LA Times Crossword 6 Feb 26, Friday

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Constructed by: Brian Callahan & Geoffrey Schorkopf

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer(s): Make Ends Meet

The ENDS of themed answers MEET to produce a second answer to the corresponding clues:

• 35A With 36- and 37-Across, get by, or how to find a second answer to each starred clue : MAKE …
• 36A See 35-Across : … ENDS …
• 37A See 35-Across : … MEET

• 17A *Get one over on : PULL A PRANK (& PUNK)
• 23A *Action blockbuster with several sequels : THE TERMINATOR (& THOR)
• 46A *Antioxidant-rich treat : DARK CHOCOLATE (& DATE)
• 56A *Chinwag : CHEW THE FAT (& CHAT)

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

Bill’s time: 12m 13s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Android, for one : ROBOT

“Droid” is short for “android” and is used to describe a robot that resembles a human. The Latin word “androides” was used in English in the 18th century to mean “like a man”. Science fiction writers introduced us to “android” in the early 1950s.

10A Genesis name : ADAM

According to the Bible, God created Adam from “the dust of the ground”. Eve was created as Adam’s companion, from Adam’s rib.

16A Frozen Four game : SEMI

The semi-finals and finals of the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Championship tournaments are collectively referred to as the “Frozen Four”. This term is a play on “Final Four”, which is the name given to the final round of the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship tournament.

20A Bilingual subj. : ESL

English as a Second Language (ESL)

23A *Action blockbuster with several sequels : THE TERMINATOR (& THOR)

The 1984 movie “The Terminator” was directed by James Cameron. It was a relatively low-budget production, costing $6.4 million, and grossed almost $80 million in its initial run. No wonder the Terminator said “I’ll be back” …

The 2011 movie “Thor” is yet another film based on a comic book hero. Even though I won’t be seeing it (I don’t do comics), I must admit it does have an impressive cast. Chris Hemsworth plays Thor, supported by Natalie Portman, Rene Russo, Idris Elba and Anthony Hopkins. And to crown it all, Kenneth Branagh is the director.

25A Going-out outfits? : PAJAMAS

Our word “pajamas” (sometimes “PJs” or “jammies”) comes to us from the Indian subcontinent, where “pai jamahs” were loose fitting pants tied at the waist and worn at night by locals and ultimately by the Europeans living there. And “pajamas” is another of those words that I had to learn to spell differently when I came to America. On the other side of the Atlantic, the spelling is “pyjamas”.

28A World-weary : BLASE

“Blasé”, meaning “nonchalant, bored from overindulgence” comes from French, in which language it can mean “satiated”.

29A Annual Queens sporting event : US OPEN

The US Open is one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, having started out as the US National Championship in 1881. Today, the US Open is the last major tournament in the Grand Slam annual series, following the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon.

32A Wanders around ORD? : TSA

TSA officers often use hand-held metal detector wands, primarily for secondary screening. If a passenger triggers the walk-through detector, the officer can use the wand to pinpoint the exact location of the metal object on their body. The device works by emitting a small electromagnetic field that, if disrupted by nearby metal, causes the wand to beep or vibrate.

The IATA airport code for O’Hare International in Chicago is ORD, which comes from Orchard Place Airport/Douglas Field (OR-D).

38A Big primate : APE

The tailless primates known as apes (also “hominoids”) are divided into two main branches: gibbons (lesser apes) and hominids (great apes). The hominids are the great apes, and belong to the family of primates called Hominidae. Extant genera that make up the family Hominidae are:

• chimpanzees
• gorillas
• humans
• orangutans

39A Enclosures in a 19-Down : LOCKS
[19D Waterway with 39-Across : CANAL]

A lock is a structure that is used to raise and lower watercraft between stretches of a canal that are at different water levels. Locks are included in canals so that the waterway can cross land that is not level.

41A Nutty Alpine cheese : ASIAGO

Asiago is a cheese that is named for the region in northeastern Italy from where it originates. It comes in varying textures depending on its age. Fresh Asiago is very smooth, while aged Asiago can be very crumbly.

45A Women’s liberal arts college in Atlanta : SPELMAN

Spelman College is a women’s school in Atlanta, Georgia that was founded as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary in 1881. Spelman is part of the Atlanta University Center, along with the nearby all-male Morehouse College, with which Spelman has a long-standing relationship.

46A *Antioxidant-rich treat : DARK CHOCOLATE (& DATE)

Chocolate is made from the seeds of the Theobroma cacao tree. The seeds are very bitter and the traditional drink made with the seed was called “xocolatl” by the Aztecs, meaning “bitter water”. Our word “chocolate” comes from “xocolatl”.

Date palms can be either male or female. Only the female tree bears fruit (called “dates”).

50A Actress Cuthbert : ELISHA

Elisha Cuthbert is a Canadian actress who came to world attention playing Kim Bauer, Jack Bauer’s daughter on TV’s “24”. After “24”, Cuthbert played one of the lead characters on the sitcom “Happy Endings” that ran from 2011 to 2013.

52A Penny prez : ABE

The US one-cent coin has borne the profile of President Abraham Lincoln since 1909, the centennial of Lincoln’s birth. Fifty years later, a representation of the Lincoln Memorial was added to the reverse side.

55A Ultrasound subject : FETUS

The word “fetus”, used for an unborn young animal, comes from Latin, as one might expect. “Fetus” is the Latin word for the act of hatching or bringing forth a young animal or child. The mistaken spelling “foetus” is seen occasionally, but there’s no historical basis for adding that “o”.

A sonogram is an image made using ultrasound. “Ultrasound” is the name given to sound energy that has frequencies above the audible range.

56A *Chinwag : CHEW THE FAT (& CHAT)

Back in the day, a wealthy person would “bring home the bacon”, and sit around with guests “chewing the fat”.

61A “Razzle Dazzle” singer in the 2002 film “Chicago” : GERE

Richard Gere is an American actor who is a practicing Buddhist and has been a student of the Dalai Lama for many years. He has been married three times, including his first marriage to supermodel Cindy Crawford. They were married from 1991 to 1995.

The 2002 musical film “Chicago” is based on the 1975 stage musical of the same name, which in turn is based on a 1926 play, also of the same name. 2002’s “Chicago” was a big hit, and was the first musical to win the Best Picture Oscar since “Oliver!” in 1968.

Down

3D Sitcom pioneer : BALL

Lucille Ball was at the height of her success while she was married to Desi Arnaz. The couple met in 1940 and not long afterwards eloped. Lucy had several miscarriages before she gave birth to her first child in 1951, just one month before her fortieth birthday. A year and a half later, while “I Love Lucy” was garnering large audiences, she became pregnant with her second child, a pregnancy that was written into the television show’s script. In fact, the day that Lucy gave birth on the show, was the same day that she gave birth in real life.

4D Parliament member : OWL

Here are some colorful collective nouns:

• A pride of lions
• A shrewdness of apes
• A cloud of bats
• A bench of bishops
• A parliament of owls
• A clowder of cats
• A waddling of ducks
• An army of frogs
• A knot of toads

7D Crib sheet? : LEASE

“Crib” is a slang term describing one’s home or place of residence.

10D Yoga poses : ASANAS

The word “asana” comes from the Sanskrit root “as”, which means “to sit” or “to be present”. In ancient yogic texts, “asana” primarily referred to a stable and comfortable seated position for meditation, rather than the array of physical postures that we associate with modern yoga practice today.

12D Compañero : AMIGO

The Spanish “compañero” and the English “companion” are both derived from the Late Latin word “companio”, which in turn comes from “com” meaning “with” and “panis” meaning “bread”. So, a companion (also “compañero”) is literally “one who eats bread with another”.

18D Hymn of praise : PAEAN

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

22D Move (about) : MILL

To mill about is to move around, usually en masse, in a disorderly fashion. The term “mill” was first used in the 19th century to describe cattle circling in a group, like the action of a mill wheel.

24D Chicago Booth degs. : MBAS

The University of Chicago Booth School of Business was founded in 1898, making it the nation’s second-oldest business school, after Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Chicago Booth was the first US business school to have a faculty member win a Nobel Prize in Economics (George Stigler in 1982).

25D Big mountain cat : PUMA

The mountain lion is found in much of the Americas from the Yukon in Canada right down to the southern Andes in South America. Because the mountain lion is found over such a vast area, it has many different names applied by local peoples, such as “cougar” and “puma”. In fact, the mountain lion holds the Guinness record for the animal with the most number of different names, with over 40 in English alone.

33D Genesis name : SEGA

Genesis is a video game console sold in the US by the Japanese company Sega. Genesis is sold as Mega Drive in the rest of the world, as Sega couldn’t get the rights to the Mega Drive name in the US.

37D Unit with Roman and “country” varieties : MILE

The length of the mile has varied historically, but the statute mile, commonly used in the US and the UK, is standardized at 5,280 feet, and was standardized at exactly 1609.344 meters in 1959. The word “mile” comes from the Latin phrase “mille passus,” meaning “a thousand paces”. A Roman mile was based on 1,000 Roman strides (a stride being two paces).

39D Highlands waters : LOCHS

“Loch” is the Scottish-Gaelic word for “lake”. The Irish-Gaelic word is “lough”, and the Welsh word is “llyn”.

40D Gp. concerned with NSFW material? : OSHA

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

The abbreviation “NSFW” stands for “not safe/suitable for work”. It’s Internet slang used to describe online content that is best not viewed at work.

47D Naproxen brand : ALEVE

“Aleve” is a brand name used for the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug Naproxen sodium.

48D Poet Leonard : COHEN

I’ve never been a big fan of the music of Canadian singer Leonard Cohen (don’t all yell at me at the same time!). That said, his 1984 song “Hallelujah” is superb, and I particularly like the version recorded by Jeff Buckley in 1994. Then again, “Suzanne” is pretty special too. Just ignore me …

49D Scott who wrote “Island of the Blue Dolphins” : O’DELL

Author Scott O’Dell mainly wrote historical novels for young people. His best-known work is the 1960 novel “Island of the Blue Dolphins”, which is about a young girl stranded for years on an island off the California coast. The book is based on a true story of a Native American girl left alone on one of California’s Channel Islands for 18 years, before being rescued in 1853.

53D Like Mr. Johnson on “Abbott Elementary” : BALD

“Abbott Elementary” is a sitcom in the mockumentary genre. The show was created by and stars Quinta Brunson as a cup-half-full second-grade teacher in a Philadelphia public school. The premise of “Abbott Elementary” is that a film crew is making a documentary about the lives of teachers working in underfunded schools.

54D Site with a Home Favorites section : 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.

56D Fiscal exec : CFO

Chief financial officer (CFO)