LA Times Crossword 31 Jan 23, Tuesday

Constructed by: John Guzzetta
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer(s): Pop Trio

Themed answers each comprise a TRIO of words starting with the letters POP:

70A With 71-Across, Destiny’s Child or The Supremes, and an apt description of this puzzle’s longest answers : POP …
71A See 70-Across : … TRIO

20A Rebate redeemer’s need, usually : PROOF OF PURCHASE
39A Motto for a socially responsible corporation : PEOPLE OVER PROFIT
56A Academic ultimatum : PUBLISH OR PERISH

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Bill’s time: 6m 26s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Syst. with hand gestures : ASL

American Sign Language (ASL)

8 Zac of “High School Musical” : EFRON

Zac Efron is an actor from San Luis Obispo, California. Apparently, Efron is a heartthrob to “tweenyboppers”. His big break came with the hit Disney movie “High School Musical”.

“High School Musical” is a 2006 Disney film made for television that spawned two sequels released to movie theaters worldwide. The soundtrack to “High School Musical” ended up being the best-selling album for 2006. Apparently, the storyline is based on Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”.

13 German automaker : AUDI

The predecessor to today’s Audi company was called Auto Union. Auto Union was formed with the merger of four individual entities: Audi, Horch, DKW and Wanderer. The Audi logo comprises four intersecting rings, each representing one of the four companies that merged.

14 Ill-mannered sort : BOOR

Back in the early 1500s, a boor was a rustic person, a peasant farmer, someone associated with the countryside. The term “boor” ultimately comes from the Latin “bos” meaning “cow, ox”. By the mid-1500s, someone described as boorish was considered rude in manner, which is our usage today.

17 Metropolitan haze : SMOG

“Smog” is a portmanteau formed by melding “smoke” and “fog”. The term was first used to describe the air around London in the early 1900s. Several cities around the world have a reputation of being particularly smoggy. For example, the most smog-plagued city in Latin America is Mexico City, which is located in a highland “bowl” that traps industrial and vehicle pollution.

18 Skin care balm : 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.

19 Argon and oxygen : GASSES

The chemical element argon has the symbol Ar. It is a noble gas, and so by definition is relatively nonreactive. The name “argon” comes from the Greek word for “lazy, inactive”. There’s a lot of argon around, as it is the third-most abundant gas in our atmosphere.

The element oxygen has an atomic number of 8, and has eight electrons within each atom. The name “oxygen” was coined (“oxygène” in French) by Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, from the Greek “oxys” meaning “acid” and the French “-gène” meaning “producer”. It was originally believed that oxygen was needed to make all acids.

20 Rebate redeemer’s requirement, usually : PROOF OF PURCHASE

We mostly use “rebate” as a noun, one describing a return part of a payment. The term “rebate” came into English from the French verb “rebattre” meaning “to beat down, drive back”. Makes sense to me …

23 Acct. earnings : INT

A bank account (acct.) usually earns interest (int.)

24 “Arrested Development” actor Will : ARNETT

Will Arnett is a Canadian actor who got his big break in the Fox show “Arrested Development”. Arnett’s father was the president and CEO of Molson Breweries, and Will was married to actress Penelope Ann Miller and actress/comedian Amy Poehler.

“Arrested Development” is a sitcom that originally aired on Fox from 2003 to 2006. Ron Howard was heavily involved in the show behind the camera, serving as executive producer and also as the show’s narrator. Fifteen new episodes of “Arrested Development” were filmed specifically for release on Netflix in 2013, and there may even be a movie on the way.

25 Patterned fabric : TOILE

Toile fabric can be used as upholstery, as wallpaper, or even as a fabric for clothing. The name “toile” comes from the French word for “canvas, linen cloth”.

28 Manolo Blahnik creation : SHOE

Manolo Blahnik is a Spanish fashion designer who was born in the Canary Islands. He took some expert device in the early seventies and decided to stick to shoe design. Apparently, his shoes are all the rage (women’s only, I think).

33 __ deco : ART

Art Deco is a style of design and architecture of the 1920s that actually had its roots in Belgium and then spread throughout Europe before arriving in North America. Celebrated examples of Art Deco architecture are the magnificent Chrysler Building in New York City completed in 1930, and the GE Building that sits in the middle of New York City’s Rockefeller Center with the address of “30 Rock”.

35 Moving vehicle : VAN

The vehicle we call a “van” takes its name from “caravan”, and so “van” is a shortened version of the older term. Back in the 1600s, a caravan was a covered cart. We still use the word “caravan” in Ireland to describe what we call a “mobile home” or “recreational vehicle” here in the US.

43 Motown genre : SOUL

Soul music originated in the United States and was born out of gospel music and rhythm & blues. I read one quotation that describes soul as “music that arose out of the black experience in America”.

Motown is a record label that was founded in 1959 in Detroit (aka “Motor City” or “Motown”). The founder of Motown records was Berry Gordy, Jr.

44 Reddit tell-all sesh : AMA

Reddit.com is a networking and news website that started up in 2005. It is essentially a bulletin board system with posts that are voted up and down by users, which determines the ranking of posts. The name “Reddit” is a play on “read it”, as in “I read it on Reddit”. One popular feature of the Reddit site is an online forum that is similar to a press conference. Known as an AMA (for “ask me anything”), participants have included the likes of President Barack Obama, Madonna, Bill Gates, Stephen Colbert and Gordon Ramsay. President Obama’s AMA was so popular that the high level of traffic brought down many parts of the Reddit site.

46 “Mean Girls” screenwriter Tina : FEY

Comedian and actress Tina Fey was born Elizabeth Stamatina Fey in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. Fey is perhaps best known to television viewers as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live” (1997-2006), and as the creator and star of the sitcom “30 Rock” (2006-2013).

“Mean Girls” is a teen comedy movie released in 2004 starring Lindsay Lohan. Tina Fey also puts in an appearance, which really isn’t surprising as Fey wrote the screenplay.

53 “Lucifer” actress Helfer : TRICIA

Canadian actress Tricia Helfer is a former model. She is known for playing the Goddess of All Creation on the TV show “Lucifer”, and portraying actress Farrah Fawcett on the TV movie “Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie’s Angels”.

“Lucifer” is a fantasy TV show that ran from 2016 to 2021. The title character is the Devil, who moves from Hell to Los Angeles. Lucifer runs his nightclub in LA while working as a consultant for LAPD.

55 __ Lingus : AER

Aer Lingus is my favorite airline! Well, the service isn’t that great, but when I get on board an Aer Lingus plane I feel like I am back in Ireland. Aer Lingus is the national airline of Ireland, with “Aer Lingus” being a phonetic spelling of the Irish “aer-loingeas” meaning “air fleet”. These days Aer Lingus can only lay claim to the title of Ireland’s oldest airline as it is no longer the biggest. That honor goes to the controversial budget airline Ryanair.

62 Egypt’s continent : AFRICA

The nation of Egypt straddles the geographical border between Asia and Africa. That land border is the 75-mile-wide Isthmus of Suez, which is crossed by the Suez Canal. The bulk of Egyptian territory is in Africa. The part of Egypt that is in Asia is the Sinai Peninsula.

63 Colorado Plateau natives : UTES

The Colorado Plateau is a geographical feature in the southwest, covering parts of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona, roughly equivalent to what is known as the Four Corners region. It is home to the greatest concentration of national parks in the country. Included in the area are Grand Canyon NP, Zion NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Arches NP and Mesa Verde NP, to name but a few.

66 “Carol” Oscar nominee Mara : ROONEY

Actress Rooney Mara is noted for her role in the 2010 film “The Social Network” and for playing the title character in the 2011 hit movie “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”. Mara has American football in her blood. Her mother’s family founded the Pittsburgh Steelers, and her father’s family founded the New York Giants.

The 2015 film “Carol” is about a forbidden affair between a female photographer and an older woman in the middle of a tough divorce in 1950s America. Rooney Mara plays the photographer Therese Belivet, and Cate Blanchett plays the title character Carol Aird. I haven’t seen this one yet, but I hear good things …

68 “Reservation Dogs” streaming service : HULU

Hulu is a video-on-demand service. Although competing directly with Netflix and Amazon Prime, Hulu’s primary focus is the streaming of television shows rather than movies.

“Reservation Dogs” is a critically acclaimed comedy-drama TV show written and directed by Indigenous North Americans, and starring almost an entirely Indigenous North American cast. The show is about four teenagers in rural Oklahoma who both commit and fight crime.

69 Donkeys : ASSES

A female donkey/ass is known as a jenny and a male is known as a jack, or sometimes “jackass”. We started using the term “jackass” to mean “fool” in the 1820s.

70 With 71-Across, Destiny’s Child or The Supremes, and an apt description of this puzzle’s longest answers : POP …
71 See 70-Across : … TRIO

Destiny’s Child was an R&B group active from 1990 to 2006. The trio’s lineup changed over the years, and probably the most famous former member of the group is Beyoncé Knowles.

The Supremes were the most successful vocal group in US history based on number-one hits. The group started out in 1959 as a four-member lineup called the Primettes. The name was changed to the Supremes in 1961. One member dropped out in 1962, leaving the Supremes as a trio. Lead singer Diana Ross began to garner much of the attention, which eventually led to a further name change, to Diana Ross & the Supremes.

Down

1 __-relief : BAS

In bas-relief, an image projects just a little above the background, as in perhaps a head depicted on a coin.

4 Bloc in the fossil fuels lobby, collectively : BIG OIL

The six or seven largest oil and gas companies are often referred to as “Big Oil”. Usually included in the Big Oil list are ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, Eni and Total.

5 To the back, on a boat : ABAFT

On a boat, the term “abaft” means “towards the stern”.

7 Shower scrubber : LOOFAH

The loofah (also “loofa”, “lufah” and “luffa”, all Arabic words) is a vine, with fruit that’s very popular in Asia and Africa. If the fruit is allowed to mature, it can be processed to remove everything but the more rigid xylem structure (remember your high school botany class?) leaving a soft, sponge-like mass that is used as a skin polisher.

10 “Undone” voice actress Salazar : ROSA

Rosa Salazar is an actress best known on the small screen for her roles in the shows “Parenthood” and “American Horror Story: Murder House”. On the big screen, she played Lynn in “The Divergent Series” movies and Brenda in the “Maze Runner” films.

“Undone” is a very well-received animated TV show for adults about a woman named Alma who, after a car crash, develops the ability to move through time. Alma is voiced by actress Rosa Salazar.

11 Dollar bills : ONES

The nation’s first president, George Washington, is on the US one-dollar bills produced today. When the original one-dollar bill was issued in 1863, it featured a portrait of Salmon P. Chase, President Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury.

12 Org. with opening and closing bells : NYSE

The roots of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) go back to 1792 when a group of 24 stock brokers set up the New York Stock & Exchange Board. They did so in an agreement signed under a buttonwood tree outside 68 Wall Street. That document became known as the Buttonwood Agreement. Today, the NYSE is located in a National Historic Landmark building with the address 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City.

21 Former NBA great Shaquille : O’NEAL

Retired basketball player Shaquille O’Neal now appears regularly as an analyst on the NBA TV show “Inside the NBA”. Shaq has quite a career in the entertainment world. His first rap album, called “Shaq Diesel”, went platinum. He also starred in two of his own reality shows: “Shaq’s Big Challenge” and “Shaq Vs.”

25 Lights-out music : TAPS

“Taps” is played nightly by the US military to indicate “lights out”. It’s also known as “Butterfield’s Lullaby” as it is a variation of an older bugle called the “Scott Tattoo”, arranged during the Civil War by the Union Army’s Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield. The tune is called “Taps”, from the notion of drum taps, as it was originally played on a drum, and only later on a bugle. The whole tune comprises just 24 notes, with there only being four different notes within the 24, i.e. “low G”, C, E and “high G”. Minimalism at its best …

26 Double Stuf cookies : OREOS

Double Stuf Oreos were introduced in 1975, and have twice the normal amount of white cream filling as the original cookie. Nabisco really went big in 2013, introducing the Mega Stuf Oreo that has even more white cream filling.

30 Social blunder : GAFFE

Our word “gaffe”, meaning “social blunder”, comes from the French “gaffe” meaning “clumsy remark”, although it originally was a word describing a boat hook. The exact connection between a boat hook and a blunder seems to be unclear.

31 Disney mermaid : ARIEL

In the 1989 Disney animated film “The Little Mermaid”, the title character is given the name “Ariel”. In the original fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen that dates back to 1836, the Little Mermaid is given no name at all. There is a famous statue of the unnamed Little Mermaid sitting in Copenhagen Harbor, in Andersen’s homeland of Denmark.

34 Stephen of “The Crying Game” : REA

Stephen Rea is an Irish actor from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Rea’s most successful role was Fergus in 1992’s “The Crying Game”, for which performance he was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. In “The Crying Game”, Fergus was a member of the IRA. In real life, Rea was married to IRA bomber and hunger striker Dolours Price at the time he made the movie.

“The Crying Game” is a fascinating film that made quite a splash when it was released in 1992. Although it was set in Ireland and the UK, it didn’t do well in cinemas in either country yet made a lot of money over here in the US. I think the politics of the movie were a bit raw for Irish and UK audiences back then. It’s an unusual plot, blending Irish political issues with some raw sexuality questions. I won’t tell you about the “surprise” scene, just in case you haven’t seen it and want to do so …

36 “All Things Considered” airer : NPR

“All Things Considered” is a news broadcast by NPR that airs for two hours every evening.

38 “bye 4 now” : TTYL

Talk to you later (TTYL)

42 Actress Winona : RYDER

Hollywood actress Winona Ryder’s real name is Winona Horowitz. She was born near the town of Winona in Minnesota, from which she got her name. Ryder’s success on the screen has garnered as much media attention as her life off the screen. The papers had a field day when she was arrested in 2001 on a shoplifting charge followed by a very public court appearance. Her engagement with Johnny Depp in the early nineties was another media frenzy. Depp had “Winona Forever” tattooed on his arm, which he had changed after the breakup to “Wino Forever”. A man with a sense of humor …

52 “Native Son” novelist Richard : WRIGHT

Richard Wright’s work “Native Son” is a protest novel penned in 1940. It is the story of a 20-year-old African-American man living in poverty on the South Side of Chicago in the thirties. “Native Son” was adapted for the big screen more than once, including a 1986 film of the same name starring Victor Love, Elizabeth McGovern, Matt Dillon and Oprah Winfrey.

55 Greek storyteller : AESOP

Aesop is remembered today as a fabulist, a writer of fables. Aesop lived in ancient Greece, probably around the sixth century BC. Supposedly he was born a slave, somehow became a free man, but then met with a sorry end. Aesop was sent to the city of Delphi on a diplomatic mission but instead insulted the Delphians. He was tried on a trumped-up charge of stealing from a temple, sentenced to death and was thrown off a cliff.

56 Prefix with sail : PARA-

Parasailing is hanging below a tethered parachute that is towed by a boat.

57 Some fuzzy tabloid pics : UFOS

In 1952, the USAF revived its studies of reported sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) in a program called Project Blue Book. Project Blue Book ran from 1952 until it was shut down in 1969 with the conclusion that there was no threat to national security and that there were no sightings that could not be explained within the bounds of modern scientific knowledge.

“Tabloid” is the trademarked name (owned by Burroughs Wellcome) for a “small tablet of medicine”, a name that goes back to 1884. The word “tabloid” had entered into general use to mean a compressed form of anything, and by the early 1900s was used in “tabloid journalism”, which described newspapers that had short, condensed articles and stories printed on smaller sheets of paper.

59 Mexican money : PESO

The peso is used in many Spanish-speaking countries around the world. The coin originated in Spain where the word “peso” means “weight”. The original peso was what we know in English as a “piece of eight”, a silver coin of a specific weight that had a nominal value of eight “reales”.

61 Hindu spring festival : HOLI

Holi is a Hindu festival, celebrated in spring, that is also known as the Festival of Colours.

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Shapeless mass : BLOB
5 Syst. with hand gestures : ASL
8 Zac of “High School Musical” : EFRON
13 German automaker : AUDI
14 Ill-mannered sort : BOOR
16 Like some dips : ONIONY
17 Metropolitan haze : SMOG
18 Skin care balm : ALOE
19 Argon and oxygen : GASSES
20 Rebate redeemer’s requirement, usually : PROOF OF PURCHASE
23 Acct. earnings : INT
24 “Arrested Development” actor Will : ARNETT
25 Patterned fabric : TOILE
28 Manolo Blahnik creation : SHOE
29 Long story : SAGA
32 Branch : ARM
33 __ deco : ART
35 Moving vehicle : VAN
37 Golf course rental : CART
39 Motto for a socially responsible corporation : PEOPLE OVER PROFIT
43 Motown genre : SOUL
44 Reddit tell-all sesh : AMA
45 Attempt : TRY
46 “Mean Girls” screenwriter Tina : FEY
47 “Halt!” : STOP!
49 Curved foot part : ARCH
51 Live (in) : DWELL
53 “Lucifer” actress Helfer : TRICIA
55 __ Lingus : AER
56 Academic ultimatum : PUBLISH OR PERISH
62 Egypt’s continent : AFRICA
63 Colorado Plateau natives : UTES
64 Well-behaved : GOOD
66 “Carol” Oscar nominee Mara : ROONEY
67 Meh-worthy : SO-SO
68 “Reservation Dogs” streaming service : HULU
69 Donkeys : ASSES
70 With 71-Across, Destiny’s Child or The Supremes, and an apt description of this puzzle’s longest answers : POP …
71 See 70-Across : … TRIO

Down

1 __-relief : BAS
2 Shapeless mass : LUMP
3 Smell : ODOR
4 Bloc in the fossil fuels lobby, collectively : BIG OIL
5 To the back, on a boat : ABAFT
6 Song for one : SOLO
7 Shower scrubber : LOOFAH
8 Passes into law : ENACTS
9 Seafood snack in a shell : FISH TACO
10 “Undone” voice actress Salazar : ROSA
11 Dollar bills : ONES
12 Org. with opening and closing bells : NYSE
15 Admonish : REPROVE
16 Fantasy brute : OGRE
21 Former NBA great Shaquille : O’NEAL
22 Dig up : UNEARTH
25 Lights-out music : TAPS
26 Double Stuf cookies : OREOS
27 “See ya” : I’M OUT
28 Tolerate : STOMACH
30 Social blunder : GAFFE
31 Disney mermaid : ARIEL
34 Stephen of “The Crying Game” : REA
36 “All Things Considered” airer : NPR
38 “bye 4 now” : TTYL
40 Story’s framework : PLOTLINE
41 Assorted : VARIOUS
42 Actress Winona : RYDER
48 Does some comparison shopping : PRICES
50 Like some cargo carriers : CAR-TOP
52 “Native Son” novelist Richard : WRIGHT
54 “My stars!” : I SAY!
55 Greek storyteller : AESOP
56 Prefix with sail : PARA-
57 Some fuzzy tabloid pics : UFOS
58 Dudes : BROS
59 Mexican money : PESO
60 Like unripe grapes : SOUR
61 Hindu spring festival : HOLI
65 Couple : DUO

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