LA Times Crossword Answers 31 Jan 13, Thursday

CROSSWORD SETTER: Paul Hunsberger
THEME: “Kind of a Drag” … each of the themed answers is “kind of a drag”:

17A. Illusionist’s effect PUFF OF SMOKE (a drag on a cigarette)
31A. Major bore SNOOZEFEST (a real drag, a bore)
37A. County fair competition TRACTOR PULL (a powerful, motorized drag)
47A. Many towns have one MAIN STREET (the main drag in a town)
60A. 1967 #1 hit for The Buckinghams, which can describe 17-, 31-, 37- or 47-Across KIND OF A DRAG

COMPLETION TIME: 08m 39s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
19. Bushranger Kelly NED
Ned Kelly was an Irish-Australian outlaw, regarded by many as a symbol of resistance against the British ruling class in Australia in the 19th century. There have been two famous films made of his life story. “The Story of the Kelly Gang” was released in 1906, and is recognized today as the first feature film ever made. We might be more familiar with the film called “Ned Kelly” released in 1970, as it starred Mick Jagger in the title role.

20. Novelist Wiesel ELIE
Elie Wiesel is a holocaust survivor, best known for his book “Night” that tells of his experiences in Auschwitz and Buchenwald.

21. “Days of Thunder” org. NASCAR
NASCAR stands for the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. NASCAR is very, very popular and commands the second largest television audience of any professional sport in America, second only to football.

“Days of Thunder” is 1990 movie about NASCAR racing that stars Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and Robert Duvall. “Days of Thunder” is the first of three films that co-starred Cruise and Kidman, with the other two being “Far And Away” and “Eyes Wide Shut”.

36. BBQ heat rating BTU
In the world of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), the power of a heating or cooling unit can be measured in British Thermal Units (BTUs). This dated unit is the amount of energy required to heat a pound of water so that the water’s temperature increases by one degree Fahrenheit.

It is believed that our word “barbecue” comes from the Taíno people of the Caribbean in whose language “barbacoa” means “sacred fire pit”.

44. Italian soccer star Maldini PAOLO
Paolo Maldini is a former soccer player from Italy who played his whole career with Serie A in Milan. Maldini was the captain of the national team of Italy for many years, earning him the nickname “Il Capitano”.

51. “Voulez-__”: 1979 ABBA album VOUS
I am an unapologetic fan of ABBA’s music. ABBA was of course the Swedish group who topped the charts in the seventies and eighties. The name ABBA is an acronym formed from the first letters of the given names of each of the band members, namely: Agnetha, Benny, Bjorn and Anni-Frid.

52. Big name in foil ALCOA
The Aluminum Corporation of America (ALCOA) is the largest producer of aluminum in the United States. The company was founded in 1888 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where its headquarters are to this day.

55. Discipline involving slow, steady movement T’AI CHI
More properly called t’ai chi chuan, t’ai chi is a martial art mostly practiced to improve overall health and increase longevity.

60. 1967 #1 hit for The Buckinghams, which can describe 17-, 31-, 37- or 47-Across KIND OF A DRAG
The Buckinghams are a band from Chicago. The Buckinghams’ big year was 1967 when they had four hits, including the chart-topper “Kind of a Drag”.

65. Traditional London pie-and-mash ingredient EEL
Eel pie is a traditional dish associated with the working classes in London, England especially during the Victorian era. Eel was chosen as an ingredient as it was one of the few fish that could live in the polluted River Thames.

66. New newts EFTS
Newts wouldn’t be my favorite animals. They are found all over the world living on land or in water depending on the species, but always associated with water even if it is only for breeding. Newts metamorphose through three distinct developmental stages during their lives. They start off as larvae in water, fertilized eggs that often cling to aquatic plants. The eggs hatch into tadpoles, the first developmental form of the newt. After living some months as tadpoles swimming around in the water, they undergo another metamorphosis, sprouting legs and replacing their external gills with lungs. At this juvenile stage they are known as efts, and leave the water to live on land. A more gradual transition takes place then, as the eft takes on the lizard-like appearance of the adult newt.

67. Stereo knob TREBLE
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.

70. Nine-ball feature STRIPE
Nine-ball is the most popular variant of the game of pool.

The more correct name for the game of pool is pocket billiards. The name “pool” came after pocket billiards became a common feature in “pool halls”, places where gamblers “pooled” their money to bet on horse races.

Down
2. “Who Needs the Kwik-E-Mart?” singer APU
The fictional Kwik-E-Mart store is operated by Apu Nahasapeemapetilon on “The Simpsons” TV show. The convenience store owner doesn’t seem to be making much use of his Ph.D in computer science that he earned in the US. Apu’s undergraduate degree is from Caltech (the Calcutta Technical Institute), where he graduated top of his class of seven million students …

7. Nelson, e.g.: Abbr. ADM
Admiral Horatio Nelson is noted for his victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. The battle was a decisive win for the British during the Napoleonic Wars, fought against the combined fleets of France and Spain. Nelson was fatally wounded by a marksman from one of the French ships, but as he was conscious he continued to monitor the battle, dying three hours after he was shot. Nelson was much revered by his crew who felt that his body had to be returned to England. The body was placed in a barrel full of brandy and the barrel lashed to the mainmast of the Victory and placed under guard. The damaged flagship was towed to Gibraltar where the body was transferred to a lead-lined coffin and the brandy replaced by aqua vitae (spirits of wine). While the body continued its journey home, dispatches reporting the outcome of the battle were carried to England on a ship called … HMS Pickle. A boozy end to a distinguished life …

12. Top of the world EVEREST
Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth at 29,029 feet above sea level. However, Everest is only the 5th tallest mountain as measured from the center of the planet. Because of the equatorial bulge, that honor goes to the volcano Chimborazo in Ecuador, part of the Andes.

18. He played James SEAN
Sean Connery is of course most famous for playing the original James Bond in the successful series of movies. Back in his native Scotland, Connery is very active in politics and is a member of the Scottish Nationalist Party. He actively campaigns for Scottish independence from Britain and has stated that he believes Scotland will achieve that goal within his own lifetime.

Sean Connery wasn’t the first choice for the role of James Bond. Six potential actors were selected for a screen test, after which a 28-year-old model was chosen called Peter Anthony. It turned out that Anthony wasn’t up to the part, and so second-choice Connery was given a call.

23. 2002 Olympics host, briefly SLC
The last Olympic Games held in the US was in Salt Lake City in 2002, a winter games. That made Utah the fifth US state to host the Olympics. The others were:

– Missouri (St. Louis in summer 1904)
– California (Los Angeles in summer 1932 & 1984, Squaw Valley in winter 1960)
– New York (Lake Placid in winter 1932 & 1980)
– Georgia (Atlanta in summer 1996).

25. How shysters practice UNETHICALLY
“Shyster” is American slang for an unscrupulous lawyer, and is probably an alteration of the German word “Scheisser” meaning an incompetent and worthless person. “Scheisser” derives from an even less complimentary term “Sheisse”, the German for …. well, I won’t say it. But I will say as an aside that one of my son’s school friends told me one time that he didn’t really hold with the “Thank God It’s Friday” philosophy (TGIF), and was more into “So Happy It’s Thursday”. You can work it out …

29. Onetime Beatles bassist Sutcliffe STU
Stu Sutcliffe was one of the original four members of the Silver Beatles (as the Beatles were known in their early days) along with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. It was Sutcliffe who came up with name “Beatles” in collaboration with John Lennon, as a homage to their hero Buddy Holly who was backed by the “Crickets”. By all reports, Sutcliffe wasn’t a very talented musician and was more interested in painting. He went with the group to Hamburg more than once, but he eventually left the Beatles and went back to art school, actually studying for a while at the Hamburg College of Art. In 1962 in Hamburg, Sutcliffe collapsed with blinding headaches. He died in the ambulance on the way to hospital, his death attributed to cerebral paralysis.

32. Led __: “Stairway to Heaven” group, to fans ZEP
Led Zeppelin was an English rock band that got together in 1968. The band’s most famous release has to be the classic “Stairway to Heaven”. Led Zeppelin broke up right after drummer John Bonham was found dead in 1988.

41. Org. with an oft-quoted journal AMA
The American Medical Association (AMA) was founded in 1847 at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. The first female member was allowed to join the AMA in 1868, but the first African American members weren’t admitted until one hundred years later, in 1968.

46. Sugary suffix -OSE
The sugar we consume as “table sugar” is mainly sucrose that is extracted from sugar cane and sugar beet. We also consume lactose, naturally occurring in milk, and fructose, naturally occurring in fruit. But most of the sugar we eat or drink tends to be prepared commercially, the most famous being high-fructose corn syrup, which is glucose that is industrially processed into a glucose/fructose mix. Don’t get me started on the politics of food …

56. Audiophile’s setup HI-FI
Hi-fi systems were introduced in the late forties, and is audio equipment designed to give a much higher quality reproduction of sound than cheaper systems available up to that point. “Hi-fi” of course stands for “high fidelity”.

59. Wet behind the ears NEW
Someone who is “wet behind the ears” is young and immature. The expression is thought to derive from the fact that newborns enter the world covered with amniotic fluid. Perhaps the area behind the ears is the last to dry off …

61. “Spring forward” letters DST
On the other side of the Atlantic, Daylight Saving Time (DST) is known as “summer time”. The idea behind summer/daylight-savings is to move clocks forward an hour in spring and backwards in the fall so that afternoons have more daylight.

63. Wildspitze, for one ALP
Wildspitze is a mountain in the Alps, the second highest peak in Austria (after the Grossglockner).

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Treehouse feature LADDER
7. Matured, as cheese AGED
11. Some condensation DEW
14. For one APIECE
15. One who’s all action DOER
16. Eggs in a clinic OVA
17. Illusionist’s effect PUFF OF SMOKE
19. Bushranger Kelly NED
20. Novelist Wiesel ELIE
21. “Days of Thunder” org. NASCAR
23. Duck SHUN
26. Diplomat’s forte TACT
28. Feeds without needing seconds SATES
30. Arrive LAND
31. Major bore SNOOZEFEST
33. Pull (for) CHEER
35. Kicked oneself for RUED
36. BBQ heat rating BTU
37. County fair competition TRACTOR PULL
41. Flooring wood ASH
43. Busy time for a cuckoo clock NOON
44. Italian soccer star Maldini PAOLO
47. Many towns have one MAIN STREET
51. “Voulez-__”: 1979 ABBA album VOUS
52. Big name in foil ALCOA
53. Make a fine impression ETCH
54. Outer limit EDGE
55. Discipline involving slow, steady movement T’AI CHI
57. Toppled, as a poplar HEWN
59. Goose egg NIL
60. 1967 #1 hit for The Buckinghams, which can describe 17-, 31-, 37- or 47-Across KIND OF A DRAG
65. Traditional London pie-and-mash ingredient EEL
66. New newts EFTS
67. Stereo knob TREBLE
68. Funny, and a bit twisted WRY
69. One way to run RIOT
70. Nine-ball feature STRIPE

Down
1. Slurp (with “up”) LAP
2. “Who Needs the Kwik-E-Mart?” singer APU
3. “Makes no __” DIF
4. Lawyer, at times DEFENDER
5. Renewable energy subj. ECOL
6. Equips afresh REFITS
7. Nelson, e.g.: Abbr. ADM
8. Hit the road, musically GO ON TOUR
9. “__ mouse!” EEK! A
10. In one’s Sunday best DRESSED-UP
11. Make a bank deposit? DONATE BLOOD
12. Top of the world EVEREST
13. Lump WAD
18. He played James SEAN
22. Half-__: coffee order CAF
23. 2002 Olympics host, briefly SLC
24. “As if!” HAH!
25. How shysters practice UNETHICALLY
27. Small crown CORONET
29. Onetime Beatles bassist Sutcliffe STU
32. Led __: “Stairway to Heaven” group, to fans ZEP
34. One who turns a place upside down RANSACKER
38. Foldable sleeper COT
39. Blasted TORE INTO
40. Purple hue LAVENDER
41. Org. with an oft-quoted journal AMA
42. More racy, as humor SALTIER
45. Tote LUG
46. Sugary suffix -OSE
48. “Oh, __ won’t!” NO I
49. Tunnel effect ECHO
50. Five-finger discounts, so to speak THEFTS
56. Audiophile’s setup HI-FI
58. Witch costume stick-on WART
59. Wet behind the ears NEW
61. “Spring forward” letters DST
62. One of four in a grand slam RBI
63. Wildspitze, for one ALP
64. “__ willikers!” GEE

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