LA Times Crossword Answers 11 Apr 13, Thursday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
9. Academy teacher PLATO
The Greek philosopher Plato founded his school called “the Academy” circa 387 BC in Athens. The site Plato chose for his school was a walled-off grove of olive trees that lay just outside the city. The grove was sacred, dedicated to the goddess Athena, but named “Akademia” after a mythological hero called Akademos. So, it is the mythical Akademos who ultimately gives us our word “academy”.

18. Teatro alla Scala highlight ARIA
The La Scala Opera House opened in 1778. It was built on the site of the church of Santa Maria della Scala, which gave the theater its name: “Teatro alla Scala”.

20. Post-marathon sounds? FATIGUE(D) PANTS
The marathon is run over 26 miles and 385 yards, and of course commemorates the legendary messenger-run by Pheidippides from the site of the Battle of Marathon back to Athens. The actual distance run today was decided in 1921, and matches the length of the modern-day Marathon-Athens highway.

24. Scottie’s relative WESTIE
The West Highland White Terrier is a cute-looking little white dog from Scotland. The “Westie” looks very much like a related breed, the little black Scottish Terrier. The two breeds can be seen sitting side-by-side on the famous label of Black & White Scotch whisky.

34. Messenger __ RNA
Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by what is called transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA.

35. Bygone depilatory 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”.

39. Egyptian leader between Gamal and Hosni ANWAR
Gamal Abdel Nasser was the second president of Egypt, from 1956 until he died in 1970. He stood alongside Muhammad Naguib, Egypt’s first president, during the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 that overthrew the ruling monarchy of Egypt and Sudan. Nasser was an advocate of Pan-Arabism, an ideology promoting unification of Arab peoples and countries. President Nasser went so far as forming the United Arab Republic (UAR), a union between Egypt and Syria that started in 1958 but fell apart in 1961 when Syria withdrew.

Anwar Sadat was the third President of Egypt right up to the time of his assassination in 1981. Sadat won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978 along with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin for the role played in crafting the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty of 1978 at Camp David. It was this agreement that largely led to Sadat’s assassination three years later.

Hosni Mubarak was the fourth President of Egypt, taking over after Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981. Mubarak resigned in 2011 in the early months of the Arab Spring after 18 days of public demonstrations. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2012 and is reported to be extremely sick in detention, and is perhaps even on life support.

43. Casualty of an all-night poker game? POOP(ED) DECK
A poop deck is a deck located on the roof of the cabin at the stern of a ship. The term “poop” comes from the French “poupe” meaning “stern”.

47. SFO posting ARR
San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is the maintenance hub for United Airlines, and is the principal base for Virgin America. I just booked tickets today for flights out of SFO to my homeland next month. Very excited …

51. “Thy Neighbor’s Wife” author TALESE
Gay Talese is an American author, famous as a journalist in the sixties at “The New York Times”. His 1981 book “Thy Neighbor’s Wife” is a study of sexuality in America in the early fifties. Apparently, as research for the book, Talese had sexual relations with his own neighbor’s wife for several months at a sexuality resort in Southern California called Sandstone Retreat.

55. Problem for Sherlock when he’s out of tobacco? EXHAUST(ED) PIPE
According to author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, his Sherlock Holmes character was based on a Dr. Joseph Bell for whom Doyle worked in Edinburgh. That said, Bell actually wrote a letter to Doyle in which he said “you are yourself Sherlock Holmes and well you know it”.

62. Eastern adders? ABACI
The abacus was used as a counting frame long before man had invented a numbering system. It is a remarkable invention, particularly when one notes that the abacus is still widely used today across Africa and Asia.

64. Smart CHIC
“Chic” is a French word meaning “stylish”.

66. Sax range TENOR
The saxophone was invented by Belgian Adolphe Sax. Sax developed lip cancer at one point in his life, and one has to wonder if his affliction was related to his saxophone playing (I am sure not!). I had the privilege of visiting Sax’s grave in the Cemetery of Montmartre in Paris a few years ago.

68. Berlusconi’s bone OSSO
“Osso” is the Italian word for bone as in the name of the dish Osso Buco: braised veal shanks.

Silvio Berlusconi served as Prime Minister of Italy on three different occasions from 1994 to 2011. Berlusconi has been involved many scandals over the past few decades, including accusations that he solicited at least one minor for sex. He was sentenced in 2012 to four years in prison for tax evasion, but he remains free and is expected to appeal the court’s decision.

Down
2. Country’s McEntire REBA
Reba McEntire is a country music singer and television actress. McEntire starred in her own sitcom called “Reba” that aired on the WB and the CW cable channels from 2001 to 2007.

5. Dress uniform decoration EPAULET
Epaulet (or epaulette) comes from the French, and literally means “little shoulder”.

6. Empty-truck weight TARE
“Tare” is the weight of a container that is deducted from the gross weight to determine the net weight, the weight of the container’s contents.

9. Expressed an opinion on “The Dan Patrick Show,” say PHONED IN
Dan Patrick is a sportscaster and radio personality. He is host of “The Dan Patrick Show” on the radio and is co-host of “Football Night in America” on NBC television.

12. __ Aviv TEL
The full name of Israel’s second largest city is Tel Aviv-Yafo. Tel Aviv translates into “Spring Mound”, a name chosen in 1910.

21. Whence BMWs GER
BMW stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke, which translates into “Bavarian Motor Works”. BMW was making aircraft engines during WWI, but had to cease that activity according to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The company started making motorcycles, and then moved into automobile production starting in 1928. BMW moved back into aircraft engine manufacturing during the build-up of the Luftwaffe prior to WWII.

26. Crayola Factory’s Pennsylvania home EASTON
In the year 2000 the Crayola company, very cleverly I think, held the “Crayola Color Census 2000” in which people were polled and asked for their favorite Crayola colors. President George W. Bush chose “Blue Bell” and Tiger Woods chose “Wild Strawberry”.

28. Madrid madam SENORA
Madrid is the largest city in Spain and the capital. Madrid is located very close to the geographical center of the country.

29. City whose average elevation is below sea level NEW ORLEANS
According to a recent study, only 51% of the city of New Orleans is at or above sea level. The average elevation of the city is actually between one and two feet below sea level.

32. Prospero’s spirit servant ARIEL
Ariel is a character in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”, a spirit who serves Prospero, the hero of the piece.

William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” tells the story of Prospero, who was removed from the throne of Milan and banished to a deserted island along with his daughter Miranda. Prospero learns sorcery while castaway, and eventually conjures up a tempest that drives those who usurped his throne onto the island’s shores (in particular his own brother, Antonio). On the island, Prospero is eventually successful in revealing Antonio’s lowly nature.

33. High-end camera LEICA
Leica is a German optics company, famous for production of lenses and cameras. The 1913 Leica was the first practical camera that could use 35mm film, a size chosen because it was already the standard for film used in motion pictures.

38. __ Grande RIO
The Rio Grande is a river forming part of the border between mexico and the United States. Although we call the river the Rio Grande on this side of the border, in Mexico it is called the Rio Bravo or Rio Bravo del Norte.

40. Prophetic attire worn by most doomed characters on the original “Star Trek” TV show RED SHIRT
In the original “Star Trek” television series, security personnel wore red shirts. One thing that became clear over time was that whenever someone with a red shirt appeared, there was a high probability that he or she was going to die during the episode. The phenomenon became so predictable that the term “redshirt” came to be applied to any stock character in fiction who dies soon after introduction into a storyline.

44. De Matteo of “The Sopranos” 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”. She also played Joey’s sister on the short-lived “Friends” spin-off called “Joey”, and the character Angie Bolen on “Desperate Housewives”.

49. Netflix rental DVD
Netflix was founded in Los Gatos, California in 1997. The company delivered it’s billionth DVD in 2007. I presume the renter wasn’t charged for that movie …

54. Florida attraction EPCOT
EPCOT Center (now just called Epcot) is the theme park beside Walt Disney World in Florida. EPCOT is an acronym for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow and is a representation of the future as envisioned by Walt Disney. Walt Disney actually wanted to build a living community for 20,000 residents at EPCOT, but he passed away before that vision could be realized.

56. Kareem’s coll. team UCLA
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s name at birth was Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor. Alcindor changed his name when he converted to Islam.

57. Deposed ruler SHAH
The last Shah of Iran was Mohammed-Reza Shah Pahlavi, as he was overthrown in the revolution led by the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. The post-revolution government sought the extradition of the Shah back to Iran while he was in the United States seeking medical care (he had cancer). His prolonged stay in the United States, recovering from surgery, caused some unrest back in Iran and resentment towards the United States. Some say that this resentment precipitated the storming of the US Embassy in Tehran and the resulting hostage crisis.

58. Modern recorder TIVO
TiVo was introduced in 1999 and was the world’s first commercially successful DVR (Digital Video Recorder).

61. Those, in Tijuana ESOS
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.

63. Actress Arthur BEA
Actress Bea Arthur’s most famous roles were on television, as the lead in the “All in the Family” spin-off “Maude” and as Dorothy Zbornak in “The Golden Girls”. Arthur also won a Tony for playing Vera Charles on stage in the original cast of “Mame” in 1966, two years after she played Yente the matchmaker in the original cast of “Fiddler on the Roof”.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Gives pieces to ARMS
5. Space-saving abbr. ET AL
9. Academy teacher PLATO
14. Leak slowly SEEP
15. Prep, as apples for applesauce PARE
16. Didn’t despair HOPED
17. Support girder I-BAR
18. Teatro alla Scala highlight ARIA
19. From days gone by OF OLD
20. Post-marathon sounds? FATIGUE(D) PANTS
23. Salon supply GEL
24. Scottie’s relative WESTIE
27. ID theft target SSN
30. Wined and dined REGALED
34. Messenger __ RNA
35. Bygone depilatory NEET
37. Golfer’s outdated set of clubs? TIRE(D) IRONS
39. Egyptian leader between Gamal and Hosni ANWAR
41. MIV ÷ II DII
42. Pester, puppy-style NIP AT
43. Casualty of an all-night poker game? POOP(ED) DECK
46. “__ be young again!” OH TO
47. SFO posting ARR
48. Welcome sight for early explorers DRY LAND
50. Poetic dusk E’EN
51. “Thy Neighbor’s Wife” author TALESE
53. Ill-fated fruit picker EVE
55. Problem for Sherlock when he’s out of tobacco? EXHAUST(ED) PIPE
62. Eastern adders? ABACI
64. Smart CHIC
65. Corp. money mgrs. CFOS
66. Sax range TENOR
67. Rolling rock LAVA
68. Berlusconi’s bone OSSO
69. Is without HASN’T
70. One bounce, in baseball A HOP
71. Kids TOTS

Down
1. “A likely story!” AS IF!
2. Country’s McEntire REBA
3. Crux MEAT
4. Bit of mistletoe SPRIG
5. Dress uniform decoration EPAULET
6. Empty-truck weight TARE
7. Desertlike ARID
8. Route to an illogical conclusion LEAP
9. Expressed an opinion on “The Dan Patrick Show,” say PHONED IN
10. Many converted apartments LOFTS
11. Sign of omission APOSTROPHE
12. __ Aviv TEL
13. Like some socks after laundry day ODD
21. Whence BMWs GER
22. Floored AWED
25. Hard-wired INNATE
26. Crayola Factory’s Pennsylvania home EASTON
27. Get testy with SNAP AT
28. Madrid madam SENORA
29. City whose average elevation is below sea level NEW ORLEANS
31. Dizzy with delight GIDDY
32. Prospero’s spirit servant ARIEL
33. High-end camera LEICA
36. Borrow money from TAP
38. __ Grande RIO
40. Prophetic attire worn by most doomed characters on the original “Star Trek” TV show RED SHIRT
44. De Matteo of “The Sopranos” DREA
45. Patella KNEECAP
49. Netflix rental DVD
52. Sentence finisher? EX-CON
54. Florida attraction EPCOT
56. Kareem’s coll. team UCLA
57. Deposed ruler SHAH
58. Modern recorder TIVO
59. “Given that …” IF SO
60. Chime in at a blog POST
61. Those, in Tijuana ESOS
62. Olympics entrant: Abbr. ATH
63. Actress Arthur BEA

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