Lettuce wrap lettuce crossword clue Archives - LAXCrossword.com (2024)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Lettuce wrap lettuce : BIBB

Bibb is a variety of lettuce in the cultivar known as butterhead. All butterhead varieties have loose-leafed heads and a buttery texture.

5 “Tapestry” artist King : CAROLE

Carole King’s marvelous 1951 album “Tapestry” was the best-selling album ever for much of the seventies. “Tapestry” was finally knocked off its perch by the “Saturday Night Fever” movie soundtrack, which was released in 1977.

20 Creative motivation, casually : INSPO

“Inspo” is an informal term describing something or someone serving as “inspiration”.

21 Floating ice chunk : BERG

An iceberg is a large piece of freshwater ice that is floating freely after having broken away from a glacier or ice shelf. Our use of “iceberg” comes from the Dutch word for the same phenomenon “ijsberg”, which translates literally as “ice mountain”.

22 Actress Merrill : DINA

Actress Dina Merrill was in 22 movies, including two of my favorites: “Desk Set” with Tracy & Hepburn, and “Operation Petticoat” with Cary Grant. Merrill also carried some sway in the business world. Until 2007, she was on the compensation committee of Lehman Brothers, the merry band that approved all of those big bonuses.

27 Chew the fat : GAB
71 Chews the fat : YAKS

Back in the day, a wealthy person would “bring home the bacon”, and sit around with guests “chewing the fat”.

30 Many a beach resort condo : TIME-SHARE (overtime & overshare)

The terms “condominium” and “apartment” tend to describe the same type of residential property, namely a private living space with facilities shared with others residing in the same building or complex. The difference is that a condominium is usually owned, and an apartment is rented. At least that’s how it is in the US. The word “condominium” comes from the Latin “com-” (together) and “dominum” (right of ownership).

35 Sorento automaker : KIA

The Sorento is an SUV made by Kia since 2002. I’ve always assumed that the car is named for the Italian city, although the spelling is different (“Sorrento”).

36 Kind of soprano : MEZZO

A mezzo-soprano is a female singing voice below a soprano but above a contralto. “Mezzo” is Italian for “half”.

39 Taking every point, in hearts : SHOOTING THE MOON (overshooting & over the moon)

Hearts is a fun card game that is in the Whist family of trick-taking games, as are bridge (my favorite) and spades.

43 41-Down variety : PEKOE
[41D Brewed beverage : TEA]

A pekoe (or more commonly “orange pekoe”) is a medium-grade black tea. There is no orange flavor in an orange pekoe tea. The “orange” name most likely derived from the name of the trading company that brought the tea to Europe from Asia.

45 How only two Super Bowls have ended, for short : IN OT

Super Bowl LI was played at the end of the 2016 season, with the New England Patriots defeating the Atlanta Falcons. By all accounts, it was a remarkable game, as the Patriots came back from a 28-3 deficit to emerge victorious 34-28 in overtime. This represents the largest comeback in the history of the Super Bowl, and the first Super Bowl to be decided in overtime. And oh, the halftime show featured Lady Gaga.

Super Bowl LVIII was played at the end of the 2023 season. The defending champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, defeated the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime. It was the longest Super Bowl in history, with a net playing time of 74 minutes and 57 seconds.

51 Cajole : WHEEDLE

“To wheedle” is to influence by flattery for one’s gain. Such a lovely verb, I think …

56 __ A Sketch : ETCH

Etch A Sketch was introduced in 1960. The toy was developed in France by inventor André Cassagnes, who initially named it “L’Écran Magique” (The Magic Screen).

66 “Fee, __, foe, fum” : FIE

The line “fee-fi-fo-fum” (with various spellings) comes from the famous English fairy tale “Jack and the Beanstalk”. Within the story, the giant at the top of the beanstalk utters a little poem when he detects the presence of Jack:

Fee-fi-fo-fum,
I smell the blood of an Englishman,
Be he alive, or be he dead
I’ll grind his bones to make my bread.

70 Bishop’s neighbor on a chess board : KNIGHT

In the game of chess, the knight is a piece with relatively unusual properties. It doesn’t move in a straight line, but rather moves two squares in one-direction, and one square in the other. Also, the knight is the only piece that can jump over others.

Down

1 Indonesian island that has more than 20,000 temples : BALI

Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. It is known as the “Island of the Gods” due to its rich and unique culture, which is steeped in religious and spiritual beliefs.

6 Part of UAE : ARAB

United Arab Emirates (UAE)

8 Egyptian god of death and rebirth : OSIRIS

Osiris was the Egyptian god of the underworld. He was the son of Geb the Earth god, and Nut the sky goddess. His wife Isis was also his sister. Osiris was killed and mutilated by Set, his own brother. Isis reassembled Osiris and revived him, just long enough that they could conceive their son Horus.

9 50 meters, for an Olympic pool : LENGTH

An Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 meters in length, and 25 meters in width.

10 Unit of energy : ERG

An erg is a unit of mechanical work or energy. It is a small unit, with one joule comprising 10 million ergs. It has been suggested that an erg is about the amount of energy required for a mosquito to take off. The term comes from “ergon”, the Greek word for work.

13 March 14, to math fans : PI DAY

The first three digits of the mathematical constant pi are 3.14. Pi Day has been celebrated on March 14th (3/14) every year since 1988, when it was inaugurated at the San Francisco Exploratorium. In countries where the day is usually written before the month, Pi Day is July 22nd, reflecting the more accurate approximation of pi as 22/7. Interestingly, March 14th is also Albert Einstein’s birthday.

22 Sequence before fa-sol-la : DO-RE-MI-

The sol-fa syllables are: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la & ti.

24 Crowdsourced site, briefly : WIKI

Crowdsourcing is mainly an online phenomenon, and is the solicitation of perhaps services, ideas or content from a large group of people. “Crowdsourcing” is a portmanteau of “crowd” and “outsourcing”. An example of crowdsourcing is crowdfunding, where an individual solicits many small contributions from a large number of people to fund a project.

28 Tennis legend Arthur : ASHE

Arthur Ashe was a professional tennis player from Richmond, Virginia. In his youth, Ashe found himself having to travel great distances to play against Caucasian opponents due to the segregation that still existed in his home state. He was rewarded for his dedication by being selected for the 1963 US Davis Cup team, the first African-American player to be so honored. Ashe continued to run into trouble because of his ethnicity though, and in 1968 was denied entry into South Africa to play in the South African Open. In 1979, Ashe suffered a heart attack and had bypass surgery, with follow-up surgery four years later during which he contracted HIV from blood transfusions. Ashe passed away in 1993 due to complications from AIDS. Shortly afterwards, Ashe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.

32 Two under par, in golf : EAGLE

The following terms are routinely used in golf for scores relative to par:

• Bogey: one over par
• Par
• Birdie: one under par
• Eagle: two under par
• Albatross (also “double eagle”): three under par
• Condor: four under par

No one has ever recorded a condor during a professional tournament.

48 “Great” czar : PETER I

Peter the Great (aka “Peter I”) was perhaps the most successful of the Romanov tsars, and was famous for modernizing Russia and expanding the country’s sphere of influence, creating the Russian Empire. He ruled from 1682 until his death in 1725.

52 Prefix meaning “sun” : HELIO-

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.

58 “Thirty days __ September … ” : HATH

Thirty days has September,
April, June, and November,
All the rest have thirty-one,
Save February at twenty-eight,
But leap year, coming once in four,
February then has one day more.

60 Eye layer : UVEA

The uvea is the middle of the three layers that make up the eyeball. The outer layer is called the fibrous tunic, and the inner layer is the retina.