LA Times Crossword 7 Jul 26, Tuesday

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Constructed by: Matthew Luter

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Come Together

Themed answers each have the letters C-O-M-E embedded within, and those letters COME TOGETHER as we descend the grid:

• 20A Question, as the opposing side’s witness : CROSS-EXAMINE
• 34A Settings that reinforce personal biases : ECHO CHAMBERS
• 41A Tool for monitoring blood sugar levels : GLUCOSE METER
• 55A Classic Beatles song, or an apt description of the progression of this puzzle’s circles : COME TOGETHER

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

Bill’s time: 5m 14s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

14A Kendrick of “Pitch Perfect” : ANNA

Anna Kendrick is a marvelous actress whose big break came when she played the sidekick to George Clooney’s character in the very interesting 2009 film “Up in the Air”. Kendrick can sing as well as act, and played a student a cappella singer in the 2012 movie “Pitch Perfect”.

“Pitch Perfect” is an entertaining musical comedy film released in 2012. It’s all about an all-female college a cappella group competing to win a national competition, and is a loose adaptation of the non-fiction book “Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate a Cappella Glory” by Mickey Rapkin.

18A Big brass horn : TUBA

The tuba is the lowest-pitched of all brass instruments, and one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra (usually there is just one tuba included in an orchestral line-up). “Tuba” is the Latin word for “trumpet, horn”. Oom-pah-pah …

23A Location of all but two NATO members : EUROPE

There are two NATO members located outside of Europe: the US and Canada.

Even though the US is a key member of NATO, technically, Hawaii is excluded from NATO protection. That is because the alliance’s mutual defense obligations are limited to territories in Europe, North America, and islands in the Atlantic north of the Tropic of Cancer.

29A Cell service letters : LTE

In the world of telecommunications, the initialism LTE stands for Long-Term Evolution, and is a wireless broadband communication standard. In general terms, LTE improves broadband speeds. As I understand it, LTE technology allows a 3G network to perform almost as well as a true 4G network, and so LTE is sometimes marketed as 4G LTE, even though it’s really “3G plus”.

32A Giants legend Mays : WILLIE

Willie Mays’ nickname was “Say Hey Kid”, although his friends and teammates were more likely to refer to him as “Buck”. When Mays was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, he was asked who was the best player he’d ever seen in the game. He replied, “I don’t mean to be bashful, but I was.”

39A Language similar to Thai : LAO

Lao, the language of Laos, does not use spaces between words (or periods!), although this is apparently changing. Spaces are used between sentences and clauses.

41A Tool for monitoring blood sugar levels : GLUCOSE METER

Diabetes is a group of disorders characterized by high blood sugar levels (hyperglycemia). Type 1 diabetes is caused by the body’s failure to make enough insulin, a hormone that promotes the absorption of glucose from the blood. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body’s cells fail to respond properly to insulin.

45A Icarus, to Daedalus : SON

Daedalus was a master craftsman of Greek mythology who was tasked with creating the Labyrinth on the island of Crete that was to house the Minotaur. After the Labyrinth was completed, King Minos imprisoned Daedalus and his son Icarus in a tower, so that he could not spread word of his work. Daedalus fabricated wings so that he and Icarus could escape by flying off the island. Despite being warned by his father, Icarus flew too close to the sun so that the wax holding the wings’ feathers in place melted. Icarus drowned in the sea, and Daedalus escaped.

46A The first “A” of Reddit’s AMA : ASK

Reddit.com is a networking and news website that started up in 2005. It is essentially a bulletin board system with posts that are voted up and down by users, which determines the ranking of posts. The name “Reddit” is a play on “read it”, as in “I read it on Reddit”. One popular feature of the Reddit site is an online forum that is similar to a press conference. Known as an AMA (for “ask me anything”), participants have included the likes of President Barack Obama, Madonna, Bill Gates, Stephen Colbert and Gordon Ramsay. President Obama’s AMA was so popular that the high level of traffic brought down many parts of the Reddit site.

50A Some short albums : EPS

An extended-play (EP) record, CD or download contains more music than a single, but less than a long-play (LP) record.

55A Classic Beatles song, or an apt description of the progression of this puzzle’s circles : COME TOGETHER

“Come Together” is the first track on the 1969 album “Abbey Road”, by the Beatles. John Lennon basically wrote the song at the request of writer Timothy Leary, who wanted a song for his campaign to replace Ronald Reagan as Governor of California. The song lost its sponsor when Leary was imprisoned for possession of marijuana.

61A Comedian Trevor : NOAH

Trevor Noah is an outstanding comedian from Johannesburg, South Africa. Noah took over as host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” after Jon Stewart retired. Noah can speak several languages, including English, Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho, Afrikaans, and German.

64A Sushi seaweed : NORI

Nori is an edible seaweed that we used to know as “laver” when we were living in Wales. Nori is usually dried into thin sheets. Here in the US, we are most familiar with nori as the seaweed used as a wrap for sushi.

68A Element seen all over Las Vegas : NEON

The Neon Museum in Las Vegas opened in 1996 and features many old signs from the heyday of the Las Vegas Strip. Much of the museum is a “boneyard”, housing about 150 signs on 6 acres of land.

Down

3D “Do it again!” : ENCORE!

“Encore” is French for “again, one more time”, and is a shout that an audience member will make here in North America to request perhaps another song. But, the term is not used this way in France. Rather, the audience will shout “Bis!”, which is the Latin for “twice!”

5D The Electric Mayhem bandleader : DR TEETH

The Muppet character named Dr. Teeth is the leader of the “The Muppet Show” house band, which is actually called Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.

6D Common sauce base : ROUX

A roux is a mixture of wheat flour and clarified butter (or other fat) cooked together until it can be used as a thickening agent.

9D Give the cold shoulder : SHUN

To give someone the cold shoulder is to ignore the person deliberately. A little research into the etymology of “cold shoulder” reveals that there’s some dispute over the origin of the phrase. To me, the most credible suggestion is that the term was coined by Sir Walter Scott in his writings, and he simply used the imagery of someone “turning away, coldly”, to suggest the act of ignoring someone. Less credible is the suggestion that unwelcome visitors to a home in days gone by might be offered a “cold shoulder” of mutton, rather than a hot meal.

21D Ronnie who sang lead on “Be My Baby” : SPECTOR

The Ronettes were a sixties girl group from New York City who worked with famed record producer Phil Spector. Their most famous hit was probably “Be My Baby” from 1963. The lead singer of the group was Veronica Bennett, who ended up marrying Spector in 1968, leaving him in 1974 to become “Ronnie” Spector, “the original bad girl of rock and roll”.

22D Corn Belt state : IOWA

The Corn Belt (sometimes “Grain Belt”) is a region in the Midwest where, since the mid-1800s, corn has been the major crop. Geographically, the Corn Belt covers Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and parts of Michigan, Ohio, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota and Missouri. About 40% of the world’s corn production comes from the region, and most of that production is used for the feeding of livestock.

26D Luge or skeleton : SLED

“Luge” is a French word meaning “sled”. It describes a small sled used by one or two people, on which one lies face up and feet first. The luge can be compared to the skeleton, a sled for only one person and on which the rider lies face down and goes down the hill head-first. Yikes!

28D Desired response to a promposal : YES

Over the years, the act of asking someone to be a prom date has become very elaborate. Such acts are sometimes referred to as “promposals”, a portmanteau of “prom” and “proposal”.

31D Kenneth of fashion : COLE

Kenneth Cole is a clothing designer from Brooklyn, New York. Cole is married to Maria Cuomo, the daughter of former Governor of New York Mario Cuomo.

41D Miracle-__: garden brand : GRO

Miracle-Gro is a water-soluble fertilizer that first hit the shelves in 1951 as the brainchild of an advertising executive and a nurseryman. The two partners built their empire by selling the relatively simple mixture through catchy mail-order ads. By all accounts, the “miracle” growth of their business was less about a secret chemical breakthrough and more about audacious marketing.

47D Audiophile’s system : STEREO

Monophonic sound (“mono”) is sound reproduced using just one audio channel, which is usually played out of just one speaker. Stereophonic sound is reproduced using two audio channels, with the sound from each channel played out of two different speakers. The pair of stereo speakers are usually positioned apart from each other so that sound appears to come from between the two. Quadraphonic sound (4.0 surround sound) uses four audio channels with the sound played back through four speakers that are often positioned at the corners of the room in which one is listening.

48D Like BTS or bibimbap : KOREAN

BTS is a boy band from South Korea with seven members. The initialism “BTS” stands for the phrase “Bangtan Sonyeondan”, which translates literally as “Bulletproof Boy Scouts”. It is the best-selling musical act in the history of South Korea.

The name of the Korean dish bibimbap translates literally as “mixed rice”, with “bibim” meaning “mixed ingredients” and “bap” meaning “rice”. Generally, the dish comes as a bowl of white rice topped with sautéed vegetables flavored with chili pepper paste. Variants often include a fried egg and sliced beef.

51D Tubular pasta : PENNE

The pasta known as penne comes in two main types, i.e. penne lisce (which is smooth) and penne rigate (which is furrowed).

54D Hawke of “Before Sunrise” : ETHAN

Ethan Hawke is a Hollywood actor who made his breakthrough in a supporting role in “Dead Poet’s Society”, playing opposite Robin Williams. Hawke used to be married to Uma Thurman, with whom he has two children.

The 1995 romantic drama film “Before Sunrise” was inspired by a real-life encounter director Richard Linklater had in 1989. He had a chance meeting in a toy store with a 20-year-old woman named Amy Lehrhaupt. The pair spent an entire night walking through Philadelphia, discussing art, science, and philosophy until dawn. The real duo exchanged numbers and tried to maintain a long-distance relationship, but eventually fell out of touch. Linklater secretly hoped Lehrhaupt might show up to a screening of the movie, only to discover decades later that she had tragically died in a motorcycle accident in 1994, before the film was even released. The film stars Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy as the couple.

57D Rowboat pair : OARS

Oarlocks are swiveling braces on the sides of a rowing boat that hold the oars as the boat is being propelled. Back in Ireland, we call them “rowlocks” (pronounced “rollox”).

58D Many a “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” character : COP

“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” is a sitcom set in the 99th precinct of the NYPD in Brooklyn. Star of the show is “Saturday Night Live” alum Andy Samberg, who plays Detective Jake Peralta.

59D Bird in Tootsie Pop ads : OWL

Mr. Owl is a character introduced in a 1970 commercial for Tootsie Pops. He was voiced by Paul Winchell, a ventriloquist who also voiced the original Tigger in Disney animated movies.

60D Game with Reverse cards : UNO

A standard game of Mattel’s UNO can be used to play several variations of the game, such as Elimination UNO, Speed UNO and Pirate UNO. There is also a spin-off game called “DOS” that is published by Mattel.