LA Times Crossword 2 Mar 20, Monday

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Constructed by: Paul Coulter
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Pizza

Themed answers each finish with something used with PIZZA:

  • 69A Popular pie, and what the ends of 17-, 30-, 45- and 61-Across have in common : PIZZA
  • 17A Crème de la crème : UPPER CRUST
  • 30A Spar without a partner : SHADOW-BOX
  • 45A Extremely lame, in modern slang : WEAK SAUCE
  • 61A Business manager skilled at reducing expenses : COST CUTTER

Bill’s time: 5m 25s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Photographer Adams : ANSEL

As an avid amateur photographer, I have been a big fan of the work of Ansel Adams for many years and must have read all of his books. Adams was famous for clarity and depth in his black and white images. Central to his technique was the use of the zone system, his own invention. The zone system is a way of controlling exposure in an image, particularly when there is a high contrast in the subject. Although the technique was developed primarily for black & white film, it can even apply to digital color images. In the digital world, the main technique is to expose an image for the highlights, and one or more images for the shadows. These images can then be combined digitally giving a final photograph with a full and satisfying range of exposures.

6 “Happy Motoring” company : ESSO

The Esso brand has its roots in the old Standard Oil company as it uses the initial letters of “Standard” and “Oil” (ESS-O). The Esso brand was replaced by Exxon in the US, but ESSO is still used in many other countries.

10 Cuba, por ejemplo : ISLA

In Spanish, Cuba “por ejemplo” (for example), is an “isla” (island).

Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean. The exact etymology of the name “Cuba” seems a little unclear. Most believe “Cuba” to be derived from the Taíno terms for “where fertile land is abundant” (cubao) or “great place” (coabana).

14 2000s first lady Bush : LAURA

Laura Bush, wife of President George W. Bush, had her memoir “Spoken from the Heart” published in 2010. Born Laura Lane Welch, the former First Lady has a Master’s degree in Library Science (as does my wife, my own First Lady!). Given that background, it’s not surprising that two causes that Laura Bush focused on while in the White House were education and literacy. She established the annual National Book Festival, first held in Washington, D.C. in 2001, after having co-founded the Texas Book Festival in her home state.

15 Matty of baseball : ALOU

Matty Alou played major league baseball, as did his brothers Jesus and Felipe, and as did Felipe’s son Moises.

16 Twice-monthly tide : NEAP

Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon on the oceans. At neap tide, the smaller gravitational effect of the sun cancels out some of the moon’s effect. At spring tide, the sun and the moon’s gravitational forces act in concert causing more extreme movement of the oceans.

17 Crème de la crème : UPPER CRUST

The crème de la crème are the elite, the best of the best. The term “crème de la crème” is French and translates as “cream of the cream”.

19 Kvetch like a fish? : CARP

The word “carp” used to mean simply “talk” back in the 13th century, with its roots in the Old Norwegian “karpa” meaning “to brag”. A century later, the Latin word “carpere” meaning “to slander” influenced the use of “to carp” so that it came to mean “to find fault with”.

The word “kvetch” comes to us from Yiddish, with “kvetshn” meaning “to complain” or “squeeze”.

Carp are freshwater fish that are used as food around the world, although they aren’t very popular in North American kitchens. The ornamental fish that we know as goldfish and koi are all types of carp.

20 West of “My Little Chickadee” : MAE

Comic actress Mae West can be quoted so easily, as she had so many great lines delivered so well. Here are a few:

  • When I’m good, I’m very good. When I’m bad, I’m better.
  • When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I’ve never tried before.
  • I’ll try anything once, twice if I like it, three times to make sure.
  • Marriage is a great institution, but I’m not ready for an institution yet.
  • I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
  • Why don’t you come on up and see me sometime — when I’ve got nothin’ on but the radio.
  • It’s better to be looked over than overlooked.
  • To err is human, but it feels divine.
  • I like my clothes to be tight enough to show I’m a woman, but loose enough to show I’m a lady.
  • I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number you get in a diamond.
  • Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

“My Little Chickadee” was a catchphrase used by comic actor W. C. Fields. Fields first used it on film in the 1932 movie “If I Had a Million”. Years later in 1940, the phrase was used as the title of a film starring Fields opposite Mae West.

21 Mr. Peanut prop : CANE

Planters is the company with the Mr. Peanut icon. Mr. Peanut was the invention of a first-grader named Antonio Gentile, a young man who won a design contest in 1916. A remarkable achievement, I’d say …

22 Dental hygienist’s gizmo : SCALER

The word “gizmo” (also “gismo”), meaning something the name of which is unknown or forgotten, was originally slang used by both the US Navy and the Marine Corps. The exact origin seems unknown.

24 Essen’s river : RUHR

Essen is a large industrial city located on the River Ruhr in western Germany. The city experienced major population growth in the mid-1800s that was driven by the iron works established by the Krupp family.

26 Russian space station for 15 years : MIR

Russia’s Mir space station was a remarkably successful project. It held the record for the longest continuous human presence in space at just under 10 years, until the International Space Station eclipsed that record in 2010. Towards the end of the space station’s life however, the years began to take their toll. There was a dangerous fire, multiple system failures, and a collision with a resupply ship. The Russian commitment to the International Space Station drained funds for repairs, so Mir was allowed to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up in 2001. “Mir” is a Russian word meaning “peace” or “world”.

28 “__ Yankees” : DAMN

In the musical show “Damn Yankees”, the title refers to the New York Yankees baseball team that dominated the sport in the fifties. That said, the show tells the story of a man who sells his soul to help his beloved Washington Senators team beat the Yankees and win the pennant. So, “Damn Yankees” is yet another version of the classic German legend of “Faust”. The show was written by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, a production that turned out to be a very successful follow-up to their prior hit, “The Pajama Game”. The future was looking really rosy for Adler and Ross but, sadly, Jerry Ross died of obstructive lung disease only a few weeks after “Damn Yankees” opened on Broadway in 1955. He was just 29 years old.

33 Rascal : SCAMP

Back in the 16th or 17th centuries, the word “scamp” was used to describe a highway robber. The usage evolved to mean “rascal” in the early 1800s.

35 “Honor Thy Father” author Gay : TALESE

Gay Talese is an American author, one famous as a journalist in the sixties at “The New York Times”. His 1971 book “Honor Thy Father” is a tale about the Bonanno crime family.

36 Hawaiian porch : LANAI

A lanai is a type of veranda, and a design that originated in Hawaii. A kind blog reader tells me that the etymology of “lanai” seems unclear, but that the island name of “Lana’i” is not related.

37 Ab __: from day one : OVO

“Ab ovo” translates literally from Latin as “from the egg”, and is used in English to mean “from the beginning”.

44 Flynn of “Captain Blood” : ERROL

Actor Errol Flynn was born in 1909 in Tasmania, where he was raised. In his twenties, Flynn lived in the UK where he pursued his acting career. Around the same time he starred in an Australian film “In the Wake of the Bounty” and then appeared in a British film “Murder at Monte Carlo”. It was in the latter film that he was noticed by Warner Brothers who brought him to America. Flynn’s non-American heritage shone through even while he was living the American dream in California. He regularly played cricket, along with his friend David Niven, in the Hollywood Cricket Club.

Errol Flynn plays the archetypal swashbuckler in the 1935 film “Captain Blood“. The movie is the second of three adaptations of the novel of the same name by Rafael Sabatini. Captain Blood happens to be an Irishman …

48 Hunky-__: fine : DORY

Surprisingly (to me), the term “hunky-dory” has been around a long time, and is documented back in the mid-1800s. Nobody’s really sure of its origin, but some say it is an Anglicization of Honcho dori, that back in the day was a street of ill repute in Yokohama, Japan.

49 Toronto’s prov. : ONT

Beautiful Toronto, Ontario is the largest city in Canada, and the fourth most populous city in North America (after Mexico City, New York and Los Angeles).

50 Dada co-founder : ARP

Jean Arp was a French artist renowned for his work with torn and pasted paper, although that wasn’t the only medium he used. Arp was the son of a French mother and German father and spoke both languages fluently. When he was speaking German he gave his name as Hans Arp, but when speaking French he called himself Jean Arp. Both “Hans” and “Jean” translate into English as “John”. In WWI Arp moved to Switzerland to avoid being called up to fight, taking advantage of Swiss neutrality. Eventually he was told to report to the German Consulate and fill out paperwork for the draft. In order to get out of fighting, Arp messed up the paperwork by writing the date in every blank space on the forms. Then he took off all of his clothes and walked with his papers over to the officials in charge. Arp was sent home …

Dadaism thrived during and just after WWI, and was an anti-war, anti-bourgeois and anti-art culture. The movement was launched in Zurich, Switzerland by a group of artists and writers who met to discuss art and put on performances in the Cabaret Voltaire. The same group frequently expressed disgust at the war that was raging across Europe.

51 Either H in H2O : ATOM

A water molecule is composed of an oxygen atom with two hydrogen atoms on roughly opposite sides (at about a 150-degree angle). So, sometimes the molecule is represented by “HOH”, although more usually it’s “H2O”.

53 Home of the NHL’s Senators : OTTAWA

The Senators are the NHL hockey team in Ottawa, Canada. The current team, founded in the 1992-93 season, is the second NHL team in the city to use the name “Senators”. The original team was founded in 1917, and had a very successful run until the league expanded into the US in the late twenties. The cost of operating in what became the smallest NHL city eventually drove the Senators to St. Louis where they played for a year as the Eagles before finally folding.

57 “Aladdin” monkey : ABU

Abu is a monkey in the Disney production of “Aladdin”. The character is based on Abu, a thief in the 1940 film “The Thief of Baghdad”.

The Disney animated feature “Aladdin” was released in 1992. It is one of the best movies to come out of the studio, in my opinion, largely due to the great performance by Robin Williams who voiced the Genie. “Aladdin” was the most successful film of 1992, earning over $500 million worldwide, an unusual feat for an animated movie.

60 Old phone feature : DIAL

The first patent for a rotary dial mechanism for a phone was granted in 1898, and the familiar rotary dial phones (with holes for the finger) were introduced by the Bell System in 1919. This form of dialing was called “pulse dialing”. When you dialed the number 5 say, the dial would rotate back to the start position, opening and closing electrical contacts five times and sending five pulses over the telephone line. I used to love rotary dial phones when I was a kid. My grandfather was a telephone engineer and he showed me how to “tap out” the pulses on the “hook” at the top of a pay phone. I was able to make free calls that way. He definitely contributed to the corruption of a minor …

64 Shortest-named Great Lake : ERIE

Lake Erie is the fourth largest of the five Great Lakes by area (Lake Ontario is the smallest). The lake takes its name from the Erie tribe of Native Americans that used to live along its southern shore. Erie is the smallest of the Great Lakes by volume and the shallowest, something for which nearby residents must be quite grateful. Being relatively shallow, much of Erie freezes over part way through most winters putting an end to most of the lake-effect snow that falls in the snow belt extending from the lake’s edge.

65 Sci-fi’s Jabba the __ : HUTT

Jabba the Hutt is the big blob of an alien that appears in the “Star Wars” movie “The Return of the Jedi”. Jabba’s claim to fame is that he enslaved Princess Leia and kitted her out in that celebrated metal bikini.

66 Mars has two : MOONS

Mars has two moons, the larger of which is Phobos and the smaller Deimos. “Phobos” is the Greek word for “fear”, and “Deimos” is Greek for “dread”.

67 Aloha State bird : NENE

The nene is a bird that is native to Hawaii, and is also known as the Hawaiian goose. The name “nene” is imitative of its call. When Captain Cook landed on the islands in 1778, there were 25,000 nene living there. By 1950, the number was reduced by hunting to just 30 birds. Conservation efforts in recent years have been somewhat successful. The nene was named State Bird of Hawaii in 1957.

The official nickname for Hawaii is “The Aloha State”. Hawaii is also referred to as “Paradise of the Pacific” and “The Islands of Aloha”.

69 Popular pie, and what the ends of 17-, 30-, 45- and 61-Across have in common : PIZZA

Pizza was invented in Naples, where it has a long tradition that goes back to ancient Rome. During an 1889 visit to Naples, Queen Margherita of Savoy was served a special pizza that was created with toppings designed to mimic the colors of the Italian flag. The ingredients of tomato (red), mozzarella (white) and basil (green) can still be found together on menus today, on a pie usually named Pizza Margherita after the queen. I do love basil on my pizza …

Down

1 Grad : ALUM

An alumnus (plural “alumni”) is a graduate or former student of a school or college. The female form is “alumna” (plural “alumnae”). The term comes into English from Latin, in which an alumnus is a foster-son or pupil. “Alum” is an informal term used for either an alumna or alumnus.

2 Auto parts giant : NAPA

The National Automotive Parts Association (NAPA) is a retailers’ cooperative that supplies replacement parts for cars and trucks.

3 Clark Kent, really : SUPERMAN

Superman’s comic book creators gave their title character’s alter-ego the name “Clark Kent” by melding the names of Clark Gable and Kent Taylor, two leading men of the cinema at the time Superman was created. However, they modeled Clark’s character more on the silent film actor Harold Lloyd.

4 “… __ he drove out of sight”: Moore : ERE

Here are the closing lines to the Christmas poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas”.

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

The poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” was published anonymously in 1823, and is better known today by its first line “‘Twas the night before Christmas”. Most scholars believe that the poem was written by Clement Clarke Moore, a theologian from New York City. Others say that it was written by Henry Livingston, Jr., a poet from Upstate New York.

5 Tree that rhymes with a month : LARCH

Lumber from the larch is valued because it is resistant to rot. The wood is particularly efficacious in boatbuilding and for exterior cladding of buildings. A more prosaic application is for fence posts that are placed in the ground.

7 Pivot around : SLUE

To slue (also “slew) is to turn sharply, or to rotate on an axis.

8 “Help!”-ful soap pad brand : SOS

S.O.S is a brand of scouring pads made from steel wool impregnated with soap. The product was invented as a giveaway by an aluminum pot salesman in San Francisco called Ed Cox. His wife gave it the name “S.O.S” as an initialism standing for “Save Our Saucepans”. Note the punctuation! There is no period after the last S, and that is deliberate. When Cox went to register the trademark, he found that “S.O.S.” could not be a trademark because it was used as an international distress signal. So he dropped the period after the last S, and I hope made a lot of money for himself and his wife.

10 Ancient Andean : INCA

The Inca Empire was known as the Tawantinsuyu, which translates as “land of the four quarters”. The Inca Empire was a federal organization having a central government that sat above four “suyu” or “quarters”, four administrative regions.

11 Aquanaut’s base : SEALAB

SEALAB I, II and II were man-made habitats built by the US Navy designed to advance the technology needed for humans to live and work underwater for extended periods. SEALAB I was lowered to a depth of just under 200 feet off the coast of Bermuda in 1964. Four divers (“aquanauts”) stayed in SEALAB for 11 days, before the experiment was halted due to the approach of a tropical storm.

An aquanaut (also “oceanaut”) is a diver who occupies an underwater habitat, only returning to the surface after an unusually long period of time.

12 Texas city in a cowboy song : LAREDO

“Streets of Laredo” is a traditional cowboy ballad that probably dates back to the early 1900s. The lyrics, and perhaps tune, are based on an 18th-century Irish folk song “The Unfortunate Rake”.

23 Game stick with a netted pocket : CROSSE

A lacrosse stick is also known as a crosse.

26 Sam who owned Cheers : MALONE

On the sitcom “Cheers”, bartender Sam Malone was played by Ted Danson. Malone was a retired relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, and a recovering alcoholic. Great show …

28 ISP alternative : DSL

An Internet service provider (ISP) is just what the name indicates, a company that provides its customers with access to the Internet. One way that ISPs differentiate themselves from each other is in the way in which end users are connected to the ISP’s network. So, there are cable ISPs, DSL ISPs, dial-up ISPs and satellite ISPs.

29 Fed. law known as Obamacare : ACA

The correct name for what has been dubbed “Obamacare” is the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (ACA).

31 “Wreaked” state : HAVOC

Havoc is great damage or destruction. The term “havoc” comes from the Anglo-French phrase “crier havok”, which was an order given in the late 1500s to soldiers, instructing them to seize plunder.

34 Tool for two lumberjacks : PITSAW

A whipsaw (also “pitsaw”) is a two-man saw that was originally designed for use in a saw pit. A large log would be placed on top of the pit. The “pit-man” would work under the log, and the “top-man” above it. The sawing action was in the vertical, with the blade cutting on the downstroke.

40 A.L.’s Blue Jays : TOR

The Toronto Blue Jays baseball franchise was founded in 1977. The Blue Jays are the only team based outside the US to have won a World Series, doing so in 1992 and 1993. And since the Montreal Expos relocated to Washington, the Blue Jays are the only Major League Baseball team now headquartered outside of the US.

51 NC State’s conf. : ACC

The collegiate athletic conference known as the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) was founded in 1953. The seven charter members of the ACC were Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina and Wake Forest.

54 On the safe side, at sea : ALEE

Alee is the direction away from the wind. If a sailor points into the wind, he or she is pointing aweather.

56 Lawyers: Abbr. : ATTS

Attorney (att.)

58 Mercedes-__ : BENZ

Emil Jellinek was a European automobile entrepreneur whose claim to fame is that he commissioned the Mercedes 35 HP, a design that’s cited as the first modern car. Prior to 1901’s 35 HP, cars were really modified stagecoaches. Jellinek chose the name “Mercedes” in honor of his daughter Adriana, whose nickname was “Mercédès”.

59 Big Dipper bear : URSA

The constellation Ursa Major (Latin for “Larger Bear”) is often just called “the Big Dipper” because of its resemblance to a ladle or dipper. Ursa Major also resembles a plow, and that’s what we usually call the same constellation back in Ireland, “the Plough”.

62 Lord’s Prayer start : OUR …

Our Father … (“Pater noster” in Latin) are the opening words of the Lord’s Prayer, which is probably the best-known prayer in the Christian tradition.

63 You, in French : TOI

In French, the pronouns “toi” and “vous” both mean “you”, with the former being used with family and friends, and children. “Vous” is more formal, and is also the plural form of “toi”.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Photographer Adams : ANSEL
6 “Happy Motoring” company : ESSO
10 Cuba, por ejemplo : ISLA
14 2000s first lady Bush : LAURA
15 Matty of baseball : ALOU
16 Twice-monthly tide : NEAP
17 Crème de la crème : UPPER CRUST
19 Kvetch like a fish? : CARP
20 West of “My Little Chickadee” : MAE
21 Mr. Peanut prop : CANE
22 Dental hygienist’s gizmo : SCALER
24 Essen’s river : RUHR
26 Russian space station for 15 years : MIR
27 Hurry-scurry : ADO
28 “__ Yankees” : DAMN
30 Spar without a partner : SHADOW-BOX
33 Rascal : SCAMP
35 “Honor Thy Father” author Gay : TALESE
36 Hawaiian porch : LANAI
37 Ab __: from day one : OVO
38 Uses a sieve : SIFTS
42 Apply, as a brake : STEP ON
44 Flynn of “Captain Blood” : ERROL
45 Extremely lame, in modern slang : WEAK SAUCE
48 Hunky-__: fine : DORY
49 Toronto’s prov. : ONT
50 Dada co-founder : ARP
51 Either H in H2O : ATOM
53 Home of the NHL’s Senators : OTTAWA
55 A head : EACH
57 “Aladdin” monkey : ABU
60 Old phone feature : DIAL
61 Business manager skilled at reducing expenses : COST CUTTER
64 Shortest-named Great Lake : ERIE
65 Sci-fi’s Jabba the __ : HUTT
66 Mars has two : MOONS
67 Aloha State bird : NENE
68 Jazz and Disco periods : ERAS
69 Popular pie, and what the ends of 17-, 30-, 45- and 61-Across have in common : PIZZA

Down

1 Grad : ALUM
2 Auto parts giant : NAPA
3 Clark Kent, really : SUPERMAN
4 “… __ he drove out of sight”: Moore : ERE
5 Tree that rhymes with a month : LARCH
6 Deserve : EARN
7 Pivot around : SLUE
8 “Help!”-ful soap pad brand : SOS
9 Not in the house : OUTSIDE
10 Ancient Andean : INCA
11 Aquanaut’s base : SEALAB
12 Texas city in a cowboy song : LAREDO
13 Estimated: Abbr. : APPROX
18 Wheels, so to speak : CAR
23 Game stick with a netted pocket : CROSSE
25 Expose : UNMASK
26 Sam who owned Cheers : MALONE
28 ISP alternative : DSL
29 Fed. law known as Obamacare : ACA
30 Clog : STOP UP
31 “Wreaked” state : HAVOC
32 Creepy sort : WEIRDO
34 Tool for two lumberjacks : PITSAW
39 Completely, alphabetically speaking : FROM A TO Z
40 A.L.’s Blue Jays : TOR
41 Scheming : SLY
43 Pain in a canal : EARACHE
45 Made of oak, say : WOODEN
46 Complete : ENTIRE
47 Reach, as a goal : ATTAIN
51 NC State’s conf. : ACC
52 Dull sound : THUMP
54 On the safe side, at sea : ALEE
55 Spanish “this” : ESTA
56 Lawyers: Abbr. : ATTS
58 Mercedes-__ : BENZ
59 Big Dipper bear : URSA
62 Lord’s Prayer start : OUR …
63 You, in French : TOI