LA Times Crossword 5 Mar 26, Thursday

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Constructed by: Susan Gelfand

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Electrician’s Favorites

Themed answers are common phrases reinterpreted as an ELECTRICIAN’S FAVORITE:

• 17A Electrician’s favorite method of payment? : CHARGE CARD
• 25A Electrician’s favorite exercise? : POWER WALK
• 36A Like an electrician’s favorite sweater? : CABLE-KNIT
• 51A Like an electrician’s favorite eyeglasses? : WIRE-FRAME
• 61A Electrician’s favorite shopping venue? : OUTLET MALL

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

Bill’s time: 6m 07s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Rx orders : MEDS

There seems to be some uncertainty about the origin of the symbol “Rx” that’s used for a medical prescription. One explanation is that it comes from the astrological sign for Jupiter, a symbol put on prescriptions in days of old to invoke Jupiter’s blessing to help a patient recover.

10A Jacksonville team, familiarly : JAGS

The Jacksonville Jaguars have been in the NFL since 1995. The team was named four years earlier, via a fan contest in 1991. The contest was a step in the plans to bring an NFL team to the city. The fans seemed to like the alliteration of “Jacksonville Jaguars”, or perhaps wanted to honor the oldest living jaguar in North America, then a resident of the Jacksonville Zoo.

15A Valletta’s island : MALTA

Valletta is the capital city of the island state of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. The city is named in honor of Jean Parisot de Valette, a French nobleman who commanded the resistance against the Ottomans at the Great Siege of Malta in 1565. With a population of about 9,000 (excluding the metro area), Valletta is the smallest national capital in the European Union.

16A HarperCollins romance imprint : AVON

Avon was a noted publisher of comic books and paperbacks. The company was founded in 1941 and focused on lowbrow literature designed for popular appeal, especially romance novels.

20A Vicinity : REGION

A vicinity is an area surrounding a place. The term “vicinity” ultimately comes from the Latin “vicus” meaning “group of houses, village”.

23A Chef-training sch. in Hyde Park : CIA

The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, New York was founded in 1946 in New Haven, Connecticut as the New Haven Restaurant Institute. It was established as a training school for veterans returning from WWII.

27A “Au contraire, __ frère” : MON

In French, one might say “Au contraire, mon frère” (On the contrary, my brother).

28A The WNBA’s Sky, on scoreboards : CHI

The Chicago Sky is a WNBA basketball team that plays home games at Wintrust Arena, located in the South Loop neighborhood of Chicago. The Sky was founded in 2006, and the team’s mascot is Skye the Lioness, a tribute to the iconic bronze lion statues that guard the entrance of the Art Institute of Chicago.

31A Nav. rank : ENS

Ensign is (usually) the most junior rank of commissioned officer in the armed forces. The name comes from the tradition that the junior officer would be given the task of carrying the ensign flag.

32A Shucks : HULLS

To shuck is to remove the husk from (say, an ear of corn) or to remove the shell from (say, an oyster).

36A Like an electrician’s favorite sweater? : CABLE-KNIT

Cable knitting is a style of knitting that possibly originated on Ireland’s Aran Islands. It is a technique that creates textured, rope-like, or braided patterns by temporarily holding stitches on a special cable needle and crossing them over other stitches. The result is thicker, wind-resistant sweaters, traditionally worn by local fishermen. So, cable-knit sweaters are often referred to as Aran sweaters or fisherman sweaters. I am a big fan …

39A California valley that was one of the first American Viticultural Areas : NAPA

Viticulture is the branch of horticulture dealing with the cultivation and harvesting of grapes, especially for wine production.

42A Flight part : STAIR

A landing is the area at the top and bottom of a staircase. Apparently, we call the steps between the landings a “flight” of stairs, because one “flies” between landings! Can that be true?

49A Chinese philosophical concept : TAO

The “Tao Te Ching” is an ancient Chinese text consisting of 81 brief, poetic chapters that outline the core tenets of Taoism. According to the text, The Tao (translating from Old Chinese as “The Way”) represents the fundamental, underlying principle of the universe that defies precise verbal definition. It emphasizes the importance of “wu wei”, or “effortless action”, where an individual aligns their life with the natural world’s rhythm.

54A Game with a caller : BINGO

Our game bingo is a derivative of an Italian lottery game called “Il Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia” that became popular in the 16th-century.

57A Move like molasses : OOZE

Molasses and treacle are both byproducts of the sugar-making process.. Molasses is an American term for the thick, bittersweet syrup produced by boiling sugarcane or sugar beets. “Treacle” is a British term referring to a more refined syrup or a blend that includes molasses. Because of their different flavors and viscosities, molasses is often used in savory dishes, while treacle is more common in sweeter applications. When I was a young lad on the other side of the pond, treacle pudding was a favorite dessert provided as part of a school lunch …

61A Electrician’s favorite shopping venue? : OUTLET MALL

Surprisingly (to me!), our word “mall”, meaning “shady walk” or “enclosed shopping space”, comes from the Italian for “mallet”. All of our shopping-style malls are named for “The Mall” in St. James’s Park in London. This tree-lined promenade was so called as it used to be a famous spot to play the croquet-like game called “pall-mall”. The game derived its name from the Italian for ball (palla) and mallet “maglio”. The London thoroughfare called the Mall still exists, at one end of which is Buckingham Palace. Indeed, parallel to the Mall is a street called Pall Mall.

63A Caffeine-rich nut : KOLA

The nut of the kola tree has a bitter taste, and is loaded with caffeine. Despite the taste, the nut is habitually chewed in some cultures, especially in West Africa where the tree is commonly found in the rainforest. Here in the US we best know the kola nut as a flavoring used in cola drinks.

64A Trademarked refrigerant : FREON

Freon is a DuPont trade name for a group of compounds used as a refrigerant and as a propellant in aerosols. Freon is used in the compressors of air conditioners as a vital component in the air-cooling mechanism. Freon used to contain chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which had a devastating effect on the Earth’s ozone layer. Use of CFCs is now banned, or at least severely restricted.

65A French cheese with a rind : BRIE

Brie is a soft cheese that is named for the French region in which it originated. Brie is similar to the equally famous (and delicious) Camembert. Brie is often served baked in puff pastry with fig jam.

67A Some Slavs : SERBS

The Slavic peoples are in the majority in communities covering over half of Europe. This large ethnic group is traditionally broken down into three smaller groups:

• the West Slavic (including Czechs and Poles)
• the East Slavic (including Russians and Ukrainians)
• the South Slavic (including Bulgarians, Croats and Serbs)

Down

1D Knotty craft : MACRAME

Macramé is a way to make cloth that uses a knotting technique rather than weaving or knitting. Macramé was popularized at sea, where sailors would decorate the likes of knife handles, bottles and even parts of the ship.

2D Level : ECHELON

We use the word “echelon” (ech.) to describe a rank or level, particularly in the military. The term comes from French, in which language it has the same meaning, although the original meaning in Old French is “rung of a ladder”.

3D Creatures on the flags of Wales and Bhutan : DRAGONS

I’ve always thought the Welsh flag to be a magnificent design. At the center of the flag is a red dragon, which was the emblem of Cadwaladr. Cadwaladr was the king of much of what today is known as Wales, from 655 to 682.

The official name of the Kingdom of Bhutan is “Druk Yul” in the Sino-Tibetan language Dzongkha. “Druk yul” translates as “the Land of the Thunder Dragon”. The Kings of Bhutan are referred to as “Druk Gyalpo” meaning “Dragon King”, and citizens of Bhutan are known as “Drukpa” meaning “Dragon people”. The flag of Bhutan features a white dragon holding four jewels in its claws. The dragon sits in the center, above a yellow and orange background divided diagonally.

4D Calligraphy stroke : SERIF

Serifs are details on the ends of characters in some typefaces. Typefaces without serifs are known as sans-serif, using the French word “sans” meaning “without” and “serif” from the Dutch “schreef” meaning “line”. Some people say that serif fonts are easier to read on paper, whereas sans-serif fonts work better on a computer screen. I’m not so sure though …

6D Big name in laptops and lipstick : MAC

MAC is a manufacturer of cosmetics that was founded in Toronto in 1984. The name “MAC” is an acronym standing for Make-Up Art Cosmetics.

7D San Antonio field trip destination : ALAMO

The San Antonio mission known as the Alamo may have been named for a grove of nearby cottonwood trees. “Álamo” is the Spanish name for the cottonwood.

9D Make melancholy : SADDEN

Melancholy is a dejection, depression of spirits. Melancholia was one of the body’s four basic substances of medieval science, the so-called four humors. All diseases were caused by these four substances getting out of balance. The four humors were:

• Black bile (melancholia)
• Yellow bile (cholera)
• Phlegm (phlegma)
• Blood (sanguis)

10D Mandible : JAW

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

11D Toast spread : AVOCADO

Avocado toast is trendy, but delicious. My homemade version includes a generous sprinkling of freshly cracked black pepper, and a splash of hot sauce. Yum …

12D Silverback, for one : GORILLA

Adult male gorillas are commonly called silverbacks, a reference to the silver hair that runs down their backs. Gorillas live in groups called troops. Each troop usually has one silverback who runs the show, with several adult females and their offspring.

13D Puma, for one : SNEAKER

The German sportswear company Puma was founded in 1948 by Rudolf Dassler, the elder brother of Adidas founder Adolf Dassler.

26D Dominic of “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” : WEST

Dominic West is an actor from England who first came to national attention in this country playing Irish-American detective Jim McNulty in “The Wire”. West is the first cousin once removed of Thomas Eagleton, an American politician who was briefly the Democratic vice presidential nominee under George McGovern.

“Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” is a 2025 film, the last of three movies spun off from the incredibly successful TV series “Downton Abbey”. In this final episode, Lady Mary Talbot, the eldest daughter of Lord and Lady Grantham, must navigate the public scandal of being a divorcee in society. Gracious me …!

33D Lead-in to “It Go” and “It Be,” in song titles : LET …

“Let It Go” is an incredibly successful song from the Disney animated film “Frozen” released in 2013. It was performed in the movie by Idina Menzel, who also was the voice actor for the character Elsa. “Let It Go” is one of the very few Disney songs to make it into the Billboard Top Ten.

1970’s “Let It Be” was the last album that the Beatles released as an active group playing together. The title song was written by Paul McCartney, and it is clearly one of his own favorites. McCartney says that he was inspired to write the song after having had a dream about his mother (who had died some years earlier from cancer). In fact, he refers to her (Mary McCartney) in the line “Mother Mary comes to me”. Paul’s first wife, Linda, is singing backing vocals on the song. 28 years after that 1970 recording was made, Paul, George and Ringo sang “Let It Be” at a memorial service for Linda, who was also lost to cancer. Sad stuff, but a lovely song …

34D Manta ray kin : SKATE

Skates (formally “Rajidae”) are a family of fish in the superorder of rays (formally “batoidea”). Skates look very similar to stingrays, but they lack stinging spines.

The manta ray is the largest species of ray, with the biggest one recorded at over 23 feet across and weighing 6,600 pounds. It is sometimes referred to as the sea devil.

36D Sugar stalk : CANE

When sugarcane is processed to extract sugar, it is crushed and mashed to produce a juice. The juice is boiled to make a sugary concentrate called cane syrup, from which sugar crystals are extracted. A second boiling of the leftover syrup produces second molasses, from which more sugar crystals can be extracted. A third boiling results in what is called blackstrap molasses.

37D “Hedda” writer/director DaCosta : NIA

The 2025 film “Hedda”, written and directed by Nia DaCosta, is a reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s 1890 play “Hedda Gabler”. Whereas the play is set within the drawing room of a Norwegian villa in the late 1800s, the movie is set in a decaying country estate in 1950s England. The Norwegian Hedda is a bored aristocrat who destroys lives just to feel like she has power. The English Hedda is a socialite who is just as manipulative but is driven more by a desire to break free from her stifling world rather than by boredom.

38D Asimov collection first published in 1950 : I, ROBOT

Science fiction author Isaac Asimov wrote a marvelous collection of short stories titled “I, Robot” that were first published together in 1950. In the stories, he makes repeated reference to the Three Laws of Robotics, which he introduced in the story “Runaround”, first published in 1942. The three laws are:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

40D Cockpit occupant : AVIATOR

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.

41D Covered walkway : PERGOLA

A pergola looks somewhat like a gazebo in structure, but it is an open walkway with vines trained up the sides and over the top. “Pergola” ultimately derives from the Latin “pergula”, the word for a covered eave.

52D Sky blue : AZURE

The term “azure” came into English from Persian via Old French. The French word “l’azur” was taken from the Persian name for a place in northeastern Afghanistan called “Lazhward” which was the main source of the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli. The stone has a vivid blue color, and “azure” has been describing this color since the 14th century.

55D Sonnet line quintet : IAMBS

An iamb is a metrical foot containing an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The lines in William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18” use five sequential iambs, e.g. “Shall I / compare / thee to / a sum- / -mer’s day?” With that sequence of five iambs, the poem’s structure is described as iambic pentameter.

58D Binoculars part : LENS

In effect, a pair of binoculars is a set of two small telescopes mounted side by side. The telescopes are aligned so that they point in the same direction. This allows the user to use binocular vision, to use both eyes to view distant objects.

60D Faux __ : PAS

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).