LA Times Crossword Answers 16 May 2018, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Jared Tamarkin
Edited by: Rich Norris

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Today’s Reveal Answer: Silver Lining

Themed answers start and finish with the letters AG (Ag is the element symbol for silver):

  • 54A. Upside of 9-Across/65-Across … and, chemically speaking, what each pair of circles represents : SILVER LINING
  • 9A. With 65-Across, it has a 54-Across, so they say : EVERY …
  • 65A. See 9-Across : … CLOUD
  • 20A. Old Glory : AMERICAN FLAG
  • 28A. “Don’t incriminate yourself!” : ADMIT NOTHING!
  • 44A. 1983 Lionel Richie #1 song : ALL NIGHT LONG

Bill’s time: 5m 56s

Bill’s errors: 0

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5. Last year’s frosh : SOPH

The term “sophomore” has been used for a student in the second year of university since the 1680’s. The original meaning of the word was “arguer”. The term has Greek roots, from two Greek words that have been artificially combined in English. The Greek “sophos” means “wise”, and “moros” means “foolish”.

“Frosh” is a slang term for a college freshman. We call them “freshers” back in Ireland …

9. With 65-Across, it has a 54-Across, so they say : EVERY …
65. See 9-Across : … CLOUD
54. Upside of 9-Across/65-Across … and, chemically speaking, what each pair of circles represents : SILVER LINING

The idiom “every cloud has a silver lining” suggests that there is something good to be found in in every bad situation. The phrase “silver lining” was coined by English poet John Milton in “Comus”, a piece of dramatic entertainment that was first performed in 1634. The relevant lines are:

Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night?
I did not err; there does a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night,
And casts a gleam over this tufted grove.

15. Indonesian boat : PROA

A proa is a sailing vessel found mainly in the waters surrounding Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. It is a relatively unusual sailboat, in that it doesn’t have a fixed bow or stern. It has two hulls, of unequal length. The smaller hull is always to windward. That is made possible as the boat can sail forward or backwards as required, with either end of the vessel becoming the bow or the stern.

16. British prime minister before Brown : BLAIR

Tony Blair was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for ten years, from 1997 to 2007. Blair moved his Labour Party from the left towards the center, utilizing the moniker “New Labour”. Under his leadership, Labour won a landslide victory in 1997 and was comfortably elected into power again in 2001 and 2005. Blair stepped down in 2007 and Gordon Brown took over as prime minister. Labour was soundly defeated at the polls in the next general election, in 2010.

Gordon Brown took over as prime minister of Britain after his Tony Blair stepped down from office in 2007. Scotsman Brown had served as Chancellor of the Exchequer for the whole of Blair’s ten-year term. Brown served as PM until 2010 when the Labour Party lost a huge number of seats, allowing a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition come to power.

17. “Cooking From the Hip” chef Cat __ : CORA

Cat Cora is yet another celebrity chef. She appears on the reality shows “Iron Chef America” and “Around the World in 80 Plates”.

18. Prilosec target : ACID

“Prilosec” is a brand name for the drug omeprazole. It is a proton-pump inhibitor, meaning that is reduces the production of gastric acid.

20. Old Glory : AMERICAN FLAG

The person who coined the phrase “Old Glory” with reference to the American flag was Captain William Driver, a shipmaster from Salem, Massachusetts. As Driver was leaving on an 1831 voyage aboard the brig Charles Doggett, he unfurled the American flag that he had just been given by a group of friends. As the flag caught the breeze, he uttered the words, “Old Glory!”. That’s the story anyway. On that same voyage, Charles Doggett rescued the famous mutineers of the HMS Bounty, after he encountered them on Pitcairn Island.

24. Nov. voting time : TUES

Election Day was chosen by Congress back in 1845. The month of November was selected as it suited an agricultural society, following the fall harvest and yet not too far into winter, which could make travel difficult. Tuesday was chosen so that people had time to travel to polling stations. Monday elections might have meant that some would have to start out on Sunday, and that could interfere with Christian services.

31. Platters from the past : LPS

The first vinyl records designed to play at 33⅓ rpm were introduced by RCA Victor in 1931, but were discontinued due to quality problems. The first long play (LP) 33⅓ rpm disc was introduced by Columbia Records many years later in 1948, with RCA Victor following up with a 45 rpm “single” the following year, in 1949.

34. “Otello” baritone : IAGO

Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Otello” was first performed in 1887 at La Scala Theater in Milan. The opera is based on Shakespeare’s play “Othello” and is considered by many to be Verdi’s greatest work.

35. “__ and Louis”: 1956 jazz album : ELLA

“Ella and Louis” was a studio album released in 1956. It was a collaboration between Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong with accompaniment by the Oscar Peterson Quartet. The pair worked together on two more albums: “Ella and Louis Again” and “Porgy and Bess”, both released in 1957.

36. Marjoram kin : OREGANO

Oregano is a perennial herb that is in the mint family. Also known as wild marjoram, oregano is very much associated with the cuisine of southern Italy. Oregano’s popularity surged in the US when soldiers returning from WWII in Europe brought with them an affinity for what they called “the pizza herb”.

38. Like the Constitution, 27 times : AMENDED

The Constitution of the United States was adopted on September 17, 1787. There have been 27 amendments to the constitution, the first ten of which are collectively called the Bill of Rights. In essence the Bill of Rights limits the power of the Federal Government and protects the rights of individuals. For example, the First Amendment states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

41. “Unforgettable” father or daughter : COLE

Nat King Cole’s real name was Nathaniel Adams Coles. Cole made television history in 1956 when his own show debuted on NBC, a first for an African-American. Cole couldn’t pick up a national sponsor, so in order to save money and possibly save the show, many guest artists worked for no fee at all – the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Belafonte and Peggy Lee. The show survived for a year, but eventually Nat King Cole had to pull the plug on it himself.

Natalie Cole is the daughter of Nat King Cole. Natalie’s mother was Maria Cole, a singer with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. The most famous version of the hit song “Unforgettable” was released in 1951 by Nat King Cole. In 1991, Natalie Cole recorded a version that was mixed with an earlier 1961 version sung by her father, creating an “unforgettable” father-daughter duet that was made 26 years after Nat King Cole had passed away.

42. Nerve cell transmitter : AXON

A nerve cell is more correctly called a neuron. The branched projections that receive electrochemical signals from other neurons are known as dendrites. The long nerve fiber that conducts signals away from the neuron is known as the axon. A neuron that has no definite axon is referred to as “apolar” or “nonpolar”. In apolar neurons the nerve impulses radiate in all directions.

43. Sci-fi extras : ETS

Extraterrestrial (ET)

44. 1983 Lionel Richie #1 song : ALL NIGHT LONG

Singer-songwriter Lionel Richie got his big break as a singer and saxophonist with the Commodores starting in 1968. Richie launched a very successful solo career in 1982. Richie is the father of socialite Nicole Richie, childhood friend of Paris Hilton and co-star on the Fox show “The Simple Life”.

“All Night Long (All Night)” is a 1983 single written and recorded by Lionel Richie. One of the more celebrated performances of the song by Richie was during the closing ceremony of 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

49. Guitar great Paul : LES

Les Paul was a guitarist, songwriter and inventor. When he was 33 years old, Paul was involved in a near-fatal car crash that left his right arm and elbow shattered. Surgeons offered him the choice of amputation or a rebuilding of the limb that would leave him unable to bend his elbow. He told them to set his arm at just under 90 degrees so that he could at least hold his guitar and perhaps play it.

51. New, to Neruda : NUEVA

“Pablo Neruda” was the pen name, and eventually the legal name, used by Chilean writer Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. Basoalto chose the name as a homage to Czech poet Jan Neruda.

57. Storage towers : SILOS

“Silo” is a Spanish word that we absorbed into English. The term ultimately derives from the Greek “siros”, which described a pit in which one kept corn.

60. City on its own lake : 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. Erie is nicknamed the Gem City, a reference to the “sparkling” water of Lake Erie.

64. “La Dolce __” : VITA

The title of the celebrated 1960 Federico Fellini film “La Dolce Vita” translates from Italian as “The Good Life”. There is a character in the film called Paparazzo who is a news photographer. It is this character who gives us our word “Paparazzi”, a term used for photographers who make careers out of taking candid shots of celebrities.

66. Ford contemporary : OLDS

Ransom Eli Olds was a pioneer in the automotive industry, and the founder of the Oldsmobile and REO brands. Olds introduced the first modern “stationary” assembly line (Henry Ford’s famous innovation was the “moving” assembly line). As a result, it can be argued that the Oldsmobile Curved Dash was the first mass-produced, low-priced automobile, rather than the Ford’s Model T.

67. Eden exile : ADAM

In the Christian tradition, the “fall of man” took place in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve succumbed to the temptation of eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This went against the bidding of God, and was at the urging of the serpent. As a result, Adam and Eve were banished from Eden to prevent them becoming immortal by eating from the tree of life. The first humans had transitioned from a state of innocent obedience to a state of guilty disobedience.

Down

1. Layered silicate : MICA

Mica is a silicate mineral. Thin sheets of mica are transparent and are used in place of glass in certain applications. This form of mica is called isinglass, and as it has a better thermal performance than glass it is a great choice for “peepholes’ in boilers and lanterns. Mica is also used in the electronics industry, making use of its unique electrical and thermal insulating properties.

2. Particle accelerator particles : ATOMS

In a particle accelerator, the particles that are accelerated have to have a charge, and so are ions. The charged ions are subjected to high magnetic fields that propel them around a circular “racetrack”, before being smashed into something, just to see what happens!

4. Islamic law : SHARIA

Sharia law is the Islamic legal system that governs many things like crime, politics and economics as well as many aspects of personal behavior. Sharia law is based on the Quran as well as the Hadith, the latter being a set of opinions and life examples from the prophet Muhammad.

6. Killer whale : ORCA

The taxonomic name for the killer whale is “Orcinus orca”. The use of the name “orca”, rather than “killer whale”, is becoming more and more common. The Latin word “Orcinus” means “belonging to Orcus”, with Orcus being the name for the Kingdom of the Dead.

9. Online marketing technique : E-BLAST

A e-blast is a mass emailing.

10. YouTube journal : VLOG

A video blog is perhaps what one might expect, a blog that is essentially a series of video posts. The phrase “video logging” is often shortened to “vlogging”.

13. Trips around the sun: Abbr. : YRS

In terms of our Julian calendar, the Earth takes almost exactly 365¼ days to orbit the sun. For convenience, we use 365 days to define most of our years. We add an extra day at the end of every fourth February in order to sync our civil calendar with the astronomical calendar. Our contemporary leap day is February because of tradition dating back to Roman times. The early Roman calendar started in March and ended in December, leaving much of the winter as a monthless period. When a later Roman calendar introduced a 365-day year, along with the new months of January and February, the leap day was placed right before the start of the year in March.

21. Gandhi’s land : INDIA

Mohandas Gandhi was a political and spiritual leader in India in the first part of the 20th century, as the country sought independence from Britain. He was also referred to as “Mahatma”, meaning “great soul”. His remarkable philosophy of nonviolence and living a modest lifestyle was a great inspiration to the Indian people. India (and Pakistan) was granted independence in 1947. Tragically, Gandhi was assassinated the very next year.

22. Early-to-mid-August baby : LEO

Leo is the fifth astrological sign of the Zodiac. People born from July 23 to August 22 are Leos.

25. El Niño feature? : TILDE

The tilde (~) diacritical mark is very much associated with the Spanish language. We use the name “tilde” in English, taking that name from Spanish. Confusingly, the word “tilde” in Spanish is used more generally to mean “accent mark, diacritic”, of which a “~” is just one. What we call a “tilde” in English is usually referred to as a “virgulilla” or “tilde de la eñe” in Spanish.

When the surface temperature of much of the Pacific Ocean rises more that half a degree centigrade, then there is said to be an El Niño episode. That small temperature change in the Pacific has been associated with climatic changes that can stretch right across the globe. El Niño is Spanish for “the boy” and is a reference to the Christ child. The phenomenon was given this particular Spanish name because the warming is usually noticed near South America and around Christmas-time.

32. Humble worker, briefly : PROLE

George Orwell introduced us to the proles, the working class folk in his famous novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four”. Collectively, the proles make up the section of society known as the proletariat.

37. Bk. with the ark story : GEN

The Book of Genesis is the first book in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles. Some of the main figures in the book are Adam and Eve, Noah, Moses and Abraham. “Genesis” is a Greek word meaning “origin, creation”.

The term “ark”, when used with reference to Noah, is a translation of the Hebrew word “tebah”. The word “tebah” is also used in the Bible for the basket in which Moses was placed by his mother when she floated him down the Nile. It seems that the word “tebah” doesn’t mean “boat” and nor does it mean “basket”. Rather, a more appropriate translation is “life-preserver” or “life-saver”. So, Noah’s ark was Noah’s life-preserver during the flood.

38. Rocker Rose : AXL

Axl Rose is the lead vocalist of the American rock band Guns N’ Roses.

40. The blahs : ENNUI

“Ennui” is the French word for “boredom”, and a word that we now use in English. It’s one of the few French words we’ve imported that we haven’t anglicized, and actually pronounce “correctly”.

45. Opened or closed, as a lens aperture : IRISED

The iris diaphragm of a lens is analogous to the iris of the eye, in that it is the opening through which light passes. The size of that aperture changes the amount of light passing through the lens. The size of the aperture is routinely referred to as the f-stop, and can be varied on many cameras.

48. Swiss convention city : GENEVA

Genève (“Geneva” in English) is the biggest city in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. I’ve been to Geneva only once, and sadly what I remember most is how expensive it is. It is in fact the fourth or fifth most expensive city in the world.

The First Geneva Convention is one of four treaties aimed at protecting the victims of armed conflict. The first of these treaties was signed in 1864 by the major European powers at the urging of relief activist Henri Dunant. Dunant also established the Red Cross in 1863, an organization that is specifically called out in the First Geneva Convention as an agency that is allowed to provide protection and relief for wounded and sick soldiers. The first treaty was significantly updated and expanded in 1906, 1929 and 1949.

53. Soul singer Baker : ANITA

Anita Baker is an R&B and soul singer who was raised in Detroit, Michigan. Baker’s most successful song is the Grammy-winning “Sweet Love” released in 1986.

54. Annual Jan. speech, in Twitter hashtags : SOTU

The US President’s State of the Union (SOTU) address is requirement called out in Article II of the Constitution. George Washington gave the first address before a joint session of Congress in 1790. Thomas Jefferson discontinued the practice of making a personal address by sending Congress a written document that was then read out by a clerk. In 1913, Woodrow Wilson re-established the custom of delivering the message personally, there have been occasions since then when a written address has had to suffice, the last occasion being in 1981 when Jimmy Carter was in office.

56. Flashy rock genre : GLAM

I remember the days of glam rock so well, as it was a hugely popular genre of music in the British Isles during the early seventies. Artistes wore the wildest of clothes, big hair, shiny outfits and really high platform boots. Names associated with glam rock are T. Rex, David Bowie, Roxy Music and the infamous Gary Glitter.

59. Poet __-tzu : LAO

Lao Tse (also “Lao-Tzu”) was a central figure in the development of the religion/philosophy of Taoism. Tradition holds that Lao-Tzu wrote the “Tao Te Ching”, a classical Chinese text that is fundamental to the philosophy of Taoism.

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. __ media : MASS
5. Last year’s frosh : SOPH
9. With 65-Across, it has a 54-Across, so they say : EVERY …
14. Bug bite symptom : ITCH
15. Indonesian boat : PROA
16. British prime minister before Brown : BLAIR
17. “Cooking From the Hip” chef Cat __ : CORA
18. Prilosec target : ACID
19. Well-manored men? : LORDS
20. Old Glory : AMERICAN FLAG
23. Pigs and hogs : SWINE
24. Nov. voting time : TUES
25. Dead heat : TIE
28. “Don’t incriminate yourself!” : ADMIT NOTHING!
31. Platters from the past : LPS
34. “Otello” baritone : IAGO
35. “__ and Louis”: 1956 jazz album : ELLA
36. Marjoram kin : OREGANO
38. Like the Constitution, 27 times : AMENDED
41. “Unforgettable” father or daughter : COLE
42. Nerve cell transmitter : AXON
43. Sci-fi extras : ETS
44. 1983 Lionel Richie #1 song : ALL NIGHT LONG
49. Guitar great Paul : LES
50. Bring in : REAP
51. New, to Neruda : NUEVA
54. Upside of 9-Across/65-Across … and, chemically speaking, what each pair of circles represents : SILVER LINING
57. Storage towers : SILOS
60. City on its own lake : ERIE
61. Morally repugnant : EVIL
62. Fill with delight : ELATE
63. Pie containers : TINS
64. “La Dolce __” : VITA
65. See 9-Across : … CLOUD
66. Ford contemporary : OLDS
67. Eden exile : ADAM

Down

1. Layered silicate : MICA
2. Particle accelerator particles : ATOMS
3. Threaded hardware : SCREW
4. Islamic law : SHARIA
5. Guy who is out of this world? : SPACEMAN
6. Killer whale : ORCA
7. Indicate with an index finger : POINT TO
8. Lived it up : HAD FUN
9. Online marketing technique : E-BLAST
10. YouTube journal : VLOG
11. Musical gift : EAR
12. Relieved (of) : RID
13. Trips around the sun: Abbr. : YRS
21. Gandhi’s land : INDIA
22. Early-to-mid-August baby : LEO
25. El Niño feature? : TILDE
26. Shoreline recess : INLET
27. “Jeepers!” : EGADS!
29. “May __ now?” : I GO
30. Lady bird : HEN
31. From this area : LOCAL
32. Humble worker, briefly : PROLE
33. Succeeds commercially : SELLS
37. Bk. with the ark story : GEN
38. Rocker Rose : AXL
39. Like a particularly dark night : MOONLESS
40. The blahs : ENNUI
42. In imminent danger : AT PERIL
45. Opened or closed, as a lens aperture : IRISED
46. Hairdresser’s goop : GEL
47. Must : HAVE TO
48. Swiss convention city : GENEVA
52. Brilliantly colored : VIVID
53. Soul singer Baker : ANITA
54. Annual Jan. speech, in Twitter hashtags : SOTU
55. Orange skin : RIND
56. Flashy rock genre : GLAM
57. “Wait a __!” : SEC
58. Under the weather : ILL
59. Poet __-tzu : LAO

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