The clue to the central answer in today's
Los Angeles Times crossword by Robert Morris is "1980 sci-fi thriller." The answer, ALTEREDSTATES, is a hint to the four theme answers, each of which includes an altered name of a state. Those "altered states" appear in circled spaces. Since I have no way to make circles here, I have put the altered states in boldface:
Downpour: DR
IVINGRAIN
Weasel relative: P
INEMARTIN
1988 Best Supporting Actress Oscar Winner: GE
ENADAVIS
Christmas, for many: P
AIDHOLIDAY
Virginia, Maine, Nevada and Idaho, altered. A very clever theme today.
Altered States was adapted from a novel by Paddy Chayefsky based on the research of John C. Lilly (1915-2001), a physician and psychoanalyst who acted as his own "guinea pig." He researched sensory deprivation by taking psychedelic drugs and then being isolated in a flotation tank. He wanted to learn how doing those things would affect a man's senses and state of consciousness. Why did Lilly feel the results of such research was important? Who knows? Anyway,
Altered States marked the film debut of both William Hurt and Drew Barrymore. Hurt played a scientist whose sensory deprivation experiments turned him into a caveman-like character. Yeah, the storyline was totally illogical. Movie critic Leonard Maltin called it "ludicrous."
"Twice cinq" is DIX, which is not used in English. A better clue would be one referring to Fort Dix, a former Army post in New Jersey. The Fort was named for John Adams Dix, a former New York Senator who briefly served as Secretary of the Treasury and was a Union general in the Civil War.
"Whitney, by birth and by education" is ELI. Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, a mechanical device which removes the seeds from cotton. "Gin" is short for "engine." The device was patented in 1794. The word ELI appears in many crosswords and is usually used in reference to a student at Yale University. The college was founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School of Connecticut. In 1718, after Welsh merchant/philanthropist Elihu Yale made a sizeable donation to the school, it was renamed Yale in his honor. A Yale student or alumnus is popularly referred to as an Eli (short for Elihu) or a Yalie. Here is a detailed history of Yale and its traditions:
http://www.yale.edu/about-yale/traditions-history
