Bill’s time: 21m 11s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

9 Spurred (on) : EGGED

The verb “to edge” has been used to mean to incite, to urge on, from the 16th century. Somewhere along the way “edge” was mistakenly replaced with “egg”, giving us our term “to egg on” meaning “to goad”.

20 Magician’s cry : 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”.

22 Unlikely getaway car alternative? : ESCAPE GOAT (from “scapegoat”)

A scapegoat is a person chosen to take the blame in place of others. The term comes from the Bible’s Book of Leviticus, which describes a goat that was cast into the desert along with the sins of the community.

24 Time left in an online auction? : EBAY WINDOW (from “bay window”)

eBay was founded in 1995 as AuctionWeb. One of the first items purchased was a broken laser pointer, for $14.83. The buyer was a collector of broken laser pointers …

A bay window is a window that projects outside, beyond the wall. The resulting space inside the wall forms a “bay-like” space inside a room.

27 River-to-sea connection : ESTUARY

An estuary is a body of water that is connected directly to the open sea as well as to one or more rivers. As such, the water in an estuary is “brackish”, less saline than seawater but more saline than freshwater. The list of significant estuaries in North America includes Chesapeake Bay, Delaware bay, the East River and Long Island Sound.

34 Zest : GUSTO

“Gusto” is an Italian word meaning “taste”. We use it in English in the phrase “with gusto” meaning “with great enjoyment”.

41 Many a Middle East native : ARAB

In geographical terms there are three “Easts”. “Near East” and “Middle East” are terms that are often considered synonymous, although “Near East” tends to be used when discussing ancient history and “Middle East” when referring to the present day. The Near/Middle East encompasses most of Western Asia and Egypt. The term “Far East” describes East Asia (including the Russian Far East), Southeast Asia and South Asia.

45 Bowling ball material : URETHANE

Polyurethanes are a large class of polymers. The first polyurethanes were synthesized in Germany in 1937. Although the name “urethane” strictly applies to the organic compound ethyl carbamate, polyurethanes are often referred to simply as “urethanes”.

47 Hood’s weapon : GAT

“Gat” is a slang term for a gun that is derived from “Gatling gun”, the precursor to the modern machine gun. The Gatling gun was invented by Dr. Richard J. Gatling in 1861. Apparently he was inspired to invent it so that one man could do as much damage as a hundred, thereby reducing the size of armies and diminishing the suffering caused by war. Go figure …

“Hood” is a slang term for “gangster”, a shortening of “hoodlum”.

49 Where to get down : EIDER

Eiders are large sea ducks. Their down feathers are used to fill pillows and quilts, giving the name to the quilt called an “eiderdown”.

52 Serengeti stampede? : ELAND RUSH (from “land rush”)

The eland (plural “eland, elands”) is a large African antelope, in fact the largest antelope on the continent. Both male and female eland have horns, and those horns have a steady spiral ridge along their length.

The Serengeti is a region in Africa that is located in northern Tanzania and southwest Kenya. The name “Serengeti” comes from the Maasai language and means “Endless Plains”.

55 Multidisciplinary strength-training program : CROSSFIT

CrossFit is a trademarked fitness, strength and conditioning program that was introduced in 2000.

57 Guitarist Paul : LES

Les Paul was a guitarist, songwriter and inventor. When he was 33 years old, Paul was involved in a near-fatal car crash that left his right arm and elbow shattered. Surgeons offered him the choice of amputation or a rebuilding of the limb that would leave him unable to bend his elbow. He told them to set his arm at just under 90 degrees so that he could at least hold his guitar and perhaps play it.

61 B’way need : TKT

Ticket (tkt.)

66 “The Plough and the Stars” playwright : O’CASEY

Seán O’Casey was an Irish playwright noted for his works exploring the plight of the working class in Dublin. O’Casey’s most famous works are “Juno and the Paycock” and “The Plough and the Stars”.

67 Three-hanky films? : EMOTION PICTURES (from “motion pictures”)

A kerchief is a triangular or square piece of cloth used as a covering for the head. So, a handkerchief (“hand-kerchief”) is a square piece of cloth held in the hand and used for personal hygiene.

70 Red choice : CLARET

Clairet is a dark rosé wine. Although it is uncommon today, clairet used to be the most common wine produced in the Bordeaux region of France. For centuries now, English consumers have used the derivative term “claret” to describe any red wine from Bordeaux.

73 Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb, e.g. : CO-ANCHORS

Savannah Guthrie is a broadcast journalist who started to co-anchor the NBC news show “Today” in 2012. Although raised in Arizona. Guthrie was actually born in Melbourne, Australia.

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”.

83 Bong for special occasions? : EVENT PIPE (from “vent pipe”)

A bong is a smaller and more portable version of a hookah, with both being filtration devices for smoking especially tobacco and cannabis. The term “bong” comes from the Thai word “baung” that is used for a wooden pope cut from bamboo.

88 Certain house mem. : SEN

Senator (sen.)

89 Emmy-winning creator of “Six Feet Under” : ALAN BALL

Screenwriter Alan Ball has a few hits attributed to him. He wrote the original screenplay for the 1999 movie “American Beauty”, and also created the very successful cable TV shows “Six Feet Under” and “True Blood”.

“Six Feet Under” is reportedly a great TV drama aired by HBO, and one that I fully intend to take a look at one day. The “six feet under” is a reference to the show’s storyline that features a family funeral business.

94 Thames academy : ETON

The town of Eton in Berkshire, England is home to the world-famous Eton College. The original settlement of Eton was located on an island surrounded by the River Thames, and the name “Eton” means “settlement on an island. A stream on one side of the island silted up almost 200 years ago, but it was cleared in 2019 so that Eton qualifies as an island once again.

100 “Take Me Home, Country __”: John Denver hit : ROADS

Singer John Denver’s real name was Henry John Deutchendorf, Jr. Denver was a great singer, and he had many other passions. He was an excellent photographer, and an avid skier and golfer. He also loved flying and collected vintage biplanes. He flew himself to concerts in his own Learjet, and had a handful of other planes that he would take out for spin when he could. One of his planes was an Experimental Rutan Long-EZ, a home-built aircraft noted for its fuel efficiency and tremendous range. Denver took the Rutan Long-EZ up in the middle of October 1997. He hadn’t had much experience with the plane, even though he had logged over 2,700 hours of flying time in other aircraft. The plane crashed into the ocean near Pacific Grove, California in an accident that Denver did not survive.

“Take Me Home, Country Roads” is a 1971 song that was co-written and performed by John Denver. It was destined to become John Denver’s signature song, as well as one of the several official state anthems of West Virginia.

Almost heaven, West Virginia
Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze

107 Early Yankee nickname : BAMBINO

Baseball legend George Herman Ruth, Jr. had several nicknames, the best known being “Babe”. He was also called “the Bambino” and “the Sultan of Swat”.

109 “Rhoda” production co. : MTM

MTM Enterprises was a television production company founded in 1969 by Mary Tyler Moore, originally to produce the “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”. The company subsequently produced the likes of “The Bob Newhart Show”, “Rhoda”, “WKRP in Cincinnati”, “Hill Street Blues” and “St. Elsewhere”. That’s a lot of great television …

The seventies sitcom “Rhoda”, starring Valerie Harper, was a spin-off of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”. The eighth episode of the show was an hour-long special in which Rhoda married her fiance Joe (played by David Groh). At the time of airing it was the second-most watched television episode in history, second only to the 1953 birth of Little Ricky on “I Love Lucy”.

112 Eve? : EDEN MOTHER (from “den mother”)

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

115 Midnight sail? : EBON VOYAGE (from “bon voyage”)

“Bon voyage” translates literally from French into English as “good journey”.

121 Glues : MUCILAGES

Mucilage is a gelatinous and sticky substance produced by most plants that serves various functions in a plant’s life cycle. Mucilage is collected from plants and has various uses. It can be eaten, and acts as a soluble dietary fiber. Historically, mucilage has been mixed with water and used as a glue. Such glues are sometimes referred to as “mucilages”.

122 Daly of “Judging Amy” : TYNE

Actress Tyne Daly really came into the public eye playing Detective Lacey in “Cagney and Lacey”. From 1999 to 2005, Daly played the mother of the title character in the TV show “Judging Amy”.

“Judging Amy” is a legal drama that first aired in 1999, and which stars Amy Brenneman and Tyne Daly. Brenneman plays the title character, a judge who serves in a family court. Brenneman also created the show, and based it on the real-life experiences of her own mother who worked as a family court judge in Hartford, Connecticut.

123 “The Teflon Don” : GOTTI

John Gotti was the boss of the Gambino crime family from 1985. Gotti was known as the “Teflon Don” and took over leadership of the family from Paul Castellano when he was gunned down, allegedly on Gotti’s orders. Gotti remained head of the New York family until he was sentenced to life in prison in 1992. Gotti died of throat cancer after ten years behind bars.

124 Climbing plant features : TENDRILS

A tendril is a specialized leaf or stem that is shaped like a spiral thread. Tendrils are used for support by climbing plants.

Down

4 Ad about being green, briefly : PSA

Public service announcement (PSA)

7 “Cat Scratch Fever” musician : NUGENT

Ted Nugent was the lead guitarist with the Amboy Dukes, and is now a successful solo artist. Off the stage, Nugent is noted for his conservative views, particularly when it comes to the Second Amendment. He serves on the board of directors of the National Rifle Association.

9 Boston suburb : EVERETT

Everett is a city located just north of Boston. It was named for American politician Edward Everett, who served in many posts in the 19th century, including US Secretary of State under President Millard Fillmore.

11 Supermodel Carangi : GIA

Gia Carangi was a fashion model, one often described as the world’s first supermodel. Carangi was from Philadelphia, and had her first modelling jobs appearing in newspaper ads. She started to abuse heroin in 1980, at 20 years of age. She contracted AIDS, and died at 26 years old. Carangi was one of the first famous women to succumb to the disease, in 1986. HBO made a biopic about Carangi’s life called “Gia” in 1998. Angelina Jolie played the title role.

12 Nevada copper town : ELY

Ely is a city in eastern Nevada. The city was founded as a Pony Express stagecoach station, and then experienced a mining boom after copper was discovered locally in 1906. One of Ely’s former residents was First Lady Pat Nixon, who was born there in 1912.

14 Synagogue singer : CANTOR

“Canto” is the Latin word for “singer”. In some religious traditions, a “cantor” is the person assigned to lead the singing of ecclesiastical music.

15 Quattro maker : AUDI

Audi introduced the Quattro model in 1980. It was the first car to use Audi’s “quattro permanent” four-wheel drive system, hence the name “Quattro”.

17 Words of wisdom : SAWS

A saw is an old saying, one that is often repeated and is very familiar. The term “old saw” is actually a tautology, as by definition a “saw” is “old”.

23 16th-century English architectural style : TUDOR

Anyone wanting to see examples of magnificent buildings in the Tudor style of architecture might consider a visit to the English university towns of Oxford and Cambridge.

25 Whit : 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.

Both “whit” and “fig” are used to describe a trivial amount, a mere trifle.

31 A and O, but not E, I or U : AL’ERS

American League (AL)

The Oakland Athletics (OAK) baseball franchise was founded back in 1901 as the Philadelphia Athletics. The team became the Kansas City Athletics in 1955 and moved to Oakland in 1968. Today, the Athletics are usually referred to as “the A’s”.

The Baltimore Orioles (also, the O’s, the Birds”) are one of the eight charter teams of MLB’s American League, so the franchise dates back to 1901. Prior to 1901, the team has roots in the Minor League Milwaukee Brewers, and indeed entered the American League as the Brewers. In 1902 the Brewers moved to St. Louis and became the Browns. The team didn’t fare well in St. Louis, so when it finally relocated to Baltimore in the early fifties the team changed its name completely, to the Baltimore Orioles. The owners so badly wanted a fresh start that they traded 17 old Browns players with the New York Yankees. The trade didn’t help the team’s performance on the field in those early days, but it did help distance the new team from its past.

35 Long bones : ULNAE

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”.

38 FAA overseer : USDOT

Department of Transportation (DOT)

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

39 Stanley of the NHL? : CUP

The Stanley Cup is named for Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor General of Canada from 1888 to 1893. Lord Stanley’s sons became avid fans of ice hockey while in Canada, and so he donated the trophy in 1909, originally as a challenge cup for the country’s best amateur club.

40 MLB scoreboard letters : RHE

On baseball scoreboards we see the letters RHE, standing for Runs, Hits and Errors.

43 Sew with temporary stitches : BASTE

To baste is to sew loosely, just holding a join in a fabric together temporarily using large running stitches.

51 Web site : ATTIC

An attic or loft is a room or space located below the roof of a building. The term “attic” is a shortened form of “attic story”, the uppermost story or level of a house. This term “attic story” originally applied to a low, decorative level built on top of the uppermost story behind a building’s decorative facade. This use of decoration at the top of buildings was common in ancient Greece, and was particularly important in the Attica style. That Attica style was so called because it originated in the historical region of Attica that encompassed the city of Athens. And that’s how our attics are linked to ancient Greece.

53 Il __: Mussolini : DUCE

“Duce” is Italian for “duke”. The most infamous dictator known as “Il Duce” was Benito Mussolini.

Benito Mussolini was deposed in 1943, just a few weeks after the Allies invaded Sicily and started to bomb Rome. Fascist politicians voted to oust him, and Italian King Victor Emmanuel had him arrested. Hitler selected Lieutenant Colonel Otto Skorzeny to lead a group of German commandos in a daring rescue of his longtime ally. The rescuers were towed into Italian airspace in gliders, which the commandos landed on a mountainside close to where Mussolini was being held captive. The element of surprise was so significant, that the rescue was effected without a shot being fired. A small plane was flown in to transport Mussolini and Skorzeny out of Italy, and to safety in Vienna. Some months later, Mussolini returned to Italy and fought on in parts of the country not yet taken by the Allies. As the end drew near, he made a run for Switzerland but was captured by Italian partisans. They executed him and took his body to Milan, where it was put on display, hanging upside down for all to see.

57 Horne and Dunham : LENAS

Lena Horne was an American jazz singer, actress, dancer and civil rights activist. Horne started her career as a nightclub singer and then began to get some meaty acting roles in Hollywood. However, she ended up on the blacklist during the McCarthy Era for expressing left wing political views. One of Horne’s starring roles was in the 1943 movie “Stormy Weather” for which she also performed the title song.

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.

58 “College Football Live” channel : ESPNU

ESPNU (short for “ESPN Universities”) is a sports channel focused on college athletics.

64 Scot’s “Crikey!” : OCH!

“Crikey!” is an exclamation, and is probably a euphemism for “Christ”.

65 Features of some ‘Vettes : T-TOPS

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.

The Chevrolet Corvette was introduced to the world in 1953, and was named after the small maneuverable warship called a corvette. The “Vette” has legs. It is the only American sports car that has been around for over 50 years.

67 2000 title role for Julia : ERIN

Erin Brockovich is an environmental activist who is famous for the role she played in building a case against Pacific Gas & Electric for contaminating drinking water. Her story was told in a 2000 film title “Erin Brockovich” starring Julia Roberts in the title role. Brockovich herself actually appeared in the film, as she was given a cameo as a waitress in a restaurant scene.

69 Results of Googling : URLS

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

70 Cuckoo clock quartet : CEES

There is a quartet of letters C (cees) in the phrase “cuckoo clock”.

71 Bank construction : LEVEE

A levee is an artificial bank, usually made of earth, that runs along the length of a river. It is designed to hold back river water at a time of potential flooding. “Levée” is the French word for “raised” and is an American term that originated in French-speaking New Orleans around 1720.

74 “Vive __!” : LE ROI

“Vive le roi!” is French for “Long live the king!” “À bas le roi!” is French for “Down with the king!”, which was a phrase often heard during the French Revolution.

75 “I did not think to shed __”: “Henry VIII” : A TEAR

“Henry VIII” is a history play by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher. One of the play’s claims to fame is that during a performance at the Globe Theater in 1613, a cannon shot special effect ignited a fire in the theater’s thatched roof causing the whole building to burn to the ground.

81 “Portrayer” of Duck Dodgers : DAFFY

Daffy Duck appears as sci-fi hero Duck Dodgers in a series of cartoons, starting with “Duck Dodgers in the 24½ Century” from 1953. Clearly, that’s a spoof of the sci-fi series “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century”.

82 Southwestern lizards : GILAS

A Gila monster is a venomous lizard found in the southwestern US and northern Mexico, and is the only venomous lizard native to America. Gila monsters move along at a snail’s pace so aren’t normally a danger to humans. The name “Gila” is a reference to the Gila River Basin in the American Southwest, where the Gila monster was prevalent.

84 Screen or bomb : PASS

That would be American football.

85 Rhinitis-treating MD : ENT

The branch of medicine known as “ear, nose and throat” (ENT) is more correctly called “otolaryngology”.

Rhinitis is irritation and inflammation of the mucous membrane inside the nose. Usually, rhinitis is a result of inhalation of allergens such as pollen and pet dander.

86 South American greeting : ALO

“Aló” is Spanish for “hello”.

90 Owner of Grey Goose and Dewar’s : BACARDI

The Bacardi company is still family-owned and operated, and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda. The company was founded in Santiago de Cuba and became successful by selling a refined form of rum, something new to a market that was used to a crude dark rum. The Bacardi family opposed the Castro regime as it came to power, so the company had to relocate to Bermuda.

Grey Goose is a vodka that is produced in France. The beverage was developed especially for the American market using resources and expertise available in the French Cognac region.

Dewar’s is a blended Scotch whisky introduced to the market in 1846 by John Dewar. Dewar’s White Label is the company’s most popular Scotch. It was first sold in 1899, and with a taste that is described as “heather and honey”. Dewar’s also make some single malts, under the labels Aberfeldy 12 and Aberfeldy 21. Today, Dewar’s is owned by Bacardi.

93 Time in a personal ad : AFT

Afternoon (aft.)

95 Anaheim’s county : ORANGE

Orange County in the Greater Los Angeles Area is the smallest county in Southern California by area, and yet it is the sixth most populous county in the US. The county seat is Santa Ana.

The California city of Anaheim is famous as home to the Disneyland resort. Prior to Disneyland opening in 1955, Anaheim was largely an agricultural community. It had been founded in 1857 by a group of German-Americans who were looking for an area suitable for growing grapes. The name “Anaheim” comes from “Ana”, referring to the nearby Santa Ana River, and from “Heim”, a German word meaning “home”.

99 Hospital stat? : AT ONCE

The exact etymology of “stat”, a term meaning “immediately” in the medical profession, seems to have been lost in the mists of time. It probably comes from the Latin “statim” meaning “to a standstill, immediately”. A blog reader has helpfully suggested that the term may also come from the world of laboratory analysis, where the acronym STAT stands for “short turn-around time”.

106 Penn name : SEAN

Actor Sean Penn is a two-time Oscar winner, for his roles in “Mystic River” released in 2003 and “Milk” released in 2008. Penn’s celebrity on screen is only matched with his fame off the screen. Apart from his “big name” marriages to singer Madonna and actress Robin Wright, Penn is also well known for political and social activism. He perhaps inherited some of his political views from his father, actor and director Leo Penn. As an actor, Leo refused to “name names” in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee and so was blacklisted in Hollywood and had to move into directing to put bread on the table. In later years as a director he gave his son Sean his first acting role, in a 1974 episode of “Little House on the Prairie”.

108 Tech giant based in Armonk, N.Y. : IBM

Tech giant IBM was founded as the Tabulating Machine Company in 1896. The company changed its name to the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation (CTR) in 1911 and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1916. The name “International Business Machines” (IBM) was given first to the company’s Canadian subsidiary, and then to its South American subsidiary. In 1924, it was decided to adopt the International Business Machines name for the whole company. Good choice …

109 Star followers : MAGI

“Magi” is the plural of the Latin word “magus”, a term applied to someone who was able to read the stars. Hence, “magi” is commonly used with reference to the “wise men from the East” who followed the star and visited Jesus soon after he was born. In Western Christianity, the three Biblical Magi are:

• Melchior: a scholar from Persia
• Caspar: a scholar from India
• Balthazar: a scholar from Arabia

110 Neutrogena shampoo brand : T/GEL

Neutrogena is a brand of skincare products that was founded in 1930 as a cosmetics company called Natone.

114 V-J Day president : 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.

The actual date of V-J Day is not as clear as one might imagine. In the US we celebrate V-J Day on September 2nd each year, commemorating the day the Japanese signed the surrender document which officially ended WWII. In the UK, V-J Day is celebrated on August 15th, commemorating the day the surrender was announced in Europe and North America. To further complicate matters, because of time zone differences, surrender was announced in Japan on the preceding date, August 14th, 1945.

116 Beaujolais, par exemple : VIN

Beaujolais is a red wine made from the Gamay grape that is produced in the Beaujolais historical province that is part of the Burgundy wine-making region.

The post LA Times Crossword 29 Dec 19, Sunday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 5m 11s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Beloved British princess : DIANA

Diana, Princess of Wales was a close friend of the English singer Elton John. At the princess’s funeral, Elton John performed a revised version of his song “Candle in the Wind” to honor his departed friend. The song was released as a single under the name “Candle in the Wind 1997” It became the fastest and best-selling song of all time, and remains the only single ever to be “certified diamond” in the US.

6 Clothing designer Perry : ELLIS

Perry Ellis was a fashion designer from Portsmouth, Virginia. Ellis was noted for his sportswear creations.

11 Lakers rivals, on NBA scoreboards : LAC

The Los Angeles Lakers basketball team started out in 1947 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The team chose the Lakers name in honor of the nickname of Minnesota, “Land of 10,000 Lakes”. The Lakers moved to Los Angeles in 1960.

14 Improvise : AD LIB

“Ad libitum” is a Latin phrase meaning “at one’s pleasure”. In common usage, the phrase is usually shortened to “ad lib”. On the stage, the concept of an ad lib is very familiar.

15 Coolness under pressure : POISE

Back in the early 1400s, “poise” meant “quality of being heavy”. We’ve been using the term to mean “steadiness, composure” since the mid-1600s, in the sense of being equally “weighted” on either side.

17 *Baseball batting statistic measured in degrees : LAUNCH ANGLE

In baseball, the vertical angle at which the ball leaves a player’s bat is referred to as the launch angle.

20 Arizona city or landform : MESA

The city of Mesa, Arizona is in effect a suburb of Phoenix. The original settlement of non-Native Americans was founded by Daniel Webster Jones who led a Mormon group from St. George, Utah. The settlement was first called Jonesville, then Fort Utah and eventually Lehi. A second group of Mormons arrived and formed a settlement on top of a nearby mesa. It was this use of a mesa that eventually gave the city its current name.

21 Cucumbers used as pickles : GHERKINS

Often, a dill pickle is actually a pickled gherkin, as the gherkin and cucumber are different cultivars within the same species. Here in the US, dill is commonly added to the pickling vinegar or brine, but this wasn’t the case when I used to eat them back in Ireland (I can’t stand dill!). You might see jars labeled as “cornichons”, but they’re gherkins. “Cornichon” is the French word for “gherkin”.

23 Peyton’s quarterback brother : ELI

Peyton Manning is a former NFL quarterback who played most of his professional career with the Indianapolis Colts. Manning retired at the top of his game, holding records for passing yards, touchdown passes, Pro Bowl appearances, and several other records. Peyton is the son of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning, and the older brother of NFL quarterback Eli Manning.

27 10-Down may have a sixth one : SENSE
(10D See 27-Across : SEERS)

The so-called “sixth sense” is extrasensory perception (ESP).

28 *Common food thickening agent : XANTHAN GUM

Xanthan gum is a polysaccharide carbohydrate that has many uses, but is most familiar to us as a food additive. It is produced by fermenting simple sugars, using the bacteria Xanthomonas campestris. The main use of xanthan gum is to increase the viscosity of liquids, and so it can prevent oils separating out in dressings and sauces.

36 Soy sauce often gluten-free : TAMARI

Tamari is a variety of soy sauce that is made without wheat, and so is often used by those on a gluten-free diet.

38 Actress __ Brie of “Mad Men” : ALISON

Alison Brie is an actress best known for playing Trudy Campbell, the wife of Pete Campbell on the TV drama “Mad Men”.

42 Inlaid artwork : MOSAIC

In the Middle Ages, mosaics were often dedicated to the Muses. The term “mosaic” translates as “of the Muses”.

46 Emcee’s opening : INTRO

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

47 Crescent point : CUSP

The word “cusp” comes from the Latin “cuspis” meaning “spear, point”. In the world of astrology, a cusp is an imaginary line separating two signs of the zodiac. For example, some whose birthday is between April 16 and April 26 is said to have been born “on the cusp” between the signs Aries and Taurus.

55 Corned beef on __ : RYE

Corned beef is beef that has been cured with salt. “Corn” is an alternative term for a grain of salt, giving the dish its name. Corned beef is also known as “salt beef”, and “bully beef” if stored in cans (from the French “bouilli” meaning “boiled”).

56 Fragrant climbing plant : SWEET PEA

The sweet pea is a fragrant, flowering climbing plant in the legume family, hence the name.

61 Altoids container : TIN

Altoids breath mints have been around since 1780, when they were introduced in Britain. The famous tin in which Altoids are sold is often reused for other purposes. The most famous use is as a container to hold a mini-survival kit.

66 Number of U.S. states with three-word capitals : ONE

Salt Lake City (SLC) was founded by Brigham Young, in 1847. The city takes its name from the Great Salt Lake on which it sits, and indeed was known as “Great Salt Lake City” up until 1868.

68 Fable writer : AESOP

Aesop is remembered today as a fabulist, a writer of fables. Aesop lived in ancient Greece, probably around the sixth century BC. Supposedly he was born a slave, somehow became a free man, but then met with a sorry end. Aesop was sent to the city of Delphi on a diplomatic mission but instead insulted the Delphians. He was tried on a trumped-up charge of stealing from a temple, sentenced to death and was thrown off a cliff.

69 Rx writers : MDS

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.

Down

1 Indian lentil dish : DAL

I love dal dishes, which are prepared from various peas or beans (often lentils) that have been stripped of their outer skins and split. Dal is an important part of Indian cuisines. I suppose in Indian terms, split pea soup (another of my favorites) would be called a dal.

2 Boise’s st. : IDA

Boise, Idaho is the capital and the largest metropolitan area in the state by far. There are a number of stories pertaining to the etymology of the name “Boise”. One is that French trappers called the tree-lined river that ran through the area “la rivière boisée”, meaning “the wooded river”.

3 Foil metal : ALUMINUM

Before thin sheets of aluminum metal were available as aluminum foil, thin sheets of tin were used in various applications. Tin foil isn’t a great choice for wrapping food though, as it imparts a tinny taste. On the other side of the pond, aluminum foil has a different name. No, it’s not just the different spelling of aluminum (“aluminium”). We still call it “tin foil”. You see, we live in the past …

4 Yellow-striped pool ball : NINE

Eight-ball and nine-ball are arguably the most popular variants of pool played in North America. In eight-ball, one player sinks the striped balls and the other the solid balls. The first to sink all his or her balls and then the black 8-ball, without fouling, wins the game. In nine-ball, each player must hit the lowest numbered ball on the table first with the cue ball. The first player to sink the 9-ball wins. Sinking the nine ball can happen when first hitting the lowest bowl on the table, or possibly when balls numbered 1-8 have been sunk.

6 MPG-testing org. : EPA

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) routinely estimates the expected miles per gallon (mpg) for vehicles.

9 Capri or Wight : ISLE

The island of Capri off the coast of Southern Italy has been a tourist resort since the days of ancient Rome. Capri is home to the famous Blue Grotto, a sea cave that is illuminated with sunlight that’s colored blue as it passes through the seawater into the cave.

The Isle of Wight is the largest island in England, and lies about five miles off the south coast of the country. For many centuries, the island was a kingdom in its own right. One popular tourist attraction on the Isle of Wight is Osborne House, a former royal residence that was built as a summer home for Queen Victoria, and that was designed by the queen’s consort Prince Albert. Queen Victoria died in Osborne House, in 1901.

11 Guy watching Telemundo, probably : LATINO

Telemundo is a Spanish-language TV channel that is headquartered in Miami. Founded in 1984 as Net Span, Telemundo is the second-largest provider of Spanish-language programming after Univision.

12 Pete of the N.Y. Mets who broke Aaron Judge’s rookie record for home runs in 2019 : ALONSO

Pete Alonso is professional first baseman who made his Major League debut in 2019 with the New York Mets.

13 Room for a broom : CLOSET

In Old French a “clos” was an enclosure, with the diminutive form “closet” describing a small enclosure or private room. Over time this evolved into our modern usage of “closet”, describing a cabinet or cupboard.

The sweeping implement known as a “broom” used to be called a “besom”. A besom was made from a bundle of twigs tied to a stouter pole. The favored source for the twigs came from thorny shrubs from the genus Genista. The common term for many species of Genista is “broom”. Over time, “broom besoms” came to be known simply as “brooms”.

22 Letterspacing technique, in typography : KERNING

Some fonts allow the adjustment of the spacing between individual letters. The process of adjusting that spacing evenly over all letters is called “tracking”. The process of adjusting the spacing individually between letters is called “kerning”.

24 Singer Del Rey : LANA

“Lana Del Rey” is the stage name of singer/songwriter Elizabeth Grant. Del Rey calls herself a “self-styled gangsta Nancy Sinatra”. Nice …

26 Tolkien creature : ENT

Ents are tree-like creatures that live in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth in his series of books “The Lord of the Rings”. “Ent” is an Old English word for “giant”.

31 L.A. commuter org. : MTA

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has public transportation responsibility in the state of New York (as well as part of Connecticut). “MTA” might also refer to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is known as “the Metro” and sometimes “the MTA”.

35 Tiger’s ex-wife : ELIN

Elin Nordegren is the ex-wife of Tiger Woods. Nordegren is a native of Sweden, and it was back in Sweden that she was hired as a nanny by the wife of golfer Jesper Parnevik. The job brought her to the US, where she met Tiger Woods. The pair were married in 2004, and have two children together: Sam Alexis born in 2007, and Charlie Axel born in 2009. The marriage fell apart after Woods admitted to infidelity and the couple divorced in 2010.

37 “Love __ Battlefield”: Pat Benatar hit : IS A

Pat Benatar is a singer from Brooklyn, New York who was born Patricia Andrzejewski. She married her high school boyfriend Dennis Benatar in 1972 when she was 19 years old, but they divorced in 1979. Presumably, she kept the Benatar name as her career was already showing signs of taking off. Benatar’s biggest hits are “Hit Me with Your Best Shot”, “Love is a Battlefield” and “We Belong”.

40 Paris airport : ORLY

Orly is a town on the outskirts of Paris, to the south of the city. It is home to the Paris-Orly Airport, the second busiest international airport for the city after the more recently built Charles de Gaulle Airport. That said, Orly is home to more domestic flights than Charles de Gaulle.

43 Hall of talk TV : ARSENIO

Arsenio Hall got his big break with his role in the movie “Coming to America” with Eddie Murphy in 1988. The following year he started hosting “The Arsenio Hall Show”, which ran until 1994. He had a loyal group of fans in the audience that had the habit of almost “barking” while pumping their fists in the air. The raucous move became so popular it extended far beyond the influences of Arsenio, and to this day it is still used as a mark of appreciation in some arenas. Not by me, mind you …

44 Frozen periods : ICE AGES

Ice ages are periods in the Earth’s history when there are extensive ice sheets present in the northern and southern hemispheres. One might argue that we are still in an ice age that began 2.6 million years ago, as evidenced by the presence of ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica.

45 Guerrilla Guevara : CHE

Ernesto “Che” Guevara was born in Argentina, and in 1948 he started to study medicine at the University of Buenos Aires. While at school he satisfied his need to “see the world” by taking two long journeys around South America, the story of which are told in Guevara’s memoir later published as “The Motorcycle Diaries”. While travelling, Guevara was moved by the plight of the people he saw and their working conditions and what he viewed as capitalistic exploitation. In Mexico City he met brothers Raul and Fidel Castro and was persuaded to join their cause, the overthrow of the US-backed government in Cuba. He rose to second-in-command among the Cuban insurgents, and when Castro came to power Guevara was influential in repelling the Bay of Pigs Invasion and bringing Soviet nuclear missiles to the island. Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to continue his work as a revolutionary. He was captured by Bolivian forces in 1967, and was executed. Fidel Castro led the public mourning of Guevara’s death, and soon the revolutionary was an icon for many left-wing movements around the world.

Guerrilla (sometimes “guerilla”) warfare is a type of fighting engaged in by irregular forces using ambushes and sabotage. The term “guerra” is Spanish for war, and “guerrilla” translates as “little war”.

48 Chillax : UNWIND

“Chillax” is a slang term meaning “chill and relax”. Who’da thunk it …?

51 Congregation response : 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.

57 Gloomy aura : PALL

A pall is a cloth used to cover a casket at a funeral. Pallbearers actually carry the coffin, covered by the pall. The phrase “casting a pall over”, meaning to create a dark mood, is metaphorical use of the pall over the casket.

60 Flightless South American bird : RHEA

The rhea is a flightless bird that is native to South America. The rhea takes its name from the Greek Titan Rhea. It’s an apt name for a flightless bird as “rhea” comes from the Greek word meaning “ground”.

63 Suffix with fluor- : -IDE

In chemistry, when a metal combines with a nonmetal, the nonmetal is often given the suffix “-ide”. One example would be iron sulfide, made from iron (a metal) and sulfur (a nonmetal).

Fluoridation is the addition of a fluoride salt to the public drinking water system, a measure taken to reduce tooth decay. What I find interesting is that bottled water usually has no added fluoride, and most domestic water filters remove the fluoride from the water coming out of the faucet. Maybe that explains why my dental hygienist has been applying a fluoride varnish to my teeth …

64 __ v. Wade : ROE

Roe v. Wade was decided in a US District Court in Texas in 1970, and reached the Supreme Court on appeal. The basic decision by the Supreme Court was that a woman’s constitutional right to privacy applied to an abortion, but that this right had to be balanced with a state’s interest in protecting an unborn child and a mother’s health. The Court further defined that the state’s interest became stronger with each trimester of a pregnancy. So, in the first trimester the woman’s right to privacy outweighed any state interest. In the second trimester the state’s interest in maternal health was deemed to be strong enough to allow state regulation of abortion for the sake of the mother. In the third trimester the viability of the fetus dictated that the state’s interest in the unborn child came into play, so states could regulate or prohibit abortions, except in cases where the mother’s life was in danger. I’m no lawyer, but that’s my understanding of the initial Supreme Court decision …

65 Short albums, for short : EPS

An extended-play (EP) record, CD or download contains more music than a single, but less than an LP.

The post LA Times Crossword 30 Dec 19, Monday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 5m 56s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 “In Her Shoes” actress Cameron : DIAZ

Hollywood actress Cameron Diaz started out her professional life as a model. Diaz’s first acting role was in the 1994 film “The Mask”, starring alongside Jim Carrey.

“In Her Shoes” is a 2005 comedy-drama film starring Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette and Shirley MacLaine. MacLaine plays the grandmother of two very different sisters played by Diaz and Collette. The movie is based on a novel of the same name by Jennifer Weiner.

5 “__ Flanders”: Defoe novel : MOLL

“Moll Flanders” is a novel written by Daniel Defoe in 1722, three years after he achieved fame with “Robinson Crusoe”. The book’s full title gives a lot of insight into the storyline:

The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, Etc. Who Was Born In Newgate, and During a Life of Continu’d Variety For Threescore Years, Besides Her Childhood, Was Twelve Year a Whore, Five Times a Wife [Whereof Once To Her Own Brother], Twelve Year a Thief, Eight Year a Transported Felon In Virginia, At Last Grew Rich, Liv’d Honest, and Died a Penitent. Written from her own Memorandums.

14 With the bow, to a violist : ARCO

“Arco” is a musical direction instructing a string player to return to normal bowing technique after a passage played using some other technique (perhaps pizzicato).

15 Furniture giant : IKEA

The IKEA furniture chain was founded by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943, when he was just 17-years-old. IKEA is an acronym standing for Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd (don’t forget now!). Elmtaryd was the name of the farm where Ingvar Kamprad grew up, and Agunnaryd is his home parish in Sweden.

16 Still standing, as a bowling pin : UNHIT

Bowling has been around for an awfully long time. The oldest known reference to the game is in Egypt, where pins and balls were found in an ancient tomb that is over 5,000 years old. The first form of the game to come to America was nine-pin bowling, which had been very popular in Europe for centuries. In 1841 in Connecticut, nine-pin bowling was banned due to its association with gambling. Supposedly, an additional pin was added to get around the ban, and ten-pin bowling was born.

22 “Love It or List It” option : REMODEL

“Love It or List It” is a Canadian reality show that airs in the US on HGTV. Each episode features a couple that has differing views about living in their current home, with one “loving it” and pushing for a remodel, and the other wanting to “list it” and buy a new house.

23 Pie __ mode : A LA

In French, “à la mode” simply means “fashionable”. In America, the term has also come to describe a way of serving pie. Pie served à la mode includes a dollop of cream or ice cream, or as I recall from my time living in Upstate New York, with a wedge of cheddar cheese.

24 Inoculation fluids : SERA

Blood serum (plural “sera”) is the clear, yellowish part of blood i.e. that part which is neither a blood cell nor a clotting factor. Included in blood serum are antibodies, the proteins that are central to our immune system. Blood serum from animals that have immunity to a particular disease can be transferred to another individual, hence providing that second individual with some level of immunity. Blood serum used to pass on immunity can be called “antiserum”.

Immunization is the process used to boost an individual’s immune system making it less likely to succumb to a particular disease. Before we learned to intervene, the immune system was bolstered only by contracting the disease and surviving it. Inoculation was developed specifically for the prevention of smallpox, and involves the introduction of small samples of diseased tissue into the body resulting in a mild case of the disease, and significant boost to the immune system. The related process of vaccination involves the introduction of a benign form of the microorganism or virus into the body so that a boost to the immune system can occur without catching the disease itself.

26 Grievance filed with a consumer protection org. : BBB COMPLAINT

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a private concern (nope, it is not a government agency) that was founded in 1912. It operates like a franchise, with local BBB’s managed independently while operating to a “corporate” set of guidelines.

31 Source of iron : ORE

Iron ore comes in a number of different forms, like magnetite (the most magnetic of all minerals) and hematite (the most commonly exploited iron ore).

32 Palindromic supermodel : EMME

Emme is the highest-paid plus-size model in the world. Emme was born Melissa Miller in New York City, and was raised in Saudi Arabia.

33 Sevilla’s country : ESPANA

The city of Seville (“Sevilla” in Spanish) is the capital of Andalusia in southern Spain. Seville is a favored setting for many operas including “The Barber of Seville” by Rossini, “Fidelio” by Beethoven and Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and “The Marriage of Figaro”.

39 Tally : SUM

Back in the mid-1600s, a tally was a stick marked with notches that tracked how much one owed or 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.

48 PC “oops” key : ESC

The escape key (Esc) was originally used to control computer peripherals. It was a key that allowed the computer operator to stop what the peripheral was doing (cancel a print job, for example). Nowadays the escape key is used for all sorts of things, especially in gaming programs.

49 Spec for a large loafer : EEE SHOE WIDTH

The loafer slip-on shoe dates back to 1939. “Loafer” was originally a brand name introduced by Fortnum and Mason’s store in London. The derivative term “penny loafer” arose in the late fifties or early sixties, although the exact etymology seems unclear.

52 Mover’s transport : VAN

The vehicle we call a “van” takes its name from “caravan”, and is a shortened version of the older term. Back in the 1600s, a caravan was a covered cart. We still use the word “caravan” in Ireland to describe what we call a “mobile home” or “recreational vehicle” here in the US.

57 The tiniest bit : ONE 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.

63 Firefox or Chrome : WWW BROWSER

In essence, the World Wide Web (WWW) is a vast collection of documents that is accessible using the Internet, with each document containing hyperlinks which point to other documents in the collection. So the “Web” is different from the Internet, although the terms are often used interchangeably. The Web is a collection of documents, and the Internet is a global network of computers on which the documents reside. The Web was effectively the invention of British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee. The key to Berner-Lee’s invention was bringing together two technologies that already existed: hypertext and the Internet. I, for one, am very grateful …

A web browser is a piece of software used to access the World Wide Web (WWW). The first web browser was called “WorldWideWeb” and was invented in 1990 by Tim Berners-Lee, the man who created the World Wide Web. The browser known as Mosaic came out in 1993, and it was this browser that drove so much interest in the World Wide Web, and indeed in the Internet in general. Marc Andreessen led the team that created Mosaic, and he then set up his own company called Netscape. Netscape created the Netscape Navigator browser that further popularized the use of the Web starting in 1994. Microsoft responded by introducing Internet Explorer in 1995, which sparked the so-called “browser war”, a war that Microsoft clearly won. As Netscape floundered, the company launched the open-source Mozilla project which eventually led to the Firefox browser. Apple then came out with it’s own Safari browser in 2003. Google’s Chrome browser, introduced in 2008, is by far the most popular way to view the Web today.

Firefox is an open-source web browser produced by Mozilla. It was developed in 2002, and is in effect the successor to Netscape’s groundbreaking Navigator browser. Firefox was extremely popular in 2009, and challenged the domination of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer before succumbing to Google’s Chrome.

Google’s Chrome is now the most popular web browser used in the US, with Mozilla Firefox in second place and Internet Explorer in third. I find Chrome to be much, much more user-friendly than Internet Explorer, and more featured than Firefox. Chrome also works more seamlessly with other Google products and with Android phones.

65 Renegade on the road : JEEP

The Jeep Renegade is a relatively small SUV that was introduced in 2014. The Renegade is manufactured not in North America, but rather in Italy and in China.

68 Fronton game word : ALAI

A fronton is an open-walled playing area used for the sport of jai alai. Although most frontons in the US can be found in Florida, where the sport is most popular, the first jai alai fronton the country was located in St. Louis. It opened there around the time of the 1904 World’s Fair.

69 Smeltery refuse : DROSS

When metals are smelted, there is a scum made up of impurities that floats on the surface of the molten metal. This scum is called “dross” and is drawn off and discarded. The term “dross” has come to mean any waste or impure matter.

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).

70 Pre-coll. exams : SATS

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”.

71 Latin Grammy winner Anthony : MARC

“Marc Anthony” is the stage name of Marco Antonio Muñiz, a Puerto Rican-American singer. Anthony’s first wife was Dayanara Torres, a former Miss Universe from Puerto Rico. His second wife was quite famous too: singer and actress Jennifer Lopez. He divorced from the latter in 2014.

Down

2 Saudi Arabia neighbor : IRAQ

Iraq is often called the “Cradle of Civilization” as it was home to Sumer, which was the earliest known civilization on the planet. By 5000 BC the Sumerian people were practicing year-round agriculture and had a specialized labor force. For the first time, a whole race were able to settle in one place by storing food, instead of having to migrate in a pattern dictated by crops and grazing land.

3 Rights org. since 1920 : ACLU

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has its roots in the First World War. It grew out of the National Civil Liberties Bureau (CLB) that 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”.

4 Astrological sign system : ZODIAC

Most of the signs of the classical Greek zodiac are animals. This fact relates to the etymology of the term “zodiac”, which comes from the Greek “zodiakos kyklos”, literally “circle of animals”.

5 Soccer great who co-founded Athletes for Hope : MIA HAMM

Mia Hamm is a retired American soccer player. She played as a forward on the US national team that won the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1991. Hamm scored 158 international goals, more than any other player in the world, male or female. Amazingly, Hamm was born with a clubfoot, and so had to wear corrective shoes when she was growing up.

Athletes for Hope (AFH) is a nonprofit with the mission of connecting professional athletes with charitable causes. AFH was founded in 2007 by a dozen pros from various sporting disciplines. The list of co-founders includes Muhammad Ali (boxing), Andre Agassi (tennis), Lance Armstrong (cycling), Mia Hamm (soccer), Tony Hawk (skateboarding) and Cal Ripken, Jr. (baseball).

6 “Works for me” : OKAY

Back in the late 1830s, there were some slang abbreviations coined mainly in Boston. The craze called for two-letter abbreviations of deliberately misspelled phrases. For example “no use” became “KY” from “know yuse”, and “enough said” became “NC” from “nuff ced”. Fortunately (I say!), the practice was short-lived. But, one of those abbreviations persists to this day. “All correct” was misspelled to give “oll korrect”, abbreviated to “OK”.

7 “Orange Is the New Black” actress DeLaria : LEA

Lea DeLaria is a comedian and actor who is perhaps best known for portraying Carrie “Big Boo” Black on the hit comedy-drama “Orange is the New Black”. Another of DeLaria’s claims to fame is that she became the first openly gay comic to appear on a late-night talk show, doing so in 1993 on “The Arsenio Hall Show”.

8 Tar pits locale : LA BREA

The La Brea Tar Pits are located right in the heart of the city of Los Angeles. At the site there is a constant flow of tar that seeps up to the surface from underground, a phenomenon that has been around for tens of thousands of years. What is significant is that much of the seeping tar is covered by water. Over many, many centuries animals came to the water to drink and became trapped in the tar as they entered the water to quench their thirst. The tar then preserved the bones of the dead animals. Today a museum is located right by the Tar Pits, recovering bones and displaying specimens of the animals found there. It’s well worth a visit if you are in town …

10 Golden rule preposition : UNTO

The Golden Rule is also known as the ethic of reciprocity, and is a basis for the concept of human rights. A version of the rule used in the Christian tradition is attributed to Jesus:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

12 Corvette quartet : TIRES

The Chevrolet Corvette was introduced to the world in 1953, and was named after the small maneuverable warship called a corvette. The “Vette” has legs. It is the only American sports car that has been around for over 50 years.

19 High-altitude home : AERIE

An aerie is the nest of an eagle, and is also known as an “eyrie”.

21 __ gin fizz : SLOE

By definition, a cocktail known as a “fizz” includes lemon or lime juice and carbonated water. The most popular of the genre is the gin fizz, made from 3 parts gin, 2 parts lemon juice, 1 part sugar syrup and 5 parts soda water. There is also a variant known as a sloe gin fizz.

24 Holmes and Poirot : SLEUTHS

The word “sleuth” came into English from Old Norse as far back as 1200 when it meant the “track or trail of a person”. In the mid-1800s, a sleuthhound described a keen investigator, a hound close on the trail of the suspect. Sleuthhound was shortened to “sleuth” and was used for a detective in general.

Sherlock Holmes made his first appearance in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1887 novel, “A Study in Scarlet“. Amazingly, Conan Doyle wrote the novel in under three weeks, while working as a 27-year-old doctor. Mind you, he only got paid 25 pounds for all the rights to the story. I suppose it’s a good job that he only devoted a few weeks to it.

Hercule Poirot is one of Agatha Christie’s most beloved characters. He is a wonderful Belgian private detective who plies his trade from his base in London. Poirot’s most famous case is the “Murder on the Orient Express”. First appearing in 1920’s “The Mysterious Affair at Styles”, Poirot finally succumbs to a heart condition in the 1975 book “Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case”. Famously, Poirot is fond of using his “little grey cells”.

26 Animal that sounds dull : BOAR

“Boar” sounds like “bore”.

27 Puff pastry cheese : BRIE

Brie is a soft cheese that is named for the French region in which it originated. Brie is similar to the equally famous (and delicious) Camembert. Brie is often served baked in puff pastry.

28 Karate skill award : BELT

Practitioners of judo and karate proceed through a series of proficiency grades known as the kyu system. At each progression, a different colored belt is awarded.

29 Some govt. heads : PMS

Prime Minister (PM)

30 Adorns with Charmin, for short : TPS

TP’ing (toilet papering) is a prank involving the covering of some object or location with rolls and rolls of toilet paper. If you live in Texas or Minnesota, that little “prank” is legal, but if you live here in California it is classed as mischief or vandalism.

Charmin is a brand of toilet paper made by Procter & Gamble.

35 Tweed’s caricaturist : NAST

William Magear Tweed was known as “Boss” Tweed. He was a 19th-century, American politician who led the Democratic Party machine in New York, headquartered in Tammany Hall. He was one of the most successful of the corrupt politicians of the day, siphoning from taxpayers (in today’s money) billions of dollars. In 1871 he was arrested, and served time in jail. He was then rearrested on civil charges and served time in debtor’s prison. He managed to escape to Spain, but was arrested again and extradited to the United States. He died in jail in 1878.

Thomas Nast was an American caricaturist and cartoonist. Nast was the creator of the Republican Party elephant, the Democratic Party donkey, Uncle Sam and the image of the plump and jocular Santa Claus that we use today. Thomas Nast drew some famous cartoons in which he depicted the Tammany Society as a vicious tiger that was killing democracy. Nast’s use of the tiger symbology caught on and was used by other cartoonists to harp at the society.

36 Gothic window feature : ARCH

Gothic architecture is a style that dates back to the mid and late medieval period, following on from the Romanesque style. Gothic architecture originated in France in the 12th century, and was prevalent until the 16th century, when it was largely superseded by the Renaissance style. Gothic buildings often feature pointed arches, ribbed vaults and flying buttresses. The best known example of Gothic edifices are magnificent cathedrals and abbeys across Europe, many of which are still used today. Examples of the style can be seen in Notre Dame de Paris in France, Westminster Abbey in England, and Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin.

40 Chinese leader who hosted Nixon : MAO

President Richard Nixon made a famous visit to China in 1972 that marked a thawing in the relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It was the first time that a US president had visited the PRC, and followed several secret diplomatic missions to Beijing by National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger. During the week-long visit, President Nixon had talks with Chairman Mao Zedong, and First Lady Pat Nixon was very visible as she toured schools, hospitals and factories.

47 Annoying sort : TWIT

“Twit” is a word not used very often here in America. It’s a slang term that used to be quite common in England where it was used for “someone foolish and idiotic”.

53 Sadat of Egypt : ANWAR

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.

58 Sacred wading bird of ancient Egypt : IBIS

The ibis is a wading bird that was revered in ancient Egypt. “Ibis” is an interesting word grammatically speaking. You can have one “ibis” or two “ibises”, and then again one has a flock of “ibis”. And if you want to go with the classical plural, instead of two “ibises” you would have two “ibides”!

60 Ward of “CSI: NY” : SELA

Actress Sela Ward turns up in crosswords a lot. Ward played Teddy Reed in the TV show “Sisters” in the nineties, and was in “Once and Again” from 1999-2002. I don’t know either show, but I do know Ward from the medical drama “House” in which she played the hospital’s lawyer and Greg House’s ex-partner. That was a fun role, I thought. More recently, Ward played a lead role on “CSI: NY” and was a very welcome and much-needed addition to the cast. And, Ward played Dr. Richard Kimble’s murdered wife in the 1993 film version of “The Fugitive”.

64 Briny expanse : SEA

The briny is the sea, with “brine” meaning “salty water”. The term “briny” was originally used for “tears”.

The post LA Times Crossword 31 Dec 19, Tuesday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 6m 29s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

10 Ladies of Sp. : SRAS

In Spanish, a “dama” (lady) might be referred to as “Señora” (Mrs.).

16 __ contendere: court plea : NOLO

“Nolo contendere” (sometimes shortened to “nolo”) is a legal term that translates from Latin as “I do not wish to contend”. It’s the plea of no contest, and is an alternative to guilty and not guilty, meaning that one doesn’t admit guilt but nor does one dispute the charge.

19 Genesis twin : ESAU

Esau is a son of Isaac, and someone whose story is told in the Bible’s Book of Genesis. Esau had three wives, Adah, Aholibamah and Bashemath.

22 Dog in the comics : ODIE

Jon Arbuckle is a fictional character, and the owner of Odie from Jim Davis’s comic strip “Garfield”. Garfield is Arbuckle’s orange tabby cat. Odie is his less-than-smart beagle.

30 Like a cyclops : ONE-EYED

Cyclops was a one-eyed giant in Greek and Roman mythology. Cyclops lived inside Mount Etna, the Sicilian volcano.

31 TV drama settings : ERS

Emergency room (ER)

32 “Star Trek: TNG” counselor __ Troi : DEANNA

Deanna Troi is a character on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” who is played by the lovely Marina Sirtis. Sirtis is a naturalized American citizen and has what I would call a soft American accent on the show. However, she was born in the East End of London and has a natural accent off-stage that is more like that of a true Cockney.

35 “Worst Cooks in America” judge Burrell : ANNE

Anne Burrell is co-host of the show “Worst Cooks in America” that airs on the Food Network. Here’s a Burrell quote:

I always use my “Holy Trinity” which is salt, olive oil and bacon. My motto is, ‘”bacon always makes it better”. I try to use bacon and pork products whenever it can.

38 When Tony sings “Maria” : ACT I

“Maria” is a song from “West Side Story”.

Maria!
Say it loud and there’s music playing,
Say it soft and it’s almost like praying.
Maria,
I’ll never stop saying Maria!

42 “Lou Grant” production co. : MTM

MTM Enterprises was a television production company founded in 1969 by Mary Tyler Moore, originally to produce the “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”. The company subsequently produced the likes of “The Bob Newhart Show”, “Rhoda”, “WKRP in Cincinnati”, “Hill Street Blues” and “St. Elsewhere”. That’s a lot of great television …

“Lou Grant” is a spin-off from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”. The title character, played so ably by Ed Asner, had headed up a television newsroom in Minneapolis in the original series. In the spin-off, Grant was the city editor of the fictional “Los Angeles Tribune”. The original show was a sitcom, the spin-off was a drama series.

45 Backstage guy : PROPMAN

We use the term “props” for objects that are used by actors on stage during a play. The term is a shortening of the older term “properties”, which was used with the same meaning up through the 19th century.

47 Official with a seal : NOTARY

A notary public is a public officer licensed to perform specific legal actions in non-contentious legal matters. The main duties are to administer oaths, take affidavits and witness the execution of documents.

49 Like stereotypical old cowboys : BOW-LEGGED (giving “Rose Bowl”)

The oldest of all the bowl games is the Rose Bowl and so has the nickname “The Granddaddy of Them All”. The first Rose Bowl game was played in 1902.

53 Backside, slangily : PRAT

“Prat” is a relatively new word for me, and is a slang term for the buttocks. A “prat-fall” is when someone falls and lands on the buttocks.

57 Prince William’s school : ETON

Born in 1982, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge is the elder of the two sons of Charles and Diana, Prince and Princess of Wales. As such, William is second in line to the British throne, after his father.

58 Annual New Year’s Day spectacle … and a hint to the starts of 17-, 23-, 36- and 49-Across : ROSE PARADE

The first Rose Parade was staged in 1890 on New Year’s Day in Pasadena, California. The initial parades were organized by the Pasadena Valley Hunt Club, whose members wanted to highlight the mild winter weather in the area. The initial parades did not feature flowers, but these were added to underscore the favorable climate. It was the inclusion of the flowers that gave rise to the name “Tournament of Roses”. The first Rose Bowl football game was played in 1902.

60 Religious leader in “Angels & Demons” : POPE

“Angels & Demons” is a 2000 mystery-thriller novel penned by Dan Brown. It was Brown’s first book to feature his hero Robert Langdon, who also appears in “The Da Vinci Code” and other titles in the “Robert Langdon” series. Famously, Robert Langdon has been portrayed by Tom Hanks several times on the big screen.

62 Hawaii’s Mauna __ : LOA

Mauna Loa on the “Big Island” of Hawaii is the largest volcano on the planet (in terms of volume). The name “Mauna Loa” is Hawaiian for “Long Mountain”.

63 Big primates : APES

Primates are mammals, many of whom are omnivorous and make good use of their hands. They also have larger brains relative to their body size, compared to other animals. The order Primates includes apes, lemurs, baboons and humans.

Down

2 Barnes & Noble Nook, for one : E-READER

The Barnes & Noble electronic-book reader is called the Nook. The reader’s name is intended to evoke the usage of “nook” as a familiar place to sit and read quietly.

4 Cyber Monday event : SALE

Cyber Monday is the Monday after Thanksgiving, when retailers offer incentives to online shoppers in the hope of boosting sales. The term “Cyber Monday” was coined in 2005 in a press release issued by the website Shop.org. In recent years, consumers have been spending more money online on Cyber Monday than any other day in the year.

6 Nerd : DWEEB

“Dweeb” is relatively recent American slang that came out of college life in the late sixties. Dweeb, squarepants, nerd; they’re all not-nice terms that mean the same thing, i.e. someone excessively studious and socially inept.

7 One-named singer with the #1 hit “Royals” : LORDE

“Lorde” is a stage name of the singer-songwriter Ella Yelich-O’Connor from New Zealand. Lorde’s cover version of the great Tears for Fears song “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” was used in the soundtrack for “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” (2013). Her song “Yellow Flicker Beat” is included in the soundtrack for “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1”.

8 Joule fraction : ERG

An erg is a unit of mechanical work or energy. It is a small unit, with one joule comprising 10 million ergs. it has been suggested that an erg is about the amount of energy required for a mosquito to take off. The term comes from “ergon”, the Greek word for work.

James Joule was an English physicist who spent much of his life working in the family brewing business. Joule used his work in the brewery to study the relationship between heat and mechanical work. In honor of his achievements, his name is used for the unit of energy in the International System of Units (i.e. the joule).

11 Calvin’s babysitter in “Calvin and Hobbes” : ROSALYN

The comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes” is still widely syndicated, but hasn’t been written since 1995. The cartoonist Bill Watterson named the character Calvin after John Calvin, the 16th century theologian. Hobbes was named for Thomas Hobbes a 17th century English political philosopher.

12 Adolescent support group : ALATEEN

Al-Anon and Alateen are fellowships for relatives and friends of alcoholics. Alateen specifically supports teens who are affected by another’s drinking, whereas Al-Anon focuses on people of all ages.

13 Not worth a __ : SOU

A sou is an old French coin. We use the term “sou” to mean “an almost worthless amount”.

21 Chinese philosopher Mo-__ : TZE

Mozi (also Mo-Tze) was a Chinese philosopher whose positions were often in conflict with Confucianism.

25 Motrin alternative : ANACIN

Anacin is a brand of pain reliever that comprises aspirin and caffeine as active ingredients.

The anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen is sold under the brand names Advil and Motrin.

26 WWII general : DDE

General Dwight D. Eisenhower (DDE) was in command of the European Theater of Operations (ETO) during WWII.

28 MIT URL letters : EDU

The .edu domain was one of the six original generic top-level domains specified. The complete original list is:

• .com (commercial enterprise)
• .net (entity involved in network infrastructure e.g. an ISP)
• .mil (US military)
• .org (not-for-profit organization)
• .gov (US federal government entity)
• .edu (college-level educational institution)

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was founded in 1861 and first offered classes in 1865, in the Mercantile building in Boston. Today’s magnificent campus on the banks of the Charles River in Cambridge opened in 1916.

36 Aerobatics fliers : BIPLANES

A biplane features two main wings that are stacked on above the other. Arguably, the most consequential biplane was the Wright Flyer, the first successful heavier-than-air powered aircraft.

37 Tres menos dos : UNO

In Spanish, “tres menos dos” (three minus two) is “uno” (one).

38 BOLO cousin : APB

An All Points Bulletin (APB) is a broadcast from one US law enforcement agency to another.

A BOLO is a police alert, with the acronym standing for “be on the look-out”. A BOLO can also be called an APB, an “all-points bulletin”.

42 Strategy game played with stones : MANCALA

There is no actual game called “mancala”, and rather it is the generic name given to a genre of hundreds of games. Mancala are count-and-capture games that are particularly popular in Africa. Some of the most popular examples of the genre are Bao la Kiswahili, Congkak, Kalah and Oware.

50 Big name in printers : EPSON

Seiko Epson is a Japanese company, and one of the largest manufacturers of printers in the world. The company has its roots in the watch business, roots that go back to 1942. Seiko was chosen as the official timekeeper for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and was asked to supply a timer that produced a printed record. This request brought Seiko into the business of printer production. The company developed the world’s first mini-printer for the 1964 Games and called it EP-101 (with “EP” standing for Electronic Printer). In 1975 Seiko introduced the next generation of EP printers which was called EPSON, from “SON of EP”. Cute, huh?

51 Stallone title role : DREDD

The 1995 movie “Judge Dredd”, starring Sylvester Stallone in the title role, was loosely based on the comic book character of the same name. Judge Dredd may be an American hero from the future in an American city, but the comic is written and published in the UK.

55 German automaker : OPEL

Adam Opel founded his company in 1863, first making sewing machines in a cowshed. Commercial success brought new premises and a new product line in 1886, namely penny-farthing bicycles. Adam Opel died in 1895, leaving his two sons with a company that made more penny-farthings and sewing machines than any other company in the world. In 1899 the two sons partnered with a locksmith and started to make cars, but not very successfully. Two years later, the locksmith was dropped in favor of a licensing arrangement with a French car company. By 1914, Opel was the largest manufacturer of automobiles in Germany. My Dad had an Opel in the seventies, a station wagon (we’d say “estate car” in Ireland) called an Opel Kadett.

57 AQI monitor : EPA

The air quality index (AQI) is monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

58 Hoops stat. : REB

Rebounds (Reb)

59 Tulsa sch. named for an evangelist : ORU

Oral Roberts University (ORU) is a private school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. ORU was founded relatively recently, in 1963 by the late televangelist Oral Roberts. The campus includes a Prayer Tower at its center, a spectacular glass and steel structure designed by architect Frank Wallace. The tower includes an observation deck, and is a popular tourist attraction. The school’s sports teams are known as the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles.

The post LA Times Crossword 1 Jan 20, Wednesday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 8m 55s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Common email attachments : PDFS

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format introduced by Adobe Systems in 1993. PDF documents can be shared between users and read using many different applications, making them more universally accessible than documents saved by one particular program.

10 Tablet with Siri : IPAD

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.

14 Singer between Melanie and Joan at Woodstock : ARLO

Arlo Guthrie is the son of Woody Guthrie. Both father and son are renowned for singing protest songs about social injustice. Arlo is most famous for his epic “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree”, a song that lasts a full 18m 34s. In the song Guthrie tells how, after being drafted, he was rejected for service in the Vietnam War based on his criminal record. He had only one incident on his public record, a Thanksgiving Day arrest for littering and being a public nuisance when he was 18-years-old.

“Melanie” is the stage name of singer-songwriter Melanie Safka. Her biggest hit recording is 1971’s “Brand New Key”. Melanie also wrote and recorded the megahit “What Have They Done to My Song Ma”, which is perhaps better known for the song’s cover versions. Two of Melanie’s children had a hit of their own whey they were just 6 and 7 years old. They recorded a version of “There’s No One Quite Like Grandma” that charted in Canada.

Joan Baez is an American folk singer and a prominent activist in the fields of non-violence, civil rights, human rights and environmental protection. Baez has dated some high-profile figures in her life including Bob Dylan, Steve Jobs (of Apple) and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead.

19 www addresses : URLS

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

In essence, the World Wide Web (WWW) is a vast collection of documents that is accessible using the Internet, with each document containing hyperlinks which point to other documents in the collection. So the “Web” is different from the Internet, although the terms are often used interchangeably. The Web is a collection of documents, and the Internet is a global network of computers on which the documents reside. The Web was effectively the invention of British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee. The key to Berner-Lee’s invention was bringing together two technologies that already existed: hypertext and the Internet. I, for one, am very grateful …

23 “Louisiana Real & Rustic” chef : EMERIL

Emeril Lagasse is an American chef who was born in Massachusetts. Lagasse first achieved celebrity as executive chef in Commander’s Palace in New Orleans. Now famous for his television shows, his cuisine still showcases New Orleans ingredients and influences. Lagasse started using his famous “Bam!” catchphrase in order to keep his crew awake during repeated tapings of his show.

24 Plot : CONNIVE

To connive is to conspire with, to cooperate in secret. The term comes from the Latin verb “connivere” meaning “to wink”, the idea being that connivers might give each other a sly wink.

31 Yoga surface : MAT

Believe it or not, goat yoga is a thing, a thing that has been around since 2016. It’s doing yoga on a farm with goats around you.

33 Formerly employed by The Company : EX-CIA

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is the successor to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) formed during WWII. The CIA was chartered by the National Security Act of 1947. The organization is often referred to familiarly as “the Company”.

35 Longship propeller : OAR

The Vikings were a Germanic people from northern Europe who were noted as great seafarers. Key to the success of the Vikings was the design of their famous “longships”. Made from wood, the longship was long and narrow with a shallow hull, It was also light, so that the crew would actually carry it small distances over land and around obstacles. Longships were designed to be propelled by both sail and oars.

36 Playwright Chekhov : ANTON

Anton Chekhov was a Russian writer of short stories and a playwright, as well as a physician. He wrote four classic plays that are often performed all around the world, namely “The Seagull”, “Uncle Vanya”, “Three Sisters” and “The Cherry Orchard”. All the time Chekhov was writing, he continued to practice medicine. He is quoted as saying “Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress.”

37 Cold Stone buy : CONE

Cold Stone Creamery is a chain of ice cream parlors based in Scottsdale, Arizona. The chain takes its name from the frozen granite stone on which servers mix in “toppings” or other flavors of ice cream.

46 San Diego County racetrack : DEL MAR

Del Mar racetrack opened in Del Mar Fairgrounds in in 1937. On opening day, cofounder of the Del Mar Turf Club Bing Crosby was at the gate to welcome the track’s first patrons. Del Mar has attracted many Hollywood names over the years. Races run at Del Mar include the Bing Crosby Stakes, the Bob Hope Stakes, the Cecil B. DeMille Stakes, the Pat O’Brien Handicap, the Jimmy Durante Stakes, the Betty Grable Stakes, the Cary Grant Stakes and the Desi Arnaz Stakes.

49 Point after deuce : AD IN

In tennis, if the score reaches deuce (i.e. when both players have scored three points), then the first player to win two points in a row wins the game. The player who wins the point immediately after deuce is said to have the advantage. If the player with the advantage wins the next point then that’s two in a row and that player wins the game. If the person with the advantage loses the next point, then advantage is lost and the players return to deuce and try again. If the one of the players is calling out the score then if he/she has the advantage then that player announces “ad in” or more formally “advantage in”. If the score announcer’s opponent has the advantage, then the announcement is “ad out” or “advantage out”. Follow all of that …?

52 He reveals the Wizard : TOTO

Towards the end of the movie “The Wizard of Oz”, Dorothy’s little dog Toto pulls back a green curtain to reveal the true identity of the Wizard.

54 Air filter acronym : HEPA

Air filters can be specified as “HEPA”, with the acronym standing for “high-efficiency particulate absorption”. To be given the name “HEPA”, the filter must remove 99.7% of particles with a size of 0.3 microns or larger.

Down

3 Raisin bran tidbit : FLAKE

The name of the cereal “Raisin Bran” is not trademark protected. The Skinner Manufacturing Company introduced Raisin Bran in 1926, and did have trademark protection until 1944. At that time, an appeals court ruled that “Raisin-BRAN” should not be considered a trademark as it is merely a description of the cereal’s ingredients.

4 Bath’s county : SOMERSET

Somerset is a county in the southwest of England. Somerset’s county town is Taunton, although the county’s most famous city is Bath.

Bath is a beautiful city in South West England of which I have very fond memories. Bath is an old Roman spa town, and the city’s name comes from the Roman baths that have been excavated and restored.

5 Number one Hun : ATTILA

In his day, Attila the Hun was the most feared enemy of the Roman Empire, until he died in 453 AD. Attila was the leader of the Hunnic Empire of central Europe and was famous for invading much of the continent. However, he never directly attacked Rome.

8 Ambulance destinations, briefly : ERS

Emergency room (ER)

9 “The Hunger Games” setting : DYSTOPIA

A dystopia is an imaginary community in which the residents live unhappily and in fear. “Dystopia” is the opposite of “utopia”. One example of such a society is that described by George Orwell in “Nineteen Eighty-Four”. A more contemporary example would be the setting for the novels “The Hunger Games”.

11 Orangey fruit : PERSIMMON

The persimmon is the edible fruit of several species of tree, and in botanical terms is actually a berry.

27 House Beautiful subject : DECOR

“House Decorating” is an interior decorating magazine that has been around for an awfully long time. It was first published in 1896.

29 Biblical descendant of Jacob : ISRAELITE

In the Torah, the Israelites are traced back to Jacob, the grandson of Abraham. Jacob’s twelve sons became the ancestors of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Jacob’s sons were:

• Reuben
• Simeon
• Levi
• Judah
• Dan
• Naphtali
• Gad
• Asher
• Issachar
• Zebulun
• Joseph
• Benjamin

34 How café is often served : CON LECHE

In Spanish, one might have “café con leche” (coffee with milk).

36 “My Way” lyricist : ANKA

The song “My Way” has lyrics that were written by Paul Anka in 1969, but the tune itself was composed two years earlier by Claude François and Jacques Revaux. The song had been released with completely different lyrics in France as “Comme d’habitude” (“As Usual”). When Anka heard the song on television in Paris he sought out and obtained the rights to use it himself, for free. Supposedly, “Comme d’habitude” has been recorded in more languages, by more artists than any other song in the contemporary repertoire.

And now, the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I’ll say it clear
I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain
I’ve lived a life that’s full
I traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

43 Actor Milo : O’SHEA

Milo O’Shea was a great Irish character actor from Dublin who has appeared in everything from “Romeo and Juliet” to “The West Wing”. O’Shea passed away in 2013, in New York City.

44 Pedometer count : STEPS

A pedometer is an instrument worn by a runner or walker that measures the number of steps taken. The name of the device comes from “pes”, the Latin for “foot”.

47 Baking amts. : TSPS

Teaspoon (tsp.)

48 Greek vowels : ETAS

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.

51 Long of “Third Watch” : NIA

Nia Long is an American actress who is probably best known for playing Will Smith’s sometime girlfriend and fiancee Lisa Wilkes on the TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”.

“Third Watch” is a crime drama series about teams of police officers, firefighters and paramedics who work the same 3pm – 11pm shift in a New York precinct. “Third Watch” originally aired from 1999 to 2005.

The post LA Times Crossword 2 Jan 20, Thursday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 8m 53s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Sports headwear retailer : LIDS

Lids is a retailer of sports headwear that is headquartered in Indianapolis. The company was founded in 1995 in Boston, but the first store opened in Lafayette, Indiana.

5 Joplin’s “Me and Bobby __” : MCGEE

Janis Joplin recorded the song “Me and Bobby McGee” just a few days before she died in 1970. The song was released anyway, and it became Joplin’s only number one single, topping the charts the following year. There have been just two posthumous number-one singles: Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee”, and Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay”.

Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose
And nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’ but it’s free
Feelin’ good was easy, Lord, when Bobby sang the blues
And buddy, that was good enough for me
Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee.

10 Charlie Brown’s “Darn!” : RATS!

The characters in the cartoon series “Peanuts” were largely drawn from Charles Schultz’s own life, with shy and withdrawn Charlie Brown representing Schultz himself.

14 Comic strip dog : ODIE

Jon Arbuckle is a fictional character, and the owner of Odie from Jim Davis’s comic strip “Garfield”. Garfield is Arbuckle’s orange tabby cat. Odie is his less-than-smart beagle.

16 Poetic black : EBON

Ebony is another word for the color black (and is often shortened to “ebon” in poetry). Ebony is a dark black wood that is very dense, one of the few types of wood that sinks in water. Ebony has been in high demand so the species of trees yielding the wood are now considered threatened. It is in such short supply that unscrupulous vendors have been known to darken lighter woods with shoe polish to look like ebony, so be warned …

20 Type of battery : ALKALINE

The positive electrode of an alkaline battery is made from zinc, and the negative electrode from manganese dioxide. The electrolyte is potassium hydroxide, and alkaline material (hence the name “alkaline” battery).

The “opposite” of an acid is a base. Acids turn litmus paper red, and bases turn it blue. Acids and bases react with each other to form salts. An important subset of the chemicals called bases are alkalis, hydroxides of the alkali metals and of ammonium. The term “alkali” is sometimes used interchangeably with “base”, especially if that base is readily soluble in water.

25 Chicago Outfit gangster : CAPONE

The Chicago Outfit is a crime syndicate that was established in Chicago in the 1910s. The Outfit’s heyday was in the 1920s, when Al Capone was calling the shots. The organization is also referred to as the Chicago Mafia and the South Side Gang.

34 Hot __ : MIC

One of my favorite hot-mic moments took place in 2005, when Paris and London were vying to host the 2012 Olympics. French President Jacques Chirac compared Paris and London in that context while chatting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. Chirac said, over a hot mic:

The only thing that they have ever done for European agriculture is mad cow disease … You cannot trust people who have such bad cuisine.

36 Wooden shoe sailor : NOD

“Wynken, Blynken and Nod” is a children’s poem written by Eugene Field, first published in 1889. The original title of the work was “Dutch Lullaby”.

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
Sailed off in a wooden shoe —
Sailed on a river of crystal light,
Into a sea of dew.
“Where are you going, and what do you wish?”
The old moon asked the three.
“We have come to fish for the herring fish
That live in this beautiful sea;
Nets of silver and gold have we!”
Said Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.

40 First owner of the expansion Los Angeles Angels : AUTRY

Gene Autry was a so-called singing cowboy who had an incredibly successful career on radio, television and in films starting in the thirties. Autry’s signature song was “Back in the Saddle Again”, and his biggest hit was “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”. He also had a hit with his own Christmas song called “Here Comes Santa Claus”. There’s even a town in Oklahoma called Gene Autry, named in his honor. Famously, Autry owned the Los Angeles Angels baseball team for many years, from 1961 to 1997.

42 Travel prefix with méxico and perú : AERO-

Aeroméxico is the flag carrier airline of Mexico. Aeroméxico started out in 1934 as Aeronaves de México.

Aeroperú was an airline that served as Peru’s flag carrier from 1973 until it ceased operations in 1999.

49 Spring time : APRIL

The exact etymology of “April”, the name of the fourth month of our year, seems to be uncertain. The ancient Romans called it “mensis Aprilis”, which roughly translated as “opening month”. The suggestion is that April is the month in which fruits, flowers and animals “open” their life cycles.

53 Makeshift blade : 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.

54 Another name for the five-second rule of dropped food? : MORSEL CODE (from “Morse code”)

Samuel Morse came up with the forerunner to modern Morse code for use on the electric telegraph, of which he was the co-inventor. Morse code uses a series of dots and dashes to represent letters and numbers. The most common letters are assigned the simplest code elements e.g. E is represented by one dot, and T is represented by one dash. When words are spelled aloud in Morse code, a dot is pronounced as “dit”, and a dash is pronounced as “dah”.

Down

1 Showgirl of song : LOLA

The Copacabana of the 1978 Barry Manilow song is the Copacabana nightclub in New York City (which is also the subject of the Frank Sinatra song “Meet Me at the Copa”). The Copa opened in 1940 and is still going today, although it is struggling. The club had to move due to impending construction and is now “sharing” a location with the Columbus 72 nightclub.

Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl
With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there
She would merengue and do the cha-cha
And while she tried to be a star
Tony always tended bar
Across the crowded floor, they worked from 8 ’til 4
They were young and they had each other
Who could ask for more?

6 Street organ feature : CRANK

An organ grinder operates what’s known as a street organ. Street organs include organ pipes that play notes, and a cylinder with pins that hit levers to select which pipes to play. The pinned cylinder is called a “barrel”, leading to “barrel organ” as an alternative name for the instrument. The barrel is manually cranked by the organ grinder.

7 “Oliver Twist” food : GRUEL

“Please, sir. I want some more” are words spoken by the title character in the novel “Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens. . Oliver is addressing Mr. Bumble, asking for an extra helping of gruel in the workhouse.

8 Warning service co-coordinated by FEMA : EAS

The Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) actually doesn’t exist anymore. It was an emergency warning system that was in use in the US from 1963 to 1997. It started out as a system for the use of the US President, so that he or she could address the nation in time of crisis. Towards the end of its life it was also used by state and local authorities. Thankfully, the EBS never had to be used for a national emergency. It was replaced in 1997 by the Emergency Alert System (EAS), which is still in place today.

11 Old calculators : ABACI

The abacus (plural “abaci”) was used as a counting frame long before man had invented a numbering system. It is a remarkable invention, particularly when one notes that abaci are still widely used today across Africa and Asia.

18 He played Dirty Harry : CLINT

“Dirty Harry” Callahan was the protagonist in a series of five movies starring Clint Eastwood:

• “Dirty Harry” (1971)
• “Magnum Force” (1973)
• “The Enforcer” (1976)
• “Sudden Impact” (1983)
• “The Dead Pool” (1988)

21 Women’s links gp. : LPGA

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) was founded in 1950 by a group of 13 lady golfers, and today it is the oldest ongoing women’s sports professional organization in the US.

23 __ Park, Colorado : ESTES

Estes Park is a town in a beautiful part of the US, in northern Colorado. Estes Park is home to the headquarters of Rocky Mountain National Park.

24 Actuary’s specialty : RISK

In the world of insurance, an actuary is a person who works out the appropriate premium based on risk.

25 Army gear, briefly : CAMO

Our word “camouflage” (often abbreviated to “camo”) evolved directly from a Parisian slang term “camoufler” meaning “to disguise”. The term was first used in WWI, although the British navy at that time preferred the expression “dazzle-painting” as it applied to the pattern painted on the hulls of ships.

32 “Finding __”: 2016 sequel : DORY

Pixar’s 2016 animated feature “Finding Dory” is a sequel to the megahit film “Finding Nemo”. “Finding Dory” seems to have built on the success of its predecessor and had the highest-grossing opening weekend ever in North America for an animated movie.

33 Dreyer’s, east of the Rockies : EDY’S

Dreyer’s ice cream sells its products under the name Dreyer’s in the Western United States, and Edy’s in the Eastern states. The company’s founders were William Dreyer and Joseph Edy.

35 Loughlin of “Full House” : LORI

Lori Loughlin played Rebecca Donaldson-Katsopolis on the sitcom “Full House”. Loughlin later appeared in a spin-off of the TV show “Beverly Hills, 90210” titled, inventively enough, “90210”.

39 Lenovo rival : DELL

Computer manufacturer Dell is named after the company’s founder Michael Dell. Michael Dell started his company in his dorm room at college, shipping personal computers that were customized to the specific needs of his customers. He dropped out of school in order to focus on his growing business, a decision that I doubt he regrets. Michael Dell is now one of the richest people in the world.

Lenovo is a Chinese manufacturer of computers. Lenovo was founded as “Legend” in 1984. The name was changed to “Lenovo” in 2002. “Lenovo” is a portmanteau of “Le” (from “Legend”) and “novo” (Latin for “new”). IBM sold off its personal computer division to Lenovo in 2005.

40 Egyptian president __ Fattah el-Sisi : ABDEL

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was elected President of Egypt in June 2014. El-Sisi had been leader of the Egyptian armed forces and led the ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.

41 Ride available via mobile app : UBER CAR

The rideshare service Uber takes its name from the English colloquial word “uber” meaning “super, topmost”, which in turn comes from the German “über” meaning “above”.

44 Bartolo in “The Barber of Seville,” e.g. : BASSO

“The Barber of Seville” is an extremely popular comic opera by Gioachino Rossini that is based on a play of the same name by Pierre Beaumarchais. Beaumarchais wrote a sequel called “The Marriage of Figaro”, on which Mozart based his comic opera of the same name.

45 Ladybug’s lunch : APHID

Aphids are called “greenfly” back in Britain and Ireland where I come from. The most effective way to control aphids, in my experience, is to make sure there are plenty of ladybugs in the garden (called “ladybirds” in Ireland!).

The insect we know as a ladybug has seven spots on its wing covers. These seven spots gave rise to the common name “ladybug”, as in the Middle Ages the insect was called the “beetle of Our Lady”. The spots were said to symbolize the Seven Joys and Seven Sorrows, events in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary called out in the Roman Catholic tradition.

47 Half a stringed instrument : -GURDY

A hurdy-gurdy is a stringed instrument that produces tones when a hand-cranked wheel runs against the strings.

48 Southend-__ : ON-SEA

Southend-on-Sea is a coastal town located in the county of Essex and just 40 miles east of London. Southend’s main claim to fame is that it is home to Southend Pier. Extending 1.34 miles into the estuary of the River Thames, Southend Pier is the longest pleasure pier in the whole world.

52 Fabled loch : NESS

Loch Ness is one of the two most famous lakes in Scotland. Loch Ness is famous for its “monster”, and Loch Lomond is famous for the lovely song “The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond”. Oh, ye’ll tak’ the high road, and I’ll tak’ the low road …

54 Flash __ : MOB

A flash mob is a group of people who gather to perform a sudden, brief act in a public location and then quickly disperse. Flash mobs originated in Manhattan in 2003, as a social experiment by an editor of “Harper’s Magazine” called Bill Wasik. Wasik’s first attempt to form a flash mob was unsuccessful, but the second attempt worked. The first successful flash mob was relatively tame by today’s elaborate standards, and consisted of about 130 people gathered on the 9th floor of Macy’s department store pretending to be shopping en masse for a “love rug”.

55 Old ending for “Motor” : -OLA

The original Motorola is now two independent companies called Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions. Motorola started in 1928 as the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation in Chicago. Founder Paula V. Galvin created the brand name “Motorola” for a car radio the company developed in 1930. He linked “motor” (meaning “car”) with “-ola” (meaning “sound”), implying “sound in motion”.

The post LA Times Crossword 3 Jan 20, Friday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 14m 13s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

16 SiriusXM channel devoted to “the King” : ELVIS RADIO

XM Satellite Radio used to be in competition with Sirius Satellite Radio but the FCC allowed the two companies to merge in 2008 forming Sirius XM Radio.

18 Jigsaw-making process : DIE-CUTTING

Jigsaws are saws designed for the cutting of irregular curves by hand. The original jigsaw puzzles were created by painting a picture on a sheet of wood and then cutting the picture into small pieces using a jigsaw, hence the name. Today, almost all jigsaw puzzles are pictures glued onto cardboard. The puzzle pieces are now die-cut, and so there’s no jigsaw involved at all.

19 Site with many alterations : WIKI

A wiki is a website on which users are allowed to create and edit content themselves. The term “wiki” comes from the name of the first such site, introduced in 1994 and called WikiWikiWeb. “Wiki” is a Hawaiian word for “quick”, and is used because comprehensive content is created very quickly, as there are so many collaborators contributing to the site.

20 Kelly of “Anchors Aweigh” : GENE

Actor and dancer Gene Kelly was from Pittsburgh. Kelly’s best-known performances were in the films “An American in Paris” (1951) and “Singin’ in the Rain” (1952). “Singin’ in the Rain” was co-directed by Kelly and the great Stanley Donen. A few years later, in 1960, Kelly married Jeanne Coyne, Donen’s ex-wife.

“Anchors Aweigh” is a 1945 musical comedy starring Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly as two sailors on shore leave in Hollywood. There’s a famous scene in the film in which Gene Kelly dances with cartoon mouse Jerry (of “Tom and Jerry” fame).

22 Eurasian ecoregion : STEPPE

A steppe is a grassland that is devoid of trees, apart from those growing near rivers and lakes. The term “steppe” is Russian in origin, and is used to describe the geographical feature that extends across Eurasia. In South Africa, the same feature is called a “veld”, and in North America it is called a “prairie”.

24 Improvement plan : REGIMEN

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”.

27 Source of relief : 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.

31 Place with a bucket list? : KFC

The famous “Colonel” of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) fame was Harland Sanders, an entrepreneur from Henryville, Indiana. Although not really a “Colonel”, Sanders did indeed serve in the military. He enlisted in the Army as a private in 1906 at the age of 16, lying about his age. He spent the whole of his time in the Army as a soldier in Cuba. It was much later, in the 1930s, that Sanders went into the restaurant business making his specialty deep-fried chicken. By 1935 his reputation as a “character” had grown, so much so that Governor Ruby Laffoon of Kentucky gave Sanders the honorary title of “Kentucky Colonel”. Later in the fifties, Sanders developed his trademark look with the white suit, string tie, mustache and goatee. When Sanders was 65 however, his business failed and in stepped Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s. Thomas simplified the Sanders menu, cutting it back from over a hundred items to just fried chicken and salads. That was enough to launch KFC into the fast food business. Sanders sold the US franchise in 1964 for just $2 million and moved to Canada to grow KFC north of the border. He died in 1980 and is buried in Louisville, Kentucky. The Colonel’s secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices is indeed a trade secret. Apparently there is only one copy of the recipe, a handwritten piece of paper, written in pencil and signed by Colonel Sanders. Since 2009, the piece of paper has been locked in a computerized vault surrounded with motion detectors and security cameras.

34 Familia nickname : TIO

In Spanish, a “tio” (uncle) is the “hermano del padre o de la madre” (brother of the father or the mother).

35 TV program generally targeted for women : LIFETIME MOVIE

Lifetime is a pay TV channel with programming aimed at women, and programming featuring women in leading roles.

38 See 39-Across : … EOS

39 With 38-Across, SLR since 1987 : CANON …

I’ve been using Canon EOS cameras for decades now, and have nothing but good things to say about both the cameras and the lenses. The EOS name stands for Electro-Optical System, and was chosen because it evokes the name of Eos, the Titan goddess of dawn from Greek mythology.

40 London’s Old __ : VIC

The Old Vic is a very famous theater (or I should I say “theatre”?) in London. It was previously known as the Royal Coburg Theatre and then the Royal Victorian Theatre (giving it the current name “The Old Vic”). The theater owes a lot of its fame and standing to the fact that it housed the National Theater of Great Britain after it was founded in 1963 by Sir Laurence Olivier. Today the National Theater has new, modern premises, but the Old Vic Theatre Company stills garners a lot of attention.

43 Portfolio item : ASSET

Our word “portfolio” comes from the Italian “portafoglio” meaning “case for carrying loose papers”. The Italian term comes from “porta” meaning “carry” and “foglio” meaning “sheet, leaf”.

47 Best Picture title locale the year after the West Side : ARABIA

Leonard Bernstein’s musical “West Side Story” is based on William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”. The musical is set in New York City and features two rival gangs: the Sharks from Puerto Rico and the Jets with working-class, Caucasian roots. Tony from the Jets (played by Richard Beymer) falls in love with Maria (played by Natalie Wood) from the Sharks. All this parallels Romeo from the House of Montague falling for Juliet from the House of Capulet in the Italian city of Verona. The stage musical was adapted into a very successful 1961 movie with the same title.

“Lawrence of Arabia” is a 1962 movie that recounts the real life story of T. E. Lawrence, a British army officer who was famous for his role in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I. The title role in the film is played by Irish actor Peter O’Toole. The role of Sherif Ali ibn el Kharish is played by Omar Sharif.

55 Philosopher influenced by Hegel : MARX

Karl Marx was a German philosopher and revolutionary who helped develop the principles of modern communism and socialism. Marx argued that feudal society created internal strife due to class inequalities which led to its destruction and replacement by capitalism. He further argued that the inequalities created in a capitalist society create tensions that will also lead to its self-destruction. His thesis was that the inevitable replacement of capitalism was a classless (and stateless) society, which he called pure communism.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher, and one of the founders of the German idealism movement. “Idealism”, in the context of the movement, was the principle that objects did not have properties in themselves, but rather that an object’s properties depended on the person perceiving the object.

59 Stress indicator: Abbr. : ITAL

Italic type leans to the right, and is often used to provide emphasis in text. The style is known as “italic” because the stylized calligraphic form of writing originated in Italy, probably in the Vatican.

60 Munch, e.g. : OIL PAINTER

Edvard Munch was a Norwegian expressionist, and most famous for his painting “The Scream”, painted in 1893. What a wonderful work that is, a true representation of expressionism. The Munch Museum in Oslo is dedicated to his work and life. In 2004, two of Munch’s paintings, “The Scream” and “Madonna”, were stolen from the Munch Museum by armed robbers who subdued the museum guards. The paintings were missing for two years, but recovered in 2006.

Down

1 Dark-tongued dogs : CHOWS

The chow chow is a breed of dog that originated in China. The Chinese name for the breed is “Songshi Quan”, which translates as “puffy-lion dog”, a rather apt name given its appearance …

6 “Fascism is __ told by bullies”: Hemingway : A LIE

Ernest Hemingway moved around a lot. He was born in Illinois, and after leaving school headed to the Italian front during WWI. There he served as an ambulance driver, an experience he used as inspiration for “A Farewell to Arms”. He returned to the US after being seriously wounded, but a few years later moved to Paris where he worked as a foreign correspondent. He covered the Spanish War as a journalist, from Spain, using this experience for “For Whom the Bell Tolls”. During the thirties and forties he had two permanent residences, one in Key West, Florida and one in Cuba. In the late fifties he moved to Ketchum, Idaho, where he committed suicide in 1961.

There seems to be some debate about the definition of fascism, and also some debate about the differences between fascism and communism. With regard to the latter debate, I tend to think of communism as an idealist, classless society with a global focus. Fascism is very different, with a class-based society that follows strong leader who emphasizes a nationalist identity. Historically, fascism has also been associated with ideals of restoring a nation to former greatness, as well as placing blame on some minority group for perceived ills in society. Two of the most infamous fascist rulers were Benito Mussolini in Italy, and Adolf Hitler in Germany. The word “fascisim” was coined in 1915 by supporters of Mussolini. The term comes from the Italian “fascio” meaning “group”, which in turn comes from the Latin “fasces” meaning “bundle of sticks”. A metaphor for the strength of fascism was that a single stick is easily broken, while a bundle of sticks will stand strong.

7 Old Norse name meaning “young man” : SVEN

“Sven” is a Scandinavian name. “Sven” is derived from the Old Norse word for “young man” or “young warrior”.

9 Pac-12’s Beavers : OSU

The athletic teams of Oregon State University (OSU) are known as the Beavers. The big rivals to the Beavers are the Ducks of the University of Oregon, a rivalry that has been dubbed “the Civil War”. The two schools’ football teams play a game every year for the Platypus Trophy.

“Pac-12” is an abbreviation for the Pacific-12 Conference, a college athletic conference in the western US. The Pac-12 has won more NCAA National Team Championships than any other conference. The Pac-12 was founded in 1915 as the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC). Over time as it grew, the conference went by the names Big Five, Big Six, Pacific-8, Pacific-10 and became the Pacific-12 in 2011.

10 Early TV component : CRT

Cathode ray tube (CRT)

11 Genteel gesture : HAT-TIP

Our words “jaunty” and “genteel” are related in that they both derive from the French “gentil” meaning “nice, pleasing”. In modern usage, someone described as jaunty has a buoyant air. Someone described as genteel is refined in manner.

13 Chantelle offering : LINGERIE

“Lingerie” is a French term. As used in France, it describes any underwear, worn by either males or females. In English we use “lingerie” to describe alluring underclothing worn by women. The term “lingerie” comes into English via the French word “linge” meaning “washables”, and ultimately from the Latin “linum”, meaning “linen”. We tend not to pronounce the word correctly in English, either here in the US or across the other side of the Atlantic. The French pronunciation is more like “lan-zher-ee”, as opposed to “lon-zher-ay” (American) and “lon-zher-ee” (British).

Chantelle is a French lingerie company that was founded back in 1876. One of Chantelle’s claims to fame is the introduction of the world’s first molded, seamless bra, in 1972.

23 Indy front-runner? : PACE CAR

In automobile racing, a pace car is used for safety when there is an obstruction on the track. The pace car enters the track in front of the leader and slows the racing cars to what is deemed to be a safe speed. While the pace car is on the track, the competitors cannot pass the pace car and nor can they pass each other. When the pace car exits the track, the race resumes.

25 Semi-hard cheese : EDAM

Edam cheese takes its name from the Dutch town of Edam in North Holland. The cheese is famous for its coating of red paraffin wax, a layer of protection that helps Edam travel well and prevents spoiling. You might occasionally come across an Edam cheese that is coated in black wax. The black color indicates that the underlying cheese has been aged for a minimum of 17 weeks.

29 The Apolima Strait separates its two main islands : SAMOA

The Apolima Strait is an 8-mile wide stretch of water separating Savai’i and Upolu, the two largest islands of Samoa.

The official name for the South Pacific nation formerly known as Western Samoa is the Independent State of Samoa. Samoa is the western part of the island group, with American Samoa lying to the southeast. The whole group of islands used to be known as Navigators Island, a name given by European explorers in recognition of the seafaring skills of the native Samoans.

36 Red annoyance? : TAPE

Back in the days of yore in England, official documents were bound in bundles with red ribbon. So, getting through all the paperwork required “cutting through the red tape”.

37 Wheat germ nutrient : VITAMIN E

The germ of a cereal (like wheat and oat) is the reproductive part that germinates and grows into a new plant. A whole grain has three main parts:

• the germ, the source of the new plant
• the endosperm, the energy store of carbohydrate and protein for initial growth
• the bran, protective outer shell

38 ABBA’s genre : EUROPOP

Europop is a genre of pop music that is mainly associated with Sweden, but also applies to several other European countries. The most famous group associated with the genre is ABBA.

42 Evening hr. : NINE PM

The 12-hour clock has been around a long time, and was even used in sundial format in ancient Egypt. Our use of AM and PM dates back to Roman times, with AM standing for “ante meridiem” (before noon) and PM standing for “post meridiem” (after noon). However, the Romans originally used the AM concept a little differently, by counting backwards from noon. So, 2AM to the Romans would be two hours before noon, or 10AM as we would call it today.

44 Mythical wine lovers : SATYRS

The satyrs of Greek mythology came with a very high sex drive. They are the “rude” male subjects drawn on the side of old Greek vases. The nubile maidens known as nymphs were often an object of attention for the satyrs.

46 Proust character married to Odette : SWANN

Marcel Proust was a French writer famous for the enormous and much respected novel “In Search of Lost Time”. Graham Greene called Proust “the greatest novelist of the twentieth century”, and W. Somerset Maugham dubbed “In Search of Lost Time” as the “greatest fiction to date”. “In Search of Lost Time” is a very, very long novel. It is divided into seven volumes and was first published in 1913-1927. The first of the volumes is called “Swann’s Way”.

48 Cloth-dyeing method : BATIK

Genuine batik cloth is produced by applying wax to the parts of the cloth that are not to be dyed. After the cloth has been dyed, it is dried and then dipped in a solvent that dissolves the wax. Although wax-resist dyeing of fabric has existed in various parts of the world for centuries, it is most closely associated historically with the island of Java in Indonesia.

50 Beetle bars : AXLES

“VW” stands for “Volkswagen”, which translates from German into “people’s car”. The original Volkswagen design was the Beetle and was built under a directive from Adolf Hitler, who wanted a cheap car built that ordinary people could afford to purchase. Hitler awarded the contract to engineer Ferdinand Porsche, whose name (paradoxically) would forever be associated with high performance, expensive cars. The Beetle was the official name of the VW model released in North America, but it was usually referred to as a “Bug” here in the US, and a “Beetle” elsewhere in the world.

54 Shakespearean warning word : IDES

In Act I of William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”, a soothsayer warns the doomed leader to “beware the ides of March”. Caesar ignores the prophecy and is subsequently killed on the steps of the Capitol by a group of conspirators on that fateful day.

57 Christian denom. : BAP

One of the defining characteristics of a Baptist denomination within the Christian tradition is the “believer’s baptism”, the baptism of an individual who professes faith. Compare this to “infant baptism” which is the practice of baptizing infants soon after they are born.

58 Slowing, in mus. : RIT

Rit. (or sometimes ritard.) is the abbreviation for “ritardando”, a musical direction to slow down the tempo.

The post LA Times Crossword 4 Jan 20, Saturday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 14m 28s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Extra NHL periods : OTS

The National Hockey League (NHL) was formed in 1917 in Montreal as a successor to the defunct National Hockey Association (NHA) that had been founded in 1909.

18 Like a nonexistent chance : FAT

“Fat chance” means “there’s only a slim chance”, somewhat paradoxically …

19 Provides an excuse : ALIBIS

“Alibi” is the Latin word for “elsewhere” as in, “I claim that I was ‘elsewhere’ when the crime was committed … I have an ‘alibi’”.

20 Queen Amidala’s “Star Wars” home : NABOO

In the “Star Wars” universe, Padmé Amidala is the Queen of the planet Naboo. Played very ably by Natalie Portman, Padmé becomes the secret wife of Anakin Skywalker, later revealed to be Darth Vader. As such, Padmé is also the mother of Luke Skywalker and his sister, Princess Leia Organa.

21 Rink move : AXEL

An axel is a forward take-off jump in figure skating. The maneuver was first performed by Norwegian Axel Paulsen at the 1882 World Figure Skating championships.

22 Christmas buy : FIR

Firs are evergreen coniferous trees, with several species being popular as Christmas trees. The most commonly used species during the holidays are the Nordmann fir, noble fir, Fraser fir and balsam fir. We also see a lot of Douglas fir trees at Christmas, but they’re not actually true firs.

23 When the Commodore 64 computer was released : NINETEEN EIGHTY-TWO

The Commodore 64 was a home computer introduced in 1982. Up to 17 million units of the Commodore 64 were sold in all, making it the highest-selling computer model of all time (according to the Guinness World Records). Back in 1977, the “big three” of personal computers were Apple, Commodore and Tandy. Well, at least Apple is still around …

26 Clean Air Act org. : EPA

The Clean Air Act of 1963 is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

28 Looks for prints : DUSTS

In the world of criminology, there are three classes of fingerprints:

• Patent prints are those which are obvious, easily spotted by the naked eye.
• Impressed prints are those made when the fingertips apply pressure to a soft material or surface, such as the skin.
• Latent prints are those that are invisible to the naked eye, but which can be detected using special equipment and materials.

29 Driveway hoops game : HORSE

H-O-R-S-E is a simple game played with a basketball and a hoop. The idea is that one player makes a basket using a certain move and technique, and then subsequent players have to make a basket the same way. Anyone failing to make a basket is assigned a letter in the word H-O-R-S-E, and after five letters, you’re out. A quicker game is called P-I-G.

30 World capital since 1931 : NEW DELHI, INDIA

New Delhi is the capital city of India. New Delhi resides within the National Capital Territory of Delhi (otherwise known as the metropolis of Delhi). New Delhi and Delhi, therefore, are two different things.

34 Bart Simpson’s grandma : MONA

Mona Simpson is a character on “The Simpsons” that has been voiced by a number of actresses over the years, including the wonderful Glenn Close. Mona is Homer Simpson’s mother, and hence Bart’s grandmother. Mona is named for the author Mona Simpson, who is the younger sister of Apple founder Steve Jobs, and wife of “The Simpsons” writer Richard Appel.

35 One might be slipped : DISC

Our intervertebral discs are composed mainly of cartilage. They perform the crucial functions of separating the vertebrae while allowing slight movement, and also absorbing shock. A “slipped disc” isn’t really a disc that has “slipped”, but rather a disc that “bulges”. If that bulge causes pressure on the sciatic nerve then the painful condition known as sciatica can result.

36 California’s Santa __ River : ANA

The Santa Ana River rises in the San Bernardino Mountains and empties into the Pacific Ocean 96 miles downstream. The Santa Ana is the largest river in Southern California.

37 Character who said about her father, “Yet he hath ever but slenderly known himself” : REGAN

“King Lear” is one of William Shakespeare’s tragedies. Lear’s three daughters figure prominently in the story line. The three are, in order of age:

• Goneril
• Regan
• Cordelia

40 Amigo of Fidel : CHE

Ernesto “Che” Guevara was born in Argentina, and in 1948 he started to study medicine at the University of Buenos Aires. While at school he satisfied his need to “see the world” by taking two long journeys around South America, the story of which are told in Guevara’s memoir later published as “The Motorcycle Diaries”. While travelling, Guevara was moved by the plight of the people he saw and their working conditions and what he viewed as capitalistic exploitation. In Mexico City he met brothers Raul and Fidel Castro and was persuaded to join their cause, the overthrow of the US-backed government in Cuba. He rose to second-in-command among the Cuban insurgents, and when Castro came to power Guevara was influential in repelling the Bay of Pigs Invasion and bringing Soviet nuclear missiles to the island. Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to continue his work as a revolutionary. He was captured by Bolivian forces in 1967, and was executed. Fidel Castro led the public mourning of Guevara’s death, and soon the revolutionary was an icon for many left-wing movements around the world.

47 Tennis great : ASHE

Arthur Ashe was a professional tennis player from Richmond, Virginia. In his youth, Ashe found himself having to travel great distances to play against Caucasian opponents due to the segregation that still existed in his home state. He was rewarded for his dedication by being selected for the 1963 US Davis Cup team, the first African American player to be so honored. Ashe continued to run into trouble because of his ethnicity though, and in 1968 was denied entry into South Africa to play in the South African Open. In 1979, Ashe suffered a heart attack and had bypass surgery, with follow-up surgery four years later during which he contracted HIV from blood transfusions. Ashe passed away in 1993 due to complications from AIDS. Shortly afterwards, Ashe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.

52 1982 Physical Tour singer : OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN

Olivia Newton-John is an Australian singer and actress, although she was born in Cambridge, England. Newton-John’s father was an officer in the British Security Services and worked on the Enigma code-breaking project during WWII. Through her mother, Olivia is also the granddaughter of Max Born, the atomic physicist and Nobel Prize winner.

“Physical” is a 1981 song recorded by Olivia Newton-John that was to become her biggest hit in the US.

57 Corrida participant : TORO

Spanish bullfighting is known locally as “corrida de toros”, literally “race of bulls”.

60 Prey for a Hauskatze : MAUS

In German, a “Maus” (mouse) is prey for a “Hauskatze” (domestic cat, house cat).

61 Starchy roots : TAROS

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.

62 Card game shout : UNO!

UNO is a card game that was developed in the early seventies and that has been sold by Mattel since 1992. UNO falls into the shedding family of card games, meaning that the goal is to get rid of all your cards while preventing opponents from doing the same.

63 “Cotton Candy” jazzman : HIRT

Al Hirt was a trumpeter and bandleader. Hirt’s most famous recordings were the song “Java” and the album “Honey in the Horn”, as well the theme song used “The Green Hornet” TV series in the sixties.

65 Low-pH stuff : ACID

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.

74 Son of Seth : ENOS

Enos was the son of Seth, and therefore the grandson of Adam and Eve. According to the ancient Jewish work called the Book of Jubilees, Enos married his own sister Noam.

75 “Gigi” playwright : LOOS

Anita Loos was an American screenwriter and author who was most famous for her novel “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” that was first published in 1925. “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” was originally published as a series of short stories in “Harper’s Bazaar”. The heroine of the story was Lorelei Lee, a “flapper” who was less interested in marriage than she was in collecting expensive gifts from her many gentleman admirers.

“Gigi” is a very popular 1958 musical film starring Leslie Caron in the title role. The movie’s screenplay is based on a 1944 novella of the same name by French author Colette. Colette’s “Gigi” was also adapted into a 1951 stage play by Anita Loos, in which Audrey Hepburn played the title role in the original Broadway production.

77 Cal Poly campus site, initially : SLO

The city of San Luis Obispo is one of the oldest communities in California. The name “San Luis Obispo” translates as “Saint Louis, the Bishop of Toulouse”. In 1990, San Luis Obispo was the first municipality in the world to ban smoking in all indoor public areas.

“Cal Poly” is the more familiar name for California Polytechnic State University. There are actually two Cal Poly institutions, one in San Luis Obispo (the most famous) and one in Pomona. The Pomona institution was founded in 1938 as the southern campus for Cal Poly in 1938, but became independent from the northern school in 1966.

81 “Beloved” novelist Morrison : TONI

“Beloved” is a 1987 novel by author Toni Morrison. The Pulitzer-winning book was adapted into a 1998 movie of the same name starring Oprah Winfrey.

82 Lab dish eponym : PETRI

Julius Richard Petri was a German bacteriologist and was the man after whom the Petri dish is named. The petri dish can have an agar gel on the bottom which acts as a nutrient source for the specimen being grown and studied, in which case the dish plus agar is referred to as an “agar plate”.

84 Word on a bill : UNUM

From 1776, “E pluribus unum” was the unofficial motto of the United States. The phrase translates from Latin as “Out of many, one”. It was pushed aside in 1956 when an Act of Congress designated “In God We Trust” as the country’s official motto. “In God We Trust” had appeared on US coins since 1864, but was only introduced on paper currency in 1957.

85 What a shutout lowers : EARNED RUN AVERAGE

Earned run average (ERA)

91 Aspiring atty.’s exam : LSAT

Law School Admission Test (LSAT)

92 Sushi roll wrap : NORI

Nori is an edible seaweed that we used to know as “laver” when I was living in Wales. Nori is usually dried into thin sheets. Here in the US, we are most familiar with nori as the seaweed used as a wrap for sushi.

93 Camera move : PAN

To “pan” a camera is to move in such a way as to create a “panoramic” effect, to sweep from one side of a scene to another.

98 Org. giving G’s and R’s : MPAA

The Motion Picture Association of America’s (MPAA) film-rating system (PG-13, R, etc.) is purely voluntary and is not backed by any law. Movie theaters agree to abide by the rules that come with the MPAA ratings in exchange for access to new movies.

104 Capital near Siena College : ALBANY, NEW YORK

New York’s state capital of Albany was founded as a Dutch trading post called Fort Nassau in 1614. The English took over the settlement in 1664 and called it Albany, naming it after the future King of England James II, whose title at the time was the Duke of Albany. It became the capital of New York State in 1797.

Siena College is a Roman Catholic school, a Franciscan liberal arts college founded in 1937 in Loudonville, New York near Albany. The college is named for Saint Bernardino of Siena, a Franciscan friar who lived in the 15th century.

110 Stiller’s partner : 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”.

112 Lucas droid : ARTOO

Artoo’s proper name is R2-D2. R2-D2 is the smaller of the two famous droids from the “Star Wars” movies. British actor Kenny Baker, who stood just 3 ft 8 ins tall, was the man inside the R2-D2 droid for the first six of the “Star Wars” movies.

115 Hindu title : SRI

“Sri” is a title of respect for a male in India.

116 Highest grossing movie of 1980, with “The” : … EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

“The Empire Strikes Back” is a 1980 sequel to the hit movie “Star Wars”. The most famous line from “The Empire Strikes Back” is spoken by Darth Vader as he reveals his relationship to Luke Skywalker: “No, I am your father” (with emphasis on the “I”). This is often misquoted as “Luke, I am your father”.

122 Attach with twine : TIE ON

Our word “twine”, meaning “light string”, has the same root as our word “twin”. The original Old English “twin” was a double thread.

127 One of the vitals : PULSE

One’s pulse is the rhythmic throbbing of arteries that is usually detected at the wrist or the neck. The contraction of the heart creates a pressure wave in the blood that moves the arterial walls, which is detected as the pulse.

128 With 87-Down, fairly : PRO …
(87D See 128-Across : … RATA)

“Pro rata” is a Latin phrase meaning “in proportion”.

Down

2 National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall site : TAIPEI

Chiang Kai-Shek was the leader of the Nationalist Movement in China right through to the end of WWII. The Nationalists lost out in a Civil War to the Communists backed by the Soviet Union after the war, and Chiang Kai-Shek and his government were forced to flee to Taiwan. Chiang Kai-shek claimed rule over China from Taiwan until his death in 1975.

4 Architect Saarinen : ELIEL

Eliel Saarinen was a Finnish architect who designed entire city districts in Helsinki. He immigrated to the United States where he became famous for his art nouveau designs. He was the father of Eero Saarinen, who was to become even more renowned in America for his designs, including the Dulles International Airport terminal, and the TWA building at JFK.

5 Alice’s cat : DINAH

Dinah is Alice’s pet cat, and a companion that she mentions quite often in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and in “Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There”.

6 Andorra’s region : IBERIA

The Iberian Peninsula in Europe is largely made up of Spain and Portugal. However, also included is the Principality of Andorra in the Pyrénées, a small part of the south of France, and the British Territory of Gibraltar. Iberia takes its name from the Ebro, the longest river in Spain, which the Romans named the “Iber”.

Andorra is a small principality nestled in the Pyrénées between France and Spain. Andorra is a very prosperous country, mainly due to its status as a tax haven and thriving tourist industry. We used help out the tourist industry there in the winters, enjoying a couple of skiing holidays there. Happy memories …

7 Op. __ : CIT

“Op. cit.” is short for “opus citatum”, Latin for “the work cited”. Op. cit. is used in footnotes to refer the reader to an earlier citation. It is similar to ibid, except that ibid refers the reader to the last citation, the one immediately above.

8 Half a fly : TSE

The tsetse fly is responsible for the transmission of sleeping sickness, a disease that is more correctly called African trypanosomiasis. The disease is only observed in humans who have been bitten by a tsetse fly that is infected with the trypanosome parasitic protozoan.

9 Ho-hum feeling : ENNUI

“Ennui” is the French word for “boredom”, and a word that we now use in English. It’s one of the few French words we’ve imported that we haven’t anglicized, and actually pronounce “correctly”.

10 Type of salad : CAESAR

The caesar salad was created by restaurateur Caesar Cardini at the Hotel Caesar’s in Tijuana, Mexico. The original recipe called for whole lettuce leaves that were to be lifted up by the stem and eaten with the fingers.

11 Parting words? : OBIT

Our word “obituary” comes from the Latin “obituaris”. The Latin term was used for “record of the death of a person”, although the literal meaning is “pertaining to death”.

12 Quaffs with punch : NOGS

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.

14 Ersatz silk : RAYON

Rayon is a little unusual in the textile industry in that it is not truly a synthetic fiber, but nor can it be called a natural fiber. Rayon is produced from naturally occurring cellulose that is dissolved and then reformed into fibers.

Something described as ersatz is a copy, and usually not a good one. “Ersatz” comes from the German verb “ersetzen” meaning “to replace”.

16 Seats arranged in rows : PEWS

A pew is a bench in a church, one usually with a high back. The original pews were raised and sometimes enclosed seats in the church used by women and important men or families. “Pew” comes from the Old French “puie” meaning “balcony, elevation”.

17 Shrub with a purple fruit : SLOE

The sloe is the fruit of the blackthorn bush, and the main flavoring ingredient in sloe gin. A sloe looks like a small plum, but is usually much more tart in taste.

24 Baseball Hall of Famer Roush : EDD

Edd Roush was a big hitter who played Major League Baseball, starting in 1913 for the Chicago White Sox. He jumped ship to the Federal League in 1914, a league set up to compete with the already well-established National and American Leagues. The upstart league only lasted a couple of seasons. When Edd Roush passed away in 1988 at the age of 94, he was the last surviving player from the short-lived Federal League.

31 Lowest multiple of CLI that fits in this space : DCIV

Clever clue! In Roman numerals:
1 x 151 = 150 (CLI)
2 x 150 = 302 (CCCII)
3 x 150 = 453 (CDLIII)
4 x 150 = 604 (DCIV)
So, the first multiple of CLI that takes up exactly four spaces is DCIV.

33 Creator of the GOP elephant : NAST

The Republican Party has had the nickname Grand Old Party (GOP) since 1875. That said, the phrase was coined in the “Congressional Record” as “this gallant old party”. The moniker was changed to “grand old party” in 1876 in an article in the “Cincinnati Commercial”. The Republican Party’s elephant mascot dates back to an 1874 cartoon drawn by Thomas Nast for “Harper’s Weekly”. The Democrat’s donkey was already an established symbol. Nast drew a donkey clothed in a lion’s skin scaring away the other animals. One of the scared animals was an elephant, which Nast labeled “The Republican Vote”.

34 “Death in Venice” author : MANN

Thomas Mann was a German novelist whose most famous work is probably his novella “Death in Venice”. That book published originally in German in 1912 as “Der Tod in Venedig”. The story was famously adapted for the big screen in 1971, in a movie starring Dirk Bogarde.

38 Freudian topics : EGOS

Sigmund Freud created a structural model of the human psyche, breaking it into three parts: the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is that part of the psyche containing the basic instinctual drives. The ego seeks to please the id by causing realistic behavior that benefits the individual. The superego almost has a parental role, contradicting the id by introducing critical thinking and morals to behavioral choices.

39 “Dilbert” cry : GAH!

“Dilbert” is a comic strip drawn by Scott Adams, who used to be a “neighbor” of mine when I lived in the Bay Area. Adams used to be co-owner of a restaurant at the end of my street that had a menu replete with “Dilbertesque” comments.

41 Subway fare? : HERO

The SUBWAY chain of fast food restaurants is the largest single-brand restaurant in the world. I’m a big fan of SUBWAY sandwiches, especially the toasted ones …

42 God with a quiver : 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”).

45 First quarterback to exceed 5,000 passing yards in a season : MARINO

Dan Marino played his whole football career with the Miami Dolphins. Marino is widely regarded as one of the game’s greatest quarterbacks, even though he never played on a team that won the Super Bowl.

48 Superfamily including gibbons : HOMINOIDS

“Hominoid” is an alternative name for “ape”.

The tailless primates known as apes (also “hominoids”) are divided into two main branches: gibbons (lesser apes) and hominids (great apes). The hominids are the great apes, and belong to the family of primates called Hominidae. Extant genera that make up the family Hominidae are:

• chimpanzees
• gorillas
• humans
• orangutans

51 German town : STADT

“Stadt” is the German word for “city, town”.

52 “Movin’ __”: ’70s-’80s sitcom theme song : ON UP

“Movin’ On Up” is the theme song for “The Jeffersons”, a sitcom that originally aired in the seventies and eighties.

53 “Smallville” character : LANA

Lana Lang is a character in the DC Comics universe. She grew up in Smallville, and was a friend of the young Clark Kent. As an adult, Lana became a rival to Lois Lane for the adult Kent’s affections. Lang has been portrayed by several actresses on the big and small screens. A unique portrayer of Lang is Annette O’Toole in the 1983 film “Superman III”. O’Toole went on to play Martha Kent, Clark Kent’s adoptive mother on the TV show “Smallville”. Apparently, the producers of “Smallville” cast O’Toole as Clark’s mother without realizing that she had once played Clark’s girlfriend.

54 Horror film helper : IGOR

In the world of movies, Igor has been the assistant to Dracula, Frankenstein and Young Frankenstein among others. Igor is almost invariably portrayed as a hunchback.

55 O.T. queen : ESTH

Esther was a Jewish queen, wife of the Persian king Ahasuerus and the heroine of the Book of Esther in the Bible. By the way, Esther is the only book in the Bible that doesn’t mention the word “God”.

56 Artful dodge : JUKE

To juke is to duck or dodge. The term “juke” evolved into the early 1970s as a variant of “jook”. “Jook” is a Scottish term with the same meaning that dates back to the 1500s.

61 More under the influence : TIPSIER

The term “tipsy” comes from the verb “to tip” meaning “to overturn, knock over”, and has been meaning “drunk” since the late 1500s.

64 Soccer great Messi : LIONEL

Lionel “Leo” Messi is a soccer player from Argentina. Messi was awarded FIFA’s Ballon d’Or (Golden Ball) award from 2009 to 2013. The Ballon d’Or is presented to the player who is considered the best in the world in the prior year.

65 Inverse trig function : ARCTAN

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.

66 Big name in tequila : CUERVO

Jose Cuervo is the world’s best-selling brand of tequila. Produced in Mexico, key to Jose Cuervo’s success was the smuggling of tequila into the US during Prohibition.

69 SpaceX CEO Musk : ELON

Elon Musk is a successful businessman who has founded or led some very high-profile companies, namely PayPal, Tesla Motors and SpaceX. Musk received a lot of publicity in early 2018 during a test launch by SpaceX of the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle. A Tesla Roadster belonging to Musk was carried into space as a dummy payload.

70 Nothing, in Nantes : RIEN

Nantes is a beautiful city located on the delta of the Loire, Erdre and Sèvre rivers. It has the well deserved nickname of “The Venice of the West”. I had the privilege of visiting Nantes a couple of times on business, and I can attest that it really is a charming city …

71 Madonna’s “La __ Bonita” : ISLA

“La Isla Bonita” (Spanish for “The Beautiful Island”) is a song recorded by Madonna as a single in 1987. It had appeared as a track on her studio album “True Blue” the year before.

72 Cassini of fashion : OLEG

French-born American fashion designer Oleg Cassini had two big names particularly associated with his designs. In the sixties he produced the state wardrobe for First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, and he was also the exclusive designer for Hollywood’s Gene Tierney, who was Cassini’s second wife.

79 “Lonely Boy” singer : ANKA

Canadian-born Paul Anka’s big hit was in 1957, the song entitled “Diana”. Anka was the subject of a much-lauded documentary film in 1962 called “Lonely Boy”.

80 Testing subject : GUINEA PIG

The guinea pig species of rodent is also known as a cavy. Guinea pigs aren’t related to pigs, and not are they from Guinea (in West Africa). Guinea pigs actually come from the Andes. They were commonly used for research in the 1800s and 1900s, and as a result we use the term “guinea pig” for a test subject to this day.

81 Palm smartphone : TREO

The Treo is a smartphone that was originally developed by a company called Handspring. Handspring was bought by Palm Inc. Subsequently, the Treo was phased out and replaced by the Palm Pre.

82 World leader who’s a judo black belt : PUTIN

Vladimir Putin became acting President of Russia at the very end of 1999 when Boris Yeltsin resigned. Putin was elected in his own right in 2000, re-elected in 2004, and then ran up against a term limit in 2008. In 2008 Putin was appointed by his successor, President Dmitry Medvedev, to the position of Prime Minister. Putin is a controversial figure, inside and outside Russia. On the one hand he led the country out of an economic crisis into a period of stability and relative prosperity. On the other hand he has been associated with government corruption and accused of allowing private concerns to have undue influence on government actions. And then, along came the 2016 US presidential election …

88 Frost-covered : RIMY

Rime is the beautiful coating of ice that forms on surfaces like roofs, trees and grass, when cold water freezes instantly under the right conditions.

97 One of two in a crash : CYMBAL

Cymbals are concave metal plates that are played as a percussion instrument by striking them with a drumstick or by clashing them together as pairs. The term “cymbal” ultimately comes from the Greek “kymbe” meaning “bowl, drinking cup”, which is a reference to the shape of the instrument.

106 __ choy : BOK

Bok choy is a variety of Chinese cabbage. “Bok choy” translates as “white vegetable”.

108 Run the show : EMCEE

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

109 Bowl-shaped pans : WOKS

“Wok” is a Cantonese word, and is the name for the frying pan now used in many Asian cuisines.

111 John’s first partner on American TV’s “The Avengers” : EMMA

“The Avengers” was must-see television when I was growing up. “The Avengers” was a sixties comedy spy series set in England during the days of the Cold War. The hero was John Steed, played ably by Patrick MacNee. Steed had various female partners as the series progressed, the first of which was Cathy Gale, played by Honor Blackman (who also played Pussy Galore in “Goldfinger”). Following Ms. Gale was Emma Peel played by the wonderful Diana Rigg. Finally there was Tara King, played by Linda Thorson.

112 Clearance item caveat : AS IS

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

118 FRA neighbor, to the IOC : ESP

Spain is the second largest country in the European Union (after France). “Spain” is an anglicized form of the Spanish name “España”, which comes from the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula “Hispania”.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) uses its own set of three-letter abbreviations for country names, e.g. HUN (Hungary), ECU (Ecuador), ESP (Spain) and CRO (Croatia).

119 Onetime Beatle Sutcliffe : STU

Stu Sutcliffe was one of the original four members of The Silver Beatles (as The Beatles were known in their early days), along with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. Sutcliffe apparently came up with the name “Beatles” along with John Lennon, as a homage to their hero Buddy Holly who was backed by the “Crickets”. By all reports, Sutcliffe wasn’t a very talented musician and was more interested in painting. He went with the group to Hamburg, more than once, but he eventually left the Beatles and went back to art school, actually studying for a while at the Hamburg College of Art. In 1962 in Hamburg, Sutcliffe collapsed with blinding headaches. He died in the ambulance on the way to hospital, his death attributed to cerebral paralysis.

The post LA Times Crossword 5 Jan 20, Sunday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 4m 53s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6 Swiss currency : FRANC

Not only is the Swiss Franc legal tender in Switzerland, it is also the money used in Liechtenstein and the Italian exclave of Campione d’Italia.

11 Show with a Miami spin-off : CSI

I quite enjoyed the “CSI” franchise of television shows, all except “CSI: Miami”. I find the character played by David Caruso to be extremely annoying. “CSI: Miami” was cancelled in 2012. No loss …

14 With 31-Across, Spanish artist with a Blue Period : PABLO …
(31A See 14-Across : … PICASSO )

Picasso’s Blue Period comprises works completed between 1901 and 1904. All his paintings in the era were basically monochromatic, using different shades of blue. HIs best-known work from the period is “The Old Guitarist”, which you can see at the Art Institute of Chicago.

15 “Chicago” showgirl : ROXIE

The wonderful 1975 musical “Chicago” is based on a 1926 play of the same name written by a news reporter called Maurine Dallas Watkins. Watkins had been assigned to cover the murder trials of Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner for the “Chicago Tribune”, and used the story that unfolded as the basis for her play. Annan became the character Roxie Hart, and Gaertner became Velma Kelly. I’ve only ever seen the movie version of “Chicago” and never a live performance …

16 “2001” computer : HAL

In Arthur C. Clarke’s “Space Odyssey” (famously adapted for the big screen as “2001: A Space Odyssey”) the computer system that went rogue was called HAL 9000, or simply “HAL”. HAL stands for “Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer”. Even though, Clarke denied it, there’s a good argument that can be made that the acronym HAL is a veiled reference to IBM, the big player in the world of computing at the time of the novel’s publication (1968). The acronym HAL is just a one-letter shift from the initials “IBM”.

17 *American independence symbol with a storied crack : LIBERTY BELL (giving “Lady Liberty”)

The Liberty Bell was commissioned in 1752 and installed in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The bell bears the inscription “Proclaim LIBERTY throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof”, a quotation from the Book of Leviticus in the Bible. Famously, the bell cracked when it was first rung in Philadelphia after arriving from the foundry where it was made in London, England. The bell’s fame originated with a short story by George Lippard published in 1847 that gave a fictional account of an old bell-ringer ringing it on July 4, 1776 upon hearing that the Second Continental Congress had voted for independence. That ringing of the bell never actually happened, even though the account was constantly presented as fact in school texts around the country for generations.

The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the people of France to the United States. It was designed by sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and constructed in France by civil engineer Gustave Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower fame). The statue was disassembled, shipped to the US, and reassembled on its pedestal on Bedloe’s Island (now “Liberty Island). A ceremony of dedication was held in 1886. If you take a boat ride down the Seine in Paris you will probably see a one-third replica of Lady Liberty standing on a small island in the river, looking quite magnificent. That copy was given to the people of Paris by the city’s American community in 1889.

19 Civil War prez : ABE

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the US, elected in 1860 as the first president from the Republican Party. Lincoln’s electoral support came almost exclusively from the north and west of the country, winning only 2 out of 996 counties in the Southern slave states. Lincoln led the country through the Civil War, and then was assassinated in 1865 just a few days after Robert E. Lee surrendered his army of Northern Virginia. President Lincoln was succeeded in office by Vice President Andrew Johnson.

20 Fencing sword : EPEE

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.

21 “__ Haw” : HEE

The variety show “Hee Haw” aired on CBS from 1969-1971, and then had a 20-year run in syndication. The show was built around country music, although the format was inspired by “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh In”.

22 About, on a memo : IN RE

The term “in re” is Latin, and is derived from “in” (in) and “res” (thing, matter). “In re” literally means “in the matter”, and is used to mean “in regard to” or “in the matter of”.

24 Some MIT grads : EES

Electrical engineer (EE)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

25 *1990 Gibson/Hawn film : BIRD ON A WIRE (giving “ladybird”)

“Bird on a Wire” is a fun film released in 1990, starring Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn. The movie’s title comes from the Leonard Cohen song “Bird on the Wire”.

The insect we know as a ladybug (also “ladybird”) has seven spots on its wing covers. These seven spots gave rise to the common name “ladybug”, as in the Middle Ages the insect was called the “beetle of Our Lady”. The spots were said to symbolize the Seven Joys and Seven Sorrows, events in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary called out in the Roman Catholic tradition.

29 Xterra automaker : NISSAN

The Xterra is a compact SUV built by Nissan in Smyrna, Tennessee (and in Brazil).

33 Four qts. : GAL

The quart, the unit of volume, is so called because it is one quarter of a gallon.

41 Peace symbol : VEE

One has to be careful making that V-sign depending where you are in the world. Where I came from, the V-for-victory (or peace) sign has to be made with the palm facing outwards. If the sign is made with the palm facing inwards, it can be interpreted as a very obscene gesture.

46 Maker of candy “Pieces” : REESE’S

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups were invented by Harry Burnett “H.B.” Reese. Peanut Butter Cups were originally called penny cups, reflecting the price at which they were sold. Then inflation took over, and maybe that’s why they were broken into smaller “Pieces” …

50 *Group of narrow bodies of water in upstate New York : FINGER LAKES (giving “ladyfinger”)

When I first moved to the US, I settled in Upstate New York and was lucky enough to live near the beautiful Finger Lakes. The largest of the eleven lakes is Seneca Lake, which is one of the deepest bodies of water in the United States.

53 European mount : ALP

There are eight Alpine countries:

• Austria
• Slovenia
• France
• Switzerland
• Liechtenstein
• Germany
• Monaco
• Italy

55 Deux halved : UNE

In French, half of “deux” (two) is “un, une” (one).

62 All-hrs. cash source : ATM

Automatic Teller Machine (ATM)

67 Like Oscar Madison’s room : MESSY

“The Odd Couple” is a play by the wonderfully talented Neil Simon that was first performed on Broadway, in 1965. This great play was adapted for the big screen in 1968, famously starring Jack Lemmon (as Felix Unger) and Walter Matthau (as Oscar Madison). The success of the play and the film gave rise to an excellent television sitcom that ran from 1970-1975, starring Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. In 1985, Neil Simon even went so far as to adapt the play for an all-female cast, renaming it “The Female Odd Couple”. I’d like to see that one …

Down

1 Organ near the stomach : SPLEEN

The spleen has a couple of functions in the human body. It removes old red blood cells, and recycles the iron contained therein. The waste product of this recycling is bile. It also holds a reserve of blood that can be released when necessary (if the body goes into “circulatory shock”). Greek and Roman physicians ascribed to the theory that the body had four basic substances, the so-called four humors. All diseases were caused by these four substances getting out of balance. The four humors were:

• Black bile (melancolia)
• Yellow bile (cholera)
• Phlegm (phlegma)
• Blood (sanguis)

2 Taiwan’s capital : TAIPEI

Taipei (officially “Taipei City”) is the capital of Taiwan (officially “the Republic of China”). “Taipei” translates from Chinese as “Northern Taiwan City” and indeed, the capital is situated at the northern tip of Taiwan. The city is nicknamed “City of Azaleas” as flowers are said to bloom better in Taipei than in any other city on the island.

10 Pertaining to the abdominal cavity : CELIAC

Our word “celiac” is used for things related to the abdomen. The term is derived from the Greek “koiliakos” meaning “pertaining to the bowels”.

13 Land in la mer : ILE

In French, an “île” (island) is “terre dans la mer” (land in the sea).

23 “Straight Outta Compton” rappers : NWA

“Straight Outta Compton” was the first album by N.W.A. N.W.A was a hip hop group from Compton, California. The original five group members included rappers who have made a name for themselves as solo acts, including: Dr. Dre and Ice Cube. The story of NWA is told in a 2015 film, also called “Straight Outta Compton”.

25 Pitcher’s wrong move : BALK

To balk is to stop and refuse to go on. It’s not just a baseball term …

26 Colorful fish : OPAH

“Opah” is the more correct name for the fish also known as the sunfish, moonfish or Jerusalem haddock. I’ve seen one in the Monterey Aquarium. It is one huge fish …

27 Color named for an African river : NILE GREEN

Depending on definition, the Nile is regarded generally as the longest river on the planet. The Nile forms from two major tributaries, the White Nile and the Blue Nile, which join together near Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. From Khartoum the Nile flows north, traveling almost entirely through desert making it central to life for those living along its length.

30 [Not my mistake] : [SIC]

[Sic] indicates that a quotation is written as originally found, perhaps including a typo. “Sic” is Latin for “thus, like this”. The term is more completely written as “sic erat scriptum”, which translates as “thus was it written”.

33 Onetime telecom giant : GTE

GTE was a rival to AT&T, the largest of the independent competitors to the Bell System. GTE merged with Bell Atlantic in 2000 to form the company that we know today as Verizon. Verizon made some high-profile acquisitions over the years, including MCI in 2005 and AOL in 2015.

38 Bucks’ mates : DOES

A male deer is usually called a buck, and a female is a doe. However, the male red deer is usually referred to as a stag. The males of even larger species of deer are often called bulls, and females cows. In older English, male deer of over 5 years were called harts, and females of over 3 years were called hinds. The young of small species are known as fawns, and of larger species are called calves. All very confusing …

39 Canapé topper : ROE

A canapé is a finger food, something small enough to eat in just one bite. In French, “canapé” is actually the word for a couch or a sofa. The name was given to the snack as the original canapés were savories served on toasted or stale bread that supposedly resembled a tiny couch.

40 Football official : REF

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.

44 Cinematic FX : CGI

Computer-generated imagery (CGI)

“FX” (sometimes “f/x”) is an abbreviation for “effects”, as in “special effects”.

45 Bank employee : TELLER

To tell can mean to count, as in “telling one’s blessings” and “there are 16, all told”. This usage of the word “tell” gives us the term “bank teller”.

56 Gin flavoring : SLOE

The sloe is the fruit of the blackthorn bush, and the main flavoring ingredient in sloe gin. A sloe looks like a small plum, but is usually much more tart in taste.

57 Leno on TV : JAY

Jay Leno was born James Leno in New Rochelle, New York. Jay’s father was the son of Italian immigrants, and his mother was from Scotland. Leno grew up in Andover, Massachusetts and actually dropped out of school on the advice of a high school guidance counsellor. However, years later he went to Emerson College and earned a Bachelor’s degree in speech therapy. Leno also started a comedy club at Emerson in 1973. Today Jay Leno is a car nut and owns about 200 vehicles of various types. You can check them out on his website: www.jaylenosgarage.com.

59 Rock producer Brian : 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.

61 Workout facility : GYM

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.

The post LA Times Crossword 6 Jan 20, Monday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 5m 29s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Indian music style : RAGA

Raga isn’t really a genre of music, but has been described as the “tonal framework” in which Indian classical music is composed. Ravi Shankar was perhaps the most famous raga virtuoso (to us Westerners). Western rock music with a heavy Indian influence might be called raga rock.

9 Goldman __: investment banking giant : 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.

19 Like the accent in passé : ACUTE

In French, accents over the letter E can be acute (é) or grave (è).

“Passé” is a French word, meaning “past, faded”. We’ve imported the term into English, and use it in the same sense.

20 French monarch : ROI

In French, a “roi” (king) might be found in a “palais” (palace).

23 Cold War mil. program : SDI

One of the positive outcomes of President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), aka “Star Wars”, was a change in US defense strategy. The new approach was to use missiles to destroy incoming hostile weapons, rather than using missiles to destroy the nation attacking the country. The former doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction went by the apt acronym of MAD …

29 Golfer Michelle : WIE

Michelle Wie is an American golfer on the LPGA Tour. Wie began playing golf at the age of four and was the youngest player ever to qualify for an LPGA tour event. She turned pro just before her 16th birthday.

33 Passé : OLD HAT

The use of “old hat” to mean something “out of date, stale” started about 1911. Before that, the term “old hat” meant something very different, and very vulgar. “Old hat” was the name given to a very private part of the female anatomy, the idea being that it was “often felt” (as in a “felt hat”). I just don’t know what to say …

36 World’s largest lizards : KOMODO DRAGONS

The large lizard called a Komodo dragon is so named because it is found on the island of Komodo (and others) in Indonesia. It can grow to a length of over 9 1/2 feet, so I guess that explains the dragon part of the name …

42 “Peer Gynt Suite” dancer : ANITRA

Anitra is a minor character Henrik Ibsen’s play “Peer Gynt”. She is the daughter of a Bedouin chief.

Henrik Ibsen’s play “Peer Gynt” is based on a Scandinavian fairy tale “Per Gynt”. The incidental music to the play, written by Edvard Grieg, is some of the most approachable classical music ever written, at least in my humble opinion …

43 “Mangia!” : EAT!

“Mangia!” is Italian for “Eat!” and is often used in the names of Italian restaurants or in brand names of Italian foods.

45 Wine city north of Lisbon : OPORTO

Portugal’s city of Oporto (“Porto” in Portuguese) gave its name to port wine in the late 1600s. Oporto was the seaport through which most of the region’s fortified red wine was exported.

Lisbon is the capital of Portugal. It is the westernmost capital city in Europe, and indeed is the westernmost large city on the continent. Lisbon is also the oldest city in Western Europe, and was founded hundreds of years before London, Paris and Rome.

48 CEO’s degree : MBA

A chief executive officer (CEO) might have a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree.

52 ’70s Chilean president : SALVADOR ALLENDE

Salvador Allende was President of Chile in the early 1970s. Allende was ousted by the CIA-backed Chilean military in a coup in 1973. He committed suicide by shooting himself, the same day that he was removed from power. There followed over a decade of military rule under the leadership of General Augusto Pinochet, along with persecution of dissidents and the disappearance or murder of over 3,000 civilians.

56 Ed.’s backlog : MSS

Editors (eds.) might read or edit a manuscript (MS)

57 Actress Russo : RENE

The very talented actress Rene Russo is a native of Burbank, California. Russo went to highschool (with actor/director Ron Howard), but dropped out in tenth grade. At seventeen, she was given the opportunity to train as a model and within a very short time appeared on the cover of “Vogue”. As her modelling jobs slowed down in her early thirties, Russo made a career change and studied theater and acting. I am so glad she did, as Rene Russo is one of my favorite actresses …

58 World Cup cheer : OLE!

The FIFA World Cup is the most prestigious tournament in the sport of soccer. The competition has been held every four years (excluding the WWII years) since the inaugural event held in Uruguay in 1930. The men’s World Cup is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, even outranking the Olympic Games. And, the women’s World Cup is fast catching up …

59 Funny Cheri : OTERI

Cheri Oteri was the SNL (“Saturday Night Live”) cast member who regularly appeared with Will Ferrell in the skit featuring a pair of Spartan cheerleaders.

61 Nutty ice cream parlor order … and a hint to each set of circled letters : ROCKY ROAD

The flavor of ice cream known as rocky road is made using chocolate ice cream mixed with nuts and marshmallows. The exact origin of the flavor seems to be disputed, but one story is that William Dreyer invented in 1929, chopping up walnuts and marshmallows with sewing scissors belonging to his wife.

69 German steel city : ESSEN

Essen is a large industrial city located on the River Ruhr in western Germany. The city experienced major population growth in the mid-1800s that was driven by the iron works established by the Krupp family.

71 Utopia : EDEN

The word “Utopia” was coined by Sir Thomas More in his book “Utopia” published in 1516 to describe an idyllic fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. More’s use of the name Utopia comes from the Greek “ou” meaning “not” and “topos” meaning “place”. By calling his perfect island “Not Place”, More was apparently making the point that he didn’t think that the ideal could actually exist.

Down

1 D.C. United’s former stadium : RFK

Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Memorial Stadium opened in 1961 as the District of Columbia Stadium, and is actually owned by the District of Columbia. The stadium was renamed in 1969, a few months after Robert Kennedy was assassinated. Kennedy had been instrumental the racial integration of the Washington Redskins who played in the stadium for 36 seasons. As Attorney General, Kennedy threatened to oust the Redskins from the federally-owned stadium unless the team agreed to sign African-American players.

D.C. United is a professional soccer team based in the nation’s capital. The team competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) and plays home games at the Audi Field, moving from Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in 2017.

2 “Green Book” 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 Best Supporting Actor Oscars for playing Juan in the 2016 drama “Moonlight”, and Dr. Don Shirley in 2018’s “Green Book”.

“Green Book” is a 2018 comedy film that is based on the true story of a 1962 tour of the Deep South by Florida-born classical and jazz pianist Don Shirley. Shirley, an African American, hires Italian-American bouncer Frank “Tony Lip” Vallelonga as his driver and bodyguard. I haven’t seen this one, but I hear that audiences and critics loved it …

3 Neptune or Pluto : GOD

Neptune was a Roman god, of both the sea and of freshwater. He was sometimes known as “Neptunus Equester” as he was also the god of horses and patron of horse-racing.

In classical mythology, the god of the underworld was named Hades. Over time, “Hades” came to mean the underworld itself and the name for the god became “Pluto”. Pluto’s character was more positive than the god Hades, and he represented a more rewarding afterlife compared to that offered by the darker Hades.

4 Palme d’Or, e.g. : AWARD

The “Palme d’Or” (or “Golden Palm” in English) is the highest award given at the Cannes Film Festival. The Palme d’Or goes to the director of the film that is selected as the best shown at the festival that year. The palm was selected as an emblem for the award as there is a palm featured on the coat of arms of the Commune of Cannes.

5 Kid-lit girl who lives on the “tippy-top floor” of the Plaza Hotel : ELOISE

Kay Thompson wrote the “Eloise” series of children’s books. Kay Thompson actually lived at the Plaza Hotel in New York, the setting she would choose for her “Eloise” stories. Eloise started out as a hit song for Thompson, a success that she parlayed into the book franchise.

6 Cross-shaped Greek letter : TAU

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.

7 Second Beatle on the “Abbey Road” cover : RINGO

Abbey Road in London was named for Kilburn Priory and the Abbey Farm in the priory’s grounds. The road is famous for the Abbey Road recording studios used most famously by the Beatles. The band’s last studio album is called “Abbey Road”, and the famous cover photo depicts John, Paul, George and Ringo walking across the zebra crossing located just outside the studio.

Sir Ringo Starr’s real name is Richard Starkey. Before he joined the Beatles, replacing drummer Pete Best, Starkey played with the Raving Texans. It was with the Raving Texans that he adopted the name “Ringo Starr”, because he wore a lot of rings and he thought it sounded “cowboyish”. Back then his drum solos were billed as “Starr Time”.

8 Ambulance patient’s MD : ER DOC

Our word “ambulance” originated from the French term “hôpital ambulant” meaning “field hospital” (literally “walking hospital”). In the 1850s, the term started to be used for a vehicle transporting the wounded from the battlefield, leading to our “ambulance”.

9 Scoundrel : SCALAWAG

The American word “scalawag” meaning “rogue” was used as a nickname for southern white people who supported reconstruction after the Civil War.

10 Fly ball’s path : ARC

That would be baseball.

11 “My __ Vinny”: 1992 comedy : COUSIN

“My Cousin Vinny” is a really fun film from 1992 starring Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei. In 2008, the American Bar Association rated “My Cousin Vinny” as the #3 Greatest Legal Movie of all time, after “To Kill a Mockingbird” (#1) and “12 Angry Men” (#2)!

12 Show-off : HOT-DOG

Although “hotdogging” is a term now used across all sports, it was primarily associated with skiing and described the performance of showy and risky stunts on the slopes.

22 “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” host Tyler : AISHA

Aisha Tyler is an actor and comedian who was a co-host on “The Talk” for several years starting in 2011. She began hosting the reboot of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” in 2013.

The American improv comedy TV show “Whose Line Is It Anyway” is a spin-off of a very successful British show of the same name. The British TV show is itself a spin-off of a BBC radio show that I well remember. Lots of fun …

24 1914-’18 conflict, briefly : WWI

Prior to the outbreak of World War II, what we now know as World War I was referred to as “the World War” or “The Great War”.

26 Nevada casino city : 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.

28 Latin jazz great Puente : TITO

After serving in the Navy in WWII for three years, musician Tito Puente studied at Juilliard, where he got a great grounding in conducting, orchestration and theory. Puente parlayed this education into a career in Latin Jazz and Mambo. He was known as “El Rey” as well as “The King of Latin Music”.

34 Pres. or P.M. : LDR

Leader (ldr.)

35 Pulitzer category : DRAMA

Pulitzer Prizes are awarded annually for achievements in journalism, literature and musical composition. The prize was established back in 1917 by the Hungarian-American newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer. Pulitzer left money in his will for the prize, and for its administration by Columbia University.

37 Sportscaster Albert : MARV

Marv Albert is television and radio sportscaster who is often referred to as “the voice of basketball”. Marv has two younger brothers who are also sports announcers, and his son Kenny calls baseball and football for New York Rangers games on FOX radio. In addition, Marv’s daughter is a reporter for NBA TV.

38 Toronto native : ONTARIAN

Beautiful Toronto, Ontario is the largest city in Canada, and the fourth most populous city in North America (after Mexico City, New York and Los Angeles).

39 LED component : DIODE

A Light Emitting Diode (LED) is a specialized form of semiconductor that when switched on releases photons (light). LEDs were used in early digital watches, and are getting more and more popular even though their use in electronic equipment is fading away. LEDs are used as replacements for the much less-efficient tungsten light bulbs. I replaced all of my tungsten Xmas lights a few years ago and saved a lot on my electricity bill.

40 Hard-to-miss sign : NEON

The basic design of neon lighting was first demonstrated at the Paris Motor Show in 1910. Such lighting is made up of glass tubes containing a vacuum into which has been introduced a small amount of neon gas. When a voltage is applied between two electrodes inside the tube, the neon gas “glows” and gives off the familiar light.

45 Be absorbed gradually : OSMOSE

Osmosis is the movement of a solvent (often water) across a semipermeable membrane. In the process of osmosis, the solvent tends to flow from an area of less concentration to an area of higher concentration. This sense of absorbing water effortlessly gives rise to the expression “learning by osmosis”.

46 Farfalle and fusilli : PASTAS

Farfalle is commonly referred to as bow-tie pasta because of its shape. The name comes from the Italian “farfalla” meaning “butterfly”.

Fusilli is a corkscrew-shaped pasta. The term “fusilli” comes from the Italian word “fuso” meaning “spindle”.

47 Acting twins Mary-Kate and Ashley : OLSENS

I know very little about the Olsen twins, but I am told that many folks believe Mary-Kate and Ashley to be identical twins. They look very much alike, but are in fact fraternal twins. The sisters were cast as Michelle Tanner on the eighties sitcom “Full House”, taking turns playing the role.

49 Cambridge chaps : BLOKES

“Bloke” is British slang for “fellow”. The etymology of “bloke” seems to have been lost in the mists of time.

The famous university city of Cambridge in England takes its name from an Old English term meaning “Bridge on the River Granta”. The river in question is now called the River Cam, with “Cam” being a back formation from “Cambridge”.

55 Like “Stranger Things” : EERIE

“Stranger Things” is a sci-fi horror TV show made for Netflix that aired its first season in 2016. I don’t do horror, and so haven’t seen it …

62 Lowest-ranking NCO : CPL

A non-commissioned officer (NCO) might be a sergeant (sgt.) or a corporal (cpl.).

63 Roulette bet : ODD

The term “roulette” means “little wheel” in French, and the game as we know it today did in fact originate in Paris, in 1796. A roulette wheel bears the numbers 1-36. A French entrepreneur called François Blanc introduced the number “0” on the wheel, to give the house an extra advantage. Legend has it that Blanc made a deal with the devil in order to unearth the secrets of roulette. The legend is supported by the fact that the numbers 1 through 36 add up to a total of “666”, which is the “Number of the Beast”. Spooky …

64 Brewpub pour : ALE

The many, many different styles of beer can generally be sorted into two groups: ales and lagers. Ales are fermented at relatively warm temperatures for relatively short periods of time, and use top-fermenting yeasts, i.e. yeasts that float on top of the beer as it ferments. Lagers ferment at relatively low temperatures and for relatively long periods of time. Lagers use bottom-fermenting yeasts, i.e. yeasts that fall to the bottom of the beer as it ferments.

The post LA Times Crossword 7 Jan 20, Tuesday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 5m 12s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Clemson’s NCAA div. : ACC

The collegiate athletic conference known as the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) was founded in 1953. The seven charter members of the ACC were Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina and Wake Forest.

Clemson University was founded in 1889. The school takes its name from the town in which it is located: Clemson, South Carolina. The athletic teams of Clemson University have been called the Tigers since 1896 when football coach Walter Riggs arrived from Auburn University. Riggs was an admirer of the Princeton Tigers, so he gave his new school the tiger mascot.

4 Thom of shoes : MCAN

Thom McAn footwear was introduced in 1922 by the Melville Corporation (now CVS Caremark). The brand was named after a Scottish golfer called Thomas McCann. The Thom McAn line is epitomized by the comfortable leather casual and dress shoe, so sales have really been hurt in recent decades by the growing popularity of sneakers.

17 “Killing Eve” star : SANDRA OH (sounds like “O”)

Canadian actress Sandra Oh is very much associated with the role of Dr. Cristina Yang on “Grey’s Anatomy”, and more recently with the role of Eve Polastri on “Killing Eve” . However, my favorite of Oh’s performances are in the movies “Under the Tuscan Sun” and “Sideways”.

“Killing Eve” is a spy thriller series about an MI5 agent on the trail of a female assassin. The agent is played by Canadian actress Sandra Oh, and the assassin by English actress Jodie Comer. The storyline comes from a series of novellas titles “Codename Villanelle” by British author Luke Jennings.

20 Cockpit figure : AVIATOR

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the original “cockpit” was a “pit” used for fighting “cocks”. The term was then applied nautically, as the name for the compartment below decks used as living quarters by midshipmen. The cockpit of a boat today, usually on a smaller vessel, is a sunken area towards the stern in which sits the helmsman and others (who can fit!). The usage extended to aircraft in the 1910s and to cars in the 1930s.

21 Award-winning “A Raisin in the Sun” actress : RUBY DEE (sounds like “D”)

Ruby Dee was an actress and civil rights activist. On the big screen, she is perhaps best remembered for co-starring in “A Raisin in the Sun” alongside Sidney Poitier, in “Do the Right Thing” alongside her husband Ossie Davis, and in “American Gangster” in which she played Denzel Washington’s mother.

“A Raisin in the Sun” is a 1961 film starring Sidney Poitier that is based on a 1959 play of the same name by Lorraine Hansberry. Both film and play follow the lives of an African-American family from Chicago as they struggle with the decision about what to do with an insurance payout following the death of the family’s patriarch.

22 Yin partner : YANG

The yin and yang can be illustrated using many different metaphors. In one, as the sun shines on a mountain, the side in the shade is the yin and the side in the light is the yang. The yin is also regarded as the feminine side, and the yang the masculine. The yin can also be associated with the moon, while the yang is associated with the sun.

28 West with 21 Grammys : KANYE

Kanye West is a rap singer who was born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago. He also spent some time in Nanjing, China as a child, where his mother was teaching as part of an exchange program. West is married to reality star Kim Kardashian.

31 Sugar suffix : -OSE

Sugars are usually named using the “-ose” suffix e.g., glucose, fructose, sucrose.

36 “Full Frontal” host : SAMANTHA BEE (sounds like “B”)

Samantha Bee is a comedian from Toronto who found fame as a correspondent on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” starting way back in 2003. Bee left “The Daily Show” in 2015 to host her own late-night talk show “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” on TBS.

39 23-campus West Coast ed. system : CSU

California State University (CSU) is the largest university system in the country, with 23 campuses. About half of the bachelor’s degrees in the US awarded annually are from CSU.

41 General Bradley : OMAR

Omar Bradley graduated from West Point in the class of 1915, along with Dwight Eisenhower who also attained the rank of General of the Army. Bradley was the last person to hold the rank of a five-star commissioned officer, and he was the first general to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I was struck by a quotation from Bradley from later in his life:

Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than about peace, more about killing than we know about living.

42 Ariz. neighbor : NEV

The official nickname of Nevada is the Silver State, a reference to the importance of silver ore in the state’s growth and economy. An unofficial nickname is the Battle Born State. “Battle Born” is a reference to Nevada being awarded statehood during the American Civil War.

43 Part of MYOB and BYOB : OWN

Mind your own business (MYOB)

Bring Your Own Beer/Bottle/Booze (BYOB)

44 Justice Sotomayor : SONIA

Sonia Sotomayor is the first Hispanic justice on the US Supreme Court, and the third female justice. Sotomayor was nominated by President Barack Obama to replace the retiring Justice David Souter.

46 Big name in whisky : DEWAR

Dewar’s is a blended Scotch whisky introduced to the market in 1846 by John Dewar. Dewar’s White Label is the company’s most popular Scotch. It was first sold in 1899, and with a taste that is described as “heather and honey”. Dewar’s also make some single malts, under the labels Aberfeldy 12 and Aberfeldy 21. Today, Dewar’s is owned by Bacardi.

52 Long-running Mark Harmon military drama : NCIS

NCIS is the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which investigates crimes in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The service gives its name to the CBS TV show “NCIS”, a spin-off drama from “JAG” in which the main “NCIS” characters were first introduced. The big star in “NCIS” is the actor Mark Harmon. “NCIS” is now a franchise, with spin-off shows “NCIS: Los Angeles” and “NCIS: New Orleans”.

Actor Mark Harmon is best known today for playing the lead in the drama show “NCIS”. Harmon played a similar character for several episodes on “The West Wing”. Mark is the son of a football star Tom Harmon, and was the brother-in-law of rock and roll star Ricky Nelson and automotive executive John DeLorean (through his sisters). Harmon has been married since 1987 to actress Pam Dawber, who played the female title role on “Mork & Mindy”.

54 Congregation area : NAVE

In large Christian churches, the nave is the main approach to the altar, and is where most of the congregation are seated.

55 First chief justice : JOHN JAY (sounds like “J”)

John Jay was one of the Founding Fathers and President of the Continental Congress from 1778 to 1779. From 1789 to 1795, Jay was the nation’s first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He retired from the court to serve as the second Governor of New York.

61 “Take Good Care of My Baby” singer : BOBBY VEE (sounds like “V”)

Bobby Vee is the stage name of pop singer Robert Velline. Bobby Vee’s big break in music came amid a terrible tragedy. Buddy Holly and the Crickets were scheduled to play in Moorhead, Minnesota in February 1959 when the plane carrying Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper went down killing all on board. 15-year-old Bobby Vee and a group of friends were given the job of replacing Buddy Holly at the gig. Despite the circumstances, the show was a success, and Bobby Vee’s career was launched.

“Take Good Care of My Baby” is a song by the incredible composing team of Carole King and Gerry Goffin. The most famous version was recorded in 1961 by Bobby Vee, although a 1968 recording by Bobby Vinton also made the charts.

65 English Channel swimmer : EDERLE

Gertrude Ederle was an American swimmer from New York City. Ederle became the first woman to cross the English Channel, in 1926. Only five men had made the same swim before Ederle, with the fastest crossing being in 16 hours 33 minutes. Ederle blew that record out of the water (pun!), arriving in Dover in 14 hours 39 minutes.

66 Walk of Fame figure : STAR

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a series of sidewalks taking up 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and 3 blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood. The Walk of Fame is an ever-changing monument dedicated to those who have achieved greatness in the entertainment industry, both in front of and behind the camera. The first stars installed in the sidewalk were a group of eight, officially laid in 1960. That group consisted of:

• Joanne Woodward (actor)
• Olive Borden (actor)
• Ronald Colman (actor)
• Louise Fazenda (actor)
• Preston Foster (actor)
• Burt Lancaster (actor)
• Edward Sedgwick (director)
• Ernest Torrence (actor)

67 CD-__ : ROM

“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.

Down

2 Decorative neckwear : CRAVAT

The cravat originated in Croatia and was an accessory used with a military uniform. Cravats were introduced to the fashion-conscious French by Croatian mercenaries enlisted into a regiment of the French army. The English placed a lot of emphasis on the knot used for the cravat, and in the period after the Battle of Waterloo the cravat came to be known as a “tie”. What we now call a tie in English is still called a “cravate” in French.

3 Bloodhound, e.g. : CANINE

Bloodhounds have an amazing sense of smell, and have been bred to track humans in particular. Bloodhounds have been used to follow humans since the Middle Ages.

5 They’re often exchanged in Venice : CIAOS

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

The city of Venice in northeast Italy is built in a saltwater lagoon on the Adriatic Coast, on 117 small islands. The classic transportation along the waterways is the gondola, but this is really only used for tourists these days, as well as on ceremonial occasions. The locals rely on the motorized water-buses.

6 Hooded Arctic 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.

8 Org. with a “Speak Freely” blog : ACLU

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has its roots in the First World War. It grew out of the National Civil Liberties Bureau (CLB) that 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”.

10 Some HDTVs : SONYS

Sony was founded by Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka as Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation). The two partners met in the Japanese Navy during WWII.

18 Portuguese explorer Vasco : DA GAMA

Vasco da Gama left on his first voyage of discovery in 1497. da Gama journeyed around the Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost tip of Africa, and across the Indian Ocean making landfall in India. Landing in India, his fleet became the first expedition to sail directly from Europe to the sub-continent. Vasco da Gama was well known for acts of cruelty, especially on local inhabitants. One of his milder atrocities was inflicted on a priest whom he labelled as a spy. He had the priest’s lips and ears cut off, and sent him on his way after having a pair of dog’s ears sewn onto his head.

21 Italian alternative : RANCH

Ranch dressing has been the best selling salad dressing in the country since 1992. The recipe was developed by Steve Henson who introduced it in the fifties to guests on his dude ranch, the Hidden Valley Ranch in Northern California. His ranch dressing became so popular that he opened a factory to produce packets of ranch seasoning that could be mixed with mayonnaise and buttermilk. Henson sold the brand for $8 million in 1972.

27 Bridal party rides : LIMOS

The word “limousine” derives from the name of the French city of Limoges. The area around Limoges is called the Limousin, and it gave its name to a cloak hood worn by local shepherds. In early motor cars, a driver would sit outside in the weather while the passengers would sit in the covered compartment. The driver would often wear a limousin-style protective hood, giving rise to that type of transportation being called a “limousine”. Well, that’s how the story goes …

29 Chinese currency : YUAN

The Korean Won, the Chinese Yuan, and the Japanese Yen (all of which are Asian currencies) take their names from the Chinese written character that represents “round shape”.

33 Commando garb, for short : CAMO

Our word “camouflage” (often abbreviated to “camo”) evolved directly from a Parisian slang term “camoufler” meaning “to disguise”. The term was first used in WWI, although the British navy at that time preferred the expression “dazzle-painting” as it applied to the pattern painted on the hulls of ships.

A commando unit is a body of troops specially trained for hit-and-run raids into enemy territory. We imported the term into English from Afrikaans in the early 1800s. We owe the modern usage of “commando” to Winston Churchill, who used it starting in 1940 to describe shock troops whose job it was to disrupt of the planned German invasion of Britain. Churchill was probably familiar with the word from his time as a war correspondent and military officer during the Second Boer War.

48 “Skin Mind Balance” brand : AVEENO

Aveeno is a manufacturer of skincare and haircare products that was founded in 1945. The name Aveeno comes from the Latin name for the common oat, i.e. Avena sativa.

51 Former CNN journalist David : ENSOR

David Ensor worked for thirty years as a journalist with National Public Radio (NPR). Ensor was appointed as the Director of Voice of America in 2011.

53 Hummus brand : SABRA

Sabra Dipping is a company that specializes in the production of hummus and guacamole. If I can’t get homemade hummus or guacamole, then Sabra is the way to go …

56 Lower jaw : JOWL

The term “jowl” can be used for the jaw or cheek, and more specifically for a fold of flesh hanging from the jaw.

57 Pulitzer poet Sexton : ANNE

Anne Sexton was a poet from Massachusetts who won the 1967 Pulitzer for poetry for her collection titled “Live or Die”. Sexton’s style of poetry is sometimes classified as “confessional”, and reveals details of her private life, including her battle with depression. She finally committed suicide in 1974 at the age of 45.

61 English lit degrees : BAS

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

The post LA Times Crossword 8 Jan 20, Wednesday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 8m 04s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

4 “Top Chef” host Lakshmi : PADMA

Padma Lakshmi is a model from India. She is very much into cooking and has published an award-winning cookbook. She became host of the American TV show “Top Chef” in 2006.

14 T’ai __ : CHI

More correctly called “t‘ai chi ch‘uan”, tai chi is a martial art that is mostly practiced to improve overall health and increase longevity.

15 Club condiment : MAYO

Mayonnaise originated in the town of Mahon in Menorca, a Mediterranean island belonging to Spain. The Spanish called the sauce “salsa mahonesa” after the town, and this morphed into the French word “mayonnaise” that we use in English today.

The club sandwich is a double-decker affair with three layers of bread and two layers of filling. This style of sandwich has been around since the end of the 19th century, and some say it was invented at an exclusive gambling “club” in Saratoga Springs, New York.

17 “Fiddler” meddler : YENTE

In the stage musical “Fiddler on the Roof”, the village matchmaker Yente tries to bring together 19-year-old Tzeitel with the local butcher named Lazar Wolf.

The enduring musical “Fiddler on the Roof” is based on a collection of stories by Sholem Aleichem about Tevye, a milkman living in Tsarist Russia. The musical version of the tales first opened on Broadway in 1964. “Fiddler on the Roof” had such a long run that it became the first musical to reach 3,000 performances.

18 Chemistry Nobelist Otto : HAHN

Otto Hahn was a German chemist, someone who vigorously opposed the anti-Jewish policies of Nazi Germany. Hahn was one of a small group of scientists who discovered nuclear fission, pointing out that uranium atoms could be split into barium atoms when bombarded with neutrons. Hahn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1944 for this discovery, although he probably got the credit for work that was actually shared with others.

22 “My Friend” title horse : FLICKA

“My Friend Flicka” is a 1943 screen adaptation of the children’s novel of the same name by Mary O’Hara. The film stars a young Roddy McDowall in the lead role. Flicka is a horse …

24 Coral creatures : POLYPS

Polyps are tiny sea creatures that are found attached to underwater structures or to other polyps. Polyps have a mouth at one end of a cylindrical “body” that is surrounded by tentacles. Some polyps cluster into groups called stony corals, with stony corals being the building blocks of coral reefs. The structure of the reef comprises calcium carbonate exoskeletons secreted by the coral polyps.

27 “A Legacy of Spies” author : LE CARRE

“A Legacy of Spies” is a 2017 spy novel penned by John le Carré. The 2017 novel serves as both a prequel and a sequel to le Carré’s best-selling 1963 work “The Spy Who Came In from the Cold”. It just went onto my Christmas list …

30 St. Teresa’s town : AVILA

Ávila is famous for the walled defenses around the old city that date back to 1090. They were constructed out of brown granite, and are still in excellent repair. There are nine gateways and eighty-towers in all. Even the cathedral built between the 12th and 14th centuries is part of the city’s defenses, so it looks like an imposing fortress.

St. Teresa of Ávila (also known as St. Teresa of Jesus) was a Carmelite nun living in Spain in the 1500s. She is particularly noted for her writings on Christian meditation and mental prayer.

31 VII x XIII : XCI

In Roman numerals, VII x XIII = XCI (7 x 13 = 91)

33 Rodeo performer : ROPER

“Rodeo” is a Spanish word that is usually translated into English as “round up”.

34 Catchall abbr. : MISC

Out terms “miscellany” and “miscellaneous” ultimately come from the Latin verb “miscere” meaning “to mix”.

37 Dramatic accusation : ET TU

It was Shakespeare who popularized the words “Et tu, Brute?” (meaning “And you, Brutus?”). They appear in his play “Julius Caesar”, although the phrase had been around long before he penned his drama. It’s not known what Julius Caesar actually said in real life (if anything at all) as he was assassinated on the steps of the Senate in Rome.

38 Paris transit : METRO

The Paris Métro is the busiest underground transportation system in western Europe. The network carries about 4.5 million passengers a day, which is about the same ridership as the New York City Subway. The system took its name from the company that originally operated it, namely “La Compagnie du chemin de fer métropolitain de Paris”, which was shortened to “Métro”. The term “Metro” was then adopted for similar systems in cities all over the world.

41 GPS part: Abbr. : SYST

A global positioning system (GPS) is known as a satellite navigation system (Sat Nav) in Britain and Ireland.

42 Smart __ : ALECK

Apparently the original “smart Alec” (sometimes “Aleck”) was one Alec Hoag, a pimp, thief and confidence trickster who plied his trade in New York City in the 1840s.

43 Eco-friendly certification letters : LEED

LEED is a green building certification program. The acronym stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

44 Tablet named for an organ : TUMS

The main ingredient in Tums antacid, made by GlaxoSmithKline, is calcium carbonate. Tums have been on the market since 1930. If you want to save a few pennies, Target brand antacid is identical to Tums, or so I hear …

46 Kosher food carrier : EL AL

El Al Israel Airlines is the flag carrier of Israel. The term “el al” translates from Hebrew as “to the skies”. The company started operations in 1948, with a flight from Geneva to Tel Aviv. Famously, El Al only operates six days a week, not flying on the Sabbath.

51 “The Joy Luck Club” novelist : AMY TAN

Amy Tan lives not too far from here, in Sausalito just north of San Francisco. Tan is an American writer of Chinese descent whose most successful work is “The Joy Luck Club”. “The Joy Luck Club” was made into a movie produced by Oliver Stone in 1993. The novel and movie tell of four Chinese-American immigrant families in San Francisco who start the Joy Luck Club, a group playing Mahjong for money and eating delicious food.

55 Philosopher __-tzu : LAO

Lao Tse (also “Lao-Tzu”) was a central figure in the development of the religion/philosophy of Taoism. Tradition holds that Lao-Tzu wrote the “Tao Te Ching”, a classical Chinese text that is fundamental to the philosophy of Taoism.

59 Hosp. area : ICU

Many a hospital (hosp.) includes an intensive care unit (ICU).

60 Decisive ending : EXCLAMATION MARK

An exclamation mark is sometimes referred to as a bang. The term “bang”, in this context, comes from printers’ jargon.

66 Great Lake city : ERIE

Erie is a city in the very north of Pennsylvania, sitting on the southern shore of Lake Erie. The city takes its name from the Erie Native American tribe that resided in the area. Erie is nicknamed the Gem City, a reference to the “sparkling” water of Lake Erie.

67 MC alternative : AMEX

“Amex” is short for “American Express”, the name of the financial services company that is best known for its credit card, charge card and traveler’s check businesses. The company name is indicative of its original business. American Express was founded in 1850 in Buffalo, New York as an express mail service.

Mastercard is a financial services company that is headquartered in Harrison, New York. The company was originally called Master Charge and was set up by a group of California banks to compete with BankAmericard (which later became Visa).

68 Yoga pose : ASANA

“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”.

Down

2 NATO founding member : USA

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded not long after WWII in 1949 and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. The first NATO Secretary General was Lord Ismay, Winston Churchill’s chief military assistant during WWII. Famously, Lord Ismay said the goal of NATO was “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.”

3 The Curies, e.g. : PHYSICISTS

The Curies have won more Nobel Prizes than any other family. Marie Curie won twice, for Physics in 1903, and for Chemistry in 1911. Marie’s husband Pierre shared the 1903 prize with his wife. Marie and Pierre’s daughter Irène Joliot-Curie won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1935, sharing it with her husband Frédéric Joliot-Curie.

4 Propaganda battle : PSYWAR

Psychological warfare (PSYWAR)

5 Tarzan raisers : APES

Kala is the fictional ape that rescues the infant Tarzan from the dangerous leader of the apes. In the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel, Kala is killed a few years later by a hunter, for which Tarzan exacts the ultimate revenge. In the 1999 Disney adaptation of the story, Kala doesn’t die.

7 Con __: briskly : MOTO

The musical term “con moto” indicates that a passage should be played quickly, briskly, The term translates from Italian as “with motion”.

8 Syrian city : ALEPPO

Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and is located not far from Damascus, the nation’s capital. Aleppo owes it size and history of prosperity to its location at the end of the Silk Road, the trade route that linked Asia to Europe (and other locations). The Suez Canal was opened up in 1869 bringing a new route for transport of goods, and so Aleppo’s prosperity declined over the past one hundred years or so. The city’s population has suffered terribly since the start of the Syrian Civil War, with the Battle of Aleppo raging from 2012 to 2016.

9 Member of a 1990s girl group : SCARY SPICE

“Mel B” is the stage name of Melanie Brown who came to fame as a member of the Spice Girls musical group. She took the name Mel B to distinguish herself from fellow band member Melanie Chisholm (Melanie C). Mel B was also known as “Scary Spice”, a nickname given to her by the media. American viewers can see Mel B on the TV show “America’s Got Talent”, as she replaced Sharon Osbourne as a judge in 2013.

11 Martini default : GIN

The term “martini” probably takes it name from the “Martini & Rossi” brand of dry vermouth, although no one seems to be completely sure. What is clear is that despite the Martini name originating in Italy, the martini drink originated in the US. The original martini was made with gin and sweet vermouth, but someone specifying a “dry” martini was given gin and dry vermouth. Nowadays we use dry vermouth for all martinis, and the term “dry” has become a reference to how little vermouth is included in the drink. Famously, Noël Coward liked his drink very dry and said that a perfect martini is made by “filling a glass with gin then waving it in the general direction of Italy”. The German-American journalist and satirist H. L. Mencken referred to the martini as “the only American invention as perfect as a sonnet”.

16 Musical revue performed in the nude : OH! CALCUTTA!

“Oh! Calcutta!” is a theatrical revue created by a drama critic from England called Kenneth Tynan. The show was considered very “out there” in its day as it featured lots and lots of nudity. The title comes from a painting of a nude by French artist Clovis Trouille called “Oh! Calcutta, Calcutta!” The painting’s title is a pun on the French for “Oh, what a lovely rear end you have!”

18 Musical whose first run won 10 Tony Awards : HELLO, DOLLY!

“Hello, Dolly!” is a Broadway musical that was first produced in 1964, and adapted into a hugely successful movie in 1969. The title role of Dolly Levi was played by Barbra Streisand in the film, with Gene Kelly directing and a leading part for a young Michael Crawford. The stage show was revived on Broadway in 2017, with Bette Midler in the title role.

20 Gumbo pod : OKRA

Gumbo is a type of stew or soup that originated in Louisiana. The primary ingredient can be meat or fish, but to be true gumbo it must include the “holy trinity” of vegetables, namely celery, bell peppers and onion. Okra used to be a requirement but this is no longer the case. Okra gave the dish its name as the vernacular word for the African vegetable is “okingumbo”, from the Bantu language spoken by many of the slaves brought to America.

25 Mambo legend Tito : PUENTE

After serving in the Navy in WWII for three years, musician Tito Puente studied at Juilliard, where he got a great grounding in conducting, orchestration and theory. Puente parlayed this education into a career in Latin Jazz and Mambo. He was known as “El Rey” as well as “The King of Latin Music”.

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.

26 Nutella, e.g. : SPREAD

Nutella is a delicious hazelnut-chocolate spread made by Ferrero, a company based in Italy. Sadly, 70% of the Nutella recipe is saturated fat and processed sugar.

32 Meet-__: romcom device : CUTE

“Meet cute” is a term used since the 1930s or 1940s for a scene in a film or TV show in which a future couple have an amusing first encounter.

38 Musical featuring ABBA songs : MAMMA MIA!

The hit musical “Mamma Mia!” was written to showcase the songs of ABBA. I’m a big fan of ABBA’s music, so I’ve seen this show a couple of times and just love it. “Mamma Mia!” is such a big hit on the stage that on any given day there are at least seven performances going on somewhere in the world. There is a really interesting film version of the show that was released in 2008. I think the female lead Meryl Streep is wonderful in the movie, but the male leads … not so much! By the way, one can tell the difference between “Mamma Mia” the ABBA song and “Mamma Mia!” the musical, by noting the difference in the punctuation in the titles.

39 Musical awarded a special Pulitzer in 1944 : OKLAHOMA!

“Oklahoma!” was the first musical written by the great duo Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The storyline comes from a 1931 stage play called “Green Grow the Lilacs”.

45 Radius neighbor : 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”.

47 “You said it!” : 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.

48 Justice Kagan : ELENA

Elena Kagan was the Solicitor General of the United States from 2009 until 2010, when she replaced Justice John Paul Stevens on the US Supreme Court. That made Justice Kagan the first female US Solicitor General and the fourth female US Supreme Court justice. Kagan also served as the first female dean of Harvard Law School from 2003 to 2009.

50 Lawn game : BOCCE

The Italian bowling game of “bocce” (often anglicized as “bocci” or “boccie”) is based on a game played in ancient Rome. “Bocce” is the plural of the Italian word “boccia” meaning “bowl”.

52 Wonder Woman topper : TIARA

Superhero Wonder Woman first appeared in print in 1941, in a publication from DC Comics. As she was created during WWII, Wonder Woman’s first foes were the axis powers. In the less realistic world her biggest foe was and still is Ares, a “baddie” named after the Greek mythological figure. Wonder Woman had several signature expressions, including “Merciful Minerva!”, “Suffering Sappho!” and “Great Hera!”. She also has several devices that she uses in her quest for justice, e.g. the Lasso of Truth, a pair of indestructible bracelets and a tiara that can be used as a deadly projectile. Wonder Woman uses the name “Diana Prince” when “out of uniform”.

58 “The Da Vinci Code” priory : SION

In the preface of Dan Brown’s novel “The Da Vinci Code”, the Priory of Sion is presented as a secret society that does in fact exist. However, there is a lot of evidence that the priory was an invention, and created in forged documents in the sixties. Regardless, Dan Brown’s book is a really enjoyable read, in my humble opinion …

61 Supervillain Luthor : LEX

Lex Luthor is the arch-nemesis of Superman in comics. Luthor has been portrayed in a number of guises in the comic world as well in movies and on the small screen. For example, he appeared as Atom Man in the 1950 film series “Atom Man vs. Superman”, and was played by actor Lyle Talbot, opposite Kirk Alyn’s Superman.

62 Hermana de la madre : TIA

In Spanish, a “tia” (aunt) is the “hermana del padre o de la madre” (sister of the father or the mother).

The post LA Times Crossword 9 Jan 20, Thursday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 8m 11s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6 “Masterpiece” airer : PBS

PBS’s wonderful “Masterpiece Theatre” changed its name to “Masterpiece” in 2008. At the same time, three different versions of the show were introduced:

• “Masterpiece Classic” introduced by Gillian Anderson, and then Laura Linney
• “Masterpiece Mystery!” introduced by Alan Cumming
• “Masterpiece Contemporary” introduced by Matthew Goode, and then David Tennant

18 Joint venture? : ORTHOPEDIC OFFICE

Orthopedics (orth.) is the branch of surgery that deals with the musculoskeletal system. The term “orthopedics” was coined in 1741 by French physician Nicolas Andry. Actually, Andry used the French term “Orthopédie” for the title of a book. The term comes from the Greek “orthos” meaning “straight” and “paidon” meaning “child”.

21 Neon tips? : ENS

There are two letters N (ens) in the word “neon”, one at either end.

28 Joint venture? : PRIVATE PRISON

The cooler, the pen, the joint, the slammer, the can … the prison.

31 Winter Olympics event : LUGE

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!

32 Programming pioneer Lovelace : ADA

Ada Lovelace’s real name and title was Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace. She was the only legitimate child of Lord Byron, the poet. Lovelace was fascinated by mathematics and wrote about the work done by Charles Babbage in building his groundbreaking mechanical computer. In some of her notes, she proposed an algorithm for Babbage’s machine to compute Bernoulli numbers. This algorithm is recognized by many as the world’s first computer program and so Lovelace is sometimes called the first “computer programmer”. There is a computer language called “Ada” that was named in her honor. The Ada language was developed from 1977 to 1983 for the US Department of Defense.

42 U.K. singer Rita __ : ORA

Rita Ora is a British singer who was born Rita Sahatçiu in Pristina, Yugoslavia to Albanian parents. The family name “Sahatçiu” comes from a Turkish word meaning “watchmaker”. Rita’s parents changed their name to make it easier to pronounce. So, the family name morphed from “watchmaker” to “time”, which is “ora” in Albanian.

45 Cause of some royal sleeplessness : PEA

“The Princess and the Pea” is a fairy tale from the pen of Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The essence of the story is that a prince’s mother tests the royal blood of an apparent princess by placing a pea under a pile of mattresses on which the young girl sleeps. The girl complains of a restless night, demonstrating a physical sensitivity that can only be attributed to a princess. And they all lived happily ever after …

46 Salt Lake City team : UTES

The Utah Utes are the athletic teams of the University of Utah.

47 Joint venture? : MARIJUANA SHOP

The term “joint” has a long history in the drug world. The word originally came from French in which it is the past participle of the word for “to join”. It became an Anglo-Irish term for a side-room “joined” onto a main room in the early 1800s. Towards the end of the 19th century it was US slang for a small, shady establishment, such as an opium den. By the 1930s a joint was a hypodermic needle used to inject heroin, and soon after became the term for a marijuana cigarette.

55 Character usually seen in 41-Down : TILDE
(41D Pacific weather phenomenon : LA NINA)

The tilde diacritical mark (~) is very much associated with the Spanish language. We use the name “tilde” in English, taking that name from Spanish. Confusingly, the word “tilde” in Spanish is used more generally to mean “accent mark, diacritic”, of which a “~” is just one. What we call a “tilde” in English is usually referred to as a “virgulilla” or “tilde de la eñe” in Spanish.

57 Pink drink : ROSE WINE

Rosé wines get their color from the skins of the grapes, although the intensity of the color is not sufficient to make them red wines. Of the varying type of rosé wines available, we are most familiar with sweet White Zinfandels. Personally I am fond of the really dry Provençal rosé wines.

59 “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very __ Day”: 2014 film : BAD

“Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” is a 2014 comedy film starring Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner as the parents of an 11-year-old boy who has a really bad day. The movie is loosely based on a 1972 children’s book of the same name by Judith Viorst.

66 Timbuktu’s land : 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.

67 “Stronger” rapper West : KANYE

Kanye West is a rap singer who was born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago. He also spent some time in Nanjing, China as a child, where his mother was teaching as part of an exchange program. West is married to reality star Kim Kardashian.

68 1975 Wimbledon winner : ASHE

Arthur Ashe was a professional tennis player from Richmond, Virginia. In his youth, Ashe found himself having to travel great distances to play against Caucasian opponents due to the segregation that still existed in his home state. He was rewarded for his dedication by being selected for the 1963 US Davis Cup team, the first African American player to be so honored. Ashe continued to run into trouble because of his ethnicity though, and in 1968 was denied entry into South Africa to play in the South African Open. In 1979, Ashe suffered a heart attack and had bypass surgery, with follow-up surgery four years later during which he contracted HIV from blood transfusions. Ashe passed away in 1993 due to complications from AIDS. Shortly afterwards, Ashe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.

The Wimbledon Championships of tennis are held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club located in Wimbledon, a district of London. The Wimbledon Championships started in 1877, and have been played on grass since day one.

69 Coddling, briefly : TLC

Tender loving care (TLC)

The verb “to coddle”, meaning “to treat tenderly”, was actually coined in 1815 by Jane Austen in her novel “Emma”. At least, that is the first written record we have of the verb’s usage. John Knightley (younger brother of George Knightley) addresses his wife Isabella (elder sister of Emma Woodhouse) with the following words:

“My dear Isabella,” exclaimed he, hastily, “pray do not concern yourself about my looks. Be satisfied with doctoring and coddling yourself and the children, and let me look as I chuse.”

Down

1 Plum used to flavor spirits : SLOE

The sloe is the fruit of the blackthorn bush, and the main flavoring ingredient in sloe gin. A sloe looks like a small plum, but is usually much more tart in taste.

4 E. African land : ETH

Ethiopia holds an important position within the nations of Africa, with the capital of Addis Ababa being home to many international organizations that are focused on the continent.

5 It commonly involves spiders : PHOBIA

Here are some phobias that I find quite interesting:

• Somniphobia – fear of falling asleep
• Coulrophobia – fear of clowns
• Omphalophobia- fear of the navel
• Nomophobia- fear of being without mobile phone coverage
• Triskaidekaphobia- fear of the number 13

8 Last-second online auction participant : SNIPER

Auction sniping is a relatively new phenomenon, a phenomenon that is associated with online auctions. A sniper waits until the final seconds of an auction and drops in a slightly higher bid, winning the auction as other bidders have no time to respond. Auction sniping is often executed with the help of a software application, or by using an online service.

10 Furry TV ET : ALF

“ALF” is a sitcom that aired in the late eighties. The title character is a hand-puppet, and supposedly an alien named Gordon Shumway from the planet Melmac. The alien crash-landed into the house of amateur radio enthusiast Willie Tanner. Tanner renamed the intruder “ALF”, standing for “alien life form”.

11 Tony winner Menzel : IDINA

Actress and singer Idina Menzel came to public attention when she was a member of the original Broadway cast of “Rent”. She is known on the small screen for playing Shelby Corcoran on the musical TV show “Glee”. On the big screen, her most noted performance was as the voice actor behind Queen Elsa in the Disney hit “Frozen”. It is Menzel who sings the Oscar-winning song “Let It Go” in “Frozen”.

15 Food recall cause : E COLI

Escherichia coli (E. coli) are usually harmless bacteria found in the human gut, working away quite happily. However, there are some strains that can produce lethal toxins. These strains can make their way into the food chain from animal fecal matter that comes into contact with food designated for human consumption.

17 Auctioned wheels : REPO

Repossession (repo)

20 Tolkien brutes : ORCS

According to Tolkien, Orcs are small humanoids that live in his fantasy world of Middle-earth (also called “Mordor”). They are very ugly and dirty, and are fond of eating human flesh.

25 Halloween __ : EVE

All Saints’ Day is November 1st each year. The day before All Saints’ Day is All Hallows’ Eve, better known by the Scottish term “Halloween”.

27 “Reflection” musician Brian : ENO

Brian Eno’s 2017 album “Reflection” comprises just one track. That track is 54 minutes of ambient music.

35 “Wonderfilled” cookie : OREO

Nabisco launched an ad campaign for the Oreo brand of in 2012, telling us that the cookie is “wonderfilled”, that the modest little Oreo cookie can bring about a positive change of perspective and create a sense of wonder. I think that’s the idea …

39 “The Problem with __”: 2017 documentary about racial stereotypes : APU

“The Problem with Apu” us a 2017 documentary that explores the use of racial stereotypes by focusing on the character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon from the animated sitcom “The Simpsons”. The film was written by and stars American stand-up comedian Hari Kondabolu.

41 Pacific weather phenomenon : LA NINA

The ocean-atmosphere phenomenon known as “La Niña” (Spanish for “the girl”) is the opposite of the more familiar “El Niño”. During a period of La Niña, the surface temperature across the equatorial Eastern Central Pacific Ocean is lower than usual by 3-5 degrees centigrade. During a period of El Niño, that same temperature is higher than normal.

44 Iraq war issue, briefly : WMD

The first recorded use of the term “Weapon of Mass Destruction” (WMD) was in 1937. The words were used by Cosmo Gordon Lang, the Archbishop of Canterbury at the time, in reference to the bombardment of Guernica in Spain during the Spanish Civil War by the German Luftwaffe. He said, “Who can think without horror of what another widespread war would mean, waged as it would be with all the new weapons of mass destruction?”

46 Currency mkt. money : USD

The dollar sign ($) was first used for the Spanish-American peso, in the late 18th century. The peso was also called the “Spanish dollar” (and “piece of eight”). The Spanish dollar was to become a model for the US dollar that was adopted in 1785, along with the dollar sign.

51 Smart set? : ALECKS

Apparently the original “smart Alec” (sometimes “Aleck”) was one Alec Hoag, a pimp, thief and confidence trickster who plied his trade in New York City in the 1840s.

53 Automaker whose current models end in X : ACURA

Acura is the luxury brand of the Honda Motor Company. As an aside, Infiniti is the equivalent luxury brand for the Nissan Motor Company, and Lexus is the more luxurious version of Toyota’s models.

54 “The Big Bang Theory” crowd : NERDS

“The Big Bang Theory” is very clever sitcom that first aired in 2007. “The Big Bang Theory” theme song was specially commissioned for the show, and was composed and sung by Canadian band Barenaked Ladies. The theme song was released in 2007 as a single and is featured on a Barenaked Ladies greatest hits album.

60 “Game of Thrones” girl __ Stark : ARYA

Maisie Williams is the English actress who plays the tomboyish young girl Arya Stark on the hit HBO series “Game of Thrones”.

63 Japanese drama : NOH

Kabuki is a Japanese form of theater involving dance and drama. In the original Kabuki theater, both male and female parts were played by women. In contrast, the Noh dramas have the male and female parts played by men.

64 Skin pic : TAT

The word “tattoo” (often shortened to “tat”) was first used in English in the writings of the famous English explorer Captain Cook. In his descriptions of the indelible marks adorning the skin of Polynesian natives, Cook anglicized the Tahitian word “tatau” into our “tattoo”. Tattoos are sometimes referred to as “ink”.

The post LA Times Crossword 10 Jan 20, Friday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 11m 02s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Drill bit? : MARCH

“Quick, march!” ordered the drill sergeant.

10 ’60s civil rights gp. inspired by student sit-ins : SNCC

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was an organization that was very active in the Civil Rights Movement of the sixties. Apart from organizing protest events, the SNCC did a lot of work driving voter registration throughout the southern states.

14 Recall trigger : E COLI

Escherichia coli (E. coli) are usually harmless bacteria found in the human gut, working away quite happily. However, there are some strains that can produce lethal toxins. These strains can make their way into the food chain from animal fecal matter that comes into contact with food designated for human consumption.

15 One singing in musical tones? : ALTO

“Alto” is a hidden word in “musical tones”.

16 Ponies run in it : POLO

The sport of polo originated in Iran, possibly before the 5th century BC. Polo was used back them primarily as a training exercise for cavalry units.

17 Written in mystical letters : RUNIC

A rune is a character in an alphabet that is believed to have mysterious powers. In Norse mythology, the runic alphabet was said to have a divine origin.

18 Ghanaian flag feature : STAR

The flag of Ghana consists of three stripes of red gold and green, with a sole black star in the center of the gold stripe. That black star gives rise to the nickname of the national soccer team, the Black Stars.

23 Even prime : TWO

A prime number is a number greater than 1 that can only be divided evenly by 1 and itself. There are still some unanswered questions involving prime numbers, perhaps most notably Goldbach’s Conjecture. This conjecture dates back to the 1740s and is assumed to be true, but has never been proven. It states that every even integer greater than 2 can be expressed as the sum of two prime numbers.

24 Stadium opening? : YANKEE …

Yankee Stadium in the Bronx in New York City cost $2.3 billion to construct, making it the most expensive baseball stadium ever built.

27 Mickey’s “Love Is Strange” singing partner : SYLVIA

Mickey & Sylvia was an R&B duo active in the late fifties and early sixties comprising Mickey Baker and Sylvia Vanterpool.

30 Hoods : GOONS

The term “goon” was coined by American humorist Frederick J. Allen in a 1921 “Harper’s” piece titled “The Goon and His Style”. The article defines a good as “a person with a heavy touch” someone lacking “a playful mind”. The term was popularized in the “Thimble Theater” comic strips featuring Popeye. The first use of “goon” to describe a hired thug was in 1938, with reference to strikebreakers.

31 Fricative admonishment : SHH!

“Fricative” speech sounds are made by “frictional” breath passing through a narrow opening in the mouth. Examples are the “f” sound in “fine” and the “sh” sound in “ship”.

35 Clog from France : SABOT

There is a story that disgruntled textile workers would kick their wooden shoes, called “sabots”, into the looms in order to disable them so that they didn’t have to work. This act of vandalism was named for the shoe, an act of … “sabotage”.

38 Sober : STAID

Something described as staid is unwavering, fixed. This usage expanded to mean “sober, sedate”. The term dates back to the 16th century, and comes from the verb “to stay”. “Staid” is a rewriting of the past participle “stayed”.

40 Govt. agency with a “meatball” logo : NASA

The official insignia of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is referred to as a “meatball”. It is round in shape, with white stars on a blue background. There is also a white orbital path, a red chevron, and the letters NASA in white.

45 Only article in a U.S. state capital name : DES

The city of Des Moines is the capital of Iowa, and takes its name from the Des Moines River. The river in turn takes its name from the French “Riviere des Moines” meaning “River of the Monks”. It looks like there isn’t any “monkish” connection to the city’s name per se. “Des Moines” was just the name given by French traders who corrupted “Moingona”, the name of a group of Illinois Native Americans who lived by the river. However, others contend that French Trappist monks, who lived a full 200 miles from the river, somehow influenced the name.

46 Key partner : PEELE

The Comedy Central sketch show “Key & Peele” stars comics Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele. The duo also wrote an action comedy film called “Keanu” that was released in 2016. The title character is a cat belonging to the boss of a drug cartel. Haven’t seen it …

55 Rap music article : THA

“Tha” is slang for “the” in the world of rap …

56 Do a surveying task : TRIANGULATE

In surveying, triangulation involves measurement of angles. The related task of trilateration involves measurement of distances.

59 Micro amount : 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.

62 Plant name from the Arabic for “red” : SUMAC

Sumacs are a group of flowering shrubs and small trees that includes poison oak, poison ivy and poison sumac (nasty stuff!). The leaves of some species of sumac contain tannins that are used for tanning leather. Morocco leather is an example of the use of sumac tannins.

64 Las Vegas Aces’ org. : WNBA

The Las Vegas Aces women’s basketball team was formed in Salt Lake City in 1997 as the Utah Starzz. The team became the San Antonio (Silver) Stars in 2002, before moving to Las Vegas as the Aces in 2018.

67 Elle Woods of “Legally Blonde” got 179 on hers, briefly : LSAT

“LEGALLY blonde” is a 2001 comedy film starring Reese Witherspoon as a girlish sorority president who heads to Harvard to earn a law degree. “LEGALLY blonde” was successful enough to warrant two sequels as well as a spin-off musical that played most successfully in London’s West End (for 974 performances).

68 Lucy’s husband and son : DESIS

Desi Arnaz was famous for his turbulent marriage to Lucille Ball. Arnaz was a native of Cuba, and was from a privileged family. His father was Mayor of Santiago and served in the Cuban House of Representatives. However, the family had to flee to Miami after the 1933 revolt led by Batista.

Desi Arnaz, Jr. is the youngest child of Hollywood celebrity couple Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. Lucille’s pregnancy was very public, and became part of the storyline of her show “I Love Lucy”. When Desi junior was born, he appeared on the cover of the very first issue of “TV Guide”.

Down

2 Luxury auto : ACURA

Acura is the luxury brand of the Honda Motor Company. As an aside, Infiniti is the equivalent luxury brand for the Nissan Motor Company, and Lexus is the more luxurious version of Toyota’s models.

3 Saoirse __, “Lady Bird” star : RONAN

Saoirse Ronan is an Irish-American actress, having been born in the Bronx, New York and raised in Carlow and Dublin in Ireland. Ronan’s big break came when she was cast in the 2007 film “Atonement” at 12 years of age, a role for which she was nominated for that season’s Best Supporting Actress Oscar. “Saoirse” is the Irish word for “freedom”.

“Lady Bird” is a 2017 coming-of-age movie starring Saoirse Ronan in the title role, a high school senior who has a strained relationship with her mother (played by Laurie Metcalf). Roman and Metcalf earned themselves Oscar nominations for their performances.

4 Toasting signs : CLINKS

The tradition of toasting someone probably dates back to the reign of Charles II, when the practice was to drink a glass of wine to the health of a beautiful or favored woman. In those days, spiced toast was added to beverages to add flavor, so the use of the word “toast” was an indicator that the lady’s beauty would enhance the wine. Very charming, I must say …

5 Make-out spots? : HICKEYS

The slang term “hickey” (also “hickie”) is used for a red mark left on the skin after a passionate kiss.

7 Beauty store chain : ULTA

Ulta Beauty is an American chain of beauty stores that was founded in 1990 and headquartered in Bolingbrook, Illinois. I am not part of the company’s target demographic …

9 Dessert that just sounds wrong : TORTE

A torte is a type of cake made primarily with eggs, sugar and ground nuts (but no flour).

“Tort” is a French word meaning “mischief, injury or wrong”. In common law, a tort is a civil wrong that results in the injured party suffering loss or harm, and the injuring party having a legal liability. Tort law differs from criminal law in that torts may result from negligence and not just intentional actions. Also, tort lawsuits may be decided on a preponderance of evidence, without the need of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

10 Ooh-and-aah site : SPA

The word “spa” migrated into English from Belgium, as “Spa” is the name of a municipality in the east of the country that is famous for its healing hot springs. The name “Spa” comes from the Walloon word “espa” meaning “spring, fountain”.

13 José’s greeting : COMO ESTAS?

“Cómo estas?” is Spanish for “how are you?”

21 Kennel chorus : YELPS

Our word “kennel” meaning “doghouse” comes from the Vulgar Latin word “canile” meaning the same thing. A sheep (“ovus”) was kept in an “ovile”, a horse (“equus”) in an “equile”, and a dog (“canis”) in a “canile”.

26 Equine coat color : ROAN

A roan horse has an even mixture of white and colored hairs on the body with the head, lower legs, mane and tail having a more solid color.

28 Physical figures : VITAL SIGNS

There are four primary vital signs that are measured by health professionals:

1. Body temperature
2. Blood pressure
3. Pulse
4. Breathing rate

29 Absurd : INANE

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

31 Some visual humor : SLAPSTICK

Slapstick is a physical form of comedy or horseplay. Back in the late 19th century, the term “slapstick” described a device made from two sticks loosely fastened together, which could be “slapped” together to create a sound effect offstage. The sound effect augmented the audience reaction when a clown or actor was given a slap on stage.

37 Upper-bod muscle : DELT

The deltoid “muscle” is actually a group of muscles, the ones that cover the shoulder and create the roundness under the skin. The deltoids (delts) are triangular in shape resembling the Greek letter delta, hence the name.

39 Aid in developing hair waves : DURAG

Hip-hoppers might wear do-rags (also “durags”) today, but they have been around for centuries. The etymology of “do-rag” is pretty evident, i.e. a piece of cloth (rag) to hold a hairstyle (do) in place.

42 Alfred of coffee fame : PEET

Peet’s is a chain of coffee houses based in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was founded in 1966 by Dutch immigrant Alfred Peet. Peet served as a mentor to Jerry Baldwin, who co-founded Starbucks in 1971.

50 Animated Tootsie Pop eater in ads : MR OWL

Tootsie Pops were developed as a derivative product from the popular Tootsie Roll candy. How popular, I hear you say? About 60 million Tootsie Rolls and 20 million Tootsie Pops are produced every day!

52 When repeated, spills the beans : NAMES

To spill the beans is to divulge a secret. The expression first appeared in American English, in the early 1900s. The phrase arose as an alternative to “spoil the beans” or “upset the applecart”. The similarly meaning phrase “spill the tea” is more prevalent on the other side of the Atlantic.

53 Gaming biggie : 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.

57 Jessica of “L.A.’s Finest” : ALBA

Actress Jessica Alba got her big break when she was cast in the Fox science fiction show “Dark Angel”. Alba had a tough life growing up as she spent a lot of time in hospital and so found it difficult to develop friendships. As a youngster she twice had a collapsed lung, frequently caught pneumonia, suffered from asthma, had a ruptured appendix and a tonsillar cyst. On top of all that, Alba acknowledges that she suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder as a child.

“L.A.’s Finest” is a police-drama series that first aired in 2019. It is a spin-off of the “Bad Boys” action-comedy film franchise. The movies starred Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, and the TV show stars Jessica Alba and Gabrielle Union.

58 Off the rocks? : NEAT

A drink served neat is served without ice, not on the rocks.

60 Flat: Abbr. : APT

An apartment (apt.) contains several rooms (rms.)

The post LA Times Crossword 11 Jan 20, Saturday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 16m 04s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Dublin-based air conditioner company : TRANE

The heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) company called Trane was formed in 1913 by father and son James and Reuben Trane. James was a Norwegian immigrant, and Reuben earned his mechanical engineering degree at the University of Wisconsin. As the company’s marketing folks say, “It’s hard to stop a Trane”. Indeed, four huge chillers supplied by Trane cool the Channel Tunnel (a “train” tunnel) in what is Europe’s largest cooling system. Trane is now headquartered on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland.

10 Fontaine filler : EAU

In French, there is “eau” (water) in “une fontaine” (a fountain).

13 Red and blue : PURPLE

The name of the color purple ultimately comes from the Greek “porphura”, with was the name of a purple dye that was made from mucus secreted by the spiny dye-murex snail.

21 Matterhorn or Jungfrau : ALP

“Matterhorn” is the German name for the famous Alpine peak that lies on the border between Switzerland and Italy. The Italian name for the same mountain is “Monte Cervino”, and the French call it “Mont Cervin”. “Matterhorn” comes from the German words Matte and Horn meaning “meadow” and “peak”. “Cervino” and “Cervin” come from the Latin name for the mountain, i.e. “Mons Silvius” meaning “Forest Mountain”.

The Jungfrau is a peak in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland. “Jungfrau” translates from German as “maiden” or “virgin”.

22 Mozart works : OPERAS

The Austrian composer’s full name was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The name “Wolfgang” translates literally as “wolf journey”. Amadeus translates as “love god”!

23 Informally formal entry announcement : IT’S I

The much debated statement “it is I” is grammatically correct, and should not be “corrected” to “it is me”. Traditionally, pronouns following linking verbs, such as “is”, “appear” and “seem”, are written in the nominative case. Examples are:

• It is I (who called)
• It was he (who did it)
• It is we (who care)

24 Mozart works for 22-Across : OVERTURES
(22 Mozart works : OPERAS)

In musical terms, an overture is the introductory part of an orchestral work. The term “overture” is Old French for “opening, proposal”, and is related to our contemporary “overt” meaning “open to view”.

26 “Friends” friend : PHOEBE

The character Phoebe Buffay (and her identical twin sister Ursula) is played on the sitcom “Friends” by the actress Lisa Kudrow. Kudrow plays the ditzy member of the troupe of friends, but I’ve always viewed her as the “smartest” of the group of actors in real life, as best I could tell. Kudrow is behind the US version of the British genealogy show “Who Do You Think You Are?” a very entertaining bit of television.

27 “Friday I’m in Love” group : THE CURE

The Cure is an English rock band founded in 1976 that is still going strong today, although not with the original line up. The only top-ten hit the Cure had in the US was “Lovesong”, released in 1989.

29 Google __ : MAPS

Google Maps was developed as a web mapping service for desktops. The (wonderful!) Google Maps mobile app was released in 2008, and is now the most popular smartphone app in the world.

30 Rival of J.H. and W.K. Kellogg : CW POST

C. W. Post decided to get into the cereal business after visiting the Battle Creek Sanitarium operated by John Harvey Kellogg. Post was interested in the chemistry of digestion and was inspired by the dietary products offered by Kellogg at his sanitarium. The first breakfast cereal Post introduced was Grape-Nuts, way back in 1897.

The Kellogg Company was founded in 1906 by Will Keith Kellogg as the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company. Will established the enterprise while working with his brother John Harvey Kellogg at his Battle Creek Sanitarium. The brothers created corn flakes as a health food for patients at the sanitarium.

35 Hall with Oates : DARYL

Daryl Hall & John Oates are a pop music duo who were most successful in the late seventies and early eighties. They had six number one hits, including the 1982 release “Maneater”.

39 Ambulance worker, briefly : EMT

Emergency medical technician (EMT)

Our word “ambulance” originated from the French term “hôpital ambulant” meaning “field hospital” (literally “walking hospital”). In the 1850s, the term started to be used for a vehicle transporting the wounded from the battlefield, leading to our “ambulance”.

40 Fromage hue : BLEU

Being a bit of a French speaker (admittedly, a very poor one), the term “bleu cheese” has always kind of irritated me. I would prefer that we use either “blue cheese” or “fromage bleu” and not mix the languages, but then I can be annoyingly picky! It’s said that blue cheese was probably discovered accidentally, as molds tend to develop in the same conditions that are best for storing cheese. The blue mold in the cheese is introduced by adding Penicillium spores before the cheese is allowed to set. And yes, it’s the same mold that is used to produce penicillin, the antibiotic.

44 Holder of rays : DAISY

The flowerheads of daisies consist of white ray florets surrounding yellow disc florets.

47 Google __ : EARTH

Google Earth is a program that maps the Earth by superimposing satellite images and aerial photographs. Google acquired the technology when it purchased Keyhole, Inc in 2004. Keyhole had been partially funded by the CIA.

53 Bad sort whose second syllable is often dropped : HOODLUM

“Hood” is a slang term for “gangster”, a shortening of “hoodlum”.

55 Hart part : ANTLER

Nowadays, a hart is a male red deer over five years old. A hind is a female red deer.

59 Intl. supporter of the arts : UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is better known by the acronym “UNESCO”. UNESCO’s mission is to help build peace in the world using programs focused on education, the sciences, culture, communication and information. The organization’s work is aimed in particular at Africa, and gender equalization. UNESCO also administers a World Heritage Site program that designates and helps conserve sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to humanity across the world.

60 Metric wts. : KGS

Today, the gram is defined as one thousandth of a kilogram, with the kilogram being equal to the mass of physical sample preserved by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. Prior to 1960, the gram was defined as the weight of a cubic centimeter of pure water (at the temperature of melting ice).

61 “__ luego” : HASTA

“Hasta luego” translates literally from Spanish as “until later”, and is used to say “see you later”.

64 Like some ancient Icelandic works : EDDIC

The “Poetic Edda” and “Prose Edda” are two ancient works that are the source for much of Norse mythology. Both Eddas were written in the 13th century in Iceland.

66 Strike caller : UMP

Back in the 15th century, “an umpire” was referred to as “a noumpere”, which was misheard and hence causing the dropping of the initial letter N. The term “noumpere” came from Old French “nonper” meaning “not even, odd number”. The idea was that the original umpire was a third person called on to arbitrate between two, providing that “odd number” needed to decide the dispute.

69 Bigeye or yellowfin : 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.

72 Times and Herald, in NYC : SQS

Times Square in New York City isn’t a square at all, but rather a triangle. When the New York Times newspaper opened new headquarters in the area in 1904, the city agreed to the name “Times Square”, changing it from Longacre Square.

Herald Square in New York City is at the intersection of Broadway, Avenue of the Americas and 34th Street. It is famous as the end-point of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, as the square is home to the flagship Macy’s store. It was also home to the old New York Herald Building, hence the name “Herald Square”.

74 21-year-old currency : EURO

The euro is divided into 100 cents, sometimes referred to as “euro cents”. Some countries within the European Union (Ireland, for example) have taken steps to withdraw the 1-cent and 2-cent coins from circulation by allowing cash transactions to be rounded to the nearest five cents. I found it a little odd when buying something in Ireland recently that was priced at 99 cents, and getting no change after handing over a euro coin …

75 Taro dish : POI

I am a big fan of starch (being an Irishman I love potatoes). That said, I think that poi tastes horrible! Poi is made from the bulbous tubers (corm) of the taro plant by cooking the corm in water and mashing it until the desired consistency is achieved.

76 U.S. org. chaired by the president : NSC

The National Security Council (NSC) was created by President Harry S. Truman in 1947. The NSC is chaired by the sitting president and meets in the White House Situation Room.

77 Aerosol targets : ODORS

Strictly speaking, the term “aerosol” defines a suspension of either liquid droplets or solid particles in a gas. A good example of an aerosol is smoke. We tend to use the “aerosol” to describe what comes out of a spray can, even though the liquid droplets usually fall out of the gas and don’t stay suspended.

79 Eurasian range : URALS

The eastern side of the Ural Mountains in Russia and Kazakhstan is generally regarded as the natural divide between the continents of Europe and Asia.

81 Surveying partner of Dixon : MASON

The original Mason-Dixon line was surveyed by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in the 1760s. The line was used to resolve a border dispute between some of the original British colonies. The Mason-Dixon now forms part of the state lines of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia. The line has come to symbolize the cultural boundary between the Northern and Southern United States.

84 They may abut peninsulas : INLETS

A peninsula is a landform that is almost completely surrounded by water. The connection to the mainland is referred to as an isthmus. The term “peninsula” comes from the Latin words “paene” (almost) and “insula” (island).

86 “Kim” author : KIPLING

“Kim” is a novel by Rudyard Kipling that was first published in serial form, from 1900 to 1901. The title character, whose full name is Kimball O’Hara, is the orphaned son of an Irish soldier who lives like a vagabond in India during the days of the British Raj. The boy grows up to become a spy working for the British.

96 Name after Paul or before Peter : SIMON

Singer-songwriter Paul Simon’s career took off when he partnered with Art Garfunkel. Simon was the really the writing powerhouse of Simon & Garfunkel, and wrote most of their big hits, including “The Sound of Silence”, “Mrs. Robinson”, and “Bridge over Troubled Water”. Simon has had three wives, including actress Carrie Fisher (1983-1984), and singer Edie Brickell whom he wed in 1992.

Simon Peter (often “Peter” or “Saint Peter”) was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. The Christian tradition holds that Peter founded the Roman Church, and the Roman Catholic tradition names Peter as the first pope.

104 Hindu princess : RANI

A ranee (also “rani”) is an Indian queen or princess, and the female equivalent of a raja.

105 Conquistador’s treasure : ORO

In Spanish, one might find “oro” (gold) in “una mina” (a mine”).

“Conquistador” is the Spanish for “conqueror”.

107 “Iliad” and “Odyssey” : EPICS

“Iliad” is an epic poem by the Greek poet Homer that tells the story of the ten-year siege of “Ilium” (i.e. “Troy”) during the Trojan war. “The Odyssey”, also attributed to Homer, is sometimes described as a sequel to “Iliad”.

113 Submit a new invoice to : REBILL

An invoice is an itemized bill. The term comes from the Middle French “envois” meaning “dispatch (of goods)”. The root verb is “envoyer”, which translates as “to send”.

120 Mutton dish : IRISH STEW

The exact recipe of what’s known as “Irish stew” isn’t really specific, but it does include some kind of meat and at least one root vegetable. The most common recipe calls for mutton, potatoes, onions and parsley. Believe it or not, my (very Irish) mother used to make it with bacon and sausages. Yep, boiled bacon and boiled sausages …

125 CO rank : COL

A commanding office (CO) might be a colonel (col.).

126 Northeast express train : ACELA

The Acela Express is the fastest train routinely running in the US, as it gets up to 150 mph at times. The service runs between Boston and Washington D.C. via Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. Introduced in 2000, the brand name “Acela” was created to evoke “acceleration” and “excellence”.

127 One in the headlights? : DEER

There may be some truth to the idea that a deer can freeze when “caught in the headlights” of a car. This is because the anatomy of a deer’s eye, like many animals, is such that its night vision is very effective. That extra night sensitivity can be a disadvantage when a deer is suddenly illuminated by a strong light like that from a headlamp. Such illumination can be blinding and perhaps bewildering, causing the deer to freeze.

128 1994 Grammy Lifetime Achievement awardee : ARETHA

I think that Aretha Franklin, the “Queen of Soul”, had a tough life. Franklin had her first son when she was just 13-years-old, and her second at 15. In 2008, “Rolling Stone” magazine ranked Franklin as number one its list of the greatest singers of all time.

Down

1 In love : SMITTEN

“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”.

4 Insurance giant : GEICO

GEICO was founded in 1936 with a very specific mission, to provide auto insurance for employees of the federal government and their families, hence the name Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO). GEICO is a private company, despite the word “government” in its name. The founders’ idea was to focus on government employees as they believed such a group represented a lower risk profile than the rest of the population. Nowadays any qualifying person can take out a policy with GEICO.

5 Son of Odin : THOR

In Norse mythology, Thor was the son of Odin. Thor wielded a mighty hammer and was the god of thunder, lightning and storms. Our contemporary word “Thursday” comes from “Thor’s Day”.

6 Rosie, notably : RIVETER

Rosie the Riveter is a cultural icon that represented women working in factories across the country during WWII as part of the war effort. The term “Rosie the Riveter” first appeared as the title of a 1942 song that was a national hit. The image that we bring to mind today that supposedly depicts “Rosie” is a wartime poster with the words “We Can Do It!”, which shows a woman in blue overalls and a red and white polka-dot headscarf. However, this image was used by Westinghouse as an internal motivation tool only for a two-week period in 1943, and was never associated with the Rosie the Riveter persona. The “Rosie” association to that image came decades later, in the 1980s. The best-known WWII representation of Rosie the Riveter was a “Saturday Evening Post” cover drawn by Norman Rockwell in 1943. This image shows a female worker with a rivet gun, and a lunch box bearing the name “Rosie”.

8 Marilyn’s birth name : NORMA

Marilyn Monroe was born in 1926 in LA County Hospital, the child of Gladys Pearl Baker. The young girl was given the name of Norma Jeane Mortenson on her birth certificate, but her mother changed this to Norma Jeane Baker almost immediately. She and her estranged husband, Martin Edward Mortensen, had separated before Baker became pregnant so it is suggested that the Mortensen name was used just to give Norma Jeane “legitimacy”. Norma Jeane married a Jim Dougherty when she 16 years old, and took his name to become Norma Jeane Dougherty in 1932. During WWII she was discovered by a photographer and became quite a successful model. The modelling earned her a screen test, at which time it was suggested that Norma Jeane change her name yet again. The first name chosen for her by studio executives was Carole Lind (after Carole Lombard and Jenny Lind), but then Norma Jeane chose “Jeane Monroe” for herself, using her mother’s maiden name. It didn’t take long before the studio intervened again, suggesting that they had too many “Jeans” already. The name Marilyn Monroe was floated as it had a nice ring to it. Along with the new name, Marilyn changed from a brunette to a blonde, and a star was born …

10 Rabbit __ : EARS

Remember the television antenna called “rabbit ears”? I don’t recall being told this when I was younger, but to get the best reception the length of the “ears” needs to be set at about one half of the wavelength of the signal of the target channel. If only I had known …

13 “Row on row” blower in a classic poem : POPPY

The WWI battlefields in West Flanders, East Flanders (both in Belgium) and French Flanders are often referred to in English as “Flanders Fields”. The phrase was coined by Canadian physician Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae in his 1915 poem “In Flanders Fields”.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

15 Flying Clouds, e.g. : 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.

18 Salem-to-Boise dir. : ESE

Salem is the state capital of Oregon. It is thought that the city takes its name from the older city of Salem, Massachusetts.

Boise, Idaho is the capital and the largest metropolitan area in the state by far. There are a number of stories pertaining to the etymology of the name “Boise”. One is that French trappers called the tree-lined river that ran through the area “la rivière boisée”, meaning “the wooded river”.

28 Like an enthusiastic shrubbery salesperson? : (UP)BEAT ABOUT THE BUSH

To beat around the bush is to avoid coming to the point, to prevaricate. The phrase “beat around the bush” evolved from the practice of the beating bushes during a hunt to scare up the quarry.

34 Bible book : RUTH

The Book of Ruth in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament tells the story of Ruth. Ruth was one of two women who married the two sons of Elimelech and Naomi. Father and sons died, leaving the three widows to fend for themselves. Naomi decided that it was best to go to Bethlehem. Orpah was Naomi’s second daughter-in-law, and she decided to return to her home. Ruth decided to stick with her mother-in-law, using the words “Whither thou goest, I will go”.

35 Emulate The Book of Ruth in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament tells the story of Ruth. Ruth was one of two women who married the two sons of Elimelech and Naomi. Father and sons died, leaving the three widows to fend for themselves. Naomi decided that it was best to go to Bethlehem. Orpah was Naomi’s second daughter-in-law, and she decided to return to her home. Ruth decided to stick with her mother-in-law, using the words “Whither thou goest, I will go”.

35 Emulate Columbo : DEDUCE

“Columbo” is a police drama that aired from 1971-78, with some more episodes made as recently as 2003. Columbo was played by Peter Falk, although the character of Columbo was first played by Bert Freed in 1960 in an episode of “The Chevy Mystery Show”. That first appearance was so successful that the episode was adapted for the stage in 1962, with Thomas Mitchell taking on the role. Then, the same episode was stretched into a TV movie in 1968, with Peter Falk playing Lt. Columbo for the first time.

41 Social activist Guinier : LANI

Lani Guinier was the first African-American woman to achieve tenure at Harvard Law School.

50 Muslim mendicant : FAKIR

A fakir (also “faqir”) is an ascetic in the Muslim tradition. The term “fakir” is derived from “faqr”, an Arabic word for “poverty”.

56 Sleuth Charlie known for aphorisms : CHAN

Charlie Chan is the main character in a series of novels by Earl Derr Biggers. Chan is a Chinese-American detective working with the Honolulu police department. There have been almost 50 movies made featuring the Charlie Chan character.

An aphorism is a short and pithy statement that embodies a general truth or insightful observation. Some great examples are:

• Life is a journey, not a destination (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
• The average person thinks he isn’t (Larry Lorenzoni)
• To err is human, to forgive divine (Alexander Pope)
• Reality is an illusion, albeit a very persistent one (Albert Einstein)
• Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely (Lord Acton)

58 Jazz singer Laine : CLEO

Cleo Laine is a jazz singer from England who is noted for her remarkable range of nearly four octaves. Laine is the only female performer to have received Grammy nominations in each of the classical, jazz and popular music categories. My favorite of her recordings is “He Was Beautiful”, which is also known as “Cavatina” and is a version of the theme from the film “The Deer Hunter”.

65 Gloaming : DUSK

“Gloaming” is an alternative word for “twilight, dusk”, and is often used poetically. The word is particularly associated with Scottish poetry, and notably the work of Robert Burns.

66 Niacin and protein, say? : (UP)SIDE OF BEEF

Niacin is also known as vitamin B3. A deficiency of niacin causes the disease pellagra. Pellagra is often described by “the four Ds”, the symptoms being diarrhea, dermatitis, dementia and death.

67 Tidal influence : MOON

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.

68 Send a text to : PING

In the world of computer science, a “ping” is a test message sent over a network between computers to check for a response and to measure the time of that response. We now use the verb “to ping” more generally, meaning to send someone a message, usually a reminder.

73 Span. title : SRTA

“Señorita” (Srta.) is Spanish, and “Mademoiselle” (Mlle.) is French, for “Miss”.

80 Nile 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.

82 Muhammad with gloves : ALI

The boxer Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. was born in 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali when he converted to Islam in 1964. Who can forget Muhammad Ali lighting the Olympic flame for the 1996 games in Atlanta?

83 Tirade : RANT

The term “tirade” describes a long and vehement speech, and is a word that came into English from French. “Tirade” can have the same meaning in French, but is also the word for “volley”. So, a tirade is a “volley” of words.

85 Horne or Headey : LENA

Lena Horne was an American jazz singer, actress, dancer and civil rights activist. Horne started her career as a nightclub singer and then began to get some meaty acting roles in Hollywood. However, she ended up on the blacklist during the McCarthy Era for expressing left wing political views. One of Horne’s starring roles was in the 1943 movie “Stormy Weather” for which she also performed the title song.

English actress Lena Headey is best known for playing Cersei Lannister on the fantasy series “Game of Thrones”. Although a British citizen, Headey was actually born Bermuda, where her father was stationed as a police officer.

88 Old historian of older Britain : BEDE

The Venerable Bede was a monk in the north of England in the eighth century AD. Saint Bede is mainly known as an author and scholar, publisher of “The Ecclesiastical History of the English People”. In his writings, Bede struggled with the two common ways of referring to dates at that time. Bede turned to the anno domini dating method that had been devised by Dionysius Exiguus in 525. Bede’s writings of circa 730 were extremely influential and helped popularize the “anno domini” method.

90 Witty exchange : REPARTEE

Repartee is conversation that includes witty remarks. “Repartee” comes from the French “repartie” meaning “answering thrust”, originally a fencing term.

92 Hibernia : EIRE

“Hibernia” is the Latin name for the island of Ireland. The ancient Roman’s choice of name for Ireland was influenced by the Latin “hibernus” meaning “wintry”. I can understand that choice …

97 South African liberator : MANDELA

As a young man, Nelson Mandela led the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). Mandela was eventually arrested and admitted to charges of sabotage and was sentenced to life in prison in 1964. He remained behind bars for 27 years, mainly in the infamous prison on Robben Island. As the years progressed, Mandela became a symbol of the fight against apartheid. He was released in 1990, and immediately declared his commitment to peace and reconciliation with South Africa’s white minority population. Mandela was elected president of the Republic of South Africa (RSA) in 1994, an office that he held until 1999. Nelson Mandela passed away on December 5, 2013.

103 Revolutionary Hale : NATHAN

Nathan Hale fought for the Continental Army during the American Revolution, and was most famous for operating as a spy against the British. It was Nathan Hale who uttered the words, just before he was hanged by his British captors, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country”.

108 Michelangelo masterpiece : 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.

110 Puccini masterpiece : TOSCA

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.

114 Part of Q.E.D. : 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”.

115 Unctuous : OILY

A person described as “unctuous” is oily and insincere. “Unctum” is the Latin for “ointment”.

118 Entrepreneur-helping org. : SBA

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is a government agency with the mission of assisting small businesses. The SBA doesn’t give loans itself, but it does act as a guarantor under the right circumstances. The SBA was set up in 1953, and isn’t a favorite with fiscal conservatives.

An entrepreneur is someone takes on most aspects of a business venture, from the original idea to the execution. The term is imported from French, with “entreprendre” meaning “to undertake”. The original usage in English dates back to the early 1800s, when it applied to a manager and promoter of a theatrical production.

119 Bruins 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.

121 Shad spawn : 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.

122 Half a score : TEN

Our verb “to score” meaning “to tally”, comes from the Old Norse “skor”, which is a “mark, notch”. It is likely that items such a livestock were counted by placing a notch in a stick for each set of twenty, hence our use of the noun “score” to mean “twenty”.

The post LA Times Crossword 12 Jan 20, Sunday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 4m 57s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Hanks who plays Mr. Rogers : TOM

Tom Hanks is a such a great actor. He has played so many iconic roles in a relatively short career. Hanks is from California, and studied theater for a couple of years in Hayward, California not far from here. Tom’s son Colin Hanks is one of the stars of the TV comedy “Life in Pieces”. Hanks is married to the talented actress Rita Wilson.

“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” is a 2019 film that is based on a 1998 “Esquire” article written by Tom Junod. The movie stars Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers, creator and host of the children’s TV show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”. Matthew Rhys plays Lloyd Vogel, a character loosely based on Junod, author of the original article. Good film …

14 Dr.’s group : AMA

American Medical Association (AMA)

15 Scarlett of fiction : O’HARA

As casting proceeded for the movie version of “Gone With the Wind”, Clark Gable was a shoo-in from day one. The role of Scarlett O’Hara was considered very desirable in the acting community, with Bette Davis on the short list, and Katherine Hepburn demanding an appointment with producer David O. Selznick to discuss the role. Vivien Leigh was an unlikely contender, an English actress for the definitive Southern belle role. Selznick was adamant though, and stuck by his preference for Leigh despite a lot of protests.

16 African river : CONGO

The Congo River in Africa is the second-largest in the world in terms of volume of water discharged (after the Amazon), and also the second longest river in Africa (after the Nile). The Congo is named for the ancient Kingdom of Kongo that was once located at the mouth of the river.

18 Manicurist’s tool : NAIL CLIPPER (giving “Los Angeles Clippers”)

The Los Angeles Clippers NBA team started off life as the Buffalo Braves in 1970. The Braves took on the Clippers name when the franchise moved to San Diego in 1978. The new team name was chosen in honor of the great clipper ships that used to pass through San Diego Bay. The San Diego Clippers were sold in 1982 to real estate developer Donald Sterling, who moved the team to his native Los Angeles two years later. That move was not approved by the NBA, which resulted in a lawsuit and a $6 million fine, but the team was allowed to stay in its new home.

22 Norse trickster : LOKI

Loki is a god appearing in Norse mythology. In one story about Loki, he was punished by other gods for having caused the death of Baldr, the god of light and beauty. Loki is bound to a sharp rock using the entrails of one of his sons. A serpent drips venom which is collected in a bowl, and then his wife must empty the venom onto Loki when the bowl is full. The venom causes Loki great pain, and his writhing results in what we poor mortals experience as earthquakes.

23 Walrus feature : TUSK

Walruses are large marine mammals with very prominent tusks that are found in and around the northern hemisphere’s Arctic Ocean.

26 Like Mattel’s Cathy doll : CHATTY

Chatty Cathy is a doll that was produced by Mattel from 1959 to 1965. Chatty Cathy could utter eleven phrases when a ring on a cord was pulled at the back of the doll. The speech was generated by a tiny phonograph record that was housed in the doll’s abdomen.

28 Eponymous ’60s-’80s “Airways” entrepreneur : FREDDIE LAKER (giving “Los Angeles Lakers”)

Freddie Laker was a British entrepreneur who is best known for founding Laker Airways, which operated from 1966 to 1982. Laker’s was one of the original “low cost – no frills” airlines. The most famous service offered was Laker Airways’ low-cost Skytrain that operated daily between London Gatwick and New York’s JFK.

35 Old Detroit brewer : STROH

Bernard Stroh was the son of a German brewer. Stroh immigrated to the US in 1848 and set up his own brewery in 1850 in Detroit. Years later, the Stroh Brewing Company introduced a European process called fire-brewing. This results in higher temperatures at a crucial stage in the brewing process, supposedly bringing out flavor. Apparently, Stroh’s is the only mainstream American beer that still uses this process.

42 Paris summer : ETE

In French, “printemps: (spring) is followed by “été” (summer).

46 Mennen lotion : AFTA

Afta is an aftershave in the Mennen range of products that is owned by Colgate-Palmolive.

47 Attacker or defender of online information systems : CYBER-WARRIOR (giving “Golden State Warriors”)

The Golden State Warriors are our local NBA franchise out here in the San Francisco Bay Area and are based in Oakland, California. The team was founded in 1946 as the Philadelphia Warriors, becoming the San Francisco Warriors when they moved to City by the Bay in 1962. They changed named again (to Golden State) when they relocated to Oakland in 1971. The statewide name reflected the fact that the team played some of their 1971-72 season games in San Diego, and as such were “California’s” team.

53 Nuremberg no : NEIN

Nürnberg (anglicized as “Nuremberg”) is a Bavarian city located north of Munich. Historically it is remembered for the huge Nazi Nuremberg rallies, and the Nuremberg trials that took place at the end of WWII. Nürnberg is sometimes confused with the city of Nürburg in the west of Germany that is famous for the Nürburgring race track.

54 German auto : AUDI

The Audi name has an interesting history. The Horch company was founded by August Horch in 1909. Early in the life of the new company, Horch was forced out of his own business. He set up a new enterprise and continued to use his own name as a brand. The old company sued him for using the Horch name so a meeting was held to choose something new. Horch’s young son was studying Latin in the room where the meeting was taking place. He pointed out that “horch” was German for “hear” and he suggested “Audi” as a replacement, the Latin for “listen”.

55 Movie lab assistant : IGOR

In the world of movies, Igor has been the assistant to Dracula, Frankenstein and Young Frankenstein among others. Igor is almost invariably portrayed as a hunchback.

59 President #2 : ADAMS

John Adams was the second President of the United States. I must admit that I learned much of what I know about President Adams in the excellent, excellent HBO series “John Adams”, which is based on David McCullough’s 2001 biography of the same name. Having said that, I have also visited the Adams home in Quincy, Massachusetts several times. He was clearly a great man with a great intellect …

62 “It” novelist : STEPHEN KING (giving “Sacramento Kings”)

“It” is a 1986 horror novel penned by Stephen King. The title character is a demon who preys on children, primarily appearing in the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. The novel was adapted into a 1990 miniseries of the same name. I don’t do Stephen King …

The Sacramento Kings are one of the oldest basketball franchises still operating, having been founded way back in 1923 as the Rochester Seagrams. The Kings moved to Sacramento in 1985, from Kansas City, Missouri.

65 Org. for the ends of 18-, 28-, 47- and 62-Across : NBA

The National Basketball Association (NBA) was founded in 1946 as the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The NBA name was adopted in 1949 following a merger with the rival National Basketball League (NBL). Of the four major sports leagues in North America, the NBA has the highest average annual salary per player.

67 Muslim holy city : MECCA

Mecca is in the Makkah province of Saudi Arabia. It was the birthplace of Muhammad and is the holiest city in Islam. Every year several million Muslims perform the Hajj, a holy pilgrimage to Mecca.

68 Home state for the ends of 18-, 28-, 47- and 62-Acr. : CAL

The name “California” is derived from fictional warrior Queen Calafia, who lived on the mythical Island of California. Queen Calafia was the creation of Spanish writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo in a 1510 novel. The Spanish originally gave the name “California” to a region that covered today’s Baja California peninsula in Mexico, the US states of California, Nevada and Utah, as well as parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming.

69 Monica of tennis : SELES

Monica Seles has a Hungarian name as she was born to Hungarian parents in former Yugoslavia. Seles was the World No. 1 professional tennis player in 1991 and 1992 before being forced from the sport when she was stabbed by a spectator at a match in 1993. She did return to the game two years later, but never achieved the same level of success.

Down

1 “Forbidden” fragrance : TABU

Tabu is a whole line of cosmetics and perfumes produced by the House of Dana. The company’s brand names were purchased by a Florida company called Dana Classic Fragrances in 1999.

2 Actor Epps : OMAR

Omar Epps is the actor who played Eric Foreman on the excellent television series “House”. Prior to playing Dr. Foreman, Epps had a recurring role playing Dr. Dennis Gant on “ER”. And, in another link to the world of medicine, Epps was born in Savannah, Georgia to single mom, Dr. Bonnie Epps.

3 Bakery item Jerry stole from an old woman in a classic “Seinfeld” episode : MARBLE RYE

“Seinfeld” aired for nine seasons on NBC, and in 2002 was declared by “TV Guide” as the “greatest television program of all time”. After the show completed its run in 1998, each of the main supporting actors made failed attempts to launch new sitcoms. This phenomenon became known as “the Seinfeld curse”, but Julia Louis-Dreyfus finally managed to break free of it with a successful five-season run in “The New Adventures of Old Christine”, followed by the satirical comedy “Veep”.

6 Windsurfing need : SAIL

I used to own a windsurfer. To be honest, the windsurfer really owned me. I used to sail a lot, but never had the strength to master windsurfing …

7 Guthrie of folk : ARLO

Singer Arlo Guthrie is known for his protest songs, just like his father Woody Guthrie. The younger Guthrie only ever had one song in the top 40: a cover version of “City of New Orleans”. He has lived for years in the town of Washington, just outside Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His 1976 song “Massachusetts” has been the official folk song of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since 1981.

9 Biol. or ecol. : SCI

Ecology (ecol.) and biology (biol.) are sciences (scis.).

10 Toaster snack : POP-TART

Pop-Tart is the most successful single brand for the Kellogg company, as millions of the sugary treats are sold every year. The US Military bought quite a few in 2001, and dropped 2.4 million Pop-Tarts into Afghanistan during the invasion after 9/11.

13 Not at all cool : DORKY

I consider “dork” and “adorkable” to be pretty offensive slang. “Dork” originated in the sixties among American students, and has its roots in another slang term, a term for male genitalia.

25 Ten-cent piece : DIME

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

27 Gas brand with toy trucks : HESS

Hess Corporation is an oil company based in New York City. In 1964, the company started selling toy trucks with the Hess logo on them, in Hess gas stations. The company has been selling them every since, bringing out new models just before Christmas. Hess toy trucks have become quite collectible and the old ones can fetch a pretty penny.

28 Bank acct.-protecting org. : FDIC

During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Banking Act of 1933. The legislation established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), intended to be a temporary government corporation that provided insurance on deposits made by customers of qualified financial institutions. The first accounts to be covered, in 1934, had an insurance limit of $2,500. Since the financial crisis of 2008, that limit is $250,000.

30 Cake directive Alice obeyed : EAT ME

In Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, Alice follows the white rabbit down a rabbit hole and finds a bottle labelled “DRINK ME”. When she drinks the contents, it causes her to shrink. She also sees a cake adorned with the words “EAT ME” written using currants, and when she eats the cake she grows so big she finds it hard to stand up. After eating the cake, she utters the words, “Curiouser and curiouser”.

31 Soda bottle buy : LITER

On the other side of the Atlantic we use the French spelling for measurements that originated in French, so “metre” for “meter” and “litre” for “liter”.

37 Bart’s bus driver : OTTO

Otto Mann drives the school bus on the TV show “The Simpsons”. Otto is a Germanic character voiced by Harry Shearer, and his name is a play on “Ottoman Empire”. Whenever Bart sees him, he greets Otto with the words “Otto, man!”

40 Terrier type : SKYE

The Skye terrier is a breed of dog that is actually under threat of extinction. A few years ago, there were only 30 Skye terriers born in the breed’s native land of the UK. The breed was named for the Isle of Skye in Scotland.

41 McGregor of “Doctor Sleep” : EWAN

Ewan McGregor is a very talented Scottish actor, one who got his break in the 1996 film “Trainspotting”. McGregor’s first big Hollywood role was playing the young Obi-Wan-Kenobi in the “Star Wars” prequels. Less known is his televised marathon motorcycle journey from London to New York via central Europe, Ukraine, Siberia, Mongolia and Canada. The 2004 trip was shown as “Long Way Round” on TV. McGregor did a similar trip in 2007 called “Long Way Down”, which took him and the same travelling companion from the north of Scotland to Cape Town in South Africa.

“Doctor Sleep” is a Stephen King novel that was published in 2013. It is a sequel to his bestseller “The Shining”. “Doctor Sleep” was adapted as a 2019 movie of the same name starring Ewan McGregor.

44 “Total” 2017 event visible in a coast-to-coast path from Oregon to South Carolina : ECLIPSE

A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes into the shadow cast by the Earth from the light of the Sun, in other words when the Earth is positioned directly between the Sun and the Moon. The more spectacular solar eclipse takes place when the Moon passes in front of the Sun, so that the Earth falls into the shadow cast by the Moon.

48 Soft French cheese : BRIE

Brie is a soft cheese that is named for the French region in which it originated. Brie is similar to the equally famous (and delicious) Camembert. Brie is often served baked in puff pastry.

49 President #40 : REAGAN

Ronald Reagan started out his political career as a member of the Democratic Party, but switched to the Republicans in the early fifties. Reagan served as Governor of California for eight years, and vied unsuccessfully for the nomination for US President on two occasions. He finally succeeded in 1980 and defeated President Jimmy Carter to become the 40th US President in 1981.

50 Diamond quartet : BASES

That would be baseball.

51 Off-the-wall : OUTRE

The word “outré” meaning “unconventional, bizarre” comes to us from French, as one might imagine. It is derived from the verb “outrer” meaning “to overdo, exaggerate”. “Outrer” is also the ultimate root of our word “outrage”.

56 Govt.-owned home financing gp. : GNMA

“Ginnie Mae” is the familiar nickname for the Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA), a government-owned corporation created in 1968 with the objective of promoting home ownership. The “Ginnie Mae” nickname is derived from the “GNMA” abbreviation.

57 Gave the nod to : OK’ED

Back in the late 1830s, there were some slang abbreviations coined mainly in Boston. The craze called for two-letter abbreviations of deliberately misspelled phrases. For example “no use” became “KY” from “know yuse”, and “enough said” became “NC” from “nuff ced”. Fortunately (I say!), the practice was short-lived. But, one of those abbreviations persists to this day. “All correct” was misspelled to give “oll korrect”, abbreviated to “OK”.

60 Corp. execs’ degrees : MBAS

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

61 January “white” event : SALE

The first white sale took place in January of 1878 in a Philadelphia department store. The event was called a white sale because only bed linens (which were all white) were discounted. Over time, white sales have evolved to include almost any household items.

63 “For __ a jolly … ” : HE’S

“For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” is the second-most popular song in the English language according to the “Guinness Book of World Records”. Top of the list is “Happy Birthday to You”, and third comes “Auld Lang Syne”.

64 ATM giant : 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.

Automatic Teller Machine (ATM)

The post LA Times Crossword 13 Jan 20, Monday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 6m 06s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

4 African language group : BANTU

There are hundreds of Bantu languages, which are mainly spoken in central, east and southern Africa. The most commonly spoken Bantu language is Swahili, with Zulu coming in second.

14 Québec street : RUE

The name of the province Québec comes from an Algonquin word “kebec” meaning “where the river narrows”. This refers to the area around Quebec City where the St. Lawrence River narrows as it flows through a gap lined by steep cliffs.

15 Future oak : ACORN

These days, we don’t usually consider acorns as a foodstuff. But in days past, many cultures around the world have used acorns as food. Usually, bitter tannins that occur in acorns need to be leached out in water. Acorn meal can be a substitute for grain flour, which can then be used to make bread. Acorns have also been used as a substitute for coffee, especially when coffee was rationed. Notably, acorn coffee was brewed up by Confederates during the American Civil War, and by Germans during World War II.

17 City near the Great Salt Lake : OGDEN, UTAH (hiding an inner “nut”)

Ogden was the first permanent settlement by people of European descent in what is now the state of 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.

20 Biceps exercises : CURLS

The biceps muscle is made up of two bundles of muscle, both of which terminate at the same point near the elbow. The heads of the bundles terminate at different points on the scapula or shoulder blade. “Biceps” is Latin for “two-headed”.

21 Hosting a show, briefly : MC’ING

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

24 Breyers __ Cookies & Cream : OREO

Breyers ice cream was introduced by William A. Breyer in 1866, in Philadelphia. Always known for using all-natural ingredients, Breyers products made in recent years contain more and more food additives in an attempt to cut costs in a competitive market. In fact, most Breyers products can’t even be labeled “ice cream” anymore as they don’t contain enough milk and cream and so are labeled “frozen dairy dessert” instead.

27 Arnaz-Ball production company : DESILU

As one might imagine, “Desilu” is a contraction of the names of the production company’s owners, Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. The name “Desilu” was first given to the couple’s ranch in Chatsworth, California. Desilu produced some great shows, including the original “Star Trek” and “Mission: Impossible”.

29 Muss, as hair : TOUSLE

“Muss” means “state of disorder”, and is a term that probably evolved from “mess”. The phrase “no muss, no fuss” means “no bother, no mess made, no excessive hustle and bustle”.

30 Magazine VIPs : EDS

Editor (ed)

35 Old fast fliers : SSTS

The first supersonic transport (SST) to fly was the Tupolev Tu-144, which was constructed in the Soviet Union. The Tu-144 first flew in 1968, but did not carry passengers until 1977. The aircraft was permanently grounded as a passenger craft in 1978 due to concerns about safety (there had been two Tu-144 crashes). The second SST to fly was the Anglo-French Concorde, which operated at a profit for over 27 years until it was withdrawn from service in 2003. There was one Concorde crash, in Paris in July 2000. Since then, there have been no commercial SST services.

39 Fleshy fruit : POME

The Latin word for “fruit” is “pomum”, which gives us the botanical term “pome” that is used for a group of fleshy fruits, including apples and pears.

42 Barbecue spot : PATIO

“Patio” is a Spanish word meaning “courtyard”.

43 Can opener : TAB

The term “pop top” refers to a whole family of designs for opening the top of a soda can. The oldest method is the “pull tab” or “ring pull”, invented in Canada in 1956. The design was long-lived, but it had its problems, so the world heaved a sigh of relief with the invention of the stay-on-tab in 1975. The new design led to less injuries and eliminated all those used pull tabs that littered the streets.

46 Feathered friends : AVIANS

An aviary is a large cage that houses birds, and something described as avian is bird-like or bird-related. “Avis” is Latin for “bird”.

49 Beethoven’s “Tempest,” e.g. : SONATA

A cantata is a piece of music that is sung, as opposed to a sonata, which is a piece that is played on some instrument, often a piano. A sonatina is in effect a sonata that has been labelled as something lighter and shorter.

Beethoven’s “Piano Sonata No. 17” was given the name “Der Sturm” (“The Tempest”), but not until after the composer’s passing.

55 Chimps and gorillas : APES

The tailless primates known as apes (also “hominoids”) are divided into two main branches: gibbons (lesser apes) and hominids (great apes). The hominids are the great apes, and belong to the family of primates called Hominidae. Extant genera that make up the family Hominidae are:

• chimpanzees
• gorillas
• humans
• orangutans

56 Furry sitcom extraterrestrial : ALF

“ALF” is a sitcom that aired in the late eighties. The title character is a hand-puppet, and supposedly an alien named Gordon Shumway from the planet Melmac. The alien crash-landed into the house of amateur radio enthusiast Willie Tanner. Tanner renamed the intruder “ALF”, standing for “alien life form”.

57 Chutzpah : MOXIE

Back as far as 1876, Moxie was a brand name of a “medicine” peddled with the claim that it “built up your nerve”. In 1924, Moxie was registered as a trademark for a bitter, non-alcoholic beverage (no more claims of nerve-building). And we’ve used the term “moxie” to mean “nerve” ever since …

Our word “chutzpah” meaning “nerve, gall, impudence” is derived from the Yiddish “khutspe”, which has the same meaning.

59 Early American crop : MAIZE

“Maize” is another name for “corn”. Even though there is more maize grown in the world than wheat or rice, a relatively small proportion of the total maize crop is consumed directly by humans. That’s because a lot of maize goes to make corn ethanol, animal feed and derivative products like corn starch and corn syrup. Here in the US, over 40% of the maize produced is used to feed livestock, and about 30% is used to make ethanol.

61 Earth’s most central geologic layer … or what can be found in each set of puzzle circles : INNER CORE

The Earth’s core is divided into two zones, a relatively “solid” inner core and a liquid outer core. Both inner and outer core are comprised mainly of iron and nickel. It is believed that the Earth’s magnetic field is generated by electric currents created by convection currents in the outer core.

63 Geographer’s volume : ATLAS

The famous Flemish geographer Gerardus Mercator published his first collection of maps in 1578. Mercator’s collection contained a frontispiece with an image of Atlas the Titan from Greek mythology holding up the world on his shoulders. That image gave us our term “atlas” that is used for a book of maps.

64 Tokyo-based watchmaker : SEIKO

Watch manufacturer Seiko was founded as a watch and jewelry shop in Tokyo in 1881. The store was opened by one Kintaro Hattori, who started to produce clocks under the name Seikosha, which can be translated as “House of Exquisite Workmanship”. The first Seiko watches went on sale in 1924, and today the company suggests that the name “Seiko” is Japanese for “exquisite” and “success”.

67 Jacket material : TWEED

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 …

Down

2 Was a sign of : AUGURED

The verb “to augur” means “to bode, serve as an omen”. The term comes from the name of religious officials in ancient Rome called augurs whose job it was to interpret signs and omens.

5 Pressure prefix : ACU-

Acupressure and acupuncture are related alternative medical techniques. Both aim to clear blockages in the flow of life energy through the body’s meridians. The treatment is given by stimulating “acupoints” in the body, by applying pressure in the case of acupressure, and by applying needles in the case of acupuncture.

9 Serenaded : SANG TO

A serenade is a musical performance in the open air, specifically at night. We tend to think of the term applying to a young man serenading his lover from below her window. We imported the word via French from the Italian “serenata” meaning “evening song”, influenced by the Italian “sera” meaning “evening”.

10 Stein filler : ALE

A stein is a type of beer glass. The term is German in origin, and is short for “Steinkrug” meaning “stone jug”. “Stein” is German for “stone”.

13 Tablet crushers : PESTLES

I’ve loved the sound of the words “mortar” and “pestle”, ever since I was first introduced to them in the chemistry lab. The Romans called a receptacle for pounding or grinding things a “mortarium”, giving us “mortar”. Mortarium was also the word for the product of pounding and grinding, which gives us our “mortar” that’s used with bricks to build a wall. And further, short stubby cannons used in the 16th century resembled a grinding bowl and so were called “mortars”, which evolved into our contemporary weapon of the same name. As far as the pestle is concerned, it is also derived from its Latin name “pistillum”, which comes from the word for “crush”.

18 “The Time Machine” race : ELOI

In the 1895 novella by H. G. Wells called “The Time Machine”, there are two races that the hero encounter in his travels into the future. The Eloi are the “beautiful people” who live on the planet’s surface. The Morlocks are a domineering race living underground who use the Eloi as food.

In the 1895 novella by H. G. Wells titled “The Time Machine”, the author never actually names the antagonist, and refers to him as “the Time Traveller”. In the famous 1960 movie adaption, also called “The Time Machine”, Rod Taylor plays the Time Traveller, and is given the name “George”. Perceptive viewers of the movie might catch sight of a plaque on the side of the time machine that elaborates on the Time Traveller’s name, naming him “H. George Wells”, a homage to the author.

25 Spiral-horned antelope : KUDU

The kudu is a type of antelope. There are two extant species: the lesser kudu of eastern Africa, and the greater kudu of eastern and southern Africa. The kudu horn is used as a musical instrument, as a horn.

28 Vientiane people : LAO

Vientiane is the capital city of Laos, and is situated on the famous Mekong River. The city was originally called the “city of sandalwood” by Buddhist monks, naming after the valued trees that grew in the area. The French took the Pali words for “city of sandalwood” and rewrote it as the French-sounding “Vientiane”.

32 Poisonous African snake : ASP

The venomous snake called an asp was a symbol of royalty in ancient Egypt.

34 Vietnamese New Year : 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.

37 Spinal segment : DISC

Our intervertebral discs are composed mainly of cartilage. They perform the crucial functions of separating the vertebrae while allowing slight movement, and also absorbing shock. A “slipped disc” isn’t really a disc that has “slipped”, but rather a disc that “bulges”. If that bulge causes pressure on the sciatic nerve then the painful condition known as sciatica can result.

39 Often-abbreviated attire : PAJAMAS

Our word “pajamas” (sometimes “PJs” or “jammies”) comes to us from the Indian subcontinent, where “pai jamahs” were loose fitting pants tied at the waist and worn at night by locals and ultimately by the Europeans living there. And “pajamas” is another of those words that I had to learn to spell differently when I came to America. On the other side of the Atlantic, the spelling is “pyjamas”.

43 Pudding choice : TAPIOCA

The cassava plant is a woody shrub native to South America grown largely for its carbohydrate-rich tubers. In fact, the cassava is the third largest food source of carbohydrates (for humans) in the world. Ordinarily, that carbohydrate is extracted from the plant and dried as flour, and is known as tapioca.

44 Was humiliated : ATE CROW

The phrase “eat crow”, an alternative to “eat humble pie”, perhaps refers to the fact that cooked crow may be edible, but is not a great food choice.

48 __-Cat: winter vehicle : SNO

The brand name “Sno-Cat” is owned by the Tucker company. All snowcats are tracked vehicles built to work in snow, and are famously used in expeditions to the polar regions. The modern Sno-Cat from Tucker differs from its competitors in that it has four independently-mounted tracks.

50 DEA agent : NARC

“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).

53 Muscular power : SINEW

“Sinew” is another name for “tendon”. Tendons are bands of collagen that connect muscle to bone. Tendons are similar to ligaments and fasciae, which are also connective tissue made out of collagen, but ligaments join bone to bone, and fasciae connect muscle to muscle. We also use the term “sinew” to mean muscular power.

54 Start of a counting rhyme : EENIE …

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,
Catch the tiger/monkey/baby by the toe.
If it hollers/screams let him go,
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, you are it!

60 Microwave : ZAP

The first household microwave oven was introduced to the market in 1955, a Tappan microwave.

The post LA Times Crossword 14 Jan 20, Tuesday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 5m 57s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

10 Pride Month letters : LGBT

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)

The police raided a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn on June 29th, 1969. That raid triggered to a spate of violent demonstrations led by the LGBT community. Now known as the Stonewall riots, those demonstrations are viewed by many as a significant event leading to the modern-day fight for LGBT rights in the US. Since then, June has been chosen as LGBT Pride Month in recognition of the Stonewall riots.

14 Sticky pod : OKRA

The plant known as okra is mainly grown for it edible green pods. The pods are said to resemble “ladies’ fingers”, which is an alternative name for the plant. Okra is known as “ngombo” in Bantu, a name that might give us the word “gumbo”, the name for the name of the southern Louisiana stew that includes okra as a key ingredient.

15 Grammy winner Jones : NORAH

The beguiling Norah Jones is the daughter of famed sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, and is one of my favorite singers. If you haven’t heard Jones singing her song “Come Away with Me”, you just haven’t lived …

19 Soda __: fountain worker : 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.

24 Common Scrabble tile value : ONE

The game of Scrabble has been around since 1938, the invention of an architect named Alfred Mosher Butts. Butts determined how many tiles of each letter, and the point value of each tile, by analyzing letter distributions in publications like “The New York Times”.

39 Rio contents : AGUA

In Spanish, “agua” (water) is found in a “río” (river), and around an “isla” (island).

40 Burton of “Star Trek: TNG” : LEVAR

Actor LeVar Burton is very much associated with two iconic roles on television: young Kunta Kinte in “Roots”, and Geordi La Forge in “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. Burton also hosted the children’s PBS show “Reading Rainbow” for many years. His portrayal of Kunta Kinte in 1977 was Burton’s first acting job. Indeed, Burton’s audition for the part was the first in his professional career!

When Gene Roddenberry first proposed the science fiction series that became “Star Trek”, he marketed it as “Wagon Train to the Stars”, a pioneer-style Western in outer space. In fact, his idea was to produce something more like “Gulliver’s Travels”, as he intended to write episodes that were adventure stories on one level, but morality tales on another. Personally, I think that he best achieved this model with the spin-off series “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (TNG). If you watch individual episodes you will see thinly disguised treatments of moral issues such as racism, homosexuality, genocide etc. For my money, “The Next Generation” is the best of the whole franchise …

41 Rhea cousin : EMU

The emu has had a tough time in Australia since man settled there. There was even an “Emu War” in Western Australia in 1932 when migrating emus competed with livestock for water and food. Soldiers were sent in and used machine guns in an unsuccessful attempt to drive off the “invading force”. The emus were clever, breaking their usual formations and adopting guerrilla tactics, operating as smaller units. After 50 days of “war”, the military withdrew. Subsequent requests for military help for the farmers were ignored. The emus had emerged victorious …

The rhea is a flightless bird that is native to South America. The rhea takes its name from the Greek Titan Rhea. It’s an apt name for a flightless bird as “rhea” comes from the Greek word meaning “ground”.

42 Harry’s mom Lily __ Potter : EVANS

In the world of “Harry Potter”, Harry’s mother was Lily Potter née Evans. Lily Evans had magical abilities, even though she was born to Muggles, individuals with no magical powers. Lily married James Potter. Lily and James were murdered by Lord Voldemort, leaving their child Harry an orphan.

45 It flows below the Pont Neuf : SEINE

Paradoxically, Pont Neuf is the oldest bridge standing today that crosses the River Seine in Paris. The paradox is that the name translates to “new bridge”. The bridge is in two parts, as it crosses from the Left Bank to the Île de la Cité (on which stands Notre Dame) and then from the Île de la Cité to the Right Bank.

53 Southeast airport code : ATL

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the world’s busiest airport, as measured by passenger traffic. Atlanta has had that distinction since 1998, and was the world’s busiest in terms of take-offs and landings from 2005 until 2013. Over 50% of Atlanta’s traffic comes from Delta Air Lines.

62 Thigh muscle, briefly : QUAD

The quadriceps femoris is the muscle group at the front of the thigh. It is the strongest muscle in the human body, and is also the leanest. The “quads” are actually a group of four muscles in the upper leg, hence the use of the prefix “quad-”.

64 “Outlander” series novelist Gabaldon : DIANA

Author Diana Gabaldon is best known for her “Outlander” series of novels, which were adapted into a very successful (and entertaining) television drama. The “Outlander” books are set in Scotland, and involve time travel. Gabaldon tells us that she was inspired to write her first “Outlander” book after watching an episode of “Doctor Who”.

65 Big name in big projections : 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.

66 Bear overhead : 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”.

67 Sprinter Bolt : USAIN

Usain Bolt is a Jamaican sprinter who won the 100m and 200m race gold medals in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. Back in Jamaica, Bolt was really into cricket, and probably would have been a very successful fast bowler had he not hit the track instead.

68 Daughter in the 2019 film “Judy” : LIZA

Actress and singer Liza Minnelli is the daughter of Judy Garland and movie director Vincente Minnelli. Liza won her only Oscar for her lead performance in 1972’s “Cabaret”. She has also won an Emmy, Grammy and Tony, and is one of the very few entertainers to have made that “sweep”.

The 2019 movie “Judy” is a biopic about singer and actress Judy Garland. The film is an adaptation of the 2005 Peter Quilter play “End of the Rainbow”. “Judy” focuses on the last year of Garland’s life, with Renée Zellweger in the title role.

70 __ hose : PANTY

The word “hose” meaning “covering for the leg” has the same roots as the contemporary German word “Hose” meaning “trousers, pants”.

71 Agenda bullet : ITEM

“Agenda” is a Latin word that translates as “things to be done”, coming from the verb “agere” meaning “to do”.

Down

1 Mary __ Lincoln : TODD

Mary Todd moved in the best of the social circles in Springfield, Illinois and there met the successful lawyer, Abraham Lincoln. The path to their marriage wasn’t exactly smooth, as the engagement was broken once but reinstated, with the couple eventually marrying in 1842.

2 Swedish superstore : 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.

3 San __: Cal. city nickname : FRAN

“Frisco” is not a term you’d hear used in the San Francisco Bay Area for the main city. Acceptable nicknames are “the City by the Bay” and “Fog City”. We usually just refer to it as “the City”.

4 FX series inspired by a Coen brothers film : FARGO

“Fargo” is a TV series inspired by the 1996 film of the same name by the Coen brothers. The small-screen version first aired in 2014, with the credits including Joel and Ethan Coen as executive producers. Each season of the show features a new cast. The 2014 cast is led by Billy Bob Thornton, the 2015 cast by Kirsten Dunst, and the 2017 cast by Ewan McGregor. Each episode, and indeed the original film, includes the on-screen claim that “This is a true story”. However, that claim is in fact untrue.

6 Traditional group dance : 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.

7 Decimated Asian sea : ARAL

The Aral Sea is a great example of how man can have a devastating effect on his environment. In the early sixties the Aral Sea covered 68,000 square miles of Central Asia. Soviet irrigation projects drained the lake to such an extent that today the total area is less than 7,000 square miles, with 90% of the lake now completely dry. Sad …

8 Karma : FATE

Karma is a religious concept with its basis in Indian faiths. Karma embraces the notion of cause and effect. Good deeds have good consequences at some later point in one’s life, one’s future life, or one’s afterlife. And, bad deeds have bad consequences.

10 JFK-RMN link : LBJ

Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) was born in Stonewall, Texas to Samuel Ealy Johnson, Jr. and Rebekah Baines.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) was the son of Joe Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald, hence the president’s double-barreled name.

President Richard Milhous Nixon (RMN) used “Milhous” in his name in honor of his mother Hannah Milhous. Richard was born in a house in Yorba Linda, California. You can visit that house today as it is on the grounds of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library. It’s a really interesting way to spend a few hours if you ever get to Yorba Linda …

28 First Hebrew letter : ALEPH

Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and beth is the second.

34 Branch 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.

35 Watercolor prop : EASEL

The word “easel” comes from an old Dutch word meaning “donkey”, would you believe? The idea is that an easel carries its load (an oil painting, say) just as a donkey would be made to carry a load.

42 First name in beauty products : ESTEE

Estée Lauder was a very successful businesswoman, and someone with a great reputation as a salesperson. Lauder introduced her own line of fragrances in 1953, a bath oil called “Youth Dew”. “Youth Dew” was marketed as a perfume, but it was added to bathwater. All of a sudden women were pouring whole bottles of Ms. Lauder’s “perfume” into their baths while using only a drop or two of French perfumes behind their ears. That’s quite a difference in sales volume …

52 __ dog : CHILI

The full name of the dish that is often called simply “chili” is “chili con carne”, Spanish for “peppers with meat”. The dish was created by immigrants from the Spanish Canary Islands in the city of San Antonio, Texas (a city which the islanders founded). The San Antonio Chili Stand was a popular attraction at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and that stand introduced the dish to the rest of America and to the world.

53 Teal relative : AQUA

The beautiful color teal takes it name from the duck called a teal, which has dark greenish-blue (teal) markings on its head and wings.

56 Legal thriller writer Scottoline : LISA

Lisa Scottoline is an author from Philadelphia who specializes in legal thrillers. Scottoline also pens a humorous column in “The Philadelphia Inquirer” called “Chick Wit” with her daughter Francesca Serritella.

57 Scott of “Hawaii Five-0” : CAAN

Scott Caan is the actor who plays “Danno” on the remake of “Hawaii Five-0”. Scott is the son of Hollywood actor James Caan.

The cop show “Hawaii Five-O” originally ran from 1968 until 1980, with Jack Lord and James MacArthur playing detectives Steve McGarrett and “Danno” Williams. The famous theme music was composed by Morton Stevens. The show was rebooted as “Hawaii Five-0”, premiering in 2010, with Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan playing Steve McGarrett and “Danno” Williams. Notice the important difference in the titles of the two versions of the show: the former uses a capital letter O, and the latter the numeral 0. Now that’s trivial …

63 Prosecutors, briefly : DAS

District attorney (DA)

The post LA Times Crossword 15 Jan 20, Wednesday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 6m 54s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

10 Rolaids rival : TUMS

The main ingredient in Tums antacid, made by GlaxoSmithKline, is calcium carbonate. Tums have been on the market since 1930. If you want to save a few pennies, Target brand antacid is identical to Tums, or so I hear …

The Rolaids brand of antacid was invented in the late twenties. The “Rolaids” name came from the fact that original packing was a foil “roll”. The product has a tagline: Rolaids—that’s how you spell relief. That slogan dates back to a 1970s TV campaign:

How do you spell relief?
R-O-L-A-I-D-S

14 Iris layer : UVEA

The uvea is the middle of the three layers that make up the eyeball. The outer layer is called the fibrous tunic, and the inner layer is the retina.

15 Part of a “Star Wars” name : DETOO

Artoo’s proper name is R2-D2 (also “Artoo-Detoo”). R2-D2 is the smaller of the two famous droids from the “Star Wars” movies. British actor Kenny Baker, who stood just 3 ft 8 ins tall, was the man inside the R2-D2 droid for the first six of the “Star Wars” movies.

17 Tower of London guards : BEEFEATERS

In one use of the word, a “yeoman” is a lower level official or attendant in a royal household. A famous group of yeomen are the Yeoman Warders of the Tower of London. The role is ceremonial these days, theoretically safeguarding the crown jewels and guarding any prisoners in the Tower. More correctly, the Yeoman Warders are called Beefeaters, and nobody’s really sure why! If you get over to London, the Yeoman Warders will be your tour guide around the Tower of London … a great day out!

The spectacular Tower of London sits right on the north bank of the River Thames in the center of London. The castle dates back to the years just following the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. The victorious William the Conqueror built the Tower’s central keep (called the White Tower) in 1078. The Tower of London has been used for many purposes over the centuries, as a residence, a prison, and was even home to the Royal Mint. Famously it houses the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom, and has done so since 1303.

19 Local bond, briefly : MUNI

A municipal bond (“muni”) is one that is issued by a city or local government, or some similar agency. Munis have an advantage over other investments in that any interest earned on the bond is usually exempt from state and federal income taxes.

21 Classic car : REO

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 Frozen floaters : BERGS

An iceberg is a large piece of freshwater ice that is floating freely after having broken away from a glacier or ice shelf. Out use of “iceberg” comes from the Dutch word for the same phenomenon “ijsberg”, which translates literally as “ice mountain”.

25 2019 awards for Giannis Antetokounmpo : ESPYS

The ESPY Awards are a creation of the ESPN sports television network. One difference with similarly named awards in the entertainment industry is that ESPY winners are chosen solely based on viewer votes.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is an NBA professional from Greece who was drafted in 2013 by the Milwaukee Bucks. Giannis’ has two brothers who were also drafted by the NBA, namely Thanasis and Kostas. Giannis has earned himself the nickname the “Greek Freak”.

26 Elaborate style : ROCOCO

The Rococo style is also known as “Late Baroque”. Rococo is a very floral and playful style, very ornate.

31 Artist Yoko : ONO

Yoko Ono is an avant-garde artist. Ono actually met her future husband John Lennon for the first time while she was preparing her conceptual art exhibit called “Hammer a Nail”. Visitors were encouraged to hammer in a nail into a wooden board, creating the artwork. Lennon wanted to hammer in the first nail, but Ono stopped him as the exhibition had not yet opened. Apparently Ono relented when Lennon paid her an imaginary five shillings to hammer an imaginary nail into the wood.

32 “Nashville” actress Judith : HOAG

Actress Judith Hoag is perhaps best known for playing April O’Neil in the 1990 movie “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”. More recently, she was cast in the recurring role of Tandy Hampton on the show “Nashville”.

43 Understand, in slang : GROK

To grok is to understand. “To grok” is a slang term that’s really only used in “techie” circles. “Grok” is the creation of science fiction author Robert Heinlein, who coined it in his 1961 novel “Stranger in a Strange Land”.

44 Kremlin refusal : NYET

I was lucky enough to visit the Moscow Kremlin as a tourist a few decades ago. The Kremlin sits right on Red Square, along with Saint Basil’s Cathedral and the famed GUM department store. “Kremlin” is a Russian word for “fortress”.

47 Original “Star Trek” studio : DESILU

As one might imagine, “Desilu” is a contraction of the names of the production company’s owners, Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. The name “Desilu” was first given to the couple’s ranch in Chatsworth, California. Desilu produced some great shows, including the original “Star Trek” and “Mission: Impossible”.

When Gene Roddenberry first proposed the science fiction series that became “Star Trek”, he marketed it as “Wagon Train to the Stars”, a pioneer-style Western in outer space. In fact, his idea was to produce something more like “Gulliver’s Travels”, as he intended to write episodes that were adventure stories on one level, but morality tales on another. Personally, I think that he best achieved this model with the spin-off series “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (TNG). If you watch individual episodes you will see thinly disguised treatments of moral issues such as racism, homosexuality, genocide etc. For my money, “The Next Generation” is the best of the whole franchise …

49 Princess from Alderaan : LEIA

The full name of the character played by Carrie Fisher in the “Star Wars” series of films is Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, and later Leia Organa Solo. Leia is the twin sister of Luke Skywalker, and the daughter of Anakin Skywalker (aka “Darth Vader”) and Padmé Amidala. Leia is raised by her adoptive parents Bail and Breha Organa. She eventually marries Han Solo.

51 Links standard : PAR

The oldest type of golf course is a links course. The name “links” comes from the Old English word “hlinc” meaning “rising ground”. “Hlinc” was used to describe areas with coastal sand dunes or open parkland. As a result, we use the term “links course” to mean a golf course that is located at or on the coast, often amid sand dunes. The British Open is always played on a links course.

52 Manilow song site : COPA

The Copacabana of the 1978 Barry Manilow song is the Copacabana nightclub in New York City (which is also the subject of the Frank Sinatra song “Meet Me at the Copa”). The Copa opened in 1940 and is still going today, although it is struggling. The club had to move due to impending construction and is now “sharing” a location with the Columbus 72 nightclub.

Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl
With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there
She would merengue and do the cha-cha
And while she tried to be a star
Tony always tended bar
Across the crowded floor, they worked from 8 ’til 4
They were young and they had each other
Who could ask for more?

Barry Manilow’s real name is Barry Alan Pincus. Barry took his mother’s family name, Manilow, as the time of his Bar Mitzvah. When he was young, Manilow attended the Juilliard performing arts school, and then practiced his craft on the New York City music circuit. He worked in the sixties and seventies writing jingles for advertisements. “Like a good neighbor, Statefarm is there …”, that’s the work of Mr. Manilow!

54 Giants’ div. : NL WEST

Today’s San Francisco Giants baseball team was founded in 1883 as the New York Gothams. The team’s name was changed to the Giants in 1885, and the franchise moved to San Francisco in 1958.

62 Sporty car features : T-TOPS

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.

68 Lower-APR deal : REFI

Annual percentage rate (APR)

69 Restaurant list not for everyone : SECRET MENU

Apparently, some fast-food restaurants maintain a “secret menu” of unadvertised selections that customers hear about on the grapevine.

71 Shiraz’s land : IRAN

The Iranian city of Shiraz has long been associated with wine, but there is no proven link between the city and the wine/grape we know today as “Shiraz” (also called “Syrah”). Having said that, some clay jars were found just outside of the city of Shiraz that contained wine; wine that was 7,000 years old!

72 Giants and Titans : TEAMS

The Tennessee Titans are a football team based in Nashville. The team relocated to Nashville from Houston in 1997. They were called the Tennessee Oilers for two seasons, before adopting the “Titans” moniker.

The New York Giants (NYG) football team play their home games in MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, a stadium shared with the New York Jets (NYJ). The Giants are the only team remaining from a group of five that joined the league in 1925. For many years, the Giants shared team names with the New York Giants MLB team, before the baseball franchise moved to San Francisco after the 1957 season.

74 Nectarine centers : PITS

A nectarine is a cultivar of peach. It is noted for its smooth skin, as opposed to the fuzzy skin of the traditional peach.

Down

1 “Squarely unconventional” Nissan : CUBE

The Nissan Cube was first sold in Japan in 1998, and only made it to Europe and North America in 2009. I’ve never driven a Cube, but I must say that I do like the quirky look of the later models …

4 Seattle-based insurance giant : SAFECO

Safeco Insurance is a Seattle-based insurance company that held the naming rights to Safeco Field, the Seattle Mariners’ baseball stadium, from 1999 through 2018.

5 Mont. neighbor : IDA

Idaho borders six states, and one Canadian province:

• Montana
• Wyoming
• Nevada
• Utah
• Washington
• Oregon
• British Columbia, Canada

6 Colorful fish : TETRA

The neon tetra is a freshwater fish that is native to parts of South America. The tetra is a very popular aquarium fish and millions are imported into the US every year. Almost all of the imported tetras are farm-raised in Asia and very few come from their native continent.

7 Range rover : STEER

A steer is a male bovine that was castrated when young and is then raised for beef. The term “steer” comes from the Old English “steor” meaning “bullock”.

9 Daybreak deity : EOS

In Greek mythology, Eos was the goddess of the dawn who lived at the edge of the ocean. Eos would wake each morning to welcome her brother Helios the sun. The Roman equivalent of Eos was Aurora. Rather delightfully, Homer referred to Eos as “rosy-fingered dawn” in both “Iliad” and “Odyssey”.

11 Take by force : USURP

To usurp is to seize and hold by force. The term “usurp” comes to us from Latin via French, from “usus” (a use) and “rapere” (to seize).

12 Shabby : MANGY

Mange is a skin disorder in animals caused by parasitic mites that embed themselves in the skin, perhaps living in hair follicles. The same disorder in humans is called scabies.

18 “The Art of Loving” author Fromm : ERICH

Erich Fromm was a German psychologist. Fromm studied extensively the work of Sigmund Freud, and became very critical of his theories. He was also noted for his political views, and had a socialist leaning. He spent some time in the US and was active in the Socialist Party of America in the fifties, when McCarthyism was running rampant.

“The Art of Loving” is a 1956 book by the German-American psychoanalyst Erich Fromm. In the work, Fromm rejects the concept of romantic love, love that is magical and mysterious. He argues that love is a skill that can be taught and developed, and that true love involves care, responsibility, respect and knowledge.

22 Honey bunch : BEES

Honey bees create a structure within their nests called a honeycomb that is used to contain their larvae and also to store honey and pollen. The honeycomb comprises hexagonal cells made from wax.

33 __-rock : ALT

“Alt-” is a prefix used to denote “alternative”, and is used to define a number of music genres e.g. alt-rock, alt-country.

34 Highlander : GAEL

A Gael is anyone of a race that speaks or spoke one of the Erse tongues. There are actually three Erse languages. Irish, Manx (spoken on the Isle of Man) and Scots Gaelic. In their own tongues, these would be “Gaeilge” (in Ireland), “Gaelg” (on the Isle of Man) and “Gaidhlig” (in Scotland).

36 Overused theme : TROPE

A trope is a figure of speech. The term “trope” comes from the Greek word “tropos” that has the same meaning.

37 Bits : 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.

38 Slacks alternative : SKIRT

The term “slacks” was introduced in the early 1800s with the meaning “loose trousers”. Those early slacks were part of a military uniform.

50 Crème de la crème : A-LIST

The “crème de la crème” are the elite, the best of the best. The term is French and translates as “cream of the cream”.

55 German city where the Bauhaus movement began : WEIMAR

Weimar is a city in Germany, one that is perhaps best known as the location of the signing of the country’s first democratic constitution. The German state that resulted is known unofficially as the Weimar Republic.

The literal translation to the term “Bauhaus” is “House of Building”. It was a school (i.e. education establishment) that operated from 1919 to 1933 in Weimar, Germany. It became famous for its approach to design across many disciplines, everything from art to typography.

56 Vegas __ : STRIP

The stretch of South Las Vegas Boulevard on which most of the big casinos are concentrated is referred to as the “Las Vegas Strip”. The Strip was named for LA’s Sunset Strip by former Los Angeles law enforcement officer Guy McAfee. McAfee was a notoriously corrupt head of the LAPD vice squad in 1920s and 1930s who ran several brothels and gambling saloons. McAfee moved to Las Vegas in 1939 where he opened several casinos, including the Golden Nugget.

57 Where embryos grow : UTERI

“Uterus” (plural “uteri”) is the Latin word for “womb”.

60 Black-and-white whales : ORCAS

The taxonomic name for the killer whale is “Orcinus orca”. The use of the name “orca”, rather than “killer whale”, is becoming more and more common. The Latin word “Orcinus” means “belonging to Orcus”, with Orcus being the name for the Kingdom of the Dead.

61 Grammy winner Eydie : GORME

Eydie Gormé is best known for her work with her husband Steve Lawrence. The duo started performing traditional popular music together in the late fifties. One of the couple’s children is David Nessim Lawrence, a composer who wrote the score for the 2006 movie “High School Musical”.

65 Letter that rhymes with three others : ZETA

The four rhyming Greek letters are: beta, zeta, eta and theta.

66 Nephew of Cain : ENOS

Enos was the son of Seth, and therefore the grandson of Adam and Eve, and nephew of Cain and Abel. According to the ancient Jewish work called the Book of Jubilees, Enos married his own sister Noam.

67 Keister : RUMP

Back in the early 1900s a keister was a safe or a strongbox. It has been suggested that “keister” was then used as slang by pickpockets for the rear trouser pocket in which one might keep a wallet. From this usage, “keister” appeared as a slang term for the buttocks in the early 1930s.

69 Transit map abbr. : STA

A station (“stn.” or “sta.”) is a railroad (RR) or bus stop.

The post LA Times Crossword 16 Jan 20, Thursday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.

Bill’s time: 7m 09s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 “__ Is Betta Than Evvah!”: 1976 R&B album : ETTA

“Etta James” was the stage name of celebrated blues and soul singer Jamesetta Hawkins. James’ most famous recording was her 1960 hit “At Last”, which made it into the pop charts. James performed “At Last” at the age of 71 in 2009 on the reality show “Dancing with the Stars”, which was to be her final television appearance. She passed away in 2012.

8 “The Real Housewives” series airer : BRAVO

“The Real Housewives …” franchise of reality TV shows was launched in 2006 with “The Real Housewives of Orange County”. Spin-off shows include “real housewives” in New York City, Atlanta, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Beverly Hills, Miami, Potomac, Dallas and Salt Lake City, and that’s just in the US. The list of international shows includes “real housewives” in Athens, Vancouver, Melbourne, Cheshire, Hungary, Johannesburg, Napoli and Bangkok. That’s a lot of “real housewives” …

13 Sprat’s choice : LEAN

Jack Sprat was a nickname given in the 16th century to people of small stature. Jack featured in a proverb of the day:

Jack will eat not fat, and Jull doth love no leane. Yet betwixt them both they lick the dishes cleane.

Over time, this mutated into a nursery rhyme that is still recited in England:

Jack Sprat could eat no fat. His wife could eat no lean. And so between them both, you see, they licked the platter clean.

14 Slice of pizza? : ZEE

One “slice” (letter) of the word “pizza” is a letter Z (zee).

23 Miler Sebastian : COE

Sebastian Coe is a retired middle-distance runner from the UK who won four Olympic medals including golds in the 1500m in 1980 and 1984. After retiring from athletics, Coe went into politics and served as a Member of Parliament from 1992 to 1997. In the year 2000, he was made a Life Peer, and so Coe now sits in the House of Lords. Lord Coe headed up London’s successful bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

24 Bartender’s lager-serving skill? : BUD-SLINGING (from “mud-slinging”)

The American beer called Budweiser (often shortened to “Bud”) is named for the Czech town of Budweis (“České Budějovice” in Czech). The name is the subject of a dispute as here is an original Czech beer with a similar name, Budweiser Budvar. American Budweiser is sold in most European countries as “Bud”.

34 School subj. : SCI

Science (sci.)

46 Green subj. : ECOL

Ecology (ecol.) is a branch of biology (biol.).

47 Barflies : SOTS

Our word “sot” comes from the Old English “sott”, meaning “fool”. The word “sot” started to be associated with alcohol and not just foolery in the late 1500s.

52 Annoyed answer to “How’s your jobless roommate working out?”? : BUM’S THE WORD (from “mum’s the word”)

The phrase “mum’s the word” has been around since the early 1700s. “Mum” has been used to mean “silent” for centuries, the idea being that “mum” is the sound made when the lips are tightly sealed.

56 Beer choice : IPA

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.

57 Prefix with byte : TERA-

The prefix “tera-” signifies a trillion, and comes from the Greek word “teras” meaning “monster”.

58 Name on Re-Nutriv cosmetics : ESTEE

Estée Lauder was a very successful businesswoman, and someone with a great reputation as a salesperson. Lauder introduced her own line of fragrances in 1953, a bath oil called “Youth Dew”. “Youth Dew” was marketed as a perfume, but it was added to bathwater. All of a sudden women were pouring whole bottles of Ms. Lauder’s “perfume” into their baths while using only a drop or two of French perfumes behind their ears. That’s quite a difference in sales volume …

63 Sport played on a variety of surfaces : TENNIS

There are four different surfaces used for playing tennis competitively:

• Clay courts (used for the French Open)
• Hard courts (used for the US Open and the Australian Open)
• Grass courts (used for Wimbledon)
• Carpet courts

65 Malady that accounts for four Across puzzle answers : HEAD COLD

The common cold (also known as a “head cold”) is caused by a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract. There are over 200 strains of virus that are known to cause the disease.

68 V-8, for example : ENGINE

69 1979 Hockey Hall of Fame inductee : 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.

70 Brest bestie : AMIE

Brest is a port city in northwest France, and is the second largest military port in the country. Brest was an important base for German U-boats during WWII when France was occupied by the Nazis. Brest is the most westerly city in the whole country.

Down

1 Italy’s Isola d’__ : ELBA

I had a lovely two-week vacation in Tuscany once, including what was supposed to be a two-night stay on the island of Elba. I had envisioned Elba as a place full of history, and maybe it is, but it is also overrun with tourists who use it as a beach getaway. We left after one day and we won’t be going back again …

2 Blue-green shade : TEAL

The beautiful color teal takes it name from the duck called a teal, which has dark greenish-blue (teal) markings on its head and wings.

3 Cover during a delay : 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”.

4 Pharaoh’s symbol : ANKH

The ankh was the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic character for “eternal life”. The ankh wasn’t just used in inscriptions but was often fashioned into amulets and as surrounds for mirrors (perhaps symbolizing a view into another world). The ankh is also known as “the key of the Nile” and “crux ansata” (Latin for “cross with a handle”).

5 Gun designer __ Gal : UZI

The first Uzi submachine gun was designed in the late 1940s by Major Uziel “Uzi” Gal of the Israel Defense Forces, who gave his name to the gun.

8 Babies leader? : BEANIE …

There were originally just nine Beanie Babies when Ty Warner introduced the stuffed animal in 1993. In the late nineties the toy became a real fad, largely due to innovative marketing techniques. For example, there was no mass marketing with constant TV ads, and the production volume was limited pushing the line into the realm of collectibles. Beanie Baby models were also “retired” on a regular basis, fueling a “must have” behavior in the market.

9 Total mess : RAT’S NEST

Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, is credited with popularizing the elaborate hairstyle known as the pouf. The hair was styled using a pomade made from wholesome ingredients such as beef marrow and bear grease. Because of the complexity of the hairstyle, ladies wore it for a week or two, during which time the animal fat would become rancid. It was reported that vermin would be attracted to the hair while sleeping, which apparently led to the phrase “her hair is a rat’s nest”.

11 Leonardo’s birthplace : VINCI

Vinci is a town in Tuscany that is famous as the birthplace of famed artist Leonardo da Vinci. Vinci is now home to the Museo Leonardiano, a museum dedicated to the work of the renowned polymath. In particular, visitors can view several models constructed from Leonardo’s drawings. I’ve never made it to Vinci, and would love to visit that museum …

12 Situation after a leadoff double : ONE ON

That would be baseball.

16 One of the Bradys : GREG

The character Greg Brady is the oldest Brady son in the sitcom “The Brady Bunch”. Greg was played by Barry Williams in the TV show. It was revealed in spin-offs of the original sitcom that Greg married a nurse and became an obstetrician.

18 House of Dana fragrance : TABU

Tabu is a whole line of cosmetics and perfumes produced by the House of Dana. The company’s brand names were purchased by a Florida company called Dana Classic Fragrances in 1999.

25 Old map abbr. : USSR

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).

27 Sour __ : GRAPES

Our expression “sour grapes” is used to describe a negative attitude adopted by somebody towards something just because that person can’t have the thing himself or herself. The phrase alludes to one of Aesop’s fables, the story of “The Fox and the Grapes”. In the fable, a squirrel could climb up to grapes high in a tree that a fox was unsuccessful in getting to. On seeing this, the fox said, “It’s okay, the grapes were sour anyway”.

28 1995 Oscar-nominated animatronics film : BABE

The hit 1995 film “Babe” was produced and filmed in Australia. The movie is an adaptation of a 1983 novel called “The Sheep-Pig” written by Dick King-Smith. “Babe” was a smash hit at the box office and was extremely well received by the critics. The film was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, but lost out to “Braveheart”. However, it did win the Oscar for Best Visual Effects by beating out “Apollo 13”, which was an amazing feat, I’d say…

29 Pizazz : ELAN

Our word “élan” was imported from French, in which language the word has a similar meaning to ours, i.e “style, flair”.

Pizazz (also “pizzazz”) is energy, vitality. There’s a kind of cool thing about the “pizzazz” spelling, namely that it is the only 7-letter word in English that cannot be played in Scrabble. You can get close by using the Z-tile with the two blank tiles to get to three of the required four Zs, but there’s no way to get to the fourth Z.

35 Like Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 : IN D

Brahms wrote his “Symphony No. 2” in the summer of 1877, taking just a few months. That’s pretty speedy, as it took him 21 years to complete his “Symphony No. 1”.

38 “… __ is given”: Isaiah : A SON

According to the Bible’s Book of Isaiah:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

39 PC connections : DSLS

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.

41 Palomino pace : TROTTING

A palomino is a horse with a gold coat and a white mane and tail. The color was prized by TV and film producers in the golden age of the Western. Two of the most famous palominos were Trigger ridden by Roy Rogers, and Mr. Ed who had his own TV show.

43 Hunchbacked assistant : IGOR

In the world of movies, Igor has been the assistant to Dracula, Frankenstein and Young Frankenstein among others. Igor is almost invariably portrayed as a hunchback.

49 Preacher’s msg. : SER

Our word “sermon” comes from the Latin “sermonem” meaning “discourse, talk”. The literal translation of “sermonem” is “a stringing together of words”, from the Latin “serere” meaning “to join”, as in the related word “series”.

51 Binged (on) : OD’ED

Overdose (OD)

54 Japanese comics : MANGA

The Japanese word “manga” means “whimsical pictures” and is an apt term to describe the Japanese style of comic book. Manga publications are more diverse than American comic books and have a larger audience. Manga cover many subjects including romance, sports, business, horror, and mystery.

55 Large mackerel : WAHOO

The wahoo is a cousin of the mackerel, and is known as the “ono” in Hawaii.

59 Union member’s nemesis : SCAB

We first started calling strikebreakers “scabs” in the early 1800s, and before that a scab was a person who refused to join a trade union (back as early 1777). The word probably comes from the use of “scab” as a symptom of a skin disease, and so is a term that is meant to insult.

60 Great work : TOME

“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”.

61 Academy award-winning director Kazan : ELIA

Elia Kazan won Oscars for best director in 1948 for “Gentleman’s Agreement” and in 1955 for “On The Waterfront”. In 1999 Kazan was given an Academy Lifetime Achievement Award. He also directed “East of Eden”, which introduced James Dean to movie audiences, and “Splendor in the Grass” that included Warren Beatty in his debut role.

62 Fall site : EDEN

In the Christian tradition, the “fall of man” took place in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve succumbed to the temptation of eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This went against the bidding of God, and was at the urging of the serpent. As a result, Adam and Eve were banished from Eden to prevent them from becoming immortal by eating from the tree of life. The first humans had transitioned from a state of innocent obedience to a state of guilty disobedience.

64 Diarist Anaïs : NIN

Anaïs Nin was a French author who was famous for the journals that she wrote for over sixty years from the age of 11 right up to her death. Nin also wrote highly regarded erotica and cited D. H. Lawrence as someone from whom she drew inspiration. Nin was married to banker and artist Hugh Parker Guiler in 1923. Decades later in 1955, Nin married former actor Rupert Pole, even though she was still married to Guiler. Nin and Pole had their marriage annulled in 1966, but just for legal reasons, and they continued to live together as husband and wife until Nin passed away in 1977.

The post LA Times Crossword 17 Jan 20, Friday appeared first on LAXCrossword.com.