LA Times Crossword Answers 10 Jun 15, Wednesday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Jeff Stillman
THEME: Wingspans … each of today’s themed answers comprises the word WING with some letters inserted inside:

56A. Plane measures … and, literally, what can be seen in the answers to starred clues WINGSPANS

18A. *Health and prosperity W(ELL-BE)ING
29A. *It might require treatment with an EpiPen W(ASP ST)ING
36A. *Dramatic way to go out WI(TH A BA)NG
46A. *Fabergé item auctioned for $9.6 million in 2002 WIN(TER EG)G

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 6m 35s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Pundit’s piece OP-ED
Op-Ed is an abbreviation for “opposite the editorial page”. Op-Eds started in “The New York Evening World” in 1921 when the page opposite the editorials was used for articles written by a named guest writer, someone independent of the editorial board.

A pundit is a learned person who one might turn to for an opinion. “Pundit” is derived from the Hindi word “payndit” meaning “learned man”.

13. Skedaddles FLEES
“Skedaddle ” is a slang term meaning “run away” that dates back to the Civil War.

15. Four-ring-logo company AUDI
The predecessor to today’s Audi company was called Auto Union. Auto Union was formed with the merger of four individual entities: Audi, Horch, DKW and Wanderer. The Audi logo comprises four intersecting rings, each representing one of the four companies that merged.

The Audi name has an interesting history. The Horch company was founded by August Horch in 1909. Early in the life of the new company, Horch was forced out of his own business. He set up a new enterprise and continued to use his own name as a brand. The old company sued him for using the Horch name so a meeting was held to choose something new. Horch’s young son was studying Latin in the room where the meeting was taking place. He pointed out that “Horch” was German for “hear” and he suggested “Audi” as a replacement, the Latin for “listen”.

16. Mélange OLIO
“Olio” is a term meaning a hodgepodge or a mixture, coming from the mixed stew of the same name. The stew in turn takes its name from the Spanish “olla”, the clay pot used for cooking.

“Mélange” is the French word for “mixture”.

17. Many a Wilde play FARCE
A “farce” is a comedy play that features an exaggerated and improbable storyline, with lots of physical humor. I love a good farce …

If you didn’t know Oscar Wilde was Irish, you will when you see the name he was given at birth: Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde!

27. Miss identification NEE
“Née” is the French word for “born” when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”.

29. *It might require treatment with an EpiPen WASP STING
EpiPen is a brand name of epinephrine auto-injector. An EpiPen delivers a measured dose of epinephrine, usually for the treatment of an allergic reaction.

33. Wolverine portrayer Jackman HUGH
Australian actor Hugh Jackman is most famous perhaps for his recurring role as Wolverine in the “X-Men” series of films, but as I don’t really “do” superhero movies, I like him best from the romantic comedy “Kate & Leopold” and the epic “Australia”. More recently, Jackman has garnered praise for his portrayal of Jean Valjean in “Les Misérables”.

38. Novelist Graham GREENE
Graham Greene was a writer and playwright from England. Greene wrote some of my favorite novels, including “Brighton Rock”, “The End of the Affair”, “The Confidential Agent”, “The Third Man”, “The Quiet American” and “Our Man in Havana”. Greene’s books often feature espionage in exotic locales. Greene himself worked for MI6, the UK’s foreign intelligence agency. In fact, Greene’s MI6 supervisor was Kim Philby, the famed Soviet spy who penetrated high into British intelligence.

41. Homer’s son BART
Bart Simpson is the main character in television’s “The Simpsons”. Bart’s name was chosen by the writers as it is an anagram of “brat”. Bart is voiced by actress and comedian Nancy Cartwright.

“The Simpsons” is one of the most successful programs produced by the Fox Broadcasting Company. Homer Simpson’s catchphrase is “D’oh!”, which became such a famous exclamation that it has been included in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) since 2001. “D’oh!” can be translated as “I should have thought of that!”

46. *Fabergé item auctioned for $9.6 million in 2002 WINTER EGG
The Winter Egg is a Fabergé egg designed for Tsar Nicholas II so that he could present it to his mother as an Easter gift in 1913. The 1913 Winter Egg was the most expensive of the series of fifty-two jewelled Easter eggs that were fabricated for the Russian royal family. It was sold at auction in 2002 for just under ten million dollars, reportedly purchased by the Emir of Qatar.

Fabergé eggs are beautiful jeweled eggs made by the House of Fabergé from 1885 to 1917. The tradition of fabricating the eggs started when Tsar Alexander III commissioned Fabergé to create a jeweled egg for his wife in 1885. After this, the House of Fabergé produced more and more elaborate designs, year after year.

51. Cubemaster Rubik ERNO
What was originally called the “Magic Cube” became better known as Rubik’s Cube, named for its inventor Ernő Rubik. Rubik’s Cube is the world’s biggest selling puzzle game, with over 350 million sold in just over 30 years.

59. Word before box or card IDIOT
“Idiot box” and “boob tube” are nicknames for television.

A “idot card” is a cue card, a card with notes that is used to help actors and speakers remember what to say.

61. List catchall ET AL
Et alii (et al.) is the equivalent of et cetera (etc.), with et cetera being used in place of a list of objects, and et alii used for a list of names. In fact “et al.” can stand for et alii (for a group of males, or males and females), aliae (for a group of women) and et alia (for a group of neuter nouns, or for a group of people where the intent is to retain gender-neutrality).

62. Slender wind 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”.

63. Seamless transition SEGUE
A “segue” is a transition from one topic to the next. “Segue” is an Italian word that literally means “now follows”. It was first used in musical scores directing the performer to play into the next movement without a break.

64. Remove from a manuscript DELE
“Dele” is the editorial instruction to delete something from a document, and is often written in red.

65. Road runner TIRE
The original “tires” were iron plates that formed the rim of a wheel for a carriage. The term probably came from “attire”, with the idea being that “tires” were the dress or covering for the wheel. The original spelling was “tyre”, which is still used today on the other side of the Atlantic.

66. Parks on a bus ROSA
Rosa Parks was one of a few brave women in days gone by who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white woman. It was the stand taken by Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955 that sparked the Montgomery, Alabama Bus Boycott. President Clinton presented Ms. Parks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996. When she died in 2005, Rosa Parks became the first ever woman to have her body lie in honor in the US Capitol Rotunda.

Down
1. Hiker’s spray brand OFF!
OFF! is an S. C. Johnson brand of insect repellent that uses DEET as the active ingredient.

DEET is short for N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide, an active ingredient in insect repellents. DEET is most often used to repel mosquitoes by applying it to the skin and/or clothing. It is also used to protect against tick bites.

6. Line on a Québec map RUE
“Rue” is the French word for “street”.

Québec is the largest province in Canada, and the only one with French as its sole official language. The name “Québec” comes from an Algonquin word “kebec” meaning “where the river narrows”. This refers to the area around Quebec City where the St. Lawrence River narrows as it flows through a gap lined by steep cliffs.

8. Eeyore creator MILNE
Alan Alexander (A.A.) Milne was an English author, best known for his delightful “Winnie-the-Pooh” series of books. He had only one son, Christopher Robin Milne, born in 1920. The young Milne was the inspiration for the Christopher Robin character in the Winnie-the-Pooh stories. Winnie-the-Pooh was named after Christopher Robin’s real teddy bear, one he called Winnie, who in turn was named after a Canadian black bear called Winnie that the Milnes would visit in London Zoo. The original Winnie teddy bear is on display at the main branch of the New York Public Library in New York.

9. Dutch South African BOER
“Boer” is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for “farmer”, a word that was used to describe the Dutch-speaking people who settled parts of South Africa during the 1700s.

10. Property recipient, in law ALIENEE
An alienee is one to whom ownership of property is transferred.

11. Adds holiday glitter to TINSELS
The custom of decorating trees at Christmas seems to have originated in Renaissance Germany. Those first trees were placed in guildhalls and were decorated with sweets and candy for the apprentices and children. After the Protestant Reformation, the Christmas tree became an alternative in Protestant homes for the Roman Catholic Christmas cribs. The Christmas tree tradition was imported into Britain by the royal family because of its German heritage. That tradition spread from Britain into North America.

14. Msg. from the pulpit SER
Some people listen to a sermon (ser.) on a Sunday (Sun.).

19. Clear tables BUS
A busboy is a person who assists a waiter, mainly by clearing tables. The verb “to bus” arose in the early 1900s and is probably a reference to the wheeled cart that was used to carry dishes.

23. Tango need TWO
It takes two to tango …

The dramatic dance called the tango originated in the late 1800s in the area along the border between Argentina and Uruguay.

28. Ballpark fig. EST
Estimate (est.)

34. 1964 Nobel Prize decliner SARTRE
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.

35. Kitty starter ANTE
The “pot” in a card game has been referred to as the kitty since the 1880s. It’s not certain how the name “kitty” evolved but possibly it came from “kit”, the necessary equipment for the game.

36. “The Grand Budapest Hotel” director Anderson WES
Wes Anderson’s most famous movie is probably “The Royal Tenenbaums”, released in 2001, not my favorite film by any stretch. However, his 2007 release “The Darjeeling Limited”, that I enjoyed. Anderson garnered some more praise recently for the 2014 comedy “The Grand Budapest Hotel”.

37. Destructive agent BANE
Today we tend to use the word “bane” to mean anathema, a source of persistent annoyance. A few centuries ago, a bane was a cause of harm or death, perhaps a deadly poison.

38. Serengeti grazer GNU
A gnu is also known as a wildebeest, and is an antelope native to Africa. “Wildebeest” is actually the Dutch word for “wild beast”.

The Serengeti is a region in Africa, located in northern Tanzania and southwest Kenya. The name “Serengeti” comes from the Maasai language and means “Endless Plains”.

42. Reeling feeling VERTIGO
Vertigo is a Latin word meaning “dizziness” and has the same meaning in English. The Latin term comes from the Latin verb “vertere”, which means “to turn”.

43. Like volcanic rock IGNEOUS
There are three main types of rock: igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock forms when magma or lava cools.

46. Sushi bar condiment WASABI
Sometimes called Japanese horseradish, wasabi is a root used as a condiment in Japanese cooking. The taste of wasabi is more like mustard than a hot pepper in that the vapors that create the “hotness” stimulate the nasal passages rather than the tongue. Personally, I love the stuff …

49. “Blue Bloods” network CBS
“Blue Bloods” is a police drama series about a family of police officers led by Police Commissioner Frank Reagan, played by Tom Selleck. The show has been on the air since 2010.

55. Fleur-de-__ LIS
“Lys” (also “lis”) is the French word for “lily”, as in “fleur-de-lys”, the heraldic symbol often associated with the French monarchy.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Pundit’s piece OP-ED
5. Schoolmarmish PRIM
9. Something to draw before bedtime BATH
13. Skedaddles FLEES
15. Four-ring-logo company AUDI
16. Mélange OLIO
17. Many a Wilde play FARCE
18. *Health and prosperity WELL-BEING
20. Sparkly accessory TIARA
22. Toughens INURES
23. Pour like crazy TEEM
24. Glimmers SHINES
27. Miss identification NEE
29. *It might require treatment with an EpiPen WASP STING
31. Skinny swimmers EELS
32. Loophole OUT
33. Wolverine portrayer Jackman HUGH
34. Most reasonable SANEST
36. *Dramatic way to go out WITH A BANG
38. Novelist Graham GREENE
41. Homer’s son BART
42. Route word VIA
45. Realizes NETS
46. *Fabergé item auctioned for $9.6 million in 2002 WINTER EGG
48. Manipulate USE
49. Serious depression CRATER
51. Cubemaster Rubik ERNO
52. Exploratory spacecraft PROBES
54. Make rhapsodic ELATE
56. Plane measures … and, literally, what can be seen in the answers to starred clues WINGSPANS
59. Word before box or card IDIOT
61. List catchall ET AL
62. Slender wind OBOE
63. Seamless transition SEGUE
64. Remove from a manuscript DELE
65. Road runner TIRE
66. Parks on a bus ROSA

Down
1. Hiker’s spray brand OFF!
2. Flat highland PLATEAU
3. Most spine-tingling EERIEST
4. Put out the fire, pack up the tent, etc. DECAMP
5. Offer from Rover PAW
6. Line on a Québec map RUE
7. Waiting at a light, perhaps IDLING
8. Eeyore creator MILNE
9. Dutch South African BOER
10. Property recipient, in law ALIENEE
11. Adds holiday glitter to TINSELS
12. Hardly a sharer HOG
14. Msg. from the pulpit SER
19. Clear tables BUS
21. Quick on the uptake ASTUTE
23. Tango need TWO
25. __ school HIGH
26. Occupy INHABIT
28. Ballpark fig. EST
30. Climb, in a way SHIN
31. Subj. including grammar ENG
34. 1964 Nobel Prize decliner SARTRE
35. Kitty starter ANTE
36. “The Grand Budapest Hotel” director Anderson WES
37. Destructive agent BANE
38. Serengeti grazer GNU
39. Time to catch one’s breath RESPITE
40. Neverending ETERNAL
42. Reeling feeling VERTIGO
43. Like volcanic rock IGNEOUS
44. Gone by AGO
46. Sushi bar condiment WASABI
47. Study hall occupant, often READER
49. “Blue Bloods” network CBS
50. Transplant to a new container REPOT
53. Look up and down OGLE
55. Fleur-de-__ LIS
56. Get hitched WED
57. Neither partner NOR
58. Understand SEE
60. It may be iced TEA

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