LA Times Crossword 26 May 26, Tuesday

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Constructed by: Stella Zawistowski

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Walking Taco

Themed answers each contain the word “TACO” hidden within, and it WALKS from left to right as we descend the grid:

• 61A Portable Tex-Mex snack, or a progression depicted in this puzzle : WALKING TACO

• 17A Toyota pickup since 1995 : TACOMA TRUCK
• 26A Sarcastic “Great idea!” : WHAT A CONCEPT
• 45A Requires sacrifice to achieve : COMES AT A COST
• 61A Portable Tex-Mex snack, or a progression depicted in this puzzle : WALKING TACO

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

Bill’s time: 6m 55s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

15A Brings to the ground : RAZES

To raze (“rase” in British English) is to level to the ground. I’ve always thought it a little quirky that “raise”, a homophone of “raze”, means “build up”.

16A “How We Do (Party)” singer Rita : ORA

“How We Do (Party)” is a 2012 song released by English singer Rita Ora as the lead single from her debut studio album “Ora”, which was released the same year. The song samples the refrain from a 1993 song by the Notorious B.I.G. As a result, when the Notorious B.I.G. was sued for an alleged copyright infringement related to the original song, Rita Ora was also dragged into court. But, the court ruled against the plaintiff, and life moved on.

17A Toyota pickup since 1995 : TACOMA TRUCK

The Tacoma is a pickup truck introduced by Toyota in 1995. “Motor Trend” dubbed it Truck of the Year in 2005.

19A Decimal base : TEN

Our base-10 numeral system is also known as the decimal (sometimes “denary”) numeral system. Another common numeral system is base-2, which is also known as the binary system.

20A “Rooster” network : HBO

“Rooster” is a comedy series starring Steve Carell as a popular “beach read” author whose “Rooster” nickname is the same as his fictional private investigator. The show, which premiered in 2026, is set at the fictional Ludlow College in New England. However, the show was primarily filmed at California’s University of the Pacific in Stockton. As a result, extras sometimes had to endure 100°F heat while dressed in autumnal East Coast attire. Fun show …

22A Bullfrog relative : TOAD

The American bullfrog takes its name from the resonant, low-frequency call made by males during breeding season, as it is similar to the deep bellowing of a bull. It is the largest true frog in North America, and is a voracious predator, frequently eating snakes, birds, and even other frogs. Bullfrogs also get eaten by humans. The meat from bullfrog legs has been described as tasting like a cross between chicken and mild whitefish.

23A Ironman race, for short : TRI

An Ironman Triathlon is a race involving a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a marathon run of just over 26 miles. The idea for the race came out of a debate between some runners in the 1977 Oahu Perimeter Relay. They were questioning whether runners, swimmers or bikers were the most fit athletes. The debaters decided to combine three local events to determine the answer, inviting athletes from all three disciplines. The events that were mimicked in the first triathlon were the Waikiki Roughwater swim (2.4 miles), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (115 miles) and the Honolulu Marathon (26.2 miles). The idea was that whoever finishes first would be called “the Iron Man”. The first triathlon was run in 1978, with fifteen starters and only twelve finishers. The race format is used all over the world now, but the Hawaiian Ironman is the event that everyone wants to win.

32A Pre-1917 Russian ruler : TSAR

The year 1917 saw two revolutions in Russia, with the pair collectively called “the Russian Revolution”. As a result of the February Revolution that centered on Petrograd, the last Emperor of Russia (Tsar Nicholas II) abdicated and members of the Imperial parliament took control of the country, forming the Russian Provisional Government. The Provisional Government was itself overthrown in the October Revolution, which was led by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik party.

40A Large herbivore in India’s Kaziranga National Park : RHINO

Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India, is home to two-thirds of the global population of great one-horned rhinoceroses (also known as “Indian rhinoceroses”). Today, it is one of the few places on Earth where “the Big Five” of Asian wildlife, rhinos, tigers, elephants, wild water buffalo, and swamp deer, can all be found in a single landscape.

41A “Cowboy Bebop” genre : ANIME

“Cowboy Bebop” is an anime TV series that originally aired for just 26 episodes, in 1998 and 1999, yet became a huge hit, mainly in Japan and the US. The show’s “cowboys” are bounty hunters aboard the spaceship “Bebop” in the year 2071.

44A “Toy Story” boy : ANDY

In the 1995 Pixar hit “Toy Story”, the toys are owned by a boy named Andy Davis. Andy’s neighbor is a not-so-nice boy named Sid Phillips. Sid gets a big kick out of destroying and torturing his own toys, and those owned by others.

48A Brian of Roxy Music : ENO

Roxy Music is a British band formed by Bryan Ferry, who also served as the lead singer. One of the group’s more famous former band members was Brian Eno, someone who turns up in crosswords far too often …

53A Rum cocktail : MAI TAI

The mai tai cocktail is strongly associated with the Polynesian islands, but the drink was supposedly invented in 1944 in Trader Vic’s restaurant in Oakland, California. One recipe is 6 parts white rum, 3 parts orange curaçao, 3 parts orgeat syrup, 1 part rock candy syrup, 2 parts fresh lime juice, all mixed with ice and then a float added of 6 parts dark rum. “Maita’i” is the Tahitian word for “good”.

61A Portable Tex-Mex snack, or a progression depicted in this puzzle : WALKING TACO

Frito pies are often served in a snack-sized bag, especially at fairs and sports stadia. Such versions are known as Frito boats or walking tacos.

64A Common feature of flannel shirts : PLAID

“Tartan” is sometimes called “plaid” over here in the US, and is a word not used in the same sense outside of this country. In Scotland, a plaid is a blanket or a tartan cloth slung over the shoulder.

67A Actress/writer Kaling : MINDY

Mindy Kaling, known for her work on “The Office” and “The Mindy Project” started her career in comedy as a playwright. Her breakthrough came with the critically acclaimed off-Broadway play “Matt & Ben” that she co-wrote and co-starred in. The play is a satirical take on Matt Damon and Ben Affleck writing “Good Will Hunting”, and its success ultimately led to her opportunity to join the writing staff of “The Office”.

Down

2D Many a Yemeni : ARAB

Yemen is the only republic on the Arabian Peninsula, a unique status that distinguishes it from the surrounding monarchies.

3D Pixar film set in Mexico : COCO

“Coco” is a 2017 Pixar movie about a 12-year-old boy named Miguel who ends up in the land of the dead by accident. There, he seeks out the help of the great-great-grandfather to get back to his family in the land of the living.

5D Wiley of “The Handmaid’s Tale” : SAMIRA

Actress Samira Wiley’s breakout role was Poussey Washington in the comedy-drama TV show “Orange Is the New Black”. She followed this success with an Emmy-winning performance as Moira in “The Handmaid’s Tale”. In 2017, Wiley married Lauren Morelli, a writer for “Orange Is the New Black”, with whom she has a daughter.

6D The “A” of STEAM : ARTS

The acronym “STEM” stands for the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. An alternative acronym with a similar meaning is MINT, standing for mathematics, information sciences, natural sciences and technology. The acronym STEAM adds (liberal) arts to the STEM curriculum.

8D Côte d’__, France : 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.

9D Substance that makes jelly gel : PECTIN

Pectin is a starch-like material found in the cell walls of plants. Pectin can be extracted from plants (usually citrus fruit) and then used in cooking as a gelling agent.

18D Maria’s friend in “West Side Story” : ANITA

In Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story”, the female lead character is Maria. Maria and her older friend Anita are in the group referred to as “the Shark Girls”.

22D TV quiz show with Cash Builder rounds : THE CHASE

“The Chase” is a fun TV quiz show that premiered in the UK in 2009 and has been syndicated around the world since then, including in the US. The quiz element has a speedy, hunter-prey format in which contestants go up against expert quizzers. The US show has featured experts (“Chasers”) such as Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, who became millionaires from their wins on “Jeopardy!”. I must admit, I haven’t seen the US version, but I do really enjoy the original show …

26D Nintendo character in purple overalls : WARIO

Wario is a character in the “Mario” video game universe. He is a rival of Mario, and indeed the name “Wario” is a portmanteau of the Japanese word “warui” (meaning “bad”) and “Mario”. Bad Mario …

28D Tennis venue : COURT

Our modern sport of tennis evolved from the much older racquet sport known as real tennis. Originally just called “tennis”, the older game was labeled “real tennis” when the modern version began to hold sway. Real tennis is played in a closed court, with the ball frequently bounced off the walls.

29D Last Greek letter : OMEGA

Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet and is the one that looks like a horseshoe (Ω) when in uppercase. The lowercase omega looks like a Latin W. The word “omega” literally means “great O” (O-mega). Compare this with the Greek letter Omicron, meaning “little O” (O-micron).

32D Airport org. : TSA

Transportation Security Administration (TSA)

33D Match, as a laptop and the cloud : SYNC

“On the cloud” or “in the cloud”, that is the question. While working for years within the cloud computing industry, I was only exposed to the phrase “in the cloud”. However, I learned later that the phrase “on the cloud” is out there too.

38D Part of a hammer : PEEN

The peen of a hammer is on the head, and is the side of the head that is opposite the striking surface. Often the peen is in the shape of a hemisphere (as in a ball-peen hammer). More often than not, the peen is replaced with a claw, primarily for removing nails.

43D Bounding main : OCEAN

When one thinks of the word “main”, in the context of the sea, the Spanish Main usually comes to mind. Indeed, the use of the more general term “main” to mean “sea”, originates from the more specific “Spanish Main”. “Spanish Main” originally referred to land and not water, as it was the name given to the mainland coast around the Caribbean Sea in the days of Spanish domination of the region.

46D Mogadishu native : SOMALI

Mogadishu is a major port city on the east coast of Africa, and is the capital of Somalia. The city is known locally as “Xamar”.

51D Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s state : OHIO

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame can be visited on the shores of Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was created in 1983 and started inducting artists in 1986. The Foundation didn’t get a home until the museum was dedicated in Cleveland in 1995. I had the great privilege of visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame some years ago and really enjoyed myself. The magnificent building was designed by famed architect I. M. Pei.

54D Astronaut Shepard : ALAN

Alan Shepard was the first American in space. Shepard’s flight was originally scheduled for October 1960 but a series of delays pushed it out till May 5, 1961. Yuri Gagarin made his celebrated flight on April 12, 1961, just one month earlier, winning that part of the Space Race for the Soviets. A decade later, Shepard went into space again at the age of 47, as commander of Apollo 14. He was the fifth man to walk on the moon, and indeed the oldest. Shepard was also the only one of the Mercury Seven team to make it to the moon. Famously, he drove two golf balls while on the lunar surface.

56D In apple-pie order : TIDY

Something said to be in apple-pie order is tidy and well-ordered. The etymology of the phrase isn’t very clear, well, not to me …

57D Pop band with sisters Este, Danielle, and Alana : HAIM

Haim is a Los Angeles band consisting of three Haim sisters: Este, Danielle and Alana.

58D Home of the NCAA’s Bruins : UCLA

The Bruins are the athletic teams representing the University of California, Los Angeles. When the school was founded in 1919, as the Southern Branch of the University of California, the nickname “Cubs” was used by the football team. The “Cubs” name was chosen as the school was regarded as the younger partner of the California Bears in the existing University of California, Berkeley. That name was changed to “Grizzlies” in 1923, and finally to Bruins in 1926.

59D Top Olympic prize : GOLD

In the Ancient Olympic Games, the winner of an event was awarded an olive wreath. When the games were revived in 1896, the winners were originally given a silver medal and an olive branch, with runners-up receiving a bronze medal and a laurel branch. The tradition of giving gold, silver and bronze medals began at the 1904 Summer Olympic Games held in St. Louis, Missouri.

61D Typist’s stat : WPM

Words per minute (wpm)

62D “It takes __ to tango” : TWO

The dramatic tango dance originated in the late 1800s in the area along the border between Argentina and Uruguay. A popular variant of the ballroom tango is the Argentine tango, which emerged in the late 1800s in Buenos Aires. The Argentine tango is danced to a greater variety of music, and is considered to be more technically demanding. It is also described as being more sensual and intimate. I wish I could dance …