LA Times Crossword 5 Mar 19, Tuesday

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Constructed by: MaryEllen Uthlaut
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Reveal Answer: Mixing Bowl

Themed answers include the letters B-O-W-L, but they’ve been MIXED around:

  • 61A. Baker’s staple, and a hint to this puzzle’s circles : MIXING BOWL
  • 17A. Smartphone condition resolved by recharging : LOW BATTERY
  • 32A. Unable to see because of reflected sunlight : SNOWBLIND
  • 38A. “The West Wing” actor : ROB LOWE
  • 46A. Martin Waddell book about birds missing their mother : OWL BABIES

Bill’s time: 5m 30s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

15. Gumbo pod : OKRA

Gumbo is a type of stew or soup that originated in Louisiana. The primary ingredient can be meat or fish, but to be true gumbo it must include the “holy trinity” of vegetables, namely celery, bell peppers and onion. Okra used to be a requirement but this is no longer the case. Okra gave the dish its name as the vernacular word for the African vegetable is “okingumbo”, from the Bantu language spoken by many of the slaves brought to America.

16. Dark purple berry : ACAI

Açaí (pronounced “ass-aye-ee”) is a palm tree native to Central and South America. The fruit has become very popular in recent years and its juice is a very fashionable addition to juice mixes and smoothies.

21. Went out in the sloop : SAILED

Sloops and cutters are sailboats, and each has just one mast. One major difference between the two types of vessel is that the mast on a cutter is set much further aft than the mast on a sloop.

26. Antlered grazers : ELKS

The elk (also known as “wapiti”) is the one of the largest species of deer in the world, with only the moose being bigger. Early European settlers were familiar with the smaller red deer back in their homelands, so when they saw the “huge” wapiti they assumed it was a moose, and incorrectly gave it the European name for a moose, namely “elk”. The more correct name for the beast is “wapiti”, which means “white rump” in Shawnee. It’s all very confusing …

29. Brawl : MELEE

Our term “melee” comes from the French “mêlée”, and in both languages the word means “confused fight”.

30. Short-legged Welsh dog breed : CORGI

The Welsh corgi is a herding dog that originated in Britain, with two recognized breeds: the Pembroke and Cardigan. Corgis aren’t speedy enough to do their job by running around livestock like collies, and instead nip at the heels. “Corgi” is Welsh for “dwarf dog”.

34. Quimby girl of kid-lit : RAMONA

Ramona Quimby is a character in a series of “Henry Huggins” children’s novels penned by Beverly Cleary. As she aged, Ramona merited her own set of stories.

36. “The Time Machine” race : ELOI

In the 1895 novel by H. G. Wells called “The Time Machine”, there are two races that the hero encounter in his travels into the future. The Eloi are the “beautiful people” who live on the planet’s surface. The Morlocks are a domineering race living underground who use the Eloi as food.

38. “The West Wing” actor : ROB LOWE

The actor Rob Lowe is one of the “founding members” of the so-called Brat Pack, having appeared in the movie “St. Elmo’s Fire”. More recently, he played a regular character on the TV show “Parks and Recreation”. My favorite of his roles though, was playing Sam Seaborn on Aaron Sorkin’s great drama series “The West Wing”. When “The West Wing” first aired, Seaborn was billed as the show’s main character, but outstanding performances from the rest of the cast and some great writing meant that Lowe’s role became “one of many”. This led to some dissatisfaction on Lowe’s part, and eventually he quit the show.

46. Martin Waddell book about birds missing their mother : OWL BABIES

“Owl Babies” is a children’s book by Martin Waddell that was first published in 1992. It’s all about three owl babies who wake up in the middle of the night and find that their mother is gone. The babies don’t realize that Mom is out hunting for food. Everything works out though, when the mother owl returns to the nest.

53. What snakes’ tongues sense : ODOR

Snakes use their forked tongues to collect sense odors and tastes, especially when tracking prey. Because the tongue is forked, they can determine the direction in which the prey lies.

56. Brunch cocktail : MIMOSA

Where I come from, the cocktail known in North America as a mimosa is called a buck’s fizz, with the latter named for Buck’s Club in London where it was introduced in 1921. The mimosa came along a few years later, apparently first being served in the Paris Ritz. If you want to make a mimosa, it’s a 50-50 mix of champagne and orange juice, and it is very tasty …

58. Hawaiian feast : LUAU

Nowadays the word “luau” denotes almost any kind of party on the Hawaiian Islands, but to the purist a luau is a feast that always includes a serving of poi, the bulbous underground stems of taro.

60. Mishmash : OLIO

“Olio” is a term meaning “hodgepodge, mixture” that comes from the mixed stew of the same name. The stew in turn takes its name from the Spanish “olla”, the clay pot used for cooking.

69. Bee product : HONEY

Honey bees create a structure within their nests called a honeycomb that is used to contain their larvae and also to store honey and pollen. The honeycomb comprises hexagonal cells made from wax.

71. Loch __ monster : NESS

Loch Ness is one of the two most famous lakes in Scotland. Loch Ness is famous for its “monster”, and Loch Lomond is famous for the lovely song “The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond”. Oh, ye’ll tak’ the high road, and I’ll tak’ the low road …

72. Cell terminal : ANODE

A battery is a device that converts chemical energy into electric energy. A simple battery is made up of three parts: a cathode, an anode and a liquid electrolyte. Ions from the electrolyte react chemically with the material in the anode producing a compound and releasing electrons. At the same time, the electrolyte reacts with the material in the cathode, absorbing electrons and producing a different chemical compound. In this way, there is a buildup of electrons at the anode and a deficit of electrons at the cathode. When a connection (wire, say) is made between the cathode and anode, electrons flow through the resulting circuit from the anode to cathode in an attempt to rectify the electron imbalance.

Down

2. P-like Greek letter : RHO

Rho is the Greek letter that looks just like our Roman letter “p”, although it is equivalent to the Roman letter R.

3. “Eat Mor Chikin” sign holder in Chick-fil-A ads : COW

Chick-fil-A is a chain of fast food restaurants that was founded in 1946 in Georgia. The corporation has a culture that is heavily influenced by the founder’s evangelical Christian faith. As such, Chick-fil-A is one of the only fast food or retail chain of stores that closes for business on Sunday. Chick-fil-A also made the headlines a while back due to the company’s stated opposition to same-sex marriage.

4. Trade restriction : EMBARGO

“Embargo” and “blockade” are two similar yet different terms. An embargo is a legal prohibition of trade with a particular country, whilst a blockade is an act of war, a militarily enforced prevention of the movement of goods and services. The term “embargo” came into English from Spanish, in the late 16th century.

7. 58-Across instrument : UKE
(58A. Hawaiian feast : LUAU)

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

10. Explorer Boone : DANIEL

Daniel Boone was a pioneer and folk hero. For frontiersman Boone, the frontier was what we now call the state of Kentucky. He led the building of the Wilderness Road through the famous Cumberland Gap in the Appalachians, a route subsequently taken by hundreds of thousands of migrants into Kentucky. Boone fought in the Revolutionary War with distinction, and after the war returned to Kentucky and got himself into land speculation. He became mired in debt, forcing him to emigrate to Missouri to settle down on land that was at that time owned by the French. It was there that he spent the last decades of his life.

11. Eyelike spots : OCELLI

An ocellus (plural “ocelli”) is an eye-like marking, or eyespot. A good example of ocelli are the eyespots on the elaborate display feathers of a peacock.

12. Tilt dangerously around corners : CAREEN

The term “careen” dates back to 1590 when it meant “to turn a ship on its side, exposing the keel”. The word evolved from the Middle French word “carene” meaning “keel”. Our modern usage, meaning to lean or tilt, only dates back as far as the 1880s. Careen should not be confused with “career”, a verb meaning to move rapidly. One has to “career” from side-to-side in order to “careen”.

23. Plot measure : ACRE

At one time, an acre was defined as the amount of land a yoke of oxen could plow in a day. Then, an acre was more precisely defined as a strip of land “one furrow long” (i.e. one furlong) and one chain wide. The length of one furlong was equal to 10 chains, or 40 rods. A area of one furlong times 10 rods was one rood.

24. Author Didion : JOAN

Joan Didion is a journalist and author who was profiled in the Netflix documentary “The Center Will Not Hold”. She won a Pulitzer for her autobiographical work “The Year of Magical Thinking”, which book she used as the basis for a stage play of the same name. The book focuses on the year following the death of her husband, while the play also encompasses the subsequent death of her daughter.

27. Tolled mournfully : KNELLED

The word “knell” is used for a solemn ring from a bell, often associated with death or a funeral. “Knell” comes the Old English “cnell” and is probably imitative in origin, sounding like a peal from a large bell.

39. Scott of “Happy Days” : BAIO

Scott Baio is the actor who played Chachi Arcola in the great sitcom “Happy Days” and in the not-so-great spin-off “Joanie Loves Chachi”. Baio also played the title role in a later sitcom called “Charles in Charge”. Earlier in his career, he played another title role, in the 1976 movie “Bugsy Malone”, appearing opposite a young Jodie Foster.

The fabulous sitcom “Happy Days” originally ran for 11 seasons, from 1974 to 1984. That makes it the second longest-running sitcom in the history of ABC (behind “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet”). “Happy Days’ spawned several spin-off shows, two of which became very successful. Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams played two characters who later featured in “Laverne and Shirley”, and Robin Williams first played Mork from Ork on a “Happy Days” episode, which led to “Mork & Mindy”.

41. Canal in a 1956 dispute : SUEZ

The Suez Crisis of 1956 came about when President Nasser of Egypt decided to nationalize the Suez Canal, a response to a withdrawal of funds by Britain and the US for the building of the Aswan Dam. Egypt then refused to allow any Israeli shipping the use the canal. With British and French support, Israel invaded the Sinai in October 1956, starting the military conflict. Combined British, French and Israeli forces eventually took control of the Suez Canal, which was viewed as a military success but a political disaster. The United Nations, led by the US, pressured the British, French and Israelis to withdraw.

42. Fencing sword : EPEE

There are three fencing events in the modern Olympics, with each distinguished by the weapon used:

  • Foil
  • Épée
  • Sabre

45. Society named for an ornithologist : AUDUBON

The National Audubon Society is an environmental organization that was formed in 1905. The society is named for John James Audubon, an ornithologist who compiled his famous book “Birds of America” between 1827 and 1838.

46. Seep slowly through : OSMOSE

Osmosis is the movement of a solvent (often just water) across a semipermeable membrane. In the process of osmosis, the solvent tends to flow from an area of less concentration to an area of higher concentration. This sense of absorbing water effortlessly gives rise to the expression “learning by osmosis”.

59. Muslim honorific : AGHA

“Aga” (also “agha”) is a title that was used by both civil and military officials in the Ottoman Empire.

62. ’50s White House nickname : IKE

When the future president was growing up, the Eisenhowers used the nickname “Ike” for all seven boys in the family, as “Ike” was seen as an abbreviation for the family name. “Big Ike” was Edgar, the second oldest boy. “Little/Young Ike” was Dwight, who was the third son born. Dwight had no sisters.

64. Yoko from Tokyo : ONO

Yoko Ono was born in 1933 in Tokyo into a prosperous Japanese family, and is actually a descendant of one of the emperors of Japan. Yoko’s father moved around the world for work, and she lived the first few years of her life in San Francisco. The family returned to Japan, before moving on to New York, Hanoi and back to Japan just before WWII, in time to live through the great firebombing of Tokyo in 1945. Immediately after the war the family was far from prosperous. While Yoko’s father was being held in a prison camp in Vietnam, her mother had to resort to begging and bartering to feed her children. When her father was repatriated, life started to return to normal and Yoko was able to attend university. She was the first woman to be accepted into the philosophy program of Gakushuin University.

66. Cleaning chemical : LYE

What we call “lye” is usually sodium hydroxide, although historically the term was used for potassium hydroxide. Lye has many uses, including to cure several foodstuffs. Lye can make olives less bitter, for example. The chemical is also found in canned mandarin oranges, pretzels and Japanese ramen noodles. More concentrated grades of lye are used to clear drains and clean ovens. Scary …

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Like a pendulum’s path : ARCED
6. Tinted : HUED
10. Loading platform : DOCK
14. Question before “Yes, you!” : WHO? ME?
15. Gumbo pod : OKRA
16. Dark purple berry : ACAI
17. Smartphone condition resolved by recharging : LOW BATTERY
19. Geeky type : NERD
20. Succulent plant genus : ALOE
21. Went out in the sloop : SAILED
23. Not quite closed : AJAR
26. Antlered grazers : ELKS
29. Brawl : MELEE
30. Short-legged Welsh dog breed : CORGI
32. Unable to see because of reflected sunlight : SNOWBLIND
34. Quimby girl of kid-lit : RAMONA
36. “The Time Machine” race : ELOI
37. Letters after ems : ENS
38. “The West Wing” actor : ROB LOWE
40. Press into service : USE
43. __ history : ORAL
44. Buy eagerly, as discount goods : SNAP UP
46. Martin Waddell book about birds missing their mother : OWL BABIES
51. One getting private instruction : TUTEE
52. Pottery remnant : SHARD
53. What snakes’ tongues sense : ODOR
55. Take a nap : DOZE
56. Brunch cocktail : MIMOSA
58. Hawaiian feast : LUAU
60. Mishmash : OLIO
61. Baker’s staple, and a hint to this puzzle’s circles : MIXING BOWL
67. Texter’s button : SEND
68. __ out a living : EKED
69. Bee product : HONEY
70. Neither calm nor collected : EDGY
71. Loch __ monster : NESS
72. Cell terminal : ANODE

Down

1. Tool for making eyelet holes : AWL
2. P-like Greek letter : RHO
3. “Eat Mor Chikin” sign holder in Chick-fil-A ads : COW
4. Trade restriction : EMBARGO
5. Word with fair and square : … DEAL
6. Lodging spots : HOTELS
7. 58-Across instrument : UKE
8. Go wrong : ERR
9. Common work shift : DAYS
10. Explorer Boone : DANIEL
11. Eyelike spots : OCELLI
12. Tilt dangerously around corners : CAREEN
13. Teased : KIDDED
18. Sock part : TOE
22. Atmospheric kind of music : AMBIENT
23. Plot measure : ACRE
24. Author Didion : JOAN
25. Weaponry : ARMS
27. Tolled mournfully : KNELLED
28. By oneself : SOLO
31. Sudden attacks : INROADS
33. Dazzles : WOWS
35. 50-50 choice, perhaps : A OR B
39. Scott of “Happy Days” : BAIO
40. __-the-minute : UP-TO
41. Canal in a 1956 dispute : SUEZ
42. Fencing sword : EPEE
45. Society named for an ornithologist : AUDUBON
46. Seep slowly through : OSMOSE
47. Caused to pass (away), as time : WHILED
48. Causing to limp, say : LAMING
49. Feeling depressed : BROODY
50. Geometric category : SOLIDS
54. Sprint : RUN
57. “Yes indeed!” : AMEN!
59. Muslim honorific : AGHA
62. ’50s White House nickname : IKE
63. Simple signatures : XES
64. Yoko from Tokyo : ONO
65. United in marriage : WED
66. Cleaning chemical : LYE