LA Times Crossword Answers 23 Nov 12, Friday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
10. Bottle in a crib? BABA
“Baba” is slang for a baby’s bottle.

15. Aruba, for one ISLE
Aruba is one of the so-called ABC Islands. The ABC Islands is the nickname given to the three westernmost islands of the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean. The nickname comes from the first letters of the island names: Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. All three of the ABC Islands are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

16. Muslim prayer leader IMAM
An imam is a Muslim leader, often the person in charge of a mosque or perhaps a Muslim community.

17. Impish chutzpah? P(IX)IE CRUST
Our word “chutzpah” meaning “nerve, gall, impudence” is derived from the Yiddish “khutspe”, which has the same meaning.

19. Enemy of un ratón GATO
In Spanish, a cat (gato) is the enemy of a mouse (un ratón).

21. Capital of Spain? ESS
The capital letter of the word “Spain” is S (ess).

22. Pennsylvania site of the Crayola Factory EASTON
The Lehigh Valley metropolitan area in Pennsylvania is primarily composed of the three cities, Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton.

In the year 2000 the Crayola company, very cleverly I think, held the “Crayola Color Census 2000” in which people were polled and asked for their favorite Crayola colors. President George W. Bush chose “Blue Bell” and Tiger Woods chose “Wild Strawberry”.

28. ’90s trade pact NAFTA
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is between Canada, Mexico and the United States. When NAFTA came into force in 1994 it set up the largest free trade zone in the world.

33. Airport near Forest Hills, N.Y. LGA
Fiorello La Guardia was the Mayor of New York from 1934 to 1945, racking up three full terms in office. The famous airport that bears La Guardia’s name was built at his urging, stemming from an incident that took place while he was in office. He was taking a TWA flight to “New York” and was outraged when the plane landed at Newark Airport, in the state of New Jersey. He demanded that the flight take off again and land at a small airport in Brooklyn. A gaggle of press reporters joined him on the short hop and he gave them a story, urging New Yorkers to support the construction of a new commercial airport within the city’s limits. The new airport, in Queens, opened in 1939 as New York Municipal, often called “LaGuardia” as a nickname. The airport was officially relabeled as “LaGuardia” in 1947.

36. __ de gallo: Mexican salsa PICO
Pico de gallo is a Mexican condiment made from tomato, onion and chili peppers. “Pico de gallo” is Spanish for “beak of rooster”. Apparently this name was given as eating of the condiment with the thumb and forefinger resembled the pecking of a rooster.

39. Trash can scavenger COON
The raccoon is native to North America. In captivity, raccoons can live to over 20 years of age, but in the wild they only live two or three years. The main causes for the shorter lifespan are hunting and road traffic.

42. Watson of the PGA BUBBA
Bubba Watson is a golfer on the PGA Tour from Bagdad, Florida. Watson is known as a big driver of the ball. He can hit a golf ball over 350 yards.

45. Electron circuit ORBIT
Excitation of an atom occurs when the atom absorbs energy and at least one of its electrons moves out of its resting orbit into a higher orbit. When the electron returns to it lowest orbit it may do so by emitting the excess energy in the form of a photon, that is by emitting a characteristic color of light. If sufficient energy is used to excite the atom, the electron may break out of orbit completely, in which case the atom becomes an ion.

46. Betty Crocker’s empire? M(IX)ING DYNASTY
The Ming Dynasty lasted in China from 1368 to 1644. The Ming Dynasty oversaw tremendous innovation in so many areas, including the manufacture of ceramics. Late in the Ming period, a shift towards a market economy in China led to the export of porcelain on an unprecedented scale, perhaps explaining why we tend to hear more about Ming vases than we do about porcelain from any other Chinese dynasty.

Betty Crocker was introduced by the Washburn Crosby Company (now part of General Mills) in 1921. “Crocker” was chosen in honor of William Crocker who was one of the company’s directors. “Betty” was selected simply because it was considered a bright, all-American name. Betty’s original job was to sign her name on correspondence arising out of consumer product questions, but soon she evolved into a very successful brand name.

50. Its components are often bought separately STEREO
Monophonic sound (“mono”) is sound reproduced using just one audio channel, which is usually played out of just one speaker. Stereophonic sound is reproduced using two audio channels, with the sound from each channel played out of two different speakers. The pair of stereo speakers are usually positioned apart from each other so that sound appears to come from between the two. Quadraphonic sound (4.0 surround sound) uses four audio channels with the sound played back through four speakers often positioned at the corners of the room in which one is listening.

55. Zola title heroine NANA
“Nana” is a novel by the French author Émile Zola. It is the ninth in a series of twenty books collectively given the title “Les Rougon-Macquart”. The series follows the life of a fictional family during the Second French Empire in the second half of the 19th century.

56. Watergate, notably? N(IX)ON ISSUE
The Watergate scandal is so named because it involved a break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. The Watergate
complex is made up of five units, three of which are apartment buildings, one an office building, and one a hotel-office building (which housed the DNC headquarters).

60. Posting place BLOG
“Blog” is a melding of the words “Web” and “log”. This blog is a “log” of all the New York Times Crosswords published, and I post them on the “Web”.

61. Dressage pace TROT
The equestrian sport of dressage involves demonstration of how well as horse responds to training. “Dressage” is a French word meaning “training”.

64. Spanish medals or metals OROS
“Oro” is Spanish for “gold”.

Down
1. Threats to Indiana Jones ASPS
Apparently Sean Connery’s version of James Bond was a major inspiration for the Indiana Jones character created by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. And that’s why Connery was invited to play Indiana’s father in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”.

2. Work hard MOIL
“To moil” is to toil or to slave.

3. Where a smash is welcome BOX OFFICE
The term “box office” may date back to Shakespearean times. In those days long past, patrons would deposit fees for seeing theater performances in boxes. The full boxes would be collected and placed in an office called, imaginatively enough, the “box office”.

4. Island chain? LEI
“Lei” is the Hawaiian word for “garland, wreath”, although in more general terms a “lei” is any series of objects strung together as an adornment for the body.

7. Sch. with a pelican on its official seal LSU
LSU’s full name is Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College.

8. Singer Green et al. ALS
Al Green is a gospel and soul music singer. Green was born in Arkansas, where he started out as a gospel singer and moved into R&B. In 1974, he was assaulted by a girlfriend who burned him badly on much of his body by pouring boiling grits over him (and then she committed suicide). The incident changed Green’s life and he turned to the church, becoming a pastor in Memphis in 1976. He continued to record music, but never really enjoyed the same success that he had in the early seventies with hits like “Let’s Stay Together” and “I’m Still In Love With You”.

10. Idaho State’s conference BIG SKY
The Big Sky Conference is a college athletic conference that was founded in 1963 and is made up of schools from the western US.

11. Valuable violin AMATI
The first of the Amati family to make violins was Andrea Amati, who lived in the 14th century. He was succeeded by his sons, Antonio and Girolamo. In turn, they were succeeded by Girolamo’s son, Nicolo. Nicolo had a few students who achieved fame making musical instruments as well. One was his own son, Girolamo, and another was the famed Antonio Stradivari.

18. CBS series with regional spinoffs CSI
I’m told that the TV show “CSI” gets a lot of razzing by law enforcement professionals for its unrealistic portrayal of the procedures and science of criminal investigation. I don’t care though, as I just think it’s fun television. The original “CSI” set in Las Vegas seems to have “gone off the boil”, but the addition of Sela Ward to the cast of “CSI: NY” has really, really raised the level of the sister show centered around New York City.

23. 50-and-up group AARP
AARP is now the official name for the interest group that used to be called the American Association of Retired Persons. The name change reflects the current focus of the group on all Americans aged 50 or over, as opposed to just people who have retired.

26. Electromagnetic induction discoverer FARADAY
Michael Faraday was a scientist from England who discovered electromagnetic induction among other things. It was Faraday who first observed that a conductor carrying an electric current has an associated magnetic field. Amazingly, the sum total of Faraday’s formal education was little more than a seven-year apprenticeship as a bookbinder and bookseller.

34. Desert that borders the Altai Mountains GOBI
The large desert in Asia called the Gobi lies in northern China and southern Mongolia. The Gobi desert is growing at an alarming rate, particularly towards the south. This “desertification” is caused by increased human activity. The Chinese government is trying to halt the desert’s progress by planting great swaths of new forest, the so called “Green Wall of China”.

The Altai Mountains are a range in Asia, located where the countries of Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan meet. “Altai” is Turkic for “Golden Mountain”.

38. Lover of Geraint ENID
“Idylls of the King” is a cycle of twelve poems by Alfred, Lord Tennyson that retells the tale of King Arthur. One of the “idylls” is the story of Geraint and Enid. By the way, Tennyson’s Enid gave her name to the city of Enid, Oklahoma.

43. Vegas hotel, with “the” MIRAGE
When the Mirage Hotel was opened in Las Vegas in 1989 it was the most expensive hotel built in history, costing $630 million. The building has distinctive gold windows that were colored using real gold dust.

46. “Hardball” network MSNBC
“Hardball with Chris Matthews” is a nightly talk-show about politics, airing on MSNBC. The show’s host, Chris Matthews, is a colorful character. Matthews served with the Peace Corps from 1968 to 1970, in Swaziland in Africa. He has been back to Africa since and found himself hospitalized in 2002, suffering from malaria that he picked up on one of his trips.

47. 1895-’96 __-Ethiopian War ITALO
The first Italo-Ethiopian War was fought between 1895 and 1896. Ethiopia wasn’t fighting alone as Russia and France provided material support against Italy. The end result was a victory for Ethiopia, a unique outcome. Never before had an African nation successfully resisted the colonial onslaught of a European nation.

48. It might be in the spotlight XENON
Metal halide lamps that are called xenons don’t actually rely on the incorporated xenon gas to generate light. The xenon gas is added so that the lamp comes on “instantly”. Without the xenon, the lamp would start up rather like a street lamp, flickering and sputtering for a while before staying alight.

49. Curry of “Today” ANN
The television journalist Ann Curry is perhaps best known for the time she spent as co-host on NBC’s “Today” show. NBC executives asked Curry to resign from the “Today” show because ratings were low. I just read online that Curry was also pushed out because of the way she insisted on dressing and because she refused to dye her gray hair. I hope that isn’t true …

53. “Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me” band, with “The” CURE
The Cure is an English rock band founded in 1976 and still going strong today, although not with the original line up. The only top ten hit the Cure had in the US is “Love Song”, released in 1989.

57. Damaged, as mdse. IRR
I’ve never thought of damaged merchandise as irregular (irr.) …

58. Pencil game loser XOO
When I was growing up in Ireland we played “noughts and crosses” … our name for tic-tac-toe.

59. Cat lead-in SNO
The brand name Sno-Cat is owned by the Tucker company. All “snowcats” are tracked vehicles built to work in snow, famously used in expeditions to the polar regions. The modern Sno-Cat from Tucker differs from its competitors in that it has four, independently-mounted tracks.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Stroll AMBLE
6. To-do FLAP
10. Bottle in a crib? BABA
14. Cry near the sty SOOEY
15. Aruba, for one ISLE
16. Muslim prayer leader IMAM
17. Impish chutzpah? P(IX)IE CRUST
19. Enemy of un ratón GATO
20. __-pitch SLO
21. Capital of Spain? ESS
22. Pennsylvania site of the Crayola Factory EASTON
24. Royal handyman? F(IX)IT FOR A KING
28. ’90s trade pact NAFTA
30. Agreeable SAVORY
31. Geometry staple AXIOM
32. Sign on for another hitch REUP
33. Airport near Forest Hills, N.Y. LGA
36. __ de gallo: Mexican salsa PICO
37. Core HEART
39. Trash can scavenger COON
40. Legal ending -ESE
41. Wedding ring, e.g. BAND
42. Watson of the PGA BUBBA
43. Fads MANIAS
45. Electron circuit ORBIT
46. Betty Crocker’s empire? M(IX)ING DYNASTY
50. Its components are often bought separately STEREO
51. Come-__: teasers ONS
52. “Gross!” ICK
55. Zola title heroine NANA
56. Watergate, notably? N(IX)ON ISSUE
60. Posting place BLOG
61. Dressage pace TROT
62. Submission ENTRY
63. Edible dessert container CONE
64. Spanish medals or metals OROS
65. Valentine’s Day gift ROSES

Down
1. Threats to Indiana Jones ASPS
2. Work hard MOIL
3. Where a smash is welcome BOX OFFICE
4. Island chain? LEI
5. Test for pupils? EYE EXAM
6. Baby book entries FIRSTS
7. Sch. with a pelican on its official seal LSU
8. Singer Green et al. ALS
9. Fizzle PETER OUT
10. Idaho State’s conference BIG SKY
11. Valuable violin AMATI
12. A racer may pass it BATON
13. Encircled by AMONG
18. CBS series with regional spinoffs CSI
23. 50-and-up group AARP
25. “Am __ late?” I TOO
26. Electromagnetic induction discoverer FARADAY
27. “Your turn to talk” OVER
28. It’s hidden by a ponytail NAPE
29. Turning point AXIS
33. Influential Washington group LOBBYISTS
34. Desert that borders the Altai Mountains GOBI
35. Future doc’s subj. ANAT
37. Keep HANG ONTO
38. Lover of Geraint ENID
39. Short and not so sweet CURT
41. Scourge BANE
42. More domineering BOSSIER
43. Vegas hotel, with “the” MIRAGE
44. Snobs SNOOTS
46. “Hardball” network MSNBC
47. 1895-’96 __-Ethiopian War ITALO
48. It might be in the spotlight XENON
49. Curry of “Today” ANN
53. “Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me” band, with “The” CURE
54. Ring jinglers KEYS
57. Damaged, as mdse. IRR
58. Pencil game loser XOO
59. Cat lead-in SNO

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