LA Times Crossword 27 Feb 23, Monday

Constructed by: Rebecca Goldstein & Rachel Fabi
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Looking Back

Themed answers each comprise two words, with the second (the BACK) being a synonym of “LOOKING”:

56A Reminiscing, and what 17-, 22-, 35-, and 49-Across all have : LOOKING BACK

17A Excessive introspection : NAVEL-GAZING
22A Tourist’s agenda : SIGHTSEEING
35A Consuming “Succession” in rapid succession, say : BINGE-WATCHING
49A New England fall activity : LEAF-PEEPING

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Bill’s time: 7m 00s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Resistance unit represented by an omega : OHM

The unit of electrical resistance is the ohm (with the symbol omega) named after German physicist Georg Simon Ohm. Ohm was the guy who established experimentally that the amount of current flowing through a circuit is directly proportional to the voltage applied, (V=IR) a relationship that every school kid knows as Ohm’s Law.

9 BBC cooking competition, to fans : GBBO

“The Great British Bake Off” (GBBO) is a television baking competition introduced by the BBC in the UK in 2010. The show was a phenomenal and perhaps surprising success almost immediately. “Bake Off” is rebroadcast in the US by PBS as “The Great British Baking Show”. There was great controversy in the UK in 2016 when the BBC couldn’t find the fund to pay the producers for the show, and so it had moved to a new channel, with a new set of hosts. The BBC hosts decided not to move with the show, saying they weren’t interested in the “dough” (their pun!).

14 “__ a Mi Mundo”: Selena album : ENTRE

1992’s “Entre a Mi Mundo” was Selena’s breakthrough album, which made her a superstar in the Latin music industry. The album includes the leadoff single “Como la Flor” that really launched her career.

15 Eddie __: apparel company : BAUER

The Eddie Bauer clothing chain was established in Seattle in 1920 by an outdoorsman named Eddie Bauer (unsurprisingly!). Bauer was the man who patented the first quilted down jacket, in 1940.

16 The Cardinals, on sports tickers : STL

The St. Louis Cardinals were originally called the “Brown Stockings”, changing their name to the “Perfectos” in 1899. That obviously didn’t go down well with the locals, as the owners changed it one year later to the Cardinals.

22 Tourist’s agenda : SIGHTSEEING

“Agenda” is a Latin word that translates as “things to be done”, coming from the verb “agere” meaning “to do”.

26 Bargain footwear chain : DSW

DSW is a retailer of footwear that was founded in 1969. The initialism “DSW” stands for “Designer Shoe Warehouse”. In some stores, DSW offers Shoevival, a service that repairs and renews shoes.

29 Outcast : PARIAH

“Pariah” is an anglicized version of the Tamil word “Paraiyar”. The Paraiyar are a social group of about 9 million people found in some Indian states and in Sri Lanka. The term “pariah” came to be a general term for members of the lowest caste in society, outcasts.

34 Horse coloring : ROAN

In horses, there are two types of roan: red roan, which has a mixture of red and white hairs, and blue roan, which has a mixture of black and white hairs.

35 Consuming “Succession” in rapid succession, say : BINGE-WATCHING

“Succession” is a very popular dark comedy-drama series that premiered in 2018. It’s about a family-owned, global media company. The “succession” in question is who will get to run the empire after the passing of the ailing family patriarch. The marvelous Scottish actor Brian Cox plays the head of the company Logan Roy.

40 Widely shared image : MEME

A meme (from “mineme”) is a cultural practice or idea that is passed on verbally or by repetition from one person to another. The term lends itself very well to the online world where links, emails, files etc. are so easily propagated.

41 Stony-faced : STOIC

Zeno of Citium was a Greek philosopher famous for teaching at the Stoa Poikile, the “Painted Porch”, located on the north side of the Ancient Agora of Athens. Because of the location of his classes, his philosophy became known as stoicism (from “stoa”, the word for “porch”). We get our adjective “stoic”, meaning “indifferent to pleasure or pain”, from the same root.

45 Next up : ON DECK

To be on deck is to be ready for duty, or next in line. The term “on deck” comes from nautical terminology, specifically from the sport of sailing.

49 New England fall activity : LEAF-PEEPING

“Leaf-peeping” is the name given to the activity of viewing and photographing the change in the colors of foliage during the fall. Leaf-peepers usually head for New England and the American Midwest in order to enjoy the rich colors exhibited by deciduous trees and shrubs in the autumn months.

The geographical region of New England comprises the six northeastern states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The name “New England” was given to the region by English explorer John Smith in 1616.

53 Brand of bottled water : DASANI

Dasani is a Coca-Cola brand of bottled water. It is simply filtered tap water with some trace minerals added.

62 Cubs legend Banks : ERNIE

Ernie Banks, also known as “Mr. Cub,” was the first African-American player for the Chicago Cubs and one of the greatest shortstops in baseball history. He was known for his famous catchphrase “Let’s play two,” expressing his willingness to play a doubleheader any day of the week. Banks was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013 by President Obama, shortly before his death.

63 Reddish brown photo effect : SEPIA

Sepia is that rich, brown-gray color so common in old photographs. “Sepia” is the Latinized version of the Greek word for cuttlefish, as sepia pigment is derived from the ink sac of the cuttlefish. Sepia ink was commonly used for writing and drawing as far back as ancient Rome and ancient Greece. The “sepia tone” of old photographs is not the result of deterioration over time. Rather, it is the result of a deliberate preservation process which converts the metallic silver in the photographic image to a more stable silver sulfide. Prints that have been sepia-toned can last in excess of 150 years.

65 Suffix with nine- or ump- : TEEN

The word “umpty” was introduced as slang for a Morse code dash. In the early 1900’s, the same term came to mean “of an indefinite number”, and was associated with the numerals divisible by ten, i.e. twenty, thirty, forty, etc. The extended adjective “umpteen” began to appear during WWI as army slang.

66 Pick up the tab : TREAT

When we run a “tab” at a bar, we are running a “tabulation”, a listing of what we owe. Such a use of “tab” is American slang that originated in the 1880s.

67 Nine-digit ID : SSN

A Social Security number (SSN) is divided into three parts, i.e AAA-GG-SSSS. Originally, the Area Number (AAA) was the code for the office that issued the card. Starting in 1973, the Area Number reflected the ZIP code from which the application was made. The GG in the SSN was the Group Number, and the SSSS number the Serial Number. This is all moot today. Since 2011, SSNs have been assigned randomly. Some random numbers, however, have been excluded from use, i.e. Area Numbers 000, 666 (!) and 900-999.

Down

1 Caravan rest stops : OASES

A camel train carrying passengers or goods across a desert can be referred to as a caravan. “Caravan” derives from the Persian “karwan”, which has the same meaning. Over in Britain, “caravan” is the name given to travel trailers.

3 Spanish port town that’s the namesake of a dessert wine : MALAGA

Málaga is the capital city of the autonomous community of Andalusia in Spain. Located on the Mediterranean coast, it is considered the southernmost large city in Europe, and lies about 80 miles north of Africa. Included in the list of notable people born in Málaga are artist Pablo Picasso, and Hollywood actor Antonio Banderas.

Malaga wine is a fortified wine that is produced in the Malaga region of Spain. What makes Malaga wine unique is the process of sun-drying the grapes before they are pressed. This concentrates the sugars in the grapes, resulting in a sweet, rich wine with flavors of raisins, figs, and caramel.

5 Genetic letters : RNA

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a single-stranded molecule that is made up of nucleotides. The four nucleotides that make up RNA are adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and uracil (U). RNA is transcribed from DNA, which means that the information stored in DNA is used to create RNA. RNA then carries this information to the ribosomes, which are the cellular structures responsible for protein synthesis.

6 Off-rd. ride : ATV

All-terrain vehicle (ATV)

7 Thin pancake : CREPE

“Crêpe” is the French word for “pancake”.

8 “Law & Order: SVU” actress Giddish : KELLI

Kelli Giddish, the American actress, is best known for her roles as Amanda Rollins on the NBC crime drama series “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and as Di Henry on the ABC soap opera “All My Children.”

9 __ strip: region that borders Egypt : GAZA

After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the boundaries of the strip of land on the Mediterranean around Gaza were fixed in the Israel-Egypt Armistice Agreement. The boundaries were specifically defined but were not to be recognized as an international border. From 1948, the Gaza Strip was occupied and administered by Egypt, until 1967 when Israel took over occupation following the Six-Day War. In 1993, Israel and the PLO signed the Oslo Accords which handed over administration to the Palestinian Authority, but with Israel retaining control of the Gaza Strip’s airspace, some land borders and its territorial waters. The intent was to further this agreement, but discussions between the parties broke down. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

11 Jerry’s dairy partner : BEN

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield did a correspondence course on making ice-cream in 1977 that was given by Pennsylvania State University’s creamery. The following year they opened an ice cream parlor in an old gas station in Burlington, Vermont. Today Ben & Jerry’s has locations in over 20 countries around the world, and theirs was the first brand of ice-cream to go into space.

18 __-ho: enthusiastic : GUNG

“Kung ho” is a Chinese expression meaning “work together, cooperate”. The anglicized version “gung-ho” was adopted by Major Evans Carlson as an expression of combined spirit for his 2nd Marine Raider Battalion during WWII. From there the term spread throughout the Marine Corps and back to America where it persists to this day.

24 Fill completely : SATE

“Sate” is a variant of the older word “satiate”. Both terms can mean either to satisfy an appetite fully, or to eat to excess.

25 Site for DIYers : EHOW

eHow is a how-to website that was founded in 1999. eHow has an awful lot of content but doesn’t do a great job of assessing the value of that content. I wouldn’t recommend it …

27 Male deer : STAG

A male deer is usually called a buck, and a female is a doe. However, the male red deer is usually referred to as a stag. The males of even larger species of deer are often called bulls, and the females called cows. In older English, male deer of over 5 years were called harts, and females of over 3 years were called hinds. The young of small species are known as fawns, and of larger species are called calves. All very confusing …

31 Pushup muscles : TRICEPS

The triceps brachii muscle is found at the back of the upper arm. The muscle’s name translates from Latin to “three-headed arm muscle”, fitting as it is actually made up of three bundles of muscles.

35 Pilsner, e.g. : BEER

Pilsener (also “pilsner” or “pils”) is a pale lager. The name “pilsener” comes from the city of Pilsen, now in the Czech Republic. It was in Pilsen, in 1842, that the first bottom-fermented lager was produced. A bottom-fermented beer is much clearer than a top-fermented beer, and has a crisper taste. The “top” and “bottom” refers to where the yeast gathers during the brewing process.

36 “This is the last straw for me” : I’M SO DONE

The phrase “last straw” is a metaphor that means a small additional burden or annoyance that causes someone to reach a breaking point or a limit. The expression comes from an old proverb “the last straw breaks the camel’s back” that refers to the idea that a camel can carry heavy loads, but if one more straw is added, the weight becomes too much, and the camel collapses.

37 Roof option for some Camaros : T-TOP

A T-top is a car roof that has removable panels on either side of a rigid bar that runs down the center of the vehicle above the driver.

The Chevrolet Camaro is a car produced by General Motors from 1966 to 2002, and reintroduced in 2009. The Camaro shared much of its design with the Pontiac Firebird, and was introduced as a potential competitor to the Ford Mustang.

43 “Eighth Grade” actress Fisher : ELSIE

Elsie Fisher is an actress whose best-known roles are possibly her voice acting. For example, she voiced Agnes in “Despicable Me” (2010) and “Despicable Me 2” (2013), and Parker Needle in “The Addams Family” (2019).

“Eighth Grade” is a 2018 comedy drama movie starring Elsie Fisher as a middle-schooler struggling with anxiety. Comedian Bo Burnham wrote and directed the film, and the storyline reflects his own anxiety as a performer, and his frequent panic attacks. I haven’t seen this one, but I hear really good things …

46 St. Louis and St. Petersburg, for two : CITIES

The city of St. Louis, Missouri was settled by French explorers in 1763. Sitting on the Mississippi River, it grew into a very busy port. By the 1850s, it was the second busiest port in the country, with only New York moving more freight. St. Louis was named for Louis IX of France. Louis was canonized in 1297 by Pope Boniface VIII, and was the only French king to be declared a saint.

St. Petersburg was founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and served as the capital of the Russian Empire for over 200 years. The city is often referred to as the “Venice of the North” due to its numerous canals and bridges, and is home to many beautiful historic buildings, including the Winter Palace and the Hermitage Museum, which houses one of the world’s largest art collections.

52 “Bein’ __”: Kermit the Frog’s song : GREEN

“Bein’ Green” is the signature song of Kermit the Frog, Jim Henson’s puppet character that appeared on “Sesame Street” and “The Muppet Show”. The song is also known by the first line “It’s not easy bein’ green”.

Kermit has to be the most readily recognized puppet character created by the late great Jim Henson. Henson came up with Kermit way back in 1955 when he appeared on a puppet show called “Sam and Friends” that aired in Washington, D.C. Kermit is loved so much that he even has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

58 Tailless primate : APE

Apes and monkeys both belong to the order of primates. The most obvious way to distinguish apes from monkeys is by the presence or lack of a tail. Almost all apes have no tail, and almost all monkeys have tails.

59 “Homeland” gp. : CIA

“Homeland” is a psychological drama on Showtime about a CIA officer who is convinced that a certain US Marine is a threat to the security of the United States. The show is based on a series from Israeli television called “Hatufim” (Prisoners of War”). I highly recommend it …

60 “WandaVision” actress Dennings : KAT

Kat Dennings is the stage name of actress Katherine Litwack, who is noted today for her co-starring role on CBS’s sitcom “2 Broke Girls”. Dennings is an avid blogger, and you can check out her video blog on YouTube.

“WandaVision” is a TV miniseries featuring characters from Marvel Comics. The title characters are Wanda Maximoff (aka Scarlet Witch) played by Elizabeth Olsen and Vision played by Paul Bettany. I am by no means a fan of screen adaptations of comic characters, but I might take a look at “WandaVision”. Wanda and Vision are living in suburbia, trying to conceal their superhero identities. Each episode progresses the storyline through several decades, using situations encountered in sitcoms of the day. Episodes use the format of shows such as:

The Dick Van Dyke Show
I Love Lucy
Bewitched
I Dream of Jeannie
The Brady Bunch
Good Times
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Full House
Malcolm in the Middle
Modern Family
Out of this World
The Twilight Zone

Sounds very intriguing …

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Resistance unit represented by an omega : OHM
4 __ and field : TRACK
9 BBC cooking competition, to fans : GBBO
13 Battery size : AAA
14 “__ a Mi Mundo”: Selena album : ENTRE
15 Eddie __: apparel company : BAUER
16 The Cardinals, on sports tickers : STL
17 Excessive introspection : NAVEL-GAZING
19 In-flight figs. : ETAS
21 Like many nouns ending in “s” : PLURAL
22 Tourist’s agenda : SIGHTSEEING
26 Bargain footwear chain : DSW
29 Outcast : PARIAH
30 Bothers : GETS TO
32 Trailing, as a trailer : IN TOW
34 Horse coloring : ROAN
35 Consuming “Succession” in rapid succession, say : BINGE-WATCHING
40 Widely shared image : MEME
41 Stony-faced : STOIC
42 Container : VESSEL
45 Next up : ON DECK
48 Argument in favor : PRO
49 New England fall activity : LEAF-PEEPING
53 Brand of bottled water : DASANI
55 Headliner : STAR
56 Reminiscing, and what 17-, 22-, 35-, and 49-Across all have : LOOKING BACK
61 Skating surface : ICE
62 Cubs legend Banks : ERNIE
63 Reddish brown photo effect : SEPIA
64 __ out a win : EKE
65 Suffix with nine- or ump- : TEEN
66 Pick up the tab : TREAT
67 Nine-digit ID : SSN

Down

1 Caravan rest stops : OASES
2 Gesture of recognition, physical or metaphorical : HAT TIP
3 Spanish port town that’s the namesake of a dessert wine : MALAGA
4 Roman X : TEN
5 Genetic letters : RNA
6 Off-rd. ride : ATV
7 Thin pancake : CREPE
8 “Law & Order: SVU” actress Giddish : KELLI
9 __ strip: region that borders Egypt : GAZA
10 Uses as a foundation : BUILDS ON
11 Jerry’s dairy partner : BEN
12 Assn. : ORG
15 Storm (in) : BARGE
18 __-ho: enthusiastic : GUNG
20 Holy sites : SHRINES
23 High-pitched sound : TING
24 Fill completely : SATE
25 Site for DIYers : EHOW
27 Male deer : STAG
28 Was victorious : WON
31 Pushup muscles : TRICEPS
33 Used to be : WAS
35 Pilsner, e.g. : BEER
36 “This is the last straw for me” : I’M SO DONE
37 Roof option for some Camaros : T-TOP
38 Convalescent puppy’s accessory : CONE
39 Conceal : HIDE
40 Letters on a trophy, maybe : MVP
43 “Eighth Grade” actress Fisher : ELSIE
44 Rely (on) : LEAN
46 St. Louis and St. Petersburg, for two : CITIES
47 Natural talents : KNACKS
50 Inner turmoil : ANGST
51 Nutrient found in whole grains : FIBER
52 “Bein’ __”: Kermit the Frog’s song : GREEN
54 Similar (to) : AKIN
56 Allow : LET
57 Mine find : ORE
58 Tailless primate : APE
59 “Homeland” gp. : CIA
60 “WandaVision” actress Dennings : KAT

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