LA Times Crossword Answers 14 Feb 16, Sunday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Kitchen qty. TBSP
Tablespoon (tbsp.)

5. Band of schemers CABAL
A cabal is a small group of secret plotters, perhaps scheming against a government or an individual.

10. Orgs. on 84-Across signs AGCYS
(84A. Sign of success SOLD)
Some helpful blog readers have educated me in the past about the term “Realtor” and have pointed out why the word starts with a capital letter. “Real estate agent” is a general, generic term. “Realtor” is the name given to a member of the trade association known as the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The NAR has gone so far as the trademark the term “Realtor” in the US.

20. Pine Tree State campus town ORONO
The town of Orono is home to the University of Maine, founded in 1862. The college is actually located on an island (Marsh island) lying between the Penobscot and Stillwater rivers. The town of Orono is named after Joseph Orono, a chief of the Penobscot Nation.

22. Taberna snack TAPA
“Tapa” is the Spanish word for “lid”, and there is no clear rationale for why this word came to be used for an appetizer. There are lots of explanations cited, all of which seem to involve the temporary covering of one’s glass of wine with a plate or item of food to either preserve the wine or give one extra space at the table.

24. *120-year-old candy TOOTSIE ROLL
Tootsie Rolls were developed by an Austrian candymaker called Leo Hirschfeld in New York City in 1896. Hirschfeld named the candy after his daughter, who had the nickname “Tootsie”.

26. Way to the top T-BAR
A T-bar is a type of ski lift on which the skiers are pulled up the hill in pairs, with each pair standing (not sitting!) either side of T-shaped metal bar. The bar is placed behind the thighs, pulling along the skiers as they remain standing on their skis (hopefully!). There’s also a J-bar, a similar device, but with each J-shaped bar used by one skier at a time.

29. Chicago rumblers ELS
The Chicago “L” is the second largest rapid transit system in the US, with the New York City Subway being the largest. The “L” is also the second oldest, again with the New York City Subway system having the honor of being around the longest. Note that the official nickname for the system is the “L” (originally short for “elevated railroad”), although the term “El” is also in common use (especially in crosswords as “ELS”). The L is managed by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA).

32. Dumas duelist ATHOS
Alexandre Dumas’ “Three Musketeers” are Athos, Porthos and Aramis, and their young protégé is D’Artagnan. A musketeer was an infantry soldier who was equipped with a musket. Funnily enough, the three “musketeers” really don’t use their muskets, and are better known for their prowess with their swords.

49. St. with both Lewis and Clark counties IDA
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were soldiers in the US Army. Lewis was a personal aide to President Thomas Jefferson, even residing in the Presidential Mansion. This exposure contributed to his selection as leader of the famous expedition. William Clark was actually Lewis’s boss for a while before Clark retired. Lewis asked Clark to come out of retirement to accompany him on his three-year exploration.

52. I-road? HWY
The US Interstate System is more correctly known as the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, a nod to President Eisenhower who championed the construction. The President had come to recognise the value of the German autobahn system in his experiences during WWII, and resolved to give the US a similar infrastructure. In real terms, the US Interstate construction project is said to have been the largest public works project since the Pyramids of Egypt.

53. Jamie of “M*A*S*H” FARR
Actor Jamie Farr is best known for playing the cross-dressing Max Klinger in the sitcom ”M*A*S*H”. Although Farr landed a role in the 1955 movie “Blackboard Jungle”, his career didn’t really take off until he started appearing regularly on “The Red Skelton Show”. Years later he managed to get a one-episode appearance in ”M*A*S*H”, and his character and performance were received so well that he became a regular on the show. Farr actually did serve in the US Army in Korea, although it was after hostilities had ended. The dog tags that Farr wore when filming ”M*A*S*H” were the one’s he actually wore while serving in the military.

55. Consumer protection org. FTC
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was established in 1914 with the mission of protecting consumers. The FTC runs the National Do Not Call Registry which can limit the amount of telemarketing calls that consumers receive. To register your number, simply go to the website www.donotcall.gov.

57. Coop group HENS
An Old English word for basket (“cypa”) started to be used in the 14th century as the word “coop”, meaning a small cage for poultry, a word we still use today.

60. Today’s honoree, nicknames for whom begin the answers to starred clues VALENTINE
Saint Valentine’s Day (February 14th) was chosen by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD to honor various martyrs with the name Valentine. However, the saint’s day was dropped by the Roman Catholic church in 1969, by Pope Paul VI. Try telling that to Hallmark though …

71. Jai alai ball PELOTA
The essential equipment in the game of jai alai is the pelota (ball) and the cesta (wicker scoop).

79. Where she blows THAR
“Thar she blows!” is a phrase that originated on whaling ships. A lookout spotting a whale surfacing to breathe might see the spray from the blowhole caused by the expulsion of carbon dioxide. Thar (there) she blows!

81. Sea of France MER
“Eau” is the French word for “water”; “mer” is the French word for “sea”.

82. It was orig. the State School of Mines and Metallurgy UTEP
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) was founded in 1914, originally as the Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy. To this day there is a mine shaft on the campus, and the mascot of the school’s sports teams is Paydirt Pete, a prospector from the mining industry. The teams are also known as the UTEP Miners and Lady Miners.

83. Place for pips DIE
A pip is a dot on a die or a domino, or a mark on a playing card.

89. IRS IDs SSNS
The main purpose of a Social Security Number (SSN) is to track individuals for the purposes of taxation, although given its ubiquitous use, it is looking more and more like an “identity number” to me. The social security number system was introduced in 1936. Prior to 1986, an SSN was required only for persons with substantial income so many children under 14 had no number assigned. For some years the IRS had a concern that a lot of people were claiming children on their tax returns who did not actually exist. So, from 1986 onward, it is a requirement to get an SSN for any dependents over the age of 5. Sure enough, in 1987 seven million dependents “disappeared”.

90. Agree to pay later RUN A TAB
When we “run a tab” at a bar say, we are “running a tabulation”, a listing of what we owe. Such a use of “tab” is American slang that originated in the 1880s.

95. *Ingénue’s benefactor SUGAR DADDY
So often in literature, the movies and on stage, there is an innocent woman at the the center of the story. Such stock characters came to be known as ingénues, a term derived from the French adjective “ingénu” meaning innocent, virtuous, candid and “ingenuous”.

98. *Venezuelan wonder ANGEL FALLS
Angel Falls in Venezuela is the highest uninterrupted waterfall in the world, at a height of 3,213 feet. The waterfall is named for an American aviator called James Angel who was the first to fly a plane over the falls.

102. “__ today is better than a hen tomorrow”: Franklin AN EGG
“An egg today is better than a hen tomorrow.” is a quotation from “Poor Richard’s Almanack” by Benjamin Franklin. In other words, it’s better to have a sure thing now than a possibility of something better in the future.

105. Clinton’s FBI chief FREEH
Louis Freeh was the Director of the FBI in the Clinton administration. Prior to heading up the FBI, Freeh had been a US Attorney and US district court judge. Years earlier, Freeh had started out his career with the FBI as an agent.

110. 1995 World Series winner: Abbr. ATL
The Atlanta Braves are the only team to have won baseball’s World Series in three different home cities. They won as the Boston Braves in 1914, the Milwaukee Braves in 1957 and the Atlanta Braves in 1995.

114. Dutch astronomer who lent his name to a cloud OORT
Jan Oort was an astronomer from the Netherlands who was a pioneer in radio astronomy. One of Oort’s claims to fame is that he was the first person to find evidence for the actual existence of the elusive “dark matter”, in 1932.

The Oort Cloud is a hypothetical spherical cloud of comets that lies about a light-year from the sun. It is postulated that periodic comets that enter our solar systems (like Halley’s Comet) originate in this cloud.

115. *Weasel relative HONEY BADGER
The honey badger is found in most of Africa, as well as other parts of the world. It is also called a ratel, because that is the Afrikaans word for the little beast.

118. “Permit Me Voyage” poet James AGEE
James Agee was a noted American film critic and screenwriter. Agee wrote an autobiographical novel “A Death in the Family” that won him his Pulitzer in 1958, albeit posthumously. He was also one of the screenwriters for the 1951 classic movie “The African Queen”.

“Permit Me Voyage” is the only volume of poetry published by American author James Agee.

121. Lab dish eponym PETRI
Julius Richard Petri was a German bacteriologist and was the man after whom the Petri dish is named. The petri dish can have an agar gel on the bottom which acts a nutrient source for the specimen being grown and studied, in which case the dish plus agar is referred to as an “agar plate”.

123. Hershey’s toffee bar SKOR
Skor is a candy bar produced by Hershey’s. Skor is sold in Canada as Rutnam.

125. Online admin SYSOP
System Operator (sysop)

126. Mtg. with a therapist SESS
Session (sess.)

Down
2. Double-dealer BARRACUDA
“Barracuda” is slang for someone who is treacherous or greedy. The term is used because the fish called a barracuda is large and dangerous-looking, with a fierce looking jaw filled with fang-like teeth. I was surrounded by a large school of barracuda once, many years ago while scuba diving. A scary experience …

5. Farm houses COTES
The Old English word “cote” was used for a small house. Our modern word “cottage” comes from “cote”. We now use “cote” to mean a small shelter on a farm for sheep or birds.

6. Shortstop who made his MLB debut at age 18 A-ROD
Professional baseball player Alex Rodriguez earned more nicknames than just A-Rod. He has been called “the Cooler” by some players as there is a perception that teams go cold when he joins them and hot when he leaves. He has also been called “A-Fraud” by teammates because of another perception, that he is over-demanding. Rodriguez was in a world of hurt not so long ago, for using illegal performance-enhancing drugs.

12. Corp. top banana CEO
Chief executive officer (CEO)

The expression “top banana” is used to mean “the main guy” or “Mr. Big”. The first person to use “top banana” was supposedly Vaudeville performer Harry Steppe in 1927, who applied it to the top comic on the bill. The phrase comes from a comedy routine in which three comics struggle to share two bananas.

13. TripAdvisor alternative YELP
yelp.com is a website that provides a local business directory and reviews of services. The site is sort of like Yellow Pages on steroids, and the term “yelp” is derived from “yel-low p-ages”.

28. “Dracula” (1931) director Browning TOD
Tod Browning was a Hollywood actor and director whose career spanned the silent and talkie eras. Browning is best remembered as the director of 1931’s “Dracula”, starring Bela Lugosi in the title role, and for his silent film work with Lon Chaney.

33. University of Cincinnati athlete BEARCAT
The Bearcats are the athletic teams of the University of Cincinnati. The “Bearcat” name came from a specific football game back in 1914, against the UK Wildcats. Cincinnati’s fullback on the day was Leonard Baehr, so the crowd took up the chant:

They may be the wildcats, but we have a Baehr-cat on our side!

34. Month after Av ELUL
Elul is the month in the Hebrew calendar that occurs in August-September.

36. Craving YENNING
“To yen” is to crave, to yearn.

The word “yen”, meaning “urge”, has been around in English since the very early 1900s. It comes from the earlier word “yin” imported from Chinese, which was used in English to describe an intense craving for opium!

39. “Storage Hunters” network TRUTV
truTV is a Turner Broadcasting cable network, launched in 1991 as Court TV. The name was changed to truTV in 2008.

“Storage Hunters” is a TV show about auctions of abandoned storage lockers. It’s yet another reality TV show that was cancelled here in the US after three seasons, but one that has a very big following in the UK apparently.

40. Masthead VIPs EDS
Editor (ed.)

The masthead is a list often found on the editorial page of a newspaper that gives the members of a newspaper’s editorial board.

41. Pier gp. ILA
International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA)

44. 1974 CIA parody S*P*Y*S
“S*P*Y*S” is a 1974 comedy starring Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland as two men mistaken as spies and targeted by the KGB. With all those asterisks in the film’s title, one has to assume the movie was intended to capitalize on the success of the 1970 Gould/Sutherland vehicle called “M*A*S*H”.

46. Musical climax letters FFF
The musical term “pianissimo” is abbreviated to “pp”, and is an instruction to the performer to sing or play very softly. The concept can be extended to “ppp”, short for “pianississimo”, an instruction of play even more softly. The opposite instructions are fortissimo (ff) and fortississimo (fff), instructions to perform very loudly, and even more loudly.

47. Author LeShan EDA
Eda LeShan wrote “When Your Child Drives You Crazy”, and was host of the PBS television show “How Do Your Children Grow?”

54. College basketball coach with a trophy named for him RUPP
Adolph Rupp was a very successful college basketball coach. A native of Kentucky, Rupp was a reserve player for the University of Kansas basketball team from 1919 to 1923, and then coached the Kansas men’s basketball team from 1930 to 1972.

59. Two-time A.L. Cy Young Award winner Saberhagen BRET
Bret Saberhagen is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher who started his career with the Kansas City Royals in 1984. He retired in 2001, while playing for the Boston Red Sox.

63. Swoosh company NIKE
Nike was the Greek goddess of victory, often referred to as the Winged Goddess of Victory. The athletic shoe company Nike uses the “Nike swoosh” as its logo, which is based on the goddess’s wing.

66. Jalopy HEAP
The origins of our word “jalopy” meaning “dilapidated old motor car” seem to have been lost in time, but the word has been around since the 1920s. One credible suggestion is that it comes from Jalapa, Mexico as the Jalapa scrap yards were the destination for many discarded American automobiles.

68. Carson’s successor LENO
Jay Leno was born James Leno in New Rochelle, New York. Jay’s father was the son of Italian immigrants, and his mother was from Scotland. Leno grew up in Andover, Massachusetts and actually dropped out of school on the advice of a high school guidance counsellor. However, years later he went to Emerson college and earned a Bachelor’s degree in speech therapy. Leno also started a comedy club at Emerson in 1973. Today Jay Leno is a car nut and owns about 200 vehicles of various types. You can check them out on his website: www.jaylenosgarage.com.

Johnny Carson hosted “The Tonight Show” for thirty years, from 1962 to 1992. Although Carson was the first choice to take over the show from Jack Paar, he initially declined. Carson eventually took the job, after it had also been declined by Bob Newhart, Jackie Gleason, Groucho Marx and Joey Bishop.

71. Derived from benzene PHENYL
In organic chemistry, a phenyl group has the formula C6H5. The carbon atoms in the group are arranged in a ring, just like the closely related benzene molecule (C6H6).

75. Capital near the Red Sea SANA’A
Sana (also Sana’a) is the capital city of Yemen. Within the bounds of today’s metropolis is the old fortified city of Sana, where people have lived for over 2,500 years. The Old City is now a World Heritage Site.

The Red Sea (sometimes called the Arabian Gulf) is a stretch of water lying between Africa and Asia. The Gulf of Suez (and the Suez Canal) lies to north, and the Gulf of Aden to the south. According to the Book of Exodus in the Bible, God parted the Red Sea to allow Moses lead the Israelites from Egypt.

82. Hurricane Katrina rescue gp. USCG
The US Coast Guard (USCG) has the distinction of being the country’s oldest continuous seagoing service. The USCG was founded as the Revenue Cutter Service by Alexander Hamilton in 1790. The USCG motto is “Semper Paratus”, a Latin phrase meaning “Always Prepared”.

88. Poet Sexton ANNE
Anne Sexton was a poet from Massachusetts who won the 1967 Pulitzer for poetry for her collection titled “Live or Die”. Sexton’s style of poetry is sometimes classified as “confessional”, and reveals details of her private life, including her battle with depression. She finally committed suicide in 1974 at the age of 45.

89. 1977 film retitled in 1981 STAR WARS
The epic sci-fi film “Star Wars” was released in 1977. When the movie was re-released in 1981, the subtitle “Episode IV: A New Hope” was added.

93. Winter warmers EARLAPS
Earlaps (or ear flaps) might be attached to a cap.

95. Flavors SAPORS
“Sapor” is another word for a flavor, a quality that can be tasted. “Sapor” is the Latin word for “taste, flavor”.

100. Overflow protection LEVEES
A levee is an artificial bank usually made of earth, running along the length of a river. A levee is designed to hold back river water at a time of potential flooding. “Levée” is the French word for “raised” and is an American term that originated in French-speaking New Orleans around 1720.

101. Changes course, as a ship SHEERS
When a ship “sheers”, it deviates from the desired course. This is usually a temporary deviation, a swerve off course.

104. 67-Down poster, briefly OTB
(67D. They may be long ODDS)
Off-Track Betting (OTB) is the legal gambling that takes place on horse races outside of a race track. A betting parlor can be referred to as an OTB.

107. Resistance units OHMS
The unit of electrical resistance is the ohm (with the symbol omega) named after German physicist Georg Simon Ohm. Ohm was the guy who established experimentally that the amount of current flowing through a circuit is directly proportional to the voltage applied, (V=IR) a relationship that every schoolkid knows as Ohm’s Law.

111. APB stats HGTS
Height (hgt.)

An All Points Bulletin (APB) is a broadcast from one US law enforcement agency to another.

112. Architect Saarinen EERO
Eero Saarinen was a Finnish American architect, renowned in this country for his unique designs for public buildings such as Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Dulles International Airport Terminal, and the TWA building at JFK. The list of his lesser-known, but still impressive, works includes several buildings erected on academic campuses. For example, the Chapel and Kresge Auditorium on the MIT campus, the Emma Hartman Noyes House at Vassar College, the Law School building at the University of Chicago, and Yale’s David S. Ingalls Rink.

116. WWII command ETO
European Theater of Operations (ETO)

117. Elder Partridge daughter player DEY
The actress Susan Dey first appeared on “The Partridge Family” when she was 17-years-old when she had no acting experience. Years later, Dey won a Golden Globe for playing the leading role of Grace Van Owen in “L. A. Law”.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Kitchen qty. TBSP
5. Band of schemers CABAL
10. Orgs. on 84-Across signs AGCYS
15. Touch ABUT
19. Swerves at sea YAWS
20. Pine Tree State campus town ORONO
21. One who gives you chills CREEP
22. Taberna snack TAPA
23. Hunter’s target PREY
24. *120-year-old candy TOOTSIE ROLL
26. Way to the top T-BAR
27. Put together ERECTED
29. Chicago rumblers ELS
30. Like a good waiter PATIENT
32. Dumas duelist ATHOS
33. With 35- and 60-Across, request for today BE
35. See 33-Across MY
37. Withdrawn TIMID
38. Hurt ACHED
39. Puts on the air TELEVISES
43. Isn’t resolved PENDS
45. Brought to court SUED
46. Dishonesty FRAUDULENCE
48. Cut it out STOP
49. St. with both Lewis and Clark counties IDA
50. Rolls up, as a flag FURLS
51. Covered with spots, in a way ACNED
52. I-road? HWY
53. Jamie of “M*A*S*H” FARR
55. Consumer protection org. FTC
56. __ quandary IN A
57. Coop group HENS
58. Butter container TUB
60. Today’s honoree, nicknames for whom begin the answers to starred clues VALENTINE
66. Methodology word HOW
67. Vet OLD PRO
70. Runway activity TAXIING
71. Jai alai ball PELOTA
74. Intensifies DEEPENS
76. Get up WAKEN
77. Indistinct SHADOWY
78. Some trial evidence DNA
79. Where she blows THAR
81. Sea of France MER
82. It was orig. the State School of Mines and Metallurgy UTEP
83. Place for pips DIE
84. Sign of success SOLD
86. Over ANEW
88. Birth announcement words A SON
89. IRS IDs SSNS
90. Agree to pay later RUN A TAB
93. Code ENCRYPT
95. *Ingénue’s benefactor SUGAR DADDY
98. *Venezuelan wonder ANGEL FALLS
102. “__ today is better than a hen tomorrow”: Franklin AN EGG
103. Gave one’s word SWORE
105. Clinton’s FBI chief FREEH
106. Start of a project PHASE ONE
110. 1995 World Series winner: Abbr. ATL
111. When many fans come out HEATWAVE
114. Dutch astronomer who lent his name to a cloud OORT
115. *Weasel relative HONEY BADGER
118. “Permit Me Voyage” poet James AGEE
119. Learning method ROTE
120. Frequently framed words MOTTO
121. Lab dish eponym PETRI
122. Sorry sort RUER
123. Hershey’s toffee bar SKOR
124. Improv bit SPOOF
125. Online admin SYSOP
126. Mtg. with a therapist SESS

Down
1. Kind TYPE
2. Double-dealer BARRACUDA
3. *Offer that can’t be refused SWEETHEART DEAL
4. Motivated, with “up” PSYCHED
5. Farm houses COTES
6. Shortstop who made his MLB debut at age 18 A-ROD
7. Cause of a start BOO!
8. Tiny worker ANT
9. Drop a game LOSE
10. Hard-to-beat foursome ACES
11. “Get out of my yard!” GRR!
12. Corp. top banana CEO
13. TripAdvisor alternative YELP
14. Snowball impact sound SPLAT!
15. On occasion AT TIMES
16. *Innocent BABE IN THE WOODS
17. Fluctuating UP AND DOWN
18. Sharp-tasting TART
25. Informal message for one’s 60-Across I LUV U
28. “Dracula” (1931) director Browning TOD
31. Racetrack edge TIP
33. University of Cincinnati athlete BEARCAT
34. Month after Av ELUL
35. PC time meas. MSEC
36. Craving YENNING
38. “I sincerely doubt it!” AS IF!
39. “Storage Hunters” network TRUTV
40. Masthead VIPs EDS
41. Pier gp. ILA
42. It may require a set change SCENE
44. 1974 CIA parody S*P*Y*S
46. Musical climax letters FFF
47. Author LeShan EDA
54. College basketball coach with a trophy named for him RUPP
57. Frustrating thing to be on HOLD
59. Two-time A.L. Cy Young Award winner Saberhagen BRET
61. __ firm LAW
62. It’s taken sitting down EXAM
63. Swoosh company NIKE
64. Level TIER
65. Room renter INN
66. Jalopy HEAP
67. They may be long ODDS
68. Carson’s successor LENO
69. In stock ON HAND
71. Derived from benzene PHENYL
72. Hotel choice TWIN
73. Agreements aboard AYES
75. Capital near the Red Sea SANAA
77. Put away STORE
80. Getting a pension: Abbr. RETD
82. Hurricane Katrina rescue gp. USCG
85. Fast racer DRAGSTER
87. Dough amounts WADS
88. Poet Sexton ANNE
89. 1977 film retitled in 1981 STAR WARS
91. Push URGE
92. Via BY WAY OF
93. Winter warmers EARLAPS
94. Sputtering sound PFFT
95. Flavors SAPORS
96. Detach, as a trailer UNHOOK
97. Tailor for GEAR TO
99. Confederacy LEAGUE
100. Overflow protection LEVEES
101. Changes course, as a ship SHEERS
104. 67-Down poster, briefly OTB
107. Resistance units OHMS
108. Slangy refusal NOOP
109. Opposite of ecto- ENTO-
111. APB stats HGTS
112. Architect Saarinen EERO
113. Take __: swing hard A RIP
116. WWII command ETO
117. Elder Partridge daughter player DEY

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