LA Times Crossword Answers 27 Feb 2018, Tuesday

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Constructed by: Jake Halperin
Edited by: Rich Norris

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Today’s Theme: Business End

Themed answers END with a synonym of BUSINESS:

  • 61A. Front part of a hand tool, say … and the last word of 17-, 23-, 38- and 50-Across? : BUSINESS END
  • 17A. Regularly go out (with) : KEEP COMPANY
  • 23A. Getup for Woody of “Toy Story” : COWBOY OUTFIT
  • 38A. What “2 + 2 = 4” is an example of : BINARY OPERATION
  • 50A. Preferred way of doing things : BEST PRACTICE

Bill’s time: 6m 55s

Bill’s errors: 0

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. Actress Swenson : INGA

Inga Swenson is an American actress. Her best known role was “Gretchen Kraus”, the German cook and later housekeeper on the TV show “Benson”. Swenson also appeared in a couple of episodes of “Bonanza” playing the second wife of Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene), and mother of Hoss Cartwright (Dan Blocker). This was despite the fact that in real life she was actually 4 years younger than Blocker!

11. White lie : FIB

To fib is to to tell a lie. The verb likely comes from “fibble-fable” meaning “nonsense”, with “fibble-fable” coming from “fable”.

14. “Little” Dickens girl : NELL

“The Old Curiosity Shop” by Charles Dickens tells the story of 14-year-old “Little Nell” Trent and her grandfather who live in the Old Curiosity Shop in London. If you visit London, there actually is an “Old Curiosity Shop”, in Westminster. It is an establishment selling odds and ends, old curiosities, and is believed to have been the inspiration for the shop in the Dickens story. The building has been around since the 1500s, but the name “The Old Curiosity Shop” was added after the book was published.

21. URL suffix for charities : ORG

The .org domain was one of the six original generic top-level domains specified. The complete original list is:

  • .com (commercial enterprise)
  • .net (entity involved in network infrastructure e.g. an ISP)
  • .mil (US military)
  • .org (not-for-profit organization)
  • .gov (US federal government entity)
  • .edu (college-level educational institution)

23. Getup for Woody of “Toy Story” : COWBOY OUTFIT

1995’s “Toy Story” was the world’s first feature-length computer-animated movie. “Toy Story” was also the studio Pixar’s first production. The main roles in the film are Woody and Buzz Lightyear, who are voiced by Tom Hanks and Tim Allen respectively. Hanks was the first choice to voice Woody, but Allen was asked to voice Buzz after Billy Crystal turned down the role.

27. Like some consonants, as the nasal “n” : PALATAL

Palatal consonants are those sounded out with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate in the roof of the mouth. An example would be the “y” sound in “young”.

30. Actress de Matteo : DREA

Drea de Matteo is an actress who is most familiar to me for playing Adriana la Cerva on HBO’s wonderful series “The Sopranos”. De Matteo also played Joey’s sister on the short-lived “Friends” spin-off called “Joey”, and the character Angie Bolen on “Desperate Housewives”.

35. “The Lion King” lion : SIMBA

In “The Lion King”, the protagonist is Simba, the lion cub born to Mufasa and Sarabi. The main antagonist is Scar, Simba’s uncle and Mufasa’s brother.

38. What “2 + 2 = 4” is an example of : BINARY OPERATION

A binary operation is a mathematical operation that affects exactly two variables (hence “binary”). The most common examples of binary operations are addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

42. “Say cheese!” : SMILE

Photographers often instruct us to say “cheese”, to elicit a smile-like expression. Even Japanese photographers use the word “cheese” for 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”.

43. Spreadsheet info : DATA

Our word “data” (singular “datum”) comes from the Latin “datum” meaning “given”. The idea is that data are “things given”.

44. Baton Rouge sch. : LSU

LSU’s full name is Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, and is located in Baton Rouge. LSU was founded in 1860 as a military academy, with then-Colonel William Tecumseh Sherman as superintendent.

47. Word after systems or psycho : -ANALYST

An analysis is an examination of something that is complex in order to understand its essential features. Back in the late 16th century, “analysis” was used to describe the resolution of anything complex into simple elements. In this sense, “analysis” is the opposite of “synthesis”, the combination of parts into a whole.

55. __Kosh B’gosh : OSH

OshKosh B’gosh is a company that produces and sells children’s clothes. The trademark OshKosh bib-overalls remind us of the company’s roots, as it was originally a manufacturer of adult work clothes based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

56. Listless feeling : ENNUI

“Ennui” is the French word for boredom, a word that we now use in English. It’s one of the few French words we’ve imported that we haven’t anglicized and actually pronounce “correctly”.

60. Old electrical unit : MHO

Conductance (measured in mhos) is the inverse of resistance (measured in ohms). The mho has been replaced by the SI unit called the siemens.

64. Emeril exclamation : BAM!

Emeril Lagasse is an American chef who was born in Massachusetts. Lagasse first achieved notoriety as executive chef in Commander’s Palace in New Orleans. Now famous for his television shows, his cuisine still showcases New Orleans ingredients and influences. Lagasse started using his famous “Bam!” catchphrase in order to keep his crew awake during repeated tapings of his show.

65. Tarzan and others : APEMEN

Tarzan is the title character in the series of books created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The line “Me Tarzan, you Jane” never appeared in the books, and indeed doesn’t even figure in the movies. Apparently Johnny Weissmuller (who played Tarzan in the thirties and forties) saw Maureen O’Sullivan (“Jane”, to Weissmuller’s “Tarzan”) struggling with a suitcase in the parking lot during filming. He grabbed the bag from her, jokingly saying “Me Tarzan, you Jane”, and people have been quoting those words ever since.

69. Alluring : SEXY

The verb “to allure”means to entice using charm or attraction. The term came into English from Old French, ultimately from “à” (to) and “loirre” (falconer’s lure). So the originally “alluring” action was the training of a falcon to hunt.

Down

2. Old hair-removal brand : NEET

The hair removal product “Neet” was launched in Canada in 1901, and was also sold as “Immac”. Today it is sold under the name “Veet”.

3. TV show about a high school choir : GLEE

The TV show called “Glee” has proven to be very popular. The storyline focuses on a high school glee club in Lima, Ohio called New Directions.

4. Llama-like mammal : ALPACA

Alpacas are like small llamas, but unlike llamas were never beasts of burden. Alpacas were bred specifically for the fleece. As such, there are no known wild alpacas these days, even in their native Peru.

6. Good name for a phys ed teacher? : JIM

Our word “gymnasium” comes from the Greek “gymnasion” meaning “public place where exercise is taken”. The Greek term comes from “gymnos” meaning “naked”, as that physical training was usually done unclothed in ancient Greece.

7. Finland’s second-largest city : ESPOO

Espoo is the second largest city in Finland, although it is part of the metropolitan area of Helsinki, which is the capital and largest city. Espoo is home to a number of successful enterprises, including Nokia.

8. Careful : CHARY

To be “chary” is to be hesitant, unwilling to proceed. The term come from the Old English “cearig” meaning “sorrowful, full of care”. So “chary” sort of means “care-y”, i.e. careful.

9. Overbearing leader : TIN GOD

A tin god is a person who claims authority and is full of self-importance. The use of “tin” is apt as it is a base metal with relatively little value.

11. Group of related typefaces : FONT FAMILY

A font is a set of characters used in printing that have the same style. In the days of metal type, all the letters of a given style were cast at same time, i.e. the metal was melted and poured into a single mold. The word “font” comes into English from the Middle French “fonte” meaning “casting”.

12. Tehran native : IRANI

Tehran is the capital of Iran and is the largest city in the Middle East, with a population of about 8.5 million. Iran has been around a really long time and Tehran is actually the country’s 31st national capital.

18. Congeal : CLOT

To congeal is to coagulate, to clot. The term applies in particular to the changing from liquid to solid due to a reduction in temperature. “Congeal” comes from the Latin “com” (meaning “with, together”) and “gelare” meaning “to freeze”.

24. Like permed hair : WAVY

“Perm” is the name given to a permanent wave, a chemical or thermal treatment of hair to produce waves or curls. I don’t worry about such things, as it’s a number-one all over for me …

25. “True __”: HBO vampire series : BLOOD

“True Blood” is a television drama made by HBO. The series is based on a series of novels written by Charlaine Harris that describe human and vampires co-existing in a small town in Louisiana. I don’t do vampires …

26. Constellation bear : URSA

The constellation named 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”.

29. Shrine in Moscow’s Red Square : LENIN’S TOMB

Lenin’s Tomb is a mausoleum in which lie the embalmed remains of Vladimir Lenin. The tomb lies just outside the walls of the Kremlin in Red Square. Lenin died in 1924, after which his body was housed in a wooden structure in Red Square for viewing by mourners. The current marble and granite structure was completed in 1930. The body has rested there on display ever since, except for the years of WWII when there was a perceived danger of Moscow falling to the Germans. The body was evacuated to Tyumen in Siberia for the war years.

33. Hoppy beer, for short : 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.

The foodstuff that we call “hops” are actually the female flower of the hop plant. The main use of hops is to add flavor to beer. The town in which I live here in California used to be home to the largest hop farm in the whole world. Most of the harvested hops were exported all the way to the breweries of London, where they could fetch the best price.

34. Coup __ : D’ETAT

A coup d’état (often just “coup”) is the sudden overthrow of a government, and comes from the French for “stroke of state”. The Swiss-German word “putsch” is sometimes used instead of “coup”, with “Putsch” translating literally as “sudden blow”.

36. Big cheese : BOSS

The phrase “the big cheese” doesn’t have its roots in the word “cheese” at all. The original phrase was “the real cheese” meaning “the real thing”, and was used way back in late 1800s. “Chiz” is a Persian and Hindi word meaning “thing”, and it’s not hard to see how the expression “the real chiz” morphed into “the real cheese”. In early-20th century America, instead of a “real cheese”, the most influential person in a group was labeled as “the big cheese”.

37. “Sometimes you feel like __ … “: classic candy jingle : A NUT

I think my favorite candy growing up was an Almond Joy, although in my part of the world it was a little different formulation and was called a Bounty Bar (and was more like a Mounds bar). The Almond Joy bar has been around since 1946. Hershey’s used a famous jingle in a seventies ad campaign for the Mounds and Almond Joy:

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t
Almond Joy’s got nuts
Mounds don’t

39. “Prince Valiant” queen : ALETA

In the comic strip “Prince Valiant”, Arn is the eldest son of the title character, and Aleta is his wife. Edward, Duke of Windsor, once declared that “Prince Valiant” comic strip the “greatest contribution to English Literature in the past one hundred years”. I’m not so sure …

41. Hindu princess : RANI

A ranee (also “rani”) is a queen or a princess, the female equivalent of a raja in India.

46. Traveling acting band : TROUPE

“Troupe” is the French word for “company, band”.

48. Half of all blackjacks : ACES

The card game known as “twenty-one” was first referred to in a book by Cervantes, the author famous for writing “Don Quixote”. He called the game “ventiuna” (Spanish for “twenty-one”). Cervantes wrote his story just after the year 1600, so the game has been around at least since then. Twenty-one came to the US but it wasn’t all that popular so bonus payments were introduced to create more interest. One of the more attractive bonuses was a ten-to-one payout to a player who was dealt an ace of spades and a black jack. This bonus led to the game adopting the moniker “Blackjack”.

49. Contact __ : LENSES

The concepts that underpin the technology of contact lenses date back to Leonardo Da Vinci. Although Da Vinci didn’t propose the development of the contact lens, he did write about correcting vision by submerging the eye in a bowl of water. Over a hundred years later, René Descartes made a somewhat impractical suggestion, but along the right lines, of using a glass tube filled with liquid that could be placed in contact with the eye to correct vision. The first real contact lenses were developed by German ophthalmologist Adolf Gaston Eugen Fick in 1887.

50. Disney deer : BAMBI

The 1942 Disney classic “Bambi” is based on a book written by Felix Salten called “Bambi, A Life in the Woods”. 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.

51. Filmmaker Coen : ETHAN

I think it’s great to see two brothers working together and being so successful. Joel and Ethan Coen are two movie producers and directors who both live in New York City. The Coen brothers do love the movie-making business and they even married industry “insiders”. Ethan’s wife is film editor Tricia Cooke, and Joel is married to one of my favorite actresses, the lovely Frances McDormand.

57. Campbell of “Scream” : 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.

I don’t do horror films, so I haven’t seen any of the “Scream” movies …

58. Windows alternative : UNIX

Unix is a computer operating system that was developed at Bell Labs in 1969. The initial name for the project was Uniplexed Information and Computing Service (Unics), and this evolved over time into “Unix”.

63. Naval rank: Abbr. : ENS

Ensign is (usually) the most junior rank of commissioned officer in the armed forces. The name comes from the tradition that the junior officer would be given the task of carrying the ensign flag.

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Actress Swenson : INGA
5. Pops out, as a DVD : EJECTS
11. White lie : FIB
14. “Little” Dickens girl : NELL
15. Golf goof : MISHIT
16. Mined metal : ORE
17. Regularly go out (with) : KEEP COMPANY
19. Old horse : NAG
20. Rip off : STEAL
21. URL suffix for charities : ORG
22. __ time: never : AT NO
23. Getup for Woody of “Toy Story” : COWBOY OUTFIT
27. Like some consonants, as the nasal “n” : PALATAL
30. Actress de Matteo : DREA
31. Press into service : USE
32. Invalidate : VOID
35. “The Lion King” lion : SIMBA
38. What “2 + 2 = 4” is an example of : BINARY OPERATION
42. “Say cheese!” : SMILE
43. Spreadsheet info : DATA
44. Baton Rouge sch. : LSU
45. Unlikely to throw dirty clothes on the floor : NEAT
47. Word after systems or psycho : -ANALYST
50. Preferred way of doing things : BEST PRACTICE
54. “__ girl!” : ATTA
55. __Kosh B’gosh : OSH
56. Listless feeling : ENNUI
60. Old electrical unit : MHO
61. Front part of a hand tool, say … and the last word of 17-, 23-, 38- and 50-Across? : BUSINESS END
64. Emeril exclamation : BAM!
65. Tarzan and others : APEMEN
66. Like villains : EVIL
67. Having five sharps, musically : IN B
68. Creates anew, as a password : RESETS
69. Alluring : SEXY

Down

1. Color printer refills : INKS
2. Old hair-removal brand : NEET
3. TV show about a high school choir : GLEE
4. Llama-like mammal : ALPACA
5. Expressive punk genre : EMO
6. Good name for a phys ed teacher? : JIM
7. Finland’s second-largest city : ESPOO
8. Careful : CHARY
9. Overbearing leader : TIN GOD
10. Messy room : STY
11. Group of related typefaces : FONT FAMILY
12. Tehran native : IRANI
13. Fathered, in the Bible : BEGOT
18. Congeal : CLOT
22. Accepted the loss, financially : ATE IT
24. Like permed hair : WAVY
25. “True __”: HBO vampire series : BLOOD
26. Constellation bear : URSA
27. Watering holes : PUBS
28. “Sure __ standing here … ” : AS I’M
29. Shrine in Moscow’s Red Square : LENIN’S TOMB
33. Hoppy beer, for short : IPA
34. Coup __ : D’ETAT
36. Big cheese : BOSS
37. “Sometimes you feel like __ … “: classic candy jingle : A NUT
39. “Prince Valiant” queen : ALETA
40. Bring in : REAP
41. Hindu princess : RANI
46. Traveling acting band : TROUPE
48. Half of all blackjacks : ACES
49. Contact __ : LENSES
50. Disney deer : BAMBI
51. Filmmaker Coen : ETHAN
52. Pack animals : ASSES
53. Bell tower sound : CHIME
57. Campbell of “Scream” : NEVE
58. Windows alternative : UNIX
59. In a lazy way : IDLY
61. Watering hole : BAR
62. Earn after taxes : NET
63. Naval rank: Abbr. : ENS

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