LA Times Crossword 27 Jan 27, Tuesday

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Constructed by: Craig Stowe

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Room and Board

Themed answers each comprise two words. The first often precedes ROOM, AND the second often precedes BOARD:

• 51A Part of an au pair’s compensation, or what can respectively follow the two parts of the answers to the starred clues : ROOM AND BOARD

• 20A *Special report : NEWS BULLETIN (newsroom & bulletin board)
• 27A *Document for some immigrants : GREEN CARD (green room & cardboard)
• 38A *The sun, for one : DAY STAR (day room & starboard)
• 46A *Panic button for computer users : ESCAPE KEY (escape room & keyboard)

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

Bill’s time: 5m 48s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6A Honduras house : CASA

Honduras is a country in Central America that used to be known as Spanish Honduras, in order to differentiate it from British Honduras that is now called Belize. “Honduras” is the Spanish word for “the depths”, which is probably a reference to deep coastal waters.

14A Seventh sign of the zodiac : LIBRA

Libra is the seventh sign of the zodiac, and is named for the scales held by the goddess of justice. It is the only sign of the zodiac that isn’t named for a living creature.

18A Volkswagen crossover SUV : TAOS

The Volkswagen Taos is a subcompact SUV that was introduced to the North American market for the 2022 model year. It is named after the town of Taos, New Mexico. The Taos is actually a restyled version of a vehicle first released for the Chinese market called the Volkswagen Tharu.

23A When Caesar asks, “Et tu, Brute?” : ACT III

It was Shakespeare who popularized the words “Et tu, Brute?” (meaning “And you, Brutus?”). They appear in his play “Julius Caesar”, although the phrase had been around long before he penned his drama. It’s not known what Julius Caesar actually said in real life (if anything at all) as he was assassinated on the steps of the Senate in Rome.

26A “Scientology: Fair Game” podcast co-host 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.

27A *Document for some immigrants : GREEN CARD (green room & cardboard)

A green card is more correctly called a US Permanent Resident Card. The informal term “green card” harks back to the period between 1946 and 1964 when the document was indeed green in color. After dropping the green for many years, the Permanent Resident Card was changed back to a green color in 2010.

A “green room” in the world of show business is a lounge area used by performers before and after a show, or when they are not required on stage. There are several etymologies cited for the term that relate to specific theaters, but it does seem clear that the original green rooms were indeed decorated mainly in green.

34A Nashville-based awards org. : CMA

Country Music Association (CMA)

35A Jackal kin : COYOTE

The coyote is a canine found in most of Central and North America. The name “coyote” is Mexican Spanish, in which language it means “trickster”. In Native-American folklore, the coyote is an important character, one often playing tricks and defying conventional behavior. Coyotes can sometimes mate with domestic dogs, creating hybrid animals known as “coydogs”. Coyotes can also mate with wolves, creating a “coywolf”. South Dakota named the coyote its state animal in 1949.

Jackals are small omnivorous predators and scavengers that are related to the wolf and dog. Jackals have been deliberately crossbred with certain species of dog. One example is the Russian Sulimov dog, a breed developed by crossing Lapponian herder dogs with Turkmen golden jackals. Sulimov dogs are used in Russia for airport security as sniffer dogs.

38A *The sun, for one : DAYSTAR (day room & starboard)

A morning star (also “daystar”) is a bright planet that is visible in the brightening sky at sunrise or just before. The term “daystar” can also describe the Sun.

The starboard side of a ship is her right side. “Starboard” is a term that comes from the Old English “steobord” meaning “side on which a vessel was steered”. Apparently, old Germanic peoples constructed boats that were habitually propelled and steered by a paddle on the right side.

40A Pickle : JAM

To be in a pickle is to be in a fix, in trouble. One of the first uses of “pickle” in such a context was William Shakespeare (who else?), in his play “The Tempest”. Here is part of the conversation between Alonso, King of Naples, and his jester Trinculo:

ALONSO:
And Trinculo is reeling ripe: where should they
Find this grand liquor that hath gilded ’em?
How camest thou in this pickle?

TRINCULO:
I have been in such a pickle since I
saw you last that, I fear me, will never out of
my bones: I shall not fear fly-blowing.

41A Nobel Peace Prize winner Mandela : NELSON

As a young man, Nelson Mandela led the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). Mandela was eventually arrested and admitted to charges of sabotage and was sentenced to life in prison in 1964. He remained behind bars for 27 years, mainly in the infamous prison on Robben Island. As the years progressed, Mandela became a symbol of the fight against apartheid. He was released in 1990, and immediately declared his commitment to peace and reconciliation with South Africa’s white minority population. Mandela was elected president of the Republic of South Africa (RSA) in 1994, an office that he held until 1999. Nelson Mandela passed away on December 5, 2013.

43A Bowler’s target : PIN

Bowling has been around for an awfully long time. The oldest known reference to the game is in Egypt, where pins and balls were found in an ancient tomb that is over 5,000 years old. The first form of the game to come to America was nine-pin bowling, which had been very popular in Europe for centuries. In 1841 in Connecticut, nine-pin bowling was banned due to its association with gambling. Supposedly, an additional pin was added to get around the ban, and ten-pin bowling was born.

44A Knighted actor Ian : HOLM

English actor Sir Ian Holm was very respected on the stage in the UK, but is better known for his film roles here in the US. He played the hobbit Bilbo Baggins in two of the “Lord of the Rings” movies and two of “The Hobbit” movies, and also played the character who is revealed as an android in the film “Alien”.

51A Part of an au pair’s compensation, or what can respectively follow the two parts of the answers to the starred clues : ROOM AND BOARD

An au pair is a domestic assistant from a foreign country working and living as part of a host family. The term “au pair” is French, and means “on a par”, indicating that an au pair is treated as an equal in the host family.

57A Musician son of Yoko and John : SEAN

Sean Lennon is the only child of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and godson of Elton John. Sean is a musician and composer, and has a band called the Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger.

66A Dino with disproportionate limbs : T-REX

The Tyrannosaurus rex (usually written “T-rex”) was a spectacular looking dinosaur. “Tyrannosaurus” comes from the Greek words “tyrannos” (tyrant) and “sauros” (lizard) and “rex” the Latin for “king”. They were big beasts, measuring 42 feet long and 13 feet tall at the hips, and weighing 7.5 tons.

67A American living abroad, familiarly : EXPAT

Expatriate (expat)

1D “__ Baba and the Forty Thieves” : ALI

There is some controversy about the story “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” in that it has been suggested it was not part of the original collection of Arabic tales called “One Thousand and One Nights”. The suggestion is that the Ali Baba tale was added by one of the European translators of the collection.

7D Melville captain : AHAB

Captain Ahab is the obsessed and far from friendly captain of the Pequod in Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick”. The role of Captain Ahab was played by Gregory Peck in the 1956 John Huston film adaptation. Patrick Stewart played Ahab in a 1998 miniseries in which Peck made another appearance, as Father Mapple.

10D Took advantage of a situation : MADE HAY

Make hay while the sun shines … seize the opportunity.

12D Actress Polo : TERI

Teri Polo’s most prominent role on the big screen was Pam Focker in “Meet the Fockers” and its sequels. Pam is the wife of the character played by Ben Stiller. Polo also played the wife of Presidential candidate Matt Santos in “The West Wing”.

13D Garden of Genesis : EDEN

According to the Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve lived in a garden “in” Eden, with Eden being geographically located by reference to four rivers, including the Tigris and the Euphrates. Some scholars hypothesize that Eden was located in Mesopotamia, which encompasses much of modern-day Iraq.

21D Modern pagan : WICCAN

Wicca is a relatively new phenomenon. It is a Neopagan religion that developed in the twentieth century. Typically, followers of Wicca worship one goddess and one god, namely the Moon Goddess and the Horned God. A follower of Wicca is called a Wiccan or a Witch.

A pagan is someone who holds religious beliefs that are different from the main religions of the world, and especially someone who believes in polytheism. In classical Latin, “paganus” means “villager, rustic”.

24D Fashion faux pas, humorously : CRIMES

The term “faux pas” is French in origin, and translates literally as “false step” (or “false steps”, as the plural has the same spelling in French).

25D Pennsylvania university : TEMPLE

Temple University in Philadelphia was founded in 1888, and started out as a night school offering classes to people of limited means who had to hold down jobs during the day. These students earned themselves the nickname of “night owls”, leading to the use of “Owls” for Temple’s athletic teams.

28D Meg, Beth, and Jo’s sister : AMY

“Little Women” is a novel written by American author Louisa May Alcott. The quartet of “little women” comprises Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March. Jo is a tomboy, the main character in the story, and is based on Alcott herself.

35D Home of seven NHL teams : CANADA

Canada is home to seven NHL franchises: the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, and Vancouver Canucks. Originally, the “National” in NHL originally referred to the nation of Canada, when the league launched with four Canadian teams in 1917. It wasn’t until the Boston Bruins joined in 1924 that the “National” Hockey League became “international” by adding a US franchise.

36D TV awards : EMMYS

The Emmy Awards are the television equivalent of the Oscars from the world of film, the Grammy Awards in music and the Tony Awards for the stage. Emmy Awards are presented throughout the year, depending on the sector of television being honored. The most famous of these ceremonies are the Primetime Emmy Awards and the Daytime Emmy Awards. The distinctive name “Emmy” is a softened version of the word “immy”, the nickname given to the video camera tubes found in old television cameras. The Emmy statuette was designed by television engineer Louis McManus in 1948, and depicts a woman holding up an atom. McManus used his wife as a model for the woman.

38D Prima __ : DONNA

The Italian operatic term “prima donna” is used for the lead female singer in an opera company. “Prima donna” translates from Italian as “first lady”. The lead male singer is known as the “primo uomo”. The term “prima donna assoluta” is reserved for a prima donna who is generally accepted as being an outstanding performer. We tend to use “prima donna” for a female performer who has an inflated ego.

44D Guitar great Jimi : HENDRIX

Many of his contemporaries regarded Jimi Hendrix as the greatest electric guitarist in the history of rock music. Hendrix was from Seattle and didn’t really have a really stellar start to his working life. He failed to finish high school and fell foul of the law by getting caught in stolen cars, twice. The courts gave him the option of the army or two years in prison. Hendrix chose the former and soon found himself in the famous 101st Airborne. In the army, his less-than-disciplined ways helped him (as he would have seen it) because his superiors successfully petitioned to get him discharged after serving only one year of his two-year requirement, just to get him out of their hair.

52D White gem : OPAL

97% of the world’s opals come from Australia, so it’s no surprise perhaps that the opal is the national gemstone of the country. The state of South Australia provides the bulk of the world’s production, i.e. about 80%.

55D Black gem : ONYX

Onyx is a form of quartz that comes in many different shades, but most often it’s the black version that’s used for jewelry. The name “onyx” comes from the Greek word for “fingernail”, as onyx in the flesh color is said to resemble a fingernail.

60D “The Masked Singer” judge Rita : ORA

Rita Ora is a British singer who was born Rita Sahatçiu in Pristina, Yugoslavia to Albanian parents. The family name “Sahatçiu” comes from a Turkish word meaning “watchmaker”. Rita’s parents changed their name to make it easier to pronounce. So, the family name morphed from “watchmaker” to “time”, which is “ora” in Albanian.

“The Masked Singer” is a reality TV show in which masked celebrities compete anonymously in a singing competition. Contestants reveal their identities when they are voted off the show by the audience and a panel of judges. The American version of the show is part of an international “Masked Singer” franchise that originated in South Korea.

61D __ race : RAT

We use “rat race” figuratively to describe an endless, pointless pursuit. The term comes from the laboratory, where one might imagine rats racing around a maze in search of some cheese.