LA Times Crossword 6 Oct 21, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Winston Emmons
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: DPs

Themed answers each include a DOUBLE occurrence of OUT sitting side-by-side:

• 61A MLB rally killers, briefly, and a hint to what’s in the four longest puzzle answers : DPS

• 21A Ring result : BOUT OUTCOME
• 32A Unlicensed rainbow catcher : TROUT OUTLAW
• 41A Camporee, for instance : SCOUT OUTING
• 53A Tap water : SPOUT OUTPUT

Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 6m 23s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Composer Bartók : BELA

Bela Bartók was a composer and a pianist. After Liszt, Bartók is considered by many to be Hungary’s greatest composer.

9 Restoration locations : SPAS

The word “spa” migrated into English from Belgium, as “Spa” is the name of a municipality in the east of the country that is famous for its healing hot springs. The name “Spa” comes from the Walloon word “espa” meaning “spring, fountain”.

14 Largely phased-out ersatz fat brand : OLEAN

“Olean” is a brand name for the fat substitute, Olestra. Naturally-occurring fats are made of a glycerol molecule holding together three fatty acids. Olestra is instead made of several fatty acid chains held together by a sucrose molecule. Olestra has a similar taste and consistency as natural fat, but has zero caloric impact as it is too large a molecule to pass through the intestinal wall and passes right out of the body. Personally, I would steer clear of it. Olestra is banned in Britain and Canada due to concerns about side effects, but I guess someone knows the right palms to grease (pun intended!) here in the US, and so it’s in our food.

Something described as ersatz is a copy, and usually not a good one. “Ersatz” comes from the German verb “ersetzen” meaning “to replace”.

16 Org. for fur foes : PETA

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is a large animal rights organization, with about 300 employees and two million members and supporters worldwide. Although the group campaigns for animal rights across a broad spectrum of issues, it has a stated focus in opposition of four practices:

• Factory farming
• Fur farming
• Animal testing
• Use of animals in entertainment

17 Envelope-directing abbr. : ATTN

Attention (attn.)

18 “Out of Africa” setting : KENYA

Kenya lies on the east coast of Africa, right on the equator. The country takes her name from Mount Kenya, the second-highest peak on the continent (after Kilimanjaro). The official languages of Kenya are English and Swahili.

“Out of Africa” is a Sydney Pollack film released in 1985, starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. The storyline is based on the autobiographical book of the same name by Karen Blixen (written under the pen name Isak Dinesen). Streep plays the author in the movie, and Redford plays big game hunter Denys Finch Hatton, Blixen’s lover.

23 1993 coming-of-age baseball film, with “The” : … SANDLOT

“The Sandlot” is a 1993 sports comedy movie about a group of youngsters who play baseball each day in a local sandlot in Southern California. It is usually described as a coming-of-age film, and tells the story of a shy fifth-grader who joins the group despite being a terrible player.

27 Surround sound components : SPEAKERS

Monophonic sound (“mono”) is sound reproduced using just one audio channel, which is usually played out of just one speaker. Stereophonic sound is reproduced using two audio channels, with the sound from each channel played out of two different speakers. The pair of stereo speakers are usually positioned apart from each other so that sound appears to come from between the two. Quadraphonic sound (4.0 surround sound) uses four audio channels with the sound played back through four speakers that are often positioned at the corners of the room in which one is listening.

32 Unlicensed rainbow catcher : TROUT OUTLAW

The steelhead and rainbow trout are actually the same species. The difference is that rainbow trout spend almost their whole lives in freshwater. Steelheads spend much of their lives in estuaries or open ocean, returning to freshwater to spawn.

36 Floral accessory : LEI

“Lei” is a Hawaiian word meaning “garland, wreath”, although in more general terms a lei is any series of objects strung together as an adornment for the body.

37 Urges : YENS

The word “yen”, meaning “urge”, has been around in English since the very early 1900s. It comes from the earlier word “yin” imported from Chinese, which was used in English to describe an intense craving for opium.

39 Place for a catcher’s guard : SHIN

That would be baseball.

41 Camporee, for instance : SCOUT OUTING

A jamboree is a very large gathering of scouts from around the country, and sometimes from around the world. The exact etymology of “jamboree” is much debated, but it is likely to be a term coined by Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of the scouting movement. Baden-Powell lived in Africa for many years and so many think that the term is based on “jambo”, the Swahili word for “hello”. A smaller, more local gathering is referred to as a “camporee”.

45 Former California speedway that was the site of a 1969 rock concert : ALTAMONT

Altamont Raceway Park was a motorsports speedway in Northern California that operated from 1966 to 2008. It was the site of an infamous rock concert in 1969 in which a revolver-brandishing concert-goer was stabbed to death by Hells Angels member hired to provide security for the stage. The stabbing was captured on film, and took place right in front of the stage while the Rolling Stones were performing. The incident features in the 1970 documentary “Gimme Shelter” that chronicles the Rolling Stones 1969 US tour.

47 Genetics lab material : RNA

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA.

48 Director Jean-__ Godard : LUC

Jean-Luc Godard is a so-called “Nouvelle Vague” (New Wave) cinematographer, making movies that challenge the conventions of both traditional Hollywood and French cinema.

49 Evening parties : SOIREES

“Soir” is the French word for “evening” and a soirée is an evening party. The French word “soirée” has an acute accent over the first “e”, but we tend to drop this when using the word in English.

53 Tap water : SPOUT OUTPUT

The common “faucet” in an American house is almost always referred to as a “tap” on the other side of the pond.

58 Pre-A.D. : BCE

The designations Anno Domini (AD, “year of Our Lord”) and Before Christ (BC) are found in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The dividing point between AD and BC is the year of the conception of Jesus, with AD 1 following 1 BC without a year “0” in between. The AD/BC scheme dates back to AD 525, and gained wide acceptance soon after AD 800. Nowadays a modified version has become popular, with CE (Common/Christian Era) used to replace AD, and BCE (Before the Common/Christian Era) used to replace BC.

60 Willow twig : OSIER

Most willows (trees and shrubs of the genus Salix) are called just that, “willows”. Some of the broad-leaved shrub varieties are called “sallow”, and the narrow-leaved shrubs are called “osier”. Osier is commonly used in basketry, as osier twigs are very flexible. The strong and flexible willow stems are sometimes referred to as withies.

62 Nobelist Pavlov : IVAN

Ivan Pavlov was studying gastric function in dogs in the 1890s when he observed that his subject dogs started to salivate before he even presented food to them. This “psychic secretion”, as he called it, interested him so much that he changed the direction of his research and studied the reactions of dogs to various stimuli that were associated with the presentation of food. Famously, he discovered that a dog could be conditioned to respond as though he was about to be fed, just by sensing some stimulus that he had come to associate with food. This might be a bell ringing, an electric shock (poor dog!) or perhaps the waving of a hand. Nowadays we might describe someone as “Pavlov’s Dog” if that person responds just the way he/she has been conditioned to respond, rather than applying critical thinking.

63 Evans’ news partner : NOVAK

Robert Novak was very much associated with fellow-journalist Rowland Evans, with whom he penned a syndicated column for decades, and with whom he partnered on television. Of the many stories that Novak broke over his career, he is probably most-remembered for identifying Valerie Plame as a CIA officer in 2003.

64 __ sci : POLI

Political science (poli sci)

65 Elizabeth of “La Bamba” : PENA

Elizabeth Peña was an actress of Cuban descent born in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The role I most remember her for was the Colombian mother of Gloria Pritchett on the sitcom “Modern Family”.

“La Bamba” is a 1987 biopic about the life of singer Ritchie Valens. Valens is played by Lou Diamond Phillips, in his breakthrough role. The Ritchie Valens songs shown in the movie were all performed by Los Lobos, a casting that gave the rock band their big break as well. The Los Lobos version of the title song “La Bamba” topped the charts around the world.

66 Torso muscles, collectively : CORE

“Torso” (plural “torsi”) is an Italian word meaning the “trunk of a statue”, and is a term that we imported into English.

Down

4 Cleeves who wrote Shetland Island mysteries : ANN

Ann Cleeves is a writer from England who has authored several series of crime novels. Her “Vera Stanhope” series was adapted into a TV show called “Vera”, and her “Shetland Island” series was adapted into a TV show titled “Shetland”.

5 Bed-ins for Peace participant : 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.

6 Native Alaskan : ALEUT

The Aleuts live on the Aleutian Islands of the North Pacific, and on the Commander Islands at the western end of the same island chain. The Aleutian Islands are part of the United States, and the Commander Islands are in Russia.

8 Belafonte classic : DAY-O

“Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” is a traditional folk song from Jamaica. It is sung from the standpoint of dock workers unloading boats on the night shift, so daylight has come, and they want to go home. The most famous version of “Day-O” was recorded by Harry Belafonte, in 1956.

Singer and actor Harry Belafonte is of Caribbean descent, from Jamaica through his mother’s heritage and from Martinique through his father. Born in New York City, Belafonte came to be known as the “King of Calypso”. His most famous recording is 1956’s “The Banana Boat Song”, and I suspect that his most famous movie performance is in Otto Preminger’s “Carmen Jones”.

9 Lynn portrayer in “Coal Miner’s Daughter” : SPACEK

Actress Sissy Spacek got her big break in the movies when she played the title role in the 1976 horror movie “Carrie”, which is based on a Stephen King novel. Her most acclaimed role is the lead in the 1980 biopic about Loretta Lynn called “Coal MIner’s Daughter”, for which she won an Oscar. Spacek’s first cousin was the actor Rip Torn.

“Coal Miner’s Daughter” is a 1980 film that tells the life story of country music star Loretta Lynn. Sissy Spacek plays the title role, and won herself a Best Actress Oscar for her performance. Lynn was indeed a coal miner’s daughter, born into poverty in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky.

10 Mexican money : PESO

The peso is used in many Spanish-speaking countries around the world. The coin originated in Spain where the word “peso” means “weight”. The original peso was what we know in English as a “piece of eight”, a silver coin of a specific weight that had a nominal value of eight “reales”.

11 Minuscule amount : ATOM

“Minuscule” is one of those words that’s often misspelled, usually as “miniscule”.

12 Ump’s call : SAFE!

Back in the 15th century, “an umpire” was referred to as “a noumpere”, which was misheard and hence causing the dropping of the initial letter N. The term “noumpere” came from Old French “nonper” meaning “not even, odd number”. The idea was that the original umpire was a third person called on to arbitrate between two, providing that “odd number” needed to decide the dispute.

15 Queasiness : NAUSEA

Nausea is a sick feeling in the stomach. The term “nausea” derives from the Greek “naus” meaning “ship”. Originally, nausea was associated only with seasickness.

24 __ ex machina : DEUS

“Deus ex machina” is a Latin phrase that translates as “god out of the machine”. “Deus ex machina” is a plot device used in some works whereby some apparently inextricable problem is suddenly resolved by an unexpected intervention. The term was first used in Horace’s “Ars Poetica”.

27 Peacock’s gait : STRUT

The male peafowl is known as a peacock, and the female a peahen. The peafowl’s young are sometimes called peachicks.

29 K-12, in brief : ELHI

“Elhi” is an informal word used to describe anything related to schooling from kindergarten through grade 12, i.e. elementary through high school.

32 Supermodel Banks : TYRA

Tyra Banks is a tremendously successful model and businesswoman. Banks created and hosted the hit show “America’s Next Top Model “, and also had her own talk show. She was also the first African-American woman to make the cover of the “Sports Illustrated” swimsuit issue.

39 Sirius, e.g. : STAR

When you look up at the night sky, the brightest star you can see is Sirius. It appears so bright to us because it is relatively close to the Earth. Sirius is commonly known as the “Dog Star”, as it can be seen in the constellation Canis Major, the “Big Dog”.

41 Lewd stuff : SMUT

“Smut” means “dirt, smudge” and more recently “pornographic material”. The term comes from the Yiddish “schmutz”, which is a slang word used in English for dirt, as in “dirt on one’s face”.

42 Pupa protector : COCOON

Strictly speaking, the term “cocoon” only applies to the tough outer casing created by moth caterpillars. Butterfly caterpillars protect themselves in a hard outer skin to form a pupa known as a chrysalis. But, butterfly caterpillars don’t go the extra step by spinning a silky cocoon. Famously, silk thread comes from silk cocoons created by silkworms, which mature into silk moths.

43 2020 candidate Beto : O’ROURKE

Texas politician Beto O’Rourke really came to the nation’s attention when he ran for the US Senate in 2018, and was narrowly beaten by the incumbent Ted Cruz. He followed up that close-run campaign with a run for the 2020 Democratic nomination for US president.

46 Wellesley graduate : ALUMNA

Wellesley is a private women’s school located in the town of Wellesley, Massachusetts. Wellesley was founded in 1870 and is one of the original Seven Sisters Colleges.

49 Asparagus piece : SPEAR

Asparagus is a perennial flowering plant that is grown mainly for its edible shoots. The shoots must be harvested when they are very young, as they become woody very quickly.

50 Fodder for a Fire, say : E-BOOK

Amazon’s Kindle line of e-book readers was introduced in 2007. The name “kindle” was chosen to evoke images of “lighting a fire” through reading and intellectual stimulation. I bought myself a Kindle Fire HD several years ago. I started reading e-books for the first time in my life, as well as enjoying other computing options available with the tablet device …

51 Food recall cause : E COLI

Escherichia coli (E. coli) are usually harmless bacteria found in the human gut, working away quite happily. However, there are some strains that can produce lethal toxins. These strains can make their way into the food chain from animal fecal matter that comes into contact with food designated for human consumption.

52 Truck stop array : SEMIS

A “semi” is a “semi-trailer truck”. The vehicle is so called because it consists of a tractor and a half-trailer. The half-trailer is so called because it only has wheels on the back end, with the front supported by the tractor.

54 Finish, as a road : PAVE

Back in Ireland, the “pavement” is what we call the “sidewalk, footpath” (because the footpath is “paved”, often with “paving” stones!). It’s very confusing when you arrive in this country from Ireland, and a little dangerous when one has been taught from a young age to “walk on the pavement” …

55 Algerian seaport : ORAN

Oran lies on the Algerian coast, and is famous for being the port where the French Navy was largely destroyed by the British during WWII in order to avoid the French vessels falling into the hands of Nazi Germany after France surrendered. This decisive and unexpected unilateral action by the British sent a very strong message around the world that Britain was willing to fight alone against the axis powers if necessary.

56 Colorado-based sports org. : USOC

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has a federal charter but it doesn’t receive any funds from the US government. As such, it has to engage in fundraising just like any other charitable organization. The USOC was founded in 1894, and is headquartered in Colorado Springs.

57 Digital recorder : TIVO

TiVo was introduced in 1999 and was the world’s first commercially successful digital video recorder (DVR).

61 MLB rally killers, briefly, and a hint to what’s in the four longest puzzle answers : DPS

Double play (DP)