Month: October 2025

Bill’s time: 12m 10s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

8A Hardly anyone counts on this anymore : ABACUS

The abacus (plural “abaci”) was used as a counting frame long before man had invented a numbering system. It is a remarkable invention, particularly when one notes that abaci are still widely used today across Africa and Asia.

14A Shakespearean villain : IAGO

In William Shakespeare’s play ”Othello”, the villain of the piece Iago utters the words:

I hate the Moor,
And it is thought abroad that ’twixt my sheets
He’s done my office. I know not if ’t be true,
But I, for mere suspicion in that kind,
Will do as if for surety.

Iago is citing the widespread rumor that Othello slept with Iago’s wife Emilia. Iago is not certain that the rumor is true, but just the suspicion of it is enough for him to express his hatred for Othello.

30A ___ Summitt, legendary women’s basketball coach : PAT

Pat Summitt was a college basketball head coach. She coached the Tennessee Lady Vols team for 38 years starting in 1974. Sadly, Summitt stepped down in 2012 following a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, and passed away in 2016.

33A Asian city one can view within Instagram? : AGRA

Agra is a medieval city on the banks of the river Yamuna in India that was the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1556 to 1658. The city is home to three UNESCO World Heritage Sites:

• The Taj Mahal: the famous mausoleum built in memory of Mumtaz Mahal.
• Agra Fort: the site where the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond was seized.
• Fatehpur Sikri: a historic city that’s home to well-preserved Mughal architecture.

39A Writer Zora ___ Hurston : NEALE

Zora Neale Hurston was an American author who is most famous for her 1937 novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God”.

47A Doc seen for sinusitis : ENT

Ear, nose and throat specialist (ENT)

The suffix “-itis” is used to denote inflammation, as in laryngitis (inflammation of the larynx), otitis (inflammation of the ear), tendinitis (inflammation of a tendon), tonsillitis (inflammation of the tonsils) and sinusitis (inflammation of the sinuses).

48A Austin summer hrs. : CDT

Austin is the capital of the state of Texas. When the area was chosen to be the capital of the Republic of Texas, it was known as Waterloo. The name was changed in honor of Stephen F. Austin, a native of Virginia who was raised in Missouri and led the first successful colonization of Texas.

50A Board meeting handout : AGENDA

“Agenda” is a Latin word that translates as “things to be done”, coming from the verb “agere” meaning “to do”.

55A Pin number? : TEN

In ten-pin bowling, the pins are arranged in a triangular arrangement. The pin at the front is the 1-pin. The pins at the back are number 7 through 10, from left to right.

56A Literary detective whose final case is in 1975’s “Curtain” : POIROT

Hercule Poirot is one of Agatha Christie’s most beloved characters. He is a wonderful Belgian private detective who plies his trade from his base in London. Poirot’s most famous case is the “Murder on the Orient Express”. First appearing in 1920’s “The Mysterious Affair at Styles”, Poirot finally succumbs to a heart condition in the 1975 book “Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case”. Famously, Poirot is fond of using his “little gray cells”.

62A Classic computer game whose players avoid hazardous items in a grid … as suggested by this puzzle? : MINESWEEPER

The relatively simple computer game called Minesweeper has been included in releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from 1992. The first version of Windows to include Minesweeper was Windows 3.1, but the last version was Windows 7. Windows 8 didn’t include Minesweeper by default, but you could pick up a copy in the Windows Store.

67A Actress Long : NIA

Nia Long is an actress who is probably best known for playing Will Smith’s sometime girlfriend and fiancee Lisa Wilkes on the TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”.

69A Sabotage : UNDERMINE

There is a story that disgruntled textile workers would kick their wooden shoes, called “sabots”, into the looms in order to disable them so that they didn’t have to work. This act of vandalism was named for the shoe, an act of … “sabotage”.

Down

2D Balance aid : EAR

The inner ear is primarily responsible for detecting sound and maintaining balance. It comprises two main parts. The cochlea is the sensory organ of hearing, and the vestibular system coordinates movement with balance.

4D Ad ___ : HOMINEM

Ad hominem arguments appeal to personal beliefs and/or emotions rather than to logic or reason. The phrase “ad hominem” is Latin meaning “to the man”, indicating that the appeal is to the person with whom one is debating or whom one is trying to influence.

6D Scrabble rackful : TILES

The game of Scrabble has been produced in many international versions, and each of these editions has its own tile distribution to suit the local language. For example, in English we have two tiles worth ten points: one “Q” and one “Z”. If you play the game in French then there are five tiles worth ten points: one “K”, one “W”, one “X”, one “Y” and one “Z”.

7D Half of a noted crime duo : CLYDE

“Bonnie and Clyde” were criminals who robbed and killed their way across the central US during the Great Depression. Clyde Barrow was born a desperately poor young boy just south of Dallas, Texas. He was always in trouble with the law, first getting arrested at the age of 16. He met Bonnie Parker in 1930 at a friend’s house, and the smitten Parker followed Clyde into a life of crime. The pair were killed by a posse of Texas police officers just four years later in Louisiana.

8D Renowned house at Milan Fashion Week : ARMANI

Milan (“Milano” in Italian) is Italy’s second-largest city, second only to Rome. It is a European fashion capital, the headquarters for the big Italian fashion houses of Valentino, Gucci, Versace, Armani, Prada and others. Mario Prada was even born in Milan, and helped establish the city’s reputation in the world of fashion.

9D Cousin of a Danish : BEAR CLAW

The Danish pastry that we know so well over here in the US is indeed a Danish specialty, although the recipe was brought to Denmark by Austrian bakers. A “Danish” is called “Viennese bread” in Denmark.

11D Biblical person who says “My punishment is greater than I can bear” : CAIN

According to the Bible’s Book of Genesis, after Cain murdered his brother Abel, he fled to the “Land of Nod”. Nod was located “east of Eden” (from which John Steinbeck got the title for his celebrated novel “East of Eden”).

13D Candy company known for its chocolate and butterscotch : SEE’S

See’s is a candy manufacturer that was founded in Los Angeles in 1921 by Canadian Charles See and his mother Mary See. Many of us remember the chocolate factory episode of “I Love Lucy”. Well, Lucille Ball and Vivian Vancse spent time at the See’s facility in LA learning how to dip chocolates and work the production line prior to filming that show.

18D Neighborhood in N.Y.C. or L.A. : NOHO

“NoHo” is short for “North of Houston (street)”, and is the equivalent area to SoHo, South of Houston, both of which are neighborhoods in New York City.

The NoHo Arts District in Los Angeles takes its name from “North Hollywood”, although the abbreviation is a play on the name of the famous SoHo Arts District in New York City.

23D Greece’s largest airline : AEGEAN

Aegean Airlines was founded in 1987, and is now the largest Greek airline. Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air, Greece’s flag carrier, attempted a merger in 2010, but this move was blocked by the European Commission due to concerns about a resulting monopoly in the Greek air transport market. In 2012, Aegean took over Olympic, a transaction that this time was approved by the European Commission. Two years on, the Commission felt that Greece’s economic woes would have led Olympic into bankruptcy anyway, so the concerns about a monopoly became irrelevant.

24D Only video game to sell 300 million copies : MINECRAFT

Minecraft is a video game that was released in 2011. Apparently, it is the most popular video game of all time, with well over 200 million units sold.

28D Moolah : KALE

Lettuce, cabbage, kale, dough, bread, scratch, cheddar, simoleons, clams and moola(h) are all slang terms for money.

30D One of four awarded to Bill Nye : PATENT

That would be “Bill Nye the Science Guy”. In addition to his career as a science educator, Nye is also a comedian. He performed stand-up comedy during his early years as an engineer.

31D Crane’s place, maybe : ARCADE

The arcade claw machine dates back to the 1890s. Amazingly (to me), the original machines were designed to resemble the massive steam shovels used to dig the Panama Canal. The first patented claw machine was called the Erie Digger. It was introduced in 1926, and named for a different waterway: the Erie Canal. These early machines were filled with candy, nuts, or other small trinkets, instead of the plush toys that are common today.

32D Where the film “Argo” is set : TEHRAN

Tehran is the capital of Iran and is the largest city in the Middle East, with a population of about 8.5 million. Iran has been around a really long time and Tehran is actually the country’s 31st national capital.

“Argo” is a 2012 movie that is based on the true story of the rescue of six diplomats hiding out during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. The film was directed by and stars Ben Affleck and is produced by Grant Heslov and George Clooney, the same pair who produced the excellent “Good Night, and Good Luck”. I highly recommend “Argo”, although I found the scenes of religious fervor to be very frightening …

40D Moped alternative : E-SCOOTER

The word “moped” was coined in 1952 by a Swedish journalist named Harald Nielsen. The term is a portmanteau of “motor” and “pedal”.

52D Certain Kool-Aid flavor : GRAPE

The drink we know today as Kool-Aid was invented by Edward Perkins and his wife in Perkins’ mother’s kitchen in southwest Nebraska. Kool-Aid is now the Official Soft Drink of the state.

56D ___ platter (Chinese restaurant offering) : PU PU

In Hawaiian, “pupu” is a word originally meaning “snail”. Nowadays “pupu” denotes many different types of food that are usually served as hors d’oeuvres. A “pupu platter” is a selection of such foods served in a Hawaiian restaurant.

60D The “s” in the acronym “scuba” : SELF

Self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA)

65D Like Malbec wine : RED

Malbec is a red wine grape that used to be mainly associated with Bordeaux. A frost killed off much of the crop in Bordeaux in the fifties, and today Malbec wines are more closely linked to Argentina and California. I must admit to being a fan of Malbec blends …