LA Times Crossword 17 Nov 23, Friday

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Constructed by: Jamey Smith
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): E-Wasted

Themed answers are all common phrases with a letter E removed:

  • 17A TikTok videos made by athletes? : JOCK-Y SHORTS (from “jockey shorts”)
  • 25A Small flute made from reclaimed farm wood? : BARN-Y FIFE (from “Barney Fife”)
  • 35A Beachcombers’ off-season hopes? : SHELL-Y WINTERS (from “Shelley Winters”)
  • 48A Taverns in cloisters and abbeys? : MONK-Y BARS (from “monkey bars”)
  • 57A Banquet celebrating Ottoman culture? : TURK-Y DINNER (from “turkey dinner”)

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

Bill’s time: 9m 17s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

11 Rx watchdog : FDA

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has its roots in the Division of Chemistry (later “Bureau of Chemistry”) that was part of the US Department of Agriculture. President Theodore Roosevelt gave responsibility for examination of food and drugs to the Bureau of Chemistry with the signing of the Pure Food and Drug Act. The Bureau’s name was changed to the Food, Drug and Insecticide Organization in 1927, and to the Food and Drug Administration in 1930.

There seems to be some uncertainty about the origin of the symbol “Rx” that’s used for a medical prescription. One explanation is that it comes from the astrological sign for Jupiter, a symbol put on prescriptions in days of old to invoke Jupiter’s blessing to help a patient recover.

14 Palindromic pop quartet : ABBA

The palindromic band ABBA recorded the palindromic song “SOS”. Crazy …

15 God often depicted with green skin : OSIRIS

Osiris was the Egyptian god of the underworld. Osiris was the son of Geb the Earth god, and Nut the sky goddess. His wife Isis was also his sister. Osiris was killed and mutilated by Set, his own brother. Isis reassembled Osiris and revived him, just long enough that they could conceive their son Horus.

16 “Snowy” bird : OWL

The snowy owl (also “snow owl”) is such a beautiful-looking creature. Itl has plumage that is thick and white, making it well-adapted for life in its native habitat in the Arctic north.

17 TikTok videos made by athletes? : JOCK-Y SHORTS (from “jockey shorts”)

The term “jockstrap” supposedly arose in the late 1800s, as a contraction of the term “jockey strap”. A jockey strap was an undergarment designed for messengers and deliverymen who rode bicycles for many hours a day. The original American “jockstrap” was the “Bike Jockey Strap” that was introduced to the market in 1874. It is from the term “jockstrap” that we get “jock”, a word describing a stereotypical athletic type.

Jockey is a manufacturer of underwear and sleepwear that was founded in 1876 as a hosiery business in St. Joseph, Michigan called Coopers. In 1935, Coopers came out with the world’s first briefs for men, incorporating a Y-shaped overlapping fly. Touting the support offered by the briefs, they were branded with the name “Jockey”. Coopers adopted the Jockey name for the company in 1971.

20 Quite the card : RIOT

A very amusing person might be referred to as a card, stitch, wag or riot.

22 Vox co-founder Klein : EZRA

“Vox” is a news and opinion website that was founded by former “Washington Post” journalist Ezra Klein in 2014. “Vox” is Latin for “voice”.

23 Spot for a donut : TRUNK

In North America we use the word “trunk” for the storage space in the back of a vehicle as that space is reminiscent of the large traveling chest called a “trunk”. Such trunks used to be lashed onto the back of automobiles before storage was integrated. On the other side of the Atlantic, a trunk is known as a “boot”. The original boot was a built-in storage compartment on a horse-drawn carriage on which a coachman would sit.

A spare tire for a vehicle may be identical to the tires on the vehicle. It may also be a “limited use” or “donut” tire. A donut spare tire can only be used for limited distances.

25 Small flute made from reclaimed farm wood? : BARN-Y FIFE (from “Barney Fife”)

A fife is a small flute that is often used in military and marching bands. The name “fife” comes from the German “Pfeife” meaning “pipe”.

Barney Fife is a deputy sheriff in the sleepy old town of Mayberry on “The Andy Griffith Show”. Barney is played by comic actor Don Knotts.

29 Slangy turnarounds : UIES

Hang a “uey” or “uie”, make a u-turn, make a 180.

30 Tat spot, perhaps : PEC

“Pecs” is the familiar name for the chest muscle, which is more correctly known as the pectoralis major muscle. “Pectus” is the Latin word for “breast, chest”.

31 Barbara Gordon’s alter ego : BATGIRL

Batgirl’s alter ego was Barbara Gordon, the librarian daughter of Commissioner Gordon. Yvonne Craig played Batgirl in the television series “Batman” from the sixties.

35 Beachcombers’ off-season hopes? : SHELL-Y WINTERS (from “Shelley Winters”)

Shelley Winters was an actress from St. Louis, Missouri who won two Oscars: for “The Diary of Anne Frank” (1959) and “A Patch of Blue” (1965). Winters’ first Academy Award has been on display in the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam since the actress donated it to the museum.

41 Palindromic pop trio : AHA

A-ha is a band from Norway that first appeared on the music scene in Oslo in 1982. The band made it into the Guinness Book of World Records twice. A-ha holds the record for the largest paying audience at a concert, drawing 198,000 people to the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro in 1991. Lead singer Morten Harket has the record for holding the longest live note in a song. He held a note in the song “Summer Moved On” for 22 seconds!

43 Secular : LAIC

Anything described as laic (or “laical, lay”) is related to the laity, those members of the church who are not clergy. The term “laic” ultimately comes from the Greek “laikos” meaning “of the people”.

48 Taverns in cloisters and abbeys? : MONK-Y BARS (from “monkey bars”)

Cloisters are usually wonderfully peaceful areas. They are found as part of religious buildings in particular. Cloisters are rectangular open spaces surrounded by covered walkways that are attached to other structures. The use of the term “cloister” has evolved to also describe a monastery or convent, and “cloistered” is used figuratively to mean “sheltered from the outside world”.

The Junglegym was invented in Chicago in 1920, although today we use the generic term “jungle gym”. I hear that monkey bars are a specific type of jungle gym, one consisting primarily of vertical steps and a horizontal ladder from which the “little monkey” can swing from rung to rung.

53 Photoreceptor cell : CONE

The retina is the tissue that lines the inside of the eye, and is the tissue that is light-sensitive. There are (mainly) two types of cells in the retina that are sensitive to light, namely rods and cones. Rods are cells that best function in very dim light and only provide black-and-white vision. Cones on the other hand function in brighter light and can perceive color.

55 Vicinity : AREA

A vicinity is an area surrounding a place. The term “vicinity” ultimately comes from the Latin “vicus” meaning “group of houses, village”.

56 Tempe sch. : ASU

Tempe is a city in the metropolitan area of Phoenix. The city is named for the Vale of Tempe in Greece.

57 Banquet celebrating Ottoman culture? : TURK-Y DINNER (from “turkey dinner”)

Osman I was the man who established the Ottoman Dynasty, with “Ottoman” coming from the name “Osman”. This is despite the fact that the “Ottoman Empire” came about with the conquest of Constantinople (now Istanbul), and that didn’t happen until almost 130 years after Osman I died.

62 Meandered : SNAKED

To meander is to follow a winding course. Meander was a river god in Greek mythology who was patron of the Meander river in modern-day Turkey. The meandering Meander is now known as the Büyük Menderes River.

66 Cheese in a Greek omelet : FETA

Feta is a Greek cheese made from sheep’s milk, or a mixture of sheep and goat’s milk. The cheese is salted and cured in a brine solution for several months before it is eaten.

Down

2 Network with programming streamed on Max : HBO

The HBO Go offering was a “TV Everywhere” service, meaning that paid subscribers could stream content on a choice of platforms just by entering a username and password. HBO Go was superseded by the HBO Max service, which in turn was rebranded as Max.

7 Native language in Oklahoma : KIOWA

The Kiowa Native Americans have a name that means “Principal People”. Most of the Kiowas today live on a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma.

10 CIA predecessor : OSS

The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was formed during WWII in order to carry out espionage behind enemy lines. A few years after the end of the war the OSS functions were taken up by a new group, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that was chartered by the National Security Act of 1947.

11 Muppet bear in a pork pie hat : FOZZIE

Fozzie Bear is the stand-up comic character on “The Muppet Show”. He is often the target of heckles from Statler and Waldorf who sit in the balcony.

The pork pie hat originated in the mid-1800s. It is round, usually made of felt, and has a flat top. When first introduced it was a woman’s hat, but then men grabbed hold of it …

18 Join the team? : YOKE

A yoke is a wooden beam used between a pair of animals so that they are forced to work together.

26 Shelter on the Asian steppes : YURT

A yurt is a wood-framed dwelling that is used by nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. Although a yurt is a substantial structure, it is also extremely portable.

A steppe is a grassland that is devoid of trees, apart from those growing near rivers and lakes. The term “steppe” is Russian in origin, and is used to describe the geographical feature that extends across Eurasia. In South Africa, the same feature is called a “veld”, and in North America it is called a “prairie”.

32 Deuce : TWO

A two in a deck of playing cards might be called a “deuce”, from the Middle French “deus” (or Modern French “deux”) meaning “two”.

34 Deets : INFO

“Deets” is slang for “details”.

37 Liu of “Charlie’s Angels” : LUCY

Lucy Liu is an actress from Queens, New York. Liu’s big break came when she was chosen to play the Ling Woo character in “Ally McBeal”. I liked her in the 2000 film “Charlie’s Angels” but as I am no fan of Quentin Tarantino, I did not enjoy the movie “Kill Bill”. I do enjoy one of Liu’s more recent projects in which she plays Joan Watson, one of the two lead characters in the TV crime drama “Elementary”.

“Charlie’s Angels” is a fun action movie from 2000 that is a spin-off from the iconic TV show of the same name from the seventies. The “Angels” in the movie version are Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu, with Bill Murray as John Bosley. John Forsythe provides the voice of the unseen “Charlie”, just as he did in the original television show.

39 Blackball : SHUN

There is a traditional type of secret ballot in which a voter selects a white wall to indicate support and a black ball indicates opposition. This voting method led to the use of the term “blackball” to mean to shun or to vote against.

42 Tailless primate : APE

Apes and monkeys both belong to the order of primates. The most obvious way to distinguish apes from monkeys is by the presence or lack of a tail. Almost all apes have no tail, and almost all monkeys have tails.

46 Sushi wrapper : 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.

48 Hurdles for aspiring drs. : MCATS

Medical College Admission Test (MCAT)

50 TV carpenter Norm : ABRAM

Norm Abram is the master carpenter who appeared on the PBS show “This Old House”, and who later starred in the spinoff series called “The New Yankee Workshop”.

51 Kipling’s “__-Tikki-Tavi” : RIKKI

In Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book”, one of the short stories is titled “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”. It is a tale about a mongoose, the brave pet of an English family that protects them from a succession of snakes.

60 Genetic molecule : RNA

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a single-stranded molecule that is made up of nucleotides. The four nucleotides that make up RNA are adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and uracil (U). RNA is transcribed from DNA, which means that the information stored in DNA is used to create RNA. RNA then carries this information to the ribosomes, which are the cellular structures responsible for protein synthesis.
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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Become more approachable, say : THAW
5 “Let me demonstrate … ” : LIKE SO …
11 Rx watchdog : FDA
14 Palindromic pop quartet : ABBA
15 God often depicted with green skin : OSIRIS
16 “Snowy” bird : OWL
17 TikTok videos made by athletes? : JOCK-Y SHORTS (from “jockey shorts”)
19 Veer back : ZAG
20 Quite the card : RIOT
21 Wine and dine, maybe : WOO
22 Vox co-founder Klein : EZRA
23 Spot for a donut : TRUNK
25 Small flute made from reclaimed farm wood? : BARN-Y FIFE (from “Barney Fife”)
27 Broad hat, lotion, shades, etc. : SUN GEAR
29 Slangy turnarounds : UIES
30 Tat spot, perhaps : PEC
31 Barbara Gordon’s alter ego : BATGIRL
35 Beachcombers’ off-season hopes? : SHELL-Y WINTERS (from “Shelley Winters”)
40 Bribes : BUYS OFF
41 Palindromic pop trio : AHA
43 Secular : LAIC
45 Got fit : TONED UP
48 Taverns in cloisters and abbeys? : MONK-Y BARS (from “monkey bars”)
52 Like lambs and rams : OVINE
53 Photoreceptor cell : CONE
54 Japanese sash : OBI
55 Vicinity : AREA
56 Tempe sch. : ASU
57 Banquet celebrating Ottoman culture? : TURK-Y DINNER (from “turkey dinner”)
61 Herbal beverage : TEA
62 Meandered : SNAKED
63 Optimist’s words : I CAN
64 Weekly skit show, familiarly : SNL
65 Doesn’t turn away : ADMITS
66 Cheese in a Greek omelet : FETA

Down

1 Arabic for “crown” : TAJ
2 Network with programming streamed on Max : HBO
3 Core workout rep : AB CRUNCH
4 Coming to : WAKING
5 Baffled : LOST
6 “… or thereabouts” : … ISH
7 Native language in Oklahoma : KIOWA
8 Possible cause of an unearned run : ERROR
9 Hold back for now : SIT ON
10 CIA predecessor : OSS
11 Muppet bear in a pork pie hat : FOZZIE
12 Overshadows : DWARFS
13 Pond growth : ALGAE
18 Join the team? : YOKE
22 Submit taxes online : E-FILE
23 Cough syrup meas. : TSP
24 Feels remorse : RUES
25 Donkey cries : BRAYS
26 Shelter on the Asian steppes : YURT
28 Without fumbling : ABLY
32 Deuce : TWO
33 Natural talents : GIFTS
34 Deets : INFO
36 Motorized ride : E-BIKE
37 Liu of “Charlie’s Angels” : LUCY
38 Bright quality : RADIANCE
39 Blackball : SHUN
42 Tailless primate : APE
43 Let out a bit : LOOSEN
44 Many a garden flower : ANNUAL
46 Sushi wrapper : NORI
47 Supposing : EVEN IF
48 Hurdles for aspiring drs. : MCATS
49 Like hardcovers : BOUND
50 TV carpenter Norm : ABRAM
51 Kipling’s “__-Tikki-Tavi” : RIKKI
55 Chimes in : ADDS
57 Airport safety org. : TSA
58 Thus far : YET
59 Nosh on : EAT
60 Genetic molecule : RNA