LA Times Crossword 21 Jul 25, Monday

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Constructed by: Zachary David Levy

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: First Family

The FIRST word in each themed answer is a kind of FAMILY:

• 62A Sister Sledge classic whose second line is “I got all my sisters with me,” and a hint to the starts of 17-, 24-, 39-, and 49-Across : WE ARE FAMILY

• 17A Film edition typically longer than its theatrical release : EXTENDED CUT (extended family)
• 24A Big name in nonprescription reading glasses : FOSTER GRANT (foster family)
• 39A Opinion formed when shaking hands, perhaps : FIRST IMPRESSION (first family)
• 49A Wrestling event with a series of combatants : ROYAL RUMBLE (royal family)

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

Bill’s time: 6m 19s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

21A Mardi Gras city nickname : NOLA

The city of New Orleans, Louisiana has the nickname “The Big Easy”. This name might come from the early 1900s when musicians found it relatively “easy” to find work there. The city is also known by the acronym NOLA, standing for New Orleans (NO), Louisiana (LA).

“Mardi Gras” translates from French as “Fat Tuesday”, and the holiday gets its name from the practice of eating rich foods on the eve of the fasting season known as Lent. Lent starts on the next day, called Ash Wednesday.

24A Big name in nonprescription reading glasses : FOSTER GRANT (foster family)

The Foster Grant brand of eyewear is most famous as a line of sunglasses. Founded in 1929 by Sam Foster, the company’s heyday was in the sixties and seventies. Through that period, the brand was popularized by an ad campaign using the line “Who’s that behind those Foster Grants?”. The question was answered in TV spots featuring celebrities like Peter Sellers, Anthony Quinn, Mia Farrow, Woody Allen, Raquel Welch and OJ Simpson.

29A Broadway “Auntie” : MAME

The musical “Mame” opened on Broadway in 1966, with Angela Lansbury in the title role. The show is based on the 1955 novel “Auntie Mame” written by Patrick Dennis.

36A Dance venue with a mirror ball : DISCO

Discotheques first appeared during WWII in Occupied France. American-style music (like jazz and jitterbug dances) was banned by the Nazis, so French natives met in underground clubs that they called discotheques where records were often played on just a single turntable. After the war, these clubs came out into the open. One famous Paris discotheque was called “Whiskey a Gogo”. In that Paris disco, non-stop music was played using two turntables next to a dance-floor, and this concept spread around the world.

43A British baby stroller : PRAM

Another word used in Britain and Ireland that’s rarely used over here is “pram”, which in my day was the most common term for what is called a baby carriage in the US. “Pram” is short for “perambulator”.

45A Café au __ : LAIT

“Café au lait” (French for “coffee with milk”) is usually strong drip coffee to which one adds steamed milk. Well, that’s the way we tend to make it here in the US.

49A Wrestling event with a series of combatants : ROYAL RUMBLE (royal family)

In professional wrestling, a battle royal is a multi-competitor match type where participants are eliminated until only one remains, typically by being thrown over the top rope and having both feet touch the floor. A royal rumble is a specific type of battle royal that features timed, staggered entrances of the participants, instead of all starting in the ring at the same time.

57A “Your Friends & Neighbors” actor Jon : HAMM

Before achieving widespread fame as Don Draper in Mad Men, Jon Hamm worked a variety of jobs, including set designer for a soft-core pornographic film, which he has described as “bleak” and “soul-crushing”. He also had a stint as a high school drama teacher, when one of his students was future actor Ellie Kemper.

“Your Friends & Neighbors” is a dark comedy TV show starring Jon Hamm as an unemployed hedge fund manager who turns to stealing from his neighbors in order to maintain his lifestyle. The show premiered in 2025, and has nothing to do with a 1998 black comedy film of the same starring Amy Brenneman and Aaron Eckhart.

58A Insurance co. for mil. families : USAA

The United Services Automobile Association (USAA) is an insurance company that was founded in 1922 by officers in the US Army. The group was prompted to form the enterprise as main street insurance companies viewed members of the military as a high-risk group and so refused coverage or charged excessive rates. The USAA continues to focus on its niche market, members and immediate family members of the US military,and has extended services offered to banking products.

59A “Inside Out” studio : PIXAR

“Inside Out” is a 2015 Pixar animated feature film. It’s all about a young girl who relocates with her family from Minnesota to San Francisco. The movie’s action is actually set inside the girl’s head, as five personified emotions deal with the changes she has to face. Those emotions are voiced by:

• Amy Poehler (Joy)
• Phyllis Smith (Sadness)
• Lewis Black (Anger)
• Bill Hader (Fear)
• Mindy Kaling (Disgust)

62A Sister Sledge classic whose second line is “I got all my sisters with me,” and a hint to the starts of 17-, 24-, 39-, and 49-Across : WE ARE FAMILY

“We Are Family” is a fabulous 1979 song released by Sister Sledge. The song was written specifically for Sister Sledge, a group that was actually “family”, comprising four Sledge sisters from Philadelphia.

67A Surveillance org. : NSA

The National Security Agency (NSA) runs an annual Codebreaker Challenge that is aimed mainly at the student population. As best I can tell, the focus of the challenge is reverse software engineering. Checking out the Codebreaker Challenge website suggests that the NSA runs this program in order to identify and attract potential new employees.

69A “BoJack Horseman” voice actor Will : ARNETT

Will Arnett is a Canadian actor who got his big break in the Fox show “Arrested Development”. Arnett’s father was the president and CEO of Molson Breweries, and Will was married to actress Penelope Ann Miller and actress/comedian Amy Poehler.

The animated series “BoJack Horseman” centers on its titular character, a washed-up anthropomorphic horse who was once the star of a popular 1990s sitcom. BoJack attempts to make a comeback in “Hollywoo” (the letter D was stolen from the famous Hollywood sign), while trying to deal with depression and addiction. Sounds like a right bundle of laughs …

Down

1D Set of beliefs : CREDO

A creed or credo is a profession of faith, or a system of belief or principles. “Credo” is Latin for “I believe”.

2D Pyramid-shaped hotel in Las Vegas : LUXOR

The Luxor is a hotel and casino in Las Vegas that is shaped like a black pyramid. It is named for the city of Luxor in Egypt, which is the site of the ancient city of Thebes. One of the features of the building is the Luxor Sky Beam, the intense beam of light that projects upwards from the top of the pyramid at night time. The Luxor Sky Beam is the strongest beam of light in the world.

4D “Fargo” filmmakers Ethan and Joel : COEN

Ethan and Joel Coen, often referred to as the Coen Brothers, are a pair of very successful movie directors and producers. For many of their early films, including “Fargo”, the credits listed Joel as director and Ethan as producer, even though they co-directed every aspect; this was a way to bypass certain guild rules at the time. They later began receiving joint directing credits.

“Fargo” is one of my favorite films of all time, and stars one of my favorite actors: Frances McDormand. The movie was directed by the Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan. Frances McDormand is Joel’s wife.

5D Martial art practiced by a panda in an animated franchise : KUNG FU

In the West, we sometimes use the term “kung fu” to describe a Chinese martial art. We’ve gotten the wrong idea though, as the term “kung fu” really describes any skill that can be learned through dedication and hard work. So, “kung fu” can indeed describe a martial art, but by no means exclusively.

“Kung Fu Panda” is a 2008 animated film from DreamWorks. It’s all about a panda who is an expert in kung fu, as one might guess …

6D Time zone wd. : STD

Local solar time was replaced with standard time zones due to the increasing use of rail travel and telecommunications as the variations in local solar times became somewhat inconvenient. Time zones in the US vary in hourly increments, but in some parts of the world a 30-minute or even 15-minute difference can apply.

7D Actress Gal : GADOT

Gal Gadot is an actress and former Miss Israel. She played Gisele Yashar in the “Fast & Furious” film franchise, and then began portraying Wonder Woman in superhero movies.

Before becoming a Hollywood star, Gal Gadot served two years of mandatory military service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as a combat fitness instructor. She has shared that her military training helped prepare her for the physical demands of her action roles. Gadot also won the Miss Israel pageant in 2004 and represented her country in the Miss Universe competition that same year.

9D E.B. White’s “__ Little” : STUART

“Stuart Little” is a children’s novel published in 1945. Penned by E. B. White, it was his first book for children. The title character is a human boy from New York City who is just two inches tall and who looks like a mouse.

E. B. (Elwyn Brooks) White was an American writer. His most famous creations were the children’s stories “Charlotte’s Web” and “Stuart Little”, but he also co-authored the writing guide “The Elements of Style” (usually referred to as “Strunk & White”).

11D Little girl, in the Highlands : WEE LASSIE

The Scottish Highlands are that part of the country not classified as the Lowlands(!). The Highlands make up the north and west of Scotland.

12D “Crocodile Hunter” Steve : IRWIN

Steve Irwin was a wildlife expert and TV personality from Australia who was known as the Crocodile Hunter. Sadly, Irwin died in 2006 at only 44 years of age, having been stung in the chest by a stingray.

18D Nav. rank : ENS

Ensign (ens.)

27D Polite affirmation : YES, MA’AM

The contraction “ma’am” is a shortened form of “madam”, which itself comes from the Old French “ma dame” meaning “my lady”.

29D Painter’s deg. : MFA

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

31D Bodybuilding competition for men since 1965 : MR OLYMPIA

The first Mr. Olympia contest was held in 1965, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York. Larry Scott won the inaugural title. Arnold Schwarzenegger later won seven Mr. Olympia titles.

41D Actor Jannings : EMIL

Emil Jannings was an actor from Switzerland who also held German and Austrian citizenship. He was the very first person to receive an Oscar, as the star of the 1928 silent movie called “The Last Command”. Jannings also starred opposite Marlene Dietrich in the 1930 classic “The Blue Angel”.

49D Deutschland river : RHEIN

The river running through Europe that we know in English as the Rhine, is called “Rhein” in German, “Rhin” in French and “Rijn” in Dutch.

The country that we know in English as “Germany” is known as “Deutschland” in German. The name “Germany” comes from “Germania”, which is the Latin name that Julius Caesar gave to the peoples located east of the Rhine. The name “Deutschland” comes from an Old High German word meaning “land belonging to the people”.

51D Sprinter Bolt : USAIN

Usain Bolt is a Jamaican sprinter who won the 100m and 200m race gold medals in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. Back in Jamaica, Bolt was really into cricket, and probably would have been a very successful fast bowler had he not hit the track instead.

55D French “Hi” : SALUT

In French, “salut” means “hi”, and is less formal than “bonjour”. The former term can also be used as a friendly toast.

56D Burial chamber : CRYPT

A crypt is a chamber that is located partially or totally underground. The term “crypt” comes from the Greek “kryptos” meaning “hidden”.

60D Somali-born supermodel : IMAN

Iman Mohamed Abdulmajid is a supermodel from Somalia who goes simply by the name “Iman” these days. “Iman” is an Arabic word for “faith”. She is a smart cookie. She has a degree in political science and is fluent in five languages: Somali, Arabic, Italian, French and English. Iman was married to English rock star David Bowie from 1992 until his death in 2016.

63D HHS agency : FDA

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has its roots in the Division of Chemistry (later “Bureau of Chemistry”) that was part of the US Department of Agriculture. President Theodore Roosevelt gave responsibility for examination of food and drugs to the Bureau of Chemistry with the signing of the Pure Food and Drug Act. The Bureau’s name was changed to the Food, Drug and Insecticide Organization in 1927, and to the Food and Drug Administration in 1930.

The Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) was split in 1979, into the Department of Education (ED) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).