LA Times Crossword 9 Oct 25, Thursday

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Constructed by: Dan Caprera

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Messy Buns

Themed answers each contain the letter string BUNS, but with the letter order MESSED up:

• 61A Casual updos, or what can be found in the answers to the starred clues? : MESSY BUNS

17A *Vessel secretly ridden by Indiana Jones in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” : GERMAN SUB

24A *Hank Aaron’s record 2,297 : RUNS BATTED IN

39A *Ursine critter with a distinctive orange patch on its chest : SUN BEAR

50A *Don’t pull any shenanigans : MEAN BUSINESS

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

Bill’s time: 8m 06s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Distracted boyfriend and Surprised Pikachu : MEMES

“Distracted boyfriend” is an Internet meme featuring a staged photograph taken in 2015 by Spanish photographer Antonio Guillem. The picture was uploaded to stock photography website Shutterstock with the caption “Disloyal man walking with his girlfriend and looking amazed at another seductive girl”, which perfectly describes the image. The meme uses the image as a metaphor for many different situations involving disloyalty and distractions.

The “Surprised Pikachu” meme is a screenshot from the “Pokémon” anime series that is typically used to express feigned surprise at a completely predictable outcome. The iconic image features a startled Pokémon looking back at his trainer with an open-mouthed expression of shock. The image became a popular meme around 2018.

6A Giants slugger Mel : OTT

I wonder if Mel Ott had any idea that he would turn in crosswords so very often?

14A __ Beta Kappa : PHI

Phi Beta Kappa was the first collegiate Greek fraternity in the US, founded in 1776 at the College of William and Mary. The organization served as a model for future collegiate fraternities and sororities, although in the 19th century Phi Beta Kappa distanced itself from the fraternal focus and transformed into the honor society that it is today, recognizing academic excellence. The initials Phi Beta Kappa stand for “philosophia biou kybernētēs”, which translates into “philosophy is the guide of life”. The symbol of the Phi Beta Kappa Society is a golden key.

17A *Vessel secretly ridden by Indiana Jones in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” : GERMAN SUB

“Raiders of the Lost Ark” is, in my humble opinion, the best of the Indiana Jones franchise of movies. This first Indiana Jones film was released in 1981, produced by George Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg. Harrison Ford was Spielberg’s first choice to play the lead, but Lucas resisted as he was concerned that he would be too closely associated with the actor (as Ford played Han Solo in “Star Wars”, and also appeared in Lucas’s “American Graffiti”). Tom Selleck was offered the role but he couldn’t get out of his commitments to “Magnum, P.I.” Eventually Spielberg got his way and Ford was hired, a good thing I say …

19A Saw : MAXIM

Our word “maxim” meaning “precept, principle” has been around since the early 1600s. It ultimately comes from the Latin phrase “maxima propositio”, which translates as “greatest premise”.

A saw is an old saying, one that is often repeated and is very familiar. The term “old saw” is actually a tautology, as by definition a “saw” is “old”.

21A “X” and “Pearl” actress Goth : MIA

English actress Mia Goth has appeared in several slasher and horror films, which seems to be apt given her family name. “Goth” isn’t a stage name, though. She was born Mia Gypsy Mello da Silva Goth, to a Brazilian mother and Canadian father.

24A *Hank Aaron’s record 2,297 : RUNS BATTED IN

The great Hank Aaron (“Hammerin’ Hank” or “the Hammer”) has many claims to fame. One notable fact is that he is the last major league baseball player to have also played in the Negro League.

27A Divine : FORESEE

Divination is the practice of interpreting omens or symbols to predict the future. The term “divination” originates from the Latin “divinare” meaning “to foretell” or “to be inspired by a god.” Diviners use a variety of techniques, including astrology, tarot reading, numerology (finding meaning in numbers), and practices like reading tea leaves.

31A Instrument commonly made from African blackwood : OBOE

The oboe is perhaps my favorite of the reed instruments. The name “oboe” comes from the French “hautbois” which means “high wood”.

39A *Ursine critter with a distinctive orange patch on its chest : SUN BEAR

The sun bear is native to Southeast Asia, but is endangered due to deforestation that destroys its habitat. The sun bear is sometimes called the honey bear as it loves honey and honeycombs.

43A Shredded __ : WHEAT

Shredded wheat is perhaps my favorite breakfast cereal. It was invented way back in 1893 by one Henry Perky. Today, shredded wheat is made by a number of manufacturers, and “shredded wheat” has become a generic term. Kellogg and Nabisco fought it out in court, and the decision was that the term could not be trademarked.

44A Euro forerunner : LIRA

The word “lira” is used in a number of countries for currency. “Lira” comes from the Latin for “pound” and is derived from the British pound sterling, the value of a Troy pound of silver. For example, the lira (plural “lire”) was the official currency of Italy before the country changed over to the euro in 2002.

45A Actress Remini : LEAH

Leah Remini is an actress and comedian who is best known for playing Carrie Heffernan on the sitcom “The King of Queens”. More recently, in 2013, Remini competed on “Dancing with the Stars”. After that, Remini appeared as a guest co-host on the show several times. Famously, Remini was a member of the Church of Scientology, and left the organization in 2013. Since leaving, Remini has been very vocal in her criticism of the practices and policies of the church.

47A LeBron James and Steph Curry, by birth : OHIOANS

Basketball player LeBron James (nicknamed “King James”) seems to be in demand for the covers of magazines. James became the first African-American man to adorn the front cover of “Vogue” in March 2008. That made him only the third male to make the “Vogue” cover, following Richard Gere and George Clooney.

Basketball great Wardell Stephen “Steph” Curry II was born in Akron, Ohio, the son of former NBA player Dell Curry and former volleyball player Sonya Curry. Off the court, Curry is an avid golfer, playing off a low handicap. He regularly participates in celebrity golf tournaments, and has played alongside President Barack Obama.

50A *Don’t pull any shenanigans : MEAN BUSINESS

I suppose one might be forgiven for thinking that “shenanigan” is an Irish term, as it certainly sounds Irish. Usually written in the plural, shenanigans are acts of mischief, pranks. Apparently the word is of uncertain derivation, but was coined in San Francisco or Sacramento, California in the mid-1800s.

54A “Let There Be Rock” band : AC/DC

The 1977 AC/DC song “Let There Be Rock” is a tongue-in-cheek history of rock and roll, with lyrics that parody the Book of Genesis. The recording session for the song was pretty dramatic, by all accounts. Guitarist Angus Young’s amplifier started to overheat and smoke while he was in the middle of his solo. Young continued playing until the amp caught fire and failed completely, and that sound is reportedly heard on the album track.

56A Rizzo of “Midnight Cowboy” : RATSO

Enrico Salvatore “Ratso” Rizzo is one of the characters in the groundbreaking 1969 movie “Midnight Cowboy”. He is a down-and-out con man, and played by Dustin Hoffman.

The 1969 movie “Midnight Cowboy” is a Hollywood adaptation of a novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. It’s a pretty depressing story about a young Texan named Joe Buck (played by Jon Voight) who heads to New York City to make money as a hustler, hiring himself out to women for sex. Pretty soon the young man ends up selling his body for sex with males as well. Prior to release the MPAA gave the movie an R-rating, but the United Artists studio took advice and decided to release it with an X-rating. When “Midnight Cowboy” won the Best Picture Academy Award in 1969, it became the only X-rated film to be so honored.

59A Musical endings : CODAS

In music, a coda is primarily a passage that brings a movement to a conclusion. “Coda” is Italian for “tail”.

64A Woeful words : ELEGY

Perhaps the most famous elegy in the English language is that written by Thomas Gray, which he completed in 1750. His “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is the source of many oft-quoted phrases, including:

• Celestial fire
• Far from the Madding Crowd
• Kindred spirit

66A Emma Roberts, to Julia Roberts : NIECE

Actress Emma Roberts is perhaps best known to TV audiences for multiple roles she has played in the show “American Horror Story”. She is the daughter of actor Eric Roberts, brother of actress Julia Roberts.

68A PC key near Z : ALT

The Alt (alternate) key is found on either side of the space bar on US PC keyboards. It evolved from what was called a Meta key on old MIT keyboards, although the function has changed somewhat over the years. Alt is equivalent in many ways to the Option key on a Mac keyboard, and indeed the letters “Alt” have been printed on most Mac keyboards, starting in the nineties.

69A City east of the Great Salt Lake : OGDEN

Ogden was the first permanent settlement by people of European descent in what is now the state of Utah.

Down

1D “Family Guy” daughter : MEG

“Family Guy” is a very successful animated television show. It was created by Seth MacFarlane, the same guy who came up with “American Dad!”. My kids love them both. Me? I can’t stand ‘em …

3D Frutti di __: Italian seafood dish : MARE

The Italian term “frutti di mare” translates literally as “fruits of the sea”. In Italian cuisine, the term specifically refers to shellfish and other similar sea creatures, but traditionally excludes finned fish. A classic “frutti di mare” dish would feature the likes of clams, mussels, shrimp and squid, but not salmon or tuna. The same distinction applies to the equivalent French dish “fruits de mer”.

4D One of many in Boston Common : ELM TREE

The original Liberty Tree was an elm that stood near Boston Common and marked the place where folks would rally in the build-up to the American Revolution. The symbolism of the Liberty Tree migrated across the Atlantic during the French Revolution. Revolutionaries planted “Les arbres de la liberté” as symbols of revolutionary hope.

8D Leg bone : TIBIA

The tibia is the shinbone, and is the larger of the two bones right below the knee. It is the strongest weight-bearing bone in the human body. “Tibia” is the Roman name for a Greek flute and it is thought that the shinbone was given the same name because flutes were often fashioned out of the shinbones of animals.

9D Abbey title : DOM

The honorific “Dom” is used in English for monks of certain orders, such as Benedictines and Carthusians. The term is a shortened form of the Latin “dominus” meaning “master, owner”.

12D N.K. Jemisin genre : SCI-FI

Author N. K. Jemisin is a fantasy and sci-fi writer. She was the first author to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel three times in a row, doing so for her “Broken Earth” trilogy of novels published in 2015 to 2017.

25D River to the English Channel : SEINE

The Seine is the river that flows through Paris. It empties into the English Channel to the north, at the port city of Le Havre.

The English Channel is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean, the narrow part that separates the south of England from northern France. The French call the same body of water “La Manche”, which translates literally as “the sleeve”. At its narrowest point the Channel is just over 20 miles wide, and it is indeed possible to see France from England and vice versa. Nowadays of course there is a tunnel under the channel making travel extremely convenient. When I was living and working in Europe, with the help of the Channel Tunnel, one day I had a breakfast meeting in Brussels, a lunch meeting in London, and a dinner meeting in Paris. That said, it’s a lot more fun sitting here blogging about the crossword …

27D Expedition maker : FORD

The Ford Expedition was introduced for the 1997 model year as a direct replacement for a much more famous Ford SUV: the two-door Ford Bronco. The demand for four-door family SUVs exploded in the 1990s, so the aging, two-door Bronco was phased out in favor of the larger, more family-friendly Expedition.

34D Grand __ National Park : TETON

Grand Teton National Park (NP) is located just south of Yellowstone NP, and a must-see if you are visiting the latter. The park is named after the tallest peak in the magnificent Teton Range known as Grand Teton. The origins of the name “Teton” is not very clear, although one story is that it was named by French trappers, as the word “tetons” in French is a slang term meaning “breasts”.

36D Aloe target : BURN

Aloe vera is a succulent plant that grows in relatively dry climates. The plant’s leaves are full of biologically-active compounds that have been studied extensively. Aloe vera has been used for centuries in herbal medicine, mainly for topical treatment of wounds.

39D Deckhand : SWAB

“Swabbie” (also “swabby, swab, swabber”) is a slang term meaning “sailor” that we’ve been using since the late 1700s. A swab was originally a member of the crew assigned to the swabbing (mopping) of the ship’s decks.

44D Got clobbered : LOST BIG

The verb “to clobber” means “to batter severely”. This use originated in 1941 in the RAF, and at that time was probably echoic of the sound of bombs exploding. The usage has expanded to also mean “to defeat overwhelmingly”.

50D Scotch cookie spice : MACE

Cloves are the flower buds of the tree Syzygium aromaticum. Until a couple of centuries ago, clove trees were only found in the Maluku Islands in Indonesia. Because they were a rich source of cloves, mace and nutmeg, the Moluccas were referred to historically as the Spice Islands.

51D Biotech bacteria : E COLI

Escherichia coli (E. coli) are usually harmless bacteria found in the human gut, working away quite happily. However, there are some strains that can produce lethal toxins. These strains can make their way into the food chain from animal fecal matter that comes into contact with food designated for human consumption.

52D Disney lion : SIMBA

Among the group of lions at the center of “The Lion King” story, young Simba is the heir apparent and the lion cub destined to take over as leader of the pride. His uncle is jealous of Simba, and plots with a trio of hyenas to kill Simba, so that he can take his position. The uncle was originally named Taka (according to books) but he was given the name Scar after being injured by a buffalo. The trio of hyenas are called Shenzi, Banzai and Ed.

60D Pt. of GPS : SYS

The modern Global Positioning System (GPS) system that we use today was built by the US military who received the massive funding needed because of fears during the Cold War of the use of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. We civilians, all round the world, owe a lot to President Ronald Reagan because he directed the military to make GPS technology available to the public for the common good. President Reagan was moved to do so after the Soviet Union shot down KAL flight 007 carrying 269 people, just because the plane strayed accidentally into Soviet airspace.

63D Capitol fig. : SEN

A capitol is a building in which a legislature meets. Such buildings are often constructed with an impressive dome. The term “capitol” is a reference to the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, the most important temple in ancient Rome, and which sat on top of Capitoline Hill.