LA Times Crossword 14 Nov 18, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Ed Sessa
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Layer Cakes

Themed answers are shown in circled letters in the grid. These answers are types of CAKE, and are shown one on top of another, in LAYERS:

  • 64A. With 67-Across, what five pairs of answers in the circles represent : LAYER …
  • 67A. See 64-Across : … CAKES
  • 6A. Tinker Bell’s friend : PAN
  • 15A. Garden tool : HOE
  • 14A. Low on funds : SHORT
  • 17A. Manx currency : POUND
  • 33A. Amaretto flavor : ALMOND
  • 36A. Reef creature : SPONGE
  • 41A. Word that always brings a smile? : CHEESE
  • 47A. V8 veggie : CARROT
  • 66A. Coke go-with : RUM
  • 69A. English cuppa : TEA

Bill’s time: 6m 35s

Bill’s errors: 0

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6. Tinker Bell’s friend : PAN

Tinker Bell is a fairy in the “Peter Pan” story by J. M. Barrie. “Tink” is a minor character in the original play and novel, but evolved into a major character in the many, many film and television adaptation of the tale.

9. Part of WTO : TRADE

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The stated aim of the WTO is to liberalize international trade. The organization was founded in 1995 when an international agreement on trade was reached that effectively replaced the existing General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that was laid down in 1949.

16. Four-bagger : HOMER

In baseball, a “four-bagger” is a home run (HR).

17. Manx currency : POUND

The official name of the currency of the UK is the pound sterling (plural “pounds sterling”). The most plausible suggestion for the etymology of the term “sterling” is that it derives from the Old English “steorra” meaning “star”, with the diminutive “-ling”. The resulting “little star” or “sterling” referred to a silver penny used by the English Normans. The pound sterling is the world’s oldest currency still in use.

The Isle of Man is a large island located in the middle of the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland. I used to spend a lot of time there in my youth, and a very interesting place it is indeed. The Isle of Man is classed as a British Crown Dependency and isn’t part of the United Kingdom at all. It is self-governing and has its own parliament called the Tynwald. The Tynwald was created in AD 979 and is arguably the oldest continuously-running parliament in the world. The inhabitants of the island speak English, although they do have their own language called Manx, which is very similar to Irish Gaeilge and Scottish Gaelic. And then there are those Manx cats, the ones without any tails. I’ve seen lots of them, and can attest that they are indeed found all over the island.

18. Seriously funny shows? : DRAMEDIES

Comedy-drama (dramedy)

20. Organ near the stomach : SPLEEN

The spleen has a couple of functions in the human body. It removes old red blood cells, and recycles the iron contained therein. The waste product of this recycling is bile. It also holds a reserve of blood that can be released when necessary (if the body goes into “circulatory shock”). Greek and Roman physicians ascribed to the theory that the body had four basic substances, the so-called four humors. All diseases were caused by these four substances getting out of balance. The four humors were:

  • Black bile (melancolia)
  • Yellow bile (cholera)
  • Phlegm (phlegma)
  • Blood (sanguis)

22. Doldrums : BLAHS

The doldrums are a band of generally light winds and calms that span the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans near the equator. More formally known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone, the phenomenon occurs at the interface between the northeast and southeast trade winds. We have some to use the term “doldrums” colloquially, to describe a state of listlessness, inactivity or stagnation.

23. “Boyz n the Hood” actress Long : NIA

Nia Long is an American actress who is probably best known for playing Will Smith’s sometime girlfriend and fiancee Lisa Wilkes on the TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”.

“Boyz N the Hood” is a 1991 movie about gang culture in South Central LA. Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Ice Cube have starring roles, and the director was John Singleton. Singleton was only 23 years old at the time of filming, and his resulting nomination for a Best Director Oscar made him the youngest ever nominee for that category of Academy Award.

33. Amaretto flavor : ALMOND

Amaretto is an Italian liqueur with a sweet almond flavor. Even though the drink is sweet, it has a bitterness lent to it by the bitter almonds that are often used as a flavoring. The name “amaretto” is a diminutive of the Italian word “amaro” meaning “bitter”.

35. Trivial matter : NONISSUE

Trivia are things of little consequence. “Trivia” is the plural of the Latin word “trivium” which means “a place where three roads meet”. Now that’s what I call a trivial fact …

36. Reef creature : SPONGE

Sponges are multicellular organisms that live underwater. They are animals with bodies that are full of holes and channels through which seawater freely circulates. Sponges have no digestive or circulatory system as such and instead rely on the movement of water to supply food and oxygen, and to remove waste material.

37. Foes of the evil Saruman : ENTS

Saruman the White is a character in “The Lord of the Rings” by J. R. R. Tolkien. In the film trilogy made by Peter Jackson, Saruman is played by veteran actor Christopher Lee.

41. Word that always brings a smile? : CHEESE

Photographers often instruct us to say “cheese” to elicit a smile-like expression. Even Japanese photographers use the word “cheese” to achieve the same effect. Bulgarians use the word “zele” meaning “cabbage”. The Chinese say “eggplant”, the Danish “orange”, the Iranians “apple” and the most Latin Americans say “whiskey”.

44. Winding Alaskan river with a Hawaiian name : HULA HULA

The Hula Hula River in Alaska runs through the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It is a very river for whitewater rafting.

47. V8 veggie : CARROT

The beverage V8 is a mixture of eight different vegetable juices, hence the name. It was introduced in 1933 by the New England Products Company as “ege-min 8”. The eight vegetables are beets, celery, carrots, lettuce, parsley, watercress, spinach, and tomato.

48. Upper arm muscle : TRICEPS

The triceps brachii muscle is found at the back of the upper arm. The muscle’s name translates to “three-headed arm muscle”, fitting as it is actually made up of three bundles of muscles.

49. Yoga chants : OMS

“Om” is a sacred mystic word from the Hindu tradition. “Om” is sometimes used as a mantra, a focus for the mind in meditation.

50. Wrigley Field abbr. : CHI

The famous ballpark that is home to the Chicago Cubs was built in 1914. Back then it was known as Weeghman Park, before becoming Cubs Park when the Cubs arrived in 1920. It was given the name Wrigley Field in 1926, after the owner William Wrigley, Jr. of chewing gum fame. Wrigley Field is noted as the only professional ballpark that has ivy covering the outfield walls. The ivy is a combination of Boston Ivy and Japanese Bittersweet, both of which can survive the harsh winters in Chicago.

55. Cocoa company : NESTLE

Nestlé is the world’s largest food company. It was founded in 1905 in Vevey, Switzerland where the company headquarters is to this day. Although the company came into being as the result of a merger, it retains the name of one of the co-founders, German confectioner Henri Nestlé. Henri Nestlé’s real breakthrough product was baby formula.

60. Anno Domini alternative : COMMON ERA

The designations Anno Domini (AD, “year of Our Lord”) and Before Christ (BC) are found in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The dividing point between AD and BC is the year of the conception of Jesus, with AD 1 following 1 BC without a year “0” in between. The AD/BC scheme dates back to AD 525, and gained wide acceptance soon after AD 800. Nowadays a modified version has become popular, with CE (Common/Christian Era) used to replace AD, and BCE (Before the Common/Christian Era) used to replace BC.

65. Hippie’s wheels : VW BUS

The iconic Volkswagen Bus was introduced in 1950, and was VW’s second automobile design to go into production. As such, it was initially marketed as the Volkswagen Type 2, as the Beetle/Bug had been designated in the factory as the Type 1.

66. Coke go-with : RUM

The cocktail known as a Cuba libre is basically a rum and Coke, although the traditional recipe also calls for a splash of lime juice.

Down

1. Pharaoh’s sacred snakes : ASPS

The venomous snake called an asp was a symbol of royalty in Ancient Egypt.

4. Sea eagle : ERNE

The ern (sometimes “erne”) is also called the white-tailed eagle or the sea-eagle.

5. Martyred bishop of Paris : ST DENIS

Not only is Saint Denis (also “Denys”) the patron saint of France, but he is also the patron saint of Paris. Denis was the first Bishop of Paris, in the 3rd century AD, and was martyred by having his head chopped off. The legend surrounding this event is that the executed Denis picked up his head and walked for six miles, delivering a sermon the whole way.

6. Advanced deg. : PHD

“Ph.D.” is an abbreviation for “philosophiae doctor”, Latin for “teacher of philosophy”. Often, candidates for a PhD already hold a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, so a PhD might be considered a “third degree”.

8. Writer Zora ___ Hurston : NEALE

Zora Neale Hurston was an American author who was most famous for her 1937 novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God”.

9. Oscar-nominated film starring Viola Davis : THE HELP

“The Help” is a 2011 film that is an adaptation of a 2009 novel of the same name written by Kathryn Stockett. The story centers on a young female journalist who writes a book exposing the racism experienced by African American maids working in Jackson, Mississippi in the sixties.

Actress Viola Davis is probably best known on the small screen for playing the lead in the drama “How to Get Away with Murder”. On the big screen, I’d say that her most famous role is the starring role in the 2011 film “The Help”.

11. Mate, across the Channel : AMI

The English Channel is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean, the narrow part that separates the south of England from northern France. The French call the same body of water “La Manche”, which translates literally as “the sleeve”. At its narrowest point the Channel is just over 20 miles wide, and it indeed possible to see France from England and vice versa. Nowadays of course there is a tunnel under the channel making travel extremely convenient. When I was living and working in Europe, with the help of the Channel Tunnel, one day I had a breakfast meeting in Brussels, a lunch meeting in London, and a dinner meeting in Paris. That said, it’s a lot more fun sitting here blogging about the crossword …

12. Ruby of “A Raisin in the Sun” : DEE

Ruby Dee was an actress and civil rights activist. On the big screen, she is perhaps best remembered for co-starring in “A Raisin in the Sun” alongside Sidney Poitier, in “Do the Right Thing” alongside her husband Ossie Davis, and in “American Gangster” in which she played Denzel Washington’s mother.

“A Raisin in the Sun” is a 1961 film starring Sidney Poitier that is based on a 1959 play of the same name by Lorraine Hansberry. Both film and play follow the lives of an African-American family from Chicago as they struggle with the decision about what to do with an insurance payout following the death of the family’s patriarch.

13. Critical-care ctrs. : ERS

Emergency room (ER)

19. Mesoamerican pyramid builders : MAYAS

The Maya civilization held sway in Central America and Mexico from about 350 AD, until the arrival of the Spanish in the 1500s.

Mesoamerica is a region extending from Central Mexico, south to Costa Rica. It is known as an area where societies flourished prior to the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 16th and 17th centuries.

26. Study hard : BONE UP

The phrasal verb “to bone up” means “to study”, and is student slang that dates back to the 1880s. The term probably comes a series of books used by students back then called “Bohn’s Classical Library”.

27. Marx collaborator : ENGELS

Friedrich Engels was a German political theorist who worked closely with Karl Marx to develop what became known as Marxist Theory. Along with Marx, he also co-authored “The Communist Manifesto” in 1848, and later he supported Marx as he worked to publish “Das Kapital”.

28. Buildup of fluid : EDEMA

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

29. Actress Helena __ Carter : BONHAM

Helena Bonham Carter is an actress from London. Some of her more famous roles have been Bellatrix Lestrange in the “Harry Potter” films and Queen Elizabeth in “The King’s Speech”. Bonham Carter is also well known for her appearances in movies made by director Tim Burton, who was her domestic partner from 2001 until 2014. She also had a 5-year domestic partnership with fellow actor Kenneth Branagh.

30. Passes the threshold : ENTERS

Years ago I was taking a tour of a beautiful Elizabethan manor house in England, and was told a little “threshing” story by the guide as we stood in one of the rooms. She reminded us that threshing was the removal of seeds from chaff, and told us that back in the day the “chaff” was sometimes called the “thresh”. Thresh would be used on the floors, particularly in the kitchen areas where it would soak up spills and provide some thermal insulation, much as sawdust was used in my favorite pubs many moons ago. She pointed to two slots at the bottom of the door jambs where she said a low board was placed upright on the floor, to “hold” the “thresh” in the room. The board was called a “thresh-hold”, giving us our contemporary word “threshold”. I am not sure if all of that is really true, but it makes a nice story …

31. More like the Magi : WISER

“Magi” is the plural of the Latin word “magus”, a term applied to someone who was able to read the stars. Hence, “magi” is commonly used with reference to the “wise men from the East” who followed the star and visited Jesus soon after he was born. In Western Christianity, the three Biblical Magi are:

  • Melchior: a scholar from Persia
  • Caspar: a scholar from India
  • Balthazar: a scholar from Arabia

32. “Notorious” screenwriter Ben : HECHT

Ben Hecht had many jobs in Hollywood, but mainly is remembered as a screenwriter. Hecht earned the nickname “the Shakespeare of Hollywood” largely due to the large number of screen credits he received, getting writing credit for about seventy films. Included in the list of screenplays he worked on are “The Front Page”, “Some Like It Hot”, Gone with the Wind” and “A Farewell to Arms”.

“Notorious” is an interesting Hitchcock film made in 1946 starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. I find it interesting as it is such a different dramatic role for Cary Grant, and a more gritty role for the lovely Ingrid Bergman, and the great Claude Rains is in there for good measure. It’s a story of espionage, love and intrigue set in Rio de Janeiro where there is a group of German Nazis hiding out after WWII. Definitely worth a rental if you’ve never seen it …

34. Israeli leader Dayan : MOSHE

Moshe Dayan had a long and distinguished military career (including command of Israeli forces during the 1956 Suez Crisis). He also played a pivotal, and militarily active, role as Minister for Defense during the Six-Day War of 1967. He was a very recognizable figure with a black patch over his left eye. Dayan received that injury when he was fighting for the Allies in Vichy French Lebanon during WWII. He was using a pair of binoculars that was hit by an enemy bullet, smashing metal and glass fragments into his eye.

35. Maker of sweet wafers : NECCO

Necco Wafers are the best-known product line of the candy manufacturer called the New England Confectionery Company. The firm’s name is abbreviated to “NECCO”, an acronym that has become synonymous with the wafers.

43. Musical wunderkind Bortnick : ETHAN

Ethan Bortnick is a young American pianist and singer. In 2011, when only 10 years old, Bortnick appeared at the Las Vegas Hilton and became the youngest headliner ever in Las Vegas.

A wunderkind is a child prodigy, with the term especially applying to the world of music. The term is German in origin and translates literally as “wonder child”.

45. Columbia University athlete : LION

Columbia University is an Ivy League school in New York City. Columbia’s athletic teams are called the Lions, which is thought to be a reference to the lion on the English coat of arms. Prior to the American Revolution, Columbia was called King’s College as it was chartered by King George II in 1754.

46. Auto parts supplier : ACDELCO

Delco Electronics took its name from Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company. Delco is often seen in the brand name “ACDelco”. The AC stands for Albert Champion, who was famous for the development of the spark plug.

51. Like some gases : INERT

An inert gas can be different from a noble gas. Both are relatively non-reactive, but a noble gas is an element. An inert gas might be a compound, i.e. made up of more than one element.

56. Automaker founded in Sweden : SAAB

“SAAB” stands for Svenska Aeroplan AB, which translates into English as Swedish Aeroplane Limited. Although we usually think of SAAB as an auto manufacturer, it is mainly an aircraft manufacturer. If you take small hops in Europe you might find yourself on a SAAB passenger plane. The SAAB automotive division was acquired by General Motors in the year 2000, who then sold it to a Dutch concern in 2010. However, SAAB (automotive) finally went bankrupt in 2011. A Chinese consortium purchased the assets of SAAB Automotive in 2012, and so SAAB vehicles are in production again. The new vehicles are using the SAAB name, but cannot use the SAAB griffin logo, the rights to which have been retained by the mother company.

57. Tot : TYKE

“Tyke” has been used playfully to describe a young child since at least 1902, but for centuries before that a tyke was a cur or mongrel, or perhaps a lazy or lower-class man.

58. Jeans choice : LEES

The Lee company that is famous for making jeans was formed in 1889 by one Henry David Lee in Salina, Kansas.

59. Scots Gaelic : ERSE

There are actually three Erse languages: Irish, Manx (spoken on the Isle of Man) and Scots Gaelic. In their own tongues, these would be Gaeilge (in Ireland), Gaelg (on the Isle of Man) and Gaidhlig (in Scotland).

60. Rite Aid rival : CVS

The name of the drugstore chain CVS once stood for “Consumer Value Stores”, although these days the company uses the initialism to denote “Convenience, Value and Service”.

What we know today as Rite Aid started out as one store in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1962. Rite Aid is now the biggest chain of drugstores on the East Coast of the United States and has operations all over the country.

62. Degree for a CFO : MBA

A chief financial officer (CFO) might have a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree.

63. Reddit Q&A session : AMA

Reddit.com is a networking and news website that started up in 2005. It is essentially a bulletin board system with posts that are voted up and down by users, which determines the ranking of posts. The name “Reddit” is a play on “read it”, as in “I read it on Reddit”. One popular feature of the Reddit site is an online forum that is similar to a press conference. Known as an AMA (for “ask me anything”), participants have included the likes of President Barack Obama, Madonna, Bill Gates, Stephen Colbert and Gordon Ramsay. President Obama’s AMA was so popular that the high level of traffic brought down many parts of the Reddit site.

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Hee-hawers : ASSES
6. Tinker Bell’s friend : PAN
9. Part of WTO : TRADE
14. Low on funds : SHORT
15. Garden tool : HOE
16. Four-bagger : HOMER
17. Manx currency : POUND
18. Seriously funny shows? : DRAMEDIES
20. Organ near the stomach : SPLEEN
22. Doldrums : BLAHS
23. “Boyz n the Hood” actress Long : NIA
25. __ shadow : EYE
26. Hive builder : BEE
29. Entrance : BEWITCH
33. Amaretto flavor : ALMOND
35. Trivial matter : NONISSUE
36. Reef creature : SPONGE
37. Foes of the evil Saruman : ENTS
38. Logical beginning? : ECO-
40. Appear : SEEM
41. Word that always brings a smile? : CHEESE
44. Winding Alaskan river with a Hawaiian name : HULA HULA
47. V8 veggie : CARROT
48. Upper arm muscle : TRICEPS
49. Yoga chants : OMS
50. Wrigley Field abbr. : CHI
52. Roll in the grass : SOD
53. Political spin, say : SLANT
55. Cocoa company : NESTLE
60. Anno Domini alternative : COMMON ERA
64. With 67-Across, what five pairs of answers in the circles represent : LAYER …
65. Hippie’s wheels : VW BUS
66. Coke go-with : RUM
67. See 64-Across : … CAKES
68. Roofing stone : SLATE
69. English cuppa : TEA
70. More than a little heavy : OBESE

Down

1. Pharaoh’s sacred snakes : ASPS
2. Look for bargains : SHOP
3. Heart’s companion : SOUL
4. Sea eagle : ERNE
5. Martyred bishop of Paris : ST DENIS
6. Advanced deg. : PHD
7. “You have two choices” : A OR B
8. Writer Zora ___ Hurston : NEALE
9. Oscar-nominated film starring Viola Davis : THE HELP
10. Towel holders : RODS
11. Mate, across the Channel : AMI
12. Ruby of “A Raisin in the Sun” : DEE
13. Critical-care ctrs. : ERS
19. Mesoamerican pyramid builders : MAYAS
21. Petty peeves : NITS
24. Take __ from: emulate : A CUE
26. Study hard : BONE UP
27. Marx collaborator : ENGELS
28. Buildup of fluid : EDEMA
29. Actress Helena __ Carter : BONHAM
30. Passes the threshold : ENTERS
31. More like the Magi : WISER
32. “Notorious” screenwriter Ben : HECHT
34. Israeli leader Dayan : MOSHE
35. Maker of sweet wafers : NECCO
39. Collective possessive : OURS
42. “Missed it by that much” : SO CLOSE
43. Musical wunderkind Bortnick : ETHAN
45. Columbia University athlete : LION
46. Auto parts supplier : ACDELCO
51. Like some gases : INERT
53. X-rated stuff : SMUT
54. Get straight? : TRUE
56. Automaker founded in Sweden : SAAB
57. Tot : TYKE
58. Jeans choice : LEES
59. Scots Gaelic : ERSE
60. Rite Aid rival : CVS
61. Midnight mouser : OWL
62. Degree for a CFO : MBA
63. Reddit Q&A session : AMA

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