LA Times Crossword 15 Feb 23, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Enrique Henestroza Anguiano
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Shave Ice

Themed answers are common phrases with “-ICE” SHAVED off, removed:

• 17A Get-together with a sketchy vibe? : OFF PARTY (from “office party”)
• 23A Marketer’s blitz campaign? : PR INCREASE (from “price increase”)
• 37A Intercom call on Take Your Child to Work Day? : SON TO SEE YOU (from “so nice to see you”)
• 51A Shake Weight and Ab Belt, per their infomercials? : BOD RIPPERS (from “bodice rippers”)

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

Bill’s time: 6m 03s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Tool that can be a musical instrument : SAW

A handsaw can be used as a musical instrument by holding the handle between the knees, bending the blade and then using a bow along the blade’s non-serrated edge. The pitch of the sound produced is varied by changing the curve of the blade.

14 Confidentiality contract: Abbr. : NDA

Non-disclosure agreement (NDA)

15 Spider-Man co-creator Lee : STAN

Stan Lee did just about everything at Marvel Comics over the years, from writing to being president and chairman of the board. If you like superhero movies based on the characters from Marvel Comics, then you could spend a few hours trying to spot Stan Lee in those films as he had a penchant for making cameo appearances. Lee can be spotted in “X-Men” (2000), “Spider-Man” (2002), “Hulk” (2003), “Fantastic Four” (2005), “Iron Man” (2008) and many other films.

Spider-Man is a creation of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, and first appeared in comics in 1962. He was a somewhat groundbreaking character in that his alter ego was a teenage high school student (Peter Parker), which marked the first time that a young person featured front and center as the superhero.

16 Prophecy source : ORACLE

In ancient Greece and Rome, an oracle was someone believed to be inspired by the gods to give wise counsel. The word “oracle” derives from the Latin “orare” meaning “to speak”, which is the same root for our word “orator”. One of the most important oracles of ancient Greece was Pythia, the high priestess to Apollo at Delphi.

19 Beam benders : PRISMS

When light passes through a prism, it splits up (disperses) into differing wavelengths. It then becomes clear that white light is actually a mixture of different colors, which show up as a beautiful spectrum.

20 Cookie-based dessert : OREO PIE

An oreo pie is a no-bake dessert. One recipe calls for an Oreo cookie crumb pie crust that isn’t baked, and rather set by chilling it in the freezer. The pie crust is filled with a mixture of cream cheese, powdered sugar and crushed Oreo cookies.

22 Salon job : PERM

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

23 Marketer’s blitz campaign? : PR INCREASE (from “price increase”)

Public relations (PR)

30 General on a menu : TSO

General Tso’s chicken is an American creation, and a dish often found on the menu of a Chinese restaurant. The name General Tso may be a reference to General Zuo Zongtang of the Qing Dynasty, but there is no clear link.

32 __ Cruces, New Mexico : LAS

Las Cruces (Spanish for “the crosses”) is the second largest city in the state of New Mexico, and is the home of New Mexico State University.

36 Pickleball shot : LOB

Pickleball is a sport invented in the 1960s that combines elements of tennis, table tennis and badminton. Originally marketed as a game for children to play in backyards, pickleball is now played on purpose-built courts by many, many adults, but mainly in North and South America.

42 Bash who co-hosts CNN’s “State of the Union” : DANA

Journalist Dana Bash became co-host of CNN’s Sunday morning show “State of the Union” in 2021, alongside Jake Tapper. She was born Dana Schwartz, and was married to Jeremy Bash, a senior adviser in the Obama administration. She was also married to fellow CNN broadcast journalist John King.

44 The Buckeye State : OHIO

Ohio is sometimes referred to as the Buckeye State, taking the name from the state tree. In turn, the buckeye tree gets its name from the appearance of its fruit, a dark nut with a light patch, thought to resemble a “buck’s eye”.

46 WNBA official : REF

Back in the early 17th century, a referee was someone who examined patent applications. We started using the same term for a person presiding over a sporting event in the 1820s. “Referee” is a derivative of the verb “to refer”, and literally describes someone who has the authority to make a decision by “referring” to a book, archive etc.

47 A few bucks, say : STAGS

A male deer is usually called a buck, and a female is a doe. However, the male red deer is usually referred to as a stag. The males of even larger species of deer are often called bulls, and the females called cows. In older English, male deer of over 5 years were called harts, and females of over 3 years were called hinds. The young of small species are known as fawns, and of larger species are called calves. All very confusing …

51 Shake Weight and The Flex Belt, per their infomercials? : BOD RIPPERS (from “bodice ripper”)

The nation’s first infomercial was aired in 1950. The product advertised was a Vitamix blender.

The literary genre that we refer to as the modern romance novel started with Kathleen Woodiwiss’s book “The Flame and the Flower”. What was new to the reader was the extension of the romantic storyline into the bedroom. The covers of many of the subsequent modern romance novels featured a hero holding a scantily-clad heroine, leading to the genre being referred to as “bodice-rippers”.

56 Limo destination : PROM

The word “limousine” derives from the name of the French city of Limoges. The area around Limoges is called the Limousin, and it gave its name to a cloak hood worn by local shepherds. In early motor cars, a driver would sit outside in the weather while the passengers would sit in the covered compartment. The driver would often wear a limousin-style protective hood, giving rise to that type of transportation being called a “limousine”. Well, that’s how the story goes …

57 Jack up : ELEVATE

“Jack” is a nickname for “John”. Back in the 1500s, the term “jack” came to be used colloquially to describe any man of low status (as in “jack of all trades, master of none”). The usage was extended to describe any tool that saved work, perhaps replaced menial labor. By the end of the 1600s, the term “jack” became particularly associated with a portable device used to lift heavy weights using leverage.

59 Nut used to make vegan cheese : CASHEW

The cashew is the seed of the cashew tree. The pulp of the cashew tree fruit (the cashew apple) is also consumed, and is usually processed into a fruit drink or distilled as a liquor.

62 Cold Hawaiian treat … or a directive followed four times in this puzzle? : SHAVE ICE

Hawaiian shave ice is a dessert made by shaving a block of ice and adding a sweet syrup for flavor. The related snow cone is made with crushed rather than shaved ice.

63 Understood by few : ARCANE

Something that is arcane is understood by only a few, is something that might be described as mysterious.

65 Org. with seven teams in Canada : NHL

The National Hockey League (NHL) was formed in 1917 in Montreal as a successor to the defunct National Hockey Association (NHA) that had been founded in 1909.

66 “This Is Spinal Tap” director : REINER

The great director and actor Rob Reiner first came to prominence playing “Meathead”, Archie and Edith Bunker’s son-in-law in “All in the Family”. Since then, Reiner has directed a long string of hit movies including, “The Princess Bride”, “Stand by Me”, “This Is Spinal Tap”, “When Harry Met Sally …”, “Misery” and “A Few Good Men”.

“This Is Spın̈al Tap” is a rock musical mockumentary about the fictional band Spinal Tap, directed by the great Rob Reiner. I love Rob Reiner’s work, but this movie … not so much …

67 Lyft competitor : UBER

The rideshare service Uber takes its name from the English colloquial word “uber” meaning “super, topmost”, which in turn comes from the German “über” meaning “above”.

68 Game Boy batteries : AAS

The Game Boy is a hugely successful handheld video game player that was released in 1989 by Nintendo. I remember that my kids were so eager to get hold of the devices when they first came out that I bought a couple of them in a Japanese railroad station, while over there on a business trip.

Down

1 Beagle who pilots an imaginary Sopwith Camel : SNOOPY

Snoopy, the famous beagle in the “Peanuts” comic strip, has a number of alter-egos and is sometimes depicted as a World War I flying ace piloting a Sopwith Camel biplane. Snoopy’s arch-enemy in the air is Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, and Snoopy can often be seen shaking his fist and crying out, “Curse you, Red Baron!”

The Sopwith Camel is a biplane that was used by the British during WWI. The Camel was the most effective fighter during the conflict, shooting down 1,294 enemy planes.

3 Communion rounds : WAFERS

The Communion rite is part of the Mass in the Roman Catholic tradition. The rite involves distribution of the Communion bread (the host, a wafer) to the faithful.

4 Urgent letters : ASAP

As soon as possible (ASAP)

6 Foodie website covering 25 metro areas : EATER

“Eater” is a food website founded in 2005. Back then, “Eater” focused on New York City, and the city’s dining and nightlife. The site expanded its coverage to more cities in the US, and then Canada and England.

8 Arcade achievements : TOP SCORES

Our word “arcade” comes from the Latin “arcus” meaning “arc”. The first arcades were passages made from a series of arches. This could be an avenue of trees, and eventually any covered avenue. I remember arcades lined with shops and stores when I was growing up on the other side of the Atlantic. Arcades came to be lined with lots of amusements, resulting in amusement arcades and video game arcades.

11 Telethon VIPs : MCS

The world’s first telethon took place in 1949. It was a 16-hour fundraiser hosted by Milton Berle that raised over a million dollars for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. The term “telethon”, a portmanteau of “television” and “marathon”, was coined in the news media the day after the event. One of the most famous annual telethons was the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon, which raised funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Association for over twenty years, from 1966 until 2010.

12 Blight-stricken tree : ELM

Dutch elm disease is a fungus devastating to all species of elm trees that is transmitted by the elm bark beetle. The disease is thought to have originated in Asia and is now rampant in Europe and North America. Even though there is a hybrid of elm known as the Dutch elm, the disease isn’t named after the tree. Rather, the disease is called “Dutch” as it was identified in 1921 by a phytopathologist (plant pathologist) in the Netherlands.

13 __ Moines : DES

The city of Des Moines is the capital of Iowa, and takes its name from the Des Moines River. The river in turn takes its name from the French “Riviere des Moines” meaning “River of the Monks”. It looks like there isn’t any “monkish” connection to the city’s name per se. “Des Moines” was just the name given by French traders who corrupted “Moingona”, the name of a group of Illinois Native Americans who lived by the river. However, others contend that French Trappist monks, who lived a full 200 miles from the river, somehow influenced the name.

18 Grapefruit kin : POMELO

A pomelo is a very large, pear-shaped citrus fruit native to Southeast Asia.

25 Rights advocacy gp. : ACLU

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has its roots in the First World War. It grew out of the National Civil Liberties Bureau (CLB) that was founded to provide legal advice and support to conscientious objectors. The ACLU’s motto is “Because Freedom Can’t Protect Itself”. The ACLU also hosts a blog on the ACLU.org website called “Speak Freely”.

26 __ Tomé and Príncipe : SAO

The Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe is an island nation off the west coast of Africa comprising mainly two islands: São Tomé and Príncipe. São Tomé and Príncipe is located in the Gulf of Guinea, off the coast of Gabon. It was colonized by Portugal after POrtuguese explorers discovered the islands in the 15th century. After gaining independence in 1975, São Tomé and Príncipe became the smallest Portuguese-speaking country in the world.

39 Interval of eight notes : OCTAVE

In western music, an octave is composed of twelve notes, twelve semitones.

41 Soup with rice noodles : PHO

Pho (pronounced “fuh”) is a noodle soup from Vietnam that is a popular street food.

45 Anne of Green Gables, for one : ORPHAN

“Anne of Green Gables” is a 1908 novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery that she set in the fictional Prince Edward Island community of Avonlea. Montgomery wrote several sequels to “Anne”, with them all being set on Prince Edward Island (PEI), from where the author hailed.

48 “Riverdale” actress Huffman : ALAINA

Alaina Huffman is an actress from Canada who is perhaps best known for playing Maureen Bowers on the sci-fi/action TV series “Painkiller Jane”.

“Riverdale” is a teen drama TV show based on the “Archie” comic book series. While the “Archie” comics are light in tone, “Riverdale” is a darker production that explores the complex world of the “Archie” characters.

49 “Caught red-handed!” : GOTCHA!

To be caught red-handed is to be caught in the act. The expression originated in Scotland and dates back at least to the 1400s. The red in question is blood, as in being caught with blood on one’s hands after perhaps committing a murder or an act of poaching.

52 Nobel-winning chemist Joliot-Curie : IRENE

Along with her husband Frederick, Irene Joliot-Curie was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1935 for their discovery of artificial radioactivity. Irene was the daughter of Marie and Pierre Curie, who also won Nobel Prizes. Irene died when she was 58 years old, suffering from leukemia brought on by her exposure to high doses of radiation. Her mother, Marie, died from aplastic anemia, also caused by high exposure to radiation. To this day, Marie’s personal papers are kept preserved in lead-lined boxes as they are highly radioactive, even her personal cookbook.

53 Process that may involve PT or OT : REHAB

Physical therapy (PT)

Occupational therapy (OT)

61 Bio or chem : SCI

Chemistry (chem.) and biology (bio.) are sciences (scis.).

62 Moo __ pork : SHU

Moo shu pork (also “mu shu pork”) is a traditional dish from northern China, with the main ingredients being shredded pork and scrambled egg. In North America, the dish is served with tortilla-like wrappers that are sometimes referred to as “moo shu pancakes”.