LA Times Crossword 17 Aug 23, Thursday

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Constructed by: Hanh Huynh
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Sounds Like an Arty Puzzle

Themed answers are common phrases reinterpreted as radiotelephony (RT) messages that use common RT terms:

• 17A Gnat: “Bug spray sighting. Request for assistance.” Bee: “__. Backup is on the way.” : FLY, STAND BY (from “fly standby”)
• 26A Kittens: “Dogs, do you read us?” Puppy: “__. You’re coming in loud and clear.” : COPY, CATS (from “copycats”)
• 36A Bunny: “Come in, Hare. Return to base.” Hare: “__. Wilco.” : ROGER, RABBIT (from “Roger Rabbit”)
• 50A Bear: “Doe? Stag? Any deer got your ears on?” Deer: “__.” : FAWN, OVER (from “fawn over”)
• 57A Pig: “Hen, put the hammer down.” Hen: “Catch you on the flip-flop: __.” : CHICKEN, OUT (from “chicken out”)

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

Bill’s time: 7m 29s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Rae who plays President Barbie in “Barbie” : ISSA

Issa Rae is a Stanford University graduate who created a YouTube web series called “The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl”. Rae also plays the title role in the series, a young lady named “J”. “Awkward Black Girl” was adapted into an HBO comedy-drama called “Insecure”, in which Issa Rae stars.

The 2023 fantasy comedy movie “Barbie” stars Margo Robbie in the title role and Ryan Gosling as Ken. It was directed by Greta Gerwig, who also co-wrote the script with her partner Noah Baumbach. I highly recommend this one …

5 “We __ Overcome” : SHALL

The exact origins of the protest song titled “We Shall Overcome” is a little unclear. Some say that it is based on an early gospel song “I’ll Overcome Someday”, but there doesn’t seem to be much similarity between the two works beyond the titles. Early performers of the song who helped to popularize its use were Pete Seeger and Joan Baez.

10 Piedmont bubbly : ASTI

Piedmont in the northwest of Italy is one of the nation’s twenty administrative regions. It is a mountainous region that is surrounded on three sides by the Alps. The Italian name for the region, “Piemonte”, translates as “foot of a mountain”. Piedmont’s capital city is Turin.

14 Former name of a film-rating org. : MPAA

The Motion Picture Association’s (MPA) film-rating system (PG-13, R, etc.) is purely voluntary and is not backed by any law. Movie theaters agree to abide by the rules that come with the MPA ratings in exchange for access to new movies.

15 Natasha’s “Russian Doll” role : NADIA

Actress Natasha Lyonne garnered considerable attention for her performances as convict Nicole Nichols in the show “Orange Is the New Black”. More recently, she led the cast in the show “Russian Doll”, playing Nadia Vulvokov.

“Russian Doll” is a comedy-drama TV show starring Natasha Lyonne as a woman who is caught in a time loop on the day of her 36th birthday party. She dies on that day, and spends each repeat of the day to figure out exactly what happened to her. I haven’t seen this one yet, but it does sound very interesting …

19 Letter-shaped fastener : T-NUT

A T-nut is so called because it has a T-shape when viewed from the side.

20 NBA stat : REB

In basketball, a rebound (REB) is retrieval of the ball after it “rebounds” (usually off the backboard) following a missed field goal or free throw. If the offensive side recovers the ball, it’s known as an offensive rebound. If the defensive side recovers it, it is a defensive rebound.

22 Co-op divisions : UNITS

Housing co-operatives (co-ops) and condos are similar, but there are important differences. Both co-ops and condos are multi-unit buildings. A condo is a private residence in such a building, with ownership of common areas shared. An owner of a co-op has an interest in the entire multi-unit building, and a contract allowing occupation of a specific unit. So, condo owners own their units, and co-op owners do not.

24 Milne character with a “Gloomy Place” : EEYORE

Eeyore is the donkey character in A. A. Milne’s “Winnie-the-Pooh”. Eeyore is very lovable, but has a gloomy and pessimistic outlook on life.

29 Primer mes del año : ENERO

In Spanish, the “primer mes del calendario” (first month of the calendar) is “enero” (January).

35 “__ Twist, Scientist”: kid-lit bestseller : ADA

“Ada Twist, Scientist’ is a children’s picture book by Andrea Beaty (illustrated by David Roberts) that was first published in 2016. An animated preschool TV series with the same name premiered in 2021.

36 Bunny: “Come in, Hare. Return to base.” Hare: “__. Wilco.” : ROGER, RABBIT (from “Roger Rabbit”)

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”.

In the world of radiotelephony, “wilco” is short for “I understand and will comply”.

“Who Framed Roger Rabbit” is a clever 1988 film featuring cartoon characters that interact directly with human beings. The most memorable cartoon characters have to be goofy Roger Rabbit, and vampish Jessica Rabbit. The film is based on a novel written by Gary K. Wolf called “Who Censored Roger Rabbit?” There is a prequel floating around that has never been produced, which is titled “Who Discovered Roger Rabbit”.

41 Dished the dirt : SPILLED

To dish the dirt is to talk about someone or something without regard to veracity. The phrase comes from “dish” (in the sense of dishing out food) and “dirt” (in the sense of negative information). To be dishy is to be given to gossip.

45 Moray __ : EEL

Morays are a large group of about 200 species of eels found across the world’s oceans. They are carnivorous and look pretty scary but they’re quite shy when confronted and present no threat to humans. One interesting thing about morays is that they will sometimes work in cooperation with the grouper fish found in reefs, the two helping each other hunt for food.

46 Paper quantities : REAMS

A ream is 500 sheets of paper. As there were 24 sheets in a quire, and 20 quires made up a ream, there used to be 480 sheets in a ream. Ever since the standard was changed to 500, a 480-sheet packet of paper has been called a “short ream”. We also use the term “reams” to mean a great amount, evolving from the idea of a lot of printed material.

50 Bear: “Doe? Stag? Any deer got your ears on?” Deer: “__.” : FAWN, OVER (from “fawn over”)

A fawn is a young deer, usually one less than a year old.

The verb “to fawn” has a different etymology to that of the noun “fawn”. The Old English “faegnian” meant “to rejoice, be glad”. In particular, the Old English verb applied to a dog wagging its tail. From there, “to fawn” came to mean “to court favor, to grovel”.

54 Jewelry retailer Alex and __ : ANI

The jewelry retailer Alex and Ani was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Cranston, Rhode Island. The founder Carolyn Rafaelian named her business for her two daughters: Alex and Ani.

55 L.A. bus-and-rail overseer : MTA

“MTA” might refer to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is known as “the Metro” and sometimes “the MTA”.

56 Uncommon Scrabble outcomes : TIES

Here’s a little Scrabble trivia … “Pizzazz” is the only 7-letter word in English that cannot be played in Scrabble. You can get close by using the Z-tile with the two blank tiles to get to three of the required four Zs, but there’s no way to get to that fourth letter-Z.

61 Astrobiology org. : SETI

“SETI” is the name given to a number of projects searching for extraterrestrial life. The acronym stands for “search for extraterrestrial intelligence”. One of the main SETI activities is the monitoring of electromagnetic radiation (such as radio waves) reaching the Earth in the hope of finding a transmission from a civilization in another world.

Astrobiology is the study of extraterrestrial life, as well as life on earth. The term “exobiology” applies to the study and search for life beyond earth.

62 La Festa di San Valentino emotion : AMORE

In Italian, the theme of “la festa di San Valentino” (the feast of Saint Valentine) is “amore” (love).

63 German spouse : FRAU

In German, a “Herr” (Mr.) is married to a “Frau” (Mrs.), and they live together in a “Haus” (house).

65 Introvert : LONER

The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung popularized the terms “Introvert” and “extrovert”, although he believed that we all have introverted and extroverted sides to us. Nowadays we tend to think of extroversion and introversion as extremes on a continuum. We bloggers, sitting at home glued to our laptops, tend to the introverted end of the scale …

66 Country star Lovett : LYLE

As well as being famous in his own right, country singer Lyle Lovett is known for his 1993 marriage to actress Julia Roberts. The pair had a whirlwind romance lasting just three weeks before they eloped and were wed. The marriage itself was also relatively whirlwind, lasting less than two years.

Down

1 “Now’s a good time” : I’M FREE

Me too …

2 Abdominal organ : SPLEEN

The spleen has a couple of functions in the human body. It removes old red blood cells, and recycles the iron contained therein. The waste product of this recycling is bile. It also holds a reserve of blood that can be released when necessary (if the body goes into “circulatory shock”). Greek and Roman physicians ascribed to the theory that the body had four basic substances, the so-called four humors. All diseases were caused by these four substances getting out of balance. The four humors were:

• Black bile (melancolia)
• Yellow bile (cholera)
• Phlegm (phlegma)
• Blood (sanguis)

6 “Frozen” villain : HANS

“Frozen” is a 2013 animated feature from Walt Disney Studios that is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Snow Queen”. The film is all about the exploits of Princess Anna, the younger sister of Elsa, Snow Queen of Arendelle. Spoiler alert: Prince Hans of the Southern Isles seems to be a good guy for most of the film, but turns out to be a baddie in the end. And, a snowman named Olaf provides some comic relief.

8 Ad-__ : LIB

“Ad libitum” is a Latin phrase meaning “at one’s pleasure”. In common usage, the phrase is usually shortened to “ad-lib”. On the stage, the concept of an ad-lib is very familiar.

10 Rooms under roofs : ATTICS

An attic or loft is a room or space located below the roof of a building. The term “attic” is a shortened form of “attic story”, the uppermost story or level of a house. This term “attic story” originally applied to a low, decorative level built on top of the uppermost story behind a building’s decorative facade. This use of decoration at the top of buildings was common in ancient Greece, and was particularly important in the Attica style. That Attica style was so called because it originated in the historical region of Attica that encompassed the city of Athens. And that’s how our attics are linked to ancient Greece.

11 Red-and-white topper : SANTA HAT

The name “Santa Claus” is American English, and came into the language as a phonetic variant of “Sinterklaas”, the Dutch for “Saint Nicholas”.

13 Addams cousin : ITT

In the television sitcom “The Addams Family”, the family had a frequent visitor named Cousin Itt. Itt is a short man with long hair that runs from his head to the floor. He was played by Italian actor Felix Silla.

23 Washington Square Park sch. : NYU

The main campus of the private New York University (NYU) is located right in Manhattan, in Washington Square in the heart of Greenwich Village. NYU has over 12,000 resident students, the largest number of residents in a private school in the whole country. NYU’s sports teams are known as the Violets, a reference to the violet and white colors that are worn in competition. Since the 1980s, the school’s mascot has been a bobcat. “Bobcat” had been the familiar name given to NYU’s Bobst Library computerized catalog.

Washington Square Park in New York City is largely surrounded by buildings belonging to New York University. The park’s most prominent feature in the park is the magnificent Washington Square Arch, a triumphal marble arch erected in 1892 to celebrate the centennial of George Washington’s inauguration as the nation’s first president in 1789.

25 After-lunch sandwich : OREO

Nabisco offers customized packets of Oreo cookies through its OREOiD website. Users of the site can choose filling colors and decorations, and can add a photo or a message to the cookie itself.

28 Spanish spouse: Abbr. : SRA

In Spanish, a “dama” (lady) might be referred to as “Señora” (Mrs.).

30 CrossFit staple : BURPEE

Burpees are strength-training exercises. Each burpee involves a squat thrust followed by a straight stand. The exercise is named for its inventor, physiologist Royal Huddleston Burpee, Sr.

CrossFit is a trademarked fitness, strength and conditioning program that was introduced in 2000.

33 __ Moines, Iowa : 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.

34 Two-bagger: Abbr. : DBL

In baseball, a two-bagger is a double (dbl.), a hit that gets the batter onto second base.

37 Senator Sanders : BERNIE

When Senator Bernie Sanders attended the inauguration of Joe Biden in January of 2021, he was faced with an outdoor event on a cold winter’s day. Sanders sat himself on a folding chair, a well-insulated winter jacket, and patterned mittens. The image of him went viral, with folks editing it and incorporating the senator into famous movie scenes.

39 DOJ bureau : ATF

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) today is part of the Department of Justice (DOJ). The ATF has its roots in the Department of Treasury dating back to 1886 when it was known as the Bureau of Prohibition. “Explosives” was added to the ATF’s name when the bureau was moved under the Department of Justice (DOJ) as part of the reorganization called for in the Homeland Security Act of 2002.

44 Bit of Morse code : DOT

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”.

49 Lady Liberty, for one : STATUE

The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the people of France to the United States. It was designed by sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and constructed in France by civil engineer Gustave Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower fame). The statue was disassembled, shipped to the US, and reassembled on its pedestal on Bedloe’s Island (now “Liberty Island”). A ceremony of dedication was held in 1886. If you take a boat ride down the Seine in Paris you will probably see a one-third replica of Lady Liberty standing on a small island in the river, looking quite magnificent. That copy was given to the people of Paris by the city’s American community in 1889.’

52 Job at DC Comics : INKER

The traditional process for drawing a comic book involves a team of specialist artists. The penciller creates the initial drawing, the inker adds depth and shading to the drawing, the letterer adds text, and the colorist adds color.

DC Comics takes its name from what used to be a highly popular series called “Detective Comics”. The main competitor to DC Comics is Marvel Comics, and between the two companies, they command 80% of comic sales in the US market. Nowadays of course, a lot of company income comes from movies that use the most popular characters from the original comics.

56 Meas. of thyme : TSP

Teaspoon (tsp.)

58 Medical gp. : HMO

Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)

60 Gridiron org. : NFL

We never used the word “gridiron” when I was growing up in Ireland (meaning a grill used for cooking food over an open fire). So, maybe I am excused for taking two decades living in the US to work out that a football field gridiron is so called because the layout of yard lines over the field looks like a gridiron used in cooking.