LA Times Crossword 9 Mar 22, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Stella Zawistowski
Edited by: Rich Norris

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Work-Outs

Themed answers are each common phrases reinterpreted as WORK-OUTS:

  • 16A Work out like a hairdresser? : PUMP UP THE VOLUME
  • 30A Work out like a bartender? : LIFT YOUR SPIRITS
  • 38A Work out like a fine artist? : SWEAT THE DETAILS
  • 57A Work out like a stockbroker? : EXERCISE OPTIONS

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

Bill’s time: 9m 10s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Lift option : T-BAR

A T-bar is a ski lift on which the skiers are pulled up the hill in pairs, with each pair standing (not sitting!) either side of a T-shaped metal bar. The bar is placed behind the thighs, pulling along the skiers as they remain standing on their skis (hopefully!). There’s also a J-bar, which is a similar device but with each J-shaped bar used by one skier at a time.

14 It borders It. : AUST

The name “Austria” is a Latin variant of the German name for the country, “Österreich”. “Österreich” itself means “Eastern borderlands”, a reference to the country’s history as a prefecture of neighboring Bavaria to the west.

Italy shares land borders with four countries (France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia) as well as with two microstates (Vatican City and San Marino) that are enclaves. Italy also has two territorial exclaves of its own: the communes of Campione d’Italia (within Switzerland) and Lampedusa e Linosa (in the Mediterranean, within Tunisian territorial waters).

15 Crown-wearing literary elephant : BABAR

“Babar the Elephant” originated in France, a creation of Jean de Brunhoff in 1931. The first book was “Histoire de Babar”, a book so successful it was translated into English two years later for publication in Britain and the US. Jean de Brunhoff wrote six more Babar stories before he died in 1937, and then his son Laurent continued his father’s work.

21 Bills worth a hundo : C-NOTES

“C-note” and “C-spot” are slang terms for “$100 bill”.

“Hundo” is slang for “hundred”.

22 Enjoy a La-Z-Boy : RECLINE

La-Z-Boy is a furniture manufacturer based in Monroe, Michigan. Although the company makes furniture for every room in the house, it is famous for its recliner chairs found in family rooms all over the country.

25 A lot, to Auden : OFT

Noted poet W. H. Auden was born and raised in England, but eventually became a US citizen. As well as hundreds of poems, Auden also wrote librettos for operas, including Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress”.

26 Mother of life, in Greek myth : GAIA

The Greek goddess personifying the earth was Gaea (also “Gaia”, and meaning “land” or “earth” in Greek). The Roman equivalent goddess was Terra Mater, “Mother Earth”.

35 Evidence of shortages, for short : IOUS

I owe you (IOU)

36 Catch, as a flick : SEE

The slang term “flick” meaning “movie” came into use in the mid-1920s. It comes from the “flickering” appearance of films back then.

44 Little winged singer : WREN

The wren is a small songbird belonging to the family troglodytidae and the genus troglodytes. Wrens are known for making dome-shaped nests.

46 Crew implement : OAR

A scull is a boat used for competitive rowing. The main hull of the boat is often referred to as a shell. Crew members who row the boat can be referred to as “oars”. And, a scull is also an oar mounted on the stern of a small boat. It’s all very confusing …

51 Training song in “Flashdance” : MANIAC

“Maniac” is a hit song written for the 1983 movie “Flashdance”. It was performed and co-written by Michael Sembello. Paramount Pictures executives asked Sembello for songs to potentially include in the film. Sembello’s wife included “Maniac” on the tape by accident.

“Flashdance” is a 1983 romantic drama film about a young welder at a steel plant who aspires to become a professional dancer. The movie’s soundtrack was also a big hit and features songs like “Maniac” and “Flashdance…What a Feeling”. The latter was performed by Irene Cara, and won the Best Original Song Oscar for that season.

55 Protagonist of the “Divergent” novels : TRIS

Beatrice “Tris” Prior is the protagonist in the “Divergent” series of movies, and is played by actress Shailene Woodley.

The “Divergent” series of movies is based on the “Divergent” novels written by Veronica Roth. The movies and novels are set in a post-apocalyptic version of Chicago called the Divergent Universe. The story is about a citizenry that is divided into five different factions based on personality traits. The critics weren’t crazy about the first movie in the series, but I really enjoyed it …

56 Exec with the purse strings : CFO

The chief financial officer (CFO) is particularly concerned about his or her company’s profit and loss (P&L).

64 Avonlea adoptee : ANNE

“Anne of Green Gables” is a 1908 novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery that she set in the fictional Prince Edward Island community of Avonlea. Montgomery wrote several sequels to “Anne”, with them all being set on Prince Edward Island (PEI), from where the author hailed.

65 Numero dopo le sette : OTTO

In Italian, the “numero dopo le sette” (number after seven) is “otto” (eight).

Down

1 Rodeo performer : ROPER

“Rodeo” is a Spanish word that is usually translated into English as “round up”.

2 Accustom (to) : INURE

To inure is to harden oneself against the effects of, to accustom oneself to.

3 Component of the spice blend za’atar : SUMAC

Sumac (also “Sicilian sumac”) is a spice made from the dried and ground berries of the wild sumac flower. It has a sour, lemony flavor, and is commonly used in Middle Eastern cuisine.

Za’atar is a herb that is used mainly in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines. The name “Za’atar” is also used for a mixture of spices in which it is the key ingredient, along with toasted sesame seeds, dried sumac, salt and other spices.

4 Medium ability : ESP

Extrasensory perception (ESP)

7 Tennis immortal : ASHE

Arthur Ashe was a professional tennis player from Richmond, Virginia. In his youth, Ashe found himself having to travel great distances to play against Caucasian opponents due to the segregation that still existed in his home state. He was rewarded for his dedication by being selected for the 1963 US Davis Cup team, the first African-American player to be so honored. Ashe continued to run into trouble because of his ethnicity though, and in 1968 was denied entry into South Africa to play in the South African Open. In 1979, Ashe suffered a heart attack and had bypass surgery, with follow-up surgery four years later during which he contracted HIV from blood transfusions. Ashe passed away in 1993 due to complications from AIDS. Shortly afterwards, Ashe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.

8 U.S. __ 1, East Coast hwy. : RTE

US Route 1 runs from Fort Kent in Maine right down to Key West in Florida.

11 Tinseled fabric : LAME

Lamé is a fabric that has metallic yarns included in the weave. It is a popular fabric for stylish evening wear, and also in the sport of fencing. The metallic threads are conductive and so help register a touch by an épée.

Back in the mid-1400s, the word “tinsel” applied to cloth into which was woven gold or silver thread. The term came from the Middle French word “estincelle” meaning “spark, spangle”, which ultimately derived from the Latin “scintilla” meaning “spark”. By the end of the 1500s, “tinsel” described thin strips of shiny metal. The word “Tinseltown” wasn’t applied to Hollywood until 1972.

12 Half of seis : TRES

In Spanish, “tres y tres” (three plus three) is “seis” (six).

15 Literally, “tray planting” : BONSAI

The term “bonsai” is used more correctly to describe the Japanese art of growing carefully shaped trees in containers, although it has come to be used as the name for all miniature trees in pots. “Bonsai” translates literally as “tray planting”.

18 Parental control option : V-CHIP

All television sets produced for the US market since the year 2000 are required by law to include a component called a V-chip. A V-chip allows a TV to be configured so that programming of specific “ratings” can be blocked from viewing. The “V” in V-chip stands for “viewer control”. It sounds like a great idea, but a lot of kids these days quickly do a search online and work out how to reset the password.

27 Gregorius of the Phillies : DIDI

Didi Gregorius is a professional baseball player from the Netherlands who started his MLB career with the Cincinnati Reds. Grogorius’ father played in the Dutch professional baseball league and his mother had turned out for Dutch national softball team. The whole family moved to the island of Curaçao in the Lesser Antilles when Didi was a child, and it was while playing for the under-18 Dutch Antilles team that he was scouted by the Reds.

28 Either of two Monopoly properties that can’t be built on: Abbr. : UTIL

In most versions of the board game Monopoly, the two utilities are Water Works and Electric Company.

29 Ballpark figs. : ESTS

A ballpark figure is an estimated quantity. The original ballpark figure was an estimate of the number of people attending a baseball game, the size of the crowd in the “ballpark”.

31 Where much of “Children of the Corn” was filmed : IOWA

The “Children of the Corn” film series was adapted from a 1977 Stephen King short story of the same name that was first published in “Penthouse” magazine. The first film was released in 1984. I’m afraid that I don’t do horror …

32 Coal, for one : FUEL

Coal forms from peat that is subject to heat and pressure deep in the ground over millions of years. The peat is dead plant matter from former wetlands that we now refer to as “coal forests”.

40 Bingham of “Baywatch” : TRACI

Actress and model Traci Bingham played Jordan Tate on “Baywatch” from 1996 to 1998.

“Baywatch” is a TV series starring David Hasselhoff that is about lifeguards patrolling the beaches of Los Angeles County. Over the life of the show, the lifeguards not only had to rescue swimmers, they also had to deal with earthquakes, shark attacks, serial killers and even nuclear bombs. The trademark “look” on the show was provided by slow motion shots of the lifeguards running to someone’s rescue in those red bathing costumes.

41 Conic section : ELLIPSE

One way to envision the two foci of an ellipse is to imagine two nails sticking up out of a board, placed a small distance apart. A loop of string is placed on the board, with the nails in the middle. A pen is placed inside the loop, and moved as far away from the nails as possible, confined by the string. The pen is then run around the nails, stretching out the string so that it is taut. The pen will draw an ellipse, and the point where the nails are, they are the ellipse’s two foci.

A conic section is the shape made by the surface of a cone when a planar slice intersects. If the cone points directly upwards, andthe plane is perfectly horizontal, then that section is a circle. If the plane is slightly off-horizontal, the section is an ellipse. Mathematically speaking, other possible conic sections are parabolae and hyperbolae.

42 Canapé base, often : TOAST

A canapé is a finger food, something small enough to eat in just one bite. In French, “canapé” is actually the word for a couch or a sofa. The name was given to the snack as the original canapés were savories served on toasted or stale bread that supposedly resembled a tiny couch.

47 Sing like Michael Bublé : CROON

Michael Bublé is a singer from Burnaby in British Columbia. He is of Italian descent on his father’s side. Bublé has held dual Italian-Canadian citizenship since 2005. He dated English actress Emily Blunt for a while, and she sang background vocals and the final verse for his 2007 version of “Me and Mrs. Jones”. Also, Bublé wrote his 2007 song “Everything” for Blunt.

50 “Fun Fearless Female” mag : COSMO

“Cosmopolitan” adopted the motto “fun, fearless, female” back in 1965, when Helen Gurley Brown took over as the magazine’s first female editor.

51 Company message : MEMO

“Memorandum” means “thing to be remembered” in Latin, from the verb “memorare” meaning “to call to mind”.

54 Centenarian fashion icon Apfel : IRIS

Iris Apfel is a fashion icon from New York. Along with her husband Carl Apfel, Iris started the textile firm Old World Weavers in 1950. Through Old World Weavers, she had a contract with the White House through nine administrations, from President Truman through President Clinton. Apfel signed a modeling contract in 2019, at the age of 97!

55 Fork-tailed flier : TERN

Terns are seabirds that are found all over the world. The Arctic Tern makes a very long-distance migration. One Arctic Tern that was tagged as a chick in Great Britain in the summer of 1982, was spotted in Melbourne, Australia just three months later. The bird had traveled over 14,000 miles in over those three months, an average of about 150 miles a day. Remarkable …

59 Courtroom affirmation : I DO

Do you solemnly (swear/affirm) that you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, (so help you God/under pains and penalties of perjury)?

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Expand, as bread dough : RISE
5 Lift option : T-BAR
9 Guard’s order : HALT!
13 Responsibility : ONUS
14 It borders It. : AUST
15 Crown-wearing literary elephant : BABAR
16 Work out like a hairdresser? : PUMP UP THE VOLUME
19 Time worth naming : ERA
20 Late time, in ads : NITE
21 Bills worth a hundo : C-NOTES
22 Enjoy a La-Z-Boy : RECLINE
24 “Didn’t hear you” interjections : EHS
25 A lot, to Auden : OFT
26 Mother of life, in Greek myth : GAIA
27 Needing to be settled : DUE
30 Work out like a bartender? : LIFT YOUR SPIRITS
35 Evidence of shortages, for short : IOUS
36 Catch, as a flick : SEE
37 __ menu : EDIT
38 Work out like a fine artist? : SWEAT THE DETAILS
43 Good buddy : PAL
44 Little winged singer : WREN
45 Slice (off) : LOP
46 Crew implement : OAR
47 Top-flight : CLASSIC
51 Training song in “Flashdance” : MANIAC
55 Protagonist of the “Divergent” novels : TRIS
56 Exec with the purse strings : CFO
57 Work out like a stockbroker? : EXERCISE OPTIONS
60 Be worthy of : MERIT
61 Cons’ counterparts : PROS
62 Destine for failure : DOOM
63 Partner of ends : ODDS
64 Avonlea adoptee : ANNE
65 Numero dopo le sette : OTTO

Down

1 Rodeo performer : ROPER
2 Accustom (to) : INURE
3 Component of the spice blend za’atar : SUMAC
4 Medium ability : ESP
5 Take advantage of : TAP INTO
6 Raised landform : BUTTE
7 Tennis immortal : ASHE
8 U.S. __ 1, East Coast hwy. : RTE
9 Saintly symbol : HALO
10 Share a border with : ABUT
11 Tinseled fabric : LAME
12 Half of seis : TRES
15 Literally, “tray planting” : BONSAI
17 Bring together : UNIFY
18 Parental control option : V-CHIP
23 Much, casually : LOTSA
24 Relaxed : EASED
26 Golfer’s target : GREEN
27 Gregorius of the Phillies : DIDI
28 Either of two Monopoly properties that can’t be built on: Abbr. : UTIL
29 Ballpark figs. : ESTS
30 Have trouble with one’s sisters? : LISP
31 Where much of “Children of the Corn” was filmed : IOWA
32 Coal, for one : FUEL
33 Arena worker : USHER
34 Harvests : REAPS
39 Like many a Broadway musical : TWO-ACT
40 Bingham of “Baywatch” : TRACI
41 Conic section : ELLIPSE
42 Canapé base, often : TOAST
47 Sing like Michael Bublé : CROON
48 Slide (over) : SCOOT
49 Otherwise : IF NOT
50 “Fun, Fearless, Female” mag : COSMO
51 Company message : MEMO
52 Cut : AXED
53 “__ alert!” : NERD
54 Centenarian fashion icon Apfel : IRIS
55 Fork-tailed flier : TERN
58 Relaxing resort : SPA
59 Courtroom affirmation : I DO