LA Times Crossword Answers 23 Apr 2018, Monday

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Constructed by: Jeff Stillman
Edited by: Rich Norris

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Today’s Reveal Answer: Sans

Themed answers start with a word that often follows SAN, when used in the name of a US city:

  • 65A. Without … or, as a plural, what the starts of the answers to starred clues are without? : SANS
  • 16A. *Actor who played Ché in the 1996 “Evita” movie : ANTONIO BANDERAS (giving “San Antonio”)
  • 25A. *1990s-2000s Red Sox Hall of Fame pitcher : PEDRO MARTINEZ (giving “San Pedro”)
  • 44A. *Argentine who shared the FIFA Player of the 20th Century award with Pelé : DIEGO MARADONA (giving “San Diego”)
  • 58A. *20th-century Spanish dictator : FRANCISCO FRANCO (giving “San Francisco”)

Bill’s time: 6m 57s

Bill’s errors: 0

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1. Ejects, volcano-style : SPEWS

Our word “volcano” comes from “Vulcano”, the name of a volcanic island off the coast of Italy. The island’s name comes from Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. The Romans believed that the island of Vulcano was the chimney of the forge belonging to the god Vulcan. The Romans also believed that the eruptions on Mount Etna in Sicily were caused by Vulcan getting angry and working his forge so hard that sparks and smoke flew out of the top of the volcano.

10. Org. with a “Parliament” TV channel : BBC

BBC Parliament is a TV channel in the UK that broadcasts complete live coverage of activities in the chamber when the House of Commons is sitting. While this is the core of BBC Parliament’s programming, there is a also lot of airtime given to proceedings in the House of Lords, the Scottish Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Welsh Assembly.

13. Vietnam’s capital : HANOI

Hanoi was the capital of North Vietnam, and Saigon the capital of South Vietnam. After the Vietnam War, Hanoi was made capital of the reunified state. Saigon, the larger metropolis, was renamed to Ho Chi Minh City. Hanoi is located in the delta of the Red River, and is just over 50 miles from the Gulf of Tonkin in the South China Sea.

14. Loughlin of “Full House” : LORI

Lori Loughlin played Rebecca Donaldson-Katsopolis on the sitcom “Full House”. Loughlin later appeared in a spin-off of the TV show “Beverly Hills, 90210” titled, inventively enough, “90210”.

“Full House” is a sitcom that originally aired from the late eighties through the mid-nineties. It’s all about two men helping a third man raise his three young daughters after his wife is killed by a drunk driver. Bob Saget plays the widowed father, and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen play the youngest daughter. A sequel titled “Fuller House” started airing on Netflix in 2016.

16. *Actor who played Ché in the 1996 “Evita” movie : ANTONIO BANDERAS (giving “San Antonio”)

Antonio Banderas is an actor from Málaga in Andalusia on the southern coast of Spain. Banderas’s breakthrough role in Hollywood was the gay lover of the Tom Hanks character in 1993’s “Philadelphia”. He is married to the actress Melanie Griffith whom he met in 1995 while filming “Two Much”.

“Evita” was the follow up musical to “Jesus Christ Superstar” for Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Both of these works were originally released as album musicals, and very successful ones at that (I remember buying them when they first came out). “Evita” was made into a film in 1996, with Madonna playing the title role and Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce playing her husband Juan Perón.

The city of San Antonio, Texas was named by Spanish explorers who came upon a Native American settlement in the area on 13 June 1631, the feast day of St. Anthony of Padua.

19. Conked out : DIED

The phrase “conk out” was coined by airmen during WWI, and was used to describe the stalling of an engine.

20. Sign light : NEON

The basic design of neon lighting was first demonstrated at the Paris Motor Show in 1910. Such lighting is made up of glass tubes containing a vacuum into which has been introduced a small amount of neon gas. When a voltage is applied between two electrodes inside the tube, the neon gas “glows” and gives off the familiar light.

21. “Snowy” bird : EGRET

The snowy egret is a small white heron, native to the Americas. At one time the egret species was in danger of extinction due to hunting driven by the demand for plumes for women’s hats.

24. Winter bug : FLU

Influenza (flu) is an ailment that is caused by a virus. The virus is readily inactivated by the use of soap, so washing hands and surfaces is especially helpful in containing flu outbreaks.

25. *1990s-2000s Red Sox Hall of Fame pitcher : PEDRO MARTINEZ (giving “San Pedro”)

Pedro Martinez is a retired baseball pitcher from the Dominican Republic. Martinez won the Cy Young Award three times, and was on the Boston Red Sox team that won the 2004 World Series.

San Pedro is part of Los Angeles, and once was a city in its own right. Pronounced “San Pee-dro” by locals, San Pedro is home to a major portion of the Port of Los Angeles.

35. Actress Campbell : NEVE

Neve Campbell is a Canadian actress whose big break in movies came with the “Scream” horror film series, in which she had a leading role. I don’t do horror films, so I haven’t seen any of the “Scream” movies. Nor have I seen the TV series “Party of Five” which launched the acting careers of both Campbell and Jennifer Love Hewitt in the nineties.

40. To boot : ALSO

The noun “boot” was used once to describe something of advantage in trying to accomplish a goal. This obsolete term really only exists in the adverb “to boot” meaning “in addition, over and above”, literally “to advantage”.

41. End of a Seuss title about a mischievous feline : … THE HAT

“The Cat in the Hat” is a 1957 book penned by Dr. Seuss (aka Theodor Geisel). Written to teach young children how to read, Geisel stated in 1983, “It is the book I’m proudest of because it had something to do with the death of the “Dick and Jane” primers.”

44. *Argentine who shared the FIFA Player of the 20th Century award with Pelé : DIEGO MARADONA (giving “San Diego”)

Diego Maradona has to be the most famous of Argentina’s soccer players. He is also one of the country’s most controversial sportsmen, and is noted for his outspoken manner with journalists, as well as his cocaine addiction.

“Pelé” is the nickname of Edson de Nascimento, a soccer player who has used the name “Pelé” for most of his life. Pelé is now retired, and for my money was the world’s greatest ever player of the game. He is the only person to have been part of three World Cup winning squads, and is a national treasure in his native Brazil. One of Pele’s nicknames is “O Rei do Futebol” (the King of Football).

The name of the California city of San Diego dates back to 1602, when Spanish explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno named the area after the Catholic Saint Didacus. Saint Didacus was more commonly referred to as San Diego de Alcalá.

47. Rte. finder : GPS

Global positioning system (GPS)

48. October birthstones : OPALS

Here is the “official” list of birthstones by month, that we tend to use today:

  • January: Garnet
  • February: Amethyst
  • March: Bloodstone or Aquamarine
  • April: Diamond
  • May: Emerald
  • June: Pearl or Moonstone
  • July: Ruby
  • August: Sardonyx or Peridot
  • September: Sapphire or Lapis Lazuli
  • October: Opal or Pink Tourmaline
  • November: Topaz or Citrine
  • December: Turquoise or Zircon (also now, Tanzanite)

50. Tea variety : PEKOE

A pekoe (or more commonly “orange pekoe”) is a medium-grade black tea. There is no orange flavor in an orange pekoe tea. The “orange” name most likely derived from the name of the trading company that brought the tea to Europe from Asia.

56. British slammer : GAOL

Both “jail” and “gaol” are pronounced the same way, mean the same thing, and are rooted in the same Latin word for “cave”. The spelling “gaol” is seen quite often in the UK, although it is gradually being replaced with “jail”. The “gaol” spelling has Norman roots and tends to be used in Britain in more formal documentation.

58. *20th-century Spanish dictator : FRANCISCO FRANCO (giving “San Francisco”)

Francisco Franco was the dictator of Spain from 1936 to 1975, a reign of 39 years that made him the longest-ruling dictator in the history of Europe.

The city of San Francisco was established in 1776, just a few days before the US declared independence from Britain on the other side of the continent. San Francisco was founded by Spanish colonists who set up a fort at the Golden Gate and a nearby mission named for St. Francis of Assisi.

63. Like Machu Picchu : INCAN

Machu Picchu is known as “The Lost City of the Incas”, and it can be visited on a mountain ridge in Peru, 50 miles northwest of the city of Cuzco in the southeast of the country. The name Machu Picchu means “old peak”. The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu originates about 50 miles from Cusco on the Urubamba River in Peru. It can take travelers about 5 days to trek the full length of the trail, passing through many Incan ruins before reaching the Sun Gate on Machu Picchu mountain. The trail was becoming greatly overused, forcing the Peruvian government to limit the number of people on the trail each day to 500. Book early …

64. Explosive stuff : TNT

“TNT” is an abbreviation for trinitrotoluene. Trinitrotoluene was first produced in 1863 by the German chemist Joseph Wilbrand, who developed it for use as a yellow dye. TNT is relatively difficult to detonate so it was on the market as a dye for some years before its more explosive properties were discovered.

65. Without … or, as a plural, what the starts of the answers to starred clues are without? : SANS

In French, “avec” (with) and “sans” (without) are opposites.

66. Winter melodies : NOELS

“Noël” is the French word for the Christmas season, ultimately coming from the Latin word for “birth” (natalis). “Noel” has come to be used as an alternative name for a Christmas carol.

Down

1. Roe fish : SHAD

The shad is also known as the river herring. The eggs (roe) of the female shad are prized as a delicacy in the Eastern US.

2. Lose it in an emergency : PANIC

In Greek mythology, Pan was a lecherous god, one who fell in love with Echo the mountain nymph. Echo refused Pan’s advances so that he became very angry. Pan’s anger created a “panic” (a word derived from the name “Pan”) and a group of shepherds were driven to kill Echo.

3. “Star Trek” ship : ENTERPRISE

The USS Enterprise is a starship in the “Star Trek” universe (pun!). There have been several generations of starship with the name Enterprise, starting with the vessel numbered NCC-1701, which appeared in the original TV series. My favorite “Star Trek” series is “Next Generation”, which features USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D.

4. Stereotypical surfer’s wagon : WOODIE

In the automotive world, the term “woodie” is used for a car in which wood is used for much of the bodywork defining the passenger department. One day, I’d love to own a 1960’s Morris Minor Woodie …

5. Pride or envy : SIN

The cardinal sins of Christian ethics are also known as the seven deadly sins. The seven deadly sins are:

  • Wrath
  • Greed
  • Sloth
  • Pride
  • Lust
  • Envy
  • Gluttony

6. Ice sheet : FLOE

An ice floe is a sheet of ice that has separated from an ice field and is floating freely on the ocean.

7. Gray wolf : LOBO

The timber wolf is also known as the gray wolf, tundra wolf or lobo.

10. 1804 duel winner : BURR

Aaron Burr was the third vice-president of the US, and served under Thomas Jefferson. In the final year of his term in office, Burr fought an illegal duel and killed his political rival Alexander Hamilton. Burr wasn’t brought to justice, but he did pay the price politically. Thomas Jefferson dropped him from his ticket in the election held the following year.

11. Scottish hillside : BRAE

“Brae” is a lowland Scots word for the slope or brow of a hill.

15. “Begin the __”: Cole Porter song : BEGUINE

“Begin the Beguine” is a Cole Porter song that was first performed in the 1935 stage musical “Jubilee”. A beguine is a dance that is similar to a slow rhumba.

17. Vedic weather god : INDRA

In Hindu mythology, Indra is the King of the gods and Lord of Heaven. Indra is also the God of War, Storms and Rainfall.

The Vedas are a body of ancient Indian texts, the oldest Hindu scriptures. The word “véda” is Sanskrit, and means “knowledge, wisdom”.

18. Shoulder muscle, informally : DELT

The deltoid “muscle” is actually a group of muscles, the ones that cover the shoulder and create the roundness under the skin. The deltoids (delts) are triangular in shape resembling the Greek letter delta, hence the name.

26. Nebraska city : OMAHA

Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska. It is located on the Missouri River, about 10 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River When Nebraska was still a territory Omaha was its capital, but when Nebraska achieved statehood the capital was moved to the city of Lincoln.

27. Parking __ : METER

An early patent for a parking meter, dated 1928, was for a device that required the driver of the parked car to connect the battery of his or her car to the meter in order for it to operate!

28. Hawaiian welcome : ALOHA

The Hawaiian word “aloha” has many meanings in English: affection, love, peace, compassion and mercy. More recently, “aloha” has come to mean “hello” and “goodbye”, but only since the mid-1800s.

29. Puma competitor : NEW BALANCE

New Balance is a footwear manufacturer based in Boston, Massachusetts.

Puma is a German company that sells athletic shoes worldwide. The company is most famous for its line of soccer boots.

31. Celsius freezing point : ZERO

Anders Celsius was a Swedish astronomer. The temperature scale that Celsius created was the reverse of that used today, with “zero” representing the boiling point of water and “100” representing water’s freezing point. This scale was “upended” (in 1744) just after Celsius died, by the Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus. The resulting temperature scale then became known as the centigrade scale for over 200 years, until in 1948 it was decided to adopt the “degree Celsius”. So, anyone still using “degrees centigrade” is actually way behind the times …

32. Honeyed drink : MEAD

Mead is a lovely drink that’s made from fermented honey and water.

41. Many corp. logos : TMS

Trademark (TM)

42. First name from which the “Adi” in Adidas is derived : ADOLF

The brand name Adidas dates back to when Adolf “Adi” Dassler started making his own sports shoes in his mother’s laundry room in Bavaria after returning from WWI. With his brother, Adi founded Dassler shoes. The company’s big break came in 1936 at the Berlin Olympics, when Adi persuaded American sprinter Jesse Owens to use his shoes, and with the success of Jesse Owens came success for the fledgling shoe company. After WWII the brothers split, acrimoniously. Adi’s brother, Ru-dolf Da-ssler, formed “Ruda” shoes (later to become Puma), and Adi Das-sler formed “Adidas”.

45. Oil gp. : OPEC

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

46. 1998 Olympics city : NAGANO

Nagano is a city on Japan’s largest island, Honshu. Nagano hosted the 1998 Winter Olympic Games.

49. Tinseltown region, familiarly : SOCAL

Southern California (SoCal)

“Tinseltown” is a nickname for Hollywood.

51. Ireland, in verse : ERIN

“Éire”, is the Irish word for “Ireland”. The related “Erin” is an anglicized version of “Éire” and actually corresponds to “Éirinn”, the dative case of “Éire”.

52. German thinker Immanuel : KANT

Immanuel Kant was an 18th-century, German philosopher. Kant published “Perpetual Peace” in 1795, laying out what he believed were conditions for ending all wars and creating a lasting peace. The good news for us is that one of these conditions was to have a world full of constitutional republics, so it seems we are on the right track here in the US!

53. Largest continent : ASIA

Most of the world’s population lives in Asia (60%), and Asia is the largest continent in terms of landmass (30% of the world). Asia also has the highest population density (246 people per square mile), and the most populous city on the continent is Shanghai, China.

54. Anti-rodent brand : D-CON

d-Con is a line of rodent control products that has been around for over 50 years.

57. Chaney Jr. and Sr. : LONS

Lon Chaney, Jr. followed in his father’s footsteps as an actor, and most famously played the werewolf in the “The Wolf Man” series of films, starting in 1941. The young actor started his career using his real name, Creighton Chaney, but later adopted the name “Lon Chaney, Jr.” getting a boost from his father’s reputation. Chaney, Jr. also played Lennie Small in the 1939 film adaptation of the Steinbeck novel “Of Mice and Men”.

Lon Chaney, Sr. played a lot of crazed-looking characters in the days of silent movies. He did much of his own make-up work, developing the grotesque appearances that became his trademark, and earning himself the nickname “the man of a thousand faces”. Most famous were his portrayals of the title characters in the films “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1923) and “The Phantom of the Opera” (1925).

59. Tax-auditing org. : IRS

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

60. __ Tin Tin : RIN

The original Rin Tin Tin was a real-life dog, a puppy discovered by a GI in a bombed-out kennel in France during WWI. The soldier named the pup Rin Tin Tin, the same name as a puppet given to American soldiers for luck. On returning to the US, “Rinty” was trained by his owner and was spotted doing tricks by a film producer. Rinty featured in some films, eventually getting his first starring role in 1923 in the silent movie “Where the North Begins”. Legend has it that this first Rin Tin Tin died in the arms of actress Jean Harlow. Not a bad way to go …

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Ejects, volcano-style : SPEWS
6. Coin toss : FLIP
10. Org. with a “Parliament” TV channel : BBC
13. Vietnam’s capital : HANOI
14. Loughlin of “Full House” : LORI
15. Hide in the soil : BURY
16. *Actor who played Ché in the 1996 “Evita” movie : ANTONIO BANDERAS (giving “San Antonio”)
19. Conked out : DIED
20. Sign light : NEON
21. “Snowy” bird : EGRET
22. Sobbed : CRIED
24. Winter bug : FLU
25. *1990s-2000s Red Sox Hall of Fame pitcher : PEDRO MARTINEZ (giving “San Pedro”)
32. Scratch or dent : MAR
34. With courage : GAMELY
35. Actress Campbell : NEVE
36. Leave out, as the “g” when saying “sayin'” : ELIDE
38. From __ Z : A TO
39. It’s accessed via manholes : SEWER
40. To boot : ALSO
41. End of a Seuss title about a mischievous feline : … THE HAT
43. Good bud : BRO
44. *Argentine who shared the FIFA Player of the 20th Century award with Pelé : DIEGO MARADONA (giving “San Diego”)
47. Rte. finder : GPS
48. October birthstones : OPALS
50. Tea variety : PEKOE
53. Extra: Abbr. : ADDL
56. British slammer : GAOL
58. *20th-century Spanish dictator : FRANCISCO FRANCO (giving “San Francisco”)
61. Like small print : FINE
62. Civil mayhem : RIOT
63. Like Machu Picchu : INCAN
64. Explosive stuff : TNT
65. Without … or, as a plural, what the starts of the answers to starred clues are without? : SANS
66. Winter melodies : NOELS

Down

1. Roe fish : SHAD
2. Lose it in an emergency : PANIC
3. “Star Trek” ship : ENTERPRISE
4. Stereotypical surfer’s wagon : WOODIE
5. Pride or envy : SIN
6. Ice sheet : FLOE
7. Gray wolf : LOBO
8. Persian rug source : IRAN
9. Sticker : PIN
10. 1804 duel winner : BURR
11. Scottish hillside : BRAE
12. Skin concern : CYST
15. “Begin the __”: Cole Porter song : BEGUINE
17. Vedic weather god : INDRA
18. Shoulder muscle, informally : DELT
23. Beat by a bit : EDGE
24. Cook in deep fat : FRY
26. Nebraska city : OMAHA
27. Parking __ : METER
28. Hawaiian welcome : ALOHA
29. Puma competitor : NEW BALANCE
30. Perpetually : EVER
31. Celsius freezing point : ZERO
32. Honeyed drink : MEAD
33. “__ want for Christmas … ” : ALL I
37. Danged : DOGGONE
39. “Cut that out!” : STOP!
41. Many corp. logos : TMS
42. First name from which the “Adi” in Adidas is derived : ADOLF
45. Oil gp. : OPEC
46. 1998 Olympics city : NAGANO
49. Tinseltown region, familiarly : SOCAL
50. Fizzling sound : PFFT
51. Ireland, in verse : ERIN
52. German thinker Immanuel : KANT
53. Largest continent : ASIA
54. Anti-rodent brand : D-CON
55. Things to connect : DOTS
57. Chaney Jr. and Sr. : LONS
59. Tax-auditing org. : IRS
60. __ Tin Tin : RIN

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