LA Times Crossword 25 Jun 24, Tuesday - LAXCrossword.com (2024)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Kylo of “Star Wars” : REN

Kylo Ren is the son of Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa in the “Star Wars” universe. The character’s birth name was Ben Solo. He was trained as a Jedi knight by his uncle, Luke Skywalker. However, Ben came to embrace the Dark Side, and changed his name to Kylo Ren. Ren is played by actor Adam Driver.

8 __ pit: slam dancing spot : MOSH

Moshing (also “slam dancing”) is the pushing and shoving that takes place in the audience at a concert (usually a punk or heavy metal concert). The area directly in front of the stage is known as the mosh pit. When a performer does a “stage dive”, it is into (or I suppose “onto”) the mosh pit. It doesn’t sound like fun to me. Injuries are commonplace in the mosh pit, and deaths are not unknown.

15 Alaska’s capital : JUNEAU

Given that it’s the capital of the vast state of Alaska, it is perhaps not surprising to learn that the municipality of Juneau is almost as big as the area of the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined. And yet, Juneau only has a population of about 31,000 people!

17 Tunneling insects : ANTS

Anthills are actually underground nests. The ants in the colony excavate below ground, resulting in a pile of sand or soil above ground.

21 Pt. of HDTV : DEF

High-definition television (HDTV)

22 Tire inflation abbr. : PSI

Pounds per square inch (PSI) is a measure of pressure.

23 Balkan native : SLAV

The Slavic peoples are in the majority in communities covering over half of Europe. This large ethnic group is traditionally broken down into three smaller groups:

• the West Slavic (including Czechs and Poles)
• the East Slavic (including Russians and Ukrainians)
• the South Slavic (including Bulgarians, Croats and Serbs)

The Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe is usually referred to as “the Balkans”. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains located in present-day Bulgaria and Serbia. “Balkan” is Bulgarian for “mountain”.

25 Martial arts teacher : SENSEI

“Sensei” is a Japanese form of address used for figures of authority, from lawyers to martial arts instructors.

27 MBA course : ECON

The world’s first Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree was offered by Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, in 1908.

33 Wicked spell : HEX

“Hexen” is a German word meaning “to practice witchcraft”. The use of the word “hex” in English started with the Pennsylvania Dutch in the early 1800s.

34 Caramel-filled candy : ROLO

Rolo was a hugely popular chocolate candy in Ireland when I was growing up. It was introduced in the thirties in the UK, and is produced under license in the US by Hershey. I was a little disappointed when I had my first taste of the American version as the center is very hard and chewy. The recipe used on the other side of the Atlantic calls for a soft gooey center.

37 Princess Tiana costume topper : TIARA

“The Princess and the Frog” is an animated feature released in 2009 by Walt Disney Studios. The film is set in New Orleans in the twenties. A waitress called Tiana kisses a prince who had been turned into a frog, and then she herself turns into a frog.

40 Greek liqueur : OUZO

Ouzo is an apéritif from Greece that is colorless and flavored with anise. Ouzo is similar to French pastis and Italian sambuca. All three liqueurs turn cloudy with the addition of water.

47 Kiss in a crowded room, for short : PDA

Public display of affection (PDA)

57 Taurus symbol : BULL

Taurus (Latin for “bull”) is a large constellation seen in the winter sky in the northern hemisphere. The brightest star in Taurus is the red giant Aldebaran. NASA space probe Pioneer 10, launched in 1972, is heading towards Aldebaran after having completed its primary mission close to Jupiter. The probe should get to Aldebaran about two million years from now. Watch this space …

62 Reason to branch out during yoga class? : TREE POSE

The tree pose in yoga is more correctly known as “vrikshasana”. It involves standing on one leg, with the other leg bent and the foot placed on the inner thigh of the straight leg. The hands are placed together and raised directly over the head.

64 Crunchy picnic dish : SLAW

The term “coleslaw” is an Anglicized version of the Dutch term “koolsla”, which in itself is a shortened form of “Koolsalade” meaning “cabbage salad”.

66 Vein rich with ore deposits : LODE

A lode is a metal ore deposit that’s found between two layers of rock or in a fissure. The mother lode is the principal deposit in a mine, usually of gold or silver. “Mother lode” is probably a translation of “veta madre”, an expression used in mining in Mexico.

Down

2 Iowa college town : AMES

The Iowa city of Ames was founded as a stop on the Cedar Rapids and Missouri Railroad in 1864. It was named for US Congressman Oakes Ames from the state of Massachusetts in honor of the role that Ames played in the building of the transcontinental railroad.

3 Tax prep pro : CPA

Certified public accountant (CPA)

4 “What’s with the dad jokes all of a sudden?” : YOU USED TO BE COOL

Here are a few dad jokes that I use to annoy my kids:

• When does a joke become a “dad joke”? When it becomes apparent.
• I had a happy childhood. My dad used to put me in tires and roll me down hills. Those were Goodyears.
• It’s a shame that the Beatles didn’t make the submarine in that song green. That would’ve been sublime.
• I told your mom she needs to start embracing her mistakes. So she hugged me
• When your mom is depressed, I let her color in my tattoos. She just needs a shoulder to crayon.

5 Record speeds, for short : RPMS

The first standard for the rotational speed of gramophone records was 78 rpm. Like so many things it seems, the US version of “78” was slightly different from that for the rest of the world. The US record was designed to play at 78.26 rpm, whereas the standard in the rest of the world was 77.92 rpm. So, imported records playing on American equipment didn’t sound quite as they were intended.

7 Streamlined date? : NETFLIX AND CHILL

Netflix was founded in Los Gatos, California in 1997 as a DVD rental company that sent out titles by mail. The company delivered its billionth DVD in 2007. I presume the renter wasn’t charged for that movie …

8 Set of interactive virtual spaces : METAVERSE

The collective virtual worlds in which users interact (as avatars, usually in 3D) is referred to as the metaverse. The term “metaverse” was coined by author Neal Stephenson in his 1992 sci-fi novel “Snow Crash”, as a portmanteau of “meta” and “universe”.

9 Small bills : ONES

The nation’s first president, George Washington, is on the US one-dollar bills produced today. When the original one-dollar bill was issued in 1863, it featured a portrait of Salmon P. Chase, President Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury.

14 __ butter: skin care ingredient : SHEA

Shea butter is a common moisturizer and lotion used as a cosmetic. It is a fat that is extracted from the nut of the African shea tree. There is evidence that shea butter was used back in Cleopatra’s Egypt.

15 Green gem : JADE

“Jade” is actually the name given to two different mineral rocks, both of which are used to make gemstones. The first is nephrite, a mineral with a varying degree of iron content, the more iron the greener the color. The second is jadeite, a sodium and aluminum-rich pyroxene. As well as being used for gemstones, both jade minerals can be carved into decorative pieces.

19 Brooch : PIN

A brooch is an ornamental accessory held by a pin or clasp, and worn near the neck. The term “brooch” comes from the Old French “broche” meaning “long needle”.

22 Ad with an educational message : PSA

Public service announcement (PSA)

23 Clairvoyant : SEER

We’ve been using the term “clairvoyant” to describe a psychic since the nineteenth century. Prior to that, a clairvoyant was a clear-sighted person. The term comes from French, with “clair” meaning “clear” and “voyant” meaning “seeing”.

29 Fútbol cheer : OLE!

In Spanish, a “fútbol” (football, soccer) supporter might shout “olé!” (bravo!) after “un gol” (a goal).

54 “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” singer Ives : BURL

As well as being an actor, Burl Ives was a folk singer, which was his original calling. Stemming from his life in Hollywood, Ives had a distressing experience with the House Un-American Activities Committee. He avoided being blacklisted by cooperating to some level with McCarthy and his team. This cooperation created a rift between him and Pete Seeger in particular, as Seeger was a fellow singer whom he “discussed” with the committee.

The song “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” was written by Johnny Marks, and was based on the story created by Marks’ brother-in-law Robert L. May.

All of the other reindeer
Used to laugh and call him names.
They never let poor Rudolph
Join in any reindeer games.

56 Great Basin people : UTES

The Great Basin is a large region of the US covering most of Nevada, much of Utah and some parts of Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon and California. The 200,000 square mile area drains internally, with all precipitation sinking underground or flowing into lakes. Most of the lakes in the Great Basin are saline, including the Great Salt Lake, Pyramid Lake and the Humboldt Sink.

58 “Dynamite” K-pop group : BTS

“Dynamite” is a 2020 song released by the boy band BTS from South Korea. It was a huge success internationally and hit number-one in the US charts. “Dynamite” was the first song that BTS fully recorded in English.

59 PC port letters : USB

Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard dealing with how computers and electronic devices connect and communicate, and dealing with electrical power through those connections.

61 __ Fighters: “Learn to Fly” rock band : FOO

“Learn to Fly” is a 1999 song released by the Foo Fighters. It was destined to become the band’s first song to make it into the “Billboard” Hot 100. Foo Fighters have quite a following in Cesena, Italy. In 2015, about 1,000 musicians gathered there and performed “Learn to Fly” in unison. A YouTube video of the performance went viral, and in response, Foo Fighters held a concert in Cesena for about 3,000 people a few months later.