LA Times Crossword 8 Aug 22, Monday

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Constructed by: Beth Rubin
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: YOLO

As a group, themed answers start with the words “YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE (YOLO)” as we descend the grid:

  • 73A “Carpe diem” acronym spelled out by the starts of the answers to the starred clues : YOLO
  • 20A *”I can’t capture how amazing that was!” : YOU HAD TO BE THERE!
  • 35A *Fallible in very ordinary ways : ONLY HUMAN
  • 46A *Spend extravagantly : LIVE LARGE
  • 57A *Very rarely : ONCE IN A BLUE MOON

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

Bill’s time: 4m 49s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Chocolate dogs : LABS

The Labrador (Lab) breed of dog has been around at least since 1814, and the chocolate Labrador appeared over a century later in the 1930s. The name “Labrador Retriever” is simply a reference to the breed’s origin and behavior. Labs originally “retrieved” from the “Labrador Sea”.

5 Culinary plants : HERBS

Herbs and spices are parts of plants chosen because of their savory or aromatic properties to flavor or garnish dishes. Herbs are usually taken from the leafy or flowering part of a plant, and can be used fresh or dried. Spices are usually dried, and are taken from other parts of a plant, often the seed, bark, root or fruit.

15 Prefix with -phobia : AGORA-

In early Greece, an agora was a place of assembly. The assemblies held there were often quite formal, perhaps for the reading of a proclamation. Later in Greek history, things became less formal as the agora evolved into a marketplace. Our contemporary word “agoraphobia” comes from these agorae, in the sense that an agoraphobe has a fear of open spaces, a fear of “public meeting places”.

17 “The Great Pottery Throw Down” material : CLAY

From what I hear, “The Great Pottery Throw Down” is a very entertaining show made for the BBC in the UK. In a sense, it is a spin-off of “The Great British Bake Off” (“The Great British Baking Show” in North America). HBO Max bought the rights to distribute the show on this side of the Atlantic in 2020.

23 Form 1040 org. : IRS

IRS Form 1040 was originally created just for tax returns from 1913, 1914 and 1915, but it’s a form that just keeps on giving, or should I say “taking” …?

25 Museum-funding org. : NEA

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an agency funded by the federal government that offers support and financing for artistic projects. The NEA was created by an Act of Congress in 1965. Between 1965 and 2008, the NEA awarded over $4 billion to the arts, with Congress authorizing around $170 million annually through the eighties and much of the nineties. That funding was cut to less than $100 million in the late nineties due to pressure from conservatives concerned about the use of funds, but it is now back over the $150 million mark.

The term “museum” comes from the ancient Greek word “mouseion” that denoted a temple dedicated to the “Muses”. The Muses were the patrons of the arts in Greek mythology.

28 College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa : COE

Coe College is a private school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa that was founded in 1851. Coe is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. It was founded in 1851 as the School for Prophets. A farmer named Daniel Coe made a donation of $1,500 towards a campus in Cedar Rapid, but added the requirement that it be a co-educational institution. The school opened as the Cedar Rapids Collegiate Institute, and was renamed as Coe College Institute in 1875 in recognition of the original donation.

40 Country star McEntire : REBA

Reba McEntire is a country music singer and television actress. McEntire starred in her own sitcom “Reba” that aired on the WB and the CW cable channels from 2001 to 2007. She is sometimes referred to as “The Queen of Country”.

41 Divided island of Southeast Asia : TIMOR

Timor is an island in Maritime Southeast Asia. The island is politically divided into West Timor, belonging to Indonesia, and the independent state of East Timor. The name “Timor” comes from a Malay word for “east”, and is used as Timor lies at the eastern end of the Lesser Sunda Islands.

43 Actress Hatcher : TERI

Teri Hatcher’s most famous role is the Susan Mayer character on the TV comedy-drama “Desperate Housewives”. I’ve never seen more than a few minutes of “Housewives” but I do know Teri Hatcher as a Bond girl, as she appeared in “Tomorrow Never Dies”. More recently, she portrayed Lois Lane on the show “Lois & Clark”.

48 Household skills class, for short : HOME EC

Home economics (home ec)

51 Kristen’s “The Good Place” co-star : TED

“The Good Place” is a fantasy-comedy TV show about a woman who wakes up in the afterlife. The woman is played by Kristen Bell, and the afterlife is a heaven-like utopia designed by Michael, an immortal architect portrayed by Ted Danson. I haven’t seen this one …

Actor Ted Danson is noted in particular for three successful roles that he has played on television. He played Sam Malone on the sitcom “Cheers”, the title role on the sitcom “Becker”, and eventually led the cast on the drama series “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”. Danson has been married to actress Mary Steenburgen since 1995.

Actress Kristen Bell’s first major role was playing the title character in the TV show “Veronica Mars”. Her first major film role was also playing a title character, in the 2008 film “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”. Perhaps Bell’s most famous role is as a voice actor, playing Princess Anna in the 2013 Disney hit “Frozen”.

52 “Mean Girls” screenwriter Fey : TINA

Comic actress Tina Fey has a scar on her face a few inches long on her left cheek, which I was shocked to learn was caused by a childhood “slashing” incident. When she was just five years old and playing in the alley behind her house, someone just came up to her and slashed her with a knife. How sad!

“Mean Girls” is a teen comedy movie released in 2004 starring Lindsay Lohan. Tina Fey also puts in an appearance, which really isn’t surprising as Fey wrote the screenplay.

55 Egg cells : OVA

“Ovum” (plural “ova”) is Latin for “egg”.

57 *Very rarely : ONCE IN A BLUE MOON

As there is a full moon once every four weeks, approximately monthly, there are usually twelve full moons in any given year. However, every 2-3 years, depending on the phase of the moon at the beginning of the calendar year, there may be a thirteenth full moon. The “extra” full moon is called a “blue moon”, although no one seems to really know why the term “blue” is used, as far as I can tell. Which of the thirteen full moons that is designated as the blue moon varies depending on tradition. My favorite definition is from the Farmer’s Almanac. It states that as each of the seasons normally has three full moons (one for each calendar month), then the season with four full moons is designated as “special”, then the third (and not the fourth) full moon in that “special” season is the blue moon. Complicated, huh?

66 Water from France : EVIAN

Évian-les-Bains (or simply “Évian”) is in the very east of France, on the shores of Lake Geneva directly across the lake from Lausanne, Switzerland. As one might imagine, Évian is the home of Évian mineral water, the most successful business in town. Personally, I can’t stand the distinctive taste of Évian water …

70 Lively, in mus. : ANIM

As one might expect, the Italian word “animato” is used in a musical score to indicate that one should play “spiritedly”.

71 URL destination : SITE

An Internet address (like NYXCrossword.com and LAXCrossword.com) is more correctly called a uniform resource locator (URL).

72 Coeur d’__, Idaho : ALENE

The city, lake and river in Idaho called Coeur d’Alene are all named for the Coeur d’Alene People, Native Americans who lived in the area when it was first explored by French Canadian fur traders. “Coeur d’Alene” translates from French as “heart of an awl”. The Native American people were given this name as they were perceived as shrewd traders by their Canadian counterparts.

73 “Carpe diem” acronym spelled out by the starts of the answers to the starred clues : YOLO

You only live once (YOLO)

“Carpe diem” is a quotation from Horace, one of ancient Rome’s leading lyric poets. “Carpe diem” translates from Latin as “seize the day” or “enjoy the day”. The satirical motto of a procrastinator is “carpe mañana”, “translating” as “seize tomorrow”.

Down

2 “Alice’s Restaurant” singer Guthrie : ARLO

Arlo Guthrie is the son of Woody Guthrie. Both father and son are renowned for singing protest songs about social injustice. Arlo is most famous for his epic “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree”, a song that lasts a full 18m 34s. In the song Guthrie tells how, after being drafted, he was rejected for service in the Vietnam War based on his criminal record. He had only one incident on his public record, a Thanksgiving Day arrest for littering and being a public nuisance when he was 18-years-old.

3 Sweetheart : BEAU

A beau (plural “beaux”) is the boyfriend of a belle, a young lady. “Beau” and “belle” are the masculine and feminine forms of the French word for “handsome, beautiful”.

5 Distributes, as flyers : HANDS OUT

Fliers are notices that are circulated. The original fliers (also “flyers”) were police bulletins that were “scatter-broadcast”.

6 “Grand slam” earned by Jennifer Hudson, for short : EGOT

The acronym “EGOT” stands for “Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony”, and is a reference to performers who have won all four awards. Also known as the “Showbiz Award Grand Slam”, there are relatively few individuals who have been so honored. The first five to do so were:

  1. Richard Rodgers in 1962
  2. Helen Hayes in 1977
  3. Rita Moreno in 1977
  4. John Gielgud in 1991
  5. Audrey Hepburn in 1994 (posthumously)

Jennifer Hudson is a singer and actress who had her career breakthrough by appearing as a finalist in 2004 on the show “American Idol”. She is the youngest woman to win the “grand slam” of show business (EGOT: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony). Hudson went through a very difficult period in 2008 when her mother, her older sister and her nephew were shot dead by her brother-in-law.

7 Piece in a LEGO helicopter set : ROTOR

Our term “helicopter” was absorbed from the French word “hélicoptère” that was coined by Gustave Ponton d’Amécourt in 1861. d’Amécourt envisioned aircraft that could fly vertically using rotating wings that “screwed” into the air. He combined the Greek terms “helix” meaning “spiral, whirl” and “pteron” meaning “wing” to give us “helicopter”.

Lego is manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company headquartered in Billund, Denmark. The company was founded by a carpenter called Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1934 and the now-famous plastic interlocking blocks were introduced in 1949. The blocks were originally sold under the name “Automatic Binding Bricks” but I think “Lego” is easier to remember! The name “Lego” comes from the Danish term “leg godt” meaning “play well”.

9 Shiny fabric : SATEEN

Sateen is a cotton fabric. It has a weave that is “four over, one under”, meaning that most of the threads come to the surface to give it a softer feel.

10 “Kisses, dahling” : MWAH!

Someone might make the air kiss gesture when leaving, as it tends to be a “goodbye, love you all” kind of move. The person touches the inside of the hand to the mouth, kisses it and “tosses” the kiss to those being from whom he or she is departing. As the hand throws the kiss, the person makes an exaggerated “mwah!” sound. The use of the word “mwah!” has crept into online messaging and texting as a way of bidding farewell.

22 Boxing ref’s calls : TKOS

In boxing, a knockout (KO) is when one of the fighters can’t get up from the canvas within a specified time, usually 10 seconds. This can be due to fatigue, injury, or the participant may be truly “knocked out”. A referee, fighter or doctor may also decide to stop a fight without a physical knockout, especially if there is concern about a fighter’s safety. In this case the bout is said to end with a technical knockout (TKO).

25 Toward the Arctic Circle : NORTH

Lines of latitude are imaginary horizontal lines surrounding the planet. The most “important” lines of latitude are, from north to south:

  • Arctic Circle
  • Tropic of Cancer
  • Equator
  • Tropic of Capricorn
  • Antarctic Circle

26 Month before febrero : ENERO

In Spanish, the month of “febrero” (February) is preceded by “enero” (January).

27 Photo book : ALBUM

The Latin word “album” translates as “white”. Back in the 17th century, public notices and lists of names were written on a board painted white, or in a souvenir book with white pages known as an “albo” (from “album”). Over time, the term “album” came to be used in English for a blank book created to collect signatures or other mementos. By the end of the 19th century, albums were used to collect photographs. The term “album” was applied to long-playing gramophone records in the early 1950s, because the record sleeves resembled large photographic albums.

29 Czech track legend Zátopek : EMIL

Emil Zátopek was a long-distance runner from Czechoslovakia who is best-remembered for winning three gold medals at the 1952 Summer Olympics. He had trained for the 5,000 meter and 10,000 meter events, and won both of them. He then decided to run the first marathon of his life, and won that too!

34 Like tempura : FRIED

Tempura is a style of Japanese cuisine that features seafood, meat and vegetables that have been deep-fried in batter. The use of batter in fried foods was introduced into Japan by the Portuguese in the late 1500s.

36 Ivy League school in Connecticut : YALE

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.

38 __ Scotia : NOVA

The Canadian province of Nova Scotia (NS) lies on the east coast of the country and is a peninsula surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. The area was settled by Scots starting in 1621, and Nova Scotia is Latin for “New Scotland”.

45 Himalayan Bigfoot : YETI

The yeti, also known as the abominable snowman, is a beast of legend. “Yeti” is a Tibetan term, and the beast is fabled to live in the Himalayan regions of Nepal and Tibet. Our equivalent legend in North America is that of Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch. The study of animals whose existence have not yet been substantiated is called cryptozoology, and a cryptid is a creature or plant that isn’t recognized by the scientific community, but the existence of which has been suggested.

The sasquatch or bigfoot is our North American equivalent of the yeti, the ape-like creature said to inhabit the Himalayas. Bigfoot is supposedly hiding out mainly in the Pacific Northwest of North America.

53 __ orange : NAVEL

Navel oranges are the ones with the small second fruit that grows at the base, at the “navel”. The navel orange has been traced back to a single mutation that took place in an orange tree in Brazil many years ago. The mutation also rendered the fruit seedless and hence sterile, so it is propagated using grafts.

56 Multilevel marketing giant : AMWAY

Founded in 1959, Amway is still going strong. It is one of the largest privately-held companies in the United States, with sales of around $8 billion and about 13,000 employees.

58 Edible seaweed : NORI

Nori is an edible seaweed that we used to know as “laver” when we were living in Wales. Nori is usually dried into thin sheets. Here in the US, we are most familiar with nori as the seaweed used as a wrap for sushi.

59 Parka, e.g. : COAT

A parka is a hooded jacket that is often lined with fur, and that is worn in cold weather. The original parka was a pullover design, but nowadays it is usually zipped at the front. “Parka” is the Russian name for the garment, and it was absorbed into English in the late 1700s via the Aleut language.

63 Trompe l’__: optical illusion : OEIL

“Trompe l’oeil” is a technique in art that creates the optical illusion that a drawn object exists in three dimensions. “Trompe-l’oeil” is French for “deceive the eye”.

64 Missing fish in a Pixar film : NEMO

“Finding Nemo” is a 2003 animated blockbuster from Pixar. The film was the winner of the Oscar that year for Best Animated Feature. Believe it or not, “Finding Nemo” is the best-selling DVD of all time and, until 2010’s “Toy Story 3”, it was the highest-grossing, G-rated movie at the box office.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Chocolate dogs : LABS
5 Culinary plants : HERBS
10 “Ready for my cat treat!” : MEOW!
14 Zone : AREA
15 Prefix with -phobia : AGORA-
16 Surfer’s swell : WAVE
17 “The Great Pottery Throw Down” material : CLAY
18 Tag player’s cry : NOT IT!
19 State firmly : AVER
20 *”I can’t capture how amazing that was!” : YOU HAD TO BE THERE!
23 Form 1040 org. : IRS
24 Smell awful : REEK
25 Museum-funding org. : NEA
28 College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa : COE
30 Doze : NOD OFF
35 *Fallible in very ordinary ways : ONLY HUMAN
39 Enjoy with relish : SAVOR
40 Country star McEntire : REBA
41 Divided island of Southeast Asia : TIMOR
43 Actress Hatcher : TERI
44 With sincerity : TRULY
46 *Spend extravagantly : LIVE LARGE
48 Household skills class, for short : HOME EC
50 “That’s __-brainer!” : A NO
51 Kristen’s “The Good Place” co-star : TED
52 “Mean Girls” screenwriter Fey : TINA
55 Egg cells : OVA
57 *Very rarely : ONCE IN A BLUE MOON
65 Winter fabric : WOOL
66 Water from France : EVIAN
67 “What fun!” : WHEE!
68 Periods of time : ERAS
69 First responder : MEDIC
70 Lively, in mus. : ANIM
71 URL destination : SITE
72 Coeur d’__, Idaho : ALENE
73 “Carpe diem” acronym spelled out by the starts of the answers to the starred clues : YOLO

Down

1 Full of frills : LACY
2 “Alice’s Restaurant” singer Guthrie : ARLO
3 Sweetheart : BEAU
4 Greet casually, with “to” : SAY HI …
5 Distributes, as flyers : HANDS OUT
6 “Grand slam” earned by Jennifer Hudson, for short : EGOT
7 Piece in a LEGO helicopter set : ROTOR
8 Illegal payoff : BRIBE
9 Shiny fabric : SATEEN
10 “Kisses, dahling” : MWAH!
11 Gutter locale : EAVE
12 Eggs __ easy : OVER
13 Used to be : WERE
21 Curved part of a foot : ARCH
22 Boxing ref’s calls : TKOS
25 Toward the Arctic Circle : NORTH
26 Month before febrero : ENERO
27 Photo book : ALBUM
29 Czech track legend Zátopek : EMIL
31 Spreadsheet input : DATA
32 Out in the open : OVERT
33 Make a fake of : FORGE
34 Like tempura : FRIED
36 Ivy League school in Connecticut : YALE
37 “__ dreaming?” : AM I
38 __ Scotia : NOVA
42 Give up formally : RENOUNCE
45 Himalayan Bigfoot : YETI
47 Rom-com subject : LOVE
49 Movie house : CINEMA
53 __ orange : NAVEL
54 Put up with : ABIDE
56 Multilevel marketing giant : AMWAY
57 Has bills to pay : OWES
58 Edible seaweed : NORI
59 Parka, e.g. : COAT
60 Alternatively : ELSE
61 Reclined : LAIN
62 Dismayed cry : OH NO!
63 Trompe l’__: optical illusion : OEIL
64 Missing fish in a Pixar film : NEMO