LA Times Crossword Answers 22 Apr 14, Tuesday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Gail Grabowski & Bruce Venzke
THEME: Built to Last … today’s themed answers contain the hidden word LAST. The first word in each answer ends with -LA and the second word starts with ST-

20A. Fictional legal secretary DELLA STREET
34A. The 1969 Mets, e.g. CINDERELLA STORY
43A. Cheesy appetizer MOZZARELLA STICK

58A. Constructed for endurance, and a hint for the word hidden in 20-, 34- and 43-Across BUILT TO LAST

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 05m 21s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. “Battlestar Galactica” genre SCI-FI
“Battlestar Galactica” is a whole franchise these days, based on an original television series that aired in 1978. The executive producer of that first series was Glen A. Larson who had been trying get the show off the ground since the sixties. Larson was finally able to get some finances for his sci-fi show on the back of the success of the similarly themed 1977 movie “Star Wars”.

9. Thyroid, e.g. GLAND
The thyroid gland is found in the neck, just below the Adam’s apple. The gland produces several thyroid hormones, some of which control the rate at which the body uses energy i.e. the body’s rate of metabolism.

16. Bro HOMIE
“Homie” is short for “homeboy”, someone from one’s home neighborhood.

17. Colgate rival ORAL-B
The Oral-B toothbrush was introduced to the world in 1950, designed by a California periodontist. The first “model” was the Oral-B 60, a name given to reflect the 60 tufts in the brush. In 1969, the Oral-B was the first toothbrush to get to the moon as it was the toothbrush of choice for the crew of the Apollo 11 spacecraft.

20. Fictional legal secretary DELLA STREET
Della Street was Perry Mason’s very capable secretary in the Erle Stanley Gardner novels. Street was played in the TV show by the lovely Barbara Hale.

25. Charlie Parker’s instrument ALTO SAX
Charlie Parker was a Jazz saxophonist, who was often just called “Bird” or “Yardbird”. He was a leader in the development of the style of jazz called “bebop”, which gained popularity in the forties. Charlie Parker had a rough life outside of music. He was a heroin addict, and a heavy drinker. When he died, the coroner who performed his autopsy estimated his age as between 50 and 60 years old based on the appearance of his body and condition of his organs. He was actually 34-years-old when he died in a New York City hotel room in 1955.

27. Fed. benefits issuer SSA
The Social Security Administration (SSA) was set up as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. The first person to receive a monthly retirement benefit was Ida May Fuller of Vermont who received her first check for the sum of $22.54 after having contributed for three years through payroll taxes. The New Deal turned out to be a good deal for Ms. Fuller, as she lived to 100 years of age and received a total benefit of almost $23,000, whereas her three years of contributions added up to just $24.75.

33. Caseworker’s coll. major, perhaps SOC
Sociology or Social Science (Soc.)

34. The 1969 Mets, e.g. CINDERELLA STORY
In the world of sports, a “Cinderella Story” is a situation in which a player or team comes out ahead unexpectedly. Using references from the “Cinderella” fairy tale, the competitor(s) is expected to “turn into a pumpkin at midnight” i.e. lose and fade into obscurity. But instead, a glorious victory ensues.

40. “Do __ others …” UNTO
The Golden Rule is also known as the ethic of reciprocity, and is a basis for the concept of human rights. A version of the rule used in the Christian tradition is attributed to Jesus: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.

41. Mormon sch. BYU
Brigham Young University (BYU) is in Provo, Utah has about 34.000 students on campus making it the largest religious university in the country. The school was founded in 1875 by Brigham Young, then President of the Mormon Church.

42. Director Kazan ELIA
Elia Kazan was Greek-American film director who was actually born in Istanbul. Kazan won Oscars for best director in 1948 for “Gentleman’s Agreement” and in 1955 for “On The Waterfront”. In 1999 he was given an Academy Lifetime Achievement Award. Kazan also directed “East of Eden”, which introduced James Dean to movie audiences, and “Splendor in the Grass” that included Warren Beatty in his debut role.

43. Cheesy appetizer MOZZARELLA STICK
Mozzarella is an Italian cheese that is prepared using a spinning and cutting technique. It is the cutting that gives the cheese its name, as “mozzare” means “to cut” in Italian.

49. Arizona county or its seat YUMA
The city and county of Yuma take their name from the Quechan (aka “Yuma”) Native American tribe that inhabited the area.

51. Prom accessory CORSAGE
“Corsage” is a word we imported from French in the late 15th century. Back then we used it to mean “the size of the body”. By the early 1800s a corsage was a bodice, or the body of a woman’s dress. At the beginning of the 20th century, the French term “bouquet de corsage” was being used for a “bouquet worn on the bodice”, and this has been shortened simply to “corsage”.

55. Menu words A LA
The phrase “in the style of” can be translated in “alla” in Italian and “à la” in French.

57. __ Dhabi ABU
Abu Dhabi is one of the seven Emirates that make up the federation known as the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The two largest members of the UAE (geographically) are Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the only two of the seven members that have veto power over UAE policy. Before 1971, the UAE was a British Protectorate, a collection of sheikdoms. The sheikdoms entered into a maritime truce with Britain in 1835, after which they became known as the Trucial States, derived from the word “truce”.

64. Exodus mount SINAI
According to the Bible, Mount Sinai is the mountain on which Moses was given the Ten Commandments. The Biblical Mount Sinai is probably not the mountain in Egypt that today has the same name, although this is the subject of much debate. The Egyptian Mount Sinai has two developed routes that one can take to reach the summit. The longer gentler climb takes about 2 1/2 hours, but there is also the steeper climb up the 3,750 “steps of penitence”.

The Book of Exodus is the second book in the Bible, and deals with Moses leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. The name “exodus” comes from the Greek “exodos” meaning “departure”.

66. __ Fring, “Breaking Bad” drug kingpin GUS
On the hit AMC television show “Breaking Bad”, the character Gus Fring is a Machiavellian drug lord who fronts his illegal activities with a successful chain of fast food restaurants. Fring is played by actor Giancarlo Esposito.

I hadn’t seen the AMC drama “Breaking Bad” until relatively recently when my wife borrowed the first and second seasons from our local library. It is a well-written show about a high school teacher stricken by lung cancer who turns to a life of crime to make money.

67. Elementary seed OVULE
As we all remember from botany class, an “ovule” is a small structure in many plants that develops into the seed after fertilization. We do remember, don’t we?

68. Colorful aquarium fish TETRA
The neon tetra is a freshwater fish, native to parts of South America. The tetra is a very popular aquarium fish and millions are imported into the US every year. Almost all of the imported tetras are farm-raised in Asia and very few come from their native continent.

69. Broom rider HAG
“Hag” is a shortened form of the Old English word “haegtesse” meaning, “witch”.

70. Evenings, on marquees NITES
A marquee is a large sign that is placed over the entrance to a theater. The marquee usually displays the names of the film(s) or plays currently showing.

71. German industrial city ESSEN
Essen is a large industrial city located on the River Ruhr in western Germany.

73. Hemingway’s “The __ of Kilimanjaro” SNOWS
“The Snows of Kilimanjaro” is a 1926 short story written by Ernest Hemingway. It is an account of the reminiscences of a writer on safari in Africa who is dying from an infected wound. “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” was made into a successful film of the same name starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Susan Hayward that was released in 1952.

Down
2. Part of TLC CARE
Tender loving care (TLC)

3. Tilted type: Abbr. ITAL
Italic type leans to the right. The style is known as “italic” because the stylized calligraphic form of writing originated in Italy, probably in the Vatican.

6. Lewd material SMUT
“Smut” means “dirt, smudge” and more recently “pornographic material”. The term comes from the Yiddish “schmutz”, which is a slang word used in English for dirt, as in “dirt on one’s face”.

7. Henry VIII’s last wife Catherine PARR
Henry VIII was of course the English King with the most wives. Well, something rubbed off on his last wife, Catherine Parr. She was to become the English Queen with the most husbands! By the time she married Henry, she had been widowed twice, and after Henry died, she married once again.

8. Breathing trouble during sleep APNEA
Sleep apnea (“apnoea” in British English) can be caused by an obstruction in the airways, possibly due to obesity or enlarged tonsils.

9. Inner city areas GHETTOS
The first “ghetto” was an island in Venice that was used for confining Venetian Jews. The same island was used to store slag from a foundry, and “getto” was the Venetian word for “slag”. The term ghetto spread across Europe, at the beginning always associated with repressed Jewish populations. Ultimately it came to mean any urban area housing a minority group under economic and social pressure.

10. Bagel topping LOX
Lox is a cured salmon fillet, finely sliced. The term “lox” comes into English via Yiddish, and derives from the German word for salmon, namely “Lachs”.

12. Nabisco cookie named for its flavor NILLA
As one might expect, Nilla is a shortened from of “vanilla”. However, you won’t find any vanilla in Nilla cookies or wafers. They have always been flavored with vanillin, synthetic vanilla. Is nothing sacred …?

22. “Born Free” lioness ELSA
The life story of Elsa the lion was told by game warden Joy Adamson, who had a very close relationship with the lioness from when Elsa was orphaned as a young cub. Adamson wrote the book “Born Free” about Elsa, and then “Living Free” which tells the story of Elsa and her three lion cubs. In the 1966 film based on “Born Free”, Adamson is played by the talented actress Virginia McKenna.

28. __-Japanese War SINO
There were two Sino-Japanese Wars. The first was fought in 1894-95 over control of Korea. The second was fought between 1931 and 1945, eventually becoming part of WWII.

29. 1998 animated film with soldiers, workers and a queen ANTZ
“Antz” was the first feature movie released by Dreamworks SKG, the studio founded by Steven Spielberg and two partners in 1994. “Antz” came out in 1998, and has a stellar cast that includes Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Sylvester Stallone, Gene Hackman and many, many other big names. The cartoon is quite unique in that the facial features of the voice actors are reflected in the animated characters.

31. 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”.

36. Humdinger LULU
We call a remarkable thing or a person a “lulu”. The term is used in honor of Lulu Hurst, the Georgia Wonder, who was a stage magician active in the 1880s.

A “humdinger” or a “pip” is someone or something outstanding. “Humdinger” is American slang dating back to the early 1900s, originally used to describe a particularly attractive woman.

38. “Jessie’s Girl” singer Springfield RICK
Rick Springfield is a musician and singer-songwriter, and also an actor, from Sydney, Australia. Springfields biggest hit was “Jessie’s Girl”, released in 1981. As an actor, Springfield is known for playing Dr. Noah Drake on the daytime soap “General Hospital”.

44. High-spirited horse ARABIAN
The Arab (or Arabian) breed of horse takes its name from its original home, the Arabian Peninsula. Like any animal that humans have over-bred, the horse falls prey to genetic diseases, some of which are fatal and some of which require the horse to be euthanized.

45. Sauce brand with “Robusto!” flavors RAGU
The Ragu brand of pasta sauce is owned by Unilever. The name ” Ragù” is the Italian word for a sauce used to dress pasta, however the spelling is off a little. In Italian the word is “Ragù” with a grave accent over the “u”, but if you look at a jar of the Unilever sauce, it is spelled “Ragú” on the label, with an acute accent. Sometimes I think we just don’t try …

47. Oater hangouts SALOONS
The term “oater” that is used for a western movie comes from the number of horses seen, as horses love oats!

51. Social stratum CASTE
Many creatures organize themselves into a social structure, a phenomenon known as “eusociality”. Examples of such creatures would be ants, bees and wasps, where there are queens, workers and soldiers. The groups within such a hierarchical structure are known as castes. The word “caste” was borrowed from the class divisions in Indian society (although the word “caste” and hierarchical concept was actually introduced by the Portuguese).

52. Big Apple stage honors OBIES
The Obies are the “Off-Broadway Theater Awards”. The Obies are presented annually and the recipients are chosen by “The Village Voice” newspaper.

Apparently the first published use of the term “Big Apple” to describe New York City dates back to 1909. Edward Martin wrote the following in his book “The Wayfarer in New York”:

“Kansas is apt to see in New York a greedy city. . . . It inclines to think that the big apple gets a disproportionate share of the national sap.”

Over ten years later, the term “big apple” was used as a nickname for racetracks in and around New York City. However, the concerted effort to “brand” the city as the Big Apple had to wait until the seventies and was the work of the New York Convention and Visitors Bureau.

53. Pipsqueaks RUNTS
Back around 1500. a runt was an old or decayed tree stump, and by the early 1600s “runt” was being used to describe animals that were similarly old and decayed. Ultimately “runt” came to mean the smallest and often sickest in a litter.

“Twerp” and “pipsqueak” are both terms used for someone who is insignificant and contemptible.

54. Highest unstriped ball EIGHT
The more correct name for the game of pool is pocket billiards. The name “pool” arose after pocket billiards became a common feature in “pool halls”, places where gamblers “pooled” their money to bet on horse races.

56. Troublemaking chipmunk ALVIN
Alvin and the Chipmunks is a cartoon musical group that was created for the recording of a novelty song in 1958 called “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)”. The three Chipmunks (Alvin, Simon and Theodore) were all voiced by singer Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. but with a speedy playback to create high-pitched voices.

59. Tropical party LUAU
Nowadays the word “luau” denotes almost any kind of party on the Hawaiian Islands, but to the purist a luau is a feast that always includes a serving of “poi”, the bulbous underground stems of taro baked with coconut milk.

60. USAF rank TSGT
Technical Sergeant (TSgt)

61. Caddy or Jag AUTO
The Cadillac Automobile Company was founded in 1902, as an independent company. The company was named for the French explorer Antoine Laumet de la Mothe, sieur de Cadillac. Cadillac founded the city of Detroit in 1701. The company was taken over by GM in 1909, and over the next thirty years GM did a great job establishing Cadillac as the luxury car one just had to own.

63. Hardy’s “Pure Woman” TESS
The full name of Thomas Hardy’s 1891 novel is “Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented”. When it was originally published, “Tess …” received very mixed reviews, largely because it addresses some difficult sexual themes including rape, and sexual double standards (society’s attitude towards men vs women). I suppose the most celebrated screen adaptation is Roman Polanski’s “Tess” released in 1979. Polanski apparently made “Tess” because his wife, Sharon Tate, gave him Hardy’s novel as her last act before she was murdered by the Manson family. There is a dedication at the beginning of the movie that simply reads “To Sharon”.

65. “Just the Way You __”: Bruno Mars hit ARE
Bruno Mars is a singer-songwriter from Honolulu who has been active in the music business since 2006.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. “Battlestar Galactica” genre SCI-FI
6. Rejuvenation destination SPA
9. Thyroid, e.g. GLAND
14. Couldn’t stomach HATED
15. Weather report backdrop MAP
16. Bro HOMIE
17. Colgate rival ORAL-B
18. Catering dispenser URN
19. Put on a pedestal EXALT
20. Fictional legal secretary DELLA STREET
23. __-pitch softball SLO
24. Hubbub ADO
25. Charlie Parker’s instrument ALTO SAX
27. Fed. benefits issuer SSA
30. Chatters GABS
33. Caseworker’s coll. major, perhaps SOC
34. The 1969 Mets, e.g. CINDERELLA STORY
40. “Do __ others …” UNTO
41. Mormon sch. BYU
42. Director Kazan ELIA
43. Cheesy appetizer MOZZARELLA STICK
48. Historic time ERA
49. Arizona county or its seat YUMA
50. Gives a thumbs-up OKS
51. Prom accessory CORSAGE
55. Menu words A LA
57. __ Dhabi ABU
58. Constructed for endurance, and a hint for the word hidden in 20-, 34- and 43-Across BUILT TO LAST
64. Exodus mount SINAI
66. __ Fring, “Breaking Bad” drug kingpin GUS
67. Elementary seed OVULE
68. Colorful aquarium fish TETRA
69. Broom rider HAG
70. Evenings, on marquees NITES
71. German industrial city ESSEN
72. Sound of annoyance TUT
73. Hemingway’s “The __ of Kilimanjaro” SNOWS

Down
1. Not barefoot SHOD
2. Part of TLC CARE
3. Tilted type: Abbr. ITAL
4. Guy FELLA
5. Govt. security pass ID BADGE
6. Lewd material SMUT
7. Henry VIII’s last wife Catherine PARR
8. Breathing trouble during sleep APNEA
9. Inner city areas GHETTOS
10. Bagel topping LOX
11. Stock up on AMASS
12. Nabisco cookie named for its flavor NILLA
13. Rehab program DETOX
21. Use an updraft, say SOAR
22. “Born Free” lioness ELSA
26. Large wedding band OCTET
27. Bathtub buildup SCUM
28. __-Japanese War SINO
29. 1998 animated film with soldiers, workers and a queen ANTZ
31. Actress Neuwirth BEBE
32. In a sneaky way SLYLY
35. Sleeps lightly DOZES
36. Humdinger LULU
37. Mishmash OLIO
38. “Jessie’s Girl” singer Springfield RICK
39. Chatters YAKS
44. High-spirited horse ARABIAN
45. Sauce brand with “Robusto!” flavors RAGU
46. “I __ my wit’s end!” AM AT
47. Oater hangouts SALOONS
51. Social stratum CASTE
52. Big Apple stage honors OBIES
53. Pipsqueaks RUNTS
54. Highest unstriped ball EIGHT
56. Troublemaking chipmunk ALVIN
59. Tropical party LUAU
60. USAF rank TSGT
61. Caddy or Jag AUTO
62. Large quantity SLEW
63. Hardy’s “Pure Woman” TESS
65. “Just the Way You __”: Bruno Mars hit ARE

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3 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword Answers 22 Apr 14, Tuesday”

  1. Hello, Bill and friends,

    Rather easy puzzle – Thanks Gail and Bruce. Wonderful explanations, Bill.

    I too, read Erle Stanley Gardner – voraciously – and had such an adoring, saintly image of Della Street, that to see any actual human being in that role, in a movie or on TV, would be sure to disappoint me.

    For 33 Across, Caseworker degree … I had SSc then SoS – never had to abbreviate that before.

    There are a wonderful, 5 moving image, Google doodles for Earth day today. Well worth watching.

    How do you remember the 'ultimate destinations', of Henry the 8th's wives ? As Antonia Fraser, a wonderful, modern, best selling historian puts it,

    ' Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, lived'. Parr was the last.

    Have a nice day, all.

  2. Hi there, Vidwan.

    It's nice to meet another Erle Stanley Gardner fan. I haven't read one of his stories in decades and must go get one for a vacation read some time soon.

    Yes indeed … nice Google image today!

    The mnemonic I use for the wives of Henry VIII is just a tad different, and a little better "rhyme", I would respectfully submit. "Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived."

  3. Thought it was going to be all "ellas" instead of "lasts".
    Was hoping to see my favorite singer in there somewhere.
    Have a great day, Bill, Vidwan, Sfingi, addict, Piano Man, Jeff, Tony!!!

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