LA Times Crossword Answers 16 Dec 14, Tuesday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Jerry Edelstein
THEME: See the Light … each of today’s themed answers comprises two parts, with each part being a type of LIGHT:

59A. Understand (and a hint to both parts of this puzzle’s answers to starred clues) SEE THE LIGHT

17A. *Actor Sydney of “Casablanca” GREENSTREET (“green light” & “streetlight”)
11D. *Talent show hosted by Ed McMahon STAR SEARCH (“starlight” & “searchlight”)
25D. *Break for fuel GAS STOP (“gaslight” & “stoplight”)
30D. *Danger after a heavy rainfall FLASH FLOOD (“flashlight” & “floodlight”)

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 4m 36s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

6. Largest city in Belarus MINSK
Minsk is the capital of Belarus, formerly known as the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. One of Minsk’s more infamous residents was Lee Harvey Oswald who lived there from 1960 to 1962.

14. “__ Rae” NORMA
“Norma Rae” is a 1979 movie starring Sally Field as Norma Rae Webster in a tale of union activities in a textile factory in Alabama. The film is based on the true story of Crystal Lee Sutton told in a 1975 book called “Crystal Lee, a Woman of Inheritance”.

17. *Actor Sydney of “Casablanca” GREENSTREET (“green light” & “streetlight”)
Sydney Greenstreet was an English actor, most noted for his appearances in the movies “The Maltese Falcon” and “Casablanca” alongside Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre. Greenstreet was a portly gentleman and has been cited as partial inspiration for the Jabba the Hutt character in the “Star Wars” movie “Return of the Jedi”.

20. “Dallas” matriarch Miss __ ELLIE
Miss Ellie was the matriarch of the famed Ewing family, around which the TV series “Dallas” was written. For most of the series, Miss Ellie was played by Barbara Bel Geddes, and once in a TV movie of Dallas by Molly Hagan. Barbara Bel Geddes left the show in 1984 and was replaced by the celebrated actress Donna Reed. When Bel Geddes decided to return to the show the following year, Reed was fired, much to Reed’s chagrin, and a lawsuit ensued.

33. Pioneering ISP AOL
Founded as Quantum Computer Services in 1983, the company changed its name in 1989 to America Online. As America Online went international, the acronym AOL was used in order to shake off the “America-centric” sound to the name. During the heady days of AOL’s success the company could not keep up with the growing number of subscribers, so people trying to connect often encountered busy signals. That’s when users referred to AOL as “Always Off-Line”.

An Internet Service Provider (ISP) is just what the name indicates, a company that provides its customers with access to the Internet. One way that ISPs differentiate themselves from each other is in the way in which end users are connected to the ISP’s network. So, there are cable ISPs, DSL ISPs, dial-up ISPs and satellite ISPs. I’d go with cable if I were you, if it’s available in your area …

34. Break down, as a sentence PARSE
The verb “to parse” means “to state the parts of speech in a sentence”. “Parse” comes from the Latin word “pars” meaning “part”.

40. Superman’s symbol ESS
Superman’s comic book creators gave their title character’s alter-ego the name “Clark Kent” by melding the names of Clark Gable and Kent Taylor, two leading men of the cinema at the time Superman was created. However, they modeled Clark’s character more on the silent film actor Harold Lloyd.

41. Bug in a program, say ERROR
Back in 1947, the famed computer programmer Grace Hopper noticed some colleagues fixing a piece of equipment by removing a dead moth from a relay. She remarked that they were “debugging” the system, and so she has been given credit for popularizing the term.

45. Activist Guevara CHE
Ernesto “Che” Guevara was born in Argentina, and in 1948 he started to study medicine at the University of Buenos Aires. While at school he satisfied his need to “see the world” by taking two long journeys around South America, the story of which are told in Guevara’s memoir later published as “The Motorcycle Diaries”. While travelling, Guevara was moved by the plight of the people he saw and their working conditions and what he viewed as capitalistic exploitation. In Mexico City he met brothers Raul and Fidel Castro and was persuaded to join their cause, the overthrow of the US-backed government in Cuba. He rose to second-in-command among the Cuban insurgents, and when Castro came to power Guevara was influential in repelling the Bay of Pigs Invasion and bringing Soviet nuclear missiles to the island. Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to continue his work as a revolutionary. He was captured by Bolivian forces in 1967, and was executed. Fidel Castro led the public mourning of Guevara’s death, and soon the revolutionary was an icon for many left-wing movements around the world.

51. Slander ASPERSE
To asperse is to spread false charges or make insinuations. The more common expression is “to cast aspersions”. “To asperse” comes from the Latin “aspergere” meaning “to sprinkle”. So, “to asperse” is also the term used when sprinkling holy water.

58. DDE’s WWII command ETO
General Dwight D. Eisenhower (DDE) was in command of the European Theater of Operations (ETO) during WWII.

66. Youngest Jetson ELROY
“The Jetsons” is an animated show from Hanna-Barbera that had its first run in 1962-1963, and then was recreated in 1985-1987. When it was debuted in 1963 by ABC, “The Jetsons” was the network’s first ever color broadcast. “The Jetsons” are like a space-age version of “The Flintstones”. The four Jetson family members are George and Jane, the parents, and children Judy and Elroy. Residing with the family are Rosie the household robot, and Astro the pet dog.

68. Furry swimmer OTTER
The fur of the sea otter is exceptionally thick. It is in fact the densest fur in the whole animal kingdom.

Down
1. Zambia neighbor: Abbr. ANG
Angola is a country in south-central Africa, on the west coast. Angola is the fourth largest diamond exporter in Africa, after Botswana, the Congo and South Africa. Such a valuable export hasn’t really helped the living standard of the country’s citizens as life expectancy and infant mortality rates are among the poorest on the continent.

3. Sports analyst Hershiser OREL
Orel Hershiser is big into poker now that he has retired from Major League Baseball. Hershiser lives in Las Vegas and when he isn’t working for ESPN, apparently he is at the poker tables.

7. Like some outlet store mdse. IRR
Irregular (irr.)

8. Maiden name indicator NEE
“Née” is the French word for “born” when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”.

9. Dummy Mortimer SNERD
Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen’s most famous character was Charlie McCarthy, but Bergen also worked with Mortimer Snerd.

10. “Kiss Me, __” KATE
“Kiss Me, Kate” is a musical written by Cole Porter first produced on Broadway in 1948. Cole Porter had a string of successes in the twenties and thirties including “Gay Divorce” and “Anything Goes”, but he found his career in decline in the forties. “Kiss Me, Kate” proved to be a dramatic come back, and was the only one of his shows that ran for more than 1,000 performances on Broadway. Famously, “Kiss Me, Kate” is an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew”.

11. *Talent show hosted by Ed McMahon STAR SEARCH (“starlight” & “searchlight”)
“Star Search” is a TV show hosted by Ed McMahon that ran from 1983 to 1995. It was a an audition show and an opportunity for performers in many genres of entertainment get themselves seen. Included in the list of “Star Search” competitors who later made it into the big time are:

– Adam Sandler
– Beyoncé
– Brad Garrett
– Christina Aguilera
– Drew Carey
– Justin Timberlake
– Rosie O’Donnell
– Sharon Stone
– Usher

Of course Ed McMahon was Johnny Carson’s sidekick on “The Tonight Show”. McMahon was trained as a fighter in WWII, but did not see action. However, he did fly 85 combat missions in Korea.

12. Conical dwelling TEPEE
A tepee (also written as “tipi” and “teepee”) is a cone-shaped tent traditionally made from animal hides that is used by the Great Plains Native Americans. A wigwam is a completely different structure and is often a misnomer for a tepee. A wigwam is a domed structure built by Native Americans in the West and Southwest, intended to be a more permanent dwelling. The wigwam can also be covered with hides but more often was covered with grass, reeds, brush or cloth.

18. Sealy rival SERTA
Serta was founded in 1931 when a group of 13 mattress manufacturers came together, essentially forming a cooperative. Today, the Serta company is owned by eight independent licensees in a similar arrangement.

The Sealy Corporation makes mattresses. The company name comes from the city where it started out in 1881, namely Sealy, Texas. Sealy Corporation is now headquartered in Trinity, North Carolina.

29. Greek “i” 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.

32. Protected, at sea ALEE
“Alee” is the direction away from the wind. If a sailor points into the wind, he or she is pointing “aweather”.

36. Arty NYC locale SOHO
The Manhattan neighborhood known today as SoHo was very fashionable in the early 1900s, but as the well-heeled started to move uptown the area became very run down and poorly maintained. Noted for the number of fires that erupted in derelict buildings, SoHo earned the nickname “Hell’s Hundred Acres”. The area was then zoned for manufacturing and became home to many sweatshops. In the mid-1900s artists started to move into open loft spaces and renovating old buildings as the lofts were ideal locations in which an artist could both live and work. In 1968, artists and others organized themselves so that they could legalize their residential use of an area zoned for manufacturing. The group they formed took its name from the name given to the area by the city’s Planning Commission i.e “South of Houston”. This was shortened from So-uth of Ho-uston to SoHo as in the SoHo Artists Association, and the name stuck.

44. Jules who created Captain Nemo VERNE
Jules Verne really was a groundbreaking author. Verne pioneered the science fiction genre, writing about space, air and underwater travel, long before they were practical and proved feasible. Verne is the second most translated author of all time, with only Agatha Christie beating him out.

In the 1954 movie version of “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”, Captain Nemo goes down with his ship. In the novel by Jules Verne the fate of Nemo and his crew isn’t quite so cut and dry, although the inference is perhaps that they did indeed head for Davy Jones’ Locker.

54. Exxon, previously ESSO
The brand name Esso has its roots in the old Standard Oil company as it uses the initial letters of “Standard” and “Oil” (ESS-O). The Esso brand was replaced by Exxon in the US, but ESSO is still used in many other countries.

61. Three, in Bologna TRE
Bologna is a city in northern Italy. The city is home to the University of Bologna that was founded way back in 1088. The University of Bologna is the oldest existing university in the world.

63. TV host Pennington and Hall of Famer Cobb TYS
Ty Pennington is a TV personality and carpenter, the host of the reality show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”. Pennington’s break came when he was cast as the carpenter on the earlier makeover show called “Trading Spaces”.

Ty Cobb was one of the richest baseball players of all times. When he retired, Cobb was a major stockholder of the Coca-Cola Corporation. By the time he passed away in 1961, Cobb had an even bigger investment in General Electric. He left an estate after his death worth about $86m (in 2008 dollars).

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. __ excuse for: hardly the best example of A POOR
6. Largest city in Belarus MINSK
11. Reg. STD
14. “__ Rae” NORMA
15. Political convention setting ARENA
16. Golfer’s peg TEE
17. *Actor Sydney of “Casablanca” GREENSTREET (“green light” & “streetlight”)
19. Crazy way to go APE
20. “Dallas” matriarch Miss __ ELLIE
21. Brought up REARED
23. Boiling mad ENRAGED
27. Takes advantage of USES
28. Shower offering GIFT
31. Waiter’s carrying aid TRAY
32. Get on in years AGE
33. Pioneering ISP AOL
34. Break down, as a sentence PARSE
35. “It’s the __ I can do” LEAST
38. Hidden loot STASH
40. Superman’s symbol ESS
41. Bug in a program, say ERROR
42. Tomato concentrate PASTE
43. Kitchen appliance STOVE
45. Activist Guevara CHE
46. Hem and __ HAW
47. Ripped TORE
48. Word with horse or track SHOE
49. Tender-hearted SOFT
51. Slander ASPERSE
53. Throbbed PULSED
55. Things that shouldn’t be done NO-NOS
58. DDE’s WWII command ETO
59. Understand (and a hint to both parts of this puzzle’s answers to starred clues) SEE THE LIGHT
64. Bustle ADO
65. Like a fifth tire SPARE
66. Youngest Jetson ELROY
67. Curtain holder ROD
68. Furry swimmer OTTER
69. Trickles (through) SEEPS

Down
1. Zambia neighbor: Abbr. ANG
2. Tiny skin opening PORE
3. Sports analyst Hershiser OREL
4. Folded eggs dish OMELET
5. Took to jail RAN IN
6. Gym cushion MAT
7. Like some outlet store mdse. IRR
8. Maiden name indicator NEE
9. Dummy Mortimer SNERD
10. “Kiss Me, __” KATE
11. *Talent show hosted by Ed McMahon STAR SEARCH (“starlight” & “searchlight”)
12. Conical dwelling TEPEE
13. Homeowners’ documents DEEDS
18. Sealy rival SERTA
22. Hole-boring tool AUGER
24. Takes to jail ARRESTS
25. *Break for fuel GAS STOP (“gaslight” & “stoplight”)
26. Dilapidated building, e.g. EYESORE
28. Quick intake of breath GASP
29. Greek “i” IOTA
30. *Danger after a heavy rainfall FLASH FLOOD (“flashlight” & “floodlight”)
32. Protected, at sea ALEE
34. “That was close!” PHEW!
36. Arty NYC locale SOHO
37. Shade provider TREE
39. Sports page numbers STATS
44. Jules who created Captain Nemo VERNE
48. Forgetful, maybe SENILE
49. Asparagus serving SPEAR
50. Perform better than OUTDO
51. Handy ADEPT
52. Boot bottoms SOLES
54. Exxon, previously ESSO
56. Folklore monster OGRE
57. Go for groceries SHOP
60. Consume EAT
61. Three, in Bologna TRE
62. Ship’s pronoun HER
63. TV host Pennington and Hall of Famer Cobb TYS

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4 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword Answers 16 Dec 14, Tuesday”

  1. This was a pretty straight forward and simple Tuesday puzzle I thought. I didn't have any strike overs – so a clean grid (and that typically means a not too challenging puzzle). I did enjoy the "poor" "pore" juxtaposition in 1 Across and 2 Down.

    Hope everyone has a great day. Nice and rainy here in LA today and that's a good thing for us.

  2. Hi Bill and all!
    Pretty straight-ahead today.
    Only goofs were WHEW for PHEW.
    How do you WARSE a sentence?
    And started out with FLOOD instead of FLASH, but everything got fixed.
    Tony, I liked the STASH/FLASH intersection.
    No rain yet here, but I'm hoping.

  3. Greetings all! Once again I find the Tuesday grid easier than Monday. Only miss was 48a–I had RACE instead of SHOE. Meanwhile, starting today I'm keeping count to see how often we see ADO. Gotta make good use of my time lol!

Comments are closed.