L.A. Times Crossword Wednesday, September 7, 2022. Susan Gelfand

Theme: Music with Dinner.  Though, I might have that backwards.  Either way, it's both tasty and notable.  And maybe I'll have to sing for my supper.  Let's hope not.  So let's dive in.

20 A.   Favorite vegetable side dish of singer Donna?: SUMMER SQUASH.  This is a squash that is harvested when immature, while the rind is still tender and edible.  LaDonna Adrian Gaines (1948 –  2012), known professionally as Donna SUMMER, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the "Queen of Disco", while her music gained a global following.

31. Favorite leafy course of singer Al?: GREEN SALAD .    A SALAD is a dish consisting of mixed, mostly natural ingredients with at least one raw ingredient.  A GREEN SALAD consists of lettuce and other uncooked green vegetables.

Albert Leornes Greene (b. 1946), better known as Al GREEN, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s.  

42. Favorite fish entree of singer Carole?: KING SALMON.  The Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) is the largest and most valuable species of Pacific salmon in North America, as well as the largest in the genus Oncorhynchus.  Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other vernacular names for the species include KING SALMON, Quinnat salmon, Tsumen, spring salmon, chrome hog, Blackmouth, and Tyee salmon.

Carole KING Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway, and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential musicians of all time, King is the most successful female songwriter of the latter half of the 20th century in the US, having written or co-written 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

 

53. Favorite fruity dessert of singer Fiona?: APPLE STRUDEL.  A STRUDEL is a type of layered pastry with a filling that is usually sweet, in this case sliced APPLES,  spices, and other optional ingredients.

Fiona APPLE McAfee-Maggart (b. 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. She has released five albums from 1996 to 2020, which have all reached the top 20 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. APPLE has received numerous awards and nominations, including three Grammy Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, and a Billboard Music Award

   

Hi Gang, it's JazzBumpa here, today's maitre'd cum impresario.  Hope you enjoy the savory offerings from Chef Susan.  Let's see what other delights are on the menu.

 1. Truism: AXIOM.   A statement or proposition which is regarded as being established, accepted, or self-evidently true.

6. Scrape cover: SCAB.   A dry, rough protective crust that forms over a cut or wound during healing.

10. Runs or walks, e.g.: STAT.  Baseball statistics.

14. Subway to the Louvre: METRO.   A rapid transit system in the Paris metropolitan area, France. A symbol of the city, it is known for its density within the capital's territorial limits, uniform architecture and unique entrances influenced by Art Nouveau. It is mostly underground and 226.9 kilometres long.

15. Spanish lake: LAGO.  Literal translation.

16. One and only: LONE.  Having no companions; solitary or single.

17. Fuss at the mirror: PREEN.   Devote effort to making oneself look attractive and then admire one's appearance.

18. Many an Omani: ARAB.  Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of the Persian Gulf. 

19. Legendary: EPIC.  Of extraordinary scope or magnitude.

23. Go out, as the tide: EBB.  Recede, diminish.

26. Sail support: MAST.  A tall upright post, spar, or other structure on a ship or boat, in sailing vessels generally carrying a sail or sails.

27. Toepick-assisted skating leaps: LUTZES.

 

 28. More gloomy: DARKER.  As in some fiction or weather phenomena.

30. "Okey-dokey": YEAH.   Agreement or approval

34. Decide (to): OPT.  Make a choice to do something, or not

37. Contract negotiator: AGENT.  A person who acts on behalf of another person or group.

38. Family boy: SON.  Male offspring.
 
39. Bub: FELLA.   Some guy.

41. Crayola eight-pack choice: RED.  One of the primary colors.

44. Speaker's platform: DAIS.  A low platform for a lectern, seats of honor, or a throne.

46. Candy bar nut: ALMOND.  The oval edible nutlike seed (kernel) of the almond tree, growing in a woody shell, widely used as food.

47. Saunters: MOSEYS.  Walks or moves in a leisurely manner.

50. Some ceiling fixtures: FANS.   Twirly thing that moves air.

52. Big __ Conference: NCAA division that includes Montana: SKY.  A collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision.

56. Shoe inserts: FEET.  I wanted orthotics.  Oh, well.  If it fits, wear it.

57. Curling __: IRON.  Device for unstraightening hair.

58. Post-swim wrap: TOWEL.  A piece of thick absorbent cloth  used for drying oneself or wiping things dry.

62. Quechua speaker: INCA.     South American Indians who, at the time of the Spanish conquest in 1532, ruled an empire that extended along the Pacific coast and Andean highlands from the northern border of modern Ecuador to the Maule River in central Chile. 

63. Raven's retreat: NEST.   Bird's home.

64. Connect with: TIE TO.   Make a connection or relationship between two or more persons or things.

65. Queries: ASKS.  Requests an answer or some information.

66. Picks up on: GETS.  Understands.

67. Like draft beer: ON TAP.

Down:

1. Concert piece: AMP.  Sound amplifier.  Not a musical selection.

2. Gen __: XER.  the demographic cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials, generally defined as people born from 1965 to 1980.  My kids are from 1970 and 1972.

3. Meteor follower: -ITE.   Cutesy clue for a suffix.   When meteoroids enter Earth's atmosphere (or that of another planet, like Mars) at high speed and burn up, the fireballs or “shooting stars” are called meteors. When a meteoroid survives a trip through the atmosphere and hits the ground, it's called a meteorite.

4. Raw metals: ORES.    Naturally occurring solid materials from which metals or valuable minerals can be profitably extracted.

5. __ Valley: puzzle game with optical illusions: MONUMENT.  Interesting game.  I played it a few years ago, then forgot about it more recently.

6. Closes with force: SLAMS.  As if in anger.

7. Keyboard symbol above 6: CARET.   This thing: ^

8. Food thickener: AGAR.   A jelly-like substance consisting of polysaccharides obtained from the cell walls of some species of red algae, primarily from ogonori and "tengusa". 

9. Winter Olympics racer: BOBSLED.   A team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh.

10. Nancy Drew, e.g.: SLEUTH.   A person who investigates crimes.

11. Birthstone after opal: TOPAZ.  For the months of October and November, respectively.

12. Pernod flavor: ANISE.  A Mediterranean plant of the parsley family, cultivated for its aromatic seeds which are used in cooking and herbal medicine.

13. Help desk pros: TECHS.  AKA nerds.

21. Red planet: MARS.   The 4th planet in our solar system.

22. Sine __ non: essential: QUA.  QUA means "in the capacity of."  The phrase refers to something that is absolutely necessary.

23. Mystery writers' award: EDGAR.   Named for Mr. Poe.

24. River transport: BARGE.   A flat-bottomed boat for carrying freight

25. Kennel club designation: BREED.   A stock of animals within a species having a distinctive appearance and typically having been developed by deliberate selection.

29. Fox Sports MLB reporter Rosenthal: KEN.   Ken Rosenthal (b. 1962) is an American sportswriter and reporter. He serves as a field reporter for Fox Major League Baseball since 2005, and was an in-studio reporter for MLB Network from 2009 to 2022. Since August 2017, he is a senior baseball writer for The Athletic.

30. Yin and __: YANG.  Yin and yang is a Chinese philosophical concept that describes interconnected opposite forces. In Chinese cosmology, the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy, organized into the cycles of yin and yang and formed into objects and lives.

I used this idea in a sonnet I wrote many years ago.

THE SUBSTITUTE

There are those whose lives are meant to be entwined,

Lovers thrust together by the force of destiny,

When choice and fate converge, that they may be

Connected at the soul, the heart, the mind.

Within their closed circumference one can find

Two curves in perfect fit -- his yang, her yin,

That in each cycle once again begin

To cluster into love's sweet spiral bind.

But consider -- if in the vast span of infinity

One of them becomes displaced in small degree;

Is born a decade late, perhaps is sent

To the farthest corner of the continent --

The distant echo of an unfelt touch, an unseen face.

Who will be the one who comes to take his place?

32. Seller's caveat: AS IS.  What you see is what you get.

33. Chaney of classic horror: LON.   Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (1883 –1930) was an American actor, director, screenwriter and makeup artist. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and afflicted characters, and his groundbreaking artistry with makeup.  Chaney was known for his starring roles in such silent horror films as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925). His ability to transform himself using makeup techniques that he developed earned him the nickname "The Man of a Thousand Faces".

34. "Mayans M.C." star Edward James __: OLMOS.   Edward James Olmos (b. 1947) is an American actor, director, producer, and activist. He is best known for his roles as Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo in Miami Vice (1984–1989), actor in and director of American Me (1992), William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica (2004–2009), teacher Jaime Escalante in Stand and Deliver (1988), for which he received an Academy Award nomination, and Detective Gaff in Blade Runner (1982) and its sequel Blade Runner 2049 (2017). In 2018 through 2022, he has played the father of two members of an outlaw motorcycle club in the FX series Mayans MC.

35. Cheap wine, in British slang: PLONK.   Who knew?

36. Jessica of "Cocoon": TANDY.   Jessie Alice Tandy (1909 – 1994) was a British-American actress. Tandy appeared in over 100 stage productions and had more than 60 roles in film and TV, receiving an Academy Award, four Tony Awards, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. She acted as Blanche DuBois in the original Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948. Her films included Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds and The Gin Game. At 80, she became the oldest actress to receive the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Driving Miss Daisy.

39. Artificially high voice: FALSETTO.

 

 40. West __: high-end design retailer: ELM.   One of many brands owned by the Williams-Sonoma Co.

42. Smooching: KISSING.  Touching with the lips as a sign of love, sexual desire, reverence, or greeting.

43. Temporary castle material: SAND.   For when you're at the beach.

I especially like the arch

44. River mouth formations: DELTAS.    Landforms shaped like triangles, created by deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, or another river that cannot carry away the supplied sediment. 

45. Affirmative vote: AYE.  I see.

47. Criminal group: MAFIA.   An organized international body of criminals, operating originally in Sicily and now especially in Italy and the US and having a complex and ruthless behavioral code.

48. Debuts: OPENS.   As, frex., a play or movie

49. Tiny bit: SPECK.   Mote

50. Cold coat: FROST.  a deposit of small white ice crystals formed on the ground or other surfaces when the temperature falls below freezing.

51. Many godmothers: AUNTS.  Moms' sisters.  Or dads'.

54. Genealogy diagram: TREE.  A diagram showing the relationships between people in several generations of a family; a genealogical tree.

55. Meat cut: LOIN.  a cut from the part of the body on either side of the spine between the lowest ribs and the hipbones.

59. In need of a 58-Across: WET.  From swimming or getting caught in the rain.

60. Due-in hr.: ETA.   Estimated Time of Arrival

61. Cut (off): LOP.   To cut off (a branch, limb, or other protrusion) from the main body of a tree.  Can one lop a loin?

After today's tasty adventure, I will leave you to ponder that meaty question at your leisure.

Cool regards!

JzB