LA Times Crossword 22 Feb 23, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Alexander Liebeskind & Yu-Chen Huang
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Works Like a Charm

Themed answers each start with an object that some say WORKS LIKE A lucky CHARM:

  • 36A Functions perfectly, and what can be said about the starts of 17-, 23-, 46-, and 57-Across : WORKS LIKE A CHARM
  • 17A Pride symbol : RAINBOW FLAG
  • 23A Arachnid relative that resembles a crustacean : HORSESHOE CRAB
  • 46A Minty frozen treat at McDonald’s every March : SHAMROCK SHAKE
  • 57A Nutty-tasting winter vegetable : ACORN SQUASH

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

Bill’s time: 5m 47s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Hint of color : TINCT

To tinct is to add a little color to something. The term “tinct” ultimately derives from the Latin verb “tingere” meaning “to dye”.

6 Biblical tower site : BABEL

We use the word “babel” now to describe a scene of confusion, lifting the term from the biblical story of the Tower of Babel. The Tower was built in the city of Babylon, and the construction was cursed with a confusion of languages due to the varied origins of all the builders.

14 Play area? : ARENA

Our term “arena” comes from the Latin “harena”, a place of combat. Originally “harena” was used to describe sand or a sandy place. Those Ancient Roman places of combat were covered with sand to soak up blood.

15 Greek salad fruit : OLIVE

What we know as a Greek salad here in North America evolved from the horiatiki salad from Greek cuisine. The name “horiatiki” translates as “peasant, village salad”. A typical horiatiki salad consists of tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, olives with a slice of feta cheese on top. It also includes a dressing made from Greek oregano and salt in olive oil. Notably, the original dish does not include lettuce.

16 Sushi topper : ROE

Sushi is a Japanese dish that has as its primary ingredient cooked, vinegared rice. The rice is usually topped with something, most often fish, and can be served in seaweed rolls. If we want raw fish by itself, then we have to order sashimi.

17 Pride symbol : RAINBOW FLAG

The best-known rainbow flag is the one representing gay pride. Such usage of the rainbow flag was popularized in 1978 by artist Gilbert Baker. The varying colors of the flag represent the diversity of the gay community.

19 Texter’s “Hang on a sec” : BRB

Be right back (brb)

20 “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” director Lee : ANG

Taiwanese director Ang Lee sure has directed a mixed bag of films, mixed in terms of genre but not in terms of quality. He was at the helm for such classics as “Sense & Sensibility” (my personal favorite), “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, “Hulk”, “Brokeback Mountain” and “Life of Pi”.

“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” is a martial arts movie released in 2000. Despite the film’s Mandarin dialogue, it still became a huge international hit. “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” grossed well over $100 million in the US alone, and is still the highest-grossing foreign-language film in American history.

21 No-frills font : ARIAL

Arial is a basic, no-frills typeface.

We tend to use the terms typeface and font interchangeably. Technically, a typeface and font are not the same thing. A complete set of characters with a common design is referred to as a typeface (common examples being Helvetica and Arial). That typeface consists of a whole collection of fonts, all varying in weight and size. One set of Helvetica fonts, for example, might be Helvetica 14 point or Helvetica 16 point, i.e. a specific size. Another set might be Helvetica bold, or Helvetica italic. The difference between fonts and typefaces mattered a great deal when printers had collections of individual letters to make up blocks of text. Thankfully, we don’t have to worry about that these days.

22 Wee bit : IOTA

Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet, and one that gave rise to our letters I and J. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small, as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.

23 Arachnid relative that resembles a crustacean : HORSESHOE CRAB

Horseshoe crabs aren’t crabs at all, and aren’t even crustaceans. Rather, they are chelicerata, marine arthropods closely related to spiders.

Crustaceans are a subphylum of animals that are quite closely related to insects. Crustaceans all have exoskeletons, and most live in aquatic environments.

Arachnids are creatures with eight jointed legs. The name of the class Arachnida comes from the Greek “aráchnē” meaning “spider”.

27 Sex therapy subject : LIBIDO

“Libido” is a term popularized by Sigmund Freud. Freud’s usage was more general than is understood today, as he used “libido” to describe all instinctive energy that arose in the subconscious. He believed that we humans are driven by two desires, the desire for life (the libido, or Eros) and the desire for death (Thanatos).

40 Brief alarm? : SOS

The combination of three dots – three dashes – three dots, is a Morse signal first introduced by the German government as a standard distress call in 1905. The sequence is remembered as the letters SOS (three dots – pause – three dashes – pause – three dots). That said, in the emergency signal there is no pause between the dots and dashes, so “SOS” is really only a mnemonic. Similarly, the phrases “Save Our Souls” and “Save Our Ship” are back-formations that were introduced after the SOS signal was adopted.

42 Singer India.__ : ARIE

India.Arie is an American soul and R&B singer who was born India Arie Simpson in Denver, Colorado.

43 Gargantuan : HUGE

Our term “gargantuan” meaning “enormous” comes from a series of five novels titled “The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel” written in the 1500s by François Rabelais. Gargantua and Pantagruel are two giants in the tale, a father and a son.

44 “The Country Girls” novelist Edna : O’BRIEN

Edna O’Brien is an Irish novelist and playwright who is known for her works that shine a light on the problems of women relating to men and society in general. O’Brien’s first novel, “The Country Girls”, was banned, burned and denounced by the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. As a result, O’Brien left the country and now lives in London.

46 Minty frozen treat at McDonald’s every March : SHAMROCK SHAKE

The first Saint Patrick’s Day celebration in the US was held in 1600, in St. Augustine, Florida. There is some evidence that the first St. Paddy’s Day parade was held the following year, in the same locale. The annual parade in Boston dates back to 1737, in New York City dates back to 1762, and in Chicago dates back to 1843.

53 Noble __ : GAS

The rare gases are better known as the noble gases, but neither term is really very accurate. “Noble” gas might be a better choice though, as they are all relatively unreactive. But “rare” they are not. Argon, for example, is a major constituent (1%) of the air that we breathe.

56 With 11-Down, Michigan college town : ANN …
[11D See 56-Across : … ARBOR]

Ann Arbor, Michigan was founded in 1824 by John Allen and Elisha Rumsey. Supposedly, Allen and Rumsey originally used the name “Annsarbour” in recognition of stands of bur oak that were on the land they had purchased and in recognition of their wives, both of whom were called “Ann” (i.e. Anns’ Arbor)

The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is the oldest university in the state, having been founded in 1817 in Detroit. The move to Ann Arbor from Detroit was made in 1837. Michigan’s athletic teams are known as the Wolverines.

57 Nutty-tasting winter vegetable : ACORN SQUASH

Acorn squash is a winter squash with a shape resembling a large acorn, hence the name.

60 TNT part : TRI-

“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.

64 Borden spokescow : ELSIE

Elsie the Cow is the mascot of the Borden Company. Elsie first appeared at the New York World’s Fair in 1939, introduced to symbolize the perfect dairy product. She is so famous and respected that she has been awarded the degrees of Doctor of Bovinity, Doctor of Human Kindness and Doctor of Ecownomics. Elsie was also given a husband named Elmer the Bull. Elmer eventually moved over to the chemical division of Borden where he gave his name to Elmer’s Glue.

65 Utopias : EDENS

The word “Utopia” was coined by Sir Thomas More in his book “Utopia” published in 1516 to describe an idyllic fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. More’s use of the name Utopia comes from the Greek “ou” meaning “not” and “topos” meaning “place”. By calling his perfect island “Not Place”, More was apparently making the point that he didn’t think that the ideal could actually exist.

Down

1 Actress Reid : TARA

Tara Reid is an actress known for roles she played on television and the big screen. My guess is that her best-known performances were in the “American Pie” series of movies in which she played Vicky. Sadly, Reid succumbed to the pressure to alter her looks with plastic surgery. In interviews, she has shared that her first experience under the knife “went wrong” leading to more surgeries in attempts to rectify the resulting deformity.

2 Setting of the graphic novel “Persepolis” : IRAN

“Persepolis” is a series of French comic strips by Iranian-born French cartoonist Marjane Satrapi that were published as a graphic novel in the early 2000s. The title refers to the ancient capital of the Persian Empire. The strips are autobiographical in nature, and depict the author’s early life during and after the Islamic Revolution.

Persepolis is located in modern Iran, just northeast of the city of Shiraz. The earliest remains of the city date back to around 500 BC. Much of the city’s construction took place during the reign of King Xerxes the Great.

4 “Erin Burnett OutFront” channel : CNN

Erin Burnett is a television journalist and the host of her own show on CNN called “Erin Burnett OutFront”. Apparently Burnett also used to show up occasionally as advisor to Donald Trump on “The Celebrity Apprentice”.

5 Knight’s tunic : TABARD

Tabards were tunics worn by knights over their armor. Often, the tabard was quite colorful and was emblazoned with the knight’s coat of arms. It was this usage of the word “tabard” that gave rise to the Tabard inn, which features in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales”.

6 “Ziggy Stardust” singer David : BOWIE

“Ziggy Stardust” is a 1972 song written and recorded by David Bowie for the album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars”. Despite the key role that the song plays in the concept album/rock opera, “Ziggy Stardust” wasn’t released as a single. The most successful single from the album was “Star Man”.

7 Some Italian sports cars, for short : ALFAS

The “Alfa” in “Alfa Romeo” is actually an acronym, one standing for Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili (“Lombard Automobile Factory, Public Company”). ALFA was an enterprise founded in 1909 and which was taken over by Nicola Romeo in 1915. In 1920 the company name was changed to Alfa Romeo.

8 Star of HBO’s “Barry” : BILL HADER

Bill Hader is an actor and comedian best known as a member of the cast of “Saturday Night Live”. Hader was introduced to Lorne Michaels (producer of “Saturday Night Live”) by Megan Mullally, co-star of the sitcom “Will & Grace”.

“Barry” is a dark comedy TV series starring Bill Hader as an Ohio hitman who questions his life of crime. Veteran actor Henry Winkler plays an award-winning supporting role as the teacher of an acting class that the hitman joins.

9 Actress Longoria : EVA

Eva Longoria is a fashion model and actress who had a regular role on TV’s “Desperate Housewives”, playing Gabrielle Solis.

13 Shish __ : KEBAB

The term “kebab” (also “kabob”) covers a wide variety of meat dishes that originated in Persia. In the West, we usually use “kebab” when talking about shish kebab, which is meat (often lamb) served on a skewer. “Shish” comes from the Turkish word for “skewer”.

25 Actress Kurylenko : OLGA

Olga Kurylenko is a Ukrainian actress and model. Kurylenko played the Bond girl Camille Montes in the James Bond movie “Quantum of Solace”.

27 Newton trio : LAWS

Sir Isaac Newton’s three laws of motion are the basis of classical mechanics. The three laws define the relationship between a body and the forces acting on that body, and its resulting motion.

32 Luau strings, briefly : UKE

The ukulele (uke) originated in the 1800s and mimicked a small guitar brought to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants.

The Hawaiian party or feast known as a “luau” really dates back to 1819, when King Kamehameha II removed religious laws that governed the eating of meals. These laws called for women and men to eat separately. At the same time as he changed the laws, the king initiated the luau tradition by symbolically eating with the women who moved in his circle.

34 Ohio border lake : ERIE

Lake Erie borders four US states (Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan) and one Canadian province (Ontario).

35 Marvel mutants who battle Magneto : X-MEN

The X-Men are a team of superheroes created by Stan Lee for Marvel Comics. Nowadays, the X-Men are perhaps best known as the subject of a series of movies, with Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine and Patrick Stewart playing Professor Xavier (or simply “Professor X”). Some very respected actors have also played the villains whom the X-Men have to battle. For example, the enemy called Magneto is portrayed by veteran Shakespearean actor Sir Ian McKellen.

In the Marvel Comics universe, Magneto is a powerful mutant, and an enemy of the X-Men. As his name implies, Magneto’s superhuman ability is that he can generate and control magnetic fields. Magneto has been portrayed on the big screen in the “X-Men” series of films by Sir Ian McKellen, and by Michael Fassbender.

37 Egg (on) : SPUR

The verb “to edge” has been used to mean to incite, to urge on, from the 16th century. Somewhere along the way “edge” was mistakenly replaced with “egg”, giving us our term “to egg on” meaning “to goad”.

38 Macy’s red star, for one : LOGO

The original Macy’s store was opened by Rowland Hussey Macy in Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1851. This store, and several others that Macy opened, all failed. Macy picked himself up though, and started over again in New York City. Those early New York stores all focused on the sale of dry goods, but added departments quickly as the clientele grew. The Macy’s red star logo has been around since the company was first established. Macy chose the star because it mimicked the star tattoo that he got as a teenager when he was working on a whaling ship out of Nantucket.

44 Units of resistance : OHMS

The unit of electrical resistance is the ohm (with the symbol omega) named after German physicist Georg Simon Ohm. Ohm was the guy who established experimentally that the amount of current flowing through a circuit is directly proportional to the voltage applied, (V=IR) a relationship that every school kid knows as Ohm’s Law.

45 Language from northern Spain : BASQUE

Basque Country is an area that covers north-central Spain and southwestern France, and is home to the Basque people.

47 “Atlanta” actor Brian Tyree __ : HENRY

“Atlanta” is a comedy-drama television show that was created by and stars Donald Glover. Glover plays a Princeton dropout named “Earn” who returns penniless to his native Atlanta. Brian Tyree Henry plays an up-and-coming rap artist named “Paper Boi”, and Earn’s cousin. Earn makes efforts to reconnect with Paper Boi, and hilarity ensues …

48 Golfer Palmer, to fans : ARNIE

Arnold Palmer was one of the greats of the world of golf. He was very popular with many fans of the game, and his followers were usually referred to as “Arnie’s Army”. Off the course, Palmer was an avid pilot until his latter years. He resided in Latrobe, Pennsylvania for much of the year and the local airport is named in his honor: Arnold Palmer Regional Airport.

49 Beach volleyball Olympic gold medalist __ Walsh Jennings : KERRI

Kerri Walsh Jennings was partnered with Misty May-Treanor when they won three gold medals in beach volleyball in the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

55 Wally Lamb’s “__ Come Undone” : SHE’S

Wally Lamb is an author from Connecticut who is perhaps best known for his novels “She’s Come Undone” (1992) and “I Know This Much Is True” (1998). Apparently, Oprah Winfrey is a big fan of Lamb’s work, and chose both of the mentioned titles for Oprah’s Book Club.

58 __-de-sac : CUL

Even though “cul-de-sac” can indeed mean “bottom-of-the-bag” in French, the term “cul-de-sac” is of English origin (the use of “cul” in French is actually quite rude). The term was introduced in aristocratic circles at a time when it was considered very fashionable to speak French. Dead-end streets in France are usually signposted with just a symbol and no accompanying words, but if words are included they are “voie sans issue”, meaning “way without exit”.

59 German conjunction : UND

The conjunction “and” translates into German as “und”.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Hint of color : TINCT
6 Biblical tower site : BABEL
11 Inquire : ASK
14 Play area? : ARENA
15 Greek salad fruit : OLIVE
16 Sushi topper : ROE
17 Pride symbol : RAINBOW FLAG
19 Texter’s “Hang on a sec” : BRB
20 “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” director Lee : ANG
21 No-frills font : ARIAL
22 Wee bit : IOTA
23 Arachnid relative that resembles a crustacean : HORSESHOE CRAB
27 Sex therapy subject : LIBIDO
29 Helpful supporter : ALLY
30 Loads : A TON
31 Give in a little : BUDGE
33 Irritate : VEX
36 Functions perfectly, and what can be said about the starts of 17-, 23-, 46-, and 57-Across : WORKS LIKE A CHARM
40 Brief alarm? : SOS
41 Fake : POSER
42 Singer India.__ : ARIE
43 Gargantuan : HUGE
44 “The Country Girls” novelist Edna : O’BRIEN
46 Minty frozen treat at McDonald’s every March : SHAMROCK SHAKE
51 School year division : TERM
52 Swarms (with) : TEEMS
53 Noble __ : GAS
56 With 11-Down, Michigan college town : ANN …
57 Nutty-tasting winter vegetable : ACORN SQUASH
60 TNT part : TRI-
61 Sounds from happy cats : PURRS
62 Loosen, as a knot : UNTIE
63 Storm center : EYE
64 Borden spokescow : ELSIE
65 Utopias : EDENS

Down

1 Actress Reid : TARA
2 Setting of the graphic novel “Persepolis” : IRAN
3 People next door : NEIGHBORS
4 “Erin Burnett OutFront” channel : CNN
5 Knight’s tunic : TABARD
6 “Ziggy Stardust” singer David : BOWIE
7 Some Italian sports cars, for short : ALFAS
8 Star of HBO’s “Barry” : BILL HADER
9 Actress Longoria : EVA
10 Part of a race : LEG
11 See 56-Across : … ARBOR
12 Kinda : SORTA
13 Shish __ : KEBAB
18 Approximately : OR SO
22 Slippery, as a road : ICY
24 Barnyard sound : OINK!
25 Actress Kurylenko : OLGA
26 Utility abbr. : ELEC
27 Newton trio : LAWS
28 “Am __ early?” : I TOO
31 Dividing lines : BISECTORS
32 Luau strings, briefly : UKE
33 Diversify, in a way : VARIEGATE
34 Ohio border lake : ERIE
35 Marvel mutants who battle Magneto : X-MEN
37 Egg (on) : SPUR
38 Macy’s red star, for one : LOGO
39 Literary “Listen!” : HARK!
43 “I wonder … ” : HMM …
44 Units of resistance : OHMS
45 Language from northern Spain : BASQUE
46 Utter : STATE
47 “Atlanta” actor Brian Tyree __ : HENRY
48 Golfer Palmer, to fans : ARNIE
49 Beach volleyball Olympic gold medalist __ Walsh Jennings : KERRI
50 Pick up : SENSE
54 Spelling clarification phrase : AS IN
55 Wally Lamb’s “__ Come Undone” : SHE’S
57 Imitate : APE
58 __-de-sac : CUL
59 German conjunction : UND