LA Times Crossword 18 Nov 24, Monday

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Constructed by: Amy Johnson & Katie Hale
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Pop-Up Menu

Themed answers each start with something that might POP UP:

• 60A Right-click result, often, and where the starts of 18-, 24-, 38-, and 49-Across can be found? : POP-UP MENU

• 18A Long garment with no waistline : TENT DRESS (giving “pop-up tent”)
• 24A “These aren’t the droids we’re looking for” speaker : STORMTROOPER (giving “pop-up storm”)
• 38A Activity for a green-thumbed apartment dweller : WINDOW GARDENING (giving “pop-up window”)
• 49A Aftereffects of a great read : BOOK HANGOVER (giving “pop-up book”)

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

Bill’s time: 5m 27s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 “Gilmore Girls” daughter : RORY

“Gilmore Girls” is a comedy show that originally aired from 2000 to 2007 on the WB. The title characters are mother and daughter Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, played by Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. All the action takes place in the fictional Connecticut town of Stars Hollow. The theme song was written by Carole King, and is a version of her 1971 recording “Where You Lead”. King sing’s the show’s theme with her own daughter, Louise Goffin.

9 Lightning streak : BOLT

The word “thunder” precedes the word “lightning” in the phrase “thunder and lightning”. However, thunder comes after lighting in reality, at least to the observer. The observer sees the flash of lightning and then seconds later hears the crash of thunder. That’s because light travels faster than sound.

13 Dickens villain Heep : URIAH

Uriah Heep is a sniveling and insincere character in the novel “David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens. The character is such a “yes man” that today, if we know someone who behaves the same way, then we might call that person a “Uriah Heep”.

16 Grammy winner India.__ : ARIE

India Arie (sometimes “india.arie”) is an American soul and R&B singer who was born India Arie Simpson in Denver, Colorado.

17 “So anyway,” e.g. : SEGUE

A segue is a transition from one topic to the next. “Segue” is an Italian word that literally means “now follows”. It was first used in musical scores directing the performer to play into the next movement without a break. The oft-used term “segway” is given the same meaning, although the word “segway” doesn’t really exist. It is a misspelling of “segue” that has been popularized by its use as the name of the personal transporter known as a Segway.

20 TV channel with a large film library : TCM

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is one of my favorite television channels as it delivers just what its name promises, i.e. classic movies.

23 German sub dangerous to Allied ships : U-BOAT

The term “U-boat” comes from the German word “Unterseeboot” (undersea boat). U-boats were primarily used in WWII to enforce a blockade against enemy commercial shipping, with a main objective being to cut off the supplies being transported to Britain from the British colonies and the US. The epic fight for control of the supply routes became known as the Battle of the Atlantic.

24 “These aren’t the droids we’re looking for” speaker : STORMTROOPER (giving “pop-up storm”)

In the “Star Wars” universe, the soldiers of the Galactic Empire are called “stormtroopers”, a term inspired by the German “Sturmtruppen” of WWI.

28 Anchorage locale : ALASKA

Anchorage, Alaska is the northernmost city in the US with over 100,000 residents (in fact, it has a population close to 300,000). Anchorage is also the state’s most populous city, and is home to more than 40% of Alaska’s residents.

32 Calvin of fashion : KLEIN

Calvin Klein is an American fashion designer who was born in the Bronx in New York City. Klein’s biography, entitled “Obsession”, is named for one the most famous brands in his line of fragrances.

44 Date opening : MONTH

I think that of all the things I had to “unlearn” when I moved to the US, writing the date was the hardest to adopt consistently. In Ireland we use a DD/MM/YYYY format, whereas the MM/DD/YYYY format is used here in the US.

45 Apple download : IOS APP

iOS is what Apple now calls its mobile operating system. Previously, it was known as iPhone OS.

48 Duck, duck, goose shape : RING

“Duck, Duck, Goose” is a kid’s game, and not one that I’ve heard of outside of crosswords, to be honest …

58 Steel support for concrete : REBAR

A steel bar or mesh used to reinforce concrete is called “rebar”, which is short for “reinforcing bar”.

62 “Hakuna Matata” composer John : ELTON

“Hakuna matata” is a Swahili phrase, with a literal translation of “there are no worries”, or more colloquially perhaps, “no problem”. The phrase is used as the title for a hit song from the musical “The Lion King”. The song’s music was composed by Elton John and lyrics were written by Tim Rice.

66 Shoe material that shouldn’t get wet : SUEDE

Suede is leather made from the underside of an animal’s skin, usually the skin from a lamb. As such it is very soft, although not as durable as leather made from the exterior skin. The soft leather was, and is still used for making gloves. Back in 1859 these gloves were called “gants de Suede” in France, or “gloves of Sweden”. So, the name “suede” comes from the French word for Sweden.

Down

5 Helicopter part : ROTOR

Our term “helicopter” was absorbed from the French word “hélicoptère” that was coined by Gustave Ponton d’Amécourt in 1861. d’Amécourt envisioned aircraft that could fly vertically using rotating wings that “screwed” into the air. He combined the Greek terms “helix” meaning “spiral, whirl” and “pteron” meaning “wing” to give us “helicopter”.

7 Classic Unilever laundry soap : RINSO

Rinso was a laundry detergent that was first manufactured in England in 1908 by a company called Hudson’s Soap. It was introduced into the US in 1918. In America, Rinso took to radio advertising and sponsorship in the days of “soap operas”. Their most famous program association was with “The Amos ‘n’ Andy Show” in the 1940s. One of the brand’s slogans was “Solium, the sunlight ingredient”. I have no idea what Solium is, but it certainly did sell a lot of soap!

9 Streisand of “Yentl” : BARBRA

Barbra Streisand has recorded 31 top-ten albums since 1963, more than any other female recording artist. In fact, she has had an album in the top ten for the last five decades, a rare achievement in itself.

“Yentl” is a play that opened in New York City in 1975. The move to adapt the play for the big screen was led by Barbra Streisand, and indeed she wrote the first outline of a musical version herself as far back as 1968. The film was eventually made and released in 1983, with Streisand performing the lead role.

10 Cookie with a Coca-Cola variety : OREO

In 2024, The Oreo and Coca-Cola brands were used in a joint marketing campaign. Coca-Cola introduced an Oreo-flavored version of Coke, and Nabisco produced a Coke-flavored Oreo biscuit.

11 WNBA great Leslie : LISA

Lisa Leslie is a former professional basketball player who played in the WNBA with the Los Angeles Sparks. Leslie is rather tall, and was the first player to dunk the ball in a WNBA game.

12 Rorschach __ : TEST

The Rorschach test is a psychological test in which a subject is asked to interpret a series of inkblots. The test was created by Swiss Freudian psychoanalyst Hermann Rorschach in the 1920s.

14 Boy of la familia : HERMANO

In Spanish, “hermanos, primas, etcétera” (brothers, cousins, etc.) are “familia” (family).

19 “Hamilton” climax : DUEL

Alexander Hamilton was one of America’s Founding Fathers, chief of staff to General George Washington and the first Secretary of the Treasury. It was Hamilton who established the nation’s first political party, the Federalist Party. He is also famous for fighting a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr, which resulted in Hamilton’s death a few days later.

30 Philosopher Immanuel : KANT

Immanuel Kant was an 18th-century German philosopher. Kant published “Perpetual Peace” in 1795, laying out what he believed were conditions for ending all wars and creating a lasting peace. The good news for us is that one of these conditions was to have a world full of constitutional republics, so it seems we are on the right track here in the US!

32 River in an epic film title : KWAI

The river referred to in the movie “The Bridge on the River Kwai” is actually called the Khwae Yai River, and is in western Thailand. The original novel by Pierre Boulle, “The Bridge Over the River Kwai”, was published in French in 1952, and the wonderful movie released in 1957. Both tell the story of the construction of part of the Burma Railway and a bridge over the river, using prisoners of war as laborers. The film stars William Holden, Alec Guinness and Jack Hawkins.

39 D.C. paper : WAPO

“The Washington Post” (WaPo) is the oldest paper still being published in the DC area, having been founded in 1877. Famously, “The Post” reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein led the media’s investigation into what we now called the Watergate scandal. “The Washington Post” was purchased in 2013 by Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon.com.

40 Some asylum seekers : EMIGRES

An émigré (fem. “émigrée”) is an emigrant. The term is French in origin, and particularly applies to someone who is a political refugee from his or her native land.

50 Krispy __ : KREME

The Krispy Kreme chain of doughnut stores was founded in 1937 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The company introduced the Whole Wheat Glazed doughnut in 2007, which is great news for folks looking to eat a healthy diet, I am sure …

51 Figure skater Sonja : HENIE

Sonja Henie was a World and Olympic Champion figure skater from Oslo, Norway who competed in the days when “amateur” sports stars were not paid. Henie made up for her lack of income from competing by developing a career in Hollywood. She was one of the highest-paid film stars at the height of her movie career.

56 Italy’s capital : ROME

According to tradition, Rome was founded by the twin brothers Romulus and Remus. The pair had a heated argument about who should be allowed to name the city and Romulus hit Remus with a shovel, killing him. And so, “Rome” was born, perhaps instead of “Reme”!