LA Times Crossword Answers 13 Sep 2017, Wednesday










Constructed by: Adam T. Cobb

Edited by: Rich Norris

Quicklink to a complete list of today’s clues and answers

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Theme: Mixed Drink

Each of today’s themed answers hints at a DRINK, the letters of which DRINK have been circled and anagrammed (MIXED) within that same answer:

  • 59A. What’s clued in parentheses for each of four answers, and found in corresponding sets of puzzle circles : MIXED DRINK
  • 17A. Name on a two-liter bottle (and what’s inside) : ROYAL CROWN (containing mixed “COLA”)
  • 23A. Independently owned suds producer (and the suds in question) : MICROBREWERY (containing mixed “BEER”)
  • 38A. Where Starbucks began (and a product it popularized) : SEATTLE (containing mixed “LATTE”)
  • 49A. Pepperidge Farm treat (and its ideal companion) : MILANO COOKIE (containing mixed “MILK”)
  • Bill’s time: 7m 02s

    Bill’s errors: 0




    Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies

    Across

    1. Green Angry Birds animals : PIGS

    Angry Birds is a video game that was developed for smartphones. Angry Birds is the third most downloaded game, after Tetris and Pac-Man. There is a whole series of Angry Birds games now, including Angry Birds Rio, Angry Birds Star Wars and Angry Birds Transformers.

    5. Salon style : PERM

    “Perm” is the name given to a permanent wave, a chemical or thermal treatment of hair to produce waves or curls. I don’t worry about such things, as it’s a number-one all over for me …

    9. “Jabberwocky” opener : ‘TWAS

    Here are the first two verses of “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll, probably the one poem that we all just loved learning to recite at school

    ’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
    Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
    All mimsy were the borogoves,
    And the mome raths outgrabe.

    Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
    The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
    Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
    The frumious Bandersnatch!

    13. Les __-Unis : ETATS

    “Les États-Unis” is what French speakers call “the United States”.

    15. Eye layer : UVEA

    The uvea is the middle of the three layers that make up the eyeball. The iris is the colored part of the eye with an aperture in the center that can open or close depending on the level of light hitting the eye.

    16. “For __ jolly … ” : HE’S A

    “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” is the second-most popular song in the English language according to the “Guinness Book of World Records”. Top of the list is “Happy Birthday to You”, and third comes “Auld Lang Syne”.

    17. Name on a two-liter bottle (and what’s inside) : ROYAL CROWN (containing mixed “COLA”)

    Nehi Corporation was the nickname for the Chero-Cola/Union Bottle Works that introduced the Nehi drink in 1924. Years later the company developed a new brand, Royal Crown Cola (also known as RC Cola). By 1955, RC Cola was the company’s flagship product, so the “Nehi Corporation” became the “Royal Crown Company”. In 1954, RC Cola became the first company to sell soft drinks in cans.

    21. Valued caches : TROVES

    The term “treasure trove” comes from the Anglo-French “tresor trové “ meaning “found treasure”.

    26. Parthenon goddess : ATHENA

    The Parthenon is the ruined temple that sits on the Athenian Acropolis. Although the Parthenon was dedicated to the goddess Athena as a sacred building in the days of the Athenian Empire, it was actually used primarily as a treasury. In later centuries, the Parthenon was repurposed as a Christian Church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and was also used as a mosque after Ottoman conquest.

    31. WWI battleship Graf __ : SPEE

    Maximilian Graf von Spee was actually born in Denmark, but of a noble German family. By the time WWI started, Spee had risen to the rank of Rear Admiral in the German Navy. He was killed in the Battle of the Falkland Islands (the original 1914 version!). He gave his name to the powerful pocket battleship, the Admiral Graf Spee, which was damaged in the Battle of the River Plate during WWII. The Graf Spee took refuge in the neutral port of Montevideo and when the boat was expelled by the government of Uruguay, the captain scuttled her rather than face the Allied flotilla waiting for her just outside the port.

    37. CIO partner : AFL

    The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was founded in 1886, making it one of the first federations of unions in the country. Over time the AFL became dominated by craft unions, unions representing skilled workers of particular disciplines. In the early thirties, John L. Lewis led a movement within the AFL to organize workers by industry, believing this would be more effective for the members. But the craft unions refused to budge, so Lewis set up a rival federation of unions in 1932, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). The two federations became bitter rivals for over two decades until finally merging in 1955 to form the AFL-CIO.

    38. Where Starbucks began (and a product it popularized) : SEATTLE (containing mixed “LATTE”)

    Starbucks is a coffee company based in Seattle, Washington. It is the largest coffeehouse company in the world and has over 19,000 stores. In the 1990s, Starbucks was opening one new store every single day! Starbucks is named after the chief mate on the Pequod in Herman Melville’s book “Moby Dick”.

    The term “latte” is an abbreviation of the Italian “caffelatte” meaning “coffee (and) milk”. Note that in the correct spelling of “latte”, the Italian word for milk, there is no accent over the “e”. An accent is often added by mistake when we use the word in English, perhaps meaning to suggest that the word is French.

    49. Pepperidge Farm treat (and its ideal companion) : MILANO COOKIE (containing mixed “MILK”)

    Before the Milano, Pepperidge Farm produced what they called the Naples cookie, a vanilla wafer with chocolate on top. But, this lovely morsel had problems when stored or transported in a warm environment as the cookies stuck to each other, The solution was to put the filling between two wafers, and the Milano cookie was born.

    53. Novelist Waugh : EVELYN

    Evelyn Waugh was an English author, most famous for his fabulous 1945 novel “Brideshead Revisited”. Evelyn Waugh met and fell in love with Evelyn Gardner in 1927. Known to friends as “He-Evelyn” and “She-Evelyn”, the couple were married in 1929 (but divorced one year later).

    58. Jones with a locker : DAVY

    No one is really sure why the phrase “Davy Jones’s locker” is used to refer to the bottom of the sea, but the first known reference to the idiom was made in “The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle” published in 1751, written by Scottish author Tobias Smollett. What is clear, is that Davy Jones is a euphemism for the devil or god of the seas.

    62. Don Juan’s mother : INEZ

    Lord Byron wrote the poem “Don Juan” based on the legend of Don Juan the libertine. For the poem, Byron created the character Donna Inez, Don Juan’s mother. Supposedly Inez was based on Byron’s own wife, Annabella Milbanke.

    67. Dijon dad : PERE

    Dijon is a city in eastern France, in the Burgundy region. Dijon is famous for its mustard, a particularly strong variation of the condiment. The European Union doesn’t protect the name “Dijon” so anyone can use it on a label. That seems fair enough to me, given that 90% of the mustard made in and around Dijon is produced using mustard seed imported from Canada!

    Down

    1. Cop’s quarry : PERP

    Perpetrator (perp)

    2. “Like __ lump … ” : IT OR

    My feeling, exactly …

    3. Marvin of Motown : GAYE

    Marvin Gaye was a singer-songwriter from Washington, D.C. who came to be known as “Prince of Soul” and “Prince of Motown”. Some of Gaye’s biggest hits are “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” (1968), “What’s Going On?” (1971), “Let’s Get It On” (1973) and “Sexual Healing” (1982). Famously, Gaye was shot dead by his father while Marvin was sitting on his mother’s bed just talking to her. Marvin had given the gun to his father as a Christmas gift.

    6. President Morales of Bolivia : EVO

    Evo Morales has been President of Bolivia since 2006. Morales has a socialist agenda, and as such his government is a close ally to the regimes in Venezuela and in Cuba.

    8. Chanted word : MANTRA

    A mantra is a word that is used as a focus for the mind while meditating. The term is Sanskrit in origin, and is now used figuratively in English to describe any oft-repeated word or phrase.

    9. Add, as a shrimp to the barbie : THROW ON

    It is believed that our word “barbecue” (BBQ, barbie) comes from the Taíno people of the Caribbean in whose language “barbacoa” means “sacred fire pit”.

    11. Autumn bloom : ASTER

    Apparently, most aster species and cultivars bloom relatively late in the year, usually in the fall. The name “aster” comes into English via Latin from the Greek word “astéri” meaning “star”, a reference to the arrangement of the petals of the flower.

    18. Music box? : CD CASE

    A CD case is also known as a jewel box, and I am not sure why …

    25. Borscht veggies : BEETS

    Borscht is a beetroot soup that originated in Ukraine. Borscht can be served both hot and cold.

    26. Quaker captain of literature : AHAB

    Captain Ahab is the obsessed and far from friendly captain of the Pequod in Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick”. The role of Captain Ahab was played by Gregory Peck in the 1956 John Huston film adaptation. Patrick Stewart played Ahab in a 1998 miniseries in which Peck made another appearance, as Father Mapple.

    Members of the Religious Society of Friends are known as Friends or Quakers. The Christian sect started in England in the 1640s, led by George Fox. The principal tenet at that point was that Christians could have direct experience of Jesus Christ without the mediation of clergy, a reflection of the increasing dissatisfaction with the established church at that time. The term “Quaker” is thought to have been used earlier in reference to foreign religious sects whose followers were given to fits of shaking during religious fervor. Somehow that term became used for members of the Religious Society of Friends.

    27. Fashionable Brit : TOFF

    “Toff” is a disparaging British term that is used for a well-dressed gentleman of the upper class.

    34. 2016 Best Picture nominee “__ Land” : LA LA

    “La La Land” is a 2016 romantic musical film starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a musician and actress who fall in love in “La La Land” (Los Angeles, i.e. “LA”). The film was written and directed by Damien Chazelle, who had found success two years earlier with the musical drama “Whiplash”. “La La Land” won a record-breaking seven Golden Globes and tied the record number of Oscar nominations at fourteen, winning six.

    36. Salary : WAGE

    It has been suggested that out term “salary” comes from the Latin “sal” meaning “salt”. The idea is that a Roman soldier’s “salarium” might have been an allowance to purchase salt.

    46. Wisecrack : BON MOT

    “Bon mot” translates from French as “good word”. We use “bon mot” (and sometimes just “mot”) to mean a quip, a witticism.

    50. The first Mrs. Trump : IVANA

    Ivana Winklmayr was born in Czechoslovakia. Winklmayr was an excellent skier, and was named as an alternate for the 1982 Czech Olympic Team. She was promoting the Montreal Olympics in New York in 1976 when she met Donald Trump. Ivana and Donald’s marriage was very public and well-covered by the media, but not nearly so well as their very litigious divorce in the early nineties.

    57. __-Ball: arcade game : SKEE

    Skee Ball is that arcade game where you roll balls up a ramp trying to “bounce” it into rings for varying numbers of points. The game was first introduced in Philadelphia, in 1909.

    60. Suffix with concert : -INO

    A “concertino” is a short concerto.

    A concerto is a musical work that is usually composed of three movements, and is often written for a solo instrument accompanied by an orchestra.

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    Complete List of Clues and Answers

    Across

    1. Green Angry Birds animals : PIGS

    5. Salon style : PERM

    9. “Jabberwocky” opener : ‘TWAS

    13. Les __-Unis : ETATS

    15. Eye layer : UVEA

    16. “For __ jolly … ” : HE’S A

    17. Name on a two-liter bottle (and what’s inside) : ROYAL CROWN (containing mixed “COLA”)

    19. Double-crossers : RATS

    20. Like microwavable meals : PREMADE

    21. Valued caches : TROVES

    23. Independently owned suds producer (and the suds in question) : MICROBREWERY (containing mixed “BEER”)

    26. Parthenon goddess : ATHENA

    29. “How cool!” : NEATO!

    30. Length of most TV dramas : HOUR

    31. WWI battleship Graf __ : SPEE

    33. Kin by marriage : IN-LAW

    37. CIO partner : AFL

    38. Where Starbucks began (and a product it popularized) : SEATTLE (containing mixed “LATTE”)

    40. __ snail’s pace : AT A

    41. Note above A : B-FLAT

    43. Snoop (around) : NOSE

    44. Blockage : CLOG

    45. Slangy “It’s cool” : NO BIG

    47. Currently combusting : ABLAZE

    49. Pepperidge Farm treat (and its ideal companion) : MILANO COOKIE (containing mixed “MILK”)

    53. Novelist Waugh : EVELYN

    54. Scolds harshly : BERATES

    58. Jones with a locker : DAVY

    59. What’s clued in parentheses for each of four answers, and found in corresponding sets of puzzle circles : MIXED DRINK

    62. Don Juan’s mother : INEZ

    63. Just : ONLY

    64. __ protector : SURGE

    65. Give a darn : CARE

    66. Horseshoes turn : TOSS

    67. Dijon dad : PERE

    Down

    1. Cop’s quarry : PERP

    2. “Like __ lump … ” : IT OR

    3. Marvin of Motown : GAYE

    4. Speech therapist’s challenge : STAMMER

    5. More virtuous : PURER

    6. President Morales of Bolivia : EVO

    7. DVR “back up” button : REW

    8. Chanted word : MANTRA

    9. Add, as a shrimp to the barbie : THROW ON

    10. Go this way and that : WEAVE

    11. Autumn bloom : ASTER

    12. Flip : SASSY

    14. “‘And hast thou __ the Jabberwock?'” : SLAIN

    18. Music box? : CD CASE

    22. Deal with, as loose laces : RETIE

    24. “Almost there!” : ONE TO GO!

    25. Borscht veggies : BEETS

    26. Quaker captain of literature : AHAB

    27. Fashionable Brit : TOFF

    28. Ship frame : HULL

    32. Freak out : PANIC

    34. 2016 Best Picture nominee “__ Land” : LA LA

    35. All-inclusive : A TO Z

    36. Salary : WAGE

    38. Like a path that’s cobbled together? : STONY

    39. Allowed to get out : LEAKED

    42. Examine in detail : ANALYZE

    44. Go from cloudy to fair : CLEAR UP

    46. Wisecrack : BON MOT

    48. Tweeters : BIRDS

    49. Physician at the front : MEDIC

    50. The first Mrs. Trump : IVANA

    51. Prying tool : LEVER

    52. Acts like a good dog : OBEYS

    55. Lose steam : TIRE

    56. Elec. or mech. expert : ENGR

    57. __-Ball: arcade game : SKEE

    60. Suffix with concert : -INO

    61. Big tee sizes : XLS

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