LA Times Crossword 18 Jan 26, Sunday

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Constructed by: Samuel A. Donaldson

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: The Road to Self-Discovery

The STARTING word in themed answers shrinks by one letter at a time as we descend the grid, until we discover “I”:

• 23A Part of an executive job offer : STARTING SALARY
• 30A Game lost in the blink of an eye : STARING CONTEST
• 45A Chamber group : STRING QUARTET
• 63A Undercover setups : STING OPERATIONS
• 76A Tell all to the police : SING LIKE A CANARY
• 94A Break divine law : SIN AGAINST GOD
• 107A Having celebrity status : IN THE PUBLIC EYE
• 120A Backstreet Boys hit : I WANT IT THAT WAY

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

Bill’s time: 18m 40s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

8A Mercedes line : E-CLASS

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class is a range of executive-size cars. Originally, the “E” stood for “Einspritzmotor”, the German for “fuel injection engine”.

20A San Diego neighbor : TIJUANA

Tijuana is the largest city in the Mexican state of Baja California, and lies just across the US-Mexico border from San Diego. Tijuana is also the most westerly of all Mexican cities. A lot of Tijuana’s growth took place in the twenties as tourists flocked south of the border during the days of prohibition in the US. One of the many casinos and hotels that flourished at that time was Hotel Caesar’s in the Avenida Revolución area. Hotel Caesar’s claims to be the birthplace of the now ubiquitous Caesar Salad.

21A Twain of note : SHANIA

Shania Twain is a country and pop singer from Windsor, Ontario. Shania’s birth name is “Eilleen Edwards”, and this changed to “Eilleen Twain” when her mother remarried. Twain changed her name to Shania in the early 1990s, around the same time that her musical career started to take off.

25A One of the seven kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England : WESSEX

Alfred the Great was the King of Wessex in the latter part of the ninth century, and the dominant ruler in the whole of England. Wessex was the familiar name of the Kingdom of the West Saxons in the southwest of Britain.

28A Louvre Pyramid architect : PEI

When I. M. Pei became the first foreign architect to work on the Louvre in Paris, he not only designed the famous glass and steel pyramid, but also worked on renovations throughout the museum. His design was very controversial, causing a lot of ill feelings among the public. Eventually, when the work was complete, public opinion became more favorable. Personally, I think it is magnificent, both inside and out.

29A Campus org. for wannabe ensigns : NROTC

Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC)

36A Thai money : BAHT

The baht is the currency of Thailand. One baht is subdivided into 100 satang.

39A Negroni need : GIN

The negroni is a lovely cocktail, one that hails from Italy. A classic recipe calls for equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and Campari. According to legend, the drink was first made by bartender Fosco Scarselli at the request of Count Camillo Negroni, hence the name. The count wanted a stronger version of an Americano, and so Scarselli dropped the Americano’s soda water and replaced it with gin!

44A Resource in Minecraft and Catan : ORE

Minecraft is a video game that was released in 2011. Apparently, it is the most popular video game of all time, with well over 200 million units sold.

The Settlers of Catan (now just “Catan”) is a board game that was introduced in 1995, in Germany as “Die Siedler von Catan”. The game is very popular in the US and was called “the board game of our time” by the “Washington Post”. My son plays it a lot, and as a lover of board games, I am going to have to check it out …

45A Chamber group : STRING QUARTET

A standard string quartet is made up of two violins, a viola and a cello. A string quintet consists of a standard string quartet with the addition of a fifth instrument, usually a second viola or cello.

51A Phillipa of “Hamilton” : SOO

Phillipa Soo is an actress and singer who is perhaps best known for portraying Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, the title character’s wife in the original Broadway production of “Hamilton”.

52A LAX checkers : TSA

Los Angeles International Airport is the sixth busiest airport in the world in terms of passenger traffic, and the busiest here on the West Coast of the US. The airport was opened in 1930 as Mines Field and was renamed to Los Angeles Airport in 1941. On the airport property is the iconic white structure that resembles a flying saucer. This is called the Theme Building and I believe it is mainly used as a restaurant and observation deck for the public. The airport used to be identified by the letters “LA”, but when the aviation industry went to a three-letter standard for airport identification, this was changed to “LAX”. Apparently, the “X” has no significant meaning.

53A Plié joint : KNEE

The French word for “bent” is “plié”. In the ballet move known as a plié, the knees are bent. A “demi-plié” is a similar move, but with less bending of the knees. A fondu is similar to a plié, except that only one leg remains on the ground.

54A Lummoxes : OAFS

The word “lummox” comes from Britain, from East Anglian slang, and describes an ungainly and often clueless person. The term is probably a contraction of “lumbering ox”.

67A Wolfgang Puck’s flagship eatery : SPAGO

Wolfgang Puck is a celebrity chef from Austria. Puck is the man behind the famous pair of restaurants in Southern California called “Spago”. The name “Spago” is the Italian word for “string, twine”. It was chosen because it is also a slang term for “spaghetti”.

68A Teapot Dome commodity : OIL

Albert B. Fall was Secretary of the Interior in the administration of President Warren G. Harding. Fall was convicted of accepting bribes from oil companies and leasing US Navy petroleum reserves at below the going rate. Those reserves were held at Teapot Dome, Wyoming and so the affair was labeled “the Teapot Dome scandal”. It was widely viewed as the most sensational scandal in American politics, until eclipsed by the Watergate scandal of the Nixon administration.

74A Ghanaian with a Nobel Peace Prize : ANNAN

Kofi Annan was a diplomat from Ghana who served as secretary-general of the UN for ten years until the beginning of 2007. Annan was born into an aristocratic family, and had a twin sister named Efua Atta. Efua and Kofi shared the middle name “Atta”, which means “twin” in the Akan language of Ghana. Annan attended the MIT Sloan School of Management from 1971-72, and graduated with a Master of Science degree. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, winning jointly with the United Nations organization itself.

83A Audio giant : BOSE

Bose Corporation specializes in audio equipment, including headphones, speakers, and sound systems. The company was founded in 1964 by Dr. Amar G. Bose, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Bose Corp. started as a research project in psychoacoustics, the study of how humans perceive sound.

85A Classic Monopoly token : IRON

The iron token was one of the original eight Monopoly game pieces introduced by Parker Brothers in 1937. It was retired in 2013 after a public vote, and was replaced with the cat.

86A To be, in Toledo : SER

Toledo is a city in central Spain that is located just over 40 miles south of the capital Madrid. Toledo is sometimes called the “City of Three Cultures”, due to the historical co-existence of Christian, Muslim and Jewish traditions.

88A AC meas. : BTU

British Thermal Unit (BTU)

100A Tennis center? : ENS

The center of the word “tennis” is two letters N (ens).

102A Soft cloth : CHAMOIS

The chamois is a goat-antelope species native to some European mountain ranges. The skin of the chamois is used to make real chamois leather, something often imitated. Chamois leather is very soft, and is frequently used for making gloves and for polishing prized metallic objects.

103A Bruins great Bobby : ORR

Bobby Orr is a Boston Bruins legend universally considered one of the greatest hockey players of all time. Famously, he is the only defenseman in NHL history to win the league scoring title.

112A Co. that makes Secret and Scope : P AND G

Secret is an antiperspirant/deodorant made by Procter & Gamble, first introduced in 1956 as a cream that was applied with the fingers (ick!). There followed a roll-on version in 1958, a spray in 1964 and the solid stick in 1978.

Scope is a brand of mouthwash made by Procter & Gamble. It has been marketed as the “better-tasting alternative” to Listerine.

114A Former NPR host Shapiro : ARI

Ari Shapiro served very ably as White House correspondent for National Public Radio (NPR) for several years. He then became a co-host of the network’s drive-time program “All Things Considered” in 2015. When he’s not working, Shapiro likes to sing. He appears regularly as a guest singer with the group Pink Martini, and has appeared on several of the band’s albums. He also turned up as host of the seventh season of the reality game show “The Mole”.

115A Hebrides isle : IONA

Although the small island of Iona lies just off the west coast of Scotland, in the Inner Hebrides, it was the site of a monastery built in the Middle Ages by a monk from Ireland named Colm Cille (also known as Columba). Colm Cille and his followers were sent into exile from the Irish mainland and settled in Iona, as at that time the island was part of an Irish kingdom. This monastery in Iona expanded its influence over the decades and founded other institutions all over Ireland and Great Britain. It is believed that the famous Book of Kells may have been written, or at least started, at the monastery on Iona. Iona is also the burial site for Macbeth, King of Scotland who was immortalized in Shakespeare’s fictional account of the king’s life.

116A Grandson of Adam : ENOS

Enos was the son of Seth, and therefore the grandson of Adam and Eve, and nephew of Cain and Abel. According to the ancient Jewish work called the Book of Jubilees, Enos married his own sister Noam.

119A “Daddy, Papa, and Me” writer Newman : LESLEA

“Daddy, Papa, and Me” is a 2009 children’s book by Lesléa Newman about a toddler spending a fun day with their two fathers. It is significant for being one of the first books ever published specifically for children in two-dad families. Newman is a pioneer in the genre, and also wrote the companion book “Mommy, Mama, and Me” and the groundbreaking 1989 children’s book “Heather Has Two Mommies”, which was the first to portray lesbian families in a positive light.

120A Backstreet Boys hit : I WANT IT THAT WAY

“I Want It That Way” is a signature song for the boy band Backstreet Boys. It was released in 1999, as the lead single from their album “Millennium”.

124A Guru’s residence : ASHRAM

“Ashram” is a term used in the Hindu tradition to describe a place of spiritual retreat, one that is typically located in a remote location conducive to spiritual instruction and meditation.

Down

2D Actress Hayworth : RITA

Rita Hayworth was born in Brooklyn as Margarita Carmen Cansino. Her father was a flamenco dancer from Spain and so his daughter fell naturally into dancing. The family moved to Hollywood where Hayworth’s father set up a dance studio, and there worked with the likes of James Cagney and Jean Harlow. The young Hayworth had a slow start in movies, finding herself typecast because of her Mediterranean features. When she underwent extensive electrolysis to change her forehead and dyed her hair red, she started to get more work (how sad is that?). In 1941 she posed for that famous pin-up picture which accompanied GIs all over the world.

6D Sea urchin, at a sushi bar : UNI

Sea urchins are globular, spiny creatures found just about everywhere in the ocean. The “roe” of a sea urchin is eaten as a delicacy in several cuisines around the world. In a sushi restaurant, the sea urchin roe is called “uni”. The term “roe” normally means “fish eggs”, but in the case of the sea urchin it refers to the gonads of both the male and female.

8D German steel city : ESSEN

Essen is a large industrial city located on the River Ruhr in western Germany. The city experienced major population growth in the mid-1800s that was driven by the iron works established by the Krupp family.

9D OpenAI bot since 2022 : CHATGPT

ChatGPT is an advanced AI language model developed by OpenAI. It uses a vast amount of text data to understand and generate human-like text responses to a wide range of prompts and questions. You can ask it to write stories, explain complex topics, translate languages, or even help you with coding.

10D Luka Doncic’s team, on scoreboards : LAL

The Los Angeles Lakers (LAL) basketball team started out in 1947 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The team chose the Lakers name in honor of the nickname of Minnesota, “Land of 10,000 Lakes”. The Lakers moved to Los Angeles in 1960.

NBA player Luka Doncic has basketball in his blood. His father, Sasa Donci, is a former player and professional coach in Luca’s native Slovenia. Prior to joining the NBA, made his professional debut at just 16 years old with Real Madrid’s basketball club in Spain. He made his professional debut for the team at just 16 years old, becoming the youngest player in the club’s history to do so. Just before Luca left for the NBA in 2018, he helped lead Real Madrid to a victory in the EuroLeague finals.

11D Brazilian city that sounds like Maryland’s capital : ANAPOLIS

Anápolis is a major industrial city in the Brazilian state of Goiás. Its name, meaning “City of Ana”, comes from a local legend about a mule carrying a statue of Saint Anne that refused to move from a specific spot, which was interpreted as a divine sign to build a chapel there.

12D Homer’s rock singer : SIREN

In Greek mythology, the Sirens were seductive bird-women who lured men to their deaths with their song. When Odysseus sailed close to the island home of the Sirens he wanted to hear their voices, but in safety. He had his men plug their ears with beeswax and then ordered them to tie him to the mast and not to free him until they were safe. On hearing their song Odysseus begged to be let loose, but the sailors just tightened his bonds and the whole crew sailed away unharmed. We sometimes use the term “siren” today to describe a seductively charming woman, and “siren song” to describe an utterance that is particularly appealing.

14D Where snowbirds flock in winter : DOWN SOUTH

Snowbirds are people from Canada and the northern US who head south for the winter, to places like Florida and California.

15D Xenon, e.g. : INERT GAS

The element xenon was the first of the noble gases to be made into a compound, which was somewhat remarkable in that the noble gases were thought by many to be completely inert, unreactive.

16D Brand 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.

32D Item on a Dollar menu? : CAR

Dollar Rent A Car was founded in 1965 as “Dollar A Day Rent A Car”, a name that reflected its actual rental rate of $1.00 per day plus mileage. The company achieved this price point by utilizing a fleet consisting entirely of Volkswagen Beetles without air conditioning.

33D ABA member’s title : ESQ

The title “esquire” is of British origin and is used differently today depending on whether one is in the US or the UK. Here in America the term is usually reserved for those practicing the law (both male and female). In the UK, “esquire” is a term of gentle respect reserved for a male who has no other title that one can use. So, a mere commoner like me might receive a letter from the bank, say, addressed to W. E. Butler Esq.

The American Bar Association (ABA) was founded back in 1878 and is a voluntary association for lawyers and law students. The ABA focuses on setting academic standards for law schools and setting ethical codes for the profession.

35D Early PC monitor : CRT

Cathode ray tube (CRT) … there aren’t many of them available in stores these days!

44D The Beaver State : OREGON

Oregon’s most widely-known nickname is the Beaver State. However, it is also called the Union State, the Pacific Wonderland, the Sunset State and the Webfoot State.

46D Hideo who threw no-hitters in 1996 and 2001 : NOMO

Hideo Nomo is a former professional baseball pitcher from Osaka, Japan. After achieving success in Japan, Nomo became the first Japanese-born player to appear in Major League Baseball in the US. Nomo threw two no-hitters while playing here in the Majors. He is the only Japanese-born player to have thrown even one no-hitter.

47D Ball purchase : GOWN

A “ball” is a formal dance. The term derives from the Latin “ballare” meaning “to dance”, a word that also gives us “ballet”.

49D Bucolic lodging : INN

The word “bucolic”, meaning “rustic, rural”, comes to us from the Greek word “boukolos” meaning “cowherd”.

55D Canine’s canine : FANG

The canine teeth of a mammal are also called the eyeteeth or cuspids. The name “canine” is used because these particular teeth are very prominent in dogs. The prefix “eye-” is used because in humans the eyeteeth are located in the upper jaw, directly below the eyes.

58D Home of Jordan and Georgia : ASIA

The nation that we know as Jordan takes its name from the River Jordan that forms part of the country’s border with Israel and Palestine to the west. Jordan achieved independence in 1946 after the UN approved the end of the British Transjordan Mandate. The Kingdom of Transjordan changed its name to Jordan in 1948.

The former Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) of Georgia is now an independent country. Supposedly, the Georgian people were given their name because they especially revered St. George. The flag of Georgia does indeed feature five St. George’s crosses.

60D Irrational fear of persecution : PARANOIA

Paranoia is defined as the delusional belief that one is being harassed, betrayed, or persecuted. There is actually a term for the exact opposite condition: pronoia. Coined in 1982, “pronoia” describes the sneaking suspicion that the universe is secretly conspiring to help you. Interesting …

61D Vegan gelatin substitute : AGAR

Gelatin is a foodstuff that is used as a gelling agent in cooking, and for the shells of pharmaceutical capsules. Over 800 million pounds of gelatin are produced every year worldwide. It is produced from by-products of the meat and leather industries. Gelatin is basically modified collagen derived from pork skins and the bones of cattle, pigs and horses. So, vegans usually avoid things like gummy bears and marshmallows.

62D Best Play, for one : TONY

The Tony Awards are more completely referred to as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Broadway Theatre. The awards are named for Mary Antoinette “Tony” Perry, who was a co-founder of the American Theatre Wing.

63D Daytime drama : SOAP

The original soap operas were radio dramas back in the fifties. Given the structure of society back then, the daytime broadcasts were aimed at women working in the home as housewives. For some reason the sponsors of those radio shows, and the television shows that followed, were soap manufacturers like Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Lever Brothers. And that’s how the “soap” opera got its name …

64D Bassist Weymouth of Talking Heads : TINA

Tina Weymouth is one of the founding members of Talking Heads, a New Wave band from New York City, formed in 1974 and active until 1991. Weymouth married Talking Heads co-founder Chris Franz in 1977.

65D Dinero unit : PESO

“Dinero” is a Spanish word meaning “money”, as well as a slang term for money here in the US.

66D Footnote space saver : IBID

Ibid. is short for the Latin word “ibidem” and is typically found in footnotes and bibliographies. Ibid. is used to refer the reader to the prior citation, instead of giving the same information all over again (title, author etc.).

72D Bill Nye’s field : SCIENCE

That would be “Bill Nye the Science Guy”. In addition to his career as a science educator, Nye is also a comedian. He performed stand-up comedy during his early years as an engineer.

75D State bordering Bhutan : ASSAM

Assam, located in northeastern India, is the largest tea-producing state in the country. It is also famous for its silk production, particularly the golden muga silk.

Bhutan is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is located high up in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and India to the south, east and west. It has been a constitutional monarchy since 2008, and has been ranked by “Businessweek” as the “happiest” country in Asia.

77D Publication ID : ISBN

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) was invented by one Gordon Foster who was a professor at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. The code was originally developed for booksellers, so that they had a unique number (and now a barcode) for each publication. ISBNs are ten digits long if assigned before 2007. Since the start of 2007, ISBNs have been thirteen digits long.

79D Healthy Grains snackmaker : KIND

KIND is a snack food business based in New York City that was founded in 2004 (and sold to Mars in 2020). The company runs the Kind Movement, a so-called “cause-marketing” campaign that was introduced in 2008. The stated purpose of the philanthropic initiative is to “make the world a little kinder by inspiring kind acts”. Someone who performs a kind act might be given a #kindawesome card, which can be redeemed for a free KIND bar, and which can also be passed on to someone else. Interesting …

83D Activity that may improve problem-solving skills : BRAIN GAME

A 2019 study by the University of Exeter found that frequent crossword solvers performed as well as someone 10 years younger on tests of grammatical reasoning and short-term memory accuracy. Apparently, the consensus is that crossword solving helps build “cognitive reserve”, essentially making the brain more resilient to the effects of aging. Let’s hope that’s true …

87D Best version of oneself, in psych-speak : EGO IDEAL

In the world of Freudian psychoanalysis, the ego ideal is essentially the positive counterpart to the superego. The superego acts as a conscience telling you what not to do, and the ego ideal is aspirational, telling you what you should become.

89D Visionaries : UTOPIANS

The word “Utopia” was coined by Sir Thomas More in his book “Utopia” published in 1516 to describe an idyllic fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. More’s use of the name Utopia comes from the Greek “ou” meaning “not” and “topos” meaning “place”. By calling his perfect island “Not Place”, More was apparently making the point that he didn’t think that the ideal could actually exist.

91D Early proponent of a flat Earth? : MERCATOR

A Mercator projection is a type of map, one named for Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator. The map distorts reality in that lines of longitude are parallel to each, rather than meeting at the north and south poles. The resulting effect is that land masses are distorted in size, with more and more distortion taking place moving away from the equator and towards the poles.

92D Dua Lipa genre : POP

Dua Lipa is a singer-songwriter and fashion model from England. She was born in London to Albanian parents, and considers her native language to be Albanian. She also speaks English with a British accent.

93D Questionable, in slang : SUS

The slang term “sus” is a shortened form of “suspicious” or “suspect”.

94D NYU or MIT : SCH

The main campus of the private New York University (NYU) is located right in Manhattan, in Washington Square in the heart of Greenwich Village. NYU has over 12,000 resident students, the largest number of residents in a private school in the whole country. NYU’s sports teams are known as the Violets, a reference to the violet and white colors that are worn in competition. Since the 1980s, the school’s mascot has been a bobcat. “Bobcat” had been the familiar name given to NYU’s Bobst Library computerized catalog.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was founded in 1861 and first offered classes in 1865, in the Mercantile building in Boston. Today’s magnificent campus on the banks of the Charles River in Cambridge opened in 1916.

96D Lyonne of “Poker Face” : NATASHA

Actress Natasha Lyonne garnered considerable attention for her performances as convict Nicole Nichols in the show “Orange Is the New Black”. More recently, she led the cast in the show “Russian Doll”, playing Nadia Vulvokov.

“Poker Face” is a murder-mystery TV show created by Rian Johnson that premiered in 2023. Star of the show is actress Natasha Lyonne, who plays a casino worker with an uncanny ability to determine when someone is lying. I quite enjoyed this one …

98D “Despicable Me” antihero : GRU

“Despicable Me” is a 2010 animated comedy film. The main voice actor in the movie is the very funny Steve Carell. “Despicable Me” is a Universal Pictures production, although all of the animation was done in France. The 2010 film was followed by a sequel “Despicable Me 2” released in 2013, with a prequel/spin-off film called “Minions” released in 2015.

108D Part of Hispaniola : HAITI

The island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean, shared between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, is known in Spanish as “La Española”.

109D Physicist Schrödinger : ERWIN

Erwin Schrödinger was an Austrian theoretical physicist, one of the so-called “fathers of Quantum Mechanics”. He won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1933 for developing the Schrödinger Equation, the “Newton’s Law” of Quantum Mechanics. Famously, Schrödinger devised a thought experiment that illustrates the concept of a paradox. The scenario, known as “Schrödinger’s Cat”, presents us with a cat that can be both alive and dead at the same time. I used to think that I understood Schrödinger’s Cat, and then I became old and wise, and recognized my weaknesses …

110D French wine region : LOIRE

The Loire is the longest river in France. It is so long that it drains one-fifth of the nation’s land mass. The Loire rises in the southeast, in the Cevennes mountain range, then heads north then due west, emptying into the Bay of Biscay at the city of Nantes. The Loire Valley is home to some of France’s most famous wine production, and includes the wine regions of Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé and Muscadet. It is also home to some of the nation’s most spectacular châteaux. There are over 300 castles along the river, built by French kings and their courtiers.

111D “Sailing to Byzantium” poet : YEATS

Irish poet and dramatist William Butler Yeats won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923 for “inspired poetry” that gave “expression to a whole nation”. Yeats was Ireland’s first Nobel laureate.

“Sailing to Byzantium” is a 1928 poem by Irish poet William Butler Yeats, and one that almost every Irish teenager has to study in school.

113D Employee rts. agency : NLRB

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was set up in 1935. The NLRB is an independent government agency with the roles of conducting elections for labor unions as well as investigating and rooting out any labor practices that are deemed to be unfair.

121D Red pill consumer of film : NEO

Neo is the character played by Keanu Reeves in “The Matrix” series of films. One of Neo’s actions is to choose a red pill over a blue pill. The blue pill would have allowed him to remain in the Matrix, a fabricated reality. The red pill led to his escape into the real world, and a much more difficult life.