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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Verso’s counterpart : RECTO

The left and right pages of a book or magazine are known in publishing circles as verso and recto. Recto comes from the Latin for “right”, and verso comes from the Latin word for “turned”. The idea is that the left side of the page is “turned” and is the reverse of the recto/right side.

6 Alternative to an onion bagel : BIALY

“Bialy” is a Yiddish word describing a small onion roll that takes its name from Bialystok, a city in Poland.

11 Jai ___ : ALAI

Jai alai is a game that derives from Basque pelota, and is known as “cesta-punta” in the Basque language. The name “jai alai” translates from the original Basque as “merry festival”.

19 Skating gold medalist Oksana : BAIUL

Oksana Baiul is a Ukrainian figure skater, and the 1994 Olympic champion. Baiul had a rough start to her life as her father deserted her and her mother when she was just two years old, and then her mother died when she was thirteen. Her grandparents had died earlier so she was left as an orphan, sleeping on a cot in her hometown ice rink.

20 Host : EMCEE

The term “emcee” comes from “MC”, an initialism used for a Master or Mistress of Ceremonies.

25 Station near Madison Square Garden, for short : PENN

New York Penn Station services more passengers per day than any other transportation hub in the Western Hemisphere. About 600,000 people use the facility every weekday. Today’s Penn Station exists mostly underground, and is located beneath Madison Square Garden.

Madison Square Garden (MSG) is an arena in New York City used for a variety of events. In the world of sports it is home to the New York Rangers of the NHL, as well as the New York Knicks of the NBA. “The Garden” is also the third busiest music venue in the world in terms of ticket sales. The current arena is the fourth structure to bear the name, a name taken from the Madison Square location in Manhattan. In turn, the square was named for James Madison, the fourth President of the US.

34 Hip-hop artist with the 2019 hit “My Type” : SAWEETIE

“Saweetie” is the stage name of rap singer Diamonté Harper. She is from Santa Clara, California. Her grandfather is Willie Harper, who played professional football for the San Francisco 49ers.

35 Crisis involving cartels : DRUG WAR

A cartel is a group of independent businesses that cooperate to regulate production, pricing and marketing of their common product(s).

45 Some govt. securities : T-NOTES

A Treasury note (T-note) is a government debt that matures in 1-10 years. A T-note has a coupon (interest) payment made every six months. The T-note is purchased at a discount to face value, and at the date of maturity can be redeemed at that face value. A Treasury bill (T-bill) is a similar financial vehicle, but it matures in one year or less, and a T-bond matures in 20-30 years.

57 Dante’s guide in the “Inferno” : VIRGIL

In Dante’s epic poem “The Divine Comedy”, the poet journeys through the three realms of the dead. The Roman poet Virgil guides Dante through Hell and Purgatory. Dante is guided through Heaven by Beatrice, the poet’s ideal of womanhood Beatrice

60 Singer Del Rey : LANA

“Lana Del Rey” is the stage name of singer/songwriter Elizabeth Grant. Del Rey calls herself a “self-styled gangsta Nancy Sinatra”. Nice …

65 “The co-star of ‘Duck Soup’ has to be sore after that!”? : GROUCHO MARX MUST ACHE (from “mustache”)

Groucho Marx’s real name was Julius Henry Marx. By the time Groucho started his successful, post-Hollywood career hosting the quiz show “You Bet Your Life”, he was sporting a real mustache. For all of his movies, his mustache had been painted on with greasepaint.

“Duck Soup” is a Marx Brothers film that was released in 1933. There were four Marx Brothers in the cast for this film: Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo. It was to be the last film for Zeppo, who then headed off on a second career as an engineer and then a theatrical agent.

69 Anonymous guy : JOHN DOE

Though the English court system does not use the term today, “John Doe” first appeared as the “name of a person unknown” in England in 1659, along with the similar “Richard Roe”. An unknown female is referred to as “Jane Doe ”, and the equivalent to Richard Roe is Jane Roe (as in Roe v. Wade, for example). Variants of “John Doe” used outside of the courts are “Joe Blow” and “John Q. Public”.

71 Author of the 2020 memoir “Cubed” : RUBIK

What was originally called the “Magic Cube” became better known as “Rubik’s Cube”, and was named for its inventor Ernő Rubik. Rubik’s Cube is the world’s biggest selling puzzle game, with over 350 million sold in just over 30 years.

75 Pinged online : IM’ED

In the world of computer science, a ping is a test message sent over a network between computers to check for a response and to measure the time of that response. We now use the verb “to ping” more generally, meaning to send someone a message, usually a reminder.

76 Condition for which Luvox may be prescribed, in brief : OCD

Apparently, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is the fourth most commonly diagnosed mental disorder, making it about as prevalent as asthma.

79 “Wonder Woman” star : GADOT

Gal Gadot is an actress and former Miss Israel. She played Gisele Yashar in the “Fast & Furious” film franchise, and then began portraying Wonder Woman in superhero movies.

“Wonder Woman” is a 2017 film starring Gal Gadot as the superhero title character. It is listed by many as one of the best superhero movies of all time. Gadot had played Wonder Woman before, in the 2016 film “Batman v Superman”.

81 Mountain ___ : DEW

If you check the can, you’ll see that “Mountain Dew” is now marketed as “Mtn Dew”.

82 Late singer Payne of One Direction : LIAM

One Direction is a UK-based boy band. Each member of the band competed in the reality show “The X Factor”, and didn’t do very well. The five were then combined in a boy band at a later stage of the competition. They only finished in third place, but I don’t think they care. They’re doing very, very well for “losers” …

84 Modern home of where cuneiform writing originated : IRAQ

Cuneiform writing is a very early form of written expression that uses characters that are variants of a wedge shape. The first form of cuneiform writing was developed in Sumer (in modern-day Iraq), and was largely a system of pictographs. Over time, the number of characters decreased and became smaller and simpler, until they eventually evolved into the characters that we use in alphabetic writing today.

87 “How long have beavers blocked this river?”? : WHAT’S THE DAM AGE (from “damage”)

Beavers build dams so that they can live in and around the slower and deeper water that builds up above the dam. This deeper water provides more protection for the beavers from predators such as bears. Beavers are nocturnal animals and do all their construction work at night.

94 Earthenware pots : OLLAS

An olla is a traditional clay pot used for the making of stews. “Olla” was the Latin word used in ancient Rome to describe a similar type of pot.

96 Apparel feature that a bandeau lacks : BRA STRAP

A bandeau is like a narrow tube top, and is usually worn by women, perhaps as the top part of a bikini. “Bandeau” is diminutive of the French “bande” meaning “strip, band”.

102 Monk’s title : DOM

The honorific “Dom” is used in English for monks of certain orders, such as Benedictines and Carthusians. The term is a shortened form of the Latin “dominus” meaning “master, owner”.

103 Be crazy about Chicago trains with broken A.C.s? : LOVE HOT ELS (from “hotels”)

The Chicago “L” is the second largest rapid transit system in the US, with the New York City Subway being the largest. The “L” is also the second oldest, again with the New York City Subway system having the honor of being around the longest. Note that the official nickname for the system is the “L” (originally short for “elevated railroad”), although the term “El” is also in common use (especially in crosswords as “ELS”). The L is managed by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA).

105 Much in quantity : BEAUCOUP

“Beaucoup” is a French word that we’ve imported into English, meaning “a lot”. The etymology of the French term can be somewhat explained by rewriting it as “beau coup” meaning “handsome stroke”, which could I suppose mean “a lot”.

109 Baseball family name : ALOU

Jesus Alou played Major League Baseball, as did his brothers Matty and Felipe, and as did Felipe’s son Moisés.

110 Actor Jared : LETO

Jared Leto is an actor and musician. In the world of music, he is the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the rock band 30 Seconds to Mars. In the film world, one of his most critically acclaimed roles was that of a heroin addict in “Requiem for a Dream”. Leto also appeared in “American Psycho”, “Panic Room” and “Lord of War”. He won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance in 2013’s “Dallas Buyers Club”, in which he portrayed a transgender woman.

115 In ___ parentis : LOCO

The Latin phrase “in loco parentis” translates as “in the place of a parent”. We use the term in the law when referring to a person or organization that takes on some of the responsibilities of a parent.

117 Designer Hilfiger : TOMMY

Tommy Hilfiger is a fashion designer from Elmira, New York who is based in New York City.

119 Little twerp : SNOT

“Twerp” and “pip-squeak” are both terms used for someone who is insignificant and contemptible.

120 Trunk : TORSO

“Torso” (plural “torsi”) is an Italian word meaning “trunk of a statue”, and is a term that we imported into English.

121 Head of Slytherin House in the Harry Potter books : SNAPE

Severus Snape is a character in the “Harry Potter” novels by J. K. Rowling. He is the Potions Professor at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Snape was played by the wonderful Alan Rickman on the big screen.

In J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” universe, the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was founded by the four most brilliant witches and wizards of their time: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. Each of the founders lent their name to a House in the school, i.e. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin.

Down

1 Subject of the 2018 biopic “On the Basis of Sex,” familiarly : RBG

Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) served on the US Supreme Court. Justice Ginsburg was the second woman to join the Court, and was nominated by President Bill Clinton. She was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1999 and underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. During that time she did not miss one day on the bench. In 2009 Justice Ginsburg had surgery for pancreatic cancer, and was back to work 12 days later. She had left-lung lobectomy to remove cancerous nodules in 2018, which forced Justice Ginsburg to miss oral argument in January 2019, for the first time since joining the court 25 years earlier. She finally succumbed to pancreatic cancer in 2020. Much of Ginsburg’s life is recounted in the excellent 2018 movie “On the Basis of Sex”.

3 “Ci vediamo in giro!” : CIAO!

In Italian, when leaving, one might say “Ci vediamo in giro!” (I’ll see you around).

7 Architect of Hong Kong’s Bank of China Tower : IM PEI

The Bank of China Tower (often “BOC Tower”) is a spectacular structure in Hong Kong that was designed by I. M. Pei. Opened in 1990, the BOC Tower was the tallest building in Hong Kong at that time, and was also the first building constructed outside of North America to reach a height of over 1,000 feet.

8 Certain hallucinatory experience : ACID TRIP

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)

10 Last word of James Joyce’s “Ulysses” : YES

Here are the last seven words of the novel “Ulysses” by James Joyce:

… yes I said yes I will Yes.

13 Son of Aphrodite : AENEAS

Aeneas was a Trojan hero of myth who traveled to Italy and became the ancestor of all Romans. Aeneas’s story is told in Virgil’s epic poem “The Aeneid”.

17 Joe of “Home Alone” : PESCI

Joe Pesci got his big break in movies with a supporting role in “Raging Bull” starring Robert De Niro, earning Pesci an Oscar nomination early in his career. There followed a string of gangster roles played alongside De Niro, namely “Once Upon a Time in America”, “GoodFellas” and “Casino”. But I like Pesci’s comedic acting best of all. He was marvelous in the “Home Alone” films, the “Lethal Weapon” series, and my personal favorite, “My Cousin Vinny”. Pesci gets a mention in the stage musical “Jersey Boys”, which isn’t too surprising as he is one of the show’s producers.

“Home Alone” is a 1990 film starring Macaulay Culkin that has become a Christmas classic. Culkin was nominated for a Best Actor Golden Globe for his performance, becoming the youngest actor ever to be so honored. And, there are four “Home Alone” sequels.

18 First name in perfumes : ESTEE

Estée Lauder was a very successful businesswoman, and someone with a great reputation as a salesperson. Lauder introduced her own line of fragrances in 1953, a bath oil called “Youth Dew”. “Youth Dew” was marketed as a perfume, but it was added to bathwater. All of a sudden women were pouring whole bottles of Ms. Lauder’s “perfume” into their baths while using only a drop or two of French perfumes behind their ears. That’s quite a difference in sales “volume” …

28 Banks from Los Angeles : TYRA

Tyra Banks is a tremendously successful model and businesswoman. Banks created and hosted the hit show “America’s Next Top Model “, and also had her own talk show. She was also the first African-American woman to make the cover of the “Sports Illustrated” swimsuit issue.

29 Maidenhair and others : FERNS

Ferns are unlike mosses in that they have xylem and phloem, making them vascular plants. They also have stems, leaves and roots, but they do not have seeds and flowers, and reproduce using spores. Spores differ from seeds in that they have very little stored food.

33 Chance : HAP

Our word “hap” means chance or fortune. It turns up combined in words like “haphazard” and even “happen”. “To happen” originally meant “to occur by hap, by chance”.

35 Hit up on Instagram, informally : DM’ED

Direct message (DM)

36 Overnight party with light shows and “cuddle puddles” : RAVE

As you might imagine, I’ve never been to a rave, and don’t have one upcoming in my diary. As raves often start at 2 a.m., I’m unlikely ever to experience one. A rave is generally an all-night party featuring loud, electronically-synthesized music usually played by a DJ, as opposed to a live band.

37 Luau strings : UKES

The ukulele (uke) originated in the 1800s and mimicked a small guitar brought to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants.

The Hawaiian party or feast known as a “luau” really dates back to 1819, when King Kamehameha II removed religious laws that governed the eating of meals. These laws called for women and men to eat separately. At the same time as he changed the laws, the king initiated the luau tradition by symbolically eating with the women who moved in his circle.

38 Rock group with the 1992 hit “Creep” : RADIOHEAD

“Creep” is a 1992 song by English rock band Radiohead. There’s a chord progression in the “Creep” that is identical to one from “The Air That I Breathe” that was a 1974 hit for the Hollies. The writers of the latter song ended up with co-writing credits and a share of the royalties for “Creep”, after the publisher sued. Apparently, the whole kerfuffle was resolved amicably.

44 Notaro of comedy : TIG

Tig Notaro is a stand-up comedian known for her deadpan delivery. More recently, she has turned to acting and has a recurring role as Chief Engineer Jett Reno on “Star Trek: Discovery”.

47 Start of a counting rhyme : EENIE

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,
Catch the tiger/monkey/baby by the toe.
If it hollers/screams let him go,
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, you are it!

52 Time in a Shakespeare title : MIDSUMMER

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is one of William Shakespeare’s comedies. An interesting characteristic of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is that it features a play-within-a-play. The cast of characters includes a troupe of six actors called the Mechanicals who perform a play called “Pyramus and Thisbe”.

55 Former Israeli P.M. Olmert : EHUD

Ehud Olmert took over as Acting Prime Minister when Ariel Sharon suffered a severe stroke early in 2006. Olmert then led his party to victory in a general election held later that same year. He held Israel’s highest office in his own right until 2009, when he had to step down facing allegations of corruption.

58 “Need You Tonight” band, 1987 : INXS

“Need You Tonight” is a 1987 song released by the Australian rock band INXS that made it to the top of the charts here in the US. The song’s music video was also a hit, and it won that season’s MTV Video of the Year Award.

61 Arbiters of taste : CONNOISSEURS

A connoisseur is an expert, or someone who appreciates something with discrimination. The term “connoisseur” is French in origin, and stems from the Latin “com” (with) and “gnoscere” (to recognize).

64 Stamp on an invoice : PAID

An invoice is an itemized bill. The term “invoice” comes from the Middle French “envois” meaning “dispatch (of goods)”. The root verb is “envoyer”, which translates as “to send”.

66 Valerie Harper title role : RHODA

The seventies sitcom “Rhoda” was a spinoff of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” that starred Valerie Harper. The eighth episode of the show was an hour-long special in which Rhoda married her fiance Joe (played by David Groh). At the time of airing it was the second-most watched television episode in history, second only to the 1953 birth of Little Ricky on “I Love Lucy”.

Valerie Harper was best known for playing Rhoda Morgenstern on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, and on her own spin-off sitcom “Rhoda”. Harper was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009, and in 2013 was given just months to live. Despite the prognosis, and her age of 74 years, she decided to appear in the 17th season of “Dancing with the Stars”. Harper eventually passed away in 2019.

67 One of three immortal elders in “A Wrinkle in Time” : MRS WHO

“A Wrinkle in Time” is a book by Madeleine L’Engle. Published in 1962, it is described as a science fantasy. Included in the book’s cast of characters are Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which, all of whom turn out to be supernatural beings who transport the antagonists through the universe. “A Wrinkle in Time” was adapted into a 2018 movie of the same name starring Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling as the three “Mrs” characters.

68 Dickens’s ___ Heep : URIAH

Uriah Heep is a sniveling and insincere character in the novel “David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens. The character is such a “yes man” that today, if we know someone who behaves the same way, then we might call that person a “Uriah Heep”.

69 Bouts : JAGS

The terms “jag” and “bender” describe periods of unrestrained activity, particularly those involving alcohol. Both words have been in use since the 1800s.

74 Tree whose name sounds like a pronoun : YEW

Yew trees were placed around churches and in graveyards all over Europe. The reason for the practice seems to be unclear, but one suggestion is that fronds from yew trees were used as substitutes for palms on Palm Sunday.

78 Threw out of a contest, informally : DQ’ED

Disqualified (DQ’ed)

82 Exam with an argumentative writing section, in brief : LSAT

Law School Admission Test (LSAT)

84 “Oh geez, the answer was staring me in the face!” : I’M A MORON

The unsavory word “moron” was used formerly by the medical community to describe someone with a degree of mental retardation. The term comes from the Greek “moros” meaning “foolish, dull”. Back in the early 1900s, IQ tests were used to classify those suffering from mental retardation into categories:

• “idiot” … IQ of 0-20
• “imbecile” … IQ of 21-50
• “moron” …IQ of 51-70

89 Special attention, for short : TLC

Tender loving care (TLC)

91 Wading birds : AVOCETS

The avocet is a wading bird found in warm climates, usually in saline wetlands where it uses its upcurved bill to sweep from side-to-side in water searching for aquatic insects on which it feeds. Avocets, and other similar species, may go by the common name of “stilts”, a moniker applied to them because of their long legs.

96 Doldrums : BLAHS

The doldrums are a band of generally light winds and calms that span the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans near the equator. More formally known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone, the phenomenon occurs at the interface between the northeast and southeast trade winds. We have come to use the term “doldrums” colloquially, to describe a state of listlessness, inactivity or stagnation.

97 Lumberjacks’ competition : ROLEO

The log-rolling competition traditionally engaged in by lumberjacks is referred to as “roleo”.

99 Where one might pick up litter : PETCO

Petco is a chain of retail stores that sells live animals and pet supplies. The Petco logo includes the two company mascots, Red Ruff the dog and Blue Mews the cat.

104 Burgle : LOOT

The crime of burglary is the breaking into and entering of a building with the intent to steal. The actual theft itself is a separate crime.

107 West Point inst. : USMA

West Point is a military reservation in New York State, located north of New York City. West Point was first occupied by the Continental Army way back in 1778, making it the longest, continually-occupied military post in the country. Cadet training has taken place at the garrison since 1794, although Congress funding for a US Military Academy (USMA) didn’t start until 1802. The first female cadets were admitted to West Point in 1976, and as of 2018, about 15% of all new cadets were women.

112 Queer identity, in brief : ARO

Someone described as aromantic (“aro”, for short) experiences little or no romantic attraction. The opposite of aromanticism is alloromanticism.

113 12/31 : NYE

New Year’s Eve (NYE)