LA Times Crossword 13 Aug 25, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Kaela Curry & Kevin Curry

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer(s): Royal Air Force

Themed answers each fly through the AIR, and are named for ROYALTY:

• 10D With 39-Down, defenders over London, or an apt description of 19-, 29-, and 52-Across? : ROYAL …
• 39D See 10-Down : … AIR FORCE

• 19A Head of a hive : QUEEN BEE
• 29A Colorful bird with a daggerlike bill : KINGFISHER
• 52A Milkweed pollinator also called “common tiger” : MONARCH BUTTERFLY

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

Bill’s time:6m 22s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Weight-to-height meas. : BMI

The body mass index (BMI) is the ratio of a person’s mass to their height.

7A Baton Rouge sch. : LSU

Baton Rouge is the capital city of the state of Louisiana. The name “Baton Rouge” is French for “red stick” or “red staff”. The exact reason why such a name was given to the city isn’t really clear.

19A Head of a hive : QUEEN BEE

A queen bee has a stinger, just like worker bees. When a worker bee stings, it leaves its stinger in its victim. The worker bee dies after losing its stinger as the loss rips out part of its insides. However, a queen bee can sting with impunity as her stinger’s anatomy is different.

20A __ and yang : YIN

The yin and yang can be illustrated using many different metaphors. In one, as the sun shines on a mountain, the side in the shade is the yin and the side in the light is the yang. The yin is also regarded as the feminine side, and the yang the masculine. The yin can also be associated with the moon, while the yang is associated with the sun.

25A “My man!” : YO, DUDE!

Our term “dude” arose as slang in New York City in the 1880s, when it was used to describe a fastidious man. In the early 1900s, the term was extended to mean “city slickers”, easterners who vacationed in the West. The first use of the term “dude ranch” was recorded in 1921.

29A Colorful bird with a daggerlike bill : KINGFISHER

Kingfishers are a family of birds who are usually associated with fishing, even though many species hunt prey on the ground. Their distinctive dagger-like bills vary in shape depending on their diet; those that hunt fish have longer, more compressed bills, while those that forage on the ground have shorter, broader ones. Kingfishers also possess excellent vision, including binocular vision, and can compensate for the refraction of water to accurately judge depth when hunting underwater.

37A Nevada gambling city : RENO

The city of Reno’s economy took off when open gambling was legalized in Nevada in 1931. Within a short time, a syndicate had built the Bank Club in Reno, which was the largest casino in the world at the time.

38A Parting words : CIAOS

“Ciao” is Italian for “‘bye”. “Arrivederci” is more formal, and translates as “goodbye”.

42A “Cool” amount : MIL

One “G” is a thousand dollars, and 1,000 G’s make up a cool million (mil).

43A State between the Pacific Ocean and the Snake River : OREGON

The Oregon Treaty of 1846 settled a dispute between the US and the UK over sovereignty of the Oregon Country. “The Oregon Country” was the name given by the Americans to a large swathe of land west of the Rocky Mountains. That same disputed land was known as the Columbia Department by the British. Oregon became a US state in 1859.

49A Big name in hiking backpacks : OSPREY

Osprey is a prominent manufacturer of backpacks that was founded in 1974 as Santa Cruz Recreational Packs. In 2001, an Osprey backpack was featured on the cover of “Time” magazine, worn by Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind climber to summit Mount Everest.

52A Milkweed pollinator also called “common tiger” : MONARCH BUTTERFLY

The monarch butterfly has very recognizable orange and black wings, and is often seen across North America. The monarch is the state insect of several US states and was even nominated as the national insect in 1990, but that legislation was not enacted.

Common milkweed is a perennial herb that is found growing wild in much of North America. The plant’s name comes from the white latex sap that exudes when almost any part of the plant is cut or broken. The fruit of the common milkweed is a green pod, which dries out and turns brown before bursting open to disseminate fluffy seeds.

58A Winnie-the-Pooh’s creator : MILNE

Alan Alexander (A.A.) Milne was an English author who is best known for his delightful “Winnie-the-Pooh” series of books. He had only one son, Christopher Robin Milne, born in 1920. The young Milne was the inspiration for the Christopher Robin character in the Winnie-the-Pooh stories. Winnie-the-Pooh was named after Christopher Robin’s real teddy bear, one he called Winnie, who in turn was named after a Canadian black bear called Winnie that the Milnes would visit in London Zoo. The original Winnie teddy bear is on display at the main branch of the New York Public Library in New York.

60A “Hot To Go!” singer Chappell : ROAN

Chappell Roan’s hit “Hot to Go!” was inspired by her childhood dream of becoming a cheerleader. The song gained viral popularity for its accompanying dance, where audiences spell out the song’s title with their arms. As a result, Roan has herself described “Hot to Go!” as “like the ‘Y.M.C.A.’ but gayer”.

69A End of the Greek alphabet : OMEGA

Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet and is the one that looks like a horseshoe (Ω) when in uppercase. The lowercase omega looks like a Latin W. The word “omega” literally means “great O” (O-mega). Compare this with the Greek letter Omicron, meaning “little O” (O-micron).

Down

1D TV dog whose mum and dad are Chilli and Bandit : BLUEY

“Bluey” is a preschool TV show from Australia. The title character is an anthropomorphic blue heeler puppy whose full name is Bluey Christine Heeler. Her younger sister is Bingo Heeler. My granddaughter just loves Bluey …

2D Caribbean dance : MAMBO

The form of music and dance known as “mambo” developed in Cuba. “Mambo” means “conversation with the gods” in Kikongo, a language spoken by slaves taken to Cuba from Central Africa.

5D Fashion icon Ralph : LAUREN

Ralph Lauren is an American fashion designer, born Ralph Liftshitz in the Bronx, New York. Lauren started off working as a salesman for Brooks Brothers after spending two years in the US Army. He then opened a necktie store, featuring his own tie designs. The ties were sold under the name “Polo”, which became Lauren’s most famous brand. Other Lauren brands are Purple Label and Black Label.

7D Pride parade inits. : LGBT

The first gay pride parades were held all on the same weekend in 1970, in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

9D SLC athlete : UTE

The Utah Utes are the athletic teams of the University of Utah.

Salt Lake City (SLC) was founded by Brigham Young, in 1847. The city takes its name from the Great Salt Lake on which it sits, and indeed was known as “Great Salt Lake City” up until 1868.

10D With 39-Down, defenders over London, or an apt description of 19-, 29-, and 52-Across? : ROYAL …
39D See 10-Down : … AIR FORCE

The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the oldest independent air force in the world (i.e. the first air force to become independent of army or navy forces). The RAF was formed during WWI on 1 April 1918, a composite of two earlier forces, the Royal Flying Corps (part of the Army) and the Royal Naval Air Service. The RAF’s “finest hour” was the Battle of Britain, when the vastly outnumbered British fighters fought off the might of the Luftwaffe causing Hitler to delay his plan to cross the English Channel. This outcome prompted Winston Churchill to utter the memorable words

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

12D Parental hand-me-downs : GENES

A gene is a section of a chromosome that is responsible for a particular characteristic in an organism. For example, one gene may determine eye color and another balding pattern. We have two copies of each gene, one from each of our parents, with each copy known as an allele.

15D Black History Mo. : FEB

Black History Month is observed annually to remember important events and people in the history of the African diaspora. The celebration originated in the US, where it is observed in February. Canada also celebrates Black history in February. More recently, Ireland and the UK designated October as Black History Month.

24D Speaker on an iPad : SIRI

Siri is a software application that works with Apple’s iOS operating system. “Siri” is an acronym standing for Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface. Voice-over artist Susan Bennett revealed herself as the female American voice of Siri a few years ago. The British version of Siri is called Daniel, and the Australian version is called Karen. Also, “Siri” is a Norwegian name meaning “beautiful woman who leads you to victory”, and was the name the developer had chosen for his first child.

26D Put down : DIS

“Dis” (also “diss”) is a slang term meaning “insult” that originated in the eighties. It is a shortened form of “disrespect” or “dismiss”.

28D Delt neighbor : PEC

“Pecs” is the familiar name for the chest muscle, which is more correctly known as the pectoralis major muscle. “Pectus” is the Latin word for “breast, chest”.

32D Gerund suffix : -ING

A gerund is a form of a verb that can be used as a noun. For example, the gerund of the verb “to solve” is “solving”, as in the phrase “we really enjoyed the solving of the crossword”.

33D Phillipa of “Hamilton” : SOO

Phillipa Soo is an actress and singer who is perhaps best known for portraying Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, the title character’s wife in the original Broadway production of “Hamilton”.

34D Time toggle : AM/PM

The abbreviations “AM” and “PM” originate from Latin: “AM” stands for ante meridiem, meaning “before midday,” while “PM” stands for post meridiem, meaning “after midday.”

35D Venus de __ : MILO

The famous Venus de Milo is so named as she was discovered in the ruins of the ancient city of Milos, on the Aegean island of the same name. I’ve been lucky enough to see the statue, in the Louvre in Paris, and was surprised at how tall it is (6 ft 8 in tall).

36D Hawkeye Pierce player on “MAS*H” : ALAN ALDA

Hawkeye Pierce is the lead character in the “M*A*S*H” novel, movie and TV series. Hawkeye was portrayed by Donald Sutherland in the film, and then by Alan Alda in the television show. Pierce is the only character appearing in all 250 episodes of the groundbreaking TV series.

40D Law school newbie : ONE L

“One L” is a name used in general for first-year law students, especially those attending Harvard.

41D Absolut alternative : SKYY

Skyy Vodka is produced in the US, although the operation is owned by the Campari Group headquartered in Italy. Skyy first hit the shelves in 1992 when it was created by an entrepreneur from San Francisco, California.

48D “Animal Farm” novelist George : ORWELL

“Animal Farm” is a 1945 novella written by George Orwell, a satire of life in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin. Orwell had trouble getting his novel published in his homeland of the UK during WWII, as anti-Soviet literature wasn’t a good thing to publish while the UK and USSR were on the same side of a World War. In fact, one publisher who was willing to distribute the book changed his mind after being warned off by the British Ministry of Information. Given his experiences, I find it interesting that Orwell should write “Nineteen Eighty-Four” a few years later, and introduce the world to Big Brother.

51D Image-cultivating group, informally : PR TEAM

Public relations (PR)

54D Desert or tundra : BIOME

I tend to think of “biome” as another word for “ecosystem”.

Tundra is an ecosystem that is treeless, or very nearly so. There are three types of tundra. Arctic and Antarctic tundra can’t support the growth of trees as the ground is pretty much frozen. Alpine tundra cannot support tree-growth due to high altitude.

55D Company for DIY movers : U-HAUL

The U-Haul company was started by married couple Leonard Shoen and Anna Mary Carty in Ridgefield, Washington in 1945. The Shoens used $5,000 of seed money to build trailers in their garage, and then cleverly recruited gas station owners as franchisees with whom they would split the rental revenue. There are now about 15,000 U-Haul dealers across the country.

62D Short-term engagement : GIG

Musicians use “gig” to describe a job, a performance. The term originated in the early 1900s in the world of jazz. The derivative phrase “gig economy” applies to a relatively recent phenomenon where workers find themselves jumping from temporary job to temporary job, from gig to gig.