LA Times Crossword Answers 28 Feb 15, Saturday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
15. “The Man Who Knew Too Much” (1934) actor PETER LORRE
The marvelous actor Peter Lorre was born in what is now modern-day Slovakia. Lorre’s real name was Laszlo Lowenstein. He started acting in Vienna when he was quite young, only 17 years old. When Hitler came to power, the Jewish Lowenstein headed to Paris and then London, eventually ending up in Hollywood. Lorre found himself typecast as the wicked foreigner in American movies, but I think he sneered and snarled his way to the bank.

Alfred Hitchcock made two versions of the film “The Man Who Knew Too Much”. The first was made in 1934 while Hitchcock still lived in England. It starred Leslie Banks, Edna Best and Peter Lorre in his first English-speaking role. Hitchcock remade the original in 1956, with James Stewart and Doris Day playing the leads. And by the way, in that movie Doris Day sang the Oscar-winning song “Que Sera, Sera”.

16. NASA unit ONE G
The force of gravity that we all feel is referred to as “one G”. As gravity is a actually an accelerating force, acceleration is measured relative to that force of gravity. So, if we are sitting in a vehicle that accelerates at 3G, then we are experiencing a force that is three times that which we feel from the gravitational pull of the earth. Zero-G is weightlessness that is experienced when in space, outside the influence of the earth’s gravity.

18. Pigmented layer UVEA
The uvea is the middle of the three layers that make up the eyeball.

19. Takeout menu eponym TSO
General Tso’s chicken is an American creation, often found on the menu of a Chinese restaurant. The name General Tso may be a reference to General Zuo Zongtang of the Qing Dynasty, but there is no clear link.

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

21. 1954 Detroit Auto Show unveiling T-BIRD
Ford manufactured the Thunderbird (T-Bird) from 1955 to 2005, originally as a two-seater sporty convertible. The T-Bird was introduced as a competitor to Chevrolet’s new sports car, the Corvette.

22. Battery, e.g. TORT
The word “tort” is a French word meaning “mischief, injury or wrong”. Tort law is generally about negligence, when the action of one party causes injury to another but that action falls outside of the scope of criminal law.

“Battery” is intentional contact with another person that is deemed to be either harmful or offensive. The related “assault” is the act of creating apprehension that such harmful or offensive contact is imminent.

23. Ride and Brown SALLYS
Sally Ride was a physicist and astronaut, who flew two missions on the space shuttle Challenger. In 1983, she became the first American woman in space, having been preceded by two female cosmonauts (in 1963 and 1982). Ride was 32 years on that first mission, making her the youngest astronaut ever to make it into space. In another first, Ride was the first LGBT astronaut, a fact that was revealed after her death in 2012.

24. Maker of Neo soft drinks RC COLA
Neo is a cola drink that RC Cola introduced in 2013. Neo is marketed as a relatively low calorie coal beverage, with no artificial sweeteners.

27. Capital NNE of Rome ZAGREB
Zagreb is the capital city of the European Republic of Croatia. Zagreb became the capital of Croatia after the dissolution of Yugoslavia.

33. Noggin BEAN
A slang term for a “head” might be “bean” or “noggin”.

34. Chain with a red cowboy hat logo ARBY’S
The Arby’s chain of fast food restaurants was founded in 1964 by two brothers, Forrest and Leroy Raffel. The name “Arby’s” is a homonym of “RB’s”, standing for “Raffel Brothers”.

35. __ Raven: Baltimore neighborhood LOCH
The Baltimore neighborhood of Loch Raven was named for the Loch Raven reservoir that was constructed in 1914 to increase the water supply to the city.

39. Sequoia Park Zoo home EUREKA
Sequoia Park Zoo in Eureka, California was founded in 1907, making it the oldest zoo in the whole state. The zoo picked up a lot of bad press in the 1980s when the people of Eureka raised funds to replace the cramped bear cages with a more humane habitat. During construction, the zoo had nowhere to place the two adults and two young bears while the new home was being built. The zoo’s manager had the two adults euthanized, to the outrage of the public. The two young bears were rescued and taken to an animal park in Oregon, and there was a lot of apologizing by city officials.

41. Actress who starred in two Hitchcock films HEDREN
Tippi Hedren is an actress from New Ulm, Minnesota who is best known for her starring roles in two Alfred Hitchcock classics: “The Birds” (1963) and “Marnie” (1964). Famously, Hedren claimed that Hitchcock destroyed her movie career because she would not succumb to his sexual advances, a charge that has been denied. The story was the subject of the 2012 HBO drama called “The Girl”, which in turn was based on a 2009 Donald Spoto book called “Spellbound by Beauty: Alfred Hitchcock and His Leading Ladies”.

44. Garibaldi’s wife ANITA
Anita Garibaldi was the revolutionary comrade and wife of Italian general and politician Giuseppe Garibaldi. Giuseppe was fighting on behalf of a separatist republic in southern Brazil when he met Anita, a Brazilian native. The two fought side by side in South America, before journeying to Italy to participate in the revolutions of 1848. Anita died the following year from malaria.

45. Tons SCADS
The origin of the word “scads”, meaning “lots and lots”, is unclear, although back in the mid-1800s “scads” was used to mean “dollars”.

47. “Criminal Minds” network CBS
“Criminal Minds” is a police drama that has aired on CBS since 2005. I haven’t seen this one …

50. Spanish address DONA
In Spain, a title of respect for men is “Don”. The equivalent female title is “Dona”.

53. When the ghost of Hamlet’s father first appears ACT I
In William Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet”, the title character is the Prince of Denmark. The prince’s father is also a character in the play, who makes three appearances as a ghost. The ghost has the same name as the prince, but is referred to as King Hamlet in order to distinguish him from the son.

56. What “D” may mean, monetarily DENVER MINT
The Denver Mint opened up for business in 1906, and today produces more coins than any other mint in the whole world.

Mint marks are inscribed on coins to indicate where the coin was minted. In the US, the current mint marks are:

– “P” for the Philadelphia Mint
– “D” for the Denver Mint
– “S” for the San Francisco Mint
– “W” for the West Point Mint

Down
2. They may be filled from wells PENS
Ink pens may be filled from inkwells. When I was at school, our desks had inkwells that I occasionally used. We used to write sometimes with ink pens that we’d dip into the inkwell. They really made a mess. A favorite trick amongst the boys was to dip the end of a girls’ plated hair in the inkwell

3. Mort Walker dog OTTO
Sgt. Snorkel (“Sarge”) is Beetle Bailey’s nemesis in the cartoon strip that bears his name. Snorkel has a dog called Otto that he dresses up to look just like himself. Otto started off as a regular dog, but artist Mort Walker decide to draw him more like his owner, and soon Otto became a big hit.

4. Bk. about the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls NEH
In the Hebrew Bible, the Book of Ezra was originally combined with the Book of Nehemiah, with the two being separated in the early days of the Christian Era.

6. Where Mark Twain married Olivia Langdon ELMIRA
Elmira is a city in the southern tier of New York State located closed close to the border with Pennsylvania. Elmira was also the family home of Olivia Langdon, wife of Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain). Mark Twain and family are buried in Elmira’s Woodlawn Cemetery.

8. “A-Hunting We Will Go” songwriter ARNE
“A-Hunting We Will Go” is a song by Thomas Arne that the composer penned for a 1777 production of “The Beggar’s Opera”. I grew up with this song, as it is a popular nursery rhyme on the other side of the pond …

A-hunting we will go, a-hunting we will go
(Heigh-ho, the derry-o, a-hunting we will go
A-hunting we will go, a-hunting we will go)
We’ll catch a fox and put him in a box
And then we’ll let him go

9. Marne modifier TRES
“Très” is French for “very”.

Marne is a department in the northeast of France that is named for the river Marne that runs through it. One of the famous locales within Marne is Champagne, home to the vineyards that produce the famous sparkling wine.

11. Mouse action DOUBLE CLICK
The first computer mouse was invented at the Stanford Research Institute in 1963, by one Douglas Engelbart. Sadly for him, his patent ran out before mice became standard equipment on computers, so he never made any money from his amazing invention.

21. Fictional house “built according to no architectural plan whatever” TARA
Rhett Butler woos Scarlett O’Hara at the Tara plantation in Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone with the Wind”. Tara was founded by Scarlett’s father, Irish immigrant Gerald O’Hara. Gerald named his new abode after the Hill of Tara back in his home country, the ancient seat of the High King of Ireland. Rhett’s rival for the affections of Scarlet is Ashley Wilkes who lives at the nearby Twelve Oaks plantation.

22. Hitchcock thriller set in East Germany TORN CURTAIN
“Torn Curtain” is a marvelous Alfred Hitchcock thriller from 1966 starring Paul Newman and Julie Andrews. It’s a political/spy story set against the backdrop of the Cold War. This was Hitchcock’s fiftieth film, and apparently was fraught will all sorts of difficulties. Newman and Andrews were big stars at the time of shooting and were cast on the insistence of the studio, despite the director’s misgivings. Method actor Paul Newman clashed with Hitchcock when he was trying to establish his character’s motivation. Hitch informed his leading man that the “motivation is your salary”.

23. Friday et al.: Abbr. SGTS
Jack Webb played Sergeant Joe Friday on “Dragnet” on both TV and radio … and what a voice he had! Off the screen Webb was a lover of jazz, and he played the cornet. It was within the world of jazz that he met and fell in love with Julie London, the famous singer with “the smoky voice”. The couple married and had two kids together.

24. Name in Virginia politics ROBB
Chuck Robb is a former Governor of Virginia and former US Senator. Robb is married to Lynda Bird Johnson Robb, the daughter of former President Lyndon B. Johnson. The couple were married in the White House in December 1967.

25. Singer Laine CLEO
Cleo Laine is a jazz singer from England who is noted for her remarkable range of nearly four octaves. Laine is the only female performer to have received Grammy nominations in each of the classical, jazz and popular music categories. My favorite of her recordings is “He Was Beautiful”, which is also known as “Cavatina” and is a version of the theme from the film “The Deer Hunter”.

27. Barking horse relative ZEBRA
Zebras communicate with each other by whinnying and “barking”, which is similar to braying.

28. “The Cherry Orchard” daughter ANYA
“The Cherry Orchard” was Anton Chekhov’s last play. Chekhov wrote the play as a comedy, but when it was first staged in Moscow in 1904 it was directed as a tragedy!

31. Neutral color ECRU
The shade called ecru is a grayish, yellowish brown. The word “ecru” comes from French and means “raw, unbleached”. “Ecru” has the same roots as our word “crude”.

40. “___ X” MADAME
“Madame X” is a powerful 1966 drama film that is based on the 1908 play by Alexandre Bisson. The title character is played by Lana Turner, and is a tragic figure who has to abandon her husband and young son. There’s a “twist” in this movie that reveals itself in a courtroom scene, a twist that always brings a lump to my throat …

42. Methuselah’s father ENOCH
Enoch was the great-grandfather of Noah, and the great-grandson of Adam.

Methuselah was the son of Enoch and the grandfather of Noah, and the man in the Bible who is reported to have lived the longest. Methuselah passed away seven days before the onset of the Great Flood, and tradition holds that he was 969 years old when he died.

43. Comedian Smirnoff YAKOV
The Ukrainian-born comedian Yakov Pokhis is better known by his stage name, Yakov Smirnoff. Smirnoff was popular on television in the eighties, playing comedic roles with a thick Russian accent. He is a smart cookie, and holds a master’s degree in positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.

45. Acoustical unit SONE
In the acoustic world, the “sone” was introduced as a unit of perceived loudness in 1936.

46. Columbia Pictures co-founder Harry COHN
Columbia Pictures was founded in 1919 as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales, by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn, and Joe Brandt. The name was changed to Columbia Pictures in 1924 when the company went public. The Columbia name became closely associated with the wonderful Hollywood screwball comedies of the thirties, thanks to the association with director Frank Capra, and stars like Jean Arthur and Cary Grant.

47. Masala __: Indian beverage CHAI
Masala chai is an Indian drink made with black tea (the “chai) and mixed spices (the “masala”).

49. Proof mark STET
“Stet” is a Latin word meaning “let it stand”. In editorial work, the typesetter is instructed to disregard any change previously marked by writing the word “stet” and then underscoring that change with a line of dots or dashes.

52. “__ Underground”: cult film showcase TCM
“TCM Underground” is a weekly spot on the Turner Classic Movies channel used for the airing of “cult classics”. I rarely have anything good to say about the films shown, especially as they are mainly horror films. But, I do love TCM otherwise …

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Shower alternative SPONGE BATH
11. Hollow DALE
15. “The Man Who Knew Too Much” (1934) actor PETER LORRE
16. NASA unit ONE G
17. Correct ON THE MONEY
18. Pigmented layer UVEA
19. Takeout menu eponym TSO
20. Smartens (up) WISES
21. 1954 Detroit Auto Show unveiling T-BIRD
22. Battery, e.g. TORT
23. Ride and Brown SALLYS
24. Maker of Neo soft drinks RC COLA
27. Capital NNE of Rome ZAGREB
29. Prayer opening O, LORD
30. Feelers TENTACLES
33. Noggin BEAN
34. Chain with a red cowboy hat logo ARBY’S
35. __ Raven: Baltimore neighborhood LOCH
36. Square shooter? BOX CAMERA
38. Very small MICRO
39. Sequoia Park Zoo home EUREKA
40. Teaching model MOCK-UP
41. Actress who starred in two Hitchcock films HEDREN
43. Jerk YANK
44. Garibaldi’s wife ANITA
45. Tons SCADS
47. “Criminal Minds” network CBS
50. Spanish address DONA
51. Pointer’s cry LOOK AT THAT!
53. When the ghost of Hamlet’s father first appears ACT I
54. Nanny’s service IN-HOME CARE
55. Fund-raising suffix -THON
56. What “D” may mean, monetarily DENVER MINT

Down
1. Tough __ SPOT
2. They may be filled from wells PENS
3. Mort Walker dog OTTO
4. Bk. about the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls NEH
5. Aged GREW OLD
6. Where Mark Twain married Olivia Langdon ELMIRA
7. Amplify BOOST
8. “A-Hunting We Will Go” songwriter ARNE
9. Marne modifier TRES
10. “Yo!” HEY!
11. Mouse action DOUBLE CLICK
12. Metal-bending aid ANVIL BLOCK
13. Distrustful LEERY
14. “Tarnation!” EGADS!
21. Fictional house “built according to no architectural plan whatever” TARA
22. Hitchcock thriller set in East Germany TORN CURTAIN
23. Friday et al.: Abbr. SGTS
24. Name in Virginia politics ROBB
25. Singer Laine CLEO
26. Gently convinced about COAXED INTO
27. Barking horse relative ZEBRA
28. “The Cherry Orchard” daughter ANYA
30. Go a long way TREK
31. Neutral color ECRU
32. Look for a good deal SHOP
34. “Yes!” AMEN!
37. Region AREA
38. Ginormous MONSTER
40. “___ X” MADAME
41. Charged HAD AT
42. Methuselah’s father ENOCH
43. Comedian Smirnoff YAKOV
45. Acoustical unit SONE
46. Columbia Pictures co-founder Harry COHN
47. Masala __: Indian beverage CHAI
48. Building with big doors BARN
49. Proof mark STET
51. Top LID
52. “__ Underground”: cult film showcase TCM

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