LA Times Crossword 28 Mar 26, Saturday

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Constructed by: Grant Conley

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: None

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

Bill’s time: 10m 59s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Stratagem : ARTIFICE

An artifice is a clever or artful skill or trick. The term “artifice” comes from the Latin “ars”, meaning “art”, and “facere”, meaning “to make”. So, the original artifice was a making of some “craft”, and the meaning evolved into a making of something “crafty” or sly.

13A Phrase shouted after some extras? : READ ALL ABOUT IT!

A newspaper extra is a special issue with content that arrived too late for the regular edition. Sale of a newspaper extra by street vendors, starting in the mid-1800s, was usually accompanied by the cry “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!”

18A Fall bloom : ASTER

Apparently, most aster species and cultivars bloom relatively late in the year, usually in the fall. The name “aster” comes into English via Latin from the Greek word “astéri” meaning “star”, a reference to the arrangement of the petals of the flower.

19A Chronicle : ANNAL

“Annal” is a rarely used word, and is the singular of the more common “annals”. An annal would be the recorded events of one year, with annals being the chronological record of events in successive years. The term “annal” comes from the Latin “annus” meaning “year”.

20A Polo alternative : TEE

René Lacoste was a French tennis player who went into the clothing business, and came up with a more comfortable shirt that players could use. This became known as a “tennis shirt”. When it was adopted for use in the sport of polo, the shirts also became known as “polo shirts”. The “golf shirt” is basically the same thing. The Lacoste line of clothing features a crocodile logo, because René was nicknamed “The Crocodile”.

21A Common feature of a grandfather clock : DOOR

There are several sizes of longcase clocks, tall and freestanding clocks driven by a pendulum swinging inside a tower below the clock face. A longcase clock over 6 feet tall is called a grandfather, and one below five feet is a granddaughter, one that falls between five and six feet is known as a grandmother. The name of the clock derives from an 1876 song called “My Grandfather’s Clock”.

22A Astaire and Rogers : FREDS

Dancer, actor and singer Fred Astaire never won a competitive Academy Award, and received just one nomination: for Best Supporting Actor in 1974’s “The Towering Inferno”. However, he was presented with an honorary Academy Award in the 1949 season “for his unique artistry and his contributions to the technique of musical pictures”. That honorary Oscar was presented by his longtime film and dance partner Ginger Rogers.

The “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” TV show starred Fred Rogers. It was the second-longest running series on PBS television, after that other iconic children’s show “Sesame Street”.

23A Hamlet, for one : DANE

The full title of William Shakespeare’s play that we tend to call “Hamlet” is “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”. It is the most performed of all Shakespeare’s plays and it is also his longest, the only one of his works comprising over 4,000 lines. That’s about a 4-hour sitting in a theater …

24A Capital One’s virtual assistant : ENO

Capital One is a financial services company based in McLean, Virginia. The company is known for its mass marketing of credit cards. In fact, it is one of the US Post Office’s largest customers due to the volume of direct mail solicitations sent out.

25A Western outfit : POSSE

Our word “posse” comes from an Anglo-Latin term from the early 15th century “posse comitatus” meaning “the force of the county”

26A Fatty compound : LIPID

Lipids are a group of naturally occurring molecules including fats, waxes and fat-soluble vitamins (like A, D and E). Sometimes we use the words “fat” and “lipid” interchangeably but fats are a subgroup of lipids, specifically a group best called triglycerides.

27A Place for pints : BAR

A US pint comprises 16 fluid ounces, and an imperial pint is 20 fluid ounces. The term “pint” comes into English via Old French, ultimately from the Latin “picta” meaning “painted”. The name arose from a line painted on the side of a beer glass that marked a full measure of ale.

35A “L.A. Law” actress : DEY

Actress Susan Dey first appeared on “The Partridge Family” when she was 17 years old when she had no acting experience. Years later, Dey won a Golden Globe for playing the leading role of Grace Van Owen in “L.A. 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.

36A Like cappuccino : FOAMY

The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin is an order of Roman Catholic friars, an offshoot of the Franciscans. The order split from the Franciscans back in 1520, and were forced to go into hiding from church authorities. The new order was helped by the Camaldolese monks, and in recognition of their assistance, the breakaway monks adopted the Camaldolese hood, known as a capuccio. It is this “capuccio” that gave the order its name, and indeed ultimately gave the name to the Capuchin monkey. The cappuccino coffee is named for the coffee-and-white colored habits worn by Capuchin friars.

39A Tune paired with a silent movie, often : RAG

Ragtime music was at the height of its popularity in the early 1900s. It takes its name from its characteristic “ragged” rhythms. The most famous ragtime composer was Scott Joplin, who had a big hit with his “Maple Leaf Rag” when it was published in 1899. He followed that up with a string of hits, including the “Pine Apple Rag” (sic). Ragtime fell out of favor about 1917 when the public turned to jazz. It had a resurgence in the forties when jazz musicians started to include ragtime tunes in their repertoires. But it was the 1973 movie “The Sting” that brought the true revival, as the hit soundtrack included numerous ragtime tunes by Scott Joplin, including the celebrated “The Entertainer” originally published in 1902.

43A Raptors, e.g. : DINOS

Dromaeosaurids were a family of small- to medium-sized, feathered dinosaurs that lived during the Cretaceous Period. The name “dromaeosaurid” comes from Greek, and can translate as “running lizard”. Nowadays, they are known informally as “raptors”, from the specific dromaeosaurid called a Velociraptor. The “raptor” usage was really driven by the notoriety of the scary Velociraptors in the 1993 film “Jurassic Park”. Despite what we see in the movies, “raptors” looked more like flightless, predatory birds as opposed to scaly lizards.

44A “If This Is a Man” author Primo : LEVI

Primo Levi was an Italian chemist and writer. His best known written work is “If This Is a Man”, a 1947 biographical account of the year he spent in Auschwitz. He was one of 650 Jews transported to the camp in 1944, and one of only 20 who survived imprisonment.

46A Podcast medium : AUDIO

A podcast is an audio or video media file that is made available for download. The term “podcast” is a portmanteau of “iPod” and “broadcast”. Basically, a podcast is a broadcast that one can play on demand, simply by downloading and opening the podcast file.

47A Gainbridge Fieldhouse player : PACER

The Gainbridge Fieldhouse indoor arena in downtown Indianapolis is host to several local basketball teams, including the WNBA’s Indiana Fever and the NBA’s Indiana Pacers. The facility opened for business in 1999, then named the Conseco Fieldhouse. It was designed to look like a college field house, hence the name “fieldhouse”, and hence the primary use as a basketball arena.

48A Achievement last set in 1997 in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert : LAND SPEED RECORD

Andy Green is a retired Royal Air Force fighter pilot who is famous for his efforts to break land speed records. In 1997, he steered his ThrustSSC vehicle to a speed of just over 763 mph in Black Rock Desert in Nevada. That speed was equivalent to Mach 1.02, making Green the first person to break the speed of sound on land. His ThrustSSC vehicle achieved that feat courtesy of two jet engines from F-4 Phantom II fighters. Scary …

53A Two quarters, perhaps : SEMESTER

“Semester” is a German word from the Latin “semestris”, an adjective meaning “of six months”. We use the term in a system that divides an academic year into two roughly equal parts. A trimester-system has three parts, and a quarter-system has four.

Down

1D Location with an array of cabinets : ARCADE

Our word “arcade” comes from the Latin “arcus” meaning “arc”. The first arcades were passages made from a series of arches. This could be an avenue of trees, and eventually any covered avenue. I remember arcades lined with shops and stores when I was growing up on the other side of the Atlantic. Arcades came to be lined with lots of amusements, resulting in amusement arcades and video game arcades.

7D Busses : CLEARS

A busboy or busgirl is a person who assists a waiter, mainly by clearing tables. The verb “to bus” arose in the early 1900s and is probably a reference to the wheeled cart that was used to carry dishes.

12D Cassettes that may spark nostalgia : MIXTAPES

Even though tapes are no longer used, the term “mixtape” still describes any homemade collection of musical tracks. The less retro term for the same thing might be “playlist”.

The French for “box” is “caisse”. So, a “cassette” is a “little box”.

14D Binges : BENDERS

The terms “jag” and “bender” describe periods of unrestrained activity, particularly those involving alcohol. Both words have been in use since the 1800s.

15D Adjective for a bikini, in a 1960s hit song : TEENIE

“Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” was first released in 1960, and was a number one hit that year for Brian Hyland. At the time, bikini bathing suits were considered very risque in society, but their popularity grew dramatically, with the song getting a lot of the credit for the new-found acceptance.

22D Specialty : FORTE

A person’s forte is their strength. The term “forte” came into English via French from the Latin “fortis” meaning strong. “Forte” (F) is also a musical direction meaning “loud”.

23D Less than impressive : DINKY

Here’s a word that has practically the opposite meaning back in Ireland, where I come from. In the US, something that is dinky is insignificant. In Ireland something dinky is neat and dainty.

25D Rice field : PADDY

A paddy field is a flooded piece of land used to grow rice, or perhaps taro. The water reduces competition from weeds allowing the rice to thrive. The word “paddy” has nothing to do with us Irish folk, and is an anglicized version of the word “padi”, the Malay name for the rice plant.

30D Phaser banks on the Enterprise, e.g. : WEAPONRY

A MASER is a device that was around long before LASERs came into the public consciousness. A MASER (Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) is similar to a LASER, but microwaves are emitted rather than light waves. When the storyline for “Star Trek” was being developed, the writers introduced a weapon called a “phaser”, with the name “phaser” derived from PHoton mASER.

34D “Dumb & Dumber” co-star : DANIELS

Actor Jeff Daniels grew up in the Michigan city of Chelsea, where his father owned a lumber company, and was once the town’s mayor. Daniels’ big break came with a starring role in the 1985 Woody Allen film “The Purple Rose of Cairo”. Daniels honored that role by opening the Purple Rose Theatre Company in 1991, in his hometown of Chelsea. Daniels married his college girlfriend in 1979, a woman who was also from Chelsea. The couple moved back to Chelsea in 1986, and that is his primary residence to this day.

“Dumb and Dumber” is a 1994 comedy starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels as two pretty dumb guys, Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne. There was a prequel released in 2003 titled “Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd”, and a sequel in 2014 called “Dumb and Dumber To”.

43D British cellist Jacqueline : DU PRÉ

Jacqueline du Pré was a cellist from England who became famous for her musical performances in her home country as early as 11 years old, when she became the youngest recipient of the Guilhermina Suggia Award. She became one half of a famed musical couple in 1967 when she married conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim. Sadly, her performing career was a short one, and she developed multiple sclerosis in her late twenties.

44D Corset tighteners : LACES

A corset is a close-fitting undergarment that is stiffened with a material such as whalebone. Corsets are more usually worn by women, to shape the body. The word “corset” is a diminutive of the Old French “cors” meaning “body”.

46D Whispery genre, for short : ASMR

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR ) is a tingling sensation that some people experience in response to certain stimuli, such as soft sounds, gentle whispering, or slow movements. It is often described as a feeling of relaxation and well-being. Although there is no consensus on what causes ASMR, one suggestion is that it may be related to the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure. There are a wide variety of ASMR videos available, including videos of people whispering, tapping on objects, or performing other gentle actions.

47D Brazilian soccer legend : PELÉ

“Pelé” was the nickname of Edson Arantes do Nascimento, a soccer player who used the name “Pelé” for most of his life. For my money, Pelé was the world’s greatest ever player of the game. He was the only person to have been a member of three World Cup winning squads (1958, 1962 and 1970), and was a national treasure in his native Brazil. One of Pele’s nicknames was “O Rei do Futebol” (the King of Football).

50D Dashboard stat : RPM

Back in the 1800s, “dashboard” was the name given to a “board” placed at the front of a carriage to stop mud from “dashing” against the passengers in the carriage, mud that was kicked up by the hooves of the horses. Quite interesting …