LA Times Crossword 21 Jan 26, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Ilana Levene & Scott Hogan

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: End over End

There are four instances of “END” sitting OVER “END” in the grid:

• 66A One way to tumble, or what can be found four times in this puzzle : END OVER END

• 14A Bike trick also called a stoppie : ENDO
• 17A Neurochemicals that act as natural painkillers : ENDORPHINS

• 26A “Peter Pan” protagonist : WENDY
• 31A Low-calorie sweetener : SPLENDA

• 49A Classifications for nouns in some languages : GENDERS
• 54A Lets use : LENDS

• 66A One way to tumble, or what can be found four times in this puzzle : END OVER END
• 70A Hawk : VEND

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

Bill’s time: 6m 49s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Old car from Sweden : SAAB

“SAAB” stands for Svenska Aeroplan AB, which translates into English as Swedish Aeroplane Limited. Although we usually think of SAAB as an auto manufacturer, it is mainly an aircraft manufacturer. If you take small hops in Europe you might find yourself on a SAAB passenger plane. The SAAB automotive division was acquired by General Motors in the year 2000, who then sold it to a Dutch concern in 2010. However, SAAB (automotive) finally went bankrupt in 2011. The assets were acquired in 2012 by NEVS (National Electric Vehicle Sweden), a new company that used the SAAB name on its vehicles for several years.

5A __ Rica : COSTA

Costa Rica is a country in Central America that is bordered by Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the South. Costa Rica is remarkable in my opinion, a leader on the world stage in many areas. It has been referred to as the “greenest” country in the world, the “happiest” country in the world, and has a highly educated populace. In 1948, the country unilaterally abolished its own army … permanently!

10A Distance runner Zátopek : EMIL

Emil Zátopek was a long-distance runner from Czechoslovakia who is best-remembered for winning three gold medals at the 1952 Summer Olympics. He had trained for the 5,000 meter and 10,000 meter events, and won both of them. He then decided to run the first marathon of his life, and won that too! I guess that explains his nickname: the Czech Locomotive.

14A Bike trick also called a stoppie : ENDO

The bike trick known as an endo is performed by applying the front brake hard enough to lift the rear wheel off the ground. The term (endo) is shorthand for “end-over-end,” describing exactly what happens if the rider miscalculates the physics and goes flying over the handlebars. I remember doing an extreme endo inadvertently when I was child, flying down a hill on my kid’s bike that only had a front brake. It didn’t end well …

17A Neurochemicals that act as natural painkillers : ENDORPHINS

Endorphins are well known “feel-good” neurochemicals produced within the body. The name “endorphin” hints at some serious potency, as it is a contraction of “endogenous morphine”, morphine produced naturally within the body.

21A Story-sharing app, briefly : INSTA

Instagram (often abbreviated to “Insta”, or “IG”) is a photo-sharing application, one that is extremely popular. Instagram started in San Francisco in 2010. Facebook purchased Instagram two years later, paying $1 billion. The billion-dollar Instagram company had just 13 employees at the time of the sale …

23A “I’m on vacay” notification : OOO

Out of office (OOO)

26A “Peter Pan” protagonist : WENDY

Author and dramatist J.M. Barrie is best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. Barrie wrote a play in 1904 called “Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up”. He turned this into a novel called “Peter and Wendy” in 1911. The girl’s name “Wendy” was very uncommon before Barrie named his character, and he is given credit for making the name as popular as it is today.

28A “Bon __!” : APPETIT

The phrase “Enjoy your meal” translates into French as “Bon appétit”, and into German as “Guten Appetit”.

31A Low-calorie sweetener : SPLENDA

“Splenda” is a brand name used for the artificial sweetener sucralose. Sucralose was discovered in 1976 when a graduate student was asked to “test” a new chlorinated sugar compound, but he misheard the instruction as “taste” and put a pinch on his tongue. Luckily for him, the result was a substance 600 times sweeter than sugar rather than a trip to the hospital.

34A Garden pest with tentacles : SLUG

Snails and slugs are referred to collectively as gastropods. There are many, many species of gastropods, found both on land and in the sea. Gastropods with shells are generally described as snails, and those species without shells are referred to as slugs.

36A __ Mujeres, Mexico : ISLA

Isla Mujeres is an island located about 8 miles off the Yucatán Peninsula coast in Mexico. The island was dedicated by the Mayan people to Ixchel, the goddess of childbirth and medicine. The Spanish arrived in the 1500s. They noted the many images of goddesses, and so named it “Isla Mujeres” meaning “Island of Women”.

37A One way to stop a cab? : CORK

Cork, as in the material used to make wine stoppers, comes from the bark of cork oak trees. The bark of a cork oak is very thick and rugged and can be harvested every 7-10 years, without harming the trees.

39A JD seekers’ hurdles : LSATS

The law degree that is abbreviated to “J.D.” stands for “Juris Doctor” or “Doctor of Jurisprudence”.

48A __ Paulo, Brazil : SAO

São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil. It is also the city with the highest number of helicopters in the world. This is partly driven by the horrendous traffic jams in São Paulo, but also by the wealthy having a very real fear of being kidnapped on the city’s streets.

52A Wild : BERSERK

Our word “berserk” meaning “deranged” comes from the “Berserkers”, Norse warriors described in Old Norse literature. Berserkers were renowned for going into battle in a fury, and some believe that they consumed drugged food to get themselves worked up for the fighting ahead.

57A Lennox of R&B : ARI

“Ari Lennox” is the stage name of R&B singer Courtney Salter. In choosing her stage name, Salter was influenced by a character named Mary Lennox in the 1993 movie version of “The Secret Garden”.

58A Weasellike critter : STOAT

The stoat has dark brown fur in the summer, and white fur in the winter. Sometimes the term “ermine” is used for the animal during the winter when the fur is white. Ermine skins have long been prized by royalty and are often used for white trim on ceremonial robes.

60A First lady of the 1950s : MAMIE

Mamie Eisenhower was surely one of the most charming of all the First Ladies of the United States. She suffered from an inner ear complaint called Ménière’s disease which caused her to lose her balance quite often. Because she was unsteady on her feet there were unfounded rumors floating around Washington that Ms. Eisenhower had a drinking problem. People can be very unkind …

64A Obsolete phone part : DIAL

The first patent for a rotary dial mechanism for a phone was granted in 1898, and the familiar rotary dial phones (with holes for the finger) were introduced by the Bell System in 1919. This form of dialing was called “pulse dialing”. When you dialed the number 5, say, the dial would rotate back to the start position, opening and closing electrical contacts five times and sending five pulses over the telephone line. I used to love rotary dial phones when I was a kid. My grandfather was a telephone engineer and he showed me how to “tap out” the pulses on the “hook” at the top of a pay phone. I was able to make free calls that way. He definitely contributed to the delinquency of a minor …

68A Scope prefix : TELE-

The first patent application for a telescope was filed in 1608 in the Netherlands, to eyeglass maker Hans Lippershey. However, research has shown that there is some evidence that telescopes were built before 1608, perhaps as early as the mid-1500s. But it is clear that reports of Lippershey’s design spread quickly around Europe. By 1609, Galileo had built his own telescope and started to explore the night sky.

70A Hawk : VEND

The verb “to hawk” has a Germanic origin, and comes from the Low German word “hoken” meaning “to peddle”. A hawker is actually slightly different from a peddler by definition, as a hawker is a peddler that uses a horse and cart, or a van nowadays perhaps, to sell their wares.

72A Brusque : TERSE

Someone described as “brusque” is “gruff, abrupt and curt in manner”. The term comes into English from French, in which language it means “lively, fierce”.

73A Marketplace with personalized gifts : ETSY

Etsy.com was founded in 2005 as a way for artists and craftspeople to sell their handmade goods online, and has since grown to include vintage items and crafting supplies as well. The company’s name is derived from the Italian word “etsi,” which means “oh, yes”? This was a nod to founder Rob Kalin’s love of Italy and his appreciation for the country’s history and artistry.

Down

2D “The Piano” Oscar winner Paquin : ANNA

Anna Paquin is an actress from New Zealand who won an Oscar as an 11-year-old for her role in “The Piano”. In the HBO series “True Blood” she plays Sookie Stackhouse, a role for which she won a Golden Globe. Paquin married her “True Blood” co-star Stephen Moyer in 2010.

“The Piano” is a 1993 film set and filmed in New Zealand starring Harvey Keitel, Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin. The movie tells the story of a mute piano player and her daughter, and her efforts to regain her piano after it is sold. Holly Hunter managed to get three screen credits in “The Piano”. She was credited for her acting role, for playing her own piano pieces in the film, and for being the sign-language coach for young Anna Paquin.

6D Taking a gap year, say : ON HIATUS

A hiatus is a break or opening in a material object, or an interruption in time. “Hiatus” is Latin for “opening”.

11D Thousand Island base : MAYONNAISE

Thousand Island dressing is named for the beautiful Thousand Islands region of the St. Lawrence River in New York State and Ontario. One popular origin story suggests that it was invented by the wife of a local fishing guide, who shared the recipe with a famous vaudeville actress, after which it found its way to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, where it became famous.

13D “Heart Don’t Lie” singer Jackson : LA TOYA

“Heart Don’t Lie” was La Toya’s highest-charting single in the US, peaking at #56 in 1984. It is a duet with Howard Hewett, and also features uncredited backing vocals from her superstar sister Janet Jackson and the reggae band Musical Youth (who were famous for “Pass the Dutchie”).

25D Playwright Arthur : MILLER

Arthur Miller was a remarkable playwright, best known for his plays “Death of a Salesman” and “The Crucible”. Famously, Arthur Miller left his first wife to marry Marilyn Monroe in 1956. The two divorced five years later, just over a year before Monroe died of an apparent drug overdose.

27D Bed fellows? : EELS

That would be a seabed, perhaps.

28D Rep. from the Bronx : AOC

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a politician who is often referred to by her initials “AOC”. A Democrat, she was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 2018, representing part of the Bronx, Queens and Rikers Island in New York City. When she took office in 2019 at the age of 29, AOC became the youngest woman ever to serve in Congress.

32D Star fish? : PISCES

The constellation Pisces (Latin for “fishes”). The accompanying symbol depicts two fish swimming in opposite directions, usually connected by a cord. This imagery reflects a Greek myth in which Aphrodite and her son Eros turned into fish to escape the monster Typhon, tying themselves together so they wouldn’t be separated in the river’s current.

38D “The Secret Life of Bees” novelist : KIDD

Sue Monk Kidd’s first novel is probably her most famous, namely “The Secret Life of Bees”, published in 2002. Said novel was adapted into a 2008 movie of the same name starring Queen Latifah and Dakota Fanning. Kidd also wrote a 2020 novel titled “The Book of Longings” that tells the story of a woman who marries Jesus Christ.

45D Loch for monster hunters : NESS

The Surgeon’s Photograph is an image that was taken in 1934, supposedly of the Loch Ness Monster. It is perhaps the most famous picture of Nessie to this day, the one with a “head” and “neck” sticking up out of the water. The picture’s renown doesn’t seem to have abated, even though in the mid-nineties the photograph was shown to be a hoax. The picture is called the Surgeon’s Photograph because it was taken by a Dr. Wilson.

47D Last word in doughnuts : KREME

The Krispy Kreme chain of doughnut stores was founded in 1937 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The company introduced the Whole Wheat Glazed doughnut in 2007, which is great news for folks looking to eat a healthy diet, I am sure …

53D “Feed a cold, __ a fever” : STARVE

The adage “feed a cold, starve a fever” dates back to ancient times. Back then, it was thought that fever was the disease, rather than a symptom. So, starving the patient would starve the disease.

56D Meteorology tool : RADAR

Famously, an early use of radar was the detection of air attacks during WWII. Early radar operators were frustrated because rain clouds created “echoes” that obscured enemy aircraft. This phenomenon, known as “clutter”, was eventually embraced by scientists who realized that if they could see the rain, they could track the storm.

65D Novelist Tolstoy : LEO

Russian author Leo Tolstoy is best known for his novels “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina”. He also wrote the much-respected novellas “Hadji Murad” and “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”.

67D Vendetta’s origin? : VEE

The word “vendetta” starts with the letter V (vee).

“Vendetta” is the Italian word for “blood feud”, and is especially associated with the island of Corsica.