LA Times Crossword Answers 13 Feb 2018, Tuesday

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Constructed by: Brian Gubin
Edited by: Rich Norris

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Today’s Theme: Falling Water

Themed answers are all in the down-direction, and contain some FALLING WATER as hidden words:

  • 22D. Frank Lloyd Wright house built around multiple cascades, and what’s literally found in this puzzle’s circles : FALLING WATER
  • 4D. Baseball overtime : EXTRA INNINGS (hiding “RAIN”)
  • 8D. Bellyache : STOMACH AILMENT (hiding “HAIL”)
  • 14D. “We’re trapped in here!” : THERE’S NO WAY OUT! (hiding “SNOW”)

Bill’s time: 5m 14s

Bill’s errors: 0

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5. 1980 Dom DeLuise film : FATSO

“Fatso” is a 1980 comedy film starring Dom DeLuise as an overweight guy who starts trying to lose weight AFTER his obese cousin passes away at only 39 years of age. Anne Bancroft plays the sister of DeLuise’s character, and she also directed the film and wrote the screenplay.
Dom DeLuise was a talented comic actor, but also an avid cook. DeLuise wrote several books on cooking and appeared regularly on radio cooking shows. He also wrote a few children’s books.

14. This evening, on marquees : TONITE

A marquee is a large sign that is placed over the entrance to a theater. The marquee usually displays the names of the film or play currently showing, as well as the principal actors performing.

15. Actress Longoria : EVA

Eva Longoria is a fashion model and actress who had a regular role on TV’s “Desperate Housewives” playing Gabrielle Solis.

17. Drag race racer : HOT ROD

A hot rod is an American car that has been modified for speed by installing a larger than normal engine. A street rod is generally a more comfortable type of hot rod, with the emphasis less on the engine and more on custom paint jobs and interiors. By definition, a street rod must be based on an automobile design that originated prior to 1949
Back in the 18th century “drag” was slang for a wagon or buggy, as it was “dragged” along by a horse or horses. In the 1930s, the underworld adopted “drag” as slang for an automobile. This sense of the word was imported into automobile racing in the forties, giving the name to “drag racing”. A drag race is basically a competition between two cars to determine which can accelerate faster from a standstill.

19. Trick-taking game : ECARTE

Écarté is a card game that comes to us from France, with a name that translates into ‘discarded”. Écarté is similar to whist but is played with a stripped-down deck and involves only two players.

21. “Stay With Me” singer Smith : SAM

Sam Smith is a singer from London. I think that the only thing I’ve heard of his is the theme song from the 2015 James Bond movie “Spectre”, which is called “Writing’s on the Wall”.

22. A-OK : FINE

Our term “A-OK” is supposedly an abbreviation for “A(ll systems are) OK”, and arose in the sixties during the Space Program.

27. Prefix with gram or graph : IDEO-

An ideograph or ideogram is pictorial symbol used to represent a concept. A good example would be an emoticon, like a smiley face 🙂

29. World’s largest cognac producer : HENNESSY

Hennessy is a distillery in the Cognac region of France. Hennessy was founded by Irishman Richard Hennessy, who established the company in 1765. One of his descendants runs the business today. Today, Hennessy is the largest producer of the drink, supplying more than 40% of the world’s cognac.

37. Economist Greenspan : ALAN

Alan Greenspan served as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006, the longest anyone has held that post. He was appointed by President Reagan for a four-year term, and was reappointed by subsequent presidents until Greenspan retired. Outside of the world of economics, Greenspan is married to NBC journalist Andrea Mitchell, and back in the seventies he dated Barbara Walters.

38. Marilyn Monroe’s first name at birth : NORMA

Marilyn Monroe was born in 1926 in LA County Hospital, the child of Gladys Pearl Baker. The young girl was given the name of Norma Jeane Mortenson on her birth certificate, but her mother changed this to Norma Jeane Baker almost immediately. She and her estranged husband, Martin Edward Mortensen, had separated before Baker became pregnant so it is suggested that the Mortensen name was used just to give Norma Jeane “legitimacy”. Norma Jeane married a Jim Dougherty when she 16 years old, and took his name to become Norma Jeane Dougherty in 1932. During WWII she was discovered by a photographer and became quite a successful model. The modelling earned her a screen test, at which time it was suggested that Norma Jeane change her name yet again. The first name chosen for her by studio executives was Carole Lind (after Carole Lombard and Jenny Lind), but then Norma Jeane chose “Jeane Monroe” for herself, using her mother’s maiden name. It didn’t take long before the studio intervened again, suggesting that they had too many “Jeans” already. The name Marilyn Monroe was floated as it had a nice ring to it. Along with the new name, Marilyn changed from a brunette to a blonde, and a star was born …

40. Pakistan neighbor : IRAN

There has been a lot of talk about a particular border wall in recent times, but one such barrier that doesn’t get a lot of news coverage in the US is the one being built by the Iranians along the Iran-Pakistan border. The so-called Iran-Pakistan Barrier will extend across 700 kilometers of the desert, and is ten-foot high and a three-foot thick concrete wall.

41. Game piece with pips : DOMINO

White masks with black spots were commonly seen in the old Venetian Carnival. The masks were known as “domini”. The domini lent their name to the game of dominoes, due to the similarity in appearance between the mask and a domino tile.

45. Former House leader Gingrich : NEWT

Newt … what a name! Newt Gingrich was born Newton Leroy McPherson in 1943, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Newt’s mother remarried when he was very young and his new father, Robert Gingrich, adopted Newt giving him the Gingrich name.

48. BBC TV series about cars : TOP GEAR

“Top Gear” is a motoring show that first aired in 1977 on the BBC. The original show had legs, and ran until 2001, when it was cancelled due to falling ratings. The show was then relaunched in a new format in 2002. At its peak, the old “Top Gear” had 6 million viewers per week. The relaunched “Top Gear” commanded a staggering 350 million viewers per week at its peak, in 170 different countries. The new version of the show suffered a bump in the road when the main host Jeremy Clarkson was fired by the BBC for inappropriate behavior. The three “Top Gear” hosts all left together, and were hired by Amazon to host a new competing show called “The Grand Tour”.

55. Kia subcompacts : RIOS

South Korean automaker Kia have been making the subcompact model called the Rio since 2000.

56. ’60s-’80s Red Sox nickname : YAZ

Yaz is the nickname for Carl Yastrzemski, who played his whole career with the Boston Red Sox.

62. President before Wilson : TAFT

William Howard Taft may have been the 27th President of the United States, but his lifelong ambition was to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. President Taft was able to realize that dream in 1921, eight years after losing his bid for re-election as president. As Chief Justice, this former US President swore in two new presidents: Calvin Coolidge (in 1925) and Herbert Hoover (in 1929). William Howard Taft is also remembered as the most obese president. In the last year of his presidency, he weighed about 340 pounds (he was 5 feet 11 inches tall). Twelve months after leaving the White House, President Taft had dropped 80 pounds and substantially lowered his blood pressure.
Woodrow Wilson was a professor at Princeton from 1890 to 1902 at which time he was promoted to president of the university. Professor Wilson had earned his PhD. at John Hopkins University in 1886, so that when he was elected 28th President of the United States in 1912, he became the only US President to hold a PhD.

63. Nintendo’s Super __ : NES

The name Super NES (or SNES) stands for Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Our kids probably have one somewhere …

65. The “E” in the HOMES mnemonic : ERIE

A well-known mnemonic for remembering the names of the Great Lakes is HOMES: standing for Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior.

66. Dr. with Grammys : DRE

“Dr. Dre” is the stage name of rapper Andre Romelle Young. Dr. Dre is known for his own singing career as well as for producing records and starting the careers of others such Snoop Dogg, Eminem and 50 Cent.

67. Jouster’s horse : STEED

Tilting is the most recognized form of jousting. Jousting can involve the use of a number of different weapons, but when lances are used the competition is called tilting.

Down

1. Kit Kat layer : WAFER

I grew up eating Kit Kat bars as a kid, as the chocolate confection has been around since the thirties. Kit Kats didn’t hit the shelves in the US until the seventies. I’ve seen new varieties of Kit Kat over in the UK, such as an orange-flavored version, but haven’t seen anything like that over here.

5. Egg __ yung : FOO

Egg foo yung is a dish served in Chinese restaurants, and is basically an omelet. It probably takes its name from a flower called the Fu Yung.

6. Carpenter insects : ANTS

Carpenter ants can wreak havoc in a wooden structure. They burrow into damp wood creating galleries and pathways that form a complex network of nests. Unlike termites though, carpenter ants don’t feed on the wood.

7. Rant : TIRADE

The term “tirade” describes a long and vehement speech, and is a word that came into English from French. “Tirade” can have the same meaning in French, but is also the word for “volley”. So, a tirade is a “volley” of words.

9. Multivolume ref. work : OED

Oxford English Dictionary (OED)

10. Former baseball commissioner Bud : SELIG

Bud Selig was the Commissioner of Baseball for Major League Baseball from 1998 to 2015. Selig became acting commissioner in 1992 after the resignation of Fay Vincent. The team owners searched for a new commissioner for six years, and finally gave the permanent job to Selig in 1998.

11. Sheeplike : OVINE

The Latin word for “sheep” is “ovis”, giving us the adjective “ovine” meaning “like a sheep”.

12. Innocents “in the woods” : BABES

“Babes in the Wood” is a children’s tale, dating back to the late 1500s, that I think is quite morbid and scary. The basic story is that two children are abandoned in a wood, die, and are then covered in leaves by robins. It’s a morality tale, that does describe the downfall of the uncle who has the children taken to the woods. However, today we think more the “innocent babes”, as we describe someone who is naive as a “babe in the woods”.

20. It ebbs and flows : TIDE

Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon on the oceans. At neap tide, the smaller gravitational effect of the sun cancels out some of the moon’s effect. At spring tide, the sun and the moon’s gravitational forces act in concert causing more extreme movement of the oceans.

22. Frank Lloyd Wright house built around multiple cascades, and what’s literally found in this puzzle’s circles : FALLINGWATER

The architect Frank Lloyd Wright embraced the philosophy of designing structures that were in harmony with the environment. One of his most famous works is an elaborate home in rural Pennsylvania known as Fallingwater, which is partially built over a waterfall.

26. “The Simpsons” beer server : MOE

Moe Szyslak is the surly bartender and owner of Moe’s Tavern in “The Simpsons” animated TV show. I don’t really care for “The Simpsons”, but Hank Azaria who supplies the voice for the Moe character … him I like …

30. “Xanadu” gp. : ELO

The title song of the 1980 movie “Xanadu” was performed by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) and Olivia Newton-John (who starred in the film). Despite the popularity of ELO around the world, the song “Xanadu” was the band’s only number one hit back in their homeland of the UK.

31. ’60s war zone : NAM

By some definitions, the official involvement of Americans in the Vietnam War started in 1955. At that time, President Eisenhower deployed a Military Assistance Advisory Group to assist in the training of the South Vietnamese Army. American involvement in the conflict officially ended in 1973 with the signing of an agreement that came out of the Paris Peace Accords.

35. Gym cushion : MAT

Our word “gymnasium” comes from the Greek “gymnasion” meaning “public place where exercise is taken”. The Greek term comes from “gymnos” meaning “naked”, as that physical training was usually done unclothed in ancient Greece.

36. Musical Brian : ENO

Brian Eno is a musician, composer and record producer from England who first achieved fame as the synthesizer player with Roxy Music. As a producer, Eno has worked with David Bowie, Devo, Talking Heads and U2.

39. Nativity trio : MAGI

“Magi” is the plural of the Latin word “magus”, a term applied to someone who was able to read the stars. Hence, “magi” is commonly used with reference to the “wise men from the East” who followed the star and visited Jesus soon after he was born. In Western Christianity, the three Biblical Magi are:

  • Melchior: a scholar from Persia
  • Caspar: a scholar from India
  • Balthazar: a scholar from Arabia

50. Old West outlaw chasers : POSSE

Our word “posse” comes from an Anglo-Latin term from the early 15th century “posse comitatus” meaning “the force of the county”.

52. Video game pioneer : ATARI

At one point, the electronics and video game manufacturer Atari was the fastest growing company in US history. However, Atari never really recovered from the video game industry crash of 1983.

54. Cosmetician Lauder : ESTEE

Estée Lauder was a very successful businesswoman, and someone with a great reputation as a salesperson. Lauder introduced her own line of fragrances in 1953, a bath oil called “Youth Dew”. “Youth Dew” was marketed as a perfume, but it was added to bathwater. All of a sudden women were pouring whole bottles of Ms. Lauder’s “perfume” into their baths while using only a drop or two of French perfumes behind their ears. That’s quite a difference in sales volume …

57. “The Wizard of Oz” farmhand : ZEKE

Zeke is the farmworker played by Bert Lahr in 1939’s “The Wizard of Oz”. Zeke is the character who morphed into the Cowardly Lion in Dorothy’s dream.

60. Sound units, briefly : DBS

In the world of acoustics, one bel is equal to ten decibels (dBs). The bel is named in honor of the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell.

61. Mil. roadside hazard : IED

Having spent much of my life in the border areas between southern and Northern Ireland, I am sadly all too familiar with the devastating effects of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). One has to admire the bravery of soldiers who spend their careers defusing (or attempting to defuse) such devices in order to save the lives and property of others.

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Suffix with silver or glass : -WARE
5. 1980 Dom DeLuise film : FATSO
10. Cry noisily : SOB
13. Acme : APEX
14. This evening, on marquees : TONITE
15. Actress Longoria : EVA
16. Fiction’s opposite : FACT
17. Drag race racer : HOT ROD
18. Women’s __ : LIB
19. Trick-taking game : ECARTE
21. “Stay With Me” singer Smith : SAM
22. A-OK : FINE
23. Fixes : REPAIRS
25. Does harm to : DAMAGES
27. Prefix with gram or graph : IDEO-
28. Earth sci. : ECOL
29. World’s largest cognac producer : HENNESSY
33. Cry of distress : HELP ME!
37. Economist Greenspan : ALAN
38. Marilyn Monroe’s first name at birth : NORMA
40. Pakistan neighbor : IRAN
41. Game piece with pips : DOMINO
43. Refused : SAID NO TO
45. Former House leader Gingrich : NEWT
47. Gurgling sound : GLUG
48. BBC TV series about cars : TOP GEAR
51. “You don’t have to tell me” : I’M AWARE
55. Kia subcompacts : RIOS
56. ’60s-’80s Red Sox nickname : YAZ
58. Makes happy : ELATES
59. Raised railroads : ELS
60. Really tired : DONE IN
62. President before Wilson : TAFT
63. Nintendo’s Super __ : NES
64. Steam shovel scoop : BUCKET
65. The “E” in the HOMES mnemonic : ERIE
66. Dr. with Grammys : DRE
67. Jouster’s horse : STEED
68. Ceremony : RITE

Down

1. Kit Kat layer : WAFER
2. Quickly : APACE
3. Brief summary : RECAP
4. Baseball overtime : EXTRA INNINGS (hiding “RAIN”)
5. Egg __ yung : FOO
6. Carpenter insects : ANTS
7. Rant : TIRADE
8. Bellyache : STOMACH AILMENT (hiding “HAIL”)
9. Multivolume ref. work : OED
10. Former baseball commissioner Bud : SELIG
11. Sheeplike : OVINE
12. Innocents “in the woods” : BABES
14. “We’re trapped in here!” : THERE’S NO WAY OUT! (hiding “SNOW”)
20. It ebbs and flows : TIDE
22. Frank Lloyd Wright house built around multiple cascades, and what’s literally found in this puzzle’s circles : FALLING WATER
24. “Meh” : SO-SO
26. “The Simpsons” beer server : MOE
29. Fooled : HAD
30. “Xanadu” gp. : ELO
31. ’60s war zone : NAM
32. Coll. periods : YRS
34. For : PRO
35. Gym cushion : MAT
36. Musical Brian : ENO
39. Nativity trio : MAGI
42. Formerly, in bridal announcements : NEE
44. Two-part : DUAL
46. Hypnotic state : TRANCE
48. General tendency : TREND
49. Refueling ship : OILER
50. Old West outlaw chasers : POSSE
52. Video game pioneer : ATARI
53. Equip anew : REFIT
54. Cosmetician Lauder : ESTEE
57. “The Wizard of Oz” farmhand : ZEKE
60. Sound units, briefly : DBS
61. Mil. roadside hazard : IED

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