LA Times Crossword 5 Aug 19, Monday

Advertisement

Constructed by: Ed Sessa
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: The Whole Shebang

Themed answers end with words that collectively amount to THE WHOLE SHEBANG, i.e. LOCK, STOCK and BARREL:

  • 60A What the ends of 17-, 29- and 46-Across figuratively comprise : THE WHOLE SHEBANG
  • 17A Wall safe access : COMBINATION LOCK
  • 29A Base for many soups : CHICKEN STOCK
  • 46A Classic country store container : PICKLE BARREL

Bill’s time: 5m 12s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Club in a Manilow title : COPA

The Copacabana of the 1978 Barry Manilow song is the Copacabana nightclub in New York City (which is also the subject of the Frank Sinatra song “Meet Me at the Copa”). The Copa opened in 1940 and is still going today although it is struggling. The club had to move due to impending construction and is now “sharing” a location with the Columbus 72 nightclub.

Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl
With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there
She would merengue and do the cha-cha
And while she tried to be a star
Tony always tended bar
Across the crowded floor, they worked from 8 ’til 4
They were young and they had each other
Who could ask for more?

9 Shirk work : DOG IT

“To dog it” is a slang term meaning to not expend the effort necessary to accomplish a task. Folks tell me that the expression is quite common, but I must confess that I personally haven’t heard it used outside of crosswords. I’ll have to listen more carefully in the future …

14 Isaac’s eldest son : ESAU

Esau is a son of Isaac, and someone whose story is told in the Bible’s Book of Genesis. Esau had three wives, Adah, Aholibamah and Bashemath.

15 Tel __ : AVIV

The full name of Israel’s second largest city is Tel Aviv-Yafo. “Tel Aviv” translates into “Spring Mound”, and is a name that was chosen in 1910.

16 Berlin Olympics star Jesse : OWENS

Jesse Owens is famous for winning four gold medals at the Berlin Olympic Games in 1936, much to the chagrin of Adolf Hitler. Jesse’s real name was James Cleveland Owens, and he went by “JC” as a child. However, his Alabama accent was misconstrued at school when his family moved to Cleveland, so teachers and classmates called him “Jesse” instead of “JC”, and the name stuck.

The 1936 Summer Olympic Games were held in Berlin, and were the first Olympic Games to be televised. Also, German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl was commissioned to film the whole event, resulting in the technically groundbreaking documentary “Olympia” that was released two years later.

20 Not yet bug-free, as software : IN BETA

In the world of software development, the first tested issue of a new program is usually called the alpha version. Expected to have a lot of bugs that need to be fixed, the alpha release is usually distributed to a small number of testers. After reported bugs have been eliminated, the refined version is called a beta and is released to a wider audience, but with the program clearly labeled as “beta”. The users generally check functionality and report further bugs that are encountered. The beta version feeds into a release candidate, the version that is tested just prior to the software being sold into the market, hopefully bug-free.

21 Smelling __ : SALTS

The active ingredient in smelling salts is usually ammonium carbonate, which releases ammonia gas when mixed with alcohol. When the activated salts are held under the nose, the ammonia irritates the mucous membranes causing an inhalation reflex action.

22 Lion in the sky : LEO

The constellation named Leo can be said to resemble a lion. Others say that it resembles a bent coat hanger. “Leo” is the Latin for “lion”, but I’m not sure how to translate “coat hanger” into Latin …

23 Grand __: wine label words : CRU

“Cru” is a term used in the French wine industry that means “growth place”. So, “cru” is the name of the location where the grapes are grown, as opposed to the name of a specific vineyard. The terms “premier cru” and “grand cru” are also used, but the usage depends on the specific wine region. Generally it is a classification awarded to specific vineyards denoting their potential for producing great wines. “Grand cru” is reserved for the very best vineyards, with “premier cru” the level just below.

25 Tijuana aunt : TIA

Tijuana is the largest city in the Mexican state of Baja California, and lies just across the US-Mexico border from San Diego. Tijuana is also the most westerly of all Mexican cities. A lot of Tijuana’s growth took place in the twenties as tourists flocked south of the border during the days of prohibition in the US. One of the many casinos and hotels that flourished at that time was Hotel Caesar’s in the Avenida Revolución area. Hotel Caesar’s claims to be the birthplace of the now ubiquitous Caesar Salad.

26 Part of 24-Down : LOS
(24d Home to the NCAA Bruins : UCLA)

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) gets more applications from potential students than any other university in the country. UCLA also has more students enrolled than any other university in the state.

35 Yale student : ELI

Elihu Yale was a wealthy merchant born in Boston in 1649. Yale worked for the British East India Company, and for many years served as governor of a settlement at Madras (now Chennai) in India. After India, Yale took over his father’s estate near Wrexham in Wales. It was while resident in Wrexham that Yale responded to a request for financial support for the Collegiate School of Connecticut in 1701. He sent the school a donation, which was used to erect a new building in New Haven that was named “Yale” in his honor. In 1718, the whole school was renamed to “Yale College”. To this day, students of Yale are nicknamed “Elis”, again honoring Elihu.

36 Country divided in 1945 : KOREA

Korea was occupied by the Japanese military from 1910 until Japan surrendered at the end of WWII in 1945. While the UN was working towards a trusteeship administration for Korea, the Soviet Union managed the Korean Peninsula north of the 38th parallel and the US managed the south. The UN’s plans came to naught as the Cold War dictated the establishment of the two separate states of North Korea and South Korea. North Korea invaded the South in 1950, leading to the Korean War. After three years of fighting, the border between the two states became the demarcation line between the two military forces on the day the Armistice Agreement was signed. That line runs diagonally across the 38th parallel, and is better known as the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

38 Part of a French toast : SANTE

“À votre santé” is French for “to your health”. Cheers!

42 Pool game call before “Polo!” : MARCO!

Marco Polo is a game of tag that is played in a swimming pool.

45 Hathaway of “Ocean’s 8” : ANNE

Actress Anne Hathaway is a favorite of mine, I must say. She starred in “The Devil Wears Prada” in 2006 and in 2007’s “Becoming Jane”, a film that I particularly enjoyed.

2018’s “Ocean’s 8” is the fourth in the “Ocean’s” series of films made by Steven Soderbergh. The lead character in the original trilogy is Danny Ocean, played by George Clooney. The lead character in “Ocean’s 8” is Danny’s sister Debbie Ocean, played by Sandra Bullock. The gang of “8” thieves is an all-female troupe played by the likes of Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Rihanna and Helena Bonham Carter.

46 Classic country store container : PICKLE BARREL

In days gone by, cucumbers were fermented in brine and spices in a wooden pickle barrels.

50 Tavern offering : ALE

Our lovely word “tavern” comes into English via Old French from the Latin “taberna”, the word for a “shop, inn, alehouse”.

52 Paving material : TAR

The terms “tarmac” and “macadam” are short for “tarmacadam”. In the 1800s, Scotsman John Loudon McAdam developed a style of road known as “macadam”. Macadam had a top-layer of crushed stone and gravel laid over larger stones. The macadam also had a convex cross-section so that water tended to drain to the sides. In 1901, a significant improvement was made by English engineer Edgar Purnell Hooley who introduced tar into the macadam, improving the resistance to water damage and practically eliminating dust. The “tar-penetration macadam” is the basis of what we now call tarmac.

53 __ Baba : ALI

In the folk tale “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”, the title character is a poor woodcutter who discovers the magic words “open sesame”, which open the thieves’ den.

56 Doc’s order to a pharmacist : SCRIP

“Scrip” is an informal term meaning “prescription”.

60 What the ends of 17-, 29- and 46-Across figuratively comprise : THE WHOLE SHEBANG

The word “shebang” is probably a derivative of “shebeen”, an Irish term describing a “speakeasy”, an establishment where liquor was drunk and sold illegally. In English “shebang” was originally a “hut” or a “shed”. Just how this evolved into the expression “the whole shebang”, meaning “everything”, is unclear.

64 “West Side Story” heroine : MARIA

In Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story”, the female lead character is Maria. Her older friend Anita is also in the gang called the Sharks.

65 New York canal : ERIE

The Erie Canal runs from Albany to Buffalo in the state of New York. What the canal does is allow shipping to proceed from New York Harbor right up the Hudson River, through the canal and into the Great Lakes. When it was opened in 1825, the Erie Canal had immediate impact on the economy of New York City and locations along its route. It was the first means of “cheap” transportation from a port on the Atlantic seaboard into the interior of the United States. Arguably it was the most important factor contributing to the growth of New York City over competing ports such as Baltimore and Philadelphia. It was largely because of the Erie Canal that New York became such an economic powerhouse, earning it the nickname of “the Empire State”. Paradoxically, one of the project’s main proponents was severely criticized. New York Governor DeWitt Clinton received so much ridicule that the canal was nicknamed “Clinton’s Folly” and “Clinton’s Ditch”.

66 “In __ of gifts … ” : LIEU

As one might imagine perhaps, “in lieu” came into English from the Old French word “lieu” meaning “place”, which in turn is derived from the Latin “locum” that also means “place”. So, “in lieu” translates as “in place of”.

68 Confers knighthood on : DUBS

Kneel, and a monarch might “dub thee a knight” if you’re lucky. “Dub” is a specific term derived from Old English that was used to mean “make a knight”. As the knight was also given a knightly name at the same time, “dub” has come to mean “give someone a name”.

69 Website for crafty people? : 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.

Down

1 Director DeMille : CECIL

Cecil B. Demille was a movie director and producer who started his professional career in the silent era. DeMille’s movies were often epic works, such “Cleopatra” (1936), “Samson and Delilah” (1949), “The Greatest Show on Earth” (1952) and “The Ten Commandments” (1956). The Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award is named in his honor, and indeed he was its first recipient.

3 Role for Stallone : RAMBO

“First Blood” was the original of the four “Rambo” films starring Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, a troubled Vietnam War veteran. I thought “First Blood” was a pretty good film actually, but the sequels were terrible, and way too violent for me. But, action all the way …

4 London underground : TUBE

The official name London “Underground” is a little deceptive, as over half of the track system-wide is actually “over ground”, with the underground sections reserved for the central areas. It is the oldest subway system in the world, having opened in 1863. It was also the first system to use electric rolling stock, in 1890. “The Tube”, as it is known by Londoners, isn’t the longest subway system in the world though. That honor belongs to the Shanghai Metro. My personal favorite part of the Tube is the Tube map! It is a marvel of design …

5 Yellow songbirds : CANARIES

What we now know as the domestic canary was first brought to Europe from Macaronesia, off the coast of Africa, by Spanish sailors in the 1600s. Macaronesia is a collection of four archipelagos that includes the Canary Islands. The name of the islands comes from the Latin “Insula Canaria” meaning “island of dogs”, a reference to the many large dogs found locally. So, the canary bird is named for the Canary Islands, which in turn are named for dogs.

10 Barn hooters : OWLS

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 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”.

11 Old Metro automaker : GEO

Geos were small vehicles manufactured by General Motors mainly in the nineties. Geos were designed to compete head-to-head with the small imports that were gaining market share at the time in the US. Some Geo models that you might remember are the Metro, the Prizm and the Storm. The cars were actually built as joint-ventures with Japanese manufacturers. The Prizm was a GM/Toyota project, the Metro was GM/Suzuki, and the Storm was GM/Isuzu.

12 End of many co. names : INC

A company that has incorporated uses the abbreviation “Inc.” after its name. By incorporating, a company forms a corporation, which is a legal entity that has legal rights similar to those of an individual. For example, a corporation can sue another corporation or individual. However, a corporation does not have all the rights of citizens. A corporation does not have the Fifth Amendment right of protections against self-incrimination, for example. It is perhaps understandable that the concept of “corporations as persons” is a frequent subject for debate.

19 Lena of “The Reader” : OLIN

Lena Olin is a Swedish actress, and clearly someone who had acting in her blood. Her mother was the actress Britta Holmberg and her father the actor and director Stig Olin. Olin had a very successful career in Sweden, often working with the great Ingmar Bergman. Olin’s breakthrough international and English-speaking role was playing opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” released in 1988. Way back in 1974, the lovely Miss Olin was crowned Miss Scandinavia in a beauty pageant for Nordic women held in Helsinki, Finland. Olin’s most famous performance was in “Chocolat” released in 2000, and then she won an Emmy in 2003 for Best Supporting Actress in the TV show “Alias”.

24 Home to the NCAA Bruins : UCLA

The UCLA Bruins’ mascots are Joe and Josephine Bruin, characters that have evolved over the years. There used to be “mean” Bruin mascots but they weren’t very popular with the fans, so now there are only “happy” Bruin mascots at the games.

26 Oscar winner Sophia : LOREN

Sophia Loren certainly has earned her exalted position in the world of movies. In 1962 Loren won an Oscar for Best Actress for her role in the Italian film “Two Women”, the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English speaking performance. She received a second nomination for Best Actress for her role in “Marriage Italian-Style”, another Italian-language movie, released in 1964.

27 Atlantic or Pacific : OCEAN

The earliest known mention of the name “Atlantic” for the world’s second-largest ocean was in ancient Greece. The Greeks called said ocean “the Sea of Atlas” or “Atlantis thalassa”.

The Pacific Ocean was given its name by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. When Magellan sailed into the ocean on his 1521 circumnavigation of the globe, he encountered favorable winds and so called it “Mar Pacifico” meaning “peaceful sea”.

32 City on Florida’s Gulf Coast : TAMPA

The Florida city of Tampa has been known as “the Big Guava” since the seventies. The term is imitative of New York’s “Big Apple”, and refers to the unsuccessful search for the reported wild guava trees that were once hoped to be the basis of a new industry for the area. Tampa has also been called “Cigar City”, a reference to the cigar industry that fueled the area’s growth starting in the 1880s.

34 Homeric temptress : CIRCE

Circe was a minor goddess in Greek mythology. The goddess of magic, she was fond of transforming those who did not please her into animals by using magical potions. In Homer’s “Odyssey”, Odysseus was given the herb called “moly” to protect him from the magical powers of Circe.

39 Civil wrong : TORT

“Tort” is a French word meaning “mischief, injury or wrong”. In common law, a tort is a civil wrong that results in the injured party suffering loss or harm, and the injuring party having a legal liability. Tort law differs from criminal law in that torts may result from negligence and not just intentional actions. Also, tort lawsuits may be decided on a preponderance of evidence, without the need of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

40 Divers’ maladies : EARACHES

As a scuba diver descends into the water, the water pressure on the outside of the eardrum increases, whereas the pressure on the inside of the ear remains constant. This difference in pressure can cause the eardrum to distend, creating pain. A diver avoids the problem by holding the nose and gently blowing air through his or her eustachian tubes, equalizing the pressure inside and outside the eardrum. A similar process operates as the diver ascends, although it is the higher pressure in the middle ear that expels excess air through the eustachian tube into the mouth cavity. If the eustachian tube is blocked, perhaps because of an ear infection, then the persistent pressure difference can result in an excruciating earache after a dive.

47 Current Italian currency : EURO

The Euro is the official currency of most of the states in the European Union, but not all. The list of EU states not using the Euro includes the UK, Denmark and Sweden.

49 Author Gardner with many plots : ERLE

I must have read all of the “Perry Mason” books when I was in college. I think they kept me sane when I was facing the pressure of exams. Author Erle Stanley Gardner was himself a lawyer, although he didn’t get into the profession the easy way. Gardner went to law school, but got himself suspended after a month. So, he became a self-taught attorney and opened his own law office in Merced, California. Understandably perhaps, Gardner gave up the law once his novels became successful.

55 PC fixer : IT GUY

The original IBM Personal Computer is model number 5150, which was introduced to the world on August 12, 1981. The term “personal computer” was already in use, but the success of the IBM 5150 led to the term “PC” being used for all computer products compatible with the IBM platform.

57 Country where “Raiders of the Lost Ark” begins : PERU

Peru’s name comes from the word “Biru”. Back in the early 1500s, Biru was a ruler living near the Bay of San Miguel in Panama. The territory over which Biru ruled was the furthest land south in the Americas known to Europeans at that time. The Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro was the first European to move south of Biru’s empire and the land that he found was designated “Peru”, a derivative of “Biru”.

“Raiders of the Lost Ark” is, in my humble opinion, the best of the Indiana Jones franchise of movies. This first Indiana Jones film was released in 1981, produced by George Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg. Harrison Ford was Spielberg’s first choice to play the lead, but Lucas resisted as he was concerned that he would be too closely associated with the actor (as Ford played Han Solo in “Star Wars”, and also appeared in Lucas’s “American Graffiti”). Tom Selleck was offered the role but he couldn’t get out of his commitments to “Magnum, P.I.” Eventually Spielberg got his way and Ford was hired, a good thing I say …

60 SHO sister channel : TMC

The Movie Channel is owned by Showtime, which in turn is a subsidiary of CBS. The channel’s name is often abbreviated to “TMC”, although this is informal usage.

63 Sis, to her sis : SIB

Sibling (sib)

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Tea service carrier : CART
5 Club in a Manilow title : COPA
9 Shirk work : DOG IT
14 Isaac’s eldest son : ESAU
15 Tel __ : AVIV
16 Berlin Olympics star Jesse : OWENS
17 Wall safe access : COMBINATION LOCK
20 Not yet bug-free, as software : IN BETA
21 Smelling __ : SALTS
22 Lion in the sky : LEO
23 Grand __: wine label words : CRU
25 Tijuana aunt : TIA
26 Part of 24-Down : LOS
29 Base for many soups : CHICKEN STOCK
32 PC fixer : TECH
35 Yale student : ELI
36 Country divided in 1945 : KOREA
37 French friend : AMIE
38 Part of a French toast : SANTE
41 Opposite of sloppy : NEAT
42 Pool game call before “Polo!” : MARCO!
44 __ number on: confound : DO A
45 Hathaway of “Ocean’s 8” : ANNE
46 Classic country store container : PICKLE BARREL
50 Tavern offering : ALE
51 Musical pair : DUO
52 Paving material : TAR
53 __ Baba : ALI
56 Doc’s order to a pharmacist : SCRIP
58 Use, as a scratching post : CLAW AT
60 What the ends of 17-, 29- and 46-Across figuratively comprise : THE WHOLE SHEBANG
64 “West Side Story” heroine : MARIA
65 New York canal : ERIE
66 “In __ of gifts … ” : LIEU
67 Titleholder : CHAMP
68 Confers knighthood on : DUBS
69 Website for crafty people? : ETSY
Down
1 Director DeMille : CECIL
2 All together : AS ONE
3 Role for Stallone : RAMBO
4 London underground : TUBE
5 Yellow songbirds : CANARIES
6 Egg cells : OVA
7 Cherry discards : PITS
8 Fly a plane : AVIATE
9 “Let’s not talk about that” : DON’T ASK
10 Barn hooters : OWLS
11 Old Metro automaker : GEO
12 End of many co. names : INC
13 Cluck of disapproval : TSK!
18 Thing to scratch : ITCH
19 Lena of “The Reader” : OLIN
24 Home to the NCAA Bruins : UCLA
26 Oscar winner Sophia : LOREN
27 Atlantic or Pacific : OCEAN
28 It can have wheels or blades : SKATE
29 Cash alternative : CHECK
30 In a way, slangily : KINDA
31 Having a key, in music : TONAL
32 City on Florida’s Gulf Coast : TAMPA
33 Computer message : EMAIL
34 Homeric temptress : CIRCE
39 Civil wrong : TORT
40 Divers’ maladies : EARACHES
43 Addressee of many a Brit’s “I say” : OLD CHAP
47 Current Italian currency : EURO
48 Heated to bubbling : BOILED
49 Author Gardner with many plots : ERLE
53 Anticipate : AWAIT
54 Highway divisions : LANES
55 PC fixer : IT GUY
56 Do pool laps, say : SWIM
57 Country where “Raiders of the Lost Ark” begins : PERU
59 Blessed with the necessary skills : ABLE
60 SHO sister channel : TMC
61 “I knew it!” : HAH!
62 Significant period : ERA
63 Sis, to her sis : SIB