LA Times Crossword 18 Aug 24, Sunday - LAXCrossword.com (2024)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Duolingo awards : BADGES

Duolingo is a language-learning app that can be used for free, or with no ads for a premium price. The app was launched to the public in 2012, and 2013 was chosen by Apple as its iPhone App of the Year. Duolingo has a mascot, a green cartoon owl named “Duo”.

14 Peach center : PIT

There are two broad categories of peaches: freestones and clingstones. Clingstones (also “cling peaches”) have flesh that clings tightly to the pit. Freestones are easier to consume as the flesh separates easily from the pit.

22 “The Biggest Small Town in America” : COLUMBUS

The city of Columbus, Ohio is a “purpose-built” state capital. The state legislature selected the location for Ohio’s new capital in 1812, choosing dense forest land with no significant settlement, largely due to its strategic location in the center of the state. The name was chosen in honor of the explorer Christopher Columbus.

23 “Ask E. Jean” columnist : CARROLL

E. Jean Carroll is the journalist behind the advice column “Ask E. Jean” that has appeared in “Elle” magazine since 1993. Carroll also co-founded the website Greatboyfriends.com with her sister Cande Carroll. The site is used by women who want to recommend their ex-boyfriends to each other.

24 Early operating system : UNIX

Unix is a computer operating system that was developed at Bell Labs in 1969. The initial name for the project was Uniplexed Information and Computing Service (Unics), and this evolved over time into “Unix”.

29 Real beaut : LULU

We call a remarkable thing or a person a lulu. The term “lulu” was coined in honor of Lulu Hurst, the Georgia Wonder, who was a stage magician active in the 1880s.

31 Icy coat : HOAR

The Old English word “har” meant “gray, venerable, old”, and came into English as “hoar” (and later “hoary”) with the same meaning. The term “hoar-frost” dates back to the 13th century, and reflects the similarity of the white feathers of frost to the gray/white of an old man’s beard.

38 Letter after upsilon : PHI

Phi is the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet.

41 All __ jazz : THAT

The idiomatic phrase “and all that jazz” means “and other such things”. It developed a link to the city of Chicago starting in 1964 when Frank Sinatra released the song “My Kind of Town”, which includes the lines “Chicago is my kind of razzmatazz, and it has all that jazz”. A decade later, the song “All That Jazz” was written for the 1975 stage musical “Chicago”.

45 “__ noches” : BUENAS

“Buenas noches” is Spanish for “Goodnight” and “good evening”.

48 Celebrity chef Tila : JET

Jet Tila (born “Jet Tilakamonkul”) is an American celebrity chef who specializes in Thai and Chinese cooking.

49 Way of the samurai : BUSHIDO CODE

“Bushido” is a Japanese word meaning “the way of the warrior”. It describes a code of moral principles observed by the samurai, and is roughly equivalent to the western concept of chivalry.

54 Chat with an investor who gets in on the ground floor? : ELEVATOR PITCH

An elevator pitch is an abbreviated and informative description of something, perhaps a product or a company. The idea is that someone could get across the whole “pitch” to another party while traveling between floors in an “elevator”.

57 DNA depiction : GENE MAP

Gene mapping is the concept of identifying the location of genes on a chromosome, and measuring their positions relative to other genes.

59 Skulk member : FOX

A group of foxes are known as a skulk, as well as a leash or earth.

60 Copenhagener, e.g. : DANE

Copenhagen is the largest city and the capital of Denmark. I haven’t had the privilege of visiting Copenhagen, but I hear it is a wonderful metropolis with a marvelous quality of life. The city is also very environmentally friendly, with over a third of its population commuting to work by bicycle.

66 Friendly reminder, for short : PSA

Public service announcement (PSA)

73 Author Sendak : MAURICE

Maurice Sendak is an American writer and illustrator of children’s books. Sendak’s best known work is “Where the Wild Things Are”, published in 1963. The “Wild Things” of the tale are beasts conjured up in the imagination of a young boy named Max, after he is sent to bed without supper.

77 Three-martini meal depicted in “Mad Men” : BUSINESS LUNCH

“Mad Men” was the flagship show on the AMC television channel for several seasons. Set in the sixties, it’s all about an advertising agency located on Madison Avenue in New York (hence the title). “Mad Men” became the first show created by a basic cable channel to win an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series.

85 Scroogian outburst : BAH!

The classic 1843 novella “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens has left us with a few famous phrases and words. Firstly, it led to popular use of the phrase “Merry Christmas”, and secondly it gave us the word “scrooge” to describe a miserly person. And thirdly, everyone knows that Ebenezer Scrooge uttered the words “Bah! Humbug!”.

87 Long-eared hound : BEAGLE

The beagle breed of dog is a scent hound, one developed for tracking small game. Because of this characteristic, beagles are often used as detection dogs in customs halls around the world. The world’s most famous beagle is probably Snoopy from the comic strip “Peanuts”.

90 Munich pub order : BIER

Munich is the capital of the German state of Bavaria, and is the third-largest city in the country (after Berlin and Hamburg). The city is called “München” in German, a term that derives from the Old German word for “by the monks’ place”, which is a reference to the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city in 1158.

93 Tapas seasoning : SAL

In Spanish, one might set the “pimienta” (pepper) by the “sal” (salt).

97 Ghost follower : -BUSTER

1984’s “Ghostbusters” really is an entertaining movie. It stars Bill Murray and Harold Ramis, and was directed by Ivan Reitman (a trio that also worked together on 1981’s “Stripes”). The first draft of the screenplay was written by another star of the movie, Dan Aykroyd. Aykroyd originally envisioned “Ghostbusters” as a vehicle for himself and John Belushi, but sadly Belushi passed away before the project could be realized.

100 Frosh residence, often : QUAD

“Frosh” is a slang term for a college freshperson. We call such an individual a “fresher” back in Ireland …

107 German Film Award : LOLA

Recipients of a German Film Award receive a statuette known as the Lola. The name “Lola” has threefold reference to German cinema:

1. The character Lola, played by Marlene Dietrich in 1930’s “The Blue Angel”
2. The title character in 1981’s “Lola” co-written and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
3. The title character in 1998’s “Run Lola Run” written and directed by Tom Tykwer

111 Abba of the Knesset : EBAN

Abba Eban was an Israeli diplomat and politician. He was born Aubrey Solomon Meir Eban in Cape Town, South Africa. While working at the United Nations after WWII, Eban changed his given name to “Abba”, the Hebrew word for “father”. Reportedly, he made this change as Eban saw himself as the father of the nation of Israel.

The Knesset is the legislative branch of the Israeli government, and does its business in the Givat Ram neighborhood of central Jerusalem.

113 Stuff in a skillet : CAST IRON

Cast iron is an alloy of iron and carbon, with a carbon content that is greater than 1.8%. Iron-carbon alloys containing less carbon are known as steel.

116 Maslany of “Orphan Black” : TATIANA

Canadian actress Tatiana Maslany had her work cut out in the show “Orphan Black”. That’s because she had to play several different characters, all clones born by in vitro fertilization. She also plays the title character Jennifer Walter in the Superhero TV show “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law”.

118 Letters on an Australia trip itinerary : MEL

The Melbourne-Tullamarine Airport (MEL) is the second busiest airport in Australia (after Sydney Airport) and serves the city of Melbourne. It opened for business in 1970, after six years of construction.

119 Iditarod entrant : SLED DOG

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!

Down

1 Mouth of the Orinoco? : BOCA

The Orinoco is a major river in South America that flows over 1,320 miles through Venezuela and Colombia, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean.

2 Maker of Anew skin care products : AVON

In 1886, a young man called David McConnell was selling books door-to-door. To enhance his sales numbers he was giving out free perfume to the ladies of the houses that he visited. Seeing as his perfume was more popular than his books, he founded the California Perfume Company in New York City and started manufacturing and selling across the country. The company name was changed to Avon in 1939, and the famous “Avon Calling” marketing campaign was launched in 1954.

7 Milk sugar : LACTOSE

The sugar known as lactose is a disaccharide, comprising a molecule of galactose combined with a molecule of glucose. Lactose is a major component in milk, and it is broken down in the body by an enzyme called lactase. The production of lactase used to diminish over time in humans, as babies stopped nursing and transitioned to solid food. Many human populations have evolved to maintain lactase production throughout life, a response to the inclusion of animal milk in the diet. Individuals and populations that do not have the genes enabling lifelong production of lactase are said to be lactose intolerant.

8 Indigenous Nebraskans : OMAHAS

The Omaha Nation was one of the most welcoming of the Native American tribes, never resisting the influx of European explorers and traders. The Omaha even fought alongside Union troops during the American Civil War, and have stood by the US people ever since. Regardless, the Omaha people lost most of their land and now reside on the Omaha Reservation in northeastern Nebraska and western Iowa.

14 “You Pick Two” chain : PANERA

Panera Bread is a chain of bakery/coffeehouses. A Panera restaurant is a good place to get online while having a cup of coffee. Back in 2006 and 2007, Panera was the largest provider of free Wi-Fi access in the whole of the US.

18 Feasts with fire dancers : LUAUS

The anglicized name of the Hawaiian feast “luau” comes from the Hawaiian word “lu’au”, which translates literally as “young taro tops”. Taro leaves and corms are often served at luaus.

24 Four Corners state : UTAH

The Four Corners region of the US surrounds the meeting point of the four states of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. It is the only point in the US that is shared by four states.

33 Espresso shop : CAFE

Espresso is made by forcing extremely hot water, under pressure, through finely ground coffee beans. The result is a thick and concentrated coffee drink that contains quite a lot of solids and a lot of foam. An espresso machine was first patented in 1884 in Italy, although it was a machine to make the beverage in bulk. The first patent for a machine that made individual measures was applied for in 1901, also in Italy.

34 Activist Clooney : AMAL

Amal Alamuddin married celebrated Hollywood actor George Clooney in 2014. Alamuddin was born in Beirut, Lebanon and moved with her family to London when she was a toddler. She is a lawyer specializing in international law, with one of her more renowned clients being the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange.

35 Little cupboard raiders : MICE

Back in the 1500s, a cupboard was just that, a board on which one might place cups and similar items. By the 1700s, “cupboard” described an open or closed cabinet, one mainly used for storing food-related items.

37 Rainbow __: frozen dessert : SHERBET

Sherbet, the frozen dessert, is very similar to sorbet, the difference being that sherbet contains a small amount of milkfat.

38 Hard work before a deadline : PUSH

Our use of the term “deadline”, to mean “point in time before something must be done”, arose as jargon in the American newspaper industry in the 1920s. During the Civil War, a deadline was a do-not-cross line drawn on the ground in Confederate prisons.

40 Montoya who sought a six-fingered man : INIGO

In the William Goldsmith novel “The Princess Bride”, the title character is kidnapped by a trio of outlaws that includes fencing master Inigo Montoya. In the 1987 film adaptation, Montoya is played by Mandy Patinkin.

43 David Copperfield portrayer Patel : DEV

Dev Patel is an actor from Harrow in England who is perhaps best known for playing the lead in the hit movie “Slumdog Millionaire”. He also stars in a lovely 2012 film called “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” alongside an incredible cast that included Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith and Tom Wilkinson. Patel also had a regular role in the marvelous HBO drama series called “The Newsroom”.

“The Personal History of David Copperfield” is a 2019 big-screen adaptation of the 1850 Charles Dickens novel “David Copperfield”. Written and directed by Scottish satirist Armando Iannucci, this a comedy-drama version of the Dickens story. Ianucci is the man behind the hit show “Veep”, which is one reason that I’ve put this film on my “must see” list …

45 Tampa Bay pro : BUC

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (the Bucs) joined the NFL in 1976, along with the Seattle Seahawks, as an expansion team. The Bucs had a tough start in the NFL, losing their first 26 games. Things went better in the early eighties, but then the team went through 14 consecutive losing seasons. Their luck changed again though, and they won the Super Bowl at the end of the 2002 season.

49 K-pop boy band : BTS

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”. It is the best-selling musical act in the history of South Korea.

51 Representative Ilhan : OMAR

Ilhan Omar has been representing Minnesota’s 5th congressional district in the US House since 2019. At that time, she became one of the first two Muslim women, as well as the first Somali American, to serve in the US Congress.

55 Tuna tail? : … TARTARE

Steak tartare was first served in French restaurants in the early 1900s. Back then, the dish went by the name “steak à l’Americaine”, would you believe? It was basically raw, seasoned beef mixed with egg yolk. A later version of l’Americaine, without the egg yolk and with tartar sauce served on the side, was dubbed “steak tartare”. Over time the two versions became one, and the steak tartare moniker won out. By the way, if you order steak tartare in Switzerland, I believe you are served horse meat. There are now similar “tartare” dishes made with raw salmon, or raw tuna.

59 Region that includes Indonesia and Japan : FAR EAST

In geographical terms there are three “Easts”. “Near East” and “Middle East” are terms that are often considered synonymous, although “Near East” tends to be used when discussing ancient history and “Middle East” when referring to the present day. The Near/Middle East encompasses most of Western Asia and Egypt. The term “Far East” describes East Asia (including the Russian Far East), Southeast Asia and South Asia.

64 Short message of appreciation : TYSM

Thank you so much (TYSM)

69 Songwriter Etheridge : MELISSA

Melissa Etheridge is a rock singer and songwriter. Etheridge is a vocal supporter of gay rights, having come out as a lesbian in 1993. Her partner gave birth to two children using sperm donated by singer David Crosby.

72 Italian racers, familiarly : 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.

73 Arena at Penn Sta. : MSG

Madison Square Garden (MSG) is an arena in New York City used for a variety of events. In the world of sports it is home to the New York Rangers of the NHL, as well as the New York Knicks of the NBA. “The Garden” is also the third busiest music venue in the world in terms of ticket sales. The current arena is the fourth structure to bear the name, a name taken from the Madison Square location in Manhattan. In turn, the square was named for James Madison, the fourth President of the US.

New York Penn Station services more passengers per day than any other transportation hub in the Western Hemisphere. About 600,000 people use the facility every weekday. Today’s Penn Station exists mostly underground, and is located beneath Madison Square Garden.

76 __ National: kosher brand : HEBREW

The Hebrew National brand of hot dogs and sausages has its roots in the Hebrew National Kosher Sausage Factory that was founded in 1905 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

81 Lit __ : CRIT

Literary studies, also called literary criticism (lit crit), is the evaluation and interpretation of literature.

84 Airport near Astoria: Abbr. : LGA

Fiorello La Guardia was the Mayor of New York from 1934 to 1945, racking up three full terms in office. The famous airport that bears La Guardia’s name was built at his urging, stemming from an incident that took place while he was in office. He was taking a TWA flight to “New York” and was outraged when the plane landed at Newark Airport, in the state of New Jersey. The Mayor demanded that the flight take off again and land at a small airport in Brooklyn. A gaggle of press reporters joined him on the short hop and he gave them a story, urging New Yorkers to support the construction of a new commercial airport within the city’s limits. The new airport, in Queens, opened in 1939 as New York Municipal, often called “LaGuardia” as a nickname. The airport was officially relabeled as “LaGuardia” (LGA) in 1947.

Astoria is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens, New York. The area sits on the East River, and was originally called Hallet’s Cove after the first landowner William Hallet, who settled there in 1659. The area was renamed Astoria in a deal to get John Jacob Astor, then the wealthiest man in the country, to invest $2,000 in the neighborhood. Astor only put up $500 in the end, but the name stuck.

91 Setting for “Fauda” and “Shtisel” : ISRAEL

“Fauda” is a thriller series from Israel that was created by two former members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff. Raz also plays the lead character, a man who rejoins the IDF in order to hunt down a terrorist that he thought he had killed before he had retired from the service.

“Shtisel” is a drama series from Israel that follows the lives of a rabbi and his family. The show explores the interactions between characters who are open to a more secular-leaning lifestyle, while living in a community that follows strict Haredi customs.

92 Posh British school : ETON

The world-famous Eton College is just a brisk walk from Windsor Castle, which itself is just outside London. Eton is noted for producing many British leaders, including prime ministers David Cameron and Boris Johnson. The list of Old Etonians also includes Princes William and Harry, the Duke of Wellington and George Orwell. Author Ian Fleming was also an Eton alumnus, as was Fleming’s iconic character James Bond, although 007 was expelled by the school.

94 Nicaragua native : LATINO

Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America. It lies between Honduras to the north, and Costa Rica to the south. The etymology of the name “Nicaragua” is not very certain. One suggestion is that it is a melding of the name “Nicarao” and “agua”, the Spanish for “water”. Nicarao was the name of the largest city in the area when the Spanish arrived, and it is thought that “agua” refers to the two large lakes: Lake Managua and Lake Nicaragua.

95 Brand in blue packets : EQUAL

Equal was the first aspartame-based artificial sweetener to hit the market, and did so in the early eighties. Up to that point, the only artificial sweetener available was saccharin.

98 Puny pups : RUNTS

Back around 1500, a runt was an old or decayed tree stump, and by the early 1600s “runt” was being used to describe animals that were similarly old and decayed. Ultimately “runt” came to mean the smallest and often sickest in a litter.

101 Spot for tackles in the NFL : D-LINE

Defensive line (D-line)

103 YouTube CEO Mohan : NEAL

Business executive Neal Mohan joined Google in 2007, when his company DoubleClick was acquired in 2007. In 2023, Mohan was tapped by Google to serve as CEO of YouTube. Mohan spent his childhood in the US before moving to India with his family. He returned to the US to study at Stanford University, where he graduated in 1996.

105 Oklahoma city northwest of Oklahoma City : ENID

Enid, Oklahoma takes its name from the old railroad station around which the city developed. Back in 1889, that train stop was called Skeleton Station. An official who didn’t like the name changed it to Enid Station, using a character from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Idylls of the King”. Maybe if he hadn’t changed the name, the city of Enid would now be called Skeleton, Oklahoma! Enid has the nickname “Queen Wheat City” because it has a huge capacity for storing grain, the third largest grain storage capacity in the world.

110 Insects with a pharaoh variety : ANTS

The now-ubiquitous pharaoh ant is a tropical species that thrives indoors all over the world. They are especially troublesome in hospitals where they can even access wounds due to their tiny size.

114 La Brea __ Pits : TAR

The La Brea Tar Pits are located right in the heart of the city of Los Angeles. At the site there is a constant flow of tar that seeps up to the surface from underground, a phenomenon that has been around for tens of thousands of years. What is significant is that much of the seeping tar is covered by water. Over many, many centuries animals came to the water to drink and became trapped in the tar as they entered the water to quench their thirst. The tar then preserved the bones of the dead animals. Today a museum is located right by the Tar Pits, recovering bones and displaying specimens of the animals found there. It’s well worth a visit if you are in town …