LA Times Crossword 15 Sep 26, Tuesday

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Constructed by: Faren Roth

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Shoo-Ins

Themed answers each have a type of shoe (sounds like “SHOO”) INSIDE:

• 39A Safe bets, or a phonetic hint to the circled elements of this puzzle? : SHOO-INS

• 17A Including every flaw : WARTS AND ALL (SANDAL IN)
• 25A Like serrated knives : SAW-EDGED (WEDGE IN)
• 50A In the past few days : AS OF LATE (FLAT IN)
• 62A Radio format likely to appeal to baby boomers : CLASSIC ROCK (CROC IN)

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

Bill’s time: 5m 37s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

11A Org. now known as Scouting America : BSA

In May 2024, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) announced that it will officially change its name to Scouting America. The new name is intended to emphasize inclusivity and reflect the reality that girls were already a major part of its programs.

14A Director Preminger : OTTO

Otto Preminger was noted for directing films that pushed the envelope in terms of subject matter, at least in the fifties and sixties. Great examples would be 1955’s “The Man with the Golden Arm” that dealt with drug addiction, 1959’s “Anatomy of a Murder” that dealt with rape, and 1962’s “Advise and Consent” that dealt with homosexuality. If you’ve seen these films, you’ll have noticed that the references are somewhat indirect and disguised, in order to get past the censors.

15A Bubble tea balls : PEARLS

Bubble tea, sometimes called “boba tea”, is a tea-based drink from Taiwan. The “bubbles” are chewy tapioca balls that are usually added to the drink.

16A Duolingo bird : OWL

Duolingo is a language-learning app that can be used for free, or with no ads for a premium price. The app was launched to the public in 2012, and in 2013, it was chosen by Apple as its iPhone App of the Year. Duolingo has a mascot, a green cartoon owl named “Duo”.

17A Including every flaw : WARTS AND ALL (SANDAL IN)

It is said that the phrase “warts and all” was coined by Oliver Cromwell, although there is no real evidence that he ever uttered the phrase. Cromwell had his portrait painted by Sir Peter Lely, an artist who had a reputation for producing works that flattered the subject. Cromwell was a puritan, and may indeed have instructed Lely to produce a less flattering and more objective image. Indeed, the painting includes warts on Cromwell’s face, imperfections that could easily have been omitted.

20A Muse of poetry : ERATO

In Greek mythology, Erato was the Muse of lyric poetry. She is often depicted with a wreath of myrtle and roses, and playing a lyre.

28A Country singer Paisley : BRAD

Brad Paisley is a country singer from Glen Dale, West Virginia. As well as singing, Paisley has written a couple of books. He co-wrote “Jug Fishing for Greazy and Other Brad Paisley Fishing Stories”, which was published in 2003. Bradley then co-wrote an autobiography titled “Diary of a Player: How My Musical Heroes Made a Guitar Man Out of Me”, which came out in 2011.

30A Like the African dish bariis iskukaris : SOMALI

Bariis iskukaris is a national dish of Somalia with a name that translates as “cooked mixed together”. The dish includes a comprehensive mixture of spices called “xawaash” (simply meaning “spices”), which comprises ground cumin, turmeric, coriander, paprika, cardamon, black pepper, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg.

39A Safe bets, or a phonetic hint to the circled elements of this puzzle? : SHOO-INS

A shoo-in is a surefire winner, especially in politics. Back in the 1920s, a shoo-in was a horse that was prearranged to win a race, a race that was fixed.

42A University of __ Dame : NOTRE

The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a private school that was founded by French-born priest Edward Sorin in 1842, originally as a primary and secondary school. The nearby Saint Mary’s College was founded in 1844 by the Sisters of the Holy Cross. The women’s school was needed as Notre Dame was a men-only university back then.

48A Mia in the Soccer Hall of Fame : HAMM

Mia Hamm is a retired American soccer player. She played as a forward on the US national team that won the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1991. Hamm scored 158 international goals, which was more than any other player in the world, male or female, until the record was broken in 2013. Amazingly, Hamm was born with a clubfoot, and so had to wear corrective shoes when she was growing up.

61A Opposite of trans : CIS

In Latin, the prefix “cis-” means “this side of”. The prefix “trans-” means “the other side of”.

62A Radio format likely to appeal to baby boomers : CLASSIC ROCK (CROC IN)

Crocs are foam clogs that were originally designed as boating shoes. I bought a pair of crocs, and then my kids said they weren’t going to talk to me again …

66A Arthur in the International Tennis Hall of Fame : ASHE

The International Tennis Hall of Fame was established in 1954 in Newport, Rhode Island. It is located in the Newport Casino, which was an exclusive resort built in the late 1800s. The Tennis Hall of Fame complex is quite well equipped, and includes several indoor and outdoor tennis courts as well as a museum and theater.

Down

2D Video game pioneer : ATARI

Atari was founded in 1972, and was one of the pioneers in the video game industry. One of the company’s early employees was Steve Jobs, who was hired to work on the game design for the arcade game “Breakout”. Jobs was tasked with reducing the number of chips needed for the game and he recruited his friend, Steve Wozniak, to help with the project. Wozniak designed a circuit board that used only 44 chips, a significant improvement over the original design that had over 100 chips.

3D Fender guitar, familiarly : STRAT

The Stratocaster (often “Strat”) is an electric guitar that has been made by Fender since 1954. The company that made Fender electric guitars was founded in Fullerton, California in 1946 by Leo Fender.

4D Jacuzzis : HOT TUBS

“Jacuzzi” is one of those brand names that has become so much associated with the product that it is often assumed to be a generic term. The Jacuzzi company was founded in 1915 by the seven(!) Jacuzzi brothers in Berkeley, California. The brothers, who were Italian immigrants, pronounced their name “ja-coot-si”, as one might suspect when one realizes the name is of Italian origin. The company started off by making aircraft propellers and then small aircraft, but suspended aircraft production in 1925, after one of the brothers was killed in one of their planes. The family then started making hydraulic pumps, and in 1948 developed a submersible bathtub pump so that a son of one of the brothers could enjoy hydrotherapy for his rheumatoid arthritis. The “hydrotherapy product” took off in the fifties with some astute marketing towards “worn-out housewives” and the use of celebrity spokesman Jack Benny.

5D Happy Greek cry : OPA!

“Opa!” is a celebratory cry very much associated with Greece and Greek restaurants, where it often accompanies the celebratory smashing of plates and glasses.

10D Fashion monogram : YSL

Yves Saint Laurent (YSL)

11D Feline that helps control pests in a store : BODEGA CAT

A bodega cat is one that lives in a bodega, or equivalent establishment, and has the “job” of keeping down the rodent population. In New York, for example, bodega cats are very common, even though they are frowned upon by the city’s health department.

12D Express disinterest on a dating app : SWIPE LEFT

Many apps on phones are now using “swipe right” and “swipe left” actions to indicate “like” and dislike”. I suppose that the Tinder dating app is the most famous “swipe right/swipe left” app in use today.

13D Mont Blanc, e.g. : ALP

Mont Blanc is the highest peak in the Alps. The name “Mont Blanc” translates from French into “white mountain”. The mountain lies on the border between France and Italy, and it has been generally accepted for decades that the summit lies within French territory. However, there have been official claims that the summit does in fact fall within the borders of Italy.

22D TV cable letters : HDMI

High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)

31D Italian city known for salami : GENOA

Genoa salami is made using preservation techniques that originated in ancient Rome.

33D “Here’s mud in your eye!” : BOTTOMS UP!

The etymology of the toast “Here’s mud in your eye!” may have originated in the damp trenches of World War I, with an obvious meaning. However, the phrase may also have its roots in horse racing, where a trailing jockey would literally get dirt kicked into their face by the leader.

35D Hopping pal of Piglet : ROO

Here are a couple of engaging lines spoken by Piglet in the “Winnie-the-Pooh” stories:

“The things that make me different are the things that make me.”
“If you weren’t you, then we’d all be a bit less, um…we.”

36D Herring, but not a red herring : FISH

The exact origin of the term “red herring”, meaning “something that misleads”, isn’t known. The most common explanation for the use of the phrase is that kippers (strong-smelling smoked herrings) were used by fugitives to distract bloodhounds who were on their trail. Kippers become red-colored during the smoking process, and are no longer “white herrings”.

40D “Stranger Things” actor Schnapp : NOAH

Actor Noah Schnapp made his film debut as a voice actor, portraying the iconic comic strip character Charlie Brown in 2015’s animated comedy “The Peanuts Movie”. He garnered a whole host of accolades playing Will Byers on the horror show “Stranger Things”.

“Stranger Things” is a sci-fi horror TV show made for Netflix that aired its first season in 2016. I don’t do horror, and so haven’t seen it …

47D Pool hall fixtures : TABLES

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.

49D Like some lesbians, slangily : MASC

Lesbos is a Greek island in the northeast of the Aegean Sea. The Greek poet Sappho came from Lesbos, and she was a woman noted for her powerful emotional poems directed towards other females. It is because of the writings of Sappho from Lesbos that we have our word “lesbian”.

52D Nail salon brand : ESSIE

Essie Cosmetics is a company that was founded by Essie Weingarten, and which is now owned by L’Oreal. Apparently, Queen Elizabeth II would only wear Essie’s Ballet Slippers color nail polish. Well, that’s what Wikipedia claims …

55D __ Sketch: drawing toy : ETCH A

Etch A Sketch was introduced in 1960. The toy was developed in France by inventor André Cassagnes, who initially named it “L’Écran Magique” (The Magic Screen).

59D General __ chicken : TSO’S

“The Search for General Tso” is a 2014 documentary about the history of Chinese food in the US. Much of the film explores the life of Zuo Zongtang, the Chinese military leader who gave his name to the very American dish known as General Tso’s chicken.

61D Spy-fi org. : CIA

Spy-fi is spy fiction that includes elements of science fiction.

62D Tax prep pro : CPA

Certified public accountant (CPA)