LA Times Crossword 19 Oct 25, Sunday

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Constructed by: Zhouqin Burnikel

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: Easy Does It

Themed answers are common phrases, but with NO LA, with “LA” removed:

• 130A Mardi Gras city nickname, and an apt description of the answers to the starred clues : NOLA and NO “LA”

• 23A *Ensemble for finals week? : TEST FASHION (from “latest fashion”)
• 28A *Slug made from an old can? : TIN QUARTER (from “Latin Quarter”)
• 58A *Christmas tree in an atelier? : ARTISTIC FIR (from “artistic flair”)
• 83A *Courses full of twists and turns? : MAZE CLASSES (from “Lamaze classes”)
• 110A *Organizer for a nail tech? : MANI FOLDER (from “manila folder”)
• 119A *Treadmill setting for a Roman emperor? : CAESARS PACE (from “Caesar’s Palace”)
• 32D *Pride of a jacked security guard? : ANTI-THEFT ARM (from “anti-theft alarm”)
• 43D *Thanksgiving stuffing dishes that aren’t up to snuff? : SAD DRESSINGS (from “salad dressings”)

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

Bill’s time: 16m 35s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Layer outside the germ : BRAN

The germ of a cereal (like wheat and oat) is the reproductive part that germinates and grows into a new plant. A whole grain has three main parts:

1. the germ: the source of the new plant
2. the endosperm: the energy store of carbohydrate and protein for initial growth
3. the bran: protective outer shell

10A LAPD alerts : APBS

An All Points Bulletin (APB) is a broadcast from one US law enforcement agency to another.

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is the third-largest local law enforcement agency in the country, after New York PD and Chicago PD. Among other things, LAPD is famous for creating the first Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team in the US, in 1965.

14A No. 1 pals : BFFS

Best friend forever (BFF)

18A Sacred flower in Buddhism : LOTUS

The roots of the lotus plant penetrate into the bed of a lake or river, while the leaves float on the water’s surface. This behavior led to the use of the lotus as a symbol in the Buddhist tradition, as a symbol of purity of the body, speech and mind. The idea is that the lotus flower represents the pure body, speech and mind floating above the muddy waters of attachment and desire.

25A Purple boba tea flavor : TARO

Taro is a staple in many tropical regions, and is believed to be one of the earliest cultivated plants. There is evidence suggesting its cultivation dates back over 10,000 years in Papua New Guinea.

Bubble tea, sometimes called “boba tea”, is a tea-based drink from Taiwan. The “bubbles” are chewy tapioca balls that are usually added to the drink.

28A *Slug made from an old can? : TIN QUARTER (from “Latin Quarter”)

The American quarter is a little unusual in the world of decimal currency, if you think about it. Most currencies have a “20-cent” coin, which is easier to work with mathematically. The US went for the quarter in deference to the practice of dividing Spanish Milled Dollars into eight wedge-shaped “bits”. That’s also why the quarter is sometimes referred to as “two bits”. We’ve been using the adjective “two-bit” to mean “cheap, tawdry” at least since 1929. State quarters were introduced in 1999.

Paris’s Latin Quarter is named for the language once spoken on its streets, namely Latin. Beginning in the Middle Ages, the neighborhood around the Sorbonne University was the academic heart of Europe. Because students and scholars came from many different countries, Latin served as their common language for lectures, debates, and daily conversation, giving the quarter its historic name.

30A Playing surface that favors topspin : CLAY

There are four different surfaces used for playing tennis competitively:

• Clay courts (used for the French Open)
• Hard courts (used for the US Open and the Australian Open)
• Grass courts (used for Wimbledon)
• Carpet courts

36A Total score : TALLY

Back in the mid-1600s, a tally was a stick marked with notches that tracked how much one owed or paid. The term “tally” came from the Latin “talea” meaning “stick, rod”. The act of “scoring” the stick with notches gave rise to our word “score” for the number in a tally.

37A “Mulan” invader : HUN

“Mulan” is a 1998 animated feature film made by Walt Disney studios. The film is based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, a woman who takes the place of her father in the army and serves with distinction for twelve years without reward. Disney’s lead character was given the name Fa Mulan. Donny Osmond provided the singing voice for one of the lead characters, after which his sons remarked that he had finally made it in show business as he was in a Disney film.

38A Maker of off-road vehicles : TONKA

The toy manufacturer today known as Tonka started out as a manufacturer of garden implements in Mound, Minnesota in 1946. By 1955, toys had become the main product line for the company. At that time the owners decided to change the company name and opted for “Tonka”, a Dakota Sioux word meaning “great, big”.

48A Mall pizza chain : SBARRO

The Sbarro chain of pizza restaurants was founded by Italian immigrants, Gennaro and Carmela Sbarro.

50A Striped stone : AGATE

Agate is a micro-crystalline form of quartz (and so is related to sand/silica). Some agate samples have deposited layers that give a striped appearance, and these are called “banded agate”.

51A Egyptair hub city : CAIRO

The flag carrier airline for Egypt is EgyptAir, which started flying back in 1933 as Misr Airlines. “Misr” is the Egyptian word for “Egypt”.

52A David of “ABC World News Tonight” : MUIR

Journalist and TV anchor David Muir started hosting the show “ABC World News Tonight with David Muir” in 2014, and co-anchoring “20/20” in 2013. Apparently, Muir’s reporting received more airtime than any other American journalist in 2012 and 2013. Muir also made it onto “People” magazine’s list of Sexiest Men Alive in 2014.

54A LED component : DIODE

A light-emitting diode (LED) is a specialized form of semiconductor that when switched on releases photons (light). LEDs were used in early digital watches, and are getting more and more popular even though their use in electronic equipment is fading away. LEDs are used as replacements for the much less-efficient tungsten light bulbs. I replaced all of my tungsten Xmas lights many years ago and saved a lot on my electricity bill.

57A Focalin target, briefly : ADHD

Focalin is a refined version of the ADHD drug Ritalin. Ritalin’s active ingredient is a 50/50 mix of two mirror-image molecules, but only one of them provides the main therapeutic benefit. Focalin is made of only that single, more effective molecule, allowing for a smaller, more targeted dose.

58A *Christmas tree in an atelier? : ARTISTIC FIR (from “artistic flair”)

The custom of decorating trees at Christmas seems to have originated in Renaissance Germany. Those first trees were placed in guildhalls and were decorated with sweets and candy for the apprentices and children. After the Protestant Reformation, the Christmas tree became an alternative in Protestant homes for the Roman Catholic Christmas cribs. The Christmas tree tradition was imported into Britain by the royal family because of its German heritage. That tradition spread from Britain into North America.

64A Creole chef Chase : LEAH

Chef Leah Chase was based in New Orleans, and earned the moniker “Queen of Creole Cuisine”. She owned a celebrated restaurant in the city, Dooky Chase, that was the place to be during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. Disney used Chase as the inspiration for the lead character Tiana in the 2009 animated feature “The Princess and the Frog”.

69A Course track for a future JD : PRELAW

The law degree that is abbreviated to “J.D.” stands for “Juris Doctor” or “Doctor of Jurisprudence”.

71A Falcons city : ATLANTA

The Atlanta Falcons joined the NFL in 1965. The team name was suggested by a schoolteacher called Miss Julia Elliott. Elliot suggested that “the Falcon is proud and dignified, with great courage and fight. It never drops its prey. It is deadly and has a great sporting tradition.”

74A Marathon setting : GREECE

The marathon commemorates the legendary messenger-run by Pheidippides from the site of the Battle of Marathon back to Athens, and is run over 26 miles and 385 yards. The first modern Olympic marathon races were run over a distance that approximated the length of the modern-day Marathon-Athens highway, although the actual length of the race varied from games to games. For the 1908 Olympics in London, a course starting at Windsor Castle and ending in front of the Royal Box at White City Stadium was defined. That course was 26 miles and 385 yards, the standard length now used at all Olympic Games. Organizers of subsequent games continued to vary the length of the race, until a decision was made in 1921 to adopt the distance used in London in 1908.

75A Person who calls the shots : REFEREE

Back in the early 17th century, a referee was someone who examined patent applications. We started using the same term for a person presiding over a sporting event in the 1820s. “Referee” is a derivative of the verb “to refer”, and literally describes someone who has the authority to make a decision by “referring” to a book, archive etc.

77A Quindim ingredient : YOLK

The Brazilian dessert quindim is known for its intensely yellow color and rich custardy texture coming from a high concentration of egg yolks. A single, small quindim might use a dozen or more yolks. The culinary tradition originated in Portuguese convents where the egg whites were used for starching laundry, leaving a lot of egg yolks to be used in pastries.

80A Traditional mo. for a Bavarian beer festival : OCT

Oktoberfest is a 16-day beer festival in Munich that actually starts in September. About six million people attend every year, making it the largest fair in the world. I’ve attended twice, and it really is a remarkable party …

83A *Courses full of twists and turns? : MAZE CLASSES (from “Lamaze classes”)

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.

91A Parks of Alabama : ROSA

Rosa Parks was one of a cadre of brave women in days gone by who refused to give up their seats on a bus to white women. It was the stand taken by Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955 that sparked the Montgomery, Alabama Bus Boycott. President Clinton presented Ms. Parks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996. When she died in 2005, Rosa Parks became the first ever woman to have her body lie in honor in the US Capitol Rotunda.

92A Crocheted mat : DOILY

There was a draper in London in the seventeenth century named Doiley, and he gave his name to the lace fabric that he sold. The fabric in turn gave its name to the ornamental mat that we call a “doily”. I can’t abide doilies …

Crochet is a process of making a fabric using a hooked needle. “Crochet” is a French word meaning “hook”.

93A “Snowfall” actor Damson __ : IDRIS

British Nigerian actor Damson Idris is perhaps best known in North America for playing the leader of the African American crime family in the TV show “Snowfall”. My first encounter with Idris was playing Formula One driver Joshua Pearce in the riveting 2025 film “F1” …

97A Mount __: Washington estate : VERNON

Mount Vernon was the plantation home of President George Washington and his family, located along the banks of the Potomac River near Alexandria, Virginia. The estate was purchased by Washington’s ancestors when it was known as Little Hunting Creek Plantation. It was George Washington’s older half-brother who changed the name to Mount Vernon, in honor of Vice Admiral Edward Vernon, an English naval officer.

98A Arizona State’s city : TEMPE

Tempe is a city in the metropolitan area of Phoenix. It is named for the Vale of Tempe in Greece.

103A Classic muscle car : GTO

The initialism “GTO” was used on several touring cars (including a famous Pontiac) and stands for “Gran Turismo Omologato”. Italian car manufacturers started the tradition of calling their luxury performance cars “Gran Turismo”, and calling those cars they approved for racing “Gran Turismo Omologato”. The phrase “gran turismo omologato” translates as “grand touring homologated”, “homologated” being a technical term signifying official approval.

104A Doll with neon hair : TROLL

Troll dolls were quite the fad when I was a young lad at school in the sixties. Everyone seemed to have a little troll doll that was fixed on the end of a pencil. They were created back in 1959 by a Danish fisherman and woodcutter called Thomas Dam. He made the first as a cheap Christmas gift for his young daughter as his family was very poor. Local children all wanted them, and sales of his “Dam Dolls” took off.

106A Dorm VIPs : RAS

Resident assistant/adviser (RA)

110A *Organizer for a nail tech? : MANI FOLDER (from “manila folder”)

Manila folders and envelopes were originally made from manila hemp, hence the name.

114A Tofu nutrient : PROTEIN

“Tofu” is a name for bean curd, and is a Japanese word meaning just that … bean that has curdled. It is produced by coagulating soy milk, using either salt or something acidic. Once the protein has coagulated, the curds are pressed into the familiar blocks. Personally I love tofu, but my wife absolutely hates it …

118A Persian greeting? : MEOW

The Persian is that long-haired cat with a squashed muzzle. The breed takes its name from its place of origin, namely Persia (Iran).

119A *Treadmill setting for a Roman emperor? : CAESAR’S PACE (from “Caesars Palace”)

Caesars Palace is one of my favorite hotels on the Las Vegas strip, even though it is beginning to show its age. Caesars opened in 1966.

124A Bend at a barre : PLIE

A barre is a handrail used by ballet dancers for warm-up exercises and to provide support when practicing certain moves.

128A Straight people, casually : HETS

“Heterosexuality” is sexual attraction between persons of the opposite gender. The prefix “hetero-” comes from the Greek “heteros” meaning “different, other”.

130A Mardi Gras city nickname, and an apt description of the answers to the starred clues : NOLA and NO “LA”

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.

Down

2D Eggs in ikura sushi : ROE

In Japanese cuisine, the roe of salmon is called “ikura” and the roe of flying fish is called “tobiko”.

4D Like some brownies : NUTTY

Apparently, the first brownies were created for the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. The recipe was developed by a pastry chef at the city’s Palmer House Hotel. The idea was to produce a cake-like dessert that was small enough and dainty enough to be eaten by ladies as part of a boxed lunch.

8D Smeltery waste : DROSS

When metals are smelted, there is a scum made up of impurities that floats on the surface of the molten metal. This scum is called “dross” and is drawn off and discarded. The term “dross” has come to mean any waste or impure matter.

Metals are found in ore in the form of oxides. In order to get pure metal from the ore, the ore is heated and the metal oxides within are reduced (i.e. the oxygen is removed) in the chemical process known as smelting. The oxygen is extracted by adding a source of carbon or carbon monoxide which uses up the excess oxygen atoms to make carbon dioxide, a waste product of smelting (and, a greenhouse gas).

9D Currency at pachinko parlors : YEN

Pachinko is an arcade game as well as a gambling machine that is very, very popular in Japan in particular. It resembles a vertical pinball device into which steel balls are inserted.

12D Head-to-toe garments : BURQAS

A burqa (also “burka”) is the garment worn by some women in the Islamic tradition to cover up their bodies when in public.

13D Han River capital : SEOUL

Seoul is the capital city of South Korea. The Seoul National Capital Area is home to over 25 million people and is the second largest metropolitan area in the world, second only to Tokyo, Japan.

The Han River that runs through the South Korean capital of Seoul used to be known as the Hanshui, a name that is still used at times today.

14D Poses done in a taproom : BEER YOGA

Yoga while drinking beer; I could do that, maybe …

17D Oracle : SEER

In ancient Greece and Rome, an oracle was someone believed to be inspired by the gods to give wise counsel. The word “oracle” derives from the Latin “orare” meaning “to speak”, which is the same root for our word “orator”. One of the most important oracles of ancient Greece was Pythia, the high priestess to Apollo at Delphi.

19D OAK alternative : SFO

The San Francisco Bay Area is served by three major airports: San Francisco (SFO), Oakland (OAK) and San Jose (SJC).

24D Cook wear? : APRON

In Old French, a “naperon” was a “small table-cloth”. The term was absorbed into English as “napron”, describing a cloth used to cover the front of a person at work. Over time, “a napron” was heard as “an apron”, giving us our contemporary noun “apron”.

28D Classic Ford : T-BIRD

Ford manufactured the Thunderbird (T-Bird) from 1955 to 2005. Originally a two-seater sporty convertible, the T-Bird was introduced as a competitor to Chevrolet’s new sports car, the Corvette. The “Thunderbird” name is a reference to a legendary creature from the culture of several Native-American peoples. There’s also a story that the name is a direct reference to the Thunderbird Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California of which the then chairman of Ford’s board was a member.

30D Spanish girl : CHICA

In Spanish, a “niña” is a young girl, a child. The term “chica” applies to an older girl or perhaps a young woman. The term “muchacha” applies to girls in general, I think …

31D Like some eclipses : LUNAR

A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes into the shadow cast by the Earth from the light of the Sun, in other words when the Earth is positioned directly between the Sun and the Moon. The more spectacular solar eclipse takes place when the Moon passes in front of the Sun, so that the Earth falls into the shadow cast by the Moon.

38D Like some rear admirals : TWO-STAR

The rank of rear admiral is usually the lowest of the admiral ranks. The term originated with the Royal Navy. In days gone by, an admiral would head up the activities of a naval squadron from the central vessel. He (and they were always male back then) would be assisted by a vice admiral who acted from the lead vessel. There would also be a lower-ranking admiral to command the ships at the rear of the squadron, and this was the “rear” admiral.

41D Heebie-jeebies : FRIGHT

The plural noun “heebie-jeebies” describes a condition of extreme nervousness, one caused by worry or fear. The suggestion is that the term was coined in 1923 by cartoonist Billy De Beck in the “New York American”, although this might just have been the first time that the “heebie-jeebies” appeared in print.

43D *Thanksgiving stuffing dishes that aren’t up to snuff? : SAD DRESSINGS (from “salad dressings”)

Thanksgiving Day was observed on different dates in different states for many years, until Abraham Lincoln fixed the date for the whole country in 1863. Lincoln’s presidential proclamation set that date as the last Thursday in November. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday to the fourth Thursday in November, arguing that the earlier date would give the economy a much-needed boost.

45D Orangutan : RED APE

Orangutans (also “orangs”) are arboreal creatures, the largest arboreal animals known to man. They are native to Indonesia and Malaysia, and live in rainforests. Like most species in rainforests these days, orangutans are endangered, with only two species surviving. The word “orangutan” is Malay, meaning “man of the forest”.

47D Warbler lookalike : ORIOLE

The songbird called an oriole builds an interesting nest. It is a woven cup-like structure that is suspended from a branch like a hammock.

49D Scouring brand : BRILLO

Brillo is a soapy, steel wool pad patented in 1913. The company claims that the name “Brillo” is derived from the Latin word for “bright”.

52D Wii Sports avatar : MII

Nintendo introduced customizable avatars for the company’s video game consoles starting in 1997. The first customizable avatars for the Wii system were introduced in 2006, and were given the inventive name “Miis”.

53D Golden State sch. : UCLA

“Golden State” has been the official nickname of California since 1968. The nickname reflects the expansion of the state’s economy that followed the discovery of gold in 1848, and also the fields of golden poppies seen growing wild across California in the spring.

55D Lentil dish : DAL

I love dal dishes, which are prepared from various peas or beans (often lentils) that have been stripped of their outer skins and split. Dal is an important part of Indian cuisines. I suppose in Indian terms, split pea soup (another of my favorites) would be called a dal.

65D Capital city in Anatolia : ANKARA

Ankara is the second largest city in Turkey, after Istanbul (formerly Constantinople). After WWI, the Ottoman Empire had been defeated and the Allies occupied the Ottoman capital of Istanbul. The victors planned to break up most of Turkey, leaving native Turks just part of their country for their own. In the inevitable War of Independence that followed, the Turkish Nationalists used Ankara as their base. When the Nationalists emerged victorious, they declared Ankara the new capital of Turkey.

Asia Minor is also known as Anatolia. It is the geographic part of Asia that protrudes out into the west, towards Europe, and is roughly equivalent to modern-day Turkey.

69D Toast at a Bavarian beer festival : PROSIT

“Prosit” (also “prost”) is a German toast meaning “may it benefit”.

Bavaria in southeast Germany is the largest state in the country. The capital and largest city in Bavaria is Munich.

79D TV pioneer : 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.

84D French novelist Émile : ZOLA

The most famous work by French writer Émile Zola is his 1898 open letter “J’Accuse!” written to French president Félix Faure. The letter was published on the front page of a leading Paris newspaper, and accused the government of anti-Semitism in its handling of the trial of Captain Alfred Dreyfus. Dreyfus was a Jewish military officer in the French army, falsely accused and convicted of spying for Germany. Even after the error was discovered, the government refused to back down and let Dreyfus rot away on Devil’s Island rather than admit to the mistake. It wasn’t until 1906, 12 years after the wrongful conviction, that Dreyfus was freed and reinstated, largely due to the advocacy of Emile Zola.

85D Cotija-covered corn : ELOTE

Corn in a cup (“elote en vaso”, or simply “elote”) is a Mexican street food. It is made with fresh corn kernels mixed with mayonnaise, cheese, lime and chile.

Cotija is a salty and milky cheese named for the Mexican town of Cotija from where it originated.

86D Council of clerics : SYNOD

The word “synod” comes from the Greek word for “assembly, meeting”. A synod is a church council, usually one in the Christian faith.

90D Bouillon brand : KNORR

When I was growing up in Ireland, we never saw Campbell’s soup on the shelves. It was basically all Knorr products, and dehydrated soup from a packet at that. How times have changed. Knorr is a German brand, now owned by the Anglo-Dutch Company Unilever.

Bouillon is broth made from water in which bones, meat or vegetables have simmered. There’s a lot of money made selling dehydrated bouillon in cubes.

94D Feudal laborer : SERF

A serf was a member of the lowest feudal class, someone attached to land owned by a lord. Even though “serf” comes from the Latin “servus”, meaning “slave”, serfs could not be bought or sold. However, they were not free to leave the land they worked without the lord’s permission

96D Miss. home : USA

The state of Mississippi is named for the Mississippi river. In fact, the river defines Mississippi’s entire western state line, separating it from Arkansas and Louisiana.

97D Deadly snake : VIPER

The Viperidae are a family of venomous snakes commonly referred to as vipers.

99D Gene arising from mutation : ALLELE

A mutation is simply a change in the sequence of DNA, analogous to a typo in a recipe. These “typos” are the ultimate source of all genetic variation, creating new versions of a gene called alleles. For instance, the original human gene for eye color was likely for brown eyes, but mutations created the new alleles that give us blue, green, and hazel eyes.

112D Giraffe feature : NECK

The giraffe is the tallest terrestrial animal on the planet. Its main source of food is acacia leaves that they eat from high, high up in trees, where other herbivores cannot reach.

116D Magnet end? : -ISM

Magnetism is fundamentally a side effect of electricity in motion. Every time an electric charge moves, whether it’s current flowing through a household wire or an electron spinning in an atom, it generates a magnetic field that swirls around its path of travel. This inseparable link is the basis for everything from simple electromagnets to giant electric motors.

119D “Spy Game” org. : CIA

The excellent 2001 film “Spy Game” is an action thriller starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt as CIA operatives. Apparently, the movie is often cited by former intelligence officers as one of the more realistic depictions of the relationship between a CIA case officer and their operative. Recommended …