LA Times Crossword 1 Oct 19, Tuesday

Advertisement

Constructed by: C.C. Burnikel
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Shopkeepers

Themed answers each include the hidden word “SHOP”:

  • 34A Stocking experts, and what 16-, 19-, 51- and 57-Across literally are : SHOPKEEPERS
  • 16A Golf tournament won by Shane Lowry in 2019 : BRITISH OPEN
  • 19A “Easy Rider” actor : DENNIS HOPPER
  • 51A Baltimore-based medical school : JOHNS HOPKINS
  • 57A “Fingers crossed!” : HERE’S HOPING!

Bill’s time: 5m 23s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Fisherman’s __: waterfront district in San Francisco : WHARF

Fisherman’s Wharf is the name given to what is now a tourist mecca at the northern limits of San Francisco, sitting right on San Francisco Bay. Historically, it is where the city’s fishing fleet was moored and so the neighborhood became associated with the fishing community that mainly comprised Italian immigrants.

6 Police HQ alerts : APBS

An All Points Bulletin (APB) is a broadcast from one US law enforcement agency to another.

10 Sushi bar sauce : SOY

Soy sauce is made by fermenting soybeans with a mold in the presence of water and salt. Charming …

13 Swiss mathematician : EULER

Leonhard Euler was a brilliant Swiss mathematician and physicist, and a pioneer in the fields of logarithms and graph theory. Euler’s eyesight deteriorated during his working life, and eventually became almost totally blind.

14 Soft palate dangler : UVULA

The uvula is that conical fleshy projection hanging down at the back of the soft palate. The uvula plays an important role in human speech, particularly in the making of “guttural” sounds. The Latin word for “grape” is “uva”, so “uvula” is a “little grape”.

15 “t,” in “btw” : THE

By the way (BTW)

16 Golf tournament won by Shane Lowry in 2019 : BRITISH OPEN

The golf tournament that we usually refer to as “the British Open” here in North America, is more correctly known as “The Open Championship”. The tournament has earned its somewhat haughty title as it is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. The Open was first played in 1860, at Scotland’s Prestwick Golf Club. That first tournament attracted a grand field of eight professional golfers, with Scotsman Willie Park, Sr. emerging victorious.

Shane Lowry is a professional golfer from Mullingar, Ireland (which happens to be my own ancestral home). One of Lowry’s early achievements in his golfing career was a 2009 victory in the Irish Open, while he was still playing as an amateur. He turned professional just a week after that win, and went on to claim the Open Championship in 2019.

18 Cavity-fighting org. : ADA

American Dental Association (ADA)

19 “Easy Rider” actor : DENNIS HOPPER

Actor Dennis Hopper appeared in two very successful movies early in his career alongside James Dean, namely “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Giant”. Outside of acting, Hopper was noted as a painter and sculptor, and also as a prolific photographer.

“Easy Rider” is a 1969 movie about two bikers traversing the American Southwest and the South. The bikers are famously played by Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper, who also co-wrote the screenplay. Fonda produced the film and Hopper directed.

21 eharmony profile part : BIO

eHarmony is a high-profile online dating service based in Pasadena, California.

25 With 31-Across, “The Aviator” Oscar nominee : ALAN …
(31A See 25-Across : … ALDA)

Alan Alda has had a great television career, especially of course as a lead actor in “M*A*S*H”. He was born Alphonso D’Abruzzo in the Bronx, New York City. Alda won his first Emmy in 1972, for playing surgeon Hawkeye Pierce on “M*A*S*H”. He also won an Emmy in 2006 for his portrayal of Presidential candidate Senator 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.

“The Aviator” is a great 2004 film, and a biographical piece about much of the life of aviation pioneer Howard Hughes. Leonardo DiCaprio plays the title role, with Cate Blanchett playing a very credible Katharine Hepburn, Hughes’ lover with whom he lived for quite some time. Blanchett won a very much deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. Alan Alda received an Oscar nomination as a supporting actor, playing Senator Owen Brewster, a thorn in the side for Howard Hughes.

28 Pequod crew : WHALERS

The Pequod is the whaling ship that figures in Herman Melville’s classic novel “Moby Dick”. The ship is owned by a consortium of the citizens of Nantucket Island, including Captains Ahab, Bildad and Peleg.

32 Tidy (up) : SPRUCE

Our verb “to spruce up” means “to make trim or neat”. The term comes from the adjective “spruce”, meaning “smart, neat”. In turn, the adjective comes from “spruce leather”, which was a Prussian leather that was used in England in the 15th and 16th centuries to make a popular style of jerkin that was widely considered to look quite smart.

39 Office notice : MEMO

“Memorandum” means “thing to be remembered” in Latin, from the verb “memorare” meaning “to call to mind”.

47 __ mater : ALMA

The literal translation for the Latin term “alma mater” is “nourishing mother”. The phrase was used in ancient Rome to refer to mother goddesses, and in Medieval Christianity the term was used to refer to the Virgin Mary. Nowadays, one’s alma mater is the school one attended, either high school or college, usually one’s last place of education.

48 TriBeCa neighbor : SOHO

The Manhattan neighborhood known today as SoHo was very fashionable in the early 1900s, but as the well-heeled started to move uptown the area became very run down and poorly maintained. Noted for the number of fires that erupted in derelict buildings, SoHo earned the nickname “Hell’s Hundred Acres”. The area was then zoned for manufacturing and became home to many sweatshops. In the mid-1900s artists started to move into open loft spaces and renovating old buildings as the lofts were ideal locations in which an artist could both live and work. In 1968, artists and others organized themselves so that they could legalize their residential use of an area zoned for manufacturing. The group they formed took its name from the name given to the area by the city’s Planning Commission i.e “South of Houston”. This was shortened from So-uth of Ho-uston to SoHo as in the SoHo Artists Association, and the name stuck.

“TriBeCa” is a clever little acronym that expands into “TRI-angle BE-low CA-nal Street”. The name of the New York City neighborhood was developed by local residents who basically copied the naming technique used by residents of the adjacent area of SoHo, with “SoHo” being short for “SO-uth of HO-uston Street”.

50 “__ Blinded Me With Science”: 1983 hit : SHE

“She Blinded Me With Science” is a 1983 song, and really the only hit for English singer Thomas Dolby. I read that the song is quite popular, but I’d never heard of it …

51 Baltimore-based medical school : JOHNS HOPKINS

Johns Hopkins was a businessman and philanthropist from Baltimore who made his fortune from shrewd investments, particularly in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O). His relatively unusual given name of “Johns” was a family name that came from his grandmother Margaret Johns. The Johns Hopkins name is borne by many institutions that benefited from his bequests, such as Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins University.

56 “Sands of __ Jima”: 1949 film : IWO

“Sands of Iwo Jima” is a WWII film released in 1949. The movie follows US Marines from boot camp through to the Battle of Iwo Jima, and stars John Agar and John Wayne. Interestingly, the film dialog contains the first recorded use of the phrase “lock and load”, meaning “get ready to fight” or “get ready to drink!”

61 Country star McGraw : TIM

Country singer Tim McGraw is the son of the late Tug McGraw, the baseball pitcher. McGraw’s wife is fellow country singer Faith Hill.

62 Gas brand BP relaunched in 2017 : AMOCO

“Amoco” is an abbreviation for “American Oil Company”, an oil company that merged with BP in 1998. Amoco was the first oil company to introduce gasoline tanker trucks and drive-through filling stations. I wonder did they know what they were starting …?

66 Washington, e.g. : STATE

The people from what today is Washington state first petitioned the US Congress for statehood in 1852. At that time the proposal was to name the new state Columbia, but this was rejected as it was felt that a state called Columbia might be confused with the District of Columbia. Somewhat bizarrely, the alternative name of Washington was accepted. Certainly, the name Washington honors the first President, but there’s still potential confusion with the nation’s capital. I hate to admit my ignorance, but as a young man in Ireland, whenever I heard talk of Washington (state), I assumed the discussion was about Washington, D.C. …

Down

2 “Ben-__” : HUR

The celebrated 1959 Charlton Heston movie “Ben-Hur” is a dramatization of a book published in 1880 by Lew Wallace titled “Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ”. The 1959 epic film won a record 11 Academy Awards, a feat that has been equaled since then but has never been beaten. The other winners of 11 Oscars are “Titanic” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the Rings”.

3 Baba in a cave : ALI

In the folk tale “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”, the title character is a poor woodcutter who discovers the magic phrase “open sesame” that opens the thieves’ den.

4 No longer working: Abbr. : RETD

Retired (“ret.” or “retd.”)

5 Curly-haired “Peanuts” character : FRIEDA

Charles Schulz introduced a character named Frieda in the sixties. She is a little girl with a head of curly, red hair. Schulz modeled Frieda on his longtime friend from real life Frieda Rich, a local artist from Minneapolis.

7 Baby seals : PUPS

Male seals are called bulls, females are cows, and babies are pups.

9 Twins infielder Miguel : SANO

Miguel Sanó is a professional baseball player from the Dominican Republic who made his Major League Baseball debut in 2015, turning out for the Minnesota Twins.

20 Capital of Sicily : PALERMO

Palermo is the capital of the Italian autonomous region of Sicily. Palermo was founded by the Phoenicians over 2700 years ago.

23 Vegas calculation : ODDS

Back in the 1800s, the Las Vegas Valley was given its name from the extensive meadows (“las vegas” is Spanish for “the meadows”) present in the area courtesy of the artesian wells drilled by local farmers. Las Vegas was incorporated as a city in 1905, in the days when it was a stopping-off point for pioneers travelling west. It eventually became a railroad town, although with the coming of the railroad growth halted as travelers began to bypass Las Vegas. The city’s tourism industry took off in 1935 with the completion of the nearby Hoover Dam, which is still a popular attraction. Then gambling was legalized, and things really started to move. Vegas was picked, largely by celebrated figures in “the mob”, as a convenient location across the California/Nevada state line that could service the vast population of Los Angeles. As a result, Las Vegas is the most populous US city founded in the 20th century (Chicago is the most populous city founded in the 19th century, just in case you were wondering).

27 Like most of northern Africa : SAHARAN

The name “Sahara” means “greatest desert” in Arabic. The Sahara is just that, a great desert covering almost 4 million square miles of Northern Africa. That’s almost the size of the United States.

28 Little songbird : WREN

The wren is a small songbird belonging to the family troglodytidae and the genus troglodytes. Wrens are known for making dome-shaped nests.

29 Drillmaster’s syllable : HUP

Hup, two, three, four …

33 Cribbage piece : PEG

Cribbage is a great card game that originated in 17th-century England. It was a creation of the poet Sir John Suckling. One of the unique features of the game is that a cribbage board with pegs is used to keep score. Here in the US, cribbage is very much associated with the submarine service, as it is a favorite game of submariners of all ranks.

35 Mama bear, in Seville : OSA

The city of Seville (“Sevilla” in Spanish) is the capital of Andalusia in southern Spain. Seville is a favored setting for many operas including “The Barber of Seville” by Rossini, “Fidelio” by Beethoven and Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and “The Marriage of Figaro”.

36 Omega preceder : PSI

Psi is the 23rd and penultimate letter of the Greek alphabet, and the one that looks a bit like a trident or a pitchfork.

37 Puts a Singer to work : SEWS

Isaac Singer was not only an inventor, but also an actor. For much of his life, profits made from his inventions supported him while he pursued his acting career. Singer didn’t actually invent the sewing machine, and never claimed to have done so. What he did do though, was to invent a version of the machine that was practical and easily used in the home.

42 Sizzling Tex-Mex fare : FAJITA

“Fajita” is a Tex-Mex term that refers to grilled meat served on a tortilla. The original Mexican-Spanish term “fajita” is used to describe a small strip of chicken or beef. Nowadays, fajitas are often served on a sizzling platter with the tortillas and condiments on the side.

44 Shout from the foyer : I’M HOME!

“Foyer”, meaning “lobby”, is a French word that we imported into English. In French, “foyer” is used for what we would call a “green room”, a place where actors can gather when not on stage or on set.

45 __ Tzu: toy dog : SHIH

The Shih Tzu is one of the oldest breeds of dog, and a breed that originated in China. Shih Tzus have long hairy coats but they don’t shed.

52 Fancy pillowcase : SHAM

A sham is something that is imitation, fake. In the world of bed linens, a sham is also an imitation or fake, in the sense that it is a decorative cover designed to cover up a regular pillow used for sleeping.

53 Prefix with sphere : HEMI-

Ever wonder what the difference is between the prefixes “hemi-”, “demi-” and “semi-”, all of which mean “half”? Well, the general observation is that words using the “demi-” prefix date back to the days of Norman influence over the English language. As a result, “demi-” turns up in the world of period costume and coats of arms. Words using “hemi-” tend to have Greek roots, and are prevalent in the world of the sciences and the medical field. Words with “semi-” tend to have Latin roots, and are most often found in music and the arts, and mathematics.

58 Nest egg acronym : IRA

Individual retirement account (IRA)

59 “Nothing but __”: “Swish!” : NET

That would be basketball.

60 College sr.’s test : GRE

Passing the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is usually a requirement for entry into graduate school here in the US.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Fisherman’s __: waterfront district in San Francisco : WHARF
6 Police HQ alerts : APBS
10 Sushi bar sauce : SOY
13 Swiss mathematician : EULER
14 Soft palate dangler : UVULA
15 “t,” in “btw” : THE
16 Golf tournament won by Shane Lowry in 2019 : BRITISH OPEN
18 Cavity-fighting org. : ADA
19 “Easy Rider” actor : DENNIS HOPPER
21 eharmony profile part : BIO
24 Entry point : DOOR
25 With 31-Across, “The Aviator” Oscar nominee : ALAN …
26 Maxim : OLD SAW
28 Pequod crew : WHALERS
31 See 25-Across : … ALDA
32 Tidy (up) : SPRUCE
34 Stocking experts, and what 16-, 19-, 51- and 57-Across literally are : SHOPKEEPERS
38 Give as a task : ASSIGN
39 Office notice : MEMO
42 Govt. drug bust, perhaps : FBI RAID
45 Post-workout refresher : SHOWER
47 __ mater : ALMA
48 TriBeCa neighbor : SOHO
50 “__ Blinded Me With Science”: 1983 hit : SHE
51 Baltimore-based medical school : JOHNS HOPKINS
56 “Sands of __ Jima”: 1949 film : IWO
57 “Fingers crossed!” : HERE’S HOPING!
61 Country star McGraw : TIM
62 Gas brand BP relaunched in 2017 : AMOCO
63 Less prevalent : RARER
64 Had chips, say : ATE
65 Fail to notice : MISS
66 Washington, e.g. : STATE

Down

1 Spider’s creation : WEB
2 “Ben-__” : HUR
3 Baba in a cave : ALI
4 No longer working: Abbr. : RETD
5 Curly-haired “Peanuts” character : FRIEDA
6 To have, in Paris : AVOIR
7 Baby seals : PUPS
8 “Yuck!” : BLEH!
9 Twins infielder Miguel : SANO
10 Rice, in Chinese cuisine : STAPLE
11 “My goodness!” : OH DEAR
12 Hankers (for) : YEARNS
14 “Hmm … not likely” : UH… NO!
17 Winter flakes : SNOW
20 Capital of Sicily : PALERMO
21 Fluffy wrap : BOA
22 “__ be darned!” : I’LL
23 Vegas calculation : ODDS
27 Like most of northern Africa : SAHARAN
28 Little songbird : WREN
29 Drillmaster’s syllable : HUP
30 Opening day pitcher, typically : ACE
32 Icy road worry : SKID
33 Cribbage piece : PEG
35 Mama bear, in Seville : OSA
36 Omega preceder : PSI
37 Puts a Singer to work : SEWS
40 “Not really a fan” : MEH
41 Mined metal : ORE
42 Sizzling Tex-Mex fare : FAJITA
43 Fail epically : BLOW IT
44 Shout from the foyer : I’M HOME!
45 __ Tzu: toy dog : SHIH
46 Advanced student’s course : HONORS
48 Contractor’s parameters : SPECS
49 “Yeah, and … ?” : OK, SO …?
52 Fancy pillowcase : SHAM
53 Prefix with sphere : HEMI-
54 Gold medals, to Spaniards : OROS
55 Quarrel : SPAT
58 Nest egg acronym : IRA
59 “Nothing but __”: “Swish!” : NET
60 College sr.’s test : GRE