LA Times Crossword 24 Aug 24, Saturday

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Constructed by: Zhouqin Burnikel
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: None

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

Bill’s time: 13m 24s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

16 Actress Shawkat : ALIA

Alia Shawkat is an actor who might be best known for playing Maeby Fünke on the sitcom “Arrested Development”. She is best friends with fellow actor Elliot Page (formerly Ellen Page), whom Shawkat met while filming the 2009 movie “Whip It”.

19 Two in a million? : ELS

There are two letters L (els) in the word “million”.

22 Tennis great who won 18 Grand Slam singles championships : EVERT

Chris Evert is a former professional tennis player from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She has the best winning percentage in professional tennis, man or woman worldwide, losing fewer than 10% of all her matches. Evert was also the first female athlete to host “Saturday Night Live”, doing so in 1994 just after she had retired from professional tennis.

24 “Queen Sugar” role for Bianca Lawson : DARLA

“Queen Sugar” is a TV drama created by Ava DuVernay that is based on a 2014 novel of the same name by Natalie Baszile. It’s all about three estranged siblings who reunite to save their family’s failing sugarcane farm in Louisiana.

Actress Bianca Lawson was born into an acting family, and is part of a celebrity clan. She was born in L.A. to actors Denise Gordy and Richard Lawson. Through her mother Bianca’s grand-uncle was Berry Gordy, founder of the Motown record label. Through her father, Bianca is step-sister to singers Beyoncé and Solange Knowles. Thanksgiving dinners must be something else …

26 Parabola piece : ARC

A parabola is roughly a u-shape curve. Parabolic mirrors have cross-sections that are parabolic curves. Such mirrors have the characteristic that light emanating from the parabola’s focal point leaves the mirror as a parallel beam, a collimated beam.

28 Blues and bluegrass : GENRES

The term “blues”, describing the musical genre, has its roots in the early 20th century, originating from the phrase “the blue devils,” which referred to feelings of melancholy and depression. This connection to emotional states reflects the genre’s core themes of hardship, loss, and resilience. The blues emerged from African-American communities in the Deep South, drawing on spirituals and work songs.

Bluegrass is a subgenre of country music, and has its roots in the traditional music brought over from Britain and Ireland. The style of music really evolved quite recently, just before WWII. Musician Bill Monroe is referred to as its “founding father”, and indeed bluegrass takes its name from Monroe’s band, the Blue Grass Boys.

29 Quintana __, Mexico : ROO

Quintana Roo is one of Mexico’s 31 states. It is in the southeast of the country, on the Yucatán Peninsula. The state’s capital is the coastal city of Chetumal. Quintana Roo is also home to the cities of Cancún and playa del Carmen, as well as the islands of Isla Mujeres and Cozumel.

32 Some reunión familiar attendees : TIAS

In Spanish, you might visit with your “tia” (aunt) at a “reunión” (reunion).

34 Big play ground : STADIUM

The Greek word “stadion” was a measure of length, about 600 feet. The name “stadion” then came to be used for a running track of that length. That “running track” meaning led to our contemporary term “stadium” (plural “stadia”).

40 Many a “Derry Girls” teacher : NUN

“Derry Girls” is a very entertaining teen sitcom set in a Northern Irish girls’ Catholic secondary school in the mid-nineties. Supposedly, the first season of “Derry Girls” was the most-watched TV show in Northern Ireland ever. It’s very, very entertaining, although some North American viewers might benefit from the use of subtitles …

43 Casual dating letters : NSA

No strings attached (NSA)

44 “Twisted Love” author Huang : ANA

Author Ana Huang is an author who is best known for her “Twisted” series of New Adult romance novels.

47 Connected notes : SLUR

In the world of music, a slur is a curved line that connects neighboring notes that are to be played smoothly, without separation.

51 Super gp.? : PAC

A political action committee (PAC) is a private group that works to influence the outcome of a particular election or group of elections. Any group becomes a PAC by law when it receives or spends more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing the outcome of an election. In 2010 the Supreme Court ruled that PACS that did not make direct contributions to candidates or parties could accept unlimited contributions. These “independent, expenditure-only committees” are commonly referred to as “super PACs”.

52 Japanese city known as The Nation’s Kitchen : OSAKA

The Japanese city of Osaka used to be called Naniwa, with the name changing to Osaka sometime before 1500. “Osaka” can be translated either as “large hill” or “large slope”. Osaka is sometimes referred to as “the Chicago of Japan” as it is a major center of commerce and industry. The city has also been named the “nation’s kitchen”, and was a center for Japan’s rice trade for centuries.

56 Sauce served with biryani : RAITA

Raita is a condiment served in Indian restaurants that is made from yogurt flavored with coriander, cumin, mint and cayenne pepper.

Biryani is a mixed rice dish found on the menu in many Indian restaurants.

58 Free spot : PSA

Public service announcement (PSA)

60 Elote en vaso : CORN IN A CUP

Corn in a cup (“elote en vaso”) is a Mexican street food. It is made with fresh corn kernels mixed with mayonnaise, cheese, lime and chile.

62 Emmy winner who hosts the “Clear+Vivid” podcast : ALDA

“Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda” is a podcast about the art of communication that is hosted by actor and science enthusiast Alan Alda. It emphasizes the importance of clear and vivid communication in fostering understanding and empathy, hence the podcast’s title.

65 Brenda Song, once : DISNEY STAR

Actress Brenda Song began her career as a cold model and then child actress. Her big break came with a co-starring role in the Disney Channel Original Movie “The Ultimate Christmas Present” released in 2000. Song is in a partnership with fellow actor Macauley Culkin, with whom she has two children.

Down

6 “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” kid : GREG

“Diary of a Wimpy Kid” is a series of humorous novels for children and teens by cartoonist and author Jeff Kinney. The central character in the books is a middle school student named Greg Heffley. The series is very successful, and there is now a series of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” movies.

8 Not moving : ADAMANT

The words “adamant” and “adamantine” can mean “hard like rock, stony”, in the literal sense. In the more figurative sense, someone who is adamant or adamantine is stubborn or inflexible, like a mule, mulish.

10 -babble : -ESE

Lingo is specialized vocabulary. Journalese and legalese would be good examples.

11 Totally smitten : GAGA

“Smitten” is the past participle of “to smite”, meaning “to inflict a heavy blow”. We tend to use “smitten” to mean “affected by love, love-struck”.

12 Separately : A LA CARTE

On a restaurant menu, items that are “à la carte” are priced and ordered separately. A menu marked “table d’hôte” (also called “prix fixe”) is a fixed-price menu with limited choice. “Table d’hôte” translates from French as “table of the host”.

13 Route that facilitated the spread of Buddhism : SILK ROAD

The Silk Road was a network of trading routes that crossed North Africa and Asia, connecting Europe to West Asia. The routes get the name from the lucrative trade in silk from China.

The Buddhist tradition has two major branches. The Theravada is “the School of the Elders”, and the Mahayana is “the Great Vehicle”. The Theravada is the older of the two schools, whereas the Mahayana split from the Theravada around the 1st century CE.

28 Squat muscles : GLUTES

There are three gluteal muscles in the human body, the largest of which is the gluteus maximus. It’s the gluteus maximus which really dictates the shape and size of the human buttocks. In evolutionary terms, the human “glutes” (also “glutei”) are larger than those in related species because they play a big role in maintaining our erect posture.

34 Chikuzenni vegetables : SNAP PEAS

Sugar peas are also known as snap peas. These peas are eaten before the seeds mature, and the whole pod is consumed.

Chikuzenni is a dish from Japanese cuisine that is often associated with the new year. A typical recipe calls for first sautéing chicken and vegetables, further cooking them in broth, and then adding snap peas to the mixture.

35 Tekkamaki : TUNA ROLL

In Japanese cuisine, hosomaki (thin rolls) are cylindrical sushi items made with one filling inside seasoned rice surrounded by nori (seaweed). When raw tuna is the filling, the rolls are called tekkamaki.

36 Amazon predator : ANACONDA

Anacondas are native to the tropical regions of South America. The green anaconda is one of the world’s largest snakes, growing to 17 feet long and weighing up to 550 pounds! Anacondas are not venomous, and prefer to kill their prey by coiling around it and then squeeeeeezing …

37 Kraft supply : MACARONI

In many cases, the name given to a type of pasta comes from its shape. However, the name macaroni comes from the type of dough used to make the noodles. Here in the US, macaroni is usually elbow-shaped, but it doesn’t have to be.

The Kraft brand name originated with Canadian James L. Kraft. It was James L. Kraft who first patented processed cheese

39 “Songwriter” country singer : CASH

“Songwriter” is a 2024 album of Johnny Cash songs, released over 20 years after his passing. The tracks were created using rediscovered demo tapes from which Cash’s vocals and guitar were extracted, and to which were added newly recorded backup parts.

49 “The Little Mermaid” villain : URSULA

In the original 1837 Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Little Mermaid”, there is a villainous sea witch who plays a relatively small part in the story. When Disney made the big-screen, animated adaptation of the tale, the sea witch’s role was expanded, and she was given the name “Ursula”.

57 Rummikub piece : TILE

Rummikub is a tile-based game that was created in the 1940s by Ephraim Hertzano in Israel. Hertzano’s game combines elements of mahjong with the card game rummy. Rummikub was the best-selling game in the US back in 1977.

60 Ruminant’s mouthful : CUD

Animals that chew the cud are called ruminants. Ruminants eat vegetable matter but cannot extract any nutritional value from cellulose without the help of microbes in the gut. Ruminants collect roughage in the first part of the alimentary canal, allowing microbes to work on it. The partially digested material (the cud) is regurgitated into the mouth so that the ruminant can chew the food more completely, exposing more surface area for microbes to do their work.

61 Mentions on X : ATS

The “at symbol” (@) originated in the commercial world, as shorthand for “each at, per” and similar phrases. I suppose we see the symbol most commonly these days as part of email addresses.