LA Times Crossword 25 Jul 24, Thursday

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Constructed by: Keico Deuser
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Party Guests

Themed answers are characters who might be party to an event cited in the corresponding clues:

• 17A Christmas party : SANTA CLAUS
• 26A Slumber party : RIP VAN WINKLE
• 44A Halloween party : MICHAEL MYERS
• 60A Cocktail party : TOM COLLINS

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

Bill’s time: 8m 38s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6 Of this clue, approve he would : YODA

In the “Star Wars” series of films, the character named Yoda has a unique speech pattern. He often uses the word order object-subject-verb. For example:

• Patience you must have …
• Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is.
• To answer power with power, the Jedi way this is not.

16 Blind strip : SLAT

A blind in a window is often composed of slats.

17 Christmas party : SANTA CLAUS

Saint Nicholas of Myra is the inspiration for Santa Claus. Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra (now in modern-day Turkey) during the 4th century AD, and was known for being generous to the poor. Centuries after he died, his remains were desecrated by Italian sailors and moved to Bari in Italy. One legend has it that the relics were moved again centuries later and reburied in the grounds of Jerpoint Abbey in Co. Kilkenny in Ireland, where you can visit the grave today. I choose to believe that Santa Claus’s relics are indeed buried in Ireland …

20 Fuel made from corn : ETHANOL

“Maize” is another name for “corn”. Even though there is more maize grown in the world than wheat or rice, a relatively small proportion of the total maize crop is consumed directly by humans. That’s because a lot of maize goes to make corn ethanol, animal feed and derivative products like cornstarch and corn syrup. Here in the US, over 40% of the maize produced is used to feed livestock, and about 30% is used to make ethanol.

21 Beverage with tapioca pearls : BOBA TEA

Bubble tea, sometimes called “boba tea”, is a tea-based drink from Taiwan. The “bubbles” are chewy tapioca balls that are usually added to the drink.

25 Many an island in the South Pacific : ATOLL

An atoll is a coral island that is shaped in a ring that encloses a lagoon. There is still some debate as to how an atoll forms, but a theory proposed by Charles Darwin while on his famous voyage aboard HMS Beagle still holds sway. Basically, an atoll was once a volcanic island that had subsided and fallen into the sea. The coastline of the island is home to coral growth which persists even as the island continues to subside inside the circling coral reef.

26 Slumber party : RIP VAN WINKLE

“Rip Van Winkle” is a short story written by Washington Irving. In the tale, the hero falls asleep in the Catskill Mountains for twenty years. Van Winkle awakens to a much-changed world having snoozed right through the American Revolution. The story was an instant hit, and was adapted for the stage just a few years after its first publication in 1819. Since then “Rip” has featured on the small screen, big screen and even in an operetta.

33 “Good Omens” co-writer Gaiman : NEIL

“Good Omens” is a fantasy comedy TV series based on a 1990 novel of the same name by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pretchett. The show stars Michael Sheen as an angel, and David Tenant as a demon, both of whom have lived on Earth since the dawn of creation. The supporting cast includes Frances McDormand, who plays the voice of God and the show’s narrator.

40 Source of a low blow? : TUBA

The tuba is the lowest-pitched of all brass instruments, and one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra (usually there is just one tuba included in an orchestral line-up). “Tuba” is the Latin word for “trumpet, horn”. Oom-pah-pah …

41 Justin Trudeau and Christopher Luxon, for short : PMS

Justin Trudeau ascended to the leadership of Canada’s Liberal Party in 2013, He led the Liberals to a decisive victory in the federal election of 2015, after which he assumed the office of Prime Minister of Canada. Justin is the eldest son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who led Canada for 15 years starting in 1968.

Christopher Luxon assumed the office of Prime Minister of New Zealand at the end of 2023. Prior to entering politics, he served as CEO of Air New Zealand, from 2012 to 2019. Luxon is also leader of the nation’s center-right National Party.

42 Degs. for filmmakers : MFAS

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

44 Halloween party : MICHAEL MYERS

The scary Michael Myers is the main antagonist in the “Halloween” series of horror movies. Although not specified in the storyline, the mask that Michael wears is actually a William Shatner Halloween mask that has been painted white.

51 Seemingly unbeatable foe : NEMESIS

Nemesis was a Greek goddess, the goddess of retribution. Her role was to make pay those individuals who were either haughty or arrogant. In modern parlance, one’s nemesis (plural “nemeses”) is one’s sworn enemy, often someone who is the exact opposite in character but someone who still shares some important characteristics. A nemesis is often someone one cannot seem to beat in competition.

59 Maroon 5 lead singer Levine : ADAM

Adam Levine is the lead vocalist of the pop rock band Maroon 5. Levine also served as one of the coaches on the reality show “The Voice” from 2011 through 2019.

60 Cocktail party : TOM COLLINS

The cocktail known as a Tom Collins is a mixture of gin, lemon juice, sugar and club soda. The original recipe was supposedly invented by a head waiter called John Collins, in a London hotel in the early 1800s. Called a John Collins back then, the drink’s name was changed around 1869 when a popular recipe specifically called for Old Tom gin.

62 Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, say : GAGA

Cocoa Puffs is a General Mills breakfast cereal that is essentially the same as Kix cereal, but with chocolate flavoring added. Since 1962, the Cocoa Puffs mascot has been Sonny the Cuckoo Bird, who is “cuckoo for cocoa puffs!”.

67 Black Sea resort : YALTA

Yalta is a resort city on the Black Sea on the Crimean Peninsula. Crimea is very much in the news in recent years because of the war between Russia and Ukraine. Yalta was also in the news at the end of WWII, as it was the site of the 1945 Yalta Conference between the leaders of the three main Allies.

The Black Sea is in southeastern Europe just south of Ukraine. In the north of the Black Sea is the Crimean Peninsula.

Down

1 Choir section : APSE

An apse of a church or cathedral is a semicircular recess in an outer wall, usually with a half-dome as a roof and often where there resides an altar. Originally, apses were used as burial places for the clergy and also for storage of important relics.

3 Ho Chi __ City : MINH

Ho Chi Minh City is the largest city in Vietnam by population. Formerly known as Saigon, and the capital of South Vietnam, it was renamed following the reunification of North and South Vietnam in 1976. The renaming is in honor of the Vietnamese communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh.

5 Classic Pontiac : TRANS AM

The Trans Am, produced from 1969 to 2002, was a specialty version of the Pontiac Firebird. My favorite Trans Am is KITT, the artificially intelligent car in the eighties TV show “Knight Rider” …

8 Mark on a bingo card : DAUB

Our game Bingo is a derivative of an Italian lottery game called “Il Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia” that became popular in the 16th-century.

11 Popeye’s rival : BLUTO

Bluto is the villain in the Popeye cartoon strip, a character who has been around since 1932. Sometimes you will see Bluto go by the name Brutus, depending on the date of the publication. This “confusion” arose because there was an unfounded concern that the name “Bluto” was owned by someone else. Bluto, Brutus … it’s the same guy.

12 Genesis locale : BABEL

We use the word “babel” now to describe a scene of confusion, lifting the term from the biblical story of the Tower of Babel. The Tower was built in the city of Babylon, and the construction was cursed with a confusion of languages due to the varied origins of all the builders.

18 Nutmegger’s st. : CONN

The official nickname of Connecticut (CT) is the “Constitution State”, but can also be referred to as the Nutmeg State, the Provisions State, and the Land of Steady Habits.

24 Apple often used to make cider : WINESAP

A winesap is a small and tart apple, one often used for making cider.

26 X Games launch point : RAMP

The X Games are annual events, with a Summer X Games held every year as well as a Winter X Games. It’s very much a commercial venture, with all aspects controlled by the TV station ESPN. The games focus on extreme action sports, like skateboarding and freestyle motocross in the summer and various extreme snowboarding events in the winter.

31 “Diary of a Wimpy __” : KID

“Diary of a Wimpy Kid” is a series of humorous novels for children and teens by cartoonist and author Jeff Kinney. The central character in the books is a middle school student named Greg Heffley. The series is very successful, and there is now a series of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” movies.

34 “Seriously, man!?” : DUDE!

Our term “dude” arose as slang in New York City in the 1880s, when it was used to describe a fastidious man. In the early 1900s, the term was extended to mean “city slickers”, easterners who vacationed in the West. The first use of the term “dude ranch” was recorded in 1921.

35 Superlative prefix : UBER-

“Über” is the German word for “over, across, above”. We have absorbed “uber-” into English as a prefix meaning “very”.

38 Company whose X account only follows some Spice Girls and seven guys named Herb : KFC

The famous “Colonel” of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) fame was Harland Sanders, an entrepreneur from Henryville, Indiana. Although not really a “Colonel”, Sanders did indeed serve in the military. He enlisted in the Army as a private in 1906 at the age of 16, lying about his age. He spent the whole of his time in the Army as a soldier in Cuba. It was much later, in the 1930s, that Sanders went into the restaurant business making his specialty deep-fried chicken. By 1935 his reputation as a “character” had grown, so much so that Governor Ruby Laffoon of Kentucky gave Sanders the honorary title of “Kentucky Colonel”. Later in the fifties, Sanders developed his trademark look with the white suit, string tie, mustache and goatee. When Sanders was 65 however, his business failed and in stepped Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s. Thomas simplified the Sanders menu, cutting it back from over a hundred items to just fried chicken and salads. That was enough to launch KFC into the fast food business. Sanders sold the US franchise in 1964 for just $2 million and moved to Canada to grow KFC north of the border. He died in 1980 and is buried in Louisville, Kentucky. The Colonel’s secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices is indeed a trade secret. Apparently there is only one copy of the recipe, a handwritten piece of paper, written in pencil and signed by Colonel Sanders. Since 2009, the piece of paper has been locked in a computerized vault surrounded with motion detectors and security cameras.

43 Walter who moved the Dodgers to Los Angeles : O’MALLEY

Walter O’Malley was a baseball executive and owner of the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers. It was O’Malley who drove the decision to move the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles in 1958.

46 Host before Fallon : LENO

“The Tonight Show” has had six permanent hosts so far:

• Steve Allen (1954-57)
• Jack Paar (1957-62)
• Johnny Carson (1962–92)
• Jay Leno (1992–2009, 2010–14)
• Conan O’Brien (2009–10)
• Jimmy Fallon (2014–present)

55 __ Romeo : ALFA

The “Alfa” in “Alfa Romeo” is actually an acronym, one standing for Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili (“Lombard Automobile Factory, Public Company”). ALFA was an enterprise founded in 1909 and which was taken over by Nicola Romeo in 1915. In 1920 the company name was changed to Alfa Romeo.

61 May celebrant : MOM

Note the official punctuation in “Mother’s Day”, even though one might think it should be “Mothers’ Day”. President Wilson and Anna Jarvis, who created the tradition, specifically wanted Mother’s Day to honor the mothers within each family and not just “mothers” in general, so they went with the “Mother’s Day” punctuation.