LA Times Crossword 18, May 23, Thursday - LAXCrossword.com (2023)

Today's Wiki-est Amazon Googlies

Over

4 Participate in the economy of the concert, say: TEMP

Musicians use "gig" to describe a job, a performance. The term originated in the jazz world in the early 20th century. The derivative term "gig economy" refers to a relatively new phenomenon in which workers jump from one temporary job to another, from one job to the next.

8 Hornet Defense: STING

A hornet is a large species of wasp, with some species reaching over two inches in length.

16 Youngest Kardashian Sister: KHLOE

Khloé Kardashian, Kim's sister, managed to turn her presence on the reality show Keeping Up with the Kardashians into spinoffs called Kourtney and Khloé Take Miami and Khloé & Lamar.

20 Missouris __ Berge: OZARK

The Ozark Mountains are not actually mountains geographically, so the Ozarks are better described by the alternative name "Ozark Plateau". It's not entirely certain how the Ozarks got their name, but my favorite theory is that "Ozarks" is the phonetic spelling of "aux Arks," short for "of Arkansas" in French.

26 text incessantly: SPAM

The term "spam" used for unsolicited email is taken from a "Monty Python" sketch. In the sketch (which I have seen), the dialogue is taken up by the word "spam", a nod to the abundance of tinned meat in British markets after the Second World War. So "spam" is used for the e-mail flood that takes over online communication. I can imagine nerdy internet dudes (like me) taking something from a Monty Python sketch to describe an online phenomenon…

30 Mexico's national flower: DAHLIA

Dahlia is a flowering plant native to Mexico and Central America. It was made Mexico's national flower relatively recently, in 1963. The plant was named "Dahlia" in 1791 in honor of the Swedish botanist Anders Dahl.

31 Exclusive cosmetics chain: SEPHORA

Sephora is a French cosmetics chain founded in 1969. The name "Sephora" is derived from the Greek word for "beauty" ("sephos"). Since 2006, we have been able to visit Sephora stores in JCPenney stores.

33 Boyos: Jungs

"Boyo" is an informal term used as an alternative to "laddie" or "lad" in countries such as Australia, Wales and Ireland.

35 Time Capsule Objekt: RELIC

A time capsule is a container of items chosen to help someone in the future understand the society at the time the container was sealed. Although time capsules have been around since at least the 18th century, the term "time capsules" was not coined until 1938.

36 *What "we live in", according to a Madonna hit: MATERIAL WORLD

"Material Girl" is a 1984 song released by Madonna on her 1984 studio album Like a Virgin. "Material Girl" and "Like a Virgin" are two of Madonna's most successful singles. According to Madonna herself, both tracks must be provocative and ironic. Madonna explained in a 2009 interview with Rolling Stone:

I liked both because they were ironic and provocative at the same time, but also different from me. I am not a materialistic person and certainly not a Virgo…

46 Universal Basic __: INCOME

The term "Universal Basic Income" (UBI) describes a government program in which every adult receives a regular cash payment. This payment is granted equally to all adult citizens, regardless of their personal situation.

50 Symbol on the cooling towers of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant: ATOM

The Simpsons TV series is set in Anytown, USA. The creators chose the name "Springfield" because it is one of the most common city names in the country.

51 * Wrapping in the spa: HAIR TOWELS

The word "spa" migrated into English from Belgium, as "spa" is the name of a community in the eastern part of the country known for its healing hot springs. The name "Spa" comes from the Walloon word "espa" and means "spring, fountain".

62 Eggs: OVA

"Ovum" (plural "ova") is Latin and means "egg".

63 words with number or time: PRIME …

A prime number is a number greater than 1 that can only be divided by 1 and itself. There are still some unanswered questions about prime numbers, especially the Goldbach conjecture. This conjecture dates back to the 1740s and is believed to be true, but has never been proven. It states that every even integer greater than 2 can be expressed as the sum of two prime numbers.

In the television world, prime time is the part of the day when broadcasters and advertisers maximize revenue due to high viewership. Prime time is often defined as 19:00-22:00. Mountain and central time as well as 20:00 to 23:00. Pacific and Eastern Time.

64 "Cat" Poets: ELIOT

T. S. Eliot (TSE) was born in New England but grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. Eliot received much of his university education at Oxford and was apparently adjusting to life in England. In 1927 he became a British citizen and lived the rest of his life in Great Britain.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's source material for his hit musical Cats was T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Eliot's collection of whimsical poetry was published in 1939 and was a personal favorite of Webber growing up. My wife and I have seen "Cats" a few times and thoroughly enjoyed it…

65 The cartoonist Sorensen, the first woman to win the Herblock prize: JEN

Cartoonist Jen Sørensen publishes a weekly cartoon that takes a liberal look at current events. The strip appeared in the 1990s under the title Slowpoke and was released under the simple title Jen Sorenson from 2012. Recommended…

The Herblock Award is an award for editorial cartooning that has been presented annually since 2004. The award is named after Pulitzer-winning cartoonist Herb Block, who published under the name "Herblock". Block was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton in 1994.

67 Sult: YENS

The word 'yen', meaning 'craving', has been in English since the early 20th century. It comes from the earlier word "yin" imported from Chinese and used in English to describe a strong craving for opium.

ned

1 King of Judah: HEROD

Herod the Great was in the first century B.C. a vassal king who ruled Judea under Roman suzerainty. According to the Christian Bible, it was Herod the Great who ordered the Massacre of the Innocents, the execution of all baby boys in Bethlehem at the time of Jesus' birth from Nazareth. When Herod the Great was around the year 4 B.C. died, Rome divided his kingdom between his three sons and one daughter. The son named Herod Antipas became ruler of Galilee and Perea. It is Herod Antipas, referred to in the Bible as "King Herod", who played a key role in the execution of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth.

2 Stunned: AWESOME

"Gobsmack" is slang from Great Britain and Ireland. "Gob" is also colloquial for "mouth". So anyone who is stunned has been punched in the mouth is stunned.

3 Trading bars? : SONATA

A cantata is a piece of music that is sung, as opposed to a sonata, which is a piece played on an instrument, often a piano. A sonatina is basically a sonata, described as something lighter and shorter.

Georg Friedrich Handel was the king of the oratorio. Handel's most famous oratorio is Messiah, which premiered in Dublin, Ireland, in 1742.

4 „Herr. Brightside“-Band: THE KILLERS

The rock band Killers was formed in Las Vegas in 2001. The group got its name from a music video for the song "Crystal" by the English band New Order. The video features a fictional band (younger than New Order) called "The Killers", as indicated by the logo on the bass drum.

5 Holy day, on which fasting is prohibited, generally: EID

Eid al-Fitr is a religious holiday in Muslim tradition known in English as the "Feast of Breaking the Fast". It marks the end of Ramadan, a period of fasting from dawn to dusk.

6 health picture? : MR

A Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine uses powerful magnetic fields to create images that can be used by healthcare professionals to diagnose injuries and illnesses.

7 Place to buy fish: PETCO

Petco is a retail chain that sells live animals and pet supplies. The Petco logo features the company's two mascots, Red Ruff the dog and Blue Mews the cat.

8 equipment for Mikaela Shiffrin: SKI

Mikaela Shiffrin is a World Cup alpine skier from Vail, Colorado. Her notable list of competitive victories includes the 2014 Olympic gold in slalom. She was only 18 years old, making her the youngest slalom champion in Olympic history.

25 Silicon __: Israel's counterpart to California's Silicon Valley: WADI

Most high-tech companies in Israel choose to locate their domestic facilities on Israel's coastal plain, particularly near the city of Tel Aviv. For this reason, the area was called "Silicon Wadi" in English, a nod to California's "Silicon Valley".

29 ostepartnere: MAC

Thomas Jefferson's name is associated with the dish we now know as "mac 'n' cheese." The future president discovered baked macaroni and parmesan cheese during his stay in Paris and northern Italy. He began serving the dish to guests across the United States and even imported a machine to make the macaroni locally. Whether or not Jefferson was the first to bring mac 'n' cheese to America is not entirely clear, but it has grown in popularity ever since.

32 Where teenagers are treated like royalty? : PROM COURTS

A prom is a formal dance held after high school (in Ireland we call it a 'formal dance'). The term "prom" is short for "promenade", which is a term for a type of dance or ball.

34 Richardson af „The Afterparty“: SAM

Sam Richardson is an actor and comedian whose big break came when he played campaign worker and would-be politician Richard Spett on the hit TV show Veep.

The Afterparty is a crime comedy show that first aired in 2022. The first season takes place at a high school reunion. Each episode revisits the events of the reunion, but from different characters' perspectives. I haven't seen it yet, but it sounds interesting...

36 Academic: MOOT

Moot means to bring a topic up for discussion or debate. So anything debatable is debatable. Something that is no longer controversial is no longer worth discussing. We can't seem to pull this off, which is driving me crazy...

38 Bughouse chess, but not classical chess: TEAM PLAY

Bughouse chess is chess played on two chessboards by two teams of two players each. The rules of the game are the same as normal, with one important exception: tokens captured by a player can be passed to that player's teammate for use on the other board.

39 Dvalested: LAIR

Hibernating animals are minimally active, have a low body temperature, relatively slow respiration and a generally low metabolism. Hibernation can last for days or even months and is most closely associated with the winter season. The term "hibernate" comes from the Latin "hibernare" and means "to hibernate, move into winter quarters".

41 org. with carts and drivers: PGA

The Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) was founded in 1916 and is now (unsurprisingly) headquartered in Florida, home to so many golfers. In 1916, the PGA was based in New York City.

44 Barak of Israel: EHUD

Ehud Barak was Prime Minister of Israel from 1999 to 2001, succeeding Benjamin Netanyahu. Barak left office after calling a special election for prime minister and losing the vote to Ariel Sharon. Barak resigned from the Knesset and took a consulting position with the American company Electronic Data Systems (EDS), and he also worked for a private equity fund in the security sector. In 2007, Barak took over the leadership of the Israeli Labor Party.

48 Personal iOS avatar: MEMOJI

Apple introduced "Memoji" with the release of its iOS 13 mobile operating system in 2019. Basically, Memoji are personal avatars that can be customized.

49 Rostnummer: ELF

Growing up in Ireland, we never used the word 'gridiron' (which means a grill used to cook food over an open fire). Perhaps I apologize for living in the US for two decades to find out that a soccer field grid is called that because the arrangement of yard lines across the field looks like a cooking grid used for cooking.

52 European boots? : ITALY

In the Italian peninsula of southern Europe, the "boot" is mainland Italy and the "ball" kicked by the boot is the island of Sicily.

57 Nagellackmarke: OPI

Opi (originally "Odontorium Products Inc.") is a nail polish manufacturer based in North Hollywood, California. One of Opi's marketing coups was the introduction of a line of Legally Blonde 2 polishes that featured in the film.

59 "We Don't Talk About Bruno"-Songwriter __-Manuel Miranda: LIN

Lin-Manuel Miranda is a New York City-based composer and playwright and the creator and star of the hit Broadway musicals Hamilton and In the Heights. Miranda also co-wrote the songs for the 2016 Disney animated film Moana. He began composing at an early age, writing jingles as a child. One of these jingles was later used by Eliot Spitzer in his 2006 gubernatorial campaign.

"We Don't Talk About Bruno" is a song written by Lin-Manuel Miranda for the 2021 Disney film Encanto. The song became a viral sensation and topped the US charts for several weeks.

61 Geological range: EON

Geological time is divided into several units of different lengths. These are, starting with the largest:

• supereon
• Aeon (also "Aeon")
• eras
• Period
• eras
• Amend