LA Times Crossword 5 Apr 22, Tuesday

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Constructed by: Jerry Edelstein
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Bandleader

Themed answers each end with a word that often LEADS into “… BAND”:

• 61A Musical conductor … and what the end of 18-, 23-, 40- or 51-Across can be? : BANDLEADER … and “BAND” LEADER

• 18A Do a guard’s job : STAND WATCH (giving “watch band”)
• 23A Prevail in the race (just barely) : WIN BY A HAIR (giving “hair band”)
• 40A “Brace yourself” : HOLD ONTO YOUR HAT (giving “hat band”)
• 51A Peel out : BURN RUBBER (giving “rubber band”)

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

Bill’s time: 4m 51s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Danish director von Trier : LARS

Lars von Trier is a film director and screenwriter from Denmark. Even though there is a lot of demand for von Trier to work all over the world, the vast majority of his films are shot in Denmark or Sweden, even movies set in the US. That’s because von Trier has an intense fear of flying.

9 “High waving heather __ stormy blasts bending”: E. Brontë : NEATH

“High Waving Heather ‘Neath Stormy Blasts Bending” is a poem by Emily Brontë. The first verse is:

High waving heather ‘neath stormy blasts bending,
Midnight and moonlight and bright shining stars,
Darkness and glory rejoicingly blending,
Earth rising to heaven and heaven descending,
Man’s spirit away from its drear dungeon sending,
Bursting the fetters and breaking the bars.

14 Actor Baldwin : ALEC

Alec Baldwin is the oldest of the acting Baldwin brothers. I think Alec’s big break was playing Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan in “The Hunt for Red October”, but thank goodness that role was taken over by Harrison Ford for the subsequent Jack Ryan movies. Baldwin also made a name for himself playing Jack Donaghy on “30 Rock”, opposite Tina Fey. More recently, he made a name for himself by impersonating President Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live”.

15 Home of the NFL’s Saints, informally : NOLA

The city of New Orleans, Louisiana has the nickname “The Big Easy”. This name might come from the early 1900s when musicians found it relatively “easy” to find work there. The city is also known by the acronym NOLA, standing for New Orleans (NO), Louisiana (LA).

The entire community of fans of the New Orleans Saints are sometimes referred to as the “Who Dat Nation”. The name comes from a popular chant heard at a Saints game:

Who dat?
Who dat?
Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?

16 Bert’s Muppet buddy : ERNIE

For many years, I believed that the “Sesame Street” characters Bert and Ernie were named after two roles played in the Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life”. In the movie, the policeman’s name is Bert and his taxi-driving buddy is named Ernie. However, the “Sesame Street” folks have stated that the use of the same names is just a coincidence. Aww, I don’t wanna believe that’s a coincidence …

17 Old Italian money : LIRA

The word “lira” is used in a number of countries for currency. “Lira” comes from the Latin for “pound” and is derived from the British pound sterling, the value of a Troy pound of silver. For example, the lira (plural “lire”) was the official currency of Italy before the country changed over to the euro in 2002.

20 Addis __ : ABABA

Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia. The city is relatively young, having been founded in 1886 by Emperor Menelik II. Addis Ababa holds an important position within the nations of Africa as it is home to many international organizations that are focused on the continent.

22 Zagreb natives : CROATS

Zagreb is the capital city of the Republic of Croatia. Zagreb has been around a long, long time, and dates back to the diocese of Zagreb that was founded at the end of the 11th century.

25 Pitching stats : ERAS

Earned run average (ERA)

30 Musical effect involving two quickly played repeated notes : TRILL

In music a “trill” is the rapid alternation of two tones that are very close to each other to make a vibrato sound.

34 Llama relative : ALPACA

Alpacas are like small llamas, but unlike llamas were never beasts of burden. Alpacas were bred specifically for the fleece. As such, there are no known wild alpacas these days, even in their native Peru.

39 Jack Ryan org. : CIA

Jack Ryan is the most famous fictional character created by author Tom Clancy. The set of novels (and related media) featuring Ryan are often referred to as the Ryanverse. He has been portrayed on the big screen by several actors, including Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Afleck and Chris Pine. On the small screen, Ryan has been portrayed very ably by John Krasinski.

43 QB’s concern : INT

In football, if a quarterback’s (QB’s) pass ends up in the hands of a cornerback (CB), then that’s an interception (INT).

44 Food on the farm : FODDER

“Fodder”, meaning “animal feed”, is an Old English word for “food”.

45 Gas sign in green letters : HESS

Leon Hess founded the Hess Oil and Chemical Corporation in the 1930s, originally to distribute heating oil. Today’s Hess Corporation still bears Leon’s name. Leon Hess was also co-owner, and eventually sole owner, of the New York Jets football team from the late sixties until his death in 1999.

48 Big Aussie bird : EMU

Emu eggs are very large, with a thick shell that is dark-green in color. One emu egg weighs about the same as a dozen chicken eggs. It is the male emu that incubates the eggs. The incubation period lasts about 8 weeks, during which time the male neither eats nor drinks, just lapping up any morning dew that is nearby. While incubating a clutch of eggs, male emus lose about a third of their weight.

50 Banks of “America’s Next Top Model” : 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.

58 Seaman’s “Help!” : MAYDAY!

The term “Mayday” is an emergency codeword that is used internationally as a distress signal, especially when making a radio transmission. “Mayday” comes from the French phrase “venez m’aider” meaning “come to help me”. When used properly, the term is repeated three times in a row: “Mayday Mayday Mayday”.

60 Surname of vintners Ernest and Julio : GALLO

E & J Gallo Winery was founded by Ernest and Julio Gallo in Modesto, California in 1933. Gallo is the largest exporter of wine from the state of California.

66 Disney’s Little Mermaid : ARIEL

In the 1989 Disney animated film “The Little Mermaid”, the title character is given the name “Ariel”. In the original fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen that dates back to 1836, the Little Mermaid is given no name at all. There is a famous statue of the unnamed Little Mermaid sitting in Copenhagen Harbor, in Andersen’s homeland of Denmark.

67 Miller __: beer : LITE

The first light beer was produced by Chicago’s Meister Brau brewery in the sixties. Miller took over Meister Brau, reformulated the light beer using the same process and became the first of the big breweries to come out with a light beer, “Lite Beer from Miller” introduced in 1973. There really wasn’t a serious competitor to Miller Lite until Anheuser-Busch finally came up with a process and a product in 1982 that they called Bud Light.

68 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 with fig jam.

69 First AFL-CIO leader George __ : MEANY

George Meany was president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) from 1952-55, which merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in 1955. He stayed on as president of the AFL-CIO until 1979. President Johnson presented Meany with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963.

71 Tourney ranking : SEED

A seeded player or team in a tournament is one given a preliminary ranking that is used in the initial draw. The intention is that the better competitors are less likely to meet each other in the early rounds.

Down

1 Calif. legal drama : LA LAW

“L.A. Law” ran on NBC from 1986 to 1994, and was one of the network’s most successful drama series. It took over from the equally successful “Hill Street Blues” in the Thursday night 10 p.m. slot until, after a six-year run, it was itself replaced by yet another respected drama, “E.R.” The opening credits showed that famous California license plate. The plate was on a Jaguar XJ for most of the series, but moved onto a Bentley towards the end of the run. For each series the registration sticker was updated, so no laws were being broken.

7 Santa __, Calif. : CLARA

The Santa Clara Valley, located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay, is better known as “Silicon Valley”. The term “Silicon Valley” dates back to 1971 when it was apparently first used in a weekly trade newspaper called “Electronic News” in articles written by journalist Don Hoefler.

8 Vietnam’s capital : HANOI

Hanoi (“Hà Nội” in Vietnamese) was the capital of North Vietnam, and Saigon the capital of South Vietnam. After the Vietnam War, Hanoi was made capital of the reunified state. Saigon, the larger metropolis, was renamed to Ho Chi Minh City. Hanoi is located in the delta of the Red River, and is just over 50 miles from the Gulf of Tonkin in the South China Sea.

9 Small salamander : NEWT

Salamanders are lizard-like amphibians found all across the northern hemisphere. They are the only vertebrate animals that can regenerate lost limbs.

11 Tiny six-legged crawler : ANT

The study of ants is known as myrmecology. The term “myrmecology” derives from the Greek “myrmex” meaning “ant”.

12 It can precede or follow tac : TIC

When I was growing up in Ireland we played “noughts and crosses” … our name for the game tic-tac-toe.

19 __ es Salaam : DAR

Dar es Salaam is the largest city in Tanzania, and sits right on the east coast of Africa. The city’s name is usually translated from Arabic as “Haven of Peace”.

21 Author Rand : AYN

Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist born “Alisa Rosenbaum”. Her two best known works are her novels “The Fountainhead” published in 1943 and “Atlas Shrugged” from 1957. Back in 1951, Rand moved from Los Angeles to New York City. Soon after, she gathered a group of admirers around her with whom she discussed philosophy and shared drafts of her magnum opus, “Atlas Shrugged”. This group called itself “The Collective”, and one of the founding members was none other than future Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan. Rand described herself as “right-wing” politically, and both she and her novel “Atlas Shrugged” have become inspirations for the American conservatives, and the Tea Party in particular.

24 Hersey’s “A Bell for __” : ADANO

“A Bell for Adano” is a novel written by John Hersey. Hersey’s story is about an Italian-American US Army officer, Major Joppolo, who found a replacement for a town’s bell stolen by fascists. “A Bell for Adano” was made into a film in 1945, the same year the novel won a Pulitzer.

26 Rolling in francs : RICHE

In French, someone rolling in francs was “riche” (rich).

27 “a.k.a.” name : ALIAS

Also known as (aka)

30 Cross-shaped letter : TAU

Tau is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet, and the letter that gave rise to our Roman “T”. Both the letters tau (T) and chi (X) have long been symbolically associated with the cross.

32 __ Island, home of the original Nathan’s : CONEY

Cony (or “coney”) is an old English word for rabbit or rabbit fur, and Coney Island in New York takes its name from the same root. The Dutch used the name “Conyne Eylandt” (Rabbit Island) after the large population of rabbits that was hunted there.

35 Part of LLC: Abbr. : LTD

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.

36 Group of whales : POD

A group of whales can be called a gam, as well as a pod.

42 Tart-tasting preserve veggies : RHUBARBS

We can eat the leaf stalks of the rhubarb plant, but not the leaves themselves. The leaves contain oxalic acid and are highly toxic.

47 Oriole Park at __ Yards : CAMDEN

Oriole Park is home to the Baltimore Orioles baseball team. The full name of the stadium is Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The name “Camden Yards” is used because the ballpark is built on land that was once used as the rail yard for B&O Railroad’s Camden Station.

52 Arizona politics family name : UDALL

The Udall family has been in American politics for over one hundred years, active in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Oregon. The patriarch of the clan was David King Udall, from St. Louis, Missouri. David Udall had three direct descendants in the US Senate: Senator Gordon Smith (Rep – Oregon), Senator Tom Udall (Dem – New Mexico) and Senator Mark Udall (Dem – Colorado).

54 Nos in Novgorod : NYETS

Veliky Novgorod (formerly just “Novgorod”) is located in eastern Russia. It is one of the nation’s oldest cities, and was founded over a thousand years ago. The name “Novgorod” translates as “Newtown”. The term “Veliky” (meaning “Great”) was added to distinguish it from the city of Nizhny Novgorod in central Russian (“Nizhny” translates as “Lower”).

56 Commercial cow : ELSIE

Elsie the Cow is the mascot of the Borden Company. Elsie first appeared at the New York World’s Fair in 1939, introduced to symbolize the perfect dairy product. She is so famous and respected that she has been awarded the degrees of Doctor of Bovinity, Doctor of Human Kindness and Doctor of Ecownomics. Elsie was also given a husband named Elmer the Bull. Elmer eventually moved over to the chemical division of Borden where he gave his name to Elmer’s Glue.

63 Vardalos or Long : NIA

Not only is Nia Vardalos the star of the 2002 hit movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”, she also wrote the screenplay. The film never made it to number one at the box office, but it still pulled in more money than any other movie in history that didn’t make it to number one. That record I think reflects the fact that the film wasn’t a blockbuster but rather a so-called “sleeper hit”, a movie that people went to see based on referrals from friends. The big fat mistake came when a spin-off TV show was launched, “My Big Fat Greek Life”. It ran for only 7 episodes. “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2” hit movie theaters in 2016.

Nia Long is an American actress who is probably best known for playing Will Smith’s sometime girlfriend and fiancee Lisa Wilkes on the TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”.

64 IRA part: Abbr. : RET

Individual retirement account (IRA)