LA Times Crossword Answers 9 May 14, Friday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Jeffrey Wechsler
THEME: Canadian Melds … today’s themed answers are the names of cities in Canada melded with well-known words and phrases:

17A. TV fare in Quebec? MONTREALITY SHOW (from “Montreal” & “reality show”)
31A. Communication device in Nova Scotia? HALIFAX MACHINE (from “Halifax” & “fax machine”)
39A. Tool storage convenience in Manitoba? WINNIPEG BOARDS (from “Winnipeg” & “pegboards”)
60A. Throat ailment in Alberta? EDMONTONSILITIS (from “Edmonton” & “tonsilitis”)

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 15m 15s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 2 … A LIE (I lie!!), TISHA (Tishi!!)

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Kate, to Petruchio WIFE
William Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew” is about a courting couple. The male is Petruchio, a gentleman of Verona, and the female is Katharina, the so-called “shrew”. As the play progresses, the “shrew” is “tamed” and becomes an “obedient” bride … a controversial storyline in the contemporary world, to say the least. Regardless, modern adaptations have been made, including 1948’s Broadway musical “Kiss Me Kate” and the 1999 romantic comedy “10 Things I Hate About You”.

13. Prayer leader IMAM
An imam is a Muslim leader, often the person in charge of a mosque or perhaps a Muslim community.

17. TV fare in Quebec? MONTREALITY SHOW (from “Montreal” & “reality show”)
The original name of Montreal was Ville-Marie, meaning the City of Mary. Ville-Marie is now the name of a borough in the city, the borough which includes the downtown area and “Old Montreal”. The present-day city covers most of the Island of Montreal (in French, Île de Montréal) that is located where the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers meet. The name Montreal comes from the three-headed hill that dominates the island and is called Mount Royal.

21. Spacewalk initials EVA
Extravehicular activity (EVA) is the name given to any work done by an astronaut outside of his or her spacecraft. The term would encompass walking on the moon, as well as making a space walk i.e. floating around in space tethered to spacecraft.

23. Marseilles : -euse :: Madrid : __ -ITA
A noun in French can be feminized using the suffix “-euse”, and feminized in Spanish using the suffix “ita”.

Marseille (often written “Marseilles” in English) is the second largest city in France, after Paris. Marseille is also the largest commercial port in the country. I used to live nearby, and it’s a lovely, lovely place.

Madrid is the largest city in Spain and the capital. Madrid is located very close to the geographical center of the country. It is the third-largest city in the European Union (after London and Paris). People from Madrid called themselves Madrileños.

24. “Pensées” author PASCAL
Blaise Pascal was an important French mathematician, physicist and philosopher, who lived in the mid-1600s. In math, his name was given to Pascal’s triangle, a triangle of numbers in which each number is the sum of the two numbers above it. Pascal also wrote on the subject of theology. His most important theological writings were published after his death under the title “Pensées”, meaning “Thoughts”.

26. “… if I tell thee __, spit in my face”: Falstaff A LIE
“… “if I tell thee a lie, spit in my face.” is part of some dialogue spoken by Falstaff to Prince Henry in William Shakespeare’s “Henry IV, Part I”.

Sir John Falstaff is the lead character in Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” and a supporting character in the two “Henry IV” plays. Falstaff is a self-promoting, obese and cowardly man. In “King Henry IV, part I”, Falstaff refers to his portly size, saying, “thou seest I have more flesh than another man, and therefore more frailty.”

30. Teammate of Hubbell OTT
At 5′ 9″, Mel Ott weighed just 170 lb (I don’t think he took steroids!) and yet he was the first National League player to hit over 500 home runs. Sadly, Ott died in a car accident in New Orleans in 1958 when he was only 49 years old.

Carl Hubbell was a pitcher who played for the New York Giants from 1928 to 1943. Hubbell was a teammate of Mel Ott, who died in a car crash on November 21, 1958. Hubble also died in a car crash, exactly thirty years later on November 21, 1988.

31. Communication device in Nova Scotia? HALIFAX MACHINE (from “Halifax” & “fax machine”)
Halifax is the capital of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. The original Town of Halifax was established in 1749 and was named for the British Earl of Halifax. Halifax is a town in West Yorkshire in the North of England.

37. Friend of Huck JIM
In Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, the title character befriends a slave called Jim and helps him escape.

“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain was first published in 1884, not here in the US but rather in England. The original launch planned for the US had to be delayed until 1885, because some rascal had defaced the plate for one of the illustrations, making an obscene joke. Once the problem was spotted a new plate had to be made, and 30,000 copies already printed had to be reworked to cover up the obscenity.

39. Tool storage convenience in Manitoba? WINNIPEG BOARDS (from “Winnipeg” & “pegboards”)
Manitoba is the Canadian province that borders the US states of North Dakota and Minnesota. Even though Manitoba has an area of over 250,000 square miles, 60% of its population resides in the province’s capital city of Winnipeg.

47. Psychotic Chihuahua REN
“The Ren and Stimpy Show” is an animated television show that ran on Nickelodeon from 1991 to 1996. The title characters are Marland “Ren” Höek, a scrawny Chihuahua, and Stimpson J. Cat, a rotund Manx cat. Not my cup of tea …

48. Theban queen of myth INO
Ino was a mortal queen of Thebes through her marriage to King Athamas. In Greek mythology, Ino became the goddess Leukothea after her death. As Leukothea she provided divine aid to Odysseus, according to Homer’s “Odyssey”. She provided Odysseus with a magical veil that he used to escape from Poseidon.

55. Thin-rail bridge AS A
Thin as a rail.

57. Sea urchin roe, in sushi bars UNI
Sea urchins are globular, spiny creatures found just about everywhere in the ocean. The “roe” of a sea urchin is eaten as a delicacy in several cuisines around the world. In a sushi restaurant, the sea urchin roe is called “uni”. The term “roe” normally means “fish eggs”, but in the case of the sea urchin it refers to the gonads of both the male and female.

60. Throat ailment in Alberta? EDMONTONSILITIS (from “Edmonton” & “tonsilitis”)
Edmonton is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. The city was founded as Fort Edmonton in 1795, with the name taken from the area in London called Edmonton. Edmonton, London was the home of pioneer John Peter Pruden who suggested the name. London’s Edmonton was also home for deputy governor Sir James Winter Lake of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

The palatine tonsils are located at the back of the human throat. The exact role that tonsils play isn’t completely understood, but it is known that they are in the first line of defense in the body’s immune system. They provide some level of protection against pathogens that are ingested and inhaled.

64. DDE, e.g. GEN
General Dwight D. Eisenhower (DDE) was in command of the European Theater of Operations (ETO) during WWII.

65. Speedy shark MAKO
The shortfin mako shark can appear on restaurant menus, and as a result the species is dying out in some parts of the world. The mako gets its own back sometimes though, and attacks on humans are not unknown. It is the fastest swimming species of shark in the world with claims made that it can reach speeds over over 60 mph. And the shark in Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea”, that’s a mako.

Down
4. Personnel providing CPR EMTS
Emergency medical technician (EMT)

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) has for decades involved the simultaneous compression of the chest to pump blood using the heart, and artificial respiration by blowing air into the lungs. Nowadays emergency services are placing more emphasis on heart compressions, and less on artificial respiration.

6. Thick-pile rug RYA
A rya is a traditional Scandinavian rug, originally used as heavy covers by mariners as an alternative to furs. The name “rya” comes from a village in southwest Sweden.

7. Vonage, for one TELECOM
Vonage is a company that provides telephone service over the Internet, so called voice over IP (VoIP).

8. Osmium or rhodium METAL
Osmium is a metallic element in the platinum family. Osmium is the densest naturally occurring element, and is about twice as dense as lead.

Rhodium is one of the rarest precious metals. Rhodium was discovered in 1803, and today is mostly used as a catalyst in a catalytic converters.

9. English cathedral city ELY
Ely Cathedral is a famous and beautiful church in the city of Ely in the county of Cambridgeshire. There is a Gothic door on the north face of the cathedral that was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, the man famous as the architect of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Christopher Wren had a personal link to the church, as his uncle was the Bishop of Ely.

10. Actress Campbell of TV’s “Martin” TISHA
Tisha Campbell is an actress best-known for her supporting role on the HBO sitcom “Martin” that features Martin Lawrence.

11. Rank ECHELON
We use the word “echelon” (ech.) to describe a rank, particularly in the military. The term comes from French, in which language it has the same meaning, although the original meaning in Old French is “rung of a ladder”.

12. Igneous rock on which the Code of Hammurabi is inscribed DIORITE
Diorite is an extremely hard igneous rock. It is so hard, that tools for working and polishing granite are sometimes made from diorite. It was also used historically as a base in which inscriptions were carved, due to the material’s durability. Perhaps the most famous such inscription is the Code of Hammurabi that was written into a pillar of black diorite that is seven feet tall.

The Code of Hammurabi is a code of laws that dates back to 1772 BCE, enacted by the Babylonian king Hammurabi. . Partial copies of the code have been found on stone steles and clay tablets. The most complete copy of the code can be found on a large stele that is on display in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

16. Brief statement, by necessity TWEET
I have never tweeted in my life, and have no plans to do so. Twitter is a micro-blogging service that limits any post sent to just 140 characters. In a sense, it is similar to this blog. Here I send out a post once a day containing information that I think might be useful to folks (thank you for reading!). I don’t think I could send out much of interest using just 140 characters.

18. Grave statement, briefly? RIP
Rest in peace (RIP)

19. The Donald’s first ex IVANA
Ivana Winklmayr was born in Czechoslovakia. Winklmayr was an excellent skier, and was named as an alternate for the 1982 Czech Olympic Team. She was promoting the Montreal Olympics in New York in 1976 when she met Donald Trump. Ivana and Donald’s marriage was very public and well-covered by the media, but not nearly so well as their very litigious divorce in 1990.

28. Rembrandt van __ RIJN
The celebrated Dutch painter’s full name was Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (sometimes Ryn). Rembrandt is perhaps most appreciated for his portraits, and left the world a remarkable collection of self-portraits.

32. Fiver FIN
The US five-dollar bill is often called an “Abe”, as President Lincoln’s portrait is on the front. An Abe is also referred to as a “fin”, a term that has been used for a five-pound note in Britain since 1868.

35. Gp. for GPs HMO
General practitioners (GPs) might work for a health maintenance organization (HMO).

40. Undetermined IN LIMBO
In the Roman Catholic tradition, “Limbo” is a place where souls can remain who cannot enter heaven. For example, infants who have not been baptized are said to reside in Limbo. Limbo is said to be located on the border of Hell. The name was chosen during the Middle Ages from the Latin “limbo” meaning “ornamental border to a fringe”. We use the phrase “in limbo” in contemporary English to mean “in a state of uncertainty”.

41. Liszt’s instrument PIANO
Franz Liszt was a composer and pianist from Hungary active in the 1800s. As a pianist, Liszt was a true virtuoso, and was regarded by most in his day as the greatest player of all time. In 1859, Liszt’s 20-year old son died, and then three years later his daughter passed away. These events led to him taking up residence in a monastery outside room. He was ordained in 1865, after which he was often referred to as Abbé Liszt.

43. Neptune, e.g. GOD
Neptune was the Roman god of the sea and of freshwater. He was sometimes known as “Neptunus Equester” as he was also the god of horses and patron of horse-racing.

47. Synonym eponym ROGET
Peter Mark Roget was an English lexicographer. Roget was an avid maker of lists, apparently using the routine of list-making to combat depression, a condition he endured for most of his life. He published his famous thesaurus in 1852, with revisions and expansions being made years later by his son, and then in turn by his grandson.

An “eponym” is a name for something derived from the name of a person, as in the “sandwich” named for the Earl of Sandwich.

52. Monument Valley sight BUTTE
“Mesa” is the Spanish for “table” and is of course is how we get the term “mesa” that describes a geographic feature. “What’s the difference between a butte and a mesa?” I hear you cry! Both are hills with flat tops, but a mesa has a top that is wider than it is tall. A butte is a much narrower formation, taller than it is wide.

The spectacular Monument Valley, with it’s magnificent sandstone buttes, lies within the bounds of the Navajo Nation Reservation near the Four Corners region in the Southwest. The valley has served as a spectacular backdrop in many Hollywood movies. I always remember it as the location where Forrest Gump decided to stop running back and forth across the country.

54. Original boss of Sara and Nick on “CSI” GIL
The actor William Petersen is best known for portraying forensic scientist Gil Grissom on the “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”. Petersen quit acting in the show after nine seasons, but continues as an executive producer.

59. Long ride? LIMO
The word “limousine” actually derives from the French city of Limoges. The area around Limoges is called the Limousin, and it gave its name to a cloak hood worn by local shepherds. In early motor cars, a driver would sit outside in the weather while the passengers would sit in the covered compartment. The driver would often wear a limousin-style protective hood, giving rise to that type of transportation being called a “limousine”. Well, that’s how the story goes anyway …

61. Four-day weekend time, for many: Abbr. NOV
Thanksgiving Day was observed on different dates in different states for many years, until Abraham Lincoln fixed the date for the whole country in 1863. Lincoln’s presidential proclamation set that date as the last Thursday in November. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday to the fourth Thursday in November, arguing that the earlier date would give the economy a much-needed boost.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Kate, to Petruchio WIFE
5. Works on walls ART
8. Apportioned, with “out” METED
13. Prayer leader IMAM
14. Sandwich staple RYE
15. Bring forth ELICIT
17. TV fare in Quebec? MONTREALITY SHOW (from “Montreal” & “reality show”)
20. Contributes PUTS IN
21. Spacewalk initials EVA
22. See 2-Down HERE
23. Marseilles : -euse :: Madrid : __ -ITA
24. “Pensées” author PASCAL
26. “… if I tell thee __, spit in my face”: Falstaff A LIE
27. Move a bit STIR
29. Very long time EON
30. Teammate of Hubbell OTT
31. Communication device in Nova Scotia? HALIFAX MACHINE (from “Halifax” & “fax machine”)
37. Friend of Huck JIM
38. One working at home UMP
39. Tool storage convenience in Manitoba? WINNIPEG BOARDS (from “Winnipeg” & “pegboards”)
47. Psychotic Chihuahua REN
48. Theban queen of myth INO
49. Boss’s command DO IT!
50. Works on walls OILS
52. Reprimand often given while pointing down BAD DOG!
55. Thin-rail bridge AS A
56. “Get a __!” GRIP
57. Sea urchin roe, in sushi bars UNI
58. Without restraint WILDLY
60. Throat ailment in Alberta? EDMONTONSILITIS (from “Edmonton” & “tonsilitis”)
63. Additionally TO BOOT
64. DDE, e.g. GEN
65. Speedy shark MAKO
66. Get to the bottom of SOLVE
67. Weaken SAG
68. Powerful team OXEN

Down
1. Like some chickens WIMPISH
2. With 22-Across, “See ya!” I’M OUTTA
3. Split and flattened, as shrimp FANTAIL
4. Personnel providing CPR EMTS
5. Olympic venue ARENA
6. Thick-pile rug RYA
7. Vonage, for one TELECOM
8. Osmium or rhodium METAL
9. English cathedral city ELY
10. Actress Campbell of TV’s “Martin” TISHA
11. Rank ECHELON
12. Igneous rock on which the Code of Hammurabi is inscribed DIORITE
16. Brief statement, by necessity TWEET
18. Grave statement, briefly? RIP
19. The Donald’s first ex IVANA
25. Questionnaire datum SEX
28. Rembrandt van __ RIJN
32. Fiver FIN
33. “Who, me?” AM I?
34. Furry youngster CUB
35. Gp. for GPs HMO
36. Apple product IPAD
39. Eccentric types WEIRDOS
40. Undetermined IN LIMBO
41. Liszt’s instrument PIANO
42. Some games have multiple ones ENDINGS
43. Neptune, e.g. GOD
44. Toll, basically ROAD TAX
45. Take a dim view of DISLIKE
46. Doesn’t quit STAYS ON
47. Synonym eponym ROGET
51. Wire holder SPOOL
52. Monument Valley sight BUTTE
53. Short OWING
54. Original boss of Sara and Nick on “CSI” GIL
59. Long ride? LIMO
61. Four-day weekend time, for many: Abbr. NOV
62. Neptune’s realm SEA

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