LA Times Crossword 26 Oct 19, Saturday

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Constructed by: Debbie Ellerin
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Theme: None

Bill’s time: 13m 27s

Bill’s errors: 2

  • KRAV MAGA (Krav Taga)
  • BAMS (bats)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Tablets that shouldn’t be used with water : IPADS

The groundbreaking iPad was introduced by Apple in 2010. The iOS-based iPads dominated the market for tablet computers until 2013, when Android-based tablets (manufactured by several companies) took over the number-one spot.

6 Mandela’s org. : ANC

As a young man, Nelson Mandela led the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). Mandela was eventually arrested and admitted to charges of sabotage and was sentenced to life in prison in 1964. He remained behind bars for 27 years, mainly in the infamous prison on Robben Island. As the years progressed, Mandela became a symbol of the fight against apartheid. He was released in 1990, and immediately declared his commitment to peace and reconciliation with South Africa’s white minority population. Mandela was elected president of the Republic of South Africa (RSA) in 1994, an office that he held until 1999. Nelson Mandela passed away on December 5, 2013.

9 Actress Andersson of “The Seventh Seal” : BIBI

Bibi Andersson is an actress from Sweden. Andersson starred in ten movies directed by the great Ingmar Bergman.

“The Seventh Seal” is a 1957 Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. It is a historical fantasy movie in which a medieval knight, played by Max von Sydow, places a game of chess with Death personified.

18 Israeli self-defense system : KRAV MAGA

Krav Maga is a hand-to-hand combat system that is used by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). The name “Krav Maga” can be translated from Hebrew as “Contact Combat”.

19 Longest note? : SOL

The sol-fa syllables are: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la & ti. “Sol” is the longest of these, as it is the only one that comprises three letters.

22 Notre Dame legend : ROCKNE

Knute Rockne, America’s most famous football coach many say, was born in the city of Voss in Norway. He came to the United States with his family when he was 5-years-old. Years later he graduated from Notre Dame with a degree in Chemistry, but abandoned that career path when he was offered his first real coaching job.

The athletic teams of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana are known as the Fighting Irish. There are several debated etymologies for the moniker “Fighting Irish”, with the most generally accepted being that it was applied by the press in the 1920s, reflecting the team’s fighting spirit and grit, determination and tenacity. I guess “grit, determination and tenacity” are characteristics often associated with the Irish.

24 Sci-fi antagonist : HAL

In Arthur C. Clarke’s “Space Odyssey” (famously adapted for the big screen as “2001: A Space Odyssey”) the computer system that went rogue was called HAL 9000, or simply “HAL”. HAL stands for “Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer”. Even though, Clarke denied it, there’s a good argument that can be made that the acronym HAL is a veiled reference to IBM, the big player in the world of computing at the time of the novel’s publication (1968). The acronym HAL is just a one-letter shift from the initials “IBM”.

26 Palm tree starch : SAGO

When I was growing up in Ireland I was very familiar with pearl sago, which is very similar to pearl tapioca. Pearls of sago are simply little balls of sago starch used to make breads, pancakes, biscuits, or steamed puddings that we ate as kids. Sago comes from the pith of the sago palm tree. To get at the starch the tree has to be cut down and the trunk split to reveal the pith. The pith is crushed and manipulated to make the starch available, which is then washed out of a fibrous suspension. One sago palm tree yields about 150-300 kg of starch. Personally I love the stuff, but then, I am a bit weird …

29 Original Monopoly token still in use : TOP HAT

The tokens included with a game of Monopoly have changed over the years. Two of the more interesting tokens are the battleship and cannon. These were created by Hasbro for a board game called Conflict. When Conflict failed in the market, the excess tokens were recycled and included with Monopoly.

31 Microsoft line : I’M A PC

Microsoft introduced the “I’m a PC” advertising campaign in 2008 as a direct challenge to Apple’s “Get a Mac” campaign that ran from 2006 to 2009. Some ads in Microsoft’s campaign featured a celebrity uttering the “I’m a PC” line. The list of celebrities included writer Deepak Chopra, actress Eva Longoria and singer Pharrell Williams.

35 Language group that includes Swahili : BANTU

Swahili is one of the many Bantu languages spoken in Africa. There are hundreds of Bantu languages, with most being spoken in central, east and southern Africa. The most commonly spoken Bantu language is Swahili, with Zulu coming in second.

37 Beethoven’s “Bagatelle in A Minor” honoree : ELISE

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

44 Jerry or Cherry : GARCIA

Jerry Garcia was one of the founding members of the rock band, the Grateful Dead. Garcia struggled with cocaine and heroin addiction during most of his life, and died of a heart attack in 1995 in a California drug rehabilitation center.

Ben & Jerry’s introduced the Cherry Garcia flavor of ice cream in 1987. The flavor is named after Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead.

47 Meditative sounds : OMS

“Om” is a sacred mystic word from the Hindu tradition. “Om” is sometimes used as a mantra, a focus for the mind in meditation.

50 Corrida support : OLE!

Spanish bullfighting is known locally as “corrida de toros”, literally “race of bulls”.

51 H, to Hercules : ETA

Eta is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, and is a forerunner of our Latin character “H”. Originally denoting a consonant, eta was used as a long vowel in Ancient Greek.

“The Twelve Labors of Hercules” is actually a Greek myth, although Hercules is the Roman name for the hero that the Greeks called Heracles.

58 Blackjack need : ACE

The card game known as “twenty-one” was first referred to in print in a book by Cervantes, the author famous for writing “Don Quixote”. He called the game “ventiuna” (Spanish for “twenty-one”). Cervantes wrote his story just after the year 1600, so the game has been around at least since then. Twenty-one came to the US but it wasn’t all that popular so bonus payments were introduced to create more interest. One of the more attractive bonuses was a ten-to-one payout to a player who was dealt an ace of spades and a black jack. This bonus led to the game adopting the moniker “Blackjack”.

60 Spokane and Omaha : AMERINDS

The Amerind peoples are the indigenous people of the Americas. “Amerind” is a portmanteau of the words “American” and “indigenous”.

The Spokane people are a Native-American tribe who traditionally inhabited modern-day Washington state and northern Idaho. The Spokane’s land once covered over three million acres. Since 1881, the tribe has mainly inhabited the Spokane Reservation in northeastern Washington, which covers just over 150,000 acres.

The Omaha Nation was one of the most welcoming of the Native American tribes, never resisting the influx of European explorers and traders. The Omaha even fought alongside Union troops during the American Civil War, and have stood by the US people ever since. Regardless, the Omaha people lost most of their land and now reside on the Omaha Reservation in northeastern Nebraska and western Iowa.

61 Christie creation : POIROT

Hercule Poirot is one of Agatha Christie’s most beloved characters. He is a wonderful Belgian private detective who plies his trade from his base in London. Poirot’s most famous case is the “Murder on the Orient Express”. First appearing in 1920’s “The Mysterious Affair at Styles”, Poirot finally succumbs to a heart condition in the 1975 book “Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case”. Famously, Poirot is fond of using his “little grey cells”.

63 Faux elixir : SNAKE OIL

There is actually a real snake oil, a Chinese medicine made from fat extracted from snakes. You can buy snake oil at traditional Chinese pharmacies and it is supposed to be very efficacious in the treatment of joint pain. Snake oil was introduced into the US by Chinese laborers working on the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. Medicine salesmen started to ridicule the snake oil as it competed with their own remedies, and in time the term “snake oil” became associated with any cure-all potion.

An elixir is a solution of alcohol and water that is used to deliver a medicine. The term “elixir” can also be used to mean a medicine that has the power to cure all ills.

64 First name on the original “Get Shorty” movie poster : ELMORE

Elmore Leonard used to write a lot of westerns in the fifties and moved onto crime and suspense novels later in his career. A lot of his books have made it to the big screen, including “Get Shorty” and “Mr Majestyk”.

67 Valuable veins : LODES

A lode is a metal ore deposit that’s found between two layers of rock or in a fissure. The mother lode is the principal deposit in a mine, usually of gold or silver. “Mother lode” is probably a translation of “veta madre”, an expression used in mining in Mexico.

Down

2 Wide view : PANORAMA

Panoramic paintings have existed for centuries, but the word “panorama” was coined around 1790 to describe an invention by the artist Robert Barker. He created an apparatus for exhibiting pictures on the inside of a cylindrical surface, allowing the viewer to stand in the middle with access to a 360-degree vista. The term comes from Greek “pan-” meaning “all” and “horama” meaning “sight, spectacle”.

4 It’s barely passable : DEE

A grade D (dee) is a passing grade, just about.

6 Egyptian life symbol : ANKH

The ankh was the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic character symbolizing eternal life. The ankh wasn’t just used in inscriptions but was often fashioned into amulets and as surrounds for mirrors (perhaps symbolizing a view into another world). The ankh is also known as “the key of the Nile” and “crux ansata” (Latin for “cross with a handle”).

7 True __ : NORTH

True north is the direction pointing towards the Earth’s geographic North Pole. Magnetic north is the direction pointing towards the Earth’s Magnetic North Pole, and is the directions indicated by a compass needle.

8 Fancy neckwear : CRAVATS

The cravat originated in Croatia and was an accessory used with a military uniform. Cravats were introduced to the fashion-conscious French by Croatian mercenaries enlisted into a regiment of the French army. The English placed a lot of emphasis on the knot used for the cravat, and in the period after the Battle of Waterloo the cravat came to be known as a “tie”. What we now call a tie in English is still called a “cravate” in French.

9 Mah-jongg suit, familiarly : BAMS

In the game of Mahjong, the bamboo suit is also known as “sticks” or “bams”.

Mahjong (also “mahjongg” and “mah-jongg”) is the Chinese word for “sparrow”. Mahjong is a game that originated in China, and is usually played by four players. There is a myth that the game was developed by the Chinese philosopher, Confucius. The myth also suggests that Confucius was fond of birds, and hence chose the name “sparrow”.

10 “Swords into plowshares” source : ISAIAH

The concept of turning “swords into plowshares” is spoken about in the Book of Isaiah in the Bible. The idea expressed is to convert destructive tools into similar tools that can have useful and peaceful applications.

11 El Museo del Oro city : BOGOTA

Bogotá is the capital city of Colombia. Noted for having many libraries and universities, Bogotá is sometimes referred to as “The Athens of South America”.

“El Museo del Oro” (The Museum of Gold) is a popular tourist spot in Colombia’s capital Bogotá. The museum is home to the world’s largest collection of gold artifacts. The most celebrated exhibit on display is the magnificent Muisca golden raft that was discovered in a cave in Pasca, Colombia in 1969.

21 Theodor whose middle name was Seuss : GEISEL

“Dr. Seuss” was the pen name of Theodor Seuss Geisel. Geisel first used the pen name while studying at Dartmouth College and at the University of Oxford. Back then, he pronounced “Seuss” as it would be in German, i.e. rhyming with “voice”. After his books found success in the US, he went with the pronunciation being used widely by the public, quite happy to have a name that rhymes with “Mother Goose”.

23 Like some Egyptian churches : COPTIC

The Copts make up the largest minority religious group in Egypt. Copts are Christians, with most adhered to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, and others practicing Coptic Catholicism or Coptic Protestantism. The term “Copt” ultimately derives from a Greek word for Egyptian.

26 Member of the fam : SIB

A sibling (sib) is member of a family (fam).

28 Longtime “SNL” announcer : PARDO

Don Pardo’s distinctive voice announced the show “Saturday Night Live, and did so from the premiere episode that aired in 1975 until his death in 2014. Pardo was the announcer for all the SNL shows except for the 1981-82 season. Pardo retired from NBC in 2004 and moved to Tucson, Arizona, but the producers of “Saturday Night Live” persuaded him to stay on as announcer for their show. He had a lifetime contract, one of only two people ever to have such an arrangement with NBC (the other was Bob Hope!). Pardo celebrated his 90th birthday on air, blowing out the candles on his birthday cake at the end of an episode of SNL.

30 House speaker after Ryan : PELOSI

Nancy Pelosi first became Speaker of the House in 2007, and was the 60th person to hold that position. Ms. Pelosi represents a district not far from here, which covers most of San Francisco. She was the first Californian, the first Italian-American and the first woman to be Speaker of the House. As Speaker of the House is second-in-line to the presidency, after the Vice President, Nancy Pelosi is the highest-ranking female politician in US history.

Paul Ryan was a nominee for Vice President in the 2012 election, and was on the Republican ticket with Mitt Romney. Ryan was elected as Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2015 after John Boehner resigned. At 45, Ryan then became the youngest Speaker since 1875.

34 Royal attendant : YEOMAN

The Yeoman of the Guard are the oldest military corps still existing in the UK. The role of the Yeoman of the Guard is to provide bodyguard protection for the British Monarch, although in modern times this role is purely ceremonial. One of the more famous duties of the Yeomen is a ceremonial search of the cellars of the Houses of Parliament prior to the State Opening of Parliament. The search commemorates the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 in which Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up the Parliament building.

38 Annual Alaskan sporting event : IDITAROD

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race covers an incredible 1,161 miles, from Anchorage to Nome in Alaska. The race starts every year on the first Saturday in March, with the first race having been held in 1973. Finishing times range from over 8 days to 15 days or more. The first few races only used a northern route, but then a southern route was added to the roster every second year. It’s kind of a good thing, because when the racers take the northern route they don’t even pass through the town of Iditarod!

39 1600 is a perfect one : SAT SCORE

Today, the standardized test for admission to colleges is known as the SAT Reasoning Test, but it used to be called the Scholastic Aptitude Test and Scholastic Assessment Test, which led to the abbreviation “SAT”.

40 UFO personnel, it’s said : ETS

One might speculate that an unidentified flying object (UFO) is flown by an extraterrestrial (ET).

45 Smith grad : ALUMNA

Smith College is a private women’s school in Northampton, Massachusetts. Smith was founded in 1870 using funds bequeathed by Sophia Smith, who inherited her fortune from her wealthy farmer father.

46 Injure again, as a ligament : RE-TEAR

Tendons are bands of collagen that connect muscles to bones. Tendons are similar to ligaments and fasciae, which are also connective tissue made out of collagen, but ligaments join bone to bone, and fasciae connect muscle to muscle.

52 Actress MacDowell : ANDIE

Andie MacDowell is an American actress who seems to turn up in quite a few British productions set in that part of the world. Most famously she was the love interest in the fabulous film “Four Weddings and a Funeral” starring opposite Hugh Grant. I also enjoyed another of her movies, “Groundhog Day”, which is a fun tale set back here in the US.

54 Coral Sea sight : ATOLL

The Coral Sea is part of the South Pacific Ocean lying off the northeast coast of Australia. It is home to the renowned Great Barrier Reef.

56 Bulky boats : ARKS

According to the Bible’s Book of Genesis, Noah was instructed to build his ark 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high. That’s about 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high.

57 Canaries component : ISLE

The Canary Islands are located off the northwest coast of Africa. The islands aren’t named for the canary bird and in fact the bird is named for the islands. The name of the Canary Islands comes from the Latin “Canariae Insulae” which translates as “Island of the Dogs”. This was the original name for the third largest island, now called Gran Canaria. In the days of ancient Rome the island was noted as a home to a large number of very large dogs.

59 Saint-Tropez seasons : ETES

In French, “été” (summer) is “la saison chaude” (the warm season).

Saint-Tropez is a town in southeastern France on the French Riviera. These days, Saint-Tropez is very much associated with the European and American jet set. The town is named for a legendary martyr named Saint Torpes of Pisa. Torpes was supposedly executed on the orders of the Roman Emperor Nero. Having been beheaded, his head was tossed into the river Arno, and his body placed in a boat along with a cock and a dog who were to eat the body. The boat came ashore at the present-day location of Saint-Tropez, with the body untouched by the cock and the dog. The local people named their village in honor of Saint Torpes.

62 Texter’s qualifier : IMO

In my opinion (IMO)

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Tablets that shouldn’t be used with water : IPADS
6 Mandela’s org. : ANC
9 Actress Andersson of “The Seventh Seal” : BIBI
13 Officers-to-be : CADETS
15 “Just asking” : NO REASON
17 Put on the throne : ENSEAT
18 Israeli self-defense system : KRAV MAGA
19 Longest note? : SOL
20 What some goggles may enhance : NIGHT VISION
22 Notre Dame legend : ROCKNE
24 Sci-fi antagonist : HAL
25 Had a bite : ATE
26 Palm tree starch : SAGO
27 Piece of advice : TIP
29 Original Monopoly token still in use : TOP HAT
31 Microsoft line : I’M A PC
33 Tormentor’s retort : SAYS ME!
35 Language group that includes Swahili : BANTU
36 Poet’s preposition : ERE
37 Beethoven’s “Bagatelle in A Minor” honoree : ELISE
41 “Good enough” : IT’LL DO
43 Acknowledge quietly : NOD AT
44 Jerry or Cherry : GARCIA
47 Meditative sounds : OMS
49 Poses : SITS
50 Corrida support : OLE!
51 H, to Hercules : ETA
53 Expects : AWAITS
55 “Hold that thought” : PUT A PIN IN IT
58 Blackjack need : ACE
60 Spokane and Omaha : AMERINDS
61 Christie creation : POIROT
63 Faux elixir : SNAKE OIL
64 First name on the original “Get Shorty” movie poster : ELMORE
65 Uses roofing material, say : TARS
66 Get it : SEE
67 Valuable veins : LODES

Down

1 Finishes in the bakery : ICES
2 Wide view : PANORAMA
3 31-Across, e.g. : AD SLOGAN
4 It’s barely passable : DEE
5 Got booed, maybe : STANK
6 Egyptian life symbol : ANKH
7 True __ : NORTH
8 Fancy neckwear : CRAVATS
9 Mah-jongg suit, familiarly : BAMS
10 “Swords into plowshares” source : ISAIAH
11 El Museo del Oro city : BOGOTA
12 Caught, perhaps : IN A NET
14 Tour of duty : STINT
16 It’s a bad sign : EVIL OMEN
21 Theodor whose middle name was Seuss : GEISEL
23 Like some Egyptian churches : COPTIC
26 Member of the fam : SIB
28 Longtime “SNL” announcer : PARDO
30 House speaker after Ryan : PELOSI
32 Toots : CUTIE PIE
34 Royal attendant : YEOMAN
38 Annual Alaskan sporting event : IDITAROD
39 1600 is a perfect one : SAT SCORE
40 UFO personnel, it’s said : ETS
42 Some Spanish speakers : LATINOS
44 Overshoot : GO PAST
45 Smith grad : ALUMNA
46 Injure again, as a ligament : RE-TEAR
48 Run through a reader : SWIPE
52 Actress MacDowell : ANDIE
54 Coral Sea sight : ATOLL
56 Bulky boats : ARKS
57 Canaries component : ISLE
59 Saint-Tropez seasons : ETES
62 Texter’s qualifier : IMO