LA Times Crossword 19 Feb 22, Saturday

Advertisement

Constructed by: Evan Kalish
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Theme: None

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

Bill’s time: 13m 18s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

15 Ellen Morgan’s revelation in a 1997 episode of “Ellen,” e.g. : COMING OUT

Back in the 1950s, to come “out of the closet” was to admit to being an alcoholic. By the seventies, the phrase mainly referred to gay people shrugging off secrecy about their sexual orientation.

Ellen DeGeneres is a very, very successful TV personality, having parlayed her career in stand-up comedy into lucrative gigs as an actress and talk show host. Back in 1997 DeGeneres chose the “Oprah Winfrey Show” to announce that she was a lesbian. Her character on “The Ellen Show” also came out as a lesbian in a scene with her therapist, who was played by Oprah Winfrey. Nice twist!

17 The blue ribbon : TOP HONORS

A common award for winning first place in a competition, especially at a fair, is a blue ribbon. In Canada and the UK, first place is usually recognized with a red ribbon, and blue ribbon is given for second place.

19 Genre qualifier : ALT

Alternate (alt.)

20 New __: drink that made a comeback in 2019 : COKE

When “new Coke” was introduced in 1985, the market reacted very, very badly. The public reaction was so negative that the Coca-Cola company quickly reintroduced its “Coca-Cola Classic” line. Ironically, the whole debacle resulted in Coke actually gaining market share when the “old coke” returned to supermarket shelves. Coca-Cola prevailed in the end, and made a successful reintroduction of “New Coke” in 2019.

21 Chem class measuring technique : PH TEST

As we all recall from chemistry class, a pH of 7 is considered neutral. Anything less than 7 is an acid, and anything above 7 is a base.

22 New Orleans’ Café Lafitte in Exile is one of the oldest of these still operating : GAY BARS

Café Lafitte in Exile is a gay bar in New Orleans’ French Quarter. The bar opened for business in 1933, and claims to be the oldest continuously operating gay bar in the country. That said, the bar has operated in two different buildings since it opened, moving to its current location in 1953.

24 Fiddler, for one : CRAB

“Fiddler crab” is the common name given to several species of small crab. One characteristic of a fiddler crab is that the main claws of the female are the same size whereas one of the male’s main claws is much larger than the other.

25 Baroque : ORNATE

Something described as baroque is extremely ornate and convoluted. The term comes from the Baroque Period of the early 17th to mid-18th century. Many of the arts focused on great detail and elaborate design during that time.

26 Aleichem who created Tevye : SHOLEM

“Sholem Aleichem” is the pen name of Yiddish author and playwright Solomon Rabinovich. He is most famous for his stories about “Tevye the Dairyman”, which were the basis of the 1964 musical “Fiddler on the Roof”. Rabinovich’s pen name translates from Yiddish as “May peace be upon you”.

35 Big parks : STADIUMS

The Greek word “stadion” was a measure of length, about 600 feet. The name “stadion” then came to be used for a running track of that length. That “running track” meaning led to our contemporary term “stadium” (plural “stadia”).

37 Apt rhyme for “cents” : PENCE

The official name of our smallest denomination coin is “cent”, and our use of the word “penny” is just a colloquialism derived from the British coin of the same name. In the UK, the plural of penny is “pence”, whereas we have “pennies” in our pockets.

38 Time out : SIESTA

We use the word “siesta” to describe a short nap in the early afternoon, and imported the word into English from Spanish. In turn, the Spanish word is derived from the Latin “hora sexta” meaning “the sixth hour”. The idea is that the nap is taken at the sixth hour after dawn.

42 Hardly lasting : SHODDY

Something described as shoddy is of inferior quality, especially if it has a delusive appearance of high quality.

46 #34, familiarly : IKE

When the future president was growing up, the Eisenhowers used the nickname “Ike” for all seven boys in the family, as “Ike” was seen as an abbreviation for the family name. “Big Ike” was Edgar, the second oldest boy. “Little/Young Ike” was Dwight, who was the third son born. Dwight had no sisters.

47 Notes featuring Atatürk : LIRAS

The currency of Turkey is the Turkish lira, which is divided into 100 kuruş. In 1927, the Turkish lira replaced the Ottoman lira, which had been in use since 1844.

Mustafa Kemal was a Turkish army officer who led the Turkish National Movement following the defeat and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of WWI. He then led the Turkish military in resisting Allied forces occupying modern-day Turkey, in what is now referred to as the Turkish War of Independence. Kemal founded the Republic of Turkey in 1923 and became the new nation’s first president. The Turkish Parliament granted him the name Atatürk in 1934, and name that translates as “Father of the Turks”.

51 Drying agent : DESICCANT

To desiccate is to dry up, and a desiccant is a drying agent. The verb “to desiccate” comes from the Latin “de-” (thoroughly) and “siccare” (to dry).

52 Thompson of “Westworld” : TESSA

Tessa Thompson is an actress from Los Angeles who is known for playing the supporting role of Jackie Cook on the TV show “Veronica Mars”, and for playing student leader Diane Nash in the 2014 film “Selma”.

“Westworld” is an HBO series that is based on a 1973 movie of the same name, which was written and directed by novelist Michael Crichton. Westworld is a high-tech theme park populated by androids that interact with the guests.

53 Satisfied cook’s gesture : CHEF’S KISS

A chef’s kiss is a gesture used by a chef to indicate that a dish has achieved perfection. The gesture involves kissing the tips of the gathered fingers.

Down

1 Stop signs, usually : OCTAGONS

In the US, a “stop” road sign is red and octagonal.

2 Places where you might see butterflies : POOL AREAS

The butterfly is the newest swimming stroke used in competition, having been introduced in 1933. It was originally used as a variant of the breaststroke, in an attempt to gain an advantage in speed over swimmers using the traditional breaststroke movement. The butterfly was carved out as a style of its own in 1952, and made its Olympic debut in 1956.

3 Sources of some college-years woes : EMPTY NESTS

Woe? 🙂

4 Bethesda research org. : NIH

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) organization is made up of 27 different institutes that coordinate their research and services. Examples of member institutes are the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Aging.

The community of Bethesda in Maryland lies just northwest of Washington, D.C. The original settlement in the area was called “Darcy’s Store”. a reference to the original store that drew settlers to the location along the toll road between Georgetown and Rockville. The community’s name was changed to Bethesda in 1871 by a local postmaster, after a Presbyterian church called the Bethesda Meeting House. Bethesda is home to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Naval Medical Center. During WWII, Bethesda also hosted the Norwegian Royal Family while their country was occupied by German forces.

5 Arctic travelers : SNO-CATS

The brand name “Sno-Cat” is owned by the Tucker company. All snowcats are tracked vehicles built to work in snow, and are famously used in expeditions to the polar regions. The modern Sno-Cat from Tucker differs from its competitors in that it has four independently-mounted tracks.

9 Arrivals in “Arrival” (2016) : ETS

Extraterrestrial (ET)

2016’s “Arrival” is a very entertaining sci-fi film that is based on a short story by Ted Chiang called “Story of Your Life”. Amy Adams plays a linguist who is called upon to communicate with aliens who have arrived on Earth.

11 Wigged out : WENT BERSERK

Our word “berserk” meaning “deranged” comes from the “Berserkers”, Norse warriors described in Old Norse literature. Berserkers were renowned for going into battle in a fury, and some believe that they consumed drugged food to get themselves worked up for the fighting ahead.

The idea behind the expression “to wig out”, meaning “to go crazy”, is that there is so much going on in your brain that it might “lift your hair/wig”.

12 “Mom” actor Corddry : NATE

Nate Corddry is an actor and comedian who is perhaps best known for playing the manager of the restaurant where Christy works in the sitcom “Mom”. Corddry also played lawyer Adam Branch on the sitcom “Harry’s Game” alongside Kathy Bates. Nate is the younger brother of comedian and actor Rob Corddry, whe turned up quite frequently as a correspondent on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”.

“Mom” is a sitcom, starring Anna Faris and the great Allison Janney, that premiered in 2013. Famously, the show deals with the problems of alcoholism and drug abuse head on.

13 Colorado tribe : UTES

The Ute are a group of Native-American tribes who now reside in Utah and Colorado. The Ute were not a unified people as such, but rather a loose association of nomadic groups. The word “Ute” means “Land of the Sun”, and “Ute” also gave us the state name “Utah”.

14 Left on a liner : PORT

The left side of a ship used to be called the “larboard” side, but this was dropped in favor of “port” as the pronunciation of “larboard” was easily confused with “starboard”, the right side of the vessel. The term “port” was chosen as it was customary to dock a ship, for loading in port, with the left side of the vessel against the dock.

21 Respect, in slang : PROPS

“Props” is North American slang for “proper respect”.

24 Text exchanges, say : CHATS

Short Message Service (SMS) is the name for the text messaging service that many of us still use on our cell phones to contact friends and family.

26 Film that ends with a King’s speech : SELMA

“Selma” is a 2014 film about the Selma-to-Montgomery marches of 1965. Directed by Ava DuVernay, the movie stars David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Tom Wilkinson as President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a speech on the steps of the State Capital in Montgomery, Alabama at the end of the famous Selma to Montgomery March in 1965. The oration is often referred to as the “How Long, Not Long” speech, as King used the phrase several times, including:

How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

27 Big name in tablets? : MOUNT SINAI

According to the Bible, Mount Sinai is the mountain on which Moses was given the Ten Commandments. The Biblical Mount Sinai is probably not the mountain in Egypt that today has the same name, although this is the subject of much debate. The Egyptian Mount Sinai has two developed routes that one can take to reach the summit. The longer gentler climb takes about 2 1/2 hours, but there is also the steeper climb up the 3,750 “steps of penitence”.

According to the Book of Exodus, God inscribed the Ten Commandments on two stone tablets and gave them to Moses on Mount Sinai.

30 Chevy Tahoe counterparts : GMC YUKONS

The Chevrolet Blazer SUV was renamed, and is now known as the Chevy Tahoe. And, the GMC Yukon is basically the same car. All very confusing …

34 Caduceus pair : SERPENTS

The icon known as the caduceus is a staff around which are twisted two serpents and which has two wings at the top. The caduceus was carried by the Greek god Hermes. The traditional symbol for the medical profession was the rod of Asclepius (also “Aesculapius”), a Greek god associated with healing and medicine. The rod of Asclepius is similar to the caduceus, being a staff with a single serpent-entwined. Some medical organizations use the caduceus as a symbol, apparently due to confusion that dates back to its mistaken use by the US Army Medical Corps in 1902.

36 Israeli border lake : DEAD SEA

The Dead Sea is a salt lake that lies over 1,000 feet below sea level in the Middle East. It is one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world, with a salt content that is almost ten times that of most oceans.

37 Interstellar measures : PARSECS

A parsec is a measure of length or distance used in astronomy. One parsec is equal to about 19.2 trillion miles.

39 Mountain formation : MASSIF

“Massif” is a geological term describing a section of the earth’s crust that moves upwards due to the action of tectonic plates. The whole massif retains its structure, with movement taking place at surrounding fault lines. The term “massif” is also used for a group of mountains formed by such geological action. “Massif” is French for “massive”.

41 Bullwinkle J. __ : MOOSE

“The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show” is a cartoon series that originally aired on television in the late fifties and early sixties. The title characters are a moose (Bullwinkle) and a squirrel (Rocky). Rocky the Flying Squirrel is formally known as Rocket J. Squirrel, and Bullwinkle’s full name is Bullwinkle J. Moose.

42 __ car: toy racer : SLOT

Slot cars are those motorized toy cars that run around on tracks picking up power from a slot in the racing surface. The first slot cars were made in 1912 by the Lionel company, the manufacturer of toy train sets.

48 Org. in much recent news : CDC

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is based in Atlanta, Georgia. The CDC started out life during WWII as the Office of National Defense Malaria Control Activities. The CDC worries about much more than malaria these days …