LA Times Crossword 25 Mar 26, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Mat Holmes

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Sidekicks

Themed answers each include a brand of KICKS (sneakers) hidden at one SIDE:

• 59A Trusted companions, or what the sets of circled letters in this puzzle literally are : SIDE KICKS

• 16A Mark Twain lad who falls in love with Becky Thatcher : TOM SAWYER (side “TOMS”)
• 22A Exclamation in “Tommy Boy” : HOLY SCHNIKES! (side “NIKES”)
• 32A Some family vehicles : MINIVANS (side “VANS”)
• 40A Wonder Woman publisher : DC COMICS (side “DC”)
• 47A Talk to : CONVERSE WITH (side “CONVERSE“)

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

Bill’s time: 7m 05s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Opera star Nellie with a peach dessert named for her : MELBA

Peach Melba is a dessert comprising peaches and raspberry sauce with vanilla ice cream. The dish was the creation of chef Auguste Escoffier, who introduced it at the Savoy Hotel in London in the 1890s in honor of Australian soprano Dame Nellie Melba. Escoffier later developed Melba toast, also in honor of the singer.

13A Celestial hunter : ORION

According to Greek mythology, Orion was a giant hunter who was placed in the night sky by Zeus, the king of the gods. Orion is very recognizable as a constellation, especially with the three bright stars known as “Orion’s Belt”. The brightest star in the sky, Sirius, is said to be Orion’s hunting dog, and this star sits at Orion’s “foot”.

14A Squeeze bunt result : RBI

To bunt in baseball is to barely hit the ball, just enough to have it roll slowly in front of the infielders.

16A Mark Twain lad who falls in love with Becky Thatcher : TOM SAWYER (side “TOMS”)

In “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer“, young Tom is infatuated with Becky Thatcher. The character Becky was modeled after Mark Twain’s real-life childhood neighbor, Laura Hawkins, who lived in the house directly across from the author’s home in Hannibal, Missouri. Today, the preserved Hawkins home is known officially as the “Becky Thatcher House”.

Toms Shoes was founded in 2006 by Blake Mycoskie, a competitor in the second season of the reality TV show. The company name is a contraction of the brand’s original slogan: “Shoes for a Better Tomorrow”.

18A English derby town : EPSOM

The Surrey town of Epsom in England is most famous for its racecourse (Epsom Downs), at which the Epsom Derby is run every year, one of the three races that make up the English Triple Crown. We also come across “Epsom salts” from time to time. Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate, originally prepared by boiling down mineral waters. Epsom was indeed a spa town at one time. The town is also home to Epsom College, an English “public school” (which actually means “private, and expensive”). One of Epsom’s “old boys” was the Hollywood actor Stewart Granger.

19A U.K.-based global bank : HSBC

HSBC is a UK-based financial services company that was the largest bank in Europe in 2018. It can trace its history back to 1865, when it was founded in British Hong Kong as the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank. The initialism “HSBC” stood for the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

20A __ Lingus : AER

Aer Lingus is the flag carrier airline of Ireland. It was founded in 1936 by the Irish government to provide air service between Ireland and the United Kingdom. The airline’s name means “air fleet” in Irish. In the 1950s, Aer Lingus became the first airline in the world to introduce a duty-free shopping service on board its flights.

22A Exclamation in “Tommy Boy” : HOLY SCHNIKES! (side “NIKES”)

“Tommy Boy” is a 1995 comedy film produced by “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) creator Lorne Michaels, and starring SNL alumni Chris Farley and David Spade.

Nike was founded in 1964 in Eugene, Oregon by entrepreneur Phil Knight and track-and-field coach Bill Bowerman as Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS). BRS started out by distributing athletic shoes made in Japan. The company started making its own shoes in 1971 and changed its name to Nike, after the Greek goddess of victory.

25A Big name in BoSox history : YAZ

Carl Yastrzemski, who played his whole career with the Boston Red Sox, goes by the nickname “Yaz”.

28A Chance to stand for a spell? : BEE

Back in 18th-century America, when neighbors would gather to work for the benefit of one of their group, such a meeting was called a bee. The name “bee” was an allusion to the social nature of the insect. In modern parlance, a further element of entertainment and pleasure has been introduced, for example in a quilting bee, or even a spelling bee.

32A Some family vehicles : MINIVANS (side “VANS”)

Vans is a manufacturer of mainly skateboarding shoes. The company was founded as a shoe manufacturer in 1966 called the Van Doren Rubber Company. The business turned towards skateboarders in the seventies, and then adopted the “Vans” name in the nineties.

36A “The Biggest Little City in the World” : RENO

Reno, Nevada was named in honor of Major General Jesse Lee Reno, a Union officer killed in the Civil War. The city has a famous “Reno Arch”, a structure that stands over the main street. The arch was erected in 1926 to promote an exposition planned for the following year. After the expo, the city council decided to keep the arch and held a competition to decide what wording should be displayed, and the winner was “The Biggest Little City in the World”.

37A Umami, for one : TASTE

“Umami” is a loanword from Japanese, literally meaning “pleasant savory taste”. It was first scientifically identified as a distinct taste in 1908 by Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda, who discovered that the amino acid glutamate was responsible for the unique taste (umami) of kombu seaweed.

39A Furry Endor denizen : EWOK

The Ewoks are creatures that live on the moon of Endor in the “Star Wars” universe. First appearing in “Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi”, they’re the cute and cuddly little guys that look like teddy bears.

40A Wonder Woman publisher : DC COMICS (side “DC”)

DC Comics takes its name from what used to be a highly popular series called “Detective Comics”. The main competitor to DC Comics is Marvel Comics, and between the two companies, they command 80% of comic sales in the US market. Nowadays of course, a lot of company income comes from movies that use the most popular characters from the original comics.

Superhero Wonder Woman first appeared in print in 1941, in a publication from DC Comics. As she was created during WWII, Wonder Woman’s first foes were the Axis powers. In the less realistic world her biggest foe was and still is Ares, a “baddie” named after the Greek mythological figure. Wonder Woman had several signature expressions, including “Merciful Minerva!”, “Suffering Sappho!” and “Great Hera!”. She also has several devices that she uses in her quest for justice, e.g. the Lasso of Truth, a pair of indestructible bracelets and a tiara that can be used as a deadly projectile. Wonder Woman uses the name “Diana Prince” when “out of uniform”.

DC Shoes was originally founded in 1994 as “Droors Clothing”, but the name was quickly changed to “DC” after the company changed its focus to footwear.

42A Japanese beer brand : ASAHI

Asahi is a Japanese beer, and the name of the brewery that produces it. “Asahi” is Japanese for “morning sun”. Asahi introduced a “dry beer” in 1987, igniting a craze that rocketed the brewery to the number one spot in terms of beer production in Japan, with Sapporo close behind.

44A Ocean Potion no. : SPF

Ocean Potion was founded in 1989 as a sunscreen that lacked the greasy residue of traditional formulas. Does it deliver? I don’t know …

46A __ Kippur : YOM

Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people. It is also known as the Day of Atonement.

53A Actor Kingsley : BEN

English actor Ben Kingsley won his Best Actor Oscar for playing the title role in the 1982 epic biographical film “Gandhi”. Kingsley was knighted in 2002, so if you meet him you should address him as “Sir Ben” …

58A “If __ Street Could Talk”: film based on a James Baldwin novel : BEALE

“If Beale Street Could Talk” is a 2018 film based on a 1974 novel of the same name by James Baldwin. Both novel and movie tell the story of a young woman working to clear the name of her lover, who was wrongfully charged with rape.

61A Pianist Schnabel : ARTUR

Artur Schnabel was a classical pianist from Austria, best known for his recording of Beethoven’s piano sonatas.

63A Elba of “Cats” : IDRIS

Idris Elba is a British actor whose most celebrated TV roles are perhaps Stringer Bell in “The Wire”, DCI John Luther in “Luther”, and the lead in the 2023 series “Hijack”. On the big screen, he has played the Norse god Heimdall in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as Nelson Mandela in the 2013 biopic “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”. While best known for acting, Elba is also a successful musician and DJ, performing at major clubs and festivals under the moniker DJ Big Driis.

The 2019 movie “Cats” is a much-panned big screen adaptation of the 1981 Andrew Lloyd Webber stage musical of the same name. Great musical, horrible film …

65A Meditative discipline : 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”.

Down

1D Grown-up silkworm : MOTH

The textile known as silk is made from a natural protein fiber produced from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm. Ethical vegans tend to avoid silk as many, many silkworms die in order to produce a relatively small amount of fabric. Raw silk is obtained by boiling the silkworms alive inside the cocoons that yield the fibers.

2D Greek Cupid : EROS

Cupid was the god of love in Roman mythology. Cupid’s name comes from the Latin verb “cupere” meaning “to desire”. Cupid’s Latin name was “Amor”, and his Greek counterpart was Eros.

4D KitchenAid alternative : BOSCH

Bosch is an engineering and electronics firm that was founded in Stuttgart, Germany by Robert Bosch in 1886. Bosch has gotten some bad PR in recent years for writing the software that allowed Volkswagen to cheat the emission testing carried out by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

5D “Blonde” star de Armas : ANA

Ana de Armas is an actress from Cuba. Having attended the National Theater School of Cuba, she moved to Spain at the age of 18. There, she made a name for herself in a Spanish TV series called “El Internado”. De Armas moved to Los Angeles in 2014, after which her performance opposite Ryan Gosling in 2017’s “Blade Runner 2049” earned her critical acclaim.

“Blonde” is a 2022 biographical film about Marilyn Monroe. It is a fictionalized account of the actress’ life, and is based on Joyce Carol Oates’ 2000 novel of the same name. Monroe is played by Ana de Armas.

6D Visine target : DRY EYE

Visine is a brand of eye drops made by Johnson & Johnson that are advertised to “get the red out”. The red in the eye is reduced because Visine contains tetrahydrozoline hydrochloride, a vasoconstrictor. The blood vessels creating the redness constrict when Visine is applied, and you “get the red out” as the blood is “squeezed” away from the surface of the eye.

12D Geodesic structures : DOMES

The term “geodesic” originally applied to the shortest route between any two points on the Earth’s surface. In this sense, a geodesic is an arc, a segment of a great circle that goes around the whole of the Earth. A geodesic dome is a structure that gets its strength from an interlocking network of triangular elements. The sides of those triangles are geodesics, arced segments of great circles that encompass the dome.

15D Body art that uses henna : MEHNDI

In the Indian subcontinent, mehndi is a form of temporary body art in which designs are drawn on the hands or legs.

17D Corduroy rib : WALE

Wales are parallel ribs in a fabric, such as the ribs in corduroy.

There’s a myth that the name of the textile known as “corduroy” comes from the French “corde du roi” (the cord of the king). It’s more likely that “corduroy” comes from a melding of “cord” and “duroy” (a coarse fabric that used to be made in England).

23D __-Wan Kenobi : OBI

Obi-Wan Kenobi is one of the more beloved of the “Star Wars” characters. He was portrayed by two fabulous actors in the series of films. As a young man Kenobi was played by Scottish actor Ewan McGregor, and as an older man by Alec Guinness.

24D Debit slip : CHIT

A chit is a note or a short letter. The term “chit” tends to be used these days in the sense of an amount owed (as in a poker game). The word used to be “chitty”, which is now obsolete but was closer to the original Hindi term. I feel a tad obsolete myself, because when we are at school we would be excused from class if we had a “chitty”.

26D Sir __ Guinness : ALEC

Alec Guinness initially turned down the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi in “Star Wars”, reportedly finding the script “fairy tale rubbish”. He negotiated for a percentage of the film’s gross earnings instead of a flat fee, a decision that made him incredibly wealthy as the film became a blockbuster.

27D Nutrient in oysters : ZINC

Oysters contain more zinc per serving than any other food. This high concentration is perhaps behind the oyster’s reputation as an aphrodisiac, as zinc is a critical building block for testosterone.

32D Ed.’s stack : MSS

An editor (ed.) might read or edit a manuscript (ms).

34D Nabe in L.A. and NYC : NOHO

“NoHo” is short for “North of Houston (street)”, and is the equivalent area to SoHo, South of Houston, both of which are neighborhoods in New York City.

The NoHo Arts District in Los Angeles takes its name from “North Hollywood”, although the abbreviation is a play on the name of the famous SoHo Arts District in New York City.

38D Knee parts commonly viewed with MRIs : ACLS

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of four major ligaments that support the knee. It is located in the center of the knee and connects the femur (thigh bone) to the tibia (shin bone).

44D Norway neighbor : SWEDEN

The country of Sweden emerged during the Middle Ages, and became one of the great powers of Europe in the days of the Swedish Empire in the 17th and early 18th century. Since then Sweden’s influence has waned. What was the eastern part of Sweden was lost to Russia in the early 1800s, and is now modern-day Finland. In the 20th century Sweden has adopted a very non-aggressive stance and was neutral in both World Wars. Sweden is a member of the European Union, although the country does not use the euro as its currency. And, Sweden joined NATO in 2024, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

45D Evergreen tree : PINE

There are many species of pine tree (well over 100). The smallest is probably the Siberian dwarf pine, which usually grows to less than 10-feet tall. The tallest is the ponderosa pine, which regularly grows to over 200-feet tall.

47D Plotting group : CABAL

A cabal is a small group of plotters acting in secret, perhaps scheming against a government or an individual. The use of “cabal” in this way dates back to the mid-1600s. It is suggested that the term gained some popularity, particularly in a sinister sense, during the reign of Charles II in the 1670s. At that time, it was applied as an acronym standing for “Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale”, a group of ministers known for their plots and schemes.

48D “SNL” alum Cheri : OTERI

Cheri Oteri is an actress and comedian who is best known for her work on “Saturday Night Live” (SNL). Before she became a famous comedian, she worked as a cocktail waitress at the comedy club The Improv, where she was inspired to pursue a career in comedy.

51D Supermodel Klum : HEIDI

German-born Heidi Klum was married to the successful English singer, Seal. Klum is a talented lady and has built a multi-faceted career based on her early success as a model. She is the force behind the Bravo reality show called “Project Runway” that has been on the air since 2004. Klum has been nominated 4-5 times for an Emmy for her association with the show. Klum was also signed up as the official ambassador for Barbie in 2009, the 50th anniversary of the Barbie Doll, and for her service that year a Heidi Klum Barbie was produced. She has been adding a touch of class to the judging panel on the show “America’s Got Talent” starting in 2013.

57D Canadian gas brand : 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.