LA Times Crossword 12 Apr 26, Sunday

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Constructed by: Darryl Gonzalez

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: Major Change

Themed answers are college MAJORS, but with the study emphasis CHANGED:

• 22A Degree in promoting mani-pedis? : DIGITAL MARKETING
• 37A Degree in restoring historic factories? : PLANT CONSERVATION
• 55A Degree in flytrap innovations? : WEB DEVELOPMENT
• 81A Degree in pudding skin consistency? : FILM PRODUCTION
• 94A Degree in preaching? : MASS COMMUNICATION
• 116A Degree in building polite society? : CIVIL ENGINEERING

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

Bill’s time: 13m 58s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

11A Primate that can be lesser or great : APE

The tailless primates known as apes (also “hominoids”) are divided into two main branches: gibbons (lesser apes) and hominids (great apes). The hominids are the great apes, and belong to the family of primates called Hominidae. Extant genera that make up the family Hominidae are:

• chimpanzees
• gorillas
• humans
• orangutans

17A Salchow cousins : AXELS

An axel is a forward take-off jump in figure skating. The maneuver was first performed by Norwegian Axel Paulsen at the 1882 Vienna International Skating Tournament.

The salchow jump in figure skating is named for Swedish skater Ulrich Salchow, who invented the move.

22A Degree in promoting mani-pedis? : DIGITAL MARKETING

Manicure & pedicure (mani-pedi)

25A Luau interlude : HULA

The hula is a native dance of Hawaii that uses arm movements to relate a story. The hula can be performed while sitting (a noho dance) or while standing (a luna dance).

27A Northern Scotland native : GAEL

Scots is a variant of English that is commonly spoken in Lowland Scotland. Scots is very different from Scottish Gaelic, a variant of the Celtic language that is more likely to be encountered in the Scottish Highlands. Much of the work of poet Robert Burns was written in Scots.

29A Biology blueprints : GENOMES

A genome is all the genetic information of an organism. The term “genome” was coined by German botanist Hans Winkler in 1920, and is a portmanteau of “gene” and “chromosome”. The study of the genome is known as genomics.

31A Muscle at the end of the clavicle : DELTOID

The clavicle, or collarbone, is unique in the body in that it is the only long bone that lies horizontally. It acts as a strut, connecting the arms to the trunk.

33A Blueprints : PLANS

Blueprints are reproductions of technical or architectural drawings that are contact prints made on light-sensitive sheets. They were introduced in the 1800s and the technology available dictated that the drawings were reproduced with white lines on a blue background, hence the name “blue-print”.

42A Accessory coordinated with a pocket hankie : TIE

A kerchief is a triangular or square piece of cloth used as a covering for the head. So, a handkerchief (“hand-kerchief”) is a square piece of cloth held in the hand and used for personal hygiene.

49A Dish that helps expand cultural horizons? : PETRI

Julius Richard Petri was a German bacteriologist and was the man after whom the Petri dish is named. The petri dish can have an agar gel on the bottom which acts as a nutrient source for the specimen being grown and studied, in which case the dish plus agar is referred to as an “agar plate”.

60A Cloud of cosmic dust : NEBULA

In astronomical terms, a nebula is a cloud of dust and ionized gases (“nebula” is the Latin for “cloud”). Many nebulae form as gases collapse in on themselves under the influence of enormous gravitational forces. Ultimately these collapses can result in the creation of new stars.

Cosmic dust is usually defined as the space dust that exists in our solar system. These dust particles mainly originate from comets and asteroids in our system, but can also be interstellar dust particles that are just “passing through” from other solar systems.

66A Bhutan neighbor : TIBET

Tibet is a plateau region that is part of China, and is located northeast of the Himalayas. Tibet declared its independence from China in 1913, but fell back under Chinese control after the Invasion of Tibet in 1951. The Tibetan leader, the 14th Dalai Lama, fled the country during the 1959 Tibetan Rebellion. Since then, he has led the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India.

Bhutan is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is located high up in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and India to the south, east and west. It has been a constitutional monarchy since 2008, and has been ranked by “Businessweek” as the “happiest” country in Asia.

67A Sicilian snack whose name means “little oranges” : ARANCINI

Arancini are Italian rice balls that are stuffed, breaded, and deep-fried. While rice is their main component, the most common fillings include ragù (meat sauce), mozzarella or caciocavallo cheese, and often peas. They are a staple of Sicilian cuisine and are said to have originated in the 10th-century, a period when the island was under Arab rule. The name “arancini” translates from Sicilian as “little oranges”, and is a reference to their shape and color after cooking.

73A Mutton busting venue : RODEO

Mutton busting is a rodeo event where children, typically between the ages of 4 and 7, ride sheep. Similar to bull riding, the goal is to hold on for as long as possible as the sheep runs around the arena.

74A Fashion designer with the fragrance Dolly Girl : ANNA SUI

Anna Sui is an American fashion designer. Born in Detroit to Chinese immigrant parents, Sui moved to New York to attend Parsons School of Design, where she befriended photographers like Steven Meisel and began designing for sportswear companies.

77A N.Y. tech sch. : RPI

The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) is a private school in Troy, New York. The university is named after its founder Stephen Van Rensselaer who set up the school in 1824. The goal of RPI has always been the “application of science to the common purposes of life”, an objective set by the founder. Given that, the name for the school’s sports teams is quite apt: the Engineers.

78A “Four Quartets” monogram : TSE

T. S. Eliot was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948, largely because of his “Four Quartets”, a set of four poems that Eliot himself considered to be his life’s masterpiece. He also won a Tony Award in 1950 for Best Play, for “The Cocktail Party”, as well as two posthumous Tony Awards in 1983 for his poems that are used in the musical “Cats”.

79A Starbucks size : TRENTA

Starbucks introduced us to coffee drinks in a whole range of volumes:

• Demi … 3 fl oz
• Short … 8 fl oz
• Tall … 12 fl oz
• Grande … 16 fl oz (Italian for “large”)
• Venti … 20 fl oz (Italian for “twenty”)
• Trenta … 30 fl oz (Italian for “thirty”)

84A “Odyssey” peak : OSSA

Mount Ossa in Greece is located between Mount Pelion in the south, and the famed Mount Olympus in the north. Mount Ossa is also known as Kissavos.

89A “Insecure” star Rae : ISSA

“Insecure” is a comedy-drama TV show that premiered in 2016. It is co-written by and stars Issa Rae, who also created the comedy web series “Awkward Black Girl” on which “Insecure” is based.

90A Deceptive “Frozen” prince : HANS

Rumor has it that the names of the main characters in the animated film “Frozen” were deliberately chosen as a homage to Hans Christian Anderson, author of the fairy tale “The Snow Queen”, on which the movie is based. If you say the names Hans, Kristoff, Anna, Sven quickly, it sounds like “Hans Christian Andersen”. I hope that’s true …

94A Degree in preaching? : MASS COMMUNICATION

The principal act of worship in the Roman Catholic tradition is the Mass. The term “Mass” comes from the Late Latin word “missa” meaning “dismissal”. This word is used at the end of the Latin Mass in “Ite, missa est” which translates literally as “Go, it is the dismissal”.

105A Award quartets, for short : EGOTS

Emmy, Grammy, Oscar & Tony Awards (EGOT)

108A Some small suits : SPEEDOS

Speedo brand swimwear was first produced in Australia, in 1928 by a hosiery company that wanted to diversify. The brand name was chosen after a slogan competition among employees was won by “Speed on in your Speedos”. It was a long time ago, I guess …

112A Cute “Star Wars” character : EWOK

The Ewoks are creatures that live on the moon of Endor in the “Star Wars” universe. First appearing in “Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi”, they’re the cute and cuddly little guys that look like teddy bears.

115A Grotto : CAVE

A grotto is a cave or cavern. “Grotto” is a word that we have imported from Italian, in which language it has the same meaning, and can also describe a vault.

122A Cry for more : ENCORE!

“Encore” is French for “again, one more time”, and is a shout that an audience member will make here in North America to request perhaps another song. But, the term is not used this way in France. Rather, the audience will shout “Bis!”, which is the Latin for “twice!”

124A __ Vegas : LAS

Las Vegas is known as the Marriage Capital of the World due to the incredibly high number of weddings that take place there. Historically, the marriage “frenzy” started when it became relatively easy to get a marriage license, and when wedding ceremonies could be performed for a nominal fee.

Down

2D Like Romeo at the start of Act V : EXILED

In William Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet”, Romeo’s good friend Mercutio is fatally wounded in a duel with Tybalt. Romeo is wracked with guilt, as Mercutio fought the duel on his behalf, and so he slays Tybalt. An existing decree demands that Romeo be put to death for participating in the duel, but Prince Escalus commutes the sentence to exile from Verona. With exile imminent, Romeo secretly spends the night in Juliet’s bedchamber. By the end of the next day, the lovers are both dead.

6D Nestea shelfmate : SALADA

Salada Tea was founded in 1892 to provide tea packaged in foil to the consumer, as opposed to smaller wooden tea chests. This kept the tea fresher and more consistent in flavor.

8D Range that starts near the Kara Sea : URAL

The Kara Sea is an arm of the Arctic Ocean located north of Siberia. The sea takes its name from the Kara River, and the river in turn takes its name from a Nenets word meaning “hummocked ice”. According to the Russian government, the Kara Sea is home to a substantial cache of nuclear waste dumped by the former Soviet Union authorities. The waste comprises at least six nuclear submarine reactors and ten nuclear power plant reactors, most of which had suffered some kind of accident.

11D “The Greatest” subject : ALI

“The Greatest: My Own Story” is a 1975 memoir penned by boxer Muhammad Ali in collaboration with Richard Durham.The book’s editor was the Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison.

12D Hockey commentator Darren : PANG

Darren “Panger” Pang is a retired NHL goaltender. He was one of the shortest goalies to play in the league, standing just 5ft 5in.

15D Maumee River city : TOLEDO

The Maumee River forms at Fort Wayne, Indiana and flows for 137 miles through Indiana and Ohio, emptying into Lake Erie in Toledo, Ohio.

19D Rental category : 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.

30D Org. whose NIL rules changed in 2021 : NCAA

The initialism “NIL” stands for Name, Image, and Likeness, a legal concept that refers to an individual’s right to publicity and the ability to control and profit from their personal brand.

32D Polish letters : OPI

Opi (originally “Odontorium Products Inc.”) is a manufacturer of nail polish based in North Hollywood, California. One of Opi’s marketing coups was the introduction of a line of Legally Blonde 2 polishes, which featured in the film. Opi also launched a collection of nail lacquers inspired by the hit Broadway musical “Wicked” in celebration of its 10th anniversary on Broadway.

34D “Sleepless in __”: Nora Ephron movie : SEATTLE

“Sleepless in Seattle” is a lovely romantic comedy directed and co-written by Nora Ephron, released in 1993. The film’s storyline is based on the excellent 1957 movie “An Affair to Remember”, and there are numerous direct references to the Cary Grant/Deborah Kerr classic throughout the “remake”. The lead roles in “Sleepless …” are played by Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

39D “Presumed Innocent” writer : TUROW

Scott Turow is an author and lawyer from Chicago. Turow has had several bestselling novels including “Presumed Innocent”, “The Burden of Proof” and “Reversible Errors”, all three of which were made into films. He also wrote the autobiographical book “One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School”.

40D Telugu-language movie originally named for the initials of its creators : RRR

“RRR” is a 2022 Indian Telugu-language period action film. It is set in the 1920s and is based on the lives of two real-life freedom fighters, Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem. The film is a fictional retelling of their fight against the British Raj and the Nizam of Hyderabad. “RRR” had a massive budget of over $60 million USD, making it one of the most expensive films ever made in Indian cinema.

41D Line in blue cheese : VEIN

It’s said that blue cheese was probably discovered accidentally, as molds tend to develop in the same conditions that are best for storing cheese. The blue mold in the cheese is introduced by adding Penicillium spores before the cheese is allowed to set.

42D “Not sure yet” letters : TBD

To be determined (TBD)

53D Tigers of South Carolina : CLEMSON

Clemson University was founded in 1889. The school takes its name from the town in which it is located: Clemson, South Carolina. The athletic teams of Clemson University have been called the Tigers since 1896 when football coach Walter Riggs arrived from Auburn University. Riggs was an admirer of the Princeton Tigers, so he gave his new school the tiger mascot.

54D Glossy fabrics : SATEENS

Sateen is a cotton fabric. It has a weave that is “four over, one under”, meaning that most of the threads come to the surface to give it a softer feel.

56D Magic Kingdom neighbor : EPCOT

EPCOT Center (now just called “Epcot”) is the theme park beside Walt Disney World in Florida. EPCOT is an acronym standing for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, and is a representation of the future as envisioned by Walt Disney. Walt Disney actually wanted to build a living community for 20,000 residents at EPCOT, but he passed away without that vision being realized.

59D Bette’s “Divine” stage name : MISS M

One of my favorite singers, and indeed all-round entertainers, is Bette Midler. If you’ve ever seen her live show you’ll know that “camp” is a good word to describe it, as her humor is definitely “out there” and quite bawdy. Early in her career, Midler spent years singing in the Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse in New York City. There she became very close friends with her piano accompanist, Barry Manilow. While singing in the bathhouse, Bette only wore a white towel, just like the members of her audience. It was in those days that she created her famous character “the Divine Miss M” and also earned herself the nickname “Bathhouse Betty”.

68D “99 Luftballons” group : NENA

Nena is a German singer (“Nena” became the name of her band as well) who had a big hit in 1984 with one of my favorite songs of the eighties “99 Luftballons”. The English translation of the German title (“99 Red Balloons”) isn’t literal, with the color “red” added just so that the title had the right number of syllables for the tune. “Luftballon” is the name given to a child’s toy balloon in German.

72D Apple core, for short : CPU

The central processing unit (CPU) is the main component on the motherboard of a computer. The CPU is the part of the computer that carries out most of the functions required by a program. Nowadays you can get CPUs in everything from cars to telephones.

76D Russian fashion model Shayk : IRINA

Irina Shayk is an actress and supermodel from Russia. She was the first Russian model to appear on the cover of the swimsuit issue of “Sports Illustrated”. Shayk was in a relationship with Portuguese soccer professional Cristiano Ronaldo until they split up in 2015. She then partnered with actor Bradley Cooper until 2019, and had a daughter with him.

89D Matcha option : ICED

Matcha is a powder made by grinding dried, green tea leaves. The selected tea bushes are heavily shaded for several weeks prior to harvest, which stimulates the production of chlorophyll resulting in darker green leaves. Matcha is used in East Asian cuisines to prepare tea for drinking, and also as an ingredient in dishes such as ice cream, cakes and sushi rolls.

92D “Twistin’ the Night Away” singer : COOKE

Sam Cooke’s hit 1962 single “Twistin’ the Night Away”, contributed to the twist dance craze that emerged at the end of the 1950s. The lyrics of the song suggest the dance is a cultural equalizer, being danced by folks from all social classes: “Here’s a fella in blue jeans / Dancing with an older queen / Who’s dolled up in her diamond rings”.

93D “One card left!” : UNO!

UNO is a card game that was developed in the early seventies and that has been sold by Mattel since 1992. It falls into the shedding family of card games, meaning that the goal is to get rid of all your cards while preventing opponents from doing the same.

94D Tequila kin : MESCAL

Mezcal (also “mescal”) is a distilled spirit made from the agave plant. Technically, tequila is a type of mezcal that is distilled specifically from the blue agave.

95D Andean camelid : ALPACA

Alpacas are like small llamas, but unlike llamas were never beasts of burden. They were bred specifically for the fleece. As such, there are no known wild alpacas these days, even in their native Peru.

98D Wrinkly fruit : UGLI

The ugli fruit is a hybrid of an orange and a tangerine that was first discovered growing wild in Jamaica where most ugli fruit comes from today. “UGLI” is a trademark name that is a variant of “ugly”, a nod to the fruit’s unsightly wrinkled rind. Another distributor uses the brand name “Uniq”, which does suggest a more appetizing treat.

102D Pet hotel : KENNEL

Our word “kennel” meaning “doghouse” comes from the Vulgar Latin word “canile” meaning the same thing. A sheep (“ovis”) was kept in an “ovile”, a horse (“equus”) in an “equile”, and a dog (“canis”) in a “canile”.

107D Sturdy fabric : SERGE

Serge is a type of twill fabric with diagonal ridges on both sides. The name “serge” comes from the Greek word for “silken”.

109D __ Rios, Jamaica : OCHO

If you ever take a cruise ship to Jamaica, you will likely disembark in Ocho Rios, a major port of call for the cruise lines. “Ocho rios” is Spanish for “eight rivers”.

110D Thailand, once : SIAM

“Siam” was the official name of Thailand up to 1939 (and again from 1945 to 1949).

117D Blockbuster format : VHS

Blockbuster was an international chain of home video rental stores founded in Dallas in 1985. In 2014, then owned by Dish Networks, Blockbuster shut down operations. However, one franchised store remains open to this day, in Bend, Oregon. The Bend Blockbuster has become a tourist attraction, and the store sells merchandise using the Blockbuster name. It has been the subject of a recent documentary, has hosted sleepovers via Airbnb, and even has a craft beer that uses its name.

118D Sgt., e.g. : NCO

A non-commissioned officer (NCO) might be a sergeant (sgt.) or a corporal (cpl.).