LA Times Crossword 22 Oct 18, Monday

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Constructed by: Ed Sessa
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Four-H

Themed answers each include four letters H:

  • 51D. Club with 20-, 32-, 42- and 57-Across as members? : FOUR-H
  • 20A. English king married six times : HENRY THE EIGHTH
  • 32A. “Three cheers” cry : HIP HIP HURRAH!
  • 42A. How wealthy people live : HIGH ON THE HOG
  • 57A. Keep something in mind : HOLD THE THOUGHT

Bill’s time: 4m 46s

Bill’s errors: 0

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. Online auction venue : EBAY

There have been some notable things sold on eBay over the years. For example:

  • Ad space on a guy’s forehead, in the form of a temporary tattoo – $37,375
  • William Shatner’s kidney stone – $25,000
  • A cornflake shaped like Illinois – $1,350
  • A single corn flake – $1.63
  • A box of 10 Twinkies – $59.99
  • The original Hollywood sign – $450,400
  • The meaning of life – $3.26

5. Waffle House competitors : IHOPS

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!

15. Complete extent : GAMUT

In medieval times, the musical scale was denoted by the notes “ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la”. The term “gamma ut”, shortened to “gamut”, was used to describe the whole scale. By the 1620s, “gamut” was being used to mean the entire range of anything, the whole gamut.

16. City founded by Pizarro : LIMA

Lima is the capital city of Peru. Lima was founded in 1535 by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, who named it “la Ciudad de los Reyes” (the City of Kings). He chose this name because the decision to found the city was made on January 6th, the feast of the Epiphany that commemorates the visit of the three kings to Jesus in Bethlehem.

Francisco Pizarro was a Spanish conquistador, the man who led the conquest of the Inca Empire in 1533. Pizarro founded the city of Lima in Peru in 1535. Pizarro’s body was laid to rest in Lima after the son of a rival conquistador assassinated him.

20. English king married six times : HENRY THE EIGHTH

Famously, King Henry VIII had six queens consort. There is a rhyme that is commonly used to help remember the fates of each of his wives, which goes:

King Henry the Eighth, to six wives he was wedded. One died, one survived, two divorced, two beheaded.

The use of the term “divorce” isn’t quite accurate though, as in fact Henry had two of his marriages annulled. His wives (and their fates) were:

  1. Catherine of Aragon (Annulled),
  2. Anne Boleyn (Beheaded),
  3. Jane Seymour (Died)
  4. Anne of Cleves (Annulled),
  5. Catherine Howard (Beheaded),
  6. Catherine Parr (Survived).

23. Circular coaster feature : LOOP

That would be a loop made by a roller coaster.

24. Guthrie at Woodstock : ARLO

Singer Arlo Guthrie is known for his protest songs, just like his father Woody Guthrie. The younger Guthrie only ever had one song in the top 40: a cover version of “City of New Orleans”. He has lived for years in the town of Washington, just outside Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His 1976 song “Massachusetts” has been the official folk song of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since 1981.

26. Vietnamese soup : PHO

Pho is a noodle soup from Vietnam that is a popular street food.

30. Site for crafters : ETSY

Etsy.com is an e-commerce website where you can buy and sell the kind of items that you might find at a craft fair.

37. Prefix with -gram : ANA-

An anagram is a word or phrase made by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase. The term “anagram” comes from the Greek “ana-” meaning “backwards” and “gramma” meaning “letter”. Here are some favorites:

  • GEORGE BUSH: He Bugs Gore
  • ELECTION RESULTS: Lies-Let’s Recount
  • STATUE OF LIBERTY: Built To Stay Free
  • MARGARET THATCHER:That Great Charmer

38. Govt. workplace monitor : OSHA

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was created in 1970 during the Nixon administration. OSHA regulates workplaces in the private sector and regulates just one government agency, namely the US Postal Service.

42. How wealthy people live : HIGH ON THE HOG

The phrase “high on the hog” means “comfortably, extravagantly”, and so some living high on the hog is enjoying the good life. It’s possible that the first use of the phrase in print dates back to a 1920 article in the “New York Times” in which the American Institute of Meat Packers made a statement explaining the high cost of living at the time. According to the article, more of the working class were eating too high up on the hog, i.e. eating the more expensive cuts of pork such as pork chops and ham. Interestingly, the statement goes on to say that others “eat too far back on the beef”, i.e. porterhouse and round steak.

48. One-man show about Capote : TRU

“Tru” was written by Jay Presson Allen and is a one-man play about Truman Capote that premiered in 1989. There is a classic anachronism in the piece. It is set in Capote’s New York City apartment at Christmas 1975. At one point the Capote character talks about suicide, saying that he has enough pills to stage his own Jonestown Massacre. The Jonestown Massacre didn’t happen until three years later, in 1978.

49. Salt Lake City athlete : UTE

The Utah Utes are the athletic teams of the University of Utah.

50. Bay Area airport letters : SFO

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) served as the main base of operations for Virgin America (sold to Alaska Airlines not that long ago), and is also the maintenance hub for United Airlines.

52. Gillette razor : 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. Bluesman Redding : OTIS

Otis Redding is often referred to as the “King of Soul”, and what a voice he had. Like so many of the greats in the world of popular music it seems, Redding was killed in a plane crash, in 1967 when he was just 26 years old. Just three days earlier he had recorded what was to be his biggest hit, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”.

61. Christmastide : YULE

Yule celebrations coincide with Christmas, and the words “Christmas” and “Yule” (often “Yuletide”) have become synonymous in much of the world. However, Yule was originally a pagan festival celebrated by Germanic peoples. The name “Yule” comes from the Old Norse word “jol” that was used to describe the festival.

63. Perjurer : LIAR

An act of perjury is the wilful giving of false testimony under oath. The term “perjury” ultimately comes from the Latin “per” meaning “away” and “iurare” meaning “to swear”.

65. Bana of “Hulk” : ERIC

Eric Bana is an Australian actor who enjoyed a successful career in his home country before breaking into Hollywood playing an American Delta Force sergeant in “Black Hawk Down”. A couple of years later he played the lead in Ang Lee’s 2003 movie “Hulk”, the role of Dr Bruce Banner. More recently he played the Romulan villain Nero, in the 2009 “Star Trek” movie.

66. Orange Bowl city : MIAMI

The Orange Bowl is an annual college football game played in Miami Gardens, Florida. The Rose Bowl is the oldest of the bowl games (inaugurated in 1902), but the Sun Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl come in second. The first Orange Bowl was played on New Year’s Day 1935.

68. Perlman of “Cheers” : RHEA

Rhea Perlman’s most famous role has to be Carla Tortelli, the irascible waitress in the long-running sitcom “Cheers”. Perlman is also a successful children’s author, and has published a series of six books called “Otto Undercover”. She is married to Hollywood actor Danny DeVito, and has been so since 1982.

69. Kenneth Lay’s scandalized company : ENRON

After all the trials following the exposure of fraud at Enron, several of the key players ended up in jail. Andrew Fastow was the Chief Financial Officer. He plea-bargained and received ten years without parole, and became the key witness in the trials of others. Even Fastow’s wife was involved and she was sentenced to one year for helping her husband hide money. Jeffrey Skilling (ex-CEO) was sentenced to 24 years and 4 months. Kenneth Lay (CEO) died in 2006 after he had been found guilty but before he could be sentenced. The accounting firm Arthur Andersen was found guilty of obstruction of justice for shredding thousands of pertinent documents and deleting emails and files (a decision that the Supreme Court later overturned on a technicality). But still, Arthur Andersen collapsed under the weight of the scandal and 85,000 people lost their jobs (despite only a handful being directly involved with Enron).

Down

1. Longoria of “Desperate Housewives” : EVA

Eva Longoria is a fashion model and actress who had a regular role on TV’s “Desperate Housewives” playing Gabrielle Solis.

2. One of music’s Three Bs : BACH

Johann Sebastian Bach died when he was 65-years-old, in 1750. He was buried in Old St. John’s Cemetery in Leipzig, and his grave went unmarked until 1894. At that time his coffin was located, removed and buried in a vault within the church. The church was destroyed in an Allied bombing raid during WWII, and so after the war the remains had to be recovered and taken to the Church of St. Thomas in Leipzig.

The “Three Bs” of western classical music are Johannes Brahms, Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven.

3. Savanna springer : ANTELOPE

“Antelope” is the name given to just over 90 species of deer-like mammals. As a group, antelopes aren’t defined taxonomically, although they might be described as all members of the family Bovidae that aren’t sheep, cattle or goats.

A savanna (also “savannah”) is a grassland. If there are any trees in a savanna, by definition they are small and widely spaced so that light can get to the grasses allowing them to grow unhindered.

5. Singer known as the “Godfather of Punk” : IGGY POP

Iggy Pop is a punk rock performer from Muskegon, Michigan. When he was in high school, he was a drummer for a local band called the Iguanas, and so was given the nickname “Iggy”. He was vocalist for a band called the Stooges, and is often referred to as the Godfather of Punk.

6. Put the kibosh on : HALT

A kibosh is something that constrains or checks. “Kibosh” looks like a Yiddish word but it isn’t, and is more likely English slang from the early 1800s.

7. Nebraska city : OMAHA

Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska. It is located on the Missouri River, about 10 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River When Nebraska was still a territory Omaha was its capital, but when Nebraska achieved statehood the capital was moved to the city of Lincoln.

9. Pittsburgh footballer : STEELER

The Pittsburgh Steelers football team were founded in 1933, making them the oldest franchise in the AFC. Back in 1933, the team was known as the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates name was chosen as the Pittsburgh baseball team was the Pirates. The name was changed to the Steelers in 1940, and then the Steagles in 1943 when the team merged with the Philadelphia Eagles. There was a further merger in 1944, with the Chicago Cardinal to form Card-Pitt. The Steelers name was resurrected in 1945.

10. Cassini of fashion : OLEG

Oleg Cassini, the French-born American fashion designer, had two big names particularly associated with his designs. In the sixties he produced the state wardrobe for First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, and he was also the exclusive designer for Hollywood’s Gene Tierney, who was Cassini’s second wife.

11. Southpaw’s opposite : RIGHTY

A southpaw is a left-handed person. The term “southpaw” arose as baseball slang in the mid-1880s to describe a left-handed pitcher. Back then, baseball diamonds were often laid out with home plate to the west. So, a pitcher’s left hand would be on his “south” side as he faced the batter.

12. Be a ham : EMOTE

The word “ham”, describing a performer who overacts, is a shortened form of “hamfatter” and dates back to the late 1800s. “Hamfatter” comes from a song in old minstrel shows called “The Ham-Fat Man”. It seems that a poorly performing actor was deemed to have the “acting” qualities of a minstrel made up in blackface.

13. Obama daughter : SASHA

Sasha is the younger of the two Obama children, having been born in 2001. She was the youngest child to reside in the White House since John F. Kennedy, Jr. moved in with his parents as a small infant. Sasha’s Secret Service codename is “Rosebud”, and her older sister Malia has the codename “Radiance”.

21. Rice-A-__ : RONI

Rice-A-Roni was introduced in 1958 by the Golden Grain Macaroni Company of San Francisco. The company was run by an Italian immigrant and his four sons. The wife of one of the sons created a pilaf dish for the family diner they owned. It was a big hit, so her brother-in-law created a commercial version by blending dry chicken soup mix with rice and macaroni. Sounds like “a San Francisco treat” to me …

22. Tiny bit : IOTA

Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet, one that gave rise to our letters I and J. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small, as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.

26. Honor society letter : PHI

Phi Beta Kappa was the first collegiate Greek fraternity in the US, founded in 1776 at the College of William and Mary. The organization served as a model for future collegiate fraternities and sororities, although in the 19th century Phi Beta Kappa distanced itself from the fraternal focus and transformed into the honor society that it is today, recognizing academic excellence. The initials Phi Beta Kappa stand for “philosophia biou kybernētēs”, which translates into “philosophy is the guide of life”. The symbol of the Phi Beta Kappa Society is a golden key.

29. Deposed Iranian despot : SHAH

The last Shah of Iran was Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who was overthrown in the revolution led by the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. The post-revolution government sought the extradition of the Shah back to Iran while he was in the United States seeking medical care (he had cancer). His prolonged stay in the United States, recovering from surgery, caused some unrest back in Iran and resentment towards the United States. Some say that this resentment precipitated the storming of the US Embassy in Tehran and the resulting hostage crisis.

31. Clog or moc : SHOE

Clogs are shoes made from wood, at least in part. The clog originated as a protective item of footwear for use by farm, factory and mine workers.

“Moc” is short for “moccasin”, a type of shoe. The moccasin is a traditional form of footwear worn by members of many Native American tribes.

34. Tres menos dos : UNO

In Spanish, “tres menos dos” (three minus two) is “uno” (one).

43. “__ the end of my rope!” : I’M AT

To come to the end of one’s rope is to run out of resources. To reach the end of one’s tether is be close to snapping, ready to break out from one’s limitations.

46. Rwandan native : HUTU

The Hutu are the largest population in Rwanda, with the Tutsi being the second largest. The bloody conflict that has existed between the Tutsi and Hutu peoples dates back to about 1880 when Catholic missionaries arrived in the region. The missionaries found that they had more success converting the Hutus than the Tutsi, and when the Germans occupied the area during WWI they confiscated Tutsi land and gave it to Hutu tribes in order to reward religious conversion. This injustice fuels fighting to this very day.

47. “Border” dog : COLLIE

The collie isn’t actually a breed of dog, but rather the name given to a group of herding dogs that originated in Scotland and Northern England. An obvious (and wonderful) example would be the Border Collie. Many dogs classed as collies don’t have the word “collie” in the name of the breed, for example the Old English Sheepdog and the Shetland Sheepdog.

51. Club with 20-, 32-, 42- and 57-Across as members? : FOUR-H

4-H is a youth organization in the US. The first 4-H clubs were set up at the start of the 20th century and were focused on agricultural communities. Although 4-H no longer has the rural focus, because of the organization’s history it is administered with the Department of Agriculture. The four Hs are Head, Heart, Hands and Health.

53. Kidney enzyme that regulates blood pressure : RENIN

Renin is the enzyme in the body that regulates arterial blood pressure. It is also known as angiotenisnogenase.

54. Essential rose oil : ATTAR

Attar is a fragrant essential oil obtained from flowers, and the term often particularly refers to attar of roses.

56. Snow house : IGLOO

The Inuit word for “house” is “iglu”, which we usually write as “igloo”. The Greenlandic (yes, that’s a language) word for “house” is very similar, namely “igdlo”. The walls of igloos are tremendous insulators, due to the air pockets in the blocks of snow.

58. Prefix for “ten” : DECA-

Our prefix “dec-” comes from “deka”, the Greek word for “ten”. The prefix “deca-” means “multiplied by ten”, and “deci-” means “divided by ten”.

59. __ sapiens : HOMO

The literal translation of “Homo sapiens” from Latin is “wise or knowing man”. The Homo genus includes the species Homo sapiens (modern humans), but we’re the only species left in that genus. The last known species related to humans was Homo neanderthalensis (Neanderthal Man) which died off about 24,000 years ago. However, another species was discovered in Indonesia in 2003 that has been dubbed Homo floresiensis (Flores Man … sometimes called “hobbit”), and it may possibly have lived as recently as 12,000 years ago. Watch this space …

64. Pastrami bread : RYE

In the US, pastrami was originally called “pastrama”, and was a dish brought to America by Jewish immigrants from Romania in the second half of the the nineteenth century. The original name may have evolved from the Turkish word “pastirma” meaning “pressed”. “Pastrama” likely morphed into “pastrami” influenced by the name of the Italian sausage called salami.

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Online auction venue : EBAY
5. Waffle House competitors : IHOPS
10. Mine extracts : ORES
14. Wind-driven device : VANE
15. Complete extent : GAMUT
16. City founded by Pizarro : LIMA
17. Simple __ of kindness : ACTS
18. Cause of squinting : GLARE
19. Sometimes-puffy I’s? : EGOS
20. English king married six times : HENRY THE EIGHTH
23. Circular coaster feature : LOOP
24. Guthrie at Woodstock : ARLO
25. Vietnamese export : TEA
26. Vietnamese soup : PHO
28. Denials : NOS
30. Site for crafters : ETSY
32. “Three cheers” cry : HIP HIP HURRAH!
36. Inventor’s spark : IDEA
37. Prefix with -gram : ANA-
38. Govt. workplace monitor : OSHA
42. How wealthy people live : HIGH ON THE HOG
47. Arrived : CAME
48. One-man show about Capote : TRU
49. Salt Lake City athlete : UTE
50. Bay Area airport letters : SFO
52. Gillette razor : ATRA
55. Bluesman Redding : OTIS
57. Keep something in mind : HOLD THE THOUGHT
61. Christmastide : YULE
62. In first place : ON TOP
63. Perjurer : LIAR
65. Bana of “Hulk” : ERIC
66. Orange Bowl city : MIAMI
67. Sole : ONLY
68. Perlman of “Cheers” : RHEA
69. Kenneth Lay’s scandalized company : ENRON
70. Eye rudely : OGLE

Down

1. Longoria of “Desperate Housewives” : EVA
2. One of music’s Three Bs : BACH
3. Savanna springer : ANTELOPE
4. Simple question type : YES/NO
5. Singer known as the “Godfather of Punk” : IGGY POP
6. Put the kibosh on : HALT
7. Nebraska city : OMAHA
8. Less tainted : PURER
9. Pittsburgh footballer : STEELER
10. Cassini of fashion : OLEG
11. Southpaw’s opposite : RIGHTY
12. Be a ham : EMOTE
13. Obama daughter : SASHA
21. Rice-A-__ : RONI
22. Tiny bit : IOTA
26. Honor society letter : PHI
27. Got ready for the surprise party surprise : HID
29. Deposed Iranian despot : SHAH
31. Clog or moc : SHOE
33. Bad-joke response : HA-HA
34. Tres menos dos : UNO
35. Speak wildly : RANT
39. Saying “Quiet!” to : SHUSHING
40. Very popular : HOT
41. Get on in years : AGE
43. “__ the end of my rope!” : I’M AT
44. Return from work : GET HOME
45. Enter steadily, as a line of students : TROOP IN
46. Rwandan native : HUTU
47. “Border” dog : COLLIE
50. More lamb than tiger : SHYER
51. Club with 20-, 32-, 42- and 57-Across as members? : FOUR-H
53. Kidney enzyme that regulates blood pressure : RENIN
54. Essential rose oil : ATTAR
56. Snow house : IGLOO
58. Prefix for “ten” : DECA-
59. __ sapiens : HOMO
60. Towering : TALL
64. Pastrami bread : RYE

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