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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Cut of beef used in Santa Maria-style barbecue : TRI-TIP

A tri-tip is a cut of meat that might also be called a tip roast. It is a cut of beef from the rear of the animal. Tri-tip is a triangular muscle, hence the name.

7A ___ Wilson, four-time M.V.P. of the 27-Down : A’JA
[27D See 7-Across : WNBA]

Professional basketball player A’ja Wilson was the first pick in the 2018 WNBA draft, after which she signed for the Las Vegas Aces. She won Olympic Gold at the 2020 Olympics, and captained the Aces in 2022 when the team won their first league championship title.

10A Common export, nowadays : PDF

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format introduced by Adobe Systems in 1993. PDF documents can be shared between users and read using many different applications and platforms, making them more universally accessible than documents saved by one particular program.

17A Chef’s complimentary bite : AMUSE-BOUCHE

Amuse-bouche is a small, bite-sized hors d’oeuvre served at the start of a restaurant meal. The item is served free, and is not found on the menu. Rather, it is an item selected by the chef, perhaps to show off his or her cooking style, or to prepare the guests for the meal. The term “amuse-bouche” is French, and translates literally as “mouth amuser”.

20A Dish often served with tartar sauce, informally : FISH ‘N’ CHIPS

In the UK especially, fish and chips are often served with a side of mushy peas. They are dried marrowfat peas that have been soaked in water and baking soda, and then boiled until softened. I love almost all vegetables, and especially peas, but mushy peas? Not so much …

Tartar sauce is basically mayonnaise with some chopped pickles, capers and onion or chives. The recipe was invented by the French (as “sauce tartare”) with the name somehow linked to the Tatars, a people who once occupied Ukraine and parts of Russia.

22A Terrorizer of Amity Island, in a 1975 blockbuster film : SHARK

“Jaws” is a thrilling 1975 movie directed by Steven Spielberg that is based on a novel of the same name by Peter Benchley. The film has a powerful cast, led by Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw. “Jaws” was perhaps the first summer blockbuster and had the highest box office take in history up to that time, which was a record that stood until “Star Wars” was released two years later.

24A Finishes filming : WRAPS

When shooting of a film is concluded the movie is said to wrap, and everyone heads to the wrap party. There is one story that “wrap” is actually an acronym for “wind, reel and print”, a reference to the transition of the filming process into post-production. But, this explanation is disputed.

27A Mushroom named for its resemblance to a body part : WOOD EAR

Wood ear mushrooms are also known as tree ear and cloud ear mushrooms. They are a type of edible fungus commonly used in Asian cuisines, particularly in stir-fries, soups, and cold dishes. They have a distinctive ear-like shape and a gelatinous, rubbery consistency when fresh.

33A Former attorney general Bill : BARR

William “Bill” Barr was US Attorney General for two years in the administration of President George H. W. Bush before being appointed Attorney General by President Donald Trump in 2019. When not working, Barr is a very enthusiastic player of the Scottish bagpipes.

34A Short cut : BOB

A bob cut is a short hairstyle in which the hair is cut straight around the head, at about the line of the jaw. Back in the 1570s, “bob” was the name given to a horse’s tail that was cut short, and about a century later it was being used to describe short hair on humans. The style became very popular with women in the early 1900s (as worn by actress Clara Bow, for example), with the fashion dying out in the thirties. The style reemerged in the sixties around the time the Beatles introduced their “mop tops”, with Vidal Sassoon leading the way in styling women’s hair in a bob cut again. Personally, I like it …

35A “___ Green” (Kermit the Frog song) : BEIN’

“Bein’ Green” is the signature song of Kermit the Frog, Jim Henson’s puppet character that appeared on “Sesame Street” and “The Muppet Show”. The song is also known by the first line: “It’s not easy bein’ green”.

36A Skater who lit the Olympic cauldron in 1998 : ITO

Midori Ito is a Japanese figure skater. She was the first woman to land a triple/triple jump and a triple axel in competition. In fact, Ito landed her first triple jump in training when she was only 8 years old. Ito won Olympic silver in 1992, and was chosen as the person to light the Olympic cauldron at the commencement of the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.

37A Political philosopher who wrote “The state of a king shuts him from the world, yet the business of a king requires him to know it thoroughly” : THOMAS PAINE

Thomas Paine was an English author who achieved incredible success with his pamphlet “Common Sense” published in 1776 which advocated independence of colonial America from Britain. Paine had immigrated to the American colonies just two years before his pamphlet was published, and so was just in time to make a major contribution to the American Revolution.

60A Chinese revolutionary Sun ___ : YAT-SEN

Sun Yat-sen is known as the “Father of the Nation” in China, and is uniquely revered in both mainland China and on the island of Taiwan. During his rule as president of the country he promoted his political philosophy known as the Three Principles of the People, namely nationalism, democracy and the people’s livelihood.

Down

2D Twin city? : ROME

According to tradition, Rome was founded by the twin brothers Romulus and Remus. The pair had a heated argument about who should be allowed to name the city and Romulus hit Remus with a shovel, killing him. And so, “Rome” was born, perhaps instead of “Reme”!

8D Director of “Face/Off” and “Mission: Impossible II” : JOHN WOO

John Woo is a film director from Hong Kong who is best known for directing action movies. The list of his films made for Hollywood includes “Broken Arrow” (1996), “Face/Off” (1997) and “Mission: Impossible II” (2000).

“Face/Off” is a 1997 action movie starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage as an FBI agent and terrorist who “swap faces”. Yes, that sounds ridiculous, but I find this movie quite entertaining …

9D Admitted fault : ATE CROW

The phrase “eat crow”, an alternative to “eat humble pie”, perhaps refers to the fact that cooked crow may be edible, but is not a great food choice.

14D Film ___ : NOIR

The expression “film noir” has French origins, but only in that it was coined by a French critic in describing a style of Hollywood film. The term, meaning “black film” in French, was first used by Nino Frank in 1946. Film noir often applies to a movie with a melodramatic plot and a private eye or detective at its center. Good examples would be “The Big Sleep” and “D.O.A.”

15D Certain canine : TUSK

Tusks are the front teeth of certain animals that grow continuously. The tusks of wild pigs, hippos and walruses are elongated canine teeth. The tusks of elephants are elongated incisors.

26D Preferring to keep one’s feet on the ground? : ACROPHOBIC

Our prefix “acro-” comes from the Greek “akros” meaning “at the top”. Examples are “acrophobia” (fear of heights) and “Acropolis” (“city at the top”).

29D Last words? : OBIT

Our word “obituary” comes from the Latin “obituarius”. The Latin term was used for “record of the death of a person”, although the literal meaning is “pertaining to death”.

30D Instrument usually pitched in C : OBOE

When you hear an orchestra tuning before a performance, you’ll note (pun!) that the oboe starts off the process by playing an “A”. The rest of the musicians in turn tune to that oboe’s “A”.

31D Awards season announcement, for short : NOM

Nomination (nom.)

35D What might go off the rails? : BANK SHOT

In games like pool and billiards, a “bank shot” is one in which the object ball is bounced off one or more cushions prior to being pocketed.

37D Guitarist who played the first-ever rock concert at the Sistine Chapel : THE EDGE

“The Edge” is the stage name of U2 band member David Evans.

40D Insta post : PIC

Instagram (often abbreviated to “Insta”, or “IG”) is a photo-sharing application, one that is extremely popular. Instagram started in San Francisco in 2010. Facebook purchased Instagram two years later, paying $1 billion. The billion-dollar Instagram company had just 13 employees at the time of the sale …

46D Losing side in the Battle of Shiloh, informally : REBS

The Battle of Shiloh was a major engagement in the Civil War, and was fought in 1862 at Pittsburg Landing in southwestern Tennessee. The battle started with a surprise attack by Confederate forces led by Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard. The attackers gained the upper hand on the first day over the Union forces led by Major General Ulysses S. Grant. Union reinforcements arrived during the night and the tide of the battle turned the next day and the Confederates were forced to withdraw. Almost 3,500 men died in the course of the Battle of Shiloh, thus making it the bloodiest battle in US history up to that point in time.

51D Willie ___, first Black player in the N.H.L. : O’REE

Willie O’Ree is a retired professional hockey player from Canada who made his debut for the Boston Bruins in 1958. That made him the first Black player in the National Hockey League, and earned him the nickname “Jackie Robinson of ice hockey”.