LA Times Crossword Answers 9 Mar 14, Sunday

Frequently Asked Question: Why isn’t the puzzle in my paper the same as the one shown on your blog?
If the puzzle in your paper doesn’t match the one that I solved, it is probably a Sunday crossword. On Sundays, the “LA Times” chooses to publish Merl Reagle’s excellent crossword, and not their own “LA Times” Crossword. The “LA Times” puzzle is still sent out in syndication, and is also published in the “LA Times” online. I’ve been asked to blog about Merl Reagle’s crossword, but frankly I don’t have the time. Sunday puzzles have lots of clues!

CROSSWORD SETTER: Doug Peterson
THEME: Incidental Music … each of today’s themed answers is a well known phrase, but with a note from the solfa musical scale added in front. And, the notes are added in order:

23A. Donut lover’s discipline? DOZEN MEDITATION (do + Zen meditation)
32A. Kicking back with the drones? RESTING LIKE A BEE (re + sting like a bee)
41A. Japanese soup, apparently? MISO IT SEEMS (mi + so it seems)
67A. So-so joe? FAIRISH COFFEE (fa + Irish coffee)
74A. Bangle, often? SOLID BRACELET (sol + ID bracelet)
99A. Snorkeling area patrol unit? LAGOON SQUAD (la + goon squad)
106A. Broadcaster who goes on and on and on? TIRING ANNOUNCER (ti + ring announcer)
122A. “Water that poor plant before all the leaves dry up!”? DOUSE IT OR LOSE IT (do + use it or lose it)

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 14m 31s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

4. Volkswagen sedan PASSAT
The name Passat is one in a series of names related to winds that has been used by Volkswagen. Jetta comes from the German for “jet stream””, and the model name Passat comes from the German for “trade wind”.

20. Outfielder who had a single-season record 262 hits in 2004 ICHIRO
Ichiro Suzuki plays baseball for the New York Yankees. Suzuki holds quite a few batting records including the single-season record for base hits (262). Ichiro Suzuki is a huge celebrity in his native-Japan. His agent says that if you address fan mail to “Ichiro Suzuki, Japan”, he’ll get your letter …

21. Four-ring-logo company AUDI
The Audi name has an interesting history. The Horch company was founded by August Horch in 1909. Early in the life of the new company, Horch was forced out of his own business. He set up a new enterprise and continued to use his own name as a brand. The old company sued him for using the Horch name so a meeting was held to choose something new. Horch’s young son was studying Latin in the room where the meeting was taking place. He pointed out that “Horch” was German for “hear” and he suggested “Audi” as a replacement, the Latin for “listen”.

23. Donut lover’s discipline? DOZEN MEDITATION (do + Zen meditation)
Zen is a Buddhist school that developed its own tradition in China back in the 7th century AD. Zen is a Japanese spelling of the Chinese word “chan”, which in turn derives from the Sanskrit word “dhyana” meaning “meditation”.

26. C.S. Lewis lion ASLAN
In the C. S. Lewis series of books “The Chronicles of Narnia”, Aslan is the name of the lion character (as in “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”). “Aslan” is actually the Turkish word for lion. Anyone who has read the books will recognize the the remarkable similarity between the story of Aslan and the story of Christ, including a sacrifice and resurrection.

Irishman C. S. Lewis moved to Britain after serving in the British Army in WWI. A man of many achievements, he is perhaps today best remembered for his series of novels for children called “The Chronicles of Narnia” (which includes “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”). He also wrote the “The Four Loves”, a non-fiction work exploring the nature of love from a Christian perspective.

29. Shell lobbers MORTARS
The weapon known as a mortar fires projectiles in an arc, lobbing them onto a target. The name “mortar” comes from the Middle French term “mortier” meaning “short cannon”. The mortier resembled the mixing bowl called a mortar that is used with a pestle, hence the name.

31. Copy editor’s mark DELE
“Dele” is the editorial instruction to delete something from a document, and is often written in red.

36. Emulate Eminem RAP
Rap star Eminem’s real name is Marshall Mathers, a native of Saint Joseph, Missouri. Mathers grew up poor, raised by a single-mom as the family was abandoned by his father when he was 18 months old. Marshall and his mother moved around the country before settling in a suburb of Detroit. He didn’t do well at school, and dropped out at the age of 17. But in the end he made it pretty big …

39. “CSI” actor George EADS
George Eads is an actor from Fort Worth, Texas, Eads is best known for playing the investigator Nick Stokes on the CBS show “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”.

40. Literature Nobelist Canetti ELIAS
Novelist Elias Canetti didn’t actually settle in England until he was in his thirties. He was a native of Bulgaria, and as a child also lived in England, Austria, Switzerland and Germany. He wrote in German, even though he spent much of his working life in England, eventually adopting British citizenship. Even then, he spent the last twenty years of his life in Switzerland. His book “Crowds and Power” deals with the behavior of people in crowds and mobs, and the effect of vocal leaders on “packs”. Scary stuff, I would say …

41. Japanese soup, apparently? MISO IT SEEMS (mi + so it seems)
Miso is the name of the seasoning that makes the soup. Basic miso seasoning is made by fermenting rice, barley and soybeans with salt and a fungus (!) to produce a paste. The paste can be added to stock to make miso soup, or perhaps to flavor tofu.

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

51. Lyricist Gershwin IRA
Ira Gershwin was the lyricist who worked with his brother George to create such American classics as the songs “I Got Rhythm” and “Someone to Watch Over Me”, as well as the opera “Porgy and Bess”. After George Gershwin died, Ira continued to create great music, working with the likes of Jerome Kern and Kurt Weill.

52. Dustin’s “Midnight Cowboy” role RATSO
Ratso Rizzo is one of the characters in the groundbreaking 1969 movie “Midnight Cowboy”. Rizzo is a down-and-out con man, played by Dustin Hoffman.

The 1969 movie “Midnight Cowboy” is a Hollywood adaptation of a novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. It’s a pretty depressing story about a young Texan (played by Jon Voight) who heads to New York City to make money as a hustler, hiring himself out to women for sex. Pretty soon the young man ends up selling his body for sex with males as well. Prior to release the MPAA gave the movie an R-rating, but the United Artists studio took advice and decided to release it with an X-rating. When “Midnight Cowboy” won the Best Picture Academy Award in 1969, it became the only X-rated film to be so honored.

55. Medina native SAUDI
Medina is a city in western Saudi Arabia. Medina is the second holiest city in the Islamic tradition after Mecca, as it is the burial place of the Prophet Muhammad.

56. Feeling sluggish LOGY
Something that is “logy” is dull and heavy. “Logy” might come from the Dutch word “log” that means “heavy, dull”.

58. Defunct ’80s gridiron gp. USFL
The United States Football League (USFL) was started in 1983 as a league playing during the spring and summer. The league’s backer’s thought there would be a lot of interest in watching and attending games during the NFL’s offseason. The USFL folded after three years, so apparently the backers were wrong …

67. So-so joe? FAIRISH COFFEE (fa + Irish coffee)
Shannon Airport in the West of Ireland was the first place in the world to offer duty-free shopping. Shannon was also where the Irish Coffee originated, despite claims to the contrary …

It seems that no one really knows why we refer to coffee as “joe”, but we’ve been doing so since early in WWII.

70. Forbidden TABOO
The word “taboo” was introduced into English by Captain Cook in his book “A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean”. Cook described “tabu” (likely imitative of a Tongan word that he had heard) as something that was both consecrated and forbidden.

72. Honoree on the third 28-Across in Jan. MLK
Martin Luther King Jr’s father was born Michael King. On a trip to Germany in 1934, Michael came to admire Protestant leader Martin Luther and changed his name to Martin Luther King on his return the United States. Famously, he passed on his new name to his son, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

73. Squiggly diacritic TILDE
A diacritic mark is added to a letter to indicate that it has a special phonetic sound. Examples of diacritic marks are the tilde above the n in Spanish words like “piñata”, and the cedilla under the c in French words like “façade”.

79. Julius and Augustus, e.g. CAESARS
By 59 BC, Julius Caesar was a very powerful man in Rome. He had just been elected to the position of consul, the highest magistracy in the Republic. Famously, he aligned himself with two other powerful men in Rome, Pompey and Crassus, forming the First Triumvirate. At the end of his year as consul, Caesar was elected proconsul (for 5 years), and was appointed governor of three provinces north of Rome (including Gaul), with control of four legions of the army. Caesar extended the reach of Rome in the Gallic Wars, and became very popular with the people back in Rome. However the Senate, led by his erstwhile ally Pompey, feared the power that could be exercised by Caesar, so at the end of his term as proconsul they ordered him to disband his army and return to Rome. Caesar agreed to return to Rome, but not to disband his army. On 10 January 49 BC, despite all warnings he marched back into Italy by crossing the Rubicon River, along with his army, plunging Rome into Civil War. Since then, “crossing the Rubicon” has come to mean “passing the point of no return”.

Gaius Octavius Thurinus (often called Octavian) was the adopted son of Gaius Julius Caesar. After Julius Caesar was assassinated, Octavian came to power in Rome and teamed up with Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in what was called the Second Triumvirate. When the triumvirate fell apart, especially after Antony’s defeat at Actium, Octavian became more powerful within the Roman Republic. Several years later he wrested sufficient power from the Roman Senate to end the Republic and begin the Roman Empire. As the first Emperor of Rome, Octavian was given the name Caesar Augustus. The month of August, originally called “Sextilis” in Latin, was renamed in honor of Augustus.

84. Haile Selassie followers RASTAS
I must admit that I don’t really understand Rastafarianism. I do know that a “Rasta”, like Bob Marley, is a follower of the movement. Some say that Rastafarianism is a religion, some not. I also know that it involves the worship of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia.

85. De Matteo of “The Sopranos” DREA
Drea de Matteo is an actress who is most familiar to me for playing Adriana la Cerva on HBO’s wonderful series “The Sopranos”. De Matteo also played Joey’s sister on the short-lived “Friends” spin-off called “Joey”, and the character Angie Bolen on “Desperate Housewives”.

87. Many a Royal Troon golfer SCOT
Troon is a town on the west coast of Scotland just north of Glasgow. One of Troon’s claims to fame is the Royal Troon golf course which regularly hosts the British Open Golf Championship.

There is a rota of nine courses that are used for the British Open Golf Championship each year. Those courses are:

– The Old Course at St. Andrews
– Carnoustie
– Royal St. George’s
– Royal Lytham & St. Annes
– Royal Birkdale
– Turnberry
– Royal Liverpool
– Muirfield
– Royal Troon

92. Longhorn rival AGGIE
Texas A&M is the seventh largest university in the country, and was the first public higher education institute in the state when it accepted its first students in 1876. The full name of the school was the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas and its primary mission used to be the education of males in the techniques of farming and military warfare. That’s quite a combination! Because of the agricultural connection, the college’s sports teams use the moniker “Aggies”.

The University of Texas at Austin was established back in 1883. UT Austin is known as one of the “Public Ivies”, a publicly-funded university at which a student can get an education comparable to that provided by the Ivy League. The school’s sports teams are known as the Texas Longhorns, named for the Longhorn cattle that is now the official “large animal” of the state of Texas.

95. Baton Rouge sch. LSU
LSU’s full name is Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College.

Baton Rouge is the capital city of the state of Louisiana. The name “Baton Rouge” is French for “red stick or staff”. The exact reason why such a name was given to the city isn’t really clear.

96. Romney’s 2012 running mate RYAN
Paul Ryan was the Republican nominee for Vice President in the 2012 election, on the ticket with Mitt Romney. Off the political stage, Ryan is famous for his fitness regime. He has shared that much of his motivation to work out and to watch his diet is because there is a history of heart attacks at an early age in his family.

Mitt Romney was born Willard Mitt Romney in 1947 in Detroit, Michigan. Romney’s parents named him after J. Willard Marriott (the hotel magnate) who was the father’s best friend, and after Milton “Mitt” Romney who was the father’s cousin and quarterback for the Chicago Bears.

97. 1/640 of a square mile ACRE
At one time, an acre was defined as the amount of land a yoke of oxen could plow in a day. This was more precisely defined as a strip of land one furlong long (660 feet) and one chain wide (66 feet). The word “furlong” is actually derived from the Old English words meaning “furrow long”, the length of the furrow plowed by the oxen.

102. __ cotta TERRA
The name “terra cotta” comes to us from Latin via Italian and means “baked earth”. Terra cotta is a ceramic made from clay which is left unglazed. Maybe the most famous work in terra cotta is the Terracotta Army, the enormous collection of life-size figures that was buried with the Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China around 210 BC. I had the privilege of seeing some of this collection when it toured the US a few years ago, and just the few pieces on display were so very impressive.

104. Singer Tennille TONI
The seventies singing duo known as Captain & Tennille was made up of husband and wife Daryl Dragon and Toni Tennille. Just a few weeks ago, Tennille filed for divorce from Dragon after 39 years of marriage. Sad …

105. The “t” in Crete? 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.

Crete is the largest of the Greek Islands. Crete figures heavily in Greek mythology. Zeus was born in a cave at Mount Ida, the highest peak on the island. Crete was also home to the Labyrinth where the Minotaur was slain by Theseus. Icarus and Daedalus, after having crafted the Labyrinth, escaped from the island using wings that they crafted.

112. Farm Belt state IOWA
Apparently the US farm belt extends across North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and the western parts of Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri.

116. Swallowed one’s pride ATE CROW
The phrase “eat crow”, an alternative to “eat humble pie”, perhaps refers to the fact that cooked crow may be edible, but is not a great food choice.

117. MD workplaces ORS
A medical doctor (MD) might work in an operating room (OR).

121. Name on many video games MARIO
Mario Bros. started out as an arcade game back in 1983, developed by Nintendo. The more famous of the two brothers, Mario, had already appeared in an earlier arcade game “Donkey Kong”. Mario was given a brother called Luigi, and the pair have been around ever since. In the game, Mario and Luigi are Italian American plumbers from New York City.

129. “__ Maria” AVE
“Ave Maria” (“Hail Mary” in English) is the prayer at the core of the Roman Catholic Rosary, which itself is a set of prayers asking for the assistance of the Virgin Mary. Much of the text of the “Hail Mary” comes from the Gospel of Luke.

130. “The Playboy of the Western World” dramatist SYNGE
J.M. Synge was one of Ireland’s most famous playwrights, a co-founder of the country’s national theater, the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. His most famous work is “The Playboy of the Western World”.

131. Scrabble two-pointers DEES
The game of Scrabble has been produced in many international versions, and each of these editions has its own tile distribution to suit the local language. For example, in English we have two tiles worth ten points: one “Q” and one “Z”. If you play the game in French then there are five tiles worth ten points: one “K”, one “W”, one “X”, one “Y” and one “Z”.

133. Folk hero Kelly NED
Ned Kelly was an Irish-Australian outlaw, regarded by many as a symbol of resistance against the British ruling class in Australia in the 19th century. There have been two famous films made of his life story. “The Story of the Kelly Gang” was released in 1906, and is recognized today as the first feature film ever made. We might be more familiar with the film called “Ned Kelly” released in 1970, as it starred Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones in the title role.

Down
5. Climber’s goal ACME
The “acme” is the highest point, coming from the Greek word “akme” which has the same meaning.

8. D-backs, on a sports ticker ARI
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.

9. Typical “Yo Gabba Gabba!” viewer TOT
“Yo Gabba Gabba!” is a kid’s television show that started out on the Internet before premiering on Nickelodeon in 2007. There is even a live “Yo Gabba Gabba!” stage show that is touring.

14. Beltway region, briefly DC AREA
The phrase “inside the Beltway” is used to refer to the infrastructure and politics of Washington, D.C. The Beltway in this case is Interstate 495, also known as the Capital Beltway.

15. Taiwan’s locale EAST ASIA
Prior to 1945, the island that we know today as Taiwan was called “Formosa”, the Portuguese word for “beautiful”. Portuguese sailors gave the island this name when they spotted it in 1544. The official name for the state of Taiwan is the “Republic of China”.

17. Orchard Field, today O’HARE
O’Hare International is the fourth busiest airport in the world. The original airport was constructed on the site between 1942 and 1943, and was used by the Douglas Aircraft Company for the manufacture of planes during WWII. Before the factory and airport were built, there was a community in the area called Orchard Place, so the airport was called Orchard Place Airport/Douglas Field. This name is the derivation of the airport’s current location identifier: ORD (OR-chard D-ouglas). Orchard Place Airport was renamed to O’Hare International in 1949 in honor of Lieutenant Commander Edward O’Hare who grew up in Chicago. O’Hare was the US Navy’s first flying ace and a Medal of Honor recipient in WWII. As an aside, Edward O’Hare’s father was a lawyer for Al Capone who helped get the famous gangster convicted on tax evasion.

24. Año opener ENERO
In Spanish, a year (año) starts in January (enero) and ends in December (diciembre).

30. Great Depression migrant OKIE
“Okies” was a derogatory term used during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s for farming families who migrated from Oklahoma (hence the name), Arkansas, Kansas and Texas in search of agricultural jobs in California. The road used by many of these migrant families was Route 66, which is also called “Mother Road”.

34. Floppy topper TAM
A tam o’shanter is a man’s cap traditionally worn by Scotsmen. “Tams” were originally all blue (and called “blue bonnets”), but as more dyes became readily available they became more colorful. The name of the cap comes from the title character of Robert Burns’ poem “Tam O’Shanter”.

35. Most pleasing to Jack Sprat LEANEST
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.

38. Sch. meeting group PTA
Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)

44. Zombielike states STUPORS
A zombie is a corpse that has been brought back to life by some mystical means. Our modern use of the term largely stems from the undead creatures featured in the 1968 horror movie called “Night of the Living Dead”. Now that film, I haven’t seen and probably never will …

49. Patient of Dr. Liz ODIE
Odie is Garfield the cat’s best friend and is a slobbery beagle, a character in Jim Davis’s comic strip. Garfield’s vet is Dr. Liz Wilson. Garfield’s owner Jon has a big crush on Loz.

55. Fine china name SPODE
Spode is a brand of pottery made in Stoke-on-Trent in the north of England. The company was founded by Josiah Spode in 1770. Spode is noted for its fine bone china, and indeed Josiah Spode came up with the first successful formulation for bone china. Bone china is so called because one of the main components is bone ash derived from animal bones.

57. High-elevation enigma YETI
A yeti is a beast of legend, also called an abominable snowman. “Yeti” is a Tibetan term, and the beast is fabled to live in the Himalayan regions of Nepal and Tibet. Our equivalent legend in North America is that of Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch. The study of animals whose existence have not yet been substantiated is called cryptozoology.

59. San Diego suburb whose name means “the table” LA MESA
One of the most famous residents of La Mesa, a suburb of San Diego, California, was the actor Dennis Hopper.

61. Loop site CHICAGO
The historic commercial center of Chicago is known as the Loop. One theory is that the “loop” got its name from the cable loops in the city’s old cable car system.

62. Pac-12 school UCLA
Pac-12 is an abbreviation for the Pacific-12 Conference, a college athletic conference in the western US. The Pac-12 has won more NCAA National Team Championships than any other conference. The Pac-12 was founded in 1915 as the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC). Over time as it grew, the conference went by the names Big Five, Big Six, Pacific-8, Pacific-10 and became the Pacific-12 in 2011.

65. Core group CADRE
A “cadre” is most commonly a group of experienced personnel at the core of a larger organization that the small group trains or heavily influences. “Cadre” is a French word meaning a “frame”. We use it in the sense that a cadre is a group that provides a “framework” for the larger organization.

66. “Take a Chance on Me” quartet ABBA
I am an unapologetic fan of ABBA’s music. ABBA was of course the Swedish group who topped the charts in the seventies and eighties. The name ABBA is an acronym formed from the first letters of the given names of each of the band members, namely: Agnetha, Benny, Bjorn and Anni-Frid.

76. Constellation named for an instrument LYRA
Lyra (meaning “harp”) is a constellation that includes the star Vega, one of the brightest stars in the night sky. The constellation Lyra is surrounded by the neighboring constellations of Draco, Hercules, Vulpecula and Cygnus.

77. NASCAR Hall of Famer Yarborough CALE
Cale Yarborough is a former NASCAR driver and owner. Yarborough was the first NASCAR driver to appear on the cover of “Sports Illustrated”.

80. Scopes Trial 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.

In 1925 Tennessee passed the Butler Act which made it unlawful for a public school teacher to teach the theory of evolution over the Biblical account of the origin of man. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sought to challenge this law and found a test case of a Tennessee high school teacher named John Scopes, who was charged with violating the law by presenting to his students ideas put forth by Charles Darwin. Celebrity lawyers descended on the small town of Dayton, Tennessee to argue the case. At the end of a high profile trial, teacher John Scopes was found guilty as charged, and was ordered to pay a fine.

81. Historic 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.

86. Psych 101 topic EGO
Sigmund Freud created a structural model of the human psyche, breaking it into three parts: the id, the ego, and the super-ego. The id is that part of the psyche containing the basic instinctual drives. The ego seeks to please the id by causing realistic behavior that benefits the individual. The super-ego almost has a parental role, contradicting the id by introducing critical thinking and morals to behavioral choices.

93. Mtge. feature INT
Our word “mortgage” comes from the Old French “mort gaige” which translated as “dead pledge”. The idea was that a pledge to repay a loan dies when the debt is cleared.

94. Panamanian pronoun ESA
The nation that we now know as Panama sits on an isthmus that formed about 3 million years ago. The isthmus was the result of a land bridge forming between North and South America as two tectonic plates of the Earth’s crust slowly collided. Man first attempted to create a waterway across the Isthmus of Panama in 1881, but the 48-mile long Panama Canal only opened for business in 1914.

97. 2012 Best Picture ARGO
“Argo” is a 2012 movie that is based on the true story of the rescue of six diplomats hiding out during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. The film was directed by and stars Ben Affleck and is produced by Grant Heslov and George Clooney, the same pair who produced the excellent “Good Night, and Good Luck”. I saw “Argo” recently and recommend it highly, although I found the scenes of religious fervor pretty frightening …

98. Crustacean used in Cajun cuisine CRAWDAD
“Crawdad” is another name for the crayfish, with “crawdad” being more common in the south of the country.

100. “Barbara __”: 1960s hit ANN
The Beach Boys 1965 hit “Barbara Ann” was actually a cover version of a song first recorded by the Regents in 1961 (with a different spelling: Barbara “Anne”).

104. Statue subjects TORSOS
“Torso” (plural “torsi”) is an Italian word meaning the “trunk of a statue”, a word that we imported into English.

107. Land of the Apennines ITALY
The Apennine are the chain of mountains running the length of the Italian peninsula. The highest peak of the range is in the central Apennines and is the Corno Grande, which rises to over 9,500 feet.

119. Rick’s flame ILSA
Ilsa Lund was of course played by Ingrid Bergman in the 1942 movie “Casablanca”. I love the words of one critic describing the chemistry between Bogart and Bergman in this film: “she paints his face with her eyes”. Wow …

The movie “Casablanca” was released in January of 1943, timed to coincide with the Casablanca Conference, the high-level meeting between Roosevelt and Churchill. The film wasn’t a box-office hit, but gained critical acclaim, winning three Oscars including Best Picture. The signature song “As Time Goes By” was written many years earlier for a 1931 Broadway musical called “Everybody’s Welcome”, and was a hit in 1931 for Rudy Vallee. But today we all remember the Casablanca version, sung by Dooley Wilson (who played “Sam” in the film). Poor Dooley didn’t get to record it as a single, due to a musician’s strike in 1943, so the 1931 Rudy Vallee version was re-released that year and became an even bigger hit second time round.

124. Clearance rack abbr. IRR
Irregular (irr.) size

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Campfire residue ASH
4. Volkswagen sedan PASSAT
10. Speak for yourself? BRAG
14. Office __: Staples rival DEPOT
19. Suffix with señor -ITA
20. Outfielder who had a single-season record 262 hits in 2004 ICHIRO
21. Four-ring-logo company AUDI
22. Hidden repository CACHE
23. Donut lover’s discipline? DOZEN MEDITATION (do + Zen meditation)
26. C.S. Lewis lion ASLAN
27. Symbol of steadiness EVEN KEEL
28. School-wk. start MON
29. Shell lobbers MORTARS
31. Copy editor’s mark DELE
32. Kicking back with the drones? RESTING LIKE A BEE (re + sting like a bee)
36. Emulate Eminem RAP
39. “CSI” actor George EADS
40. Literature Nobelist Canetti ELIAS
41. Japanese soup, apparently? MISO IT SEEMS (mi + so it seems)
46. Gander, e.g. MALE
47. Player with earbuds IPOD
51. Lyricist Gershwin IRA
52. Dustin’s “Midnight Cowboy” role RATSO
53. One of a hotel room pair TWIN
55. Medina native SAUDI
56. Feeling sluggish LOGY
58. Defunct ’80s gridiron gp. USFL
60. Recipe quantity ONE CUP
63. Missile stabilizer FIN
64. Shinbone neighbor KNEECAP
67. So-so joe? FAIRISH COFFEE (fa + Irish coffee)
70. Forbidden TABOO
72. Honoree on the third 28-Across in Jan. MLK
73. Squiggly diacritic TILDE
74. Bangle, often? SOLID BRACELET (sol + ID bracelet)
79. Julius and Augustus, e.g. CAESARS
83. Blubber CRY
84. Haile Selassie followers RASTAS
85. De Matteo of “The Sopranos” DREA
87. Many a Royal Troon golfer SCOT
88. Be on the same page AGREE
90. State secrets? BLAB
92. Longhorn rival AGGIE
95. Baton Rouge sch. LSU
96. Romney’s 2012 running mate RYAN
97. 1/640 of a square mile ACRE
99. Snorkeling area patrol unit? LAGOON SQUAD (la + goon squad)
102. __ cotta TERRA
104. Singer Tennille TONI
105. The “t” in Crete? TAU
106. Broadcaster who goes on and on and on? TIRING ANNOUNCER (ti + ring announcer)
112. Farm Belt state IOWA
116. Swallowed one’s pride ATE CROW
117. MD workplaces ORS
118. Item kept near brushes PAINT CAN
121. Name on many video games MARIO
122. “Water that poor plant before all the leaves dry up!”? DOUSE IT OR LOSE IT (do + use it or lose it)
126. Fallback option PLAN B
127. “And don’t forget …” ALSO
128. Break RECESS
129. “__ Maria” AVE
130. “The Playboy of the Western World” dramatist SYNGE
131. Scrabble two-pointers DEES
132. Enthusiastic RAH-RAH
133. Folk hero Kelly NED

Down
1. Gave a ride, say AIDED
2. Log cabin warmer STOVE
3. Eye color HAZEL
4. Best of health, figuratively PINK
5. Climber’s goal ACME
6. Hosiery variety SHEER
7. Move furtively SIDLE
8. D-backs, on a sports ticker ARI
9. Typical “Yo Gabba Gabba!” viewer TOT
10. Relay sticks BATONS
11. Feeling sorry about RUING
12. Stir ADO
13. Cheap saloon GIN MILL
14. Beltway region, briefly DC AREA
15. Taiwan’s locale EAST ASIA
16. Programming class setting PC LAB
17. Orchard Field, today O’HARE
18. Keyed up TENSE
24. Año opener ENERO
25. In the thick of AMIDST
30. Great Depression migrant OKIE
33. Take to the airport, say SEE OFF
34. Floppy topper TAM
35. Most pleasing to Jack Sprat LEANEST
37. Bubble filler AIR
38. Sch. meeting group PTA
41. Cereal go-with MILK
42. Weights, when pumped IRON
43. Judicious SAGE
44. Zombielike states STUPORS
45. Suffix with lion -ESS
46. Skimpy skirt MINI
48. Powder __ PUFF
49. Patient of Dr. Liz ODIE
50. Enjoy a meal DINE
54. Got the job done WORKED
55. Fine china name SPODE
57. High-elevation enigma YETI
59. San Diego suburb whose name means “the table” LA MESA
61. Loop site CHICAGO
62. Pac-12 school UCLA
65. Core group CADRE
66. “Take a Chance on Me” quartet ABBA
68. Down with something ILL
69. Come clean, with “up” FESS
71. Muffin stuff OAT BRAN
74. Dueling memento SCAR
75. Unrestrained party ORGY
76. Constellation named for an instrument LYRA
77. NASCAR Hall of Famer Yarborough CALE
78. Like some flaws TRAGIC
80. Scopes Trial gp. ACLU
81. Historic Parks ROSA
82. Simple earring STUD
86. Psych 101 topic EGO
89. Hard to resist ENTICING
91. Skirt companion BLOUSE
93. Mtge. feature INT
94. Panamanian pronoun ESA
97. 2012 Best Picture ARGO
98. Crustacean used in Cajun cuisine CRAWDAD
100. “Barbara __”: 1960s hit ANN
101. Bails QUITS
103. Dress like a justice ENROBE
104. Statue subjects TORSOS
106. Packs down TAMPS
107. Land of the Apennines ITALY
108. Showed again RERAN
109. Futile NO USE
110. Period in history EPOCH
111. More valuable, possibly RARER
113. Giant squid’s home OCEAN
114. Give up WAIVE
115. Paid to play ANTED
119. Rick’s flame ILSA
120. Light bite NOSH
123. Ringside cheer OLE!
124. Clearance rack abbr. IRR
125. Genteel gathering TEA

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