LA Times Crossword 27 Oct 23, Friday

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Constructed by: Doug Peterson
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Can You Hear the Bees?

Themed answers all sound like common phrases with a “bee” sound added at the end:

• 20A Phrase on a card in Desert Monopoly? : DO NOT PASS GOBI (from “do not pass go”)
• 33A Doll with many advanced degrees? : GENIUS BARBIE (from “Genius Bar”)
• 41A Part of the year that’s filled with possibility? : MONTH OF MAYBE (from “month of May”)
• 56A Sport whose players wear furry hides? : BEARSKIN RUGBY (from “bearskin rug”)

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

Bill’s time: 7m 23s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Prayer wheel spinner : LAMA

Prayer wheels are cylindrical wheels that rotate on a spindle with a mantra written on the outside of the wheel itself. They are most closely associated with the Buddhist tradition.

9 Half a pop quartet : MAMAS

The folk group called the Magic Circle renamed itself to the Mamas and the Papas in the early sixties. Sadly, the Mamas and the Papas weren’t a happy bunch, always fighting over who was getting credit for songs and whose voice was getting mixed out of recordings, so they split up, twice. While they were together though, they wrote and recorded some great songs, songs which really do epitomize the sound of the sixties. “Monday, Monday” was written by John Phillips, one of “the Papas”, and it was to become the only number one hit for the group. Here’s a shocker … when it hit number one in 1966, it was the first time that a group made up of both sexes topped the American charts!

14 Like some defenses : ORAL

That would be the oral defense of a thesis.

16 San Antonio mission : ALAMO

The city of San Antonio, Texas was named by Spanish explorers. They came upon a Native American settlement in the area on 13 June 1631, the feast day of St. Anthony of Padua.

19 Jurassic giants, for short : DINOS

The Jurassic geologic period lasted from about 200 to 145 million years ago, following the Triassic and followed by the Cretaceous. Limestone strata from the period were first identified in the Jura Mountains in the Western Alps. It is this mountain range that gives us the name “Jurassic”.

20 Phrase on a card in Desert Monopoly? : DO NOT PASS GOBI (from “do not pass go”)

In the game of Monopoly, sometimes you “Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.”

The Gobi, the large desert in Asia, lies in northern China and southern Mongolia. It is growing at an alarming rate, particularly towards the south. This “desertification” is caused by increased human activity. The Chinese government is trying to halt the desert’s forward progress by planting great swaths of new forest, the so-called “Green Wall of China”. The name “Gobi” is Mongolian for “waterless place, semidesert”.

23 Pelican State sch. : LSU

The official nickname of Louisiana is the Pelican State, but it is also known as the Bayou State, the Child of Mississippi, the Creole State, the Sportsman’s Paradise and the Sugar State.

24 Passé : OLD

“Passé” is a French word, meaning “past, faded”. We’ve imported the term into English, and use it in the same sense.

25 “The Red Tent” novelist Diamant : ANITA

Author Anita Diamant’s best known work is the 1997 novel “The Red Tent”, which was a New York Times best seller. Diamant’s novels and nonfiction books tend to explore Jewish culture in America.

27 Sanaa citizen : YEMENI

Sana (also “Sana’a”) is the capital city of Yemen. Sitting at an elevation of 7,380 feet, Sana is one of the highest capital cities in the world. Within the bounds of today’s metropolis is the old fortified city of Sana, where people have lived for over 2,500 years. The Old City is now a World Heritage Site. According to legend, Sana was founded by Shem, the son of Noah.

31 Clearasil shelfmate : OXY

OXY 10 is a brand medication with the active ingredient benzoyl peroxide. Benzoyl peroxide is used as an acne treatment as well as for dyeing hair, whitening teeth and is also used in the preparation of flour.

33 Doll with many advanced degrees? : GENIUS BARBIE (from “Genius Bar”)

The famous Barbie doll was created by businesswoman Ruth Handler and first appeared on store shelves in 1959. Barbie was based on a German fashion doll called Bild Lilli that was introduced in 1955. Lilli had been a German cartoon character before taking on a three-dimensional form. Prior to the introduction of Bild Lilli and Barbie, children’s dolls were primarily representations of infants.

The technical support desk found in Apple Retail Stores is rather inventively called the Genius Bar. The certified support technicians are known as “Geniuses”. The trainees are called GYOs: Grow-Your-Own-Geniuses.

36 Nevada city on I-80 : ELKO

The city of Elko, Nevada came into being in 1868 as a settlement built around the eastern end of a railway line that was constructed from California and that was destined for Utah. When that section of the line was completed, the construction crews moved on towards the Nevada/Utah border, and the settlement was left behind to eventually form the city of Elko

41 Part of the year that’s filled with possibility? : MONTH OF MAYBE (from “month of May”)

The month of May was named for Maia, the Greek goddess of fertility.

46 Pirouette point : TOE

We took our word “pirouette” directly from French, in which language it has the same meaning, i.e. a rotation in dancing. “Pirouette” is also the French word for “spinning top”.

47 Actress Taylor-Joy : ANYA

Actress Anya Taylor-Joy had quite the international upbringing. She was born in Miami, and raised in Buenos Aires and then London. She is perhaps best known for playing the title character in the 2020 film adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Emma”, and the lead role in the Netflix miniseries “The Queen’s Gambit”.

52 Bamboo fencing? : KENDO

Kendo is a Japanese martial art based on sword fighting. Participants wear protective armor, and use bamboo swords.

54 Capote nickname : TRU

The larger-than-life Truman “Tru” Capote was an author and comedian. Capote is perhaps most associated with his novella “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and his true crime novel “In Cold Blood”. Truman Capote grew up in Monroeville, Alabama. There he met, and became lifelong friends with, fellow novelist Harper Lee. Capote was the inspiration for the character “Dill” in Lee’s celebrated work “To Kill a Mockingbird”. In turn, Harper Lee was the inspiration for the character “Idabel” in Capote’s “Other Voices, Other Rooms”.

56 Sport whose players wear furry hides? : BEARSKIN RUGBY (from “bearskin rug”)

Rugby is a town in County Warwickshire, England. It is a market town, and is also home to the famous Rugby School, one of the oldest private schools in the country. The school gave its name to the sport of rugby, as the laws of the game were first published by three boys at Rugby School in 1845.

62 Apple variety : GALA

Gala is the second-most popular apple cultivar in the US, after red delicious. The gala apple tree originated in New Zealand in 1930, and is a cross between a golden delicious and a Kidd’s orange red.

64 Soeur de la mère : TANTE

In French, “la tante” (the aunt) is “la soeur de la mère” (the sister of the mother).

65 “No time to wade through this” initialism : TL;DR

Too long, didn’t read (TL;DR)

69 Nevada city on I-80 : RENO

Reno, Nevada was named in honor of Major General Jesse Lee Reno, a Union officer killed in the Civil War. The city has a famous “Reno Arch”, a structure that stands over the main street. The arch was erected in 1926 to promote an exposition planned for the following year. After the expo, the city council decided to keep the arch and held a competition to decide what wording should be displayed, and the winner was “The Biggest Little City in the World”.

Down

3 With 7-Down, masterpiece : MAGNUM …
7 See 3-Down : … OPUS

“Magnum opus” is a Latin term meaning “great work”. The magnum opus of a writer or composer perhaps, is his or her greatest work.

5 Star of the 1925 film “The Gold Rush” : CHAPLIN

“The Gold Rush” is a 1925 silent film that was written, produced and directed by Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin’s wife Lita Grey was slated to play the leading lady in “The Gold Rush”, but she had to be replaced when she became pregnant. The leading role was taken by actress Georgia Hale, with whom Chaplin started an extramarital affair.

8 Team that shares an arena with the Liberty : NETS

The Barclays Center is an arena in Brooklyn, New York that is home to the Brooklyn Nets of the NBA, and the New York Liberty of the WNBA. Barclays ended up paying over $200 million for the naming rights, even though the London-based banking group has no retail banks or ATMs in the US.

9 Pietà figure : MADONNA

The Pietà is a representation of the Virgin Mary holding in her arms the dead body of her son Jesus. The most famous Pietà is undoubtedly the sculpted rendition by Michelangelo that is located in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. That particular sculpture is thought to be the only work that Michelangelo signed. In some depictions of the Pietà, Mary and her son are surrounded by other figures from the New Testament. Such depictions are known as Lamentations.

11 Nunavut neighbor : MANITOBA

Manitoba is the Canadian province that borders the US states of North Dakota and Minnesota. Even though Manitoba has an area of over 250,000 square miles, 60% of its population resides in the province’s capital city of Winnipeg.

Nunavut is a Canadian territory that dates back to 1999 when it was separated from the Northwest Territories. That makes Nunavut the youngest of all Canada’s territories. It is also the nation’s largest territory, the least populous, as well as the furthest north. Even though it is the second-largest country subdivision in North America (after Greenland), Nunavut is home to just over 30,000 people, who are mostly Inuit.

12 Chilean’s “I love” : AMO

The nation of Chile has a very distinctive shape. It is a narrow strip that runs up the west coast of South America. The average width of the country is only a little over 100 miles, and yet its length is about 2,700 miles. Chile is touted as the longest country in the world, although I am not so sure what that means exactly. I mean, Russia extends about 4,800 miles from east-to west, so maybe “longest” implies long in the north-south direction?

13 Brillo alternative : SOS

S.O.S is a brand of scouring pads made from steel wool impregnated with soap. The product was invented as a giveaway by an aluminum pot salesman in San Francisco called Ed Cox. His wife gave it the name “S.O.S” as an initialism standing for “Save Our Saucepans”. Note the punctuation! There is no period after the last S, and that is deliberate. When Cox went to register the trademark, he found that “S.O.S.” could not be a trademark because it was used as an international distress signal. So he dropped the period after the last S, and I hope made a lot of money for himself and his wife.

28 John Legend accomplishment, briefly : EGOT

“John Legend” is the stage name of singer-songwriter John Stephens. He has received many awards, and made many memorable performances. Notably, he played Jesus Christ in a live concert version of the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar” produced for NBC in 2018. In 2019, Legend started appearing as a coach in the TV show “The Voice”. He married model Chrissy Teigen in 2013.

29 Myanmar, once : BURMA

The Republic of the Union of Myanmar is the official name of the Asian country that some nations still recognize as the Union of Burma.

30 Java setting : ASIA

Java is a large island in Indonesia that is home to the country’s capital, Jakarta. With a population of over 130 million, Java is the most populous island in the world, with even more people than Honshu, the main island of Japan.

35 Seehorn of “Better Call Saul” : RHEA

Rhea Seehorn is an actress best known for playing lawyer Kim Wexler in the TV crime drama “Better Call Saul”. Seehorn’s birth name is Deborah Rhea, but she opted to use her middle name at a young age (which she pronounces as “Ray”).

38 Element of a warrior pose : KNEE BEND

Warrior pose is a famous yoga pose that is also known as virabhadrasana.

42 Got tipsy : HAD A FEW

The term “tipsy” comes from the verb “to tip” meaning “to overturn, knock over”, and has been meaning “drunk” since the late 1500s.

50 Childlike Rowan Atkinson character : MR BEAN

Rowan Atkinson is an English comedian and actor who is most famous for playing the title role in the comedy shows “Mr. Bean” and “Blackadder”. In the world of movies, Atkinson had memorable supporting performances (in my opinion) in the Bond film “Never Say Never Again”, and in the romcoms “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and “Love Actually”. A very talented man …

54 Oscar winner Swinton : TILDA

Tilda Swinton is an English actress, who is quite famous in her native land. She made a big name for herself outside the UK when she played the “baddie” in the 2007 movie “Michael Clayton”, opposite the “goodie” played by George Clooney.

58 Collard greens kin : KALE

Collard greens are a type of leafy green vegetable that is part of the Brassica family, which also includes broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. They are a staple food in the Southern United States, where they are often cooked with smoked meats. Collard greens are one of the oldest vegetables in human cultivation. They were first grown in the Mediterranean region and were brought to the Americas by African slaves, who used them in their traditional cuisine.

59 Superlative prefix : UBER-

“Über” is the German word for “over, across, above”. We have absorbed “uber-” into English as a prefix meaning “very”.

61 Frenemy of Lando : HAN

The character Lando Calrissian was played by actor Billy Dee Williams in two of the “Star Wars” movies.

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