LA Times Crossword Answers 11 Oct 12, Thursday

CROSSWORD SETTER: Jeff Crandall
THEME: Four Pounds … each of the theme answers defines the same word, namely “pound”:

17A. Pound BEAT WITH A HAMMER
25A. Pound STRAY DOG SHELTER
43A. Pound MEASURE OF WEIGHT
58A. Pound BRITISH CURRENCY

COMPLETION TIME: 17m 58s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
6. Omega, to an electrician OHM
The unit of electrical resistance is the ohm (with the symbol omega) named after Georg Simon Ohm, the German physicist. Ohm was the guy who established experimentally that the amount of current flowing through a circuit is directly proportional to the voltage applied, (V=IR) a relationship that every school kid knows as Ohm’s Law.

14. Hippodrome, e.g. ARENA
A trotter (a horse trained for harness racing) could compete in a hippodrome (a racetrack). The word “hippodrome” comes from the Greek “hippos” (horse) and “dromos” (racetrack).

20. Ocean flatfish SOLE
The group of flatfish known as soles take their name from “solea”, the Latin word for “sandal”.

21. Half a dance CAN
The Moulin Rouge cabaret is located right in the middle of one of the red light districts of Paris, the district of Pigalle. You can’t miss the Moulin Rouge as it has a huge red windmill on its roof (the French for “red windmill” is “moulin rouge”). The nightclub opened its doors in 1889, and soon after the working girls of the cabaret adopted a “respectable” party dance and used it to entice their clients. That was the birth of the can-can. Nowadays, the Moulin Rouge is home to a lavish, Las Vegas-style show that costs millions of euros to stage. It features showgirls, dancers and acrobats, a whole host of entertainers in fact. And I am sure the can-can features as well …

24. Ship destroyer in Sinbad’s fifth voyage ROC
The mythical roc is a huge bird of prey, reputedly able to carry off and eat elephants.

34. Dilemma for Jonah WHALE
The story of “Jonah’s Dilemma” can be found in the Bible. The story involves Jonah being swallowed by a whale and living inside the “big fish” for three days. I’ve never understood where the “dilemma” is in the tale, though …

36. Coastal raptor ERNE
The ern (also erne) is also called the white-tailed eagle, and the sea-eagle.

37. Astrological Ram ARIES
Aries is the first astrological sign in the Zodiac, and is named after the constellation. Your birth sign is Aries if you were born between March 21 and April 20, but if you are an Aries you would know that!

38. Econ. yardstick GNP
A country’s Gross National Product (GNP) is the value of all services and products produced by its residents in a particular year. GNP includes all production wherever it is in the world, as long as the business is owned by residents of the country concerned. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is different, and is the value of all services and goods produced within the borders of the country for that year.

39. ZZ Top and Cream TRIOS
In the blues rock band ZZ Top, the hairy guitar players are Billy F. Gibbons and Dusty Hill. The relatively clean-shaven drummer is … wait for it … Frank Beard …

Cream were a “supergroup” from Britain, meaning the band was comprised of musicians from other successful groups. Band members included Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker.

40. Campus military org. ROTC
The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) is a training program for officers based in colleges all around the US. The ROTC program was established in 1862 when as a condition of receiving a land-grant to create colleges, the federal government required that military tactics be part of the new school’s curriculum.

41. Hat with a tassel FEZ
“Fez” is the name given to the red cylindrical hat worn mainly in North Africa, and by Shriners here in the US. The fez used to be very popular right across the Ottoman Empire. The etymology of “fez” is unclear, although it might have something to do with the Moroccan city named Fez.

42. __ City, Oklahoma PONCA
Ponca City, Oklahoma is named after the Ponca Tribe of Native Americans.

47. Homer’s neighbor NED
Ned Flanders lives next door to Homer on TV’s “The Simpsons”. Ned is voiced by actor Harry Shearer and has been around since the very first episode aired in 1989.

49. Degenerate EFFETE
Something effete is degenerate, infertile, no longer productive. “Effete” comes from the Latin “ex-fetus”, literally “out of offspring”.

53. Rte. provider AAA
The American Automobile Association (AAA) is a not-for-profit organization, focused on lobbying, provision of automobile servicing, and selling of automobile insurance. AAA was founded in 1902 in Chicago, and published the first of its celebrated hotel guides back in 1917.

54. Astrological edge CUSP
The word “cusp” comes from the Latin “cuspis” meaning “spear, point”. The term was first used in English in astrology, but then migrated into the field of mathematics to describe the point where two curves meet.

61. Capital on the Aar BERNE
Bern (or Berne) is the capital city of Switzerland. The official language of the city is German, but the language most spoken in Bern is a dialect known as Bernese German.

The Aar (also called the “Aare” in German) is the longest river entirely in Switzerland. A famous spot along the river is the Reichenbach Falls in the center of the country, actually a series of waterfalls near the city of Meiringen. These falls are celebrated in the world of literature as it was here that Sherlock Holmes fell to his supposed doom with his nemesis Professor Moriarty (in “The Adventure of the Final Problem”).

62. Holiday __ INN
The first Holiday Inn hotel was opened in 1952. The name for the hotel chain was inspired by the 1942 movie “Holiday Inn” starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire.

Down
2. Longtime Hydrox competitor OREO
The Oreo cookie was first introduced in 1912. The Oreo was intended to be a competitor to the very similar Hydrox cookie which had debuted four years earlier. The Oreo won the resulting battle on the grocery store shelves …

3. Freshwater duck TEAL
The beautiful color of teal takes it name from the duck called a “teal”, which has dark greenish-blue (teal) markings on its head and wings.

6. Common choir music book size OCTAVO
Some common book formats/sizes are folio, octavo and quarto. For an octavo book, sixteen pages of text are printed, eight pages on each side of a “full-size” piece of paper. The pages are formed by folding the sheet of paper three times in half, giving a group of sixteen pages printed on eight leaves (after separation). The size of the resulting pages of course depends on the size of the original sheet, but each page is one eighth the size of that original (hence the name octavo). Nowadays the octavo size refers to books that are between eight and ten inches tall.

7. Chemistry Nobelist Otto HAHN
Otto Hahn was a German chemist, someone who rigorously opposed the anti-Jewish policies of Nazi Germany. Hahn was one of a small group of scientists who discovered nuclear fission, pointing out that uranium atoms could be split into barium atoms when bombarded with neutrons. Hahn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1944 for this discovery, although he probably got  credit for work that was actually shared with others.

12. Cooking fat SUET
Fat, when extracted from the carcass of an animal, is called “suet”. Untreated suet decomposes at room temperature quite easily so it has to be “rendered” or purified to make it stable. Rendered fat from pigs is what we call “lard”. Rendered beef or mutton fat is known as “tallow”.

24. Invitation initials RSVP
RSVP stands for “Répondez s’il vous plaît”, which is French for “please, answer”.

27. Eastern yogurt condiment RAITA
Raita is a condiment served in Indian restaurants, made from yogurt flavored with coriander, cumin, mint and cayenne pepper.

28. Smart guys? ALECS
Apparently the original “smart Alec” was Alec Hoag, a pimp, thief and confidence trickster who plied his trade in New York City in the 1840s.

29. “Great” Muppet daredevil GONZO
Gonzo the Great is a character in “The Muppets”. Gonzo actually got top billing in the 1999 movie “Muppets from Space”.

30. “Vive __!” LE ROI
“Vive le roi!” is French for “Long live the king!”

31. Camera-to-telescope adapter T-RING
A T-mount is a standard lens mount for cameras. A camera attached to a telescope might use a T-mount, perhaps with an adapter known as a T-ring.

32. Methuselah’s father ENOCH
Enoch was the great-grandfather of Noah, and the great-grandson of Adam.

38. Opposite of hawed GEED
“Haw!” is a command given to a trained animal that is hauling something (like a horse or an ox). “Haw!” is used to instruct the animal to turn to the left. The equivalent command for a right turn is “Gee!”

39. Adorned in a prankish way TPED
TPing (toilet papering) is a prank involving the covering of some object or location with rolls and rolls of toilet paper. If you live in Texas or Minnesota, that little “prank” is legal, but if you live here in California it is classed as mischief or vandalism.

52. Europe’s highest active volcano ETNA
Mt. Etna is the largest of three active volcanoes in Italy. Mt Etna is about 2 1/2 times the height of its equally famous sister, Mt. Vesuvius.

55. Golden rule word UNTO
The Golden Rule is also known as the ethic of reciprocity, and is a basis for the concept of human rights. A version of the rule used in the Christian tradition is attributed to Jesus: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.

60. Joplin piece RAG
Scott Joplin was a great American composer and pianist, the “King of Ragtime”. Joplin was born poor, into a laboring family in Texas. He learned his music from local teachers and started out his career as an itinerant musician, traveling around the American South. He found fame with the release of his 1899 composition “Maple Leaf Rag”, regarded as the foundation stone on which ragtime music was built. Joplin’s music, and ragtime in general, was rediscovered by the populous in the early seventies when it was used in the very successful movie “The Sting”.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Breakfast brand TOTAL
6. Omega, to an electrician OHM
9. Stage PHASE
14. Hippodrome, e.g. ARENA
15. Yellow ride CAB
16. Come again? RECUR
17. Pound BEAT WITH A HAMMER
20. Ocean flatfish SOLE
21. Half a dance CAN
22. Beginnings ONSETS
23. Church title: Abbr. REV
24. Ship destroyer in Sinbad’s fifth voyage ROC
25. Pound STRAY DOG SHELTER
34. Dilemma for Jonah WHALE
35. Eggs OVA
36. Coastal raptor ERNE
37. Astrological Ram ARIES
38. Econ. yardstick GNP
39. ZZ Top and Cream TRIOS
40. Campus military org. ROTC
41. Hat with a tassel FEZ
42. __ City, Oklahoma PONCA
43. Pound MEASURE OF WEIGHT
47. Homer’s neighbor NED
48. Chaired, say LED
49. Degenerate EFFETE
53. Rte. provider AAA
54. Astrological edge CUSP
58. Pound BRITISH CURRENCY
61. Capital on the Aar BERNE
62. Holiday __ INN
63. Church centerpiece ALTAR
64. Place STEAD
65. One may have a sitter PET
66. Small world? GLOBE

Down
1. Bar obligations TABS
2. Longtime Hydrox competitor OREO
3. Freshwater duck TEAL
4. Chip in a new pot ANTE
5. Principle LAW
6. Common choir music book size OCTAVO
7. Chemistry Nobelist Otto HAHN
8. CEO’s degree MBA
9. Ride proudly PRANCE
10. Haws’ partner HEMS
11. Top ACME
12. Cooking fat SUET
13. Overthrows, maybe ERRS
18. Coffee, tea or milk option ICED
19. Fuss HOO-HA
23. Whiskey orders RYES
24. Invitation initials RSVP
25. Group in a hive SWARM
26. Severe pang THROE
27. Eastern yogurt condiment RAITA
28. Smart guys? ALECS
29. “Great” Muppet daredevil GONZO
30. “Vive __!” LE ROI
31. Camera-to-telescope adapter T-RING
32. Methuselah’s father ENOCH
33. Posed again RESAT
38. Opposite of hawed GEED
39. Adorned in a prankish way TPED
41. Lets go FREES
44. Let go, as a prisoner UNTIED
45. Show off FLAUNT
46. Fray, e.g. WEAR
49. Abates EBBS
50. Worry FRET
51. Camper’s cooker FIRE
52. Europe’s highest active volcano ETNA
53. Promgoer’s concern ACNE
54. Basic organic unit CELL
55. Golden rule word UNTO
56. Healing sign SCAB
57. Flammable pile PYRE
59. Trendy HIP
60. Joplin piece RAG

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