LA Times Crossword Answers 2 Sep 13, Monday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: C.C. Burnikel
THEME: Ma & Pa … each of today’s themed answers is comprised of two words, the first of which starts with the letters MA and the second with PA:

18A. *File folder material MANILA PAPER
24A. *Halloween bash with costumes MASQUERADE PARTY
52A. *Law firm bigwig MANAGING PARTNER
61A. *Foam bedding item MATTRESS PAD

39A. The Kettles, or a hint to the answers to starred clues MA AND PA

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 5m 45s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Beach lotion 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 …

9. Like a visit from Francis PAPAL
Pope Francis was elected on 13 March 2013 as the 266th Bishop of Rome and leader of the Roman Catholic church. The new pope appears to be taking a much simpler approach to the office, as he has done with his life back in Argentina. He is the first pope since 1903 not to reside in the papal residence, choosing to live instead to live in the less lavish Vatican guesthouse.

14. Lao Tzu principle TAO
The Chinese character “tao” translates as “path”, but the concept of Tao signifies the true nature of the world.

Lao Tse (also Lao-Tzu) was a central figure in the development of the religion/philosophy of Taoism.

16. Musical in which Madonna set a Guinness World Record for “Most costume changes in a film” EVITA
“Evita” was the follow up musical to “Jesus Christ Superstar” for Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Both of these works were originally released as album musicals, and very successful ones at that (I remember buying them when they first came out). “Evita” was made into a film in 1996, with Madonna playing the title role and Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce playing her husband Juan Perón.

Madonna’s full name is Madonna Louise Ciccone. Born in Bay City, Michigan, Madonna was destined to become the top-selling female recording artist of all time.

17. That, to Teresa ESO
“Eso” is Spanish for “that”.

18. *File folder material MANILA PAPER
Manila folders and envelopes were originally made from manila hemp, hence the name.

20. Book of maps ATLAS
The famous Flemish geographer Gerardus Mercator published his first collection of maps in 1578. Mercator’s collection contained a frontispiece with an image of Atlas the Titan from Greek mythology holding up the world on his shoulders. That image gave us our term “atlas”.

22. Police force member COP
“To cop” was northern British dialect for “to seize, catch”. This verb evolved in the noun “copper”, describing a policeman, someone who catches criminals. “Copper” was shortened to “cop”.

28. Only brother not in any Marx Brothers films GUMMO
The five Marx Brothers were born to “Minnie” and “Frenchy” Marx in New York City. The more famous older boys were Chico, Harpo and Groucho. Zeppo was the youngest brother, and he appeared in the early Marx Brothers movies. The fifth son was called Gummo, and he decided to pursue a different career off the stage.

29. Belgian river YSER
The Yser originates in northern France and flows through Belgium into the North Sea. The Yser is often associated with WWI as it figured in a major battle early in the conflict. In the first three months of the war, the German Army pushed almost completely through Belgium, inflicting heavy losses on the Belgian Army as the defenders were forced to fight a fast-moving rearguard action. The Germans were intent on pushing right through Belgium and across France in a “race to the sea”. But the Belgians, with the help of their Allies, decided to make a final stand at the Yser Canal in an effort to prevent the Germans reaching the French ports of Calais and Dunkirk. The 22-mile long defensive line was chosen at the Yser because the river and canal system could be flooded to create a barrier that might be defended. The plan was successful and the front was “stabilized”. As we now know, millions of lives were lost over the coming years with very little movement of that battle line.

32. The Spartans of the Big Ten: Abbr. MSU
Michigan State University (MSU) is located in East Lansing, Michigan. MSU has the largest study-abroad program of any single-campus university in the US. Programs are offered on all continents of the world, including Antarctica.

34. Old Russian leaders TSARS
The term czar (also tsar) is a Slavic word that was first used as a title by Simeon I of Bulgaria in 913 AD. “Czar” is derived from the word “Caesar”, which was synonymous with “emperor” at that time.

38. “You’ve got mail” company AOL
The iconic phrase “You’ve got mail” was first used by AOL in 1989. The greeting was recorded by voice actor Elwood Edwards. Edwards has parlayed his gig with AOL into some other work. He appears in an episode of “The Simpsons” as a doctor who says the line “You’ve got leprosy”. Edwards also worked as a weatherman for a while and got to use the line “You’ve got hail” …

39. The Kettles, or a hint to the answers to starred clues MA AND PA
The author Betty McDonald wrote a memoir called “The Egg and I” that was published in 1945, telling the story of her life as a young wife on a chicken farm in Washington state. The book was adapted into a film of the same name in 1947, with the lovely Claudette Colbert playing Betty McDonald, and the great Fred MacMurray as her husband. Two other characters feature in the storyline: Ma and Pa Kettle. The latter characters were so well received by theater audiences that a whole series of films about them and their fifteen children was made between the years 1949 and 1957.

42. Lav of London LOO
Our word “lavatory” originally referred to a washbasin, and comes from the Latin “lavatorium”, a place for washing. In the 1600s a “lavatory” came to mean a washroom, and in the 1920s a toilet.

43. Cowboy contest RODEO
“Rodeo” is a Spanish word that is usually translated as “round up”.

45. Onassis nickname ARI
Aristotle Onassis was born to a successful Greek shipping entrepreneur in Smyrna in modern-day Turkey. However, his family lost its fortune during WWI and so Aristotle worked with his father to build up a new business empire centered on the importation of tobacco. In 1957, Aristotle founded the Greek national airline, what is today called Olympic Air, and he also got into the business of shipping oil around the world. He married Athina Livanos in 1946, the daughter of a wealthy shipping magnate. They had two children, including the famous Christina Onassis. Livanos divorced Onassis on discovering him in bed with the opera singer Maria Callas. Onassis ended his affair with Callas in order to marry Jackie Kennedy in 1968.

46. Barristers’ degs. LLBS
Bachelor of Laws (LLB) is a an undergraduate degree in law. The abbreviation “LLB” stands for Legum (LL, for the plural “laws”) Baccalaureus (B, for Bachelor).

47. Norse prankster LOKI
Loki is a god appearing in Norse mythology. In one story about Loki, he was punished by other gods for having caused the death of Baldr, the god of light and beauty. Loki was bound to a sharp rock using the entrails of one of his sons. A serpent drips venom which is collected in a bowl, and then Loki’s wife must empty the venom onto her husband when the bowl is full. The venom causes Loki great pain, and his writhing causes the earthquakes that we poor humans have to endure.

50. First of four Holy Roman emperors OTTO I
Otto I the Great ruled the Holy Roman Empire in the 10th century.

The Holy Roman Empire (HRE) existed from 962 to 1806 AD and was a territory of varying size over the centuries that centered on the Kingdom of Germany. The HRE was a successor to the western half of the Ancient Roman Empire.

58. Bird sacred to Tut IBIS
The ibis is a wading bird that was revered in ancient Egypt. “Ibis” is an interesting word grammatically speaking. You can have one “ibis” or two “ibises”, and then again one has a flock of “ibis”. And if you want to go with the classical plural, instead of two “ibises” you would have two “ibides”!

King Tut is a name commonly used for the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen. Tutankhamen may not have been the most significant of the pharaohs historically, but he is the most famous today largely because of the discovery of his nearly intact tomb in 1922. Prior to this find, any Egyptian tombs uncovered by archaeologists had been ravaged by grave robbers. Tutankhamen’s magnificent burial mask is one of the most recognizable of all Egyptian artifacts.

59. T, to Socrates TAU
Tau is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet, the letter which gave rise to our Roman “T”. Both the letters tau (T) and chi (X) have long been symbolically associated with the cross.

In Ancient Greece, Socrates was a respected thinker of his day. One of Socrates’ most clever students was Plato, who spent much of life espousing the work and thinking of his mentor and teacher. In later life, Plato himself had a student who built on the work of both Socrates and Plato. That second generation student was Aristotle. Socrates fell out of favor with the political leaders in Athens who put him on trial on trumped-up charges. He was found guilty of corrupting the youth of the city-state and of not believing in the gods of the state. The sentence levied was death by drinking hemlock.

60. Pong producer ATARI
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 the game called “Pong”.

67. Chopin work ETUDE
An étude is a small instrumental composition that is usually quite hard to play and is intended to help the performer master a particular technique. “Étude” is the French word for “study”. Études are commonly performed on the piano.

Frederic Chopin was a Polish composer who spent most of his life in France. He was most famous for his piano works in the Romantic style. Chopin was a sickly man and died quite young, at 39. For many of his final years he had a celebrated and tempestuous relationship with the French author George Sand (the nom de plume of the Baroness Dudevant). Those years with Sand may have been turbulent, but they were very productive in terms of musical composition.

68. “__ to Joy” ODE
“Ode to Joy” is a poem written in 1785 by German poet Friedrich Schiller. Ludwig van Beethoven gave the poem great notoriety when he used it in his Ninth “Choral” Symphony first performed in 1824.

69. About, date-wise CIRCA
“Circa” is a Latin word meaning “around, near, about the time of”. We use “circa” directly in English to mean “about the time of”, as well as in derivative words such as “circle” and “circus”.

71. Filmmaker Craven WES
Wes Craven is a very successful film director and writer specializing in movies of the horror genre, which means I don’t watch them! Craven is responsible for “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and the “Scream” films.

Down
3. Forty-niner’s disillusionment FOOL’S GOLD
Pyrite is a mineral, also known as a iron pyrite. Famously, it has an appearance very similar to gold, so has the nickname “fool’s gold”. Pyrite does find its way into some baubles, which go by the name of marcasite jewelry.

The California gold rush actually started in 1848, and not 1849. The first to exploit the find were those people already in California. By 1849 the word had spread and gold-seekers started to arrive from all over the world. The “out-of-towners” who arrived in 1849 became known as “forty-niners”.

4. Bite-sized Chinese dish DIM SUM
Dim sum is a Chinese cuisine made up of small portions of various dishes. The tradition of serving dim sum is associated with the serving of tea, when small delicacies were offered to travelers and guests along with tea as a refreshment. The name “dim sum” translates as “touch the heart” implying that dim sum is not a main meal, just a snack “that touches the heart”.

5. Parseghian of football ARA
Ara Parseghian coached the Notre Dame football team from 1964 to 1974, a period known as “The Era of Ara”.

7. Mohawk River city UTICA
Today, Utica in New York is known as “Second Chance City” due to the recent influx of refugees from war-torn parts of the world, and from Bosnia in particular. These immigrants have helped revitalize the area and reverse a trend of population loss.

The Mohawk River in New York State is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The river is named for the Native American Mohawk people.

10. Blog posters’ self-images AVATARS
The Sanskrit word “avatar” describes the concept of a deity descending into earthly life and taking on a persona. It’s easy to see how in the world of “online presences” one might use the word avatar to describe one’s online identity.

11. Peter, the pickled-pepper picker PIPER
The earliest written version of the “Peter Piper” nursery rhyme and tongue twister dates back to 1813 London:

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked;
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

A peck is a unit of dry volume, equivalent to two gallons. Four pecks then make up a bushel.

13. Comedic Cable Guy LARRY
Larry the Cable Guy is the stage name of stand-up comedian and actor Daniel Lawrence Whitney. Whitney’s famous catchphrase is “Get-r-done!”

25. Actress Thompson EMMA
Emma Thompson is one of my favorite English actresses, someone who has appeared in many of my favorite films. She probably first came to attention in the US when she won an Oscar for her role in “Howards End”, which she followed up with “Remains of the Day” and “In the Name of the Father”. Perhaps my favorite production of hers is her own adaptation of “Sense and Sensibility”, which won her Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actress. Emma Thompson went to Cambridge University and was good friends with a host of successful British actors and entertainers, including her ex-boyfriend Hugh Laurie, famous in the US for playing the title role in television’s “House”.

26. Civil rights pioneer Parks ROSA
Rosa Parks was one of a few brave women in days gone by who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white woman. It was the stand taken by Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955 that sparked the Montgomery, Alabama Bus Boycott. President Clinton presented Ms. Parks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996. When she died in 2005, Rosa Parks became the first ever woman to have her body lie in honor in the US Capital Rotunda.

27. Animal rights org. PETA
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is a very large animal rights organization, with 300 employees and two million members and supporters worldwide. Although the group campaigns for animal rights across a broad spectrum of issues, it has a stated focus in opposition of four practices:

– factory farming
– fur farming
– animal testing
– use of animals in entertainment

37. Sailor’s distress signal SOS
The combination of three dots – three dashes – three dots, is a Morse signal first introduced by the German government as a standard distress call in 1905. The sequence is remembered as the letters SOS (three dots – pause – three dashes – pause – three dots), although in the emergency signal there is no pause between the dots and dashes, so SOS is in effect only a mnemonic. Similarly, the phrases “Save Our Souls” and “Save Our Ship” are also mnemonics, introduced after the “SOS” signal was adopted.

39. Synthesizer pioneer Robert MOOG
Robert Moog invented the Moog Synthesizer in the sixties, an electronic device that he used to produce music. I used to own a few of his albums, including a Moog version of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”. What a great performance that was …

41. Pocket bread PITA
Pita is a lovely bread in Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines. Pita bread is usually round, and has a “pocket” in the center. The pocket is created by steam that puffs up the dough during cooking leaving a void when the bread cools. The pockets were a big hit in the seventies when someone came up with the idea of using them for fillings hence creating pita sandwiches or “pita pockets”.

46. Former Senate majority leader Trent LOTT
Trent Lott was raised Democrat in Mississippi, but served in Congress as a Republican. Lott ran into trouble for remarks he made that were interpreted as being racially motivated, and ended up resigning in 2007.

53. Calculators often made with bamboo frames ABACI
The abacus was used as a counting frame long before man had invented a numbering system. It is a remarkable invention, particularly when one notes that abaci are still widely used today across Africa and Asia.

54. Compound in fireworks NITER
The chemical name for saltpeter (also called “niter”) is potassium nitrate. The exact origin of the name “saltpeter” isn’t clear, but it may have come from the Latin “sal petrae” meaning “stone salt”. The main use for potassium nitrate is as a fertilizer, a source of potassium and nitrogen. As it is a powerful oxidizing agent, it is also used in amateur rocket propellants. Anyone who has ignited one of those “engines” would have noticed the lilac-colored flame, indicating the presence of potassium.

55. Exuberance GUSTO
“Gusto” is an Italian word meaning “taste”. We use it in the sense of “with gusto”, with great enjoyment.

62. Genetic letters RNA
Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by what is called transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Beach lotion letters SPF
4. Piece of information DATUM
9. Like a visit from Francis PAPAL
14. Lao Tzu principle TAO
15. Really angry IRATE
16. Musical in which Madonna set a Guinness World Record for “Most costume changes in a film” EVITA
17. That, to Teresa ESO
18. *File folder material MANILA PAPER
20. Book of maps ATLAS
22. Police force member COP
23. Eye drop TEAR
24. *Halloween bash with costumes MASQUERADE PARTY
28. Only brother not in any Marx Brothers films GUMMO
29. Belgian river YSER
30. “Stop, horse!” WHOA!
32. The Spartans of the Big Ten: Abbr. MSU
34. Old Russian leaders TSARS
38. “You’ve got mail” company AOL
39. The Kettles, or a hint to the answers to starred clues MA AND PA
42. Lav of London LOO
43. Cowboy contest RODEO
45. Onassis nickname ARI
46. Barristers’ degs. LLBS
47. Norse prankster LOKI
50. First of four Holy Roman emperors OTTO I
52. *Law firm bigwig MANAGING PARTNER
58. Bird sacred to Tut IBIS
59. T, to Socrates TAU
60. Pong producer ATARI
61. *Foam bedding item MATTRESS PAD
65. Fishing pole ROD
66. Trap during a winter storm, maybe ICE IN
67. Chopin work ETUDE
68. “__ to Joy” ODE
69. About, date-wise CIRCA
70. Managed somehow COPED
71. Filmmaker Craven WES

Down
1. Cook, as asparagus STEAM
2. Carb-loader’s entrée PASTA
3. Forty-niner’s disillusionment FOOL’S GOLD
4. Bite-sized Chinese dish DIM SUM
5. Parseghian of football ARA
6. Light brown TAN
7. Mohawk River city UTICA
8. Something to hum MELODY
9. Energy PEP
10. Blog posters’ self-images AVATARS
11. Peter, the pickled-pepper picker PIPER
12. Dined in ATE AT
13. Comedic Cable Guy LARRY
19. Jungle swingers APES
21. Color of water AQUA
25. Actress Thompson EMMA
26. Civil rights pioneer Parks ROSA
27. Animal rights org. PETA
30. Civil __ WAR
31. “Yoo-__!” HOO
33. One, to Juanita UNA
35. Aligned perfectly ALL IN A ROW
36. Hold up ROB
37. Sailor’s distress signal SOS
39. Synthesizer pioneer Robert MOOG
40. Fall DROP
41. Pocket bread PITA
44. Stretchy, as a waistband ELASTIC
46. Former Senate majority leader Trent LOTT
48. Flying toy KITE
49. “Be right there!” IN A SEC!
51. Dealt players TRADED
52. Act like MIMIC
53. Calculators often made with bamboo frames ABACI
54. Compound in fireworks NITER
55. Exuberance GUSTO
56. Gradually wear away ERODE
57. Fair attractions RIDES
62. Genetic letters RNA
63. Newborn dog PUP
64. Fruity drink ADE

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