LA Times Crossword 29 Sep 26, Tuesday

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Constructed by: Kelly Morenus

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Street Talk

Themed answers are all common phrases that end with a synonym of “STREET”:

• 62A Informal language, or what 18-, 24-, 40-, and 52-Across are examples of? : STREET TALK

• 18A “Show us how it’s done” : PAVE THE WAY
• 24A “Quit interfering” : STAY IN YOUR LANE
• 40A “Don’t stoop to their level” : TAKE THE HIGH ROAD
• 52A “Perfect for me” : RIGHT UP MY ALLEY

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

Bill’s time: 5m 26s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5A Lima’s country : PERU

Lima is the capital city of Peru. It was founded in 1535 by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, who named it “la Ciudad de los Reyes” (the City of Kings). He chose this name because the decision to found the city was made on January 6th, the feast of the Epiphany that commemorates the visit of the three kings to Jesus in Bethlehem. Lima is home to the oldest university in all of the Americas, as San Marcos University was founded in 1551 during the days of Spanish colonial rule.

14A Fruit with wrinkled skin : UGLI

The ugli fruit is a hybrid of a tangerine and a grapefruit that was first discovered growing wild in Jamaica where most ugli fruit comes from today. “UGLI” is a trademark name that is a variant of “ugly”, a nod to the fruit’s unsightly wrinkled rind. Another distributor uses the brand name “Uniq”, which does suggest a more appetizing treat.

15A Greek Cupid : EROS

Eros was the Greek god of love, desire and attraction, and usually depicted as a winged youth wielding a bow and arrows. The arrows had the power to ignite feelings of love or passionate longing in whomever they struck. Eros (Cupid or Amor in Roman mythology) was the son of Aphrodite (Venus) and Ares (Mars).

28A Britches, informally : TROU

Strictly speaking, breeches (sometimes “britches”) are a clothing item like trousers that cover the body from waist to just below the knee. We also use “breeches” as a slang term meaning “pants”.

29A Pod filler : PEA

Plants called legumes are notable in that they work symbiotically with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, microorganisms found in the root nodules that convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonium ions. As nitrogen is an essential component of proteins, legumes are exceptionally rich sources of plant protein. Examples of legumes are peas, beans, lentils and peanuts.

30A Part in four-part harmony : ALTO

Four-part harmony is music written for four voices, or perhaps four instruments. A four-part harmony can also be written for a single keyboard instrument, in which case four different musical parts can be assigned to four different notes in a collection of chords.

33A __ carte menu : A LA

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”.

35A Car in the Beach Boys’ “Fun, Fun, Fun” : T-BIRD

“Fun, Fun, Fun” is a 1964 song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love for the Beach Boys. The English rock band Status Quo released a great cover version of “Fun, Fun, Fun” in 1996, which featured the Beach Boys on backup vocals.

44A Large deer : MOOSE

The moose is the largest species in the deer family, and can stand almost at 7 feet at the shoulder. Moose are a little unusual in that they are solitary animals, unlike other deer who tend to move in herds. We use the term “moose” here in North America, but confusingly, the same animal is referred to as “elk” in British English.

50A House of Lords title : EARL

The UK Parliament is divided into two houses, with the upper house known as the House of Lords and the lower house as the House of Commons. The members of the House of Commons (MPs) are elected, but most new members of the House of Lords are appointed. Historically, a large proportion of the membership of the upper house were hereditary peers, but recent legislative changes are reducing the numbers who can sit in the House of Lords by virtue of birthright.

60A Charcoal grill residue : ASH

Charcoal is made by heating wood in an atmosphere that minimizes the exposure to oxygen. This process, known as pyrolysis, removes water and volatile materials from the wood leaving the black carbon residue that we call charcoal. The charcoal itself will burn, at a higher temperature, if exposed to oxygen and an ignition source.

61A City with the Heat and the Hurricanes : MIAMI

The Miami Heat basketball team debuted in the NBA in the 1988-89 season. The franchise name was chosen in a competitive survey, with “Miami Heat” beating out “Miami Vice”.

The Hurricanes (also “Canes”) are the athletics teams of the University of Miami. The school’s mascot is Sebastian the Ibis. “The Ibis” was chosen as the name of the school’s yearbook in 1926, and was adopted as the mascot decades later in the eighties. The ibis was selected by the Hurricanes as the bird is known for its bravery when a hurricane approaches.

66A Out of control : AMOK

The phrase “to run amok” (sometimes “to run amuck”) has been around since the 1670s and is derived from the Malay word for “attacking furiously”, “amuk”. The word “amok” was also used as a noun to describe Malay natives who were “frenzied”. Given Malaya’s troubled history, the natives probably had a good reason for that frenzy …

67A “Money __”: Netflix crime series : HEIST

“Money Heist” (“La casa de papel” in Spanish) is a very successful crime drama series from Spain that transferred to Netflix, after which the show’s run was extended. The show was so successful that Netflix made a documentary called “Money Heist: The Phenomenon”.

68A Actor Morales : ESAI

Esai Morales is an American actor, as well as a skilled musician who can play multiple instruments. Morales was originally interested in pursuing a career in music and played in a band called “The Plan” before he turned his attention to acting. He has incorporated his musical talents into some of his acting roles. For example, in the film “La Bamba,” which tells the story of the late musician Ritchie Valens, Morales portrayed Valens’ half-brother Bob, and played the guitar and sang in several scenes.

69A “Great” detective of kid-lit : NATE

The “Nate the Great” series of children’s novels was written (mainly) by Marjorie Sharmat. Nate is like a young Sherlock Holmes, with a dog for a sidekick called Sludge. Some of the books have been adapted for television.

71A Credit report category : DEBT

The concept of centralized tracking of consumer debt originated in the late 1800s when local merchants began sharing lists of customers who routinely failed to settle their tabs. The “Big Three” credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) basically do the same thing, but in a more nuanced way.

72A Uno y dos : TRES

In Spanish, “tres” (three) is “uno y dos” (one plus two).

Down

1D Mixed-breed dogs : MUTTS

The original use of the term “mutt” was for a foolish person, and was probably short for “muttonhead”. The usage evolved into today’s “mongrel dog”.

2D Everglades wader : EGRET

The Everglades are tropical wetlands that cover much of southern Florida. The area was named “River Glades” by a British surveyor in 1773, and it is suggested that poor transcription of the word “river” led to the use of “ever”. The southern 20% of the Everglades is a protected region that we know as Everglades National Park. The park is the third-largest National Park in the lower 48 states, after Death Valley NP (the largest) and Yellowstone NP.

7D Finnish game developer that created Angry Birds : ROVIO

Rovio is a Finnish game development studio founded by university students in 2003. The company spent its first six years struggling to find mainstream success and was on the brink of bankruptcy by 2009. And then, along came Rovio’s 52nd game release: a puzzle featuring wingless birds attacking green pigs. “Angry Birds” became a massive global phenomenon, and transformed the studio into a multimedia giant.

10D “Tosca,” for one : OPERA

Unlike so many operas, Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca” was a big hit right from day one, when it was first performed in 1900 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. Currently, “Tosca” is the eighth-most performed opera in America.

21D Title for Paul McCartney : SIR

The ex-Beatles bass player’s full name is Sir James Paul McCartney. “Paul” was knighted for his services to music in 1997. He was later recognized with an even rarer royal distinction in 2017 when he was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour, an exclusive group restricted to just 65 living members at any one time.

25D “Hurt Somebody” singer-songwriter Kahan : NOAH

Singer-songwriter Noah Kahan first gained widespread international recognition with his 2017 breakout single “Hurt Somebody”. Noah was twenty years old when “Hurt Somebody” was released, but he was only eight years old when he started writing songs, and uploading them to YouTube.

26D Christmas season : YULE

Yule celebrations coincide with Christmas, and the words “Christmas” and “Yule” (often “Yuletide”) have become synonymous in much of the world. However, Yule was originally a pagan festival celebrated by Germanic peoples. The name “Yule” comes from the Old Norse word “jol” that was used to describe the festival.

31D Thai neighbor : LAO

Over one half of the Laos-Thailand border follows the Mekong River. Running just under 1,150 miles, the border runs from the tripoint with Myanmar in the north, to the tripoint with Cambodia in the south.

32D Boxing ref’s ruling, for short : TKO

Technical knockout (TKO)

37D iPhone platform : IOS

“iOS” is what Apple now calls their mobile operating system. It was previously known as iPhone OS.

39D Pesticide in Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” for short : DDT

DDT is dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (don’t forget now!). DDT was used with great success to control disease-carrying insects during WWII, and when made available for use after the war it became by far the most popular pesticide. And then Rachel Carson published her famous book “Silent Spring”, suggesting there was a link between DDT and diminishing populations of certain wildlife. It was the public outcry sparked by the book, and reports of links between DDT and cancer, that led to the ban on the use of the chemical in 1972. That ban is touted as the main reason that the bald eagle was rescued from near extinction.

48D Coup d’__ : ETAT

A coup d’état (often just “coup”) is the sudden overthrow of a government, and comes from the French for “stroke of state”. The Swiss-German word “putsch” is sometimes used instead of “coup”, with “Putsch” translating literally as “sudden blow”. We also use the abbreviated “coup” to mean “sudden, brilliant and successful act”.

53D Elba of “Cats” : IDRIS

Idris Elba is a British actor whose most celebrated TV roles are perhaps Stringer Bell in “The Wire”, DCI John Luther in “Luther”, and the lead in the 2023 series “Hijack”. On the big screen, he has played the Norse god Heimdall in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as Nelson Mandela in the 2013 biopic “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”. While best known for acting, Elba is also a successful musician and DJ, performing at major clubs and festivals under the moniker DJ Big Driis.

The 2019 movie “Cats” is a much-panned big screen adaptation of the 1981 Andrew Lloyd Webber stage musical of the same name. Great musical, horrible film …

54D Grown goslings : GEESE

A male goose is called a gander, with the female simply being referred to as a goose. Young geese are called goslings.

55D Lunar cycle part : PHASE

The phases of the moon have been given the following names, in order:

• New moon
• Waxing crescent moon
• First quarter moon
• Waxing gibbous moon
• Full moon
• Waning gibbous moon
• Third quarter moon
• Waning crescent moon
• Dark moon

56D Rapper Kendrick : LAMAR

Kendrick Lamar is a hip-hop singer from Compton, California. Lamar’s full name is Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, with the singer’s given name honoring Motown artist Eddie Kendricks. Notably, his 2017 album “Damn” won a Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first non-classical or non-jazz album to do so.

59D Girl who befriends a magical star in Disney’s “Wish” : ASHA

The 2023 Disney animated musical feature film “Wish” was released against the backdrop of the 100th anniversary of the Disney Studio. As a result, the movie “reveals” the origin story of the iconic “Wishing Star” seen in the studio’s logo. A further nod to Disney history is the use of modern 3D technology with the hand-drawn watercolor aesthetic of films like 1937’s “Snow White”.