LA Times Crosswod Answers 24 Apr 14, Thursday

Share today’s solution with a friend:
FacebookTwitterGoogleEmail

CROSSWORD SETTER: Jeffrey Wechsler
THEME: Nobody Special … today’s themed answers are phrases used to describe “nobody special”.

17A. Nobody special ORDINARY JOE
24A. Nobody special MAN IN THE STREET
52A. Nobody special AVERAGE CITIZEN
61A. Nobody special JOHN Q PUBLIC

BILL BUTLER’S COMPLETION TIME: 10m 08s
ANSWERS I MISSED: 0

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across

6. First vice president ADAMS
John Adams was the second President of the United States. I must admit that I learned much of what I know about President Adams in the excellent, excellent HBO series “John Adams”. Having said that, I also visited his home in Quincy, Massachusetts not too long ago. He was clearly a great man with a great intellect …

11. Tar’s direction AFT
A Jack Tar, or just “tar”, was a seaman in the days of the British Empire. The term probably arose due to a sailor’s various uses of tar back then, including waterproofing his clothes and using tar in his hair to slick down his ponytail.

16. Prefix with state TRI-
The most commonly referred to “tri-state area” in the US is the New York metropolitan area, which includes part of the states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

22. Mrs. Robert F. Kennedy ETHEL
Ethel Kennedy is the widow of Robert F. Kennedy. Ethel was a roommate with Jean Kennedy, and through Jean met her brother Robert. Robert and Ethel had ten children together, with an eleventh child sadly arriving after Robert’s assassination in 1968.

30. “Bring on the weekend!” TGIF!
“Thank God It’s Friday” (TGIF) is a relatively new expression that originated in Akron, Ohio. It was a catchphrase used first by disk jockey Jerry Healy of WAKR in the early seventies.

32. Edna Ferber novel SO BIG
Edna Ferber was a novelist and playwright from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Ferber won a Pulitzer for her novel “So Big”, which was made into a film a few times, most famously in 1953 starring Jane Wyman.

35. 24-hr. news source MSNBC
MSNBC was founded in 1996 as a partnership between Microsoft (“MS”) and General Electric’s “NBC” broadcasting operation. Microsoft only owns a minority share in MSNBC today, but is still an equal partner in the separate company that runs msnbc.com.

37. Cartoon monkey ABU
Abu is a monkey in the Disney production of “Aladdin”. The character is based on Abu, a thief in the 1940 film “The Thief of Baghdad”.

38. Museum supporter, familiarly THE NEA
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an agency funded by the federal government that offers support and financing for artistic projects. The NEA was created by an Act of Congress in 1965. Between 1965 and 2008, the NEA awarded over $4 billion to the arts, with Congress authorizing around $170 million annually through the eighties and much of the nineties. That funding was cut to less than $100 million in the late nineties due to pressure from conservatives concerned about the use of funds, but it is now back over the $150 million mark. I wonder how long that will last though …

40. Complain YAMMER
Our verb “to yammer”, meaning “to complain”, probably comes from the Middle Duth “jammeren”, which has the same meaning.

42. Heathrow approx. ETD
Estimated time of departure (ETD)

London’s Heathrow handles handles more international passengers than any other airport in the world, and is the third busiest airport around the globe in terms of passenger traffic (after Atlanta and Beijing).

57. City northeast of Colgate University UTICA
Utica in New York is known as “Second Chance City” these days, due to the recent influx of refugees from war-torn parts of the world and from Bosnia in particular. These immigrants have helped revitalize the area and reverse a trend of population loss.

Colgate University is a private school in Hamilton, New York. The Colgate family, of toothpaste fame, were major contributors so the school was named in its honor.

58. ’60s hot spot NAM
Vietnam (“Nam”)

59. Yalie ELI
Elihu Yale was a wealthy merchant born in Boston in 1649. Yale worked for the British East India Company, and for many years served as governor of a settlement at Madras (now Chennai) in India. After India, Yale took over his father’s estate near Wrexham in Wales. It was while resident in Wrexham that Yale responded to a request for financial support for the Collegiate School of Connecticut in 1701. He sent the school a donation, which was used to erect a new building in New Haven that was named “Yale” in his honor. In 1718, the whole school was renamed to “Yale College”. To this day, students of Yale are nicknamed “Elis”, again honoring Elihu.

60. Superdome city’s Amtrak code NOL
The New Orleans Superdome was opened in 1975, and is the largest, fixed-dome structure in the world, covering 13 acres. The seating capacity varies depending on the event being staged, but the Rolling Stones attracted a crowd of more than 87,500 people in 1981. The primary purpose of the structure is to host home games for the New Orleans Saints football team. Famously, in 2005, the Superdome became a shelter of last resort for about 30,000 refugees in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Amtrak is the name used commercially by the National Railroad Passenger Corporation. “Amtrak” comes from a melding of the words “America” and “track”.

61. Nobody special JOHN Q PUBLIC
We sometimes use the term “John Q. Public” for the man in the street, the common man. The original John Q. Public was a cartoon character created by Vaughn Shoemaker for the “Chicago Daily News”.

67. Parting word ADIEU
“Adieu” is the French for “goodbye” or “farewell”, from “à Dieu” meaning “to God”.

70. Cinque plus due SETTE
In Italian, five (cinque) plus two (due) makes seven (sette).

71. “Enigma Variations” composer ELGAR
Edward Elgar’s famous “Enigma Variations” are more correctly titles “Variations on an Original Theme for Orchestra (“Enigma”)”. There are fourteen variations in the piece, with each named for one of Elgar’s close friends, a family member, and there is even one name for Elgar himself. Each variation is an affectionate portrayal of the person for which it is named. The “enigma” in the piece is quite a mystery. It is not even clear that the variations are based on a musical theme. Elgar’s notes tell us that the theme is “not played”, but he would never explain during his lifetime just what “the enigma” is.

Down
1. Halloween carrier? BROOM
All Saints’ Day is November 1st each year. The day before All Saints’ Day is All Hallows Eve, better known by the Scottish term, “Halloween”.

2. Grub or chigger LARVA
Grubs are the larvae of certain beetles.

“Chigger” is the name given to a type of mite in its larval stage. Chiggers can feed on human skin cells, but don’t actual bite. They crawl into the host by injecting digestive enzymes into the skin forming a hole in which the larvae feed. The hole, called a stylostome, becomes irritated, swells and is very itchy. Ugh …

3. Quinn of “Elementary” AIDAN
Aidan Quinn is an Irish-American actor. Quinn was born in Chicago but spent some years growing up in Ireland. Mainly known as a movie actor, Quinn is currently playing the role of Captain Tommy Gregson on the excellent TV series “Elementary” that is centered on a modern-day Sherlock Holmes.

4. Emmy-winning forensic series CSI
The “CSI” franchise of TV shows has been tremendously successful, but seems to be winding down. “CSI: Miami” (the “worst” of the franchise, I think) was cancelled in 2012 after ten seasons. “CSI: NY” (the “best” of the franchise) was cancelled in 2013 after nine seasons. The original “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”, set in Las Vegas, is still going strong and has been doing so since 2000.

5. “Women in Love” director Russell KEN
Ken Russell was a larger-than-life film director from England. Russell’s best known film is probably 1969’s marvelous “Women in Love”. He also directed the science fiction classic “Altered States” that was released in 1980, and the 1975 film version of “Tommy”, the rock opera by the Who.

“Women in Love” is a wonderful romantic drama film from 1969 that is an adaptation of D. H. Lawrence’s novel of the same name. The four main characters are two sisters and two men from a mining town in England, played by Glenda Jackson, Jennie Linden, Alan Bates and Oliver Reed. Jackson won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance.

6. Father of Isaac ABRAHAM
According to the Hebrew Bible, Isaac was the only son of Abraham, born to his wife Sarah when she was beyond her childbearing years and when Abraham was 100 years old. Isaac himself lived until he was 180 years old. When Isaac was just a youth, Abraham was tested by Yahweh (God) and told to build an altar on which he was to sacrifice his only son. At the last minute an angel appeared and stopped Abraham, telling him to sacrifice a ram instead.

8. Small, medium or lge. ADJ
The words “small”, “medium” and “large” are all adjectives (adjs.).

9. “A revolution is not a dinner party” statesman MAO
According to Mao Zedong:

… a revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous.

11. Enjoying a Jazz performance? AT THE GAME
The Utah Jazz professional basketball team moved to their current home in Salt Lake City in 1979. As one might guess from the name, the team originated in New Orleans, but only played there for five seasons. New Orleans was a tough place to be based because venues were hard to come by, and Mardi Gras forced the team to play on the road for a whole month.

12. Organization that supports the Dalai Lama FREE TIBET
Free Tibet is an organization based in London that was founded in 1987. The group asserts that Tibetans have the right to determine their own futures, and fights for human rights in Tibet.

18. Lit. compilation ANTH
Strictly speaking, an “anthology” is a collection of poetic works, although the meaning has broadened over time to cover any literary collection, or even a collection of ideas, comments, complaints etc. The term derives from the Greek “anthologia”, a word for a collection of short poems by several authors. The literal meaning is “flower collection” from “anthos” and “logia”, so an anthology is a book containing “flowers” of verse.

23. Asian holiday TET
The full name for the New Year holiday in Vietnam is “Tet Nguyen Dan” meaning “Feast of the First Morning”, with the reference being to the arrival of the season of spring. Tet usually falls on the same day as Chinese New Year.

26. Much of Israel NEGEV
The Negev is a desert region in southern Israel. The largest city in the Negev is Beersheba.

27. Place to get off: Abbr. STN
Station (stn.)

28. Jones who plays the announcer in “The Hunger Games” TOBY
Toby Jones is an actor from London who is perhaps best known on this side of the Atlantic for playing Truman Capote in the 2006 biopic about Capote called “Infamous”.

32. Chicken paprikash, e.g. STEW
Chicken paprikash is a Hungarian stew in which the chicken is served in a creamy red paprika sauce. It is similar to a goulash.

36. West Pointer CADET
West Point is a military reservation in New York State, located north of New York City. West Point was first occupied by the Continental Army way back in 1778, making it the longest, continually-occupied military post in the country. Cadet training has taken place at the garrison since 1794, although Congress funding for a US Military Academy (USMA) didn’t start until 1802.

44. Texting exclamation OMG
OMG is text-speak for Oh My Gosh! Oh My Goodness! or any other G words you might think of …

46. Rhesus monkey, e.g. MACAQUE
The Rhesus macaque is also known as the Rhesus monkey. As it is widely available and is close to humans anatomically and physically, the Rhesus macaque has been used in scientific research for decades. The Rhesus monkey was used in the development of rabies, smallpox and polio vaccines, and it also gave its name to the Rhesus factor that is used in blood-typing. It was also Rhesus monkeys that were launched into space by the US and Soviet space programs. Humans and macaques share about 93% of their DNA and had a common ancestor about 25 million years ago.

49. Gumshoe TEC
Gumshoe is a slang term for a private detective (tec.) or private investigator (P.I.). Apparently the term “gumshoe” dates back to the early 1900s, and refers to the rubber-soled shoes popular with private detectives at that time.

53. South Asian rulers RAJAS
“Raja” (also “rajah”) is word derived from Sanskrit that is used particularly in India for a monarch or princely ruler. The female form is “rani” (also “ranee”) and is used for a raja’s wife.

54. Woody Allen mockumentary ZELIG
“Zelig” is a 1983 film by Woody Allen. “Zelig” tells the fictitious story, in documentary style, of Leonard Zelig (played by Allen) who has the gift of being able to change his appearance in order to better fit in with the company he keeps. He becomes famous as a “human chameleon”. By using archive footage, the film includes clever “cameos” by real figures from history (like Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover and Susan Sontag).

55. “My Fair Lady” lady ELIZA
Eliza Doolittle is Professor Henry Higgins’ speech student in George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion”. Of course “Pygmalion” was adapted by Lerner and Loewe to become the Broadway musical “My Fair Lady”. The musical spun off the wonderful 1964 film of the same name starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. To cockney Eliza Doolittle, Professor Henry Higgins was “‘Enry ‘Iggins”.

57. Windows alternative UNIX
Unix is a computer operating system that was developed at Bell Labs in 1969.

I always think of an operating system as that piece of software that sits between the hardware on my computer and the programs that I choose to run. Developers of application programs don’t really have to worry about being able to “talk to” the countless different types of hardware found in the wide variety of computers that are manufactured, they just need to talk to the handful of operating systems that are out there, like Windows, MAC and Unix. The operating system takes care of the rest.

62. Pindar product ODE
Pindar was an Ancient Greek poet, best known perhaps for composing a series of Victory Odes that celebrated triumph in competition, most notably the Olympian Games of the day.

65. __ canto BEL
“Bel canto” is a term used in Italian opera, the literal translation of which is “beautiful singing”.

Share today’s solution with a friend:
FacebookTwitterGoogleEmail

Return to top of page

For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. __ comedy BLACK
6. First vice president ADAMS
11. Tar’s direction AFT
14. Hike RAISE
15. Not adept in BAD AT
16. Prefix with state TRI-
17. Nobody special ORDINARY JOE
19. No. that may have an ext. TEL
20. Lab subjects OVA
21. Arrest NAB
22. Mrs. Robert F. Kennedy ETHEL
24. Nobody special MAN IN THE STREET
29. “They made us!” WE HAD TO!
30. “Bring on the weekend!” TGIF!
32. Edna Ferber novel SO BIG
35. 24-hr. news source MSNBC
37. Cartoon monkey ABU
38. Museum supporter, familiarly THE NEA
40. Complain YAMMER
42. Heathrow approx. ETD
43. Speeding sound VROOM!
47. Waist-reduction plans DIETS
48. Sharpen WHET
50. Stuck on a stick IMPALED
52. Nobody special AVERAGE CITIZEN
57. City northeast of Colgate University UTICA
58. ’60s hot spot NAM
59. Yalie ELI
60. Superdome city’s Amtrak code NOL
61. Nobody special JOHN Q PUBLIC
66. Suffix with alp -INE
67. Parting word ADIEU
68. Commandeer SEIZE
69. Selected on a questionnaire, with “in” XED
70. Cinque plus due SETTE
71. “Enigma Variations” composer ELGAR

Down
1. Halloween carrier? BROOM
2. Grub or chigger LARVA
3. Quinn of “Elementary” AIDAN
4. Emmy-winning forensic series CSI
5. “Women in Love” director Russell KEN
6. Father of Isaac ABRAHAM
7. They’re handy for overnight stays DAYBEDS
8. Small, medium or lge. ADJ
9. “A revolution is not a dinner party” statesman MAO
10. Guide STEER
11. Enjoying a Jazz performance? AT THE GAME
12. Organization that supports the Dalai Lama FREE TIBET
13. Money drawer TILL
18. Lit. compilation ANTH
23. Asian holiday TET
25. Victory cry I WIN!
26. Much of Israel NEGEV
27. Place to get off: Abbr. STN
28. Jones who plays the announcer in “The Hunger Games” TOBY
31. Apparel sometimes protested FURS
32. Chicken paprikash, e.g. STEW
33. “Hmm … I was thinking of something else” OH, THAT ONE
34. Tormented, as with doubt BEDEVILED
36. West Pointer CADET
39. Spotlit number, perhaps ARIA
41. Dress length MIDI
44. Texting exclamation OMG
45. Good scoring opportunity, in hockey OPEN NET
46. Rhesus monkey, e.g. MACAQUE
49. Gumshoe TEC
51. Sagging LIMP
53. South Asian rulers RAJAS
54. Woody Allen mockumentary ZELIG
55. “My Fair Lady” lady ELIZA
56. Sweeter, in a way NICER
57. Windows alternative UNIX
62. Pindar product ODE
63. Parade member? HIT
64. Put into operation USE
65. __ canto BEL

Return to top of page