LA Times Crossword 19 Mar 26, Thursday

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Constructed by: Shannon Rapp & Will Eisenberg

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Super Bowl Shuffle

Themed answers each include the name of a BOWL game, but SHUFFLED (anagrammed):

• 61A 1985 novelty hit for the Bears, with “The,” or an apt title for this puzzle? : SUPER BOWL SHUFFLE

• 18A Ina Garten franchise : BAREFOOT CONTESSA (giving “Cotton Bowl”)
• 24A Video game series based on Dungeons & Dragons : BALDUR’S GATE (giving “Sugar Bowl”)
• 38A Tomie dePaola book whose title evokes the Italian for “Grandma Witch” : STREGA NONA (giving “Orange Bowl”)
• 55A Cry after a triumphant return : WE ARE SO BACK! (giving “Rose Bowl”)

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

Bill’s time: 17m 52s!

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Mensa stats : IQS

Although it is correct these days to say that the abbreviation IQ stands for “intelligence quotient”, the term was actually coined by German psychologist William Stern, and so is actually an abbreviation for the German “Intelligenz-Quotient”.

9A T’s, in Morse code : DASHES

A single “dah” or “dash” is Morse code for the letter “T”.

16A Hawaiian letter that resembles an apostrophe : ‘OKINA

The ‘okina is a formal consonant in the Hawaiian alphabet that represents a glottal stop. It results in an effect similar to the catch in the throat between the “oh”s in the English term “oh-oh”. The ‘okina is often represented by an apostrophe, but is more correctly represented by the “modifier letter turned comma”, which resembles the curved single opening quotation mark.

18A Ina Garten franchise : BAREFOOT CONTESSA (giving “Cotton Bowl”)

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!

The Cotton Bowl college football game was played from its inception in 1937 until 2009 at the Texas State Fair Grounds. The game moved to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas in 2010.

21A Director Kurosawa : AKIRA

Akira Kurosawa was an Oscar-winning Japanese film director. His most famous movie to us in the West has to be “The Seven Samurai”, the inspiration for “The Magnificent Seven” starring Yul Brynner.

22A Species known as the Evolution Pokémon : EEVEE

“Pokémon” is the second-biggest video game franchise in the world, second only to the “Mario” franchise. “Pokémon” is a contraction of “Pocket Monsters”.

23A Sanskrit for “goddess” : DEVI

Devi is the Sanskrit word for “goddess”, originating from the root “div” meaning “to shine”. This etymology reflects the belief that the divine feminine as an inherently radiant force.

24A Video game series based on Dungeons & Dragons : BALDUR’S GATE (giving “Sugar Bowl”)

Baldur’s Gate is a series of role-playing video games, with the original version released in 1998. The 2023 release “Baldur’s Gate 3” was so well received that it became the first title ever to sweep the “Game of the Year” category at all five major industry award ceremonies.

The Sugar Bowl is one of three college football bowl games that are tied as the second-oldest bowl games in the country (along with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl), with the Rose Bowl being “The Grandaddy of Them All”. The Sugar has been played annually, on or around New Year’s Day, since January 1, 1935, and the game’s home is the city of New Orleans.

33A YMCA class : ESL

English as a Second Language (ESL)

34A Sam of “Peaky Blinders” : NEILL

Sam Neill is a very talented actor from New Zealand, although he spent the first few years of his life in Northern Ireland. I really enjoyed Neill in a 1983 television miniseries called “Reilly, Ace of Spies”, about a British spy operation during WWI. He is perhaps better-known for his roles in the movies “Omen III”, “Dead Calm”, “Jurassic Park” and “The Hunt for Red October”.

“Peaky Blinders” is a BBC crime drama that can be viewed on Netflix. The show follows the story of a gangster family in the English midlands city of Birmingham from just after the end of WWI. The show has a pretty good cast, led by Irishman Cillian Murphy as the gang’s leader, and New Zealander Sam Neill as police detective and the gangster’s nemesis.

38A Tomie dePaola book whose title evokes the Italian for “Grandma Witch” : STREGA NONA (giving “Orange Bowl”)

“Strega Nona” is an illustrated children’s book by Tomie dePaola that was first published in 1975. The title character is a kind of witch doctor who lives in southern Italy. “Strega Nona” translates from broken Italian as “Grandma Witch”.

The Orange Bowl is an annual college football game played in Miami Gardens, Florida. The Rose Bowl is the oldest of the bowl games (inaugurated in 1902), but the Sun Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl come in second. The first Orange Bowl was played on New Year’s Day 1935.

49A Cut without permission? : FAN EDIT

A fan edit is a version of a film or television show that has been re-edited by a viewer, creating a reinterpretation of the source material. The practice gained notoriety in 2000 with “The Phantom Edit”, a rework of “Star Wars: Episode I – the Phantom Menace” that famously slashed the screen time of the character Jar Jar Binks, to create a more serious tone.

53A Composer parodied in “Rabbit of Seville” : ROSSINI

Gioachino Rossini was a prolific and very successful composer from Pesaro, Italy. During his lifetime, Rossini was lauded as the most successful composer of operas in history. His best-known opera today is probably “The Barber of Seville”. His best-known piece of music is probably the finale of the overture from his opera “William Tell”.

Elmer Fudd is one of the most famous Looney Tunes cartoon characters, and is the hapless nemesis of Bugs Bunny. If you have never seen it, check out Elmer and Bugs in the marvelous “Rabbit of Seville”, a short cartoon that parodies Rossini’s “Barber of Seville”. Wonderful stuff …

55A Cry after a triumphant return : WE ARE SO BACK! (giving “Rose Bowl”)

The Rose Bowl is the stadium in Pasadena, California that is home to the UCLA football team. It is also host to the Rose Bowl football game held annually on New Year’s Day.

58A Burnt __ : ENDS

Burnt ends are crunchy cubes cut from the fatty “point” half of a smoked brisket.

59A Comedy legend Burnett : CAROL

Comedian and actress Carol Burnett is perhaps best known for “The Carol Burnett Show” which ran on television for over ten years from 1967 to 1978. My favorite of Burnett’s performances is in the 1981 film “The Four Seasons”. The Golden Globe’s Carol Burnett Award for career achievement in television was inaugurated in 2019, with Burnett being the first recipient.

60A Toyota hybrid : PRIUS

The Toyota Prius is still one of the most fuel-efficient, gasoline-powered cars sold in the US, according to the EPA. The name “Prius” is a Latin word meaning “ahead, leading”. In the US we pronounce the name “pree-us”, but across the Atlantic it’s pronounced “pry-us”. According to Toyota, the plural of “Prius” is “Prii”. My 2012 Prius is still going, going, going …

61A 1985 novelty hit for the Bears, with “The,” or an apt title for this puzzle? : SUPER BOWL SHUFFLE

The “Super Bowl Shuffle” is a 1985 hip-hop song by the Chicago Bears football team, just a few weeks ahead of their win in Super Bowl XX. The track was well received, and earned a Grammy nomination, making the Bears the only professional sports team to be so honored.

67A Main dish : ENTREE

“Entrée” means “entry” in French. An entrée can be something that helps one get “a way in”, an interview for example perhaps helped along by a recommendation letter. In Europe, even in English-speaking countries, the entrée is the name for the “entry” to the meal, the first course. I found the ordering of meals to be very confusing when I first came to America!

68A App for foodies : EATER

“Eater” is a food website founded in 2005. Back then, “Eater” focused on New York City, and the city’s dining and nightlife. The site expanded its coverage to more cities in the US, and then Canada and England.

69A Game review site : IGN

IGN is a gaming and entertainment media website that was founded in 1996 as “Imagine Games Network”. In 2011, IGN was recognized by Guinness World Records as “the most popular video games website”.

70A Untrustworthy sort : WEASEL

To weasel out of something is to back away from a prior commitment. The association of weasels with the concept of not being trusted might have arisen from the behavior in which a weasel sucks out the contents of an egg while leaving the shell virtually intact.

Down

2D Society of Friends : QUAKERS

Members of the Religious Society of Friends are known as Friends or Quakers. The Christian sect started in England in the 1640s, led by George Fox. The principal tenet at that point was that Christians could have direct experience of Jesus Christ without the mediation of clergy, a reflection of the increasing dissatisfaction with the established church at that time. The term “Quaker” is thought to have been used earlier in reference to foreign religious sects whose followers were given to fits of shaking during religious fervor. Somehow that term became used for members of the Religious Society of Friends.

5D Match stopper, briefly : TKO

Technical knockout (TKO)

6D Former Portuguese Royal Court city : RIO

In 1808, Queen Maria I of Portugal transferred with her whole court (over 10,000 people) from Lisbon to the Portuguese colony of Brazil. The move was deemed necessary because of the threat of an invasion of Portugal by Napoleonic forces, which did in fact take place just days after the escape. The Queen, and Prince Regent John, set up their capital in Rio de Janeiro, making it the only European capital in history to be located outside of Europe. Prince Regent John became King John VI after his mother’s death in 1816, and returned to Portugal after the Liberal Revolution of 1820.

9D Mexican cheddar? : DINERO

Lettuce, cabbage, kale, dough, bread, scratch, cheddar, simoleons, clams and moola(h) are all slang terms for money.

13D Outskirts of New Haven? : ENS

The outer letters of “New Haven” are letters N (ens).

The city of New Haven, Connecticut was founded in 1638 by Puritan immigrants from England. Famously, it is home to Yale University. The city also initiated the first public tree planting program in the country. The large elms included in the program led to New Haven being called “the Elm City”.

19D Canal that runs 351 miles : ERIE

The Erie Canal runs from Albany to Buffalo in the state of New York. What the canal does is allow shipping to proceed from New York Harbor right up the Hudson River, through the canal and into the Great Lakes. When it was opened in 1825, the Erie Canal had an immediate impact on the economy of New York City and locations along its route. It was the first means of “cheap” transportation from a port on the Atlantic seaboard into the interior of the United States. Arguably it was the most important factor contributing to the growth of New York City over competing ports such as Baltimore and Philadelphia. It was largely because of the Erie Canal that New York became such an economic powerhouse, earning it the nickname of “the Empire State”. Paradoxically, one of the project’s main proponents was severely criticized. New York Governor DeWitt Clinton received so much ridicule that the canal was nicknamed “Clinton’s Folly” and “Clinton’s Ditch”.

25D “Acoustic Soul” singer India : ARIE

“Acoustic Soul” is the 2001 debut studio album by singer-songwriter India Arie.

26D “Jane the Virgin” star Rodriguez : GINA

Actress Gina Rodriguez is perhaps best known for playing the title role in the comedy-drama TV show “Jane the Virgin”. She also voices the title character in the animated series “Carmen Sandiego”.

“Jane the Virgin” is a satirical dramedy that pokes fun at the telenovela genre. The title character is a young Latina virgin who becomes pregnant after her gynecologist artificially inseminates her in error. Quite the storyline …

27D “__ Maria” : AVE

“Ave Maria” (“Hail Mary” in English) is the prayer at the core of the Roman Catholic Rosary, which itself is a set of prayers asking for the assistance of the Virgin Mary. Much of the text of the “”Hail Mary”” comes from the Gospel of Luke. The words in Latin are:

AVE MARIA, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

The prayer has been adapted as a hymn. The two most famous musical versions of “Ave Maria” are by Charles Gounod (based on a piece by Bach) and by Franz Schubert.”

35D Some kitchen appliances : LGS

LG is a very large South Korean manufacturer of electronics, chemicals and telecom products. The company used to be known as Lucky-Goldstar, whence the initialism “LG”.

36D Long. counterpart : LAT

Lines of latitude are imaginary horizontal lines surrounding the planet. The most “important” lines of latitude are, from north to south:

• Arctic Circle
• Tropic of Cancer
• Equator
• Tropic of Capricorn
• Antarctic Circle

38D Oracle : SEER

In ancient Greece and Rome, an oracle was someone believed to be inspired by the gods to give wise counsel. The word “oracle” derives from the Latin “orare” meaning “to speak”, which is the same root for our word “orator”. One of the most important oracles of ancient Greece was Pythia, the high priestess to Apollo at Delphi.

39D Rat (on) : NARC

Back in the 1800s, “to nark” was “to act as a police informer”. The spelling of the term has started to evolve into “to narc”, due to the influence of the noun “narc”, slang for a narcotics officer. The ”nark” spelling is still used on the other side of the Atlantic.

41D Old console letters : NES

The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was sold in North America from 1985 to 1995. It was the biggest selling gaming console of the era.

42D Texas airport letters : DFW

Dallas/Fort Worth Airport (DFW) is the largest hub for American Airlines, and is often ranked among the busiest airports in the world in terms of aircraft landings and takeoffs. At 27 square miles in area, DFW is the second-largest airport in the US, second only to Denver. That makes Dallas/Fort Worth larger than the island of Manhattan!

43D Abu Dhabi’s fed. : UAE

Abu Dhabi is one of the seven Emirates that make up the federation known as the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The two largest members of the UAE (geographically) are Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the only two of the seven members that have veto power over UAE policy. Before 1971, the UAE was a British Protectorate, a collection of sheikdoms. The sheikdoms entered into a maritime truce with Britain in 1835, after which they became known as the Trucial States, derived from the word “truce”.

44D Tiny twisted molecule : DNA

Francis Crick and James Watson discovered that DNA had a double-helix, chain-like structure, and published their results while working at Cambridge University in 1953. To this day the discovery is mired in controversy, as some crucial results collected by fellow researcher Rosalind Franklin were used without her permission or even knowledge. In 1962, along with molecular biologist Maurice Wilkins, Watson and Crick were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

46D Lego character, informally : MINIFIG

Lego minifigures were first introduced in 1978, debuting as a police officer, a knight, and an astronaut. Today, with over four billion produced, they are technically the largest population group on the planet!

51D “Violeta” novelist Allende : ISABEL

“Violeta” is a 2022 novel by Isabel Allende that takes the form of a letter written by the title character to her grandson. The letter is an autobiographical piece, starting with Violeta’s birth in 1920, during the Spanish flu epidemic. Interestingly, the narrative ends during the COVID-19 pandemic.

52D Fatty tuna : TORO

In a sushi restaurant, the dish called “toro” is the fatty tissue from the belly of the bluefin tuna.

54D Vassal : SERF

A serf was a member of the lowest feudal class, someone attached to land owned by a lord. Even though “serf” comes from the Latin “servus”, meaning “slave”, serfs could not be bought or sold. However, they were not free to leave the land they worked without the lord’s permission

Feudalism was a legal and military system that flourished in medieval Europe. Central to the system were the concepts of lords, vassals and fiefs. Lords would grant fiefs (land or rights) to vassals in exchange for allegiance and service.

56D Shady garden spot : BOWER

Our word “bower” comes from the Old English “bur” meaning a hut or dwelling. We’ve been using “bower” to mean a “leafy arbor”, a “dwelling” defined by surrounding trees, since way back in the 1500s.

57D God of Islam : ALLAH

The name “Allah” comes from the Arabic “al-” and “ilah”, meaning “the” and “deity”. So, “Allah” can be translated as “God”.

61D Use a Singer : SEW

Isaac Singer was not only an inventor, but also an actor. For much of his life, profits made from his inventions supported him while he pursued his acting career. Singer didn’t actually invent the sewing machine, and never claimed to have done so. What he did do, though, was to invent a version of the machine that was practical and easily used in the home.

63D Book fair gp. : PTA

Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)