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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6A ___ Waller-Bridge, star and creator of TV’s “Fleabag” : PHOEBE

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is an actress, screenwriter and producer whose big break came with the comedy-drama show “Fleabag”, which she created and in which she starred. Another big hit came with the show “Killing Eve”, for which Waller-Bridge was head writer. She also co-wrote the screenplay for the 2021 James Bond movie “No Time to Die”. In 2023, she starred alongside Harrison Ford as the title character’s goddaughter in “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”.

20A Excoriates : RAILS AT

To excoriate is to abrade or chafe. “Excoriate” also means “to strongly denounce something or someone”.

22A With 23- and 24-Across, airport announcement / Requirement to practice, perhaps : GA TECH

The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly “Georgia Tech”) is located in Atlanta. The school was founded in 1885 as part of the reconstruction effort to rebuild the infrastructure in the South after the Civil War. President Theodore Roosevelt delivered an address to the school in 1905, and then shook hands with every single student. Back then the school didn’t have over 20,000 students as it does today …

26A North African fortress, in one spelling : KASBAH

“Casbah” is the Arabic word for a “citadel”. “Casbah” (also “Kasbah”) usually refers to the citadel in the city of Algiers and the area surrounding it.

28A America’s largest labor union, familiarly : THE NEA

Founded in 1857, the National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the country, and mainly represents public school teachers.

30A With 32- and 35-Across, “Now, here’s the thing …” / Some board game surfaces : SOLI

“Soli” (the plural of “solo”) are pieces of music performed by one artist, whereas “tutti” are pieces performed by all of the artists.

39A Long instrumental piece : SONATA

A cantata is a piece of music that is sung, as opposed to a sonata, which is a piece that is played on some instrument, often a piano. A sonatina is in effect a sonata that has been labeled as something lighter and shorter.

41A Former alliance of France, Italy, Japan, the U.S., the U.K. and West Germany : G-SIX

The G6 was a group of six industrialized nations that formed in 1975 and whose governments met on a periodic basis. The founding members were France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US. The membership expanded in 1976 with the addition of Canada, forming the G7. Russia was given representation in the group in 1997, forming the G8. Russia’s membership was suspended in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea.

47A Website for finding professional services : ANGI

Angie’s List is a website used by consumers to rate and research local businesses. The “list” was founded in 1995, originally as a call-in service and publication with reviews, by William S. Oesterle and the eponymous Angie Hicks. Angie’s List moved to the Internet in 1996, and by 2013 had 70,000 subscribers. A rebranding exercise in 2021 resulted in Angie’s List becoming “ANGI”.

48A With 50- and 54-Across, serious props / Had an evening meal : MADRE

In Spanish, a “madre” (mother) might have a “niño” (boy) and/or a “niña” (girl).

61A Eighth Avenue express line in N.Y.C. : A TRAIN

The A Train in the New York City Subway system runs from 207th Street, through Manhattan and over to Far Rockaway in Queens. The service lends its name to a jazz standard “Take the ‘A’ Train”, the signature tune of Duke Ellington and a song much sung by Ella Fitzgerald. One version of the lyrics is:

You must take the A Train
To go to Sugar Hill way up in Harlem
If you miss the A Train
You’ll find you’ve missed the quickest way to Harlem
Hurry, get on, now, it’s coming
Listen to those rails a-thrumming (All Aboard!)
Get on the A Train
Soon you will be on Sugar Hill in Harlem.

74A Some eels : MORAYS

Morays are a large group of about 200 species of eels found across the world’s oceans. They are carnivorous and look pretty scary but they’re quite shy when confronted and present no threat to humans. One interesting thing about morays is that they will sometimes work in cooperation with the grouper fish found in reefs, the two helping each other hunt for food.

87A With 88- and 91-Across, syntax-reversing rhetorical device / Small, peelable citrus fruits : CHIAS

Chia is a flowering plant in the mint family. Chia seeds are an excellent food source and are often added to breakfast cereals and energy bars. There is also the famous Chia Pet, an invention of a San Francisco company. Chia Pets are terra-cotta figurines to which moistened chia seeds are applied. The seeds sprout and the seedlings become the “fur” of the Chia Pet.

92A Taylor Swift’s ___ Tour : ERAS

Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” made history by becoming the highest-grossing tour of all time, and the first concert tour to ever surpass $1 billion in revenue.

94A Resident of the so-called “Nation of Poets” : SOMALI

Somalia is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Sadly, the nation is noted today for a devastating civil war and for its use as a base for pirates who prey on ships passing through the Indian Ocean along the Somali coast.

96A Early Google algorithm for determining the importance of websites : PAGERANK

PageRank is a famous algorithm in Internet search circles. Google uses PageRank to determine in which order websites are ranked in the results page after a search is done by a user. The algorithm is named after Google co-founder Larry Page.

108A See 105-Across : HEFT

The heft of something is its weight, its heaviness. The term “heft” is derivative of the verb “to heave” meaning “to lift, raise”.

114A Business address abbr. : STE

Suite (ste.)

115A With 118- and 121-Across, didn’t quite fit in, say / Not as frequently : WASABI

Sometimes called Japanese horseradish, wasabi is a root used as a condiment in Japanese cooking. The taste of wasabi is more like mustard than a hot pepper in that the vapors that create the “hotness” stimulate the nasal passages rather than the tongue. Personally, I love the stuff …

127A Flexibility : LEEWAY

Our word “leeway” meaning “spare margin” is nautical in origin. A vessel’s leeway is the amount of drift motion away from her intended course that is caused by the action of the wind.

128A Not in vogue : PASSE

“Passé” is a French word, meaning “past, faded”. We’ve imported the term into English, and use it in the same sense.

Down

1D Pieces of Indian music : RAGAS

Raga isn’t really a genre of music, but has been described as the “tonal framework” in which Indian classical music is composed. Ravi Shankar was perhaps the most famous raga virtuoso (to us Westerners). Western rock music with a heavy Indian influence might be called raga rock.

2D Tubers from the Gem State : IDAHOS

Idaho has the nickname “Gem State”, mainly because almost every known type of gemstone has been found there. Idaho is also sometimes called the Potato State, as potatoes are such a popular crop in the state. I’d go for the potatoes over the gems, but that’s probably just me. Oh, and Idaho license plates have borne the slogan “Famous Potatoes” for decades …

4D Country whose flag is known as “An Trídhathach” (“The Tricolor”): Abbr. : IRE

One interpretation of the colors of the tricolor Irish flag of Ireland are that the green represents the Irish Nationalist movement striving for independence from Britain, and that the orange represents the Orange movement concentrated in the north of the country (now Northern Ireland) that favors British rule. The white is a hopeful representation of peace between the two ideals. The flag’s design dates back to 1848 when it was presented to Irish Nationalist Thomas Francis Meagher by a small group of sympathetic French women. It was likely inspired by the French tricolor, although it might also have derived from the Newfoundland Tricolour, as Meagher’s father was born there.

6D Type of Thai red curry : PANANG

Phanaeng (or Panang) is a type of Thai curry that is typically thicker, sweeter, and less spicy than other Thai curries.

8D Corrida cry : OLE!

Spanish bullfighting is known locally as “corrida de toros”, literally “running of bulls”.

9D Class for immigrants, in brief : ESL

English as a Second Language (ESL)

14D Classic film said to be the most quotable movie of all time : CASABLANCA

The movie “Casablanca” was released in January of 1943, timed to coincide with the Casablanca Conference, the high-level meeting between Roosevelt and Churchill. The film wasn’t a box-office hit, but gained critical acclaim, winning three Oscars including Best Picture. The signature song “As Time Goes By” was written many years earlier for a 1931 Broadway musical called “Everybody’s Welcome”, and was a hit in 1931 for Rudy Vallee. But today we all remember the Casablanca version, sung by Dooley Wilson (who played “Sam” in the film). Poor Dooley didn’t get to record it as a single, due to a musician’s strike in 1943. The 1931 Rudy Vallee version was re-released that year and became an even bigger hit second time round.

The famous line “Here’s looking at you, kid.” from 1942’s “Casablanca” was ranked no. 2 in a list of top movie quotes compiled by “The Hollywood Reporter”. The top of the list makes interesting reading, with the following comprising the top five:

1. “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” from “Gone With the Wind” (1939)
2. “Here’s looking at you, kid.” from “Casablanca” (1942)
3. “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” from “Jaws” (1975)
4. “May the Force be with you.” from “Star Wars” (1977)
5. “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” from “The Wizard of Oz” (1939)

15D The Wildcats of the Big 12 Conf. : KSU

Kansas State University (KSU) was founded as the Kansas State Agricultural College in 1863 during the Civil War. The main KSU campus is located in the city of Manhattan, which is 56 miles northwest of Topeka, Kansas.

17D Green Day drummer ___ Cool : TRE

Green Day is a punk rock band from Berkeley, California. The band’s name was chosen by the band members to reflect their fondness for marijuana. “Green day” is a slang term used to describe a day spent smoking the drug.

19D Soda brand named for a volcano : SHASTA

The soft drink company Shasta Beverages started off bottling mineral water from Shasta Springs in Northern California back in 1889. The water was originally shipped in railroad cars that were lined with glass. Costly transportation, I’d say …

Mount Shasta is in northern California. The origin of the name “Shasta” seems to be unclear. It may have come from the Russian “tchastal” meaning “white, clean, pure”, a name given to the volcanic peak by early Russian immigrants.

20D Broccoli ___ : RABE

Broccoli rabe is perhaps better known as “rapini”, and is a vegetable often used in Mediterranean cuisines. It is quite delicious sauteed with garlic …

29D Suffix with Brooklyn : -ESE

The New York City dialect of English is sometimes referred to as “Brooklynese”. In Brooklynese, we might take “dis”, “dat”, “dese” or “dose” (this, that, these or those).

34D Like about 88% of the U.A.E.’s residents : EXPAT

An expatriate (often “expat”) is someone who has chosen to live outside of their homeland, away from their “fatherland”.

36D Musician who said “Reality leaves a lot to the imagination” : LENNON

John Lennon grew up in a modest home in Liverpool in the northwest of England. Named “Mendips”, the house belonged to Lennon’s maternal aunt and her husband. Lennon was raised by his aunt from the age of five, after his mother was persuaded that the arrangement would be of benefit to young John. Mendips was purchased by Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono in 2002, who then handed it over to the National Trust, a British conservation organization.

37D The eldest Levy of “Schitt’s Creek” : EUGENE

Eugene Levy is a Canadian actor. He is the only actor to have appeared in all of the “American Pie” movies. Levy plays the clueless, but loving, Dad. Eugene also co-created, and starred in, the Canadian sitcom “Schitt’s Creek” with his son Dan Levy.

42D Ural demurral : NYET

To demur is to voice opposition, to object. It can also mean to delay and has its roots in the Latin word “demorare”, meaning “to delay”.

44D Vice president Agnew : SPIRO

Spiro Agnew served as US vice-president under Richard Nixon, before becoming the only VP in American history to resign because of criminal charges (there was a bribery scandal). Agnew was also the first Greek-American to serve as US vice president as he was the son of a Greek immigrant who had shortened the family name from “Anagnostopoulos”.

48D Seasoning that imparts umami flavor, for short : MSG

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the sodium salt of a naturally-occurring, non-essential amino acid called glutamic acid. It is used widely as a flavor enhancer, particularly in many Asian cuisines, intensifying the umami flavor. Whether or not MSG is harmful seems to be still under debate.

51D Red-haired hunter in Genesis : ESAU

Esau was the twin brother of Jacob, the founder of the Israelites. When their mother Rebekah gave birth to the twins “the first emerged red and hairy all over (Esau), with his heel grasped by the hand of the second to come out (Jacob)”. As Esau was the first born, he was entitled to inherit his father’s wealth (it was his “birthright”). Instead, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for the price of a “mess of pottage” (a meal of lentils).

52D Record of money owed : CHIT

A chit is a note or a short letter. The term “chit” tends to be used these days in the sense of an amount owed (as in a poker game). The word used to be “chitty”, which is now obsolete but was closer to the original Hindi term. I feel a tad obsolete myself, because when we are at school we would be excused from class if we had a “chitty”.

62D Object of spiritual significance : TOTEM

“Totem” is a word used to describe any entity that watches over a group of people. As such, totems are usually the subjects of worship. Totem poles are really misnamed, as they are not intended to represent figures to be worshiped, but rather are heraldic in nature, and often celebrating the legends or notable events in the history of a tribe.

63D Award opportunity, in brief : NOM

Nomination (nom.)

66D Thomas Hardy’s titular Miss Durbeyfield : TESS

In Thomas Hardy’s novel “Tess of the d’Urbervilles”, the heroine and title character is Tess Durbeyfield. Her father is an uneducated peasant and when he hears that his name is a corruption of the noble name of “D’Urberville”, the news goes to his head.

67D Swinger’s warning : FORE!

No one seems to know for sure where the golfing term “fore!” comes from. It has been used at least as far back as 1881, and since then has been called out to warn other golfers that a wayward ball might be heading their way. My favorite possibility for its origin is that it is a contraction of the Gaelic warning cry “Faugh a Ballagh!” (clear the way!) which is still called out in the sport of road bowling. Road bowling is an Irish game where players bowl balls along roads between villages, trying to reach the end of the course in as few bowls as possible, just like in golf!

69D Underworld boss? : HADES

Hades was the god of the underworld to the ancient Greeks. Over time, Hades gave his name to the underworld itself, the place where the dead reside. The term “Hades” was also adopted into the Christian tradition, as an alternative name for hell. But, the concept of hell in Christianity is more akin to the Greek “Tartarus”, which is a dark and gloomy dungeon located in Hades, a place of suffering and torment.

72D First responder’s first response : TRIAGE

Triage is the process of prioritizing patients for treatment, especially on the battlefield. The term “triage” is French and means “sorting”.

75D Union victory site of 1862 : SHILOH

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 3,000 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.

76D The Declaration of Independence and the like : MANIFESTOS

On 11 June 1776, the Continental Congress appointed a committee of five people to draft a declaration of independence. Included in the five were John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Adams persuaded the other committee members to give Jefferson the task of writing the first draft. A resolution of independence was passed by the Congress on 2 July 1776. The final draft of the declaration was approved by the Congress two days later, on July 4th. John Adams wrote a letter to his wife that included an assertion that July 2nd (the date of the resolution of independence) would become a great American holiday. Adams was wrong, and it was actually the date the Declaration of Independence was finalized that came to be celebrated annually.

78D Some microwaves, in brief : GES

The General Electric Company is usually referred to simply as “GE”. One of the precursor companies to GE was Edison General Electric, founded in 1890 by the inventor Thomas Edison. What we know today as GE was formed two years later when Edison merged his company with Charles Coffin’s Thomson-Houston Electric Company. In 1896, GE was selected as one of the 12 companies listed on the newly formed Dow Jones Industrial Average. GE was the last of the original 12 to survive on that list, being replaced by Walgreens in 2018. I spent over ten years with GE at the beginning of my working career, and in fact it was GE that asked me to transfer to the US from Ireland back in the 1980s …

82D 2028 Summer Olympics host : USA

The 2028 Summer Olympic Games was awarded to Los Angeles in 2017. LA previously hosted in 1932 and 1984. The only other three-time host cities are London and Paris.

86D Third-most-common suffix in country names, after -ia and -land : -STAN

The suffix “-stan”, used in many place names, is Persian for “place of”.

89D Journalist’s opening line : LEDE

The opening paragraph in any work of literature is often just called “the lead”. In the world of journalism, this is usually referred to as “the lede”. The derivative phrase “bury the lede” means to fail to stress the most important aspect of a story.

95D Thoroughfare through N.Y.C.’s Chinatown : MOTT ST

Mott Street in Manhattan was probably named after a successful butcher and tavern owner who lived in the area. Mott was known for lending support to those fighting the British during the American Revolution. Today, Mott Street is regarded as “Main Street” for New York City’s Chinatown.

97D Sandwich with sauerkraut : REUBEN

There are conflicting stories about the origin of the Reuben sandwich. One such story is that it was invented around 1914 by Arnold Reuben, an immigrant from Germany who owned Reuben’s Deli in New York.

101D National flower of Mexico : DAHLIA

The dahlia is a flowering plant native to Mexico and Central America. It was named the national flower of Mexico relatively recently, in 1963. The plant was given the name “dahlia” in 1791, in honor of Swedish botanist Anders Dahl.

102D One of the Seven Dwarfs : SNEEZY

In the original Brothers Grimm fairy tale called “Snow White”, the seven dwarfs were not given any names. The names were added for the 1937 classic Disney film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. The seven dwarfs are:

• Doc (the leader of the group)
• Grumpy (that would be me, according to my wife …)
• Happy
• Sleepy
• Bashful
• Sneezy
• Dopey

107D Subdue by stunning : TASE

Victor Appleton wrote a novel for young adults called “Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle”. The company that developed the TASER electroshock weapon partly named its product as a homage to the novel. The acronym “TASER” stands for “Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle”.

111D Leaning type: Abbr. : ITAL

Italic type leans to the right, and is often used to provide emphasis in text. The style is known as “italic” because the stylized calligraphic form of writing originated in Italy, probably in the Vatican.

113D Counterpart to nuts : SOUP

The American expression “from soup to nuts” means “from beginning to end”. The idiom comes from the description of a full course dinner, with soup to start and nuts as a dessert.

117D [Not my misspelling!] : SIC

[Sic] indicates that a quotation is written as originally found, perhaps including a typo. “Sic” is Latin for “thus, like this”. The term is more completely written as “sic erat scriptum”, which translates as “thus was it written”.

120D Big retail inits. in footwear : DSW

DSW is a retailer of footwear that was founded in 1969. The initialism “DSW” stands for “Designer Shoe Warehouse”. In some stores, DSW offers Shoevival, a service that repairs and renews shoes.

122D Org. banning 119-Down : FDA
[119D The banned ingredient Red No. 3, e.g. : DYE]

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has its roots in the Division of Chemistry (later “Bureau of Chemistry”) that was part of the US Department of Agriculture. President Theodore Roosevelt gave responsibility for examination of food and drugs to the Bureau of Chemistry with the signing of the Pure Food and Drug Act. The Bureau’s name was changed to the Food, Drug, and Insecticide Administration in 1927, and to the Food and Drug Administration in 1930.