LA Times Crossword Answers 27 Apr 16, Wednesday

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CROSSWORD SETTER: Mike Doran
THEME: Saxy Endings … today’s themed answers end with words that all sound the same but are spelled differently:

17A. Equipment for picnic competitions POTATO SACKS
23A. Embryo development sites AMNIOTIC SACS
51A. Big name on Wall Street GOLDMAN SACHS
62A. Lisa Simpson’s instrument BARITONE SAX

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 6m 31s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

7. Cookbook author Rombauer IRMA
Irma Rombauer was the author of the famous cookbook “The Joy Of Cooking”. Rombauer self-published the book back in 1931 in St. Louis, Missouri. She and her family continued to publish privately as demand was high, and then a commercial printing house picked it up in 1936. “The Joy of Cooking” has been in print continuously ever since.

14. Lancelot’s unrequited lover ELAINE
In Arthurian legend, Elaine of Astolat is a maiden who dies from unrequited love for Sir Lancelot, one of the Knights of the Round Table. In Alfred Lord Tennyson’s famous poem “The Lady of Shalott”, the “Lady” of the poem is based on Elaine of Astolat.

15. Assam products TEAS
Assam is a state in the very northeast of India, just south of the Himalayas. Assam is noted for its tea as well as its silk.

16. Barcelona bear OSO
In Spanish, “osa” is a female bear, and “oso” is a male. An “oso” might be found in “un zoológico” (a zoo).

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain, after the capital Madrid. Barcelona is the largest European city that sits on the Mediterranean coast. It is also the capital city of the autonomous community of Catalonia.

20. Melee SET-TO
Our word “melee” comes from the French “mêlée”, and in both languages the word means “confused fight”.

21. Ballet bend PLIE
The French word for “bent” is “plié”. In the ballet move known as a plié, the knees are bent.

22. State with five national parks UTAH
The highest number of National Parks (NPs) in any one state is nine, in California. Alaska comes in second with eight, and Utah with five. The five NPs in Utah are:

– Arches NP
– Bryce Canyon NP
– Canyonlands NP
– Capitol Reef NP
– Zion NP

23. Embryo development sites AMNIOTIC SACS
The amniotic sac is the sac containing the amniotic fluid in which the fetus develops. The walls of the sac are made from two tough membranes.

26. Priestly vestment ALB
An alb is a white, neck-to-toe vestment worn by priests, usually with a rope cord around the waist. The term alb comes from “albus”, the Latin word for “white”.

29. Right Guard rival BAN
Ban was the first roll-on deodorant, introduced in 1952. The formulation for Ban is the same as the brand called Mum, the first commercial deodorant, which dates back to the late 1800s.

Right guard was the first aerosol antiperspirant, introduced in the early sixties.

30. Old anesthetic ETHER
Ethers are a whole class of organic compounds, but in the vernacular “ether” is specifically diethyl ether. Diethyl ether was once very popular as a general anesthetic.

31. Willy Loman, in a 1949 play SALESMAN
“Death of a Salesman” is a famous play by Arthur Miller, first produced in 1949. “Death of a Salesman” won a Pulitzer and several Tony Awards over the years. The “salesman” in the play is the famous character Willy Loman. The play originally opened up on Broadway and ran for 724 performances. The lead role was played by the veteran actor Lee J. Cobb.

34. Architect Jones INIGO
Inigo Jones was a British architect, a native of London. The most famous Jones’s design is probably London’s Covent Garden Square.

37. McDonald’s founder KROC
The McDonald’s chain of restaurants was founded in 1940 by the McDonald brothers, Richard and Maurice. The brothers introduced the famous McDonald’s production line system for making their hamburgers in 1948. There were 8 McDonald’s restaurants by 1955, when Ray Kroc came on the scene by opening the ninth restaurant as a franchise. That first franchise led to the founding of the McDonald’s corporation (by the McDonald’s brothers) that we know today. Kroc worked as a franchise operator for a few years and then bought out the McDonald’s brothers in 1961 as they were not interested in further expansion. It was Kroc who led the company to its worldwide success.

41. Nobel Prize subj. ECON
The Peace Prize is the most famous of the five prizes bequeathed by Alfred Nobel. The others are for Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature. There is also a Nobel Prize in Economics that is awarded along with the original five, but it is funded separately and is awarded “in memory of Alfred Nobel”. Four of the prizes are awarded by Swedish organizations (Alfred Nobel was a Swede) and so the award ceremonies take place in Stockholm. The Peace Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and that award is presented in Oslo.

42. “Cheers!” SKOAL!
Skoal is a Swedish toast, with roots in the old Norse word “skaal” meaning “cup”.

44. Connections traced on ancestry.com HERITAGE
Ancestry.com is the largest commercial genealogy company in the world, operating out of Provo, Utah.

46. Tiny amounts DRAMS
The dram is a confusing unit of measurement, to me anyway. The dram has one value as an ancient unit of mass, and two different values as a modern unit of mass, another value as a unit of fluid volume, and yet another varying value as a measure of Scotch whisky!

51. Big name on Wall Street GOLDMAN SACHS
The investment banking firm of Goldman Sachs was founded in New York in 1869 by Marcus Goldman. Samuel Sachs joined the firm in 1882, the same year that he married Louisa Goldman, Marcus’s daughter. The name “Goldman Sachs” was adopted by the firm in 1885. Goldman Sachs made out like bandits during the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007-08 as the company actually short-sold subprime mortgage bonds. As the price of the bonds nose-dived, Goldman Sachs made huge profits.

57. Horseshoe-shaped letter OMEGA
Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet and is the one that looks like a horseshoe. The word “omega” literally means “great O” (O-mega). Compare this with the Greek letter Omicron meaning “little O” (O-micron).

61. Tried to get into an office RAN
That would running for political office …

62. Lisa Simpson’s instrument BARITONE SAX
Lisa Simpson is Bart’s brainy younger sister on TV’s “The Simpsons”. Lisa is voiced by actress Yeardley Smith.

64. With 43-Down, what a criminal might be on THE …
(43D. See 64-Across … LAM)
To be “on the lam” is to be in flight, to have escaped from prison. “On the lam” is American slang that originated at the end of the 19th century. The word “lam” also means to “beat” or “thrash”, as in “lambaste”. So “on the lam” might derive from the phrase “to beat it, to scram”.

65. Augusta National’s __ Corner AMEN
One section of the course at Augusta National has been nicknamed as Amen Corner since 1958. It comprises the second shot at the 11th hole, all of the 12th hole, and the fist couple of shots at the 13th.

The Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia was founded in 1933 by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts. Famously, Augusta hosts the Masters Tournament each year. Augusta is very much a private club, and some of its policies have drawn criticism over the years. Prior to 1959, the club had a bylaw requiring that all caddies be African American. There were no African-American club members admitted until 1990, and no women until 2012.

66. British Invasion star BEATLE
The Beatles arrived in the US for their first tour in February 1964, arriving at John F. Kennedy Airport to a very, very warm reception. The group’s arrival was the first “action” in what came to be known as “the British Invasion”.

69. Its flag features a six-pointed star ISRAEL
Magen (also “Mogen”) David is Hebrew for “Shield of David”, and is another name for the Star of David. The use of the distinctive hexagram as a symbol for the Jewish community started in 17th-century Europe, and today the symbol is found at the center of the flag of Israel.

Down
3. Damon of “The Martian” MATT
“The Martian” is a very intriguing 2015 science fiction film starring Matt Damon as an astronaut who is accidentally stranded on Mars. The movie is based on a 2011 novel of the same name by Andrew Weir. One thing that I liked about the film is that the science cited is fairly realistic. In fact, NASA collaborated with the filmmakers extensively from script development to principal casting.

4. Mazda roadster MIATA
The Mazda MX-5 is sold as the Miata in North America, and as the Roadster in Japan. I’ve always liked the looks of the Mazda Miata, probably because it reminds me so much of old British sports cars. The Miata is built in Hiroshima, Japan.

6. Classic auto REO
The REO Motor Company was founded by Ransom Eli 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.

7. Novelist Calvino ITALO
As well as being an author, Italo Calvino was a famous Italian journalist. He was a supporter of communism and so wasn’t very popular in the US nor in Britain.

10. In the Gospels, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on one ASS
According to the four Gospels in the Bible, Jesus made a triumphal entry into Jerusalem after having raised Lazarus from the dead. He descended from the Mount of Olives and rode into the city on an ass or a donkey.

11. San José denizen COSTA RICAN
San José is a capital of Costa Rica. Costa Rica is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua in the north, and Panama to the South. Costa Rica is remarkable in my opinion, a leader on the world stage in many areas. It has been referred to as the “greenest” country in the world, the “happiest” country in the world, and has a highly educated populace. In 1949, the country unilaterally abolished its own army … permanently!

12. First name in gravity ISAAC
Sir Isaac Newton was one of the most influential people in history, the man who laid the groundwork for all of classical mechanics. The story about an apple falling on his head, inspiring him to formulate his theories about gravity, well that’s not quite true. Newton often told the story about observing an apple falling in his mother’s garden and how this made him acutely aware of the Earth’s gravitational pull. However, he made no mention of the apple hitting him on the head.

13. Some black-clad teens GOTHS
The goth subculture developed from the gothic rock scene in the early eighties, and is a derivative of the punk music movement. It started in England and spread to many countries around the globe. The term “goth” of course comes from the Eastern Germanic tribe called the Goths. Frankly, I don’t understand the whole goth thing …

18. “This Is __ Tap” SPINAL
“This Is Spın̈al Tap” is a rock musical mockumentary about the fictional band Spinal Tap, directed by the great Rob Reiner. I love Rob Reiner’s work, but this movie … not so much …

22. Early Web forum USENET
Remember the good old days, when you read messages online in “newsgroups”? Well, that system of aggregating public messages is known as Usenet, and it’s still around today. Usenet started operating in 1980, some ten years before the World Wide Web was introduced (which system has displaced Usenet in terms of popularity). Usenet definitely played a significant part in the history of the Internet. For instance, the terms “FAQ” and “spam” were both born on Usenet.

25. City with two MLB teams CHI
The Chicago White Sox Major League Baseball team was established in Chicago in 1900 and originally was called the White Stockings. The name was changed because the abbreviation “Sox” for “Stockings” was regularly used in newspaper headlines.

The Chicago Cubs is one of only two charter members of the baseball’s National League who are still playing, the other being the Atlanta Braves. The Cubs last won the World Series in 1908, which is a long time ago. In fact, the Cubs have the longest championship drought of any professional sports team in North America.

35. Disco adjective GOGO
Discotheques first appeared during WWII in Occupied France. American-style music (like jazz and jitterbug dances) was banned by the Nazis, so French natives met in underground clubs that they called discotheques where records were often played on just a single turntable. After the war, these clubs came out into the open. One famous Paris discotheque was called “Whiskey a Gogo”. In that Paris disco, non-stop music was played using two turntables next to a dance-floor, and this concept spread around the world.

40. “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” writer Carle ERIC
Eric Carle is a very successful children’s author and book illustrator, with over 100 million of his books sold around the world. Carle’s most famous title is “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”, and it alone has sold 30 million copies.

45. Galaxy alternatives IPHONES
Apple started development of the iPhone in 2004 in collaboration with Cingular Wireless (now AT&T Mobility). The confidential program was given the name “Project Purple”, and took thirty months to complete at a cost of about $150 million. The iPhone was introduced in 2007 at the Macworld convention in San Francisco.

The Galaxy is a series of mobile computing devices made by Samsung that was introduced in 2009. All of the Galaxy devices have used Google’s Android operating system, although a Windows 10 Galaxy device was introduced by Samsung in 2016.

47. Title for Bovary MADAME
“Madame Bovary” is the most famous novel written by Gustave Flaubert. The title character is a doctor’s wife named Emma Bovary, who lives a luxurious life beyond her means and has many adulterous affairs. The novel had a rousing reception, first being attacked by public prosecutors as obscenity, which I am sure later helped it to become a bestseller.

51. “Party on, Wayne” speaker GARTH
“Wayne’s World” was originally a Saturday Night Live sketch starring Mike Myers (as Wayne Campbell) and Dana Carvey as Garth Algar. The sketch was so successful that it was parlayed into two hit movies, released in 1992 and 1993. Not my cup of tea though …

52. City on the Missouri OMAHA
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska. It is located on the Missouri River, about 10 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River When Nebraska was still a territory Omaha was its capital, but when Nebraska achieved statehood the capital was moved to the city of Lincoln.

58. “¿Cómo __?” ESTA
“Cómo está?” is Spanish for “how are you, how’s it going?”

59. “The Wizard of Oz” family name GALE
The protagonist in the movie “The Wizard of Oz” is Dorothy Gale, played by Judy Garland. Apparently the name “Gale” wasn’t revealed in the book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”. Baum first revealed Dorothy’s full name in the script he wrote for the 1902 stage version of “The Wizard of Oz”. Dorothy reveals that she is “one of the Kansas Gales”, to which the Scarecrow replies “That accounts for your breezy manner.” Hardy har …

60. Skater’s maneuver AXEL
An Axel is a forward take-off jump in figure skating. It was first performed by Norwegian Axel Paulsen at the 1882 World Figure Skating championships.

63. Geisha’s sash OBI
The sash worn as part of traditional Japanese dress is known as an obi. The obi can be tied in what is called a butterfly knot.

The Japanese term “geisha” best translates as “artist” or “performing artist”.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Bumper car, at times RAMMER
7. Cookbook author Rombauer IRMA
11. Smoke CIG
14. Lancelot’s unrequited lover ELAINE
15. Assam products TEAS
16. Barcelona bear OSO
17. Equipment for picnic competitions POTATO SACKS
19. Grabbed a chair SAT
20. Melee SET-TO
21. Ballet bend PLIE
22. State with five national parks UTAH
23. Embryo development sites AMNIOTIC SACS
26. Priestly vestment ALB
29. Right Guard rival BAN
30. Old anesthetic ETHER
31. Willy Loman, in a 1949 play SALESMAN
34. Architect Jones INIGO
37. McDonald’s founder KROC
38. Make really happy ELATE
41. Nobel Prize subj. ECON
42. “Cheers!” SKOAL!
44. Connections traced on ancestry.com HERITAGE
46. Tiny amounts DRAMS
49. Chill in the air NIP
50. Denials NOS
51. Big name on Wall Street GOLDMAN SACHS
55. French friends AMIS
56. Elevator option DOWN
57. Horseshoe-shaped letter OMEGA
61. Tried to get into an office RAN
62. Lisa Simpson’s instrument BARITONE SAX
64. With 43-Down, what a criminal might be on THE …
65. Augusta National’s __ Corner AMEN
66. British Invasion star BEATLE
67. Doesn’t lack HAS
68. Nothing more than MERE
69. Its flag features a six-pointed star ISRAEL

Down
1. Weight room count REPS
2. Burn soother ALOE
3. Damon of “The Martian” MATT
4. Mazda roadster MIATA
5. Inters ENTOMBS
6. Classic auto REO
7. Novelist Calvino ITALO
8. Deliver from memory RECITE
9. Succeed MAKE IT
10. In the Gospels, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on one ASS
11. San José denizen COSTA RICAN
12. First name in gravity ISAAC
13. Some black-clad teens GOTHS
18. “This Is __ Tap” SPINAL
22. Early Web forum USENET
24. Title NAME
25. City with two MLB teams CHI
26. More than wonders ASKS
27. Carefree adventure LARK
28. Connections traced on ancestry.com BLOODLINES
32. Modern birthday greetings E-CARDS
33. “Can’t help ya” NAH
35. Disco adjective GOGO
36. Tip jar fillers ONES
39. Lease signer TENANT
40. “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” writer Carle ERIC
43. See 64-Across … LAM
45. Galaxy alternatives IPHONES
47. Title for Bovary MADAME
48. Distracting bedmate SNORER
51. “Party on, Wayne” speaker GARTH
52. City on the Missouri OMAHA
53. Sty denizens SWINE
54. Ugly campaign tactic SMEAR
58. “¿Cómo __?” ESTA
59. “The Wizard of Oz” family name GALE
60. Skater’s maneuver AXEL
62. Impact sound BAM!
63. Geisha’s sash OBI

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