LA Times Crossword Answers 18 Nov 14, Tuesday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Marti DuGuay-Carpenter,
THEME: Outside Shots … each of today’s themed answers is a phrase with the letters SHOT divided into a start and an end, on the OUTSIDE of the phrase:

17A. Like a fajita pan SIZZLING HOT
27A. Daisy-plucking words SHE LOVES ME NOT
43A. To the point SHORT AND SWEET
57A. Not a likely chance, and, literally, a hidden feature of 17-, 27- and 43-Across OUTSIDE SHOT

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 6m 33s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Italian scooter VESPA
Vespa is a brand of motor scooter originally made in Italy (and now all over the world) by Piaggio. “Vespa” is Italian for “wasp”.

14. Sharon of Israel ARIEL
Ariel Sharon was a former Prime Minister of Israel. While still in office in 2005, Sharon suffered two debilitating strokes that left him in a permanent vegetative state from early 2006, until he finally passed away in early 2014.

16. Coventry bathroom LOO
When I was growing up in Ireland, a “bathroom” was a room that had a bath and no toilet. The separate room with the commode was called “the toilet” or sometimes the W.C. (the water closet). Apparently the term closet was used because in the 1800s when homeowners started installing toilets indoors they often displaced clothes and linens in a “closet”, as a closet was the right size to take the commode. It has been suggested that the British term “loo” comes from Waterloo (water-closet … water-loo), but no one seems to know for sure. Another suggestion is that the term comes from the card game of “lanterloo” in which the pot was called the loo!

Coventry is an ancient city in the midlands of England that is famous for the destruction that it suffered during WWII air raids, and the associated firestorms. Coventry was one of the first cities in the world to engage in a twinning relationship with another city, entering into the arrangement with Russia’s Stalingrad in during the war, a gesture of support for the Soviet Red Army that endured the Battle of Stalingrad. After the war, Coventry entering into a twinning relationship with the German city of Dresden, which was also heavily bombed during WWII.

17. Like a fajita pan SIZZLING HOT
“Fajita” is a Tex-Mex term that refers to grilled meat served on a tortilla. The Mexican term “fajita” is used to describe a small strip of chicken or beef. Nowadays, fajitas are often served on a sizzling platter with the tortillas and condiments on the side.

19. Perrier, to Pierre EAU
In French, a bottled water (eau) might be Perrier, for example (par exemple).

21. FAO Schwarz specialty TOYS
FAO Schwarz is perhaps the most famous, and is certainly the oldest, toy store in the United States. The FAO Schwarz outlet on Fifth Avenue in New York City has been made very famous by Hollywood. For example, in the New York Store you can see that floor piano that was played by Tom Hanks in the movie “Big”.

24. __ vivant BON
A bon vivant (plural “bons vivants”) is a person who enjoys the best of food and drink, a person with very refined tastes. The term is French, coming from “good living” in that language.

25. Tiny bit IOTA
Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.

35. “Now __ me down to sleep …” I LAY
One of the prayers that I was taught as a child goes:

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
If I shall die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

37. James of “The Godfather” CAAN
James Caan is an actor from the Bronx in New York City. Caan is noted for his appearances in some very big movies such as “The Godfather”, “Misery”, “A Bridge Too Far”, “Rollerball” and more recently “Elf”. Caan is quite the sportsman. He plays golf with an 8 handicap, and is a 6-Dan Black Belt Master of Gosoku Karate.

38. Count Chocula wear CLOAK
General Mills have introduced us to a whole series of monster-themed breakfast cereals, starting in 1971 with Count Chocula and Franken Berry. They followed them up with Boo Berry, Fruit Brute and Fruity Yummy Mummy.

39. Turn on a pivot SLUE
“To slue” (also “slew) is to turn sharply, or to rotate on an axis.

40. Start of many Internet addresses HTTP
“http” are the first letters in most Internet links. “http” stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol.

41. Actor Thicke ALAN
The Canadian actor Alan Thicke is best known for portraying the patriarch of the Seaver family on the sitcom “Growing Pains”. Thicke was also quite successful as a composer of TV theme songs. Along with his first wife, he co-wrote the theme songs to the sitcoms “Diff’rent Strokes” and “The Facts of Life”.

53. Short change? CTS
Cent (ct.)

56. Month after avril MAI
In French, the month of April (avril) comes before May (mai). Note that the French don’t capitalize the names of months as we do in English.

62. Part of USNA NAVAL
The United States Naval Academy (USNA) is located in Annapolis, Maryland. The USNA was founded in 1845 and educates officers for both the US Navy and the US Marine Corps. The motto of the USNA is “Ex Scientia Tridens”, which translates as “From Knowledge, Sea Power”.

64. Twin of Bert Bobbsey NAN
The “Bobbsey Twins” series of children’s novels was first written by Edward Stratemeyer in 1904. Stratemeyer used the pseudonym Laura Lee Hope, as did subsequent authors who wrote 72 books in the series between 1904 and 1979. The title characters were two sets of fraternal twins, one called Bert and Nan (who were 12) and the other called Flossie and Freddie (who were 6).

66. Barbershop band? STROP
A strop is a strip of leather used to sharpen/whet a razor.

Down
2. Weird-sounding lake ERIE
“Erie” sounds like “eerie”.

Lake Erie is the fourth largest of the five Great Lakes by area (Lake Ontario is the smallest). The lake takes its name from the Erie tribe of Native Americans that used to live along its southern shore. Erie is the smallest of the Great Lakes by volume and the shallowest, something for which nearby residents must be quite grateful. Being relatively shallow, much of Erie freezes over part way through most winters putting an end to most of the lake effect snow that falls in the snow belt extending from the lake’s edge.

4. Candy in a collectible dispenser PEZ
PEZ is an Austrian brand name for a particular candy sold in a mechanical dispenser. The name PEZ comes from the first, middle and last letters of “Pfefferminz”, the German word for “peppermint”.

6. Choosing word EENY

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,
Catch the tiger/monkey/baby by the toe.
If it hollers/screams let him go,
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, you are it!

12. Crowd cacophony ROAR
“Cacophony” is such a lovely word, one used to describe a harsh or jarring sound. The term arises from the Greek “kakos” (bad) and “phone” (voice).

18. Prefix with sphere IONO-
The ionosphere is that layer of the atmosphere that is ionized by solar radiation. One of the most important characteristics of the ionosphere is that it reflects radio waves and so is an important factor in the propagation of radio signals over long distance.

25. Hawaii component ISLAND
The famed British explorer Captain James Cook made three voyages of discovery into the Pacific Ocean. Cook was in command of HMS Resolution on his third voyage, and he and his crew he became the first Europeans to visit the Hawaiian Islands, in 1778. He landed on Kauai and named the whole archipelago the Sandwich Islands, in honor of the fourth Earl of Sandwich who was in charge of the British Admiralty at the time. Cook continued his voyage, leaving Hawaii to explore the coast of what is now called Canada and Alaska, and returning to Hawaii the following year. After one month of contact with the native Hawaiians, Cook departed from the islands but was forced to return to repair a broken mast. Relations between the Europeans and the islanders had been good but despite this a dispute developed and got out of control that resulted in Cook being struck on the head and stabbed to death. His body was dragged away by the islanders, and as an apparent sign of respect for the Captain, the natives processed his body according to funeral traditions associated with Hawaiian kings and elders. Eventually, after a petition from the remaining crew, some of Cook’s remains were also returned for a formal burial at sea, adhering to British naval tradition.

26. Siberian city OMSK
Omsk is a city in southwest Siberia. It is located over 1400 miles from Moscow and was chosen as the destination for many internal exiles in the mid-1900s. Perhaps the most famous of these exiles was the author Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

27. Box score numbers STATS
In baseball, the line square is a summary set of statistics for the game. It is seen at every baseball stadium, and includes the number of runs scored by each team per innings, as well as the total number of hits and errors. The more comprehensive box score includes the line score, but also shows the individual performance of each player.

29. Luxurious homes VILLAS
The original “villas” were country houses owned by the elite in Ancient Rome. A member of the Roman elite would live in a “domus” in the city, whereas the rest of the population would live in “insulae”, apartment buildings.

30. Online finance company E-LOAN
E-Loan used to be based just down the road from me in the San Francisco Bay Area, but after takeover by a Rosemont, Illinois company it was moved to the parent’s headquarters. E-Loan was founded in 1997 to provide customers access to mortgages over the Internet.

31. Stan’s partner OLLIE
Oliver Hardy was born Norvell Hardy in 1892 in Harlem, Georgia. Hardy used the stage name “Oliver” as a tribute to his father Oliver Hardy. His early performances were credited as “Oliver Norvell Hardy”, and off camera his nickname was “Babe Hardy”. Hardy appeared in several films that also featured the young British actor Stan Laurel, but it wasn’t until 1927 that they teamed up to make perhaps the most famous double act in the history of movies. The Laurel and Hardy act came to an end in 1955. That year, Laurel suffered a stroke, and then later the same year Hardy had a heart attack and stroke from which he never really recovered.

Stan Laurel was an English comic actor (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson), who made a great career for himself in Hollywood. Laurel ended up at the Hal Roach studio directing films, intent on pursuing a career in writing and directing. However, he was a sometime actor and was asked to step in when another comic actor, Oliver Hardy, was injured and couldn’t perform. Laurel and Hardy started to share a stage together during that time and when it was clear they worked so well together, their partnership was born. Oh, and the oft-quoted story that Clint Eastwood is the son of Stan Laurel … that’s just an urban myth.

33. UCLA or USC SCH
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) gets more applications from students than any other university in the country. UCLA also has more students enrolled than any other university in the state.

The University of Southern California (USC) is a private school in Los Angeles. Apart from its excellent academic record, USC is known the success of its athletic program. USC athletes have won more Olympic medals than the students of any other university in the world. The USC marching band is very famous as well, and is known as the “Spirit of Troy”. The band has performed with many celebrities, and is the only college band to have two platinum records.

44. Synthetic fibers RAYONS
Rayon is a little unusual in the textile industry in that it is not truly a synthetic fiber, but nor can it be called a natural fiber. Rayon is produced from naturally occurring cellulose that is dissolved and then reformed into fibers.

45. In pumps, say SHOD
A pump is a woman’s shoe that doesn’t have a strap. Such shoes are probably called “pumps” because of the sound they make while walking in them.

48. “So be it!” AMEN!
The word “amen” is translated as “so be it”. “Amen” is said to be of Hebrew origin, but it is likely to be also influenced by Aramaic and Arabic.

49. Volcano output LAVA
Our word “volcano” comes from “Vulcano”, the name of a volcanic island off the coast of Italy. The island’s name comes from Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. The Romans believed that the island of Vulcano was the chimney of the forge belonging to the god Vulcan. The Romans also believed that the eruptions on Mount Etna in Sicily were caused by Vulcan getting angry and working his forge so hard that sparks and smoke flew out of the top of the volcano.

50. Burden for some debtors LIEN
A lien is the right that one has to retain or secure someone’s property until a debt is paid.

51. Future atty.’s exam LSAT
The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) has been around since 1948.

52. Many Manets OILS
Édouard Manet was a French painter whose works are mainly classified as Realist. Manet was friends with Impressionists masters like Edgar Degas, Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir and greatly influenced the Impressionist movement. The list of Manet’s marvelous paintings includes “Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe”, “Le Repose” and “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère”.

54. Four-legged Emerald City visitor TOTO
Toto is Dorothy’s dog in the film “The Wizard of Oz”. Toto was played by a dog called Terry, but Terry’s name was soon changed to Toto in real life, due to the success of the film.

The Emerald City is the capital of the Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum’s series of “Oz” novels.

58. “Friendly Skies” co. UAL
United Airlines used the tagline “Fly the Friendly Skies” in its marketing materials from 1965 to 1996. It was then replaced with “It’s time to fly”. United chose George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” as the company’s theme music in 1976, and paid the Gershwin estate a fee of $500,000 for the privilege.

59. New Deal energy prog. TVA
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has to be one of America’s great success stories when it comes to economic development. Created in 1933, the TVA spearheaded economic development in the Tennessee Valley at the height of the Great Depression. Central to the success was the federally-funded construction of flood-control and electricity-generation facilities.

The New Deal was the series of economic programs championed by President Franklyn D. Roosevelt in response to the Great Depression. The New Deal was focused on three objectives, the “3 Rs”:

– Relief for the unemployed and poor
– Recovery of the economy to normal levels
– Reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Italian scooter VESPA
6. Weird EERIE
11. “This is so frustrating!” GRR!
14. Sharon of Israel ARIEL
15. Old-timey “Yikes!” EGADS!
16. Coventry bathroom LOO
17. Like a fajita pan SIZZLING HOT
19. Perrier, to Pierre EAU
20. Casual Friday top TEE
21. FAO Schwarz specialty TOYS
22. Turn away AVERT
24. __ vivant BON
25. Tiny bit IOTA
27. Daisy-plucking words SHE LOVES ME NOT
33. Farm or home ending -STEAD
34. Troubles ILLS
35. “Now __ me down to sleep …” I LAY
37. James of “The Godfather” CAAN
38. Count Chocula wear CLOAK
39. Turn on a pivot SLUE
40. Start of many Internet addresses HTTP
41. Actor Thicke ALAN
42. “I can take __!” A HINT
43. To the point SHORT AND SWEET
46. Bonny girl LASS
47. Owned HAD
48. Hangout for some 38-Down ALLEY
51. Word spoken while pointing LOOK
53. Short change? CTS
56. Month after avril MAI
57. Not a likely chance, and, literally, a hidden feature of 17-, 27- and 43-Across OUTSIDE SHOT
61. Pre-holiday time EVE
62. Part of USNA NAVAL
63. “Keen!” NEATO!
64. Twin of Bert Bobbsey NAN
65. Picket fence parts SLATS
66. Barbershop band? STROP

Down
1. Like outer space VAST
2. Weird-sounding lake ERIE
3. Clothing label number SIZE
4. Candy in a collectible dispenser PEZ
5. With everything accounted for ALL TOLD
6. Choosing word EENY
7. Omelet base EGGS
8. Cheering syllable RAH!
9. Binding words I DO
10. Real __ ESTATE
11. Delight GLEE
12. Crowd cacophony ROAR
13. Defeat decisively ROUT
18. Prefix with sphere IONO-
23. Disappeared VANISHED
24. Skinny sort BEANPOLE
25. Hawaii component ISLAND
26. Siberian city OMSK
27. Box score numbers STATS
28. Moor HEATH
29. Luxurious homes VILLAS
30. Online finance company E-LOAN
31. Stan’s partner OLLIE
32. Gibe TAUNT
33. UCLA or USC SCH
36. To this point YET
38. Some strays CATS
42. Rouses from bed AWAKENS
44. Synthetic fibers RAYONS
45. In pumps, say SHOD
48. “So be it!” AMEN!
49. Volcano output LAVA
50. Burden for some debtors LIEN
51. Future atty.’s exam LSAT
52. Many Manets OILS
53. Blacken on the grill CHAR
54. Four-legged Emerald City visitor TOTO
55. Halt STOP
58. “Friendly Skies” co. UAL
59. New Deal energy prog. TVA
60. Put in rollers SET

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