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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Bad association : STIGMA

A stigma (plural “stigmata”), in a social sense, is a distinguishing mark of disgrace. For example, one might have to suffer the stigma of being in prison. The term derives from the Greek “stigma” meaning “mark, brand”.

28A … outdoor festivals)(Bathrooms at … : PORTA POTTIES

We tend to use the name “Porta Potty” for a portable toilet here in North America, whereas the term “Porta Loo” is more common in Britain and Ireland.

37A Actress Sink of “Stranger Things” : SADIE

Sadie Sink gained widespread recognition for her role as Max Mayfield in the TV show “Stranger Things”. Before her breakout TV role, she was known by Broadway audiences, starring as the title character in the musical “Annie” at just 11 years old. She also played a young Elizabeth II on stage in “The Audience”, alongside Helen Mirren.

39A Baby who’s up all night? : OWLET

A baby owl is an owlet. The term “owlet” can also be used for the adults of the smaller species of owls.

40A Where many papyrus plants grow : NILE

The papyrus plant was commonly found in the Nile Delta of North Africa. The pith of the plant was used to make a thick paper-like material on which one could write. This writing material, which became known as papyrus (plural “papyri”), became a competitor for the most popular writing surface of the day known as parchment, which was made from animal skins.

41A Frenzied locale at a rock concert : MOSH PIT

Moshing (also “slam dancing”) is the pushing and shoving that takes place in the audience at a concert (usually a punk or heavy metal concert). The area directly in front of the stage is known as the mosh pit. When a performer does a “stage dive”, it is into (or I suppose “onto”) the mosh pit. It doesn’t sound like fun to me. Injuries are commonplace in the mosh pit, and deaths are not unknown.

45A “Spring forward” hrs. : DST

On the other side of the Atlantic, daylight saving time (DST) is known as “summer time”. The idea behind summer/daylight-savings is to move clocks forward an hour in spring (“spring forward”), and backwards in the fall (“fall back”) so that afternoons have more daylight. Here in the US, DST starts on the second Sunday of March, and ends on the first Sunday of November.

49A Kind of effect that deflects motion in one direction in the Northern Hemisphere and the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere [with a hint to this puzzle’s shaded squares] : CORIOLIS

In meteorology, the Coriolis effect is caused by the rotation of the Earth and the inertia of masses coming into contact with the Earth. This force causes moving objects on the planet’s surface to be deflected to the right in the Northern Hemisphere, and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. This effect is most evident in the movement of currents in the oceans and in the atmosphere. As a result, air rotates clockwise around high pressure areas in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise south of the equator. The phenomenon is named for French scientist Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis who described the effect in an 1835 paper about water wheels.

53A Carnivore whose vocalization sounds like giggling : HYENA

The spotted hyena of Sub-Saharan Africa is also known as the laughing hyena because of the sound it often makes, which resembles maniacal laughter.

55A Google’s domain : THE WEB

The Google search engine was originally called “BackRub” would you believe? The name was eventually changed to “Google”, an intentional misspelling of the word “googol”. A googol is a pretty big number, 10 to the power of 100. That would be the digit 1 followed by 100 zeros.

58A Hindu festival of colors : HOLI

Holi is a Hindu festival, one celebrated in spring, that is also known as the Festival of Colours.

59A Auto brand whose logo is meant to evoke the precision of a caliper : ACURA

Acura is a luxury vehicle brand produced by the Japanese automaker Honda. It was the first Japanese luxury car brand to be introduced to the US, in 1986. The Acura Legend and Acura Integra were the first two models released.

66A … transport)(Bigwig’s … : PERSONAL LIMO

The word “limousine” derives from the name of the French city of Limoges. The area around Limoges is called the Limousin, and it gave its name to a cloak hood worn by local shepherds. In early motor cars, a driver would sit outside in the weather while the passengers would sit in the covered compartment. The driver would often wear a limousin-style protective hood, giving rise to that type of transportation being called a “limousine”. Well, that’s how the story goes …

68A Straightaway driving contests : DRAG RACES

Back in the 18th century, “drag” was slang for a wagon or buggy, as it was “dragged” along by a horse or horses. In the 1930s, the underworld adopted “drag” as slang for an automobile. This sense of the word was imported into automobile racing in the 1940s, giving the name to “drag racing”. A drag race is basically a competition between two cars to determine which can accelerate faster from a standstill.

70A Philadelphia-area university that’s a powerhouse in men’s hoops : VILLANOVA

Villanova University is a private Catholic school located in the suburbs of Philadelphia, in what is now the village of Villanova. It was founded in 1842, and takes its name from Saint Thomas of Villanova, a 16th-century Spanish bishop known for his charity and dedication to the poor.

77A One in 100: Abbr. : SEN

The US Senate comprises 100 senators, with each of the fifty states being represented by two popularly elected senators. US senators were appointed by their state legislators from 1789 through 1913, until the Seventeenth Amendment called for popular elections.

79A Word with dish or drag : MAIN …

The main street of a city or town is often referred to as the “main drag”. The main drag is where horses would “drag” along most of the wagons and buggies back in the day.

82A German brewery since 1873 : BECK’S

Beck’s beer comes from Bremen in northern Germany. It is the fifth most successful brewery in the country, based on sales. The image you’ll see on the bottle, a key within a shield, is the mirror image of Bremen’s coat of arms.

90A Entertainment source for general audiences, in brief? : USO

The United Service Organizations (USO) was founded in 1941 at the request of President Franklin D. Roosevelt “to handle the on-leave recreation of the men in the armed forces”. A USO tour is undertaken by a troupe of entertainers, many of whom are big-name celebrities. A USO tour usually includes troop locations in combat zones.

94A ___ Lanka : SRI

The island nation of Sri Lanka lies off the southeast coast of India. The name “Sri Lanka” translates from Sanskrit into English as “venerable island”. Before 1972, Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon, a name given to the country during British rule.

95A Custom-tailored : BESPOKE

The adjective “bespoke”, meaning “custom-made”, has for centuries been mainly used with reference to tailoring, as in a “bespoke” suit.

98A One of Cuba’s Castros : RAUL

Raul Castro is the younger brother of Fidel Castro. Raul took over as President of Cuba in 2008, when Fidel stepped aside. Correction: Raul stepped down as president in 2018, and officially retired from politics in 2021 after resigning as First Secretary of the Communist Party.

100A Lose it : GO APE

The slang “go ape” is actually a cleaner version of a similar expression, and is American slang that only dates back to about 1955.

103A Crafts used in NASA’s Galileo and Juno missions : JUPITER PROBES

The unmanned NASA spacecraft called Galileo was launched from the Space Shuttle Atlantis in 1989, with the mission to explore the planet Jupiter and its moons. Galileo arrived at Jupiter over 6 years later, in December 1995, and became the first spacecraft to orbit the planet. Galileo’s mission was terminated in 2003 when NASA deliberately sent the orbiter into the planet’s atmosphere causing it to burn up and hence eliminating the possibility that Jupiter or its moons might be contaminated by any bacteria from Earth.

Juno is a space probe launched by NASA in 2011 that has been orbiting the planet Jupiter since 2016. It was the first spacecraft sent to an outer planet that is powered by solar panels. Previous missions, including the Galileo space probe that orbited Jupiter, were nuclear-powered.

116A Disk-flipping strategy game : REVERSI

The game of Reversi is also sold as Othello. The name “Othello” was chosen as a nod to the play by William Shakespeare.

119A Like wheat beers : YEASTY

Hefeweizen is a wheat beer associated with the German state of Bavaria. It is also known as “Weissbier” in Germany, with “Hefeweizen” translating literally as “yeast wheat”, and “Weissbier” as “white beer”. For what it’s worth, true Hefeweizen, with strong banana-clove overtones, is my favorite beer in the world …

122A Chaperones : ESCORTS

Traditionally, a chaperone (often “chaperon” in Britain and Ireland) was a woman accompanying a younger unmarried lady in public, with the term “chaperone” originating in France. The French word was used to mean “hood, cowl” going back to the 12th century, a diminutive of “chape” meaning “cape”. So, our word “chaperone” has the same roots as our word “cape” and indeed “cap”. The idea is that a chaperone is “covering” someone who is vulnerable socially.

123A Many a John Williams composition : THEME

The great composer John Williams has won five Academy Awards for his work on film scores, for:

• “Fiddler on the Roof”
• “Jaws”
• “Star Wars”
• “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial”
• “Schindler’s List”

Down

2D Conical accommodations : TEPEE

A tepee (also written as “tipi” and “teepee”) is a cone-shaped tent traditionally made from animal hides that is used by the Great Plains Native Americans. A wigwam is a completely different structure and is often a misnomer for a tepee. A wigwam is a domed structure built by Native Americans in the Northeast and Great Lakes regions, intended to be a more permanent dwelling. The wigwam can also be covered with hides but more often was covered with grass, reeds, brush or cloth.

4D “Jackie Brown” star Pam : GRIER

“Jackie Brown” is a 1997 Quentin Tarantino film that is based on a 1992 Elmore Leonard novel titled “Rum Punch”. Pam Grier plays the title role, a flight attendant smuggling money from Mexico into the US. The list of supporting actors is impressive, including Samuel L. Jackson, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton and Robert De Niro. Even Tony Curtis shows up, playing himself.

6D Commercial suffix with Power : -ADE

Powerade is one of those sports drinks, and is the only real competitor to Gatorade.

7D Singer Bareilles : SARA

Sara Bareilles achieved success with her 2007 “Love Song” with the help of the iTunes online store. In one week in June of that year, iTunes offered the song as “free single of the week” and it quickly became the most downloaded song in the store. It was her debut single, and earned a couple of Grammy nominations.

9D One of the Beatles : RINGO

Richard Starkey, better known as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Known for his unique drumming style and genial personality, he also had a successful solo career after the band’s breakup, with hits like “It Don’t Come Easy” and “Photograph”. I was lucky enough to see Ringo live, with his All-Starr Band, and what a great concert that was …

10D Faith with five pillars : ISLAM

Followers of the Muslim tradition believe in the Five Pillars of Islam, five obligatory acts that underpin Muslim life. The Five Pillars are:

1. The Islamic creed
2. Daily prayer
3. Almsgiving (Zakat)
4. Fasting during the month of Ramadan
5. The pilgrimage to Mecca (haj, hajj, hadj) once during a lifetime

11D Prefix with cache : GEO-

Geocaching is a game rather like hide and seek that is played outdoors using hi-tech equipment. The idea is that someone places a waterproof container in a specific location with known GPS coordinates. The container has a logbook inside, so that players who find the “cache” can record their discovery along with any notes of interest. The location of the container is listed on special sites on the Internet for anyone to access. You can check out caches near you at www.geocaching.com. You will probably be surprised at how many there are! I know I was …

14D Choreographer Twyla : THARP

I love Twyla Tharp’s choreography, and her “patented moves”. Tharp was born in Portland, Indiana in 1941. She was named for Twila Thornburg, the “Pig Princess” of the 89th Annual Muncie Fair in Indiana. That’s one to tell the grandkids …

16D ___ rating (chess stat) : ELO

The Elo rating system is used to compare the skill levels of competing players in games like chess and Scrabble. The system is named for a Hungarian-born professor of physics called Arpad Elo, who was also a master-level chess player active in the US Chess Federation.

17D Old space station : MIR

Russia’s Mir space station was a remarkably successful project. It held the record for the longest continuous human presence in space at just under 10 years, until the International Space Station eclipsed that record in 2010. Towards the end of the space station’s life however, the years began to take their toll. There was a dangerous fire, multiple system failures, and a collision with a resupply ship. The Russian commitment to the International Space Station drained funds for repairs, so Mir was allowed to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up in 2001. “Mir” is a Russian word meaning “peace” or “world”.

24D Chinese artist Ai ___ : WEIWEI

Ai Weiwei is a Chinese artist who has been vocal in his criticism of his country’s position on human rights and democracy. Weiwei was an artistic consultant largely responsible for the look and feel of the Beijing National Stadium, commonly referred to as the “Bird’s Nest”, that was showcased during the 2008 Summer Olympics.

27D Triage provider : MEDIC

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

29D The Cardinals, on scoreboards : STL

The St. Louis Cardinals Major League Baseball team plays at Busch Stadium. Busch Stadium is the third stadium in the history of St. Louis to have the Busch name. The first two were named for Gussie Busch, the brewing magnate and former Cardinals team owner. The current stadium is named for the brewery though, and not Gussie per se.

31D Clothing brand named for perceived generational differences in the ’60s : GAP

The Gap is a San Francisco-based clothing retailer that was founded in 1969. The name “the Gap” was a homage to the popular sixties term “the generation gap”.

The phrase “generation gap” was first used in the sixties to describe the gap between the values and customs of the baby boomers and those of the prior generations.

33D “___ Rouge” : MOULIN

“Moulin Rouge” is a 1952 film that tells the story of French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Correction: Directed by John Huston, the movie stars José Ferrer as the artist and Zsa Zsa Gabor as Jane Avril, a can-can dancer who becomes a subject for some of his artworks.

36D Redheaded “Queen of Country” : REBA

Reba McEntire is a country music singer and television actress. McEntire starred in her own sitcom “Reba” that aired on the WB and the CW channels from 2001 to 2007. She is sometimes referred to as “The Queen of Country”.

41D Bill of HBO’s “Real Time” : MAHER

Bill Maher is a stand-up comedian and political commentator. Maher has an HBO television show called “Real Time with Bill Maher” which is essentially a follow-on from the very successful “Politically Incorrect” program that started out on Comedy Central.

48D Affliction for some vets, in brief : PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

50D Greek PPP : RHOS

Rho is the Greek letter that looks just like our Roman letter “p”, although it is equivalent to the Roman letter R. It is the 17th letter in the Greek alphabet.

52D Chef Nosrat who wrote the best seller “Salt Fat Acid Heat” : SAMIN

“Salt Fat Acid Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking” is a 2017 cookbook penned by chef and TV host Samin Nosrat. A best seller, it has been described as more of a reference book than a collection of recipes. Nosrat explains how to master flavor and texture using salt, fat, acid and heat, four elements that she calls the “cardinal directions” of cooking.

54D Tall tale : YARN

The phrase “to spin a yarn”, meaning “to tell a tall tale”, originated in the early 1800s with seamen. The idea was that sailors would tell stories to each other while engaged in mindless work such as twisting yarn.

56D Sonic euphoria, colloquially : EARGASM

“Euphoria” is a Greek word meaning “power of enduring easily”. In the 18th century, the term was imported into English medical jargon to describe a sick person’s condition when feeling healthy and comfortable. Today, “euphoria” is used more generally to describe any feeling of well-being or elation.

65D Streisand musical : YENTL

“Yentl” is a play that opened in New York City in 1975. The move to adapt the play for the big screen was led by Barbra Streisand, and indeed she wrote the first outline of a musical version herself as far back as 1968. The film was eventually made and released in 1983, with Streisand performing the lead role.

69D Rubberneck : GAWK

We have been rubbernecking since the late 1800s, although the word “rubberneck” originally applied to someone with a tendency to listen in on other people’s conversations. The term really became popular when people started rubbernecking in automobiles.

70D ___ cava (major blood vessel) : VENA

The superior vena cava is a large vein carrying deoxygenated blood from the upper part of the body to the right atrium of the heart. The inferior vena cava does the same thing for the lower part of the body.

71D Sci-fi pioneer Jules : VERNE

Jules Verne really was a groundbreaking author. Verne pioneered the science-fiction genre, writing about space, air and underwater travel, long before they were practical and proved feasible. Verne is the second-most translated author of all time, with only Agatha Christie beating him out.

75D Big ___, nickname for M.L.B.’s David Ortiz : PAPI

The Dominican American baseball player David Ortiz has the nickname “Big Papi”. After each home run that Ortiz scores, he looks upwards and points to the sky in a tribute to his mother who died in a car crash in 2002 when she was only 46 years old.

76D Lefty, to a righty : LIB

The concept of left-right politics started in France during the French Revolution. When members of France’s National Assembly convened in 1789, supporters of the King sat to the President’s right, and supporters of the revolution to the President’s left. The political terms “left” and “right” were then coined in the local media, and have been used ever since.

81D “Ni ___” (Chinese “hello”) : HAO

One might say “ni hao” (also “nihao”) in Chinese to mean “hello”, although a more literal translation is “you good”.

82D ___ Khalifa, tower scaled by Tom Cruise in “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol” : BURJ

Burj Khalifa is a spectacular skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is the tallest man-made structure in the world, and has been so since the completion of its exterior in 2009. The space in the building came onto the market at a really bad time, during the global financial crisis. The building was part of a US$20 billion development of downtown Dubai that was backed by the city government which had to go looking for a bailout from the neighboring city of Abu Dhabi. The tower was given the name Burj Khalifa at the last minute, apparently as a nod to UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan who helped to broker the bailout.

83D Heir with much hair in the Bible : ESAU

Esau was the grandson of Abraham and the twin brother of Jacob, the founder of the Israelites. When Esau was born to Isaac and Rebekah, the event was described with “Now the first came forth, red all over like a hairy garment”. Esau is portrayed later in life as being very different from his brother Jacob, as a hunter and someone who loves the outdoor life.

86D Fish hawk : OSPREY

The osprey is also known as the sea hawk or fish eagle. Osprey nests are large heaps of sticks usually built in forks of trees and rocky outcrops. I’ve seen quite a few osprey nests built on the tops of light poles and utility poles. A pair of mating ospreys is known as a duet.

87D Purportedly calming compound in some gummies, in brief : CBD

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a chemical extracted from cannabis plants that is used as a herbal drug. It does not contain the chemical tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is responsible for the marijuana “high”.

93D Cultural group of SW Britain : CORNISH

Cornwall is a county in the very southwest of England. It is the homeland of the Cornish people, a Celtic nation who have a very distinct cultural identity. The Cornish language is in the same Celtic language family as Welsh and Breton.

96D ___ soda : SAL

Sodium carbonate is well known as a water softener sold for use in laundry, and is variously described as sal soda, washing soda and soda crystals.

97D Astronomically demoted, as per a 2006 Word of the Year : PLUTOED

Pluto was discovered in 1930, and was welcomed as the ninth planet in our solar system. It is relatively small in size, just one fifth of the mass of our own moon. In the 1990s and 2000s, astronomers began to discover more large objects in the outer solar system, including the 2005 discovery of Eris, a “scattered disc object” at the outer reaches. Given that Eris is actually more massive than Pluto, and other objects really aren’t that much smaller, Pluto’s status as a planet was drawn into question. In 2006 there was a scientific definition for a “planet” agreed for the first time, resulting in Pluto being relegated to the status of “dwarf planet”, along with Eris. This relegation led to the word “pluto” being used as a verb meaning “give a less important position than before”.

104D Twin sister of Sherri on “The Simpsons” : TERRI

Sherri and Terri Mackleberry are identical twin sisters on “The Simpsons” television show. They are classmates of Bart Simpson, and their father is Homer’s supervisor at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant.

105D Malaise, with “the” : … BLAHS

A malaise is a general but undefined feeling of discomfort or illness. The term “malaise” ultimately comes from Old French with the prefix “mal-” meaning “bad” and “aise” meaning “ease”.

109D Volkswagen sedan : JETTA

“Jetta” is one in a series of model names related to winds that has been used by Volkswagen. “Jetta” comes from the German for “jet stream”, and the model name “Passat” comes from the German for “trade wind”.

110D Buck enshrined in Cooperstown : O’NEIL

Buck O’Neil was a first baseman and manager with the Kansas City Monarchs, a team in the Negro American League. He was appointed as a coach with the Chicago Cubs in 1962, making him the first African-American coach in the major leagues.

111D David who fronted Talking Heads : BYRNE

Musician David Byrne was a founding member of the New Wave band called Talking Heads. Byrne resides in the US, although was born in the UK.