LA Times Crossword 18 Apr 24, Thursday

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Constructed by: Hoang-Kim Vu & Jessica Zetzman
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): What Farmers Do, Soundly

Themed answers relate to FARMING, and each sounds like a common phrases:

• 17A At the market, farmers often __ : SWAP MEATS (sounds like “swap meets”)
• 28A At the orchard, farmers are often __ : WORKING IN PEARS (sounds like “working in pairs”)
• 48A In the field, farmers often specialize in __ : BEET GENERATION (sounds like “Beat Generation”)
• 65A At the state fair, farmers often __ : SHOW THYME (sounds like “showtime”)

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

Bill’s time: 10m 38s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Page, in a way : PING

In the world of computer science, a ping is a test message sent over a network between computers to check for a response and to measure the time of that response. We now use the verb “to ping” more generally, meaning to send someone a message, usually a reminder.

15 Wrestler John who has fulfilled more than 650 Make-A-Wish requests : CENA

John Cena is a professional wrestler turned rapper and actor. Although wrestling, rapping and “Cena-style” movies wouldn’t be my cup of tea, I have to admire Cena’s philanthropic record. He holds the title for the most wishes granted by a single individual for the Make-A-Wish Foundation that benefits children with life-threatening medical conditions.

20 Broth in Japanese cuisine : DASHI

Dashi is a style of cooking stock used in Japanese cuisine. Most notably perhaps, “dashi” is the stock that is used as the base for miso soup. Traditional dashi is a fish stock to which is added edible kelp called kombu and shavings of preserved and fermented skipjack tuna called katsuobushi.

23 Unwelcome picnic guests : ANTS

Our term “picnic” comes from the French word that now has the same meaning, namely “pique-nique”. The original “pique-nique” was a fashionable potluck affair, and not necessarily held outdoors.

24 Red Muppet : ELMO

In 2002, The Muppet Elmo got to testify before a US House subcommittee. Elmo’s goal was to get an increase in funding for music education. In the transcript of the hearing, his statements are ascribed to “Elmo Monster” and “Mr. Monster”.

26 Gear for a grip : BOOM

On a film set, grips are lighting and rigging technicians who set up the infrastructure that supports lights, cameras etc. The key grip is the leader of the whole team. The first grips were technicians that worked in circuses in its early days. The name “grip” possibly comes from the bags called grips, in which the technicians carried their tools.

35 MiLB level : AAA

Minor League Baseball (MiLB)

36 Bit at the bottom of a tub : KERNEL

That would be a tub of popcorn.

40 Pres. whose library is in Austin, Texas : LBJ

The Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library is located beside the LBJ School of Public Affairs building of the University of Texas at Austin. The library opened in 1971 with a ceremony attended by President Johnson and President Nixon. To me, the library looks a bit like a concrete bunker from the outside, but soon after entering, visitors are presented with a very, very impressive grand staircase.

42 Oyster layer : NACRE

Nacre, also known as mother-of-pearl, is the strong iridescent material laid down by some mollusks on the inside of their shells, and it’s also what makes up pearls. The creature lays down nacre as a defensive mechanism, protecting the soft tissue of its body from the rough surface of the outer shell. Similarly, it uses nacre to encapsulate harmful debris or a parasite that penetrates the shell, and that’s how a pearl is formed. Cultured pearls are made by inserting a tissue graft from a donor oyster, around which the nacre is laid down.

48 In the field, farmers often specialize in __ : BEET GENERATION (sounds like “Beat Generation”)

The group of American writers known as the Beat Generation first came to prominence at a poetry reading at the Six Gallery in San Francisco in October of 1955. Five young poets presented their work that day:

• Allen Ginsberg
• Philip Lamantia
• Michael McClure
• Gary Snider
• Philip Whalen

53 Composer Jerome : KERN

Jerome Kern was truly a great in the world of theater music. He wrote so many classic songs, including “Ol’ Man River”, “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man”, “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” and “The Way You Look Tonight”.

57 U.S. Pacific island : GUAM

Guam is a US territory in the western Pacific Ocean, and is the largest of the Mariana Islands. Guam is also the first territory in the United States to see the sun rise on any particular day. As such, the territory has adopted the motto, “Where America’s day begins”. During WWII, the US territory of Guam was occupied by the Japanese for 31 months until it was liberated in the Battle of Guam in July 1944. Of the 18,000 Japanese men holding the island, only 485 surrendered, so almost all perished in the invasion. One Japanese sergeant hid out on the island for an incredible 28 years, finally surrendering in 1972!

59 Southern, for one : OCEAN

The Southern Ocean is sometimes referred to as the Antarctic Ocean. It is the body of water that surrounds the landmass of Antarctica.

67 Familiar plot device : TROPE

A trope is a figure of speech. The term “trope” comes from the Greek word “tropos” that has the same meaning. The term has evolved in meaning to also describe a common or overused device or theme.

69 New York canal : ERIE

The Erie Canal runs from Albany to Buffalo in the state of New York. What the canal does is allow shipping to proceed from New York Harbor right up the Hudson River, through the canal and into the Great Lakes. When it was opened in 1825, the Erie Canal had an immediate impact on the economy of New York City and locations along its route. It was the first means of “cheap” transportation from a port on the Atlantic seaboard into the interior of the United States. Arguably it was the most important factor contributing to the growth of New York City over competing ports such as Baltimore and Philadelphia. It was largely because of the Erie Canal that New York became such an economic powerhouse, earning it the nickname of “the Empire State”. Paradoxically, one of the project’s main proponents was severely criticized. New York Governor DeWitt Clinton received so much ridicule that the canal was nicknamed “Clinton’s Folly” and “Clinton’s Ditch”.

72 Acorn, essentially : SEED

These days, we don’t usually consider acorns (the fruit of the oak tree) as a foodstuff. But in days past, many cultures around the world have used acorns as food. Usually, bitter tannins that occur in acorns need to be leached out in water. Acorn meal can be a substitute for grain flour, which can then be used to make bread. Acorns have also been used as a substitute for coffee, especially when coffee was rationed. Notably, acorn coffee was brewed up by Confederates during the American Civil War, and by Germans during World War II.

Down

1 Condition that may be treated with SSRIs : PTSD

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are a category of drugs that are usually prescribed as antidepressants.

2 State that holds quadrennial caucuses : IOWA

The Iowa caucuses have been the first major electoral event in the nominating process for US presidential candidates since 1972.

3 Confidentiality docs : NDAS

Non-disclosure agreement (NDA)

4 Garden tunneler : GOPHER

Gophers are burrowing rodents that are more fully referred to as “pocket gophers”. While it’s not clear how the name “goper” arose, the “pocket” reference is to the animal’s large cheek pouches.

8 Pungent condiment : WASABI

Sometimes called Japanese horseradish, wasabi is a root used as a condiment in Japanese cooking. The taste of wasabi is more like mustard than a hot pepper in that the vapors that create the “hotness” stimulate the nasal passages rather than the tongue. Personally, I love the stuff …

11 Noodle in Japanese cuisine : UDON

Udon noodles are made from wheat-flour and are very popular in Japanese cuisines such as tempura.

22 Part of an order, perhaps : MONK

A monk is a member of a religious community who lives in a monastery. The term “monk” ultimately derives from the Greek “monos” meaning “alone”. The original monks were men who practiced their religious duties in solitude, away from the world.

25 “Mamma __!” : MIA

The hit musical “Mamma Mia!” was written to showcase the songs of ABBA. I’m a big fan of ABBA’s music, so I’ve seen this show a couple of times and just love it. “Mamma Mia!” is such a big hit on the stage that on any given day there are at least seven performances going on somewhere in the world. There is a really interesting film version of the show that was released in 2008. I think the female lead Meryl Streep is wonderful in the movie, but the male leads … not so much! By the way, one can tell the difference between “Mamma Mia” the ABBA song and “Mamma Mia!” the musical, by noting the difference in the punctuation in the titles.

29 “Swan Lake” role for Misty Copeland : ODILE

“Swan Lake” is such a delightfully light and enjoyable ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by a sorcerer. The ballet also features Odile, Odette’s “evil twin”. Odile is disguised to look like Odette with the goal of tricking the prince to fall in love with her. In the ballet, the roles of Odette and Odile are played by the same ballerina. Odette’s love interest is Prince Siegfried, the only character in the ballet to appear in all four acts.

In 2015, ballet dancer Misty Copeland became the American Ballet Theatre’s first African-American principal dancer. Copeland started studying ballet at the age of 13, and just a year later won a national ballet contest.

30 Overhanging part of a roof : GABLE

The gable is the triangular portion of a building’s wall that is defined by the intersection of the two slopes of the roof.

31 Pepper used in mole sauce : ANCHO

An ancho is a dried poblano pepper used in Mexican cuisine. The poblano is a mild chili.

Mole sauce comes in various guises. “Mole negro” includes everyone’s favorite ingredient, namely chocolate.

33 Iditarod vehicle : SLED

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race covers an incredible 1,161 miles, from Anchorage to Nome in Alaska. The race starts every year on the first Saturday in March, with the first race having been held in 1973. Finishing times range from over 8 days to 15 days or more. The first few races only used a northern route, but then a southern route was added to the roster every second year. It’s kind of a good thing, because when the racers take the northern route they don’t even pass through the town of Iditarod!

39 Genesis name : SEGA

Genesis is a video game console sold in the US by the Japanese company Sega. Genesis is sold as Mega Drive in the rest of the world, as Sega couldn’t get the rights to the Mega Drive name in the US.

44 Simon of the “Mission: Impossible” film series : PEGG

Simon Pegg is an English actor and comedian who has hit the big time in Hollywood in the past few years. He played “Scotty” in a couple of “Star Trek” movies and tech wizard Benji Dunn in some of the “Mission: Impossible” films.

46 __ kwon do : TAE

Tae kwon do is the national sport of Korea. “Tae” means “to strike or break with foot”; “kwon” means “to strike or break with fist”; “do” means “way” or “art”. Along with judo, tae kwon do is one of only two martial arts included in the Olympic Games.

49 Queasiness : NAUSEA

Nausea is a sick feeling in the stomach. The term “nausea” derives from the Greek “naus” meaning “ship”. Originally, nausea was associated only with seasickness.

54 “Little Women” woman : BETH

The “Little Women” in Louisa May Alcott’s classic (1868) novel are all sisters. The names of the five main characters in the book are a mother and her four daughters:

• Margaret “Marmee” (the mother)
• Margaret “Meg”
• Josephine “Jo”
• Elizabeth “Beth”
• Amy Curtis

55 “Al __ lado del río”: Oscar-winning song by Jorge Drexler : OTRO

“Al otro lado del río” won the 2004 Oscar for Best Original Song. It was performed by Jorge Drexler from Uruguay for the movie “The Motorcycle Diaries”.

58 Literary captain : AHAB

Captain Ahab is the obsessed and far from friendly captain of the Pequod in Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick”. The role of Captain Ahab was played by Gregory Peck in the 1956 John Huston film adaptation. Patrick Stewart played Ahab in a 1998 miniseries in which Peck made another appearance, as Father Mapple.

60 Literary governess : EYRE

“Jane Eyre” is a celebrated novel written by Charlotte Brontë, under the pen name Currer Bell. The love story is perhaps represented by the oft-quoted opening lines of the last chapter, “Reader, I married him”. There is a wonderful 4-hour television adaptation made by the BBC that I highly recommend to fans of the novel …

61 Dijon companion : AMIE

Dijon is a city in eastern France in the Burgundy region. Dijon is famous for its mustard, a particularly strong variation of the condiment. The European Union doesn’t protect the name “Dijon” so anyone can use it on a label. That seems fair enough to me, given that 90% of the mustard made in and around Dijon is produced using mustard seed imported from Canada!