Day: August 3, 2025

Bill’s time: 20m 40s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

4A Iconic sci-fi setting spelled out in this puzzle’s shaded squares : THE ENTERPRISE

The USS Enterprise is a starship in the “Star Trek” universe (pun!). There have been several generations of starships with the name Enterprise, starting with the vessel numbered NCC-1701, which appeared in the original TV series. My favorite “Star Trek” series is “Next Generation”, which features USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D.

22A Member of this puzzle’s shaded squares who might say “I cannot change the laws of physics, Captain!” : MISTER SCOTT

In the “Star Trek” series on television and in the movies, the colorful character named Scotty was played by Canadian actor James Doohan. Doohan joined the Royal Canadian Artillery at the start of WWII, and participated in the D-Day Invasion of Normandy. After surviving the landing, that same day Doohan was shot by one of his own men in a tragic mishap. Doohan was hit six times, with a bullet to his chest stopped by a silver cigarette case he was carrying. One of Doohan’s fingers was shot off in the incident. He managed to conceal that injury during his acting career.

28A Kind of protagonist in “Lethal Weapon” or “Die Hard” : HERO COP

The “Lethal Weapon” series of films features Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in the lead roles as Sergeants Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh. All four films in the series were directed by Richard Donner.

The 1988 action movie “Die Hard” is such a fun film. We always pull it out at Christmas when we want something “Christmassy”, but different from “The Bishop’s Wife” or “It’s a Wonderful Life”. The “Nakatomi Plaza” building that features so prominently in the film is actually “Fox Plaza” (headquarters for 20th Century Fox) in Los Angeles, which was built not long before filming started.

31A Digital investment choices, informally : CRYPTOS

A cryptocurrency is a digital asset that I simply do not understand. Apparently, an essential aspect of cryptocurrency is that it has no central administration. The first, and most famous, decentralized cryptocurrency is bitcoin.

33A Not much, as of wasabi : A DAB

Sometimes called Japanese horseradish, wasabi is a root used as a condiment in Japanese cooking. The taste of wasabi is more like mustard than a hot pepper in that the vapors that create the “hotness” stimulate the nasal passages rather than the tongue. Personally, I love the stuff …

38A Lab reports? : ARFS

The Labrador (Lab) breed of dog has been around at least since 1814. The breed comes in three registered colors: black, yellow and chocolate.

44A D.M.V.-issued card authenticated by airport security : REAL ID

What we know today as “Real IDs” are the result of the Real ID Act of 2005. One of the most visible results of the law are state-issued drivers’ licenses that meet new minimum security standards set by the federal government.

50A Employee’s status meaning “I’m currently away” : OOO

Out of the office (OOO)

52A Purveyors of provocative posts : TROLLS

In Internet terms, a troll is someone who attempts to disrupt online group activities. The fishing term “troll” is used to describe such a person as he or she throws out off-topic remarks in an attempt to “lure” others into some emotional response. I must admit to feeling sorry for people who have such sad lives …

53A 8.5″ x 11″: Abbr. : LTR

Our paper sizes here in North America don’t conform with the standards in the rest of the world. ISO standard sizes used elsewhere were chosen so that the ratio of width to length is usually one to the square root of two. This mathematical relationship means that when you cut a piece of paper in two each half preserves the aspect ratio of the original, which can be useful in making reduced or enlarged copies of documents. Our standard size of “letter” (ltr., 8.5 x 11 inches) was determined in 1980 by the Reagan administration to be the official paper size for the US government. Prior to this, the “legal” size (8.5 x 14 inches) had been the standard, since 1921.

54A Kris Kross #1 hit with the lyric “How high? Real high, ’cause I’m just so fly” : JUMP

Kris Kross was a teenage rap duo from the nineties. They had a big hit called “Jump” in 1992.

56A El presidente ousted in a 1955 coup : PERON

Nowadays, President Juan Perón of Argentina is perhaps less well-known than his second wife, Eva Perón of “Evita” fame. Juan and Eva Perón were overthrown in a military coup in 1955, although Juan Perón was returned to power in 1973 after which he served for only nine months before he passed away. Juan was succeeded in office by his third wife, Isabel Perón.

59A Type that tends to be right-leaning : ITALICS

Italic type leans to the right, and is often used to provide emphasis in text. The style is known as “italic” because the stylized calligraphic form of writing originated in Italy, probably in the Vatican.

63A Looks inside? : CT SCANS

A CT (or “CAT”) scan produces (via computer manipulation) a three-dimensional image of the inside of an object, usually the human body. It does so by taking a series of two dimensional x-ray images while rotating the camera around the patient. The issue with CT scans is that they use x-rays. High doses of radiation can be harmful, causing damage that is cumulative over time. The initialism “CT” stands for “computed tomography”. The older initialism “CAT” stands for “computed axial tomography”.

66A City whose Fushimi Inari shrine features 10,000+ red torii gates : KYOTO

The city of Kyoto was once the capital of Japan. Indeed, the name “Kyoto” means “capital city” in Japanese. Kyoto is sometimes referred to as the City of Ten Thousand Shrines.

A torii is a very traditional Japanese gate, one often seen at the entrance to a Shinto shrine.

67A Brother of Disney’s Louie and Dewey Duck : HUEY

Donald Duck’s nephews are identical triplets named Huey, Dewey and Louie, and they first appeared on the screen in 1938. Once in a while, due to errors in production, a fourth duck can be seen in the background. This little “mistake” is affectionately called “Phooey Duck” by folks in the industry.

72A Baseball team whose mascot is Wally the Green Monster : RED SOX

The Boston Red Sox are one of the most successful Major League Baseball teams and so command a large attendance, but only when on the road. The relatively small capacity of Boston’s Fenway Park, the team’s home since 1912, has dictated that every game the Red Sox have played there has been a sell-out from May of 2003 to April 2013. I had the pleasure of touring Fenway Park some years ago. It’s quite a place …

76A Humble hold ’em holding : PAIR

The official birthplace of the incredibly popular poker game of Texas hold ’em is Robstown, Texas where the game dates back to the early 1900s. The game was introduced into Las Vegas in 1967 by a group of Texan enthusiasts including Doyle Brunson, a champion often seen playing on TV. Doyle Brunson published a poker strategy guide in 1978, and this really helped increase the popularity of the game. But it was the inclusion of Texas hold ‘em in the television lineup that really gave the game its explosive surge in popularity, with the size of the prize money just skyrocketing.

78A “The Bear” streamer : HULU

“The Bear” is a comedy-drama TV show that started airing in 2022. It stars Jeremy Allen White (of “Shameless” fame) as a chef from a Michelin-star restaurant who heads home to Chicago to run his family’s sandwich shop after his brother dies. I really enjoyed this one …

80A Cold War weapon inits. : ICBM

An Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with the range necessary to cross between continents. Being ballistic (unlike a cruise missile), an ICBM is guided during the initial launch phase, but later in flight just relies on thrust and gravity to arrive at its target. It is defined as intercontinental as it has a range greater than 3,500 miles. ICBMs are really only used for delivering nuclear warheads. Scary stuff …

The term “Cold War” was coined by novelist George Orwell in a 1945 essay about the atomic bomb. Orwell described a world under threat of nuclear war as having a “peace that is no peace”, in a permanent state of “cold war”. The specific use of “cold war” to describe the tension between the Eastern bloc and the Western allies is attributed to a 1947 speech by Bernard Baruch, adviser to Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

81A Beethoven’s No. 8? : ACHT

“Does drei times drei equal acht?” can be translated from “German” as “Does three times three equal eight?” The answer is “nein”, which translates as “no”, and sounds like “nine”.

85A Cosmic explosion : NOVA

A nova is a dramatic celestial event that results in a sudden and significant increase in the brightness of a star. The term “nova,” Latin for “new,” was coined because these events often make a previously dim star appear as a new, bright star in the night sky. Novae typically occur in binary star systems where one star is a white dwarf, the dense remnant of a sun-like star, and the other is a larger star like a red giant. The white dwarf’s strong gravity pulls material, primarily hydrogen, from its companion star onto its surface. Over time, this accumulated material heats up and becomes compressed, eventually triggering a runaway thermonuclear explosion on the white dwarf’s surface. This explosion causes a tremendous surge in luminosity, making the star visible to the naked eye for days or even weeks before it gradually fades back to its original brightness.

88A False : ERSATZ

Something described as ersatz is a copy, and usually not a good one. “Ersatz” comes from the German verb “ersetzen” meaning “to replace”.

93A Unit of purity : KARAT

A karat (also “carat”, the spelling outside of North America) is a measure of the purity of gold alloys, with 24-karat representing pure gold.

97A They study how knights move : SQUIRES

A squire can be an escort, say one attending to a woman. A squire is also a young nobleman who attended a knight in days of yore. A fun example would be Sancho Panza who accompanied the deluded Don Quixote.

104A Mr. Turkey : TOM

A male turkey is called a tom, taking its name from “tomcat”. The inference is that, like a tomcat, the male turkey is relatively wild and undomesticated, sexually promiscuous and frequently gets into fights. A female turkey is called a hen.

106A Warp-driven device : LOOM

There are many types of loom used to weave cloth, but they all hold parallel threads in tension in one direction, while allowing the interweaving of threads in the perpendicular direction. The threads held under tension are the warp threads, and the “woven” threads are the “weft” threads.

108A Major exporter of mangoes : HAITI

The Republic of Haiti occupies the smaller, western portion of the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean. The rest of the island is taken up by the Dominican Republic. Haiti is one of only two nations in the Americas to have French as an official language, the other being Canada.

The delicious mango is the national fruit of India, Pakistan and the Philippines. Almost half of the world’s supply of mangoes comes from India.

117A “___ a broken heart” (Emily Dickinson poem) : UNTO

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.

118A Iron Man’s suit, e.g. : ARMOR

Iron Man is another comic book superhero, this one created by Stan Lee for Marvel Comics. The character is the alter ego of Tony Stark, and has become very famous in recent years since the appearance of the 2008 action movie “Iron Man” starring Robert Downey, Jr. in the title role. Iron Man’s love interest, Pepper Potts, is routinely played by Gwyneth Paltrow in the same series of films.

Down

3D “Our window is closing for escape w-elocity!,” as [circled letters] might say : WE HAVE TO MAKE THIS QUICK (Chekov)

Walter Koenig played Pavel Chekov in the original “Star Trek” series. Mr Chekov was a Russian character although Koenig himself was born in Chicago, the son of Jewish immigrants from Lithuania.

6D Goddess of daybreak : EOS

In Greek mythology, Eos is the goddess of the dawn who lives at the edge of the ocean. Eos wakes each morning to welcome her brother Helios the Sun. The Roman equivalent of Eos is Aurora. Rather delightfully, Homer referred to Eos as “rosy-fingered dawn” in both “Iliad” and “Odyssey”.

8D Direct opposite of verso (found hidden in this clue!) : RECTO

The left and right pages of a book or magazine are known in publishing circles as verso and recto. Recto comes from the Latin for “right”, and verso comes from the Latin word for “turned”. The idea is that the left side of the page is “turned” and is the reverse of the recto/right side.

10D Enemy of the Jedi : SITH

The Sith are characters in the “Star Wars” universe who use the “dark side” of “the Force”, and as such are the antithesis of the Jedi Knights. Members of the Sith use the title “Darth” before their name, as in Darth Vader. The last made of the six “Star Wars” movies is called “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith”.

11D By Juan’s early light? : ESTE

In Spanish, we look to the “este” (east) to see “el sol naciente” (the rising sun).

12D “Any time! I’m a doctor, not a do-nothing!,” as [circled letters] might say : YOU CAN ALWAYS COUNT ON ME (McCoy)

Actor DeForest Kelley is best known for playing Bones McCoy in the original “Star Trek” cast. The show’s creator, Gene Roddenberry, originally offered Kelley the role of Spock, but Kelly refused it and so was given the part of the ship’s medical officer.

16D Slip of the pen : TYPO

A slip of the pen …?

36D “Logic dictates that you control your emotions,” as [circled letters] might say : KEEP COMPOSURE (Spock)

Leonard Nimoy played the logical Mr. Spock in the original “Star Trek” television series. Spock has to be the most popular character on the show, and he kept popping up in “Star Trek” spin offs. Nimoy first worked alongside William Shatner (Captain Kirk) in an episode of “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” (I loved that show as a kid!), with Nimoy playing a bad guy and Shatner playing an U.N.C.L.E. recruit.

39D Thing of the past : RELIC

A relic is something that has survived from the past, reminding us of that past. In the world of religion, a relic is an object revered due to its association with a saint or martyr.

40D “Stepping on the gas, Captain!,” as [circled letters] might say : FULL THRUSTERS (Sulu)

Mr. Hikaru Sulu was played by George Takei in the original “Star Trek” series. Takei has played lots of roles over the years, and is still very active in television. Did you know that he appeared in the 1963 film, “Pt-109”? He played the helmsman steering the Japanese destroyer that ran down John F. Kennedy’s motor torpedo boat. From destroyer helmsman to starship helmsman …

42D Seaside flock : TERNS

Terns are a family of seabirds. They are similar to gulls, but are more slender and more lightly built. Many species of tern are known for their long-distance migrations, with the Arctic tern migrating so far that it is believed to see more daylight in a year than any other animal.

45D “To protect my crew, the gamble was necessary,” as [circled letters] might say : I TOOK A RISK (Kirk)

According to the storyline in “Star Trek”, Captain James Tiberius Kirk was born in Riverside, Iowa on March 22, 2233. The town of Riverside displays a plaque, noting Riverside as the “future birthplace of James T. Kirk”, but the date given is March 22, 2228. I sense a disturbance in the space-time continuum …

46D IHOP rival : DENNY’S

Denny’s was the first restaurant I ate at on my initial visit to the US many moons ago. I thought I was in heaven. I’ve changed my opinion a little since then! Denny’s is famous for being “always open” (almost), something that blew my mind as a visitor from Ireland back in 1980. Denny’s was founded in 1953 in Lakewood, California, and originally went by the name “Denny’s Donuts”. The enduring Grand Slam breakfast has been on the menu since 1977.

47D Florida beach town, informally : ST PETE

St. Petersburg, Florida is often referred to as “St. Pete” by locals and visitors alike. Located on a peninsula lying between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, St. Pete was founded in 1888 and named for Saint Petersburg in Russia. The co-founders were Russian immigrant Peter Demens and Detroit native John C. Williams. The pair tossed a coin for the privilege of naming the new city, and Demens won. Williams lost, but did get to name the city’s first hostelry “The Detroit Hotel”.

48D “We received a distress signal. Any injuries?,” as [circled letters] might say : ARE YOU HURT? (Uhura)

Lt. Nyota Uhura is the communications officer on board the Starship Enterprise, and was played by Nichelle Nichols in the original “Star Trek” television series. The role was significant in that Uhura was one of the first African-American characters to figure front and center in US television. In a 1968 episode, Kirk (played by William Shatner) and Uhura kiss, the first interracial kiss to be broadcast in the US. Apparently the scene was meant to be shot twice, with and without the kiss, so that network executives could later decide which version to air. William Shatner claims that he deliberately ran long on the first take (with the kiss) and fluffed the hurried second take (without the kiss), so that the network would have no choice.

60D Texter’s sweet sentiment : ILY

I love you (ILY)

69D Backwoods bumpkin : HICK

“Bumpkin” is really a not-so-nice term for someone from a rural area. The term has an even less nice derivation. It comes from the Middle Dutch “bommekijn” meaning “little barrel”. “Bumpkin” was used as a derogatory term for Dutch people, who were regarded as short and plump.

71D Former Wisconsin senator Feingold : RUSS

Russ Feingold is a former US Senator for the state of Wisconsin. A Democrat, Feingold is perhaps best known for his work with Republican Senator John McCain that resulted in the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, usually called the McCain-Feingold Act.

74D Major e-tailing season : XMAS

The abbreviation “Xmas” that is used for “Christmas” comes from the Greek letter chi (X), which is the first letter of the Greek word for “Christ” (“Χριστός”).

77D World capital with 400 kilometers of bike lanes : AMSTERDAM

Hmm … capital?

Amsterdam is the cultural and commercial capital of the Netherlands, but not the administrative capital. That honor goes to the Hague. Amsterdam’s name translates as “Dam on the river Amstel”.

83D This puzzle’s theme : STAR TREK

When Gene Roddenberry first proposed the science fiction series that became “Star Trek”, he marketed it as “Wagon Train to the Stars”, a pioneer-style Western in outer space. In fact, his idea was to produce something more like “Gulliver’s Travels”, as he intended to write episodes that were adventure stories on one level, but morality tales on another. Personally, I think that he best achieved this model with the spin-off series “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (TNG). If you watch individual episodes you will see thinly disguised treatments of moral issues such as racism, homosexuality, genocide etc. For my money, “The Next Generation” is the best of the whole franchise …

84D “I want to come back to the ship,” as everyone circled in this puzzle seems to have said to 22-Across : BEAM ME UP

There’s a story (not sure if it’s really true) about an Irishman who was being sentenced in the dock in a Dublin courtroom years ago. When asked by the judge, “Do you have anything to say before I pass sentence?”, the convicted man took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, flipped open the cardboard lid and brought the pack to his lips. He then said, “Beam me up, Scotty”.

87D NPR journalist Shapiro : ARI

Ari Shapiro served very ably as White House correspondent for National Public Radio (NPR) for several years. He then became a co-host of the network’s drive-time program “All Things Considered” in 2015. When he’s not working, Shapiro likes to sing. He appears regularly as a guest singer with the group Pink Martini, and has appeared on several of the band’s albums. He also turned up as host of the seventh season of the reality game show “The Mole”.

94D Carnival-themed Vegas hotel : RIO

The Rio casino in Las Vegas was opened in 1990, originally targeting the local population as it is located off the famous Strip where most of the tourists hang out. Famously, the Rio opened up the adults-only Sapphire Pool in 2008, a pay-to-enter (only men paid) topless pool club that featured music and dancers. A year later the Sapphire Pool was closed down after there were eleven arrests for drugs and prostitution offenses during an undercover police operation.

96D In spades : GALORE

Our word “galore”, meaning “in great numbers”, comes from the Irish phrase “go leór” that translates as “sufficiently, enough”.

101D “___ is more important than life” (Klingon proverb) : HONOR

Klingons are a warrior race often featured in the “Star Trek” franchise of shows. Back in the first “Star Trek” movie, the actor James Doohan (who played “Scottie”) put together some Klingon dialogue that was used in the film. For subsequent movies, the American linguist Marc Okrand was commissioned to develop a working Klingon language, which he duly did, using the original words from Doohan as its basis.

102D “Transformers” actor ___ LaBeouf : SHIA

Shia LaBeouf is an actor who started out in the Disney television series “Even Stevens”. Adult audiences might be more familiar with his leading role in the 2003 film “Holes”.

The 2007 blockbuster hit movie “Transformers” was inspired by a line of toys. Toy transformers can be morphed from their mundane looking appearance as a vehicle or perhaps an animal, into a robotic action figure.

107D 2004 landing site for Spirit : MARS

There have been several rovers sent to Mars from Earth. The Soviet Union’s Mars 2 landed in 1971, and failed. Mars 3 landed the same year, and ceased operation just 20 seconds after landing. NASA’s Sojourner landed in 1997 (what a great day that was!) and operated from July through September. The British rover Beagle 2 was lost six days before its scheduled entry into the Martian atmosphere. NASA’s Spirit landed in 2004, and operated successfully for over six years before getting trapped in sand and eventually ceasing to communicate. NASA’s Opportunity also landed in 2004, and operated for over fourteen years. And then NASA’s Curiosity made a spectacular, hi-tech landing in 2012 and is continuing to explore the planet today. Based on the Curiosity design, NASA’s Perseverance rover landed in 2021, along with the Mars helicopter named Ingenuity. The China National Space Administration landed its first rover, named Zhurong (“Rover” in English), five months after Perseverance started its mission on the planet.

109D Land west of Eng. : IRE

The island of Ireland is politically divided between the Republic of Ireland in the south and Northern Ireland in the north. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, and covers about one-sixth of the island.

The terms “United Kingdom”, “Great Britain” and “England” can sometimes be confused. The official use of “United Kingdom” originated in 1707 with the Acts of Union that declared the countries of England and Scotland as “United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain”. The name changed again with the Acts of Union 1800 that created the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland” (much to the chagrin of most of the Irish population). This was partially reversed in 1927 when the current name was introduced, the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”, in recognition of an independent Irish Free State in the south of the island of Ireland.

113D Alt-rocker DiFranco : ANI

Ani DiFranco is a folk-rock singer and songwriter. DiFranco has also been labeled a feminist icon, and in 2006 won the Woman of Courage Award from the National Organization for Women.