LAXCrossword.com

Advertisement

Constructed by: John Michael Currie

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s “Reveal Answer”: On Repeat

The first word of each themed answer is REPEATED by starting the second word:

• 41D How viral videos might be played : ON REPEAT

• 20A Color commentator’s remark about a zebra on the field? : REF REFERENCE
• 29A Pickling, canning, headspace, annealing, etc.? : JAR JARGON
• 37A Like clockwork, e.g.? : ANALOG ANALOGY
• 45A Pressing the “permanent press” button? : IRON IRONY
• 56A “Words are but wind”? : META METAPHOR

Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 8m 52s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5A “Of course,” in Oviedo : CLARO

Oviedo is a cathedral city in northern Spain located just over ten miles from the Bay of Biscay coast.

10A Chevrolet model until 2019 : VOLT

The Chevrolet Volt first went on sale at the end of 2010, and is a plug-in hybrid car that runs on batteries. The Volt has a gasoline engine that can be used to run an electric generator when needed. The Volt also uses a regenerative braking system. The last Volt came off the assembly line in 2019.

14A Address letters : HTTP

“http” are the first letters in many Internet links. “http” stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol. More secure and “safer” websites (like this one!) use links starting with “https”, which stands for “http secure”.

15A Bleachers shoutout : HI, MOM!

At a sports event one might sit in the bleachers. “Bleachers” is a particularly American term used to describe the tiered stands that provide seating for spectators. These seats were originally wooden planks, and as they were uncovered they would be bleached by the sun, giving them the name we use today. Sometimes the fans using the bleachers might be referred to as “bleacherites”.

18A St. Teresa’s birthplace : AVILA

The Spanish city of Ávila is famous for the walled defenses around the old city (“la muralla de Ávila”) that date back to 1090. They were constructed out of brown granite, and are still in excellent repair. There are nine gateways and eighty-eight towers in all. Even the cathedral built between the 12th and 14th centuries is part of the city’s defenses, so it looks like an imposing fortress.

St. Teresa of Ávila (also known as St. Teresa of Jesus) was a Carmelite nun living in Spain in the 1500s. She is particularly noted for her writings on Christian meditation and mental prayer.

20A Color commentator’s remark about a zebra on the field? : REF REFERENCE

A football referee is sometimes called a “zebra”, a reference to the striped shirt that is part of the official uniform.

23A Created hazardous driving conditions, perhaps : SLEETED

Apparently, “sleet” is a term used to describe two different weather conditions. One is a shower of ice pellets that are smaller than hail, and the second is a mixture of rain and snow, with the snow melting as it falls.

24A Two-digit sign : PEACE

One has to be careful making that V-sign depending where you are in the world. Where I came from, the V-for-victory (or peace) sign has to be made with the palm facing outwards. If the sign is made with the palm facing inwards, it can be interpreted as a very obscene gesture.

28A Org. that promotes vegan leather : PETA

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is a large animal rights organization, with about 400 employees and nine million members and supporters worldwide. Although the group campaigns for animal rights across a broad spectrum of issues, it has a stated focus in opposition of four practices:

• Factory farming
• Fur farming
• Animal testing
• Use of animals in entertainment

29A Pickling, canning, headspace, annealing, etc.? : JAR JARGON

The noun “jargon” can describe nonsensical and meaningless talk, or the specialized language of a particular group, trade or profession. The term “jargon” is Old French, with the more usual meaning of “chattering”. How apt …

37A Like clockwork, e.g.? : ANALOG ANALOGY

The phrase “analog clock” is a retronym, meaning that is a relatively new term used to distinguish old-style clocks from the more recent digital clocks. Prior to the introduction of digital clocks, analog clocks were known as … “clocks”.

42A Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, for one : DUO

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are a pair of courtiers in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”. They also appear in the most famous play by British playwright Tom Stoppard, “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” (which I attended decades ago, but slept through!).

43A Comedian Wong : ALI

Ali Wong is a stand-up comedian from San Francisco who is a protégé of Chris Rock. She made two very successful Netflix stand-up specials “Baby Cobra” and “Hard Knock Wife”, and also worked as a writer for the hit sitcom “Fresh Off the Boat”.

44A Prefix with binary : NON-

The non-binary (NB, enbie, enby) spectrum of gender identities covers those that do not qualify as exclusively masculine or feminine.

45A Pressing the “permanent press” button? : IRON IRONY

The term “permanent press” (also “permapress”) applies to fabrics marketed as “wrinkle-free”. The phrase was coined in 1964, describing a textile made from cotton and polyester with formaldehyde-impregnated resins.

49A Swim/bike/run races, briefly : TRIS

Triathlon (tri)

52A Growing alarm : PANIC

In Greek mythology, Pan was a lecherous god who was part-man and part-goat, and one who fell in love with Echo the mountain nymph. Echo refused Pan’s advances so that he became very angry. Pan’s anger created a “panic” (a word derived from the name “Pan”) and a group of shepherds were driven to kill Echo.

56A “Words are but wind”? : META METAPHOR

In recent decades the prefix “meta-” has been used as a standalone adjective. In this sense “meta” means “self-referential”, describing something that refers to itself. For example, “This sentence starts with the word ‘this’ and ends with the word ‘this’” might be called a meta sentence. A movie that is about the making of the very same movie could also be described as meta.

60A Place to find one’s credit history? : IMDB

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) website was launched in 1990, and is now owned by Amazon.com. It’s a great site for answering questions one has about movies and actors.

63A Home of Creighton University : OMAHA

Creighton University is a private Jesuit school in Omaha, Nebraska that was founded in 1878. Originally called Creighton College, it was funded with a bequest of $200,000 from Mary Lucretia Creighton in honor of her husband, banker Edward Creighton.

65A Tarot figure carrying a bindle : FOOL

In a 78-card tarot deck, the picture cards are referred to as the Major Arcana. The remaining cards are known as the Minor Arcana. The Major Arcana included The Fool, the Wheel of Fortune, the Hanged Man, and Death.

“Bindle” is the name given to that bag or sack that the stereotypical hobo carried on a stick over his shoulder. “Bindle” is possibly a corruption of “bundle”.

66A Program broadcast from Rockefeller Plaza : TODAY

NBC’s “Today” show first aired way back in 1952 when it was the first “morning show” in the world. The first host of “Today” was Dave Garroway.

What is now called the Comcast Building in New York City was completed in 1933 as part of the Rockefeller Center and was named for its main tenant RCA. Famously, the skyscraper’s address of 30 Rockefeller Plaza is routinely shortened to “30 Rock”.

Down

2D Geek Squad offering : IT HELP

Best Buy is a retailer specializing in the supply of consumer electronics. Best Buy services include the famous “Geek Squad”, a band of technical experts that will help solve your computer and other consumer electronic problems.

4D Gilbert and Sullivan work : OPERETTA

The theatrical partnership that we know as “Gilbert & Sullivan” comprised dramatist W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan. They wrote fourteen operettas together in the late 19th century, the majority of which are performed regularly to this day. The list of their works includes:

• “H. M. S. Pinafore” (1878)
• “The Pirates of Penzance” (1879)
• “The Mikado” (1885)
• “The Yeomen of the Guard” (1888)
• “The Gondoliers” (1889)

7D “The Kite Runner” boy : AMIR

“The Kite Runner” was the first novel by Khaled Hosseini, published in 2003. The very successful book became an equally successful film released in 2007. “The Kite Runner” tells the story of a young boy named Amir growing up in Kabul, Afghanistan. Author Hosseini is a medical doctor, but after the success of “The Kite Runner” he gave up his practice and is now a full-time writer. His second book, “A Thousand Splendid Suns”, is also a great success.

9D Yemen neighbor : OMAN

The Oman-Yemen border runs in NW-SE directions for just over 180 miles. One end of the border is the tripoint with Saudi Arabia, and the other end is at the Arabian Sea coast.

11D Amanda Gorman’s “An __ We Owe” : ODE

Amanda Gorman’s 2022 poem, “An Ode We Owe: A Poem for Humankind”, was commissioned by the United Nations to address the global climate crisis and the preservation of the Earth. The work premiered during the 77th General Assembly, marking a rare instance where a poet was given the General Assembly stage to influence international diplomacy.

22D Audit firm exec : CPA

Certified public accountant (CPA)

26D “Dirt Cheap” country singer Johnson : CODY

Cody Johnson is a country singer from Texas. It was his father who mainly taught him music growing up, and his father was a member of the original Cody Johnson Band that he formed in 2006.

31D Kim Possible sidekick __ Stoppable : RON

“Kim Possible” is an animated Disney TV series for kids that originally ran from 2002 until 2007. The title character is a teenage crimefighter, with a partner named Ron Stoppable.

32D Cusack of the “Toy Story” franchise : JOAN

Joan Cusack is a wonderful actress, I think, although she always seems to be cast in supporting roles. She is the sister of actor John Cusack, and has appeared with him in many films including “Sixteen Candles” and my personal favorite, “Grosse Pointe Blank”.

Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl is a character in the “Toy Story” series of films who is voiced by Joan Cusack. Jessie develops a romantic relationship with Buzz Lightyear.

39D Mop & __ : GLO

Mop & Glo is a brand of floor cleaner and polish.

48D Rodeo cry : YEE-HAW!

“Rodeo” is a Spanish word that is usually translated into English as “round up”.

55D Dada pioneer Max : ERNST

Max Ernst was a painter and sculptor, and a pioneer in the Dada movement and Surrealism. He was born near Cologne in Germany in 1891 and he was called up to fight in WWI, as were most young German men at that time. In his autobiography he writes “Max Ernst died the 1st of August, 1914”, which was a statement about his experiences in the war. In reality, Ernst died in 1976 having lived to the ripe old age of 85.

58D Out of control : AMOK

The phrase “to run amok” (sometimes “to run amuck”) has been around since the 1670s and is derived from the Malay word for “attacking furiously”, “amuk”. The word “amok” was also used as a noun to describe Malay natives who were “frenzied”. Given Malaya’s troubled history, the natives probably had a good reason for that frenzy …