LA Times Crossword 19 Aug 24, Monday - LAXCrossword.com (2024)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Fourth-down option : PUNT

That would be American football.

9 OshKosh __ : B’GOSH

OshKosh B’gosh is a company that produces and sells children’s clothes. The trademark OshKosh bib-overalls remind us of the company’s roots, as it was originally a manufacturer of adult work clothes based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

15 Puccini’s “Nessun dorma,” e.g. : ARIA

“Nessun dorma” has to be the tenor aria that tugs at the heartstrings the most. It is taken from the last act of Puccini’s opera “Turandot”, and translates as “None shall sleep”. Back in my part of the world, “Nessun dorma” became a hit in the popular music charts, with a version by Pavarotti being used as the theme song to the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. No other classical recording has ever done better in the charts.

20 “West Side Story” role for Ariana and Rita : ANITA

Actress Ariana DeBose’s breakthrough role was the lead in the jukebox musical “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical”, which opened on Broadway in 2018. She reached a wider audience playing Anita in the 2021 film adaptation of the musical “West Side Story”. That performance won her the season’s Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress Rita Moreno is one of the few performers to have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony (EGOT). Moreno got her big break, and won her Oscar, for playing Anita in the 1961 screen adaptation of “West Side Story”. And, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush in 2004.

22 Film critic Roger : EBERT

Roger Ebert was a film critic for “The Chicago Sun-Times” for 50 years. He also co-hosted a succession of film review television programs for over 23 years, most famously with Gene Siskel until Siskel passed away in 1999. Siskel and Ebert famously gave their thumbs up or thumbs down to the movies they reviewed. Ebert was the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, which he did in 1975. He was diagnosed and treated for thyroid cancer in 2002, and finally succumbed to a recurrence of the disease in April 2013.

26 Hawaiian dance : HULA

The hula is a native dance of Hawaii that uses arm movements to relate a story. The hula can be performed while sitting (a noho dance) or while standing (a luna dance).

32 Postcardworthy : SCENIC

The studying and collecting of postcards is known as “deltiology”, from the Greek word “deltos” meaning “writing tablet, letter”.

34 Realm reached by the rainbow bridge Bifröst : ASGARD

In Norse mythology, Bifröst is the rainbow bridge that connects Asgard, the realm of the gods, to Midgard, the realm of humans. It is depicted as a burning rainbow arch, constantly ablaze and shimmering with the colors of the rainbow.

37 South American range : ANDES

The Andes range is the longest continuous chain of mountains in the world. It runs down the length of the west coast of South America for about 4,300 miles, from Venezuela in the north to Chile in the south. The highest peak in the Andes is Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina, at an elevation of 22,841 feet. Interestingly, the peak of Mt. Chimborazo in Ecuador is the furthest point on the Earth’s surface from the center of the planet. That’s because of the equatorial “bulge” around the Earth’s “waist”.

38 Tastes brownie batter before baking, perhaps : LICKS THE SPOON

Apparently, the first brownies were created for the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. The recipe was developed by a pastry chef at the city’s Palmer House Hotel. The idea was to produce a cake-like dessert that was small enough and dainty enough to be eaten by ladies as part of a boxed lunch.

46 “Vous êtes __”: Paris map line : ICI

“Vous êtes ici” are important words to know when navigating your way around Paris. They mean “You are here”, and you’ll often see them on maps in the street.

49 Security camera letters : CCTV

Closed-circuit television (CCTV)

54 British Columbia border state : IDAHO

The US state of Idaho has a panhandle that extends northwards between Washington and Montana, right up to the border with Canada. Across that border is the Canadian province of British Columbia. Most of Idaho is in the Mountain Time Zone, but Northern Idaho (the Panhandle) is in the Pacific Time Zone.

56 Parts of Groucho Marx disguises : NOSES

Groucho Marx’s real name was Julius Henry Marx. By the time Groucho started his successful, post-Hollywood career hosting the quiz show “You Bet Your Life”, he was sporting a real mustache. For all of his movies, his mustache had been painted on with greasepaint.

62 Actress Garr : TERI

Actress Teri Garr had a whole host of minor roles in her youth, including appearances in nine Elvis movies. Garr’s big break came with the role of Inga in “Young Frankenstein”, and her supporting role in “Tootsie” earned Garr an Academy Award nomination. Sadly, Teri Garr suffers from multiple sclerosis. She is a National Ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

66 “Jumpin’ Jack __”: Rolling Stones hit : FLASH

“Jumpin’ Jack Flash” is a song released in 1968 by the Rolling Stones. The song was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards at Richards’ country house. Apparently Jagger awoke one morning to the sound of a gardener doing his work. Richards told Jagger that the gardener’s name was Jumpin’ Jack Dyer, and the song evolved from there.

68 Editor’s “never mind” : STET

“Stet” is a Latin word meaning “let it stand”. In editorial work, the typesetter is instructed to disregard any change previously marked by writing the word “stet” and then underscoring that change with a line of dots or dashes.

Down

2 “The Chronicles of __”: C.S. Lewis series : NARNIA

There are seven novels in “The Chronicles of Narnia” children’s fantasy series written by C. S. Lewis:

• “The Magician’s Nephew”
• “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”
• “The Horse and the Boy”
• “Prince Caspian”
• “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader”
• “The Silver Chair”
• “The Last Battle”

6 Sch. in the smallest U.S. state : URI

The University of Rhode Island (URI) was chartered as an agricultural school back in 1888. Rhody the Ram was chosen as the school’s mascot in 1923, a nod to URI’s agricultural past. As a result, the school’s sports teams are known as the Rams. URI’s main campus today is located in the village of Kingston, with smaller campuses in Providence, Narragansett and West Greenwich.

7 Sneakers with swooshes : NIKES

I remember seeing a lady named Carolyn Davidson on the television show “I’ve Got a Secret”. Davidson created the Nike “swoosh” back in 1971 when she was a design student at Portland State. She did it as freelance work for Blue Ribbon Sports, a local company introducing a new line of athletic footwear. The “swoosh” is taken from the wing of the Greek goddess of victory, Nike. Years later, BRS changed its name to Nike, so I suppose the company should be grateful to Carolyn for both the great design, and a great company name.

8 Billy Blanks fitness regimen : TAE BO

Tae Bo isn’t an ancient martial art, even though it perhaps sounds like one. The discipline was developed as a form of aerobic exercise in the 1990s by taekwondo expert Billy Blanks who gave it the name Tae Bo, a melding of “taekwondo” and “boxing”.

11 Granola morsel : OAT

The names “Granola” and “Granula” were trademarked back in the late 1800s for whole-grain foods that were crumbled and baked until crisp. Granola was created in Dansville, New York in 1894.

12 Nestlé’s __-Caps : SNO

Sno-Caps are a brand of candy usually only available in movie theaters. Sno-caps have been around since the 1920s, would you believe?

13 Cable channel with daily deals : HSN

The Home Shopping Network (HSN) was the first national shopping network, and was launched locally as the Home Shopping Club in Florida in 1982. Its first product was a can opener.

19 C-notes : BENS

Benjamin Franklin’s portrait is featured on one side of the hundred-dollar bill (also called a “C-spot, C-note, benjamin”), and Philadelphia’s Independence Hall on the other side. There is a famous error in the image of Independence Hall. If you look closely at the clock face at the top of the building you can see that the “four” is written in Roman numerals as “IV”. However, on the actual clock on Independence Hall, the “four” is denoted by “IIII”, which has been the convention for clock faces for centuries.

21 Nome resident : ALASKAN

Nome, Alaska has over 3,500 residents, the majority of whom are Native American. The next largest ethnic group in Nome is the white population. The origin of the name “Nome” isn’t well understood, it seems. One theory is that there was a misunderstanding of the local Inupiaq word meaning “Where at?”

33 Peninsula northeast of Boston : CAPE ANN

Cape Ann is located 30 miles north of Boston and is on the northernmost edge of Massachusetts Bay. The Cape was first mapped by the explorer John Smith. Early in his adventurous life Smith had been captured and enslaved by the Ottoman Empire. His “owner” in his days of slavery was a woman called Tragabigzanda, and apparently the slave and owner fell in love. Smith originally called Cape Tragabigzanda in her memory, but King Charles I changed the name to Cape Ann in honor of his own mother, Anne of Denmark.

35 P-like Greek letter : RHO

Rho is the Greek letter that looks just like our Roman letter “p”, although it is equivalent to the Roman letter R. It is the 17th letter in the Greek alphabet.

38 Partner of Julie and Pete on “The Mod Squad” : LINC

“The Mod Squad” is a crime drama series that originally ran in the late sixties and early seventies. The title characters (played by Clarence Williams III, Peggy Lipton and Michael Cole) are a trio of rebellious social outcasts recruited to work as undercover cops.

40 __-Ball: arcade game : SKEE

Skee-Ball is the arcade game in which you roll balls up a ramp trying to “bounce” it into rings for varying numbers of points. The game was first introduced in Philadelphia, in 1909.

41 Singer Damone : VIC

Vic Damone is a singer from Brooklyn, New York. As a young man, Damone started taking voice lessons, inspired by his favorite singer Frank Sinatra. Decades later, Sinatra said that Damone had “the best pipes in the business”.

52 2014 Winter Olympics city : SOCHI

Sochi is a city in the west of Russia on the Black Sea coast. It is the largest resort city in the whole country. Sochi is going through a busy phase in its life. It hosted the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, the Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2014, and served as host for some games of the 2018 World Cup in soccer.

53 Itty-bitty bits : IOTAS

Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet, and one that gave rise to our letters I and J. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small, as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.

58 Latimes.com, for one : URL

An Internet address (like NYXCrossword.com and LAXCrossword.com) is more correctly called a uniform resource locator (URL).

60 Rock concert need : AMP

An electric guitar, for example, needs an amplifier (amp) to take the weak signal created by the vibration of the strings and turn it into a signal powerful enough for a loudspeaker.