LA Times Crossword 1 Aug 26, Saturday

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Constructed by: Emily Biegas

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: None

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

Bill’s time: 23m 27s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Many a Maximum Fun collaborator : PODCASTER

The Maximum Fun media organization began in 1999 as a college radio show at UC Santa Cruz called “The Sound of Young America”. Founder Jesse Thorn started distributing his college show as a podcast in 2004, simply to reach a few dozen listeners beyond his campus. The few dozen have grown to millions listening to a substantial portfolio of podcasts and shows. Maximum Fun broke away from traditional corporate ownership structures in 2023, making industry history by converting into a 100% worker-owned cooperative.

10A Signal to change a battery : CHIRP

Don’t forget to change the batteries in your smoke detectors on a regular basis. A public information campaign in Australia recommends doing so on April Fools’ Day every year. Not a bad idea …

15A Espresso variety : AMERICANO

A caffè Americano is espresso to which hot water is added, bringing the coffee to a similar strength as drip coffee. Caffè Italiano is a similar drink, but a little stronger, with a 1:1 ratio of espresso to hot water.

Espresso is made by forcing extremely hot water, under pressure, through finely ground coffee beans. The result is a thick and concentrated coffee drink that contains quite a lot of solids and a lot of foam. An espresso machine was first patented in 1884 in Italy, although it was a machine to make the beverage in bulk. The first patent for a machine that made individual measures was applied for in 1901, also in Italy.

16A Norse pantheon : AESIR

The gods and goddesses of Norse mythology generally belong to either the Aesir tribe or the Vanir tribe. Most of the Norse gods with which we are familiar belong to Aesir, including Odin, Thor, Frigg and Tyr. Examples of the Vanir gods are Freya and Njord. The Aesir live in Asgard, and the Vanir in Vanaheim. The Aesir and Vanir eventually united into one pantheon after the Aesir-Vanir War.

A pantheon is the set of all gods in a particular religion or mythology. The term comes from the Greek “pan” (all) “theon” (of gods). “Pantheon” is also the name given to a temple dedicated to all deities.

19A Fashion designer Saab : ELIE

Elie Saab is a Lebanese fashion designer based in Beirut. Saab also goes by the name “ES”.

20A Noted law maker : NEWTON

Sir Isaac Newton’s three laws of motion are the basis of classical mechanics. The three laws define the relationship between a body and the forces acting on that body, and its resulting motion.

22A “__ of Me”: PJ Harvey album : RID

English singer/songwriter PJ Harvey, born Polly Jean Harvey, is a multitalented musician and singer. She holds the unique distinction of being the only artist to win the prestigious Mercury Prize (an award for the best album from the UK or Ireland) twice, first in 2001 and again in 2011. She was also formally recognized by Queen Elizabeth II in 2013 when she was awarded an MBE for her services to music.

25A Poivre partner : SEL

In French, one might season one’s food with “sel” (salt) and “poivre” (pepper).

27A WashU’s city : STL

Washington University (WashU) in St. Louis is a private school that was founded in 1853, and named for President George Washington in 1854. The “in St. Louis” was added to the university’s name in 1976, in an attempt to avoid confusion over the school’s location.

28A House Stark patriarch : NED

Eddard “Ned” Stark is the protagonist in George R. R. Martin’s fantasy novel “A Game of Thrones”, although his character doesn’t exactly come out on top by the end of the story. Stark is played by actor Sean Bean in the HBO television adaptation of the novel.

30A Fed action : RATE CUT

The Federal Reserve System is more usually known simply as “the Fed”, and is the central banking system of the US. It was introduced in 1913 in response to a number of financial panics at the beginning of the 20th century. The original role for the Fed was to act as a lender of last resort, in case there was a run on a bank. This can happen as most of the money that is deposited by customers in a bank is reinvested by that bank, so it has very little liquid cash available. If too many customers look for their money at one time, then the bank can be short of cash and this can start a “run”. The Fed’s responsibilities have broadened since those early days …

37A Sentimental one : SAP

“Sap” is slang for “fool, someone easily scammed”. The term arose in the early 1800s in Britain when it was used in “saphead” and “sapskull”. All these words are derived from “sapwood”, which is the softwood found in tree trunks between the bark and the heartwood at the center.

38A Golf course halves : NINES

There’s an urban myth that the standard number of holes on a golf course is 18 because it takes 18 shots to polish off a fifth of scotch whisky. However, the truth is that the standard number of holes in the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland happened to settle down over time at 18, and that standard was adopted all around the world.

43A Goss : TEA

“Goss” is an informal shortening of the word “gossip”.

“Tea” is a slang term used mainly in social media to denote “gossip”.

44A UFC style : MMA

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is the largest promoter in the world of mixed martial arts (MMA) competitions. I think the idea is that competitors fight each other in various disciplines to see who is the “best of the best” …

47A Feature of an ungulate : HOOF

Ungulates are hoofed animals. “Ungulate” comes from the Latin “ungula” meaning “hoof” or “claw”, which in turn comes from “unguis” meaning “nail”.

48A Title choice on some forms : MRS

“Mr.” is an abbreviation for “mister”, and “Mrs.” is an abbreviation for “mistress”.

52A Fender Deluxe Reverb, e.g. : AMP

The company that makes Fender electric guitars and amplifiers was founded in Fullerton, California in 1946, by Leo Fender.

58A Joint tissue : CARTILAGE

One of the main uses of cartilage in humans is as a flexible shock absorber. It is a tissue that lacks blood vessels and relies entirely on diffusion to obtain nutrients, which is the primary reason why torn joint tissue in humans heals notoriously slowly. Cartilage derives its name from the Latin “cartilago”, simply meaning “gristle”.

60A Shinto shrine entrance : TORII

It is perhaps best not to describe Shinto as a religion, but more as a “spirituality of the Japanese people”, a spirituality that encompasses folklore, history and mythology. Having said that, “Shinto” translates literally as “Way of the gods”. Most people in Japan who are described as practicing Shinto, also practice Buddhism.

A torii is a very traditional Japanese gate, one often seen at the entrance to a Shinto shrine.

62A First name in landscape photography : ANSEL

Long before he was a world-famous photographer, Ansel Adams was a highly talented classical pianist. He trained seriously from the age of 12 with the intention of becoming a concert pianist, and for many years he earned a living by giving piano lessons. It wasn’t until around 1930, when he was in his late 20s, that he finally decided to devote his life to photography instead of music.

Down

1D Motorola devices : PAGERS

The original Motorola is now two independent companies called Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions. Motorola started in 1928 as the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation in Chicago. Founder Paul V. Galvin created the brand name “Motorola” for a car radio the company developed in 1930. He linked “motor” (meaning “car”) with “-ola” (meaning “sound”), implying “sound in motion”.

2D Tamagoyaki, e.g. : OMELET

Tamagoyaki is a Japanese omelet that is prepared by layering thin sheets of seasoned egg in a rectangular pan, and then rolling the sheets into a layered cylinder. “Tamagoyaki” translates as “grilled egg”.

4D Grand Council of the __: political body in Canada : CREES

The Grand Council of the Crees is a political entity representing approximately 20,000 Cree people across the James Bay and Nunavik regions of Northern Quebec. It formed in 1974, originally organized by local leaders to halt a massive provincial hydroelectric project that threatened traditional territory and the Cree way of life.

6D Security line machine : SCANNER

The AIT (Advanced Imaging Technology) full-body scanners at airports are “millimeter wave” scanners. They get their name because they use safe, non-ionizing radio waves, with wavelengths measured in millimeters (between 1 and 10 mm), to see if anything is hidden under your clothes.

7D The Village Voice critic Greg who was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 2024 : TATE

Writer and musician Greg Tate was perhaps best known as a critic for “The Village Voice” who focused on African American music and culture. He played an important role in establishing hip-hop as a genre that warranted serious music criticism. The Pulitzer Board honored Tate with a rare posthumous Special Citation in 2024.

8D TMZ alternative : E! NEWS

E! Entertainment Television started out in 1987 as Movietime, and hired on-air hosts such as Greg Kinnear and Paula Abdul. It was renamed in 1990 to E! Entertainment Television, underscoring the focus on Hollywood gossip and the like.

TMZ.com is a celebrity gossip website launched in 2005 by producer Harvey Levin. “TMZ” stands for “thirty-mile zone”, a reference to the “studio zone” in Los Angeles. The studio zone is circular in shape with a 30-mile radius centered on the intersection of West Beverly Boulevard and North La Cienega Boulevard.

9D Athletic position? : ROSTER SPOT

Our word “roster”, meaning “list, register”, actually comes from the same root as our word “roast”, would you believe? “Roster” came into English from the Dutch “rooster”, meaning “table, list”. An alternative use of the Dutch “rooster” was “gridiron”, from the “roosten” meaning “to roast”. The connection is that a roster of names is often listed on a sheet of paper that has grid lines resembling the marks left by a gridiron on roasted meat. Quite interesting …

13D Lampoon : RIDICULE

A lampoon is a parody, a spoof or send-up.

21D “Frozen” character who sings “In Summer” : OLAF

“In Summer” is a song from the 2013 animated hit film “Frozen”. It is sung by the snowman Olaf (voiced by Josh Gad), and expresses Olaf’s desire to experience the summer season. The irony is that warm weather makes the snowman disappear.

24D Ad hoc : ONE-OFF

The Latin phrase “ad hoc” means “for this purpose”. An ad hoc committee, for example, is formed for a specific purpose and disbanded after making its final report.

26D “Train Dreams” writer Johnson : DENIS

Denis Johnson was a novelist and poet perhaps best known for his 1992 short story collection “Jesus’ Son”. He later won the 2007 National Book Award for his Vietnam War epic “Tree of Smoke”.

29D Fighting words? : DISS TRACKS

“Diss track” is a term from hip-hop culture describing a song written as an attack on someone, usually a rival performer. The first true hip-hop diss track was “Roxanne’s Revenge”, recorded by 14-year-old rapper Roxanne Shanté, in response to the song “Roxanne, Roxanne” released by hip-hop trio UTFO.

32D Shortchange : STIFF

The etymology of our verb “to stiff”, meaning “to fail to tip”, seems unclear. The usage originated in the late 1930s, and is possibly an extension of the noun “stiff” meaning “corpse”. The idea is that dead men don’t leave tips.

34D Stratovolcano in NorCal : MT SHASTA

Mount Shasta is in northern California. The origin of the name “Shasta” seems to be unclear. It may have come from the Russian “tchastal” meaning “white, clean, pure”, a name given to the volcanic peak by early Russian immigrants.

41D Many a “Selling Sunset” cast member : REALTOR

“Selling Sunset” is a reality show featuring the Oppenheim Group real estate brokerage firm in Los Angeles, with the cameras following agents as they work to close deals. Oppenheim was founded in 1889 as Stern Realty Co. founded by Jacob Stern. Famously, Stern rented out his personal horse barn on the corner of Sunset and Gower for a mere $250 a month, facilitating the birth of the studio that would eventually become Paramount Pictures.

44D Re-strain? : MUTATE

A mutation is simply a change in the sequence of DNA, analogous to a typo in a recipe. These “typos” are the ultimate source of all genetic variation, creating new versions of a gene called alleles. For instance, the original human gene for eye color was likely for brown eyes, but mutations created the new alleles that give us blue, green, and hazel eyes.

45D Picks a lane? : MERGES

The “zipper merge” or “late merge” is encouraged by most traffic authorities when two lanes of traffic are merging into one. The alternative “early merge”, where cars move out of the lane that is closing before reaching the merge point, tends to be discouraged. The favored technique is to use both lanes until the merge point, and then alternate (zipper) from each lane through the merge itself. That said, one should always obey whatever instructions are given by the traffic authorities at the scene. And I know, I know … a lot of people think it rude to merge late …

49D Valencia’s country : SPAIN

Valencia is one of the autonomous communities of Spain, and is located in the east of the country on the Mediterranean Coast. Its capital city is also called Valencia, and is the third-largest city in the nation, after Madrid and Barcelona.

51D Sign of treble? : G-CLEF

“Clef” is the French word for “key”. In music, a clef is used to indicate the pitch of the notes written on a stave. The bass clef is also known as the F-clef, the alto clef is the C-clef, and the treble clef is the G-clef.

54D “Alligator Boy” in a 2021 Netflix animated film : ARLO

“Arlo the Alligator Boy” is a 2021 animated musical movie about a half-human and half-alligator boy named Arlo Beauregard. The film spawned a TV series “I Heart Arlo”.

59D “__ Mine”: George Harrison book : I, ME

“I Me Mine” is one of the relatively few Beatles songs to have been written by George Harrison (and indeed performed by him). Harrison chose a very similar title (different punctuation!) for his autobiography “I, Me, Mine”, which was published in 1980, just a few weeks before John Lennon was assassinated in New York City.