LA Times Crossword 24 Jan 24, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Michael Schlossberg
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Fantastic Four

Themed answers each start with a characteristic of one of the FANTASTIC FOUR superheroes:

• 54A Superhero team with the physical features of 19-, 28-, 38-, and 46-Across : FANTASTIC FOUR

• 19A Economic metaphor coined by Adam Smith : INVISIBLE HAND (giving “the Invisible Woman”)
• 28A Gawk : RUBBERNECK (giving “Mister Fantastic”)
• 38A Hurry, with “it” : HOTFOOT … (giving “the Human Torch”)
• 46A Lowest of lows : ROCK BOTTOM (giving “the Thing”)

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

Bill’s time: 7m 32s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

14 “Dear Prudence” offering : ADVICE

“Dear Prudence” is an advice column that first appeared in the online magazine “Slate” in 1997. The title of the column was inspired by the 1968 Beatles song of the same name.

“Dear Prudence” is a 1968 song released by the Beatle on “the White Album”. When the four band members were in India on a meditative retreat, they stayed at the ashram at the same time as Mia Farrow and her sister Prudence Farrow. Prudence was very serious about her meditation routine, and stayed in her bungalow for days on end. John Lennon wrote “Dear Prudence” as a way to coax Farrow out of seclusion.

15 Circle of life? : TREE RING

Growth rings can be seen in a horizontal cross section of a tree trunk. These rings are caused by a change in the rate of growth of a tree that comes with the seasons, so the rings are more easily discerned in trees that grow in regions with marked seasonal changes.

17 __ Marcus : NEIMAN

Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband A. L. Neiman, were partners with a tidy profit of $25,000 from a business they had founded. This was 1907 Atlanta, and they were offered the chance to invest in a new company that was just starting to make “sugary soda drinks”, a company called Coca-Cola. The partners declined, instead returning to their home of Dallas and founding a department store they called “Neiman-Marcus”.

18 New word for something old : RETRONYM

“Retronym” is a term used to distinguish between the current form of an object and the original form. For example, we tend to call the original guitar an “acoustic guitar” to differentiate it from today’s “electric guitar”. Similarly, we now say “cloth diapers” and “film cameras” when referring to the originals.

19 Economic metaphor coined by Adam Smith : INVISIBLE HAND (giving “the Invisible Woman”)

Adam Smith was a pioneer in the field of “political economy”, an original term used for the study of production and trade and their relationship with law, government and the distribution of wealth. Adam Smith’s great work is called “The Wealth of Nations” that was published in 1776. The book was a big hit within his own lifetime and went a long way to earning him the reputation as the father of modern economics and capitalism. Smith coined the phrase “the invisible hand of the market”, describing his assertion that a marketplace tends to self-regulate.

Sue Storm is a superhero whose superpowers result in her taking on the persona Invisible Woman. As well as invisibility, she has the ability to create powerful force fields. She first appeared in print in 1961, as a founding member of the Fantastic Four.

21 Crow’s-nest call : AHOY!

A crow’s nest is a structure atop the mainmast of a ship that is used as a lookout point. The first crow’s nest was erected in 1807, and was simply a barrel that was lashed to the tallest mast. Supposedly, the structure is named for the crows or ravens that Vikings carried with them on their voyages. The birds were released and used as navigation aids as invariably, the crow or raven headed straight for the nearest land.

25 Cryptographer Turing : ALAN

Alan Turing was an English mathematician. He was well-respected for his code-breaking work during WWII at Bletchley Park in England. However, despite his contributions to cracking the German Enigma code and other crucial work, Turing was prosecuted for homosexuality in 1952. He agreed to chemical castration, treatment with female hormones, and then two years later he committed suicide by taking cyanide. Turing’s life story is told in the 2014 film “The Imitation Game” with Benedict Cumberbatch playing the lead. I thoroughly enjoyed that film …

28 Gawk : RUBBERNECK (giving “Mister Fantastic”)

The Marvel Comics superhero Mister Fantastic is the alter ego of super-scientist Reed Richards. In superhero form, Richards can stretch his body into any desired shape. Mister Fantastic is one of the founding members of the Fantastic Four, alongside the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and the Thing.

36 “Leave the World Behind” actor Mahershala : ALI

Mahershala Ali is an actor and sometime rapper. Among the more memorable roles Ali has had are lobbyist Remy Danton in TV’s “House of Cards”, and Colonel Boggs in “The Hunger Games” series of movies. He also won Best Supporting Actor Oscars for playing Juan in the 2016 drama “Moonlight”, and Dr. Don Shirley in 2018’s “Green Book”.

“Leave the World Behind” is a 2023 apocalyptic movie that is based on a 2020 novel of the same name by Remaan Alam. It stars Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali and Ethan Hawke. I saw this one, and it held my attention, but didn’t really deliver in the end …

37 Very softly, in music : PPP

The musical term “pianissimo” is abbreviated to “pp”, and is an instruction to the performer to sing or play very softly. The concept can be extended to “ppp”, short for “pianississimo”, an instruction of play even more softly. The opposite instructions are fortissimo (ff) and fortississimo (fff), instructions to perform very loudly, and even more loudly.

38 Hurry, with “it” : HOTFOOT … (giving “the Human Torch”)

The Human Torch is one of the founding members of the Marvel Comics “good-guy” team called the Fantastic Four. He is the alter ego of Johnny Storm, brother of Sue Storm aka Invisible Woman. Although the Human Torch debuted in print in 1961, the character is a reinvention of the android Human Torch, who was introduced in 1939.

41 Hydroelectric facility : DAM

Hydroelectric power is the most common source of renewable energy on the planet, with hydropower accounting for about one sixth of the world’s generated electricity.

42 Ore-__ Tater Tots : IDA

Ore-Ida frozen foods are all made using potatoes. The company is located in Oregon, just across the border from Idaho. “Ore-Ida” is a melding of the two state names.

44 One of the Stooges : SHEMP

If you’ve seen a few of the films starring “The Three Stooges” you might have noticed that the line-up changed over the years. The original trio was made up of Moe and Shemp Howard (two brothers) and Larry Fine (a good friend of the Howards). This line up was usually known as “Moe, Larry and Shemp”. Then Curly Howard replaced his brother when Shemp quit the act, creating the most famous trio, “Moe, Larry And Curly”. Shemp returned when Curly had a debilitating stroke in 1946. Shemp stayed with the troupe until he himself died in 1955. Shemp was replaced by Joe Besser, and then “Curly-Joe” DeRita. When Larry Fine suffered a stroke in 1970, it effectively marked the end of the act.

46 Lowest of lows : ROCK BOTTOM (giving “the Thing”)

The Thing is a superhero in the Marvel Comics Universe, and the alter ego of a New Yorker named Ben Grimm. When Grimm becomes the Thing, he takes on a rock-like appearance and has superhuman strength. He also heads into a fight crying out, “It’s clobberin’ time!” The thing is a founding member of the Fantastic Four, and first appeared in print in 1961.

50 Some Dada works : ARPS

Jean Arp was a prominent artist and sculptor who played a crucial role in the development of the Dada and Surrealist movements at the beginning of the 20th century. In the early years of his career, Arp experimented with a range of styles, including Expressionism, Cubism, and Futurism. In 1916, he co-founded the Zurich Dada movement with artists such as Tristan Tzara and Hugo Ball. After the Dada movement began to decline in the 1920s, Arp became associated with the Surrealist movement and continued to explore the possibilities of abstraction in his art.

51 “Manhattan Beach” novelist Jennifer : EGAN

“Manhattan Beach” is a 2017 novel by Jennifer Egan. The setting is Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn, New York, as the title suggests. The main character is a young woman who trains to become a professional diver in the local navy yard.

54 Superhero team with the physical features of 19-, 28-, 38-, and 46-Across : FANTASTIC FOUR

The Fantastic Four is a team of superheroes in the Marvel Comics universe. The team is made up of Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch and the Thing.

62 Hawaiian treat similar to a snow cone : SHAVE ICE

Hawaiian shave ice is a dessert made by shaving a block of ice and adding a sweet syrup for flavor. The related snow cone is made with crushed rather than shaved ice.

67 Pieces de resistance? : OHMS

The unit of electrical resistance is the ohm (with the symbol omega) named after German physicist Georg Simon Ohm. Ohm was the guy who established experimentally that the amount of current flowing through a circuit is directly proportional to the voltage applied, (V=IR) a relationship that every school kid knows as Ohm’s Law.

68 “Levitating” singer __ Lipa : DUA

“Levitating” is a 2020 song co-written and released by English-Albanian singer Dua Lipa. Apparently, the writing team composed the song while imagining themselves in an “Austin Powers” movie with Mike Myers dancing to the tune. Yeah, baby!

Down

3 Tel __, Israel : AVIV

The full name of Israel’s second largest city is Tel Aviv-Yafo. “Tel Aviv” translates into “Spring Mound”, and is a name that was chosen in 1910. Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 as a housing development outside the port city of Jaffa. Tel Aviv and Jaffa merged in 1950.

4 Gorillas, e.g. : SIMIANS

“Simian” means “pertaining to monkeys or apes”, from the Latin word “simia” meaning “ape”.

The gorilla is the largest primate still in existence, and is one of the nearest living species to humans. Molecular biology studies have shown that our nearest relatives are in fact the species in the genus Pan (the chimpanzee and the bonobo), which split from the human branch of the family 4-6 million years ago. Gorillas and humans diverged at a point about 7 million years ago. The term “gorilla” derives from the Greek “gorillai” meaning “tribe of hairy women”. Wow …!

8 One of Canada’s First Nations : CREE

“First Nations” is a term used in Canada describing the ethnicity of Native Americans who are neither Inuit nor Métis people.

9 “An American Pickle” star Rogen : SETH

Seth Rogen is a Canadian comedian who got a lot of credit for his supporting role in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin”. That led to him being cast as the lead in the 2007 film “Knocked Up”. Rogen also co-directed and co-starred in “The Interview”, a movie that created a huge ruckus in the North Korean regime.

“An American Pickle” is a 2020 comedy film that is based on a 2013 short story “Sell Out”. Seth Rogen stars, and plays a Jewish laborer who dies when he falls into a vat of pickles in 1919. The pickle brine preserves him for a hundred years, and then he wakes up in New York City in 2019. HIlarity ensues …

13 James Bond film studio : MGM

The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) film studio was founded in 1924 by Marcus Loew. Loew was already a successful movie theater owner when he purchased Metro Pictures Corporation in 1919, and then Goldwyn Pictures in 1924. Later in 1924, Loew also purchased Louis B. Mayer Pictures, mainly so that Louis B. Mayer could merge all three studios and run them himself as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

20 Mormon sch. : BYU

Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah has about 34.000 students on campus making it the largest religious university in the country. The school was founded in 1875 by Brigham Young, then President of the Church of Latter-day Saints.

27 Source of some wool : ALPACA FARM

Alpacas are like small llamas, but unlike llamas were never beasts of burden. Alpacas were bred specifically for the fleece. As such, there are no known wild alpacas these days, even in their native Peru.

34 Literary captain obsessed with a whale : AHAB

Captain Ahab is the obsessed and far from friendly captain of the Pequod in Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick”. The role of Captain Ahab was played by Gregory Peck in the 1956 John Huston film adaptation. Patrick Stewart played Ahab in a 1998 miniseries in which Peck made another appearance, as Father Mapple.

39 Artist Yoko : ONO

Yoko Ono is an avant-garde artist. She met her future husband John Lennon for the first time while she was preparing her conceptual art exhibit called “Hammer a Nail”. Visitors were encouraged to hammer in a nail into a wooden board, creating the artwork. Lennon wanted to hammer in the first nail, but Ono stopped him as the exhibition had not yet opened. Apparently Ono relented when Lennon paid her an imaginary five shillings to hammer an imaginary nail into the wood.

40 Minecraft explosive : TNT

Minecraft is a video game that was released in 2011. It is the most popular video game of all time, with well over 200 million units sold.

47 Rapscallions : KNAVES

We’ve been using “knave” to mean a cad since about 1200, and as an alternative name for the jack in a deck of cards since the mid-1500s. “Knave” comes from the Old English word “cnafa”, a “boy, male servant”.

We might call a little imp a “rapscallion”, an evolution from “rascallion” that in turn comes from “rascal”.

49 Felipe Alou’s outfielder son : MOISES

Moisés Alou played Major League Baseball, as did his father Felipe and his uncles Matty and Jesús.

53 Amtrak express : 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”.

57 Women’s Rights Project org. : ACLU

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) created the Women’s Rights Project in 1971. ONe of the founders of the project was future Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

58 Actress Ward : SELA

Sela Ward is an American actress who won Emmys for her role on the TV show “Sisters” in 1994 and for her role on “Once and Again” in 2000. She is a published author and released her autobiography “Homesick: A Memoir” in 2012.

62 Bay Area airport letters : SFO

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) served as the main base of operations for Virgin America (sold to Alaska Airlines), and is also the maintenance hub for United Airlines. Even though SFO is owned and operated by the City and County of San Francisco, the airport is located to the south in San Mateo County.