LA Times Crossword 15 Dec 22, Thursday

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Constructed by: Ed Sessa
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Good Ol’ Puzzle

Themed answers are common phrases with ending with an “-ole” sound (as in “mole”), but that word has been changed to a homophone:

  • 18A K-pop, e.g.? : SEOUL MUSIC (from “soul music”)
  • 62A Survey of hairdressers? : BARBER POLL (from “barber pole”)
  • 4D Golfer who’s too afraid to make a putt? : HOLE CHICKEN (from “whole chicken”)
  • 27D 1982 film job that kept an actor on his heels? : TOOTSIE ROLE (from “Tootsie Roll”)

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

Bill’s time: 8m 06s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Indulge the munchies : NOSH

Our word “nosh” has been around since the late fifties, when it was imported from the Yiddish word “nashn” meaning “to nibble”. We use “nosh” as a noun that means “snack”, or as a verb meaning “to eat between meals”.

5 French friends : AMIS

A male friend in France is “un ami”, and a female friend is “une amie”.

9 “It’s Good” root beer brand : BARQ’S

When the Barq Brothers decided to go into the root beer business around 1900, they were faced with a dilemma as the Hires Root Beer Company was attempting to trademark the term “root beer”. So, the Barqs produced their beverage and called it simply Barq’s. They did indeed keep things simple, with an early advertising slogan of “Drink Barq’s. It’s good.” As the trademark issue dissipated, the company then introduced a slogan “Is it root beer?” before finally “coming out” and calling their drink “Barq’s root beer”.

14 Miami River locale : OHIO

The Great Miami River is a tributary of the Ohio River found in the southwest of Ohio. It is named for the Miami Native American people who lived in the area. By the way, the Miami River in Florida, which gives its name to the famous city, is named for the Mayaimi Native American people who lived in that region.

15 Knucklehead : BOZO

The unsavory word “bozo” describes a person with a low IQ, and someone who is usually quite muscular. The term has been used since the early 1900s, and possibly comes from the Spanish “bozal” that was used to describe someone who spoke Spanish poorly.

17 Pedestrian street : MALL

Surprisingly (to me!), our word “mall”, meaning “shady walk” or “enclosed shopping space”, comes from the Italian for “mallet”. All of our shopping-style malls are named for “The Mall” in St. James’s Park in London. This tree-lined promenade was so called as it used to be a famous spot to play the croquet-like game called “pall-mall”. The game derived its name from the Italian for ball (palla) and mallet “maglio”. The London thoroughfare called the Mall still exists, at one end of which is Buckingham Palace. Indeed, parallel to the Mall is a street called Pall Mall.

18 K-pop, e.g.? : SEOUL MUSIC (from “soul music”)

Seoul is the capital city of South Korea. The Seoul National Capital Area is home to over 25 million people and is the second largest metropolitan area in the world, second only to Tokyo, Japan.

K-pop (Korean pop) is a genre of music from South Korea that emerged in the early nineties.

20 Cat voiced by Debra Messing in “Garfield: The Movie” : ARLENE

“Garfield: The Movie” is a 2004 live-action adaptation of the “Garfield” comic strip by Jim Davis. Bill Murray plays the title character. Murray was given some leeway when recording his dialog. He did so in his own apartment in New York City, and on set in Greece while filming “The Life of the Aquatic with Steve Zissou”.

22 Lackluster : DRAB

Something described as lackluster is dull, it “lacks luster”. The term “lack-luster” was probably coined by the Bard himself. William Shakespeare used is in his play “As You Like It”, which was probably written in 1599:

And then he drew a dial from his poke
And, looking on it with lackluster eye,
Says very wisely, “It is ten o’clock.

37 Preserve, in a way : CURE

Salt is used to “cure” meats. Curing is a preservation process. The salt kills and inhibits the growth of microorganisms by sucking the water out of the microbe’s cells in the process of osmosis. Smoking is also cited as a curing process, although smoking alone is insufficient for preserving food as the antimicrobial smoke compounds only adhere to the outside of the meat or fish. Smoking is usually combined with salt-curing or drying.

40 Desktop since 1998 : IMAC

When Apple chose the letter “I” prefix for the iMac in 1998, that letter “I” stood for “Internet”. Steve Jobs and his marketing team followed up with the message that I also stood for “individual, instruct, inform and inspire”.

43 NPR’s Tiny __ Concerts : DESK

NPR’s “Tiny Desk Concerts” is a series of live concerts recorded (with video) at the desk of Bob Boilen, host of “All Songs Considered”. The show came about after Boilen left a South by Southwest festival frustrated at not being able to hear the music over the noise of the crowd. One of the acts at the festival was folk singer Laura Gibson. Boilen arranged with Gibson to repeat her performance at his desk a month later, so that he could record it and post it online. The name “Tiny Desk Concert” was used as Boilen played in a band named “Tiny Desk Unit” from 1979 to1981. That first recording was made in 2008, and artists have been making similar recordings ever since then. The list of artists performing live at the Tiny Desk includes Coldplay, Pat Benetar, BTS, Tom Jones and Alicia Keys. Great Stuff …

44 “Watchmen” comic book writer Moore : ALAN

Alan Moore is an English writer of “graphic novels”, a term that Moore himself introduced in order to differentiate his work from “comic books”.

45 Places of refuge : ASYLA

Asylum (plural “asyla”) is a Latin word meaning “sanctuary”.

48 Torah teacher : RABBI

The word “Torah” best translates as “teaching”, I am told.

The Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, are traditionally believed to have been written by Moses. As such, they are sometimes referred to as the Law of Moses, or Mosaic Law. Those five books are:

  • Bereshit/Genesis
  • Shemot/Exodus
  • Vayikra/Leviticus
  • Bamidbar/Numbers
  • Devarim/Deuteronomy

61 Rio Grande city : LAREDO

Laredo is a border city in Texas that is situated on the banks of the Rio Grande, across the border from Nuevo Laredo in Mexico.

62 Survey of hairdressers? : BARBER POLL (from “barber pole”)

Barbers originally offered a wide range of services, including surgery. Back in the Middle Ages, one of the primary services offered was bloodletting. The red and white sign outside a barber’s place of business represented bloody bandages wrapped around a pole. Henry VIII restricted barbers to just haircutting … and dentistry. Our term “barber” comes to us via Anglo-French from the Latin “barba” meaning “beard”.

66 Perrier rival : 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 …

67 Shallowest Great Lake : ERIE

Lake Erie is the fourth-largest of the five Great Lakes by area (Lake Ontario is the smallest). The lake takes its name from the Erie tribe of Native Americans that used to live along its southern shore. Erie is the smallest of the Great Lakes by volume and the shallowest, something for which nearby residents must be quite grateful. Being relatively shallow, much of Erie freezes over part way through most winters putting an end to most of the lake-effect snow that falls in the snow belt extending from the lake’s edge.

68 Euro forerunners : LIRE

The word “lira” is used in a number of countries for currency. “Lira” comes from the Latin for “pound” and is derived from the British pound sterling, the value of a Troy pound of silver. For example, the lira (plural “lire”) was the official currency of Italy before the country changed over to the euro in 2002.

Down

2 One end of the Chicago L’s Blue Line : O’HARE

Chicago’s Blue Line is a 27-mile long “L” line that connects the Forest Park suburb to O’Hare International Airport, passing through downtown. The Blue Line is one of only two routes in Chicago on which trains operate 24 hours a day.

3 Soprano dubbed “America’s Queen of Opera” by Time magazine : SILLS

Beverly Sills was an operatic soprano from Brooklyn, New York. Sills retired from singing in 1980 to become the general manager of the New York City Opera. She later became chairwoman of the Lincoln Center and the Metropolitan Opera.

6 Server of Duff beer in Springfield : MOE

The regulars on “The Simpsons” hang out at Moe’s Tavern, which is named for and run by Moe Szyslak. The most popular beer at Moe’s is Duff Beer. The name “Duff” is a reference to the real-life Duffy’s Tavern that used to be East 13th Street in Eugene, Oregon. “The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening used to frequent Duffy’s regularly, and Moe’s looks very much like Duffy’s in terms of decor and floor plan.

“The Simpsons” television show is meant to be set in “Anytown, USA”. The creators chose the name “Springfield”, as it is one of most common town and city names in the country.

7 Polo brand : IZOD

Jack Izod was a tailor of some repute over in England producing shirts for King George V, as well as other members of the Royal Family. As Izod was about to retire, he was approached for the use of his name by an American clothing manufacturer based in New York. The brand Izod of London was introduced to America in 1938.

René Lacoste was a French tennis player who went into the clothing business, and came up with a more comfortable shirt that players could use. This became known as a “tennis shirt”. When it was adopted for use in the sport of polo, the shirts also became known as “polo shirts”. The “golf shirt” is basically the same thing. The Lacoste line of clothing features a crocodile logo, because René was nicknamed “The Crocodile”.

9 Panda fare : BAMBOO

The grass known as bamboo is one of the fastest-growing plants in the world. Sadly, there are stories of growing bamboo being used as a device of torture. Supposedly, a victim can be staked out over bamboo shoots so that the shoots grow into the human flesh. Theoretically, bamboo can grow several inches in just three days.

The giant panda is a bear, and so has the digestive system of a carnivore. However, the panda lives exclusively on bamboo, even though its gut is relatively poorly adapted to extract nutrients from plants per se. The panda relies on microbes in its gut to digest cellulose, and consumes 20-30 pounds of bamboo each day to gain enough nourishment.

10 __ Dhabi : ABU

Abu Dhabi is one of the seven Emirates that make up the federation known as the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The two largest members of the UAE (geographically) are Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the only two of the seven members that have veto power over UAE policy. Before 1971, the UAE was a British Protectorate, a collection of sheikdoms. The sheikdoms entered into a maritime truce with Britain in 1835, after which they became known as the Trucial States, derived from the word “truce”.

11 Tabula __ : RASA

Tabula rasa (plural “tabulae rasae”) is the idea that people are born with a “blank, clean slate”, and that knowledge comes from experience and perception. “Tabula rasa” translates literally from Latin as “scraped tablet”.

12 Makeup kit item : Q-TIP

Cotton swabs were originally marketed under the name “Baby Gays”. This was changed in 1926 to “Q-Tips”, with the Q standing for “quality”.

25 Tattoo alternative for the squeamish : DECAL

A decal is a decorative sticker. “Decal” is a shortening of “decalcomania”. The latter term is derived from the French “décalquer”, the practice of tracing a pattern from paper onto glass or perhaps porcelain.

27 1982 film job that kept an actor on his heels? : TOOTSIE ROLE (from “Tootsie Roll”)

“Tootsie” is a hilarious 1982 comedy starring Dustin Hoffman in the title role, a male actor who adopts a female identity in order to land an acting job. Jessica Lange won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance in the film. “Tootsie” also provided Geena Davis with her first movie role.

Tootsie Rolls were developed by an Austrian candy maker called Leo Hirschfeld in New York City in 1896. Hirschfeld named the candy after his daughter, who had the nickname “Tootsie”. A couple of derivative products have become quite popular, namely Tootsie Pops and Tootsie Roll Midgees.

29 Rock candy, essentially : SUGAR

Rock candy comprises extra large crystals of sugar. It is made by growing sugar crystals in a supersaturated solution of sugar and water, just like we all did in science class at school, remember?

31 “Iliad” city : TROY

The ancient city of Troy was located on the west coast of modern-day Turkey. The Trojan War of Greek mythology was precipitated by the elopement of Helen, the wife of the king of Sparta, with Paris of Troy. The war itself largely consisted of a nine-year siege of Troy by the Greeks. We know most about the final year of that siege, as it is described extensively in Homer’s “Iliad”. The city eventually fell when the Greeks hid soldiers inside the Trojan Horse, which the Trojans brought inside the city’s walls. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts …

33 Purnell of “Yellowjackets” : ELLA

Ella Purnell is an actress from London, now living in the US, whom I perhaps know best for playing Winston Churchill’s secretary in the 2017 film “Churchill”.

“Yellowjackets” sounds like an interesting TV show. It is about four teenage girls who survive a plane crash, and have to live for nineteenth months alone in the Canadian wilderness. While this story unfolds in the show, we also track their lives as adults, 25 years later.

34 Laundry detergent in an orange container : TIDE

Tide is a laundry detergent that has been made by Procter & Gamble since 1946. Back then, Tide was marketed as “America’s Washday Favorite”.

36 Playbill list : CAST

I get quite a kick out of reading the bios in “Playbill” as some of them can be really goofy and entertaining. “Playbill” started off in 1884 in New York as an in-house publication for just one theater on 21st St. You can’t see any decent-sized production these days anywhere in the United States without being handed a copy of “Playbill”.

38 Kidney related : RENAL

Something described as renal is related to the kidneys. “Ren” is the Latin word for “kidney”.

41 Church leader : PASTOR

A pastor is a minister or priest in some Christian traditions. “Pastor” is the Latin word for “shepherd”.

45 “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” pop group : ABBA

“Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)” is a 1979 hit for the Swedish group ABBA. The album and single version released generally around the world is 4:48 in length. The single version released in North America was edited down drastically to 3:36.

47 Flemish artist Peter Paul __ : RUBENS

Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish painter who worked in the city of Antwerp in Belgium. Rubens was knighted by two monarchs: Philip IV of Spain, and Charles I of England. When Rubens was 53-years-old, four years after the death of his first wife, he married a 16-year-old girl. It was his young second wife who inspired many of the voluptuous figures with whom Rubens became associated later in his career.

49 Sent an invoice to : BILLED

An invoice is an itemized bill. The term comes from the Middle French “envois” meaning “dispatch (of goods)”. The root verb is “envoyer”, which translates as “to send”.

55 Actress Sophia : LOREN

Sophia Loren certainly has earned her exalted position in the world of movies. In 1962 Loren won an Oscar for Best Actress for her role in the Italian film “Two Women”, marking the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English speaking performance. She received a second nomination for Best Actress for her role in “Marriage Italian-Style”, another Italian-language movie, released in 1964.

56 Stand watch for, say : ABET

The word “abet” comes into English from the Old French “abeter” meaning “to bait” or “to harass with dogs” (literally “to make bite”). This sense of encouraging something bad to happen morphed into our modern usage of “abet” meaning to aid or encourage someone in a crime.

58 Kardashian matriarch : KRIS

Kris Kardashian is the matriarch of the Kardashian clan. She was married to the lawyer Robert Kardashian who was one of O. J. Simpson’s lawyers in his 1995 murder trial. The couple divorced in 1990 and Kris then married the celebrated decathlete from the 1976 Olympic Games, Bruce Jenner. That marriage ended in divorce as well, in 2015.

63 Carlsbad Caverns dweller : BAT

Carlsbad Cavern is the show cave in Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southeastern New Mexico. The chamber called the Big Room in Carlsbad Cavern is the fifth largest underground chamber in North America. It is estimated that a million bats live in the park’s cave systems.

64 “In the Heights” creator __-Manuel Miranda : LIN

“In the Heights” is a musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda that opened on Broadway in 2008, and won the Best Musical Tony that season. John Chu directed a big-screen adaptation released in 2021. The title is a reference to the Washington Heights neighborhood in New York City.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Indulge the munchies : NOSH
5 French friends : AMIS
9 “It’s Good” root beer brand : BARQ’S
14 Miami River locale : OHIO
15 Knucklehead : BOZO
16 Lose strength : ABATE
17 Pedestrian street : MALL
18 K-pop, e.g.? : SEOUL MUSIC (from “soul music”)
20 Cat voiced by Debra Messing in “Garfield: The Movie” : ARLENE
22 Lackluster : DRAB
23 Suitable : APT
24 Come down : DESCEND
26 Catch sight of : SPOT
28 Cannot stand : HATES
30 Give comfort to : SOOTHE
34 Implied : TACIT
37 Preserve, in a way : CURE
39 Vocalized : ORAL
40 Desktop since 1998 : IMAC
41 Leaves in the library : PAGES
42 Work long and hard : TOIL
43 NPR’s Tiny __ Concerts : DESK
44 “Watchmen” comic book writer Moore : ALAN
45 Places of refuge : ASYLA
46 Jumps in : ENTERS
48 Torah teacher : RABBI
50 “Darn it!” : NUTS!
52 Generous : LIBERAL
56 “Fire away” : ASK
59 Fighting chance? : BOUT
61 Rio Grande city : LAREDO
62 Survey of hairdressers? : BARBER POLL (from “barber pole”)
65 Sign to take out the trash : ODOR
66 Perrier rival : EVIAN
67 Shallowest Great Lake : ERIE
68 Euro forerunners : LIRE
69 Dry runs : TESTS
70 Rip to bits : REND
71 Unimprovable place : EDEN

Down

1 One without a permanent address : NOMAD
2 One end of the Chicago L’s Blue Line : O’HARE
3 Soprano dubbed “America’s Queen of Opera” by Time magazine : SILLS
4 Golfer who’s too afraid to make a putt? : HOLE CHICKEN (from “whole chicken”)
5 Missing : ABSENT
6 Server of Duff beer in Springfield : MOE
7 Polo brand : IZOD
8 Turns in a bad way : SOURS
9 Panda fare : BAMBOO
10 __ Dhabi : ABU
11 Tabula __ : RASA
12 Makeup kit item : Q-TIP
13 Offshoot group : SECT
19 Runs out : LAPSES
21 Clutter-free : NEAT
25 Tattoo alternative for the squeamish : DECAL
27 1982 film job that kept an actor on his heels? : TOOTSIE ROLE (from “Tootsie Roll”)
29 Rock candy, essentially : SUGAR
31 “Iliad” city : TROY
32 Heavy downpour? : HAIL
33 Purnell of “Yellowjackets” : ELLA
34 Laundry detergent in an orange container : TIDE
35 “That’s so true!” : AMEN!
36 Playbill list : CAST
38 Kidney related : RENAL
41 Church leader : PASTOR
45 “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” pop group : ABBA
47 Flemish artist Peter Paul __ : RUBENS
49 Sent an invoice to : BILLED
51 Splendid : SUPER
53 Made over : REDID
54 Put on a pedestal : ADORE
55 Actress Sophia : LOREN
56 Stand watch for, say : ABET
57 Squirrel away : SAVE
58 Kardashian matriarch : KRIS
60 Moved fast : TORE
63 Carlsbad Caverns dweller : BAT
64 “In the Heights” creator __-Manuel Miranda : LIN