LA Times Crossword 31 Dec 18, Monday

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Constructed by: C.C. Burnikel
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): End of the Campaign, Sounds Like

Themed answers end with homophones of “-paign” (as in “campaign”):

  • 17A. Persistent ache : NAGGING PAIN
  • 23A. Window section : GLASS PANE
  • 48A. Heartthrob in the band One Direction : LIAM PAYNE
  • 57A. “Common Sense” author : THOMAS PAINE

Bill’s time: 5m 01s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. Actress Vardalos : NIA

Nia Vardalos is an actress and screenwriter whose biggest break came with the 2002 film “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”, which she wrote and in which she starred. The film tells the story of a Greek-American woman marrying a non-Greek Caucasian American who converts to the Greek Orthodox Church to facilitate the marriage. The storyline reflects the actual experiences of Vardalos and her husband, actor Ian Gomez. Vardalos and Gomez appeared together as hosts for two seasons of the reality competition “The Great American Baking Show”.

13. Bird that gives a hoot : OWL

Much of an owl’s diet consists of small mammals. As a result, humans have used owls for centuries to control rodent populations, usually by placing a nest box for owls on a property. Despite the the fact that owls and humans live together in relative harmony, owls have been known to attack humans from time to time. Celebrated English bird photographer Eric Hosking lost an eye when attacked by a tawny owl that he was trying to photograph. Hosking wrote an 1970 autobiography with the wry title “An Eye for a Bird”.

14. Stock horror film servant : IGOR

In the world of movies, Igor has been the assistant to Dracula, Frankenstein and Young Frankenstein among others. Igor is almost invariably portrayed as a hunchback.

21. Self-defense spray : MACE

“Mace” is actually a brand name, one introduced by Lake Erie Chemical when they started to manufacture “Chemical Mace”, with the name being a play on the club-like weapon from days of old. Mace was originally a form of tear gas, but Mace today uses a formula that is actually a pepper spray, a different formulation.

22. Fey of “Date Night” : TINA

“Date Night” is a fairly entertaining action comedy movie starring Tina Fey and Steve Carell that was released in 2010. It’s all about a married couple who decide to try a little harder to enjoy their routine weekly “date night”, but end up in all sorts of adventures. As I said, it’s quite entertaining but I suppose I was expecting complete hilarity with such a great pairing of lead actors.

25. D.C. pro : POL

Politician (pol)

26. Yard sale caveat : AS IS

A caveat is a warning or a qualification. “Caveat” is the Latin for “let him beware”.

27. Bar for circus swingers : TRAPEZE

The circus act known as the “trapeze” is so called because the shape defined by the crossbar, ropes and ceiling of the tent is a “trapezium”.

35. Controlled Substances Act org. : DEA

An initiative of President Richard Nixon, the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) was signed into law in 1970. The CSA combined existing federal drug laws, expanded the scope of federal drug law and also expanded the power of federal law enforcement agencies.

36. Hyde Park buggy : PRAM

Another word used in the UK that’s rarely used over here is “pram”, which in my day was the most common term for what is called a “baby carriage” in the US. “Pram” is short for “perambulator”.

Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London. A famous element in Hyde Park is Speakers’ Corner, which is located in the northeast corner of the park. Speakers’ Corner was the site of the infamous Tyburn gallows that was used for public executions in centuries past. Today, Speakers’ Corner is a site for public speeches and debate, and a center for public protest. Some say that the tradition of allowing free speech at the site dates back to the condemned man being allowed to say his final words prior to execution at the Tyburn gallows.

37. Madison Ave. pro : ADMAN

Madison Avenue became the center of advertising in the US in the twenties, and serves as the backdrop to the great TV drama “Mad Men”. There aren’t many advertising agencies left on Madison Avenue these days though, as most have moved to other parts of New York City. The street takes its name from Madison Square, which is bounded on one side by Madison Avenue. The square in turn takes its name from James Madison, the fourth President of the United States.

41. Poker variety : STUD

Stud poker is the name given to many variants of poker, all of which are characterized by the dealer giving each player a mix of cards face-down and face-up. The cards facing upwards are called “upcards”. The cards facing downwards are called “hole cards”, cards only visible to the individual who holds that particular hand. This gives rise to the phrase “ace in the hole”, a valuable holding that only the player with the ace is aware of.

42. Lawn service company that merged with TruGreen : SCOTTS

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company was founded in 1868 by one Orlando Scott, and initially sold seed to the agricultural industry. In the early 1900s, Scotts started to sell to homeowners, and mainly supplied lawn seed. The company merged with the gardening company Miracle-Gro in 1955, and then with TruGreen in 2016.

44. Fairbanks resident : ALASKAN

Fairbanks is the second largest city in Alaska (second to Anchorage), and home to almost 100,000 residents in the metropolitan area. The city was founded in 1901 and is named for Charles W. Fairbanks, a senator from Indiana who served as US Vice President during Theodore Roosevelt’s second term as President.

47. Windy City train org. : CTA

Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)

It seems that the derivation of Chicago’s nickname as the “Windy City” isn’t as obvious as I would have thought. There are two viable theories. Firstly, that the weather can be breezy with wind blowing in off Lake Michigan. The effect of the wind is exaggerated by the grid-layout adopted by city planners after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The second theory is that “windy” means “being full of bluster”. Sportswriters from the rival city of Cincinnati were fond of calling Chicago supporters “windy” in the 1860s and 1870s, meaning that they were full of hot air in their claims that the Chicago White Stockings were superior to the Cincinnati Red Stockings.

48. Heartthrob in the band One Direction : LIAM PAYNE

One Direction is a UK-based boy band. Each member of the band competed in the reality show “The X Factor”, and didn’t do very well. The five were then combined in a boy band at a later stage of the competition. They only finished in third place, but I don’t think they care. They’re doing very, very well for “losers” …

53. Off-kilter : AWRY

To be “off-kilter” is to be off-balance, not aligned. To be “out of kilter” is to be out of order, not in good condition.

57. “Common Sense” author : THOMAS PAINE

Thomas Paine was an English author who achieved incredible success with his pamphlet “Common Sense” published in 1776 which advocated independence of colonial America from Britain. Paine had immigrated to the American colonies just two years before his pamphlet was published, and so was just in time to make a major contribution to the American Revolution.

60. Down Under bird : EMU

Even though emu meat is classified as a red meat because of its color, it has a fat content that is comparable to other poultry.

62. Maker of Aspire laptops : ACER

Acer is a Taiwanese company that I visited a couple of times when I was in the electronics business. I was very impressed back then with the company’s dedication to quality, although I have heard that things haven’t gone so well in recent years …

65. Winter hrs. in Minneapolis : CST

Central Standard Time (CST)

Minneapolis is the largest city in Minnesota, and shares the name “Twin Cities” with the neighboring state capital of Saint Paul. One of the early settlers in the area was New England scholar Charles Hoag, who became the first schoolmaster in Minneapolis, and later the county treasurer. Hoag proposed the name “Minnehapolis” for the new city, combing part of “Minnehaha” with the Greek suffix “-polis”. Minnehaha Falls is a local waterfall, the name of which gained celebrity after Henry Wadsworth Longfellow used the name for his fictional character in his poem “The Song of Hiawatha”.

66. Beats by __: audio equipment brand : DRE

Beats by Dre is a brand of audio products made by Beats Electronics, a company that was co-founded by rapper Dr. Dre. Apple bought Beats for $3 billion in 2014, the largest acquisition by far in the company’s history.

Down

1. Chinese menu assurance : NO MSG

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the sodium salt of a naturally-occurring,non-essential amino acid called glutamic acid. It is used widely as a flavor enhancer, particularly in many Asian cuisines. Whether or not it is harmful seems to be still under debate. I say that something produced in a test tube shouldn’t be in our food …

3. Reynolds Wrap maker : ALCOA

The Aluminum Corporation of America (ALCOA) is the largest producer of aluminum in the United States. The company was founded in 1888 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where its headquarters are to this day.

Reynolds Metals was the leading manufacturer of aluminum foil in North America, before the company was taken over by Alcoa. The consumer brand of foil made by Reynolds Metals is still sold as Reynolds Wrap. The technology behind Reynolds Wrap was apparently developed for packaging tobacco.

4. Grocery chain letters : IGA

The initialism “IGA” stands for “Independent Grocers Alliance”, and is a chain of supermarkets that extends right around the world. IGA’s headquarters is in Chicago. The company uses the slogan “Hometown Proud Supermarkets”.

5. Rigid beliefs : DOGMAS

A dogma is a set of beliefs. The plural of “dogma” is “dogmata” (or “dogmas”, if you’re not a pedant like me!)

7. Obama Education secretary Duncan : ARNE

Long before Arne Duncan became Secretary of Education, he was a professional basketball player, but not in the NBA. Duncan played for the National Basketball League of Australia, with the Eastside Spectres in Melbourne.

12. Writer Ferber : EDNA

Edna Ferber was a novelist and playwright from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Ferber won a Pulitzer for her novel “So Big”, which was made into a film a few times, most famously in 1953 starring Jane Wyman. Ferber also wrote “Show Boat”, “Cimarron” and “Giant”, which were adapted successfully for the stage and/or big screen.

14. Actually existing: Lat. : IN ESSE

The Latin term “in esse” is used to mean “actually existing”, and translates as “in being”.

20. Biblical song : PSALM

The Greek word “psalmoi” originally meant “songs sung to a harp”, and gave us the word “psalms”. In the Jewish and Western Christian traditions, the Book of Psalms contains 150 individual psalms, divided into five sections.

24. Whacked gift holder : PINATA

Piñatas originated in Mexico, probably among the Aztecs or Mayans. Today piñatas are usually made from cardboard that is brightly decorated with papier-mâché. Traditionally a piñata was made out of a clay pot, adorned with feathers and ribbons and filled with small treasures. During religious ceremonies the clay pots would be suspended and broken open so that the contents would spill out onto the ground at the feet of a god as an offering.

25. Links standard : PAR

The oldest type of golf course is a links course. The name “links” comes from the Old English word “hlinc” meaning “rising ground”. “Hlinc” was used to describe areas with coastal sand dunes or open parkland. As a result, we use the term “links course” to mean a golf course that is located at or on the coast, often amid sand dunes. The British Open is always played on a links course.

31. Animal welfare org. : SPCA

Unlike most developed countries, the US has no umbrella organization with the goal of preventing cruelty to animals. Instead there are independent organizations set up all over the nation using the name SPCA. Having said that, there is an organization called the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) that was originally intended to operate across the country, but really it now focuses its efforts in New York City.

32. Eurasian border river : URAL

The Ural River rises in the Ural Mountains in Russia and flows for half its length through Russian territory until it crosses the border into Kazakhstan, finally emptying into the Caspian Sea. It is the third-longest river in Europe, after the Volga and Danube. The Ural is often cited as defining a long stretch of the border between Europe and Asia, although the exact position of that border is open to debate.

33. “Tomb Raider” heroine : LARA CROFT

Lara Croft was introduced to the world in 1996 as the main character in a pretty cool video game (or so I thought, back then) called “Tomb Raider”. Lara Croft moved to the big screen in 2001 and 2003, in two pretty awful movie adaptations of the game’s storyline. Angelina Jolie played Croft, and she did a very energetic job.

34. Iraq War armament: Abbr. : WMD

The first recorded use of the term “Weapon of Mass Destruction” (WMD) was in 1937. The words were used by Cosmo Gordon Lang, the Archbishop of Canterbury at the time, in reference to the bombardment of Guernica in Spain during the Spanish Civil War by the German Luftwaffe. He said, “Who can think without horror of what another widespread war would mean, waged as it would be with all the new weapons of mass destruction?”

What we now know as the Iraq War started on 20 March 2003 with an invasion by a coalition of forces led by the US. The end of the Iraq War has been set at 15 December 2011, on which date there was a flag-lowering ceremony in Baghdad. The last US troops left Iraq three days later.

38. Big name in tires : DUNLOP

John Boyd Dunlop was an inventor and veterinary surgeon from Scotland who spent most of his life in Ireland. He is most remembered for developing the first practical pneumatic tire, for which a patent was awarded in 1888. Dunlop’s patent was eventually invalidated, as others in the US and France had patented similar inventions. Regardless, Dunlop partnered with Dublin-born financier Harvey du Cros to found the Dunlop Rubber company and essentially established the pneumatic tire industry.

39. Lose one’s marbles : GO MAD

Even though the game of “marbles” has been around since the early 1700s, the use of marbles meaning “one’s faculties, common sense”, probably has nothing to do with the game. Rather, the French word “meubles” meaning furniture, was brought into English as “marbles” in the mid-1800s to mean “personal effects, furniture”. It was “marbles” in this sense that evolved into “having one’s marbles”, a slang term from the late twenties meaning “having one’s faculties”.

41. Jamaican music genre : SKA

Ska originated in Jamaica in the late fifties and was the precursor to reggae music. No one has a really definitive etymology of the term “ska”, but it is likely to be imitative of some sound.

45. Thwart : STYMIE

The word “stymie” comes from golf, and is a situation in which one’s approach to the hole is blocked by an opponent’s ball. We use the term more broadly for a distressing situation.

49. Sir __ Newton : ISAAC

Sir Isaac Newton was one of the most influential people in history, the man who laid the groundwork for all of classical mechanics. The story about an apple falling on his head, inspiring him to formulate his theories about gravity, well that’s not quite true. Newton often told the story about observing an apple falling in his mother’s garden and how this made him acutely aware of the Earth’s gravitational pull. However, he made no mention of the apple hitting him on the head.

51. Red Sox great Garciaparra : NOMAR

Nomar Garciaparra is one of only thirteen players to have hit two grand slams during a single game in the Majors. He accomplished that feat in 1999 for the Boston Red Sox against the Seattle Mariners.

52. Practice piece : ETUDE

An étude is a short instrumental composition that is usually quite hard to play and is intended to help the performer master a particular technique. “Étude” is the French word for “study”. Études are commonly performed on the piano.

53. Razor brand : ATRA

Fortunately for crossword constructors, the Atra was introduced by Gillette in 1977, as the first razor with a pivoting head. The Atra was sold as the Contour in some markets and its derivative products are still around today.

55. Grad. degree for teachers : MSED

Master of Science in Education (M.S.Ed.)

58. Landers of letters : ANN

“Ask Ann Landers” was an advice column written by Eppie Lederer from 1955 to 2002. Eppie was the twin sister to Pauline Phillips, the person behind “Dear Abby”. Eppie took over the “Ask Ann Landers” column from Ruth Crowley who started it in 1943.

59. Driving range barrier : NET

That would be golf.

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Actress Vardalos : NIA
4. Chapel vow : I DO
7. Fine apparel : ATTIRE
13. Bird that gives a hoot : OWL
14. Stock horror film servant : IGOR
15. Came down and spoiled the picnic : RAINED
16. Open __ night : MIC
17. Persistent ache : NAGGING PAIN
19. Ski resort feature : SLOPE
21. Self-defense spray : MACE
22. Fey of “Date Night” : TINA
23. Window section : GLASS PANE
25. D.C. pro : POL
26. Yard sale caveat : AS IS
27. Bar for circus swingers : TRAPEZE
31. Long-faced : SULLEN
34. Tire, with “out” : WEAR …
35. Controlled Substances Act org. : DEA
36. Hyde Park buggy : PRAM
37. Madison Ave. pro : ADMAN
39. Main point : GIST
40. Lincoln or Ford : CAR
41. Poker variety : STUD
42. Lawn service company that merged with TruGreen : SCOTTS
44. Fairbanks resident : ALASKAN
46. Period of prosperity : BOOM
47. Windy City train org. : CTA
48. Heartthrob in the band One Direction : LIAM PAYNE
53. Off-kilter : AWRY
55. Fuzzy green plant that grows on rocks : MOSS
56. Dimwit : IDIOT
57. “Common Sense” author : THOMAS PAINE
60. Down Under bird : EMU
61. Make pure, as sugar : REFINE
62. Maker of Aspire laptops : ACER
63. Young fellow : LAD
64. Show up at : ATTEND
65. Winter hrs. in Minneapolis : CST
66. Beats by __: audio equipment brand : DRE

Down

1. Chinese menu assurance : NO MSG
2. Volunteer’s words : I WILL
3. Reynolds Wrap maker : ALCOA
4. Grocery chain letters : IGA
5. Rigid beliefs : DOGMAS
6. Church instrument : ORGAN
7. Obama Education secretary Duncan : ARNE
8. Garment label : TAG
9. First-rate : TIP-TOP
10. “Aced that test!” : I NAILED IT!
11. Horse rider’s strap : REIN
12. Writer Ferber : EDNA
14. Actually existing: Lat. : IN ESSE
18. Summer pitcherful : ICE TEA
20. Biblical song : PSALM
24. Whacked gift holder : PINATA
25. Links standard : PAR
28. Coerced payment : RANSOM
29. Citrus peel : ZEST
30. Puts away dishes? : EATS
31. Animal welfare org. : SPCA
32. Eurasian border river : URAL
33. “Tomb Raider” heroine : LARA CROFT
34. Iraq War armament: Abbr. : WMD
38. Big name in tires : DUNLOP
39. Lose one’s marbles : GO MAD
41. Jamaican music genre : SKA
43. Paper jam site : COPIER
45. Thwart : STYMIE
46. Nuts and bolts : BASICS
49. Sir __ Newton : ISAAC
50. Give ground : YIELD
51. Red Sox great Garciaparra : NOMAR
52. Practice piece : ETUDE
53. Razor brand : ATRA
54. Spark, as an appetite : WHET
55. Grad. degree for teachers : MSED
58. Landers of letters : ANN
59. Driving range barrier : NET

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