LA Times Crossword 5 Oct 25, Sunday

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Constructed by: Zachary David Levy

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: It’s Not Like That

Themed answers are common phrases reinterpreted as two things in a “VERSUS” scenario:

• 22A Ice versus Stone? : AGE DISPARITY
• 30A Cotton versus silk? : MATERIAL DIFFERENCE
• 46A Dibbling versus broadcasting? : SOWING DISSENT
• 67A Stilton versus cheddar? : SHARP CONTRAST
• 90A Octopus versus starfish? : ARMED CONFLICT
• 105A Foil versus saber? : POINTS OF CONTENTION
• 118A Agar versus broth? : CULTURE CLASH

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

Bill’s time: 13m 52s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

18A Xylophone tool : MALLET

The glockenspiel and xylophone are similar instruments, the main difference being the material from which the keys are made. Xylophone keys are made from wood, and glockenspiel keys are made from metal.

20A __ in a blanket : PIGS

“Pigs in a blanket” are usually hot dogs that have been wrapped and cooked in some kind of dough. Over in Scotland, the same dish is called a “kilted sausage”.

21A JFK fig. : ETA

The Idlewild Golf Course was taken over by the city of New York in 1943 and construction started on a new airport to serve the metropolis and relieve congestion at LaGuardia. The Idlewild name still persists, even though the airport was named after Major General Alexander E. Anderson from the first days of the project. When the facility started operating in 1948 it was known as New York International Airport, Anderson Field. It was renamed to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in 1963, one month after the President was assassinated.

22A Ice versus Stone? : AGE DISPARITY

Ice ages are periods in the Earth’s history when there are extensive ice sheets present in the northern and southern hemispheres. One might argue that we are still in an ice age that began 2.6 million years ago, as evidenced by the presence of ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica.

Ancient societies can be classified by the “three-age system”, which depends on the prevalence of materials used to make tools. The three ages are:

• The Stone Age
• The Bronze Age
• The Iron Age

The actual dates defined by each age depend on the society, as the timing of the transition from the use of one material to another varied around the globe.

24A Lena of “Romeo Is Bleeding” : 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”.

“Romeo Is Bleeding” is a 1993 neo-noir film starring Gary Oldman as a corrupt cop and Lena Olin as a psychopathic and manipulative Russian assassin. Surprisingly, the two leading characters start to fall in love. The movie’s title is taken from a song of the same name by Tom Waits.

26A Brewer’s supply : YEAST

Yeasts are unicellular microorganisms in the kingdom Fungi. The species of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been used for centuries in the making of wine and beer, and in breadmaking. Saccharomyces cerevisiae converts carbohydrates into carbon dioxide and alcohol in the process of fermentation. When making beer and wine, the carbon dioxide and alcohol may be captured by the liquid. When making bread, the carbon dioxide and alcohol is driven off by heat.

27A Date tree : PALM

Date palms can be either male or female. Only the female tree bears fruit (called “dates”).

29A Common sacrifice : BUNT

To bunt in baseball is to barely hit the ball, just enough to have it roll slowly in front of the infielders.

35A Italian beer brand : PERONI

The Peroni Brewery is based in Rome, although it was founded in Vigevano in Lombardy in 1846. Outside of Italy, Peroni is particularly popular in the UK.

38A Sticks together : CLEAVES

I’ve always found “to cleave” an interesting verb. When used with an object, to cleave something is to split it, as when using a cleaver. When used without an object, to cleave is to cling, to adhere, as in “to cleave to one’s principles in the face of adversity”. Although not exactly so, the two definitions seem to have opposite meanings to me …

39A “Family Matters” nerd : URKEL

Steve Urkel is a character on the TV show “Family Matters” that originally aired in the late eighties and nineties. The Urkel character was the archetypal “geek”, played by Jaleel White. Urkel was originally written into the show’s storyline for just one episode, but before long, Urkel was the show’s most popular recurring character.

40A Pequod captain : AHAB

The Pequod is the whaling ship that figures in Herman Melville’s classic novel “Moby Dick”. The ship is owned by a consortium of the citizens of Nantucket Island, including Captains Ahab, Bildad and Peleg.

41A Zilch : NIL

We use the term “zilch” to mean “nothing”. Our current usage evolved in the sixties, before which the term was used to describe “meaningless speech”. There was a comic character called Mr. Zilch in the 1930s in “Ballyhoo” magazine. Mr. Zilch’s name probably came from the American college slang “Joe Zilch” that was used in the early 1900s for “an insignificant person”.

44A Talked privately, for short : DMED

Direct message (DM)

45A __ Arbor, Michigan : ANN

Ann Arbor, Michigan was founded in 1824 by John Allen and Elisha Rumsey. Supposedly, Allen and Rumsey originally used the name “Annsarbour” in recognition of stands of bur oak that were on the land they had purchased and in recognition of their wives, both of whom were called “Ann” (i.e. Anns’ Arbor)

46A Dibbling versus broadcasting? : SOWING DISSENT

A dibble is a pointed wooden stick used to make holes in the ground for seeds or seedlings. “Dibbling” is more seed-efficient than “broadcasting” (scattering seeds by hand) as it ensures proper depth and spacing, though it is more labor-intensive.

54A Jacked, slangily : SWOLE

“Swole” is an informal term meaning “very muscular”. Yeah, I hear that word all the time …

64A Tiny amount : DRIB

A drib is a negligible amount, as in “dribs and drabs”. The term “drib” arose in Scotland in the 18th century, and might possibly come from the verb “to dribble”.

65A __ tai : MAI

The mai tai cocktail is strongly associated with the Polynesian islands, but the drink was supposedly invented in 1944 in Trader Vic’s restaurant in Oakland, California. One recipe is 6 parts white rum, 3 parts orange curaçao, 3 parts orgeat syrup, 1 part rock candy syrup, 2 parts fresh lime juice, all mixed with ice and then a float added of 6 parts dark rum. “Maita’i” is the Tahitian word for “good”.

67A Stilton versus cheddar? : SHARP CONTRAST

Stilton is a lovely village in Cambridgeshire in England, and is the original home of the delicious blue cheese called Stilton. Paradoxically, cheesemakers in Stilton are not allowed to call their product Stilton any more. Stilton can only be made in the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, and not in Cambridgeshire.

Cheddar cheese takes its name from the English village of Cheddar in Somerset. Over 50% of the cheese sold in the UK is cheddar. Here in the US, cheddar is the second-most popular cheese sold, behind mozzarella.

72A “The Crying Game” actor Stephen : REA

Stephen Rea is an actor from Belfast, Northern Ireland. His most successful role was Fergus in 1992’s “The Crying Game”, for which performance he was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. In “The Crying Game”, Fergus was a member of the IRA. In real life, Rea was married to IRA bomber and hunger striker Dolours Price at the time he made the movie.

“The Crying Game” is a fascinating film that made quite a splash when it was released in 1992. Although it was set in Ireland and the UK, it didn’t do well in cinemas in either country yet made a lot of money over here in the US. I think the politics of the movie were a bit raw for Irish and UK audiences back then. It’s an unusual plot, blending Irish political issues with some raw sexuality questions.

77A Hindu god : SIVA

Shiva (also “Siva”) is one of the major deities of the Hindu tradition, and is known as the destroyer of evil and the transformer. Shiva is also part of the Hindu trinity known as the Trimurti, along with Brahma and Vishnu.

79A Port, e.g. : WINE

We tend to see two main styles of port (although there are several available): ruby and tawny. Ruby port is stored in concrete or stainless steel tanks that prevent oxidative aging, leaving the wine a bright red color. Tawny port is aged in wooden barrels, which allow gradual oxidation, leaving the wine a golden-brown color.

80A __ Canyon National Park : BRYCE
83A Utah city northeast of 80-Across : MOAB

Bryce Canyon National Park is a beautiful part of America. The strange thing is that Bryce isn’t a canyon at all, but rather is a natural amphitheater created by erosion of sedimentary rocks that are part of the Paunsaugunt Plateau.

Moab is a city in eastern Utah that attracts a lot of visitors each year, mainly those heading for Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, which are nearby.

90A Octopus versus starfish? : ARMED CONFLICT

The term “octopus” comes from the Greek for “eight-footed”. The most common plural used is “octopuses”, although the Greek plural form “octopodes” is also quite correct. The plural “octopi” isn’t really correct as the inference is that “octopus” is like a second-declension Latin noun, which it isn’t. That said, dictionaries are now citing “octopi” as an acceptable plural. Language does evolve, even though that drives me crazy …

Starfish (sometimes known as “sea stars”) come in many shapes and sizes, but commonly have “pentaradial symmetry”, meaning they have symmetrical body-shapes with five points. Most starfish are predators, mainly living on a diet of mollusks such as clams and oysters.

93A Bygone space station : MIR

Russia’s Mir space station was a remarkably successful project. It held the record for the longest continuous human presence in space at just under 10 years, until the International Space Station eclipsed that record in 2010. Towards the end of the space station’s life however, the years began to take their toll. There was a dangerous fire, multiple system failures, and a collision with a resupply ship. The Russian commitment to the International Space Station drained funds for repairs, so Mir was allowed to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up in 2001. “Mir” is a Russian word meaning “peace” or “world”.

94A Director Kazan : ELIA

Elia Kazan won Oscars for best director in 1948 for “Gentleman’s Agreement” and in 1955 for “On The Waterfront”. He was recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences when he was given the 1998 Academy Honorary Award citing his lifetime achievement in the industry. Kazan also directed “East of Eden”, which introduced James Dean to movie audiences, and “Splendor in the Grass” that included Warren Beatty in his debut role.

95A __ polloi : HOI

“Hoi polloi” is a Greek term that translates literally as “the majority, the many”. In English, “hoi polloi” has come to mean “the masses” and is often used in a derogatory sense. Oddly, the term has also come to describe “the elite”.

96A Pixar film set by the Ligurian Sea : LUCA

“Luca” is a 2021 Pixar animated film. The title character is a sea monster boy who can take the form of a human while on land.

The Ligurian Sea is part of the Mediterranean, located off the Italian coast and north of the French island of Corsica.

100A Five-time Emmy winner Laurence : OLIVIER

Laurence Olivier had to be one of the most respected actors to come out of England in the 20th century. He had tremendous impact on stage and screen, and was never short of work on either side of the Atlantic. While working in the British film industry just before WWII, Olivier met actress Vivien Leigh. The two were already married, but started an affair. Olivier travelled to Hollywood as he was cast as Heathcliff in “Wuthering Heights”, which gave him his big break in Hollywood. Leigh followed Olivier and found herself cast as Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone with the Wind”. The couple took Hollywood by storm, and eventually unraveled their prior marriages so that they could wed in 1940.

103A Seinfeld neighbor : KRAMER

Cosmo Kramer is the outrageous character played by Michael Richards on “Seinfeld”. “Seinfeld” co-creator, Larry David, introduced Kramer into the story, basing the character on real-life comedian Kenny Kramer who used to live across the hall from him.

105A Foil versus saber? : POINTS OF CONTENTION

Before the foil was introduced as a sporting weapon, it was used as a blunted weapon for sword practice. It has been suggested that the sword was blunted by wrapping metal foil around the tip, hence the name.

A saber (sometimes “sabre”) is a sword with a curved blade and a relatively large hand guard. It is thought that the term originated with the Hungarian verb “szabni” meaning “to cut”.

109A Country where the Amazon originates : PERU

The Amazon River of South America is the world’s largest in terms of volume, and accounts for an amazing one-fifth of the world’s total river flow. Perhaps even more amazing is that there are no bridges across the Amazon! There isn’t even one, mainly because the river flows through tropical rainforest where there are few roads and cities.

110A __ tikki: potato patties : ALOO

Aloo tikki is a snack dish from Indian cuisine. In Hindi, “aloo” means “potato” and “tikki” means “patty, croquette”, so “aloo tikki” literally translates to “potato patty”.

111A Taylor-Joy of “Emma” : ANYA

Actress Anya Taylor-Joy had quite the international upbringing. She was born in Miami, and raised in Buenos Aires and then London. She is perhaps best known for playing the title character in the 2020 film adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Emma”, and the lead role in the Netflix miniseries “The Queen’s Gambit”.

The 2020 film “Emma” is a very entertaining adaptation of the 1815 novel of the same name by Jane Austen. Anya Taylor-Joy plays the title role, and musician/actor Johnny Flynn plays “Mr. Knightly”. Veteran actor Bill Nighy makes a welcome appearance as Emma’s father “Mr. Woodhouse”. I enjoyed this one …

118A Agar versus broth? : CULTURE CLASH

Agar (also “agar-agar”) is a jelly extracted from seaweed that has many uses. Agar is found in Japanese desserts, and can also be used as a food thickener or even as a laxative. In the world of science, it is the most common medium used for growing bacteria in Petri dishes.

121A “The Late Great Johnny __”: Paul Simon tune : ACE

Paul Simon’s 1983 song “The Late Great Johnny Ace” memorializes the real-life R&B singer Johnny Ace, who died tragically on Christmas Day 1954 after accidentally shooting himself backstage. The song’s second verse moves on to the 1980 murder of John Lennon, as well as referring to the assassination of President John. F Kennedy. The song concludes with a rather beautiful, one-minute long instrumental composed and performed by composer Philip Glass.

123A Inuit craft : UMIAK

There is a type of boat used by Inuit people called an “umiak”. The term “umiak” means “woman’s boat”, whereas “kayak” means “man’s boat”.

124A Worked, as clay : MOLDED

Clay is a naturally-occurring soil material that becomes moldable when wet, and hardens when fired in a kiln. That makes it a ceramic material, the oldest known ceramic used by humans.

126A Bygone organizers, for short : PDAS

Personal digital assistant (PDA)

127A Abandon ship : BAIL

The phrase “to bail out” (sometimes just “to bail”) means to leave suddenly. We’ve been using the term since the early thirties, when it originated with airline pilots. To bail out is to make a parachute jump.

Down

2D Sorcerer : MAGE

“Mage” is an archaic word meaning “magician, wizard”.

4D Carmaker whose last new model was the Alero : OLDSMOBILE

The Alero was the last car made by General Motors under the Oldsmobile brand. It was produced from 1999 to 2004.

5D Meat substitute : SEITAN

Seitan is a foodstuff made from wheat gluten that is often used as an alternative to meat. “Seitan” is a word that was coined in Japanese in 1961 by George Ohsawa, the founder of the macrobiotic diet.

7D Cook’s clove : GARLIC

Our word “garlic” evolved via Old English from “gar” (spear) and “leac” (leek). The use of “spear” is apparently a reference to the shape of a clove.

8D Cracker shape : ANIMAL

“Animal Crackers” was a successful 1928 Broadway play that was adapted into a very popular 1930 movie of the same name starring the Marx Brothers. Central to the film’s plot is the disappearance of a valuable painting during a party thrown to honor a famed African explorer (played by Groucho). Groucho has a line in the film that is listed as #53 in the American Film Institute’s “100 Greatest Movie Quotes of All Time”:

One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don’t know.

9D Casino action : BET

The term “casino” originated in the 1700s, then describing a public room for music or dancing. “Casino” is a diminutive of “casa” meaning “house”.

11D Lampooned : SPOOFED

The word “spoof” came into the language in the 1880s with the meaning “hoax, deception”. The term was coined by British comedian Arthur Roberts as the name for a card game he invented that involved trickery and nonsense. The verb “to spoof” came to mean “to satirize gently” starting in the 1920s.

12D Rice sides : PILAFS

“Pilaf” is a Persian word, one that we use to describe rice that is browned in oil and then cooked in a seasoned broth. It can also be called “pilau”.

14D 1040 fig. : SSN

Form 1040, issued by the IRS, is the “US Individual Income Tax Return”. It was originally created just for tax returns from 1913, 1914 and 1915, but it’s a form that just keeps on giving, or should I say “taking” …?

15D Put to bed, as a rumor : DEBUNK

The word “bunk” is short for “bunkum”, the phonetic spelling of “Buncombe”, which is a county in North Carolina. Supposedly, a state representative made a dull and irrelevant speech that was directed to his home county of Buncombe, bringing the term “bunkum” into the language with the meaning of “nonsense”. The derivative word “debunk” first appeared in a novel by William Woodward in 1923, when he used it to describe “taking the bunk out of things”.

16D En masse : AT ONCE

“En masse” is a French term, one that best translates as “as a group”

17D “The Mirror & the Light” novelist Hilary : MANTEL

“Wolf Hall” is a 2009 historical novel by Hilary Mantel that provides a fictional account of the life of Thomas Cromwell, chief minister to King Henry VIII. The novel was adapted by the BBC into a very successful TV series of the same name. “Wolf Hall” is the first part of a trilogy of books by Mantel, followed by “Bring Up the Bodies” (2012) and “The Mirror and the Light” (2020).

19D Pre-Carson host of “The Tonight Show” : PAAR

Jack Paar was most famous as the host of “The Tonight Show”, from 1957 to 1962. When he died in 2004, “Time” magazine wrote that Paar was “the fellow who split talk show history into two eras: “Before Paar and Below Paar”. Very complimentary …

23D 120-Down’s face shields, masks, etc.: Abbr. : PPE
[120D Ambulance crew, briefly : EMS]

Personal protective equipment (PPE)

29D Saint __: dog breed : BERNARD

The St. Bernard dog originated in the Italian and Swiss alps, and was indeed specially bred for rescue. The breed dates back at least to the early 1700s when the dogs worked from the traveler’s hospice at the St. Bernard Pass in the Alps between Italy and Switzerland. The breed took its name from this famously treacherous route through the mountains.

32D Intro, in journalism jargon : LEDE

The opening paragraph in any work of literature is often just called “the lead”. In the world of journalism, this is usually referred to as “the lede”. The derivative phrase “bury the lede” means to fail to stress the most important aspect of a story.

34D Smallest of a litter : RUNT

Back around 1500, a runt was an old or decayed tree stump, and by the early 1600s “runt” was being used to describe animals that were similarly old and decayed. Ultimately “runt” came to mean the smallest and often sickest in a litter.

36D DIY help site : EHOW

eHow is a how-to website that was founded in 1999. eHow has an awful lot of content but doesn’t do a great job of assessing the value of that content. I wouldn’t recommend it …

42D Nev. neighbor : IDA

Idaho borders six states, and one Canadian province:

• Montana
• Wyoming
• Nevada
• Utah
• Washington
• Oregon
• British Columbia

43D New York WNBA team : LIBERTY

The New York Liberty was founded in 1997 and was one the original eight teams to play in the WNBA. The franchise is based in Newark, New Jersey.

47D Ticker info : NEWS

A news ticker, or “crawler”, is a text-based graphic that runs across the bottom of a TV screen providing perhaps news headlines or continuous stock quotes.

50D Singer born Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin : ENYA

Enya’s real name is Eithne Ní Bhraonáin, which can translate from Irish into Enya Brennan. Her Donegal family (in the northwest of Ireland) formed a band called Clannad, which included Enya. In 1980 Enya launched her very successful solo career, eventually becoming Ireland’s best-selling solo musician. And, she sure does turn up a lot in crosswords!

51D Home for a pet skink : TERRARIUM

A terrarium (plural “terraria”) is a contained environment used to house land animals. The term “terrarium“ comes from the equivalent “aquarium”, a tank for holding mainly fish. In general, a contained environment for keeping live animals or plants is known as a “vivarium”

Skinks are a large family of lizards known for their relatively small legs. Many species of skink can shed their tail if a predator grabs hold of it, and this tail can be regenerated, although not fully, “as new”. One genus of skink has a highly unusual blood color: lime-green. This is a result of an unusually high level of bile pigments building up in the blood, a level that would be toxic to any other animal.

52D Falco of “Nurse Jackie” : EDIE

Edie Falco is the first actress to have won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (which she won three times for playing Carmela Soprano in “The Sopranos”) as well as the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (which she won in 2010 for her title role in “Nurse Jackie”). As of 2025, she is the only actress to have achieved this feat.

53D Noodles in dashi : SOBA

Dashi is a style of cooking stock used in Japanese cuisine. Most notably perhaps, “dashi” is the stock that is used as the base for miso soup. Traditional dashi is a fish stock to which is added edible kelp called kombu and shavings of preserved and fermented skipjack tuna called katsuobushi.

60D Future lawyer’s hurdle, colloquially : THE BAR

The legal profession is referred to as “the bar”. The term arose in medieval times when European courtrooms were divided into two with “barring” furniture, basically a wooden rail that separated the public from the participants in the trial.

68D Senior advocacy group : AARP

AARP offers its members a cognitive assessment test online as part of their Staying Sharp program. The AARP website presents the test, compares results to others in similar situations, and allows members to compare their test results over time.

69D Driver’s license line : NAME

It took me years to stop using the term “driving licence” (and that spelling is correct) after I moved to the US. That’s what we call a driver’s license back in Ireland.

74D Prix fixe feature : SET MENU

On a restaurant menu, items that are “à la carte” are priced and ordered separately. A menu marked “table d’hôte” (also called “prix fixe”) is a fixed-price menu with limited choice. “Table d’hôte” translates from French as “table of the host”.

78D “Killing Eve” assassin played by Jodie Comer : VILLANELLE

“Killing Eve” is a spy thriller series about an MI5 agent on the trail of a female assassin. The agent is played by Canadian actress Sandra Oh, and the assassin by English actress Jodie Comer. The storyline comes from a series of novellas titled “Codename Villanelle” by British author Luke Jennings.

81D Patchy cat : CALICO

Domestic cats with a white coat and patches of brown and black are called calico cats in this country. Back in Ireland, and the rest of the world I think, such cats are called tortoiseshell-and-white. “Calico” is not a breed of cat, but rather a coloring.

82D “Wicked” actress Cynthia : ERIVO

British actress Cynthia Erivo’s big break came on the stage, when starred in the Broadway revival of “The Color Purple” from 2015 to 2017. Her Hollywood film breakthrough came with the title role in the 2019 biopic “Harriet”, portraying Harriet Tubman and earning herself a Best Actress nomination.

“Wicked” (2024) is the first installment of a two-part film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical of the same name. It stars Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda, and shows the events that lead them to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good. I skipped this one, because I am scared of flying monkeys …

86D __ homo : ECCE

According to the Gospel of John, when Pilate presented a scourged and beaten Jesus to the crowd he used the words “Ecce homo”, Latin for “Behold the man”.

92D Director Caro of 2020’s “Mulan” : NIKI

When New Zealander Niki Caro was hired for the 2020 Disney film “Mulan”, she joined a very shortlist of women called on to direct a movie with a budget of over $100 million (following Kathryn Bigelow, Patty Jenkins, Ava DuVernay, and Jennifer Yuh Nelson).

2020’s “Mulan” is a live-action remake of the 1998 animated Disney film of the same name. Chinese American actress Liu Yifei plays the title character, a woman from Chinese legend. The movie was received well by the critics, but fans of the animated original were largely unimpressed.

94D Tiny predatory birds : ELF OWLS

The tiny elf owl is the lightest of all owls, usually weighing less than 1½ ounces, with a height of about 5 inches. It primarily feeds on insects.

102D Many a prom tux : RENTAL

Apparently, the style of men’s evening dress called a “tuxedo” was first worn to a country club event in 1886 in New York. The use of a dark dinner jacket without tails became fashionable at the club with the members, and the tradition spread from there. The country club was located in Tuxedo Park, New York, giving the style of dress its name.

104D “The Hating Game” genre : ROMCOM

The 2021 romcom film “The Hating Game” is an adaptation of a 2016 novel of the same name by Sally Thorne. The movie stars Lucy Hale and Austin Stowell as two people working in a publishing company, who are competing for the same job. Neither wants to work for the other. Hilarity ensues, but they kiss and make up at the end …

106D Food from a bar : SALAD

Our word “salad” comes from the Latin “salare” meaning “to salt”. The Latin “herba salata” translates as “salted vegetables”, which I guess could be a salad …

107D Stooge’s signature laugh : NYUK!

If you’ve seen a few of the films starring “The Three Stooges” you might have noticed that the line-up changed over the years. The original trio was made up of Moe and Shemp Howard (two brothers) and Larry Fine (a good friend of the Howards). This line up was usually known as “Moe, Larry and Shemp”. Then Curly Howard replaced his brother when Shemp quit the act, creating the most famous trio, “Moe, Larry And Curly”. Shemp returned when Curly had a debilitating stroke in 1946. Shemp stayed with the troupe until he himself died in 1955. Shemp was replaced by Joe Besser, and then “Curly-Joe” DeRita. When Larry Fine suffered a stroke in 1970, it effectively marked the end of the act.

108D Paving gunk : TAR

The terms “tarmac” and “macadam” are short for “tarmacadam”. In the 1800s, Scotsman John Loudon McAdam developed a style of road known as “macadam”. Macadam had a top-layer of crushed stone and gravel laid over larger stones. The macadam also had a convex cross-section so that water tended to drain to the sides. In 1901, a significant improvement was made by English engineer Edgar Purnell Hooley who introduced tar into the macadam, improving the resistance to water damage and practically eliminating dust. The “tar-penetration macadam” is the basis of what we now call “tarmac”.

115D Advanced postgrad degs. : PHDS

“Ph.D.” is an abbreviation for “philosophiae doctor”, Latin for “teacher of philosophy”. Often, candidates for a PhD already hold a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, so a PhD might be considered a “third degree”.

117D Oil treatment brand : STP

The initialism STP stands for “Scientifically Treated Petroleum”. The brand was founded in 1953 in Saint Joseph, Missouri.

118D Ursa minor? : CUB

“Ursa” is a Latin word meaning “bear”.

119D Thurman of Hollywood : UMA

Robert Thurman was the first westerner to be ordained a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Robert raised his children in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and called his daughter “Uma” as it is a phonetic spelling of the Buddhist name “Dbuma”. Uma’s big break in the movies came with her starring role in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 hit “Pulp Fiction”. My favorite Uma Thurman film is the wonderful 1996 romantic comedy “The Truth About Cats and Dogs”.

120D Ambulance crew, briefly : EMS

Emergency medical services (EMS)