Day: July 31, 2025

Bill’s time: 12m 42s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A The X-Men, e.g. : MUTANTS

In the Marvel Comics universe, mutants are beings with an X-gene. Such mutants are humans who naturally develop superhuman powers. The most celebrated of these mutants are known as the X-Men.

15A Excellent sort of person to be a copy editor : PEDANT

A pedant is a person “who trumpets minor points of learning”, a person who tends to nit-pick. “Pedant” comes via Middle French from the Italian word “pedante” meaning “teacher”.

16A Dr. ___ (repeated Mike Myers film role) : EVIL

Dr. Evil is a character played by Mike Myers in the “Austin Powers” series of movies. The character lampoons various James Bond villains, just as Austin Powers lampoons James Bond himself.

Mike Myers does a great British accent, witness his performance in the madcap “Austin Powers” movies. He has an advantage though, as both his parents are British, and live in Ontario, Canada.

22A Empty spaces : LACUNAS

A lacuna is a missing piece of text (or music) in a larger work. Usually the text has been lost due to damage of an older manuscript. Lacunae can be very controversial as experts vie with each other to suggest what words have been lost.

24A Rita ___, “Anywhere” 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.

25A Scout’s work, informally : RECON

A reconnaissance (recon) is a preliminary survey carried out to gather information. The term “reconnaissance” came into English in the early 19th century from French, from which language it translates literally as “recognition”.

26A Testing the limits, say : AVANT-GARDE

Someone or something described as avant-garde is especially innovative. “Avant-garde” is French for “advance guard”.

34A Bloom in several Monet paintings : LILY

French artist Claude Monet was one of the founders of the Impressionist movement, and indeed the term “Impressionism” comes from the title of his 1872 painting “Impression, Sunrise”. That work depicts the port of Le Havre, which was Monet’s hometown. Later in his life, Monet purchased a house in Giverny, and famously installed lily ponds and a Japanese bridge in the property’s extensive gardens. He spent two decades painting the water lily ponds, producing his most famous works. I was fortunate enough to visit Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny a few years ago. A beautiful place …

35A Best Picture of 1958 : GIGI

“Gigi” is a very popular 1958 musical film starring Leslie Caron in the title role. The movie’s screenplay is based on a 1944 novella of the same name by French author Colette. Colette’s “Gigi” was also adapted into a 1951 stage play by Anita Loos, in which Audrey Hepburn played the title role in the original Broadway production.

39A Ones paying flat rates … or, when read as two words, a hint to this puzzle’s theme : TENANTS, or TEN ANTS

A tenant is a person or entity “holding” property by virtue of title or lease. The term “tenant” comes from the Latin “tenere” meaning “to hold”.

41A Agcy. watching the skies : FAA

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was set up in 1958 (as the Federal Aviation Agency). The agency was established at that particular time largely in response to an increasing number of midair collisions. The worst of these disasters had taken place two years earlier over the Grand Canyon, a crash between two commercial passenger airplanes that resulted in 128 fatalities.

42A ___ Gras : MARDI

“Mardi Gras” translates from French as “Fat Tuesday”, and the holiday gets its name from the practice of eating rich foods on the eve of the fasting season known as Lent. Lent starts on the next day, called Ash Wednesday.

46A “Full House” pair : OLSENS

I know very little about the Olsen twins, but I am told that many folks believe Mary-Kate and Ashley to be identical twins. They look very much alike, but are in fact fraternal twins. The sisters were cast as Michelle Tanner on the eighties sitcom “Full House”, taking turns playing the role.

50A Award-winning Donald Glover TV series, or where it was filmed : ATLANTA

“Atlanta” is a comedy-drama television show that was created by and stars Donald Glover. He plays a Princeton dropout named “Earn” who returns penniless to his native Atlanta. Brian Tyree Henry plays an up-and-coming rap artist named “Paper Boi”, and Earn’s cousin. Earn makes efforts to reconnect with Paper Boi, and hilarity ensues …

Actor and singer Donald Glover also uses the stage name “Childish Gambino”. He perhaps came to the public’s attention when created and took on the starring role in the comedy-drama TV series “Atlanta” in 2016.

52A Avalanche group, for short : NHL

The Colorado Avalanche is a professional ice hockey team based in Denver, Colorado. The Avalanche (“Avs”) were founded in Quebec in 1972 as the Quebec Nordiques, and moved to Denver in 1995.

63A Greek goddess of peace : IRENE

Eirene (also “Irene”) was the Greek goddess of peace, with “eirene” being the Greek word for “peace”. The Roman equivalent to Eirene was the goddess Pax.

65A Shred the ___ (conquer a mountain, in skiing slang) : GNAR

“Shredding the Gnar” is a slang phrase used by snowboarders. The term doesn’t seem to have a precise definition, but “shredding” seems to translate simply as “snowboarding”, as best I can tell. As for the “Gnar”, I have no idea …

66A 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!

68A Tennis champ Mandlikova : HANA

Hana Mandlíková is a former professional tennis star from Czechoslovakia. She won four Grand Slam titles and then retired in 1990, at the ripe old age of 28.

Down

1D Laptop accessories : MICE

The computer mouse was invented at the Stanford Research Institute in 1963, by one Douglas Engelbart. Sadly for him, his patent ran out before mice became standard equipment on computers, so he never made any money from his amazing invention.

2D Thick Japanese noodle : UDON

Udon noodles are made from wheat-flour and are very popular in Japanese cuisines such as tempura.

3D Main component of steatite : TALC

The metamorphic rock known as soapstone or steatite has a myriad of uses, largely because it is relatively soft. It feels quite soapy to the touch, hence the name “soapstone”. It can be used for making countertops, or as a medium for artistic and decorative carving. It’s also used by tailors as a marking tool on cloth.

4D Collection of literary works : ANTHOLOGY

Strictly speaking, an anthology is a collection of poetic works, although the meaning of “anthology” has broadened over time to cover any literary collection, or even a collection of ideas, comments, complaints etc. The term derives from the Greek “anthologia”, a word for a collection of short poems by several authors. The literal meaning is “flower collection” from “anthos” and “logia”, so an anthology is a book containing “flowers” of verse.

5D State bordering Arizona : SONORA

Sonora is the state in Mexico lying just south of the borders with Arizona and New Mexico. The Sonoran Desert actually straddles the US-Mexico border, covering 120,000 square miles in parts of the states of Sonora, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Arizona and California.

12D Flaky rock : MICA

Mica is a silicate mineral. Thin sheets of mica are transparent and are used in place of glass in certain applications. This form of mica is called isinglass, and as it has a better thermal performance than glass it is a great choice for “peepholes” in boilers and lanterns. Mica is also used in the electronics industry, making use of its unique electrical and thermal insulating properties.

25D Something you might sail right through? : REGATTA

The word “regatta” is Venetian dialect and was originally used to describe boat races among the gondoliers of Venice on the Grand Canal back in the mid-1600s.

26D Thrifty competitor : ALAMO

The third-largest car rental company in recent years is Alamo, which was founded in 1974. Alamo made inroads (pun!) into the market by popularizing the idea of “unlimited mileage”.

32D Big name in dental care : ORAL-B

The Oral-B toothbrush was introduced to the world in 1950, designed by a California periodontist. The first “model” was the Oral-B 60, a name given to reflect the 60 tufts in the brush. In 1969, the Oral-B was the first toothbrush to get to the moon as it was the toothbrush of choice for the crew of the Apollo 11 spacecraft.

33D Animal with sea and coral varieties : SNAKE

I used to live in the Philippines and spent almost every weekend SCUBA diving (happy days!). Occasionally, I’d come across a sea snake slithering through the water. The rule was always to never swim “above” sea snakes as they don’t have gills and have to come to the surface to breathe. You don’t want to be in the way of a sea snake when it’s coming up for a breath of air, as all sea snakes are venomous and many fatalities have been recorded from their bites.

Coral snakes are a widely distributed group of snakes, with species found in much of the world. In North America, they are mainly found in the southern US. The bite of a coral snake is particularly nasty, although few such bites are reported each year.

36D Move like a sloth : INCH

All four of the extant species of three-toed sloths are native to South and Central America. Cousins of the three-toed sloths are the two-toed sloths, of which there are two species still living.

43D Start of a wish-list letter : DEAR SANTA

Canada Post has an official Santa Claus letter-response system that it introduced in 1983. Those wishing to write to Santa can address the envelope with the special post code H0H 0H0 (that might be written as “H0 H0 H0”). Canada Post answers about a million letters a year, each of them in the language of the sender. My hat is off to Canada Post, and to the volunteer workers at the Montreal post office that started the tradition of answering letters to Santa back in 1974 …

45D Ferrari’s Formula 1 rival : MCLAREN

Bruce McLaren was a racecar driver and designer from New Zealand. He was very successful during the sixties. The race team that he founded is still active and successful today. McLaren himself died while testing a car at the Goodwood Circuit in England in 1970.

In motor racing, the designation “formula” is a set of rules that all participants and cars must abide by. The definition of “Formula One” was agreed back in 1946, with the “one” designating that it is the most advanced of the “formulae”, and the most competitive.

49D Huts : SHANTIES

Our word “shanty” is used for a rough cabin. It comes from the Canadian French word “chantier”, which is a “lumberjack’s headquarters”.

54D ___ Farmiga, Best Supporting Actress nominee for 2009’s “Up in the Air” : VERA

My favorite performance by film actress Vera Farmiga was in the 2009 film “Up in the Air”. In the movie, she played the love interest for the character played by George Clooney, and ended up with a nomination for that season’s Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

56D “Location, location, location,” to many real estate agents : MANTRA

A mantra is a word that is used as a focus for the mind while meditating. The term is Sanskrit in origin, and is now used figuratively in English to describe any oft-repeated word or phrase.

57D Jay in the Television Hall of Fame : LENO

Jay Leno was born James Leno in New Rochelle, New York. Jay’s father was the son of Italian immigrants, and his mother was from Scotland. Leno grew up in Andover, Massachusetts and actually dropped out of school on the advice of a high school guidance counselor. However, years later he went to Emerson College and earned a Bachelor’s degree in speech therapy. Leno also started a comedy club at Emerson in 1973. Today Jay Leno is a car nut and owns over 300 vehicles of various types. You can check them out on his website: www.jaylenosgarage.com.

The Television Hall of Fame was formed in 1984. There were seven inductees in that first year, including Lucille Ball, Milton Berle, Norman Lear and Edward R. Murrow.