LA Times Crossword 12 Oct 19, Saturday

Bill’s time: 9m 12s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Online gay dating site : GRINDR

Grindr is a social networking app aimed at gay and bisexual men. Subscribers locate potential partners using the geolocation capabilities of smartphones. A user in a particular location can view a grid showing pictures of fellow subscribers arranged by proximity.

7 Bridge accessory : SCOREPAD

The version of the card game bridge that is played mostly today is contract bridge. Auction bridge is a similar game, and is a precursor to contract bridge.

16 Provençal olive-and-capers spread : TAPENADE

The dish known as tapenade is traditionally made from olives, capers, anchovies and olive oil. The name comes from the Provençal word for capers, i.e. “tapenas”.

20 Eponymous German bacteriologist : PETRI

Julius Richard Petri was a German bacteriologist and was the man after whom the Petri dish is named. The petri dish can have an agar gel on the bottom which acts as a nutrient source for the specimen being grown and studied, in which case the dish plus agar is referred to as an “agar plate”.

23 Relative of “You go!” : ATTA

As in “Atta boy!” and “Atta girl!”

25 Yogurt-based condiment : RAITA

Raita is a condiment served in Indian restaurants that is made from yogurt flavored with coriander, cumin, mint and cayenne pepper.

30 Forensic workplace : DNA LAB

Something described as forensic is connected with a court of law, or with public discussion or debate. The term comes from the Latin “forensis” meaning “of a forum, of a place of assembly”. We mainly use the word today to mean “pertaining to legal trials” as in “forensic medicine” and “forensic science”.

41 Palindromic observance : TET

The full name for the New Year holiday in Vietnam is “Tet Nguyen Dan” meaning “Feast of the First Morning”, with the reference being to the arrival of the season of spring. Tet usually falls on the same day as Chinese New Year.

43 Stand-up comic Boosler : ELAYNE

Elayne Boosler is a stand-up comedian and was one of the first female comedians to have her act aired as a special on cable television. She does have some funny lines, and here’s one that I particularly like:

When women are depressed they either eat or go shopping. Men invade another country.

47 Radio letters : AM/FM

Amplitude modulation/frequency modulation (AM/FM)

50 Many of the characters in the 2018 film “Smallfoot” : YETIS

“Smallfoot” is a 2018 computer-animated film that is based on a children’s book “Yeti Tracks” by Sergio Pablas. The storyline features many a yeti (bigfoot), and a human (smallfoot).

52 Italian cabbage? : EURO

Lettuce, cabbage, kale, dough, scratch, cheddar, simoleons, clams and moola(h) are all slang terms for money.

53 Part of UCSD : DIEGO

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.

The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) is located in La Jolla. The school was founded in 1960 as the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Appropriately enough, UCSD’s athletic teams are known as the Tritons, and the school mascot is King Triton.

57 Cheese go-with : MAC

In many cases, the name given to a type of pasta comes from its shape. However, the name macaroni comes from the type of dough used to make the noodles. Here in the US, macaroni is usually elbow-shaped tubes, but it doesn’t have to be.

60 It was created in Philly in 1792 : US MINT

The nation’s first mint was established in Philadelphia in 1792, as back then Philadelphia was the capital of the United States. That first mint was located in a building that previously housed a whiskey distillery.

65 Unifying alloy : SOLDER

Solder is a metal alloy that is used to join pieces of work together using the principle that the melting point of the alloy is below the melting point of the workpieces.

Down

12 Meaning of two vertical lines, at times : PAUSE

Two vertical lines make up the icon representing “pause”, on say a TV’s remote control.

21 Tiny bit : TAD

Back in the 1800s, “tad” was used to describe a young child, and this extended into our usage of “small amount” in the early 1900s. The original use of “tad” for a child is very likely a shortened version of “tadpole”.

24 Wound application : ALOE

Aloe vera has a number of alternate names that are descriptive of its efficacy as a medicine. ancient Egyptians knew it as the plant of immortality, and Native Americans called it the wand of heaven.

31 Base runners? : AWOLS

MPs (military police officers) often track down personnel who go AWOL (absent without leave).

36 “Learning [is] the kind of __ distinguishing the studious”: Bierce : IGNORANCE

“The Devil’s Dictionary” is a satirical work by Ambrose Bierce, consisting of a list of common words with some very amusing definitions. First published in 1911, “The Devil’s Dictionary” is a more complete version of Bierce’s 1906 publication “The Cynic’s Word Book”. Here are some of my favorite definitions found therein:

• Cabbage, n. A familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as large and wise as a man’s head.
• Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.
• Dentist, n. A prestidigitator who, putting metal into your mouth, pulls coins out of your pocket.
• Love, n. A temporary insanity curable by marriage.
• Hers, pron. His.
• Money, n. A blessing that is of no advantage to us excepting when we part with it.
• Quotation, n: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another.
• Selfish, adj. Devoid of consideration for the selfishness of others.
• Sweater, n. Garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly.
• Year, n. A period of three hundred and sixty-five disappointments.

37 Triangular chart user : EYE DOCTOR

The commonly used eye chart (that starts with the letters “E FP TOZ LPED”) is called a Snellen chart. The test is named after its developer Herman Snellen, who introduced it way back in 1862.

45 Familia member : TIA

In Spanish, a “tia” (aunt) is a member of “la familia” (the family).

48 __ Vanilli : MILLI

Milli Vanilli famously won a Grammy and had it revoked when it was discovered that they didn’t even provide the lead vocals for the award-winning recording, and just lip-synced when performing on stage.

49 Big bone : FEMUR

The thigh bone, the femur, is the longest and strongest bone in the human body.

51 Theater buff’s collection : STUBS

A buff or nut is someone who is extremely enthusiastic and knowledgeable about a subject. For example, one might be a movie buff, or perhaps a baseball nut.

54 Turow memoir : ONE L

Scott Turow is an author and lawyer from Chicago. Turow has had several bestselling novels including “Presumed Innocent”, “The Burden of Proof” and “Reversible Errors”, all three of which were made into films. He also wrote the autobiographical book “One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School”.

56 Parliament : London :: Storting : __ : OSLO

The Storting is the Norwegian parliament and is located in Oslo, Norway’s capital city. The Storting differs in structure from say the US Congress and the British Parliament in that is unicameral, has only one legislative chamber.

59 Pale __ : ALE

Pale ale is a beer made using mainly pale malt, which results in a relatively light color for a malted beer.

61 Not bien : MAL

In French, when things are not “bien” (good), they are “mal” (bad).