LA Times Crossword Answers 30 Jun 14, Monday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
5. Defame in print LIBEL
The word “libel”, meaning a published or written statement likely to harm a person’s reputation, comes into English from the Latin “libellus”, the word for a small book. Back in the 1500s “libel” was just a formal written statement, with the more damaging meaning arising in the 1600s.

14. New York City theater award OBIE
The Obies are the “Off-Broadway Theater Awards”. The Obies are presented annually and the recipients are chosen by “The Village Voice” newspaper.

15. Dutch-speaking Caribbean island ARUBA
Aruba is one of the so-called ABC Islands. The ABC Islands is the nickname given to the three westernmost islands of the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean. The nickname comes from the first letters of the island names: Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. All three of the ABC Islands are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

16. Dianetics creator Hubbard L RON
L. Ron Hubbard wrote a self-improvement book in 1950 called “Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health”. A few years later the concepts were used in the founding of the Church of Scientology.

21. Ukrainian city of one million ODESSA
The city of Odessa (also “Odesa”) in Ukraine was founded relatively recently, in 1794 by Catherine the Great. The city was originally meant to be called Odessos after an ancient Greek city believed to have been located nearby. Catherine liked the way the locals pronounced the name as “Odessa” and so went with the less Greek-sounding name.

22. “Othello” conspirator IAGO
Shakespeare’s “Othello” was first performed in 1604. The main characters in the play are:

– Othello, a general in the army of Venice
– Desdemona, Othello’s wife
– Cassio, Othello’s trusted ensign
– Iago, the villain of the piece

33. Exxon merger partner MOBIL
Mobil was founded as part of the the breakup of Standard Oil in 1911. The company was originally called Socony (Standard Oil Company of New York). Socony merged with Magnolia Petroleum Company in the thirties and adopted Magnolia’s Pegasus emblem, and it has been used ever since. Mobil merged with Exxon in 1999 but the Mobil brand and Pegasus are alive and well.

38. “Evil Woman” rock gp. ELO
The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) recorded the song “Evil Woman” in 1975. “Evil Woman” was written by the band’s lead vocalist, Jeff Lynne, in just thirty minutes!

40. Thyme piece SPRIG
In Ancient Greece, thyme was burned as incense and used in baths as it was believed to be a source of courage.

42. Agcy. that regulates tobacco products FDA
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

43. Apple music players IPODS
When Apple settleD on the name “iPod” for the company’s line of portable media players, they found that the trademark was already owned by one Joseph Grasso of New Jersey. Grasso had registered the name in 2000 to describe Internet kiosks that had a brief flurry of life in 2000-2001. Grasso assigned the iPod trademark to Apple in 2005. One has to wonder if Apple bought him a beer to do so …

44. Greek island SAMOS
Samos is an island in the eastern Aegean Sea off the coast of Greece. Samos is the birthplace of the famed mathematician Pythagoras, the philosopher Epicurus, and the astronomer Aristarchus of Samos. The latter was the first person known to have proposed that the Earth revolves around the sun.

47. Slalom competitor SKIER
Slalom is an anglicized version of the Norwegian word “slalam” that translates as “skiing race”.

50. Enterprise engineer SCOTTY
In the “Star Trek” series on television and in the movies, the colorful character of “Scotty” was played by the Canadian actor James Doohan. Doohan joined the Royal Canadian Artillery at the start of WWII, and participated in the D-Day Invasion of Normandy. After surviving the landing, that same day Doohan was shot by one of his own men in a tragic mishap. Doohan was hit six times, with a bullet to his chest stopped by a silver cigarette case he was carrying. One of Doohan’s fingers was shot off in the incident, an injury that he successfully concealed during his acting career.

60. Run a tab, say OWE
When we “run a tab” at a bar say, we are “running a tabulation”, a listing of what we owe. Such a use of “tab” is American slang that originated in the 1880s.

61. Arabian sultanate OMAN
Oman lies on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula and is neighbored by the OAE, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The capital city of Muscat has a strategic location on the Gulf of Oman and has a history of invasion and unrest. Centuries of occupation by the Persians ended in 1507 when the Portuguese took the city in a bloody attack. The Portuguese held Muscat for much of the next one hundred years until finally being ousted by local Omani forces in 1648. A Yemeni tribe invaded the area in 1741 and set up a monarchy that has been in place in Oman ever since.

62. Cookie brand FAMOUS AMOS
Wally Amos was a talent agent, one who was in the habit of taking home-baked cookies with him as an enticement to get celebrities to see him. He was urged by friends to open a cookie store (the cookies were that delicious, I guess) and this he did in Los Angeles in 1975 using the name “Famous Amos”. The store was a smash hit and he was able build on the success by introducing his cookies into supermarkets. The brand was eventually bought up making Wally a rich man, and Famous Amos cookies are still flying off the shelf.

64. Rocker Hendrix JIMI
Many of his contemporaries regarded Jimi Hendrix as the greatest electric guitarist in the history of rock music. Hendrix was from Seattle and didn’t really have a really stellar start to his working life. He failed to finish high school and fell foul of the law by getting caught in stolen cars, twice. The courts gave him the option of the army or two years in prison. Hendrix chose the former and soon found himself in the famous 101st Airborne. In the army, his less-than-disciplined ways helped him (as he would have seen it) because his superiors successfully petitioned to get him discharged after serving only one year of his two-year requirement, just to get him out of their hair.

65. Hole __: golf rarity IN ONE
One well-documented hole-in-one was during a round of the British Open in 1973. American golfer Gene Sarazen achieved the feat that day, at the age of 71. A less well-documented series of holes-in-one was reported by the North Korean press in a story about the Korean leader Kim Jong-il. The report was that Kim Jong-il scored 11 holes-in-one in his first and only round of golf.

68. Like pet parakeets CAGED
Parakeets are a group of bird species that are small parrots. The most common type of parakeet that we see in pet stores is the budgerigar.

69. Prom night wheels 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 …

A prom is a formal dance held upon graduation from high school (we call them “formals” over in Ireland). The term “prom” is short for “promenade”, the name given to a type of dance or ball.

Down
2. 2012 Romney defeater OBAMA
President Obama’s first name, Barack, is Swahili with roots in an old Arabic word meaning “blessed”. Barack was the President’s father’s name. President Obama’s middle name is Hussein, an Arabic word meaning “good” or “handsome one”. Hussein was the name of the President’s grandfather on the paternal side. His surname, Obama, doesn’t really have a translation, but is a common name among the Luo tribe of Kenya.

Mitt Romney was born Willard Mitt Romney in 1947 in Detroit, Michigan. Romney’s parents named him after J. Willard Marriott (the hotel magnate) who was the father’s best friend, and after Milton “Mitt” Romney who was the father’s cousin and quarterback for the Chicago Bears.

3. Popeye’s hamburger-loving pal WIMPY
In comic strip “Popeye”, there’s a lovable character called J. Wellington Wimpy, usually shorted to “Wimpy”. Wimpy appeared an awful lot in the comic strip that ran in the newspapers, but he was relegated to the minors when “Popeye” was adapted for television.

4. Neighbor of Syr. LEB
Lebanon (Leb.) is a neighbor of Syria (Syr.).

5. Peke or Yorkie LAP DOG
The pekingese breed originated in China, as one might suspect from the name. Breeding practices have resulted in the the dog having many health problems, including breathing issues related to the “desirable” flat face. Standards have been changed in recent years, demanding an “evident muzzle” in an attempt to breed healthier dogs.

The Yorkshire terrier is a breed of dog from the county of Yorkshire in the north of England. That part of the country became very industrialized in the 19th-century, and was home to hundred of clothing mills. The Yorkshire terrier was developed to catch rats in those mills.

6. “Dies __”: Latin hymn IRAE
“Dies Irae” is Latin for “Day of Wrath”. It is the name of a famous melody in Gregorian Chant, one that is often used as part of the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass.

9. Bomb on stage LAY AN EGG
Apparently the expression “to lay an egg”, meaning “to perform or play really badly” comes from the resemblance of the number 0 to an egg. One laying an egg scores zero.

10. TV’s “Mistress of the Dark” ELVIRA
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark was a character originally used to introduce a local Los Angeles weekend horror show back in the early eighties. Elvira was a comic sexy persona played by actress Cassandra Peterson. She wore a tight black gown with a famous low-cut neckline. The weekend horror show is long gone, but the Elvira character is still going strong.

24. Sacred wader of old Egypt IBIS
The ibis is a wading bird that was revered in ancient Egypt. “Ibis” is an interesting word grammatically speaking. You can have one “ibis” or two “ibises”, and then again one has a flock of “ibis”. And if you want to go with the classical plural, instead of two “ibises” you would have two “ibides”!

26. Corrida cheer OLE!
In Spain, bullfighting is known locally as “corrida de toros”, literally “race of bulls”.

28. Food for Fido ALPO
Alpo is a brand of dog food first produced by Allen Products in 1936, with “Alpo” being an abbreviation for “Allen Products”. Lorne Greene used to push Alpo in television spots, as did Ed McMahon and Garfield the Cat, would you believe?

29. Dweebs NERDS
Dweeb, squarepants, nerd … all are not nice terms that mean the same thing, someone excessively studious and socially inept.

31. Red “Sesame Street” Muppet ELMO
The man behind/under the character Elmo on “Sesame Street” is Kevin Clash. If you want to learn more about Elmo and Clash, you can watch the 2011 documentary “Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey”.

34. Shoppe modifier OLDE
The word “olde” wasn’t actually used much earlier than the 1920s. “Olde” was introduced to give a quaint antique feel to brand names, shop names etc.

37. Floppy __ DISK
I don’t think my kids really know what a floppy disk is. A floppy disk is made up of a thin and flexible magnetic material that can store data, enclosed in a protective case. I’ve used 8-inch floppies in my time, and many 5.25-inch floppy disks. I still have a desktop that will take 3.5-inch disks, although I don’t think there is a 3.5-inch floppy anywhere in the house.

41. Hawaiian root TARO
The corm of some taro plants is used to make poi, the traditional Hawaiian dish (that I think tastes horrible). When a taro plant is grown as an ornamental, it is often called Elephant Ears due to the shape of its large leaves.

46. Grammy winner Morissette ALANIS
Alanis Morissette is a Canadian singer-songwriter. After releasing two pop albums in Canada, in 1995 she recorded her first album to be distributed internationally. Called “Jagged Little Pill”, it is a collection of songs with more of a rock influence. The album was a huge success, the highest-selling album of the 1990s, and the highest-selling debut album by any artist at any time (selling over 30 million units).

51. Marisa of “My Cousin Vinny” TOMEI
Marisa Tomei’s first screen role was in the daytime soap “As the World Turns”, but her break came with a recurring role in “The Cosby Show” spinoff “A Different World”. Tomei won an Oscar for her delightful performance in “My Cousin Vinny” in 1992.

“My Cousin Vinny” is a really fun film from 1992 starring Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei. In 2008, the American Bar Association rated “My Cousin Vinny” as the #3 Greatest Legal Movie of all time, after “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “12 Angry Man”!

52. Wee hr., and a hint to a feature common to this puzzle’s four longest answers TWO AM
The 12-hour clock has been around a long time, and was even used in sundial format in Ancient Egypt. Our use of AM and PM dates back to Roman times, with AM standing for Ante Meridiem (before noon) and PM standing for Post Meridiem (after noon). However, the Romans originally used the AM concept a little differently, by counting backwards from noon. So, 2AM to the Romans would be two hours before noon, or 10AM as we would call it today.

54. Magic charm MOJO
The word “mojo”, meaning magical charm or magnetism, is probably of Creole origin.

55. Gulf States prince EMIR
An emir is a prince or chieftain, most notably in the Middle East. In English, “emir” can also be written as “amir” and “ameer” (watch out for those spellings in crosswords!).

58. Skyline haze SMOG
“Smog” is of course a portmanteau word formed by melding “smoke” and “fog”. The term was first used to describe the air around London in the early 1900s.

59. Actress Skye IONE
Ione Skye is an American actress born in Hertfordshire in England. She is best known for portraying the character Diane Court in the 1989 high school romance movie “Say Anything …”, starring opposite John Cusack. Skye is the daughter of the Scottish folk singer Donovan.

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Cereal dish BOWL
5. Defame in print LIBEL
10. Brink EDGE
14. New York City theater award OBIE
15. Dutch-speaking Caribbean island ARUBA
16. Dianetics creator Hubbard L RON
17. Wishy-washy NAMBY-PAMBY
19. Heating outlet VENT
20. Baseball official UMP
21. Ukrainian city of one million ODESSA
22. “Othello” conspirator IAGO
23. Give up the single life SAY “I DO”
25. Standard NORM
27. Took the first step BEGAN
30. Very happy ELATED
33. Exxon merger partner MOBIL
36. Pigeon’s roost, often LEDGE
38. “Evil Woman” rock gp. ELO
39. Societal problems ILLS
40. Thyme piece SPRIG
41. Not at all wild TAME
42. Agcy. that regulates tobacco products FDA
43. Apple music players IPODS
44. Greek island SAMOS
45. Doe or sow FEMALE
47. Slalom competitor SKIER
49. Utility abbr. ELEC
50. Enterprise engineer SCOTTY
54. Lead-in for bytes or bucks MEGA-
56. Persistently demand INSIST
60. Run a tab, say OWE
61. Arabian sultanate OMAN
62. Cookie brand FAMOUS AMOS
64. Rocker Hendrix JIMI
65. Hole __: golf rarity IN ONE
66. Tilt LEAN
67. Valuable rocks ORES
68. Like pet parakeets CAGED
69. Prom night wheels LIMO

Down
1. Paycheck surprise BONUS
2. 2012 Romney defeater OBAMA
3. Popeye’s hamburger-loving pal WIMPY
4. Neighbor of Syr. LEB
5. Peke or Yorkie LAP DOG
6. “Dies __”: Latin hymn IRAE
7. Mooches, as a cigarette BUMS
8. Flows out EBBS
9. Bomb on stage LAY AN EGG
10. TV’s “Mistress of the Dark” ELVIRA
11. Elite group of athletes DREAM TEAM
12. Loud bell GONG
13. Within: Pref. ENTO-
18. Swiss Alps melody YODEL
24. Sacred wader of old Egypt IBIS
26. Corrida cheer OLE!
28. Food for Fido ALPO
29. Dweebs NERDS
31. Red “Sesame Street” Muppet ELMO
32. Performs DOES
33. Annoy MIFF
34. Shoppe modifier OLDE
35. It’s “played” by finger-pointers BLAME GAME
37. Floppy __ DISK
40. Explicit SPECIFIC
41. Hawaiian root TARO
43. Suffix with infant -ILE
44. Religious divisions SECTS
46. Grammy winner Morissette ALANIS
48. Put out, as a publication ISSUED
51. Marisa of “My Cousin Vinny” TOMEI
52. Wee hr., and a hint to a feature common to this puzzle’s four longest answers TWO AM
53. Courtroom question type YES/NO
54. Magic charm MOJO
55. Gulf States prince EMIR
57. Mom’s mom NANA
58. Skyline haze SMOG
59. Actress Skye IONE
63. Every bit ALL

Return to top of page