LA Times Crossword 17 Dec 18, Monday

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Constructed by: Gail Grabowski & Bruce Venzke
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Moving Answers

Themed answers are common phrases that start with a series movements from SITTING to RUNNING:

  • 20A. Well-to-do : SITTING PRETTY
  • 25A. Instruction to a bank to make periodic payments : STANDING ORDER
  • 45A. Pink slip : WALKING PAPERS
  • 51A. Ship’s required nighttime illuminators : RUNNING LIGHTS

Bill’s time: 5m 10s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. Hindu royals : RAJAS

“Raja” (also “rajah”) is word derived from Sanskrit that is used particularly in India for a monarch or princely ruler. The female form is “rani” (also “ranee”) and is used for a raja’s wife.

10. Mixer with Scotch : SODA

We use the spelling “whiskey” for American and Irish versions of the drink, and “whisky” for Scotch, the Scottish version.

14. Lightweight vacuum first sold to hotels : ORECK

The Oreck Corporation is named after founder David Oreck and makes vacuum cleaners and air purifiers. The company started out selling vacuum cleaners by mail, a new concept in 1963. David Oreck himself appears regularly as a spokesman in the company’s ads and infomercials.

15. Pianist Gilels : EMIL

Emil Gilels was a pianist from the old Soviet Union who was born in Odessa (now part of Ukraine). Gilels was one of the first musicians allowed to perform concerts outside of the Eastern Bloc. His debut appearance in Philadelphia with Eugene Ormandy was a resounding success.

16. Eve’s second son : ABEL

According to the Bible, Adam and Eve had several children, although only the first three are mentioned by name: Cain, Abel and Seth.

17. Peppy-sounding cracker brand : ZESTA

Zesta is a line of saltine crackers made by Keebler.

18. El __: ocean current : NINO

When the surface temperature of much of the Pacific Ocean rises more that half a degree centigrade, then there is said to be an El Niño episode. That small temperature change in the Pacific has been associated with climatic changes that can stretch right across the globe. El Niño is Spanish for “the boy” and is a reference to the Christ child. The phenomenon was given this particular Spanish name because the warming is usually noticed near South America and around Christmas-time.

24. Drinks with crumpets : TEAS

I do love a nice crumpet. Crumpets are made from flour and yeast, with baking soda added to make the characteristic holes in the surface. Served hot, with butter melted into the holes, nothing better …

32. Beer whose logo suggests a prize winner, initially : PBR

Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) is the most recognizable brand of beer from the Pabst Brewing Company. There appears to be some dispute over whether or not Pabst beer ever won a “blue ribbon” prize, but the company claims that it did so at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. The beer was originally called Pabst Best Select, and then just Pabst Select. With the renaming to Blue Ribbon, the beer was sold with an actual blue ribbon tied around the neck of the bottle until it was dropped in 1916 and incorporated into the label.

36. Ocean east of N.C. : ATL

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

37. Central Illinois city : DECATUR

The city of Decatur in Central Illinois is known as “the Soybean Capital of the World”. The city’s most famous resident was Abraham Lincoln, and it was in Decatur that the future US President gave his first political speech.

40. Funny Tina : FEY

Comic actress Tina Fey has a scar on her face a few inches long on her left cheek, which I was shocked to learn was caused by a childhood “slashing” incident. When she was just five years old and playing in the alley behind her house, someone just came up to her and slashed her with a knife. How despicable!

41. Rep’s sales target : QUOTA

A quota is an allotment. The term “quota” was used originally with reference to the number of soldiers or quantity of supplies required from a particular town or district.

45. Pink slip : WALKING PAPERS

The term “pink-slip” can be used as a verb meaning “to terminate an employee”. No one really seems to know for sure where the phrase originated, but there are lots of stories.

49. Picnicker’s worry : RAIN

Our term “picnic” comes from the French word that now has the same meaning, namely “pique-nique”. The original “pique-nique” was a fashionable potluck affair, and not necessarily held outdoors.

57. __ B’rith : B’NAI

B’nai B’rith is a Jewish service organization founded in New York City in 1843. “B’nai B’rith” is Hebrew for “Sons of the Covenant”.

58. “Paula’s Home Cooking” host : DEEN

Paula Deen is a celebrity chef from Savannah, Georgia who is noted for her Southern cooking. Deen has been criticized for the amount of salt, fat and sugar in her recipes. The criticism became even more intense when Deen disclosed that she herself has been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

63. Tall and skinny : LANK

The term “lank” can describe something that is straight and flat, particularly hair. The usage was extended in the early 1800s (especially in the form “lanky”) to mean “awkwardly tall and thin”.

66. Greek Cupid : EROS

Cupid was the god of love in Roman mythology. Cupid’s name comes from the Latin verb “cupere” meaning “to desire”. Cupid’s Latin name was Amor, and his Greek counterpart was Eros.

Down

1. “Frasier” role : ROZ

Peri Gilpin is an actress best known for playing Roz Doyle on the hit sitcom “Frasier”. “Frasier” was a spinoff of “Cheers”. Gilpin actually made an appearance on the original show, albeit playing a completely different character.

3. Zooey’s “New Girl” role : JESS

Zooey Deschanel is an actress and singer-songwriter from Los Angeles. Zooey is the younger sister of Emily Deschanel who plays the title role on the TV show “Bones”. Now Zooey is playing Jess Day, the lead character on the sitcom “New Girl”. In the world of music, Zooey teams up with “M” Ward in the duo that goes by the name “She & Him”.

5. Did figure eights, say : SKATED

Figure skating started out as a sport in which a skater demonstrated skill at carving out specific patterns into the ice (a figure-8, for example). Over time, the sport placed greater influence on free skating. Compulsory figures were dropped completely from most international competitions in the 1990, but the name “figure skating” has been retained.

6. Start of Caesar’s boast : VENI …

The oft-quoted statement “Veni, vidi, vici” (“I came, I saw, I conquered”) is believed by many to have been written by Julius Caesar. The words date back to 47 BCE and refer to the short war between Rome and Pharnaces II of Pontus.

10. Sensitive high school health lesson : SAFE SEX

The term “safe sex” refers to practices designed to reduce the risk of transferring sexually transmitted diseases. The general use of the phrase in a such a context originated in the 1980s in response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in the US. That said, the phrase was around in the 1930s when it referred to practices used to contain diseases like gonorrhea and syphilis.

11. Last bio : OBIT

Our word “obituary” comes from the Latin “obituaris”. The Latin term was used for “record of the death of a person”, although the literal meaning is “pertaining to death”.

12. Shoulder muscle, briefly : DELT

The deltoid “muscle” is actually a group of muscles, the ones that cover the shoulder and create the roundness under the skin. The deltoids (delts) are triangular in shape resembling the Greek letter delta, hence the name.

21. Poppycock : TRIPE

“Tripe” is an informal term meaning “rubbish, of little value”. Tripe is actually the rubbery stomach lining of an animal such as a cow. Tripe is a traditional dish in British cuisine that prepared by poaching it with onions in milk.

It is thought that the relatively gentle term “poppycock”, meaning “nonsense”, comes from a Dutch word for “dung” combined with a Latin word for “excrete”. Not so gentle after all …

22. Storm-tracking device : RADAR

Scientists have been using radio waves to detect the presence of objects since the late 1800s, but it was the demands of WWII that accelerated the practical application of the technology. The British called their system RDF standing for Range and Direction Finding. The system used by the US Navy was called “Radio Detection And Ranging”, which was shortened to the acronym RADAR.

25. Former NBA big man, familiarly : SHAQ

Retired basketball player Shaquille O’Neal now appears regularly as an analyst on the NBA TV show “Inside the NBA”. Shaq has quite a career in the entertainment world. His first rap album, called “Shaq Diesel”, went platinum. He also starred in two of his own reality show: “Shaq’s Big Challenge” and “Shaq Vs.”

26. Ballet skirt : TUTU

The word “tutu”, used for a ballet dancer’s skirt, is actually a somewhat “naughty” term. It came into English from French in the early 20th century. The French “tutu” is an alteration of the word “cucu”, a childish word meaning “bottom, backside”.

28. “SNL” network : NBC

NBC first aired a form of “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) in 1975 under the title “NBC’s Saturday Night”. The show was actually created to give Johnny Carson some time off from “The Tonight Show”. Back then “The Tonight Show” had a weekend episode, and Carson convinced NBC to pull the Saturday or Sunday recordings off the air and hold them for subsequent weeknights in which Carson needed a break. NBC turned to Lorne Michaels and asked him to put together a variety show to fill the vacant slot, and he came up with what we now call “Saturday Night Live”.

37. __ Lama : DALAI

The Dalai Lama is a religious leader in the Gelug branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The current Dalai Lama is the 14th to hold the office. He has indicated that the next Dalai Lama might be found outside of Tibet for the first time, and may even be female.

38. Get dolled (up) : TOG

The verb “to tog up”, meaning “to dress up”, comes from the Latin “toga” describing the garment worn in Ancient Rome. “Tog” can be also be used as an informal word for a coat or a cloak. Back in Ireland, togs are what we call swimming shorts.

44. Diner flipper : SPATULA

A spatula is a tool or implement used for mixing, lifting or spreading. “Spatula” is the Latin name for the tool, and is a diminutive of the word “spatha” meaning “broad, flat blade”. “Spatha” ALSO gives rise to our related term “spade”.

46. Amazon e-reader : KINDLE

Amazon’s Kindle line of e-book readers was introduced in 2007. The name “kindle” was chosen to evoke images of “lighting a fire” through reading and intellectual stimulation. I bought myself a Kindle Fire HD a few years ago. I’ve started reading e-books for the first time in my life, as well as enjoying other computing options available with the tablet device …

51. Sluggers’ stats : RBIS

Run batted in (RBI)

52. Donald Duck, to his nephews : UNCA

Donald Duck’s nephews are identical triplets called Huey, Dewey and Louie, and they first appeared on the screen in 1938. Once in awhile due to errors in production, a fourth duck can be seen in the background. This little “mistake” is affectionately called “Phooey Duck” by folks in the industry.

53. Glasgow denials : NAES

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and sits on the River Clyde. Back in the Victorian Era, Glasgow earned a reputation for excellence in shipbuilding and was known as “Second City of the British Empire”. Glasgow shipyards were the birthplaces of such famous vessels as the Lusitania, the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth. People for Glasgow are known as Glaswegians.

54. Jay with a TV “Garage” : LENO

“Jay Leno’s Garage” is a weekly show that has aired on TV since 2015. The show originated as a web series for NBC, but popularity dictated a move to primetime. The show focuses on Jay Leno’s Big Dog Garage located in Burbank, California that houses his huge collection of cars and motorcycles.

55. Tattoo artist’s supplies : INKS

The word “tattoo” (often shortened to “tat”) was first used in English in the writings of the famous English explorer Captain Cook. In his descriptions of the indelible marks adorning the skin of Polynesian natives, Cook anglicized the Tahitian word “tatau” into our “tattoo”. Tattoos are also sometimes referred to as “ink”.

60. Election Day day: Abbr. : TUE

Election day was chosen by Congress back in 1845. The month of November was selected as it suited an agricultural society, following the fall harvest and yet not too far into winter, which could make travel difficult. Tuesday was chosen so that people had time to travel to polling stations. Monday elections might have meant that some would have to start out on Sunday, and that could interfere with Christian services.

61. Militant ’60s campus org. : SDS

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was an activist group in the sixties. The SDS organized the largest student strike in the history of the United States on 26 April 1968, with about a million students staying away from class that day. The “Students for a Democratic Society” name was revived in 2006 with the foundation of a new US-based student organization with left wing beliefs. Today’s SDS was founded by a pair of high school students from Greenwich Village, New York.

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Hindu royals : RAJAS
6. Tool with jaws : VISE
10. Mixer with Scotch : SODA
14. Lightweight vacuum first sold to hotels : ORECK
15. Pianist Gilels : EMIL
16. Eve’s second son : ABEL
17. Peppy-sounding cracker brand : ZESTA
18. El __: ocean current : NINO
19. Completely occupy, as an arena : FILL
20. Well-to-do : SITTING PRETTY
23. Above, to poets : O’ER
24. Drinks with crumpets : TEAS
25. Instruction to a bank to make periodic payments : STANDING ORDER
31. Loving squeezes : HUGS
32. Beer whose logo suggests a prize winner, initially : PBR
33. Chopping down : AXING
36. Ocean east of N.C. : ATL
37. Central Illinois city : DECATUR
40. Funny Tina : FEY
41. Rep’s sales target : QUOTA
43. + or – particle : ION
44. Criticize sternly : SLAM
45. Pink slip : WALKING PAPERS
49. Picnicker’s worry : RAIN
50. Spanish “that” : ESA
51. Ship’s required nighttime illuminators : RUNNING LIGHTS
57. __ B’rith : B’NAI
58. “Paula’s Home Cooking” host : DEEN
59. Extremist sects : CULTS
62. Puts frosting on : ICES
63. Tall and skinny : LANK
64. Audibly : ALOUD
65. Pageant body band : SASH
66. Greek Cupid : EROS
67. Body areas that may be irritated by shirt tags : NAPES

Down

1. “Frasier” role : ROZ
2. “All bets __ off” : ARE
3. Zooey’s “New Girl” role : JESS
4. They “speak louder than words” : ACTIONS
5. Did figure eights, say : SKATED
6. Start of Caesar’s boast : VENI …
7. “Sign me up!” : I’M IN!
8. Woo with a tune : SING TO
9. One who gets hitched in a hurry : ELOPER
10. Sensitive high school health lesson : SAFE SEX
11. Last bio : OBIT
12. Shoulder muscle, briefly : DELT
13. Partner in war : ALLY
21. Poppycock : TRIPE
22. Storm-tracking device : RADAR
25. Former NBA big man, familiarly : SHAQ
26. Ballet skirt : TUTU
27. Beaming : AGLOW
28. “SNL” network : NBC
29. Not enough salt to taste, perhaps : GRAIN
30. Hunter’s weapon : RIFLE
34. Within shouting distance : NEAR
35. Places with elliptical trainers : GYMS
37. __ Lama : DALAI
38. Get dolled (up) : TOG
39. Remove a fastener from : UNPEG
42. Become discolored, as silverware : TARNISH
44. Diner flipper : SPATULA
46. Amazon e-reader : KINDLE
47. Out of neutral : IN GEAR
48. Trash holder : ASHCAN
51. Sluggers’ stats : RBIS
52. Donald Duck, to his nephews : UNCA
53. Glasgow denials : NAES
54. Jay with a TV “Garage” : LENO
55. Tattoo artist’s supplies : INKS
56. Sty fare : SLOP
60. Election Day day: Abbr. : TUE
61. Militant ’60s campus org. : SDS

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