LA Times Crossword Answers 15 Jan 2018, Monday

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Constructed by: John Lampkin
Edited by: Rich Norris

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Today’s Theme: Beekeeper

Themed answers are names that include the initial letter B:

  • 59A. Apiculturist … and, playfully, what 16-, 22-, 36- or 49-Across is : BEEKEEPER
  • 16A. NAACP co-founder : W E B DU BOIS
  • 22A. Pioneer suffragist on some dollar coins : SUSAN B ANTHONY
  • 36A. “Stuart Little” author : E B WHITE
  • 49A. “The Greatest Show on Earth” producer/director : CECIL B DEMILLE

Bill’s time: 6m 04s

Bill’s errors: 0

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

9. Blow in a dojo : CHOP

The Japanese word “dojo” literally means “place of the way”. Originally the term applied to training halls that were found in or beside temples. The teaching in a dojo was not limited to the martial arts, but in the Western world we use the dojo as the name for a training facility for judo, karate and the like.

13. Former Twitter CEO Williams : EVAN

Evan Williams is an Internet entrepreneur who has co-founded several successful companies. One of his early successes was the co-founding of the blog-publishing service called Blogger (which used to be home to this blog). Williams’ biggest success came with the co-founding of micro-blogging service Twitter.

14. Actress Sommer of “A Shot in the Dark” : ELKE

Elke Sommer is a German-born actress who was at the height of her success on the silver screen in the sixties. Sommer won a Golden Globe as Most Promising Newcomer Actress for her role opposite Paul Newman in 1964’s “The Prize”. She also sings and has released several albums. Now Sommer focuses on painting, producing artwork that is strongly influenced by the work of Marc Chagall.

“A Shot in the Dark” is the second of “The Pink Panther” series of films, and was released in 1964. The main character is Inspector Jacques Clouseau, played brilliantly by Peter Sellers. This one is a lot of fun …

16. NAACP co-founder : W E B DU BOIS

W. E. B. Du Bois was sociologist and civil rights activist from Massachusetts. Du Bois was the first African American to receive a doctorate from Harvard, and went on to become a professor at Atlanta University. In 1909, he was a co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

18. One who lassoes dogies, say : ROPER

“Dogie” is cowboy slang for a motherless calf in a herd.

19. Martini order : DRY

The term “martini” probably takes it name from the “Martini & Rossi” brand of dry vermouth, although no one seems to be completely sure. What is clear is that despite the Martini name originating in Italy, the martini drink originated in the US. The original martini was made with gin and sweet vermouth, but someone specifying a “dry” martini was given gin and dry vermouth. Nowadays we use dry vermouth for all martinis and the term “dry” has become a reference to how little vermouth is included in the drink. Famously, Noël Coward liked his drink very dry and said that a perfect martini is made by “filling a glass with gin then waving it in the general direction of Italy”. The German-American journalist and satirist H. L. Mencken referred to the martini as “the only American invention as perfect as a sonnet”.

20. Sgt. or cpl. : NCO

A non-commissioned officer (NCO) might be a sergeant (sgt.) or a corporal (cpl.).

22. Pioneer suffragist on some dollar coins : SUSAN B ANTHONY

The Susan B. Anthony dollar was produced by the US mint from 1979 to 1981 and again in 1999. The obverse of the coin features the profile of civil rights activist Susan B. Anthony who played such a pivotal role in the introduction of women’s suffrage in the US. The use of Susan B. Anthony’s image marked the first time that a non-fictitious female had appeared on circulating US coinage.

26. Hindu community : 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.

29. “Who’s Afraid of Virginia __?” : WOOLF

“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” is an Edward Albee play that premiered on Broadway in 1962. The play won a Tony in 1963, and was adapted in a successful film in 1966 starring Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, George Segal and Sandy Dennis. The stage version is a lengthy production, lasting over three hours.

30. Rocky peak : TOR

A tor is a high rocky hill. “Tor” comes from the Old English “torr”, the word for a tower or rock, which in turn comes from the Old Welsh “twrr” meaning a heap or a pile.

31. Celebratory cry two days after hump day : TGIF!

“Thank God It’s Friday” (TGIF) is a relatively new expression that apparently originated in Akron, Ohio. It was a catchphrase used first by disk jockey Jerry Healy of WAKR in the early seventies. That said, one blog reader wrote me to say that he had been using the phrase in the fifties.

The term “hump day” is very North American. It refers to Wednesday, which is the middle day (the hump) of a typical work week.

35. Cry at the World Cup : OLE!

The FIFA World Cup is the most prestigious tournament in the sport of soccer. The competition has been held every four years (excluding the WWII years) since the inaugural event held in Uruguay in 1930. The World Cup is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, even outranking the Olympic Games.

36. “Stuart Little” author : E B WHITE

E. B. (Elwyn Brooks) White was an American writer. His most famous creations were the children’s stories “Charlotte’s Web” and “Stuart Little”, but he also co-authored the writing guide “The Elements of Style” (usually referred to as “Strunk & White”).

43. Singer Peggy or comic-book writer Stan : LEE

Peggy Lee was a jazz and popular music singer from Jamestown, North Dakota. “Peggy Lee” was a stage name, as she was born Norma Egstrom. She was a successful songwriter as well as singer, and supplied several numbers for the Disney movie “Lady and the Tramp”. Lee also sang in the film and voiced four of the characters.

Stan Lee did just about everything at Marvel Comics over the years, from writing to being president and chairman of the board. If you like superhero movies based on the characters from Marvel Comics, then you could spend a few hours trying to spot Stan Lee in those films as he has a penchant for making cameo appearances. Lee can be spotted in “X-Men” (2000), “Spider-Man” (2002), “Hulk” (2003), “Fantastic Four” (2005), “Iron Man” (2008) and many other films.

44. Winner’s gesture : V-SIGN

One has to be careful making that V-sign depending where you are in the world. Where I came from, the V for victory (or peace) sign has to be made with the palm facing outwards. If the sign is made with the palm facing inwards, it can be interpreted as a very obscene gesture.

46. Warrior on the court, for short : NBAER

The Golden State Warriors are our local NBA franchise out here in the San Francisco Bay Area and are based in Oakland, California. The team was founded in 1946 as the Philadelphia Warriors, becoming the San Francisco Warriors when they moved to City by the Bay in 1962. They changed named again (to Golden State) when they relocated to Oakland in 1971. The statewide name reflected the fact that the team played some of their 1971-72 season games in San Diego, and as such were “California’s” team.

49. “The Greatest Show on Earth” producer/director : CECIL B DEMILLE

Cecil B. Demille was a movie director and producer who started his professional career in the silent era. DeMille’s movies were often epic works, such “Cleopatra” (1936), “Samson and Delilah” (1949), “The Greatest Show on Earth” (1952) and “The Ten Commandments” (1956). The Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award is named in his honor, and indeed he was its first recipient.

“The Greatest Show on Earth” is a 1952 film starring Betty Hutton and Cornel Wilde as competing trapeze artists in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Directed by Cecil B DeMille, the movie also stars Charlton Heston as the manager of the circus, and James Stewart as a clown who refuses to remove his makeup between performances.

55. Cleo’s killer : ASP

The asp is a venomous snake found in the Nile region of Africa. It is so venomous that the asp was used in ancient Egypt and Greece as a means of execution. Cleopatra observed such executions noting that the venom brought on sleepiness without any painful spasms. When the great queen opted to commit suicide, the asp was therefore her chosen method.

58. Talks like Daffy : LISPS

Daffy Duck first appeared on the screen in “Porky’s Duck Hunt” in 1937. In the original cartoon, Daffy was just meant to have a small role, but he was a big hit as he had so much sass. Even back then, Daffy was voiced by the ubiquitous Mel Blanc.

59. Apiculturist … and, playfully, what 16-, 22-, 36- or 49-Across is : BEEKEEPER

An apiary is an area where bees are kept, and apiculture is beekeeping, the maintenance of honey bee colonies. The Latin word for “bee” is “apis”.

62. __ Park, Colorado : ESTES

Estes Park is a town in a beautiful part of the US, in northern Colorado. Estes Park is home to the headquarters of Rocky Mountain National Park.

64. Marathon segment : MILE

The marathon commemorates the legendary messenger-run by Pheidippides from the site of the Battle of Marathon back to Athens, and is run over 26 miles and 385 yards. The first modern Olympic marathon races were run over a distance that approximated the length of the modern-day Marathon-Athens highway, although the actual length of the race varied from games to games. For the 1908 Olympics in London, a course starting at Windsor Castle and ending in front of the Royal Box at White City Stadium was defined. That course was 26 miles and 385 yards, the standard length now used at all Olympic Games. Organizers of subsequent games continued to vary the length of the race, until a decision was made in 1921 to adopt the distance used in London in 1908.

Down

5. Selfie video device : WEBCAM

A selfie is a self-portrait, usually one taken with a digital camera or cell phone. A “group selfie” is sometimes referred to as a “groufie” or “wefie”. A “couple selfie” is known as an “usie” or “ussie”, although those terms are sometimes also used for a group picture.

6. Crazy as __ : A LOON

The slang term “loon” for a deranged person probably comes from the loud cry of the bird, the loon, but it is also probably influenced by the word “lunatic”.

9. Make bootees, perhaps : CROCHET

Crochet is the process of making a fabric using a hooked needle called a crochet hook. “Crochet” is a French word meaning “hook”.

10. Aware of : HIP TO

The word “hip” meaning “informed” is just a variant of the word “hep”, which has the same meaning. Both terms probably originated as slang first used in the African American community.

12. Actor Luke or Matthew : PERRY

Luke Perry is one of a long list of stars that made it big on the TV show “Beverly Hills 90210”. What is remarkable about Perry’s performances is that he joined the cast to play a 16-year-old character (Dylan McKay), while Perry was actually in his mid-twenties!

Matthew Perry is an actor best known for his television work, especially for playing Chandler Bing on the incredibly successful sitcom “Friends”. More recently, Perry played Oscar Madison on the latest TV adaptation of the Neil Simon play “The Odd Couple”.

15. Quarterback Favre : BRETT

Brett Favre is best known as the former starting-quarterback for the Green Bay Packers. Favre retired in 2010 after playing with the Minnesota Vikings for a short time. Among the many NFL records held by Favre, he made the most consecutive starts.

23. Clickable address : URL

Internet addresses (like NYTCrossword.com and LAXCrossword.com) are more correctly called Uniform Resource Locators (URLs).

24. Start of a party invitation phrase : BE THERE …

… or be square.

26. GI gone missing : AWOL

The Military Police (MPs) often track down personnel who go AWOL (absent without leave).

The initials “GI” stand for “Government Issue”, and not “General Infantry” as is widely believed. “GI” was first used in the military to denote equipment made from Galvanized Iron and during WWI, incoming German shells were nicknamed “GI cans”. Soon after, the term GI came to be associated with “Government Issue” and eventually became an adjective to describe anything associated with the Army.

32. Recipe tester, facetiously : GUINEA PIG

The guinea pig species of rodent is also known as a cavy. Guinea pigs aren’t related to pigs, and not are they from Guinea (in West Africa). Guinea pigs actually come from the Andes. They were commonly used for research in the 1800s and 1900s, and as a result we use the term “guinea pig” for a test subject to this day.

33. “Picnic” playwright : INGE

During his career, dramatist William Inge was known as the “Playwright of the Midwest”, as many of his works were set in the American heartland and explored small town life. When Inge was 60 years old, he committed suicide by poisoning himself with carbon monoxide. He was buried in his hometown of Independence, Kansas. Inge’s grave is marked with a headstone that reads simply “Playwright”.

Playwright William Inge had a run of success on Broadway in the early fifties. Inge’s most celebrated work of that time was the play “Picnic”, for which he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. The original 1953 cast of “Picnic” included a young male actor making his debut on Broadway. His name was Paul Newman.

45. Cantina condiment : SAL

In Spanish, one might find “sal” (salt) on the table of a “cantina” (canteen, cafe).

47. “God __ America” : BLESS

Irving Berlin wrote “God Bless America” while serving with the US Army in 1918. Berlin didn’t come across an opportunity to publicize the song until just before WWII. He felt it was the right time to introduce a patriotic song, and famously gave it to singer Kate Smith for a broadcast on Armistice Day in 1938. The song was such a hit that there were even moves to have it adopted as a new national anthem.

50. Beethoven dedicatee : ELISE

“Fur Elise” is a beautiful piece of solo piano music by Beethoven that is also known as “Bagatelle in A Minor”. “Fur Elise” means simply “For Elise”, but sadly no one knows for sure the identity of the mysterious dedicatee.

52. 1980s attorney general Edwin : MEESE

Ed Meese was born in Oakland, California just down the road here and spent 24 years in the office of the Treasurer of Alameda County, the county in which I live. After military service, Meese earned himself a law degree at UC Berkeley. Later, as chief of staff for President Reagan, he was instrumental in a famous decision to crack down on student protesters at Berkeley which resulted in one protester dying and a two-week occupation of the city by the California National Guard.

56. Wall Street bear’s suggestion : SELL

The terms “bull market” and “bear market” come from the way in which each animal attacks. A bull thrusts his horns upwards (an “up” market), whereas a bear swipes with his paws downward (a “down” market).

59. One placed in Vegas : BET

The stretch of South Las Vegas Boulevard on which most of the big casinos are concentrated is referred to as the “Las Vegas Strip”. The Strip was named for LA’s Sunset Strip by former Los Angeles law enforcement officer Guy McAfee. McAfee was a notoriously corrupt head of the LAPD vice squad in 1920s and 1930s who ran several brothels and gambling saloons. McAfee moved to Las Vegas in 1939 where he opened several casinos, including the Golden Nugget.

60. Yale alum : ELI

Elihu Yale was a wealthy merchant born in Boston in 1649. Yale worked for the British East India Company, and for many years served as governor of a settlement at Madras (now Chennai) in India. After India, Yale took over his father’s estate near Wrexham in Wales. It was while resident in Wrexham that Yale responded to a request for financial support for the Collegiate School of Connecticut in 1701. He sent the school a donation, which was used to erect a new building in New Haven that was named “Yale” in his honor. In 1718, the whole school was renamed to “Yale College”. To this day, students of Yale are nicknamed “Elis”, again honoring Elihu.

61. Grounded Aussie bird : EMU

Even though emu meat is classified as a red meat because of its color, it has a fat content that is comparable to other poultry.

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Ear part : LOBE
5. Hamper load : WASH
9. Blow in a dojo : CHOP
13. Former Twitter CEO Williams : EVAN
14. Actress Sommer of “A Shot in the Dark” : ELKE
15. Pickle juice : BRINE
16. NAACP co-founder : W E B DU BOIS
18. One who lassoes dogies, say : ROPER
19. Martini order : DRY
20. Sgt. or cpl. : NCO
21. Military zone division : SECTOR
22. Pioneer suffragist on some dollar coins : SUSAN B ANTHONY
26. Hindu community : ASHRAM
28. Open the faucets onstage, so to speak : EMOTE
29. “Who’s Afraid of Virginia __?” : WOOLF
30. Rocky peak : TOR
31. Celebratory cry two days after hump day : TGIF!
35. Cry at the World Cup : OLE!
36. “Stuart Little” author : E B WHITE
40. Prefix with cycle : UNI-
41. Red ink : LOSS
43. Singer Peggy or comic-book writer Stan : LEE
44. Winner’s gesture : V-SIGN
46. Warrior on the court, for short : NBAER
48. Given temporarily : LOANED
49. “The Greatest Show on Earth” producer/director : CECIL B DEMILLE
53. Bolts and ties the knot? : ELOPES
54. Ltr. holder : ENV
55. Cleo’s killer : ASP
58. Talks like Daffy : LISPS
59. Apiculturist … and, playfully, what 16-, 22-, 36- or 49-Across is : BEEKEEPER
62. __ Park, Colorado : ESTES
63. Ultimatum close : … ELSE
64. Marathon segment : MILE
65. Top of the line : BEST
66. Bound with rope : TIED
67. “This could get __” : UGLY

Down

1. Bawdy : LEWD
2. (See other side) : OVER
3. Bootees : BABY SHOES
4. Close or complete : END
5. Selfie video device : WEBCAM
6. Crazy as __ : A LOON
7. Enjoy the slopes : SKI
8. Guys : HES
9. Make bootees, perhaps : CROCHET
10. Aware of : HIP TO
11. Situation before a two-run homer : ONE ON
12. Actor Luke or Matthew : PERRY
15. Quarterback Favre : BRETT
17. Hazardous : UNSAFE
21. Bull’s sound : SNORT
23. Clickable address : URL
24. Start of a party invitation phrase : BE THERE …
25. Mine, to Marcel : A MOI
26. GI gone missing : AWOL
27. Piano recital piece, e.g. : SOLO
32. Recipe tester, facetiously : GUINEA PIG
33. “Picnic” playwright : INGE
34. Discovery : FIND
37. Says too much : BLABS
38. Lawn intruder : WEED
39. Develop slowly : EVOLVE
42. Bit, as of news : SNIPPET
45. Cantina condiment : SAL
47. “God __ America” : BLESS
48. Like chain rings : LINKED
49. Hollywood VIP : CELEB
50. Beethoven dedicatee : ELISE
51. Expenses : COSTS
52. 1980s attorney general Edwin : MEESE
56. Wall Street bear’s suggestion : SELL
57. Mice, to owls : PREY
59. One placed in Vegas : BET
60. Yale alum : ELI
61. Grounded Aussie bird : EMU

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