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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Disney character who sings “In Summer” : OLAF

“In Summer” is a song from the 2013 animated hit film “Frozen”. It is sung by the snowman Olaf (voiced by Josh Gad), and expresses Olaf’s desire to experience the summer season. The irony is that warm weather makes the snowman disappear.

5A Product code used in inventory management : SKU

Stock-keeping unit (SKU)

8A Ropes in : LASSOS

Our English word “lasso” comes from the Spanish “lazo”, and ultimately from the Latin “laqueum” meaning “noose, snare”.

14A Ones always grinding at their jobs? : BARISTAS

A barista is a person who serves coffee in a coffee shop. “Barista” is Italian for “bartender”.

21A Baylor of N.B.A. fame : ELGIN

Elgin Baylor is a retired NBA player and a former NBA general manager. Baylor spent 22 years as GM for the LA Clippers.

22A Org. whose work takes many forms? : IRS

Form 1040, issued by the IRS, is the “US Individual Income Tax Return”. It was originally created just for tax returns from 1913, 1914 and 1915, but it’s a form that just keeps on giving, or should I say “taking” …?

26A Nahuatl speaker : AZTEC

Nahuatl is a group of languages spoken mainly in Central Mexico. Historically, Nahuatl was known as “Aztec”.

29A Actress Seehorn of “Pluribus” : RHEA

Rhea Seehorn is an actress best known for playing lawyer Kim Wexler in the TV crime drama “Better Call Saul”. Seehorn’s birth name is Deborah Rhea, but she opted to use her middle name at a young age (which she pronounces as “Ray”).

“PLUR1BUS” is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi TV show that debuted in 2025. It is set in Albuquerque, and centers on an author who is one of the few people in the world immune to an extraterrestrial virus that joins the world’s population into a peaceful and content hive mind. The series was created by Vince Gilligan and stars Rhea Seehorn, who worked together on the hit TV series “Better Call Saul”. The show’s title comes from the Latin motto “E pluribus unum” (out of many, one).

38A Docs that deal with sensitive information : NDAS

Non-disclosure agreement (NDA)

39A Miracle on the ___ (surprise French/English victory of W.W. I) : MARNE

The River Marne runs roughly northwestward for over 300 miles, running into the River Seine just outside Paris. The Marne was the site of two major battles in WWI, one fought in 1914, and one in 1918.

43A N.Y.C.-based dance group : ABT

The American Ballet Theatre (ABT) was founded in New York City in 1939. ABT was officially recognized by the US Congress as “America’s National Ballet Company” in 2006.

47A Descendants of the Picts : SCOTS

The Picts were a Celtic people who lived in ancient Scotland, in the east and north of the country. The Picts gradually disappeared as an identifiable group, merging with the Gaels in the 10th century.

52A Wyndham hotel brand : RAMADA

The Ramada Inn hotel chain takes its name from the Spanish word for a shady resting place. A ramada is a shelter with a roof and no walls, mainly found in the American southwest. Nowadays a ramada can be temporary or permanent, but originally ramadas were makeshift shelters constructed by aboriginal Indians from branches or bushes.

56A Instruction before an M.R.I. : LIE STILL

An MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machine uses powerful magnetic fields to generate images that can be used by medical professionals to diagnose injury and disease.

58A Li’l ___ (tykes) : ‘UNS

“Tyke” has been used playfully to describe a young child since at least 1902. For centuries before that, a tyke was a cur or mongrel, or perhaps a lazy or lower-class man.

59A Fix : SPAY

Our verb “to spay”, meaning “to surgically remove the ovaries of” (an animal), comes from an old Anglo-French word “espeier” meaning “to cut with a sword”.

Down

1D Seller’s shorthand for “I’m willing to haggle” : OBO

Or best offer (OBO)

2D W.C.s : LAVS

Our word “lavatory” (sometimes “lav”) originally referred to a washbasin, and comes from the Latin “lavatorium”, a place for washing. In the 1600s, “lavatory” came to mean a washroom, and in the 1920s a toilet.

4D Posh hotel room amenities : FINE LINENS

The textile known as linen is made from flax fibers. The name “linen” probably comes from “linum”, which is Latin for both “flax” and “textile made from flax”.

5D Cholesterol-lowering drug : STATIN

Statins are cholesterol-lowering drugs. They act by inhibiting an enzyme that plays a role in the production of cholesterol in the body. The best-selling statin is Lipitor. Lipitor was also the best-selling pharmaceutical in history for many years.

6D ___ Bass, first female mayor of Los Angeles : KAREN

Former social worker and politician Karen Bass took over as Mayor of Los Angeles in 2022. Prior to taking office, she had served in the US House of Representatives for eleven years. For the last two years in the House, Bass was Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

8D Social activity that may involve wearing a vest : LASER TAG

The name “Laser Tag” is really a misnomer, as lasers are rarely used in the game. The “guns” actually send out infrared light, and not laser light, that is picked up by infrared detectors worn by the players.

10D “Let it stand” : STET

“Stet” is a Latin word meaning “let it stand”. In editorial work, the typesetter is instructed to disregard any change previously marked by writing the word “stet” and then underscoring that change with a line of dots or dashes.

11D One of the Obamas : SASHA

The youngest child of President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama is known as “Sasha”, although her full given name is Natasha Marian Obama. She was the youngest child to reside in the White House since John F. Kennedy Jr.. After starting at the University of Michigan, Sasha later transferred to the University of Southern California (USC), where she graduated with a degree in sociology in 2023.

20D Becomes aged, in a way : WIZENS

“Wizen” is such a lovely word, I think. It means “dry up”, especially with age.

32D State bird found in only a single state : NENE

The nene is a bird that is native to Hawaii, and is also known as the Hawaiian goose. The name “nene” is an imitation of its call. When Captain Cook landed on the islands in 1778, there were 25,000 nene living there. By 1950, the number was reduced by hunting to just 30 birds. Conservation efforts in recent years have been somewhat successful.

44D “Well done!” : BRAVA!

To express appreciation for a male performer at an operatic performance, traditionally one calls out “bravo!”. Appreciation for a female performer is shown by using “brava!”, and for more than one performer of either sex by using “bravi!”

49D Crispy flaps of crust on sourdough loaves : EARS

The active ingredient used to make sourdough bread is found in a pre-ferment (also “starter”). This pre-ferment is a mixture of flour and water that has been allowed to ferment for some time (maybe days) to grow a colony of wild yeast and lactobacilli. The starter is added to the dough used to make the final bread, with the starter accounting for about 20% of the weight of the final mixture. During baking, the wild yeast causes the bread to rise and the lactobacilli produce lactic acid, which gives sourdough its characteristic sour taste.

50D Org. with a “Know Your Rights” campaign : ACLU

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

51D ___ Bunny, toon who debuted in “Space Jam” : LOLA

Bugs Bunny’s girlfriend is Lola Bunny. She first appeared in the 1996 movie “Space Jam”.

“Space Jam” is a 1996 movie that is a fictional account of the retirement of Michael Jordan from the NBA. Jordan himself stars in the film, along with a whole host of “Looney Tunes” cartoon characters.