LA Times Crossword Answers 3 Sep 14, Wednesday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
14. “Tiger Beat” cover subject IDOL
“Tiger Beat” is a fan magazine published by Laufer Media that is marketed mainly to adolescent girls. I haven’t even heard of it, amazingly enough …

16. Cumming of “The Good Wife” ALAN
Alan Cumming is a very versatile Scottish actor. Cumming has played some pretty “commercial” roles, like the bad guy Boris Grishenko in “GoldenEye” and Fegan Flopp in the “Spy Kids” movies. He also played the unwanted suitor in the fabulous film “Circle of Friends” and won a Tony for playing the emcee in the 1998 Broadway revival of “Cabaret”.

19. Desi Arnaz’s birthplace CUBA
Desi Arnaz was of course famous for his turbulent marriage to Lucille Ball. Arnaz was a native of Cuba, and was from a privileged family. His father was Mayor of Santiago and served in the Cuban House of Representatives. However, the family had to flee to Miami after the 1933 revolt led by Batista.

20. 10 to the 100th power GOOGOL
A “googol” is 10 raised to the power of 100. The term “googol” was coined by the nine-year-old nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner. The uncle had asked the boy to come up with an interesting name for “a very large number”. Kasner then came up with the name “googleplex”, which he defined as 1 followed by as many zeros one could write before getting tired. He later refined to definition of a googolplex to be 10 to the power of a googol. And yes, the search engine called “Google” is a deliberate misspelling of “googol”, and Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California is called the Googleplex, a similar deliberate misspelling.

27. Symbols on poles TOTEMS
Totem is the name given to any entity that watches over a group of people. As such, totems are usually the subjects of worship. Totem poles are really misnamed, as they are not intended to represent figures to be worshiped, but rather are heraldic in nature often celebrating the legends or notable events in the history of a tribe.

30. “Carmina Burana” composer ORFF
Carl Orff was a German composer whose most famous piece of music is the dramatic cantata from 1937 called “Carmina Burana”.

“Carmina Burana” is a cantata by Carl Orff based on a collection of medieval poems that go by the same name. The name translates as “Songs from Beuern”. The best known movement of the cantata by far is the dramatic “O Fortuna” used at the opening and closing of the piece. One study placed “O Fortuna” as the most often played piece of classical music in the UK over the past 75 years, largely due to its use in television commercials. Famously, the piece appeared in the US in ads for Gatorade and Old Spice aftershave.

31. Polio vaccine developer SABIN
Albert Sabin developed the oral polio vaccine. Sabin’s vaccine was a “live” controlled vaccine. The equally famous Salk vaccine was a “killed” vaccine.

In the fifties, especially after the 1952 epidemic, polio was the biggest health fear in the US because it killed thousands, left even more with disabilities and most of the victims were children. The situation was dire and the authorities immediately quarantined the family of any polio victim, and that quarantine was so strict that in many cases the families were not even permitted to attend the funeral of a family member who died from the disease.

33. Bk. after Galatians EPH
It seems that the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians (EPH) is now regarded by scholars as written “in the style of Paul” by someone who was influenced by Paul’s thought.

36. Photon, e.g. NEUTRAL PARTICLE
In the field of electromagnetic radiation, a photon is the basic unit of light, an elementary particle. Photons are electrically neutral and are believed to have no mass, but this fact does seem to create some theoretical inconsistencies … which I just don’t understand!

40. Photo lab prod. ENL
Enlargement (enl.)

41. Words said while folding I’M OUT
One might say “I’m out” when folding one’s hand in a game of cards, especially poker.

42. Outer Banks st. N CAR
The Outer Banks are a 200-mile long chain of barrier islands lying just off the coast of North Carolina (and a small section of Virginia). The seas of the Outer Banks have a reputation as being very treacherous and so are nicknamed the Graveyard of the Atlantic.

43. Island near Corsica ELBA
I had a lovely two-week vacation in Tuscany once, including what was supposed to be a two-night stay on the island of Elba. I had envisioned Elba as a place full of history, and maybe it is, but it is also overrun with tourists who use it as a beach getaway. We left after one day and we won’t be going back again …

Corsica is a large island in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to France. Napoléon Bonaparte was born on Corsica, in the town of Ajaccio.

51. Facial feature above la bouche NEZ
In French, the nose (nez) is found on one’s face above the mouth (la bouche).

55. School where part of “The Madness of King George” was filmed ETON
“The Madness of King George” is marvelous 1994 big-screen adaptation of the Alan Bennett play “The Madness of George III”. The film tells the true story of British King George III’s descent into insanity, with Nigel Hawthorne playing the title role. Helen Mirren plays George’s wife, Queen Charlotte.

60. Dubliner’s land EIRE
“Éire”, is the Irish word for “Ireland”. “Erin” is an anglicized version of “Éire” and actually corresponds to “Éirinn”, the dative case of “Éire”.

The city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland, is known as Baile Átha Cliath in Irish (“town of the hurdled ford”). The English name “Dublin” is an anglicized form of the older Irish name for the city, “Dubh Linn”, meaning “black pool”.

61. The Little Mermaid ARIEL
Ariel is the mermaid daughter of the chief merman King Triton in the 1989 Disney feature called “The Little Mermaid”.

63. Photographer Pattie who was married to George Harrison and Eric Clapton BOYD
Pattie Boyd was working as a model when she was cast as a schoolgirl in the Beatles movie “A Hard Day’s Night”, although she was 20-years-old at the time. While filming, she met George Harrison, and the pair were married in 1966. They separated in 1974, largely due to Harrison’s infidelities, which included an affair with Ringo Starr’s wife. Boyd met Eric Clapton in the late sixties when he and Harrison started working together. Clapton became smitten with Boyd, and wrote the hit song “Layla” as a proclamation of his lover for her in 1970. Boyd and Clapton eventually married in 1979, but the pair divorced five years later.

64. Shift letters spelled out in 17-, 24-, 36-, 46- and 56-Across PRNDL
PRNDL … that would be Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive and Low.

65. Ripoff SCAM
The slang term “scam” meaning a swindle may come from the British slang “scamp”.

Down
2. St. with a panhandle IDA
The US state of Idaho has a panhandle that extends northwards between Washington and Montana, right up to the border with Canada. Across that border is the Canadian province of British Columbia.

4. Nevada county or its seat ELKO
The city of Elko, Nevada came into being in 1868 as a settlement built around the eastern end of a railway line that was constructed from California and that was destined for Utah. When that section of the line was completed. the construction crews moved on towards the Nevada/Utah border, and the settlement was left behind to eventually form the city of Elko

5. Oklahoma natives OSAGES
The Osage Nation originated in the Ohio River valley in what we now call Kentucky. They were forced to migrate west of the Mississippi by the invading Iroquois tribe. Most of the tribe members now live in Osage County, Oklahoma.

6. Renamed Russian ballet company KIROV
The Mariinsky Ballet is a company based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was founded in the mid-1700s as the Imperial Russian Ballet, but was renamed to the Kirov Ballet during the Soviet era, in honor of the Bolshevik revolutionary Sergey Kirov. The Kirov was renamed again at the end of communist rule, taking the name of the Mariinsky Theatre where the company was headquartered. The theatre was named for Empress Maria Alexandrovna, who was the wife of Tsar Alexander II.

9. Form 1040 ID SSN
Social Security Number (SSN)

Form 1040 was originally created just for tax returns from 1913, 1914 and 1915, but it’s a form that just keeps on giving …

12. Equatorial African country GABON
Gabon lies on the west coast of Central Africa. Since it became independent from France in 1960, it has become one of the most prosperous countries on the continent, making use of the abundant natural resources in concert with foreign investors ready to exploit those resources.

13. Snide commentary SNARK
“Snark” is a term that was coined by Lewis Carroll in his fabulous 1876 nonsense poem “The Hunting of the Snark”. Somehow, the term “snarky” came to mean “irritable, short-tempered” in the early 1900s.

23. Bridge immortal Charles GOREN
Charles Goren was a world champion bridge player from Philadelphia. Goren published many books on the subject, and introduced several techniques and systems that eventually became part of the modern Standard American bidding system that is used by many bridge players today (including me!).

25. Moroccan capital RABAT
Rabat is the capital city of the Kingdom of Morocco. After WWII, the United States maintained a major Air Force Base in Rabat, part of Strategic Air Command (SAC). Responding to pressure from the Moroccan government of King Mohammed V, the USAF pulled out in 1963.

26. The hoosegow STIR
“Stir” is a slang term for prison, but no one seems to from where the usage originates.

“Hoosegow” is a slang term for “jail”. “Hoosegow” is a mispronunciation of the Mexican-Spanish word “juzgao” meaning “court, tribunal”.

28. Immature newt EFT
Newts wouldn’t be my favorite animals. They are found all over the world living on land or in water depending on the species, but always associated with water even if it is only for breeding. Newts metamorphose through three distinct developmental stages during their lives. They start off as larvae in water, fertilized eggs that often cling to aquatic plants. The eggs hatch into tadpoles, the first developmental form of the newt. After living some months as tadpoles swimming around in the water, they undergo another metamorphosis, sprouting legs and replacing their external gills with lungs. At this juvenile stage they are known as efts, and leave the water to live on land. A more gradual transition takes place then, as the eft takes on the lizard-like appearance of the adult newt.

31. Memorial __-Kettering: NYC hospital SLOAN
The Sloan-Kettering Institute is the research arm of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. The institute was set up in 1945 with funds from the charitable foundation of Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. Charles F. Kettering was an executive at General Motors at the time, and he organized the application of industrial research techniques to the fight against cancer. Sloan and Kettering jointly announced the founding of the institute in the days following the dropping of the first atom bomb on Hiroshima. The pair pointed out that if a two billion dollar scientific effort could produce an atomic bomb, then surely a similar application of funds and scientific talent could make enormous strides in the fight against cancer.

32. Manjula’s husband on “The Simpsons” APU
The fictional Kwik-E-Mart store is operated by Apu Nahasapeemapetilon on “The Simpsons” TV show. Apu is married to Apu, and the couple have eight children. The convenience store owner doesn’t seem to be making much use of his Ph.D in computer science that he earned in the US. Apu’s undergraduate degree is from Caltech (the Calcutta Technical Institute), where he graduated top of his class of seven million students …

35. Alamo competitor HERTZ
The Hertz car rental company was started in 1918 by Walter L. Jacobs in Chicago. He began with just twelve model T Ford cars available for rent. In 1923, the car rental operation was bought out by John D. Hertz who incorporated it into his truck and coach manufacturing company.

The third largest car rental company right now is Alamo, a relative newcomer founded in 1974. Alamo made inroads (pun intended!) into the market by popularizing the idea of “unlimited mileage”.

39. Like Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 IN F
If I had to name which of Beethoven’s symphonies I listen to most often, at the top of the list comes the 7th followed closely by the 9th, and then the 5th a little further down. But that four-note opening of the 5th … that is superb …

44. Final goal END-ALL
Be-all and end-all …

46. One who may be “adorkable” DWEEB
Dweeb, squarepants, nerd … all are not nice terms that mean the same thing, someone excessively studious and socially inept.

I consider “dork” (and its derivative terms) to be pretty offensive slang. It emanated in the sixties among American students, and has its roots in another slang term, a term for male genitalia.

54. Yuletide quaffs NOGS
It’s not really clear where the term “nog” (as in “eggnog”) comes from although it might derive from the word “noggin”, which was originally a small wooden cup that was long associated with alcoholic drinks.

“Yule” celebrations coincide with Christmas, and the words “Christmas” and “Yule” have become synonymous in much of the world. However, Yule was originally a pagan festival celebrated by Germanic peoples. The name “Yule” comes from the Old Norse word “jol” that was used to describe the festival.

“Quaff” is both a verb and a noun. One quaffs (takes a hearty drink) of a quaff (a hearty drink).

57. Bruin great ORR
Bobby Orr is regarded as one of the greatest hockey players of all time. By the time he retired in 1978 he had undergone over a dozen knee surgeries. At 31 years of age, he concluded that he just couldn’t skate anymore. Reportedly, he was even having trouble walking …

The Boston Bruins professional ice hockey team goes way back, and has been in existence since 1924. The National Hockey League back then was a Canadian-only league, but was expanded to include the US in 1923. The Bruins were the first US-team in the expanded league.

58. Tax shelter initials IRA
Individual retirement account (IRA)

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Plentiful RIFE
5. Green-lights OKAYS
10. Fruit-bearing trees FIGS
14. “Tiger Beat” cover subject IDOL
15. Pentagon quintet SIDES
16. Cumming of “The Good Wife” ALAN
17. Canadian natural resource manager PARK WARDEN
19. Desi Arnaz’s birthplace CUBA
20. 10 to the 100th power GOOGOL
21. Party amenity FAVOR
22. Get on AGE
24. Dramatic backwards hoops move REVERSE DUNK
27. Symbols on poles TOTEMS
29. Play to __ A TIE
30. “Carmina Burana” composer ORFF
31. Polio vaccine developer SABIN
33. Bk. after Galatians EPH
36. Photon, e.g. NEUTRAL PARTICLE
40. Photo lab prod. ENL
41. Words said while folding I’M OUT
42. Outer Banks st. N CAR
43. Island near Corsica ELBA
44. Result EFFECT
46. Push one’s buttons, and then some DRIVE INSANE
51. Facial feature above la bouche NEZ
52. Fluttered in the breeze WAVED
53. Passionate ARDENT
55. School where part of “The Madness of King George” was filmed ETON
56. Like many diets LOW-CALORIE
60. Dubliner’s land EIRE
61. The Little Mermaid ARIEL
62. Little woman GIRL
63. Photographer Pattie who was married to George Harrison and Eric Clapton BOYD
64. Shift letters spelled out in 17-, 24-, 36-, 46- and 56-Across PRNDL
65. Ripoff SCAM

Down
1. Mending target RIP
2. St. with a panhandle IDA
3. Absent-minded FORGETFUL
4. Nevada county or its seat ELKO
5. Oklahoma natives OSAGES
6. Renamed Russian ballet company KIROV
7. Throw for a loop ADDLE
8. “__-haw!” YEE
9. Form 1040 ID SSN
10. False front FACADE
11. Sweet tweet I LUV U
12. Equatorial African country GABON
13. Snide commentary SNARK
18. Apple invader WORM
21. Fencing ploy FEINT
22. Do a makeup job? ATONE
23. Bridge immortal Charles GOREN
25. Moroccan capital RABAT
26. The hoosegow STIR
28. Newborn newt EFT
31. Memorial __-Kettering: NYC hospital SLOAN
32. Manjula’s husband on “The Simpsons” APU
33. Quirky ECCENTRIC
34. Venue PLACE
35. Alamo competitor HERTZ
37. Rankled RILED
38. Both: Pref. AMBI-
39. Like Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 IN F
43. Reached equilibrium, with “out” EVENED
44. Final goal END-ALL
45. Experience FEEL
46. One who may be “adorkable” DWEEB
47. Proportional relation RATIO
48. Target of elephant poachers IVORY
49. Politely admitted SAW IN
50. Parabolic, e.g. ARCED
54. Yuletide quaffs NOGS
56. Race unit LAP
57. Bruin great ORR
58. Tax shelter initials IRA
59. Spreading tree ELM

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