LA Times Crossword 23 Aug 24, Friday

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Constructed by: Wendy L. Brandes
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Let’s Go, Yankees!

In order for the themed clues to fit with the corresponding answers, we need to YANK Es, to LET GO letters E from each clue. Very clever …

• 52A Cheer heard in the Bronx, or a phonetic hint for making the starred clues match their answers : LET’S GO, YANKEES! or LETS GO, YANK E’S

20A *Bean poles : STRIKE LEADERS (Ban pols)

27A *Beat poet : WITCHES’ CAULDRON (Bat pot)

43A *Came clean : PHOTOGRAPHY CLUB (Cam clan)

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

Bill’s time: 7m 37s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

10 Chris elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021 : BOSH

Chris Bosh is a retired professional basketball player. Sadly, his career was cut short when the NBA ruled that he could not play in the league any longer due to persistent blood-clotting issues.

15 Musical set in Argentina : EVITA

“Evita” was the follow-up musical to “Jesus Christ Superstar” for Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Both of these works were originally released as album musicals, and very successful ones at that (I remember buying them when they first came out). “Evita” was made into a film in 1996, with Madonna playing the title role and Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce playing her husband Juan Perón.

17 Feature of the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign : NEON

The iconic “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” has stood at the southern end of the Las Vegas Strip since 1959. The sign, and indeed most of the Strip, lies outside of the city of Las Vegas, and is instead in the neighboring town of Paradise.

18 Green energy option : SOLAR

Solar panels are arrays of solar cells that make use of what’s known as the photovoltaic effect. We are more likely to have learned about the photoelectric effect in school, in which electrons were ejected from the surface of some materials when it was exposed to light or other forms of radiation. The photovoltaic effect is related but different. Instead of being electrons ejected from the surface, in the photovoltaic effect electrons move around in the material creating a difference in voltage.

26 Another name for bingo : BEANO

The game called Beano is a precursor to Bingo. Beano was so called as dried beans were used to cover the called numbers on a card.

27 *Beat poet : WITCHES’ CAULDRON (Bat pot)

The Three Witches in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” have some lovely lines as they boil up and evil brew and cast a spell:

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing,–
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

33 Word on Rhode Island’s flag : HOPE

Rhode Island’s state flag comprises a gold anchor surrounded by thirteen gold stars on a white background. The stars represent the original thirteen colonies, and Rhode Island’s status as the thirteenth state to ratify the US Constitution. The anchor is a symbol of hope, and below it sits the state’s motto “HOPE”, also in gold.

49 __ Hebrides : OUTER
63 __ Hebrides : INNER

The Hebrides are a group of islands just off the west coast of Scotland. They are divided into two main groups: the Inner and Outer Hebrides.

51 G7 member : USA

The G6 was a group of six industrialized nations that formed in 1975 and whose governments met on a periodic basis. The founding members were France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US. The membership expanded in 1976 with the addition of Canada, forming the G7. Russia was given representation in the group in 1997, forming the G8. Russia’s membership was suspended in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea.

52 Cheer heard in the Bronx, or a phonetic hint for making the starred clues match their answers : LET’S GO, YANKEES! or LETS GO, YANK E’S

The New York Yankees (NYY) baseball team has the nickname “the Bronx Bombers”. The nickname reflects where the team plays (the Bronx) and the team’s reputation for hitting (bombers). The Yankees were the first team to retire a uniform number, doing so on July 4, 1939. That day they retired the number 4 in honor of Lou Gehrig.

57 “Holidays Symphony” composer Charles : IVES

“A Symphony: New England Holidays” is an orchestral work by Charles Ives. It comprises four movements:

1. Washington’s Birthday
2. Decoration Day
3. The Fourth of July
4. Thanksgiving and Forefathers’ Day

58 “Inferno” poet : DANTE

Dante’s epic narrative poem “Divina Commedia” (Divine Comedy) is divided into three parts: “Inferno”, “Purgatorio” and “Paradiso” (Hell, Purgatory and Paradise).

59 Pride constituent : LION

Here are some colorful collective nouns:

• A pride of lions
• A shrewdness of apes
• A cloud of bats
• A bench of bishops
• A clowder of cats
• A waddling of ducks
• An army of frogs
• A knot of toads
• A memory of elephants
• A dazzle of zebra
• A tower of giraffe
• A crash of rhinos

62 Actress Spelling : TORI

Tori Spelling is an American actress who made a name for herself playing Donna Martin on television’s “Beverly Hills, 90210”. Tori is the daughter of film and television producer Aaron Spelling.

65 Latin infinitive : ESSE

“Esse” is the Latin for “to be”. “Sum” means “I am”, “est” means “he, she is”, and “erat” means “he, she was”.

Down

2 Chant heard at Angel City FC games : OLE!

Angel City Football Club is a team based in Los Angeles that debuted in the National Women’s Soccer League in 2022. It has an impressive roster of celebrity co-owners that includes actresses Natalie Portman, America Ferrara and Eva Longoria, as well as retired players Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach.

9 Like white peacocks : RARE

Male peafowl are peacocks, females are peahens, and the young are peachicks. A group of peafowl are referred to as an ostentation, pride or muster.

12 Omelet bar burner : STERNO

Sterno is a jellied alcohol that usually comes in a can. The can is opened and the contents burn very easily and persistently. The brand name “Sterno” comes from the original manufacturer, S. Sternau & Co. of Brooklyn, New York.

24 Medium of many a Calder mobile : WIRE

Alexander Calder was an American sculptor and artist. He was famous for having invented the mobile sculpture, a work made up of several pieces hanging on a string in equilibrium. In effect they are what we might know as “mobiles”, operating on the same principle as mobiles that sit over cribs in a nursery. Calder referred to his large, stationary sculptures as “stabiles”.

28 Mustang, for one : CAR

The Ford Mustang car was introduced in 1964. Back then the Mustang wasn’t a brand new design, but was based on the Ford Falcon. The Mustang was the first of the “pony cars”, American models that are compact and affordable, as well as sporty in image and performance.

29 Home of the Terracotta Army : CHINA

Xi’an is a city in China, the capital of the Shaanxi Province. It is famous as the eastern terminus of the Silk Road trade route, and as the home of the Terracotta Army.

The tem “terra cotta” comes to us from Latin via Italian and means “baked earth”. Terra-cotta is a ceramic made from clay which is left unglazed. Maybe the most famous work in terra-cotta is the Terracotta Army, the enormous collection of life-size figures that was buried with Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China around 210 BC. I had the privilege of seeing some of this collection when it toured the US a few years ago, and even the few pieces on display were very impressive.

31 FedEx rival : UPS

United Parcel Service (UPS) is based in Sandy Springs, Georgia and has its own airline that operates out of Louisville, Kentucky. UPS often goes by the nickname “Brown”, because of its brown delivery trucks and brown uniforms.

37 Human Rights Day mo. : DEC

On 10 December 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that lays out the freedoms and rights of all humankind. The event has been celebrated around the world ever since on December 10th every year, as Human Rights Day.

40 Udon kin : SOBA

Soba is a thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat flour. In Japan, the word “soba” tends to describe any thin noodle, in contrast with the thicker noodle called “udon”.

41 Five-time Wimbledon winner Björn : BORG

Björn Borg is a retired tennis player from Sweden, and a former World No. 1. Borg won 41% of the 27 Grand Slam singles tournaments that he entered, which is a record that stands to this day. He was known for reacting very calmly under pressure on the tennis court and hence earned the nicknames “Ice Man” and “Ice Borg”, the latter being my personal favorite.

42 __ Park: University of Chicago locale : HYDE

Hyde Park is a Chicago neighborhood located on the shores of Lake Michigan. The area is home to the University of Chicago, and is also home to former US President Barack Obama.

44 __ rancheros : HUEVOS

The popular breakfast dish huevos rancheros consists mainly of fried eggs served on tortillas and topped with salsa. The dish’s name translates as “eggs ranch-style”.

45 Playful paddlers : OTTERS

Sea otters actually hold hands while sleeping on their backs so that they don’t drift apart. When sea otter pups are too small to lock hands, they clamber up onto their mother’s belly and nap there.

46 “Kitchen Confidential” actress Santiago : TESSIE

Actress Tessie Santiago made her debut on TV playing the title role in the Canadian adventure show “Queen of Swords”.

“Kitchen Confidential” is a sitcom that originally aired in 2005, and is based on celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain’s non-fiction book “Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly”. Bradley Cooper played the lead, an executive chef named Jack Bourdain who was inspired by Anthony Bourdain.

47 Cooled off like an overheated boxer? : PANTED

The boxer breed of dog (one of my favorites) originated in Germany. My first dog was a boxer/Labrador mix, a beautiful combination. My wife and I also had a boxer/pug mix, and he was another gorgeous animal.

53 Garfield frenemy : ODIE

“Garfield” is a comic strip drawn by Jim Davis from 1978. The title character is an orange tabby cat. Davis named his cartoon hero Garfield after his own grandfather.

54 Yin and __ : YANG

The yin and yang can be illustrated using many different metaphors. In one, as the sun shines on a mountain, the side in the shade is the yin and the side in the light is the yang. The yin is also regarded as the feminine side, and the yang the masculine. The yin can also be associated with the moon, while the yang is associated with the sun.

55 “Object Lessons” novelist Quindlen : ANNA

1991’s “Object Lessons” is the first novel by Pulitzer-winning columnist for the “New York Times” Anna Quindlen. It is a coming-of-age tale about a girl in a powerful Irish-American family in New York.

61 Rapper on the “King’s Disease” trilogy of albums : NAS

Rapper Nas released a “King’s Disease” trilogy of albums in 2020, 2021, and 2022. One interpretation of the title used for the series is that it is a metaphor for challenges that come with fame.