LA Times Crossword 28 Feb 25, Friday

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Constructed by: Wendy L. Brandes
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Magazine Picks

Themed answers are movie titles that relate back to the magazine cited in the corresponding clues, in a “punny” way:

• 18A Mad’s pick for the best movie of all time?: RAGING BULL
• 24A The Atlantic’s pick for the best movie of all time?: OCEAN’S ELEVEN
• 39A Shape’s pick for the best movie of all time?: CIRCLE OF FRIENDS
• 53A Rolling Stone’s pick for the best movie of all time?: SCHOOL OF ROCK
• 63A The New Yorker’s pick for the best movie of all time?: A BRONX TALE

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

Bill’s time: 8m 32s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

14 Ace in the __: HOLE

“Stud poker” is the name given to many variants of poker, all of which are characterized by the dealer giving each player a mix of cards face-down and face-up. The cards facing upwards are called “upcards”. The cards facing downwards are called “hole cards”, cards only visible to the individual who holds that particular hand. This gives rise to the phrase “ace in the hole”, a valuable holding that only the player with the ace is aware of.

15 “Rolling in the Deep” singer: ADELE

“Rolling in the Deep” is a 2010 song by Adele that she released on her incredibly successful album “21”. The single was Adele’s first #1 in the US.

16 Eurasian river: URAL

The Ural River rises in the Ural Mountains in Russia and flows for half its length through Russian territory until it crosses the border into Kazakhstan, finally emptying into the Caspian Sea. It is the third-longest river in Europe, after the Volga and Danube. The Ural is often cited as defining a long stretch of the border between Europe and Asia, although the exact position of that border is open to debate.

18 Mad’s pick for the best movie of all time?: RAGING BULL

I just do not like boxing, nor movies about boxing, but I certainly accept that “Raging Bull” is a true cinema classic. It is a biopic released in 1980, with Robert De Niro starring as Jake LaMotta, and Martin Scorsese directing. Famously, De Niro gained about 70 pounds in weight to lay LaMotta in his early years, showing true dedication to his craft.

“Mad” is noted for having a long-standing list of creative personnel who contribute to the magazine’s content. If you read the magazine, you’ll see the list of contributors under the tongue-in-cheek heading “The Usual Gang of Idiots”.

20 Lab’s dish?: PETRI

Julius Richard Petri was a German bacteriologist and was the man after whom the Petri dish is named. The petri dish can have an agar gel on the bottom which acts as a nutrient source for the specimen being grown and studied, in which case the dish plus agar is referred to as an “agar plate”.

22 Meat-grading org.: USDA

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) classifies meat into eight different grades:

• Prime
• Choice
• Select
• Standard
• Commercial
• Utility
• Cutter
• Canner

24 The Atlantic’s pick for the best movie of all time?: OCEAN’S ELEVEN

“Ocean’s 11” is a great film from 1960, starring Frank Sinatra as Danny Ocean. The original storyline is updated for the excellent 2001 remake, with George Clooney playing the lead. In the 1960 movie, the love interest is a character called Beatrice Ocean, played by Angie Dickinson. In the 2001 version, the love interest gets a new name, Tess Ocean, and is played by Julia Roberts. The 2001 remake (titled “Ocean’s Eleven”, note the spelling) spawned two sequels: “Ocean’s Twelve” in 2004 and “Ocean’s Thirteen” in 2007.

“The Atlantic” magazine was founded in 1857 in Boston as “The Atlantic Monthly”. The impressive list of founding sponsors includes Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Harriet Beecher Stowe. I guess double-barreled names were all the rage back then …

31 Vicinity: AREA

A vicinity is an area surrounding a place. The term “vicinity” ultimately comes from the Latin “vicus” meaning “group of houses, village”.

35 Big name in sporting goods: VOIT

Voit is a sporting goods company that was founded by William J. Voit in 1922. Voit invented the first all-rubber inflatable ball, in the late twenties.

39 Shape’s pick for the best movie of all time?: CIRCLE OF FRIENDS

“Circle of Friends” is a 1990 Maeve Binchy novel that was adapted into a very successful 1995 feature film. The story revolves around two childhood friends and the life they lead while attending in their teens University College Dublin (my own alma mater). The film verison stars (American) actor Chris O’Donnell and (English) actress Minnie Driver.

“Shape” is a women’s fitness magazine that has been published since 1981.

46 Animal featured on the Olympic National Park quarter: ELK

Olympic National Park in Washington State was designated a national monument by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1909. It was later expanded to a national park in 1938. It is the largest wilderness area in the whole state.

53 Rolling Stone’s pick for the best movie of all time?: SCHOOL OF ROCK

“School of Rock” is a 2003 comedy film starring Jack Black as Dewey Finn, a struggling rock musician who poses as a substitute teacher at a prestigious prep school. Instead of following the traditional curriculum, Dewey introduces his class to the world of rock and roll, forming a band with his students and entering them into a local Battle of the Bands competition. In addition to the 2003 film, there’s also a stage musical adaptation featuring a score by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and a book by Julian Fellowes.

The iconic magazine “Rolling Stone” was founded in San Francisco in 1967. Jann Wenner was a co-founder, and is still the magazine’s chief editor. The name for the publication is taken from the 1950 song “Rollin’ Stone” recorded by Muddy Waters.

58 Surrealist Magritte: RENE

Belgian artist René Magritte was a surrealist. His most recognized work may be “The Son of Man”, a painting he created as a self-portrait. It is the work that shows a man in a bowler hat with his face covered by an apple. The image features prominently in a great movie, the 1999 remake of “The Thomas Crown Affair”.

59 Scott of NPR: SIMON

Scott Simon is a broadcast journalist who started hosting NPR’s “Weekend Edition Saturday” way back in 1985. He joined NPR as Chicago bureau chief in 1977.

63 The New Yorker’s pick for the best movie of all time?: A BRONX TALE

“A Bronx Tale” is a crime film set in the sixties that was released in 1993. The movie stars Robert De Niro, who also directed. “A Bronx Tale” was De Niro’s directorial debut.

“The New Yorker” magazine has been a prominent voice in journalism, commentary, fiction and cartoons since its inception in 1925.

69 Unsuccessful Ford: EDSEL

The Edsel brand of automobile was named for Edsel, son of Henry Ford. Sadly, the name “Edsel” has become synonymous with “failure”, which was no fault of Edsel himself who had died several years before the Edsel line was introduced. When the Ford Motor Company introduced the Edsel on 4 September 1957, Ford proclaimed the day to be “E Day”.

72 Minuscule amounts: IOTAS

“Minuscule” is one of those words that’s often misspelled, usually as “miniscule”.

Down

4 Gas, to an Aussie: PETROL

Petrol is the same thing as gasoline. “Petrol” comes into English via French from the Latin “petroleum”, itself derived from “petra” meaning “rock” and “oleum” meaning “oil”.

6 Mont. neighbor: IDA

Idaho borders six states, and one Canadian province:

• Montana
• Wyoming
• Nevada
• Utah
• Washington
• Oregon
• British Columbia

8 Senator Slotkin of Michigan: ELISSA

Elissa Slotkin, A Democrat, was elected as the junior US senator for Michigan in 2024. She had previously worked as a CIA analyst, and then worked in the State Department and the Department of Defense.

11 Cable channel with reruns of sitcoms and reality shows: TRUTV

truTV is a Turner Broadcasting cable network that launched in 1991 as Court TV. The name, and programming, was changed to truTV in 2008.

13 Sigourney’s “Alien” role: ELLEN

Ellen Ripley is the protagonist in the “Alien” movie franchise, and is played by actress Sigourney Weaver. Weaver’s casting as Ripley for 1979’s “Alien” marked her first lead role in a film, and indeed her career breakthrough. English actress Veronica Cartwright was initially cast as Ripley, but she was recast as navigator Joan Lambert when Weaver was brought on board.

Actress Sigourney Weaver was born Susan Weaver in New York City. She chose the stage name “Sigourney” from Mrs. Sigourney Howard, a minor character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby”. After playing a few minor roles in major films, Weaver’s big break came with the lead in the 1979 blockbuster “Alien”.

19 Beaufort scale rating: GALE

A gale is a very strong wind, one defined by the Beaufort scale as having wind speeds from 50 to just over 100 kilometers per hour.

25 Lake that surrounds Kelleys Island: ERIE

Kelleys Island is the largest American island in Lake Erie, and is located just a few miles north of the Ohio mainland of Ohio. Both the island itself and its main village share the name, which originates from the early landowners, brothers Datus and Irad Kelley, who began purchasing parcels of land on the island in 1833. The island is accessible by ferry and is a popular vacation destination.

28 Ob-gyns, e.g.: DOCS

In Latin, the word for midwife is “obstetrix”. “Obstetrix” translates more literally as “one who stands opposite” i.e. the one opposite the woman giving birth. The Latin term gives rise to our modern word “obstetrics” used for the branch of medical science concerned with childbirth.

“Gyneco-” is a prefix meaning female, as in “gynecology”. “Andro-” is a prefix meaning male, as in “androgen”, a steroid hormone that controls the development of masculine characteristics.

29 Home of Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks: OHIO

The Hopewell ceremonial earthworks were built by Native Americans between 1,600 and 2,000 years ago. They are a series of eight monumental earthen enclosures built along the central tributaries of the Ohio River in east-central North America. These earthworks were built by the Hopewell culture, a prehistoric Native American civilization that thrived in the Ohio Valley and surrounding regions from around 200 BCE to 500 CE.

30 “Bridgerton” title: LORD

“Bridgerton” is a fascinating period drama TV series based on a series of historical romance novels by Julia Quinn. Most of the action takes place in London’s high society during the Regency Era. An intriguing element is the show’s approach to race. There is a common, albeit unfounded, assertion that King George III’s wife Queen Charlotte was of African descent. “Bridgerton” runs with this assertion, portraying the era’s society as quite diverse.

34 Baby newt: EFT

Newts wouldn’t be my favorite animals. They are found all over the world living on land or in water depending on the species, but always associated with water even if it is only for breeding. Newts metamorphose through three distinct developmental stages during their lives. They start off as larvae in water, fertilized eggs that often cling to aquatic plants. The eggs hatch into tadpoles, the first developmental form of the newt. After living some months as tadpoles swimming around in the water, they undergo another metamorphosis, sprouting legs and replacing their external gills with lungs. At this juvenile stage they are known as efts, and leave the water to live on land. A more gradual transition takes place then, as the eft takes on the lizard-like appearance of the adult newt.

40 “The Censor” of ancient Rome: CATO

Cato the Elder was a Roman statesman, known historically as “the elder” in order to distinguish him from his great-grandson, Cato the Younger. Cato the Elder’s ultimate position within Roman society was that of Censor, making him responsible for maintaining the census, and for supervising public morality.

42 San __, Italy: REMO

The Italian city of San Remo sits on the Mediterranean, right on the border with France. In Italian, the city is named “Sanremo”, just one word. That said, the spelling “San Remo” dates back to ancient times.

43 Safari runners: IMACS

Safari is Apple’s flagship Internet browser, one that is used on its Mac line of computers. A mobile version of Safari is included with all iPhones.

48 ESPN’s “Around the __”: HORN

“Around the Horn” is a 30-minute sports roundup aired every day on ESPN. I’m told that the show takes the format of a debating panel game.

49 Russian political dissident Navalny: ALEXEI

Alexei Navalny was a prominent Russian opposition leader, anti-corruption activist, and politician. He was a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and organized numerous protests against government corruption and authoritarianism. Navalny was arrested and imprisoned multiple times for his activism, and he survived a poisoning attempt in 2020 that he attributed to the Russian government. He died in an Arctic Circle corrective colony in 2024.

53 Ride out of town, in a Western: STAGE

Although the stagecoach is very much associated with the Wild West, the vehicle originated in England in the 16th century. Stagecoaches provided transportation for travelers and goods over long distances. The rest points for the travelers were known as “stages”, and later “stations”, hence the name “stagecoach”.

54 Hooded snake: COBRA

“Cobra” is the name given to a group of snakes, some of which are in different families. The term is reserved for those snakes that can expand their neck ribs to create a hood. The name “cobra” is an abbreviated form of “cobra de capello” which translates from Portuguese as “snake with hood”.

56 Repast: FEAST

Our word “repast”, meaning “meal”, came to us via French (in which language “repas” is “meal”). Ultimately the term comes from the Latin “repascere” meaning “to repeatedly graze”.

62 Sine qua non: NEED

“Sine qua non” is a Latin phrase that we use to mean “the essential element or condition”. The literal translation is “without which not”. One might say, for example, “a challenging crossword is the sine qua non of a good newspaper”. Well, crossword fans might say that …

65 Perrins’s partner in steak sauce: LEA

Sauce producer Lea & Perrins was founded way back in 1837, in the city of Worcester, England. The company’s most famous product is Worcestershire sauce, which was named for the county in which the condiment was first produced.

66 Couple of locals?: ELS

There are a couple of letters L (els) in the word “locals”.