LA Times Crossword Answers 1 Nov 14, Saturday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Victor Barocas
THEME: None
BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 15m 47s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 2 … TOOLE (Goole), TWITS (twigs)

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. End of a digression WHERE WAS I?
After deviating in a speech, one might get back to the main topic saying, “Where was I?”

10. Christmas flier COMET
We get the names for Santa’s reindeer from the famous 1823 poem called “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, although we’ve modified a couple of the names over the years. The full list is:

– Dasher
– Dancer
– Prancer
– Vixen
– Comet
– Cupid
– Donder (originally “Dunder”, and now often “Donner”)
– Blitzen (originally “Blixem”)

Rudolph was added to the list by retailer Montgomery Ward, would you believe? The store commissioned Robert L. May to create a booklet that could be handed out to children around Christmas in 1939, and May introduced us to a new friend for Santa, namely Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

15. Like Gene Kelly’s dancing ACROBATIC
The actor and dancer Gene Kelly was from Pittsburgh. Kelly’s best-known performances were in the films “An American in Paris” (1951) and “Singin’ in the Rain” (1952). “Singin’ in the Rain” was co-directed by Kelly and the great Stanley Donen. A few years later, in 1960, Kelly married Jeanne Coyne, Donen’s ex-wife.

16. Ski resort north of Mount Snow OKEMO
Okemo is a ski resort near Ludlow, Vermont. If you visit Okemo, you’ll see that it’s also home to the Timber Ripper roller coaster, which operates year round. The Timber Ripper became the state of Vermont’s first roller coaster when it opened for business in December, 2010.

20. Haywire KABLOOIE
I have no idea where “kablooie” comes from …

“Haywire” is wire used to bind bales of hay. Haywire is very springy, and coils of the wire are difficult to keep under control. That characteristic gives us informal meaning of “haywire”, namely “erratic, crazy”.

24. Lyra’s brightest star VEGA
Lyra 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.

25. Rosencrantz or Guildenstern ROLE
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are a pair of courtiers in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”. They also appear in the most famous play by British playwright Tom Stoppard, “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” (which I saw years ago, and slept through!).

27. Cabs may be lined up at one WINE BAR
The Cabernet Sauvignon grape has been around since the 17th century, and is the result of a chance crossing in southwestern France of the Cabernet franc and Sauvignon blanc grapes.

29. After A LA
The phrase “in the style of” can be translated as “alla” in Italian and “à la” in French.

35. Reasons for some low scores BIRDIES
Apparently the term “birdie” originated in 1899 at the Atlantic City Country Club in Northfield, New Jersey. A golfer hit his second shot on a par four that stopped inches from the cup after hitting a bird in flight. The golfer tapped the ball in for one-under-par, and his golfing buddies labeled the second shot a “bird”. The golfers started to call one-under-par a birdie, and the term spread through the club, and from there around the world …

37. Handy thing to have when you need a break? POOL CUE
The more correct name for the game of pool is pocket billiards. The name “pool” arose after pocket billiards became a common feature in “pool halls”, places where gamblers “pooled” their money to bet on horse races.

38. Zen awakening SATORI
Satori is a Japanese term, used in the Zen Buddhist tradition. Satori does not refer to full enlightenment (nirvana) but rather is a step along the way, a flash of awareness.

39. Arabian checker REIN
The Arab (or Arabian) breed of horse takes its name from its original home, the Arabian Peninsula. Like any animal that humans have over-bred, the horse falls prey to genetic diseases, some of which are fatal and some of which require the horse to be euthanized.

40. Turkish honorific AGA
“Aga” (also “agha”) is a title that was used by both civil and military officials in the Ottoman Empire.

44. Cuisine with a condiment called nam pla THAI
Nam pla is a fish sauce that is used in Thai cuisine.

47. Body __ MASS
The body mass index (BMI) is the ratio of a person’s height to his or her mass.

51. Vier minus eins DREI
In German, four (vier) minus one (eins) is three (drei).

52. Sundance showing INDIE
The Sundance film festival is the largest independent film event in the country, and takes place every year around the Sundance Resort near Provo, Utah. The festival has its roots in the Utah/US Film Festival which started in Salt Lake City in 1978. Management of the festival was taken over by Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute in 1985. The festival has became a bit of a media feeding frenzy in recent years, as a lot of A-list celebrities attend. The Festival organizers introduced a “Focus on Film” campaign in 2007 to try to offset some of the madness.

53. It’s usually an eagle HOLE IN ONE
The following terms are routinely used in golf for scores relative to par:

– Bogey: one over par
– Par
– Birdie: one under par
– Eagle: two under par
– Albatross (also “double eagle”): three under par
– Condor: four under par

No one has ever recorded a condor during a professional tournament.

57. “A Confederacy of Dunces” author TOOLE
“A Confederacy of Dunces” is a novel by John Kennedy Toole that was first published in 1980. Toole had committed suicide eleven years before publication, when he was just 31 years old. The author’s mother found a smudged carbon copy of the book’s manuscript after her son had passed, and she persisted in her efforts to get the novel published. She was finally successful in 1980, and the following year “A Confederacy of Dunces” won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Well done, Mom …

58. Clinton had a big role in its construction ERIE CANAL
The Erie Canal runs from Albany to Buffalo in the state of New York. What the canal does is allow shipping to proceed from New York Harbor right up the Hudson River, through the canal and into the Great Lakes. When it was opened in 1825, the Erie Canal had immediate impact on the economy of New York City and locations along its route. It was the first means of “cheap” transportation from a port on the Atlantic seaboard into the interior of the United States. Arguably it was the most important factor contributing to the growth of New York City over competing ports such as Baltimore and Philadelphia. It was largely because of the Erie Canal that New York became such an economic powerhouse, earning it the nickname of “the Empire State”. Paradoxically, one of the project’s main proponents was severely criticized. New York Governor DeWitt Clinton received so much ridicule that the canal was nicknamed “Clinton’s Folly” and “Clinton’s Ditch”.

Down
1. WWII female WAC
The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was formed in 1942, and the unit was converted to full status the following year to become the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). Famously, General Douglas MacArthur referred to the WACs as his “best soldiers”, saying they worked harder, complained less and were better disciplined than men. The WACs were disbanded in 1978 and the serving members were integrated into the rest of the army.

2. Digestive aid, to chemists HCL
Gastric acid is produced by cells lining the stomach, and is composed of hydrochloric acid (HCl), potassium chloride (KCl) and sodium chloride (NaCl). Other cells lining the stomach produce bicarbonate to ensure the contents of the stomach do not become too acidic. Those same cell also produce mucus that lines the stomach wall to protect it from the acid.

4. How a pollyanna sees the world ROSILY
Someone described as “polyanna” sees the bright side in the most difficult situations. The term is a reference to the 1913 novel “Pollyanna” by Eleanor Hodgman Porter. The title character, Pollyanna Whittier, has a remarkably positive disposition, even in the face of disaster.

5. “I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie” author EBERT
“I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie” is a collection of a couple of hundred of Roger Ebert’s most acerbic and negative film reviews, Included are reviews of “Armageddon” (1998), “The Beverly Hillbillies” (1993) and “Police Academy” (1984).

9. Glaciation period ICE AGE
Ice ages are periods in the Earth’s history when there are extensive ice sheets present in the northern and southern hemispheres. One might argue that we are still in an ice age that began 2.6 million years ago, as evidenced by the presence of ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica.

11. 1881 trouble spot OK CORRAL
The most famous gunfight in the history of the Old West has to be the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, which took place in Tombstone, Arizona. Strangely enough, the fight didn’t happen at the O.K. Corral, but played out six doors down the street in a vacant lot next to a photography studio.

13. Outlook service EMAIL
Outlook is the email management application that comes with Microsoft Office.

14. “__ a world in a grain of sand”: Blake TO SEE
William Blake was an English poet and artist, considered now have been a powerful force in his fields during the Romantic Age. One of Blake’s poems is “Auguries of Innocence” that was written about 1803, but not published until 35 years after the poet had died. The first few lines are:

To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

23. Shire in films TALIA
The actress Talia Shire is best-known for playing Rocky’s wife Adrian in the “Rocky” series of movies. She also played the daughter of Don Corleone in “The Godfather” films. Shire is the sister of movie director Francis Ford Coppola and the aunt of actor Nicolas Cage. Her son is the actor Jason Schwartzman.

24. Limo riders VIPS
The word “limousine” actually derives from the French city of Limoges. The area around Limoges is called the Limousin, and it gave its name to a cloak hood worn by local shepherds. In early motor cars, a driver would sit outside in the weather while the passengers would sit in the covered compartment. The driver would often wear a limousin-style protective hood, giving rise to that type of transportation being called a “limousine”. Well, that’s how the story goes anyway …

28. Many millennia AEON
In astronomical terms, an aeon (also “eon”) is defined as one billion years.

30. iPhone speaker SIRI
Siri is software application that works with Apple’s iOS operating system. “Siri” is an acronym standing for Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface. You’ve probably seen the ads on television, with folks talking to their iPhones asking for information and responding with a voice. I hear that Google is a little scared by Siri, as Siri is non-visual. There’s no need to touch a screen or a keyboard to work with Siri, no opportunity to click on one of Google’s ads! By the way, voice-over artist Susan Bennett recently revealed herself as the female American voice of Siri. The British version of Siri is called Daniel, and the Australian version is called Karen. By the way, “Siri” is a Norwegian name meaning “beautiful woman who leads you to victory”, and was the name the developer had chosen for his first child.

32. Salad ingredients SCALLIONS
Scallions are lovely plants to eat, with a mild onion flavor. Scallions are also called green onions and spring onions.

34. “Leda and the Swan” poet YEATS
Irish poet and dramatist William Butler Yeats won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923 for “inspired poetry” that gave “expression to a whole nation”. Yeats was Ireland’s first Nobel laureate.

In Greek mythology, Leda was the beautiful Queen of Sparta who was seduced by Zeus when he took the form of a swan. Leda produced two eggs from the union. One egg hatched into the beautiful Helen, later to be known as Helen of Troy and over whom the Trojan War was fought. The other egg hatched into the twins Castor and Pollux. Castor and Pollux had different fathers according to the myth. Pollux was the son of Zeus and was immortal, while Castor was the son of Leda’s earthly husband, and so he was a mortal. William Butler Yeats wrote a famous sonnet called “Leda and the Swan” in 1924. Peter Paul Rubens made a copy of a painting called “Leda and the Swan” by Michelangelo, which is now lost.

42. Christmas flier DASHER
(see 10-across)

44. Ridicules TWITS
“To twit” is to tease someone for making an embarrassing mistake.

45. Asian capital HANOI
Hanoi was the capital of North Vietnam, and Saigon the capital of South Vietnam. After the Vietnam War, Hanoi was made capital of the reunified state. Saigon, the larger metropolis, was renamed to Ho Chi Minh City.

48. Haggler’s target PRICE
Our word “haggle” meaning to argue about the price, originally meant “to cut unevenly”.

51. Roebuck, but not Sears DEER
The male roe deer is known as a roebuck.

Roe deer are found mainly in Europe. They would be the deer shown on television and in movies when Robin Hood was out hunting in Sherwood Forest.

Richard Sears was a station agent on the railroad. In the late 1800s, he bought up a shipment of unwanted watches that was left at his depot and sold the watches to other agents up and down the line. He was so successful that he ordered more watches and then came up with the idea of using a catalog to promote more sales. The catalog idea caught on, and by the mid 1900s Sears was the biggest retailer in the whole country.

55. “Auld Scotland wants __ skinking ware”: Burns NAE
Scottish poet Robbie Burns is today very much associated with the national dish known as haggis, largely because of his poem “Address to a Haggis”. The poem is recited at what is known as a Burns supper, which is held annually to celebrate the poet’s life. The last lines of “Address to a Haggis” are:

Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies:
But, if ye wish her gratefu prayer,
Gie her a Haggis

which can be written as:

Old Scotland wants no watery stuff,
That splashes in small wooden dishes;
But if you wish her grateful prayer,
Give her [Scotland] a Haggis!

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. End of a digression WHERE WAS I?
10. Christmas flier COMET
15. Like Gene Kelly’s dancing ACROBATIC
16. Ski resort north of Mount Snow OKEMO
17. Pollster’s challenge CLOSE RACE
18. Stand in for ACT AS
19. Wear out TIRE
20. Haywire KABLOOIE
22. Circus prop STILT
24. Lyra’s brightest star VEGA
25. Rosencrantz or Guildenstern ROLE
26. Netlike LACY
27. Cabs may be lined up at one WINE BAR
29. After A LA
30. Soaks (up) SOPS
31. Like some bread YEASTY
35. Reasons for some low scores BIRDIES
37. Handy thing to have when you need a break? POOL CUE
38. Zen awakening SATORI
39. Arabian checker REIN
40. Turkish honorific AGA
41. Expose a card, say MISDEAL
43. Narrow strip SLAT
44. Cuisine with a condiment called nam pla THAI
47. Body __ MASS
48. Attacks, as with snowballs PELTS
49. Campaign fund WAR CHEST
51. Vier minus eins DREI
52. Sundance showing INDIE
53. It’s usually an eagle HOLE IN ONE
57. “A Confederacy of Dunces” author TOOLE
58. Clinton had a big role in its construction ERIE CANAL
59. Begat SIRED
60. Held in REPRESSED

Down
1. WWII female WAC
2. Digestive aid, to chemists HCL
3. Blue wall decorations EROTIC ART
4. How a pollyanna sees the world ROSILY
5. “I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie” author EBERT
6. Hard or soft finish? -WARE
7. __ loss AT A
8. Nauseates SICKENS
9. Glaciation period ICE AGE
10. Combustible rock COAL
11. 1881 trouble spot OK CORRAL
12. “I’m with you” ME TOO
13. Outlook service EMAIL
14. “__ a world in a grain of sand”: Blake TO SEE
21. Nursery bottle contents BABY OIL
22. Hunks SLABS
23. Shire in films TALIA
24. Limo riders VIPS
27. “Alack!” WOE IS ME!
28. Many millennia AEON
30. iPhone speaker SIRI
32. Salad ingredients SCALLIONS
33. Try to dislodge, perhaps TUG AT
34. “Leda and the Swan” poet YEATS
36. Home DOMICILE
37. Pod occupants PEAS
39. Make whole again RESTORE
42. Christmas flier DASHER
43. Perceived to be SEEN AS
44. Ridicules TWITS
45. Asian capital HANOI
46. Zeal ARDOR
48. Haggler’s target PRICE
50. Mind HEED
51. Roebuck, but not Sears DEER
54. Word with stick or service LIP
55. “Auld Scotland wants __ skinking ware”: Burns NAE
56. Days of yore, in days of yore ELD

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