LA Times Crossword Answers 22 Feb 16, Monday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Janice Luttrell
THEME: Coin Toss … we have the hidden word COIN in each of today’s themed answers, but the letters of COIN have been TOSSED about, rearranged:

1A. Nickel or dime COIN
65A. After 1-Across, pregame football ritual, and what’s literally found in this puzzle’s circles TOSS

16A. “You almost had it” CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR
24A. “Mork & Mindy” or “Mike & Molly” SITUATION COMEDY
42A. Event where many dress as Stormtroopers or Klingons SCI-FI CONVENTION
57A. What polar opposites have NOTHING IN COMMON

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 4m 40s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Nickel or dime COIN
The 5-cent American coin known as a nickel is actually made up of 75% copper and 25% nickel. The first nickel was introduced in 1866, and was named the “Shield nickel” due to the shield design on the front of the coin. The current design is the Jefferson nickel, which was introduced in 1938.

The term “dime”, used for a 10-cent coin, comes from the Old French word “disme” meaning “tenth part”.

5. Zenith ACME
The “acme” is the highest point, coming from the Greek word “akme” which has the same meaning.

The nadir is the direction pointing immediately below a particular location (through to the other side of the Earth for example). The opposite direction, that pointing immediately above, is called the zenith.

9. Toboggan, e.g. SLED
“Toboggan” came into English from the French Canadian “tabagane”, the name for a long sled with a flat bottom. The French Canadian word is probably from the Algonquian word for a sled, “tobakun”,

15. Soft drink nut KOLA
The nut of the kola tree has a bitter taste, and is loaded with caffeine. Despite the taste, the nut is habitually chewed in some cultures, especially in West Africa where the tree is commonly found in the rainforest. Here in the US we best know the kola nut as a flavoring used in cola drinks.

19. 2016 Hall of Fame inductee __ Griffey Jr. KEN
Ken Griffey, Jr. is noted as a home run hitter as well as a defensive player. In fact, Griffey is tied for the record for the most consecutive games with a home run.

20. Weighty books TOMES
“Tome” first came into English from the Latin “tomus” which means “section of a book”. The original usage in English was for a single volume in a multi-volume work. By the late 16th century “tome” had come to mean “a large book”.

23. UPC-like product ID SKU
Stock-keeping unit (SKU)

Universal Price Code or Universal Product Code (UPC)

24. “Mork & Mindy” or “Mike & Molly” SITUATION COMEDY
“Mork & Mindy” was broadcast from 1978 to 1982. We were first introduced to Mork (played by Robin Williams) in a special episode of “Happy Days”. The particular episode in question has a bizarre storyline culminating in Fonzie and Mork having a thumb-to-finger duel. Eventually Richie wakes up in bed, and alien Mork was just part of a dream! Oh, and “Nanu Nanu” means both “hello” and “goodbye” back on the planet Ork. “I am Mork from Ork, Nanu Nanu”. Great stuff …

“Mike & Molly” is a sitcom starring Billy Gardell and Melissa McCarthy in the title roles. Mike and Molly are a couple who met at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting.

34. GI chow MRE
The Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) comes in a lightweight package that’s easy to tote around. The MRE replaced the more cumbersome Meal, Combat, Individual (MCI) in 1981, a meal-in-a-can. In turn, the MCI had replaced the C-ration in 1958, a less sophisticated meal-in-a-can with a more limited choice.

36. Parking __ METER
An early patent for a parking meter, dated 1928, was for a device that required the driver of the parked car to connect the battery of his or her car to the meter in order for it to operate!

38. Gaucho’s weapon BOLA
Bolas are heavy balls connected by cords that constitute a throwing weapon. Bolas are often used to capture animals by tripping them as they run. The weapon is usually associated with gauchos, the South American cowboys, although there is evidence that the Inca army used them in battle.

A “gaucho” is someone who lives in the South American pampas, the fertile lowlands in the southeast of South America. The term “gaucho” is also used as the equivalent of our “cowboy”.

39. Dental suffix with Water -PIK
Waterpik is a brand name of oral irrigator, a device that uses a stream of water to remove food debris and dental plaque from the teeth. There are claims made that water irrigators are more effective than dental floss.

41. Slightly open AJAR
Our word “ajar” is thought to come from Scottish dialect, in which “a char” means “slightly open”.

42. Event where many dress as Stormtroopers or Klingons SCI-FI CONVENTION
In the “Star Wars” universe, the Galactic Empire’s military ground force are stormtroopers. They’re the guys who are usually dressed in white armor.

Klingons are a warrior race often featured in the “Star Trek” franchise of shows. Back in the first “Star Trek” movie, the actor James Doohan (who played “Scottie”) put together some Klingon dialogue that was used in the film. For subsequent movies, the American linguist Marc Okrand was commissioned to develop a working Klingon language, which he duly did, using the original words from Doohan as its basis.

48. Grandson of Eve ENOS
Enos was the son of Seth, and therefore the grandson of Adam and Eve. According to the Book of Jubilees, Adam’s grandson Enos married his sister Noam.

52. Sans serif font ARIAL
Serifs are details on the ends of characters in some typefaces. Typefaces without serifs are known as sans-serif, using the French word “sans” meaning “without” and “serif” from the Dutch “schreef” meaning “line”. Some people say that serif fonts are easier to read on paper, whereas sans-serif fonts work better on a computer screen. I’m not so sure though …

54. Hawaiian tuna AHI
Yellowfin tuna is usually marketed as “ahi”, its Hawaiian name. Yellowfin tuna is one big fish, often weighing over 300 pounds.

60. Tiny pasta used in soup ORZO
Orzo is pasta that has been formed into granular shapes, much like barley. And indeed, “orzo” is the Italian word for “barley”.

61. Washington’s __ Sound PUGET
George Vancouver was a British explorer, and an officer in the Royal Navy. As well as exploring the coast of Australia, he is best known for his travels along the northwest coast of North America. The city of Vancouver was named in his honor. Travelling with him on his American voyage was a lieutenant Peter Puget, and in his honor, Vancouver named the waters south of the Tacoma Narrows “Puget’s Sound”. Nowadays, the name Puget Sound describes an area much greater than Vancouver had envisioned.

64. Enjoy a novel READ
Our word “novel”, used for a lengthy work of fiction, comes from the Latin “novella” meaning “new things”.

Down
4. Nintendo’s Super __ NES
The abbreviation Super NES (or SNES) stands for Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Our kids probably have one somewhere …

5. Homecoming attendees ALUMNI
An “alumnus” (plural … alumni) is a graduate or former student of a school or college. The female form is “alumna” (plural … alumnae). The term comes into English from Latin, in which alumnus means foster-son or pupil. “Alum” is an informal term used for either an alumna or an alumnus.

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

11. Israeli airline EL AL
El Al Israel Airlines is the flag carrier of Israel. The term “el al” translates from Hebrew as “to the skies”.

12. Missile in a pub game DART
Darts is a wonderful game often played in English and Irish pubs, even over here in America. The scoring in a traditional game of darts is difficult to describe in a sentence or two, but the game of darts called “Round the Clock” is simply hitting the numbers 1 through 20 in sequence.

17. Singer James ETTA
Etta James was best known for her beautiful rendition of the song “At Last”. Sadly, as she disclosed in her autobiography, James lived a life that was ravaged by drug addiction leading to numerous legal and health problems. Ms. James passed away in January 2012 having suffered from leukemia.

18. “My Fair Lady” director George CUKOR
The film director George Cukor was at the helm in the making of several memorable films, including “Little Women” (1933), “The Philadelphia Story” (1940), “Gaslight” (1944), “Adam’s Rib” (1949), “A Star is Born” (1954) and “My Fair Lady” (1964).

George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion” was adapted by Lerner and Loewe into the Broadway musical “My Fair Lady”. The musical spun off the wonderful 1964 film of the same name starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison.

22. The “Star Wars” planet Tatooine orbits two of them SUNS
Tatooine is the desert planet that features in almost every “Star Wars” movie. It is the home planet of Anakin and Luke Skywalker, and is also where Obi-Wan Kenobi first met Han Solo.

25. Greek column style IONIC
The Ionic was one of the three classical orders of architecture, the others being the Doric and the Corinthian. An Ionic column is relatively ornate. It usually has grooves running up and down its length and at the top there is a “scroll” design called a “volute”. The scroll motif makes Ionic columns popular for the design of academic buildings. The term “Ionic” means “pertaining to Ionia”, with Ionia being an ancient territory that is located in modern-day Turkey.

26. Kipling mongoose Rikki-__-Tavi TIKKI
In Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book”, one of the short stories is titled “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”, the story about a mongoose, the brave pet of an English family that protects them from a succession of snakes.

28. Bridal bio word NEE
“Née” is the French word for “born” when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”.

29. Texting icon EMOJI
An emoji is a character found on many cell phones now that is like an emoticon, but more elaborate.

30. 1964 Tony Randall title role DR LAO
“The Circus of Dr. Lao” is a novel by Charles G. Finney, first published in 1935. There was a famous film adaptation released in 1964 called “7 Faces of Dr. Lao” starring Tony Randall in the title role. Randall wasn’t the first choice, as the director wanted Peter Sellers for the part. However, MGM insisted on an American lead, and a great choice it turned out to be.

The actor Tony Randall was from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Although Randal had a long and distinguished Hollywood career, he was best known for playing Felix Unger on the TV version of “The Odd Couple” by Neil Simon. Randall was married to his first wife for fifty years, before she passed away in 1993. A few years later, the 75-year old veteran actor married his second wife, who was 50 years his junior. The happy couple had two children together.

38. Array on a dugout rack BATS
A “dugout” is an underground shelter. The term was carried over to baseball because the dugout is slightly depressed below the level of the field. This allows spectators behind the dugout to get a good view of home plate, where a lot of the action takes place.

40. Japanese-American NISEI
There are some very specific terms used to describe the children born to Japanese immigrants in their new country. The immigrants themselves are known as “Issei”. “Nisei” are second generation Japanese, “Sansei” the third generation (grandchildren of the immigrant), and “Yonsei” are fourth generation.

44. Marked with streaks, as cheese VEINED
The mold on blue cheese is actually from the genus Penicillium, the same genus of mold that is the source of many antibiotics.

46. __ contendere: court plea NOLO
“Nolo contendere” is a legal term that translates from Latin as “I do not wish to contend”. It’s the plea of “no contest” and is an alternative to “guilty” or “not guilty”, meaning that one doesn’t admit guilt but nor does one dispute the charge.

49. Stuffed shirt 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.

51. Chichén __: Mayan ruins ITZA
Chichén Itzá is a Mayan ruin located in the Mexican state of Yucatán. It is the second most visited archaeological site in the country (after the ancient city of Teotihuacan). Chichén Itzá has seen a surge in the number of visitors since the development of nearby Cancún as a tourist destination.

52. Fever and chills AGUE
An ague is a fever, one usually associated with malaria.

53. Capital of Latvia RIGA
Riga is the capital city of Latvia. The historical center of Riga is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, declared as such because of the city’s magnificent examples of Art Nouveau architecture.

54. Bullets and such AMMO
The word “munitions” describes materials and equipment used in war. The term derives from the Latin “munitionem” meaning “fortification, defensive wall”. Back in the 17th century, French soldiers referred to such materials as “la munition”, a Middle French term. This was misheard as “l’ammunition”, and as a result we ended up importing the word “ammunition” (often shortened to “ammo”), a term that we now use mainly to describe the material fired from a weapon.

58. “Talk of the Nation” airer NPR
“Talk of the Nation” is an excellent talk radio program broadcast by National Public Radio (NPR) stations on weekdays. Neal Conan has been the host of the show for over a decade, although the show’s time slot at the end of the week is handed over to Ira Glass for “Science Friday”.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Nickel or dime COIN
5. Zenith ACME
9. Toboggan, e.g. SLED
13. Fairy tale villain OGRE
14. Visitor from space ALIEN
15. Soft drink nut KOLA
16. “You almost had it” CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR
19. 2016 Hall of Fame inductee __ Griffey Jr. KEN
20. Weighty books TOMES
21. Curved fastener U-BOLT
22. Flabbergast STUN
23. UPC-like product ID SKU
24. “Mork & Mindy” or “Mike & Molly” SITUATION COMEDY
32. Beef cut LOIN
33. Reason for a cold sweat FEAR
34. GI chow MRE
35. Writing fluids INKS
36. Parking __ METER
38. Gaucho’s weapon BOLA
39. Dental suffix with Water -PIK
40. Slim racetrack margin NOSE
41. Slightly open AJAR
42. Event where many dress as Stormtroopers or Klingons SCI-FI CONVENTION
47. Question ASK
48. Grandson of Eve ENOS
49. Malice SPITE
52. Sans serif font ARIAL
54. Hawaiian tuna AHI
57. What polar opposites have NOTHING IN COMMON
60. Tiny pasta used in soup ORZO
61. Washington’s __ Sound PUGET
62. “Agreed!” AMEN!
63. Smile ear to ear BEAM
64. Enjoy a novel READ
65. After 1-Across, pregame football ritual, and what’s literally found in this puzzle’s circles TOSS

Down
1. Tilt to the side, as one’s head COCK
2. Look at wolfishly OGLE
3. Small laundry room appliance IRON
4. Nintendo’s Super __ NES
5. Homecoming attendees ALUMNI
6. Refer to in a footnote CITE
7. Clothing store department MEN’S
8. Music producer Brian ENO
9. Slopes fanatic SKI BUM
10. Letterhead emblem LOGO
11. Israeli airline EL AL
12. Missile in a pub game DART
14. Regarding ABOUT
17. Singer James ETTA
18. “My Fair Lady” director George CUKOR
22. The “Star Wars” planet Tatooine orbits two of them SUNS
23. Lasting mark SCAR
24. Mishaps SLIPS
25. Greek column style IONIC
26. Kipling mongoose Rikki-__-Tavi TIKKI
27. Many times OFTEN
28. Bridal bio word NEE
29. Texting icon EMOJI
30. 1964 Tony Randall title role DR LAO
31. Thirst (for) YEARN
36. Lampoon MOCK
37. Spanish “that” ESO
38. Array on a dugout rack BATS
40. Japanese-American NISEI
43. Get to the bottom of FATHOM
44. Marked with streaks, as cheese VEINED
45. Put into law ENACT
46. __ contendere: court plea NOLO
49. Stuffed shirt SNOB
50. Peruse, with “over” PORE
51. Chichén __: Mayan ruins ITZA
52. Fever and chills AGUE
53. Capital of Latvia RIGA
54. Bullets and such AMMO
55. Soil-shaping tools HOES
56. Wayside lodgings INNS
58. “Talk of the Nation” airer NPR
59. Yoga class need MAT

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6 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword Answers 22 Feb 16, Monday”

  1. I'm first today ?
    I found the puzzle delightfully easy and missed several of the adjoining clues. Thanks Bill, for the 'other' information.

    I stopped coin collecting, due to some ocular problems, but just yesterday, I happened to buy some variations of the 2009 Lincoln Cents , something I always wanted. Only 30 cents apiece.

    Regarding the Orzo pasta ….. if you want or need seriously small, and globular grains of pasta there's always Acini di pepe , which I have used as a substitute for other sago or tapioca pearls.

    Alumni and alumnae may be well and good but Alumina, is Aluminium oxide and also called corundum and an abrasive powder – and the stuff of/from which rubies and sapphires are made.

    Have a nice day, all.

  2. Nice way to start the week. The Z in ORZO/ITZA got me, but everything else worked out ok. I'll admit to being skeptical that CUKOR was correct when I got it entirely via crosses, but I guess that's a real person.

    Well – back to reality.

    Best –

  3. Never heard of SKU.

    I'll have to watch Tony Randall's movie. I always loved him until he was on a Diane Rehm show probably 30 years ago, and acted like a total fool. Time to give him a second chance.

  4. No difficulty with this mornings grid. Now yesterday was quite a challenge. I finished it this morning without any "final" errors but lots and lots of strike overs in black ink. The "nenes" answer really had me going. I was sure I had Achilles spelled correctly, but it wouldn't work with "nino's" and I went ar4ound and around until I finally put in the right answer, but had NO confidence in it being right.

    See you all back here tomorrow.

  5. George Cukor ( of Hungarian Jewish parentage -) was the protege of David O Selznick, and directed over 30 movies, including the 1964 My Fair Lady, well into the 1980's.

    How to remember Chichen Itza ?
    Think of the shout of an italian restaurateur yelling, 'It-sa chicken !'.

  6. Dang, I initially spelled NISEI wrong, but I sorted it out. Got the theme answers quickly.
    I always learn so much from you all, beyond what our leader contributes. Cukor made films into the 80s?! Amazing. Love some of his stuff, but never cared for My Fair Lady…
    @ Vidwan, interesting info on rubies and sapphires. Thanks!
    See you tomorrow, everyone, and of course…
    Sweet dreams ~~™

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