LA Times Crossword Answers 2 Nov 12, Friday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
6. Student of Socrates PLATO
Plato was a Greek philosopher and mathematician. He was a student of the equally famous and respected Socrates, and Plato in turn was the teacher and mentor of the celebrated Aristotle.

11. “The Mentalist” network CBS
“The Mentalist” is a police drama that has been airing on CBS since 2008. It’s all about a former psychic who now works as a consultant to the police. I have never watched it though …

17. Stallone’s garden supply? MACHO MAN(URE)
If ever there was a movie that defines a career breakthrough for an actor, it would have to be “Rocky” for Sylvester Stallone. Stallone was a struggling actor in 1975 when a Muhammad Ali fight inspired Stallone to write a screenplay for a boxing movie, which he did in just three days. His efforts to sell the script went well but for the fact that the interested studios wanted a big name for the lead role, and Stallone was determined to be the star himself. Stallone persevered and “Rocky” was eventually made with him playing the lead, and the movie won three Oscars. “Sly” Stallone had arrived …

19. Halifax head LOO
When I was growing up in Ireland, a “bathroom” was a room that had a bath and no toilet. The separate room with the commode was called “the toilet” or sometimes the W.C. (the water closet). Apparently the term closet was used because in the 1800s when homeowners started installing toilets indoors they often displaced clothes and linens in a “closet”, as a closet was the right size to take the commode. It has been suggested that the British term “loo” comes from Waterloo (water-closet … water-loo), but no one seems to know for sure. Another suggestion is that the term comes from the card game of “lanterloo” in which the pot was called the loo!

Halifax is a town in West Yorkshire in the North of England.

20. Lively dance CONGA
The conga line is a dance that originated as a Cuban carnival march. It became popular in the US starting in the thirties. The dance is apparently named after the Congo region of Africa, and it was originated by slaves who were brought from there to Cuba.

21. Cage, for one ACTOR
Nic Cage was born Nicolas Coppola. Cage is the nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire, both of whom are his father’s siblings.

23. Movie theater appliances POPPERS
Those would be popcorn poppers, or I suppose more correctly “corn poppers that make popcorn” …

29. Buck DOLLAR
“Buck” and “clam” are both slang terms for “a dollar”. The term “buck” has been around at least since 1856, and is thought to derive from the tradition of using buckskin as a unit of trade with Native Americans during the frontier days. It has been suggested that “clam” has a similar derivation, a throwback to the supposed use of clams as units of currency in ancient cultures.

41. Cubs’ spring training city MESA
The city of Mesa, Arizona is in effect a suburb of Phoenix.

44. Cádiz cohort AMIGO
Cádiz is a port city in southwestern Spain, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz is a remarkable city geographically, in that it sits on a thin spit of land that juts out into the sea.

48. Allied leader STALIN
Joseph Stalin was Soviet Premier from 1941 to 1953. Stalin’s real name was Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili, but not long after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1903 he adopted the name “Stalin”, which is the Russian word for “steel”.

51. News source since Dec. 1881 LA TIMES
The “Los Angeles Times” started out life in 1881 as the “Los Angeles Daily Times”.

53. Feudal lord LIEGE
A liege was a feudal lord, one to whom service or allegiance was owed under feudal law. “Liege” was also the term used for one who owed allegiance or service to the lord. Very confusing …

62. First name in dictators IDI
Idi Amin received most of his military training in the British armed forces, eventually achieving the highest rank possible for a Black African in the British Colonial Army in 1959, that of Warrant Officer. On his return to Uganda Amin joined his country’s military and quickly rose to the rank of Deputy Commander of the Army. During that time he was quite the athlete. He was a noted rugby player and swimmer, and for nine years held the Ugandan national light-heavyweight boxing title. By the early seventies, Amin was commander of all the armed forces of Uganda and in 1971 seized power in a military coup, displacing the country’s president Milton Obote. There followed seven years of brutal rule by Amin during which it is estimated that between 100,000 and 500,000 people were murdered. Amin was ousted from power in 1979 after a war with Tanzania, and fled to Libya where he stayed for a year. He then moved to Saudi Arabia, where he was financially supported by the Saudi Royal Family for the remainder of his life. Amin died in 2003.

64. Ryder rival U-HAUL
U-Haul was started by married couple Leonard Shoen and Anna Mary Carty in Ridgefield, Washington in 1945. The Shoens used $5,000 of seed money to build trailers in their garage, and then cleverly recruited gas station owners as franchisees with whom they would split the rental revenue. There are now about 15,000 U-Hail dealers across the country.

The Ryder company was founded in 1933 in Miami, Florida by James Ryder. It started out as a concrete hauling company, but changed its focus a few years later to the leasing of trucks.

65. WWII carrier LST
LST stands for Landing Ship, Tank. LSTs were the large vessels used mainly in WWII that had doors at either ends through which tanks and other vehicles could roll off and onto beaches. The design concept persists to this day in the huge fleet of commercial roll-on/roll-off car ferries, all inspired by the LST.

66. Domingo, e.g. TENOR
I suppose the most famous Domingo is Placido Domingo the Spanish tenor, one of the celebrated trio who often sang together as “The Three Tenors”. The Three Tenors were Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti (RIP).

Down
8. Río contents AGUA
In Spanish, there is water (agua) in the river (río ).

9. A.L. East team, on scoreboards TOR
The Toronto Blue Jays baseball franchise was founded in 1977 and is the only team outside the US to have won a World Series, doing so in 1992 and 1993. And since the Montreal Expos relocated to Washington, the Blue Jays are the only Major League Baseball team headquartered outside of the US.

22. Storm harbinger CLAP
A clap of thunder might indicate there’s a storm on the way.

23. Old Testament poem PSALM
Our word “psalm” comes to us via Latin from the Greek “psalmos” meaning “song sung to a harp”.

29. Dome cover DO-RAG
Hip-hoppers might wear do-rags today, but they have been around for centuries. If you recall the famous image of Rosie the Riveter, she was wearing a do-rag. The etymology is pretty transparent, a piece of cloth (rag) to hold a hairstyle (do) in place.

32. Hand-holding group dance HORA
The hora (also “horah”) is a circle dance that originated in the Balkans. The hora was brought to Israel by Romanian settlers, and is often performed to traditional Israeli folk songs. The dance is a regular sight at Jewish weddings.

34. Oater orphan DOGIE
“Dogie” is cowboy slang for a motherless calf in a herd.

35. Mashie and niblick IRONS
Most of the irons in a golf bag had non-numerical names in days gone by:

– 2 Iron … Cleek
– 3 Iron … Mid Mashie
– 4 Iron … Mashie Iron
– 5 Iron … Mashie
– 6 Iron … Spade Mashie
– 7 Iron … Mashie Niblick
– 8 Iron … Pitching Niblick
– 9 Iron … Niblick

42. Kolkata’s locale ASIA
Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) is the capital of West Bengal, India. Kolkata grew up around a fort that the British built in the area in 1712. Prior to the arrival of the British, there were three villages at the site, one named Kalikata. Kalikata gave its name to the city that eventually developed. This was anglicized to “Calcutta” which became the official name for centuries, until it was changed to Kolkata in 2001.

45. Avril follower MAI
In French, the month of April (avril) comes before May (mai). Note that the French don’t capitalize the names of months as we do in English.

48. Saltimbocca herb SAGE
Saltimbocca is a dish from southern Europe made of veal topped with prosciutto and sage, and then marinated in perhaps wine. The name “saltimbocca” is Italian for “jump in the mouth”.

51. Subject for Archimedes LEVER
Archimedes of Syracuse was a man of many talents: a mathematician, physicist, inventor and astronomer. Archimedes’ name is often associated with hydrostatics and with the lever. He is also famous for reputedly uttering the word “Eureka”.

Eureka translates from Greek as “I have found it”. The word is usually associated with Archimedes, uttered as he stepped into his bath one day. His discovery was that the volume of water that was displaced was equal to that of the object (presumably his foot) that had been submerged. He used this fact to determine the volume of a crown, something he needed in order to determine if it was made of pure gold or was a forgery.

59. 2002 Chapter 11-filing flier UAL
United Airlines used the tagline “Fly the Friendly Skies” in its marketing materials from 1965 to 1996. It was then replaced with “It’s time to fly”. United chose George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” as the company’s theme music in 1976, and paid the Gershwin estate a fee of $500,000 for the privilege.

61. 2002 British Open champ ELS
Ernie Els is a South African golfer. Els a big guy but he has an easy fluid golf swing that has earned him the nickname “The Big Easy”. He has a child who suffers from autism and so Els has been very effective in raising money for charities that focus on the condition.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Bright-eyed ALERT
6. Student of Socrates PLATO
11. “The Mentalist” network CBS
14. Cut over RESAW
15. Get ready to surf LOG ON
16. Last word?: Abbr. ULT
17. Stallone’s garden supply? MACHO MAN(URE)
19. Halifax head LOO
20. Lively dance CONGA
21. Cage, for one ACTOR
23. Movie theater appliances POPPERS
27. Casually mention, with “to” ALLUDE
28. Sacred structure SHRINE
29. Buck DOLLAR
31. Influential sports figure AGENT
32. Brewery flavoring HOPS
33. Beginning to cure? PEDI-
36. French article LES
37. Lacking SHORT OF
40. To benefit FOR
41. Cubs’ spring training city MESA
43. Prominent periods ERAS
44. Cádiz cohort AMIGO
46. Post office flier US FLAG
48. Allied leader STALIN
49. “Gave it my best” I TRIED
51. News source since Dec. 1881 LA TIMES
52. Musical inadequacy NO EAR
53. Feudal lord LIEGE
55. Wine flavoring OAK
56. Santa’s risky undertaking? ROOF VENT(URE)
62. First name in dictators IDI
63. Eliminate ERASE
64. Ryder rival U-HAUL
65. WWII carrier LST
66. Domingo, e.g. TENOR
67. Hides PELTS

Down
1. Hand holder? ARM
2. Rural expanse LEA
3. Changed-my-mind key ESC
4. Encouraging word RAH
5. Unsolicited opinion TWO CENTS
6. Doesn’t wing it PLANS
7. Like a boring lecture, probably LONG
8. Río contents AGUA
9. A.L. East team, on scoreboards TOR
10. Low tie ONE ALL
11. Movie about artificially grown bacteria? CULT(URE) FILM
12. Lineage BLOOD
13. See 58-Down STORE
18. Seconds MORE
22. Storm harbinger CLAP
23. Old Testament poem PSALM
24. Wistful remark OH GEE
25. Fast-talking salesman’s training materials? PRESS(URE) KIT
26. Jewelry item PIN
27. To boot ALSO
29. Dome cover DO-RAG
30. Drops (out) OPTS
32. Hand-holding group dance HORA
34. Oater orphan DOGIE
35. Mashie and niblick IRONS
38. Decided in court HELD
39. Add some meat to FATTEN UP
42. Kolkata’s locale ASIA
45. Avril follower MAI
47. Polecat kin FERRET
48. Saltimbocca herb SAGE
49. How much sautéing is done IN OIL
50. Warty amphibians TOADS
51. Subject for Archimedes LEVER
53. Buyer’s aid LOAN
54. “Based on that …” IF SO
57. Source of iron ORE
58. With 13-Down, errand runner’s destination THE
59. 2002 Chapter 11-filing flier UAL
60. Track RUT
61. 2002 British Open champ ELS

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