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Constructed by: Zachary Schiff
Edited by: Patti Varol
Today’s Reveal Answer: The Color Purple
Themed answers each start with a PURPLE-COLORED plant:
- 49A 2023 musical film produced by Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg, and an apt title for this puzzle : THE COLOR PURPLE
- 20A Thoroughfare in New York City’s Little Italy : MULBERRY STREET
- 25A Hit single from Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” : LAVENDER HAZE
- 43A Meatless cheesy entree, familiarly : EGGPLANT PARM
Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers
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Bill’s time: 6m 02s
Bill’s errors: 0
Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies
Across
13 __ slaw : COLE
The term “coleslaw” is an Anglicized version of the Dutch term “koolsla”, which in itself is a shortened form of “Koolsalade” meaning “cabbage salad”.
14 Aptly named cooler brand : IGLOO
Igloo Products is a Texas-based manufacturer of coolers. The company started up in 1947 making metal water coolers, and introduced its first all-plastic ice chest in 1962. The Igloo name was adopted in 1971.
16 Ocean motion : TIDE
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.
19 Father and son authors Kingsley and Martin : AMIS
Kingsley Amis (what a great name!) was a very successful English writer, famous for producing entertaining, comedic novels. His most famous novel is probably his first, “Lucky Jim” published in 1954. That said, he won a Booker Prize for a later novel, “The Old Devils” published in 1986. He passed on some of his talent through his genes, it seems, as his son Martin Amis is a very successful novelist too.
I suppose the successful English novelist Martin Amis must have writing in his blood. He is the son of the respected author Kingsley Amis, a Booker Prize winner. Martin Amis’s best-known novels comprise his so-called “London Trilogy” consisting of “Money” (1984), “London Fields” (1989) and “The Information” (1995).
20 Thoroughfare in New York City’s Little Italy : MULBERRY STREET
Mulberry Street in Manhattan, New York City was named for the mulberry trees that once lined it and Orange Street (together known as “Mulberry Bend”). Mulberry Street runs north-south, and was once the heart of the city’s Little Italy neighborhood. As well as passing through today’s LIttle Italy, the street traverses Little Australia and extends into Chinatown.
23 Nerf missile : DART
Nerf is a soft material used in a whole series of toys designed for “safe” play indoors. The Nerf product is used to make darts, balls and ammunition for toy guns. “NERF” is an acronym, standing for Non-Expanding Recreational Foam.
25 Hit single from Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” : LAVENDER HAZE
“Lavender Haze” is a 2022 song co-written and recorded by Taylor Swift. According to Swift, the phrase “lavender haze” is a 1950s expression describing “love”. I’m not so sure, though …
38 Choreographer de Mille : AGNES
Agnes de Mille was a dancer and choreographer from New York City. She was the niece of famous director Cecil B. DeMille, and the daughter of William C. deMille who was also a Hollywood director. Agnes turned to dance after she was told that she was “not pretty enough” to pursue her first love, which was acting …
39 Chromosome part : GENE
A gene is a section of a chromosome that is responsible for a particular characteristic in an organism. For example, one gene may determine eye color and another balding pattern. We have two copies of each gene, one from each of our parents, with each copy known as an allele.
40 Goofy drawing? : CEL
Disney’s Goofy first appeared as Dippy Dawg in 1932. Goofy became famous for his “How to …” series of cartoons in the 1940s which dealt with everything from snow skiing to sleeping, and from football to riding a horse. Goofy’s last theatrical appearance was in a 2007 work called “How to Hook Up Your Home Theater”.
43 Meatless cheesy entree, familiarly : EGGPLANT PARM
Parmigiana (familiarly “parm”) is a dish from southern Italy. The original parmigiana was made with an eggplant filling, with cheese and tomato layers and then baked. Versions originating outside of Italy have replaced the eggplant with breaded cutlets of chicken or veal.
47 City near Anaheim : BREA
The city of Brea is in Orange County in Southern California. Historically, the area that is now Brea was known for its many oil wells. The city was incorporated in 1917, taking the name “Brea” as it is a Spanish term meaning “natural asphalt, tar”.
49 2023 musical film produced by Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg, and an apt title for this puzzle : THE COLOR PURPLE
“The Color Purple” is a 2023 musical drama film that is based on a stage musical of the same name, as well as a 1982 novel of the same name by Alice Walker. Two of the movie’s producers are Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg. Spielberg had directed a 1985 big-screen adaptation of the novel, using the same title, in which Winfrey had starred.
58 Neeson of the “Taken” films : LIAM
Irish actor Liam Neeson’s big break came with the role of Oskar Schindler in the Spielberg epic, “Schindler’s List”. Neeson was in the news some years later when he lost his wife, actress Natasha Richardson, in a tragic skiing accident in 2009. Earlier in his life, in the 1980s, Neeson lived for several years with Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren.
“Taken” is a fabulous thriller movie released in 2008. It stars Liam Neeson as kind of an older James Bond-ish character, and he is great in the role. “Taken 2” followed in 2012 and it wasn’t a bad sequel, I must say. 2014’s “Taken 3” was just “okay” …
60 Actress Hathaway : ANNE
Actress Anne Hathaway is a trained soprano singer. She put that training on display in the 2012 film adaptation of “Les Misérables,” for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
61 Rosebud __: “Schitt’s Creek” location : MOTEL
“Schitt’s Creek” is a very entertaining Canadian sitcom created by two of the four leading actors: Dan Levy and his father Eugene Levy. The other two leads are played by Catherine O’Hara and Annie Murphy. It is about a very wealthy family who lose their money and relocate to a small town called Schitt’s Creek, which they had once purchased as a joke. Recommended …
62 Land measure : ACRE
At one time, an acre was defined as the amount of land a yoke of oxen could plow in a day. Then, an acre was more precisely defined as a strip of land “one furrow long” (i.e. one furlong) and one chain wide. The length of one furlong was equal to 10 chains, or 40 rods. An area of one furlong times 10 rods was one rood.
64 Kelly of morning talk TV : RIPA
When Kelly Ripa secured the co-host spot on morning television with Regis Philbin, she was still acting in “All My Children” in a role she had been playing for over ten years. After a year of holding down two jobs, she eventually gave up the acting gig. Ripa has acted as spokeswoman for several brands over the years, including Electrolux and Rykä.
65 Hornet home : NEST
A hornet is a large type of wasp, with some species reaching over two inches in length.
Down
1 Airwaves-regulating govt. agency : FCC
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been around since 1934, when it replaced the Federal Radio Commission.
11 Drooling dog in “Garfield” : ODIE
Odie is Garfield’s best friend, and is a slobbery beagle. Both are characters in Jim Davis’ comic strip named “Garfield”.
12 Gnat, e.g. : PEST
Gnats have a relatively short lifespan, of about 7-10 days.
22 Weight adjustment factor : TARE
Tare is the weight of a container that is deducted from the gross weight to determine the net weight, the weight of the container’s contents.
26 Baylor in the Basketball Hall of Fame : ELGIN
Elgin Baylor is a retired NBA player and a former NBA general manager. Baylor spent 22 years as GM for the LA Clippers.
The Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts is more correctly known as the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The facility is named for James Naismith, the Canadian-American physical educator who invented the sport. Although the first Hall of Fame class was inducted in 1959, the first Basketball Hall of Fame building did not open until 1968, on the grounds of Springfield College. The increasing number of visitors resulted in the construction of a new building, which opened in 1985 on the banks of the Connecticut River in Springfield. The current facility is also located on the river, and opened in 2002.
29 Strong start? : ESS
The word “strong” starts with the letter S (ess).
33 Designer Cassini : OLEG
French-born American fashion designer Oleg Cassini developed a reputation for designing costumes for films, and dressing numerous film stars. He had two big names particularly associated with his designs. In the sixties he produced the state wardrobe for First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. He was also the exclusive designer for Hollywood’s Gene Tierney, who was Cassini’s second wife.
34 CVS rival : WALGREENS
Walgreens is the largest chain of drugstores in the United States, with over 7,500 retail outlets. The company is named for the owner of the first store and founder of the chain, Charles R. Walgreen. Also, Walgreens claims to have introduced the malted milkshake, in 1922.
38 Org. on a bottle of mouthwash : ADA
The American Dental Association (ADA) is the largest and oldest national dental association in the world. Today the ADA is based in Chicago, but the association was founded in Niagara Falls, New York in 1859. The ADA started out as a group of 26 dentists, and it now has more than 152,000 members.
41 Gravy Cravers pet food brand : ALPO
Alpo is a brand of dog food introduced by Allen Products in 1936, with “Alpo” being an abbreviation for “Allen Products”. Lorne Greene used to push Alpo dog food in television spots, as did Ed McMahon and Garfield the Cat, would you believe?
45 Tía’s madre : ABUELA
In Spanish, the mother of your “tia” (aunt) is your “abuela” (grandmother).
48 “The Brady Bunch” housekeeper : ALICE
Alice Nelson is the housekeeper on the sitcom “The Brady Bunch”. Alice is portrayed by actress Ann B. Davis. 1995’s “The Brady Bunch Movie” had a different cast from the TV show, with Henriette Mantel playing Alice. But, Davis made a cameo appearance in that movie, as a trucker named Schultzy.
55 AirPods holders : EARS
AirPods are Apple’s line of bluetooth earbuds. When AirPods were introduced in 2016, the market reacted with some skepticism. The left and right AirPods are not connected by any wire, so there was concern that individual earbuds could fall out of the ear, and possibly get lost. Another concern was Apple’s stated intent to abandon the wired headphone socket on new iPhone models.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers
Across
1 Campus gp. with a Greek name : FRAT
5 Eyelid hair : LASH
9 End : STOP
13 __ slaw : COLE
14 Aptly named cooler brand : IGLOO
16 Ocean motion : TIDE
17 “Neat!” : COOL!
18 Place to store valuables : VAULT
19 Father and son authors Kingsley and Martin : AMIS
20 Thoroughfare in New York City’s Little Italy : MULBERRY STREET
23 Nerf missile : DART
24 Central cooling systs. : ACS
25 Hit single from Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” : LAVENDER HAZE
32 Commonplace : LOWLY
35 Unethical one : LOUSE
36 Limo passenger : VIP
37 “Sad to say … ” : ALAS …
38 Choreographer de Mille : AGNES
39 Chromosome part : GENE
40 Goofy drawing? : CEL
41 “Farewell, chérie” : ADIEU
42 River vessel : BARGE
43 Meatless cheesy entree, familiarly : EGGPLANT PARM
46 Bum __: unfounded accusation : RAP
47 City near Anaheim : BREA
49 2023 musical film produced by Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg, and an apt title for this puzzle : THE COLOR PURPLE
56 Have a strong 52-Down : REEK
57 Love : ADORE
58 Neeson of the “Taken” films : LIAM
60 Actress Hathaway : ANNE
61 Rosebud __: “Schitt’s Creek” location : MOTEL
62 Land measure : ACRE
63 Hissed “Over here!” : PSST!
64 Kelly of morning talk TV : RIPA
65 Hornet home : NEST
Down
1 Airwaves-regulating govt. agency : FCC
2 Part of a suite : ROOM
3 Audibly : ALOUD
4 Candid memoirs : TELL-ALLS
5 Broadcast with minimal tape delay : LIVE TV
6 Food thickener made from seaweed : AGAR
7 Enunciate poorly : SLUR
8 Sacred : HOLY
9 Fabric stiffener : STARCH
10 Shortcut, hopefully : TIME-SAVER
11 Drooling dog in “Garfield” : ODIE
12 Gnat, e.g. : PEST
15 Bonus sports periods, for short : OTS
21 Imitate a donkey : BRAY
22 Weight adjustment factor : TARE
26 Baylor in the Basketball Hall of Fame : ELGIN
27 Group of nine : NONET
28 In the on-deck circle : DUE UP
29 Strong start? : ESS
30 Oomph : ZING
31 Sword with a blunted tip : EPEE
32 Frilly material : LACE
33 Designer Cassini : OLEG
34 CVS rival : WALGREENS
38 Org. on a bottle of mouthwash : ADA
39 Coach’s strategy : GAME PLAN
41 Gravy Cravers pet food brand : ALPO
42 “I’m f-f-f-reezing!” : BRRR!
44 Single serving of sugar : PACKET
45 Tía’s madre : ABUELA
48 “The Brady Bunch” housekeeper : ALICE
49 Lint collector : TRAP
50 Farm cluckers : HENS
51 Go on the __ : LAM
52 Hamper emanation : ODOR
53 Unleavened bread similar to naan : ROTI
54 Make ready : PREP
55 AirPods holders : EARS
59 Ran into : MET
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13 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword 15 Jan 24, Monday”
Comments are closed.
Big sigh on 29D. Really, there was no REAL clue to fit this. Ranks with those dumb bubbles in my book!! Not that the crosses didn’t get it but it is just annoying to try to think of a 3 letter answer to the clue and it’s a funky spelling of a LETTER!!!
Otherwise a straightforward Monday, and the theme did help.
Have never seen Schitt’s Creek though a couple of friends also recommend it.
No errors.
Confused on LOWLY as commonplace?
I too thought LOWLY was a bit of a reach but I suppose if we limit the discussion to people (where lowly can be taken to mean commoner) then it makes sense.
7:40, 2 errors. I had FDA instead of ADA for 38D and didn’t check 38A to see if it made sense.
9 minutes no errors
No errors…a tad much for a Monday. Never heard of45D.
Stay safe😀
Go Ravens🏈🏈
Abuela, Spanish for grandmother. One of the few I knew.
7:28 – no errors, lookups, or false starts.
New or forgotten: AMIS, “Midnights” album, LAVENDAR HAZE, Rosebud MOTEL, ELGIN Baylor, “Gravy Cravers.”
A good enough theme.
An easy, peasy, nice-n-easy Monday.
8 mins 7 sec and 4 errors, due to my lack of knowledge of foreign languages and odd names. Tiresome.
I got stuck in the middle with Agness deMille and Elgin Baylor. Why do puzzle makers have to make crosses with people’s names. Plus, the name of a record, Lavender Haze, that I have never heard of. Thought this was a bit tough for a Monday.
Mostly easy Monday for me; took 9:37 with just a bit of dancing around in the middle and the middle-SE. Wanted to put in Livin in a haze, but with crosses finally put in the proper LAVENDAR HAZE. For a big baseball fan, DUE UP took way too long…almost 10 seconds. And LOUSE did not immediately come to mind, so crosses finally helped me get that. Also didn’t like that many Rs in BRRR, but finally went with it.
Well, watched another (2nd) Swift video: Lavendar Haze…pretty cool video, but the song was just meh for me…
Easy puzzle for me. 5 mins and 57 secs.
7:09 – no errors or lookups. False start: BEST>BEAT.
New or forgotten: Grampa Simpson ABE, “Y Combinator,” PULL THE PIN should be PLUG(?), “Blue Banisters.”
Easily relateable theme, but the four themed companies are not startups. They WERE startups at one time, though.
A good Tuesday effort, durn tootin’! Interesting comments on “pull the pin.” However, not a phrase that I have used or heard in that context.
Oops. Posted to wrong day. See Tuesday’s blog instead.