LA Times Crossword 28 Jun 19, Friday

Bill’s time: 6m 33s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

8 Important biblical river : JORDAN

The Jordan River forms the border between the nations of Israel and Jordan, and flows into the Dead Sea. According to the Christian Bible, Jesus was baptised in the Jordan by John the Baptist. The country of Jordan takes its name from the river.

15 It’s about 80 miles SW of Buffalo, N.Y. : ERIE, PA

Erie is a city in the very north of Pennsylvania, right on the southern shore of Lake Erie. The city takes its name from the Erie Native American tribe that resided in the area. Erie is nicknamed the Gem City, a reference to the “sparkling” water of Lake Erie.

16 Hot and spicy : PICANTE

“Picante” is a Spanish word meaning “spicy hot”.

17 Only Jet who was a Super Bowl MVP : NAMATH

The legendary quarterback Joe Namath played most of his professional football games with the New York Jets. He was dubbed “Broadway Joe” in 1965 by offensive tackle Sherman Plunkett, a reference to Namath’s appearance on the cover of “Sports Illustrated”. Namath had played college football with the University of Alabama but left school without finishing his degree, to play professionally. Many years later he enrolled in Alabama’s External Degree program, and graduated with a BA in December 2007, at 64 years of age. Well done, Joe!

21 Photo lab abbr. : ENL

Enlargement (enl.)

30 Med. school subject : ANAT

Anatomy (anat.)

32 Name on a banana sticker : DOLE

James Dole lent his name to today’s Dole Food Company. James Dole was known as the Pineapple King, as he developed the pineapple industry in Hawaii and founded the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, the forerunner to the Dole Food Company. Dole might have had some help on the way, as he was cousin to Sanford B, Dole, President of the Republic of Hawaii from 1894 to 1900.

33 Winery cask : TUN

A tun is a barrel, often a large barrel used in winemaking. The term “tun” came to be a measure of volume, originally 252 gallons of wine. The weight of such a volume of wine was referred to as a “tun”, which evolved into our contemporary unit “ton”.

35 Iconic San Francisco sight : CABLE CAR

The Cable Car Museum in San Francisco is a little special in that it is housed in the same complex as the city’s cable car power house. While touring the museum, visitors can look out over the power house and see the huge haulage cables heading out to the streets to pull the cars up all of those steep hills.

41 Landmark 1973 decision : ROE V WADE

Roe v. Wade was decided in a US District Court in Texas in 1970, and reached the Supreme Court on appeal. The basic decision by the Supreme Court was that a woman’s constitutional right to privacy applied to an abortion, but that this right had to be balanced with a state’s interest in protecting an unborn child and a mother’s health. The Court further defined that the state’s interest became stronger with each trimester of a pregnancy. So, in the first trimester the woman’s right to privacy outweighed any state interest. In the second trimester the state’s interest in maternal health was deemed to be strong enough to allow state regulation of abortion for the sake of the mother. In the third trimester the viability of the fetus dictated that the state’s interest in the unborn child came into play, so states could regulate or prohibit abortions, except in cases where the mother’s life was in danger. I’m no lawyer, but that’s my understanding of the initial Supreme Court decision …

42 Oxford, to Oxonians : UNI

In Australia (Down Under), and in Britain and Ireland, the term “Uni” is routinely used for “university”.

An Oxonian is a graduate of Oxford University in England. The equivalent term for a graduate of Cambridge University is “Cantabrigian”.

44 Mideast seaport : ADEN

Aden is a seaport in Yemen that is located on the Gulf of Aden by the eastern approach to the Red Sea. Aden has a long history of British rule, from 1838 until a very messy withdrawal in 1967. A native of Aden is known as an Adeni. Some believe that Cain and Abel are buried in the city.

51 __Kosh B’gosh : OSH

OshKosh B’gosh is a company that produces and sells children’s clothes. The trademark OshKosh bib-overalls remind us of the company’s roots, as it was originally a manufacturer of adult work clothes based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

53 Louis XIV, par exemple : ROI

Louis XIV is perhaps the most famous of the kings (“rois”) of France and was known as the Sun King (“le Roi Soleil”). Louis XIV was king from 1638 to 1715. That reign of over 72 years is the longest reign of any European monarch.

55 Something you might grab in a hammock : NAP

Our word “hammock” comes via Spanish from Haiti, and evolved from a word used there to describe a fishing net.

56 High wind : PICCOLO

The piccolo is a woodwind instrument that looks like a small flute. Piccolos play one octave higher than flutes, and so the instrument is known by Italian musicians as an “ottavino”, Italian for “little octave”. “Piccolo” is Italian for “small”.

59 “M.O.” rapper : NELLY

Nelly is the stage name of rap artist Cornell Haynes, Jr. from Austin, Texas.

63 Budget carrier headquartered near Kuala Lumpur : AIRASIA

AirAsia is a low-cost airline based in Malaysia, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Reportedly, AirAsia has the lowest actual cost of operations of any airline in the world.

66 Nordic Council member : ICELAND

The Nordic Council is a body formed in 1952 in order to facilitate cooperation between the Nordic Countries. Current membership includes Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The Nordic Council is headquartered in the Danish capital, Copenhagen.

67 Oregon city where Nike was founded : EUGENE

Eugene is the second-largest city in Oregon (after Portland). The city is named for its founder, Eugene Franklin Skinner. Skinner arrived in the area in 1846, after which the settlement he established was called Skinner’s Mudhole. The name was changed to Eugene City in 1852, which was shortened to Eugene in 1889.

Nike was founded in 1964 in Eugene, Oregon by entrepreneur Phil Knight and track-and-field coach Bill Bowerman as Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS). BRS started out by distributing athletic shoes made in Japan. The company started making its own shoes in 1971 and changed its name to Nike, after the Greek goddess of victory.

Down

3 “Livin’ la Vida __” : LOCA

“Livin’ la Vida Loca” is a 1999 single recorded by Ricky Martin, the title of which translates as “living the crazy life”.

4 Military day’s march : ETAPE

“Étape” is the French word for stage, as in a “stage” in the Tour de France. The term is used in English military circles to describe where troops halt overnight, but can also describe the section of the march itself. So, a march can be divided into stages, into étapes.

5 Many a fed. holiday : MON

The US Congress created the first federal holidays in 1870, but only designated four such holidays:

• New Year’s Day
• Independence Day
• Thanksgiving Day
• Christmas Day

6 Chop meat : MUTTON

The meat of the domestic sheep is given a different name, depending on how old the animal was at time of slaughter. Generally speaking, lamb is the meat of sheep no more than one year old. Hogget is the meat of a juvenile, and mutton is the meat of an adult.

7 Calculation often using pi : AREA

The ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter is often referred to as Archimedes’ constant, which we denote with the Greek letter pi (π). The ratio pi can be used to calculate the area of a disk, by multiplying the constant by the square of the radius (πr2).

8 Spinning __: weaving innovation : JENNY

The spinning jenny was a machine used for spinning yarn that used more than one spindle at a time. The machine was invented in the north of England in 1764 by James Hargreaves. Because the it greatly reduced the amount of work needed to manufacture cloth, the spinning jenny played a vital part in fueling the Industrial Revolution. Despite apocryphal stories to the contrary, it’s probably that the word “jenny” just means “engine”.

10 Frosty coating : RIME

Rime is the beautiful coating of ice that forms on surfaces like roofs, trees and grass, when cold water freezes instantly under the right conditions.

11 Stalemate : DEADLOCK

A deadlock is a standstill, a stalemate. The suggestion is that the term “deadlock” was coined in the 1779 play called “The Critic”, from the pen of Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

“Stalemate” is a term used in chess when one player (who is not in check) cannot make a legal move. A game of chess with a stalemate is declared a draw. We use the term metaphorically for a no-win situation in general.

18 Speed Wagon make : REO

The REO Speed Wagon was a light truck introduced in 1915, and a precursor to the modern pickup truck. The rock band REO Speedwagon is named for the truck, but note that the difference between the spelling of Speedwagon (the band) and Speed Wagon (the truck).

23 Coffee brand with an orange cap : SANKA

The first successful process for removing caffeine from coffee involved steaming the beans in salt water, and then extracting the caffeine using benzene (a potent carcinogen) as a solvent. Coffee processed this way was sold as Sanka here in the US. There are other processes used these days, and let’s hope they are safer …

27 __ se : PER

“Per se” is a Latin phrase that translates as “by itself”. We use “per se” pretty literally, meaning “in itself, intrinsically”.

29 L.A. Clippers owner Ballmer : STEVE

Steve Ballmer served as CEO after Bill Gates stepped down from the post in 2000. Ballmer himself stepped down in 2004, after only four years in the job. He purchased the LA Clippers basketball team in 2014, joining Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen as an NBA owner (Allen bought the Portland Trail Blazers in 1988).

32 Commonly blue fabric : DENIM

Denim fabric originated in Nimes in France. The French phrase “de Nimes” (meaning “from Nimes”) gives us the word “denim”. Also, the French phrase “bleu de Genes” (meaning “blue of Genoa”) gives us our word “jeans”.

34 Motor City org. : UAW

The United Auto Workers (UAW) was founded to represent workers in auto plants in the Detroit area in 1935. Nowadays the UAW’s membership extends into the aerospace, agriculture and other industries.

The city of Detroit was founded in 1701 by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, a French explorer. The original settlement was named for the Detroit River, which in turn takes its name from the French word “détroit” meaning “strait”. Detroit became inextricably linked with the automotive business from the very early 20th century when Henry Ford and others set up manufacturing in the area. This link to transportation led to Detroit’s nicknames of “Motor City” and “Motown”. The city’s economic strength declined at the beginning of the 21st century, resulting in a 25% drop in population between 2000 and 2010. Detroit filed for the country’s largest municipal bankruptcy in history in 2013, facing a debt of $18.8 billion. The city exited bankruptcy at the end of 2014.

36 Musical Mars : BRUNO

Bruno Mars is a singer-songwriter from Honolulu who has been active in the music business since 2006. “Bruno Mars” is a stage name, as Mars was born Peter Hernandez.

37 Office PC nexus : LAN

Local Area Network (LAN)

38 Fillet’s lack : BONE

A fillet is a boneless cut of meat or fish. The term “fillet” comes from the Old French “filet” meaning “small thread, filament”. Apparently, we applied the term to food because the piece of fish or meat was tied up with string after it was boned. Here in the US, we tend to use the French spelling “filet”.

40 Panhandle state : IDAHO

The US state of Idaho has a panhandle that extends northwards between Washington and Montana, right up to the border with Canada. Across that border is the Canadian province of British Columbia. Most of Idaho is in the Mountain Time Zone, but Northern Idaho (the Panhandle) is in the Pacific Time Zone.

41 Cardi B genre : RAP

“Cardi B” is the stage name of rap artist Belcalis Almánzar from the Bronx in New York City. The name “Cardi B” comes from the brand name “Bacardi”.

45 Beethoven’s Third : EROICA

Beethoven originally dedicated his “Symphony No. 3” to Napoleon Bonaparte. Beethoven admired the principles of the French Revolution and as such respected Bonaparte who was “born” out of the uprising. When Napoleon declared himself Emperor, Beethoven (and much of Europe) saw this as a betrayal to the ideals of the revolution so he changed the name of his new symphony from “Bonaparte” to “Eroica”, meaning “heroic, valiant”.

47 Browsing, nowadays : ONLINE

A web browser is a piece of software used to access the World Wide Web. The first web browser was called “WorldWideWeb” and was invented in 1990 by Tim Berners-Lee, the man who created the World Wide Web. The browser known as Mosaic came out in 1993, and it was this browser that drove so much interest in the World Wide Web, and indeed in the Internet in general. Marc Andreessen led the team that created Mosaic, and he then set up his own company called Netscape. Netscape created the Netscape Navigator browser that further popularized the use of the Web starting in 1994. Microsoft responded by introducing Internet Explorer in 1995, which sparked the so-called “browser war”, a war that Microsoft clearly won. As Netscape floundered, the company launched the open-source Mozilla project which eventually led to the Firefox browser. Apple then came out with it’s own Safari browser in 2003. Google’s Chrome browser, introduced in 2008, is by far the most popular way to view the Web today.

48 Tortilla shell fillers, perhaps : SALADS

“Tortilla” translates literally from Spanish as “little cake”.

49 Special Stratego piece : SPY

The wonderful board game called Stratego derives from a traditional Chinese game called “Jungle” or “Animal Chess”. The major difference between Stratego and Jungle is that in the latter, the identity of the pieces is not hidden from one’s opponent.

60 Morales of “NYPD Blue” : ESAI

The actor Esai Morales is best known in the world of film for the 1987 movie “La Bamba”, which depicted the life of Ritchie Valens and his half-brother Bob Morales (played by Esai). On the small screen, Morales plays Lt. Tony Rodriguez on “NYPD Blue” and Joseph Adama on “Caprica”.

“NYPD Blue” is a police drama that was originally aired in 1993, and ran until 2005. Stars of the show are Dennis Franz, David Caruso, Jimmy Smits and Rick Schroder. The show created a bit of a fuss back in the nineties, as it featured a relatively large amount of nudity for broadcast television.

61 Great service? : ACE

That could be tennis, for example.

62 Astros, on sports tickers : HOU

The Houston baseball team changed its name to the Astros (sometimes “’Stros”) from the Colt .45s in 1965 when they started playing in the Astrodome. The Astrodome was so called in recognition of the city’s long association with the US space program. The Astros moved from the National League to the American League starting in the 2013 season.

64 Shinto, for one: Abbr. : REL

It is perhaps best not to describe Shinto as a religion, but more as a “spirituality of the Japanese people”, a spirituality that encompasses folklore, history and mythology. Having said that, “Shinto” translates literally as “Way of the gods”. Most people in Japan who are described as practicing Shinto, also practice Buddhism.