LA Times Crossword 6 Nov 18, Tuesday

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Constructed by: Joe Deeney
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Alliterature

Themed answers are works of LITERATURE. The titles of those works ALLITERATE:

  • 62A. Portmanteau for a collection containing 17-, 24-, 38- and 50-Across? : ALLITERATURE (portmanteau of “alliterate” and “literature’)
  • 17A. Frank McCourt memoir : ANGELA’S ASHES
  • 24A. J.M. Barrie play : PETER PAN
  • 38A. Shakespeare comedy : LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST
  • 50A. Gillian Flynn novel : GONE GIRL

Bill’s time: 6m 58s

Bill’s errors: 0

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. “__ Buddies”: ’80s sitcom : BOSOM

“Bosom Buddies” is a short-lived sitcom that originally aired in the early eighties. The show stars Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari as two single men who disguise themselves as women in order to live in an apartment that they could afford.

11. Asian noodle soup : PHO

Pho is a noodle soup from Vietnam that is a popular street food.

16. Toondom’s Olive : OYL

Popeye first appeared in 1929 in a comic strip called “Thimble Theatre”. The strip, created by E. C. Segar, ran for ten years before Popeye made an appearance. Popeye received such a great welcome from readers that he soon “took over” the strip, and eventually even hogged the strip’s title. Before Popeye turned up, Olive Oyl was the main character.

17. Frank McCourt memoir : ANGELA’S ASHES

“Angela’s Ashes” is a Pulitzer-winning memoir by Frank McCourt. It tells of McCourt’s upbringing in an impoverished family in Limerick in the west of Ireland. The final and only word of the last chapter of “Angela’s Ashes” is “‘Tis”. McCourt then used that word for the title of the sequel, i.e. “‘Tis”. The second memoir brought things full circle, as “‘Tis” ends with the spreading of “Angela’s ashes”, the ashes of Frank’s mother Angela.

24. J.M. Barrie play : PETER PAN

J.M. Barrie’s stage play “Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up” premiered in London in 1904. Barrie adapted the play into a 1911 novel titled “Peter and Wendy”. The character Peter Pan actually predated the play, having been introduced by Barrie as baby in his 1902 adult novel called “The Little White Bird”.

31. Deli subs : HEROS

“Hero” is another name for a submarine sandwich. The hero originated in New York City in the 1800s among Italian immigrants who wanted an Italian sandwich that reminded them of home. The name “hero” was coined in the 1930s, supposedly by a food critic in the “New York Herald Tribune” when he wrote that “one had to be a hero” to finish the gigantic sandwich. Hero is a prevalent term to this day in New York City, reserved for a submarine sandwich with an Italian flavor.

32. Game with Wild Draw Four cards : UNO

UNO is a card game that was developed in the early seventies and that has been sold by Mattel since 1992. UNO falls into the “shedding” family of card games, in that the goal is to get rid of all your cards while preventing opponents from doing the same.

33. Of an arm bone : ULNAR

The radius and ulna are bones in the forearm. If you hold the palm of your hand up in front of you, the radius is the bone on the “thumb-side” of the arm, and the ulna is the bone on the “pinkie-side”.

38. Shakespeare comedy : LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST

“Love’s Labour’s Lost” is a comedy by William Shakespeare that was first performed in 1597, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth I.

42. Wombs : UTERI

“Uterus” (plural “uteri”) is the Latin word for “womb”.

43. Mar. parade honoree : ST PAT

There is a fair amount known about Saint 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 Saint Patrick’s Day), although the year is less clear. The stories about shamrock and snakes, I am afraid they are the stuff of legend.

44. Genetic messenger : RNA

Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by what is called transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA.

45. Starr knighted in 2018 : RINGO

Sir Ringo Starr’s real name is Richard Starkey. Before he joined the Beatles, replacing drummer Pete Best, Starkey played with the Raving Texans. It was with the Raving Texans that he adopted the name “Ringo Starr”, because he wore a lot of rings and he thought it sounded “cowboyish”. Back then his drum solos were billed as “Starr Time”.

48. Nine-digit ID : SSN

A Social Security number (SSN) is divided into three parts i.e AAA-GG-SSSS, Originally, the Area Number (AAA) was the code for the office that issued the card. Since 1973, the Area Number reflects the ZIP code from which the application was made. The GG in the SSN is the Group Number, and the SSSS in the number is the Serial Number. However, this is all moot. Since 2011 SSNs are assigned randomly. However, some random numbers have been excluded from use, i.e. Area Numbers 000, 666 (!) and 900-999.

49. Antiprohibitionists : WETS

The 18th Amendment to the US Constitution was a great victory for the temperance movement (the “dry” movement), and in 1919 ushered in the Prohibition era. Highly unpopular (with the “wet” movement), Prohibition was repealed in 1933 by the 21st Amendment.

50. Gillian Flynn novel : GONE GIRL

“Gone Girl” is a thriller novel written by Gillian Flynn that was first published in 2012. The story tells of a man whose wife has disappeared, with the reader not being certain if the husband is involved in the disappearance. The book was adapted into a movie of the same name released in 2014, starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike.

56. Blossom buzzer : BEE

Blossoms are the flowers of a tree that bears stone fruit, e.g. cherries, peaches, apples and oranges. The blossoms provide pollen that is necessary for cross-pollination between individual trees.

57. What discreet acts are done on, with “the” : DOWN LOW

Something described as “on the down low” is “secret”. The phrase is often shortened to “on the DL”, The same abbreviated expression can also mean “on the disabled list” in sports.

61. Big Apple paper, for short : NYT

“The New York Times” (NYT) has been published since 1851, and is sometimes referred to as “the Gray Lady”. These days a viable alternative to buying the paper is to read the news online. NYTimes.com is the most popular online newspaper website in the country.

Apparently, the first published use of the term “Big Apple” to describe New York City dates back to 1909. Edward Martin wrote the following in his book “The Wayfarer in New York”:

Kansas is apt to see in New York a greedy city. . . . It inclines to think that the big apple gets a disproportionate share of the national sap.

Over ten years later, the term “big apple” was used as a nickname for racetracks in and around New York City. However, the concerted effort to “brand” the city as the Big Apple had to wait until the seventies and was the work of the New York Convention and Visitors Bureau.

62. Portmanteau for a collection containing 17-, 24-, 38- and 50-Across? : ALLITERATURE (portmanteau of “alliterate” and “literature’)

Alliteration is a literary device in which the same sounds are repeated in a phrase. An extreme form of alliteration is a tongue twister, for example:

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers;
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked;
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

65. Joe of “Casino” : PESCI

Joe Pesci got his big break in movies with a supporting role in “Raging Bull” starring Robert De Niro, earning Pesci an Oscar nomination early in his career. There followed a string of gangster roles played alongside De Niro, namely “Once Upon a Time in America”, “Goodfellas” and “Casino”. But I like Pesci’s comedic acting best of all. He was marvelous in the “Home Alone” films, the “Lethal Weapon” series, and my personal favorite, “My Cousin Vinny”. Pesci gets a mention in the stage musical “Jersey Boys”, which isn’t too surprising as he is one of the show’s producers.

“Casino” is a 1995 Martin Scorsese film. One of the movie’s stars is Robert De Niro, someone who collaborated with Scorsese in eight films in all, “Casino” being the last. The Tangiers Hotel in the movie was actually the Stardust Resort and Casino, which operated in Las Vegas from 1958 until 2006.

67. California’s Big __ : SUR

Big Sur is a lovely part of the California Coast located south of Monterey and Carmel. The name “Big Sur” comes from the original Spanish description of the area as “el sur grande” meaning “the big south”.

68. Second-string squad : B-TEAM

We’ve been using the phrases “first string” and “second string” in athletics since the mid-19th century. The expressions come from archery, in which a competitor would carry a second bowstring in case the first bowstring broke.

Down

4. Skateboard leap : OLLIE

An ollie is a skateboarding trick invented in 1976 by Alan “Ollie” Gelfand. Apparently it’s a way of lifting the board off the ground, while standing on it, without touching the board with one’s hands. Yeah, I could do that …

6. Smartphone predecessor, for short : PDA

Personal digital assistant (PDA)

7. Greek storyteller : AESOP

Aesop is remembered today as a fabulist, a writer of fables. Aesop lived in Ancient Greece, probably around the sixth century BC. Supposedly he was born a slave, somehow became a free man, but then met with a sorry end. Aesop was sent to the city of Delphi on a diplomatic mission but instead insulted the Delphians. He was tried on a trumped-up charge of stealing from a temple, sentenced to death and was thrown off a cliff.

8. God, in Judaism : YAHWEH

“Tetragrammaton” is a Greek word meaning “consisting of four letters” It is the name given to the four-letter word in Hebrew for the name God. The four letters are usually translated into English as YHWH, with “Yahweh” used as the ancient pronunciation. Another pronunciation that has been used is “Jehovah”.

11. Temporary retail space : POP-UP STORE

A pop-up store is one that is temporary. The idea is that a pop-up store opens in empty retail space for a limited period of time, often to meet the needs of a particular season or holiday. Examples of the genre might be Halloween stores or Christmas stores.

12. “Laughing” scavenger : HYENA

The spotted hyena of Sub-Saharan Africa is also known as the laughing hyena because of the sound it oftens makes, which resembles maniacal laughter.

14. Faux __: social goof : PAS

The term “faux pas” is French in origin, and translates literally as “false step” (or “false steps”, as the plural has the same spelling in French).

18. Arizona resort : SEDONA

The city of Sedona is noted for its location amid an array of red sandstone rock formations, which are particularly beautiful at sunrise and sunset. Sedona was named after the wife of the city’s first postmaster, one Sedona Arabella Miller Schnebly.

25. Dadaism pioneer : ERNST

Max Ernst was a painter and sculptor, and a pioneer in the Dada movement and Surrealism. Ernst was born near Cologne in Germany in 1891 and he was called up to fight in WWI, as were most young German men at that time. In his autobiography he writes “Max Ernst died the 1st of August, 1914”, which was a statement about his experiences in the war. In reality, Ernst died in 1976 having lived to the ripe old age of 85.

26. Z, in a pilot’s alphabet : ZULU

The NATO phonetic alphabet is also called the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) phonetic alphabet. It goes Alfa, Bravo, Charlie … X-ray, Yankee, Zulu.

27. Playing an extra NBA period : IN OT

In overtime (in OT)

28. Ahnold’s political nickname : GOVERNATOR

The body-builder, actor and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger was born in Graz in Austria, the son of the local police chief. Schwarzenegger’s family name translates into the more prosaic “black plough man”. In his bodybuilding days, he was often referred to as the Austrian Oak. When he was Governor of California he was called “the Governator”, a play on his role in the “The Terminator” series of movies.

37. School orgs. : PTAS

Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)

39. Great Lakes natives : ERIES

The Erie people lived on lands south of Lake Erie, in parts of the modern-day US states of New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. The Erie were sometimes referred to as the Cat Nation, a reference to the mountain lions that were ever-present in the area that they lived. The name “Erie” is a shortened form of “Erielhonan” meaning “long tail”, possibly a further reference to the mountain lion or cat, which was possibly used as a totem. The Erie people gave their name to the Great Lake.

40. Silver lining : UPSIDE

The idiom “every cloud has a silver lining” suggests that there is something good to be found in in every bad situation. The phrase “silver lining” was coined by English poet John Milton in “Comus”, a piece of dramatic entertainment that was first performed in 1634. The relevant lines are:

Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night?
I did not err; there does a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night,
And casts a gleam over this tufted grove.

46. Thanksgiving gravy ingredient : GIBLET

Giblets are the edible internal organs and entrails of a fowl. The giblets include the heart, gizzard and liver.

49. Chinese dumpling : WONTON

A wonton is a dumpling used in Chinese cooking. Wontons are often boiled and served in a wonton soup.

52. High-end German camera : LEICA

Leica is a German optics company that is famous for production of lenses and cameras. The 1913 Leica was the first practical camera that could use 35mm film, a size chosen because it was already the standard for film used in motion pictures.

54. Hindu guru : SWAMI

A swami is a religious teacher in the Hindu tradition. The word “swami” can also mean “husband” in the Bengali and Malay languages.

58. Rapper __ Fiasco : LUPE

“Lupe Fiasco” is the stage name of rap artist Wasalu Muhammad Jaco. Jaco uses his real name when performing with rock band Japanese Cartoon.

60. Benign cyst : WEN

“Wen” is the common name for any of a number of different growths that can occur on or under the skin. A wen can be a lipoma for example, a benign fatty growth that can form under the skin.

62. BOLO kin : APB

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

A BOLO is a police alert, with the acronym standing for “be on the look-out”. A BOLO can also be called an APB, an “all-points bulletin”.

63. Apple CEO Cook : TIM

Tim Cook has been Apple’s CEO since 2011, when he succeeded Steve Jobs. Cook had joined the company back in 1998 as senior vice president in charge of worldwide operations. He came out as gay in October of 2014, making Cook the first openly gay CEO of a company on the Fortune 500 list.

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. “__ Buddies”: ’80s sitcom : BOSOM
6. Words on a check : PAY TO
11. Asian noodle soup : PHO
14. Lavender is similar to it : PURPLE
15. Hon : DEARY
16. Toondom’s Olive : OYL
17. Frank McCourt memoir : ANGELA’S ASHES
19. “XING” one : PED
20. Postcard view of a city : SKYLINE
21. Hold the deed to : OWN
22. Sandy slope : DUNE
23. Salacious : LEWD
24. J.M. Barrie play : PETER PAN
26. Sharp turns : ZIGS
29. Many, many years : EON
31. Deli subs : HEROS
32. Game with Wild Draw Four cards : UNO
33. Of an arm bone : ULNAR
35. Response to bad service : NO TIP
38. Shakespeare comedy : LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST
42. Wombs : UTERI
43. Mar. parade honoree : ST PAT
44. Genetic messenger : RNA
45. Starr knighted in 2018 : RINGO
48. Nine-digit ID : SSN
49. Antiprohibitionists : WETS
50. Gillian Flynn novel : GONE GIRL
53. “In that case … ” : IF SO …
55. Discovery cries : AHAS
56. Blossom buzzer : BEE
57. What discreet acts are done on, with “the” : DOWN LOW
61. Big Apple paper, for short : NYT
62. Portmanteau for a collection containing 17-, 24-, 38- and 50-Across? : ALLITERATURE (portmanteau of “alliterate” and “literature’)
64. Sticky stuff : GOO
65. Joe of “Casino” : PESCI
66. “__ to suggestions” : I’M OPEN
67. California’s Big __ : SUR
68. Second-string squad : B-TEAM
69. Fork points : TINES

Down

1. Camp bed : BUNK
2. Wild party : ORGY
3. Wizards’ castings : SPELLS
4. Skateboard leap : OLLIE
5. Have good intentions : MEAN WELL
6. Smartphone predecessor, for short : PDA
7. Greek storyteller : AESOP
8. God, in Judaism : YAHWEH
9. Jacque’s “thirty” : TRENTE
10. Cries of worry : OYS
11. Temporary retail space : POP-UP STORE
12. “Laughing” scavenger : HYENA
13. From days past : OLDEN
14. Faux __: social goof : PAS
18. Arizona resort : SEDONA
22. Crave, with “over” : DROOL
25. Dadaism pioneer : ERNST
26. Z, in a pilot’s alphabet : ZULU
27. Playing an extra NBA period : IN OT
28. Ahnold’s political nickname : GOVERNATOR
30. Captures : NABS
33. Employing : USING
34. Decays : ROTS
36. “Money __ everything” : ISN’T
37. School orgs. : PTAS
39. Great Lakes natives : ERIES
40. Silver lining : UPSIDE
41. Fled : RAN FOR IT
46. Thanksgiving gravy ingredient : GIBLET
47. Ultimatum words : OR ELSE
49. Chinese dumpling : WONTON
50. __ up on: unites against : GANGS
51. “What a kidder!” : OH YOU!
52. High-end German camera : LEICA
54. Hindu guru : SWAMI
58. Rapper __ Fiasco : LUPE
59. Mining hauls : ORES
60. Benign cyst : WEN
62. BOLO kin : APB
63. Apple CEO Cook : TIM

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