Day: May 17, 2025

Bill’s time: 11m 57s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Much mail to Santa : LISTS

If you want to send a note to Santa from Canada, he has his own special postal code: “North Pole, HOH OHO”. The US Postal Service suggests that we send mail for Santa to zip code 99705, which directs it to the city of North Pole, Alaska.

10 Sultanate that controls the exclave of Madha : OMAN

Oman lies on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula and is neighbored by the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Oman is a monarchy, and the official name of the state is the Sultanate of Oman. All of the country’s legislative, executive and judiciary power resides with the hereditary sultan.

14 Mescal source : AGAVE

Mezcal (also “mescal”) is a distilled spirit made from the agave plant. Technically, tequila is a type of mezcal that is distilled specifically from the blue agave.

17 Sitcom set in a corner store run by a Korean Canadian family (2016-21) : KIM’S CONVENIENCE

“Kim’s Convenience” is a sitcom that aired on Canadian television from 2016 to 2021. Based on a 2011 play of the same name by Iris Choi, it is about a Korean-Canadian family who run a convenience store in Toronto. The show was canceled after five seasons, but it did spawn a spin-off sitcom called “Strays” that aired for two seasons.

19 Halloween vis-à-vis All Saints’ Day : EVE

All Saints’ Day is November 1st each year. The day before All Saints’ Day is All Hallows’ Eve, better known by the Scottish term “Halloween”.

21 Cards’ home : ARI

The Arizona Cardinals were founded in 1898 as the Chicago Cardinals. That makes the Cardinals the oldest, continuously-run, professional football team in the whole country.

22 The sun, e.g., in about five billion years : RED GIANT

Red giants are very large stars with a relatively low mass. The atmosphere of a red giant is also very inflated and extends a long way into space so the surface of that atmosphere that we see is relatively cool, which gives it a red color. Stars are classified by their spectral characteristics, basically the color of the light they emit. As such, red giants are classified as M stars. Cool red giants are of a color beyond the usual range, and are classified as S stars.

27 Like one preferring platonic relationships, informally : ARO

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

28 British singer ___ Parks : ARLO

“Arlo Parks” is the stage name of British singer and poet Anaïs Marinho. Parks seems to have hit the big time early in her career, with her first studio album “Collapsed in Sunbeams” (2021) garnering a lot of positive attention.

30 Museum with works by Hockney, Turner and Millais : TATE

The museum known as “the Tate” comprises four separate galleries in England. The original Tate gallery was founded by Sir Henry Tate as the National Gallery of British Art. It is located on Millbank in London, on the site of the old Millbank Prison, and is now called Tate Britain. There is also the Tate Liverpool in the north of England that is located in an old warehouse, and the Tate St. Ives in the west country located in an old gas works. My favorite of the Tate galleries is the Tate Modern which lies on the banks of the Thames in London. It’s a beautiful building, a converted power station that you have to see to believe. As of 2018, the Tate Modern was the most visited art museum in the UK.

J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) was a groundbreaking English Romantic artist, known for his expressive use of color and light. I must admit that most of what I know about Turner’s life and career comes from watching the excellent 2014 biopic “Mr. Turner”, in which Timothy Spall plays the title role.

35 Threw one’s hat in the ring : RAN

One might toss one’s hat in the ring, take up the challenge, show willingness to vie for a position perhaps.

39 Type that’s compatible with everyone, in brief : O-NEG

In general, a person with type O-negative blood is a universal donor, meaning that his or her blood can be used for transfusion into persons with any other blood type: A, B, AB or O, negative or positive (although there are other considerations). Also in general, a person with type AB-positive blood is a universal recipient, meaning that he or she can receive a transfusion of blood of any type: A, B, AB or O, negative or positive.

40 First president of the S.C.L.C. : MLK

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was only 35 years old when he won the Nobel Peace Prize, making him the youngest person to be so honored. King was given the award for his work to end racial segregation and discrimination using non-violent means. The following year he was awarded the American Liberties Medallion by the American Jewish Community.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

44 “C’mon, dish it!” : SPILL THE TEA

To spill the beans is to divulge a secret. The expression first appeared in American English, in the early 1900s. The phrase arose as an alternative to “spoil the beans” or “upset the applecart”. The similarly meaning phrase “spill the tea” is more prevalent on the other side of the Atlantic.

49 Chicken nugget shape : DINO

There is a suggestion that dinosaur-shaped nuggets owe their popularity to the very successful “Jurassic Park” series of films. That said, “dino” chicken nuggets were introduced by Perdue Farms in 1991, two years before the release of the first film.

53 N.F.L. team whose name is a literary reference : RAVENS

The name of the Baltimore Ravens football team has a literary derivation. Baltimore was the home of the writer Edgar Allan Poe, and so the team took its moniker from his most famous poem, “The Raven”. The name was selected in a fan contest. Baltimore’s mascot is a raven named Poe. Prior to the 2008 season, the Raven’s had a trio of avian mascots: Edgar, Allan and Poe.

59 Blather : HOT AIR

Our term “blather” meaning “nonsensical talk” probably came to us via Scottish, and ultimately perhaps from an Old Norse word for “mutter”.

60 “Bad Moon Rising” band, familiarly : CCR

“Bad Moon Rising” is a song recorded by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Written by band member John Fogerty, the song was inspired by the composer watching the hurricane scene in the movie “The Devil and Daniel Webster”.

62 M.L.B. star Pete who holds the single-season record for homers by a rookie (53) : ALONSO

Pete Alonso is a professional first baseman who made his Major League debut in 2019 with the New York Mets. In that first season, Alonso set the record for most home runs by a rookie in a single season with 53, breaking the previous record set by Aaron Judge in 2017. Alonso’s nickname is “Polar Bear”.

65 They’re accepted at church : TENETS

A tenet is an article of faith, something that is “held” to be true. “Tenet” is Latin for “he/she/it holds”.

Down

1 Athlete who shares his home venue with the Sparks : LAKER

The Crypto.com Arena (formerly “Staples Center”) is a sports arena in Los Angeles that opened in 1999. It is home to several sporting franchises, including the LA Lakers and LA Clippers NBA teams, the LA Sparks WNBA team and the LA Kings hockey team.

The Los Angeles Lakers (LAL) basketball team started out in 1947 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The team chose the Lakers name in honor of the nickname of Minnesota, “Land of 10,000 Lakes”. The Lakers moved to Los Angeles in 1960.

The Los Angeles Sparks (LAS) women’s basketball team was founded just before the WNBA opened its doors for business in 1997.

3 Prime choice : SAME-DAY DELIVERY

Prime is a paid subscription service offered by Amazon since 2005. Prime members have access to premium services such as expedited delivery, streaming music and streaming video. Amazon also holds an annual Prime Day, during which Prime members are offered deals on goods that are only available to subscribers.

6 Something to take in from a boat : BANANA SPLIT

The banana split was created in Latrobe, Pennsylvania in 1904. This particular sundae was the idea of David Stickler, a young apprentice pharmacist at the Tassel Pharmacy’s soda fountain.

7 Outside the typical biological setting : IN VITRO

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is the process in which egg cells are fertilized by sperm cells outside of the body in vitro. The phrase “in vitro” translates from Latin as “in glass”. The process is usually carried out in a glass culture dish.

8 Dostoyevsky’s denial : NYET

Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s most famous novels are “Crime and Punishment” and “The Brothers Karamazov”. Dostoyevsky was arrested in 1849 and sentenced to death by Tsar Nicholas I for being part of a liberal intellectual group. He endured a mock execution before being told that his sentence was commuted to four years hard labor and exile in a camp at Omsk in Siberia.

12 Miami is in it, for short : ACC

Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)

13 French word that sounds like a vote : NEE

“Née” is the French word for “born” when referring to a female. The male equivalent is “né”. The term “née” is mainly used in English when referring to a married woman’s birth name, assuming that she has adopted her husband’s name, e.g. Michelle Obama née Robinson, Melania Trump née Knavs, and Jill Biden née Jacobs.

18 Rita ___, “R.I.P.” singer : ORA

Rita Ora is a British singer who was born Rita Sahatçiu in Pristina, Yugoslavia to Albanian parents. The family name “Sahatçiu” comes from a Turkish word meaning “watchmaker”. Rita’s parents changed their name to make it easier to pronounce. So, the family name morphed from “watchmaker” to “time”, which is “ora” in Albanian.

23 Composer Edvard : GRIEG

Edvard Grieg is Norway’s best-known composer, and one who was active in the Romantic Era. Grieg’s most famous works are the gorgeous “Piano Concerto in A minor”, and his incidental music for the play “Peer Gynt” by Henrik Ibsen.

29 Schlep : LUG

Our word “schlep” (sometimes “schlepp”) means “carry, drag”. “Schlep” comes from Yiddish, with “shlepen” having the same meaning.

33 Forrest of film : GUMP

The epic 1994 movie “Forrest Gump” is based on a 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. Groom said that he had envisioned John Goodman playing the title role, and not Tom Hanks.

38 Chain whose name came from a Boston hotel whose sign was too expensive to remove : SHERATON

The Sheraton Hotel chain was started by Ernest Henderson and Robert Moore in 1937. The pair bought a hotel that already had a lighted sign on its roof saying “Sheraton Hotel”, and as it was too big and expensive to change, they decided to adopt the name for the whole chain.

41 Part of a cold pack? : KLEENEX

Even though “Kleenex” is sometimes used today as a generic term for a tissue, “Kleenex” is a brand name owned by Kimberly-Clark. Kleenex facial tissues came about after WW1. The material used in the tissue had been developed as a replacement for cotton that was in high demand as surgical tissue during the war. The material developed was called “Cellucotton” and was used in gas mask filters. It was first sold as a facial tissue under the name “Kleenex” in 1924.

44 Wine valley in the Bay Area : SONOMA

Did you know that there are far more wine grapes produced in Sonoma than Napa? Within Sonoma County some of the more well-known appellations are Chalk Hill, Anderson Valley and Russian River Valley. Personally, when I want to visit the wine country, I head for the Russian River Valley as it’s far less crowded and much more fun than Napa Valley.

46 It was founded as the Medical College of Louisiana : TULANE

Tulane University is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Tulane was founded in 1834 as the Medical College of Louisiana. The university was privatized with the aid of an endowment from philanthropist Paul Tulane in 1884, and as a result the school’s name was changed to Tulane University. The school’s sports teams use the name Tulane Green Wave, and the team mascot is Riptide the Pelican.

47 One with an “I” problem? : EGOIST

An egoist (also “egotist”) is a selfish and conceited person. The opposite would be an altruist.

48 Team whose logo contains an “H” on top of a star : ASTROS

The Houston baseball team changed its name to the Astros (sometimes “’Stros”) from the Colt .45s in 1965 when they started playing in the Astrodome. The Astrodome was so called in recognition of the city’s long association with the US space program. The Astros moved from the National League to the American League starting in the 2013 season.

56 Base of a pump : SOLE

A pump is a woman’s shoe that doesn’t have a strap. Such shoes are probably called “pumps” because of the sound they make while walking in them.

58 “Ended, ___ it begun” (Emily Dickinson poem) : ERE

Emily Dickinson wrote nearly 1800 poems in her lifetime, with less than a dozen published before she died in 1886. Emily’s younger sister discovered the enormous collection, and it was published in batches over the coming decades.