LA Times Crossword Answers 22 Feb 13, Friday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Foxx who played Ray JAMIE
Jamie Foxx is the professional name used by Eric Marlon Bishop, an actor from Terrell, Texas. Foxx’s most acclaimed performance in film was the title role in “Ray”, the biopic about Ray Charles.

Ray Charles came up with his stage name by dropping the family name from his real moniker, Ray Charles Robinson. His life was a wild ride, well represented in the excellent biopic called “Ray” released in 2004 and starring Jamie Foxx in the title role. Ray Charles was married twice and fathered 12 children with nine different women. As I said, a wild ride …

15. “Metamorphoses” poet OVID
The Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso is today known simply as Ovid. Ovid is usually listed alongside the two other great Roman poets: Horace and Virgil.

“The Metamorphoses” is a narrative poem by the Roman poet Ovid that deals with a lofty subject. It describes the history of the world from creation until the “present day”, that is Ovid’s “present day”, the era of Julius Caesar. A lot of the storyline makes use of Greek mythology (rather than Roman).

16. He helped get Cassio demoted IAGO
Iago is the schemer in Shakespeare’s “Othello”. Iago is a soldier who fought alongside Othello and feels hard done by, missing out on promotion. He hatches a plot designed to discredit his rival Cassio by insinuating that Cassio is having an affair with Desdemona, Othello’s wife. By the end of the play it’s Iago himself who is discredited and Othello (before committing suicide) apologizes to Cassio for having believed Iago’s lies. Heavy stuff …

17. Carving tools ADZES
An adze (also adz) is similar to an axe, but different in that the blade of an adze is set at right angles to the tool’s shaft. An axe’s blade is set in line with the shaft.

18. North African prison wear? CON FEZZES (from “confesses”)
“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 a very popular hat across the Ottoman Empire. The etymology of “fez” is unclear, although it might have something to do with the Moroccan city named Fez.

20. Bring down to earth RAZE
To “raze” is to level to the ground. How odd is it that “raise”, a homophone of “raze”, means to build up??!!

22. Nancy Drew books pseudonym KEENE
The “Nancy Drew” mystery stories were produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate. The founder of the Syndicate hired a team of writers to produce the “Nancy Drew” novels, but listed the author of each book as the fictional Carolyn Keene.

23. Disinfectant brand LYSOL
The disinfectant called Lysol takes its name from the words “lysosome” and “solvent”. Lysosomes are structures found within cells that have the job of breaking up waste material and cellular debris.

28. Soft material SUEDE
Suede is leather made from the underside of the skin, mainly from a lamb. As such it is very soft, although not as durable as leather made from the exterior skin. The soft leather was, and is still used for making gloves. Back in 1859 these gloves were called “gants de Suede” in France, or “gloves of Sweden”. So, the name “suede” comes from the French word for Sweden.

32. Trifle DRIB
A “drib” is a negligible amount, as in “dribs and drabs”.

36. Rapper who founded Aftermath Entertainment DRE
Dr. Dre is the stage name of rapper Andre Romelle Young. Dr. Dre is known for his own singing career as well as producing records and starting the careers of others such Snoop Dogg, Eminem and 50 Cent.

41. __-Indian War SINO
The Sino-Indian War was a border conflict between China and India that took place in 1962. Other disagreement above and beyond the dispute contributed to the tension between the parties. One factor was that India had granted asylum to the Dalai Lama after the Tibetan uprising of 1959. The Chinese started the war by invading the disputed territory, and ended it by unilaterally withdrawing one month later. The Sino-Indian War was noted for the harsh conditions in which fighting took place, at an altitude of about 14,000 feet in the Himalayas.

48. Storied swinger TARZAN
“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.

49. Spot for a belt TAVERN
“Belt” is a slang term for a drink of hard liquor.

52. “The Fox and the Crow” writer AESOP
“The Fox and the Crow” is one of Aesop’s Fables. In the story, a crow is eating a piece of cheese in a tree. A fox wants the cheese, and flatters the crow and goads it into singing. When the song opens its bill to let out a caw, the cheese falls to the ground and is eaten by the fox.

Aesop lived in Ancient Greece, probably around the sixth century BC. Supposedly Aesop was born a slave, somehow became a free man, but then met with a sorry end. He was sent to the city of Delphi on a diplomatic mission but instead insulted the Delphians. Aesop was tried on a trumped-up charge of stealing from a temple, sentenced to death and was thrown off a cliff.

59. Really short haircut? MICRO-BUZZ (from “microbus”)
A microbus is a small minibus.

61. “Today” anchor before Meredith KATIE
Katie Couric left NBC’s “The Today Show” in 2006 and took over as news anchor for “CBS Evening News”. In so doing she became the first solo female anchor of a broadcast network evening news program. Couric also has the honor of being the only person to guest-host on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”. In fact she “swapped jobs” on that particular day, and Leno filled in for Couric on “The Today Show”.

Meredith Vieira is journalist and television personality. Vieira had a regular gig on “The View” and NBC’s “Morning” show. She also took over from Regis Philbin as host of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”.

63. Case for pins and needles ETUI
An etui is an ornamental case used to hold small items, in particular sewing needles. We imported both the case design and the word “etui” from France. The French also have a modern usage of “etui”, using the term to depict a case for carrying CDs.

66. Capital of Estonia EURO
The European Union (EU) today stands at a membership of 27 states. The Euro is the official currency of only 16 of the 27. The list of states in the EU that don’t use the Euro includes the UK, Denmark and Sweden.

Estonia is one of the former Soviet Socialist Republics and is located in Northern Europe on the Baltic Sea, due south of Finland. Estonia has been overrun and ruled by various empires over the centuries. The country did enjoy a few years of freedom at the beginning of the 20th century after a war of independence against the Russian Empire. However, Estonia was occupied again during WWII, first by the Russians and then by the Germans, and then reoccupied by the Soviets in 1944. Estonia has flourished as an independent country again since the collapse of the USSR in 1991.

67. Grant player ASNER
Ed Asner is most famous for playing the irascible but lovable Lou Grant on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and on the spin-off drama “Lou Grant”. Off-screen, Asner is noted for his political activism. He served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and was very involved in the 1980 SAG strike. When “Lou Grant” was cancelled in 1982, despite decent ratings, there was a lot of talk that the cancellation was a move by the network against Asner personally. In fact one of Asner’s activist colleagues, Howard Hesseman (who played Johnny Fever), found that his show “WKRP in Cincinnati” was also cancelled … on the very same day …

Down
1. Old ski lift J-BAR
A T-bar is a type of ski lift in which the skiers are pulled up the hill in pairs, with each pair standing (not sitting!) either side of T-shaped metal bar. The bar is placed behind the thighs, pulling along the skiers as they remain standing on their skis (hopefully!). There’s also a J-bar, a similar device, but with each J-shaped bar used by one skier at a time.

2. Bisset’s “The Mephisto Waltz” co-star ALDA
Alan Alda had a great television career, especially of course on “M*A*S*H”. But when it comes to the big screen, my favorite of his movies is the 1978 romantic comedy “Same Time, Next Year” in which he starred opposite Ellen Burstyn.

“The Mephisto Waltz” is a horror film released in 1971. I don’t “do horror” so I haven’t seen this one, despite a great cast that includes Alan Alda, Jacqueline Bisset, Barbara Perkins and Curd Jürgens.

7. Viva by Fergie fragrance maker AVON
In 1886, a young man called David McConnell was selling books door-to-door. To enhance his sales numbers he was giving out free perfume to the ladies of the houses that he visited. Seeing as his perfume was more popular than his books, he founded the California Perfume Company in New York City and started manufacturing and selling across the country. The company name was changed to Avon in 1939, and the famous “Avon Calling” marketing campaign was launched in 1954.

8. Big name in artifacts MING
The Ming Dynasty lasted in China from 1368 to 1644. The Ming Dynasty oversaw tremendous innovation in so many areas, including the manufacture of ceramics. Late in the Ming period, a shift towards a market economy in China led to the export of porcelain on an unprecedented scale, perhaps explaining why we tend to hear more about Ming vases than we do about porcelain from any other Chinese dynasty.

9. Adobe file format PDF
Adobe Acrobat is the software used to create .pdf files. Most of us are more familiar with the associated application called Adobe Acrobat Reader, because that’s what we use to read those .pdf files.

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format introduced by Adobe Systems in 1993. PDF documents can be shared between users and read using many different applications, making them more universally accessible than documents saved by one particular program.

12. Gemini docking target AGENA
The Agena Target Vehicle (ATV) was used in NASA’s Gemini program to practice rendezvous and docking maneuvers in preparation for the Apollo missions that would take man to the moon.

19. Barely got (by) EKED
To “eke out” means to “make something go further or last longer”. For example, you could eke out your income by cutting back on expenses. I always have a problem with the commonly cited definition of “eke out” as “barely get by”. Close but no cigar, I say …

27. Garr of “Mr. Mom” TERI
The lovely Teri Garr had a whole host of minor roles in her youth, including appearances in nine Elvis movies. Garr’s big break came with the role of Inga in “Young Frankenstein”, and her supporting role in “Tootsie” earned Garr an Academy Award nomination. Sadly, Teri Garr suffers from multiple sclerosis. She is a National Ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

“Mr. Mom” is a 1983 comedy written by John Hughes, starring Michael Keaton and the great Teri Garr. The movie is all about an engineer in the auto industry in Detroit who loses his job and then takes over the running of the household while his wife heads back to work. It’s funny stuff …

33. Ride a Russian statesman? RAZZ PUTIN (from “Rasputin”)
Vladimir Putin became acting President of Russia at the very end of 1999 when Boris Yeltsin resigned. Putin was elected in his own right in 2000, re-elected in 2004, and then ran up against a term limit in 2008. In 2008 Putin was appointed by his successor, President Dmitry Medvedev, to the position of Prime Minister. Putin is a controversial figure, inside and outside Russia. On the one hand he led the country out of an economic crisis into a period of stability and relative prosperity. On the other hand he has been associated with government corruption and accused of allowing private concerns to have undue influence on government actions.

Grigori Rasputin was a Russian Orthodox mystic who apparently had great influence over the Emperor Nicholas and his family, and over the Empress Alexandra in particular.

35. Cap’n’s mate BOS’N
A boatswain works on the deck of a boat. A boatswain is unlicensed, and so is not involved in the navigation or handling of the vessel. He or she has charge of the other unlicensed workers on the deck. Boatswain is pronounced “bosun” and this phonetic spelling is often used interchangeably with “boatswain”. The contraction “bos’n” is also very popular.

38. Skin cream target ZIT
The slang term “zit”, meaning “pimple”, came into the language in 1966, but no one seems to know its exact derivation.

39. Tijuana relatives TIAS
Tijuana is the largest city in the Mexican state of Baja California, and lies just across the US-Mexico border from San Diego. Tijuana is also the most westerly of all Mexican cities. A lot of Tijuana’s growth took place in the twenties as tourists flocked south of the border during the days of prohibition in the US. One of the many casinos and hotels that flourished at that time was Hotel Caesar’s in the Avenida Revolución area. Hotel Caesar’s claims to be the birthplace of the now ubiquitous Caesar Salad.

42. Mrs. __ cow O’LEARY’S
The Great Chicago Fire blazed for almost three full days in October of 1871. By the time it was extinguished, hundreds of people had died and four square miles of the city had been destroyed. It is known that the fire started in or near a small barn owned by an Irish immigrant, a Mrs. Catherine O’Leary. A reporter called Michael Ahern wrote in the “Chicago Tribune” that the fire was ignited when a cow in the barn kicked over a lantern. Years later, Ahern admitted that he made up the story about the cow and the lantern, as he felt it made colorful copy. Supposedly Mrs. O’Leary died a heartbroken woman as she spent the rest of her life with the public blaming her on the tragic loss of life and property.

45. Insidious malware with a classically derived name TROJANS
“Malware” is a collective term for software and program code that is created to intentionally disrupt and exploit computer systems. Viruses, worms, trojan horses and spyware are all covered by the term. “Malware” is short for “malicious software”.

49. __ Tigers: Sri Lankan separatists TAMIL
The Tamil Tigers were a militant separatist organization in northern Sri Lanka whose goal was to create an independent state on the island for the Tamil people. The Tamil Tigers’ campaign developed into the Sri Lankan Civil War in 1983, which ended in 2009 with a victory for the Sri Lankan military forces.

50. Mrs. Kramden of Chauncey Street ALICE
In “The Honeymooners”, Jackie Gleason’s character was married to Alice Kramden who was played originally by Pert Kelton, but ultimately by Audrey Meadows. Art Carney’s character was married to Thelma “Trixie” Norton, played originally by Elaine Stritch, and then by Joyce Randolph.

51. NyQuil manufacturer VICKS
NyQuil is a medication designed to relieve the symptoms of a common cold. NyQuil contains loads of ingredients that will make you sleepy, so if you are taking it, it’s safer to do so at night. It’s a Proctor & Gamble brand, and the equivalent non-drowsy formula is known as DayQuil.

52. WWII Italian beachhead ANZIO
The WWII Battle of Anzio is famous for being one of the most terrible blunders in military history. Operation Shingle was a surprise amphibious landing at Anzio, 35 miles south of Rome, designed to outflank the Germans and press home an attack on the Italian capital. The element of surprise allowed a safe landing at Anzio, and the allies were able to drive jeeps right into the outskirts of Rome unchallenged. But that element of surprise was lost when Allied commander General John Lucas decided to delay the march on Rome until he had consolidated his position on the beaches, a position that was surrounded by high ground. The Germans used the delay to throw everything they had into the high ground and the allies were pinned down in a bloody battle. As a result, it took four months for the allies to fight their way inland.

54. Rwanda native HUTU
The Tutsi are the second largest population of people in Rwanda, with the Hutu being the largest group. The bloody conflict that has existed between the Tutsi and Hutu peoples dates back to about 1880 when Catholic missionaries arrived in the region. The missionaries found that they had more success converting the Hutus than the Tutsi, and when the Germans occupied the area during WWI they confiscated Tutsi land and gave it to Hutu tribes in order to reward religious conversion. This injustice fuels fighting to this very day.

55. Bleu shade AZUR
The word “azure” came into English from Persian via Old French. The French word “l’azur” was taken from the Persian name for a place in northeastern Afghanistan called “Lazhward” which was the main source of the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli. The stone has a vivid blue color, and “azure” has been describing this color since the 14th century.

57. Chuck E. Cheese et al. MICE
I think that Chuck E. Cheese is actually a rat, and not a mouse …

Chuck E. Cheese is a sit-down pizza restaurant that features entertainment for children. The original Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre was opened in San Jose, California in 1977 by founder Nolan Bushnell. Bushnell had already achieved success in the business world as the founder of Atari.

60. Opie’s great-aunt BEE
Aunt Bee was a character in “The Andy Griffith Show”. The character’s full name was Beatrice Taylor but everyone in Mayberry called her “Aunt Bee”. In the storyline she was the aunt of the protagonist, Sheriff Andy Taylor, and great-aunt to Andy’s son Opie. Aunt Bee was played by actress Frances Beaver.

61. Camping org. KOA
Kampgrounds of America (KOA) was founded in 1962 by Montana businessman Dave Drum who opened up his first property along the Yellowstone River. Drum’s strategy was to offer a rich package of services including hot showers, restrooms and a store, which he hoped would attract people used to camping in the rough. The original campground was an immediate hit and Drum took on two partners and sold franchises all over the country. There are about 500 KOA sites today.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Foxx who played Ray JAMIE
6. Place for shades LAMP
10. Hard-hitting sound WHAP
14. Look embarrassed, maybe BLUSH
15. “Metamorphoses” poet OVID
16. He helped get Cassio demoted IAGO
17. Carving tools ADZES
18. North African prison wear? CON FEZZES (from “confesses”)
20. Bring down to earth RAZE
21. “Rats!” DANG
22. Nancy Drew books pseudonym KEENE
23. Disinfectant brand LYSOL
25. Scout leader DEN DAD
26. Went on a date, perhaps ATE OUT
28. Soft material SUEDE
30. Affectedly reserved DEMURE
31. Rugrat IMP
32. Trifle DRIB
36. Rapper who founded Aftermath Entertainment DRE
37. Lint depository? FUZZ POT (from “fuss pot”)
40. Bustle ADO
41. __-Indian War SINO
43. It has some crust PIE
44. Makes more elegant, with “up” RITZES
46. Pillages LOOTS
48. Storied swinger TARZAN
49. Spot for a belt TAVERN
52. “The Fox and the Crow” writer AESOP
53. Fugitive’s invention ALIAS
54. Helper HAND
56. Begin to dive JUMP
59. Really short haircut? MICRO-BUZZ (from “microbus”)
61. “Today” anchor before Meredith KATIE
62. Nasty ICKY
63. Case for pins and needles ETUI
64. Chilling ON ICE
65. Take away LESS
66. Capital of Estonia EURO
67. Grant player ASNER

Down
1. Old ski lift J-BAR
2. Bisset’s “The Mephisto Waltz” co-star ALDA
3. Dogcatchers? MUZZLE MEN (from “muscle men”)
4. Phrase in a tot’s game I SEE YOU!
5. Questioning utterances EHS
6. Nearby LOCAL
7. Viva by Fergie fragrance maker AVON
8. Big name in artifacts MING
9. Adobe file format PDF
10. Old and wrinkled WIZENED
11. Made indistinct HAZED
12. Gemini docking target AGENA
13. Sat POSED
19. Barely got (by) EKED
21. Spoil DOTE UPON
24. Turf mate SURF
25. Banished, in a way DEPORTED
26. Counts (up) ADDS
27. Garr of “Mr. Mom” TERI
28. Shoe store array SIZES
29. One crying foul UMP
33. Ride a Russian statesman? RAZZ PUTIN (from “Rasputin”)
34. Notion IDEA
35. Cap’n’s mate BOS’N
38. Skin cream target ZIT
39. Tijuana relatives TIAS
42. Mrs. __ cow O’LEARY’S
45. Insidious malware with a classically derived name TROJANS
47. Thereabouts OR SO
49. __ Tigers: Sri Lankan separatists TAMIL
50. Mrs. Kramden of Chauncey Street ALICE
51. NyQuil manufacturer VICKS
52. WWII Italian beachhead ANZIO
54. Rwanda native HUTU
55. Bleu shade AZUR
57. Chuck E. Cheese et al. MICE
58. Review target PEER
60. Opie’s great-aunt BEE
61. Camping org. KOA

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