LA Times Crossword Answers 12 Apr 13, Friday

CROSSWORD SETTER: Julian Lim
THEME: Joint Returns … four of today’s’ answers starts with a joint found in the body. But we have to deal with a JOINT RETURN, so the name of each joint is written backwards:

17A. Extra effort WOBLE (ELBOW) GREASE
21A. “That’s rich!” evoker EENK (KNEE)-SLAPPER
40A. Take on responsibility REDLUOHS (SHOULDER) THE LOAD
57A. It usually involves rapping PIH (HIP)-HOP MUSIC

64A. Filing option, or what can be found in four long answers? JOINT RETURN

COMPLETION TIME: 15m 52s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
7. Some TVs RCAS
During WWI, the US government actively discouraged the loss of certain technologies to other countries, including allies. The developing wireless technologies were considered to be particularly important by the army and navy. The government prevented the General Electric Company from selling equipment to the British Marconi Company, and instead facilitated the purchase by GE of the American Marconi subsidiary. This purchase led to GE forming the Radio Corporation of America that we know today as RCA.

11. This second, briefly PDQ
Pretty darn quick (PDQ).

14. Forward, to Fiorello AVANTI
“Avanti” is “forward” in Italian.

15. City SW of Buffalo ERIE
Erie is a city in the very north of Pennsylvania, right on the southern shore of Lake Erie. The city takes its name from the Erie Native American tribe that resided in the area.

16. Christian sch. since 1963 ORU
Oral Roberts University is a private school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was founded relatively recently, in 1963, by the late evangelist Oral Roberts.

19. Shoofly __ PIE
Shoofly pie is made from molasses and is very similar to a treat that I grew up with back in Ireland called treacle tart, with molasses substituted for golden syrup. It is suggested that the name “shoofly” derives from the fact that flies have to be shooed away when they are attracted to the molasses.

20. Skittish NBC show? SNL
“Saturday Night Live” (SNL)

23. Jellied item in British cuisine EEL
Jellied eels are a traditional British dish associated with the working class East End of London. Historically, the eels used were caught in the River Thames. The dish is prepared by boiling up eels that have been chopped into rounds in a seasoned stock and then allowing it to set. The eel contains a lot of gelatinous protein so the stock forms a jelly as it cools.

25. “Days of Grace” memoirist ASHE
The great American tennis player Arthur Ashe spent the last years of his life writing his memoir called “Days of Grace”. He finished the manuscript just a few days before he passed away, dying from AIDS caused by a tainted blood transfusion.

27. GRE components ESSAYS
Passing the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is usually a requirement for entry into graduate school here in the US.

32. Note promising notes CHIT
A chit is a note or a short letter. The term tends to be used these days in the sense of an amount owed (as in a poker game). The word used to be “chitty”, which is now obsolete but closer to the original Hindi term. I feel a tad obsolete myself because when we are at school we would be excused class if we had a “chitty”.

36. Big-eared flier of film DUMBO
The 1941 Disney animated film “Dumbo” was made soon a year after the feature “Fantasia”. “Dumbo” was largely a commercial venture. The film was made quickly and released in theaters as soon as possible, the idea being to recoup the financial losses incurred by “Fantasia”.

45. “Progress through Technology” automaker AUDI
The Audi name has an interesting history. The Horch company was founded by August Horch in 1909. Early in the life of the new company, Horch was forced out of his own business. He set up a new enterprise and continued to use his own name as a brand. The old company sued him for using the Horch name so a meeting was held to choose something new. Horch’s young son was studying Latin in the room where the meeting was taking place. He pointed out that “Horch” was German for “hear” and he suggested “Audi” as a replacement, the Latin for “listen”.

German car make Audi’s main slogan is “Vorsprung durch Technik”, which translates as “Progress through technology”.

56. Giant of note OTT
At 5′ 9″, Mel Ott weighed just 170 lb (I don’t think he took steroids!) and yet he was the first National League player to hit over 500 home runs. Sadly, Ott died in a car accident in New Orleans in 1958 when he was only 49 years old.

60. Rock’s __ Fighters FOO
Foo Fighters is described as an alternative rock band, one formed in 1994 by the drummer from Nirvana, Dave Grohl. The original “Foo fighters” were unidentified flying objects reported by allied airmen during WWII. Spooky …

63. Maker of SteeL kitchen products OXO
The OXO line of kitchen utensils is designed to be ergonomically superior to the average kitchen tool. The intended user of OXO products is someone who doesn’t have the normal range of motion or strength in the hands e.g. someone suffering from arthritis.

67. __ Accords: 1993 agreement OSLO
The Oslo Accords grew out of secret negotiations between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel in a residence in Oslo in the early nineties. The delegates shared the same house while they conducted 14 meetings. While eating all their meals together at the same table, the negotiators came to respect one another and apparently friendships developed.

69. Charles V’s domain: Abbr. HRE
The Holy Roman Empire (HRE) existed from 962 to 1806 AD and was a territory of varying size over the centuries that centered on the Kingdom of Germany. The HRE was a successor to the western half of the Ancient Roman Empire.

Charles V ruled the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 until 1556. Charles also ruled the Spanish Empire as Charle I. Charles’ parents had some colorful names: Philip the Handsome and Joanna the Mad …

70. Light submachine gun STEN
The STEN gun was an iconic armament used by the British military forces. The name STEN is an acronym. The S and the T comes from the name of the gun’s designers, Shepherd and Turpin. The EN comes from the Enfield brand name, which in turn comes from the Enfield location where the guns were manufactured for the Royal Small Arms Factory, an enterprise owned by the British government.

Down
1. Murphy’s and Godwin’s, for two LAWS
Murphy’s Law can be stated as, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong”. The concept behind the “law” has been around for eons, but the first association with the name “Murphy” appeared in print in 1952.

Godwin’s Law states that “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.” The observation was made by Mike Godwin in 1990, initially as he read and participated in Usenet newsgroup discussions.

2. Shakespeare’s flower? 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 of course the birthplace of William Shakespeare’s.

4. It’s bigger than the neg. ENL
In the world of photography, an enlargement (enl.) is always bigger than the associated negative (neg.).

6. Buster Brown’s dog TIGE
“Buster Brown” was a comic strip created in 1902 by Felton Outcault. Outcault took his name Buster from the very popular film star at the time, Buster Keaton. Buster’s dog, Tige, was an American Pit Bull Terrier. Apparently when Tige started to “talk” in the strip, he became the first talking pet in American comics.

10. “I __ beautiful city …”: Dickens SEE A
“I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss.” is a quotation from “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens.

18. Genetic letters RNA
Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by what is called transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA.

24. Grab a sandwich, perhaps EAT LUNCH
Meats placed between slices of bread was first called a sandwich in the 18th century, named after the Fourth Earl of Sandwich. The Earl was fond of eating “sandwiches” while playing cards at his club.

27. 65-Down shade ECRU
The shade called ecru is a grayish, yellowish brown. The word “ecru” comes from French and means “raw, unbleached”. “Ecru” has the same roots as our word “crude”.

29. __ Miguel: Azores island SAO
São Miguel Island is the largest island in the archipelago of the Azores.

The Azores is an archipelago of nine volcanic islands in the North Atlantic lying about 1,000 miles west of Portugal. The Azores are an autonomous region belonging to Portugal.

35. General on a menu TSO
General Tso’s chicken is an American creation, often found on the menu of a Chinese restaurant. The name General Tso may be a reference to General Zuo Zongtang of the Qing Dynasty, but there is no clear link.

37. View from Tokyo MOUNT FUJI
Mount Fuji is Japan’s highest and most famous mountain. It is an active volcano, situated just west of Tokyo.

39. Valhalla chief ODIN
In Norse mythology, Valhalla (“hall of the slain”) is a gigantic hall in the “world” of Asgard. Asgard and Valhalla are ruled by the god Odin, the chief Norse god.

41. Reuters competitor UPI
United Press International (UPI) was one of the biggest news agencies in the world, sending out news by wire to the major newspapers. UPI ran into trouble with the change in media formats at the end of the twentieth century and lost many of its clients as the afternoon newspapers shut down due to the advent of television news. UPI, which once employed thousands, still exists but with only a handful of employees.

47. Breakfast cereal magnate CW POST
C. W. Post decided to get into the cereal business after visiting the Battle Creek Sanitarium operated by John Harvey Kellogg. Post was interested in the chemistry of digestion and was inspired by the dietary products offered by Kellogg at his sanitarium. The first breakfast cereal Post introduced was Grape Nuts, way back in 1897.

49. With 50-Down, when modern mammals emerged EOCENE
50. See 49-Down EPOCH
The Eocene Epoch lasted from 56 to 34 million years ago, and is noted for the emergence of the first mammals on the planet.

51. “Brave” studio PIXAR
“Brave” is an animated film released by Pixar studios in 2012. The movie has a great cast of voice actors that includes the lovely Kelly Macdonald, Julie Walters, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Craig Ferguson and Robbie Coltrane. As you might guess from that cast, the story is set in Scotland, in the highlands in the tenth century.

58. Parts of la cara OJOS
In Spanish, eyes (ojos) are part of the face (la cara).

59. 1978 Booker Prize recipient Murdoch IRIS
Dame Iris Murdoch was a British author and philosopher originally from Dublin, Ireland. Murdoch was awarded the Booker Prize in 1978 for her novel “The Sea, the Sea”, although her best-known work is probably her first novel “Under the Net”, published in 1954.

62. “I got it” ON ME
My treat …

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Least ancient LATEST
7. Some TVs RCAS
11. This second, briefly PDQ
14. Forward, to Fiorello AVANTI
15. City SW of Buffalo ERIE
16. Christian sch. since 1963 ORU
17. Extra effort WOBLE (ELBOW) GREASE
19. Shoofly __ PIE
20. Skittish NBC show? SNL
21. “That’s rich!” evoker EENK (KNEE)-SLAPPER
23. Jellied item in British cuisine EEL
25. “Days of Grace” memoirist ASHE
26. Relaxed EASY
27. GRE components ESSAYS
30. Doubter’s question IS IT?
32. Note promising notes CHIT
33. Letter-routing letters ATTN
36. Big-eared flier of film DUMBO
40. Take on responsibility REDLUOHS (SHOULDER) THE LOAD
43. Finish USE UP
44. It may be spare ROOM
45. “Progress through Technology” automaker AUDI
46. “Awesome!” NICE!
48. Original Speed Stick maker MENNEN
50. Awesome, in a way EPIC
53. Used to be WERE
56. Giant of note OTT
57. It usually involves rapping PIH (HIP)-HOP MUSIC
60. Rock’s __ Fighters FOO
63. Maker of SteeL kitchen products OXO
64. Filing option, or what can be found in four long answers? JOINT RETURN
66. Beret, e.g. CAP
67. __ Accords: 1993 agreement OSLO
68. Having trouble IN A JAM
69. Charles V’s domain: Abbr. HRE
70. Light submachine gun STEN
71. Forgetful, maybe SENILE

Down
1. Murphy’s and Godwin’s, for two LAWS
2. Shakespeare’s flower? AVON
3. Carving area TABLESIDE
4. It’s bigger than the neg. ENL
5. Unwavering STEELY
6. Buster Brown’s dog TIGE
7. Causes a stink REEKS
8. Collide with CRASH INTO
9. Where the slain roll? AISLES
10. “I __ beautiful city …”: Dickens SEE A
11. Dad POPPA
12. Preserves, in a way DRIES
13. Editor’s request QUERY
18. Genetic letters RNA
22. Prone to snits PETULANT
24. Grab a sandwich, perhaps EAT LUNCH
27. 65-Down shade ECRU
28. Women SHES
29. __ Miguel: Azores island SAO
31. Suffix with ox- -IDE
34. Like many a brisk 45-minute walk THREE-MILE
35. General on a menu TSO
37. View from Tokyo MOUNT FUJI
38. Wished BADE
39. Valhalla chief ODIN
41. Reuters competitor UPI
42. “I wonder …” HMM
47. Breakfast cereal magnate CW POST
49. With 50-Down, when modern mammals emerged EOCENE
50. See 49-Down EPOCH
51. “Brave” studio PIXAR
52. “Fingers crossed” I HOPE
54. Bad sentence RUN ON
55. Round no. EST
58. Parts of la cara OJOS
59. 1978 Booker Prize recipient Murdoch IRIS
61. Kind of exam ORAL
62. “I got it” ON ME
65. Darken in a salon TAN


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