LA Times Crossword 30 Jan 26, Friday

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Constructed by: Zachary David Levy

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Speak Up!

Themed answers are all in the down-direction. Each starts with a synonym of “SPEAK”, but written in the UP-direction:

• 25D Comment to a low talker, or what is found in 4-, 9-, 27-, and 40-Down : SPEAK UP!

• 4D Fast service : EXPRESS EMAIL
• 9D Seize-the-day type : GO-GETTER
• 27D Many a land-grant university : STATE-SCHOOL
• 40D Hogwash : UTTER ROT

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

Bill’s time: 7m 47s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5A Site of an 1836 siege : ALAMO

The famous Alamo in San Antonio, Texas was originally known as Mission San Antonio de Valero. The mission was founded in 1718 and was the first mission established in the city. The Battle of the Alamo took place in 1836, a thirteen-day siege by the Mexican Army led by President General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Only two people defending the Alamo Mission survived the onslaught. One month later, the Texian army got its revenge by attacking and defeating the Mexican Army in the Battle of San Jacinto. During the surprise attack on Santa Anna’s camp, many of the Texian soldiers were heard to cry “Remember the Alamo!”.

14A Latin 101 word : AMAS

“Amo, amas, amat” translates from Latin as “I love, you love, he/she/it loves”.

15A Enter again, as data : RE-LOG

The word “logbook” dates back to the days when the captain of a ship kept a daily record of the vessel’s speed, progress etc. using a “log”. A log was a wooden float on a knotted line that was dropped overboard to measure speed through the water.

16A Opera star : DIVA

The term “diva” comes to us from Latin via Italian. It is the feminine form of “divus” meaning “divine one”. The word is used in Italy to mean “goddess” or “fine lady”, and especially is applied to the prima donna in an opera. We often use the term to describe a singer with a big ego.

18A Greg Maddux’s record 18 : GOLD GLOVES

The Gold Glove is an annual award given by Major League Baseball to the player judged to be the best in each fielding position in a season. The award was instituted in 1957 by the baseball glove manufacturer Rawlings.

Baseball pitcher Greg Maddux won the Cy Young Award for the four consecutive years of 1992 through 1995, a record that wasn’t matched until Randy Johnson did the same thing in 1999 through 2002.

20A “Self-Reliance” essayist : EMERSON

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote an 1841 essay called “Self-Reliance” in which he wrote, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines”. This quote might be restated as “Don’t be afraid to change your mind”. Emerson argued that many people stick to an old opinion just because they are worried they will look like a hypocrite if they change it. He called such behavior a trap for “little minds”, people who are more worried about their reputation than the truth. Wow! A lesson to be learned, I’d say …

22A __ urchin : SEA

Sea urchins are globular, spiny creatures found just about everywhere in the ocean. The “roe” of a sea urchin is eaten as a delicacy in several cuisines around the world. In a sushi restaurant, the sea urchin roe is called “uni”. The term “roe” normally means “fish eggs”, but in the case of the sea urchin it refers to the gonads of both the male and female.

26A Neutrogena product : T/GEL

Neutrogena is a brand of skincare products that was founded in 1930 as a cosmetics company called Natone.

37A __ noire : BETE

“Bête noire” translates from French as “black beast”, and is used in English to describe something or someone that is disliked.

38A Côte d’__ : AZUR

The Côte d’Azur is on the Mediterranean coast of France and stretches from Saint-Tropez in the west and to the Italian border in the east. In English, we often refer to the area as “the French Riviera”. It’s a little crowded for me (okay, “expensive”), especially in the summer.

41A Actress Garr : TERI

Actress Teri Garr had a whole host of minor roles in her youth, including appearances in nine Elvis movies. Garr’s big break came with the role of Inga in “Young Frankenstein”, and her supporting role in “Tootsie” earned Garr an Academy Award nomination. Sadly, Teri Garr suffered from multiple sclerosis, and was a National Ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

42A “Casablanca” role : ILSA

The movie “Casablanca” was released in January of 1943, timed to coincide with the Casablanca Conference, the high-level meeting between Roosevelt and Churchill. The film wasn’t a box-office hit, but gained critical acclaim, winning three Oscars including Best Picture. The signature song “As Time Goes By” was written many years earlier for a 1931 Broadway musical called “Everybody’s Welcome”, and was a hit in 1931 for Rudy Vallee. But today we all remember the Casablanca version, sung by Dooley Wilson (who played “Sam” in the film). Poor Dooley didn’t get to record it as a single, due to a musician’s strike in 1943. The 1931 Rudy Vallee version was re-released that year and became an even bigger hit second time round.

43A Edmonton CFL team : ELKS

The Edmonton Elks Canadian football team was founded back in 1949 as the Edmonton Eskimos. The team abandoned the offensive “Eskimos” name in 2020, and adopted the “Elks” name in 2021.

44A London’s neighboring county : ESSEX

Essex is a county in England that is referred to as one of the home counties, one of the counties that surround the city of London. The name “Essex” comes from the Old English “Eastseaxe”, referring to the Kingdom of the East Saxons founded in the 6th century.

46A Letter after sigma : TAU

Tau is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet, and the letter that gave rise to our Roman “T”. Both the letters tau (T) and chi (X) have long been symbolically associated with the cross.

47A __ Technica: tech news website : ARS

Ars Technica is a technology news website that launched in 1998. The site was purchased by Condé Nast Publications in 2008.

59A Magenta kin : FUCHSIA

The colors fuchsia and magenta are identical when used on the Web. The name “magenta” comes from an aniline dye that was patented in 1859 in France and called “fuchsine”. The dye was renamed in honor of a victory against the Austrians in the Battle of Magenta of 1859, which was fought near the northern Italian town of Magenta.

60A Spaceflight company based in Kent, Washington : BLUE ORIGIN

Blue Origin is an aerospace and launch service provider that was founded in 2000 by billionaire Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. Jeff Bezos, and his brother Mark Bezos, were passengers on Blue Origin’s first crewed mission into sub-orbital space in 2021. Actor William Shatner made a similar trip in the same vehicle a few months later, followed by TV personality Michael Strahan just before the end of the year.

65A Eye-shaped windows : OCULI

“Oculus” (plural “oculi”) is the Latin word for “eye”, and is a term used in architecture for a circular window.

68A Fundamental principle : TENET

A tenet is an article of faith, something that is “held” to be true. “Tenet” is Latin for “he/she/it holds”.

Down

2D Savory quality : UMAMI

“Umami” is a loanword from Japanese, literally meaning “pleasant savory taste”. It was first scientifically identified as a distinct taste in 1908 by Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda, who discovered that the amino acid glutamate was responsible for the unique taste (umami) of kombu seaweed.

5D Jargons : ARGOTS

“Argot” is a French term. It is the name given in the 17th century to “the jargon of the Paris underworld”. Nowadays argot is a set of idioms used by any particular group, the “lingo” of that group.

The noun “jargon” can describe nonsensical and meaningless talk, or the specialized language of a particular group, trade or profession. The term “jargon” is Old French, with the more usual meaning of “chattering”. How apt …

6D Sierra __, Africa : LEONE

The Republic of Sierra Leone is a country in West Africa that lies on the Atlantic Coast. The capital city of Freetown was originally set up as a colony to house the “Black Poor” of London, England. These people were mainly freed British slaves of Caribbean descent who were living a miserable life in the run-down parts of London. Perhaps to help the impoverished souls, perhaps to rid the streets of “a problem”, three ships were chartered in 1787 to transport a group of Blacks, with some Whites, to a piece of land purchased in Sierra Leone. Those who made the voyage were granted British citizenship and protection. The descendants of these immigrants, and others who made the journey over the next 60 years, make up the ethnic group that’s today called the Sierra Leone Creole.

8D Online admins : MODS

Moderator (mod)

19D Gamer’s woe : LAG

In Internet terms, lag is a delay in response caused by network latency. We might notice lag when streaming a video, for example.

27D Many a land-grant university : STATE SCHOOL

The Morrill Land-Grant Acts of 1862 and 1890 redefined higher education in the US by shifting the focus from classical studies to “practical” fields like agriculture, engineering, and military tactics. The original 1862 Act was signed by Abraham Lincoln during the height of the Civil War. It gave states federal land, much of it seized from Native American tribes, that could be sold to fund the new schools.

33D Cereal coveted by a silly rabbit : TRIX

Trix is a corn-based breakfast cereal that has been around since 1954, produced by General Mills. Ads for the cereal featured Trix Rabbit, who would try hard to get hold of bowls of the cereal. He would always get caught though, and be admonished with, “Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!” With 46% sugar content, the rabbit probably wouldn’t have liked it anyway …

35D Folk singer Guthrie : ARLO

Singer Arlo Guthrie is known for his protest songs, just like his father Woody Guthrie. The younger Guthrie only ever had one song in the top 40: a cover version of “City of New Orleans”. He has lived for years in the town of Washington, just outside Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His 1976 song “Massachusetts” has been the official folk song of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since 1981.

37D Dracula player Lugosi : BELA

Bela Lugosi was a Hungarian stage and screen actor who was perhaps best known for playing the title role in the 1931 film “Dracula” and for playing the same role on Broadway. Lugosi found himself typecast for the rest of his career and almost always played the role of the villain, often in horror movies. When he passed away in 1956, his wife had him buried in the costume he wore playing Count Dracula on Broadway.

40D Hogwash : UTTER ROT

“Hogwash” means “rubbish, of little value”. “Hogwash” was originally the name of swill fed to pigs.

44D Writer/illustrator Carle : ERIC

Eric Carle is a very successful children’s author and book illustrator, with over 100 million of his books sold around the world. Carle’s most famous title is “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”, and it alone has sold 30 million copies.

52D Mat position : ASANA

“Asana” is a Sanskrit word that translates as “sitting down”. The asanas are the poses that a practitioner of yoga assumes. The most famous is the lotus position, the cross-legged pose called “padmasana”.

56D Ken’s “Jeopardy!” predecessor : ALEX

After the sad passing of host Alex Trebek in 2020, producers announced that the game show “Jeopardy!” would be fronted by a series of interim guest hosts. The list included “Jeopardy!” champion Ken Jennings, TV news anchor Katie Couric, NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers and “The Big Bang Theory” actress Mayim Bialik. The show transitioned to a single-host format at the end of 2023, with Ken Jennings taking on Trebek’s role full time.