LA Times Crossword Answers 4 Apr 17, Tuesday










Constructed by: Agnes Davidson & C.C. Burnikel

Edited by: Rich Norris

Quicklink to a complete list of today’s clues and answers

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Theme: Funny Bone

Today’s themed answers each contain a hidden string of circled letters. Those letters are the word BONE rearranged:

  • 63A. Sensitive elbow area, and a literal hint to the circled letters : FUNNY BONE
  • 17A. Verizon invoice, e.g. : PHONE BILL
  • 30A. Second wife of Henry VIII : ANNE BOLEYN
  • 47A. Country divider that allows unrestricted travel : OPEN BORDER
  • 11D. Molecular link with two pairs of electrons shared by two atoms : DOUBLE BOND
  • 29D. “Button-Down Mind” comedian : BOB NEWHART

Bill’s time: 5m 57s

Bill’s errors: 0




Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. Complain and complain : CARP

The word “carp” used to mean simply “talk” back in the 13th century, with its roots in the Old Norwegian “karpa” meaning “to brag”. A century later the Latin word “carpere” meaning “to slander” influenced the use of “carp” so that it came to mean “find fault with”.

14. Where to find Java : ASIA

Java is a large island in Indonesia that is home to the country’s capital, Jakarta. With a population of over 130 million, Java is the most populous island in the world, with even more people than Honshu, the main island of Japan.

15. Governor Kasich’s state : OHIO

John Kasich is the Governor of Ohio, and a former member for Ohio of the US HOuse of Representatives. Kasich ran unsuccessfully for Republican Party’s nominee for US president in 2000 and 2016. Kasich has had his eye on the Oval Office for some times. When he was a freshman at Ohio State, he wrote a letter expressing his concerns about the nation, and was granted a 20-minute meeting with President Nixon at the White House in 1970.

16. Be a ham : EMOTE

The word “ham”, describing a performer who overacts, is apparently a shortened form of “hamfatter” and dates back to the late 1800s. “Hamfatter” comes from a song in old minstrel shows called “The Ham-Fat Man”. It seems that a poorly performing actor was deemed to have the “acting” qualities of a minstrel made up in blackface.

17. Verizon invoice, e.g. : PHONE BILL

The telecommunications company that we know today as Verizon was founded in 1983 as Bell Atlantic, and was one of the “Baby Bells” that were formed after the breakup of AT&T. Bell Atlantic merged with fellow Baby Bell NYNEX in 1997, and then merged with GTE in 2000 to form Verizon. The new company name is a portmanteau of “veritas” (“truth” in Latin) and “horizon”.

An invoice is an itemized bill. The term comes from the Middle French “envois” meaning “dispatch (of goods)”. The root verb is “envoyer”, which translates as “to send”.

20. Saint at a gate : PETER

In the Christian tradition, Saint Peter is often depicted as the keeper of the gates of heaven. This depiction arises from a passage in the Gospel of Matthew:

I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

24. Old World Style sauce brand : RAGU

The Ragú brand of pasta sauce is owned by Unilever. The name ” Ragù” is the Italian word for a sauce used to dress pasta, however the spelling is off a little. In Italian the word is “Ragù” with a grave accent over the “u”, but if you look at a jar of the sauce on the supermarket shelf it is spelled “Ragú” on the label, with an acute accent. Sometimes I think we just don’t try …

26. The “c” in a + b = c : TOTAL

Algebra (alg.) is a branch of mathematics in which arithmetical operations are performed on variables rather than specific numbers (x,y etc). The term “algebra” comes from the Arabic “al jebr” meaning “reunion of broken parts”.

28. Govt. agency that lends to start-ups : SBA

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is a government agency with the mission of assisting small businesses. The SBA doesn’t give loans itself, but it does act as a guarantor under the right circumstances. The SBA was set up in 1953, and isn’t a favorite with fiscal conservatives.

30. Second wife of Henry VIII : ANNE BOLEYN

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.

35. Humerus neighbor : ULNA

The humerus is the long bone in the upper arm. The bones in the forearm are the radius and ulna. “Ulna” is the Latin word for “elbow”, and “radius” is Latin for “ray”.

36. “__, black sheep … ” : BAA, BAA

The old English nursery rhyme “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” is usually sung as:

Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes, sir, yes, sir,
Three bags full;
One for the master,
And one for the dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane.

The tune that accompanies the rhyme is a variant of the French melody “Ah! Vous dirai-je, Maman”, which we know best in English as the tune for “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”.

44. Coup d’__ : ETAT

A coup d’état (often just “coup”) is the sudden overthrow of a government, and comes from the French for “stroke of state”. The Swiss-German word “putsch” is sometimes used instead of “coup”, with “Putsch” translating literally as “sudden blow”.

50. __ Manor: “Batman” mansion : WAYNE

Wayne Manor is where Bruce Wayne lives, the alter-ego of Batman. It is a huge manor that lies just outside Gotham City. Looking after the house is the Wayne family servant, Alfred. Beneath the grounds of the manor is an extensive cave system where Bruce Wayne put together his Batcave. Access is to the cave is via a staircase behind a hidden door. The door is opened by moving the hands of a non-functioning grandfather clock to 10:47, the time at which Wayne’s parents were murdered. It is the murder of his parents that sets Bruce off on his journey of crime fighting.

51. Mani go-with : -PEDI

Manicure & pedicure (mani-pedi)

61. Appliance maker : AMANA

The Amana Corporation takes its name from the location of its original headquarters, in Middle Amana, Iowa. Today, the Amana name is very much associated with household appliances. The company was founded in 1934 to manufacture commercial walk-in coolers.

63. Sensitive elbow area, and a literal hint to the circled letters : FUNNY BONE

The ulnar nerve runs alongside the ulna (one of the bones in the lower arm). The ulnar nerve is the largest unprotected (not surrounded by muscle or bone) nerve in the human body. The nerve can be touched under the skin at the outside of the elbow. Striking the nerve at this point causes and an electric-type shock, known as hitting one’s “funny bone” or “crazy bone”.

66. Spring blossom : IRIS

Iris is a genus of flowering plants that come in a wide variety of flower colors. The term “iris” is a Greek word meaning “rainbow”. Many species of irises are called “flags”. One suggestion is that the alternate name comes from the Middle English “flagge” meaning “reed”. This term was used because iris leaves look like reeds.

68. Perfumer Lauder : ESTEE

Estée Lauder was a very successful businesswoman, with a reputation as a great salesperson. Lauder introduced her own line of fragrances in 1953, a bath oil called “Youth Dew”. “Youth Dew” was marketed as a perfume, but it was added to bathwater. All of a sudden women were pouring whole bottles of Ms. Lauder’s “perfume” into their baths while using only a drop or two of French perfumes behind their ears. That’s quite a difference in sales volume …

69. Pinup Hayworth : RITA

Rita Hayworth was born in Brooklyn as Margarita Carmen Cansino. Her father was a flamenco dancer from Spain and so his daughter fell naturally into dancing. The family moved to Hollywood where Hayworth’s father set up a dance studio, and there worked with the likes of James Cagney and Jean Harlow. The young Hayworth had a slow start in movies, finding herself typecast because of her Mediterranean features. When she underwent extensive electrolysis to change her forehead and dyed her hair red, she started to get more work (how sad is that?). In 1941 she posed for that famous pin-up picture which accompanied GIs all over the world.

Down

1. “Li’l Abner” creator Al : CAPP

Al Capp was a cartoonist from New Haven, Connecticut who is best remembered for cartoon strip “Li’l Abner”. Capp created “Li’l Abner” in 1934 and drew it himself until 1977. Capp passed away two years after “Li’l Abner” was retired.

2. Arthur with three Grand Slam singles titles : ASHE

Arthur Ashe was a professional tennis player from Richmond, Virginia. In his youth, Ashe found himself having to travel great distances to play against Caucasian opponents due to the segregation that still existed in his home state. He was rewarded for his dedication by being selected for the 1963 US Davis Cup team, the first African American player to be so honored. Ashe continued to run into trouble because of his ethnicity though, and in 1968 was denied entry into South Africa to play in the South African Open. In 1979 Ashe suffered a heart attack and had bypass surgery, with follow-up surgery four years later during which he contracted HIV from blood transfusions. Ashe passed away in 1993 due to complications from AIDS. Shortly afterwards, Ashe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.

To win the Grand Slam of tennis, a player must win the four major tournaments:

  • The Australian Open (in mid-January, played on hard courts)
  • The French Open (in June/July, played on clay)
  • Wimbledon (in June/July, played on grass)
  • The US Open (in August/September, played on hard courts)

4. Bakery-café bread company : PANERA

Panera Bread is a chain of bakery/coffeehouses. It’s a good place to get online while having a cup of coffee. Back in 2006 and 2007, Panera was the largest provider of free Wi-Fi access in the whole of the US. I think that things have changed since then …

7. Eight furlongs : MILE

There are eight furlongs in a mile. The name “furlong” comes from the Old English “furh” (meaning “furrow”) and “lang” (meaning “long”). In Anglo-Saxon times, a furlong was the length of a furrow in ploughed field that was one acre in area. The width of said one-acre field was defined as one chain.

10. Latin “I love” : AMO

Amo, amas, amat … I love, you love, he/she/it loves, in Latin.

11. Molecular link with two pairs of electrons shared by two atoms : DOUBLE BOND

Chemical compounds consist of atoms that are attracted to each other in “chemical bonds”. Chemical bonds are primarily of two types: bonds resulting from electrostatic attraction between atoms with opposite charges (ionic and metallic bonds), and bonds formed through the sharing of electrons (covalent bonds).

In chemical compounds, covalent bonds generally involve the sharing of pairs of electrons between two atoms. A single bond is a covalent bond comprising one pair of electrons. A double bond comprises two pairs of electrons, and a triple bond uses consists of three pairs.

12. Sundance’s sweetie : ETTA

Etta Place is the schoolteacher character played by the lovely Katharine Ross in the 1969 movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”.

13. Bambi, for one : DEER

The 1942 Disney classic “Bambi” is based on a book written by Felix Salten called “Bambi, A Life in the Woods”. There is a documented phenomenon known as the Bambi Effect, whereby people become more interested in animal rights after having watched the scene where Bambi’s mother is shot by hunters.

18. Hurler’s stat : ERA

Earned run average (ERA), in baseball.

22. __ salad : COBB

Ty Cobb’s first cousin, Robert H. Cobb, owned the Brown Derby chain of restaurants. One of his regular customers was the famous Sid Grauman, who ran Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Late one night, Grauman asked for a snack, and Cobb came up with a chopped salad simply made from ingredients he happened to have in the refrigerator. Grauman liked it so much that continued to request it, and the Cobb salad was born.

27. Actor Alda : ALAN

Alan Alda has had a great television career, especially of course on “M*A*S*H”. Alda won his first Emmy in 1972, for playing Hawkeye Pierce on “M*A*S*H”. He won his most recent Emmy in 2006 for his portrayal of Presidential candidate Arnold Vinick in “The West Wing”. When it comes to the big screen, my favorite of Alda’s movies is the 1978 romantic comedy “Same Time, Next Year” in which he starred opposite Ellen Burstyn.

29. “Button-Down Mind” comedian : BOB NEWHART

Bob Newhart is a comedian and actor who starred in two very successful sitcoms: “The Bob Newhart Show” in the seventies, and “Newhart” in the eighties. He first captured the public’s attention with an album of comedic monologues released in 1960 titled “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart”. That album went to number one in the Billboard pop album charts, and won the 1961 Album of the Year Grammy. Remarkable …

33. “Big” comics kid : NATE

“Big Nate” is a comic stirp that was launched in 1991, written and illustrated by Lincoln Peirce. The hero of the strip is a rebellious sixth-grader named Nate Wright.

34. Dog food brand : ALPO

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

38. Novelist Ferber : EDNA

Edna Ferber was a novelist and playwright from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Ferber won a Pulitzer for her novel “So Big”, which was made into a film a few times, most famously in 1953 starring Jane Wyman. Ferber also wrote “Show Boat”, “Cimarron” and “Giant”, which were adapted successful for the stage and/or big screen.

43. 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 created a pilaf dish for the family diner they owned. It 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 …

48. Colorful timber tree : RED FIR

The noble fir is also known as red fir, and even “Christmastree” as it is a popular choice for decoration during the December holiday.

49. Online rent-a-room option : AIRBNB

Airbnb is a website-based service that matches people wanting to rent out short-term living quarters to people seeking accommodation.

52. Week segment : DAY

We have seven days in a week because there are seven classical planets in the Solar System. The days were named for the planets during the Roman era:

  • Sun (Sunday)
  • Moon (Monday)
  • Mars (Tuesday)
  • Mercury (Wednesday)
  • Jupiter (Thursday)
  • Venus (Friday)
  • Saturn (Saturday)

53. Yankee Ruth : BABE

Jack Dunn was the owner/manager of the Baltimore Orioles back in 1913, when he signed on George Herman Ruth as a pitcher. The other players called Ruth “Jack’s newest babe”, and the name “Babe” stuck.

54. Iowa college town : AMES

Iowa State University of Science and Technology (ISU) is located in Ames, Iowa. Among many other notable events, ISU created the country’s first school of veterinary medicine, in 1879. The sports teams of ISU are known as the Cyclones.

56. TomKat’s daughter : SURI

Tom Cruise’s third wife was actress Katie Holmes The high-profile couple were dubbed “TomKat” by the entertainment media. Cruise and Holmes had one child together, a daughter named Suri who was born in 2006. TomKat divorced in 2012.

59. “I’ll pick up the tab” : ON ME

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.

62. Marriage announcement word : NEE

“Née” is the French word for “born” when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”.

64. CIA cousin : NSA

The National Security Agency (NSA) was set up in 1952 by President Truman, a replacement for the Armed Forces Security Agency that had existed in the Department of Defense since 1949. The NSA has always been clouded in secrecy and even the 1952 letter from President Truman that established the agency was kept under wraps from the public for over a generation. I really like the organization’s nickname … “No Such Agency”.

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Complete List of Clues and Answers

Across

1. Complain and complain : CARP

5. Frolic in the field : ROMP

9. Searched for shells in the shallows : WADED

14. Where to find Java : ASIA

15. Governor Kasich’s state : OHIO

16. Be a ham : EMOTE

17. Verizon invoice, e.g. : PHONE BILL

19. Way to get there : ROUTE

20. Saint at a gate : PETER

21. Melt frost from, as a windshield : DEICE

23. Self-serve salad site : BAR

24. Old World Style sauce brand : RAGU

26. The “c” in a + b = c : TOTAL

28. Govt. agency that lends to start-ups : SBA

30. Second wife of Henry VIII : ANNE BOLEYN

34. “It’s __-brainer!” : A NO

35. Humerus neighbor : ULNA

36. “__, black sheep … ” : BAA, BAA

37. Pierced ear parts : LOBES

39. Gives approval to : OKS

41. Horse’s harrumph : SNORT

42. Consider carefully : PONDER

44. Coup d’__ : ETAT

46. Opposite of SSW : NNE

47. Country divider that allows unrestricted travel : OPEN BORDER

49. Free app annoyances : ADS

50. __ Manor: “Batman” mansion : WAYNE

51. Mani go-with : -PEDI

53. Sound of disdain : BAH!

55. Tot’s reply to a taunt : DID SO!

57. Shady retreat : ARBOR

61. Appliance maker : AMANA

63. Sensitive elbow area, and a literal hint to the circled letters : FUNNY BONE

65. Flat hat : BERET

66. Spring blossom : IRIS

67. Moniker : NAME

68. Perfumer Lauder : ESTEE

69. Pinup Hayworth : RITA

70. Raised, as cattle : BRED

Down

1. “Li’l Abner” creator Al : CAPP

2. Arthur with three Grand Slam singles titles : ASHE

3. Civil mayhem : RIOT

4. Bakery-café bread company : PANERA

5. Steal from : ROB

6. “Hmm, gotta think about that … ” : OH, I DUNNO …

7. Eight furlongs : MILE

8. Well-mannered : POLITE

9. “Mom’s gonna kill us!” : WE’RE TOAST!

10. Latin “I love” : AMO

11. Molecular link with two pairs of electrons shared by two atoms : DOUBLE BOND

12. Sundance’s sweetie : ETTA

13. Bambi, for one : DEER

18. Hurler’s stat : ERA

22. __ salad : COBB

25. Guy’s partner : GAL

27. Actor Alda : ALAN

28. Nosy one : SNOOP

29. “Button-Down Mind” comedian : BOB NEWHART

31. Not wearing a thing : NAKED

32. Tall tales : YARNS

33. “Big” comics kid : NATE

34. Dog food brand : ALPO

35. Milk-souring warning number : USE-BY DATE

38. Novelist Ferber : EDNA

40. “Hit the gas!” : STEP ON IT!

43. Rice-A-__ : RONI

45. “__ we alone?” : ARE

48. Colorful timber tree : RED FIR

49. Online rent-a-room option : AIRBNB

52. Week segment : DAY

53. Yankee Ruth : BABE

54. Iowa college town : AMES

56. TomKat’s daughter : SURI

58. Wild hog : BOAR

59. “I’ll pick up the tab” : ON ME

60. Oboe or bassoon : REED

62. Marriage announcement word : NEE

64. CIA cousin : NSA

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