LA Times Crossword 30 Aug 18, Thursday

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Constructed by: Lewis Rothlein
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: People of the Cloth

Themed answers sound like the names of “stars”, famous PEOPLE, and each include the name of a fabricated material, a CLOTH:

  • 33A. Clergy … and four answers in this puzzle? : PEOPLE OF THE CLOTH
  • 17A. Fabricated “Murphy Brown” star? : CANVAS BERGEN (sounds like “Candice Bergen”)
  • 23A. Fabricated “Help!” star? : JOHN LINEN (sounds like “John Lennon”)
  • 50A. Fabricated “Girls” star? : LENA DENIM (sounds like “Lena Dunham”)
  • 56A. Fabricated “La La Land” star? : RAYON GOSLING (sounds like “Ryan Gosling”)

Bill’s time: 10m 12s

Bill’s errors: 0

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

7. Eugene of “American Pie” movies : LEVY

Eugene Levy is a Canadian actor. He is the only actor to have appeared in all of the “American Pie” movies. Levy plays the clueless, but loving, Dad.

The first of the “American Pie” sex comedy films was released in 1999. The series now includes some “American Pie Presents” spin-off movies that were released direct-to-video.

11. Grand Canyon hrs. : MST

Mountain Standard Time (MST)

The Grand Canyon is in Arizona. The canyon continues to be carved out of layers of rock by the Colorado River. It is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide and over a mile deep.

14. Current unit : AMPERE

The unit of electric current is the ampere, abbreviated correctly to “A” rather than “amp”. It is named after French physicist André-Marie Ampère, one of the main scientists responsible for the discovery of electromagnetism.

15. Finnish telecom giant : NOKIA

I do enjoy classical guitar music, but there isn’t a huge choice on CD. There is one very special piece called “Gran Vals” by Francisco Tárrega, written in 1902. This piece has a unique reputation as it contains a phrase that was once the most listened-to piece of music in the whole world. Just a few bars into the work one can hear the celebrated Nokia ringtone!

17. Fabricated “Murphy Brown” star? : CANVAS BERGEN (sounds like “Candice Bergen”)

Canvas is a heavy cloth that is traditionally woven from hemp, cotton or flax. The term “canvas” comes into English via Old French, and ultimately derives from the Greek “kannabis” meaning “hemp”. Yep … “canvas” and “cannabis” are etymological cousins.

The actress and former model Candice Bergen is the daughter of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen (of Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd fame). The first Candice Bergman film I remember seeing is 1970’s “Soldier Blue”, which was very big on the other side of the Atlantic, and not so much here in North America. She also played the title role in the sitcom “Murphy Brown” for ten years in the eighties and nineties.

“Murphy Brown” is a very successful sitcom that premiered in 1988 and ran for almost ten full years. The title character is an investigative journalist and television news anchor played by Candice Bergen. In the show’s 1991-92 season, Brown becomes pregnant and decides to have the child and raise it alone, as the father is unwilling to be a parent. Vice President Dan Quayle hit the headlines in 1992 when he criticized the Brown character for “mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone” in a campaign speech. The show’s writers embraced the ensuing public discussion on family values, and used actual footage from the speech to depict Vice President Quayle as passing judgment on the Murphy Brown character in the storyline. To this day, that speech is referred to as the “Murphy Brown speech”.

19. Omega-3 source : ROE

Fish oils are noted for containing omega-3 fatty acids, which have many health benefits including the reduction of inflammation. Like so many essential nutrients that we get from animals, the only reason the animal has them is that it feeds on plants. In this case, fish cannot manufacture omega-3 fatty acids, and instead absorb them from algae. Omega-3 fatty acids are also readily found in other plant oils such as flaxseed oil.

23. Fabricated “Help!” star? : JOHN LINEN (sounds like “John Lennon”)

John Lennon grew up in a modest home in Liverpool in the northwest of England. Named “Mendips”, the house belonged to Lennon’s maternal aunt and her husband. Lennon was raised by his aunt from the age of five, after his mother was persuaded that the arrangement would be of benefit to young John. Mendips was purchased by Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono in 2002, who then handed it over the National Trust, a British conservation organization.

“Help!” is a 1965 movie, and the second film released by the Beatles. The film’s soundtrack was released under the same title. Personally, I preferred “A Hard Day’s Night”, the Beatles’ first movie …

30. Often-injured knee ligament, for short : MCL

The medial collateral ligament (MCL) is a ligament of the knee, one located on the inside (medial) side of the joint.

31. Illinois River city : PEORIA

Peoria is the oldest European settlement in the state of Illinois, having been settled by the French in 1680. The city is famous for being cited as “the average American city”. The phrase, “Will it play in Peoria?” is used to mean, “Will it appeal to the mainstream?” It is believed the expression originated as a corruption of, “We shall play in Peoria”, a line used by some actors in the 1890 novel “Five Hundred Dollars” by Horatio Alger, Jr.

The Illinois River is a tributary of the Mississippi that flows entirely within the state of Illinois.

41. Fragrant blooms : LILACS

The ornamental flowering plant known as lilac is native to the Balkans, and is a member of the olive family.

42. MLB scoreboard letters : RHE

On baseball scoreboards we see the letters RHE, standing for Runs, Hits and Errors.

45. Like some relations : SPATIAL

A spatial relation defines how an object is related in space to another object, i.e. where the two objects are positioned relative to each other.

50. Fabricated “Girls” star? : LENA DENIM (sounds like “Lena Dunham”)

Lena Dunham is a co-star in the HBO series “Girls”, and is also the show’s creator. Dunham garnered a lot of attention for herself during the 2012 US Presidential election cycle as she starred in an ad focused on getting out the youth vote. In the spot, she compared voting for the first time with having sex for the first time.

54. Soccer star Messi : LIONEL

Lionel “Leo” Messi is a soccer player from Argentina. Messi was awarded FIFA’s Ballon d’Or (Golden Ball) award from 2009 to 2013. The Ballon d’Or is presented to the player who is considered the best in the world in the prior year.

56. Fabricated “La La Land” star? : RAYON GOSLING (sounds like “Ryan Gosling”)

Rayon is a little unusual in the textile industry in that it is not truly a synthetic fiber, but nor can it be called a natural fiber. Rayon is produced from naturally occurring cellulose that is dissolved and then reformed into fibers.

Ryan Gosling is a Canadian actor who really seems to be riding high right now. He is one of a string of entertainers to graduate from the Mickey Mouse Club on the Disney Channel.

“La La Land” is a 2016 romantic musical film starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a musician and actress who fall in love in “La La Land” (Los Angeles, i.e. “LA”). The film was written and directed by Damien Chazelle, who had found success two years earlier with the musical drama “Whiplash”. “La La Land” won a record-breaking seven Golden Globes and tied the record number of Oscar nominations at fourteen, winning six.

61. Urban center? : BEE

The center of the word “urban” is a letter B (bee).

63. Paradise : UTOPIA

The word “Utopia” was coined by Sir Thomas More for his book “Utopia” published in 1516 describing an idyllic fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. More’s use of the name Utopia comes from the Greek “ou” meaning “not” and “topos” meaning “place”. By calling his perfect island “Not Place”, More was apparently making the point that he didn’t think that the ideal could actually exist.

64. Old union member: Abbr. : SSR

The former Soviet Union (USSR) was created in 1922, not long after the Russian Revolution of 1917 that overthrew the Tsar. Geographically, the new Soviet Union was roughly equivalent to the old Russian Empire, and comprised fifteen Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs).

65. Sicilian volcano : ETNA

Mount Etna on the island of Sicily is the largest of three active volcanoes in Italy, and indeed the largest of all active volcano in Europe. Etna is about 2 1/2 times the height of its equally famous sister, Mt. Vesuvius. Mt. Etna is home to a 110-km long narrow-gauge railway, and two ski resorts.

Down

1. __-Man : PAC

The Pac-Man arcade game was first released in Japan in 1980, and is as popular today as it ever was. The game features characters that are maneuvered around the screen to eat up dots and earn points. The name comes from the Japanese folk hero “Paku”, known for his voracious appetite. The spin-off game called Ms. Pac-Man was released in 1981.

2. Q&A session on Reddit : 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.

3. Clinic worker: Abbr. : LPN

Licensed practical nurse (LPN)

4. Eastern Mediterranean region : LEVANT

The Levant is the geographic region that lies east of the Mediterranean, a covers modern-day Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, and Egypt. The term is sometimes also used synonymously with the Near East. Syria and Lebanon, when under French rule, were called the Levant States, a name still used at times for the two nations. As one might expect, the word Levant comes from French and was the Middle French word for “the Orient”. The term was used for the Orient as it described lands to the east, where the sun rises (from “lever”, the French word meaning “to rise”). Really, quite interesting …

5. Expert in futures? : ORACLE

In Ancient Greece and Rome, an oracle was someone believed inspired by the gods to give wise counsel. The word “oracle” derives from the Latin “orare” meaning “to speak”, which is the same root for our word “orator”. One of the most important oracles of Ancient Greece was the priestess to Apollo at Delphi.

7. Frequent Mastroianni co-star : 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.

Marcello Mastroianni was an actor from Italy who was noted for his collaborations with fellow-Italian actress Sophia Loren. One of Mastroianni’s more famous performances is in Federico Fellini’s 1960 classic “La Dolce Vita”. I’d guess that his most celebrated appearance with Sophia Loren was in “Marriage Italian Style” released in 1964.

8. Ticker tape, briefly? : EKG

An EKG measures electrical activity in the heart. Back in my homeland of Ireland, an EKG is known as an ECG (for electrocardiogram). We use the German name in the US, Elektrokardiogramm, giving us EKG. Apparently the abbreviation EKG is preferred as ECG might be confused (if poorly handwritten, I guess) with EEG, the abbreviation for an electroencephalogram.

10. Grammy-winning satirical artist Al : YANKOVIC

“Weird Al” Yankovic is a singer-songwriter who is noted for writing and performing parodies of popular songs. Of the 150 or so such songs, the best known are probably “Eat It” (parodying “Beat It” by Michael Jackson) and “Like a Surgeon” (parodying “Like a Virgin” by Madonna).

11. Magnet for a narcissist : MIRROR

Narcissus was a proud and vain hunter in Greek mythology. He earned himself a fatal punishment, being made fall in love with his own reflection in a pool. So, take was he by his own image, that he could not leave it and wasted away and died by the pool. Narcissus gives us our term “narcissism” meaning “excessive love of oneself”.

15. Campbell of “House of Cards” : NEVE

Neve Campbell is a Canadian actress whose big break in movies came with the “Scream” horror film series, in which she had a leading role. I don’t do horror films, so I haven’t seen any of the “Scream” movies. Nor have I seen the TV series “Party of Five” which launched the acting careers of both Campbell and Jennifer Love Hewitt in the nineties.

The hit TV show “House of Cards” is a political drama that highlights ruthless manipulation within the corridors of power in Washington, D.C. The show is an adaptation of a BBC miniseries of the same name, which in turn is based on a novel by Michael Dobbs.

23. Checkers move : JUMP

“Checkers” is yet another word that I had to learn moving across the Atlantic. In Ireland the game is called draughts.

25. City whose state’s postal code is half its name : HILO

Hilo is the largest settlement on the big island of Hawaii, with a population of over 43,000 (that’s not very many!). I love the Big Island …

HI is the postal code for Hawaii.

31. One-striper: Abbr. : PFC

Private First Class (PFC)

32. “The X-Files” subjects : ETS

“The X-Files” is a very successful science fiction show that originally aired on the Fox network from 1993 to 2002. The stars of the show are David Duchovny (playing Fox Mulder) and the very talented Gillian Anderson (playing Dana Scully). By the time the series ended, “The X-Files” was the longest running sci-fi show in US broadcast history. An “X-Files” reboot started airing in 2016 with Duchovny and Anderson reprising their starring roles.

35. Something to slip on : LINGERIE

“Lingerie” is a French term. As used in France, it just means any underwear, worn by either males or females. In English we use “lingerie” to describe alluring underclothing worn by women. The term “lingerie” comes into English via the French word “linge” meaning “washables”, and ultimately from the Latin “linum”, meaning “linen”. We tend not to pronounce the word correctly in English, either here in the US or across the other side of the Atlantic. The French pronunciation is more like “lan-zher-ee”, as opposed to “lon-zher-ay” (American) and “lon-zher-ee” (British).

36. Large deer : ELK

The elk (also known as “wapiti”) is the one of the largest species of deer in the world, with only the moose being bigger. Early European settlers were familiar with the smaller red deer back in their homelands, so when they saw the “huge” wapiti they assumed it was a moose, and incorrectly gave it the European name for a moose, namely “elk”. The more correct name for the beast is “wapiti”, which means “white rump” in Shawnee. It’s all very confusing …

37. Allied gp. since 1948 : OAS

The Organization of American States (OAS) was founded in 1948, and has its headquarters in Washington, D.C. Not all of the independent states in the Americas are members. Cuba was barred from participation in the organization after a vote in 1962. Honduras had her membership suspended after the country’s 2009 coup.

39. Drunken noodles cuisine : THAI

Drunken noodles is a Thai dish also known as “phat khi mao”. “Khi mao” translates from Thai as “drinkard”. Paradoxically, there is no alcohol in the list of ingredients for drunken noodles. There are suggestions that the meal’s name arose because rice used to be an ingredient, or because whoever created the dish did so when drunk!

44. Billy McBride on “Goliath,” e.g. : LAWYER

“Goliath” is an excellent legal drama made by Amazon Studios. The central character is a down-and-out lawyer played by Billy Bob Thornton.

45. Smooch in a lift : SNOG

“Snogging” is British slang of unknown origin that dates back to the end of WWII. The term is used for “kissing and cuddling”, what we call “making out” over here in the US.

46. Prove successful : PAN OUT

When prospectors pan for gold, they do so by mixing soil and water in a pan. Because gold is very dense, gravel and soil can be washed over the side of the pan leaving the heavy precious metal at the bottom. The gold has been “panned out”, and so we often use “pan out” figuratively to mean “turn out, succeed”.

47. Carol beginning : ADESTE

The lovely Christmas hymn “Adeste Fideles” (entitled “O Come, All Ye Faithful” in English) was written by one John Francis Wade in the 13th century. Well, he wrote the original four verses, with four more verses being added over time. A kind blog reader pointed out to me that the English translation is in fact a little “off”. The term “adeste” best translates from Latin as “be present, attend”, rather that “come”. The verb “come” appears later in the lyrics in “venite adoremus”, meaning “come, let us worship”.

50. Writer Mario Vargas __ : LLOSA

Mario Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian writer of renown, and one of the most significant authors from Latin America by all accounts. Llosa is also very active politically, and in 1990 ran unsuccessfully for the Peruvian presidency.

51. A, to Merkel : EINE

The formidable politician Angela Merkel was first elected Chancellor of Germany, the country’s head of state, in 2005. She is the first female German Chancellor. When she chaired the G8 in 2007 she became only the second woman to do so, after the UK’s Margaret Thatcher. Merkel grew up in East Germany under Communist rule.

53. __ liquor : MALT

Here in North America, we tend to use the term “malt liquor” to describe beer with a high alcohol content, usually over 5%. The higher alcohol content is often achieved by adding sugar or corn to the malted barley, hence providing more “food” for the yeast to convert into alcohol.

57. “Round __ virgin … ” : YON

“’Round yon virgin, mother and child” is a line from the Christmas carol “Silent Night”.

The beautiful Christmas carol “Silent Night” was first performed in Austria in 1818, with words by a priest, Father Joseph Mohr, and melody by an Austrian headmaster, Franz Xaver Gruber. The carol was in German and called “Stille Nacht”. The English translation that we use today was provided to us by an American bishop in 1859, John Freeman Young from Florida.

58. Pub initials : IPA

India pale ale (IPA) is a style of beer that originated in England. The beer was originally intended for transportation from England to India, hence the name.

59. Diarist Anaïs : NIN

Anaïs Nin was a French author who was famous for the journals that she wrote for over sixty years from the age of 11 right up to her death. Nin also wrote highly regarded erotica and cited D. H. Lawrence as someone from whom she drew inspiration. Nin was married to banker and artist Hugh Parker Guiler in 1923. Decades later in 1955, Nin married former actor Rupert Pole, even though she was still married to Guiler. Nin and Pole had their marriage annulled in 1966, but just for legal reasons, and they continued to live together as husband and wife until Nin passed away in 1977.

60. Noir pistol : GAT

“Gat” is a slang term for a gun that is derived from the Gatling gun, the precursor to the modern machine gun. The Gatling gun was invented by Dr. Richard J. Gatling in 1861. Apparently he was inspired to invent it so that one man could do as much damage as a hundred, thereby reducing the size of armies and diminishing the suffering caused by war. Go figure …

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Sickly complexion : PALLOR
7. Eugene of “American Pie” movies : LEVY
11. Grand Canyon hrs. : MST
14. Current unit : AMPERE
15. Finnish telecom giant : NOKIA
16. Something to slip on? : ICE
17. Fabricated “Murphy Brown” star? : CANVAS BERGEN (sounds like “Candice Bergen”)
19. Omega-3 source : ROE
20. Ongoing : ACTIVE
21. It can get you down : SKI RUN
23. Fabricated “Help!” star? : JOHN LINEN (sounds like “John Lennon”)
26. Scents : ODORS
27. Coalition creators : UNITERS
28. Olympians using boards : DIVERS
30. Often-injured knee ligament, for short : MCL
31. Illinois River city : PEORIA
33. Clergy … and four answers in this puzzle? : PEOPLE OF THE CLOTH
41. Fragrant blooms : LILACS
42. MLB scoreboard letters : RHE
43. Metallic sounds : CLANKS
45. Like some relations : SPATIAL
49. Language student’s challenge : SLANG
50. Fabricated “Girls” star? : LENA DENIM (sounds like “Lena Dunham”)
52. Knocks their socks off : WOWS ‘EM
54. Soccer star Messi : LIONEL
55. Whichever : ANY
56. Fabricated “La La Land” star? : RAYON GOSLING (sounds like “Ryan Gosling”)
61. Urban center? : BEE
62. “Your game” : I LOSE
63. Paradise : UTOPIA
64. Old union member: Abbr. : SSR
65. Sicilian volcano : ETNA
66. Studio dweller : TENANT

Down

1. __-Man : PAC
2. Q&A session on Reddit : AMA
3. Clinic worker: Abbr. : LPN
4. Eastern Mediterranean region : LEVANT
5. Expert in futures? : ORACLE
6. Mix again : RESTIR
7. Frequent Mastroianni co-star : LOREN
8. Ticker tape, briefly? : EKG
9. Goes (for) : VIES
10. Grammy-winning satirical artist Al : YANKOVIC
11. Magnet for a narcissist : MIRROR
12. Searches high and low : SCOURS
13. Winter temp range : TEENS
15. Campbell of “House of Cards” : NEVE
18. Storage spots : BINS
22. Noble objective : IDEAL
23. Checkers move : JUMP
24. Whenever : ONCE
25. City whose state’s postal code is half its name : HILO
28. “Shoulda thought of that!” : D’OH!
29. Slight reaction? : IRE
31. One-striper: Abbr. : PFC
32. “The X-Files” subjects : ETS
34. Thinks ahead : PLANS
35. Something to slip on : LINGERIE
36. Large deer : ELK
37. Allied gp. since 1948 : OAS
38. “Are you out __?” : OR IN
39. Drunken noodles cuisine : THAI
40. Nautical wheel : HELM
43. Duplicates : CLONES
44. Billy McBride on “Goliath,” e.g. : LAWYER
45. Smooch in a lift : SNOG
46. Prove successful : PAN OUT
47. Carol beginning : ADESTE
48. Rat out : TELL ON
49. Clinic supply : SWABS
50. Writer Mario Vargas __ : LLOSA
51. A, to Merkel : EINE
53. __ liquor : MALT
57. “Round __ virgin … ” : YON
58. Pub initials : IPA
59. Diarist Anaïs : NIN
60. Noir pistol : GAT

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