LA Times Crossword 10 Dec 24, Tuesday

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Constructed by: Zhouqin Burnikel
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Stop along the Way

Themed answers each include a synonym of “STOP”:

• 62A Break during a road trip, and what can be found in 17-, 26-, and 46-Across : STOP ALONG THE WAY

• 17A Film scene from a character’s perspective : POINT-OF-VIEW SHOT (includes “point”)
• 26A Garment with patterned circles : POLKA-DOT DRESS (includes “dot”)
• 46A Lasting mere moments : FOR A BRIEF PERIOD (includes “period”)

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

Bill’s time: 4m 42s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Insect that builds a paper nest : WASP

Paper wasps usually build their nests from “paper”, hence the name. The female wasps collect wood fibers and dead plant tissue in their mouths. These materials make a paper pulp when mixed with saliva. The nest itself is a collection of hexagonal cells with paper walls.

5 “Snowy” wading bird : EGRET

The snowy egret is a small white heron that is native to the Americas. At one time the egret species was in danger of extinction due to hunting driven by the demand for plumes for women’s hats.

10 Tiniest bit : IOTA

Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet, and one that gave rise to our letters I and J. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small, as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.

14 Actress Fanning : ELLE

Actress Elle Fanning first appeared on film in the 2001 movie “I Am Sam”, in which she played a younger version of her sister and fellow actor Dakota Fanning (a 2-year-old version of the character). One of her first major roles was Aurora/Sleeping Beauty alongside Angelina Jolie in the 2014 movie “Maleficent”. Fannin reprised the role in the 2019 sequel “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil”.

15 Little Haiti’s city : MIAMI

Little Haiti is a neighborhood in Miami that was settled by Haitian refugees in the 1970s and 80s fleeing political unrest and economic hardship. Prior to the arrival of the Haitian émigrés, the area was known as Lemon City, for more than a hundred years. The neighborhood is home to a 13-foot bronze statue of General Toussaint Louverture, who was a prominent leader of the Haitian Revolution in which self-liberated slaves rebelled against French colonial rule.

20 Adagio or allegro : TEMPO

The tempo (plural “tempi”) of a piece of music is usually designated with an Italian word on the score. For example, “grave” is slow and solemn, “andante” is at a walking pace, “scherzo” is fast and light-hearted, and “allegro” is fast, quickly and bright.

21 Lunar festival in Saigon : TET

Ho Chi Minh City is the largest city in Vietnam by population. Formerly known as Saigon, and the capital of South Vietnam, it was renamed following the reunification of North and South Vietnam in 1976. The renaming is in honor of the Vietnamese communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh.

23 Pioneering ISP : AOL

AOL was a leading Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the 1980s and 1990s. The company does still provide dial-up access to the Internet for some subscribers, but most users now access AOL using faster, non-AOL ISPs.

26 Garment with patterned circles : POLKA-DOT DRESS (includes “dot”)

A polka-dot pattern is one featuring an array of filled circles, usually of the same size and color. There doesn’t seem to be any connection between the name of the pattern and the polka dance, other than both the dance and the pattern gaining popularity around the same time, in the late nineteenth century.

34 Broth often made with bonito flakes : DASHI

Dashi is a style of cooking stock used in Japanese cuisine. Most notably perhaps, “dashi” is the stock that is used as the base for miso soup. Traditional dashi is a fish stock to which is added edible kelp called kombu and shavings of preserved and fermented skipjack tuna called katsuobushi.

Bonito is the name given to several species of fish, intermediate in size between mackerel and tuna. The name comes directly from the Spanish word for “pretty”. In some parts of Spain, tuna is known as “Bonito del Norte”.

38 Defeated, as a dragon : SLAIN

Our English word “dragon” comes from the Greek “drakon” meaning “serpent, giant seafish”.

40 Choose by ballot : ELECT

Today, a ballot is a piece of paper or equivalent used to cast a vote. Back in the 1500s, a “ballot” was a small “ball” used in the process of voting.

43 Stat indicated by tree rings : AGE

Growth rings can be seen in a horizontal cross section of a tree trunk. These rings are caused by a change in the rate of growth of a tree that comes with the seasons, so the rings are more easily discerned in trees that grow in regions with marked seasonal changes.

51 Temaki fish : TUNA

Temaki is a sushi dish comprising a cone made from nori (edible seaweed) filled with rice and sushi. The term “temaki” translates as “hand roll”.

67 Atmospheric layer with holes : OZONE

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used to be widely used as propellants in aerosols, and as refrigerants in cooling systems. CFCs make their way up into the ozone layer and trigger a chain reaction that converts ozone (O₃) into regular oxygen (O₂). That conversion creates “holes” in the ozone layer. Regular O₂ is good stuff, but we need O₃ to absorb harmful UV radiation raining down on us. CFC is not good stuff …

68 __ kebab : SHISH

The term “kebab” (also “kabob”) covers a wide variety of meat dishes that originated in Persia. In the West, we usually use “kebab” when talking about shish kebab, which is meat (often lamb) served on a skewer. “Shish” comes from the Turkish word for “skewer”.

70 Fuses with heat : WELDS

In the process of arc welding, metal is fused by the heat generated in an electrical arc. The welder uses two cables from an electrical power source. One cable is attached to the metal being welded, and the other to an electrode. The tip of the electrode is touched to the base metal causing a spark and an electrical arc. The electrode is held at an appropriate distance from the base metal to maintain the arc, which creates enough heat to melt the electrode and base metal.

Down

2 Healing succulent : ALOE

Succulent plants are those with thickened stems and/or leaves that have evolved to retain water. As such, succulents are often found where the climate is particularly dry. The term “succulent” comes from the Latin “sucus” meaning “juice, sap”.

5 Panic! at the Disco genre : EMO

Panic! at the Disco was formed as a pop rock band from Las Vegas in 2004. Two of the original four members left the group in 2009, to form their own band, and Panic! at the Disco was reinvented as a duo. One of the two remaining musicians also moved on, in 2015, leaving just the original lead vocalist Brendon Urie. Urie decided to continue performing as Panic! at the Disco, and treats it as a solo project.

7 Party with electronic music : RAVE

As you might imagine, I’ve never been to a rave, and don’t have one upcoming in my diary. As raves often start at 2 a.m., I’m unlikely ever to experience one. A rave is generally an all-night party featuring loud, electronically-synthesized music usually played by a DJ, as opposed to a live band.

11 Island northwest of Molokai : OAHU

Oahu has been called “The Gathering Place”, although the word “O’ahu” has no translation in Hawaiian. It seems that “O’ahu” is simply the name of the island. One story is that it is named after the son of the Polynesian navigator who first found the islands. The island is made up of two volcanoes, Wai’anae and Ko’olau, joined together by a broad valley, the O’ahu Plain.

Molokai is the fifth largest of the Hawaiian Islands. Famously, Molokai was home to a leper colony that was managed by Father Damien, a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium. Father Damien cared for the victims of Hansen’s Disease (then known as “leprosy”) for sixteen years before succumbing to the illness himself in 1889. Father Damien was declared a saint in 2009.

12 New Mexico town in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains : TAOS

The southernmost subrange of the Rocky Mountains are known as the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, with “Sangro de Cristo” translating as “Blood of Christ”. Spanish explorers named the range, inspired by the hues of red and purple that have a vibrant glow when lit by the setting sun.

25 All-father of Norse myth : ODIN

In Norse mythology, Odin was the chief of the gods. He is usually depicted as having one eye, reflecting the story of how he gave one of his eyes in exchange for wisdom.

26 São __, Brazil : PAULO

São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil. It is also the city with the highest number of helicopters in the world. This is partly driven by the horrendous traffic jams in São Paulo, but also by the wealthy having a very real fear of being kidnapped on the city’s streets.

28 __ Lama : DALAI

The Dalai Lama is a religious leader in the Gelug branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The current Dalai Lama is the 14th to hold the office. He has indicated that the next Dalai Lama might be found outside of Tibet for the first time, and may even be female.

29 Missouri River tributary : OSAGE

Much of the Osage River in Missouri is now taken up by two large reservoirs created behind two dams that provide power for St. Louis and the surrounding area. The two reservoirs are the Truman Reservoir and the Lake of the Ozarks.

41 Cocktail hour appetizers : CANAPES

A canapé is a finger food, something small enough to eat in just one bite. In French, “canapé” is actually the word for a couch or a sofa. The name was given to the snack as the original canapés were savories served on toasted or stale bread that supposedly resembled a tiny couch.

42 “Impractical Jokers” network : TBS

“Impractical Jokers” is a show that first aired in 2011 that falls into the “Candid Camera” genre, with the hosts pranking the public.

45 Bar for circus acrobats : TRAPEZE

The circus act known as the “trapeze” is so called because the shape defined by the crossbar, ropes and ceiling of the tent is a “trapezium”.

An acrobat is someone who performs gymnastic feats. The term “acrobat“ comes into English via French from the Greek “akrobatos” meaning “going on tip-toe, climbing up high”.

52 Arches National Park state : UTAH

The gorgeous Arches National Park is located in eastern Utah, just outside of Moab. The main focus of the park is the preservation of over 2,000 natural sandstone arches. The arches are relatively fragile, and 43 have collapsed since 1970, mainly due to erosion caused by wind and rain.

53 Temaki cone : NORI

Nori is an edible seaweed that we used to know as “laver” when we were living in Wales. Nori is usually dried into thin sheets. Here in the US, we are most familiar with nori as the seaweed used as a wrap for sushi.

57 Ingredients that are cracked to make khai jiao : EGGS

Khai jiao is an omelet from Thai cuisine.

59 USAF truant : AWOL

“Truant” is such a lovely word. We have been using it to describe someone who wanders from an appointed place since the mid-1400s. Prior to that, a truant was a beggar or a vagabond.