LA Times Crossword 13 Jan 20, Monday

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Constructed by: Matt McKinley
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answers: Cal/NBA

Themed answers each end with the team name of an NBA player from California:

  • 65A Org. for the ends of 18-, 28-, 47- and 62-Across : NBA
  • 68A Home state for the ends of 18-, 28-, 47- and 62-Acr. : CAL
  • 18A Manicurist’s tool : NAIL CLIPPER (giving “Los Angeles Clippers”)
  • 28A Eponymous ’60s-’80s “Airways” entrepreneur : FREDDIE LAKER (giving “Los Angeles Lakers”)
  • 47A Attacker or defender of online information systems : CYBER-WARRIOR (giving “Golden State Warriors”)
  • 62A “It” novelist : STEPHEN KING (giving “Sacramento Kings”)

Bill’s time: 4m 57s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Hanks who plays Mr. Rogers : TOM

Tom Hanks is a such a great actor. He has played so many iconic roles in a relatively short career. Hanks is from California, and studied theater for a couple of years in Hayward, California not far from here. Tom’s son Colin Hanks is one of the stars of the TV comedy “Life in Pieces”. Hanks is married to the talented actress Rita Wilson.

“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” is a 2019 film that is based on a 1998 “Esquire” article written by Tom Junod. The movie stars Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers, creator and host of the children’s TV show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”. Matthew Rhys plays Lloyd Vogel, a character loosely based on Junod, author of the original article. Good film …

14 Dr.’s group : AMA

American Medical Association (AMA)

15 Scarlett of fiction : O’HARA

As casting proceeded for the movie version of “Gone With the Wind”, Clark Gable was a shoo-in from day one. The role of Scarlett O’Hara was considered very desirable in the acting community, with Bette Davis on the short list, and Katherine Hepburn demanding an appointment with producer David O. Selznick to discuss the role. Vivien Leigh was an unlikely contender, an English actress for the definitive Southern belle role. Selznick was adamant though, and stuck by his preference for Leigh despite a lot of protests.

16 African river : CONGO

The Congo River in Africa is the second-largest in the world in terms of volume of water discharged (after the Amazon), and also the second longest river in Africa (after the Nile). The Congo is named for the ancient Kingdom of Kongo that was once located at the mouth of the river.

18 Manicurist’s tool : NAIL CLIPPER (giving “Los Angeles Clippers”)

The Los Angeles Clippers NBA team started off life as the Buffalo Braves in 1970. The Braves took on the Clippers name when the franchise moved to San Diego in 1978. The new team name was chosen in honor of the great clipper ships that used to pass through San Diego Bay. The San Diego Clippers were sold in 1982 to real estate developer Donald Sterling, who moved the team to his native Los Angeles two years later. That move was not approved by the NBA, which resulted in a lawsuit and a $6 million fine, but the team was allowed to stay in its new home.

22 Norse trickster : LOKI

Loki is a god appearing in Norse mythology. In one story about Loki, he was punished by other gods for having caused the death of Baldr, the god of light and beauty. Loki is bound to a sharp rock using the entrails of one of his sons. A serpent drips venom which is collected in a bowl, and then his wife must empty the venom onto Loki when the bowl is full. The venom causes Loki great pain, and his writhing results in what we poor mortals experience as earthquakes.

23 Walrus feature : TUSK

Walruses are large marine mammals with very prominent tusks that are found in and around the northern hemisphere’s Arctic Ocean.

26 Like Mattel’s Cathy doll : CHATTY

Chatty Cathy is a doll that was produced by Mattel from 1959 to 1965. Chatty Cathy could utter eleven phrases when a ring on a cord was pulled at the back of the doll. The speech was generated by a tiny phonograph record that was housed in the doll’s abdomen.

28 Eponymous ’60s-’80s “Airways” entrepreneur : FREDDIE LAKER (giving “Los Angeles Lakers”)

Freddie Laker was a British entrepreneur who is best known for founding Laker Airways, which operated from 1966 to 1982. Laker’s was one of the original “low cost – no frills” airlines. The most famous service offered was Laker Airways’ low-cost Skytrain that operated daily between London Gatwick and New York’s JFK.

35 Old Detroit brewer : STROH

Bernard Stroh was the son of a German brewer. Stroh immigrated to the US in 1848 and set up his own brewery in 1850 in Detroit. Years later, the Stroh Brewing Company introduced a European process called fire-brewing. This results in higher temperatures at a crucial stage in the brewing process, supposedly bringing out flavor. Apparently, Stroh’s is the only mainstream American beer that still uses this process.

42 Paris summer : ETE

In French, “printemps: (spring) is followed by “été” (summer).

46 Mennen lotion : AFTA

Afta is an aftershave in the Mennen range of products that is owned by Colgate-Palmolive.

47 Attacker or defender of online information systems : CYBER-WARRIOR (giving “Golden State Warriors”)

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.

53 Nuremberg no : NEIN

Nürnberg (anglicized as “Nuremberg”) is a Bavarian city located north of Munich. Historically it is remembered for the huge Nazi Nuremberg rallies, and the Nuremberg trials that took place at the end of WWII. Nürnberg is sometimes confused with the city of Nürburg in the west of Germany that is famous for the Nürburgring race track.

54 German auto : AUDI

The Audi name has an interesting history. The Horch company was founded by August Horch in 1909. Early in the life of the new company, Horch was forced out of his own business. He set up a new enterprise and continued to use his own name as a brand. The old company sued him for using the Horch name so a meeting was held to choose something new. Horch’s young son was studying Latin in the room where the meeting was taking place. He pointed out that “horch” was German for “hear” and he suggested “Audi” as a replacement, the Latin for “listen”.

55 Movie lab assistant : IGOR

In the world of movies, Igor has been the assistant to Dracula, Frankenstein and Young Frankenstein among others. Igor is almost invariably portrayed as a hunchback.

59 President #2 : ADAMS

John Adams was the second President of the United States. I must admit that I learned much of what I know about President Adams in the excellent, excellent HBO series “John Adams”, which is based on David McCullough’s 2001 biography of the same name. Having said that, I have also visited the Adams home in Quincy, Massachusetts several times. He was clearly a great man with a great intellect …

62 “It” novelist : STEPHEN KING (giving “Sacramento Kings”)

“It” is a 1986 horror novel penned by Stephen King. The title character is a demon who preys on children, primarily appearing in the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. The novel was adapted into a 1990 miniseries of the same name. I don’t do Stephen King …

The Sacramento Kings are one of the oldest basketball franchises still operating, having been founded way back in 1923 as the Rochester Seagrams. The Kings moved to Sacramento in 1985, from Kansas City, Missouri.

65 Org. for the ends of 18-, 28-, 47- and 62-Across : NBA

The National Basketball Association (NBA) was founded in 1946 as the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The NBA name was adopted in 1949 following a merger with the rival National Basketball League (NBL). Of the four major sports leagues in North America, the NBA has the highest average annual salary per player.

67 Muslim holy city : MECCA

Mecca is in the Makkah province of Saudi Arabia. It was the birthplace of Muhammad and is the holiest city in Islam. Every year several million Muslims perform the Hajj, a holy pilgrimage to Mecca.

68 Home state for the ends of 18-, 28-, 47- and 62-Acr. : CAL

The name “California” is derived from fictional warrior Queen Calafia, who lived on the mythical Island of California. Queen Calafia was the creation of Spanish writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo in a 1510 novel. The Spanish originally gave the name “California” to a region that covered today’s Baja California peninsula in Mexico, the US states of California, Nevada and Utah, as well as parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming.

69 Monica of tennis : SELES

Monica Seles has a Hungarian name as she was born to Hungarian parents in former Yugoslavia. Seles was the World No. 1 professional tennis player in 1991 and 1992 before being forced from the sport when she was stabbed by a spectator at a match in 1993. She did return to the game two years later, but never achieved the same level of success.

Down

1 “Forbidden” fragrance : TABU

Tabu is a whole line of cosmetics and perfumes produced by the House of Dana. The company’s brand names were purchased by a Florida company called Dana Classic Fragrances in 1999.

2 Actor Epps : OMAR

Omar Epps is the actor who played Eric Foreman on the excellent television series “House”. Prior to playing Dr. Foreman, Epps had a recurring role playing Dr. Dennis Gant on “ER”. And, in another link to the world of medicine, Epps was born in Savannah, Georgia to single mom, Dr. Bonnie Epps.

3 Bakery item Jerry stole from an old woman in a classic “Seinfeld” episode : MARBLE RYE

“Seinfeld” aired for nine seasons on NBC, and in 2002 was declared by “TV Guide” as the “greatest television program of all time”. After the show completed its run in 1998, each of the main supporting actors made failed attempts to launch new sitcoms. This phenomenon became known as “the Seinfeld curse”, but Julia Louis-Dreyfus finally managed to break free of it with a successful five-season run in “The New Adventures of Old Christine”, followed by the satirical comedy “Veep”.

6 Windsurfing need : SAIL

I used to own a windsurfer. To be honest, the windsurfer really owned me. I used to sail a lot, but never had the strength to master windsurfing …

7 Guthrie of folk : ARLO

Singer Arlo Guthrie is known for his protest songs, just like his father Woody Guthrie. The younger Guthrie only ever had one song in the top 40: a cover version of “City of New Orleans”. He has lived for years in the town of Washington, just outside Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His 1976 song “Massachusetts” has been the official folk song of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since 1981.

9 Biol. or ecol. : SCI

Ecology (ecol.) and biology (biol.) are sciences (scis.).

10 Toaster snack : POP-TART

Pop-Tart is the most successful single brand for the Kellogg company, as millions of the sugary treats are sold every year. The US Military bought quite a few in 2001, and dropped 2.4 million Pop-Tarts into Afghanistan during the invasion after 9/11.

13 Not at all cool : DORKY

I consider “dork” and “adorkable” to be pretty offensive slang. “Dork” originated in the sixties among American students, and has its roots in another slang term, a term for male genitalia.

25 Ten-cent piece : DIME

The term “dime”, used for a 10-cent coin, comes from the Old French word “disme” meaning “tenth part”.

27 Gas brand with toy trucks : HESS

Hess Corporation is an oil company based in New York City. In 1964, the company started selling toy trucks with the Hess logo on them, in Hess gas stations. The company has been selling them every since, bringing out new models just before Christmas. Hess toy trucks have become quite collectible and the old ones can fetch a pretty penny.

28 Bank acct.-protecting org. : FDIC

During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Banking Act of 1933. The legislation established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), intended to be a temporary government corporation that provided insurance on deposits made by customers of qualified financial institutions. The first accounts to be covered, in 1934, had an insurance limit of $2,500. Since the financial crisis of 2008, that limit is $250,000.

30 Cake directive Alice obeyed : EAT ME

In Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, Alice follows the white rabbit down a rabbit hole and finds a bottle labelled “DRINK ME”. When she drinks the contents, it causes her to shrink. She also sees a cake adorned with the words “EAT ME” written using currants, and when she eats the cake she grows so big she finds it hard to stand up. After eating the cake, she utters the words, “Curiouser and curiouser”.

31 Soda bottle buy : LITER

On the other side of the Atlantic we use the French spelling for measurements that originated in French, so “metre” for “meter” and “litre” for “liter”.

37 Bart’s bus driver : OTTO

Otto Mann drives the school bus on the TV show “The Simpsons”. Otto is a Germanic character voiced by Harry Shearer, and his name is a play on “Ottoman Empire”. Whenever Bart sees him, he greets Otto with the words “Otto, man!”

40 Terrier type : SKYE

The Skye terrier is a breed of dog that is actually under threat of extinction. A few years ago, there were only 30 Skye terriers born in the breed’s native land of the UK. The breed was named for the Isle of Skye in Scotland.

41 McGregor of “Doctor Sleep” : EWAN

Ewan McGregor is a very talented Scottish actor, one who got his break in the 1996 film “Trainspotting”. McGregor’s first big Hollywood role was playing the young Obi-Wan-Kenobi in the “Star Wars” prequels. Less known is his televised marathon motorcycle journey from London to New York via central Europe, Ukraine, Siberia, Mongolia and Canada. The 2004 trip was shown as “Long Way Round” on TV. McGregor did a similar trip in 2007 called “Long Way Down”, which took him and the same travelling companion from the north of Scotland to Cape Town in South Africa.

“Doctor Sleep” is a Stephen King novel that was published in 2013. It is a sequel to his bestseller “The Shining”. “Doctor Sleep” was adapted as a 2019 movie of the same name starring Ewan McGregor.

44 “Total” 2017 event visible in a coast-to-coast path from Oregon to South Carolina : ECLIPSE

A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes into the shadow cast by the Earth from the light of the Sun, in other words when the Earth is positioned directly between the Sun and the Moon. The more spectacular solar eclipse takes place when the Moon passes in front of the Sun, so that the Earth falls into the shadow cast by the Moon.

48 Soft French cheese : BRIE

Brie is a soft cheese that is named for the French region in which it originated. Brie is similar to the equally famous (and delicious) Camembert. Brie is often served baked in puff pastry.

49 President #40 : REAGAN

Ronald Reagan started out his political career as a member of the Democratic Party, but switched to the Republicans in the early fifties. Reagan served as Governor of California for eight years, and vied unsuccessfully for the nomination for US President on two occasions. He finally succeeded in 1980 and defeated President Jimmy Carter to become the 40th US President in 1981.

50 Diamond quartet : BASES

That would be baseball.

51 Off-the-wall : OUTRE

The word “outré” meaning “unconventional, bizarre” comes to us from French, as one might imagine. It is derived from the verb “outrer” meaning “to overdo, exaggerate”. “Outrer” is also the ultimate root of our word “outrage”.

56 Govt.-owned home financing gp. : GNMA

“Ginnie Mae” is the familiar nickname for the Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA), a government-owned corporation created in 1968 with the objective of promoting home ownership. The “Ginnie Mae” nickname is derived from the “GNMA” abbreviation.

57 Gave the nod to : OK’ED

Back in the late 1830s, there were some slang abbreviations coined mainly in Boston. The craze called for two-letter abbreviations of deliberately misspelled phrases. For example “no use” became “KY” from “know yuse”, and “enough said” became “NC” from “nuff ced”. Fortunately (I say!), the practice was short-lived. But, one of those abbreviations persists to this day. “All correct” was misspelled to give “oll korrect”, abbreviated to “OK”.

60 Corp. execs’ degrees : MBAS

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

61 January “white” event : SALE

The first white sale took place in January of 1878 in a Philadelphia department store. The event was called a white sale because only bed linens (which were all white) were discounted. Over time, white sales have evolved to include almost any household items.

63 “For __ a jolly … ” : HE’S

“For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” is the second-most popular song in the English language according to the “Guinness Book of World Records”. Top of the list is “Happy Birthday to You”, and third comes “Auld Lang Syne”.

64 ATM giant : NCR

NCR is an American company that has been in business since 1884 and was originally called the National Cash Register Company. The company has done well in a market where new technologies seem to be constantly disrupting the status quo. NCR is a leading supplier of automated teller machines (ATMs) and barcode scanners.

Automatic Teller Machine (ATM)

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Hanks who plays Mr. Rogers : TOM
4 Spanish houses : CASAS
9 Watched secretly : SPIED
14 Dr.’s group : AMA
15 Scarlett of fiction : O’HARA
16 African river : CONGO
17 Server of shots : BAR
18 Manicurist’s tool : NAIL CLIPPER (giving “Los Angeles Clippers”)
20 Word with sprawl or renewal : URBAN …
22 Norse trickster : LOKI
23 Walrus feature : TUSK
24 Made stuff up : LIED
26 Like Mattel’s Cathy doll : CHATTY
28 Eponymous ’60s-’80s “Airways” entrepreneur : FREDDIE LAKER (giving “Los Angeles Lakers”)
33 Like desperate straits : DIRE
34 Send with a stamp : MAIL
35 Old Detroit brewer : STROH
39 Like frozen roads : ICY
40 Resolves out of court : SETTLES
42 Paris summer : ETE
43 Spot for a friendly kiss : CHEEK
45 Bit of cat talk : MEOW
46 Mennen lotion : AFTA
47 Attacker or defender of online information systems : CYBER-WARRIOR (giving “Golden State Warriors”)
50 Water heater : BOILER
53 Nuremberg no : NEIN
54 German auto : AUDI
55 Movie lab assistant : IGOR
59 President #2 : ADAMS
62 “It” novelist : STEPHEN KING (giving “Sacramento Kings”)
65 Org. for the ends of 18-, 28-, 47- and 62-Across : NBA
66 Remove the chalk : ERASE
67 Muslim holy city : MECCA
68 Home state for the ends of 18-, 28-, 47- and 62-Acr. : CAL
69 Monica of tennis : SELES
70 Beautify : ADORN
71 Suffix with Japan or Milan : -ESE

Down

1 “Forbidden” fragrance : TABU
2 Actor Epps : OMAR
3 Bakery item Jerry stole from an old woman in a classic “Seinfeld” episode : MARBLE RYE
4 Fooled in a swindle : CONNED
5 “Figured it out!” : AHA!
6 Windsurfing need : SAIL
7 Guthrie of folk : ARLO
8 Quarterback-tackling stat : SACK
9 Biol. or ecol. : SCI
10 Toaster snack : POP-TART
11 Data to enter : INPUT
12 Spew out : EGEST
13 Not at all cool : DORKY
19 Kiss from a pooch : LICK
21 Teacher’s helper : AIDE
25 Ten-cent piece : DIME
27 Gas brand with toy trucks : HESS
28 Bank acct.-protecting org. : FDIC
29 Wealthy : RICH
30 Cake directive Alice obeyed : EAT ME
31 Soda bottle buy : LITER
32 Permit : ALLOW
36 Arrange new terms for, as a loan : REFINANCE
37 Bart’s bus driver : OTTO
38 Perceive aurally : HEAR
40 Terrier type : SKYE
41 McGregor of “Doctor Sleep” : EWAN
44 “Total” 2017 event visible in a coast-to-coast path from Oregon to South Carolina : ECLIPSE
46 Very dry : ARID
48 Soft French cheese : BRIE
49 President #40 : REAGAN
50 Diamond quartet : BASES
51 Off-the-wall : OUTRE
52 Perfect : IDEAL
56 Govt.-owned home financing gp. : GNMA
57 Gave the nod to : OK’ED
58 Wealthy, to Juan : RICO
60 Corp. execs’ degrees : MBAS
61 January “white” event : SALE
63 “For __ a jolly … ” : HE’S
64 ATM giant : NCR