LA Times Crossword 2 Dec 25, Tuesday

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Constructed by: Norman M. Aaronson

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: On the Bright Side

Letters on either SIDE of each themed answer gives us a synonym of “BRIGHT”:

35A “It’s not all bad news …,” and what the circled letters in this puzzle literally are? : ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

• 16A Whatever the outcome : WIN OR LOSE (giving “WI-SE”)
• 24A “Please lower your voice” : KEEP IT DOWN (giving “KEE-N”)
• 45A Fabric piece for a sewing circle : QUILT BLOCK (giving “QUI-CK”)
• 55A Cameo role, e.g. : SMALL PART (giving “SMA-RT”)

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

Bill’s time: 5m 41s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

4A Raw fish dish : SUSHI

Sushi is a Japanese dish that has as its primary ingredient cooked, vinegared rice. The rice is usually topped with something, most often fish, and can be served in seaweed rolls. If we want raw fish by itself, then we have to order sashimi.

9A Enjoy recess in a schoolyard : PLAY

To recess is to go back, to retreat. The use of the noun “recess” to mean “period of stopping from usual work” dates back to the early 1600s. This usage might stem from the action of parliamentarians “recessing” into, returning to private chambers.

13A Darth Vader’s childhood nickname : ANI

Darth Vader is (to me) the most colorful antagonist in the “Star Wars” universe. Born as Anakin “Ani” Skywalker, he was corrupted by the Emperor Palpatine and turned to “the Dark Side”. In the original films, Darth Vader was portrayed by English bodybuilder David Prowse, and voiced by actor James Earl Jones. Jones asked that he go uncredited for the first two “Star Wars” films, feeling that his contributions were insufficient to warrant recognition. I disagree …

15A Tylenol alternative : ALEVE

“Aleve” is a brand name used for the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug Naproxen sodium.

19A Hibernation spots : LAIRS

When animals hibernate, they are minimally active, have low body temperatures, relatively slow breathing and a low metabolic rate overall. HIbernation can last days and even months, and is most closely associated with the winter season. The term “hibernation” comes from the Latin “hibernare” meaning “to pass the winter, occupy winter quarters”.

20A Covering that keeps a pant leg dry : GAITER

Galoshes are rubber overshoes worn to protect shoes in bad weather. A particular kind of galosh covers only the upper part of the shoe, and it is known as a gaiter or a spat.

28A Purple garden flower : IRIS

Iris is a genus of flowering plants that come in a wide variety of flower colors. The term “iris” is a Greek word meaning “rainbow”. Many species of irises are called “flags”. One suggestion is that the alternate name comes from the Middle English “flagge” meaning “reed”. This term was used because iris leaves look like reeds.

29A Idaho’s capital : BOISE

Boise, Idaho is the capital and the largest metropolitan area in the state by far. There are a number of stories pertaining to the etymology of the name “Boise”. One is that French trappers called the tree-lined river that ran through the area “la rivière boisée”, meaning “the wooded river”. Boise is known today as “The City of Trees”.

30A Penny : CENT

The official name of our smallest denomination coin is “cent”, and our use of the word “penny” is just a colloquialism derived from the British coin of the same name. In the UK, the plural of penny is “pence”, whereas we have “pennies” in our pockets in the US.

32A “The Raven” poet Edgar Allan __ : POE

The first verse of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” is:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore-
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more.”

39A Pastrami bread : RYE

In the US, pastrami was originally called “pastrama”, and was a dish brought to America by Jewish immigrants from Romania in the second half of the nineteenth century. The original name may have evolved from the Turkish word “pastirma” meaning “pressed”. “Pastrama” likely morphed into “pastrami” influenced by the name of the Italian sausage called salami.

40A Young blokes : LADS

“Bloke” is British slang for “fellow”. The etymology of “bloke” seems to have been lost in the mists of time.

54A Amy of “Enchanted” and “Disenchanted” : ADAMS

Amy Adams is an American actress, although she was actually born in Vicenza, Italy while her father was a US serviceman stationed on an Italian base. My favorite Amy Adams film so far is the outstanding “Julie & Julia” in which she acted alongside Meryl Streep. I highly recommend this truly delightful movie.

“Enchanted” is quite an entertaining 2007 Disney film. It tells the story of Princess Giselle, who is forced from her animated world to live in the real world of New York City. Amy Adams plays the princess, a role that she reprised in a 2022 sequel titled “Disenchanted”.

55A Cameo role, e.g. : SMALL PART (giving “SMA-RT”)

Even in my day, a cameo role was more than just a short appearance in a movie (or other artistic piece). For the appearance to be a cameo, the actor had to play themself, and be instantly recognizable. With this meaning it’s easy to see the etymology of the term, as a cameo brooch is one with the recognizable carving of the silhouette of a person. Nowadays, a cameo is any minor role played by a celebrity or famous actor, regardless of the character played.

60A Snorer’s affliction, maybe : APNEA

Sleep apnea (“apnoea” in British English) can be caused by an obstruction in the airways, possibly due to obesity or enlarged tonsils.

61A Piña colada liquor : RUM

“Piña colada” is a Spanish term that translates into “strained pineapple”. The piña colada cocktail was introduced in the Caribe Hilton San Juan in 1954, and since 1978 it has been the official beverage of Puerto Rico. The mocktail version of the drink is known as a nada colada.

63A Fisherman’s __: waterfront district in San Francisco : WHARF

Fisherman’s Wharf is the name given to what is now a tourist mecca at the northern limits of San Francisco, sitting right on San Francisco Bay. Historically, it is where the city’s fishing fleet was moored and so the neighborhood became associated with the fishing community that mainly comprised Italian immigrants.

64A Brimless hat with a tassel : FEZ

A fez is a red, cylindrical hat worn mainly in North Africa, and by Shriners here in the US. The fez used to be a very popular hat across the Ottoman Empire. The etymology of “fez” is unclear, although it may have something to do with the Moroccan city named Fez.

Down

1D Mandible : JAW

The human skull is made up of two parts: the cranium (which encloses the brain) and the mandible (or “jawbone”).

3D Word before can or Man : TIN …

In the Land of Oz, created by author L. Frank Baum, the character we know as the Tin Man from the movies is named Nick Chopper or the Tin Woodman.

7D “Steppenwolf” novelist Hermann : HESSE

Hermann Hesse’s 1927 novel “Steppenwolf” is a deeply psychological and philosophical novel. It centers on Harry Haller, a reclusive intellectual who feels he has two warring selves: the refined “Man” and the antisocial “Steppenwolf.” The book is very autobiographical, with the main character sharing the initials of the author, who wrote it during a profound mid-life crisis.

9D Tartan patterns : PLAIDS

“Tartan” is sometimes called “plaid” over here in the US, and is a word not used in the same sense outside of this country. In Scotland, a plaid is a blanket or a tartan cloth slung over the shoulder.

11D Arthur Miller’s “__ From the Bridge” : A VIEW

“A View From the Bridge” is a play by Arthur Miller. It has an unusual structure for a play first performed in 1955 in that it is a verse-drama, meaning that all of the dialog is spoken in the form of verse, somewhat like the works of Shakespeare.

15D Rare and expensive Italian violin : AMATI

The first of the Amati family to make violins was Andrea Amati, who lived in the 14th century. He was succeeded by his sons Antonio and Girolamo. In turn, the two brothers were succeeded by Girolamo’s son Nicolo. Nicolo had a few students who achieved fame making musical instruments as well. One was his own son, Girolamo, and another was the famed Antonio Stradivari.

21D Ann __, Michigan : ARBOR

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)

22D Pink garden flower : PEONY

The flowering plant called a peony is named for Paean, the mythical physician to the Greek gods. Indiana adopted the peony as its state flower in 1957.

25D Problematic engine sounds : PINGS

Pinging is also known as “engine knocking”. It is a metallic sound, created when not all of the fuel-air mixture is detonated by the spark plug, with some of it detonated late in the cycle. The late detonation causes the knocking/pinging sound. Additives (anti-knock agents) in gasoline can help reduce the chances of pinging.

31D __ al-Fitr: end of Ramadan : EID

Eid al-Fitr is a religious holiday in the Muslim tradition that is known in English as the “Festival of Breaking the Fast”. It marks the end of Ramadan, a period of dawn-to-sunset fasting.

32D Cockpit figure : PILOT

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the original “cockpit” was a “pit” used for fighting “cocks”. The term was then applied nautically, as the name for the compartment below decks used as living quarters by midshipmen. The cockpit of a boat today, usually on a smaller vessel, is a sunken area towards the stern in which sits the helmsman and others (who can fit!). The usage extended to aircraft in the 1910s and to cars in the 1930s.

37D Luggage-checking org. : TSA

Transportation Security Administration (TSA)

43D Statistical tool for checking a hypothesis : T-TEST

A “t-test” in the world of statistics is one that makes use of a “Student’s t distribution”. The t-statistic was introduced by a chemist working in the Guinness Brewery in Dublin, back in 1908. “Student” was the chemist’s pen name.

44D Anna’s “Breaking Bad” role : SKYLER

Anna Gunn is an actress from Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is best known for playing Skyler White on the TV show “Breaking Bad”.

45D Two pints : QUART

Two pints make up a “quart”, which is a “quarter” of a gallon, hence the name.

47D Writer Calvino : ITALO

As well as being an author, Italo Calvino was a famous Italian journalist. He was a supporter of communism and so wasn’t very popular in the US nor in Britain.

49D __ masala: spiced chickpea dish : CHANA

Chana masala is a chickpea curry from Indian cuisine. I’m a big fan …

53D “Frozen” snowman : OLAF

In the 2013 animated film “Frozen”, Olaf is a happy-go-lucky snowman who provides a lot of comic relief in the movie. He is voiced by actor and comedian Josh Gad.

58D Celebrity gossip site : TMZ

TMZ.com is a celebrity gossip website launched in 2005 by producer Harvey Levin. “TMZ” stands for “thirty-mile zone”, a reference to the “studio zone” in Los Angeles. The studio zone is circular in shape with a 30-mile radius centered on the intersection of West Beverly Boulevard and North La Cienega Boulevard.