LA Times Crossword Answers 20 Mar 14, Thursday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Kevin Christian
THEME: Fake Animals … today’s themed answers are animals who are named for animals they are not:

17A. It’s not a swine GUINEA PIG (isn’t a pig)
21A. It’s not an equine SEAHORSE (isn’t a horse)
35A. It’s not an amphibian HORNED TOAD (isn’t a toad)
43A. It’s not a canine PRAIRIE DOG (isn’t a dog)
53A. It’s not a rodent TITMOUSE (isn’t a mouse)
62A. It’s not an ursine KOALA BEAR (isn’t a bear)

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 6m 16s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

6. Whale group GAM
Nope, not a “pod”, but rather a “gam” of whales.

9. Caught at a rodeo ROPED
“Rodeo” is a Spanish word, which is usually translated as “round up”.

14. Grammy-winning Jones NORAH
The beguiling Norah Jones is the daughter of famous sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, and is one of my favorite singers. If you haven’t heard Jones sing “Come Away with Me”, you just haven’t lived …

15. CXVIII x V DXC
In Roman numerals, 118 x 5 = 590 (CXVIII x V = DXC)

16. Officer on the Enterprise bridge UHURA
Lt. Nyota Uhura was the communications officer in the original “Star Trek” television series, played by Nichelle Nichols. The role was significant in that Uhura was one of the first African American characters to figure front and center in US television. In a 1968 episode, Kirk (played by William Shatner) and Uhura kiss, the first inter-racial kiss to be broadcast in the US. Apparently the scene was meant to be shot twice, with and without the kiss, so that network executives could later decide which version to air. William Shatner says that he deliberately ran long on the first shoot (with the kiss) and fluffed the hurried second shoot (without the kiss), so that the network would have no choice.

17. It’s not a swine GUINEA PIG (isn’t a pig)
The guinea pig species of rodent is also known as a cavy. Guinea pigs aren’t related to pigs, and not are they from Guinea (in West Africa). Guinea pigs actually come from the Andes. They were commonly used for research in the 1800s and 1900s, and as a result we use the term “guinea pig” for a test subject to this day.

21. It’s not an equine SEAHORSE (isn’t a horse)
Seahorses belong to the genus Hippocampus. The genus name comes from the Greek “hippo” meaning “horse” and “kampos” meaning “sea monster”.

23. Zilch NADA
“Nada” is the Spanish word for “nothing”. “De nada” translates literally from the Spanish as “of nothing”, and is used to mean “you’re welcome” or “don’t mention it”. The French have the same expression “de rien”, also translating to “of nothing” and used the same way.

We use the term “zilch” to mean “nothing”. Our current usage evolved in the sixties, before which the term was used to describe “meaningless speech”. There was a comic character called Mr. Zilch in the 1930s in “Ballyhoo” magazine. Mr. Zilch’s name probably came from the American college slang “Joe Zilch” that was used in the early 1900s for “an insignificant person”.

25. Hot times in Lyon ETES
One might spend the summer (été) under the sun (le soleil) in French-speaking countries.

The city of Lyon in France, is also known as “Lyons” in English.

26. MST part: Abbr. STD
Mountain standard time (MST)

31. __ projection ASTRAL
An astral projection is an out-of-body experience. It is often associated with incidents of near-death and describes the phenomenon of the astral body leaving the physical body and travelling around the astral plane.

35. It’s not an amphibian HORNED TOAD (isn’t a toad)
Horny toads (also called “horned toads”) aren’t toads at all. “Horny toad” is a familiar name for the desert horned lizard, a species of lizard native to the western US. It does look somewhat like a toad though, as it has a very flat and wide body.

39. Mayflower Compact signer ALDEN
John Alden is said to have been the first person to disembark from the Mayflower and to have set foot on Plymouth Rock in 1620. Alden himself was not a Pilgrim as such, and was a carpenter working on the Mayflower before it sailed. He apparently decided to travel with the ship at the last minute, perhaps in pursuit of the passenger who would become his wife, Priscilla Mullens. Alden ended up in a love triangle with Priscilla and Captain Miles Standish, a relationship which is recounted in the Longfellow poem “The Courtship of Miles Standish”. John and Priscilla were the parents of a son, John Alden, who was later to be accused during the Salem witch trials.

The pilgrims aboard the Mayflower were bound for the Colony of Virginia, but famously landed at the hook of Cape Cod when bad weather forced the ship to the north. The passengers decided to make their new home in what is now Massachusetts. As the new colonists would not now fall under the laws of the Colony of Virginia, a majority of adult males formulated and signed an agreement that defined basic rules of governance that would used once the passengers disembarked the ship. The agreement came to be known as the Mayflower Compact.

40. Patriots’ Day mo. APR
Patriots’ Day is a public holiday observed in the states of Massachusetts, Maine and Wisconsin that commemorates the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first engagements of the Revolutionary War. The battles took place in 1775, in April, and so the holiday is observed in that same month.

41. Former U.S. Army post near Monterey FT ORD
Fort Ord was an army post on Monterey Bay in California named after a General Ord, established in 1917 and closed in 1994. The fort was in a spectacular location with miles of beachfront, and it also had that lovely California weather.

42. Big name in game shows MERV
Merv Griffin was quite the entertainer, truly a mogul in the business. He started his career as a singer on the radio during the big band era. In the sixties he hosted his own talk show, and then famously developed such great game shows as “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune”.

43. It’s not a canine PRAIRIE DOG (isn’t a dog)
The prairie dog is a type of ground squirrel that is found in the grasslands of North America. Prairie dogs are so named because they inhabit prairies and because they have a warning call that is similar to the bark of a dog.

45. “Remington __” STEELE
The eighties detective show “Remington Steele” stars Stephanie Zimbalist as a private detective, and Pierce Brosnan as the handsome bad boy, who’s really a good boy. The show is unusual in that it melds the detective genre with elements of romantic comedy.

48. Common rebus pronoun EWE
The letters EWE might be used to represent the pronoun “you”, as both words sound the same.

A rebus is a representation of a word in the form of symbols, letters or perhaps a picture. A rebus crossword is one in which some squares are replaced with a symbol or picture (although we often use multiple letters when solving).

49. Avis adjective RARA
A “rara avis” is anything that is very rare, and is Latin for “rare bird”.

51. “Stay” singer Lisa LOEB
The singer Lisa Loeb was discovered by actor Ethan Hawke, who lived just across the street from her in New York City. Hawke took a demo of her song “Stay (I Missed You)” and gave it to director Ben Stiller, who in turn used it over the ending credits of his 1994 movie “Reality Bites”. The movie was a hit, the song went to number one, and Loeb became the first artist ever to hit that number one spot without having signed up with a record label. Good for her!

53. It’s not a rodent TITMOUSE (isn’t a mouse)
The birds known as chickadees or titmice in North America, are usually called simply “tits” in the rest of the English-speaking world.

62. It’s not an ursine KOALA BEAR (isn’t a bear)
The koala bear really does look like a little bear, but it’s not even closely related. The koala is an arboreal marsupial and a herbivore, native to the east and south coasts of Australia. Koalas aren’t primates, and are one of the few mammals other than primates who have fingerprints. In fact, it can be very difficult to tell human fingerprints from koala fingerprints, even under an electron microscope.

65. SASE, e.g. ENC
A self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) might be an enclosure (enc.) sent with a letter.

66. Ben Stiller’s mother MEARA
Anne Meara has been married to fellow comedic actor Jerry Stiller since 1954. Anne and Jerry are the parents of actors Ben and Amy Stiller. Meara co-starred with Carroll O’Connor and Martin Balsam in the eighties sitcom “Archie Bunker’s Place”, a spinoff from “All in the Family”.

67. Biography Channel owner A AND E
The A&E television network used to be a favorite of mine, with the “A&E” standing for “arts and entertainment”. A&E started out airing a lot of the old classic dramas, as well as biographies and arts programs. Now there seems to be more reality TV, with one of the flagship programs being “Dog the Bounty Hunter”. A slight change of direction I’d say …

68. Most of AZ doesn’t observe it DST
Daylight Saving Time (DST)

69. Freddy Krueger’s haunts: Abbr. ELM ST
Freddy Krueger is the creepy serial killer in the “A Nightmare on Elm Street” movies. Krueger has a burned and disfigured face, wears a brown fedora and a leather glove with metal razors that he uses to kill his victims during their nightmares. He is played by the actor Robert Englund in all of the films.

Down
1. Tech sch. grad ENGR
Engineer (engr.)

2. Rake ROUE
“Roue” is a lovely word, I think, describing a less than lovely man. A roue could otherwise be described as a cad, someone of loose morals. “Roue” comes from the French word “rouer” meaning “to break on a wheel”. This describes the ancient form of capital punishment where a poor soul was lashed to a wheel and then beaten to death with cudgels and bars. I guess the suggestion is that a roue, with his loose morals, deserves such a punishment.

A “rake” (short for “rakehell”) is defined as a man who is habituated to immoral conduct (isn’t it always the man??!!). The rake is a character who turns up frequently in novels and films, only interested in wine, women and song and not accepting the responsibilities of life. Good examples would be Wickham in Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” and Daniel Cleaver (the Hugh Grant part) in the movie “Bridget Jones’s Diary”. “Rake” comes from the Old Norse “reikall”, meaning “vagrant or a wanderer”.

3. Idle in comedy ERIC
Eric Idle was one of the founding members of the Monty Python team. Idle was very much the musician of the bunch, and is an accomplished guitarist. If you’ve seen the Monty Python film “The Life of Brian”, you might remember the closing number, “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”. It was sung by Idle, and was indeed written by him. That song made it to number 3 in the UK charts in 1991.

4. Leica competitor CANON
The Japanese company called Canon is noted mainly in the US for producing quality cameras. The company started out as Precision Optical Industry Laboratory in 1937 making camera bodies. The name was changed in 1947 to Canon.

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.

5. Title “ungainly fowl” of poetry THE RAVEN
“The Raven” is a narrative poem by Edgar Allen Poe that tells of a student who has lost the love of his life, Lenore. A raven enters the student’s bedchamber and perches on a bust of Pallas. The raven can talk, to the student’s surprise, but says nothing but the word “nevermore” (“quoth the raven, ‘Nevermore’”). As the student questions all aspects of his life, the raven taunts him with the same comment, “nevermore”. Finally the student decides that his soul is trapped beneath the raven’s shadow and shall be lifted “nevermore” …

6. Natl. economic indicator GDP
A country’s Gross National Product (GNP) is the value of all services and products produced by its residents in a particular year. GNP includes all production wherever it is in the world, as long as the business is owned by residents of the country concerned. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is different, and is the value of all services and goods produced within the borders of the country for that year.

8. Blues singer Bobby of song MCGEE
In the Janis Joplin song “Me and Bobby McGee”, Bobby “sang the blues” in the second verse:

I pulled my harpoon out of my dirty red bandanna,
I was playing soft while Bobby sang the blues.
Windshield wipers slapping time, I was holding Bobby’s hand in mine,
We sang every song that driver knew.

Janis Joplin recorded the song “Me and Bobby McGee” just a few days before she died in 1970. The song was released anyway, and it became Joplin’s only number one single. There have been just two posthumous number one singles, Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee”, and Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay”.

9. Fraternity events RUSHES
A “rush” is a drive by a fraternity or sorority to recruit new members on campus.

10. Columbus school OHIO STATE
Ohio State University was founded back in 1870 as the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College. The athletic teams of Ohio State University (OSU) are called the Buckeyes, named after the state tree of Ohio. In turn the buckeye tree gets its name from the appearance of its fruit, a dark nut with a light patch thought to resemble a “buck’s eye”.

12. “__ Tu”: 1974 hit ERES
We have a big event across Europe every year called the Eurovision Song Contest. Each nation enters one song in competition with each other, and then voters across the whole continent decide on the winner. That’s how ABBA got their big break when they won in 1974 with “Waterloo”. In 1972, Spain’s entry was “Eres tu” (the Spanish for “You Are”) sung by the band Mocedades. “Eres tu” came second in the competition, but should have won in my humble opinion.

13. Hamlet, for one DANE
The full title of William Shakespeare’s play that we tend to call “Hamlet” is “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”. It is the most performed of all Shakespeare’s plays and it is also his longest, comprising a full five acts.

24. Sirius or Vega A STAR
Stars are usually classified based on the color of the light that they emit. These classifications are, from hottest to coolest, O, B, A, F, G, K and M. One way to remember the order of these letters is to use the mnemonic “Oh, be a fine girl, kiss me”. The colors of these stars range from blue (class O) to red (class M). Our sun is class G, a yellow star, but I think we all know that …

When you look up at the night sky, the brightest star you can see is Sirius. Sirius appears so bright to us because it is relatively close to the Earth. Sirius is commonly known as the “Dog Star” because it can be seen in the constellation Canis Major, the “Big Dog”.

Vega is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra. Vega (along with Altair and Deneb from other constellations) is also part of the group of three stars that is called the Summer Triangle. Vega is the star at the right-angle of this triangle.

28. Rapper who co-founded Beats Electronics DR DRE
Beats by Dre is a brand of audio products that was founded by rapper Dr. Dre.

30. November birthstone TOPAZ
Topaz is a semiprecious stone made from silicate containing aluminum and fluorine. Topaz is the state gemstone of Utah, and the rare blue topaz is the state gemstone of Texas.

Here is the “official” list of birthstones by month, that we tend to use today:

January: Garnet
February: Amethyst
March: Bloodstone or Aquamarine
April: Diamond
May: Emerald
June: Pearl or Moonstone
July: Ruby
August: Sardonyx or Peridot
September: Sapphire or Lapis Lazuli
October: Opal or Pink Tourmaline
November: Topaz or Citrine
December: Turquoise or Zircon (also now, Tanzanite)

32. __ Janeiro RIO DE
Rio de Janeiro is the second largest city in Brazil (after São Paulo). “Rio de Janeiro” translates as “January River”. The name reflects the discovery of the bay on which Rio sits, on New Years Day in 1502.

37. Disney mermaid ARIEL
Ariel is the mermaid daughter of the chief merman King Triton in the 1989 Disney feature called “The Little Mermaid”.

43. Machu Picchu locale PERU
Machu Picchu is known as “The Lost City of the Incas”, and it can be visited on a mountain ridge in Peru, 50 miles northwest of the city of Cuzco in the southeast of the country. The name Machu Picchu means “old peak”. The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu originates about 50 miles from Cuzco on the Urubamba River in Peru. It can take travelers about 5 days to trek the full length of the trail, passing through many Incan ruins before reaching the Sun Gate on Machu Picchu mountain. The trail was becoming greatly overused, forcing the Peruvian government to limit the number of people on the trail each day to 500. Book early …

44. Lover of Christine, in “The Phantom of the Opera” RAOUL
In Gaston Leroux’s novel “The Phantom of the Opera”, the young Christine Daaé is obsessively admired by Erik, the “phantom” who lives below the Paris Opera House. Christine is also pursued by her childhood friend Raoul, Viscount of Chagny.

46. “Tao Te Ching” author LAO-TSE
Lao Tse (also Lao-Tzu) was a central figure in the development of the religion/philosophy of Taoism.

52. Tower city BABEL
We use the word “babel” now to describe a scene of confusion, lifting the term from the biblical story of the Tower of Babel. The Tower was built in the city of Babylon, and the construction was cursed with a confusion of languages due to the varied origins of all the builders.

55. The Untouchables, e.g. T-MEN
A T-man is a law-enforcement agent of the US Treasury (T is for Treasury).

Eliot Ness was the Treasury agent charged with the task of bringing down the notorious Chicago gangster Al Capone. When Ness took on the job in 1930, Chicago law-enforcement agents were renowned for being corrupt, for being on the take. Ness handpicked 50 prohibition agents who he thought he could rely on, later reducing the group to a cadre of 15 and ultimately just 11 trusted men. That group of 11 earned the nickname “The Untouchables”, the agents who couldn’t be bought.

59. Metallica drummer Ulrich LARS
Lars Ulrich is a drummer from Denmark, and one of the founding members of the American heavy metal band called Metallica. Lars is the son of former professional tennis player Torben Ulrich, the oldest Davis Cup player in history.

60. Q.E.D. word ERAT
QED is used at the end of a mathematical proof or a philosophical argument. The QED acronym stands for the Latin “quod erat demonstrandum” meaning “that which was to be demonstrated”.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. At attention, say ERECT
6. Whale group GAM
9. Caught at a rodeo ROPED
14. Grammy-winning Jones NORAH
15. CXVIII x V DXC
16. Officer on the Enterprise bridge UHURA
17. It’s not a swine GUINEA PIG (isn’t a pig)
19. Alert to drivers SIREN
20. Vinyl item RECORD
21. It’s not an equine SEAHORSE (isn’t a horse)
23. Zilch NADA
25. Hot times in Lyon ETES
26. MST part: Abbr. STD
29. Endow VEST
31. __ projection ASTRAL
35. It’s not an amphibian HORNED TOAD (isn’t a toad)
38. Million finish -AIRE
39. Mayflower Compact signer ALDEN
40. Patriots’ Day mo. APR
41. Former U.S. Army post near Monterey FT ORD
42. Big name in game shows MERV
43. It’s not a canine PRAIRIE DOG (isn’t a dog)
45. “Remington __” STEELE
47. Enthusiasm ZEAL
48. Common rebus pronoun EWE
49. Avis adjective RARA
51. “Stay” singer Lisa LOEB
53. It’s not a rodent TITMOUSE (isn’t a mouse)
57. Lacking the wherewithal UNABLE
61. Confess ADMIT
62. It’s not an ursine KOALA BEAR (isn’t a bear)
64. Seven-year phase TEENS
65. SASE, e.g. ENC
66. Ben Stiller’s mother MEARA
67. Biography Channel owner A AND E
68. Most of AZ doesn’t observe it DST
69. Freddy Krueger’s haunts: Abbr. ELM ST

Down
1. Tech sch. grad ENGR
2. Rake ROUE
3. Idle in comedy ERIC
4. Leica competitor CANON
5. Title “ungainly fowl” of poetry THE RAVEN
6. Natl. economic indicator GDP
7. x, y or z AXIS
8. Blues singer Bobby of song MCGEE
9. Fraternity events RUSHES
10. Columbus school OHIO STATE
11. Sign of feline felicity PURR
12. “__ Tu”: 1974 hit ERES
13. Hamlet, for one DANE
18. Contributed ADDED
22. Slightly A TAD
24. Sirius or Vega A STAR
26. Counterfeits SHAMS
27. Available, on a real estate sign TO LET
28. Rapper who co-founded Beats Electronics DR DRE
30. November birthstone TOPAZ
32. __ Janeiro RIO DE
33. Bow go-with ARROW
34. Dove’s perch LEDGE
36. “Don’t bother” NEVER MIND
37. Disney mermaid ARIEL
41. Identifier in a folder FILENAME
43. Machu Picchu locale PERU
44. Lover of Christine, in “The Phantom of the Opera” RAOUL
46. “Tao Te Ching” author LAO-TSE
50. Tried to date, with “out” ASKED
52. Tower city BABEL
53. “See ya” TATA
54. What a light bulb may signify IDEA
55. The Untouchables, e.g. T-MEN
56. Eras upon eras EONS
58. Smile broadly BEAM
59. Metallica drummer Ulrich LARS
60. Q.E.D. word ERAT
63. Pretend to be ACT

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6 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword Answers 20 Mar 14, Thursday”

  1. Hello Bill, and friends,

    (the previous post is a little nutty ….)

    I finished a Thursday puzzle, yippee … Pookie, I hope you had better luck with this one.

    Gam of whales ? …. maybe they have cute legs …

    Once I got seahorse and guinea pig,, the theme seemed apparent. Lots of fun. I confidently put in Horned Toad …. but thanks for the explanation Bill… so, its a lizard . I first had Dormouse, before Titmouse … the former IS a mouse !

    Never heard of Eric Idle. I have yet to see an idle comedian …. even a mimic is always busy.

    Ohio State is the best deal, for Ohioans, for a reasonably priced, and a good, decent, rigorous education, but most Ohio students always look afar, into other states, for other more 'prestigious' colleges. The grass is always greener on the other side ….

    I had CHEVY for a Vega, initially.

    Dr Dre is the only rapper I've heard of…

    Again, thank you Bill, for your lovely informative comments.

    Have a nice day, all.

  2. Hi Bill, Vidwan (YES! I faired well with this one), Addict, Sfingi, Piano Man and Jeff.
    After Mon-Wed. slogging, finally got one and really enjoyed this cute theme. Never heard a GAM of whales, but then, there are a lot of strange words for groups of animals.

    HERE"S A LIST
    Have a great rest of the day!

  3. There has always been great debate over how accurate Longfellow's account of the love triangle between John Alden, Priscilla Mullins and Miles Standish is. Longfellow was a direct descendent and claimed to be repeating oral history. Pricilla Mullins was the only girl of marriageable age in the colony at the time, so it was natural that there would be competition. BTW John, their son, survived the witch trials and lived to be 75 having 13 children himself. Also, John Alden and Pricilla Mullins' daughter Sarah ended up marrying Miles Standish's son Alexander, so apparently no hard feelings 🙂

    Interesting trivia on Merv Griffin: a day before Jeopardy premiered on TV, he told reporters that the whole idea had come from his wife Julann on a plane trip they were taking. She never got the credit. Merv did write the famous Jeopardy theme song which has been used for decades.

  4. @Vidwan
    Yes, that previous nutty post was spam. About a hundred spam comments get deleted here everyday, and a further dozen or so I have to delete manually. Sad. Eric Idle is a bigger name over in the UK than he is here, by far. He made an appearance in the opening ceremony at the London Summer Olympics, and he's also the man behind the hit musical "Spamalot".

    @Pookie
    Great to hear the yell of success from you on Thurday! Not sure if these are true, but some other collective nouns I've heard are "an intrusion of cockroaches", "a radiance of radiographers" and "an amalgamation of metallurgists".

    @Piano Man
    Lots of interesting trivia there, thank you. The Alden clan do indeed sound "close-knit". 🙂 Talking about game shows, this "Wheel of Fortune" video just went viral.

  5. Bill,

    Although I empathize with you entirely on the matter of the spamming messages … and the temerity, rudeness and thoughtlessness of the culprits …. and I having gone through an awful malware experience earlier this month …

    I can tell you sometimes … just sometimes, once a rare while, these things do work. I just spent a couple of hours, this very afternoon, reading up on Pili nuts, and the tree that produces them in the Philippines. I even called up a local filippino grocery store and arranged to buy a packet of roasted nuts … since they are supposed to have a flavor like almonds, pine tree nuts( pignolias) and Macadamia nuts (!)

    If interested, look up The Pili tree, Canarium Ovatum.

    Cheerio.

  6. Bill, My guess was NET FLIX MOVIE, which is probably why I'm never going to be on Wheel of Fortune!
    HAH!
    Vidwan, I'm going to check out those Phillipine nuts.
    Thanks, guys.

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