LA Times Crossword 24 Apr 23, Monday

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Constructed by: Brian Callahan
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: LOL!

Themed answers are each in the format “L-word OF L-word”:

• 17A Palm crease read by fortunetellers : LINE OF LIFE
• 24A Wash unit : LOAD OF LAUNDRY
• 36A Esports giant from Riot Games : LEAGUE OF LEGENDS
• 46A Illinois nickname : LAND OF LINCOLN
• 57A Letter ender similar to XOXO : LOTS OF LOVE

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

Bill’s time: 5m 47s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Desert plants on Arizona’s state quarter : CACTI

The Arizona state quarter features a banner reading “Grand Canyon State”, as well as an image of the Grand Canyon, and an image of a Saguaro Cactus.

6 “Succession” cable network : HBO

“Succession” is a very popular dark comedy-drama series that premiered in 2018. It’s about a family-owned, global media company. The “succession” in question is who will get to run the empire after the passing of the ailing family patriarch. The marvelous Scottish actor Brian Cox plays the head of the company Logan Roy. Great stuff, albeit quite depressing and terrifying …

9 Mr. Potato Head limbs : ARMS

Mr. Potato Head is an enduring and popular toy that has been around since its invention by George Lerner in 1949. In its original form, the toy was a collection of eyes, ears, and other facial features, that were designed to be stuck into a real potato. Mr. Potato Head also has the distinction of being the first toy ever to be advertised on television.

14 “Sunday Night Baseball” nickname : A-ROD

Baseball player Alex Rodriguez, nicknamed “A-Rod”, hit his 600th home run on August 4th, 2010. He had hit his 500th home run exactly three years earlier, on August 4th, 2007, when he became the youngest player in Major League history to join the 500-home run club.

16 Lye, to a chemist : NAOH

What we call “lye” is usually sodium hydroxide (NaOH), although historically the term “lye” was used for potassium hydroxide. Lye has many uses, including to cure several foodstuffs. Lye can make olives less bitter, for example. The chemical is also found in canned mandarin oranges, pretzels and Japanese ramen noodles. More concentrated grades of lye are used to clear drains and clean ovens. Scary …

17 Palm crease read by fortunetellers : LINE OF LIFE

In the practice called palmistry, someone might tell your fortune by interpreting the lines and other features seen on the palm of your hand. The lines in the palm have names such as life line, head line, heart line and fate line. The life line is the curve that sweeps around in an arc centered at the base of the thumb.

19 “__ Murders in the Building”: Hulu series : ONLY

“Only Murders in the Building” is a comedy-mystery TV show starring Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez as a trio of true-crime podcasters who band together to solve a murder in their apartment building. Steve Martin co-created the series. I’ve got to see it one day …

21 Malty beer : ALE

Malt is germinated cereal grains that have been dried. The cereal is germinated by soaking it in water, and then germination is halted by drying the grains with hot air.

29 “Gangsta Rap” rapper : ICE-T

“Gangsta Rap” is the name of the eighth studio album by rapper Ice-T, released in 2006. It is also the name of the title track.

33 Persian Gulf fed. with seven members : UAE

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven emirates (states) in the Middle East. Included in the seven are Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with the city of Abu Dhabi being the UAE capital and cultural center.

36 Esports giant from Riot Games : LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

Apparently, League of Legends (LoL) is a very popular multiplayer online video game. It is often referred to as the world’s largest “e-sport”, with players competing in several organized leagues. League leaders compete in the annual League of Legends World Championship. At one point during the 2019 LoL World Championship, there were 44 million people all viewing the competition’s livestream at the same time.

40 Old Mac platform : OS X

Apple introduced the OS X Operating System in 2000. Each version of this operating system has had a code name, and that code name until recently has been a type of big cat. The versions and code names are:

• 10.0: Cheetah
• 10.1: Puma
• 10.2: Jaguar
• 10.3: Panther
• 10.4: Tiger
• 10.5: Leopard
• 10.6: Snow Leopard
• 10.7: Lion
• 10.8: Mountain Lion
• 10.9: Mavericks
• 10.10: Yosemite
• 10.11: El Capitan
• 10.12: macOS Sierra
• 10.13: macOS High Sierra

42 Wall-climbing vines : IVIES

The species of flowering plant Hedera helix is variously referred to as common ivy, English ivy, or usually just plain “ivy”. “Hedera” is the generic term for “ivy”, and “helix” is Greek for “spiral, twist, turn”.

45 Hunter who shines at night? : ORION

The very recognizable constellation of Orion is named for the Greek god Orion, the Hunter. If you take a look at the star in Orion’s “right shoulder”, the second brightest star in the constellation, you might notice that it is quite red in color. This is the famous star called Betelgeuse, a red supergiant, a huge star that is on its way out. Betelgeuse is expected to explode into a supernova within the next thousand years or so. You don’t want to miss that …

46 Illinois nickname : LAND OF LINCOLN

The State of Illinois is known as “Land of Lincoln”, as well as “The Prairie State”.

51 Latin for “as originally positioned” : IN SITU

“In situ” is a Latin phrase meaning “in the place”, and we use the term to mean “in the original position”.

56 Frozen dessert brand : EDY’S

Edy’s is a brand of premium ice cream that was founded in 1928 in Oakland, California. The company’s two signature brands, Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream and Edy’s Grand Ice Cream, are named after its founders, William Dreyer and Joseph Edy.

57 Letter ender similar to XOXO : LOTS OF LOVE

In the sequence letter sequence “X-O-X”, the X represents a kiss, and the O a hug. “O-O-O” is a string of hugs, and “X-X-X” a string of kisses. Hugs and kisses …

61 Chap : GENT

“Chap” is an informal term meaning “lad, fellow” that is used especially in England. The term derives from “chapman”, an obsolete word meaning “purchaser” or “trader”.

63 __ the Riveter : ROSIE

Rosie the Riveter is a cultural icon who represented women working in factories across the country during WWII as part of the war effort. The term “Rosie the Riveter” first appeared as the title of a 1942 song that was a national hit. The image that we bring to mind today that supposedly depicts “Rosie” is a wartime poster with the words “We Can Do It!”, which shows a woman in blue overalls and a red and white polka-dot headscarf. However, this image was used by Westinghouse as an internal motivation tool only for a two-week period in 1943, and was never associated with the Rosie the Riveter persona. The “Rosie” association to that image came decades later, in the 1980s. The best-known WWII representation of Rosie the Riveter was a “Saturday Evening Post” cover drawn by Norman Rockwell in 1943. This image shows a female worker with a rivet gun, and a lunch box bearing the name “Rosie”.

66 Last name of the “Full House” twins : OLSEN

“Full House” is a sitcom that originally aired from the late eighties through the mid-nineties. It’s all about two men helping a third man raise his three young daughters after his wife is killed by a drunk driver. Bob Saget plays the widowed father, and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen play the youngest daughter. A sequel titled “Fuller House” started airing on Netflix in 2016.

Down

3 Drip from a menorah : CANDLE WAX

There is a seven-branched menorah used symbolically in ancient temples. However, the Hanukkah menorah is a nine-branched lampstand that is lit during the eight-day holiday called Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights. “Menorah” is the Hebrew word for “lamp”.

4 Final album in the Green Day trilogy that includes “¡Uno!” and “¡Dos!” : TRE

Rock band Green Day released a trilogy of studio albums sequentially from September to December in 2012. The albums were inventively titled “¡Uno!”, “¡Dos!” and “¡Tré!”

5 “As I see it” shorthand : IMO

In my opinion (IMO)

6 Winnie-the-Pooh greeting : HALLO!

Alan Alexander (A.A.) Milne was an English author who is best known for his delightful “Winnie-the-Pooh” series of books. He had only one son, Christopher Robin Milne, born in 1920. The young Milne was the inspiration for the Christopher Robin character in the Winnie-the-Pooh stories. Winnie-the-Pooh was named after Christopher Robin’s real teddy bear, one he called Winnie, who in turn was named after a Canadian black bear called Winnie that the Milnes would visit in London Zoo. The original Winnie teddy bear is on display at the main branch of the New York Public Library in New York.

7 Legal write-up : BRIEF

The term “brief”, in the context of the law, applies to a written legal document presented in court as an argument in a legal process. “Brief” comes from the Latin “brevis” meaning “short”. So, I guess those arguments were originally meant to be short, concise. And “briefs” can be carried in a “briefcase”.

10 Dept. that tests new products : R AND D

Research and development (R&D)

11 Back tooth : MOLAR

Molars are grinding teeth. The term “molar” comes from the Latin “mola” meaning “millstone”.

15 Utter fiasco : DEBACLE

“Debacle” means “disaster”, and is a French word with the same meaning as in English. In French, the term originally was used for the breaking up of ice on the surface of a river.

Back in the mid-1800s, “fiasco” was theater slang meaning “failure in performance”. The meaning morphed soon after into any kind of failure or flop. The term evolved from the Italian “far fiasco”, a phrase that had the same meaning in Italian theater, but translated literally as “make a bottle”. It turns out that “fiasco” and “flask” both derive from the Latin “flasco” meaning “bottle”.

25 Universal donor’s type, briefly : O-NEG

In general, a person with type O-negative blood is a universal donor, meaning that his or her blood can be used for transfusion into persons with any other blood type: A, B, AB or O, negative or positive (although there are other considerations). Also in general, a person with type AB-positive blood is a universal recipient, meaning that he or she can receive a transfusion of blood of any type: A, B, AB or O, negative or positive.

26 First Amendment 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”.

The Constitution of the United States was adopted on September 17, 1787. There have been 27 amendments to the constitution, the first ten of which are collectively called the Bill of Rights. In essence the Bill of Rights limits the power of the Federal Government and protects the rights of individuals. For example, the First Amendment states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

27 Activist Ledbetter for whom the 2009 Fair Pay Act is named : LILLY

Lilly Ledbetter worked for almost two decades for the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. Just before retiring, she learned that she had always been paid substantially less than her male counterparts with similar seniority and experience. She sued the company in a case that went to the US Supreme Court. Ledbetter lost that case in 2007, largely because she sued for pay discrimination more than 180 days after her FIRST paycheck. In response to the decision, Congress passed Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 that gives an employee the right to sue for pay discrimination 180 days after ANY affected paycheck.

30 Half of Bennifer, familiarly : JLO

“Bennifer” is a portmanteau used for the super-couple pairing of actors Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. Other supercouples are/were:

• Tomkat – Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes
• Grant ‘n’ Hurley – Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Hurley
• Posh and Becks – Victoria and David Beckham
• Brangelina – Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie

31 Reef makeup : CORAL

A reef is a ridge of stable material lying beneath the surface of a body of water. They can be made up of sand or rock, and also of coral. The largest coral reef on the planet is Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, which stretches over 1,400 miles.

34 Yemen coastal city : ADEN

Aden is a seaport in Yemen that is located on the Gulf of Aden by the eastern approach to the Red Sea. Aden has a long history of British rule, from 1838 until a very messy withdrawal in 1967. A native of Aden is known as an Adeni. Some believe that Cain and Abel are buried in the city.

38 Big name in bike and snow helmets : GIRO

Giro is a manufacturer primarily of helmets used by cyclists and skiers. Founded in 1985, the company is based in Scotts Valley, California.

44 Tyke : TOT

“Tyke” has been used playfully to describe a young child since at least 1902 For centuries before that, a tyke was a cur or mongrel, or perhaps a lazy or lower-class man.

45 Nueve menos uno : OCHO

In Spanish, “ocho” (eight) is “nueve menos uno” (nine minus one).

46 Feudal lord : LIEGE

A liege was a feudal lord, one to whom service or allegiance was owed under feudal law. “Liege” was also the term used for one who owed allegiance or service to a lord. Apparently the term is influenced by the Latin verb “ligare” meaning “to tie, bind”. So, I guess both lord and servant were “bound” to each other.

47 South American mountain range : ANDES

The Andes range is the longest continuous chain of mountains in the world. It runs down the length of the west coast of South America for about 4,300 miles, from Venezuela in the north to Chile in the south. The highest peak in the Andes is Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina, at an elevation of 22,841 feet. Interestingly, the peak of Mt. Chimborazo in Ecuador is the furthest point on the Earth’s surface from the center of the planet. That’s because of the equatorial “bulge” around the Earth’s “waist”.

48 Justin Timberlake’s former band : NSYNC

Justin Timberlake got his break by appearing on TV’s “Star Search” from which he was given a starring role in “The New Mickey Mouse Club”. It was on “The New Mickey Mouse Club” that he met his future girlfriend Britney Spears, as well JC Chasez who would join Timberlake in the lineup of the boy band NSYNC.

54 1960s pop singer Sands : EVIE

Evie Sands is a singer from Brooklyn, New York. Sands is also a noted songwriter, having penned songs that have been recorded by the likes of Barbra Streisand, Gladys Knight, Karen Carpenter, Linda Ronstadt and Dusty Springfield.

55 Many a character in YA fiction : TEEN

Young adult (YA)

60 Response to a funny text, and a hint to this puzzle’s five longest answers : LOL

Laugh out loud (LOL)