LA Times Crossword 22 Apr 22, Friday

Advertisement

Constructed by: Karen Lurie
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Shake It Off

Themed answers are common phrases, but with a final -IT dropped (SHAKEN OFF):

  • 52A Taylor Swift hit song about defying the haters, and an apt title for this puzzle : SHAKE IT OFF
  • 21A Former spouse who never lets things get awkward? : GRACEFUL EX (from “graceful exit”)
  • 26A Outcome when a salon student makes waves? : LEARNERS PERM (from “learner’s permit”)
  • 46A Luring an academic to the dark side? : TURNING A PROF (from “turning a profit”)

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

Bill’s time: 11m 13s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Frito pie ingredient : CHILI

The full name of the dish that is often called simply “chili” is “chili con carne”, Spanish for “peppers with meat”. The dish was created by immigrants from the Spanish Canary Islands in the city of San Antonio, Texas (a city which the islanders founded). The San Antonio Chili Stand was a popular attraction at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and that stand introduced the dish to the rest of America and to the world.

The oldest known printed recipe for frito pie dates back to 1949, in a Texas publication. Most recipes include chile, cheese and corn chips (usually Fritos), but can also include salsa, refried beans, sour cream, onion, rice and/or jalapeños.

6 Percussion-based theater troupe : STOMP

The marvelous percussion show called “STOMP” is a worldwide success. It originated in Brighton in the south of England in the early 1990s.

14 TV signal part : AUDIO

Scottish inventor John Logie Baird is credited as the inventor of the television. Baird’s invention is classified as a “mechanical” television because it used a mechanical device to scan the scene and generate the video signal. Modern televisions use “electronic” scanning technology. A mechanical scanning device might be a rotating disc or mirror, whereas an electronic scanning device might be a cathode ray tube.

15 SAT prep help, often : TUTOR

Today, the standardized test for admission to colleges is known as the SAT Reasoning Test, but it used to be called the Scholastic Aptitude Test and Scholastic Assessment Test, which led to the abbreviation “SAT”.

16 Like beach volleyball players : TAN

Indoor volleyball was invented in 1895 and was originally called “mintonette”, a reference to the related game of “badminton”. The variant called beach volleyball originated in 1915 on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, but was popularized on the beaches of Santa Monica starting in 1920.

17 Casino array : SLOTS

Slot machines earned the nickname “one-armed bandits” simply because they had “one arm”, the handle pulled to operate the machine. Well, they also rob your money!

25 Streisand film based on a Singer story : YENTL

Isaac Bashevis Singer was a Polish-born American author who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1978. One of Singer’s most celebrated works is a short story titled “Yentl the Yeshiva Boy”. Along with Leah Napolin, he adapted the story into a 1975 stage play “Yentl”. Famously, Barbra Streisand co-wrote a screenplay based on the stage play that was released as a musical movie with the same title in 1983.

26 Outcome when a salon student makes waves? : LEARNERS PERM (from “learner’s permit”)

“Perm” is the common name given to a permanent wave, a chemical or thermal treatment of hair to produce waves or curls.

33 Cleared for takeoff? : DEICED

Deicing is the process of removing snow and ice from a surface. Deicing is particularly important for aircraft operating in freezing conditions. Ice on the surface of a plane can change its aerodynamics, and dislodged ice can cause damage to engines.

34 Low nos. for aces : ERAS

That would be baseball.

38 Many Egyptians : ARABS

The ancient Egyptians had a hieroglyphic name for their country that translated into English as “Black Land”. The suggestion is that this name is a reference to the black, fertile soil that was left on the plains after the flooding of the River Nile.

40 Domino dot : PIP

A pip is a dot on a die or a domino, or a mark on a playing card.

41 Day of the Dead drink : ATOLE

The “Día de Muertos” (Day of the Dead) is a holiday that originated in Mexico, and is now celebrated around the world. It is traditionally celebrated on November 1st and 2nd, and involves family and friends gathering to remember those who have died. Despite the somber nature, the Day of the Dead usually has a joyful tone, as family remembers the happier events and anecdotes associated with the departed.

42 Arizona locale for spring training fans : MESA

The city of Mesa, Arizona is in effect a suburb of Phoenix. The original settlement of non-Native Americans was founded by Daniel Webster Jones who led a Mormon group from St. George, Utah. The settlement was first called Jonesville, then Fort Utah and eventually Lehi. A second group of Mormons arrived and formed a settlement on top of a nearby mesa. It was this use of a mesa that eventually gave the city its current name.

The concept of spring training for Major League Baseball teams originated in the 1880s. The first team to relocate for preseason training was the Chicago White Stockings (now the Chicago Cubs) who traveled to Hot Springs, Arkansas. As a result, Hot Springs is sometimes referred to as the birthplace of spring training baseball.

45 Silent communication sys. : ASL

American Sign Language (ASL)

49 “The City & the City” novelist Miéville : CHINA

China Miéville is an author from England who describes his work as “weird fiction”. His stories often combine elements of fantasy, horror, terror and science fiction.

“The City & the City” is a 2009 novel by China Miéville that combines science fiction and a police procedural. It is about a murder investigation that spans two city-states that occupy the same physical space. The novel was adapted into a short TV series of the same name by the BBC that was first aired in 2018. Sounds intriguing …

51 WSJ news topic : IPO

An initial public offering (IPO) is the very first offer of stock for sale by a company on the open market. In other words, an IPO marks the first time that a company is traded on a public exchange. Companies have an IPO to raise capital to expand (usually).

“The Wall Street Journal” (WSJ) is a daily newspaper with a business bent that is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company. The WSJ has a larger US circulation than any other newspaper, with “USA Today” coming in a close second place.

52 Taylor Swift hit song about defying the haters, and an apt title for this puzzle : SHAKE IT OFF

“Shake It Off” is a 2014 song recorded and composed by Taylor Swift. The song’s title refers to Swift “shaking off” negative comments made by her detractors.

61 Miyazaki’s genre : ANIME

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese film director and animator who specializes in producing anime feature films. Anime is animation in the style of Japanese manga comic books.

64 Four-time Australian Open winner : SELES

Monica Seles has a Hungarian name as she was born to Hungarian parents in former Yugoslavia. Seles was the World No. 1 professional tennis player in 1991 and 1992 before being forced from the sport when she was stabbed by a spectator at a match in 1993. She did return to the game two years later, but never achieved the same level of success.

65 Piano part : PEDAL

Most modern pianos have three pedals. The soft pedal (also “una corda”), sostenuto pedal, and sustaining pedal (also “damper pedal”).

67 Utopias : EDENS

The word “Utopia” was coined by Sir Thomas More in his book “Utopia” published in 1516 to describe an idyllic fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. More’s use of the name Utopia comes from the Greek “ou” meaning “not” and “topos” meaning “place”. By calling his perfect island “Not Place”, More was apparently making the point that he didn’t think that the ideal could actually exist.

Down

1 “Hurt” singer : CASH

I must admit that I am not a big country music fan, but who doesn’t love Johnny Cash? The man had such a unique voice, and indeed unique songs. I think that his biopic, “Walk the Line”, is very cool, as is the title song itself. Recorded back in 1956, “Walk the Line” is relatively creative for “popular” music. The basic rhythm of the song emulates the sound of a freight train, the “boom-chicka-boom” sound. Cash’s guitar has a unique tone to it as it plays this rhythm, achieved by threading a piece of paper between the guitar strings giving the rhythm a bit of a “buzz”. Above the rhythm line, each of the five verses is sung in different keys. You can actually hear Cash hum a note signifying the key change at the start of each verse. With all these modulations, the final verse is sung a full octave lower than the first. A remarkable tune …

“Hurt” is a 1995 song written by Trent Teznor of Nine Inch Nails, and released by the band as a promo single for their album “Downward Spiral”. It was Johnny Cash’s 2002 cover version of “Hurt” that was most successful. Reznor was so impressed by Cash’s recording that he stated “that song isn’t mine anymore”.

2 Dance for a lei person : HULA

The hula is a native dance of Hawaii that uses arm movements to relate a story. The hula can be performed while sitting (a noho dance) or while standing (a luna dance).

“Lei” is a Hawaiian word meaning “garland, wreath”, although in more general terms a lei is any series of objects strung together as an adornment for the body.

3 TV competition, familiarly : IDOL

“American Idol” is a spin-off show that was created after the amazing success of the British television show “Pop Idol”. Aired on Fox from 2002 to 2016, the show “jumped ship” and moved to ABC starting in the 2018 season.

4 Kitten caboodle : LITTER

In the idiomatic expression “the whole kit and caboodle”, “caboodle” (sometimes spelled “kaboodle”) is an informal term describing a bunch of people, or sometimes “the whole lot”.

5 Apple platform : IOS

iOS is what Apple now calls its mobile operating system. Previously, it was known as iPhone OS.

6 With 18-Across, ingredient in five-spice powder : STAR …
18A See 6-Down : … ANISE

Star anise is a spice similar to anise in flavor, even though it is obtained from an evergreen tree native to Vietnam and southwest China that is unrelated to the anise plant. The spice is obtained from the tree’s star-shaped fruits.

7 Fish in salade niçoise : TUNA

A Niçoise salad is known as a “salade niçoise” in its native France, where it was named for the city of Nice in the south of the country. The original contains no cooked vegetables, but here in North America there are almost always included some boiled potatoes.

8 Ear-relevant? : OTIC

Otology is a branch of medicine dealing with the ear. The prefix “oto-” means “pertaining to the ear”.

9 Sauntered : MOSEYED

“Mosey” is American slang for “amble”, and is of unknown origin.

12 Chairperson’s hammer : GAVEL

The small hammer that one raps on a table or desk to call a meeting to order, or perhaps to signify a sale at an auction, is called a gavel. The term “gavel” is actually American English, and is a word that emerged in the early 19th century.

13 Black stone : ONYX

Onyx is a form of quartz that comes in many different shades, but most often it’s the black version that’s used for jewelry. The name “onyx” comes from the Greek word for “fingernail”, as onyx in the flesh color is said to resemble a fingernail.

21 Series set at McKinley High : GLEE

The TV show “Glee” has proven to be very popular. The storyline focuses on a high school glee club in Lima, Ohio called New Directions.

Lima is a city located in northwestern Ohio, about 70 miles north of Dayton. The city is home to the Lima Army Tank Plant, where the M1 Abrams battle tank is produced. Lima is also home to the fictional William McKinley High School that is the setting for the TV series “Glee”.

26 Rich soil : LOAM

Loam is soil made up of sand, silt and clay in the ratio of about 40-40-20. Relative to other soil types, loam is usually rich in nutrients and moisture, drains well and is easy to till. Loam can also be used in constructing houses as it is quite strong when mixed with straw and dried.

27 Word on some European postage stamps : EIRE

“Éire” is the Irish name for Ireland, coming from “Ériu”. Ériu was the matron goddess of Ireland in Irish mythology.

30 Octavia Butler’s genre : SCI-FI

Octavia E. Butler was an author of science fiction whose works were largely written from the perspective of a marginalized black woman. She claimed that her loyal audiences were black readers, feminists and sic-fi fans.

31 “Fast Food My Way” chef Jacques : PEPIN

Jacques Pépin is a celebrity chef. He had a remarkable career in his native France, including working as the personal chef to three heads of state, including Charles de Gaulle. Pépin moved to the US, where he befriended Julia Child. He appeared alongside his American counterpart in the PBS show “Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home”.

39 Dyeing art : BATIK

Genuine batik cloth is produced by applying wax to the parts of the cloth that are not to be dyed. After the cloth has been dyed, it is dried and then dipped in a solvent that dissolves the wax. Although wax-resist dyeing of fabric has existed in various parts of the world for centuries, it is most closely associated historically with the island of Java in Indonesia.

41 PDQ : ASAP

Pretty darn quick (PDQ)

43 Clocked : BRAINED

To clock someone is to hit him or her in the face.

44 “What a long week” sigh : TGIF

“Thank God It’s Friday” (TGIF)

47 Trepidation : UNEASE

Our word “trepidation”, meaning “fear”. comes from the Latin verb “tridare” meaning “to tremble”.

53 Bananagrams piece : TILE

Bananagrams is a fun game that was introduced in 2006. Bananagrams is a little like Scrabble in that letter tiles are used to make interlocking words.

57 Lahore tongue : URDU

Urdu is one of the two official languages of Pakistan (the other being English), and is one of the 22 scheduled languages in India. Urdu partly developed from Persian and is written from right to left.

Lahore is a large city in Pakistan that is second in size only to Karachi. It is known as the Garden of the Mughals (or in English, Moguls) because of its association with the Mughal Empire. The Mughals ruled much of India from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries.

58 Repast : MEAL

Our word “repast”, meaning “meal”. came to us via French (in which language “repas” is “meal”). Ultimately the term comes from the Latin “repascere” meaning “to repeatedly graze”.

59 Hide : PELT

A pelt is the skin of a furry animal.

62 Après-ski option : SPA

“Après-ski” is a French term meaning “after skiing”. It refers to the good times to be had after coming off the slopes.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Frito pie ingredient : CHILI
6 Percussion-based theater troupe : STOMP
11 Back in the day : AGO
14 TV signal part : AUDIO
15 SAT prep help, often : TUTOR
16 Like beach volleyball players : TAN
17 Casino array : SLOTS
18 See 6-Down : … ANISE
19 Trellis growth : IVY
20 “Freeze!” : HALT!
21 Former spouse who never lets things get awkward? : GRACEFUL EX (from “graceful exit”)
23 Serpentine fish : EEL
25 Streisand film based on a Singer story : YENTL
26 Outcome when a salon student makes waves? : LEARNERS PERM (from “learner’s permit”)
32 Holy __ : OIL
33 Cleared for takeoff? : DEICED
34 Low nos. for aces : ERAS
38 Many Egyptians : ARABS
40 Domino dot : PIP
41 Day of the Dead drink : ATOLE
42 Arizona locale for spring training fans : MESA
43 Suits : BEFITS
45 Silent communication sys. : ASL
46 Luring an academic to the dark side? : TURNING A PROF (from “turning a profit”)
49 “The City & the City” novelist Miéville : CHINA
51 WSJ news topic : IPO
52 Taylor Swift hit song about defying the haters, and an apt title for this puzzle : SHAKE IT OFF
56 Cause of inflation? : PUMP
60 “Nailed it!” : YES!
61 Miyazaki’s genre : ANIME
62 Binge : SPREE
63 Snare : NET
64 Four-time Australian Open winner : SELES
65 Piano part : PEDAL
66 Weep : CRY
67 Utopias : EDENS
68 Mature : ADULT

Down

1 “Hurt” singer : CASH
2 Dance for a lei person : HULA
3 TV competition, familiarly : IDOL
4 Kitten caboodle : LITTER
5 Apple platform : IOS
6 With 18-Across, ingredient in five-spice powder : STAR …
7 Fish in salade niçoise : TUNA
8 Ear-relevant? : OTIC
9 Sauntered : MOSEYED
10 Want more : PREFER
11 Listing : ATILT
12 Chairperson’s hammer : GAVEL
13 Black stone : ONYX
21 Series set at McKinley High : GLEE
22 Not fulfilled : UNMET
24 Winds down : ENDS
26 Rich soil : LOAM
27 Word on some European postage stamps : EIRE
28 “That’s a shame” : ALAS
29 Mature : RIPEN
30 Octavia Butler’s genre : SCI-FI
31 “Fast Food My Way” chef Jacques : PEPIN
35 Have a good laugh : ROAR
36 Besides : ALSO
37 Mirror image : SELF
39 Dyeing art : BATIK
41 PDQ : ASAP
43 Clocked : BRAINED
44 “What a long week” sigh : TGIF
47 Trepidation : UNEASE
48 Burst : POPPED
49 Pull (for) : CHEER
50 Impulsive : HASTY
52 Out of __ : SYNC
53 Bananagrams piece : TILE
54 Sign : OMEN
55 Own (up) : FESS
57 Lahore tongue : URDU
58 Repast : MEAL
59 Hide : PELT
62 Après-ski option : SPA

18 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword 22 Apr 22, Friday”

  1. No errors. Tough run. Got the theme ok. Some of the crosses “weirded” me.
    PREFER for want more?
    BRAINED for clocked?
    … and never heard of ATOLE.

    enjoyed it. Rather, enjoyed __.

    1. I understand PREFER (I prefer [want more] chocolate to vanilla ice cream) and agree on BRAINED and ATOLE

  2. No errors but it was “me and Google” solving this one. Didn’t
    get the theme until it was finished, but it was pretty clever.

  3. I thought this was a bit easier than yesterday. No final error and a lot less ink overs than Thursday. I too had never heard of atole, but then again I didn’t ever watch Day of the Dead.

  4. Been taking a little break and see that somehow, I “acquired” a “sister” since I last was here (yes it’s a troll).

    And for those that want to know, 8:18, no errors on this one for me.

    1. You need to review the difference between an obvious prankster (to most people),and a troll.

      1. Never underestimate what the average person will actually believe. For instance, there’s people getting scammed out of their life savings and homes out there because they believe their favorite celebrity is on hard times and asking for money.

  5. 25:45 – no errors or lookups. It was a struggle to complete the middle section. Didn’t know Octavia Butler or Jacques PEPIN. “Suits” has multiple usages (clothes, cards, as a verb). Initially had EBBS instead of ENDS.

    Once I determined that 27D was EIRE and not AIRE, LEARNERS made sense for the clue, which led to ENDS and DEICED; then SCIFI, BEFITS (initially had tRAINED, which filled in PEPIN.

    Other revisions were: COW>OIL, COPTS>ARABS, TRAINED>BRAINED, NAB>NET.

    New items: “Hurt” as a song, ATOLE, Jacques PEPIN, Octavia Spencer genre, Miyazaki, STAR anise.

    Ultimately, I then saw how the theme in 52A was “befitting” of the 3 long answers.

    “Stomp” is an interesting, and energetic, concept show. Very inventive uses of everyday items with which to communicate music.

  6. 12 minutes 26 seconds, and no errors. Nice to get back to a puzzle that is actually solveable. I was expecting another Wechsler outrage today…

  7. @Glenn(da)!

    That was the funniest thing this year, I wonder if Bill got the real ID.

    Regardless, prankster or troll, welcome back!

    Be Well.

  8. 24:15 – lotsa cheats, but I’ll take it for a Friday.

    @Mary S. – “me and Google”, now that’s funny!

    Be Well.

  9. 7:14

    Helpful theme.

    I’ve heard of ATOLE, but never tried it. It’s a sweet, hot drink based on corn masa. Sounds like just the thing for a fall evening.

  10. Bill’s comment about the Chicago cubs being called the white stockings had me doubting him as I thought it was the Chicago white Sox were the white stockings.
    Turns out they were both once called the white stockings.

  11. Got late to this puzzle; took me 38:43 with no peeks or errors, although just barely. I was running on air towards the end with the Taylor Swift song, CHINA, ATOLE, TILE and PREFER, but the words seem to fit and seemed to make at least some sense and then…*bing* I got the banner.

    All in all very fun though, especially since I made it without errors!

Comments are closed.