LA Times Crossword 19 Aug 22, Friday

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Constructed by: Rebecca Goldstein
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Where is the Lie?

Themed answers are common phrases with the letter string “LIE” removed:

• 35A “You can’t deny it,” and a good question about the answers to the starred clues : WHERE IS THE LIE?

• 18A *Sounds when Dad is on the roller coaster? : POP’S WHEES (“pops wheelies” – lie)
• 24A *Football official who makes the absolute worst calls? : DISASTER REF (“disaster relief” – lie)
• 47A *Extremely poor student? : LORD OF THE FS (“Lord of the Flies” – lie)
• 56A *Woefully inadequate crust on a steak? : SORRY CHAR (“sorry Charlie” – lie)

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

Bill’s time: 10m 07s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Diamond-studded watch, e.g. : BLING

Bling-bling (often simply “bling”) is the name given to all the shiny stuff sported by rap stars in particular i.e. the jewelry, watches, metallic cell phones, even gold caps on the teeth. The term comes from the supposed “bling” sound caused by light striking a shiny metal surface.

6 Drama award : OBIE

The Obies are the Off-Broadway Theater Awards. They have been presented annually since 1956. The recipients used to be chosen by “The Village Voice” newspaper, but now are jointly administered with the American Theatre Wing.

10 Greek peak : OSSA

Mount Ossa in Greece is located between Mount Pelion in the south, and the famed Mount Olympus in the north. Mount Ossa is also known as Kissavos.

14 “On the Media” medium : RADIO

“On the Media” is a weekly radio program produced by WNYC in New York that covers journalism, technology and first amendment issues. The show is distributed to NPR stations nationwide.

16 Temple athletes : OWLS

Temple University chose the owl as its mascot and symbol way back in the 1880s. The school’s first costumed owl mascot was named Victor T. Owl, and was introduced in 1977. Victor was renamed to Hooter T. Owl in 1984. The choice of the owl as a symbol reflected Temple’s original mission as a night school, catering to individuals of limited means who had to hold down jobs during the day.

17 Former NBA center who made only one three-point shot in his career : O’NEAL

Retired basketball player Shaquille O’Neal now appears regularly as an analyst on the NBA TV show “Inside the NBA”. Shaq has quite a career in the entertainment world. His first rap album, called “Shaq Diesel”, went platinum. He also starred in two of his own reality shows: “Shaq’s Big Challenge” and “Shaq Vs.”

18 *Sounds when Dad is on the roller coaster? : POP’S WHEES (“pops wheelies” – lie)

To pop a wheelie is to lift the front wheels of a vehicle off the ground by accelerating rapidly with the rear wheels.

20 Tower of note : AAA

The American Automobile Association (AAA) is a not-for-profit organization focused on lobbying, provision of automobile servicing, and selling of automobile insurance. The AAA was founded in 1902 in Chicago and published the first of its celebrated hotel guides back in 1917.

23 Adjective on taco truck menus : ASADA

The name of the dish called “carne asada” translates from Spanish as “roasted meat”.

31 Margarita condimento : SAL

In Spanish, “sal” (salt) is a “condimento” (seasoning).

32 Span. title : SRA

In Spanish, a “dama” (lady) might be referred to as “Señora” (Mrs.).

33 Business closing? : INC

A company that has incorporated uses the abbreviation “Inc.” after its name. By incorporating, a company forms a corporation, which is a legal entity that has legal rights similar to those of an individual. For example, a corporation can sue another corporation or individual. However, a corporation does not have all the rights of citizens. A corporation does not have the Fifth Amendment right of protections against self-incrimination, for example. It is perhaps understandable that the concept of “corporations as persons” is a frequent subject for debate.

34 Florida NFLers : BUCS

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (the Bucs) joined the NFL in 1976, along with the Seattle Seahawks, as an expansion team. The Bucs had a tough start in the NFL, losing their first 26 games. Things went better in the early eighties, but then the team went through 14 consecutive losing seasons. Their luck changed again though, and they won the Super Bowl at the end of the 2002 season.

39 Old Royale 8’s : REOS

The REO Motor Company was founded by Ransom Eli Olds (hence the name REO). The company made cars, trucks and buses, and was in business from 1905 to 1975 in Lansing, Michigan. Among the company’s most famous models were the REO Royale 8 and the REO Flying Cloud.

47 *Extremely poor student? : LORD OF THE FS (“Lord of the Flies” – lie)

“Lord of the Flies” is such a great story! William Golding wrote the novel as an allegory of society. The most famous screen adaptation was made in 1963, directed by Peter Brook.

54 Bread served with saag paneer : ROTI

Palak paneer is a dish from Indian cuisine. It consists mainly of paneer (a freshly-made cheese) in a puréed spinach paste. Saag paneer is a more generic form of the dish, one in which other leafy vegetables can be used to make the paste, e.g. mustard greens, collard greens or broccoli.

55 Maracanã Stadium city : RIO

Maracanã Stadium is a soccer stadium in Rio de Janeiro that opened in 1950, when it acted as host for that year’s FIFA World Cup. The facility was partially rebuilt in time for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. It was also used during the 2016 Summer Olympics, most notably for the opening and closing ceremonies.

59 Single-sex group of experts : MANEL

A manel (portmanteau of “man” and “panel”) is a panel in which all of the participants are men.

62 The Hawkeye State : IOWA

Iowa is nicknamed the Hawkeye State in honor of Chief Black Hawk, a leader of the Sauk people during the War of 1812 and the Black Hawk War.

65 Study __ : SESH

Session (abbreviated to “sess.” formally, and “sesh” informally)

Down

2 Poipu patio : LANAI

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.

Poipu is a town on the southern side of the Hawaian island of Kauai.

4 Actress Long : NIA

Nia Long is an American actress who is probably best known for playing Will Smith’s sometime girlfriend and fiancee Lisa Wilkes on the TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”.

6 Hawk in a duet : OSPREY

The osprey is also known as the sea hawk or fish eagle. Osprey nests are large heaps of sticks usually built in forks of trees and rocky outcrops. I’ve seen quite a few osprey nests built on the tops of light poles and utility poles. A pair of mating ospreys is known as a duet.

7 Bronx cheer leader : BOOER

What is known as a Bronx cheer in the US is called “blowing a raspberry” in the rest of the world. The term “Bronx cheer” is a reference to the sound made by some spectators in Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, in New York City.

8 Co. for surfers : ISP

An Internet service provider (ISP) is just what the name indicates, a company that provides its customers with access to the Internet. One way that ISPs differentiate themselves from each other is in the way in which end users are connected to the ISP’s network. So, there are cable ISPs, DSL ISPs, dial-up ISPs and satellite ISPs.

9 Maker of The Hero and The Fixer lip care products : EOS

eos Products is a company that was founded in 2006 in New York City. eoS sells beauty products such as lotions and creams, and is most famous for its lip balm. The initials “eos” stand for “Evolution of Smooth”.

11 Work-from-home attire, for many : SWEATSUIT

A sweatsuit is a combination comprising a sweatshirt and sweatpants.

12 The Iditarod, e.g. : SLED RACE

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race covers an incredible 1,161 miles, from Anchorage to Nome in Alaska. The race starts every year on the first Saturday in March, with the first race having been held in 1973. Finishing times range from over 8 days to 15 days or more. The first few races only used a northern route, but then a southern route was added to the roster every second year. It’s kind of a good thing, because when the racers take the northern route they don’t even pass through the town of Iditarod!

22 @ signs : ATS

The “at symbol” (@) originated in the commercial word, as shorthand for “each at, per” and similar phrases. I suppose we see the symbol most commonly these days as part of email addresses.

25 Buenos __ : AIRES

Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina, and is located on the estuary of the Ria de la Plata. As it is a port city, the people of Buenos Aires are known as porteños (“people of the port”). The name “Buenos Aires” can be translated from Spanish as “fair winds”.

26 Flat bread? : RENT

“Flat”, in the sense of an apartment or condominium, is a word more commonly used in Britain and Ireland than on this side of the pond. The term “flat” is Scottish in origin, in which language it used to mean “floor in a house”.

34 Rosé : BLUSH

The term “blush” has only been used in the world of wine since the late seventies, and is really only used here in the US. Today, we think of a blush as a relatively sweet pink wine, and a rosé as something more dry.

36 100 cents : EURO

The euro is divided into 100 cents, sometimes referred to as “euro cents”. Some countries within the European Union (Ireland, for example) have taken steps to withdraw the 1-cent and 2-cent coins from circulation by allowing cash transactions to be rounded to the nearest five cents. I found it a little odd when buying something in Ireland recently that was priced at 99 cents, and getting no change after handing over a euro coin …

37 Rangers goalie Shesterkin : IGOR

Igor Shesterkin is a hockey goaltender from Russia who started playing in the NHL with the New York Rangers in 2019.

49 “Rubber Duckie” singer : ERNIE

“Rubber Duckie” is a song performed by the muppet Ernie on “Sesame Street”. Rubber Duckie is also Ernie’s favorite toy, his rubber duck. “Rubber Duckie” was released as a single in 1970 and actually made it into the charts.

50 Sally of “Brothers & Sisters” : FIELD

Actress Sally Field first came to the public’s attention in the sixties with title roles in the TV shows “Gidget” and “The Flying Nun”. She has two Best Actress Oscars; one for “Norma Rae” (1979) and one for “Places in the Heart” (1984).

“Brothers & Sisters” is a TV drama that originally aired from 2006 until 2011. It tells the story of a wealthy family as it deals with the death of the patriarch, who founded the family business. Apparently, the show is loosely based on a British series called “The Brothers” that aired in the 1970s.

51 Red parts of Louboutin shoes : SOLES

Christian Louboutin is a fashion designer from Paris who is known for creating stiletto shoes with trademark, red-lacquered soles. His biggest individual client is American author Danielle Steel, who is said to own more that 6,000 pairs of Louboutin shoes!

57 Prefix with gender : CIS-

The term “cisgender” is used as the opposite of “transgender”. Cisgender people have a gender identity that matches the sex they were assigned at birth.