Day: October 5, 2025

Bill’s time: 18m 53s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Classic target of a troll : BILLY GOAT

“Troll” is a term that comes from Norse mythology. They are less-than-helpful creatures that tend to live on isolated mountains, in caves and under bridges.

10A Prized steed : ARAB

The Arab (also “Arabian”) breed of horse takes its name from its original home, the Arabian Peninsula. Like any animal that humans have over-bred, the horse falls prey to genetic diseases, some of which are fatal and some of which require the horse to be euthanized.

14A Little hellions : IMPS

A hellion is a mischievous and wild person. “Hellion” is a North American term, one probably derived from the word that we use for the same thing on the other side of the Atlantic, namely “hallion”.

20A Latvian capital : RIGA

Riga is the capital city of Latvia. The historical center of Riga is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, declared as such because of the city’s magnificent examples of Art Nouveau architecture. In fact, Riga has the largest collection of Art Nouveau buildings in the world, with over 750 buildings in the city center designed in the style.

21A Kindle competitor : NOOK

The Barnes & Noble electronic-book reader is called the Nook. The reader’s name is intended to evoke the usage of “nook” as a familiar place to sit and read quietly.

22A Sailor who drinks only the finest grog? : CLASSY MATEY (from “classmate”)

Edward Vernon was a naval officer with the nickname “Old Grog”. In 1740, Vernon ordered that the daily ration of rum for his sailors should be watered down, in order to reduce discipline problems caused by drunkenness. The diluted rum was sweetened with sugar, and lemon or lime added to help preserve it on long voyages. This recipe, found to reduce scurvy among sailors (because of the citrus) spread throughout the Royal Navy, and “grog” was born. As an aside, George Washington’s older half-brother named the famous Washington Mount Vernon Plantation in honor of Edward Vernon. We use the derivative term “groggy” to mean “unsteady on the feet”, as if under the influence of “grog”.

27A End-of-level showdown : BOSS FIGHT

In the world of video gaming, a significantly strong computer-controlled opponent is referred to as a boss. A fight against a boss is a boss battle or boss fight.

34A Alternative to kale : CHARD

Chard is a lovely leafy vegetable, in my humble opinion. It is the same species as the garden beet, but chard is grown for the leaves and beet is grown for the roots. Chard also goes by the names Swiss chard, silver beet and mangold. In some parts of Australia, it’s even known as spinach.

42A Game with players known as “shooters” : CRAPS

If one considers earlier versions of craps, then the game has been around for a very long time and probably dates back to the Crusades. It may have been derived from an old English game called “hazard” also played with two dice, which was mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” from the 1300s. The American version of the game came here courtesy of the French and first set root in New Orleans where it was given the name “crapaud”, a French word meaning “toad”.

45A Singer Rita : 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.

48A 1950s political nickname : IKE

“I Like Ike” was a political slogan that originated with the grassroots movement to get Dwight D. Eisenhower (Ike) to run for president in the 1952 presidential election.

49A Wild : AMUCK

The phrase “to run amok” (sometimes “to run amuck”) has been around since the 1670s and is derived from the Malay word for “attacking furiously”, “amuk”. The word “amok” was also used as a noun to describe Malay natives who were “frenzied”. Given Malaya’s troubled history, the natives probably had a good reason for that frenzy …

51A The 4,765-year-old “Methuselah” is one : PINE

The oldest-known organisms in the world are bristlecone pine trees in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in eastern California. There are examples in the forest proven to be about 5,000 years old based on core samples. I’ve hiked in that forest a few times and, quite sensibly, the forest service has decided not to identify which are the oldest trees. That’s because, sadly, some folks do like to interfere with nature.

53A Prominent feature of dubstep music : BASS

“Dubstep” is a type of electronic dance music that first surfaced in London, England in the nineties. I doubt there’s any in my music collection …

62A Suitable for the middle-aged? : FORTY-WORTHY (from “Fort Worth”)

Fort Worth, Texas was established as a US Army outpost in 1849, in the wake of the Mexican American War (1846 – 1848). Fort Worth was the most northerly of ten fortified outposts built by the US government to protect the American Frontier. To this day, the city of Fort Worth is sometimes referred to as “where the West begins”.

68A Pain-relieving drug : DEMEROL

Demerol is a brand of pethidine, an opioid pain medication.

69A The Chiffons’ “___ So Fine” : HE’S

“He’s So Fine” is a great little song that was released by the Chiffons in 1962. Famously, the owners of the rights to the song sued George Harrison in 1971, claiming that he was guilty of plagiarizing “He’s So Fine” in writing his hit “My Sweet Lord”. Harrison was found guilty of “subconscious” plagiarism. In a strange twist, the Chiffons recorded a version of “My Sweet Lord” a year before the case was decided.

70A Knitted cap : BEANIE

A beanie is a knitted, close-fitting hat with no brim. The name probably comes from the slang term “bean” meaning “head”.

71A Pop icon with a Best Actress award : CHER

“Cher” is the stage name used by singer and actress Cherilyn Sarkisian. Formerly one half of husband-wife duo Sonny & Cher, she is often referred to as the Goddess of Pop. In her acting career, Cher was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar of 1984 for her performance in “Silkwood”. She went further in 1988 and won the season’s Best Actress Oscar for playing Loretta Castorini in “Moonstruck”.

77A Twisted do : LOCS

Dreadlocks are matted coils of hair that are usually formed intentionally, although if one lets hair grow out without grooming then it naturally forms twisted and matted dreadlocks. The hairstyle is associated with the Rastafarian movement in which “dread” is a very positive term meaning “fear of the Lord”.

78A Global currency market, for short : FOREX

Foreign exchange market (Forex)

79A Martial artist Bruce : LEE

Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco, although he was raised in Hong Kong returned to the US to attend college. Sadly, Bruce Lee died when he was only 32 years old, due to cerebral edema (a swelling of the brain) attributed to adverse reactions to the pain killing drug Equagesic.

80A Suspicious absence from school? : FISHY HOOKY (from “fishhook”)

Apparently the term “hooky” comes from “hoekje”, the Dutch name for the game hide-and-seek. To play hooky is to shirk one’s responsibility, as in a schoolkid taking a day off without permission.

88A Stooge who said “Soitenly!” : CURLY

If you’ve seen a few of the films starring “The Three Stooges” you might have noticed that the line-up changed over the years. The original trio was made up of Moe and Shemp Howard (two brothers) and Larry Fine (a good friend of the Howards). This line up was usually known as “Moe, Larry and Shemp”. Then Curly Howard replaced his brother when Shemp quit the act, creating the most famous trio, “Moe, Larry And Curly”. Shemp returned when Curly had a debilitating stroke in 1946. Shemp stayed with the troupe until he himself died in 1955. Shemp was replaced by Joe Besser, and then “Curly-Joe” DeRita. When Larry Fine suffered a stroke in 1970, it effectively marked the end of the act.

92A Wise guys : SAGES

Bugs Bunny first said “What’s up, Doc?” in the 1940 cartoon short “A Wild Hare”, while addressing the hunter Elmer Fudd.

93A Crudely built shack : SHANTY

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

99A Barista or barrister : JOB

A barista is a person who serves coffee in a coffee shop. “Barista” is Italian for “bartender”.

In a common law jurisdiction with a split legal profession, such as England, lawyers can be either solicitors or barristers. Someone needing legal help will retain a solicitor for that purpose. If a court trial is required, then a barrister is retained to make representation before a judge and perhaps a jury. The barrister is the lawyer who wears a wig.

102A “How sad. You actually think you can win,” e.g.? : COCKY PITY (from “cockpit”)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the original “cockpit” was a “pit” used for fighting “cocks”. The term was then applied nautically, as the name for the compartment below decks used as living quarters by midshipmen. The cockpit of a boat today, usually on a smaller vessel, is a sunken area towards the stern in which sits the helmsman and others (who can fit!). The usage extended to aircraft in the 1910s and to cars in the 1930s.

104A A locksmith getting stuck in bedroom handcuffs, say? : STEAMY IRONY (from “steam iron”)

A metalsmith (often just “smith”) is a metalworker, someone who fashions useful items out of various metals. The term “metalsmith” is often used to describe someone adept at working with many different metals. Other smiths tend to specialize, e.g. a blacksmith works mainly with iron and steel, a coppersmith works mainly with copper, a gunsmith builds and repairs firearms, and a locksmith works with locks.

111A Creole staple : OKRA

Here in North America, we tend to associate Creole cuisine with Louisiana. However, the term “Creole cuisine” applies to several areas of the world, areas within the reach of the French, Portuguese and Spanish colonial empires. One definition of Creole culture refers to peoples of European origin, born in the New World, and who have integrated with local cultures. As a result, we encounter a variety of Creole-named cuisines beyond Louisiana, in places like Cuba, Brazil, Peru, Jamaica, Réunion and Cape Verde. All the variations share a leaning towards spiciness, the use of simpler techniques in preparing the food (stewing, frying, etc.), and the use of local products in traditional European dishes.

Down

6D Venues like New York City’s Stonewall Inn : GAY BARS

The police raided a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn on June 29th, 1969. That raid triggered a spate of violent demonstrations led by the LGBT community. Now known as the Stonewall riots, those demonstrations are viewed by many as a significant event leading to the modern-day fight for LGBT rights in the US. Since then, June has been chosen as LGBT Pride Month in recognition of the Stonewall riots.

7D Donny or Marie : OSMOND

Former teen idol Donny Osmond was a member of the Osmond Brothers singing group that appeared for years on the “The Andy Williams Show”. At the height of his solo career, Donny teamed up with his younger sister Marie Osmond in their own variety show called “Donny & Marie”. The pair have been working together ever since and have been appearing at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas since 2008.

14D Nighttime demons : INCUBI

In folklore, a succubus is a female demon that takes on the form of an attractive female in order to seduce unwitting men. The succubus draws energy from the seduced men in order to survive, using sexual intercourse in the same way that a vampire might suck blood for the same purpose. The word succubus derives from the Latin “succubare”, itself from “sub” “cubare” meaning “to lie under”. There is a male equivalent to a succubus, namely an incubus.

15D “Wuthering Heights” setting : MOOR

“Wuthering Heights” is the only novel written by Emily Brontë, and one that she published using the pen name Ellis Bell. It was published in December of 1847, a date chosen to take advantage of the wave of success enjoyed by Charlotte Brontë’s “Jane Eyre” that had been published just two months earlier.

17D Portree is the capital of this isle : SKYE

The Isle of Skye is off the northwest coast of Scotland in the Inner Hebrides. It is the second largest island in the country, and has been linked to the mainland by a road bridge since 1995. I’ve never been there, but I hear the views are spectacular.

25D Whom Uncle Sam wants for the U.S. Army : YOU

The famous “I want YOU for the US Army” poster dates back to 1917. It depicts Uncle Sam pointing to the viewer, encouraging young men to report to the nearest recruiting station. The poster was designed by J. M. Flagg, and is based on the similar British poster showing Lord Kitchener that was first issued three years earlier.

28D Like wild meat, sometimes : GAMY

The term “game” can be used for wild animals that are hunted for food or sport. The associated adjective “gamey” (sometimes “gamy”) can be used to describe the taste of meat from a game animal, especially if the meat is close to going bad.

31D He was a “rollin’ stone,” in a Motown classic : PAPA

The term “game” can be used for wild animals that are hunted for food or sport. The associated adjective “gamey” (sometimes “gamy”) can be used to describe the taste of meat from a game animal, especially if the meat is close to going bad.

33D Proofreader’s mark : DELE

“Dele” is the editorial instruction to delete something from a document, and is often written in red.

34D Actor Affleck when he needs a nap? : CRANKY CASEY (from “crankcase”)

Actor and director Casey Affleck is the younger brother of Ben Affleck. Casey is married to actress Summer Phoenix, who also has famous acting siblings including Joaquin Phoenix and the late River Phoenix.

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.

39D Half-woman, half-bird, all attitude? : MOUTHY HARPY (from “mouth harp”)

In Greek mythology, a harpy was a winged spirit noted for stealing food from a king called Phineus. Phineas angered the god Zeus and so was punished by being exiled to an island with a buffet of food that he could never eat. Every time he tried to eat, harpies would arrive and steal the food. We use the term today for a shrewish woman or a predatory person.

40D “Eureka!” shouter : ARCHIMEDES

“Eureka” translates from Greek as “I have found it”. The word is usually associated with Archimedes, uttered as he stepped into his bath one day. His discovery was that the volume of water that was displaced was equal to that of the object (presumably his foot) that had been submerged. He used this fact to determine volume (and density) of a crown, something he needed in order to determine if it was made of pure gold or was a forgery.

41D Benny Hill theme song : YAKETY SAX

I bet a lot of us know this tune, but may not recognize the title. “Yakety Sax” is often used to accompany funny chase scenes, most famously on the British television series “The Benny Hill Show“.

42D Oolong or lapsang souchong : CHINESE TEA

The name for the Chinese tea called “oolong” translates into English as “black dragon” or “dark dragon”.

Lapsang souchong is a black tea originally from the Chinese province of Fujian. Lapsang is also called “smoked tea” as the leaves are smoke-dried to give a nice smoky flavor. I am going to have to try Lapsang …

43D Actor Bill of “Barry” : HADER

Bill Hader is an actor and comedian best known as a member of the cast of “Saturday Night Live”. Hader was introduced to Lorne Michaels (producer of “Saturday Night Live”) by Megan Mullally, co-star of the sitcom “Will & Grace”.

“Barry” is a dark comedy TV series starring Bill Hader as an Ohio hitman who questions his life of crime. Veteran actor Henry Winkler plays an award-winning supporting role as the teacher of an acting class that the hitman joins.

47D Swiss locale of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum : DAVOS

Davos is a resort town in the Swiss Alps. Known as a health resort in the 19th century, today it is best known as the host of the World Economic Forum, which is an annual meeting of political and corporate leaders from around the world.

53D Garden shelter : BOWER

Our word “bower” comes from the Old English “bur” meaning a hut or dwelling. We’ve been using “bower” to mean a “leafy arbor”, a “dwelling” defined by surrounding trees, since way back in the 1500s.

58D Evil alter ego of literature : HYDE

Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” was published in 1886. There are many tales surrounding the writing of the story, including that the author wrote the basic tale in just three to six days, and spent a few weeks simply refining it. Allegedly, Stevenson’s use of cocaine stimulated his creative juices during those few days of writing.

64D Frequent on-screen partner of Hepburn : TRACY

Spencer Tracy was a marvelous actor who shares the record for most nominations for the Best Actor Oscar (nine) with Sir Laurence Olivier. Famously, Tracy became estranged from his wife early in their marriage, but never divorced. He had a long-term relationship with fellow actor Katharine Hepburn, a relationship that they worked hard to keep out of the spotlight.

67D “La Vie en rose” singer : PIAF

“La Môme Piaf” (the Little Sparrow) was the nickname of France’s most famous singer, Édith Piaf. What a voice this woman had, and what gorgeous ballads she sang. Édith Piaf lived a life that was not without controversy. She was raised by her mother in a brothel in Normandy, and had a pimp as a boyfriend in her teens. She had one child, while very young, born illegitimately and who died at 2-years-old from meningitis. Her singing career started when she was discovered in the Pigalle area of Paris by nightclub owner Louis Leplée. Leplée was murdered soon after, and Piaf was accused of being an accessory to the murder but was later acquitted. During World War II she was branded a traitor by many as she frequently performed for the German occupying forces, although there are other reports of her supporting the resistance movement. Later in her life she was seriously injured in no less than three near-fatal car accidents, including one with her friend, Charles Aznavour. While recovering from her injuries she became addicted to pain medication, an addiction that lasted for the rest of her life. When she died in 1963 she was denied a Catholic funeral mass because of her lifestyle, but the crowds that turned out for her funeral procession managed to stop all traffic in Paris, the only time that has happened since the end of WWII.

The literal translation of the title to the French song “La Vie en rose” is “Life In Pink”, but a better translation would be “Life Through Rose-Colored Glasses”.

71D Sports journalist Linda : COHN

Linda Cohn is a sportscaster who started anchoring ESPN’s “SportsCenter” in 1992. When Cohn was in high school, she played hockey on the boys team.

72D “___ Silver!” : HI-YO!

“The Lone Ranger” was both a radio and television show that dated back to its first radio performance in 1933 on a Detroit station. The line “Hi-yo, Silver! Away!” was a device used in the storyline to signal that a riding sequence was starting; so cue the music!

74D Gimlets and screwdrivers : TOOLS

A gimlet is a small hand tool with a screw thread at the tip, and grooves along the shank. It is used for boring small holes, and is designed to do so without splitting the wood.

76D Ad Council spots, for short : PSAS

The Ad Council is a nonprofit that produces public service announcements (PSAs) for various groups, including agencies of the US government. Conceived in 1942, the council operated under the name “War Advertising Council” from 1943 to 1946. It was this organization that produced the famous wartime ads promoting military enlistment, conservation of war materials, and the purchase of war bonds. President Franklin D. Roosevelt made it clear that he wanted the Ad Council to continue its work after the war, and he got his wish.

77D Some memes of the 2000s : LOLCATS

A lolcat is an image of a cat with a humorous message superimposed in text. Such images have been around since the late 1800s, but the term “lolcat” only surfaced in 2006 as the phenomenon was sweeping across the Internet. “Lolcat” is a melding of the acronym for “laugh out loud” (LOL) and “cat”.

78D Driver’s warning : FORE!

No one seems to know for sure where the golfing term “fore!” comes from. It has been used at least as far back as 1881, and since then has been called out to warn other golfers that a wayward ball might be heading their way. My favorite possibility for its origin is that it is a contraction of the Gaelic warning cry “Faugh a Ballagh!” (clear the way!) which is still called out in the sport of road bowling. Road bowling is an Irish game where players bowl balls along roads between villages, trying to reach the end of the course in as few bowls as possible, just like in golf!

82D TV journalist Kotb : HODA

Hoda Kotb is an Egyptian-American television journalist who is perhaps best known as a co-host of the NBC morning show “Today”. She is also the author of the bestselling autobiography “Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee”.

93D Macbeth or Macduff : SCOT

Thanes were Scottish aristocrats. The most famous thanes have to be the Shakespearean characters Macbeth (Thane of Glamis, later “Thane of Cawdor”, and still later “King of Scotland”) and MacDuff (Thane of Fife). Other thanes in “Macbeth” are Ross, Lennox and Angus, as well as Menteith and Caithness.

97D Rapper with a feline-sounding name : TYGA

“Tyga” is the stage name of hip hop artist Michael Stevenson from Compton, California. Apparently, the stage name comes from the phrase “thank you God always”.

106D 66, for example: Abbr. : RTE

The famous old highway called Route 66 has largely been replaced by modern interstates. It ran from Chicago to Los Angeles, right through the heart of America, and so it was often called the “Main Street of America”. The road’s name really came into the public consciousness because of Nat King Cole’s song “(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66”, and also because of the sixties TV show called “Route 66”.