LA Times Crossword Answers 23 Oct 12, Tuesday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Athenian with harsh laws DRACO
Constitutional law was brought to Athens and Ancient Greece by a legislator called Draco. The legal code that Draco developed was relatively harsh, which is why we use the term “draconian” to describe unforgiving rules.

6. Sink-cleaning brand AJAX
Ajax cleanser has been around since 1947, and it’s “stronger than dirt!” That was the most famous slogan over here in the US. On my side of the pond, the celebrated slogan was “it cleans like a white tornado”.

15. Olympics sled 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.

17. 57-Across best-seller made into a 1971 film, with “The” ANDROMEDA STRAIN
“The Andromeda Strain” is a 1969 novel by Michael Crichton, a very exciting technical drama about an extraterrestrial organism that threatens the human population. The book was made into quite a successful film in 1971.

23. Heredity unit GENE
A gene is a section of a chromosome that is responsible for a particular characteristic in an organism. For example, one gene may determine eye color and another balding pattern. We have two copies of each gene, one from each of our parents, with each copy known as an allele.

25. Lake formed by the Aswan Dam NASSER
Lake Nasser is a large artificial lake created as a result of the construction of the Aswan High Dam (initiated by President Nasser). Lake Nasser lies in southern Egypt and northern Sudan. Strictly speaking, the section of the lake in Sudan is called Lake Nubia.

26. 57-Across best-seller made into a 1993 film JURASSIC PARK
“Jurassic Park” is a 1990 novel by Michael Crichton, adapted into a hugely successful movie by Steven Spielberg in 1993. One of the main premises of the novel is that dinosaur DNA could be harvested from mosquitoes trapped in amber (fossilized tree resin), the DNA coming from the dinosaur blood consumed by the mosquitoes. The dinosaur DNA is then sequenced and used to create clones of the original beasts. A clever idea, but apparently not very practical from what I’ve read …

31. Japanese cartoon art ANIME
Anime is animation in the style of Japanese Manga comic books.

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.

37. 57-Across best-seller made into a 1995 film CONGO
“Congo” is a 1980 novel by Michael Crichton. It’s all about searching for diamonds in the dense rain forest of Congo. The novel was turned into a movie in 1995. I hear that the book is a lot better than the film …

42. Windy City airport O’HARE
O’Hare International is the fourth busiest airport in the world. The original airport was constructed on the site between 1942 and 1943, and was used by the Douglas Aircraft Company for the manufacture of planes during WWII. Before the factory and airport were built, there was a community in the area called Orchard Place, so the airport was called Orchard Place Airport/Douglas Field. This name is the derivation of the airport’s current location identifier: ORD (OR-chard D-ouglas). Orchard Place Airport was renamed to O’Hare International in 1949 in honor of Lieutenant Commander Edward O’Hare who grew up in Chicago. O’Hare was the US Navy’s first flying ace and Medal of Honor recipient in WWII. As an aside, Edward O’Hare’s father was a lawyer for Al Capone who helped get the famous gangster convicted on tax evasion.

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

43. 57-Across best-seller made into a 1997 film THE LOST WORLD
“The Lost World” is Michael Crichton’s sequel to his highly successful “Jurassic Park”. The title “The Lost World” was pinched from a work of the same name by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Conan Doyle’s story has a similar theme: a plateau in the Amazon Basin where dinosaurs have survived to modern times.

57. Doctor-turned-novelist born 10/23/1942 MICHAEL CRICHTON
Michael Crichton was an incredibly successful writer, of novels and screenplays for television and movies. Crichton is the only person to have had No. 1 hits simultaneously in television (“ER”), movie theaters (“Jurassic Park”) and in book sales (“Disclosure”).

Down
2. Gambling mecca near Carson City RENO
Reno, Nevada was named in honor of Major General Jesse Lee Reno, a Union officer killed in the Civil War. The city has a famous “Reno Arch”, a structure that stands over the main street. The arch was erected in 1926 to promote an exposition planned for the following year. After the expo, the city council decided to keep the arch and held a competition to decide what wording should be displayed, and the winner was “The Biggest Little City in the World”.

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

5. Tic-tac-toe dud OXO
When I was growing up in Ireland we played “noughts and crosses” … our name for tic-tac-toe.

6. Former Soviet premier Kosygin ALEXEI
Alexei Kosygin was leader of the Soviet Union after Nikita Khrushchev, serving during the Cold War from 1964 to 1980.

7. Dench of “Iris” JUDI
Dame Judi Dench is an outstanding English actress, known largely in her home country for decades as a stage actress. Dench’s film career took off in the nineties with a relatively trivial role as “M” in the James Bond series of films. Since then she has played lead roles in several excellent movies including “Shakespeare in Love”, “Mrs. Brown” and “Notes on a Scandal”.

8. “Jumpin’ Jack Flash, it’s __ …”: Rolling Stones lyric A GAS
“Jumpin’ Jack Flash” is a song released in 1968 by the Rolling Stones. The song was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards at Richards’ country house. Apparently Jagger awoke one morning to the sound of a gardener doing his work. Richards told Jagger that the gardener’s name was Jumpin’ Jack Dyer, and the song evolved from there.

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

19. Nicholas and Peter TSARS
The last ruler of Imperial Russia was Tsar Nicholas II (of the House of Romanov). Famously, the Tsar and his family were murdered in 1918 in the basement of a house in Yekaterinburg, Russia by members of the Bolshevik secret police. The Tsar’s youngest daughter was 16-year-old Anastasia and rumors of her escape have persisted for years. The rumors grew with the help of numerous women who claimed to be Anastasia, but DNA testing has proven that all claims were false. In 2009, DNA finally proved that the remains of all of the Tsar’s immediate family, including Anastasia, have been found and identified.

25. Bosnia peacekeeping gp. NATO
NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (or OTAN in French, “l’Organisation du Traité de l’Atlantique Nord”). 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.”

26. Mud in a cup JAVA
Back in 1850, the name “java” was given to a type of coffee grown on the island of Java, and the usage of the term spread from there.

27. Operating system on many Internet servers UNIX
I always think of an operating system as that piece of software that sits between the hardware on my computer and the programs that I choose to run. Developers of application programs don’t really have to worry about being able to “talk to” the countless different types of hardware found in the wide variety of  computers that are manufactured, they just need to talk to the handful of operating systems that are out there, like Windows, MAC and Unix. The operating system takes care of the rest.

29. Time-share unit CONDO
The words “condominium” and “apartment” tend to describe the one type of residential property, a private living space with facilities shared with others residing in the same building or complex. The difference is that a condominium is usually owned, and an apartment is rented. At least that’s how it is in the US. The word “condominium” comes from the Latin “com” (together) and “dominum” (right of ownership).

30. Flat-nosed dog PUG
The pug is a breed of dog of Chinese origin. Our current dog is a boxer/pug cross, a good-looking mutt!

34. Banjoist Scruggs EARL
Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt are the musicians who founded the bluegrass band called the Foggy Mountain Boys in 1948.

38. Basketball’s Magic, on scoreboards ORL
The Orlando Magic were formed in 1989 as an NBA expansion team. A local paper was asked to run a competition to suggest names for the new team and the community came up with its four top picks of “Heat”, “Tropics”, “Juice” and “Magic”. A committee then opted for “Orlando Magic”. A good choice I think …

41. Tibetan capital LHASA
Lhasa is the capital city of Tibet, and the name “Lhasa” translates as “place of the gods”. However, Lhasa used to be called Rasa, a name that translates into the less auspicious “goat’s place”. Lhasa was also once called the “Forbidden City” due to its inaccessible location high in the Himalayas and a traditional hostility exhibited by residents to outsiders. The “forbidden” nature of the city has been reinforced since the Chinese took over Tibet in the early 1950s as it has been difficult for foreigners to get permission to visit Lhasa.

42. MYOB part OWN
Mind your own business (MYOB) …

43. Astaire/Rogers musical TOP HAT
“Top Hat” is a fun comedy musical starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. “Top Hat” is the most successful movie that the Astaire-Rogers teams made.

54. Chichén __: Mayan ruins ITZA
Chichén Itzá is a Mayan ruin located in the Mexican state of Yucatán. It is the second most visited archaeological site in the country (after the ancient city of Teotihuacan). Chichén Itzá has seen a surge in the number of visitors since the development of nearby Cancún as a tourist destination.

55. Champagne brand MOET
Moët & Chandon is a French winery, one of the world’s largest producers of champagne. The company was founded by wine trader Claude Moët in 1743. The name was changed to Moët & Chandon in the 1830s when Pierre-Gabriel Chandon, an in-law to the Moët family, was given co-ownership. Moët & Chandon owns the famous Dom Pérignon brand name, honoring the Benedictine monk who did so much to improve the quality of champagne.

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

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Athenian with harsh laws DRACO
6. Sink-cleaning brand AJAX
10. Greenish-blue AQUA
14. Put one’s feet up RELAX
15. Olympics sled LUGE
16. Expressions of disapproval TUTS
17. 57-Across best-seller made into a 1971 film, with “The” ANDROMEDA STRAIN
20. Golf club now made of metal WOOD
21. Line on a graph AXIS
22. Move crab-style SIDLE
23. Heredity unit GENE
25. Lake formed by the Aswan Dam NASSER
26. 57-Across best-seller made into a 1993 film JURASSIC PARK
31. Japanese cartoon art ANIME
32. Exposes OUTS
33. Shortest mo. FEB
36. Despicable VILE
37. 57-Across best-seller made into a 1995 film CONGO
39. Tear go-with WEAR
40. Chopper AXE
41. Head of the manor LORD
42. Windy City airport O’HARE
43. 57-Across best-seller made into a 1997 film THE LOST WORLD
46. Across the sea ABROAD
49. Accessories for a “Just Married” sign CANS
50. Plumbing woes DRIPS
51. Not real FAUX
53. Ref’s call TIME
57. Doctor-turned-novelist born 10/23/1942 MICHAEL CRICHTON
60. Concept IDEA
61. Turn sharply VEER
62. Stunned DAZED
63. It may be standardized TEST
64. “Don’t get excited” EASY
65. Sports page figures STATS

Down
1. Deadlock DRAW
2. Gambling mecca near Carson City RENO
3. Fashion’s Gucci ALDO
4. Bridge, e.g. CARD GAME
5. Tic-tac-toe dud OXO
6. Former Soviet premier Kosygin ALEXEI
7. Dench of “Iris” JUDI
8. “Jumpin’ Jack Flash, it’s __ …”: Rolling Stones lyric A GAS
9. Symbolic signatures XES
10. Vulnerable AT RISK
11. Campus courtyards QUADS
12. Practical UTILE
13. Ed of “Lou Grant” ASNER
18. Controls, as a helm MANS
19. Nicholas and Peter TSARS
24. Houston-to-Miami dir. ESE
25. Bosnia peacekeeping gp. NATO
26. Mud in a cup JAVA
27. Operating system on many Internet servers UNIX
28. Agitate RILE
29. Time-share unit CONDO
30. Flat-nosed dog PUG
33. Dread FEAR
34. Banjoist Scruggs EARL
35. Reared BRED
37. Not just for males COED
38. Basketball’s Magic, on scoreboards ORL
39. Question of identity WHO’S THAT?
41. Tibetan capital LHASA
42. MYOB part OWN
43. Astaire/Rogers musical TOP HAT
44. Flee, mouse-style SCURRY
45. Curbside call TAXI
46. Ticket word ADMIT
47. Bouquet tosser BRIDE
48. Reduces to small pieces, as potatoes RICES
51. __ circus FLEA
52. Hard-to-hit pitchers ACES
54. Chichén __: Mayan ruins ITZA
55. Champagne brand MOET
56. Finishes ENDS
58. Holiday lead-in EVE
59. DJ’s assortment CDS

Return to top of page