puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com

By Alexander Liebeskind & Yu-Chen Huang
©2023 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
02/22/23

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Patti Varol and Joyce Nichols Lewis

02/22/23

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Release Date: Wednesday, February 22, 2023

ACROSS
1 Hint of color
6 Biblical tower site
11 Inquire
14 Play area?
15 Greek salad fruit
16 Sushi topper
17 Pride symbol
19 Texter’s “Hang on 
a sec”
20 “Crouching Tiger, 
Hidden Dragon” 
director Lee
21 No-frills font
22 Wee bit
23 Arachnid relative 
that resembles a 
crustacean
27 Sex therapy 
subject
29 Helpful supporter
30 Loads
31 Give in a little
33 Irritate
36 Functions 
perfectly, and 
what can be said 
about the starts 
of 17-, 23-, 46-, 
and 57-Across
40 Brief alarm?
41 Fake
42 Singer India.__
43 Gargantuan
44 “The Country 
Girls” novelist 
Edna
46 Minty frozen treat 
at McDonald’s 
every March
51 School year 
division
52 Swarms (with)
53 Noble __
56 With 11-Down, 
Michigan college 
town
57 Nutty-tasting 
winter vegetable
60 TNT part
61 Sounds from 
happy cats
62 Loosen, as a 
knot
63 Storm center
64 Borden 
spokescow
65 Utopias

DOWN
1 Actress Reid
2 Setting of the 
graphic novel 
“Persepolis”
3 People next door

4 “Erin Burnett 
OutFront” 
channel
5 Knight’s tunic
6 “Ziggy Stardust” 
singer David
7 Some Italian 
sports cars, for 
short
8 Star of HBO’s 
“Barry”
9 Actress 
Longoria
10 Part of a race
11 See 56-Across
12 Kinda
13 Shish __
18 Approximately
22 Slippery, as a 
road
24 Barnyard sound
25 Actress 
Kurylenko
26 Utility abbr.
27 Newton trio
28 “Am __ early?”
31 Dividing lines
32 Luau strings, 
briefly
33 Diversify, in a 
way
34 Ohio border lake
35 Marvel mutants 
who battle 
Magneto

37 Egg (on)
38 Macy’s red star, 
for one
39 Literary “Listen!”
43 “I wonder ... ”
44 Units of 
resistance
45 Language from 
northern Spain
46 Utter
47 “Atlanta” actor 
Brian Tyree __
48 Golfer Palmer, 
to fans

49 Beach volleyball 
Olympic gold 
medalist __ 
Walsh Jennings
50 Pick up
54 Spelling 
clarification 
phrase
55 Wally Lamb’s “__ 
Come Undone”
57 Imitate
58 __-de-sac
59 German 
conjunction

SUDOKU

9

9
4

1

6

1
2

5

7

2
4

3
8

1

9
6

1

5

4
6
1

3

2

8

Sudoku Syndication
http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/

1 of 1
4/6/09 10:18 AM

WHISPER

“If you are 
struggling, you 
are not alone.”

“Happy birthday 
Amby!”

WHISPER

By Enrique Henestroza Anguiano
©2023 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
02/15/23

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Patti Varol and Joyce Nichols Lewis

02/15/23

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Release Date: Wednesday, February 15, 2023

ACROSS
1 Tool that can 
be a musical 
instrument
4 Not berthed
8 Designated
14 Confidentiality 
contract: Abbr.
15 Spider-Man 
co-creator Lee
16 Prophecy source
17 Get-together with 
a sketchy vibe?
19 Beam benders
20 Cookie-based 
dessert
21 Spanish “those”
22 Salon job
23 Marketer’s blitz 
campaign?
28 Affirmative 
replies
30 General on a 
menu
31 Sign of healing
32 __ Cruces, New 
Mexico
34 “Yeah, I guess”
36 Pickleball shot
37 Intercom call on 
Take Your Child 
to Work Day?
40 Mud bath spot
42 Bash who 
co-hosts CNN’s 
“State of the 
Union”
43 Mo
44 The Buckeye 
State
46 WNBA official
47 A few bucks, say
51 Shake Weight 
and The Flex 
Belt, per their 
infomercials?
55 Heaps
56 Limo destination
57 Jack up
59 Nut used to 
make vegan 
cheese
62 Cold Hawaiian 
treat ... or a 
directive followed 
four times in this 
puzzle?
63 Understood by 
few
64 Despise
65 Org. with seven 
teams in Canada
66 “This Is Spinal 
Tap” director
67 Lyft competitor
68 Game Boy 
batteries

DOWN
1 Beagle who pilots 
an imaginary 
Sopwith Camel
2 Like premium 
streaming 
services
3 Communion 
rounds
4 Urgent letters
5 Narrow piece
6 Foodie website 
covering 25 
metro areas
7 “__ takers?”
8 Arcade 
achievements
9 Bad move
10 Ups the ante
11 Telethon VIPs
12 Blight-stricken tree
13 __ Moines
18 Grapefruit kin
21 Succeed
24 “You can come 
out now”
25 Rights advocacy 
gp.
26 __ Tomé and 
Príncipe
27 Recede
29 Hourglass stuff
33 Draw for some 
pictures
35 Contact lens 
holders

37 Uttered
38 Hr. for an after-
lunch nap, 
maybe
39 Interval of eight 
notes
40 Cry noisily
41 Soup with rice 
noodles
45 Anne of Green 
Gables, for one
48 “Riverdale” 
actress 
Huffman

49 “Caught 
red-handed!”
50 Braces (oneself)
52 Nobel-winning 
chemist Joliot-
Curie
53 Process that may 
involve PT or OT
54 Roofing option
58 Of all time
59 Subway unit
60 “What __ those?”
61 Bio or chem
62 Moo __ pork

Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

“Bill Russell: Legend,” a two-
part Netflix documentary directed 
by Sam Pollard (“MLK/FBI”) steps 
back for the 3-pointer and sure as 
hell lands with a splash. The film 
travels through Russell’s storied 
13-season NBA career with grace 
and tender affection, citing his 
friends, enemies and current play-
ers who grew up striving to be like 
him. 
Russell proposes that sports are 
an art form, a metaphor the docu-
mentary builds upon through its 
vivid descriptions and portrayal 
of basketball. As a kid, Russell 
spent hours in the library each day 
reading books about artistic tech-
niques, studying paintings and 
understanding the importance of 
each individual brush stroke to the 
greater picture. Russell used this 
mindset while on the court and in 
his personal life.
The film often calls upon 
sketched animation with Jeffery 
Wright (“The Batman”) reading 
excerpts from Russell’s books to 
help construct a picture of Rus-
sell’s childhood and personal life. 
The use of actual art in the film 
pushes Russell’s grand thesis: Life 
is art. Russell suffered through 
many growing pains, but he pushed 
through, and this documentary 
demonstrates how each thoughtful 
brushstroke comes together to cre-
ate a beautiful picture. Russell and 
the film both push that although 
we may be messy artists, we must 
never stop reinventing the way we 
create. 
“Bill Russell: Legend” strives 
to live up to its name by calling on 
other basketball greats. The film, 
with its stories of Russell’s 11 NBA 
championships, his role in plan-
ning the March on Washington 
and his larger-than-life personal-
ity (and physicality), is clearly made 
for and by fans of the iconic baller. 
While this does help further the 
film’s assertion that Russell is a leg-
end, it can come off as though he is 
placed on too high a pedestal. With 
interviewees like Magic Johnson 
and Steph Curry, heroes from all 
eras are called upon to speak to the 
significance Russell had in their 
careers. One common denomina-

tor was an infectious inspiration 
rooted in Russell’s dominance and 
character. 
Russell is painted as a leader on 
and off the court. The film uses 
images of Russell’s position as a 
team captain and eventual player-
coach to parallel his leadership role 
in the civil rights movement. Rus-
sell, after the African-American 
players for the Boston Celtics were 
denied service at a Kentucky hotel 
restaurant, organized a boycott of 
an upcoming game with the Black 
members of both teams. Russell 
openly supported Muhammad Ali’s 
ability to opt out of military service, 
and even served as the first Black 
head coach in the NBA in 1966. 
He was more than a player; he was 
helping to push the nation towards 
inclusivity and anti-racism.
The documentary weaves the 
story of Wilt Chamberlain, who 
battled with Russell for years as 
the other great big man in the NBA, 
throughout the piece. “Bill Rus-
sell: Legend” contrasts Russell’s 
ability to lead his team to victory 
with Chamberlain’s success as an 
individual player. Despite their 
career-long rivalry, the story of 
their unlikely friendship brings yet 
another tender perspective to Rus-
sell’s life. Even after battling each 
other on the court for 48 minutes, 
Russell would graciously invite 
Chamberlain to spend the night 
with his family when the two were 
playing in Boston. Chamberlain 
always made sure to return the 
favor. 
While Pollard’s film often finds 
the things worth celebrating about 
Russell, it doesn’t shy away from his 
story’s painful trials and tribula-
tions. Reading, Mass., the town out-
side of Boston where Russell and 
his family settled down, held a din-
ner to honor Russell’s achievements 
on the basketball court. What they 
didn’t appreciate, however, was his 
role as a civil rights activist. Weeks 
after this celebration, Russell tried 
to purchase a home on the wealth-
ier side of the mostly white town, 
and within days, a petition barred 
the Russells from the “nice side” of 
Reading. Russell was appreciated 
for his artful skill with a basketball, 
but the people of Reading didn’t 
care for other parts of him. 

Netflix’s ‘Bill Russell: 
Legend’ documentary 
shoots and scores

THEJAS VARMA
 Daily Arts Writer 

 DANIEL WISELY
Daily Arts Contributor

This image is the official album artwork for “Raven.”

Wednesday, February 22, 2023 — 3

Kelela’s Raven is an impassioned narrative 
of rejuvenation and reflection

The raven is a historically sym-
bolic animal. Though it has served 
as an image of loss, ravens have 
also been represented as psy-
chopomps, creatures that guide 
departed beings between the 
material world and the afterlife. 
Kelela’s new album, Raven, hinges 
on mediating between worlds. 
Her music is always experienced 
at this mediation, as past projects 
operated at the nexus of digital 
and material, whisking together 
her gossamer vocals with elec-
tronics that sounded like trapped 
spirits trying to break free. It 
felt like both a testimony to her 
influences (most notably, Janet 
Jackson) while also covering new 
ground in both dance and R&B 
music. Her songs paint poignant 
portraits of vulnerability, weaving 
together stories of broken rela-
tionships, no-strings-attached sex 
and euphoric romance.
Kelela noted that Raven came 
about “from the feeling of isola-
tion and alienation I’ve always 
had as a Black femme in dance 
music, despite its Black origins.” 
These are issues that she’s been 
outspoken about in numerous 
interviews, but on Raven, they 
are much more integrated into 
the fabric of the music itself. The 
result is a poised symbiosis of 
back-of-your-neck whispers and 
distanced atmospheres and an 
impassioned narrative of rejuve-
nation and reflection. 
Raven begins with “Washed 
Away,” the first single on the 
album. It’s the perfect introduc-
tion; the effortlessly light synth 
instrumentation sounds like it’s 
just emerged from water, paral-

leling the assertions of the title’s 
namesake. The minimalism feels 
purposeful, as the non-lyrical 
vocal runs and drumless instru-
mentals convey the image that 
she’s begun anew. 
Every so often, Kelela strips 
her songs to their essentials. Take 
the song “Let It Go”: Instrumen-
tally, there are piano chords, a 
creeping bassline, some percus-
sion and extraterrestrial chirps 
that fade in and out at different 
parts of the song. Kelela’s singing 
sounds as tender as ever, but feels 
more subdued than in previous 
undertakings. There’s something 
so hauntingly beautiful about the 
instrumental gaps in her singing 
if almost to reckon with her past 
emotions — for just a moment, it 
feels like your mind disengages 
from your body
This detachment becomes inti-
mately embedded in the album’s 
soundscapes. Where Kelela’s 2017 
album Take Me Apart was fore-
grounded in wintry atmospheres, 
an unforgiving onslaught under-
pinned by the delightfully scenic 
landscape, Raven is cold and bar-
ren. “Closure” has the ambiance 
of an empty alleyway at night, 
where the sound of pipes drip-
ping and distant ambulances 
are substituted for hi-hats and 
reverberating metallic keys. Even 
Kelela, talking to a lover, sounds 
eerily distant from us as her 
vocals fade into the back during 
feature RahRah Gabor’s animated 
verse. Spread across our ears and 
slathered in reverb, the sounds 
of Raven feel like they’re playing 
from a speaker a mile away. Vocals 
sound 
haunted, 
instrumentals 
spectral — the songs reach out, 
the emotions sink deep into our 
skin. It conjures an atmosphere 
that is unsettling yet captivating. 

Simultaneously, it functions as a 
tale of resilience, reflecting on her 
strength through these experi-
ences. 
Of course, as an album inspired 
by her relationship with dance 
music, Raven is infused with 
the electric sounds of the club. 
Kelela’s collaborated with several 
prominent electronic producers 
— LSDXOXO, Asma Maroof, Bam-
bii — who give Raven an edge, 
drawing from UK garage, techno 
and drum-and-bass, among other 

genres. “Missed Call” gashes the 
listener from the first second, but 
when the drum break comes in, it 
transforms into a dynamic experi-
ence. Kelela muses on reconnect-
ing with a past lover, her voice 
sounding defeated, but the varia-
tions in her tone also prop it up 
with a slight optimism, wheth-
er or not she’s successful. The 
breakbeat sounds disordered and 
fearful, which parallels her uncer-
tainty well. On other songs, like 
the single “Contact,” they sound 

comfortable and stable, almost 
as if Kelela herself is controlling 
them. 
The centerpiece of Raven is the 
title track, a profound testament 
to her fortitude. Opening with 
an ominous, buzzing synth line, 
Kelela sings with grit: “Through 
all the labor / A raven is reborn.” 
As the song progresses, the wind-
ing synth gets louder, harmonies 
flourish in the background and 
it reshapes itself into a grand, 
sweaty club anthem, as a barrage 

of deep kicks pound away like 
they’re caught outside in a storm. 
The raven’s depiction as a psycho-
pomp becomes one of rebirth, pro-
ducing a reinvigorated energy that 
courses through the veins. The 
crossing of worlds positions the 
raven as a symbol of transforma-
tion; battles are not permanent, 
but simply one part of constantly 
shifting experiences. Raven offers 
affecting narratives of Kelela’s 
renewal and affirms the queer, 
Black legacy of dance music.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

