LA Times Crossword 8 Feb 23, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Drew Schmenner
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): ZZ Vowel

Themed answers end with a ZZ-vowel sound, with the vowel progressing as we descend the grid:

  • 18A Small dog with a French name : BICHON FRISE (ZZ-A, sounds like “zay”)
  • 23A Stopped worrying : RESTED EASY (ZZ-E, sounds like “zee”)
  • 41A Education activist who is the youngest Nobel Prize laureate : MALALA YOUSAFZAI (ZZ-I, sounds like “zigh”)
  • 54A Leader of the Pink Ladies in “Grease” : BETTY RIZZO (ZZ-O, sounds like “zoh”)
  • 64A To a great extent, informally : OUT THE WAZOO (ZZ-U, sounds like “zoo”)

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

Bill’s time: 7m 45s

Bill’s errors: 3

  • OUT THE WAZOO (out the yazoo)
  • EMEND (amend)
  • ELWES (Elyas!!)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

9 Marshmallow treats : PEEPS

Peeps are marshmallow candies, usually in the shapes of chicks and bunnies, primarily sold around the Easter holiday. Peeps were introduced in 1952 by a Russian immigrant called Sam Born whose company “Just Born” makes the candies to this day. The original candies were yellow and hand-shaped to look like little chicks, hence the name “Peeps”.

15 Rock’s __ in Chains : ALICE

Alice in Chains (AIC) is a rock band that formed in 1987 in Seattle.

16 “The Martian” star : DAMON

Matt Damon is an actor and screenwriter from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Damon’s big break came with the 1997 movie “Good Will Hunting”, in which he starred. He co-wrote the screenplay with his childhood friend Ben Affleck.

“The Martian” is an intriguing 2015 science fiction film starring Matt Damon as an astronaut who is accidentally stranded on Mars. The movie is based on a 2011 novel of the same name by Andy Weir. One thing that I liked about the film is that the science cited is fairly realistic. In fact, NASA collaborated with the filmmakers extensively from script development to principal casting.

17 Earth __ : DAY

Earth Day was founded in the US, where it was introduced by Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. Earth Day was designed to increase awareness and appreciation of our planet’s natural environment. The original Earth Day was on April 22nd, 1970. Decades later, the day is observed in over 175 countries.

18 Small dog with a French name : BICHON FRISE (ZZ-A, sounds like “zay”)

The breed of dog known as a bichon frisé is characteristically small and fluffy. The name of the breed comes from the French phrase “bichon à poil frisé” meaning “small dog with curly hair”.

26 Isr. neighbor : SYR

The modern state that we know as Syria was established after WWI as a French mandate. Syria was granted independence from France in 1946.

31 Blue-green hue : TEAL

The beautiful color teal takes its name from the duck called a teal, which has dark greenish-blue (teal) markings on its head and wings.

37 Canterbury pens : GAOLS

Both “jail” and “gaol” are pronounced the same way, mean the same thing, and are rooted in the same Latin word for “cave”. The spelling “gaol” is seen quite often in the UK, although it is gradually being replaced with “jail”. The “gaol” spelling has Norman roots and tends to be used in Britain in more formal documentation.

Canterbury is a city in the southeast of England, in the county of Kent. Canterbury is famous for Canterbury Cathedral where Thomas Becket was murdered in 1170, making it a pilgrimage destination for Christians. It was one of these pilgrimages that was the inspiration for Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales” written in the 14th century.

41 Education activist who is the youngest Nobel Prize laureate : MALALA YOUSAFZAI (ZZ-I, sounds like “zigh”)

“I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban” is a memoir co-written by Malala Yousafzai and British journalist Christina Lamb. The title tells the essence of Malala’s story. She started a blog when she was 11 or 12 that outlined her life in northwest Pakistan under occupation by the Taliban. As the Pakistani military regained control of the area, Malala’s story was related in a documentary and she gave frequent interviews. One day a gunman came looking for her, and found her on a school bus. He shot Malala three times, with one bullet going into her forehead. She survived, and was taken to England to recuperate. She was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 at the age of 17, making her the youngest ever Nobel laureate.

45 Barbecue rod : SPIT

It is believed that our word “barbecue” (BBQ) comes from the Taíno people of the Caribbean in whose language “barbacoa” means “sacred fire pit”.

46 Cough syrup amts. : TSPS

Teaspoon (tsp.)

51 Quinceañera attendee, maybe : TIO

In Spanish, a “tio” (uncle) is a “miembro de la familia” (member of the family).

“Quinceañera” is a celebration of a girl’s fifteenth birthday, and is an event common in many parts of Latin America.

54 Leader of the Pink Ladies in “Grease” : BETTY RIZZO (ZZ-O, sounds like “zoh”)

“Grease” was, and still is, a very successful stage musical. In the story, the leader of “The Pink Ladies” is Betty Rizzo, who is played by Stockard Channing in the blockbuster film version of the play.

60 Out early : ON PAROLE

“Parole” is a French word that we use in English, with the French “parole” meaning “word, speech”. Of particular interest is the French phrase “parole d’honneur” which translates as “word of honor”. In the early 1600s we started using “parole” to mean a promise by a prisoner of war not to escape, as in the prisoner giving his “word of honor” not to run off. Over time, parole has come to mean conditional release of a prisoner before he or she has served the full term of a sentence.

63 Tatum of “Paper Moon” : O’NEAL

Tatum O’Neal is the youngest actress to win a competitive Oscar. She won the Best Supporting Actress Award in 1974 when she was just 10 years old, for her role as Addie in “Paper Moon”. The youngest person to win an honorary Academy Award was Shirley Temple, who was only 5 years old when she was presented with an Oscar in 1934.

“Paper Moon” is a 1973 comedy film that tells the story of a father and daughter during the Great Depression. The onscreen father and daughter are played by real-life father and daughter Ryan and Tatum O’Neal. The original choices for the lead roles were Paul Newman and his daughter Nell Potts, but they left the project after director John Huston also dropped out.

64 To a great extent, informally : OUT THE WAZOO (ZZ-U, sounds like “zoo”)

The slang term “up the wazoo” means “to have plenty”. It’s pretty vulgar slang and is a specific anatomical reference, so I don’t think it really belongs in a crossword …

69 Rework, as text : EMEND

The verb “to amend” means “to change for the better, put right, alter by adding”. The related verb “to emend” is used more rarely, and mainly in reference to the editing of professional writing. Both terms are derived from the Latin “emendare” meaning “to remove fault”.

70 Beats by __ : DRE

Beats by Dre is a brand of audio products made by Beats Electronics, a company that was co-founded by rapper Dr. Dre. Apple bought Beats for $3 billion in 2014, the largest acquisition by far in the company’s history.

71 Dye used in mehndi decoration : HENNA

Henna has been used for centuries as a dye, for leather and wool as well as hair and skin. In modern days, henna is often used for temporary tattoos.

In the Indian subcontinent, mehndi is a form of temporary body art in which designs are drawn on the hands or legs.

73 __ Lingus : AER

Aer Lingus is my favorite airline! Well, the service isn’t that great, but when I get on board an Aer Lingus plane I feel like I am back in Ireland. Aer Lingus is the national airline of Ireland, with “Aer Lingus” being a phonetic spelling of the Irish “aer-loingeas” meaning “air fleet”. These days Aer Lingus can only lay claim to the title of Ireland’s oldest airline as it is no longer the biggest. That honor goes to the controversial budget airline Ryanair.

Down

1 The “B” of “Notorious RBG” : BADER

The 2015 book “Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg” was co-written by Shana Knizhnik and Iris Carmon. Knizhnik had previously authored a “Notorious R.B.G” blog. The moniker “Notorious RBG” is reminiscent of the name of rap star the Notorious B.I.G.

3 Georgetown athletes : HOYAS

The athletic teams of Georgetown University are known as the Hoyas. The name is derived from “Hoya Saxa”, a traditional cheer yelled out at Georgetown games as far back as 1893. The term is a mixture of Greek and Latin, with the Greek word “hoya” meaning “such” or “what”, and “saxa” translating from Latin as “rocks” or “small stones”. The cheer is usually rendered in English as “what rocks!”.

5 Wong of “Always Be My Maybe” : ALI

Ali Wong is a stand-up comedian from San Francisco who is a protégé of Chris Rock. She made two very successful Netflix stand-up specials “Baby Cobra” and “Hard Knock Wife”. She also worked as a writer for the hit sitcom “Fresh Off the Boat”.

“Always Be My Maybe” is a 2019 romantic comedy film starring Ali Wong and Randall Park. The pair play two people who are reunited as adults after having experienced a romantic fling as teenagers that had ended badly. Keanu Reeves has an interesting supporting role in the movie playing himself, and a love interest for the female lead.

6 Selfie, e.g. : PIC

A selfie is a self-portrait, one usually taken with a digital camera or cell phone. A “group selfie” is sometimes referred to as a “groufie” or “wefie”. A “couple selfie” is known as an “usie” or “ussie”, although those terms are sometimes also used for a group picture.

7 Golfer Lorena : OCHOA

Lorena Ochoa is a retired professional golfer from Mexico who was ranked as the number one female golfer in the world from 2007 to 2010.

9 Versatile docs : PDFS

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format introduced by Adobe Systems in 1993. PDF documents can be shared between users and read using many different applications and platforms, making them more universally accessible than documents saved by one particular program.

10 Wyatt of the Old West : EARP

Wyatt Earp is famous as one of the participants in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Earp was a city policeman in Wichita, Kansas and also in Dodge City, Kansas. Earp was also deputy sheriff in Tombstone, Arizona where the O.K. Corral gunfight took place. Years later, Earp joined the Alaska Gold Rush and with a partner built and operated the Dexter Saloon in Nome.

11 Dubai rulers : EMIRS

Dubai 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.

12 Seven-time MLB All-Star catcher Buster : POSEY

Buster Posey is a catcher and first baseman who was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the 2008 MLB draft. “Buster” was born Gerald Posey in Leesburg, Georgia.

24 Target of some miners : DATA

The process of data mining is used to extract information from a database and present it in a form that facilitates further use.

25 Some TikTok teens : E-BOYS

E-girls and e-boys (maybe “e-kids”) may spend a lot of time on social media, especially TikTok, hence the use of the prefix “e-”.

TikTok is a video-sharing service that is based in China, and is very popular with the younger set I am told). The TikTok mobile app provides tools facilitating production of sophisticated selfie videos that use special effects.

29 Ottoman title : AGA

“Aga” (also “agha”) is a title that was used by both civil and military officials in the Ottoman Empire.

Osman I was the man who established the Ottoman Dynasty, with “Ottoman” coming from the name “Osman”. This is despite the fact that the “Ottoman Empire” came about with the conquest of Constantinople, and that didn’t happen until almost 130 years after Osman I died.

31 “You’ve shared enough!” : TMI!

Too much information (TMI)

32 AirPod holder : EAR

AirPods are Apple’s line of bluetooth earpods. When AirPods were introduced in 2016, the market reacted with some skepticism. The left and right AirPods are not connected by any wire, so there was concern that individual earbuds could fall out of the ear, and possibly get lost. Another concern is Apple’s stated intent to abandon the wired headphone socket on new iPhone models.

33 Pie __ mode : A LA

In French, “à la mode” simply means “fashionable”. In America, the term has also come to describe a way of serving pie. Pie served à la mode includes a dollop of cream or ice cream, or as I recall from my time living in Upstate New York, with a wedge of cheddar cheese.

35 Swiffer product : MOP

Swiffer is a brand of cleaning products introduced by Procter & Gamble in 1999. The mainstays of the Swiffer cleaning system are the Swiffer WetJet mop and the Swiffer Sweeper.

38 Parts of lbs. : OZS

The unit of mass that we know today as a pound is descended from the old Roman unit of weight known as a “libra”. That “libra” connection is why we abbreviate “pound” to “lb”. The name “pound” comes from the Latin “pondo” meaning “weight”. Our term “ounce” (abbreviated to “oz.”) comes from the Latin “uncia”, which was 1/12 of a Roman “libra”.

48 Wind quintet wind : OBOE

A wind quintet is a group of five woodwind players, usually flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon.

55 “As You Wish” memoirist Cary : ELWES

Cary Elwes is an English actor who is perhaps most noted for appearing in the 1987 film “The Princess Bride”. He also played the title role in 1993’s “Cary Elwes”. Cary is the son of a celebrated English portrait painter, Dominick Elwes.

56 Día de San Valentín sentiment : TE AMO

“I love you” translates into “te amo” in Spanish, “Ich liebe dich” in German, and “je t’aime” in French.

In Spanish, Saint Valentine’s Day is usually translated as “el Día de San Valentín”. Another possibility is “el Día de los Enamorados”, which translates literally as “the day of those who have fallen in love”.

57 Nintendo’s The Legend of __ : ZELDA

“The Legend of Zelda” is a video game. Apparently, it’s very successful …

58 Former name of the Congo : ZAIRE

The African nation once called Zaire is a neighbor of Rwanda. The genocide and war in Rwanda spilled over into Zaire in 1996, with the conflict escalating into what is now called the First Congo War. As part of the war’s fallout there was a regime change, and in 1997 Zaire became the Democratic Republic of Congo.

61 Memo abbreviation : ATTN

Attention (attn.)

62 “Better Call Saul” Emmy nominee Seehorn : RHEA

Rhea Seehorn is an actress best known for playing lawyer Kim Wexler in the TV crime drama “Better Call Saul”.

65 Zoo opening in London? : ZED

The opening letter in the word “zoo” is a letter Z.

The letter zed has been around since about 1400, and derives from the Greek letter zeta. The spelling and pronunciation “zee”, used in America today, first popped up in the 1670s. The spelling and pronunciation “zed” is still used in Britain and Ireland.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Derisive cry : BAH!
4 Open, as a 4-Down app : TAP ON
9 Marshmallow treats : PEEPS
14 In the past : AGO
15 Rock’s __ in Chains : ALICE
16 “The Martian” star : DAMON
17 Earth __ : DAY
18 Small dog with a French name : BICHON FRISE (ZZ-A, sounds like “zay”)
20 Inbox filler : EMAIL
22 Spending like there’s no tomorrow : ON A SPREE
23 Stopped worrying : RESTED EASY (ZZ-E, sounds like “zee”)
26 Isr. neighbor : SYR
27 Wild guess : STAB
28 Tool with teeth : SAW
31 Blue-green hue : TEAL
34 Pyramid, often : TOMB
37 Canterbury pens : GAOLS
41 Education activist who is the youngest Nobel Prize laureate : MALALA YOUSAFZAI (ZZ-I, sounds like “zigh”)
44 Raging mad : IRATE
45 Barbecue rod : SPIT
46 Cough syrup amts. : TSPS
47 Alter __ : EGO
49 Chem class rooms : LABS
51 Quinceañera attendee, maybe : TIO
54 Leader of the Pink Ladies in “Grease” : BETTY RIZZO (ZZ-O, sounds like “zoh”)
60 Out early : ON PAROLE
63 Tatum of “Paper Moon” : O’NEAL
64 To a great extent, informally : OUT THE WAZOO (ZZ-U, sounds like “zoo”)
67 Spill preventer : LID
68 Like overly rehearsed comments, probably : TRITE
69 Rework, as text : EMEND
70 Beats by __ : DRE
71 Dye used in mehndi decoration : HENNA
72 Fizzy drinks : SODAS
73 __ Lingus : AER

Down

1 The “B” of “Notorious RBG” : BADER
2 Peak performance : A-GAME
3 Georgetown athletes : HOYAS
4 Device with a touchscreen : TABLET
5 Wong of “Always Be My Maybe” : ALI
6 Selfie, e.g. : PIC
7 Golfer Lorena : OCHOA
8 Highlighter hues : NEONS
9 Versatile docs : PDFS
10 Wyatt of the Old West : EARP
11 Dubai rulers : EMIRS
12 Seven-time MLB All-Star catcher Buster : POSEY
13 Snide smile : SNEER
19 Those opposed : NAYS
21 “Oof, look at the time” : IT’S LATE
24 Target of some miners : DATA
25 Some TikTok teens : E-BOYS
29 Ottoman title : AGA
30 Enters, as an aroma : WAFTS IN
31 “You’ve shared enough!” : TMI!
32 AirPod holder : EAR
33 Pie __ mode : A LA
35 Swiffer product : MOP
36 Constructed : BUILT
38 Parts of lbs. : OZS
39 Overtake and then some, on a track : LAP
40 Family nickname : SIS
42 __ of lamb : LEG
43 Stick around : STAY
48 Wind quintet wind : OBOE
50 Stews (over) : BROODS
51 Sweet __ : TOOTH
52 Accustom : INURE
53 Decide to participate : OPT IN
55 “As You Wish” memoirist Cary : ELWES
56 Día de San Valentín sentiment : TE AMO
57 Nintendo’s The Legend of __ : ZELDA
58 Former name of the Congo : ZAIRE
59 Not as up-to-date : OLDER
61 Memo abbreviation : ATTN
62 “Better Call Saul” Emmy nominee Seehorn : RHEA
65 Zoo opening in London? : ZED
66 “Based __ true story” : ON A