LA Times Crossword 16 Nov 25, Sunday

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Constructed by: Jim Quinlan

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: There She Is

Themed answers are common phrases, but with “SHE” inserted:

• 23A Launderer of USC football uniforms? : TROJAN WASHER (from “Trojan War”)
• 33A Security measures at cosmetics counters? : LEASHED PENCILS (from “lead pencils”)
• 48A Sentiment from a Louisiana enthusiast? : I LOVE PARISHES! (from “I Love Paris”)
• 71A Shrubbery at an academy for wizards and witches? : MAGIC SCHOOL BUSHES (from “Magic School Bus”)
• 90A Title of a bullfrog’s autobiography? : LIFE ON MARSHES (from “Life on Mars”)
• 109A One talking trash about our galaxy? : MILKY WAY BASHER (from “Milky Way bar”)
• 122A Result of holding a Nintendo DS too tightly? : SQUISHED GAME (from “Squid Game”)

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

Bill’s time: 19m 51s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

8A One of 500 for Dr. Seuss’s Bartholomew Cubbins : HAT

Bartholomew Cubbins is the protagonist in two of Dr. Seuss’s early books. In “The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins”, he is a peasant boy who infuriates the king because every time he removes his hat, a new one magically appears on his head. In “Bartholomew and the Oobleck”, the fictional green goo he must clean up has lent its name to a real-life substance. “Oobleck” is now the common name for a non-Newtonian fluid, typically made of cornstarch and water, that acts like a solid when pressure is applied but flows like a liquid otherwise. Quite interesting …

11A Court option : 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

15A “No seats left” sign : SRO

Standing room only (SRO)

18A Card player’s call : UNO!

UNO is a card game that was developed in the early seventies and that has been sold by Mattel since 1992. It falls into the shedding family of card games, meaning that the goal is to get rid of all your cards while preventing opponents from doing the same.

23A Launderer of USC football uniforms? : TROJAN WASHER (from “Trojan War”)

The University of Southern California (USC) is a private school in Los Angeles. Apart from its excellent academic record, USC is known for the success of its athletic program. USC Trojans have won more Olympic medals than the students of any other university in the world. The USC marching band is very famous as well, and is known as the “Spirit of Troy”. The band has performed with many celebrities, and is the only college band to have two platinum records.

The ancient city of Troy was located on the west coast of modern-day Turkey. The Trojan War of Greek mythology was precipitated by the elopement of Helen, the wife of the king of Sparta, with Paris of Troy. The war itself largely consisted of a nine-year siege of Troy by the Greeks. We know most about the final year of that siege, as it is described extensively in Homer’s “Iliad”. The city eventually fell when the Greeks hid soldiers inside the Trojan Horse, which the Trojans brought inside the city’s walls. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts …

28A Hard water issue : LIME SCALE

Hard water and soft water differ primarily in their mineral content. Hard water contains high concentrations of minerals like calcium and magnesium, whereas soft water has a significantly lower mineral content, often achieved through ion exchange processes that replace calcium and magnesium with sodium. A downside of hard water is scale buildup in pipes and appliances. A downside of soft water might be a salty taste due to the high levels of sodium. Swings and roundabouts …

29A North African viper : ASP

We use the term “asp” today to refer to several venomous species of snakes found in the Nile region. Even though “asp” comes from the Greek “aspis” meaning “viper”, the asp that we know as the symbol of ancient Egyptian royalty was not a viper at all. Rather, it was the Egyptian cobra.

32A Hyaluronic __ : ACID

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is essentially a sugar molecule, one that occurs naturally in the fluid of the eyes and in the joints. HA is found in many cosmetics as it binds water in the skin, giving it a plumper appearance.

48A Sentiment from a Louisiana enthusiast? : I LOVE PARISHES! (from “I Love Paris”)

In 48 of the 50 US states, the word “county” is used for the principal administrative division. The equivalent term in Alaska is “borough”, and in Louisiana is “parish”.

63A Some migratory birds : GEESE

A collection of geese is referred to as a “gaggle” when on the ground. When geese are in V-formation in flight, they are referred to collectively as a “skein”.

67A Lemony beer drink : SHANDY

A shandy is a beverage made by mixing beer and lemon-lime soda, often in a 50/50 ratio. I drank many a shandy in my younger years back in Ireland …

71A Shrubbery at an academy for wizards and witches? : MAGIC SCHOOL BUSHES (from “Magic School Bus”)

“The Magic School Bus” is a children’s cartoon show that originally aired on PBS in the nineties. The show was based on a series of books of the same name by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen.

75A Pontiff of 903 : LEO V

Pope Leo V was head of the Roman Catholic Church for just one year, from 903 to 904. Leo V was imprisoned by Antipope Christopher just two months after taking office. It is likely that both Antipope Christopher and Pope Leo V were executed on the orders of Sergius III, who took over the papacy in 904.

84A Cuddling in the open, for short : PDA

Public display of affection (PDA)

90A Title of a bullfrog’s autobiography? : LIFE ON MARSHES (from “Life on Mars”)

If you listen to David Bowie’s 1973 song “Life on Mars?”, you might notice a similarity to Frank Sinatra’s 1969 hit “My Way” (written by Paul Anka). Both songs are based on a 1967 French tune called “Comme d’habitude”.

101A Mercury, but not Mars : ELEMENT

Mercury is the only metallic element that is a liquid at room temperature. Mercury used to be known as “hydrargyrum”, from the Greek “hydr-” meaning “water” and “argyros” meaning “silver”. As a result, Mercury’s modern chemical symbol is “Hg” (for “Hydrargyrum”).

104A Roosevelt recovery program : NEW DEAL

The New Deal was the series of economic programs championed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in response to the Great Depression. It was focused on three objectives, the “3 Rs”:

1. Relief for the unemployed and poor
2. Recovery of the economy to normal levels
3. Reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression

109A One talking trash about our galaxy? : MILKY WAY BASHER (from “Milky Way bar”)

According to Greek mythology, the Milky Way is the breast milk of the goddess Hera, wife of Zeus. The term “Milky Way” is a translation of the Latin “via lactea”, used by the Romans. The Romans used the Latin name because the older Greek term for the same phenomenon was “galaxias kyklos” meaning “milky circle”.

Having lived on both sides of the Atlantic, I find the Mars Bar to be the most perplexing of candies! The original Mars Bar is a British confection (and delicious) that was first manufactured in 1932. The US version of the original Mars Bar is called a Milky Way. But there is a candy bar called a Milky Way that is also produced in the UK, and it is completely different to its US cousin, being more like an American “3 Musketeers”. And then there is an American confection called a Mars Bar, something different again. No wonder I try not to eat candy bars …

113A Empire centered at Cuzco : INCA

Cusco (also “Cuzco”) is a city in the southeast of Peru. Historically, Cusco was the historic capital of the Inca Empire, and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.

114A Old Testament prophet : ISAIAH

The Book of Isaiah is part of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. It is not mentioned in the Qur’an, but many Muslim scholars consider Isaiah a prophet. Isaiah is widely regarded as the most eloquent of the prophets, earning him the moniker “Shakespeare of the Prophets”.

115A Granola bar bit : OAT

The names “Granola” and “Granula” were trademarked back in the late 1800s for whole-grain foods that were crumbled and baked until crisp. Granola was created in Dansville, New York in 1863.

122A Result of holding a Nintendo DS too tightly? : SQUISHED GAME (from “Squid Game”)

The Nintendo DS is a handheld game console released by Nintendo in 2004. It features a clamshell design that opens to reveal two screens, with the bottom one being a touchscreen operated with a stylus. The “DS” in the name stands for “dual screen”.

“Squid Game” is a brutal survival drama TV series made in South Korea for Netflix. The title refers to a Korean children’s game, and the show itself features a series of children’s games. The players are adults, all of whom are in debt. They play a deadly series of games in the hope of surviving, and winning a multimillion-dollar prize. As I said, brutal …

125A Ga. capital : ATL

The city of Atlanta, Georgia (A-Town) had its beginnings in the late 1830s when the location was chosen as the terminus for a new railroad to be built connecting Georgia with the Midwestern United States. The city’s name was chosen by the Chief Engineer of the Georgia Railroad, apparently after the middle name of the daughter of Governor Wilson Lumpkin: “Atalanta”.

130A __ sauce : SOY

Soy sauce is made by fermenting soybeans with a mold in the presence of water and salt. Charming …

131A Wonka player Wilder : GENE

Gene Wilder was an actor noted for his comedic roles. Wilder had a successful collaboration with Mel Brooks on three great films: “The Producers”, “Blazing Saddles” and my favorite, “Young Frankenstein”. For a while, Wilder dated his “Young Frankenstein” co-star Teri Garr, but he was married most famously to “Saturday Night Live” star Gilda Radner.

Willy Wonka is the lead character in the 1964 novel by Roald Dahl called “Charlie & the Chocolate Factory”. Wonka has been portrayed on the big screen three times. Gene Wilder was a fabulous Wonka in the 1971 version titled “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory”, Johnny Depp played him in the Tim Burton movie from 2005 called “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, and Timothée Chalamet starred in the 2023 origin story, “Wonka”. I’ve only seen the first one …

133A Enervates : SAPS

To enervate is to drain of energy. “Enervare” is the Latin for “to weaken”.

134A Nav. officer : ENS

Ensign is (usually) the most junior rank of commissioned officer in the armed forces. The name comes from the tradition that the junior officer would be given the task of carrying the ensign flag.

Down

1D Western antihero : OUTLAW

In western movies and television, the bad guys tend to wear black hats, and the good guys wear white. Well, that’s the perception. As a result, we’ve come to use the phrase “black hat” to mean “villain”.

2D Colantoni of “Veronica Mars” : ENRICO

“Veronica Mars” is a TV show starring Kristen Bell in the title role. Mars is a student who also works as a private investigator.

3D Bert, to Ernie : ROOMIE

For many years, I believed that the “Sesame Street” characters Bert and Ernie were named after two roles played in the Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life”. In the movie, the policeman’s name is Bert and his taxi-driving buddy is named Ernie. However, the “Sesame Street” folks have stated that the use of the same names is just a coincidence. Aww, I don’t wanna believe that’s a coincidence …

4D Taylor Swift concert divisions : ERAS

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is a journey through her musical career, with each stage of the show representing a different “era” or album. Here’s the breakdown:

1. Lover
2. Fearless
3. Evermore
4. Reputation
5. Speak Now
6. Red
7. Folklore
8. 1989
9. Midnights

5D “The Mod Squad” role : LINC

The 1999 movie “The Mod Squad” was an adaptation of the seventies television show of the same name. The part of Lincoln “Linc” Hayes was played by Omar Epps, Claire Danes played Julie Barnes and Giovanni Ribisi played Peter Cochran.

6D State that’s home to Effigy Mounds National Monument : IOWA

Effigy Mounds National Monument northeastern Iowa is a sacred site that preserves more than 200 prehistoric mounds built by Native American cultures. It is most famous for its 31 “effigy” mounds, which are uniquely shaped like animals such as bears and birds. They were created by Pre-Columbian Mound Builder cultures between 850 and 1,400 years ago.

10D Synagogue scrolls : TORAHS

The word “synagogue” comes from a Greek word that literally means “assembly, gathering place.” It was formed by combining the Greek roots “syn-”, meaning “together,” and “agein”, meaning “to bring.”

12D Parking area : LOT

The “city lot” sense of “lot” is intertwined with the older practice of “casting lots”. Historically, land division was often determined by chance, particularly in early settlements or when distributing land among a group. “Lots” were physical objects, like stones or slips of paper, marked to represent different land parcels. These were drawn randomly, and the “lot” a person received corresponded to the specific piece of land assigned to that marker. This practice of “casting lots” directly led to the use of “lot” as a term for a defined piece of land, eventually giving us the modern usage in “city lot” and “parking lot.”

17D West Texas city : ODESSA

The city of Odessa, Texas has as its symbol the jack rabbit. This is because from the thirties through the seventies the city hosted a rodeo for roping rabbits. The Humane Society applied pressure and the city did away with the tradition in 1977.

24D Obi-Wan Kenobi, for one : JEDI

The Jedi are the good guys in the “Star Wars” series of movies. The most famous Jedi knights from the films are Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Alec Guinness, and later Ewan McGregor) and Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz). Well, they’re my favorites anyway …

27D Nona- follower : DECA-

Our prefix “dec-” comes from “deka”, the Greek word for “ten”. The prefix “deca-” means “multiplied by ten”, and “deci-” means “divided by ten”.

34D Pernod flavor : ANISE

The drink usually called just “Pernod” is a French beverage more correctly called “Pernod Anise”. The brand name was created by Henri-Louis Pernod in the late 1700s when he opened an absinthe distillery in Switzerland.

36D Prickly __ cactus : PEAR

A prickly pear is the edible fruit of the Opuntia cactus, named for its pear-shape and spiny skin. The juicy flesh has a flavor often compared to that of a watermelon-bubblegum cross. Before eating, the fruit’s tiny spines (called glochids) must be removed carefully to allow the thick skin to be peeled away.

38D Shorthand pro : STENOG

Stenography is the process of writing in shorthand. The term comes from the Greek “steno” (narrow) and “graphe” (writing).

40D Org. with a flower in its logo : EPA

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) logo is a circular emblem featuring a white flower set against a background representing the environment. This background depicts a blue sky, blue water, and green land, symbolizing the core domains of air, water, and land that the agency is charged with protecting.

45D Blazin’ Blueberry juice : HI-C

Hi-C orange drink was created in 1946 and introduced to the market in 1948, initially in the south of the country. The name “Hi-C” was chosen to emphasize the high vitamin C content in the drink, as it contained added ascorbic acid (vitamin C).

50D “Encore!” : ONE MORE!

“Encore” is French for “again, one more time”, and is a shout that an audience member will make here in North America to request perhaps another song. But, the term is not used this way in France. Rather, the audience will shout “Bis!”, which is the Italian for “twice!”

51D Compared with : VIS-A-VIS

We can use the French phrase “vis-à-vis” as a preposition meaning “compared with”. When used as an adverb or adjective, it means “face-to-face”, which is a more literal translation from French.

56D Handel oratorio : MESSIAH

“Messiah” is a famous oratorio composed by George Frideric Handel that was first performed in Dublin, Ireland in 1742. The libretto is a text from the King James Bible that was compiled by Handel’s friend Charles Jennens. Not long after he received the libretto from Jennens, Handel took just 24 days to compose the full oratorio. He was obviously on a roll, because Handel started into his next oratorio, “Samson”, just one week after finishing “Messiah”. He completed the first draft of “Samson” within a month.

65D Trent Reznor’s band, initially : NIN

Nine Inch Nails is the name of a rock band that was founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1988 by singer-songwriter Trent Reznor. Reznor chose the name “Nine Inch Nails” mainly because it abbreviated easily and succinctly, to “NIN”.

66D Franchise that includes “Iron Man” and “Ant-Man,” for short : MCU

Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)

67D __ de Janeiro: beauty company inspired by Brazilian beach culture : SOL

Sol de Janeiro is a skincare and fragrance brand inspired by body-positive beach culture of Brazil (hence the name). It is most famous for body creams and mists with sweet scents, such as the iconic Brazilian Bum Bum Cream that has a pistachio and salted caramel fragrance. Bum bum or yum yum?

69D Monogram on a Libre perfume bottle : YSL

Libre perfume from the Yves Saint Laurent fashion house is marketed as “a celebration of freedom”. “Libre” is a French word meaning “free”.

74D Tilling tool : HARROW

Harrows and plows have similar uses, in that they both break up the soil. Plows are used to bring deep soil to the surface, and to bury weeds so that they decay and release nutrients. Harrows break up and smooth just the surface soil, often after plowing.

84D Australian city served by Fremantle Harbour : PERTH

Perth is the capital city of Western Australia. Perth earned itself the nickname of “City of Light” in 1962 as virtually all the town’s lights were turned on at full power when astronaut John Glenn passed overhead in earth orbit in Friendship 7, so that he could see the city below. The city gave a repeat performance for Glenn in 1998 when he passed overhead in the Space Shuttle in 1998.

Fremantle Harbour is the port serving the city of Perth in Western Australia. During World War II, it played a crucial strategic role, becoming the largest and most important Allied submarine base in the whole of the Southern Hemisphere.

89D Reebok competitor : FILA

Fila was originally an Italian company, founded in 1911 and now based in South Korea. It was started in Piedmont by the Fila brothers, primarily to make underwear that they sold to people living in the Italian Alps. The company started to focus on sportswear in the seventies, using tennis-great Bjorn Borg as their major endorser.

93D Aro counterpart : ACE

“Aro” is a common shorthand for “aromantic”. An aromantic person is someone who experiences little or no romantic attraction. It is distinct from asexual (“ace”), which refers to little or no sexual attraction, though some individuals identify as both aromantic and asexual.

95D Pop star with a “Hive” : BEYONCE

Beyoncé Knowles established herself in the entertainment industry as the lead singer with the R&B group Destiny’s Child. She launched her solo singing career in 2002, after making her first appearance as an actor. In 2006 she played the lead in the very successful movie adaptation of the Broadway musical “Dreamgirls”. Beyoncé is married to rap star Jay-Z. She is also referred to affectionately as “Queen Bey”, a play on the phrase “the queen bee”. Her fan base goes by the name “Beyhive”.

100D Gear on a roof rack in Vail, maybe : SKIS

The Vail Ski Resort in Colorado is the largest single-mountain ski resort in the whole country. The resort was opened in 1962, basically in the middle of nowhere. It was given the name Vail after Vail Pass which runs by the mountain (now also called Vail Mountain). The town of Vail, Colorado was established four years later in 1966, and now has a population of about 5,000.

107D Shrewdness : ACUMEN

“Acumen” is such a lovely word, I think, one meaning “keenness of judgment or insight”. “Acumen” is Latin for “point, sting”, the idea being that someone with acumen has mental sharpness.

111D Pen prefix : EPI-

EpiPen is a brand of epinephrine auto-injector. An EpiPen delivers a measured dose of epinephrine, which is a common treatment for an extreme allergic reaction.

117D With 58-Down, growing fad? : CHIA …
58D See 117-Down : … PET

Chia is a flowering plant in the mint family. Chia seeds are an excellent food source and are often added to breakfast cereals and energy bars. There is also the famous Chia Pet, an invention of a San Francisco company. Chia Pets are terra-cotta figurines to which moistened chia seeds are applied. The seeds sprout and the seedlings become the “fur” of the Chia Pet.

118D Marine forest algae : KELP

Kelps are large seaweeds that grow in kelp forests underwater. Kelps can grow to over 250 feet in length, and do so very quickly. Some kelps can grow at the rate of 1-2 feet per day.

124D Actress Thurman : UMA

Uma Thurman started her working career as a fashion model, at the age of 15. She appeared in her first movies at 17, with her most acclaimed early role being Cécile de Volanges in 1988’s “Dangerous Liaisons”. Thurman’s career really took off when she played the gangster’s moll Mia in Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” in 1994. My favorite of all Thurman’s movies is “The Truth About Cats & Dogs”, a less acclaimed romcom released in 1996. She took a few years off from acting from 1998 until 2002 following the birth of her first child. It was Tarantino who relaunched her career, giving her the lead in the “Kill Bill” films.