Day: November 28, 2025

Bill’s time: 9m 08s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Pension alternatives, for short : IRAS

A pension is a fund into which people make payments, usually during their working lives. In return, anyone who contributed receives periodic payments after retirement. In the US, Social Security is the most widely available pension.

16A Actress Watts of “Mulholland Drive” : NAOMI

Actress Naomi Watts was born in the UK and moved to Australia when she was 14 years of age. It was in Australia that Watts got her break in television and movies. Probably her most acclaimed role was in the 2003 film “21 Grams” with Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro. Watts is best friends with fellow Australian actress Nicole Kidman.

“Mulholland Drive” is a thriller released in 2002 that was well received by the critics (although I didn’t like it!). The original idea was for “Mulholland Drive” to be a pilot for a television series, but when ABC saw the filmed pilot they didn’t like it and so passed on it for their schedule. The script was rewritten, some new scenes shot, and after re-editing the movie was released.

17A Bahamians and Bahrainis : ISLANDERS

The Bahamas is a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean lying in the same island chain as Cuba and Hispaniola. The Bahamas was a British colony for many years but became independent in 1973, although it retains membership in the British Commonwealth.

Bahrain is an island nation located off the coast of Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf. Bahrain is connected to Saudi Arabia by a series of causeways and bridges that were constructed in the eighties.

18A Speedboat’s speed : KNOTS

A knot (kt.) is a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour. Traditionally a vessel’s speed was determined by using a “chip log”. A chip log is made up of a wooden board attached to a line wrapped around a reel. The line (called a “log-line”) had knots tied in it at uniform spacings. To determine the vessel’s speed the board was thrown overboard and the line allowed to unroll. The speed was then the “number of knots” paid out in a fixed time interval.

20A Dead ends? : DEES

The ends of the word “dead” are letters D (dees).

22A Piano études, essentially : LESSONS

An étude is a short instrumental composition that is usually quite hard to play and is intended to help the performer master a particular technique. “Étude” is the French word for “study”. Études are commonly performed on the piano.

30A Golfer McIlroy, the first European male to achieve a career Grand Slam : RORY

Rory McIlroy is a very successful golfer from Northern Ireland. He became a world number one at a relatively young age, so folks can’t help but compare him to Tiger Woods. He was the first European to win three different majors. Along with Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Jordan Spieth, McIlroy is one of only four people to win three majors by the age of 25.

31A Actress ___ Marsay of Disney+’s “Andor” : FAYE

The TV show “Star Wars: Andor” serves as a prequel to the 2016 film “Rogue One”, which itself is a prequel to the first “Stars Wars” movie, released in 1977. The title character is Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna.

32A The Jazz, on sports tickers : UTA

The Utah Jazz professional basketball team moved to Salt Lake City in 1979. As one might guess from the name, the team originated in New Orleans, but only played there for five seasons. New Orleans was a tough place to be based because venues were hard to come by, and Mardi Gras forced the team to play on the road for a whole month.

35A Jazz pianist with a memorable recording of “Tea for Two” : ART TATUM

Art Tatum was a jazz pianist who overcame the disability of being nearly blind from birth. Many laud Tatum as the greatest jazz pianist of all time.

37A Plant eater? : VENUS FLYTRAP

The Venus flytrap is a fascinating plant. Famously, it is carnivorous as it feeds on insects and spiders that it catches in its leaves. A flytrap leaf is quite ingenious. The inside of the leaf has an array of sensitive hairs. If one hair is moved (by a potential victim), then nothing happens. When a second hair is moved within about 20 seconds, the leaf snaps shut. This “fail safe” mechanism reduces the chances of the flytrap catching an inanimate object.

39A What the British call people who make crosswords : SETTERS

And Irish people. That used to be me …

44A One-named rock idol who was born Paul David Hewson : BONO

Irish singer Bono is a Dubliner who was born Paul David Hewson. As a youth, Hewson was given the nickname “Bono Vox” by a friend, a Latin expression meaning “good voice”, and so the singer has been known as Bono since the late seventies. His band’s first name was “Feedback”, later changed to “The Hype”. The band members searched for yet another name and chose U2 from a list of six names suggested by a friend. They picked U2 because it was the name they disliked least …

46A Guess alternative : LEE

The Lee company that is famous for making jeans was formed in 1889 by one Henry David Lee in Salina, Kansas.

49A Restaurant sommelier’s offering : HOUSE WINE

“Sommelier” is the French word for “wine steward”. The role of a sommelier, also “chef de vin”, extends beyond just uncorking bottles. A trained and knowledgeable sommelier is responsible for developing wine lists, providing wine service, and expertly pairing wines with food. Beyond wine, the term “sommelier” has expanded to include other beverage specialists, such as a “beer sommelier” (also known as a “cicerone”) or a “sake sommelier”.

51A Foundational skateboard trick : OLLIE

An ollie is a skateboarding trick invented in 1976 by Alan “Ollie” Gelfand. Apparently it’s a way of lifting the board off the ground, while standing on it, without touching the board with one’s hands. A similar move can be performed on a snowboard. Yeah, I could do that …

52A Doesn’t exactly ham it up : UNDERACTS

The word “ham”, describing a performer who overacts, is a shortened form of “hamfatter” and dates back to the late 1800s. “Hamfatter” comes from a song in old minstrel shows called “The Ham-Fat Man”. It seems that a poorly performing actor was deemed to have the “acting” qualities of a minstrel made up in blackface.

Down

2D Sam’s wife in “The Lord of the Rings” : ROSIE

Samwise Gamgee is the sidekick to Frodo Baggins in Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings”. “Sam” is portrayed by American actor Sean Astin in the Peter Jackson big screen adaptations of the novels.

3D Setting of the 1888 painting “Café Terrace at Night” : ARLES

Quite a few years ago now, I had the privilege of living just a short car-ride from the beautiful city of Arles in the South of France. Although Arles has a long and colorful history, the Romans had a prevailing influence over the city’s design. Arles has a spectacular Roman amphitheater, arch, circus as well as old walls that surround the center of the city. In more modern times, it was a place Vincent van Gogh often visited, and was where he painted many of his most famous works, including “Cafe Terrace at Night” and “Bedroom in Arles”.

4D Genre for Toots and the Maytals : SKA

Toots and the Maytals are a Jamaican reggae and ska band that have been active since the 1960s. Frontman Toots Hibbert passed away in 2020, at the age of 77.

5D Bishop for whom a neighborhood in Paris is named : ST DENIS

Not only is Saint Denis (also “Denys”) the patron saint of France, but he is also the patron saint of Paris. Denis was the first Bishop of Paris, in the 3rd century AD, and was martyred by having his head chopped off. The legend surrounding this event is that the executed Denis picked up his head and walked for six miles, delivering a sermon the whole way.

6D Junk food that, ironically, has an exercise in its name : CHEESE CURLS

The snack foods known as “cheese curls” are sold under various brand names including “Cheetos” and “Cheese Doodles” in North America, and “Wotsits” in the UK.

10D Flash mob group, perhaps : DANCE TROUPE

A flash mob is a group of people who gather to perform a sudden, brief act in a public location and then quickly disperse. Flash mobs originated in Manhattan in 2003, as a social experiment by an editor of “Harper’s Magazine” called Bill Wasik. Wasik’s first attempt to form a flash mob was unsuccessful, but the second attempt worked. The first successful flash mob was relatively tame by today’s elaborate standards, and consisted of about 130 people gathered on the 9th floor of Macy’s department store pretending to be shopping en masse for a “love rug”.

12D One wearing the Star of Life emblem, for short : EMT

The Star of Life is a symbol used in many regions of the world to identify emergency medical services. The emblem was designed in 1963 by the American Medical Association (AMA). It comprises a blue, six-pointed star with a Rod of Asclepius in the middle. The six branches of the star are used to represent the six principal tasks executed by rescuers in an emergency:

1. Detection
2. Reporting
3. Response
4. On-scene care
5. Care in transit
6. Transfer to definitive care

29D Colorful capsule that splatters : PAINTBALL

The “paint” in paintball isn’t actually paint, but rather a mix of gelatin and food coloring.

36D Funny Fred : ARMISEN

As an actor, Fred Armisen is perhaps best known for co-creating and co-starring in the sketch comedy series “Portlandia”. As a musician, one of Armisen’s claims to fame is leading the house band for the show “Late Night with Seth Meyers”.

41D Literary protagonist who “generally gave herself very good advice (though she very seldom followed it)” : ALICE

The title character in Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” is based on a child named Alice Liddell. Lewis Carroll (real name “Charles Lutwidge Dodgson”) met the Liddell family while he was photographing Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford, after which he befriended the Liddells. Carroll told the three Liddell sisters (including Alice) a story about a little girl named Alice and her adventures, in order to entertain the children while on a boating trip on the River Isis in Oxford. He elaborated on the story for the girls on a subsequent boat trip, and agreed to write down the tale as the children loved it so much. Carroll’s writings became a full-fledged manuscript, including the author’s own illustrations. It was first published in 1865, three years after that boat trip.

42D Some hailstone “souvenirs” : DENTS

A souvenir is a memento, a token of remembrance. We imported “souvenir” from French, in which language it has the same meaning. The term comes from the Latin “subvenire” meaning “to come to mind”, or literally “to come up”.