LA Times Crossword 4 Nov 26, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Ricky J. Sirois

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Crop Circles

Each themed answer is a common phrase comprising two words, the first being a CROP and the second a CIRCULAR objects (in the plural):

• 52A Mysterious patterns in fields, or what 15-, 22-, 31-, and 44-Across are? : CROP CIRCLES

• 15A Pungent breakfast choices : ONION BAGELS
• 22A Aids in makeup removal : COTTON BALLS
• 31A Alternatives to cinnamon buns : COFFEE ROLLS
• 44A Car parts that may be repurposed as swings : RUBBER TIRES

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

Bill’s time: 6m 27s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5A News story intro, in journalism jargon : LEDE

The opening paragraph in any work of literature is often just called “the lead”. In the world of journalism, this is usually referred to as “the lede”. The derivative phrase “bury the lede” means to fail to stress the most important aspect of a story.

9A Secondary social media acct. : ALT

An “alt” is an “alternate” social media account, a secondary profile used to navigate the Internet with a bit more privacy or a different focus than one’s primary persona. A concept that might be helpful or harmful, I’d say …

13A Judy of “Scrubs” : REYES

Judy Reyes is an actress best known for her TV roles, playing Carla Espinosa on “Scrubs” and Zoila Diaz on “Devious Maids”. She was a founding member of the LAByrinth Theater Company in New York City in 1992 alongside fellow actor John Ortiz (with Philip Seymour Hoffman joining the troupe a few years later).

14A Caviar : ROE

Caviar is the roe of a large fish that has been salted and seasoned, and especially the roe of a sturgeon. Beluga caviar comes from the beluga sturgeon, which is found primarily in the Caspian Sea. It is the most expensive type of caviar in the world. 8 ounces of US-farmed beluga caviar can be purchased through Amazon.com for just over $850, in case you’re feeling peckish …

17A Time for many countdowns, briefly : NYE

New Year’s Eve (NYE)

18A Making out while out and about, for short : PDA

Public display of affection (PDA).

19A Like some columns : IONIC

The Ionic was one of the three classical orders of architecture, the others being the Doric and Corinthian. An Ionic column is relatively ornate. It usually has grooves running up and down its length and at the top there is a “scroll” design called a “volute”. The scroll motif makes Ionic columns popular for the design of academic buildings. The term “Ionic” means “pertaining to Ionia”, with Ionia being an ancient territory that is located in modern-day Turkey.

20A Great Lakes diving bird : LOON

The bird known as a loon here in North America is called a diver in Britain and Ireland. The name “diver” comes from the bird’s habit of swimming calmly and then suddenly diving below the surface to catch a fish. The name “loon” is an alteration of “loom”, which comes from an Old Norse word (lómr) linked to the Scandinavian word for “lame” or “clumsy,” reflecting the awkward gait of the bird when walking on land.

21A Carol contraction : ‘TIS

The music for the Christmas song “Deck the Halls” is a traditional Welsh tune that dates back to the 16th century. The same tune was used by Mozart for a violin and piano duet. The lyrics with which we are familiar (other than the “fa-la-la”) are American in origin, and were recorded in the 19th century.

“’Tis the season to be jolly, Fa la la la la la la la la!”

27A February 29 : LEAP DAY

Leap day is February 29th in a leap year, which is usually a year that is divisible by 4. My baby brother was born on February 29th, in 1968. A woman in Utah gave birth on February 29th in 2004, on February 29th in 2008, and once more on February 29th, 2012. That’s in the Guinness Book of World Records …

29A Grammy winner Estefan : GLORIA

Gloria Estefan is a Cuban-American singer who was born in Havana. Estefan fled Cuba along with her family after the Cuban Revolution, and ended up in Miami. Her father fought for the US military in Vietnam, and also took part in the doomed Bay of Pigs invasion. Years later, Estefan herself was approached by the CIA to work for the agency due to her skill with languages. She ended up doing quite well singing instead …

35A Songs of praise : PAEANS

A paean is a poem or song that expresses triumph or thanksgiving. “Paean” comes from the ancient Greek “paian” meaning “song of triumph”.

36A Calendar divs. : MOS

Month (mo.)

47A Tax-efficient fund, for short : IRA

According to the IRS, the initialism IRA stands for “Individual Retirement Arrangement”. However, most folks refer to IRAs as “Individual Retirement Accounts”.

48A Pinkberry rival : TCBY

TCBY is a chain of stores selling frozen yogurt that was founded in 1981 in Little Rock, Arkansas. The initialism TCBY originally stood for “This Can’t Be Yogurt”, but this had to be changed due to a lawsuit being pressed by a competitor called “I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt”. These days TCBY stands for “The Country’s Best Yogurt”.

Pinkberry is a chain of frozen dessert outlets that is based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Pinkberry’s desserts were originally marketed as frozen yogurt, but that description didn’t fit with criteria laid down by the State of California. After a hiatus of a few years, apparently the “yogurt” moniker is in use again.

49A Home of the College World Series : OMAHA

Back in 1947/48, the College World Series (CWS) was held in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and then in 1949 in Wichita, Kansas. Since 1950, the CWS has been held every year in Omaha, Nebraska.

51A Ivy League nickname : ELI

“Eli” is the nickname for a graduate of Yale University, and a term used in honor of the Yale benefactor Elihu Yale.

52A Mysterious patterns in fields, or what 15-, 22-, 31-, and 44-Across are? : CROP CIRCLES

Don’t believe what you hear. Crop circles are hoaxes …

55A Intro to Xer, Yer, and Zer : GEN

The term “Generation X” originated in the UK where it was the name of a book by Jane Deverson. Her book detailed the results of a study of British youths in 1964, contrasting their lifestyle to those of previous generations. It was Canadian author Douglas Coupland who was responsible for popularizing the term, with his more successful publication “Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture”. By one definition, Gen Xers were born between 1961 and 1981.

The Millennial Generation are sometimes referred to as “Generation Y” (Gen-Y). Millennials were born after the “Gen-Xers”, from the early 1980s to the early 2000s.

Definitions vary, but it seems that the term “Generation Z” is reserved for the children of “Generation X”, and for the generation that follows the “Millennials” (Generation Y). Gen Zers are also known as “Zoomers”, a portmanteau of “Z” and “boomer” (as in “baby boomer”).

58A Multinational insurance co. : AIG

“AIG” is an initialism used by the American International Group, a giant insurance corporation. After repeated bailouts by American taxpayers starting in 2008, the company made some serious PR blunders by spending large amounts of money on executive entertainment and middle management rewards. These included a $444,000 California retreat, an $86,000 hunting trip in England, and a $343,000 getaway to a luxury resort in Phoenix. Poor judgment, I’d say …

60A Trees whose wood is used for lutes and bows : YEWS

Yew is the wood of choice for the longbow, a valued weapon in the history of England. The longbow is constructed with a core of yew heartwood (as the heartwood resists compression) that has a sheath of yew sapwood (as the sapwood resists stretching). The yew was in such demand for longbows that for centuries yew trees were in short supply in Britain and the wood had to be imported from all over Europe.

Down

1D Old timer? : SUNDIAL

The earliest known sundials date back to around 1500 BCE, and were used in ancient Egypt.

2D Period during which mammals first appeared : TRIASSIC

The Triassic period lasted from about 250 to 200 million years ago. It was during the Triassic that dinosaurs first appeared. A major extinction event at the end of the Triassic allowed dinosaurs to dominate the landscape throughout the subsequent Jurassic period.

5D Bona fide : LEGIT

“Bona fide(s)” translates from the Latin as “in good faith”, and is used to indicate honest intentions. It can also mean that something is authentic, like a piece of art that is represented in good faith as being genuine.

6D Disparate features of someone with heterochromia : EYE COLORS

Heterochromia is an anatomical variation that gives an individual multi-colored eyes. Ophthalmologists classify the condition into three distinct patterns: complete (two entirely different-colored irises), sectoral (a contrasting segment within a single iris), and central (a ring of a second color radiating outward from the pupil). The term “heterochromia” comes from the Greek “heteros” (meaning “different”) and “chroma” (meaning “color”).

7D Rehoboth Beach’s st. : DEL

Rehoboth Beach is a southern Delaware city in the state’s Cape Henlopen Region. It is a popular vacation destination for folks from Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. One of those vacationers is former President Joe Biden, who owns a summer home in Rehoboth Beach.

9D “The Neighborhood” actress Tichina : ARNOLD

Actress Tichina Arnold got her big break playing a leading role alongside comedian Martin Lawrence in the sitcom “Martin”, for all five seasons of the show in the 1990s. She went on to anchor two more long-running sitcoms as family matriarchs: Brooklyn mother Rochelle on “Everybody Hates Chris” and Tina Butler opposite Cedric the Entertainer on “The Neighborhood”.

“The Neighborhood” is a sitcom starring Cedric the Entertainer that ran for eight seasons, from 2018 to 2026. It’s about the “nicest (White) guy in the Midwest” moving with his wife from Michigan into a predominantly Black neighborhood in Pasadena, California. The title of every episode starts with a neighborly “Welcome to …”, with the last episode being given the quirky title “Welcome to Goodbye”.

10D Common name for a Jesuit school : LOYOLA

Saint Ignatius of Loyola (also known as Inigo Lopez de Loyola) was a Spanish knight from a noble family in the Basque region of Spain. He left behind his easy life to become a hermit and a priest, and eventually founded the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit order of the Roman Catholic Church).

20D Home of Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in the Canary Islands : LA PALMA

The Roque de los Muchachos Astrophysical Observatory (ORM) is located almost 8,000 feet above sea level on the rim of a caldera on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands. The site was inaugurated in 1985, chosen for its incredibly clear night skies. The facility’s first telescope was the Isaac Newton Telescope, a 100-inch optical telescope, which was moved from the Royal Greenwich Observatory at Herstmonceux in Sussex, England. I don’t think the skies were very clear at its old home …

23D Fictional sleuth Wolfe : NERO

Nero Wolfe is a fictional detective and the hero of many stories published by author Rex Stout. There are 33 Nero Wolfe novels for us to read, and 39 short stories. There are also movie adaptations of two of the novels: “Meet Nero Wolfe” (1936) which features a young Rita Hayworth, and “The League of Frightened Men” (1937). One of Wolfe’s endearing traits is his love of good food and beer, so he is a pretty rotund character.

24D Take off : BAIL

The phrase “to bail out” (sometimes just “to bail”) means to leave suddenly. We’ve been using the term since the early thirties, when it originated with airline pilots. To bail out is to make a parachute jump.

30D NFL Hall of Famer Dawson : LEN

Len Dawson was an AFL-NFL quarterback who played for the Kansas City Chiefs (originally the Dallas Texans). He played for the Chiefs in the first ever Super Bowl, losing badly to the Green Bay Packers. However, he was on the winning team in Super Bowl IV, when the Chiefs defeated the Minnesota Vikings. Quarterback Dawson was named the MVP that day.

37D Multitude in a multiplex : SCREENS

Canadian theater owner Nat Taylor pioneered the multi-screen concept in 1947, when he opened a second, smaller auditorium adjacent to Ottawa’s Elgin Theatre to screen two different films under one roof. Kansas City theater owner Stanley Durwood refined the concept in 1963 by opening the side-by-side Parkway Twin inside a suburban shopping mall, realizing he could double his box-office capacity while operating a single shared lobby, box office, and concession stand. Durwood followed that with the world’s first four-screen complex in 1966 and a six-screen venue in 1969. He rebranded his family business in 1968 as American Multi-Cinema, better known as AMC Theatres.

38D “Wednesday” actress Jenna : ORTEGA

Actress Jenna Ortega has been in the entertainment industry since she was a child. In 2014, she found her breakthrough role as young Jane in the CW comedy-drama series “Jane the Virgin”. She went on to star in the Disney Channel series “Stuck in the Middle”. Ortega is quite the sports player. Apparently, she almost gave up acting to pursue a career playing soccer.

“Wednesday” is a dark and comedic supernatural mystery TV series, and part of the classic “Addams Family” franchise. The show follows Wednesday Addams, played by Jenna Ortega, during her time as a student at Nevermore Academy, a school for outcasts.

39D Microbiology research centers? : NUCLEI

Microbiology is the study of microscopic organisms such as viruses, algae, fungi and bacteria.

41D Classic soda brand : NEHI

The Nehi soda brand has a name that sounds like “knee-high”, a measure of a small stature. Starting in the 1920s, the Chero-Cola Company, which created the brand, went for a slightly different twist on “knee-high” in advertising. The logo for Nehi was an image of a seated woman’s stockinged legs, with her skirt pulled up to her knees to hint at “knee-high”.

42D G.I.’s org. : US ARMY

The initialism “GI” stands for “Government Issue”, and not “General Infantry” as is widely believed. “GI” was first used in the military to denote equipment made from Galvanized Iron and during WWI, incoming German shells were nicknamed “GI cans”. Soon after, the term GI came to be associated with “Government Issue” and eventually became an adjective to describe anything associated with the Army.

52D The Hornets, on a sports ticker : CHA

The Charlotte Hornets NBA team takes its name from a Revolutionary War insult delivered by British General Lord Cornwallis. After encountering fierce resistance from local militias in 1780, Cornwallis famously described the city of Charlotte as a “veritable hornet’s nest” of rebellion.

53D Retinol Correxion maker : ROC

RoC is a manufacturer of skincare products that was founded by a Parisian pharmacist in 1957.