LA Times Crossword 1 Sep 26, Tuesday

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Constructed by: Derek Hinsey

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Two Points

Themed answers each comprise TWO words, words that often precede POINT:

• 58A Slam dunk’s value, or what 16-, 23-, 34-, 36-, and 49-Across have : TWO POINTS

• 16A Major multistate lottery : POWERBALL (PowerPoint & ballpoint)
• 23A Opening bid : STARTING PRICE (starting point & price point)
• 34A Final part of a chess match : ENDGAME (end point & game point)
• 36A Florida home of the Harry S. Truman Little White House : KEY WEST (key point & West Point)
• 49A Cool way to keep food fresh? : FLASH FREEZING (flash point & freezing point)

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

Bill’s time: 5m 16s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

9A Picnic race bag : SACK

Our term “picnic” comes from the French word “pique-nique”, which now has the same meaning in French as in English. The original “pique-nique” was a fashionable potluck affair, and not necessarily held outdoors.

14A Need ibuprofen, say : ACHE

The drug ibuprofen was discovered in 1961 by Dr. Stewart Adams and John Nicholson at the Boots Pure Drug Company in the UK, and initially developed as a safer alternative to aspirin for treating rheumatoid arthritis. Dr. Adams famously tested the compound’s pain-relieving powers by taking an early 600mg dose to cure his own hangover prior to a major pharmaceutical speech!

16A Major multistate lottery : POWERBALL (PowerPoint & ballpoint)

The Powerball lottery game is available in most states of the US, as is its major rival called Mega Millions.

Given that PowerPoint is a Microsoft product, it is perhaps a bit of a paradox that the original application that was to become PowerPoint was designed for the Macintosh computer. This first release was called “Presenter”. The company that designed Presenter was purchased by Microsoft in 1987.

The ballpoint pen was invented by László Bíró in the late thirties, a Hungarian newspaper editor. Over in Ireland we use the term “biro” as a generic word for “ballpoint pen”.

18A Salsa ingredient : ONION

“Salsa” is simply Spanish for “sauce”.

19A Music genre with Jamaican roots : SKA

Ska originated in Jamaica in the late fifties and was the precursor to reggae music. No one has a really definitive etymology of the term “ska”, but it is likely to be imitative of a sound.

20A Japanese currency : YEN

The Japanese yen (JPY) is the third-most traded currency in the world, after the US dollar and the euro.

26A __ Allen furniture : ETHAN

Ethan Allen was one of the founders of the state of Vermont. He was also a hero in the American Revolutionary War, famous for leading (along with Benedict Arnold) the small band of men known as the Green Mountain Boys that captured Fort Ticonderoga. And yes, the Ethan Allen store and furniture line is named for Ethan Allen the patriot, even though he had nothing to do with the furniture business.

29A Animation frame : CEL

Animation cels are transparent sheets made of celluloid acetate that were used in traditional hand-drawn animation to create animated films. They were first introduced in the 1930s and were widely used in animation production until the late 1990s, when digital animation techniques began to dominate the industry.

40A Buckeyes’ sch. : OSU

Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus was founded back in 1870 as the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College. The athletic teams of OSU are called the Buckeyes, named after the state tree of Ohio. In turn the buckeye tree gets its name from the appearance of its fruit, a dark nut with a light patch thought to resemble a “buck’s eye”. The school’s athletic mascot was introduced in 1965, and is an anthropomorphic buckeye nut named Brutus Buckeye.

46A “Jurassic World” actor Chris : PRATT

Chris Pratt is an actor who really got his big break playing the rather dopey Andy Dwyer on the sitcom “Parks and Recreation”. Pratt then played a pretty macho role as a SEAL team operator in “Zero Dark Thirty”, before taking leading heroic roles in “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Jurassic World”. Pratt was married from 2009 until 2018 to Anna Faris, the comedic actress who plays Christy Plunkett on the sitcom “Mom”. In 2019, he married Katherine Schwarzenegger, daughter of fellow actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“Jurassic World” is a 2015 installment in the “Jurassic Park” series of films. The title refers to a new dinosaur theme park that opens about twenty years after the disaster that was Jurassic Park.

48A Demon : FIEND

The daemons of Greek mythology were benevolent spirits, forces of nature. We use the derivative term “demon” today in a malignant sense, but back then the opposite was true.

49A Cool way to keep food fresh? : FLASH FREEZING (flash point & freezing point)

Flash freezing is used in the food industry to preserve perishable items. The process involves speedy freezing to temperatures well below the freezing point of water, so quickly that large ice crystals don’t form and so that cells in the food are not disrupted.

The flash point is the lowest temperature at which a volatile substance produces enough vapor to briefly ignite in air. It is different from a material’s “fire point”, which requires a slightly higher temperature to actually sustain a continuous flame after the initial spark

The melting point (also “liquefaction point”) is the temperature at which a substance turns from solid to liquid. The freezing point (also “crystallization point”) is the temperature at which a substance turns from liquid into solid.

54A Viper in 43-Down : ASP
[43D Continent with the most countries : AFRICA]

We use the term “asp” today to refer to several venomous species of snakes found in the Nile region. Even though “asp” comes from the Greek “aspis” meaning “viper”, the asp that we know as the symbol of ancient Egyptian royalty was not a viper at all. Rather, it was the Egyptian cobra.

58A Slam dunk’s value, or what 16-, 23-, 34-, 36-, and 49-Across have : TWO POINTS

In basketball, a player makes a slam dunk by jumping up and powering the ball downward into the basket with his or her hands over the rim. The term “slam dunk” was coined by Chick Hearn, an announcer for the L.A. Lakers. The NBA even holds an annual Slam Dunk Contest.

63A Important cards in solitaire : ACES

I think that a single-player card game is usually called “solitaire” in the US, whereas we use the name “patience” back in Ireland.

64A Santa __: hot California winds : ANAS

The Santa Ana winds are the very dry air currents that sweep offshore late in the year in Southern California. Because these air currents are so dry, they are noted for their influence over forest fires in the area, especially in the heat of the fall. The winds arise from a buildup of air pressure in the Great Basin that lies between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. Under the right conditions, that air is pushed southward and forced through the mountain passes and canyons of the Transverse and Peninsular Ranges, heading for the ocean. As the air falls it becomes drier and heats up so that relative humidity can fall to below 10% by the time it hits the coast.

66A Small salamander : NEWT

Newts wouldn’t be my favorite animals. They are found all over the world living on land or in water depending on the species, but always associated with water even if it is only for breeding. Newts metamorphose through three distinct developmental stages during their lives. They start off as larvae in water, fertilized eggs that often cling to aquatic plants. The eggs hatch into tadpoles, the first developmental form of the newt. After living some months as tadpoles swimming around in the water, they undergo another metamorphosis, sprouting legs and replacing their external gills with lungs. At this juvenile stage they are known as efts, and leave the water to live on land. A more gradual transition takes place then, as the eft takes on the lizard-like appearance of the adult newt.

Down

1D Domino spots : PIPS

White masks with black spots were commonly seen in the old Venetian Carnival. The masks were known as “domini”. The domini loaned their name to the game of dominoes, due to the similarity in appearance between the mask and a domino tile.

5D Curved fencing sword : SABER

A saber (sometimes “sabre”) is a sword with a curved blade and a relatively large hand guard. It is thought that the term originated with the Hungarian verb “szabni” meaning “to cut”.

7D Anaheim Ducks’ org. : NHL

The Walt Disney Company founded the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim hockey team in 1993, with the franchise’s name being a nod to the 1992 Disney movie called “The Mighty Ducks”. The name was changed to the Anaheim Ducks when Disney sold the team before the 2006-2007 season.

8D Gomez of “Only Murders in the Building” : SELENA

Selena Gomez is an actress and singer from Grand Prairie, Texas. Gomez’s first television role was in the children’s show “Barney & Friends”. She then played the lead in the TV series “Wizards of Waverly Place”. Gomez’s fans often refer to themselves as “Selenators”. Offscreen, Gomez made a splash as the girlfriend of Canadian singer Justin Bieber for a couple of years. More recently, she has been playing a lead role in the hit TV show “Only Murders in the Building” alongside Steve Martin and Martin Short.

“Only Murders in the Building” is a hit comedy-mystery series, co-created by Steve Martin. It stars Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez as three residents of an affluent Upper West Side apartment building in New York City. The trio bonds over their obsession with true-crime podcasts and decide to start their own to investigate murders in their building. The guest cast is essentially a Rolodex of Steve Martin and Martin Short’s real-life best friends and colleagues. The show feels like it is a group of famous actors playing in their New York backyard. I love this show …

11D Beef grade below prime : CHOICE

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) classifies meat into eight different grades:

• Prime
• Choice
• Select
• Standard
• Commercial
• Utility
• Cutter
• Canner

12D Animal shelter shelter : 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”.

15D Dress up at a fan convention : COSPLAY

Cosplay (costume play)

17D Olympic swimmer Lochte : RYAN

Ryan Lochte is one of the most decorated swimmers in Olympic history, winning 12 medals across four separate Summer Games from 2004 to 2016. Unfortunately, his career was marred by controversies, including a fabricated robbery claim during the 2016 Rio Games and a 2018 suspension for an unapproved intravenous vitamin infusion.

24D Dramatic ballroom dance : TANGO

The dramatic tango dance originated in the late 1800s in the area along the border between Argentina and Uruguay. Dancers and orchestras from Buenos Aires in particular traveled to Europe and beyond in the early twentieth century and brought the tango with them. The tango craze first struck Europe in Paris in the 1910s, and from there spread to London and Berlin, crossing the Atlantic to New York in 1913.

25D LLC alternative : INC

A company that has incorporated uses the abbreviation “Inc.” after its name. By incorporating, a company forms a corporation, which is a legal entity that has legal rights similar to those of an individual. For example, a corporation can sue another corporation or individual. However, a corporation does not have all the rights of citizens. A corporation does not have the Fifth Amendment right of protections against self-incrimination, for example. It is perhaps understandable that the concept of “corporations as persons” is a frequent subject for debate.

A limited liability company (LLC) has a structure that limits the liability of the owner or owners. It is a hybrid structure in the sense that it can be taxed as would an individual or partnership, while also maintaining the liability protection afforded to a corporation.

31D Blue cartoon characters : SMURFS

The Smurfs are little blue people created in 1958 by the Belgian cartoonist who went by the pen name Peyo. The Smurfs became famous in the US when Hanna-Barbera used them in a children’s cartoon series. The characters are largely a group of males. The original lineup included just one “Smurfette”, who is wooed by almost all of the boy Smurfs. Later, another female was introduced into the mix called Sassette, and still later along came Granny Smurf.

33D Creator of Finn and Sawyer : TWAIN

“Samuel Langhorne Clemens” was the real name of the author Mark Twain. Twain wasn’t the only pen name used by Clemens. Early in his career he signed some sketches as “Josh”, and signed some humorous letters that he wrote under the name “Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass”. The name of Mark Twain came from the days when Clemens was working on riverboats on the Mississippi. A riverboatman would call out “by the mark twain” when measuring the depth of water. This meant that on the sounding line, according to the “mark” on the line, the depth was two (“twain”) fathoms, and so it was safe for the riverboat to proceed.

“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain was first published in 1884, not here in the US but rather in England. The original launch planned for the US had to be delayed until the following year because some rascal had defaced the plate for one of the illustrations, making an obscene joke. Once the problem was spotted a new plate had to be made, and 30,000 copies already printed had to be reworked to cover up the obscenity.

Tom Sawyer is a favorite character created by Mark Twain. He turns up in four of Twain’s books:

• “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”
• “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
• “Tom Sawyer Abroad”
• “Tom Sawyer, Detective”

But that’s not all, as he appears in at least three works that Twain left unfinished:

• “Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer Among the Indians” (a sequel to “Huckleberry Finn”)
• “Schoolhouse Hill”
• “Tom Sawyer’s Conspiracy” (a sequel to “Tom Sawyer, Detective”)

35D Parking lot surface : ASPHALT

The asphalt surface on roads (or basketball courts) is more properly called asphaltic concrete because asphalt itself (also known as “bitumen”) is just a sticky black liquid that comes from crude petroleum. Asphalt is used as a binder with aggregate to form asphaltic concrete.

36D Supermodel who is a contributing editor for British Vogue : KATE MOSS

Kate Moss is an English supermodel. Moss is reported to have earned $9 million for her work in 2007. In 2008, a gold statue valued at almost $3 million was made of Moss for an exhibition in the British Museum. It is thought that the work is the largest gold statue to have been produced since those made by the ancient Egyptians.

38D Anderson Cooper, to Gloria Vanderbilt : SON

Anderson Cooper is a respected news personality on CNN and on various shows around the dial. Among my favorite appearances of his, although he would call them trivial I am sure, was as host of a great reality game show called “The Mole” that aired in 2001. Cooper’s mother was fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt.

Fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt was an heiress to the fortune of the Vanderbilt family of New York. After her father died, and when she was quite young, Gloria was the subject of a custody battle between her mother and her aunt. Her mother was depicted as living a raucous lifestyle, and so Gloria was made a ward of her Aunt Gertrude. The young girl came to side with her Aunt over the years, to the extent that Gloria cut off her mother completely from the family fortune when she came of age. CNN anchor Anderson Cooper is Gloria Vanderbilt’s son with her fourth husband Wyatt Emory Cooper.

39D Apple TV’s “__ Lasso” : TED

“Ted Lasso” is a marvelous sports-comedy TV show about an American college football coach who moves to the UK to manage an English soccer team. The title character is played very admirably by Jason Sudeikis. Sudeikis first played Lasso in a series of TV commercials commissioned to promote NBC’s coverage of the British Premier League. The character became so popular that he inspired a whole TV series. Great stuff, and highly recommended …

43D Continent with the most countries : AFRICA

The Carthaginian Republic was centered on the city of Carthage, the ruins of which are located on the coast of modern-day Tunisia. The Latin name for the people of Carthage was “Afri”. When the Romans took over Carthage, they created a province they called “Africa”. That name extended over time to include the whole continent.

45D DNA sample source : SALIVA

Ultimately, our contemporary term “saliva” is the Latin word for “spittle”.

47D Soul legend Franklin : ARETHA

Aretha Franklin was a legendary American singer, songwriter, and pianist known as the “Queen of Soul”. She had a long string of hit songs including “Respect,” “Chain of Fools,” “Think,” and “I Say a Little Prayer”. In 1987, Aretha Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

48D Classic dog name : FIDO

“Fido”, the name for many a dog, is Latin for “I trust”.

50D 1990s tennis star Monica : SELES

Monica Seles has a Hungarian name as she was born to Hungarian parents in former Yugoslavia. Seles was the World No. 1 professional tennis player in 1991 and 1992 before being forced from the sport when she was stabbed by a spectator at a match in 1993. She did return to the game two years later, but never achieved the same level of success.

51D Zilch : ZIPPO

The use of the words “zip” and “zippo” to mean “nothing” dates back to the early 1900s, when it was student slang for being graded zero on a test.

We use the term “zilch” to mean “nothing”. Our current usage evolved in the sixties, before which the term was used to describe “meaningless speech”. There was a comic character called Mr. Zilch in the 1930s in “Ballyhoo” magazine. Mr. Zilch’s name probably came from the American college slang “Joe Zilch” that was used in the early 1900s for “an insignificant person”.

59D “The __-Mart Effect”: 2006 economics book : WAL

Charles Fishman, an editor at “Fast Company” magazine, published “The Wal-Mart Effect” in 2006. In it, he argues that Wal-Mart has grown so powerful that it functions outside normal market forces, and has many positive and negative impacts on consumers. Included is the ability of the corporation to drive down prices, while simultaneously squeezing out independent local businesses.

60D Bond novelist Fleming : IAN

The character James Bond was the creation of writer Ian Fleming. Fleming “stole” the James Bond name from an American ornithologist. The number “007” was “stolen” from the real-life, 16th-century English spy named John Dee. Dee would sign his reports to Queen Elizabeth I with a stylized “007” to indicate that the reports were for “her eyes only”. There’s an entertaining miniseries that aired on BBC America called “Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond” that details Ian Fleming’s military career, and draws some nice parallels between Fleming’s experiences and aspirations and those of his hero James Bond. Recommended …