LA Times Crossword Answers 15 Jun 15, Monday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Mark McClain
THEME: Getting on First … each of today’s themed answers starts with a word meaning “getting on in age”.

17A. “Three strikes you’re out” place of song, with “the” OLD BALL GAME
27A. Civilization of Plato and Aristotle ANCIENT GREECE
45A. Many an elder statesman SENIOR SENATOR
61A. Spanish doubloons, e.g. ANTIQUE GOLD

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 6m 01s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Blue Ribbon brewer PABST
Pabst Blue Ribbon is the most recognizable brand of beer from the Pabst Brewing Company. There appears to be some dispute over whether or not Pabst beer ever won a “blue ribbon” prize, but the company claims that it did so at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. The beer was originally called Pabst Best Select, and then just Pabst Select. With the renaming to Blue Ribbon, the beer was sold with an actual blue ribbon tied around the neck of the bottle until it was dropped in 1916 and incorporated into the label.

6. Japanese fish dish SUSHI
Sushi is a Japanese dish that has as its primary ingredient cooked, vinegared rice. The rice is usually topped with something, most often fish, and can be served in seaweed rolls. If you want raw fish by itself, then you have to order “sashimi”.

14. Stan’s comic 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.

16. Simpson trial judge Lance ITO
Judge Lance Ito came in for a lot of criticism for his handling of the O.J. Simpson murder trial. The lead prosecutor in that trial was Marcia Clark, you might recall. I read the book that’s Clark wrote about the trial called “Without a Doubt”, and she pointed out one trait of Judge Ito that I think is quite telling. Ito would almost always refer to the prosecutor as “Marcia”, while addressing the men on both sides of the case as “Mister”.

17. “Three strikes you’re out” place of song, with “the” OLD BALL GAME
“Take Me Out to the Ball Game” is a 1908 song that is traditionally sung during the seventh inning stretch of a baseball game. Even though the song has is now inextricably linked to baseball, neither of the two composers had ever been to a game before they wrote it.

Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd;
Just buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don’t care if I never get back.
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don’t win, it’s a shame.
For it’s one, two, three strikes, you’re out,
At the old ball game.

19. Miracle Mets manager Hodges GIL
Gil Hodges was a professional baseball player and manager. Perhaps Hodges’ most celebrated achievement was managing the New York Mets team (the “Miracle Mets”) that won the 1969 World Series. Hodges died from a heart attack just a few years later in 1972, when he was only 48 years old.

23. Tach measure RPM
The tachometer on a dashboard takes its name from the Greek word “tachos” meaning “speed”. A tachometer measures engine revolutions per minute (rpm).

25. Human chest THORAX
The thorax is another name for the chest, the part of the human body between the neck and the diaphragm.

27. Civilization of Plato and Aristotle ANCIENT GREECE
Aristotle was actually a student of Plato in Ancient Greece (and in turn, Plato was a student of Socrates). Aristotle’s most famous student was Alexander the Great.

33. Iranian religion BAHA’I
The Baha’i faith is relatively new in the grand scheme of things, and was founded in Persia in the 1800s. One of the tenets of the religion is that messengers have come from God over time, including Abraham, the Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, and most recently Bahá’u’lláh who founded the Baha’i Faith.

35. Mar.-to-Nov. hrs. DST
On the other side of the Atlantic, Daylight Saving Time (DST) is known as “summer time”. The idea behind summer/daylight-savings is to move clocks forward an hour in spring (i.e. “spring forward”) and backwards in the fall (i.e. “fall back”) so that afternoons have more daylight.

39. Grey Cup sports org. CFL
The Canadian Football League was formed back in 1958, and has helped increase the popularity of football in the country. That said, ice hockey is still the main sports attraction north of the border.

The Grey Cup is a trophy awarded annually to the championship team in the Canadian Football League. The trophy is named for the Earl Grey, the ex-governor general of Canada who commissioned the award. Grey had intended that the award be given annually to the country’s senior amateur hockey team, but Sir Montagu Allan beat him to the punch and the Allan Cup has been used for that purpose ever since. And so instead, the Grey Cup went to the sport of football.

41. “Give me __!”: start of a Hawkeye cheer AN I
Iowa is nicknamed the Hawkeye State in honor of Chief Black Hawk, a leader of the Sauk people during the War of 1812 and the Black Hawk War.

44. Longtime Dolphins coach Don SHULA
Don Shula is a former football player and coach. Shula appeared as head coach in a record six Super Bowls, including a run of three successive Super Bowls (1971-73, winning twice).

56. Ending with chick -ADEE
Chickadees are group of birds in the tit family, with some species within the group called chickadees and some called tits. The name chickadee is imitative of the bird’s alarm call “chick-dee dee dee”.

61. Spanish doubloons, e.g. ANTIQUE GOLD
The doubloon was a Spanish gold coin worth two escudos. The name comes from the Spanish “doblón” which means “double”.

63. Shelley poem ODE
Percy Bysshe Shelley was an English Romantic poet. Shelley had strong views on vegetarianism. He was dedicated to the cause of all sentient beings, believing that the slaughter of animals by humans for the use of food was a barbaric practice. He wrote a famous essay on the subject called “A Vindication of Natural Diet” in 1813.

64. Knife hawked on TV GINSU
Ginsu knives are more famous for their hard-sell television ads than they are for their efficacy in the kitchen. The Ginsu phenomenon took off in the seventies when two brothers found a set of knives called “Eversharp” that were being manufactured in Ohio. The brothers changed the brand name to something more exotic, and Japanese in particular (Ginsu), and then produced ads that made references to Japanese martial arts. I think they made a fortune …

66. Actor Beatty NED
Ned Beatty is probably best remembered for the rather disturbing “squeal like a pig” scene in the movie “Deliverance”. Beatty also earned an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 1976 movie “Network”.

67. Selassie worshiper RASTA
I must admit that I don’t really understand Rastafarianism. I do know that a “Rasta”, like Bob Marley, is a follower of the movement. Some say that Rastafarianism is a religion, some not. I also know that it involves the worship of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia.

Emperor Haile Selassie I ruled Ethiopia until he was removed from power in a revolution in 1974. Selassie died in 1975 under suspicious circumstances and it is widely believed that he was assassinated.

68. Boxing’s “Iron Mike” TYSON
The boxer Mike Tyson has said some pretty graphic things about his opponents. For example:

– About Lennox Lewis: “My main objective is to be professional but to kill him.”
– To Razor Ruddock: “I’m gonna make you my girlfriend.”
– About Tyrell Biggs: “He was screaming like my wife.”

Down
4. __ Husky SIBERIAN
The Siberian Husky is one of the oldest breeds of dog, and originated in northern Asia. Siberian Huskies were imported into Alaska in great numbers in the early 1900s for use as sled dogs during the gold rush.

8. Thailand, formerly SIAM
Siam was the official name of Thailand up to 1939 (and from 1945 to 1949).

9. Pet on a wheel HAMSTER
The rodents known as hamsters are commonly kept as house pets. Male hamsters are called bucks, females are called does, and baby hamsters are known as pups.

10. Land in la mer ILE
In French, an island (île) is a piece of ground (terre) in the sea (mer).

12. Turner memoir I, TINA
“I, Tina” is the 1986 autobiography of Tina Turner. The book was so successful it was adapted into a movie called “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” The film version was released in 1993 and starring Angela Bassett as Tina Turner.

13. Oft-imitated pricey watch ROLEX
My most prized possession is a stainless steel Rolex watch that my uncle bought while serving with the RAF in Canada during WWII. Rolex watches were made available to the Canadian servicemen at that time as they were shipping overseas. My uncle brought his Rolex home to Ireland after the war. He needed money for booze one weekend and so sold the watch to my Dad, for five pounds. My Dad gave it to me just before he died, as he knew I loved the watch, and my brothers weren’t interested in it all. Not so long ago I had the watch appraised ($3,000), and my brothers suddenly took a liking to it! Still, it’s not something that will ever be sold, that’s for sure …

18. Depict by drawing LIMN
“To limn” is to describe, or portray in a painting or a drawing. “Limn” has the same root as “illuminate”, in the sense of illuminating a manuscript.

24. Architect I.M. __ PEI
I. M. Pei (full name: Ieoh Ming Pei) is an exceptional American architect who was born in China. Of Pei’s many wonderful works, my favorite is the renovation of the Louvre in Paris, especially the Glass Pyramid in the courtyard.

26. “For __ a jolly …” HE’S
“For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” is the second-most popular song in the English language, according to the “Guinness Book of World Records”. Top of the list is “Happy Birthday to You”, and third comes “Auld Lang Syne”.

27. Palindromic pop quartet ABBA
I am an unapologetic fan of ABBA’s music. ABBA was of course the Swedish group who topped the charts in the seventies and eighties. The name ABBA is an acronym formed from the first letters of the given names of each of the band members, namely: Agnetha, Benny, Bjorn and Anni-Frid.

28. Indian flatbread NAAN
Naan (also “nan”) bread is very popular in Indian restaurants, as well as in other West, Central and South Asian cuisines. Indian Naan is traditionally baked in a clay oven known as a tandoor.

30. Danish astronomer Brahe TYCHO
Tycho Brahe was an astronomer and contemporary of Galileo. Brahe lost his nose in a duel, and wore a replacement made from either silver or gold that was pasted onto his face!

37. Russian despot TSAR
The term czar (also tsar) is a Slavic word that was first used as a title by Simeon I of Bulgaria in 913 AD. “Czar” is derived from the word “Caesar”, which was synonymous with “emperor” at that time.

A “despot” is a ruler with absolute power, often one who wields that power oppressively. “Despot” is an old French term from the 14th century, ultimately derived from the Greek “despotes” meaning “master of a household, absolute ruler”.

42. Shoo-__: sure winners INS
A “shoo-in” is a surefire winner, especially in politics. Back in the 1920s, a shoo-in was a horse who was pre-arranged to win a race, a race that was fixed.

43. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” queen TITANIA
Oberon and Titania are the King and Queen of the fairies in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is one of William Shakespeare’s comedies. One of the interesting characteristics of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is that it features a play-within-a-play. The cast of characters includes an troupe of six actors called the Mechanicals who perform a play called “Pyramus and Thisbe”.

44. __-cone SNO
A sno-cone (also “snow cone”) is just a paper cone filled with crushed ice and topped with flavored water. Italian ice is similar, but different. Whereas the flavoring is added on top of the ice to make a sno-cone, Italian ice is made with water that is flavored before it is frozen.

47. Beige shade ECRU
The shade called ecru is a grayish, yellowish brown. The word “ecru” comes from French and means “raw, unbleached”. “Ecru” has the same roots as our word “crude”.

48. Ohio rubber city AKRON
For much of the 1800s, the Ohio city of Akron was the fasting growing city in the country, feeding off the industrial boom of that era. The city was founded in 1825 and its location, along the Ohio and Erie canal connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio River, helped to fuel Akron’s growth. Akron sits at the highest point of the canal and the name “Akron” comes from the Greek word meaning “summit”. Indeed, Akron is the county seat of Summit County.

49. Aptly named novelist Charles READE
Charles Reade was an English author who came to public attention with a two-act comedy play called “Masks and Faces”. Reade turned the play into a prose story in 1852 that he called “Peg Woffington”. Reade also wrote a historical novel called “The Cloister and the Hearth” about a married man who becomes a Dominican friar on hearing that his wife has died. Years later he discovers that his wife is in fact still living and a struggle develops between the man’s obligation to family and his obligation to the Roman Catholic Church.

53. Bus sched. listings STNS
Station (stn.)

58. “Sesame Street” giggler ELMO
The man behind/under the character Elmo on “Sesame Street” is Kevin Clash. If you want to learn more about Elmo and Clash, you can watch the 2011 documentary “Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey”.

59. Biblical garden EDEN
According to the Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve lived in a garden “in” Eden, with Eden being geographically located by reference to four rivers including the Tigris and the Euphrates. Some scholars hypothesize that Eden was located in Mesopotamia, which encompasses much of modern-day Iraq.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Blue Ribbon brewer PABST
6. Japanese fish dish SUSHI
11. Cone-producing evergreen FIR
14. Stan’s comic partner OLLIE
15. Standard Windows typeface ARIAL
16. Simpson trial judge Lance ITO
17. “Three strikes you’re out” place of song, with “the” OLD BALL GAME
19. Miracle Mets manager Hodges GIL
20. Extreme anger RAGE
21. Things on a list ITEMS
22. Sandy slope DUNE
23. Tach measure RPM
25. Human chest THORAX
27. Civilization of Plato and Aristotle ANCIENT GREECE
33. Iranian religion BAHA’I
34. Pronoun before or after “truly” YOURS
35. Mar.-to-Nov. hrs. DST
38. Traditional square dance site BARN
39. Grey Cup sports org. CFL
40. Goes a-courting WOOS
41. “Give me __!”: start of a Hawkeye cheer AN I
42. “… ring, __ wed” I THEE
44. Longtime Dolphins coach Don SHULA
45. Many an elder statesman SENIOR SENATOR
48. Painter ARTIST
50. Folding bed COT
51. Finely sharpened KEEN
52. Equally distant AS FAR
56. Ending with chick -ADEE
60. More than trotted RAN
61. Spanish doubloons, e.g. ANTIQUE GOLD
63. Shelley poem ODE
64. Knife hawked on TV GINSU
65. “What are you gonna do about it?!” SUE ME!
66. Actor Beatty NED
67. Selassie worshiper RASTA
68. Boxing’s “Iron Mike” TYSON

Down
1. Penniless POOR
2. “It’s __ big mistake!” ALL A
3. Apt. house BLDG
4. __ Husky SIBERIAN
5. Brewed soother TEA
6. Fries sprinkling SALT
7. Hard-to-ignore impulse URGE
8. Thailand, formerly SIAM
9. Pet on a wheel HAMSTER
10. Land in la mer ILE
11. Made sense of FIGURED OUT
12. Turner memoir I, TINA
13. Oft-imitated pricey watch ROLEX
18. Depict by drawing LIMN
22. ER VIP DOC
24. Architect I.M. __ PEI
26. “For __ a jolly …” HE’S
27. Palindromic pop quartet ABBA
28. Indian flatbread NAAN
29. Baptized CHRISTENED
30. Danish astronomer Brahe TYCHO
31. Errand runner GOFER
32. Wears the crown RULES
36. Unaccompanied SOLO
37. Russian despot TSAR
40. “That fellow is the best!” WHAT A GUY!
42. Shoo-__: sure winners INS
43. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” queen TITANIA
44. __-cone SNO
46. German “a” EIN
47. Beige shade ECRU
48. Ohio rubber city AKRON
49. Aptly named novelist Charles READE
53. Bus sched. listings STNS
54. Clenched hand FIST
55. Blue-green color of water AQUA
57. Deer girls DOES
58. “Sesame Street” giggler ELMO
59. Biblical garden EDEN
61. Farming-related: Abbr. AGR
62. Approx. repair cost EST

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