LA Times Crossword Answers 29 Sep 16, Thursday

Constructed by: Bruce Venzke & Gail Grabowski

Edited by: Rich Norris

Quicklink to a complete list of today’s clues and answers

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Theme: Spilled the Beans

The circled letters in today’s grid spell out different types of BEANS. The circled letters SPILL down the grid from left to right. SO, we’ve SPILLED THE BEANS:

• 41A…Told … and a hint to this puzzle’s six sets of circles..SPILLED THE BEANS

THE BEANS that have been SPILLED are:

• PINTO
• BUTTER
• GREEN
• WHITE
• SOYA
• BLACK

Bill’s time: 6m 55s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies

Across

1…”La Vie en Rose” singer..PIAF

La Môme Piaf (the little sparrow) was the nickname of France’s most famous singer, Édith Piaf. What a voice this woman had, and what gorgeous ballads she sang. Édith Piaf lived a life that was not without controversy. She was raised by her mother in a brothel in Normandy, and had a pimp as a boyfriend in her teens. She had one child, while very young, born illegitimately and who died at 2-years-old from meningitis. Her singing career started when she was discovered in the Pigalle area of Paris by nightclub owner Louis Leplée. Leplée was murdered soon after, and Piaf was accused of being an accessory to the murder but was later acquitted. During World War II she was branded a traitor by many as she frequently performed for the German occupying forces, although there are other reports of her supporting the resistance movement. Later in her life she was seriously injured in no less than three, near-fatal car accidents, including one with her friend, Charles Aznavour. While recovering from her injuries she became addicted to pain medication, an addiction that lasted for the rest of her life. When she died in 1963 she was denied a Catholic funeral mass because of her lifestyle, but the crowds that turned out for her funeral procession managed to stop all traffic in Paris, the only time that has happened since the end of WWII.

The literal translation of the title to the French song “La Vie en rose” is “Life In Pink”, but a better translation would be “Life Through Rose-Colored Glasses”.

14…”There __ joy in Mudville … “..IS NO

Casey at the Bat is a poem written in 1888 by Ernest Thayer, first published in the San Francisco Examiner. The poem became very popular due to repeated live performances in vaudeville by DeWolf Hopper. Casey played for the Mudville Nine, and the last line of the poem is “But there is no joy in Mudville – mighty Casey has struck out.”

16…Cambodian currency..RIEL

The Cambodian riel was first introduced in 1953, and was taken out of circulation by the Khmer Rouge in 1975 when they completely abolished money on taking control of the country. After the Vietnamese invasion of 1978, money was reintroduced and the Cambodian people are still using the “second” riel. The original riel was divided into 100 centimes, but this was changed to 100 “sen” in 1959.

18…Hasbro soldier..GI JOE

G.I. Joe was the original “action figure”, the first toy to carry that description. G.I. Joe first hit the shelves in 1964. There have been a few movies based on the G.I. Joe figure, but, more famous than all of them I would say is the 1997 movie “G.I. Jane” starring Demi Moore in the title role. I thought that “G.I. Jane” had some potential, to be honest, but it really did not deliver in the end.

19…Raison d’__..ETRE

“Raison d’être” is a French phrase meaning “reason for existence”.

20…Lake Michigan port..KENOSHA

Kenosha, Wisconsin is a city on the western shore of Lake Michigan. Given its location, Kenosha has strong ties with both Milwaukee and Chicago. The name Kenosha is an anglicized form of “gnozhé”, the Native American name for an early settlement in the area that translates as “place of the pike”.

24…TriBeCa neighbor..SOHO

The Manhattan neighborhood known today as SoHo was very fashionable in the early 1900s, but as the well-heeled started to move uptown the area became very run down and poorly maintained. Noted for the number of fires that erupted in derelict buildings, SoHo earned the nickname “Hell’s Hundred Acres”. The area was then zoned for manufacturing and became home to many sweatshops. In the mid-1900s artists started to move into open loft spaces and renovating old buildings as the lofts were ideal locations in which an artist could both live and work. In 1968, artists and others organized themselves so that they could legalize their residential use of an area zoned for manufacturing. The group they formed took its name from the name given to the area by the city’s Planning Commission i.e “South of Houston”. This was shortened from So-uth of Ho-uston to SoHo as in the SoHo Artists Association, and the name stuck.

TriBeCa is a clever little acronym that expands into “TRI-angle BE-low CA-nal Street”. The name was developed by local residents who basically copied the naming technique used by residents of the neighboring area of SoHo, which is short for “SO-uth of HO-uston Street”.

27…1974 hit with a Spanish title meaning “You are”..ERES TU

We have a big event across Europe every year called the Eurovision Song Contest. Each nation enters one song in competition with each other, and then voters across the whole continent decide on the winner. That’s how ABBA got their big break when they won in 1974 with “Waterloo”. In 1973, Spain’s entry was “Eres tú” (the Spanish for “You Are”) sung by the band Mocedades. “Eres tu” came second in the competition, but should have won in my humble opinion.

31…Jedi Council VIP..YODA

Yoda is one of the most beloved characters of the “Star Wars” series of films. Yoda’s voice was provided by the great modern-day puppeteer Frank Oz of “Muppets” fame.

33…VCR successor..TIVO

TiVo was introduced in 1999 and was the world’s first commercially successful DVR (Digital Video Recorder).

34…Brief meeting?..SESS

Session (sess.)

36…Army rank above maj…LT COL

The rank of Lieutenant Colonel ranks (Lt. Col.) above a major and below a colonel, in many armed services around the world.

41…Told … and a hint to this puzzle’s six sets of circles..SPILLED THE BEANS

“To spill the beans” is to divulge a secret. The expression first appeared in American English, in the early 1900s. The phrase arose as an alternative to “spoil the beans” or “upset the applecart”.

44…Ivy League sch…YALE U

Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut was founded in 1701, making it the third-oldest university in the US. Originally called the Collegiate School, it was renamed to Yale University in honor of retired merchant from London called Elihu Yale, who made generous contributions to the institution. Yale University’s nickname is “Old Eli”, in a nod to the benefactor.

45…”Rebel Without a Cause” star James..DEAN

“Rebel Without a Cause” is a 1955 drama movie, famously starring actor James Dean who died just before the film’s release. The title comes from a 1944 book by psychiatrist Robert M. Lindner “Rebel Without a Cause: The Hypnoanalysis of a Criminal Psychopath”, although the content of the book has no bearing on the movie’s storyline. The three lead actors in the movie all died tragically, and while relatively young:

• James Dean (24), in a car crash in 1955
• Sal Mineo (37), in a stabbing in 1976
• Natalie Wood (43), in a drowning in 1981

46…Where a retriever may be retrieved: Abbr…SPCA

Unlike in most developed countries, there is no “umbrella” organization in the US with the goal of preventing cruelty to animals. Instead there are independent organizations set up all over the nation using the name SPCA. Having said that, there is an organization called the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) that was originally intended to operate across the country, but really it now focuses its efforts in New York City.

The retriever is one of the three major types of gun dog, along with flushing spaniels and pointers.

51…Kansas motto word..ASPERA

The motto of the State of Kansas is “ad astra per aspera”, a Latin expression meaning “to the stars through difficulties”. Kansas shares the same motto with quite a few other institutions, including an English grammar school, an Australian high school, and even Starfleet, the service to which the USS Enterprise belongs in the “Star Trek” series.

57…”Moby-Dick” crew..WHALERS

The full title of Herman Melville’s novel is “Moby-Dick; or, The Whale”. Note that the convention is to hyphenate “Moby-Dick” in the title, as that was how the book was first published, in 1851. However, there is no hyphen in the name of the whale “Moby Dick” as reproduced throughout the text.

65…Cumberland Gap explorer..BOONE

The Cumberland Gap is a pass in the Appalachian Mountains, lying at the point where the three states of Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia meet. The pass was long used by Native Americans, before being discovered by explorer Thomas Walker in 1750. The path through the gap was widened by a team of loggers in 1775, and leading the work party was the American pioneer Daniel Boone.

67…Hall of Fame linebacker Junior..SEAU

Junior Seau was an NFL linebacker, first playing for the San Diego Chargers and then the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots. Sadly, Seau was found dead in his home in 2011, having committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest.

68…Copper that’s mostly zinc..CENT

The original one-cent coin was introduced in the US in 1793 and was made of 100% copper. The composition varied over time, and was 100% bronze up to the 1940s. During WWII there was a shortage of copper to make bronze, so the US Mint switched to zinc-coated steel for production of one-cent coins in 1943. The steelie is the only coin ever issued by the US mint that can be picked up by a magnet. Today’s one-cent coin is comprised mainly of zinc.

69…Corned beef __..ON RYE

Corned beef is beef that has been cured with salt. “Corn” is an alternative term for a grain of salt, giving the dish its name. Corned beef is also known as “salt beef”, and “bully beef” if stored in cans (from the French “bouilli” meaning “boiled”).

71…__-Ball..SKEE

Skee Ball is that arcade game where you roll balls up a ramp trying to “bounce” it into rings for varying numbers of points. The game was first introduced in Philadelphia, in 1909.

72…Construction rod..REBAR

A steel bar or mesh that is used to reinforce concrete is called “rebar”, short for “reinforcing bar”.

Down

3…Erelong..ANON

“Anon” originally meant “at once” and evolved into today’s meaning of “soon” apparently just because the word was misused over time.

5…Michigan Stadium nickname, with “The”..BIG HOUSE

“The Big House” is the nickname for Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, the home of the University of Michigan’s football team. The Big House can hold over 107,000 people, making it the second-largest stadium in the world. The largest is Rungrado 1st of May Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea, with a capacity of 150,000 people.

6…Heep of trouble?..URIAH

Uriah Heep is a sniveling insincere character in the novel “David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens. The character is such a “yes man” that today, if we know someone who behaves the same way, then we might call that person a “Uriah Heep”.

7…__ Mahal..TAJ

The most famous mausoleum in the world has to be the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. The Taj Mahal was built after the death of the third wife of Shah Jahan, Mumtaz Mahal (hence the name of the mausoleum). The poor woman died in childbirth delivering the couple’s 14th child.

8…Camaro roof 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.

The Chevrolet Camaro is a car produced by General Motors from 1966 to 2002, and reintroduced in 2009. The Camaro shared much of its design with the Pontiac Firebird, and was introduced as a potential competitor to the Ford Mustang.

10…Former Van Susteren of Fox News..GRETA

I remember watching Greta Van Susteren as a legal commentator on CNN during the celebrated O. J. Simpson murder trial. she parlayed those appearances into a permanent slot as co-host of CNN’s “Burden of Proof”, before becoming host of her own show on the Fox News Channel called “On the Record”.

12…Where eagles hatch..AERIE

An aerie is the nest of an eagle, and is also known as an “eyrie”.

21…JFK-to-Heathrow flier, once..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.

The Idlewild Golf Course was taken over by the city of New York in 1943 and construction started on a new airport to serve the metropolis and relieve congestion at La Guardia. The Idlewild name still persists, even though the airport was named after Major General Alexander E. Anderson from the first days of the project. When the facility started operating in 1948 it was known as New York International Airport, Anderson Field. It was renamed to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in 1963, one month after the President was assassinated.

London’s Heathrow handles handles more international passengers than any other airport in the world, and is the third busiest airport around the globe in terms of passenger traffic (after Atlanta and Beijing).

23…Dental care name..ORAL-B

The Oral-B toothbrush was introduced to the world in 1950, designed by a California periodontist. The first “model” was the Oral-B 60, a name given to reflect the 60 tufts in the brush. In 1969, the Oral-B was the first toothbrush to get to the moon as it was the toothbrush of choice for the crew of the Apollo 11 spacecraft.

25…Seafood found in beds..OYSTERS

A group of oysters is commonly referred to as a “bed”, and oysters can be farmed in man-made beds. The largest body of water producing oysters in the US today is Chesapeake Bay, although the number of beds continues to dwindle due to pollution and overfishing. Back in the 1800s, most of the world’s oysters came from New York Harbor.

27…Website for handmade art..ETSY

Etsy.com is an e-commerce website where you can buy and sell the kind of items that you might find at a craft fair.

28…Electrolux spokeswoman Kelly..RIPA

When Kelly Ripa secured the co-host spot on morning television with Regis Philbin, she was still acting in “All My Children” in a role she had been playing for over ten years. After a year of holding down two jobs, she eventually gave up the acting gig. Ripa has acted as spokeswoman for several brands over the years, most recently for Electrolux and Rykä.

29…Pernicious..EVIL

Something pernicious is very harmful, causing death or serious injury. The term ultimately comes from the Latin “per-” meaning “completely” and “necis” meaning “violent death”.

32…DOL division..OSHA

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was created in 1970 during the Nixon administration. OSHA regulates workplaces in the private sector and regulates just one government agency, namely the US Postal Service.

The US Department of Labor (DOL) was founded as the Bureau of Labor in 1889 under the Department of the Interior. The Bureau’s status was elevated to Cabinet level by President William Howard Taft in 1913, with a bill he signed on his last day in office. The DOL has headquartered in the Frances Perkins Building in Washington, D.C. since 1975. The building was named for Frances Perkins who served as Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945 and who was the first female cabinet secretary in US history.

35…Scandinavian literary work..EDDA

The Poetic Edda and Prose Edda are two ancient works that are the source for much of Norse mythology. Both Eddas were written in the 13th century, in Iceland.

38…Toy gun ammo..CAPS

Cap guns are toy guns that use as ammunition a small quantity of explosive that is shock-sensitive. The small disks of ammunition come as individual pellets or perhaps in plastic rings. The cap guns that I used as a child came with about 50 pellets of ammunition on a roll of paper. As a kid, I used to think that cap guns were so cool. Now, not so much …

40…Six-part undergrad exam..LSAT

The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) has been around since 1948.

42…Money..LUCRE

Our word “lucre” meaning “money, profits” comes from the Latin “lucrum” that means the same thing.

48…Abet, in a way..HARBOR

The word “abet” comes into English from the Old French “abeter” meaning “to bait” or “to harass with dogs” (it literally means “to make bite”). This sense of encouraging something bad to happen morphed into our modern usage of “abet” meaning to aid or encourage someone in a crime.

50…Grime-fighting org…EPA

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

51…Spy plane acronym..AWACS

When the British developed radar in WWII, they also came up with an airborne system that they actually deployed during the war. In 1944 the US Navy commissioned a similar system, and so launched the first American Airborne Early Warning (AEW) system, also before the war was over. The more modern term for the technology is Airborne Warning and Control System, or AWACS for short.

52…Toondom ogre..SHREK

Before “Shrek” was a successful movie franchise and Broadway musical, it was a children’s picture book called “Shrek!” authored and illustrated by William Steig. The title “Shrek!” came from the German/Yiddish word Schreck, meaning “fear” or “terror”.

53…”Common Sense” writer..PAINE

Thomas Paine was an English author who achieved incredible success with his pamphlet “Common Sense” published in 1776 which advocated independence of colonial America from Britain. Paine had immigrated to the American colonies just two years before his pamphlet was published, and so was just in time to make a major contribution to the American Revolution.

56…Uganda neighbor..KENYA

Kenya lies on the east coast of Africa, right on the equator. The country takes her name from Mount Kenya, the second highest peak on the continent (after Kilimanjaro). The official languages of Kenya are English and Swahili.

Uganda is a landlocked county in East Africa lying just to the west of Kenya. Uganda was ruled by the British as a protectorate from 1894 and gained independence in 1962. Uganda is very much associated with the tyrannical rule of Idi Amin in the 1970s.

58…40-decibel unit..SONE

In the world of acoustics, the “sone” was introduced as a unit of perceived loudness in 1936.

60…Realty ad abbr…BSMT

Basement (bsmt.)

61…”I am a very foolish fond old man” speaker..LEAR

“King Lear” is one of William Shakespeare’s tragedies. Lear’s three daughters figure prominently in the storyline. The three are, in order of age:

• Goneril
• Regan
• Cordelia

63…”Fore!”..DUCK!

No one seems to know for sure where the golfing term “fore!” comes from. It has been used at least as far back as 1881, and since then has been called out to warn other golfers that a wayward ball might be heading their way. My favorite possibility for its origin is that it is a contraction of the Gaelic warning cry “Faugh a Ballagh!” (clear the way!) which is still called out in the sport of road bowling. Road bowling is an Irish game where players bowl balls along roads between villages, trying to reach the end of the course in as few bowls as possible, just like in golf!

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Complete List of Clues and Answers

Across

1…”La Vie en Rose” singer..PIAF

5…Ashtray array..BUTTS

10…Interest greatly..GRAB

14…”There __ joy in Mudville … “..IS NO

15…Livid..IRATE

16…Cambodian currency..RIEL

17…Lump..CLOT

18…Hasbro soldier..GI JOE

19…Raison d’__..ETRE

20…Lake Michigan port..KENOSHA

22…Dietary need..PROTEIN

24…TriBeCa neighbor..SOHO

26…Backspaced over..ERASED

27…1974 hit with a Spanish title meaning “You are”..ERES TU

31…Jedi Council VIP..YODA

33…VCR successor..TIVO

34…Brief meeting?..SESS

36…Army rank above maj…LT COL

41…Told … and a hint to this puzzle’s six sets of circles..SPILLED THE BEANS

44…Ivy League sch…YALE U

45…”Rebel Without a Cause” star James..DEAN

46…Where a retriever may be retrieved: Abbr…SPCA

47…Blacken..CHAR

49…Prepare..GET SET

51…Kansas motto word..ASPERA

55…Omit..SKIP

57…”Moby-Dick” crew..WHALERS

59…Made possible..ENABLED

64…Italian air..ARIA

65…Cumberland Gap explorer..BOONE

67…Hall of Fame linebacker Junior..SEAU

68…Copper that’s mostly zinc..CENT

69…Corned beef __..ON RYE

70…Not fem…MASC

71…__-Ball..SKEE

72…Construction rod..REBAR

73…Long haul..TREK

Down

1…Draft item often traded..PICK

2…Vacation destination..ISLE

3…Erelong..ANON

4…Snap, commercially..FOTO

5…Michigan Stadium nickname, with “The”..BIG HOUSE

6…Heep of trouble?..URIAH

7…__ Mahal..TAJ

8…Camaro roof option..T-TOP

9…What 15-Across people do..SEE RED

10…Former Van Susteren of Fox News..GRETA

11…Ceremonies..RITES

12…Where eagles hatch..AERIE

13…Some of this and some of that..BLEND

21…JFK-to-Heathrow flier, once..SST

23…Dental care name..ORAL-B

25…Seafood found in beds..OYSTERS

27…Website for handmade art..ETSY

28…Electrolux spokeswoman Kelly..RIPA

29…Pernicious..EVIL

30…Something underfoot..SOLE

32…DOL division..OSHA

35…Scandinavian literary work..EDDA

37…Try out..TEST

38…Toy gun ammo..CAPS

39…Almost never..ONCE

40…Six-part undergrad exam..LSAT

42…Money..LUCRE

43…Tech graduate..ENGINEER

48…Abet, in a way..HARBOR

50…Grime-fighting org…EPA

51…Spy plane acronym..AWACS

52…Toondom ogre..SHREK

53…”Common Sense” writer..PAINE

54…Give a big lift..ELATE

56…Uganda neighbor..KENYA

58…40-decibel unit..SONE

60…Realty ad abbr…BSMT

61…”I am a very foolish fond old man” speaker..LEAR

62…Comfort..EASE

63…”Fore!”..DUCK!

66…Sun or moon..ORB

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