LA Times Crossword 24 May 25, Saturday

Advertisement

Constructed by: Erik Agard
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: None

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

Bill’s time: 20m 10s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Point guard? : PEN CAP

The word “pen”, used for the writing implement, comes from the Latin “penna” meaning “feather”, as early pens were quills.

7 Rihanna song with the lyrics “That was quite a show / Very entertaining / But it’s over now” : TAKE A BOW

“Take a Bow” was one of three new songs included on the 2008 album “Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded”, the re-release of 2007 “Good Girl Gone Bad”. “Take a Bow” was subsequently released as a single, and became Rihanna’s third song to top the Billboard Hot 100.

15 Harlem theater : APOLLO

The Apollo Theater in the Harlem district of Manhattan, New York opened in 1914 as Hurtig and Seamon’s New Burlesque Theater. The original facility was a whites-only venue. When it was opened to African Americans in 1934, the name was changed to “The Apollo”.

The Manhattan district of Harlem is sometimes divided into Central Harlem, West Harlem and East Harlem. East Harlem is also known as “Spanish Harlem”.

20 Uber around the Eiffel Tower? : TRES

In French, one might be “très” (very) glad to finish the crossword.

“Uber” is the German word for “over”. We have absorbed “uber” into English to mean “very”.

22 Save, in a way : DVR

Digital video recorder (DVR)

23 China’s first imperial dynasty : QIN

The Qin dynasty was established in 221 BC after the state of Qin conquered six other states. The Qin was China’s first imperial dynasty, and lasted until 206 BC when the Han dynasty wielded power.

28 The Grand __ Opry : OLE

The Grand Ole Opry started out as a radio show in 1925 originally called the WSM “Barn Dance”. In 1927, the “Barn Dance” radio show was broadcast in a slot after an NBC production called “Musical Appreciation Hour”, a collection of classical works including Grand Opera. In a December show, the host of “Barn Dance” announced, “For the past hour, we have been listening to music taken largely from Grand Opera. From now on we will present the ‘Grand Ole Opry'”. That name was used for the radio show from then on.

37 Setting for Haiti : EASTERN TIME ZONE

The Republic of Haiti occupies the smaller, western portion of the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean. The rest of the island is taken up by the Dominican Republic. Haiti is one of only two nations in the Americas to have French as an official language, the other being Canada.

39 Brahma, for one : GOD

Brahma is the god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the great triad of Hindu gods, along with Vishnu (the preserver) and Shiva (the destroyer). Brahma is often depicted with four faces representing the four Vedas, the four sacred texts.

40 Gaming release of 1985 : NES

The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was sold in North America from 1985 to 1995. It was the biggest selling gaming console of the era. Nintendo replaced the NES with Wii, which is also the biggest-selling game console in the world.

44 “__ Explain Things to Me”: Rebecca Solnit essay collection : MEN

“Men Explain Things to Me” is a 2014 collection of seven essays by American writer Rebecca Solnit. The book’s title is taken from the first essay, a 2008 work that explores the silencing of women, and the concept that men always know better. This essay inspired the use of the term “mansplaining”.

45 Paul with an axe : LES

Les Paul was a guitarist, songwriter and inventor. When he was 33 years old, Paul was involved in a near-fatal car crash that left his right arm and elbow shattered. Surgeons offered him the choice of amputation or a rebuilding of the limb that would leave him unable to bend his elbow. He told them to set his arm at just under 90 degrees so that he could at least hold his guitar and perhaps play it.

In the world of music, “axe” is a slang term describing a musical instrument, especially a guitar or horn.

56 React slightly : BAT AN EYE

At least as far back as the 1800s, the term “batting” was used in falconry to describe the fluttering of a hawk’s wings while on a perch or a fist, as if the bird intended to fly away. The usage of “batting” extended to the fluttering of a human’s eyelids, giving us the expressions “batting an eye” and “batting an eyelid”.

57 Tutor’s charge : MENTEE

A mentor is a trusted teacher or counselor, and the person receiving the advice is the mentee. The term “mentor” comes from Homer’s “Odyssey” in which there is a character named Mentor. He is a friend of Odysseus, although he is a relatively ineffective old man. The goddess Athena takes on Mentor’s appearance in order to guide Odysseus’s young son Telemachus through difficult times.

Down

1 Word for “stick” found in a Bay Area city name : PALO

The city of Palo Alto, California takes its name from a specific redwood tree called El Palo Alto (Spanish for “the tall stick”) that is located within the bounds of the city. The tree is 110 feet tall and over a thousand years old.

2 “Shogun,” for one : EPIC DRAMA

“Shogun” is a novel by James Clavell, and the third in his famous “Asian Saga” suite of six titles. The six books are:

• “King Rat”
• “Tai-Pan”
• “Shōgun”
• “Noble House”
• “Whirlwind”
• “Gai-Jin”

5 “Reacher” star Ritchson : ALAN

Alan Ritchson is an actor and singer with a notably imposing physique. Before his acting career took off, he was a contestant on the third season of “American Idol” in 2004. Ritchson’s first paid acting role was Aquaman in “Smallville”. More recently, he has garnered a lot of attention playing the lead in the series “Reacher”.

6 Iberian country, on Olympic scoreboards : POR

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) uses its own set of three-letter abbreviations for country names, e.g. POR (Portugal).

The Iberian Peninsula in Europe is largely made up of Spain and Portugal. However, also included is the Principality of Andorra in the Pyrénées, a small part of the south of France, and the British Territory of Gibraltar. Iberia takes its name from the Ebro, the longest river in Spain, which the Romans named the “Iber”.

Portugal is the most westerly country in Europe, and is located in the west of the Iberian Peninsula alongside Spain. The name “Portugal” comes from the Latin “Portus Cale”, the name used by ancient Romans for Porto, now the country’s second largest city. Portugal was a far-reaching power in the 15th and 16th centuries, at the center of the world’s first truly global empire. A legacy of the Portuguese Empire is that today there are more than 240 million Portuguese speakers across the world.

7 Rose barb : THORN

Believe it or not, roses don’t have any thorns as such. Thorns are derived from shoots, spines are derived from leaves, and prickles are derived from the epidermis. The rose’s defensive barbs are in fact prickles.

8 Dialectical source of “no cap” and “down bad,” for short : AAVE

African American Vernacular English (AAVE)

9 “Long Division” novelist who wrote “Heavy: An American Memoir” : KIESE LAYMON

Kiese Laymon is a writer, professor, and social commentator known for his explorations of race, family, and the American South. He has penned two acclaimed memoirs: “Heavy: An American Memoir” and “How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America”, as well as the 2013 novel “Long Division”.

11 Angle type : ACUTE

In geometry, there are several classes of angles:

• Acute (< 90 degrees) 
• Right (= 90 degrees) 
• Obtuse (> 90 degrees and < 180 degrees) 
• Straight (180 degrees) 
• Reflex (> 180 degrees)

23 Pacific counterpart : QUARRELSOME

Someone described as pacific is conciliatory, seeks to lessen conflict.

26 Ballet bend : PLIE

The French word for “bent” is “plié”. In the ballet move known as a plié, the knees are bent. A “demi-plié” is a similar move, but with less bending of the knees. A fondu is similar to a plié, except that only one leg remains on the ground.

27 Hand sanitizer brand : PURELL

Purell is a hand sanitizer that uses ethanol as the active ingredient. In fact, Purell contains over 60% ethanol, and there have been stories about the sanitizer being ingested to get at the alcohol, even though the manufacturer deliberately adds a bitter-tasting ingredient to scare off potential drinkers.

31 Grocery payment meth. : EBT

Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) is a system that allows government benefit recipients to access their funds through a debit-like card. It is primarily used for programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

32 Marsha Warfield’s “Night Court” role : ROZ

Marsha Warfield is an actress and comedian from Chicago who is best known for her role as the non-nonsense bailiff Roz Russell on the sitcom “Night Court”.

“Night Court” is an entertaining sitcom that first ran from 1984 until 1992. It is set in a Manhattan municipal court during the night shift, with comedian/magician Harry Anderson playing presiding judge Harry Stone.

34 Human rights activist Eckstein who is profiled in Season 4 of the “Making Gay History” podcast : ERNESTINE

Ernestine Eckstein was a pioneering figure in the lesbian rights movement, particularly in the 1960s. She was a prominent member of the New York chapter of Daughters of Bilitis, the nation’s first lesbian civil and political rights organization.

41 Supreme Court name : SONIA

“My Beloved World” is a 2013 memoir by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. It covers her life from childhood through to 1992, and so does not deal with her time on the Supreme Court bench. Here is some advice that Sotomayor offers in the book:

…you cannot value dreams according to the odds of their coming true. The real value is in stirring within us the will to aspire.

43 Supreme Court name : ELENA

Elena Kagan was the Solicitor General of the United States who replaced Justice John Paul Stevens on the US Supreme Court. That made Justice Kagan the first female US Solicitor General and the fourth female US Supreme Court justice. I hear she is a fan of Jane Austen, and used to reread “Pride and Prejudice” once a year. Not a bad thing to do, I’d say …

44 Sierra __ : MADRE

“Sierra Madre” is Spanish for “Mother Mountain Range”, and is a name given to several mountain ranges around the world.

48 2022 “Predator” prequel : PREY

“Prey” is a 2022 sci-fi horror film written as a prequel to the 1987 movie “Predator”. I don’t do horror films and so can’t personally comment on the film, but critics seem to rate this as one of the best in the “Predator” franchise …

50 Ye __ Shoppe : OLDE

The word “olde” wasn’t actually used much earlier than the 1920s. “Olde” was introduced to give a quaint antique feel to brand names, shop names etc. as in “Ye Olde Shoppe”.

53 Cubano ingredient : HAM

A Cuban sandwich (Spanish: Sándwich cubano) almost always includes Cuban bread filled with roast pork, glazed ham, Swiss cheese and sliced dill pickles. The Cuban was designated the city of Tampa’s signature sandwich in 2012.