LA Times Crossword Answers 23 Jul 2018, Monday

Advertisement

[ad_above_grid]

Advertisement

Advertisement

Constructed by: Kurt Mengel & Jan-Michele Gianette
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Country Cooking

Themed answers are COOKED foods named for a COUNTRY:

  • 52A. Rural cuisine … and what 20-, 31- and 39-Across are examples of? : COUNTRY COOKING
  • 20A. Toasted breakfast breads : ENGLISH MUFFINS
  • 31A. Eggy breakfast dish : SPANISH OMELET
  • 47

  • 39A. Ham-like breakfast meat : CANADIAN BACON

Bill’s time: 5m 11s

Bill’s errors: 0

Advertisement

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. Gelatin garnish : ASPIC

Aspic is a dish in which the main ingredients are served in a gelatin made from meat stock. “Aspic” is a French word meaning “jelly”.

10. Blue-roofed eatery : IHOP

The International House of Pancakes (IHOP) was founded back in 1958. IHOP was originally intended to be called IHOE, the International House of Eggs, but that name didn’t do too well in marketing tests!

17. Donald’s second ex : MARLA

Marla Maples was the second wife of Donald Trump. Maples and Trump dated secretly for a couple of years while Trump was still married to his first wife Ivana. When Ivana discovered the affair, she filed for divorce, and eventually Donald and Marla married. It was Trump’s turn to file for divorce several years later after the National Enquirer outed Marla for having an affair with a Florida bodyguard.

18. Highlands native : GAEL

A Gael is anyone of a race that speaks or spoke one of the Erse tongues. There are actually three Erse languages. Irish, Manx (spoken on the Isle of Man) and Scots Gaelic. In their own tongues, these would be Gaeilge (in Ireland), Gaelg (on the Isle of Man) and Gaidhlig (in Scotland).

The Scottish Highlands are that part of the country not classified as the Lowlands(!). The Highlands make up the north and west of Scotland.

19. Tiny fraction of a min. : NSEC

“Nanosecond” is more correctly abbreviated to “ns” (as opposed to “nsec”) and really is a tiny amount of time: one billionth of a second.

20. Toasted breakfast breads : ENGLISH MUFFINS

In North America, a muffin is a sweet, cupcake-like sweetbread. In Great Britain and Ireland, a muffin is a part-raised flatbread that is usually leavened with yeast. The latter is referred to as an “English muffin” here in North America.

24. Small songbirds : TITS

The birds known as chickadees or titmice in North America, are usually called simply “tits” in the rest of the English-speaking world.

27. One-thousandth of a gig : MEG

In the world of computing, a bit is the basic unit of information. It has a value of 0 or 1. A “byte” is a small collection of “bits” (usually 8), the number of bits needed to uniquely identify a character of text. The prefix mega- stands for 10 to the power of 6, so a megabyte (meg) is 1,000,000 bytes. The prefix giga- means 10 to the power of 9, and so a gigabyte (gig) is 1,000,000,000 bytes. Well, those are the SI definitions of megabyte and gigabyte. The purists still use 2 to the power of 20 for a megabyte (i.e. 1,048,576), and 2 to the power of 30 for a gigabyte.

28. Letters indicating a sellout : SRO

Standing room only (SRO)

30. Kissing on a busy ave., say : PDA

Public display of affection (PDA)

31. Eggy breakfast dish : SPANISH OMELET

What we refer to as a Spanish omelet is known as a “tortilla española” in Spanish cuisine. The basic version of the dish is made with eggs and potatoes, and possibly some onion.

35. Lago contents : AGUA

In Spanish, “un lago” (a lake) contains “agua” (water).

37. Dutch Golden Age artist : STEEN

Jan Steen was a painter from the Netherlands who was active in the Dutch Golden Age, the 17th century. Steen’s most famous work is probably “The Feast of Saint Nicholas”, which we can see at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

38. Rogues : CADS

Our word “cad”, meaning “a person lacking in finer feelings”, is a shortening of the word “cadet”. “Cad” was first used for a servant, and then students at British universities used “cad” as a term for a boy from the local town. “Cad” took on its current meaning in the 1830s.

39. Ham-like breakfast meat : CANADIAN BACON

What we tend to call “Canadian bacon” in the US, we know as “rashers” on the other side of the Atlantic. One of my uncles worked in the meat trade in Dublin, and his nickname was “Rasher”.

42. Bowling initials : AMF

AMF Bowling Centers is an operator of bowling alleys, and is in fact the largest such company in the world.

43. USN rank : ENS

Ensign is (usually) the most junior rank of commissioned officer in the armed forces. The name comes from the tradition that the junior officer would be given the task of carrying the ensign flag.

44. Chaney of old chillers : LON

Lon Chaney, Sr. played a lot of crazed-looking characters in the days of silent movies. He did much of his own make-up work, developing the grotesque appearances that became his trademark, and earning himself the nickname “the man of a thousand faces”. Most famous were his portrayals of the title characters in the films “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1923) and “The Phantom of the Opera” (1925).

45. American rival : DELTA

Delta was the world’s largest airline for a while (after merging with Northwest Airlines in 2008) and is also the oldest airline still operating in the US. Delta’s roots go back to 1924 before it started carrying passengers and was called Huff Daland Dusters, a crop dusting company based in Macon, Georgia. The name Delta Air Service was introduced in 1928.

49. School support org. : PTA

Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)

57. “It __ over till it’s over”: Berra : AIN’T

Yogi Berra is regarded by many as the greatest catcher ever to play in Major League Baseball, and has to be America’s most celebrated “author” of malapropisms. Here are some greats:

  • It ain’t over till it’s over.
  • 90% of the game is half mental.
  • Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.
  • When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
  • It’s déjà vu all over again.
  • Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t go to yours.
  • A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.

58. Eagle claw : TALON

A talon is a claw of a bird of prey. The term “talon” ultimately derives from “talus”, the Latin word for “ankle”.

60. __ Reader : UTNE

The “Utne Reader” is known for aggregation and republishing of articles on politics, culture and the environment from other sources in the media. The “Utne Reader” was founded in 1984 by Eric Utne, with management taken over by Eric’s wife Nina Rothschild Utne in 1990.

62. Cajun veggie : OKRA

The plant known as okra is mainly grown for it edible green pods. The pods are said to resemble “ladies’ fingers”, which is an alternative name for the plant. Okra is known as “ngombo” in Bantu, a name that might give us the word “gumbo”, the name for the name of the southern Louisiana stew that includes okra as a key ingredient.

Cajun cuisine is named for the French-speaking Acadian people who were deported from Acadia in Canada to Louisiana in the 18th century.

Down

3. Lover of Bess, in Gershwin : PORGY

“Porgy and Bess” is an opera with music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and libretto by DuBose Heyward. The storyline of the opera is based on the novel “Porgy” written by DuBose Heyward and and wife Dorothy. “Porgy and Bess” was first performed in 1935, in New York City, but really wasn’t accepted as legitimate opera until 1976 after a landmark production by the Houston Grand Opera. The most famous song from the piece is probably the wonderful aria “Summertime”.

5. Indian spiced drink : CHAI TEA

Chai is a drink made from spiced black tea, honey and milk, with “chai” being the Hindi word for “tea”. We often called tea “a cup of char” growing up in Ireland, with “char” being our slang word for tea, derived from “chai”.

7. President between Washington and Jefferson : ADAMS

John Adams was the second President of the United States. I must admit that I learned much of what I know about President Adams in the excellent, excellent HBO series “John Adams”, which is based on David McCullough’s 2001 biography of the same name. Having said that, I have also visited the Adams home in Quincy, Massachusetts several times. He was clearly a great man with a great intellect …

8. Cheese couleur : BLEU

Being a bit of a French speaker (admittedly, a very poor one), the term “bleu” cheese has always kind of irritated me. I would prefer that we use either “blue cheese” or “fromage bleu” and not mix the languages, but then I can be annoyingly picky! It’s said that blue cheese was probably discovered accidentally, as molds tend to develop in the same conditions that are best for storing cheese. The blue mold in the cheese is introduced by adding Penicillium spores before the cheese is allowed to set. And yes, it’s the same mold that is used to produce penicillin, the antibiotic.

10. Type of navel : INNIE

The navel is basically a scar left behind when the umbilical cord is removed from a newborn baby. One interesting use of the umbilicus (navel, belly button) is to differentiate between identical twins, especially when they are very young.

13. __-12 Conference : PAC

Pac-12 an abbreviation for the Pacific-12 Conference, a college athletic conference in the western US. The Pac-12 has won more NCAA National Team Championships than any other conference. The Pac-12 was founded in 1915 as the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC). Over time as it grew, the conference went by the names Big Five, Big Six, Pacific-8, Pacific-10 and became the Pacific-12 in 2011.

26. Back muscles, briefly : LATS

The muscles known as the “lats” are the latissimi dorsi, and are the broadest muscles in the back. “Latissimus” is the Latin for “broadest” and “dorsum” is Latin for “back”.

27. Film-rating org. : MPAA

The Motion Picture Association of America’s (MPAA) film-rating system (PG-13, R, etc.) is purely voluntary and is not backed by any law. Movie theaters agree to abide by the rules that come with the MPAA ratings in exchange for access to new movies.

28. “The Purple People Eater” singer Wooley : SHEB

As well as having his huge hit in 1958 called “The Purple People Eater”, Sheb Wooley played Ben Miller in the movie “High Noon” and co-starred in the TV’s “Rawhide”, playing the role of Pete Nolan. Wooley also wrote the theme song for the long-running television show “Hee Haw”.

29. Brazilian soccer immortal : RONALDO

Brazilian soccer star Ronaldo de Lima is usually referred to simply as “Ronaldo”. Nicknamed “O Fenômeno” (The Phenomenon), Ronaldo was named FIFA’s World Player of the Year three times. He retired in 2011.

31. Bloom with edible seeds : SUNFLOWER

The common sunflower is so called because it has a flower head that looks like the Sun. Famously, young sunflowers exhibit heliotropism, tilting during the day to face the sun. As the sunflowers mature and bloom, they generally face east and no longer track the movement of the Sun across the sky.

33. One of a D.C. 100 : SEN

The US Senate comprises 100 senators, with each of the fifty states being represented by two popularly elected senators. US senators were appointed by their state legislators from 1798 until 1913, until the Seventh Amendment called for popular elections.

34. Business maj. : ECON

A business major (maj.) probably studied economics (econ.).

35. USNA part: Abbr. : ACAD

The United States Naval Academy (USNA) is located in Annapolis, Maryland. The USNA was founded in 1845 and educates officers for both the US Navy and the US Marine Corps. The motto of the USNA is “Ex Scientia Tridens”, which translates as “From Knowledge, Sea Power”.

36. South Carolina athlete : GAMECOCK

The University of South Carolina’s sports teams have used the moniker “Gamecocks” since about 1900. The name was chosen in honor of a South Carolina revolutionary war hero named Thomas Sumter. Sumter’s nickname was “the Carolina Gamecock”, as British General Banastre Tarleton once said that Sumter “fought like a gamecock”.

40. Jimmy on sausage labels : DEAN

The Jimmy Dean brand of sausage was introduced in 1969 by singer and actor Jimmy Dean. Although he was at the height of his singing and acting career in 1950s and 1960s, I best remember Dean for playing reclusive billionaire Willard Whyte in the 1971 James Bond film “Diamonds Are Forever”.

41. Howling canines : COYOTES

The coyote is a canine found in most of Central and North America. The name “coyote” is Mexican Spanish, in which language it means “trickster”. Coyotes can sometimes mate with domestic dogs, creating hybrid animals known as “coydogs”. Coyotes can also mate with wolves, creating a “coywolf”. South Dakota named the coyote its state animal in 1949.

46. Oklahoma city : TULSA

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.

47. Jeff of ELO : LYNNE

Jeff Lynne is a singer-songwriter who is best known as the leader of the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). Lynne went on to form the Traveling Wilburys supergroup, along with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty.

50. Fed. security : T-NOTE

A Treasury note (T-note) is a government debt that matures in 1-10 years. A T-note has a coupon (interest) payment made every six months. The T-note is purchased at a discount to face value, and at the date of maturity can be redeemed at that face value. A T-bill is a similar financial vehicle, but it matures in one year or less, and a T-bond matures in 20-30 years.

51. Dancer de Mille : AGNES

Agnes de Mille was a dancer and choreographer from New York City. She was the niece of famous director Cecil B. DeMille, and the daughter of William C. deMille who was also a Hollywood director. Agnes turned to dance after she was told that she was “not pretty enough” to pursue her first love, which was acting …

54. Bar mitzvah, for one : RITE

A Jewish girl becomes a Bat Mitzvah at 12 years of age, the age at which she becomes responsible for her actions. Boys become Bar Mitzvahs at 13. The terms translate into English as daughter and son of the commandments.

55. __ Sutra : KAMA

“The Kama Sutra” is renowned for its descriptions of positions that can be used for sexual intercourse, but the sutra includes many other texts that deal with various matters of a sexual nature, including how to woo a woman, the conduct of a “chief wife”, the conduct of “other wives”, how to make money as a courtesan, and much more.

56. Toy store __ Schwarz : FAO

FAO Schwarz was perhaps the most famous, and certainly the oldest, toy store in the United States. The FAO Schwarz outlet on Fifth Avenue in New York City closed in 2015. This store was famously used in several Hollywood movies. For example, it was home to the Walking Piano that Tom Hanks played in the movie “Big”.

Advertisement

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Gelatin garnish : ASPIC
6. Bio course components : LABS
10. Blue-roofed eatery : IHOP
14. Fabric : CLOTH
15. At rest : IDLE
16. Gramma : NANA
17. Donald’s second ex : MARLA
18. Highlands native : GAEL
19. Tiny fraction of a min. : NSEC
20. Toasted breakfast breads : ENGLISH MUFFINS
23. Pig’s home : STY
24. Small songbirds : TITS
25. Apply more lubrication to : RE-OIL
27. One-thousandth of a gig : MEG
28. Letters indicating a sellout : SRO
30. Kissing on a busy ave., say : PDA
31. Eggy breakfast dish : SPANISH OMELET
35. Lago contents : AGUA
37. Dutch Golden Age artist : STEEN
38. Rogues : CADS
39. Ham-like breakfast meat : CANADIAN BACON
42. Bowling initials : AMF
43. USN rank : ENS
44. Chaney of old chillers : LON
45. American rival : DELTA
47. Lord’s partner : LADY
49. School support org. : PTA
52. Rural cuisine … and what 20-, 31- and 39-Across are examples of? : COUNTRY COOKING
56. Duck or goose : FOWL
57. “It __ over till it’s over”: Berra : AIN’T
58. Eagle claw : TALON
59. Non-returnable serves : ACES
60. __ Reader : UTNE
61. Overact : EMOTE
62. Cajun veggie : OKRA
63. Propped (up), as a golf ball : TEED
64. Fills completely : SATES

Down

1. Pinnacles : ACMES
2. Journalist’s angle : SLANT
3. Lover of Bess, in Gershwin : PORGY
4. “__ never work!” : IT’LL
5. Indian spiced drink : CHAI TEA
6. Illumination : LIGHT
7. President between Washington and Jefferson : ADAMS
8. Cheese couleur : BLEU
9. Word before portrait or pity : SELF-
10. Type of navel : INNIE
11. Is unprepared : HAS NO PLAN
12. Like a landslide win : ONE-SIDED
13. __-12 Conference : PAC
21. Records one’s arrival on a register : SIGNS IN
22. Starting at : FROM
26. Back muscles, briefly : LATS
27. Film-rating org. : MPAA
28. “The Purple People Eater” singer Wooley : SHEB
29. Brazilian soccer immortal : RONALDO
31. Bloom with edible seeds : SUNFLOWER
32. “Take __ a challenge” : IT AS
33. One of a D.C. 100 : SEN
34. Business maj. : ECON
35. USNA part: Abbr. : ACAD
36. South Carolina athlete : GAMECOCK
40. Jimmy on sausage labels : DEAN
41. Howling canines : COYOTES
46. Oklahoma city : TULSA
47. Jeff of ELO : LYNNE
48. Played a part : ACTED
49. Plane flier : PILOT
50. Fed. security : T-NOTE
51. Dancer de Mille : AGNES
53. Pulled tight : TAUT
54. Bar mitzvah, for one : RITE
55. __ Sutra : KAMA
56. Toy store __ Schwarz : FAO

Advertisement