LA Times Crossword Answers 11 Dec 13, Wednesday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. __ Husky SIBERIAN
The Siberian Husky is one of the oldest breeds of dog, and originated in northern Asia. Siberian Huskies were imported into Alaska in great numbers in the early 1900s for use as sled dogs during the gold rush.

16. *Colonial imposition that led to a “party” TEA TAX (fiving “tea room” & “room tax”)
The famous destruction of tea in Boston Harbor to protest against the Tax Act took place on December 16, 1773. The action was referred to as the “destruction of the tea” for decades, and it wasn’t until 1834 that the term “Boston Tea Party” first appeared in print.

19. Fun-with-bubble-wrap sound POP
Bubble wrap was invented in 1957 in an abortive attempt to make a 3-dimensional wall covering. The result was a material that wasn’t suitable as a “wallpaper” but that did make a great packing material. And don’t forget the last Monday of every January … that’s Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day.

20. Sign of success? SRO
Standing Room Only (SRO)

22. Novelist Hunter EVAN
Evan Hunter was the adopted name of Salvatore Albert Lombino, an author and screenwriter from New York City. Hunter had a pen name that was perhaps more famous, namely Ed McBain. As McBain he wrote a successful string of crime novels starting in 1956. As Evan Hunter he is perhaps most famous for his 1954 novel “The Blackboard Jungle”, which was made into a successful film the following year.

28. *FedEx, for one DELIVERY SERVICE (giving “delivery room” & “room service”)
FedEx began operations in 1973 as Federal Express, but now operates very successfully under it’s more catchy abbreviated name. Headquartered in Memphis with its “SuperHub” at Memphis International Airport, FedEx is the world’s largest airline in terms of tons of freight flown. And due to the presence of FedEx, Memphis Airport has the largest-volume cargo operation of any airport worldwide.

34. Prince Valiant’s boy ARN
“Prince Valiant” is a comic strip that first appeared in 1937 when it was created by Hal Foster. Edward, Duke of Windsor called the “Prince Valiant” comic strip the “greatest contribution to English Literature in the past one hundred years”. I’m not so sure …

41. Record producer Brian ENO
Brian Eno started out his musical career with the band Roxy Music. However, Eno’s most oft-played composition (by far!) is Microsoft’s “start-up jingle”, the 6-second sound you hear when the Windows operating system is booting up. Eno might have annoyed the Microsoft folks when he stated on a BBC radio show:

I wrote it on a Mac. I’ve never used a PC in my life; I don’t like them.

42. Tract for Heathcliff and Cathy MOOR
Catherine Earnshaw is the Heathcliff’s love in Emily Brontë’s novel “Wuthering Heights”.

“Wuthering Heights” is the only novel written by Emily Brontë, one that she published using the pen name Ellis Bell. Her sister Charlotte Brontë had just published her famous book “Jane Eyre” under the name Currer Bell.

44. Any Elvis number OLDIE
Elvis Aron Presley was the younger of two identical twins. His brother was stillborn, delivered 35 minutes before Elvis. The brother was named Jesse Garon Presley. So though born a twin, Elvis was raised as an only child.

56. Sportscaster Costas BOB
Bob Costas has been a sportscaster for NBC since the early eighties. Costas has a son called Keith. Just before his son was born, Costas made (as a joke) a bet with Minnesota Twins center fielder Kirkby Puckett that if he was batting over .350 by the time the child was born, he would name the baby “Kirkby”. Well, Puckett won the bet, but the actual name chosen was Keith Michael Costas. When Puckett reminded Costas of the agreement, the birth certificate was changed to Keith Michael Kirkby Costas. My wife would have killed me …

60. 7-Up, in old ads UNCOLA
7 Up was introduced to the world as “Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda”, and was a patent medicine that contained lithium citrate, a mood-stabilizing drug. Paradoxically, it came on the market in 1929 just two weeks before the Wall Street Crash. The “Uncola” advertising campaign dates back to 1967.

66. Notice in passing? OBITUARY
“Obituary” comes from the Latin “obituaris”, originally the record of the death of a person, although the literal meaning is “pertaining to death”.

Down
4. Eponymous ice cream maker EDY
Dreyers’ ice cream sells its products under the name Dreyers in the Western United States, and Edy’s in the Eastern states. The company’s founders were William Dryer and Joseph Edy.

5. Salty spots on margarita glasses RIMS
No one seems to know for sure who first created the cocktail known as a Margarite. The most plausible and oft-quoted is that it was invented in 1941 in Ensenada, Mexico. The barman mixed the drink for an important visitor, the daughter of the German ambassador. The daughter’s name was Margarita Henkel, and she lent her name to the new drink. The basic recipe for a margarita is a mixture of tequila, orange-flavored liqueur (like Cointreau) and lime juice.

7. Midrange voice ALTO
In choral music, an alto is the second-highest voice in a four-part chorus made up of soprano, contr(alto), tenor and bass. The word “alto” describes the vocal range, that of the deepest female singing-voice, whereas the term “contralto” describes more than just the alto range, but also its quality and timbre. An adult male’s voice (not a boy’s) with the same range as an alto is called a “countertenor”.

8. Wedding column word NEE
“Née” is the French word for “born” when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”.

11. __ dog: conditioned reflex experiment PAVLOV’S
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.

12. Meteor tail? -ITE
A shooting star is what we call the visible path of a meteoroid as is it enters the earth’s atmosphere. Almost all meteoroids burn up, but if one is large enough to survive and reach the ground, we call it a meteorite. The word “meteor” comes from the Greek “meteōros” meaning “high in the air”. ”Meteor” refers to the flash of light we see as a meteoroid burns up in the atmosphere,.

21. Courtroom VIPs DAS
District Attorney (DA)

23. Beak NIB
“Nib” is a Scottish variant of the Old English word “neb”, with both meaning the beak of a bird. This usage of “nib” as a beak dates back to the 14th century, with “nib” meaning the tip of a pen or quill coming a little later, in the early 1600s.

24. One-eyed monster CYCLOPS
Cyclops was a one-eyed giant in Greek and Roman mythology. Cyclops lived in Mount Etna, the Sicilian volcano.

26. Nobel Prize subj. ECON
The Peace Prize is the most famous of the five prizes bequeathed by Alfred Nobel. The others are for Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature. There is also a Nobel Prize in Economics that is awarded along with the original five, but it is funded separately and is awarded “in memory of Alfred Nobel”. Four of the prizes are awarded by Swedish organizations (Alfred Nobel was a Swede) and so the award ceremonies take place in Stockholm. The Peace Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and that award is presented in Oslo.

29. Actor Kilmer VAL
Val Kilmer’s first big leading role in a movie was playing Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s 1991 biopic “The Doors”. A few years later, Morrison was chosen for the lead in another big production, “Batman Forever”. Things haven’t really gone as well for Kilmer since then, I’d say. Off the screen, he flirted with the idea of running for Governor of New Mexico in 2010. A Hollywood actor as a Governor? Would never happen …

30. Laramie-to-Cheyenne dir. ESE
A French (or French-Canadian) trapper named Jacques LaRemie came to the area surrounding modern-day Laramie in the late 1810s, one of the first Europeans to visit. One day he disappeared without trace in the backcountry, but his name survives as it’s used for the Laramie Mountains, Laramie River, and ultimately the city of Laramie, Wyoming.

Cheyenne is the most populous city in Wyoming, and is the state capital. The city was settled in the 1860s when it was chosen as the point at which the Union Pacific Railroad would cross the Crow Creek river. The name of course was taken from the Native American Cheyenne nation that is indigenous to the Great Plains.

35. Colorful horse ROAN
A roan horse has an even mixture of white and colored hairs on the body with the head, lower legs, mane and tail having a more solid color.

39. USN officer CDR
Commander (Cdr.)

40. Sephia automaker KIA
The Sephia is a compact car produced by Kia from 1992 to 2003. The name “Sephia” is actually an acronym, standing for the words “style”, “elegant”, “powerful”, “hi-tech”, “ideal”, and “auto”.

43. South African antelopes RHEBOKS
The brand name Reebok was adopted as the new company name for Foster Shoes of the UK in 1960. The name Reebok (more commonly “Rhebok”) is an Afrikaans word for “antelope”, and comes from the term “roe buck”.

45. Ike’s WWII arena ETO
General Dwight D. Eisenhower (“Ike”) was in command of the European Theater of Operations (ETO) during WWII. If you’re a WWII buff like me, then I recommend you take a look at a great, made-for-TV movie starring Tom Selleck as Eisenhower called “Ike: Countdown to D-Day” that came out in 2004.

47. Seat of County Kerry TRALEE
Tralee is the county town of Kerry in Ireland. Tralee is home to the famed “Rose of Tralee” Festival that is so well attended by representatives from North America.

49. “So what” MEH
“Meh!” is one of those terms unfamiliar to me outside of crosswords. It is a modern colloquialism meaning “I’m not great, but not bad”.

52. “The __ in view; draw up your powers”: “King Lear” ENEMY’S
Shakespeare was inspired to write his famous drama “King Lear” by the legend of “Leir of Britain”, the story of a mythological Celtic king.

56. Actress Neuwirth BEBE
Bebe Neuwirth is a wonderful actress and dancer, very famous for portraying Dr. Lilith Sternin, the wife of Dr. Frasier Crane on “Cheers” and “Frasier”. Neuwirth is a fabulous dancer, having studied ballet at Juilliard. In more recent years she has had starring roles on Broadway, and in 2010 played opposite Nathan Lane in “The Addams Family”.

57. Elevator name OTIS
Elevators (simple hoists) have been around for a long time. What Elisha Otis did was come up with the “safety elevator”, a design that he showcased at the 1853 World’s Fair in New York. At the Fair, Otis would stand on an elevated platform in front of onlookers and order his assistant to cut the single rope holding up the platform. His safety system kicked in when the platform had only fallen a few inches, amazing the crowd. After this demonstration, the orders came rolling in.

60. Thurman of “Kill Bill” UMA
Robert Thurman was the first westerner to be ordained a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Robert raised his children in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and called his daughter “Uma” as it is a phonetic spelling of the Buddhist name “Dbuma”. Uma’s big break in movies came with her starring role in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 hit “Pulp Fiction”. My favorite Uma Thurman film is the wonderful 1996 romantic comedy “The Truth About Cats and Dogs”.

“Kill Bill” is a 3-part Quentin Tarantino movie (so I haven’t seen it!). “Kill Bill” started off as one film, but as the running time was over four hours, it was split into two “volumes”, released several months apart in 2003 and 2004. There are now plans to make “Kill Bill: Volume 3”.

61. ’60s-’70s arena, briefly NAM
Surprisingly (to me), 25% of the troops who served in the Vietnam War were draftees. This compares with a drafted percentage of 66% during WWII.

62. PC component CPU
The Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the main component on the “motherboard” of a computer. The CPU is the part of the computer that carries out most of the functions required by a program. Nowadays you can get CPUs in everything from cars to telephones.

63. Word on U.S. currency GOD
From 1776, “E pluribus unum” was the unofficial motto of the United States. “E pluribus unum” is Latin for “Out of many, one”. It was pushed aside in 1956 when an Act of Congress designated “In God We Trust” as the country’s official motto.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. __ Husky SIBERIAN
9. Shoot for, with “to” ASPIRE
15. Like poisonous mushrooms INEDIBLE
16. *Colonial imposition that led to a “party” TEA TAX (fiving “tea room” & “room tax”)
17. *After-school chum PLAYMATE (giving “play room” & roommate”)
18. “I __ a clue!” HAVEN’T
19. Fun-with-bubble-wrap sound POP
20. Sign of success? SRO
21. Sweetie DOLL
22. Novelist Hunter EVAN
24. Dropped in CAME OVER
28. *FedEx, for one DELIVERY SERVICE (giving “delivery room” & “room service”)
32. Simple BASIC
33. Sty fare SLOP
34. Prince Valiant’s boy ARN
37. *Wrestling move LEGLOCK (giving “legroom” & “room lock”)
41. Record producer Brian ENO
42. Tract for Heathcliff and Cathy MOOR
44. Any Elvis number OLDIE
46. *Some like it hot BATH TEMPERATURE (giving “bathroom” & “room temperature”)
53. Direct opposites INVERSES
54. Receiving customers OPEN
55. Wild party BASH
56. Sportscaster Costas BOB
59. Hwy. RTE
60. 7-Up, in old ads UNCOLA
63. “Whoa! Do that somewhere else!” … which hints at what can be shared by the beginning and end of the answers to starred clues GET A ROOM!
65. *Summary of atlas symbols MAP KEY (giving “map room” & “room key”)
66. Notice in passing? OBITUARY
67. Cheers up AMUSES
68. They’re often displayed on a cart DESSERTS

Down
1. Nursed SIPPED
2. Under Cupid’s spell IN LOVE
3. “Help me out, will ya?” BE A PAL
4. Eponymous ice cream maker EDY
5. Salty spots on margarita glasses RIMS
6. Steel beam I-BAR
7. Midrange voice ALTO
8. Wedding column word NEE
9. Where telecommuters work AT HOME
10. Deck coating SEALER
11. __ dog: conditioned reflex experiment PAVLOV’S
12. Meteor tail? -ITE
13. Was published RAN
14. Telephone no. add-on EXT
21. Courtroom VIPs DAS
23. Beak NIB
24. One-eyed monster CYCLOPS
25. Repulsive VILE
26. Nobel Prize subj. ECON
27. Confiscated auto REPO
29. Actor Kilmer VAL
30. Laramie-to-Cheyenne dir. ESE
31. Big truck RIG
34. Prefix with dextrous AMBI-
35. Colorful horse ROAN
36. Kid’s punishment NO TV
38. Bullfight “All right!” OLE!
39. USN officer CDR
40. Sephia automaker KIA
43. South African antelopes RHEBOKS
45. Ike’s WWII arena ETO
47. Seat of County Kerry TRALEE
48. School writing assignments ESSAYS
49. “So what” MEH
50. Racket UPROAR
51. Sharp comeback RETORT
52. “The __ in view; draw up your powers”: “King Lear” ENEMY’S
56. Actress Neuwirth BEBE
57. Elevator name OTIS
58. Dugout rackmates BATS
60. Thurman of “Kill Bill” UMA
61. ’60s-’70s arena, briefly NAM
62. PC component CPU
63. Word on U.S. currency GOD
64. Repent RUE

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