LA Times Crossword 28 Apr 22, Thursday

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Constructed by: C.C. Burnikel
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Get a Raise

Themed answers are all in the down-direction. Each includes a hidden word that is something RAISED, and it has been RAISED into the up-direction:

  • 38D Start to make more money, and what the circled letters do? : GET A RAISE
  • 3D Revenue for attorneys : LEGAL FEES (giving “FLAG”)
  • 7D Garment associated with the Aran Islands : CABLE-KNIT SWEATER (giving “STINK”)
  • 10D Warrior with a lightsaber : JEDI KNIGHT (giving “KID”)
  • 31D Option clicked during a Zoom call : MUTE BUTTON (giving “BET”)

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

Bill’s time: 6m 42s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Top of the world? : POLE

The geographic North Pole is located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, although there is almost always a covering of sea ice at that location. The geographic South Pole is located on land, on the continent of Antarctica.

5 De __: actual : FACTO

Conceptually, “de jure” and “de facto” are related terms, one meaning “concerning, according to law”, and the other meaning “concerning, according to fact”. There is an example of the use of the two terms together from my homeland of Ireland. According to our constitution, Irish is the first language of the country, and yet almost everyone in the country uses English as his or her first language. One might say that Irish is the de jure first language, but English is the first language de facto.

16 Géorgie, par exemple : ETAT

In French, “Géorgie” (Georgia) is an “état” (state).

21 Deli sandwich with two vegetables : BLT

The BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato) is the second-most popular sandwich in the US, after the plain old ham sandwich.

23 First player to make a slam dunk in a WNBA game : LESLIE

Lisa Leslie is a former professional basketball player who played in the WNBA with the Los Angeles Sparks. Leslie is rather tall, and was the first player to dunk the ball in a WNBA game.

26 Legolas, for one : ELF

English actor Orlando Bloom’s breakthrough on the big screen came when he was chosen to play Legolas, a Sindarin Elf, in “The Lord of the Rings” series of films.

29 Backs with bucks : FUNDS

“Buck” is a slang word meaning “dollar”. The term has been around at least since 1856, and is thought to derive from the tradition of using buckskin as a unit of trade with Native Americans during the frontier days.

32 Osaka from Osaka : NAOMI

Naomi Osaka is a Japanese-born tennis professional who became the first Asian player to be ranked number-one in singles. She was also the first ever tennis player to light the Olympic cauldron during an opening ceremony, doing so for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

34 “In __ of gifts … ” : LIEU

As one might imagine perhaps, “in lieu” came into English from the Old French word “lieu” meaning “place”, which in turn is derived from the Latin “locum” that also means “place”. So, “in lieu” translates as “in place of”.

37 Shakshuka ingredients : EGGS

Shakshouka (also “shakshuka”) is a dish that originated in North Africa. It consists of eggs poached in a sauce made from tomatoes, chili peppers, garlic and several spices. I’m hungry …

42 Drive-thru devices : ATMS

Automatic Teller Machine (ATM)

46 Olympic swords : EPEES

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

  • Foil
  • Épée
  • Sabre

50 Maguire of “Seabiscuit” : TOBEY

Actor Tobey Maguire is most associated with the role of Spider-Man these days. I’m not much into comic book hero films, but I do kind of enjoy the understated way that Maguire takes on “Spidey”. Maguire has appeared in other hit films, like “Pleasantville” (1998), “The Cider House Rules” (1999) and “Seabiscuit” (2003). Off the screen, he is big into poker and it’s said that he has won over $10 million playing poker in Hollywood. Apparently, the rather unsavory character “Player X” in the 2017 movie “Molly Bloom” was largely inspired by Maguire.

The 2003 hit movie “Seabiscuit” is based on a best-selling book by Laura Hillenbrand called “Seabiscuit: An American Legend”. The horse Seabiscuit was sired by a horse called Hard Tack, and “hard tack” is type of biscuit eaten by sailors at sea in days of yore. “Hard Tack” … “Seabiscuit”, get it …?

54 “Riverdale” actor KJ __ : APA

KJ Apa is an actor and musician from New Zealand. He first came to the attention of North American audiences when he was cast as the lead (Archie Andrews) in the teen drama TV series “Riverdale”. Prior to his “riverdale” casting, Apa had been making regular appearances on the New Zealand primetime soap opera “Shortland Street”.

“Riverdale” is a teen drama TV show based on the “Archie” comic book series. While the “Archie” comics are light in tone, “Riverdale” is a darker production that explores the complex world of the “Archie” characters.

55 Campus job security : TENURE

A job in a university that is described as “tenure-track” is one that can lead to a tenured position. A tenured position is a “job for life”. A person with tenure can only be dismissed for cause.

58 Worshipper in dreadlocks, informally : RASTA

Dreadlocks are matted coils of hair that are usually formed intentionally, although if one lets hair grow out without grooming then it naturally forms twisted and matted dreadlocks. The hairstyle is associated with the Rastafarian movement in which “dread” is a very positive term meaning “fear of the Lord”.

60 Rose Bowl org. : NCAA

The oldest of all the bowl games is the Rose Bowl and so has the nickname “The Granddaddy of Them All”. The first Rose Bowl game was played in 1902.

66 Nix : VETO

The verb “veto” comes directly from Latin and means “I forbid”. The term was used by tribunes of ancient Rome to indicate that they opposed measures passed by the Senate.

The use of “to nix” as a verb, meaning “to shoot down”, dates back to the early 1900s. Before that, “nix” was just a noun meaning “nothing”. “Nix” comes from the German “nichts”, which also means “nothing”.

67 “Easy on Me” singer : ADELE

“Easy on Me” is a 2021 songco-written and recorded by Adele. In the song, Adele is directly addressing her 9-year-old son, asking him to be “easy on” her following her divorce from his father.

68 Uruguay’s Punta del __ : ESTE

Punta del Este is a resort city in southeastern Uruguay that is located about 85 miles east of Montevideo, the nation’s capital.

The official name of Uruguay is the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, which reflects the nation’s location on the eastern coast of South America. It is a relatively small country, the second-smallest on the continent, after Suriname. In 2009, Uruguay became the first country in the world to provide a free laptop and Internet access to every child. Now there’s a thought …

69 Place with a tree guarded by a flaming sword : EDEN

According to the Bible’s Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden in order to prevent them from eating the fruit of the tree of life. Cherubim were assigned to guard the garden, and a flaming sword was installed to protect the path to the tree of life.

70 Black Panther’s hat : BERET

The Black Panther Party (BPP) was a far-left revolutionary organization founded in 1966 in Oakland, California. The BPP dissolved in 1982.

Down

2 Tandoor, e.g. : OVEN

A tandoor is a cylindrical clay or metal oven used in cuisines from several Asian locales, including India.

5 Org. in “Judas and the Black Messiah” : FBI

“Judas and the Black Messiah” is a 2021 film that explores the true story of Black Panther Party member Fred Hampton and his betrayal by FBI informant William O’Neal. Both critics and audiences loved this film, and Daniel Kaluuya (who played Hampton) won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. It’s on my list of “must see” movies …

6 One of Morocco’s official languages : ARABIC

The country of Morocco is located in North Africa, but lies just 9 miles south of Spain. Spain and Morocco, and hence Europe and Africa, are separated by those 9 miles across the Mediterranean Sea known as the Straits of Gibraltar.

7 Garment associated with the Aran Islands : CABLE-KNIT SWEATER

Until the early 1880s, the word “sweater” applied to clothing worn specifically for weight reduction by “sweating”.

The Aran Islands are a group of three islands located at the mouth of Galway Bay in the west of Ireland. They are beautiful and desolate places, and one of the few places in Ireland where the main language spoken is Irish, as opposed to English. If you’ve seen the television comedy “Father Ted”, you’ll be familiar with the landscape. Many of the external shots are from Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands.

10 Warrior with a lightsaber : JEDI KNIGHT

Lightsabers are energy weapons used by the Jedi and the Sith in the “Star Wars” series of films.

18 Aesthetic sense : TASTE

An aesthete (also “esthete”) is someone who appreciates beauty in art or in nature. Often someone described as an aesthete might show excessive or affected admiration of beauty.

22 Ocean froth : SPUME

Our word “spume”, which we use for “froth”, comes from the Latin “spuma” meaning “foam”.

25 Sci-fi spacecraft : UFO

Unidentified flying object (UFO)

26 Subj. for some new immigrants : ESL

English as a Second Language (ESL) is sometimes referred to as English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL).

27 “Star Wars” general : LEIA

The full name of the character played by Carrie Fisher in the “Star Wars” series of films is Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, and later Leia Organa Solo. Leia is the twin sister of Luke Skywalker, and the daughter of Anakin Skywalker (aka “Darth Vader”) and Padmé Amidala. Leia is raised by her adoptive parents Bail and Breha Organa. She eventually marries Han Solo.

31 Option clicked during a Zoom call : MUTE BUTTON

Zoom is a videoconferencing app that became remarkably popular in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The market deemed Zoom to be the easiest to use of the free videoconferencing apps. I’ve been using it, but really prefer Google’s Meet offering …

33 Vaccination spot, typically : ARM

A vaccine used to be a modified virus administered to an individual to stimulate the immune system into developing immunity, until RNA vaccines were introduced to combat COVID-19. British physician Edward Jenner came up with the first vaccine, injecting people with the cowpox virus in order to prevent smallpox. The term “vaccination” comes from the Latin “vaccinus” meaning “from cows”, with “vacca” translating as “cow”.

36 Kim __-hyung: full name of the BTS singer known as V : TAE

Kim Tae-hyung is a singer who uses the stage name “V”. Most famously, V is a member of the South Korean boy band BTS. V is a big hit on Instagram. He holds the Guinness World Records for the fastest time to reach both 1 million and 10 million followers.

BTS is a boy band from South Korea with seven members. The initialism “BTS” stands for the phrase “Bangtan Sonyeondan”, which translates literally as “Bulletproof Boy Scouts”. BTS is the best-selling musical act in the history of South Korea.

41 Work with a score : OPERA

Opera is a performing art involving musicians as well as singers who perform a dramatic work that combines a libretto and a musical score. The art form developed in Italy in the late 1500s, with the first opera being recognised as “Dafne”, a work by Jacopo Peri that is now lost but was first performed in Florence in 1598. The oldest surviving opera score is also by Peri, a work called “Euridice” that was first staged in 1600. The oldest opera that is still performed regularly today is “L’Orfeo” by Claudio Monteverdi, which dates back to 1607.

43 Fish with prized roe : SHAD

The shad is also known as the river herring. The eggs (roe) of the shad are prized as a delicacy, especially in the Eastern US.

45 Place for a snail facial : SPA

Yep, snail facials are a thing. Some beauty treatments involve the placing of snails on the face. The assertion is that snail mucus contains nutrients and antioxidants that can smooth out wrinkles and give a youthful appearance to the skin.

47 Part of REM : EYE

“REM” is an acronym standing for “rapid eye movement”. REM sleep takes up 20-25% of the sleeping hours and is the period associated with one’s most vivid dreams.

55 Treasure stash : TROVE

The term “treasure trove” comes from the Anglo-French “tresor trové “ meaning “found treasure”.

61 Resort near Snowbird : ALTA

Alta ski resort actually lies within the Salt Lake City Metropolitan Area. The first ski lift in the resort was opened way back in 1939. Today, Alta is one of only three ski resorts in the country that prohibits snowboarding (along with Deer Valley, Utah and Mad River Glen, Vermont. The ski resort of Snowbird, located next to Alta, has been in operation since 1971.

64 “Is it soup __?” : YET

There was a famous TV spot advertising Lipton instant soup in the seventies. Kids would watch as boiling water was added to powdered soup, exclaiming excitedly “Is it soup yet?” Ugh …

65 Smoked fish in unagi nigiri : EEL

“Unagi” is the Japanese term for” freshwater eel”, and “anago” is the term for “saltwater eel”.

Nigirizushi (“hand-pressed sushi”) is prepared by pressing a mound of rice into a ball and then draping seafood over the top.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Top of the world? : POLE
5 De __: actual : FACTO
10 Preservers of preserves : JARS
14 At any time : EVER
15 It’s all in your head : BRAIN
16 Géorgie, par exemple : ETAT
17 Open to discussion : NEGOTIABLE
19 Wrapped up : DONE
20 None whatsoever : NADA
21 Deli sandwich with two vegetables : BLT
22 Burn slightly : SINGE
23 First player to make a slam dunk in a WNBA game : LESLIE
25 Maintenance : UPKEEP
26 Legolas, for one : ELF
28 Clock sound : TICK
29 Backs with bucks : FUNDS
30 Appeared : SEEMED
32 Osaka from Osaka : NAOMI
34 “In __ of gifts … ” : LIEU
35 Mix around : STIR
37 Shakshuka ingredients : EGGS
40 Concerning : AS TO
42 Drive-thru devices : ATMS
44 Chick tenders : HENS
46 Olympic swords : EPEES
48 Courteous acknowledgment : HAT TIP
50 Maguire of ”Seabiscuit” : TOBEY
52 Put on : WEAR
54 “Riverdale” actor KJ __ : APA
55 Campus job security : TENURE
56 Make beloved : ENDEAR
58 Worshipper in dreadlocks, informally : RASTA
59 Meadow bleat : BAA!
60 Rose Bowl org. : NCAA
62 Neglect to mention : OMIT
63 “Way, way off!” : NOT BY A MILE!
66 Nix : VETO
67 “Easy on Me” singer : ADELE
68 Uruguay’s Punta del __ : ESTE
69 Place with a tree guarded by a flaming sword : EDEN
70 Black Panther’s hat : BERET
71 Close securely : SEAL

Down

1 Implement stored in a notebook’s spiral : PEN
2 Tandoor, e.g. : OVEN
3 Revenue for attorneys : LEGAL FEES
4 Eat into : ERODE
5 Org. in “Judas and the Black Messiah” : FBI
6 One of Morocco’s official languages : ARABIC
7 Garment associated with the Aran Islands : CABLE-KNIT SWEATER
8 Lean slightly : TILT
9 Single : ONE
10 Warrior with a lightsaber : JEDI KNIGHT
11 Made things right : ATONED
12 Spans : RANGES
13 Hard to climb : STEEP
18 Aesthetic sense : TASTE
22 Ocean froth : SPUME
24 10-Across tops : LIDS
25 Sci-fi spacecraft : UFO
26 Subj. for some new immigrants : ESL
27 “Star Wars” general : LEIA
31 Option clicked during a Zoom call : MUTE BUTTON
33 Vaccination spot, typically : ARM
36 Kim __-hyung: full name of the BTS singer known as V : TAE
38 Start to make more money, and what the circled letters do? : GET A RAISE
39 Cutting sound : SNIP
41 Work with a score : OPERA
43 Fish with prized roe : SHAD
45 Place for a snail facial : SPA
47 Part of REM : EYE
49 Big concert venue : ARENA
50 Paired (up) : TEAMED
51 Not remote : ONSITE
53 Make possible : ENABLE
55 Treasure stash : TROVE
57 High points : ACMES
59 Foreshadow : BODE
61 Resort near Snowbird : ALTA
63 Collar : NAB
64 “Is it soup __?” : YET
65 Smoked fish in unagi nigiri : EEL