LA Times Crossword Answers 27 Dec 2017, Wednesday

Advertisement

[ad_above_grid]

Constructed by: Jason Mueller
Edited by: Rich Norris

Advertisement

Advertisement

Today’s Theme: Branded

Each of today’s themed answers start with the letters BR and end with the letters ED, i.e. BR AND ED:

  • 40A. Labeled … or, divided into three parts, what surrounds the answers to starred clues : BRANDED (or “BR AND ED”)
  • 17A. *More than just indoctrinated : BRAINWASHED
  • 62A. *Brunette : BROWN-HAIRED
  • 11D. *Hit at an intersection, maybe : BROADSIDED
  • 28D. *Alert and peppy : BRIGHT-EYED

Bill’s time: 7m 54s

Bill’s errors: 0

Advertisement

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

11. Murphy __ : BED

A Murphy bed is a bed that pulls from a wall for use, and is folded up into closet or cabinet when not in use. The bed is named for its inventor William Murphy. The story is that Murphy lived in a one-room apartment in San Francisco, and was interested in dating a local opera singer. Moral standards at the time prevented him for inviting the young lady into a room with a bed, so he created an arrangement where his room became a parlor during the day.

14. Lerner collaborator : LOEWE

Frederick Loewe was a composer best known for his collaborations with the lyricist Alan Jay Lerner, the most famous of which were “My Fair Lady”, “Gigi” and “Camelot”.

16. “Fahrenheit 451” novelist Bradbury : RAY

“Fahrenheit 451” is a 1953 novel by Ray Bradbury that tells the story of a future American society that discourages reading of books. The main character’s job is that of a “fireman”, someone responsible for burning books. The title was chosen to supposedly represent the temperature at which book paper will burn, which is actually 450 centigrade. Bradbury used some artistic licence and changed the units to Fahrenheit, as he believed it made for a better title.

17. *More than just indoctrinated : BRAINWASHED

“Brainwashing” is a term that was coined in English in 1950 during the Korean War. It described the process used by Chinese captors to mentally break down American prisoners of war so that they would cooperate with the enemy. The term is a translation of the word “xǐnăo” (Chinese for “wash brain”) that was already used to describe the methods of persuasion employed by the Maoist government to transform the thinking of reactionaries.

19. Ducks’ home: Abbr. : ORE

The sports teams of the University of Oregon are known as the Oregon Ducks. The big rivals to the Ducks are the Oregon State Beavers, a rivalry that has been dubbed “the Civil War”. The two schools’ football teams play a game every year for the Platypus Trophy.

20. Hindu retreat : ASHRAM

“Ashram” is a term used in the Hindu tradition that describes a place of spiritual retreat, one that is typically located in a remote location conducive to spiritual instruction and meditation.

23. Classic Fords : LTDS

There has been a lot of speculation about what the abbreviation LTD stands for in the car model known as “Ford LTD”. Many say it is an initialism standing for Luxury Trim Decor, and others say that it is short for “limited”. Although the car was produced in Australia with the initialism meaning Lincoln Type Design, it seems LTD was originally chosen as just three meaningless letters that sound well together.

25. Pomegranate bit : SEED

The name of the fruit called a “pomegranate” comes from the Latin “pomum” meaning “apple” and “granatum” meaning “seeded”.

26. Three-time Pulitzer-winning playwright : ALBEE

Playwright Edward Albee’s most famous play is “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Albee won three Pulitzer Prizes for Drama:

  • 1967: “A Delicate Balance”
  • 1975: “Seascape”
  • 1994: “Three Tall Women”

Albee also won three Tony Awards:

  • 1963: “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (Best Play)
  • 2002: “The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?”
  • 2005: Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement

29. Big letters in home security : ADT

ADT is a home and small-business security company based in Boca Raton, Florida. The company was founded back in 1874 by Edward Calahan. Calahan had invented the stock ticker several years earlier, and ran the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company. Calahan was awoken one morning by the sound of a burglar in his house, and so he decided to develop a telegraph-based security alarm system. The success of the system led to the founding of American District Telegraph, later known as ADT.

35. __ of paradise : BIRD

Birds-of-paradise form a family of birds that are noted for the elaborate plumage of the males of most species. Most are found in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia, and usually in dense rainforest habitats.

36. Top : BLOUSE

A blouse is a loose-fitting shirt, particularly one worn by women or children. The term “blouse” is French, and originally described a peasant’s smock.

38. CD yield : INT

A certificate of deposit (CD) is like a less-flexible and higher-paying savings account. Instead of depositing money into a savings account and earning interest periodically, one can open a CD. With a CD one deposits a minimum amount of money but must leave it there for a specified length of time. In return for committing the funds for a fixed period, one is given a higher interest rate than a savings account and can redeem that interest and the initial deposit when the term has expired. CDs are relatively low-risk investments as they are FDIC insured, just like savings accounts.

39. “Rope-a-dope” boxer : ALI

The Rumble in the Jungle was the celebrated 1974 fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman that took place in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The fight was set in Zaire because of financial arrangements between promoter Don King and Zaire’s President Mobutu Seko. Ali coined the term “Rope-a-dope” to describe his incredibly successful strategy in the contest. From the second round onwards, Ali adopted a protected stance on the ropes letting Foreman pound him with blows to the body and head, with Ali using his arms to dissipate the power of the punches. He kept this up until the eighth round and then opened up and downed the exhausted Foreman with a left-right combination. I hate boxing but I have to say, that was an fascinating fight …

41. Actress Ruby : DEE

Ruby Dee was an actress and civil rights activist. On the big screen, she is perhaps best remembered for co-starring in “A Raisin in the Sun” alongside Sidney Poitier, in “Do the Right Thing” alongside her husband Ossie Davis, and in “American Gangster” in which she played Denzel Washington’s mother.

45. Messenger service replaced by Google Hangouts : GCHAT

“Gchat” was a common name used for the Google Talk instant messaging service. Google Talk offered both text and voice communication as well as a plugin that allowed video chat. All of this functionality was replaced with the Google Hangouts service, and more recently with Google Duo.

49. Lipstick holder : TUBE

Lipsticks have a remarkably long list of ingredients. Die-hard vegans have to be careful in their choice of lipstick, as most contain beeswax. and the “shimmering” types often contain fish scales. Yuk …

51. High-five sound : SLAP

The celebratory gesture that we call a “high five” is said to have been invented by former baseball players Dusty Baker and Glenn Burke when they were both playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the later 1970s.

53. Homers, in baseball lingo : GOES YARD

In baseball slang, “to go yard” is to hit a home run, to hit the ball the length of the “ball yard”.

65. Cry after a golfer’s ace : IT’S IN!

One well-documented hole in one (ace) was during a round of the British Open in 1973. American golfer Gene Sarazen achieved the feat that day, at the age of 71. A less well-documented series of holes in one was reported by the North Korean press in a story about the Korean leader Kim Jong-il. The report was that Kim Jong-il scored 11 holes in one in his one and only round of golf.

67. Journalist Koppel : TED

The broadcast journalist Ted Koppel is most associated with his long run as anchor for the “Nightline” program on ABC. Koppel was actually born in England, to a Jewish family that had fled from Germany. He emigrated with his family to the US when he was 13 years old. Koppel is great friends with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger who was a frequent guest on his television show.

Down

1. “Sin City” actress Jessica : ALBA

Actress Jessica Alba got her big break when she was cast in the Fox science fiction show “Dark Angel”. Alba had a tough life growing up as she spent a lot of time in hospital and so found it difficult to develop friendships. As a youngster she twice had a collapsed lung, frequently caught pneumonia, suffered from asthma, had a ruptured appendix and a tonsillar cyst. On top of all that, Alba acknowledges that she suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder as a child.

“Sin City” is a 2005 thriller movie that is based on a series of graphic novels by Frank Miller. Miller also co-directs the film. “Sin City” has a large ensemble cast that includes Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Benicio del Toro, Clive Owen and Mickey Rourke. The author Frank Miller even plays a role himself.

2. Knight of the Round Table : BORS

There were two knights named Bors in Arthurian legend, one the father of the other. It was Sir Bors the Younger who became one of the Knights of the Round Table. Bors was one of the knights who went on the successful quest for the Holy Grail, along with Galahad and Percival. Indeed, Bors was the only one of the three to return safely.

King Arthur (and his Round Table) probably never really existed, but his legend is very persistent. Arthur was supposedly a leader of the Romano-British as they tried to resist the invasion of the Anglo-Saxons in the late 5th and early 6th centuries.

5. 100-lawmaker group : SENATE

The six-year terms enjoyed by US senators are staggered, so that every two years about one third of the 100 US Senate seats come up for reelection.

6. Actress Farrow : MIA

Mia Farrow is an energetic, award-winning actress who really hasn’t looked back in her career since her first leading role, in “Rosemary’s Baby” back in 1968. Her on-screen celebrity is matched by the interest created by her personal life. Her first husband was Frank Sinatra, a wedding in 1966 that received a lot of attention partly due to the couple’s age difference (she was 21, he was 50). Her second husband was almost as famous, the magnificent musician André Previn. Farrow then moved in with Woody Allen, a relationship that famously fell apart when Farrow discovered that Allen was having a sexual relationship with Soon-Yi, one of her adopted daughters from the marriage with André Previn.

7. “Got it” : AHSO

The slang term “ahso” is used in American English to mean “I see”. The term derives from the Japanese expression “Ah so desu ka” meaning “Oh, that’s how it is”.

8. With 6-Across, prime minister before Tony Blair : JOHN …
(6. See 8-Down : … MAJOR)

Sir John Major succeeded Margaret Thatcher as Conservative Party leader in 1990 and was Prime Minister of Britain until 1997. 1997 was the year that Tony Blair swept to power as leader of the Labour Party.

Tony Blair was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for ten years, from 1997 to 2007. Blair moved his Labour Party from the left towards the center, utilizing the moniker “New Labour”. Under his leadership, Labour won a landslide victory in 1997 and was comfortably elected into power again in 2001 and 2005. Blair stepped down in 2007 and Gordon Blair took over as prime minister. Labour was soundly defeated at the polls in the next general election, in 2010.

9. Newspaper essays : OP-EDS

“Op-ed” is an abbreviation for “opposite the editorial page”. Op-eds started in “The New York Evening World” in 1921 when the page opposite the editorials was used for articles written by a named guest writer, someone independent of the editorial board.

18. Iraq War concern: Abbr. : WMD

The first recorded use of the term “Weapon of Mass Destruction” (WMD) was in 1937. The words were used by Cosmo Gordon Lang, the Archbishop of Canterbury at the time, in reference to the bombardment of Guernica in Spain during the Spanish Civil War by the German Luftwaffe. He said, “Who can think without horror of what another widespread war would mean, waged as it would be with all the new weapons of mass destruction?”

24. Sandwich meat : SALAMI

“Salame” (note the letter E at the end) is an Italian sausage that is traditionally associated with the peasant classes. The meat in the sausage is preserved with salt, and it can be hung and stored for as long as ten years. The name “salame” comes from “sale”, the Italian word for salt, and “-ame”, a suffix indicating a collective noun. Our English word “salami” is actually the Italian plural for “salame”.

30. “No man is an island” poet : DONNE

John Donne wrote a piece of prose called “Devotions upon Emergent Occasions”. One passage contains two phrases that are oft-quoted: “No man is an island”, and “for whom the bell tolls”.

No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.

31. Henry VIII et al. : TUDORS

Henry VIII was the English King with the most wives. Well, something rubbed off on his last wife, Catherine Parr. She was to become the English Queen with the most husbands! By the time she married Henry she had been widowed twice, and after Henry died she married once again, racking up four husbands in all.

34. Two-time NBA MVP Curry : STEPH

Steph Curry is a professional basketball player who was named the league’s MVP in 2015, the same season that he led the Golden State Warriors to their first NBA championship since 1975. Steph’s father is former NBA player Dell Curry, and the older brother of current NBA player Seth Curry.

36. Bikini half : BRA

The origin of the word “bikini”, describing a type of bathing suit, seems very uncertain. My favorite story is that it is named after the Bikini Atoll, site of American A-bomb tests in the forties and fifties. The name “bikini” was chosen for the swim-wear because of the “explosive” effect it had on men who saw a woman wearing the garment!

44. Many Woodstock attendees : HIPPIES

1969’s Woodstock Music & Art Fair was held on a dairy farm located 43 miles southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York. 400,000 young people attended, and saw 32 bands and singers perform over three days.

46. Ger. neighbor : AUS

The name “Austria” is a Latin variant of the German name for the country, “Österreich”. “Österreich” itself means “Eastern borderlands”, a reference to the country’s history as a prefecture of neighboring Bavaria to the west.

48. Sushi condiment : WASABI

Sometimes called Japanese horseradish, wasabi is a root used as a condiment in Japanese cooking. The taste of wasabi is more like mustard than a hot pepper in that the vapors that create the “hotness” stimulate the nasal passages rather than the tongue. Personally, I love the stuff …

50. Third of eight : EARTH

There are several mnemonics used to remember the planets and the order in which they are found in the Solar System. One example is “My Very Easy Method Just Shows Us Nine Planets” which doesn’t really work since Pluto was relegated from “planethood”. The most oft-quoted mnemonic for the eight planets is “My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nachos”. Given the relegation of Pluto, I kind of like “Many Very Educated Men Just Screwed Up Nature”.

56. Sobriety checkpoint concerns, for short : DWIS

In some states, there is no longer a legal difference between a DWI (Driving While Intoxicated) and a DUI (Driving Under the Influence). Other states retain that difference, so that by definition a DUI is a lesser offence than a DWI.

58. Spring flower : IRIS

Iris is a genus of flowering plants that come in a wide variety of flower colors. The term “iris” is a Greek word meaning “rainbow”. Many species of irises are called “flags”. One suggestion is that the alternate name comes from the Middle English “flagge” meaning “reed”. This term was used because irises leaves look like reeds.

59. Bausch + Lomb product : RENU

ReNu is a brand name of contact lens products sold by Bausch & Lomb.

63. Peoria-to-Green Bay dir. : NNE

Peoria is the oldest European settlement in the state of Illinois, having been settled by the French in 1680. The city is famous for being cited as “the average American city”. The phrase, “Will it play in Peoria?” is used to mean, “Will it appeal to the mainstream?” It is believed the expression originated as a corruption of, “We shall play in Peoria”, a line used by some actors in the 1890 novel “Five Hundred Dollars” by Horatio Alger, Jr.

The city of Green Bay is the third-largest in the state of Wisconsin, after Milwaukee and Madison. The city is located on an arm of Lake Michigan called Green Bay. People in the area refer to the city as “Green Bay” and the body of water as “the Bay of Green Bay” in order to avoid confusing one with the other.

Advertisement

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Bottomless gulf : ABYSS
6. See 8-Down : … MAJOR
11. Murphy __ : BED
14. Lerner collaborator : LOEWE
15. “That’s my wish” : I HOPE
16. “Fahrenheit 451” novelist Bradbury : RAY
17. *More than just indoctrinated : BRAINWASHED
19. Ducks’ home: Abbr. : ORE
20. Hindu retreat : ASHRAM
21. Available to watch anytime : ON DEMAND
23. Classic Fords : LTDS
25. Pomegranate bit : SEED
26. Three-time Pulitzer-winning playwright : ALBEE
29. Big letters in home security : ADT
32. Costume items for horror movie villains : MASKS
35. __ of paradise : BIRD
36. Top : BLOUSE
38. CD yield : INT
39. “Rope-a-dope” boxer : ALI
40. Labeled … or, divided into three parts, what surrounds the answers to starred clues : BRANDED (or “BR AND ED”)
41. Actress Ruby : DEE
42. Pester : NAG
43. Irritated reply to “Aren’t you ready yet?” : I AM NOW
44. Toolbar button with a question mark : HELP
45. Messenger service replaced by Google Hangouts : GCHAT
47. Suffix with front : -IER
48. Area component : WIDTH
49. Lipstick holder : TUBE
51. High-five sound : SLAP
53. Homers, in baseball lingo : GOES YARD
57. Have high hopes : ASPIRE
61. At all : ANY
62. *Brunette : BROWN-HAIRED
64. Frozen water : ICE
65. Cry after a golfer’s ace : IT’S IN!
66. Human __ : BEING
67. Journalist Koppel : TED
68. The ones here : THESE
69. Newspaper copy : ISSUE

Down

1. “Sin City” actress Jessica : ALBA
2. Knight of the Round Table : BORS
3. “You said it!” : YEAH!
4. Blew in circles, as the wind : SWIRLED
5. 100-lawmaker group : SENATE
6. Actress Farrow : MIA
7. “Got it” : AHSO
8. With 6-Across, prime minister before Tony Blair : JOHN …
9. Newspaper essays : OP-EDS
10. Used, as credit card rewards : REDEEMED
11. *Hit at an intersection, maybe : BROADSIDED
12. Merit : EARN
13. Made blue, in a way : DYED
18. Iraq War concern: Abbr. : WMD
22. “Do __ favor … ” : ME A
24. Sandwich meat : SALAMI
26. Go out with __ : A BANG
27. Flowery candle scent : LILAC
28. *Alert and peppy : BRIGHT-EYED
30. “No man is an island” poet : DONNE
31. Henry VIII et al. : TUDORS
33. Prepared to pray : KNELT
34. Two-time NBA MVP Curry : STEPH
36. Bikini half : BRA
37. Wrap (up) : SEW
40. Gradually : BIT BY BIT
44. Many Woodstock attendees : HIPPIES
46. Ger. neighbor : AUS
48. Sushi condiment : WASABI
50. Third of eight : EARTH
52. “Well, __-di-dah!” : LAH
53. Walking pace : GAIT
54. Previously : ONCE
55. Wine choice : ROSE
56. Sobriety checkpoint concerns, for short : DWIS
58. Spring flower : IRIS
59. Bausch + Lomb product : RENU
60. Brink : EDGE
63. Peoria-to-Green Bay dir. : NNE

Advertisement