LA Times Crossword Answers 17 Nov 2017, Friday

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Constructed by: Alex Eaton-Salners
Edited by: Rich Norris

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Today’s Theme: Great Wall

The answers on the outer edges of today’s grid form a type of WALL, with each needing the word GREAT in front in order to make sense of the clue:

  • 39A. Landmark that, in a way, is a border feature of this puzzle and a hint to what’s missing from 10 answers : GREAT WALL
  • 1A. “Holy cow!” : (GREAT) SCOTT!
  • 6A. “Atta girl!” : (GREAT) JOB!
  • 9A. Like thinkers : (GREAT) MINDS
  • 72A. Dogs in the AKC’s Working Group : (GREAT) DANES
  • 73A. Bonobo, for one : (GREAT) APE
  • 74A. Wheeler Peak’s national park : (GREAT) BASIN
  • 1D. Blue Ridge range : (GREAT) SMOKIES
  • 13D. Considerable achievement : (GREAT) SUCCESS
  • 42D. Oldest of the Seven Wonders : (GREAT) PYRAMID
  • 49D. Scotland’s island : (GREAT) BRITAIN

Bill’s time: 11m 49s

Bill’s errors: 0

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

9. Like thinkers : (GREAT) MINDS

Great minds think alike.

14. Group that bestows a “Select” distinction on five board games annually : MENSA

Mensa Select is an award given annually since 1990 by American Mensa for “original, challenging and well-designed” board games. As a big fan of board games, I find the list of past winners to be an informative read. That list includes favorites of mine, such as:

  • Taboo (1990)
  • Scattergories (1990)
  • Trivial Pursuit: Genus Edition (1990)
  • Clue: The Great Museum Caper (1991)
  • Apples to Apples (1999)

16. Paris parting : ADIEU

“Adieu” is the French for “goodbye” or “farewell”, from “à Dieu” meaning “to God”. The plural of “adieu” is “adieux”.

17. Arkansas’ __ National Forest : OZARK

The Ozark National Forest covers 1.2 million acres in the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas. The area was designated a national forest in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt. It is home to Mount Magazine, which is the tallest mountain in the state.

18. X, maybe : TEN

The number 10 is written as X in Roman numerals.

20. Kit__ bar : KAT

I grew up eating Kit Kat bars as a kid, as the chocolate confection has been around since the thirties. Kit Kats didn’t hit the shelves in the US until the seventies. I’ve seen new varieties of Kit Kat over in the UK, such as an orange-flavored version, but haven’t seen anything like that over here.

21. Ones responsible for paper cuts, briefly? : EDS

Editor (ed.)

23. Comedian Rogan : JOE

Joe Rogan is a stand-up comedian who also has a black belt in jiu-jitsu. He started working as a color commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 2002.

25. 39-Acr. locale : PRC

The world’s most populous country is The People’s Republic of China (PRC). The Republic of China (ROC) is the official name of the sovereign state we usually call Taiwan.

26. Like Vivaldi’s “Spring” : IN E

“The Four Seasons” is the most famous work by Italian Baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi. It is a collection of four violin concerti that evoke the seasons of the year. Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” is a favorite choice for background music in elevators and elevators. Personally, my favorite use of the piece is as a backdrop to the 1981 romantic comedy film “The Four Seasons”, starring Alan Alda and Carol Burnett.

27. More diverse : MOTLIER

Something described as motley is mottled, is marked with different-colored spots. The term probably comes from the Old English word “mot” meaning “speck”. We can use the term “motley” figuratively to mean “diverse, heterogeneous”.

29. Suffix with brom- : -IDE

A bromide is a compound containing a bromide ion i.e. a bromine atom with a singular negative charge. Potassium bromide was commonly used as a sedative in the 19th century, and this led to our use of the term “bromide” to mean “boring cliché” or “verbal sedative”.

30. “Bambi” doe : ENA

Ena is Bambi’s aunt in the 1942 Disney film “Bambi”. The movie is based on the novel “Bambi, A Life in the Woods” written by Austrian author Felix Salten and first published in 1923. There is a documented phenomenon known as the Bambi Effect, whereby people become more interested in animal rights after having watched the scene where Bambi’s mother is shot by hunters.

31. Jane of fiction : EYRE

“Jane Eyre” is a celebrated novel written by Charlotte Brontë, under the pen name Currer Bell. Over the years, I’ve shared here on my blogs that the “Jane Eyre” story line is a little too dark and Gothic for my taste, but a very persuasive blog reader convinced me to look more at the romantic side of the story and give it a second chance. I watched a wonderful 4-hour television adaptation of the novel made by the BBC a while back and I have to say that because I was focused on the relationship between Jane and Rochester, I was able to push past the Gothic influences (that depress me) so I really enjoyed the story. I thoroughly recommend the 2006 BBC adaptation to fans of the novel.

32. __ Island: NYC prison site : RIKERS

Rikers Island is the main jail in New York City. It takes its name from Rikers Island in the East River on which the facility is located. The island was apparently named after Dutch settler Abraham Rycken, who bought it in 1664. The island has been owned by the city of New York since 1884, and the jail was opened in 1932.

34. Blood fluids : SERA

Blood serum (plural “sera”) is the clear, yellowish part of blood i.e. that part which is neither a blood cell or a clotting factor. Included in blood serum are antibodies, the proteins that are central to our immune system. Blood serum from animals that have immunity to some disease can be transferred to another individual, hence providing that second individual with some level of immunity. Blood serum used to pass on immunity can be called “antiserum”.

36. Director Riefenstahl : LENI

Leni Riefenstahl was a German film director, actress and dancer. She was a noted figure moving in Adolf Hitler’s circle, and her most famous film was a propaganda piece called “Triumph of Will”. “Triumph of the Will” documents the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg. We’ve all probably seen many excerpts, shots of huge crowds, Nazis marching with flags, and frenzied speeches from Hitler. Riefenstahl was arrested after the war and detained for a number of years but never found guilty of any crime. She lived a long life, a very long life. She was married for the second time in 2003, at the age of 101 years. She died just a few weeks later, as she had been suffering from cancer.

38. Buenos __ : AIRES

Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina, and is located on the estuary of the Ria de la Plata. As it is a port city, the people of Buenos Aires are known as porteños (“people of the port”).

39. Landmark that, in a way, is a border feature of this puzzle and a hint to what’s missing from 10 answers : GREAT WALL

The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications that was built and rebuilt over the centuries to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire. Most of the existing wall was reconstructed during the Ming Dynasty. This Ming wall is about 5,000 miles long. There is an urban myth that the Great Wall is visible from the Moon, or from space. NASA has shown that the Great Wall can only be discerned from low Earth orbit (about 100 miles), and that is no more or less visible than any other man-made structure.

42. Gumby’s pony : POKEY

“Gumby” is a stop motion clay animation television series that originally ran from the fifties to the late eighties. There were 233 episodes made in total, an impressive number. Gumby was a little green man and his sidekick was Pokey, a little red horse.

45. Othello, for one : MOOR

The most famous Moor in literature has to be Othello, the title character in William Shakespeare’s tragedy “Othello, the Moor of Venice”. The word “Moor” describes various peoples of North Africa, usually of the Muslim faith. At the height of their geographic influence the Moors occupied much of the Iberian peninsula, calling it Al Andalus (from which modern Andalusia gets its name).

46. Workers’ rights org. : NLRB

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was set up in 1935. The NLRB is an independent government agency with the roles of conducting elections for labor unions as well as investigating and rooting out any labor practices that are deemed to be unfair.

50. “… through __ window breaks?” : YONDER

There’s a famous couplet in William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” spoken by Romeo as he spots Juliet above him at a window or on a balcony:

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

Romeo continues with:

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.

I reckon Romeo is smitten …

52. Together, in Toulon : UNIE

As well as being a town on southern coast of France, Toulon is a military port and home to the French Mediterranean Fleet. In particular, it is the home port of the French Navy’s sole aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle.

54. Back to front? : -IER

Adding the “-ier” suffix (i.e. “back”) to “front” gives the word “frontier”.

55. Line score initials : RHE

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

56. Taken (with) : SMITTEN

“Smitten” is a past participle of “smite” meaning “to inflict a heavy blow”. We tend to use “smitten” to mean “affected by love, love-struck”.

58. Egg: Pref. : OVI-

“Ovum” (plural “ova”) is Latin for “egg”.

59. In the manner of : A LA

The phrase “in the style of” can be translated in “alla” in Italian and “à la” in French.

60. P.O. box item : ENV

An envelope (env.) might be found in a P.O. box.

61. Short order? : BLT

The BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato) is the second most popular sandwich in the US, after the plain old ham sandwich.

62. Badminton need : NET

The game of badminton was developed in the mid-1700s by British military officers in India. There was already an old game called battledore and shuttlecock, so the creation of badminton was essentially the addition of a net and boundary lines for play. The game was launched officially as a sport in 1873 at Badminton House in Gloucestershire in England, hence the name that we now use.

63. Familia member : MADRE

In Spanish, a “madre” (mother) is a member of “la familia” (the family).

65. Tuna variety : AHI

Yellowfin and bigeye tuna are usually marketed as “ahi”, the Hawaiian name. They are both big fish, with yellowfish tuna often weighing over 300 pounds, and bigeye tuna getting up to 400 pounds.

67. Tippett’s “King Priam,” for one : OPERA

“King Priam” is an opera by English composer Michael Tippett that premiered in 1962 in Coventry in the British Midlands. The opera was one of two works (along with Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem”) that was commissioned for the opening of the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral that had been destroyed during WWII.

Priam was king of Troy during the Trojan War. Reputedly, Priam was father to fifty sons and many daughters with his many wives. His eldest son and heir to the throne was Hector. Paris was another of Priam’s sons, the man who caused the Trojan War by eloping with Helen, Queen of Sparta.

69. “King Priam” is based on it : ILIAD

“The Iliad” is an epic poem by the Greek poet Homer, which tells the story of the ten-year siege of Ilium (also known as “Troy”) during the Trojan war. “The Odyssey”, also attributed to Homer, is sometimes described as a sequel to “The Iliad”.

71. Argentine soccer superstar : MESSI

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.

72. Dogs in the AKC’s Working Group : (GREAT) DANES

The Great Dane breed of dog isn’t actually from Denmark, and rather is from Germany.

73. Bonobo, for one : (GREAT) APE

The bonobo used to be called the pygmy chimpanzee, and is a cousin of the common chimpanzee. The Bonobo is an endangered species, found in the wild only in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa. Along with the common chimpanzee, the bonobo is the closest species to humans genetically.

74. Wheeler Peak’s national park : (GREAT) BASIN

The Great Basin is a large region of the US covering most of Nevada, much of Utah and some parts of Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon and California. The 200,000 square mile area drains internally, with all precipitation sinking underground or flowing into lakes. Most of the lakes in the Great Basin are saline, including the Great Salt Lake, Pyramid Lake and the Humboldt Sink.

Wheeler Peak is the highest point in Great Basin National Park in Nevada.

Down

1. Blue Ridge range : (GREAT) SMOKIES

The Great Smoky Mountains are a subrange of the Appalachians and are located in North Carolina and Tennessee. The “Smokies” lie almost entirely within the bounds of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which is the most-visited national park in the whole country. The name “Smoky” is a reference to the natural fog often seen hanging over the range. The fog is actually a vapor made up of volatile organic compounds released by the vegetation covering the peaks.

The Blue Ridge Mountains are part of the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern US. The range is noted for the bluish colors of the peaks. The blue hue is actually caused by the emission of an organic compound called isoprene into the atmosphere. The isoprene contributes to the blue haze that covers mountain ranges.

2. “The Card Players” artist : CEZANNE

“The Card Players” is a series of five paintings from the 1890s by French Post-Impressionist Paul Cézanne. All of the paintings feature male Provençal peasants smoking pipes and playing cards intently. One painting in the series was sold in 2011 for $250-300 million, making it the third most expensive work of art ever sold.

4. Train syst. across Russia : TSR

The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR) connects Moscow to the Russian Far East. At almost 6,000 miles in length, it is the longest railway line in the world. Although it is still being expanded today, the bulk of the track was laid between 1891 and 1916 at the behest of Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II. Branches of the TSR connect Russia to Mongolia, China and North Korea.

6. LAX-to-JFK flight shortener : JET STREAM

Jet streams are narrow air currents high in the atmosphere that move very quickly around the earth. The major jet streams surrounding our planet move in a westerly direction.

8. Dog star : BENJI

Benji is the main character in a series of “Benji” movies made starting from 1974. Benji is a mixed-breed dog.

12. Tragic heroine of Irish legend : DEIRDRE

Deirdre of the Sorrows is a tragic heroine of Irish legend. Her story figures prominently in Irish literature, including a play by J. M. Synge titled “Deirdre of the Sorrows”. Synge left the work unfinished when he died in 1909, but it was completed by William Butler Yeats and Synge’s fiancée, and premiered in 1910.

22. Watson’s creator : DOYLE

In the marvelous Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Holmes’ sidekick Dr. Watson is referred to only by his family name, except for two occasions when it is revealed that his first name is John. However, in a third and final mention, Dr. Watson is called “James” by his wife, perhaps indicating a lapse in memory on the part of the author.

24. Anthem preposition : O’ER

The words “o’er the land of the free” come from “The Star-Spangled Banner” written by Francis Scott Key.

28. Offered free use of, as a library book : LENT OUT

Here in North America, we tend to use the verb “to loan” to mean “to give for a while”, with “loaned” meaning “gave for while”. Over on the other side of the pond, it is common to use the “to lend” to mean “to give for a while”, and so “lent” can mean “gave for a while”. American English favors the use of “to loan” in the context of borrowing money at interest. Well, that’s my impression …

41. Red-headed Disney princess : ARIEL

As of 2016, there are 11 “official” Disney princesses:

  1. Princess Snow White (from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”)
  2. Princess Cinderella (from “Cinderella”)
  3. Princess Aurora (from “Sleeping Beauty)
  4. Princess Ariel (from “The Little Mermaid”)
  5. Princess Belle (from “Beauty and the Beast”)
  6. Princess Jasmine (from “Aladdin”)
  7. Princess Pocahontas (from “Pocahontas”)
  8. Princess Mulan (from “Mulan”)
  9. Princess Tiana (from “The Princess and the Frog”)
  10. Princess Rapunzel (from “Tangled”)
  11. Princess Merida (from “Brave”)

42. Oldest of the Seven Wonders : (GREAT) PYRAMID

The full list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is:

  • the Great Pyramid at Giza, Egypt
  • the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
  • the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Greece
  • the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
  • the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
  • the Colossus of Rhodes
  • the Lighthouse at Alexandria, Egypt

43. “Très chic!” : OOH LA LA!

“Très chic” is a French term meaning “very stylish”.

47. Elsa or Nala : LIONESS

The life story of Elsa the lion was told by game warden Joy Adamson, who had a very close relationship with the lioness from when Elsa was orphaned as a young cub. Adamson wrote the book “Born Free” about Elsa, and then “Living Free” which tells the story of Elsa and her three lion cubs. In the 1966 film based on “Born Free”, Adamson is played by the talented actress Virginia McKenna.

In “The Lion King”, Nala is a lioness and the childhood friend of Simba. By the end of the story, Nala and Simba become wedded. “The Lion King” is inspired by William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, with Simba representing the title character, and Nala representing Hamlet’s love interest Ophelia.

48. Game with two-toned discs : REVERSI

The game of Reversi is also sold as Othello. The name Othello was chosen as a nod to the play by William Shakespeare.

49. Scotland’s island : (GREAT) BRITAIN

The terms “United Kingdom”, “Great Britain” and “England” can sometimes be confused. The official use of “United Kingdom” originated in 1707 with the Acts of Union that declared the countries of England and Scotland as “United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain”. The name changed again with the Acts of Union 1800 that created the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland” (much to the chagrin of most of the Irish population). This was partially reversed in 1927 when the current name was introduced, the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”, in recognition of an independent Irish Free State in the south of the island of Ireland.

51. Watergate pres. : RMN

President Richard Milhous Nixon (RMN) used “Milhous” in his name in honor of his mother Hannah Milhous. Richard was born in a house in Yorba Linda, California. You can visit that house today as it is on the grounds of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library. It’s a really interesting way to spend a few hours if you ever get to Yorba Linda …

The Watergate scandal is so named because it involved a break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. The Watergate complex is made up of five units, three of which are apartment buildings, one an office building, and one a hotel-office building (which housed the DNC headquarters). Watergate led to the “-gate” suffix being used for many subsequent scandals, such as “Irangate”, “Bridgegate” and “Deflategate”.

57. Donald Jr.’s mom : IVANA

Ivana Winklmayr was born in Czechoslovakia. Winklmayr was an excellent skier, and was named as an alternate for the 1982 Czech Olympic Team. She was promoting the Montreal Olympics in New York in 1976 when she met Donald Trump. Ivana and Donald’s marriage was very public and well-covered by the media, but not nearly as well-covered as their very litigious divorce in the early nineties.

Donald Trump Jr. is the oldest child of President Donald Trump and his first wife Ivana Trump née Winklmayr. Soon after his father was elected president, Donald Jr. was named trustee of the Trump Organization, along with his brother Eric and company CFO Allen Weisselberg.

64. Singer Carly __ Jepsen : RAE

Carly Rae Jepsen is a singer/songwriter from Mission, British Columbia. Jepsen got her start on TV’s “Canadian Idol” when she placed third in the show’s fifth season.

66. Hip follower : -HOP

Hip-hop originated in New York City in the seventies, developing in inner-city African-American, Jamaican and Latina-American communities. Some say that the term “hip-hop” was first used by the group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. I know practically nothing about hip-hop, I must admit …

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. “Holy cow!” : (GREAT) SCOTT!
6. “Atta girl!” : (GREAT) JOB!
9. Like thinkers : (GREAT) MINDS
14. Group that bestows a “Select” distinction on five board games annually : MENSA
15. Barnyard mother : EWE
16. Paris parting : ADIEU
17. Arkansas’ __ National Forest : OZARK
18. X, maybe : TEN
19. Something to talk about : TOPIC
20. Kit__ bar : KAT
21. Ones responsible for paper cuts, briefly? : EDS
23. Comedian Rogan : JOE
25. 39-Acr. locale : PRC
26. Like Vivaldi’s “Spring” : IN E
27. More diverse : MOTLIER
29. Suffix with brom- : -IDE
30. “Bambi” doe : ENA
31. Jane of fiction : EYRE
32. __ Island: NYC prison site : RIKERS
34. Blood fluids : SERA
36. Director Riefenstahl : LENI
38. Buenos __ : AIRES
39. Landmark that, in a way, is a border feature of this puzzle and a hint to what’s missing from 10 answers : GREAT WALL
42. Gumby’s pony : POKEY
45. Othello, for one : MOOR
46. Workers’ rights org. : NLRB
50. “… through __ window breaks?” : YONDER
52. Together, in Toulon : UNIE
54. Back to front? : -IER
55. Line score initials : RHE
56. Taken (with) : SMITTEN
58. Egg: Pref. : OVI-
59. In the manner of : A LA
60. P.O. box item : ENV
61. Short order? : BLT
62. Badminton need : NET
63. Familia member : MADRE
65. Tuna variety : AHI
67. Tippett’s “King Priam,” for one : OPERA
69. “King Priam” is based on it : ILIAD
70. “Kidding!” : NOT!
71. Argentine soccer superstar : MESSI
72. Dogs in the AKC’s Working Group : (GREAT) DANES
73. Bonobo, for one : (GREAT) APE
74. Wheeler Peak’s national park : (GREAT) BASIN

Down

1. Blue Ridge range : (GREAT) SMOKIES
2. “The Card Players” artist : CEZANNE
3. Winning steadily : ON A TEAR
4. Train syst. across Russia : TSR
5. “I wanna go too!” : TAKE ME!
6. LAX-to-JFK flight shortener : JET STREAM
7. Be shy : OWE
8. Dog star : BENJI
9. Stand-up’s need : MATERIAL
10. Words often heard after “shall live?” : I DO
11. Colder : NIPPIER
12. Tragic heroine of Irish legend : DEIRDRE
13. Considerable achievement : (GREAT) SUCCESS
22. Watson’s creator : DOYLE
24. Anthem preposition : O’ER
28. Offered free use of, as a library book : LENT OUT
33. Pottery oven : KILN
35. Treated like wine : AGED
37. “You’re safe with me” : I WON’T BITE
40. Some field starters : RYE SEEDS
41. Red-headed Disney princess : ARIEL
42. Oldest of the Seven Wonders : (GREAT) PYRAMID
43. “Très chic!” : OOH LA LA!
44. Add, as raisins to bread dough : KNEAD IN
47. Elsa or Nala : LIONESS
48. Game with two-toned discs : REVERSI
49. Scotland’s island : (GREAT) BRITAIN
51. Watergate pres. : RMN
53. Lay to rest : ENTOMB
57. Donald Jr.’s mom : IVANA
64. Singer Carly __ Jepsen : RAE
66. Hip follower : -HOP
68. Green sphere : PEA

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