LA Times Crossword Answers 1 Apr 14, Tuesday

CROSSWORD SETTER: Gail Grabowski & Bruce Venzke
THEME: The Great Outdoors … two themed answers today tell us to SADDLE UP and watch out for STAMPEDES, and three others end with places where we might find cattle:

20A. Collegian’s specialty ACADEMIC FIELD
39A. Retire PUT OUT TO PASTURE
57A. Kitchen appliance ELECTRIC RANGE

11D. Prepares for the cattle drive SADDLES UP
33D. Cattle drive concerns STAMPEDES

We also have a couple of “practical jokes”, just for April Fools’ Day:

42A. Practical joke PRANK
41D. Practical joke ANTIC

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 7m 30s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Bart’s mom MARGE
Marge Simpson is the matriarch of the family in “The Simpsons” animated sitcom. Marge is voiced by actress Julie Kavner, who is also well known for playing Brenda Morgenstern in the TV show “Rhoda” in the seventies.

6. Pooch in whodunits ASTA
Asta is the wonderful little dog in the superb “The Thin Man” series of films starring William Powell and Myrna Loy (as Nick and Nora Charles). In the original story by Dashiell Hammett, Asta was a female Schnauzer, but on screen Asta was played by a wire-haired fox terrier called “Skippy”. Skippy was also the dog in “Bringing up Baby” with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, the one who kept stealing the dinosaur bone. Skippy retired in 1939, so Asta was played by other dogs in the remainder of “The Thin Man” films.

10. Super-fast fliers, briefly SSTS
The most famous supersonic transport (SST) is the retired Concorde. Concorde was developed and produced under an Anglo-French treaty by France’s Aérospatiale and the UK’s British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Concordes were mainly operated by Air France and British Airways, with both companies buying the planes with substantial subsidies from the French and British governments.

15. Tater SPUD
The word “spud” is used as a slang term for a potato and was first recorded in the mid-1800s, in New Zealand would you believe?

16. Poi base TARO
The corm of some taro plants is used to make poi, the traditional Hawaiian dish (that I think tastes horrible). When a taro plant is grown as an ornamental, it is often called Elephant Ears due to the shape of its large leaves.

17. City on Spain’s southwestern coast CADIZ
Cádiz is a port city in southwestern Spain, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz is a remarkable city geographically, in that it sits on a thin spit of land that juts out into the sea.

18. School semester TERM
“Semester” is a German word from the Latin “semestris”, an adjective meaning “of six months”. We use the term in a system that divides an academic year into two roughly equal parts. A trimester system has three parts, and a quarter system has four.

19. Some Neruda poems ODES
Pablo Neruda was the pen name, and eventually the legal name, used by Chilean writer Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. Basoalto chose the name as a homage to Czech poet Jan Neruda.

24. ’70s-’80s TV role for Robin Williams MORK
“Mork & Mindy” is a sitcom that originally aired from 1978 to 1982. The title characters were played by Robin Williams and Pam Dawber. Mork is an alien from the planet Ork who reports back to his superior called Orson. Orson is played by voice actor Ralph James. Ralph James was also known for providing the voice of Mr Turtle in famous Tootsie Pop commercials in the seventies.

29. “Love __ Madly”: Doors hit HER
The Doors formed in 1965 in Los Angeles. The band chose their name from a book by Aldous Huxley called “The Doors of Perception”.

30. Actor Wallach ELI
Eli Wallach has been appearing consistently and making great performances on the big and small screens since the 1950s. Wallach’s most famous role was probably as “the Ugly” in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”. More recently he gave a very strong performance in 2006’s “The Holiday”.

34. TV athletic award ESPY
The ESPY Awards are a creation of the ESPN sports television network. One difference with similarly named awards in the entertainment industry is that ESPY winners are chosen solely based on viewer votes.

37. Surgical beam LASER
The term “laser” comes from an acronym, “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation” (LASER). It has been pointed out that a more precise name for laser technology is “Light Oscillation by Stimulated Emission of Radiation”, but the resulting acronym isn’t quite so appealing, namely LOSER …

43. Prince William’s alma mater ETON
The world-famous Eton College is just a brisk walk from Windsor Castle, which itself is just outside London. Eton is noted for producing many British leaders including David Cameron who took power in the last UK general election. The list of Old Etonians also includes Princes William and Harry, the Duke of Wellington, George Orwell, and the creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming (as well as 007 himself as described in the Fleming novels).

Prince William is second in line to the British throne, after his father Prince Charles, with Prince Harry holding the third spot. Prince Harry moves down the list should William and Kate have children. The law was changed in 2011 so that the oldest child of Prince William and Kate Middleton would be next in line, regardless of sex. Up until 2011, the sons took precedence, even over older daughters.

45. Escape LAM
To be “on the lam” is to be in flight, to have escaped from prison. “On the lam” is American slang that originated at the end of the 19th century. The word “lam” also means to “beat” or “thrash”, as in “lambaste”. So “on the lam” might derive from the phrase “to beat it, to scram”.

46. Sound system part AMP
An electric guitar, for example, needs an amplifier (amp) to take the weak signal created by the vibration of the strings and turn it into a signal powerful enough for a loudspeaker.

48. Lid for a lad 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”.

50. Rio Grande city EL PASO
The Mexican city sitting across the border from El Paso is more correctly called Ciudad Juarez. Juarez used to be called El Paso del Norte (the North Pass). It was to be the younger settlement on the northern side of the Rio Grande which would retain the “El Paso” name.

The Rio Grande is a river forming part of the border between Mexico and the United States. Although we call the river the Rio Grande on this side of the border, in Mexico it is called the Rio Bravo or Rio Bravo del Norte.

52. City north of Pittsburgh ERIE
Erie is a city in the very north of Pennsylvania, right on the southern shore of Lake Erie. The city takes its name from the Erie Native American tribe that resided in the area.

54. Tank or tee TOP
“Tank top” is another one of those terms that always catches me out, as it has a different meaning on each side of the Atlantic. In the US a tank top is a sleeveless shirt, something we would call a “vest” back in Ireland (and the US “vest” is what we call a “waist coat”). A tank top in Ireland is a sleeveless sweater, which further adds to the confusion. The name “tank top” is derived from “tank suit”, an old name for a woman’s one-piece bathing suit. The use of “tank” for the bathing suit came from “swimming tank”, an obsolete term used in the 1920s for a swimming pool.

62. Reagan secretary of state HAIG
Alexander Haig was Secretary of State under President Reagan, and White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Nixon and Ford. Famously, Haig took over temporary control of the country immediately after President Reagan was shot in 1981. To do so was a pragmatic move, while waiting on Vice President Bush to arrive in Washington. There was much debate at the time about the legality of the steps taken, as the presidential line of succession called out in the US Constitution is President, Vice President, Speaker of the House, President pro tempore of the US Senate, and then Secretary of State.

66. Former midsize Pontiac named for a native Mexican AZTEK
The Pontiac Aztek is a mid-size crossover SUV that was made by GM from 2001 to 2005. The vehicle was also sold as the Buick Rendezvous. The Aztek was a commercial flop, although it is getting a bit of a following lately as it featured in the hit TV series “Breaking Bad”.

67. Cancún cash PESO
Cancún is a popular tourist destination on the southeast coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico.

Down
1. Colorful parrot MACAW
Macaws are beautifully colored birds of native to Central and South America, and are actually a type of parrot. Most species of macaw are now endangered, with several having become extinct in recent decades. The main threats are deforestation and illegal trapping and trafficking of exotic birds.

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

3. Flying ’50s film monster RODAN
Rodan is a flying pterosaur appearing in a series of Japanese monster movies, created by the same studio that had earlier come up with Godzilla.

5. Itchy skin inflammation ECZEMA
Eczema is a form of dermatitis. The term “eczema” comes from the Greek for “to boil over”.

10. Casual vodka order STOLI
Stolichnaya is a brand of Russian vodka made from wheat and rye grain. Well, “Stoli” originated in Russia but now it’s made in Latvia, which is of course a completely different country, so you won’t see the word “Russian” on the label.

12. Three, in Turin TRE
Turin (“Torino” in Italian) is a major city in the north of Italy that sits on the Po River. Back in 1861, when the Kingdom of Italy was formed, Turin was chosen as the first capital of the country .

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

21. “Water Lilies” painter Claude MONET
“Water Lilies” by French Impressionist Claude Monet is actually a whole series of paintings, numbering about 250 in total. The subjects of the works were the water lilies in Monet’s flower garden at Giverny in northern France.

22. Ranks below marquises EARLS
In the ranking of nobles, an earl comes above a viscount and below a marquess. The rank of earl is used in the British peerage system and is equivalent to the rank of count in other countries. Other British ranks have female forms (e.g. marquess and marchioness, viscount and viscountess), but there isn’t a female word for the rank of earl. A female given the same rank as an earl is known simply as a countess.

32. Work on a wall MURAL
A “mural painting” is a painting which is applied directly to a wall or a ceiling. The term comes from the Latin “murus” meaning “wall”.

40. Decree in imperial Russia UKASE
In Imperial Russia, a ukase was a proclamation issued by the government or the tsar.

47. Coffeehouse orders MOCHAS
Mocha is a port city in Yemen on the Red Sea and was once the principal port for the capital city of Sana’a. Mocha was the major marketplace in the world for coffee until the 1600s, and gave its name to the Mocha coffee bean.

51. Last Olds made ALERO
The Oldsmobile Alero was the last car made under the Oldsmobile brand. The Alero was produced from 1999 to 2004.

52. Writer Jong ERICA
The author Erica Jong’s most famous work is her first: “Fear of Flying”, a novel published in 1973. Over twenty years later she wrote “Fear of Fifty: a midlife memoir”, published in 1994.

54. Govt. security T-NOTE
A Treasury note (T-Note) is a government debt that matures in 1-10 years. A T-Note has a coupon (interest) payment made every six months. The T-note is purchased at a discount to face value, and at the date of maturity can be redeemed at that face value. A T-Bill is a similar financial vehicle, but it matures in one year or less, and a T-Bond matures in 20-30 years.

58. One may be on a woodpile TARP
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”.

59. Wood-shaping tool ADZE
An adze (also adz) is similar to an axe, but is different in that the blade of an adze is set at right angles to the tool’s shaft. An axe’s blade is set in line with the shaft.

61. One who succumbed to a serpent EVE
In the Christian tradition, the “fall of man” took place in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve succumbed to the temptation of eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, against the bidding of God. As a result, Adam and Eve were banished from Eden to prevent them becoming immortal by eating from the tree of life. The first humans had transitioned from a state of innocent obedience to a state of guilty disobedience.

https://laxcrossword.com/2014/04/la-times-crossword-answers-1-apr-14.html

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Bart’s mom MARGE
6. Pooch in whodunits ASTA
10. Super-fast fliers, briefly SSTS
14. Multiple choice options A, B OR C
15. Tater SPUD
16. Poi base TARO
17. City on Spain’s southwestern coast CADIZ
18. School semester TERM
19. Some Neruda poems ODES
20. Collegian’s specialty ACADEMIC FIELD
23. Take home the trophy WIN
24. ’70s-’80s TV role for Robin Williams MORK
25. Bawl out RAIL AT
28. Make illegal BAN
29. “Love __ Madly”: Doors hit HER
30. Actor Wallach ELI
31. “I __ sorry” AM SO
34. TV athletic award ESPY
37. Surgical beam LASER
39. Retire PUT OUT TO PASTURE
42. Practical joke PRANK
43. Prince William’s alma mater ETON
44. Chooses, with “for” OPTS
45. Escape LAM
46. Sound system part AMP
48. Lid for a lad TAM
50. Rio Grande city EL PASO
52. City north of Pittsburgh ERIE
54. Tank or tee TOP
57. Kitchen appliance ELECTRIC RANGE
60. Turn over CEDE
62. Reagan secretary of state HAIG
63. Megastars IDOLS
64. In excess of OVER
65. Footwear insert ARCH
66. Former midsize Pontiac named for a native Mexican AZTEK
67. Cancún cash PESO
68. Tiff SPAT
69. Skeptical LEERY

Down
1. Colorful parrot MACAW
2. Counters with beads ABACI
3. Flying ’50s film monster RODAN
4. Graph paper design GRID
5. Itchy skin inflammation ECZEMA
6. Up and about ASTIR
7. Bit of dust SPECK
8. Gang land TURF
9. Look up to ADMIRE
10. Casual vodka order STOLI
11. Prepares for the cattle drive SADDLES UP
12. Three, in Turin TRE
13. Distress letters SOS
21. “Water Lilies” painter Claude MONET
22. Ranks below marquises EARLS
26. Fully attentive ALERT
27. Loses energy TIRES
28. Timely benefit BOON
29. Source of a shot HYPO
31. Orchard tree APPLE
32. Work on a wall MURAL
33. Cattle drive concerns STAMPEDES
35. Ladder lead-in STEP-
36. Greenhouse container POT
38. Physics particle ATOM
40. Decree in imperial Russia UKASE
41. Practical joke ANTIC
47. Coffeehouse orders MOCHAS
49. Old reception aid AERIAL
51. Last Olds made ALERO
52. Writer Jong ERICA
53. “Correctomundo!” RIGHT!
54. Govt. security T-NOTE
55. One with an unsettling look OGLER
56. Irritating PESKY
58. One may be on a woodpile TARP
59. Wood-shaping tool ADZE
60. Badge bearer COP
61. One who succumbed to a serpent EVE

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