LA Times Crossword Answers 7 Jun 13, Friday

CROSSWORD SETTER: Jim Holland
THEME: Inserted Letter … today’s themed answers are well-known, two-word phrases with a letter added as a prefix for the second word:

17A. Spontaneous camera adjustment? SUDDEN F-STOP (from “sudden stop”)
26A. Electronic device for some singles? BACHELOR IPAD (from “bachelor pad”)
43A. Oversized cleaning tool? GENEROUS Q-TIP (from “generous tip”)
57A. Kid’s sport played in costume? MASKED T-BALL (from “masked ball”)

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 19m 50s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Brown shade ECRU
The shade called ecru is a grayish, yellowish brown. The word “ecru” comes from French and means “raw, unbleached”. “Ecru” has the same roots as our word “crude”.

10. Yale Law students, until 1918 MEN
Yale Law School was established in 1824. The school only admitted male applicants up to 1918, when it began accepting the first female students.

15. Muse for Byron ERATO
In Greek mythology, Erato was the Muse of Lyric Poetry.

George Gordon Byron, known simply as “Lord Byron”, was an English poet active in the early 1800s. Byron was equally as famous for his poetry as he was for the wild excesses in his personal life. Byron lived much of that life outside of England, and fought for revolutionaries in both Italy and Greece. He died from a fever contracted while fighting for the Greeks against the Ottomans.

17. Spontaneous camera adjustment? SUDDEN F-STOP (from “sudden stop”)
Varying the f-stop in a lens varies how big the lens opening (the aperture) is when a photograph is taken. Smaller apertures (higher f-stop values) admit less light, but result in sharper photographs.

19. URL ending GOV
The .gov domain was one of the seven first generic top-level domains specified. The complete original list is:

– .com (commercial organizations, but unrestricted
– .info (informational sites, but unrestricted)
– .net (network infrastructures, but unrestricted)
– .mil (US military, restricted)
– .org (other organizations, but unrestricted)
– .gov (US government entities, restricted)
– .int (international organizations governed by treaty, restricted)

21. Car buyer’s choice COUPE
The type of car known as a “coupe” or “coupé” is a closed automobile with two doors. The name comes from the French word “couper” meaning “to cut”. In most parts of the English-speaking world the pronunciation adheres to the original French, but here in most of North America we go with “coop”. The original coupé was a horse-drawn carriage that was cut (coupé) to eliminate the rear-facing passenger seats. That left just a driver and two front-facing passengers. If the driver was left without a roof and out in the open, then the carriage was known as a “coupé de-ville”.

23. In one’s cups LIT
“In one’s cups” and “lit” are terms that mean “inebriated”.

31. Alberta NHLer OILER
The National Hockey League’s Edmonton Oilers are so called because they are located in Alberta, Canada … oil country.

32. It often includes a bio OBIT
“Obituary” comes from the Latin “obituaris”, originally the record of the death of a person, although the literal meaning is “pertaining to death”.

36. “The Man Show” co-host Carolla ADAM
Comedian Adam Carolla is perhaps best known as co-creator and co-host (with Jimmy Kimmel) on Comedy Central’s “The Man Show”.

37. Ship’s anchor hole HAWSE
The hawse is that part of the bow of a ship containing the hawse holes, holes through which hawsers can be passed. Hawsers are thick cables or ropes used in mooring or towing.

42. Like staying in the Bates Motel EERIE
Bates Motel and house were constructed on the backlot of Universal Studios for the 1960 movie “Psycho”. They are still standing, and for me are the highlight of the backlot tour that is available to visitors.

43. Oversized cleaning tool? GENEROUS Q-TIP (from “generous tip”)
Cotton swabs were originally marketed under the name “Baby Gays”, but this was changed in 1926 to “Q-Tips”, with the Q standing for “quality”.

46. Lets out early PAROLES
The term “parole” is a French word that we use in English, with the French “parole” meaning “word, speech”. Of particular interest is the French phrase “parole d’honneur” which translates as “word of honor”. In the early 1600s we started using “parole” to mean a promise by a prisoner of war not to escape, as in the prisoner giving his “word of honor” not to run off. Over time, parole has come to mean conditional release of a prisoner before he or she has served the full term of a sentence.

49. Halifax hrs. AST
Atlantic Standard Time (AST) is four hours behind Greenwich Mean Time and one hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time. The list of locations that use AST includes Puerto Rico and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Halifax is the capital of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. The original Town of Halifax was established in 1749 and was named for the British Earl of Halifax. Halifax is a town in West Yorkshire in the North of England.

56. Captain’s record LOG
The word “logbook” dates back to the days when the captain of a ship kept a daily record of the vessel’s speed, progress etc. using a “log”. A log was a wooden float on a knotted line that was dropped overboard to measure speed through the water.

62. “… could __ lean” EAT NO
Jack Sprat was a nickname given in the 16th century to people of small stature. Jack featured in a proverb of the day:

Jack will eat not fat, and Jull doth love no leane. Yet betwixt them both they lick the dishes cleane.

Over time, this mutated into a nursery rhyme that is still recited in England:

Jack Sprat could eat no fat. His wife could eat no lean. And so between them both, you see, they licked the platter clean.

Down
1. Exxon, previously ESSO
The brand name Esso has its roots in the old Standard Oil company as it uses the initial letters of “Standard” and “Oil” (ESS-O). The Esso brand was replaced by Exxon in the US, but ESSO is still used in many other countries.

6. Gaelic tongue ERSE
There are three Erse languages: Irish, Manx (spoken on the Isle of Man) and Scots Gaelic. In their own tongues, these would be Gaeilge (in Ireland), Gaelg (on the Isle of Man) and Gàidhlig (in Scotland).

7. Rod GAT
“Gat” is a slang term for a gun that is derived from the Gatling gun, the precursor to the modern machine gun. The Gatling gun was invented by Dr. Richard J. Gatling in 1861. Apparently he was inspired to invent it so that one man could do as much damage as a hundred, thereby reducing the size of armies and diminishing the suffering caused by war. Go figure …

8. 1989 World Champion figure skater ITO
Midori Ito is a Japanese figure skater. Ito was the first woman to land a triple/triple jump and a triple axel in competition. In fact she landed her first triple jump in training, when she was only 8 years old …

10. Trump, for one MOGUL
Donald Trump got into real estate development under the influence of his father, Fred Trump, a wealthy New York City developer, and founder of the Trump Organization.

12. “__ My Love”: 1967 hit NEVER
The Association is a soft rock band that made it big in the sixties, and is still going strong. The group’s first big hit was “Along Comes Mary” in 1966. The following year they released their first album, inventively titled “And Then … Along Comes the Association”. The biggest hits by the Association are “Cherish”, “Windy” and “Never My Love”.

14. Sullivan’s student KELLER
Helen Keller became a noted author despite having been born deaf and blind, largely through the work of her teacher, Anne Sullivan. Keller became the first deaf and blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. The relationship between Sullivan and Keller is immortalized in the play and film called “The Miracle Worker”.

18. Diamond on many charts NEIL
I saw Neil Diamond in concert about 15 years ago, and I must say he does put on a great show. His voice is cracking a bit, but that didn’t seem to spoil anyone’s enjoyment. I’ve also seen Diamond interviewed a few times on television, and I wouldn’t say he has the most scintillating of personalities.

24. Informal claim DIBS
The expression used by child “to have dibs on” expresses a claim on something. Apparently, the term “dibs” is a contraction of “dibstone”, which was a knucklebone of jack used in a children’s game.

25. Expectant father in “Return to Mayberry” OPIE
“Return to Mayberry” is a reunion television movie that was first aired in 1986. “Return to Mayberry” brought back together most of the original casts of “The Andy Griffith Show” and ”Mayberry R.F.D.”

27. “O patria mia” singer AIDA
“O patria mia” is an aria from Verdi’s “Aida”. The aria is sung by the title character, with “O patria mia” translating as “O, my homeland”.

“Aida” is the famous opera by Giuseppe Verdi, actually based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette. Mariette also designed the costumes and stages for the opening performance. The opera was first staged in 1871 in an opera house in Cairo. In the storyline, Aida is an Ethiopian princess brought into Egypt as a slave. Radames is an Egyptian commander who falls in love with her, and then of course complications arise!

30. Trireme mover ROWER
Triremes were galleys used in the Mediterranean by a number of cultures, including the Ancient Greeks and Romans. The trireme was so called because there were three rows of oars on each side of the vessel. The term “trireme” comes from the Latin “tres remi” meaning “three-oar”. There was also a less ambitious version of the trireme that had only two banks of oars, and that was known as a bireme.

33. Eponymous beekeeper Shavitz BURT
Burt’s Bees is a line of personal care products that uses natural ingredients with minimal processing. The company started out in 1984 as a partnership between entrepreneurs Burt Shavitz and Roxanne Quimby who made candles out of excess beeswax from hives owned by one of the partners. Today the company has over $250 million in sales and is a division of Clorox.

34. Et __ ALII
Et alii (et al.) is the equivalent of et cetera (etc.), with et cetera being used in place of a list of objects, and et alii used for a list of names. In fact “et al.” can stand for et alii (for a group of males, or males and females), aliae (for a group of women) and et alia (for a group of neuter nouns, or for a group of people where the intent is to retain gender-neutrality).

38. Belligerent son of Zeus ARES
The Greek god Ares is often referred to as the Olympian god of warfare, but originally he was regarded as the god of blood-lust and slaughter. Ares united with Aphrodite to create several gods, including Phobos, Deimos and Eros. The Roman equivalent to Ares was Mars.

39. What an asterisk means on some forms: Abbr. REQ
On a form, required (req.) items might be marked with an asterisk.

43. India’s smallest state GOA
Goa is the smallest state in India, and is located in the southwest of the country. The Portuguese landed in Goa in the early 1500s, at first peacefully carrying out trade, but then took the area by force creating Portuguese India. Portugal held onto Portuguese India even after the British pulled out of India in 1947, until the Indian Army marched into the area in 1961.

44. Some of their scenes were filmed in deserts OATERS
The term “oater” that is used for a western movie comes from the number of horses seen, as horses love oats!

48. Lear daughter REGAN
In William Shakespeare’s “King Lear”, Regan is the king’s second daughter. Regan vies with her older sister for influence over her father, and for the attentions of Edmund, the illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester.

51. Arcade game word SKEE
Skee Ball is that arcade game where you roll balls up a ramp trying to “bounce” it into rings for varying numbers of points. The game was first introduced in Philadelphia, in 1909.

52. Work force entrants’ assets, briefly MBAS
The world’s first MBA degree was offered by Harvard’s Graduate School of Business Administration, in 1908.

54. Prismatic bone ULNA
The bone in the arm called the ulna is prismatic in shape, meaning that it is less like a cylinder than it is a prism, having flat sides that are parallel to each other.

59. Radical campus org. SDS
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was an activist group in the sixties. The SDS organized the largest student strike in the history of the United States on 26 April 1968, with about a million students staying away from class that day. The “Students for a Democratic Society” name was revived in 2006 with the foundation of a new US-based student organization with left wing beliefs. Today’s SDS was founded by a pair of high school students from Greenwich Village, New York.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Brown shade ECRU
5. Authentic LEGIT
10. Yale Law students, until 1918 MEN
13. Move furtively SLINK
15. Muse for Byron ERATO
16. Cry of support OLE!
17. Spontaneous camera adjustment? SUDDEN F-STOP (from “sudden stop”)
19. URL ending GOV
20. Unemployed? OBSOLETE
21. Car buyer’s choice COUPE
23. In one’s cups LIT
24. One at a dull meeting, perhaps DOODLER
26. Electronic device for some singles? BACHELOR IPAD (from “bachelor pad”)
31. Alberta NHLer OILER
32. It often includes a bio OBIT
33. Unfavorable BAD
36. “The Man Show” co-host Carolla ADAM
37. Ship’s anchor hole HAWSE
39. Decree RULE
40. Green RAW
41. Gun barrel measurement BORE
42. Like staying in the Bates Motel EERIE
43. Oversized cleaning tool? GENEROUS Q-TIP (from “generous tip”)
46. Lets out early PAROLES
49. Halifax hrs. AST
50. Something to aspire to IDEAL
51. Angers STEAMS UP
56. Captain’s record LOG
57. Kid’s sport played in costume? MASKED T-BALL (from “masked ball”)
60. Jazz __ ERA
61. Dangerous snake ADDER
62. “… could __ lean” EAT NO
63. Retreat, perhaps DEN
64. Pries (into) NOSES
65. Ticket word SEAT

Down
1. Exxon, previously ESSO
2. Bridge __ CLUB
3. Clears RIDS
4. Command following a mistake UNDO
5. Gave, as in a will LEFT TO
6. Gaelic tongue ERSE
7. Rod GAT
8. 1989 World Champion figure skater ITO
9. Fall wear TOPCOAT
10. Trump, for one MOGUL
11. Use a ladder, stereotypically ELOPE
12. “__ My Love”: 1967 hit NEVER
14. Sullivan’s student KELLER
18. Diamond on many charts NEIL
22. Vegas bet ODD
24. Informal claim DIBS
25. Expectant father in “Return to Mayberry” OPIE
26. Tusked mammal BOAR
27. “O patria mia” singer AIDA
28. Nail that’s often curved CLAW
29. Moment of hesitation HEM!
30. Trireme mover ROWER
33. Eponymous beekeeper Shavitz BURT
34. Et __ ALII
35. Serious DEEP
37. Fine-tune HONE
38. Belligerent son of Zeus ARES
39. What an asterisk means on some forms: Abbr. REQ
41. Luggage lugger BELLMAN
42. Fancy spread ESTATE
43. India’s smallest state GOA
44. Some of their scenes were filmed in deserts OATERS
45. Employed USED
46. In a stack PILED
47. Be gaga over ADORE
48. Lear daughter REGAN
51. Arcade game word SKEE
52. Work force entrants’ assets, briefly MBAS
53. Fill to capacity SATE
54. Prismatic bone ULNA
55. Scheme PLOT
58. Flurry ADO
59. Radical campus org. SDS

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