LA Times Crossword 2 Mar 26, Monday

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Constructed by: Renee Thomason

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer(s): Give Back

Themed answers each have a synonym of “GIVE” at the end, the BACK:

• 66A With 67-Across, repay a community’s generous support, or a feature of the answer to each starred clue : GIVE …
• 67A See 66-Across : … BACK

• 21A *Official currency of a nation, e.g. : LEGAL TENDER
• 26A *Gently sidestep an awkward question : SKIRT THE ISSUE
• 44A *18th president of the United States : ULYSSES S. GRANT
• 52A *Japanese sedan that’s been a top seller in the U.S. since 1989 : HONDA ACCORD

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

Bill’s time: 5m 20s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

15A “Peacemaker” actor Steve : AGEE

Steve Agee is multitalented. As a comedian, he had a regular role on “The Sarah Silverman Program”. As a more serious actor, he had a role in the superhero movie “The Suicide Squad” (2021). As a musician, he played guitar and bass in several rock bands in the nineties.

“Peacemaker” is a TV show based on the DC Comics superhero Peacemaker. It is a spinoff from the 2021 movie “The Suicide Squad”. John Cena plays the title character, both in the series and in the film.

16A Mexican street corn : ELOTE

Corn in a cup (“elote en vaso”, or simply “elote”) is a Mexican street food. It is made with fresh corn kernels mixed with mayonnaise, cheese, lime and chile.

17A Huggies rival : LUVS

Luvs are disposable diapers made by Procter & Gamble. They first hit the shelves in 1976.

18A Old Roman garment : TOGA

In ancient Rome, the color of a man’s toga could indicate the wearer’s social status. For example, a plain white toga (known as a “toga candida”) was worn by candidates for political office, while a “toga praetexta” with a purple border was worn by magistrates and certain priests. A “toga picta”, which was decorated with elaborate embroidery and gold trim, was reserved for victorious generals and triumphal processions.

19A Island country between Sicily and North Africa : MALTA

The island state of Malta is relatively small (122 square miles), but its large number of inhabitants makes it one of the most densely populated countries in Europe. Malta’s strategic location has made it a prized possession for the conquering empires of the world. Most recently it was part of the British Empire and was an important fleet headquarters. Malta played a crucial role for the Allies during WWII as it was located very close to the Axis shipping lanes in the Mediterranean. The Siege of Malta lasted from 1940 to 1942, a prolonged attack by the Italians and Germans on the RAF and Royal Navy, and the people of Malta. When the siege was lifted, King George VI awarded the George Cross to the people of Malta collectively in recognition of their heroism and devotion to the Allied cause. The George Cross can still be seen on the Maltese flag, even though Britain granted Malta independence in 1964.

36A Tax return pro : CPA

Certified public accountant (CPA)

37A Bygone Apple music players : IPODS

Reportedly, when Apple was planning the launch of their new music player in 2001, someone came up with the idea of the “iPod” name from the 1968 movie “2001: A Space Odyssey”. The particular line that inspired the name is: “Open the pod bay doors, please, HAL”.

39A Sloughs off : SHEDS

To slough off is to cast off, especially when one is talking about the skin of a snake or other animal.

42A Lady Gaga’s “__ This Way” : BORN

“Born This Way” is a 2011 song recorded and co-written by Lady Gaga. Gaga describes it as her “freedom song”, and wrote lyrics that suggest self-empowerment of minority groups.

43A Paddled boat : CANOE

The boat known as a canoe takes its name from the Carib word “kenu” meaning “dugout”. It was Christopher Columbus who brought “kenu” into Spanish as “canoa”, which evolved into our English “canoe”.

44A *18th president of the United States : ULYSSES S. GRANT

US President Ulysses S. Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant. Ohio Congressman Thomas Hamer nominated a young Grant to attend West Point, and gave the candidate’s name as “Ulysses S. Grant” in error. Grant tried to fix the error while studying at the military academy, but bureaucracy won out and the future president eventually embraced the inaccurate name as his own.

49A Like Greg, among the Brady kids : ELDEST

The character Greg Brady is the eldest Brady son in the sitcom “The Brady Bunch”. He was played by Barry Williams in the TV show. It was revealed in spin-offs of the original sitcom that Greg married a nurse and became an obstetrician.

52A *Japanese sedan that’s been a top seller in the U.S. since 1989 : HONDA ACCORD

Honda started manufacturing the Accord model in Marysville, Ohio in 1982, making the Accord the first Japanese car to be produced in the US. The Accord was the best-selling Japanese car in America from 1982 to 1997, and 1989 was the first import to become the best-selling car in the US.

58A Play-__: Fun Factory clay : DOH

A Play-Doh Fun Factory is a toy press that extrudes Play-Doh into various shapes.

59A Newspaper opinion pieces : OP-EDS

“Op-ed” is an abbreviation for “opposite the editorial page”. Op-eds started in “The New York Evening World” in 1921 when the page opposite the editorials was used for articles written by a named guest writer, someone independent of the editorial board.

61A Volcano on Sicily : ETNA

According to Greek mythology, Mount Etna was the prison of a monster. After Zeus defeated the 100-headed giant Typhon, he trapped him under the volcano. The eruptions, smoke, and tremors were believed to be the giant’s fiery breath as he struggled to break free.

63A D.C. MLB team : NATS

The Washington Nationals (“Nats”) started out life as the Montreal Expos in 1969, and were the first Major League Baseball team in Canada. The Expos moved to Washington in 2005 becoming the Nats.

64A “__ Green”: Kermit’s song : BEIN’

“Bein’ Green” is the signature song of Kermit the Frog, Jim Henson’s puppet character that appeared on “Sesame Street” and “The Muppet Show”. The song is also known by the first line “It’s not easy bein’ green”.

65A Land divisions : ACRES

At one time, an acre was defined as the amount of land a yoke of oxen could plow in a day. Then, an acre was more precisely defined as a strip of land “one furrow long” (i.e. one furlong) and one chain wide. The length of one furlong was equal to 10 chains, or 40 rods. An area of one furlong times one rod was one rood., and four roods made one acre.

Down

1D Note in the C minor scale : E-FLAT

Experts, unlike me, can wax lyrical on the technical differences between major and minor keys and scales. To me, music written in major keys is very strident, often very joyful and “honest”. Music written in minor keys (usually my favorite) is more feminine, more delicate and often quite sad.

4D Letters on some British ships : HMS

The prefix “HMS” is used by the warships of the Royal Navy, and stands for “Her/His Majesty’s Ship/Submarine”. The prefix “RMS” is used by ships of the merchant navy, and stands for “Royal Mail Ship/Steamer”.

5D Like most gory movies : RATED R

The Motion Picture Association’s (MPA) film-rating system (PG-13, R, etc.) is purely voluntary and is not backed by any law. Movie theaters agree to abide by the rules that come with the MPA ratings in exchange for access to new movies.

9D Sanaa resident : YEMENI

Sana (also “Sana’a” and “Sanaa”) is the capital city of Yemen. Sitting at an elevation of 7,380 feet, Sana is one of the highest capital cities in the world. Within the bounds of today’s metropolis is the old fortified city of Sana, where people have lived for over 2,500 years. The Old City is now a World Heritage Site. According to legend, Sana was founded by Shem, the son of Noah.

10D Spiral-horned African antelopes : ELANDS

The eland (plural “eland, elands”) is a large African antelope, in fact the largest antelope on the planet. Both male and female eland have horns, and those horns have a steady spiral ridge along their length.

11D Realtor’s sign of success? : SOLD

“Real estate agent” is a general, generic term. “Realtor” is the name given to a member of the trade association known as the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The NAR has gone so far as to trademark the term “Realtor” in the US.

22D Souvenir shirts : TEES

A souvenir is a memento, a token of remembrance. We imported “souvenir” from French, in which language it has the same meaning. The term comes from the Latin “subvenire” meaning “to come to mind”, or literally “to come up”.

29D Southeast Asian ethnic group : HMONG

The Hmong people are an ethnic group from the mountains of China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.

42D Greek letter after alpha : BETA

The Greek alphabet starts off with the letters alpha, beta, gamma …

50D __ boom: noise made by a fast jet : SONIC

As a plane flies through the air, it creates pressure waves in front (and behind) rather like the bow and stern waves of a boat. These pressure waves travel at the speed of sound, so as an aircraft itself accelerates towards the speed of sound it catches up with the pressure waves until they cannot “get out of the way”. When the aircraft reaches the speed of sound, the compressed waves merge into one single shock wave, creating a sonic boom.

51D TGIF part : THANK

“Thank God It’s Friday” (TGIF) is a relatively new expression that apparently originated in Akron, Ohio. It was a catchphrase used first by disk jockey Jerry Healy of WAKR in the early seventies. That said, one blog reader wrote to me to say that he had been using the phrase in the fifties.

52D Jewish wedding dance : HORA

The hora is a circle dance that originated in the Balkans. It was brought to Israel by Romanian settlers, and is often performed to traditional, Israeli folk songs. The hora (also “horah”) is a regular sight at Jewish weddings. Sometimes the honoree at an event is raised on a chair during the dance.

53D Oil cartel letters : OPEC

The OPEC cartel was formally established in 1960 and has been headquartered in Vienna since 1965. The US is one of the big three oil producers in the world (along with Russia and Saudi Arabia). One reason America isn’t in OPEC is that, prior to 2019, we imported more oil than we exported. Then, of course, there are US federal antitrust laws …

55D Capitol Hill gp. : CONG

The designer of Washington D.C., Pierre L’Enfant, chose the crest of a hill as the site for the future Congress House. He called the location “Jenkins Hill” and “Jenkins Heights”. Earlier records show the name as “New Troy”. Today, we call it “Capitol Hill”.

56D __ latte: spiced drink : CHAI

Chai is a drink made from spiced black tea, honey and milk, with “chai” being the Hindi word for “tea”. We often called tea “a cup of char” growing up in Ireland, with “char” being our slang word for tea, derived from “chai”.