LA Times Crossword 20 Jul 25, Sunday

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Constructed by: Pam Amick Klawitter

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: C’est le Puzzle

Themed answers are common phrases with “LE” added:

• 23A Hypothesis about the origin of oversized bracelets? : BIG BANGLE THEORY (“Big Bang Theory” + LE)
• 33A Must-have cookbook in every Maine kitchen? : LOBSTER BIBLE (“lobster bib” + LE)
• 52A “Wait, don’t forget the most important hamburger topping!” : TAKE YOUR PICKLE! (“take your pick” + LE)
• 71A Highlight of a military band’s museum tour? : BUGLE COLLECTION (“bug collection” + LE)
• 89A Display models made for a palace renovation? : PLASTER CASTLES (“plaster cast” + LE)
• 105A Silliest cart on a hayride? : CHUCKLE WAGON (“chuck wagon” + LE)
• 121A “Why is my faucet dripping all the time?,” e.g. : TRICKLE QUESTION? (“trick question” + LE)

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

Bill’s time: 15m 05s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Sonoma neighbor : NAPA

Did you know that there are far more wine grapes produced in Sonoma than Napa? Within Sonoma County some of the more well-known appellations are Chalk Hill, Anderson Valley and Russian River Valley. Personally, when I want to visit the wine country, I head for the Russian River Valley as it’s far less crowded and much more fun than Napa Valley.

5A Colt’s mama : MARE

There are lots of terms to describe horses of different ages and sexes, it seems:

• Foal: horse of either sex that is less than one year old
• Yearling: horse of either sex that is one to two years old
• Filly: female horse under the age of four
• Colt: male horse under the age of four
• Gelding: castrated male horse of any age
• Stallion: non-castrated male horse four years or older
• Mare: female horse four years or older

9A 22-Across letters : AM/FM

Amplitude modulation/frequency modulation (AM/FM)

18A Yellow shape on Ikea’s logo : OVAL

The IKEA furniture stores use the colors blue and yellow for brand recognition. Blue and yellow are the national colors of Sweden, where IKEA was founded and is headquartered.

19A K2 cover : SNOW

K2 is the second highest mountain on the planet (at 28, 251 ft), with Mount Everest being higher by over 700 feet. Located on the China-Pakistan border, K2 is known as the “Savage Mountain” as it is relatively difficult to climb. 1 in 4 mountaineers who have attempted to reach the summit have perished. It had never been climbed in winter until relatively recently (in 2021 by a team of Nepalese climbers). The name K2 dates back to what was called the Great Trigonometric Survey, a British survey of the geography of India carried out during the 19th century. Included in this survey were the heights of many of the Himalayan peaks, including Everest. The original surveyor, Thomas Montgomerie, included two peaks he first called K1 and K2. He discovered later that the locals called K1 Masherbrum (the 22nd highest mountain in the world), but the remote K2 had no local name that he could find, so it was christened Mount Godwin-Austen. This name was rejected by the Royal Geographic Society although it does still appear on some maps. So, the most common name used is K2, that original notation in a surveyor’s notebook.

23A Hypothesis about the origin of oversized bracelets? : BIG BANGLE THEORY (“Big Bang Theory” + LE)

According to the Big Bang theory, the universe came into being just under 14 billion years ago. The theory posits that the universe started out as a hot and dense mass that began to expand rapidly (in a “big bang”). Within three minutes of the “bang”, the universe cooled so that energy was converted into subatomic particles like protons, electrons and neutrons. Over time, subatomic particles turned into atoms. Clouds of those atoms formed stars and galaxies.

29A Soars behind a boat : PARASAILS

Parasailing is hanging below a tethered parachute that is towed by a boat.

31A Classic Angela Lansbury role : 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.

33A Must-have cookbook in every Maine kitchen? : LOBSTER BIBLE (“lobster bib” + LE)

The word “bib” comes from the Latin “bibere” meaning “to drink”, as does our word “imbibe”. So, maybe a bib is less about spilling the food, and more about soaking up the booze …

36A GI address : APO

Army post office (APO)

42A Use Zelle, e.g. : PAY

Zelle is a digital payments network that allows users to send and receive money quickly and securely using their mobile devices. Unlike other peer-to-peer payment services like Venmo or Cash App, Zelle was built directly into the mobile banking apps of its partner institutions. This allows users to send and receive money directly from their existing bank accounts without the need to download a separate app or create a new account.

43A Scuba spots : SEAS

The self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) was co-invented by celebrated French marine explorer Jacques Cousteau.

48A Actor Penn : SEAN

Actor Sean Penn is a two-time Oscar winner, for his roles in “Mystic River” released in 2003 and “Milk” released in 2008. Penn’s celebrity on screen is only matched with his fame off the screen. Apart from his “big name” marriages to singer Madonna and actress Robin Wright, Penn is also well known for political and social activism. He perhaps inherited some of his political views from his father, actor and director Leo Penn. As an actor, Leo refused to “name names” in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee and so was blacklisted in Hollywood and had to move into directing to put bread on the table. In later years as a director he gave his son Sean his first acting role, in a 1974 episode of “Little House on the Prairie”.

55A Two under par : EAGLE

The following terms are routinely used in golf for scores relative to par:

• Bogey: one over par
• Par
• Birdie: one under par
• Eagle: two under par
• Albatross (also “double eagle”): three under par
• Condor: four under par

No one has ever recorded a condor during a professional tournament.

58A Boss Tweed cartoonist : NAST

Thomas Nast was an American caricaturist and cartoonist. He was the creator of the Republican Party elephant, the Democratic Party donkey, Uncle Sam and the image of the plump and jocular Santa Claus that we use today. Thomas Nast drew some famous cartoons in which he depicted the Tammany Society as a vicious tiger that was killing democracy. Nast’s use of the tiger symbology caught on and was used by other cartoonists to harp at the society.

William Magear Tweed was known as “Boss” Tweed. He was a 19th-century, American politician who led the Democratic Party machine in New York, headquartered in Tammany Hall. He was one of the most successful of the corrupt politicians of the day, siphoning from taxpayers (in today’s money) billions of dollars. In 1871 he was arrested, and served time in jail. He was then rearrested on civil charges and served time in debtor’s prison. He managed to escape to Spain, but was arrested again and extradited to the United States. He died in jail in 1878.

59A Mythological ship : ARGO

In Greek mythology, Jason and the Argonauts set sail on the Argo from the city of Iolcos in search of the Golden Fleece. Jason’s vessel was called the “Argo” in honor of a man named Argus, who designed and constructed it with the help of the goddess Athena.

62A Scooby Gang leader : FRED

“Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” is a series of cartoons produced for Hanna-Barbera Productions, first broadcast in 1969. The title character is a great Dane dog owned by a young male called Shaggy Rogers. The character’s name was inspired by the famous “doo-be-doo-be-doo” refrain in the Frank Sinatra hit “Strangers in the Night”. Shaggy was voiced by famed disk jockey Casey Kasem. Shaggy and Scooby’s friends are Velma, Fred and Daphne.

71A Highlight of a military band’s museum tour? : BUGLE COLLECTION (“bug collection” + LE)

A bugle is a simple brass instrument, one that usually has no valves with which a player can alter the pitch. The altering of pitch is achieved by changing the ebay that the lips interface with the mouthpiece. Bugles evolved from wind instruments made from animal horns. “Bugle” is an abbreviation for “buglehorn”, an earlier name for the same instrument. Indeed, the term “bugle” comes from the Latin “buculus” meaning “young ox, heifer”.

76A Cambodia’s continent : ASIA

The Kingdom of Cambodia is located in the Indochina Peninsula of Southeast Asia, and is bordered by Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and the Gulf of Thailand. “Cambodia” is the English version of the country’s name, which in Khmer is “Kampuchea”.

81A Aretha’s genre : SOUL

I think that Aretha Franklin, the “Queen of Soul”, had a tough life. Franklin had her first son when she was just 13-years-old, and her second at 15. In 2008, “Rolling Stone” magazine ranked Franklin as number one on its list of the greatest singers of all time.

84A Phanaeng cuisine : THAI

Phanaeng (or Panang) is a type of Thai curry that is typically thicker, sweeter, and less spicy than other Thai curries.

86A Novelist Jaffe : RONA

Rona Jaffe was an American novelist perhaps most famous for two of her books, “The Best of Everything” and “Mazes and Monsters”. “The Best of Everything” was published in 1958 and has been compared with the HBO television series “Sex and the City” as it depicts women in the working world. “Mazes and Monsters” was published in 1981 and explores a role-playing game similar to Dungeons & Dragons and the impact it has on players.

87A Medicare section : PART D

Medicare is divided into four parts:

• A: Hospital Insurance
• B: Medical Insurance
• C: Medicare Advantage Plans
• D: Prescription Drug Plans

89A Display models made for a palace renovation? : PLASTER CASTLES (“plaster cast” + LE)

Plaster made using gypsum is commonly referred to as plaster of Paris. The original plaster of Paris came from a large deposit of gypsum mined at Montmartre in Paris, hence the name.

99A Accomplice : COHORT

“Cohort” can be used as a collective noun, meaning “group, company”. The term can also apply to an individual supporter or companion, although usually in a derogatory sense. “Cohort” comes from the Latin “cohors”, which was an infantry company in the Roman army, one tenth of a legion.

101A May honoree : MOM

Note the official punctuation in “Mother’s Day”, even though one might think it should be “Mothers’ Day”. President Wilson and Anna Jarvis, who created the tradition, specifically wanted Mother’s Day to honor the mothers within each family and not just “mothers” in general, so they went with the “Mother’s Day” punctuation.

102A Number of tiles played for a Scrabble bingo : SEVEN

In the North American version of Scrabble, laying all seven tiles in one turn earns a 50-point bonus, and is called a “bingo”.

105A Silliest cart on a hayride? : CHUCKLE WAGON (“chuck wagon” + LE)

A chuck wagon is a covered wagon that is in effect used as a field kitchen on the trail. They were particularly prevalent as part of the wagon trains crossing the country with people intending to settle in the West. They are also used as support vehicles for cowboys and loggers as they do their work.

113A Persia, today : IRAN

Before 1935, the country we know today as Iran was referred to as Persia by the Western world. The official name of the country since the Iranian Revolution of 1979 is the “Islamic Republic of Iran”.

116A Rapper __ B : CARDI

Rap artist Cardi B’s real name is Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar. Her stage name is a diminutive of “Bacardi,” a nickname she was given because her sister is named Hennessy.

127A Hamilton-Burr showdown : DUEL

Alexander Hamilton was one of America’s Founding Fathers, chief of staff to General George Washington and the first Secretary of the Treasury. It was Hamilton who established the nation’s first political party, the Federalist Party. He is also famous for fighting a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr, which resulted in Hamilton’s death a few days later.

Aaron Burr was the third vice-president of the US, and served under Thomas Jefferson from 1801 to 1805. In the final year of his term in office, Burr fought an illegal duel and killed his political rival Alexander Hamilton. Burr was charged with several crimes as a result, but those charges were eventually dropped. The Democratic-Republican Party had already decided not to nominate Burr as candidate for vice president to run alongside Jefferson in the 1804 election, largely because the relationship between Vice President Burr and President Jefferson was so poor. The subsequent fallout resulting from the killing of Alexander Hamilton effectively ended Burr’s political career.

128A Alma mater of Bear Grylls : ETON

“Man vs. Wild” is a British survival show hosted by the very erudite Bear Grylls. Grylls’ real name is Edward Grylls, and he had a very privileged upbringing. He was the son of a knighted politician and attended the prestigious Eton College outside London. He joined the British Army and made it into the UK Special Forces Reserve. He survived a parachuting accident in 1996 which crushed three vertebrae, resulting in him spending 18 months in rehabilitation. When he got well again, he climbed Mount Everest …

Down

1D Big name in fusion cuisine : NOBU

Nobu Matsuhisa is a celebrity chef from Japan. Nobu was invited to open a Japanese restaurant in Lima, Peru in 1973, and while in South America developed his own Peruvian-Japanese fusion cuisine. He moved to the US a few years later, and opened a restaurant named Matsuhisa in Los Angeles. Actor Robert De Niro visited that restaurant, and suggested to Matsuhisa that he open a restaurant in New York City. Eventually, after De Niro offered to participate in a joint venture, Matsuhisa agreed and opened the first Nobu. Now there are “Nobu” and “Matsuhisa” restaurants all over the world.

2D Budget alternative : AVIS

Avis has been around since 1946, and is the second largest car rental agency after Hertz. Avis has the distinction of being the first car rental company to locate a branch at an airport.

3D Hill helper : PAGE

US Senate Pages are 16- and 17-year-old high-school juniors who get to watch the political action up close in Washington, while doing the “gofer” jobs needed by the Senators and permanent staff. There are 30 Pages during the school year, 16 appointed by the majority party, and 14 by the minority. The list of former Senate Pages includes Amy Carter (daughter of the President), Chris Dodd (who became a Senator) and Spiro Agnew (who made it to the Vice President’s Office).

4D Taylor Swift’s “Red” or Joni Mitchell’s “Blue” : ALBUM

“Red” is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released in 2012. It’s known for its blend of country, pop, and rock styles, marking a significant departure from her earlier, more purely country sound.

“Blue” is a 1971 album by Joni Mitchell. In “Rolling Stone” magazine’s 2020 list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”, “Blue” is in the number-three spot, behind Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”, and “Pet Sounds” by the Beach Boys.

7D Gold-wrapped candy : ROLO

Rolo was a hugely popular chocolate candy in Ireland when I was growing up. It was introduced in the thirties in the UK, and is produced under license in the US by Hershey. I was a little disappointed when I had my first taste of the American version as the center is very hard and chewy. The recipe used on the other side of the Atlantic calls for a soft gooey center.

10D Whitman of “Good Girls” : MAE

Actress Mae Whitman played “the daughter” in some successful movies early in her career. She was Meg Ryan’s daughter in “When a Man Loves a Woman”, George Clooney’s daughter in “One Fine Day” and Bill Pullman’s daughter in “Independence Day”. More recently, she played the lead in the 2015 teen comedy film “The Duff”.

“Good Girls” is a comedy-drama TV series about three suburban moms who decide to rob a local supermarket, and then get themselves involved with a mob gang. The lead characters are played by Christina Hendricks, Retta and Mae Whitman.

11D Cottontail’s kin : FLOPSY

Beatrix Potter was an English author famous for the children’s books she wrote and illustrated. The most famous character in her stories was Peter Rabbit, whose sisters were Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail. Potter put her talent as an artist to good use in the scientific world as well. She recorded many images of lichens and fungi as seen through her microscope. As a result of her work, she was respected as an expert mycologist.

12D French Revolution figure : MARAT

Jean-Paul Marat was a prominent figure in the French Revolution. He was famously murdered in his bath by a young woman named Charlotte Corday, who was a Royalist. The gruesome event was immortalized in a celebrated painting by Jacques-Louis David called “The Death of Marat”.

13D 2032 Summer Olympics host city : BRISBANE

Brisbane is the capital city of the state of Queensland, Australia. It is named for the Brisbane River, which flows through the city. The river in turn is named for Scotsman Sir Thomas Brisbane who was the Governor of New South Wales in the 1820s. General Douglas MacArthur made Brisbane his headquarters after being forced out of the Philippines during WWII.

14D Covered patios : LANAIS

A lanai is a type of veranda, and a design that originated in Hawaii. A kind blog reader tells me that the etymology of “lanai” seems unclear, but that the island name of “Lana’i” is not related.

16D Singer Horan of One Direction : NIALL

Niall Horan is an Irish singer and former member of the British boy band One Direction. Horan is from Mullinger, a town in the middle of the country from where my own ancestors hail. That’s really all that I know about him …

17D Use a divining rod : DOWSE

Dowsing is the practice of divining, not just for water but also for buried metals and gemstones. Often a dowser will use a Y-shaped or L-shaped rod as a tool, which can also be called a dowser. Here in the US, the tool used might be referred to as a “witching rod”, as it is usually made from witch-hazel.

21D Gibson of “The Collective” : TYRESE

Tyrese Gibson is singer-songwriter and actor who is known simply as “Tyrese”. Tyrese is best known for playing the character Roman Pearce in the “Fast And Furious” series of movies.

“The Collective” is a 2023 American action film about an elite group of assassins who target untouchable criminals, particularly a sophisticated human trafficking ring.

30D __ code : AREA

Area codes were introduced in the 1940s. Back then, the “clicks” one heard when dialing a number led to mechanical wear on various pieces of equipment. In order to minimize overall mechanical wear, areas with high call volumes were given the most efficient area codes (lowest number of clicks). That led to New York getting the area code 212, Los Angeles 213 and Chicago 312.

32D Club spread : MAYO

Mayonnaise originated in the town of Mahon in Menorca, a Mediterranean island belonging to Spain. The Spanish called the sauce “salsa mahonesa” after the town, and this morphed into the French word “mayonnaise” that we use in English today.

34D Crude outfit? : OPEC

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

Crude oil is a naturally occurring liquid mixture of hydrocarbons that is found in geological formations. Also known as “petroleum”, crude is usually accessed by drilling. Once collected, it is refined and separated into many, many chemicals, e.g. gasoline and asphalt as well chemicals used to make plastics, fertilizers and pharmaceuticals.

35D Lie in the sun : BASK

Our verb “to bask”, meaning “to expose one to pleasant warmth”, is derived from the gruesome, 14th-century term “basken”, meaning “to wallow in blood”. The contemporary usage apparently originated with Shakespeare, who employed “bask” with reference to sunshine in “As You Like It”.

36D Common web site : ATTIC

An attic or loft is a room or space located below the roof of a building. The term “attic” is a shortened form of “attic story”, the uppermost story or level of a house. This term “attic story” originally applied to a low, decorative level built on top of the uppermost story behind a building’s decorative facade. This use of decoration at the top of buildings was common in ancient Greece, and was particularly important in the Attica style. That Attica style was so called because it originated in the historical region of Attica that encompassed the city of Athens. And that’s how our attics are linked to ancient Greece.

37D Madrid museum : PRADO

The Museo del Prado is in Madrid, the capital of Spain, and has one of the finest art collections in the world. The gallery’s most famous work is “Las Meninas” By Velazquez.

38D “The Old __ Bucket”: Woodworth poem : OAKEN

“The Old Oaken Bucket” is a poem by American author Samuel Woodworth. The words of the poem were set to music in 1826:

How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood,
When fond recollection presents them to view!
The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wild-wood,
And every loved spot which my infancy knew!
The wide-spreading pond, and the mill that stood by it,
The bridge, and the rock where the cataract fell,
The cot of my father, the dairy-house nigh it,
And e’en the rude bucket that hung in the well-
The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,
The moss-covered bucket which hung in the well.

40D Sport that may involve chopping boards : KARATE

Karate is a martial art that originated in the Ryukyu Kingdom, which is now part of Japan. A practitioner of karate is known as a karateka. The sport of karate was included as an Olympic sport starting with the 2020 Games.

45D “Click It or Ticket” restraint : SEAT BELT

The national “Click It or Ticket” campaign started at the state level in 1993, when it was introduced in North Carolina. New York was the first state to introduce a mandatory seat belt use law, back in 1984. There is only one state in the US that does not require drivers to wear seat belts by law, and that is New Hampshire.

47D Old-school paper copies : DITTOS

Ditto machines, or spirit duplicators, were a common low-cost printing method for schools and small businesses from the 1920s to the 1980s. They worked by transferring a wax-based ink from a master sheet to plain paper using a solvent, often methanol, which gave the copies their characteristic smell. I remember that smell so well …

48D Sun. message : SER

Our word “sermon” comes from the Latin “sermonem” meaning “discourse, talk”. The literal translation of “sermonem” is “a stringing together of words”, from the Latin “serere” meaning “to join”, as in the related word “series”.

49D Shrek’s sort : OGRE

Before “Shrek” was a successful movie franchise and Broadway musical, it was a children’s picture book called “Shrek!” that was authored and illustrated by William Steig. The title “Shrek!” came from the German/Yiddish word Schreck, meaning “fear” or “terror”.

50D Bass offerings : ALES

The red triangle on the label of a bottle of Bass Ale was registered in 1875 and is UK Registered Trade Mark (TM) No: 00001, the first trademark issued in the world.

56D Steelers’ div. : AFC NORTH

The Pittsburgh Steelers football team was founded in 1933, making it the oldest franchise in the AFC. Back in 1933, the team was known as the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates name was chosen as the Pittsburgh baseball team was the Pirates. The name was changed to the Steelers in 1940, and then the Steagles in 1943 when the team merged with the Philadelphia Eagles. There was a further merger in 1944, with the Chicago Cardinal to form Card-Pitt. The Steelers name was resurrected in 1945.

60D Poe-like : GOTHIC

Gothic fiction is characterized by remote settings and characters experiencing fear and haunting. The term “gothic” is used because so often the stories are set in locales featuring gothic architecture.

61D Avignon approvals : OUIS

Avignon is a city in the southeast of France on the Rhône river. It is sometimes called the “City of Popes” as it was home to seven popes during the Catholic schism from 1309 to 1423.

67D Actor Mahershala : ALI

Mahershala Ali is an actor and sometime rapper. Among the more memorable roles Ali has had are lobbyist Remy Danton in TV’s “House of Cards”, and Colonel Boggs in “The Hunger Games” series of movies. He also won Best Supporting Actor Oscars for playing Juan in the 2016 drama “Moonlight”, and Dr. Don Shirley in 2018’s “Green Book”.

68D Nebraska divider : PLATTE

The Platte River used to be called the Nebrakier, which is an Oto word meaning “flat river”. Indeed, the state of Nebraska takes its name from “Nebrakier”. For a while it was also called the River Plate as “plate” is the French word “flat”. Later this became “Platte”, the phonetic spelling of the French “plate”.

70D Part of NSFW : NOT

The abbreviation “NSFW” stands for “not safe/suitable for work”. It’s Internet slang used to describe online content that is best not viewed at work.

72D “Bad Monkey” novelist Hiaasen : CARL

Carl Hiaasen’s 2013 novel “Bad Monkey” is a satirical crime story that centers on a disgraced detective, Andrew Yancy, whose life takes an unexpected turn after a severed arm is discovered by a tourist while fishing. The book was adapted into a 2024 series of the same name, starring Vince Vaughn as Yancy.

75D Turn salmon into lox, say : CURE

Lox is a brine-cured salmon filet that is finely sliced. The term “lox” comes into English via Yiddish, and derives from the German word for salmon, namely “Lachs”.

78D Some Ralph Lauren casuals : POLOS

Ralph Lauren is an American fashion designer, born Ralph Liftshitz in the Bronx, New York. Lauren started off working as a salesman for Brooks Brothers after spending two years in the US Army. He then opened a necktie store, featuring his own tie designs. The ties were sold under the name “Polo”, which became Lauren’s most famous brand. Other Lauren brands are Purple Label and Black Label.

85D Music scholar known for a Beethoven catalog : HESS

Willy Hess (1906-1997) was a Swiss musicologist and composer particularly noted for his comprehensive catalog of Beethoven’s works, including many pieces not published during Beethoven’s lifetime.

91D Heavyweight battle : SUMO

Sumo is a sport that is practiced professionally only in Japan, the country of its origin. There is an international federation of sumo wrestling now, and one of the organization’s aims is to have the sport accepted as an Olympic event.

93D Some fast-food outlets : SONICS

SONIC Drive-In is a fast-food restaurant chain that is noted for its carhops who serve patrons on roller skates. SONIC was founded in Shawnee, Oklahoma in 1953 as Top Hat Drive-In. The restaurant introduced curbside speakers to hasten the ordering process. This led to the adoption of the slogan “Service at the Speed of Sound”, and renaming of the chain to SONIC.

100D Pump number : OCTANE

The difference between a premium and regular gasoline is its octane rating. This is a measure of the resistance of the gasoline to auto-ignition i.e. its resistance to ignition just by virtue of being compressed in the cylinder. This auto-ignition is undesirable as multiple-cylinder engines are designed so that ignition within each cylinder takes place precisely when the plug sparks, and not before. If ignition occurs before the spark is created, the resulting phenomenon is called “knocking”. We sometimes use the adjective “high-octane” to mean “intense, dynamic, high-powered”

101D “La Vie en Rose” Oscar winner Cotillard : MARION

Marion Cotillard is the French actress who played Édith Piaf in the 2007 movie “La Vie en Rose”. Cotillard won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance, marking the first time that an actress has won a Best Actress Academy Award for a performance in a French language film.

103D Stadiums, e.g. : VENUES

A venue is a specified locale used for an event. The term “venue” came into English via French from the Latin “venire” meaning “to come”. So, a “venue” is a place to which people “come” for an event.

111D __ tot : TATER

Ore-Ida’s founders came up with the idea for Tater Tots when they were deciding what to do with residual cuts of potato. They chopped up the leftovers, added flour and seasoning, and extruded the mix through a large hole making a sausage that they cut into small cylinders. We eat 70 million pounds of this extruded potato every year!

114D Some M&M’s : REDS

Forrest Mars, Sr. was the founder of the Mars Company. Forrest invented the Mars Bar while living over in England and then developed M&M’s when he returned to the US. Mars came up with the idea for M&M’s when he saw soldiers in the Spanish Civil War eating chocolate pellets. Those pellets had a hard shell of tempered chocolate on the outside to prevent them from melting. Mars got some of the funding to develop the M&M from William Murrie, the son of the president of Hershey’s Chocolate. It is the “M” and “M” from “Mars” and “Murrie” that give the name to the candy.

117D Hayworth of “Gilda” : RITA

Rita Hayworth was born in Brooklyn as Margarita Carmen Cansino. Her father was a flamenco dancer from Spain and so his daughter fell naturally into dancing. The family moved to Hollywood where Hayworth’s father set up a dance studio, and there worked with the likes of James Cagney and Jean Harlow. The young Hayworth had a slow start in movies, finding herself typecast because of her Mediterranean features. When she underwent extensive electrolysis to change her forehead and dyed her hair red, she started to get more work (how sad is that?). In 1941 she posed for that famous pin-up picture which accompanied GIs all over the world.

Rita Hayworth played the quintessential femme fatale in the 1946 movie “Gilda”, in which she starred opposite Glenn Ford.

122D Wine label word : CRU

“Cru” is a term used in the French wine industry that means “growth place”. So, “cru” is the name of the location where the grapes are grown, as opposed to the name of a specific vineyard. The terms “premier cru” and “grand cru” are also used, but the usage depends on the specific wine region. Generally it is a classification awarded to specific vineyards denoting their potential for producing great wines. “Grand cru” is reserved for the very best vineyards, with “premier cru” the level just below.