LA Times Crossword 19 Sep 24, Thursday

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Constructed by: Nancy Stark & Will Nediger
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): A Fabric of Lies?

Themed answers are common phrases featuring a fabric reference, woven together into a legal story. Clever …

• 17A The shady lawyer tried to __ a client’s eyes, … : PULL THE WOOL OVER
• 33A … and was confident nobody would __ the scheme … : COTTON ONTO
• 43A … and sure the client would __, … : GET FLEECED
• 60A … but I saw everything, so I’m the __! : MATERIAL WITNESS

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

Bill’s time: 10m 11s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Vodka cocktail, familiarly : COSMO

Like so many famous cocktails, the actual origins of the cosmopolitan are disputed. It is a very nice drink, in my humble opinion. One of the standard recipes is 4 parts citrus vodka, 1.5 parts Cointreau, 1.5 parts lime juice and 3 parts cranberry cocktail.

6 Land area unit : ACRE

At one time, an acre was defined as the amount of land a yoke of oxen could plow in a day. Then, an acre was more precisely defined as a strip of land “one furrow long” (i.e. one furlong) and one chain wide. The length of one furlong was equal to 10 chains, or 40 rods. An area of one furlong times 10 rods was one rood.

15 Word after sonic or baby : … BOOM

As a plane flies through the air, it creates pressure waves in front (and behind) rather like the bow and stern waves of a boat. These pressure waves travel at the speed of sound, so as an aircraft itself accelerates towards the speed of sound it catches up with the pressure waves until they cannot “get out of the way”. When the aircraft reaches the speed of sound, the compressed waves merge into one single shock wave, creating a sonic boom.

A baby boomer is someone who was born in the post-WWII baby boom. The rate of births had been falling fairly steadily in the US at least since 1900, but this trend was sharply reversed in 1946 after WWII. The higher birth rate continued until 1964, when it returned to pre-war levels. Since then the birth rate has continued to decline, although at a slower pace. The period between 1946 and 1964 is often defined as the “baby boom”.

16 Most common number in a data set : MODE

In a set of numbers, the mean is the average value of those numbers. The median is the numeric value at which half the numbers have a lower value, and half the numbers a higher value. The mode is the value that appears most often in the whole set of numbers.

20 Street in a Wes Craven title : ELM

“A Nightmare on Elm Street” is a Wes Craven slasher-horror film that was released in 1984. As I don’t do “slasher” or “horror”, I was surprised to learn that Johnny Depp was in the movie, making his feature film debut.

22 Store for folks who like to assemble : IKEA

The IKEA furniture chain was founded by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943, when he was just 17-years-old. IKEA is an acronym standing for Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd (don’t forget now!). Elmtaryd was the name of the farm where Ingvar Kamprad grew up, and Agunnaryd is his home parish in Sweden.

23 Jeweled ornament : DIADEM

A diadem is a type of crown that is worn as a sign of royalty. The original diadem wasn’t made of metal and was simply an embroidered silk ribbon that was worn by a king as a symbol of his authority.

27 John Quincy __ : ADAMS

John Quincy Adams (JQA), the son of John Adams, was the 6th US president. Like his father, John Quincy worked for many years as a diplomat representing the young United States. After leaving office, Adams served in Congress as Representative from Massachusetts, becoming the only president ever to enter the House after leaving the office of president.

30 Exodus figure : MOSES

The Book of Exodus is the second book in the Bible, and deals with Moses leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. The name “Exodus” comes from the Greek “exodos” meaning “departure”.

37 Curmudgeon : CRAB

“Curmudgeon” is a favorite word used by my wife to describe me. A curmudgeon is a bad-tempered person full of resentment and stubborn notions. I am sure she uses the term very affectionately …

40 2016 Olympics city : RIO

Even though the 2016 Olympic Games was a summer competition, it was held in Rio de Janeiro in winter. As Rio is in the southern hemisphere, the opening ceremony on 5th August 2016 fell in the local winter season. The 2016 games was also the first to be held in South America, and the first to be hosted by a Portuguese-speaking country.

42 Migratory bird : TERN

Terns are a family of seabirds. They are similar to gulls, but are more slender and more lightly built. Many species of tern are known for their long-distance migrations, with the Arctic tern migrating so far that it is believed to see more daylight in a year than any other animal.

45 Not-to-be-questioned beliefs : DOGMA

A dogma is a set of beliefs. The plural of “dogma” is “dogmata” (or “dogmas”, if you’re not a pedant like me!)

47 Smooth and confident : SUAVE

The Latin word “suavis” translates as “agreeable, pleasant to the senses”. “Sauvis” is the root of the English word “suave” that describes someone who is gracious and sophisticated, and perhaps somewhat superficial. “Sauvis” also gave us the English word “sweet” meaning “pleasing to the taste”.

50 Musician with pipes : SINGER

“Pipes” is a slang term describing a singing voice.

56 Ice dancer Virtue : TESSA

Tessa Virtue is a Canadian ice dancer who won the 2010 and 2018 Olympic gold along with her partner Scott Moir. Virtue and Moir have been skating together since 1997, when they were seven and nine years old respectively. That makes them the longest-standing Canadian ice dance team in history.

59 Single-stranded molecule : RNA

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a single-stranded molecule that is made up of nucleotides. The four nucleotides that make up RNA are adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and uracil (U). RNA is transcribed from DNA, which means that the information stored in DNA is used to create RNA. RNA then carries this information to the ribosomes, which are the cellular structures responsible for protein synthesis.

63 Noodle variety : UDON

Udon noodles are made from wheat-flour and are very popular in Japanese cuisines such as tempura.

64 “La Bohème” character : MIMI

Giacomo Puccini’s 1896 opera “La bohème” tells of a love affair between a poor poet named Rodolfo, and an even poorer seamstress named Mimi. There isn’t a happy ending …

67 Event for seniors : PROM

A prom is a formal dance held upon graduation from high school (we call them “formals” over in Ireland). The term “prom” is short for “promenade”, the name given to a type of dance or ball.

68 Guys : DUDES

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.

Down

3 Alabama River city : SELMA

The Alabama city of Selma was settled in 1815. It was named in 1820 by Alabama politician William R. King, who would later serve briefly as US Vice President under President Franklin Pierce. Meaning “high seat, throne”, King chose the city’s name from the Ossianic poem “The Songs of Selma”. Today, the city is perhaps best known for the Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches, which ultimately led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

6 Brother of Cain : ABEL

In the story of Cain and Abel in the Book of Genesis, Cain murders his brother Abel. Subsequently, God asks Cain, “Where is Abel thy brother?” Cain replies, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

7 Billowy cloak hood : COWL

A cowl is a long garment with a hood that is primarily worn by monks in the Christian tradition. The term “cowl” can also describe the hood itself.

24 Milieu for single people : DATING SCENE

We use the French term “milieu” (plural “milieux”) to mean “environment, surroundings”. In French, “milieu” is the word for “middle”.

26 Texter’s qualifier : IMO

In my opinion (IMO)

31 “The Boys” developer Kripke : ERIC

Eric Kripke is a writer and TV producer who was behind several TV shows including “Supernatural”, “Revolution”, “Timeless”, “The Boys” and “Gen V”. I have to admit, though, I haven’t seen any of them …

“The Boys” is a satirical superhero TV show based on a comic book of the same name by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. The superheroes (Supes) are marketed as heroic personae to the public, but their alter egos are corrupt and self-serving. The title characters are a CIA-sponsored black op team fighting the corruption.

33 “__ got your tongue?” : CAT

The phrase “cat got your tongue?” is used to ask someone why he or she isn’t saying something. There are theories about the idiom’s etymology, and most favor an explanation that does involve our feline friends at all. Rather, the reference is to the cat o’ nine tails, a whip used in the past as a punishment on British naval vessels. The mere threat of the “cat” would render sailors speechless.

34 Was in a red state? : OWED

To be in the red is to be in debt, to owe money. The expression “in the red” is a reference to the accounting practice of recording debts and losses in red ink in ledgers. The related phrase “in the black” means “solvent, making a profit”.

35 Edible purple corm : TARO

Taro is a root vegetable that is grown for its edible underground plant stems (corms). The English name “taro” is borrowed from the Maori language of New Zealand. The same plant is known as “gabi” in the Philippines, “arbi” in much of India, and “jimbi” in parts of Africa where Swahili is spoken.

36 Stir-fry protein : TOFU

“Tofu” is a name for bean curd, and is a Japanese word meaning just that … bean that has curdled. Tofu is produced by coagulating soy milk, using either salt or something acidic. Once the protein has coagulated, the curds are pressed into the familiar blocks. Personally I love tofu, but my wife absolutely hates it …

44 Cold yogurt drink : LASSI

Lassi is a yogurt-based drink from India. Popular variants are namkeen lassi (which is salty), sweet lassi and mango lassi. There is even a bhang lassi, which is infused with a liquid derivative of cannabis.

55 The whole shebang : A TO Z

The word “shebang” is probably a derivative of “shebeen”, which is an Irish term describing a “speakeasy”, an establishment where liquor was drunk and sold illegally. In English, a “shebang” was originally a “hut” or a “shed”. Just how this evolved into the expression “the whole shebang”, meaning “everything”, is unclear.

57 Muppet host of “The Not-Too-Late Show” : ELMO

“The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo” is a “Sesame Street” spinoff that debuted in 2020. Elmo had some high-profile guests the first season of his show, including Jimmy Fallon, the Jonas Brothers, John Oliver, Hoda Kotb, Andy Cohen and Olivia Wilde.

60 Make silly faces, maybe : MUG

The verb “to mug” means “to make an exaggerated facial expression”. The term comes from mugs used to drink beer (called Toby mugs) that are made in the shape of heads with grotesque expressions. “Mug” can also be a noun meaning “face”.

62 Tisch Sch. of the Arts home : NYU

New York University (NYU) comprises fifteen schools, one of which is the Tisch School of the Arts. The Tisch is famous for its acting program, with notable alumni such as Debra Messing, Christopher Guest and Josh Radnor.