LA Times Crossword Answers 10 Sep 15, Thursday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Mary Lou Guizzo
THEME: Low Key … each of today’s themed answers is a two-word term written in the down-direction. The second (LOWER) word is a type of KEY:

58D. With 59-Down, subdued, and a hint to the answers to starred clues LOW
59D. See 58-Down KEY

3D. *Event for A-listers, say PRIVATE FUNCTION (giving “function key”)
11D. *The Hagia Sophia, for nearly a millennium BYZANTINE CHURCH (giving “church key”)
27D. *Sirius’ constellation CANIS MAJOR (giving “major key”)
29D. *Space to maneuver WIGGLE ROOM (giving “room key”)

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 12m 51s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 2 … NHA (NHU), SAMI (Sumi)

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Oz. sextet TSPS
Our term “ounce” comes from the Latin “uncia”, which was 1/12 of a “libra”, the Roman “pound”.

5. Hamlet’s foppish courtier OSRIC
In William Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet”, Osric is the courtier that Claudius dispatches to invite Hamlet to participate in a duel.

10. Abba not known for singing EBAN
Abba Eban was an Israeli diplomat and politician, born Aubrey Solomon Meir Eban in Cape Town, South Africa. While working at the United Nations after WWII, Eban changed his given name to “Abba”, the Hebrew word for “father”. He made this change as reportedly as he could see himself as the father of the nation of Israel.

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.

14. Other, in Orizaba OTRO
Orizaba is a city in the Mexican state of Veracruz.

15. __ Park: Knott’s Berry Farm city BUENA
The California city of Buena Park is in Orange County. Buena Park is perhaps best known by outsiders as the home to Knott’s Berry Farm, which is by far the city’s largest employer.

In the twenties, Walter Knott sold berries, preserves and pies from the side of the road. In 1932, Knott picked up a new berry from Rudolph Boysen’s farm in Anaheim, California, a hybrid of blackberry, raspberry and loganberry. Knott sold the new berries at his stand, giving them the name “Boysenberries”. Boysenberry Pie became a signature dish at a small tea room that Walter Knott’s wife opened up near the location where the family sold fruit. The tea room became so popular, with lines waiting to be served that Knott expanded, adding shops and displays to entertain diners. Over time he built a volcano, a little gold mine, and a ghost town and lots of themed stores. The location just grew and grew, evolving into the huge theme park that it is today called Knott’s Berry Farm.

16. Connecticut town for which a disease is named LYME
Lyme disease is an infectious disease that is becoming more and more common. The condition takes its name from the town of Lyme, Connecticut where several cases were diagnosed in 1975. Humans catch the disease when bitten by infected ticks. If caught early enough, the disease is usually successfully treated with antibiotics.

17. Sinn __ FEIN
Sinn Féin is a political party in Ireland, largely representing the Catholic community in Northern Ireland, although representation in the Republic of Ireland has increased in recent years. It is led by Gerry Adams, and has the stated aim of uniting Ireland north and south. Sinn Féin is Irish for “we ourselves”. It is currently the second largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

18. 100-eyed guardian of Io ARGUS
Argus Panoptes is a monster of Greek mythology. “Panoptes” means “all-seeing”, so over time Argus has been described as having many, many eyes. Argus was noted for being alert, always keeping some eyes open when sleeping. This characteristic led to Argus being used for a vigilant person, and has been adopted as the name for many newspapers. After the monster died, the goddess Hera transferred Argus’s eyes to the tail of the peacock.

Io was priestess of the goddess Hera in Greek mythology. Io started life as a woman, one who was seduced by Hera’s husband Zeus. Zeus transformed Io into a young cow in a vain attempt to hide her from his wife. Hera sent the 100-eyed Argus Panoptes to watch over Io.

19. Weizman of Israel EZER
Ezer Weizman was the seventh President of Israel. Earlier in his career, Weizman was a combat pilot in the UK’s Royal Air Force and later rose to Commander of the Israeli Air Force. He also served as Israel’s Minister of Defense before becoming President.

20. Bean used in falafel FAVA
Falafel is a ball of ground chickpeas or fava beans that has been deep fried and served in pita bread. I love chickpeas, but falafel just seems too dry to me …

21. Half a comedy duo MEARA
Anne Meara married fellow comedic actor Jerry Stiller in 1954. Anne and Jerry were the parents of actors Ben and Amy Stiller. Meara co-starred with Carroll O’Connor and Martin Balsam in the eighties sitcom “Archie Bunker’s Place”, a spinoff from “All in the Family”. Meara passed away in May of 2015.

22. Two-time MLB all-star Ron GANT
Ron Gant is a retired baseball player who now co-hosts the local TV show “Good Day Atlanta”.

23. Three-handed game SKAT
When I was a teenager in Ireland, I had a friend with a German father. The father taught us the game of Skat, and what a great game it is. Skat originated in Germany in the 1800s and is to this day the most popular card game in the country. I haven’t played it in decades, but would love to play it again …

24. Wrench handle? ALLEN
The Allen wrench (or “Allen key”, as we call it back in Ireland) is a successful brand of hex wrench that was trademarked in 1943 by the Allen Manufacturing Company of Hartford , Connecticut. However, the hex wrench had in fact been around since the mid-to-late 1800s.

25. Stats for QBs INTS
In American football, a QB (quarterback) mistake could lead to an interception (int.).

26. “Clueless” co-star __ Dash STACEY
Stacey Dash is an actress from the Bronx, New York. Dash is best known for playing one of the lead roles in the 1995 movie “Clueless”, as well as in the TV spinoff series also called “Clueless”.

The 1995 movie “Clueless” is apparently based on Jane Austen’s “Emma”, which is a favorite novel of mine. As a result, I am going to have to check out the film. That said, “Clueless” is set in a Beverly Hills high school, so I probably should prepare myself to be disappointed …

28. Johannesburg section SOWETO
Soweto is an urban area in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. The name comes from SOuth WEstern TOwnship, a black township that was set up the days of apartheid. The famous Soweto Uprising took place in 1976, triggered by government policy forcing education to be given in Afrikaans rather than in English.

30. Salad option CAESAR
The Caesar Salad was created by restaurateur Caesar Cardini at the Hotel Caesar’s in Tijuana, Mexico. The original recipe called for whole lettuce leaves that were to be lifted up by the stem and eaten with the fingers.

33. “__ Wiedersehen” AUF
“Auf Wiedersehen” is German for “goodbye”, literally translating as “till we see each other again”.

38. FDR loan org. NHA
As part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, the National Housing Agency (NHA) was established in 1942. The NHA was one of the government agencies that was to evolve over time in today’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

39. “Pardon me, Giuseppe” SCUSI
“Scusi” is Italian for “pardon me”.

41. CPR provider EMT
An emergency medical technician (EMT) might administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

45. Mr. Rogers ROY
Cowboy actor and singer Roy Rogers’ real name was Leonard Franklin Slye, and his nickname was “King of the Cowboys”. Roy Rogers married Dale Evans in 1947. Evans’ nickname was “Queen of the West”.

46. Dairy prefix LACTI-
The Latin word for “mil” is “lac”.

49. “He that __ down with dogs shall rise up with fleas”: Franklin LIETH
The noted polymath Benjamin Franklin was one of the US’s Founding Fathers. Franklin was born into a working class family in Boston in 1706. He went on to invent the lightning rod and bifocals. He became the first US Ambassador to France, the US’s Postmaster General and the Governor of Pennsylvania. He played the violin, the harp and the guitar and composed a string quartet. He was also an accomplished chess player, the first to be known by name in the American colonies. The list of the Benjamin Franklin’s accomplishments seems to be endless …

51. Bar made by Hershey’s KIT KAT
I grew up eating Kit Kat bars as a kid, as the chocolate confection has been around since the thirties. Kit Kats didn’t hit the shelves in the US until the seventies. I’ve seen new varieties of Kit Kat over in the UK, such as an orange-flavored version, but haven’t seen anything like that over here.

53. Enterprise bridge regular MR SULU
Mr Sulu was played by George Takei in the original “Star Trek” series. Takei has played lots of roles over the years, and is still very active in television. Did you know that he appeared in the 1963 film, “Pt-109”? He played the helmsman steering the Japanese destroyer that ran down John F. Kennedy’s motor torpedo boat.

56. “Vous êtes __”: Paris map words ICI
“Vous êtes ici” are important words to know when navigating your way around Paris. They mean “You are here”, and you’ll often see them on maps in the street.

57. Dog days mo. JUL
“Dog Days” is the term given to the warmest and most humid days of summer. The term derives from the ancient belief that hot weather was caused when Sirius (the Dog Star) was in close proximity to the sun.

59. Kitchy-__ KOO
“Kitchy-kitchy-koo” is a taunt uttered while tickling someone.

60. Cartoonist Chast ROZ
Roz Chast had her first cartoon published in “The New Yorker” in 1978, and has had more than 800 published since then.

61. Disney’s Bob Iger, e.g. CEO
Robert Iger is currently the president and CEO of the Walt Disney Company, and is the successor to Michael Eisner. Iger worked for ABC when it was taken over by Disney in 1996, and in 1999 he was named president of Walt Disney International. Iger is doing okay for himself. He earned more than $29 million in 2009.

62. Dash prefix ODO-
An odometer measures distance traveled. The word derives from the Greek “hodos” meaning “path” and “metron” meaning “measure”.

63. Frequent co-producer of U2 albums ENO
Brian Eno is a musician, composer and record producer from England who first achieved fame as the synthesiser player with Roxy Music. As a producer, Eno has worked with David Bowie, Devo and U2.

64. “__: Miami” CSI
The “CSI” franchise of TV shows has been tremendously successful, but seems to be winding down. “CSI: Miami” (the “worst” of the franchise, I think) was cancelled in 2012 after ten seasons. “CSI: NY” (the “best” of the franchise) was cancelled in 2013 after nine seasons. The original “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”, set in Las Vegas, is still going strong and has been doing so since 2000. The series will come to an end though, with a 2-hour movie special in September 2015.

65. 54-year-old doll KEN
Barbie’s male counterpart doll is Ken, and Ken’s family name is Carson. Barbie’s full name is Barbie Millicent Roberts. When Ken was introduced in 1959, it was as Barbie’s boyfriend. In 2004 it was announced that Ken and Barbie were splitting up, and needed to spend quality time apart. Soon after the split, Barbie “met” Blaine, a boogie boarder from Australia.

Down
1. Farnham fops TOFFS
A “toff” is a well-dressed gentleman of the upper class.

Farnham is a town in Surrey, a county in the southeast of England.

2. Outback condiment STEAK SAUCE
Outback Steakhouse is a chain of restaurants that was established in 1987, with the first Outback opening in Tampa, Florida. Outback serves largely American food in an Australian-themed dining locale.

4. Piano pieces SONATAS
The term “sonata” comes via Italian from the Latin word “sonare” meaning “to sound”. A sonata is a piece of music that is played, as opposed to a cantata (from Latin and Italian “cantare” meaning “to sing”), a piece of music that is sung.

5. Period since 2009 OBAMA ERA
When Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the US in January 2009, the ceremony was attended by more people than had ever attended any event in the nation’s capital. Famously, President-Elect Obama strayed slightly from the required wording of the oath of office, and so he had to be sworn in again the next day.

9. 18th-century Italian adventurer CASANOVA
Giacomo Casanova was an 18th-century adventurer from Venice. We know so much about him, and his reputation as a womanizer, because he left us his autobiography “Histoire de ma vie” (Story of My Life). A guy recounting stories of his love life and conquests. All true, I am sure …

10. Poetic laments ELEGIES
An elegy is a mournful poem or funeral song, also known as a dirge. Perhaps the most famous elegy in the English language is that written by Thomas Gray, completed in 1750. His “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is the source of many oft-quoted phrases, including:

– Celestial fire
– Far from the Madding Crowd
– Kindred spirit

11. *The Hagia Sophia, for nearly a millennium BYZANTINE CHURCH (giving “church key”)
Byzantium was a Greek colony that was centered on what was to become Constantinople, and is now Istanbul. Legend suggests that there was a king Byzas, who gave his name to the city and later the Byzantine Empire. The Eastern Roman Empire later became known as the Byzantine Empire, right up the Middle Ages.

Hagia Sophia is an incredibly beautiful church that was built as a Christian basilica, was converted to an imperial mosque, and is now a museum in Istanbul. It has a massive dome and was the largest cathedral in the world for almost a thousand years until Seville Cathedral was finished in 1520.

A “church key” is a bottle opener.

13. “Darn it!” NERTS!
“Nerts” is a slang term, a corruption of “nuts!” and with the same meaning.

27. *Sirius’ constellation CANIS MAJOR (giving “major key”)
Canis Major is Latin for “greater dog”, and is the constellation containing the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius. Because of its location in Canis Major, Sirius is also known as the Dog Star.

Experts, unlike me, can wax lyrical on the technical differences between major and minor keys and scales. To me, music written in major keys is very strident, often very joyful and “honest”. Music written in minor keys (often my “favorite”) is more feminine, more delicate and often quite sad.

30. Mama known for singing CASS
Cass Elliot was one of the four singers in the Mamas and the Papas, a sensational group from the sixties. “Mama Cass” was performing sold-out concerts in London in 1974 when she was found dead one morning, having had a heart attack. She was only 32 years old. Eerily, Elliot died in the same flat (on loan from Harry Nilsson) in which the Who’s drummer, Keith Moon, would die just four years later.

32. Scandinavian native SAMI
Lapland is a geographic region in northern Scandinavia, largely found within the Arctic Circle. Parts of Lapland are in Norway, Sweden and Finland. The people who are native to the region are called the Sami people. The Sami don’t like to be referred to as “Lapps” and they regard the term as insulting.

35. Jazzman Saunders MERL
Merl Saunders was a piano and keyboard musician. Saunders was good friends with Jerry Garcia and often played with the Grateful Dead.

36. Expressive music genre EMO
The musical genre of “emo” originated in Washington D.C. in the 80s, and takes its name from “emotional hardcore”. “Emo” is also the name given to the associated subculture. Not my cup of tea …

37. Texter’s sign-off TTYL
Talk to you later (TTYL)

40. Home to Pierre: Abbr. SDAK
Here’s an old chestnut of a trivia question for you … what’s the only state capital in the Union for which the name of the capital and the name of its state share no common letters? You guessed it: Pierre, South Dakota …

43. Back muscles, briefly LATS
The muscles known as the “lats” are the latissimi dorsi, the broadest muscles in the back. “Latissimus” is the Latin for “broadest” and “dorsum” is Latin for “back”.

48. Czerny piano piece ETUDE
An étude is a small instrumental composition that is usually quite hard to play and is intended to help the performer master a particular technique. “Étude” is the French word for “study”. Études are commonly performed on the piano.

Carl Czerny was a composer and pianist from Austria. although his parents were Czech, a heritage that influenced his music. Czerny began playing the piano at three years of age, and composing at the age of seven. He was also a student of Ludwig van Beethoven from the age of ten to thirteen. In fact, Czerny is reputed to be the first person to report the Beethoven’s deafness, many years before the affliction became common knowledge.

52. Frozen treat ICEE
Icee and Slurpee are brand names of those slushy drinks. Ugh …

55. Strong arms? UZIS
The first Uzi submachine gun was designed in the late 1940s by Major Uziel “Uzi” Gal of the Israel Defense Forces, who gave his name to the gun.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Oz. sextet TSPS
5. Hamlet’s foppish courtier OSRIC
10. Abba not known for singing EBAN
14. Other, in Orizaba OTRO
15. __ Park: Knott’s Berry Farm city BUENA
16. Connecticut town for which a disease is named LYME
17. Sinn __ FEIN
18. 100-eyed guardian of Io ARGUS
19. Weizman of Israel EZER
20. Bean used in falafel FAVA
21. Half a comedy duo MEARA
22. Two-time MLB all-star Ron GANT
23. Three-handed game SKAT
24. Wrench handle? ALLEN
25. Stats for QBs INTS
26. “Clueless” co-star __ Dash STACEY
28. Johannesburg section SOWETO
30. Salad option CAESAR
31. Social calls VISITS
33. “__ Wiedersehen” AUF
34. It often says “Hello” NAMETAG
38. FDR loan org. NHA
39. “Pardon me, Giuseppe” SCUSI
41. CPR provider EMT
42. Something in your eye GLEAM
44. Wires, e.g. SENDS
45. Mr. Rogers ROY
46. Dairy prefix LACTI-
47. Brown shade CAMEL
49. “He that __ down with dogs shall rise up with fleas”: Franklin LIETH
51. Bar made by Hershey’s KIT KAT
53. Enterprise bridge regular MR SULU
56. “Vous êtes __”: Paris map words ICI
57. Dog days mo. JUL
59. Kitchy-__ KOO
60. Cartoonist Chast ROZ
61. Disney’s Bob Iger, e.g. CEO
62. Dash prefix ODO-
63. Frequent co-producer of U2 albums ENO
64. “__: Miami” CSI
65. 54-year-old doll KEN
66. VCR button REW
67. Sweet tuber YAM
68. Bulls and bucks HES

Down
1. Farnham fops TOFFS
2. Outback condiment STEAK SAUCE
3. *Event for A-listers, say PRIVATE FUNCTION (giving “function key”)
4. Piano pieces SONATAS
5. Period since 2009 OBAMA ERA
6. Without a doubt SURELY
7. Courtly REGAL
8. Hardens INURES
9. 18th-century Italian adventurer CASANOVA
10. Poetic laments ELEGIES
11. *The Hagia Sophia, for nearly a millennium BYZANTINE CHURCH (giving “church key”)
12. “I’ll say!” AMEN TO THAT!
13. “Darn it!” NERTS!
27. *Sirius’ constellation CANIS MAJOR (giving “major key”)
29. *Space to maneuver WIGGLE ROOM (giving “room key”)
30. Mama known for singing CASS
32. Scandinavian native SAMI
35. Jazzman Saunders MERL
36. Expressive music genre EMO
37. Texter’s sign-off TTYL
40. Home to Pierre: Abbr. SDAK
43. Back muscles, briefly LATS
48. Czerny piano piece ETUDE
50. “__ roll!” I’M ON A
51. Bit of excitement KICK
52. Frozen treat ICEE
54. Shed LOSE
55. Strong arms? UZIS
58. With 59-Down, subdued, and a hint to the answers to starred clues LOW
59. See 58-Down KEY

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