Teaming up for the October 15 crossword

[Thomps2525]

Today's Los Angeles Times crossword marks the debut of John Michael Currie. Here are his theme answers:

Pollux, for one: GIANTSTAR
Boeing 737, for one: TWINJET
Navy stunt pilot: BLUEANGEL
Striped marine predator: TIGERSHARK

"Pass coverage tactic" is DOUBLETEAM. Each theme answer contains the names of two professional sports teams. Okay, they're singular, not plural, but that is a minor quibble. Double teaming is the practice, especially common in basketball, of blocking an opponent with two players.

Brand names used to be taboo in crossword puzzles. Currie used six today: PEETS ("Bay Area-based coffee company"), RUFFLES ("Ridged chips"), TERRA ("'Rooted in real' chip brand"), RIOS ("Kia subcompacts"), POSTITS ("Colorful reminders") and IPODS ("Devices with earbuds").

"Grand ___ National Park" is TETON. The 310,000-acre national park in northwestern Wyoming was established in 1929 and is ten miles south of Yellowstone National Park. "Téton" means "teat" or "nipple" in French. The three largest mountains in the Teton range were called Les Trois Tétons ("The Three Teats") by early 19th-century French-Canadian trappers and fur traders.

"Neptune's realm" is OCEAN – but it was not always so. Encyclopaedia Brittanica explains: "Neptune, Latin Neptunus, in Roman religion, originally the god of fresh water; by 399 BCE he was identified with the Greek Poseidon and thus became a deity of the sea." Neptune was also the god of horses and the patron of horse racing. To learn more about Neptune, visit

https://campjupiter.fandom.com/wiki/Neptune

What would Neptune say if all the seas dried up? I really don't have a notion. Okay, you may have to read that out loud to be able to understand it – but trust me, it's funny.

I think.