LA Times Crossword 29 Oct 23, Sunday

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Constructed by: Kelly Richardson & Katie Hale
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: Relatively Speaking

Themed answers are three-word phrases. Those phrases are parsed in two different ways to match the two parts of the corresponding clue:

• 22A Date night, or a midgame show starring Beyoncé instead of the coach’s nephew’s garage band? : BETTER-HALF TIME or BETTER HALFTIME
• 39A Giving up a lazy Saturday to clean up a beach at sunrise, or waking up to pancakes instead of gruel? : GREATER-GOOD MORNING or GREATER GOOD MORNING
• 56A A chic gray bob and cat eye bifocals, or sleeping until noon and dancing until dawn? : LATER-LIFE STYLES or LATER LIFESTYLES
• 80A Cardstock instead of newsprint, or the work of a wordy student? : LONGER-TERM PAPER or LONGER TERM PAPER
• 93A “The copy editor says this needs a capital letter,” or a judge saying “Not enough evidence” in a bass-baritone? : LOWERCASE DISMISSED or LOWER CASE DISMISSED
• 116A God’s rest on the seventh day, or forty winks on a bunk bed? : HIGHER-POWER NAP or HIGHER POWER NAP

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

Bill’s time: 12m 41s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 “The Name of the Game” pop quartet : ABBA

“The Name of the Game” is a 1977 hit song released by ABBA. It was written specifically for the mockumentary film released that same year called “ABBA: The Movie”.

12 Back teeth : MOLARS

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

21 Bright red liqueur : APEROL

Aperol is a bitter apéritif from Italy that has a bright red color. It was formulated in 1919, and today is a popular ingredient in many cocktails. The name “Aperol” comes from the French slang word “apero” meaning “apéritif”.

27 Cappuccino topping : FOAM

The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin is an order of Roman Catholic friars, an offshoot of the Franciscans. The order split from the Franciscans back in 1520, and were forced to go into hiding from church authorities. The new order was helped by the Camaldolese monks, and in recognition of their assistance, the breakaway monks adopted the Camaldolese hood, known as a capuccio. It is this “capuccio” that gave the order its name, and indeed ultimately gave the name to the Capuchin monkey. The cappuccino coffee is named for the coffee-and-white colored habits worn by Capuchin friars.

34 Bohr played by Kenneth Branagh in “Oppenheimer” : NIELS

Niels Bohr was a Danish physicist who won his 1922 Nobel Prize for his work on quantum mechanics and atomic structure. Later in his life, Bohr was part of the team working on the Manhattan Project that developed the first atomic bomb. Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein had a series of public debates and disputes in the twenties and thirties. Although the two respected each other very highly, they held very different views on quantum theory, different views on the laws of physics at the atomic level. The passage of time has shown that Bohr was on the right side of those debates.

Kenneth Branagh is a much-respected Shakespearean actor and film director from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Not only is Branagh familiar with playing Shakespearean characters on stage, he is also noted for many performances in Shakespearean plays adapted for the big screen. Branagh was married to the magnificent actress Emma Thompson, and after their divorce spent years in a relationship with actress Helena Bonham Carter. Recently, I have been enjoying watching Branagh in the crime TV series called “Wallander” that is set in Sweden.

“Oppenheimer” is an epic 2023 film starring Cillian Murphy in the title role. The movie follows J. Robert Oppenheimer, “the father of the atomic bomb”, from his student days right through World War II and beyond. Directed by Christopher Nolan, the film has an amazing ensemble cast that includes:

• Matt Damon (General Leslie Groves)
• Robert Downey Jr. (Lewis Strauss)
• Josh Hartnett (Ernest Lawrence)
• Kenneth Branagh (Niels Bohr)
• Tom Conti (Albert Einstein)
• Gary Oldman (Harry S. Truman)

55 Food stamp org. : USDA

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) classifies meat into eight different grades:

• Prime
• Choice
• Select
• Standard
• Commercial
• Utility
• Cutter
• Canner

62 Fast Amtrak train : ACELA

The Acela Express is the fastest train routinely running in the US, as it gets up to 150 mph at times. The service runs between Boston and Washington D.C. via Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. Introduced in 2000, the brand name “Acela” was created to evoke “acceleration” and “excellence”.

65 Underground systems : METROS

The Paris Métro is the busiest underground transportation system in western Europe. The network carries about 4.5 million passengers a day, which is about the same ridership as the New York City Subway. The system took its name from the company that originally operated it, namely “La Compagnie du chemin de fer métropolitain de Paris” (The Metropolitan Paris Railroad Company), which was shortened to “Métro”. The term “Metro” was then adopted for similar systems in cities all over the world.

67 Fluffy craft supply : POMPOM

The French call a ball made of tufted wool a “pompon”, a word that we imported into English directly as “pompon”. We use “pompon” to describe perhaps bobbles on some hats, or the tufted balls that are shaken by cheerleaders at sports events. Over time, the spelling “pompom” has become common in English, probably due to mishearing. To confuse matters a little, we also use the word “pom-pom”, which is a nickname for a British autocannon used mainly as an anti-aircraft weapon, particularly during WWII.

70 Writing tip? : NIB

“Nib” is a Scottish variant of the Old English word “neb”, with both meaning “beak of a bird”. This usage of “nib” as a beak dates back to the 14th century, with “nib” describing the tip of a pen or quill coming a little later, in the early 1600s.

73 Adventure game console : ATARI

Kids today probably don’t realize that we had a video game console back in the seventies, and it wasn’t a Nintendo nor was it a PlayStation. The Atari 2600 game system introduced the idea of separating out computing hardware (the console) from the game code (a cartridge). The same concept persists to this day, although cartridges have been displaced by discs and downloads.

75 Soy block : TOFU

“Tofu” is a name for bean curd, and is a Japanese word meaning just that … bean that has curdled. Tofu is produced by coagulating soy milk, using either salt or something acidic. Once the protein has coagulated, the curds are pressed into the familiar blocks. Personally I love tofu, but my wife absolutely hates it …

76 “I am enough,” e.g. : MANTRA

A mantra is a word that is used as a focus for the mind while meditating. The term is Sanskrit in origin, and is now used figuratively in English to describe any oft-repeated word or phrase.

86 Spanish diacritic : TILDE

A diacritic mark is added to a letter to indicate that it has a special phonetic sound. Examples of diacritic marks are the tilde above the n in Spanish words like “jalapeño” and “niño “, and the cedilla under the c in French words like “façade”.

100 Greek fabulist : AESOP

Aesop is remembered today as a fabulist, a writer of fables. Aesop lived in ancient Greece, probably around the sixth century BC. Supposedly he was born a slave, somehow became a free man, but then met with a sorry end. Aesop was sent to the city of Delphi on a diplomatic mission but instead insulted the Delphians. He was tried on a trumped-up charge of stealing from a temple, sentenced to death and was thrown off a cliff.

101 Wallach of “The Holiday” : ELI

Eli Wallach appeared consistently and made great performances on the big and small screens from the 1950s onwards. Wallach’s most famous role was probably “the Ugly” in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”. More recently he gave a very strong performance in 2006’s “The Holiday”. Sadly, Wallach passed away in June 2014, at the age of 98.

114 “Girl on Fire” singer Keys : ALICIA

“Girl on Fire” is a 2012 song recorded by Alicia Keys. Keys released three versions of the song. As well as the main version, there is an Inferno remix and a Bluelight remix. The former features two new verses written and rapped by Nicki Minaj. The latter is a slower version of the main song.

116 God’s rest on the seventh day, or forty winks on a bunk bed? : HIGHER-POWER NAP or HIGHER POWER NAP

Back in the early 1800s, folks took “nine winks” when getting a few minutes of sleep during the day. Dr. William Kitchiner extended this concept in his 1821 self-help book “The Art of Invigorating and Prolonging Life”. He suggested “A Forty Winks Nap”, which we seem to have been taking ever since. Mind you, I’m up to about eighty winks most days …

120 Sharp grabbers : TALONS

A talon is a claw of a bird of prey. The term “talon” ultimately derives from “talus”, the Latin word for “ankle”.

123 Hippocratic __ : OATH

The Hippocratic Corpus is a collection of about 70 medical works that were at one time believed to have been written by the Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, although authorship has been called into question. Within the collection is a document known as the Hippocratic Oath (but again, the authorship has been questioned). The oath is still used today as the basis for oaths taken by medical graduates before they enter into medical practice.

124 Orbital extreme : APOGEE

In the celestial world, an apsis is a point in an orbit when the orbiting body is at its greatest, or least, distance from its center of orbit. The farthest and closest points of orbit are known as the apogee and perigee, when talking about bodies orbiting the Earth. The farthest and closest points for bodies orbiting the sun are known as the aphelion and perihelion.

125 18-wheeler : SEMI

An 18-wheeler semi-trailer truck has eight wheels under the trailer, i.e. four on each of the two rear axles. There are 10 wheels under the tractor unit. Two of the ten wheels are on the front axle, and eight are on the rear two axles that sit under the front of the trailer.

Down

2 Canvas for many an arborglyph : BEECH

An arborglyph is a carving of lettering or an image into the bark of a living tree. Carving into bark isn’t good for a tree, as it damages the protective layer and potentially allows pests and bacteria into the “wound”.

3 Midler of “Hocus Pocus” : BETTE

I am a huge, huge fan of Bette Midler. I love her bawdy humor, her expansive personality, and her amazing voice. She will forever be associated with the 1979 film “The Rose”, which is loosely based on the life of the self-destructive singer Janis Joplin, with Midler playing the lead. Midler shows that she can act in this movie, and boy does she show that she can sing. The title song was written by Amanda McBroom and became a huge hit for Midler in 1979.

“Hocus Pocus” is a 1993 comedy film about a teenage boy who resurrects a trio of witches, played by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy. Although the movie bombed at the box office, it has legs, and has regular showings around Halloween every year. Despite failing at the box office, Disney made “Hocus Pocus 2”, and with the same leading cast.

5 Play-__: Fun Factory clay : DOH

Back in the 1930s, a manufacturer in Cincinnati produced a doughy compound that was used to clean wallpaper. Twenty years later, school-kids started using the cleaning material as a modeling compound, so the manufacturer reworked the formula, and sold it to local schools. It was given the name “Play-Doh”.

6 Norwegian saint : OLAF

Of the many kings of Norway named Olaf/Olav (and there have been five), Olaf II is perhaps the most celebrated, as he was canonized and made the patron saint of the country. Olaf II was king from 1015 to 1028 and was known as “Olaf the Big” (or “Olaf the Fat”) during his reign. Today he is more commonly referred to as “Olaf the Holy”. After Olaf died he was given the title of “Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae”, which is Latin for “Norway’s Eternal King”.

7 Balderdash : BALONEY

“Baloney” is an American English variant of “Bologna” as in the sausage. The term came to be used to mean “nonsense” in the 1920s. “Baloney” was popularized in the 1930s by New York Governor Alfred E. Smith as he used the term quite often.

“Balderdash” means “senseless jumble of words”. The original balderdash (back before the late 1600s) was a jumbled mix of liquids like maybe beer and wine, or even beer and milk!

8 Cappuccino topping, perhaps : NUTMEG

The fruit of the nutmeg tree yields two very different spices. What we call “nutmeg” comes from the seed of the tree. “Mace” is the dried covering of the seed.

9 __-Wan Kenobi : OBI

Obi-Wan Kenobi is one of the more beloved of the “Star Wars” characters. He was portrayed by two fabulous actors in the series of films. As a young man Kenobi was played by Scottish actor Ewan McGregor, and as an older man by Alec Guinness.

13 1968 to now, in professional tennis : OPEN ERA

In the sport of tennis, the Grand Slam tournaments were opened up to professional players, and not just amateurs, in 1968. So, the period since 1968 has been called the “Open Era”.

19 Heraklion’s island : CRETE

Heraklion (also “Iraklion”) is the largest city on the Greek island of Crete. It is situated near to the ruins of Knossos, which is deemed to be Europe’s oldest city.

29 “La Bohème” heroine : MIMI

Giacomo Puccini’s 1896 opera “La bohème” tells of a love affair between a poor poet named Rodolfo, and an even poorer seamstress named Mimi. There isn’t a happy ending …

33 Prickly plants : CACTI

The cactus (plural “cacti”) is a member of a family of plants that are particularly well-adapted to extremely dry environments. Almost all cacti are native to the Americas, although some succulent plants from the old world are similar in appearance and are often mislabeled as “cacti”.

35 Like fertile soil : LOAMY

Loam is soil made up of sand, silt and clay in the ratio of about 40-40-20. Relative to other soil types, loam is usually rich in nutrients and moisture, drains well and is easy to till. Loam can also be used in constructing houses as it is quite strong when mixed with straw and dried.

36 Bolsa Chica State Beach’s locale, informally : SOCAL

Bolsa Chica State Beach is in Orange County, California, located between Huntington Beach and North Beach. Once called “Tin Can Beach” by locals, it was designated as a State Beach in 1960.

39 Actress Pam : GRIER

Pam Grier is an actress whose most acclaimed performance was in the 1997 Quentin Tarantino film “Jackie Brown”, in which she played the title role.

41 Promposal goal : DATE

Over the years, the act of asking someone to be a prom date has become very elaborate. Such acts are sometimes referred to as “promposals”, a portmanteau of “prom” and “proposal”.

42 Appliance that performs under pressure? : INSTANT POT

The Instant Pot is a brand of pressure cooker cum slow cooker. We’ve got one …

43 In the buff : NUDE

Buffe leather was commonly used in the 1500s, leather taken from the original buffalo, a type of ox. This concept of “buffe” as a hide or skin led to the phrase “in the buff”, meaning “in the nude”.

45 Dollar alternative : ALAMO

The third-largest car rental company in recent years is Alamo, which was founded in 1974. Alamo made inroads (pun!) into the market by popularizing the idea of “unlimited mileage”.

46 Give ’em the old razzle-dazzle, say : PUT ON A SHOW

“Give ’em the old razzle dazzle” is a line in the song “Razzle Dazzle” from the stage musical “Chicago”.

53 Sale caveat : AS IS

A caveat is a warning or a qualification. “Caveat” is the Latin for “let him beware”.

54 Hirsute cousin : ITT

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

“Hirsute” means “hairy”. The term comes from the Latin “hirsutus” meaning “rough, shaggy”.

63 PR focus : COMMS

Press release (PR)

67 Bioré target : PORE

Bioré is a skincare brand owned by the Kao Corporation of Tokyo.

69 Oaty breakfast mix : MUESLI

“Muesli” is a Swiss-German term describing a breakfast serving of rolled oats, nuts, fruit and milk. The dish can be soaked overnight in milk before serving (“overnight oats”). “Muesli” is a diminutive of the German word “Mues” meaning “puree”. Delicious …

71 Oscar nominee Dunne : IRENE

Irene Dunne was a wonderful Hollywood actress. She played a variety of roles, but I always think of her as the leading lady with Cary Grant in the movies “The Awful Truth”, “My Favorite Wife” and “Penny Serenade”. She was great friends with fellow actress Loretta Young, and the two often attended church together. Dunne is often described as the best actress never to win an Oscar, even though she was nominated five times for the Best Actress Academy Award.

72 Xylophone parts : BARS

The glockenspiel and xylophone are similar instruments, the main difference being the material from which the keys are made. Xylophone keys are made from wood, and glockenspiel keys are made from metal.

75 Journalist Koppel : TED

Broadcast journalist Ted Koppel is most associated with his long run as anchor for the “Nightline” program on ABC. Koppel was actually born in England, to a Jewish family that had fled from Germany. He emigrated with his family to the US when he was 13 years old. Koppel is great friends with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger who was a frequent guest on his television show.

77 Water nymph : NAIAD

The Naiads of Greek mythology were water nymphs associated with fountains, wells, springs and streams. The saltwater equivalents of the freshwater Naiads were the Oceanids.

78 Salt formula : NACL

Sodium chloride (NaCl, common salt) is an ionic compound. It comprises a crystal lattice made up of large chloride (Cl^–) ions in a cubic structure, with smaller sodium (Na⁺) ions in between the chlorides.

79 Nueve preceder : OCHO

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

81 Singer Redding : OTIS

Otis Redding is often referred to as the “King of Soul”, and what a voice he had. Like so many of the greats in the world of popular music it seems, Redding was killed in a plane crash, in 1967 when he was just 26 years old. Just three days earlier he had recorded what was to be his biggest hit, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”.

82 “Love your skin” body brand : NIVEA

Nivea is a brand name of skin-care products from Germany. The Latin word “nivea” means “snow-white”.

84 Actress Witherspoon : REESE

Actress Reese Witherspoon started her own production company, Hello Sunshine, in 2016 to produce films and TV shows that focus on stories by and about women. The company has since produced several successful projects, including the HBO series “Big Little Lies,” which Witherspoon also starred in and co-produced.

89 Nutty confection : PRALINE

A praline is a candy made out of nuts and sugar syrup. The first pralines were made in France in the 17th century for an industrialist named Marshal du Plessis-Praslin, who gave his name to the confection.

90 __ mining : DATA

The process of data mining is used to extract information from a database and present it in a form that facilitates further use.

91 Current units : AMPERES

The unit of electric current is the ampere, which is abbreviated correctly to “A” rather than “amp”. It is named after French physicist André-Marie Ampère, one of the main scientists responsible for the discovery of electromagnetism.

95 Thin strips of land : ISTHMI

The word “isthmus” (plural “isthmi”) comes from the Greek word for “neck”. An isthmus is a narrow strip of land that usually connects two large land masses. The most notable examples of the formation are the Isthmus of Corinth in the Greek peninsula, and the Isthmus of Panama, connecting North and South America.

102 Gondola waterway : CANAL

The word “gondola” was originally limited to the famous boats that travel along the canals of Venice. When man started to fly through the air in hot air balloons, “gondola” was used for the basket in which the passenger(s) traveled. By extension, the structure carrying passengers and crew under an airship is also called a gondola, as are the cars suspended from a cable at a ski resort.

103 Tectonic __ : PLATE

The outermost shell of our planet comprises eight major tectonic plates, and numerous small plates. The heat from within the Earth causes the plates to move, albeit very slowly, creating earthquakes and volcanic eruptions where the plates meet each other.

107 2.2 lbs., roughly : KILO

Today, the gram is defined as one thousandth of a kilogram, with the kilogram being equal to the mass of a physical sample preserved by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (well, up until 2019, when it became more hi-tech than I can explain!). Prior to 1960, the gram was defined as the weight of a cubic centimeter of pure water (at the temperature of melting ice).

109 Univ. conferrals : PHDS

“Ph.D.” is an abbreviation for “philosophiae doctor”, Latin for “teacher of philosophy”. Often, candidates for a PhD already hold a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, so a PhD might be considered a “third degree”.

118 Orbit, e.g. : GUM

Orbit is a sugarless gum made by Wrigley’s. It first went on sale during WWII, but was taken off the shelves in the 1980s when there was a concern that the gum’s sweetener was carcinogenic. Orbit was relaunched in 2001.

119 Fútbol cheer : OLE!

In Spanish, a “fútbol” (football, soccer) supporter might shout “olé!” (bravo!).

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