LA Times Crossword 11 Dec 21, Saturday

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Constructed by: Beth Rubin & Brad Wilber
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Theme: None

Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 15m 12s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Some chocolate purchases : ASSORTMENTS

Chocolate is made from the seeds of the Theobroma cacao tree. The seeds are very bitter and the traditional drink made with the seed was called “xocolatl” by the Aztecs, meaning “bitter water”. Our word “chocolate” comes from “xocolatl”.

12 Inflation fig. : PSI

Pounds per square inch (PSI) is a measure of pressure.

15 Purveyor of fraudulent credentials : DIPLOMA MILL

A “diploma mill” or “degree mill” is a higher education institution that offers degrees and diplomas that aren’t really legitimate, and that can be obtained for a fee.

17 Hair, in many cases : DNA EVIDENCE

I’ve always been fascinated by the fact that the DNA of living things is so very similar across different species. Human DNA is almost exactly the same for every individual (to the degree of 99.9%). However, those small differences are sufficient to distinguish one individual from another, and to determine whether or not individuals are close family relatives.

18 Latin word in many academic mottos : LUX

“Lux” is a Latin word meaning “light”.

23 Pasture palindrome : EWE

The three most famous palindromes in English have to be:

• Able was I ere I saw Elba
• A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!
• Madam, I’m Adam

One of my favorite terms is “Aibohphobia”, although it doesn’t appear in the dictionary and is a joke term. “Aibohphobia” is a great way to describe a fear of palindromes, by creating a palindrome out of the suffix “-phobia”.

24 Wouldn’t share : BOGARTED

“To bogart” is to bully, or it can mean to use without sharing. In the latter sense, a person using marijuana might “bogart a joint”, keeping it to himself or herself and not passing it around. The term is a reference to Hollywood actor Humphrey Bogart, who often played scenes with a cigarette dangling from his lips.

34 Official who sings in Hebrew : CANTOR

“Canto” is the Latin word for “singer”. In some religious traditions, a “cantor” is the person assigned to lead the singing of ecclesiastical music.

36 Leverage provider : CROWBAR

A crowbar is a wonderful tool, one that can be used to pry open things, and to remove nails. The claw at one or both ends of the tool aids in that nail removal, and it is likely this iron claw was said to resemble the claw of a crow, giving us the name “crowbar”. Back in Elizabethan times. the same tool was called an “iron crow”. There’s a line in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” that reads “Get me an iron crow and bring it straight/Unto my cell.”

37 Where to find “Octopus’s Garden” on “Abbey Road” : SIDE ONE

“Octopus’s Garden” is a song released by the Beatles in 1969, one that was written and performed by drummer Ringo Starr. This was only Ringo’s second musical composition and he gets sole credit for the writing, even though it is well established that George Harrison gave him quite a bit of “help”. The idea for the song came to Ringo while he was on holiday with his family in Sardinia. The captain of the boat on which they were staying told Ringo that an octopus would spend its time traveling the seabed collecting shiny objects with which to make itself a garden. I don’t know how true that is, but Ringo seemed to find it inspiring.

The Abbey Road Studios in London was a large Georgian townhouse built in the 1830s. It became a recording studio in 1931, and you can even see some YouTube videos showing Sir Edward Elgar back then making recordings with the London symphony Orchestra. The studios passed through various owners and by the time the Beatles started their famous recording it was known as EMI Studios. The Beatles recorded practically all of their albums there, between 1962 and 1970. Famously they named a 1969 album after the studio, “Abbey Road”. That’s the one with the cover showing the Fab Four crossing the “zebra crossing” outside the studio.

38 Utah Jazz center Whiteside : HASSAN

Hassan Whiteside started his professional basketball career in 2010 when he was drafted by the Sacramento Kings. He has traveled quite a lot to play his chosen sport. In 2013-14, he played basketball for pro teams in Lebanon and in China.

The Utah Jazz professional basketball team moved to Salt Lake City in 1979. As one might guess from the name, the team originated in New Orleans, but only played there for five seasons. New Orleans was a tough place to be based because venues were hard to come by, and Mardi Gras forced the team to play on the road for a whole month.

40 Shakespearean last gasp : ET TU

It was Shakespeare who popularized the words “Et tu, Brute?” (meaning “And you, Brutus?”). They appear in his play “Julius Caesar”, although the phrase had been around long before he penned his drama. It’s not known what Julius Caesar actually said in real life (if anything at all) as he was assassinated on the steps of the Senate in Rome.

41 Neologists : COINERS

A neologism is a new word or phrase, or a new meaning or usage for an existing word.

43 Zoom frustrations : TIME LAGS

Zoom is a videoconferencing app that became remarkably popular in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The market deemed Zoom to be the easiest to use of the free videoconferencing apps. I’ve been using it, but really prefer Google’s Meet offering …

48 Love of collectibles : VIRTU

“Virtu” are objects of art or curios. The same term is used to describe an interest in and knowledge of such objects. The term comes from the Latin “virtus” meaning “virtue, goodness, manliness”. The idea is that “virtu” is an appreciation for the “goodness” of such art.

50 “__ Kapital” : DAS

“Das Kapital” (entitled “Capital” in English versions) is a book about political economy written by Karl Marx, first published in 1867. The book is in effect an analysis of capitalism, and proffers the opinion that capitalism relies on the exploitation of workers. Marx concludes that the profits from capitalist concerns come from the underpaying of labor.

53 Brown or Rice ending : EDU

Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island is one of the eight Ivy League schools. Brown has been around a long time, founded in 1764, years before America declared independence from England. The university took the name of Brown in 1804 after one Nicholas Brown, Jr. gave a substantial gift to the school. The school’s athletic teams are known as the Brown Bears, and their mascot is Bruno.

Rice University is a private school in Houston, Texas. William Marsh Rice had made a will endowing the funds for the establishment of the school at the time of his death. When he was found dead one morning in his bed, his lawyer announced that his will had been changed, with the bulk of Rice’s estate actually going to the lawyer making the announcement. Upon investigation, it was discovered that the lawyer had paid Rice’s valet to murder his employer using chloroform and a fake will was written. Eventually, the original will was deemed valid and the funds were disbursed so that the school could be built.

54 ’90s-’00s HBO series with lots of therapy sessions : THE SOPRANOS

“The Sopranos” is an outstanding television drama made by HBO that is a story about Italian-American mobsters in New Jersey. “The Sopranos” is regularly cited as one of the best TV series of all time. It’s “must see TV” …

58 Impresario’s contact : TALENT AGENT

An impresario is a stage-art equivalent of television or movie producer. He or she organizes and perhaps finances concerts, plays and operas.

59 Hibachi waste : ASH

The traditional hibachi in Japan is a heating device, often a ceramic bowl or box that holds burning charcoal. This native type of hibachi isn’t used for cooking, but rather as a space heater (a brazier). Here in the US we use the term hibachi to refer to a charcoal grill used as a small cooking stove, which in Japanese would be called a “shichirin”. “Hibachi” is Japanese for “fire pot” coming from “hi” meaning “fire”, and “bachi” meaning “bowl, pot”.

Down

2 Power cord? : SINEW

“Sinew” is another name for “tendon”. Tendons are bands of collagen that connect muscle to bone. Tendons are similar to ligaments and fasciae, which are also connective tissue made out of collagen, but ligaments join bone to bone, and fasciae connect muscle to muscle. We also use the term “sinew” to mean muscular power.

3 Club relative : SPADE

In most trick-taking games, especially bridge, the suits are ranked from highest to lowest, i.e. spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs.

4 First name in film designers : OLEG

French-born American fashion designer Oleg Cassini developed a reputation for designing costumes for films, and dressing numerous film stars. He had two big names particularly associated with his designs. In the sixties he produced the state wardrobe for First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. He was also the exclusive designer for Hollywood’s Gene Tierney, who was Cassini’s second wife.

6 “Eww! Say no more!” : TMI!

Too much information (TMI)

10 “I Am Jazz” cable channel : TLC

The cable channel TLC started out life as The Learning Channel. Programming on TLC originally focused on educational content, but today there is an emphasis on reality television.

“I Am Jazz” is a reality show centered on transgender woman Jazz Jennings.

13 __-chef : SOUS

The “sous-chef de cuisine” (a French term) is the “under-chef of the kitchen”, the second-in-command.

14 “Need You Tonight” band : INXS

INXS (pronounced “in excess”) was a rock band from Australia. The band formed in 1977 in Sydney as the Farriss Brothers, as three of the original lineups were indeed brothers.

26 Premise in many John Grisham novels : LAWSUIT

John Grisham is a lawyer and an incredibly successful author best known for his legal thrillers. After graduating from law school, Grisham practiced law for about ten years and then went into politics. He served in the Mississippi House of Representatives for six years, during which time he wrote his first novel, “A Time to Kill”.

27 Idris of “The Jungle Book” : ELBA

English actor Idris Elba plays the drug lord Stringer Bell in the marvelous HBO drama series “The Wire”, and played the title character in the 2013 film “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”. Off the screen, Elba occasionally appears as a disk jockey using the name “DJ Big Driis”.

“The Jungle Book” is a 2016, live-action Disney film based on Rudyard Kipling’s collection of stories with the same title. The impressive voice cast includes Bill Murray as Baloo, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, Scarlett Johnsson as Kaa, and Christopher Walkenb as King Louis. The film was a big success, and for a while held the record for the most successful remake of all time (it was a remake of the 1967 animated feature “The Jungle Book”).

29 Actress Gaye of “Ali” : NONA

Actress Nona Gaye is best known for playing the character Zee in the last two of “The Matrix” series of films. Nona is the only daughter of singer Marvin Gaye.

“Ali” is a 2001 biographical movie about Muhammad Ali, with Will Smith in the title role. Among other things, the film is noted for its realistic fight scenes. The scenes were realistic because Smith was really being hit, as hard as his opponents could manage.

30 Novelist Iles : GREG

Author Greg Iles was born in Germany but raised in Mississippi, where many of his novels are set.

31 Reason to call a chiropractor : ACHE

Chiropractic is a type of alternative medicine that largely involves the adjustment of the spinal column. The term “chiropractic” was coined in the US in the late 1800s and comes from the Latinized Greek “chiro-” meaning “hand” and “praktikos” meaning “practical”.

32 Nit, to a Brit : PRAT

“Prat” is a slang term for the buttocks. A “prat-fall” is when someone falls and lands on the buttocks. The term “prat” is also British slang for “contemptible person”.

33 Like a situation in which emotional persuasion trumps factual accuracy : POST TRUTH

The term “post-truth” was coined by playwright Steve Tesich in an essay in “The Nation”. Referencing Watergate, Iran-Contra and the Persian Gulf War, Tesich said “we, as a free people, have freely decided that we want to live in some post-truth world.” The derivative phrase “post-truth era” was introduced by author Ralph Keyes when he used it for the title of a 2004 book “The Post-Truth Era: Dishonesty and Deception in Contemporary Life”.

35 Purim month : ADAR

Adar is the twelfth month of the Hebrew ecclesiastical calendar. Adar is equivalent to February-March in the Gregorian calendar.

Purim is a festival commemorating the deliverance of the Jewish people from a plot to wipe them out by Haman the Agagite, as recorded in the Book of Esther.

37 Voice used for “Humpty Dumpty,” say : SING-SONG

Humpty Dumpty is a character in a nursery rhyme. He is usually depicted as an egg, although that isn’t specifically called out in the original rhyme:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.

39 Crime novelist Carl : HIAASEN

Carl Hiaasen is an investigative journalist, columnist and novelist from Fort Lauderdale, Florida who works for the “Miami Herald”.

42 Yale sobriquet : OLD ELI

Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut was founded in 1701, making it the third-oldest university in the US. Originally called the Collegiate School, it was renamed to Yale University in honor of retired merchant Elihu Yale, who made generous contributions to the institution. Yale University’s nickname is “Old Eli”, in a nod to the benefactor.

A sobriquet is an affectionate nickname. The term “sobriquet” is French, in which language it has the same meaning.

44 Crosses at obedience school? : MUTTS

The original use of the term “mutt” was for a foolish person, and was probably short for “muttonhead”. The usage evolved into today’s “mongrel dog”.

45 “Rouen Cathedral” painter : MONET

French artist Claude Monet was one of the founders of the Impressionist movement, and indeed the term “Impressionism” comes from the title of his 1872 painting “Impression, Sunrise”. That work depicts the port of Le Havre, which was Monet’s hometown. Later in his life, Monet purchased a house in Giverny, and famously installed lily ponds and a Japanese bridge in the property’s extensive gardens. He spent two decades painting the water lily ponds, producing his most famous works. I was fortunate enough to visit Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny a few years ago. A beautiful place …

Impressionist Claude Monet produced a series of paintings of Rouen Cathedral in the 1890s. Famously, Monet painted the same subject at varying times of the day and times of the year, with the intention of recording the changes in appearance with differing light. He produced over thirty such paintings of Rouen Cathedral over a two-year period, resulting in one of the artist’s most famous and prized series of works.

46 Thinning layer : OZONE

Ozone gets its name from the Greek word “ozein” meaning “to smell”. It was given this name as ozone’s formation during lightning storms was detected by the gas’s distinctive smell. Famously, there is a relatively high concentration of the gas in the “ozone layer” in the Earth’s stratosphere. This ozone layer provides a vital function for animal life on the planet as it absorbs most of the sun’s UV radiation. A molecule of ozone is made up of three oxygen atoms (O3), whereas a “normal” oxygen (O2) has just two atoms.

48 Chevy named for a star : VEGA

Vega is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra. Vega (along with Altair and Deneb from other constellations) is also part of the group of three stars that is called the Summer Triangle. Vega is the star at the right-angle of said triangle.

The Chevrolet Vega is a small car that was produced by GM in the seventies. The Vega was much lauded at its launch but was plagued by problems with its engineering, reliability and safety.

49 When 40-Across was spoken : IDES
(40A Shakespearean last gasp : ET TU)

In Act I of William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”, a soothsayer warns the doomed leader to “beware the ides of March”. Caesar ignores the prophecy and is subsequently killed on the steps of the Capitol by a group of conspirators on that fateful day.

52 Sitar sequence : RAGA

Raga isn’t really a genre of music, but has been described as the “tonal framework” in which Indian classical music is composed. Ravi Shankar was perhaps the most famous raga virtuoso (to us Westerners). Western rock music with a heavy Indian influence might be called raga rock.

The sitar has been around since the Middle Ages. It is a stringed instrument that is played by plucking, and is used most often in Hindustani classical music. In the West we have been exposed to the instrument largely through the performances of Ravi Shankar and some music by George Harrison of the Beatles, a onetime student of Shankar.

56 NBA stat : PTS

Points (pts.)