LA Times Crossword Answers 9 Jan 13, Wednesday

CROSSWORD SETTER: Gerry Wildenberg
THEME: Silvery Openings … each of today’s themed answers starts with a word associated with SILVER:

18A. The money follows it DOLLAR SIGN (silver dollar)
23A. Olympic hero MEDAL WINNER (silver medal)
35A. Treat like a child SPOONFEED (silver spoon)
50A. Rapid rail transport BULLET TRAIN (silver bullet)
57A. Actor’s tryout SCREEN TEST (silver screen)

2D. With 47-Down, proverbial cloud feature, and a hint to the starts of 18-, 23-, 35-, 50- and 57-Across SILVER
47D. See 2-Down LINING

COMPLETION TIME: 8m 57s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
10. Japanese noodle SOBA
Soba is a thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat flour. In Japan, the word soba tends to be used to describe any thin noodle, in contrast with the thicker noodles that are called udon.

14. See 17-Across NILE

Depending on definition, the Nile is generally regarded 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 the peoples living along its length.

17. Queen of the 14-Across, familiarly CLEO
Cleopatra was the last pharaoh to rule Egypt. After Cleopatra died, Egypt became a province in the Roman Empire.

20. Gardner of film AVA
Ava Gardner is noted for her association with some big movies, but also for her association with some big names when it came to the men in her life. In the world of film, she appeared in the likes of “Mogambo” (1953), “On the Beach” (1959), “The Night of the Iguana” (1964) and “Earthquake” (1974). The men in her life included husbands Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra. After her marriages had failed (and perhaps before!) she had long term relationships with Howard Hughes and bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguin whom she met through her friend Ernest Hemingway.

22. Missouri tributary OSAGE
Much of the Osage River in Missouri is now taken up by two large reservoirs created behind two dams that provide power for St. Louis and the surrounding area. The two reservoirs are the Truman Reservoir and the Lake of the Ozarks.

23. Olympic hero MEDAL WINNER (silver medal)
In the Ancient Olympic Games, the winner of an event was awarded an olive wreath. When the games were revived in 1896, the winners were originally given a silver medal and an olive branch, with runners-up receiving a bronze medal and a laurel branch. The tradition of giving gold, silver and bronze medals began at the 1904 Summer Olympic Games held in St. Louis, Missouri.

28. Conductor André PREVIN
André Previn is pianist, conductor and composer who was born in Berlin, Germany but who grew up in Los Angeles. Previn has won four Oscars for his work on the musical scores of “Gigi” (1958), “Porgy & Bess” (1959), “Irma la Douce” (1963) and “My Fair Lady” (1964). Previn was married five time, most famously probably to actress Mia Farrow.

30. Suffix with phon- -EME
I’m no linguist and just accept that a “phoneme” is a basic sound in a language. A language is built up from a collection of those basic sounds.

34. ”__ Death”: Grieg work ASE’S
“Ase’s Death” is a movement in Edvard Grieg’s beautiful “Peer Gynt” suite. The suite is a collection of incidental music that Grieg composed for Ibsen’s play of the same name. Ase is the widow of a peasant, and the mother of Peer Gynt.

41. Lincoln et al. ABES
Abraham Lincoln was born in a one-room log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky making him the first president born in the West. His formal education was limited to a year and a half of schooling, but fortunately for us, Lincoln was an avid reader and educated himself over the years. Even though he was from a rural area, he avoided hunting and fishing because he did not like to kill animals even for food.

42. __ gratia: by the grace of God DEI
“Dei Gratia” is Latin for “By the Grace of God”. The term is used in the name of a monarch who is said to be ruling by divine right. For example, the full title of the UK’s Queen is “Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith”.

46. Fin de __: end of the century SIECLE
Fin de siècle is a term referring to the close of the 19th century (French for “end of the century”).

50. Rapid rail transport BULLET TRAIN (silver bullet)
Although rail transportation started out its life in Europe, it really came into its own transporting people and goods across the vast United States. However, the Japanese should be given credit for developing train travel into the exceptional service it is today. A bullet train is any high speed train that resembles the locomotives developed by the Japanese in the fifties and sixties.

53. Tokyo-based watchmaker SEIKO
Seiko Epson is a Japanese company, 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 time keeper 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 (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?

55. New Haven collegians ELIS
Eli is the nickname for a graduate of Yale University, a term used in honor of the Yale benefactor Elihu Yale.

61. British weapon of WWII STEN
The STEN gun was an iconic armament used by the British military forces. The name STEN is an acronym. The S and the T comes from the name of the gun’s designers, Shepherd and Turpin. The EN comes from the Enfield brand name, which in turn comes from the Enfield location where the guns were manufactured for the Royal Small Arms Factory, an enterprise owned by the British government.

62. Down Under soldier ANZAC
The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was a unit formed in WWI that is most notably associated with the Battle of Gallipoli.

The Gallipoli peninsula is in the part of Turkey that resides in the continent of Europe. During WWI, the Allies landed on the peninsula and fought what is now called the Dardanelles Campaign in the UK, or the Gallipoli Campaign in other parts of the world. The landing was not successful, and after eight months of fighting the allies withdrew, having lost over 40,000 men with the Turkish losing about 20,000.

63. Basic video game PONG
Do you remember the arcade video game that was like a game of tennis, with paddles moving up and down to hit what looked like a ball, over what looked like a net? Well, that was “Pong”.

64. __ buco OSSO
Osso is the Italian word for bone as in the name of the dish “Osso Buco”, braised veal shanks.

Down
4. “The Matrix” hero NEO
Neo is the character played by Keanu Reeves in “The Matrix” series of films.

The 1999 movie sensation “The Matrix” was meant to be set in a nondescript urban environment. It was actually shot in Australia, as one of the co-producers of the film was the Australian company, Village Roadshow Pictures. You can pick up all sorts of clues about the location when watching the film, including a view of Sydney Harbour Bridge in a background shot. Also, traffic drives along on the left and there are signs for the “lift” instead of an “elevator”.

6. Native New Zealanders MAORI
The Māori are the indigenous people of New Zealand. The Māori are eastern Polynesian in origin and began arriving in New Zealand relatively recently, starting sometime in the late 13th century. The word “māori” simply means “normal”, distinguishing the mortal human being from spiritual entities.

7. Former “Idol” judge with Simon, Kara and Randy ELLEN
Comedian Ellen DeGeneres replaced Paula Abdul as judge on the Fox show “American Idol” in 2010, apparently signing a five-year contract. She only lasted a few months …

Ellen DeGeneres is a very, very successful TV personality, having parlayed her career in stand-up comedy into lucrative gigs as an actress and talk show host. Back in 1997 DeGeneres chose the “Oprah Winfrey Show” to announce that she was a lesbian. Her character on “The Ellen Show” also came out as a lesbian, in a scene with her therapist, played by Oprah Winfrey. Nice twist!

8. Lon of Cambodia NOL
Lon Nol was a soldier and politician in Cambodia, later serving twice as the country’s president. When the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975, Nol escaped the country to Indonesia. He eventually found a home in Fullerton, California, where he died in 1985.

9. Genetic letters DNA
I’ve always been fascinated by the fact that the DNA of living things is so very similar across different species. Human DNA is almost exactly the same for every individual (to the degree of 99.9%). However, those small differences are sufficient to distinguish one individual from another, and to determine whether or not individuals are close family relations.

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

12. Super Bowl, e.g. BIG GAME
Super Bowl I was played in January 1967 between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs. The Packers emerged victorious in a game with a score of 35-10. That game was officially known as the AFL-NFL Championship Game, as the name “Super Bowl” wasn’t applied until two seasons later. That “first” Super Bowl is now known as Super Bowl III and was played between the New York Jets and the Baltimore Colts. The Jets came out on top.

19. Golf star McIlroy RORY
Rory McIlroy is an incredibly successful golfer from Northern Ireland. He is a young man and currently the world number one on the circuit, so folks can’t help but compare him to Tiger Woods.

21. Super Bowl sight BLIMP
There is an important difference between a “blimp” (like “The Goodyear Blimp”) and an airship (like a Zeppelin). An airship is a rigid structure with an internal framework that helps maintain the shape of the airbag, whereas a blimp uses the pressure of the helium gas inside the airbag to give it shape. Aslo, blimps are usually heavier than air and so will float naturally to the ground. They maintain their lift with forward motion and by raising the nose slightly.

24. “Stop, ya swabs!” AVAST
Avast is a nautical term used to tell someone to stop or desist from what they are doing. The word comes from the Dutch “hou vast” meaning “hold fast”.

25. Innocents NAIFS
A naïf is someone who is naive, as “naïf” is the French word for “naive”.

32. Early computer language COBOL
COBOL is one of the oldest computer programming languages, with the acronym standing for COmmon Business-Oriented Language. COBOL was developed by “the mother of the COBOL language”, programmer Grace Hopper.

Grace Hopper wasn’t only a computer programmer, she was a rear admiral in the US Navy. She was quite a lady apparently, and earned herself the nickname of “Amazing Grace”. She even has a Navy destroyer named after her, the USS Hopper. Back in 1947 she noticed some colleagues who fixed a piece of equipment by removing a dead moth from a relay, so she remarked that they were “debugging” the system, and so she has been given credit for popularizing the term.

33. Maître d’s “Are you by yourself?” ONE
The full name of a maitre d’ is “maitre d’hotel”, which means “master of the hotel”.

36. Obama’s birthplace OAHU
Despite rumors to the contrary, I am pretty sure that Barack Hussein Obama II was indeed born in Hawaii. President Obama was born on August 4, 1961 at Kapi’olani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii.

45. Reed instrument OBOE
The oboe is perhaps my favorite of the reed instruments. The name “oboe” comes from the French “hautbois” which means “high wood”. When you hear an orchestra tuning before a performance you’ll note (pun intended!) that the oboe starts off the process by playing an “A”. The rest of the musicians in turn tune to that oboe’s “A”. Oh, and if you want to read a fun book (almost an “exposé”) about life playing the oboe, you might try “Mozart in the Jungle” by oboist Blair Tindall. I heard recently that the folks at HBO are working towards a pilot based on the book, and I can’t wait to see it!

51. TV host Gibbons LEEZA
Leeza Gibbons has her own radio show called “Hollywood Confidential”, and used to have her own talk show on NBC television that aired from 1994 to 2000. She is the founder of a nonprofit group called Leeza’s Place which supports people giving care to patients with memory disorders. Since 2007 she has been a board member of California’s stem cell research agency, appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

52. Schiaparelli et al. ELSAS
Elsa Schiaparelli was an Italian fashion designer, a great rival of the perhaps more famous Coco Chanel. Schiaparelli was most successful between the two World Wars, but her business closed in 1954 as she failed to adapt to changing tastes after WWII.

54. Lotto-like game KENO
The name “Keno” has French or Latin roots, with the French “quine” being a term for five winning numbers, and the Latin “quini” meaning “five each”. However, the game actually originated in China. Keno was introduced into the West by Chinese immigrants who were working on the first Transcontinental Railroad in the 1800s.

59. Spike TV, formerly TNN
The Nashville Network (TNN) was a country music cable channel that operated from 1983 to 2003. When TNN closed down it was relaunched with a completely different format as Spike, marketed as “the first television channel for men”.

60. Coppertone letters SPF
In theory, the sun protection factor (SPF) is a calibrated measure of the effectiveness of a sunscreen in protecting the skin from harmful UV rays. The idea is that if you wear a lotion with say SPF 20, then it takes 20 times as much UV radiation to cause the skin to burn than it would take without protection. I say just stay out of the sun …

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. “World Series of Poker” channel ESPN
5. Improve AMEND
10. Japanese noodle SOBA
14. See 17-Across NILE
15. Hawk’s weapon TALON
16. Neatness analogy ending A PIN
17. Queen of the 14-Across, familiarly CLEO
18. The money follows it DOLLAR SIGN
20. Gardner of film AVA
21. Lacking embellishment BARE
22. Missouri tributary OSAGE
23. Olympic hero MEDAL WINNER
27. Duty TAX
28. Conductor André PREVIN
29. __ which way ANY
30. Suffix with phon- -EME
31. River project DAM
32. Create, as words COIN
34. ”__ Death”: Grieg work ASE’S
35. Treat like a child SPOONFEED
38. Sense GIST
41. Lincoln et al. ABES
42. __ gratia: by the grace of God DEI
44. Italian article UNA
45. “Now I understand!” OHO
46. Fin de __: end of the century SIECLE
49. Approximate no. EST
50. Rapid rail transport BULLET TRAIN
53. Tokyo-based watchmaker SEIKO
55. New Haven collegians ELIS
56. Columbus-to-Cleveland dir. NNE
57. Actor’s tryout SCREEN TEST
60. Do bar work, perhaps STIR
61. British weapon of WWII STEN
62. Down Under soldier ANZAC
63. Basic video game PONG
64. __ buco OSSO
65. Grind, as teeth GNASH
66. Old-fashioned sort FOGY

Down
1. Spend a night on the trail ENCAMP
2. With 47-Down, proverbial cloud feature, and a hint to the starts of 18-, 23-, 35-, 50- and 57-Across SILVER
3. Begged PLEADED
4. “The Matrix” hero NEO
5. Early in the morning AT DAWN
6. Native New Zealanders MAORI
7. Former “Idol” judge with Simon, Kara and Randy ELLEN
8. Lon of Cambodia NOL
9. Genetic letters DNA
10. Smart talk SASS
11. Poppy products OPIATES
12. Super Bowl, e.g. BIG GAME
13. New wings, maybe ANNEXES
19. Golf star McIlroy RORY
21. Super Bowl sight BLIMP
24. “Stop, ya swabs!” AVAST
25. Innocents NAIFS
26. -trix relative -ENNE
32. Early computer language COBOL
33. Maître d’s “Are you by yourself?” ONE
34. Run like __ A DEER
36. Obama’s birthplace OAHU
37. Prepares for print EDITS
38. “I suppose” GUESS SO
39. Flies, for example INSECTS
40. Send-ups SATIRES
43. Playground response to a challenge I CAN TOO!
45. Reed instrument OBOE
46. Sewer line STITCH
47. See 2-Down LINING
48. Benefit of some bars and drinks ENERGY
51. TV host Gibbons LEEZA
52. Schiaparelli et al. ELSAS
54. Lotto-like game KENO
58. Racehorse, to a tout NAG
59. Spike TV, formerly TNN
60. Coppertone letters SPF

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