LA Times Crossword 27 May 24, Monday

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Constructed by: Amanda Cook
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Moving Words

Themed answers each end with “MOVING” WORDS:

• 59A Heartfelt tribute, or what can be found at the ends of 17-, 27-, and 44-Across? : MOVING WORDS

• 17A Manually adjusted camera lens : OPTICAL ZOOM
• 27A Run-scoring out in baseball : SACRIFICE FLY
• 44A Tech genius : COMPUTER WHIZ

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

Bill’s time: 5m 09s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Person who may win an Emmy : ACTOR

The Emmy Awards are the television equivalent of the Oscars from the world of film, the Grammy Awards in music and the Tony Awards for the stage. Emmy Awards are presented throughout the year, depending on the sector of television being honored. The most famous of these ceremonies are the Primetime Emmy Awards and the Daytime Emmy Awards. The distinctive name “Emmy” is a softened version of the word “immy”, the nickname given to the video camera tubes found in old television cameras. The Emmy statuette was designed by television engineer Louis McManus in 1948, and depicts a woman holding up an atom. McManus used his wife as a model for the woman.

6 Stogie : CIGAR

A stogie (also “stogy”) is both a rough, heavy shoe, and a long, cheap cigar. Both items were favored by the drivers of the covered wagons called Conestogas that wended their way across the Midwest in days gone by. The term “stogie” is derived from the name of the wagon, which itself is named after the area in which the wagons were built, i.e. Conestoga, near Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

11 Toe bean spot : PAW

The squishy, pink pads on the bottom of a cat’s paws are known as digital pads. More casually, they are referred to as toe beans.

14 Jeweler’s magnifier : LOUPE

A loupe is a small magnifying lens that is held in the hand. “Loupe” is the French name for such a device.

20 Prefix meaning 41-Across : OTO-

Otology is a branch of medicine dealing with the ear. The prefix “oto-” means “pertaining to the ear”.

35 Book of Genesis shipbuilder : NOAH

According to the Book of Genesis, Noah lived to a ripe old age. Noah fathered his three sons Shem, Ham and Japheth when he was 500 years old, and the Great Flood took place when he was 600.

37 Blueberry desserts : PIES

The perennial flowering plants known as blueberries are native to North America. The many blueberry species are divided into two groups. Those with small berries, the size of peas, grow as low-level bushes and are known as lowbush blueberries. Those with larger berries grow on taller bushes, and are known as highbush blueberries. Lowbush blueberries tend to grow wild, and highbush blueberries are cultivated.

38 First Nations carving : TOTEM

“Totem” is a word used to describe any entity that watches over a group of people. As such, totems are usually the subjects of worship. Totem poles are really misnamed, as they are not intended to represent figures to be worshiped, but rather are heraldic in nature, and often celebrating the legends or notable events in the history of a tribe.

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

53 Black-and-white bamboo eater : PANDA

The giant panda is a bear, and so has the digestive system of a carnivore. However, the panda lives exclusively on bamboo, even though its gut is relatively poorly adapted to extract nutrients from plants per se. The panda relies on microbes in its gut to digest cellulose, and consumes 20-30 pounds of bamboo each day to gain enough nourishment.

55 Letter-shaped skirt style : A-LINE

An A-line skirt is one that fits snugly at the hips and flares towards the hem. The term “A-line” was first used in fashion by French designer Christian Dior in his 1955 spring collection.

57 Quarterback Tagovailoa who led the NFL in passing yards in 2023 : TUA

NFL quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was born to a Samoan family in Hawaii. His nickname “Tua” is short for “Tuanigamanuolepola”. Tagovailoa was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the 2020 NFL draft. His younger brother Taulia was his backup quarterback at the University of Alabama, before Taulia transferred to the University of Maryland to become starting quarterback.

58 Obamacare, initially : ACA

The correct name for what has been dubbed “Obamacare” is the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (ACA).

65 Tuxedo accessory : TIE

Apparently, the style of men’s evening dress called a “tuxedo” was first worn to a country club event in 1886 in New York. The use of a dark dinner jacket without tails became fashionable at the club with the members, and the tradition spread from there. The country club was located in Tuxedo Park, New York, giving the style of dress its name.

66 Poet John known for 61-Downs : KEATS

English poet John Keats died in Rome in 1821, and is buried there in the Protestant Cemetery. His last wish was that his grave be marked with a tombstone bearing just the words “”Here lies One whose Name was writ in Water”, and no name nor a date. Keats’ friends honored his request to some extent, as the words were included on the stone and no name is given. The full epitaph reads:

This Grave
contains all that was Mortal
of a
Young English Poet
Who
on his Death Bed, in the Bitterness of his Heart
at the Malicious Power of his Enemies
Desired
these Words to be
engraven on his Tomb Stone:
Here lies One
Whose Name was writ in Water.
24 February 1821

Down

1 Hard to form a bond with : ALOOF

I suppose one might guess from the “feel” of the word “aloof” that it has nautical roots. Originally “aloof” meant “to windward” and was the opposite of “alee”. A helmsman might be instructed to stay aloof, to steer the boat into the weather to keep a distance from a lee-shore. It is from this sense of maintaining a distance that aloof came to mean “distant” in terms of personality. Interesting, huh …?

4 Nail polish brand with a Barbie collection : OPI

Opi (originally “Odontorium Products Inc.”) is a manufacturer of nail polish based in North Hollywood, California. One of Opi’s marketing coups was the introduction of a line of Legally Blonde 2 polishes, which featured in the film.

7 Chichén __: Mayan ruins : ITZA

Chichén Itzá is a Mayan ruin located in the Mexican state of Yucatán. It is the second-most visited archaeological site in the country (after the ancient city of Teotihuacan). Chichén Itzá has seen a surge in the number of visitors since the development of nearby Cancún as a tourist destination.

13 Dandelion, e.g. : WEED

The name “dandelion” comes from the French “dent de lion” meaning “lion’s tooth”. The name is a reference to the coarse, tooth-like edges of dandelion leaves.

26 Former name of Thailand : SIAM

Siam was the official name of Thailand up to 1939 (and again from 1945 to 1949).

32 Oil cartel acronym : OPEC

The OPEC cartel was formally established in 1960 and has been headquartered in Vienna since 1965. The US is actually the third largest oil producer in the world (after Russia and Saudi Arabia). One reason America isn’t in OPEC, even though we are a big producer, is that we import a lot more than we export. But we all probably knew that already …

33 Italian goodbye : CIAO

“Ciao” is Italian for “‘bye”. “Arrivederci” is more formal, and translates as “goodbye”.

42 Go wild : RUN AMOK

The phrase “to run amok” (sometimes “to run amuck”) has been around since the 1670s and is derived from the Malay word for “attacking furiously”, “amuk”. The word “amok” was also used as a noun to describe Malay natives who were “frenzied”. Given Malaya’s troubled history, the natives probably had a good reason for that frenzy …

45 Edamame component : POD

Edamame is a simple dish made of immature soybeans still in the pod. The pods are boiled and then salted before serving, usually as a snack or side dish. The name “edamame” translates as “twig bean”.

54 Berry in some purple smoothies : ACAI

Açaí (pronounced “ass-aye-ee”) is a palm tree native to Central and South America. The fruit has become very popular in recent years and its juice is a very fashionable addition to juice mixes and smoothies.

55 Adidas competitor : AVIA

The Avia brand name for athletic shoes was chosen as “avia” is the Latin word for “to fly”, and suggests the concept of aviation. Avia was founded in Oregon in 1979.

The Adidas brand dates back to when Adolf “Adi” Dassler started making his own sports shoes in his mother’s laundry room in Bavaria after returning from WWI. With his brother, Adi founded Dassler shoes. The company’s big break came in 1936 at the Berlin Olympics, when Adi persuaded American sprinter Jesse Owens to use his shoes, and with the success of Jesse Owens came success for the fledgling shoe company. After WWII the brothers split, acrimoniously. Adi’s brother, Ru-dolf Da-ssler, formed “Ruda” shoes (later to become Puma), and Adi Das-sler formed “Adidas”.