LA Times Crossword 2 Feb 23, Thursday

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Constructed by: Alexander Liebeskind & Jeff Chen
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Lift One’s Spirits

Themed clues each use the phrase “LIFT ONE’S SPIRITS”:

  • 62A See 17-, 27-, and 47-Across : LIFT ONE’S SPIRITS
  • 17A Mexican tradition that will 62-Across? : DIA DE LOS MUERTOS
  • 27A Celebratory moments to 62-Across? : WEDDING TOASTS
  • 47A Shopping outing that may 62-Across? : RETAIL THERAPY

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

Bill’s time: 7m 02s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Colbert’s network : CBS

Stephen Colbert is a political satirist who hosted his own show on Comedy Central, “The Colbert Report”. Colbert’s first love was theater, and so he studied to become an actor. He then moved into comedy, and ended up on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”. He left “The Daily Show” in 2005 to set up his own spin-off, “The Colbert Report”. In his own inimitable way, Colbert likes to use a “French” pronunciation for the name of his show, so “The Colbert Report” comes out as “The Col-bear Rep-oar”. Colbert took over the “Late Show” when David Letterman retired.

4 Chris of “Knives Out” : EVANS

Chris Evans’ Hollywood career really took off when he was cast as the Human Torch in the “Fantastic Four” movies starting in 2005. He portrayed another superhero in 2011, playing the title role in “Captain America: The First Avenger”.

“Knives Out” is an intriguing murder mystery film released in 2019. There’s a great cast including Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette and Christopher Plummer. I really enjoyed this one, partly because it’s a clever, contemporary take on a classic whodunit movie …

9 Organic jewelry source : AMBER

Amber’s technical name is “resinite”, reflecting its composition and formation. Amber starts out life as soft sticky tree resin but then under high temperature and pressure from overlying layers of soil, it fossilizes. The sticky resin can trap organisms or other plant matter, and this material can sometimes remain virtually intact inside the amber fossil giving us a unique gift from the past.

15 Search engine name : YAHOO!

Jerry Yang and David Filo called their company “Yahoo!” for two reasons. Firstly, a Yahoo is a rude unsophisticated brute from Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels”. Secondly, Yahoo stands for “Yet another Hierarchical Officious Oracle”.

17 Mexican tradition that will 62-Across? : DIA DE LOS MUERTOS

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.

22 Monopoly payment : RENT

The commercial game of Monopoly is supposedly a remake of “The Landlord’s Game” created in 1903 by a Quaker woman named Lizzie Phillips. Phillips used her game as a tool to explain the single tax theory of American economist Henry George. The Landlord’s Game was first produced commercially in 1924. The incredibly successful derivative game called Monopoly was introduced in 1933 by Charles Darrow, who became a very rich man when Parker Brothers bought the rights to the game just two years later in 1935.

23 The “N” of the actor known as NPH : NEIL

Neil Patrick Harris (NPH) got his big break very early in his career, playing the title role in television’s “Doogie Howser, M.D.” More recently, he played a lead role on the sitcom “How I Met Your Mother”, portraying the shallow womanizer Barney Stinson. Harris is also quite the magician and serves on the Board of Directors of Hollywood’s Magic Castle, a nightclub for magicians and magic enthusiasts.

41 “Paper Girls” actor Corddry : NATE

Nate Corddry is an actor and comedian who is perhaps best known for playing the manager of the restaurant where Christy works in the sitcom “Mom”. Corddry also played lawyer Adam Branch on the sitcom “Harry’s Game” alongside Kathy Bates. Nate is the younger brother of comedian and actor Rob Corddry, who turned up quite frequently as a correspondent on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”.

“Paper Girls” is a sci-fi TV show based on a comic book series of the same name by Brian K. Vaughan. Both comic book and show are about four girls delivering papers the morning after Halloween. They encounter some warring time-travelers, and end up on a mission to save the world. The show was canceled after just one season.

42 Thompson of “SNL” : KENAN

Kenan Thompson is an actor and comedian who is perhaps best known as a “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) cast member, joining the show in 2003. Thompson holds the record for the most celebrity impressions on SNL, at over one hundred. He also is the longest-tenured member of the cast in the history of the show.

44 Devour with gusto : EAT UP

“Gusto” is an Italian word meaning “taste”. We use it in English in the phrase “with gusto” meaning “with great enjoyment”.

51 Karate school : DOJO

The Japanese word “dojo” translates literally as “place of the way”. Originally the term applied to training halls that were found in or beside temples. The teaching in a dojo was not limited to the martial arts, but in the Western world we use the dojo as the name for a training facility for judo, karate and the like.

55 Place whose state quarter features an astronaut : OHIO

The Ohio state quarter features the phrase “BIRTHPLACE OF AVIATION PIONEERS”. There is an image of the Wright Flyer, the first heavier-than-air powered aircraft, which was built and flown by Ohioans Wilbur and Orvile Wright. The coin also bears and image of an astronaut, which is a nod to Ohioan space travelers such as John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, James Lovell, and Judith Resnik.

59 Obama daughter : MALIA

Malia Obama is the eldest of Barack and Michelle Obama’s two daughters. She graduated from the private Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., the same school that Chelsea Clinton attended. Malia took a gap year after leaving high school, and spent the 2016 summer as an intern in the US Embassy in Madrid, before heading off to Harvard in 2017.

65 Greek fabulist : AESOP

Aesop is remembered today as a fabulist, a writer of fables. Aesop lived in ancient Greece, probably around the sixth century BC. Supposedly he was born a slave, somehow became a free man, but then met with a sorry end. Aesop was sent to the city of Delphi on a diplomatic mission but instead insulted the Delphians. He was tried on a trumped-up charge of stealing from a temple, sentenced to death and was thrown off a cliff.

66 Coach Jill who won the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2015 and 2019 : ELLIS

Jill Ellis is a British-born American soccer coach. She coached the US national women’s team to two World Cup victories, in 2015 and 2019.

67 Minnow catcher : NET

Minnow are small fish that are often used as bait when fishing. The term “minnow” is also used figuratively to describe someone who is comparatively insignificant or perhaps small in stature.

69 Sierra __ : LEONE

The Republic of Sierra Leone is a country in West Africa that lies on the Atlantic Coast. The capital city of Freetown was originally set up as a colony to house the “Black Poor” of London, England. These people were mainly freed British slaves of Caribbean descent who were living a miserable life in the run-down parts of London. Perhaps to help the impoverished souls, perhaps to rid the streets of “a problem”, three ships were chartered in 1787 to transport a group of blacks, with some whites, to a piece of land purchased in Sierra Leone. Those who made the voyage were granted British citizenship and protection. The descendants of these immigrants, and others who made the journey over the next 60 years, make up the ethnic group that’s today called the Sierra Leone Creole.

70 Rock subgenre : EMO

“Emo” is short for “emotional hardcore”.

Down

1 Morse __ : CODE

Samuel Morse came up with the forerunner to modern Morse code for use on the electric telegraph, of which he was the co-inventor. Morse code uses a series of dots and dashes to represent letters and numbers. The most common letters are assigned the simplest code elements e.g. E is represented by one dot, and T is represented by one dash. When words are spelled aloud in Morse code, a dot is pronounced as “dit”, and a dash is pronounced as “dah”.

3 Creature that may shelter clownfish : SEA ANEMONE

The name “anemone” means “daughter of the wind” in Greek, and at one time it was believed that the wind was what actually caused the flower to bloom. The sea anemone is named for the terrestrial plant even though the sea anemone isn’t a plant at all. The sea anemone is a predatory animal found on the ocean floor.

Clownfish are very colorful, attractive-looking fish. They are orange and often have broad strips of white and black on their bodies depending on species. Clownfish spend their lives in a symbiotic relationship with sea anemones.

5 Kilmer of “Top Gun: Maverick” : VAL

Val Kilmer’s first big leading role in a movie was playing Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s 1991 biopic “The Doors”. A few years later, Kilmer was chosen for the lead in another big production, “Batman Forever”. Things haven’t really gone as well for Kilmer since then, I’d say. Off the screen, he flirted with the idea of running for Governor of New Mexico in 2010. A Hollywood actor as a governor? Would never happen …

2022’s “Top Gun: Maverick” is the long-awaited sequel to the 1986 film “Top Gun”. Tom Cruise reprises his role as the navy pilot with the handle “Maverick”, this time training a group of younger Top Gun graduates to fly a dangerous mission. Personally, I think that the sequel is better than the original.

9 “__ Maria” : AVE

“Ave Maria” (“Hail Mary” in English) is the prayer at the core of the Roman Catholic Rosary, which itself is a set of prayers asking for the assistance of the Virgin Mary. Much of the text of the “Hail Mary” comes from the Gospel of Luke. The words in Latin are:

AVE MARIA, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

The prayer has been adapted as a hymn. The two most famous musical versions of “Ave Maria” are by Charles Gounod (based on a piece by Bach) and by Franz Schubert.

10 “Song of Solomon” writer Toni : MORRISON

Writer Toni Morrison won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. Amongst other things, Morrison is noted for coining the phrase “our first black President”, a reference to President Bill Clinton.

19 “Do __ others … ” : UNTO

The Golden Rule is also known as the ethic of reciprocity, and is a basis for the concept of human rights. A version of the rule used in the Christian tradition is attributed to Jesus:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

24 One-third of a haiku : LINE

A haiku is a very elegant form of Japanese verse. When writing a haiku in English we tend to impose the rule that the verse must contain 17 syllables. This restriction comes from the rule in Japanese that the verse must contain 17 sound units called “moras”, but moras and syllables aren’t the same thing. Sadly, the difference is not so clear to me. Here’s an example of a Haiku:

Haikus are easy
But sometimes they don’t make sense
Refrigerator

26 Aries symbol : RAM

According to the ancient Greeks, the constellation Aries the Ram represents the mythological winged ram with the Golden Fleece. The Greeks “hijacked” the constellation though, because it also represented a ram in late Babylonian times, long before the Golden Fleece came along.

27 Blade that might move quickly in a storm : WIPER

You may have seen the 2008 movie “Flash of Genius”, which outlined the troubles Robert Kearns (played by Greg Kinnear) had in making money from his invention of the intermittent windshield wiper. Well, Mary Anderson developed the original wiper and received a patent in 1903. She didn’t make any money either …

28 “Song of Solomon,” for one : NOVEL

“Song of Solomon” is a 1977 novel by Toni Morrison. It is one of the novels cited when she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993.

30 Sophomore’s grade : TENTH

The term “sophomore” has been used for a student in the second year of university since the 1680’s. The original meaning of the word was “arguer”. The term has Greek roots, from two Greek words that have been artificially combined in English. The Greek “sophos” means “wise”, and “moros” means “foolish”.

31 Springy backyard apparatus : TRAMPOLINE

The first modern trampoline was developed in 1936. The apparatus was given its name from the Spanish “trampolín” meaning “diving board”. Trampolines were used during WWII in the training of pilots, to give them exposure to some spatial orientations that would be encountered during flight. Trampolines were also used by astronauts training in the space flight program. The sport of trampolining became an Olympic event starting in the 2000 Games.

32 Kebab often served with peanut sauce : SATAY

The dish known as “satay” originated in Java, Indonesia and is marinated pieces of meat served on a skewer in a sauce, often a spicy peanut sauce. “Satay” is the Indonesian spelling, and “sate” is the Malay spelling.

36 NYC ave. : LEX

Lexington Avenue in New York City is famous for many things, but my favorite fact is that it was the site of the first ever arrest for speeding in the city. In 1899 a police officer on a bicycle caught up with a cab driver who was tearing down Lexington Avenue, at the breakneck speed of 12mph …

38 Ore-Ida nugget : TATER TOT

Ore-Ida’s founders came up with the idea for Tater Tots when they were deciding what to do with residual cuts of potato. They chopped up the leftovers, added flour and seasoning, and extruded the mix through a large hole making a sausage that they cut into small cylinders. We eat 70 million pounds of this extruded potato every year!

43 “Old Town Road” rapper Lil __ X : NAS

“Lil Nas X” is the stage name of rapper Montero Lamar Hill. He was born and raised just outside of Atlanta. His first hit was “Old Town Road”, which is classified as country rap.

49 Cracked open : AJAR

Our word “ajar” is thought to come from Scottish dialect, in which “a char” means “slightly open”.

53 Arena level : TIER

Our term “arena” comes from the Latin “harena”, a place of combat. Originally “harena” was used to describe sand or a sandy place. Those Ancient Roman places of combat were covered with sand to soak up blood.

56 Stiletto, for one : HEEL

The stiletto knife was developed in Italy, and is a knife intended for thrusting and stabbing as opposed to slashing and cutting. The term “stiletto” comes from the Latin “stilus”, which was a thin pointed writing instrument used in ancient Rome to engrave wax or clay tablets. And, there are also stiletto heels on some women’s shoes, heels that are long and thin.

57 __ of Wight : ISLE

The Isle of Wight is the largest island in England, and lies about five miles off the south coast of the country. For many centuries, the island was a kingdom in its own right. One popular tourist attraction on the Isle of Wight is Osborne House, a former royal residence that was built as a summer home for Queen Victoria, and that was designed by the queen’s consort Prince Albert. Queen Victoria died in Osborne House, in 1901.

58 Norwegian capital : OSLO

Oslo is the capital of Norway. The city burns trash to fuel half of its buildings, including all of its schools. The problem faced by the city is that it doesn’t generate enough trash. So, Oslo imports trash from Sweden, England and Ireland, and is now looking to import some American trash too.

63 Special __: commando tactics : OPS

A commando unit is a body of troops specially trained for hit-and-run raids into enemy territory. We imported the term into English from Afrikaans in the early 1800s. We owe the modern usage of “commando” to Winston Churchill, who used it starting in 1940 to describe shock troops whose job it was to disrupt the planned German invasion of Britain. Churchill was probably familiar with the word from his time as a war correspondent and military officer during the Second Boer War.

64 One of ten in a lane : PIN

Bowling has been around for an awfully long time. The oldest known reference to the game is in Egypt, where pins and balls were found in an ancient tomb that is over 5,000 years old. The first form of the game to come to America was nine-pin bowling, which had been very popular in Europe for centuries. In 1841 in Connecticut, nine-pin bowling was banned due to its association with gambling. Supposedly, an additional pin was added to get around the ban, and ten-pin bowling was born.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Colbert’s network : CBS
4 Chris of “Knives Out” : EVANS
9 Organic jewelry source : AMBER
14 Mine product : ORE
15 Search engine name : YAHOO!
16 Singer’s asset : VOICE
17 Mexican tradition that will 62-Across? : DIA DE LOS MUERTOS
20 “This meeting could’ve been an __” : EMAIL
21 Sharp : KEEN
22 Monopoly payment : RENT
23 The “N” of the actor known as NPH : NEIL
25 Tetra- minus one : TRI-
27 Celebratory moments to 62-Across? : WEDDING TOASTS
33 Axe thrower’s asset : AIM
34 Sleep soundly? : SNORE
35 End of a piece by 65-Across : MORAL
37 Espy : SPOT
39 Balances (out) : EVENS
41 “Paper Girls” actor Corddry : NATE
42 Thompson of “SNL” : KENAN
44 Devour with gusto : EAT UP
46 At most : MAX
47 Shopping outing that may 62-Across? : RETAIL THERAPY
50 Key above ∼ : ESC
51 Karate school : DOJO
52 Mix things up : STIR
55 Place whose state quarter features an astronaut : OHIO
59 Obama daughter : MALIA
62 See 17-, 27-, and 47-Across : LIFT ONE’S SPIRITS
65 Greek fabulist : AESOP
66 Coach Jill who won the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2015 and 2019 : ELLIS
67 Minnow catcher : NET
68 Brings (out) : TROTS
69 Sierra __ : LEONE
70 Rock subgenre : EMO

Down

1 Morse __ : CODE
2 Hat part : BRIM
3 Creature that may shelter clownfish : SEA ANEMONE
4 Shadowy places? : EYELIDS
5 Kilmer of “Top Gun: Maverick” : VAL
6 “Oh, I got it now” : AH, OK
7 Wine quality : NOSE
8 Not all : SOME
9 “__ Maria” : AVE
10 “Song of Solomon” writer Toni : MORRISON
11 Light snack : BITE
12 MBA course : ECON
13 Take a breather : REST
18 Lost power : DIED
19 “Do __ others … ” : UNTO
24 One-third of a haiku : LINE
26 Aries symbol : RAM
27 Blade that might move quickly in a storm : WIPER
28 “Song of Solomon,” for one : NOVEL
29 “Two thumbs up!” : GREAT!
30 Sophomore’s grade : TENTH
31 Springy backyard apparatus : TRAMPOLINE
32 Kebab often served with peanut sauce : SATAY
33 Question : ASK
36 NYC ave. : LEX
38 Ore-Ida nugget : TATER TOT
40 Took to court : SUED
43 “Old Town Road” rapper Lil __ X : NAS
45 “Cross your heart?” : PROMISE
48 Image on a menu bar : ICON
49 Cracked open : AJAR
52 Shutter board : SLAT
53 Arena level : TIER
54 “Assuming that’s true … ” : IF SO …
56 Stiletto, for one : HEEL
57 __ of Wight : ISLE
58 Norwegian capital : OSLO
60 Object : ITEM
61 Regarding : AS TO
63 Special __: commando tactics : OPS
64 One of ten in a lane : PIN

16 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword 2 Feb 23, Thursday”

  1. No errors after a couple of lookups: i.e. “satay” and “Lex”…not as
    difficult as it seemed at first. No complaints.

  2. 14:52 – no lookups or errors. False start: ISEE>AHOK. Had a little trouble keeping clue straight with the grid square I was looking at. Went from close to Bill’s time to double his time. Oh well.

    New: “NPH” (know the actor, but not as familiar with the initialism), “Paper Girls,” Jill ELLIS. SATAY and NATE seemed new, but I think they’ve shown up in other puzzles.

    The E central section was last to fill in for me due to NATE, SATAY, and LEX. I got them, but was not entirely sure of them.

    I got a slight lifting of spirit to complete this without a lot of difficulty.

  3. Good, interesting puzzle but for a couple of things. it’s bad enough that we are expected to be fluent in other languages but when we have to know events such as 17A, it’s too much. And I don’t get 47A, with no explanation. Perfect solve, nonetheless

  4. 37:30 with one really dumb error DOJA instead of DOJO.
    Am I the only one who thinks clues like 17A are rediculous? Then again it’s Jeff Chen and partner sooo…..
    Stay safe😀

  5. @D.Chatswood-

    47A refers to the event that people
    (I think mostly women) use when
    down in the dumps, they go shopping
    to feel better, buying stuff is therapeutic, RETAIL THERAPY.

  6. Mostly easy Thursday; took 15:09 with no peeks or errors, but a slight delay due to a missing square fill. I was stuck on ELL?S/P?N and after trying all the vowels I finally just put in the more obvious “I” and still didn’t get the banner. Turns out I forgot the NEA?/?INES which I immediately filled with “L”, but I used a check-grid to find the missing fill…

    Dia de los Muertos is kind of big around here, and comes right after Halloween, so I had no problem with that. A nice celebration/remembrance of dead.

    If anyone did the WSJ today, I would greatly appreciate an explanation of the theme and the theme answers/where they are. I kind of get that it has to do with crossing “T”s but that’s about it. (???)

  7. This one took me all afternoon today. A lookup of 5D gave me enough to solve the puzzle.

    How the heck do some of you solve these in 15 minutes or less?

  8. Too much nonsense like 62 across and 47 across not to mention the numerous trivia questions like 23 and 66 across. Are people really interested in 43 down? How anyone can solve these in 7 minutes is a stretch.

  9. Hard to believe this is a Thursday puzzle. No clever clues. The only things I couldn’t fill in were names.

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