Day: June 13, 2025

Bill’s time: 17m 34s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Short shorts : HOT PANTS

The term “hot pants” was popularized by fashion journalist Laura Jacobs, and the style quickly became a major trend, even being featured in the official uniforms for flight attendants on some airlines. They were introduced in fashion shows in the winter of 1970/71, and became a huge sensation in the summer of ’71. By the end of the year, hot pants were “gone”.

9A Walk with attitude : SASHAY

To sashay is to strut along in a showy manner. “Sashay” is an Anglicized form of the French word “chassé”, a sliding step used in square dancing.

16A Product whose slogans have included “Say hello to the future” and “Welcome to the big screens” : IPHONE

Apple started development of the iPhone in 2004 in collaboration with Cingular Wireless (now AT&T Mobility). The confidential program was given the name “Project Purple”, and took thirty months to complete at a cost of about $150 million. The iPhone was introduced in 2007 at the Macworld convention in San Francisco.

17A Aquatic eater of shellfish : SEA OTTER

Sea otters often use rocks as tools to break open the shells of their prey, such as clams and mussels. They are one of the few mammal species known to use tools in the wild.

23A Shocker of sorts : TASER

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”.

25A Apple field : TECH

Apple Computers was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company incorporated the following year, but without Wayne. He sold his share of the company back to Jobs and Wozniak, for $800. But he did make some more money, when and he later received an additional $1,500 to formally withdraw his claim to the company. Dearie, dearie me …

31A It’s cut and dried : HAY

Hay is dried grass that is stored for use as animal fodder. Straw consists of the dried stalks of cereal plants, the residue left after the grain and chaff have been removed. Straw can also be used as animal fodder, as well as fuel, bedding and thatch.

33A “Messenger” in biology class : RNA

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA. An added complication is that small changes in the sequence of amino acids specified by DNA sometimes takes place in a process known as RNA editing. This RNA editing occurs after the nucleotide sequence has been transcribed from DNA, but before it is translated into protein.

38A Runs wild, in gamer-speak : GOES BEAST MODE

“To go beast mode” means “to unleash your inner beast”. It’s about tapping into a primal, aggressive energy to achieve a goal, usually in a competitive or challenging situation. The phrase is often used in sports and fitness, but it can apply to any situation where someone is giving it their all and dominating.

39A Cocktails that might make for poor nightcaps : WHITE RUSSIANS

The White Russian cocktail gained a massive surge in popularity after being prominently featured as the drink of choice for The Dude in the 1998 Coen Brothers film “The Big Lebowski”.

42A Soup served with sriracha, maybe : PHO

Pho (pronounced “fuh”) is a noodle soup from Vietnam that is a popular street food. It is often ordered with a side of hanh dam, pickled white onions.

Sriracha hot chili sauce is named for the coastal city of Si Racha in eastern Thailand, where the recipe likely originated. Here in North America, we are most familiar with the Sriracha sold in a red bottle with a green top that is made by Huy Fong Foods in the city of Irwindale, California. The manufacturer was founded by Vietnamese refugee David Tran, who escaped from Vietnam in 1978 on a Taiwanese freighter called the Huey Fong, after which he named his new company.

56A ___ Bush, Black Lives Matter activist who served in Congress : CORI

Cori Bush became a member of the US House of Representatives in 2021. A Democrat from St. Louis, Missouri, Bush joined the group of progressive lawmakers known as “The Squad”.

59A Majorly successful business start-ups : UNICORNS

In the world of finance, a unicorn is a privately-held startup company that has a value of over $1 billion. The derivative terms “decacorn” and “hectacorn” refer to companies with valuation of over $10 billion and $100 billion respectively. The use of the term “unicorn” reflects how unlikely such valuations are.

64A Many of these begin with “E” : EYE TESTS

The commonly used eye chart (that starts with the letters “E FP TOZ LPED”) is called a Snellen chart. The test is named after its developer Herman Snellen, who introduced it way back in 1862.

Down

2D ___ cake, dessert with layers of sponge, buttercream and ganache : OPERA

The Opéra cake is a French dessert whose creation is often attributed to the Dalloyau pâtisserie in Paris in 1955. It’s said to be named for the Paris Opéra Garnier, or because its layers resemble a stage.

4D Gertrude Stein, for one : PROSE POET

Gertrude Stein was a great American writer who spent most of her life in France. Gertrude Stein met Alice B. Toklas in Paris in 1907, and the two were life partners until Stein died in 1946. Cleverly, Stein published her own memoir in 1933 but called the book “The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas”. It was to become Stein’s best selling title.

8D Twill suit material : SERGE

Serge is a type of twill fabric with diagonal ridges on both sides. The name “serge” comes from the Greek word for “silken”.

9D “Some rise by ___, and some by virtue fall”: “Measure for Measure” : SIN

“Measure for Measure” is one of William Shakespeare’s plays, ostensibly a comedy. The title “Measure for Measure” is actually a quotation from the Bible found in the Gospel According to Luke.

14D “___, And?” (2024 Ariana Grande hit) : YES

Ariana Grande’s 2024 hit “Yes, And?” is widely interpreted as a direct response to public scrutiny and gossip between 2020 and 2023 about her personal life.

21D Go on a run, perhaps : SCHUSS

A schuss is a very fast run downhill in skiing, one with no turns taken to slow the pace of the descent. “Schuss” is a German word for “shot”.

24D Name of 11 pharaohs : RAMSES

Ramesses (also “Ramses”) was the name taken by eleven of the Egyptian pharaohs. “Ramesses” translates as “Born of the sun-god Ra”.

30D Flotsam and jetsam : DEBRIS

“Flotsam” and “jetsam” are both terms used to describe garbage in the ocean. Flotsam is floating wreckage from a ship or its cargo. Jetsam is similar to flotsam, except that it is part of a ship or cargo that is deliberately cast overboard, perhaps to lighten a vessel.

32D Japanese businessman Torakusu with an internationally known company named after him : YAMAHA

The Japanese company Yamaha started out way back in 1888 as a manufacturer of pianos and reed organs. Even though the company has diversified since then, Yamaha’s logo still reflects its musical roots. Said logo is made up of three intersecting tuning forks, and can even be seen on Yamaha motorcycles and ATVs.

34D What might be pinched for pennies : COIN PURSE

The official name of our smallest denomination coin is “cent”, and our use of the word “penny” is just a colloquialism derived from the British coin of the same name. In the UK, the plural of penny is “pence”, whereas we have “pennies” in our pockets in the US.

35D Artist who made a lot of good points? : SEURAT

Georges Seurat was a French Post-Impressionist. His most famous work is “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte – 1884”, a work in the pointillist style that can be viewed in the Art Institute of Chicago. If you’ve seen the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, it features quite prominently in a wonderful, wonderful scene shot at the gallery. The painting features ordinary people enjoying a day at a park, and is the inspiration for the 1984 musical by Stephen Sondheim called “Sunday in the Park with George”.

Pointillism is a style of painting that grew out of Impressionism. The pointillist technique calls for the artist to use small, distinct dots of bold color to build up the image. Pointillism was developed in the late 1800s by the great French painter, Georges Seurat. You can go see his magnificent work “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” at The Art Institute of Chicago the next time you’re in town.

36D Western Hemisphere grp. : OAS

The Organization of American States (OAS) was founded in 1948, and has its headquarters in Washington, D.C. Not all of the independent states in the Americas are members. Cuba was barred from participation in the organization after a vote in 1962. Honduras had her membership suspended after the country’s 2009 coup.

38D Going dark on, as one’s love interest, in modern parlance : GHOSTING

A rather insensitive person might break off a relationship simply by cutting off all communication with their partner, without any warning. Such a move is referred to as “ghosting” in modern parlance, particularly when the relationship relies heavily on online interaction.

49D Practices : MORES

Mores are the accepted customs and practices of a particular group. “Mores” is the plural of the Latin word “mos” which means “custom”.

50D Physicist Mach after whom “Mach numbers” are named : ERNST

The Mach number of a moving object (like say an airplane) is its speed relative to the speed of sound. A plane traveling at Mach 2, for example, is moving at twice the speed of sound. The term “Mach” takes its name from the Austrian physicist Ernst Mach who published a groundbreaking paper in 1877 that even predicted the “sonic boom”.

53D Big Island bean variety : KONA

Kona coffee is cultivated on the Big Island of Hawaii, on the slopes of Mauna Loa and Hualalai, two of the five volcanoes on the island. Coffee plants were brought to Kona in 1828 and late in the 19th century, coffee became a viable and worthwhile crop. Today Kona is one of the most expensive and popular coffees in the world.

57D The Dolphins, on scoreboards : MIA

The Miami Dolphins football team was founded in 1966 by politician Joe Robbie and comedian Danny Thomas.