LA Times Crossword 28 Apr 25, Monday

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Constructed by: Emet Ozar
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Early Bird

Themed answers each start with a (have an EARLY) BIRD:

• 63A Morning person, or a feature of the answer to each starred clue? : EARLY BIRD

• 17A *Defiantly petty retaliation : TIT FOR TAT (giving “TIT”)
• 21A *Purchase when planning a train tour : RAIL PASS (early “RAIL”)
• 26A *Figure used for counting : CARDINAL NUMBER (giving “CARDINAL”)
• 47A *Wrecking ball swingers on a construction site : CRANE OPERATORS (giving “CRANE”)
• 52A *Ride the waves using wind power : KITESURF (early “KITE”)

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

Bill’s time: 5m 07s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

17 *Defiantly petty retaliation : TIT FOR TAT

Chickadees are a group of birds in the tit family, with some species within the group called chickadees and some called tits. The name chickadee is imitative of the bird’s alarm call “chick-dee dee dee”.

19 Big name in blenders : OSTER

The Oster brand of small appliances was introduced in 1924 by John Oster. He started out by making manually-powered hair clippers designed for cutting women’s hair, and followed up with a motorized version in 1928. The clippers kept the company in business until 1946 when Oster diversified, buying a manufacturer of liquefying blenders in 1946. The blender was renamed to “Osterizer” and was a big hit. Oster was bought by Sunbeam, which has owned the brand since 1960.

21 *Purchase when planning a train tour : RAIL PASS (early “RAIL”)

Rails are birds of the family Rallidae (hence their name). Outside of America, the name “rail” tends to be reserved for long-billed species and the term “crake” is used for short-billed species.

23 Pros with strong opinions on style : EDS

Editor (ed.)

25 Company abbr. : INC

A company that has incorporated uses the abbreviation “Inc.” after its name. By incorporating, a company forms a corporation, which is a legal entity that has legal rights similar to those of an individual. For example, a corporation can sue another corporation or individual. However, a corporation does not have all the rights of citizens. A corporation does not have the Fifth Amendment right of protections against self-incrimination, for example. It is perhaps understandable that the concept of “corporations as persons” is a frequent subject for debate.

26 *Figure used for counting : CARDINAL NUMBER (early “CARDINAL”)

Cardinal numbers are the whole numbers starting with zero, i.e. 0, 1, 2, 3, etc.

Cardinals are a family of birds that inhabit the Americas. The northern cardinal is the species from which the family gets the cardinal name. It was named by early settlers from Europe for the red crest on the male, the color of which resembled the color of a Roman Catholic cardinal’s biretta (a square cap).

34 Writer/actress Fey : TINA

Comedian and actress Tina Fey was born Elizabeth Stamatina Fey in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. She is perhaps best known to television viewers as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live” (1997-2006), and as the creator and star of the sitcom “30 Rock” (2006-2013).

35 __ sum: bite-sized Chinese fare : DIM

Dim sum is a Chinese cuisine made up of small portions of various dishes. The tradition of serving dim sum is associated with the serving of tea, when small delicacies were offered to travelers and guests along with tea as a refreshment. The name “dim sum” translates as “touch the heart” implying that dim sum is not a main meal, just a snack “that touches the heart”.

39 Indent key : TAB

Like many features on our computer keyboards, the tab key is a hangover from the days of typewriters. When using a typewriter, making entries into a table was very tedious, involving lots of tapping on the spacebar and backspace key. So, a lever was added to typewriters that allowed the operator to “jump” across the page to positions that could be set by hand. Later this was simplified to a tab key which could be depressed, causing the carriage to jump to the next tab stop in much the same way that the modern tab key works on a computer.

41 Insincere compliments : SMARM

The word “smarm” describes insincere flattery. The term comes from a colloquial word “smalm” that was used in the mid-19th century to mean “smear the hair with some sort of styling product”.

42 Dorothy who was in many Hope/Crosby “Road” films : LAMOUR

Actress Dorothy Lamour is best known for co-starring in the “Road” series of films with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Lamour was born Mary Slaton in New Orleans, and was crowned Miss New Orleans in 1931. She moved to Hollywood in 1936, and starred in her first “Road to …” movie in 1940.

The trio of Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour made seven “Road” films in all:

1. Road to Singapore (1940)
2. Road to Zanzibar (1941)
3. Road to Morocco (1942)
4. Road to Utopia (1946)
5. Road to Rio (1947)
6. Road to Bali (1952)
7. The Road to Hong Kong (1962)

There was an eighth “Road” movie planned for 1977 titled “Road to the Fountain of Youth”, but Crosby died that year from a heart attack.

44 Heat in the microwave : ZAP

The microwave oven was invented in 1946 by Percy Spencer, an engineer at Raytheon. While he was standing beside an active radar unit, which used microwaves, he noticed that the candy bar in his pocket had melted. Spencer proceeded to expose various foods to microwaves in tests that would lead to the development of the first commercial microwave oven.

46 Personal blurbs : BIOS

The use of the word “blurb”, to describe a publicity notice on a book jacket, dates back to 1907 when it was used by American humorist Gelett Burgess. Burgess used a picture of a fictitious young woman named Miss Belinda Blurb on the dust jacket of a limited run of his 1906 book “Are You a Bromide?” That jacket proclaimed “YES, this is a ‘BLURB’!” The term persists to this day, without the young damsel.

47 *Wrecking ball swingers on a construction site : CRANE OPERATORS (early “CRANE”)

The magnificent birds known as cranes have long legs and long necks. The species called the Sarus Crane is the world’s tallest flying bird.

50 Reggae kin : SKA

Ska originated in Jamaica in the late fifties and was the precursor to reggae music. No one has a really definitive etymology of the term “ska”, but it is likely to be imitative of a sound.

51 Post-dubbing title : SIR

Kneel, and a monarch might “dub thee a knight” if you’re lucky. “Dub” is a specific term derived from Old English that was used to mean “make a knight”. As the knight was also given a knightly name at the same time, “dub” came to mean “give someone a name”.

52 *Ride the waves using wind power : KITESURF (early “KITE”)

Kiteboarding (also “kitesurfing”) is a sport in which the participant is pulled along by a larger power kit while riding on a board. Most kiteboarders move over water, but some ride across land, snow or sand.

Kites are birds of prey that feed mainly on carrion.

57 Evening party : SOIREE

“Soir” is the French word for “evening” and a soirée is an evening party. The French word “soirée” has an acute accent over the first “e”, but we tend to drop this when using the word in English.

65 Rodeo rope : LASSO

Our English word “lasso” comes from the Spanish “lazo”, and ultimately from the Latin “laqueum” meaning “noose, snare”.

66 Highest sudoku digit : NINE

Number puzzles similar to our modern-day Sudoku first appeared in French newspapers in the late 1800s. The format that we use today was created by Howard Garns, a 74-year-old freelance puzzle constructor from Connersville, Indiana and first published in 1979. The format was introduced in Japan in 1984 and given the title of “Sūji wa dokushin ni kagiru”, which translates to “the digits are limited to one occurrence”. The rather elaborate Japanese title was eventually shortened to Sudoku. No doubt many of you are fans of Sudoku puzzles. I know I am …

69 Cafeteria carrier : TRAY

“Cafeteria” is a Mexican-Spanish word meaning “coffee store” that we imported into American English around 1840. Somehow, that coffee store became a self-service dining establishment in the 1890s.

Down

2 __ Mints: Girl Scout Cookies choice : THIN

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.

3 Big name in applesauce : MOTT

Samuel R. Mott was a producer of apple cider and vinegar. In 1842 he founded his own company to market and sell his products. The Mott’s company owns brands such as Mr & Mrs T, Hawaiian Punch and ReaLime/ReaLemon.

11 “¿Cómo __ usted?” : ESTA

“¿Cómo está usted?” is a more formal way of asking “How are you?” in Spanish.

12 Many Thanksgiving desserts : PIES

Thanksgiving Day was observed on different dates in different states for many years, until Abraham Lincoln fixed the date for the whole country in 1863. Lincoln’s presidential proclamation set that date as the last Thursday in November. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday to the fourth Thursday in November, arguing that the earlier date would give the economy a much-needed boost.

13 Former geopolitical states: Abbr. : SSRS

Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR)

26 “Close, but no __!” : CIGAR

The expression “close but no cigar” is a reference meaning that one can come close in a competition, but may not win the prize, the cigar.

27 Jung’s inner self : ANIMA

The concepts of anima and animus are found in the Carl Jung school of analytical psychology. The idea is that within each male there resides a feminine inner personality called the anima, and within each female there is a male inner personality known as the animus.

30 Cha-cha kin : MAMBO

The form of music and dance known as “mambo” developed in Cuba. “Mambo” means “conversation with the gods” in Kikongo, a language spoken by slaves taken to Cuba from Central Africa.

The cha-cha-cha (often simplified to “cha-cha”) is a Latin dance with origins in Cuba, where it was introduced by composer Enrique Jorrin in 1953.

31 Selma of “Legally Blonde” : BLAIR

Actress Selma Blair gained prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s with performances in films like “Cruel Intentions”, “Legally Blonde”, and “Hellboy”. Beyond her acting career, Blair has been open about her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, and has become an advocate for disability awareness.

“LEGALLY blonde” is a 2001 comedy film starring Reese Witherspoon as a girlish sorority president who heads to Harvard to earn a law degree. “LEGALLY blonde” was successful enough to warrant two sequels as well as a spin-off musical that played most successfully in London’s West End (for 974 performances).

32 Capital of Italy? : EUROS

Euro coins are issued by all the participating European states. The reverse side is a common design used by all countries, whereas the obverse is a design specific to each nation. For example, the one euro coin issued by Malta features the Maltese Cross. That Maltese euro is legal tender right across the eurozone. The Irish euro features a harp.

33 Tachometer stats : RPMS

The tachometer takes its name from the Greek word “tachos” meaning “speed”. A tachometer in a car measures engine revolutions per minute (rpm).

34 Powdery mineral : TALC

Talc is a mineral, hydrated magnesium silicate. Talcum powder is composed of loose talc, although these days “baby powder” is mainly made from cornstarch.

43 Big name in media streaming : ROKU

Roku is a manufacturer of digital media players that allow access to audio and video programming over the Internet that is shown on television. The company was founded in Los Gatos, California in 2002 by Anthony Wood. Wood chose the name “Roku” as it is the Japanese word for “six”, and Roku is the sixth company that Wood founded.

45 Tie pattern : PAISLEY

The Paisley pattern features a twisted-teardrop motif that originated in Iran and India. However, the pattern is named for the Scottish town of Paisley, where a lot of textiles were produced that included the design.

49 City on the Hudson in upstate New York : TROY

Troy is a city in New York State situated on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Before its incorporation as Troy in 1789, the settlement was known as Ashley’s Ferry, a name that reflects its early role as a river crossing point. The city later became a significant manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution, particularly renowned for its iron and textile industries.

The Hudson River flows through eastern New York State from Henderson Lake in the Adirondacks to the Port of New York and New Jersey. The river is named for the English explorer Henry Hudson, who navigated the waterway in 1609.

52 Metric weight : KILO

Today, the gram is defined as one thousandth of a kilogram, with the kilogram being equal to the mass of a physical sample preserved by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (well, up until 2019, when it became more hi-tech than I can explain!). Prior to 1960, the gram was defined as the weight of a cubic centimeter of pure water (at the temperature of melting ice).

53 Apple desktop : IMAC

The iMac is a desktop computer platform that Apple introduced in 1998. One of the main features of the iMac is an “all-in-one” design, with the computer console and monitor integrated. The iMac also came in a range of colors that Apple marketed as “flavors”, such as strawberry, blueberry and lime.

60 Celtic language : ERSE

There are three Erse languages: Irish, Manx (spoken on the Isle of Man) and Scots Gaelic. In their own tongues, these would be “Gaeilge” (in Ireland), “Gaelg” (on the Isle of Man) and “Gaidhlig” (in Scotland).

The Celts are a very broad group of people across Europe who are linked by common languages. The original Celts were largely absorbed by other cultures, although a relatively modern revival of the “Celtic identity” is alive and well in Britain and Ireland. Such Celtic peoples today are mainly found in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany in France.

61 Utopia : EDEN

The word “Utopia” was coined by Sir Thomas More in his book “Utopia” published in 1516 to describe an idyllic fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. More’s use of the name Utopia comes from the Greek “ou” meaning “not” and “topos” meaning “place”. By calling his perfect island “Not Place”, More was apparently making the point that he didn’t think that the ideal could actually exist.

64 Genetic messenger : RNA

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA. An added complication is that small changes in the sequence of amino acids specified by DNA sometimes takes place in a process known as RNA editing. This RNA editing occurs after the nucleotide sequence has been transcribed from DNA, but before it is translated into protein.