LA Times Crossword 10 Jul 26, Friday

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Constructed by: Mike Peluso

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Iron Supplement

Themed answers are all common phrases with a SUPPLEMENT of IRON, with “Fe” inserted within:

• 62A Treatment for anemia, or a treatment given to 16-, 28-, and 48-Across? : IRON SUPPLEMENT

• 16A Slogan on a very thorough pet sitter’s business card? : I WALK THE FELINE (Fe in “I Walk the Line”)
• 28A Upgrade one’s cookie supply? : TRADE WAFERS (Fe in “trade wars”)
• 48A Newest resident of the Land of Enchantment? : SANTA FE BABY (Fe in “Santa Baby”)

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

Bill’s time: 8m 22s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5A Peter or Paul, but not Mary : TSAR

Peter the Great (aka “Peter I”) was perhaps the most successful of the Romanov tsars, and was famous for modernizing Russia and expanding the country’s sphere of influence, creating the Russian Empire. He ruled from 1682 until his death in 1725.

Paul I was Tsar of Russia, and the only son of Peter III and Catherine the Great. Paul was on the throne for only five years, before being assassinated in a conspiracy that brought his son Alexander I to power.

13A Part of some forests : KELP

Kelps are large seaweeds that grow in kelp forests underwater. Kelps can grow to over 175 feet in length, and do so very quickly. Some kelps can grow at the rate of 1-2 feet per day.

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16A Slogan on a very thorough pet sitter’s business card? : I WALK THE FELINE (Fe in “I Walk the Line”)

A feline is a member of the cat family, the “Felidae”. The Latin word for “cat” is “feles”.

“I Walk the Line” is a marvelous 1956 track written and recorded by Johnny Cash. It is a very unique song. It has a boom-chicka-boom, freight-train rhythm that Cash accentuates by placing a dollar-bill sized piece of paper in the neck of the guitar. There is also a key change between all five verses, with the final verse a full octave lower than the first. Cash is heard humming before each key change, apparently so that he can find the right pitch. Great song …

19A “Exodus” Oscar nominee Sal : MINEO

Actor Sal Mineo’s most famous role was John “Plato” Crawford, the kid who was in awe of the James Dean character in “Rebel Without a Cause”. Sadly, Mineo was murdered in 1976 when he was just 37 years old. He was attacked in the alley behind his Los Angeles apartment and stabbed through the heart. When an arrest was made it was discovered that the murderer had no idea that his victim was a celebrity, and that his plan was just to rob anyone who came along.

1960’s “Exodus” is an epic historical film that dramatizes the founding of the State of Israel. The screenplay is an adaptation of a 1958 novel of the same name by Leon Uris. Director and producer Otto Preminger openly hired Dalton Trumbo to write the screenplay. Trumbo had been on the infamous Hollywood blacklist, and his hiring for “Exodus” is often cited as the film that ended blacklisting.

24A Carson successor : LENO

“The Tonight Show” has had six permanent hosts so far:

• Steve Allen (1954-57)
• Jack Paar (1957-62)
• Johnny Carson (1962–92)
• Jay Leno (1992–2009, 2010–14)
• Conan O’Brien (2009–10)
• Jimmy Fallon (2014–present)

27A Checkers side : RED

“Checkers” is yet another word that I had to learn moving across the Atlantic. In Ireland, the game is called “draughts”.

34A Word on a bottle of Château Margaux : CRU

“Cru” is a term used in the French wine industry that means “growth place”. So, “cru” is the name of the location where the grapes are grown, as opposed to the name of a specific vineyard. The terms “premier cru” and “grand cru” are also used, but the usage depends on the specific wine region. Generally it is a classification awarded to specific vineyards denoting their potential for producing great wines. “Grand cru” is reserved for the very best vineyards, with “premier cru” the level just below.

Château Margaux is a Bordeaux wine that fetches a premium price. Thomas Jefferson was a fan, and he ordered massive quantities of the 1784 vintage during his tenure as the American ambassador to France.

35A El Prado, por ejemplo : MUSEO

The Museo del Prado is in Madrid, the capital of Spain, and has one of the finest art collections in the world. The gallery’s most famous work is “Las Meninas” by Velázquez.

40A Ordered from DoorDash, perhaps : ATE IN

DoorDash is the largest food delivery company in the country. Customers can order food from many different restaurants using the DoorDash app, and a DoorDash driver delivers it to a home or office. DoorDash also operates ghost kitchens, facilities that prepare meals for delivery customers of a group of restaurants.

48A Newest resident of the Land of Enchantment? : SANTA FE BABY (Fe in “Santa Baby”)

Santa Fe is New Mexico’s capital, and the fourth most-populous city in the state (after Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Rio Rancho). Sitting at 7,199 feet above sea level, Santa Fe is the highest state capital in the US. The city’s name translates from Spanish as “Holy Faith”. The full name of the city when it was founded in 1607 was “La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís”, meaning “the Royal Town of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis of Assisi”. It became the capital of the province Santa Fe de Nuevo México in 1610, making Santa Fe the oldest state capital in the US.

New Mexico officially adopted the nickname “Land Of Enchantment” in 1999, although the phrase had been coined by author Lillian Whiting in 1906, six years before New Mexico even gained statehood. The state’s Tourist Bureau began using the term in 1935, and “Land of Enchantment” started appearing on license plates in 1941.

“Santa Baby” was commissioned in 1953 as a tongue-in-cheek holiday song for Eartha Kitt, who was widely regarded as the most seductive actress in the country at the time. It became the best-selling Christmas single of the year, and has been popular every holiday season since then. “Santa Baby” has been covered many, many times, by artists like Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Taylor Swift, Michael Bublé and even Kim Kardashian!

52A Mex. neighbor : USA

The Mexico-US border is the most frequently-crossed border in the world, although it is only the tenth longest border in the world between two countries.

55A Late bloomer : ASTER

Apparently, most aster species and cultivars bloom relatively late in the year, usually in the fall. The name “aster” comes into English via Latin from the Greek word “astéri” meaning “star”, a reference to the arrangement of the petals of the flower.

57A Toots and the Maytals, for one : SKA BAND

Toots and the Maytals are a Jamaican reggae and ska band that have been active since the 1960s. Frontman Toots Hibbert passed away in 2020, at the age of 77.

60A Aptly named hybrids : UGLIS

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.

62A Treatment for anemia, or a treatment given to 16-, 28-, and 48-Across? : IRON SUPPLEMENT

The term “anemia” (or “anaemia”, as we write it back in Ireland) comes from a Greek word meaning “lack of blood”. Anemia is a lack of iron in the blood, or a low red blood cell count. Tiredness is a symptom of the condition, and so we use the term “anemic” figuratively to mean “lacking in vitality or substance”.

66A Four-award acronym : EGOT

Emmy, Grammy, Oscar & Tony Awards (EGOT)

67A Plum kin : 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.

70A Actress Daly : TYNE

Actress Tyne Daly really came into the public eye playing Detective Lacey in “Cagney and Lacey”. From 1999 to 2005, Daly played the mother of the title character in the TV show “Judging Amy”.

71A Bajo opposite : ALTO

In Spanish, “bajo” (low) is the opposite of “alto” (high).

Down

2D Political research center : PEW

The Pew Charitable Trusts is an NGO established in 1948 by the children of Joseph N. Pew, the founder of Sun Oil Company (now Sunoco). Its stated mission is to improve public policy, inform the public, and invigorate civil life. Pew also operates the Pew Research Center, the third-largest think tank in Washington, D.C.

3D Dessert option : A LA MODE

In French cuisine, “à la mode” (literally “in the manner of” or “according to the custom”) is a term that indicates a dish is prepared in a particular or traditional way, often referring to the specific cut of meat or method of preparation.

5D “Doctor Who” actress Catherine : TATE

Catherine Tate is an English actress, comedian, and writer. She became famous in the UK for appearing in and co-writing the BBC sketch comedy series “The Catherine Tate Show”. She also had a leading role in the acclaimed “Doctor Who” sci-fi TV show from 2006 to 2008. Viewers on this side of the Atlantic might recognize her from the US version of “The Office”, in which she played misguided project manager Nellie Bertram.

6D Think tank members, often : SCHOLARS

A think tank is a research institute. The use of the term “think tank” dates back to 1959, and apparently was first used to describe the Center for Behavioral Sciences in Palo Alto, California.

9D Softest mineral on the Mohs scale : TALC

Talc is a mineral, hydrated magnesium silicate. Talcum powder is composed of loose talc, although these days “baby powder” is mainly made from cornstarch.

The Mohs scale of mineral hardness was developed in 1812 by Friedrich Mohs. Basically Mohs took minerals and scratched them with other minerals. In this way he was able to determine which minerals were hardest (most scratch resistant) and which softest. On the scale, diamond is the hardest (and rated 10), while talc is the softest (and rated 1).

17D Celtic artwork feature : KNOT

Celtic knots are stylized representations of knots that often feature in Celtic art. It’s difficult to walk down any road in Ireland without “tripping over” a Celtic knot.

18D Sufficient, once : ENOW

“Enow” is an archaic form of the word “enough”.

21D Name on some Canadian pumps : ESSO

The Esso brand has its roots in the old Standard Oil company as it uses the initial letters of “Standard” and “Oil” (ESS-O). The Esso brand was replaced by Exxon in the US, but ESSO is still used in many other countries.

29D Sony record label : RCA

RCA Records is the second-oldest recording label in the US, after Columbia Records.

30D Invoice no. : AMT

An invoice is an itemized bill. The term “invoice” comes from the Middle French “envois” meaning “dispatch (of goods)”. The root verb is “envoyer”, which translates as “to send”.

31D Kerfuffle : FUSS

“Kerfuffle” comes from the Scottish “curfuffle”, with both words meaning “disruption”.

33D Passing thoughts? : OBIT

Our word “obituary” comes from the Latin “obituarius”. The Latin term was used for “record of the death of a person”, although the literal meaning is “pertaining to death”.

37D Food Network host Garten : INA

Ina Garten is an author as well as the host of a cooking show on the Food Network called “Barefoot Contessa”. She is a mentee of Martha Stewart, and indeed was touted as a potential “successor” to the TV celebrity when Stewart was incarcerated in 2004 after an insider trading scandal. Garten has no formal training as a chef, and indeed used to work as a nuclear policy analyst at the White House!

40D Used car caveat : AS IS

A caveat is a warning or a qualification. “Caveat” is the Latin for “let him, her, or it beware”.

41D Hollywood innovation of the 1920s : TALKIES

The first commercially successful feature-length sound film was “The Jazz Singer”, released in 1927. Rather than having audio printed directly onto the film strip, it utilized the Vitaphone system, which required a projectionist to synchronize the visual reels with a 16-inch wax phonograph record. The new technology signaled the end of the silent film era, and audiences dubbed the new synchronized films “talkies”.

43D Actor Vigoda : ABE

Abe Vigoda played Detective Sergeant Phil Fish in television’s “Barney Miller” in the seventies, and even got his own spin-off show called “Fish”. On the big screen, Vigoda played Sal Tessio in “The Godfather” and Grandpa Ubriacco in “Look Who’s Talking”. When Vigoda was 60 years old, he was mistakenly reported as dead by “People” magazine. In response, Vigoda had a photo published in “Variety” showing him sitting up in a coffin, holding a copy of the offending issue of “People”.

47D Target score at Augusta : PAR

The Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia was founded in 1933 by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts. Famously, Augusta hosts the Masters Tournament each year. Augusta is very much a private club, and some of its policies have drawn criticism over the years. Prior to 1983, the club had a bylaw requiring that all caddies be African American. There were no African American club members admitted until 1990, and no women until 2012.

50D Pledge rival : ENDUST

Endust was introduced in the 1950s to compete with Pledge, the dusting and cleaning product that dominated the market. Endust carved out an entirely new commercial market: the “dusting aid”. Dusting aids were formulated to be sprayed on a dustcloth or dustmop, rather than directly on the furniture.

51D Second-oldest Ivy : YALE

Harvard, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania are the three oldest Ivy League institutions, with establishment dates of 1636, 1701, and 1740 respectively. Harvard and Yale were founded as traditional divinity schools aimed at educating young clergymen. Penn, however, was established by Benjamin Franklin to provide a secular curriculum designed for business and public administration.

56D “The Lion King” lion : SIMBA

Among the group of lions at the center of “The Lion King” story, young Simba is the heir apparent and the lion cub destined to take over as leader of the pride. His uncle is jealous of Simba, and plots with a trio of hyenas to kill Simba, so that he can take his position. The uncle was originally named Taka (according to books) but he was given the name Scar after being injured by a buffalo. The trio of hyenas are called Shenzi, Banzai and Ed.

58D Rolls-Royce trunk : BOOT

In North America we use the word “trunk” for the storage space in the back of a vehicle as that space is reminiscent of the large traveling chest called a “trunk”. Such trunks used to be lashed onto the back of automobiles before storage was integrated. On the other side of the Atlantic, a trunk is known as a “boot”. The original boot was a built-in storage compartment on a horse-drawn carriage on which a coachman would sit.

Charles Rolls founded the Rolls-Royce auto manufacturing company along with his partner Henry Royce in 1906. Sadly, Rolls died just a few years later in a plane crash. Rolls was a pioneering aviator. He became the first Briton to die in a powered aircraft crash when the tail of his plane broke off during a flying display.

59D Hill dwellers : ANTS

Anthills are actually underground nests. The ants in the colony excavate below ground, resulting in a pile of sand or soil above ground.