LA Times Crossword Answers 15 Nov 12, Thursday

CROSSWORD SETTER: Julian Lim
THEME: Van Gogh Painting … each of today’s theme answers ends with a foodstuff that would be appreciated by THE POTATO EATERS, and “The Potato Eaters” is a painting by Vincent van Gogh:

17A. Negotiator’s assets (BARGAINING) CHIPS
25A. Utterly squashed (FLAT AS A) PANCAKE
45A. Easily identifiable teams, in casual games (SHIRTS AND) SKINS
58A. 1885 Van Gogh painting (whose subjects may have appreciated the ends of 17-, 25- and 45-Across) THE POTATO EATERS

COMPLETION TIME: 11m 56s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Elegant trinket BIJOU
The noun “bijou” is used for a small expensive trinket. “Bijou” is French for “jewel”.

6. Yam or taro TUBER
Although in the US we sometimes refer to sweet potatoes as “yams”, the yam is actually a completely different family of plants. True yams are more common in other parts of the the world than they are in this country, and are especially found in Africa.

The corm of some taro plants is used to make poi, the traditional Hawaiian dish (that I think tastes horrible). When a taro plant is grown as an ornamental, it is often called Elephant Ears due to the shape of its large leaves.

11. “Talk of the Nation” airer NPR
“Talk of the Nation” is an excellent talk radio program broadcast by National Public Radio (NPR) stations on weekdays. Neal Conan has been the host of the show for over a decade, although the show’s time slot at the end of the week is handed over to Ira Glass for “Science Friday”.

15. “The Princess Bride” kidnapper __ Montoya INIGO
“The Princess Bride” is a novel by William Goldman written in 1973. Famously, the book was adapted into a 1987 film of the same name directed by Rob Reiner that has become a cult classic.

16. Rivière contents EAU
In France, one can find water (eau) in a river (rivière).

21. Pricey screens HDTVS
In the digital world, resolution of a display, television, image etc. is defined by the number of pixels that can be displayed in a standard area (say a square inch). The emphasis today is on producing larger area displays/televisions, i.e increasing the number of pixels simply by increasing the size of the screen. In the past couple of decades the emphasis was on adding more pixels within the same screen size to increase resolution. This would just be wasted effort these days as further increases in resolution cannot be perceived by the eye. Now that TVs are capable of displaying such high resolutions, broadcasters are responding by producing a video signal of higher resolution that they call high-definition television, HDTV.

22. Nuts for soft drinks KOLAS
The first cola drink to become a commercial success was Coca-Cola, soon after it was invented by a druggist in 1886. That first Coca-Cola was flavored mainly with kola nuts and vanilla. The formulation was based on an alcoholic drink called Coca Wine that had been on sale for over twenty years. The original alcoholic version actually contained a small concentration of cocaine.

24. Synthesizer pioneer MOOG
Robert Moog invented the Moog Synthesizer in the sixties, an electronic device that he used to produce music. I used to own a few of his albums, including a Moog version of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”. What a great performance that was …

33. Be just too sweet CLOY
“To cloy” is to give too much of something rich or sweet, enough to cause disgust or displeasure.

35. __ Lopez: chess opening RUY
A gambit is a chess opening that intrinsically involves the sacrifice of a piece (usually a pawn) with the intent of gaining an advantage. The term “gambit” was first used by the Spanish priest Ruy Lopez de Segura who took it from the Italian expression “dare il gambetto” meaning “to put a leg forward to trip someone”. Said priest gave his name to the common Ruy Lopez opening, which paradoxically is not a gambit in that there is no sacrifice.

36. Mickey D’s breakfast item SMALL OJ
“Mickey D” is a slang name for the McDonald’s chain of fast food restaurants.

The original McDonald’s restaurant was opened in 1940 by Richard and Maurice McDonald as a barbecue restaurant. The brothers then moved into fast food hamburgers, eventually selling out to one of their franchise agents, Ray Kroc. It was Ray Kroc who really led the company to its worldwide success.

45. Easily identifiable teams, in casual games SHIRTS AND SKINS
In a casual game of say basketball, teams can be identified by one side wearing shirts, and the other not. You’d want me to be on the “shirts” team, trust me. Not a pretty sight otherwise …

48. Shared currency EURO
The European Union today stands at a membership of 27 states. The Euro is the official currency of only 16 of the 27. The list of states not using the Euro includes the UK, Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

49. Really quiet, in music PPP
The musical term “pianissimo” is abbreviated to “pp”, and is an instruction to the performer to sing or play very softly. The concept can be extended to “ppp”, short for “pianississimo”, an instruction of play even more softly. The opposite instructions are fortissimo (ff) and fortississimo (fff), instructions to perform very loudly, and even more loudly.

50. USS Missouri nickname BIG MO
The USS Missouri was commissioned in 1944 and decommissioned in 1955, but reactivated in 1984 after which she even participated in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Since 1998, Big Mo (as she is known familiarly) has served as a museum ship at Pearl Harbor. It was on the Missouri that the Japanese surrendered, marking the end of WWII.

52. Digital image unit PIXEL
A pixel is a dot, the base element that goes to make up a digital image.

58. 1885 Van Gogh painting (whose subjects may have appreciated the ends of 17-, 25- and 45-Across) THE POTATO EATERS
“The Potato Eaters” is a Vincent van Gogh painting that you can see in the Vincent van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. “The Potato Eaters” was stolen from the museum in 1991, along with nineteen other paintings. Luckily, all of the stolen works were recovered extremely quickly as the robbers abandoned them only 35 minutes after the theft.

61. Angkor __: Cambodian temple WAT
Angkor Wat is a temple in Cambodia built in the 12th century. The beautiful building is iconic in Cambodia and is even featured in the center of the country’s national flag.

63. Trio with notable beards ZZ TOP
In the blues rock band ZZ Top, the hairy guitar players are Billy F. Gibbons and Dusty Hill. The relatively clean-shaven drummer is … wait for it … Frank Beard …

64. “Star Trek: DSN” role ODO
Odo is a character in the “Star Trek” spin-off “Deep Space Nine”. He is the chief of security on the space station and is a Changeling, meaning that he can assume any shape that he wishes. Odo is played by René Auberjonois, an actor you might remember as Father Mulcahy in the movie version of “M*A*S*H”.

65. Below-average Joe SCHMO
“Schmo” is American slang for a dull or boring person, from the Yiddish word “shmok”.

Down
1. Big screen pig BABE
The hit 1995 film “Babe” was produced and filmed in Australia. The movie is an adaptation of a 1983 novel called “The Sheep-Pig” written by Dick King-Smith. “Babe” was a smash hit at the box office and was extremely well received by the critics. The film was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, but lost out to “Braveheart”. However, it did win the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, beating out “Apollo 13”. An amazing feat …

4. Part of ILO: Abbr. ORG
The ILO (International Labour Organization) is an agency now administered by the UN which was established by the League of Nations after WWI. The ILO deals with important issues such as health and safety, discrimination, child labor and forced labor. The organization was recognized for its work in 1969 when it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

5. Pacific-12 Conference member UTAH UTES
The Runnin’ Utes are the basketball team of the University of Utah. The team was given the nickname the Runnin’ Redskins back when Jack Gardner was the head coach from 1953 to 1971. The “Runnin'” part of the name was chosen because Gardner was famous for playing quick offenses. The “Redskins” name was later dropped in favor of the less controversial “Utes”.

7. Pac-12 member, e.g. UNIV
Pac-12 an abbreviation for the Pacific-12 Conference, a college athletic conference in the western US. The Pac-12 has won more NCAA National Team Championships than any other conference. The Pac-12 was founded in 1915 as the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC). Over time as it grew, the conference went by the names Big Five, Big Six, Pacific-8, Pacific-10 and became the Pacific-12 in 2011.

11. Author of “The Sandman” graphic novels NEIL GAIMAN
Neil Gaiman is an English author whose works include novels, comic books and graphic novels.

12. Respected Smurf PAPA
The Smurfs are little blue men created by a Belgian cartoonist in 1958. The Smurfs became famous in the US when Hanna-Barbera used them in a children’s cartoon series. The Smurfs are largely a group of males, originally with just one female character called Smurfette, who is wooed by almost all of the boy Smurfs. Later, another female was introduced into the mix called Sassette, and still later along came Granny Smurf.

13. Muscovite, e.g.: Abbr. RUSS
A Muscovite is someone from Moscow.

19. Cheap sauce HOOCH
In the Klondike gold rush, a favorite tipple of the miners was “Hoochinoo”, a liquor made by the native Alaskans. Soon after “hooch” (also “hootch”) was adopted as a word for cheap whiskey.

24. Subway addition? MAYO
Mayonnaise originated in the town of Mahon in Menorca, a Mediterranean island belonging to Spain. The Spanish called the sauce “salsa mahonesa” after the town, and this morphed into the French word “mayonnaise” which we use today.

25. Club with the motto “To Make the Best Better” FOUR-H
4-H is a youth organization in the US. The first 4-H clubs were set up at the start of the 20th century and were focused on agricultural communities. Although 4-H no longer has the rural focus, because of the organization’s history it is administered with the Department of Agriculture. The four Hs stand for Head, Heart, Hands and Health.

27. Milan’s La __ SCALA
The La Scala Opera House opened in 1778. It was built on the site of the church of Santa Maria della Scala, which gave the theater its name, “Teatro alla Scala” in Italian.

29. Traveled down the Grand Canal, say POLED
The Grand Canal is a large, S-shaped canal that traverses the city of Venice in Italy. For centuries there was only one bridge across the canal, the famed Rialto Bridge. Now there are four bridges in all, including a controversial structure that was opened to the public in 2008, the Ponte della Costituzione.

31. JFK listings ETDS
The Idlewild Golf Course was taken over by the city of New York in 1943 and construction started on a new airport to serve the metropolis and relieve congestion at La Guardia. The Idlewild name still persists, even though the airport was named after Major General Alexander E. Anderson from the first days of the project. When the facility started operating in 1948 it was known as New York International Airport, Anderson Field. It was renamed to John F. Kennedy International Airport in 1963, one month after the President was assassinated.

37. Soup with a bento MISO
A “bento” is a single-person meal that is commonly eaten in Japan. A bento can be purchased as a take-out meal, or it may be packed at home. A bento is usually sold as a “bento box”.

Miso is the name of the seasoning that makes the soup. Basic miso seasoning is made by fermenting rice, barley and soybeans with salt and a fungus (!) to produce a paste. The paste can be added to stock to make miso soup, or perhaps to flavor tofu.

38. Named for a prez, Philly public square also known as Love Park JFK PLAZA
JFK Plaza is the official name of the plaza in Philadelphia that is more commonly referred to as LOVE Park. The latter name comes from the “LOVE” sculpture by Robert Indiana that overlooks the plaza.

47. WWI German vice admiral SPEE
Maximilian Graf von Spee was actually born in Denmark, but of a noble German family. By the time WWI started, Spee had risen to the rank of Rear Admiral in the German Navy. He was killed in the Battle of the Falkland Islands (the original 1914 version!). Of course he gave his name to the powerful pocket battleship, the Admiral Graf Spee, which was damaged in the Battle of the River Plate during WWII. The Graf Spee took refuge in the neutral port of Montevideo and when the boat was expelled by the government of Uruguay, the captain scuttled her rather than face the Allied flotilla waiting for her just outside the port.

50. USAF stealth plane B-TWO
The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit is more familiarly called the Stealth Bomber. The original plan was for the US Military to buy 132 B-2 bombers but the cost became so high (over a billion dollars each in today’s money) that only 21 were actually ordered. One of these crashed in 2008 and the remaining 20 aircraft are still in service.

53. Brangelina, e.g. ITEM
An unmarried couple known to be involved with each other might appear in the gossip columns. This appearance as “an item” in the papers, led to the use of “item” to refer to such a couple, but only since the very early seventies. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were an item in the gossip columns after they met on the set of the 2005 film “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”. Since then, they have unravelled their prior marriages and are now husband and wife with six children.

54. Tic-tac-toe option X OR O
When I was growing up in Ireland we played “noughts and crosses” … our name for tic-tac-toe.

55. Quash VETO
“Veto” comes directly from Latin and means “I forbid”. The word was used by tribunes of Ancient Rome to indicate that they opposed measures passed by the Senate.

56. Element in hemoglobin IRON
Hemoglobin is the key protein in red blood cells. Hemoglobin transports oxygen around the body, and also carbon dioxide.

57. Egyptian dangers ASPS
The asp is a venomous snake found in the Nile region of Africa. It is so venomous that the asp was used in ancient Egypt and Greece as a means of execution. Cleopatra observed such executions noting that the venom brought on sleepiness without any painful spasms. When the great queen opted to commit suicide, the asp was therefore her chosen method.

60. Philosopher Mo-__ TZE
Mozi (also Mo-Tze) was a Chinese philosopher whose positions were often in conflict with Confucianism.

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Elegant trinket BIJOU
6. Yam or taro TUBER
11. “Talk of the Nation” airer NPR
14. Not proximate APART
15. “The Princess Bride” kidnapper __ Montoya INIGO
16. Rivière contents EAU
17. Negotiator’s assets BARGAINING CHIPS
20. Textbook updates, e.g.: Abbr. EDS
21. Pricey screens HDTVS
22. Nuts for soft drinks KOLAS
23. Stage signal CUE
24. Synthesizer pioneer MOOG
25. Utterly squashed FLAT AS A PANCAKE
32. Come undone GO APE
33. Be just too sweet CLOY
34. Inkling HINT
35. __ Lopez: chess opening RUY
36. Mickey D’s breakfast item SMALL OJ
39. In MOD
40. Before, to the Bard ERST
42. “Actually, that’s not true” I LIE
43. Reasons for returns FLAWS
45. Easily identifiable teams, in casual games SHIRTS AND SKINS
48. Shared currency EURO
49. Really quiet, in music PPP
50. USS Missouri nickname BIG MO
52. Digital image unit PIXEL
55. Through VIA
58. 1885 Van Gogh painting (whose subjects may have appreciated the ends of 17-, 25- and 45-Across) THE POTATO EATERS
61. Angkor __: Cambodian temple WAT
62. Die (out) PETER
63. Trio with notable beards ZZ TOP
64. “Star Trek: DSN” role ODO
65. Below-average Joe SCHMO
66. Eternities AEONS

Down
1. Big screen pig BABE
2. Third-generation release of 2012 IPAD
3. 24-Down containers JARS
4. Part of ILO: Abbr. ORG
5. Pacific-12 Conference member UTAH UTES
6. Windshield application TINT
7. Pac-12 member, e.g. UNIV
8. Some troughs BINS
9. It’s usually broken before use EGG
10. “You da man!” ROCK ON!
11. Author of “The Sandman” graphic novels NEIL GAIMAN
12. Respected Smurf PAPA
13. Muscovite, e.g.: Abbr. RUSS
18. Think tank product IDEA
19. Cheap sauce HOOCH
23. Keep from going higher CAP
24. Subway addition? MAYO
25. Club with the motto “To Make the Best Better” FOUR-H
26. Beset LAY SIEGE TO
27. Milan’s La __ SCALA
28. Fully committed ALL IN
29. Traveled down the Grand Canal, say POLED
30. Has met before KNOWS
31. JFK listings ETDS
32. College srs.’ tests GRES
37. Soup with a bento MISO
38. Named for a prez, Philly public square also known as Love Park JFK PLAZA
41. Master card? TRUMP
44. Golf hole’s edge LIP
46. Uniformed forces TROOPS
47. WWI German vice admiral SPEE
50. USAF stealth plane B-TWO
51. “__ to do it!” I HAD
52. Trail PATH
53. Brangelina, e.g. ITEM
54. Tic-tac-toe option X OR O
55. Quash VETO
56. Element in hemoglobin IRON
57. Egyptian dangers ASPS
59. Dick TEC
60. Philosopher Mo-__ TZE

Return to top of page