LA Times Crossword Answers 27 Nov 13, Wednesday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
14. Sicilian smoker ETNA
Mt. Etna is the largest of three active volcanoes in Italy. Mt Etna is about 2 1/2 times the height of its equally famous sister, Mt. Vesuvius.

17. Line on an envelope CITY, STATE AND ZIP
ZIP codes were introduced in 1963. The acronym ZIP stands for Zone Improvement Plan, a name indicating that mail travels more efficiently when the codes are included in the postal address.

20. Noel beginning O COME
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.

“Noël” is the French word for the Christmas season, ultimately coming from the Latin word for “birth” (natalis). Noel has come to be used as an alternative name for a Christmas carol.

21. Current to avoid RIP
A rip current (wrongly called a rip “tide” sometimes) is a localized current that flows seaward from near the shore. Rip currents are dangerous as they can pull swimmers out to sea.

23. Pago Pago’s land AMERICAN SAMOA
Pago Pago is the capital of American Samoa in the South Pacific. The island was used by the US Navy during WWII and it managed to escape most of the conflict. The only military incident of consequence was the shelling of the city’s harbor by a Japanese submarine. A more devastating event was the tsunami that hit Pago Pago and surrounding areas in 2009, causing widespread damage and numerous deaths.

28. Dudley Do-Right’s gal NELL
Dudley Do-Right appeared on the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, a cartoon that appeared on television in a couple of different versions from 1959-1964. Dudley was a bungling Mountie who struggled with his nemesis, the evil Snidely Whiplash, while pursuing the romantic intentions of Nell Fenwick (who always seemed to prefer Dudley’s horse!).

30. Golfer Woosnam IAN
I’ve always thought Ian Woosnam to be the most unlikely-looking of golfers. He is just over 5’ 4” tall and yet is noted as a very powerful hitter of the ball. Woosnam is a Welshman, and was ranked the world’s number one golfer for most of 1991.

33. Down __: Maine region EAST
The coast of Maine is often referred to as “Down East” by the people of New England.

40. Paul Hogan role CROCODILE DUNDEE
“Crocodile Dundee” is an Australian film that was released in 1986, starring Australian comedian Paul Hogan in the title role as Mick Dundee with American actress Linda Kozlowski playing the female lead. The main characters fell in love on-screen, and Hogan and Kozlowski fell for each other off-screen. Hogan divorced his wife (whom he had already married twice) and wedded Kozlowski in 1990.

44. Side of the 1860s UNION
The American Civil War lasted just over four years, from 1861 to 1865. Hostilities began with an attack by confederate forces on Fort Sumter in South Carolina, which was held by Union troops. In essence, the war ended with the defeat of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia by Union forces led by Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Appomattox Court House. Over 750,000 soldiers died in the conflict, making the Civil War the deadliest war in American history. About 30% of all Southern white males aged 18-40 were lost in the fighting.

45. __ Lisa Vito: “My Cousin Vinny” role MONA
“My Cousin Vinny” is a really fun film from 1992 starring Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei. In 2008, the American Bar Association rated “My Cousin Vinny” as the #3 Greatest Legal Movie of all time, after “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “12 Angry Man”!

47. “I’m not impressed” MEH!
“Meh!” is one of those terms unfamiliar to me outside of crosswords. It is a modern colloquialism meaning “I’m not great, but not bad”.

49. ’60s White House daughter LUCI
Luci Baines Johnson is the youngest daughter of President Lyndon Johnson. Luci married Patrick Nugent in Washington, D.C. in 1966, while her father was still in the White House. The Nugents had their marriage annulled by the Catholic Church in 1979, and Luci remarried in 1984, to Ian J. Turpin.

52. Classic cartoon shout YABBA DABBA DOO!
“Yabba dabba doo!” is one of Fred Flintstone’s catchphrases.

I once had the privilege of spending an afternoon in the room (Bill Hanna’s den) where Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera came up with the idea of “The Flintstones” …

58. NYSE overseer SEC
The US Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC) enforces federal securities laws and regulates the securities industry. The SEC was created by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The first Chairman of the SEC was Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., the father of future President Kennedy.

The roots of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) go back to 1792 when a group of 24 stock brokers set up the New York Stock & Exchange Board. They did so in an agreement signed under a buttonwood tree outside 68 Wall Street. That document became known as the Buttonwood Agreement.

62. Zero in Morse code, any part of which will finish the title of the Oscar-winning song found at the ends of 17-, 23-, 40- and 52-Across DAH DAH DAH DAH DAH
Dahs and dits are the sound equivalents of dashes and dots of Morse Code. Samuel Morse didn’t invent Morse code, but it took his name because it was invented for use on the electric telegraph invented by him.

“Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” is a song from the Disney film “Song of the South” released in 1946. The following year, “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” won the Oscar for Best Original Song. The song is also featured at the end of the Disney theme park ride called Splash Mountain.

68. MBA seeker’s first hurdle GMAT
If you want to get into a business school’s graduate program then you might have to take the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), which will cost you about $250, I believe …

The world’s first Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree was offered by Harvard’s Graduate School of Business Administration, in 1908.

69. Napa prefix OENO-
In Greek mythology, Oeno was the goddess of wine, giving us “oeno-” as a prefix meaning “wine”. For example, oenology is the study of wine and an oenophile is a wine-lover.

70. Array for a Boy Scout KNOTS
As every little boy (of my era) knows, the Scouting movement was founded by Lord Baden Powell, in 1907. The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) soon followed, in 1910.

Down
1. Rectilinear art form DECO
Art deco is the name given to a style of design and architecture of the 1920s that actually had its roots in Belgium and then spread throughout Europe before arriving in North America. Celebrated examples of art deco architecture are the magnificent Chrysler Building in New York City completed in 1930, and the GE Building that sits in the middle of Rockefeller Center also in New York City, with the address of “30 Rock”.

2. City east of Syracuse 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.

Syracuse is a large city in Central New York. The settlement that eventually became Syracuse was given its name in 1825, in honor of the city of Syracuse in Sicily. It just so happens the US company that employed me in Ireland transferred me to Syracuse, New York, way back in 1983. I am a big fan of the city Syracuse and visit as often as I can …

3. Sci. of insects ENTOM
Entomology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of insects. The etymology of entomology (!) is the Greek “entomon” (meaning “insect”) and “logia” (meaning “study of”). In turn, the Greek word for insect, “entomos”, literally means “having a notch or cut”, in deference to the observation by Aristotle that insects have segmented bodies.

5. Pantry pest ANT
The word “pantry” dates back to 1300 when it came into English from the Old French “panetrie” meaning a “bread room”. Bread is “pain” in French, and “panis” in Latin.

8. Pub order STEIN
A stein is a type of beer glass. The term is German in origin, and is short for “Steinkrug” meaning “stone jug”. “Stein” is the German for “stone”.

11. Sung-into instrument KAZOO
The modern instrument we know today as the kazoo was invented by one Alabama Vest of Macon, Georgia in the 1800s. The kazoo first came to the public’s attention at the Georgia State Fair of 1852, when it was known as the “Down-South Submarine” (because of it’s shape, I would imagine).

12. Slezak of “One Life to Live” ERIKA
The actress Erika Slezak plays Victoria Lord on the daytime soap opera “One Life to Live”. Slezak has been playing the role since 1971, for 40 years!

19. 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.

24. “Where Is the Life That Late __?”: Cole Porter song I LED
“Where Is the Life That Late I Led?” is a Cole Porter song from the stage musical “Kiss Me, Kate”.

“Kiss Me, Kate” is a musical written by Cole Porter first produced on Broadway in 1948. Cole Porter had a string of successes in the twenties and thirties including “Gay Divorce” and “Anything Goes”, but he found his career in decline in the forties. “Kiss Me, Kate” proved to be a dramatic come back, and was the only one of his shows that ran for more than 1,000 performances on Broadway.

Cole Porter was a little unusual amongst his peers in that he was one of the few successful songwriters who wrote both lyrics and musics for his compositions. Porter was seriously injured in a riding accident when in his forties and was left disabled and in pain. Despite this, he continued to work and produced his most successful work after the accident.

25. Forty-niner’s stake CLAIM
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”.

26. Rights gp. ACLU
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has its roots in the First World War when it was founded to provide legal advice and support to conscientious objectors.

30. Post-ER area ICU
A patient might end up in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) after being discharged from the Emergency Room (ER).

31. Son of Prince Valiant ARN
“Prince Valiant” is a comic strip that first appeared in 1937 when it was created by Hal Foster. Edward, Duke of Windsor called the “Prince Valiant” comic strip the “greatest contribution to English Literature in the past one hundred years”. I’m not so sure …

35. Potato sack wt., perhaps TEN LB
The unit of mass that we know today as a “pound” is descended from the old Roman unit of weight known as a “libra”. That “libra” connection is why we abbreviate pound to “lb”. The name “pound” though comes from the Latin “pondo” meaning “weight”.

37. B. Favre’s career 508 TDS
Brett Favre is best known as the former starting-quarterback for the Green Bay Packers. Favre retired in 2010 after playing with the Minnesota Vikings for a short time. Among the many NFL records held by Favre, he has thrown the most career touchdown passes, and has made the most consecutive starts.

39. Collectible car REO
The REO Motor Company was founded by Ransom E. Olds (hence the name REO). The company made cars, trucks and buses, and was in business from 1905 to 1975 in Lansing, Michigan. Among the company’s most famous models were the REO Royale and the REO Flying Cloud.

43. Apply amateurishly DAUB
“To daub” is to coat a surface with something thick and sticky, like say plaster or mud.

48. It may be slung at a diner HASH
“Hash”, meaning a dish of beef and vegetables mashed together, is a very American term and one that really surprised me when I first came across it. “Hash” just seems like such an unappetizing item, but I soon found out how delicious it was. The name “hash” in this context comes from the French “hacher” meaning “to chop”. Back in the early 1900s the dish called “hashed browned potatoes” was developed, which quickly morphed into “hashbrowns”. From there the likes of corned beef hash was introduced.

50. Matador’s cloak CAPA
“Capa” is the Spanish for “cloak”.

“Matador” is a Spanish word used in English for a bullfighter, although the term isn’t used in the same way in Spanish. The equivalent in Spanish is “torero”. “Matador” translates aptly enough as “killer”.

51. Oft-baked veggies IDAHOS
Idaho has the nickname the Gem State, mainly because almost every known type of gemstone has been found there. Idaho is also sometimes called the Potato State as potatoes are such a popular crop in the state.

55. Butler’s last words A DAMN
In Margaret Mitchell’s novel “Gone with the Wind”, when Rhett Butler finally walks out on Scarlett O’Hara he utters the words “My dear, I don’t give a damn”. Most of us are more familiar with the slightly different words spoken by Clark Gable in the film adaption of the story: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

57. Muscat native OMANI
Oman lies on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula and is neighbored by the OAE, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The capital city of Muscat has a strategic location on the Gulf of Oman and has a history of invasion and unrest. Centuries of occupation by the Persians ended in 1507 when the Portuguese took the city in a bloody attack. The Portuguese held Muscat for much of the next one hundred years until finally being ousted by local Omani forces in 1648. A Yemeni tribe invaded the area in 1741 and set up a monarchy that has been in place in Oman ever since.

58. Where to find Pierre: Abbr. S DAK
Here’s an old chestnut of a trivia question for you … what’s the only state capital in the Union in which the name of the capital and the name of its state share no common letters? You guessed it … Pierre, South Dakota …

63. Mar.-Nov. hours DST
On the other side of the Atlantic, Daylight Saving Time (DST) is known as “summer time”. The idea behind summer/daylight-savings is to move clocks forward an hour in spring and backwards in the fall so that afternoons have more daylight.

64. Two-time loser to DDE AES
Adlai Stevenson (AES) ran for president unsuccessfully against Dwight D. Eisenhower (DDE) in 1952 and in 1956. Some years after his second defeat, Stevenson served under President Kennedy as Ambassador to the United Nations. Stevenson was always noted for his eloquence and he had a famous exchange in a UN Security Council meeting during the Cuban missile crisis. Stevenson bluntly demanded that the Soviet representative on the council tell the world if the USSR was installing nuclear weapons in Cuba. His words were “Don’t wait for the translation, answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’!” followed by “I am prepared to wait for my answer until Hell freezes over!”

66. Boozer’s syndrome DTS
The episodes of delirium that can accompany withdrawal from alcohol are called Delirium Tremens (the DTs). The literal translation of this Latin phrase is “trembling madness”.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. One-on-one contest DUEL
5. Pub orders ALES
9. Creator MAKER
14. Sicilian smoker ETNA
15. Shout to a storeful of customers NEXT!
16. Elegant headgear TIARA
17. Line on an envelope CITY, STATE AND ZIP
20. Noel beginning O COME
21. Current to avoid RIP
22. Gives the nod OKS
23. Pago Pago’s land AMERICAN SAMOA
28. Dudley Do-Right’s gal NELL
29. Green prefix ECO-
30. Golfer Woosnam IAN
33. Down __: Maine region EAST
36. “Gotta run!” LATER!
40. Paul Hogan role CROCODILE DUNDEE
44. Side of the 1860s UNION
45. __ Lisa Vito: “My Cousin Vinny” role MONA
46. Cold-sounding commercial prefix SNO-
47. “I’m not impressed” MEH!
49. ’60s White House daughter LUCI
52. Classic cartoon shout YABBA DABBA DOO!
58. NYSE overseer SEC
59. Green roll SOD
60. Tropical trees PALMS
62. Zero in Morse code, any part of which will finish the title of the Oscar-winning song found at the ends of 17-, 23-, 40- and 52-Across DAH DAH DAH DAH DAH
67. Stopped lying? AROSE
68. MBA seeker’s first hurdle GMAT
69. Napa prefix OENO-
70. Array for a Boy Scout KNOTS
71. Comes to a stop ENDS
72. Quick cut SNIP

Down
1. Rectilinear art form DECO
2. City east of Syracuse UTICA
3. Sci. of insects ENTOM
4. Nonprofessionals LAYMEN
5. Pantry pest ANT
6. Green expanse LEA
7. Cast-of-thousands member EXTRA
8. Pub order STEIN
9. High-elev. spot MTN
10. A leg up AID
11. Sung-into instrument KAZOO
12. Slezak of “One Life to Live” ERIKA
13. Shoots the breeze RAPS
18. Plagued by drought SERE
19. Church recess APSE
24. “Where Is the Life That Late __?”: Cole Porter song I LED
25. Forty-niner’s stake CLAIM
26. Rights gp. ACLU
27. Ghostly sound MOAN
30. Post-ER area ICU
31. Son of Prince Valiant ARN
32. “There’s __ in ‘team'” NO I
34. __-mo SLO
35. Potato sack wt., perhaps TEN LB
37. B. Favre’s career 508 TDS
38. Velvet finish? -EEN
39. Collectible car REO
41. Search everywhere in COMB
42. Front row seat ONE-B
43. Apply amateurishly DAUB
48. It may be slung at a diner HASH
50. Matador’s cloak CAPA
51. Oft-baked veggies IDAHOS
52. Long (for) YEARN
53. Blessed outburst? ACHOO!
54. Evade DODGE
55. Butler’s last words A DAMN
56. Of yore OLDEN
57. Muscat native OMANI
58. Where to find Pierre: Abbr. S DAK
61. Class with tools SHOP
63. Mar.-Nov. hours DST
64. Two-time loser to DDE AES
65. Owned HAD
66. Boozer’s syndrome DTS

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