LA Times Crossword 10 Jun 26, Wednesday

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Constructed by: Aidan Deshong

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: A-Team

Themed answers each hide a letter “A”, followed immediately by the name of a pro basketball TEAM:

• 75A Elite squad, or what’s found in each set of circled letters : A-TEAM

• 18A Sharp reply to unsolicited advice : DID I ASK YOU? (A-SKY = the Chicago Sky)
• 29A Rib cut with a long bone : TOMAHAWK STEAK (A-HAWKS = the Atlanta Hawks)
• 50A News that may interrupt regular programming : BREAKING STORY (A-KINGS = the Sacramento Kings)
• 66A Bodies beyond the solar system : EXOPLANETS (A-NETS = the Brooklyn Nets)

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

Bill’s time: 7m 23s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

14A Navaratri celebrant : HINDU

Navaratri is a Hindu festival held every year, over nine nights, to honor the goddess Durga. Technically, Navaratri occurs four times annually, aligning with the transitions of the seasons, though only the spring and autumn versions are widely celebrated. “Navaratri” translates literally from Sanskrit as “nine nights”

15A Hutchinson of the Detroit Lions : AIDAN

Aidan Hutchinson is an NFL player who was picked up by the Detroit Lions in the 2022 draft. He is a rare “hometown hero” who has played his entire football career within the state of Michigan, moving from Plymouth high school to the University of Michigan and then to the Detroit Lions

18A Sharp reply to unsolicited advice : DID I ASK YOU? (A-SKY = the Chicago Sky)

The Chicago Sky is a WNBA basketball team that plays home games at Wintrust Arena, located in the South Loop neighborhood of Chicago. The Sky was founded in 2005, and the team’s mascot is Skye the Lioness, a tribute to the iconic bronze lion statues that guard the entrance of the Art Institute of Chicago.

29A Rib cut with a long bone : TOMAHAWK STEAK (A-HAWKS = the Atlanta Hawks)

A tomahawk steak is a ribeye with at least five inches of rib bone left attached to mimic a traditional axe handle. Standard, bone-in ribeyes with shorter, trimmed bones are known as “cowboy steaks”.

The NBA’s Atlanta Hawks started out as the Buffalo Bisons in 1946, although after only a few months the team was moved to Moline, Illinois as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. The Blackhawks were one of the 17 original teams playing at the founding of the National Basketball Association. There was another move in 1951 and a renaming to the Milwaukee Hawks, and yet again in 1955 when the team became the St. Louis Hawks. The latest move was to Atlanta, in 1968.

34A Lab assistant of cinema : IGOR

In the world of movies, Igor has been the assistant to Dracula, Frankenstein and Young Frankenstein among others. Igor is almost invariably portrayed as a hunchback.

35A Old Navy parent company : GAP

The Gap is a San Francisco-based clothing retailer that was founded in 1969. The name “the Gap” was a homage to the popular sixties term “the generation gap”.

Old Navy is a store brand founded and owned by The Gap. The name “Old Navy” was taken from the Old Navy Cafe in Paris.

36A Steamed cantina dishes : TAMALES

A tamale is a traditional dish from Mexico composed of a starchy dough that is steamed or boiled in a wrapper made from a corn husk or banana leaf. The dough is called masa, and can include many different ingredients including meat, cheese, fruit and vegetables. A hot tamale is a kind of tamale that originated in the Mississippi Delta. It is particularly spicy, and the masa is replaced with corn meal.

42A Golden Globe winner Seehorn : RHEA

Rhea Seehorn is an actress who is perhaps best known for playing lawyer Kim Wexler in the TV crime drama “Better Call Saul”. Seehorn’s birth name is Deborah Rhea, but she opted to use her middle name at a young age (which she pronounces as “Ray”).

44A “Wicked” co-star Cynthia : ERIVO

British actress Cynthia Erivo’s big break came on the stage, when starred in the Broadway revival of “The Color Purple” from 2015 to 2017. Her Hollywood film breakthrough came with the title role in the 2019 biopic “Harriet”, portraying Harriet Tubman and earning herself a Best Actress nomination. More recently, Erivo portrayed Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, in the “Wicked” series of films.

47A Lucy of “Elementary” : LIU

Lucy Liu is an actress from Queens, New York. Her big break came when she was chosen to play the Ling Woo character in “Ally McBeal”. I liked Liu in the 2000 film “Charlie’s Angels” but as I am no fan of Quentin Tarantino, I did not enjoy the movie “Kill Bill”. I do enjoy one of Liu’s more recent projects in which she plays Joan Watson, one of the two lead characters in the TV crime drama “Elementary”.

50A News that may interrupt regular programming : BREAKING STORY (A-KINGS = the Sacramento Kings)

The Sacramento Kings are one of the oldest basketball franchises still operating, having been founded way back in 1923 as the Rochester Seagrams. The Kings moved to Sacramento in 1985 from Kansas City, Missouri.

53A Cyberchats, briefly : IMS

Even though instant messaging (sending and receiving IMs) has been around since the 1960s, it was AOL who popularized the term “instant message” in the eighties and nineties. The “AOL Instant Message” service was known as AIM.

56A Doe’s kid : FAWN

A male deer is usually called a buck, and a female is a doe. However, the male red deer is usually referred to as a stag. The males of even larger species of deer are often called bulls, and the females called cows. In older English, male deer of over 5 years were called harts, and females of over 3 years were called hinds. The young of small species are known as fawns, and of larger species are called calves. All very confusing …

58A Synagogue text : TALMUD

The Talmud is a collection of writings by thousands of rabbis and is a central text in Rabbinic Judaism, second only to the Torah.

60A Nail polish brand : ESSIE

Essie Cosmetics is a company that was founded by Essie Weingarten, and which is now owned by L’Oreal. Apparently, Queen Elizabeth II would only wear Essie’s Ballet Slippers color nail polish. Well, that’s what Wikipedia claims …

66A Bodies beyond the solar system : EXOPLANETS (A-NETS = the Brooklyn Nets)

An exoplanet is simply a planet that exists outside of our own solar system. Astronomers have detected thousands of exoplanets, most of which are quite large (the size of Jupiter). That’s probably because bigger planets are easier to find …

The NBA’s Brooklyn Nets were the New Jersey Nets until 2012, and were based in Newark. Prior to 1977, the team was known as the New York Nets and played in various locations on Long Island. Ten years earlier, the Nets were called the New Jersey Americans and were headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey.

68A Church steeple : SPIRE

In general terms, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, often a church. More specifically, a steeple can be made up of several distinct parts:

1. Tower: the base of the steeple, which can often house a clock.
2. Belfry: the part that holds bells, often part of church steeples
3. Lantern: a decorative, windowed structure that admits light into the steeple
4. Spire: the tall, slender top

72A Part of a skin care regimen : TONER

A skin toner is a cosmetic used to cleanse the skin and to shrink pores.

73A Unhealthy haze : SMOG

“Smog” is a portmanteau formed by melding “smoke” and “fog”. The term was first used to describe the air around London in the early 1900s. Several cities around the world have a reputation of being particularly smoggy. For example, the most smog-plagued city in Latin America is Mexico City, which is located in a highland “bowl” that traps industrial and vehicle pollution.

74A Recipe meas. : TBSP

Tablespoon (tbsp.)

Down

1D Sudden urge : WHIM

“Whim”, meaning “sudden fancy”, is such a lovely word, and one that we’ve been using in English since the 1640s. “Whim” is actually a shortened form of “whimwham”, which has a similar meaning and has been around since the early 1500s.

4D Secret letters? : NDA

Non-disclosure agreement (NDA)

5D Trading card game based on a manga series : YU-GI-OH!

“Yu-Gi-Oh!” is a Japanese manga series about a young gamer named Yugi Mutou. Yugi solves an ancient puzzle, which results in his body being occupied by a spirit gambler.

6D Game console that preceded the Nintendo Switch : WII U

The Wii U video game console is the successor to Nintendo’s Wii. I’m wondering if “Wii U” is some sort of play on the pronouns “we” and “you”? Maybe I just think too much …

7D Some venomous snakes : ADDERS

The adder, a snake in the viper family, is the only venomous snake found on the island of Great Britain. Adders are also found in Norway and Sweden, north of the Arctic Circle.

8D Moo goo __ pan : GAI

Moo goo gai pan is the American version of a traditional Cantonese dish. In Cantonese, “moo goo” means “button mushroom”, “gai” is “chicken” and “pan” is “slices”.

9D Green stir-fry ingredient : SNAP PEA

Sugar peas are also known as snap peas. These peas are eaten before the seeds mature, and the whole pod is consumed.

11D Wrestler who won the WWE Women’s Championship in 2010 : LAYLA

Layla El is a professional dancer who took up a career as professional wrestler, and then sometime model. As a dancer, she worked for the Miami Heat and as a backup performer for superstars like Kanye West and Rihanna. In 2006, “Layla” won WWE’s “Diva Search” talent competition.

12D Missouri River Natives : OTOES

At 2,341 miles, the Missouri is the longest river in North America. Rising in Montana in the Rocky Mountains, it flows into the Mississippi at St. Louis. The Mississippi-Missouri river system is the fourth largest on the planet.

19D Word in an opening line? : SESAME

In the folk tale “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”, the title character is a poor woodcutter who discovers the magic phrase “Open sesame!” that opens the thieves’ den.

25D “Am I the Drama?” rapper : CARDI B

“Am I the Drama?” is a 2025 album released by rapper Cardi B. The title is a phrase used by drag queen Scarlet Envy during a “Meet the Queens” segment of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” in 2021.

31D Capital of Poland : WARSAW

Warsaw is the capital of Poland. The city’s name translates into English as “belonging to Warsz”. Legend has it that Warsz was a fisherman who fell in love with a mermaid called Sawa. It’s a nice story, but Warsz was actually a nobleman from the 12th or 13th century who owned a local village.

32D Metric speed meas. : KPH

Kilometers per hour (kph)

33D Sport with belts : KARATE

Practitioners of judo and karate proceed through a series of proficiency grades known as the kyu-dan system. At each progression, a different colored belt is awarded.

37D Long car ride? : LIMOUSINE

The word “limousine” derives from the name of the French city of Limoges. The area around Limoges is called the Limousin, and it gave its name to a cloak hood worn by local shepherds. In early motor cars, a driver would sit outside in the weather while the passengers would sit in the covered compartment. The driver would often wear a limousin-style protective hood, giving rise to that type of transportation being called a “limousine”. Well, that’s how the story goes …

39D Walkman maker : SONY

Walkman is a brand of portable audio and video products manufactured by Sony. The first Walkman was introduced in 1979 and popularized the practice of carrying music around and listening through lightweight headphones.

48D Wrinkled tangelo : UGLI

The fruit called a tangelo is a hybrid between a tangerine and either a grapefruit or a pomelo (which gives it the name). A pomelo is a very large, pear-shaped citrus fruit native to Southeast Asia. The Jamaican form of tangelo is known as the ugli fruit.

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.

51D Genuflects : KNEELS

Our verb “to genuflect” means “to bend the knee, in worship”. The term comes to us via French from the Latin “genu” meaning “knee” and “flectere” meaning “to bend”.

52D Remedy for post-lunch drowsiness : SIESTA

We use the word “siesta” to describe a short nap in the early afternoon, and imported the word into English from Spanish. In turn, the Spanish word is derived from the Latin “hora sexta” meaning “the sixth hour”. The idea is that the nap is taken at the sixth hour after dawn.

54D Saying : MAXIM

Our word “maxim” meaning “precept, principle” has been around since the early 1600s. It ultimately comes from the Latin phrase “maxima propositio”, which translates as “greatest premise”.

59D Video file format : MPEG

The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) was established in 1988 to set standards for audio and video compression. The standards they’ve come up with use the acronym “MPEG”.

67D San Francisco’s __ Hill : NOB

Nob Hill is a very elevated and central location in the city of San Francisco. Because of its views of the surrounding city and environs, Nob Hill became a desirable place to live for the wealthy in the 1800s. The area is still one of San Francisco’s most affluent neighborhoods and is home to upscale hotels as well as the magnificent Grace Cathedral. The name “Nob Hill” comes from the slang term for someone who is well-to-do, a “nob”.