LA Times Crossword Answers 2 Sep 14, Tuesday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Kurt Mengel & Jan-Michele Gianette
THEME: Start with a Couple … each of today’s themed answers start with a word meaning “couple”.

17A. 1971 road film co-starring James Taylor TWO-LANE BLACKTOP
26A. Treachery DOUBLE-DEALING
41A. Spectacles PAIR OF GLASSES
53A. Status of a multiple passport holder DUAL CITIZENSHIP

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 6m 20s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

6. __ accompli FAIT
Fait accompli is a French term, literally translating as “accomplished fact”. It is used in English to mean “a done deal”.

10. Brontë or Boleyn ANNE
Anne was the youngest of the three sisters in the literary Brontë family. Her older sisters wrote novels that are more recognized, but Anne’s two novels do have a following. “Agnes Grey” is based on her own experiences working as a governess. Her other novel, “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall” is written as a long letter from a young man describing the events leading up to his first meeting with his wife-to-be. Anne Brontë’s writing career was cut short in 1849, when she died of pulmonary tuberculosis, at only 29 years of age.

Anne Boleyn was the second wife of Henry VIII of England. Anne was found guilty of high treason after about a thousand days of marriage to Henry, accused of adultery and incest (probably trumped-up charges). She was executed, but perhaps her legacy lived on in her only child, as her daughter reigned for 45 very prosperous years as Queen Elizabeth I.

14. Video game hedgehog SONIC
Sonic the Hedgehog is a title character in a videogame and the mascot of Sega the game developer. Sonic was set up as a rival to Nintendo’s mascot “Mario”.

16. Cambodia neighbor LAOS
The official name for the country of Laos is the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. In the Lao language, the country’s name is “Meuang Lao”. The French ruled Laos as part of French Indochina, having united three separate Lao kingdoms. As there was a plural of “Lao” entities united into one, the French added the “S” and so today we tend to use “Laos” instead of “Lao”.

The Kingdom of Cambodia is located in the Indochina Peninsula of Southeast Asia, and is bordered by Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and the Gulf of Thailand. “Cambodia” is the English version of the country’s name, which in Khmer is “Kampuchea”.

17. 1971 road film co-starring James Taylor TWO-LANE BLACKTOP
“Two-Lane Blacktop” is a 1971 film starring singer James Taylor and Dennis Wilson (drummer for the Beach Boys) as two street racers who live on the road, drifting from town to town in a Chevrolet 150 drag car. Surprisingly perhaps, neither Taylor nor Wilson recorded any part of the movie’s soundtrack.

21. Golfer McIlroy RORY
Rory McIlroy is an incredibly successful golfer from Northern Ireland. McIlroy is a relatively young man and is currently the world number one on the circuit, so folks can’t help but compare him to Tiger Woods. McIlroy is the only European to have a win in three different major championships (US Open in the 2011, PGA in 2012, British Open in 2014).

23. City SW of Bogotá CALI
In terms of population, Cali is the third largest city in Colombia (after Bogotá and Medellin). Santiago de Cali (the full name for the city) lies in western Colombia. Apparently, Cali is a destination for “medical tourists”. The city’s surgeons have a reputation for being expert in cosmetic surgery and so folks looking for a “cheap” nose job head there

Bogotá is the capital city of Colombia. Noted for having many libraries and universities, Bogotá is sometimes referred to as “The Athens of South America”.

24. Prefix meaning “loving” PHILO-
The prefix “philo-” is used to mean “loving”, and ultimately derives from the Greek adjective “philos” meaning “dear”.

31. Two-masted vessel YAWL
A yawl is a two-masted sailing vessel. There is a main mast forward, and a smaller mizzen mast close to the stern.

32. “Do You Know the __ to San Jose?” WAY
“Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. They wrote the song specially for singer Dionne Warwick who released it in 1968. I was lucky enough to hear Burt Bacharach perform the number himself in concert not so long ago. What a great show he gives …

37. Taste, as of a sandwich BITE
Meats placed between slices of bread was first called a sandwich in the 18th century, named after the Fourth Earl of Sandwich. The Earl was fond of eating “sandwiches” while playing cards at his club.

38. Mangy mutt CUR
Mange is a skin disorder in animals caused by parasitic mites that embed themselves in the skin, perhaps living in hair follicles. The same disorder in humans is called scabies.

40. “Funeral Blues” poet W.H. __ AUDEN
W. H. Auden’s poem “Funeral Blues” is also known by its first line “Stop all the clocks”. It garnered a lot of attention in recent years as it features prominently in the movie “Four Weddings and a Funeral”, where it is recited at “the funeral”.

The noted poet W. H. Auden was born and raised in England, but eventually became a US citizen. As well as hundreds of poems, Auden also wrote librettos for operas, including Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress”.

49. Poet Pound EZRA
Ezra Pound was an American poet who spent much of his life wandering the world, spending years in London, Paris, and Italy. In Italy, Pound’s work and sympathies for Mussolini’s regime led to his arrest at the end of the war. His major work was the epic, albeit incomplete, “The Cantos”. This epic poem is divided into 120 sections, each known as a canto.

50. New Deal agcy. WPA
The Work Progress Administration (WPA) was the largest of the New Deal agencies. The WPA employed millions of people during the Depression, putting them to work on various public works projects. The total spending through the WPA from 1936 to 1939 was nearly $7 billion. We have to give the federal government credit for taking an enlightened view of what types of project qualified for financial support, so artists who could not get commissions privately were hired by the government itself. The result is a collection of “New Deal Art”, including a series of murals that can be found in post offices around the country to this day.

57. Longfellow’s bell town ATRI
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote “The Sicilian’s Tale; The Bell of Atri”, a narrative poem set in the small town of Atri in the Abruzzo region of Italy.

58. Indian princess RANI
“Raja” (also “rajah”) is word derived from Sanskrit that is used particularly in India for a monarch or princely ruler. The female form is “rani” (also “ranee”) and is used for a raja’s wife.

59. R&B singer Sam COOKE
Sam Cooke was a soul singer from Clarksdale, Mississippi. Cooke is considered by many to have been one of the founders of the soul genre. Cooke’s impressive list of hits includes “You Send Me”, Chain Gang” and “Twistin’ the Night Away”. Cooke was only 33 years old when he died. He was shot after a drunken brawl by a motel manager in what was deemed by the courts to be a justifiable homicide.

60. Flat-topped hill MESA
“Mesa” is the Spanish for “table” and is how we get the term “mesa” that describes a geographic feature.

61. Fencing weapon EPEE
The épée that is used in today’s sport fencing is derived from the old French dueling sword. In fact, the the sport of épée fencing is very similar to the dualing of the 19th century. The word “épée” translates from French as “sword”.

62. County in SE England ESSEX
Essex is a county in England, referred to as one of the “home counties”.

The home counties are the counties that surround the city of London, outside of London itself. “Home county” is not an official designation but has been in popular use since the 1800s.

Down
1. Piedmont wine region ASTI
Asti is in the Piedmont region of northwest Italy. The region is perhaps most famous for its Asti Spumante sparkling white wine.

2. Cut with a Snapper, say MOWN
Snapper is a manufacturer of lawnmowers and snow removal equipment. The company was founded as Southern Saw Works in 1894 and the first lawnmower produced was called the “Snappin’ Turtle”. The inventor gave it that name because he felt that the mower “snapped” the grass, and he installed a turtle figurine on the front of the first model that was sold.

3. Shortly, to Shakespeare ANON
“Anon” originally meant “at once” and evolved into today’s meaning of “soon” apparently just because the word was misused over time.

Although William Shakespeare is known as a playwright and poet, he perhaps began his career as an actor in London. Shakespeare definitely acted in some of his own plays early in his career, as well as some plays by other playwrights of the period, and in particular those of Ben Johnson.

4. __ vous plaît S’IL
“S’il vous plaît” is French for “please”, literally “if it pleases you”.

5. Sacred Egyptian beetles SCARABS
Scarabs were amulets in ancient Egypt. Scarabs were modelled on the dung beetle, as it was viewed as a symbol of the cycle of life.

6. Spenser’s “The __ Queene” FAERIE
Edmund Spenser was an English poet, required required reading at school where I grew up. His most famous work is “The Faerie Queene”, an epic poem and one of the longest ever written in the English language.

7. “Dear” advice giver ABBY
The advice column “Dear Abby” first appeared in 1956. Pauline Phillips was Abby back then, but now the column is written by Jeanne Phillips, her daughter. The full name of the “Abby” pen name is Abigail Van Buren, which Pauline Phillips came up with by combining “Abigail” from the biblical Book of Samuel, and “Van Buren” after the former US president.

9. Celestial Seasonings offering TEA
Celestial Seasonings is a company that supplies teas. especially herbal teas and infusions. The company was founded in 1969 in Boulder, Colorado, where it is still based today.

10. Acid neutralizer ALKALI
The “opposite” of an acid is a base. Acids turn litmus paper red, and bases turn it blue. Acids and bases react with each other to form salts. An important subset of the chemicals called bases are the alkalis, the hydroxides of the alkali metals and of ammonium. The term “alkali” is sometimes used interchangeably with “base”, especially if that base is readily soluble in water.

11. Company that’s “on your side” NATIONWIDE
Nationwide is a large insurance and financial services company based in Columbus, Ohio. Nationwide was founded in Columbus in 1926 as the Farm Bureau Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, and initially wrote only auto policies for Ohio farmers. Reflecting the company’s expansion across the country, it changed its name to Nationwide Insurance in 1955.

12. Jordanian queen dowager NOOR
Queen Noor is the widow of King Hussein of Jordan. Queen Noor was born Lisa Halaby in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Najeeb Halaby. Her father was appointed by President Kennedy as the head of the Federal Aviation Administration, and later became the CEO of Pan Am. Lisa Halaby met King Hussein in 1977, while working on the design of Jordan’s Queen Alia Airport. The airport was named after King Hussein’s third wife who had been killed that year in a helicopter crash. Halaby and the King were married the next year, in 1978.

Originally, a dowry was money that was set aside by a man for his wife and children, to be used in the event that he passed away. A widow who receives said money was known as a “dowager”. Over time, “dowry” became a term used for the money, goods or estate that a woman brought into a marriage, and “dowager” came to mean an elderly woman with an elevated social position.

18. Hall of Fame NFL coach Chuck NOLL
Chuck Noll was the head coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1969 to 1991. Noll won the Super Bowl four times in all as head coach, an NFL record.

27. Big names at the Met OPERA STARS
The Metropolitan Opera (the Met) of New York City is the largest classical music organization in the country, presenting about 220 performances each and every year. Founded in 1880, the Met is renowned for using technology to expand its audiences. Performances have been broadcast live on radio since 1931, and on television since 1977. And since 2006 you can go see a live performance from New York in high definition on the big screen, at a movie theater near you …

30. Source of some D.C. funding PAC
A Political Action Committee (PAC) is a private group that works to influence the outcome of a particular election or group of elections. Any group becomes a PAC by law when it receives or spends more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing the outcome of an election. In 2010 the Supreme Court ruled that PACS that did not make direct contributions to candidates or parties could accept unlimited contributions. These “independent-expenditure only committees” are commonly referred to as “super PACs”.

33. Strong desire YEN
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. Getting gradually louder, in mus. CRESC
Crescendo (cresc.) is an Italian word meaning “gradually becoming louder”, and is often seen on a musical score. The term with the opposite meaning is “diminuendo” (dim.).

42. Bologna’s land ITALIA
Bologna is a city in northern Italy. The city is home to the University of Bologna that was founded way back in 1088. The University of Bologna is the oldest existing university in the world.

43. Tin __: Model T LIZZIE
The Ford Model T was the first really affordable car that was offered for sale, and it was produced from 1908 to 1927. It was the Model T that ushered in the era of assembly line production, which greatly cut down the cost of manufacture. The engine was designed to run on petrol, kerosene or even ethanol. Famously, the Model T was known colloquially as the “Tin Lizzie”.

47. Sandler of “Grown Ups” films ADAM
Adam Sandler’s big break was with “Saturday Night Live” (SNL). He then went on to make several successful movies and has his own movie and television production company. Personally, I am not a fan of Adam Sandler as a performer, nor of his movies …

“Grown Ups” is a 2010 comedy movie written by and starring Adam Sandler. The film revolves around five childhood friends who reunite after thirty years. Sandler plays one of the five, along with Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade and Rob Schneider.

49. Berlin article EINE
“Eine” is the German indefinite article, used with feminine nouns.

Berlin is the capital and largest city in Germany, and is the second most populous city in the European Union (after London).

50. Start of a “Knock, knock” response WHO’S

Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Irish
Irish who?
Irish you in the name of the law!

There’s a “knock, knock” line in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”, although it’s no joke:

Knock, knock, knock! Who’s there, i’ th’ name of Beelzebub? Here’s a farmer that hanged himself on the expectation of plenty. Come in time, have napkins enough about you, here you’ll sweat for ’t.

51. Toll road PIKE
Back in the 15th century a “turnpike” was a defensive barrier across a road. By the 17th century the term was used for a barrier that stopped travellers until a toll was paid. By the 18th century a turnpike was the name given to a road with a toll.

56. Sailor’s distress signal SOS
The combination of three dots – three dashes – three dots, is a Morse signal first introduced by the German government as a standard distress call in 1905. The sequence is remembered as the letters SOS (three dots – pause – three dashes – pause – three dots), although in the emergency signal there is no pause between the dots and dashes, so SOS is in effect only a mnemonic. Similarly, the phrases “Save Our Souls” and “Save Our Ship” are also mnemonics, introduced after the “SOS” signal was adopted.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Gather for oneself AMASS
6. __ accompli FAIT
10. Brontë or Boleyn ANNE
14. Video game hedgehog SONIC
15. Up to the task ABLE
16. Cambodia neighbor LAOS
17. 1971 road film co-starring James Taylor TWO-LANE BLACKTOP
20. Cozy stopover INN
21. Golfer McIlroy RORY
22. Shaggy HAIRY
23. City SW of Bogotá CALI
24. Prefix meaning “loving” PHILO-
26. Treachery DOUBLE-DEALING
30. Church organ features PIPES
31. Two-masted vessel YAWL
32. “Do You Know the __ to San Jose?” WAY
34. Got older AGED
35. Gets hot under the collar BOILS
37. Taste, as of a sandwich BITE
38. Mangy mutt CUR
39. Tight-knit family CLAN
40. “Funeral Blues” poet W.H. __ AUDEN
41. Spectacles PAIR OF GLASSES
45. Hearty meals STEWS
46. Ugh-producing ICKY
47. Assume the role of ACT AS
49. Poet Pound EZRA
50. New Deal agcy. WPA
53. Status of a multiple passport holder DUAL CITIZENSHIP
57. Longfellow’s bell town ATRI
58. Indian princess RANI
59. R&B singer Sam COOKE
60. Flat-topped hill MESA
61. Fencing weapon EPEE
62. County in SE England ESSEX

Down
1. Piedmont wine region ASTI
2. Cut with a Snapper, say MOWN
3. Shortly, to Shakespeare ANON
4. __ vous plaît S’IL
5. Sacred Egyptian beetles SCARABS
6. Spenser’s “The __ Queene” FAERIE
7. “Dear” advice giver ABBY
8. Feeling poorly ILL
9. Celestial Seasonings offering TEA
10. Acid neutralizer ALKALI
11. Company that’s “on your side” NATIONWIDE
12. Jordanian queen dowager NOOR
13. Catch sight of ESPY
18. Hall of Fame NFL coach Chuck NOLL
19. Kick back CHILL
23. Prompted CUED
24. Ring loudly PEAL
25. Partner of hems HAWS
26. Unearth DIG UP
27. Big names at the Met OPERA STARS
28. Fading away DYING
29. Garden swingers GATES
30. Source of some D.C. funding PAC
33. Strong desire YEN
35. Low __: cheap shot BLOW
36. Clumsy sorts OAFS
37. On a tight schedule BUSY
39. Getting gradually louder, in mus. CRESC
40. With suspicion ASKANCE
42. Bologna’s land ITALIA
43. Tin __: Model T LIZZIE
44. Parcel of land ACRE
47. Sandler of “Grown Ups” films ADAM
48. Like kitten videos CUTE
49. Berlin article EINE
50. Start of a “Knock, knock” response WHO’S
51. Toll road PIKE
52. Mountain climber’s goal APEX
54. Wrath IRE
55. Sink feature TAP
56. Sailor’s distress signal SOS

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