LA Times Crossword Answers 11 Nov 13, Monday

Share today’s solution with a friend:
FacebookTwitterGoogleEmail

CROSSWORD SETTER: C.C. Burnikel
THEME: Star Associations … each of today’s themed answers use a star as a symbol:

20A. Five-time Super Bowl winners DALLAS COWBOYS
28A. “It’s all about the beer” Dutch brewer HEINEKEN
37A. “Miracle on 34th Street” store MACY’S
42A. Big name in sneakers CONVERSE
50A. Standard flown in Ho Chi Minh City FLAG OF VIETNAM

64A. Headliner, or symbol associated with 20-, 28-, 37-, 42- and 50-Across STAR

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 06m 02s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Dinner for Mister Ed OATS
“Mister Ed” first aired in 1961 and ran for almost five years. It was a very successful show (and even made it to Ireland!). Mister Ed, the talking horse, was a palomino that had the real name of Bamboo Harvester. Mister Ed’s “voice” was that of actor Allan “Rocky” Lane, a star of a lot of B-movie westerns from the forties and fifties. In the show, Mister Ed would only talk to the lead (human) character Wilbur, played by Alan Young, leading to some hilarious situations. Mister Ed had a stunt double and stand-in for the show, another horse called Pumpkin. Pumpkin later played the horse that made frequent appearances on the show “Green Acres”.

16. D’back or Met NLER
The Arizona Diamondbacks joined Major League Baseball’s National League in 1998. By winning the World Series in 2001, the Diamondbacks became the fastest expansion team to do so in Major League history.

The New York Mets baseball team was founded in 1962, a replacement for two teams that the city had lost, namely the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants. For several years the Mets played very poorly, finishing no better than second-to-last in their division. Then of course along came the “Miracle Mets” who beat the Baltimore Orioles in 1969 to claim the World Series in a huge upset.

17. “East of Eden” director Kazan ELIA
Elia Kazan won Oscars for best director in 1948 for “Gentleman’s Agreement” and in 1955 for “On The Waterfront”. In 1999 Kazan was given an Academy Lifetime Achievement Award. He also directed “East of Eden”, which introduced James Dean to movie audiences, and “Splendor in the Grass” that included Warren Beatty in his debut role.

18. Popular half of a 45, usually SIDE A
The first vinyl records designed to play at 33 1/3 rpm were introduced by RCA Victor in 1931, but were discontinued due to quality problems. The first Long Play (LP) 33 1/3 rpm disc was introduced by Columbia Records many years later in 1948, with RCA Victor following up with a 45 rpm “single” the following year, in 1949.

20. Five-time Super Bowl winners DALLAS COWBOYS
The Dallas Cowboys logo is a single blue star, representative of the Lone Star that is symbolic of the state of Texas.

The Dallas Cowboys play in the National Football Conference of the NFL. The Cowboys are famous for a lengthy streak of 20 consecutive winning seasons, from 1966 to 1985. They are the highest valued sports franchise in the country. The only team in the world that’s worth more money is the UK’s Manchester United soccer team.

24. Last Greek letter OMEGA
Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet and is the one that looks like a horseshoe. The word “omega” literally means “great O” (O-mega). Compare this with the Greek letter Omicron meaning “little O” (O-micron).

28. “It’s all about the beer” Dutch brewer HEINEKEN
The Heineken label includes a red star logo. The red star was a symbol used by European brewers in the Middle Ages. During the Cold War, the red star came to have a negative connotation, an association with communism. So for several years, Heineken used a white star with a red outline as a logo.

Heineken Lager Beer is named for Gerard Adriaan Heineken, the brewer who founded the company in the Netherlands in 1973.

31. Tweezer targets BROWS
Tweezers are small metal pincers used in handling small objects. Back in the 1600s, “tweeze” was the name given to the case in which such an implement was kept, and over time the case gave its name to the device itself. “Tweeze” evolved from “etweese”, the plural of “etwee”, which came from “étui “, the French word for a “small case”.

34. Club for the supersmart 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.

36. Weight training units REPS
Repetitions (reps.)

37. “Miracle on 34th Street” store MACY’S
The original Macy’s store was opened by Rowland Hussey Macy in Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1851. This store, and several others that Macy opened, all failed. Macy picked himself up though, and started over again in New York City. Those early New York stores all focused on the sale of dry goods, but added departments quickly as the clientele grew. The Macy’s “star” logo has been around since the company was first established. Macy chose the star because it mimicked the star tattoo that he got as a teenager when he was working on a whaling ship out of Nantucket.

“Miracle on 34th Street” is a classic Christmas film from 1947 starring Maureen O’Hara, John Payne and a very young Natalie Wood. If I might ruin the end of the story for you, Santa Claus does exist ‘cause the US Post Office says so …

40. Obama daughter whose Secret Service code name is “Rosebud” SASHA
Sasha is the younger of the two Obama children, born in 2001. She is the youngest child to reside in the White House since John F. Kennedy, Jr. moved in with his parents as a small infant. Sasha’s Secret Service codename is “Rosebud”, and her older sister Malia has the codename “Radiance”.

41. Parcels (out) METES
To “mete out” is to distribute by allotments. The verb comes from the Old English word “metan” meaning “to measure”, likely to be the same root as our word “meter”.

42. Big name in sneakers CONVERSE
The Converse shoe company was founded in Malden, Massachusetts in 1908 by one Marquis Mills Converse. The company grew steadily, and introduced its first athletic shoe in 1915, a shoe designed for playing tennis. The Converse brand really took off in 1917 with the launch of a shoe designed especially for basketball.

Converse introduced its first basketball shoe way back in 1917, calling the new line “All Star”. Basketball player Chuck Taylor really liked the new design and was hired by Converse as a salesman and a spokesman. Taylor suggested a refinement to the design, including a patch on the side to protect the ankle. A star logo (representing the “All-Star” brand) was added to the patch, with Chuck Taylor’s signature being added to the logo as an endorsement in 1923. The Chuck Taylor All-Star became the best selling basketball shoe of all time, and the star became the logo for the Converse company.

45. Ford flop EDSEL
The Edsel brand of automobile was named for Edsel, son of Henry Ford. Sadly, the name “Edsel” has become synonymous with “failure”, which was no fault of Edsel himself who had died several years before the Edsel line was introduced.

50. Standard flown in Ho Chi Minh City FLAG OF VIETNAM
The Flag of Vietnam is red with a gold star in the middle.

During the Vietnam War, Hanoi was the capital of North Vietnam and Saigon the capital of South Vietnam. After the North Vietnamese victory, Hanoi was made capital of the reunified state. Saigon, the larger metropolis, was renamed to Ho Chi Minh City.

55. Thug’s knife SHIV
“Shiv” is a slang term for a weapon crudely fashioned to resemble a knife. Mostly we hear of shivs that have been fashioned by prison inmates to do harm to others.

57. Snow-block home IGLOO
The Inuit word for “house” is “iglu”, which we usually write as “igloo”. The Greenlandic (yes, that’s a language) word for “house” is very similar: “igdlo”.

Down
1. Opinion pieces OP-EDS
“Op-ed” is an abbreviation for “opposite the editorial page”. Op-eds started in “The New York Evening World” in 1921 when the page opposite the editorials was used for articles written by a named guest writer, someone independent of the editorial board.

2. God of Islam ALLAH
The term “Allah” comes from the Arabic “al-” and “ilah”, meaning “the” and “deity”. So “Allah” translates as “God”.

3. Fabric often decorated with pastoral scenes TOILE
Toile fabric can be used as upholstery, or as a wallpaper, or even as a fabric for clothing. “Toile du Jouy” is a specific example of the fabric that includes a white background with a repeated pattern, often a pastoral scene. “Toile du Jouy” fabric is often referred to simply as “toile”. The “Jouy” reference in the complete name is to the French town of Jouy-en-Josas that became famous for producing toile in the 1700s.

5. Whole bunch PASSEL
A passel is a large group or quantity. “Passel” is a variant of the word “parcel”.

6. Guitarist Clapton ERIC
Can you believe that Eric Clapton only had one chart-topper in the US? In 1974 he released a cover version of the Bob Marley classic “I Shot the Sheriff”, and ended up selling more copies of that song than Bob Marley did himself.

9. Swedish automaker SAAB
SAAB stands for Svenska Aeroplan AB, which translates into English as Swedish Aeroplane Limited. SAAB was, and still is, mainly an aircraft manufacturer. If you take small hops in Europe you might find yourself on a SAAB passenger plane. The SAAB automobile division was acquired by General Motors in the year 2000, who then sold it to a Dutch concern in 2010. However, SAAB (automotive) finally went bankrupt in 2011.

10. Digestive protein ENZYME
Enzymes are basically catalysts, chemicals that act to increase the rate of a particular chemical reaction. For example, starches will break down into sugars over time, especially under the right conditions. However, in the presence of the enzyme amylase (found in saliva) this production of sugar happens very, very quickly.

12. Lady lobster HEN
A male lobster is called a cock, and a female a hen. A lobster weighing less than a pound is called a chicken.

21. “We Try Harder” car rental chain AVIS
Avis has been around since 1946, and is the second largest car rental agency after Hertz. Avis has the distinction of being the first car rental company to locate a branch at an airport.

22. Chaplin granddaughter named for her grandmother OONA
Oona Chaplin is an actress from Madrid in Spain. Chaplin is getting a lot of airtime these days as she plays Talisa Maegyr on HBO’s hit fantasy series “Game of Thrones”. Oona is the granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin, and is named for her maternal grandmother Oona O’Neill. the daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill.

25. V-formation birds GEESE
Apparently geese fly in a V-formation for a couple of reasons. One is that it makes for efficient flight and conserves energy. The leading bird gets no advantage, but every following bird gets to “slipstream” a little. It has been noted that the lead bird drops to the back of the formation when he/she gets fatigued. It’s also thought that the flock can stick together more easily when in formation, so it is more difficult to lose someone along the way.

28. Anne of “Donnie Brasco” HECHE
My favorite movie starring the actress Anne Heche is “Six Days Seven Nights”, a romantic comedy in which she plays opposite Harrison Ford. Heche is noted for her difficult private life. She wrote that her father had molested her as a child and gave her a sexually transmitted disease (he later revealed that he was homosexual, and died of AIDS). Heche dated comedian Steve Martin for two years, and then lived with comedian Ellen DeGeneres for three. Soon after breaking up with DeGeneres, she started exhibiting eccentric behavior for a while, claiming that she was the daughter of God, and that she would take everyone back to heaven in her spaceship. Happily, I think things have calmed down for her in recent years.

The 1997 movie “Donnie Brasco” is about an FBI agent who infiltrates a New York City crime family. The film is loosely based on the true story of agent Joseph Pistone who worked his way into the Bonanno family. Johnny Depp plays Pistone on screen, and uses the name Donnie Brasco when undercover.

29. One-named “Orinoco Flow” singer ENYA
Enya’s real name is Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin, which can translate from Irish into Enya Brennan. Her Donegal family (in the northwest of Ireland) formed a band called Clannad, which included Enya. In 1980 Enya launched her very successful solo career. She sure does turn up a lot in crosswords!

30. Mag. edition ISS
An edition of a magazine (mag.) is called an issue (iss.).

31. Groundbreaking comic Lenny BRUCE
Lenny Bruce was the stage name of comedian Leonard Schneider. Bruce was noted for his edgy style and material on stage, as well as his edgy lifestyle offstage. He was arrested several times and charged with obscenity because of language used in his routines. He was eventually found guilty of one of the charges and sentenced to four months in a workhouse. He was set free on bail while making a much-publicized appeal. Sadly, he died before the appeal process was completed. After his death, the Governor of the New York granted Lenny Bruce a pardon.

34. The “m” in E = mc² MASS
In Albert Einstein’s famous equation “E = mc²”, the letter “E” stands for energy, “m” stands for mass, and “c” stands for the speed of light.

We tend to think of the “mass” of an object as the amount of matter present in the object, and often use the term interchangeably with “weight”. The weight of an object depends on the gravitational pull on the object. So and objects weight changes slightly at different altitudes on Earth, and is very different on the Moon, as the gravitational pull changes. However, the mass of the object remains the same no matter what the gravitational pull.

38. Rowing races REGATTAS
The word “regatta” is Venetian dialect and was originally used to describe boat races among the gondoliers of Venice on the Grand Canal back in the mid-1600s.

40. Actress Ward SELA
The actress Sela Ward turns up in crosswords a lot. Ward played Teddy Reed in the TV show “Sisters” in the nineties, and was in “Once and Again” from 1999-2002. I don’t know either show, but I do know Ward from the medical drama “House” in which she played the hospital’s lawyer and Greg House’s ex-partner. That was a fun role, I thought. More recently Ward played a lead role on “CSI: NY” and was a very welcome and much-needed addition to the cast …

41. Gander or gobbler MALE
A male goose is called a gander, with the female simply being referred to as a “goose”. Young geese are called goslings.

A male turkey is called a tom or a gobbler. Female turkeys are hens, and baby turkeys are called poults.

44. Offshoots SCIONS
Scion comes from the old French word “sion” or “cion”, meaning “a shoot or a twig”. In botanical terms today, a scion is used in grafting two compatible plants together. In grafting, one plant is selected for its root system (the “rootstock”), and the other plant is selected for its stems, leaves and fruit (the “scion”). The term scion migrated naturally into the world of family history. A scion is simply a descendant, a son or a daughter and therefore a branching point in the family tree.

47. Like neon and xenon INERT
The noble gases (also “rare gases”) are those elements over on the extreme right of the Periodic Table. Because of their “full” complement of electrons, noble gases are very unreactive. The six noble gases that occur naturally are helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon and radon.

An inert gas can be different from a noble gas. Both are relatively non-reactive, but a noble gas is an element. An inert gas on the other hand, might be a compound i.e. made up of more than one element.

48. Obama daughter whose Secret Service code name is “Radiance” MALIA
By tradition, the Secret Service code names used for the US President and family all start with the same letter. For the current First Family, that letter is R:

– Barack Obama: Renegade
– Michelle Obama: Renaissance
– Malia Obama: Radiance
– Sasha Obama: Rosebud

49. Mascara mishap SMEAR
“Mascara” is a Spanish word meaning “stain, mask”.

51. The Bee Gees’ “Gee” GIBB
The Brothers Gibb (hence, the name “The Bee Gees”) were born in England but grew up and started their musical careers in Australia. They moved back to Manchester in the north of England as youths, and there hit the big time.

55. 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 …

Share today’s solution with a friend:
FacebookTwitterGoogleEmail

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Dinner for Mister Ed OATS
5. On-the-job extras PERKS
10. Cave feedback ECHO
14. Snow remover PLOW
15. Ice show site ARENA
16. D’back or Met NLER
17. “East of Eden” director Kazan ELIA
18. Popular half of a 45, usually SIDE A
19. Time division on a map ZONE
20. Five-time Super Bowl winners DALLAS COWBOYS
23. Do a librarian’s chore SHELVE
24. Last Greek letter OMEGA
27. Pipeline product OIL
28. “It’s all about the beer” Dutch brewer HEINEKEN
31. Tweezer targets BROWS
34. Club for the supersmart MENSA
35. Soccer goal NET
36. Weight training units REPS
37. “Miracle on 34th Street” store MACY’S
38. Stand up RISE
39. Make the most of USE
40. Obama daughter whose Secret Service code name is “Rosebud” SASHA
41. Parcels (out) METES
42. Big name in sneakers CONVERSE
44. Droop in the middle SAG
45. Ford flop EDSEL
46. Insurance filings CLAIMS
50. Standard flown in Ho Chi Minh City FLAG OF VIETNAM
55. Thug’s knife SHIV
57. Snow-block home IGLOO
58. Prefix with cast TELE-
59. Not contaminated PURE
60. 34-Across member BRAIN
61. Soprano’s solo ARIA
62. Shoe inserts FEET
63. Road curves BENDS
64. Headliner, or symbol associated with 20-, 28-, 37-, 42- and 50-Across STAR

Down
1. Opinion pieces OP-EDS
2. God of Islam ALLAH
3. Fabric often decorated with pastoral scenes TOILE
4. Gulps down SWALLOWS
5. Whole bunch PASSEL
6. Guitarist Clapton ERIC
7. Start all over REDO
8. Felt in one’s bones KNEW
9. Swedish automaker SAAB
10. Digestive protein ENZYME
11. Tight, as families CLOSE-KNIT
12. Lady lobster HEN
13. Find at the mine ORE
21. “We Try Harder” car rental chain AVIS
22. Chaplin granddaughter named for her grandmother OONA
25. V-formation birds GEESE
26. Gets in the poker game ANTES
28. Anne of “Donnie Brasco” HECHE
29. One-named “Orinoco Flow” singer ENYA
30. Mag. edition ISS
31. Groundbreaking comic Lenny BRUCE
32. Put down new grass sections RE-SOD
33. Starts to shoot OPENS FIRE
34. The “m” in E = mc² MASS
37. Make a dent in, say MAR
38. Rowing races REGATTAS
40. Actress Ward SELA
41. Gander or gobbler MALE
43. Soft-pile fabric VELVET
44. Offshoots SCIONS
47. Like neon and xenon INERT
48. Obama daughter whose Secret Service code name is “Radiance” MALIA
49. Mascara mishap SMEAR
51. The Bee Gees’ “Gee” GIBB
52. Beast of fables OGRE
53. Spanish dessert FLAN
54. Partner of null VOID
55. Coppertone letters SPF
56. Shade of color HUE

Return to top of page

11 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword Answers 11 Nov 13, Monday”

  1. Hey Bill, another top of a wonderful Monday morning …. May the sun shine brightly on your back, your heart be both light and strong, and may your footsteps be graceful and vigorous, as you tread on for your hike, through the week.

    Had no problem with a Monday puzzle, from our prolific writer, C.C. I was not familiar with the Heineken label, because I don't drink beer….. I go for the 'hard' stuff …

    I had Pepsin, then tried to fit in Trypsin, before I realized the generic 'enzyme' was called for.

    I learnt something very valuable today. That noble gases and inert gases, are not the same, and that the latter may be compounds. Which? How about CO2, XeF4, SF6 …. The last one was injected in my eye, to 'hold' a retinal detachment, fix.

    SF6 is a gas much heavier than air, and even heavier than water, ( like the vitreous humor, VH, fluid in the eye …). The retina is like a wallpaper inside the eye, and if it is detached, it has to be stuck, welded, back in place, and the SF6 is injected, into the eye, to 'sit on', like a heavyweight paperweight, and hold the wallpaper from peeling off again. SF6, unfortunately, being an alien body, in the eye, (as expected), also causes a cataract to form, in the lens, so some more post-operation, operations are also needed to excise the cataract , fit in an intra-ocular lens, etc. And sometimes the whole set of operations don't work out as expected. Oh well.

    My favorite local, cheapo, grocery store, uses CO, carbon monoxide, injected, inside the bubble wrap, for meat packages, especially red meat, …. So that the meat appears 'fresh', longer, and bright red colored, and has no brown spots. The quantity is too small to cause any toxic reactions or gas poisoning…… BTW, this is an FDA approved process. But CO is not considered an inert gas.

    Have a nice day, and a great week, you all.

  2. @Hoyt
    Well, I am filling out the grid using a keyboard instead of paper. That might make a difference on these Monday and Tuesday puzzles. That said, I always prefer a 60-minute finish over a 6-minute one 🙂

    @Vidwan
    And bottom of the evening to you! 🙂

    You discourse on the use of SF6 in eye surgery is fascinating. I read a little about it and discovered that the gas doubles in volume in 36 hours applying the required pressure on the retina, and then is absorbed harmlessly into the body over a week or two. A remarkably creative prcedure, I'd say.

    I did know a little about the use of CO in meat packaging, and just did a little reading on the subject. Although the FDA approves the process, it is in fact illegal in the EU and other developed countries. The issue apparently is that meat which has "gone off" still looks usable when packed in CO.

    As we'd say in Ireland, sure it's great gas! 🙂

  3. Hi Bill, Vidwan and Hoyt!
    Where are Addict and Brooke lately?
    Only erasure today was Line instead of Zone.
    Had to think about Scions. Sure hope I'll remember it for the future.

    No luck with Norton. Still a week or so left on the older version.
    Will probably have to get my geek friend to come and do it. (sigh)

  4. Yes thanks Bill. I got it.Still a week left, so I will try in a few days to remove the old and "in with the new!"

  5. Hi everyone- Pookie I usually only hang around in the early week as the puzzles get too hard for me after Weds.
    Nice to know someone cares, haha.
    I'm with Hoyt, this was too easy!

    Hope you all had a relaxing Veteran's Day. 🙂

  6. I used a computer too Bill, I think maybe I'd be faster with pen and paper! Every puzzle seems either too easy or too hard, never just right…ha ha

    Hello all 🙂

  7. @Brooke
    I am looking forward to trading comments with you in a Saturday puzzle sometime soon 🙂 Practice makes perfect. We just came back from another movie (the second in two days) seeing as it's the Veterans Day weekend. We saw an British film called "About Time" that's from the same time that made "Love Actually". I highly recommend "About Time" as it has a very clever, yet poignant storyline.

    @Hoyt
    If you want to see some fast solving, I recommend the movie about the NYTimes crossword called "Word Play". It's a fabulous film for crossword lovers, and very eye-opening.

  8. I will look for that movie Bill.

    Speaking of movies, I knew Ann Heche was a bit goofy but didn't know how much. After I read your tidbits I googled her and wow what a life. She was born in Aurora, Ohio, which is about ten minutes from my house. Aurora's other claim to fame was having the only Sea World park besides Florida and California. Unfortunately it is not around anymore.

Comments are closed.