LA Times Crossword 19 Jan 24, Friday

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Constructed by: Gary Larson & Amy Ensz
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Addendums

Themed answers are common phrases with “UM” ADDED to the END:

• 59A Book supplements, and an apt title for this puzzle : ADDENDUMS and ADD END “UMS”

• 16A Class reunion attendee who’s in no one’s yearbook? : WEIRD ALUM (“Weird Al” + “um”)
• 25A Proper etiquette at the plate? : HOME DECORUM (“home decor” + “um”)
• 37A Impulse behind the gift-giving in “The Twelve Days of Christmas”? : PRESENT MOMENTUM (“present moment” + “um”)
• 47A Discussion panel about sheets, duvets, blankets, etc.? : COVERS FORUM (“covers for” + “um”)

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

Bill’s time: 6m 32s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Framing piece : JAMB

A door jamb or window jamb is the vertical portion of the frame. The term “jamb” comes from the French word “jambe” meaning “leg”.

5 Swiatek who won her fourth major singles championship in 2023 : IGA

Iga Swiatek is a professional tennis player, and the first from Poland to win a major singles title (the French Open in 2020).

15 West Coast NFLer : NINER

The 49ers football team in San Francisco takes its name from the gold prospectors who flooded into Northern California around 1849 during the California Gold Rush. These “1849 prospectors” became known as the “49ers”.

16 Class reunion attendee who’s in no one’s yearbook? : WEIRD ALUM (“Weird Al” + “um”)

“Weird Al” Yankovic is a singer-songwriter who is noted for writing and performing parodies of popular songs. Of the 150 or so such songs, the best known are probably “Eat It” (parodying “Beat It” by Michael Jackson) and “Like a Surgeon” (parodying “Like a Virgin” by Madonna).

18 Dried poblano : ANCHO

An ancho is a dried poblano pepper used in Mexican cuisine. The poblano is a mild chili.

21 Irish capital : EURO

Euro coins carry a design on one side that indicates the country of issue (Ireland uses a harp, for example). Euro banknotes, on the other hand, lack any such indication. The banknotes all feature stylized architectural designs of bridges, arches and gateways that reflect the large number of historic structures found throughout the continent.

25 Proper etiquette at the plate? : HOME DECORUM (“home decor” + “um”)

That would home plate, in baseball.

27 Many of the Marshall Islands : ATOLLS

The Marshall Islands is an island nation in the northwest of the Pacific Ocean. As well as 29 coral atolls, the country comprises five islands in two island chains: Ratak and Ralik. Almost 98% of the territory making up the Marshall Islands is water, making it the nation with the largest proportion of water to land in the world.

37 Impulse behind the gift-giving in “The Twelve Days of Christmas”? : PRESENT MOMENTUM (“present moment” + “um”)

The fabulous Christmas carol called “The Twelve Days of Christmas” dates back at least to 1780 when it was first published in England, though it may be French in origin. The concept of twelve days of Christmas comes from the tradition that the three kings came to visit the Christ Child twelve days after he was born. This same tradition is the origin of the title to Shakespeare’s play “Twelfth Night”.

41 “__-boom-bah!” : SIS

Apparently, “Sis boom bah” is a popular cheer in American high schools and colleges (I didn’t know that!). The term was also used by Johnny Carson when he was playing the character Carnac the Magnificent.

42 “The __ in Me”: Britney Spears memoir : WOMAN

“The Woman in Me” is a 2023 memoir by Britney Spears that was ghost-written by journalist Sam Lansky. The book’s title comes from the lyrics “I’m just trying to find the woman in me” from Spears’ 2001 song “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman”.

44 Bank of China Tower architect : PEI

The Bank of China Tower (often “BOC Tower”) is a spectacular structure in Hong Kong that was designed by I. M. Pei. Opened in 1990, the BOC Tower was the tallest building in Hong Kong at that time, and was also the first building constructed outside of North America to reach a height of over 1,000 feet.

45 Hot Wheels maker : MATTEL

The Hot Wheels brand of toy car was introduced by Mattel in 1968. Hot Wheels models are all die-cast, with many designs coming from blueprints provided by the manufacturers of the full-size car.

68 Business review app : YELP

yelp.com is a website that provides a local business directory and reviews of services. The site is sort of like Yellow Pages on steroids, and the term “yelp” is derived from “yel-low p-ages”.

Down

1 Giant part of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton : JAW

The Tyrannosaurus rex (usually written “T-rex”) was a spectacular looking dinosaur. “Tyrannosaurus” comes from the Greek words “tyrannos” (tyrant) and “sauros” (lizard) and “rex” the Latin for “king”. They were big beasts, measuring 42 feet long and 13 feet tall at the hips, and weighing 7.5 tons.

5 Quran faith : ISLAM

The Koran is also known as the “Qur’an” and “Quran” in English. “Qur’an” a transliteration of the Arabic name for the holy text of the Muslim faith. The literal translation of “Koran” is “the recitation”.

8 Cookbook writer Garten : INA

Ina Garten is an author as well as the host of a cooking show on the Food Network called “Barefoot Contessa”. She is a mentee of Martha Stewart, and indeed was touted as a potential “successor” to the TV celebrity when Stewart was incarcerated in 2004 after an insider trading scandal. Garten has no formal training as a chef, and indeed used to work as a nuclear policy analyst at the White House!

11 Jacket style named for an Indian leader : NEHRU

A Nehru jacket is very like a regular suit jacket, except that the collar buttons at the neck. It was originally created in the 1940s in India, and then marketed as the Nehru jacket in the west in the sixties. The name Nehru was lifted from Jawaharlal Nehru, the prime minister of India from 1947 to 1964.

17 Arlene of classic cinema : DAHL

Arlene Dahl is an American movie actress who was quite famous during the 1950s. Among her screen credits was playing the female lead in 1959’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, alongside James Mason and Pat Boone.

20 Sturdy material : DENIM

Denim fabric originated in Nîmes in France. The French phrase “de Nîmes” (meaning “from Nîmes”) gives us the word “denim”. Also, the French phrase “bleu de Genes” (meaning “blue of Genoa”) gives us our word “jeans”.

22 Infield protectors : TARPS

Originally, tarpaulins were made from canvas covered in tar that rendered the material waterproof. The word “tarpaulin” comes from “tar” and “palling”, with “pall” meaning “heavy cloth covering”.

23 Centipede platform : ATARI

Centipede is an arcade game from Atari (it is my favorite!). The game was designed by Ed Logg and Dona Bailey, with Bailey being one of the few female game designers back then (it was released in 1980). Perhaps due to her influence, Centipede was the first arcade game to garner a significant female following.

24 Sponge features : PORES

Sponges are multicellular organisms that live underwater. They are animals with bodies that are full of holes and channels through which seawater freely circulates. Sponges have no digestive or circulatory system as such and instead rely on the movement of water to supply food and oxygen, and to remove waste material.

28 Guitar legend Paul : LES

Les Paul was a guitarist, songwriter and inventor. When he was 33 years old, Paul was involved in a near-fatal car crash that left his right arm and elbow shattered. Surgeons offered him the choice of amputation or a rebuilding of the limb that would leave him unable to bend his elbow. He told them to set his arm at just under 90 degrees so that he could at least hold his guitar and perhaps play it.

32 Thurman of “The Producers” : UMA

Uma Thurman was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Award at the Oscar ceremony held in 1995, for her performance in “Pulp Fiction”. She didn’t win (Dianne Wiest did, for “Bullets Over Broadway”), but Thurman did make her mark on the ceremony. She wore a lavender chiffon gown by Prada that attracted a lot of attention. It is credited with launching Prada as a mainstream clothier in America.

“The Producers” is a 1968 satirical movie written and directed by Mel Brooks, and was indeed the first film he ever directed. Brooks adapted the movie into a hugely successful Broadway musical that won a record 12 Tony Awards. The original leads in the stage show, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, then appeared in a 2005 movie adaptation of the musical version of the original film.

33 __ Quixote : DON

The full name of Cervantes’s novel is “The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha”. In the story, Don Quixote is a retired country gentleman who heads out as a knight-errant and who renames himself Don Quixote of La Mancha. In his mind he designates a neighboring farm girl called Aldonza Lorenzo as his lady love, and renames her Dulcinea del Toboso.

35 Blender setting : PUREE

A purée is a food that has been made smooth by straining or blending. “Purée” is a French term, which I believe is now used to mean “pea soup” (more completely written as “purée de pois”). The French verb “purer” means “to strain, clean”, from the Latin “purare” meaning “to purify, clean”.

38 Washbasin jug : EWER

A pitcher is a container for liquid that has a handle, mouth and spout. The term “jug” is used for the same container in other English-speaking countries. “Ewer” is an older term describing a pitcher/jug. Today, a ewer is a highly decorative pitcher, often with a base and flared spout.

40 NL East player : NAT

If you attend a Washington Nationals baseball game, held in Nationals Park, you’ll see the Presidents Race in the middle of the fourth innings. Individuals dressed like seven former US presidents, each sporting a large and cartoonish head, have participated in the races over the years. Those runners are:

• George (Washington)
• Abe (Lincoln)
• Tom (Jefferson)
• Teddy (Roosevelt)
• Bill (Taft)
• Calvin (Coolidge)
• Herbie (Hoover)

44 Tin alloy : PEWTER

Pewter is a relatively soft alloy that is made up mostly of tin, with some copper, antimony, bismuth and lead.

45 Grand Canyon rentals : MULES

The wild donkey that we know as a burro was introduced into the Grand Canyon in the late 1800s, where they used the animal to help pack out mined copper, asbestos and lead. When the miners moved on, they left the burros to roam free. Feral burros essentially overran the Grand Canyon in subsequent years, leading to the forced removal of 500 of them in the early eighties by the National Park Service. Burros wreak havoc on the canyon’s ecosystem, and in particular compete with native bighorn sheep. The bighorn sheep population has rebounded since the number of wild donkeys has dropped.

48 Gibson garnish : ONION

A Gibson is simply a regular martini (gin and vermouth) with the traditional olive garnish replaced with a pickled onion.

49 Italian scooter : 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 __-wip: dessert topping : REDDI

Reddi-wip is a brand of sweetened whipped cream that comes out of a pressurized can. The propellant used in the can is nitrous oxide, also called “laughing gas”, which is the same gas used by dentists as an anesthetic.

56 June 6, 1944 : D-DAY

The most famous D-Day in history was June 6, 1944, the date of the Normandy landings in WWII. The term “D-Day” is used by the military to designate the day on which a combat operation is to be launched, especially when the actual date has yet to be determined. What D stands for seems to have been lost in the mists of time although the tradition is that D just stands for “Day”. In fact, the French have a similar term, “Jour J” (Day J), with a similar meaning. We also use H-Hour to denote the hour the attack is to commence.

61 Airport code for Australia’s second largest city : MEL

The Melbourne-Tullamarine Airport (MEL) is the second busiest airport in Australia (after Sydney Airport) and serves the city of Melbourne. It opened for business in 1970, after six years of construction.