LA Times Crossword 14 Oct 23, Saturday

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Constructed by: Kyle Dolan & Jennifer Marra
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: None

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

Bill’s time: 20m 19s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Long-distance relationship? : STAR SYSTEM

Star systems are stars that orbit each other due, bound together by gravity. Larger groups of such stars are usually referred to as galaxies, or star clusters.

11 “bfn” alternative : TTYL

Talk to you later (TTYL)

‘Bye for now (BFN)

15 Overwhelmed by mosquitoes : EATEN ALIVE

Mosquitoes have a relatively short life cycle. Males live a matter of days, and females just a few weeks. In order to reproduce, male mosquitoes form large swarms, usually late in the day. Female mosquitoes fly into the swarm when ready to mate.

17 Landmark whose address is 768 Fifth Avenue in New York City : PLAZA HOTEL

The celebrated Plaza Hotel in New York City is named for Grand Army Plaza, which faces the hotel’s main entrance on Fifth Avenue.

22 MLB playoff round : NLCS

The National League Championship Series (NLCS) is a round of postseason games played by teams from Major League Baseball’s National League to determine which team will go to the World Series.

26 Saltimbocca herb : SAGE

Saltimbocca is a dish from southern Europe made of veal topped with prosciutto and sage, and then marinated in perhaps wine. The name “saltimbocca” is Italian for “jump in the mouth”.

31 “Ocean to Ocean” singer Tori : AMOS

“Ocean to Ocean” is a 2021 studio album written and recorded by Tori Amos. She actually recorded all of the tracks while she was in lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She was at her home in Cornwall in the southeast of England, and so could only provide vocals and piano accompaniment herself. Instrument tracks other than the piano were added separately, at a recording studio without Amos present.

33 Palme d’Or field : CINE

The “Palme d’Or” (or “Golden Palm” in English) is the highest award given at the Cannes Film Festival. The Palme d’Or goes to the director of the film that is selected as the best shown at the festival that year. The palm was selected as an emblem for the award as there is a palm featured on the coat of arms of the Commune of Cannes.

34 “Don’t mention it,” in Spanish : DE NADA

In Spanish, one can respond to “Gracias” (Thank you) with “De nada” (It’s nothing).

40 Desert of the Maghreb : SAHARA

The Maghreb is a subregion of North Africa that includes the coastal nations of Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. It is known as the western part of the Arab world. The eastern part of the Arab world, including Egypt and Sudan, is known as the “Mashriq”.

41 Gifts that may be made from pupu shells : LEIS

In Hawaiian, “pupu” is a word originally meaning “snail”. Nowadays “pupu” denotes many different types of food that are usually served as hors d’oeuvres. A “pupu platter” is a selection of such foods served in a Hawaiian restaurant.

42 Number of players needed to play Klondike : ONE

Klondike is a card game for one player, and so is in the solitaire (also “patience”) family. In Canada, Klondike is known as “Solitaire”, and in Britain and Ireland as “Patience”.

43 Monopoly token until 2013 : IRON

The tokens included with a game of Monopoly have changed over the years. Two of the more interesting tokens are the battleship and cannon. These were created by Hasbro for a board game called Conflict. When Conflict failed in the market, the excess tokens were recycled and included with Monopoly.

45 Vintage Pontiacs : GTOS

The Pontiac GTO was produced by GM from 1964 to 1974, and again by a GM subsidiary in Australia from 2004 to 2006. The original GTO’s design is credited to Pontiac chief engineer at the time John DeLorean, who later founded the DeLorean Motor Company.

52 Lithium-__ battery : ION

Lithium-ion and nickel-cadmium are types of rechargeable batteries.

54 “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King” singer : SIMBA

In “The Lion King”, Nala is a lioness and the childhood friend of Simba. By the end of the story, Nala and Simba become wedded. “The Lion King” is inspired by William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, with Simba representing the title character, and Nala representing Hamlet’s love interest Ophelia.

58 Whistleblower-protecting org. : OSHA

OSHA, or the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, operates a “Whistleblower Protection Program” that provides protection to workers who report violations of workplace safety laws. Under this program, workers who report such violations are protected from retaliation by their employers, such as being fired or demoted, for reporting these violations.

61 Heated contest? : MEET

The term “heat”, meaning “qualifying race”, dates back to the 1660s. Originally, a heat was a run given to a horse to prepare it for a race, to “heat” it up.

62 Local number, at times : ANESTHESIA

“Aisthesis” is the Greek word for “feeling”, from which “anesthesia” is Greek for “want of feeling, lack of sensation”. And that’s how we get our English term “anesthesia”.

64 Practiced but did not compete : RED-SHIRTED

Generally, a student is eligible to participate in a given sport for four seasons, corresponding to the four years usually required to earn a bachelor’s degree. A student needing five years of academic classes can opt for a redshirt year, a year in which he or she plays a very limited number of games and still practices with the team. The term “redshirt” comes from the use of a red jersey when playing in practice games against the regulars.

Down

1 National Teddy Bear Day mo. : SEPT

The stuffed toy known as a teddy bear was introduced in the early 1900s and was named for President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt. The toy was inspired by a political cartoon that was drawn in 1902 showing President Roosevelt on a bear hunt and refusing to kill a black bear cub. That event is celebrated annually on September 9th as National Teddy Bear Day.

7 Janitorial closet feature : SLOP SINK

A janitor is someone who takes care of the maintenance or cleaning of a building. An older definition of the term “janitor” is “doorman”. Our word comes from the Latin “ianitor” meaning “doorkeeper”.

8 Big name in “handmade” vodka : TITO

Tito’s Vodka is a brand that was founded in Austin, Texas in 1997 by Bert “Tito” Beveridge. Yes, Beveridge became a beverage maker …

9 Navratilova rival : EVERT

Chris Evert is a former professional tennis player from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She has the best winning percentage in professional tennis, man or woman worldwide, losing fewer than 10% of all her matches. Evert was also the first female athlete to host “Saturday Night Live”, doing so in 1994 just after she had retired from professional tennis.

Martina Navratilova is a retired tennis player who is thought by many to have been the greatest player of all time. Navratilova won the Wimbledon singles title a record nine times, which is one of many records that she holds. She was born in Czechoslovakia but asked for political asylum in the US in 1975 at 18 years of age. Navratilova was granted temporary residency in the US and as a result was stripped of her Czech citizenship. That Czech citizenship was restored in 2008, making her a dual citizen.

10 Allen who was the first host of “This Week in Baseball” : MEL

For many years, the sportscaster Mel Allen was the play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees, and known as the “Voice of the New York Yankees”. Allen was also the first host of television’s “This Week in Baseball”.

13 Makes the team? : YOKES

A yoke is a wooden beam used between a pair of animals so that they are forced to work together.

14 Sudeikis role : LASSO

“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 …

23 American who may have a quinceañera : CHICANA

“Quinceañera” is a celebration of a girl’s fifteenth birthday, and is an event common in many parts of Latin America.

25 Held a claim : HAD DIBS

The phrase “to have dibs on” expresses a claim on something. Apparently, the term “dibs” is a contraction of “dibstone”, which was a knucklebone or jack used in a children’s game.

27 Cantata component : ARIA

A cantata is a piece of music that is sung, as opposed to a sonata, which is a piece that is played on some instrument, often a piano. A sonatina is in effect a sonata that has been labeled as something lighter and shorter.

33 Rebounds : CAROMS

A carom is a ricochet, the bouncing of some projectile off a surface. “Carom” has come to describe the banking of a billiard ball, the bouncing of the ball off the side of the table.

35 “Wildlife” writer/director : DANO

Paul Dano is an actor and musician from New York City. I best know him for playing Brian Wilson in “Love & Mercy”, a fascinating film about the Beach Boys.

“Wildlife” is a 2018 film based on a 1990 novel of the same name by Richard Ford. The movie stars Carey Mulligan and Jake Gylenhaal, the latter being a co-producer with Paul Dano. “Wildlife” was also the directorial debut for actor Dano. I haven’t seen this one yet, but read that it was very well received …

46 Musk : AROMA

Musk has such an elegant connotation these days because of its use in the world of perfumery. However, its origin is not quite so glamorous. The original substance called musk, also used in perfumes, was extracted from a gland in the rectal area of the male musk deer. The name “musk” is a Sanskrit word for “testicle”.

48 Title woman in a “little ditty” of 1982 : DIANE

“Jack & Diane” was a hit for John Mellencamp, released in 1982 when he went by the stage name “John Cougar”.

A little ditty ’bout Jack & Diane
Two American kids growing up in the heart land
Jack, he’s gonna be a football star
Diane’s debutante, back seat of Jacky’s car

50 Beer with sushi, maybe : ASAHI

Asahi is a Japanese beer, and the name of the brewery that produces it. “Asahi” is Japanese for “morning sun”. Asahi introduced a “dry beer” in 1987, igniting a craze that rocketed the brewery to the number one spot in terms of beer production in Japan, with Sapporo close behind.

55 Halyard pole : MAST

In the sailing world, a halyard is a line or rope that is used to hoist something, usually a sail.

56 Larson who plays Captain Marvel : BRIE

I mainly recognize actress Brie Larson from playing the daughter of Toni Collete’’s character on the excellent TV show “United States of Tara”. Larson is from Sacramento, and trained at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, where she was the youngest person ever admitted.

“Captain Marvel” is a superhero movie released in 2019. It was the first film in the Marvel franchise of films to feature a female lead. The title character, Carol Danvers (aka “Captain Marvel”), is played by Brie Larson.

59 2022 Todd Field film about a conductor : TAR

“Tár” is a 2022 starring Cate Blancett in the title role, a conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic who is accused of sexual misconduct. A concept album titled “Tár (Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture)” was released at the same time as the film. A week or so after release, the album topped “Billboard” magazine’s list of Traditional Classical Albums, beating out albums produced by the real Berlin Philharmonic.

/p>

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Long-distance relationship? : STAR SYSTEM
11 “bfn” alternative : TTYL
15 Overwhelmed by mosquitoes : EATEN ALIVE
16 “Easy now” : WHOA
17 Landmark whose address is 768 Fifth Avenue in New York City : PLAZA HOTEL
18 Flooring trees : OAKS
19 Character : TENOR
20 __ favor : POR
21 Foundation options : TONES
22 MLB playoff round : NLCS
24 “Is that how you see it?” : THINK SO?
26 Saltimbocca herb : SAGE
29 Made oneself scarce : HID
31 “Ocean to Ocean” singer Tori : AMOS
32 Equal : ARE
33 Palme d’Or field : CINE
34 “Don’t mention it,” in Spanish : DE NADA
37 Chill : SIT BACK AND RELAX
40 Desert of the Maghreb : SAHARA
41 Gifts that may be made from pupu shells : LEIS
42 Number of players needed to play Klondike : ONE
43 Monopoly token until 2013 : IRON
44 Paragraph opener : TAB
45 Vintage Pontiacs : GTOS
46 Isn’t really hot? : ACTS MAD
49 Old autocrat : TSAR
51 Some fundraisers : RACES
52 Lithium-__ battery : ION
54 “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King” singer : SIMBA
58 Whistleblower-protecting org. : OSHA
59 Comprehensively defeated : TAKEN APART
61 Heated contest? : MEET
62 Local number, at times : ANESTHESIA
63 Makes sense, with “up” : ADDS …
64 Practiced but did not compete : RED-SHIRTED

Down

1 National Teddy Bear Day mo. : SEPT
2 Narrative : TALE
3 __ end : AT AN
4 Go to commercial, say : REZONE
5 Jam : SNARL
6 “Boo-__!” : YAH
7 Janitorial closet feature : SLOP SINK
8 Big name in “handmade” vodka : TITO
9 Navratilova rival : EVERT
10 Allen who was the first host of “This Week in Baseball” : MEL
11 Athletic advantage : TWO ON ONE
12 “Some help you are” : THANKS A LOT
13 Makes the team? : YOKES
14 Sudeikis role : LASSO
21 Kitchen counters? : TIMERS
23 American who may have a quinceañera : CHICANA
25 Held a claim : HAD DIBS
26 Lip : SASS
27 Cantata component : ARIA
28 Wed : GET HITCHED
30 Delivered : DEALT
33 Rebounds : CAROMS
35 “Wildlife” writer/director : DANO
36 Plot lines : AXES
38 High chairs? : BAR SEATS
39 Asset for some writing contests : NEATNESS
45 Beef source : GRIPER
46 Musk : AROMA
47 Like some sausages : CASED
48 Title woman in a “little ditty” of 1982 : DIANE
50 Beer with sushi, maybe : ASAHI
53 Approved : OK’ED
55 Halyard pole : MAST
56 Larson who plays Captain Marvel : BRIE
57 Barely : A TAD
59 2022 Todd Field film about a conductor : TAR
60 Ultimate : NTH