LA Times Crossword 20 May 26, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Steve Jopek

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Hard-Pressed

Themed answers are all things that might be HARD-PRESSED:

• 59A Feeling the squeeze, or what 17-, 23-, 37-, and 48-Across may be : HARD-PRESSED

• 17A LP or 45 : VINYL RECORD
• 23A Emergency feature on a car’s key fob : PANIC BUTTON
• 37A Ham-and-cheese concoctions with Florida origins : CUBAN SANDWICHES
• 48A Waterless treatment for some clothes : DRY CLEANING

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

Bill’s time: 6m 38s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

15A Sulu portrayer on “Star Trek” : TAKEI

Mr. Hikaru Sulu was played by George Takei in the original “Star Trek” series. Takei has played lots of roles over the years, and is still very active in television. Did you know that he appeared in the 1963 film, “PT 109”? He played the helmsman steering the Japanese destroyer that ran down John F. Kennedy’s motor torpedo boat. From destroyer helmsman to starship helmsman …

17A LP or 45 : VINYL RECORD

The first vinyl records designed to play at 33⅓ rpm were introduced by RCA Victor in 1931, but were discontinued due to quality problems. The first long play (LP) 33⅓ rpm disc was introduced by Columbia Records many years later in 1948, with RCA Victor following up with a 45 rpm “single” the following year, in 1949.

21A Gin infusion berry : SLOE

The sloe is the fruit of the blackthorn bush, and the main flavoring ingredient in sloe gin. A sloe looks like a small plum, but is usually much more tart in taste.

22A Filmmaker Spike : LEE

Film director Spike Lee was born in Atlanta, Georgia but has very much made New York City his home and place of work. Most of Lee’s films are set in New York City, including his first feature film, 1986’s “She’s Gotta Have It”. That film was shot over two weeks with a budget of $175,000. “She’s Gotta Have It” grossed over $7 million at the US box office.

23A Emergency feature on a car’s key fob : PANIC BUTTON

A fob is attached to an object to make it easier to access. And so, a key fob is a chain attached to a key so that it can be retrieved easily. There are also watch fobs, and the pocket in a vest in which a watch can be placed is called a fob. In fact, the original use of the term “fob” was for a small pocket in which one could carry valuables.

27A The Falcons, on scoreboards : ATL

The Atlanta Falcons joined the NFL in 1965. The team name was suggested by a schoolteacher called Miss Julia Elliott. Elliott suggested that “the Falcon is proud and dignified, with great courage and fight. It never drops its prey. It is deadly and has a great sporting tradition.”

29A Sandler of “Uncut Gems” : ADAM

Adam Sandler’s big break came with “Saturday Night Live” (SNL). He then went on to make several successful movies and now Sandler has his own movie and television production company. Personally, I am not a fan …

“Uncut Gems” is a 2019 crime thriller film starring Adam Sandler as a gambling addict. As well as gambling, Sandler’s character works as a jeweler in the Diamond District of New York, so one can perhaps imagine the gist of the storyline. The critics really liked this one …

34A PC core : 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.

37A Ham-and-cheese concoctions with Florida origins : CUBAN SANDWICHES

A Cuban sandwich (Spanish: Sándwich cubano) almost always includes Cuban bread filled with roast pork, glazed ham, Swiss cheese and sliced dill pickles. The Cuban was designated the city of Tampa’s signature sandwich in 2012.

43A Most populous continent : ASIA

Most of the world’s population lives in Asia (60%), and Asia is the largest continent in terms of landmass (30% of the world). Asia also has the highest population density (about 400 people per square mile), and the most populous city on the continent is Shanghai, China.

48A Waterless treatment for some clothes : DRY CLEANING

Dry cleaning isn’t really a dry process. It is known as “dry” because it uses non-aqueous solvents. Those solvents dissolve oils without affecting delicate fabrics. The earliest dry-cleaning processes used chemicals like gasoline and turpentine, so that patrons essentially wore garments soaked in highly volatile and flammable fuels.

52A Bullpen stat : ERA

That would be baseball.

62A Actress Peeples : NIA

Actress Nia Peeples played the character Nicole Chapman in the TV series “Fame”. Peeples is also a successful singer, having released the 1988 song “Trouble” that made it to #35 in the Billboard charts.

64A Conchiglie pasta shape : SHELL

Pasta shells are more correctly known as “conchiglie”, coming from the Italian word for “seashell”.

65A Zeus or Poseidon : GOD

In Greek mythology, Zeus served as the king of the Olympic gods, and the god of the sky and thunder. He was the child of Titans Cronus and Rhea, and was married to Hera. Zeus was the equivalent of the Roman god Jupiter, who had similar realms of influence.

Poseidon was the god of the sea in Greek mythology as well as the Earthshaker, the god responsible for earthquakes.

66A Saudi Arabia neighbor : YEMEN

Yemen is a country located in the southwestern part of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, Oman to the east, the Red Sea to the west, and the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea to the south. Yemen has a population of over 30 million people and its capital and largest city is Sana’a.

Down

1D Part of USNA : NAVAL

The United States Naval Academy (USNA) is located in Annapolis, Maryland. It was founded in 1845 and educates officers for both the US Navy and the US Marine Corps. The motto of the USNA is “Ex Scientia Tridens”, which translates as “From Knowledge, Sea Power”.

2D Respond to reveille : ARISE

“Réveillé” is a trumpet call that is used to wake everyone up at sunrise. The term comes from “réveillé”, the French for “wakened”.

3D “Aladdin” role for Robin Williams : GENIE

The Disney animated feature “Aladdin” was released in 1992. It is one of the best movies to come out of the studio, in my opinion, largely due to the great performance by Robin Williams who voiced the Genie. “Aladdin” was the most successful film of 1992, earning over $500 million worldwide, an unusual feat for an animated movie.

4D Simon __ : SAYS

“Simon Says” is a kids’ game. The idea is for the players of the game to obey the “controller” who gives instructions. But the players should only obey when the controller uses the words, “Simon says …”. The game has very old roots, with a Latin version that uses the words “Cicero dicit fac hoc” (Cicero says do this).

5D Used Grubhub, say : ATE IN

Grubhub is an online food ordering and delivery company that was founded in Chicago in 2004. Users can access restaurant menus online, place an order, and receive home delivery of their meal.

6D Some succulents : CACTI

The cactus (plural “cacti”) is a member of a family of plants that are particularly well-adapted to extremely dry environments. Almost all cacti are native to the Americas, although some succulent plants from the old world are similar in appearance and are often mislabeled as “cacti”.

7D Ref’s ring call, for short : TKO!

Technical knockout (TKO)

11D Yeti rival : IGLOO

Igloo Products is a Texas-based manufacturer of coolers. The company started up in 1947 making metal water coolers, and introduced its first all-plastic ice chest in 1962. The Igloo name was adopted in 1971.

21D “Rugrats” dad : STU

Tommy Pickles is the protagonist on the Nickelodeon cartoon show “Rugrats”. Dil Pickles is Tommy’s younger brother, and Tommy and Dil’s parents are Didi and Stu.

24D Smarties and Nerds : CANDY

Here in the US, Smarties are tablet-like candy. Smarties are known as Rockets in Canada. The latter brand name is used to differentiate the product from Nestlé’s Smarties, which are sugar-coated chocolate candies that resemble M&Ms.

The Willy Wonka Candy Company brand operates using licensed materials from the Roald Dahl book “Charlie & the Chocolate Factory”. “Nerds” is a name on a whole line of candy produced within the brand’s portfolio.

26D Wrinkly citrus fruit : UGLI

The ugli fruit is a hybrid of a tangerine and a grapefruit 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.

27D Org. whose symbol is a snake around a pole : AMA

American Medical Association (AMA)

The Rod of Asclepius (also “Aesculapius”) is a rod around which a serpent is entwined. It was carried by the Greek god Asclepius, hence the name. Asclepius was associated with medicine and healing, and so the Rod of Asclepius has long been associated with health care. It appears in the logo of many organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Medical Association (AMA). The Rod of Asclepius is sometimes confused with the caduceus, the traditional symbol of the god Hermes. The caduceus features two snakes winding around a winged staff. Famously, the US Army Medical Corps adopted the caduceus as a symbol, apparently in error, and as a result, the caduceus is sometimes associated with healthcare groups to this day.

30D Add new audio to : DUB

If voices need to be altered on the soundtrack of a film, that means double the work as there needs to be a re-recording. “Dub” is short for “double”, and is a term we’ve been using since the late 1920s. The term has been extended to describe the adding of sound to an otherwise silent film or tape.

31D Street on a 1969 Beatles album : ABBEY ROAD

Abbey Road in London was named for Kilburn Priory and the Abbey Farm in the priory’s grounds. The road is famous for the Abbey Road recording studios used most famously by the Beatles. The last studio album the band recorded is called “Abbey Road”, and the famous cover photo depicts John, Paul, George and Ringo walking across the zebra crossing located just outside the studio.

32D Bamboo eater : PANDA

The giant panda is a bear, and so has the digestive system of a carnivore. However, the panda lives exclusively on bamboo, even though its gut is relatively poorly adapted to extract nutrients from plants per se. The panda relies on microbes in its gut to digest cellulose, and consumes 20-30 pounds of bamboo each day to gain enough nourishment.

35D Architect I.M. __ : PEI

Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei was raised in Shanghai. He moved to the US to study architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, although he transferred soon after to MIT. The list of his designs includes the John F. Kennedy Library in Massachusetts, the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, and the celebrated glass-and-steel pyramid in the Louvre Museum in Paris. Pei passed away in 2019, at 102 years of age.

36D Can. neighbor : USA

The Canada-US border is the longest international border in the world. The total length is 5,525 miles. Canada’s border with the lower 48 states is 3,987 miles long, and the border with Alaska extends 1,538 miles.

38D Sci-fi author Stephenson : NEAL

Neal Stephenson is a novelist and video game designer whose work is often classified as science fiction or speculative fiction. I must admit, I haven’t indulged …

52D Famous Ford flop : EDSEL

The Edsel brand of automobile was named for Edsel, son of Henry Ford. Sadly, the name “Edsel” has become synonymous with “failure”, which was no fault of Edsel himself who had died several years before the Edsel line was introduced. When the Ford Motor Company introduced the Edsel on 4 September 1957, Ford proclaimed the day to be “E Day”.

53D Highland dances : REELS

The reel is a Scottish country dance that is also extremely popular in Ireland.

57D Court legend Arthur : ASHE

The great American tennis player Arthur Ashe spent the last years of his life writing his memoir called “Days of Grace”. He finished the manuscript just a few days before he passed away, dying from AIDS caused by a tainted blood transfusion.

59D Stable staple : HAY

Hay is dried grass that is stored for use as animal fodder. Straw consists of the dried stalks of cereal plants, the residue left after the grain and chaff have been removed. Straw can also be used as animal fodder, as well as fuel, bedding and thatch.

61D SoFi Stadium NFL player : RAM

The Los Angeles Rams are the only franchise to have won NFL championships in three different cities, i.e. Cleveland (1945), Los Angeles (1951 & 2021) and St. Louis (1999). The Rams were based in Cleveland from 1936 to 1945, in Los Angeles from 1946 to 1994, in St. Louis from 1995 to 2015, and returned to Los Angeles in 2016.