LA Times Crossword 5 Feb 26, Thursday

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Constructed by: Rich Katz

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Blue’s Clues

Themed answers all feature a kind of BLUE in the corresponding CLUES:

• 57A Children’s show whose title character leaves paw-print hints, and what 18-, 23-, 36- and 52- Across have in common : BLUE’S CLUES

• 18A “Aquaman” star : JASON MOMOA
• 23A Cocktail that may be made with Bombay Sapphire : GIN AND TONIC
• 36A Band with the hit “In the Navy” : VILLAGE PEOPLE
• 52A Microsoft Azure competitor : GOOGLE CLOUD

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

Bill’s time: 6m 03s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

14A Photographer Geddes : ANNE

Anne Geddes is a portrait photographer from Australia, now based in New York City, who is known for her photographs of babies and infants. One of the secrets of her success in working with babies is to have them pose in the morning, when they are well rested. She also limits each sitting to about 30 minutes, ending before the model gets fussy. Clever …

17A Sign gas : NEON

The basic design of neon lighting was first demonstrated at the Paris Motor Show in 1910. Such lighting is made up of glass tubes containing a vacuum into which has been introduced a small amount of neon gas. When a voltage is applied between two electrodes inside the tube, the neon gas “glows” and gives off the familiar light.

18A “Aquaman” star : JASON MOMOA

Jason Momoa is a model and actor who is perhaps best known for playing superhero Aquaman in several DC Comics films. He also played warrior leader Khal Drogo in the HBO TV series “Game of Thrones”. In 2017, Momoa married actress Lisa Bonet, who played Denise Huxtable on “The Cosby Show”.

22A “Hey, Soul Sister” rock band : TRAIN

The rock band Train was formed in 1993 in San Francisco. Lead singer Pat Monahan embarked on a side hustle in 2011, founding a wine company called “Save Me, San Francisco”. The company produces wines named after the band’s songs, such as “Calling All Angels” Chardonnay and “Soul Sister” Pinot Noir.

23A Cocktail that may be made with Bombay Sapphire : GIN AND TONIC

The original tonic water was a fairly strong solution of the drug quinine dissolved in carbonated water. It was used in tropical areas in South Asia and Africa where malaria is rampant. The quinine has a prophylactic effect against the disease, and was formulated as “tonic water” so that it could be easily distributed. In British colonial India, the colonial types got into the habit of mixing gin with the tonic water to make it more palatable by hiding the bitter taste of quinine. Nowadays, the level of quinine in tonic water has dropped, and sugar has been added.

The Star of Bombay is a huge sapphire that was mined in Sri Lanka, with a weight of 182 carats. The gemstone was given as a gift to actress Mary Pickford by her husband Douglas Fairbanks. Pickford left the Star of Bombay in her will to the Smithsonian Institute, where it can be seen today. The British gin called Bombay Sapphire is named for the stone.

26A PC pioneer : IBM

Tech giant IBM was founded as the Tabulating Machine Company in 1896. The company changed its name to the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation (CTR) in 1911 and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1916. The name “International Business Machines” (IBM) was given first to the company’s Canadian subsidiary, and then to its South American subsidiary. In 1924, it was decided to adopt the International Business Machines name for the whole company. Good choice …

29A Chow down : EAT

“Chow” is a slang term for “food” that originated in California in the mid-1800s. “Chow” comes from the Chinese pidgin English “chow-chow” meaning “food”.

30A Small battery, or an org. that may help with a car battery : AAA

The American Automobile Association (AAA) is a not-for-profit organization focused on lobbying, provision of automobile servicing, and selling of automobile insurance. The AAA was founded in 1902 in Chicago and published the first of its celebrated hotel guides back in 1917.

31A Iditarod racer : SLED DOG

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race covers an incredible 1,161 miles, from Anchorage to Nome in Alaska. The race starts every year on the first Saturday in March, with the first race having been held in 1973. Finishing times range from over 8 days to 15 days or more. The first few races only used a northern route, but then a southern route was added to the roster every second year. It’s kind of a good thing, because when the racers take the northern route they don’t even pass through the town of Iditarod!

33A Suomi speakers : FINNS

The people we call Finns actually refer to themselves and their language as “Suomi”. Finnish is quite efficient with its pronouns as the language has no grammatical gender at all. For example, the word “hän” is used for both “he” and “she”.

36A Band with the hit “In the Navy” : VILLAGE PEOPLE

Village People is a disco group formed in New York City in 1977. From day one, the band’s act and music was aimed at the gay community. The name refers to New York’s Greenwich Village, which at the time had a large gay population. The group’s members dressed up as characters associated with stereotypical gay culture, including a cop, Native American, GI, construction worker and cowboy. The biggest hits for Village People are “Y.M.C.A.” and “In the Navy”.

“In the Navy” is a hit song released by the disco group Village People in 1979. The US Navy considered using the song as a recruiting tool, and allowed the group to film the music video on the frigate USS Reasonner while it was at berth in San Diego. However, the deal fell through, and the Navy stuck with “Anchors Aweigh”.

41A Gyro bread : PITA

A gyro is a traditional Greek dish of meat roasted on a tall vertical spit that is sliced from the spit as required. Gyros are usually served inside a lightly grilled piece of pita bread, along with tomato, onion and tzatziki (a yogurt and cucumber sauce).

43A Accounts with round numbers? : BAR TABS?

When we run a “tab” at a bar, we are running a “tabulation”, a listing of what we owe. Such a use of “tab” is American slang that originated in the 1880s.

47A Spy-fi novelist Deighton : LEN

I used to walk my dog right past author Len Deighton’s house years ago, as we lived in the same seaside village in Ireland (probably my only claim to “fame”). Deighton wrote the excellent espionage thriller “The IPCRESS File”, which was made into a 1965 movie starring Michael Caine.

48A Visitor in a knock-knock joke that ends, “It’s nothing to cry about!” : BOO!

Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Boo.
Boo who?
It’s nothing to cry about!

52A Microsoft Azure competitor : GOOGLE CLOUD

In the world of computing, when one operates “in the cloud”, one’s files and key applications are not stored on one’s own computer, but rather are residing “in the cloud”, on a computer somewhere out on the Internet. I do 99% of my computing in the cloud. That way I don’t have to worry about backing up files, and I can operate from any computer if I have to …

55A Herb in caprese salad : BASIL

A Caprese salad (“insalata caprese” in Italian) is a relatively simple, but delicious, salad comprising sliced mozzarella and tomatoes, with sweet basil and seasoned with salt and olive oil. It is thought the dish originated on the island of Capri, hence the name “Caprese”. I am a huge fan …

56A Upper crust : ELITE

The phrase “upper crust” is used to describe the social elite, but its origins are unclear. One popular theory suggests that in medieval times, the top part of a loaf of bread, the “upper crust”, was sliced off and served to the most important guests at the table because it was the most perfectly baked and least likely to be burnt. Maybe, I guess …

57A Children’s show whose title character leaves paw-print hints, and what 18-, 23-, 36- and 52- Across have in common : BLUE’S CLUES

“Blue’s Clues” is a Nickelodeon children’s show that ran for ten years from 1996. The title character is a blue-spotted dog who leaves clues in a treasure hunt for the host and the viewers.

63A Goodyear products : TIRES

The Goodyear tire company was founded in 1898. The company was named for Charles Goodyear, the man who invented vulcanized rubber in 1839. Despite the Goodyear name, Charles Goodyear himself had no connection with the company. Sadly, he never really reaped a financial reward for his inventions.

64A Legendary rebuke : ET TU

It was Shakespeare who popularized the words “Et tu, Brute?” (meaning “And you, Brutus?”). They appear in his play “Julius Caesar”, although the phrase had been around long before he penned his drama. It’s not known what Julius Caesar actually said in real life (if anything at all) as he was assassinated on the steps of the Senate in Rome.

66A Branch of Islam : SUNNI

The Islamic sects of Sunni and Shia Muslims differ in the belief of who should have taken over leadership of the Muslim faithful after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. Followers of the Sunni tradition agree with the decision that the Prophet Muhammad’s confidante Abu Bakr was the right choice to become the first Caliph of the Islamic nation. Followers of the Shia tradition believe that leadership should have stayed within the Prophet Muhammad’s own family, and favored the Prophet’s son-in-law Ali.

68A Bailiwick : AREA

“Bailiwick” is a word dating back to the mid-1600s. The term originally meant “district of a bailiff”.

Down

2D Condition often treated with iron supplements : ANEMIA

The term “anemia” (or “anaemia”, as we write it back in Ireland) comes from a Greek word meaning “lack of blood”. Anemia is a lack of iron in the blood, or a low red blood cell count. Tiredness is a symptom of the condition, and so we use the term “anemic” figuratively to mean “lacking in vitality or substance”.

4D High-IQ society : MENSA

Mensa is a high-IQ society that was founded in Oxford, England in 1946. The founders were two lawyers: Australian Roland Berrill and Englishman Lancelot Ware. Apparently, the elitist founders were unhappy with the development of Mensa, given that most members came from the working and lower classes.

5D Many a school sammie : PB&J

“Sammie” is an informal term meaning “sandwich”.

7D 55-Across sauce : PESTO
[55A Herb in caprese salad : BASIL]

Pesto sauce is more completely called “pesto alla genovese”, i.e. pesto from Genoa. A traditional recipe calls for crushed garlic, pine nuts, salt, basil leaves, parmesan cheese and olive oil. Yum …

9D Pedicure stone : PUMICE

Pumice is volcanic rock that is formed by lava cooling. There are bubbles in pumice due to water and carbon dioxide frothing out of the lava as it cools. Because of the frothy structure, pumice is relatively light and is a great thermal insulator. As such, it is used in construction to make insulating breeze blocks.

10D Harry and William’s alma mater : ETON

The literal translation for the Latin term “alma mater” is “nourishing mother”. The phrase was used in ancient Rome to refer to mother goddesses, and in Medieval Christianity the term was used to refer to the Virgin Mary. Nowadays, one’s alma mater is the school one attended, either high school or college, usually one’s last place of education.

21D Slug kin : SNAIL

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.

24D Comedian Carvey : DANA

Dana Carvey, along with the likes of Phil Hartman and Kevin Nealon, was part of the new breed of “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) comedians credited with resurrecting the show in the late eighties. One of Carvey’s most popular characters was the Church Lady (“Well, isn’t that special?”), and he became so associated with her that among fellow cast members Carvey was often referred to simply as “the Lady”. Another favorite Carvey character was Garth Algar who went to feature in the “Wayne’s World” movies. Carvey had open-heart surgery in 1997 to clear a blocked artery, but the surgical team operated on the wrong blood vessel. To recover, he had to have five more procedures. He ended up suing for medical malpractice and donated his $7.5 million compensation payment to charity.

28D Booker T.’s band : MGS

Booker T. & the M.G.’s were in effect the house band at Stax Records, and so appeared on loads of famous recordings including some by Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding. As such, they became synonymous with what became known as the Stax Sound. One of the unique things about the band was that it was racially integrated, with two white guys making a name for themselves in soul music, which at the time was very much part of black culture. And of course Booker T. & the M.G.’s produced the fabulous 1962 hit “Green Onions”.

32D “Nosferatu” actress Lily-Rose : DEPP

French-American actress Lily-Rose Depp is the daughter of actors Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp. Lily-Rose’s godfather is rock musician Marilyn Manson.

The 2024 film Nosferatu is a gothic horror remake of the classic German silent film “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror”, released in 1922. The latter, in turn, is an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s vampire tale “Dracula”.

36D Lab container : VIAL

A vial is a small vessel, usually closed or closable, used to hold liquids. The term “vial” is derivative of the older “phial” that has the same meaning and is still used.

40D Light weight : GRAM

Today, the gram is defined as one thousandth of a kilogram, with the kilogram being equal to the mass of a physical sample preserved by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (well, up until 2019, when it became more hi-tech than I can explain!). Prior to 1960, the gram was defined as the weight of a cubic centimeter of pure water (at the temperature of melting ice).

41D “Nova” network : PBS

“Nova” is an excellent science television series on PBS. It was created back in 1974, and was inspired by a very similar BBC show called “Horizon”, a show that I grew up with. Many “Nova” episodes are actually co-productions with the BBC, with an American narrator used for the PBS broadcasts and a British narrator for the BBC broadcasts.

44D Tennis star Andre : AGASSI

Retired tennis professional Andre Agassi has been married to fellow player Steffi Graf since 2001. Agassi wrote an autobiography called “Open”, published in 2009. An amazing revelation in the book is that Agassi’s famous head of hair was actually a wig for much of his playing career. Can you imagine how hard it must have been to play tennis at his level with a rug stuck on?

45D Anjou alternative : BOSC

Bosc is a cultivar of the European pear that is grown mainly in the northwest of the United States. It is named for French horticulturist Louis Bosc. The cultivar originated in Belgium or France in the early 19th century. The Bosc is that pear with a skin the color of a potato, with a long neck.

The Anjou pear is a cultivar of the European Pear. The Anjou is thought to have originated in Belgium or France (Anjou is a province in the Loire Valley of western France).

50D Black Sea port : ODESSA

The city of Odessa (also “Odesa”) in Ukraine was founded relatively recently, in 1794 by Catherine the Great. The city was originally meant to be called Odessos after an ancient Greek city believed to have been located nearby. Catherine liked the way the locals pronounced the name as “Odessa” and so went with the less Greek-sounding name.

53D Posterior muscle, informally : GLUTE

There are three gluteal muscles in the human body, the largest of which is the gluteus maximus. It’s the gluteus maximus which really dictates the shape and size of the human buttocks. In evolutionary terms, the human “glutes” (also “glutei”) are larger than those in related species because they play a big role in maintaining our erect posture.

54D Many a denizen of Machu Picchu : LLAMA

Nowadays we use “denizen” to mean simply “resident”, but historically a denizen was an immigrant to whom certain rights had been granted, somewhat like today’s resident alien.

Machu Picchu is known as “The Lost City of the Incas”, and it can be visited on a mountain ridge in Peru, 50 miles northwest of the city of Cuzco in the southeast of the country. The name Machu Picchu means “old peak”. The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu originates about 50 miles from Cusco on the Urubamba River in Peru. It can take travelers about 5 days to trek the full length of the trail, passing through many Incan ruins before reaching the Sun Gate on Machu Picchu mountain. The trail was becoming greatly overused, forcing the Peruvian government to limit the number of people on the trail each day to 500. Book early …

57D “Mic Drop” K-pop septet : BTS

“Mic Drop” is a 2017 song by the boy band BTS from South Korea. They released two versions of the song simultaneously, one in Korean and one in Japanese.

58D Actor Simu : LIU

Simu Liu is a Chinese-born Canadian actor. One of his more famous roles was the title character in the Marvel Comics 2021 superhero movie “Shang-Chi and the legend of the Ten Rings”. He also played one of the Ken dolls in 2023’s “Barbie”.

59D Samovar : URN

The samovar originated in Russia. It is a water boiler, one usually used for making tea. As such, there is often an attachment on top of a samovar to keep a teapot warm.

61D Phoenix NBAer : SUN

The Phoenix Suns NBA team are in the Pacific Division, and are the only team in that division not based in California.