LA Times Crossword 18 Feb 25, Tuesday

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Constructed by: Kyle Dolan
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Sliding Door

Themed answers contain “DO” and “OR” hidden within, and they SLIDE together as we descend the grid:

• 58A Common minivan feature, or a “closing” feature of this puzzle?: SLIDING DOOR

• 16A Student with twice the usual level of concentration?: DOUBLE MAJOR
• 28A Bridal shower planner, typically: MAID OF HONOR
• 43A “We need medical help here!”: CALL A DOCTOR!
• 58A Common minivan feature, or a “closing” feature of this puzzle?: SLIDING DOOR

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

Bill’s time: 7m 17s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

13 Taj Mahal city: AGRA

Agra is a medieval city on the banks of the river Yamuna in India that was the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1556 to 1658. The city is home to three UNESCO World Heritage Sites:

• The Taj Mahal: the famous mausoleum built in memory of Mumtaz Mahal.
• Agra Fort: the site where the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond was seized.
• Fatehpur Sikri: a historic city that’s home to well-preserved Mughal architecture.

19 Metal marble: STEELIE

A playing marble made from agate is called just that, an agate. Steelies on the other hand, are made from solid steel.

28 Bridal shower planner, typically: MAID OF HONOR

The members of the bride’s party in a wedding are the bridesmaids. The principal bridesmaid is the maid of honor. The principal bridesmaid might be referred to as the matron of honor if she is married.

34 Tree used in traditional Native American medicine: ALDER

Several Native-American tribes used the alder tree for various medicinal purposes. The bark, in particular, was often employed in remedies. Preparations from alder bark were used to treat a range of ailments, from skin irritations and burns to coughs and fevers.

40 Parting word: ADIEU

“Adieu” is French for “goodbye, farewell”, from “à Dieu” meaning “to God” The plural of “adieu” is “adieux”.

52 Hot fudge dish: SUNDAE

There’s a lot of speculation about how the dessert called a sundae got its name, but there seems to be agreement that it is an alteration of the word “Sunday”.

62 Julia’s “Seinfeld” role: ELAINE

The character Elaine Benes, unlike the other lead characters (Jerry, Kramer and George), did not appear in the pilot episode of “Seinfeld”. NBC executives specified the addition of a female lead when they picked up the show citing that the situation was too “male-centric”.

Actress and comedian Julia Louis-Dreyfus is an alum of the sketch show “Saturday Night Live”, in which she appeared from 1982 to 1985. Her really big break came when she was chosen to play Elaine Benes on “Seinfeld”. More recently, Louis-Dreyfus can be seen playing Vice President Selina Meyer on the HBO comedy show “Veep”.

64 Comedy show with Michael Che and Colin Jost, for short: SNL

Michael Che is a standup comedian from New York City. Che had worked as a writer for “Saturday Night Live” (SNL), and then started to appear in front of SNL cameras in September 2014. He became co-anchor for the “Weekend Update” segment of the show, alongside Colin Jost. They make such a great team …

Comedian Colin Jost is perhaps best known as co-host of “Weekend Update” on “Saturday Night Live” (SNL), along with Michael Che (and how great are they together?). Offscreen, Jost shared a dorm with 2020 US presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, and ended up portraying him on “SNL”. While on the “SNL” cast, Jost met actress Scarlett Johansson on one of the occasions she hosted the show. They married in 2020.

Down

2 Award quartet first completed by Richard Rodgers: EGOT

The acronym “EGOT” stands for “Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony”, and is a reference to performers who have won all four awards. Also known as the “Showbiz Award Grand Slam”, there are relatively few individuals who have been so honored. The first five to do so were:

1. Richard Rodgers in 1962
2. Helen Hayes in 1977
3. Rita Moreno in 1977
4. John Gielgud in 1991
5. Audrey Hepburn in 1994 (posthumously)

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were extremely successful writers of Broadway musicals in the forties and fifties. Rodgers composed the music and Hammerstein wrote the lyrics for hit shows such as “Oklahoma!”, “Carousel”, “South Pacific”, “The King and I” and “The Sound of Music”.

4 Civil War sword: SABER

A saber (sometimes “sabre”) is a sword with a curved blade and a relatively large hand guard. It is thought that the term originated with the Hungarian verb “szabni” meaning “to cut”.

5 Black Lives Matter co-founder Ayo __: TOMETI

Opal Tometi is a Nigerian-born human rights activist who co-founded the Black Lives Matter movement in 2013, along with Alicia Garza and Patrisse Cullors. One of Tometi’s major contributions was setting up the social media aspects of the movement. Opal changed her given name to “Ayo”, a name with strong connections to her Nigerian ancestry.

6 Fed. health law: ACA

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

8 School founded by Henry VI: ETON

Eton College near Windsor in the south of England was founded way back in 1440 by King Henry VI. Originally known as “The King’s College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor”, the school was intended to provide free education to poor boys. Free education today at Eton? Not so much …

9 High-ranking angels: SERAPHS

A seraph is a celestial being found in Hebrew and Christian writings. The word “seraph” (plural “seraphim”) literally translates as “burning one”. Seraphs are the highest-ranking angels in the Christian tradition, and the fifth-ranking of ten in the Jewish tradition.

10 Catherine of : first wife of Henry VIII: ARAGON

Catherine of Aragon was the first wife of King Henry VIII. Catherine had been married to Henry’s older brother Prince Arthur, who was the heir apparent to the English throne at that time of their betrothal. Arthur died, five months after the marriage, leaving Henry as heir. Almost eight years later, Catherine married the newly crowned Henry, in 1509. Famously, Catherine bore no living sons with Henry, but they did have a daughter who was later to become Queen Mary I. By 1525, the lack of sons and an infatuation with Anne Boleyn led Henry to seek an annulment of the marriage with Catherine. Pope Clement VII’s refusal to declare the marriage invalid led to Henry splitting with Rome and establishing the Church of England.

12 Border collie, e.g.: HERDER

The collie isn’t actually a breed of dog, but rather the name given to a group of herding dogs that originated in Scotland and Northern England. An obvious (and wonderful) example would be the border collie. Many dogs classed as collies don’t have the word “collie” in the name of the breed, for example the old English sheepdog and the Shetland sheepdog.

14 German camera brand: LEICA

Leica is a German optics company that is famous for production of lenses and cameras. The 1913 Leica was the first practical camera that could use 35mm film, a size chosen because it was already the standard for film used in motion pictures.

17 Andes pack animal: LLAMA

The llama is a camelid mammal very much associated with the Andean cultures. Despite the association with South America, it is thought that the ancestors of the modern llama migrated south from the Great Plains of North America about 40 million years ago.

21 Underground recess: GROTTO

A grotto is a cave or cavern. “Grotto” is a word that we have imported from Italian, in which language it has the same meaning, or can describe a vault.

24 Auditioner’s aim: ROLE

A trial performance to appraise the merits of an entertainer is known as an audition. When a group of entertainers is involved, the informal term “cattle call” might be used instead of “audition”. The idea is that those auditioning are often corralled into a single, large room (like “cattle”) prior to performing.

27 “Cheap Thrills” singer: SIA

“Cheap Thrills” is a 2015 song that was the first number-one hit in the US for Australian singer/songwriter Sia.

29 Evergreen tree: FIR

Firs are evergreen coniferous trees, with several species being popular as Christmas trees. The most commonly used species during the holidays are the Nordmann fir, noble fir, Fraser fir and balsam fir. We also see a lot of Douglas fir trees at Christmas, but they’re not actually true firs.

31 Req. for domestic air travel starting in 2025: REAL ID

What we know today as “Real IDs” are the result of the Real ID Act of 2005. One of the most visible results of the law are state-issued drivers’ licenses that meet new minimum security standards set by the federal government.

38 Cool __ cucumber: AS A

Apparently, scientists have shown that the inside of a cucumber (“cuke” for short) growing in a field can be up to twenty degrees cooler than the surrounding air. That’s something that was believed by farmers as early as the 1730s, at which time the phrase “cool as a cucumber” was coined.

43 Cellist Pablo: CASALS

Pablo Casals was a wonderful cellist from Catalonia in Spain. He lived at the time of the Franco regime in Spain. As a supporter of the Spanish Republican Government, he placed himself in self-imposed exile in 1938, vowing not to return home until democracy had been restored. Casals never again set foot on Spanish soil, and died in Puerto Rico in 1973.

44 Keen insight: ACUMEN

“Acumen” is such a lovely word, I think, one meaning “keenness of judgment or insight”. “Acumen” is Latin for “point, sting”, the idea being that someone with acumen has mental sharpness.

47 QB-protecting gp.: O-LINE

Offensive line (O-line)

56 Stage accessory: PROP

We use the word “props” for objects that are used by actors on stage during a play. The term is a shortening of the older term “properties”, which was used with the same meaning up through the 19th century.

59 Billie Eilish’s “Therefore __”: I AM

“Therefore I Am” is a 2021 song co-written and recorded by Billie Eilish. The accompanying music video was shot on an iPhone in Glendale Galleria shopping mall in downtown Glendale, California. Eilish dances and wanders around the mall, which is completely empty as it was closed down due to the COVID pandemic.