LA Times Crossword 23 Jul 20, Thursday

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Constructed by: Susan Gelfand
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Foodie-Wear

Themed answers are food items clued as if they are things to wear:

  • 17A Jewelry to wear for a good cry? : ONION RINGS
  • 61A Warm stole to wear on Thanksgiving? : TURKEY WRAP
  • 10D Headgear to wear while truffle hunting? : MUSHROOM CAP
  • 24D Shoes to wear when driving a junky car? : LEMON WEDGES

Bill’s time: 6m 39s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6 A bit cracked : AJAR

Our word “ajar” is thought to come from Scottish dialect, in which “a char” means “slightly open”.

14 Southeast Asian capital : HANOI

Hanoi (“Hà Nội” in Vietnamese) was the capital of North Vietnam, and Saigon the capital of South Vietnam. After the Vietnam War, Hanoi was made capital of the reunified state. Saigon, the larger metropolis, was renamed to Ho Chi Minh City. Hanoi is located in the delta of the Red River, and is just over 50 miles from the Gulf of Tonkin in the South China Sea.

15 Place to bowl : LANE

Bowling has been around for an awfully long time. The oldest known reference to the game is in Egypt, where pins and balls were found in an ancient tomb that is over 5,000 years old. The first form of the game to come to America was nine-pin bowling, which had been very popular in Europe for centuries. In 1841 in Connecticut, nine-pin bowling was banned due to its association with gambling. Supposedly, an additional pin was added to get around the ban, and ten-pin bowling was born.

16 Golden rule word : UNTO

The Golden Rule is also known as the ethic of reciprocity, and is a basis for the concept of human rights. A version of the rule used in the Christian tradition is attributed to Jesus:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

19 Toffee bar with a crown in its logo : SKOR

Skor is a candy bar produced by Hershey’s. “Skor” is Swedish for “shoes”, and the candy bar’s wrapping features a crown that is identical to that found in the Swedish national emblem. What shoes have to do with candy, I don’t know …

22 CenturyLink Field NFLer : SEAHAWK

The Seattle Seahawks joined the NFL as an expansion team in 1976, along with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Seahawks have enthusiastic fans, often referred to as the “12th man”, a reference to how well their support can buoy the team. The Seahawks fans have twice broken the Guinness World Record for the loudest crowd noise at a sporting event.

26 Poem often starting with “There” : LIMERICK

No one knows for sure how the limerick got its name, although there does seem to be agreement the name does indeed come from the city or county of Limerick in Ireland. Try this one for size:

There was a young lady named Bright
who traveled much faster than light.
She set out one day
in a relative way,
and came back the previous night.

30 Lasso loops : NOOSES

Our English word “lasso” comes from the Spanish “lazo”, and ultimately from the Latin “laqueum” meaning “noose, snare”.

34 Sistine Chapel ceiling man : ADAM

The Sistine Chapel is located in the Pope’s residence in Rome. The chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who was responsible for restoring the old Capella Magna in the 15th century. It was about a century later (1508-1512) that Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel under the patronage of Pope Julius II.

35 Giant Giant : MAYS

Willie Mays’ nickname was “Say Hey Kid”, although his friends and teammates were more likely to refer to him as “Buck”. When Mays was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, he was asked who was the best player he’d ever seen in the game. He replied, “I don’t mean to be bashful, but I was.”

37 __ Dame : NOTRE

“Notre Dame” is French for “Our Lady”.

38 Like New York’s Chrysler Building : DECO

The Chrysler Building in Manhattan is a magnificent Art Deco structure that was opened in 1930. Standing at over 1,000 feet tall, it was the tallest building in the world for almost a year, until the Empire State Building was completed in 1931. The building was constructed for use of the Chrysler Corporation, but the company never owned it. The car manufacturer’s founder decided to pay for the Chrysler Building out of his personal wealth, so that he could pass it on to his children.

44 Extended ride? : LIMO

The word “limousine” derives from the name of the French city of Limoges. The area around Limoges is called the Limousin, and it gave its name to a cloak hood worn by local shepherds. In early motor cars, a driver would sit outside in the weather while the passengers would sit in the covered compartment. The driver would often wear a limousin-style protective hood, giving rise to that type of transportation being called a “limousine”. Well, that’s how the story goes …

45 “At the Movies” segment : CLIP

The film review TV show “At the Movies” has been around since 1988 in various forms with various hosts, most famously Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. Siskel and Ebert used the iconic “thumbs up and thumbs down” rating system from the very first show.

56 Chivalrous title : SIR

The ideal qualities found in a knight are collectively described as “chivalry”, and include courtesy, generosity, valor and skill with a sword. The term comes into English via the Old French “chevalier” meaning “knight”.

57 “Knives Out” actress __ de Armas : ANA

Ana de Armas is an actress from Cuba. Having attended the National Theater School of Cuba, she moved to Spain at the age of 18. Thre, she made a name for herself in a Spanish TV series called “El Internado”. De Armas moved to Los Angeles in 2014, after which her performance opposite Ryan Gosling in 2017’s “Blade Runner 2049” earned her critical acclaim.

“Knives Out” is an intriguing murder mystery film released in 2019. There’s a great cast including Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette and Christopher Plummer. I really enjoyed this one, partly because it’s a clever, contemporary take on a classic whodunit movie …

65 Comics canine : ODIE

Odie is Garfield’s best friend, and is a slobbery beagle. Both are characters in Jim Davis’ comic strip named “Garfield”.

68 Sandberg with nine Gold Gloves : RYNE

Ryne “Ryno” Sandberg is a former second baseman who played most of his career for the Chicago Cubs. Sandberg holds the major league fielding percentage record at second base.

The Gold Glove is an annual award given by Major League Baseball to the player judged to be the best in each fielding position in a season. The award was instituted in 1957 by the baseball glove manufacturer Rawlings.

69 Dental exam component : X-RAYS

X-rays were first studied comprehensively by the German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen (also “Roentgen”), and it was he who gave the name “X-rays” to this particular type of radiation. Paradoxically, in Röntgen’s native language of German, X-rays are routinely referred to as “Röntgen rays”. In 1901, Röntgen’s work on X-rays won him the first Nobel Prize in Physics that was ever awarded.

Down

1 Sea greeting : AHOY!

“Ahoy!” is a nautical term used to signal a vessel. When the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell, he suggested that “ahoy” be used as a standard greeting when answering a call. However, Thomas Edison came up with “hello”, and we’ve been using that ever since.

2 Curse : BANE

Today, we tend to use the word “bane” to mean “anathema, a source of persistent annoyance”. A few centuries ago, a bane was a cause of harm or death, perhaps a deadly poison.

4 Where the wild things are : ZOO

The world’s first zoo opened in Britain in 1820. Now known as “London Zoo”, the facility was referred to back then as the “Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society of London”. The term “zoo” is a shortening of “zoological”.

7 “Surf City” duo __ and Dean : JAN

Jan and Dean were a rock-and-roll duo who were most successful in the 1960s. They were part of the “surf scene” along with the Beach Boys. A couple of Jan and Dean’s memorable hits were “Surf City” and “The Little Old lady from Pasadena”. Tragically, Jan Berry was in a car accident in 1966 and received severe head injuries. He was partially paralyzed and suffered brain damage. Despite the worst prognosis, he managed to walk again, and years later even worked his way back into the music business.

10 Headgear to wear while truffle hunting? : MUSHROOM CAP

Truffles are rooted out by pigs, or specially trained dogs. The reason why pigs, especially sows, are so attracted to truffles is that there is a chemical compound found within the truffle that is very similar to androstenol, a sex pheromone found in the saliva of boars.

11 “Put Your Head on My Shoulder” singer : ANKA

“Put Your Head on My Shoulder” is a song written and recorded by Paul Anka in 1959. The song was famously covered by the Lettermen in 1968.

13 Popped top : CORK

Cork, as in the material used to make wine stoppers, comes from the bark of cork oak trees. The bark of a cork oak is very thick and rugged, and can be harvested every 7-10 years, without harming the trees.

18 Prevailing power : REGIME

Quite often, the terms “regime” and “regimen” seem to be used interchangeably. In contemporary usage, “regime” is applied more generally, and “regimen” more specifically. A “regimen” is a systematic approach that one might apply to something, to exercise or diet for example. The term “regime” can also be used in such contexts, but can have additional definitions, such as “government in power”. A form of government cannot be described as a “regimen”.

24 Shoes to wear when driving a junky car? : LEMON WEDGES

Long before we associated the term “lemon” with a defective car, it was used to describe defective items in general.

25 Perform a long jump? : SKYDIVE

The term “parachute” was coined by Frenchman François Blanchard, from “para-” meaning “defense against” and “chute” meaning “a fall”.

26 Puts on cargo : LADES

The verb “to lade” meaning “to load” comes from an Old English word “hladan”. “Lade” also used to mean “draw water” and indeed gave us our word “ladle”. So “lade” and “ladle” are close cousins.

Cargo is freight carried by some vehicle. The term “cargo” comes into English via Spanish, ultimately deriving from the Latin “carricare” meaning “to load on a cart”.

28 Computer shortcut : MACRO

A macroinstruction (usually shortened to “macro”) is a set of instructions in a computer program that are abbreviated to one simple command.

31 Long-legged wading bird : STILT

The avocet is found in warm climates, usually in saline wetlands where it uses its upcurved bill to sweep from side-to-side in water searching for aquatic insects on which it feeds. Avocets, and other similar species, may go by the common name of “stilts”, a moniker applied to them because of their long legs.

32 Banks on a diamond : ERNIE

First baseman Ernie Banks was known as “Mr. Cub”, and played his entire 19-year professional career with the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs retired Banks’ uniform number 14 in 1982, making him the first Cubs player to be so honored. Banks was known for his catchphrase, “It’s a beautiful day for a ballgame … Let’s play two!”, a reference to his love of the game, always wanting to play a doubleheader.

36 Tractor-trailer : SEMI

A “semi” is a “semi-trailer truck”. The vehicle is so called because it consists of a tractor and a half-trailer. The half-trailer is so called because it only has wheels on the back end, with the front supported by the tractor.

47 Church leader : PASTOR

A pastor is a minister or priest in some Christian traditions. “Pastor” is the Latin word for “shepherd”.

49 Vocal cords locale : LARYNX

The voice box or larynx is where pitch and volume of sound are manipulated when we talk. The structure called the Adam’s apple that protrudes from the human neck is formed by the thyroid cartilage that surrounds the larynx. The Adam’s apple of males tends to increase in size during puberty, so the feature tended to be associated more with males in days gone by, perhaps leading to the name “Adam’s” apple. A doctor specializing in treating the larynx is a laryngologist.

54 S-shaped molding : OGEE

An ogee is a type of S-curve. Specifically it is a figure consisting of two arcs that curve in opposite directions (like an S) but both ends of the curve end up parallel to each other (which is not necessarily true for an S).

56 __-Ball : SKEE

Skee-Ball is the arcade game in which 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.

57 Puccini piece : ARIA

Giacomo Puccini was an Italian composer who was famous for his operas that are so often performed all over the world. Included in the list of his works are “La bohème”, “Tosca”, “Madama Butterfly” and “Turandot”. Puccini died in Brussels, Belgium in 1924 having suffered from throat cancer. An audience attending a performance of “La bohème” in Rome heard of the composer’s death in the middle of the performance. At the news, the opera was stopped, and the orchestra instead played Chopin’s “Funeral March”.

58 Deep blue : NAVY

We use the term “navy” for shade of blue because it was once the color of the Royal Navy uniform.

59 Gibbons and gorillas : APES

Gibbons are referred to as lesser apes as they differ in size and behavior from the great apes e.g. chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and humans.

The gorilla is the largest primate still in existence, and is one of the nearest living species to humans. Molecular biology studies have shown that our nearest relatives are in fact the species in the genus Pan (the chimpanzee and the bonobo), which split from the human branch of the family 4-6 million years ago. Gorillas and humans diverged at a point about 7 million years ago. The term “gorilla” derives from the Greek “gorillai” meaning “tribe of hairy women”. Wow …!

62 __ Tin Tin : RIN

The original Rin Tin Tin was a real-life dog, a puppy discovered by a GI in a bombed-out kennel in France during WWI. The soldier named the pup Rin Tin Tin, the same name as a puppet given to American soldiers for luck. On returning to the US, “Rinty” was trained by his owner and was spotted doing tricks by a film producer. Rinty featured in some films, eventually getting his first starring role in 1923 in the silent movie “Where the North Begins”. Legend has it that this first Rin Tin Tin died in the arms of actress Jean Harlow. Not a bad way to go …

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Noisy with activity : ABUZZ
6 A bit cracked : AJAR
10 Fem. counterpart : MASC
14 Southeast Asian capital : HANOI
15 Place to bowl : LANE
16 Golden rule word : UNTO
17 Jewelry to wear for a good cry? : ONION RINGS
19 Toffee bar with a crown in its logo : SKOR
20 Thus far : YET
21 Procure : GET
22 CenturyLink Field NFLer : SEAHAWK
24 Support under the table? : LEG
25 “I wouldn’t __ you wrong” : STEER
26 Poem often starting with “There” : LIMERICK
30 Lasso loops : NOOSES
34 Sistine Chapel ceiling man : ADAM
35 Giant Giant : MAYS
37 __ Dame : NOTRE
38 Like New York’s Chrysler Building : DECO
39 Church leader : ELDER
41 Gold source : MINE
42 Brings home : EARNS
44 Extended ride? : LIMO
45 “At the Movies” segment : CLIP
46 Reduce speed : SLOW UP
48 Breaks, as the law : VIOLATES
50 Clear in class, maybe : ERASE
52 Weather report backdrop : MAP
53 Most loving : FONDEST
56 Chivalrous title : SIR
57 “Knives Out” actress __ de Armas : ANA
60 Awestruck : AGOG
61 Warm stole to wear on Thanksgiving? : TURKEY WRAP
64 Turn over : CEDE
65 Comics canine : ODIE
66 None too worldly : NAIVE
67 Light tops : TEES
68 Sandberg with nine Gold Gloves : RYNE
69 Dental exam component : X-RAYS

Down

1 Sea greeting : AHOY!
2 Curse : BANE
3 Textbook section : UNIT
4 Where the wild things are : ZOO
5 Witty retort : ZINGER
6 Landed : ALIT
7 “Surf City” duo __ and Dean : JAN
8 Inner turmoil : ANGST
9 Viewed anew : RESEEN
10 Headgear to wear while truffle hunting? : MUSHROOM CAP
11 “Put Your Head on My Shoulder” singer : ANKA
12 Put in the overhead bin : STOW
13 Popped top : CORK
18 Prevailing power : REGIME
23 Ages and ages : AEON
24 Shoes to wear when driving a junky car? : LEMON WEDGES
25 Perform a long jump? : SKYDIVE
26 Puts on cargo : LADES
27 Best possible : IDEAL
28 Computer shortcut : MACRO
29 Word with cold or close : … CALL
31 Long-legged wading bird : STILT
32 Banks on a diamond : ERNIE
33 Oozes : SEEPS
36 Tractor-trailer : SEMI
40 Rent sharer : ROOMIE
43 “Of course!” : SURE!
47 Church leader : PASTOR
49 Vocal cords locale : LARYNX
51 Cram, say : STUDY
53 It’s the truth : FACT
54 S-shaped molding : OGEE
55 Connecting point : NODE
56 __-Ball : SKEE
57 Puccini piece : ARIA
58 Deep blue : NAVY
59 Gibbons and gorillas : APES
62 __ Tin Tin : RIN
63 __ movie : WAR