LA Times Crossword Answers 25 Oct 2017, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Gail Grabowski & Bruce Venzke
Edited by: Rich Norris

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Today’s Theme: Let’s Eat!

Each of today’s themed answers starts with a term often used at mealtimes:

  • 43D. “Dinner!” … and a hint to the first word of 21-, 27-, 44- and 53-Across : LET’S EAT!
  • 21A. Finishing a sentence? : SERVING TIME
  • 27A. Diagram on a golf score card : COURSE LAYOUT
  • 44A. Bad news for subway riders : FARE INCREASE
  • 53A. Grammatically, “have” in “I have spoken,” e.g. : HELPING VERB

Bill’s time: 6m 00s

Bill’s errors: 0

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. Bunches of bucks : WADS

“Buck” is a slang term for “dollar”. The term has been around at least since 1856, and is thought to derive from the tradition of using buckskin as a unit of trade with Native Americans during the frontier days.

5. Strip of latticework : LATH

The words “lath” and “lattice” have the same root in Old French. Laths are thin strips of wood that are nailed across a frame forming a backing to which plaster can be applied to finish a wall. The term is also used for the main elements in a trellis, or the lengths of wood in a roof to which shingles are nailed.

15. Jackson 5 hair style : AFRO

The Jackson 5 singing group was originally made up of brothers Tito, Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael. The four eldest brothers are still performing, now using the name “The Jacksons”.

16. IV part : INTRA-

One might see intravenous drips (IVs) in an intensive care unit (ICU).

17. Stacy Lewis’ org. : LPGA

Stacy Lewis is a professional golfer from Toledo, Ohio who plays on the LPGA tour. Lewis won the 2011 Kraft Nabisco Championship and the 2013 Women’s British Open, two of women’s major golf championships. Remarkably, Lewis underwent spinal fusion surgery while in high school, as treatment for scoliosis.

25. Ancient Peruvian : INCA

The Inca people emerged as a tribe around the 12th century, in what today is southern Peru. The Incas developed a vast empire over the next 300 years, extending along most of the western side of South America. The Empire fell to the Spanish, finally dissolving in 1572 with the execution of Tupac Amaru, the last Incan Emperor.

26. “Fresh Air” airer : NPR

“Fresh Air” is a marvelous radio talk show broadcast on NPR, hosted by Terry Gross. The first broadcast of the program was made in 1975, with Judy Blank hosting. Terry Gross took over a few months later, and Gross has been presenting and producing the show ever since. I had the privilege of hearing Terry Gross give a talk here in my hometown some years ago. What a fascinating woman she is, full of great stories about the her experiences interviewing so many interesting personalities.

32. Divinity school subj. : REL

Religion (rel.)

33. John Irving title writer : GARP

John Irving’s 1978 novel “The World According to Garp” is somewhat biographical. In fact, Irving’s mother found parts of the novel difficult to read, recognizing elements of herself in Garp’s mother Jenny Fields.

38. Oscar Mayer product : WIENER

What we call a wiener in this country is known as a Vienna sausage in Germany. It was first produced by a butcher from Frankfurt who was living in Vienna, hence the name “Wiener”, which is German for “of Vienna”. Paradoxically, the same sausage is called a Frankfurter in Vienna, as it was created by someone from Frankfurt. It’s all very confusing …

The Oscar Mayer brand of meats was named for a German immigrant named Oscar F. Mayer who sold German sausages in the Chicago area in the late 1800s. The Oscar Mayer company has a famous vehicle called the Wienermobile that it has used in promotions for over 70 years.

40. “And she shall bring forth __”: Matthew : A SON

According to the Gospel of Matthew, an angel appeared in a dream to Joseph to tell him the destiny of the child that is being carried by his wife Mary:

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.

41. Bordeaux brushoff : NON

Bordeaux is perhaps the wine-production capital of the world. Wine has been produced in the area since the eighth century. Bordeaux has an administrative history too. During WWII, the French government relocated from Paris to the port city of Bordeaux when it became clear that Paris was soon to fall to the Germans. After the German’s took France, the capital was famously moved to Vichy.

42. Co. known for music compilations : K-TEL

K-Tel was founded in 1962 in Winnipeg, Manitoba by one Philip Kives. K-Tel’s recipe for success was the sale of inexpensive goods with a simple sales pitch and mail-order distribution.

48. VW preceders? : STU

Those would be letters of the alphabet.

52. Grecian urn glorifier, e.g. : ODIST

Here’s the first verse of the poem “Ode on a Grecian Urn” by John Keats:

THOU still unravish’d bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?

53. Grammatically, “have” in “I have spoken,” e.g. : HELPING VERB

An auxiliary verb is also known as a helping verb. An auxiliary verb’s role is to “help” the main verb by perhaps creating the passive form of the verb, or maybe changing its emphasis. For example, the auxiliary verb “to be” is used to create the passive voice, as in “the blog post was written”.

57. Letters between mus and xis : NUS

The Latin equivalent of the Greek letter “nu” is “N”. An uppercase nu looks just like the Latin capital N. However, the lowercase nu looks like our lowercase “v”. Very confusing …

58. Ball co-star : ARNAZ

Lucille Ball was at the height of her success while she was married to Desi Arnaz. The couple met in 1940 and not long afterwards eloped. Lucy had several miscarriages before she gave birth to her first child in 1951, just one month before her fortieth birthday. A year and a half later, while “I Love Lucy” was garnering large audiences, she became pregnant with her second child, a pregnancy that was written into the television show’s script. In fact, the day that Lucy gave birth on the show, was the same day that she gave birth in real life.

59. Revered Tibetan : LAMA

“Lama” is a Tibetan word meaning “chief” or “high priest”.

60. Paltry : MERE

The adjective “paltry” comes from an older use of “paltry” as a noun, meaning a “worthless thing”.

61. Author Kafka or composer Liszt : FRANZ

Franz Kafka was born in 1883 in Prague, then part of Bohemia and today the capital of the Czech Republic. Kafka is known as one of the greatest novelists who worked in the German language, and even has an adjective named after him. Something that is “kafkaesque” is senseless, disorienting and may have menacing complexity. As it was for many great artists, Kafka’s fame came after his death when much of his work was published.

Franz Liszt was a Hungarian composer and a fabulous pianist. Particularly towards the end of his life, Liszt gained a tremendous reputation as a teacher. While he was in his sixties, his teaching profession demanded that he commute regularly between the cities of Rome, Weimar and Budapest. It is quite remarkable that a man of such advanced age, and in the 1870s, could do so much annual travel. It is estimated that Liszt journeyed at least 4,000 miles every year!

62. City west of Tulsa : ENID

Enid, Oklahoma takes its name from the old railroad station around which the city developed. Back in 1889, that train stop was called Skeleton Station. An official who didn’t like the name changed it to Enid Station, using a character from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Idylls of the King”. Maybe if he hadn’t changed the name, the city of Enid would now be called Skeleton, Oklahoma! Enid has the nickname “Queen Wheat City” because is has a huge capacity for storing grain, the third largest grain storage capacity in the world.

Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma (after Oklahoma City). Tulsa started out as a settlement established by the Loachapoka and Creek Native American tribes in 1836. These early settlers called their new home “Tallasi” meaning “old town”, and this name morphed into “Tulsa” that we use today.

65. College Board exams, for short : SATS

Today, the standardized test for admission to colleges is known as the SAT Reasoning Test, but it used to be called the Scholastic Aptitude Test and Scholastic Assessment Test, which led to the abbreviation “SAT”.

Down

1. Character actor Eli who often co-starred with his wife Anne Jackson : WALLACH

Eli Wallach appeared consistently and made great performances on the big and small screens since the 1950s. Wallach’s most famous role was probably as “the Ugly” in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”. More recently he gave a very strong performance in 2006’s “The Holiday”. Sadly, Wallach passed away in June 2014, at the age of 98.

Actress Anne Jackson was the wife of actor Eli Wallach. The couple married in 1948, and frequently performed together on stage and screen. Wallach and Jackson even worked with their daughters, appearing as a family in a 1978 production of the play “The Diary of Anne Frank”. Jackson was also friends with Marilyn Monroe when Monroe she was starting out as an actress. Monroe sometimes babysat for Wallach and Jackson.

2. Horse with a spotted coat : APPALOOSA

The Appaloosa is a breed of horse with a characteristic leopard-spotted coat. As of 1975, the Appaloosa is the state horse of Idaho.

3. Backyard pet shelters : DOGHOUSES

… and sometimes husband shelters …

7. Barely worth mentioning : TRIVIAL

Trivia are things of little consequence. “Trivia” is the plural of the Latin word “trivium” which means “a place where three roads meet”. Now that’s what I call a trivial fact …

8. Grits, essentially : HOMINY

Hominy is a dish consisting of dried kernels of maize that have been treated with an alkali. The term “hominy” is derived from a Native American word for “maize”.

9. Dashboard indicator : OIL GAUGE

Back in the 1800s, “dashboard” was the name given to a board placed at the front of a carriage to stop mud from “dashing” against the passengers in the carriage, mud that was kicked up by the hoofs of the horses. Quite interesting …

11. Oktoberfest keepsake : STEIN

A stein is a type of beer glass. The term is German in origin, and is short for “Steinkrug” meaning “stone jug”. “Stein” is German for “stone”.

Oktoberfest is a 16-day beer festival in Munich that actually starts in September. About six million people attend every year, making it the largest fair in the world. I’ve been there twice, and it really is a great party …

12. Beat the pants off : TROMP

“Tromp” is a variant of “tramp”, so to tromp all over someone is to give them a shellacking.

21. GPS lines : STS

A global positioning system (GPS) might point out streets (sts.).

22. Cpl., for one : NCO

A corporal (Cpl.) is a non-commissioned officer (NCO).

30. Did terribly : TANKED

Apparently, the first use of the verb “to tank” to mean “to lose or fail” can be pinpointed quite precisely. Tennis great Billie Jean King used the verb in that sense in an interview with “Life” magazine in 1967, with reference to male players.

34. Orthodontic devices : RETAINERS

Orthodontics is a branch of dentistry dealing with the straightening of teeth. The name comes from the Greek “orthos” meaning “straight” and “dontia” meaning “teeth”.

39. Business abbr. : INC

A company that has incorporated uses the abbreviation “Inc.” after its name. By incorporating, a company forms a corporation, which is a legal entity that has legal rights similar to those of an individual. For example, a corporation can sue another corporation or individual. However, a corporation does not have all the rights of citizens. A corporation does not have the Fifth Amendment right of protections against self-incrimination, for example. It is perhaps understandable that the concept of “corporations as persons” is a frequent subject for debate.

41. State of bliss : NIRVANA

Nirvana is a philosophical concept in some Indian-based religions. In the Buddhist tradition, nirvana is the state of being free from suffering i.e. not experiencing craving, anger or other afflicting states.

45. Stimpy’s sidekick : REN

“The Ren & Stimpy Show” is an animated television show that ran on Nickelodeon from 1991 to 1996. The title characters are Marland “Ren” Höek, a scrawny Chihuahua, and Stimpson J. Cat, a rotund Manx cat. Not my cup of tea …

46. NFC East team : EAGLES

The Philadelphia Eagles were established in 1933 and joined the National Football League as a replacement for the bankrupt Frankford Yellow Jackets, also from Philadelphia. The “Eagle” name was inspired by the Blue Eagle insignia that was used by companies who were in compliance with the National Industrial Recovery Act that was central to President Roosevelt’s New Deal Program.

48. Unfair treatment, with “the” : SHAFT

“Shafted” isn’t a nice term at all. Someone who has been shafted has been given a raw deal. The term arose in the fifties, playing on the vulgar slang usage of shaft to represent the male organ (a usage that has been around since the early 1700s). The use of the verb “shaft” is a reference to sodomy. As I said, not nice …

49. __ Haute : TERRE

Terre Haute, Indiana is a city close to the state’s western border with Illinois. The city is home to a state prison which in turn is home to the state’s death row. The name “Terre Haute” was chosen by French explorers in the 18th century to describe the location, as “terre haute” is French for “high ground”.

50. Forearm bones : ULNAS

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

56. X-ray units : RADS

A rad is a unit used to measure radiation levels that is largely obsolete now. The “rad” has been superseded by the “rem”.

60. 27-Across, essentially : MAP

“Map” is actually an abbreviated form of the Middle English word “mapemounde” meaning “map of the world”. The 14th-century term was derived from the Latin “mappa mundi” also meaning “map of the world”, from the Latin “mappa” (napkin, cloth) and “mundi” (world, universe).

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Bunches of bucks : WADS
5. Strip of latticework : LATH
9. Expels : OUSTS
14. For each one : A POP
15. Jackson 5 hair style : AFRO
16. IV part : INTRA-
17. Stacy Lewis’ org. : LPGA
18. Severely harm : MAIM
19. Use, as for a snooze : LIE ON
20. “Well, __-di-dah!” : LAH
21. Finishing a sentence? : SERVING TIME
23. In the air : ALOFT
25. Ancient Peruvian : INCA
26. “Fresh Air” airer : NPR
27. Diagram on a golf score card : COURSE LAYOUT
31. Attachment to a movable sprinkler : HOSE
32. Divinity school subj. : REL
33. John Irving title writer : GARP
36. Romantically involved with : SEEING
38. Oscar Mayer product : WIENER
40. “And she shall bring forth __”: Matthew : A SON
41. Bordeaux brushoff : NON
42. Co. known for music compilations : K-TEL
44. Bad news for subway riders : FARE INCREASE
48. VW preceders? : STU
51. Fabric mishap : TEAR
52. Grecian urn glorifier, e.g. : ODIST
53. Grammatically, “have” in “I have spoken,” e.g. : HELPING VERB
57. Letters between mus and xis : NUS
58. Ball co-star : ARNAZ
59. Revered Tibetan : LAMA
60. Paltry : MERE
61. Author Kafka or composer Liszt : FRANZ
62. City west of Tulsa : ENID
63. Neck of the woods : AREA
64. Short-tempered : TESTY
65. College Board exams, for short : SATS
66. Wordless summons : PSST!

Down

1. Character actor Eli who often co-starred with his wife Anne Jackson : WALLACH
2. Horse with a spotted coat : APPALOOSA
3. Backyard pet shelters : DOGHOUSES
4. Massage venue : SPA
5. Unconvincing, as excuses go : LAME
6. A long way off : AFAR
7. Barely worth mentioning : TRIVIAL
8. Grits, essentially : HOMINY
9. Dashboard indicator : OIL GAUGE
10. Textbook division : UNIT
11. Oktoberfest keepsake : STEIN
12. Beat the pants off : TROMP
13. More reasonable : SANER
21. GPS lines : STS
22. Cpl., for one : NCO
24. No longer encumbered by : FREE OF
28. South end? : -ERN
29. Journey segment : LEG
30. Did terribly : TANKED
34. Orthodontic devices : RETAINERS
35. Lays a guilt trip on, say : PRESSURES
37. Nervously distracted : IN A TIZZY
38. Took the title : WON
39. Business abbr. : INC
41. State of bliss : NIRVANA
43. “Dinner!” … and a hint to the first word of 21-, 27-, 44- and 53-Across : LET’S EAT!
45. Stimpy’s sidekick : REN
46. NFC East team : EAGLES
47. Take the wrong way? : ROB
48. Unfair treatment, with “the” : SHAFT
49. __ Haute : TERRE
50. Forearm bones : ULNAS
54. Breathe hard : PANT
55. Give off : EMIT
56. X-ray units : RADS
60. 27-Across, essentially : MAP

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