LA Times Crossword Answers 9 Jan 16, Saturday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Mary Lou Guizzo & Jeff Chen
THEME: None
BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 17m 10s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 3 … PIN OAK (pee oak!), GTI (GTE), FNMA (FEMA!!!)

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Directive to a dealer HIT ME!
“Stand” and “”hit me” are instructions to the dealer in the card game Blackjack.

16. Strength in numbers? PREDICTIVE POWER
In the world of science, a theory should have explanatory power and predictive power. Basically, said theory can explain existing data, and also predict data that has yet to be gathered. For example, when Neptune was discovered in 1846, the existence of the planet had already been predicted based on Newton’s law of universal gravitation.

19. What “this love is,” in a Taylor Swift title OURS
Singer Taylor Swift had one of her first gigs at the US Open tennis tournament when she was in her early teens. There she sang the national anthem and received a lot of favorable attention for the performance.

25. __ cut: fabric design technique BIAS
In the world of woven textiles, a bias cut is a cut made diagonally across both the weft and weave threads.

26. Birch of Indiana BAYH
Birch Bayh is a former US Senator from Indiana. He ran for the Democratic nomination for president in the 1976 election, but lost out to Jimmy Carter. Bayh was in a small plane crash in 1964 with his colleague Senator Ted Kennedy. Kennedy was badly injured and Bayh pulled him from the wreckage to safety.

28. Unkempt abode STY
The word “unkempt” means “disheveled, not well-combed”. It derives from the Old English word “cemban” meaning “to comb”. The opposite to the more common “unkempt” is … “kempt”.

29. Umbrian tourist town 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).

32. Salisbury smooch SNOG
“Snogging” is British slang of unknown origin that dates back to the end of WWII. The term is used for “kissing and cuddling”, what we call “making out” over here in the US.

Salisbury is the only city in the the county of Wiltshire, in England. It sits at the edge of Salisbury Plain, home of the famous Stonehenge.

34. Beats the rap GETS OFF SCOT-FREE
The phrase “scot-free” means “free from punishment, restraint or obligation”. The term derives from the Old English “scotfreo” meaning “exempt from royal tax”, with “scot” being a royal tax.

A rap sheet is a criminal record. “Rap” is a slang term dating back to the 1700s that means “blame, responsibility” as in “to take the rap” and “to beat the rap”. This usage morphed into “rap sheet” in the early 1900s.

40. __ Accords: Israel/PLO agreements OSLO
The Oslo Accords grew out of secret negotiations between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel in a residence in Oslo in the early nineties. The delegates shared the same house while they conducted 14 meetings. While eating all their meals together at the same table, the negotiators came to respect one another and apparently friendships developed.

41. Acorn bearer PIN OAK
The pin oak is also called the swamp Spanish oak. The name “pin oak” may have been given because the tree has many small and slender twigs. The name may also come from the fact that the hard wood from the tree was traditionally used to make wooden pins used in building construction.

42. Ad follower HOC
The Latin phrase “ad hoc” means “for this purpose”.

47. Smidge MITE
A mite is a small amount, as in “the widow’s mite”, a story from the Bible.

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”.

48. Mocks JAPES
“To jape” means “to joke or quip”. The exact origins of “jape” are unclear, but it does seem to come from Old French. In the mid-1600’s “to jape” was a slang term meaning “to have sex with”. No joke!

55. Joan of art MIRO
Joan Miro was a Spanish artist. Miro immersed himself in Surrealism, so much so that Andre Breton, the founder of the movement, said that Miro was “the most Surrealist of us all”.

56. __ Dome: Lucas Oil Stadium predecessor RCA
The RCA Dome was probably better known as the Hoosier dome, home to the Indianapolis Colts from 1984-2007. It was torn down in 2008, but the inflated roof was put to good use afterwards. The material was re-purposed by local artisans, creating wallets, messenger bags etc. These can still be purchased, with proceeds going to charity.

58. Best Actress the year before Kate Winslet MARION COTILLARD
Marion Cotillard is the French actress who played Édith Piaf in the 2007 movie “La Vie en Rose”. Cotillard won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance, marking the first time that an actress has won a Best Actress Academy Award for a performance in a French language film.

Kate Winslet is one of my favorite actresses, someone known for taking both the big Hollywood roles while still finding the time to act in smaller independent films. Perhaps Winslet’s most famous part was opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in “Titanic”, although she won her Oscar for a more dramatic role in “The Reader”. But my favorite of her performances is in the romantic comedy “The Holiday” from 2006. I love that movie …

62. Neptune, e.g. SEA GOD
Neptune was the Roman god of the sea and of freshwater. He was sometimes known as “Neptunus Equester” as he was also the god of horses and patron of horse-racing.

Down
1. Drill cadence syllables HUPS
Hup two three four …

3. “If I Can’t Love Her” singer, in a 1994 musical THE BEAST
1991’s “Beauty and the Beast” was the first Disney animated feature to be adapted into a stage musical, premiering on Broadway in 1994. The show ran on Broadway until 2007, when it closed to make way for another Disney movie adaption, “The Little Mermaid”. Disney has done well on the stage since “Beauty and the Beast” opened, with “The Lion King”, “Tarzan” and “Mary Poppins”.

5. Literature Nobelist who won two posthumous Tony Awards ELIOT
T. S. Eliot was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948, largely due to his “Four Quartets”, a set of four poems that Eliot himself considered to be his life’s masterpiece. He also won a Tony Award in 1950 for Best Play, for “The Cocktail Party”. Eliot also won two posthumous Tony Awards in 1983 for his poems that are used in the musical “Cats”.

6. __ lane HOV
In some parts of the country one sees high-occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV lanes). Out here in California we call them carpool lanes.

7. Spanish 101 word ERES
“Eres” is Spanish for “are”.

11. Kevin of “Shark Tank” O’LEARY
Kevin O’Leary is a businessman and investor from Montreal who is one of the “sharks” on the American reality show “Shark Tank”, and one of the “dragons” on the Canadian show “Dragon’s Den”.

“Shark Tank” is a reality television show that features aspiring entrepreneurs making pitches to potential investors (the “sharks”) as they try to grow their businesses. The show is a Mark Burnett production and is based in a British series called “Dragons’ Den”.

12. “Drat!” NERTS!
“Nerts” is a slang term, a corruption of “nuts!” and with the same meaning.

14. Support spec of a sort D-CUP
The word “brassière” is French in origin, but it isn’t the word the French use for a “bra”. In France what we call a bra is known as a “soutien-gorge”, translating to “held under the neck”. The word “brassière” is indeed used in France but there it describes a baby’s undershirt, a lifebelt or a harness. “Brassière” comes from the Old French word for an “arm protector” in a military uniform (“bras” is the French for “arm”). Later “brassière” came to mean “breastplate” and from there the word was used for a type of woman’s corset. The word jumped into English around 1900.

15. Really enlightened WISE AS SOLOMON
According to the Bible, Solomon was the son of David and a king of Israel. Notably, Solomon is described as being very wise. In the story known as “the Judgment of Solomon”, Solomon was asked to decide who of two quarreling women was the mother of a baby. He suggested that they cut the baby in two with a sword, forcing one of the women to surrender the child rather than see it die. Solomon gave the child to the woman who showed compassion.

17. Salt Lake daily TRIB
“The Salt Lake Tribune” is the largest-circulation daily newspaper in Salt Lake City. Known locally as “The Trib”, it was founded in 1870 as the “Mormon Tribune”.

27. Shooter’s target HOOP
Basketball is truly an American sport. It was created in 1891 by a James Naismith at the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts. His goal was to create something active and interesting for his students in the gym. The first “hoops” were actually peach baskets, with the bottoms of the baskets intact. When a player got the ball into the “net”, someone had to clamber up and get the ball back out again in order to continue the game!

30. Jack of “Barney Miller” SOO
Jack Soo was a Japanese American actor noted for playing Detective Nick Yemana on the sitcom “Barney Miller” in the seventies and eighties.

“Barney Miller” is a sitcom set in a Greenwich Village, New York police station. All of the action takes place actually within the station house, except for a once-a-year “special” that followed one of the detectives on a stakeout or in their home. The title character is the captain of the precinct, and is played by Hal Linden.

33. Sporty VW GTI
The Volkswagen Rabbit is a small, front-wheel drive car that is sold as the Volkswagen Golf outside of North America. There is a very popular GTI version of the Golf that was introduced in 1976. The initialism “GTI” stands for Grand Tourer Injection.

36. From 2009 through Sep. 2015, it paid $143 billion in dividends to the U.S. Treasury FNMA
The Federal National Mortgage Association is commonly called Fannie Mae, a play on the initialism FNMA. Fannie Mae was founded in during the Great Depression as part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal.

37. Concern for some bodybuilders ROID RAGE
Steroids are found commonly in nature, with familiar examples being cholesterol and testosterone. The controversial class of drugs called anabolic steroids (known informally as “roids” or simply “steroids”) are artificially produced chemicals designed to mimic the effect of the male sex hormone, testosterone. They are termed “anabolic” as they build up cellular tissue (particularly muscle) in a process called anabolism. Taking anabolic steroids can be termed “juicing”, and the aggressive behavior that can be a side-effect is known as “roid rage”.

38. Issues a mea culpa EATS CROW
The phrase “eat crow”, an alternative to “eat humble pie”, perhaps refers to the fact that cooked crow may be edible, but is not a great food choice.

Many Roman Catholics are very familiar with the Latin phrase “mea culpa” meaning “my fault”, as it is used in the Latin Mass. The additional term “mea maxima culpa” translates as “my most grievous fault”.

42. Museo de la Revolución city HAVANA
Havana is the capital city of Cuba. The city was founded by the Spanish in the early 1500s after which it became a strategic location for Spain’s exploration and conquest of the Americas. In particular, Havana was used as a stopping-off point for treasure-laden ships on the return journey to Spain.

Havana’s Museo de la Revolución is housed in what used to be the Presidential Palace. The palace was completed in 1920 and was first occupied by President Mario Garcia Menocal. The palace’s last occupant was President Fulgencio Batista, who was overthrown during the Cuban Revolution in the 1950s. The museum contains exhibits covering the period of the revolution, and the nation’s subsequent history.

43. “Ring Cycle” quartet OPERAS
Richard Wagner’s “Ring Cycle” is more properly called “Der Ring des Nibelungen”, and is composed of four very, very long operas. The individual operas are:

– “Das Rheingold”
– “Die Walkure”
– “Siegfried”
– “Gotterdammerung”

44. Color similar to crimson CERISE
The red color that we know as “cerise” takes its name from “cerise”, the French word for “cherry”.

46. Narrow shore point SPIT
A spit is a sandy projection into the sea that has been formed by deposition. The term comes from the pointed rod used for roasting meat, also called a spit.

48. Portrayer of Django and Ray JAMIE
Jamie Foxx is the professional name used by Eric Marlon Bishop, an actor from Terrell, Texas. Foxx is a very versatile entertainer. He is an Oscar-winning actor (for playing the title role in “Ray”), and a Grammy Award winning musician. He is also a stand-up comedian and a talk-radio host.

“Django Unchained” is a Quentin Tarantino film that was released in 2012, starring Jamie Foxx in the title role of branded black slave just before the outbreak of the Civil War. It is the highest grossing film that Tarantino has made to date. I tend to avoid Tarantino movies as I find them to be unnecessarily violent. Apparently “Django Unchained” is one of his more violent offerings.

Ray Charles came up with his stage name by dropping the family name from his real moniker, Ray Charles Robinson. His life was a wild ride, well represented in the excellent biopic called “Ray” released in 2004 and starring Jamie Foxx in the title role. Ray Charles was married twice and fathered 12 children with nine different women. As I said, a wild ride …

49. Throws below STOWS
A seaman stows things below decks.

51. “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” screenwriter URIS
Leon Uris is an American writer. Uris’s most famous books are “Exodus” and “Trinity”, two excellent stories, in my humble opinion …

“Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” is a 1957 movie about the famous shootout that took place in 1881 in Tombstone. The movie has quite the cast, including Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Dennis Hopper, DeForest Kelley and Lee Van Cleef. The screenplay for the film was written by novelist Leon Uris.

54. Snoot SNOB
Back in the 1780s, a “snob” was a shoemaker or a shoemaker’s apprentice. By the end of the 18th century the word was being used by students at Cambridge University in England to refer to all local merchants and people of the town. The term evolved to mean one who copies those who are his or her social superior (and not in a good way). From there it wasn’t a big leap for “snob” to include anyone who emphasized their superior social standing and not just those who aspired to rank. Nowadays a snob is anyone who looks down on those considered to be of inferior standing.

“Snoot” is a variant of “snout” and is a word that originated in Scotland. The idea is that someone who is “snooty”, or snouty, tends to look down his or her nose at the rest of the world.

60. Pull-up beneficiary, briefly LAT
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”.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Directive to a dealer HIT ME!
6. Adds liberally HEAPS ON
13. Sustain UPHOLD
15. Apple bug? WORMHOLE
16. Strength in numbers? PREDICTIVE POWER
18. Blubber SOB
19. What “this love is,” in a Taylor Swift title OURS
20. Shades go-with SUN HAT
21. Shepherd’s dishes? MEAT PIES
24. Fruit trees PEARS
25. __ cut: fabric design technique BIAS
26. Birch of Indiana BAYH
28. Unkempt abode STY
29. Umbrian tourist town ASSISI
32. Salisbury smooch SNOG
34. Beats the rap GETS OFF SCOT-FREE
40. __ Accords: Israel/PLO agreements OSLO
41. Acorn bearer PIN OAK
42. Ad follower HOC
45. Some 55-Across works OILS
47. Smidge MITE
48. Mocks JAPES
50. Blockers’ targets POP-UP ADS
53. Dodges AVERTS
55. Joan of art MIRO
56. __ Dome: Lucas Oil Stadium predecessor RCA
58. Best Actress the year before Kate Winslet MARION COTILLARD
61. Dizzy with delight IN A SWOON
62. Neptune, e.g. SEA GOD
63. Gently passes EASES BY
64. Simmers STEWS

Down
1. Drill cadence syllables HUPS
2. Swear words I PROMISE
3. “If I Can’t Love Her” singer, in a 1994 musical THE BEAST
4. Hip MOD
5. Literature Nobelist who won two posthumous Tony Awards ELIOT
6. __ lane HOV
7. Spanish 101 word ERES
8. Vitalize AMP UP
9. Calls or cells PHONES
10. “Like I care” SO WHAT?
11. Kevin of “Shark Tank” O’LEARY
12. “Drat!” NERTS!
14. Support spec of a sort D-CUP
15. Really enlightened WISE AS SOLOMON
17. Salt Lake daily TRIB
22. Sale warning AS IS
23. Harmonize SYNC
25. Snare BAG
27. Shooter’s target HOOP
30. Jack of “Barney Miller” SOO
31. Logician’s words IF SO
33. Sporty VW GTI
35. Cheeky FLIP
36. From 2009 through Sep. 2015, it paid $143 billion in dividends to the U.S. Treasury FNMA
37. Concern for some bodybuilders ROID RAGE
38. Issues a mea culpa EATS CROW
39. Squeak (out) EKE
42. Museo de la Revolución city HAVANA
43. “Ring Cycle” quartet OPERAS
44. Color similar to crimson CERISE
46. Narrow shore point SPIT
48. Portrayer of Django and Ray JAMIE
49. Throws below STOWS
51. “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” screenwriter URIS
52. Spherical extremities POLES
54. Snoot SNOB
57. Tosses in ADDS
59. Playing hard to get COY
60. Pull-up beneficiary, briefly LAT

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7 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword Answers 9 Jan 16, Saturday”

  1. Difficult, as all Saturday puzzles are. I needed a few googles and over an hour with this thing, but I "finished" it. There were just too many unknowns for me to make up with crosses alone. Best part of the puzzle was the explanation of the derivation of the term "scot free". I had no idea.

    Barney Miller is probably one of my 5 favorite shows of all time. Soo's character, Nick, as well as Dietrich and Harris are 3 of the best characters from any sitcom I've ever seen. I might add Mr. Carlin from The Bob Newhart Show to that list…

    I love all of Leon Uris's novels, but they are typically half history books half novels. He really gives you the historical background of the stories in spades.

    The one time I was able to attend The Late Show with David Letterman in New York City, Jamie Foxx was his guest. Letterman usually interviewed a guest (or two) and then brought out a musical act to finish off the show. For this show, Foxx was the only interviewee and then performed a song himself at the end. I left very impressed with the man – very funny and very talented.

    As an aside – although they were free, you had to apply for tickets to the show. I did so online when I knew the dates I would be in NYC. A few weeks out, I received a call while I was on a plane about to take off from Atlanta from a representative from the show, and they needed to ask me some questions. I explained that I was about to take off and that I would be landing in Houston in about 2 hours. As we landed, I immediately turned my phone on, and within a minute I got a call from the show. They started asking me trivia questions about the show – presumably to make sure I was a sufficiently avid fan – and when I got them all correct, they reserved my seats for me. There I was on an otherwise quiet plane, answering David Letterman trivia questions for all to hear. Embarrassing, but worth it.

    Best-

  2. This grid was like pulling teeth without being numbed up. Two letters left blank, so DNF. I just could not see the "up" in "popup ads" for 50 Across, so I didn't get the first letters for "Uris" going down for 51 or "poles" for 52. Doh!

    Have a great weekend all. See you tomorrow.

  3. Too late to check in yesterday on the puzzle.
    Finished correctly on that bear after stepping away for awhile. The cluing was diabolical.
    Today was just another "press solve" day.
    We watch the Shark Tank and I couldn't even remember
    Kevin O'LEARY's name.
    Hope you all do better than I did.

  4. I solved it 100%! Probably the first time ever I got the LA Times
    puzzle totally correct when Bill had some errors. I am going to be
    full of myself for the rest of the day… 🙂

  5. Very irritating puzzle.
    Pull ups are diapers, and therefore used by TOTs. (got to get out of the house more…)
    Spheres don't have extremities, any one point is the same as any other point, so I was looking for spheres on extremities.
    I also had FEMA, but I know it sure doesn't pay dividends, it bleeds money.
    Carol Anne

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