LA Times Crossword Answers 8 Mar 14, Saturday

CROSSWORD SETTER: Brad Wilber
THEME: None
BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 15m 06s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Leavenworth and McHenry: Abbr. FTS
Fort Leavenworth in Kansas is actually home to three federal prisons:

– US Disciplinary Barracks … a military prison
– Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility … a military prison
– US Penitentiary, Leavenworth … a civilian prison

Fort McHenry sits on a peninsula in the opening to Baltimore Harbor in Maryland. The fort saw action in the War of 1812 as US forces were successful there in defending an attack by the British Navy. Francis Scott Key was watching the bombardment of Fort McHenry when he was inspired to write the words to “The Star Spangled Banner”.

4. Teddy Roosevelt sobriquet TRUST BUSTER
President Theodore Roosevelt earned the nickname “the trust-buster president” due to his consistent use of US antitrust laws against companies that were engaging in anticompetitive practices. Notable results of the president’s actions were the breakup of Northern Securities Company (the country’s largest railroad trust) and the breakup of Standard Oil (the country’s largest oil company).

15. Medium evocation RAP
A medium at a seance might call out to the spirits, who might rap on the table.

17. “… __ the hot sun count / His dewy rosary …”: Keats ERE
“Come down, we pray thee, ere the hot sun count / His dewy rosary on the eglantine.” are a couple of lines from the 1818 narrative poem “Isabella, or the Pot of Basil” by John Keats.

18. “I Hope I Get It” musical A CHORUS LINE
“A Chorus Line” is a phenomenal hit musical first staged in 1975. The original Broadway production ran for well over 6,000 performances, making it the longest running production in Broadway history up to that time, a record held for over 20 years (until “Cats” came along).

19. Clinking currency SPECIE
Coined money, as opposed to paper money, can be referred to as “specie”.

21. __ judicata: decided case RES
“Res judicata” is a term used in the law for a decided case, which translates from Latin as “a matter already judged”.

25. __ Toy Barn: “Toy Story 2” setting AL’S
“Toy Story 2” is a Pixar feature film that was released in 1999. The film was an even bigger hit than the original “Toy Story” and grossed just under $500 million.

27. London Philharmonic co-founder Sir Thomas __ BEECHAM
Sir Thomas Beecham was a conductor from England. Beecham founded the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1932, along with fellow conductor Sir Malcolm Sargent, and founded the Royal Philharmonic in 1946. He was known in his native land as Britain’s first international conductor. Beecham worked for three years in the US as music director of the Seattle Symphony and also conducted at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

29. Sailor’s direction ALEE
“Alee” is the direction away from the wind. If a sailor points into the wind, he or she is pointing “aweather”.

31. Prefix with scope OTO-
An otoscope is that instrument that an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist uses to look into the interior of one’s ears.

34. KGB agent’s foe CIA SPY
The Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti (KGB) was the national security agency of the Soviet Union until 1991. The KGB was dissolved at that time after the agency’s chairman led a failed attempt at a coup d’état designed to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.

36. Beatles song with the line “There’s one for you, nineteen for me” TAXMAN
Back in the UK in the seventies, the UK government put in place a progressive tax that topped out at 95% for the super-rich. The band members of the Beatles fell into that tax bracket, so George Harrison wrote a song called “Taxman” which had a lyric “There’s one for you, nineteen for me”. That reference meant that the government took nineteen shillings out of every twenty that the band earned.

39. Like many French Quarter streets GASLIT
The oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orlean is the French Quarter, also called the “Vieux Carré (French for “Old Square”). After being founded by the French in 1718 as “La Nouvelle-Orléans”, the city developed around this central square.

43. Goalie’s undoing DEKE
A deke, also known as a dangle, is a technique used to get past an opponent in ice hockey. “Deke” is a colloquial shortening of the word “decoy”.

44. Sextet at Woodstock SANTANA
Carlos Santana is a Mexican American rock guitar player, famous for heading the band called Santana who melded rock music with Latin and African themes.

1969’s Woodstock Music & Art Fair was held on a dairy farm located 43 miles southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York. 400,000 young people attended, and saw 32 bands and singers perform over three days.

48. Film villain in a Nehru jacket DR NO
“Dr. No” may have been the first film in the wildly successful James Bond franchise, but it was the sixth novel in the series of books penned by Ian Fleming. Fleming was inspired to write the story after reading the Fu Manchu tales by Sax Rohmer. If you’ve read the Rohmer books or seen the films, you’ll recognize the similarities between the characters Dr. No and Fu Manchu.

A Nehru jacket is very like a regular suit jacket, except that the collar buttons at the neck. It was originally created in the 1940s in India, and then marketed as the Nehru jacket in the west in the sixties. The name Nehru was lifted from Jawaharlal Nehru, the prime minister of India from 1947 to 1964.

56. Lobbying gp. PAC
A Political Action Committee (PAC) is a private group that works to influence the outcome of a particular election or group of elections. Any group becomes a PAC by law when it receives or spends more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing the outcome of an election. In 2010 the Supreme Court ruled that PACS that did not make direct contributions to candidates or parties could accept unlimited contributions. These “independent-expenditure only committees” are commonly referred to as “super PACs”.

57. Delta Tau Chi, familiarly ANIMAL HOUSE
The very funny 1978 movie “Animal House” has the prefix “National Lampoon’s …” because the storyline came out of tales that had already appeared in “National Lampoon” magazine. “Animal House” was to become the first in a long line of successful “National Lampoon” films. The main pledges in the movie are Tom Hulce (Pinto), who later played a magnificent “Amadeus”, and Stephen Furst (Flounder), later played a regular role on television’s “Babylon 5”.

58. Kate’s role in “The Aviator” AVA
English actress Kate Beckinsale played Ava Gardner in the 2004 biopic about Howard Hughes called “The Aviator”.

Kate Beckinsale is an English actress probably best known here for playing the romantic lead opposite Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett in 2001’s “Pearl Harbor”. Kate is the daughter of actor Richard Beckinsale who is well known in Britain for his roles in the sitcoms “Porridge” and “Rising Damp”.

“The Aviator” is a great film from 2004, a biographical piece about much of the life of aviation pioneer Howard Hughes. Leonardo DiCaprio plays the title role, with Cate Blanchett playing a very credible Katharine Hepburn, Hughes’ lover with whom he lived for quite some time. Blanchett won a very much deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. Alan Alda received an Oscar nomination as a supporting actor, playing Senator Owen Brewster, a thorn in the side for Howard Hughes.

59. Maple leaf eater BOXELDER BUG
The boxelder bug is found not only on boxelder trees, but also on maple and ash trees.

Down
2. A woodpile may be under it TARPAULIN
Originally, tarpaulins were made from canvas covered in tar that rendered the material waterproof. The word “tarpaulin” comes from “tar” and “palling”, with “pall” meaning “heavy cloth covering”.

4. He said, “Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to” TWAIN
Samuel Langhorne Clemens was the real name of the author Mark Twain. Twain wasn’t the only pen name used by Clemens. Early in his career he signed some sketches as “Josh”, and signed some humorous letters that he wrote under the name “Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass”. The name of Mark Twain came from the days when Clemens was working on riverboats on the Mississippi. A riverboatman would call out “by the mark twain” when measuring the depth of water. This meant that on the sounding line, according to the “mark” on the line, the depth was two (“twain”) fathoms, and so it was safe for the riverboat to proceed.

5. Powell’s successor RICE
Condoleezza “Condi” Rice was the second African American to serve as US Secretary of State (after Colin Powell) and the second woman to hold the office (after Madeleine Albright). Prior to becoming Secretary of State in President George W. Bush’s administration, Rice was the first woman to hold the office of National Security Advisor. In private life, Rice is a remarkably capable pianist. Given her stature in Washington, Rice has had the opportunity to play piano in public with the likes of cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and soul singer Aretha Franklin.

Colin Powell was the first African American to serve as US Secretary of State. Earlier in his career, Powell had been a four-star general in the US Army, as well as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War. Even though Colin Powell has retired from public service, he is one of the most noted moderate Republicans, often advocating support for centrist and liberal causes.

6. New England sch. with a wildcat mascot UNH
The University of New Hampshire is the largest university in the state. It was founded as the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts in 1866.

7. They need connecting flights STORIES
A “landing” is the area at the top and bottom of a staircase. Apparently, we called the steps between the landings a “flight” of stairs, because one flies between landings! Can that be true?

8. Playwright Rattigan TERENCE
Terence Rattigan was a British playwright whose most famous works were “The Winslow Boy” (1946) and my personal favorite “Separate Tables” (1954).

9. Grilled-bread appetizer BRUSCHETTA
In Italy the word “bruschetta” is pronounced differently than most people tend to pronounce the same word here in the US. We should be saying “broo-sketta” and not “broo-shetta”.

11. Deep bow SALAAM
The word “salaam” is an Anglicized spelling of the Arabic word for “peace”. It can mean an act of deference, in particular a very low bow.

12. Clarinetist’s effect TRILL
The clarinet is a lovely-sounding instrument, isn’t it? The name comes from the Italian word “clarino” meaning “trumpet” with the “-et” suffix indicating “small”.

13. Author Ferber et al. EDNAS
Edna Ferber was a novelist and playwright from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Ferber won a Pulitzer for her novel “So Big”, which was made into a film a few times, most famously in 1953 starring Jane Wyman.

14. Distillery output RYES
For whiskey to be labelled as “rye” in the US, it has to be distilled from at least 51% rye grain. In Canada however, a drink called rye whiskey sometimes contains no rye at all.

20. “Unforgettable” duet partners COLES
Natalie Cole is of course the daughter of Nat King Cole. Natalie’s mother was Maria Cole, a singer with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. The most famous version of the hit song “Unforgettable” was released in 1951 by Nat King Cole. In 1991, Natalie Cole recorded a version that was mixed with an earlier 1961 version sung by her father, creating an “unforgettable” father-daughter duet that was made 26 years after Nat King Cole had passed away.

24. __ garden ZEN
Japanese Zen gardens are inspired by the meditation gardens of Zen Buddhist temples. Zen gardens have no water in them, but often there is gravel and sand that is raked in patterns designed to create the impression of water in waves and ripples.

28. The Ducks, on an ESPN ticker ANA
The Walt Disney Company founded the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim hockey team in 1993, with the franchise’s name being a nod to the 1992 Disney movie called “The Mighty Ducks”. The name was changed to the Anaheim Ducks when Disney sold the team before the 2006-2007 season.

33. 19th-century bat-and-ball game ONE OLD CAT
One-o’-cat, or more properly “one old cat”, is an abbreviated form of baseball with a home plate and just one base.

35. Org. that keeps driving stats PGA
The Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) was founded in 1916 and today has its headquarters (unsurprisingly) in Florida, where so many golfers live. Back in 1916, the PGA was based in New York City.

40. Greek poetic stanza STROPHE
In general terms, in poetry a “strophe” is a pair of stanzas with alternating form. So, a poem might be made up from a number of strophes, and twice that number of stanzas.

41. Lassitude LANGUOR
Languor, lassitude, lethargy and listlessness are such lovely words, all l-words meaning a lack of physical energy.

44. Bagel selection SESAME
The bagel was invented in the Polish city of Kraków in the 16th century. Bagels were brought to this country by Jewish immigrants from Poland who mainly established homes in and around New York City.

46. Button on some receivers PHONO
If you have home entertainment system with a receiver, then it is kind of acting like the “nerve center” of the set up. The receiver is primarily for gathering sound inputs from all of your sound-producing devices (CD player, DVD player, VHS player, phonograph etc.) and then processing and sending that sound signal to your collection of speakers.

49. Literary captain QUEEG
Herman Wouk won a Pulitzer in 1951 for his novel “The Caine Mutiny”. The story involves mutiny and court-martial aboard a US Navy vessel and reflected, at least partly, the personal experiences of Wouk as he served in the Pacific in WWII aboard a destroyer-minesweeper. The novel was adapted into a marvelous film released in 1954 starring Humphrey Bogart as Philip Queeg, the harsh captain of the USS Caine.

52. “__, meine Freude”: Bach motet JESU
“Jesu, meine Freude” is a funeral motet composed by Johann Sebastian Bach.

A motet is a simple musical composition based on a sacred text, usually sung without an accompaniment. The term “motet” is a diminutive form of “mot”, the French for “word”.

54. __ vez: maybe, in Pamplona TAL
“Tal vez” is Spanish for “perhaps, maybe”.

Pamplona, Spain is famous for its San Fermin festival held in July every year, the highlight of which is the Running of the Bulls. Every year, 200-300 people are injured in the bull run, and 15 people have been killed since 1910. If you get to Pamplona two days before the Running of the Bulls, you can see the animal-rights protest event known as the Running of the Nudes. The protesters are as naked as the bulls …

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Leavenworth and McHenry: Abbr. FTS
4. Teddy Roosevelt sobriquet TRUST BUSTER
15. Medium evocation RAP
16. Like evergreens WINTER-HARDY
17. “… __ the hot sun count / His dewy rosary …”: Keats ERE
18. “I Hope I Get It” musical A CHORUS LINE
19. Clinking currency SPECIE
21. __ judicata: decided case RES
22. “Sorry to say …” ALAS
23. Sported HAD ON
24. Mineral in pumpkin seeds ZINC
25. __ Toy Barn: “Toy Story 2” setting AL’S
26. Prepare for a poster tube FURL
27. London Philharmonic co-founder Sir Thomas __ BEECHAM
29. Sailor’s direction ALEE
30. Hidden UNSEEN
31. Prefix with scope OTO-
34. KGB agent’s foe CIA SPY
36. Beatles song with the line “There’s one for you, nineteen for me” TAXMAN
38. Wrap END
39. Like many French Quarter streets GASLIT
43. Goalie’s undoing DEKE
44. Sextet at Woodstock SANTANA
45. Dairy aisle tub OLEO
46. Start to amble? PRE-
48. Film villain in a Nehru jacket DR NO
49. Stifle QUELL
50. Women SHES
51. Keep to oneself HOG
52. Stuck (out) JUTTED
53. Spaghetti sauce ingredient TOMATO PUREE
56. Lobbying gp. PAC
57. Delta Tau Chi, familiarly ANIMAL HOUSE
58. Kate’s role in “The Aviator” AVA
59. Maple leaf eater BOXELDER BUG
60. Make NET

Down
1. Talent scout discovery FRESH FACE
2. A woodpile may be under it TARPAULIN
3. Whiz through, in a way SPEED READ
4. He said, “Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to” TWAIN
5. Powell’s successor RICE
6. New England sch. with a wildcat mascot UNH
7. They need connecting flights STORIES
8. Playwright Rattigan TERENCE
9. Grilled-bread appetizer BRUSCHETTA
10. Uncertain sounds UHS
11. Deep bow SALAAM
12. Clarinetist’s effect TRILL
13. Author Ferber et al. EDNAS
14. Distillery output RYES
20. “Unforgettable” duet partners COLES
24. __ garden ZEN
27. Long-term investment strategy BUY AND HOLD
28. The Ducks, on an ESPN ticker ANA
31. Breakfast buffet utensil OMELET PAN
32. Depart TAKE LEAVE
33. 19th-century bat-and-ball game ONE OLD CAT
35. Org. that keeps driving stats PGA
37. Marked for deletion XD OUT
40. Greek poetic stanza STROPHE
41. Lassitude LANGUOR
42. Italian diminutive suffix -INO
44. Bagel selection SESAME
46. Button on some receivers PHONO
47. Dance version of a pop hit, often REMIX
49. Literary captain QUEEG
50. Skewer STAB
52. “__, meine Freude”: Bach motet JESU
54. __ vez: maybe, in Pamplona TAL
55. Abrade RUB

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