LA Times Crossword 14 Sep 25, Sunday

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Constructed by: Michael Torch & Andrea Carla Michaels

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: Positively Charged

Themed answers are common phrases with the suffix -ION added:

• 23A Literary takeaway? : READER’S DIGESTION (“Reader’s Digest” + ION)
• 31A Riches of the Vatican? : PAPAL BULLION (“papal bull” + ION)
• 48A Blessing over breakfast? : EGGS BENEDICTION (“Eggs Benedict” + ION)
• 64A Strong affection for school auditoriums? : HALL PASSION (“hall pass” + ION)
• 81A Drink to forgive and forget? : ABSOLUTION VODKA (“Absolut vodka” + ION)
• 91A Army of Istanbul? : TURKEY LEGION (“turkey leg” + ION)
• 107A Lamaze class lectures? : CONTRACTION TALKS (“contract talks” + ION)

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

Bill’s time: 19m 33s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Give for free : COMP

To comp is to give for free, with “comp” coming from “complimentary”.

11A Chow : EATS

“Chow” is a slang term for “food” that originated in California in the mid-1800s. “Chow” comes from the Chinese pidgin English “chow-chow” meaning “food”.

15A Fall blooms, for short : MUMS

Chrysanthemums are perennial flowering plants that are often called “mums”.

19A Olympic fencing event : EPEE

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

• Foil
• Épée
• Sabre

21A Yankee preceder in the NATO alphabet : X-RAY

The NATO phonetic alphabet is also called the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) phonetic alphabet. Alfa, Bravo, Charlie … X-ray, Yankee, Zulu.

23A Literary takeaway? : READER’S DIGESTION (“Reader’s Digest” + ION)

Lila Wallace founded the “Reader’s Digest” along with her husband in 1922, and initially operated out of a basement office in New York City. The initial print runs were limited to about 5,000 copies. At its peak, “Reader’s Digest” had over 100 million readers in 163 countries.

26A Sorry! or Scrabble : GAME

Sorry! is a board game that dates back at least to 1934 when it was introduced in the UK market by Waddingtons. The game itself is based on the ancient game of pachisi, and involves players racing against each other to move their playing pieces around the board as quickly as possible. Players can cause opponents to return to the start, hopefully while saying “Sorry!” in the process.

The game of Scrabble has been around since 1938, and is the invention of an architect named Alfred Mosher Butts. Butts was born on April 13th, and we now celebrate National Scrabble Day on April 13th each year in his honor.

29A Carpenter’s drill : AUGER

An auger is a drill, a boring tool [yawn] …

30A Vellani of “The Marvels” : IMAN

Iman Vellani is a Pakistani-born Canadian actress who is best known for playing the title character (aka Kamala Khan) in the superhero miniseries “Ms. Marvel”. She reprised the role in the 2023 film “The Marvels”.

“The Marvels” is a 2023 superhero film, and a sequel to 2019’s “Captain Marvel”. Brie Larson reprises the role of Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers. Unusually for superhero movies, this one didn’t do too well at the box office and actually lost money after its run in theaters.

31A Riches of the Vatican? : PAPAL BULLION (“papal bull” + ION)

A bulla (also “bull”) is a type of seal impression. A papal bull is a formal document from the Vatican that has such a seal attached, hence the name of the document.

40A Soviet first lady Gorbacheva : RAISA

Raisa Gorbacheva was the wife of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. There’s no doubt that Raisa’s charm and personality helped her husband as he worked to change the image of the Soviet Union.

48A Blessing over breakfast? : EGGS BENEDICTION (“Eggs Benedict” + ION)

A benediction is a prayer, one usually spoken at the end of a religious service, in which one invokes divine help and guidance.

Eggs Benedict is a dish traditionally served at an American breakfast or brunch. It usually consists of a halved English muffin topped with ham and poached eggs, all smothered in Hollandaise sauce. The exact origin of the dish is apparently debated, but one story is that it is named for a Wall Street stockbroker called Lemuel Benedict. In 1894 in the Waldorf Hotel, Benedict ordered toast, poached eggs, crispy bacon and Hollandaise sauce as a cure for his hangover. The hotel’s maître d’ Oscar Tschirky was impressed by the dish and added the variant that we use today to the hotel’s menu, naming it for the gentleman who had first ordered it.

53A Feudal baron : THANE

Thanes were Scottish aristocrats. The most famous thanes have to be the Shakespearean characters Macbeth (Thane of Glamis, later “Thane of Cawdor”, and still later “King of Scotland”) and MacDuff (Thane of Fife). Other thanes in “Macbeth” are Ross, Lennox and Angus, as well as Menteith and Caithness.

54A Bronze finishers : MEDALISTS

In the Ancient Olympic Games, the winner of an event was awarded an olive wreath. When the games were revived in 1896, the winners were originally given a silver medal and an olive branch, with runners-up receiving a bronze medal and a laurel branch. The tradition of giving gold, silver and bronze medals began at the 1904 Summer Olympic Games held in St. Louis, Missouri.

55A JFK postings : ARRS

Arrival (arr.)

67A River Achilles was dipped into : STYX

The River Styx of Greek mythology was the river that formed the boundary between the Earth and the Underworld (or “Hades”). The souls of the newly dead had to cross the River Styx in a ferry boat piloted by Charon. Traditionally, a coin would be placed in the mouths of the dead “to pay the ferryman”.

Achilles is the protagonist in Homer’s “Iliad”. When Achilles was born, his mother attempted to make him immortal by dipping him into the River Styx. As he was held by the heel while under the water, this became the only vulnerable point on his body (his Achilles’ heel”). Years later he was killed when a poisoned arrow struck him in the heel. That arrow was shot by Paris.

70A Buck passers? : ATMS

“Buck” is a slang word meaning “dollar”. The term has been around at least since 1856, and is thought to derive from the tradition of using buckskin as a unit of trade with Native Americans during the frontier days.

71A Lena of “Chocolat” : OLIN

Lena Olin is a Swedish actress, and someone who has acting in her blood. Her mother was the actress Britta Holmberg and her father the actor and director Stig Olin. Olin had a very successful career in Sweden, often working with the great Ingmar Bergman. Olin’s breakthrough international and English-speaking role was playing opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” released in 1988. Way back in 1974, Miss Olin was crowned Miss Scandinavia in a beauty pageant for Nordic women held in Helsinki, Finland. Olin’s most famous performance was in “Chocolat” released in 2000, and then she won an Emmy in 2003 for Best Supporting Actress in the TV show “Alias”.

The movie “Chocolat”, released in 2000, is a big-screen adaption of the novel of the same name by Joanne Harris. “Chocolat” tells the story of a young mother with a six-year-old daughter who opens up a chocolate shop in a French village. The mother is played by the talented Juliette Binoche.

80A “Hasta la vista” : LATER

“Hasta la vista” is Spanish for “goodbye”. The phrase translates literally as “until the seeing”, i.e. “goodbye until we see each other again”.

81A Drink to forgive and forget? : ABSOLUTION VODKA (“Absolut vodka” + ION)

I must admit, if I ever do order a vodka drink by name, I will order the Absolut brand. I must also admit that I do so from the perspective of an enthusiastic amateur photographer. I’ve been swayed by the Absolut marketing campaign that features such outstanding photographic images.

83A Retired professor’s designation : EMERITUS

“Emeritus” (female form “emerita”, and plural “emeriti”) is a term in the title of some retired professionals, particularly those from academia. Originally an emeritus was a veteran soldier who had served his time. The term comes from the Latin verb “emerere” meaning to complete one’s service.

85A Gorilla expert Fossey : DIAN

Dian Fossey carried out her famous study of gorilla populations in the mountain forests of Rwanda. She wrote a 1983 autobiographical account of her work titled “Gorillas in the Mist”, which served as a basis for a 1988 film of the same name starring Sigourney Weaver as Fossey. Sadly, Fossey was found dead in her cabin in Rwanda in 1986, murdered in her bedroom, her skull split open by a machete. The crime was never solved.

86A Sitcom actress Georgia : ENGEL

Georgia Engel was a very funny comedy actress who is best known for playing Georgette Baxter, wife of Ted Baxter, on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”. Engel’s father was a vice admiral in the Coast Guard, and her sister was Miss Hawaii for 1967.

88A Oxford heads? : LOOS

In old sailing ships, the toilet area for the regular sailors was located in the forward part (the head) of the ship. As a result, the term “head” has been used since then for any toilet on board a boat.

Famously, the English city of Oxford is home to the oldest university in the English-speaking world, the University of Oxford, founded in 1096. The city is located where the river Cherwell meets the river Thames, which is known locally as the Isis. The name “Oxford” comes from the Old English for “ford of the oxen”, a reference to a shallow river crossing used by livestock.

91A Army of Istanbul? : TURKEY LEGION (“turkey leg” + ION)

Istanbul, Turkey (formerly “Byzantium” and “Constantinople”) is the only metropolis in the world that is situated on two continents. The city extends both on the European side and on the Asian side of the Bosphorus river.

97A Avianca airlines destination : CALI

In terms of population, Cali is the third-largest city in Colombia (after Bogotá and Medellin). Santiago de Cali (the full name for the city) lies in western Colombia. Apparently, Cali is a destination for “medical tourists”. The city’s surgeons have a reputation for being experts in cosmetic surgery and so folks head there looking for a “cheap” nose job. Cali has also been historically associated with the illegal drug trade and money laundering.

Avianca is the largest airline in Colombia. It traces its history back to December 5, 1919, when it was founded as Sociedad Colombo-Alemana de Transportes Aéreos (SCADTA) in Barranquilla, Colombia. This makes it the second-oldest continuously operating airline in the world, just after the Netherlands’ KLM.

106A Last Stuart queen : ANNE

Queen Anne was the last of the Stuarts to rule in Britain and Ireland, and the first sovereign of the Kingdom of Great Britain (after England and Scotland united). Anne was the last of the Stuart line because she died without any surviving children, despite having been pregnant seventeen times.

107A Lamaze class lectures? : CONTRACTION TALKS (“contract talks” + ION)

The Lamaze technique for childbirth was developed by a French obstetrician named Fernand Lamaze. He introduced the technique in the west after observing similar practices in the Soviet Union during a visit there in 1951.

110A Amtrak track : RAIL

Amtrak started replacing its Heritage Fleet of rolling stock in 1979 with the gradual introduction of Superliner railcars in 1979. Superliner cars are a bilevel design, with most passenger spaces in the upper level, with windows on both sides. Superliner cars were deployed on routes operating east of Chicago, and could not be used on eastern routes due to low tunnel clearances. Amtrak started introducing single-level Viewliner rolling stock in 1994, on long-distance routes east of Chicago.

111A The Jonas Brothers, e.g. : TRIO

The Jonas Brothers Pop rock band comprises brothers Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas. They recorded their first song in 2005, and really achieved fame a few years later due to repeated appearances on the Disney Channel. They split up in 2013, citing “creative differences”, but came back as a trio in 2019.

113A Cry for worms : PEEP

A peep is a sound made by a newly hatched bird.

116A Convent superior : ABBESS

A convent is a community devoted to religious life, and especially a community of nuns. The term “convent” ultimately comes from the Latin “com” (with, together) and “venire” (to come).

Down

1D “Arrested Development” star Michael : CERA

Michael Cera is a Canadian actor who played great characters on the TV show “Arrested Development”, and in the 2007 comedy-drama “Juno”. Cera is also quite the musician. He released an indie folk album titled “True That” in 2014.

“Arrested Development” is a sitcom that originally aired on Fox from 2003 to 2006. Ron Howard was heavily involved in the show behind the camera, serving as executive producer and also as the show’s narrator. Fifteen new episodes of “Arrested Development” were filmed specifically for release on Netflix in 2013, and there may even be a movie on the way.

3D Spam, lamb, or ham : MEAT

Spam is a precooked meat product that is sold in cans. It was introduced by Hormel Foods in 1937. The main meat ingredients are pork shoulder meat and ham. The name “Spam” was chosen as the result of a competition at Hormel, with the winner earning himself a hundred dollars. According to the company, the derivation of the name “Spam” is a secret known by only a few former executives, but the speculation is that it stands for “spiced ham” or “shoulders of pork and ham”. Spam is particularly popular in Hawaii, so popular that it is sometimes referred to as “the Hawaiian steak”.

4D Cab prefix : PEDI-

A pedicab is also known as a cycle rickshaw.

5D Old PC drive inserts : CD-ROMS

“CD-ROM” stands for “compact disc read only memory”. The name indicates that you can read information from the disc (like a standard music CD for example), but you cannot write to it. You can also buy a CD-RW, which stands for “compact disc – rewritable”, with which you can read data and also write over it multiple times using a suitable CD drive.

6D Jai alai basket : CESTA

The essential equipment in the game of jai alai is the pelota (ball) and the cesta (wicker scoop).

8D Boxers Muhammad and Laila : ALIS

The most famous boxing family name is likely “Ali”, referring to Muhammad Ali, born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., perhaps the greatest heavyweight boxer. His daughter, Laila Ali, also became a highly successful professional boxer, maintaining an undefeated record throughout her career.

9D Storage unit, for short : MEG

In the world of computing, 1,000,000 bytes is a megabyte (meg, MB).

12D Mermaid who sings “I wanna be where the people are” : ARIEL

“Part of Your World” is a power ballad from 1989’s animated feature “The Little Mermaid”, sung by the title character (voiced by Jodi Benson. Critics now rank the song as one of the greatest Disney songs of all time. The lyrics reflect the mermaid Ariel’s desire “to be where the people are”.

14D Thesaurus entry: Abbr. : SYN

Synonym (syn.)

The first person to use the term “thesaurus” to mean a “collection of words arranged according to sense” was Roget in 1852, when he used it for the title of his most famous work. Up to that point in time, a thesaurus was basically an encyclopedia. Before being used with reference to books, a thesaurus was a storehouse or treasury, coming from the Latin “thesaurus” meaning “treasury, treasure”.

15D Business bigwig : MOGUL

A mogul is a person with power. The term “mogul” comes from the Mughal emperors of India and South Asia.

16D Eel in nigiri : UNAGI

“Unagi” is the Japanese term for” freshwater eel”, and “anago” is the term for “saltwater eel”.

Nigiri is a type of sushi consisting of a small, hand-pressed mound of vinegared rice with a topping, typically a thin slice of raw fish or seafood. The name “nigiri” means “hand-pressed” in Japanese, which refers to the way the rice is shaped.

17D Old-fashioned copier, briefly : MIMEO

A mimeograph (also “mimeo”) is a cheap printing press that applies ink to paper through a stencil wrapped around a rotating drum. Mimeographs are still around, but have largely been replaced by offset printers and photocopiers.

24D Ready for making emends? : EDITABLE

The verb “to amend” means “to change for the better, put right, alter by adding”. The related verb “to emend” is used more rarely, and mainly in reference to the editing of professional writing. Both terms are derived from the Latin “emendare” meaning “to remove fault”.

31D __-mutuel : PARI

Pari-mutuel betting is a system in which the bookmaker is guaranteed a predetermined profit. All bets are pooled, taxes and house profit are removed, and the payoff is made with the resulting pool. In some parts of the world, the pari-mutuel system is referred to as “the Tote” (as indeed it is in Ireland).

33D The Cavaliers of the NCAA : UVA

The University of Virginia (UVA) sports teams are known officially as “the Cavaliers”. The unofficial nickname is “the Wahoos”.

34D City near Utah Lake : OREM

Orem, Utah was originally known as “Sharon” (a Biblical name), then “Provo Bench”, and in 1914 it was given the family name of a local railroad operator called “Orem”. Orem gave itself the nickname “Family City USA” and sure enough in 2010, “Forbes” rated Orem the 5th best place in the country to raise a family.

Utah Lake is a slightly saline freshwater body of water located in the Provo-Orem metropolitan area in Utah. The lake’s salinity is due to the fact that over 40% of its water is lost to evaporation.

36D City NNW of H-Town : BIG D

“Big D” is a nickname for the city of Dallas, Texas.

The city of Houston (sometimes “H-Town”) was named for General Sam Houston, who served as President of the Republic of Texas and then as Governor after Texas was annexed as a US state in 1845. As the city is home to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston was officially given the nickname “Space City” in 1967.

37D Actress Rae : ISSA

Issa Rae rose to prominence with her highly popular web series “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl”, which premiered in 2011. This led to her co-creating and starring in the acclaimed HBO comedy series “Insecure”, which garnered her multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. She’s also expanded into film roles and has her own media company, Hoorae.

41D Accounts on the ‘gram : INSTAS

Instagram (often abbreviated to “Insta”, or “IG”) is a photo-sharing application, one that is extremely popular. Instagram started in San Francisco in 2010. Facebook purchased Instagram two years later, paying $1 billion. The billion-dollar Instagram company had just 13 employees at the time of the sale …

42D Palm with chewable nuts : BETEL

The areca palm is sometimes referred to as the betel palm, although I find this a bit confusing. The fruit of the areca palm is the areca nut. The nut is often chewed along with a “betel”, a leaf from a vine in the pepper family. The combined leaf plus nut is referred to as a “betel nut”, which gives rise to the somewhat misleading “betel palm” name.

43D “I need a rescue” letters : SOS

The combination of three dots – three dashes – three dots, is a Morse signal first introduced by the German government as a standard distress call in 1905. The sequence is remembered as the letters SOS (three dots – pause – three dashes – pause – three dots). That said, in the emergency signal there is no pause between the dots and dashes, so “SOS” is really only a mnemonic. Similarly, the phrases “Save Our Souls” and “Save Our Ship” are back-formations that were introduced after the SOS signal was adopted.

50D Sweet popcorn coating : CARAMEL

The confectionery product known as caramel is made by heating sugar. The process of caramelization requires slow heating of the sugar to about 170 °C. The heating causes the sugar molecules to break down and convert into the compounds that provide the characteristic color and flavor of caramel.

56D Toe woe : BUNION

A bunion is a deformity that can develop in the joint connecting the big toe to the foot. A similar condition that affects the little toe is referred to as a bunionette, or Tailor’s bunion. The latter name arose when the affliction was attributed to sitting cross-legged, a posture adopted by many tailors of old.

59D “Said I Loved You … But I Lied” singer Michael : BOLTON

“Michael Bolton” is the stage name used by singer/songwriter Michael Bolotin. In fact, Bolton’s first album was titled “Bolotin”.

60D “The Very Busy Spider” writer/illustrator : CARLE

Eric Carle’s 1984 children’s book “The Very Busy Spider” has a tactile quality that is essential to its design. The spider’s web illustrations are printed with raised lines that are meant to be felt by a child’s fingers.

63D Origami medium : PAPER

Origami is the traditional Japanese art form of paper folding. The best-known example of the craft is the paper crane (“orizuru“). The word “origami” is derived from “ori“ (folding) and “kami” (paper).

65D PC connections : LANS

You may have a Local Area Network (LAN) in your house. If you’ve got a PC and a router or switch, likely attached to some modem, then you have a LAN.

66D Ancient Greek region : IONIA

The geographic region called Ionia is located in present-day Turkey. It was prominent in the days of ancient Greece, although it wasn’t a unified state and rather a collection of tribes. The tribal confederacy was more based on religious and cultural similarities than a political or military alliance. Nowadays we often refer to this arrangement as the Ionian League.

69D Lampoons : DERIDES

A lampoon is a parody, a spoof or send-up.

74D V-up muscles : ABS

A V-up is a core exercise that targets the abdominal muscles that is often considered an advanced version of a traditional sit-up. To perform a V-up, you lie on your back with your legs and arms extended. You simultaneously lift your upper body and legs, keeping them straight, to form a “V” shape with your body. You then lower both your upper body and legs back down without letting them touch the floor. I do a hundred of them every day … in my dreams …

76D Kaput : DONE

“Kaput” is a familiar term meaning “incapacitated, destroyed”, and comes to us from French (via German). The original word “capot” means “not having won a single trick” in the French card game Piquet.

77D Jigsaw puzzle starting point, often : EDGE

Jigsaws are saws designed for the cutting of irregular curves by hand. The original jigsaw puzzles were created by painting a picture on a sheet of wood and then cutting the picture into small pieces using a jigsaw, hence the name. Today, almost all jigsaw puzzles are pictures glued onto cardboard. The puzzle pieces are now die-cut, and so there’s no jigsaw involved at all.

79D Chums : PALS

A chum is a friend. The term “chum” originated in the late 1600s as an alternative spelling for “cham”. In turn, “cham” was a shortened form of “chambermate”, a roommate at university.

81D “Clan of the Cave Bear” author : AUEL

As Jean Auel prepared her first book in the “Earth’s Children” series, she did a lot of research about the Ice Age, the setting for her stories. She went as far as taking a survival course in cold conditions, learning to build an ice cave and how to make fire, tan leather and knap stone.

84D Cracker Jack bonus : TOY

Cracker Jack snack food was introduced to the public at the 1893 Chicago World Fair. It didn’t get the name “Cracker Jack” until a few years later when someone declared to the producers that the candied snack was “crackerjack!”. Prizes were introduced into each box starting in 1912. The list of toy surprises included rings, plastic figurines, temporary tattoos and decoder rings.

89D “C’est magnifique!” : OOH LA LA!

“C’est magnifique!” is French for “It is magnificent!”

90D Hunters’ hideaways : BLINDS

The term “blind”, when describing a hunting hideaway, comes from the verb “to blind”, meaning to obscure or conceal from view. A hunting blind is a place that blinds the game from seeing the hunter.

91D Winter Palace rulers : TSARS

The Winter Palace is a magnificent building in St. Petersburg in Russia that was home to the Russian tsars (and tsarinas). Today, the Winter Palace houses the famous Hermitage Museum. I was lucky enough to visit the Palace and museum some years ago, and I have to say that I have rarely been more impressed by a historical building.

92D Arm bones : ULNAE

The bones in the forearm are the radius and ulna. “Ulna” is the Latin word for “elbow”, and “radius” is Latin for “ray”. The humerus (plural “humeri”) is the long bone in the upper arm.

94D Collapses, with “over” : KEELS …

To keel over is to capsize, to turn a boat over so that her keel lies up from the surface. We also use the phrase “keel over” figuratively to mean “collapse, faint”.

95D Muppet who is fond of bubble baths : ERNIE

Ernie is one of the Muppets on the children’s TV show “Sesame Street”. He is usually seen with his roommate Bert, whom he frequently annoys and frustrates. Ernie is known for taking long baths with his rubber duckie. That “Rubber Duckie” is the title character in a hit song that Ernie (voiced by Jim Henson) released in 1970.

97D Atmosphere : CLIME

“Clime” is just another word for climate, as in the expression “in search of warmer climes”.

102D Places for napkins : LAPS

Our word “napkin” dates back to the 1300s, when it had the same meaning as today. The term comes from the old French word “nape” meaning “tablecloth” and the Middle English suffix “-kin” meaning “little”. So, a napkin is a little tablecloth.

103D Plant-based spread : OLEO

Emperor Louis Napoleon III of France announced a competition to develop a substitute for butter, a substitute that would be more accessible to the lower classes and more practical for the armed forces. A French chemist called Hippolyte Mege-Mouries came up with something he called oleomargarine in 1869, which was eventually manufactured under the trade name “margarine”. The name “oleomargarine” also gives us our generic term “oleo”.

105D Baking soda amts. : TSPS

“Baking soda” is a common name for the compound sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3).

107D Short change? : CTS

Cent (ct.)

108D Resource in Minecraft or Catan : ORE

Minecraft is a video game that was released in 2011. Apparently, it is the most popular video game of all time, with well over 200 million units sold.

The Settlers of Catan (now just “Catan”) is a board game that was introduced in 1995, in Germany as “Die Siedler von Catan”. The game is very popular in the US and was called “the board game of our time” by the “Washington Post”. My son plays it a lot, and as a lover of board games, I am going to have to check it out …

109D Male swan : COB

An adult male swan is a cob and an adult female is a pen. Young swans are swanlings or cygnets.