LA Times Crossword Answers 10 Feb 16, Wednesday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Roasting bird CAPON
A capon is a castrated cockerel (poor guy!). Castration has a profound effect on the bird (duh!) making the meat more tender to eat when it is slaughtered.

15. NATO alphabet ender ZULU
The NATO phonetic alphabet is also called the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) phonetic alphabet. It goes Alfa, Bravo, Charlie … Zulu.

16. Ancient Andean INCA
The Inca people emerged as a tribe around the 12th century, in what today is southern Peru. The Incas developed a vast empire over the next 300 years, extending along most of the western side of South America. The Empire of course fell to the Spanish, finally dissolving in 1572 with the execution of Tupac Amaru, the last Incan Emperor.

20. Bar sing-along KARAOKE
“Karate”, means “open hand”, and the related word “karaoke” means “open orchestra”.

21. Quasi-convertible option T-TOP
A T-top is a car roof that has removable panels on either side of a rigid bar that runs down the center of the vehicle above the driver.

“Quasi” is a Latin word meaning “as if, as though”. We use the term in English as a prefix to mean “having a likeness to something”.

22. Rock gp. with winds and strings ELO
The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) is a symphonic rock group from the north of England. The band’s manager was Don Arden, father of Sharon Osbourne (wife of Ozzy).

23. Mil. training site OCS
Officer Candidate School (OCS)

32. “Cure Ignorance” online reader UTNE
The “Utne Reader” is known for aggregation and republishing of articles on politics, culture and the environment from other sources in the media. The “Utne Reader” was founded in 1984, with “Utne” being the family name of the couple that started the publication. The magazine uses the slogan “Cure Ignorance”.

34. Glamorous Gardner AVA
Ava Gardner is noted for her association with some big movies, but also for her association with some big names when it came to the men in her life. In the world of film, she appeared in the likes of “Mogambo” (1953), “On the Beach” (1959), “The Night of the Iguana” (1964) and “Earthquake” (1974). The men in her life included husbands Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra. After her marriages had failed (and perhaps before!) she had long-term relationships with Howard Hughes and bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguin whom she met through her friend Ernest Hemingway.

37. Strummed strings UKES
The ukulele (“uke”) originated in the 1800s and mimicked a small guitar brought to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants.

42. Linen fiber source FLAX
Flax is mainly grown for its seeds (to make oil) and for its fibers. Flax fibers have been used to make linen for centuries, certainly back as far as the days of the Ancient Egyptians. Flax fibers are soft and shiny, resembling blond hair, hence the term “flaxen hair”.

43. Newspaper space measurement LINAGE
“Linage” is the name given to the number of printed lines taken up by an article or advertisement say, in a magazine or a newspaper.

53. Apt name for a cook? STU
“Stu” might be an apt name for a chef, because it the name sounds like “stew”.

67. Nautical table listing TIDES
Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon on the oceans. At neap tide, the smaller gravitational effect of the sun cancels out some of the moon’s effect. At spring tide, the sun and the moon’s gravitational forces act in concert causing more extreme movement of the oceans.

69. “Bossypants” memoirist Fey TINA
Tina Fey’s 2011 humorous autobiography “Bossypants” topped the New York Times Best Seller list for five weeks.

70. Mail-order-only company until 1925 SEARS
Richard Sears was a station agent on the railroad. In the late 1800s, he bought up a shipment of unwanted watches that was left at his depot and sold the watches to other agents up and down the line. He was so successful that he ordered more watches and then came up with the idea of using a catalog to promote more sales. The catalog idea caught on, and his success allowed Sears to open retail locations in 1925. By the mid 1900s, Sears was the biggest retailer in the whole country.

Down
2. Acid neutralizer ALKALI
The “opposite” of an acid is a base. Acids turn litmus paper red, and bases turn it blue. Acids and bases react with each other to form salts. An important subset of the chemicals called bases are the alkalis, the hydroxides of the alkali metals and of ammonium. The term “alkali” is sometimes used interchangeably with “base”, especially if that base is readily soluble in water.

3. “Little grey cells” detective POIROT
Hercule Poirot is Agatha Christie’s renowned detective, a wonderful Belgian who plies his trade from his base in London. Poirot’s most famous case is the “Murder on the Orient Express”. First appearing in “The Mysterious Affair at Styles”, published in 1920, Poirot finally succumbs to a heart condition in the 1975 book “Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case”. Famously, Poirot is fond of using his “little grey cells”.

4. Draft category ONE-A
The US government maintains information on all males who are potentially subject to military conscription, using what is called the Selective Service System(SS). In the event that a draft was held, men registered would be classified into groups to determine eligibility for service. Class 1-A registrants are those available for unrestricted military service. Other classes are 1-A-O (conscientious objector available for noncombatant service), 4-A (registrant who has completed military service) and 4-D (Minister of religion).

5. “Quo Vadis” emperor NERO
“Quo Vadis” is an epic drama made in 1951, an adaptation of the 1896 novel of the same name written by Henryk Sienkiewicz. At the top of the bill were Robert Taylor and Deborah Kerr, with Peter Ustinov playing the Emperor Nero. There was also an uncredited extra making her first appearance on the screen, a young lady by the name of Sophia Loren.

6. Tenochtitlán native AZTEC
Tenochtitlán was a city-state that was the capital of the Aztec Empire in the 15th century. It was located in on an island in Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico. After Tenochtitlán was captured by the Spanish in 1521, they leveled the city and their own settlement, which grew into today’s Mexico City.

7. Play about automatons 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”.

10. Brand with a flame over the “i” in its logo ZIPPO
The first Zippo lighter was made in 1933, in Bradford, Pennsylvania. The name “Zippo” was simply a word invented by the company founder, George Blaisdell, as he liked the word “zipper”. You can buy one today for $12.95, or if you want the solid gold model … for $8,675.95.

11. Artist Yoko ONO
Yoko Ono is an avant-garde artist. Ono actually met her future husband John Lennon for the first time while she was preparing her conceptual art exhibit called “Hammer a Nail”. Visitors were encouraged to hammer in a nail into a wooden board, creating the artwork. Lennon wanted to hammer in the first nail, but Ono stopped him as the exhibition had not yet opened. Apparently Ono relented when Lennon paid her an imaginary five shillings to hammer an imaginary nail into the wood.

12. Big name in bar code scanners NCR
NCR is an American company that has been in business since 1884, originally called the National Cash Register Company. The company has done well in a market where new technologies seem to be constantly disrupting the status quo.

13. Dennings of “2 Broke Girls” KAT
Kat Dennings is the stage name of actress Katherine Litwack, noted today for her co-starring role on CBS’s sitcom “2 Broke Girls”. Dennings is an avid blogger, and you can check out her video blog on YouTube.

“2 Broke Girls” is a sitcom about two young ladies sharing an apartment in Brooklyn, and their attempts to launch a cupcake business. The title characters are played by Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs.

18. Hybrid tennis attire SKORTS
Skorts are a hybrid between shorts and a skirt.

24. Besmirches SULLIES
“To sully” is to stain, tarnish. The term is often used in the context of sullying or tarnishing a reputation.

“Besmirch” is a derivative of “smirch”, with both words meaning to “make dirty”. In particular, to besmirch is to sully someone’s reputation.

26. Powerful shark MAKO
The shortfin mako shark can appear on restaurant menus, and as a result the species is dying out in some parts of the world. The mako gets its own back sometimes though, and attacks on humans are not unknown. And the shark in Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea”, that’s a mako.

28. Carrier to Oslo SAS
SAS was formerly known as Scandinavian Airlines System and is the flag carrier of three countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. SAS is based at Stockholm Arlanda Airport located just north of the Swedish capital.

Oslo, the capital of Norway, is an ancient city that was founded around 1048. The medieval city was destroyed by fire in 1624 and was rebuilt by the Danish-Norwegian king Christian IV and renamed to Christiana. In 1877 there was an official change of the spelling of the city’s name to “Kristiana”, and then more recently in 1925 the name was restored to the original Oslo. Things have almost gone full circle and now the center of Oslo, the area that would have been contained by the original medieval walls, has apparently been renamed to Christiana.

30. Cereal “for kids” TRIX
Trix is a corn-based breakfast cereal that has been around since 1954, produced by General Mills. Ads for the cereal featured Trix Rabbit, who would try hard to get hold of bowls of the cereal. He would always get caught though, and be admonished with, “Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!” With 46% sugar content, the rabbit probably wouldn’t have liked it anyway …

33. Many a “Hunger Games” fan TEEN
“The Hunger Games” is a 2008 novel by Suzanne Collins, the first in a trilogy of titles that also includes “Catching Fire” (2009) and “Mockingjay” (2010). “The Hunger Games” was adapted into a very successful movie released in 2012, with the sequels following soon after. Amazon.com reports more sales of “The Hunger Games” series books than even the “Harry Potter” series.

37. Colorado natives UTES
The Ute is a group of Native American tribes that now resides in Utah and Colorado. The Ute were not a unified people as such, but rather a loose association of nomadic groups.

38. Cobalt __ BLUE
Cobalt blue is a pigment, a pigment with a lighter shade than Prussian blue. Cobalt blue is made from cobalt oxide and alumina, and is used as a coloring agent in ceramics, jewelry and paint. Even “transparent” glass usually contains a little cobalt blue, giving a slight blue tint.

48. New York lake near Utica ONEIDA
Oneida Lake is the largest lake lying entirely within the state of New York. Oneida is situated close to New York’s Finger Lakes, but it isn’t one of them. Having said that, some regard Oneida Lake as the “thumb” that goes along with the “fingers”.

Utica in New York is known as “Second Chance City” these days, due to the recent influx of refugees from war-torn parts of the world and from Bosnia in particular. These immigrants have helped revitalize the area and reverse a trend of population loss.

49. Pantry LARDER
The Latin word for bacon or lard, is “lardum”, from which developed a Middle Latin word “lardarium” meaning a “room for meats”. This came into English as “larder” to describe a meat storeroom. Over time, our larders stored all types of foods and our fresh meats went into refrigerators.

The word “pantry” dates back to 1300 when it came into English from the Old French “panetrie” meaning a “bread room”. Bread is “pain” in French, and “panis” in Latin.

52. Hidden stockpile CACHE
A “cache” is a secret supply. We imported the term into English from French Canadian trappers in the 17th century. Back then, “cache” was as slang term for a “hiding place for stores”, derived from the French verb “cacher” meaning “to hide”.

54. Iota preceder THETA
The Greek letter theta is the one that looks like a number zero with a horizontal line in the middle.

57. California’s __ Valley SIMI
Nowadays Simi Valley, California is perhaps best known as being home to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. If you ever get the chance to do so, the library is a great place to visit. There you can tour one of the retired Air Force One planes.

59. D-Day transports LSTS
LST stands for Landing Ship, Tank. LSTs were the large vessels used mainly in WWII that had doors at either ends through which tanks and other vehicles could roll off and onto beaches. The design concept persists to this day in the huge fleet of commercial roll-on/roll-off car ferries, all inspired by the LST.

60. __-dieu: kneeler PRIE
Prie-dieu literally means “pray (to) God” in French. A prie-dieu is basically a padded kneeler, with an armrest in front and a shelf on which one placed books of prayer.

62. Clearance rack abbr. IRR
Irregular (irr.)

63. Fort Worth sch. TCU
Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private school in Fort Worth, Texas. TCU used to be called AddRan Male & Female, named after an AddRan Clark, the son of Addison Clark who died at the age of 3-years-old from diphtheria. Poor young AddRan was named after his father and his brother, Addison and Randolph.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Roasting bird CAPON
6. Kennel racket ARFS
10. Doze, with “out” ZONK
14. How writers often work ALONE
15. NATO alphabet ender ZULU
16. Ancient Andean INCA
17. Lift SKIER’S TRANSPORT
20. Bar sing-along KARAOKE
21. Quasi-convertible option T-TOP
22. Rock gp. with winds and strings ELO
23. Mil. training site OCS
25. Pizzeria attractions AROMAS
29. Nervous giggle TITTER
32. “Cure Ignorance” online reader UTNE
34. Glamorous Gardner AVA
35. Windy-day window noise RATTLE
37. Strummed strings UKES
38. Lift BRIT’S ELEVATOR
42. Linen fiber source FLAX
43. Newspaper space measurement LINAGE
44. So last week OUT
45. Take in the wrong way? OGLE
47. Split with the band GO SOLO
51. Pet shelter mission RESCUE
53. Apt name for a cook? STU
55. Put the cuffs on NAB
56. Does one’s part? ACTS
58. Elves, at times HELPERS
61. Lift HITCHHIKER’S RIDE
65. Curved entrance adornment ARCH
66. Drop OMIT
67. Nautical table listing TIDES
68. “Okay, granted” TRUE
69. “Bossypants” memoirist Fey TINA
70. Mail-order-only company until 1925 SEARS

Down
1. Small jewelry box CASKET
2. Acid neutralizer ALKALI
3. “Little grey cells” detective POIROT
4. Draft category ONE-A
5. “Quo Vadis” emperor NERO
6. Tenochtitlán native AZTEC
7. Play about automatons RUR
8. Like much desert FLAT
9. Acquisition on a blanket, perhaps SUNTAN
10. Brand with a flame over the “i” in its logo ZIPPO
11. Artist Yoko ONO
12. Big name in bar code scanners NCR
13. Dennings of “2 Broke Girls” KAT
18. Hybrid tennis attire SKORTS
19. Ticked off SORE
24. Besmirches SULLIES
26. Powerful shark MAKO
27. Say with certainty AVER
28. Carrier to Oslo SAS
30. Cereal “for kids” TRIX
31. Work on a course EAT
33. Many a “Hunger Games” fan TEEN
36. Bluffer’s giveaway TELL
37. Colorado natives UTES
38. Cobalt __ BLUE
39. “Aw, shucks!” RATS!
40. Harder to see, as shapes VAGUER
41. Have-at link A GO
42. Voting yes on FOR
45. “That stings!” OUCH!
46. Hit a winning streak GET HOT
48. New York lake near Utica ONEIDA
49. Pantry LARDER
50. Dominate the thoughts of OBSESS
52. Hidden stockpile CACHE
54. Iota preceder THETA
57. California’s __ Valley SIMI
59. D-Day transports LSTS
60. __-dieu: kneeler PRIE
61. New Year’s party handout HAT
62. Clearance rack abbr. IRR
63. Fort Worth sch. TCU
64. Many holiday guests KIN

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