Day: December 7, 2025

Bill’s time: 17m 35s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Fancy dos : COIFS

A coif is a hairdo. The term “coif” comes from an old French term “coife” describing a skull-cap that was worn under a helmet back in the late 13th century.

11A Cantankerous captain of fiction : AHAB

Here are the final words uttered by Captain Ahab, just before Moby Dick destroys his vessel, the Pequod:

Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool! and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! Thus, I give up the spear!

15A Lab provisions? : ALPO

Alpo is a brand of dog food introduced by Allen Products in 1936, with “Alpo” being an abbreviation for “Allen Products”. Lorne Greene used to push Alpo dog food in television spots, as did Ed McMahon and Garfield the Cat, would you believe?

22A A “bear of very little brain” : POOH

In the Winnie-the-Pooh stories by A. A. Milne, Pooh has a place where he goes to think. That place has a log on which Pooh sits, and signpost that reads “Pooh’s thotful spot”.

23A Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison? : POWER COUPLE

George Westinghouse was an American engineer and businessman, and a rival to Thomas Edison in developing the first robust electrical grid for the country. Edison’s approach was to distribute electrical power using DC current, but Westinghouse opted to partner with Nikola Tesla and worked with AC current. AC technology won the day!

25A John James Audubon? : BIRD BRAIN

The National Audubon Society is an environmental organization that was formed in 1905. The society is named for John James Audubon, an ornithologist who compiled his famous book “Birds of America” between 1827 and 1838.

32A Dictionary tag: Abbr. : VAR

Variant (var.)

34A Summer camper’s conveyance : CANOE

The boat known as a canoe takes its name from the Carib word “kenu” meaning “dugout”. It was Christopher Columbus who brought “kenu” into Spanish as “canoa”, which evolved into our English “canoe”.

36A Emmy-winning actor Ray : LIOTTA

Actor Ray Liotta was best known for playing Shoeless Joe Jackson in the movie “Field of Dreams” and Henry Hill in “GoodFellas”.

38A Samuel Morse? : CABLE GUY

Samuel Morse was a very accomplished and reputable painter (he was engaged to paint a portrait of President John Adams, for example). In 1825 Morse was in Washington working on a commissioned painting when he received a one-line letter by horse-messenger telling him that his wife was ill. He left immediately for his home in New Haven, Connecticut but by the time that Morse arrived his wife had already died and had been buried. This single event spurred him to move from painting to the development of a rapid means of long distance communication, leading to the single-wire telegraph and Morse code.

43A Sir Edmund Hillary? : MOUNTAIN GOAT

Greatest of all time (GOAT)

Edmund Hillary was a mountaineer and explorer from New Zealand. Famously, Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first climbers to summit Mount Everest, doing so in 1953. Edmund’s son Peter Hillary also became a climber, and he reached the summit of Everest in 1990. Peter repeated the feat in 2002, climbing alongside Tenzing Norgay’s son Jamling.

46A Lake that’s home to the world’s largest freshwater island : HURON

Lake Huron takes its name from the Huron Native-American people that lived by its shores. Early French explorers often called the lake “La Mer Douce”, which translates as “the freshwater sea”.

47A Bit of cacao : NIB

The seeds of the Theobroma cacao tree are cacao beans. The beans can be dried, and crushed. The resulting pieces are sold as cacao nibs.

51A Trees commonly confused with birches : ASPENS

The “quaking” aspen tree is so called because the structure of the leaves causes them to move easily in the wind, to “tremble, quake”.

Birch is a hardwood tree. The smooth bark of the birch has eye-like features, leading to the tree’s nickname of “the Watchful Tree”.

59A Sir Isaac Newton? : MOTION DETECTOR

Sir Isaac Newton’s 1687 publication “Principia” lays out his laws of motion and his law of universal gravitation. The full title of the work is “Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica” (“Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy” in Latin).

63A “Harper Valley ___” (1968 hit) : PTA

“Harper Valley PTA” is a country song that was a hit for Jeannie C. Riley in 1968. The song tells of a widowed mother of a teenage girl who is labelled by the daughter’s school’s PTA as scandalous, primarily for wearing a short hemline. The hit song was parlayed into a successful 1978 comedy film starring Barbara Eden (of “I Dream of Jeannie”). The movie was successful enough to spawn a TV series, with Barbara Eden again taking the lead. But, the sitcom just made it through two seasons before being pulled from the schedules.

64A TV tavern visited by Mayor Quimby : MOE’S

The regulars on “The Simpsons” hang out at Moe’s Tavern, which is named for and run by Moe Szyslak. The most popular beer at Moe’s is Duff Beer. The name “Duff” is a reference to the real-life Duffy’s Tavern that used to be East 13th Street in Eugene, Oregon. “The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening used to frequent Duffy’s regularly, and Moe’s looks very much like Duffy’s in terms of decor and floor plan.

65A Shoe covering : GAITER

A gaiter is a heavy cloth or piece of leather that covers the leg from the instep up to the ankle or perhaps knee.

67A It’s often rapped but never spoken : GAVEL

The small hammer that one raps on a table or desk to call a meeting to order, or perhaps to signify a sale at an auction, is called a gavel. The term “gavel” is actually American English, and is a word that emerged in the early 19th century.

73A Kofi ___, former secretary general of the United Nations : ANNAN

Kofi Annan was a diplomat from Ghana who served as secretary-general of the UN for ten years until the beginning of 2007. Annan was born into an aristocratic family, and had a twin sister named Efua Atta. Efua and Kofi shared the middle name “Atta”, which means “twin” in the Akan language of Ghana. Annan attended the MIT Sloan School of Management from 1971-72, and graduated with a Master of Science degree. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, winning jointly with the United Nations organization itself.

74A Like the Red Sea after a visit from Moses : PARTED

The Red Sea (sometimes “Arabian Gulf”) is a stretch of water lying between Africa and Asia. The Gulf of Suez (and the Suez Canal) lies to the north, and the Gulf of Aden to the south. According to the Book of Exodus in the Bible, God parted the Red Sea to allow Moses lead the Israelites from Egypt.

80A Gregor Mendel? : SEEDY CHARACTER

Gregor Mendel was an Austrian monk, and a scientist who achieved fame after his passing when his work in the field of genetics was rediscovered. The conclusions he drew from his studies of garden peas led to him earning the moniker “father of modern genetics”.

87A Sister to Lex Luthor : LENA

Lex Luthor is the nemesis of Superman in comics. He has been portrayed in a number of guises in the comic world as well in movies and on the small screen. For example, he appeared as Atom Man in the 1950 film series “Atom Man vs. Superman”, and was played by actor Lyle Talbot, opposite Kirk Alyn’s Superman.

88A With love, musically : AMOROSO

“Amoroso” is the Italian word for “lovingly”, and is used as a direction on a musical score.

91A A urinal, according to Duchamp : ART

Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose works are associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. One of his most celebrated “works” is simply what he called “readymade” art, a urinal which he titled “Fountain”. Even though this work is considered to be “a major landmark in 20th century art”, the original that was submitted for exhibition was never actually displayed and had been lost forever. Replicas were commissioned by Duchamp, and are on display in many museums around the world. I have no further comment …

93A Henry Ford? : DRIVING FORCE

Industrialist Henry Ford was born in Michigan, and was the son of an Irish immigrant from County Cork. Ford’s most famous vehicle was the one that revolutionized the industry: the Model T. Ford’s goal with the Model T was to build a car that was simple to drive, and cheap to purchase and repair. The Model T cost $825 in 1908, which isn’t much over $20,000 in today’s money.

98A Orville and Wilbur Wright? : AIRHEADS

The Wright Brothers, Orville and Wilbur, used knowledge gained from manufacturing and repairing bicycles when designing the world’s first motor-driven airplane. The key to their success was the development of a mechanical system for controlled flight, building on the existing progress made by others in the fields of wing and engine design.

103A College located in Cedar Rapids : COE

Coe College is a private school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa that was founded in 1851. Coe is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. It was founded in 1851 as the School for Prophets. A farmer named Daniel Coe made a donation of $1,500 towards a campus in Cedar Rapid, but added the requirement that it be a co-educational institution. The school opened as the Cedar Rapids Collegiate Institute, and was renamed as Coe College Institute in 1875 in recognition of the original donation.

115A Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung? : DREAM TEAM

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist, and founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychiatry. One of Freud’s tenets was that our dreams are a necessary part of sleep as they prevent the dreamer from awakening due to desire for unfulfilled wishes. The dream’s content represents those unfulfilled wishes and satisfies the desire.

118A Galileo Galilei? : STAR WITNESS

The great Italian polymath Galileo Galilei made many discoveries in the world of astronomy. For example, he was the first to identify Jupiter’s four largest moons. Notably, Galileo used his telescope to confirm the heliocentric model, in which the planets revolve around the Sun. For his denial of geocentrism, Galileo spent his final days under house arrest, having been deemed “suspect of heresy” by the Roman Inquisition in 1615.

123A Church staple : ORGAN

The organ that we often see in churches, synagogues and concert halls is a pipe organ. Sound is produced by pressurized air driven through particular pipes selected by keys on a keyboard.

124A “Vous ___ ici” (French map phrase) : ETES

“Vous êtes ici” are important words to know when navigating your way around Paris. They mean “You are here”, and you’ll often see them on maps in the street.

126A “In other words,” in other words : ID EST

“Id est” is Latin for “that is”, and is often abbreviated to “i.e.” when used in English.

127A Trips around the sun : YEARS

A year is defined as the time it takes for the Earth to orbit the Sun. The other planets in our solar system take varying lengths of time to complete their orbits:

1. Mercury: ~ 3 Earth months
2. Venus: ~ 7 Earth months
3. Earth: 1 Earth year
4. Mars: ~ 2 Earth years
5. Jupiter: ~ 12 Earth years
6. Saturn: ~ 30 Earth years
7. Uranus: ~ 84 Earth years
8. Neptune: ~ 165 Earth years

Down

1D Solos at a party, say : CUPS

The Solo Cup was introduced in 1930, and was the creation of a former employee of the Dixie Company. The first Solo Cup was a paper cone that founder Leo Hulseman made at home and sold to companies that distributed bottled water. Apparently, Solo’s red plastic cups sell very well, and are used by college students playing beer pong.

2D The duck in “Peter and the Wolf” : OBOE

As is the case for many I am sure, Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” was my introduction to the world of classical music, as it was played for us at school many, many moons ago. Prokofiev wrote the piece as a commissioned work for the Central Children’s Theater in Moscow, in 1936. He loved the idea of the project, and wrote the story and music in just four days!

3D Future birthplace of Captain Kirk : IOWA

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 …

6D ___ Jima : IWO

Iwo Jima is a volcanic island located south of Tokyo that today is uninhabited. The name is Japanese for “Sulfur Island”, referring to the sulfur mining on which Iwo Jima’s economy once depended. There were about a thousand Japanese civilians living on the island prior to WWII. In 1944, there was a massive influx of Japanese military personnel in anticipation of the inevitable US invasion. As the Japanese military moved in, the civilians were forced out and no one has lived there since. Control of the island was wrested from the Japanese in the five-week Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. Said battle was one of the bloodiest in the Pacific theater in WWII.

7D One of the Fab Four : PAUL

The Beatles were described on the sleeve notes of their 1963 album “With the Beatles” as the “fabulous foursome”. The press picked up on the phrase and morphed it into “the Fab Four”.

8D Jelly you wouldn’t pair with peanut butter : ASPIC

Aspic is a dish in which the main ingredients are served in a gelatin made from meat stock. “Aspic” is a French word meaning “jelly”.

9D Arabic greeting and farewell : SALAAM

The word “salaam” is an Anglicized spelling of the Arabic word for “peace”. The term can describe an act of deference, and in particular a very low bow.

10D Canned fuel used in making fondue : STERNO

Sterno is a jellied alcohol that usually comes in a can. The can is opened and the contents burn very easily and persistently. The brand name “Sterno” comes from the original manufacturer, S. Sternau & Co. of Brooklyn, New York.

Fondue is a traditional Swiss dish composed of melted cheese served in a pot over a tabletop stove, into which diners dip bread. The term “fondue”, which is French for “melted”, is now applied more widely to similar dishes served in a communal pot into which a food is dipped. Traditional fondue is delicious, so very delicious …

11D Broadcast to squad cars, in brief : APB

An All Points Bulletin (APB) is a broadcast from one US law enforcement agency to another.

13D One chain x one furlong : ACRE

At one time, an acre was defined as the amount of land a yoke of oxen could plow in a day. Then, an acre was more precisely defined as a strip of land “one furrow long” (i.e. one furlong) and one chain wide. The length of one furlong was equal to 10 chains, or 40 rods. An area of one furlong times 10 rods was one rood.

14D Amelia ___, maid of children’s literature : BEDELIA

The “Amelia Bedelia” series of children’s books was written by Peggy Parish until she passed away in 1988. Her nephew, Herman Parish took over and has been writing them since 1995. The Amelia character is based on a maid in Cameroon where Parish had lived during her formative years.

15D Its showers bring flowers: Abbr. : APR

The phenomenon known as April showers really only applies to Britain and Ireland. Increased occurrence of rain during April is largely due to an annual change in the position of the jet stream.

16D Grant a mortgage, say : LOAN TO

Our word “mortgage” comes from the Old French “mort gaige” which translated as “dead pledge”. Such an arrangement was so called because the “pledge” to repay “dies” when the debt is cleared.

26D Russian crepes : BLINIS

A blintz (also “blintze” and “blin”, plural “blini”) is a thin pancake similar to a crêpe, although unlike a crêpe, a blintz may contain yeast.

37D Crazy Horse and fellow tribespeople : OGLALAS

The Oglala are a subtribe of the Lakota Native American people. The name “Oglala” translates from the Lakota language as “to scatter one’s own”.

Crazy Horse’s Lakota name translates literally into English as “His Horse is Crazy or Spirited”. He was one of the tribal war party leaders at the Battle of Little Bighorn, also known as Custer’s Last Stand. Crazy Horse surrendered to the US Army in 1877. He was fatally stabbed while in custody, apparently trying to escape after having surrendered. The circumstances surrounding his death are still shrouded in controversy.

39D Musical tool popularized by T-Pain : AUTO-TUNER

Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio process that is primarily used to alter pitch in a recorded track. One of the main uses of Auto-Tune is to correct voice tracks that are slightly off-pitch, which probably explains why even professional singers tend to sound better on a recording than they do live. More extreme levels of Auto-Tune adjustment are now quite common, creating a sound effect that distorts vocals. Such sound effects really took off with the release of Cher’s 1998 hit song “Believe”, in which you can really notice the vocal distortion.

“T-Pain” is the stage name of rap artist Faheem Rasheed Najm from Tallahassee, Florida. He is known for his contributions to the popular use of Auto-Tune in his recordings, which gives his voice a robotic sound. He collaborated with an iPhone app developer to produce the app “I Am T-Pain” that allows users to mimic his particular style of Auto-Tune in karaoke.

40D Personification of England, Scotland and Wales : BRITANNIA

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.

41D Sets of points, in math : LOCI

“Locus” (plural “loci”) is Latin for “place”, and is used in English with the same meaning. The term can also be used to describe a center of power or activity. In mathematics, a locus is a set of points that satisfy some property. For example, a locus might be a straight line, part of a line, a surface, or perhaps a curve.

44D Pied-à-___ : TERRE

A pied-à-terre is a secondary living space or temporary accommodation, often somewhere to live in a big city that is some distance away from a primary residence. “Pied-à-terre” is French for “foot on the ground”.

45D Michigan, in Chicago: Abbr. : AVE

Chicago’s Michigan Avenue is home to many of the city’s landmarks, including the Chicago Water Tower, the Art Institute of Chicago, Millenium Park and the Magnificent Mile shopping district.

51D “And giving ___, up the chimney he rose” : A NOD

The poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” was published anonymously in 1823, and is better known today by its first line “‘Twas the night before Christmas”. Most scholars believe that the poem was written by Clement Clarke Moore, a theologian from New York City. Others say that it was written by Henry Livingston, Jr., a poet from Upstate New York.

58D French fashion inits. : YSL

Yves Saint Laurent (YSL)

60D Oldest independent state in the Arab world : OMAN

Oman lies on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula and is neighbored by the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Oman is a monarchy, and the official name of the state is the Sultanate of Oman. All of the country’s legislative, executive and judiciary power resides with the hereditary sultan.

61D Alter, as a T-shirt for a Phish concert, say : TIE-DYE

Phish is a rock-and-roll band that formed at the University of Vermont in 1983. After a hiatus from 2004 until 2009, the band is going strong to this day. There has been a “Phish Food” flavor of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream since 1997.

67D Actress Rowlands : GENA

Gena Rowlands was an actress best known for the films made with her husband, actor and director John Cassavetes. Notably, Rowlands played a lead role opposite James Garner in the weepy, weepy 2004 film “The Notebook”. “The Notebook” was directed by her son Nick Cassavetes. Rowlands was nominated for Oscars for her performances in two films: “Gloria” (1980) and “A Woman Under the Influence” (1974).

69D She-shed’s counterpart : MAN CAVE

“Man cave” is a slang term for a male sanctuary within a home. That sanctuary is often a spare bedroom (as it is in our house) or a converted garage.

A “she shed” is the equivalent of a “man cave”. It is somewhere that “she” can use as her own space within a home.

76D Catherine of “Best in Show” and “A Mighty Wind” : O’HARA

Catherine O’Hara is an actress and comedian from Toronto. One of O’Hara’s more famous film roles is Kevin’s mother in the Christmas classic “Home Alone”. She also plays a lead character (Moira) in the excellent sitcom “Schitt’s Creek” alongside Eugen Levy.

“Best in Show” is a comedy film released in 2000 that is in the mockumentary style. It follows five entrants to a big dog show. It is a Christopher Guest film, so I gave up after about 10 minutes of viewing …

“A Mighty Wind” is a 2003 comedy drama movie co-written and directed by Christopher Guest. The film falls into the genre known as “mockumentary”, and tells of a folk music reunion concert. Many in the cast of “A Mighty Wind” also appeared in the other successful Christopher Guest films “This is Spinal Tap”, “Waiting for Guffman” and “Best in Show”.

78D Uncouth : CRASS

The word “couth” existed in Middle English with the meaning “well-known, customary”. The term died out, but was resurrected in the late 19th century as a back-formation of the word “uncouth” meaning “rude, lacking in polish”.

81D Farm-share program, for short : CSA

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

84D Self-proclaimed “Rap God” : EMINEM

“Rap God” is a song by American rapper Eminem, released in 2013. “Rap God” holds the Guinness World Record for the most words in a hit single. The song contains a total of 1,560 words in just over six minutes, which translates to an average of 4.28 words per second.

90D McFlurry flavor : OREO

A McFlurry is an ice cream dessert served in McDonald’s restaurants. A McFlurry is made from soft-serve ice cream, to which are added crushed candy bars or cookies. Cleverly, a McFlurry is mixed on a machine with the mixing blade then doubling as a spoon with which one eats it.

92D Something for canines to sink their canines into : CHEW TOY

The canine teeth of a mammal are also called the eyeteeth or cuspids. The name “canine” is used because these particular teeth are very prominent in dogs. The prefix “eye-” is used because in humans the eyeteeth are located in the upper jaw, directly below the eyes.

96D ___ Lannister, “Game of Thrones” queen : CERSEI

English actress Lena Headey is best known for playing Cersei Lannister on the fantasy series “Game of Thrones”. Headey was born in Bermuda, where her father was stationed as a police officer.

107D It runs hot : LAVA

Lava is a phenomenon that results from the eruption of magma from a volcano. Depending on the type of lava and the volcano it comes from, lava can reach temperatures of up to 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit (1,200 degrees Celsius). That’s hot enough to melt steel …

112D Sonic the Hedgehog company : SEGA

Sonic the Hedgehog is a title character in a videogame and the mascot of Sega, the computer game developer. Sonic was set up as a rival to Nintendo’s mascot Mario.