LA Times Crossword 19 Jan 20, Sunday

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Constructed by: Pam Amick Klawitter
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Theme: Flight of Fancy

Themed answers feature birds, and each sounds like a common phrase:

  • 27A Museum piece depicting a songbird battle? : WREN WAR PAINTING (sounds like “Renoir painting”)
  • 40A Turkey concerned with the details? : TECHNICAL FOWL (sounds like “technical foul”)
  • 65A Supply for a bird-of-prey flu epidemic? : ILL EAGLE DRUGS (sounds like “illegal drugs”)
  • 84A Target audience for squawkdates.com? : SINGLE PARROTS (sounds like “single parents”)
  • 103A Troupe of pink entertainers? : FLAMINGO DANCERS (sounds like “flamenco dancers”)
  • 16D Where seabirds grab buses? : PETREL STATIONS (sounds like “petrol stations”)
  • 47D Bird skilled at long hoops shots? : THREE-POINT TERN (sounds like “three-point turn”)

Bill’s time: 20m 10s

Bill’s errors: 2

  • CHAKA (Shaka!)
  • PCPS (PSPs)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Col. Potter on “M*A*S*H,” to pals : SHERM

Colonel Sherman Potter is a character on the memorable TV series “M*A*S*H”. Potter was played by actor Harry Morgan. Potter replaced Colonel Henry Blake who was killed off in the storyline when actor McLean Stevenson left the show at the end of the third season. Morgan was asked to play Potter largely due to a great guest performance he had delivered in an early episode.

6 Where Biles balances : BEAM

Simone Biles holds the record for the most gold medals won by an American gymnast in a single Olympic Games. She achieved the feat at the 2016 games held in Rio.

10 GQ stat : CIRC

Circulation (circ.)

The men’s magazine known today as “GQ” used to be titled “Gentlemen’s Quarterly”. It was known as “Apparel Arts” when launched in 1931.

14 Jokes around : JAPES

“To jape” means “to joke or quip”. The exact origins of “jape” are unclear, but it does seem to come from Old French. In the mid-1600s, “to jape” was a slang term meaning “to have sex with”. No joke …!

19 Anne of “Psycho” (1998) : HECHE

My favorite movie starring the actress Anne Heche is “Six Days Seven Nights”, a romantic comedy in which she plays opposite Harrison Ford. Heche is noted for her difficult private life. She wrote that her father had molested her as a child and gave her a sexually transmitted disease (he later revealed that he was homosexual, and died of AIDS). Heche dated comedian Steve Martin for two years, and then lived with comedian Ellen DeGeneres for three. Soon after breaking up with DeGeneres, she started exhibiting eccentric behavior for a while, claiming that she was the daughter of God, and that she would take everyone back to heaven in her spaceship. Happily, I think things have calmed down for her in recent years.

The original “Psycho” film from 1960 was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starred Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh. “Psycho” was remade in 1998. The remake was directed by Gus Van Sant and starred Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche.

20 Something up your sleeve : ULNA

The radius and ulna are bones in the forearm. If you hold the palm of your hand up in front of you, the radius is the bone on the “thumb-side” of the arm, and the ulna is the bone on the “pinky-side”.

22 Idaho’s Coeur d’__ River : ALENE

The city, lake and river in Idaho called Coeur d’Alene are all named for the Coeur d’Alene People, Native Americans who lived in the area when it was first explored by French Canadian fur traders. “Coeur d’Alene” translates from French as “heart of an awl”. The Native American people were given this name as they were perceived as shrewd traders by their Canadian counterparts.

23 1944 Italian beachhead : ANZIO

The WWII Battle of Anzio is famous for being one of the most terrible blunders in military history. 1944’s Operation Shingle was a surprise amphibious landing at Anzio, 35 miles south of Rome, designed to outflank the Germans and press home an attack on the Italian capital. The element of surprise allowed a safe landing at Anzio, and the allies were able to drive jeeps right into the outskirts of Rome unchallenged. But that element of surprise was lost when Allied commander General John Lucas decided to delay the march on Rome until he had consolidated his position on the beaches, a position that was surrounded by high ground. The Germans used the delay to throw everything they had into the high ground and the allies were pinned down in a bloody battle. As a result, it took four months for the allies to fight their way inland.

25 Broadway lighter : NEON

The basic design of neon lighting was first demonstrated at the Paris Motor Show in 1910. Such lighting is made up of glass tubes containing a vacuum into which has been introduced a small amount of neon gas. When a voltage is applied between two electrodes inside the tube, the neon gas “glows” and gives off the familiar light.

26 Terra __ : COTTA

The tem “terra cotta” comes to us from Latin via Italian and means “baked earth”. Terra cotta is a ceramic made from clay which is left unglazed. Maybe the most famous work in terra cotta is the Terracotta Army, the enormous collection of life-size figures that was buried with the Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China around 210 BC. I had the privilege of seeing some of this collection when it toured the US a few years ago, and just the few pieces on display were so very impressive.

27 Museum piece depicting a songbird battle? : WREN WAR PAINTING (sounds like “Renoir painting”)

The wren is a small songbird belonging to the family troglodytidae and the genus troglodytes. Wrens are known for making dome-shaped nests.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French painter who was very much at the forefront of the Impressionist Movement. Renoir was a prolific artist, with several thousand works attributed to him. The largest collection of Renoirs is actually in the United States. You can see 181 of his paintings at the Barnes Foundation just outside Philadelphia.

30 Tabloid-worthy : LURID

“Tabloid” is the trademarked name (owned by Burroughs Wellcome) for a “small tablet of medicine”, a name that goes back to 1884. The word “tabloid” had entered into general use to mean a compressed form of anything, and by the early 1900s was used in “tabloid journalism”, which described newspapers that had short, condensed articles and stories printed on smaller sheets of paper.

31 Key fruit : LIME

The species of citrus fruit called a key lime is so named due to its association with the Florida Keys.

32 Grafton of mystery : SUE

Sue Grafton wrote detective novels, and her “alphabet series” feature the private investigator Kinsey Millhone. She started off with “A Is for Alibi” in 1982 and worked her way up to “Y is for Yesterday” before she passed away in 2017.

34 Bayou sound : ZYDECO

Zydeco is a style of folk music that evolved from Creole music in Louisiana. The name “Zydeco” is imitative of the French word for green beans, “les haricots”. The term arose from a popular dance tune called “Les Haricots Sont Pas Salés” (“The Green Beans Ain’t Salty”).

A bayou is a marshy inlet or outlet of a lake or river, usually with stagnant or slow-moving water. The exact origins of the term “bayou” is uncertain, but it is thought perhaps to come from the Choctaw (a Native American people from the southeast) word “bayuk”, meaning “small stream”.

35 Pageant accessories : SASHES

The oldest beauty pageant still operating in the US is the Miss America contest. The Miss America beauty pageant started out as a marketing ploy in the early twenties to attract tourists to the Atlantic City boardwalk after Labor Day. Today, contestants must be between 17 and 24 years of age. Before those limits were introduced, Marian Bergeron won the 1933 title at only 15 years of age.

37 “Hulk” star Eric : BANA

Eric Bana is an Australian actor who enjoyed a successful career in his home country before breaking into Hollywood playing an American Delta Force sergeant in “Black Hawk Down”. A couple of years later he played the lead in Ang Lee’s 2003 movie “Hulk”, the role of Dr Bruce Banner. More recently he played the Romulan villain Nero, in the 2009 “Star Trek” movie.

“Hulk” is a 2003 film with Eric Bana starring in the title role, as the Hulk and as the superhero’s alter ego Dr. Bruce Banner. “Hulk” receive a mediocre reception, and so it was remade as “The Incredible Hulk” in 2008.

38 Games go-with : FUN

Fun and games.

39 KFC choice : LEG

“Colonel” Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) fame has been portrayed in ads on television by several celebrities. The list includes Norm Macdonald, Jim Gaffigan, George Hamilton, Billy Zane, Rob Lowe, Ray Liotta and even Reba McEntire.

44 Ed.’s inbox fillers : MSS

Editors (eds.) might read or edit a manuscript (MS)

45 Oregon city namesake : ASTOR

John Jacob Astor was the patriarch of the famous American Astor dynasty. He was the country’s first multi-millionaire, making his fortune in the trade of fur, real estate and opium. In today’s terms, it has been calculated that by the time of his death he has accumulated a fortune big enough to make him the fourth wealthiest man in American history (in the company of the likes of Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Bill Gates, Henry Ford and John D. Rockefeller).

The city of Astoria, Oregon developed around Fort Astoria, which was established in 1810. Fort Astoria was a fur-trading post built by John Jacob Astor’s Pacific Fur Company, hence the “Astoria” name.

48 Bank acct. item : INT

A bank account (acct.) usually earns Interest (int.)

51 “High Hopes” lyricist : CAHN

Sammy Cahn wrote the lyrics for “High Hopes” for the 1959 film “A Hole in the Head”, and the song won an Oscar that year. Frank Sinatra was the star of the movie, and he recorded the most famous version of the song.

Just what makes that little old ant
Think he’ll move that rubber tree plant
Anyone knows an ant, can’t
Move a rubber tree plant

But he’s got high hopes
He’s got high hopes
He’s got high apple pie
In the sky hopes

52 Quietly keeps in the loop : BCCS

A blind carbon copy (bcc) is a copy of a document or message that is sent to someone without other recipients of the message knowing about that extra copy.

54 Dugout sight : MITT

A dugout is an underground shelter. The term was carried over to baseball because the dugout is slightly depressed below the level of the field. This allows spectators behind the dugout to get a good view of home plate, where a lot of the action takes place.

56 Khan of Rufus : CHAKA

Chaka Khan is the stage name of singer Yvette Stevens from Chicago. Chaka Khan was the front woman for the band Rufus before she launched her very successful solo career.

59 Item in a Blackpool boot : TYRE

Here’s another example of terms that change as we cross the Atlantic Ocean. When talking about tires (“tyres” in Britain and Ireland), a defect can cause a “flat” (“puncture” in Britain and Ireland).

In North America we use the word “trunk” for the storage space in the back of a vehicle as that space is reminiscent of the large travelling chest called a “trunk”. Such trunks used to be lashed onto the back of automobiles before storage was integrated. On the other side of the Atlantic, a trunk is known as a “boot”. The original boot was a built-in storage compartment on a horse-drawn carriage on which a coachman would sit.

62 Rockies roamers : WAPITIS

The elk (also “wapiti”) is one of the largest species of deer in the world, with only the moose being bigger. Early European settlers were familiar with the smaller red deer back in their homelands, so when they saw the “huge” wapiti they assumed it was a moose, and incorrectly gave it the European name for a moose, namely “elk”. The more correct name for the beast is “wapiti”, which means “white rump” in Shawnee. It’s all very confusing …

68 Cards with pics : IDS

Identity document (ID)

69 Like Purell-treated hands : ASEPTIC

Purell is a hand sanitizer that uses ethanol as the active ingredient. In fact, Purell contains over 60% ethanol, and there have been stories about the sanitizer being ingested to get at the alcohol, even though the manufacturer deliberately adds a bitter-tasting ingredient to scare off potential drinkers.

71 “Archie’s Pals ‘n’ __”: old comic book series : GALS

“Archie’s Pals ‘n’ Gals” was a series of comic books produced from 1952 until 1991. The list of title characters includes teenagers Archie Andrews, Jughead Jones, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, and Josie and the Pussycats.

72 El Al’s home: Abbr. : ISR

El Al Israel Airlines is the flag carrier of Israel. El Al is known for its high levels of security, both on the ground and in the air. Reportedly, the airline’s passenger aircraft have been operating with anti-missile technology for several years.

74 World Golf Hall of Famer Nancy : LOPEZ

Nancy Lopez is an American professional golfer and winner of 48 LPGA Tour events. Lopez turned professional in 1977 and retired in 2003. However, she came out of retirement in 2007.

76 __ jure: by the law itself : IPSO

“Ipso jure” is Latin for “by operation of law”. I am informed by a blog reader that the term refers to a legal consequence that takes place without the need for a beneficiary to take action. In other words, the law simply applies. The example given is what happens to a property held in joint tenancy when one person dies. The title passes to the living person, without that person having to do anything . It simply passes “by operation of law”, “ipso jure”.

77 Genetic chains : RNAS

Both DNA and RNA are complex molecules comprising nucleotide bases arranged in chains. Famously, DNA molecules form a double-helix structure, with two chains coiled around each other. RNA chains are single-stranded structures that usually fold onto themselves.

78 Soapbox address : ORATION

Back in the 1650s, a soapbox was just that, a wooden box for holding or transporting soap. Empty soapboxes were easily carried by a potential orator and used as a stand from which to deliver an address.

82 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.

83 Knight supporter? : PIP

Gladys Knight & the Pips performed together from 1953 to 1989. The Pips were founded around Gladys Knight, originally featuring her brother, sister and two cousins. The group took its name from yet another cousin, a cousin named “Pip”.

84 Target audience for squawkdates.com? : SINGLE PARROTS (sounds like “single parents”)

Scientists tell us that parrots are some of the most intelligent species of birds. Many of those species are able to imitate the human voice. Such characteristics have led to parrots becoming popular house pets, and a resulting drop in populations of parrots living in the wild.

89 __ star : TIN

In the Old West, a sheriff’s badge was often referred to as a “tin star”.

92 Vital lines : AORTAS

The aorta originates in the heart and extends down into the abdomen. It is the largest artery in the body.

99 Lane target : PIN

Bowling has been around for an awfully long time. The oldest known reference to the game is in Egypt, where pins and balls were found in an ancient tomb that is over 5,000 years old. The first form of the game to come to America was nine-pin bowling, which had been very popular in Europe for centuries. In 1841 in Connecticut, nine-pin bowling was banned due to its association with gambling. Supposedly, an additional pin was added to get around the ban, and ten-pin bowling was born.

100 Snack with a Green Tea version in China and Japan : OREO

Oreo cookies actually come in a few flavors, but it takes some work to find them. For example, Green Tea Oreos are only available in China and Japan. Many flavors are only available for a limited time. For example, Watermelon Oreos were only sold in the summer of 2013, and Cookie Dough Oreos were only available in March 2014.

103 Troupe of pink entertainers? : FLAMINGO DANCERS (sounds like “flamenco dancers”)

The name “flamingo” comes from the Greek word for “purple wing”. The flamingo’s pink or reddish color comes from the bird’s diet, and in particular the pigments ingested from animal and plant sources.

Flamenco is a style of Spanish music and dance. The origin of the word “flamenco” isn’t clearly understood, but the explanation that seems most credible to me is that it comes from Flanders in Northern Europe. Given that “flamenco” is the Spanish word for “Flemish” and Flanders is home to the Flemish people it makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?

107 Panelist Love of “The Real” : LONI

Loni Love is a comedian and TV personality from Detroit. She was the runner-up in 2003 on the relaunched “Star Search” show. In 2013, Love became one of the hosts of the daytime talk show “The Real”.

108 It’s high in France : ALPE

There are eight Alpine countries:

  • Austria
  • Slovenia
  • France
  • Switzerland
  • Liechtenstein
  • Germany
  • Monaco
  • Italy

109 MGM motto ender : … ARTIS

It seems that the phrase “art for art’s sake” has its origins in France in the nineteenth century, where the slogan is expressed as “l’art pour l’art”. The Latin version “Ars gratia artis” came much later, in 1924. That’s when MGM’s publicist chose it for the studio’s logo, sitting under Leo the lion. Who’d a thunk it?

110 Sleeper’s option : SERTA

Serta was founded in 1931 when a group of 13 mattress manufacturers came together, essentially forming a cooperative. Today, the Serta company is owned by eight independent licensees in a similar arrangement. Serta advertisements feature the Serta Counting Sheep. Each numbered sheep has a different personality, such as:

  • #1 The Leader of the Flock
  • #½ The Tweener
  • #13 Mr. Bad Luck
  • #53 The Pessimist
  • #86 Benedict Arnold

111 “More than a beauty company” company : AVON

In 1886, a young man called David McConnell was selling books door-to-door. To enhance his sales numbers he was giving out free perfume to the ladies of the houses that he visited. Seeing as his perfume was more popular than his books, he founded the California Perfume Company in New York City and started manufacturing and selling across the country. The company name was changed to Avon in 1939, and the famous “Avon Calling” marketing campaign was launched in 1954.

112 Gritty film genre : NOIR

The expression “film noir” has French origins, but only in that it was coined by a French critic in describing a style of Hollywood film. The term, meaning “black film” in French, was first used by Nino Frank in 1946. Film noir often applies to a movie with a melodramatic plot and a private eye or detective at its center. Good examples would be “The Big Sleep” and “D.O.A”.

113 Persian faith : BAHA’I

The Baha’i Faith is relatively new in the scheme of things, and was founded in Persia in the 1800s. One of the tenets of the religion is that messengers have come from God over time, including Abraham, the Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, and most recently Bahá’u’lláh who founded the Baha’i Faith. Baha’i scripture specifies some particular architectural requirements for houses of worship, including that the building have nine-sided, circular shape. It is also specified that there be no pictures, statues or images displayed within a temple.

115 Titanic problem : BERG

The RMS Titanic set off on her tragic maiden voyage in 1912, sailing from Southampton, England bound for New York City. Regulations only required that the ship have lifeboat capacity for 1,178 people, even though a full complement of passengers and crew was 3,547. When the order was given to abandon ship, the captain adhered to the traditional protocol of “women and children first”. As a result, only 20% of male passengers survived the disaster, compared to 75% of the female passengers. Perhaps more telling is that 61% of those in first class survived, and only 25% of those in third class. The crew fared even worse though, with only 24% making it.

Down

2 Matisse and Rousseau : HENRIS

Henri Matisse was a French artist renowned for his contribution to modern art. In his early career, Matisse was classed as a “fauve”, one of the group of artists known as the “wild beasts” who emphasized strong color over realism in their works. He was a lifelong friend of Pablo Picasso, and the two were considered to be good-natured rivals so their works are often compared. One major difference between their individual portfolios is that Picasso tended to paint from his imagination, whereas Matisse tended to use nature as his inspiration.

Henri Rousseau was a French Post-Impressionist painter. He was self-taught, only starting to paint seriously in his forties. He worked as a tax collector until he was 49 years old, when he retired to focus on his art. Rousseau’s most famous painting is “The Sleeping Gypsy”, a celebrated work that depicts a lion standing beside a sleeping woman in the moonlight. You can take a look at it in New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

3 Aloe target : ECZEMA

Eczema is a form of dermatitis. The term “eczema” comes from the Greek for “to boil over”.

4 Imitation gem : RHINESTONE

A rhinestone is a colorless, artificial gem made from paste or glass. The original rhinestones were rock crystals that were gathered from the river Rhine in Germany.

6 Plant associated with the infant Moses : BULRUSH

According to the Bible, The Pharaoh issued an edict that all male Hebrew children be drowned in the river Nile soon after birth. Moses’ mother saved her child by placing him in a basket and hiding him among the bulrushes at the edge of the Nile. The baby was found and adopted by the Pharaoh’s daughter.

8 “Frozen” princess : ANNA

“Frozen” is a 2013 animated feature from Walt Disney Studios that is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Snow Queen”. The film is all about the exploits of Princess Anna, the younger sister of Elsa, Snow Queen of Arendelle. Spoiler alert: Prince Hans of the Southern Isles seems to be a good guy for most of the film, but turns out to be a baddie in the end. And, a snowman named Olaf provides some comic relief.

12 River at Avignon : RHONE

Avignon is a city in the southeast of France on the Rhône river. Avignon is sometimes called the “City of Popes” as it was home to seven popes during the Catholic schism from 1309 to 1423.

13 D.C. group : CONG

A legislative (legis.) meeting of Congress (Cong.) might be called a session (sess.).

14 She played Kelly on “Charlie’s Angels” : JACLYN

Jaclyn Smith played Kelly Garrett on the hit television show “Charlie’s Angels”. Smith was in fact the only one of the original title characters to stay with the show for its whole run from 1976 to 1981.

16 Where seabirds grab buses? : PETREL STATIONS (sounds like “petrol stations”)

The petrel is a migratory seabird known for hovering just above the waves, with feet barely touching the water. This behavior gives rise to the name “petrel” after the Christian Saint Peter, as “Peter” was said to have walked on the water.

“Petrol” is the chiefly British-English term used for gasoline. “Petrol” comes via French from the Latin “petroleum”, itself derived from “petra” meaning “rock” and “oleum” meaning “oil”.

34 Last letter in radio lingo : ZULU

The NATO phonetic alphabet is also called the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) phonetic alphabet. It goes Alfa, Bravo, Charlie … X-ray, Yankee, Zulu.

38 Email abbr. : FWD

Forward (fwd.)

43 N.Y. neighbor : ONT

The Canadian province of Ontario takes its name from the Great Lake. In turn, Lake Ontario’s name is thought to be derived from “Ontari:io”, a Huron word meaning “great lake”. Ontario is home to the nation’s capital of Ottawa as well as Toronto, Canada’s most populous city (and the capital of the province).

44 Half a luau serving? : MAHI

“Mahi-mahi” is the Hawaiian name for the dolphinfish, which is also called the dorado. The mahi-mahi is an ugly looking creature if ever I saw one …

47 Bird skilled at long hoops shots? : THREE-POINT TERN (sounds like “three-point turn”)

Terns are seabirds that are found all over the world. The Arctic Tern makes a very long-distance migration. One Arctic Tern that was tagged as a chick in Great Britain in the summer of 1982, was spotted in Melbourne, Australia just three months later. The bird had traveled over 14,000 miles in over those three months, an average of about 150 miles a day. Remarkable …

50 HMO doctor designations : PCPS

Primary care physician (PCP)

52 Java neighbor : BALI

Bali is both an island and a province in Indonesia. It is a popular tourist spot, although the number of visitors dropped for a few years as a result of terrorist bombings in 2002 and 2005 that killed mainly tourists. Bali became more popular starting in 2008 due to a significant and favorable change in the exchange rate between the US dollar and the Indonesian rupiah.

Java is a large island in Indonesia that is home to the country’s capital, Jakarta. With a population of over 130 million, Java is the most populous island in the world, with even more people than Honshu, the main island of Japan.

53 H.S. math course : CALC

The Latin word “calculus” was originally used for a reckoning or an account, and originally applied to a pebble that was used to maintain a count. The Latin word came from the Greek for a pebble, “khalix”.

54 Etail alternatives : MALLS

Surprisingly (to me!), our word “mall”, meaning “shady walk” or “enclosed shopping space”, comes from the Italian for “mallet”. All of our shopping-style malls are named for “The Mall” in St. James’s Park in London. This tree-lined promenade was so called as it used to be a famous spot to play the croquet-like game called “pall-mall”. The game derived its name from the Italian for ball (palla) and mallet “maglio”. The London thoroughfare called the Mall still exists, at one end of which is Buckingham Palace. Indeed, parallel to the Mall is a street called Pall Mall.

55 Currier’s partner : IVES

Currier and Ives was a printmaking concern in New York City run by Nathaniel Currier and his partner James Merritt Ives from 1834 to 1907. The firm specialized in making affordable, hand-colored black and white lithographs.

65 Chichén __: Mayan ruins : ITZA

Chichén Itzá is a Mayan ruin located in the Mexican state of Yucatán. It is the second-most visited archaeological site in the country (after the ancient city of Teotihuacan). Chichén Itzá has seen a surge in the number of visitors since the development of nearby Cancún as a tourist destination.

70 APB subject : PERP

Perpetrator (perp)

An All Points Bulletin (APB) is a broadcast from one US law enforcement agency to another.

75 Hermione’s guy : RON

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger are the principal characters in the “Harry Potter” series of fantasy novels by J. K. Rowling. The three are the best of friends. As the stories progress, the friendship between Ron and Hermione developed to the point that they became husband and wife and had two children together.

76 Nest egg plans : IRAS

Individual retirement account (IRA)

79 Royal until 1917 : TSAR

The year 1917 saw two revolutions in Russia, with the pair collectively called “the Russian Revolution”. As a result of the February Revolution that centered on Petrograd, the last Emperor of Russia (Tsar Nicholas II) abdicated and members of the Imperial parliament took control of the country, forming the Russian Provisional Government. The Provisional Government was itself overthrown in the October Revolution, which was led by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik party.

80 “__ for Innocent”: Grafton : I IS

Sue Grafton wrote detective novels, and her “alphabet series” feature the private investigator Kinsey Millhone. She started off with “A Is for Alibi” in 1982 and worked her way up to “Y is for Yesterday” before she passed away in 2017.

81 Music player with many generations : IPOD NANO

The iPod Nano was the successor to the iPod Mini and was introduced to the market at the end of 2005. There were seven versions of the Nano, until it was discontinued in 2017.

82 Ptr. paper size : LTR

Letter (ltr.)

Printer (ptr.)

85 Legendary migrator : LEMMING

Lemmings are small rodents that live in cold climates, usually in or around the Arctic. There is a misconception that lemmings are prone to commit mass suicide. What is true is that like many animal species, lemmings are prone to mass migration, especially when the population in one area gets too great. Lemmings can swim, and will jump into a body of water in order to cross it. However, some lemmings may drown in the attempt. So, the lemmings jump en masse into a body of water to cross it, not to commit suicide. Then there was the famous Disney “White Wilderness” incident. Disney shot footage of lemmings “committing mass suicide” for the 1958 film “White Wilderness”. In fact, the lemmings in the morbid scene were flown to the location of the shoot, and were launched off a cliff using a turntable. Despicable …

86 “Ozark” actor Morales : ESAI

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”.

“Ozark” is an excellent TV crime show starring Jason Bateman and Laura Linney as a married couple who relocate from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks. The couple fall foul of Mexican drug lord after a money laundering scheme goes awry. The show is set at lake resort in the Ozarks, although filming actually takes place at lakes in the Atlanta area in order to take advantage of tax breaks offered by the State of Georgia.

87 2020 Vegas NFLers, if the new stadium is ready : RAIDERS

The Oakland Raiders football team was founded in 1960, and was originally intended to play in Minnesota. Instead, the team played in Oakland from 1960 to 1981 and then spent 12 years in Los Angeles before returning to Oakland in 1995. In 2017, the Raiders announced their plan to relocate to Las Vegas starting in 2020.

88 Chaplin of “Game of Thrones” : OONA

Oona Chaplin is an actress from Madrid in Spain. Chaplin is getting a lot of airtime these days as she plays Talisa Maegyr on HBO’s hit fantasy series “Game of Thrones”. Oona is the granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin, and is named for her maternal grandmother Oona O’Neill, the daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill.

93 “Queen of Soul” : ARETHA

I think that Aretha Franklin, the “Queen of Soul”, had a tough life. Franklin had her first son when she was just 13-years-old, and her second at 15. In 2008, “Rolling Stone” magazine ranked Franklin as number one its list of the greatest singers of all time.

97 Valentine message words : I LOVE

Saint Valentine’s Day was introduced by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD to honor various martyrs with the name Valentine. However, the saint’s day was dropped by the Roman Catholic church in 1969, by Pope Paul VI. Try telling that to Hallmark though …

101 Actor Davis : OSSIE

Ossie Davis was a very successful actor, but also a director, poet, playwright and social activist. One of Davis’s better known performances was in the 1993 movie “Grumpy Old Men”, in which he played the owner of the bait shop by the lake.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Col. Potter on “M*A*S*H,” to pals : SHERM
6 Where Biles balances : BEAM
10 GQ stat : CIRC
14 Jokes around : JAPES
19 Anne of “Psycho” (1998) : HECHE
20 Something up your sleeve : ULNA
21 Sign of hollowness : ECHO
22 Idaho’s Coeur d’__ River : ALENE
23 1944 Italian beachhead : ANZIO
24 Standing lead-in : LONG-
25 Broadway lighter : NEON
26 Terra __ : COTTA
27 Museum piece depicting a songbird battle? : WREN WAR PAINTING (sounds like “Renoir painting”)
30 Tabloid-worthy : LURID
31 Key fruit : LIME
32 Grafton of mystery : SUE
33 Mexican menu meat : CARNE
34 Bayou sound : ZYDECO
35 Pageant accessories : SASHES
37 “Hulk” star Eric : BANA
38 Games go-with : FUN
39 KFC choice : LEG
40 Turkey concerned with the details? : TECHNICAL FOWL (sounds like “technical foul”)
44 Ed.’s inbox fillers : MSS
45 Oregon city namesake : ASTOR
48 Bank acct. item : INT
49 Reach, finally : END UP AT
51 “High Hopes” lyricist : CAHN
52 Quietly keeps in the loop : BCCS
54 Dugout sight : MITT
56 Khan of Rufus : CHAKA
59 Item in a Blackpool boot : TYRE
60 Massage response : AAH!
61 Spot for an icicle : EAVE
62 Rockies roamers : WAPITIS
64 Find a purpose for : USE
65 Supply for a bird-of-prey flu epidemic? : ILL EAGLE DRUGS (sounds like “illegal drugs”)
68 Cards with pics : IDS
69 Like Purell-treated hands : ASEPTIC
71 “Archie’s Pals ‘n’ __”: old comic book series : GALS
72 El Al’s home: Abbr. : ISR
73 Tip-top : A-ONE
74 World Golf Hall of Famer Nancy : LOPEZ
75 Frees (of) : RIDS
76 __ jure: by the law itself : IPSO
77 Genetic chains : RNAS
78 Soapbox address : ORATION
81 Blood pressure raiser : IRE
82 Talks like Daffy : LISPS
83 Knight supporter? : PIP
84 Target audience for squawkdates.com? : SINGLE PARROTS (sounds like “single parents”)
89 __ star : TIN
90 Is afflicted with : HAS
91 Those, south of the border : ESOS
92 Vital lines : AORTAS
95 Bluff and bluster : HOT AIR
97 “Now you’ve done it!” : I’M MAD!
99 Lane target : PIN
100 Snack with a Green Tea version in China and Japan : OREO
102 Fighters : ANTIS
103 Troupe of pink entertainers? : FLAMINGO DANCERS (sounds like “flamenco dancers”)
106 Runs rampant : TEEMS
107 Panelist Love of “The Real” : LONI
108 It’s high in France : ALPE
109 MGM motto ender : … ARTIS
110 Sleeper’s option : SERTA
111 “More than a beauty company” company : AVON
112 Gritty film genre : NOIR
113 Persian faith : BAHA’I
114 Uncertain ending words : … OR NOT
115 Titanic problem : BERG
116 Virtually never loses to : OWNS
117 Well past its prime : STALE

Down

1 Prayer garment : SHAWL
2 Matisse and Rousseau : HENRIS
3 Aloe target : ECZEMA
4 Imitation gem : RHINESTONE
5 “Where’s my cat treat?” : MEOW!
6 Plant associated with the infant Moses : BULRUSH
7 Tie the knot on the run : ELOPE
8 “Frozen” princess : ANNA
9 Performance with tricks : MAGIC ACT
10 Primary : CENTRAL
11 Trap during winter : ICE IN
12 River at Avignon : RHONE
13 D.C. group : CONG
14 She played Kelly on “Charlie’s Angels” : JACLYN
15 One way to read : ALOUD
16 Where seabirds grab buses? : PETREL STATIONS (sounds like “petrol stations”)
17 Baits : ENTICES
18 Salty sort : SEA DOG
28 “Just wait __!” : A SEC
29 Baby spoiler, often : NANA
34 Last letter in radio lingo : ZULU
36 That ship : HER
37 Hoppers : BINS
38 Email abbr. : FWD
41 __ market : NICHE
42 Threw a party for : FETED
43 N.Y. neighbor : ONT
44 Half a luau serving? : MAHI
45 Real : ACTUAL
46 Tells it like it is : SAYS SO
47 Bird skilled at long hoops shots? : THREE-POINT TERN (sounds like “three-point turn”)
50 HMO doctor designations : PCPS
52 Java neighbor : BALI
53 H.S. math course : CALC
54 Etail alternatives : MALLS
55 Currier’s partner : IVES
57 Take badly? : KIDNAP
58 Take stock of : ASSESS
61 “Yikes!” : EGAD!
62 Gutless one : WUSS
63 Farming prefix : AGRO-
65 Chichén __: Mayan ruins : ITZA
66 Kept in a cask, say : AGING
67 Not as green : RIPER
70 APB subject : PERP
73 Upper crust type : ARISTOCRAT
75 Hermione’s guy : RON
76 Nest egg plans : IRAS
79 Royal until 1917 : TSAR
80 “__ for Innocent”: Grafton : I IS
81 Music player with many generations : IPOD NANO
82 Ptr. paper size : LTR
83 Initiate : PIONEER
85 Legendary migrator : LEMMING
86 “Ozark” actor Morales : ESAI
87 2020 Vegas NFLers, if the new stadium is ready : RAIDERS
88 Chaplin of “Game of Thrones” : OONA
89 “Oh, really?” : THAT SO?
90 Warn, feline-style : HISS AT
93 “Queen of Soul” : ARETHA
94 “To be continued” story : SERIAL
96 “We __ please” : AIM TO
97 Valentine message words : I LOVE
98 Estate centerpiece : MANOR
99 Drop by : POP IN
101 Actor Davis : OSSIE
103 Trainer’s concern : FLAB
104 What embers do : GLOW
105 Arrests : NABS