LA Times Crossword 27 Mar 19, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Norfleet Pruden
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Marx

Themed answers are also titles of movies featuring the MARX Brothers:

  • 66A Surname of the stars of 20-, 37- and 53-Across : MARX
  • 20A Shenanigans : MONKEY BUSINESS (“Monkey Business” – 1931)
  • 37A “Nonsense!” : HORSEFEATHERS! (“Horse Feathers” – 1932)
  • 53A Nabisco product whose package formerly displayed circus cages : ANIMAL CRACKERS (“Animal Crackers” – 1930)

Bill’s time: 5m 48s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Sport with clay disks : SKEET

There are three types of competitive shotgun target shooting sports:

  • Skeet shooting
  • Trap shooting
  • Sporting clays

10 “House Hunters” channel : HGTV

“House Hunters” is an HGTV show that follows individuals who are searching for a new home with the help of a real estate agent. Supposedly, three houses are presented to the potential buyer, and the buyer chooses one of the three. However, reality is that the buyer is already in escrow with the favored house before filming starts. The other two houses presented are those that were considered and already rejected. There are several spin-offs to the show, including “Tiny House Hunters” in which participants are looking to downsize to a house smaller than 600 square feet.

14 Kind of curriculum : CORE

A curriculum (plural “curricula”) is a set of courses offered by a teaching establishment. “Curriculum” is Latin for “running, course”, and comes from “currere” meaning “to run”.

15 Mural prefix : INTRA-

Intramural sports are conducted within a certain geographic area, as opposed to varsity sports which are played with teams outside that area. The term “intramural” comes from the Latin for “within walls” and first applied to events held between teams based within the walls of a city.

16 Nécessité for a soufflé : OEUF

In French, an “oeuf” (egg) is a “nécessité” (necessity) for a soufflé.

A soufflé is a French dish, one usually served as a dessert. The verb “souffler” means “to blow, blow up”.

17 Food thickener : AGAR

Agar (also “agar-agar”) is a jelly extracted from seaweed that has many uses. Agar is found in Japanese desserts, and can also be used as a food thickener or even as a laxative. In the world of science, it is the most common medium used for growing bacteria in Petri dishes.

18 Anti-wrinkle option : BOTOX

Botulinum toxin is produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. The toxin is a protein that can cause botulism, an extremely dangerous illness in humans and animals. Botulinum toxin is sold under the trade name “Botox”. Botox is used therapeutically and in cosmetic applications to weaken muscles, perhaps muscles that are in uncontrollable spasm. The cosmetic application involves the paralyzing of facial muscles in order to eliminate or reduce wrinkles, at least for a few months.

20 Shenanigans : MONKEY BUSINESS (“Monkey Business” – 1931)

“Monkey Business” is a 1931 Marx Brothers’ movie. Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo play four stowaways on an ocean liner crossing the Atlantic on the way to America. Notably, the brothers’ real 72-year-old father, Sam “Frenchie” Marx, makes a cameo appearance at the end of the film as his sons come off the ship.

I suppose one might be forgiven for thinking that “shenanigan” is an Irish term, as it certainly sounds Irish. Usually written in the plural, shenanigans are acts of mischief, pranks. Apparently the word is of uncertain derivation, but was coined in San Francisco and Sacramento, California in the mid-1800s.

23 Wrinkly little dog : PUG

The pug is a breed of dog of Chinese origin. Our current family pet is a boxer/pug cross, and is a good-looking mutt!

24 Gore and Green : ALS

Al Gore was born in Washington DC, and is the son of Al Gore, Sr., then a US Representative for the state of Tennessee. After deferring his military service in order to attend Harvard, the younger Gore became eligible for the draft on graduation. Many of his classmates found ways of avoiding the draft, but Gore decided to serve and even took the “tougher” option of joining the army as an enlisted man. Actor Tommy Lee Jones shared a house with Gore in college and says that his buddy told him that even if he could find a way around the draft, someone with less options than him would have to go in his place and that was just wrong.

Al Green is a gospel and soul music singer. Green was born in Arkansas, where he started out as a gospel singer and moved into R&B. In 1974, he was assaulted by a girlfriend who burned him badly on much of his body by pouring boiling grits over him (and then she committed suicide). The incident changed Green’s life and he turned to the church, becoming a pastor in Memphis in 1976. He continued to record music, but never really enjoyed the same success that he had in the early seventies with hits like “Let’s Stay Together” and “I’m Still In Love With You”.

25 Defunct supermarket chain that once had nearly 16,000 stores : A AND P

The supermarket chain commonly known as A&P is more fully called the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company. The company started out selling tea directly from plantations in China in 1859, and by cutting out the middleman became very successful selling tea at lower prices. A&P moved into groceries, still with the philosophy of undercutting prices, building large stores and even getting into legal trouble for using predatory pricing tactics. The company completely dominated the retail grocery market until competition ate into their share starting in the seventies.

36 Tropicana Field MLB team : RAYS

Tropicana Field is home to the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball.

37 “Nonsense!” : HORSEFEATHERS! (“Horse Feathers” – 1932)

“Horse Feathers” is a 1932 Marx Brothers film about college football, and in particular a game between the fictional schools Darwin and Huxley Colleges. ESPN has ranked the game depicted at the climax of the film as the best scene in football movie history.

40 Cry under a pop fly : MINE!

That would be baseball.

41 Shiraz resident : IRANIAN

The Iranian city of Shiraz has long been associated with wine, but there is no proven link between the city and the wine/grape we know today as “Shiraz” (also called “Syrah”). Having said that, some clay jars were found just outside of the city of Shiraz that contained wine; wine that was 7,000 years old!

43 Organic compound : ENOL

An enol is an alkene with a hydroxyl group, and so is part-alkene and part-alcohol. The term “enol”, therefore, is a portmanteau of “alkene” and “alcohol”.

44 Freeways and parkways : ROADS

The original parkways were scenic highways or roadways in or connecting parks. Sadly, many parkways are a lot less scenic these days, as buildings have sprouted up along the highway’s edges.

48 Store in a queue for printing : SPOOL

In the world of computing, spooling is the process of regulating transmission of data between devices. We are most familiar with spooling between fast computer applications, and relatively slow printers. Spooling takes care of buffering and queuing print jobs. Some say that the term “spool” is an acronym standing for “Simultaneous Peripheral Operations On-Line”.

50 Like some pkgs. : PPD

Prepaid (PPD)

52 India-born author Santha Rama __ : RAU

Santha Rama Rau was a travel writer from India who lived much of her life in the US. As well as writing her own books, Rau also adapted the E. M. Forster novel “A Passage to India” for the stage.

53 Nabisco product whose package formerly displayed circus cages : ANIMAL CRACKERS (“Animal Crackers” – 1930)

Animal crackers have been around in the US since the late 1800s, with the recipe/design being imported from England. The first really successful commercially-produced animal crackers were produced by Nabisco and marketed as “Barnum’s Animals”. Nabisco animal cracker cookies were first sold in the famous “circus wagon” box in 1902, as a christmas promotion. Over 40 million packages are now sold every year.

“Animal Crackers” was a successful 1928 Broadway play that was adapted into a very popular 1930 movie of the same name starring the Marx Brothers. Central to the film’s plot is the disappearance of a valuable painting during a party thrown to honor a famed African explorer (played by Groucho). Groucho has a line in the film that is listed as #53 in the American Film Institute’s “100 Greatest Movie Quotes of All Time”:

One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don’t know.

58 Soon, long ago : ANON

“Anon” originally meant “at once”, but the term’s meaning evolved into “soon” apparently just because the word was misused over time.

59 Baby’s ailment : COLIC

Baby colic is a condition in which a baby cries for no apparent reason for extended periods. At least one study has shown that breastfed babies are about half as likely to suffer from colic.

60 Oodles : LOTS

It’s thought that the term “oodles”, meaning “a lot”, comes from “kit and caboodle”.

In the idiomatic expression “the whole kit and caboodle”, “caboodle” (sometimes spelled “kaboodle”) is an informal term describing a bunch of people, or sometimes the “the whole lot”.

61 URL connection : LINK

An Internet address (like NYXCrossword.com and LAXCrossword.com) is more correctly called a Uniform Resource Locators (URL).

63 Beekeeper played by Peter Fonda : ULEE

“Ulee’s Gold” is a highly respected film from 1997 in which Peter Fonda plays the title role of Ulee. Ulee’s “gold” is the honey that Ulysses “Ulee” Jackson produces. It is a favorite role for Peter Fonda and he has shared that playing Ulee brought to mind his father Henry Fonda, who himself kept a couple of hives. So if you see Peter Fonda in “Ulee’s Gold” you’re witnessing some characteristics that Peter saw in his father.

65 Underground home of the Ninja Turtles : SEWER

The “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” started out as a parody of comic book superheroes, first appearing in a self-published comic book in 1984. A couple of years later the characters were picked up by someone who built a whole line toys around the characters, and then television and movies followed. Do you remember the names of all four of the Turtles? Their names were all taken from Renaissance artists:

  • Leonardo
  • Raphael
  • Michelangelo
  • Donatello

66 Surname of the stars of 20-, 37- and 53-Across : MARX

The five Marx Brothers were born to “Minnie” and “Frenchy” Marx in New York City. The more famous older boys were Chico, Harpo and Groucho. Zeppo was the youngest brother, and he appeared in the early Marx Brothers movies. The fifth son was called Gummo, and he decided to pursue a different career off the stage.

Down

1 Shrimp dish : SCAMPI

The Italian dish known as “scampi” is a serving of shrimp in garlic butter and dry white wine.

3 Grand Marnier flavor : ORANGE

Grand Marnier is an orange-flavored liqueur from France. It is a blend of Cognac brandy, distilled essence of bitter orange, and sugar. There is a lot of Grand Marnier consumed in France as part of desserts, especially the delicious Crêpe Suzette. The drink was created by Alexandre Marnier-Lapostolle in 1880, hence the name.

4 Central __: “Friends” coffee house : PERK

The six title characters in the sitcom “Friends” met each other in the Central Perk coffeehouse from the very first episode. There is now a Central Perk franchise in reality, with locations all around the globe. The Central Perk in Dubai was opened by actor James Michael Tyler, who played the coffeehouse manager Gunther on the show.

5 Female oracle : SIBYL

The word “sibyl” and the name “Sibyl” come from the Greek word “sibylla” meaning “prophetess”. There were many prophetic sibyls, but most famous is probably the Delphic Sibyl.

7 Words to a traitor : ET TU?

It was Shakespeare who popularized the words “Et tu, Brute?” (meaning “And you, Brutus?”). They appear in his play “Julius Caesar”, although the phrase had been around long before he penned his drama. It’s not known what Julius Caesar actually said in real life (if anything at all) as he was assassinated on on the steps of the Senate in Rome.

8 Love god : EROS

The name of “Eros”, the Greek god of love, gives rise to our word “erotic” meaning “arousing sexual desire”. Eros was referred to in Latin as both Amor (meaning “love”) and Cupid (meaning “desire”).

10 Biblical prophet : HOSEA

Hosea was one of the Twelve Prophets of the Hebrew Bible, also called the Minor Prophets of the Old Testament in the Christian Bible.

12 When general U.S. elections are held : TUESDAYS

Election day was chosen by Congress back in 1845. The month of November was selected as it suited an agricultural society, following the fall harvest and yet not too far into winter, which could make travel difficult. Tuesday was chosen so that people had time to travel to polling stations. Monday elections might have meant that some would have to start out on Sunday, and that could interfere with Christian services.

13 Ex-GIs’ gp. : VFW

The Veterans of Foreign Wars organization (VFW) is the largest association of US combat veterans in the US.

22 Catch red-handed : NAB

To be caught red-handed is to be caught in the act. The expression originated in Scotland and dates back at least to the 1400s. The red in question is blood, as in being caught with blood on one’s hands after perhaps committing a murder or an act of poaching.

26 Qt. halves : PTS

A US pint is made from 16 fluid ounces, and an imperial pint is 20 fluid ounces. The term “pint” comes into English via Old French, ultimately from the Latin “picta” meaning “painted”. The name arose from a line painted on the side of a beer glass that marked a full measure of ale.

The quart, the unit of volume, is so called because it is one quarter of a gallon.

28 Stable mother : MARE

There are lots of terms to describe horses of different ages and sexes, it seems:

  • Foal: horse of either sex that is less than one year old
  • Yearling: horse of either sex that is one to two years old
  • Filly: female horse under the age of four
  • Colt: male horse under the age of four
  • Gelding: castrated male horse of any age
  • Stallion: non-castrated male horse four years or older
  • Mare: female horse four years or older

29 Base runner’s ploy : STEAL

That would be baseball.

31 Wine province near Turin : ASTI

Asti is a city in the Piedmont region of northwest Italy. The region is perhaps most famous for its Asti Spumante sparkling white wine.

Turin (“Torino” in Italian) is a major city in the north of Italy that sits on the Po River. Back in 1861, when the Kingdom of Italy was formed, Turin was chosen as the first capital of the country.

34 Free __: carte blanche : REIN

The phrase “carte blanche” was imported from French in the early 1700s, when it was used to mean “blank paper” (in French it means “white paper”). Later in the century, the term came to mean “full discretionary power”, which is how we use the phrase today.

35 Jackson 5 hairdo : AFRO

The Jackson 5 singing group was originally made up of brothers Tito, Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael. The four eldest brothers continued to perform, using the name “The Jacksons”, after Michael went solo.

36 City that aptly rhymes with “casino” : RENO

The city of Reno’s economy took off when open gambling was legalized in Nevada in 1931. Within a short time, a syndicate had built the Bank Club in Reno, which was the largest casino in the world at the time.

37 From Latin America : HISPANIC

Back in the late 16th century, the term “Hispanic” meant “pertaining to Spain”, coming from the Latin “Hispanus” meaning “Spaniard”. Apparently, we’ve only been using “Hispanic” to describe a Spanish-speaking person of Latin-American descent since the early 1970s.

39 Capital of Canada? : HARD C

The capital letter in the word “Canada” is a hard letter C (cee).

40 Juilliard subj. : MUS

The Juilliard School, now located in the Lincoln Center in New York City, was founded in 1905 as the Institute of Musical Art. The school was named in honor of Augustus D. Juilliard, a successful textile merchant who left a substantial amount of money for the purpose of advancing music in the US. The immense popularity of the school is perhaps illustrated by its acceptance rate. In 2007 the school had 2,138 applications, and only 162 students were admitted. That’s an acceptance rate of well under 10%.

45 Colorful ring : AREOLA

An areola (sometimes “areole”) in anatomy is a small ring of color, as in the areola surrounding the nipple, and the areola surrounding the pupil of the eye. “Areola” comes from Latin, meaning “small open space”, and is a diminutive of the Latin word “area”, meaning “open space”.

47 English Channel county : SUSSEX

Sussex is a county in the very southeast of England that lies right on the English Channel. The county of Sussex has about the same boundaries as the ancient Kingdom of Sussex, a Saxon colony that existed for about five hundred years until the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Hastings, a town on the Sussex coast, was the site of the first battle of the Norman Conquest of England.

The English Channel is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean, the narrow part that separates the south of England from northern France. The French call the same body of water “La Manche”, which translates literally as “the sleeve”. At its narrowest point the Channel is just over 20 miles wide, and it indeed possible to see France from England and vice versa. Nowadays of course there is a tunnel under the channel making travel extremely convenient. When I was living and working in Europe, with the help of the Channel Tunnel, one day I had a breakfast meeting in Brussels, a lunch meeting in London, and a dinner meeting in Paris. That said, it’s a lot more fun sitting here blogging about the crossword …

50 Haggling focus : PRICE

Our verb “to haggle”, meaning “to argue about the price”, originally meant “to cut unevenly”. The suggestion is that haggling is chopping away at the price.

51 Indiana NBA player : PACER

The Indiana Pacers are the professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, who play in the NBA. The name was chosen when the team was formed in 1967. “Pacers” is a homage harness racing pacers (famed in Indiana) and the pace car used in the Indianapolis 500.

57 “America’s Got Talent” judge Heidi : KLUM

German-born Heidi Klum was married to the successful English singer, Seal. Klum is a talented lady and has built a multi-faceted career based on her early success as a model. She is the force behind the Bravo reality show called “Project Runway” that has been on the air since 2004. Klum has been nominated 4-5 times for an Emmy for her association with the show. Klum was also signed up as the official ambassador for Barbie in 2009, the 50th anniversary of the Barbie Doll, and for her service that year a Heidi Klum Barbie was produced. She has been adding a touch of class to the judging panel on the show “America’s Got Talent” since 2013.

NBC’s show “America’s Got Talent” is part of a global franchise based in the UK. The original show is called “Britain’s Got Talent”, and the whole franchise is owned by Simon Cowell. The first host of “America’s Got Talent” was Regis Philbin (2006), followed by Jerry Springer, Nick Cannon and Tyra Banks.

58 Miss. neighbor : ALA

Alabama is known as the Yellowhammer State, in honor of the state bird. Alabama is also called the “Heart of Dixie”.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Sow chow : SLOP
5 Sport with clay disks : SKEET
10 “House Hunters” channel : HGTV
14 Kind of curriculum : CORE
15 Mural prefix : INTRA-
16 Nécessité for a soufflé : OEUF
17 Food thickener : AGAR
18 Anti-wrinkle option : BOTOX
19 Hearty bowlful : STEW
20 Shenanigans : MONKEY BUSINESS (“Monkey Business” – 1931)
23 Wrinkly little dog : PUG
24 Gore and Green : ALS
25 Defunct supermarket chain that once had nearly 16,000 stores : A AND P
27 Lines on a list : ITEMS
29 Thick slice : SLAB
32 Break bread : EAT
33 Adds bubbles to : AERATES
36 Tropicana Field MLB team : RAYS
37 “Nonsense!” : HORSEFEATHERS! (“Horse Feathers” – 1932)
40 Cry under a pop fly : MINE!
41 Shiraz resident : IRANIAN
42 Find a job for : USE
43 Organic compound : ENOL
44 Freeways and parkways : ROADS
48 Store in a queue for printing : SPOOL
50 Like some pkgs. : PPD
52 India-born author Santha Rama __ : RAU
53 Nabisco product whose package formerly displayed circus cages : ANIMAL CRACKERS (“Animal Crackers” – 1930)
58 Soon, long ago : ANON
59 Baby’s ailment : COLIC
60 Oodles : LOTS
61 URL connection : LINK
62 Tiny amount : TRACE
63 Beekeeper played by Peter Fonda : ULEE
64 Deck quartet : ACES
65 Underground home of the Ninja Turtles : SEWER
66 Surname of the stars of 20-, 37- and 53-Across : MARX

Down

1 Shrimp dish : SCAMPI
2 Leave a chat room, say : LOG OUT
3 Grand Marnier flavor : ORANGE
4 Central __: “Friends” coffee house : PERK
5 Female oracle : SIBYL
6 Drawer handles : KNOBS
7 Words to a traitor : ET TU?
8 Love god : EROS
9 Roll to the runway : TAXI
10 Biblical prophet : HOSEA
11 Comes close to : GETS NEAR
12 When general U.S. elections are held : TUESDAYS
13 Ex-GIs’ gp. : VFW
21 Makes less difficult : EASES
22 Catch red-handed : NAB
26 Qt. halves : PTS
28 Stable mother : MARE
29 Base runner’s ploy : STEAL
30 Like tough economic times : LEAN
31 Wine province near Turin : ASTI
34 Free __: carte blanche : REIN
35 Jackson 5 hairdo : AFRO
36 City that aptly rhymes with “casino” : RENO
37 From Latin America : HISPANIC
38 Like a typical therapy session : ONE-ON-ONE
39 Capital of Canada? : HARD C
40 Juilliard subj. : MUS
43 Shade tree : ELM
45 Colorful ring : AREOLA
46 Quick mover : DARTER
47 English Channel county : SUSSEX
49 Sty chorus : OINKS
50 Haggling focus : PRICE
51 Indiana NBA player : PACER
54 Show parts : ACTS
55 Handed-down stories : LORE
56 Crab’s grabber : CLAW
57 “America’s Got Talent” judge Heidi : KLUM
58 Miss. neighbor : ALA