LA Times Crossword 15 Feb 22, Tuesday

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Constructed by: Hoang-Kim Vu
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Mixed Doubles

Themed answers each include “CLONE” as a hidden “word”, although the order of the letters has been MIXED:

  • 52A Tennis format with man-and-woman pairs … and a hint to each set of circles : MIXED DOUBLES
  • 19A Historic U.S. Olympics hockey victory, familiarly : MIRACLE ON ICE
  • 27A Satirist who coined the word “truthiness” : STEPHEN COLBERT
  • 46A Police storage facility : EVIDENCE LOCKER

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

Bill’s time: 5m 59s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Start to crumble? : CEE

The word “crumble” starts with a letter C (cee).

8 “__ of a Salesman” : DEATH

“Death of a Salesman” is a famous play by Arthur Miller that was first produced in 1949. “Death of a Salesman” won a Pulitzer and several Tony Awards over the years. The “Salesman” is the famous character Willy Loman. The play originally opened up on Broadway and ran for 724 performances. It was directed by Elia Kazan, and the lead role was played by veteran actor Lee J. Cobb.

13 “The Godfather” enforcer __ Brasi : LUCA

Luca Brasi is one of Don Corleone’s most loyal “enforcers” in Mario Puzo’s novel “The Godfather”. Brasi comes to a violent end, garroted while his hand is pinned to a wooden bar with a knife. Famously, the Corleone family learn of his demise when they receive Brasi’s bulletproof vest wrapped around dead fish. The message is that he “sleeps with the fishes”. In the big screen adaptation of “The Godfather”, Luca Brasi is played by ex-wrestler and professional bodyguard Lenny Montana. The role launched a very successful television character-acting career for Montana.

“The Godfather” series of films is based on “The Godfather” novel by Mario Puzo, first published in 1969. Francis Ford Coppola worked with Puzo in partnership to adapt his novel into the screenplay for the first film, and to write the screenplays for the two sequels. Coppola holds that there are really only two films in “The Godfather” series, with “The Godfather Part III” actually being the epilog.

15 __ City Music Hall : RADIO

New York City’s Radio City Music Hall in Rockefeller Center opened for business in 1932. Originally to be named International Music Hall, the current name was chosen in honor of the Radio Corporation of America, which was one of Rockefeller Center’s first tenants.

16 Singer Lambert who sometimes sings with Queen : ADAM

Singer Adam Lambert is one of the “successes” to come out of the “American Idol” machine. After hitting the big times, Lambert started a collaboration with Brian May and Roger Taylor, performing as Queen + Adam Lambert.

Queen is an English rock band that formed back in 1970. With the help of lead singer Freddie Mercury (now deceased), Queen has a long list of great hits, including “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions”. “Bohemian Rhapsody” spent a total of nine weeks at number one in the UK. “Bohemian Rhapsody” is also the title of an outstanding 2018 biographical film about the band.

18 Equipment, on a balance sheet : ASSET

The balance sheet of a company is a snapshot (single-point-in-time) view of a company’s financial position. The balance sheet lists all the company’s liabilities, all of its assets, and all of its ownership equity. The assets of a company, less its liabilities equals the ownership equity. The term “balance” is used because assets always balance out with the sum of liabilities and shareholder equity.

19 Historic U.S. Olympics hockey victory, familiarly : MIRACLE ON ICE

Team USA won the gold medal in men’s hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. The victory was a surprising one given the decades-long dominance of the USSR team. The “big result” for the American team was the epic victory against the Soviets, a victory often referred to as the “Miracle on Ice”. The US went on to defeat Finland in the final and secured the gold medal. The moniker “miracle” comes from words uttered by sportscaster Al Michaels, who was calling the game for ABC. He declared, in the final seconds, “Do you believe in miracles?! Yes!”

22 Tolkien trilogy, to fans : LOTR

“Lord of the Rings” (LOTR)

J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel) Tolkien was an English author best known by far for his fantasy novels “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings”. Although Tolkien lived in England and was a professor at Oxford, he served for many years as an external examiner at my old school, University College Dublin in Ireland.

23 Hosp. crisis area : ICU

Many a hospital (hosp.) includes an intensive care unit (ICU).

24 Peter and Agnes: Abbr. : STS

Simon Peter (often “Peter” or “Saint Peter”) was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. The Christian tradition holds that Peter founded the Roman Church, and the Roman Catholic tradition names Peter as the first pope.

Saint Agnes is the patron saint of young girls. John Keats wrote a poem called “The Eve of Saint Agnes” which refers to the superstition that young women should practice certain rituals on Saint Agnes’s Eve in order to identify their future husbands.

27 Satirist who redefined the word “truthiness” : STEPHEN COLBERT

Satirist Stephen Colbert established a Super PAC called Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow in 2011, and allowed it to collect funds for over a year. The so-called “Colbert Super PAC” raised over a million dollars in that period, with the majority of funds eventually going to charity.

31 Rd. or hwy. : RTE

Route (rte.)

32 Brontë’s Jane : EYRE

“Jane Eyre” is a celebrated novel written by Charlotte Brontë, under the pen name Currer Bell. The love story is perhaps represented by the oft-quoted opening lines of the last chapter, “Reader, I married him”. There is a wonderful 4-hour television adaptation made by the BBC that I highly recommend to fans of the novel …

33 Unpeaceful, queasy feeling : NAUSEA

Nausea is a sick feeling in the stomach. The term “nausea” derives from the Greek “naus” meaning “ship”. Originally, nausea was associated only with seasickness.

34 Structure with a keystone : ARCH

The keystone of an arch is the last piece put in position, the placement of which allows the arch to bear weight. The keystone sits right at the apex.

36 Some school RAs : SRS

A resident assistant/adviser (RA) might be a senior (sr.)

38 “__ Yankees” : DAMN

In the musical show “Damn Yankees”, the title refers to the New York Yankees baseball team that dominated the sport in the fifties. That said, the show tells the story of a man who sells his soul to help his beloved Washington Senators team beat the Yankees and win the pennant. So, “Damn Yankees” is yet another version of the classic German legend of “Faust”. The show was written by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, a production that turned out to be a very successful follow-up to their prior hit, “The Pajama Game”. The future was looking really rosy for Adler and Ross but, sadly, Jerry Ross died of obstructive lung disease only a few weeks after “Damn Yankees” opened on Broadway in 1955. He was just 29 years old.

39 Iroquoian people, or a hairstyle named for them : MOHAWK

Here is another example of a difference in terminology on either side of the Atlantic. What we call the Mohawk hairstyle in the US is known as a Mohican in Britain and Ireland. The Mohawk hairstyle is named after the Mohawk nation, who wore their hair in the same fashion. The Mohawk style has been around for a long time elsewhere in the world. There was a well-preserved male body found in a bog near Dublin in Ireland in 2003. The body is about 2,000 years old, and has a Mohawk haircut.

42 Enjoy an e-cig : VAPE

An electronic cigarette (also called an “e-cigarette”) is a battery-powered device that resembles a real cigarette. The e-cigarette vaporizes a solution that contains nicotine, forming a vapor that resembles smoke. The vapor is inhaled in a process called “vaping”, delivering nicotine into the body. The assumption is that an e-cigarette is healthier than a regular cigarette as the inhaled vapor is less harmful than inhaled smoke. But, that may not be so …

45 Admin on Reddit : MOD

Moderator (mod)

Reddit.com is a networking and news website that started up in 2005. It is essentially a bulletin board system with posts that are voted up and down by users, which determines the ranking of posts. The name “Reddit” is a play on “read it”, as in “I read it on Reddit”. One popular feature of the Reddit site is an online forum that is similar to a press conference. Known as an AMA (for “ask me anything”), participants have included the likes of President Barack Obama, Madonna, Bill Gates, Stephen Colbert and Gordon Ramsay. President Obama’s AMA was so popular that the high level of traffic brought down many parts of the Reddit site.

49 Formerly named : NEE

“Née” is the French word for “born” when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”. The term “née” is mainly used in English when referring to a married woman’s birth name, assuming that she has adopted her husband’s name, e.g. Michelle Obama née Robinson, Melania Trump née Knavs, and Jill Biden née Jacobs.

50 “The Simpsons” outburst : D’OH!

“The Simpsons” is one of the most successful programs produced by the Fox Broadcasting Company. Homer Simpson’s catchphrase is “D’oh!”, which became such a famous exclamation that it has been included in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) since 2001. “D’oh!” can be translated as “I should have thought of that!”

51 Comics villain __ Kadabra : ABRA

Abra Kadabra is a supervillain in the DC Comics universe. He mainly goes up against the superhero known as the Flash.

60 Red gem : RUBY

Ruby is a precious stone made from the mineral corundum, also called aluminum oxide. The corundum includes some of the element chromium, which results in the red or pink color.

61 Move like molasses : OOZE

When sugar cane is processed to extract sugar, it is crushed and mashed to produce a juice. The juice is boiled to make a sugary concentrate called cane syrup, from which sugar crystals are extracted. A second boiling of the leftover syrup produces second molasses, from which more sugar crystals can be extracted. A third boiling results in what is called blackstrap molasses.

62 Garlicky spread : AIOLI

To the purist, especially in Provence in the South of France, aioli is prepared just by grinding garlic with olive oil. However, other ingredients are often added to the mix, particularly egg yolks.

64 Shrek, for one : OGRE

Before “Shrek” was a successful movie franchise and Broadway musical, it was a children’s picture book called “Shrek!” that was authored and illustrated by William Steig. The title “Shrek!” came from the German/Yiddish word Schreck, meaning “fear” or “terror”.

66 Std. paper size : LTR

Our paper sizes here in North America don’t conform with the standards in the rest of the world. ISO standard sizes used elsewhere were chosen so that the ratio of width to length is usually one to the square root of two. This mathematical relationship means that when you cut a piece of paper in two each half preserves the aspect ratio of the original, which can be useful in making reduced or enlarged copies of documents. Our standard size of “letter” (ltr., 8.5 x 11 inches) was determined in 1980 by the Reagan administration to be the official paper size for the US government. Prior to this, the “legal” size (8.5 x 14 inches) had been the standard, since 1921.

Down

1 Chowder ingredient : CLAM

The type of soup known as “chowder” is possibly named for the pot in which it used to be cooked called a “chaudière”, a French term.

2 Car with a four-ring 54-Down : AUDI
(54D See 2-Down : LOGO)

The predecessor to today’s Audi company was called Auto Union. Auto Union was formed with the merger of four individual entities: Audi, Horch, DKW and Wanderer. The Audi logo comprises four intersecting rings, each representing one of the four companies that merged.

4 Leaf-wrapped masa dish : TAMALE

A tamale is a traditional dish from Central America composed of a starchy dough that is steamed or boiled in a wrapper made from a corn husk or banana leaf. The dough is called masa, and can include many different ingredients including meat, cheese, fruit and vegetables. A hot tamale is a kind of tamale that originated in the Mississippi Delta. It is particularly spicy, and the masa is replaced with corn meal.

“Masa” is the Spanish word for “dough”, with the term often used as an abbreviated form of “masa de maíz”. Masa is used to make tortillas and tamales, for example.

6 Shoe brand that sounds like a sound : ECCO

I have to say, after owning several pairs, that ECCO shoes are the most comfortable in the world …

8 Van Helsing nemesis : DRACULA

In Bram Stoker’s novel “Dracula”, Professor Abraham Van Helsing is the man who goes up against the title character. Van Helsing also appears in many derivative works as the archetypal vampire hunter.

21 Emoji, for one : ICON

An emoji is a character found on many cell phones that is much like an emoticon, but is more elaborate. The use of emojis originated in 1997 on mobile phones in Japan, and within a few years spread around the world. “Emoji” is a Japanese word meaning “picture word”.

24 Key tahini ingredient : SESAME

“Tahini” is the Arabic name for a paste made from ground sesame seeds. Tahini is a major ingredient in hummus, one of my favorite dishes.

28 Geek Squad member : TECHIE

Best Buy is a retailer specializing in the supply of consumer electronics. Best Buy services include the famous “Geek Squad”, a band of technical experts that will help solve your computer and other consumer electronic problems.

30 Flower harbinger : BUD

A harbinger is a person or a thing that indicates what is to come. The word comes from the Middle English “herbenger” describing a person sent ahead to arrange lodgings.

31 Collegian’s diet staple : RAMEN

Ramen is a noodle dish composed of Chinese-style wheat noodles in a meat or fish broth flavored with soy or miso sauce. Ramen is usually topped with sliced pork and dried seaweed. The term “ramen” is also used for precooked, instant noodles that come in single-serving, solid blocks.

37 Counter offering Italian, French and Russian options : SALAD BAR

Don’t try asking for Italian dressing in Italy, as it’s a North American invention. Italians are fond of dressing their salads with olive oil, vinegar, salt and maybe some black pepper. Try it!

French dressing is an American condiment that today is ketchup-based. The original French dressing was based on oil and vinegar.

Russian dressing isn’t Russian at all, and rather is an American creation. The main ingredients are mayonnaise and ketchup. Russian dressing is the sandwich spread used in a Reuben sandwich.

41 “Goldfinger” fort : KNOX

Fort Knox is actually a US Army base that lends its name to the adjacent facility that is more correctly called the United States Bullion Depository. Most of the US gold reserves are in “Fort Knox”, although it isn’t the biggest gold repository in the US. That honor goes to the vault under the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in Manhattan. Most of the gold stored in the New York vault belongs to foreign nations and banks.

1964’s “Goldfinger” is the third of the “James Bond” films made (after “Dr. No” and “From Russia with Love”). Such was the success of “Goldfinger”, that attempts were made to establish a competing series of films by other studios. Most notable competitors to Sean Connery’s James Bond were perhaps James Coburn as Derek Flint in 1966’s “Our Man Flint”, and Dean Martin as the title character in the “Matt Helm” series of movies of the late sixties.

43 Nawlins subs : PO’ BOYS

A po’ boy is a submarine sandwich from Louisiana. There are a lot of theories about where the name came from, and none sound too convincing to me. A po’ boy differs from a regular submarine sandwich in that it uses Louisiana French bread, which is soft in the middle and crusty on the outside.

Apparently the “N’awlins” pronunciation of “New Orleans” is common, but is usually uttered by tourists. Locals are more likely to say “New Awlins”.

44 Beige look-alike : ECRU

The color ecru is a grayish, yellowish brown. The word “ecru” comes from French and means “raw, unbleached”. “Ecru” has the same roots as our word “crude”.

Our word “beige” comes from the Old French “bege”, a term that applied to the natural color of wool and cotton that was not dyed.

47 Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer Miller : CHERYL

Cheryl Miller is a former basketball player who worked as a sportscaster after retiring from the game. She turned to coaching in the mid-1980s, and was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999. Cheryl is the sister of NBA great Reggie Miller and MLB catcher Darrell Miller.

52 “Walk a __ in My Shoes”: Joe South hit : MILE

Joe South was a singer-songwriter who is perhaps best known for writing and recording the hit 1968 song “Games People Play”, and for writing the song “Rose Garden” that was a number-one for Lynn Anderson in 1970.

55 Poet Pound : EZRA

Ezra Pound was an American poet who spent much of his life wandering the world, and spending years in London, Paris, and Italy. In Italy, Pound’s work and sympathies for Mussolini’s regime led to his arrest at the end of the war. His major work was the epic, albeit incomplete, “The Cantos”. This epic poem is divided into 120 sections, each known as a canto.

57 “The Entertainer,” e.g. : RAG

Ragtime music was at the height of its popularity in the early 1900s. It takes its name from its characteristic “ragged” rhythms. The most famous ragtime composer was Scott Joplin, who had a big hit with his “Maple Leaf Rag” when it was published in 1899. He followed that up with a string of hits, including the “Pine Apple Rag” (sic). Ragtime fell out of favor about 1917 when the public turned to jazz. It had a resurgence in the forties when jazz musicians started to include ragtime tunes in their repertoires. But it was the 1973 movie “The Sting” that brought the true revival, as the hit soundtrack included numerous ragtime tunes by Scott Joplin, including the celebrated “The Entertainer” originally published in 1902.

59 “The Raven” writer : POE

“The Raven” is a narrative poem by Edgar Allan Poe that tells of a student who has lost the love of his life, Lenore. A raven enters the student’s bedchamber and perches on a bust of Pallas. The raven can talk, to the student’s surprise, but says nothing but the word “nevermore” (“quoth the raven, ‘Nevermore’”). As the student questions all aspects of his life, the raven taunts him with the same comment, “nevermore”. Finally, the student decides that his soul is trapped beneath the raven’s shadow and shall be lifted “nevermore”.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Acting credits list : CAST
5 Start to crumble? : CEE
8 “__ of a Salesman” : DEATH
13 “The Godfather” enforcer __ Brasi : LUCA
14 It’s true : FACT
15 __ City Music Hall : RADIO
16 Singer Lambert who sometimes sings with Queen : ADAM
17 Thing to scratch : ITCH
18 Equipment, on a balance sheet : ASSET
19 Historic U.S. Olympics hockey victory, familiarly : MIRACLE ON ICE
22 Tolkien trilogy, to fans : LOTR
23 Hosp. crisis area : ICU
24 Peter and Agnes: Abbr. : STS
27 Satirist who redefined the word “truthiness” : STEPHEN COLBERT
31 Rd. or hwy. : RTE
32 Brontë’s Jane : EYRE
33 Unpeaceful, queasy feeling : NAUSEA
34 Structure with a keystone : ARCH
36 Some school RAs : SRS
38 “__ Yankees” : DAMN
39 Iroquoian people, or a hairstyle named for them : MOHAWK
42 Enjoy an e-cig : VAPE
45 Admin on Reddit : MOD
46 Police storage facility : EVIDENCE LOCKER
49 Formerly named : NEE
50 “The Simpsons” outburst : D’OH!
51 Comics villain __ Kadabra : ABRA
52 Tennis format with man-and-woman pairs … and a hint to each set of circles : MIXED DOUBLES
57 Fast : RAPID
60 Red gem : RUBY
61 Move like molasses : OOZE
62 Garlicky spread : AIOLI
63 Votes for : YEAS
64 Shrek, for one : OGRE
65 Welcome at the door : GREET
66 Std. paper size : LTR
67 Pained whine : MOAN

Down

1 Chowder ingredient : CLAM
2 Car with a four-ring 54-Down : AUDI
3 Injury reminder : SCAR
4 Leaf-wrapped masa dish : TAMALE
5 Wedding hires : CATERERS
6 Shoe brand that sounds like a sound : ECCO
7 Word before origin or identity : ETHNIC …
8 Van Helsing nemesis : DRACULA
9 Facility : EASE
10 They pop up too often : ADS
11 Draw : TIE
12 Sweltering : HOT
14 Extremely, as rich : FILTHY
20 Deal (with) : COPE
21 Emoji, for one : ICON
24 Key tahini ingredient : SESAME
25 Quake aftershock : TREMOR
26 Rise : STAND
27 Tried hard (for) : STROVE
28 Geek Squad member : TECHIE
29 Stomach or guts : NERVE
30 Flower harbinger : BUD
31 Collegian’s diet staple : RAMEN
35 Ate : HAD
37 Counter offering Italian, French and Russian options : SALAD BAR
40 “Congrats to us!” : WE DID IT!
41 “Goldfinger” fort : KNOX
43 Nawlins subs : PO’ BOYS
44 Beige look-alike : ECRU
47 Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer Miller : CHERYL
48 Comics explosion : KABOOM!
52 “Walk a __ in My Shoes”: Joe South hit : MILE
53 Two piece? : DUET
54 See 2-Down : LOGO
55 Poet Pound : EZRA
56 Noticed : SEEN
57 “The Entertainer,” e.g. : RAG
58 Word with bag or ball : AIR-
59 “The Raven” writer : POE