LA Times Crossword 15 Apr 25, Tuesday

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Constructed by: Victor Schmitt
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Repeat Business

Themed answers each include a REPEATED abbreviation used by a BUSINESS used within:

55A Goal of store loyalty programs, and what can be found in 15-, 27-, and 41-Across : REPEAT BUSINESS

15A With some exceptions : IN CERTAIN CASES (hiding “Inc.” and “Inc.”)
27A Place to pick up tickets at a theater, perhaps : WILL CALL COUNTER (hiding “LLC” and “LLC”)
41A Thin Mint or Trefoil : GIRL SCOUT COOKIE (hiding “Co.” and “Co.”)

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

Bill’s time: 5m 18s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

4 Table salt, to a chemist : NACL

Sodium chloride (NaCl, common salt) is an ionic compound. It comprises a crystal lattice made up of large chloride (Cl^–) ions in a cubic structure, with smaller sodium (Na⁺) ions in between the chlorides.

8 NBA great O’Neal, to fans : SHAQ

Retired basketball player Shaquille O’Neal now appears regularly as an analyst on the NBA TV show “Inside the NBA”. Shaq has quite a career in the entertainment world. His first rap album, called “Shaq Diesel”, went platinum. He also starred in two of his own reality shows: “Shaq’s Big Challenge” and “Shaq Vs.”

13 French fashion monthly : ELLE

“Elle” magazine was founded in 1945 in France and today has the highest circulation of any fashion magazine in the world. “Elle” is the French word for “she”. “Elle” is published monthly worldwide, although you can pick up a weekly edition if you live in France.

14 __ Xtra: Dr Pepper rival : PIBB

The soft drink on the market today called Pibb Xtra used to be known as Mr Pibb, and before that was called Peppo. Peppo was introduced in 1972 as a direct competitor to Dr Pepper.

18 Queasiness : NAUSEA

Nausea is a sick feeling in the stomach. The term “nausea” derives from the Greek “naus” meaning “ship”. Originally, nausea was associated only with seasickness.

20 GP’s gp. : AMA

The American Medical Association (AMA) is the largest professional organization of physicians in the United States.The AMA has been involved in several landmark legal cases that have had a significant impact on American healthcare. For example, in the 1950s, the AMA was involved in a lawsuit against the U.S. government over the implementation of Medicare, arguing that it would lead to socialized medicine and harm the quality of medical care. The lawsuit was ultimately unsuccessful, and Medicare has since become a cornerstone of American healthcare.

21 Mint-garnished rum cocktail : MOJITO

A mojito is a Cuban cocktail, although the exact origins appear to be unclear, as does the derivation of the name. Want one? Put 4 mint leaves in a glass, and add the juice of half a lime and a teaspoon of powdered sugar. Muddle the ingredients, smashing them together with a muddler or a spoon. Add some crushed ice, two ounces of white rum and stir. Top with a couple of ounces of club soda, and garnish with a sprig of mint and/or a slice of lime. Cheers!

24 Will Ferrell holiday film : ELF

“Elf” is a comedy movie that was released for the 2003 Christmas season. It was directed by Jon Favreau and stars Will Ferrell in the title role, with James Caan supporting and Ed Asner playing Santa Claus. It’s all about one of Santa’s elves who finds out he is human and goes to meet his father in New York City. The film was adapted into a stage musical that premiered on Broadway during the Christmas season of 2010.

Will Ferrell is a comedian and comic actor from Irvine, California who got his big break as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) in the mid-nineties. While appearing on SNL, Ferrell was noted for several impersonations, including President George W. Bush, Neil Diamond, James Lipton, Ted Kennedy and Janet Reno.

33 Tofu base : SOYBEAN

What are known as soybeans here in the US are called “soya beans” in most other English-speaking countries. So, I sometimes drink soy milk here in America, but when I am over in Ireland I drink “soya milk”.

41 Thin Mint or Trefoil : GIRL SCOUT COOKIE

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.

49 Gretel’s brother : HANSEL

“Hansel and Gretel” is a Germanic fairy tale found in the collection of the Brothers Grimm. It tells of two siblings, Hansel and Gretel, the children of a woodcutter. The youngsters are abandoned in a forest at the behest of an evil stepmother. Clever Hansel hears of the plan and leaves a trail of pebbles so that he and his sister can find their way home, which they do. But the children are abandoned again and this time leave a trail of breadcrumbs. Unfortunately, the crumbs are eaten by birds and so the children do indeed become lost. But eventually they do all live happily ever after …

50 Online addresses: Abbr. : IPS

An Internet Protocol (IP) address is a numerical label assigned to every device on a computer network. The device that you’re using to read this blog post on has been assigned a unique IP address, as has the computer that I’m using to make this post …

52 Pouch spun by a spider : EGG SAC

An egg sac is a case made of silk that contains the eggs of a female spider.

62 Son of Hera and Zeus : ARES

The Greek god Ares is often referred to as the Olympian god of warfare, but originally he was regarded as the god of bloodlust and slaughter. He united with Aphrodite to create several gods, including Phobos (Fear), Deimos (Terror) and Eros (Desire). Ares was the son of Zeus and Hera, and the Roman equivalent to Ares was Mars.

63 TV warrior princess played by Lucy Lawless : XENA

The Xena character, played by New Zealander Lucy Lawless, was introduced in a made-for-TV movie called “Hercules and the Amazon Women”. Lawless reprised the role in a series called “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys”. Xena became so popular that a series was built around her character, with Lawless retained for the title role. The fictional Xena supposedly came from the “non-fictional” Greek city of Amphipolis.

Down

1 Car with a clutch : MANUAL

In a car, the clutch is the link between the engine and the transmission. In a vehicle with a manual transmission, the clutch is operated by moving the left-most of three foot pedals.

3 __-Ball: arcade game : SKEE

Skee-Ball is the arcade game in which you roll balls up a ramp trying to “bounce” it into rings for varying numbers of points. The game was first introduced in Philadelphia, in 1909.

4 Pickleball barrier : NET

Pickleball is a sport invented in the 1960s that combines elements of tennis, table tennis and badminton. Originally marketed as a game for children to play in backyards, pickleball is now played on purpose-built courts by many, many adults, but mainly in North and South America.

5 Pie __ mode : A LA

In French, “à la mode” simply means “fashionable”. In America, the term has also come to describe a way of serving pie. Pie served à la mode includes a dollop of cream or ice cream, or as I recall from my time living in Upstate New York, with a wedge of cheddar cheese.

10 Fiver : ABE

The US five-dollar bill is often called an “Abe”, as President Abraham Lincoln’s portrait is on the front. An Abe is also referred to as a “fin”, a term that has been used for a five-pound note in Britain since 1868.

12 Florida city with an Art Deco District : MIAMI

The city of Miami in Florida takes its name from the nearby Miami River, which is itself named for the Mayaimi Native American people who lived around nearby Lake Okeechobee.

16 Holiday Inn competitor : RAMADA

The Ramada Inn hotel chain takes its name from the Spanish word for a shady resting place. A ramada is a shelter with a roof and no walls, mainly found in the American southwest. Nowadays a ramada can be temporary or permanent, but originally ramadas were makeshift shelters constructed by aboriginal Indians from branches or bushes.

17 French pet name that also means “cabbage” : CHOU

“Mon petit chou” is a term of endearment in French meaning “sweetheart, darling”, but translating literally as “my little cabbage”.

22 Lena of “Chocolat” : OLIN

Lena Olin is a Swedish actress, and someone who has acting in her blood. Her mother was the actress Britta Holmberg and her father the actor and director Stig Olin. Olin had a very successful career in Sweden, often working with the great Ingmar Bergman. Olin’s breakthrough international and English-speaking role was playing opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” released in 1988. Way back in 1974, Miss Olin was crowned Miss Scandinavia in a beauty pageant for Nordic women held in Helsinki, Finland. Olin’s most famous performance was in “Chocolat” released in 2000, and then she won an Emmy in 2003 for Best Supporting Actress in the TV show “Alias”.

The movie “Chocolat”, released in 2000, is a big-screen adaption of the novel of the same name by Joanne Harris. “Chocolat” tells the story of a young mother with a six-year-old daughter who opens up a chocolate shop in a French village. The mother is played by the talented Juliette Binoche.

23 Former “Idol” judge, to fans : J.LO

Singer and actress Jennifer Lopez (aka “J. Lo”) has two children with her third husband, singer Marc Anthony. The twins Maximilian and Emme were born in 2008. Reportedly, “People” magazine paid Lopez and Anthony $6 million to introduce the children to the public, making the images taken by the magazine the most expensive celebrity photographs of all time.

24 Raison d’__ : ETRE

“Raison d’être” is a French phrase meaning “reason for existence”.

26 Guitar ridge : FRET

A fret is a metal strip embedded in the neck of a stringed instrument, a guitar perhaps. The fingers press on the frets, shortening a string and hence changing the note played. The note increases by one semitone as a finger shortens a string by one fret.

29 Billiards stick : CUE

The name of the game billiards comes from the French word “billiard” that originally described the wooden cue stick. The Old French “bille” translates as “stick of wood”.

30 Bananas : NUTSO

The expression “to go bananas”, meaning “to become excited or angry”, is one that I would have imagined had a clear etymology but that doesn’t seem to be the case. A further surprise is that we’ve only been “going bananas” since the sixties, the days of flower power. One apt theory about the hippy roots of the phrase is that there was an unfounded belief that ingesting roasted banana peels had a similar hallucinogenic effect as magic mushrooms.

35 Big name in peppermint patties : YORK

A York Peppermint Pattie is a very rich candy produced by Hershey under license from Cadbury’s in the UK. The confection shouldn’t be confused with Peppermint Patty (a different spelling), the character in the comic strip “Peanuts”.

37 Cell centers : NUCLEI

Our word “nucleus” is a Latin term meaning “kernel of a nut”. “Nucleus” is the diminutive form of “nux” meaning “nut”.

40 Help wait tables : BUS

A busboy is a person who assists a waiter, mainly by clearing tables. The verb “to bus” arose in the early 1900s and is probably a reference to the wheeled cart that was used to carry dishes.

42 Branch of Islam : SHIA

The Islamic sects of Sunni and Shia Muslims differ in the belief of who should have taken over leadership of the Muslim faithful after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. Followers of the Sunni tradition agree with the decision that the Prophet Muhammad’s confidante Abu Bakr was the right choice to become the first Caliph of the Islamic nation. Followers of the Shia tradition believe that leadership should have stayed within the Prophet Muhammad’s own family, and favored the Prophet’s son-in-law Ali.

43 Stronghold with a keep : CASTLE

In a medieval castle, a fortified tower at the center of a castle complex is known as a keep. It served as a final refuge in the event of an attack by an adversary.

54 “Sommersby” actor Richard : GERE

Richard Gere has played such great roles on the screen, and I find him to be a very interesting character off the screen. Gere has been studying Buddhism since 1978 and is a very visible supporter of the Dalai Lama and the people of Tibet. Gere has been married twice; to supermodel Cindy Crawford from 1991 to 1995, and to model/actress Carey Lowell from 2002 until 2016. Gere’s breakthrough role was as the male lead in the 1980 film “American Gigolo”.

The 1993 romantic drama “Sommersby” stars Richard Gere and Jodie Foster. The film is about an imposter who returns after the Civil War and moves in with a woman while claiming to be her husband. The real husband returns, and things get very rancorous. I know it sounds implausible, but the storyline is based on true events that took place in France in the 1500s.

55 Harrison of “My Fair Lady” : REX

Rex Harrison was an English actor who played many memorable roles on stage and screen. On stage, Harrison famously played Henry VIII in “Anne of the Thousand Days” and Professor Higgins in “My Fair Lady”. His best known film appearances were in “Anna and the King of Siam”, “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir”, “My Fair Lady”, “Cleopatra” and “Doctor Dolittle”. Harrison was married six times. He had an affair with actress Carole Landis during his second marriage, and Harrison’s refusal to get a divorce led to Landis’s suicide. His fifth wife was actress Rachel Roberts. Years after the couple divorced, Roberts also committed suicide after repeated attempts to win back Harrison’s affection.

George Bernard Shaw’s play “Pygmalion” was adapted by Lerner and Loewe to become the Broadway musical “My Fair Lady”. The musical spun off the wonderful 1964 film of the same name starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. To cockney Eliza Doolittle, Professor Henry Higgins was “‘Enry ‘Iggins”.

57 Calligrapher’s tool : PEN

Calligraphy is the art of fine handwriting. The term “calligraphy” comes from the Greek “kallos” meaning “beauty” and “graphein” meaning “to write”.

59 “Catch my drift?” : SEE?

I sure do …