LA Times Crossword Answers 29 Jul 14, Tuesday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Pawel Fludzinski
THEME: AAAA … the only vowel in today’s themed answers is the letter A, and there are four of them in each answer, a whole “battery” of them in fact:

18A. Undoubtedly FAR AND AWAY
23A. Lawn option in warm climates BAHAMA GRASS
33A. Straw topper first made in Ecuador, surprisingly PANAMA HAT
46A. Twin-hulled vessel CATAMARAN
51A. Sleepover with more giggling than sleeping PAJAMA PARTY
64A. Island off Africa’s southeast coast MADAGASCAR
4D. Picnic staple PASTA SALAD
29D. Missed the bus, forgot lunch, argued with the boss, etc. HAD A BAD DAY

59D. Battery found, in a way, in eight puzzle answers AAAA

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 6m 17s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

5. Caviar, e.g. ROE
“Caviar” is the roe of a large fish that has been salted and seasoned, and especially the roe of a sturgeon. Beluga caviar comes from the beluga sturgeon, found primarily in the Caspian Sea. It is the most expensive type of caviar in the world. 8 ounces of US-farmed beluga caviar can be purchased through Amazon.com for just over $850, in case you’re feeling peckish …

14. Turkish currency LIRA
The word “lira” is used in a number of countries for currency. “Lira” comes from the Latin for “pound” and is derived from a 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.

15. Train station abbr. ARR
Arrival (arr.)

17. Long-billed wader IBIS
The ibis is a wading bird that was revered in ancient Egypt. “Ibis” is an interesting word grammatically speaking. You can have one “ibis” or two “ibises”, and then again one has a flock of “ibis”. And if you want to go with the classical plural, instead of two “ibises” you would have two “ibides”!

20. Computer adventure game MYST
In the days when I played the occasional video game, the best of the bunch was undoubtedly “Myst”. It is a game full of puzzles with the player wandering through a beautifully-designed (for its day) interactive world.

23. Lawn option in warm climates BAHAMA GRASS
Both “Bahama grass” and “Bermuda grass” are familiar names for the grass more correctly known as Cynodon dactylon. The grass originated in the Middle East and now is considered an invasive species in Bermuda. It is assumed that it then spread through North America from Bermuda, hence the name.

27. Heavy drinker SOT
Our word “sot” comes from the Old English “sott”, meaning a fool. The word “sot” started to be associated with alcohol and not just foolery in the late 1500s.

28. South Seas resort island TAHITI
Captain Cook landed in Tahiti in 1769, although he wasn’t the first European to do so. But Cook’s visit to Tahiti was the most significant in that it heralded a whole spate of European visitors, who brought with them prostitution, venereal disease and alcohol. Paradoxically, they also brought Christianity. Included among the subsequent visitors was the famous HMS Bounty under the charge of Captain Bligh.

33. Straw topper first made in Ecuador, surprisingly PANAMA HAT
Panama hats are also known as Jipijapas, named for a town in Ecuador (and not Panama) that was a major player in the hat trade.

39. Crimson Tide coach Nick SABAN
Nick Saban is a former NFL coach, with the Miami Dolphins, and is now head football coach at the University of Alabama.

The athletic teams of the University of Alabama (“Bama”) are nicknamed the Crimson Tide, a reference to the team colors: crimson and white.

40. Inland Asian sea ARAL
The Aral Sea is a great example of how man can have a devastating effect on his environment. In the early sixties the Aral Sea covered 68,000 square miles of Central Asia. Soviet Union irrigation projects drained the lake to such an extent that today the total area is less than 7,000 square miles, with 90% of the lake now completely dry. Sad …

41. Backless sofa DIVAN
Ottomans and divans are essentially couches without backs or arms.

43. Woodworking groove DADO
In the world of joinery, a dado is a slot cut into a piece of wood across the grain. On the other hand, a “groove” is a slot that is cut with the grain.

46. Twin-hulled vessel CATAMARAN
A catamaran is a boat that has two hulls. Catamarans have been around along time, with the design having being used by the Ancient Greeks. Notably, the design was used by the locals in the Bay of Bengal and it was this design that was adopted by European boat builders. The name “catamaran” comes from the Tamil language of southeastern India, with “kattu maram” meaning “logs tied together”.

51. Sleepover with more giggling than sleeping PAJAMA PARTY
Our word “pajamas” comes to us from the Indian subcontinent, where “pai jamahs” were loose fitting pants tied at the waist and worn at night by locals and ultimately by the Europeans living there. And “pajamas” is another of those words that I had to learn to spell differently when I came to America. In the British Isles the spelling is “pyjamas”.

58. Olympic sprinter Devers GAIL
Gail Devers is a US Olympic champion, winning the 100m gold at the 1992 Games in Barcelona, and winning the 100m individual and relay golds at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. Back in 1990, doctors considered amputating Devers feet as they were in such poor condition as a result of treatment for Graves’ disease.

64. Island off Africa’s southeast coast MADAGASCAR
Madagascar is the large island country lying off the southeast coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. The main island of Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world (after Greenland, New Guinea and Borneo).

67. Key of Beethoven’s Ninth: Abbr. D MIN
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is his wonderful “Choral” symphony. When it was composed in 1824 it was the first time that a major composer had used voices in a symphony. By the time of the Ninth’s premier, Beethoven was essentially deaf. He insisted on sharing the stage with the musical director (who was conducting), and was visibly counting out time but was off by quite a few measures. When the last notes were played there was enthusiastic applause, although Beethoven was still conducting. The lead contralto had to walk over to Beethoven, stop him, and turn him to the audience to receive his adulation.

68. __ Islands, south of Cuba CAYMAN
The Cayman Islands consist of three islands located just south of Cuba in the Caribbean: Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. The Caymans are a British Overseas Territory, and are the fifth-largest banking center in the whole world.

69. Suffix with pay -OLA
Payola is the illegal practice of paying radio stations or disk jockeys to repeatedly play a particular piece of music. The impetus behind the crime is that the more often a song is played, the more likely it is to sell. The term “payola” comes from the words “pay” and “Victrola”, an RCA brand name for an early phonograph.

70. Fence the loot for, say ABET
The word “abet” comes into English from the Old French “abeter” meaning “to bait” or “to harass with dogs” (it literally means “to make bite”). This sense of encouraging something bad to happen morphed into our modern usage of “abet” meaning to aid or encourage someone in a crime.

To fence something is to deal in stolen goods, a slang term. The use of “fence” in this sense dates back to about 1700, the idea being that such transactions take place under “defense of secrecy”.

71. Lipton alternative SALADA
Salada Tea was founded in 1892 to provide tea packaged in foil to the consumer, as opposed to smaller wooden tea chests. This kept the tea fresher and more consistent in flavor.

Sir Thomas Lipton was a grocer in Glasgow, Scotland. He founded a tea packing company in North America in 1893, in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was very successful as his blends of tea became popular in the US. Despite the Lipton roots in the UK, Lipton black tea isn’t available there, so I’ve always thought of it as an American brand.

73. “Star Wars” guru YODA
Yoda is one of the most beloved characters in the “Star Wars” series of films. Yoda’s voice was provided by the great modern-day puppeteer Frank Oz of “Muppets” fame.

“Guru” is a Hindi word meaning “teacher” or “priest”.

Down
2. Egypt neighbor LIBYA
The Italo-Turkish War was fought between the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Italy from September 1911 and October 1912. At the end of the conflict the Ottoman Empire ceded to Italy the three provinces of Tripolitania, Fezzan and Cyrenaica. These provinces became Italian North Africa, and ultimately the country that we know today as Libya. The name “Libya” comes from the Ancient Greek “Libúē”, the historical name for Northwest Africa.

3. Notre Dame’s Fighting __ IRISH
The athletic teams of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana are of course known as the Fighting Irish. There are several debated etymologies for the moniker “Fighting Irish”, with the most generally accepted being that it was applied by the press in the 1920s, reflecting the teams’ fighting spirit and grit, determination and tenacity. I guess “grit, determination and tenacity” are characteristics often associated with the Irish.

5. Battle of Britain fliers: Abbr. RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the oldest independent air force in the world (i.e. the first air force to become independent of army or navy forces). The RAF was formed during WWI on 1 April 1918, a composite of two earlier forces, the Royal Flying Corps (part of the Army) and the Royal Naval Air Service. The RAF’s “finest hour” has to be the Battle of Britain when the vastly outnumbered British fighters fought off the might of the Luftwaffe causing Hitler to delay his plan to cross the English Channel. This outcome prompted Winston Churchill to utter the memorable words:

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

6. Endangered ape ORANG
Orangutans are arboreal creatures, in fact the largest arboreal animals known to man. They are native to Indonesia and Malaysia, living in the rain forests. Like most species in rain forests these days, orangutans are endangered, with only two species surviving. The word “orangutan” is Malay, meaning “man of the forest”.

8. One of the Gallos ERNEST
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.

10. Run __: pay later at the bar A TAB
When we “run a tab” at a bar say, we are “running a tabulation”, a listing of what we owe. Such a use of “tab” is American slang that originated in the 1880s.

11. Hawkeye State IOWA
Iowa is nicknamed the Hawkeye State in honor of Chief Black Hawk, a leader of the Sauk people during the War of 1812 and the Black Hawk War.

13. Roy Rogers’ birth name SLYE
Cowboy actor and singer Roy Rogers’ real name was Leonard Franklin Slye, and his nickname was “King of the Cowboys”. Roy Rogers married Dale Evans in 1947. Evans’ nickname was “Queen of the West”.

19. Santa __ winds ANA
The Santa Ana winds are the very dry air currents that sweep offshore late in the year in Southern California. Because these air currents are so dry, they are noted for their influence over forest fires in the area, especially in the heat of the fall. The winds arise from a buildup of air pressure in the Great Basin that lies between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. Under the right conditions, that air spills over the peaks of the Sierra Nevada and basically “falls” down the side of the Sierra range, heading for the ocean. As the air falls it becomes drier and heats up so that relative humidity can fall to below 10% by the time it hits the coast.

24. 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.

25. Just barely A TAD
Back in the 1800s “tad” was used to describe a young child, and this morphed into our usage of “small amount” in the early 1900s. The original use of “tad” for a child is very likely a shortened version of “tadpole”.

26. Carrier to Copenhagen SAS
SAS was formerly known as Scandinavian Airlines System and is the flag carrier of three countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Copenhagen is the largest city and the capital of Denmark. I have never visited Copenhagen, but I hear it is a wonderful metropolis with a marvelous quality of life. The city is also very environmentally friendly, with over a third of its population commuting to work by bicycle.

35. “Avatar” race NAVI
In the James Cameron epic “Avatar”, the “blue people” are the Na’vi, the indigenous species that lives on the lush moon called Pandora. The main Na’vi character featuring in the film is the female Neytiri. According to Cameron, Neytiri was inspired by the Raquel Welch character in the movie “Fantastic Voyage” and the comic book character Vampirella.

37. Actress Gardner AVA
Ava Gardner is noted for her association with some big movies, but also for her association with some big names when it came to the men in her life. In the world of film, she appeared in the likes of “Mogambo” (1953), “On the Beach” (1959), “The Night of the Iguana” (1964) and “Earthquake” (1974). The men in her life included husbands Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra. After her marriages had failed (and perhaps before!) she had long term relationships with Howard Hughes and bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguin whom she met through her friend Ernest Hemingway.

38. Bit of body art, briefly TAT
The word “tattoo” (often shortened to “tat”) was first used in English in the writings of the famous English explorer Captain Cook. In his descriptions of the indelible marks adorning the skin of Polynesian natives, Cook anglicized the Tahitian word “tatau” into our “tattoo”.

42. Voyager-launching org. NASA
NASA’s Voyager program launched two unmanned probes to explore the outer limits of our solar system. The probes were launched on different dates in 1977, with each date chosen to take advantage of particular alignments of the planets. The two probes are still active to some extent, and will be so for at least another decade. Voyager 1 is now the farthest man-made object from the Earth. In fact, Voyager 1 left our solar system in 2012, making it the first spacecraft to enter interstellar space. Cool …

49. Cuban capital HAVANA
Havana is the capital city of Cuba. The city was founded by the Spanish in the early 1500s after which it became a strategic location for Spain’s exploration and conquest of the Americas. In particular, Havana was used as a stopping-off point for treasure-laden ships on the return journey to Spain.

52. Madison or Monroe, for short JAS
James Madison, the fourth President of the United States, was one of the Founding Fathers. Back during the founding of the nation, Madison was principal contributor to the Constitution and so today he is often called the Father of the Constitution. While he was serving in the 1st US Congress, Madison wrote the first ten amendments to the constitution, the Bill of Rights. So, he is also known as the Father of the Bill of Rights. With such a contribution it is perhaps fitting that when President Madison passed away in 1836 at 85 years of age, he was the last of the Founding Fathers to die.

James Monroe was the fifth US President, and the last of the Founding Fathers to hold the highest office. Famously, he presided over the Era of Good Feelings, when there was very little partisan strife in Washington. President Monroe racked up a lot of debt while in politics and so when he retired he had to sell off a lot of his property and struggled financially for the remainder of his life. Monroe was one of three US presidents to pass away on American Independence Day (along with Thomas Jefferson and John Adams). Monroe died on July 4th 1831.

53. Fancy tie ASCOT
An Ascot tie is that horrible-looking (I think!) wide tie that narrows at the neck, which these days is only really worn at weddings. The tie takes its name from the Royal Ascot horse race at which punters still turn up in formal wear at Ascot Racecourse in England.

55. Stallone role RAMBO
“First Blood” was the original of the four “Rambo” films starring Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, a troubled Vietnam War veteran. I thought “First Blood” was a pretty good film actually, but the sequels were terrible, and way too violent for me. But action all the way …

57. Busybody YENTA
Yenta (also “Yente”) is actually a female Yiddish name. In Yiddish theater “yenta” came to mean a busybody.

58. Safari and Yukon GMCS
The Chevrolet Astro is a minivan that GM made from 1985 to 2005. The same car was also sold as the GMC Safari.

The GMC Yukon is basically the same vehicle as the Chevrolet Tahoe.

60. Pastoral verse IDYL
An “idyll” (also “idyl”) is a short poem with a pastoral theme, usually depicting the scene in romantic and idealized terms. The word comes from the Greek “eidyllion”, which literally translates to “little picture” but was a word describing a short, poem with a rustic theme.

61. Tibetan monk LAMA
“Lama” is a Tibetan word, meaning “chief” or “high priest”.

65. Meander GAD
“To gad about” is to move around with little purpose. The word “gad” comes from the Middle English “gadden” meaning “to hurry”.

66. Jay Z’s genre RAP
Jay Z, as well as being a successful and very rich rap artist, is married to singer Beyonce.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. File attachment icon CLIP
5. Caviar, e.g. ROE
8. Inbox fillers EMAILS
14. Turkish currency LIRA
15. Train station abbr. ARR
16. Update the factory equipment RETOOL
17. Long-billed wader IBIS
18. Undoubtedly FAR AND AWAY
20. Computer adventure game MYST
21. Not any NONE
22. Ordered BADE
23. Lawn option in warm climates BAHAMA GRASS
27. Heavy drinker SOT
28. South Seas resort island TAHITI
33. Straw topper first made in Ecuador, surprisingly PANAMA HAT
39. Crimson Tide coach Nick SABAN
40. Inland Asian sea ARAL
41. Backless sofa DIVAN
43. Woodworking groove DADO
44. Competitor RIVAL
46. Twin-hulled vessel CATAMARAN
48. Obeyed a doctor holding a tongue depressor SAID “AH”
50. Have a good cry SOB
51. Sleepover with more giggling than sleeping PAJAMA PARTY
58. Olympic sprinter Devers GAIL
62. Still-life object VASE
63. Be bold enough DARE
64. Island off Africa’s southeast coast MADAGASCAR
67. Key of Beethoven’s Ninth: Abbr. D MIN
68. __ Islands, south of Cuba CAYMAN
69. Suffix with pay -OLA
70. Fence the loot for, say ABET
71. Lipton alternative SALADA
72. Recipe amt. TSP
73. “Star Wars” guru YODA

Down
1. Scale, as a wall CLIMB
2. Egypt neighbor LIBYA
3. Notre Dame’s Fighting __ IRISH
4. Picnic staple PASTA SALAD
5. Battle of Britain fliers: Abbr. RAF
6. Endangered ape ORANG
7. Proofreader’s find ERROR
8. One of the Gallos ERNEST
9. __ school MED
10. Run __: pay later at the bar A TAB
11. Hawkeye State IOWA
12. Put ammo into LOAD
13. Roy Rogers’ birth name SLYE
19. Santa __ winds ANA
24. May honoree MOM
25. Just barely A TAD
26. Carrier to Copenhagen SAS
29. Missed the bus, forgot lunch, argued with the boss, etc. HAD A BAD DAY
30. Construction beam I-BAR
31. “Look what I did!” TADA!
32. Advised about IN ON
33. Golf scorecard numbers PARS
34. Operatic solo ARIA
35. “Avatar” race NAVI
36. 27-Across sound HIC
37. Actress Gardner AVA
38. Bit of body art, briefly TAT
42. Voyager-launching org. NASA
45. Napkin holder LAP
47. Floor-washing aid MOP
49. Cuban capital HAVANA
52. Madison or Monroe, for short JAS
53. Fancy tie ASCOT
54. Brunch and lunch MEALS
55. Stallone role RAMBO
56. Took a crack at TRIED
57. Busybody YENTA
58. Safari and Yukon GMCS
59. Battery found, in a way, in eight puzzle answers AAAA
60. Pastoral verse IDYL
61. Tibetan monk LAMA
65. Meander GAD
66. Jay Z’s genre RAP

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