Day: August 5, 2025

Bill’s time: 6m 50s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5A Church assembly : SYNOD

The word “synod” comes from the Greek word for “assembly, meeting”. A synod is a church council, usually one in the Christian faith.

10A Support to which drywall is attached : STUD

In home construction, a wall stud is a vertical member providing support inside a wall.

14A Zap, in a way : TASE

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”.

16A Janis’s spouse in the funny pages : ARLO

The comic strip “Arlo and Janis” is written by Jimmy Johnson. Introduced in 1985, Arlo and Janis are a baby booming couple with an easy approach to life, and who are very much in love.

17A Adorable perspective on things? : A CUTE ANGLE (from “acute angle”)

In geometry, there are several classes of angles:

• Acute (< 90 degrees) 
• Right (= 90 degrees) 
• Obtuse (> 90 degrees and < 180 degrees) 
• Straight (180 degrees) 
• Reflex (> 180 degrees)

19A Plant with tendrils : VINE

A tendril is a specialized leaf or stem that is shaped like a spiral thread. Tendrils are used for support by climbing plants.

21A Longest key on a keyboard : SPACE BAR

In early typewriters, the space bar was indeed a bar. It was a metal bar that stretched across the full width of the keyboard.

26A “Famous” cookie maker : AMOS

Wally Amos was a talent agent, one who was in the habit of taking home-baked cookies with him as an enticement to get celebrities to see him. He was urged by friends to open a cookie store (the cookies were that delicious, I guess) and this he did in Los Angeles in 1975 using the name “Famous Amos”. The store was a smash hit and he was able to build on the success by introducing his cookies into supermarkets. The brand was eventually purchased, making Wally a rich man, and Famous Amos cookies are still flying off the shelf. Wally Amos also became an energetic literacy advocate. He hosted 30 TV programs in 1987 entitled “Learn to Read” that provided reading instruction targeted at adults.

27A Carrier to Sweden : SAS

SAS was formerly known as Scandinavian Airlines System and is the flag carrier of three countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. SAS is based at Stockholm Arlanda Airport located just north of the Swedish capital.

28A Axe or Old Spice? : A SCENT OF MAN (from “Ascent of Man”)

Axe Body Spray was launched in France in 1983 under the name “Ego.” The brand was later rebranded as Axe in 1996 and introduced in the United States.

The Old Spice brand of grooming products was introduced in 1937, and was originally intended for a female clientele. The first male product hit the shelves in 1938, and today Old Spice is completely focused on products for men.

34A Satchel in Cooperstown : PAIGE

Satchel Paige pitched baseball in the Negro League and then the majors, before retiring in 1966. When he moved to the Major League, Paige was 42 as he pitched his first game, making him the oldest ever “rookie” to play Major League Baseball. And when he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971, Paige was the first person to be so honored from the Negro League.

38A Mascara mishap : SMEAR

Variants of mascara have been around a long time, and certainly there was a similar substance in use in ancient Egypt. “Mascara” is a Spanish word meaning “stain, mask”.

41A Posse : CREW

Our word “posse” comes from an Anglo-Latin term from the early 15th century “posse comitatus” meaning “the force of the county”

42A Competition that offers a lot of bucks? : RODEO

The rodeo events in which cowboys and cowgirls ride bucking horses and bulls are referred to collectively as roughstock.

46A Major newsmagazine’s C.E.O.? : A HEAD OF “TIME” (from “ahead of time”)

“TIME” magazine was first published in 1923 in New York City, making it the nation’s first weekly news magazine.

49A Messy class for kindergartners : ART

“Kindergarten” is a German word, one translated as “children’s garden”. The term was coined by the German education authority Friedrich Fröbel in 1837, when he used it as the name for his play and activity institute that he created for young children to use before they headed off to school. His thought was that children should be nourished educationally, like plants in a garden.

52A 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.

53A Member of the myrtle family that’s the source of an essential oil : TEA TREE

Tea tree oil is an essential oil that is extracted from the leaves of several species known as “tea tree”, all of which are in the myrtle family. The oil is used as a folk remedy for several skin conditions, including acne, nail fungus and athlete’s foot and dandruff. We are warned that tree oil is poisonous when taken internally, and may cause skin irritation when used externally.

64A Fred Flintstone’s pet : DINO

In the Hanna-Barbera cartoon “The Flintstones”, Dino the pet dinosaur was voiced by the famous Mel Blanc, until Blanc passed away in 1989.

68A Nose-in-the-air type : SNOOT

“Snoot” is a variant of “snout”, and is a word that originated in Scotland. The idea is that someone who is snooty, or “snouty”, tends to look down their nose at the rest of the world.

Down

2D City that shares an international airport with Seattle : TACOMA

Tacoma is a city on Puget Sound in the state of Washington. It took its name from Mount Rainier that is nearby, as the peak is also known as Tacoma (or “Tahoma”).

Sea-Tac Airport (SEA) is more fully known as Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Sea-Tac is the main hub for Alaska Airlines.

4D ___ Midler a.k.a. “The Divine Miss M” : BETTE

One of my favorite singers, and indeed all-round entertainers, is Bette Midler. If you’ve ever seen her live show you’ll know that “camp” is a good word to describe it, as her humor is definitely “out there” and quite bawdy. Early in her career, Midler spent years singing in the Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse in New York City. There she became very close friends with her piano accompanist, Barry Manilow. While singing in the bathhouse, Bette only wore a white towel, just like the members of her audience. It was in those days that she created her famous character “the Divine Miss M” and also earned herself the nickname “Bathhouse Betty”.

8D Bottom of a crankcase : OIL PAN

In most internal combustion engines the pistons that move up and down are arranged in a line, and connected to a crankshaft that runs along the bottom of the engine. The up and down motion of the pistons turns the crankshaft, which turning motion is “transmitted” (via the “transmission”) to the wheels. The case surrounding the crankshaft is called the crankcase. The crankcase contains a lot of oil that is squirted onto the crankshaft to lubricate it. Excess oil falls to the bottom of the crankcase and into a reservoir called the oil pan.

11D Chicago paper, for short : TRIB

“The Chicago Tribune” was first published in 1847. The most famous edition of “The Trib” was probably in 1948 when the headline was “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN”, on the occasion of that year’s presidential election. When it turned out that Truman had actually won, the victor picked up the paper with the erroneous headline and posed for photographs with it … a famous, famous photo, that must have stuck in the craw of the editor at the time.

12D Arm bone on the pinkie finger side : ULNA

The use of “pinkie” or “pinky” for the little finger or toe comes into English from “pinkje”, the Dutch word for the same digit. Who knew …?

22D Certain apartment (with a hyphen) or farm housing (without one) : CO-OP or COOP

Housing co-operatives (co-ops) and condos are similar, but there are important differences. Both co-ops and condos are multi-unit buildings. A condo is a private residence in such a building, with ownership of common areas shared. An owner of a co-op has an interest in the entire multi-unit building, and a contract allowing occupation of a specific unit. So, condo owners own their units, and co-op owners do not.

30D First modular 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”.

35D Garment with cups : BRA

The first modern bra was invented by a New York socialite named Mary Phelps Jacob in 1913. Jacob was looking for a more comfortable and fashionable alternative to the corsets that were then commonly worn, and she fashioned a bra using two handkerchiefs and some ribbon. She later patented her invention, which she called the “Backless Brassiere.”

40D World capital that’s home to the Spanish Steps : ROME

Rome’s Spanish Steps are known locally as the “Scalinata” and are a set of 135 steps that sit above the Piazza di Spagna. The Spanish Steps actually form the widest staircase in Europe. They always remind me of the movie “Roman Holiday”, as that is where Audrey Hepburn enjoyed her gelato.

43D “Garfield” pooch : ODIE

“Garfield” is a comic strip drawn by Jim Davis from 1978. The title character is an orange tabby cat. Davis named his cartoon hero Garfield after his own grandfather.

47D About 71% of the earth’s surface : OCEANS

The interconnected system of oceanic waters around our planet is known as the World Ocean. Comprising almost 71% of the Earth’s surface, the World Ocean is divided into, from largest to smallest:

1. The Pacific Ocean
2. The Atlantic Ocean
3. The Indian Ocean
4. The Southern (Antarctic) Ocean
5. The Arctic Ocean

48D Bird with exceptional vision : FALCON

There are about 40 species of the birds of prey classed as falcons, with examples being several species of kestrel. Falcons differ from hawks and eagles in that they kill their prey with their beaks, as opposed to their talons. Famously, falcons swoop down on their prey at great speed. Peregrine falcons have been clocked at well over 200 miles per hour, making them the fastest-moving creatures on the planet.

49D Gung-ho : ARDENT

“Kung ho” is a Chinese expression meaning “work together, cooperate”. The anglicized version “gung-ho” was adopted by Major Evans Carlson as an expression of combined spirit for his 2nd Marine Raider Battalion during WWII. From there the term spread throughout the Marine Corps and back to America where it persists to this day.

51D Brand for a cuppa : TETLEY

Tetley was founded by Joseph Tetley in Yorkshire in 1837. Joseph and his brother used to sell salt door-to-door from a pack horse and started to distribute tea the same way. They became so successful selling tea that they relocated to London. Notably, Tetley’s was the first company to introduce tea bags in the UK, back in 1953.

54D Chevy model whose name references a body of water : TAHOE

The Chevrolet Tahoe SUV was introduced in 1994. It is based on the same platform as the Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, and it shares many of its components. The Tahoe is sold under the Silverado badge in Mexico.

55D Mercury and Mars, for instance : GODS

Mercury was a Roman god called “the messenger”, and the god of trade. Mercury’s name comes from the Latin word “merx” meaning merchandise (and therefore has the same roots as “merchant” and “commerce”).

Mars was the god of war in ancient Rome. He was also viewed as the father of the Roman people and the father of Romulus and Remus, the twin brothers who founded Rome according to Roman mythology.

56D Singer India. : ARIE

India Arie (sometimes “india.arie”) is an American soul and R&B singer who was born India Arie Simpson in Denver, Colorado.

62D Kia model whose name references a body of water : RIO

The Kia Rio is a subcompact that has been in production since 1999, and has undergone several updates and redesigns over the years. The Rio was designed by Kia’s chief design officer, Peter Schreyer, who previously worked for Audi and is credited with designing the iconic Audi TT.