LA Times Crossword Answers 2 May 13, Thursday

CROSSWORD SETTER: Matt Skoczen
THEME: Nuts and Bolts … today’s themed answers are all defined by either NUTS, BOLTS or NUTS AND BOLTS:

17A. NUTS ARDENT FANS
24A. BOLTS FABRIC ROLLS
33A. NUTS OFF ONE’S ROCKER
48A. BOLTS HIGHTAILS IT
57A. NUTS AND BOLTS ESSENTIALS

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 13m 29s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
6. Boxers’ sounds ARFS
The boxer breed of dog (one of my favorites!) originated in Germany. My first dog was a boxer/Labrador mix, a beautiful animal. Our current family dog is a boxer/pug mix, another gorgeous creature.

10. __ Said: Suez Canal harbor PORT
Port Said is the Egyptian port city on the Mediterranean coast that is the northern terminus of the Suez Canal. Port Said was established during the construction of the canal, in 1859. The name was chosen in honor of Sa’id of Egypt who was ruling the country at that time.

14. Watson’s creator DOYLE
In the “Sherlock Holmes” stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the famous detective has lodgings at 221b Baker Street in London. Holmes shares rooms with his friend and chronicler Dr. Watson. The landlady in the residence is the amiable Mrs. Hudson.

19. End of an old boast VICI
The oft-quoted statement “Veni, vidi, vici” (“I came, I saw, I conquered”) is believed by many to have been written by Julius Caesar. The words date back to 47 BC and refer to the short war between Rome and Pharnaces II of Pontus.

20. It’s après après-midi SOIR
In French, the evening (soir) comes after (après) afternoon (après-midi).

23. Spike TV, once TNN
The Nashville Network (TNN) was a country music cable channel that operated from 1983 to 2003. When TNN closed down it was relaunched with a completely different format as Spike, marketed as “the first television channel for men”.

24. BOLTS FABRIC ROLLS
“Bolt” is the name given to a roll of cloth of specific length, especially coming directly off a loom.

30. County bordering Galway MAYO
County Mayo is in the west of Ireland, and is one of my favorite parts of the country. “Mayo” is an anglicized spelling of the county’s name in Irish, “Maigh Eo”, which is pronounced as “Mayo” and means “plain of the yew trees”. One of the most famous spots in Mayo is Croagh Patrick, a 2,500 feet peak that many devout Catholic pilgrims ascend in their bare feet.

40. “Hill Street Blues” regular Veronica HAMEL
Veronica Hamel played public defender Joyce Davenport on “Hill Street Blues”. Davenport was also the girlfriend of Captain Frank Furillo, and each episode would end with the two of them in bed, acting out a kind of epilogue. Hamel was also the model who appeared in the last cigarette commercial ever aired in the US. That ad was shown during “The Tonight Show” and went out at 11:59 pm on New Year’s Day 1971.

42. Red choice CLARET
Claret is a dark red color, named for the red wine produced in the Bordeaux region.

47. Advice-and-consent body SENATE
The US Senate has the power of “advice and consent”, the power to advise and approve on treaties signed and appointments made by the President.

52. Felix or Morris, e.g. CAT
Felix the Cat is a cartoon character who dates back to the era of silent movies. A papier-mâché model of Felix was used in one of the first ever broadcasts of a television image, in 1928. At that time, RCA was using a Felix doll in experimental transmissions in New York.

Morris the Cat has appeared in movies and advertisements since 1968. Morris is currently the mascot for 9Lives cat food.

53. Pal of d’Artagnan ATHOS
The “Three Musketeers” are Athos, Porthos and Aramis, and their young protégé is D’Artagnan. A musketeer was an infantry soldier who was equipped with a musket. Funnily enough, Alexandre Dumas’ “Three Musketeers” really don’t use their muskets, and are better known for their prowess with their swords.

55. “How the Other Half Lives” author Jacob RIIS
Jacob Riis is famous for his photographs and newspaper articles that highlighted the plight of the impoverished in New York City. He wrote “How the Other Half Lives”, originally an extensive article that appeared in “Scribner’s Magazine” at Christmas 1889. The article had such an impact that Riis was commissioned to expand it into a book, which was published the following year.

60. Money guru Orman SUZE
Suze Orman is a financial advisor who has gotten her message out on television, in books and on the speaking circuit. She often appears on PBS, and indeed is the most successful fundraiser public television has ever had.

61. Name on a bottle of Pleasures ESTEE
Estée Lauder was quite the successful businesswoman, with a reputation as a great salesperson. Lauder introduced her own line of fragrances in 1953, a bath oil called “Youth Dew”. “Youth Dew” was marketed as a perfume, but it was added to bathwater. All of a sudden women were pouring whole bottles of Ms. Lauder’s “perfume” into their baths while using only a drop or two of French perfumes behind their ears. That’s quite a difference in sales volume …

63. ’80s-’90s tennis star Korda PETR
Petr Korda is a retired tennis player from Prague in the Czech Republic. Korda fell foul of the sport’s governing body when he tested positive for steroids after a 1998 match at Wimbledon.

64. Farm machinery giant DEERE
John Deere invented the first commercially successful steel plow in 1837. Prior to Deere’s invention, farmers used an iron or wooden plow that constantly had to be cleaned as rich soil stuck to its surfaces. The cast-steel plow was revolutionary as its smooth sides solved the problem of “stickiness”.

Down
1. To the stars, in mottos AD ASTRA
“Astra” is the Latin for “stars” as in “Ad Astra”, the motto of my alma mater, University College Dublin in Ireland.

2. Olds luxury model TORONADO
The Oldsmobile Toronado was produced by GM from 1966 to 1992.

3. Owing to BY DINT OF
A “dint” is an effort or power, as in “he made it by dint of hard work”. “By dint of” is a new expression to me, but it has been around since the early 1300s. I must have been out that day …

6. Britcom with Edina and Patsy AB FAB
“Absolutely Fabulous” (sometimes shortened to “Ab Fab”) is a cult-classic sitcom produced by the BBC. The two stars of the show are Jennifer Saunders (Edina Monsoon) and Joanna Lumley (Patsy Stone).

8. Upscale handbag FENDI
Fendi is an Italian fashion house, founded in 1925 by Adele Casagrande. Fendi started out as a fur and leather shop in Rome, and these days is famous for its line of handbags.

10. 1904 Nobel-winning physiologist PAVLOV
Ivan Pavlov was studying gastric function in dogs in the 1890s when he observed that his subject dogs started to salivate before he even presented food to them. This “psychic secretion”, as he called it, interested him so much that he changed the direction of his research and studied the reactions of dogs to various stimuli that were associated with the presentation of food. Famously, he discovered that a dog could be conditioned to respond as though he was about to be fed, just by sensing some stimulus that he had come to associate with food. This might be a bell ringing, an electric shock (poor dog!) or perhaps the waving of a hand. Nowadays we might describe someone as “Pavlov’s Dog” if that person responds just the way he/she has been conditioned to respond, rather than applying critical thinking.

11. Camden Yards player ORIOLE
Oriole Park is home to the Baltimore Orioles baseball team. The full name of the stadium is Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

12. Dr Pepper alternative RC COLA
“Nehi Corporation” was the nickname for the Chero-Cola/Union Bottle Works that introduced the Nehi drink in 1924. Years later the company developed a new brand, Royal Crown Cola (also known as RC Cola). By 1955, RC Cola was the company’s flagship product, so the “Nehi Corporation” became the “Royal Crown Company”. In 1954, RC Cola became the first company to sell soft drinks in cans.

Dr Pepper was introduced in 1885 in Waco, Texas, one year before the competing Coca-Cola was released to the market.

18. Fed. investigator T-MAN
A T-man is a law-enforcement agent of the US Treasury (T is for Treasury).

22. Monk’s address FRA
The title “Fra” (brother) is used by Italian monks.

27. Bain de Soleil abbr. SPF
In theory, the sun protection factor (SPF) is a calibrated measure of the effectiveness of a sunscreen in protecting the skin from harmful UV rays. The idea is that if you wear a lotion with say SPF 20, then it takes 20 times as much UV radiation to cause the skin to burn than it would take without protection. I say just stay out of the sun …

“Bain de Soleil” is a brand of sunscreen. The name translates from French as “sun bathing”.

30. The Beatles and the Stones, e.g. MEN
The band that we came to know as the Beatles were originally called the Silver Beatles. The use of “Beatles” was the idea of John Lennon and former band member Stu Sutcliffe, a homage to Buddy Holly and the “Crickets”.

Even though Mick Jagger and Keith Richards have been the driving force behind the Rolling Stones for decades, they didn’t start the group. The band was the idea of guitarist and harmonica player Brian Jones, and it was he who invited Richards and Jagger to join, as well as Ian Stewart, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts to make an original lineup of six band members. Jones called the band “Rollin’ Stone” back then in 1962, named for the song by Muddy Waters. Jones was the leader, manager and decision maker for the first few years until songs written by Richards and Jagger became hits and he started to lose artistic control. In 1967, Jones was arrested for drug possession, and again in 1968. When his trouble with the law prevented him from getting a US work visa, Jones wasn’t able to accompany the Stones on a 1969 US tour. That was the last straw, it seems, and Jones and the Stones parted company. Famously, one month later, Jones was found dead, at the bottom of his swimming pool.

31. Sun Devils’ sch. ASU
Arizona State University (ASU) has a long history, founded as the Tempe Normal School for the Arizona Territory in 1885. The athletic teams of ASU used to be known as the Normals, then the Bulldogs, and since 1946 they’ve been called the Sun Devils.

35. Jazzman Baker CHET
The famous jazz trumpeter Chet Baker was noted for his heroin addiction, a problem that nearly put an end to his performing career. He managed a comeback in the late seventies, mainly appearing and recording in Europe. But he never kicked the drug habit and was found dead one day after falling from his hotel room window in Amsterdam.

36. Kal __: Iams rival KAN
The brand name “Whiskas” has been used for cat food since 1988, but the product itself has been made in McLean, Virginia since 1936. For decades it was sold under the name “Kal Kan”.

Iams dog food was first produced by the animal nutritionist Paul Iams. Iams felt that household pets were suffering somewhat by being fed a diet of table scraps, so he developed a dry dog food that he thought was more nutritious and suitable for pet dogs. He founded the Iams company, now part of Procter & Gamble, in 1946.

45. Scholarship founder RHODES
Cecil Rhodes (famous in America as the founder of the Rhodes Scholarship), was a very successful English businessman and South African politician. He founded the De Beers diamond mining company, and also founded the state of Rhodesia which was named after him. The British colony gained its independence over time in the latter half of the 20th century, and is known today as the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Rhodesian capital of Salisbury was renamed in 1982 to Harare, the current capital of Zimbabwe.

46. Many “Star Trek” characters, briefly ETS
When Gene Roddenberry first proposed the science fiction series that became “Star Trek”, he marketed it as “Wagon Train to the Stars”, a pioneer-style Western set in outer space. In fact his idea was to produce something more like “Gulliver’s Travels”, as he intended to write episodes that were adventure stories on one level, but morality tales on another. Personally I think that he best achieved this model with the spin-off series “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. If you watch individual episodes you will see thinly disguised treatments of moral issues such as racism, homosexuality, genocide etc. For my money, “The Next Generation” is the best of the whole franchise …

50. Composer who wrote piano transcriptions of Beethoven’s nine symphonies LISZT
Franz Liszt was a Hungarian composer and a fabulous pianist. Particularly towards the end of his life, Liszt gained a tremendous reputation as a teacher. While he was in his sixties, his teaching jobs caused him to commute regularly between the cities of Rome, Weimar and Budapest. It is quite remarkable that a man of such advanced age, and in the 1870s, could do so much annual travel. It is estimated that Liszt journeyed at least 4,000 miles every year!

I own just one recording of a Liszt piano transcription of a Beethoven symphony: The Sixth (“Pastoral”). It’s a wonderful piece on the piano. Note to self … get hold of a recording of “The Ninth” on the piano.

57. Psychic letters ESP
Extrasensory Perception (ESP).

58. “How I Met Your Mother” narrator TED
“How I Met Your Mother” is a sitcom that CBS has been airing since 2005. The main character is Ted Mosby, played by Josh Radnor. Mosby is also the narrator for the show looking back from the year 2030 (the live action is set in the present). As narrator, the older Mosby character is voiced by Bob Saget.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Turn near home AT BAT
6. Boxers’ sounds ARFS
10. __ Said: Suez Canal harbor PORT
14. Watson’s creator DOYLE
15. Veggie that leaves a purple stain BEET
16. Playfully roguish ARCH
17. NUTS ARDENT FANS
19. End of an old boast VICI
20. It’s après après-midi SOIR
21. Part of the inn crowd? MAID
22. Elevator stop FLOOR
23. Spike TV, once TNN
24. BOLTS FABRIC ROLLS
26. Sells out RATS ON
28. Dive into, as a pile of correspondence HAVE AT
29. Take into custody? ADOPT
30. County bordering Galway MAYO
33. NUTS OFF ONE’S ROCKER
39. Heavy load ONUS
40. “Hill Street Blues” regular Veronica HAMEL
42. Red choice CLARET
47. Advice-and-consent body SENATE
48. BOLTS HIGHTAILS IT
52. Felix or Morris, e.g. CAT
53. Pal of d’Artagnan ATHOS
54. Squeal SING
55. “How the Other Half Lives” author Jacob RIIS
56. Dutch burg STAD
57. NUTS AND BOLTS ESSENTIALS
59. Differently ELSE
60. Money guru Orman SUZE
61. Name on a bottle of Pleasures ESTEE
62. Sinks out of sight SETS
63. ’80s-’90s tennis star Korda PETR
64. Farm machinery giant DEERE

Down
1. To the stars, in mottos AD ASTRA
2. Olds luxury model TORONADO
3. Owing to BY DINT OF
4. 11-Down, e.g., briefly ALER
5. Royal flush part TEN
6. Britcom with Edina and Patsy AB FAB
7. Run over RE-AIR
8. Upscale handbag FENDI
9. Canonized gp. STS
10. 1904 Nobel-winning physiologist PAVLOV
11. Camden Yards player ORIOLE
12. Dr Pepper alternative RC COLA
13. Desire THIRST
18. Fed. investigator T-MAN
22. Monk’s address FRA
24. Snap, in ads FOTO
25. Half a little train? CHOO
27. Bain de Soleil abbr. SPF
30. The Beatles and the Stones, e.g. MEN
31. Sun Devils’ sch. ASU
32. Timeline nos. YRS
34. “__ problem!” NOT A
35. Jazzman Baker CHET
36. Kal __: Iams rival KAN
37. Make gaunt EMACIATE
38. Merchant RETAILER
41. Thoughtful words LET’S SEE
42. Goes after CHASES
43. Unimportant LITTLE
44. Overcome with shock AGHAST
45. Scholarship founder RHODES
46. Many “Star Trek” characters, briefly ETS
47. Billboard, say SIGN
49. Thing to resolve ISSUE
50. Composer who wrote piano transcriptions of Beethoven’s nine symphonies LISZT
51. Evil look SNEER
55. Climb RISE
57. Psychic letters ESP
58. “How I Met Your Mother” narrator TED

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Posted by Bill Butler
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