LA Times Crossword 9 Sep 26, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Rena Cohen

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Footing the Ball

Themed answers are all common phrases reinterpreted as SOCCER PLAYERS:

• 20A Soccer player who shares every little detail online? : PUBLIC DEFENDER
• 38A Soccer player from a Florida archipelago? : KEEPER OF THE KEYS
• 51A Soccer player who doesn’t pull their weight? : CARRIED FORWARD

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

Bill’s time: 8m 05s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

10A Apple variety : GALA

Gala is the most popular apple cultivar in the US, surpassing the red delicious in 2018. The gala apple tree originated in New Zealand in 1930, and is a cross between a golden delicious and a Kidd’s orange red.

14A __ Productions: media company founded by Oprah : HARPO

Oprah Winfrey’s multimedia production company is known as Harpo Productions. “Harpo” is “Oprah” spelled backwards, and is also the name of the husband of the character who Winfrey played in the movie “The Color Purple”.

15A West Coast sch. that joined the Big Ten in 2024 : UCLA

The UCLA Bruins’ mascots are Joe and Josephine Bruin, characters that have evolved over the years. There used to be “mean” Bruin mascots but they weren’t very popular with the fans, so now there are only “happy” Bruin mascots at the games.

18A Birds whose oil is used in Aboriginal medicine : EMUS

The emu has a thick pad of fat on its back, an evolutionary adaptation designed to insulate it from extreme outback temperatures. Indigenous Australians have collected emu oil by rendering this pad of fat, and used it as a medicine and skin protectant for thousands of years. Today, emu oil has transitioned into a commercial commodity, widely marketed in modern cosmetics and skincare products for its rich concentration of omega fatty acids.

19A Super Serum seller : OLAY

Oil of Olay was developed in South Africa in 1952. When it was introduced internationally, it was given slightly different brand names designed to appeal in the different geographies. In Ireland we know it as Oil of Ulay, for example, and in France it is Oil of Olaz.

34A King topper in a game of war : ACE

War is a card game, one played mainly by children.

35A Singer Halliwell : GERI

Geri Halliwell was nicknamed Ginger Spice when she was with the Spice Girls, because of her red hair. Halliwell was quite a bit older than the rest of the group and so sometimes she was less charitably referred to as “Old Spice”. After launching her solo career, Halliwell released a fabulous 2001 version of the song “It’s Raining Men”, which was originally recorded by the Weather Girls in 1982. Great song …

38A Soccer player from a Florida archipelago? : KEEPER OF THE KEYS

The Florida Keys are a chain of low islands that stretch from the tip of the Florida peninsula, about 15 miles south of Miami. The westernmost inhabited island is Key West, and the westernmost uninhabited island is Loggerhead Key. Most of the inhabited islands are connected by US Highway 1, which traverses several impressive bridges.

44A Rookie gamer : NEWB

The term “rookie”, used for a raw recruit, first appeared in Rudyard Kipling’s collection of songs and poems called the “Barrack-Room Ballads”, which was originally published in 1892.

49A “Truthfully” initials : TBH

To be honest (TBH)

60A Eaglet home : AERIE

An aerie (sometimes “eyrie”) is an eagle’s nest. The term “aerie” can also more generally describe any bird’s nest that is located on a cliff or a mountaintop.

61A Avant-garde style : DADA

Dadaism thrived during and just after WWI, and was an anti-war, anti-bourgeois and anti-art culture. The movement was launched in Zurich, Switzerland by a group of artists and writers who met to discuss art and put on performances in the Cabaret Voltaire. The same group frequently expressed disgust at the war that was raging across Europe.

Someone or something described as avant-garde is especially innovative. “Avant-garde” is French for “advance guard”.

62A Small bird of prey : KITE

Kites are birds of prey that feed mainly on carrion. They have very small bodies relative to the size of their wings. As a result, kites fly somewhat effortlessly, catching the gentlest of updrafts. The weightless, drifting appearance of the bird in flight led to the flying toy being called a “kite”.

Down

2D Robusto! sauce brand : RAGU

The Ragú brand of pasta sauce was introduced in 1937. The name ”Ragù” is the Italian word for a sauce used to dress pasta, however the spelling is a little off in the name of the sauce. In Italian, the word is “Ragù” with a grave accent over the “u”, but if you look at a jar of the sauce on the supermarket shelf it is spelled “Ragú” on the label, with an acute accent. Sometimes I think we just don’t try …

3D Many an Eid celebrant : ARAB

The two main holidays celebrated in Islam are Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.

4D Lets the cat out of the bag : SPILLS

To let the cat out of the bag means to reveal hidden facts. Apparently, there’s no really clear derivation of the phrase “Letting the cat out of the bag”, but one suggestion is that it is a reference to the whip known as the “cat o’nine tails”. The story is that the “cat” was stored in a red bag, and so someone reporting a punishable offense would be “letting the cat out of the bag”.

5D Ketanji colleague : SONIA

Sonia Sotomayor was the first Hispanic justice appointed to the US Supreme Court, and the third female justice. Sotomayor was nominated by President Barack Obama to replace the retiring Justice David Souter in 2009. She is the subject of a picture book in the series “Ordinary People Change the World” by Brad Meltzer. “I Am Sonia Sotomayor” was published in 2018.

Nominated by President Joe Biden, Ketanji Brown Jackson succeeded Associate Justice Stephen Breyer on the US Supreme Court in 2022. In doing so, she became the first Black woman to serve on the court. Jackson clerked for Justice Breyer, from 1999 to 2000.

8D Nickname for comedian Gabriel Iglesias : FLUFFY

Comedian Gabriel Iglesias appeared in the reality TV show “Last Comic Standing” in 2006, but was ousted mid-season when he broke the rules by using a smuggled BlackBerry to contact family and friends. That failure didn’t hold him back, though, and he was listed as one of the ten highest-paid comedians in the world in 2018.

12D Father of Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia : LEAR

William Shakespeare’s play “King Lear” is one of his tragedies. Lear demands homage from his three daughters as he divides up his kingdom between them. The two older daughters, Goneril and Regan, pretend to be devoted to their father, but the youngest, Cordelia, refuses to be insincere. Goneril and Regan assume power, but turn on their father, who chooses to become destitute and goes insane.

22D Italy’s third-largest city : NAPLES

Naples (“Napoli” in Italian) is the third largest city in Italy. The name “Napoli” comes from the city’s Ancient Greek name, which translates as “New City”. That’s a bit of a paradox, as today Naples is one of the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world.

29D Preferring platonic relationships, for short : ARO

“Aro” is a common shorthand for “aromantic”. An aromantic person is someone who experiences little or no romantic attraction. It is distinct from asexual (“ace”), which refers to little or no sexual attraction, though some individuals identify as both aromantic and asexual.

33D Herb in jerk seasoning : THYME

Jerk chicken is a Jamaican dish in which the meat is prepared with a hot spice mixture that is used as a marinade or a dry rub. There is a suggestion that the term “jerk” comes from the Quechuan word “ch’arki” meaning “dried, salted meat”. The same Quechuan word is the root of our term “jerky” meaning “lean, dried meat”.

35D Company with an annual search for a spokesbaby : GERBER

The Gerber Baby is a famous baby food logo that was introduced in 1928. The manufacturer of Gerber baby foods held a contest in the summer of that year to find a suitable baby face for a planned campaign. The winning entry was an unfinished charcoal drawing by Dorothy Hope Smith of Westport, Connecticut. Her model was Ann Turner Cook, who was a baby of the artist’s neighbor. Young Ann grew up to be a teacher cum mystery novelist. She passed away in 2022, at the age of 95.

36D Flamin’ Hot puff : CHEETO

Cheetos snacks were developed by the same guy who created Fritos, hence the similarity in name. On the market since 1948, up until the turn of the century the name was written as “Chee-tos”.

48D Spot for a tee party? : LINKS

The oldest type of golf course is a links course. The name “links” comes from the Old English word “hlinc” meaning “rising ground”. “Hlinc” was used to describe areas with coastal sand dunes or open parkland. As a result, we use the term “links course” to mean a golf course that is located at or on the coast, often amid sand dunes. The British Open is always played on a links course.

54D Guitar ridge : FRET

A fret is a metal strip embedded in the neck of a stringed instrument, a guitar perhaps. The fingers press on the frets, shortening a string and hence changing the note played. The note increases by one semitone as a finger shortens a string by one fret.

55D Yankee nickname of the 2000s : A-ROD

Professional baseball player Alex Rodriguez earned more nicknames than just “A-Rod”. He has been called “the Cooler” by some players as there was a perception that teams went cold when he joined them and hot when he left. He has also been called “A-Fraud” by teammates because of another perception, that he is over-demanding. Rodriguez was in a world of hurt not so long ago, for using illegal performance-enhancing drugs. He retired from baseball in 2016.