Day: July 17, 2025

Bill’s time: 9m 47s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6A Environmental concern in Dr. Seuss’s “The Lorax” : SMOG

“The Lorax” is a 1971 children’s book written by Dr. Seuss. It is an allegorical work questioning the problems created by industrialization, and in particular its impact on the environment. At one point in the story, the Lorax “speaks for the trees, for the trees have no tongues”. “The Lorax” was adapted into an animated film that was released in 2012, with Danny DeVito voicing the title character.

He was shortish, and oldish, and brownish and mossy. And he spoke with a voice that was sharpish and bossy.

14A Search engine giant based in China : BAIDU

Baidu is often lauded as the “Google of China” due to the company’s dominant search engine and expanding tech ecosystem. However, it has faced significant controversies, particularly concerning censorship. As the primary gateway to online information for hundreds of millions of Chinese users, Baidu operates under strict government regulations, leading to the filtering and outright blocking of search results deemed politically sensitive or contrary to state ideology.

15A Flaky white fish : HAKE

Hake is a commonly eaten fish in Europe, with half being consumed in Spain.

16A Drag : TOKE

“Toke” is a slang term describing a puff on a marijuana cigarette, or on a pipe containing the drug.

17A Microsoft offering whose name sounds like two letters of the alphabet : EXCEL

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program included in the Microsoft Office suite of applications. Microsoft’s first spreadsheet program was introduced back in 1982 and called Multiplan. Multiplan’s popularity waned due to the success of the competing product Lotus 1-2-3. Microsoft then introduced Excel, initially just for the Macintosh. When Excel was extended to Windows, Lotus was slow to respond and Microsoft took over the market.

23A Subj. of evaluation by a college panel : APP

Application (app.)

30A Characters in “There Will Be Blood” : OILMEN

“There Will Be Blood” is a 2007 film starring Daniel Day Lewis. The movie is based (loosely) on the 1927 novel by Upton Sinclair called “Oil!”

37A Layout of solar panels, e.g. : ARRAY

Solar panels are arrays of solar cells that make use of what’s known as the photovoltaic effect. We are more likely to have learned about the photoelectric effect in school, in which electrons were ejected from the surface of some materials when it was exposed to light or other forms of radiation. The photovoltaic effect is related but different. Instead of being electrons ejected from the surface, in the photovoltaic effect electrons move around in the material creating a difference in voltage.

38A Elvis Costello hit featured in “Notting Hill” : SHE

While often associated with Elvis Costello due to its prominent feature in the film “Notting Hill”, “She” was actually written by Charles Aznavour and Herbert Kretzmer in 1974. Aznavour himself recorded the original version, which became a number one hit in the UK. Costello’s cover was released in 1999.

Elvis Costello is an English singer and songwriter whose real name is Declan MacManus. Although Costello is more associated with the punk rock music scene, he is very active with the Jazz Foundation of America. He does a lot of work with the foundation to help jazz and blues musicians in need, especially after Hurricane Katrina.

“Notting Hill” is a marvelous 1999 romantic comedy written by Richard Curtis that is set in the Notting HIll district of London. The romantic leads are played by Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. Great stuff.

39A Film heroine in search of the demigod Maui : MOANA

“Moana” is a 2016 animated feature film and the 56th animated Disney movie. The title character is the daughter of a Polynesian chief who heads off in search of the demigod Maui, hoping that he can save her people. Unlike many of the previous Disney Princess films, Moana’s story is not centered around romance. In fact, she is the first Disney Princess who doesn’t have a love interest.

41A Precursor of the International 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”.

The International Space Station (ISS) is a modular facility that comprises components launched into space by Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets, and by American Space Shuttles. The station has been occupied by astronauts and scientists continually since November, 2000.

45A Section at the end of a textbook, often : ERRATA

“Errata” is the past participle of the Latin word “errare” meaning “to err”. We use “errata” (singular “erratum”) to describe a list of errors that have been noted in some publication.

54A Badlands discovery, maybe : FOSSIL

Originally, the term “fossil” described anything that was unearthed, dug up. We tend to define the term more narrowly today, reserving it for the geological remains of a plant or animal. “Fossil” comes from the Latin “fossilis” meaning “dug up”.

Badlands may be “bad lands” for agriculture (hence the name), but they can be beautiful. A badlands is an extensive area from which the topsoil has been eroded by wind and water, leaving exposed rock and very little vegetation. One of the most beautiful badlands in the US is preserved for the nation as South Dakota’s Badlands National Park.

58A Explosive stuff, familiarly : NITRO

Nitroglycerin (also known as “nitro”) is a very unstable, oily, colorless liquid. It is usually used as the explosive ingredient in a stabilized product like dynamite or cordite. Nitroglycerin is also used medically, as a vasodilator. Right after it hits the bloodstream, nitroglycerin causes the blood vessels to dilate so that the heart has less work to do. I had occasion to take it a couple of times, and boy, what a speedy and fundamental effect it has …

64A Cartoon character who says “Shhh. Be vewy vewy quiet” : ELMER

Elmer Fudd is one of the most famous Looney Tunes cartoon characters, and is the hapless nemesis of Bugs Bunny. If you have never seen it, check out Elmer and Bugs in the marvelous “Rabbit of Seville”, a short cartoon that parodies Rossini’s “Barber of Seville”. Wonderful stuff …

65A Pioneering puzzle-laden computer game : MYST

In the days when I played the occasional video game, the best of the bunch was undoubtedly Myst. It is a game full of puzzles with the player wandering through a beautifully-designed (for its day) interactive world.

Down

1D Prez on a penny : ABE

The US one-cent coin has borne the profile of President Abraham Lincoln since 1909, the centennial of Lincoln’s birth. Fifty years later, a representation of the Lincoln Memorial was added to the reverse side.

5D (Stops (false (not any) witness) filming) : CULINARY ARTS (NARY in LIAR in CUTS)

The adjective “nary” means “not one”, as in “nary a soul” or even “nary a one”.

7D Compact wooden figures … and a hint to 5-, 11-, 22- and 25-Down : MATRYOSHKA DOLLS

Matryoshka dolls are those wooden nesting dolls that are on sale at every tourist trap across Russia. “Matryoshka” is Russian for “little matron”. I was lucky enough to spend a week in Russia in the late 1990s. I brought back just one memento, a pair of matryoshka dolls. One depicted Mikhail Gorbachev, and the other Ronald Reagan. Images of Gorbachev and Reagan were everywhere in Russia back then …

10D Alpha Centauri A, par exemple : ETOILE

In French, one can see “étoiles” (stars) in the “ciel” (sky).

The Alpha Centauri star system is a mere 4.37 light-years from the Sun, making it the closest star system to our solar system. Sometimes referred to as the closest “star”, Alpha Centauri is actually a binary star system, with two stars orbiting a common center. It is likely that Alpha Centauri is in fact a triple star system, as a third star called Proxima Centauri was discovered in 1915 that is probably linked gravitationally. It is Proxima Centauri that is actually the closest star to our own solar system, being just 4.24 light-years from the Sun.

12D Director Kurosawa : AKIRA

Akira Kurosawa was an Oscar-winning Japanese film director. His most famous movie to us in the West has to be “The Seven Samurai”, the inspiration for “The Magnificent Seven” starring Yul Brynner, and indeed a basis for “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”.

13D Headbanger’s genre : METAL

Headbanging is a practice engaged in by many players and followers of hard rock and heavy metal music. It involves shaking and nodding of the head energetically in time to the music. It’s a dangerous practice. Terry Balsamo is a guitarist with the band Evanescence and in 2005 he suffered a stroke, apparently from a blood clot that reportedly formed in his neck due to headbanging during performances.

22D (Baseball (German (physicist Ernst) possessive) rarities) : TIME MACHINES (MACH in MEIN in TIES)

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”.

23D Region known for its silk and tea : ASSAM

Assam is a state in the far northeast of India, and just south of the Himalayas. It is noted for its tea, as well as its silk.

24D ___ dish : PETRI

Julius Richard Petri was a German bacteriologist and was the man after whom the Petri dish is named. The petri dish can have an agar gel on the bottom which acts as a nutrient source for the specimen being grown and studied, in which case the dish plus agar is referred to as an “agar plate”.

25D (Church (Buffalo’s (minister, informally) waters) seats) : PEER REVIEWS (REV in ERIE in PEWS)

Buffalo is the second-most populous city in the state of New York. The city takes its name from Buffalo Creek that runs through the metropolis (although the waterway is called Buffalo River within the city). The source of the name Buffalo Creek is the subject of much speculation, but one thing is clear, there were never any bison in the area.

36D Jamie ___, “Ted Lasso” character : TARTT

“Ted Lasso” is a marvelous sports-comedy TV show about an American college football coach who moves to the UK to manage an English soccer team. The title character is played very admirably by Jason Sudeikis. Sudeikis first played Lasso in a series of TV commercials commissioned to promote NBC’s coverage of the British Premier League. The character became so popular that he inspired a whole TV series. Great stuff, and highly recommended …

54D Classic pet name : FIDO

“Fido”, the name for many a dog, is Latin for “I trust”.

59D “You’re oversharing” : TMI

Too much information! (TMI!)

60D Cartoon canine : REN

“The Ren & Stimpy Show” is an animated television serial created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi, and which ran on Nickelodeon from 1991 to 1996. The title characters are Marland “Ren” Höek, a scrawny Chihuahua, and Stimpson J. Cat, a rotund Manx cat. Not my cup of tea …