LA Times Crossword 23 Sep 23, Saturday

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Constructed by: Matthew Stock & Caitlin Reid
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: None

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

Bill’s time: 12m 16s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

14 Large-eyed primate with a toxic bite : SLOW LORIS

The slow lorises are a group of nocturnal primates found in the forests of southeast Asia. They are unique among primates in that they have a toxic bite. The slow loris licks a sweat gland on its arm that secretes a chemical, a chemical that becomes actively toxic when mixed with saliva.

22 Hip-hop pioneer Kool __ Dee : MOE

“Kool Moe Dee” is the stage name of rap artist Mohandas Dewese. Kool Moe Dee had the honor of being the first rap artist to perform at the Grammys, and was one of the first rappers to win a Grammy Award.

25 “The thing with feathers,” per Dickinson : HOPE

Emily Dickinson wrote nearly 1800 poems in her lifetime, with less than a dozen published before she died in 1886. Emily’s younger sister discovered the enormous collection, and it was published in batches over the coming decades. Try this one for size:

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –

29 Percocet, codeine, etc. : OPIATES

The opium poppy is the source of the narcotic alkaloids known as opiates. To produce opiates, the latex sap of the opium poppy is collected and processed. The naturally-occurring drugs of morphine and codeine can both be extracted from the sap. Some synthesis is required to make derivative drugs like heroin and oxycodone.

“Percocet” is a trade name for the drug combination of oxycodone and paracetamol.

“Codeine” is the common name for the opiate 3-methylmorphine, which is a common ingredient in cough medicines. Codeine occurs naturally, making up about 2% of opium sap, although most codeine is synthesized from the more abundant morphine. The name “codeine” comes from the Greek “kodeia” meaning “poppy head”. There is so much codeine produced that it is the most commonly consumed opiate across the world.

31 Cry for attention? : TEN-HUT!

“Ten-hut!” is a term used in the US military that means “Come to attention!”.

37 Tarator ingredient : TAHINI

“Tahini” is the Arabic name for a paste made from ground sesame seeds. Tahini is a major ingredient in hummus, one of my favorite dishes.

Tzatziki (also “tarator”) is a sauce made from cucumbers mixed into yogurt with other flavorings. It is primarily associated with Greece, although variants are found in cuisines of other parts of Southeastern Europe and the Middle East.

38 Clouseau player : SELLERS

Peter Sellers was a British comedian and actor, and a genius (in my humble opinion). In Britain, Sellers was famous on the radio as a star on “The Goon Show”, In the rest of the world, Sellers is perhaps best-known for playing Inspector Clouseau in “The Pink Panther” series of films. Like so many of the greatest comic performers it seems, Sellers struggled with depression in his life off-camera.

Apparently, some people think that the Inspector Clouseau character (played originally by Peter Sellers) is “The Pink Panther”. “Pink Panther” is actually the jewel that was stolen in the original movie. Would you believe there are eleven “Pink Panther” movies in the whole series?

40 Hudson of “Glass Onion” : KATE

Actress Kate Hudson’s breakthrough role was Penny Lane in the 2000 movie “Almost Famous”. More recently, Hudson played Cassandra July on the TV show “Glee”. Hudson is the daughter of actress Goldie Hawn.

“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.

41 Kitty : POT

The pot in a card game has been referred to as “the kitty” since the 1880s. It’s not certain how the name “kitty” evolved but possibly it comes from “kit”, the necessary equipment for the game.

44 Like some holiday sweaters : UGLY

Until the early 1880s, the word “sweater” applied to clothing worn specifically for weight reduction by “sweating”.

47 Rebecca in the Basketball Hall of Fame : LOBO

Rebecca Lobo is a former WNBA basketball player who launched a second career as a sports reporter and analyst for ESPN. Lobo played with the New York Liberty, Houston Comets and Connecticut Sun.

52 Snack with which one could be caught red-handed? : FLAMIN’ HOT CHEETOS

Cheetos snacks were developed by the same guy who created Fritos, hence the similarity in name. On the market since 1948, up until the turn of the century the name was written as “Chee-tos”. Oh, and Cheetos contain pork enzymes, so vegetarians beware!

56 Happy place : CLOUD NINE

I don’t think that anyone is really certain of the etymology of the term “on cloud nine” meaning “elated”, but I do like the following explanation. The 1896 “International Cloud-Atlas” was a long-standing reference used to define cloud shapes that was based on a classification created by amateur meteorologist Luke Howard some decades earlier. The biggest and fluffiest of all cloud shapes (and most comfortable-looking to lie on) is cumulonimbus. And you guessed it, of the ten cloud shapes defined in the atlas, cumulonimbus was cloud nine …

Down

2 “The carp play the harp / The __ play the bass”: “Under the Sea” lyrics : PLAICE

“Under the Sea” is an Oscar-winning song from the 1989 Disney animated film “The Little Mermaid”. It is performed by the crab character named Sebastian.

3 List for a trial period? : DOCKET

A docket is the official summary of proceedings in a court of law. The term is sometimes used (informally) to refer to a court’s calendar of cases.

5 Sport that’s a lot of horsing around : POLO

A game of polo is divided into periods of play called chukkers (sometimes “chukkas”). The game usually lasts for two hours, plus the time between the chukkers that is used to change horses.

7 Part of a fictional flight plan : PIXIE DUST

In J. M. Barrie’s 1904 play “Peter Pan”, the fairy Tinker Bell sprinkles fairy dust on children to enable them to fly.

8 Rescue org. : ASPCA

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)

12 Handheld Nintendo devices : WIIMOTE

“Wiimote” is an alternative name for the Wii Remote, the controller for the Nintendo Wii gaming console.

15 “__ Mañanitas”: Mexican birthday song : LAS

“Las Mañanitas” is a traditional birthday song that is very popular in Mexico, as well as some parts of the US. The song’s title translates from Spanish as “The Little Mornings”.

17 Strike zone bottom : KNEES

Baseball’s strike zone is the imaginary rectangle through which a pitcher must throw a ball in order for a strike to be called, even if the batter does not swing. The width of the rectangle is defined by the width of home plate. The top of the rectangle is level with the midpoint between the batter’s shoulders and the top of the batter’s pants. The bottom of the rectangle is level with the hollow below the kneecap.

19 Credit report blot : REPO

Repossession (repo)

25 Tortuga’s country : HAITI

Tortuga is a Haitian island located off the northwest coast of Hispaniola. The island was used as a major base of operations for Caribbean pirates in the mid- to late-17th century. “Tortuga” is Spanish for “turtle”.

28 “The Incredibles” villain likely inspired by Marvel Comics’ Mole Man : UNDERMINER

The Underminer is a supervillain who makes a brief appearance at the end of the 2004 animated movie “The Incredibles”, before featuring prominently in 2018’s “The Incredibles 2”. In between those dates, he turns up as the main antagonist in the 2005 video game “The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer”. In the films, the Underminer is voiced by John Ratzenberger.

30 “The Handmaid’s Tale” executive producer Chaiken : ILENE

Ilene Chaiken is the co-creator of the Showtime drama series “The L Word”. The show deals with lesbian, bisexual and transgender people living in West Hollywood. The title refers to “the L word”: lesbian.

“The Handmaid’s Tale” is a remarkably well-received television adaptation of the 1985 novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood. The story is set in a future United State after the Second American Civil War. The “Handmaids” are the few remaining fertile women in the world, who are ritually raped and forced to bear children by their masters.

31 White Claw rival : TRULY

Truly is a popular brand of hard seltzer.

35 Arctic __ : CHAR

The Arctic char is a cold-water fish that is found in freshwater bodies in the very north of our planet, as the name suggests. In fact, no other freshwater fish is found as far north as the Arctic char.

41 “The Merchant of Venice” heroine : PORTIA

In William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice”, Portia is the formidable heroine who takes on the guise of a male lawyer and calls herself “Balthasar”. Portia does this to save the life of Antonio, the play’s title character. Portia makes a famous speech that gives us the oft-quoted phrase, “the quality of mercy”:

The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes…

42 Like most mozzarella sticks : OBLONG

String cheese is made in such a way that proteins in the cheese line up, giving it a “stringy” texture. In the US, we are most familiar with string mozzarella that comes in individually-wrapped “cheese sticks”.

46 Flabbergast : SHOCK

Apparently, there was a 1772 magazine article that described “flabbergasted” as a word that was in vogue at the time. That article also stated that the origin of the term was uncertain. Someone who is flabbergasted is utterly astonished. Like me, most of the time …

50 Q.E.D. : THUS

The initialism “QED” is used at the end of a mathematical proof or a philosophical argument. QED stands for the Latin “quod erat demonstrandum” meaning “that which was to be demonstrated”.

51 Unite beneath a chuppah, e.g. : WED

“Chuppah” is a Hebrew word that translates as “canopy, covering”. At a traditional Jewish wedding, the couple stand under a chuppah during the ceremony.

53 Emma’s “La La Land” role : MIA

“La La Land” is a 2016 romantic musical film starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a musician and actress who fall in love in “La La Land” (Los Angeles, i.e. “LA”). The film was written and directed by Damien Chazelle, who had found success two years earlier with the musical drama “Whiplash”. “La La Land” won a record-breaking seven Golden Globes and tied the record number of Oscar nominations at fourteen, winning six.

Actress Emma Stone is from Scottsdale, Arizona. Stone really came to prominence with her performance in the 2010 high school movie called “Easy A”. She won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance in the 2016 movie “La La Land”. Now one of the most sought-after actresses in Hollywood, Stone values her privacy and works hard to maintain a low profile. Good for her, I say …