LA Times Crossword 30 Sep 20, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Jeff Stillman
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Say Uncle

Themed answers each start with a famous UNCLE:

  • 57A Give up, or what you might do before the starts of the answers to starred clues : SAY UNCLE
  • 20A *Founding Father who inherited a malthouse : SAM ADAMS (giving “Uncle Sam”)
  • 25A *”War and Peace” author : LEO TOLSTOY (giving “Uncle Leo”)
  • 37A *”Hee Haw” cohost : BUCK OWENS (giving “Uncle Buck”)
  • 51A *Outlaw associate of Cole Younger : JESSE JAMES (giving “Uncle Jesse”)

Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 5m 56s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

10 “Capisce?” response : I SEE

“Capeesh?” is a slang term meaning “do you understand?” It comes from the Italian “capisce” meaning “understand”.

15 Lunch box treat : OREO

How the Oreo cookie came to get its name seems to have been lost in the mists of time. One theory is that it comes from the French “or” meaning “gold”, a reference to the gold color of the original packing. Another suggestion is that the name is the Greek word “oreo” meaning “beautiful, nice, well-done”.

17 Cliff dwelling : AERIE

An aerie is an eagle’s nest, and is also known as an “eyrie”. The term “aerie” more generally describes any bird’s nest that is located on a cliff or a mountaintop.

18 Caboose : REAR

The word “caboose” originally came from Middle Dutch and was the word for a ship’s galley. When the last car in a train in North America was given a stove for the comfort of the crew, it took on the name “caboose”. The term has also become slang for a person’s backside.

19 Kuwaiti ruler : EMIR

An emir is a prince or chieftain, one most notably from the Middle East in Islamic countries. In English, “emir” can also be written variously as “emeer, amir, ameer” (watch out for those spellings in crosswords!).

The State of Kuwait sits at the northern tip of the Persian Gulf, famously sharing a border to the north with Iraq. After WWI, Kuwait was a Protectorate within the British Empire and then gained independence from the UK in 1961. Iraq annexed Kuwait in 1990, which led to the Gulf War of 1990-1991.

20 *Founding Father who inherited a malthouse : SAM ADAMS (giving “Uncle Sam”)

Samuel Adams was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, from Boston Massachusetts. Adams followed his father into the family’s malthouse business a few years after young Samuel graduated from Harvard. There were generations of Adams family members who were “maltsters” i.e. those producing malt needed for making beer. Samuel Adams is often described as a brewer, but he was actually a malster. The Samuel Adams brand of beer (often referred to as “Sam Adams”) isn’t directly associated with the Adams family, but it is named in honor of the patriot.

The Uncle Sam personification of the United States was first used during the War of 1812. The “Uncle Sam” term was so widely accepted that even the Germans used it during WWII, choosing the code word “Samland” for “America” in intelligence communiques.

22 Packs down : TAMPS

To tamp is to pack down tightly by tapping. “Tamp” was originally used specifically to describe the action of packing down sand or dirt around an explosive prior to detonation.

24 Many corp. logos : TMS

Trademark (TM)

25 *”War and Peace” author : LEO TOLSTOY (giving “Uncle Leo”)

Russian author Leo Tolstoy is best known for his novels “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina”. He also wrote the much-respected novellas “Hadji Murad” and “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”.

I have to confess that I have tried to read Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” twice in my life, and failed both times (it is l-o-n-g; 1,225 pages in the first published edition). Even though the 1956 movie adaptation runs for 3 1/2 hours, it’s still the easy way out! The film version stars Audrey Hepburn as Natasha Rostova and Henry Fonda as Count Pierre Bezukhov.

On the sitcom “Seinfeld”, Jerry’s eccentric maternal uncle is Leo, played by actor Len Lesser. Lesser acted in movies and television for many years, alongside some of the greats of stage and screen. He was fond of telling a marvelous story about acting in the 1973 film “Papillon” starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. In his role as a prison guard, Lesser was required to shove McQueen, but McQueen didn’t think that Lesser was pushing him roughly enough. He turned to Lesser and told him “Don’t think of me as a movie star. Think of me as a character in a show”, encouraging him to be more aggressive. When McQueen walked away, Hoffman was left standing there beside Lesser. He paused and quietly said to Lesser, “Think of me as a movie star …”

37 *”Hee Haw” cohost : BUCK OWENS (giving “Uncle Buck”)

Buck Owens was a very successful country star along with his backing band, the Buckaroos. Owens had 21 number one hits in the country music charts, but never had a record that successfully crossed over to the popular charts. From 1968 to 1986, Owens was the co-host of the TV show “Hee Haw”.

The variety show “Hee Haw” aired on CBS from 1969-1971, and then had a 20-year run in syndication. The show was built around country music, although the format was inspired by “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh In”.

“Uncle Buck” is a 1989 comedy movie starring John Candy in the title role. The film was fairly well received, but two TV spin-offs were not. The 1990 TV show “Uncle Buck” starred Kevin Meaney as Buck, and it ran for 16 episodes before being canceled with 6 episodes filmed and unaired. The 2016 sitcom “Uncle Buck” starred Mike Epps, and ran for only 8 episodes.

40 Backboard attachment : RIM

That would be basketball.

44 Type of pool or wave : TIDAL

A tidal pool (also “rock pool”) is a pool of seawater that is left along a rocky coastline after an ebb tide.

Even though the terms “tidal wave” and “tsunami” are often used interchangeably by the lay person, scientists use the terms to describe two related but different phenomena. A tsunami is an ocean wave triggered by the large displacement of water caused by a large earthquake (usually). A tidal wave is a wave triggered by the displacement of water under the gravitational influence of the Sun, Moon and Earth.

49 QB’s miss, maybe : INT

Interception (int.)

50 Former Spanish currency : PESETA

The peseta is the former currency of Spain and the de facto currency of Spain’s neighbor, the Principality of Andorra. The peseta was replaced by the euro in 2002.

51 *Outlaw associate of Cole Younger : JESSE JAMES (giving “Uncle Jesse”)

Jesse James was an outlaw from Missouri who became a legendary figure of the Wild West. James somehow earned the reputation that he was a Robin Hood figure, robbing the rich and giving to the poor, but in fact this is far from the truth. After being chased persistently by law enforcement officers, he was eventually killed by one of his own gang members who hoped to collect a reward. As soon as newspapers reported his death in 1882, rumors started that Jesse James had in fact survived. Eventually, the body buried in the grave marked with Jesse James’ name was exhumed in 1995, and DNA testing showed that almost certainly it was the resting place of the infamous outlaw.

Cole Younger was an infamous outlaw who joined a gang led by Archie Clements after the Civil War. After Clements was killed, Younger remained as a senior member of the gang alongside his brother Jim, John and Bob, and alongside Jesse and Frank James. The resulting James-Younger Gang featured heavily in the press as they successfully robbed banks across the Midwest.

Uncle Jesse is a character on the sitcom “Full House” that aired in the eighties and nineties. Jesse Katsopolis, played by John Stamos, is Danny Tanner’s brother-in-law. Widower Danny enlists Jesse and a friend to help raise his three daughters.

57 Give up, or what you might do before the starts of the answers to starred clues : SAY UNCLE

To say uncle is to submit or yield. This peculiarly American use of “uncle” dates back to the early 1900s, but nobody seems to know how “uncle!” came to mean “stop!”

61 Day for Caesar to beware : IDES

There were three important days in each month of the old Roman calendar. These days originally depended on the cycles of the moon but were eventually “fixed” by law. “Kalendae” were the first days of each month, originally the days of the new moon. “Nonae” were originally the days of the half moon. And “idus” (the ides) was originally the day of the full moon, eventually fixed at the 15th day of a month. Well, actually the ides were the 15th day of March, May, July and October. For all other months, the ides fell on the 13th. Go figure …

In Act I of William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”, a soothsayer warns the doomed leader to “beware the ides of March”. Caesar ignores the prophecy and is subsequently killed on the steps of the Capitol by a group of conspirators on that fateful day.

63 Track specialist : MILER

The 4-minute barrier for the mile run was first broken in 1954 by Roger Bannister, when he finished in just over 3m 59s. If you plan on running a 4-minute mile, you should probably be warned that this means you have to run the whole race at an average speed of over 15 mph (do the math!).

64 Mathematician Turing : ALAN

Alan Turing was an English mathematician. He was well-respected for his code-breaking work during WWII at Bletchley Park in England. However, despite his contributions to cracking the German Enigma code and other crucial work, Turing was prosecuted for homosexuality in 1952. He agreed to chemical castration, treatment with female hormones, and then two years later he committed suicide by taking cyanide. Turing’s life story is told in the 2014 film “The Imitation Game” with Benedict Cumberbatch playing the lead. I thoroughly enjoyed that film …

67 “SNL” segment : SKIT

NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) was named “NBC’s Saturday Night” during its first season. This was to differentiate it from the ABC show airing at that time, called “Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell”. Chevy Chase uttered the famous line “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night” in the very first SNL episode on October 11, 1975. That careful wording has persisted, even though the NBC show’s name was changed to “Saturday Night Live” after Cosell’s show went off the air in 1976.

Down

1 To the stars, in mottos : AD ASTRA

“Ad Astra” translates from Latin as “To the Stars”, as in the title of the magazine published by the National Space Society, and as in the motto of my alma mater, University College Dublin …

4 Capital of Samoa : APIA

Apia is the capital city, and in fact the only city, of the Pacific island-nation of Samoa. The harbor of Apia is famous for a very foolish incident in 1889 involving seven naval vessels from Germany, the US and Britain. A typhoon was approaching so the safest thing to do was to head for open water away from land, but no nation would move its ships for fear of losing face in front of others. Six of the ships were lost in the typhoon as a result and 200 American and German sailors perished. The British cruiser HMS Calliope barely managed to escape from the harbor and rode out the storm safely. Apia is also known as the home of writer Robert Louis Stevenson, for the last four years of his life.

8 __ of Tranquility: lunar plain : SEA

The Moon’s Mare Tranquillitatis (Latin for “Sea of Tranquility”) was named in 1651 by astronomers Francesco Grimaldi and Giovanni Battista Riccioli. Famously, the first manned landing on the Moon was in the Sea of Tranquility, when the Apollo 11 Lunar Module named Eagle touched down there in 1969. However, the first man-made vehicle to reach the Sea of Tranquility arrived four years earlier. The Ranger 8 spacecraft was deliberately crashed there in 1965, sending back thousands of photographs to Earth in the last 23 minutes of its mission.

9 Fabled slowpoke : TORTOISE

“The Tortoise and the Hare” is perhaps the most famous fable attributed to Aesop. The cocky hare takes a nap during a race against the tortoise, and the tortoise sneaks past the finish line for the win while his speedier friend is sleeping.

10 Tabloid twosomes : ITEMS

An unmarried couple known to be involved with each other might appear in the gossip columns. This appearance as “an item” in the papers, led to the use of “item” to refer to such a couple, but only since the very early seventies.

21 Pilot’s datum: Abbr. : ALT

Altitude (alt.)

23 Pasta preference : AL DENTE

The Italian expression “al dente” literally means “to the tooth” or “to the bite” and is used to describe not only pasta, but also vegetables that are cooked so that they are tender and yet still crisp.

27 Source of pliable wood : YEW

Yew is the wood of choice for the longbow, a valued weapon in the history of England. The longbow is constructed with a core of yew heartwood (as the heartwood resists compression) that has a sheath of yew sapwood (as the sapwood resists stretching). The yew was in such demand for longbows that for centuries yew trees were in short supply in Britain and the wood had to be imported from all over Europe.

29 Diplomatic HQ : EMB

Embassy (emb.)

30 Relatively risqué : SAUCIER

“Risqué” is a French word, the past participle of the verb meaning “to risk”. So in English we use “risqué” to mean “racy”, but in French it means “risky”.

34 Muscular Japanese dog : AKITA

The Akita breed of dog is named for its point of origin, Akita Prefecture in Japan. When Helen Keller visited Japan in 1937, she asked for and was given an Akita breed of dog, with the name of Kamikaze-go. Sadly, the dog died within a year from distemper. The following year the Japanese government officially presented Keller with a replacement dog. Supposedly Keller’s dogs were the first members of the breed to be introduced into the US.

35 Big tin exporter of S.A. : BOL

Bolivia is a landlocked country in South America, bordered by Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Peru and Argentina. The land now occupied by Bolivia was originally part of the Inca Empire. The country declared independence from Spain in 1809, which led to 16 years of war. When the Republic was finally named, “Bolivia” was chosen in honor of Venezuelan-born revolutionary leader, Simón Bolívar.

40 Indian friend of Sheldon and Leonard : RAJ

Raj Koothrappali is a character on the sitcom “The Big Bang Theory” who is played by British-Indian actor Kunal Nayyar. Nayyar is married to Neha Kapur, a former Miss India.

On “The Big Bang Theory” sitcom, the character Sheldon Cooper is played by Jim Parsons. The original casting called for Johnny Galecki to play Cooper, but Galecki thought that he was more suited to play Leonard Hofstadter. Sheldon is played by child actor Iain Armitage in the spinoff “Young Sheldon”.

42 Pentateuch peak: Abbr. : MT SINAI

According to the Bible, Mount Sinai is the mountain on which Moses was given the Ten Commandments. The Biblical Mount Sinai is probably not the mountain in Egypt that today has the same name, although this is the subject of much debate. The Egyptian Mount Sinai has two developed routes that one can take to reach the summit. The longer gentler climb takes about 2 1/2 hours, but there is also the steeper climb up the 3,750 “steps of penitence”.

“The Pentateuch” is the name given to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.

45 Mammal’s digit that doesn’t touch the ground : DEWCLAW

A dewclaw is a vestigial digit on the foot of many mammals, birds and reptiles. It is easily seen on the paw of a dog, where it is sometimes referred to as a dog’s “thumb”.

46 Wheaties box adorner : ATHLETE

Wheaties were introduced to the world in 1924, making it the oldest cereal produced by General Mills. The idea of mixing wheat and bran together into a cereal was the result of an accidental spill of wheat bran into a stove. The product was first called Washburn’s Gold Medal Whole Wheat Flakes, and this was changed to Wheaties after an employee contest to find a better name.

47 Like lasagna, say : LAYERED

“Lasagna” was originally the name of a cooking pot, but the term came to mean a dish that was cooked in it. “Lasagna” also became the name of the flat noodle used in the dish. If you order lasagna on the other side of the Atlantic, you’ll notice the “lasagne” spelling, the plural of “lasagna”. The plural is used as there is more than one layer of pasta in the dish.

50 “Gangnam Style” performer : PSY

“PSY” is the stage name of South Korean rapper Park Jae-sang. PSY became an international star when his 2012 music video “Gangnam Style” went viral on YouTube. That video had over 1 billion views on YouTube in about six months, making it the most viewed YouTube video clip of all time.

53 There are 60,000 of them in a min. : MSECS

A millisecond is one thousandth of a second, and is often abbreviated to “msec”. However, the more correct abbreviation for millisecond is “ms”.

58 Rules on plays : UMPS

Back in the 15th century, “an umpire” was referred to as “a noumpere”, which was misheard and hence causing the dropping of the initial letter N. The term “noumpere” came from Old French “nonper” meaning “not even, odd number”. The idea was that the original umpire was a third person called on to arbitrate between two, providing that “odd number” needed to decide the dispute.

59 Cairo’s river : NILE

Depending on definition, the Nile is regarded generally as the longest river on the planet. The Nile forms from two major tributaries, the White Nile and the Blue Nile, which join together near Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. From Khartoum the Nile flows north, traveling almost entirely through desert making it central to life for those living along its length.

Cairo is the capital city of Egypt. It is nicknamed “The City of a Thousand Minarets” because of its impressive skyline replete with Islamic architecture. The name “Cairo” is a European corruption of the city’s original name in Arabic, “Al-Qahira”.

60 Vegas opener : LAS …

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).

62 Lunes or martes : DIA

In Spanish, “lunes y martes” (Monday and Tuesday) are “dias” (days).

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Contentious marketing clash : AD WAR
6 Firmly fixed : FAST
10 “Capisce?” response : I SEE
14 Hang loosely : DRAPE
15 Lunch box treat : OREO
16 Work at a keyboard : TYPE
17 Cliff dwelling : AERIE
18 Caboose : REAR
19 Kuwaiti ruler : EMIR
20 *Founding Father who inherited a malthouse : SAM ADAMS (giving “Uncle Sam”)
22 Packs down : TAMPS
24 Many corp. logos : TMS
25 *”War and Peace” author : LEO TOLSTOY (giving “Uncle Leo”)
28 Student’s second try : RETEST
31 Went undercover : HID
32 Poem of homage : ODE
33 Kitchen enticement : AROMA
34 Demean : ABASE
36 Litter sound : MEW
37 *”Hee Haw” cohost : BUCK OWENS (giving “Uncle Buck”)
40 Backboard attachment : RIM
43 Snaky formations : COILS
44 Type of pool or wave : TIDAL
48 Make a move : ACT
49 QB’s miss, maybe : INT
50 Former Spanish currency : PESETA
51 *Outlaw associate of Cole Younger : JESSE JAMES (giving “Uncle Jesse”)
55 Wondering word : WHY?
56 Extremely small : MICRO
57 Give up, or what you might do before the starts of the answers to starred clues : SAY UNCLE
60 Class of merchandise : LINE
61 Day for Caesar to beware : IDES
63 Track specialist : MILER
64 Mathematician Turing : ALAN
65 “Great shot!” : NICE!
66 Serving holder : PLATE
67 “SNL” segment : SKIT
68 Fresh talk : SASS
69 Embroidered, say : SEWED

Down

1 To the stars, in mottos : AD ASTRA
2 One with aspirations : DREAMER
3 Becomes fond of : WARMS TO
4 Capital of Samoa : APIA
5 Wetland plant : REED
6 Gift recipient’s surprised query : FOR ME?
7 Playground comeback : ARE SO!
8 __ of Tranquility: lunar plain : SEA
9 Fabled slowpoke : TORTOISE
10 Tabloid twosomes : ITEMS
11 Chills or fever : SYMPTOM
12 Single show : EPISODE
13 Poetic contraction : E’ER
21 Pilot’s datum: Abbr. : ALT
23 Pasta preference : AL DENTE
26 Warming periods : THAWS
27 Source of pliable wood : YEW
29 Diplomatic HQ : EMB
30 Relatively risqué : SAUCIER
34 Muscular Japanese dog : AKITA
35 Big tin exporter of S.A. : BOL
38 Brings together : CONJOINS
39 Female in the fam : SIS
40 Indian friend of Sheldon and Leonard : RAJ
41 Low-fat frozen dessert : ICE MILK
42 Pentateuch peak: Abbr. : MT SINAI
45 Mammal’s digit that doesn’t touch the ground : DEWCLAW
46 Wheaties box adorner : ATHLETE
47 Like lasagna, say : LAYERED
50 “Gangnam Style” performer : PSY
52 Manhunt pickup : SCENT
53 There are 60,000 of them in a min. : MSECS
54 Simplifies : EASES
58 Rules on plays : UMPS
59 Cairo’s river : NILE
60 Vegas opener : LAS …
62 Lunes or martes : DIA