LA Times Crossword Answers 31 Dec 16, Saturday




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Constructed by: Patti Varol & Doug Peterson

Edited by: Rich Norris

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Bill’s time: 12m 24s

Bill’s errors: 0




Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. Not much : JUST A TAD

Back in the 1800s “tad” was used to describe a young child, and this extended into our usage of “small amount” in the early 1900s. The original use of “tad” for a child is very likely a shortened version of “tadpole”.

9. “__ Weeks”: classic Van Morrison album : ASTRAL

Van Morrison is a singer-songwriter from Belfast in Northern Ireland. Back in Ireland we refer to him as “Van the Man”. Some of his more famous songs are “Brown Eyed Girl”, “Moondance”, “Gloria” and “Have I Told You Lately”.

15. Caravaggio masterpiece that pictures Pontius Pilate with Jesus : ECCE HOMO

“Ecce Homo” is the name of several famous paintings classifies as Christian art. The scene depicted is taken from the Gospel of John, and usually shows Pontius Pilate displaying Jesus Christ to the crowd prior to his execution. The phrase “Ecce homo” was spoken by Pilate to the onlookers, and translates as “Behold the man!” The most famous painting bearing the title is probably the early 17th-century work by Caravaggio that can be seen at the Palazzo Bianco in Genoa, Italy.

17. Iconic building with “point” offices : FLATIRON

The Flatiron Building in Manhattan, New York is a 21-story skyscraper completed in 1902. The building has a wedge-shaped footprint, giving rise to the “Flatiron” name. The most coveted offices are located at the sharpest of three angular ends, the so-called “point”. One oddity in the building is that the male bathrooms are located on the even floors, and the female bathrooms on the odd. Also, the 21st floor was added in 1905, and to access this floor requires an elevator ride from the 1st to the 20th floor, and a second elevator ride to the 21st. Such is the celebrity of the structure that the surrounding area took on the name Flatiron District.

20. Specialty docs : ENTS

Ear, nose and throat specialist (ENT)

33. River to the Severn : AVON

There are actually four rivers called the Avon in England, but “Shakespeare’s Avon” lies mainly in Warwickshire. The name “Avon” comes from the Old English word for a river, “abona”. Stratford-upon-Avon was the birthplace of William Shakespeare.

The River Severn is the longest river in the UK (the Thames is second). The Severn rises in the Cambrian Mountains in the center of Wales and empties into the Bristol Channel at the Severn Estuary.

34. First volume of a Beverly Cleary series : BEEZUS AND RAMONA

“Ramona and Beezus” is a 2010 kid’s movie based on the “Ramona” series of children’s novels by Beverly Cleary. The title characters are played by Joey King (Ramona) and Selena Gomez (Beezus). The original novel that inspired the title of the film is “Beezus and Ramona” (note the transposition of the names), but the movie’s plot is based on the storylines in the sequel novels “Ramona Forever” and “Ramona’s World”.

37. Cornerstone word : ANNO

The Latin word for year is “annus”. We often see it used in Latin phrases, but usually with a different spelling. For example in “anno Domini”, the “anno” is the ablative case of “annus” as the phrase means “in the year of the Lord”. Another example is “per annum”, in which “annum” is the accusative case as the literal translation of the phrase is “during the year”.

39. 2009 A.L. MVP Joe : MAUER

Joe Mauer is a professional baseball player from St. Paul, Minnesota, and who also started playing for the Minnesota Twins in 2004. Mauer is famous for wearing long sideburns, it says here …

40. Spectrum band : RED

“Roy G. Biv” can be used as a mnemonic for the colors in a rainbow:

  • Red
  • Orange
  • Yellow
  • Green
  • Blue
  • Indigo
  • Violet

41. 1969-’70 Broadway musical that ends with a fashion show : COCO

The 1969 musical “Coco” by Alan Jay Lerner and André Previn was based on the life of French fashion designer Coco Chanel. The title role was played by Katharine Hepburn, marking the only time the Hollywood star appeared in a stage musical.

42. Brandt of “Breaking Bad” : BETSY

Betsy Brandt is an actress best known for playing Marie Schrader on “Breaking Bad”. Brandt has two children, the second of which was born while the second season of “Breaking Bad” was being filmed.

46. Benjamin portrayer : HAWN

I remember watching the ditsy Goldie Hawn character on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In”. Hawn used to give great performances on the show, convincing everyone that she was the stereotypical dumb blonde. Well, what a great career she was to carve out for herself!

“Private Benjamin” is an entertaining comedy movie that features Goldie Hawn in the title role. Private Benjamin is a new recruit in the US Army who joins under a misapprehension about the army lifestyle. She gets a rude awakening, and hilarity ensues …

48. John follower : ACTS

The Acts of the Apostles is the fifth book of the Christian New Testament. It is believed that the author of the Gospel of Luke was the same person who wrote “Acts”.

52. Fleet destroyed by the Protestant Wind : ARMADA

The Spanish Armada sailed from Spain with an invasion force intent on overthrowing Queen Elizabeth I of England. The fleet was repulsed by the English, who launched an effective fireship attack on the Spanish. After smaller engagements with the English, the Spanish Armada suffered its greatest losses in severe storms in the North Atlantic that left many vessels wrecked on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland. Of the 130 vessels in the original invading force, only two thirds returned to Spain. The storms that help save Queen Elizabeth I’s throne are often referred to as “the Protestant Wind”.

54. Ovid, for one : EPIC POET

The Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso is today known simply as Ovid. Ovid is usually listed alongside the two other great Roman poets: Horace and Virgil.

58. Joshua tree habitat : DESERT

Joshua Tree is the common name for the plant species more correctly called Yucca brevifolia. One of the best places to see Joshua Trees is in the beautiful Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California. The plant was named by Mormon settlers crossing the Mojave Desert in the mid-1800s. The name was chosen as the shape of the tree reminded the settlers of Joshua reaching his hands to the sky in prayer.

59. Tests using Snellen charts : EYE EXAMS

The commonly used eye chart (that starts with the letters “E FP TOZ LPED”) is called a Snellen chart. The test is named after its developer Herman Snellen, who introduced it way back in 1862.

Down

1. Bridges of Los Angeles County : JEFF

Jeff Bridges has acting in his blood, as the son of Lloyd and Dorothy Bridges, and younger brother of Beau Bridges. Jeff and Beau used to appear occasionally with their father in the TV show “Sea Hunt” in the late fifties and early sixties. Jeff’s breakthrough role came with the 1971 film “The Last Picture Show”, for which he was nominated for an Oscar (at only 22 years of age). He had to wait until he was 60 years old to win an Oscar though, for his performance in 2009’s “Crazy Heart”. Off the screen, Jeff Bridges is an accomplished photographer. I have a fine book of photographs that he shot on and off film sets over the years …

2. Home of the Herb Alpert Sch. of Music : UCLA

Herb Alpert still plays the trumpet today, but he is also a talented painter and sculptor. His works are seen regularly in exhibitions all around the world.

4. Head of the Sorbonne? : TETE

“Tête” is French for “head”.

The Sorbonne is the name usually used for the old University of Paris, and some of the institutions that have succeeded it.

5. Sushi choice : AHI

Yellowfin and bigeye tuna are usually marketed as “ahi”, the Hawaiian name. They are both big fish, with yellowfish tuna often weighing over 300 pounds, and bigeye tuna getting up to 400 pounds.

9. SFPD alert : APB

An All Points Bulletin (APB) is a broadcast from one US law enforcement agency to another.

The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) is the 11th largest police department in the country. The SFPD dates back to the days of the Gold Rush, being founded in 1849 as a force of 35 officers. SFPD has featured a lot in movies and on television. The most famous films are probably “Bullitt”, the “Dirty Harry” series and “48 Hrs.” On television there was “Ironside”, “The Streets of San Francisco” and “Monk”.

10. ”Nausea” novelist : SARTRE

Jean-Paul Sartre was a leading French philosopher, as well as a writer and political activist. He also served with the French army during WWII and spent nine months as a prisoner of war having been captured by German troops. Sartre was one of the few people to have been awarded a Nobel Prize and to have then refused to accept it. He was named winner of the prize for Literature in 1964, for his first novel “Nausea”. Before his win, Sartre knew that his name was on the list of nominees so he wrote to the Nobel Institute and asked to be withdrawn from consideration. The letter somehow went unread, so he found himself having to refuse the award after he had been selected.

13. “Years of Minutes” author : ANDY ROONEY

Andy Rooney began his career in newspapers during WWII working for “Stars and Stripes” in London. He had some memorable experiences during the war, including flying on the first American bombing raid over Germany. He was also one of the first American journalists to visit the German concentration camps as they were liberated. He started his segment called “A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney” on CBS’s “60 Minutes” way back in 1978, and so was on our screens for over 40 years. Rooney passed away in 2011.

“Years of Minutes” is a 2003 collection of television essays written by Andy Rooney for “60 Minutes”.

14. SFPD ranks : LTS

Lieutenant (lt.)

23. __ platter : PUPU

n Hawaiian, “pu-pu” is a word originally meaning “snail”. Nowadays “pu-pu” denotes many different types of food that are usually served as an hors d’oeuvres. A “pupu platter” then is a selection of such foods served in a Hawaiian restaurant.

25. Wreck locator : SONAR

The British developed the first underwater detection system that used sound waves. Research was driven by defence demands during WWI, leading to production of working units in 1922. This new sound detection system was described as using “supersonics”, but for the purpose of secrecy the term was dropped in favor of an acronym. The work was done under the auspices of the Royal Navy’s Anti-Submarine Division, so ASD was combined with the IC from “superson-ic-s” to create the name ASDIC. The navy even went as far as renaming the quartz material at the heart of the technology “ASDivite”. By the time WWII came along, the Americans were producing their own systems and coined the term SONAR, playing off the related application, RADAR. And so the name ASDIC was deep-sixed …

26. When, in Act IV, Juliet drinks the potion : SCENE THREE

William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” doesn’t end well for the title characters. Juliet takes a potion as a ruse to fool her parents, to trick them into thinking she is dead. The potion puts her in a death-like coma for 24 hours, after which Juliet plans to awaken and run off with Romeo. Juliet’s sends a message to Romeo apprising him of the plan, but the message fails to arrive. Romeo hears of Juliet’s “death”, and grief-stricken he takes his own life by drinking poison. Juliet awakens from the coma, only to find her lover dead beside her. She picks up a dagger and commits suicide. And nobody lives happily ever after …

27. “The O.C.” and “Gossip Girl” : TEEN DRAMAS

“The O.C.” is a teen drama that aired for four seasons on Fox finishing up in 2007. I never watched it, but I understand that it is set in Newport Beach in Southern California.

“Gossip Girl” is a series of young adult novels by American author Cecily von Ziegesar. The Gossip Girl in the title is the narrator of the tale, a gossip blogger who recounts the experiences of two friends, Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen.

28. Taverna liqueur : 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.

32. Riata twirler : GAUCHO

A “gaucho” is someone who lives in the South American pampas, the fertile lowlands in the southeast of South America. The term “gaucho” is also used as the equivalent of our “cowboy”.

“Reata” is the Spanish word for “lasso”. We tend to use the spelling “riata” in English, but sometimes can use the original Spanish word.

33. Basic Latin word : AMAT

Amo, amas, amat” … I love, you love, he/she/it loves”, in Latin.

51. FDA output : STDS

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) started out as the Food, Drug and Insecticide organization in 1906, after President Theodore Roosevelt signed into law the Food and Drug Act. The main driver behind the Act was concern over public hygiene.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) started out as the Food, Drug and Insecticide organization in 1906, after President Theodore Roosevelt signed into law the Food and Drug Act. The main driver behind the Act was concern over public hygiene.

53. “The lie that enables us to realize the truth”: Picasso : ART

The artist Pablo Picasso’s full name was Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso, a name he was given right from birth. Got that?

55. Volcano center? : CEE

There is a letter C (cee) at the center of the word “volcano”.

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Complete List of Clues and Answers

Across

1. Not much : JUST A TAD

9. “__ Weeks”: classic Van Morrison album : ASTRAL

15. Caravaggio masterpiece that pictures Pontius Pilate with Jesus : ECCE HOMO

16. Raise : PARENT

17. Iconic building with “point” offices : FLATIRON

18. Market array : BRANDS

19. What stars have : FAME

20. Specialty docs : ENTS

22. In order : TIDY

23. They’re hard to put down : PAGE-TURNERS

26. Dauntless : STOUT

29. Spray holder : VASE

30. Site of monkey business : ZOO

31. Get a winter coat? : ICE UP

32. Part of an inheritance : GENE

33. River to the Severn : AVON

34. First volume of a Beverly Cleary series : BEEZUS AND RAMONA

37. Cornerstone word : ANNO

38. Hauls : LUGS

39. 2009 A.L. MVP Joe : MAUER

40. Spectrum band : RED

41. 1969-’70 Broadway musical that ends with a fashion show : COCO

42. Brandt of “Breaking Bad” : BETSY

43. Comedy team staples : STRAIGHT MEN

46. Benjamin portrayer : HAWN

47. Cries of surprise : OHOS

48. John follower : ACTS

52. Fleet destroyed by the Protestant Wind : ARMADA

54. Ovid, for one : EPIC POET

56. More expensive : DEARER

57. Bought back : REDEEMED

58. Joshua tree habitat : DESERT

59. Tests using Snellen charts : EYE EXAMS

Down

1. Bridges of Los Angeles County : JEFF

2. Home of the Herb Alpert Sch. of Music : UCLA

3. Hustle : SCAM

4. Head of the Sorbonne? : TETE

5. Sushi choice : AHI

6. Eagerly unwrapped : TORE AT

7. In with : AMONG

8. “You’re skating on thin ice” : DON’T EVEN GO THERE

9. SFPD alert : APB

10. ”Nausea” novelist : SARTRE

11. Express, say : TRAIN

12. Orbital maneuver : RENDEZVOUS

13. “Years of Minutes” author : ANDY ROONEY

14. SFPD ranks : LTS

21. Resolute policies : STANDS

23. __ platter : PUPU

24. One working on keys : USER

25. Wreck locator : SONAR

26. When, in Act IV, Juliet drinks the potion : SCENE THREE

27. “The O.C.” and “Gossip Girl” : TEEN DRAMAS

28. Taverna liqueur : OUZO

31. Structural pieces : I-BARS

32. Riata twirler : GAUCHO

33. Basic Latin word : AMAT

35. Rough going : SLOG

36. “Yes!” : AMEN!

41. __ block : CINDER

42. Next to : BESIDE

44. Clued in : AWARE

45. Glum : MOPEY

48. Crown : APEX

49. Food __: after-eating drowsiness : COMA

50. Come down hard : TEEM

51. FDA output : STDS

52. Throw into the mix : ADD

53. “The lie that enables us to realize the truth”: Picasso : ART

55. Volcano center? : CEE

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