LA Times Crossword 3 Feb 20, Monday

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Constructed by: David Poole
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Pinheads

Themed answers each start with a word that can be HEADED by “PIN”:

  • 62A Tops of sewing fasteners … and what the starts of 17-, 26-, 37- and 51-Across can have : PINHEADS
  • 17A Getaway car driver : WHEELMAN (giving “pinwheel”)
  • 26A Golfer’s dream : HOLE IN ONE (giving “pinhole”)
  • 37A You can’t go back after passing it : POINT OF NO RETURN (giving “pinpoint”)
  • 51A Kit and caboodle : BALL OF WAX (giving “pinball”)

Bill’s time: 5m 27s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Actor Beatty : NED

Actor Ned Beatty is possible best remembered for the rather disturbing “squeal like a pig” scene in the movie “Deliverance”. Beatty also earned an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 1976 movie “Network”.

4 Spirited horse : ARAB

The Arab (also “Arabian”) breed of horse takes its name from its original home, the Arabian Peninsula. Like any animal that humans have over-bred, the horse falls prey to genetic diseases, some of which are fatal and some of which require the horse to be euthanized.

8 Cold-weather omen on Groundhog Day : SHADOW

Punxsutawney is a borough in Pennsylvania that is located about 80 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. Punxsutawney Phil is the famous groundhog that lives in the area. Phil comes out of his hole on February 2 each year and if he sees his shadow he goes back into his hole predicting six more weeks of winter weather. February 2 is known as “Groundhog Day”.

14 Prefix with Pen : EPI-

EpiPen is a brand of epinephrine auto-injector. An EpiPen delivers a measured dose of epinephrine, which is a common treatment for an extreme allergic reaction.

17 Getaway car driver : WHEELMAN (giving “pinwheel”)

The firework known as a pinwheel consists of an angled tube(s) attached to a wheel that rotates around a pin when lit. The pinwheel is also known as a Catherine wheel, a reference to Saint Catherine of Alexandria. Christian tradition dictates that Catherine was condemned to death on a spiked breaking wheel, but the wheel shattered when she touched it.

19 Flowery van Gogh painting : IRISES

Van Gogh painted his “Irises” while he was in an asylum in the south of France the year before he committed suicide. The original owner was a French art critic and supporter of van Gogh who paid 300 francs to purchase the painting. “Irises” was bought for $53.9 million in 1987, making it the most expensive painting sold up to that point. But, the buyer didn’t actually have the necessary funds, so it had to be resold in 1990. It was picked up by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, where you can see it today.

23 Cheese go-with : MAC

Thomas Jefferson’s name is associated with the dish we known today as “mac ‘n’ cheese”. The future president discovered baked macaroni with Parmesan cheese while in Paris and in northern Italy. He started serving the dish to guests in the US, and even had a machine imported to make the macaroni locally. Whether or not Jefferson was the first to bring mac ‘n’ cheese to America isn’t entirely clear, but it has been popular ever since.

26 Golfer’s dream : HOLE IN ONE (giving “pinhole”)

One well-documented hole in one (ace) was during a round of the British Open in 1973. American golfer Gene Sarazen achieved the feat that day, at the age of 71. A less well-documented series of holes in one was reported by the North Korean press in a story about the Korean leader Kim Jong-il. The report was that Kim Jong-il scored 11 holes in one in his one and only round of golf.

33 Dead __ Scrolls : SEA

The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered over a period of years, between 1947 and 1956, in eleven caves on the shores of the Dead Sea. The scrolls are believed to have been written by an ancient Jewish sect called the Essenes, although this has been called into question recently. Many of the texts are copies of writings from the Hebrew Bible.

34 Bank acct. addition : INT

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

36 One of 50 on the U.S. flag : STAR

Legend has it that Betsy Ross made the first American flag for General George Washington. However, this story only surfaced during the centennial celebrations of 1876, and although Betsy Ross was indeed one of several flag makers in Philadelphia in the days of George Washington, sadly there’s no definitive evidence that Ross provided that first Stars and Stripes.

43 35-Down relative : LLC
(35D Business name abbr. : INC)

A limited liability company (LLC) has a structure that limits the liability of the owner or owners. It is a hybrid structure in the sense that it can be taxed as would an individual or partnership, while also maintaining the liability protection afforded to a corporation.

44 Land in the Seine : ILE

There are two famous “îles” (islands) in the middle of the River Seine in Paris, one being the Île de la Cité, and the other Île Saint-Louis. Île de la Cité is the most renowned of the two, as it is home to the cathedral of Notre Dame.

45 Lennon’s love Yoko : ONO

John Lennon and Yoko Ono married at the height of the Vietnam War in 1969. The couple decided to use the inevitable publicity surrounding their wedding and honeymoon to promote peace in the world. They honeymooned in the Presidential Suite of the Amsterdam Hilton, inviting the world’s press to join them and to witness their “bed-in”. They spent the week talking about peace, and an end to war. The marriage and bed-in is chronicled by the Beatles in their song “The Ballad of John and Yoko”. A few weeks after the marriage, Lennon adopted the middle name “Ono” by deed poll.

46 Chinese chairman : MAO

Mao Zedong (also “Mao Tse-tung”) was born on December 16, 1893 in the Hunan Province of China. As Mao was the son of a peasant farmer, his prospects for education were limited. Indeed he left school at age 13 to work on the family farm but did eventually get to secondary school in Changsha, the provincial capital. In the years following, Mao continued his education in Beijing and actually turned down an opportunity to study in France.

51 Kit and caboodle : BALL OF WAX (giving “pinball”)

The phrase “whole ball of wax” is probably a corruption of “the whole bailiwick”. “Bailiwick” is a word dating back to the mid-1600s, and originally meant the “district of a bailiff”.

In the idiomatic expression “the whole kit and caboodle”, “caboodle” (sometimes spelled “kaboodle”) is an informal term describing a bunch of people, or sometimes the “the whole lot”.

Our modern game of pinball evolved from an earlier table game called bagatelle which used balls, pins and holes (and I remember playing bagatelle as boy in a pub in Ireland). The first “pinball” machine was made by a British inventor who settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. He modified the game of bagatelle, adding a coiled spring and a plunger to introduce balls at the end of the table, a device that is still in use today. From there, manufacturers developed coin-operated versions of pinball, which became popular during the depression as they provided a little entertainment for a few pennies. One distributor of the coin-operated pinball machines started manufacturing them himself as he couldn’t source new games fast enough. He called his pinball game Ballyhoo, and eventually named his company Bally, a brand name well known in the gambling industry to this day.

54 Hundred Acre Wood creator : MILNE

Alan Alexander (A.A.) Milne was an English author who is best known for his delightful “Winnie-the-Pooh” series of books. He had only one son, Christopher Robin Milne, born in 1920. The young Milne was the inspiration for the Christopher Robin character in the Winnie-the-Pooh stories. Winnie-the-Pooh was named after Christopher Robin’s real teddy bear, one he called Winnie, who in turn was named after a Canadian black bear called Winnie that the Milnes would visit in London Zoo. The original Winnie teddy bear is on display at the main branch of the New York Public Library in New York.

Hundred Acre Wood is where Winnie the Pooh lives with his friends. According to a map illustrating the books by A. A. Milne, Hundred Acre Wood is part of a larger forest, with Owl’s house sitting right at the center. Piglet also lives in the Hundred Acre Wood, in a beech tree next to a sign that says “TRESPASSERS W”. Piglet says this is short for Trespassers William, which is his grandfather’s name.

56 Lab safety org.? : SPCA

Unlike most developed countries, the US has no umbrella organization with the goal of preventing cruelty to animals. Instead there are independent organizations set up all over the nation using the name SPCA. Having said that, there is an organization called the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) that was originally intended to operate across the country, but really it now focuses its efforts in New York City.

The Labrador (Lab) breed of dog has been around at least since 1814. The breed comes in three registered colors: black, yellow and chocolate.

58 Clinton and Obama, astrologically : LEOS

Leo is the fifth astrological sign of the Zodiac. People born from July 23 to August 22 are Leos.

65 Ivan or Nicholas : TSAR

The term “czar” (also “tsar”) is a Slavic word that was first used as a title by Simeon I of Bulgaria in 913 AD. “Czar” is derived from the word “Caesar”, which was synonymous with “emperor” at that time.

68 “Family Guy” creator MacFarlane : SETH

Seth MacFarlane is best known for creating the very successful (although they don’t get my vote!) animated TV shows “Family Guy” and “American Dad!”. My kids love ’em …

69 “Cats” monogram : TSE

“Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” is a 1939 collection of poems by T. S. Eliot (TSE). The collection of whimsical poetry was a favorite of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber when he was a child. Webber used Eliot’s poems as inspiration for his megahit musical “Cats”.

Down

1 Genre for Enya : NEW AGE

New-Age music is created to provide a relaxing and stress-free atmosphere. The New Age movement is often said to have begun with the release of an album called “Spectrum Suite” by Steven Halpern in 1975.

Enya’s real name is Eithne Ní Bhraonáin, which can translate from Irish into Enya Brennan. Her Donegal family (in the northwest of Ireland) formed a band called Clannad, which included Enya. In 1980 Enya launched her very successful solo career, eventually becoming Ireland’s best-selling solo musician. And, she sure does turn up a lot in crosswords!

2 Screenwriter Nora : EPHRON

Nora Ephron had many talents, including writing film scripts and novels. Many of the movies that she wrote, she also directed. These would include some of my favorite movies of all time like “Sleepless in Seattle”, “You’ve Got Mail” and most recently, the wonderful “Julie & Julia”. And, did you know that Nora Ephron’s second marriage was to journalist Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame? She wrote an autobiographical novel based on her life with Bernstein, which deals in particular with Bernstein’s affair with the daughter of British Prime Minister James Callaghan.

3 Low-calorie cola, familiarly : DIET RC

Claude A. Hatcher ran a grocery store in Columbus, Georgia. He decided to develop his own soft drink formula when he balked at the price his store was being charged for Coca-Cola syrup. Hatcher launched the Union Bottling Works in his own grocery store, and introduced Royal Crown Ginger Ale in 1905. The Union Bottling Works was renamed to Chero-Cola in 1910, the Nehi Corporation in 1925, and Royal Crown Company in the mid-fifties. The first RC Cola hit the market in 1934.

5 Most populous città in Italia : ROMA

In Italian, “Roma” (Rome) is a “città” (city) in “Italia” (Italy).

6 Geronimo’s tribe : APACHE

Cochise and Geronimo were perhaps the two most famous Apache leaders to resist intrusions by the European Americans in the 1800s. Both lived lives full of conflict, but both also lived relatively long lives. Cochise eventually entered into a treaty putting an end to the fighting, and retired onto a new reservation. Cochise died of natural causes in 1874, at the age of 69. Geronimo surrendered, and spent years as a prisoner of war. He spent his last years as a celebrity, and even rode in the inaugural parade for President Theodore Roosevelt. Geronimo died of pneumonia in 1909 at the age of 79.

7 Japanese box lunch : BENTO

A bento is a single-person meal that is eaten quite commonly in Japan. A bento can be purchased as a take-out meal, or it may be packed at home. A bento is usually sold as a “bento box”.

8 __ Lanka : SRI

The island nation of Sri Lanka lies off the southeast coast of India. The name “Sri Lanka” translates from Sanskrit into English as “venerable island”. Before 1970, Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon, a name given to the country during British rule.

9 Hardly a social butterfly : HERMIT

The Greek word for “uninhabited” is “eremos”, which is the root for “eremia” meaning both “desert” and “solitude”. The Greek word eremites then means “a person of the desert”. This was absorbed into Latin as “ermita”, meaning someone who lived in solitude or in an uninhabited area. We use “eremite” to mean the same thing, although the derivative term “hermit” is more common.

10 From China, say : ASIAN

The world’s most populous country is the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The Republic of China (ROC) is the official name of the sovereign state that we usually call Taiwan.

11 “The Simpsons” character named for a dance era : DISCO STU

On “The Simpsons”, the character of Disco Stu is voiced by Hank Azaria, although the original intent was for him to be voiced by Phil Hartman. Disco Stu is described as “a black, wrinkly John Travolta”.

12 Keats’ “__ on a Grecian Urn” : ODE

English Romantic poet John Keats wrote the famous “Ode on a Grecian Urn” in 1819, and published it anonymously in 1820. The most famous lines of the poem are the last two:

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” – that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know

13 Director Craven : WES

Wes Craven was a very successful film director and writer specializing in movies of the horror genre, which means that I don’t watch them! He was responsible for “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and the “Scream” films. Craven passed away in August 2015.

27 __ de corps: camaraderie : ESPRIT

Esprit de corps is the morale of a group, and a phrase that best translates from French perhaps as “team spirit”.

29 Pull down, as a salary : EARN

It has been suggested that out term “salary” comes from the Latin “sal” meaning “salt”. The idea is that a Roman soldier’s “salarium” might have been an allowance to purchase salt.

31 Minn. college named for a Norwegian king : ST OLAF

St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota was named for the former king and patron saint of Norway, Olaf II.

35 Business name abbr. : INC

A company that has incorporated uses the abbreviation “Inc.” after its name. By incorporating, a company forms a corporation, which is a legal entity that has legal rights similar to those of an individual. For example, a corporation can sue another corporation or individual. However, a corporation does not have all the rights of citizens. A corporation does not have the Fifth Amendment right of protections against self-incrimination, for example. It is perhaps understandable that the concept of “corporations as persons” is a frequent subject for debate.

38 Charlie Chaplin’s actress granddaughter : 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.

39 Quarantines : ISOLATES

The original use of our word “quarantine”, back in the 1500s, was as a legal term. A quarantine was the 40 days in which a widow had the legal right to reside in her dead husband’s house.

41 K thru 6 : ELEM

Elementary (elem.)

46 The “M” in LEM : MODULE

In the Apollo program, the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) was the vehicle that actually landed on the moon and returned the astronauts to the command module that was orbiting overhead. The third LEM built was named “Spider”, and it participated in the Apollo 9 mission which tested the functionality of the LEM design in space. The fourth LEM was called “Snoopy” and it flew around the moon in the Apollo 10 mission, the dress rehearsal for the upcoming moon landing. Apollo 11’s LEM was called “Eagle” and it brought Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to and from the moon’s surface. Another famous LEM was Apollo 13’s Aquarius. Although Aquarius never landed on the moon, it did serve as a “lifeboat” for the three astronauts after the explosive rupture of an oxygen canister in the Service Module.

47 Type of tax : EXCISE

Excise taxes differ from customs duties. Excise taxes are imposed on goods within a nation’s borders, whereas customs duties are imposed at the border on importation.

48 Phillies’ div. : NL EAST

Philadelphia’s baseball team was founded in 1883 as the Quakers, with the name changing to “Philadelphias” and “Phillies” not long into the team’s history. The Phillies have been based in the same city using the same team name longer than any other team in US professional sports.

49 Voltaic cell terminals : ANODES

A galvanic (also “voltaic”) cell is a device that uses a chemical reaction to create an electrical current. A simple battery is a galvanic cell, with larger batteries being a collection of galvanic cells operating in concert. The cell takes its name from either Luigi Galvani or Alessandro Volta, both of whom were physicists and pioneers in the study of electricity.

52 Detroit NFL team : LIONS

The Detroit Lions are the NFL team that play home games at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. The team was founded way back in 1929 as the Portsmouth Spartans from Portsmouth, Ohio. The Spartans joined the NFL during the Great Depression as other franchises collapsed. However, the Spartans couldn’t command a large enough gate in Portsmouth so the team was sold and relocated to Detroit in 1934.

57 Med. school subject : ANAT

Anatomy (anat.)

60 Sister of Zsa Zsa : EVA

Eva Gabor was the youngest of the Gabor sisters, all three of whom were celebrated Hollywood actresses and socialites (her siblings were Zsa-Zsa and Magda). One of Eva’s claims to fame is the unwitting promotion of the game called “Twister”, the sales of which were languishing in 1966. In an appearance on “The Tonight Show” she got on all fours and played the game with Johnny Carson. Sales took off immediately, and Twister became a huge hit.

Zsa Zsa Gabor was a Hungarian-American actress, born in Budapest as Sári Gábor (the older sister of the actress Eva). Zsa Zsa Gabor was married a whopping nine times, including a 5-year stint with Conrad Hilton and another 5 years with the actor George Sanders. One of Gabor’s famous quips was that she was always a good housekeeper, as after every divorce she kept the house!

61 TV’s Burrell and Pennington : TYS

Actor and comedian Ty Burrell is perhaps best known for playing Phil Dunphy on the great sitcom “Modern Family”. Off the screen, Burrell is the co-owner of two bar/restaurants in Salt Lake City. Named Bar-X and Beer Bar, Burrell’s establishments are actually located side-by-side, with connecting doors.

Ty Pennington is a TV personality and carpenter, and the host of the reality show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”. Pennington’s break came when he was cast as the carpenter on the earlier makeover show called “Trading Spaces”.

63 Princely title: Abbr. : HRH

His/Her Royal Highness (HRH)

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Actor Beatty : NED
4 Spirited horse : ARAB
8 Cold-weather omen on Groundhog Day : SHADOW
14 Prefix with Pen : EPI-
15 Leisurely pace : LOPE
16 Dwell : RESIDE
17 Getaway car driver : WHEELMAN (giving “pinwheel”)
19 Flowery van Gogh painting : IRISES
20 Superficially highbrow : ARTY
21 Play segments : ACTS
23 Cheese go-with : MAC
24 Injured in the bullring : GORED
26 Golfer’s dream : HOLE IN ONE (giving “pinhole”)
30 Put inside : ENCLOSE
32 German “east” : OST
33 Dead __ Scrolls : SEA
34 Bank acct. addition : INT
35 Little trickster : IMP
36 One of 50 on the U.S. flag : STAR
37 You can’t go back after passing it : POINT OF NO RETURN (giving “pinpoint”)
42 Went up : ROSE
43 35-Down relative : LLC
44 Land in the Seine : ILE
45 Lennon’s love Yoko : ONO
46 Chinese chairman : MAO
47 Everlasting : ETERNAL
51 Kit and caboodle : BALL OF WAX (giving “pinball”)
54 Hundred Acre Wood creator : MILNE
55 Help : AID
56 Lab safety org.? : SPCA
58 Clinton and Obama, astrologically : LEOS
59 Escape : GET OUT
62 Tops of sewing fasteners … and what the starts of 17-, 26-, 37- and 51-Across can have : PINHEADS
64 In a fair way : EVENLY
65 Ivan or Nicholas : TSAR
66 Observe : SEE
67 Common people, with “the” : … MASSES
68 “Family Guy” creator MacFarlane : SETH
69 “Cats” monogram : TSE

Down

1 Genre for Enya : NEW AGE
2 Screenwriter Nora : EPHRON
3 Low-calorie cola, familiarly : DIET RC
4 100 percent : ALL
5 Most populous città in Italia : ROMA
6 Geronimo’s tribe : APACHE
7 Japanese box lunch : BENTO
8 __ Lanka : SRI
9 Hardly a social butterfly : HERMIT
10 From China, say : ASIAN
11 “The Simpsons” character named for a dance era : DISCO STU
12 Keats’ “__ on a Grecian Urn” : ODE
13 Director Craven : WES
18 Face sketcher’s horizontal reference : EYELINE
22 NFL replay review aid : SLO-MO
25 “Please stop!” : DON’T!
27 __ de corps: camaraderie : ESPRIT
28 Not at all far : NEAR
29 Pull down, as a salary : EARN
31 Minn. college named for a Norwegian king : ST OLAF
35 Business name abbr. : INC
36 Squeaky clean, as an operating room : STERILE
37 “No __!”: “Easy!” : PROB
38 Charlie Chaplin’s actress granddaughter : OONA
39 Quarantines : ISOLATES
40 Runs smoothly : FLOWS
41 K thru 6 : ELEM
46 The “M” in LEM : MODULE
47 Type of tax : EXCISE
48 Phillies’ div. : NL EAST
49 Voltaic cell terminals : ANODES
50 Tenant : LESSEE
52 Detroit NFL team : LIONS
53 Dr. visits : APPTS
57 Med. school subject : ANAT
59 Diamond, for one : GEM
60 Sister of Zsa Zsa : EVA
61 TV’s Burrell and Pennington : TYS
63 Princely title: Abbr. : HRH