November 5, 2024 - LAXCrossword.com (2024)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Gyro bread : PITA

A gyro is a traditional Greek dish of meat roasted on a tall vertical spit that is sliced from the spit as required. Gyros are usually served inside a lightly grilled piece of pita bread, along with tomato, onion and tzatziki (a yogurt and cucumber sauce).

5 Letters that start some URLs : 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”.

9 Sunny window spot for a cat : SILL

“Sill plate”, or simply “sill”, is an architectural term describing a bottom horizontal member to which vertical members are attached. Window sills and door sills are specific sill plates found at the bottoms of windows and door openings.

13 Japanese noodle : UDON

Udon noodles are made from wheat-flour and are very popular in Japanese cuisines such as tempura.

14 Toledo’s lake : ERIE

Toledo, Ohio lies in the northwest of the state, at the western end of Lake Erie. Toledo was founded as a result of the prosperity that hit the area when the Miami and Erie Canal was constructed in the 19th century connecting Cincinnati to the Great Lakes. Toledo is known as the Glass City as several glass companies originated there, including Owens Corning and Pilkington North America. There is a large exhibition of glass art at the Toledo Museum of Art.

15 What “two” meant to Paul Revere : BY SEA

“One if by land, and two if by sea” is the famous signal code used by Paul Revere to warn the people of Charlestown when the British army was approaching. The words “one if by land, and two if by sea”, are immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride”.

16 Barnes & Noble purchase : BOOK

Barnes & Noble (B&N) is the oldest retailer of books in the US. The company started out in the book-printing business in 1873 and opened its first true bookstore in 1917, in New York City.

17 Levi’s alternatives : LEE’S

The Lee company that is famous for making jeans was formed in 1889 by one Henry David Lee in Salina, Kansas.

Levi Strauss was the founder of the first company in the world to manufacture blue jeans. Levi Strauss & Co. opened in 1853 in San Francisco. Strauss and his business partner were awarded a patent in 1873 for the use of copper rivets to strengthen points of strain on working pants.

19 Venue where a fair trial is impossible : KANGAROO COURT

A kangaroo court is one that acts with disregard to law, justice and accepted norms. The exact origin of the phrase “kangaroo court” seems unclear, as there are lots of claimed etymologies. The rationale for the use of “kangaroo” in describing such a court might be that prosecutors leap like a kangaroo over exculpatory evidence. Another explanation is that such a court might be in the pocket of an individual, in the metaphorical pouch of a kangaroo.

22 Mex. neighbor : USA

The Mexico-US border is the most frequently-crossed border in the world, although it is only the tenth longest border in the world between two countries.

25 Overnight flight : RED-EYE

A red-eye flight is one departing late at night and arriving early the next morning. The term “red-eye” is a reference to tired passengers disembarking with red eyes.

30 Destinations for some bargain hunters : FLEA MARKETS

Flea markets are known by various names around the world. In Australia, the term “trash and treasure market” is used. Such outdoor events are called car boot sales in Britain and Ireland, whereas indoor versions might be jumble sales or bring-and-buy sales.

36 “Ghostbusters” director Reitman : IVAN

Ivan Reitman was a film producer and director born in Slovakia, but who lived in Canada from when he was a small boy. Reitman is best known for producing and directing comedy movies. His long list of hits includes “Stripes”, “Ghostbusters”, “Kindergarten Cop” and “Dave”. Ivan’s son Jason Reitman is also a successful director, and was at the helm for the films “Juno”, “Thank You for Smoking” and “Up in the Air”.

1984’s “Ghostbusters” really is an entertaining movie. It stars Bill Murray and Harold Ramis, and was directed by Ivan Reitman (a trio that also worked together on 1981’s “Stripes”). The first draft of the screenplay was written by another star of the movie, Dan Aykroyd. Aykroyd originally envisioned “Ghostbusters” as a vehicle for himself and John Belushi, but sadly Belushi passed away before the project could be realized.

37 1990s fitness fad : TAE BO

Tae Bo isn’t an ancient martial art, even though it perhaps sounds like one. The discipline was developed as a form of aerobic exercise in the 1990s by taekwondo expert Billy Blanks who gave it the name Tae Bo, a melding of “taekwondo” and “boxing”.

38 Peru’s “City of Kings” : LIMA

Lima is the capital city of Peru. It was founded in 1535 by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, who named it “la Ciudad de los Reyes” (the City of Kings). He chose this name because the decision to found the city was made on January 6th, the feast of the Epiphany that commemorates the visit of the three kings to Jesus in Bethlehem. Lima is home to the oldest university in all of the Americas, as San Marco University was founded in 1551 during the days of Spanish colonial rule.

39 Vietnamese New Year : TET

The full name for the New Year holiday in Vietnam is “Tet Nguyen Dan” meaning “Feast of the First Morning”, with the reference being to the arrival of the season of spring. Tet usually falls on the same day as Chinese New Year.

42 French cap : BERET

The beret is a type of hat that is believed to have originated in ancient Greece, where it was worn by shepherds.

44 “Star Trek” character whose first name is Hikaru : MR SULU

Mr. Hikaru Sulu was played by George Takei in the original “Star Trek” series. Takei has played lots of roles over the years, and is still very active in television. Did you know that he appeared in the 1963 film, “Pt-109”? He played the helmsman steering the Japanese destroyer that ran down John F. Kennedy’s motor torpedo boat. From destroyer helmsman to starship helmsman …

50 Fried egg-and-bread breakfast dish : TOAD-IN-THE-HOLE

Here in the US, toad-in-the-hole consists of an egg fried in a hole cut into a buttered slice of bread. This breakfast dish also goes by the name “egg in the basket”. Over in Britain and Ireland, the term “toad-in-the-hole” describes a very different dish, one usually served at lunch or dinner comprising sausage baked in a Yorkshire pudding and covered in onion gravy. I’ll take either, but especially the latter. Yum …

55 Ancient alphabetic character : RUNE

A rune is a character in an alphabet that is believed to have mysterious powers. In Norse mythology, the runic alphabet was said to have a divine origin.

60 Highlander of ancient Peru : INCA

The Inca people emerged as a tribe around the 12th century, in what today is southern Peru. The Incas developed a vast empire over the next 300 years, extending along most of the western side of South America. The Empire fell to the Spanish, finally dissolving in 1572 with the execution of Túpac Amaru, the last Incan Emperor.

61 Private nonprofits: Abbr. : NGOS

Non-governmental organization (NGO)

64 Breakfast chain known for flapjacks, or what the first part of 19-, 30-, 40-, or 50-Across might say? : IHOP

The International House of Pancakes (IHOP) was founded back in 1958. IHOP was originally intended to be called IHOE, the International House of Eggs, but that name didn’t do too well in marketing tests.

Down

1 Trivia night venue : PUB

Trivia are things of little consequence. “Trivia” is the plural of the Latin word “trivium” which means “a place where three roads meet”. Now that’s what I call a trivial fact …

4 Crooner Paul : ANKA

Canadian-born Paul Anka’s big hit was in 1957, the song entitled “Diana”. Another oft-heard Anka composition started out life as his 1959 composition “Toot Sweet”. He rearranged “Toot Sweet” and renamed it as “Johnny’s Theme”, the jazz instrumental played as the opening theme of “The Tonight Show Starry Johnny Carson”.

5 Hägar the Horrible’s wife : HELGA

“Hägar the Horrible” is a comic strip that was created by the late Dik Browne and is now drawn by his son, Chris Browne. “Hägar the Terrible” (not “Horrible”) was the nickname given to Dik by his sons. The strip’s title character is a red-bearded Viking living on the Norwegian coast during the Middle Ages. Hägar lives with his overbearing wife Helga, his sensitive son Hamlet, his pretty daughter Honi, and his clever dog Snert.

8 Mexican money : PESO

The Mexican peso is the most traded currency from Latin America. It is also the third most traded currency in the Americas (after the US dollar and the Canadian dollar).

9 Religious councils : SYNODS

The word “synod” comes from the Greek word for “assembly, meeting”. A synod is a church council, usually one in the Christian faith.

10 Time of the week? : ISSUE

“TIME” was the first weekly news magazine in the US. It was founded in 1923 by Briton Hadden and Henry Luce. Hadden and Luce had previously worked together as chairman and managing editor of the “Yale Daily News”.

12 Hot drink with foam art : LATTE

“Latte art” is the name given to the designs that can be drawn on the surface of coffee drinks. Some of those designs can be quite intricate.

15 Muscles shown off by muscle tees : BICEPS

The biceps muscle is made up of two bundles of muscle, both of which terminate at the same point near the elbow. The heads of the bundles terminate at different points on the scapula or shoulder blade. “Biceps” is Latin for “two-headed”.

27 “The Vampire Diaries” actor Somerhalder : IAN

Ian Somerhalder got his big break as an actor in the TV drama “Lost”, and followed that up with a part in TV’s “The Vampire Diaries”.

“The Vampire Diaries” is a series of horror novels by L. J. Smith that is aimed at teens. There is a spin-off television series of the same name. I don’t do vampires …

28 Shooting sport with clay pigeons : SKEET

Skeet shooting is one of three types of competitive shotgun target shooting sports, along with trap shooting and sporting clays. The word “skeet” comes from the Scandinavian word “skot,” which means “to shoot.”

29 NASA telescope launched in 2021 : WEBB

The James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021, and entered into service in 2022. It uses infrared radiation to observe objects, and also produces images with higher resolution than the Hubble Space Telescope that started operating in 1990. The Webb is named for James E. Webb, the NASA administrator who served from 1961 to 1968.

33 “Gift From the Sea” writer Anne Morrow : LINDBERGH

“Gift From the Sea” is a 1955 book by Anne Morrow Lindbergh that she wrote while vacationing on Captiva Island in Florida. It is a collection of essays, or “meditations”, about the lives of Americans at that time. She uses shells that she collected on the beach as inspiration for each section. By the way, Anne Morrow was the wife of aviator Charles Lindbergh.

34 Counterpart to alpha : OMEGA

Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet and is the one that looks like a horseshoe (Ω) when in uppercase. The lowercase omega looks like a Latin W. The word “omega” literally means “great O” (O-mega). Compare this with the Greek letter Omicron, meaning “little O” (O-micron).

40 Greek god of the sun : HELIOS

Helios was the god of the Sun in Greek mythology, and is the reason that we use the prefix “helio-” to mean “sun”. He was the brother of Selene, the goddess of the moon, and Eos, the goddess of the dawn. Helios drove his chariot of the sun across the sky during the day, returning to the East at night by traveling through the ocean. The Roman equivalent to Helios was Sol.

42 Part of a financial plan : BUDGET

We started using the word “budget” in a financial sense in the mid-1700s. The term comes from the Latin “bulga” meaning “leather bag”. The idea was that a minister of the treasury would keep fiscal plans (budgets) in a wallet or leather bag.

44 Crete peak: Abbr. : MT IDA

There are two peaks called Mount Ida that are sacred according to Greek mythology. Mount Ida in Crete is the island’s highest point, and is where one can find the cave in which Zeus was reared. Mount Ida in Asia Minor (located in modern-day Turkey) is where Ganymede was swept up by Zeus in the form of an eagle that took him to Olympus where he served as cupbearer to the gods.

Crete is the largest of the Greek Islands, and figures heavily in Greek mythology. Zeus was born in a cave at Mount Ida, the highest peak on the island. Crete was also home to the Labyrinth where the Minotaur was slain by Theseus. Icarus and Daedalus, after having crafted the Labyrinth, escaped from the island using wings that they crafted.

45 Caramel-filled treats : ROLOS

Rolo was a hugely popular chocolate candy in Ireland when I was growing up. It was introduced in the thirties in the UK, and is produced under license in the US by Hershey. I was a little disappointed when I had my first taste of the American version as the center is very hard and chewy. The recipe used on the other side of the Atlantic calls for a soft gooey center.

53 Actress Anderson : LONI

Loni Anderson’s best-remembered role is Jennifer Marlowe on the sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati”. Anderson has been married four times, most famously to actor Burt Reynolds from 1988 to 1993.

58 Nile reptile : ASP

The Egyptian cobra (Naja haje) is also known as the asp. That said, the term “asp” can apply to several species of snake, including the Egyptian cobra. Legend has it that Cleopatra committed suicide by enticing an asp to bite her. If that’s true, then that asp was probably an Egyptian cobra.