LA Times Crossword 10 May 24, Friday

Advertisement

Constructed by: David B. Ritterskamp
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer(s): Initial Contact

Themed answers each comprise two parts that make CONTACT (overlap) at an INITIAL letter:

• 34A With 36-Across, first encounter, or what the answers to the starred clues make? : INITIAL …
• 36A See 34-Across : … CONTACT

16A *Sound made by bursting a cereal bag? : SPECIAL K POP (Special K & K-pop)

29A *24-hour TV marathon that requires glasses? : THREE-D DAY (three-D & D-Day)

43A *Many fan letters to N.W.A.? : EAZY-E MAIL (Eazy-E & email)

59A *Bridge that plays a familiar note when crossed? : MIDDLE-C SPAN (middle C & C-SPAN)

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

Bill’s time: 10m 30s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 After, in Avignon : APRES

Avignon is a city in the southeast of France on the Rhône river. It is sometimes called the “City of Popes” as it was home to seven popes during the Catholic schism from 1309 to 1423.

10 Texting format initials : SMS

Short Message Service (SMS) is the name for the text messaging service that many of us still use on our cell phones to contact friends and family.

16 *Sound made by bursting a cereal bag? : SPECIAL K POP (Special K & K-pop)

We’ve been eating Special K since 1956. One has to give credit to the marketing folks at Kellogg’s, as I am sure we all view special K as a diet breakfast cereal. In fact, there is more fat in Special K than Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, and just one less calorie per serving.

K-pop (Korean pop) is a genre of music from South Korea that emerged in the early nineties.

20 Tags on Insta, say : ATS

The “at symbol” (@) originated in the commercial world, as shorthand for “each at, per” and similar phrases. I suppose we see the symbol most commonly these days as part of email addresses.

21 __ song : SWAN

The phrase “swan song” is used for a final gesture, a last performance. The expression derives from an ancient belief that swans are silent for most of their lives, but sing a beautiful song just before they die.

22 California home of the National Yo-Yo Museum : CHICO

The city of Chico is located in Northern California in the Sacramento Valley. It was founded in 1860 by John Bidwell, a native New Yorker who arrived in California on one of the first wagon trains heading west. Today, the city is home to California State University, Chico. And, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.

Yo-yo enthusiasts can visit the National Yo-Yo Museum in Chico, California. The museum’s centerpiece exhibit is a 256-pound yo-yo that made it into the Guinness Book of World Records in 1982 as the World’s Biggest Working Wooden Yo-Yo. “Working” the yo-yo requires a large crame and a skilled operator.

24 “Us” director Jordan : PEELE

Jordan Peele is a former cast member of the sketch comedy show “Mad TV”. Peele created his own sketch comedy show “Key & Peele” with fellow-Mad TV alum Keegan-Michael Key. Peele started hosting and producing the revival of “The Twilight Zone” in 2019.

“Us” is a 2019 horror film by Jordan Peele, starring Lupita Nyong’o and Elisabeth Moss. Horror; not my cup of tea …

29 *24-hour TV marathon that requires glasses? : THREE-D DAY (three-D & 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.

31 “Brave New World” drug : SOMA

In Aldous Huxley’s 1931 masterpiece, “Brave New World”, the members of his future society are encouraged to partake of the drug called soma. The soma provides hangover-free escapes referred to as “holidays”.

32 __-ray : BLU

A CD player reads the information on the disc using a laser beam. The beam is produced by what’s called a laser diode, a device similar to a light-emitting diode (LED) except that a laser beam is emitted. That laser beam is usually red in CD and DVD players. Blu-ray players are so called as they use blue lasers.

33 Rooibos, for one : TEA

Red tea is made from the leaves of the South African rooibos plant. The name “rooibos” translates as “red bush”.

41 Baseball’s Mattingly : DON

Don Mattingly is a former professional baseball player who played his entire career with the New York Yankees. Mattingly coached the LA Dodgers from 2011 until 2015, and the Florida Marlins from 2016.

43 *Many fan letters to N.W.A.? : EAZY-E MAIL (Eazy-E & email)

“Eazy-E” was the stage name of rapper Eric Lynn Wright. Eazy-E had a pretty liberal lifestyle, fathering seven children with six different women. In 1995, he died due to complications from AIDS when he was only 32 years old.

N.W.A was a hip hop group from Compton, California. The original five group members included rappers who made a name for themselves as solo acts, including: Dr. Dre, Eazy-E and Ice Cube. The story of N.W.A is told in a 2015 film, also called “Straight Outta Compton”. I hear that the movie was well received, although hip hop is not my cup of tea. I’m just too old …

49 Bailey’s Irish __ : CREAM

A “cream liqueur” is one that includes dairy cream. The most famous example is probably Baileys Irish Cream, which is made from cream and Irish whiskey. A “crème liqueur”, on the other hand, is one that includes a lot of added sugar, but no dairy cream. Examples are crème de cacao (chocolate-flavored), crème de menthe (mint-flavored) and crème de cassis (blackcurrant-flavored).

58 Gerund suffix : -ING

A gerund is a form of a verb that can be used as a noun. For example, the gerund of the verb “to solve” is “solving”, as in the phrase “we really enjoyed the solving of the crossword”.

59 *Bridge that plays a familiar note when crossed? : MIDDLE-C SPAN (middle C & C-SPAN)

On the keyboard of a standard piano, the fourth C-key from the left is in the center of the keyboard and is referred to as “middle C”.

C-SPAN is a privately-funded, nonprofit cable channel that broadcasts continuous coverage of government proceedings.

63 Anti-fur gp. : PETA

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is a large animal rights organization, with about 300 employees and two million members and supporters worldwide. Although the group campaigns for animal rights across a broad spectrum of issues, it has a stated focus in opposition of four practices:

• Factory farming
• Fur farming
• Animal testing
• Use of animals in entertainment

65 Make big bangs? : TEASE

“Bangs” is another word that caught me out when I arrived in the US. “Bangs” back in Ireland are called “a fringe”. Apparently the US term is somehow derived from the name given to the hair on a horse’s head.

Down

1 Compact __ : DISC

The compact disc (CD) was developed jointly by Philips and Sony as a medium for storing and playing sound recordings. When the first commercial CD was introduced back in 1982, a CD’s storage capacity was far greater than the amount of data that could be stored on the hard drive of personal computers available at that time.

3 Shipped pair? : ITEM

An unmarried couple known to be involved with each other might appear in the gossip columns. This appearance as “an item” in the papers, led to the use of “item” to refer to such a couple, but only since the very early seventies.

5 Tide shelfmate : ALL

All is a laundry detergent made by Sun Products.

6 Detective voiced by Ryan Reynolds : PIKACHU

“Detective Pikachu” is a 2019 live-action film adaptation of the 2016 video game of the same name. Pikachu is a Pokémon character, and is portrayed in the movie by Ryan Reynolds. I’m probably way too old and cranky to see this one …

7 Kite, for one : RAPTOR

“Raptor” is a generic term for a bird of prey, one that has talons to grip its victims.

Kites are birds of prey that feed mainly on carrion.

8 Father of Kenan : ENOS

Enos was the son of Seth, and therefore the grandson of Adam and Eve, and nephew of Cain and Abel. According to the ancient Jewish work called the Book of Jubilees, Enos married his own sister Noam.

9 Gas additive brand : STP

STP is a brand name of automotive lubricants and additives. The name “STP” is an initialism standing for “Scientifically Treated Petroleum”.

11 UNESCO’s __ Fund for Girls’ Right to Education : MALALA

“I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban” is a memoir co-written by Malala Yousafzai and British journalist Christina Lamb. The title tells the essence of Malala’s story. She started a blog when she was 11 or 12 that outlined her life in northwest Pakistan under occupation by the Taliban. As the Pakistani military regained control of the area, Malala’s story was related in a documentary and she gave frequent interviews. One day a gunman came looking for her, and found her on a school bus. He shot Malala three times, with one bullet going into her forehead. She survived, and was taken to England to recuperate. She was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 at the age of 17, making her the youngest ever Nobel laureate.

12 “Finding Nemo” city : SYDNEY

In the movie “Finding Nemo”, the title character finds himself in a fish tank in the office of a dentist in Australia. The collection of fish that he encounters in the aquarium is known as the Tank Gang.

24 Hammer end : PEEN

The peen of a hammer is on the head, and is the side of the head that is opposite the striking surface. Often the peen is in the shape of a hemisphere (as in a ball-peen hammer), but usually it is shaped like a claw (mainly for removing nails).

26 F-, e.g. : ION

Here is a list of all the single-letter element symbols:

• B = boron
• C = carbon
• F = fluorine
• H = hydrogen
• I = Iodine
• K = potassium
• N = nitrogen
• O = oxygen
• P = phosphorus
• S = sulfur
• U = uranium
• V = vanadium
• W = tungsten
• Y = yttrium

28 Like some retro frames : CAT-EYED

Cat eye spectacles have frames that have an upsweep beside the lenses where the arms hinge with the frame front. The lens shapes resemble a cat’s eyes, hence the name. Such a design was very popular in the fifties and sixties, particularly with women.

30 School near Heathrow : ETON

London’s Heathrow handles more international passengers than any other airport in the world, and is the third busiest airport around the globe in terms of passenger traffic (after Atlanta and Beijing).

32 Scarecrow creator : BAUM

L. Frank Baum (the “L” is for Lyman) is famous for writing “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”. Writing early in the 20th century, Baum actually described in his books things that had yet to be invented, like television, laptop computers and wireless telephones.

35 __ of March : IDES

In Act I of William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”, a soothsayer warns the doomed leader to “beware the ides of March”. Caesar ignores the prophecy and is subsequently killed on the steps of the Capitol by a group of conspirators on that fateful day.

36 Natalie with nine Grammys : COLE

Natalie Cole is the daughter of Nat King Cole. Natalie’s mother was Maria Cole, a singer with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. The most famous version of the hit song “Unforgettable” was released in 1951 by Nat King Cole. In 1991, Natalie Cole recorded a version that was mixed with an earlier 1961 version sung by her father, creating an “unforgettable” father-daughter duet that was made 26 years after Nat King Cole had passed away.

37 Knee pt. : ACL

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of four major ligaments that support the knee. It is located in the center of the knee and connects the femur (thigh bone) to the tibia (shin bone).

38 Marxist Guevara : CHE

Ernesto “Che” Guevara was born in Argentina, and in 1948 he started to study medicine at the University of Buenos Aires. While at school he satisfied his need to “see the world” by taking two long journeys around South America, the stories of which are told in Guevara’s memoir later published as “The Motorcycle Diaries”. While traveling, Guevara was moved by the plight of the people he saw and their working conditions and what he viewed as capitalistic exploitation. In Mexico City he met brothers Raul and Fidel Castro and was persuaded to join their cause, the overthrow of the US-backed government in Cuba. He rose to second-in-command among the Cuban insurgents, and when Castro came to power Guevara was influential in repelling the Bay of Pigs Invasion and bringing Soviet nuclear missiles to the island. Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to continue his work as a revolutionary. He was captured by Bolivian forces in 1967, and was executed. Fidel Castro led the public mourning of Guevara’s death, and soon the revolutionary was an icon for many left-wing movements around the world.

Marxism is the political and economic philosophy espoused by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the mid-to-late 1800s. The main tenet of Marxism is that bourgeois suppression of lower classes in a capitalistic society inevitably leads to a socialist and ultimately classless society.

41 Oktoberfest outfits : DIRNDLS

The traditional dress worn by females in Austria and southern Germany is called a “dirndl”. The dirndl originated as a hard-wearing dress worn by domestic workers in Austria in the 1800s. It was adopted as a fashionable item worn by upper classes in the 1870s.

43 Billie who is the youngest woman to win two Oscars : EILISH

Billie Eilish is a singer-songwriter from Los Angeles. She has won several awards, and is the youngest person to have won all four major Grammy categories in the same year, i.e. Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year.

46 National park on Mount Desert Island : ACADIA

Mount Desert Island (MDI), off the coast of Maine, is the second-largest island on the East Coast of the US (after Long Island in New York). Home to over 10,000 residents, MDI also receives millions of visitors annually as it is also home to Acadia National Park.

47 Apple with a few cores : IMAC

The central processing unit (CPU) is the main component on the motherboard of a computer. The CPU is the part of the computer that carries out most of the functions required by a program. Nowadays you can get CPUs in everything from cars to telephones.

52 Revolutionary era pipe : FIFE

A fife is a small flute that is often used in military and marching bands. The name “fife” comes from the German “Pfeife” meaning “pipe”.

55 Foil alternative : EPEE

Before the foil was introduced as a sporting weapon, it was used as a blunted weapon for sword practice. It has been suggested that the sword was blunted by wrapping metal foil around the tip, hence the name.

60 Greta of “The Morning Show” : LEE

Actress Greta Lee is perhaps best known to TV audiences for playing Stella Bak, a news division president on “The Morning Show”. She was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in the 2023 romantic drama film “Past Lives”.