LA Times Crossword 6 Sep 24, Friday

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Constructed by: Zachary David Levy
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: And You Are?

Themed answers are common phrases, AND “UR” is added to the start:

• 58A Rude greeting, or an apt title for this puzzle? : AND YOU ARE?

• 17A Cash in Eurasia? : URAL GREEN (UR + Al Green)
• 24A Greetings from the bear’s den? : URSINE WAVES (UR + sine waves)
• 35A Like an address bar? : URL-SHAPED (UR + L-shaped)
• 49A Tunes for some pathetic Dickens characters? : URCHIN MUSIC (UR + chin music)

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

Bill’s time: 8m 33s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 “Doctor Who” genre : SCI-FI

The iconic science-fiction television show “Doctor Who” first aired in 1963 on the BBC, and relaunched in 2005. The relaunched series is produced in-house by the BBC in Cardiff in Wales, the location that is the setting of the successful “Doctor Who” spin-off called “Torchwood”. The new show is about the Cardiff branch of the Torchwood Institute which investigates incidents involving extraterrestrials. Why “Torchwood”? Well, “Torchwood” is an anagram of “Doctor Who”.

6 Air quality monitoring org. : FCC

TV broadcasting is monitored by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC has been around since 1934, when it replaced the Federal Radio Commission.

9 Wrap brand : SARAN

What’s known as plastic wrap in America, we call cling-film in Ireland. The brand name “Saran” is often used generically in the US, while “Glad” wrap is common down under. Plastic wrap was one of those unintended inventions, a byproduct of a development program to create a hard plastic cover for cars.

14 Capital city of Piedmont : TURIN

Turin (“Torino” in Italian) is a major city in the north of Italy that sits on the Po River. Back in 1861, when the Kingdom of Italy was formed, Turin was chosen as the first capital of the country.

Piedmont in the northwest of Italy is one of the nation’s twenty administrative regions. It is a mountainous region that is surrounded on three sides by the Alps. The Italian name for the region, “Piemonte”, translates as “foot of a mountain”. Piedmont’s capital city is Turin.

16 System of beliefs : CREDO

A creed or credo is a profession of faith, or a system of belief or principles. “Credo” is Latin for “I believe”.

17 Cash in Eurasia? : URAL GREEN (UR + Al Green)

Al Green is a gospel and soul music singer. He was born in Arkansas, where he started out as a gospel singer and moved into R&B. In 1974, Green was assaulted by a girlfriend who burned him badly on much of his body by pouring boiling grits over him (and then she committed suicide). The incident changed Green’s life and he turned to the church, becoming a pastor in Memphis in 1976. He continued to record music, but never really enjoyed the same success that he had in the early seventies with hits like “Let’s Stay Together” and “I’m Still In Love With You”.

19 Mars exploration vehicle : ROVER

There have been several rovers sent to Mars from Earth. The Soviet Union’s Mars 2 landed in 1971, and failed. Mars 3 landed the same year, and ceased operation just 20 seconds after landing. NASA’s Sojourner landed in 1997 (what a great day that was!) and operated from July through September. The British rover Beagle 2 was lost six days before its scheduled entry into the Martian atmosphere. NASA’s Spirit landed in 2004, and operated successfully for over six years before getting trapped in sand and eventually ceasing to communicate. NASA’s Opportunity also landed in 2004, and operated for over fourteen years. And then NASA’s Curiosity made a spectacular, hi-tech landing in 2012 and is continuing to explore the planet today. Based on the Curiosity design, NASA’s Perseverance rover landed in 2021, along with the Mars helicopter named Ingenuity. The China National Space Administration landed its first rover, named Zhurong (“Rover” in English), five months after Perseverance started its mission on the planet.

20 Swede’s neighbor : DANE

The neighboring countries of Denmark and Sweden do not share a land border, but do share a maritime border that extends just over 70 miles along the Øresund strait. A road and rail link crosses that border via the Øresund Bridge and Drogden Tunnel. The bridge is about 5 miles long, and the tunnel about 2½ miles.

21 __ Lingus : AER

Aer Lingus is the flag carrier airline of Ireland. It was founded in 1936 by the Irish government to provide air service between Ireland and the United Kingdom. The airline’s name means “air fleet” in Irish. In the 1950s, Aer Lingus became the first airline in the world to introduce a duty-free shopping service on board its flights.

23 DOJ arm : FBI

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was set up in 1908 as the Bureau of Investigation (BOI), with the name changing in 1935. The Bureau was set up at the behest of President Theodore Roosevelt. President Roosevelt was largely moved to do so after the 1901 assassination of President McKinley, as there was a perception that anarchists were threatening law and order. The FBI’s motto uses the organization’s initialism, and is “Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity”.

24 Greetings from the bear’s den? : URSINE WAVES (UR + sine waves)

Something described as ursine is related to a bear. The term “ursine” comes from “ursus” (plural “ursi”), Latin for “bear”.

A sine wave is a mathematical function that describes a simple, smooth, repetitive oscillation. The sine wave is found right throughout the natural world. Ocean waves, light waves and sound waves all have a sine wave pattern.

31 “__ Meenie”: 2010 pop single : EENIE

“Eenie Meenie” is a 2010 dance-pop song co-written and recorded by Justin Bieber and Sean Kingston. Apparently, Canadian Bieber brings R&B vocals to the song, and American-Jamaican gives it a reggae vibe.

32 Storybook bear : PAPA

The story of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” was first recorded in 1837 in England, although the narrative was around before it was actually written down. The original fairy tale was rather gruesome, but successive versions became more family-oriented. The character that eventually became Goldilocks was originally an elderly woman, and the three “nameless” bears became Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear.

35 Like an address bar? : URL-SHAPED (UR + L-shaped)

An Internet address (like NYXCrossword.com and LAXCrossword.com) is more correctly called a uniform resource locator (URL).

38 Jul. 4 shindigs : BBQS

On 11 June 1776, the Continental Congress appointed a committee of five people to draft a declaration of independence. Included in the five were John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Adams persuaded the other committee members to give Jefferson the task of writing the first draft. A resolution of independence was passed by the Congress on 2 July 1776. The final draft of the declaration was approved by the Congress two days later, on July 4th. John Adams wrote a letter to his wife that included an assertion that July 2nd (the date of the resolution of independence) would become a great American holiday. Adams was wrong, and it was actually the date the Declaration of Independence was finalized that came to be celebrated annually.

“Shindig” is such a lovely word, I think. It describes a party that usually includes some dancing. Although its origin isn’t really clear, the term perhaps comes from “shinty”, a Scottish game that’s similar to field hockey.

46 Driveway stuff : TAR

The terms “tarmac” and “macadam” are short for “tarmacadam”. In the 1800s, Scotsman John Loudon McAdam developed a style of road known as “macadam”. Macadam had a top-layer of crushed stone and gravel laid over larger stones. The macadam also had a convex cross-section so that water tended to drain to the sides. In 1901, a significant improvement was made by English engineer Edgar Purnell Hooley who introduced tar into the macadam, improving the resistance to water damage and practically eliminating dust. The “tar-penetration macadam” is the basis of what we now call “tarmac”.

47 Kilmer of “Real Genius” : VAL

Val Kilmer’s first big leading role in a movie was playing Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s 1991 biopic “The Doors”. A few years later, Kilmer was chosen for the lead in another big production, “Batman Forever”. Things haven’t really gone as well for Kilmer since then, I’d say. Off the screen, he flirted with the idea of running for Governor of New Mexico in 2010. A Hollywood actor as a governor? Would never happen …

“Real Genius” is a comedy movie released in 1985 starring Val Kilmer. It’s one of those clever-kid-on-a-college-campus films. The final scene is perhaps notable. As the movie closes, the students destroy a professor’s house using laser-popped popcorn. The cast of the TV show “Mythbusters” delved into the movie premise, and showed that even though popcorn could indeed be popped by lasers, the popped corn wasn’t hard enough to break window-glass, never mind bring a house down.

49 Tunes for some pathetic Dickens characters? : URCHIN MUSIC (UR + chin music)

Charles Dickens was an English novelist who achieved great success in his own time, and is still regarded as perhaps the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. Many of his novels explored the plight of the poor in Victorian society, perhaps driven by his own experiences as a child. Dickens had to leave school to work in a factory after his father was thrown into a debtor’s prison. As a result, Dickens had to educate himself. He is said to have pioneered the serial publication of narrative fiction, with his first success coming with the 1835 serial publication of “Pickwick Papers”. And, everyone’s favorite has to be his 1843 novella, “A Christmas Carol”.

“Chin music” is an informal term used in the US to mean “idle chatter”.

53 Tavern owner who stocks Duff beer : MOE

The regulars on “The Simpsons” hang out at Moe’s Tavern, which is named for and run by Moe Szyslak. The most popular beer at Moe’s is Duff Beer. The name “Duff” is a reference to the real-life Duffy’s Tavern that used to be East 13th Street in Eugene, Oregon. “The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening used to frequent Duffy’s regularly, and Moe’s looks very much like Duffy’s in terms of decor and floor plan.

56 Shellacking : ROUT

“To shellac” is a slang term meaning “to defeat decisively, to strike severely”. The idea is that shellacking, in the literal sense, is to “finish” a surface with a shellac varnish. In the figurative sense, a team or person giving a shellacking is “finishing” the opponent(s).

62 Sonar sounds : PINGS

The British developed the first underwater detection system that used sound waves. Research was driven by defense demands during WWI, leading to production of working units in 1922. This new sound detection system was described as using “supersonics”, but for the purpose of secrecy the term was dropped in favor of an acronym. The work was done under the auspices of the Royal Navy’s Anti-Submarine Division, so ASD was combined with the “IC” from “superson-ic-s” to create the name ASDIC. The navy even went as far as renaming the quartz material at the heart of the technology “ASDivite”. By the time WWII came along, the Americans were producing their own systems and coined the term SONAR (Sound Navigation and Ranging), playing off the related application, RADAR. And so, the name ASDIC was deep-sixed …

Down

1 Payment to a breeder : STUD FEE

The word “stud”, meaning “male horse kept for breeding”, is derived from the Old English word “stod”, which described a whole herd of horses. The term “stud” can be used figuratively for a “ladies’ man”.

3 Like many songs or movies in Farsi : IRANIAN

Farsi (also known as Persian) is a language spoken by about 62 million people as a first language, and another 50 million or more as a second language. It is the official language of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan.

4 Spicy herb seasoning in gumbo : FILE

Filé powder (also “gumbo filé”) is a staple in Creole cuisine, a seasoning made from the dried and ground leaves of the sassafras tree. It has a distinctive earthy, slightly root beer-like flavor and acts as both a seasoning and a thickener for gumbo.

7 French endearment : CHERI

“Chéri” is a form of familiar address in French, meaning “dear”. “Chéri” is the form used when talking to a male, and “chérie” when addressing a female.

8 Big gathering of fans, casually : CON

Convention (con)

26 “Hamilton” Tony nominee Phillipa : SOO

Phillipa Soo is an actress and singer who is perhaps best known for portraying Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, the title character’s wife in the original Broadway production of “Hamilton”.

28 Name of 12 popes : PIUS

There have been twelve popes named Pius, the latest being Pope Pius XII. He led the Roman Catholic Church until his death in 1958.

32 Mass reading : PSALM

The Greek word “psalmoi” originally meant “songs sung to a harp”, and gave us the word “psalms”. In the Jewish and Western Christian traditions, the Book of Psalms contains 150 individual psalms, divided into five sections.

38 AC meas. : BTU

In the world of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), the power of a heating or cooling unit can be measured using the British Thermal Unit (BTU). This dated unit is the amount of energy required to heat a pound of water so that the water’s temperature increases by one degree Fahrenheit.

39 Spot for beer and video games : BARCADE

Barcade is a chain of bars that provide classic video games and pinball machines for the patrons. “Barcade” is a portmanteau of “bar” and “arcade”.

40 Scannable squares : QR CODES

A QR Code (for “Quick Response Code”) is a two-dimensional barcode that is favored over UPC barcodes as it can read more quickly and can store much more information. The QR Code comprises black squares within a square grid on a white background.

43 Some Pacific Islanders : SAMOANS

The official name for the South Pacific nation formerly known as Western Samoa is the Independent State of Samoa. Samoa is the western part of the island group, with American Samoa lying to the southeast. The whole group of islands used to be known as Navigators Island, a name given by European explorers in recognition of the seafaring skills of the native Samoans.

44 Nemesis : SCOURGE

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.

45 Exam for pupils : EYE TEST

The commonly used eye chart (that starts with the letters “E FP TOZ LPED”) is called a Snellen chart. The test is named after its developer Herman Snellen, who introduced it way back in 1862.

47 Set taken by a doctor : VITALS

There are four primary vital signs that are measured by health professionals:

1. Body temperature
2. Blood pressure
3. Pulse
4. Breathing rate

51 Of an arm nerve : ULNAR

The ulnar nerve runs alongside the ulna (one of the bones in the lower arm). It is the largest unprotected (not surrounded by muscle or bone) nerve in the human body. The nerve can be touched under the skin at the outside of the elbow. Striking the nerve at this point causes an electric-type shock known as hitting one’s “funny bone” or “crazy bone”.

52 Tufted marsh plant : SEDGE

Sedges are a family of plants that resemble grasses and rushes. They are more properly called Cyperaceae.

57 Dark portion of a Chinese circle : YIN

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.

59 Brand celebrating Hello Kitty’s 50th Mani-versary in 2024 : 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.

Hello Kitty is a female bobtail cat, and a character/brand name launched in 1974 by the Japanese company Sanrio. Folks can overpay for stationary, school supplies and fashion accessories with the Hello Kitty character emblazoned thereon.