LA Times Crossword 14 Apr 23, Friday

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Constructed by: Pam Amick Klawitter
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: I Just Dropped In

Themed answers are common phrases, with a letter “I” JUST DROPPED IN:

  • 54A “Not staying long,” and an apt title for this puzzle? : I JUST DROPPED IN
  • 16A Member of the swim-up bar staff? : TREADING WAITER (treading water)
  • 21A Exercise class that’s all about one’s ego? : VANITY PILATES (vanity plates)
  • 34A Elements needed to start NFL games? : THE PROS AND COINS (the pros and cons)
  • 48A Tricks for producing excellent Tweetstorms? : TIRADE SECRETS (trade secrets)

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

Bill’s time: 5m 21s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Pizza chain in many food courts : SBARRO

The Sbarro chain of pizza restaurants was founded by Italian immigrants, Gennaro and Carmela Sbarro.

7 Mark Cuban’s NBA team : DALLAS

Mark Cuban is a successful businessman, and the owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks. If you’ve seen the reality TV show “Shark Tank”, you’ll know Cuban as one of the investors putting up their money i.e. one of the “sharks”. If you’re a “Dancing with the Stars” fan, you might recall Cuban as a contestant on the 5th series of that show, partnered with Kym Johnson.

15 Fútbol chant : OLE OLE!

In Spanish, a “fútbol” (football, soccer) supporter might shout “olé!” (bravo!).

18 La Scala showpiece : ARIA

La Scala Opera House opened in 1778. It was built on the site of the church of Santa Maria della Scala, which gave the theater its Italian name “Teatro alla Scala”. Because of bomb damage in WWII, La Scala had to be rebuilt, and reopened in 1946.

21 Exercise class that’s all about one’s ego? : VANITY PILATES (vanity plates)

A vanity plate is a vehicle registration plate for which owner’s pay extra money in order to choose their own numbers or letters. There are almost 10 million vehicles with vanity plates in North America, with the highest percentage of vanity plates being in the US state of Virginia. The world’s most expensive personal number plate is the number “1” on a Dubai plate, which cost $14 million …

28 Big name in nail polish : OPI

Opi (originally “Odontorium Products Inc.”) is a manufacturer of nail polish based in North Hollywood, California. One of Opi’s marketing coups was the introduction of a line of Legally Blonde 2 polishes, which featured in the film.

29 Phishing fig. : SSN

Phishing is the online practice of stealing usernames, passwords and credit card details by creating a site that deceptively looks reliable and trustworthy. Phishers often send out safe-looking emails or instant messages that direct someone to an equally safe-looking website where the person might inadvertently enter sensitive information. “Phishing” is a play on the word “fishing”, as in “fishing for passwords, PINs, etc.”

30 Interior designer Berkus : NATE

Nate Berkus is an American interior designer and television personality. He rose to fame as a regular guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, where he shared his design expertise and advice with viewers. Berkus was staying at a resort while on vacation in Sri Lanka, when the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami hit. Berkus survived, but his partner Fernando Bengoechea unfortunately did not.

34 Elements needed to start NFL games? : THE PROS AND COINS (the pros and cons)

The two sides of a coin are known as the “obverse” and the “reverse”. The obverse is commonly referred to as “heads”, as it often depicts someone’s head. The reverse is commonly called “tails”, as it is the opposite of “heads”.

42 Many a “9-1-1” character : EMT

Emergency medical technician (EMT)

The first use of a national emergency phone number was in 1937 in the UK, where the number 999 was introduced to call emergency services. If you need emergency services in the UK or Ireland to this day, you have to dial 999. It’s not really clear why 911 became the emergency number in the US. The most credible suggestion (to me) is that when it was introduced by the FCC in 1967, it was a number that “fit” with the numbers already used by AT&T for free services (211-long distance; 411-information; 611-repair service).

48 Tricks for producing excellent Tweetstorms? : TIRADE SECRETS (trade secrets)

In the “wonderful” world of Twitter (said he, sarcastically), a tweetstorm is a series of related tweets by a single user on a related subject.

52 One with elitist tastes : SNOB

Back in the 1780s, a snob was a shoemaker or a shoemaker’s apprentice. By the end of the 18th century the word “snob” was being used by students at Cambridge University in England to refer to all local merchants and people of the town. The term evolved to mean one who copies those who are his or her social superior (and not in a good way). From there it wasn’t a big leap for “snob” to include anyone who emphasized their superior social standing and not just those who aspired to rank. Nowadays a snob is anyone who looks down on those considered to be of inferior standing.

62 “Come From the Heart” country singer Kathy : MATTEA

Kathy Mattea is a country singer who grew up just outside Charleston, West Virginia. Many of Mattea’s songs were written by her husband Jon Vezner.

Down

1 Retired jet : SST

The first supersonic transport (SST) to fly was the Tupolev Tu-144, which was constructed in the Soviet Union. The Tu-144 first flew in 1968, but did not carry passengers until 1977. The aircraft was permanently grounded as a passenger craft in 1978 due to concerns about safety (there had been two Tu-144 crashes). The second SST to fly was the Anglo-French Concorde, which operated at a profit for over 27 years until it was withdrawn from service in 2003. There was one Concorde crash, in Paris in July 2000. Since then, there have been no commercial SST services.

2 Granola __ : BAR

The names “Granola” and “Granula” were trademarked back in the late 1800s for whole-grain foods that were crumbled and baked until crisp. Granola was created in Dansville, New York in 1894.

4 Genetic letters : RNA

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.

5 Hill-building stinger : RED ANT

Fire ants are stinging ants, and many species are known as red ants. Most stinging ants bite their prey and then spray acid on the wound. The fire ant, however, bites to hold on and then injects an alkaloid venom from its abdomen, creating a burning sensation in humans who have been nipped.

6 Egyptian god of the underworld : 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.

7 __ Jones : DOW

Dow Jones & Company was founded as a publishing house in 1882 by three newspaper reporters, Charles Dow, Edward Jones and Charles Bergstresser. Today, the company’s most famous publication has to be “The Wall Street Journal”. In 1884, Charles Dow started reporting the average dollar value of the stock of eleven companies, an index which spawned a whole host of metrics that carry the Dow Jones name to this day. The most famous of these metrics is the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), also known as “the Dow 30” or simply “the Dow”.

9 Island chain : LEI

Leis are traditional Hawaiian garlands that are made from various types of flowers, leaves, and other materials. They were originally worn by ancient Hawaiians as a symbol of their social status and to signify important events such as weddings and funerals.

11 National Weather Service postings : ALERTS

The National Weather Service (NWS) is responsible for providing weather forecasts, warnings, and other meteorological information to the United States public. The NWS has a history dating back over 150 years. The first official weather observation in the United States was taken by the Army Signal Service in 1870. The Signal Service was later renamed the Weather Bureau, which eventually became the National Weather Service.

12 Binger’s target : SERIES

I’m a big fan of binge-watching, the practice of watching perhaps two or three (even four!) episodes of a show in a row. My wife and I will often deliberately avoid watching a recommended show live, and instead wait until the whole series has been released online. I’m not a big fan of “tune in next week …”

17 Part of LGBTQ+ : GAY

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning, and others.

20 Web portal with a butterfly logo : MSN

MSN was originally launched in 1995 as a dial-up service called “The Microsoft Network”. At the time, Microsoft was competing with America Online (AOL) for dominance in the emerging consumer Internet market, and losing the battle. In response, Microsoft revamped the service and relaunched it as a free web portal in 1998.

21 Participate in a primary, say : VOTE

The US is one of just a few countries that uses primary elections, selections of party candidates by popular vote. In the runup to most national elections outside of the US, political parties select their own candidates. Indeed, primaries weren’t introduced into the US until relatively recently. The first presidential primary took place in 1920, in New Hampshire.

24 Shuffle gadget : IPOD

The iPod Shuffle was introduced in 2005 and is the smallest of Apple’s line of audio players. The Shuffle was the first iPod to use flash memory.

25 “The Mod Squad” role for Omar Epps : LINC

The 1999 movie “The Mod Squad” was an adaptation of the seventies television show of the same name. The part of Lincoln “Linc” Hayes was played by Omar Epps, Claire Danes played Julie Barnes and Giovanni Ribisi played Peter Cochran.

26 Explosive letters : TNT

“TNT” is an abbreviation for “trinitrotoluene”. Trinitrotoluene was first produced in 1863 by the German chemist Joseph Wilbrand, who developed it for use as a yellow dye. TNT is relatively difficult to detonate so it was on the market as a dye for some years before its more explosive properties were discovered.

32 “Panini” rapper Lil __ X : NAS

“Lil Nas X” is the stage name of rapper Montero Lamar Hill. He was born and raised just outside of Atlanta. His first hit was “Old Town Road”, which is classified as country rap.

43 Verne Troyer’s “Austin Powers” role : MINI-ME

Actor Verne Troyer was best known for playing the character Mini-Me in the “Austin Powers” series of films. Troyer suffered from a form of dwarfism, and at a height of only 2 ft 8 in was one of the shortest men in the world.

The Austin Powers character was created by the actor who plays him, namely Mike Myers. Apparently Myers came up with the idea for Powers while listening to the Burt Bacharach song “The Look of Love”.

44 __ horse : TROJAN

In the world of computing, a “Trojan horse” is an apparently useful computer program that is actually a piece of malicious code. The user is fooled into installing the program, hence the name. “Trojan horse” is a reference to the Ancient Greek story of the Wooden Horse of Troy.

46 Brunch choice : CREPES

“Crêpe” is the French word for “pancake”.

51 Jackdaw kin : CROW

Ravens and crows are very similar species, and it can be difficult to tell them apart. Ravens are a little larger and often travel in pairs, whereas crows are a little smaller and are usually seen in larger groups. Crows make a cawing sound, while the raven’s call is more like a croak.

Daws are better known today as jackdaws and belong to the crow family. The jackdaw features in a famous pangram (i.e. a short sentence containing all 26 letters of the alphabet), i.e. “Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz”.

55 Disco __ of “The Simpsons” : STU

On “The Simpsons”, the character Disco Stu is voiced by Hank Azaria, although the original intent was for him to be voiced by Phil Hartman. Disco Stu is described as “a black, wrinkly John Travolta”.

56 Rugby ball prop : TEE

A tee is a small device on which, say, a golf ball is placed before striking it. The term “tee” comes from the Scottish “teaz”, which described little heaps of sand used to elevate a golf ball for the purpose of getting a clean hit with a club.

57 Cam or Mitch, on “Modern Family” : DAD

Actor Eric Stonestreet is best-known for playing Cameron Tucker on the hit comedy show “Modern Family”. Stonestreet is openly straight, but plays the gay partner of the character Mitchell Pritchett. Pritchett is played by openly-gay actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Ferguson jokingly describes Stonestreet as being “gay for pay”.

61 “Science Guy” Bill : NYE

That would be “Bill Nye the Science Guy”. In addition to his career as a science educator, Nye is also a comedian. He performed stand-up comedy during his early years as an engineer.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Pizza chain in many food courts : SBARRO
7 Mark Cuban’s NBA team : DALLAS
13 Blue state : SADNESS
15 Fútbol chant : OLE OLE!
16 Member of the swim-up bar staff? : TREADING WAITER (treading water)
18 La Scala showpiece : ARIA
19 Take a little off the top : TRIM
21 Exercise class that’s all about one’s ego? : VANITY PILATES (vanity plates)
26 Hardware with crosspieces : T-BOLTS
28 Big name in nail polish : OPI
29 Phishing fig. : SSN
30 Interior designer Berkus : NATE
31 Marriages : UNIONS
34 Elements needed to start NFL games? : THE PROS AND COINS (the pros and cons)
40 Most massive : HUGEST
41 Barrel band : HOOP
42 Many a “9-1-1” character : EMT
45 Make a typo, say : ERR
46 Not fair : CLOUDY
48 Tricks for producing excellent Tweetstorms? : TIRADE SECRETS (trade secrets)
52 One with elitist tastes : SNOB
53 Gray __ : AREA
54 “Not staying long,” and an apt title for this puzzle? : I JUST DROPPED IN
62 “Come From the Heart” country singer Kathy : MATTEA
63 Without any oomph : WEARILY
64 Came next : ENSUED
65 Office binder : STAPLE

Down

1 Retired jet : SST
2 Granola __ : BAR
3 Juice aisle suffix : -ADE
4 Genetic letters : RNA
5 Hill-building stinger : RED ANT
6 Egyptian god of the underworld : OSIRIS
7 __ Jones : DOW
8 Menu phrase : A LA
9 Island chain : LEI
10 Buncha : LOTTA
11 National Weather Service postings : ALERTS
12 Binger’s target : SERIES
14 Cranky mood : SNIT
17 Part of LGBTQ+ : GAY
20 Web portal with a butterfly logo : MSN
21 Participate in a primary, say : VOTE
22 First Hebrew letter : ALEPH
23 Gesture while giving directions, maybe : POINT
24 Shuffle gadget : IPOD
25 “The Mod Squad” role for Omar Epps : LINC
26 Explosive letters : TNT
27 “Phooey!” : BAH!
31 Tech support callers : USERS
32 “Panini” rapper Lil __ X : NAS
33 Not __: barely acceptable : SO HOT!
35 Had regrets : RUED
36 Nasty sort : OGRE
37 “We’ll square up later” markers : IOUS
38 Wordless agreement : NOD
39 Seeker of intel : SPY
42 UFO mechanics, presumably : ETS
43 Verne Troyer’s “Austin Powers” role : MINI-ME
44 __ horse : TROJAN
46 Brunch choice : CREPES
47 Seize, as an opportunity : LEAP AT
49 Is up against : ABUTS
50 Canal setting : EAR
51 Jackdaw kin : CROW
55 Disco __ of “The Simpsons” : STU
56 Rugby ball prop : TEE
57 Cam or Mitch, on “Modern Family” : DAD
58 Celebrated time span : ERA
59 Short swim : DIP
60 Under the weather : ILL
61 “Science Guy” Bill : NYE