LA Times Crossword Answers 4 Jul 14, Friday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Jeffrey Wechsler
THEME: American Day … today’s themed answers all need to be preceded by the word AMERICAN to make sense. Happy 4th of July, everyone!

1A. *Admirals Club carrier AIRLINES (giving “American Airlines”)
9A. *Rose variety BEAUTY (giving “American Beauty”)
29A. *Centurion card issuer EXPRESS (giving “American Express”)
37A. *Entertainment phenomenon since 2002 IDOL (giving “American Idol”)
38A. *TV show that had a 50th anniversary celebration in 2002 BANDSTAND (giving “American Bandstand”)
41A. *Line of 18-inch dolls GIRL (giving “American Girl”)
51A. *PBS cultural documentary series MASTERS (giving “American Masters”)
70A. *Armed forces support group LEGION (giving “American Legion”)

71A. Apt adjective for today that’s needed to make sense of eight puzzle answers AMERICAN

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 8m 53s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. *Admirals Club carrier AIRLINES (giving “American Airlines”)
American Airlines was founded in 1930 through the acquisition of 82 existing small airlines, and initially operated as American Airways. The company name was changed to “American Air Lines” in 1934. Back then, airlines made their profits by carrying the US mail, and American became the first airline to turn a profit on a route that could solely carry passengers. It did so by working with Donald Douglas to develop the DC-3 passenger plane. At that time, American started calling its aircraft “Flagships” and introduced its more wealthy passengers to the first Admirals Club.

9. *Rose variety BEAUTY (giving “American Beauty”)
The hybrid rose known as ‘American Beauty’ was actually developed in France, in 1875. Originally known as ‘Madame Ferdinand Jamin’, it was brought to the US that same year and introduced to the US public as ‘American Beauty’ in 1876. It was destined to become the best-selling rose cultivar for decades, earning it the nickname “the million-dollar rose”.

15. Cork, essentially TREE BARK
The Cork-tree is a genus of tree with a corky bark that is native to east and northeast Asia. The Cork-tree’s bark isn’t sufficiently thick for use in commercial cork production. Most cork comes from the cork oak, a tree that is native to southwest Europe and northwest Africa.

21. __ tide NEAP
Tides of course are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon on the oceans. At neap tide, the smaller gravitational effect of the sun cancels out some of the moon’s effect. At spring tide, the sun and the moon’s gravitational forces act in concert causing more extreme movement of the oceans.

22. Toot JAG
The word “jag” is used to describe periods of unrestrained activity, particularly involving alcohol, and has been in use since the 1800s.

“Toot” is slang for a binge of drinking, and for a snort of cocaine. Not good either way, I guess …

25. River in Hades LETHE
The Lethe is one of the five rivers of Hades in Greek mythology. All the souls who drank from the river Lethe experienced complete forgetfulness. The Greek word “lethe” means “oblivion, forgetfulness”.

27. Stylish ’60s Londoner MOD
“Mod” is short for “modernist”, and describes a subculture that originated in London in the late fifties. Young men who called themselves mods tended to wear tailored suits, listen to pop music and drive around on Italian motor scooters. Mods came into conflict with another subculture that emerged at the same time in the UK called the rockers. Rockers were into rock and roll music, and drove motorcycles I remember as a young kid in school having to declare myself as either a mod or a rocker. I don’t think our “gangs” back then were quite the same as they are today though …

29. *Centurion card issuer EXPRESS (giving “American Express”)
Amex is short for American Express. In dollar terms, there are more transactions conducted in the US using the Amex card than any other card.

36. Kitchen spray PAM
PAM cooking oil was introduced in 1961 by Leon Rubin and Arthur Meyerhoff. The name “PAM” is an acronym … standing for “Product of Arthur Meyerhoff”. Who’d a thunk it …?

37. *Entertainment phenomenon since 2002 IDOL (giving “American Idol”)
“American Idol” is a spin-off show that was created after the amazing success of the British television show “Pop Idol”. I can’t abide either program(me) …

38. *TV show that had a 50th anniversary celebration in 2002 BANDSTAND (giving “American Bandstand”)
“American Bandstand” aired from 1952 to 1989, and for the last thirty two years (!) of its run, it was hosted by Dick Clark.

41. *Line of 18-inch dolls GIRL (giving “American Girl”)
American Girl is a line of dolls introduced in 1986. The dolls were originally young girls dressed in clothes that evoked various periods of American history.

45. Bahamian capital NASSAU
Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, used to be called Charles Town. After having been burnt to the ground by the Spanish in 1684, it was rebuilt and named Nassau in honor of King William III of England, a Dutchman from the House of Orange-Nassau (aka William of Orange). Nassau is a favored location for the James Bond series of movies. The city and surroundings feature in “Thunderball”, “Never Say Never Again”, “Casino Royale” and “For Your Eyes Only”.

51. *PBS cultural documentary series MASTERS (giving “American Masters”)
“American Masters” is a PBS documentary series featuring biographies of American artists, writers and actors. The first episode of the show was aired in 1985 and was titled “Aaron Copland: A Self-Portrait”.

52. Turkish honorific AGA
“Aga” (also “agha”) is a title that was used by both civil and military officials in the Ottoman Empire.

56. Wax-wrapped import EDAM
Edam cheese takes its name from the Dutch town of Edam in North Holland. The cheese is famous for its coating of red paraffin wax, a layer of protection that helps Edam travel well and prevents spoiling. You might occasionally come across an Edam cheese that is coated in black wax. The black color indicates that the underlying cheese has been aged for a minimum of 17 weeks.

58. Wiser partner? SADDER
The idiom is “sadder but wiser”. So true …

62. The NFL’s “Golden Arm” UNITAS
Footballer Johnny Unitas was nicknamed “the Golden Arm” as well as “Johnny U”. Unitas played in the fifties through the seventies, mainly for the Baltimore Colts. He held the record for throwing touchdown passes in consecutive games (47 games) for 52 years, until it was surpassed in 2012 by Drew Brees.

64. Closed ecosystems BIODOMES
A biodome is an enclosed ecological system, usually a man-made structure.

68. They’re likely to be edited RUN-ONS
A “run-on sentence” is one in which two separate clauses are linked without appropriate conjugation. Two examples would be:

– Today’s crossword is really tough I can’t finish.
– Today’s crossword is really tough, I can’t finish.

More acceptable sentences would be:

– Today’s crossword is really tough. I can’t finish.
– Today’s crossword is really tough; I can’t finish.
– Today’s crossword is really tough, so I can’t finish.

69. Renaissance musician LUTENIST
A lute player is a “lutenist”. I did not know that …

70. *Armed forces support group LEGION (giving “American Legion”)
The American Legion was formed in 1919 by WWI veterans returning after the Great War. The man who first suggested founding the group was Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., son of President Theodore Roosevelt and himself a veteran of the American Expeditionary Force that served in Europe.

71. Apt adjective for today that’s needed to make sense of eight puzzle answers AMERICAN
The name “America” originally appeared on a map dating back to 1507 that was drawn by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller. He showed the Americas as a separate land mass from Asia for the first time. Waldseemüller’s collaborator wrote that the land mass (what is now called the South American mainland) should be called “America” after “Americus”, the Latinized version of the name of the Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci. Vespucci explored the coast of South America in 1499 and was the first to recognize that the “New World” was a land separate from Asia. “America”, the feminine form of “Americus”, was chosen as Europe had been named for a women (Europa was a Phoenician princess of Greek mythology).

Down
1. N.L. East team ATL
The Atlanta Braves are the only team to have won baseball’s World Series in three different home cities. They won as the Boston Braves in 1914, the Milwaukee Braves in 1957 and the Atlanta Braves in 1995.

2. Choler IRE
“Choler” is “anger, irritability”. Choler (also “cholera”) was one of the body’s four basic substances, the so-called four humors. All diseases were caused by these four substances getting out of balance. The four humors were:

– Black bile (melancolia)
– Yellow bile (cholera)
– Phlegm (phlegma)
– Blood (sanguis)

3. Like Gen. Powell RET
Colin Powell was the first African American to serve as US Secretary of State. Earlier in his career, Powell had been a four-star general in the US Army, as well as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War. Even though Colin Powell has retired from public service, he is one of the most noted moderate Republicans, often advocating support for centrist and liberal causes.

4. NASA moon landers LEMS
In the Apollo program, the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) was the vehicle that actually landed on the moon and returned the astronauts to the command module that was orbiting overhead. The third LEM built was named “Spider”, and it participated in the Apollo 9 mission which tested the functionality of the LEM design in space. The fourth LEM was called “Snoopy” and it flew around the moon in the Apollo 10 mission, the dress rehearsal for the upcoming moon landing. Apollo 11’s LEM was of course called “Eagle” and it brought Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to and from the moon’s surface. Another famous LEM was Apollo 13’s Aquarius. Although Aquarius never landed on the moon, it did serve as a “lifeboat” for the three astronauts after the explosive rupture of an oxygen canister in the Service Module.

6. Intl. alliance since 1949 NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded not long after WWII in 1949 and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. The first NATO Secretary General was Lord Ismay, Winston Churchill’s chief military assistant during WWII. Famously, Lord Ismay said the goal of NATO was “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.”

7. Director Morris et al. ERROLS
Errol Morris is a film director, best known for his excellent 2003 documentary “The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara”.

8. Video chat choice SKYPE
The main feature of the Skype application is that it allows voice communication to take place over the Internet (aka VoIP). Skype has other features such as video conferencing and instant messaging, but the application made its name from voice communication. Skype was founded by two Scandinavian entrepreneurs and the software necessary was developed by a team of engineers in Estonia. The development project was originally called “Sky peer-to-peer” so the first commercial name for the application was “Skyper”. This had to be shortened to “Skype” because the skyper.com domain name was already in use.

10. “8 Mile” star EMINEM
Rap star Eminem’s real name is Marshall Mathers, a native of Saint Joseph, Missouri. Mathers grew up poor, raised by a single-mom as the family was abandoned by his father when he was 18 months old. Marshall and his mother moved around the country before settling in a suburb of Detroit. He didn’t do well at school, and dropped out at the age of 17. But in the end he made it pretty big …

The movie “8 Mile” stars Eminem as a young rap artist in Detroit, and feature the song “Lose Yourself” that was performed and written by Eminem. The song won Eminem the 2002 Oscar for Best Original Song, making him the first rap artist to be so honored.

13. 18th-century Venetian painter TIEPOLO
Tiepolo (full name “Giovanni Battista Tiepolo”) was a prolific artist from the Republic in Venice who was active during the 18th century.

14. Until now, to CPAs YTD
Year-to-date (ytd)

Certified public accountant (CPA)

20. Mar. honoree ST PAT
There is a fair amount known about St. Patrick, some of which comes from two letters written in his own hand. St. Patrick lived in the fifth century, but was not born in Ireland. He was first brought to Ireland at about 16 years of age from his native Britain, by Irish raiders who made him a slave for six years. Patrick managed to escape and returned to his homeland where he studied and entered the Church. He went back to Ireland as a bishop and a missionary and there lived out the rest of his life. There seems to be good evidence that he died on March 17th (now celebrated annually as St. Patrick’s Day), although the year is less clear. The stories about shamrock and snakes, I am afraid they are the stuff of legend.

22. Son and brother of George JEB
I always thought that Jeb was an American nickname for James or Joseph but I must be wrong, because George and Barbara’s son John Ellis Bush is called “Jeb”. A kind blog reader has suggested the the name “Jeb” may have been chosen as JEB are the initials of John Ellis Bush.

24. Tracking aid: Abbr. GPS
Global positioning system (GPS)

26. Wellpoint competitor HUMANA
Humana is a health insurance company based in Louisville, and is the largest company in the state of Kentucky.

WellPoint is a managed healthcare business, the largest in the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

28. Broadband letters DSL
The acronym “DSL” originally stood for Digital Subscriber Loop, but is now accepted to mean (Asymmetric) Digital Subscriber Line. DSL is the technology that allows Internet service be delivered down the same telephone line as voice service, by separating the two into different frequency signals.

30. Belarus currency RUBLE
The ruble (also “rouble”) is the unit of currency in Russia, as well as several other countries of the former Soviet Union. One ruble is divided into one hundred kopecks.

The Republic of Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located east of Poland and north of Ukraine. Belarus didn’t exist as an entity until the Russian Revolution when it was created as one of the Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs) that made up the USSR. The Republic of Belarus was formed soon after the USSR dissolved in 1990, but unlike many of the former Soviet Republics, Belarus has largely retained the old Soviet policies. Alexander Lukashenko is the country’s president and he believes in state ownership of the economy. Belarus and Russia have formal agreements in place that pledge cooperation.

36. Korean musician with the hit “Gangnam Style” PSY
PSY is the stage name of South Korean rapper Park Jae-sang. PSY became an international star when his 2102 music video “Gangnam Style” went viral on YouTube. That video had over 1 billion views on YouTube in about six months, making it the most viewed YouTube video clip of all time. I am not one of the one million …

41. Fed. procurement agency GSA
The US Government’s General Services Administration (GSA), as the name suggests, provides general services to other federal agencies. So for example, the GSA manages office space for the other agencies, and transportation.

42. Vamp opposite INGENUE
So often in literature, the movies and on stage there is an innocent woman at the the center of the story. Such stock characters came to be known as ingénues, a term derived from the French adjective “ingénu” meaning innocent, virtuous, candid and “ingenuous”.

A “vamp” (short for vampire) is a seductive woman. The term was first used in reference to the sultry performance of actress Theda Bara in the 1915 film “A Fool There Was”. The movie’s title is a quotation from Rudyard Kipling’s 1897 poem “The Vampire”. Bara’s role was positioned as a “vampire”, a woman out to seduce a man, launching the use of “vamp” as an alternative term for a “femme fatale”.

48. PC port USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard dealing with how computers and electronic devices connect and communicate, and deal with electrical power through those connections.

50. Parmesan alternative ROMANO
“Romano” is actually an American term, and is used for a selection of hard and salty cheeses that are typically grated. One of these cheeses is the Italian Pecorino Romano, from which we get the more generic term “Romano”.

54. Drum with a sitar TABLA
A tabla is a percussion instrument used in the Indian subcontinent. The tabla consists of a pair of hand drums and is similar to bongos.

57. Yours, in Tours A TOI
Tours is the largest city in the Centre region of France. It is said that the people of Tours speak the “purest” form of French in the whole country, and when spoken by a local it is also said to be free of any accent.

60. Linda of Broadway’s “Jekyll & Hyde” EDER
Linda Eder is a singer and actress. She came to public attention when she won the television talent show “Star Search” for a record 13 weeks in a row. I’ve never heard of her. I know, I lead a sheltered life …

“Jekyll & Hyde” is a stage musical based on the Robert Louis Stevenson novel “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”. I hear there’s a musical film on the way …

61. Rice-A-__ RONI
Rice-a-Roni was introduced in 1958 by the Golden Grain Macaroni Company of San Francisco. The company was run by an Italian immigrant and his four sons. The wife of one of the sons served a pilaf dish at a family diner that was a big hit, so her brother-in-law created a commercial version by blending dry chicken soup mix with rice and macaroni. Sounds like “a San Francisco treat” to me …

62. High-tech address URL
Internet addresses (like NYTCrossword.com and LAXCrossword.com) are more correctly called Uniform Resource Locators (URLs).

63. Federal ID SSN
The main purpose of a Social Security Number (SSN) is to track individuals for the purposes of taxation, although given its ubiquitous use, it is looking more and more like an “identity number” to me. The social security number system was introduced in 1936. Prior to 1986, an SSN was required only for persons with substantial income so many children under 14 had no number assigned. For some years the IRS had a concern that a lot of people were claiming children on their tax returns who did not actually exist. So, from 1986 onward, it is a requirement to get an SSN for any dependents over the ago of 5. Sure enough, in 1987 seven million dependents “disappeared”.

65. Karaoke need, briefly MIC
Microphone (mic)

“Karate”, means “open hand”, and the related word “karaoke” means “open orchestra”.

67. Where many stand and wait: Abbr. STN
Station (stn.)

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. *Admirals Club carrier AIRLINES (giving “American Airlines”)
9. *Rose variety BEAUTY (giving “American Beauty”)
15. Cork, essentially TREE BARK
16. “Right away, boss!” I’M ON IT!
17. “I’d like a shot” LET ME TRY
18. Like some windshields TINTED
19. Condescends STOOPS
21. __ tide NEAP
22. Toot JAG
25. River in Hades LETHE
27. Stylish ’60s Londoner MOD
29. *Centurion card issuer EXPRESS (giving “American Express”)
33. Beats badly PUMMELS
35. Know BE SURE
36. Kitchen spray PAM
37. *Entertainment phenomenon since 2002 IDOL (giving “American Idol”)
38. *TV show that had a 50th anniversary celebration in 2002 BANDSTAND (giving “American Bandstand”)
41. *Line of 18-inch dolls GIRL (giving “American Girl”)
44. Word with job or laborer DAY
45. Bahamian capital NASSAU
49. Showed contempt SNEERED
51. *PBS cultural documentary series MASTERS (giving “American Masters”)
52. Turkish honorific AGA
53. Speak ORATE
55. Woven thing WEB
56. Wax-wrapped import EDAM
58. Wiser partner? SADDER
62. The NFL’s “Golden Arm” UNITAS
64. Closed ecosystems BIODOMES
68. They’re likely to be edited RUN-ONS
69. Renaissance musician LUTENIST
70. *Armed forces support group LEGION (giving “American Legion”)
71. Apt adjective for today that’s needed to make sense of eight puzzle answers AMERICAN

Down
1. N.L. East team ATL
2. Choler IRE
3. Like Gen. Powell RET
4. NASA moon landers LEMS
5. “That’s doubtful” I BET
6. Intl. alliance since 1949 NATO
7. Director Morris et al. ERROLS
8. Video chat choice SKYPE
9. Small amount BIT
10. “8 Mile” star EMINEM
11. Top-notch A-ONE
12. Wild UNTAMED
13. 18th-century Venetian painter TIEPOLO
14. Until now, to CPAs YTD
20. Mar. honoree ST PAT
22. Son and brother of George JEB
23. Tool for fellers? AXE
24. Tracking aid: Abbr. GPS
26. Wellpoint competitor HUMANA
28. Broadband letters DSL
30. Belarus currency RUBLE
31. Historical period ERA
32. Shipping worker SENDER
34. Core MIDST
36. Korean musician with the hit “Gangnam Style” PSY
39. Certain parents, to their tots DADAS
40. __ in November N AS
41. Fed. procurement agency GSA
42. Vamp opposite INGENUE
43. Grade school focus READING
46. Darn, say SEW
47. “There you __!” ARE
48. PC port USB
50. Parmesan alternative ROMANO
51. Pizza order MEDIUM
54. Drum with a sitar TABLA
57. Yours, in Tours A TOI
59. Lavish attention DOTE
60. Linda of Broadway’s “Jekyll & Hyde” EDER
61. Rice-A-__ RONI
62. High-tech address URL
63. Federal ID SSN
65. Karaoke need, briefly MIC
66. That: Sp. ESA
67. Where many stand and wait: Abbr. STN

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