LA Times Crossword Answers 7 Nov 2017, Tuesday

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Constructed by: Andrew Sand
Edited by: Rich Norris

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Today’s Theme: Please Recycle

Today’s themed answers contain hidden words, the letters of which have been RECYCLED. Those recycled letters are circled in my grid. Also, the hidden words are three materials that we often recycle, namely PLASTIC, GLASS and METAL:

  • 53A. Eco-friendly request … and a hint to sorting out the aptly circled letters : PLEASE RECYCLE
  • 20A. Three Stooges movie, e.g. : SLAPSTICK FILM (hiding recycled “PLASTIC”)
  • 25A. Induction cooktop alternative : NATURAL GAS STOVE (hiding recycled “GLASS”)
  • 47A. Fluffy dessert : CHOCOLATE MOUSSE (hiding recycled “METAL”)

Bill’s time: 6m 15s

Bill’s errors: 0

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

17. Serb or Croat : SLAV

The Slavic peoples are in the majority in communities covering over half of Europe. This large ethnic group is traditionally broken down into three smaller groups:

  • the West Slavic (including Czechs and Poles)
  • the East Slavic (including Russians and Ukrainians)
  • the South Slavic (including Bulgarians and Serbs)

Serbia is a landlocked country in southeast Europe. After WWII, Serbia became one of several states making up the nation called Yugoslavia. Serbia became independent again in 2006 as Yugoslavia broke up after the declaration of independence by Montenegro.

The Republic of Croatia is a Balkan country. The Croats declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Croatia became a member of NATO in 2009, and a member of the European Union in 2013.

18. “Liberal” pursuits : ARTS

The term “liberal arts” dates back to classical antiquity. The liberal arts were those subjects deemed essential to master for a citizen to take active part in civil life. “Citizens” were “free people”, hence the use of the term “liberal arts”. The list of subjects studied in olden times were generally sevenfold: grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy/astrology.

20. Three Stooges movie, e.g. : SLAPSTICK FILM (hiding recycled “PLASTIC”)

Slapstick is a physical form of comedy, horseplay. Back in the late 19th century, the term described a device made from two sticks loosely fastened together, which could be “slapped” together to create a sound effect offstage. The sound effect added to the laugh when a clown or actor was given a slap on stage.

If you’ve seen a few of the films starring “The Three Stooges” you’ll have noticed that the line up changed over the years. The original trio was made up of Moe and Shemp Howard (two brothers) and Larry Fine (a good friend of the Howards). This line up was usually known as “Moe, Larry and Shemp”. Then Curly Howard replaced his brother when Shemp quit the act, creating the most famous trio, “Moe, Larry And Curly”. Shemp returned when Curly had a debilitating stroke in 1946, and Shemp stayed with the troupe until he died in 1955. Shemp was replaced by Joe Besser, and then “Curly-Joe” DeRita. When Larry Fine had a stroke in 1970, it effectively marked the end of the act.

23. Michigan or Mead : LAKE

Of the five Great Lakes, Lake Michigan is the only one that is located totally within the US. The others are shared by the US and Canada.

The reservoir on the Colorado River known as Lake Mead used to the largest reservoir in the US. Located outside Las Vegas, drought and increasing demand for water has shrunk Lake Mead so that now Lake Sakakawea on the Missouri in North Dakota has a larger surface area and volume of water.

24. Update from a pilot, for short : ETA

Estimated time of arrival (ETA)

25. Induction cooktop alternative : NATURAL GAS STOVE (hiding recycled “GLASS”)

An induction cooktop heats cooking vessels directly, rather than passing heat from a flame or electrical heating element. There is a coil of copper wire under the pot, within the stove, through which passes an alternating current. A ferromagnetic pot placed over the coil then heats up under the effect of the oscillating magnetic field produced by the coil. One of the great advantages of an induction cooktop is that excess heat is not lost from the cooking surface into the kitchen.

41. Post-OR area : ICU

A patient might leave an operating room (OR) and head for an intensive care unit (ICU).

42. Three-pronged Greek letters : PSIS

Psi is 23rd letter in the Greek alphabet, and the one that looks a bit like a trident or a pitchfork.

44. Buffet table coffee server : URN

Our word “buffet” comes from the French “bufet” meaning “bench, sideboard”. So, a buffet is a meal served from a “bufet”.

47. Fluffy dessert : CHOCOLATE MOUSSE (hiding recycled “METAL”)

Our word “mousse” is an Old French term meaning “froth”.

51. Eisenhower’s nickname : IKE

When the future president was growing up, the Eisenhowers used the nickname “Ike” for all seven boys in the family, as “Ike” was seen as an abbreviation for the family name. “Big Ike” was Edgar, the second oldest boy. “Little/Young Ike” was Dwight, who was the third son born. Dwight had no sisters.

52. Hip ’60s Brits : MODS

“Mod” is short for “modernist”, and describes a subculture that originated in London in the late fifties. Young men who called themselves mods tended to wear tailored suits, listen to pop music and drive around on Italian motor scooters. Mods came into conflict with another subculture that emerged at the same time in the UK called the rockers. Rockers were into rock and roll music, and drove motorcycles I remember as a young kid in school having to declare myself as either a mod or a rocker. I don’t think our “gangs” back then were quite the same as they are today though …

59. Vonnegut literary device : IRONY

Kurt Vonnegut was an writer from Indianapolis whose most famous work is probably the novel “Slaughterhouse-Five” from 1969. Beyond his writing, Vonnegut was noted for his support of the American Civil Liberties Union and American Humanist Association. Kurt had a brother who made a big contribution to society. Bernard Vonnegut was the atmospheric scientist who discovered that silver iodide could be used to seed clouds and artificially create rain.

60. Enterprise captain born 3/22/2233 : KIRK

According to the storyline in “Star Trek”, Captain James Tiberius Kirk was born in Riverside, Iowa. The town of Riverside displays a plaque, noting Riverside as the “future birthplace of James T. Kirk.”

63. Low card : DEUCE

A “two” playing card might be called a “deuce”, from the Middle French “deus” (or Modern French “deux”) meaning “two”.

68. Community org. known by its first letter : YMCA

The YMCA is a worldwide movement that has its roots in London, England. There, in 1844, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was founded with the intent of promoting Christian principles through the development of “a healthy spirit, mind and body”. The founder, George Williams, saw the need to create YMCA facilities for young men who were flocking to the cities as the Industrial Revolution flourished. He saw that these men were frequenting taverns and brothels, and wanted to offer a more wholesome alternative.

Down

1. “Kevin Can Wait” network : CBS

“Kevin Can Wait” is a sitcom starring comedian Kevin James that premiered in 2016. James plays retired police officer. In season one, he costarred with Erinn Hayes, who played the police officer’s wife. Things didn’t work out between the show’s producers and actress Hayes, so her character was killed between seasons one and two, and a new female lead character was introduced played by Leah Remini. James and Remini had played husband and wife on the very successful sitcom “The King of Queens”.

5. Denali National Park state : ALASKA

Denali’s summit stands at 20,237 feet, making it the highest mountain peak in North America. Denali means “the high one” in the native Athabaskan language. The peak was known as Mount McKinley for many years, named in 1896 for future president William McKinley. The state of Alaska changed the name back to Denali in 1975, and the federal government followed suit in 2015.

6. Price-fixing syndicate : CARTEL

A cartel is a group of independent businesses who cooperate to regulate production, pricing and marketing of their common product(s).

11. GI on the run : AWOL

The Military Police (MPs) often track down personnel who go AWOL (absent without leave).

The initials “G.I.” stand for “Government Issue”, and not “General Infantry” as is often believed. GI was first used in the military to denote equipment made from Galvanized Iron and during WWI, incoming German shells were nicknamed “GI cans”. Soon after, the term GI came to be associated with “Government Issue” and eventually became an adjective to describe anything associated with the Army.

12. Curly salon job : 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 …

21. Analyze grammatically : PARSE

The verb “to parse” means “to state the parts of speech in a sentence”. “Parse” comes from the Latin word “pars” meaning “part”.

22. One-named “We R Who We R” singer : KESHA

Kesha (formerly “Ke$ha”) is the stage name used by singer Kesha Rose Sebert.

25. Offensive to some, for short : NOT PC

Non-politically correct (non-PC)

27. “Pagliacci” clown : TONIO

“Pagliacci” (“The Clowns” in English) is an opera by Ruggero Leoncavallo that premiered in 1892 in Milan. Included in the opera is one of the most famous arias of all time, “Vesti la giubba” (“put on the costume”).

28. Treaty of __: War of 1812 ender : GHENT

Ghent is a city in the Flemish region of Belgium. The War of 1812 (between Britain and the US) was formally concluded with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent In 1814. The American negotiating team in Ghent included Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams.

29. “La Cage __ Folles” : AUX

The musical “La Cage aux Folles” opened on Broadway in 1985. It is a musical adaptation of the French play of the same name by Jean Poiret that was first staged in 1973. I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing the stage play nor the musical, but I love the wonderful movie adaptation called “The Birdcage”, which was released in 1996. The film has a very strong cast that includes Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman and Hank Azaria.

32. Accustom (to) : ENURE

“Enure” is a variant spelling of “inure”, which means “to harden oneself against the effects of, to accustom oneself to”.

38. Winter holidays : YULES

Yule celebrations coincide with Christmas, and the words “Christmas” and “Yule” (often “Yuletide”) have become synonymous in much of the world. However, Yule was originally a pagan festival celebrated by Germanic peoples. The name “Yule” comes from the Old Norse word “jol” that was used to describe the festival.

39. __ of Good Feelings : ERA

The Era of Good Feelings lasted from about 1816 to 1824, during the administration of President James Monroe. The term described the feeling of bipartisanship that permeated politics at that time, largely due to President Monroe deliberately downplaying differences between the parties in Washington. One can only dream …

40. In a funk : MOODY

Funk is ill-humor, and is a word that dates back to the mid-1700s. “Funk” is probably a term that came from Scottish and northern English.

43. Bill Nye’s field : SCIENCE

That would be “Bill Nye the Science Guy”. Bill’s show ran on PBS for four years, from 1993-97.

46. Florence’s region : TUSCANY

Tuscany is a beautiful region of central Italy, the capital of which is the city of Florence. Tuscany is considered to be the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, centered around Florence. It was home to great artistic icons such as Dante, Botticelli, Michelangelo, da Vinci, Galileo and Puccini.

53. Practice for the GMAT, e.g. : PREP

If you want to get into a business school’s graduate program then you might have to take the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), which will cost you about $250, I believe …

57. Neeson of “Kinsey” : LIAM

Irish actor Liam Neeson got his big break when he played Oskar Schindler in the Spielberg epic, “Schindler’s List”. Neeson was in the news a few years ago when he lost his wife, actress Natasha Richardson, in a tragic skiing accident in 2009.

Alfred Kinsey sure did create a stir with his work and publications. He founded the Institute for Sex Research in 1947, and published the famous “Kinsey Reports” in 1948 and 1953. I enjoyed the 2004 biopic “Kinsey”, starring Irish actor Liam Neeson in the title role.

58. Idle of Monty Python : ERIC

Eric Idle is one of the founding members of the Monty Python team. Idle was very much the musician of the bunch, and is an accomplished guitarist. If you’ve seen the Monty Python film “The Life of Brian”, you might remember the closing number “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”. It was sung by Idle, and was indeed written by him. That song made it to number 3 in the UK charts in 1991.

62. Patty Hearst’s abductors: Abbr. : SLA

The Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was founded in 1973 by an escapee from the prison system, Donald DeFreeze. The group’s manifesto promoted the rights of African Americans although, in the 2-3 year life of the group, DeFreeze was the only black member. Famously, the SLA kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst in 1974. Hearst apparently fell victim to what is called the Stockholm syndrome and became sympathetic to her captors’ cause. She joined the SLA and assumed the name “Tania”.

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Like dorms for both men and women : COED
5. Military sch. : ACAD
9. Fall in folds : DRAPE
14. Chomp : BITE
15. Swimmer’s path : LANE
16. More cold and wet, weatherwise : RAWER
17. Serb or Croat : SLAV
18. “Liberal” pursuits : ARTS
19. Can’t stop loving : ADORE
20. Three Stooges movie, e.g. : SLAPSTICK FILM (hiding recycled “PLASTIC”)
23. Michigan or Mead : LAKE
24. Update from a pilot, for short : ETA
25. Induction cooktop alternative : NATURAL GAS STOVE (hiding recycled “GLASS”)
33. Double-reed woodwinds : OBOES
34. “What did you say?” : HUH?
35. Key with one sharp: Abbr. : E MIN
36. Light brown : TAN
37. Driver’s license test : EYE EXAM
41. Post-OR area : ICU
42. Three-pronged Greek letters : PSIS
44. Buffet table coffee server : URN
45. River mammal : OTTER
47. Fluffy dessert : CHOCOLATE MOUSSE (hiding recycled “METAL”)
51. Eisenhower’s nickname : IKE
52. Hip ’60s Brits : MODS
53. Eco-friendly request … and a hint to sorting out the aptly circled letters : PLEASE RECYCLE
59. Vonnegut literary device : IRONY
60. Enterprise captain born 3/22/2233 : KIRK
61. Puts on TV : AIRS
63. Low card : DEUCE
64. Lawn border : EDGE
65. Finger or toe part : NAIL
66. Chose (to) : OPTED
67. Evidence of ownership : DEED
68. Community org. known by its first letter : YMCA

Down

1. “Kevin Can Wait” network : CBS
2. Lubricates : OILS
3. Bibliography list shortener: Abbr. : ET AL
4. Reduce monetarily : DEVALUE
5. Denali National Park state : ALASKA
6. Price-fixing syndicate : CARTEL
7. Against : ANTI
8. Fam. tree member : DESC
9. NFL player selection events : DRAFTS
10. Give off : RADIATE
11. GI on the run : AWOL
12. Curly salon job : PERM
13. Before, in verse : ERE
21. Analyze grammatically : PARSE
22. One-named “We R Who We R” singer : KESHA
25. Offensive to some, for short : NOT PC
26. Embarrass : ABASH
27. “Pagliacci” clown : TONIO
28. Treaty of __: War of 1812 ender : GHENT
29. “La Cage __ Folles” : AUX
30. Fails to include : OMITS
31. Bad habits : VICES
32. Accustom (to) : ENURE
38. Winter holidays : YULES
39. __ of Good Feelings : ERA
40. In a funk : MOODY
43. Bill Nye’s field : SCIENCE
46. Florence’s region : TUSCANY
48. Approved : OKAYED
49. Come to light : EMERGE
50. Made fun of : MOCKED
53. Practice for the GMAT, e.g. : PREP
54. Ill-mannered sort : LOUT
55. Struggled to make, with “out” : EKED
56. Taxi trip : RIDE
57. Neeson of “Kinsey” : LIAM
58. Idle of Monty Python : ERIC
59. Wedding vow words : I DO
62. Patty Hearst’s abductors: Abbr. : SLA

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