LA Times Crossword Answers 3 Apr 13, Wednesday

CROSSWORD SETTER: Erik Agard
THEME: With Power … each of the themed answers is made up of two words, each of which often precedes the word POWER:

17A. *Career soldier MILITARY MAN (“military power” & “manpower”)
24A. *1995 movie flop dubbed “Fishtar” by some critics WATERWORLD (“waterpower” & “world power”)
29A. *Much-sought-after celebrity SUPERSTAR (“super power” & “star power”)
44A. *Sun emanation responsible for the northern lights SOLAR WIND (“solar power” & “wind power”)
49A. *Petal pusher? FLOWER GIRL (“flower power” & “girl power”)

62A. Brangelina, e.g.—or, in a way, each of the answers to starred clues POWER COUPLE

COMPLETION TIME: 09m 18s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
7. NASA citrus drink TANG
Tang is a fruity drink that is sold in powdered form. The sales of Tang “took off” when John Glenn took Tang on his Mercury flight. However, it is a common misconception that Tang was invented for the space program. That’s not true, although it was included in the payload of many missions.

11. Digital doc format PDF
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.

16. Meyers of “Kate & Allie” ARI
Ari Meyers is an actress best known for playing Emma McArdle, daughter of Kate on the eighties sitcom “Kate & Allie”. Meyers left the show in the fifth season in order to attend Yale University, from where she graduated with a degree in Philosophy and Theatre Arts.

19. Quaint curse POX
A pox on ye!

23. End of a New Year’s song SYNE
The song “Auld Lang Syne” is a staple at New Year’s Eve, the words of which were written by Scottish poet Robbie Burns.

24. *1995 movie flop dubbed “Fishtar” by some critics WATERWORLD (“waterpower” & “world power”)
“Waterworld”, a Kevin Costner vehicle released in 1995, really wasn’t that great a movie despite it’s promising storyline about land submerged by melting polar ice caps. The movie was filmed in Hawaii, a massive production with a huge budget overrun. I went SCUBA diving in one of the locations a few years after the film crews had headed home. All along the reef there were small metal plates embedded in the rock, used as anchor points for various floating sets. I would have thought that kind of thing would have been cleaned up, but no …

26. Word before chi or after mai TAI
More properly called tai chi chuan, tai chi is a martial art mostly practiced to improve overall health and increase longevity.

The Mai Tai cocktail is strongly associated with the Polynesian islands, but the drink was supposedly invented in 1944 in Trader Vic’s restaurant in Oakland, California. One recipe is 6 parts white rum, 3 parts orange curaçao, 3 parts Orgeat syrup, 1 part rock candy syrup, 2 parts fresh lime juice, all mixed with ice and then a float added of 6 parts dark rum.

39. Beijing-born, say CHINESE
The city of Beijing was given its name in 1403, with “Beijing” chosen as it translates as “Northern Capital”. The name distinguished it from the city of Nanjing, which name translates as “Southern Capital”.

42. Green stuff MOOLA
Lettuce, cabbage, kale, dough, scratch, simoleons and moola are all slang terms for money.

44. *Sun emanation responsible for the northern lights SOLAR WIND (“solar power” & “wind power”)
The spectacular aurora phenomenon is seen lighting up the night sky at both poles of the earth (the Aurora Borealis in the north, and the Aurora Australis in the south). The eerie effect is caused by charged particles colliding with atoms at high latitudes.

49. *Petal pusher? FLOWER GIRL (“flower power” & “girl power”)
Flower power was a slogan coined by Allen Ginsberg in 1965 to portray the ongoing war protests in a more positive light.

The phrase “girl power” was first used by the punk band Bikini Kill in the early nineties. “Girl power” was adopted as a mantra by the English pop sensation the Spice Girls. The success of the Spice Girls brought the phrase “girl power” into mainstream usage.

54. Walrus feature TUSK
There are three families of seals. The first is the walrus family, the second the eared seals (like sea lions), and thirdly the earless seals.

59. Singer Erykah BADU
Erykah Badu is the stage name of Erica Wright, an American “neo-soul” singer. Badu gained some notoriety in March of 2010 when she shot a scene for a music video in Dallas. In the scene, she walks to the spot where President Kennedy was assassinated, removing her clothes until she is nude, and then falls to the ground as if she has been shot in the head. For that stunt she was charged with disorderly conduct.

60. Political channel C-SPAN
C-SPAN is a privately-funded, non-profit cable channel that broadcasts continuous coverage of government proceedings.

62. Brangelina, e.g.—or, in a way, each of the answers to starred clues POWER COUPLE
An unmarried couple known to be involved with each other might appear in the gossip columns. This appearance as “an item” in the papers, led to the use of “item” to refer to such a couple, but only since the very early seventies. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were an item in the gossip columns after they met on the set of the 2005 film “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”. Since then, they have unravelled their prior marriages and are now husband and wife with six children.

64. “__ Big to Fail”: 2009 account of the financial crisis TOO
“Too Big to Fail” is a 2009 book written by Andrew Ross Sorkin that describes the events surrounding the 2008 financial crisis and the collapse of Lehman Brothers in particular. Sorkin’s book was adapted into an excellent HBO television movie of the same name in 2011.

Down
1. Oscar night rides LIMOS
The word “limousine” actually derives from 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 anyway …

2. “Our Town” girl EMILY
“Our Town” is a play by Thornton Wilder, first performed in 1938. Wilder won a Pulitzer for the work. “Our Town” was actually banned by the Soviet authorities in East Berlin in 1946. Their reasoning was that “the drama was too depressing and could inspire a German suicide wave”.

5. Sermon ending? -ETTE
A sermonette is a short sermon.

6. Deal-busting org. DEA
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was set up in 1973 while President Nixon was in office.

7. Behind-closed-doors event TRYST
In its most general sense, a tryst is a meeting at an agreed time and place. More usually we consider a tryst to be a prearranged meeting between lovers. The term comes from the Old French “triste”, a waiting place designated when hunting.

8. ‘Til Tuesday lead vocalist Mann AIMEE
Aimee Mann is an American rock singer and guitarist.

9. Cavs and Mavs NBAERS
The Cleveland Cavaliers are the professional basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cavs joined the NBA as an expansion team in 1970.

The Mavericks is the name of the NBA franchise in Dallas, Texas. The team was founded in 1980, and the Mavericks name was chosen by fan votes. The choice of “Mavericks” was prompted by the fact that the actor James Garner was a part-owner of the team, and Garner of course played the title role in the “Maverick” television series.

10. “The Pyramid” channel GSN
Game Show Network (GSN).

11. 29-Across chasers PAPARAZZI
The title of the celebrated 1960 Federico Fellini film “La Dolce Vita” translates from Italian as “The Good Life”. There is a character in the film called Paparazzo who is a news photographer. It is this character who gives us our word “Paparazzi”, a term used for photographers who make careers out of taking candid shots of celebrities.

18. River valley formation RIA
A drowned valley might be called a ria or a fjord, both formed as sea level rises. A ria is a drowned valley created by river erosion, and a fjord is a drowned valley created by glaciation.

22. Disco adjective GOGO
Discotheques started up during WWII in Occupied France. American-style music (like jazz and jitterbug dances) was banned by the Nazis, so French natives met in underground clubs that they called discotheques where records were often played on just a single turntable. After the war, these clubs came out into the open. One famous Paris discotheque was called “Whiskey a Gogo”. In that Paris disco, non-stop music was played using two turntables next to a dance-floor, and this concept spread around the world.

27. Place to play “Space Invaders” ARCADE
Space Invaders is one of my favorite video games, a classic from the good old days. When Space Invaders was first released in video arcades in Japan in 1978, it was so popular that it caused a shortage of 100-yen coins.

29. “Skyfall” director Mendes SAM
Sam Mendes is a director from England known for directing “American Beauty”, “Road to Perdition” and the James Bond movie “Skyfall”. Mendes was married for several years to actress Kate Winslet.

I have not been a fan of Daniel Craig as James Bond (preferring Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan in the role). However, I saw “Skyfall” when it first came out and have been won over. “Skyfall” is one of the best Bond films so far, in my humble opinion …

30. GI’s hangout USO
The United Service Organization (USO) was founded in 1941 at the request of FDR “to handle the on-leave recreation of the men in the armed forces”. A USO tour is undertaken by a troupe of entertainers, many of whom are big-name celebrities. A USO tour usually includes troop locations in combat zones.

The initials “G.I.” stand for “Government Issue” and not “General Infantry” as is often believed. “GI” was first used in the military to denote equipment made from Galvanized Iron and during WWI, incoming German shells were nicknamed “GI cans”. Soon after, the term GI came to be associated with “Government Issue” and eventually became an adjective to describe anything associated with the Army.

31. Image-editing software PHOTOSHOP
Photoshop is a wonderful piece of software used for editing graphics. When I first bought a copy of Photoshop, it was really expensive (about $300, ten years ago), but now there are cost-effective, stripped-down versions available.

33. Year abroad? ANO
In Spanish, there are 100 años (years) in a century (siglo).

37. Bob of hope, maybe NOD
One might nod, bob one’s head, in a gesture of hope, I guess. But maybe I am missing something …

45. Triathlon attire WETSUIT
An Ironman Triathlon is a race involving a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a marathon run of just over 26 miles. The idea for the race came out of a debate between some runners in the 1977 Oahu Perimeter Relay. They were questioning whether runners, swimmers or bikers were the most fit athletes. The debaters decided to combine three local events to determine the answer, inviting athletes from all three disciplines. The events that were mimicked to come up with the first triathlon were the Waikiki Roughwater swim (2.4 miles), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (115 miles) and the Honolulu Marathon (26.2 miles). The idea was that whoever finished first would be called “the Iron Man”. The first triathlon was run in 1978, with fifteen starters and only twelve finishers. The race format is used all over the world now, but the Hawaiian Ironman is the event that everyone wants to win.

50. Java’s coffee cup et al. LOGOS
Java is a programming language developed by Sun Microsystems. Java was originally designed for interactive television, but didn’t fit the needs at the time. Back then it was called Oak, named after an oak tree that stood outside the designer’s office. Later it was called Green, and finally named Java, which was simply picked out of a list of random words.

52. Latin clarifier ID EST
i.e. = id est = that is …

53. 1921 robot play RUR
“R.U.R.” is a play written in Czech by Karel Capek that was first produced in 1921. “R.U.R.” is a science fiction work and is remembered in part for introducing the world to the word “robot”. The words “automaton” and “android” were already in use, but Capek gave us “robot” from the original Czech “robota” meaning “forced labor”.

56. Simultaneous weapons discharge SALVO
A salvo is a simultaneous discharge of guns. Ironically, “salvo” comes from the Latin “salve” meaning “be in good health”. Salvo was originally the name given to the firing of guns in the air as a sign of respect or greeting for an important visitor. Good health!

62. Humdinger PIP
A “humdinger” or a “pip” is someone or something outstanding. Humdinger is American slang dating back to the early 1900s, originally used to describe a particularly attractive woman.

63. Software-driven film effects, for short CGI
Computer-generated imagery (CGI).

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Pressured, with “on” LEANED
7. NASA citrus drink TANG
11. Digital doc format PDF
14. Cry from an oversleeper I’M LATE!
15. Smokehouse order RIBS
16. Meyers of “Kate & Allie” ARI
17. *Career soldier MILITARY MAN
19. Quaint curse POX
20. Yellowish green OLIVE
21. “Gotcha!” I SEE!
22. Small craft concern GALE
23. End of a New Year’s song SYNE
24. *1995 movie flop dubbed “Fishtar” by some critics WATERWORLD
26. Word before chi or after mai TAI
28. Long tale SAGA
29. *Much-sought-after celebrity SUPERSTAR
35. Baker’s 13 DOZEN
38. Campfire residue ASH
39. Beijing-born, say CHINESE
41. Madhouse ZOO
42. Green stuff MOOLA
44. *Sun emanation responsible for the northern lights SOLAR WIND
46. Unveiler’s cry TADA!
48. British verb ender -ISE
49. *Petal pusher? FLOWER GIRL
54. Walrus feature TUSK
58. Dieter’s gain? LOSS
59. Singer Erykah BADU
60. Political channel C-SPAN
61. Word of repulsion UGH!
62. Brangelina, e.g.—or, in a way, each of the answers to starred clues POWER COUPLE
64. “__ Big to Fail”: 2009 account of the financial crisis TOO
65. Gets to IRKS
66. Mourn GRIEVE
67. Clairvoyant’s gift ESP
68. Soft “Yo!” PSST!
69. Beginning bits INTROS

Down
1. Oscar night rides LIMOS
2. “Our Town” girl EMILY
3. Too pooped to pop ALL IN
4. Unworldliness NAIVETE
5. Sermon ending? -ETTE
6. Deal-busting org. DEA
7. Behind-closed-doors event TRYST
8. ‘Til Tuesday lead vocalist Mann AIMEE
9. Cavs and Mavs NBAERS
10. “The Pyramid” channel GSN
11. 29-Across chasers PAPARAZZI
12. Dryly amusing DROLL
13. Not likely to move FIXED
18. River valley formation RIA
22. Disco adjective GOGO
24. Fingers-crossed thought WISH
25. Angler’s gear WADERS
27. Place to play “Space Invaders” ARCADE
29. “Skyfall” director Mendes SAM
30. GI’s hangout USO
31. Image-editing software PHOTOSHOP
32. “__ a pity” ‘TIS
33. Year abroad? ANO
34. Fam. reunion attendee REL
36. Years and years EON
37. Bob of hope, maybe NOD
40. Take a trip by ship SAIL
43. Congressional output LAWS
45. Triathlon attire WETSUIT
47. Vine yards? ARBORS
49. Champagne glass FLUTE
50. Java’s coffee cup et al. LOGOS
51. Stares stupidly GAWKS
52. Latin clarifier ID EST
53. 1921 robot play RUR
55. Shoe top UPPER
56. Simultaneous weapons discharge SALVO
57. Oft-patched clothing parts KNEES
60. Trite stuff CORN
62. Humdinger PIP
63. Software-driven film effects, for short CGI


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