LA Times Crossword Answers 31 Oct 12, Wednesday

CROSSWORD SETTER: Sheila Welton
THEME: Monstrous Answers … just in time for Halloween, seven answers in today’s puzzle are MONSTERS:

1A. Mythological fire-breather CHIMERA
8A. Man-horse creature CENTAUR
28A. Labyrinth dweller MINOTAUR
31A. Elusive loch dweller, familiarly NESSIE
48A. Riddler foiled by Oedipus SPHINX
50A. Fictional destroyer of Tokyo GODZILLA
71A. Beowulf’s victim GRENDEL
72A. What each of seven answers in this puzzle is MONSTER

COMPLETION TIME: 07m 14s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 2 … GRENDEL (Grandel), ELIE (Elia)

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Mythological fire-breather CHIMERA
In Greek mythology, a chimera was a female monster with the body of a lioness, a tail that ended in a snake’s head, and the head of a goat that emanated from the lioness’s spine. The term chimera has entered into our modern language, meaning a fanciful illusion or fabrication.

8. Man-horse creature CENTAUR
The centaur is found in Greek mythology, a creature with the upper body of a human, and lower body of a horse.

17. Like Napoleon on Elba IN EXILE
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 …

21. Guitarist Barrett SYD
Syd Barrett was the lead singer and a founding member of the English rock band Pink Floyd. Barrett was only active as a musician for just over ten years. He retired from the music scene in 1975 and spent the next 30 years living off Pink Floyd royalties until he passed away in 2006.

22. About, in dates CIRCA
“Circa” is a Latin word meaning “around, near, about the time of”. We use “circa” directly in English to mean “about the time of”, as well as in derivative words such as “circle” and “circus”.

25. AEC successor NRC
The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was set up right after WWII in 1946, with the aim of promoting the peaceful use of atomic energy. Establishing the AEC was a significant move made by President Truman, as it passed control of atomic energy from the military to the civilian sector. The AEC continued to operate until 1974 when its functions were divided up into two new agencies: the Energy Research and Development Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

28. Labyrinth dweller MINOTAUR
Minos was the King of Crete in Greek mythology, and the son of Zeus and Europa. Minos had an elaborate labyrinth built under the island, designed by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus (who famously died trying to escape from the island by “flying” away). In the labyrinth, King Minos kept the Minotaur, a dreadful creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man.

31. Elusive loch dweller, familiarly NESSIE
The Loch Ness monster has been talked about for centuries, but modern interest started in 1933 when a spate of sightings was reported. Those sightings don’t seem to have stopped, with photographs really sparking the imagination.

35. Powerful health care lobbying gp. AMA
The American Medical Association (AMA) was founded in 1847 at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. The first female member was allowed to join the AMA in 1868, but the first African American members weren’t admitted until one hundred years later, in 1968.

36. Internet letters HTTP
“http” are the first letters in most Internet link addresses. “http” stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol.

38. Singer Ronstadt LINDA
Linda Ronstadt is a singer-songwriter from Tucson, Arizona. Ronstadt really does have a lovely voice, and can make any song her own. In the late seventies, she was the highest paid woman in the world of rock music.

39. Massage style SHIATSU
“Shiatsu” is a Japanese word meaning “finger pressure”, and is the name given to a style of massage.

42. Champs-__: Paris boulevard ELYSEES
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets in the world. It is the main thoroughfare in Paris, home to the Arc de Triomphe and the Place de la Concorde. The name “Champs-Élysées” is French for Elysian Fields, a place where the righteous went after death according to Greek mythology.

45. Law office hire PARA
Paralegal (para.).

48. Riddler foiled by Oedipus SPHINX
In Greek mythology, the creature known as the Sphinx has the body of a lion, the wings of a bird and the face of a woman. The Sphinx threatened to strangle and devour any person who could not answer a famous riddle: “Which creature walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?” Oedipus was able to save himself by answering correctly “Man”. The idea is that a man crawls on all fours as a baby, and then walks on two feet as an adult, and walks with a cane in old age. “Sphinx” is actually a Greek word, meaning “the strangler” …

50. Fictional destroyer of Tokyo GODZILLA
Godzilla is a Japanese creation. The first in a very long series of Godzilla films was released back in 1954. The original name in Japanese was “Gojira”, but this was changed to Godzilla for audiences outside of Japan. “Gojira” is a combination of “gorira” and “kujira”, the Japanese words for gorilla and whale, apt because Godzilla is a big ape-like creature that comes out of the deep.

58. Nipper’s org. RCA
Nipper is the name of the dog that appeared in the RCA logo. Nipper was a real dog, actually from England. His owner, Francis Barraud, made a painting of Nipper listening to a gramophone. Barraud then approached several gramophone manufacturers in the hope they would be interested in using the image for advertising. Nipper’s likeness was indeed picked up, and around that time it was Barraud himself who came up with the slogan “His Master’s Voice”.

64. Brahe contemporary GALILEO
Galileo Galilei may be the most famous son of the city of Pisa in Italy and was considered by many to have been the father of modern science. In the world of physics, Galileo postulated that objects of different masses would fall at the same rate provided they did so in a vacuum (so there was no air resistance). There is a story that he dropped two balls of different masses from the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa to demonstrate this, but this probably never happened. Centuries later, Astronaut David Scott performed Galileo’s proposed experiment when he dropped a hammer and feather on the moon during the Apollo 15 mission and we all saw them hit the moon surface, at exactly the same time.

Tycho Brahe was an astronomer and contemporary of Galileo. Brahe lost his nose in a duel, and wore a replacement made of either silver or gold pasted onto his face!

67. Temples with up-curved roofs PAGODAS
Pagodas are tiered towers found in various parts of Asia, and are usually built for religious purposes.

69. Paper-folding art ORIGAMI
The Japanese word “origami” is derived from ori (folding) and kami (paper).

71. Beowulf’s victim GRENDEL
“Beowulf” is an old epic poem from England, although the story is set in Scandinavia. Beowulf fights a battle, defending the Danish King Hrothgar from the ferocious outcast Grendel. Hrothgar had built a great hall for his people in which they could celebrate; singing, dancing and drinking lots of mead. Grendel was angered by the carousing and attacked the hall, devouring many of the incumbent warriors as they slept. A bit of an extreme reaction to noisy neighbors I’d say …

Down
1. Final exam no-no CRIB
A crib is a plagiarism, most commonly the copying of an answer in an examination.

2. ’80s tennis star Mandlikova HANA
Hana Mandlikova is a former professional tennis star from Czechoslovakia. Mandlikova won four Grand Slam titles and then retired in 1990, at the ripe old age of 28.

3. Folk singer Burl IVES
As well as being an actor, Burl Ives was a folk singer, his original calling. In Hollywood Ives had a distressing experience with the House Un-American Activities Committee and avoided being blacklisted by cooperating at some level with McCarthy and his cohorts. This cooperation created a rift between him and Pete Seeger in particular, a fellow singer whom he “discussed” with the committee.

9. Keenan’s actor father ED WYNN
Ed Wynn was a comedian and actor, especially popular on his own radio show. Wynn migrated from radio to the small and big screens, moving from comedic to dramatic roles. His most noted film performance was in “The Diary of Anne Frank” playing Albert Dussel, the dentist who hid from the Nazis with the Frank family. For this role Wynn was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Keenan Wynn was a character actor who played many roles on television and in movies. Keenan’s father was the actor and comedian Ed Wynn.

10. Bulls org. NBA
The Chicago Bulls have won six NBA championships in the life of the franchise, all of them in nineties. They won in the 1991, 1992 and 1993 seasons (a so-called “three-peat”), and then again in 1996, 1997 and 1998 (a second “three-peat”).

11. Smidgen TAD
Our word “smidgen”, meaning a small amount, might come from the Scots word “smitch” that means the same thing or “a small insignificant person”.

13. Like Cinderella’s stepsisters UGLY
The folk tale about “Cinderella” was first published by French author Charles Perrault in 1697. The storyline of the tale may date back as far as the days of Ancient Greece.

14. Bassoon, e.g. REED
Our modern bassoon first appeared in the 1800s and has had a place in the concert orchestra ever since.

29. Beatnik’s “Got it” I’M HIP
The term “beatnik” was first coined by journalist Herb Caen in 1958 when he used it to describe the stereotypical young person of the “beat generation” that was oft associated with the writer Jack Kerouac. That stereotypical beatnik would be playing the bongos and rolling his or her own cigarettes. Male beatniks tended to sport goatees and wear berets.

30. J. Carrol __: TV’s Charlie Chan NAISH
J. Carrol Naish was an actor from New York, known for playing supporting roles in many films as well as playing the title role on the radio show “Life with Luigi” in the late forties and early fifties. “Life with Luigi” was even more popular than Bob Hope’s regular broadcasts!

32. Fishhook-to-line connection SNELL
A snell is a length of thin line that connects a fishhook to heavier line.

37. Big name in Argentine politics PERON
Nowadays, President Juan Perón of Argentina is perhaps less well-known than his second wife, Eva Perón of “Evita” fame. Juan and Eva Perón were overthrown in a military coup in 1955, although Juan Perón was returned to power in 1973 when he served for only nine months before he passed away. Juan was succeeded in office by his third wife, Isabel Perón.

41. Emmy winner Daly TYNE
Tyne Daly really came into the public eye playing Detective Lacey in the TV police drama “Cagney and Lacey”. More recently Daly played the mother of the title character in “Judging Amy”.

43. “Shane” star Alan LADD
The classic 1953 western movie called “Shane” is based on the novel of the same name by Jack Schaefer published in 1949.

American film actor Alan Ladd had a rough end to his life. In 1962 he was found unconscious in a pool of blood with a bullet wound in his chest, an abortive suicide attempt. Two years later he was found dead, apparently having died from an accidental overdose of drugs and sedatives. He was 50 years old.

49. The “X” in XFL, so some thought XTREME
The XFL was an American Football league that only survived for one season. The intention of the league was to provide football fans with something to watch in the off-season, but the fans didn’t bother. There was discussion when the league was founded that “XFL” would stand for “Extreme” Football League, but the decision was made to let the “X” stand for nothing at all.

51. Homemade pistol ZIP GUN
A zip gun is an improvised firearm, one that can be quite crude or sometimes very sophisticated. Zip guns were quite popular in the US in the 1950s when gun control laws were more restrictive. They aren’t found very often these days as it is relatively easy for folks to get a gun either legally or illegally. I even found one in a parking lot one time …

56. “The Alienist” author Caleb CARR
One of Caleb Carr’s novels is a latter day Sherlock Holmes mystery called “The Italian Secretary”. The novel was written as a homage to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (using the Holmes character with the permission of the Doyle estate). I am a big fan of Sherlock Holmes stories so I must put this one on my reading list.

57. Nobelist Wiesel ELIE
Elie Wiesel is a holocaust survivor, best known for his book “Night” which tells of his experiences in Auschwitz and Buchenwald.

59. Slinky’s shape COIL
The marvelous Slinky toy was invented in the early forties by a naval engineer called Richard James. James was developing springs for the navy that could stabilize sensitive instruments in rough seas. One day he accidentally knocked one of his experimental coils off a shelf and watched it “step” onto a stack of books, then onto a table and from there onto the floor, where it recoiled itself very neatly. The Slinky was born …

63. River of Flanders YSER
The Yser originates in northern France and flows through Belgium into the North Sea. The Yser is often associated with WWI as it figured in a major battle early in the conflict. In the first three months of the war, the German Army pushed almost completely through Belgium, inflicting heavy losses on the Belgian Army as the defenders were forced to fight a fast-moving rearguard action. The Germans were intent on pushing right through Belgium and across France in a “race to the sea”. But the Belgians, with the help of their Allies, decided to make a final stand at the Yser Canal in an effort to prevent the Germans reaching the French ports of Calais and Dunkirk. The 22-mile long defensive line was chosen at the Yser because the river and canal system could be flooded to create a barrier that might be defended. The plan was successful and the front was “stabilized”. As we now know, millions of lives were lost over the coming years with very little movement of that battle line.

67. Milne’s absent-minded Mr. PIM
A. A. Milne (of “Winnie-the-Pooh” fame) wrote a play called “Mr. Pim Passes By” in 1919. The playwas a big hit and starred Leslie Howard in the original London production.

68. It begins with enero ANO
In Spanish, a year (año) starts in January (Enero) and ends in December (Diciembre).

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Mythological fire-breather CHIMERA
8. Man-horse creature CENTAUR
15. Tangled or disentangled RAVELED
16. Employee’s security pass ID BADGE
17. Like Napoleon on Elba IN EXILE
18. Nonsense TWADDLE
19. Elementary BASIC
20. Teacher’s answer book KEY
21. Guitarist Barrett SYD
22. About, in dates CIRCA
25. AEC successor NRC
28. Labyrinth dweller MINOTAUR
31. Elusive loch dweller, familiarly NESSIE
35. Powerful health care lobbying gp. AMA
36. Internet letters HTTP
38. Singer Ronstadt LINDA
39. Massage style SHIATSU
42. Champs-__: Paris boulevard ELYSEES
44. __-face: smooching KISSY-
45. Law office hire PARA
47. Not in the clergy LAY
48. Riddler foiled by Oedipus SPHINX
50. Fictional destroyer of Tokyo GODZILLA
53. Match part SET
54. Erased UNDID
55. Leader of the pitching staff ACE
58. Nipper’s org. RCA
60. Godliness PIETY
64. Brahe contemporary GALILEO
67. Temples with up-curved roofs PAGODAS
69. Paper-folding art ORIGAMI
70. No help INUTILE
71. Beowulf’s victim GRENDEL
72. What each of seven answers in this puzzle is MONSTER

Down
1. Final exam no-no CRIB
2. ’80s tennis star Mandlikova HANA
3. Folk singer Burl IVES
4. Arizona neighbor MEXICO
5. Draw forth ELICIT
6. Cath. or Prot. REL
7. Juice drink suffix -ADE
8. Name as a source CITE
9. Keenan’s actor father ED WYNN
10. Bulls org. NBA
11. Smidgen TAD
12. Puts in ADDS
13. Like Cinderella’s stepsisters UGLY
14. Bassoon, e.g. REED
20. Small racer KART
23. Cheers from tiers RAHS
24. Prankster CUT-UP
26. Count (on) RELY
27. Forensic detectives, briefly CSIS
28. Trick-or-treaters’ costume items MASKS
29. Beatnik’s “Got it” I’M HIP
30. J. Carrol __: TV’s Charlie Chan NAISH
32. Fishhook-to-line connection SNELL
33. Perfect IDEAL
34. Cinch course EASY A
37. Big name in Argentine politics PERON
40. With no warranties AS IS
41. Emmy winner Daly TYNE
43. “Shane” star Alan LADD
46. Océano filler AGUA
49. The “X” in XFL, so some thought XTREME
51. Homemade pistol ZIP GUN
52. Imbeciles IDIOTS
55. Awestruck AGOG
56. “The Alienist” author Caleb CARR
57. Nobelist Wiesel ELIE
59. Slinky’s shape COIL
61. Cut and paste, e.g. EDIT
62. Story TALE
63. River of Flanders YSER
65. Car starter: Abbr. IGN
66. Young fellow LAD
67. Milne’s absent-minded Mr. PIM
68. It begins with enero ANO

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