LA Times Crossword Answers 1 Jun 2018, Friday

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Constructed by: John Lampkin
Edited by: Rich Norris

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Today’s Reveal Answer: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Themed answers have had the word BODY SNATCHED away from the grid:

  • 27A. With 44-Across, classic 1956 film … and why the answers to starred clues aren’t quite themselves? : INVASION OF THE …
  • 44A. See 27-Across : … BODY SNATCHERS
  • 1A. *Tattoos : (BODY) ART
  • 8A. *Hypothetical object that absorbs all incident electromagnetic radiation : BLACK (BODY)
  • 16A. *Nonverbal communication : (BODY) LANGUAGE
  • 22A. *Snoop : BUSY(BODY)
  • 50A. *Bumper repair site : (BODY) SHOP
  • 62A. *Star or nebula : HEAVENLY (BODY)
  • 67A. *Circadian rhythm : (BODY) CLOCK
  • 69A. *Coveted journalism award : PEA(BODY)

Bill’s time: 6m 46s

Bill’s errors: 0

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. *Tattoos : (BODY) ART

The word “tattoo” (often shortened to “tat”) was first used in English in the writings of the famous English explorer Captain Cook. In his descriptions of the indelible marks adorning the skin of Polynesian natives, Cook anglicized the Tahitian word “tatau” into our “tattoo”. Tattoos are also sometimes referred to as “ink”.

4. They churn out dough : ATMS

Automatic Teller Machine (ATM)

8. *Hypothetical object that absorbs all incident electromagnetic radiation : BLACK (BODY)

In the world of theoretical physics, a black body is a physical body that absorbs all incident electromagnetic radiation. Similarly, a white body is a physical body that reflects all incident electromagnetic radiation.

13. Sign of summer : LEO

The constellation called Leo can be said to resemble a lion. Others say that it resembles a bent coat hanger. “Leo” is the Latin for “lion”, but I’m not sure how to translate “coat hanger” into Latin …

14. Ecologically challenged Asian sea : ARAL

The Aral Sea is a great example of how man can have a devastating effect on his environment. In the early sixties the Aral Sea covered 68,000 square miles of Central Asia. Soviet irrigation projects drained the lake to such an extent that today the total area is less than 7,000 square miles, with 90% of the lake now completely dry. Sad …

15. Ovine output : BAA BAA!

The Latin word for “sheep” is “ovis”, giving us the adjective “ovine” meaning “like a sheep”.

20. Op-ed takes : VIEWS

“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.

23. Outdoor gear giant : REI

Sporting goods company REI introduced a #OptOutside campaign starting on Black Friday in 2015. The initial focus of the campaign was to encourages customers and employees alike to head out into nature instead of swamping retail outlets on the day that kicked off the holiday shopping season. REI actually closed its doors on Black Friday 2015, rather than participate in the annual shopping frenzy.

25. Game that may involve bumpers : POOL

Bumper pool is a variant of pocket billiards that is played on a special pool table that includes cushioned obstacles (called “bumpers”) on the surface. Several of the bumpers guard the pockets, which are actually circular holes in the playing surface.

27. With 44-Across, classic 1956 film … and why the answers to starred clues aren’t quite themselves? : INVASION OF THE …
(44A. See 27-Across : … BODY SNATCHERS)

“Invasion of the Body Snatchers” is a 1956 sci-fi movie that was remade in 1978. Not my kind of film, quite frankly …

33. Dose people? : DEM

Dose people, dem, not dese people.

35. Elite prep school : ETON

The world-famous Eton College is just a brisk walk from Windsor Castle, which itself is just outside London. Eton is noted for producing many British leaders including David Cameron who took power in the last UK general election. The list of Old Etonians also includes Princes William and Harry, the Duke of Wellington, George Orwell, and the creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming (as well as 007 himself as described in the Fleming novels).

36. Dominica native : CARIB

The Island Caribs are an American Indian people who are native to the Lesser Antilles islands, part of the West Indies. It is thought that the Island Caribs are possibly descended from the Kalina (also “Mainland Carib”) people who are native to the northern coastal areas of South America. The Caribbean Sea takes its name from the Island Carib people.

Dominica is an island nation in the Caribbean, one not to be confused with the Dominican Republic. Christopher Columbus and his crew first spotted the island on a Sunday. Columbus named it “Dominica”, as “dominica” is Latin for “Sunday”.

39. Flay’s flipper : SPATULA

A spatula is a tool or implement used for mixing, lifting or spreading. “Spatula” is the Latin name for the tool, and is a diminutive of the word “spatha” meaning “broad, flat blade”. “Spatha” gives rise to our related term “spade”.

42. “Better Call __” : SAUL

“Better Call Saul” is a spin-off drama series from the hit show “Breaking Bad”. The main character is small-time lawyer Saul Goodman, played by Bob Odenkirk, who featured in the original series. “Better Call Saul” is set six years before Goodman makes an appearance in the “Breaking Bad” storyline. The lawyer’s real name is James Morgan McGill, and his pseudonym is a play on the words “S’all good, man!”

48. Chihuahua chow : TACO

The city of Chihuahua is the capital of the Mexican state of the same name. The city was founded in 1709 by Spanish explorers as a village called El Real de Minas de San Francisco de Cuéllar. However, the current name “Chihuahua” predates the Spanish conquest of Mexico, although the name wasn’t adopted until 1823.

“Chow” is a slang term for food that originated in California in the mid-1800s. “Chow” comes from the Chinese pidgin English “chow-chow” meaning “food”.

49. The SEC’s Tigers : LSU

The Tigers are the sports teams of Louisiana State University (LSU). They are officially known as the Fightin’ Tigers, and the school mascot is “Mike the Tiger”. The name comes from the days of the Civil War, when two Louisiana brigades earned the nickname the “Louisiana Tigers”. Given the French/Cajun history of Louisiana, the LSU fans use the cheer “Geaux Tigers” instead of “Go Tigers”.

54. First course in German? : SUPPE

“Soup” is “Suppe” in German, and “soupe” in French.

56. Thailand, once : SIAM

Siam was the official name of Thailand up to 1939 (and again from 1945 to 1949).

62. *Star or nebula : HEAVENLY (BODY)

In astronomical terms, a nebula is a cloud of dust and ionized gases (“nebula” is the Latin for “cloud”). Many nebulae form as gases collapse in on themselves under the influence of enormous gravitational forces. Ultimately these collapses can result in the creation of new stars.

65. Ingrid, in “Casablanca” : ILSA

Ilsa Lund was played by Ingrid Bergman in the 1942 movie “Casablanca”. I love the words of one critic describing the chemistry between Bogart and Bergman in this film: “She paints his face with her eyes”. Wow …

The movie “Casablanca” was released in January of 1943, timed to coincide with the Casablanca Conference, the high-level meeting between Roosevelt and Churchill. The film wasn’t a box-office hit, but gained critical acclaim, winning three Oscars including Best Picture. The signature song “As Time Goes By” was written many years earlier for a 1931 Broadway musical called “Everybody’s Welcome”, and was a hit in 1931 for Rudy Vallee. But today we all remember the Casablanca version, sung by Dooley Wilson (who played “Sam” in the film). Poor Dooley didn’t get to record it as a single, due to a musician’s strike in 1943. The 1931 Rudy Vallee version was re-released that year and became an even bigger hit second time round.

66. Tell’s apple support : SON

Supposedly, William Tell came from Uri, a canton in the German part of Switzerland. Altdorf is the capital of Uri and is the city where William Tell shot the apple off his son’s head using a crossbow, at least according to legend. There is a bronze statue of Tell that was erected in the city’s marketplace in 1895 to memorialize the event.

67. *Circadian rhythm : (BODY) CLOCK

Biological processes are said to exhibit circadian rhythm if they are characterized by 24-hour cycles. The term “circadian” comes from the Latin “circa” meaning “around, approximately” and “diem” meaning “day”.

69. *Coveted journalism award : PEA(BODY)

The Peabody Awards have been presented annually since 1941 to individuals and organizations for excellence in broadcasting. They are named for businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, who provided the funds to establish the awards program.

Down

1. Penne __ vodka : ALLA

Penne alla vodka is a pasta dish with a sauce made of vodka, cream, tomatoes, onions and sausage or bacon.

2. Caboose : REAR

The word “caboose” originally came from Middle Dutch and was the word for a ship’s galley. When the last car in a train in North America was given a stove for the comfort of the crew, it took on the name “caboose”. The term has also become slang for a person’s backside.

4. Nonpro sports org. : AAU

The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) sponsors the AAU Junior Olympic Games, an annual competition held in different cities across the United States, starting in Washington D.C. in 1967, and most recently in Des Moines, Iowa in 2009.

5. “Fallen woman,” in a Verdi title : TRAVIATA

Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “La Traviata” was originally titled “Violetta” after the main character in the piece. The title “La Traviata” translates into “The Woman Gone Astray”, reflecting Violetta’s life as a courtesan.

6. Star followers : MAGI

“Magi” is the plural of the Latin word “magus”, a term applied to someone who was able to read the stars. Hence, “magi” is commonly used with reference to the “wise men from the East” who followed the star and visited Jesus soon after he was born. In Western Christianity, the three Biblical Magi are:

  • Melchior: a scholar from Persia
  • Caspar: a scholar from India
  • Balthazar: a scholar from Arabia

10. “__ Ben Adhem” : ABOU

Abou Ben Adhem, also known as Ibrahim Bin Adham, was an Arab Muslim saint. He was made famous in the western world with the publication in 1838 of the poem “Abou Ben Adhem” that was composed by the English poet James Henry Leigh Hunt.

11. Mama with two Papas : CASS

Cass Elliot was one of the four singers in the Mamas and the Papas, a sensational group from the sixties. “Mama Cass” was performing sold-out concerts in London in 1974 when she was found dead one morning, having had a heart attack. She was only 32 years old. Eerily, Elliot died in the same flat (on loan from Harry Nilsson) in which the Who’s drummer Keith Moon would die just four years later.

The folk group called the Magic Circle renamed itself to the Mamas and the Papas in the early sixties. Sadly, the Mamas and the Papas weren’t a happy bunch, always fighting over who was getting credit for songs and whose voice was getting mixed out of recordings, so they split up, twice. While they were together though, they wrote and recorded some great songs, songs which really do epitomize the sound of the sixties. “Monday, Monday” was written by John Phillips, one of “the Papas”, and it was to become the only number one hit for the group. Here’s a shocker … when it hit number one in 1966, it was the first time that a group made up of both sexes topped the American charts!

12. Pop’s Perry : KATY

Katy Perry is an American singer who grew up listening to and singing gospel music, as she was the daughter of two Christian pastors. In fact, her first musical release was a gospel album in 2001. She has branched out since then. Her first successful single was “Ur so Gay”, followed by “I Kissed A Girl”. She was married (for only a year) to the British comedian Russell Brand, until 2012.

15. Bearded bovine : BISON

There two species of bison left (four species are extinct). We are most familiar with the American bison (commonly called the American buffalo), but there is a also a European bison, sometimes called a “wisent”.

Something bovine is related to a cow, ox or buffalo, any ruminant in the genus Bos. “Bos” is the Latin for “cow”, and “bovinus” a Late Latin derivative term.

17. Jake __, first Congressman to fly in space : GARN

Jake Garn served as a US Senator for the state of Utah from 1974 to 1993. Garn also served as a pilot in the US Navy, and later with the Utah Air National Guard. While in the US Senate, he was a member of the appropriations subcommittee that dealt with NASA. In that capacity, Garn asked for and was given permission to fly on the Space Shuttle as a payload specialist. One of his roles on the mission was to participate in medical experiments on space motion sickness. He was so ill during the flight that NASA created the unit of “garn”, defining one garn as the highest possible level of space sickness that could be experienced by an astronaut.

24. Hillary’s peak : EVEREST

Mount Everest was first summited in 1953 by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese sherpa Tenzing Norgay. Hillary and Norgay were part of an expedition from which two pairs of climbers were selected to make a summit attempt. The first pair were Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans, and they came within 330 feet of their goal but had to turn back. The expedition sent up the second pair two days later, and history was made on 29 May 1953.

31. Jack and Jill’s Waterloo? : HILL

The “Jack and Jill” nursery rhyme dates back at least to the 1700s:

Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.

Waterloo is a small municipality in Belgium. The name “Waterloo” originated with the Dutch and is probably an anglicization of a Dutch word meaning “wet clearing in a forest”. The town is famous for the Battle of Waterloo that took place nearby in 1815. Said battle was fought between the Imperial French army led by Emperor Napoleon, and an Anglo-Allied army led by Irish-born British Field Marshal, the Duke of Wellington. Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo led to his abdication and the restoration of King Louis XVIII to the throne of France. Bonaparte was exiled to the British-owned island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died in 1821. Such is the fame of the battle that the term “Waterloo” is used figuratively today for any decisive or crushing defeat.

32. AuctionWeb, since 1997 : EBAY

eBay was founded in 1995 as AuctionWeb. One of the first items purchased was a broken laser pointer, for $14.83. The buyer was a collector of broken laser pointers …

33. Little bit : DRIB

A drib is a negligible amount, as in “dribs and drabs”. The term “drib” arose in Scotland in the 18th century, and might possibly come from the verb “to dribble”.

34. French bread : EURO

Euro coins are issued by all the participating European states. The reverse side is a common design used by all countries, whereas the obverse is a design specific to each nation. For example, the one euro coin issued by Malta features the Maltese Cross. That Maltese euro is legal tender right across the eurozone. The Irish euro features a harp.

46. Pressure prefix : ACU-

Acupressure and acupuncture are related alternative medical techniques. Both aim to clear blockages in the flow of life energy through the body’s meridians. The treatment is given by stimulating “acupoints’ in the body, by applying pressure in the case of acupressure, and by applying needles in the case of acupuncture.

50. What a crossword is often constructed on : SPEC

Something that is created on spec is a done so without having a specific buyer or consumer in mind. Many crosswords are constructed on spec, and then submitted to the likes of the “New York Times” and “Los Angeles Times” in the hope of publication.

52. “Beetle Bailey” hound : OTTO

Sgt. Snorkel (“Sarge”) is Beetle Bailey’s nemesis in the cartoon strip that bears his name. Snorkel has a dog called Otto that he dresses up to look just like himself. Otto started off as a regular dog, but artist Mort Walker decide to draw him more like his owner, and soon Otto became a big hit.

53. One 60-trillionth of a min. : PSEC

A picosecond is one trillionth of a second, and is correctly abbreviated to “ps” in the SI system of measurements. I guess that’s what “psec” is meant to be …

55. Brazilian hero : PELE

“Pelé” is the nickname of Edson de Nascimento, a soccer player who has used the name “Pelé” for most of his life. Pelé is now retired, and for my money was the world’s greatest ever player of the game. He is the only person to have been part of three World Cup winning squads, and is a national treasure in his native Brazil. One of Pele’s nicknames is “O Rei do Futebol” (the King of Football).

57. Clouseau’s rank: Abbr. : INSP

A lot of people think that the Inspector Clouseau character (played originally by Peter Sellers) is “The Pink Panther”. It’s actually the jewel that was stolen in the original movie. Would you believe there are eleven “Pink Panther” movies in the whole series?

59. Feathered mimic : MYNA

Some species of myna (also “mynah”) bird are known for their ability to imitate sounds.

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. *Tattoos : (BODY) ART
4. They churn out dough : ATMS
8. *Hypothetical object that absorbs all incident electromagnetic radiation : BLACK (BODY)
13. Sign of summer : LEO
14. Ecologically challenged Asian sea : ARAL
15. Ovine output : BAA BAA!
16. *Nonverbal communication : (BODY) LANGUAGE
18. Deepest, as feelings : INMOST
19. Realm : AREA
20. Op-ed takes : VIEWS
22. *Snoop : BUSY(BODY)
23. Outdoor gear giant : REI
25. Game that may involve bumpers : POOL
27. With 44-Across, classic 1956 film … and why the answers to starred clues aren’t quite themselves? : INVASION OF THE …
33. Dose people? : DEM
35. Elite prep school : ETON
36. Dominica native : CARIB
37. Abrades painfully : RUBS RAW
39. Flay’s flipper : SPATULA
41. Furious : IRATE
42. “Better Call __” : SAUL
43. Foxy : SLY
44. See 27-Across : … BODY SNATCHERS
48. Chihuahua chow : TACO
49. The SEC’s Tigers : LSU
50. *Bumper repair site : (BODY) SHOP
54. First course in German? : SUPPE
56. Thailand, once : SIAM
60. Watch a neighbor’s pooch, say : PET-SIT
62. *Star or nebula : HEAVENLY (BODY)
64. Café : EATERY
65. Ingrid, in “Casablanca” : ILSA
66. Tell’s apple support : SON
67. *Circadian rhythm : (BODY) CLOCK
68. Face : MEET
69. *Coveted journalism award : PEA(BODY)

Down

1. Penne __ vodka : ALLA
2. Caboose : REAR
3. Text alert, often : TONE
4. Nonpro sports org. : AAU
5. “Fallen woman,” in a Verdi title : TRAVIATA
6. Star followers : MAGI
7. Take advantage of a day off, maybe : SLEEP IN
8. Bar : BAN
9. Ewe’s output : LAMB
10. “__ Ben Adhem” : ABOU
11. Mama with two Papas : CASS
12. Pop’s Perry : KATY
15. Bearded bovine : BISON
17. Jake __, first Congressman to fly in space : GARN
21. Court : WOO
24. Hillary’s peak : EVEREST
26. Neighborhoods : LOCALES
27. “Don’t mess with me” : I’M BAD
28. Spread : SOW
29. Generous, as a contract : FAT
30. Bind : TRUSS
31. Jack and Jill’s Waterloo? : HILL
32. AuctionWeb, since 1997 : EBAY
33. Little bit : DRIB
34. French bread : EURO
38. Pen with oink, not ink : STY
39. Anatomical pouch : SAC
40. Eye-rolling word : PUH-LEASE!
42. Cry after a holdup : STOP HIM!
45. Awful : NASTY
46. Pressure prefix : ACU-
47. Ploy : RUSE
50. What a crossword is often constructed on : SPEC
51. Mend : HEAL
52. “Beetle Bailey” hound : OTTO
53. One 60-trillionth of a min. : PSEC
55. Brazilian hero : PELE
57. Clouseau’s rank: Abbr. : INSP
58. Bug bite soother : ALOE
59. Feathered mimic : MYNA
61. Bug : IRK
63. Dye holder : VAT

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