LA Times Crossword 13 Apr 23, Thursday

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Constructed by: Adam Arvidson & Katie Hale
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Backpack

Themed answers each include a type of PACK as a hidden word, but written BACKWARDS:

  • 60A Travel the world with one bag, and what can be found in this puzzle’s circled letters? : BACKPACK and BACK “PACK”
  • 16A “Not in public, you two!” : GET A ROOM! (giving “Rat Pack”)
  • 25A Spot to catch a ride : TAXI STAND (giving “six-pack”)
  • 38A Skydiving event : PARACHUTE JUMP (giving “jet pack”)
  • 49A Safety device in some kitchens : CHILD LOCK (giving “cold pack”)

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

Bill’s time: 7m 06s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

8 Dangerous nestful : WASPS

Paper wasps usually build their nests from “paper”, hence the name. The female wasps collect wood fibers and dead plant tissue in their mouths. These materials make a paper pulp when mixed with saliva. The nest itself is a collection of hexagonal cells with paper walls.

14 Uttar Pradesh city : AGRA

The nation of India comprises 29 states and 7 union territories. The largest state by area is Rajasthan, in the northwest of the country. The most populous state is the neighboring Uttar Pradesh.

15 Bakery-cafe chain : PANERA

Panera Bread is a chain of bakery/coffeehouses. A Panera restaurant is a good place to get online while having a cup of coffee. Back in 2006 and 2007, Panera was the largest provider of free Wi-Fi access in the whole of the US.

16 “Not in public, you two!” : GET A ROOM! (giving “Rat Pack”)

The original Rat Pack from the fifties was a group of actors that centered on Humphrey Bogart, and included a young Frank Sinatra. Supposedly, Bogart’s wife, Lauren Bacall, christened them the Rat Pack after seeing them all return from one of their nights on the town in Las Vegas. The sixties Rat Pack was a reincarnation of the fifties version, with the core group of actors being Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin (Dino), Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford.

19 Loops in, in a way : CCS

I wonder if the kids of today know that “cc” stands for carbon copy, and do they have any idea what a carbon copy was? Do you remember how messy carbon paper was to handle? A kind blog reader pointed out to me a while back that the abbreviation has evolved and taken on the meaning “courtesy copy” in our modern world.

20 Nina Simone’s “I Put a __ on You” : SPELL

“I Put a Spell on You” is a song written and recorded by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins that was released in 1956. Nina Simone recorded a popular cover version that was released in 1965, and re-released in 1969. Another cover version of the song was released in 2010 by Shane MacGowan and Friends, a record that was sold to help Concern Worldwide’s work in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake that killed so many. Included in the list of “friends” was Johnny Depp, playing the guitar.

22 Bygone airline : TWA

Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a big carrier in the US, but was perhaps even more recognized for its extensive presence in Europe and the Middle East. For many years, especially after the collapse of Pan Am and TWA’s purchase by Howard Hughes, TWA was considered the unofficial flag carrier for the US. The company started in 1930, the product of a forced merger of Transcontinental Air Transport and Western Air Express. The Transcontinental and Western Air that resulted (the original meaning of the initialism “TWA”) was what the Postmaster General wanted, a bigger airline to which the Postal Service could award airmail contracts.

23 Romanov dynast : TSAR

The House of Romanov was the second and last imperial dynasty to rule over Russia, after the Rurik dynasty. The reign of the Romanovs ended when Emperor Nicholas II abdicated following the February Revolution of 1917. Famously, Nicholas II and his immediate family were murdered soon after he stepped down, and other members of the Romanov Dynasty were sent into exile by the Bolsheviks.

31 Lucy of “Elementary” : LIU

Lucy Liu is an actress from Queens, New York. Liu’s big break came when she was chosen to play the Ling Woo character in “Ally McBeal”. I liked her in the 2000 film “Charlie’s Angels” but as I am no fan of Quentin Tarantino, I did not enjoy the movie “Kill Bill”. I do enjoy one of Liu’s more recent projects in which she plays Joan Watson, one of the two lead characters in the TV crime drama “Elementary”.

If you’ve seen the American television show “Elementary”, you will know that it is an adaptation of the classic tales by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that are set in the present day. “Elementary” is similar in look and feel to the excellent BBC series “Sherlock”, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch as a modern-day Holmes. We can pick up “Sherlock” in some parts of the country as part of “Masterpiece Mystery” on PBS.

32 Schlocky stuff : KITSCH

“Kitsch” is a German word, an adjective that means “gaudy, trash”.

Schlock is trash, something shoddy. The term “schlock” comes from the American Yiddish word “shlak”, with the same meaning.

38 Skydiving event : PARACHUTE JUMP (giving “jet pack”)

The term “parachute” was coined by Frenchman François Blanchard, from “para-” meaning “defense against” and “chute” meaning “a fall”.

The jet pack was originally restricted to the world of science fiction, the concept having been introduced in the 1920s. In the 1960s the jet pack became a reality, with people flying through the air, particularly in movies. And, there followed soon after jet packs used by astronauts in space.

41 “Mr. Blue Sky” gp. : ELO

“Mr. Blue Sky” is a 1977 song by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) from Britain. It’s a song that has been described as “Beatlesque”, and I must say that I agree with that assertion …

42 Ride-hitching fish : REMORA

Remoras are also called “suckerfish”, which name is descriptive of one of the fish’s basic behaviors. One of the remoras dorsal fins is in the shape of a “sucker”, allowing it to take a firm hold on a larger marine animal, hitching a ride.

43 Card worth four points in bridge : ACE

The most common way of evaluating a bridge hand is counting high card points. This method assigns 4 points to an ace, 3 points to a king, 2 points to a queen, and 1 point to a jack.

45 Cambodia neighbor : LAOS

The official name for the country of Laos is the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. In the Lao language, the country’s name is “Meuang Lao”. The French ruled Laos as part of French Indochina, having united three separate Lao kingdoms. As there was a plural of “Lao” entities united into one, the French added the “S” and so today we tend to use “Laos” instead of “Lao”.

The Kingdom of Cambodia is located in the Indochina Peninsula of Southeast Asia, and is bordered by Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and the Gulf of Thailand. “Cambodia” is the English version of the country’s name, which in Khmer is “Kampuchea”.

47 Peace in the Middle East : SHALOM

“Shalom” is a Hebrew word meaning “peace” that is also used to mean “hello” and “goodbye”.

54 Part in four-part harmony : ALTO

Four-part harmony is music written for four voices, or perhaps four instruments. A four-part harmony can also be written for a single keyboard instrument, in which case four different musical parts can be assigned to four different notes in a collection of chords.

55 Flying Solo? : HAN

Han Solo is the space smuggler in “Star Wars” played by Harrison Ford. Ford was originally hired by George Lucas just to read lines for actors during auditions for “Star Wars”, but over time Lucas became convinced that Ford was right for the pivotal role of Han Solo.

56 “Glass Onion” star Janelle : MONAE

Janelle Monáe is a singer and actress. I’m not familiar with her as a singer, but did see Monáe play NASA engineer Mary Jackson in the excellent 2016 film “Hidden Figures”.

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” is a 2022 sequel to “Knives Out”, with both films written and directed by Rian Johnson and starring Daniel Craig as private investigator Benoit Blanc. Johnson wrote “Glass Onion” during the COVID-19 lockdown, and set the film against the backdrop of the pandemic. The score for both films was written by Nathan Johnson, Rian’s cousin.

57 Bauxite or hematite : ORE

Bauxite is an aluminum ore. It takes its name from the absolutely beautiful village of Les Baux in southern France, the home of the geologist who first recognized that the mineral was a useful source of the metal.

Iron ore comes in a number of different forms, like magnetite (the most magnetic of all minerals) and hematite (the most commonly exploited iron ore).

65 Part of A.D. : ANNO

The Latin word for year is “annus” (plural “anni”). We often see it used in Latin phrases, but usually with a different spelling. In “anno Domini”, the “anno” is the ablative case of “annus” as the phrase means “in the year of the Lord”. Another example is “per annum”, in which “annum” is the accusative case as the literal translation of the phrase is “during the year”.

67 Clinton’s former department : STATE

The US Department of State is the equivalent of the Foreign Ministry in many other countries, and is responsible for international relations. Ceremonially, the Secretary of State is the highest ranking of all Cabinet officials, and is the highest ranking in the presidential line of succession (fourth, after the Vice President, the Speaker of the House and the President pro tem of the Senate). The department was created in 1789 by President Washington, and was the first of all executive departments created. The first Secretary of State was future-president Thomas Jefferson.

When Hillary Rodham Clinton was appointed US Secretary of State, she became the first former First Lady to serve in a president’s cabinet. Hillary met her husband, President Bill Clinton, when the two were studying at Yale law school.

Down

1 Playground game that is now a professional sport : TAG

World Chase Tag is a professional sport based on the playground game tag. The sport was established in 2012.

5 “Four score and seven years __ … ” : AGO

I visited Gettysburg for the first time in 2010, and goodness me what a moving place that is. As I discovered on my visit, there are five known copies of Lincoln’s Gettysburg address and all of them differ in some way or another, so I suppose the exact words spoken will never be known. Martin Luther King Jr. evoked Abraham Lincoln’s words in another of America’s iconic addresses, his “I Have a Dream” speech. Lincoln’s speech began with “Four score and seven years ago …”, and King’s speech began with “Five score years ago …” as a nod to the Gettysburg Address.

6 “After Apple-Picking” poet : FROST

“After Apple-Picking” is a 1914 poem by Robert Frost. It is told from the perspective of an apple-picker who is reflecting on his day’s work as he falls asleep that night.

7 Florida’s third-largest city : TAMPA

The Florida city of Tampa has been known as “the Big Guava” since the seventies. The term is imitative of New York’s “Big Apple”, and refers to the unsuccessful search for the reported wild guava trees that were once hoped to be the basis of a new industry for the area. Tampa has also been called “Cigar City”, a reference to the cigar industry that fueled the area’s growth starting in the 1880s.

8 NYC stretch originally called “Het Cingel” by the Dutch : WALL ST

New York’s famous Wall Street was originally named by the Dutch “Het Cingel” (or “the Belt”). That “belt” was the city “wall”, a wall erected by Dutch colonists to protect them from an attack by the British from the north. The attack by land never came, but the British did mount a successful invasion by sea. The British demolished the wall two decades later, in 1699.

10 Heart dividers : SEPTA

In the world of anatomy, a septum (plural “septa”) is a dividing wall within a chamber or other structure. For example, the interatrial septum separates the left and right atria of the heart, and the nasal septum separates the nostrils of the nose.

11 Langoustine : PRAWN

The langoustine is a relatively small species of lobster found in the northeast of the Atlantic and in parts of the Mediterranean. I remember langoustines turning up regularly on menus back in Ireland, where they are known as Dublin Bay prawns.

12 Caesar __ : SALAD

The caesar salad was created by restaurateur Caesar Cardini at the Hotel Caesar’s in Tijuana, Mexico. The original recipe called for whole lettuce leaves that were to be lifted up by the stem and eaten with the fingers.

17 43,560 square feet : ACRE

At one time, an acre was defined as the amount of land a yoke of oxen could plow in a day. Then, an acre was more precisely defined as a strip of land “one furrow long” (i.e. one furlong) and one chain wide. The length of one furlong was equal to 10 chains, or 40 rods. An area of one furlong times 10 rods was one rood.

21 Precise, in Peru : EXACTO

The nation of Peru is remarkable in many ways, both in terms of history and geography. For example, it is home to one of the “New Seven Wonders of the World”, i.e. the ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu. It is also home to the Colca Canyon, one of the deepest canyons in the world, deeper than the Grand Canyon. Most importantly (to me), it was from Peru that the Spanish brought the potato to the rest of the world …

23 “Voices Carry” pop group __ Tuesday : ‘TIL

‘Til Tuesday was a New Wave band from Boston that performed and recorded from 1982 to 1988. Aimee Mann got her start with “Til Tuesday, as a bass player and vocalist. The band’s best-known song is the hit “Voices Carry”, released in 1985.

24 Toss insults (at) : SNIPE

To snipe is to attack with snide criticism, especially from a safe distance. This usage of the term is an extension of the older meaning, to take a shot from a hidden position (as in “sniper”). Such a shot was originally taken when hunting the game birds called “snipes”.

26 Vegetarian staple : TOFU

“Tofu” is a name for bean curd, and is a Japanese word meaning just that … bean that has curdled. Tofu is produced by coagulating soy milk, using either salt or something acidic. Once the protein has coagulated, the curds are pressed into the familiar blocks. Personally I love tofu, but my wife absolutely hates it …

28 Letters between names : AKA

Also known as (aka)

33 Holy Trinity member : THE SON

In the Christian tradition, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit/Holy Ghost are three persons in one divine being, the Holy Trinity.

37 Spaceship Earth theme park : EPCOT

Spaceship Earth is perhaps the structure that comes to mind when we think of Epcot in the Walt Disney World Resort. It is a large, white, 18-story geodesic sphere.

39 $10 worth of quarters, e.g. : ROLL

The American quarter is a little unusual in the world of decimal currency, if you think about it. Most currencies have a “20-cent” coin, which is easier to work with mathematically. The US went for the quarter in deference to the practice of dividing Spanish Milled Dollars into eight wedge-shaped “bits”. That’s also why the quarter is sometimes referred to as “two bits”. We’ve been using the adjective “two-bit” to mean “cheap, tawdry” at least since 1929. State quarters were introduced in 1999.

40 God, in Rastafarianism : JAH

“Jah” is a shortened form of “Jehovah”, and is a name often associated with the Rastafari movement.

44 Fall Out Boy genre : EMO

Fall Out Boy is a rock band from Chicago that formed in 2001. They take their name from a character on “The Simpsons”, a superhero called “Fallout Boy”.

48 Org. founded by Ethel Percy Andrus : AARP

AARP is the official name now for the interest group that used to be called “The American Association of Retired Persons”. The name change reflects the current focus of the group on all Americans aged 50 or over, as opposed to just people who have retired. The AARP was founded by Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus in 1958 and is a successor to the National Retired Teachers Association, also founded by Andrus over ten years earlier.

49 “Wicked Game” singer Isaak : CHRIS

Chris Isaak’s 1991 hit “Wicked Game” is taken from his 1989 album “Heart Shaped World”. The song took a couple of years to become a hit after release on the album. “Wicked Game” received a boost in popularity after it was featured in the 1990 David Lynch film “Wild at Heart”.

51 The ‘gram : INSTA

Instagram (often abbreviated to “Insta”, or “IG”) is a photo-sharing application, one that is extremely popular. Instagram started in San Francisco in 2010. Facebook purchased Instagram two years later, paying $1 billion. The billion-dollar Instagram company had just 13 employees at the time of the sale …

52 Scheming group : CABAL

A cabal is a small group of plotters acting in secret, perhaps scheming against a government or an individual. The use of “cabal” in this way dates back to the mid-1600s. It is suggested that the term gained some popularity, particularly in a sinister sense, during the reign of Charles II in the 1670s. At that time, it was applied as an acronym standing for “Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale”, a group of ministers known for their plots and schemes.

53 Reeves of “Always Be My Maybe” : KEANU

Actor Keanu Reeves was sitting on a park bench one day in 2010, eating a sandwich. He was hungry, and just thinking about things. Someone snapped a photograph, and the pensive look and pose was easily interpreted as indicative of sadness. The photo was shared online, and “Sad Keanu” became a thing, and Internet meme. Now there’s even a Cheer-up Keanu Day observed every year on June 15th.

“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.

61 Fareed Zakaria’s channel : CNN

Journalist and author Fareed Zakaria hosts the weekly CNN public affairs show “Fareed Zakaria GPS”, with GPS standing for “Global Public Square”.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Peppermint __ : TEA
4 Float (in) : WAFT
8 Dangerous nestful : WASPS
13 Circle section : ARC
14 Uttar Pradesh city : AGRA
15 Bakery-cafe chain : PANERA
16 “Not in public, you two!” : GET A ROOM! (giving “Rat Pack”)
18 Longtime bud : OLD PAL
19 Loops in, in a way : CCS
20 Nina Simone’s “I Put a __ on You” : SPELL
22 Bygone airline : TWA
23 Romanov dynast : TSAR
25 Spot to catch a ride : TAXI STAND (giving “six-pack”)
27 Clothes line : INSEAM
30 Regarding : AS TO
31 Lucy of “Elementary” : LIU
32 Schlocky stuff : KITSCH
35 “Curses!” : FIE!
38 Skydiving event : PARACHUTE JUMP (giving “jet pack”)
41 “Mr. Blue Sky” gp. : ELO
42 Ride-hitching fish : REMORA
43 Card worth four points in bridge : ACE
45 Cambodia neighbor : LAOS
47 Peace in the Middle East : SHALOM
49 Safety device in some kitchens : CHILD LOCK (giving “cold pack”)
54 Part in four-part harmony : ALTO
55 Flying Solo? : HAN
56 “Glass Onion” star Janelle : MONAE
57 Bauxite or hematite : ORE
58 23-Across’s realm : RUSSIA
60 Travel the world with one bag, and what can be found in this puzzle’s circled letters? : BACKPACK
64 Entry-level position : INTERN
65 Part of A.D. : ANNO
66 Sushi spheres : ROE
67 Clinton’s former department : STATE
68 Blockhead : LUNK
69 Hog heaven : STY

Down

1 Playground game that is now a professional sport : TAG
2 Afore : ERE
3 “Just pretend we belong here” : ACT CASUAL
4 Conflicts in history class : WARS
5 “Four score and seven years __ … ” : AGO
6 “After Apple-Picking” poet : FROST
7 Florida’s third-largest city : TAMPA
8 NYC stretch originally called “Het Cingel” by the Dutch : WALL ST
9 Furthermore : AND
10 Heart dividers : SEPTA
11 Langoustine : PRAWN
12 Caesar __ : SALAD
15 Buffers : POLISHERS
17 43,560 square feet : ACRE
21 Precise, in Peru : EXACTO
23 “Voices Carry” pop group __ Tuesday : ‘TIL
24 Toss insults (at) : SNIPE
26 Vegetarian staple : TOFU
28 Letters between names : AKA
29 Small amount of seed money : MICROLOAN
33 Holy Trinity member : THE SON
34 Bottom line amount : SUM
36 “Tell me!” : I’M ALL EARS!
37 Spaceship Earth theme park : EPCOT
39 $10 worth of quarters, e.g. : ROLL
40 God, in Rastafarianism : JAH
44 Fall Out Boy genre : EMO
46 Esteem : ADMIRE
48 Org. founded by Ethel Percy Andrus : AARP
49 “Wicked Game” singer Isaak : CHRIS
50 Weigh on : HAUNT
51 The ‘gram : INSTA
52 Scheming group : CABAL
53 Reeves of “Always Be My Maybe” : KEANU
57 “Fine! Yes!” : OK! OK!
59 Prepared : SET
61 Fareed Zakaria’s channel : CNN
62 Camp sight : COT
63 Delete, e.g. : KEY