LA Times Crossword Answers 11 Mar 13, Monday

CROSSWORD SETTER: Jeff Chen
THEME: IOU … three of today’s themed answers start with I, O and U sounds, hinted at by the fourth themed answer, which points to IOU’s:

17A. Cyclone center : (I) EYE OF A HURRICANE
26A. Roy Orbison hit featured in a Gere/Roberts film : (O) OH, PRETTY WOMAN
43A. Exerciser’s motto : (U’s) USE IT OR LOSE IT
56A. Debtors’ documents suggested by the sequence of the first words of 17-, 26- and 43-Across : (IOU’s) PROMISSORY NOTES

COMPLETION TIME: 6m 40s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
14. Singer Lena : HORNE
Lena Horne was an American jazz singer, actress, dancer and civil rights activist. Horne started out her career as a nightclub singer and then began to get some meaty acting roles in Hollywood. However, she ended up on the blacklist during the McCarthy Era for expressing left wing political views. One of Horne’s starring roles was in the 1943 movie “Stormy Weather” for which she also performed the title song.

21. Pitcher’s mistake : BALK
To balk is to stop and refuse to go on. It’s not just a baseball term!

25. Sources of storage chest wood : CEDARS
Cedar is used for the manufacture of some wardrobes and chests as it has long been believed that the fragrant oil in the wood is a moth-repellent. However, whether or not cedar oil is actually effective at keeping moths away seems to be in doubt.

26. Roy Orbison hit featured in a Gere/Roberts film : OH, PRETTY WOMAN
“Oh, Pretty Woman” is a wonderful song co-written and recorded by Roy Orbison in 1964. The title was inspired by Orbison’s wife Claudette. One day Claudette interrupted her husband as he was talking to co-writer Bill Dees. Orbison asked his wife is she had enough cash, at which point Dees remarked, “A pretty woman never needs any money”.

“Pretty Woman” is a great movie, a 1990 romantic comedy starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. The film was originally written as a very dark story, with the female lead not only a prostitute, but also a drug addict, The Disney studio who took up the project demanded that it be rewritten as a modern-day fairy tale, and what a good decision that was.

31. By surface area, second-largest Great Lake : HURON
Lake Huron takes its name from the Huron Native American people that lived by its shores. Early French explorers often called the lake “La Mer Douce”, meaning “the freshwater sea”.

32. Rent-a-car choice : AVIS
Avis has been around since 1946, and is the second largest car rental agency after Hertz. Avis has the distinction of being the first car rental company to locate a branch at an airport.

37. Taj __ : MAHAL
The most famous mausoleum in the world has to be the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. The Taj Mahal was built after the death of the third wife of Shah Jahan, Mumtaz Mahal (hence the name of the mausoleum). The poor woman died in childbirth delivering the couple’s 14th child.

39. Gospel singer Winans : CECE
CeCe Winans (real name Priscilla) is a Gospel music singer. She is part of a duo with her brother, BeBe Winans (real name Benjamin).

40. Needing no Rx : OTC
Over the counter (OTC).

There seems to some uncertainty about the origin of the symbol “Rx” that’s used for a medical prescription. One explanation is that it comes from the astrological sign for Jupiter, a symbol put on prescriptions in days of old to invoke Jupiter’s blessing to help a patient recover.

41. Late-night Jay : LENO
Jay Leno was born James Leno in New Rochelle, New York. Jay’s father was the son of Italian immigrants, and his mother was from Scotland. Leno grew up in Andover, Massachusetts and actually dropped out of school on the advice of a high school guidance counsellor. However, years later he went to Emerson college and earned a Bachelor’s degree in speech therapy. Leno also started a comedy club at Emerson in 1973. Today Jay Leno is a car nut and owns about 200 vehicles of various types. You can check them out on his website: www.jaylenosgarage.com.

42. Coffees, in slang : JAVAS
Back in 1850, the name “java” was given to a type of coffee grown on the island of Java, and the usage of the term spread from there.

50. Sarandon of “Thelma & Louise” : SUSAN
The very, very lovely Susan Sarandon is a Hollywood actress from Queens in New York City. She was born Susan Abigail Tomalin, and married fellow actor Chris Sarandon in 1967. After the two divorced in 1979, Susan retained Sarandon as her stage name.

“Thelma & Louise” is a thought-provoking movie, but one that is very entertaining. It was directed by Ridley Scott in 1991, and stars two fabulous leads in Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon. You’ll also spot Brad Pitt in there as well, in his first significant movie role.

51. Channel for business types : CNBC
CNBC is a business news channel owned by NBC. Launched in 1989, up until 1991 CNBC was known as the Consumer News and Business Channel.

53. Magna __ laude : CUM
When an academic degree is awarded, a level of distinction can be noted depending on the degree of success achieved by the student. There are three types of honor, each with a Latin name:

– cum laude: meaning “with honor” (literally “with praise”)
– magna cum laude: meaning “with great honor”
– summa cum laude: meaning “with highest honor”

60. 50-and-over org. : AARP
AARP is now the official name for the interest group that used to be called the American Association of Retired Persons. The name change reflects the current focus of the group on all Americans aged 50 or over, as opposed to just people who have retired.

61. 1,000 meters, briefly : KILO
I have to admit that I’ve only heard the term “kilo” used for “kilogram”, but the dictionary tells me that it can also apply as an abbreviation for “kilometer”.

62. Hindu guru : SWAMI
A swami is a religious teacher in the Hindu tradition.

63. Loch of legend : NESS
The Loch Ness monster has been talked about for centuries, but modern interest started in 1933 when a spate of sightings was reported. Those sightings don’t seem to have stopped, with photographs of what is purported to be the monster really sparking the imagination.

64. “By Jove!” : I SAY!
“By Jove” is a mild oath, calling on the Roman god Jove, also known as Jupiter.

Down
2. Hot Wheels and hula hoops : TOYS
The Hot Wheels brand of toy car was introduced by Mattel in 1968.

Hula hoops were a big craze in the 1950s, but they have been around in various forms at least since the year 500 BCE!

5. Playboy founder, for short : HEF
Hugh Hefner is from Chicago. His first publishing job was in the military, where he worked as a writer for a US Army newspaper from 1944-46. He went to college after his military service and then worked as a copywriter for “Esquire” magazine. He left “Esquire” to found his own publication that he called “Playboy”, which first hit the newsstands in 1953. “Playboy” has been around ever since.

7. Bellow in a library? : SAUL
Saul Bellow is the only writer to have won the National Book Award three times, and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1976. He was a Canadian-born American writer, and among his most famous works were “Herzog” and “Humboldt’s Gift”.

8. Spock’s captain : KIRK
According to the storyline in “Star Trek”, Captain James Tiberius Kirk was born in Riverside, Iowa. The town of Riverside displays a plaque, noting Riverside as the “future birthplace of James T. Kirk.”

9. Photog’s camera choice : SLR
SLR stands for “single lens reflex”. Usually cameras with changeable lenses are the SLR type. The main feature of an SLR is that a mirror reflects the image seen through the lens out through the viewfinder, so that the photographer sees exactly what the lens sees. The mirror moves out of the way as the picture is taken, and the image that comes through the lens falls onto unexposed film, or nowadays onto a digital sensor.

18. Help illegally : ABET
The word “abet” comes into English from the Old French “abeter” meaning “to bait” or “to harass with dogs” (it literally means “to make bite”). This sense of encouraging something bad to happen morphed into our modern usage of “abet” meaning to aid or encourage someone in a crime.

24. Japanese money : YEN
The Korean Won, the Chinese Yuan, and the Japanese Yen (all of which are Asian currencies) take their names from the Chinese written character that represents “round shape”.

27. 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.

29. Search engine name : YAHOO!
Jerry Yang and David Filo called their company “Yahoo!” for two reasons. Firstly, a Yahoo is a rude unsophisticated brute from Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels”. Secondly, Yahoo stands for “Yet another Hierarchical Officious Oracle”.

30. Appalachian state: Abbr. : WVA
The state of West Virginia was formed during the civil war when the western counties in the old state of Virginia voted to secede from the Confederate state.

34. Berry in modern diet supplements : ACAI
Açaí is a palm tree native to Central and South America. The fruit has become very popular in recent years and its juice is a very fashionable addition to juice mixes and smoothies.

35. Oscar category word : BEST
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) is the organization that gives the annual Academy Awards also known as the “Oscars”. The root of the name “Oscar” is hotly debated, but what is agreed is that the award was officially named “Oscar” in 1939. The first Academy Awards were presented at a brunch in 1929 with an audience of just 29 people. The Awards ceremony is a slightly bigger event these days …

37. Chow __ : MEIN
Chow mein has two slightly different meanings on the East and West Coasts of the US. On the East Coast, “basic” chow mein is a crispy dish, whereas on the West Coast it is a steamed dish and relatively soft. On the East Coast the steamed dish is available, but under the name “lo mein”. On the West Coast, the crispy dish is also on the menu, as Hong Kong style chow mein.

41. Téa of “Tower Heist” : LEONI
Téa Leoni is an American actress. One of her early parts was in the great film “A League of Their Own” (a minor role, Racine at first base). She also played Sam Malone’s fiancée on “Cheers” and opposite Adam Sandler in “Spanglish”. My favorite of her more prominent roles was as Jane, in “Fun with Dick and Jane”.

“Tower Heist” is a 2011 comedy film that I had hoped to see when it was playing in theaters, but I missed it. It stars Ben Stiller as an employee of an apartment building who loses his pension due to fraudulent investing activities by a Wall Street businessman. Stiller and his cohorts execute a heist to get back their money, and hilarity ensues (I am told).

45. Drink named for a Scottish hero : ROB ROY
Rob Roy’s full name was Robert Roy MacGregor, itself an anglicization of the Scottish Raibeart Ruadh. He gave his name to the famous cocktail, a relative of the Manhattan that is made with Scotch instead of bourbon.

47. Channel for political types : C-SPAN
C-SPAN is a privately-funded, non-profit cable channel that broadcasts continuous coverage of government proceedings.

51. Forensics team members: Abbr. : CSIS
I’m told that the TV show “CSI” (which stands for Crime Scene Investigation) gets a lot of razzing by law enforcement professionals for its unrealistic portrayal of the procedures and science of criminal investigation. I don’t care though, as I just think it’s fun television. The original “CSI” set in Las Vegas seems to have “gone off the boil”, but the addition of Sela Ward to the cast of “CSI: NY” has really, really raised the level of the sister show centered around New York City.

52. The Big Easy acronym : NOLA
The city of New Orleans, Louisiana has the nickname “The Big Easy”. This name might come from the early 1900s when musicians found it relatively “easy” to find work there. The city is also known by the acronym NOLA, standing for New Orleans, LA.

54. The Beehive State : UTAH
When Mormon pioneers were settling what is today the state of Utah, they referred to the area as Deseret, a word that means “beehive” according to the Book of Mormon. Today Utah is known as the Beehive State and there is a beehive symbol on the Utah state flag.

57. Compete in a slalom : SKI
Slalom is an anglicized version of the Norwegian word “slalam” that translates as “skiing race”.

58. Clandestine govt. org. : NSA
The National Security Agency (NSA) was set up in 1952 by President Truman, a replacement for the Armed Forces Security Agency that had existed in the Department of Defense since 1949. The NSA has always been clouded in secrecy and even the 1952 letter from President Truman that established the agency was kept under wraps from the public for over a generation. I really like the organization’s nickname … “No Such Agency”.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Money under a mattress, e.g. : STASH
6. Poses a question : ASKS
10. Hired rides : CABS
14. Singer Lena : HORNE
15. Apt name for a windstorm? : GAIL
16. Hollywood celeb : IDOL
17. Cyclone center : EYE OF A HURRICANE
20. Spotted : SAW
21. Pitcher’s mistake : BALK
22. Feral no more : TAMED
23. Adds highlights at the salon : DYES
25. Sources of storage chest wood : CEDARS
26. Roy Orbison hit featured in a Gere/Roberts film : OH, PRETTY WOMAN
31. By surface area, second-largest Great Lake : HURON
32. Rent-a-car choice : AVIS
33. Apply daintily : DAB
36. Ladder rung : STEP
37. Taj __ : MAHAL
39. Gospel singer Winans : CECE
40. Needing no Rx : OTC
41. Late-night Jay : LENO
42. Coffees, in slang : JAVAS
43. Exerciser’s motto : USE IT OR LOSE IT
47. Shipping container : CARTON
49. Inaugural pledge : OATH
50. Sarandon of “Thelma & Louise” : SUSAN
51. Channel for business types : CNBC
53. Magna __ laude : CUM
56. Debtors’ documents suggested by the sequence of the first words of 17-, 26- and 43-Across : PROMISSORY NOTES
60. 50-and-over org. : AARP
61. 1,000 meters, briefly : KILO
62. Hindu guru : SWAMI
63. Loch of legend : NESS
64. “By Jove!” : I SAY
65. Extremely pale : ASHEN

Down
1. Her, subjectively : SHE
2. Hot Wheels and hula hoops : TOYS
3. Region : AREA
4. Flower that usually blooms in winter : SNOWDROP
5. Playboy founder, for short : HEF
6. Thunderstruck : AGHAST
7. Bellow in a library? : SAUL
8. Spock’s captain : KIRK
9. Photog’s camera choice : SLR
10. Large, noisy insect : CICADA
11. Starters of the first race? : ADAM AND EVE
12. Silly mistake : BONER
13. Winter coasters : SLEDS
18. Help illegally : ABET
19. List components : ITEMS
24. Japanese money : YEN
25. Spiral shape : COIL
26. Too-too : OH SO
27. Sci-fi’s Jabba the __ : HUTT
28. Forerunners : PRECURSORS
29. Search engine name : YAHOO
30. Appalachian state: Abbr. : WVA
34. Berry in modern diet supplements : ACAI
35. Oscar category word : BEST
37. Chow __ : MEIN
38. Picnic pest : ANT
39. Reliable moneymakers : CASH COWS
41. Téa of “Tower Heist” : LEONI
42. Scribble (down) : JOT
44. Postal purchases : STAMPS
45. Drink named for a Scottish hero : ROB ROY
46. Like some nighties : LACY
47. Channel for political types : C-SPAN
48. Psychic glows : AURAE
51. Forensics team members: Abbr. : CSIS
52. The Big Easy acronym : NOLA
54. The Beehive State : UTAH
55. Kid’s enthusiastic “I do!” : ME! ME!
57. Compete in a slalom : SKI
58. Clandestine govt. org. : NSA
59. Admission in a confessional : SIN


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