LA Times Crossword 11 May 26, Monday

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Constructed by: Chloe Revery

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Buzzwords

Themed answers each start with a “BUZZ” WORD, a slang synonym for “gossip”:

• 63A Trendy jargon, or what can be found at the starts of 17-, 25-, 38-, and 53-Across : BUZZWORDS

• 17A Very inexpensive : DIRT CHEAP
• 25A Pants one may have to wriggle into : SKINNY JEANS
• 38A Kitchen cloth : DISH TOWEL
• 53A Traditional Chinese wedding ritual : TEA CEREMONY

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

Bill’s time: 6m 25s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

9A “I am half __, half hope”: “Persuasion” : AGONY

“Persuasion” was the last novel that Jane Austen completed. Publication took place in 1817, six months after the author passed away. Austen left the work unnamed, usually referring to it as “The Elliots”, a reference to the main family in the story. Austen’s brother Henry provided the name “Persuasion”, possibly a reference to Anne Elliot being persuaded not to marry her beloved early in the novel.

14A La __ Tar Pits : BREA

The La Brea Tar Pits, in Hancock Park in Los Angeles, represent one of the world’s richest fossil sites from the Ice Age. Natural asphalt has seeped up from the ground for tens of thousands of years, trapping countless animals, from mammoths and saber-toothed cats to insects and plants, providing an unparalleled record of prehistoric life. The site continues to be an active paleontological excavation.

15A Comic-Con, e.g. : EXPO

San Diego’s Comic-Con was founded in 1970 as the Golden State Comic Book Convention. Held over four days each summer, it used to be the largest show in North America. Venue constraints in San Diego have allowed New York Comic Con (NYCC) to top the table in recent years.

19A South American mountain range : ANDES

The Andes range is the longest continuous chain of mountains in the world. It runs down the length of the west coast of South America for about 4,300 miles, from Venezuela in the north to Chile in the south. The highest peak in the Andes is Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina, at an elevation of 22,841 feet. Interestingly, the peak of Mt. Chimborazo in Ecuador is the furthest point on the Earth’s surface from the center of the planet. That’s because of the equatorial “bulge” around the Earth’s “waist”.

20A Neck of the woods : AREA

In the phrase “this neck of the woods”, the term “neck” is used in the sense “strip of land”.

23A HS diploma equivalent : GED

The General Educational Development (GED) tests are a battery of four tests designed to demonstrate that a student has the academic skills of someone who has graduated from an American or Canadian high school.

24A Subway smooch, e.g.: Abbr. : PDA

Public display of affection (PDA).

25A Pants one may have to wriggle into : SKINNY JEANS

Denim fabric originated in Nîmes in France. The French phrase “de Nîmes” (meaning “from Nîmes”) gives us the word “denim”. Also, the French phrase “bleu de Genes” (meaning “blue of Genoa”) gives us our word “jeans”.

32A Red wine grape : MERLOT

Merlot is one of the main grapes used to make Bordeaux wines, along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

34A Orange tubers : YAMS

Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of yams. That said, these aren’t the soft, orange-fleshed “sweet potatoes” often mislabeled as “yams” in the US. True African yams are starchy, have a bark-like skin, and can grow up to five feet long.

41A Great Lakes mnemonic : HOMES

A well-known mnemonic for remembering the names of the Great Lakes is HOMES, an acronym standing for Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior. Another mnemonic serving the same purpose is “super heroes must eat oats”.

44A Hippocratic __ : OATH

The Hippocratic Corpus is a collection of about 70 medical works that were at one time believed to have been written by the Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, although authorship has been called into question. Within the collection is a document known as the Hippocratic Oath (but again, the authorship has been questioned). The oath is still used today as the basis for oaths taken by medical graduates before they enter into medical practice.

53A Traditional Chinese wedding ritual : TEA CEREMONY

A traditional Chinese wedding might include a tea ceremony, known as “jing cha”. It serves as the formal introduction of a couple to their respective families and traces its origins back to the Tang Dynasty.

57A Secrecy contract, for short : NDA

Non-disclosure agreement (NDA)

58A Pie __ mode : A LA

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.

59A Skedaddled : FLED

“Skedaddle” is a slang term meaning “run away”, one that dates back to the Civil War.

63A Trendy jargon, or what can be found at the starts of 17-, 25-, 38-, and 53-Across : BUZZWORDS

There is a suggestion that “buzzword”, meaning trendy and important-sounding term, originated as slang in Harvard to describe a key word, perhaps in a lecture.

The noun “jargon” can describe nonsensical and meaningless talk, or the specialized language of a particular group, trade or profession. The term “jargon” is Old French, with the more usual meaning of “chattering”. How apt …

67A Cowpoke’s hello : HOWDY

“Cowpoke” is a term used nowadays for any cowboy, but it was originally limited to the cowboys who prodded cattle onto railroad cars using long poles.

68A __ Day vitamins : ONE A

One A Day is a line of multivitamins made by Bayer. It was introduced way back in 1943.

70A “Siddhartha” novelist Hermann : HESSE

Hermann Hesse was not only a novelist, but also a poet and a painter. His best known work is probably his 1927 novel “Steppenwolf”. Hesse was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946.

The 1922 novel “Siddhartha” by Hermann Hesse focuses on the spiritual journey of a man called Siddhartha. Even though the Buddha’s name was Siddhartha Gautama before he renounced his former life, Hesse’s Siddhartha is a different character, but one who lived around the time of the Buddha.

71A Designer Vera known for bridal gowns : WANG

Vera Wang’s first choice for a career was figure skating. Although she is a very capable skater, Wang failed to make the 1968 US Olympics team. She switched to the world of fashion, and is now famous for her designs of wedding dresses … and also costumes for figure skaters.

Down

1D Brief “More info soon” : TBD

To be determined (TBD)

2D Daughter of King Minos who helped Theseus escape the labyrinth : ARIADNE

In Greek mythology, Ariadne was the daughter of Minos, the King of Crete and master of the Minotaur. Minos charged his daughter with control of the labyrinth that housed the Minotaur. However, Ariadne fell in love with Theseus, who had vowed to kill the Minotaur, and she helped him fulfill his mission. In other myths, Ariadne became the bride of the god Dionysus.

3D Feature of many a rice paddy : TERRACE

A paddy field is a flooded piece of land used to grow rice, or perhaps taro. The water reduces competition from weeds allowing the rice to thrive. The word “paddy” has nothing to do with us Irish folk, and is an anglicized version of the word “padi”, the Malay name for the rice plant.

10D Sodas in Shirley Temples : GINGER ALES

The original drink called a Shirley Temple was made with two parts ginger ale, one part orange juice and a dash of grenadine. The contemporary drink is much simpler, and comprises 7up (or equivalent) with a little grenadine. A variant of the non-alcoholic original that includes some form of booze is often called a “Dirty Shirley”.

18D Playbill list : CAST

I get quite a kick out of reading the bios in “Playbill” as some of them can be really goofy and entertaining. “Playbill” started off in 1884 in New York as an in-house publication for just one theater. You can’t see any decent-sized production these days anywhere in the United States without being handed a copy of “Playbill”.

22D Place to raise the bar? : GYM

Our word “gymnasium” comes from the Greek “gymnasion” meaning “public place where exercise is taken”. The Greek term comes from “gymnos” meaning “naked”, as that physical training was usually done unclothed in ancient Greece.

27D State with a potato museum : IDAHO

The Idaho Potato Museum opened in 1988 in Blackfoot, Idaho, the self-proclaimed “Potato Capital of the World.” The facility holds the official record for the world’s largest potato crisp, a 25-inch Pringle donated in 1991 that contains the mass of roughly 80 standard chips. That’s a museum I must visit one day …

28D Ballet leap : JETE

A jeté is a leap in ballet, with the term “jeté” coming from the French word “jeter” meaning “to throw”. A “jeté en avant” is a “leap to the front”, towards the audience. A “grand jeté” is a long horizontal jump, a split in the air, leaping from one foot to the other.

35D NYC subway org. : MTA

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has public transportation responsibility in the state of New York (as well as part of Connecticut).

36D __ voce : SOTTO

“Sotto voce” literally means “under the voice” in Italian, and describes the deliberate lowering of one’s voice for emphasis.

41D Fedora, for one : HAT

A fedora is a lovely hat, I think. It is made of felt, and is similar to a trilby, but has a broader brim. “Fédora” was a play written for Sarah Bernhardt and first performed in 1882. Bernhardt had the title role of Princess Fedora, and on stage she wore a hat similar to a modern-day fedora. The play led to the women’s fashion accessory, the fedora hat, commonly worn by women into the beginning of the twentieth century. Men then started wearing fedoras, but only when women gave up the fashion …

50D Mrs., in Madrid : SRA

Madrid is the most populous city in Spain, and is the nation’s capital. It is located very close to the geographical center of the country. Madrid is the second-largest city in the European Union by population, after Berlin. People from Madrid call themselves Madrileños.

52D Manhattan event with many designers and runway models, for short : NYFW

New York Fashion Week (NYFW) is a series of events held in Manhattan since 1943. Back then, it was known as “Press Week”, and was focused on showcasing American designers while World War II travel restrictions barred journalists from Paris.

55D __ Loa: world’s largest active volcano : MAUNA

Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii is the largest volcano on the planet (in terms of volume). The name “Mauna Loa” is Hawaiian for “Long Mountain”.

62D Hurricane center : EYE

Hurricanes are given names primarily to help the public keep track of dangerous systems. The names are decided ahead of the hurricane season, with the first system given a name beginning with A, the second, B, etc. The names are alternated between male and female names throughout the season. Also, if the first storm of the season is male, then the following year a female name is chosen. For hurricanes in the North Atlantic, names are assigned for every letter, except Q, U, X, Y and Z. The most frequently used name is Arlene, which was used for ten different storms from 1959 to 2011.

64D Super chill : ZEN

Zen is a Buddhist school that developed from Chan Buddhism, a tradition that was established in China back in the 7th century AD. “Zen” is a Japanese spelling of the Chinese word “chan”, which in turn derives from the Sanskrit word “dhyana” meaning “meditation”.