LA Times Crossword Answers 20 Aug 13, Tuesday

CROSSWORD SETTER: Steve Blais
THEME: The Hills Are Alive … with THE SOUND OF MUSIC as today’s themed answers all end with a word associated with the sound of music:

18A. Thing to make when a Post-it isn’t handy : MENTAL NOTE
23A. Fan magazine for teens : TIGER BEAT
50A. Warm, muted color : EARTH TONE
59A. Frenzied state : FEVER PITCH

38A. Best Picture of 1965, and a hint to the ends of 18-, 23-, 50- and 59-Across : THE SOUND OF MUSIC

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 8m 02s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Red planet : MARS
The surface of the planet Mars has a very high iron oxide content, so Mars is red because it is rusty!

11. Jack Sprat’s no-no : FAT
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.

15. It traditionally translates to “O come” : ADESTE
The lovely hymn “Adeste Fideles” (translated from Latin as “O Come, All Ye Faithful”) was written by one John Francis Wade in the 13th century. Well, he wrote the original four verses, with four more verses being added over time.

16. Elem. school basics : RRR
The “three Rs” are Reading, ‘Riting and ‘Rithmetic.

18. Thing to make when a Post-it isn’t handy : MENTAL NOTE
The Post-it note was invented at 3M following the accidental discovery of a low-tack, reusable adhesive. The actual intent of the development program was the discovery of a super-strong adhesive.

23. Fan magazine for teens : TIGER BEAT
“Tiger Beat” is a fan magazine published by Laufer Media that is marketed mainly to adolescent girls. I haven’t even heard of it, amazingly enough …

26. Veto vote : NAY
“Veto” comes directly from Latin and means “I forbid”. The word was used by tribunes of Ancient Rome to indicate that they opposed measures passed by the Senate.

27. “Blessed __ the peacemakers”: Matthew : ARE
In the Christian tradition, the Beatitudes are a collection of moral teachings laid out by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, according to the Gospel of Matthew. The eight Beatitudes are:

… Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
… Blessed are those who mourn: for they will be comforted
… Blessed are the meek: for they will inherit the earth
… Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they will be filled
… Blessed are the merciful: for they will be shown mercy
… Blessed are the pure in heart: for they will see God
… Blessed are the peacemakers: for they will be called children of God
… Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

38. Best Picture of 1965, and a hint to the ends of 18-, 23-, 50- and 59-Across : THE SOUND OF MUSIC
“The Sound of Music” is a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, made into a celebrated movie in 1965 starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The musical is based on “The Story of the Trapp Family Singers”, a memoir by Maria von Trapp. The von Trapp family ended up in Stowe, Vermont after the war, and one family descended from the Vermont von Trapps lives here in the same town in which I live in California.

41. Geologic periods : EONS
Geologic time is divided into different units which are, starting with the longest:

– Supereons
– Eons
– Eras
– Periods
– Epochs
– Ages

So, supereons can be divided in eons, and eons divided into eras etc.

45. Supermarket chain with a red-and-white logo : IGA
IGA stands for Independent Grocers Alliance, a chain of supermarkets that extends right around the world. IGA’s headquarters is in Chicago.

56. Former Indian prime minister Gandhi : INDIRA
Indira Gandhi’s father was Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India (and the “Nehru” of the Nehru Jacket). Indira herself became Prime Minister in 1966. She was assassinated in 1984 by two of her own bodyguards, as she was walking to meet Peter Ustinov who was about to interview her for Irish television.

64. To be, to Berlioz : ETRE
The French for “to be” is “être”.

Hector Berlioz was a French composer active in the Romantic period. Berlioz’s most famous work is probably his “Symphonie fantastique”.

65. Scale fifth : SOL
The solfa syllables are: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la & ti.

66. Game with falling blocks : TETRIS
Tetris is a very addictive video game, developed in the Soviet Union in 1984. The name Tetris comes from a melding of the prefix “tetra-” (as all the game pieces have four segments) and “tennis” (a favorite sport played by the developer). Since 2005 there have been more than 100 million copies of the game installed on cell phones alone.

67. Revolutionary Trotsky : LEON
Leon Trotsky was a Soviet politician and revolutionary, the founder and first leader of the Red Army as well as one of the first members of the Politburo. Trotsky was ousted and deported in 1929 when he opposed the policies of Joseph Stalin. Trotsky continued to be vocal in opposition to Stalin in Mexico, his place of exile. Stalin had him assassinated there in 1940.

Down
2. Beaded calculators : ABACI
The abacus was used as a counting frame long before man had invented the modern written numbering system. It is a remarkable invention, particularly when one notes that abaci are still widely used today across Africa and Asia.

6. Fred’s dancing sister : ADELE
As you may well know, Fred Astaire’s real name was Frederick Austerlitz. Fred was from Omaha, Nebraska and before he made it big in movies, he was one half of a celebrated music hall act with his sister Adele. The pair were particularly successful in the UK, and Adele ended up marrying into nobility in England, taking the name Lady Charles Cavendish.

7. High-IQ group : MENSA
If you ever had to learn Latin, as did I, “mensa” was probably taught to you in Lesson One as it’s the word commonly used as an example of a first declension noun. Mensa means “table”. The Mensa organization for folks with high IQs was set up in Oxford, England back in 1946. To become a member, one is required to have an IQ that is in the top 2% of the population.

8. Pasadena winter hrs. : PST
Pasadena, California is famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game, as well as the related Tournament of Roses Parade.

9. Floride, par exemple : ETAT
In French, Florida (Floride) is a state (état).

12. Clarinetist Shaw : ARTIE
Artie Shaw was a composer, bandleader and a jazz clarinetist. Shaw’s real name was Arthur Jacob Arshawsky, born in New York City in 1910. One of his many claims to fame is that he (a white bandleader) hired Billie Holiday (a black vocalist) and toured the segregated South in the late thirties. Holiday chose to leave the band though, due to hostility from Southern audiences back then.

19. Gun lobby org. : NRA
The NRA is the National Rifle Association, an organization that has been around since 1871. The NRA has had some celebrity presidents, including US President Ulysses S. Grant. It’s often said that the NRA is the most powerful lobbying group in Washington.

21. Site of much Spanish art : PRADO
The Museo del Prado is in Madrid, the capital of Spain, and has one of the finest art collections in the world. The gallery’s most famous work is “Las Meninas” By Velazquez.

24. Eagle’s picker-upper : TALON
A “talon” is a claw of a bird of prey. The term ultimately derives from “talus”, the Latin word for “ankle”.

28. Gridiron enforcer : REF
We never used the word “gridiron” when I was growing up in Ireland (meaning a grill used for cooking food over an open fire). So, maybe I am excused for finding out relatively recently that a football field gridiron is so called because the layout of yard lines over the field looks like a gridiron used in cooking!

30. Pi follower : RHO
Rho is the Greek letter that looks just like our Roman letter “p”.

31. Dudes : MEN
Our term “dude” arose as a slang term in New York City in the 1880s, when it was used to describe a fastidious man. In the early 1900s, the term was extended to mean “city slickers”, Easterners who vacationed in the West. The first use of the term “dude ranch” was recorded in 1921.

34. In the altogether : AU NATUREL
“Au naturel” is of course a French phrase, simply meaning “in a natural state”. We use the term in the same sense, and also to mean “nude”.

39. Springsteen’s “Born in the __” : USA
“Born in the USA” is a 1984 song (and album) written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen. The song was written three years earlier as the title song for a movie, but was never used. That film ultimately was released as “Light of Day” starring Michael j. Fox. The original intention was for Springsteen to star in the film himself.

44. Polecat relative commonly kept as a pet : FERRET
“Polecat” is a term used for several different animals, most of which are in the weasel family.

47. Month after diciembre : ENERO
In Spanish, a year (año) starts in January (enero) and ends in December (diciembre).

48. Aleve competitor : ADVIL
Advil and Motrin are brand names for the anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen.

Aleve is a brand name for the anti-inflammatory drug Naproxen sodium.

52. Prefix with linear : RECTI-
Something described as “rectilinear” is characterized by straight lines.

54. Part of UNCF : NEGRO
The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) is a scholarship fund that was originally set up to address inequities in education resources for African Americans. The UNCF’s scholarships still go to mainly to African American students, but also to students of all ethnicities who attend historically black colleges and universities.

55. German steel city : ESSEN
I knew a man back in Ireland, a German national from the city of Essen. He had very sad tales to tell from the days of WWII. As a young boy he lost his (socialist) parents during the Nazi purges early in the war. In 1943 he was living with his grandmother and still attending school when he was drafted into the army along with the rest of his class (at 14 years of age). His platoon leader was his school teacher who made a point of tutoring the boys in place of military drilling. One day he was on guard duty with his class/platoon at the dam above the city, and along come the Dam Busters with their bouncing bombs. The raid was successful (from the perspective of the Allies), but he described terrible famine faced by the people below the dam due to flooding of the farmland that surrounded the factories.

57. Church recess : APSE
The apse of a church or cathedral is a semicircular recess in an outer wall, usually with a half-dome as a roof and often where there resides an altar. Originally apses were used as burial places for the clergy and also for storage of important relics.

60. Former comm. giant : ITT
International Telephone & Telegraph (ITT) was formed in 1920 from the Puerto Rico Telephone Company. ITT divested its telecommunications business in 1986, today the company is known for its products in the field of water and fluids management, as well motion and flow control. Many of ITT’s products are sold into the aerospace market.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Red planet : MARS
5. Put down stakes, maybe : CAMPED
11. Jack Sprat’s no-no : FAT
14. “Yeah, whatever!” : I BET!
15. It traditionally translates to “O come” : ADESTE
16. Elem. school basics : RRR
17. Facts and figures : DATA
18. Thing to make when a Post-it isn’t handy : MENTAL NOTE
20. Surgeons’ tools : SCALPELS
22. Call it a night : TURN IN
23. Fan magazine for teens : TIGER BEAT
25. Exclusive, as communities : GATED
26. Veto vote : NAY
27. “Blessed __ the peacemakers”: Matthew : ARE
29. Carrying a weapon : ARMED
32. Clearance event : SALE
34. Enveloping glow : AURA
38. Best Picture of 1965, and a hint to the ends of 18-, 23-, 50- and 59-Across : THE SOUND OF MUSIC
41. Geologic periods : EONS
42. Any time now : SOON
43. Not up to the task : INEPT
44. Distant : FAR
45. Supermarket chain with a red-and-white logo : IGA
46. Take off : LEAVE
50. Warm, muted color : EARTH TONE
56. Former Indian prime minister Gandhi : INDIRA
58. College class staples : LECTURES
59. Frenzied state : FEVER PITCH
61. Shabby wear : RAGS
62. Prefix with cycle : TRI-
63. Sprawling property : ESTATE
64. To be, to Berlioz : ETRE
65. Scale fifth : SOL
66. Game with falling blocks : TETRIS
67. Revolutionary Trotsky : LEON

Down
1. Central position : MIDST
2. Beaded calculators : ABACI
3. Change the price of : RETAG
4. Blah quality : STALENESS
5. Paid a visit : CAME BY
6. Fred’s dancing sister : ADELE
7. High-IQ group : MENSA
8. Pasadena winter hrs. : PST
9. Floride, par exemple : ETAT
10. Downpour : DELUGE
11. Forward-facing side : FRONT
12. Clarinetist Shaw : ARTIE
13. The way things are going : TREND
19. Gun lobby org. : NRA
21. Site of much Spanish art : PRADO
24. Eagle’s picker-upper : TALON
28. Gridiron enforcer : REF
29. Had a bite : ATE
30. Pi follower : RHO
31. Dudes : MEN
32. Sleep-disturbing sound : SNORE
33. Excitement : ADO
34. In the altogether : AU NATUREL
35. Take advantage of : USE
36. Shred : RIP
37. Not just sit by : ACT
39. Springsteen’s “Born in the __” : USA
40. Physical strength : MIGHT
44. Polecat relative commonly kept as a pet : FERRET
45. Needs scratching : ITCHES
46. London elevators : LIFTS
47. Month after diciembre : ENERO
48. Aleve competitor : ADVIL
49. Be in the game : VIE
51. Raised church area : ALTAR
52. Prefix with linear : RECTI-
53. Give a speech : ORATE
54. Part of UNCF : NEGRO
55. German steel city : ESSEN
57. Church recess : APSE
60. Former comm. giant : ITT

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