LA Times Crossword 5 Apr 26, Sunday

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Constructed by: Zhouqin Burnikel

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: Make Some Noise

Themed answers are common phrases with “SH” removed from one word (“SH” OUT):

• 102D Holler, or when parsed differently, an alternate title for this puzzle : SHOUT or “SH” OUT

• 22A Corn? : KITCHEN EARS (from “kitchen shears”)
• 24A “Naked Lunch” in a lunchroom, say? : TRAY NOVEL (from “trashy novel”)
• 39A Bailing out of a storied couples’ cruise? : JUMPING THE ARK (from “jumping the shark”)
• 54A Toymakers who really help with the holiday rush? : STORE ELVES (from “store shelves”)
• 81A King Kong after his glow-up? : CHANGED APE (from “changed shape”)
• 94A Unwilling to lace up skates? : RINK-RESISTANT (from “shrink-resistant”)
• 112A Material used to make Nuggets uniform tops? : JERSEY ORE (from “Jersey Shore”)
• 114A Missions to obtain keepsakes? : SOUVENIR OPS (from “souvenir shops”)

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

Bill’s time: 15m 03s

Bill’s errors: 2

• LULA (Lule)
• ALAINA (Alaine)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

10A “Macbeth” quintet : ACTS

There is a superstition in the theatrical world that uttering the name “Macbeth” in a theater will bring disaster of some sort. To avoid this, the euphemism “the Scottish Play” is used instead.

14A Pet rescue org. : SPCA

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA)

18A Dollar alternative : ALAMO

Alamo is a car rental brand owned by Enterprise Holdings, the largest car rental company in North America. Alamo was founded in 1974 in Florida, and made inroads (pun!) into the market by popularizing the idea of “unlimited mileage”.

19A Stuffed cornmeal snack : AREPA

An arepa is a cornmeal cake or bread that is popular in Colombian and Venezuelan cuisines in particular. Each arepa has a flat, round shape and is often split to make a sandwich.

24A “Naked Lunch” in a lunchroom, say? : TRAY NOVEL (from “trashy novel”)

“Naked Lunch” is a 1959 novel by William S. Burroughs that comprises a series of vignettes drawn from the author’s own experiences. The book was adapted into a 1991 film of the same name.

26A Part of i.e. : EST

“Id est” is Latin for “that is”, and is often abbreviated to “i.e.” when used in English.

28A “Happy __!”: June greeting : PRIDE

The police raided a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn on June 28th, 1969. That raid triggered a spate of violent demonstrations led by the LGBT community. Now known as the Stonewall riots, those demonstrations are viewed by many as a significant event leading to the modern-day fight for LGBT rights in the US. Since then, June has been chosen as LGBT Pride Month in recognition of the Stonewall riots.

30A Cookie invented in Manhattan : OREO

The Oreo cookie was introduced in 1912, having been developed at the National Biscuit Company (now “Nabisco”) factory in the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea.

34A Indigo Girls, e.g. : DUO

Indigo Girls are a folk rock music duo made up of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. Ray and Saliers are considered icons in the LGBT community as both identified themselves as lesbians a long time ago, although they have never been a couple.

35A Showbiz quartets : EGOTS

Emmy, Grammy, Oscar & Tony Awards (EGOT)

37A Winged archer : EROS

Eros was the Greek god of love, desire and attraction, and usually depicted as a winged youth wielding a bow and arrows. The arrows had the power to ignite feelings of love or passionate longing in whomever they struck. Eros (Cupid or Amor in Roman mythology) was the son of Aphrodite (Venus) and Ares (Mars).

39A Bailing out of a storied couples’ cruise? : JUMPING THE ARK (from “jumping the shark”)

The phrase “jumping the shark” has been used since 1985 to describe the moment in the life of a TV show when it starts to decline in popularity. The expression comes from a 1977 scene in the hit sitcom “Happy Days” when the character Fonzie gets on water skis and is seen literally jumping over a shark. “Happy Days” never recovered.

44A Scotland’s national dish : HAGGIS

Haggis is the national dish of Scotland. It is a savory pudding made from the heart, liver and lungs of a sheep, mixed with onion, oatmeal, suet and spices. The pudding was originally cooked in the sheep’s stomach but these days is usually prepared in a sausage casing.

48A Victim of Iago in “Othello” : CASSIO

Michael Cassio is a character in William Shakespeare’s tragedy “Othello”. He is a young lieutenant under the command of the title character. He falls victim to Iago, as the latter plots to ruin Othello.

51A Noche’s opposite : DIA

“Noche y dia” translates from Spanish as “night and day”.

65A Mayflower vehicle : VAN

Mayflower Transit is a moving and storage company that was founded in 1927 in Indianapolis, but is now based in Fenton, Missouri.

68A Cheryl of “Charlie’s Angels” : LADD

Cheryl Ladd’s most famous role was Kris Munroe in television’s “Charlie’s Angels”. Ladd replaced Farrah Fawcett-Majors when the latter opted out of the show. Cheryl was the daughter-in-law of famed Hollywood actor Alan Ladd, as she was married to Ladd’s son, David. After the couple divorced, Cheryl retained the Ladd name.

81A King Kong after his glow-up? : CHANGED APE (from “changed shape”)

When RKO released the 1933 movie “King Kong”, the promotional material listed the ape’s height as 50 feet. During filming, a bust was created for a 40-foot ape, as well as a full-size hand that went with a 70-foot Kong.

84A Gold __ flour : MEDAL

The Washburn-Crosby Company entered several brands of flour at the Millers’ International Exhibition in Cincinnati in 1880. The company’s brands won bronze, silver and gold medals at the show, prompting Washburn-Crosby to launch the Gold Medal brand of flour. That Gold Medal brand is now produced by General Mills.

87A President of Brazil since 2023, familiarly : LULA

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva served as the 35th president of Brazil from 2003 until 2010. A former union leader, he thrust himself onto the international stage, positioning himself as a negotiator. For example, he befriended both President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and President George W. Bush, two leaders with very, very different political positions. In 2022, Lula was re-elected to the presidency, and started serving as the 39th president of Brazil at the beginning of 2023.

100A __ al-Adha : EID

Eid al-Adha, also known as the “Feast of Sacrifice,” is one of the two main holidays in the Muslim calendar, along with Eid al-Fitr. It honors the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God.

101A Best Play, for one : ESPY

The ESPY Awards, also known as the Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards, were first presented in a ceremony in 1993. They were created by ESPN as a response to the lack of sports coverage during the summer months. ESPN decided to create an awards show to help fill that gap.

109A Record of the year? : ANNAL

“Annal” is a rarely used word, and is the singular of the more common “annals”. An annal would be the recorded events of one year, with annals being the chronological record of events in successive years. The term “annal” comes from the Latin “annus” meaning “year”.

112A Material used to make Nuggets uniform tops? : JERSEY ORE (from “Jersey Shore”)

The Denver Nuggets basketball team started out as a founding member of the American Basketball Association in 1967, at which time they were known as the Denver Rockets. The team name was changed in 1974 as the franchise planned its transition to the NBA. The name change was needed as the NBA already had the Houston Rockets. As is tradition, the new name was chosen in a fan contest.

“Jersey Shore” is the name given to the coastal region of the state of New Jersey. The most northerly stretch of “the Shore” is in Perth Amboy, a New Jersey city that falls within the New York metropolitan area. The most southerly part of the Shore is Cape May Point, which is also the southernmost point in New Jersey.

114A Missions to obtain keepsakes? : SOUVENIR OPS (from “souvenir shops”)

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”.

119A Noted New York Judge : AARON

Aaron Judge is a baseball outfielder who was selected as 2017’s American League Rookie of the Year. Judge is a big guy. He weighs 282 pounds, and is 6 foot 7 inches tall. Judge set the American League single-season home run record in 2022 with 62 home runs, surpassing Roger Maris’s 61 from 1961.

123A Dental exam picture : X-RAY

X-rays were first studied comprehensively by the German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen (also “Roentgen”), and it was he who gave the name “X-rays” to this particular type of radiation. Paradoxically, in Röntgen’s native language of German, X-rays are routinely referred to as “Röntgen rays”. In 1901, Röntgen’s work on X-rays won him the first Nobel Prize in Physics that was ever awarded.

124A Himalayan cryptids : YETIS

The study of animals whose existence have not yet been substantiated is called cryptozoology, and a cryptid is a creature or plant that isn’t recognized by the scientific community, but the existence of which has been suggested.

Down

2D Beethoven dedicatee : ELISE

“Für Elise” is a beautiful piece of solo piano music by Beethoven that is also known as “Bagatelle in A Minor”. “Für Elise” simply means “For Elise”, but sadly no one knows for sure the identity of the mysterious dedicatee.

5D Gallery-rich area near Tribeca : SOHO

“TriBeCa” is a clever little acronym that expands into “TRI-angle BE-low CA-nal Street”. The name of the New York City neighborhood was developed by local residents who basically copied the naming technique used by residents of the adjacent area of SoHo, with “SoHo” being short for “SO-uth of HO-uston Street”.

6D Beagle or bulldog : BREED

The beagle breed of dog is a scent hound, one developed for tracking small game. Because of this characteristic, beagles are often used as detection dogs in customs halls around the world. The world’s most famous beagle is probably Snoopy from the comic strip “Peanuts”.

The bulldog breed of dog was named for its use in the brutal blood sport of bull-baiting. Bulldogs, and related breeds, were bred to attack a tethered bull, and use its jaws to lock onto the bull’s snout.

8D Earth Day mo. : APR

Earth Day was founded in the US, where it was introduced by Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. Earth Day was designed to increase awareness and appreciation of our planet’s natural environment. The original Earth Day was on April 22nd, 1970. Decades later, the day is observed in over 175 countries.

9D Premium location? : GAS PUMP

The difference between a premium and regular gasoline is its octane rating. This is a measure of the resistance of the gasoline to auto-ignition i.e. its resistance to ignition just by virtue of being compressed in the cylinder. This auto-ignition is undesirable as multiple-cylinder engines are designed so that ignition within each cylinder takes place precisely when the plug sparks, and not before. If ignition occurs before the spark is created, the resulting phenomenon is called “knocking”. We sometimes use the adjective “high-octane” to mean “intense, dynamic, high-powered”

11D “Carpool Karaoke” co-creator : CORDEN

James Corden is an English actor and comedian who is best known in the US as the former host of “The Late Late Show”, a talk show for which he took the helm in 2015. Prior to establishing his career on this side of the Atlantic, Corden was quite the celebrity in Britain and Ireland. He appeared in the sitcom “Gavin & Stacey” (great show), which he also co-wrote. He also hosted the comedy-sports panel show “A League of Their Own” (also great).

Carpool Karaoke was a regular segment on “The Late Late Show with James Corden”. In the bit, Corden drives a car with a celebrity musical (usually) guest while singing along to some of the musician’s famous songs. The list of carpoolers is impressive and extensive, and includes the likes of Mariah Carey, Justin Bieber, Rod Stewart, Stevie Wonder and Elton John. The most popular non-musician carpooler was then-current First Lady Michelle Obama.

12D Savory snack with a cracked shell : TEA EGG

The tea egg is a dish from Chinese cuisine made by boiling an egg in water, cracking the shell, and then reboiling the egg in tea or a spiced sauce. Often sold as a snack food, the tea egg is also called a marble egg, referring to the marbled appearance of the cracked shell after boiling in a colored liquid.

14D “Casino” director : SCORSESE

Movie director Martin Scorsese is very much a New York City native, and is well-known for directing movies set in the Big Apple. Among the list of great Scorsese films are “Taxi Driver”, “Raging Bull”, “GoodFellas”, “Cape Fear”, “Casino” and “The Departed”.

“Casino” is a 1995 Martin Scorsese film. One of the movie’s stars is Robert De Niro, someone who regularly collaborates with Scorsese in films. The Tangiers Hotel in the movie was actually the Stardust Resort and Casino, which operated in Las Vegas from 1958 until 2006.

16D Geppetto’s goldfish : CLEO

In the 1940 Disney animated feature “Pinocchio”, the woodcarver Geppetto has two pets. He has a tuxedo cat named Figaro and a goldfish named Cleo.

19D Mountain range that’s home to Aconcagua : ANDES

The Andes range is the longest continuous chain of mountains in the world. It runs down the length of the west coast of South America for about 4,300 miles, from Venezuela in the north to Chile in the south. The highest peak in the Andes is Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina, at an elevation of 22,841 feet. Interestingly, the peak of Mt. Chimborazo in Ecuador is the furthest point on the Earth’s surface from the center of the planet. That’s because of the equatorial “bulge” around the Earth’s “waist”.

23D Saint __ fire : ELMO’S

Saint Elmo is the patron saint of sailors. More formally referred to as Erasmus of Formia, St. Elmo is perhaps venerated by sailors as tradition tells us that he continued preaching despite the ground beside him being struck by a thunderbolt. Sailors started to pray to him when in danger of storms and lightning. He lends his name to the electrostatic weather phenomenon (often seen at sea) known as St. Elmo’s fire. The “fire” is actually a plasma discharge caused by air ionizing at the end of a pointed object (like the mast of a ship), something often observed during electrical storms.

34D Hoodwinks : DUPES

“To hoodwink” has had the meaning “to deceive” since about 1600. Prior to that it meant simply “to blindfold”, and is simply a combination of the words “hood” and “wink”.

36D Available without an Rx : OTC

Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs don’t need a prescription (Rx).

38D Winter coat : RIME

Rime is the beautiful coating of ice that forms on surfaces like roofs, trees and grass, when cold water freezes instantly under the right conditions.

39D Primatologist Goodall : JANE

Jane Goodall was a British anthropologist famous for studying wild chimpanzees in Africa for 45 years. Working at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania, Goodall made many discoveries. She was the first to see chimps constructing and using tools, an activity thought to be limited to the human species. She also found out that chimpanzees are omnivores.

42D Hayworth of the silver screen : RITA

Rita Hayworth was born in Brooklyn as Margarita Carmen Cansino. Her father was a flamenco dancer from Spain and so his daughter fell naturally into dancing. The family moved to Hollywood where Hayworth’s father set up a dance studio, and there worked with the likes of James Cagney and Jean Harlow. The young Hayworth had a slow start in movies, finding herself typecast because of her Mediterranean features. When she underwent extensive electrolysis to change her forehead and dyed her hair red, she started to get more work (how sad is that?). In 1941 she posed for that famous pin-up picture which accompanied GIs all over the world.

The screen on which one projects a movie is often referred to as a silver screen. The term “silver screen” has evolved to describe the film industry in general. The original silver screen was invented in the early days of motion pictures by a projectionist named Harry Coulter Williams. It comprises a tightly woven fabric on which was applied a silver layer (hence the name). The silvery surface provided a brighter picture from all viewing angles.

43D __ & the Gang : KOOL

The band called Kool & the Gang have been around since the mid-sixties, and is most famous for the hit “Celebration”. The band was co-founded by Robert “Kool” Bell, hence the name.

44D Shade-loving plant : HOSTA

The Hosta genus of plant was once classified as a lily, but is now in a family of its own and is described as “lily-like”. The plant was given the name “Hosta” in honor of the Austrian botanist Nicholas Thomas Host.

45D Shenanigan : ANTIC

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.

46D Crystal-lined rock : GEODE

A geode is a rock in which there is a cavity that is lined or filled with crystal formations. The crystals inside a geode form when mineral-rich water seeps into a cavity in a rock, leaving behind dissolved minerals that gradually build up over time. Some of the largest geodes ever discovered have been as big as a room and can take millions of years to form.

55D Graceland icon : ELVIS

Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi and moved to Memphis, Tennessee with his family when he was 13-years-old. Once he had achieved fame, Elvis purchased Graceland, the famous Memphis home that he used for himself and his family. I visited Graceland many years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

57D “Sitting Pretty on Top of the World” country singer Lauren __ : ALAINA

Country singer Lauren Alaina is an alumna of “American Idol”, having placed second in the 10th season of the competition in 2011. She appeared on another reality TV competition in 2019, placing fourth on the 28th season of “Dancing with the Stars”.

66D Hair clip : BARRETTE

A barrette is a hair clip, a clasp for holding the hair in place. The word is French in origin, with a literal translation of “little bar”.

70D Train station : DEPOT

Our term “depot”, meaning “station, warehouse”, comes from the French word “dépôt”. The French term translates into English as “deposit” or “place of deposit”.

73D Iowa’s state flower : WILD ROSE

The wild prairie rose is the state flower of both Iowa and North Dakota.

77D Love, to Bad Bunny : AMOR

Bad Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, is a Puerto Rican rapper and singer. He was the first non-English language act to top Spotify’s most-streamed artist list, doing so in 2020. He stormed past that record that year, and in the following years, becoming Spotify’s most-streamed artist in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2025 (losing out to Taylor Swift in 2023 and 2024). In 2026, Bad Bunny headlined the Super Bowl halftime show.

78D Denim pioneer Strauss : LEVI

Levi Strauss was granted a patent in the 1870s for the use of copper rivets to reinforce points of strain on clothes made from denim. Patent protection expired in 1890, and at that point the company designated its rivet-reinforced overalls as “lot no. 501”. That number is still being used over a century later.

79D Yemen’s Gulf of __ : ADEN

The Gulf of Aden is the body of water that lies south of the Red Sea, and just north of the Horn of Africa.

82D Jabba the __ : HUTT

Jabba the Hutt is the big blob of an alien that appears in the “Star Wars” movie “The Return of the Jedi”. Jabba’s claim to fame is that he enslaved Princess Leia.

83D “At Last” singer James : ETTA

The 1942 song “At Last” was written for the 1941 musical film “Sun Valley Serenade” in which it is performed by Glenn Miller and his orchestra. Etta James recorded a version of “At Last” in 1960, after which it became her signature song.

85D The Natural State : ARKANSAS

Arkansas has had three official nicknames over the years:

1. The Wonder State (1923)
2. The Land of Opportunity (1953)
3. The Natural State (1995)

92D Very low woodwind : BASS SAX

The bass saxophone was probably the first version built by Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone (and who was granted a patent in 1846). It is not used very often, as it stands nearly four feet tall and requires immense lung capacity.

93D Car rental choice : SEDAN

The American sedan car is the equivalent of the British and Irish saloon car. By definition, a sedan car has two rows of seating and a separate trunk (boot in Britain and Ireland), although in some models the engine can be at the rear of the car.

95D Curly, for one : STOOGE

If you’ve seen a few of the films starring “The Three Stooges” you might have noticed that the line-up changed over the years. The original trio was made up of Moe and Shemp Howard (two brothers) and Larry Fine (a good friend of the Howards). This line up was usually known as “Moe, Larry and Shemp”. Then Curly Howard replaced his brother when Shemp quit the act, creating the most famous trio, “Moe, Larry And Curly”. Shemp returned when Curly had a debilitating stroke in 1946. Shemp stayed with the troupe until he himself died in 1955. Shemp was replaced by Joe Besser, and then “Curly-Joe” DeRita. When Larry Fine suffered a stroke in 1970, it effectively marked the end of the act.

97D Wrinkle-prone fabric : LINEN

The textile known as linen is made from flax fibers. The name “linen” probably comes from “linum”, which is Latin for both “flax” and “textile made from flax”.

100D Embassy go-between : ENVOY

An envoy works at an embassy and is a representative of a government, and someone ranking below an ambassador. The name comes from the concept of the envoy being a “messenger” from his or her government. “Envoyer” is the French word for “to send”.

103D Sister brand of Aquafina : PEPSI

Aquafina is a Pepsico brand of bottled water. It is just plain old municipal water that has been purified.

105D Country where Inca Kola originated : PERU

Inca Kola is a soft drink from Peru that was introduced in 1935. The soda’s main flavoring ingredient is lemon verbena, and it is said to taste like bubblegum.

110D Flower on a floating pad : LILY

Water lilies have leaves and flowers that float on the surface of a body of water. However, the roots of the plant are embedded in soil, soil at the bottom of the pond or lake.

113D Tuber in the Nigerian dish asaro : YAM

Asaro, also known as yam porridge, is a popular Nigerian dish made. It is traditionally prepared with a special cooking method called “boiling and pounding”. The yam is peeled, diced, and boiled until it is soft, and then pounded into a smooth paste using a mortar and pestle. The paste is then added to a pot of boiling water along with other ingredients such as palm oil, onions, tomatoes, and spices. The mixture is simmered until it thickens into a porridge-like consistency.

116D Masago or tobiko : ROE

The Japanese dish called “masago” is actually the roe of the capelin fish. Masago is often mixed with wasabi and served as “wasabi caviar”.

In Japanese cuisine, the roe of salmon is called “ikura” and the roe of flying fish is called “tobiko”.