LA Times Crossword 13 Nov 24, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Jack Maurer
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Worlds Apart

Themed answers include circled letters, spread APART, that spell out the names of WORLDS (planets) within our solar system:

• 57A Utterly different, and what can be found in four of this puzzle’s answers : WORLDS APART

• 16A Focus of some nongovernmental organizations : HUMAN RIGHTS (giving MARS apart)
• 22A The five ways romantic partners connect and communicate, per Gary Chapman : LOVE LANGUAGES (giving VENUS apart)
• 36A In succession : ONE AFTER ANOTHER (giving EARTH apart)
• 46A Musician’s calling card : SIGNATURE TUNE (giving SATURN apart)

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

Bill’s time: 6m 35s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Roti flour : ATTA

Atta is a whole-wheat flour used to make flatbreads in South Asian cuisine, such as chapati and naan. “Atta” is the Hindi or Urdu word for “dough”.

16 Focus of some nongovernmental organizations : HUMAN RIGHTS (giving MARS apart)

The surface of the planet Mars has a very high iron oxide content, so Mars is red because it is rusty!

18 Maker of tools for writing and lighting : BIC

Société Bic is a company based in Clichy in France. The first product the company produced, more than fifty years ago, was the Bic Cristal ballpoint pen that is still produced today. Bic also makes other disposable products such as lighters and razors.

20 Splitting target : ATOM

By some definitions, New Zealand-born physicist and chemist Ernest Rutherford was the first person to “split the atom”. Rutherford bombarded nitrogen with alpha particles and thereby forced neutrons out of the nucleus of the nitrogen atom. The first intentional nuclear “fission” came decades later in the 1930s, with experiments in which larger nuclei were split into smaller nuclei.

22 The five ways romantic partners connect and communicate, per Gary Chapman : LOVE LANGUAGES (giving VENUS apart)

Gary Chapman wrote a 1992 book called “The Five Love Languages” in which he suggested that there are five ways that someone might express and experience love. Those five “love languages” are:

1. Words of affirmation (compliments)
2. Quality time
3. Gifts
4. Acts of service
5. Physical touch

The planet Venus rotates very slowly. As each rotation is equivalent to one day, a day on Venus lasts about 243 Earth days. Also, Venus orbits the sun relatively quickly, taking about 225 Earth days. So, a day on Venus is longer than a year!

31 Gold unit : KARAT

A karat (also “carat”, the spelling outside of North America) is a measure of the purity of gold alloys, with 24-karat representing pure gold.

36 In succession : ONE AFTER ANOTHER (giving EARTH apart)

The Earth is the third planet from the sun, and the fifth-largest planet in the Solar System.

43 Sea swallow : 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.

46 Musician’s calling card : SIGNATURE TUNE (giving SATURN apart)

Saturn is easily visible from Earth with the unaided eye, but we need some help to see the planet’s famous rings. Galileo was the first person to see Saturn’s rings, when he turned his primitive telescope towards the night sky in 1610. However, he misinterpreted what he was observing and assumed that the rings were in fact two smaller planets located at either side of the larger Saturn.

56 Actress Wasikowska : MIA

Mia Wasikowska is an Australian actress. Wasikowska’s breakthrough role was playing the title character in Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” in 2010. The only movie I’ve seen her in though is 2011’s “Jane Eyre”, a pretty good adaptation of the Charlotte Brontë classic, I thought …

61 __ milk : OAT

Oat milk is one of the alternatives to cow’s milk, and is lactose free. I’m a huge fan …

62 Pig Latin rejection : IXNAY

Pig Latin is in effect a game. One takes the first consonant or consonant cluster of an English word and moves it to the end of the word, and then adds the letters “ay”. So, the Pig Latin for the word “nix” is “ixnay” (ix-n-ay), and for “scram” is “amscray” (am-scr-ay).

Down

4 Legislation from the Obama Era, initially : ACA

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

5 Religious doctrine : DOGMA

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

7 Court feature in basketball and tennis : NET

Basketball is truly a North American sport. It was created in 1891 by Canadian James Naismith at the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts. His goal was to create something active and interesting for his students in the gym. The first “hoops” were actually peach baskets, with the bottoms of the baskets intact. When a player got the ball into the “net”, someone had to clamber up and get the ball back out again in order to continue the game!

Our modern sport of tennis evolved from the much older racquet sport known as real tennis. Originally just called “tennis”, the older game was labeled “real tennis” when the modern version began to hold sway. Real tennis is played in a closed court, with the ball frequently bounced off the walls.

9 Clean up, as code : DEBUG

Back in 1947, famed computer programmer Grace Hopper noticed some colleagues fixing a piece of equipment by removing a dead moth from a relay. She remarked that they were “debugging” the system, and so Hopper has been given credit for popularizing the term “bug” in the context of computing.

11 Prepares to disembark, say : DOCKS

In getting on and off a seagoing vessel, one embarks and disembarks (also “debarks”). The terms “embark” and “disembark” come from the name of the small ship known as a barque.

13 Scoundrel : KNAVE

We’ve been using “knave” to mean “cad” since about 1200, and as an alternative name for the jack in a deck of cards since the mid-1500s. “Knave” comes from the Old English word “cnafa”, a “boy, male servant”.

21 Pixar short featuring a dumpling that comes to life : BAO

“Bao” is a 2018 short film produced by Pixar. Directed by Canadian filmmaker Domee Shi, it is the first Pixar movie directed by a woman. “Bao” won the 2018 Oscar for Best Animated Short Film.

24 “Come Away With Me” singer Jones : NORAH

The beguiling Norah Jones is the daughter of famed sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, and is one of my favorite singers. If you haven’t heard Jones singing her song “Come Away with Me”, you just haven’t lived …

26 Golden Rule preposition : UNTO

The Golden Rule is also known as the ethic of reciprocity, and is a basis for the concept of human rights. A version of the rule used in the Christian tradition is attributed to Jesus:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

A derivative phrase often heard today is “Love thy neighbor (as thyself)”.

31 Reeves of “The Matrix” : KEANU

Keanu Reeves is a Canadian actor whose most celebrated roles were a metalhead in “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” (1989), a cop in “Speed” (1994) and the protagonist Neo in “The Matrix” series of films. Although Reeves is a Canadian national, he was born in Beirut, Lebanon. Reeves has some Hawaiian descent, and the name “Keanu” is Hawaiian for “the coolness” or “cool breeze”.

The 1999 movie sensation “The Matrix” was meant to be set in a nondescript urban environment. It was actually shot in Australia, as one of the co-producers of the film was the Australian company, Village Roadshow Pictures. You can pick up all sorts of clues about the location when watching the film, including a view of Sydney Harbour Bridge in a background shot. Also, traffic drives along on the left and there are signs for the “lift” instead of an “elevator”.

32 National Gallery collection : ART

The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. comprises an original West Building and a contemporary East Building. The West Building was opened in 1941 and is a neoclassical structure that was designed by John Russell Pope (who later designed the Jefferson memorial). The East Building opened in 1978 and was designed by I.M. Pei, who later was awarded the renovation of the Louvre Museum in Paris.

37 Pet shampoo target : FLEA

Fleas are flightless insects, but they sure can jump. Their very specialized hind legs allow them to jump up to 50 times the length of their bodies.

38 Legal wrong : TORT

“Tort” is a French word meaning “mischief, injury or wrong”. In common law, a tort is a civil wrong that results in the injured party suffering loss or harm, and the injuring party having a legal liability. Tort law differs from criminal law in that torts may result from negligence and not just intentional actions. Also, tort lawsuits may be decided on a preponderance of evidence, without the need of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

43 Explosive initials : TNT

“TNT” is an abbreviation for “trinitrotoluene”. It was first produced in 1863 by the German chemist Joseph Wilbrand, who developed it for use as a yellow dye. TNT is relatively difficult to detonate so it was on the market as a dye for some years before its more explosive properties were discovered.

45 __ eclipse : LUNAR

A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes into the shadow cast by the Earth from the light of the Sun, in other words when the Earth is positioned directly between the Sun and the Moon. The more spectacular solar eclipse takes place when the Moon passes in front of the Sun, so that the Earth falls into the shadow cast by the Moon.

46 Girl Scout Cookie with coconut : SAMOA

Depending on which bakery makes the particular variety of Girl Scout cookies, the name can vary. For example, Little Brownie Bakers makes Samoa cookies, while ABC Bakers uses the same recipe and calls the cookies Caramel deLites. The assumption is that these cookies have the exotic name “Samoa” because they contain the tropical ingredients of coconut and cocoa. The most popular variety of Girl Scout cookies sold are Thin Mints.

47 Trojan War epic with a 2023 translation by Emily Wilson : ILIAD

Emily Wilson was the first woman to publish a translation, in English, of Homer’s “Odyssey”, doing so in 2018. She followed that up with a translation of Homer’s “Iliad” in 2023.

48 Animals in some yoga classes : GOATS

Believe it or not, goat yoga is a thing, a thing that has been around since 2016. It’s doing yoga on a farm with goats around you.

58 Maker of tools for paring and peeling : OXO

The OXO line of kitchen utensils and housewares is designed to be ergonomically superior to the average household tools. The intended user of OXO products is someone who doesn’t have the normal range of motion or strength in the hands e.g. someone suffering from arthritis.