LA Times Crossword 11 Sep 25, Thursday

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Constructed by: Dylan Schiff

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Keep Me Posted

Themed answers are all things that might be POSTED:

• 59A “I want to stay informed!,” or what might be said by the answers to the starred clues? : KEEP ME POSTED!

• 18A *Online diary : PERSONAL BLOG
• 25A *Means of sending legal documents : CERTIFIED MAIL
• 37A *Item pinned to a bulletin board : PROMOTIONAL FLYER
• 49A *Professional who stands watch : SECURITY GUARD

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

Bill’s time: 6m 16s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Chocolaty coffees : MOCHAS

A caffè mocha is a caffè latte that has been flavored with chocolate. One might also regard a caffè mocha as hot chocolate with the addition of a shot of espresso.

12A Silk formation : WEB

The silk that makes up a web is a protein fiber that is “spun” by a spider. Spider silk is about one sixth of the density of steel, yet has a comparable tensile strength.

16A Yoga pose : ASANA

The word “asana” comes from the Sanskrit root “as”, which means “to sit” or “to be present”. In ancient yogic texts, “asana” primarily referred to a stable and comfortable seated position for meditation, rather than the array of physical postures that we associate with modern yoga practice today.

17A Top card in Hearts : ACE

Hearts is a fun card game that is in the Whist family of trick-taking games, as are bridge (my favorite) and spades.

18A *Online diary : PERSONAL BLOG

Many folks who visit this website regard it as just that, a website. That is true, but more specifically it is referred to as a blog, as I make regular posts (actually daily posts) that then occupy the “front page” of the site. The blog entries are in reverse chronological order, and one can just look back day-by-day, reading older and older posts. “Blog” is a contraction of the term “web log”.

20A “Neither fish __ fowl” : NOR

Something that is “neither fish nor fowl” is not recognizable, is not familiar at all.

21A Class with pronunciation practice, briefly : ESL

English as a Second Language (ESL)

22A Tomato used in tomato paste : ROMA

The Roma tomato isn’t considered an heirloom variety but it is very popular with home gardeners, especially those gardeners that don’t have a lot of space. It is a bush type (as opposed to vine type) and needs very little room to provide a lot of tomatoes.

25A *Means of sending legal documents : CERTIFIED MAIL

The terms “certified mail” and “registered mail” are sometimes used interchangeably, although they are very different services. Certified mail is primarily a service that provides the sender with proof of mailing and proof of delivery. It’s used for important documents like legal notices or tax forms that don’t have intrinsic monetary value. The mail is handled like regular mail as it makes its way through the system. Registered mail, on the other hand, is the most secure service offered by the USPS. It is more expensive and provides a higher level of security, with items stored in locked cages and a verifiable chain of custody that tracks every postal employee who handles the mailpiece. This service is intended for valuable or irreplaceable items, such as jewelry, cash, or sensitive classified documents, and it includes insurance coverage up to a declared value.

29A River mouth formations : DELTAS

A river delta is a triangular landform at the mouth of a river created by the deposition of sediment. The use of the term “delta” in this context comes from the triangular shape of the Greek letter delta. The Nile Delta in Northern Egypt is one of the world’s largest river deltas, and covers 150 miles of coastline on the Mediterranean. The most famous “delta” in the United States isn’t actually a delta at all. The Mississippi Delta is an alluvial plain that lies 300 miles north of the river’s actual delta, yet it is known as the “Mississippi River Delta”. Very confusing …

31A “¿Cómo __?” : ESTAS

“Cómo estas?” is Spanish for “how are you?”

32A Jeweler’s unit : CARAT

The carat is a unit of mass equal to 200 mg (0.2 grams). It is used in sizing gemstones.

33A WNBA great Leslie : LISA

Lisa Leslie is a former professional basketball player who played in the WNBA with the Los Angeles Sparks. Leslie is rather tall, and was the first player to dunk the ball in a WNBA game.

37A *Item pinned to a bulletin board : PROMOTIONAL FLYER

Fliers (also “flyers”) are notices that are circulated. The original fliers were police bulletins that were “scatter-broadcast”.

42A Tags in a Google Doc : 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.

Google Docs is a word processing application that is part of the Google Drive suite of services. In fact, I am typing this blog post right now in Google Docs.

45A Puts a spell on : HEXES

“Hexen” is a German word meaning “to practice witchcraft”. The use of the word “hex” in English started with the Pennsylvania Dutch in the early 1800s.

47A Extra tires : SPARES

A spare tire for a vehicle may be identical to the tires on the vehicle. It may also be a “limited use” or “donut” tire. A donut spare tire can only be used for limited distances.

53A Bowler’s hangout : ALLEY

Bowling has been around for an awfully long time. The oldest known reference to the game is in Egypt, where pins and balls were found in an ancient tomb that is over 5,000 years old. The first form of the game to come to America was nine-pin bowling, which had been very popular in Europe for centuries. In 1841 in Connecticut, nine-pin bowling was banned due to its association with gambling. Supposedly, an additional pin was added to get around the ban, and ten-pin bowling was born.

54A Limbs symbolic of power in Hinduism : ARMS

In Hindu iconography, deities are often depicted with multiple arms to symbolize their immense power and divine abilities. These additional arms represent a superhuman capacity to perform many tasks at once. Each hand typically holds a different object or weapon, and each of these items has its own symbolic meaning. For example, the four arms of the god Vishnu hold a conch, a discus, a mace and a lotus, which represent creation, the mind, physical strength and purity, respectively.

64A PIN point : ATM

ATMs are Automated Teller Machines, and are called “cashpoints” back in Britain and Ireland. Well, as students we also called them “drink links”, for obvious reasons …

66A Dutch beer : AMSTEL

Amstel is a Dutch beer and brewery that was founded in 1870 in Amsterdam. The brewery takes its name from the Amstel river that runs through the city.

69A 100-seat chamber : SENATE

Our word “senate” comes from the Latin name for such a body, namely “senatus”. In turn, “senatus” is derived from “senex” meaning “old man”, reflecting the original Roman Senate’s makeup as a council of “elders”. Ain’t that true …?

Down

3D Corner PC key : CTRL

The Control (CTRL) key on a PC keyboard is used to modify the function of other keys. For example, pressing CTRL+C copies a selection to the clipboard, and CTRL+V pastes the contents of the clipboard to a location defined by the cursor. Control keys were introduced on teletypewriters to generate “control characters”, which are non-printing characters that instruct a computer to do something like print a page, ring a bell etc.

4D The “H” of HMS : HIS

The prefix “HMS” is used by the warships of the Royal Navy, and stands for “Her/His Majesty’s Ship/Submarine”. The prefix “RMS” is used by ships of the merchant navy, and stands for “Royal Mail Ship/Steamer”.

5D Cherub in Italian art : AMORETTO

An “amoretto” (plural “amoretti”) is a cupid, one often represented in artwork as a little chubby naked boy.

A cherub (plural “cherubim”) is an angel. The term “cherub” ultimately comes from the Hebrew “kerubh” (plural “kerubhim”) meaning “winged angel”. In the Jewish tradition, cherubim play a key role in protecting the Garden of Eden, and in particular the Tree of Life.

7D __ 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.

8D __ port : USB

Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard dealing with how computers and electronic devices connect and communicate, and dealing with electrical power through those connections.

9D Gadot of “Wonder Woman” : GAL

Before becoming a Hollywood star, Gal Gadot served two years of mandatory military service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as a combat fitness instructor. She has shared that her military training helped prepare her for the physical demands of her action roles. Gadot also won the Miss Israel pageant in 2004 and represented her country in the Miss Universe competition that same year.

“Wonder Woman” is a 2017 film starring Gal Gadot as the superhero title character. It is listed by many as one of the best superhero movies of all time. Gadot had played Wonder Woman before, in the 2016 film “Batman v Superman”.

10D “Last card!” : UNO!

UNO is a card game that was developed in the early seventies and that has been sold by Mattel since 1992. It falls into the shedding family of card games, meaning that the goal is to get rid of all your cards while preventing opponents from doing the same.

11D East Asian temple : PAGODA

Pagodas are tiered (“storied”) towers, found in various parts of Asia, that are usually built for religious purposes.

12D Title fish in a 1988 heist comedy : WANDA

The 1988 comedy “A Fish Called Wanda” is a favorite of mine. The film was co-written by and stars John Cleese, and has an exceptional cast including Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Cleese’s friend from “Monty Python”, Michael Palin. Kevin Kline won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance. The “fish” in the film is the con artist Wanda, played by Curtis.

13D Produce recall cause, often : E COLI

Escherichia coli (E. coli) are usually harmless bacteria found in the human gut, working away quite happily. However, there are some strains that can produce lethal toxins. These strains can make their way into the food chain from animal fecal matter that comes into contact with food designated for human consumption.

14D Mineral group for emerald and aquamarine : BERYL

The mineral beryl is a source of a number of different semi-precious stones, depending on the nature of the impurities present. Pure beryl is colorless; blue beryl is called aquamarine, and green beryl is emerald. Traces of iron cause the blue color, and traces of chromium give the green hue.

24D Private online convos : DMS

Direct message (DM)

25D Chowder protein : CLAM

Clams can live up to about 500 years. The oldest recorded clam was a quahog clam found in Iceland, which lived to be 507 years old. To determine the clam’s age, the researchers opened it up. By doing so, they ended the life of the oldest living animal ever found …

The type of soup known as “chowder” is possibly named for the pot in which it used to be cooked called a “chaudière”, a French term.

27D Rae who played the president of Barbieland : ISSA

Issa Rae rose to prominence with her highly popular web series “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl”, which premiered in 2011. This led to her co-creating and starring in the acclaimed HBO comedy series “Insecure”, which garnered her multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. She’s also expanded into film roles and has her own media company, Hoorae.

The 2023 fantasy comedy movie “Barbie” stars Margo Robbie in the title role and Ryan Gosling as Ken. It was directed by Greta Gerwig, who also co-wrote the script with her partner Noah Baumbach. I highly recommend this one …

29D Projectile aimed at a bull’s-eye : DART

The bull’s eye (also “bullseye”) is the center of a target. The term was coined in the 1830s and comes from the resemblance of the target, in terms of size and color, to the eye of the bull.

32D IRS worker : CPA

Certified public accountant (CPA)

34D Harp kin : LYRE

The lyre is a stringed instrument that is most closely associated with ancient Greece, and with the gods Hermes and Apollo in particular. According to myth, Hermes slaughtered a cow from a sacred herd belonging to Apollo and offered it to the gods but kept the entrails. Hermes used the entrails to make strings that he stretched across the shell of a tortoise, creating the first lyre. Apollo liked the sound from the lyre and agreed to accept it as a trade for his herd of cattle.

35D Morays or congers : EELS

Morays are a large group of about 200 species of eels found across the world’s oceans. They are carnivorous and look pretty scary but they’re quite shy when confronted and present no threat to humans. One interesting thing about morays is that they will sometimes work in cooperation with the grouper fish found in reefs, the two helping each other hunt for food.

Conger eels can grow to be very, very large, perhaps up to 10 feet in length.

38D “Cash Cab” car : TAXI

“Cash Cab” is a fun TV game show that originated in the UK and is now shown all over the world, including here in North America. In the original US version, contestants are picked up in a cab in New York City and asked questions during their ride.

“Cash Cab” is a fun TV game show that originated in the UK and is now shown all over the world. The original, and most well-known, US version picked up contestants in a New York City taxi, and then the driver asked them quiz questions during their ride.

41D Frying medium : LARD

Fat, when extracted from the carcass of an animal, is called suet. Untreated suet decomposes at room temperature quite easily so it has to be rendered, purified to make it stable. Rendered fat from pigs is what we call lard. Rendered beef or mutton fat is known as tallow.

46D “On & On” singer Badu : ERYKAH

“Erykah Badu” is the stage name of Erica Wright, an American “neo-soul” singer. Badu gained some notoriety in March of 2010 when she shot a scene for a music video in Dallas. In the scene, she walks to the spot where President Kennedy was assassinated, removing her clothes until she is nude, and then falls to the ground as if she has been shot in the head. For that stunt, she was charged with disorderly conduct.

The music video for Erykah Badu’s 1996 song “On & On” is loosely based on the 1985 film adaptation of Alice Walker’s novel “The Color Purple”. In the video, Badu is shown as a maid, doing her chores.

48D Argentinian grasslands : PAMPAS

The pampas are fertile lowlands covering a large part of Argentina, Uruguay and some of Brazil. “Pampa” is a Quechua word meaning “plain”.

49D Skewer served with peanut sauce : SATAY

The dish known as “satay” originated in Java, Indonesia and is marinated pieces of meat served on a skewer in a sauce, often a spicy peanut sauce. “Satay” is the Indonesian spelling, and “sate” is the Malay spelling.

50D Mexican corn dish : ELOTE

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

52D Played Elden Ring, say : GAMED

“Elden Ring” is a unique role-playing video game in that the backstory and mythology used for the game’s world was the design of celebrated fantasy author George R. R. Martin (of “Game of Thrones” fame).

55D Roti base : ATTA

Atta is a whole-wheat flour used to make flatbreads in South Asian cuisine, such as chapati and naan. “Atta” is the Hindi or Urdu word for “dough”.