LA Times Crossword Answers 6 Feb 15, Friday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Predicament BOAT
If we are “in the same boat”, we are “in the same predicament”.

9. Mutual fund charge LOAD
Mutual fund “loads” are percentages levied as a commission. Mutual funds can be classified by the type of load levied, for example, front-end load, back-end load or even no-load.

14. Prefix with plasm ENDO-
The endoplasm is the inner part of a cell’s cytoplasm, and the ectoplasm is the outer part.

15. 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient OPRAH
Oprah Winfrey was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. The highest civilian honor usually goes to politicians, civil rights leaders, athletes and scientists, but recently has been awarded to several celebrities who have made significant contributions to the country. Included in that list are Doris Day, Charlton Heston, Fred Rogers, Carol Burnett, Andy Griffith, Rita Moreno and Sidney Poitier.

17. Nocturnal critter COON
The raccoon is native to North America. In captivity, raccoons can live to over 20 years of age, but in the wild they only live two or three years. The main causes for the shorter lifespan are hunting and road traffic.

19. Adams’ “Nixon in China,” for one OPERA
“Nixon in China” is an opera by John Adams, libretto by Alice Goodman. The piece was of course inspired by President Nixon’s famous visit to China in 1972.

John Adams is a composer now based in California. Adams gained prominence with his 1987 opera “Nixon in Paris”. His works are usually described as in the minimalist genre. I had the privilege of hearing a work of his called “Absolute Jest” in San Francisco recently, in the presence of the composer.

24. Orch. section STR
The string (str.) section of an orchestra (orch.).

25. Site of unexpected change? SOFA
One might be surprised to find coins down the back of the sofa.

“Sofa” is a Turkish word meaning “bench”.

27. Didn’t trick, maybe TREATED
Trick or treat!

34. Prayer set to music by Schubert and Gounod AVE MARIA
“Ave Maria” (“Hail Mary” in English) is the prayer at the core of the Roman Catholic Rosary, which itself is a set of prayers asking for the assistance of the Virgin Mary. Much of the text of the “Hail Mary” comes from the Gospel of Luke. The words in Latin are:

AVE MARIA, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

The prayer has been adapted as a hymn. The two most famous musical versions of “Ave Maria” are by Charles Gounod (based on a piece by Bach) and by Franz Schubert.

36. Choice to sleep on 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.

40. Diva highlights SOLI
“Soli” (the plural of “solo”) are pieces of music performed by one artist, whereas “tutti” are pieces performed by all of the artists.

41. Distillery founder John DEWAR
Dewar’s is a blended Scotch whisky introduced in 1846 by John Dewar. Dewar’s White Label is the company’s most popular Scotch, first created in 1899, with a taste that is described as “heather and honey”. Dewar’s also make some single malts, under the labels Aberfeldy 12 and Aberfeldy 21. Today, Dewar’s is owned by Bacardi.

44. “Ray Donovan” star Schreiber LIEV
Liev Schreiber is highly regarded as a stage actor, and has many classical roles under his belt. He won a Tony in 2005 for his Broadway performance in “Glengarry Glen Ross”, and earned excellent reviews for his performance in Shakespeare’s “Cymbeline”.

“Ray Donovan” is a very successful Showtime crime drama series starring Liev Schreiber in the title role. Donovan is a law firm’s “fixer” who helps out the rich and famous clients.

45. Aptly named bird SWIFT
Swifts are birds that are related to hummingbirds. Swifts are aptly named, with larger swift species clocked at airspeeds of over 100 miles/hour.

52. British pen pal’s last letter? ZED
The letter named “zed” has been around since about 1400, and derives from the Greek letter zeta. The spelling and pronunciation of “zee” used in America today first popped up in the 1670s.

53. Part of a Buddhist monk’s ordination TONSURE
Tonsure is the practice of shaving the head, or part of the head, before one can become a priest or a monk.

58. “Father of,” in Arabic ABU
The Arabic word “abu” means “father” or “father of”.

67. Dagwood’s annoying little friend ELMO
“Blondie” was created as a comic strip by Chic Young. It was first published in 1930, and is still being created today (although the strip is now controlled by Chic’s son, Dean). The strip spawned a series of radio programs (1939-1950) and a series of Blondie films (1938-1950). Blondie is married to Dagwood Bumstead. Dagwood slaves away at a construction company run by Julius Dithers, whose wife is called Cora. Another famous character in the strip is Elmo Tuttle, a pesky neighborhood kid who is always bugging Dagwood.

70. 1985 Chemistry co-Nobelist Jerome KARLE
Jerome Karle was a physical chemist from New York City. Karle worked on the Manhattan Project during WWII, alongside his wife Dr. Isabella Karle. Jerome Karle was jointly awarded the 1985 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for their work determining the structure of crystals using X-ray scattering.

71. “Avatar” race NA’VI
In the James Cameron epic “Avatar”, the “blue people” are the Na’vi, the indigenous species that lives on the lush moon called Pandora. The main Na’vi character featuring in the film is the female Neytiri. According to Cameron, Neytiri was inspired by the Raquel Welch character in the movie “Fantastic Voyage” and the comic book character Vampirella.

73. “Easy to be Hard” musical HAIR
The full name of the famed show from the sixties is “Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical”. This controversial work outraged many when it was first performed in the sixties, as it attacked many aspects of life at the time. For example, the song “Air” is a satirical look at pollution, sung by a character who comes onto the stage wearing a gas mask. The opening lines are “Welcome, sulfur dioxide. Hello carbon monoxide. The air … is everywhere”. How things have changed in fifty years said he … satirically …

Down
2. Instrument to which an orchestra tunes OBOE
The oboe is perhaps my favorite of the reed instruments. The name “oboe” comes from the French “hautbois” which means “high wood”. When you hear an orchestra tuning before a performance you’ll note (pun intended!) that the oboe starts off the process by playing an “A”. The rest of the musicians in turn tune to that oboe’s “A”. Oh, and if you want to read a fun book (almost an “exposé”) about life playing the oboe, you might try “Mozart in the Jungle” by oboist Blair Tindall. The book has been adapted into a television series made by Amazon.com.

3. Bushels A LOT
In the imperial system of weights and measures, a bushel is a unit of dry volume made up of 4 pecks. In the US system, a bushel is a dry volume of 8 gallons. We have used the term “bushel” to mean “large quantity” since the 14th century.

4. Pitchers’ places TENTS
The verb “to pitch”, back in the 13th century, meant “to thrust in, fasten”. We’ve used the term in the phrase “pitching a tent” since the 14th century. The idea is that erecting a tent involves “pitching” or “thrusting in” the tent pegs, into the ground.

5. White-faced cattle breed HEREFORD
Hereford cattle have a white face with a largely red body. The breed originated in the county of Herefordshire along the Welsh border in England, hence the name.

6. Roxy Music co-founder ENO
Roxy Music is a British band formed by Bryan Ferry, who also served as the lead singer. One of the group’s more famous former band members was Brian Eno, someone who turns up in crosswords far too often …

8. Knish filling POTATO
A knish is a snack food from Germany and Eastern Europe made popular in the US by Jewish immigrants. A knish has a filling often made of mashed potato and ground meat, covered by a dough that is baked or fried.

12. Puccini’s “Vissi __” D’ARTE
“Vissi d’arte” is an aria from Puccini’s “Tosca”, which is sung by the title character Floria Tosca.

Unlike so many operas, “Tosca” was a big hit right from day one, when it was first performed in 1900 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. “Tosca” is currently the eighth-most performed opera in America, although I’ve only seen it once myself.

21. Like “la vida” in a Ricky Martin hit LOCA
“Livin’ La Vida Loca” is a 1999 single recorded by Ricky Martin, the title of which translates as “living the crazy life”.

Ricky Martin’s real name is Enrique Martin Morales. A native of Puerto Rico, Martin first achieved fame with the boy band Menudo before going solo in 1991.

23. French vineyard CRU
“Cru” is a term used in the French wine industry that means “growth place”. So, “cru” is the name of the location where the grapes are grown, as opposed to the name of a specific vineyard. The terms “premier cru” and “grand cru” are also used, but the usage depends on the specific wine region. Generally it is a classification awarded to specific vineyards denoting their potential for producing great wines. “Grand cru” is reserved for the very best vineyards, with “premier cru” the level just below.

26. Gallic girlfriend AMIE
A male friend in France is “un ami”, and a female friend is “une amie”.

The Gauls were a Celtic race, with Gaul covering what is now known as France and Belgium. We use the term “Gallic” today, when we refer to something pertaining to France or the French.

28. Jane Eyre’s charge ADELE
In Charlotte Brontë’s novel “Jane Eyre”, the title character becomes the governess of Adele, Mr. Rochester’s ward.

31. Where to find a hero DELI
“Hero” is another name for a submarine sandwich. The hero originated in New York City in the 1800s among Italian immigrants who wanted an Italian sandwich that reminded them of home. The name “hero” was coined in the 1930s, supposedly by a food critic in the “New York Herald Tribune” when he wrote that “one had to be a hero” to finish the gigantic sandwich. Hero is a prevalent term to this day in New York City, reserved for a submarine sandwich with an Italian flavor.

35. Irritates MIFFS
“To miff” is “to put out, to tee off”, a word that has been around since the early 1600s. Interestingly, in 1824 Sir Walter Scott described the word “miffed” as “a women’s phrase”. That would get him a slap, I’d say …

37. Cheese holder RITZ
I’ve always liked Ritz crackers. They’ve been around since 1934 when they were introduced by Nabisco. The name Ritz was chosen because the marketing folks felt that the association with Ritz-Carlton would evoke images of wealth and the highlife.

38. Idée source TETE
In French, one’s head (tête) might produce an idea (idée).

42. Russia-China border river AMUR
The Amur is a river that serves as the border between Russia and China in Manchuria. On one side of the border is Outer Manchuria (in Russia) and on the other is Inner Manchuria (in China).

43. Numismatist’s find RARE COIN
A numismatist is a coin collector. The term “numismatics” comes into English via French from the Latin word “nomisma”, meaning ”coin”.

50. Constellation near Scorpius ARA
The constellation of Ara takes its name from the Latin word for “altar”.

54. West Indian folk religion OBEAH
“Obeah” is a West Indian term that describes the folk magic practiced in many of the Caribbean islands.

55. __Sweet: aspartame NUTRA-
NutraSweet is a brand name for the artificial sweetener aspartame. Aspartame was discovered by a chemist working for Searle in 1965, but it took 15 years for the company to be granted approval for its sale. I wonder why …???

57. Friend of Che FIDEL
Fidel Castro studied law at the University of Havana and there became a follower of left-wing ideals. He launched his first rebellion against Cuban president Fulgencio Batista in 1953, which landed him in jail for a year. He later led rebels in a guerrilla war against the Cuban government, which led to the Cuban Revolution and the overthrow of Batista in 1959. Castro took control of the country, and immediately formed a strong relationship with the Soviet Union. Concern over the alliance in the US led to the botched Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961. There followed the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Fidel Castro started to transfer power to his brother Raúl in 2008, and has led a life of increasing retirement ever since.

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.

60. Where Goliath was slain ELAH
In the story of David and Goliath, the Israelites and the Philistines faced each other in battle at the Valley of Elah. Goliath was the warrior champion of the Philistines and each day he challenged the Israelites to send out their champion to decide the battle in a one-on-one fight. No one was courageous enough to accept the challenge until young David agreed to face the mighty Goliath. And of course David felled the giant soldier with a stone from his sling.

62. With 29-Across, Balkan city on the Danube NOVI
(29A. See 62-Down SAD)
Novi Sad is a city in Serbia located on the River Danube. It is the second largest metropolis in the country, after the capital Belgrade.

63. Rte. through Houston I-TEN
I-10 is the most southerly of the interstate routes that crosses from the Atlantic to the Pacific. I-10 stretches from Santa Monica, California to Jacksonville, Florida. Various stretches of the route have been given different names, for example, the Rosa Parks Freeway, the Santa Monica Freeway, the San Bernardino Freeway and the Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway.

Sam Houston was the first President of the Republic of Texas, a US Senator for Texas, and governor of the state. Houston was also Governor of Tennessee in his earlier life and is the only person in US history to have been governor of two different states. The city of Houston is of course named for Sam, and the nearby city of Huntsville boasts a statue of Houston that’s the largest free-standing statue of any American.

66. Will Smith title role ALI
“Ali” is a 2001 biographical movie about Muhammad Ali, with Will Smith in the title role. Among other things, the film is noted for its realistic fight scenes. The scenes were realistic because Smith was really being hit, as hard as his opponents could manage.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Predicament BOAT
5. *1-/9-Across HEAP (defined by “boatload”)
9. Mutual fund charge LOAD
13. Up to it ABLE
14. Prefix with plasm ENDO-
15. 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient OPRAH
17. Nocturnal critter COON
18. Source ROOT
19. Adams’ “Nixon in China,” for one OPERA
20. Handled vessel KETTLE
22. Pouches SACS
24. Orch. section STR
25. Site of unexpected change? SOFA
27. Didn’t trick, maybe TREATED
29. See 62-Down SAD
32. With 49-Across, bad break … and what each answer to a starred clue creates vis-à-vis the answers that define it COMPOUND
34. Prayer set to music by Schubert and Gounod AVE MARIA
36. Choice to sleep on SERTA
40. Diva highlights SOLI
41. Distillery founder John DEWAR
44. “Ray Donovan” star Schreiber LIEV
45. Aptly named bird SWIFT
47. Italian almond cookies AMARETTI
49. See 32-Across FRACTURE
52. British pen pal’s last letter? ZED
53. Part of a Buddhist monk’s ordination TONSURE
56. Ridge just below the surface REEF
58. “Father of,” in Arabic ABU
59. Identical SAME
61. Place where cheap shots are a good thing CLINIC
65. Allow to attack LET AT
67. Dagwood’s annoying little friend ELMO
69. Inflict on DO TO
70. 1985 Chemistry co-Nobelist Jerome KARLE
71. “Avatar” race NA’VI
72. Always EVER
73. “Easy to be Hard” musical HAIR
74. *73-/75-Across THIN (defined by “hairline”)
75. Business LINE

Down
1. Overdue, as pay BACK
2. Instrument to which an orchestra tunes OBOE
3. Bushels A LOT
4. Pitchers’ places TENTS
5. White-faced cattle breed HEREFORD
6. Roxy Music co-founder ENO
7. Stirs ADOS
8. Knish filling POTATO
9. Unfastens LOOSENS
10. Up and down, say: Abbr. OPP
11. “Give it __” A REST
12. Puccini’s “Vissi __” D’ARTE
16. Stern HARD
21. Like “la vida” in a Ricky Martin hit LOCA
23. French vineyard CRU
26. Gallic girlfriend AMIE
28. Jane Eyre’s charge ADELE
29. *1-/53-Down SASS (defined by “backtalk”)
30. Declare AVOW
31. Where to find a hero DELI
33. Play with, in a way PAW AT
35. Irritates MIFFS
37. Cheese holder RITZ
38. Idée source TETE
39. *16-/64-Down AVID (defined by “hardcore”)
42. Russia-China border river AMUR
43. Numismatist’s find RARE COIN
46. Reliant soul TRUSTER
48. Casting aid REEL
50. Constellation near Scorpius ARA
51. Bind CEMENT
53. Converse TALK
54. West Indian folk religion OBEAH
55. __Sweet: aspartame NUTRA-
57. Friend of Che FIDEL
60. Where Goliath was slain ELAH
62. With 29-Across, Balkan city on the Danube NOVI
63. Rte. through Houston I-TEN
64. Reactor part CORE
66. Will Smith title role ALI
68. DIII doubled MVI

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