LA Times Crossword Answers 31 May 2018, Thursday

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Constructed by: Bruce Haight
Edited by: Rich Norris

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Today’s Theme (according to Bill): In Other Words, Steal

Themed answers are common phrases that have been reinterpreted by using the first word as a synonym of “steal”:

  • 19A. Steal items on parking lot windshields? : LIFT TICKETS
  • 24A. Steal kitchen tools? : POCKET KNIVES
  • 40A. Steal plastic? : SWIPE CREDIT CARDS
  • 53A. Steal wishing well money? : PINCH PENNIES
  • 64A. Steal watch components? : PALM SPRINGS

Bill’s time: 7m 35s

Bill’s errors: 0

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. Tax time VIPs : CPAS

Certified public accountant (CPA)

April 15th wasn’t always Tax Day in the US. The deadline for returns was March 1st from 1913-18, when it was moved to March 15th. Tax Day has been April 15th since 1955.

5. GE competitor : AMANA

The Amana Corporation takes its name from the location of its original headquarters, in Middle Amana, Iowa. Today, the Amana name is very much associated with household appliances. The company was founded in 1934 to manufacture commercial walk-in coolers.

10. “Stranger Things” actress : RYDER

The Hollywood actress Winona Ryder’s real name is Winona Horowitz. Ryder was born near the town of Winona in Minnesota, from which she got her name. Her success on the screen has garnered as much media attention as her life off the screen. The papers had a field day when she was arrested in 2001 on a shoplifting charge followed by a very public court appearance. Her engagement with Johnny Depp in the early nineties was another media frenzy. Depp had “Winona Forever” tattooed on his arm, which he had changed after the breakup to “Wino Forever”. A man with a sense of humor …

“Stranger Things” is a sci-fi horror TV show made for Netflix that aired its first season in 2016. I don’t do horror, and so haven’t seen it …

16. Doughnut-shaped : TORIC

A torus (plural “tori”) is a shape resembling a doughnut.

17. Line from the heart : AORTA

The aorta originates in the heart and extends down into the abdomen. It is the largest artery in the body.

18. Folksy Guthrie : ARLO

Arlo Guthrie is the son of Woody Guthrie. Both father and son are renowned for their singing of protest songs about social injustice. Arlo is most famous for his epic “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree”, a song that lasts a full 18m 34s. In the song Guthrie tells how, after being drafted, he was rejected for service in the Vietnam War based on his criminal record. He had only one incident on his public record, a Thanksgiving Day arrest for littering and being a public nuisance when he was 18-years-old.

28. Fashion icon London : STACY

Stacy London is a fashion consultant who perhaps best known as co-host of the reality show “What Not to Wear” along with Clinton Kelly.

29. Adjective for fighter Joe Frazier : SMOKIN’

Smokin’ Joe Frazier was world heavyweight boxing champion from 1970 to 1973, eventually losing the title to George Foreman. Two of Frazier’s most memorable fights were against Muhammad Ali. In 1971’s “Fight of the Century”, Frazier emerged victorious, delivering Ali his first ever defeat. In 1975’s “Thrilla in Manila”, Ali came out on top. Frazier and Ali were actually great friends, despite the acrimony on display in front of the cameras. While Ali was barred from boxing for refusing the draft, Frazier lent Ali money. He also appeared in front of Congress on Ali’s behalf and petitioned President Nixon to have Ali’s right to box reinstated.

39. Western casino city : 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.

46. Island east of Java : TIMOR

Timor is an island in Maritime Southeast Asia. The island is politically divided into West Timor, belonging to Indonesia, and the independent state of East Timor. The name “Timor” comes from a Malay word for “east”, and is used as Timor lies at the eastern end of the Lesser Sunda Islands.

Java is a large island in Indonesia that is home to the country’s capital, Jakarta. With a population of over 130 million, Java is the most populous island in the world, with even more people than Honshu, the main island of Japan.

47. Reuben bread : RYE

There are conflicting stories about the origin of the Reuben sandwich. One such story is that it was invented around 1914 by Arnold Reuben, an immigrant from Germany who owned Reuben’s Deli in New York.

48. Lassie, for one : PET DOG

The canine character Lassie is the creation of Eric Knight, who wrote a short story that he expanded into a novel called “Lassie Come Home” published in 1940. “Lassie Come Home” was turned into a movie three years later, the first of a very successful franchise. The original Lassie (a female) was played by a dog called Pal, a male dog. In fact, all of the dogs that played Lassie over the years were males, because they looked better on camera, retaining a thick coat even during the summer months.

51. Sushi bar array : TUNAS

Sushi is a Japanese dish that has as its primary ingredient cooked, vinegared rice. The rice is usually topped with something, most often fish, and can be served in seaweed rolls. If we want raw fish by itself, then we have to order “sashimi”.

53. Steal wishing well money? : PINCH PENNIES

A wishing well is a phenomenon that comes from European folklore. The concept arose from the belief that water housed friendly gods.

59. Have an average day on the links? : SHOOT 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.

68. “Voilà!” : TA-DA!

“Voilà” means “there it is”, and “voici” means “here it is”. The terms come from “voi là” meaning “see there” and “voi ici” meaning “see here”.

70. French film award : CESAR

The César Award is the national film award of France. The first César was awarded in 1975, named after the French sculptor César Baldaccini. The awards themselves are reproductions of an actual Baldaccini sculpture.

71. Crispy snack : CHIP

French fries are called “chips” back in Ireland where I grew up. And what we call “chips” in the US are known as “crisps” in Britain and Ireland. In France, French fries are known as “pommes frites”.

72. Synthesizer brand : CASIO

Casio is a Japanese manufacturer of mainly electronic products, including calculators, watches and electronic keyboards. It was Casio that produced the first portable and compact all-electric calculator, way back in 1957.

Down

2. X-rated stuff : PORNO

The word “pornography” comes from the Greek “pornographos” meaning “writing of prostitutes”.

3. Company whose mascot uses fowl language : AFLAC

In 1999, Aflac (American Family Life Assurance Company) was huge in the world of insurance but it wasn’t a household name, so a New York advertising agency was given the task of making the Aflac brand more memorable. One of the agency’s art directors, while walking around Central Park one lunchtime, heard a duck quacking and in his mind linked it with “Aflac”, and that duck has been “Aflacking” ever since …

4. Wading birds : STORKS

Storks are large wading birds with long legs, long necks and long bills. Storks use those long bills to search for frogs, fish and other small animals under the water. When the stork finds its prey, the bill snaps shut in about 25 millisecs, which is one of the fastest known reaction times of any vertebrate.

5. Only city from which two NHL hockey teams relocated (both went to Canada) : ATL

Winnipeg’s professional hockey team is called the Winnipeg Jets. The team was founded as the Atlanta Thrashers in 1999 and relocated to the Manitoba city in 2011. The new team name was chosen in honor of Winnipeg’s former professional hockey team called the Jets, a franchise that was founded in the city in 1972 but relocated to become the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996.

The Flames are a professional hockey team based in the Alberta city of Calgary. The team has been in Calgary since 1980, but was founded in 1972 in the US as the Atlanta Flames.

8. Capone henchman : NITTI

Frank Nitti was one of the top henchmen working for Al Capone. Unlike American-born Capone, Nitti was actually from Italy and was born near the city of Salerno. When Capone was eventually put away for 11 years for tax evasion, Nitti was convicted of the same crime. Nitti was only imprisoned for 18 months, and when released he was labelled as the new head of Capone’s Chicago Outfit. However the truth seems to be that he was just a frontman, with others making the decisions.

9. When the “Macbeth” witches add “eye of newt” : ACT IV

The witches in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” have some lovely lines as they boil up and evil brew and cast a spell:

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing,–
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

10. Subject of the film “42” : RACISM

“42” is an excellent film about the baseball career of Jackie Robinson. Stars of the movie are Chadwick Boseman as Robinson and Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey, executive with the Brooklyn Dodgers. The plot revolves around the signing of Robinson with the Brooklyn Dodgers, making him the first African-American player to break the baseball color barrier.

11. Farm link : YOKE

A yoke is a wooden beam used between a pair of oxen so that they are forced to work together.

12. 1857 litigant Scott : DRED

The landmark case of Dred Scott vs. Sandford came before the US Supreme Court in 1857. Scott had been born a slave, but lived with his owner in a free state for several years before returning to the slave state of Missouri. Scott’s argument was that living in a free state entitled him to emancipation. A divided US Supreme Court sided with Scott’s owner John Sandford. The decision was that no African American, free or enslaved, was entitled to US citizenship and therefore Scott was unable to petition the court for his freedom. The decision heightened tensions between the North and South, and the American Civil War erupted just three years later.

13. Caesar’s last gasp : 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.

20. Caesar’s last day : IDES

Julius Caesar was assassinated on the 15th (the ides) of March, 44 BC. He was attacked by a group of sixty people in the Roman Senate, and was stabbed 23 times. The first to strike a blow was Servilius Casca, who attacked Caesar from behind and stabbed him in the neck. In Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”, Casca utters the words “Speak, hands, for me!” just before making the fatal blow. The following line, uttered by Caesar, is more famous though: “Et tu, Brute?”

25. Powder source : TALC

Talc is a mineral, actually hydrated magnesium silicate. Talcum powder is composed of loose talc, although these days “baby powder” is also made from cornstarch.

26. 1980s Chrysler offering : K-CAR

Chrysler introduced K-cars in the early 1980s at a time when demand for large cars with V8 engines was plummeting. Post-oil crisis consumers were seeking low-cost, fuel-efficient vehicles, which brought Chrysler to the brink of bankruptcy. It was the economical 4-cylinder, front-wheel drive platform that singlehandedly delivered the company into the profitability within a couple of years. K-cars were designed to carry 6 passengers, on two bench seats. Remember taking a corner a little too fast on those seats, in the days when no one wore seat belts?

27. Citi Field MLBer : NY MET

Citi Field is the relatively new baseball stadium used by the New York Mets that sits right next door to the site of Shea stadium, where the Mets had played for decades. And the new facility’s name comes from corporate sponsor Citigroup.

31. Actress Deborah : KERR

The lovely Deborah Kerr was a Scottish actress who made a real name for herself on the American stage and in Hollywood movies. Despite all her success, and six nominations for a Best Actress Oscar, Kerr never actually won an Academy Award. In 1967, she appeared in the James Bond film “Casino Royale” at the age of 46, making her oldest Bond Girl of all time.

32. 500 nickname : INDY

The Indianapolis 500 race is held annually at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The race is run around a 2.5 mile oval, hence requiring 200 laps for completion. The first Indy 500 race was held on Memorial Day in 1911. The winner that day was one Ray Harroun. Harroun had seen someone using a rear view mirror on a horse-drawn vehicle, and decided to fit one on his Marmon “Wasp” motor car. Supposedly, that was the first ever use of a rear view mirror on a motor vehicle.

34. Short answer? : RSVP

RSVP stands for “répondez s’il vous plaît”, which is French for “answer, please”.

38. Gloria’s mom in ’70s TV : EDITH

“All in the Family” is an American sitcom, and a remake of the incredibly successful BBC show called “Till Death Us Do Part”. Both the UK and US versions of the sitcom were groundbreaking in that the storyline brought into focus topics previously considered unsuitable for a television comedy, including racism, homosexuality, women’s liberation, menopause and impotence. “All in the Family” is one of only three TV shows that has topped the Nielsen ratings for five consecutive seasons (the other two are “The Cosby Show” and “American Idol”). Stars of the show are:

  • Carroll O’Connor as Archie Bunker
  • Jean Stapleton as Edith Bunker
  • Sally Struthers as Gloria Stivic née Bunker
  • Rob Reiner as Michael Stivic

41. Okra unit : POD

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.

44. Model T feature : CRANK

The industrialist Henry Ford was born in Michigan, and was the son of an Irish immigrant from County Cork. Ford’s most famous vehicle was the one that revolutionized the industry: the Model T. Ford’s goal with the Model T was to build a car that was simple to drive and and easy and cheap to purchase and repair. The Model T cost $825 in 1908, which isn’t much over $20,000 in today’s money.

50. Reagan role in a Notre Dame football movie : GIPP

George Gipp was Notre Dame’s first All-American football player. Just two weeks after getting the award, Gipp (aka “The Gipper”) developed pneumonia and died. Famously, on his deathbed he told the Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne to “win just one for the Gipper”. Ronald Reagan used the almost identical line a lot in his political campaigns (“win one for the Gipper”), as the actor-turned-politician played the Gipper in the movie “Knute Rockne, All American”.

54. DEA cop : NARCO

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)

55. Old news source : CRIER

Town criers make public announcements on the streets, usually shouting “Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!” to attract attention. The term “oyez” derives from the Anglo-Norman word for “listen” and is used in this instance to me “Hear ye!”

56. State bordering six others and the Canadian mainland : IDAHO

Idaho borders six states, and one Canadian province:

  • Montana
  • Wyoming
  • Nevada
  • Utah
  • Washington
  • Oregon
  • British Columbia, Canada

57. Redmayne of “The Theory of Everything” : EDDIE

English actor Eddie Redmayne played mainly supporting roles, such as Marius Pontmercy in 2012’s “Les Misérables”, until he wowed the world starring as Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything”. A few years later, Redmayne played Lili Elbe in “The Danish Girl”, and then Newt Scamander in the Harry Potter spinoff “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”.

“The Theory of Everything” is a 2014 biographical film that tells the life story of theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. Eddie Redmayne portrays Hawking, in a performance that earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor. Stephen Hawking himself was very supportive of the film, and even provided his own electronic “voice” for the latter part of the movie.

58. Some daytime TV : SOAPS

The original soap operas were radio dramas back in the fifties. Given the structure of society back then, the daytime broadcasts were aimed at women working in the home as housewives. For some reason the sponsors of those radio shows, and the television shows that followed, were soap manufacturers like Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Lever Brothers. And that’s how the “soap” opera got its name …

60. “__ Nagila” : HAVA

“Hava Nagila” is a Hebrew folk song, with the title translating into “Let Us Rejoice”. The melody is from a Ukrainian folk song. The words to “Hava Nagila” were composed in 1918 to celebrate the British victory in Palestine during WWI.

61. World Cup cheers : OLES

The FIFA World Cup is the most prestigious tournament in the sport of soccer. The competition has been held every four years (excluding the WWII years) since the inaugural event held in Uruguay in 1930. The World Cup is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, even outranking the Olympic Games.

65. Govt. code crackers : NSA

National Security Agency (NSA)

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Tax time VIPs : CPAS
5. GE competitor : AMANA
10. “Stranger Things” actress : RYDER
15. A studio may be in one : LOFT
16. Doughnut-shaped : TORIC
17. Line from the heart : AORTA
18. Folksy Guthrie : ARLO
19. Steal items on parking lot windshields? : LIFT TICKETS
21. Bottleneck problem : SNARL
23. Neatened a bit : TIDIED UP
24. Steal kitchen tools? : POCKET KNIVES
28. Fashion icon London : STACY
29. Adjective for fighter Joe Frazier : SMOKIN’
34. Drivel : ROT
37. Hold responsible : BLAME
39. Western casino city : RENO
40. Steal plastic? : SWIPE CREDIT CARDS
45. Trattoria bar order : VINO
46. Island east of Java : TIMOR
47. Reuben bread : RYE
48. Lassie, for one : PET DOG
51. Sushi bar array : TUNAS
53. Steal wishing well money? : PINCH PENNIES
59. Have an average day on the links? : SHOOT PAR
63. Buddy : KIDDO
64. Steal watch components? : PALM SPRINGS
68. “Voilà!” : TA-DA!
69. __ planner : EVENT
70. French film award : CESAR
71. Crispy snack : CHIP
72. Synthesizer brand : CASIO
73. Intense exams : ORALS
74. Breaks up a plot : HOES

Down

1. Necklace part : CLASP
2. X-rated stuff : PORNO
3. Company whose mascot uses fowl language : AFLAC
4. Wading birds : STORKS
5. Only city from which two NHL hockey teams relocated (both went to Canada) : ATL
6. “You can’t mean me!” : MOI?!
7. 48-Across sound : ARF!
8. Capone henchman : NITTI
9. When the “Macbeth” witches add “eye of newt” : ACT IV
10. Subject of the film “42” : RACISM
11. Farm link : YOKE
12. 1857 litigant Scott : DRED
13. Caesar’s last gasp : ET TU?
14. Rough file : RASP
20. Caesar’s last day : IDES
22. Don’t bother : LET BE
25. Powder source : TALC
26. 1980s Chrysler offering : K-CAR
27. Citi Field MLBer : NY MET
30. “… boy __ girl?” : OR A
31. Actress Deborah : KERR
32. 500 nickname : INDY
33. Wine quality : NOSE
34. Short answer? : RSVP
35. Boo-boo : OWIE
36. Shade : TINT
38. Gloria’s mom in ’70s TV : EDITH
41. Okra unit : POD
42. Morning mumble : I’M UP
43. Shade : TONE
44. Model T feature : CRANK
49. Decides one will : OPTS TO
50. Reagan role in a Notre Dame football movie : GIPP
52. Teller? : SNITCH
54. DEA cop : NARCO
55. Old news source : CRIER
56. State bordering six others and the Canadian mainland : IDAHO
57. Redmayne of “The Theory of Everything” : EDDIE
58. Some daytime TV : SOAPS
59. Building guideline : SPEC
60. “__ Nagila” : HAVA
61. World Cup cheers : OLES
62. Potent start? : OMNI-
65. Govt. code crackers : NSA
66. Square dance dancer : GAL
67. H.S. yearbook section : SRS

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