LA Times Crossword 2 Oct 24, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Jay Silverman
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: It’s Not Fair

Themed answers each start with a synonym of “NOT FAIR”:

• 60A Petulant cry, and what might be said about 17-, 26-, or 44-Across? : IT’S NOT FAIR!

• 17A Like some brunettes : DARK-HAIRED
• 26A Location of on-deck circles : FOUL TERRITORY
• 44A Rough conditions : STORMY WEATHER

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

Bill’s time: 6m 17s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Authoritative doctrine : DOGMA

A dogma is a set of beliefs. The plural of “dogma” is “dogmata” (or “dogmas”, if you’re not a pedant like me!)

6 Crush, for one : SODA

The Crush brand of soft drinks was formulated in 1916. The first product was an orange-flavored beverage sold as Ward’s Orange Crush.

10 Large primates : APES

The tailless primates known as apes (also “hominoids”) are divided into two main branches: gibbons (lesser apes) and hominids (great apes). The hominids are the great apes, and belong to the family of primates called Hominidae. Extant genera that make up the family Hominidae are:

• chimpanzees
• gorillas
• humans
• orangutans

16 Say a novena, e.g. : PRAY

In the Roman Catholic tradition, a novena is a set of prayers or services that are repeated over nine successive days. “Novena” derives from the Latin “novem” meaning “nine”.

17 Like some brunettes : DARK-HAIRED

The feminine suffix “-trix” is Latin in origin, and is equivalent to the male suffix “-tor”. Examples of usage would be “aviatrix” and “aviator”. Similarly, the feminine suffix “-ette” came into English from French, with the suffix “-et” being the male equivalent. Examples of usage would be “brunette” and “brunet”. The suffix “-enne” also came into English from French, with a male equivalent of “-en” and “-an”. Examples would be “comedienne, comedian” and “doyenne, doyen”.

21 Publication whose name comes from an old Venetian coin : GAZETTE

Back in the day, in Venetian dialect, the term “gazza” described a magpie and “gazeta” described a “little magpie”. The usage of “gazeta” evolved to become the name of a small copper coin similar to an English farthing. The usage further evolved to describe the monthly newspaper “gazeta de la novità”, perhaps because the price of the paper was one “gazeta”, or perhaps because the content of the paper was akin to the chatter of a little magpie. Regardless, the word “gazette” migrated into English via French in the mid-1600s, used for the name of a newspaper.

26 Location of on-deck circles : FOUL TERRITORY

That would be baseball.

33 Defensive excavation : MOAT

A moat is a protective trench that surrounds a castle, say, or an exhibit in a zoo. A moat may or may not be filled with water.

34 May honoree : MOM

Note the official punctuation in “Mother’s Day”, even though one might think it should be “Mothers’ Day”. President Wilson and Anna Jarvis, who created the tradition, specifically wanted Mother’s Day to honor the mothers within each family and not just “mothers” in general, so they went with the “Mother’s Day” punctuation.

37 Canned brand : ALPO

Alpo is a brand of dog food introduced by Allen Products in 1936, with “Alpo” being an abbreviation for “Allen Products”. Lorne Greene used to push Alpo dog food in television spots, as did Ed McMahon and Garfield the Cat, would you believe?

40 Summer month : JUNE

The month of June was named for Juno, the ancient Roman goddess who was deemed the divine protector of the state.

41 CIA relative : NSA

The National Security Agency (NSA) is an arm of the Department of Defense (DOD).

43 Soap star Susan : LUCCI

Susan Lucci is perhaps the most famous actor associated with daytime soap operas, and was the highest paid actor in daytime television. Lucci was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series an incredible 21 times for her portrayal of Erica Kane, the vixen in “All My Children”.

48 Map of Hawaii, often : INSET

The Hawaiian Islands are a chain of volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean, located about 2,400 miles southwest of North America. They were first settled by Polynesians sometime between 1000 and 1200 CE. The first settlers were likely from the Marquesas Islands, about 2,000 miles away. The first Europeans to arrive were members of an expedition led by British explorer James Cook in 1778. In the late 19th century, the Hawaiian Islands became a US territory, and were officially admitted to the Union as the 50th state in 1959.

54 London’s Globe, for one : THEATRE

The Globe Theatre was built in London in 1599, and was used mainly for staging works by William Shakespeare and his theater company called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. The theater was destroyed by fire in 1613. A second Globe was built on the site a year later, and it remained open until 1642. The original theater was reconstructed on a nearby site by the Thames and opened in 1997. I had the privilege of seeing a fabulous performance of “As You Like It” in Shakespeare’s Globe (as the new theater is called) about a decade ago. Seeing a play in that remarkable theater is tremendous entertainment, much recommended for anyone visiting London.

62 iPhone helper : SIRI

Siri was originally developed as a standalone app by a startup company of the same name. Apple acquired the company in 2010 and integrated the technology into their operating system.

63 Largest of the Three Bears : PAPA

The story of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” was first recorded in 1837 in England, although the narrative was around before it was actually written down. The original fairy tale was rather gruesome, but successive versions became more family-oriented. The character that eventually became Goldilocks was originally an elderly woman, and the three “nameless” bears became Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear.

66 Social media platform with stories, colloquially : SNAP

Snapchat is a messaging system that allows users to send photos and video clips to a limited list of recipients. The photos and clips, called “snaps”, can be viewed for only a few seconds before they are deleted from the recipient’s device, and from the Snapchat servers.

67 They may butt heads : GOATS

Male goats are bucks or billies, although castrated males are known as wethers. Female goats are does or nannies, and young goats are referred to as kids.

Down

1 40-Across honorees : DADS
40A Summer month : JUNE

Father’s Day was added as an official holiday in 1972, although bills to create the holiday had been with Congress since 1913. By rights, the holiday should be called “Fathers’ Day” (note the punctuation), but the bill that was introduced in 1913 used the “Father’s Day” spelling, and that’s the one that has stuck.

2 __ phase : ORAL

According to Freudian psychology, we have an instinctive sexual appetite that develops in five phases, named for the erogenous zones that are the source of the drive in each phase. They are:

1. the oral stage (~ 0-2 years)
2. the anal stage (~ 1-3 years)
3. the phallic stage (~ 3-6 years)
4. the latency stage (~ 6 years – puberty)
5. the genital stage ( ~ puberty – adult life)

I’m not so sure …

3 Richard of “Chicago” : GERE

Richard Gere is an American actor who is a practicing Buddhist and has been a student of the Dalai Lama for many years. He has been married three times, including his first marriage to supermodel Cindy Crawford. They were married from 1991 to 1995.

The wonderful 1975 musical “Chicago” is based on a 1926 play of the same name written by a news reporter called Maurine Dallas Watkins. Watkins had been assigned to cover the murder trials of Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner for the “Chicago Tribune”, and used the story that unfolded as the basis for her play. Annan became the character Roxie Hart, and Gaertner became Velma Kelly. I’ve only ever seen the movie version of “Chicago” and never a live performance …

7 John Green’s “The Fault in __ Stars” : OUR

“The Fault in Our Stars” is a 2014 film based on a novel of the same by John Green. Both film and novel are about two teenage cancer patients who fall in love with each other. The leads are played by Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort. The title is a rewording of lines spoken by Cassius in the play “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare:

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

8 Leftover bit : DREG

The dregs in wine, the sediment that settles during fermentation (and sometimes in the bottle), are also called “lees”.

9 “Same Time, Next Year” actor Alan : ALDA

“Same Time, Next Year” is a 1975 play written by Bernard Slade. It is a romantic comedy about a man and woman who meet for a tryst once a year for over two decades. The play was adapted into a fabulous film of the same name that was released in 1978, starring Ellen Burstyn and Alan Alda. It’s one of my favorite movies of all time, and I would love to see the play one day …

12 View from the moon : EARTH

“Earthrise” is the appearance of the Earth above the horizon when viewed from, say, the moon. There is a famous photograph with the title “Earthrise” that was taken from lunar orbit by astronaut William Anders during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968. The picture shows the Earth rising above the surface of the moon, and is a beautiful image.

13 “I’ma Be Me” comedian Wanda : SYKES

Wanda Sykes is a very successful American comedian and comic actress. Interestingly, Sykes spent her first five years out of school working for the NSA. I saw her perform in Reno some years ago, and she is very, very funny.

22 __ suit : ZOOT

A zoot suit has pants that are fairly loose fitting, except around the cuff at the bottom of the leg. The pants also have a high waist. The jacket of the suit has wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. Zoot suits were popular in the US in the thirties and forties, and were often associated with the African American, Latino American and Italian American ethnic groups. Over in the UK, the zoot suit was worn by the “Teddy boys” of the fifties and sixties. “Zoot” is probably just a slang iteration of the word “suit”.

26 Kukla and Ollie’s partner : FRAN

“Kukla, Fran and Ollie” is an early television show that aired from 1947-1957. Kukla and Ollie (Oliver J. Dragon) were puppets and Fran was Fran Allison, usually the only human on the show.

27 Essential __ : OILS

Essential oils are concentrated liquids containing volatile chemical compounds that have a smell or odor. The term “essential” oil comes from the fact that it contains the “essence” of a plant’s fragrance.

28 Small book with an eagle on its cover : US PASSPORT

As a result of a League of Nations conference in 1920, passports are usually written in French and one other language. French was specified back then as it was deemed the language of diplomacy. US passports use French and English, given that English is the nation’s de facto national language. Spanish was added as a language for US passports in the late nineties, in recognition of Spanish-speaking Puerto Rico.

The Great Seal of the United States is a device used to authenticate some US federal documents. The obverse (front) of the Great Seal is used as the coat of arms of the US, and is a design that can be seen on all American passports.

29 Footballer Messi, to fans : LEO

Lionel “Leo” Messi is a soccer player from Argentina. Messi has been awarded FIFA’s Ballon d’Or (Golden Ball) award more times than any other player. The Ballon d’Or is presented to the player who is considered the best in the world in the prior year.

31 Dance like Savion Glover : TAP

Savion Glover is a professional tap dancer and actor from Newark, New Jersey. Glover was taught tap over the years by several celebrity dancers, including, especially Gregory Hines, and even Sammy Davis Jr.

35 Starter of many a storybook : ONCE …

The stock phrase “Once upon a time …” has been used in various forms as the start of a narrative at least since 1380. The stock phrase at the end of stories such as folktales is often “and they all lived happily ever after”. The earlier version of this ending was “happily until their deaths”.

36 Golda who was a prime minister in the early 1970s : MEIR

Golda Meir was known as the “Iron Lady” when she was Prime Minister of Israel, long before that sobriquet came to be associated with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Golda Meir was born Golda Mabovitch in Kyiv (in modern-day Ukraine), and when she was a young girl she moved with her family to the United States and settled in Milwaukee. As a teenager she relocated to Denver where she met and married Morris Meyerson, at the age of 19. She and her husband joined a kibbutz in Palestine in 1921, when she was in her twenties. Meir had been active in politics in the US, and continued her political work in Palestine. She was very influential during WWII, and played a leading role in negotiations after the war leading to the setting up of the state of Israel. By the time she was called on to lead the country, Meir had already retired, citing exhaustion and ill health. But serve she did, and led Israel during turbulent times (e.g. the massacre at the Munich Olympics, and the Yom Kippur War). She eventually resigned in 1974, saying that was what the people wanted.

39 West __: high-end furniture retailer : ELM

West Elm is an upscale furniture store that is owned by Williams-Sonoma. The West Elm chain was founded in 2002.

43 Reason for a safe call : LATE TAG

That could be baseball or softball.

45 “From Russia With Fun!” arcade game : TETRIS

Tetris is a very addictive video game that was developed in the Soviet Union in 1984. The name Tetris comes from a melding of the prefix “tetra-” (as all the game pieces have four segments) and “tennis” (a favorite sport played by the developer). Since 2005 there have been more than 100 million copies of the game installed on cell phones alone.

46 Barbecue wipe : WET-NAP

“Wet nap” is a term commonly used for a wet wipe, a manufactured paper tissue that comes pre-moistened. Wet naps are often provided after a meal at some restaurants after a finger-food dish, or perhaps as a refresher on an airplane. I think that “nap” is short for “napkin”, and that “Wet-Nap” is a brand name.

49 Gymnast Comaneci : NADIA

Romanian Nadia Comaneci won three golds in the 1976 Summer Olympics and was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of ten in the gymnastics competition. Comaneci published a book called “Letters to a Young Gymnast” in 2003, and now lives in the United States.

52 Gladys Knight’s guys : PIPS

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”.

53 Suffix on seven Asian country names : -STAN

The suffix “-stan”, used in many place names, is Persian for “place of”.