LA Times Crossword 2 Aug 24, Friday - LAXCrossword.com (2024)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

14 __ vera : ALOE

Aloe vera is a succulent plant that grows in relatively dry climates. The plant’s leaves are full of biologically-active compounds that have been studied extensively. Aloe vera has been used for centuries in herbal medicine, mainly for topical treatment of wounds.

16 Org. with a flower on its seal : EPA

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

20 African animal with features similar to zebras and giraffes : OKAPI

The okapi is closely related to the giraffe, although it does have markings on its legs and haunches that resemble those of a zebra. The okapi’s tongue is long enough to reach back and wash its eyeballs, and can go back even further to clean its ears inside and out.

21 Singer DiFranco : ANI

Ani DiFranco is a folk-rock singer and songwriter. DiFranco has also been labeled a feminist icon, and in 2006 won the Woman of Courage Award from the National Organization for Women.

23 Capitol fig. : SEN

A capitol is a building in which a legislature meets. Such buildings are often constructed with an impressive dome. The term “capitol” is a reference to the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, the most important temple in ancient Rome, and which sat on top of Capitoline Hill.

28 Documentary podcast about legends : LORE

“Lore” is a bi-weekly podcast about folklore and legends that first aired in 2015, winning the iTunes “Best of 2015” award. It has been adapted into a horror anthology TV series of the same name that premiered in 2017.

30 Bánh mì spread : PATE

Pâté is a rich spreadable paste made from a mixture of ground meat and fat to which various vegetables, herbs and spices may be added. The most famous version of the paste is pâté de foie gras, which is made from the fattened livers of geese (“foie gras” means “fat liver” in French).

The French introduced the baguette into Vietnam in the days the country was a French colony. Today, a single-serving baguette is known in Vietnam as “bánh mì” (meaning “wheat bread”). The term has been extended, particularly here in the US, to describe a Vietnamese sandwich.

33 Speaker at a gig : AMP

Musicians use “gig” to describe a job, a performance. The term originated in the early 1900s in the world of jazz. The derivative phrase “gig economy” applies to a relatively recent phenomenon where workers find themselves jumping from temporary job to temporary job, from gig to gig.

35 Part of Amelia Bedelia’s outfit : APRON

The “Amelia Bedelia” series of children’s books was written by Peggy Parish until she passed away in 1988. Her nephew, Herman Parish took over and has been writing them since 1995. The Amelia character is based on a maid in Cameroon where Parish had lived during her formative years.

38 R? : “EARTH’S” INNER CORE

The Earth’s core is divided into two zones, a relatively solid inner core and a liquid outer core. Both inner and outer cores are composed mainly of iron and nickel. It is believed that the Earth’s magnetic field is generated by electric currents created by convection currents in the outer core. Some scientists have suggested recently that the Earth’s inner core has stopped spinning over the past decade.

43 Tabby : CAT

Tabbies aren’t a breed of cat, but rather are cats with particular markings regardless of breed. They have coats with stripes, dots and swirling patterns, and usually an “M” mark on the forehead.

44 French twist, e.g. : UPDO

Apparently, French twist is the name of that updo hairstyle where a ponytail is twisted and lifted up to the top of the head and secured with pins or a clip. Not my forte …

45 “The Masked Singer” judge Ken : JEONG

Ken Jeong is an actor from Detroit who is perhaps best known for playing the gangster Leslie Chow in the “The Hangover” series of films. Jeong isn’t only an actor; he has an M.D. degree and is a licensed physician in California.

“The Masked Singer” is a reality TV show in which masked celebrities compete anonymously in a singing competition. Contestants reveal their identities when they are voted off the show by the audience and a panel of judges. The American version of the show is part of an international “Masked Singer” franchise that originated in South Korea.

48 Electronic music duo __ Punk : DAFT

Daft Punk was an electronic music duo from Paris, France that formed in 1993, with members Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. The pair split up in 2021.

50 AL? : HEART OF “PALM”

The vegetable known as heart of palm is the growing bud of palm trees such as coconut and acai palms. Harvesting of palm hearts is somewhat controversial, because it causes the death of a relatively young, 8- or 10-year-old plant.

56 Samovars : URNS

The samovar originated in Russia. It is a water boiler, one usually used for making tea. As such, there is often an attachment on top of a samovar to keep a teapot warm.

57 Egg __ yung : FOO

Egg foo yung is a dish served in Chinese restaurants. It is basically an omelet, and probably takes its name from a flower called the Fu Yung.

58 Lampshade-shaped candies : ROLOS

Rolo was a hugely popular chocolate candy in Ireland when I was growing up. It was introduced in the thirties in the UK, and is produced under license in the US by Hershey. I was a little disappointed when I had my first taste of the American version as the center is very hard and chewy. The recipe used on the other side of the Atlantic calls for a soft gooey center.

64 Smooch in public, briefly : PDA

Public display of affection (PDA)

65 Coin that fittingly weighs five grams : NICKEL

The 5-cent American coin known as a nickel is actually made up of 75% copper and 25% nickel. The first nickel was introduced in 1866, and was named the Shield nickel due to the shield design on the front of the coin. The current design is the Jefferson nickel, which was introduced in 1938.

66 No longer feral : TAME

In French, an “île” (island) is “terre dans la mer” (land in the sea).

Down

1 Brand of mandarin oranges owned by The Wonderful Company : HALOS

The mandarin is a small citrus fruit, a species of orange. Genetic research reveals that the mandarin was one of the original citrus fruits, alongside the pomelo, papeda and citron.

3 Podcaster O’Brien : CONAN

Before Conan O’Brien came to fame as a late night talk show host, he was a writer. He wrote for both “Saturday Night Live” and “The Simpsons”. While attending Harvard, O’Brien was president of “The Harvard Lampoon”.

7 King with a touching story? : MIDAS

King Midas of Greek mythology might be termed an alchemist as he had the power to turn everything he touched into gold i.e. the Midas touch. That power became a curse, as everything he touched turned to gold, including his food and drink, and even his children.

9 Classic Ford named for an Italian city : TORINO

Ford produced the Torino from 1968 to 1976. The name “Torino” is Italian for “Turin”, a nod to the city that has been dubbed “the Italian Detroit”, as Turin is home to auto manufacturers FIAT, Lancia and Alfa Romeo. Ford extended the Torino line’s offering by adding the Gran Torino, and the Gran Torino Sport in 1972. Famously, the Ford Gran Torino was used by the title characters in the seventies cop show “Starsky & Hutch”. Starsky’s Torino was red in color, with a large white vector stripe running along both sides. Ford cashed in on the popularity of the show by producing a thousand replicas of the “Starsky and Hutch” car, although they weren’t much more than the standard vehicle with a specialty paint job.

10 Masthead pros : EDS

The masthead is a list often found on the editorial page of a newspaper that gives the members of a newspaper’s editorial board.

11 Triple sec and vodka co*cktail : LEMON DROP

The lemon drop (beverage) is a sweet-and-sour, vodka-based co*cktail, with the “sweet” coming from triple sec and simple syrup, and the “sour” coming from lemon juice. It was invented in the seventies in San Francisco, in a bar called Henry Africa’s.

12 __ nerve : OPTIC

The optic nerve enters the eyeball at a location on the retina called the optic disc. Because there are no light-sensitive cells at the optic disc, there is a “hole” in our visual field that is called the blind spot. People with normal vision don’t usually notice this blind spot as the brain “fills in” the blind spot with information from the other eye.

25 Portfolio options, for short : IRAS

Our word “portfolio” comes from the Italian “portafoglio” meaning “case for carrying loose papers”. The Italian term comes from “porta” meaning “carry” and “foglio” meaning “sheet, leaf”.

27 Ski lift : 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.

32 “Odyssey” prelude : TROJAN WAR

The ancient city of Troy was located on the west coast of modern-day Turkey. The Trojan War of Greek mythology was precipitated by the elopement of Helen, the wife of the king of Sparta, with Paris of Troy. The war itself largely consisted of a nine-year siege of Troy by the Greeks. We know most about the final year of that siege, as it is described extensively in Homer’s “Iliad”. The city eventually fell when the Greeks hid soldiers inside the Trojan Horse, which the Trojans brought inside the city’s walls. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts …

“Odyssey” is one of two epic poems from ancient Greece that are attributed to Homer. It is largely a sequel to Homer’s other epic “Iliad”. “Odyssey” centers on the heroic figure Odysseus, and his adventures on his journey home to Greece following the fall of Troy. We now use the term “odyssey” to describe any long series of adventures.

34 Pittsburgh’s __ Park : PNC

PNC Park is home to the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team. The park is sponsored by PNC Financial Services, the sixth largest bank in the US, and one founded and based in Pittsburgh.

36 Chicago airport code : ORD

The IATA airport code for O’Hare International in Chicago is ORD, which comes from Orchard Place Airport/Douglas Field (OR-D).

39 “I’m an owl!” : HOOT!

Owls can rotate their heads 270 degrees, allowing them to look completely around without moving their bodies.

47 Roller coaster sensation : G-FORCE

The force of gravity (g-force) that we all feel is referred to as “one G”. As gravity is an accelerating force, acceleration is measured relative to that force of gravity. So, if we are sitting in a vehicle that accelerates at 3G, then we are experiencing a force that is three times that which we feel from the gravitational pull of the earth. Zero G is weightlessness that is experienced when in space, and outside the influence of the earth’s gravity.

When a body moves at a steady speed along a circular path, the force that keeps the body in that circular path (rather than a straight line) is the centripetal force. For example, if we’re on a roller coaster doing a loop, the force that keeps the coaster moving in a circular direction, preventing it from flying off in a straight line, is centripetal force. The opposing force that we riders feel while looping on the coaster is centrifugal force, the force that we feel pinning us to our seats.

49 Brain scan, for short : FMRI

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a technique that measures brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow in response to neural activity. The idea is that when an area of the brain becomes more active it consumes more oxygen, and so blood supply increases to supply that oxygen.

52 Beer garden sound : POLKA

The polka is a dance from central Europe, one that originated in Bohemia in the mid-1800s. It’s thought that “polka” comes from a Czech word meaning “little half”, reflecting the little half-steps included in the basic dance.

53 “Odyssey” prelude : ILIAD

“Iliad” is an epic poem by the Greek poet Homer that tells the story of the ten-year siege of “Ilium” (i.e. “Troy”) during the Trojan war. “The Odyssey”, also attributed to Homer, is sometimes described as a sequel to “Iliad”.

54 Pink co*cktail, casually : COSMO

Like so many famous co*cktails, the actual origins of the cosmopolitan are disputed. It is a very nice drink, in my humble opinion. One of the standard recipes is 4 parts citrus vodka, 1.5 parts Cointreau, 1.5 parts lime juice and 3 parts cranberry co*cktail.

63 Pass muster : FLY

“To pass muster” means “to be deemed acceptable”. One musters troops, often for inspection. So, the original meaning of “pass muster” was to “get through a military inspection successfully”.