LA Times Crossword 30 Aug 23, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Rebecca Goldstein
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Food Fight

Themed answers are FOOD items, each of which can be reinterpreted as a move in a FOOD FIGHT:

• 62A Cafeteria combat epitomized by the actions in 17-, 36-, and 42-Across? : FOOD FIGHT

• 17A Condiment often served with egg rolls : DUCK SAUCE
• 36A Budget beef cuts : CHUCK STEAKS
• 42A Vegetables that rank high on the Scoville scale : FIRE PEPPERS

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

Bill’s time: 7m 59s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Arabic for “tower” : BURJ

Burj Khalifa is a spectacular skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is the tallest man-made structure in the world, and has been so since the completion of its exterior in 2009. The space in the building came onto the market at a really bad time, during the global financial crisis. The building was part of a US$20 billion development of downtown Dubai that was backed by the city government which had to go looking for a bailout from the neighboring city of Abu Dhabi. The tower was given the name Burj Khalifa at the last minute, apparently as a nod to UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan who helped to broker the bailout.

5 Hermana de la madre : TIA

In Spanish, a “tia” (aunt) is the “hermana del padre o de la madre” (sister of the father or the mother).

13 State with Blue Jackets : OHIO

The Blue Jackets are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio. The name “Blue Jacket” is a reference to the uniforms worn by Ohio and Columbus soldiers during the Civil War.

16 Pastry in a pink box, in Los Angeles : DONUT

When purchasing a dozen doughnuts, they are often served in a pink box. This “tradition” is said to have originated in the 1980s at pastry shops in Los Angeles. Apparently, pink cardboard boxes are cheaper to make than white ones.

17 Condiment often served with egg rolls : DUCK SAUCE

Duck sauce is sweet and sour sauce served at Chinese restaurants in North America. The sauce is orange in color, and sometimes referred to as “orange sauce”, a reference to the color and not an ingredient. The name “duck sauce” is probably a reference to a related sweet bean sauce that is served in China with Peking duck.

23 Kings, on NBA scoreboards : SAC

The Sacramento Kings are one of the oldest basketball franchises still operating, having been founded way back in 1923 as the Rochester Seagrams. The Kings moved to Sacramento in 1985 from Kansas City, Missouri.

24 Queen Latifah’s genre : RAP

“Queen Latifah” is the stage name of the multitalented Dana Owens. The name “Latifah” is Arabic in origin and translates as “delicate, very kind”. Owens found the name and was attracted to it when she was just eight years old.

26 National Pickleball mo. : APR

Pickleball is a sport invented in the 1960s that combines elements of tennis, table tennis and badminton. Originally marketed as a game for children to play in backyards, pickleball is now played on purpose-built courts by many, many adults, but mainly in North and South America.

28 Loops in discreetly : BCCS

A blind carbon copy (bcc) is a copy of a document or message that is sent to someone without other recipients of the message knowing about that extra copy.

31 News letters : UPI

Founded in 1958, United Press International (UPI) used to be one of the biggest news agencies in the world, sending out news by wire to the major newspapers. UPI ran into trouble with the change in media formats at the end of the twentieth century and lost many of its clients as the afternoon newspapers shut down due to the advent of television news. UPI, which once employed thousands, still exists today but with just a fraction of that workforce.

35 NPR host Glass : IRA

Ira Glass is a well-respected presenter on American Public Radio who is perhaps best known for his show “This American Life”. I was interested to learn that one of my favorite composers, Philip Glass, is Ira’s first cousin.

42 Vegetables that rank high on the Scoville scale : FIRE PEPPERS

The Scoville scale is a measure of the spiciness of chili peppers. The scale was invented by a pharmacist in 1912, Wilbur Scoville. To determine the position of a pepper on the Scoville scale, the amount of capsaicin in the chili is measured. Capsaicin is an irritant that causes the sensation of burning when it comes into contact with tissue, particularly mucous membranes.

44 “Yo,” in Rio : OLA

Rio de Janeiro is the second largest city in Brazil (after São Paulo). “Rio de Janeiro” translates as “January River”. The name reflects the discovery of the bay on which Rio sits, on New Year’s Day in 1502.

49 Animal house? : ZOO

The world’s first zoo opened in Britain in 1820. Now known as “London Zoo”, the facility was referred to back then as the “Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society of London”. The term “zoo” is a shortening of “zoological”.

51 Triage ctrs. : ERS

Triage is the process of prioritizing patients for treatment, especially on the battlefield. The term “triage” is French and means “sorting”.

56 Website with customizable RSVP options : EVITE

Evite.com is a website launched in 1998 that is used to create, send and manage “evites”, online invitations.

65 Inner Hebrides isle : SKYE

The Isle of Skye is off the northwest coast of Scotland in the Inner Hebrides. It is the second largest island in the country, and has been linked to the mainland by a road bridge since 1995. I’ve never been there, but I hear the views are spectacular.

68 Proterozoic or Hadean : EON

The Earth’s Proterozoic eon lasted from about 2,500 to 540 million years ago. The eon started with the accumulation of oxygen in the atmosphere, and ended just before complex life began to proliferate.

The Earth’s Hadean eon is the oldest of our planet’s four geologic eons. It began with the formation of the Earth about 4,500 billion years ago, and ended about 4 billion years ago at the time of the Late Heavy Bombardment. The latter is an intense spike of asteroid bombardment.

69 “Voyage to India” singer India.__ : ARIE

“Voyage to India” is a 2002 studio album released by singer India Arie. The album’s title is the name of an instrumental written and released by Stevie Wonder, a performer much admired by Arie.

Down

3 Sushi roll ingredient : RICE

When I’m thinking of sushi, I’m really picturing “makizushi” (also “maki”), which is fish, vegetables and sushi rice combined in layers and rolled up in seaweed. “Makizushi” translates from Japanese as “rolled sushi”.

4 Wild cards? : JOKERS

Playing cards, in various forms, have been around for centuries and were probably invented in China. The Joker card is an American invention, appearing first in the late 1860s. It was introduced as a card for the game of Euchre, and the suggestion is that the term “Joker” comes from “Juker” or “Juckerspiel”, the original German name for Euchre.

5 JFK hotel named for a defunct airline : TWA

The TWA Hotel that opened in 2019 uses the main part of the TWA terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport that serves New York City. The magnificent TWA Flight Center was designed by Eero Saarinen, opened in 1962, and closed in 2001. The building was repurposed as a hotel and opened for business in 2017. As of 2022, it is the only hotel operating on the grounds of JFK.

6 Chits : IOUS

A chit is a note or a short letter. The term “chit” tends to be used these days in the sense of an amount owed (as in a poker game). The word used to be “chitty”, which is now obsolete but was closer to the original Hindi term. I feel a tad obsolete myself, because when we are at school we would be excused from class if we had a “chitty”.

9 “The Raven” poet : POE

The first verse of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” is:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore-
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more.”

10 Celery topped with peanut butter and raisins : ANTS ON A LOG

Ants on a log is a snack food prepared by spreading something like peanut butter or cream cheese on celery and placing raisins on top. If you leave out the raisins, the snack becomes “ants on vacation”.

11 Day of the Dead symbol : SUGAR SKULL

A sugar skull is a representation of a human skull made mainly from cane sugar, mixed with water, honey and almond oil. Sugar skulls are candy treats used in Mexico to celebrate the “Dia de Muertos” (Day of the Dead), known as All Souls’ Day in the Christian tradition
.

15 Semimonthly tide : NEAP

Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon on the oceans. At neap tide, the smaller gravitational effect of the sun cancels out some of the moon’s effect. At spring tide, the sun and the moon’s gravitational forces act in concert causing more extreme movement of the oceans.

18 Mexican Mrs. : SRA

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

28 “Back to the Future” bully : BIFF

Biff Tannen (and variants) is the bully character in the “Back to Future” trilogy. He is played by Thomas F. Wilson.

In the fun 1985 movie “Back to the Future”, Marty McFly finds himself back in 1955, and is trying to get back to HIS future, 1985. But on the other hand, 1985 is really Marty’s present, before he went back in time. Why does time travel have to be so complicated …?

34 Dune buggies, e.g.: Abbr. : ATVS

Dune buggies are motorized vehicles designed for use on sand dunes and sandy beaches. They are typically made by adding large wheels and wide tires to the chassis of an existing road vehicle. Volkswagen Bugs are a common choice for the base vehicle, which led to the name dune “buggy”.

36 Lids offerings : CAPS

Lids is a retailer of sports headwear that is headquartered in Indianapolis. The company was founded in 1995 in Boston, but the first store opened in Lafayette, Indiana.

37 Artist whose name is a homophone of a sculpture medium : KLEE

Artist Paul Klee was born in Switzerland, but studied art in Munich in Germany. We can see many of Klee’s works in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. If you get to Bern in Switzerland, even more of them can be seen at the Zentrum Paul Klee that was opened in 2005. Klee’s most celebrated work is his pointillist painting from 1932 called “Ad Parnassum”, which is owned by the Kunstmuseum, also located in Bern.

38 Fix, as a dog : SPAY

Our verb “to spay”, meaning “to surgically remove the ovaries of” (an animal), comes from an old Anglo-French word “espeier” meaning “to cut with a sword”.

40 Dog-eared, say : BENT

The folded-down corner of the page of a book, a temporary placeholder, is known as a “dog-ear”. I suppose that’s because it looks like the ear of a dog …

47 Document from an Amer. embassy : US VISA

A visa is usually a stamp in one’s passport, an indication that one is authorized to enter (and less often, to exit) a particular country. The word “visa” comes into English, via French, from the Latin expression “charta visa” meaning “paper that has been seen”, or “verified paper”.

48 Milanese moped : VESPA

Vespa is a brand of motor scooter that was originally made in Italy (and now all over the world) by Piaggio. “Vespa” is Italian for “wasp”.

52 WNBA official : REF

The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) was founded in 1996. The WNBA had to compete with the American Basketball League (ABL), a professional women’s basketball league that started playing games the same year the WNBA was founded. The ABL folded in its third season.

54 Collectible toy truck brand : HESS

Hess Corporation is an oil company based in New York City. In 1964, the company started selling toy trucks with the Hess logo on them, in Hess gas stations. The company has been selling them ever since, bringing out new models just before Christmas. Hess toy trucks have become quite collectible and the old ones can fetch a pretty penny.

55 Toy with an Eiffel Tower trick : YO-YO

The Eiffel Tower is a yo-yo trick that really only involves the toy’s string, and so it is usually labeled as a “picture trick”. The performer first sets the yo-yo disc spinning at the bottom of the cord, and then uses the fingers of both hands to manipulate the string into a basic shape that resembles the Eiffel Tower.

57 Rangers goalie Shesterkin : IGOR

Igor Shesterkin is a hockey goaltender from Russia who started playing in the NHL with the New York Rangers in 2019.

58 Pad see ew cuisine : THAI

Pad see ew is also known as Phat si io, and is a stir-fried noodle dish in Thai cuisine. “Phat si io” means “fried with soy sauce”. I love Thai food …

59 Raison d’__ : ETRE

“Raison d’être” is a French phrase meaning “reason for existence”.