LA Times Crossword Answers 17 Oct 14, Friday

Share today’s solution with a friend:
FacebookTwitterGoogleEmail

Quicklink
Jump to a complete list of today’s clues and answers

CROSSWORD SETTER: Pancho Harrison
THEME: Song Titles, Aptly … each of today’s themed answers is a song title. But, we need to observe how the words are arranged in the grid to come up with the correct title:

4D. 1973-’74 Jim Croce hit, aptly A (TIME) BOTTLE (giving “Time in a Bottle”)
8D. 1964 Marvin Gaye/Mary Wells hit, aptly (ONCE) A TIME (giving “Once Upon a Time”)
27D. 1989 Bette Midler hit, aptly MY WINGS (WIND) (giving “Wind Beneath My Wings”)
33D. 1936 Eddy Duchin hit, aptly (MOON) MIAMI (giving “Moon over Miami”)

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 7m 57s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

1. Pinky-side arm bone ULNA
The radius and ulna are bones in the forearm. If you hold the palm of your hand up in front of you, the radius is the bone on the “thumb-side” of the arm, and the ulna is the bone on the “pinkie-side”.

10. Lurking locale BLOG
Many folks who visit this website regard it as just that, a website. That is true, but more correctly it is referred to as a blog, as I make regular posts (actually daily posts) which then occupy the “front page” of the site. The blog entries are in reverse chronological order, and one can just look back day-by-day, reading older and older posts. Blog is a contraction of the term “web log”.

14. Ferrari parent company FIAT
Fiat is the largest car manufacturer in Italy, and is headquartered in Turin in the Piedmont region in the north of the country. Fiat was founded in 1899 by Giovanni Agnelli, when the company’s name was “Fabbrica Italiana di Automobili Torino” (FIAT). A few years ago, Fiat became the majority shareholder in Chrysler.

Enzo Ferrari was an Italian race car driver, and founder of the Ferrari car manufacturing company. Ferrari died in 1988, and in 2003 the company named the Enzo Ferrari model after its founder.

15. Spanish royal REINA
In Spanish, a queen (reina) lives in a place (palacio).

17. “A Total Departure” hotel chain OMNI
Omni Hotels & Resorts is headquartered in Irvine, California and has properties in the US, Canada and Mexico.

20. Neapolitan kin SPUMONI
Spumoni is an Italian dessert, one made with a mixture of three ice cream flavors containing candied fruit and nuts.

22. Massage beneficiary EGO
Sigmund Freud created a structural model of the human psyche, breaking it into three parts: the id, the ego, and the super-ego. The id is that part of the psyche containing the basic instinctual drives. The ego seeks to please the id by causing realistic behavior that benefits the individual. The super-ego almost has a parental role, contradicting the id by introducing critical thinking and morals to behavioral choices.

25. Earth, in Essen ERDE
In German, the Earth (Erde) is one of the planets (die Planeten).

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

26. Cold, for one AILMENT
The common cold is caused by a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract. There are over 200 strains of virus that are known to cause the disease.

28. Anchor man? SWABBY
“Swabbie” (also “swabby, swab, swabber”) is a slang term for a sailor, which we’ve been using since the late 1700s. A “swab” was originally a member of the crew assigned to the swabbing (mopping) of the ship’s decks.

34. Baylor Bears’ home WACO
In recent years, Waco is perhaps most famous as the site of a siege and shootout between ATF agents and members of the Protestant sect known as the Branch Davidians. Shortly after ATF agents tried to execute a search warrant, shots were fired and at the end of the fight six people inside the Branch Davidian compound were dead, as were four agents. A fifty-day siege ensued at the end of which a final assault resulted in members of the community setting fire to the compound. Only nine people walked away from that fire. 50 adults and 25 children perished.

Remember Ken Starr of Whitewater fame? Starr is now President of Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

38. “My Honky Tonk History” album maker Travis TRITT
Travis Tritt is a country singer from Marietta, Georgia.

39. First note of a tuba solo? OOM
The tuba is the lowest pitched of all the brass instruments, and one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra (usually there is just one tuba included in an orchestral line-up). “Tuba” is the Latin word for “trumpet, horn”. Oom-pah-pah …

46. Macbeth’s “fatal vision” DAGGER
In William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”, one of the more famous soliloquies starts with, “Is this a dagger which I see before me …?” There isn’t an actual dagger in front of Macbeth, but instead he sees the vision of a dagger pointing at King Duncan’s bedchamber, perhaps suggesting that he should go ahead with his plan to murder the King.

47. Sprint, for one TELECOM
The modern Sprint Corporation, a giant in the telecommunications industry, can trace its roots back to the Brown Telephone Company which was founded in 1899. C.L. and Jacob Brown created their company to provide a telephone service to the rural parts around the city of Abilene, Kansas.

51. Color-coded EPA meas. AQI
The air quality index (AQI) is monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

52. Prefix with athlete TRI-
An Ironman Triathlon is a race involving a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a marathon run of just over 26 miles. The idea for the race came out of a debate between some runners in the 1977 Oahu Perimeter Relay. They were questioning whether runners, swimmers or bikers were the most fit athletes. The debaters decided to combine three local events to determine the answer, inviting athletes from all three disciplines. The events that were mimicked to come up with the first triathlon were the Waikiki Roughwater swim (2.4 miles), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (115 miles) and the Honolulu Marathon (26.2 miles). The idea was that whoever finished first would be called “the Iron Man”. The first triathlon was run in 1978, with fifteen starters and only twelve finishers. The race format is used all over the world now, but the Hawaiian Ironman is the event that everyone wants to win.

53. Cold one BREWSKI
“Brewskis” and “cold one” are slang terms for “beer”.

62. Athens apéritif OUZO
Ouzo is an aperitif from Greece that is colorless and flavored with anise. Ouzo is similar to pastis from France and also has a flavor like sambuca from Italy.

An apéritif is an alcoholic drink served before a meal, to stimulate the palate. A digestif is an alcoholic drink served after a meal, to aid digestion.

63. Dante’s love AMORE
Dante Alighieri was an Italian poet of the Middle Ages. His “Divine Comedy” is widely considered to be the greatest literary work ever written in the Italian language.

64. Dundee dissents NAES
The city of Dundee lies on the north bank of the Firth of Tay in Scotland. The origins of the name “Dundee” are a little obscure, although the omnipresent “dùn” in place names all over Scotland and Ireland is the Celtic word for “fort”.

65. Bone: Pref. OSTE-
The Greek word for “bone” is “osteon”.

66. Two sheets to the wind? TIPSY
A sheet is the rope that is used to control a sail on a sailing vessel. The expression “three sheets to the wind” meaning “drunk” dates back to the early 1800s. It likely derives from the notion that a sailboat with three sails, and with all three sheets slipped out of control, would behave like someone who was drunk, and vice versa. “Two sheets to the wind” is a common variant of the idiom.

67. Villain named Julius DR NO
“Dr. No” may have been the first film in the wildly successful James Bond franchise, but it was the sixth novel in the series of books penned by Ian Fleming. Fleming was inspired to write the story after reading the Fu Manchu tales by Sax Rohmer. If you’ve read the Rohmer books or seen the films, you’ll recognize the similarities between the characters Dr. Julius No and Fu Manchu.

Down
1. Tabloid craft UFOS
“Tabloid” is the trademarked name (owned by Burroughs, Wellcome and Co,) for a “small tablet of medicine”, a name that goes back to 1884. The word “tabloid” had entered into general use to mean a compressed form of anything, and by the early 1900s was used in “tabloid journalism”, applied to newspapers that had short, condensed articles and stories printed on smaller sheets of paper.

3. Sitcom sign-off word NANU
“Mork & Mindy” was broadcast from 1978 to 1982. We were first introduced to Mork (played by Robin Williams, of course) in a special episode of “Happy Days”. The particular episode in question has a bizarre storyline culminating in Fonzie and Mork having a thumb-to-finger duel. Eventually Richie wakes up in bed, and alien Mork was just part of a dream! Oh, and “Nanu Nanu” means both “hello” and “goodbye” back on the planet Ork. “I am Mork from Ork, Nanu Nanu”. Great stuff …

4. 1973-’74 Jim Croce hit, aptly A (TIME) BOTTLE (giving “Time in a Bottle”)
Jim Croce wrote the lyrics to the hit song “Time in a Bottle” in December 1970 just after he heard from his wife that she was pregnant.

Jim Croce’s most successful songs were “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” and “Time in a Bottle”. Like so many great singers it seems, Croce died in a plane crash. He was killed along with five others just after takeoff when the small commercial plane in which he was travelling hit a tree, possibly because the pilot had a heart attack. Croce died just a few days before the release of his latest album, “I Got a Name”.

6. 1932 Lake Placid gold medalist HENIE
Sonja Henie was a World and Olympic Champion figure skater from Norway from the days when “amateur” sports stars were not paid. Henie made up for her lack of income from competing by developing a career in Hollywood. She was one of highest-paid film stars at the height of her movie career.

7. River inlet RIA
A drowned valley might be called a ria or a fjord, both formed as sea level rises. A ria is a drowned valley created by river erosion, and a fjord is a drowned valley created by glaciation.

8. 1964 Marvin Gaye/Mary Wells hit, aptly (ONCE) A TIME (giving “Once Upon a Time”)
Marvin Gaye was a singer-songwriter from Washington, D.C. who came to be known as “Prince of Soul” and “Prince of Motown”. Some of Gaye’s biggest hits are “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” (1968), “What’s Going On?” (1971), “Let’s Get It On” (1973) and “Sexual Healing” (1982). Famously, Gaye was shot dead by his father while Marvin was sitting on his mother’s bed just talking to her. Marvin had given the gun to his father as a Christmas gift.

Mary Wells was a Motown singer who had a string of the hits in the sixties, most notably “My Guy” from 1964.

9. Barbara Gordon’s alter ego BATGIRL
Yvonne Craig played Batgirl in the television series “Batman” from the sixties. Batgirl’s alter ego was Barbara Gordon, the librarian daughter of Commissioner Gordon.

12. Ancient theater ODEON
In Ancient Greece an odeon (also odeum) was like a small theater, with “odeon” literally meaning a “building for musical competition”. Odea were used in both Greece and Rome for entertainments such as musical shows and poetry readings.

13. Title character absent from the cast GODOT
An Irishman I may be, but I have sat through so many Samuel Beckett plays (the Irish dramatist) and I have yet to come away feeling satisfied that I spent my time well. Of course I am in the minority, as Beckett’s play “Waiting for Godot” was once voted the most significant English language play of the 20th century. Maybe I will try again one day …

23. Suffix with pay -OLA
Payola is the illegal practice of paying radio stations or disk jockeys to repeatedly play a particular piece of music. The impetus behind the crime is that the more often a song is played, the more likely it is to sell. The term “payola” comes from the words “pay” and “Victrola”, an RCA brand name for an early phonograph.

27. 1989 Bette Midler hit, aptly MY WINGS (WIND) (giving “Wind Beneath My Wings”)
“Wind Beneath My Wings” is song by Jeff Silbar and Larry Henley in 1982. It has been recorded by several artists over the years, most notably by the great Bette Midler for the soundtrack of the 1988 film “Beaches”. “Wind Beneath My Wings” is a particularly popular choice at funerals in the UK and Ireland.

28. Droop-nosed fliers SSTS
The most famous Supersonic Transport (SST) was the Concorde, a plane that’s no longer flying. Concorde had that famous “droop nose”. The nose was moved to the horizontal position during flight to create the optimum aerodynamic shape thereby reducing drag. It was lowered during taxi, takeoff and landing, so that the pilot had better visibility. The need for the droop nose was driven largely by the delta-shaped wings. The delta wing necessitates a higher angle of attack at takeoff and landing than conventional wing designs, so the pilot needed the nose lowered so that he or she could see the ground.

30. Match point, maybe AD IN
In tennis, if the score reaches “deuce” (i.e. when both players have scored three points), then the first player to win two points in a row wins the game. The player who wins the point immediately after deuce is said to have the “advantage”. If the player with the advantage wins the next point then that’s two in a row and that player wins the game. If the person with the advantage loses the next point, then advantage is lost and the players return to deuce and try again. If the one of the players is calling out the score then if he/she has the advantage then that player announces “ad in” or more formally “advantage in”. If the score announcer’s opponent has the advantage, then the announcement is “ad out” or “advantage out”. Follow all of that …?

33. 1936 Eddy Duchin hit, aptly (MOON) MIAMI (giving “Moon over Miami”)
“Moon over Miami” is song written by Joe Burke and Edgar Leslie in 1935. The most successful recording of the song was by Eddy Duchin and his Orchestra in 1936.

Eddy Duchin was a piano player and bandleader in the thirties and forties. Duchin’s career was interrupted during WWII when he served on destroyers in the Pacific, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Commander. There is a 1956 movie about his life called “The Eddy Duchin Story”, with Tyrone Power in the title role.

35. Sacha Baron Cohen persona ALI G
Ali G is a fictional character created by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. Baron Cohen achieved international fame playing another of his personae, Borat, the protagonist in the 2006 movie “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”.

37. Frankfurt’s river ODER
The Oder river rises in the Czech Republic, and forms just over a hundred miles of the border between Germany and Poland.

Frankfurt an der Oder is a town in Brandenburg, Germany that is right on the border with Poland. The suffix “an der Oder” shows that it lies on the Oder River and also serves to differentiate the town from the larger and more famous city of Frankfurt am Main.

40. Oklahoma native OSAGE
The Osage Nation originated in the Ohio River valley in what we now call Kentucky. They were forced to migrate west of the Mississippi by the invading Iroquois tribe. Most of the tribe members now live in Osage County, Oklahoma.

45. Canadian Thanksgiving mo. OCT
The Canadian Thanksgiving holiday predates the related celebration in the US. The first Canadian Thanksgiving was held in 1578 by an explorer from England named Martin Frobisher. Frobisher was giving thanks for his safe arrival in the New World, and made the observance in the month of October as this was a tradition in England. All this happened 43 years before the pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

46. Big name in the Big Band Era DORSEY
Tommy Dorsey was a jazz trombonist and bandleader in the Big Band era, and the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey. One of Tommy’s singers was Frank Sinatra, whom he hired from bandleader Harry James in 1940. Sinatra claimed that he learned breath control from watching Tommy Dorsey play the trombone.

47. Verboten TABOO
The word “taboo” was introduced into English by Captain Cook in his book “A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean”. Cook described “tabu” (likely imitative of a Tongan word that he had heard) as something that was both consecrated and forbidden.

“Verboten” is the German word for “forbidden”, a word that we have imported into English.

48. Shaffer play about a stableboy EQUUS
“Equus” is a play written in 1973 by Peter Shaffer. Shaffer wrote the play after he heard about a real-life crime in which a 17-year-old youth blinded six horses. The play tells of a psychiatrist treating a young man who has an unhealthy fascination with horses.

49. Symphonic poem pioneer LISZT
Franz Liszt was a Hungarian composer and a fabulous pianist. Particularly towards the end of his life, Liszt gained a tremendous reputation as a teacher. While he was in his sixties, his teaching jobs caused him to commute regularly between the cities of Rome, Weimar and Budapest. It is quite remarkable that a man of such advanced age, and in the 1870s, could do so much annual travel. It is estimated that Liszt journeyed at least 4,000 miles every year!

50. Ones with “ears” on their trucks CBERS
A CBer is someone who operates a Citizens’ Band radio. In 1945, the FCC set aside certain radio frequencies for the personal use of citizens. The use of the Citizens’ Band increased throughout the seventies as advances in electronics brought down the size of transceivers and their cost. There aren’t many CB radios sold these days though, as they have largely been replaced by cell phones.

A CBer might ask “Got your ears on?” meaning “Are you on the air, listening?”

60. Keystone lawman KOP
The Keystone Cops (sometimes “Keystone Kops”) were a band of madcap policemen characters who appeared in silent movies. A 1914 short film called “A Thief Catcher” that was believed lost was rediscovered in 2010. “A Thief Catcher” featured the magnificent Charlie Chaplin in an early role as a Keystone Cop.

Share today’s solution with a friend:
FacebookTwitterGoogleEmail

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Pinky-side arm bone ULNA
5. Vibrate THROB
10. Lurking locale BLOG
14. Ferrari parent company FIAT
15. Spanish royal REINA
16. Furnish anew REDO
17. “A Total Departure” hotel chain OMNI
18. Put into effect ENACT
19. Took too much ODED
20. Neapolitan kin SPUMONI
22. Massage beneficiary EGO
24. Sticky stuff GOO
25. Earth, in Essen ERDE
26. Cold, for one AILMENT
28. Anchor man? SWABBY
31. Occurring as an isolated instance STRAY
32. “Me too!” SO DO I!
33. Work hard MOIL
34. Baylor Bears’ home WACO
38. “My Honky Tonk History” album maker Travis TRITT
39. First note of a tuba solo? OOM
40. Kept from sticking OILED
41. On its way SENT
42. Pour affection (on) DOTE
43. Catty SNIDE
44. Extremely foolish LOONY
46. Macbeth’s “fatal vision” DAGGER
47. Sprint, for one TELECOM
50. Minor players COGS
51. Color-coded EPA meas. AQI
52. Prefix with athlete TRI-
53. Cold one BREWSKI
57. Failure BUST
59. Shows up in time for MAKES
61. Sews up ICES
62. Athens apéritif OUZO
63. Dante’s love AMORE
64. Dundee dissents NAES
65. Bone: Pref. OSTE-
66. Two sheets to the wind? TIPSY
67. Villain named Julius DR NO

Down
1. Tabloid craft UFOS
2. It can result from favoring one side LIMP
3. Sitcom sign-off word NANU
4. 1973-’74 Jim Croce hit, aptly A (TIME) BOTTLE (giving “Time in a Bottle”)
5. All the rage TRENDY
6. 1932 Lake Placid gold medalist HENIE
7. River inlet RIA
8. 1964 Marvin Gaye/Mary Wells hit, aptly (ONCE) A TIME (giving “Once Upon a Time”)
9. Barbara Gordon’s alter ego BATGIRL
10. Good buddy BRO
11. Window __ LEDGE
12. Ancient theater ODEON
13. Title character absent from the cast GODOT
21. Round trip? ORBIT
23. Suffix with pay -OLA
27. 1989 Bette Midler hit, aptly MY WINGS (WIND) (giving “Wind Beneath My Wings”)
28. Droop-nosed fliers SSTS
29. Sported WORE
30. Match point, maybe AD IN
31. Like a well-used chimney SOOTY
33. 1936 Eddy Duchin hit, aptly (MOON) MIAMI (giving “Moon over Miami”)
35. Sacha Baron Cohen persona ALI G
36. Yield CEDE
37. Frankfurt’s river ODER
40. Oklahoma native OSAGE
42. Something that may hide a key DOORMAT
45. Canadian Thanksgiving mo. OCT
46. Big name in the Big Band Era DORSEY
47. Verboten TABOO
48. Shaffer play about a stableboy EQUUS
49. Symphonic poem pioneer LISZT
50. Ones with “ears” on their trucks CBERS
54. Lasting mark SCAR
55. Finely honed KEEN
56. “That __ last week!” IS SO
58. Corn site TOE
60. Keystone lawman KOP

Return to top of page