying for Germany. Even after the error was discovered, the government refused to back down and let Dreyfus rot away on Devil’s Island rather than admit to the mistake. It wasn’t until 1906, 12 years after the wrongful conviction, that Dreyfus was freed and reinstated, largely due to the advocacy of Emile Zola.

72 Middle-earth tongue : ELVISH

Middle-earth is the setting for J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy novels “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” series.

74 Modeling agent? : EPOXY

That would an epoxy resin used as an adhesive when constructing a model.

75 Rubber glove materials : LATEXES

Latex is a naturally occurring polymer made by some plants, that can also be made synthetically. About one in ten of the flowering plants in the world make the milky fluid called latex. It serves as a defense against insects and is exuded when a plant is injured or attacked by insects. Latex is collected commercially and is the source of natural rubber, which can be used to make things such as gloves, condoms and balloons.

77 Kavanaugh colleague : ALITO

Associate Justice Samuel Alito was nominated to the US Supreme Court by President George W. Bush. Alito is the second Italian-American to serve on the Supreme Court (Antonin Scalia was the first). Alito studied law at Yale and while in his final year he left the country for the first time in his life, heading to Italy to work on his thesis about the Italian legal system.

Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh was nominated by President Donald Trump to succeed Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh took the oath of office in 2018, after what can only be described as a contentious confirmation hearing. He has been married since 2004 to Ashley Estes, who served as Personal Secretary to President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2004.

79 Chile con __: cheesy Tex-Mex sauce : QUESO

“Queso” is Spanish for “cheese”.

81 Brit. medal : DSO

The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a British military award that is usually presented to officers with the rank of major or higher.

84 *Moments requiring decisive action : CRUNCH TIMES (Cap’n Crunch)

The first Cap’n Crunch commercials aired in 1963, at the time the product line was launched. The Cap’n’s full name is Captain Horatio Magellan Crunch, would you believe? Crunch’s voice was provided for many years by Daws Butler, the same voice actor who gave us Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound. Cap’n Crunch is commander of the S.S. Guppy.

90 Wasatch dweller, perhaps : UTAHAN

The Wasatch Range is at the western edge of the Rocky Mountains and runs through Utah. “Wasatch” is a Ute word meaning “mountain pass”.

92 Believer : THEIST

Broadly speaking, theism is the belief that there is at least one god. The term “theism” is also used to describe the belief in just one god, although the term “monotheism” is perhaps more accurate. Followers of Christianity, Judaism and Islam would all be classified as theists or monotheists.

93 Zilch : NADA

We use the term “zilch” to mean “nothing”. Our current usage evolved in the sixties, before which the term was used to describe “meaningless speech”. There was a comic character called Mr. Zilch in the 1930s in “Ballyhoo” magazine. Mr. Zilch’s name probably came from the American college slang “Joe Zilch” that was used in the early 1900s for “an insignificant person”.

94 Greek letter that inspired the euro symbol : EPSILON

Epsilon is the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet. The uppercase epsilon looks very similar to our Latin E.

The euro sign (€) looks like a letter C, but with two horizontal lines drawn across the middle. Inspiration for the design comes from the Greek letter epsilon.

97 Aptly named Vt. ski resort : MT SNOW

Mount Snow is a ski area on the peak of the same name in Vermont’s Green Mountains.

100 *Groups that pervert justice : KANGAROO COURTS (Captain Kangaroo)

A kangaroo court is one that acts with disregard to law, justice and accepted norms. The exact origin of the phrase “kangaroo court” seems unclear, as there are lots of claimed etymologies. The rationale for the use of “kangaroo” in describing such a court might be that prosecutors leap like a kangaroo over exculpatory evidence. Another explanation is that such a court might be in the pocket of an individual, in the metaphorical pouch of a kangaroo.

“Captain Kangaroo” is a TV series for children that CBS aired for a long, long time. The show was first broadcast in 1955, and the last episode aired nearly 30 years later in 1984. The title character was played by Bob Keeshan. Apparently Keeshan had to wear heavy makeup in the early years to make him old enough for his role. The show ran so long that Keeshan had to use makeup to look younger in the latter years.

104 Beatnik’s “Got it!” : I’M HIP!

The term “beatnik” was coined by journalist Herb Caen in 1958 when he used it to describe the stereotypical young person of the beat generation that was oft associated with the writer Jack Kerouac.

106 Oscilloscope knob : DIAL

An oscilloscope is an electronic instrument that visually shows the variation in voltage of an electrical signal.

108 PC brain : CPU

The central processing unit (CPU) is the main component on the motherboard of a computer. The CPU is the part of the computer that carries out most of the functions required by a program. Nowadays you can get CPUs in everything from cars to telephones.

111 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame architect : PEI

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame can be visited on the shores of Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was created in 1983 and started inducting artists in 1986. The Foundation didn’t get a home until the museum was dedicated in Cleveland in 1995. I had the great privilege of visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a few years ago and really enjoyed myself. The magnificent building was designed by famed architect I. M. Pei.

112 1865 classic not written for the characters that start the answers to starred clues : O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!

“O Captain! My Captain!” is an 1865 poem by Walt Whitman, an elegy written about President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.

O Captain! My Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:

But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

119 Action star Lundgren : DOLPH

Dolph Lundgren is an actor and martial artist from Sweden. Lundgren’s debut role was a small one, acting as a KGB henchman in the James Bond movie “A View to a Kill”. His big break was starring opposite Sylvester Stallone in “Rocky IV”, playing a scary Russian boxer named Ivan Drago.

123 “Hasta la vista!” : SEE YA!

“Hasta la vista” is Spanish for “goodbye”. The phrase translates literally as “until the seeing”, i.e. “goodbye until we see each other again”.

124 Digestion aid : ENZYME

The names of enzymes usually include the suffix “-ase”. Enzymes are basically catalysts, chemicals that act to increase the rate of a particular chemical reaction. For example, starches will break down into sugars over time, especially under the right conditions. However, in the presence of the enzyme amylase (found in saliva) this production of sugar happens very, very quickly.

125 Tender in Havana : PESO

Cuba is the only country in the world that has two official currencies. The Cuban peso (CUP) is referred to as the “national currency”. Government workers are paid in CUPs, and CUPs can be used to pay for government-provided services and price-controlled items such as fruit and vegetables. There is also the Cuban convertible peso (CUC) that was introduced in 1994, when its value was pegged to the US dollar. Most products available in stores are imported, and have to be purchased with CUCs. Cubans with access to CUCs, like hotel workers interfacing with tourists, they tend to have better lifestyles than government workers in general.

Havana is the capital city of Cuba. The city was founded by the Spanish in the early 1500s after which it became a strategic location for Spain’s exploration and conquest of the Americas. In particular, Havana was used as a stopping-off point for treasure-laden ships on the return journey to Spain.

Down

1 Smart speaker brand : ECHO

Amazon Echo is a voice-controlled hardware device that can be used to provide several services including playing radio programs and music, recording of shopping lists, and managing a calendar. The device just sits in the home listening, until it hears a “wake up” command.

5 Drone shelter : APIARY

An apiary is an area where bees are kept, apiculture is beekeeping, and an apiphobe has a fear of bees. The Latin word for “bee” is “apis”.

Drone bees and drone ants are fertile males of the species whose sole role in life seems to be to mate with a queen.

6 Largest division of Islam : SUNNI

The Islamic sects of Sunni and Shia Muslims differ in the belief of who should have taken over leadership of the Muslim faithful after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. Followers of the Sunni tradition agree with the decision that the Prophet Muhammad’s confidante Abu Bakr was the right choice to become the first Caliph of the Islamic nation. Followers of the Shia tradition believe that leadership should have stayed within the Prophet Muhammad’s own family, and favoured the Prophet’s son-in-law Ali.

7 Dramatic mus. marking : CRESC

Crescendo (cresc.) is an Italian word meaning “gradually becoming louder”, and is often seen on a musical score. The term with the opposite meaning is “diminuendo” (dim.).

8 Writer LeShan : EDA

Eda LeShan wrote several nonfiction books including “When Your Child Drives You Crazy” and “The Conspiracy Against Childhood”. LeShan was also host of the PBS television show “How Do Your Children Grow?”

10 Youngest of nine Kennedy siblings : TED

Ted Kennedy was the youngest boy in a family that included older brothers Joseph Jr. (killed in action in WWII), John (assassinated) and Robert (assassinated). Ted went into the US Senate in 1962 in a special election held after his brother became US President. He remained in the Senate until he passed away in 2009, making Ted Kennedy the fourth-longest-serving Senator in history. The 2017 movie “Chappaquiddick” gives some insight, albeit somewhat speculative, about the darker side of Ted Kennedy’s life. It focuses on the events surrounding the infamous Chappaquiddick incident in which Kennedy drove off a bridge, resulting in the death of his 28-year-old passenger Mary Jo Kopechne.

12 “John Brown’s Body” poet : BENET

Stephen Vincent Benét was an author best known for his lengthy narrative poem “John Brown’s Body” that was first published in 1928, and for which he won a Pulitzer Prize. Benét also wrote the story “The Sobbin’ Women” which was later adapted into the musical “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”.

14 Numero di colori on the Italian flag : TRE

In Italian, the “numero di colori” (number of colors) on the Italian flag is “tre” (three).

15 Verb associated with mileage : VARY

According to all those ads for automobiles, “your mileage may vary”.

16 *Food chain with a roundheaded spokesman : JACK IN THE BOX (Captain Jack)

The Jack in the Box fast-food chain of restaurants was founded in San Diego in 1951. Back then, Jack in the Box was the first chain to focus on drive-through service, and the first to use a two-way intercom system for placing orders.

17 Stefan of tennis : EDBERG

Stefan Edberg is a Swedish tennis player, and former world number one. Sadly, one part of Edberg’s legacy is his involvement in a freak accident at the 1983 US Open. A ball struck by Edberg hit one of the linesmen causing him to topple off his chair, fracturing his skull as he hit the ground. That injury was fatal.

24 Legal encumbrance : LIEN

A lien is the right that one has to retain or secure someone’s property until a debt is paid. When an individual takes out a car loan, for example, the lending bank is usually a lien holder. The bank releases the lien on the car when the loan is paid in full.

31 Elevator guy : OTIS

Elevators (simple hoists) have been around for a long time. What Elisha Otis did was come up with the “safety elevator”, a design that he showcased at the 1853 World’s Fair in New York. At the Fair, Otis would stand on an elevated platform in front of onlookers and order his assistant to cut the single rope holding up the platform. His safety system kicked in when the platform had only fallen a few inches, amazing the crowd. After this demonstration, the orders came rolling in.

33 Ancient Dead Sea kingdom : MOAB

In the Bible, Moab was the first son of Lot, and the founder of the Kingdom of Moab. Moab was located on a plateau above the Dead Sea.

34 Dino’s love : AMORE

“That’s Amore” is a pop standard written by Harry Warren and Jack Brooks in 1952. “That’s Amore” became the signature song for Dean Martin after he sang it (with some help from Jerry Lewis) in the 1953 comedy film “The Caddy”. “When the moon hits you eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore …”

Dean Martin was the stage name of singer and actor Dino Crocetti. Martin was famous for his numerous hit songs such as “That’s Amore”, “Volare” and Everybody Loves Somebody”, as well as his film career with Jerry Lewis. Off screen, Martin was a member of the famous “Rat Pack” as he was a great friend of Frank Sinatra. Martin was always associated with Las Vegas and when he passed away in 1995 the lights on the strip were dimmed in his honor.

35 FDR’s dog : FALA

Fala was the famous Scottish Terrier that was ever present at the side of President Franklin D. Roosevelt for many years. The terrier was a Christmas gift to the president from his cousin, who had named the dog Big Boy while she trained him as a puppy. President Roosevelt renamed him after an ancestor of his from Falahill in Scotland, so the dog’s full name was Murray the Outlaw of Falahill. Fala lived on for several years after the president’s passing. I’ve had the privilege of visiting the gravesites of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt in Hyde Park, New York, and Fala is buried just a few feet away from his master.

36 Cinephile’s website : IMDB

The website called the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) was launched in 1990, and is now owned by Amazon.com. It’s a great site for answering question one has about movies and actors.

37 “Hud” director Martin : RITT

Martin Ritt is best remembered as a television and movie director. During the bad old days of the “Red Scare”, Ritt was working in television until he found himself on a blacklist for supposed support of Communist causes. He turned to the theater for work until the Red Scare had run its course, and then moved into the world of film. Some of his best known movies are “Hud”, “The Great White Hope” and “Norma Rae”.

The modern-day, western movie called “Hud” was released in 1963 and has become a classic. “Hud” stars Paul Newman (in the title role) and Patricia Neal and is an adaptation of a novel by Larry McMurtry called “Horseman, Pass By”. Patricia Neal’s role in the film was relatively small, yet her performance was enough to earn her an Academy Award for Best Actress.

45 Medicinal shrub : SENNA

Sennas are plants in the legume family. Historically, the pods and leaves of the senna plant have been used as a laxative.

46 Spam holder : CAN

Spam is a precooked meat product that is sold in cans. It was introduced by Hormel Foods in 1937. The main meat ingredients are pork shoulder meat and ham. The name “Spam” was chosen as the result of a competition at Hormel, with the winner earning himself a hundred dollars. According to the company, the derivation of the name “Spam” is a secret known by only a few former executives, but the speculation is that it stands for “spiced ham” or “shoulders of pork and ham”. Spam is particularly popular in Hawaii, so popular that it is sometimes referred to as “the Hawaiian steak”.

47 Garlicky sauce : AIOLI

To the purist, especially in Provence in the South of France, aioli is prepared just by grinding garlic with olive oil. However, other ingredients are often added to the mix, particularly egg yolks.

49 NFL stats : TDS

Touchdown (TD)

50 Bootlegger’s haul : HOOCH

In the Klondike gold rush, a favorite tipple of the miners was “Hoochinoo”, a liquor made by the native Alaskans. Soon after “hooch” (also “hootch”) was adopted as a word for cheap whiskey.

To bootleg is to make or smuggle alcoholic drinks illegally. The term arose in the late 1800s as slang for the practice of concealing a flask of liquor down the leg of a high boot. The term has been extended to mean the illegal production and sale of just about anything.

51 Variegated : PIED

Something described as pied is patchy or blotchy in color, piebald. The term comes from the Middle English “pie”, an old name for the magpie, and is a reference to the bird’s black and white plumage.

53 Mosey : AMBLE

“Mosey” is American slang for “amble”, and is of unknown origin.

54 Chichén Itzá builders : MAYAS

Chichén Itzá is a Mayan ruin located in the Mexican state of Yucatán. It is the second-most visited archaeological site in the country (after the ancient city of Teotihuacan). Chichén Itzá has seen a surge in the number of visitors since the development of nearby Cancún as a tourist destination.

58 Bulldoze : RAZE

The term “bulldoze” comes from the noun “bulldose”, which meant “a severe beating” back in the late 1800s. A bulldose was “a dose fit for a bull”, a beating designed to intimidate mainly black Republican voters in the 1876 US presidential election.

61 *1990 Paul Simon song, with “The” : … OBVIOUS CHILD (Captain Obvious)

“The Obvious Child” is a 1990 Paul Simon song that was released on his studio album “The Rhythm of the Saints”. The song appears in a 2014 film that bears the same name, i.e. “Obvious Child”.

63 Industrial settler? : SMOG

“Smog” is a portmanteau formed by melding “smoke” and “fog”. The term was first used to describe the air around London in the early 1900s. Several cities around the world have a reputation of being particularly smoggy. For example, the most smog-plagued city in Latin America is Mexico City, which is located in a highland “bowl” that traps industrial and vehicle pollution.

68 Like the Impossible Burger : VEGAN

Heme (also “haem”) is an organic structure containing iron, and is a component of hemoglobin, the protein that transports primarily oxygen around the body. It is the “heme” in “hemoglobin” that binds the oxygen atoms. A plant-derived version of heme is the magic ingredient in the famous Impossible Burger that has become so popular lately on vegetarian menus.

69 Heroic poem : EPOS

“Epos” is a Greek word for a story or a poem. We have absorbed the term into English with the same meaning. We also use it in English to mean “epic”, i.e. a long narrative poetic work featuring heroic deeds and ventures.

73 San Bernardino Co. is part of it : SOCAL

Southern California (SoCal)

San Bernardino, California is located about 60 miles east of Los Angeles. The city was named for the Italian priest and Franciscan missionary Bernardino of Siena. One of San Bernardino’s claims to fame is that was home to the world’s first McDonald’s. It is now home to the McDonald’s Museum, which is located on the site of that first restaurant.

76 Tater __ : TOT

Ore-Ida’s founders came up with the idea for Tater Tots when they were deciding what to do with residual cuts of potato. They chopped up the leftovers, added flour and seasoning, and extruded the mix through a large hole making a sausage that they cut into small cylinders. We eat 70 million pounds of this extruded potato every year!

78 Bing Crosby’s role in “Robin and the 7 Hoods” : ALAN-A-DALE

According to the legend of Robin Hood, Alan-a-Dale was a member of Robin’s outlaw band of Merry Men. Based on the legend, Alan-a-Dale was a wandering minstrel, a lute player.

“Robin and the 7 Hoods” is a 1964 movie musical starring Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin. The film is basically a loose retelling of the legend of Robin Hood set in the Chicago underworld of the 1920s. Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn wrote the song “My Kind Of Town” for the soundtrack, and I reckon that the song was a lot more successful than the movie …

79 Westernmost South American capital : QUITO

The full name of the capital city of Ecuador is San Francisco de Quito. Quito is the second highest administrative capital city in the world, after La Paz, Bolivia.

84 One-named singer : CHER

“Cher” is the stage name used by singer and actress Cherilyn Sarkisian. Formerly one half of husband-wife duo Sonny & Cher, she is often referred to as the Goddess of Pop. In her acting career, Cher was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar of 1984 for her performance in “Silkwood”. She went further in 1988 and won the season’s Best Actress Oscar for playing Loretta Castorini in “Moonstruck”.

85 Vegas rival : RENO

The city of Reno’s economy took off when open gambling was legalized in Nevada in 1931. Within a short time, a syndicate had built the Bank Club in Reno, which was the largest casino in the world at the time.

86 Caltech, e.g.: Abbr. : INST

Caltech is more properly known as the California Institute of Technology, and is a private research-oriented school in Pasadena. One of Caltech’s responsibilities is the management and operation of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. If you watch “The Big Bang Theory” on television like me, you might know that the four lead characters all work at Caltech.

87 Guy’s grooming portmanteau : MANSCAPE

The practice of men removing ot trimming their body hair is known as “manscaping”, a portmanteau of “man” and “landscaping”.

88 Pre-1868 Tokyo : EDO

“Edo” is the former name of the Japanese city of Tokyo. Edo was the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate, a feudal regime that ruled from 1603 until 1868. The shogun lived in the magnificent Edo Castle. Some parts of the original castle remain and today’s Tokyo Imperial Palace, the residence of the Emperor of Japan, was built on its grounds.

89 Jug band instrument : SAW

A jug band features a jug player, as well as others playing ordinary objects perhaps modified to make sound. One such instrument is the washtub bass. The “tub” is a stringed instrument that uses a metal washtub as a resonator. A washboard might also be used in a jug band, as a percussion instrument. The ribbed surface of the washboard is usually scraped using thimbles on the ends of the fingers.

A handsaw can be used as a musical instrument by holding the handle between the knees, bending the blade and then using a bow along the blade’s non-serrated edge. The pitch of the sound produced is varied by changing the curve of the blade.

91 __ bar : TIKI

The world’s first tiki bar was called “Don the Beachcomber”, and was opened in L.A. in 1933 by Ernest Gantt (also known as “Donn Beach”). The bar became famous for its exotic rum cocktails. Gantt was called to serve in WWII, and the business expanded dramatically under his ex-wife’s management so that there was a 160-restaurant chain waiting for Gantt when he returned stateside.

94 Auto-injector brand : EPIPEN

EpiPen is a brand of epinephrine auto-injector. An EpiPen delivers a measured dose of epinephrine, which is a common treatment for an extreme allergic reaction.

95 Big citrus fruit : POMELO

A pomelo is a very large, pear-shaped citrus fruit native to Southeast Asia.

96 __ Raisin, British whodunit sleuth named for a British writer : AGATHA

The “Agatha Raisin” series of novels were authored by M. C. Beaton, which is a pen name used by writer Marion Chesney, who also writes the “Hamish Macbeth” series of mystery stories. Raisin is a retired public-relations agent who solves murders, and who eventually sets up her own detective agency. I haven’t read any of the books, but I am a big fan of the radio play adaption in which Penelope Keith plays Raisin. I also enjoy the TV adaptation in which Ashley Jensen takes on the title role.

98 Something under the sink : TRAP

Most sinks in a home have a P-trap in the outlet pipe that empties into the sewer line. This P-trap has at its heart a U-bend that retains a small amount of water after the sink is emptied. This plug of water serves as a seal to prevent sewer gases entering into the home. By virtue of its design, the U-bend can also capture any heavy objects (like an item of jewelry) that might fall through the plughole. But the “trapping” of fallen objects is secondary to the P-trap’s main function of “trapping” sewer gases.

101 Chilly : NIPPY

Something cold might be described as “nippy”, having a “biting” chill.

103 Logical “razor” creator : OCCAM

In the world of philosophy, a razor is a technique used to eliminate those explanations for a phenomenon that are unlikely. The most famous such technique is Occam’s razor, which asserts that the simpler explanations are the most likely. The use of the term “razor” comes from the concept of “shaving off” what is less likely to be true.

113 Iowa college : COE

Coe College is a private school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa that was founded in 1851. Coe is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.

114 Spleen : IRE

“To vent one’s spleen” means to vent one’s anger, perhaps by shouting and screaming. This expression is rooted in the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks. The Greeks believed that a person’s temperament was dictated by the balance of the body’s four “humors”. The spleen produced the humor known as yellow bile, which was associated with an aggressive and energetic personality.

116 “Les __” : MIZ

The 1980 musical “Les Misérables” is an adaptation of the 1862 novel of the same name by Victor Hugo. The show opened in London in 1985, and is the longest running musical in the history of London’s West End. My wife and I saw “Les Miz” in the Queen’s Theatre in London many years ago, but were only able to get tickets in the very back row. The theater seating is very steep, so the back row of the balcony is extremely high over the stage. One of the big events in the storyline is the building of a street barricade over which the rebels fight. At the height we were seated we could see the stagehands behind the barricade, sitting drinking Coke, even smoking cigarettes. On cue, the stagehands would get up and catch a dropped rifle, or an actor who had been shot. It was pretty comical. I didn’t really enjoy the show that much, to be honest. Some great songs, but the musical version of the storyline just didn’t seem to hang together for me.

117 Stout source : TAP

The term “stout” was first used for a type of beer in the 1600s when was used to describe a “strong, stout” brew, and not necessarily a dark beer as it is today.

The post LA Times Crossword 22 Dec 19, Sunday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 4m 38s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6 Do some angling : FISH

We use the verb “to angle” to mean “to fish” because “angel” is an Old English word meaning “hook”.

10 __ Benedict: brunch choice : EGGS

Eggs Benedict is a dish traditionally served at an American breakfast or brunch. It usually consists of a halved English muffin topped with ham and poached eggs, all smothered in Hollandaise sauce. The exact origin of the dish is apparently debated, but one story is that it is named for a Wall Street stockbroker called Lemuel Benedict. In 1894 in the Waldorf Hotel, Benedict ordered toast, poached eggs, crispy bacon and Hollandaise sauce as a cure for his hangover. The hotel’s maître d’ Oscar Tschirky was impressed by the dish and added the variant that we use today to the hotel’s menu, naming it for the gentleman who had first ordered it.

16 Harp constellation : LYRA

Lyra (Latin for “lyre, harp, lute”) is a constellation that includes the star Vega, one of the brightest stars in the night sky. The constellation Lyra is surrounded by the neighboring constellations of Draco, Hercules, Vulpecula and Cygnus.

20 Rainbow site : SKY

Sunlight shining through airborne water droplets can produce rainbows. The water droplets act as little prisms, dispersing the white light into its constituent colors. Sometimes we see double rainbows. If we look carefully, we can see that the order of the colors in the first and second arcs is reversed.

21 Indian or Arctic : OCEAN

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world’s oceans, and accounts for almost 20% of the Earth’s surface. It was named for the country of India, which forms much of the ocean’s northern boundary.

The Arctic Ocean is in the north polar region, and is almost completely covered by sea ice in the winter. I think it’s common knowledge that the amount of sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean during the summer has been dropping in recent times, as a consequence of climate change.

22 Blackjack player’s request to a dealer : HIT ME

“Stand” and “hit me” are instructions to the dealer in the card game Blackjack. The instruction “stand” means, I don’t want any more cards, I’ll use these. The instruction “hit me” means “please deal me another card”.

23 The “P” in POTUS: Abbr. : PRES

President of the United States (POTUS)

24 “8 Mile” rapper : EMINEM

The movie “8 Mile” stars Eminem as a young rap artist in Detroit, and feature the song “Lose Yourself” that was performed and written by Eminem. The song won Eminem the 2002 Oscar for Best Original Song, making him the first rap artist to be so honored.

29 Beltway region, briefly : DC AREA

The phrase “inside the Beltway” is used to refer to the infrastructure and politics of Washington, D.C. The Beltway in this case is Interstate 495, also known as the Capital Beltway.

30 Hooch : BOOZE

In the Klondike gold rush, a favorite tipple of the miners was “Hoochinoo”, a liquor made by the native Alaskans. Soon after “hooch” (also “hootch”) was adopted as a word for cheap whiskey.

31 Frontier explorer Daniel : BOONE

Daniel Boone was a pioneer and folk hero. For frontiersman Boone, the frontier was what we now call the state of Kentucky. He led the building of the Wilderness Road through the famous Cumberland Gap in the Appalachians, a route subsequently taken by hundreds of thousands of migrants into Kentucky. Boone fought in the Revolutionary War with distinction, and after the war returned to Kentucky and got himself into land speculation. He became mired in debt, forcing him to emigrate to Missouri to settle down on land that was at that time owned by the French. It was there that he spent the last decades of his life.

32 Network with an eye logo : CBS

CBS used to be known as the Columbia Broadcasting System. CBS introduced its “eye” logo in 1951. That logo is based on a Pennsylvania Dutch hex sign.

35 Therefore : ERGO

“Ergo” is a Latin word meaning “hence, therefore”, and one that we’ve absorbed directly into English.

36 Singer Simon once married to James Taylor : CARLY

Carly Simon is a fabulous singer-songwriter who had her break in the 1970s with a series of hit records including “You’re So Vain” and “Nobody Does It Better”. Simon was married for over ten years to fellow singer-songwriter James Taylor.

37 Visit the mall, say : SHOP

Surprisingly (to me!), our word “mall”, meaning “shady walk” or “enclosed shopping space”, comes from the Italian for “mallet”. All of our shopping-style malls are named for “The Mall” in St. James’s Park in London. This tree-lined promenade was so called as it used to a famous spot to play the croquet-like game called “pall-mall”. The game derived its name from the Italian for ball (palla) and mallet “maglio”. The London thoroughfare called the Mall still exists, at one end of which is Buckingham Palace. Indeed, parallel to the Mall is a street called Pall Mall.

38 Vietnam holiday : TET

The full name for the New Year holiday in Vietnam is “Tet Nguyen Dan” meaning “Feast of the First Morning”, with the reference being to the arrival of the season of spring. Tet usually falls on the same day as Chinese New Year.

39 Three-dimensional : SOLID

The dimension of an object is defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify each point in the object. Therefore, a line is one-dimensional, as you only need an x-coordinate to specify a particular point on the line. A surface is two-dimensional, as you need both an x-coordinate and a y-coordinate to locate a point on the surface. The inside of a solid object is then three-dimensional, needing an x-, y- and z-coordinate to specify a point, say within a cube.

40 Good, in Guadalajara : BUENO

Guadalajara is a populous city in the Mexican state of Jalisco. The Mexican city is named after the city of the same name in the center of Spain.

44 Rio Grande city : LAREDO

Laredo is a border city in Texas that is situated on the banks of the Rio Grande, across the border from Nuevo Laredo in Mexico.

45 Dryer fuzz : LINT

“Lint”, meaning “fluff”, is one of those terms that I had to learn when I moved to the US. We call the same thing “fuzz” on the other side of the Atlantic.

47 Treasure stash : TROVE

The term “treasure trove” comes from the Anglo-French “tresor trové “ meaning “found treasure”.

52 Sicilian volcano : ETNA

Mount Etna on the island of Sicily is the largest of three active volcanoes in Italy, and indeed the largest of all active volcano in Europe. Etna is about 2 1/2 times the height of its equally famous sister, Mt. Vesuvius. Mt. Etna is home to a 110-km long narrow-gauge railway, and two ski resorts. It is sometimes referred to as “Mongibello” in Italian, and as “Mungibeddu” in Sicilian. The English name “Etna” comes from the Greek “aitho” meaning “I eat”.

53 Whistle-blower on the court : NBA REFEREE

Back in the early 17th century, a referee was someone who examined patent applications. We started using the same term for a person presiding over a sporting event in the 1820s. “Referee” is a derivative of the verb “to refer”, and literally describes someone who has the authority to make a decision by “referring to” a book, archive etc.

55 “Yes!” in church : AMEN!

The word “amen” translates as “so be it”. “Amen” is said to be of Hebrew origin, but it is also likely to be influenced by Aramaic and Arabic.

56 RC Cola alternative : COKE

The first cola drink to become a commercial success was Coca-Cola, soon after it was invented by a druggist in 1886. That original Coca-Cola was flavored mainly with kola nuts and vanilla. The formulation was based on an alcoholic drink called Coca Wine that had been on sale for over twenty years.

Claude A. Hatcher ran a grocery store in Columbus, Georgia. He decided to develop his own soft drink formula when he balked at the price his store was being charged for Coca-Cola syrup. Hatcher launched the Union Bottling Works in his own grocery store, and introduced Royal Crown Ginger Ale in 1905. The Union Bottling Works was renamed to Chero-Cola in 1910, the Nehi Corporation in 1925, and Royal Crown Company in the mid-fifties. The first RC Cola hit the market in 1934.

60 Chef’s hat : TOQUE

A toque was a brimless style of hat that was very fashionable in Europe in the 13th to 16th centuries. Nowadays we associate toques with chefs, as it is the name given to a chef’s hat (called a “toque blanche” in French, a “white hat”). A chef’s toque is quite interesting. Many toques have exactly 100 pleats, often said to signify the number of ways that an egg can be cooked.

Down

1 Martial __ : ARTS

Martial arts are various fighting traditions and systems used in combat or simply to promote physical well-being. The term “martial” ultimately derives from Latin and means “Arts of Mars”, a reference to Mars, the Roman god of war.

4 Brit. pilots’ squad : RAF

The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the oldest independent air force in the world (i.e. the first air force to become independent of army or navy forces). The RAF was formed during WWI on 1 April 1918, a composite of two earlier forces, the Royal Flying Corps (part of the Army) and the Royal Naval Air Service. The RAF’s “finest hour” was the Battle of Britain, when the vastly outnumbered British fighters fought off the might of the Luftwaffe causing Hitler to delay his plan to cross the English Channel. This outcome prompted Winston Churchill to utter the memorable words

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

7 Ancient Peruvian : INCA

The Inca people emerged as a tribe around the 12th century, in what today is southern Peru. The Incas developed a vast empire over the next 300 years, extending along most of the western side of South America. The Empire fell to the Spanish, finally dissolving in 1572 with the execution of Tupac Amaru, the last Incan Emperor.

9 Cool, like a cat : HEP

The slang term “hep” meaning “cool” has the same meaning as the later derivative term “hip”. The origins of “hep” seem unclear, but it was adopted by jazz musicians of the early 1900s.

10 Julia’s “Seinfeld” role : ELAINE

The character Elaine Benes, unlike the other lead characters (Jerry, Kramer and George), did not appear in the pilot episode of “Seinfeld”. NBC executives specified the addition of a female lead when they picked up the show citing that the situation was too “male-centric”.

11 Whistle-blower during phys ed : GYM TEACHER

Our word “gymnasium” comes from the Greek “gymnasion” meaning “public place where exercise is taken”. The Greek term comes from “gymnos” meaning “naked”, as that physical training was usually done unclothed in ancient Greece.

12 Fairy tale brother : GRIMM

The Brothers Grimm (Jacob and Wilhelm) were two German academics noted for collecting and publishing folk tales. Among the tales in their marvelous collection are “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, “Sleeping Beauty” and “Cinderella”.

13 Marquis de __ : SADE

The Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat with a reputation for a libertine lifestyle. De Sade was also a writer, well known for his works of erotica. He fell foul of the law for some of his more extreme practices and for blaspheming the Catholic church. On and off, de Sade spent 32 years of his life in prison and in insane asylums.

18 “Law & Order: SVU” actor : ICE-T

Rapper Ice-T must be sick of having his name come up as an answer in crossword puzzles (I know I am!). Born Tracy Marrow, Ice-T has been interested in acting for decades and made his film debut in the 1984 movie about breakdancing called “Breakin’”. He has also played Detective Fin Tutuola in the TV show “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” since the year 2000.

“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” is a spin-off from the TV crime drama “Law & Order”. “SVU” has been on the air since 1999, and is set in New York City. Interestingly (to me), there is a very successful Russian adaptation of the show that is set in Moscow.

23 “The Godfather” novelist Mario : PUZO

Novelist and screenwriter Mario Puzo was best known for his book “The Godfather”, which he also co-adapted for the big screen. Puzo also wrote two sequels, “The Last Don” and “Omertà”, the latter being published after his death. His name is less associated with some very famous screenplays that he wrote, including “Earthquake”, “Superman” and “Superman II”. Puzo won two Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay: for “The Godfather” (1972) and for “The Godfather Part II” (1974).

26 Help in a heist : ABET

The word “abet” comes into English from the Old French “abeter” meaning “to bait” or “to harass with dogs” (it literally means “to make bite”). This sense of encouraging something bad to happen morphed into our modern usage of “abet” meaning to aid or encourage someone in a crime.

29 Actress Day : DORIS

Actress and singer Doris Day was born Doris Kappelhoff in Cincinnati, Ohio. Day made more than 650 recordings as a singer with Columbia Records, and also appeared in 39 movies. Outside the world of entertainment, she was an ardent supporter of animal rights. She lived in retirement in Carmel-by-the-Sea in California, along with her many pets and stray animals that she adopted over the years.

31 Polling place receptacle : BALLOT BOX

Today, a ballot is a piece of paper used to cast a vote. Back in the 1500s, a “ballot” was a small “ball” used in the process of voting.

33 __ fide : BONA

“Bona fide(s)” translates from the Latin as “in good faith”, and is used to indicate honest intentions. It can also mean that something is authentic, like a piece of art that is represented in good faith as being genuine.

34 Dalmatian mark : SPOT

The Dalmatian breed of dog originated in Dalmatia, in the Republic of Croatia. Here in the US, Dalmatians are known as “firehouse dogs”. This association dates back to the use of Dalmatians in firehouses to guard the valuable horses that pulled the fire engines.

37 Sheep fat : SUET

Fat, when extracted from the carcass of an animal, is called suet. Untreated suet decomposes at room temperature quite easily so it has to be rendered, purified to make it stable. Rendered fat from pigs is what we call lard. Rendered beef or mutton fat is known as tallow.

43 Nonsense : JIVE

“Jive” is a slang term meaning “nonsensical talk”.

45 Actress Sophia : LOREN

Sophia Loren certainly has earned her exalted position in the world of movies. In 1962 Loren won an Oscar for Best Actress for her role in the Italian film “Two Women”, marking the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English speaking performance. She received a second nomination for Best Actress for her role in “Marriage Italian-Style”, another Italian-language movie, released in 1964.

49 Baghdad’s country : IRAQ

According to the University of Baghdad, the name “Baghdad” dates way back, to the 18th-century BCE (yes, BCE!). The name can be translated into English from the language of ancient Babylon as “old garden” (bagh-) and “beloved” (-dad).

51 Basketball Hall of Famer “Pistol __” Maravich : PETE

Pete Maravich was a professional basketball player who earned the nickname “Pistol Pete”. Maravich was forced to retire from the game in 1980 due to injury problems. He died eight years later from heart failure. An autopsy revealed that Maravich was missing a left coronary artery, which supplies blood to the heart muscle. His right coronary artery was grossly enlarged as a result, compensating for the defect.

53 Sgt., e.g. : NCO

An NCO or “noncom” is a non-commissioned officer in the armed forces. Usually such an officer is one who has earned his or her rank by promotion through the enlisted ranks. A good example would be a sergeant major (sgt. maj.).

The post LA Times Crossword 23 Dec 19, Monday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 5m 00s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

11 FDR’s successor : HST

The letter “S” in the middle of the name Harry S. Truman (HST) doesn’t stand for anything. The future-president was named “Harry” in honor of his mother’s brother Harrison “Harry” Young. The initial “S” was chosen in honor of young Harry’s two grandfathers: Anderson S-hipp Truman and S-olomon Young.

14 Gillette razor : ATRA

Fortunately for crossword constructors, the Atra was introduced by Gillette in 1977, as the first razor with a pivoting head. The Atra was sold as the Contour in some markets and its derivative products are still around today.

15 Alabama’s cross-state rival : AUBURN

Auburn University in Alabama was chartered in 1856 as the East Alabama Male College. The school was renamed when it was granted university status in 1960. Auburn’s sports teams are known as the Tigers, for which supporters use the battle cry “War Eagle!”

16 Par-three eagle : ACE

The following terms are routinely used in golf for scores relative to par:

• Bogey: one over par
• Par
• Birdie: one under par
• Eagle: two under par
• Albatross (also “double eagle”): three under par
• Condor: four under par

No one has ever recorded a condor during a professional tournament.

17 *Nutrition guide : FOOD PYRAMID (giving “food bank”)

The first food guide pyramid was issued in 1974, in Sweden. The food pyramid that we’re most familiar with in this country is the one published by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1992, which was replaced in 2011. Instead of a pyramid, we now have a guide called MyPlate (available on the website ChooseMyPlate.gov). MyPlate urges us to eat about 30% grains, 30% vegetables, 20% fruits, 20% proteins on our plates, accompanied by a small serving of dairy.

20 Battery terminals : ANODES

A battery is a device that converts chemical energy into electric energy. A simple battery is made up of three parts: a cathode, an anode and a liquid electrolyte. Ions from the electrolyte react chemically with the material in the anode producing a compound and releasing electrons. At the same time, the electrolyte reacts with the material in the cathode, absorbing electrons and producing a different chemical compound. In this way, there is a buildup of electrons at the anode and a deficit of electrons at the cathode. When a connection (wire, say) is made between the cathode and anode, electrons flow through the resulting circuit from the anode to cathode in an attempt to rectify the electron imbalance.

21 Chant for Real Madrid : OLE OLE!

Real Madrid is a professional soccer team based in Madrid, Spain. The team name translates as “Royal Madrid”. Real Madrid is often ranked as the world’s most valuable soccer team, and is one of the most widely supported sports teams on the planet.

24 *Comprehensive personal philosophy : WORLDVIEW (giving “World Bank”)

One might argue that one’s worldview is the set of lenses through which one views the world, how one understands and answers the “big” questions of life: how did life begin, why am I here, does God exist, who am I? I suppose that in a divided society, different factions might view the same world through a different set of lenses, have different worldviews. That might be something quite relevant today, huh …?

The World Bank Group was formed in 1945 with the mission of making leveraged loans, mainly to poorer countries. The first loan made by the World Bank was its largest to date, a loan to France to help with post-war construction.

27 Disney CEO Robert : IGER

Robert Iger took over from Michael Eisner as CEO in 2005. Iger worked for ABC when it was taken over by Disney in 1996, and in 1999 he was named president of Walt Disney International. Iger is doing okay for himself; he earned more than $29 million in 2009.

28 Cross-shaped Greek letters : TAUS

Tau is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet, and the letter which gave rise to our Roman “T”. Both the letters tau (T) and chi (X) have long been symbolically associated with the cross.

32 Small boat : DINGHY

Our term “dinghy” comes from the Hindi “dingi”, a word meaning “small boat”.

34 *Horse breeder’s concern : BLOODLINE (giving “blood bank”)

Prior to 1915, blood transfusions were carried out directly, from a vein of the donor into a vein of the recipient. All that changed pretty quickly when it was discovered that sodium citrate could be added to blood to stop it coagulating. Soon, it was clear that refrigerated blood treated with an anticoagulant could be stored, and blood “depots” were created in Britain during WWI. The term “blood bank” was first used in 1937, to describe the store of blood kept in the Cook County Hospital in Chicago.

36 Covent Garden productions : OPERAS

Covent Garden in London’s West End is associated with the Royal Opera House that is located in the area, and with the former fruit and vegetable market that used to sit right at the center of the district. The name “Covent Garden” comes from the fact that there once was a walled garden in the area owned by the Benedictine Monks of the Abbey of St. Peter in Westminster. The abbey rented out the walled garden calling it “Convent Garden”, and this morphed into the area’s current name.

39 Driver’s one-eighties : UIES

Hang a “uey” or “uie”, make a u-turn, make a 180.

43 CBS legal drama “The Good __” : WIFE

“The Good Wife” is a legal drama showing on CBS starring Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick, a litigator who returns to practicing law after spending 13 years as a stay-at-home mom. I binge-watched the show some time back and found it to be well-written, with a great cast and great acting …

45 Novelist Caleb : CARR

One of Caleb Carr’s novels is a latter-day Sherlock Holmes mystery called “The Italian Secretary”. The novel was written as a homage to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (using the Holmes character with the permission of the Doyle estate). I am a big fan of Sherlock Holmes stories, so I must put this one on my reading list …

46 *Figuratively, whence some unexpected ideas : LEFT FIELD (giving “Left Bank”)

The famous “Left Bank” (“La Rive Gauche”) of the River Seine in Paris is the river’s southern bank. The area south of the river was traditionally quite bohemian and was home to artists, students and intellectuals.

49 Mint family herb : THYME

In ancient Greece, thyme was burned as incense and used in baths as it was believed to be a source of courage.

50 Corkscrew pasta : ROTINI

Rotini is a corkscrew-shaped pasta that is often used in pasta salads. Even though “rotini” sounds like it comes from a word meaning “twist, rotate”, the word “rotini” doesn’t exist in Italian other than as the name for the pasta.

52 Big name in ATMs : NCR

NCR is an American company that has been in business since 1884 and was originally called the National Cash Register Company. The company has done well in a market where new technologies seem to be constantly disrupting the status quo. NCR is a leading supplier of automated teller machines (ATMs) and barcode scanners.

58 Falco of “Nurse Jackie” : EDIE

Actress Edie Falco won three Emmy Awards for playing Carmela Soprano on HBO’s outstanding drama series called “The Sopranos”. Falco also won an Emmy in 2010 for playing the title role in “Nurse Jackie”, an excellent black comedy.

59 Insured investments: Abbr. : CDS

A certificate of deposit (CD) is like a less-flexible and higher-paying savings account. Instead of depositing money into a savings account and earning interest periodically, one can open a CD. With a CD one deposits a minimum amount of money but must leave it there for a specified length of time. In return for committing the funds for a fixed period, one is given a higher interest rate than a savings account and can redeem that interest and the initial deposit when the term has expired. CDs are relatively low-risk investments as they are FDIC insured, just like savings accounts.

Down

1 African adventures : SAFARIS

“Safari” is a Swahili word meaning “journey” or “expedition”.

5 Little isles : CAYS

A key (also “cay”) is a low offshore island, as in the Florida Keys. Our term in English comes from the Spanish “cayo” meaning “shoal, reef”.

6 “Ben-__”: Heston epic : HUR

The celebrated 1959 Charlton Heston movie “Ben-Hur” is a dramatization of a book published in 1880 by Lew Wallace titled “Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ”. The 1959 epic film won a record 11 Academy Awards, a feat that has been equaled since then but has never been beaten. The other winners of 11 Oscars are “Titanic” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the Rings”.

As well as having a fine career as an actor, Charlton Heston was a noted political activist. In the fifties he was very much a progressive and left-leaning in his political views. He was one of the few in Hollywood to speak out against racism and support the Civil Rights Movement. Later in his life, Heston became more associated with the conservative right, and was president of the National Rifle Association.

7 Org. with many judges : ABA

The American Bar Association (ABA) was founded back in 1878 and is a voluntary association for lawyers and law students. The ABA focuses on setting academic standards for law schools and setting ethical codes for the profession.

8 Grapevine fodder : RUMORS

There are competing stories about the etymology of the phrase “heard it through the grapevine”, meaning “heard it by means of gossip or rumor”. One is that it is a reference to the Grapevine Tavern in Greenwich Village in New York City. The Grapevine was a popular meeting place for Union officers and Confederate spies during the Civil War, and so was a great spot for picking up and spreading vital gossip.

11 Semi activity : HAULING

A “semi” is a “semi-trailer truck”. The vehicle is so called because it consists of a tractor and a half-trailer. The half-trailer is so called because it only has wheels on the back end, with the front supported by the tractor.

12 With 36-Down, nocturnal bird with a shrill cry : SCREECH …
(36 See 12-Down : … OWL)

There are over twenty species of screech owls, all of which are native to the Americas. Named for their eerie trill heard mainly during the night, screech owls are about the size of a pint glass.

18 Part of mph : PER

Miles per hour (mph)

22 Like ewe, but not me : OVINE

The Latin word for “sheep” is “ovis”, giving us the adjective “ovine” meaning “like a sheep”.

24 City between Austin and Dallas : WACO

The Texas city of Waco is named for the Wichita people known as the “Waco”, who occupied the area for thousands of years.

25 Best in an épée match : OUTDUEL

The French word for sword is “épée”. In competitive fencing the épée is connected to a system that records an electrical signal when legal contact is made on an opponent’s body.

28 New Mexico art colony : TAOS

The town of Taos, New Mexico is named for the Native American village nearby called Taos Pueblo. Taos is famous for its art colony. Artists began to settle in Taos in 1899, and the Taos Society of Artists was founded in 1915.

31 Home of the SEC’s Gators : FLA

The Florida Gators are the sports teams of the University of Florida, located in Gainesville. Sometimes the female teams are called the “Lady Gators”, and all of the fans make up the “Gator Nation”.

32 Nutrition regimen : DIET

Quite often, the terms “regime” and “regimen” seem to be used interchangeably. In contemporary usage, “regime” is applied more generally, and “regimen” more specifically. A “regimen” is a systematic approach that one might apply to something, to exercise or diet for example. The term “regime” can also be used in such contexts, but can have additional definitions, such as “government in power”. A form of government cannot be described as a “regimen”.

34 One of hockey’s Hulls : BRETT

Brett Hull is a retired hockey player from Ontario, although he chose to represent the American National Team having obtained dual citizenship. Brett is the son of professional hockey player Bobby Hull and professional figure skater Joanne McKay. Bobby’s nickname is “The Golden Jet”, and Brett’s is “The Golden Brett”. Brett is quite the golfer too, and has stated several times that he prefers golf to hockey.

41 Country south of Georgia : ARMENIA

Armenia is a landlocked country found east of Turkey, and is a former Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR). Back in the year 301 CE, the ancient Kingdom of Armenia became the first nation in the world to adopt Christianity as its national religion.

The former Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) of Georgia is now an independent country. Supposedly, the Georgian people were given their name because they especially revered St. George. The flag of Georgia does indeed feature five St. George’s crosses.

45 Coco of fashion : CHANEL

Coco Chanel was a French fashion designer. I’m no fashionista, but if I had to pick a designer whose clothes I really liked, it would be Chanel. She had a way of creating simpler designs that look so elegant on a woman.

47 __ optic cable : FIBER

Optical fibers are lengths of glass or plastic that are slightly thicker than a human hair. They are usually bundled into cables, and then used for transmission of data signals. Optical transmission has advantages over electrical transmission, especially in terms of interference and loss of signal strength.

52 Home of MoMA : NYC

The founding of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City was very much driven by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, wife of John D. Rockefeller. Working with two friends, Abby managed to get the museum opened in 1929, just nine days after the Wall Street Crash. The MoMA’s sculpture garden bears the name of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and has done so since 1949.

55 Smelter input : ORE

Metals are found in ore in the form of oxides. In order to get pure metal from the ore, the ore is heated and the metal oxides within are reduced (i.e. the oxygen is removed) in the chemical process known as smelting. The oxygen is extracted by adding a source of carbon or carbon monoxide which uses up the excess oxygen atoms to make carbon dioxide, a waste product of smelting (and, a greenhouse gas).

The post LA Times Crossword 24 Dec 19, Tuesday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 7m 38s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 “The Chosen” novelist Potok : CHAIM

Chaim Potok was a Jewish American author. Potok’s most famous novel is “The Chosen”, which recounts the life of a Jewish youth in New York City during WWII.

6 Doofuses : SCHMOS

“Schmo” (also “shmo”) is American slang for a dull or boring person, and comes from the Yiddish word “shmok”.

“Doofus” (also “dufus”) is student slang that has been around since the sixties. Apparently the word is a variant of the equally unattractive term “doo-doo”.

12 Itinerary info : ETA

Estimated time of arrival (ETA)

15 Light weight : OUNCE

Our term “ounce” comes from the Latin “uncia”, which was 1/12 of a “libra”, the Roman “pound”. “Uncia” is also the derivation of our word “inch”, 1/12 of a foot.

16 Hullabaloo : HOOPLA

The word “hoopla” means “boisterous excitement”. The term probably comes from “houp-là”, something the French say instead of “upsy-daisy”. Then again, “upsy-daisy” probably isn’t something said very often here in the US …

Our word “hullabaloo” meaning a “commotion” is a derivative of an older term “hollo-ballo”. “Hollo-ballo” was a word used for an uproar in the north of England and Scotland.

17 “Your Moment of __”: “The Daily Show” bit : ZEN

“Your Moment of Zen” is a segment on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” that is aired at the end of the broadcast. The segment consists of a short video featuring something that makes you scratch your head, wondering “did this really happen, did he/she really say that?”

23 Tawdry : IN POOR TASTE

Saint Audrey (commonly “Awdry”) was an Anglo-Saxon queen. The queen’s admirers were in the habit of buying lace trimmings for their clothes at an annual fair held in her name. Centuries later, this lacework came to be viewed with distaste as the Puritans came to influence social standards. The lace trimming was deemed to be old-fashioned and cheap. The queen’s name “Awdry” then evolved into our word “tawdry”, meaning cheap and of poor quality.

32 Again, in Spanish : OTRA VEZ

“Otra vez” is Spanish for “again”, translating literally as “other time”.

34 Having a low pH : ACIDIC

As we all recall from chemistry class, a pH of 7 is considered neutral. Anything less than 7 is an acid, and anything above 7 is a base.

45 Actress Vardalos : NIA

Not only is the delightful Nia Vardalos the star of the 2002 hit movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”, she also wrote the screenplay. The film never made it to number one at the box office, but it still pulled in more money than any other movie in history that didn’t make it to number one. That record I think reflects the fact that the film wasn’t a blockbuster but rather a so-called “sleeper hit”, a movie that people went to see based on referrals from friends. The big fat mistake came when a spin-off TV show was launched, “My Big Fat Greek Life”. It ran for only 7 episodes. “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2” hit movie theaters in 2016.

46 Programmer’s hint of a still bigger problem : CODE SMELL

When a programmer notices a characteristic in a program that indicates that a deeper issue may be present, then he or she might describe that characteristic as a “code smell”. Code smalls aren’t bugs, as they don’t in themselves break the code. Rather, they are indicators of a less than robust design.

54 Costa __ : RICA

Costa Rica is a country in Central America that is bordered by Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the South. Costa Rica is remarkable in my opinion, a leader on the world stage in many areas. It has been referred to as the “greenest” country in the world, the “happiest” country in the world, and has a highly educated populace. In 1949, the country unilaterally abolished its own army … permanently!

55 Source of chips : SPUD

The word “spud” is used as a slang term for a potato and was first recorded in the mid-1800s, in New Zealand would you believe?

58 Soothsayer’s ability : SECOND SIGHT

A soothsayer is someone who claims to have the ability to predict the future. The term comes from “sooth”, an archaic word for “truth”. So a soothsayer was supposedly one who told the “truth” (about the future).

61 Watering hole : OASIS

An isolated area of vegetation in a desert is called an oasis (plural “oases”). As water is needed for plant growth, an oasis might also include a spring, pond or small lake. We often use the term “oasis” more generally to describe a haven, a place of rest.

63 Vicinity : AREA

A vicinity is an area surrounding a place. The term “vicinity” ultimately comes from the Latin “vicus” meaning “group of houses, village”.

72 Chicken-king link : A LA

A dish prepared “à la king” (usually chicken or turkey), is prepared in a cream sauce with mushrooms, pimentos, green peppers and sherry.

73 Polar jacket : ANORAK

Anoraks really aren’t very popular over here in America. Everyone has one in Ireland! An anorak is a heavy jacket with a hood, often lined with fur (or fake fur), and is an invention of the Inuit people.

74 Dishonorable fellow : KNAVE

We’ve been using “knave” to mean a cad since about 1200, and as an alternative name for the jack in a deck of cards since the mid-1500s. “Knave” comes from the Old English word “cnafa”, a “boy, male servant”.

76 Big Apple area, with “the” : BOWERY

Peter Stuyvesant was director-general of the Dutch colony of New Netherland from 1647 until 1664. That made him the last administrator of the colony, as New Netherland became New York when it was ceded provisionally to England in 1664. Stuyvesant operated a farm that he named the “Bouwerij”, which is simply the Dutch word for “farm”. “Bouwerij” gives us the name “the Bowery”, which is used for a major street and neighborhood in Manhattan.

Apparently, the first published use of the term “Big Apple” to describe New York City dates back to 1909. Edward Martin wrote the following in his book “The Wayfarer in New York”:

Kansas is apt to see in New York a greedy city. . . . It inclines to think that the big apple gets a disproportionate share of the national sap.

Over ten years later, the term “big apple” was used as a nickname for racetracks in and around New York City. However, the concerted effort to “brand” the city as the Big Apple had to wait until the seventies and was the work of the New York Convention and Visitors Bureau.

77 Nasser’s successor : SADAT

Anwar Sadat was the third President of Egypt right up to the time of his assassination in 1981. Sadat won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978 along with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin for the role played in crafting the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty of 1978 at Camp David. It was this agreement that largely led to Sadat’s assassination three years later.

Gamal Abdel Nasser was the second president of Egypt, and was in office from 1956 until he died in 1970. He stood alongside Muhammad Naguib, Egypt’s first president, during the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 that overthrew the ruling monarchy of Egypt and Sudan. Nasser was an advocate of Pan-Arabism, an ideology promoting unification of Arab peoples and countries. President Nasser went so far as forming the United Arab Republic (UAR), a union between Egypt and Syria that started in 1958 but fell apart in 1961 when Syria withdrew.

Down

1 Northern Pacific catch : COD

In Britain and Ireland, the most common fish that is used in traditional “fish and chips” is Atlantic cod. Cod has been overfished all over the world, and is now considered to be an endangered species by many international bodies. Confrontations over fishing rights in the North Atlantic led to conflicts called “the Cod Wars” between Iceland and the UK in the 1950s and the 1970s, with fishing fleets being protected by naval vessels and even shots being fired.

3 Bad picnic omen : ANT

Our term “picnic” comes from the French word that now has the same meaning, namely “pique-nique”. The original “pique-nique” was a fashionable potluck affair, and not necessarily held outdoors.

5 __ Park: Edison lab site : MENLO

Thomas Alva Edison (TAE) was nicknamed “The Wizard of Menlo Park” by a newspaper reporter, a name that stuck. He was indeed a wizard, in the sense that he was such a prolific inventor. The Menlo Park part of the moniker recognizes the location of his first research lab, in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

6 Japanese faith : SHINTO

It is perhaps best not to describe Shinto as a religion, but more as a “spirituality of the Japanese people”, a spirituality that encompasses folklore, history and mythology. Having said that, “Shinto” translates literally as “Way of the gods”. Most people in Japan who are described as practicing Shinto, also practice Buddhism.

9 Speed letters : MPH

Miles per hour (mph)

11 Defunct Swedish automaker : SAAB

“SAAB” stands for Svenska Aeroplan AB, which translates into English as Swedish Aeroplane Limited. Although we usually think of SAAB as an auto manufacturer, it is mainly an aircraft manufacturer. If you take small hops in Europe you might find yourself on a SAAB passenger plane. The SAAB automotive division was acquired by General Motors in the year 2000, who then sold it to a Dutch concern in 2010. However, SAAB (automotive) finally went bankrupt in 2011. A Chinese consortium purchased the assets of SAAB Automotive in 2012, and so SAAB vehicles are in production again. The new vehicles are using the SAAB name, but cannot use the SAAB griffin logo, the rights to which have been retained by the mother company.

12 Web mag : E-ZINE

Online magazines are variously referred to as webzines, e-zines, cyberzines, hyperzines or maybe e-magazines.

19 Old salt : TAR

A jack tar, or just “tar”, was a seaman in the days of the British Empire. The term probably arose due to a sailor’s various uses of tar back then, including waterproofing his clothes and using tar in his hair to slick down his ponytail.

20 Channing’s role in “Grease” : RIZZO

“Grease” was, and still is, a very successful stage musical. In the story, the leader of “The Pink Ladies” is Betty Rizzo, who is played by Stockard Channing in the blockbuster film version of the play.

23 Genesis father of twins : ISAAC

According to the Bible, Abraham’s son Isaac was born to Abraham’s wife Sarah when she was beyond her childbearing years and when Abraham was 100 years old. Isaac himself lived until he was 180 years old. When Isaac was just a youth, Abraham was tested by Yahweh (God) and told to build an altar on which he was to sacrifice his only son. At the last minute, an angel appeared and stopped Abraham, telling him to sacrifice a ram instead.

24 Wafer brand : NECCO

Necco Wafers were the best-known product line of the candy manufacturer called the New England Confectionery Company. The firm’s name was abbreviated to “NECCO”, an acronym that became synonymous with the wafers.

26 NBA’s Hawks, on scoreboards : ATL

The NBA’s Atlanta Hawks started out as the Buffalo Bisons in 1946, although after only a few months the team was moved to Moline, Illinois as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. The Blackhawks were one of the 17 original teams playing at the founding of the National Basketball Association. There was another move in 1951 and a renaming to the Milwaukee Hawks, and yet again in 1955 when the team became the St. Louis Hawks. The latest move was to Atlanta, in 1968.

27 B’way sellout sign : SRO

Standing room only (SRO)

28 Zap with a stun gun : TASE

Victor Appleton wrote a novel for young adults called “Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle”. The company that developed the TASER electroshock weapon partly named its product as a homage to the novel. The acronym “TASER” stands for “Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle”.

33 French 101 verb : ETRE

The verb “to be” translates into German as “sein”, and into French as “être”.

35 “Casablanca” heroine : ILSA

Rick Blaine and Ilsa Lund were played by Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in the 1942 movie “Casablanca”. I love the words of one critic describing the chemistry between Bogart and Bergman in this film: “She paints his face with her eyes”. Wow …

39 Sure thing : CINCH

The term “cinch” was absorbed into American English from Spanish in the mid-1800s, when it was used to mean a “saddle-girth”. “Cincha” is the Spanish for “girdle”. In the late 1800s, “cinch” came to mean a ‘sure thing”, in the sense that a saddle-girth can provide a “sure hold”.

43 “I’m a Mess” singer Rexha : BEBE

Bebe Rexha is a singer-songwriter from New York City. Her given name at birth was “Bleta”, which is Albanian for “bee”. Folks started to use the nickname “Bebe”, which stuck.

47 __ Bauer : EDDIE

The Eddie Bauer clothing chain was established in Seattle in 1920 by an outdoorsman called Eddie Bauer (unsurprisingly!). Bauer was the man who patented the first quilted down jacket, in 1940.

48 Inc. kin : LLC

A limited liability company (LLC) has a structure that limits the liability of the owner or owners. It is a hybrid structure in the sense that it can be taxed as would an individual or partnership, while also maintaining the liability protection afforded to a corporation.

49 Zodiac feline : LEO

Leo is the fifth astrological sign of the Zodiac. People born from July 23 to August 22 are Leos.

51 Online news pioneer Huffington : ARIANNA

“The Huffington Post” (now “HuffPost”) is a news website founded in 2005 by Arianna Huffington. It is a very active site, with 3,000 people contributing blog posts (including many celebrities and politicians), and readers leaving over one million comments every month. “The Huffington Post” was sold to AOL in 2011 for $315 million, with Arianna Huffington staying on as editor-in-chief.

53 Snide : SNARKY

“Snark” is a term that was coined by Lewis Carroll in his fabulous 1876 nonsense poem “The Hunting of the Snark”. Somehow, the term “snarky” came to mean “irritable, short-tempered” in the early 1900s, and from there “snark” became “sarcastic rhetoric” at the beginning of the 21st century.

55 Golden St. region : SOCAL

“Golden State” has been the official nickname of California since 1968. The nickname reflects the expansion of the state’s economy that followed the discovery of gold in 1848, and also the fields of golden poppies seen growing wild across California in the spring.

56 Renaissance painter Veronese : PAOLO

Paolo Veronese was a Renaissance painter from the Italian city of Verona (hence his name “Veronese”). Veronese is most famous for his paintings “The Wedding at Cana” and “The Feast at the House of Levi”. “The Wedding at Cana” is a massive work, measuring over 21 x 32 feet in size. It has the honor of being the largest painting in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

59 Ob-gyns, e.g. : DRS

Obstetrics and Gynecology (Ob-Gyn)

65 Plastic __ Band : ONO

The Plastic Ono Band was a so-called “super-group”, brought together by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969. Members of the group included John and Yoko, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Eric Clapton and Keith Moon.

67 Wash. neighbor : ORE

The Oregon Treaty of 1846 settled a dispute between the US and the UK over sovereignty of the Oregon Country. “The Oregon Country” was the name given by the Americans to a large swathe of land west of the Rocky Mountains. That same disputed land was known as the Columbia Department by the British. Oregon became a US state in 1859.

68 Old Mideast org. : UAR

The United Arab Republic (UAR) was a union between Egypt and Syria established in 1958. The UAR dissolved in 1961 when Syria pulled out of the arrangement.

70 Señora Perón : EVA

Eva Perón was the second wife of President Juan Perón who was in office from 1946 to 1955. The Argentine First Lady was known affectionately by the people as “Evita”, the Spanish language diminutive of “Eva”. “Evita” is also the title of a tremendously successful musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice that is based on the life of Eva Perón.

71 Tennis match unit : SET

Game, set and match.

The post LA Times Crossword 25 Dec 19, Wednesday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 6m 24s

Bill’s errors: 2

• SALDANA (Sardana!)
• ICARLY (I, Carry!!!)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

10 Mail often diverted to a separate folder : SPAM

The term “spam”, used for unwanted email, is taken from a “Monty Python” sketch. In the sketch (which I’ve seen) the dialog is taken over by the word Spam, a play on the glut of canned meat in the markets of Britain after WWII. So “spam” is used for the glut of emails that takes over online communication. I can just imagine nerdy Internet types (like me) adopting something from a “Monty Python” sketch to describe an online phenomenon …

14 Sainted pope called “the Great” : LEO I

The first pope named Leo is now known as Pope Saint Leo the Great. Leo I is famous for meeting with the feared Attila the Hun and persuading him to turn back his invading force that was threatening to overrun Western Europe.

15 Modern Persian : IRANI

Before 1935, the country we know today as Iran was referred to as Persia by the Western world. The official name of the country since the Iranian Revolution of 1979 is the “Islamic Republic of Iran”.

16 Celestial bear : URSA

The constellation Ursa Major (Latin for “Larger Bear”) is often just called “the Big Dipper” because of its resemblance to a ladle or dipper. Ursa Major also resembles a plow, and that’s what we usually call the same constellation back in Ireland, “the Plough”.

Ursa Minor (Latin for “Smaller Bear”) sits right beside the constellation Draco (Latin for “Dragon”). Ursa Minor used to be considered the wing of Draco, and so was once called “Dragon’s Wing”. The tail of the “Smaller Bear” might also be considered as the handle of a ladle, and so the constellation is often referred to as the Little Dipper.

17 Mosque bigwig : IMAM

An imam is a Muslim leader, and often the person in charge of a mosque or perhaps a Muslim community.

17 Mosque bigwig : IMAM
18 Daring move : BOLD STROKE (hiding “MAMBO”)

The form of music and dance known as “mambo” developed in Cuba. “Mambo” means “conversation with the gods” in Kikongo, a language spoken by slaves taken to Cuba from Central Africa.

21 Bath-loving Muppet : ERNIE

Ernie is one of the Muppets on the children’s TV show “Sesame Street”. Ernie is usually seen with his roommate Bert, whom he frequently annoys and frustrates. Ernie is known taking long baths with his rubber duckie. That “Rubber Duckie” is the title character in a hit song that Ernie (voiced by Jim Henson) released in 1970.

22 Priest’s robe : ALB

An alb is a white, neck-to-toe vestment worn by priests, usually with a rope cord around the waist. The term alb comes from “albus”, the Latin word for “white”.

23 KITT on “Knight Rider” : TRANS AM

The 1982 crime television show called “Knight Rider” famously starred David Hasselhoff as well a very cool, artificially intelligent car called KITT. KITT (which stands for Knight Industries Two Thousand) is a heavily modified Pontiac Trans Am.

23 KITT on “Knight Rider” : TRANS AM
25 Hanging Gardens site : BABYLON (hiding “SAMBA”)

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Unlike the other “Wonders”, the Hanging Gardens may only have existed in legend. The Gardens were supposedly constructed in Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar II for his wife Amytis. Amytis was from Media and she was homesick, so her husband created an elaborate garden in Babylon that was replete with plants from homeland.

The samba is a Brazilian dance that is very much symbolic of the festival of Carnival. Like so much culture around the world, the samba has its roots in Africa, as the dance is derived from dances performed by former slaves who migrated into urban Rio de Janeiro in the late 1800s. The exact roots of the name “samba” seem to have been lost in the mists of time. However, my favorite explanation is that it comes from an African Kikongo word “semba” which means “a blow struck with the belly button”. We don’t seem to have a need for such a word in English …

30 Inhabitants of a myrmecologist’s farm : ANTS

Myrmecology is the study of ants. The term derives from the Greek “myrmex” meaning “ant”.

33 Thompson of “Thor: Ragnarok” : TESSA

Tessa Thompson is an actress from Los Angeles who is known for playing the supporting role of Jackie Cook on the TV show “Veronica Mars”, and for playing student leader Diane Nash in the 2014 film “Selma”.

“Thor: Ragnarok” is a 2017 superhero film in the “Thor” series. Not my cup of tea …

35 Getty and Rockefeller : OILMEN

J. Paul Getty was famous as an industrialist who made his fortune in the oil industry. Getty was also famous as a grandfather who had a grandson kidnapped for ransom. John Paul Getty III was 16 years old when he was taken in Rome in 1973. The ransom demand to his father was for $17 million, a sum that he had to ask from the child’s grandfather, as he was the one with all the money. Jean Paul Getty refused to pay and 4 months later an envelope was delivered to the family containing a lock of hair and an ear. The grandfather then entered into negotiations with the kidnappers, beat them down to $2 million, and the boy was released. Getty’s grandson never really recovered. He got into drugs, and an overdose left him speechless, blind and paralyzed. Sad story …

John D. Rockefeller was an American industrialist whose biggest success came with the Standard Oil Company that he founded and ran for over 25 years. Rockefeller became the richest man in the world, and America’s first billionaire.

42 Pertaining to the small intestine : ILEAC

The human ileum (plural “ilea”) is the lowest part of the small intestine, and is found below the jejunum and above the cecum of the large intestine.

50 Judicial self-disqualification : RECUSAL
53 Zoe of “Avatar” : SALDANA (hiding “SALSA”)

American actress Zoë Saldana played the Na’vi princess in “Avatar”, and Uhura in the 2009 movie “Star Trek” (and sequels). Saldana seems to pick the right movies, as she is the only actress to have three different films in the top twenty at the box office for three consecutive weeks (“Avatar”, “The Losers” and “Death at a Funeral”).

The genre of music called salsa is a modern interpretation of various Cuban traditional music styles.

55 Genetics lab material : RNA

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA. An added complication is that small changes in the sequence of amino acids specified by DNA sometimes takes place in a process known as RNA editing. This RNA editing occurs after the nucleotide sequence has been transcribed from DNA, but before it is translated into protein.

58 Floral garland : LEI

“Lei” is a Hawaiian word meaning “garland, wreath”, although in more general terms a lei is any series of objects strung together as an adornment for the body.

59 Three-flavor block : NEAPOLITAN

Neapolitan ice cream is made up of blocks of strawberry, vanilla and chocolate ice cream. Perhaps stating the obvious, Neapolitan ice cream is assumed to be of Italian origin, from the city of Naples …

59 Three-flavor block : NEAPOLITAN
62 Mount Olympus group : GODS (hiding “TANGO”)

Mount Olympus is the highest peak in Greece. In Greek mythology, Mount Olympus was home to the gods, and in particular home to the principal gods known as the Twelve Olympians.

The dramatic dance called the tango originated in the late 1800s in the area along the border between Argentina and Uruguay. Dancers and orchestras from Buenos Aires in particular traveled to Europe and beyond in the early twentieth century and brought the tango with them. The tango craze first struck Europe in Paris in the 1910s, and from there spread to London and Berlin, crossing the Atlantic to New York in 1913.

63 “You Needed Me” singer Murray : ANNE

Anne Murray is a singer from Springhill, Nova Scotia. Murray’s 1978 hit “You Needed Me” went to number one in the US charts, marking the first time that a Canadian female artist achieved such a feat.

64 REO Speedwagon guitarist Dave : AMATO

Musician Dave Amato has been the lead guitarist of rock band REO Speedwagon since 1989, after the departure of Gary Richrath.

REO Speedwagon is an American rock band that formed in 1967, and is still going strong. The band’s biggest hits are “Keep On Loving You” (1980) and “Can’t Fight This Feeling” (1985). The founding members chose the name for the REO Speed Wagon flatbed truck. Note that the band’s name is one word “Speedwagon”, whereas the vehicle’s name uses two words “Speed Wagon”.

66 Site in a Steinbeck title : EDEN

According to the Bible’s Book of Genesis, after Cain murdered his brother Abel, he fled to the “Land of Nod” located “east of Eden” (from which John Steinbeck got the title for his celebrated novel “East of Eden”).

John Steinbeck considered “East of Eden” his magnum opus. Most of the storyline takes place near Salinas, just south of where I live here in the Bay Area. Two of the characters in the story are brothers Cal and Aron Trask, representative of the biblical Cain and Abel.

Down

2 Ride-hitching fish : REMORA

Remoras are also called “suckerfish”, which name is descriptive of one of the fish’s basic behaviors. One of the remoras dorsal fins is in the shape of a “sucker”, allowing it to take a firm hold on a larger marine animal, hitching a ride.

5 Scales aloft : LIBRA

The constellation of Libra is named for the scales held by the goddess of justice. Libra is the only sign of the zodiac that isn’t named for a living creature.

6 Facial apparatus in a Dumas novel : IRON MASK

“The Man in the Iron Mask” is the third part of a novel by Alexandre Dumas called “The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later”. The novel uses characters appearing in the earlier Dumas novel “The Three Musketeers”. In the plot, the musketeers are getting on in years and become involved in the mystery of “the man in the iron mask”, a prisoner locked up in French jails with his identity hidden behind a mask.

7 Neighbor of Mauritania : MALI

The Republic of Mali is a landlocked country in western Africa located south of Algeria. Formerly known as French Sudan, the nation’s most famous city is Timbuktu. Mali is the third-largest producer of gold on the continent, after South Africa and Ghana.

The Islamic Republic of Mauritania is a country in North Africa, on the Atlantic coast. The country is named after the old Roman province of Mauretania, although the ancient province was located further north in what is now Morocco and part of Algeria.

13 Novelist Rita __ Brown : MAE

Rita Mae Brown is an American author who is best known for her 1973 novel “Rubyfruit Jungle”. Brown was the domestic partner of tennis champion Martina Navratilova in the late seventies and early eighties.

24 Explosion maker, briefly : NITRO

Nitroglycerin (also known as “nitro”) is a very unstable, oily, colorless liquid. It is usually used as the explosive ingredient in a stabilized product like dynamite or cordite. Nitroglycerin is also used medically, as a vasodilator. Right after it hits the bloodstream, nitroglycerin causes the blood vessels to dilate so that the heart has less work to do. I had occasion to take it a couple of times, and boy, what a speedy and fundamental effect it has …

28 A Bobbsey twin : NAN

The “Bobbsey Twins” series of children’s novels was first written by Edward Stratemeyer in 1904. Stratemeyer used the pseudonym Laura Lee Hope, as did subsequent authors who wrote 72 books in the series between 1904 and 1979. The title characters are two sets of fraternal twins, one called Bert and Nan (who are 12) and the other called Flossie and Freddie (who are 6).

31 Rock bottom : NADIR

The nadir is the direction pointing immediately below a particular location (through to the other side of the Earth for example). The opposite direction, that pointing immediately above, is called the zenith. We use the terms “nadir” and “zenith” figuratively to mean the low and high points in a person’s fortunes.

34 “Rizzoli & Isles” actress Alexander : SASHA

“Sasha Alexander” is the stage name of Suzana Drobnjaković, a Serbian-Amercan actress. Alexander is perhaps best known to television audiences for playing Dr. Maura Isles on the detective drama “Rizzoli & Isles”, and for playing Professor Helene Runyon on the US-version of the excellent comedy-drama “Shameless”. Alexander married Edoardo Ponti in 2017. Ponti is the son of actress Sophia Loren and producer Carlo Ponti.

36 Nickelodeon sitcom starring Miranda Cosgrove : ICARLY

“iCarly” is a sitcom for teens that has been airing on Nickelodeon since 2007. The show is all about a girl called Carly Shay who makes a regular web broadcast with her friends titled “iCarly”.

Actress and singer Miranda Cosgrove was listed in the “Guinness World Records” book as the highest-paid child actress in 2012, while she appeared in the lead role of the Nickelodeon sitcom “iCarly”.

37 Massenet opera about a Spanish hero : LE CID

“Le Cid” is an opera by Jules Massenet that premiered at the Paris Opéra in 1885. The opera is adapted from a play of the same name by Pierre Corneille. Both works are based on the legends surrounding Spanish military leader El Cid.

Jules Massenet was a French composer in the Romantic era. He wrote over 30 operas, including “Manon” (1884), “Le Cid” (1884), “Werther” (1892) and “Thaïs”.

Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar was known as El Cid Campeador, which translates as “The Champion” or perhaps “The Lord, Master of Military Arts”. El Cid was a soldier who fought under the rule of King Alfonso VI of Spain (among others). However, he was sent into exile by the King in 1080, after acting beyond his authorization in battle. El Cid then offered his services to his former foes, the Moorish kings, After a number of years building a reputation with the Moors, he was recalled from exile by Alfonso. By this time El Cid was very much his own man. Nominally under the orders of Alfonso, he led a combined army of Spanish and Moorish troops and took the city of Valencia on the Mediterranean coast in 1094, making it his headquarters and home. He died in Valencia, quite peacefully, in 1099.

38 “Hogan’s Heroes” star : BOB CRANE

Actor Bob Crane is best remembered, career-wise, for playing the title character on the sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes” that originally ran from 1965 until 1971. In 1978, Crane was found dead in his apartment, having been bludgeoned to death by person or persons unknown. Crane’s murder remains unsolved. Crane’s friend John Carpenter was charged with the crime, but was acquitted in a 1994 trial. Carpenter supplied Crane with equipment that the actor used to videotape his many sexual encounters. The 2002 film “Auto Focus” explores Crane’s life as a sex addict, and his violent death.

“Hogan’s Heroes” is a sitcom that ran in the late sixties and early seventies. The show starred Bob Crane as the ranking prisoner in a German POW camp during WWII. The four major German roles were played by actors who all were Jewish, and who all fled from the Nazis during the war. The French-American actor Robert Clary, who played Corporal Lebeau, spent three in concentration camps before being liberated from Buchenwald in 1945.

39 Auto insurance giant : ALLSTATE

Allstate is the second-largest provider of personal insurance in the US, after State Farm. Allstate started doing business in 1931 as part of Sears Roebuck, and indeed I can remember when Allstate offices were located in Sears stores. Sears spun off Allstate in 1993.

45 In the prior month : ULTIMO

“Ultimo” is the Italian for “last” and is used in English to mean “in the last month”.

47 In great numbers : GALORE

Our word “galore”, meaning “in great numbers”, comes from the Irish phrase “go leór” that translates as “sufficiently, enough”.

52 __ Tomé and Príncipe : SAO

The Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe is an island nation off the west coast of Africa comprising mainly two islands: São Tomé and Príncipe. São Tomé and Príncipe is located in the Gulf of Guinea, off the coast of Gabon. It was colonized by Portugal after POrtuguese explorers discovered the islands in the 15th century. After gaining independence in 1975, São Tomé and Príncipe became the smallest Portuguese-speaking country in the world.

54 Chem. class data : AT NOS

The atomic number (at. no.) of an element is also called the proton number, and is the number of protons found in the nucleus of each atom of the element.

59 Rob Roy’s refusal : NAE

Rob Roy was a folk hero in Scotland from the 18th century. He was a sort of Scottish Robin Hood, an outlaw who had the support of the populace. Rob Roy’s full name was Robert Roy MacGregor, itself an anglicization of the Scottish Raibeart Ruadh. He gave his name to a famous cocktail called a Rob Roy, a relative of the Manhattan that is made with Scotch instead of bourbon.

61 PC-to-PC hookup : LAN

Local area network (LAN)

The post LA Times Crossword 26 Dec 19, Thursday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 8m 20s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

15 Canal that helps connect the Great Lakes to the Atlantic : ERIE

The Erie Canal runs from Albany to Buffalo in the state of New York. What the canal does is allow shipping to proceed from New York Harbor right up the Hudson River, through the canal and into the Great Lakes. When it was opened in 1825, the Erie Canal had immediate impact on the economy of New York City and locations along its route. It was the first means of “cheap” transportation from a port on the Atlantic seaboard into the interior of the United States. Arguably it was the most important factor contributing to the growth of New York City over competing ports such as Baltimore and Philadelphia. It was largely because of the Erie Canal that New York became such an economic powerhouse, earning it the nickname of “the Empire State”. Paradoxically, one of the project’s main proponents was severely criticized. New York Governor DeWitt Clinton received so much ridicule that the canal was nicknamed “Clinton’s Folly” and “Clinton’s Ditch”.

16 Capital SSW of Damascus : AMMAN

Amman is the capital city of Jordan, and is one of the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world. Amman has been occupied by a number of different civilizations over the centuries, including the Greeks who called it “Philadelphia”, a name retained by the Romans when they occupied the city just after 100 AD.

19 Surprise in a bottle : GENIE

The “genie” in the bottle takes his or her name from “djinn”. “Djinns” were various spirits considered lesser than angels, with people exhibiting unsavory characteristics said to be possessed by djinn. When the book “The Thousand and One Nights” was translated into French, the word “djinn” was transformed into the existing word “génie”, because of the similarity in sound and the related spiritual meaning. This “génie” from the Arabian tale became confused with the Latin-derived “genius”, a guardian spirit thought to be assigned to each person at birth. Purely as a result of that mistranslation the word genie has come to mean the “djinn” that pops out of the bottle. A little hard to follow, I know, but still quite interesting …

21 Jazz saxophonist __ Cobb : ARNETT

Arnett Cobb was a jazz musician who played the saxophone. Cobb’s style of play earned him the nickname “The Wild Man of the Tenor Sax”.

24 One in a Mesoamerican cleanup crew? : MAYAN SWEEPER (from “minesweeper”)

The Maya civilization held sway in Central America and Mexico from about 350 AD, until the arrival of the Spanish in the 1500s.

Mesoamerica is a region extending from Central Mexico, south to Costa Rica. It is known as an area where societies flourished prior to the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 16th and 17th centuries.

29 Any of four palindromic emperors : OTTO

There were four Holy Roman Emperors named Otto, i.e. Otto I though Otto IV.

31 Moody : IN A PET

Apparently, there’s a phrase “in a pet” meaning “in a snit, in a temper”.

35 Object of podiatric study : TOE

Podiatry is a branch of medicine dealing with the foot, ankle and lower extremities.

38 Apothecary’s concern? : PHIAL MANAGEMENT (from “file management”)

Nowadays, we would call an apothecary a pharmacist. “Apotecaire” is an Old French word from the 13th century meaning simply “storekeeper”.

43 Túpac Amaru, e.g. : INCA

The Inca people emerged as a tribe around the 12th century, in what today is southern Peru. The Incas developed a vast empire over the next 300 years, extending along most of the western side of South America. The Empire fell to the Spanish, finally dissolving in 1572 with the execution of Túpac Amaru, the last Incan Emperor.

44 Beige look-alike : ECRU

The color ecru is a grayish, yellowish brown. The word “ecru” comes from French and means “raw, unbleached”. “Ecru” has the same roots as our word “crude”.

54 Ex __: out of nothing, in Latin : NIHILO

The Latin phrase “ex nihilo” means “out of nothing”. The extended phrase “creatio ex nihilo” describes the concept that God created the world out of nothing.

65 No longer hip : PASSE

“Passé” is a French word, meaning “past, faded”. We’ve imported the term into English, and use it in the same sense.

Down

2 Pastoral verse : IDYL

An idyll (also “idyl”) is a short poem with a pastoral theme, usually depicting the scene in romantic and idealized terms. The word “idyl” comes from the Greek “eidyllion”, which literally translates to “little picture” but was a word describing a short poem with a rustic theme.

12 Nearly half of New England : MAINE

The geographical region of New England comprises the six northeastern states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The name “New England” was given to the region by English explorer John Smith in 1616, just a few years before the Mayflower arrived in 1620.

18 Indian bread : NAAN

Naan (also “nan”) bread is very popular in Indian restaurants, as well as in other West, Central and South Asian cuisines. Indian Naan is traditionally baked in a clay oven known as a tandoor.

24 Tableland : MESA

“What’s the difference between a butte and a mesa?” Both are hills with flat tops, but a mesa has a top that is wider than it is tall. A butte is a much narrower formation, and taller than it is wide.

26 Egyptian serpents : ASPS

The asp is a venomous snake found in the Nile region of Africa. It is so venomous that the asp was used in ancient Egypt and Greece as a means of execution. Cleopatra observed such executions noting that the venom brought on sleepiness without any painful spasms. When the great queen opted to commit suicide, the asp was therefore her chosen method.

27 City near Provo : LEHI

The Utah city of Lehi was first settled in 1851. The settlement grew rapidly and was incorporated in the second year of its existence, in 1852. The name Lehi was chosen after a prophet in the Book of Mormon.

32 Member of the 2019 World Series champs : NAT

The Washington Nationals (“Nats”) started out life as the Montreal Expos in 1969, and were the first Major League Baseball team in Canada. The Expos moved to Washington in 2005 becoming the Nats. There are only two Major Leagues teams that have never played in a World Series, one being the Mariners and the other the Nats.

33 Request from a Midwestern cheerleader, maybe : AN I

Give me an I … (… for Illinois, Indiana or Iowa, perhaps).

34 God with a flute : PAN

Pan flutes (also “panpipes”) are folk instruments that have been around along time, and are believed to be the first mouth organs. The pan flute is named for the Greek god Pan, who was often depicted playing the instrument.

37 LAX postings : ETAS

Los Angeles International Airport is the sixth busiest airport in the world in terms of passenger traffic, and the busiest here on the West Coast of the US. The airport was opened in 1930 as Mines Field and was renamed to Los Angeles Airport in 1941. On the airport property is the iconic white structure that resembles a flying saucer. This is called the Theme Building and I believe it is mainly used as a restaurant and observation deck for the public. The airport used to be identified by the letters “LA”, but when the aviation industry went to a three-letter standard for airport identification, this was changed to “LAX”. Apparently, the “X” has no significant meaning.

39 Actress Petty : LORI

Lori Petty is the actress who played the character Kit Keller in the fabulous movie “A League of Their Own”. Petty also played the title role in a 1995 science fiction film called “Tank Girl”.

40 Comportment : MIEN

One’s mien is one’s bearing or manner. “Mien” shares the same etymological root as our word “demeanor”.

45 Hitchcock was known for them : CAMEOS

Alfred Hitchcock makes a cameo appearance in 39 of his 52 movies. My favorite, and perhaps the most innovative, is in the movie “Lifeboat”. In the film, there is a limited cast, just the people in a lifeboat and no extras. Hitchcock managed to make his appearance in a print ad in a newspaper read by one of the survivors in the boat.

48 Singer __ Marie : TEENA

Teena Marie was a very successful R&B singer who was born Mary Christine Brockert in Santa Monica, California.

49 2006 “American Idol” winner Taylor __ : HICKS

Taylor Hicks is the singer who won the fifth season of “American Idol”. Talk show host Jay Leno likes to refer to Hicks as “his son”, because the two have full heads of gray hair. Hicks started to go gray when he was just 14-years-old.

59 “Smackdown” org. : WWE

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is a company promoting professional wrestling as a form of entertainment.

The post LA Times Crossword 27 Dec 19, Friday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 17m 27s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Bay of __, which includes the Cantabrian Sea : BISCAY

The Bay of Biscay is the large gulf that sits north of Spain and west of France. The bay is named after the Spanish province of Biscay located in Basque country.

The Cantabrian Sea is the southern part of the Bay of Biscay. It washes up against the northern coast of Spain and the southwestern coast of France. The Cantabrian Sea takes its name from the autonomous community of Cantabria in northern Spain.

7 Port captured in Sherman’s March to the Sea : SAVANNAH

Savannah was founded in 1733, making it the oldest city in the state of Georgia. The city is named for the Savannah River, which runs through it. It is believed that the river’s name is derived from a Shawnee word, or from a variant name for the Shawnee people.

The Savannah Campaign during the American Civil War is more commonly known as “Sherman’s March to the Sea”. General Sherman of the Union Army started his month-long march in Atlanta, Georgia and ended it with the capture of the port of Savannah, Georgia on 21 December 1864.

15 Odysseus’ kingdom : ITHACA

Ithaca is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. The island features in Homer’s “Odyssey” as it was the home of the mythological hero Odysseus, who was Ithaca’s king.

16 Regional birds : AVIFAUNA

“Avifauna” is the collective name for birds of a specific region. An older term for the same thing is “ornis”, which has the same root as “ornithology”.

17 Cuts off contact with : GHOSTS

A rather insensitive person might break off a relationship simply by cutting off all communication with his or her partner, without any warning. Such a move is referred to as “ghosting” in modern parlance, particularly when the relationship relies heavily on online interaction.

20 Kingston address : MON

Kingston is the capital of Jamaica. Prior to a 1692 earthquake, Port Royal was the main settlement on the island. Survivors of the earthquake set up camp in the agricultural village of Kingston. Despite the hardship of thousands dying in the camp from mosquito-borne diseases, the camp developed into a permanent settlement, especially after a 1703 fire that further destroyed Port Royal.

21 Site with “Living Healthy” guides : WEBMD

WebMD is a website containing health information. Online since 1996, WebMD is read by over 80 million readers each month. One example of the useful features on the site is the Pill Identification Tool.

23 Two-faced god : JANUS

Janus was a Roman god usually depicted with two heads, one looking to the past and the other to the future. As such, as a god Janus is often associated with time. The Romans named the month of Ianuarius (our “January”) after Janus.

29 “The Last Jedi” heroine : REY

Rey is a central character in the “Star Wars” universe. She first appeared in 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”. Rey is played by British actress Daisy Ridley.

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” is a 2017 movie from the “Star Wars” film franchise, and the second installment of the “Star Wars” sequel trilogy. The title character is Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill. Ah, but is Luke in fact the “last Jedi”?

30 Tight military formation : PHALANX

In ancient warfare, a phalanx was a group of soldiers that stood or marched together as a unit using their shields as an outer barrier around the formation. “Phalanx” (plural “phalanges”) is the Greek word for “finger”. “Phalanx” was used for the military formation probably because of the finger-like movements that such formations made on the field of battle.

32 Makeup kit item : Q-TIP

Cotton swabs were originally marketed under the name “Baby Gays”. This was changed in 1926 to “Q-Tips”, with the Q standing for “quality”.

35 Monopoly pieces : HOUSES

In the game of Monopoly, one can purchase a hotel by “demolishing” four houses and by paying an extra amount equal to the price of one house.

41 Florida’s first two-term Republican governor : JEB BUSH

Jeb Bush is the son of President George H. W. Bush, and the brother of President George W. Bush. I always thought that Jeb was an American nickname for James or Joseph but I must be wrong, because George and Barbara’s son John Ellis Bush is called “Jeb”. A kind blog reader has suggested the name “Jeb” may have been chosen as JEB are the initials of John Ellis Bush.

42 Black __ : OPS

“Black ops” is the name given to covert operations, activities that are usually outside of standard military protocol and may even be against the law. Funding for black ops is usually provided by a secret “black budget”.

47 Early GE subsidiary : RCA

RCA was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America, and as a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Electric (GE). GE divested RCA in 1932, and then reacquired the company in 1986. Today, RCA is just a brand name.

54 Black Hills terr. : DAK

The Dakota Territory was formed in 1861 and ceased to exist with the admission to the Union of the states of North Dakota and South Dakota. The territory was split into two states in 1889 largely due to lobbying by the Republican Party, which enjoyed a lot of support in the Dakota Territory. The admission of two states added to the political power of the party in the US Senate, by adding four safe Republican seats.

The Black Hills are a mountain range in South Dakota and Wyoming. The Black Hills are home to some celebrated locations including Mount Rushmore, Wind Cave National Park, the Crazy Horse Memorial and the historic city of Deadwood.

55 Biathlete’s need : RIFLE

A biathlon is an event requiring expertise in two sporting disciplines. The most common biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing with rifle shooting. This traditional biathlon was born out of an exercise for Norwegian soldiers.

58 Some cells : NOKIAS

I do enjoy classical guitar music, but there isn’t a huge choice on CD. There is one very special piece called “Gran Vals” by Francisco Tárrega, written in 1902. This piece has a unique reputation as it contains a phrase that was once the most listened-to piece of music in the whole world. Just a few bars into the work one can hear the celebrated Nokia ringtone!

61 Oopsy or Funshine, e.g. : CARE BEAR

The Care Bears franchise includes a line of toys as well as TV shows and movies. The original Care Bears were characters created for greeting cards marketed by American Greetings starting in 1981.

62 “Pippin” Tony winner : VEREEN

Ben Vereen is an American actor and dancer who is probably best known for playing Chicken George in the magnificent television miniseries “Roots”. When he was applying for a passport in the sixties, Vereen discovered that he was adopted. He then went looking for his birth parents and identified his birth mother (who had passed away by this time). She went away on a trip when Ben was very young, only to return and find that her child and the person minding him had disappeared. She never saw her son again.

“Pippin” is a stage musical by Stephen Schwartz that was first produced in 1972, on Broadway. The original Broadway production was directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse, for which work Fosse won two Tony Awards in 1973. The title character’s father in “Pippin” is named Charlemagne. The father-son characters are inspired by the Holy Roman Emperors Charlemagne and Pepin.

Down

1 Rap hit heard in the 2009 biopic “Notorious” : BIG POPPA

“The Notorious B.I.G.” was the stage name of rap star Christopher Wallace, who also went by the names “Biggie Smalls” and “Biggie”. While at the height of his fame Wallace was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles, a murder case that has never been solved. The 2009 movie “Notorious” is about Wallace’s life and stars fellow rap artist Jamal Woolard (aka Gravy) in the title role.

6 “__, queen!”: slangy celebratory words : YAS

“Yas” is a slang term used in place of the interjection “yes!”, when it expresses pleasure and excitement. The exclamation often takes the form “Yas, queen!”

7 It’s a wrap : SARONG

“Sarong” is the Malay word for “sheath. The term originally described a garment worn by Malay men and women around their waists. The Malay sarong is actually a tube of fabric, about a yard wide and two-and-a-half yards long. Many variations of the sarong are worn all over South Asia and the Pacific Islands. I had occasion to wear one in Hawaii many years ago, and found it very … freeing!

8 Tony-winning musical that draws inspiration from “Sesame Street” : AVENUE Q

“Avenue Q” is a musical inspired by “Sesame Street”, with puppets being used for all the characters on the stage. It’s an adult-oriented production, but a parody on the children’s show. Some of the characters are clearly knock-offs of “Sesame Street” favorites e.g. Rod and Nicky (Bert and Ernie) and Trekkie Monster (Cookie Monster).

9 Ford’s Crown __ : VIC

The Crown Victoria is full-sized sedan car that was manufactured by Ford from 1991 to 2011. One of the most famous versions of the Crown Vic is the Police Interceptor that Ford introduced in 1998.

12 Nature Valley offering : NUT BAR

Nature Valley is brand owned by General Mills that is used for a line of granola-related foods. The brand uses the slogan “The Energy Bar Nature Intended”. The first Nature Valley granola bar appeared on shelves in 1975.

13 Breakdown of social norms : ANOMIE

Anomie is social breakdown caused by the erosion of value and standards. The term comes to us via French from Greek. The root words are “a-” (without) “nomos” (law).

20 Chico was the first-born one : MARX

Chico was the oldest of the Marx Brothers. Well, Chico did in fact have an older brother Manfred, but he died in infancy.

23 Buffs : JUNKIES

A buff, fiend, junkie or nut is one who is extremely enthusiastic and knowledgeable about a subject, someone who is a devotee.

27 Big name in investment banking : SACHS

The investment banking firm Goldman Sachs was founded in New York in 1869 by Marcus Goldman. Samuel Sachs joined the firm in 1882, the same year that he married Louisa Goldman, Marcus’s daughter. The name “Goldman Sachs” was adopted by the firm in 1885. Goldman Sachs made out like bandits during the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007-08 as the company actually short-sold subprime mortgage bonds. As the price of the bonds nose-dived, Goldman Sachs made huge profits.

28 Mythical weeper : NIOBE

In Greek mythology, Niobe fled to Mount Sipylus when her children were killed. There, she was turned into stone and wept for eternity. There is indeed a Niobe’s Rock on Mount Sipylus (in modern-day Turkey) that resembles a female face, and so is known as “The Weeping Rock”.

31 Bar subject : LAW

The legal profession is referred to as “the bar”. The term arose in medieval times when European courtrooms were divided into two with “barring” furniture, basically a wooden rail that separated the public from the participants in the trial.

37 Cadillac SUV : ESCALADE

The Escalade is a full-size SUV that Cadillac introduced in 1999. The word “escalade” describes the act of scaling defensive walls with ladders during a siege.

40 Singer/actress who voices Meechee in “Smallfoot” : ZENDAYA

Zendaya Coleman, known simply as “Zendaya” on stage, is an actress and singer. Her big break as an actress came with the role of Rocky Blue on the Disney sitcom “Shake It Up”. Zendaya gained further attention from TV audiences when in 2013, at 16 years of age, she became the youngest contestant up to that time on “Dancing with the Stars”. She did well, coming in second in the competition.

41 Soda __ : JERK

In the halcyon days of yore, a “soda jerk” was usually a young person whose main job was to serve ice cream sodas in a drugstore. The server would “jerk” the handle on the soda fountain to dispense the soda water, giving the job its distinctive name.

42 How much freelance work is done : ON SPEC

The term “free lance” was coined by Sir Walter Scott in his 1820 novel “Ivanhoe”, when he used it to describe a medieval mercenary warrior. Forty years later, a “freelancer” was a journalist who did work for more than one publication without a long-term commitment.

43 Tropical fruit : PAPAYA

The papaya is the fruit of the Carica papaya, a large tree-like plant that is native to southern Mexico and Central America. One traditional use of papaya is as a meat tenderizer. The fruit and sap contain the enzyme papain that breaks down meat fibers. Papain is used today as a component in powdered meat tenderizers.

46 Charlatan : HOAXER

A charlatan is someone who makes false claims of skill or knowledge. “Charlatan” is a word we imported from French, although the original derivation is the Italian “ciarlatano”, a term meaning “quack”.

51 Hog owner : BIKER

The Harley-Davidson motorcycle company was founded in the very early 1900s by two childhood friends, William Harley and Arthur Davidson, . Their first design was in effect an engine hooked up to a pedal bicycle, but the 116 cc cylinder capacity simply couldn’t generate enough power to get up the hills of their native city of Milwaukee. The pair came up with a redesigned model that had a cylinder capacity of 405 cc, which the partners built in a shed at the back of Davidson’s house. In 1906, the partners built their first factory, located where the company’s headquarters is to this day, on Juneau Avenue in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Famously, Harley motorcycles are nicknamed “hogs”.

55 Gad about : ROVE

To gad about is to move around with little purpose. The word “gad” comes from the Middle English “gadden” meaning “to hurry”.

57 Author Harper : LEE

Nelle Harper Lee was an author from Monroeville, Alabama. For many years, Lee had only one published novel to her name, i.e. “To Kill a Mockingbird”. That contribution to the world of literature was enough to earn her the Presidential Medal of Freedom and a Pulitzer Prize. Harper Lee was a close friend of fellow author Truman Capote who was the inspiration for the character named “Dill” in her novel. Lee was all over the news in 2015 as she had published a second novel, titled “Go Set a Watchman”. The experts seem to be agreeing that “Go Set a Watchman” is actually a first draft of “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Lee passed away less than a year after “Go Set a Watchman” hit the stores.

58 11, at times: Abbr. : NOV

November is the eleventh month in our calendar. The name comes from the Latin “novem” meaning “nine”, as November was the ninth month in the ancient Roman calendar.

The post LA Times Crossword 28 Dec 19, Saturday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.