LA Times Crossword 17 Jul 25, Thursday

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Constructed by: Katie Hale & Doug Peterson

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Repurposed Apparatus

Themed answers are common phrases reinterpreted, in a “punny” way, as apparatus suited to the corresponding clues:

• 17A E-readers? : LITERARY DEVICES
• 30A Printing press? : “TIME” MACHINE
• 47A Zambonis? : “GARDEN” TOOLS
• 62A Magnifying glass? : INSPECTOR GADGET

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

Bill’s time: 9m 14s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A “Cabaret” star Minnelli : LIZA

Actress and singer Liza Minnelli is the daughter of Judy Garland and movie director Vincente Minnelli. Liza won her only Oscar for her lead performance in 1972’s “Cabaret”. She has also won an Emmy, Grammy and Tony, and is one of the very few entertainers to have made that “sweep”.

The musical “Cabaret” is based on “I Am a Camera”, a 1951 play written by John Van Druten. In turn, the play was adapted from a novel “Goodbye to Berlin” written by Christopher Isherwood. The action in the musical takes place in the 1930s, in a seedy Berlin cabaret called the Kit Kat Klub. “Cabaret” is a great stage musical, although the 1972 film of the musical isn’t one of my favorites.

5A Word with sweet or candy : … CORN

Despite its enduring popularity around Halloween, candy corn consistently ranks as one of America’s least favorite Halloween candies, often due to its waxy texture and overly sweet flavor.

9A Bolivian city ESE of Lima : LA PAZ

Though Sucre is the constitutional capital of Bolivia, La Paz serves as the administrative capital and the seat of the Bolivian government. At an average elevation of over 11,975 feet above sea level, La Paz is the highest capital city in the world.

14A Long-horned goat : IBEX

“Ibex” is a common name for various species of mountain goat. “Ibex” is a Latin name that was used for wild goats found in the Alps and Apennines in Europe.

15A Part of a Hawaiian honeymoon, perhaps : LUAU

The Hawaiian party or feast known as a “luau” really dates back to 1819, when King Kamehameha II removed religious laws that governed the eating of meals. These laws called for women and men to eat separately. At the same time as he changed the laws, the king initiated the luau tradition by symbolically eating with the women who moved in his circle.

The concept of a honeymoon vacation only started in the early 1800s. In Britain, wealthy couples would take a “bridal tour” together after the wedding, visiting those friends and relatives who could not attend the ceremony. The etymology of “honeymoon” isn’t very clear, and may even have a negative derivation as it might suggest that the sweetness (honey) of love is doomed to wane like a passing phase of the moon. The equivalent terms in other languages are “moon of honey” (French), “honey month” (Welsh) and “tinsel week” (German).

23A Member of K-pop’s BTS : SUGA

Min Yoon-gi is better known by his stage name “Suga”, and also by his solo artist name “Agust D”. Like all able-bodied South Korean men, Suga is required to complete military service. He began his service in September 2023, performing duties as a social service agent rather than an active-duty soldier, after being deemed unfit for active combat due reportedly to a shoulder surgery he had in 2020.

25A Holds or saves, e.g. : STAT

That would be baseball.

27A Retro taper : VCR

The first video cassette recorder (VCR) was introduced in the 1950s, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that home VCRs became successful.

30A Printing press? : “TIME” MACHINE

“TIME” was the first weekly news magazine in the US. It was founded in 1923 by Briton Hadden and Henry Luce. Hadden and Luce had previously worked together as chairman and managing editor of the “Yale Daily News”.

35A Component of many detergents : WHITENER

Whiteners in detergents are often colorless dyes that absorb ultraviolet light and re-emit it as visible blue light. This blue light makes fabrics appear whiter and brighter by counteracting yellowing, making dingy clothes seem new without actually removing dirt.

43A Home of the Vols : U TENN

The Tennessee Volunteers (the Vols) are the men’s sports teams at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. The women’s teams are the Lady Volunteers.

47A Zambonis? : “GARDEN” TOOLS

Madison Square Garden (MSG) is an arena in New York City used for a variety of events. In the world of sports it is home to the New York Rangers of the NHL, as well as the New York Knicks of the NBA. “The Garden” is also the third busiest music venue in the world in terms of ticket sales. The current arena is the fourth structure to bear the name, a name taken from the Madison Square location in Manhattan. In turn, the square was named for James Madison, the fourth President of the US.

The first ice resurfacing machine was developed in 1949 by one Frank Zamboni. The eponymous Zamboni machine works by simultaneously executing a number of tasks. First, the surface of the ice is scraped off by a sharp blade. Next the ice is “washed” with water sprayed from the front of the Zamboni, and that wash water is vacuumed back up and filtered to remove impurities. Water is then reapplied to the scraped ice by a wet towel dragging behind the machine, forming a new skating surface.

57A Dabbling duck : TEAL

The beautiful color teal takes its name from the duck called a teal, which has dark greenish-blue (teal) markings on its head and wings.

Down

1D “Lip Gloss” rapper __ Mama : LIL

Lil Mama, born Niatia Jessica Kirkland, gained fame with her 2007 hit “Lip Gloss”. Beyond her music career, she also portrayed Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes in the 2013 biopic “CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story”.

2D African wading bird : IBIS

The ibis is a wading bird that was revered in ancient Egypt. “Ibis” is an interesting word grammatically speaking. You can have one “ibis” or two “ibises”, and then again one has a flock of “ibis”. And if you want to go with the classical plural, instead of two “ibises” you would have two “ibides”!

3D Epsilon follower : ZETA

Zeta is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet, and is a precursor of our Roman letter Z. The word “zeta” is also the ancestor of the letter name “zed”, which became “zee”, the term that we use here in the US.

4D Rink moves : AXELS

An axel is a forward take-off jump in figure skating. The maneuver was first performed by Norwegian Axel Paulsen at the 1882 World Figure Skating championships.

5D Ringing sounds from old trolley bells : CLANGING

A streetcar makes a clanging sound, as we learned in the musical film“Meet Me in St. Louis”. Judy Garland sang “The Trolley Song” in the movie:

Clang, clang, clang went the trolley
Ding, ding, ding went the bell
Zing, zing, zing went my heartstrings
From the moment I saw him I fell

6D “___ Planet”: David Attenborough series : OUR

The landmark nature documentary series “Our Planet”, narrated by David Attenborough, was Netflix’s first original documentary series and took over four years to film across 50 countries.

The fascinating Sir David Attenborough is a British broadcaster and naturalist, and the younger brother of actor Richard Attenborough. I’ve known him from British television for almost all of my life, but he has become recognizable over here in the US more recently due to his appearance and narration in the television series’ “Life On Earth”, “The Living Planet”, “The Blue Planet”, “Life” and “Planet Earth”. However, US versions of David Attenborough shows tend to be voiced-over by American personalities, so some recordings of “Planet Earth” feature the voice of Sigourney Weaver”, and “Life” features the voice of Oprah Winfrey.

13D Ingredient in marmalade : ZEST

Marmalade is my favorite fruit preserve. The essential ingredients in a marmalade are fruit juice and peel, and sugar and water. “Marmalade” comes from the Portuguese “marmelada” meaning “quince jam”.

19D “Tell Mama” singer James : ETTA

“Tell Mama” is a 1967 song recorded by Etta James that was written by singer Clarence Carter. Carter had released a 1966 version of the song himself, under the original title “Tell Daddy”.

24D Grace closer : AMEN

A grace is a short prayer recited before or after a meal, especially in the Christian tradition. The term “grace” comes from the Latin “gratiarum actio” meaning “act of thanks”.

27D Beetle with brakes : VW BUG

“VW” stands for “Volkswagen”, which translates from German into “people’s car”. The original Volkswagen design was the Beetle and was built under a directive from Adolf Hitler, who wanted a cheap car built that ordinary people could afford to purchase. Hitler awarded the contract to engineer Ferdinand Porsche, whose name (paradoxically) would forever be associated with high performance, expensive cars. The Beetle was the official name of the VW model released in North America, but it was usually referred to as a “Bug” here in the US, and a “Beetle” elsewhere in the world.

28D Tony winner Rivera : CHITA

Chita Rivera is an actress best known for her work in musical theater. She was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.

29D Legislative addition : RIDER

In legislative terms, a rider is an unrelated amendment added to a bill or other legislative measure that is sure to pass. The aim of a rider is usually to pass a controversial provision that would not otherwise pass on its own merits, by attaching it to a more popular bill. A childish tactic, I’d say …

31D Sister of Calliope : ERATO

In Greek mythology, the muses are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. The number of muses is a subject of debate at times, but the most popular view is that there are nine:

• Calliope (epic poetry)
• Clio (history)
• Erato (lyric poetry)
• Euterpe (music)
• Melpomene (tragedy)
• Polyhymnia (choral poetry)
• Terpsichore (dance)
• Thalia (comedy)
• Urania (astronomy)

46D “Shogun” setting : OSAKA

“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”

55D Fort guarded by the U.S. Mint Police : KNOX

Fort Knox is a US Army base that lends its name to the adjacent facility that is more correctly called the United States Bullion Depository. Most of the US gold reserves are in “Fort Knox”, although it isn’t the biggest gold repository in the US. That honor goes to the vault under the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in Manhattan. Most of the gold stored in the New York vault belongs to foreign nations and banks.

The highly specialized US Mint Police are responsible for protecting all US Mint facilities, including the gold bullion depository at Fort Knox, as well as those that produce coins for circulation. Established in 1792, they are one of the oldest federal law enforcement agencies in the nation, predating the US Marshals Service and the FBI.

56D Shetland element : ISLE

The Shetland Islands in Scotland have given their name to a few breeds of animals, including Shetland cattle, Shetland ponies, Shetland sheep, Shetland sheepdogs and Shetland geese. The Shetlands lie about 110 miles northeast of the Scottish mainland.

61D Beyoncé’s “If I __ a Boy” : WERE

“If I Were a Boy” is a 2008 song co-written and performed by singer-songwriter and actress BC Jean. Beyoncé recorded a cover version that same year, the version that is most well-known.

64D Classic TV brand : RCA

RCA, or the Radio Corporation of America, played a significant role in the history of television as a pioneer in the industry. RCA developed and introduced the first electronic television system in 1939 at the New York World’s Fair. RCA also created the NTSC (National Television System Committee) broadcast standard, which was adopted in the United States in 1953 and is still used today for analog television broadcasting. Additionally, RCA produced the first color television sets in 1954.