LA Times Crossword Answers 6 Apr 13, Saturday

CROSSWORD SETTER: Brad Wilber & Doug Peterson
THEME: None
COMPLETION TIME: 19m 55s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
1. Fashionable heelless footwear BALLET FLATS
Ballet flats are women’s shoes derived from ballet slippers, and so have no heel at all. Ballet flats are also called Dolly shoes.

12. “The Sixth Sense” sense ESP
“The Sixth Sense” is a fabulous film released in 1999, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. I remember watching “The Sixth Sense” for the first time on an airplane. Shyamalan wasn’t well known for his famous surprise endings to films at that point. It was very gratifying to hear my fellow passengers join me in a big “gasp” at the appropriate point in the story …

15. Liqueur used to color a Bloody Smurf cocktail BLUE CURACAO
The liqueur known as Curaçao comes from the island of Curaçao in the southern Caribbean. The liqueur is usually given artificial coloring to make it suitable for use in exotic cocktails. The common colors used are blue and orange.

17. Pejorative nickname for one supporting a cause via unproductive feel-good measures SLACKTIVIST
“Slacktivisim” is a word formed from “slacker” and “activism”. The term is used pejoratively to describe activities that require very little work but make someone feel that they are contributing to a cause. One example might be the signing of an Internet petition.

18. Place for a gondola ALP
The word “gondola” was originally limited to the famous boats that travel along the canals of Venice. When man started to fly through the air in hot air balloons, “gondola” was used for the basket in which the passenger(s) traveled. By extension, the structure carrying passengers and crew under an airship is also called a gondola, as are the cars suspended from a cable at a ski resort.

19. Pub.’s client AUTH
An author (auth.) might be the client of a publisher (publ.).

22. Peerage member EARL
In the ranking of nobles, an earl comes above a viscount and below a marquess. The rank of earl is used in the British peerage system and is equivalent to the rank of count in other countries. Other British ranks have female forms (e.g. marquess and marchioness, viscount and viscountess), but there isn’t a female word for the rank of earl. A female given the same rank as an earl is known simply as a countess.

24. Legal defendant: Abbr. RESP
A defendant in a legal matter is a respondent (resp.).

25. Chain that makes a lot of dough SBARRO
The Sbarro chain of pizza restaurants was founded by Italian immigrants, Gennaro and Carmela Sbarro.

28. Only British prime minister of Jewish birth DISRAELI
Benjamin Disraeli was the Prime Minister of Britain for a few months in 1868 and again from 1874 to 1880. Disraeli enjoyed a particularly warm relationship with Queen Victoria, partly because they both shared an intense dislike for Disraeli’s political rival, William Gladstone. Disraeli was the only British prime minister of Jewish birth, although he was baptized into the Anglican faith when he was 12 years old.

34. Infamous 2001 shredders ENRON
After all the trials following the exposure of fraud at Enron, several of the key players ended up in jail. Andrew Fastow was the Chief Financial Officer. He plea-bargained and received ten years without parole, and became the key witness in the trials of others. Even Fastow’s wife was involved and she was sentenced to one year for helping her husband hide money. Jeffrey Skilling (ex-CEO) was sentenced to 24 years and 4 months. Kenneth Lay (CEO) died in 2006 after he had been found guilty but before he could be sentenced. The accounting firm Arthur Andersen was found guilty of obstruction of justice for shredding thousands of pertinent documents and deleting emails and files (a decision that the Supreme Court later overturned on a technicality). But still, Arthur Andersen collapsed under the weight of the scandal and 85,000 people lost their jobs (despite only a handful being directly involved with Enron).

38. Teddy’s Mount Rushmore neighbor ABE
The four presidents whose faces are carved in the granite face of Mount Rushmore are (from left to right) George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Each of the presidents is about 60 feet in height, although they might have been larger. The original intent was for the presidents to be depicted from head to waist, but the project lost funding.

39. Voltaire’s world-view DEISM
Deism (from the Latin “deus” meaning god) is the belief that a supreme being created the universe, a belief based on observation and reason and without the need for faith. Further, a deist does not accept divine intervention but rather believes that the supreme being, having created the universe, leaves the world to it own devices.

Voltaire was the pen name of French writer and philosopher François-Marie Arouet.

48. Adriatic port BARI
Bari is a major port city on the Adriatic coast of Italy. Bari has the unfortunate distinction of being the only city in Europe to experience chemical warfare during WWII. Allied stores of mustard gas were released during a German bombing raid on Bari in 1943. Fatalities caused by the chemical agent were reported as 69, although other reports list the number as maybe a thousand military personnel and a thousand civilians.

49. Pasta suffix, commercially RONI
Rice-a-Roni was introduced in 1958 by the Golden Grain Macaroni Company of San Francisco. The company was run by an Italian immigrant and his four sons. The wife of one of the sons served a pilaf dish at a family diner that was a big hit, so her brother-in-law created a commercial version by blending dry chicken soup mix with rice and macaroni. Sounds like “a San Francisco treat” to me …

50. It was spawned by the Manhattan Project ATOMIC AGE
The Manhattan project was of course the joint US-Canada-UK project to develop an atomic bomb during WWII. Initially, the Army headquarters for the program was located on the 18th floor of a building on Broadway in New York City. Eventually, because of that first location, the project adopted the Manhattan name.

57. Statesman in a Warhol series MAO
Andy Warhol made a famous series of portraits of Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong in 1973. An exhibition of Warhol’s works toured China in 2012, but the images of Mao were excluded, apparently at the request of the Chinese government.

58. Sitcom about the Buchmans MAD ABOUT YOU
“Mad About You” is a sitcom from the nineties that stars Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a couple living in New York City. Reiser and Hunt did well out of the success of the show, each earning one million dollars per episode for the last series.

63. Buns, e.g. DOS
A bun is a type of a hairdo.

64. “Prepare to be amazed!” ABRACADABRA!
The incantation “abracadabra” has a long history. It was used as far back as the 2nd century AD in Ancient Rome when the word was prescribed by a physician to be worn on an amulet to help his emperor recover from disease. “Abracadabra” is Aramaic, and roughly translates as “I will create as I speak”.

Down
1. Small magazine articles? BBS
A BB gun is an air pistol or rifle that shoots birdshot known as BBs. Birdshot comes in a number of different sizes, from size 9 (0.080″ in diameter) to size FF (.23″). 0.180″ diameter birdshot is size BB, which gives the airgun its name.

2. __ parmigiana ALLA
Parmigiana is a dish from southern Italy. The original parmigiana was made using an aubergine filling inside cheese and tomato layers that was then then baked. Versions originating outside of Italy have replaced the aubergine with breaded cutlets of chicken or veal.

3. Island blast LUAU
Nowadays the word “luau” denotes almost any kind of party on the Hawaiian Islands, but to the purist a luau is a feast that always includes a serving of “poi”, the bulbous underground stems of taro baked with coconut milk.

5. Aaron of “Love Happens” ECKHART
Aaron Eckhart is an actor from Cupertino, California, although growing up he lived for many years in England and in Australia. My favorite of Eckhart’s performances is as the lead character in the 2005 comedy-drama movie “Thank You for Smoking”.

“Love Happens” is a 2009 romantic drama film starring Aaron Eckhart and Jennifer Aniston. I haven’t seen this one …

7. Czech composer Rudolf FRIML
Rudolf Friml was a composer and pianist from Prague in the Czech Republic who spent most of his working life in the US. Friml’s most famous work is the musical play “Rose-Marie”, which opened on Broadway in 1924 and was made into a very successful film in 1936 starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald.

10. Police weapons TASERS
Victor Appleton wrote a novel for young adults called “Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle”. The company that developed the TASER electroshock weapon named its product as a homage to the novel. The acronym TASER stands for “Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle”. Interesting, eh?

14. Hanger in a rack PIPE
A pipe (for smoking) might be hanging in a pipe rack.

23. Punic Wars victor ROME
The Punic Wars were a series of three conflicts fought between Ancient Rome and Ancient Carthage. With Carthage on the North African coast and Rome on the east coast of Italy, the Punic wars were largely an attempt to control the western Mediterranean Sea and were centered on the island of Sicily.

25. A heap SCADS
The origin of the word “scads”, meaning “lots and lots”, is unclear, although back in the mid-1800s “scads” was used to mean “dollars”.

26. “High Fidelity” actress Lisa BONET
Lisa Bonet is an actress best known for playing one of the daughters on the “The Cosby Show”. Bonet was married for a few years to the singer Lenny Kravitz, with whom she eloped in 1987.

“High Fidelity” is a 2000 comedy-drama film starring John Cusack. “High Fidelity” is based on a novel of the same name by English novelist Nick Hornby (who also wrote the books that inspired the movies “About a Boy” and “Fever Pitch”).

28. Saturn satellite DIONE
Dione is a moon of Saturn, discovered in 1684 by Cassini. Originally Cassini named the four satellites of Saturn that he discovered “Sidera Lodoicea” (the stars of Louis). In so doing he was honoring King Louis XIV of France. These “stars of Louis” were individually named after Greek gods in 1847.

30. University of New Mexico team LOBOS
The University of New Mexico (UNM) is a school in Albuquerque, founded in 1889. The sports teams of UNM are called the Lobos, and there are two mascots who work the crowds called Lobo Louie and Lobo Lucy.

37. Note from abroad EURO
The euro is a coin. The smallest denomination euro banknote is the 5-euro note.

41. Xylophone relative MARIMBA
A marimba is a musical instrument somewhat like a large xylophone.

44. Short operatic piece ARIETTA
An arietta quite simply is a short aria.

46. Post-bender dose BICARB
“Bicarb” is a familiar term for sodium bicarbonate. Another name for the same compound is “baking soda”. When sodium carbonate is added to a batter, it reacts with acids and releases carbon dioxide which gives baked goods texture, all those “holes”.

49. Pear-shaped fiddle REBEC
The rebec is an old stringed instrument played with a bow. It was played like a violin, under the chin or sometimes on the arm.

53. City captured in the Six-Day War GAZA
After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the boundaries of the strip of land on the Mediterranean around Gaza were fixed in the Israel-Egypt Armistice Agreement. The boundaries were specifically defined but were not to be recognized as an international border. From 1948, the Gaza Strip was occupied and administered by Egypt, until 1967 when Israel took over occupation following the Six-Day War. In 1993, Israel and the PLO signed the Oslo Accords which handed over administration to the Palestinian Authority, but with Israel retaining control of the Gaza Strip’s airspace, some land borders and its territorial waters. The intent was to further this agreement, but discussions between the parties broke down. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

55. Brief “Don’t ask so many questions!” MYOB
Mind Your Own Business! (MYOB!)

56. Turn in the fridge SOUR
Milk might sour or turn if it is left too long in the fridge.

60. Hagen of the stage UTA
Uta Hagen was a German-born American actress. Hagen married Jose Ferrer in 1938, but they were divorced ten years later after it was revealed that she was having a long-running affair with Paul Robeson. Her association with Robeson, a prominent civil rights activist, earned her a spot on the Hollywood Blacklist during the McCarthy Era. This forced her away from film, but towards a successful stage career in New York City.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Fashionable heelless footwear BALLET FLATS
12. “The Sixth Sense” sense ESP
15. Liqueur used to color a Bloody Smurf cocktail BLUE CURACAO
16. It’s at the top of many a round face XII
17. Pejorative nickname for one supporting a cause via unproductive feel-good measures SLACKTIVIST
18. Place for a gondola ALP
19. Pub.’s client AUTH
20. Showed some hustle MADE HASTE
22. Peerage member EARL
24. Legal defendant: Abbr. RESP
25. Chain that makes a lot of dough SBARRO
28. Only British prime minister of Jewish birth DISRAELI
32. “I’m with you!” COUNT ME IN!
34. Infamous 2001 shredders ENRON
35. So-so connection? AND
36. Conjure up EVOKE
38. Teddy’s Mount Rushmore neighbor ABE
39. Voltaire’s world-view DEISM
42. Glass, vis-à-vis electricity INSULATOR
45. Like carry-ons STOWABLE
47. Most unusual RAREST
48. Adriatic port BARI
49. Pasta suffix, commercially RONI
50. It was spawned by the Manhattan Project ATOMIC AGE
54. Precious ones GEMS
57. Statesman in a Warhol series MAO
58. Sitcom about the Buchmans MAD ABOUT YOU
61. Word of repulsion ICK!
62. Stand firm in the face of defeat BRAZEN IT OUT
63. Buns, e.g. DOS
64. “Prepare to be amazed!” ABRACADABRA!

Down
1. Small magazine articles? BBS
2. __ parmigiana ALLA
3. Island blast LUAU
4. Speaking point? LECTERN
5. Aaron of “Love Happens” ECKHART
6. Syllable of disapproval TUT
7. Czech composer Rudolf FRIML
8. Hot rock LAVA
9. Biting ACID
10. Police weapons TASERS
11. “What’d I tell you?” SO THERE!
12. Drive nuts EXASPERATE
13. Dredger’s target SILT
14. Hanger in a rack PIPE
21. Likeness words AS AN
23. Punic Wars victor ROME
25. A heap SCADS
26. “High Fidelity” actress Lisa BONET
27. Road trip listening AUDIOBOOKS
28. Saturn satellite DIONE
29. Signs INKS
30. University of New Mexico team LOBOS
31. Slower than 43-Down INERT
33. Like many a movie genius EVIL
37. Note from abroad EURO
40. Crawled, say SWAM
41. Xylophone relative MARIMBA
43. Listless LANGUID
44. Short operatic piece ARIETTA
46. Post-bender dose BICARB
49. Pear-shaped fiddle REBEC
50. Surrounded by AMID
51. Fiesta fare TACO
52. Hebrew winter month ADAR
53. City captured in the Six-Day War GAZA
55. Brief “Don’t ask so many questions!” MYOB
56. Turn in the fridge SOUR
59. __ whim ON A
60. Hagen of the stage UTA


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3 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword Answers 6 Apr 13, Saturday”

  1. Bill, I've noticed that besides your extensive knowledge of lingerie, you seem to know a lot about drinks and liqueur. Hands on research for both? 🙂

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