LA Times Crossword Answers 30 Mar 17, Thursday










Constructed by: Richard F. Mausser

Edited by: Rich Norris

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Theme: University Quads

The circled letters in today’s grid are arranged in QUAD(rangle)S. Each of those quadrangles spells out the name of a UNIVERSITY when read in a clockwise direction starting from the top-left. The universities included are:

TULANE
Tulane University is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Tulane was founded in 1834 as the Medical College of Louisiana. The university was privatized with the aid of an endowment from philanthropist Paul Tulane in 1884, and as a result the school’s name was changed to Tulane University. The school’s sports teams use the name Tulane Green Wave, and the team mascot is Riptide the Pelican.

RICE
Rice University is a private school in Houston, Texas. William Marsh Rice had made a will endowing the funds for the establishment of the school at the time of his death. When he was found dead one morning in his bed, his lawyer announced that his will had been changed, with the bulk of Rice’s estate actually going to the lawyer making the announcement. Upon investigation, it was discovered that the lawyer had paid Rice’s valet to murder his employer using chloroform and a fake will was written. Eventually, the original will was deemed valid and the funds were disbursed so that the school could be built.

YALE
Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut was founded in 1701, making it the third-oldest university in the US. Originally called the Collegiate School, it was renamed to Yale University in honor of retired merchant from London called Elihu Yale, who made generous contributions to the institution. Yale University’s nickname is “Old Eli”, in a nod to the benefactor.

TEMPLE
Temple University was founded in 1888, and started out as a night school offering classes to people of limited means who had to hold down jobs during the day. These students earned themselves the nickname of “night owls”, leading to the use of “Owls” for Temple’s athletic teams.

  • 39A. What the groups of circled letters graphically represent : UNIVERSITY QUADS

Bill’s time: 10m 55s

Bill’s errors: 0




Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies

Across

6. Some CPAs and MBAs : CFOS

Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Certified public accountant (CPA)
Master of Business Administration (MBA)

10. __ bean : FAVA

Fava bean is an alternative name for the broad bean.

16. 2001 Winslet/Dench title role : IRIS

“Elegy for Iris” is a 1999 memoir written by John Bayley about his marriage to author Iris Murdoch. The memoir deals with Murdoch’s multiple infidelities as well as her final years suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Bayley’s book was used as the basis of a 2001 film titled “Iris” that starred Kate Winslet as a young Murdoch and Judi Dench as an older Murdoch. Hugh Bonneville played the young Bayley, and Jim Broadbent the older Bayley.

Kate Winslet is one of my favorite actresses, someone known for taking both the big Hollywood roles while still finding the time to act in smaller independent films. Perhaps Winslet’s most famous part was opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in “Titanic”, although she won her Oscar for a more dramatic role in “The Reader”. But my favorite of her performances is in the romantic comedy “The Holiday” from 2006. I love that movie …

Dame Judi Dench is an outstanding English actress, known for decades in her home country mainly as a stage and television actress. Dench’s film career took off in the nineties with a relatively trivial role as “M” in the James Bond series of films. Since then she has played leading roles in several excellent movies including “Shakespeare in Love”, “Mrs. Brown”, “Notes on a Scandal” and “Philomena”.

17. Hero makers : DELIS

“Hero” is another name for a submarine sandwich. The hero originated in New York City in the 1800s among Italian immigrants who wanted an Italian sandwich that reminded them of home. The name “hero” was coined in the 1930s, supposedly by a food critic in the “New York Herald Tribune” when he wrote that “one had to be a hero” to finish the gigantic sandwich. Hero is a prevalent term to this day in New York City, reserved for a submarine sandwich with an Italian flavor.

20. Double-helix molecules : DNAS

Francis Crick and James Watson discovered that DNA had a double-helix, chain-like structure, and published their results in Cambridge in 1953. To this day the discovery is mired in controversy, as some crucial results collected by fellow researcher Rosalind Franklin were used without her permission or even knowledge.

21. Stat for which Babe Ruth’s 457 is the single-season record : TOTAL BASES

Jack Dunn was the owner/manager of the Baltimore Orioles back in 1913, when he signed on George Herman Ruth as a pitcher. The other players called Ruth “Jack’s newest babe”, and the name “Babe” stuck.

23. Site of many Ansel Adams works : YOSEMITE

President Abraham Lincoln passed a bill in 1864 creating the Yosemite Grant, which was the first piece of federal legislature that set aside park land for preservation and public use. The Yosemite Grant paved the way for the creation of Yellowstone as the nation’s first national park in 1872. Yosemite was made a national park in 1890.

As an avid amateur photographer, I have been a big fan of the work of Ansel Adams for many years and must have read all of his books. Adams was famous for clarity and depth in his black and white images. Central to his technique was the use of the zone system, his own invention. The zone system is a way of controlling exposure in an image, particularly when there is a high contrast in the subject. Although the technique was developed primarily for black & white film, it can even apply to digital color images. In the digital world, the main technique is to expose an image for the highlights, and one or more images for the shadows. These images can then be combined digitally giving a final photograph with a full and satisfying range of exposures.

25. Online chortle : LOL

Gr8 joke! (great joke!); LOL (laugh out loud).

28. Joan __ : OF ARC

Joan of Arc (also “Jeanne d’Arc”, her birth name) led the French Army successfully into battle a number of times during the Hundred Years War with England. When she was eventually captured, Joan was tried in Rouen, the seat of the occupying English government in France at that time. There she was burned at the stake having been found guilty of heresy. In fact, after the fire died down, the executioner raked the coals to display the charred body, proving Joan had died, and then burned the corpse again, twice, so that relics could not be collected. The remaining ashes were then cast into the Seine River. Joan of Arc was canonized some 600 years later, in 1920, and is now one of the patron saints of France.

32. Aplenty : GALORE

Our word “galore”, meaning “in great numbers”, comes from the Irish phrase “go leór” that translates as “sufficiently, enough”.

36. Carmelite, perhaps : NUN

The full name of the Carmelite religious order of the Catholic church is the Order of the Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. It is thought that the order was founded on Mt. Carmel in northern Israel in the 12th century, giving the name.

38. Muffin topper : OLEO

Emperor Louis Napoleon III of France announced a competition to develop a substitute for butter, a substitute that would be more accessible to the lower classes and more practical for the armed forces. A French chemist called Hippolyte Mege-Mouries came up with something he called oleomargarine in 1869, which was eventually manufactured under the trade name “margarine”. The name “oleomargarine” also gives us our generic term “oleo”.

39. What the groups of circled letters graphically represent : UNIVERSITY QUADS

A university often features a central quadrangle (quad).

42. Labyrinth : MAZE

A labyrinth is a maze, and is named after the maze in which the Minotaur was confined in Greek Mythology.

Minos was the King of Crete in Greek mythology, and the son of Zeus and Europa. Minos had an elaborate labyrinth built under the island, designed by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus (who famously died trying to escape from the island by “flying” away). In the labyrinth, King Minos kept the Minotaur, a dreadful creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man.

45. “Obsessable series” movie channel : STARZ

The Starz premium cable channel is owned by the same company that owns the Encore cable channel. Starz was launched in 1994 and mainly shows movies.

47. What “two” meant to Paul Revere : BY SEA

“One if by land, and two if by sea” is the famous signal code used by Paul Revere to warn the people of Charlestown when the British army was approaching. The words “one if by land, and two if by sea”, are immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride”.

51. Billboard charts : HIT LISTS

“Billboard” was founded way back in 1894 as a trade magazine for the advertising and bill posting industry. The editorial focus gradually moved towards music as phonographs, radios and the recorded music business took off in the early part of the 20th century. “Billboard” published its first “music hit parade” 1936, and is now famous for its collection of lists that track music sales.

56. Tart vodka cocktails : LEMON DROPS

A lemon drop is a sweet-and-sour vodka-based cocktail, with the “sweet” coming from triple sec and simple syrup, and the “sour” coming from lemon juice. The lemon drop was invented in the seventies here in San Francisco, in a bar called Henry Africa’s.

60. Petunia part : STEM

The flowering plants known as petunias are in a genus that related to the tobacco plant. The name “petunia” comes from the obsolete French word “petun” meaning “tobacco plant”.

61. Greenish blue : CYAN

“Cyan” is short for “cyan blue”. The term comes from the Greek word “kyanos” meaning “dark blue, the color of lapis lazuli”.

62. Use the escalator, about half the time : GO UP

Escalators have an advantage over elevators in that they can move larger numbers of people in the same time frame. They can also be placed in just about the same physical space that would be needed for a regular staircase. Patents for escalator-type devices were first filed in 1859, but the first working model wasn’t built until 1892 by one Jesse Reno. It was erected alongside a pier in Coney Island, New York, with the second escalator being placed at an entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge. Soon after, the Otis elevator company purchased the necessary patents and went into the business.

63. Plant swelling : EDEMA

Both animals and plants can suffer from edema, a swelling caused by excessive accumulation of fluid.

64. What a stet cancels : DELE

“Stet” is a Latin word meaning “let it stand”. In editorial work, the typesetter is instructed to disregard any change previously marked by writing the word “stet” and then underscoring that change with a line of dots or dashes.

66. Cheap mags : PULPS

“Pulp fiction” was the name given to cheap, fiction magazines that were popular from the late 1890s up to the 1950s. The phrase comes from the inexpensive wood pulp paper that was used for the publications. The upmarket equivalent was printed on fine glossy paper.

67. Old jet-set jets : SSTS

The most famous Supersonic Transport (SST) was the Concorde, a plane that’s no longer flying. Concorde had that famous “droop nose”. The nose was moved to the horizontal position during flight to create the optimum aerodynamic shape thereby reducing drag. It was lowered during taxi, takeoff and landing, so that the pilot had better visibility. The need for the droop nose was driven largely by the delta-shaped wings. The delta wing necessitates a higher angle of attack at takeoff and landing than conventional wing designs, so the pilot needed the nose lowered so that he or she could see the ground.

69. Canines, e.g. : TEETH

The canine teeth of a mammal are also called the eyeteeth or cuspids. The name “canine” is used because these particular teeth are very prominent in dogs. The name “eye” is used because in humans the eyeteeth are located in the upper jaw, directly below the eyes.

Down

1. Irrigated grain field : PADDY

A paddy field is the flooded piece of land used to grow rice. The water reduces competition from weeds allowing the rice to thrive. The word “paddy” has nothing to do with us Irish folk, and is an anglicized version of the word “padi”, the Malay name for the rice plant.

2. Courtroom figure : STENO

Stenography is the process of writing in shorthand. The term comes from the Greek “steno” (narrow) and “graphe” (writing).

3. Hippy dances? : HULAS

The “hula” is a native dance of Hawaii that uses arm movements to relate a story. The hula can be performed while sitting (a “noho” dance”) or while standing (a “luna” dance).

4. Italian cookie flavoring : ANISE

The essential oil in the anise plant is anethole. Anethole has a licorice-like flavor, and is used extensively in cooking and to flavor several distilled alcoholic drinks.

5. Filmmaker Craven : WES

Wes Craven was a very successful film director and writer specializing in movies of the horror genre, which means I don’t watch them! He was responsible for “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and the “Scream” films. Craven passed away in August 2015.

6. Holly Golightly’s creator : CAPOTE

“Breakfast at Tiffany’s” is a 1958 novella written by Truman Capote. Truman’s colorful protagonist in the story is Holiday “Holly” Golightly, who was played so very, very ably by Audrey Hepburn in the marvelous 1961 movie adaptation. It must be said that the film is a rather loose interpretation of Capote’s novella.

8. Chaplin of “Game of Thrones” : OONA

Oona Chaplin is an actress from Madrid in Spain. Chaplin is getting a lot of airtime these days as she plays Talisa Maegyr on HBO’s hit fantasy series “Game of Thrones”. Oona is the granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin, and is named for her maternal grandmother Oona O’Neill, the daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill.

10. Elite Eight survivors : FINAL FOUR

In the NCAA Division I Basketball Championship, the teams remaining at various stages of the tournament are known as:

  • The “Sweet Sixteen” (the regional semi-finalists)
  • The “Elite Eight” (the regional finalists)
  • The “Final Four” (the national semi-finalists)

11. War god : ARES

The Greek god Ares is often referred to as the Olympian god of warfare, but originally he was regarded as the god of bloodlust and slaughter. Ares united with Aphrodite to create several gods, including Phobos, Deimos and Eros. The Roman equivalent to Ares was Mars.

22. Savior of Scout and Jem, in “To Kill a Mockingbird” : BOO

In Harper Lee’s classic novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Boo Radley is the reclusive neighbor living next door to the children Jem and Scout, who are both afraid of and at the same time fascinated by.

24. Filly, eventually : MARE

There are lots of terms to describe horses of different ages and sexes, it seems:

  • Foal: horse of either sex that is less that one year old
  • Yearling: horse of either sex that is one to two years old
  • Filly: female horse under the age of four
  • Colt: male horse under the age of four
  • Gelding: castrated male horse of any age
  • Stallion: non-castrated male horse four years or older
  • Mare: female horse four years or older

29. End of a ball game? : ALAI

The essential equipment in the game of jai alai is the pelota (ball) and the cesta (wicker scoop).

30. Great American Ball Park team : REDS

Great American Ball Park is named after Great American Insurance Group. It seems a pity that the name is so mercenary, as it is such a grand name for a baseball field. Oh, and it is home to the Cincinnati Reds baseball team.

31. COLA component : COST

Cost-of-living adjustment/allowance (COLA)

33. Vet school subj. : ANAT

Anatomy (anat.)

“Vet” is an abbreviation for “veterinarian”, a professional who treat animals for disease and injury. The word “veterinary” comes from the Latin “veterinae” meaning “working animals, beasts of burden”.

34. Joel’s “Cabaret” co-star : LIZA

The actress and singer Liza Minnelli is the daughter of Judy Garland and movie director Vincente Minnelli. Liza won her only Oscar for her lead performance in 1972’s “Cabaret”. She has also won an Emmy, Grammy and Tony, and is one of the very few entertainers to have made that “sweep”.

Actor, singer and dancer Joel Grey is best known for playing the fabulous Master of Ceremonies in the musical “Cabaret” both on stage and the big screen. Joel is the father of actress Jennifer Grey, who appeared in “Dirty Dancing” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”.

The musical “Cabaret” is based on “I Am a Camera”, a 1951 play written by John Van Druten. In turn, the play was adapted from a novel “Goodbye to Berlin” written by Christopher Isherwood. The action in the musical takes place in the 1930s, in a seedy Berlin cabaret called the Kit Kat Club. “Cabaret” is a great stage musical, although the 1972 film of the musical isn’t one of my favorites.

37. AFC East team : NY JETS

Just like the New York Giants, the New York Jets are based in New Jersey, headquartered in Florham Park. The Jets and the Giants have a unique arrangement in the NFL in that the two teams share Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Jets were an AFL charter team, formed in 1959 as the Titans of New York. The Titans changed their name to the Jets in 1963.

46. Cab alternative : ZIN

Zinfandel is one of my favorite red wine varietals. It amazes me that the rich and heavy red Zinfandel comes from the same grape as does the sweet White Zinfandel.

The Cabernet Sauvignon grape has been around since the 17th century, and is the result of a chance crossing in southwestern France of the Cabernet franc and Sauvignon blanc grapes.

52. Expectant mom’s words : IS DUE

The normal gestation period for humans is 280 days, a little over 9 months. The gestation period can be a little shorter, or longer. Back in 1945, a pregnancy was confirmed at 375 days, just over a year.

53. Inscribed pillar : STELE

Stelae (singular “stele” or “stela”) were used all over the world, sometimes as territorial markers and sometimes to commemorate military victories. In later times stelae were commonly erected as commemorative markers in graveyards or other religious sites.

55. Blockbuster : SMASH

During WWII, a “blockbuster” was a large bomb, one capable of blowing up a city block. The term migrated into the world of entertainment in the late fifties, describing a particularly successful movie or show.

56. Some TV screens : LCDS

Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) are the screens that are found in most laptops today, and in flat panel computer screens and some televisions. LCD monitors basically replaced Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) screens, the old television technology.

58. Dairy Queen order : MALT

Walgreens claims to have introduced the malted milkshake, back in 1922.

Soft serve ice cream was developed by John McCullough in 1938. McCullough was able to get his new dessert carried by a local ice cream store in Illinois. He and the store owner became so swamped with sales that they opened a store specifically built around the product in Joliet, Illinois, hence creating the first Dairy Queen outlet. There are now over 5,700 Dairy Queen franchises in 19 countries. We’ve even got one in Ireland …

63. Skillful, facetiously : EPT

If one is capable, one might jokingly be described as “ept”, the ostensible opposite of “inept”.

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Complete List of Clues and Answers

Across

1. “Yeah, sure!” : PSHAW!

6. Some CPAs and MBAs : CFOS

10. __ bean : FAVA

14. What choir members have to carry : A TUNE

15. Lined up, with “in” : A ROW

16. 2001 Winslet/Dench title role : IRIS

17. Hero makers : DELIS

18. Window shopper’s buy : PANE

19. Bottle part : NECK

20. Double-helix molecules : DNAS

21. Stat for which Babe Ruth’s 457 is the single-season record : TOTAL BASES

23. Site of many Ansel Adams works : YOSEMITE

25. Online chortle : LOL

26. Wide awake : ALERT

28. Joan __ : OF ARC

32. Aplenty : GALORE

36. Carmelite, perhaps : NUN

38. Muffin topper : OLEO

39. What the groups of circled letters graphically represent : UNIVERSITY QUADS

42. Labyrinth : MAZE

43. Plop down : SIT

44. Legal scholar : JURIST

45. “Obsessable series” movie channel : STARZ

47. What “two” meant to Paul Revere : BY SEA

49. Bow __ : TIE

51. Billboard charts : HIT LISTS

56. Tart vodka cocktails : LEMON DROPS

60. Petunia part : STEM

61. Greenish blue : CYAN

62. Use the escalator, about half the time : GO UP

63. Plant swelling : EDEMA

64. What a stet cancels : DELE

65. Alternatively : ELSE

66. Cheap mags : PULPS

67. Old jet-set jets : SSTS

68. Bob or dog attachment : SLED

69. Canines, e.g. : TEETH

Down

1. Irrigated grain field : PADDY

2. Courtroom figure : STENO

3. Hippy dances? : HULAS

4. Italian cookie flavoring : ANISE

5. Filmmaker Craven : WES

6. Holly Golightly’s creator : CAPOTE

7. Place for annual pledging : FRATERNITY HOUSE

8. Chaplin of “Game of Thrones” : OONA

9. Balloon : SWELL

10. Elite Eight survivors : FINAL FOUR

11. War god : ARES

12. Target of many a New Year’s resolution : VICE

13. Poses : ASKS

21. Floor installers : TILERS

22. Savior of Scout and Jem, in “To Kill a Mockingbird” : BOO

24. Filly, eventually : MARE

27. Mild rebuke : TUT

29. End of a ball game? : ALAI

30. Great American Ball Park team : REDS

31. COLA component : COST

32. 69-Across holders : GUMS

33. Vet school subj. : ANAT

34. Joel’s “Cabaret” co-star : LIZA

35. Hinted-at hidden meanings : OVERTONES

37. AFC East team : NY JETS

40. Sis or bro : SIB

41. Grade of excellence: Abbr. : QUAL

46. Cab alternative : ZIN

48. Opposite of guzzled : SIPPED

50. Cube’s dozen : EDGES

52. Expectant mom’s words : IS DUE

53. Inscribed pillar : STELE

54. Lead on : TEMPT

55. Blockbuster : SMASH

56. Some TV screens : LCDS

57. They work better when they focus : EYES

58. Dairy Queen order : MALT

59. Lucky streak : ROLL

63. Skillful, facetiously : EPT

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