LA Times Crossword Answers 31 Dec 2017, Sunday

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Constructed by: Robert E. Lee Morris
Edited by: Rich Norris

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Today’s Theme: Alien Nation

Each of today’s themed answers ends with word that is an anagram of a country name:

• 113A. Remote region … and what literally ends each answer to a starred clue : WILD COUNTRY

• 23A. *Menace to society : PUBLIC ENEMY (giving “Yemen”)
• 25A. *Old-school letters : SNAIL MAIL (giving “Mali”)
49A. *Tropical cocktail : MANGO TANGO (giving “Tonga”)
• 68A. *Neckwear for which Mr. T was once famous (but no longer wears) : GOLD CHAIN (giving “China”)
• 89A. *Hobby shop purchase : MODEL PLANE (giving “Nepal”)
• 109A. *Deluge : HEAVY RAIN (giving “Iran”)
• 33D. *Soap, often : DAYTIME SERIAL (giving “Israel”)
• 39D. *Flu symptoms : ACHES AND PAINS (giving “Spain”)

Bill’s time: 14m 42s

Bill’s errors: 0

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

14. Dip providing potassium, for short : GUAC

Guacamole is one of my favorite dishes. It is prepared by mashing avocados and perhaps adding the likes of tomato, onion and lime juice. The guacamole recipe dates back as early as the 16th century, to the time of the Aztecs. “Guacamole” translates as “avocado sauce”.

18. Drink with an umbrella : MAI TAI

The mai tai cocktail is strongly associated with the Polynesian islands, but the drink was supposedly invented in 1944 in Trader Vic’s restaurant in Oakland, California. One recipe is 6 parts white rum, 3 parts orange curaçao, 3 parts Orgeat syrup, 1 part rock candy syrup, 2 parts fresh lime juice, all mixed with ice and then a float added of 6 parts dark rum. “Maita’i” is the Tahitian word for “good”.

20. Scat legend, familiarly : ELLA

Ella Fitzgerald, the “First Lady of Song”, had a hard and tough upbringing. She was raised by her mother alone in Yonkers, New York. Her mother died while Ella was still a schoolgirl, and around that time the young girl became less interested in her education. She fell in with a bad crowd, even working as a lookout for a bordello and as a Mafia numbers runner. She ended up in reform school, from which she escaped, and found herself homeless and living on the streets for a while. Somehow Fitzgerald managed to get herself a spot singing in the Apollo Theater in Harlem. From there her career took off and as they say, the rest is history.

Scat singing is a vocal improvisation found in the world of jazz. There aren’t any words as such in scat singing, just random nonsense syllables made up on the spot.

21. Diamond slip-up : BALK

To balk is to stop and refuse to go on. It’s not just a baseball term …

22. Austen classic : EMMA

Jane Austen’s novel “Emma” is the tale of Emma Woodhouse and the wonderful George Knightley. At the end of the story, Emma marries Knightley and her young friend Harriet marries Robert Martin, who had been trying to get Harriet’s attention practically from page one of the novel.

23. *Menace to society : PUBLIC ENEMY (giving “Yemen”)

Yemen is located on the Arabian Peninsula, and lies just south of Saudi Arabia and west of Oman. Yemen is the only state on the peninsula that is a republic (its official name is the Republic of Yemen). Everyone over the age of 18 gets to vote, but only Muslims can hold elected office. Yemen has seen many rebellions over the centuries, and has been suffering through a Shia uprising since February 2015.

25. *Old-school letters : SNAIL MAIL (giving “Mali”)

The Republic of Mali is a landlocked country in western Africa, south of Algeria. Formerly known as French Sudan, the nation’s most famous city is Timbuktu. Mali is the third-largest producer of gold on the continent, after South Africa and Ghana.

27. A or Angel : ALER

The Oakland Athletics (usually “the A’s”) baseball franchise was founded back in 1901 as the Philadelphia Athletics. The team became the Kansas City Athletics in 1955 and moved to Oakland in 1968.

The Anaheim Angels baseball team are today more correctly called the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (LAA). The “Angels” name dates back to 1961 when the team was founded in the “City of Angels”, Los Angeles. When the franchise moved to Anaheim in 1965 they were known as the California Angels, then the Anaheim Angels, and most recently the Los Angeles Angels at Anaheim. The Angels are also known as “the Halos”.

34. Ryan in a 1998 film, e.g.: Abbr. : PVT

“Saving Private Ryan” is an epic 1998 movie directed by Steven Spielberg, a real “must see”. The D-Day invasion scenes were shot over a two-month period on the southeast coast of Ireland.

38. Party animals? : STAGS

Back where I come from, bachelor parties are called stag parties, and bachelorette parties are known as hen parties.

42. BWI posting : ETA

There are three airports serving the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area:

• Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)
• Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD)
• Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI)

Of the three, BWI handles the most passengers.

45. Canine protection : ENAMEL

Tooth enamel covers the crowns of our teeth. Tooth enamel is the hardest substance in the human body. It is composed of 96% crystalline calcium phosphate.

The canine teeth of a mammal are also called the eyeteeth or cuspids. The name “canine” is used because these particular teeth are very prominent in dogs. The name “eye” is used because in humans the eyeteeth are located in the upper jaw, directly below the eyes.

47. Prefix with polis : ACRO-

Our prefix “acro-” comes from the Greek “akros” meaning “at the top”. Examples are “acrophobia” (fear of heights) and “Acropolis” (“city at the top”).

48. Kind of milk or sauce : SOY

What are known as soybeans here in the US are called “soya beans” in most other English-speaking countries. So, I drink soy milk here in America, but when I am over in Ireland I drink “soya milk”.

Soy sauce is made by fermenting soybeans with a mold, in the presence of water and salt. Charming …

49. *Tropical cocktail : MANGO TANGO (giving “Tonga”)

The Kingdom of Tonga is made up of 176 islands in the South Pacific, 52 of which are inhabited and scattered over an area of 270,000 square miles. Tonga was given the name Friendly Islands in 1773 when Captain James Cook first landed there, a reference to the warm reception given to the visitors.

51. Pledged, in a way : TITHED

Traditionally, a tithe is a payment of one tenth of a person’s annual income and is usually given to a church. Tithing is a practice taught in many traditions, and according to a 2002 survey, about 3% of American adults donate 10% or more of their income to a church.

60. Coll. term : SEM

“Semester” is a German word from the Latin “semestris”, an adjective meaning “of six months”. We use the term in a system that divides an academic year into two roughly equal parts. A trimester system has three parts, and a quarter system has four.

64. Coolly dispassionate : CLINICAL

To be clinical is to be coldly dispassionate, like a medical report. This usage of “clinical” dates back to the 1920s.

66. MLB stat : ERA

Earned run average (ERA)

68. *Neckwear for which Mr. T was once famous (but no longer wears) : GOLD CHAIN (giving “China”)

Mr. T’s real name is Laurence Tero Tureaud. Mr. T is famous for many things, including the wearing of excessive amounts of jewelry. He started this habit when he was working as a bouncer, wearing jewelry items that had been left behind by customers at a nightclub so that the items might be recognized and claimed. It was also as a bouncer that he adopted the name Mr. T. His catch phrase comes from the movie “Rocky III”. In the film, before he goes up against Rocky Balboa, Mr. T says, “No, I don’t hate Balboa, but I pity the fool”. He parlayed that line into quite a bit of success. He had a reality TV show called “I Pity the Fool”, and produced a motivational video called “Be Somebody … or Be Somebody’s Fool!”.

73. Choral composition : MOTET

A motet is a simple musical composition based on a sacred text that is usually sung without an accompaniment. The term “motet” is a diminutive form of “mot”, the French for “word”.

74. Former Laker star Lamar : ODOM

Lamar Odom is a basketball forward in NBA. Apparently Odom loves candy, and that’s how he earned his nickname, “The Candy Man”. Odom was married to Khloé Kardashian, and the couple’s wedding featured on an episode of the reality show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians”. Not a show that I have ever seen …

77. Manhattan suffix : -ITE

The island we know as Manhattan was inhabited by the Lenape Indians when the first Europeans explorers arrived in the area. According to the logbook of one of the officers on explorer Henry Hudson’s yacht, the island was called “Manna-hata” in the local language, from which the modern name derives.

80. Spot on a horse : DAPPLE

A dapple is a mottled marking on the coat of perhaps a horse or a dog.

84. Weasel-like animal also called a honey badger : RATEL

The honey badger is found in most of Africa, as well as other parts of the world. It is also called a “ratel”, which is the Afrikaans word for the little beastie.

87. Pirate’s ship : CORSAIR

The original corsairs were privateers, seamen who were authorized by France to attack and plunder vessels from nations who were at war with the French.

88. Hydrocodone, e.g. : OPIATE

Opiates are the narcotic alkaloids found in the opium poppy plant, although some synthetic versions and derivatives of the same alkaloids are also called opiates. To produce opiates, the latex sap of the opium poppy is collected and processed. The naturally-occurring drugs of morphine and codeine can both be extracted from the sap. Some synthesis is required to make derivative drugs like heroin and oxycodone.

89. *Hobby shop purchase : MODEL PLANE (giving “Nepal”)

Nepal lies to the northeast of India. Today, the state is known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. In 2008, the Communist Party of Nepal won the country’s general election. Soon after, the Assembly voted to change the form of government, moving away from a monarchy and creating a secular republic.

91. “__ Got a Secret”: old game show : I’VE

“I’ve Got a Secret” was a fun panel show that originally aired in the fifties and sixties. “I’ve Got a Secret” was a spinoff of the very successful panel show “What’s My Line?”

92. Hemsworth of “The Hunger Games” : LIAM

Liam Hemsworth is an Australian actor who is best known these days for playing Gale Hawthorne in “The Hunger Games” series of films. Hemsworth met Miley Cyrus while working on the movie “The Last Song”, and the two actors were engaged for a while. Liam is a younger brother of actor Chris Hemsworth, who plays the superhero “Thor” on the big screen.

93. Justice replaced by Gorsuch : SCALIA

Antonin Scalia was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Reagan in 1986, and was the longest serving member of the court on the occasion of his passing in 2016. Justice Scalia’s minority opinions were known for the scathing language that he used to criticize the Court’s majority.

Neil Gorsuch was nominated to the Supreme court by the Trump administration, and assumed office in 2017. Gorsuch took the seat on the court that was left vacant with the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016. Gorsuch is the first Supreme Court justice to serve alongside another justice for whom he once clerked, doing so for Anthony Kennedy from 1993 to 1994.

95. Major artery : AORTA

The aorta originates in the heart and extends down into the abdomen. It is the largest artery in the body.

96. Zilch : NIL

We use the term “zilch” to mean “nothing”. Our current usage evolved in the sixties, before which the term was used to describe “meaningless speech”. There was a comic character called Mr. Zilch in the 1930s in “Ballyhoo” magazine. Mr. Zilch’s name probably came from the American college slang “Joe Zilch” that was used in the early 1900s for “an insignificant person”.

100. Part of Q and A: Abbr. : ANS

Question and answer (Q&A)

101. “By Jove!” : I SAY!

“By Jove” is a mild oath that calls on the Roman god Jove, who is also known as Jupiter.

102. “Gone With the Wind” family name : O’HARA

Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 novel “Gone with the Wind” earned the author a Pulitzer in 1937. Mitchell started writing the book in 1926 as a way to pass the time while she was recuperating from injuries sustained in a car crash. The title comes from a poem by English writer Ernest Dowson:

I have forgot much, Cynara! gone with the wind,
Flung roses, roses riotously with the throng,
Dancing, to put thy pale, lost lilies out of mind…

109. *Deluge : HEAVY RAIN (giving “Iran”)

Before 1935, the country we know today as Iran was called Persia by the Western world. The official name of the country since the Iranian Revolution of 1979 is the “Islamic Republic of Iran”.

121. Body shop application : PRIMER

Primer is the first layer of paint, a coating on the base surface used as a sealer.

124. What Jack Sprat’s wife couldn’t eat : LEAN

Jack Sprat was a nickname given in the 16th century to people of small stature. Jack featured in a proverb of the day:

Jack will eat not fat, and Jull doth love no leane. Yet betwixt them both they lick the dishes cleane.

Over time, this mutated into a nursery rhyme that is still recited in England:

Jack Sprat could eat no fat. His wife could eat no lean. And so between them both, you see, they licked the platter clean.

Down

1. Power-increasing gadget : AMP

An electric guitar, for example, needs an amplifier (amp) to take the weak signal created by the vibration of the strings and turn it into a signal powerful enough for a loudspeaker.

2. 19th Greek letter : TAU

Tau is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet, and the letter which gave rise to our Roman “T”. Both the letters tau (T) and chi (X) have long been symbolically associated with the cross.

3. Lobster eater’s accessory : BIB

The word “bib” comes from the Latin “bibere” meaning “to drink”, as does our word “imbibe”. So, maybe it’s less about spilling the food, and more about soaking up the booze …

4. Aid in planning a trip : ATLAS

The famous Flemish geographer Gerardus Mercator published his first collection of maps in 1578. Mercator’s collection contained a frontispiece with an image of Atlas the Titan from Greek mythology holding up the world on his shoulders. That image gave us our term “atlas”.

6. One percent of a D.C. group–or the group itself : SEN

Senator (Sen.)

8. O’Neill’s “Desire Under the __” : ELMS

“Desire Under the Elms” is a classic American play written by Eugene O’Neill and published in 1924. It is basically a retelling of a Greek tragedy, but set in contemporary New England. Sophia Loren stars in a movie version released in 1958.

10. Six-pack set : ABS

The abdominal muscles (abs) are more correctly referred to as the rectus abdominis muscles. They might be referred to as a “six-pack” in a person who has developed the muscles and who has low body fat. In my case, more like a keg …

11. Italian Riviera resort : SAN REMO

The Italian city of San Remo sits on the Mediterranean, right on the border with France. In Italian the city is named Sanremo, just one word, although the spelling of “San Remo” dates back to ancient times.

12. Friend of Jerry, George and Cosmo : ELAINE

The character Elaine Benes, unlike the other lead characters (Jerry, Kramer and George), did not appear in the pilot episode of “Seinfeld”. NBC executives specified the addition of a female lead when they picked up the show citing that the situation was too “male-centric”.

14. Idaho nickname : GEM STATE

Idaho has the nickname the Gem State, mainly because almost every known type of gemstone has been found there. Idaho is also sometimes called the Potato State as potatoes are such a popular crop in the state. I’d go for the potatoes over the gems, but that’s probably just me …

15. Actress Thurman : UMA

Uma Thurman started her working career as a fashion model, at the age of 15. She appeared in her first movies at 17, with her most acclaimed early role being Cécile de Volanges in 1988’s “Dangerous Liaisons”. Thurman’s career really took off when she played the gangster’s “moll” in Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” in 1994. My favorite of all Thurman’s movies is “The Truth About Cats & Dog’s”, a less acclaimed romcom released in 1996. She took a few years off from 1998 until 2002, doing very little work in favor of motherhood. It was Tarantino who relaunched her career, giving her the lead in the “Kill Bill” films.

16. Brest friend : AMI

Brest is a port city in northwest France, and is the second largest military port in the country. Brest was an important base for German U-boats during WWII when France was occupied by the Nazis. Brest is the most westerly city in the whole country.

17. Silent __: White House nickname : CAL

President Calvin Coolidge, the only US President to have been born on July 4th, was known as a man of few words. It was while he was serving as Vice-President to in the administration of Warren G. Harding, that Coolidge earned the nickname “Silent Cal”. There is a famous story told about Coolidge’s reticence that I would love to think is true, attributed to the poet Dorothy Parker. Sitting beside him at dinner, she remarked to him, “Mr. Coolidge, I’ve made a bet against a fellow who said it was impossible to get more than two words out of you.” His famous reply: “You lose.”

24. “Dr.” with MVP awards : ERVING

Julius Erving is a retired professional basketball player who was known as “Dr. J”, a nickname he picked up in high school. Dr. J was a trailblazer in many ways, being the first player associated with slam dunking and other moves above the rim.

26. Some smartphones : LGS

LG is a very large South Korean manufacturer of electronics, chemicals and telecom products. LG used to be known as Lucky-Goldstar.

29. Rigatoni alternative : PENNE

Cylindrical pasta is known in general as “penne”, and there are many variants. For example, ziti is a particularly large and long tube with square-cut ends. “Penne” is the plural of “penna”, the Italian for “feather, quill”.

Rigatoni is a tubular pasta that is relatively short, and with ridges along its length. The name “rigatoni” comes from the Italian “rigato” meaning “ridged, lined”.

32. French star : ETOILE

“Étoile” is the French word for “star”.

33. *Soap, often : DAYTIME SERIAL (giving “Israel”)

The original soap operas were radio dramas back in the fifties. Given the structure of society back then, the daytime broadcasts were aimed at women working in the home as housewives. For some reason the sponsors of those radio shows, and the television shows that followed, were soap manufacturers like Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Lever Brothers. And that’s how the “soap” opera got its name …

37. Fancy wheels : MAGS

Mag wheels are often used on racing cars. They are made from a magnesium alloy, giving them their name. But beware, they are flammable and have been banned in many motor-sports in the UK.

40. Storybook sister : GRETEL

“Hansel and Gretel” is a Germanic fairy tale found in the collection of the Brothers Grimm. It tells of two siblings, Hansel and Gretel, the children of a woodcutter. The youngsters are abandoned in a forest at the behest of an evil stepmother. Clever Hansel hears of the plan and leaves a trail of pebbles so that he and his sister can find their way home, which they do. But the children are abandoned again and this time leave a trail of breadcrumbs. Unfortunately, the crumbs are eaten by birds and so the children do indeed become lost. But eventually they do all live happily ever after …

41. Doomed biblical city : SODOM

The two cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as Admah and Zeboim, were destroyed by God for the sins of their inhabitants, according to the Bible. The name Sodom has become a metaphor for vice and homosexuality, and gives us our word “sodomy”.

43. Mine, in Metz : A MOI

The city of Metz is in the northeast of France, and close to the German border. Given the proximity to Germany, Metz has both a strong German tradition and a strong French tradition. Metz was handed over to the French following WWI, after nearly 50 years of German rule. It quickly fell back into German hands in 1940 during WWII, with many German officers delighted to have back the city of their birth. Perhaps because of this long association with Germany, the US Army under General Patton encountered stiff resistance when liberating Metz in 1944. The cathedral in Metz is home to the largest expanse of stained glass in the world, almost 70,000 square feet in all.

46. Three-star mil. officer : LT GEN

Historically, the rank of lieutenant general (Lt. Gen) dates back to medieval time, when it was subordinate to a captain general. The latter was in command on the battlefield, and the former was his “lieutenant”, his second in command. Today, the rank of lieutenant general usually falls below general, and above major general (despite the fact that a “major” outranks a “lieutenant”).

50. Hardly gung-ho : TEPID

“Kung ho” is a Chinese expression meaning “work together, cooperate”. The anglicized version “gung-ho” was adopted by a Major Evans Carlson as an expression of combined spirit for his 2nd Marine Raider Battalion during WWII. From there the term spread throughout the Marine Corps and back to America where it persists to this day.

52. “Crocodile Hunter” Steve __ : IRWIN

Steve Irwin was a wildlife expert and TV personality from Australia who was known as the Crocodile Hunter. Sadly, Irwin died in 2006 at only 44 years of age, having been stung in the chest by a stingray.

54. Brahms creation : SCORE

Johannes Brahms was a leading German composer during the Romantic period. Brahms is one of the “Three Bs”, often grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven.

59. Tradesperson : PLIER

The verb “to ply”, as in “to ply one’s trade”, is related to the verb “to apply”, and is in effect a shortened form of the latter.

62. Type type : AGATE

In the world of typography, “agate” is a unit of measure. One agate is is equal to 5.5 points, or about one quarter of an inch. Agate is generally the smallest type size used in newspapers, and is generally restricted to advertisements and market reports in financial publications.

63. Channel for film buffs : TCM

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is one of my favorite television channels, delivering just what its name promises: classic movies.

64. Tree with long beanlike pods : CATALPA

The catalpa tree is particularly prized by fisherman, as the leaves are eaten by the caterpillars of the catalpa sphinx moth. The caterpillars make such good bait that some anglers plant catalpa trees just to source the little wrigglers.

65. Houses with layers : COOPS

The Old English word “cypa”, meaning “basket”, evolved in the 14th century to the word “coop” to describe a small cage for poultry. And, we still use that word today.

67. Fess up : ADMIT

The term “fess” is most often seen as part of the phrasal verb “to fess up” meaning “to admit to something”. “Fess” is simply a shortened form of “confess”.

69. Monopoly piece : HOTEL

In the game of Monopoly, one can purchase a hotel by “demolishing” four houses and by paying an extra amount equal to the price of a house.

71. Word from the Greek for “not a place” : UTOPIA

The word “Utopia” was coined by Sir Thomas More for his book “Utopia” published in 1516 describing an idyllic fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. More’s use of the name Utopia comes from the Greek “ou” meaning “not” and “topos” meaning “place”. By calling his perfect island “Not Place”, More was apparently making the point that he didn’t think that the ideal could actually exist.

75. Singer Newton-John : OLIVIA

Olivia Newton-John is an Australian singer and actress, although she was born in Cambridge, England. Newton-John’s father was an officer in the British Security Services and worked on the Enigma code-breaking project during WWII. Through her mother, Olivia is also the granddaughter of Max Born, the atomic physicist and Nobel Prize winner.

83. Words a pinball wizard hates to see : GAME OVER

Our modern game of pinball evolved from an earlier table game called bagatelle which used balls, pins and holes (and I remember playing bagatelle as boy in a pub in Ireland). The first “pinball” machine was made by a British inventor who settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. He modified the game of bagatelle, adding a coiled spring and a plunger to introduce balls at the end of the table, a device that is still in use today. From there, manufacturers developed coin-operated versions of pinball, which became popular during the depression as they provided a little entertainment for a few pennies. One distributor of the coin-operated pinball machines started manufacturing them himself as he couldn’t source new games fast enough. He called his pinball game Ballyhoo, and eventually named his company Bally, a brand name well known in the gambling industry to this day.

87. “The Tonight Show” character with a turban : CARNAC

Carnac the Magnificent was a character played by Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show”, a mystic soothsayer. Carson introduced Carnac in 1964.

90. Mauna __ : LOA

Mauna Loa on the “Big Island” of Hawaii is the largest volcano on the planet (in terms of volume). The name “Mauna Loa” is Hawaiian for “Long Mountain”.

101. Navel type : INNIE

The navel is basically a scar left behind when the umbilical cord is removed from a newborn baby. One interesting use of the umbilicus (navel, belly button) is to differentiate between identical twins, especially when they are very young.

106. Gymnast Korbut : OLGA

Olga Korbut is from modern-day Belarus, but was born during the days of the Soviet Union. Korbut competed for the USSR team in the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games. She was 17 when she appeared in the 1972 Munich Games, and had been training in a sports school since she was 8-years-old. The world fell in love with her as she was a very emotional young lady, readily expressing joy and disappointment, something that we weren’t used to seeing in athletes from behind the Iron Curtain. Korbut immigrated to the US in 1991 and now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.

109. Solo in “Star Wars” : HAN

Han Solo is the space smuggler in “Star Wars” played by Harrison Ford. Ford was originally hired by George Lucas just to read lines for actors during auditions for “Star Wars”, but over time Lucas became convinced that Ford was right for the pivotal role of Han Solo.

110. PC file suffix : EXE

In the Windows Operating System, a file with the extension .exe is an “executable” file.

111. SEC powerhouse : ALA

The athletic teams of the University of Alabama (“Bama”) are nicknamed the Crimson Tide, a reference to the team colors of crimson and white.

The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an athletic conference comprised mainly of schools in the southeastern US. The SEC was founded back in 1932 with a roster of thirteen schools, ten of which are still members of the conference.

116. Collecting Soc. Sec. : RET

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average age for retirement in the US is 63, even though that’s early relative to the eligibility age for Social Security and Medicare benefits. Also according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average length of retirement is 18 years.