LA Times Crossword 22 Mar 23, Wednesday

Advertisement

Constructed by: Alexander Liebeskind
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: The Chargers

Themed answers are all associated with CHARGING:

  • 36A Los Angeles NFL team, and an apt name for 18-, 24-, 52-, and 59-Across, collectively? : THE CHARGERS
  • 18A Animal that may be on the verge of an attack : RAGING BULL
  • 24A Laptop accessory : POWER CORD
  • 52A Body that investigates potential criminal conduct : GRAND JURY
  • 59A Person who likely has a high credit card balance : BIG SPENDER

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

Bill’s time: 6m 18s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Wall Street inits. : NYSE

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) can give some quite descriptive ticker symbols to companies, for example:

  • Anheuser-Busch (BUD, for “Budweiser”)
  • Molson Coors Brewing Company (TAP, as in “beer tap”)
  • Steinway Musical Instruments (LVB, for “Ludwig van Beethoven”)
  • Sotheby’s (BID, for the auction house)

5 Spring time : MARCH

March is the third month in our Gregorian calendar. It takes its name from the Latin “Martius”, which was the first month of the earliest Roman calendar. In turn, Martius was named for Mars, the Roman god of war.

Apparently, we call the season “spring” because it is associated with the period when most plants and flowers “spring up” out of the ground.

10 Nadal of tennis, familiarly : RAFA

Rafael Nadal is considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time, and he has some superstitions that help him focus on winning. For example, he has a unique pre-match ritual in which he arranges his water bottles in a very specific way. He always places them in a straight line with the labels facing the court, and he adjusts them so that they are perfectly aligned.

15 “Welcome to Maui!” : ALOHA!

Maui is the second-largest Hawaiian island. It is home to the world’s largest dormant volcano, Haleakala, which last erupted over 500 years ago.

16 Rapper born Tracy Marrow : ICE-T

Rapper Ice-T must be tired of having his name come up as an answer in crossword puzzles (I know I am!). Born Tracy Marrow, Ice-T has been interested in acting for decades and made his film debut in the 1984 movie about breakdancing called “Breakin’”. He has also played Detective Fin Tutuola in the TV show “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” since the year 2000.

17 Rolaids rival : TUMS

The main ingredient in Tums antacid, made by GlaxoSmithKline, is calcium carbonate. Tums have been on the market since 1930. If you want to save a few pennies, Target brand antacid is identical to Tums, or so I hear …

The Rolaids brand of antacid was invented in the late twenties. The “Rolaids” name came from the fact that the original packaging was a foil “roll”. The product has a tagline: Rolaids—that’s how you spell relief. That slogan dates back to a 1970s TV campaign:

How do you spell relief?
R-O-L-A-I-D-S

20 German camera brand : LEICA

Leica is a German optics company that is famous for production of lenses and cameras. The 1913 Leica was the first practical camera that could use 35mm film, a size chosen because it was already the standard for film used in motion pictures.

22 Disney princess voiced by Idina Menzel : ELSA

Actress and singer Idina Menzel came to public attention when she was a member of the original Broadway cast of “Rent”. She is known on the small screen for playing Shelby Corcoran on the musical TV show “Glee”. On the big screen, her most noted performance was as the voice actor behind Queen Elsa in the Disney hit “Frozen”. It is Menzel who sings the Oscar-winning song “Let It Go” in “Frozen”.

23 Coastal inlet : RIA

A drowned valley might be called a ria or a fjord, and both are formed as sea levels rise. A ria is a drowned valley created by river erosion, and a fjord is a drowned valley created by glaciation.

24 Laptop accessory : POWER CORD

Anyone with a laptop with an external power supply has an AC/DC converter, that big “block” in the power cord. It converts the AC current from a wall socket into the DC current that is used by the laptop.

29 Tuber in the Nigerian dish asaro : YAM

Asaro, also known as yam porridge, is a popular Nigerian dish made. It is traditionally prepared with a special cooking method called “boiling and pounding”. The yam is peeled, diced, and boiled until it is soft, and then pounded into a smooth paste using a mortar and pestle. The paste is then added to a pot of boiling water along with other ingredients such as palm oil, onions, tomatoes, and spices. The mixture is simmered until it thickens into a porridge-like consistency.

33 2007 Nobel Peace Prize co-recipient : AL GORE

Former Vice President Al Gore was a joint recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 in recognition for his work in climate change activism. He also won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for his book on climate change called “An Inconvenient Truth”. The documentary of the same name that was spawned by the book won an Academy Award. In addition, Gore won an Emmy as co-owner of Current TV, an independent news network.

36 Los Angeles NFL team, and an apt name for 18-, 24-, 52-, and 59-Across, collectively? : THE CHARGERS

The Chargers were an AFL charter team, and so the franchise was founded in 1959. The Chargers played one season in Los Angeles, before moving to San Diego in 1961, and then returning to Los Angeles in 2017.

40 Like someone with a hit single? : ON BASE

That would be baseball.

41 StarKist product : TUNA

StarKist tuna is a well-known brand of canned tuna. One of Starkist’s most famous advertising campaigns was the “Sorry, Charlie” commercials, which aired from 1961 to 1980. They featured a cartoon tuna named Charlie who wanted to be selected by StarKist, but was always rejected because he wasn’t good enough.

47 Luggage-screening gp. : TSA

Transportation Security Administration (TSA)

51 National animal of Malaysia : TIGER

The national animal of Malaysia is the Malayan tiger, which is the smallest subspecies of tiger in the world. They are critically endangered, with only an estimated 250-340 individuals left in the wild.

52 Body that investigates potential criminal conduct : GRAND JURY

A grand jury is a group of 16-23 citizens who are empowered to investigate potential criminal conduct. Only the US and Liberia use grand juries today, with the rest of the world employing other forms of preliminary hearing. The phrase “grand jury” has its roots in French, with “grand” implying “large”. The 12-person jury used in a criminal trial can be referred to as a “petit” (small) jury.

58 Baking soda targets : ODORS

“Baking soda” is a common name for the compound sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3).

62 Long-billed wader : IBIS

The ibis is a wading bird that was revered in ancient Egypt. “Ibis” is an interesting word grammatically speaking. You can have one “ibis” or two “ibises”, and then again one has a flock of “ibis”. And if you want to go with the classical plural, instead of two “ibises” you would have two “ibides”!

66 Muse count : NINE

In Greek mythology, the muses are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. The number of muses is a subject of debate at times, but the most popular view is that there are nine:

  • Calliope (epic poetry)
  • Clio (history)
  • Erato (lyric poetry)
  • Euterpe (music)
  • Melpomene (tragedy)
  • Polyhymnia (choral poetry)
  • Terpsichore (dance)
  • Thalia (comedy)
  • Urania (astronomy)

67 Award for very good plays? : ESPY

The ESPY Awards, also known as the Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards, were first presented in a ceremony in 1993. The ESPYs were created by ESPN as a response to the lack of sports coverage during the summer months. ESPN decided to create an awards show to help fill that gap.

Down

1 Region above Sask. : NWT

Given its vast size and relatively low population, the Northwest Territories (NWT) has the highest per capita gross domestic product of any province or territory in Canada. The NWT’s economy is driven by the exploitation of its geological resources, which include gold, diamonds, natural gas and oil.

2 “Checkmate!” : YOU LOSE!

In the game of chess, when the king is under immediate threat of capture it is said to be “in check”. If the king cannot escape from check, then the game ends in “checkmate” and the player in check loses. In the original Sanskrit game of chess, the king could actually be captured. Then a rule was introduced requiring that a warning be given if capture was imminent (today we announce “check!”) so that an accidental and early ending to the game doesn’t occur.

4 Nail polish brand : ESSIE

Essie Cosmetics is a company that was founded by Essie Weingarten, and which is now owned by L’Oreal. Apparently, Queen Elizabeth II would only wear Essie’s Ballet Slippers color nail polish. Well, that’s what Wikipedia claims …

5 Shaken percussion item : MARACA

Maracas are percussion instruments that are native to Latin America. They are constructed from dried shells, like those of a coconut, to which handles are attached. The shells are filled with dried seeds or beans, and played by shaking.

6 Chicken __ king : A LA

A dish prepared “à la king” (usually chicken or turkey), is prepared in a cream sauce with mushrooms, pimentos, green peppers and sherry.

7 “Copy that” : ROGER

The term “roger”, meaning “yes” or “acknowledged”, comes from the world of radiotelephony. The British military used a phonetic alphabet in the fifties that included “Roger” to represent the letter “R”. As such, it became customary to say “Roger” when acknowledging a message, with R (Roger) standing for “received”.

8 “The French Chef” host Julia : CHILD

Julia Child was an American chef who is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public. During WWII, Julia Child joined the OSS (Office of Strategic Services), the predecessor to the CIA. She worked for the OSS in Washington, Ceylon and China. While in the OSS, she met her husband Paul Child who was also an OSS employee. Paul joined the Foreign Service after the war, and it was his posting to France that created the opportunity for Julie to learn about French cuisine. If you haven’t seen it, I highly, highly recommend the movie “Julie & Julia”, one of the best films of 2009. Meryl Streep does a fabulous job playing the larger-than-life Julia Child.

9 Film score composer Zimmer with four Grammys : HANS

Hans Zimmer is a film composer from Frankfurt in Germany. The long list of films that Zimmer has scored includes “Rain Man” (1998), “The Lion King” (1994), “Gladiator” (2000), “The Dark Knight” (2008), “Inception” (2010) and “12 Years a Slave” (2013).

10 Part of a cage : RIB

In the human rib cage, the top seven sets of bones are known as true ribs as they are attached directly to the sternum or breastbone. The five sets below the true ribs are called false ribs as they don’t have this direct connection. The bottom two of the false ribs are also called floating ribs as they don’t connect to the sternum at all.

11 High-end Hondas : ACURAS

Acura is a luxury vehicle brand produced by the Japanese automaker Honda. Acura was the first Japanese luxury car brand to be introduced to the US, in 1986. The Acura Legend and Acura Integra were the first two models released.

19 In abundance : GALORE

Our word “galore”, meaning “in great numbers”, comes from the Irish phrase “go leór” that translates as “sufficiently, enough”.

25 Home of Creighton University : OMAHA

Creighton University is a private Jesuit school in Omaha, Nebraska that was founded in 1878. Originally called Creighton College, it was funded with a bequest of $200,000 from Mary Lucretia Creighton in honor of her husband, banker Edward Creighton.

34 Part of UNLV : LAS

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) was established in 1957 as the Southern Division of the University of Nevada, Reno. One of UNLV’s flagship departments is the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, which is consistently ranked as one of the best hotel and hospitality colleges in the nation. I suppose that’s not surprising given the proximity to the Las Vegas Strip.

35 Environmental activist Thunberg : GRETA

Greta Thunberg is an environmental activist from Sweden who came to national attention in her homeland when she was just 15 years old. In 2018, she went on strike from school and paraded with placards in front of the Swedish parliament to pressure the government to take stronger action to address climate change. She then took part in demonstrations across Europe, and became a regular speaker at such events. She addressed the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit at the UN headquarters, opting to sail to New York from Sweden, rather than fly. When she was named “Time” Person of the Year in 2019 at 16 years old, Thunberg was the youngest person ever to be so honored.

38 Network with an eye logo : CBS

CBS used to be known as the Columbia Broadcasting System. CBS introduced its “eye” logo in 1951. That logo is based on a Pennsylvania Dutch hex sign.

39 “WandaVision” backdrop : SUBURBIA

“WandaVision” is a TV miniseries featuring characters from Marvel Comics. The title characters are Wanda Maximoff (aka Scarlet Witch) played by Elizabeth Olsen and Vision played by Paul Bettany. I am by no means a fan of screen adaptations of comic characters, but I might take a look at “WandaVision”. Wanda and Vision are living in suburbia, trying to conceal their superhero identities. Each episode progresses the storyline through several decades, using situations encountered in sitcoms of the day. Episodes use the format of shows such as:

  • The Dick Van Dyke Show
  • I Love Lucy
  • Bewitched
  • I Dream of Jeannie
  • The Brady Bunch
  • Good Times
  • The Mary Tyler Moore Show
  • Full House
  • Malcolm in the Middle
  • Modern Family
  • Out of this World
  • The Twilight Zone

Sounds very intriguing …

45 Funnel-shaped flowers : LILIES

There are many plants with the word “lily” in their common name, but few belong to the genus “Lilium”, the so-called “true” lilies. So, water lilies, calla lilies, lilies of the valley, etc.; they aren’t lilies at all.

46 One year, for Venus and Serena Williams : AGE GAP

Venus and Serena Williams are two of the most successful and influential tennis players of all time. The sisters are also successful entrepreneurs. They have invested in various businesses, including a stake in the Miami Dolphins NFL team.

49 Solve KenKen, say : ADD

KenKen is an arithmetic and logic puzzle invented quite recently, in 2004 by a Japanese math teacher named Tetsuya Miyamoto. “Ken” is the Japanese word for “cleverness”.

53 Home health hazard : RADON

The element radon (Rn) is a radioactive gas, and a byproduct produced when uranium decays naturally in the earth. Radon gas can collect and accumulate in buildings and rooms that are particularly well insulated with very little air exchange. The danger is very real, as radon is listed as the second most frequent cause of lung cancer after cigarette smoke.

63 Porthole view : SEA

A porthole is a circular window in the side of a ship that provides light and air. As it penetrates the hull of the ship, the porthole cover provides a strong, watertight seal. The name “porthole” has nothing to do with the port side of a ship, and rather is derived from the French word “porte” meaning “door”. Henry VI of England hired a French shipbuilder to come up with a way to mount large guns on his warships, below the upper deck. The design called for holes in the hull, and “doors” (“portes”) to be fitted for use in heavy weather.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Wall Street inits. : NYSE
5 Spring time : MARCH
10 Nadal of tennis, familiarly : RAFA
14 Tries to win over : WOOS
15 “Welcome to Maui!” : ALOHA!
16 Rapper born Tracy Marrow : ICE-T
17 Rolaids rival : TUMS
18 Animal that may be on the verge of an attack : RAGING BULL
20 German camera brand : LEICA
22 Disney princess voiced by Idina Menzel : ELSA
23 Coastal inlet : RIA
24 Laptop accessory : POWER CORD
26 Depends (on) : LEANS
28 Incinerator residue : ASH
29 Tuber in the Nigerian dish asaro : YAM
30 Complete collection, perhaps : BOX SET
31 Spring : LEAP
33 2007 Nobel Peace Prize co-recipient : AL GORE
36 Los Angeles NFL team, and an apt name for 18-, 24-, 52-, and 59-Across, collectively? : THE CHARGERS
40 Like someone with a hit single? : ON BASE
41 StarKist product : TUNA
44 Angles : SLANTS
47 Luggage-screening gp. : TSA
50 Ballerina’s hairdo : BUN
51 National animal of Malaysia : TIGER
52 Body that investigates potential criminal conduct : GRAND JURY
55 Many a craft beer : ALE
56 Region : AREA
58 Baking soda targets : ODORS
59 Person who likely has a high credit card balance : BIG SPENDER
62 Long-billed wader : IBIS
64 Roof problem : LEAK
65 Like a paddling surfer : PRONE
66 Muse count : NINE
67 Award for very good plays? : ESPY
68 Transmits : SENDS
69 Epic story : SAGA

Down

1 Region above Sask. : NWT
2 “Checkmate!” : YOU LOSE!
3 A bit : SOMEWHAT
4 Nail polish brand : ESSIE
5 Shaken percussion item : MARACA
6 Chicken __ king : A LA
7 “Copy that” : ROGER
8 “The French Chef” host Julia : CHILD
9 Film score composer Zimmer with four Grammys : HANS
10 Part of a cage : RIB
11 High-end Hondas : ACURAS
12 Catlike : FELINE
13 Finally : AT LAST
19 In abundance : GALORE
21 Shout : CRY
24 Bud : PAL
25 Home of Creighton University : OMAHA
27 Wield, as influence : EXERT
30 Marsh : BOG
32 Conversation piece? : PHONE
34 Part of UNLV : LAS
35 Environmental activist Thunberg : GRETA
37 Snare : ENTRAP
38 Network with an eye logo : CBS
39 “WandaVision” backdrop : SUBURBIA
42 Healthcare major : NURSING
43 “__ takers?” : ANY
44 Straw-strewn shelter : STABLE
45 Funnel-shaped flowers : LILIES
46 One year, for Venus and Serena Williams : AGE GAP
48 Naps noisily : SNORES
49 Solve KenKen, say : ADD
52 Category : GENRE
53 Home health hazard : RADON
54 Puts together : JOINS
57 Workout count : REPS
60 What’s up? : SKY
61 Finale : END
63 Porthole view : SEA