LA Times Crossword Answers 9 Oct 14, Thursday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Robert E. Lee Morris
THEME: Train Wreck … each of today’s themed answers contains a letter sequence that is an anagram (WRECK) of TRAIN:

29D. Calamity, and what’s literally hidden in the answers to starred clues TRAIN WRECK

17A. *Tricky puzzle BRAINTEASER
37A. *”Let me give it a shot?” CAN I TRY?
59A. *Historic route west OREGON TRAIL
11D. *Unvarnished facts PLAIN TRUTH

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 7m 49s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Kid-lit classic “__, Plain and Tall” SARAH
“Sarah, Plain and Tall” is a children’s novel by Patricia Maclachlan that was first published in 1985. It tells of a widowed farmer and his two children who must cope with the loss of their mother. The father advertises for a mail-order bride, and along comes Sarah from Maine, who describes herself as “plain and tall”.

6. Dust Bowl refugees OKIES
“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”.

The Dust Bowl was the name given to a period in which severe dust storms ravaged the American and Canadian Prairies in the thirties. A major factor in the storms was the loss of the deep-rooted grasses native to the land that had been displaced by intensive farming. Without the grasses, the topsoil was blown away in a period of drought.

11. Part of many a texting request PLS
Please (pls)

14. Unborn, after “in” UTERO
“In utero” is a Latin term meaning “in the uterus”. The Latin “uterus” translates as both “womb” and “belly”. The Latin word was derived from the Greek “hystera” also meaning womb, which gives us the words “hysterectomy”, and “hysterical”.

15. “It’s a Wonderful Life” director CAPRA
The Christmas Classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” was released in 1946, and is a Frank Capra movie starring James Stewart and Donna Reed. The film’s screenplay was adapted from a short story called “The Greatest Gift” by Philip Van Doren Stern. Remember the famous swimming pool scene? That was shot in Beverly High School gym, and the pool is still in use today.

21. Astronomy : Urania :: poetry : __ ERATO
In Greek mythology, the muses are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. The number of muses is a subject of debate at times, but the most popular view is that there are nine:

– Calliope (epic poetry)
– Clio (history)
– Erato (lyric poetry)
– Euterpe (music)
– Melpomene (tragedy)
– Polyhymnia (choral poetry)
– Terpsichore (dance)
– Thalia (comedy)
– Urania (astronomy)

22. Basic chord TRIAD
A triad is a group of three, and specifically in music as a chord is usually made up of three notes.

24. City between Paris and Marseille LYON
The city of Lyon in France, is also known as “Lyons” in English.

27. Mensa membership consideration, perhaps IQ TEST
If you ever had to learn Latin, as did I, “mensa” was probably taught to you in Lesson One as it’s the word commonly used as an example of a first declension noun. Mensa means “table”. The Mensa organization for folks with high IQs was set up in Oxford, England back in 1946. To become a member, one is required to have an IQ that is in the top 2% of the population.

31. Myanmar, formerly BURMA
The Republic of the Union of Myanmar is the official name of the Asian country that some nations still recognize as the Union of Burma.

32. SeaWorld attraction ORCA
The taxonomic name for the killer whale is Orcinus orca. The use of the name “orca”, rather than “killer whale”, is becoming more and more common. The Latin word “Orcinus” means “belonging to Orcus”, with Orcus being the name for the Kingdom of the Dead.

SeaWorld was started in San Diego in 1964. The original plan was build an underwater restaurant with a marine life show. Eventually the founders dropped the idea of the eating establishment and just went with a theme park. SeaWorld has been mired in controversy since the 2013 release of the documentary “Blackfish”, which tells of the involvement of a particular killer whale in the death of two SeaWorld employees and one SeaWorld visitor.

33. Stonestreet of “Modern Family” ERIC
Actor Eric Stonestreet is best-known for playing Cameron Tucker on the hit comedy show “Modern Family”. Stonestreet is openly straight, but plays the gay partner of the character Mitchell Pritchett. Pritchett is played by openly gay actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Ferguson jokingly describes Stonestreet as being “gay for pay”.

36. Actress Wasikowska MIA
Mia Wasikowska is an Australian actress. Wasikowska’s breakthrough role was playing the title character in Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” in 2010. The only movie I’ve seen her in though is 2011’s “Jane Eyre”, a pretty good adaptation of the Charlotte Brontë classic, I thought …

40. __ Today USA
The title of widest circulation of any American newspaper is an honor competed for by “The Wall Street Journal” and “USA Today”, with each paper selling about 2 million copies each day (including online subscribers). “USA Today” was launched in 1982.

44. Film with dusty streets, typically OATER
The term “oater” that is used for a western movie comes from the number of horses seen, as horses love oats!

48. Eight dry gallons BUSHEL
A peck is a unit of dry volume, equivalent to two gallons. Four pecks then make up a bushel.

51. Genesis creator SEGA
The Genesis is a video game console sold in the US by the Japanese company Sega. In the rest of the world, the console is sold as the Mega Drive, as Sega couldn’t get the rights to the Mega Drive name in the US.

52. Pasture measures ACRES
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 furrow long” (i.e. one furlong) and one furlong wide. The length of one furlong was equal to 10 chains, or 40 rods. A area of one furlong times 10 rods was one rood.

53. User’s shortcut MACRO
A macroinstruction (usually shortened to “macro”) is a set of instructions in a computer program that are abbreviated to one simple command.

59. *Historic route west OREGON TRAIL
The Oregon Trail was established by fur trappers and traders as early as 1811. The first migrant wagon train traveled the route in 1836, starting off in Independence, Idaho and going as far as Fort Hall, Idaho. In the coming years, the trail was extended for wagons as far as the Willamette Valley in Oregon.

62. Noir hero TEC
“Tec” is a slang term for a private detective, a private investigator (PI).

The expression “film noir” has French origins, but only in that it was coined by a French critic in describing a style of Hollywood film. The term, meaning “black film” in French, was first used by Nino Frank in 1946. Film noir often applies to a movie with a melodramatic plot and a private eye or detective at its center. Good examples would be “The Big Sleep” and “D.O.A”.

63. Large jazz combo NONET
A nonet is a piece requiring nine musicians for a performance.

65. Origin of an egg-shaped spaceship ORK
“Mork & Mindy” was broadcast from 1978 to 1982. We were first introduced to Mork (played by Robin Williams, of course) in a special episode of “Happy Days”. The particular episode in question has a bizarre storyline culminating in Fonzie and Mork having a thumb-to-finger duel. Eventually Richie wakes up in bed, and alien Mork was just part of a dream! Oh, and “Nanu Nanu” means both “hello” and “goodbye” back on the planet Ork. “I am Mork from Ork, Nanu Nanu”. Great stuff …

Down
2. Razor brand ATRA
Fortunately for crossword setters, the Atra razor was introduced by Gillette in 1977. The Atra was sold as the Contour in some markets and its derivative products are still around today.

3. 20 quires REAM
A “quire” is a measure of paper quantity. There are usually 25 sheets in a quire, and 20 quires (500 sheets) in a ream. However, a quire sometimes only contains 15, 18 or 20 sheets, depending on the type of paper.

4. First name in shipping ARI
Aristotle Onassis was born to a successful Greek shipping entrepreneur in Smyrna in modern-day Turkey. However, his family lost its fortune during WWI and so Aristotle worked with his father to build up a new business empire centered on the importation of tobacco. In 1957, Aristotle founded the Greek national airline, what is today called Olympic Air, and he also got into the business of shipping oil around the world. He married Athina Livanos in 1946, the daughter of a wealthy shipping magnate. They had two children, including the famous Christina Onassis. Livanos divorced Onassis on discovering him in bed with the opera singer Maria Callas. Onassis ended his affair with Callas in order to marry Jackie Kennedy in 1968.

5. Bee’s nectar reservoir HONEY SAC
The “honey sac” is that part of the oesophagus of a bee in which honey forms from nectar.

7. Longtime pitcher Jim with the nickname “Kitty” KAAT
Jim Kaat is a former professional baseball pitcher who went on to become a famous sportscaster, mainly calling games for the New York Yankees and the Minnesota Twins. Kaat was given the nickname “Kitty”, for obvious reasons.

8. By its very nature, in law IPSO FACTO
“Ipso facto” is Latin, meaning “by the fact itself”. Ipso facto describes something that is a direct consequence of particular act, as opposed to something that is the result of some subsequent event. For example, my father was born in Dublin and was an Irish citizen ipso facto. My son was born in California and is an Irish citizen by virtue of being the son of an Irish citizen (“not” ipso facto).

10. “Being and Nothingness” philosopher SARTRE
Jean-Paul Sartre wrote the philosophical treatise “L’Etre et le neant” in 1943. The title translates as “Being and Nothingness”.

Jean-Paul Sartre was a leading French philosopher, as well as a writer and political activist. Sartre was one of the few people to have been awarded a Nobel Prize and to have then refused to accept it. He was named winner of the prize for Literature in 1964, for his first novel “Nausea”. Before his win, Sartre knew that his name was on the list of nominees so he wrote to the Nobel Institute and asked to be withdrawn from consideration. The letter somehow went unread, so he found himself having to refuse the award after he had been selected.

13. Fictional falcon seeker SPADE
The classic detective novel “The Maltese Falcon” was written by Dashiell Hammett and first published in 1930. The main character is the private detective Sam Spade, famously played by Humphrey Bogart in the third movie adaptation of the book, released in 1941.

24. Apollo lander, briefly LEM
In the Apollo program, the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) was the vehicle that actually landed on the moon and returned the astronauts to the command module that was orbiting overhead. The third LEM built was named “Spider”, and it participated in the Apollo 9 mission which tested the functionality of the LEM design in space. The fourth LEM was called “Snoopy” and it flew around the moon in the Apollo 10 mission, the dress rehearsal for the upcoming moon landing. Apollo 11’s LEM was of course called “Eagle” and it brought Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to and from the moon’s surface. Another famous LEM was Apollo 13’s Aquarius. Although Aquarius never landed on the moon, it did serve as a “lifeboat” for the three astronauts after the explosive rupture of an oxygen canister in the Service Module.

26. General Bradley OMAR
Omar Bradley graduated from West Point in the class of 1915, along with Dwight Eisenhower who also attained the rank of General of the Army. Bradley was the last person to hold the rank of a five-star commissioned officer, and he was the first general to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I was struck by a quotation from Bradley from later in his life:

Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than about peace, more about killing than we know about living.

27. AT and PS/2 computers IBMS
IBM was founded as the Tabulating Machine Company in 1896. The company changed its name to the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation (CTR) in 1911 and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1916. The name of International Business Machines (IBM) was given first to the company’s Canadian subsidiary, and then its South American subsidiary. In 1924, it was decided to adopt the International Business Machines name for the whole company. Good choice …

28. Nestlé __ QUIK
Nestlé Quik was introduced in 1948, and is a flavored powdered milk drink. It was sold in Europe as “Nesquik”, and that brand name replaced “Quik” here in the US in 1999. The Nesquik mascot is the Quik Bunny. The Quik Bunny had a large “Q” on a collar around his neck, and with the brand name change this “Q” became an “N”, and he is now known as the Nesquik Bunny.

35. Poet Sandburg CARL
Carl Sandburg was a writer from Galesburg, Illinois. Sandburg won two Pulitzers for poetry, and one for the biography called “Abraham Lincoln: The War Years”.

47. Poultry magnate John et al. TYSONS
Tyson Foods is the largest producer of meat in the world. Even though we tend to associate Tyson with chicken here in North America, the company is also the largest exporter of beef out of the US.

48. Alpine capital BERN
Bern (or Berne) is the capital city of Switzerland. The official language of the city is German, but the language most spoken in Bern is a dialect known as Bernese German.

50. Yellowish pigment OCHER
Ochre is often spelled “ocher” in the US (it’s “ochre” where I come from). Ocher is a light, yellowy-brown color, although variations of the pigment are possible such as red ocher and purple ocher.

51. Highland Games participants SCOTS
Highland games are centered on competitions of strength, as well music and dance contests. The Cowal Games in Dunoon, Scotland is the largest games in the world in numbers of participants. However, the games hosted by the Caledonian Club of San Francisco in Pleasanton, California (my hometown) is the largest in the world in numbers of attendees.

54. “A Death in the Family” author AGEE
James Agee was a noted American film critic and screenwriter. Agee wrote an autobiographical novel “A Death in the Family” that won him his Pulitzer in 1958, albeit posthumously. He was also one of the screenwriters for the 1951 classic movie “The African Queen”.

56. Wealthy, in Juárez RICO
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.

57. Ben Gurion airline EL AL
Ben-Gurion International (TLV) is Israel’s main airport, and is located in the city of Lod just a few miles southeast of Tel Aviv. The airport is named for David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister.

60. King at Versailles ROI
Versailles is a city located just 10 miles from the center of Paris. It is famous of course as home to the magnificent Palace of Versailles. The palace started out as a hunting lodge built in the village of Versailles in 1624, built for Louis XIII. Louis XIII extended the lodge into a full-blown château, but it was Louis XIV who expanded it into one of the largest palaces on the planet. Louis XIV moved the royal court from Paris to Versailles starting in 1678.

61. King in old Rome REX
Ancient Rome went through three distinct periods. From 753 to 509 BC, Rome was a kingdom, founded by the legendary Romulus. The Roman Republic lasted from 509 to 27 BC. The Republic started with the overthrow of the last monarch, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, and replacement by two elected consuls who were advised by a senate. The Republic evolved over time, but came to an end when Octavian expanded his power and declared himself “First Citizen”, and effectively became Rome’s first Emperor and took the name Caesar Augustus. The Western Roman Empire collapsed in the 5th century. The Eastern Roman Empire survived as the Byzantine Empire that was centered on Constantinople.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Kid-lit classic “__, Plain and Tall” SARAH
6. Dust Bowl refugees OKIES
11. Part of many a texting request PLS
14. Unborn, after “in” UTERO
15. “It’s a Wonderful Life” director CAPRA
16. Pitcher rim LIP
17. *Tricky puzzle BRAINTEASER
19. Tenn. neighbor ALA
20. Commuter’s woe JAM
21. Astronomy : Urania :: poetry : __ ERATO
22. Basic chord TRIAD
24. City between Paris and Marseille LYON
25. “Just this time …” FOR ONCE …
27. Mensa membership consideration, perhaps IQ TEST
30. Most plucky GAMEST
31. Myanmar, formerly BURMA
32. SeaWorld attraction ORCA
33. Stonestreet of “Modern Family” ERIC
36. Actress Wasikowska MIA
37. *”Let me give it a shot?” CAN I TRY?
40. __ Today USA
41. Essentially fat-free SKIM
43. Credit report blot REPO
44. Film with dusty streets, typically OATER
46. Seconds flat NO TIME
48. Eight dry gallons BUSHEL
49. “Hiya!” HOWDY-DO!
51. Genesis creator SEGA
52. Pasture measures ACRES
53. User’s shortcut MACRO
55. Meditation beginning? PRE-
58. Marine pronoun SHE
59. *Historic route west OREGON TRAIL
62. Noir hero TEC
63. Large jazz combo NONET
64. Tourist __ MECCA
65. Origin of an egg-shaped spaceship ORK
66. Locations SITES
67. Praise EXTOL

Down
1. Alg. or geog. SUBJ
2. Razor brand ATRA
3. 20 quires REAM
4. First name in shipping ARI
5. Bee’s nectar reservoir HONEY SAC
6. Vast expanse OCEAN
7. Longtime pitcher Jim with the nickname “Kitty” KAAT
8. By its very nature, in law IPSO FACTO
9. Afore ERE
10. “Being and Nothingness” philosopher SARTRE
11. *Unvarnished facts PLAIN TRUTH
12. Fragrant bloom LILAC
13. Fictional falcon seeker SPADE
18. Relaxed pace TROT
23. Left the runway ROSE
24. Apollo lander, briefly LEM
26. General Bradley OMAR
27. AT and PS/2 computers IBMS
28. Nestlé __ QUIK
29. Calamity, and what’s literally hidden in the answers to starred clues TRAIN WRECK
30. Complain GRIPE
32. “Be right with you” ONE MOMENT
34. “Ah! Say no more” I SEE
35. Poet Sandburg CARL
38. Like New Mexico’s climate, largely ARID
39. “Darned if I know!” YOU GOT ME!
42. Style MODE
45. Cool-cucumber link AS A
47. Poultry magnate John et al. TYSONS
48. Alpine capital BERN
49. Must HAS TO
50. Yellowish pigment OCHER
51. Highland Games participants SCOTS
54. “A Death in the Family” author AGEE
55. Agreement PACT
56. Wealthy, in Juárez RICO
57. Ben Gurion airline EL AL
60. King at Versailles ROI
61. King in old Rome REX

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7 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword Answers 9 Oct 14, Thursday”

  1. Hello all,

    slow day today ?

    I found this pleasantly easy – surprising for a Thursday. The long answers were quite easy, and made my life very enjoyable. No idea about Train Wreck. Well, if you say so.

    I remember playing 'The Oregon Trail' on my Apple IIgs. Actually, I got pretty good at it – shooting at them dumb, cavorting deer and bears and all… I wore out the my keyboard spacebar shooting, at will.

    I also avidly helped my older daughter in completing her history-geography assignments and became quite an expert on American history ( at the middle school level, anyway …. ) and knew all about the Oregon Trial. I loved the documentary about Lewis and Clark.

    There was a beautiful SeaWorld in Cleveland, but it closed down about 20 years ago. It was not profitable since you can't run it for only 6 months in the year.

    Have a nice day all.

  2. @Vidwan – know what you mean about Seaworld. Would be the same in Upstate NY. We have WaterSafari (Where the fun never stops), but there are other things going on in the winter.

    I Googled for the names, SARAH ERIC MIA KAAT, then I took off.

    Don't get ROSE.

  3. A good theme for today: not overly corny, and the grid had very little of the groan-fill that haunts Thursdays.

    I sensed a bit of a nod to detective dramas with old-school references such as film noir, Sam Spade, Burma, and others. Maybe not intentional, and perhaps on my mind because I watched The French Connection lately.

    Off to the mines. Slainte.

  4. Sarah, Plain and Tall was also a TV movie aired in 1991 on the Hallmark Hall of Fame anthology series. It starred Glenn Close as Sarah and Christopher Walken as the farmer getting a mail order bride. Great show with lots of awards received. I believe there were also two sequels.

  5. Hi Bill and all!
    Had to ask my husband about KAAT. I know I've seen that before.
    There's an article about a Hello Kitty in the L.A. Times about an art show "Hello! Exploring the Supercute World of Hello Kitty”, at the Japanese American National Museum. And a Hello Kitty convention for the 40th anniversary in Koreatown.
    Go figure.
    "Be right with you"
    ONE SECOND
    ONE MINUTE
    Aack!
    ONE MOMENT….Sheesh.
    Catch you guys later.

  6. Not too tough for a Thursday (although I peeked a couple of times.) Put Bonn instead of Bern, but at least I knew Burma!
    Cheers all…

  7. Not too tough for a Thursday (although I peeked a couple of times.)Put Bonn instead of Bern at first, but at least I knew Burma!

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