LA Times Crossword Answers 16 Jul 14, Wednesday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
14. Sister of Zsa Zsa EVA
Eva Gabor was the youngest of the Gabor sisters, all three of whom were celebrated Hollywood actresses and socialites (her siblings were Zsa-Zsa and Magda). The Gabor sisters were born in Budapest and immigrated to the United States separately, with Eva being the first to arrive. Eva broke into movies, but her most famous role was on the TV sitcom “Green Acres” in which she played the lovely character Lisa Douglas opposite Eddie Albert. One of Eva’s claims to fame is the unwitting promotion of the game called “Twister”, the sales of which were languishing in 1996. In an appearance on “The Tonight Show” she got on all fours and played the game with Johnny Carson. Sales took off immediately, and Twister became a huge hit.

Zsa Zsa Gabor is a Hungarian American actress, born in Budapest as Sári Gábor (the older sister of the actress Eva). Zsa Zsa Gabor has been married a whopping nine times, including a 5-year stint with Conrad Hilton and another 5 years with the actor George Sanders. One of Gabor’s famous quips was that she was always a good housekeeper, as after every divorce she kept the house!

15. Flynn of film ERROL
Errol Flynn was born 1909 in Tasmania, Australia where he was raised. In his twenties, Flynn lived in the UK where he pursued his acting career. Around the same time he starred in an Australian film “In the Wake of the Bounty” and then appeared in a British film “Murder at Monte Carlo”. It was in the latter film that he was noticed by Warner Brothers who brought him to America. Flynn’s non-American heritage shone through even while he was living the American dream in California. He regularly played cricket, along with his friend David Niven, in the Hollywood Cricket Club.

16. Main artery AORTA
The aorta originates in the heart and extends down into the abdomen. It is the largest artery in the body.

17. Green Day’s “American Idiot,” e.g. ROCK OPERA (giving “rock garden”)
Green Day is a punk rock band from just down the road here, from Berkeley, California.

19. Govt.-backed bond T-NOTE
A Treasury note (T-Note) is a government debt that matures in 1-10 years. A T-Note has a coupon (interest) payment made every six months. The T-note is purchased at a discount to face value, and at the date of maturity can be redeemed at that face value. A T-Bill is a similar financial vehicle, but it matures in one year or less, and a T-Bond matures in 20-30 years.

20. Secretary of the Interior under FDR ICKES
Harold L. Ickes served as Secretary of the Interior for 13 years in the Roosevelt and Truman administrations. That made Ickes the longest serving Secretary of the Interior in history. He was also the second-longest serving member of the Cabinet, second only to James Wilson who was Secretary of Agriculture for Presidents McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt and Taft. Harold L. Ickes’ son is Harold M. Ickes, who was White House Deputy Chief of Staff in the Clinton administration.

24. NASCAR winner’s celebration VICTORY LAP (giving “victory garden”)
Victory gardens were gardens planted in place of ornamental gardens to grow food during WWI and WWII. MOst victory gardens were in private residences, but many were found in public parks.

35. “¿Cómo __?” ESTA
“¿Cómo está usted?” is the more formal way of asking, “How are you?” in Spanish.

41. Shade of green JADE
Jade is actually the name given to two different mineral rocks, both of which are used to make gemstones. The first is nephrite, a mineral with a varying degree of iron content, the more iron the greener the color. The second is jadeite, a sodium and aluminum-rich pyroxene. As well as being used for gemstones, both jade minerals can be carved into decorative pieces.

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

46. Sleeveless shirt TANK TOP
“Tank top” is another one of those terms that always catches me out, as it has a different meaning on each side of the Atlantic. In the US a tank top is a sleeveless shirt, something we would call a “vest” back in Ireland (and the US “vest” is what we call a “waist coat”). A tank top in Ireland is a sleeveless sweater, which further adds to the confusion. The name “tank top” is derived from “tank suit”, an old name for a woman’s one-piece bathing suit. The use of “tank” for the bathing suit came from “swimming tank”, an obsolete term used in the 1920s for a swimming pool.

51. 1995 Stephen King novel ROSE MADDER (giving “rose garden”)
“Rose Madder” is a novel by Stephen King that was published in 1995. Apparently not one of his better works (I don’t read King myself), “Rose Madder” deals with domestic violence and incorporates elements of Greek mythology in the storyline.

55. English Channel port DOVER
Dover is a town and port in the county of Kent on the south coast of England. Dover lies just 25 miles from the coast of France, and is a terminus on the much-used Dover-Calais ferry service. The town is also famous its magnificent chalk cliffs that are known as the White Cliffs of Dover.

The English Channel is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean, the narrow part that separates the south of England from northern France. The French call the same body of water “La Manche”, which translates literally as “the sleeve”. At its narrowest point the Channel is just over 20 miles wide, and it indeed possible to see France from England and vice versa. Nowadays there is a tunnel under the channel making travel extremely convenient. When I was living and working in Europe, with the help of the Channel Tunnel, one day I had a breakfast meeting in Brussels, a lunch meeting in London, and a dinner meeting in Paris. It’s more fun sitting here doing the crossword though …

56. Fashionista Mary-Kate OLSEN
I don’t know very much about the actresses and TV personalities called the Olsen twins. I am told that folks believe Mary-Kate and Ashley to be identical twins. They look very much alike, but are in fact just fraternal twins.

57. Bolt on a track USAIN
Usain Bolt is a Jamaican sprinter who won the 100m and 200m race gold medals in both the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. Back in Jamaica, Bolt was really into cricket and probably would have been a very successful fast bowler had he not hit the track instead.

63. Red Sea peninsula SINAI
The Sinai Peninsula is in the eastern part of Egypt, the triangular peninsula bounded by the Mediterranean to the north and the Red Sea to the south. It is the only part of Egypt that lies in Asia as opposed to Africa. The eastern land border of the peninsula is shared with Israel, and Israel occupied the Sinai during the 1956 Suez Crisis and the Six Day War of 1967.

64. Pi, for one RATIO
By definition, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter is the mathematical constant known as pi. The same constant shows up as the ratio of a circle’s area to its radius squared.

65. Tempe sch. ASU
Arizona State University (ASU) has a long history, founded as the Tempe Normal School for the Arizona Territory in 1885. The athletic teams of ASU used to be known as the Normals, then the Bulldogs, and since 1946 they’ve been called the Sun Devils.

67. Hacienda brick ADOBE
The building material known as adobe has been around a long time, and has been used in dry climates all over the world. The original form of the word “adobe” dates back to Middle Egyptian times, about 2000 BC. The original spelling is “dj-b-t”, and translates as mud (sun-dried) brick.

68. Fall mo. SEP
The month of September is the ninth month in our year, although the name “September” comes from the Latin word “septum” meaning “seventh”. September was the seventh month in the Roman calendar until the year 46 BC when Julius Caesar introduced the Julian calendar. The Julian system moved the start of the year from March 1st to January 1st, and shifting September to the ninth month. The Gregorian calendar that we use today was introduced in 1582.

Down
2. Long-legged shore bird AVOCET
The avocet is found in warm climates, usually in saline wetlands where it uses its upcurved bill to sweep from side-to-side in water searching for aquatic insects on which it feeds. Avocets, and other similar species, may go by the common name of “stilts”, a moniker applied to them because of their long legs.

4. Vintage cars REOS
The REO Motor Company was founded by Ransom E. Olds (hence the name REO). The company made cars, trucks and buses, and was in business from 1905 to 1975 in Lansing, Michigan. Among the company’s most famous models were the REO Royale and the REO Flying Cloud.

5. Dadaism founder ARP
Hans Arp was a French artist renowned for his work with torn and pasted paper, although that wasn’t the only medium he used. Arp was the son of a French mother and German father and spoke both languages fluently. When he was speaking German he gave his name as Hans Arp, but when speaking French he called himself Jean Arp. Both “Hans” and “Jean” translate into English as “John”. In WWI Arp moved to Switzerland to avoid being called up to fight, taking advantage of Swiss neutrality. Eventually he was told to report to the German Consulate and fill out paperwork for the draft. In order to get out of fighting, Arp messed up the paperwork by writing the date in every blank space on the forms. Then he took off all of his clothes and walked with his papers over to the officials in charge. He was sent home …

Dadaism thrived during and just after WWI, and was an anti-war, anti-bourgeois and anti-art culture. The movement began in Zurich, Switzerland started by a group of artists and writers who met to discuss art and put on performances in the Cabaret Voltaire, frequently expressing disgust at the war that was raging across Europe.

7. Greek architectural style DORIC
The Doric was one of the three classical orders of architecture, the others being the Ionic and the Corinthian.

9. “The Colbert Report” stock-in-trade SATIRE
Stephen Colbert is a political satirist who hosts his own show on Comedy Central called “The Colbert Report”. Colbert’s first love was theater, and so he studied to become an actor. He then moved into comedy, and ended up on the “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”. He left “The Daily Show” in 2005 to set up his own spin-off called “The Colbert Report”. In his own inimitable way, Colbert likes to use a “French” pronunciation for the name of his show, so “The Colbert Report” comes out as “The Col-bear Rep-oar”.

11. Gold, in Guadalajara ORO
Guadalajara is a populous city in the Mexican state of Jalisco. The Mexican city is named after the city of the same name in the center of Spain.

12. Polo Grounds hero Mel 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.

The original Polo Grounds in New York city was built in 1876 and as one might expect, it was used to play polo. The property was leased in 1880 by the New York Metropolitans and was converted into a baseball stadium. Over the years, the stadium was replaced, three times in all, but the “Polo Grounds” name was retained.

13. __ Bo TAE
Tae Bo isn’t an ancient martial art, and rather was developed as a form of aerobic exercise in the 1990s. The discipline was introduced by taekwondo expert Billy Blanks who gave it the name Tae Bo, a melding of “taekwondo” and “boxing”.

22. “… a borrower __ a lender …”: “Hamlet” NOR
In Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, Polonius is an important character eventually killed by Hamlet, albeit in a case of mistaken identity. Polonius has two memorable lines in the play that are oft-quoted today. “To thine own self be true”, and “Neither a borrower nor a lender be”.

25. “Me, Myself & __”: Jim Carrey film IRENE
“Me, Myself & Irene” is a 2000 comedy film starring Jim Carrey (“Me” and “Myself”) and Renée Zellweger (Irene). The movie is a perfect vehicle for Carrey as his character is a state trooper who develops a second personality after a psychotic breakdown. You can just imagine how Jim Carrey plays that extra, unrepressed persona!

Jim Carrey is a comedian and actor from Newmarket, Ontario. Carrey’s big break in films came with the title role the first “Ace Ventura” film, in 1994. My favorite of his big screen performances is in the fascinating film “The Truman Show”, released in 1998.

27. ABA member ATTY
American Bar Association (ABA)

33. Rite Aid rival CVS
The name of the drugstore chain CVS once stood for Consumer Value Stores, although these days the company uses the acronym to denote Convenience, Value and Service.

What we know today as Rite Aid started out as one store in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1962. Rite Aid is now the biggest chain of drugstores on the East Coast of the United States and has operations all over the country.

36. Chihuahua cat GATO
Chihuahua is a state in northern Mexico that shares a border with Texas and New Mexico. Chihuahua is the largest state in the country, so has the nickname “El Estado Grande”. The state takes its name from the Chihuahuan Desert which lies largely within its borders. And of course the Chihuahua breed of dog takes its name from the state.

37. Ruckuses ADOS
The word “ruckus” is used to mean a commotion, and has been around since the late 1800s. “Ruckus” is possibly a melding of the words “ruction” and “rumpus”.

39. __ admiral REAR
The rank of rear admiral is usually the lowest of the “admiral” ranks. The term originated with the Royal Navy. In days gone by, an admiral would head up the activities of a naval squadron from the central vessel. He would be assisted by a “vice admiral” who acted from the lead vessel. There would also be a lower-ranking admiral to command the ships at the rear of the squadron, and this was the “rear admiral”.

45. Cleveland NBAer CAV
The Cleveland Cavaliers are the professional basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cavs joined the NBA as an expansion team in 1970.

48. Electric cars named for a physicist TESLAS
Tesla Motors is a manufacturer of electric vehicles based in Palo Alto, California. Tesla is noted for producing the first electric sports car, called the Tesla Roadster. The current base price of a roadster is about $100,000, should you be interested …

50. Fork over what’s due PONY UP
“To pony up” means “to pay”. Apparently the term originated as slang use of the Latin term “legem pone” that was once used for “money”. “Legem Pone” was the title of the Psalm that was read out on March 25 each year, and March 25 was the first payday of the year in days gone by.

52. Actress Winger DEBRA
When Debra Winger was a young woman she was involved in a terrible car accident that resulted in a cerebral hemorrhage. She was left partially paralyzed and blind, and was told that she would never see again. Given so much time to think after the accident, she decided that if she did indeed recover she would leave her home in Ohio and move to California to take up acting. After ten months of blindness Winger recovered, and off she headed.

56. Clarinet cousin OBOE
The oboe is perhaps my favorite of the reed instruments. The name “oboe” comes from the French “hautbois” which means “high wood”. When you hear an orchestra tuning before a performance you’ll note (pun intended!) that the oboe starts off the process by playing an “A”. The rest of the musicians in turn tune to that oboe’s “A”.

The clarinet is a lovely-sounding instrument, isn’t it? The name comes from the Italian word “clarino” meaning “trumpet” with the “-et” suffix indicating “small”.

57. Naval letters USS
The acronym “USS” stands for “United States Ship”. The practice of naming US Navy vessels in a standard format didn’t start until 1907 when President Theodore Roosevelt issued an executive order that addressed the issue.

59. “Give me __!”: start of a Hoosier cheer AN I
The exact origin of the word “Hoosier” is unknown, but has been around since at least 1830. The term had no direct linkage with Indiana until John Finley of Richmond, Indiana wrote a poem called “The Hoosier’s Nest” in 1833. A few years later, by 1840, “hoosier” was generally accepted as a term for Indiana residents.

61. WWII arena ETO
European Theater of Operations (ETO)

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Place to wipe your boots MAT
4. Vice squad strategies RAIDS
9. “Darn!” SHOOT!
14. Sister of Zsa Zsa EVA
15. Flynn of film ERROL
16. Main artery AORTA
17. Green Day’s “American Idiot,” e.g. ROCK OPERA (giving “rock garden”)
19. Govt.-backed bond T-NOTE
20. Secretary of the Interior under FDR ICKES
21. Navel type INNIE
23. Commuting start? TELE-
24. NASCAR winner’s celebration VICTORY LAP (giving “victory garden”)
29. First-class STELLAR
31. Sales incentive REBATE
32. Send to the statehouse ELECT
35. “¿Cómo __?” ESTA
36. Commonplace, and what the start of 17-, 24-, 51- or 60-Across is GARDEN VARIETY
41. Shade of green JADE
42. German steel city ESSEN
43. __ energy ATOMIC
46. Sleeveless shirt TANK TOP
51. 1995 Stephen King novel ROSE MADDER (giving “rose garden”)
54. Prefix with space AERO-
55. English Channel port DOVER
56. Fashionista Mary-Kate OLSEN
57. Bolt on a track USAIN
60. Spare tire BEER BELLY (giving “beer garden”)
63. Red Sea peninsula SINAI
64. Pi, for one RATIO
65. Tempe sch. ASU
66. Prop for a clown STILT
67. Hacienda brick ADOBE
68. Fall mo. SEP

Down
1. Inherent rights and wrongs, as of a case MERITS
2. Long-legged shore bird AVOCET
3. Take on, as a challenge TACKLE
4. Vintage cars REOS
5. Dadaism founder ARP
6. Rage IRE
7. Greek architectural style DORIC
8. Viewpoint SLANT
9. “The Colbert Report” stock-in-trade SATIRE
10. Winged stinger HONEYBEE
11. Gold, in Guadalajara ORO
12. Polo Grounds hero Mel OTT
13. __ Bo TAE
18. Ship stabilizer KEEL
22. “… a borrower __ a lender …”: “Hamlet” NOR
24. Low-lying land VALE
25. “Me, Myself & __”: Jim Carrey film IRENE
26. In the cellar, sportswise LAST
27. ABA member ATTY
28. Pot pie veggie PEA
30. Was in front LED
33. Rite Aid rival CVS
34. Sample TASTE
36. Chihuahua cat GATO
37. Ruckuses ADOS
38. Like some skill-building classes REMEDIAL
39. __ admiral REAR
40. Bed-and-breakfast, e.g. INN
41. Moonshine container JAR
44. “Consider the job done!” I’M ON IT!
45. Cleveland NBAer CAV
47. Cabbagelike plant KALE
48. Electric cars named for a physicist TESLAS
49. Ultimatum words OR ELSE
50. Fork over what’s due PONY UP
52. Actress Winger DEBRA
53. Profound fear DREAD
56. Clarinet cousin OBOE
57. Naval letters USS
58. Grab a stool SIT
59. “Give me __!”: start of a Hoosier cheer AN I
61. WWII arena ETO
62. Tease RIB

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