LA Times Crossword 11 Jul 26, Saturday

Advertisement

Constructed by: Rafael Musa

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: None

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

Bill’s time: 14m 40s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Bernardine Evaristo’s “Girl, Woman, __” : OTHER

British author Bernardine Evaristo won the Booker Prize in 2019 for her novel “Girl, Woman, Other”. She was a joint winner, with Margaret Atwood (for “The Testaments”), and was the first Black woman to be so honored.

16A Not one __ : IOTA

Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet, and one that gave rise to our letters I and J. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small, as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.

19A Strong showing from 2012 to 2022, for short? : SNL

Cecily Strong was a featured player on “Saturday Night Live” from 2012 until 2022, making her the longest-running female cast member in the show’s history. She just managed to beat Kate McKinnon’s record with her last appearance.

38A Island west of Maui : LANAI

Lanai is the sixth largest of the Hawaiian Islands. Lanai was first spotted by Europeans just a few days after Captain Cook was killed on the Big Island of Hawaii in 1779. In 1922, the Hawaiian Pineapple Company bought the whole island of Lanai and turned most of it into the world’s largest pineapple plantation. Since then, Lanai has been known as “The Pineapple Island”. Today, 98% of the island is owned by Larry Ellison, the Executive Chairman of Oracle, and 2% is owned by the State of Hawaii.

39A “Smooth Operator” singer : SADE

“Smooth Operator” is a 1984 song written and performed by English band Sade. The song’s lyrics tell the story of a smooth-talking, charming man who is able to charm women effortlessly.

42A Exams that begin with a Chemical and Physical Foundations section, for short : MCATS

Medical College Admission Test (MCAT)

45A Fried Mexican dishes : CHALUPAS

A chalupa is a Mexican dish consisting of a tostada shaped into a “cup” and filled with various ingredients. “Chalupa” translates from Mexican Spanish as “small boat”.

48A “Yellowstone” star Bentley : WES

Wes Bentley is an actor who is perhaps best known for playing Ricky Fitts, the voyeuristic son of the homophobic Colonel Frank Fitts in the 1999 blockbuster film “American Beauty”. A 2009 documentary called “My Big Break” tells of Bentley’s career taking off after “American Beauty” was released, and his subsequent struggles with addiction to drugs and alcohol that led to financial ruin. Bentley is well on the road to recovery, and has been appearing regularly on the small and large screens since 2010.

“Yellowstone” is a pretty successful drama series starring Kevin Costner that premiered in 2018. Costner plays a rich and powerful rancher in Montana. Such is the success of the show that two spin-off shows were commissioned, with other spin-offs planned:

1. “1883” (premiered in 2021, starring Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill)
2. “1923” (starring Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford)

49A Todos __ días: every day, in Spanish : LOS

The phrase “todos los días” translates literally from Spanish as “all the days”, and is used to mean “every day”.

50A Rep who is also the parent of a child star, perhaps : MOMAGER

A “dad” who “manages” a famous son or daughter might be called a “dadager”. A “mom” performing the same role might be called a “momager”.

52A __ Fridays : TGI

T.G.I. Fridays is an American restaurant chain that was founded in 1965 in New York City. Today there are over a thousand T.G.I. Fridays restaurants in over 50 countries. I think that Fridays has always been particularly successful overseas. I used to visit one a lot with my family when we lived in the Philippines, and I believe the most successful Fridays restaurant anywhere in the world is the one in Haymarket Leicester Square in London in the UK.

55A Lincoln, e.g. : AUTO

Lincoln is a high-end brand belonging to the Ford Motor Company. The Lincoln Motor Company was founded in 1917 by Henry M. Leland, who chose the “Lincoln” name in honor of the celebrated American president. Lincoln was acquired by Ford just five years later, in 1922.

59A Puerto Rico, por ejemplo : ISLA

In Spanish, Puerto Rico “por ejemplo” (for example), is an “isla” (island).

Down

3D React to a riot, maybe : HOWL

A very amusing person might be referred to as a card, stitch, wag or riot.

4D Short releases : EPS

An extended-play (EP) record, CD or download contains more music than a single, but less than a long-play (LP) record.

5D Pool areas? : REC HALLS

The more correct name for the game of pool is “pocket billiards”. The designation “pool” arose after pocket billiards became a common feature in “pool halls”, places where gamblers “pooled” their money to bet on horse races.

6D Under the __ : HOOD

The hinged cover over the engine of a car is referred to in the US as a “hood”, and in Britain and Ireland as a “bonnet”. On the other side of the Atlantic, a hood is a fabric cover that goes over a car’s passenger compartment. That same cover is called a “top” here in the US.

10D Title for David Attenborough : SIR

The fascinating Sir David Attenborough is a British broadcaster and naturalist, and the younger brother of actor Richard Attenborough. I’ve known him from British television for almost all of my life, but he has become recognizable over here in the US more recently due to his appearance and narration in the television series “Life On Earth”, “The Living Planet”, “The Blue Planet”, “Life” and “Planet Earth”. However, US versions of David Attenborough shows tend to be voiced-over by American personalities, so some recordings of “Planet Earth” feature the voice of Sigourney Weaver, and “Life” features the voice of Oprah Winfrey.

13D Gospel singer Cobbs : TASHA

Tasha Cobbs Leonard is a gospel musician from Georgia. Her 2012 recording “Break Every Chain” topped the “Billboard” Gospel Songs chart, and won her a Grammy.

25D Traditional Christmas fare for some Latinos : TAMALES

A tamale is a traditional dish from Mexico composed of a starchy dough that is steamed or boiled in a wrapper made from a corn husk or banana leaf. The dough is called masa, and can include many different ingredients including meat, cheese, fruit and vegetables. A hot tamale is a kind of tamale that originated in the Mississippi Delta. It is particularly spicy, and the masa is replaced with corn meal.

26D Panto units : ACTS

Our word “pantomime” comes from the Greek word “pantomimos” meaning “actor”. The literal translation of the Greek is “imitator of all”, from “panto-” (all) and “mimos” (imitator). We use the term today to describe communication by means of facial expression and physical gestures. On the other side of the Atlantic, pantomimes (often “pantos”) are also very popular Christmas entertainments based on nursery tales like “Mother Goose”, “Aladdin” and “Jack and the Beanstalk”. Great, great stuff …

27D Three-story abode in Barbie pink : DREAMHOUSE

Mattel, the supplier of Barbie dolls, purchased a 3,500 square-foot house in Malibu, and had it redecorated to resemble the company’s Barbie Dreamhouse dollhouse. The creation of a life-size Barbie Dreamhouse was part of a promotion on the occasion of Barbie’s 50th birthday.

29D Musubi meat : SPAM

Spam musubi is a snack food comprising a slice of grilled Spam and a block of rice, both wrapped in nori (dried edible seaweed from traditional Japanese cuisine). Spam musubi are particularly popular in Hawaii and Guam.

32D Statute mandating curb cuts, for short : ADA

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)

33D Feature of type 4 hair : COIL

Andre Walker is a hairstylist from Chicago who was Oprah Winfrey’s personal stylist from 1985 to 2015. He introduced his Hair Typing System in the 1990s, categorizing human hair into four distinct textures ranging from straight (Type 1) to tightly coiled (Type 4). I guess I am a Type 0 …

35D Bandleader Puente : TITO

After serving in the Navy in WWII for three years, musician Tito Puente studied at Juilliard, where he got a great grounding in conducting, orchestration and theory. Puente parlayed this education into a career in Latin jazz and mambo. He was known as “El Rey” as well as “The King of Latin Music”.

38D Pocket-size pointer : LASER PEN

eBay was founded in 1995 as AuctionWeb. One of the first items purchased was a broken laser pointer, for $14.83. The buyer was a collector of broken laser pointers …

40D Field for a competitive Valorant player : ESPORTS

Esports (electronic sports) are video game competitions. The International Olympic Committee has held meetings to consider the inclusion of esports in the Olympic Games. What about medals for crossword solving …?

41D Former mill town in the Boston metro area : LOWELL

The Massachusetts city of Lowell was established in the 1820s as the nation’s first planned industrial city, built to harness the water power of the Pawtucket Falls on the Merrimack River. It was named for Francis Cabot Lowell, a businessman who used lessons learned while visiting Britain to bring the Industrial Revolution to the US.

45D Progressive request : CLAIM

Progressive is a popular auto insurance company, the one that uses the perky character named “Flo” as a spokesperson. Flo is played by comedian and actress Stephanie Courtney.

46D Subject for Elena Ferrante : AMORE

Elena Ferrante is an Italian author, best known for her 4-part series known as the “Neapolitan Novels”. What is very interesting about “Ferrante” is that the moniker is a pseudonym, and no one seems to know the author’s real name. There is some speculation that “Elena” is in fact a man.

47D “Stop beating around the bush!” : SAY IT!

To beat around the bush is to prevaricate, to avoid coming to the point. The phrase originated with bird hunting in which locals were employed by the aristocratic hunters to beat the bushes, rousing the birds so that they could be shot as they flew off. So, beating around the bush was a preamble to the slaughter, in a sense a prevarication before getting to the main event.

51D Concerns for some orthodontists : GAPS

Orthodontics is a branch of dentistry dealing with the straightening of teeth. The name comes from the Greek “orthos” meaning “straight” and “dontia” meaning “teeth”.

56D __ latte : OAT

I enjoy one every day …