Today's Entertainment

January 31 - February 6, 2022 Page 3 ACROSS 1. "United __ __ __" 9. Slangy refusal 10. "Two __ __ Half Men" 11. __ Lim; role on "FBI" 13. Shoe sole ridge 15. Accord or Civic 17. Role on "Grey's Anatomy" (2) 18. "The Bells of __. Mary's"; film for Bing 20. Caroline Ingalls, to Laura 21. "Your __ Parade" (1950-59) 23. Linden, for one 24. "At __ Price"; 2012 Dennis Quaid movie 25. "__: Vegas" 26. Setting for "Frasier": abbr. 29. "__ Got Game"; Denzel Washington film 30. Actress on "S.W.A.T." (2) 34. __ Massey 36. Walkway 38. "__ __ Wrath"; 2016 John Travolta movie 39. Role on "Cheers" 42. HI's Mauna __ 43. "Station 19" role (2) DOWN 1. "My Gal __"; Rita Hayworth film 2. Boy on "A Million Little Things" 3. "Little Man __"; Jodie Foster movie 4. Prefix for large or list 5. Cheryl Ladd's state of birth: abbr. 6. Setting for "Magnum P.I." 7. "__ Misbehavin' "; Broadway musical 8. Youth 9. Series for Vanessa Lachey (2) 12. Actress on "La Brea" (2) 14. In __ of; floored by 16. "__ Life to Live" 19. Role on "The Neighborhood" 20. Series for Harry Morgan 22. Actor Burrell 23. Hoagy's initials 27. Ice-T's "Law & Order: SVU" role 28. __-fi; film genre 30. California's __ Linda University 31. Dog in "Peter Pan" 32. Elliott & Waterston 33. European capital city 35. On the __; fleeing 37. __ off; sever 40. Initials for actor Bean 41. Smallest of fifty: abbr. Solution is on page 2. CoverStory By George Dickie Anyone who tuned into the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing bore witness to an event they wouldn't soon forget. The four-hour, nine-minute display of special effects, lights and ingenuity set a new standard for an Opening Ceremony and drew raves from international media for being spectacular and spellbinding, a show that no host city has since matched in imagination and magnitude. Almost 14 years later, the Chinese capital is once again in the spotlight as the host of the 2022 Winter Olympics, which get underway Wednes - day, Feb. 2, two days before the official Open- ing Ceremony on Friday, Feb. 4. NBC, Peacock, USA Network, CNBC, NBCOlympics.com and NBC Sports app will again team up to provide 3,000- plus hours of coverage over 17 days of a record 109 medal events in 15 sports, among them fig - ure skating, alpine skiing, snowboarding, ice hockey, speed skating, freestyle skiing, biathlon and luge. International athletes expected to vie for hard- ware at these Games include Mikael Kingsbury (freestyle skiing, Canada), Hanyu Yuzuru (figure skating, Japan), Mikaela Shiffrin (alpine skiing, U.S.), Francesco Fried- rich (bobsled, Germany), Suzanne Schulting (short track speed skating, Neth- erlands), Charlotte Kalla (cross-country skiing, Sweden), Nathan Chen (figure skating, U.S.), Ei- leen Gu (freestyle skiing, China), Sara Takanashi (ski jumping, Japan), Tina Hermann (skeleton, Ger- many) and Ester Ledecka (snowboarding, alpine ski- ing, Czech Republic). Of course, the ongo- ing COVID-19 pandemic will also play into the storylines as conditions continue to change. For their part, the International Olympic Committee and Olympic organizers have made clear that these Games will go on and the athletes will be subject to strict protocols, including requiring vaccinations, keeping them isolated in- side the Olympic "bubble" and not allowing them out among the citizenry. One interesting thing to watch is the performance of athletes from the host country at these Games. China is not known for winter sports and in the lead up to these Olympics have hired international coaches to coach its ath- letes in hopes of inspiring more Chinese to try ski- ing, snowboarding, figure skating and other winter sports and thus make the country a more significant presence on the interna- tional stage. Back to Beijing: Chinese capital hosts 2022 Winter Games The identity of the featured celebrity is found within the answers in the puzzle. In order to take the TV Challenge, unscramble the letters noted with asterisks within the puzzle. InFocus "KIMI" (HBO Max — movie premiere, Feb. 10) Steven Soderbergh ("Traffic," "Erin Brockovich") directed this original thriller set during the pandemic, when an agoraphobic tech worker (Zoe Kravitz) uncovers evidence of a violent crime while reviewing a data stream and must step out of her apartment and into the streets of Seattle to find out what happened. Byron Bowers, Jaime Camil, Erika Christensen and Devin Ratray also star.

• Cover