LA Times Crossword Answers 18 Oct 15, Sunday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Kathleen Fay O’Brien
THEME: CH-Ching! … each of today’s themed answers sounds like a well-known phrase, but with a “CH” sound added at the beginning:

23A. Part of a dairy’s financial statement? CHURNINGS REPORT (from “earnings report”)
46A. Doesn’t eat with one’s mouth closed? CHEWS AND AAHS (from “oohs and aahs”)
71A. Vacant seat you only thought you saw? CHAIR APPARENT (from “heir apparent”)
95A. Spread for Sunday morning coffee hour? CHAPEL BUTTER (from “apple butter’)
122A. Glance at the blackboard? “CHALKWARD” MOMENT (from “awkward moment”)
16D. What Alice’s adventures began with? CHASE IN THE HOLE (from “ace in the hole”)
52D. Pizza scraps? CHEESY PICKINGS (from “easy pickings”)

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 22m 57s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 2 … IOLA (Iona), SLADE (Snade)

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

10. Radio option AM/FM
The radio spectrum is divided into bands based on frequency. “High band” is composed of relatively high frequency values, and “low band” is composed of frequencies that are relatively low. FM radio falls into the band called Very High Frequency, or VHF. Television signals use frequencies even higher than VHF, frequencies in the Ultra High Frequency band (UHF). AM radio uses lower frequencies that fall into the relatively low bands of Low, Medium and High Frequency (LF, MF, and HF).

19. River in the Bernese Alps AARE
The Aar (also called the “Aare” in German) is the longest river entirely in Switzerland.

The Bernese Alps are found in Switzerland in the canton of Bern. The list of famous peaks found in the Bernese Alps includes the Jungfrau and the Eiger.

21. Pump, for one SHOE
A pump is a woman’s shoe that doesn’t have a strap. Such shoes are probably called “pumps” because of the sound they make while walking in them.

26. Tropical vine LIANA
Liana (also “liane”) is the name give to a vine that generally grows in moist areas such as rain forests. Lianas grow using the trees in the forest as structural support. My bet is that Tarzan swung from tree to tree on liana vines …

27. Truckers’ competition ROADEO
A “roadeo” is a competition held between drivers of buses or trucks. Obviously, the term is a play on the words “road” and “rodeo”.

28. 2013 Masters champ Scott ADAM
Adam Scott is a golfer from Australia who was ranked World No. 1 for a few months in 2014. Scott was the second Australian golfer to earn the top spot in the rankings, a feat last achieved by Greg Norman in 1998.

29. Whom Dennis often menaced MR WILSON
“Dennis the Menace” is a comic strip that first appeared in 1951, originally drawn by Hank Ketcham. The strip made the jump over the years from the newspaper to television and the silver screen. Dennis’s full name is Dennis Mitchell, and his parents are Henry and Alice (Johnson) Mitchell. Dennis’s nemesis is his neighbor, Mister George Everett Wilson. Hank Ketcham drew his inspiration for the story from his real life. When he introduced the strip, he had a 4-year-old son called Dennis and a wife named Alice.

31. Bass ending -OON
Our modern bassoon first appeared in the 1800s and has had a place in the concert orchestra ever since.

34. Paper punditry OP-EDS
“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”.

37. Common Market letters EEC
The European Economic Community (EEC) was also called “the Common Market”. The EEC was a NAFTA-like structure that was eventually absorbed into today’s European Union.

39. Retired boomer SST
The most famous supersonic transport (SST) is the retired Concorde. Famously, the Concorde routinely broke the sound barrier, and cruised at about twice the speed of sound. Above Mach 2, frictional heat would cause the plane’s aluminum airframe to soften, so airspeed was limited.

40. Karmann __: sports car GHIA
Volkswagen made the Karmann Ghia from 1955 to 1974. The original model was built on the VW Beetle chassis, was styled by the Italian automobile design house Ghia, and the bodywork was hand-built by the German coach-builder Karmann.

50. Dash devices TACHS
The tachometer takes its name from the Greek word “tachos” meaning “speed”. A tachometer measures engine revolutions per minute (rpm).

The dashboard of a car houses the instrument panel. Back in the 1800s, “dashboard” was the name given to a “board” placed at the front of a carriage to stop mud from “dashing” against the passengers in the carriage, mud that was kicked up by the hoofs of the horses. Quite interesting …

54. Strings for Orpheus LYRE
Orpheus is a figure from Greek mythology, very often associated with poetry, singing, music and the lyre in particular. In ancient Greece there was even an Orphic cult that in effect adopted the poetry ascribed to Orpheus as central to the cult’s belief system. The adjectives “Orphic” and “Orphean” describe things pertaining to Orpheus, and because of his romantic, musical bent, the term has come to describe anything melodious or enchanting.

55. Wash. setting PST
Pacific Standard Time (PST)

56. Onetime Ritz competitor HI-HO
Sunshine Biscuits was an independent producer of cookies and crackers which produced Hi-Ho crackers in competition with the successful Ritz brand. In 1996, Sunshine was absorbed by the Keebler Company and Hi-Ho Crackers was on the list of brands that was discontinued because of the merger.

57. Smidge 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.

Our word “smidgen” (sometimes shortened to “smidge”) is used to describe a small amount. The term might come from the Scots word “smitch” that means the same thing or “a small insignificant person”.

64. Double Stuf treats OREOS
Double Stuf Oreo was introduced in 1975, and has twice the normal amount of white cream filling as the original cookie.

66. Astronauts’ gear G-SUITS
A G-suit is needed when astronauts and aviators are subject to high accelerations. Such acceleration can cause blood to pool in the lower part of the body, reducing the supply to the brain and possibly leading to a blackout. A G-suit is basically a special pair of tight-fitting pants that are fitted with inflatable bladders. The bladders inflate during high accelerations, tightening around the legs and abdomen, reducing the amount of blood pooling. So, a “G-suit” is more correctly referred to as an “anti-G suit”.

68. Cab cousin ZIN
Zinfandel is one of my favorite red wine varietals. It amazes me that the rich and heavy red Zinfandel comes from the same grape as does the sweet White Zinfandel.

The Cabernet Sauvignon grape has been around since the 17th century, and is the result of a chance crossing in southwestern France of the Cabernet franc and Sauvignon blanc grapes.

69. Running bird EMU
The emu has had a tough time in Australia since man settled there. There was even an “Emu War” in Western Australia in 1932 when migrating emus competed with livestock for water and food. Soldiers were sent in and used machine guns in an unsuccessful attempt to drive off the “invading force”. The emus were clever, breaking their usual formations and adopting guerrilla tactics, operating as smaller units. After 50 days of “war”, the military withdrew. Subsequent requests for military help for the farmers were ignored. The emus had emerged victorious …

75. Right-to-left lang. HEB
“Ibri” is one of several names describing the Jewish people, and is a word derived from an ancestor of Abraham named Eber. “Ibri” is the root of the word “Hebrew”, the name of the language used by the Israelites and their ancestors.

76. Some light bulbs GES
The General Electric Company is usually referred to simply as “GE”. One of the precursor companies to GE was Edison General Electric, founded in 1890 by the inventor Thomas Edison. What we know today as GE was formed two years later when Edison merged his company with Charles Coffin’s Thomson-Houston Electric Company. In 1896, GE was selected as one of the 12 companies listed on the newly formed Dow Jones Industrial Average. GE is the only one of the original 12 that is still on that list. I spent over ten years with GE at the beginning of my working career, and in fact it was GE that asked me to transfer to the US back in the 1980s …

77. Capek’s robot play RUR
Karel Čapek was a Czech writer noted for his works of science fiction. Čapek’s 1920 play “R.U.R.” is remembered in part for introducing the world to the word “robot”. The words “automaton” and “android” were already in use, but Capek gave us “robot” from the original Czech “robota” meaning “forced labor”. The acronym “R.U.R.”, in the context of the play, stands for “Rossum’s Universal Robots”.

78. Competed in a regatta, perhaps SAILED
The word “regatta” is Venetian dialect and was originally used to describe boat races among the gondoliers of Venice on the Grand Canal back in the mid-1600s.

79. Future moss SPORE
Spores are produced by many bacteria, fungi and non-flowering plants. A spore is a reproductive body encased in a protective shell that is highly resistant to damage, and resistant to heat in particular.

81. Settings for Monet HAYFIELDS
Claude Monet painted a series of twenty-five impressionist paintings titled “Haystacks” in 1890 and 1891.

Claude Monet painted the harbor of Le Havre in the north of France in 1872, giving it the title “Impression, Sunrise”. The painting is not a “realistic” representation of the scene in front of him, hence the name “impression”. It was this very painting that gave rise to the name of the Impressionist movement.

85. Genetic chains RNAS
Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by what is called transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA.

86. Actor Ken OLIN
The actor Ken Olin was one of the stars on the hit television series “Thirtysomething”, playing Michael Steadman. After “Thirtysomething”, Olin moved behind the camera and is now a producer and director.

88. City east of Wichita IOLA
Iola is a city in Southeast Kansas. The city is named for Iola, wife of J. F. Colburn, one of the owners of the land that was chosen as a site for the town in the late 1850s.

90. Former telecom company MCI
MCI was a giant telecom company that suffered a similar fate to Enron, and around about the same time. MCI’s stock price fell in 2000 and in maneuvers designed to protect the price, the company committed illegal acts. The larger-than-life CEO back then, Bernie Ebbers, is now serving a 25-year sentence in Louisiana.

92. Seasonal tunes NOELS
“Noël” is the French word for the Christmas season, ultimately coming from the Latin word for “birth” (natalis). Noel has come to be used as an alternative name for a Christmas carol.

93. Gung-ho AVID
“Kung ho” is a Chinese expression meaning “work together, cooperate”. The anglicized version “gung ho” was adopted by a Major Evans Carlson as an expression of combined spirit for his 2nd Marine Raider Battalion during WWII. From there the term spread throughout the Marine Corps and back to America where it persists to this day.

99. Louis XV furniture style ROCOCO
The Rococo style is also known as “Late Baroque”. Rococo is a very floral and playful style, very ornate.

110. Horace poem EPODE
An epode is a lyric poem made up of couplets in which the first line is long, and the second line much shorter. The form was invented by the Greek poet Archilochus, and was most famously used by the Roman poet Horace.

112. “__ So Shy”: Pointer Sisters hit HE’S
“He’s So Shy” is a 1980 hit for the Pointer Sisters. Although the title is reminiscent of the 1963 hit for the Chiffons called “He’s So Fine”, there is no relationship between the two numbers.

114. Jefferson Airplane genre ACID ROCK
Acid rock is a musical genre, a subset of psychedelic rock. The term comes from the influence of the drug LSD (acid) on some compositions in the early days.

The sixties folk group called Jefferson Airplane gave rise to two spin-off groups that were founded by former Jefferson Airplane band members. The first was Jefferson Starship, and the second was Starship. Confusing, huh?

117. Dinghy movers OARS
Our word “dinghy” comes from the Hindi “dingi”, the word for a small boat.

127. Twelve __: neighbor of Tara OAKS
Rhett Butler woos Scarlett O’Hara at the Tara plantation in Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone with the Wind”. Tara was founded by Scarlett’s father, Irish immigrant Gerald O’Hara. Gerald named his new abode after the Hill of Tara back in his home country, the ancient seat of the High King of Ireland. Rhett’s rival for the affections of Scarlet is Ashley Wilkes who lives at the nearby Twelve Oaks plantation.

128. Houston athlete ASTRO
The Houston baseball team changed its name to the Astros from the Colt .45s in 1965 when they started playing in the Astrodome. The Astrodome was so called in recognition of the city’s long association with the US space program.

129. Thing south of the border COSA
“Cosa” is Spanish (and Italian) for “thing”.

132. Dublin-born poet YEATS
Irish poet and dramatist William Butler Yeats won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923 for “inspired poetry” that gave “expression to a whole nation”. Yeats was Ireland’s first Nobel laureate.

133. Uncommon blood type: Abbr. A-NEG
The most important grouping of blood types is the ABO system. Blood is classified as either A, B, AB or O, depending on the type of antigens on the surface of the red blood cells. A secondary designation of blood is the Rh factor, in which other antigens are labelled as either positive or negative. When a patient receives a blood transfusion, ideally the donor blood should be the same type as that of the recipient, as incompatible blood cells can be rejected. However, blood type O-neg can be accepted by recipients with all blood types, A, B, AB or O, and positive or negative. Hence someone with O-neg blood type is called a “universal donor”.

Down
1. Users’ shortcuts MACROS
A macroinstruction (usually shortened to “macro”) is a set of instructions in a computer program that are abbreviated to one simple command.

2. Bumpkins YAHOOS
Yahoos were brutish creatures introduced by Irish author Jonathan Swift in “Gulliver’s Travels”. Their savage, slovenly ways gave rise of the use of “yahoo” in English to describe a lout or Neanderthal.

“Bumpkin” is really a not-so-nice term for someone from a rural area. The term has an even less nice derivation. It comes from from the Middle Dutch “bommekijn” meaning “little barrel”. “Bumpkin” was used as a derogatory term for Dutch people, who were regarded as short and plump.

3. One forging a doctor’s note, maybe TRUANT
“Truant” is such a lovely word. We have been using it to describe someone who wanders from an appointed place since the mid-1400s. Prior to that a truant was a beggar or a vagabond.

5. Eggy pastry BRIOCHE
“Brioche” is a French bread that has been enriched with lots of egg and butter, to the extent that it is also considered a pastry.

6. Dusk, to Donne E’EN
John Donne is one of England’s most celebrated poets, working at the start of the 17th century. He spent much of his life in poverty and even spent a short time in prison for having married his wife without procuring the appropriate permissions. After his release, his wife bore him 12 children in 16 years, passing away a few days after the twelfth child was born.

10. Poisonous slitherer ASP
The asp is a venomous snake found in the Nile region of Africa. It is so venomous that the asp was used in ancient Egypt and Greece as a means of execution. Cleopatra observed such executions noting that the venom brought on sleepiness without any painful spasms. When the great queen opted to commit suicide, the asp was therefore her chosen method.

11. Old reciprocal electrical unit MHO
Conductance (measured in mhos) is the inverse of resistance (measured in ohms). The mho has been replaced by the SI unit called the siemens.

13. Dover distance METRE
Dover is a town and port in the county of Kent on the south coast of England. Dover lies just 25 miles from the coast of France, and is a terminus on the much-used Dover-Calais ferry service. The town is also famous for its magnificent chalk cliffs that are known as the White Cliffs of Dover.

14. Mineral used in glassmaking SILICA
Glass is made up of about 75% silica, another name for sand.

15. Mickey Mouse enemy __ Eagle EMIL
The Disney character Emil Eagle is best known as an enemy for Mickey Mouse. However, Emil was introduced as a rival inventor to Donald Duck’s pal Gyro Gearloose.

16. What Alice’s adventures began with? CHASE IN THE HOLE (from “ace in the hole”)
The White Rabbit is a character who appears at the very start of Lewis Carroll’s novel “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. Alice sees the White Rabbit checking his watch and mumbling “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!” Alice then follows him down the rabbit hole and into Wonderland.

Stud poker is the name given to many variants of poker, all characterized by the dealer giving each player a mix of cards face-down and face-up. The cards facing downwards are called “hole cards”, cards only visible to the individual who holds that particular hand. This gives rise to the phrase “ace in the hole”, a valuable holding that only the player with the ace is aware of.

18. Marvel Comics superhero? STAN LEE
Stan Lee did just about everything at Marvel Comics over the years, from writing to being president and chairman of the board. If you like superhero movies based on the characters from Marvel Comics, then you could spend a few hours trying to spot Stan Lee in those films as he has a penchant for making cameo appearances. Lee can be spotted in “X-Men” (2000), “Spider-Man” (2002), “Hulk” (2003), “Fantastic Four” (2005), “Iron Man” (2008) and many other films.

25. Fix text EMEND
The verb “to amend” means “to change for the better, put right, alter by adding”. The related verb “to emend” is used more rarely and mainly in reference to the editing of professional writing. Both terms are derived from the Latin “emendare” meaning “to remove fault”.

30. “Scream” director Craven WES
Wes Craven was a very successful film director and writer specializing in movies of the horror genre, which means I don’t watch them! He was responsible for “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and the “Scream” films. Craven passed away in August 2015.

33. New Zealand bird KIWI
The kiwi is an unusual bird in that it has a highly developed sense of smell and is the only one of our feathered friends with nostrils located at the tip of its long beak.

36. Fixes SPAYS
Our verb “to spay”, meaning “to surgically remove the ovaries of” (an animal) comes from an old Anglo-French word “espeier” meaning “to cut with a sword”.

41. St. Francis’ home ASSISI
The Italian town of Assisi is in Umbria. Assisi is famous as the birthplace of St. Francis and as the home to the Franciscan religious order. It was also the home to Saint Clare and her order of the Poor Sisters (later known as the Poor Clares).

43. Via, à la Burns THRO’
“Comin’ Thro’ the Rye” is a 1782 poem by Scottish poet Robert Burns. The words are used in a traditional children’s song, which uses a variant of the tune for “Auld Lang Syne”. Here’s the chorus:

Comin thro’ the rye, poor body,
Comin thro’ the rye,
She draigl’t a’ her petticoatie,
Comin thro’ the rye!

Robert Burns is a cultural icon in Scotland and for Scots around the world. As a poet, Burns was a pioneer in the Romantic movement in the second half of the 18th century. One of his most famous works is the poem “Auld Lang Syne”, which has been set to the tune of a traditional Scottish folk song and is used to celebrate the New Year in the English-speaking world.

45. “__ we forget” LEST
“Lest we forget” is an oft-quoted phrase, one that comes from a poem by Rudyard Kipling called “Recessional”. Kipling wrote the piece on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897 and used it to express sadness at the waning of the British Empire. The phrase “lest we forget” is used in this context, a warning that the empire will decline. Ever since WWI we’ve been using the words on memorials as a plea not forget the sacrifices made by others in the past.

47. Pepé Le Pew’s pursuit AMOUR
Pepé Le Pew is a very likeable cartoon character from the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series. Pepé is a French skunk, first introduced way back in 1945. He is always thinking of “l’amour” and chases the lady skunks, or a black cat with a white stripe painted down her back accidently.

50. “His house is in the village __”: Frost THOUGH
When I was a school-kid back in Ireland, Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” was our first introduction to American poetry, and what a lovely introduction it was:

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

55. Slacks PANTS
The term “slacks” was introduced in the early 1800s with the the meaning “loose trousers”. Those early slacks were part of a military uniform.

58. Reunión attendees TIAS
In Spanish, an aunt (tia) might attend a family reunion (reunión).

59. How some stock is sold AT PAR
Stocks, and other financial vehicles, may be sold “at par”, meaning at the original price, neither discounted nor at a premium.

61. Sling spirits GIN
A sling is a cocktail made of brandy, whiskey or gin, that is sweetened and flavored with lemon. The most famous version of the sling is the Singapore Sling, invented by a bartender at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore. I am proud to report that I once had a Singapore Sling in Raffles Hotel, many moons ago …

62. “Kicked-Up Sandwiches” author EMERIL
Emeril Lagasse is an American chef, born in Massachusetts. Lagasse first achieved notoriety as executive chef in Commander’s Palace in New Orleans. Now famous for his television shows, his cuisine still showcases New Orleans ingredients and influences. Lagasse started using his famous “Bam!” catchphrase in order to keep his crew awake during repeated tapings of his show.

63. Knighted Flemish painter RUBENS
Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish painter who worked in the city of Antwerp in Belgium. Rubens was knighted by two monarchs: Philip IV of Spain, and Charles I of England. When Rubens was 53-years-old, four years after the death of his first wife, he married a 16-year-old girl. It was his young wife who inspired many of the voluptuous figures with whom Rubens became associated later in his career.

65. Rx SCRIP
When used in a medical context, “scrip” is an abbreviation for “prescription”.

There seems to some uncertainty about the origin of the symbol “Rx” that’s used for a medical prescription. One explanation is that it comes from the astrological sign for Jupiter, a symbol put on prescriptions in days of old to invoke Jupiter’s blessing to help a patient recover.

73. “Democracy is two wolves and __ voting on what to have for lunch”: Franklin A LAMB
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 …

82. Stereotypical pooch FIDO
“Fido”, the name for many a dog, is Latin for “I trust”.

83. Qatar’s capital DOHA
Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar located on the Persian Gulf. The name “Doha” translates from Arabic as “the big tree”.

84. “Same Time, Next Year” playwright Bernard SLADE
“Same Time, Next Year” is a 1975 play written by Bernard Slade. It is romantic comedy about a man and woman who meet for a tryst once a year for over two decades. The play was adapted into a fabulous film of the same name that was released in 1978, starring Ellen Burstyn and Alan Alda. It’s one of my favorite movies of all time, and I would love to see the play one day …

92. Arkansas River tributary NEOSHO
The Neosho River in eastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma is part of the Mississippi watershed as it is a tributary of the Arkansas River. “Neosho” is an Osage word that translates as “clear water”.

94. Mount Rainier, e.g. VOLCANO
Mount Rainier is an active volcano in the state of Washington in the Cascade Mountain Range. Native Americans first called the peak “Tacoma” meaning “mother of waters”. When Captain George Vancouver discovered Puget Sound in 1792, he named the peak in honor of his friend Rear Admiral Peter Rainier. There have been movements to change the name back to Tacoma, but these seem to have petered out (pun intended!).

101. Guatemala gold ORO
Guatemala in Central America became independent from Spain in 1821, first becoming part of the Mexican Empire, and then completely independent two years later.

109. “Wedding Bell Blues” soloist Marilyn MCCOO
Marilyn McCoo is best known as the lead female singer with the 5th Dimension, a group that was very successful in the sixties and seventies. McCoo married another member of the 5th Dimension, Billy Davis, Jr. and the couple are still performing, but now as a duo.

116. “Star Trek” villain KHAN
In the 1982 movie “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” William Shatner of course played James T. Kirk, and the evil Khan was played by Ricardo Montalbán. Leonard Nimoy didn’t want to appear in the sequel, and only agreed to do so when the producers agreed to “kill off” Spock at the end of the story (but he comes back … and back … and back …).

118. Monterrey miss: Abbr. SRTA
Monterrey is a Mexican city, the capital of the state of Nuevo Leon in the northeast of the country. Monterrey is the second largest city in Mexico in terms of area, but third largest in terms of population (the largest area city in the country is Mexico City, and the most populous are Mexico City and Guadalajara).

120. Song with arm motions YMCA
“YMCA” was released in 1978 by Village People and has been adopted as an anthem by the gay community. The song was written by Victor Willis, a straight member of the mostly gay band, and he clarifies that the lyrics are extolling the virtues of the “YMCA” as a source of recreation for black urban youth. I think he might have been winking when he said that …

123. “Best in Show” org. AKC
The American Kennel Club (AKC) is the organization that handles registration of purebred dogs The AKC also promotes dog shows around the country including the famous Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

“Best in Show” is a comedy film released in 2000, that was written and directed by Christopher Guest, who also starred. I am not a huge Christopher Guest fan, but tried to watch this one. I never got to the end …

124. ’60s hallucinogen LSD
LSD (colloquially known as “acid”) is short for lysergic acid diethylamide. A Swiss chemist called Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938 in a research project looking for medically efficacious ergot alkaloids. It wasn’t until some five years later when Hofmann ingested some of the drug accidentally that its psychedelic properties were discovered. Trippy, man …

125. Gere title gynecologist DR T
The 2000 movie “Dr. T & the Women” is a pretty good film, starring Richard Gere in the title role. There can’t be many romantic comedies about gynecologists …

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Old story MYTH
5. They’re often exposed in ski lodges BEAMS
10. Radio option AM/FM
14. Religious factions SECTS
19. River in the Bernese Alps AARE
20. Started anew at the campsite RELIT
21. Pump, for one SHOE
22. Summer gripe I’M HOT
23. Part of a dairy’s financial statement? CHURNINGS REPORT (from “earnings report”)
26. Tropical vine LIANA
27. Truckers’ competition ROADEO
28. 2013 Masters champ Scott ADAM
29. Whom Dennis often menaced MR WILSON
31. Bass ending -OON
32. __ factor ICK
34. Paper punditry OP-EDS
37. Common Market letters EEC
38. Slim fish EEL
39. Retired boomer SST
40. Karmann __: sports car GHIA
42. Hardly handy INEPT
44. Dry-eyes solution SALINE
46. Doesn’t eat with one’s mouth closed? CHEWS AND AAHS (from “oohs and aahs”)
49. German finale ENDE
50. Dash devices TACHS
53. Doctrinal suffix -ISM
54. Strings for Orpheus LYRE
55. Wash. setting PST
56. Onetime Ritz competitor HI-HO
57. Smidge IOTA
60. “That’s what they tell me” SO I GATHER
64. Double Stuf treats OREOS
66. Astronauts’ gear G-SUITS
68. Cab cousin ZIN
69. Running bird EMU
70. Take advantage of USE
71. Vacant seat you only thought you saw? CHAIR APPARENT (from “heir apparent”)
75. Right-to-left lang. HEB
76. Some light bulbs GES
77. Capek’s robot play RUR
78. Competed in a regatta, perhaps SAILED
79. Future moss SPORE
81. Settings for Monet HAYFIELDS
85. Genetic chains RNAS
86. Actor Ken OLIN
87. Spot on a card PIP
88. City east of Wichita IOLA
90. Former telecom company MCI
92. Seasonal tunes NOELS
93. Gung-ho AVID
95. Spread for Sunday morning coffee hour? CHAPEL BUTTER (from “apple butter’)
99. Louis XV furniture style ROCOCO
102. Hacienda brick ADOBE
103. Bounce in a cave ECHO
104. Passenger vehicle CAR
107. Antlered animal ELK
108. The law has a long one ARM
110. Horace poem EPODE
112. “__ So Shy”: Pointer Sisters hit HE’S
113. Suffix with lact- -OSE
114. Jefferson Airplane genre ACID ROCK
117. Dinghy movers OARS
119. Put sows below cows? RHYMED
121. Like horses MANED
122. Glance at the blackboard? “CHALKWARD” MOMENT (from “awkward moment”)
126. Journalistic slant ANGLE
127. Twelve __: neighbor of Tara OAKS
128. Houston athlete ASTRO
129. Thing south of the border COSA
130. Asked POSED
131. Like some audiobooks ON CD
132. Dublin-born poet YEATS
133. Uncommon blood type: Abbr. A-NEG

Down
1. Users’ shortcuts MACROS
2. Bumpkins YAHOOS
3. One forging a doctor’s note, maybe TRUANT
4. Driven drove HERD
5. Eggy pastry BRIOCHE
6. Dusk, to Donne E’EN
7. Minuscule lake plant ALGA
8. Make a mess of MISDO
9. Secure for the trip STRAP IN
10. Poisonous slitherer ASP
11. Old reciprocal electrical unit MHO
12. Thing to fill out FORM
13. Dover distance METRE
14. Mineral used in glassmaking SILICA
15. Mickey Mouse enemy __ Eagle EMIL
16. What Alice’s adventures began with? CHASE IN THE HOLE (from “ace in the hole”)
17. Constantly TO NO END
18. Marvel Comics superhero? STAN LEE
24. Stable sounds NEIGHS
25. Fix text EMEND
30. “Scream” director Craven WES
33. New Zealand bird KIWI
35. Agreement DEAL
36. Fixes SPAYS
41. St. Francis’ home ASSISI
43. Via, à la Burns THRO’
45. “__ we forget” LEST
46. Polite sneeze CHOO
47. Pepé Le Pew’s pursuit AMOUR
48. Appropriated SEIZED
50. “His house is in the village __”: Frost THOUGH
51. With 74-Down, dramatic Navy mission AIR-SEA
52. Pizza scraps? CHEESY PICKINGS (from “easy pickings”)
55. Slacks PANTS
58. Reunión attendees TIAS
59. How some stock is sold AT PAR
61. Sling spirits GIN
62. “Kicked-Up Sandwiches” author EMERIL
63. Knighted Flemish painter RUBENS
65. Rx SCRIP
66. Spaghetti sauce staple GARLIC
67. Quick ride SPIN
72. Nuanced color HUE
73. “Democracy is two wolves and __ voting on what to have for lunch”: Franklin A LAMB
74. See 51-Down RESCUE
80. In need POOR
82. Stereotypical pooch FIDO
83. Qatar’s capital DOHA
84. “Same Time, Next Year” playwright Bernard SLADE
89. Each A POP
91. Rash symptom ITCH
92. Arkansas River tributary NEOSHO
93. Visitors center handout AREA MAP
94. Mount Rainier, e.g. VOLCANO
96. You don’t have to turn its pages E-BOOK
97. Took out in cuffs, say LED AWAY
98. Hot drink holder THERMOS
100. Checked the ID of CARDED
101. Guatemala gold ORO
104. Singles bar lure COME-ON
105. Sort of, with “in” A SENSE
106. Sale indicator RED TAG
109. “Wedding Bell Blues” soloist Marilyn MCCOO
111. Take out ERASE
115. Take out DELE
116. “Star Trek” villain KHAN
118. Monterrey miss: Abbr. SRTA
120. Song with arm motions YMCA
123. “Best in Show” org. AKC
124. ’60s hallucinogen LSD
125. Gere title gynecologist DR T

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7 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword Answers 18 Oct 15, Sunday”

  1. Very enjoyable Sunday puzzle. Nice degree of difficulty in that it took me a little longer than normal, but it was doable. The theme helped a lot once I figured it out.

    I'm now convinced these setters are avid readers of Bill's blog. I hadn't even thought of a Karmann Ghia until we mentioned it just a few days ago here. Then it magically appears in today's puzzle….hmmm

    Ask anyone who has been subjected to a G-suit and they'll tell you it feels like getting kicked in the gut when it tightens. Pilots have to alter their breathing at times as well.

    This is what I love about crosswords: Who would have thought when I awoke this morning that I would find LIANA – a tropical vine for crying out loud – one of the most interesting tidbits of the day?

    Best –

  2. I must humbly disagree that the unit mho was replaced by the sieman-the units are identical only the name was changed, and most US engineers still use mho on the exceedingly rare occasion that that unit would ever be used

  3. I would speculate that the unit for the inverse of resistance is more common in crosswords than in technical specs

  4. Nice and interesting puzzle. The Hebrew word for a "Hebrew" individual should be transliterated and pronounced "Ivri" and not "Ibri" since the letter "Bet" in the Hebrew word is unaccentuated, and therefore pronounced in this case like the English "Vee". Similarly, the Hebrew language itself is called "Ivrit" in Hebrew. Famously the prophet Jonah, replying to the numerous questions put to him by the desperate storm-tossed sailors, asking him to reveal his occupation, his origin, his country, and his people, simply answered "Ivri anochi" ("I am a Hebrew").

  5. A pleasant puzzle, and it was nice to be reminded of the Robert Frost poem.

    I also enjoyed Ben Franklin's comment about democracy, which I had not heard before.

    I also did not know that Ben was a chess player (though it doesn't surprise me). In high school, I wanted very much to play chess well; somehow, it fit my self-image. Sadly, after much effort, I was forced to admit that, even though I could work out the answers to chess problems, I had absolutely no talent for the game itself. None. Zilch. Zero. It was probably a good lesson: each of us has strong points and weak points and sometimes we just have to accept what we find ourselves with.

  6. @Dave re: "good lesson:" Nicely put! I've found as I get older that my strengths become clearer & I appreciate them more.
    Unfortunately, these newer Sunday puzzles are NOT bringing out my best. I got frustrated with this one and DNF — tho I'll try it again tomorrow. All respect to the setters, but I miss Merle!!! :'(

  7. I also studied Robert Frost's poetry in school. We also sang several of them in chorus that had been set to music by Randall Thompson in his Frostiana collection ("Choose Something Like A Star", "The Pasture" and this one.) However it wasn't until today that I realized the rhyming scheme of "Stopping…" was AABA BBCB CCDC DDDD.

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