LA Times Crossword 26 May 22, Thursday

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Constructed by: Blake Slonecker
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Blockchain

The grid includes four BLOCKS of circled letters that each spell out the name of a restaurant CHAIN:

  • 34A Digital ledger that stores non-fungible tokens, and what can be found in each set of shaded squares : BLOCKCHAIN
    Those CHAINS are:

  • PANERA
    Panera Bread is a chain of bakery/coffeehouses. A Panera restaurant is a good place to get online while having a cup of coffee. Back in 2006 and 2007, Panera was the largest provider of free Wi-Fi access in the whole of the US.
  • WENDY’S
    The Wendy’s chain of fast food restaurants was founded by Dave Thomas, in 1969 in Columbus, Ohio. Dave named his establishment after his fourth child, Melinda Lou “Wendy” Thomas.
  • CHILI’S
    The first Chili’s restaurant opened in 1975 in Dallas, Texas. There are now more than 1,400 Chili’s restaurants operating all over North America.
  • SUBWAY
    The SUBWAY chain of fast food restaurants is the largest single-brand restaurant in the world. I’m a big fan of SUBWAY sandwiches, especially the toasted ones …

Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 9m 31s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

4 “Ohio” quartet, briefly : CSNY

The supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) is made up of David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash. The band can grow to “CSNY” when the trio is joined by Neil Young. Fans have been known to call the act “C, S, N and sometimes Y”, a play on the expression that names all the vowels, “A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y”.

“Ohio” is a protest song written by Neil Young soon after the shootings of unarmed students at Kent State University by members of the Ohio National Guard. The song was recorded by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (CSNY) in 1970, just a few weeks after the terrible event.

13 Plastic fig.? : APR

Annual percentage rate (APR)

14 “Salt Fat __ Heat”: Samin Nosrat cookbook : ACID

“Salt Fat Acid Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking” is a 2017 cookbook penned by chef and TV host Samin Nosrat. A best seller, it has been described as more of a reference book than a collection of recipes. Nosrat explains how to master flavor and texture using salt, fat, acid and heat, four elements that she calls the “cardinal directions” of cooking.

15 Pen : CORRAL

“Corral” is Spanish word that we’ve imported into English describing an enclosure for livestock. Ultimately, the term comes from the Vulgar Latin “currale” meaning “enclosure for carts”, itself coming from “currus”, the Latin for “cart”.

19 One score : TWENTY

Our verb “to score” meaning “to tally”, comes from the Old Norse “skor”, which is a “mark, notch”. It is likely that items such as livestock were counted by placing a notch in a stick for each set of twenty, hence our use of the noun “score” to mean “twenty”.

20 Only unanimous Baseball Hall of Fame electee : RIVERA

Mariano Rivera is a professional baseball pitcher from Panama City. Rivera played for the New York Yankees from 1995 until his retirement at the end of the 2013 season. Rivera holds the league record for the most career saves (at 652). He is known by the nicknames “Mo” and “Sandman”. In 2019, Rivera became the first player elected unanimously to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

21 Ride the waves : BODYSURF

Bodysurfers ride waves without using a surfboard, bodyboard or any other buoyant device. They do however use swimfins in order to gain speed through the water, and help catch the wave.

24 Coppers : PO-PO

“Po-po” is a slang term meaning “police”.

25 Coastal inlet : RIA

A drowned valley might be called a ria or a fjord, and both are formed as sea levels rise. A ria is a drowned valley created by river erosion, and a fjord is a drowned valley created by glaciation.

27 Bouquet __ : GARNI

“Bouquet garni” is French for “garnished bouquet”, and is the name given to a bundle of herbs often tied together and added to soups, stocks and stews. The bouquet garni adds flavor, but is removed prior to serving. The list of herbs included in the “bundle” varies, but thyme and bay leaf are often the base ingredients.

32 Mine lode : ORE

A lode is a metal ore deposit that’s found between two layers of rock or in a fissure. The mother lode is the principal deposit in a mine, usually of gold or silver. “Mother lode” is probably a translation of “veta madre”, an expression used in mining in Mexico.

33 Genève’s land : SUISSE

“Suisse” is the French word for “Swiss”, and “la Suisse” is French for “Switzerland”.

Genève (“Geneva” in English) is the largest city in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. I’ve been to Geneva only once, and sadly what I remember most is how expensive it is. It is in fact the fourth or fifth most expensive city in the world.

34 Digital ledger that stores non-fungible tokens, and what can be found in each set of shaded squares : BLOCKCHAIN

A blockchain is … well, you know … need I say more …? 🙂

42 “Mare of Easttown” Emmy winner Peters : EVAN

Evan Peters is an actor from St. Louis who is best known for playing several roles on the TV series “American Horror Story”. Peters was in a relationship for several years with actress Emma Roberts, the niece of Julia Roberts.

“Mare of Easttown” is a 2021 TV miniseries starring Kate Winslet as Mare Sheehan, a detective investigating a murder in the Philadelphia suburb of Easttown. I haven’t seen this one yet, but I hear great things …

47 __ all’Arrabbiata : PENNE

Arrabbiata sauce is a deliciously spicy pasta sauce made from garlic, tomatoes and red chili peppers cooked in olive oil. The sauce’s spiciness led to the name, as “arrabbiata” translates from Italian as “angry”.

49 Mustard family member : KALE

The vegetable we know as kale gets its name from the Latin “caulis” meaning “cabbage”. Taxonomically, kales are more closely related to wild cabbage than the domesticated forms of cabbage that we see in the grocery store.

50 Up-in-the-air fig.? : ALT

Altitude (alt.)

52 River from the Himalayas : GANGES

The River Ganges rises in the western Himalaya and flows through the northeast of India before crossing into Bangladesh where it enters the Bay of Bengal. The Ganges is worshiped by Hindus as the goddess Ganga, and is the most sacred of all rivers in Hinduism.

59 Club that may get heckled when they take the field : AWAY TEAM

Originally, the verb “to heckle” meant “to question severely”, and for many years was associated with the public questioning of parliamentary candidates in Scotland. In more recent times, the meaning has evolved into questioning that is less polite and that is directed at stand-up comics.

62 Pixar film set in Radiator Springs : CARS

“Cars” is a 2006 animated feature from Pixar. The great cast of voice actors includes Paul Newman in his last movie role before he passed away in 2008.

63 Place for “me time” : SPA

The word “spa” migrated into English from Belgium, as “Spa” is the name of a municipality in the east of the country that is famous for its healing hot springs. The name “Spa” comes from the Walloon word “espa” meaning “spring, fountain”.

66 Chef’s meas. : TSP

Teaspoon (tsp.)

Down

1 Alt-rock’s Jimmy __ World : EAT

Jimmy Eat World is an alternative rock band from Mesa, Arizona.

4 Culinary bud : CAPER

The seasoning we know as “capers” are the edible flower buds of the caper bush, also known as Flinders rose. By the time we get them in a jar, the buds have been pickled and salted. I’m not a huge fan of capers …

6 NPR legal affairs correspondent Totenberg : NINA

Nina Totenberg is a very able legal affairs correspondent who works for National Public Radio. Totenberg’s main focus is on the activities of the US Supreme Court. Famously, she was the journalist who uncovered the allegations of sexual harassment by Clarence Thomas made by Anita Hill.

7 Skein units: Abbr. : YDS

In terms of textiles, a hank is a unit of yarn that is coiled or looped and usually contains a defined length (in yards). The related unit known as a skein is usually ⅙ of a hank. Both units are nonstandard, but often a hank is 300 yards and a skein just over 8 yards.

8 Army swimmers? : OCTOPI

The name “octopus” comes from the Greek for “eight-footed”. The most common plural used is “octopuses”, although the Greek plural form “octopodes” is also quite correct. The plural “octopi” isn’t really correct as the inference is that “octopus” is like a second-declension Latin noun, which it isn’t. That said, dictionaries are now citing “octopi” as an acceptable plural. Language does evolve, even though it drives me crazy …

10 Glenn of the Eagles : FREY

Musician Glenn Frey was a founding member of the rock band Eagles. He shared the frontman role for the group with Don Henley, and the pair wrote most of the Eagle hits, including “Take It Easy”, “Tequila Sunrise”, “Lyin’ Eyes” and “New Kid in Town”.

Eagles (and not “the Eagles”) is a rock band that formed in 1971, with the founding members being Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner. Frey and Henley were hired as session musicians by Linda Ronstadt. The four then played live together backing Ronstadt in a gig at Disneyland in 1971, and recorded their debut album together in England the following year.

11 Banquet coffeepots : URNS

A banquet is an elaborate feast. “Banquet” is a term that seems to have reversed in meaning over time. Coming into English via French from Old Italian, “banquet” is derived from “banco” meaning “bench”. The original “banco” meal was simply a snack eaten on a bench, rather than at a table. I guess we eat more these days …

16 Liner notes component : LYRICS

These days, the term “liner notes” is used for the informational booklet which comes with a music CD. The original liner notes (also “sleeve notes”) were the informational text printed on the inner sleeve (“liner”) of a 12-inch vinyl record.

21 __ vivant : BON

A bon vivant (plural “bons vivants”) is a person who enjoys the best of food and drink, a person with very refined tastes. The term is French, coming from “good living” in that language.

24 Sch. for tots : PRE-K

Pre-kindergarten (pre-K)

28 Halo piece : ARC

The Greek word “halos” is the name given to the ring of light around the sun or moon, which gives us our word “halo” that is used for a radiant light depicted above the head of a saintly person.

29 __ generis : SUI

“Sui generis” is a Latin expression meaning “of its own kind”. The term can be used in a number of fields, and in philosophy it refers to an idea which cannot be included in a wider concept, and idea of its own kind.

30 Woodworker’s inconvenience : PINE KNOT

Knots in lumber are usually considered structural imperfections by carpenters. They form when the lower branch on a tree dies. As the trunk grows, trunk wood forms layers around the base of the dead side branch, forming a knot.

35 French article : LES

The definite article in French can be “le” (with masculine nouns), “la” (with feminine nouns), and “les” (with plural nouns of either gender).

36 Scoop holder : CONE

That would be a scoop of ice cream.

37 Snookums : HON

The term of endearment “snookums” comes from the family name “Snooks”. Snooks was a name used in Britain in the 1800s for some hypothetical, unknown individual (as we would use the name “Joe Blow” today).

38 “Whataya Want From Me” singer Lambert : ADAM

Singer Adam Lambert is one of the “successes” to come out of the “American Idol” machine. After hitting the big times, Lambert started a collaboration with Brian May and Roger Taylor, performing as Queen + Adam Lambert.

39 Easter blooms : LILIES

The Easter lily has distinctive trumpet-shaped, white flowers. The plant gets its name from its use as a symbol in Christian traditions, synbolizing the resurrection of Christ at Easter.

45 Old console letters : NES

The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was sold in North America from 1985 to 1995. It was the biggest selling gaming console of the era. Nintendo replaced the NES with Wii, which is also the biggest-selling game console in the world.

47 “__ Is Not a Luxury”: essay by Audre Lorde : POETRY

Audre Lorde was and American feminist author and civil rights activists. Lorde spent many years in Germany. She held a visiting professorship at the Free University of Berlin, and while holding that position became a leading light in the Afro-German movement.

55 Board game with rooms : CLUE

Clue is a board game that we knew under a different name growing up in Ireland. Outside of North America, Clue is marketed as “Cluedo”. Cluedo was the original name of the game, introduced in 1949 by the famous British board game manufacturer Waddingtons. There are cute differences between the US and UK versions. For example, the man who is murdered is called Dr. Black (Mr. Boddy in the US), one of the suspects is the Reverend Green (Mr. Green in the US), and the suspect weapons include a dagger (a knife in the US), and a spanner (a wrench in the US). I think it’s a fabulous game, a must during the holidays …

57 Cygnet : SWAN

An adult male swan is a cob, and an adult female is a pen. Young swans are swanlings or cygnets.

59 Royal flush card : ACE

The poker hand called a royal flush is the highest-ranking hand possible. It consists of a run of 10, jack, queen, king and ace, with all in the same suit.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Spanish pronoun : ESO
4 “Ohio” quartet, briefly : CSNY
8 “Sounds like a hoot” : OH FUN
13 Plastic fig.? : APR
14 “Salt Fat __ Heat”: Samin Nosrat cookbook : ACID
15 Pen : CORRAL
17 Round bakeware : TUBE PANS
19 One score : TWENTY
20 Only unanimous Baseball Hall of Fame electee : RIVERA
21 Ride the waves : BODYSURF
23 Main line : ARTERY
24 Coppers : PO-PO
25 Coastal inlet : RIA
26 __ review : PEER
27 Bouquet __ : GARNI
29 Small bit : SPECK
31 Small swirl : EDDY
32 Mine lode : ORE
33 Genève’s land : SUISSE
34 Digital ledger that stores non-fungible tokens, and what can be found in each set of shaded squares : BLOCKCHAIN
38 On the same side : ALLIED
41 “That sounds painful” : OOF!
42 “Mare of Easttown” Emmy winner Peters : EVAN
46 Fare plans : DIETS
47 __ all’Arrabbiata : PENNE
49 Mustard family member : KALE
50 Up-in-the-air fig.? : ALT
51 Part : ROLE
52 River from the Himalayas : GANGES
54 Impishness : MISCHIEF
57 Use a pinch runner for, e.g. : SUB OUT
58 Sign up : ENLIST
59 Club that may get heckled when they take the field : AWAY TEAM
61 More tart : SOURER
62 Pixar film set in Radiator Springs : CARS
63 Place for “me time” : SPA
64 Itty-bitty : TEENY
65 Wraps up : ENDS
66 Chef’s meas. : TSP

Down

1 Alt-rock’s Jimmy __ World : EAT
2 Urged (on) : SPURRED
3 Went around in circles? : ORBITED
4 Culinary bud : CAPER
5 Next-level awesome : SCARY GOOD
6 NPR legal affairs correspondent Totenberg : NINA
7 Skein units: Abbr. : YDS
8 Army swimmers? : OCTOPI
9 Folksy greeting : HOW DO
10 Glenn of the Eagles : FREY
11 Banquet coffeepots : URNS
12 Essences : NATURES
16 Liner notes component : LYRICS
18 All : EVERY BIT
21 __ vivant : BON
22 Imitation : FAKE
23 Mimic : APE
24 Sch. for tots : PRE-K
28 Halo piece : ARC
29 __ generis : SUI
30 Woodworker’s inconvenience : PINE KNOT
33 Protect : SAFEGUARD
35 French article : LES
36 Scoop holder : CONE
37 Snookums : HON
38 “Whataya Want From Me” singer Lambert : ADAM
39 Easter blooms : LILIES
40 “We should pass” : LET’S NOT
43 Least clear : VAGUEST
44 Brewpub fixtures : ALE TAPS
45 Old console letters : NES
47 “__ Is Not a Luxury”: essay by Audre Lorde : POETRY
48 Sprite : ELF
51 Up : RISEN
53 Deep space : ABYSS
55 Board game with rooms : CLUE
56 Sign on : HIRE
57 Cygnet : SWAN
59 Royal flush card : ACE
60 Trailhead display : MAP