LA Times Crossword 18 Jul 24, Thursday - LAXCrossword.com (2024)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Bread component, casually : CARB

Only relatively small amounts of carbohydrate can be stored by the human body, but those stores are important. The actual storage molecule is a starch-like polysaccharide called glycogen, which is found mainly in the liver and muscles. Glycogen is a quick source of energy when required by the body. Most of the body’s energy is stored in the form of fat, a more compact substance that is mobilized less rapidly. Endurance athletes often eat meals high in carbohydrates (carbo-loading) a few hours before an event, so that their body’s glycogen is at optimum levels.

5 __ toast : MELBA

Melba toast is a dry, thinly sliced toast that is usually served with soup or salad. Melba toast was created by chef Auguste Escoffier for opera singer Dame Nellie Melba, for whom he also created the dessert called peach Melba.

10 Research sites : LABS

Our term “laboratory”, often shortened to “lab”, comes from the Medieval Latin word “laboratorium” meaning “place for labor, work”. This in turn comes from the Latin verb “laborare” meaning “to work”.

14 Ingredient in some superfood smoothies : ALOE

We hear the word “superfood” a lot these days. I think it’s important that we realize that our friends in marketing coined the term to promote foods that have supposed health benefits, even though there’s no obligation to prove those health benefits exist. Since 2007, the European Union (EU) has banned the use of the term “superfood” in marketing of foodstuffs unless there is credible scientific research to back up any health claim. Good for the EU …

19 Sam Cooke’s “__ Little Love” : TRY A

“Try a Little Love” is a 1965 studio album featuring songs by Sam Cooke. It was released after Cooke was shot and killed the year before. The liner notes for the album were written by the great Sammy Davis Jr.

20 Book that details the origin of Passover : EXODUS

The Book of Exodus is the second book in the Bible, and deals with Moses leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. The name “Exodus” comes from the Greek “exodos” meaning “departure”.

28 Hermana del padre : TIA

In Spanish, the “hermana” (sister) of your “padre” (father) is your “tia” (aunt).

33 MSNBC host Jen : PSAKI

The very able Jen Psaki served as the first White House press secretary for the Biden administration. During the Obama administration, she held several positions including White House deputy secretary and spokesperson for the Department of State. After leaving the White House, Psaki started to carve out a new career as TV pundit and began hosting her own MSNBC talk show in 2023.

37 Presentation on hot dogs? : FRANK DISCUSSION

The frankfurter sausage that is typically used in a North American hot dog gets its name from Frankfurter Würstchen. The latter is a German sausage that is prepared by boiling in water, just like a hot dog frank.

42 Divided Asian peninsula : KOREA

Korea was occupied by the Japanese military from 1910 until Japan surrendered at the end of WWII in 1945. While the UN was working towards a trusteeship administration for Korea, the Soviet Union managed the Korean Peninsula north of the 38th parallel and the US managed the south. The UN’s plans came to naught as the Cold War dictated the establishment of the two separate states of North Korea and South Korea. North Korea invaded the South in 1950, leading to the Korean War. After three years of fighting, the border between the two states became the demarcation line between the two military forces on the day the Armistice Agreement was signed. That line runs diagonally across the 38th parallel, and is better known as the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

50 Presentation on recycling? : TRASH TALK

The so-called “waste hierarchy” can be restated as the three Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The preferences are in order:

1. Reduce consumption
2. Reuse manufactured products
3. Recycle raw materials

59 Brunch order : OMELET

Our word “brunch” is a portmanteau of “breakfast” and “lunch”. The term was coined as student slang in Oxford, England in the late 1890s. However, “brunch” described a combined meal closer to the breakfast hour, and the term “blunch” was used for a meal closer to lunchtime.

61 Presentation on the Indiana WNBA team? : FEVER PITCH

The Indiana Fever WNBA team was founded in 2000. The team shares the Gainbridge Fieldhouse indoor arena in Indianapolis with the Indiana Pacers NBA team for home games.

64 Pixar protagonist who has one small fin and one large fin : NEMO

“Finding Nemo” is a 2003 animated blockbuster from Pixar. The film was the winner of the Oscar that year for Best Animated Feature. Believe it or not, “Finding Nemo” is the best-selling DVD of all time and, until 2010’s “Toy Story 3”, it was the highest-grossing, G-rated movie at the box office.

65 Liechtenstein currency : FRANC

Not only is the Swiss franc legal tender in Switzerland, it is also the money used in Liechtenstein and the Italian exclave of Campione d’Italia.

Liechtenstein is a tiny European country with an area of just over 61 square miles that is located in the Alps between Switzerland and Austria. It is one of only two doubly-landlocked nations in the world, the other being Uzbekistan. Liechtenstein has the highest gross domestic product per person in the world. The country is a winter sports haven attracting lots of visitors, and is also a tax haven with a strong financial center. There are actually more registered companies in Liechtenstein than there are citizens!

66 Like Southern California skies during June Gloom : GRAY

“June Gloom” is an expression used mainly in Southern California to describe cloudy, overcast skies with lower temperatures encountered in the month of June. If such weather patterns arrive a month or so early, the terms “Graypril” and “May Gray” might be used. The same weather seen a little later in the year gave rise to the terms “No-Sky July” and “Fogust”.

67 Wax-wrapped cheese : EDAM

Edam cheese takes its name from the Dutch town of Edam in North Holland. The cheese is famous for its coating of red paraffin wax, a layer of protection that helps Edam travel well and prevents spoiling. You might occasionally come across an Edam cheese that is coated in black wax. The black color indicates that the underlying cheese has been aged for a minimum of 17 weeks.

Down

2 “Five Feet of Fury” pro wrestler Bliss : ALEXA

“Alexa Bliss” is the ring name of professional wrestler Alexis Cabrera. Bliss married musician Ryan Cabrera in 2022. Kenny Abdo wrote the biography “Alexa Bliss: Five Feet of Fury” in 2019.

3 Unpaid worker : ROBOT

Karel Čapek was a Czech writer noted for his works of science fiction. Čapek’s 1921 play “R.U.R.” is remembered in part for introducing the world to the word “robot”. The words “automaton” and “android” were already in use, but Capek gave us “robot” from the original Czech “robota” meaning “forced labor”. The acronym “R.U.R.”, in the context of the play, stands for “Rossum’s Universal Robots”.

5 Some admins : MODS

Moderator (mod)

7 “Da 5 Bloods” director : LEE

“Da 5 Bloods” is a 2020 Spike Lee film about four aging veterans of the Vietnam War who go back to Vietnam. Their mission is to find the remains of their fallen squad leader, and to find a stash of gold bars they hid during the conflict. I haven’t seen this one, but am putting it on “the list” …

8 __ nova : BOSSA

Bossa nova is a style of music from Brazil that evolved from samba. The most famous piece of bossa nova is the song “The Girl from Ipanema”. The term “bossa nova” translates from Portuguese as “new trend”, or more colloquially as “new wave”.

11 “Love Sux” singer Lavigne : AVRIL

“Love Sux” is the title track from a 2022 album released by Avril Lavigne. She then went on the road to promote the album, renaming her planned “Bite Me Tour” to the “Love Sux Tour”.

12 Spoonbill habitat : BAYOU

A bayou is a marshy inlet or outlet of a lake or river, usually with stagnant or slow-moving water. The exact origins of the term “bayou” is uncertain, but it is thought perhaps to come from the Choctaw (a Native American people from the southeast) word “bayuk”, meaning “small stream”.

The spoonbill is a wading bird with a distinctively-shaped bill. That bill is flat and wide at the end, like a spoon, that facilitates feeding while wading in shallow water.

18 “My man!” : DUDE!

Our term “dude” arose as slang in New York City in the 1880s, when it was used to describe a fastidious man. In the early 1900s, the term was extended to mean “city slickers”, easterners who vacationed in the West. The first use of the term “dude ranch” was recorded in 1921.

24 Alien-seeking org. : SETI

“SETI” is the name given to a number of projects searching for extraterrestrial life. The acronym stands for “search for extraterrestrial intelligence”. One of the main SETI activities is the monitoring of electromagnetic radiation (such as radio waves) reaching the Earth in the hope of finding a transmission from a civilization in another world.

29 LGA alternative : JFK

The three big airports serving New York City (NYC) are John F. Kennedy (JFK), LaGuardia (LGA) and Newark (EWR).

30 Not prone to infatuation, for short : ARO

Someone described as aromantic (“aro”, for short) experiences little or no romantic attraction. The opposite of aromanticism is a alloromanticism.

35 Splash of color in a water garden : KOI

Koi are fish that are also known as Japanese carp. Koi have been bred for decorative purposes and there are now some very brightly colored examples found in Japanese water gardens.

39 Forensic anthropologist/writer Reichs who inspired the TV series “Bones” : KATHY

Kathy Reichs is a forensic anthropologist and crime writer from Chicago. The heroine in her series of “Temperance ‘Temp’ Brennan” novels is also a forensic anthropologist. Brennan’s character (and name) are the inspiration behind the TV show “Bones”, which stars Emily Descanel as Brennan.

41 Game with a spinoff called Dos : UNO

A standard game of Mattel’s UNO can be used to play several variations of the game, such as Elimination UNO, Speed UNO and Pirate UNO. There is also a spin-off game called “DOS” that is published by Mattel.

49 Santa’s transport : SLEIGH

The notion of Santa landing in his sleigh on the roofs of houses originated in the celebrated 1823 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas”.

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

50 Old Scottish title : THANE

Thanes were Scottish aristocrats. The most famous thanes have to be the Shakespearean characters Macbeth (Thane of Glamis, later “Thane of Cawdor”, and still later “King of Scotland”) and MacDuff (Thane of Fife). Other thanes in “Macbeth” are Ross, Lennox and Angus, as well as Menteith and Caithness.

51 Was extremely sweet? : RULED

She’s a sweet crossword solver, she rules …

56 Window sticker : DECAL

A decal is a decorative sticker. “Decal” is a shortening of “decalcomania”. The latter term is derived from the French “décalquer”, the practice of tracing a pattern from paper onto glass or perhaps porcelain.

57 __ alcohol: hand sanitizer ingredient : ETHYL

Ethyl alcohol is more usually known as ethanol. It is the alcohol found in intoxicating beverages, and nowadays is also used as a fuel for cars. Ethanol is also found in medical wipes and hand sanitizer, in which it acts as an antiseptic.

59 Tolkien brutes : ORCS

According to Tolkien, Orcs are small humanoids that live in his fantasy world of Middle-earth (also called “Mordor”). They are very ugly and dirty, and are fond of eating human flesh.