LA Times Crossword Answers 25 Mar 15, Wednesday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Carol Lachance
THEME: Spring Cleaning … each of today’s themed answers starts with an item used while SPRING CLEANING:

53A. Project suggested by the starts of 16-, 22-, 35- and 47-Across SPRING CLEANING

16A. Like some watches WATER-RESISTANT
22A. Bath floater SOAP BUBBLE
35A. Patchwork plaything RAG DOLL
47A. Running a marathon may be on it BUCKET LIST

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 8m 07s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

8. Legal test, familiarly THE BAR
The legal profession is referred to as “the bar”. The term arose in medieval times when European courtrooms were divided into two with “barring” furniture, basically a wooden rail that separated the public from the participants in the trial.

15. Punk rock surname RAMONE
The Ramones were an American punk rock band. The group formed in Forest Hills, New York in the mid-seventies. The band members took on the stage names Dee Dee, Joey, and Johnny Ramone, even though they were not related. Arguably, the Ramones were the first punk rock group, defining the genre. Something else that’s not my cup of tea …

18. Cost-of-living fig. CPI
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures changes in the price of services and goods purchased by households. The United States CPI fell in 2009, for the first time since 1955. That’s how bad the 2009 recession was …

26. Gumbo veggie OKRA
Gumbo is a type of stew or soup that originated in Louisiana. The primary ingredient can be meat or fish, but to be true gumbo it must include the “holy trinity” of vegetables, namely celery, bell peppers and onion. Okra used to be a requirement but this is no longer the case. Okra gave the dish its name as the vernacular word for the African vegetable is “okingumbo”, from the Bantu language spoken by many of the slaves brought to America.

27. Nylons, fishnets, etc. HOSIERY
The word “hose” meaning a “covering for the leg” has the same roots as the contemporary German word “Hose” meaning “trousers, pants”.

29. Penny-__ ANTE
Penny Ante poker is a game in which bets are limited to a penny, or some other small, friendly sum. The expression “penny-ante” has come to describe any business transaction that is on a small scale.

34. Neon, or fuel for a Neon GAS
Neon is one of the noble gases, those elements over on the extreme right of the Periodic Table. Because of their “full” complement of electrons, noble gases are very unreactive. The noble gases are helium, neon, argon, krypton and xenon.

The Neon was made by Chrysler from 1994 to 2005. It was introduced to the rest of the world as the Chrysler Neon, but was sold under the Dodge and Plymouth brands in the US.

36. Public image, briefly REP
Reputation (rep)

39. Freaked out GONE APE
The US slang “go ape” is actually a cleaner version of a similar expression, and is American slang that dates back to 1955.

44. Shows proof of EVINCES
“To evince” is to show clearly, to make evident.

46. Player with a record 14 100-RBI seasons A-ROD
Professional baseball player Alex Rodriguez earned more nicknames than just A-Rod. He has been called “the Cooler” by some players as there is a perception that teams go cold when he joins them and hot when he leaves. He has also been called “A-Fraud” by teammates because of another perception, that he is over-demanding. Rodriguez now seems to be in a world of hurt for using illegal performance-enhancing drugs.

47. Running a marathon may be on it BUCKET LIST
A “bucket list” is a list of things one wants to achieve before dying, before “kicking the bucket”. The expression hasn’t been used in this context for very long, only a decade or so, but was popularized by the 2007 film “The Bucket List” starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.

50. ’90s “SNL” regular Meadows TIM
Tim Meadows is a comedian and actor who was a cast member on “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) from 1991 to 2000. That nine years is one of the longest tenures of any SNL cast member.

51. “__ Jim” LORD
“Lord Jim” is a novel by Joseph Conrad that was twice adapted for the big screen. The 1925 silent film version starred Percy Marmont in the title role, and the 1965 version featured Peter O’Toole as the lead.

59. River through Toledo MAUMEE
The Maumee River forms at Fort Wayne, Indiana and flows for 137 miles through Indiana and Ohio, emptying into Lake Erie in Toledo, Ohio.

Toledo, Ohio lies in the northwest of the state, at the western end of Lake Erie. Toledo was founded as a result of the prosperity that hit the area when the Miami and Erie Canal was constructed in the 19th century connecting Cincinnati to the Great Lakes. Toledo is known as the Glass City as several glass companies originated there, including Owens Corning and Pilkington North America. There is a large exhibition of glass art at the Toledo Museum of Art.

60. Hall who won on “Celebrity Apprentice” in 2012 ARSENIO
Arsenio Hall got his big break with his role in “Coming to America” with Eddie Murphy in 1988. The following year he started hosting “The Arsenio Hall Show”, which ran until 1994. He had a loyal group of fans in the audience that had the habit of almost “barking” while pumping their fists in the air. The raucous move became so popular it extended far beyond the influences of Arsenio, and to this day it is still used as a mark of appreciation in some arenas. Not by me, mind you …

62. Jones with a diary BRIDGET
“Bridget Jones’s Diary” is a 1996 novel by English novelist Helen Fielding. The novel is a clever adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” and even includes a lead character called Darcy. “Bridget Jones’s Diary” was adapted into a very successful movie released in 2001. Colin Firth plays Darcy in the movie, and of course also played Mr. Darcy in a famous television version of “Pride and Prejudice” in 1995.

Down
2. Shelley’s “__ Skylark” TO A
“To a Skylark” is an 1820 poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The opening line “Hail to thee, blithe Spirit” is the inspiration used by Noel Coward for the title of his famous comic play called “Blithe Spirit”.

The English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley had strong views on vegetarianism. He was dedicated to the cause of all sentient beings, believing that the slaughter of animals by humans for the use of food was a barbaric practice. He wrote a famous essay on the subject called “A Vindication of Natural Diet” in 1813.

3. Pariahs OUTCASTS
“Pariah” is an anglicized version of the Tamil word “Paraiyar”. The Paraiyar are a social group of about 9 million people found in some Indian states and in Sri Lanka. The term “pariah” came to be a general term for members of the lowest caste in society.

7. “Ash Wednesday” poet’s monogram TSE
“Ash Wednesday” is a poem that TS Eliot (TSE) wrote in 1930, soon after he converted to Anglicanism, having been raised a Unitarian.

In the Christian tradition, the first day in the season of Lent is called Ash Wednesday. On Ash Wednesday, Palm Crosses from the prior year’s Palm Sunday are burned. The resulting ashes are mixed with sacred oil and then used to anoint worshipers on the forehead with the shape of a cross.

10. Ambulance VIPs EMTS
Emergency medical technician (EMT)

Our word “ambulance” originated in the French term “hôpital ambulant” meaning field hospital (literally “walking hospital”). In the 1850s, the term started to be used for a vehicle transporting the wounded from the battlefield, leading to our “ambulance”.

12. Golfer Sorenstam, who was among the first women to become honorary members of St Andrews golf club in February 2015 ANNIKA
Annika Sorenstam is a retired Swedish golfer, perhaps the most successful female golfer ever. She made history in 2003 when she participated in a men’s PGA tour event, the first time that has happened since 1945. Sorenstam was on a shortlist of seven women who were granted honorary membership at St. Andrews Golf Club in Scotland in 2015, the first females admitted to that longtime male bastion of the sport.

21. “One Mic” rapper NAS
Rapper Nas used to go by another stage name, Nasty Nas, and before that by his real name, Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones. Nas released his first album “Illmatic” in 1994, and inventively titled his fifth studio album “Stillmatic”, released in 2001. Not my cup of tea, I would say …

22. Carpet type SHAG
Shag carpet is one with a deep pile, one with a “shaggy” appearance.

23. The last Mrs. Chaplin OONA
Oona O’Neill dated J. D. Salinger and Orson Welles in her teens, but ended up marrying Charlie Chaplin. Oona was still pretty young when she married Chaplin, much to the dismay of her famous father, the playwright Eugene O’Neill. After the marriage Eugene disowned Oona as he was pretty upset about 54-year-old Chaplin marrying his 18-year-old daughter.

28. Pommes frites sprinkling SEL
In French, one might put salt (sel) on French fries (pommes frites).

31. Nutritional stat RDA
Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs) were introduced during WWII and are a set of recommendations for the standard daily allowances of specific nutrients. RDAs were effectively absorbed into a broader set of dietary guidelines in 1997 called Recommended Daily Intakes (RDIs). RDIs are used to determine the Daily Values (DV) of foods that are printed on nutrition fact labels on most food that we purchase.

32. Coin for Putin KOPEK
The ruble (also “rouble”) is the unit of currency in Russia, as well as several other countries of the former Soviet Union. One ruble is divided into one hundred kopecks (also “kopeks”).

Vladimir Putin became acting President of Russia at the very end of 1999 when Boris Yeltsin resigned. Putin was elected in his own right in 2000, re-elected in 2004, and then ran up against a term limit in 2008. In 2008 Putin was appointed by his successor, President Dmitry Medvedev, to the position of Prime Minister. Putin is a controversial figure, inside and outside Russia. On the one hand he led the country out of an economic crisis into a period of stability and relative prosperity. On the other hand he has been associated with government corruption and accused of allowing private concerns to have undue influence on government actions. And then there is the Crimea …

33. École attendee ELEVE
French for school is “école”, and French for pupil is “élève”.

35. Korean soldier ROK
A South Korean soldier is known as an ROK, named from the initials for the Republic of (South) Korea.

37. Spud sprouts EYES
The word “spud” is used as a slang term for a potato and was first recorded in the mid-1800s, in New Zealand would you believe?

39. Saturn, for one GOD
Saturn was a Roman deity, the god of agriculture and harvest. Both the planet Saturn and “Saturday” are named after Saturn the god.

42. Rainbow makers PRISMS
When light passes through a prism, it is split up (“disperses”) into differing wavelengths. It then becomes clear that white light is actually a mixture of different colors, which show up as beautiful spectra (like “rainbows”).

Sunlight shining through airborne water droplets can produce rainbows. The water droplets act as little prisms, dispersing the white light into its constituent colors. Sometimes we see double rainbows. If we look carefully, the order of the colors in the first and second arcs is reversed.

45. Formal admission IT WAS I
The much-debated statement “it is I” is actually grammatically correct, and should not be “corrected” to “it is me”. Traditionally, pronouns following linking verbs, such as “is”, “appear” and “seem”, are written in the nominative case. Examples are:

– It is I (who called)
– It was he (who did it)
– It is we (who care)

47. Lisa of “Enemy of the State” BONET
Lisa Bonet is an actress best known for playing one of the daughters on the “The Cosby Show”. Bonet was married for a few years to the singer Lenny Kravitz, with whom she eloped in 1987. She changed her name to Lilakoi Moon in 1992, but still uses “Lisa Bonet” as her stage name.

“Enemy of the State” is an excellent thriller film released in 1998 starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman. The movie is all about the NSA and surveillance.

49. Atlanta-based health agcy. CDC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is based in Atlanta, Georgia. The CDC started out life during WWII as the Office of National Defense Malaria Control Activities. The CDC worries about much more than malaria these days …

51. Sherbet flavor LIME
The frozen dessert called “sherbet” is a very similar to “sorbet”, the difference being that sherbet contains a small amount of milkfat.

57. Merkel’s “never” NIE
The formidable politician Angela Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany, the country’s head of state. Merkel is the first female German Chancellor and when she chaired the G8 in 2007 she became only the second woman to do so, after the UK’s Margaret Thatcher. Merkel grew up in East Germany under Communist rule.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Visits STOPS AT
8. Legal test, familiarly THE BAR
14. Reporter’s needs SOURCES
15. Punk rock surname RAMONE
16. Like some watches WATER-RESISTANT
18. Cost-of-living fig. CPI
19. Feed in a bag OATS
20. “Am __ the right track?” I ON
22. Bath floater SOAP BUBBLE
26. Gumbo veggie OKRA
27. Nylons, fishnets, etc. HOSIERY
28. Petty squabbles SPATS
29. Penny-__ ANTE
30. “I’ll have another” responder BARKEEP
34. Neon, or fuel for a Neon GAS
35. Patchwork plaything RAG DOLL
36. Public image, briefly REP
39. Freaked out GONE APE
40. One-eighties UEYS
41. Freak out SPOOK
44. Shows proof of EVINCES
46. Player with a record 14 100-RBI seasons A-ROD
47. Running a marathon may be on it BUCKET LIST
50. ’90s “SNL” regular Meadows TIM
51. “__ Jim” LORD
52. Knack for snappy comebacks WIT
53. Project suggested by the starts of 16-, 22-, 35- and 47-Across SPRING CLEANING
59. River through Toledo MAUMEE
60. Hall who won on “Celebrity Apprentice” in 2012 ARSENIO
61. Linen closet stack SHEETS
62. Jones with a diary BRIDGET

Down
1. Cincinnati-to-Nashville dir. SSW
2. Shelley’s “__ Skylark” TO A
3. Pariahs OUTCASTS
4. Private school student PREPPIE
5. Parchment user SCRIBE
6. Atmo- kin AER-
7. “Ash Wednesday” poet’s monogram TSE
8. __ by fire TRIAL
9. Speed HASTE
10. Ambulance VIPs EMTS
11. Fluffy scarf BOA
12. Golfer Sorenstam, who was among the first women to become honorary members of St Andrews golf club in February 2015 ANNIKA
13. Comeback RETORT
17. More than sniffle SOB
21. “One Mic” rapper NAS
22. Carpet type SHAG
23. The last Mrs. Chaplin OONA
24. __ renewal URBAN
25. How some wines are sorted BY AGE
26. Facing: Abbr. OPP
28. Pommes frites sprinkling SEL
31. Nutritional stat RDA
32. Coin for Putin KOPEK
33. École attendee ELEVE
35. Korean soldier ROK
36. Speaking from memory RECITING
37. Spud sprouts EYES
38. Furtive attention-getter PSST!
39. Saturn, for one GOD
40. Like sketchbook paper UNLINED
41. Collected dust SAT
42. Rainbow makers PRISMS
43. Big brass output OOMPAH
45. Formal admission IT WAS I
47. Lisa of “Enemy of the State” BONET
48. They can be hard to fight URGES
49. Atlanta-based health agcy. CDC
51. Sherbet flavor LIME
54. Repent RUE
55. Photo __ LAB
56. Throw too low, say ERR
57. Merkel’s “never” NIE
58. Captured GOT

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