LA Times Crossword 25 May 26, Monday

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Constructed by: Janice Luttrell

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Outgoing Mail

The OUTGOING (last) part of each themed answer are pieces of MAIL:

• 52A Stack heading to the post office, or what 20-, 27-, and 44-Across all have? : OUTGOING MAIL

• 20A Metaphor for a plan that may collapse at any moment : HOUSE OF CARDS
• 27A Empire State NFL team : BUFFALO BILLS
• 44A Features of easy-to-read signs : BLOCK LETTERS

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

Bill’s time: 5m 15s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

10A Like Supreme Court arguments : ORAL

The US Constitution doesn’t specify the size of the Supreme Court, but authorizes the Congress to determine the number of justices. The court started with six justices in 1789, and the size of the bench grew with the size of the country and the number of judicial circuits. There were as many as ten justices, from 1863 to 1866. There have been nine justices since 1869.

17A One thumbing for a ride : HITCHHIKER

The term “hitchhike” comes from the notion of attaching (“hitching”) a sled to a moving vehicle to get a “ride”, and dates back to the late 1800s.

19A Mother Earth, in Greek myth : GAIA

The Greek goddess personifying the Earth was Gaea (also “Gaia”, and meaning “land” or “earth” in Greek). The Roman equivalent goddess was Terra Mater, “Mother Earth”.

25A Inc. kin : LLC

A limited liability company (LLC) has a structure that limits the liability of the owner or owners. It is a hybrid structure in the sense that it can be taxed as would an individual or partnership, while also maintaining the liability protection afforded to a corporation.

27A Empire State NFL team : BUFFALO BILLS

The Buffalo Bills NFL team, founded in 1959, was named after an earlier team with the same name that had merged with the Cleveland Browns back in 1950. The “Bills” name was obviously popular with fans, as the name was chosen in a public contest. The older team had been named for “Buffalo Bill” Cody. The team mascot is Billy Buffalo, and the cheerleaders are known as the Buffalo Jills.

New York is famously known as the “Empire State”. While the precise origin of the moniker is a little hazy, it’s widely believed to have been inspired by George Washington. In a 1783 letter, remarking on New York’s strategic importance with its excellent harbor and access to the interior via the Hudson River, Washington supposedly referred to it as the “Seat of the Empire”.

33A Dishwasher capacity : LOAD

The first mechanical dishwasher to be described as practical and reliable was invented by Josephine Cochrane of Ohio. Cochrane didn’t wash dishes herself, as she had servants for that task, so the main purpose of her invention was not to save effort. Rather, she wanted a device that washed dishes without chipping them, something her household help was liable to do.

38A Shapewear company founded in 2000 : SPANX

Spanx is an underwear brand. Most Spanx garments are designed to make the wearer appear thinner. Spanx is a privately held company that was founded by entrepreneur Sara Blakely in 2000. Despite the success of the product line, there is some controversy. Spanx have been referred to as the corset of the modern era.

40A Cornish game __ : HEN

The Cornish game hen is a broiler chicken, and not a game bird. And, despite the designation “hen”, a Cornish game hen can be either male or female.

42A “__ go bragh!” : ERIN

“Erin go bragh!” is an anglicization of the Irish phrase “Éirinn go brách!”, which translates as “Ireland forever!”

51A Susan of “L.A. Law” : DEY

Actress Susan Dey first appeared on “The Partridge Family” when she was 17 years old and had no acting experience. Years later, Dey won a Golden Globe for playing the leading role of Grace Van Owen in “L.A. Law”.

“L.A. Law” ran on NBC from 1986 to 1994, and was one of the network’s most successful drama series. It took over from the equally successful “Hill Street Blues” in the Thursday night 10 p.m. slot until, after a six-year run, it was itself replaced by yet another respected drama, “E.R.” The opening credits showed that famous California license plate. The plate was on a Jaguar XJ for most of the series, but moved onto a Bentley towards the end of the run. For each series the registration sticker was updated, so no laws were being broken.

57A Edinburgh resident : SCOT

Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland, and a really beautiful city. In days gone by, it might not have been quite so charming. Like many cities, plumes of smoke hung over Edinburgh when coal and wood fires weren’t regulated. To this day, the city has the nickname “Auld Reekie”, Scots for “Old Smoky”.

62A Former Yankee slugger Martinez : TINO

First baseman Tino Martinez is a former Major League Baseball first baseman. Martinez played with a number of teams including the Mariners, Yankees, Cardinals and Devil Rays. Martinez was born and raised in Tampa, Florida and as a boy he worked in his father’s cigar factory.

64A The Met Gala, e.g. : EVENT

The Costume Institute Gala is an annual fundraising event that benefits the Anna Wintour Costume Center in New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met). The fundraiser is commonly referred to as the “Met Gala” or “Met Ball”, and was established in 1948.

66A Org. with a white rabbit in its logo : PETA

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) organization includes a white rabbit in its logo. This serves as a tribute to the laboratory animals first protected during the 1981 Silver Spring monkeys case, the first animal research case to reach the US Supreme Court.

67A Patinkin of ‘Homeland’ : MANDY

Mandy Patinkin is a stage and screen actor, and a tenor vocalist. Patinkin played the part of Che in the original Broadway production of “Evita”, and won a Tony for his performance. He has appeared in many TV shows, perhaps most notably playing Saul Berenson on the excellent espionage thriller series “Homeland”. On the big screen, one of Patinkin’s most notable roles is Inigo Montoya in 1987’s “The Princess Bride”.

“Homeland” is a psychological drama TV show about a CIA officer who is convinced that a certain US Marine is a threat to the security of the United States. The show is based on a series from Israeli television called “Hatufim” (Prisoners of War”). I highly recommend it …

Down

1D Play-__: Hasbro toy clay : DOH

Back in the 1930s, a manufacturer in Cincinnati produced a doughy compound that was used to clean wallpaper. Twenty years later, school-kids started using the cleaning material as a modeling compound, so the manufacturer reworked the formula, and sold it to local schools. It was given the name “Play-Doh”.

The Hasbro toy company was founded in 1923, to sell textile remnants. The founders were Herman, Hillel and Henry Hassenfeld, three brothers and hence the name “Hasbro”. The company diversified into toys in the early forties, with the first real market success being Mr. Potato Head.

2D Allergist’s lead-in to Pen : EPI-

EpiPen is a brand of epinephrine auto-injector. An EpiPen delivers a measured dose of epinephrine, which is a common treatment for an extreme allergic reaction.

3D QB passing stat : ATT

In football, one statistic (stat) used to track the performance of a quarterback (QB) is attempts (ATT).

6D Butter substitute, in some recipes : CRISCO

The Crisco brand of shortening was the first to be made entirely from vegetable oil. Although that sounds like a good thing, it’s actually made by hydrogenating vegetable oil so that it has physical properties similar to the animal shortening it was designed to replace. This hydrogenation turns good fats into bad fats, so medical professionals suggest limited intake.

7D Angels outfielder Trout : MIKE

Mike Trout debuted as a professional baseball player for the Los Angeles Angels in 2011. Trout’s nickname is “the Millville Meteor”, as he grew up in Millville, New Jersey.

8D Butter substitute : OLEO

Emperor Louis Napoleon III of France announced a competition to develop a substitute for butter, a substitute that would be more accessible to the lower classes and more practical for the armed forces. A French chemist called Hippolyte Mege-Mouries came up with something he called oleomargarine in 1869, which was eventually manufactured under the trade name “margarine”. The name “oleomargarine” also gives us our generic term “oleo”.

9D Backyard water fight brand : NERF

Nerf is a soft material used in a whole series of toys designed for “safe” play indoors. The Nerf product is used to make darts, balls and ammunition for toy guns. By the way, “Non-Expanding Recreational Foam” is a popular backronym (an acronym created to fit an existing word) for “NERF”.

10D Instruments with many pipes : ORGANS

The organ that we often see in churches, synagogues and concert halls is a pipe organ. Sound is produced by pressurized air driven through particular pipes selected by keys on a keyboard.

23D Bridal veil netting : TULLE

Tulle is a lightweight net fabric that is often used in veils, wedding gowns and ballet tutus.

30D Lithium-__ battery : ION

Lithium-ion and nickel-cadmium are types of rechargeable batteries.

35D Name on much farm equipment : DEERE

The John Deere tractor company introduced the slogan “Nothing Runs Like a Deere” in 1971. Surprisingly (to me), the slogan wasn’t for their mowers or farm tractors. It was actually created to market their (now-defunct) line of snowmobiles. The slogan was so effective that after the company stopped making snowmobiles, it was adopted by the lawn equipment division and eventually the entire brand.

38D B’way sign : SRO

Standing room only (SRO)

39D Insta post : PIC

Instagram (often abbreviated to “Insta”, or “IG”) is a photo-sharing application.

42D Ticklish Muppet : ELMO

The Tickle Me Elmo toy was a sensational fad in the late nineties, with stores raising prices dramatically above the recommended retail price to take advantage of demand. Reportedly, prices as high as $1500 were paid at the height of the craze. The toy’s manufacturer, Tyco, originally planned to market the “tickle” toy as Tickle Me Tasmanian Devil (after the “Looney Tunes” character), but then went with “Elmo” after they bought the rights to use “Sesame Street” names.

43D Women’s Media Center co-founder Gloria : STEINEM

Gloria Steinem is a journalist whose name is very much associated with the feminist movement of the late sixties and early seventies. Steinem co-founded “Ms.” magazine with fellow-feminist Dorothy Pitman Hughes.

Women’s Media Center (WMC) is a women’s organization that was co-founded in 2005 by actress Jane Fonda, feminist icon Gloria Steinem and poet Robin Morgan. WMC’s mission is to make women visible and powerful in the media.

45D San Diego suburb whose name means ‘the table’ : LA MESA

One of the most famous residents of La Mesa, a suburb of San Diego, California, was the actor Dennis Hopper.

The name of the California city of La Mesa translates to “The Table” or “The Plateau”, reflecting its location on a relatively high plateau surrounded by hills. The land on which the city was founded was originally part of Mission San Diego de Alcalá, the second Franciscan-founded mission in the Californias of Spanish America.

48D Port St. __, Florida : LUCIE

Port St. Lucie is located on the east coast of Florida, between Orlando and Miami. The city’s name comes from a 16th-century Spanish fort, Santa Lucia, established by explorers nearby on St. Lucia’s Day, the feast day of the patron saint of the blind.

53D Clouseau or Gadget’s rank, briefly : INSP

Apparently, some people think that the Inspector Clouseau character (played originally by Peter Sellers) is “The Pink Panther”. “Pink Panther” is actually the jewel that was stolen in the original movie. Would you believe there are eleven “Pink Panther” movies in the whole series?

“Inspector Gadget” is a cartoon television show from the 1980s in which the title character is a cyborg detective. There’s a lot of similarity in Inspector Gadget’s behavior to the behavior of Maxwell Smart from the sitcom “Get Smart”. Actor Don Adams played the title role in “Get Smart” and also provided the voice for Inspector Gadget.

55D MBA hopeful’s exam : GMAT

If you want to get into a business school’s graduate program then you might have to take the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), which will cost you $275-300, I believe …