LA Times Crossword 18 Jul 25, Friday

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Constructed by: Tracy Gray

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Make It a Double

To match their clues, we have to MAKE the last word of the corresponding answers a DOUBLE:

• 53A Request to a bartender, and what must be done to the last words of 20-, 30-, 36-, and 47-Across for the answers to match their clues : MAKE IT A DOUBLE

• 20A Casual departure from a pub crawl after just one drink? : FIRST ROUND BYE-BYE
• 30A Big name in transparent Band-Aids for toddlers? : PEEK-A-BOO-BOO
• 36A Confident shout from a Moulin Rouge dancer? : OH, YES I CANCAN!
• 47A Question of quality? : IS THAT SO-SO?

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

Bill’s time: 7m 15s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

10A Au naturel : BARE

The phrase “au naturel” is French for “in the natural state”. Beyond simply meaning nude, it can also refer to food served plainly, without elaborate sauces or additional ingredients, such as an oyster served “au naturel”.

14A Ancient theaters : ODEA

In ancient Greece, an odeon (also “odeum”) was like a small theater, with “odeon” literally meaning “building for musical competition”. Odea were used in both Greece and Rome for entertainments such as musical shows and poetry readings.

16A Limburger feature : ODOR

Limburger cheese is famously known for its strong, pungent odor, which is often compared to foot odor. This distinctive smell comes from the bacterium Brevibacterium linens used to ferment the cheese. That same bacterium is also found on human skin, contributing to foot odor. Ugh!

19A Blu-ray kin : DVDS

A CD player reads the information on the disc using a laser beam. The beam is produced by what’s called a laser diode, a device similar to a light-emitting diode (LED) except that a laser beam is emitted. That laser beam is usually red in CD and DVD players. Blu-ray players are so called as they use blue lasers.

20A Casual departure from a pub crawl after just one drink? : FIRST ROUND BYE-BYE

A pub crawl (also “bar-hopping”) is a tour of a selection of local public houses. One usually takes one drink at each stop, which might perhaps explain the use of the word “crawl” …

23A Easily fooled sort : SAP

“Sap” is slang for “fool, someone easily scammed”. The term arose in the early 1800s in Britain when it was used in “saphead” and “sapskull”. All these words are derived from “sapwood”, which is the softwood found in tree trunks between the bark and the heartwood at the center.

24A Mai tai liquor : RUM

The mai tai cocktail is strongly associated with the Polynesian islands, but the drink was supposedly invented in 1944 in Trader Vic’s restaurant in Oakland, California. One recipe is 6 parts white rum, 3 parts orange curaçao, 3 parts orgeat syrup, 1 part rock candy syrup, 2 parts fresh lime juice, all mixed with ice and then a float added of 6 parts dark rum. “Maita’i” is the Tahitian word for “good”.

25A Celebrity with a book club : OPRAH

“Oprah’s Book Club” was a segment that started in 1996 on “The Oprah Winfrey Show”. Each book reviewed was a personal recommendation by Winfrey herself. The first book reviewed was “The Deep End of the Ocean” by Jacquelyn Mitchard. The original book club ended in 2011, but there’s now a reboot known as “Oprah’s Book Club 2.0” that focuses on digital media now that “The Oprah Winfrey Show” is no more.

28A “Rub-a-dub-dub” location, in a classic rhyme : IN A TUB

The nursery rhyme “Rub-a-Dub-Dub” dates back to at least 1798 when it was first published in London:

Rub-a-dub-dub,
Three men in a tub,
And how do you think they got there?
The butcher, the baker,
The candlestick-maker,
They all jumped out of a rotten potato,
‘Twas enough to make a man stare.

30A Big name in transparent Band-Aids for toddlers? : PEEK-A-BOO-BOO

“Band-Aid” is a brand name owned by Johnson & Johnson, although like many popular brands “band-aid” has become the generic term for an adhesive bandage, at least here in North America. The generic term we use in Britain and Ireland for the same product is “plaster” …

33A Cartomancy deck : TAROT

Cartomancy is fortune-telling using a deck of cards. “Carto” is a combining form meaning “card”, and “-mancy” is a suffix meaning “divination by means of”. Other “-mancies” are hydromancy (divination using water), aeromancy (divination using weather) and arithmancy (divination using numbers).

34A O’Reilly purchase : PART

O’Reilly Auto Parts started as a single store in Springfield, Missouri, in 1957. There are now more than 6,000 O’Reilly stores in North America.

35A Bora Bora, e.g. : ISLE

Bora Bora is one of the Society Islands of French Polynesia. The name “Bora Bora” is imitative of the Tahitian name for the island and should really be pronounced “pora pora”. “Bora bora” translates as “first born”.

36A Confident shout from a Moulin Rouge dancer? : OH, YES I CANCAN!

The Moulin Rouge cabaret is located right in the middle of one of the red light districts of Paris, the district of Pigalle. You can’t miss the Moulin Rouge as it has a huge red windmill on its roof (“moulin rouge” is French for “red windmill”). The nightclub opened its doors in 1889 and soon after, the working girls of the cabaret adopted a “respectable” party dance and used it to entice their clients. That was the birth of the can-can. Nowadays, the Moulin Rouge is home to a lavish, Las Vegas-style show that costs millions of euros to stage. It features showgirls, dancers and acrobats, a whole host of entertainers in fact. And I am sure the can-can features as well …

42A Olympic event with masks : EPEE

There are three fencing events in the modern Olympics, with each distinguished by the weapon used:

• Foil
• Épée
• Sabre

44A Crete’s highest pt. : MT IDA

Mount Ida on the island of Crete is a sacred mountain in Greek mythology. It is associated with Zeus, believed to be the cave where Rhea hid the infant Zeus from his father Cronus, ensuring his survival.
There are two peaks called Mount Ida that are sacred according to Greek mythology. Mount Ida in Crete is the island’s highest point, and is where one can find the cave in which Zeus was reared. Mount Ida in Asia Minor (located in modern-day Turkey) is where Ganymede was swept up by Zeus in the form of an eagle that took him to Olympus where he served as cupbearer to the gods.

49A Decathlon equipment : DISCUS

The decathlon event is a track and field competition, with the name “decathlon” coming from the Greek “deka” (ten) and “athlos” (contest). The ten events in the men’s decathlon are:

• 100 meters
• Long jump
• Shot put
• High jump
• 400 meters
• 110 meters hurdles
• Discus throw
• Pole vault
• Javelin throw
• 1500 meters

50A “Chopped” contestants : CHEFS

“Chopped” is a cooking game show on the Food Network that is hosted by Ted Allen, formerly of “Queer Eye”. Four chefs compete in a three-round contest, preparing dishes using a mystery basket of ingredients.

51A “Corduroy” writer/illustrator Freeman : DON

Don Freeman was an author and illustrator best known for his 1968 children’s book “Corduroy”, which tells the story of a teddy bear in a department store. The title refers to the corduroy outfit worn by the bear.

52A Center of Dallas? : ELS

The center of Dallis has two letters L (els).

58A Prefix with conductor : SEMI-

The prefix “semi-” comes from Latin, meaning “half” or “partially”. In “semiconductor”, the prefix is used because it is a material that has electrical conductivity properties between those of a conductor and an insulator, allowing for controlled electrical current.

60A Banjo sound : TWANG

The instrument that we know today as the banjo is a derivative of instruments that were used in Africa.

61A __ plaid: fabric also known as Prince of Wales check : GLEN

Glen plaid, also known as Glenurquhart check or Prince of Wales check, is a classic woven pattern of small and large checks, typically in muted colors. It originated in Scotland in the 19th century and became popular for suits and formal wear.

62A “Your turn,” in radio lingo : OVER

In radiotelephony, the word “OVER” is used to indicate the end of a transmission from one party, handing over the airwaves to another party to respond.

65A “Downton Abbey” title : LADY

In the incredibly successful period drama “Downton Abbey”, the patriarch of the family living at Downton is Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham or Lord Grantham. The character is played by Hugh Bonneville. Lord Grantham married American Cora Levinson (played by Elizabeth McGovern). Lord and Lady Grantham had three daughters, and no sons. The lack of a male heir implied that the Grantham estate would pass to a male cousin, and out of the immediate family. The Grantham daughters are Lady Mary (played by Michelle Dockery), Lady Edith (played by Laura Carmichael) and Lady Sybil (played by Jessica Brown Findlay). Lady Sybil had the audacity to marry the family chauffeur, who was an Irish nationalist. The shame of it all …

Down

2D Girls in Tech founder Gascoigne : ADRIANA

Girls in Tech was a global non-profit dedicated to eliminating the gender gap in technology. Founded in 2007 by Adriana Gascoigne, the organization closed in 2024 due to a lack of funding.

4D “Archie’s Pals ‘n’ __”: classic comic book series : GALS

“Archie’s Pals ‘n’ Gals” was a series of comic books produced from 1952 until 1991. The list of title characters includes teenagers Archie Andrews, Jughead Jones, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, and Josie and the Pussycats.

7D Newman’s Own rival : RAGU

The Ragú brand of pasta sauce was introduced in 1937. The name ”Ragù” is the Italian word for a sauce used to dress pasta, however the spelling is a little off in the name of the sauce. In Italian, the word is “Ragù” with a grave accent over the “u”, but if you look at a jar of the sauce on the supermarket shelf it is spelled “Ragú” on the label, with an acute accent. Sometimes I think we just don’t try …

8D Historic British school : ETON

Eton College near Windsor in the south of England was founded way back in 1440 by King Henry VI. Originally known as “The King’s College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor”, the school was intended to provide free education to poor boys. Free education today at Eton? Not so much …

12D Eye cell that plays a role in night vision : ROD

The retina is the tissue that lines the inside of the eye, and is the tissue that is light-sensitive. There are (mainly) two types of cells in the retina that are sensitive to light, namely rods and cones. Rods are cells that best function in very dim light and only provide black-and-white vision. Cones on the other hand function in brighter light and can perceive color.

22D __ choy : BOK

Bok choy is a variety of Chinese cabbage. “Bok choy” translates as “white vegetable”.

29D Visitor who leaves money under a kid’s pillow : TOOTH FAIRY

The tooth fairy is a mythical figure who is said to leave money under the pillow of children who have lost a baby tooth. She is often depicted as a small, winged fairy who flies through the night to collect teeth. I read an estimate that she collects about 300,000 teeth every night from children all over the world …

30D Public walkway : PASEO

“Paseo” is a Spanish word meaning “stroll, walk, or promenade”.In English it often refers to a public thoroughfare designed for walking, typically lined with trees or shops, and serving as a social gathering place.

31D Cleveland’s lake : ERIE

Cleveland, Ohio was named for the man who led the team that surveyed the area prior to the founding of the city. General Moses Cleaveland did his work in 1796 and then left Ohio, never to return again.

38D __ acid : AMINO

There are 20 different types of amino acids that make up proteins. However, only 11 of them can be synthesized by the human body, while the remaining nine essential amino acids must be obtained from food sources.

40D Bat wood, once : ASH

Ash wood has historically been a favored material for baseball bats due to its flexibility and strength, allowing for a good balance of power and durability. However, in recent years, maple has become more popular due to ash’s tendency to splinter.

51D “Inferno” poet : DANTE

Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy” is an epic poem dating back to the 14th century. The first part of that epic is “Inferno”, which is the Italian word for “Hell”. In the poem, Dante is led on a journey by the poet Virgil, starting at the gates of Hell on which are written the famous words “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here”.

54D James of blues : ETTA

“Etta James” was the stage name of celebrated blues and soul singer Jamesetta Hawkins. James’ most famous recording was her 1960 hit “At Last”, which made it into the pop charts. James performed “At Last” at the age of 71 in 2009 on the reality show “Dancing with the Stars”, which was to be her final television appearance. She passed away in 2012.

57D Fleecy boots : UGGS

Uggs are sheepskin boots that were first produced in Australia and New Zealand. The original Uggs have sheepskin fleece on the inside for comfort and insulation, with a tanned leather surface on the outside for durability. “Ugg” is a generic term Down Under, although it’s a brand name here in the US.

58D Santiago sun : SOL

Santiago is the capital of Chile. The city was founded in 1541 by the Spanish as Santiago de Nueva Extremadura. The name was chosen in honor of Saint James and the community of Extremadura in western Spain.

59D “Hadestown” Tony nominee Noblezada : EVA

Eva Noblezada is an actress and singer who debuted on Broadway playing the lead in a 2017 revival of “Miss Saigon”. That performance earned her a Tony nomination, as did her portrayal of Eurydice in “Hadestown”.

“Hadestown” is a 2006 musical based on the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Anaïs Mitchell wrote the music and lyrics, and in 2010 adapted the stage musical into a concept album, for which Mitchell herself took on the role of Eurydice. After a 9-year hiatus, Mitchell reworked the piece, and a new version of “Hadestown” opened off-Broadway in 2016. A few years later, the show made it to Broadway, and won eight Tony Awards.