LA Times Crossword 30 Jun 26, Tuesday

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Constructed by: Scott Earl & Katherine Baicker

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Scratch That!

Themed answers are all things THAT one might SCRATCH:

57A “Never mind!,” or what could be said about 17-, 24-, 35-, or 48-Across : SCRATCH THAT!

• 17A Old 45, perhaps : VINYL RECORD
• 24A Hiker’s annoyance : INSECT BITE
• 35A Lucky purchase, one hopes : LOTTERY TICKET
• 48A Yen for adventure : TRAVEL ITCH

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

Bill’s time: 5m 14s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A “Heated Rivalry” co-star Williams : HUDSON

“Heated Rivalry” is a Canadian TV drama that is based on the “Game Changers” series of books by Rachel Reid. The story follows a decade-long secret romance between professional hockey rivals Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, played by Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie. In honor of the international success of the show, Williams and Storrie served as torchbearers for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, carrying the Olympic flame through the town of Feltre. In the show, their characters competed in a fictionized version of the Winter Games.

7A Mountain goat with long horns : IBEX

“Ibex” is a common name for various species of mountain goat. “Ibex” is a Latin name that was used for wild goats found in the Alps and Apennines in Europe.

15A The whole __ yards : NINE

We use the phrase “the whole nine yards” to mean “everything” or “all the way”. It first appeared in an 1855 short story “The Judge’s Big Shirt”. In the story, a judge is pranked by having a massive shirt made for him by a tailor. The prankster feigns innocence saying, “What a silly, stupid woman! I told her to get just enough to make three shirts; instead of making three, she has put the whole nine yards into one shirt!”

16A Red letters? : IOU

To be in the red is to be in debt, to owe money. The expression “in the red” is a reference to the accounting practice of recording debts and losses in red ink in ledgers. The related phrase “in the black” means “solvent, making a profit”.

17A Old 45, perhaps : VINYL RECORD

The first vinyl records designed to play at 33⅓ rpm were introduced by RCA Victor in 1931, but were discontinued due to quality problems. The first long play (LP) 33⅓ rpm disc was introduced by Columbia Records many years later in 1948, with RCA Victor following up with a 45 rpm “single” the following year, in 1949.

19A Male turkey : TOM

A male turkey is called a tom or a gobbler. Female turkeys are hens, and baby turkeys are called poults.

21A Oscar winner Malek : RAMI

Actor Rami Malek’s big break came with the leading role in the television series “Mr. Robot”. In 2018, Malek gave an Oscar-winning performance playing Freddie Mercury in the hit biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody”. That marked the first time that an actor of Egyptian descent won an Academy Award for Best Actor.

29A African American folk magic : HOODOO

Hoodoo is a traditional African-American folk magic and spirituality that has West-African, Native-American and European roots. Hoodoo is sometimes confused with Voodoo, especially as they both have West African connections. However, the two practices are very different.

34A Preppy tops : POLOS

René Lacoste was a French tennis player who went into the clothing business, and came up with a more comfortable shirt that players could use. This became known as a “tennis shirt”. When it was adopted for use in the sport of polo, the shirts also became known as “polo shirts”. The “golf shirt” is basically the same thing. The Lacoste line of clothing features a crocodile logo, because René was nicknamed “The Crocodile”.

39A Sherri’s twin on “The Simpsons” : TERRI

Sherri and Terri Mackleberry are identical twin sisters on “The Simpsons” television show. They are classmates of Bart Simpson, and their father is Homer’s supervisor at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant.

40A “Stuart Little” actress Davis : GEENA

As well as being a successful Hollywood actress, Geena Davis is an accomplished archer and came close to qualifying for the US archery team for the 2000 Summer Olympics. Davis is also a member of American Mensa. She is quite the lady …

“Stuart Little” is a 1999 film about a mouse adopted into a family headed by parents played by Geena Davis and Hugh Laurie. Beyond the story told in the film, there is a remarkable connection between the movie and the art world. A painting prominently featured in the Little’s home, titled “Sleeping Lady with Black Vase”, was actually discovered by a set designer in an antique shop. Years later, an art historian, watching the movie on television, identified the painting as a lost masterpiece by Hungarian artist Róbert Berény. Originally purchased for the film set at a price of $500, the work fetched an impressive $285,700 at auction.

41A Writer/editor Dave who founded McSweeney’s Publishing : EGGERS

American writer Dave Eggers’ most famous work is “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius”. In 1998, he launched the independent publishing house McSweeney’s, which is known for the literary journal “Timothy McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern”. It is a publication that originally featured only works rejected by mainstream magazines.

43A X-ray follow-up, perhaps : CT SCAN

A CT (or “CAT”) scan produces (via computer manipulation) a three-dimensional image of the inside of an object, usually the human body. It does so by taking a series of two-dimensional x-ray images while rotating the camera around the patient. The issue with CT scans is that they use x-rays. High doses of radiation can be harmful, causing damage that is cumulative over time. The initialism “CT” stands for “computed tomography”. The older initialism “CAT” stands for “computed axial tomography”.

52A “__ from New York … !” : LIVE

“Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night” is a catchphrase heard near the start of the TV show “Saturday Night Live”. The show was originally titled “NBC’s Saturday Night”, a title for which the catchphrase makes a little more sense!

53A Singer DiFranco : ANI

Ani DiFranco is a folk-rock singer and songwriter. DiFranco has also been labeled a feminist icon, and in 2006 won the Woman of Courage Award from the National Organization for Women.

56A Game system with Nunchuk controllers : WII

The martial arts weapons known as “nunchaku” are often called “nunchucks” in English. Nunchaku originated in Okinawa, Japan and were popularized in the West when used by Bruce Lee in some of his martial arts films.

61A Orange snack puff : CHEETO

Cheetos snacks were developed by the same guy who created Fritos, hence the similarity in name. On the market since 1948, up until the turn of the century the name was written as “Chee-tos”.

63A Greek peak : OSSA

Mount Ossa in Greece is located between Mount Pelion in the south, and the famed Mount Olympus in the north. Mount Ossa is also known as Kissavos.

Down

2D Pioneering mainframe : UNIVAC

UNIVAC I was the first commercial computer made in the US. It was designed by the inventors of ENIAC, the first electronic computer built for the US government. The first UNIVAC sold went to the US Census Bureau in 1951. UNIVAC was used in 1952 to predict the outcome of that year’s US presidential election. The traditional pollsters were predicting a win for Adlai Stevenson, but UNIVAC forecast a landslide win for Eisenhower. UNIVAC proved to be correct.

3D Robert of “Killers of the Flower Moon” : DE NIRO

“Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI” is a 2017 book about the Osage murders written by journalist David Grann. The victims of the killing spree were wealthy Osage people who owned land beneath which were lucrative oil deposits. After an investigation by the newly formed FBI, cattle rancher and crime boss William King Hale was found guilty of masterminding the scheme. Martin Scorsese adapted the book into the hit 2023 film “Killers of the Flower Moon”.

5D Hooting birds : OWLS

Owls have 14 vertebrae in their necks (compared to our 7). The extra bones in the neck, along with other adaptations allow owls to rotate the head and neck about 270 degrees.

7D Native Peruvians : INCAS

The Inca people emerged as a tribe around the 12th century, in what today is southern Peru. They developed a vast empire over the next 300 years, extending along most of the western side of South America. The Empire fell to the Spanish, finally dissolving in 1572 with the execution of Túpac Amaru, the last Incan Emperor.

22D Kindle unit : E-BOOK

Amazon’s Kindle line of e-book readers was introduced in 2007. The name “kindle” was chosen to evoke images of “lighting a fire” through reading and intellectual stimulation. I bought myself a Kindle Fire HD several years ago. I started reading e-books for the first time in my life, as well as enjoying other computing options available with the tablet device …

25D Hanna-Barbera feline who hatched schemes in an alley : TOP CAT

“Top Cat” is one of the first cartoon shows that I remember watching regularly. It was a Hanna-Barbera production that had an original run from 1961 to 1962, in which 30 episodes were made. Top Cat is the leader of a gang of alley cats in Manhattan, New York. The gang frequently came up against NYPD police officer Charlie Dibble, my favorite character in the show.

31D Rowing machine, colloquially : ERG

An indoor rowing machine is often referred to as an ergometer (or simply “erg”). However, the term “ergometer” really applies to a device that measures the amount of work performed.

32D Henna, for one : DYE

Henna has been used for centuries as a dye, for leather and wool as well as hair and skin. In modern days, henna is often used for temporary tattoos.

37D Rome’s __ Fountain : TREVI

The Trevi Fountain (“Fontana di Trevi”) is a huge fountain in Rome, one that is the largest constructed in the Baroque style. The name “Trevi” is a perfect fit, as it derives from the Italian words “tre vie”, which translate literally to “three streets”. The fountain was built at the junction of three roads, marking the terminal point of the Acqua Vergine, one of the ancient Roman aqueducts that supplied water to the city.

44D Lists of candidates : SLATES

Back in the early 1800s, “to slate” meant “to nominate”, perhaps by writing a name on a slate. By the end of the 1800s, this usage of “slate” extended to “propose, schedule”.

45D Non-LGBTQ+ portmanteau : CISHET

The term “cishet” is a portmanteau of “cisgender” and “heterosexual”, a slang term describing an individual whose gender identity matches their sex assigned at birth and who is exclusively attracted to people of the opposite sex.

47D “The Morning Show” actor Carbonell : NESTOR

Néstor Carbonell is an actor from New York City whose big break came with a pivotal role on the TV show “Lost”. I mainly recognize him from playing the meteorologist Yanko Flores on the TV drama “The Morning Show”.

“The Morning Show” is a powerful drama TV series that is based on the 2013 book “Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV” by CNN’s Brian Stelter. The show stars Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon as two anchors for “The Morning Show”, one very experienced, and one new to the job. Steve Carell plays a former anchor who is ousted due to a sexual misconduct scandal.

49D Actor Elba : IDRIS

English actor Idris Elba played the drug lord Stringer Bell in the marvelous HBO drama series “The Wire”, and played the title character in the 2013 film “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”. Off the screen, Elba occasionally appears as a disk jockey using the name “DJ Big Driis”.

57D “Dexter: Resurrection” airer, for short : SHO

2025’s “Dexter: Resurrection” is a sequel to the 2021 miniseries Dexter: New Blood, which in turn is a sequel to the original crime-drama TV show “Dexter” that aired from 2006 to 2013. In “Resurrection”, Dexter Morgan awakens from a coma, having survived the gunshot wound inflicted by his son, Harrison, at the end of “New Blood”. I haven’t seen any of these series, but I hear that they have been well-received by audiences …