Day: December 22, 2025

Bill’s time: 6m 03s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Deep sleeps : COMAS

Our term “coma” comes from the Greek “koma” meaning “deep sleep”.

6A High-speed Amtrak train : ACELA

The Acela is the fastest train in the Americas, and can reach a top speed of 160 miles per hour, However, it only does so for about 40 miles of its 457-mile route between D.C. and Boston. Due to the curvy nature of the Northeast Corridor tracks, the train’s average speed over the entire journey, including stops, is closer to 70 mph.

14A One of a battery’s poles : ANODE

The anode and cathode are the two electrodes in an electrical device, like a battery. Anodes “give away” electrons, and cathodes “accept” electrons. In a typical battery powering a device, the anode gives away electrons that travel through the device (like a lightbulb, making it light up). Those electrons then flow to the cathode, which accepts them, completing the circuit.

17A Saxophone, trumpet, piano and bass, perhaps : JAZZ QUARTET (short quarter)

The American quarter is a little unusual in the world of decimal currency, if you think about it. Most currencies have a “20-cent” coin, which is easier to work with mathematically. The US went for the quarter in deference to the practice of dividing Spanish Milled Dollars into eight wedge-shaped “bits”. That’s also why the quarter is sometimes referred to as “two bits”. We’ve been using the adjective “two-bit” to mean “cheap, tawdry” at least since 1929. State quarters were introduced in 1999.

19A Day-___ paint : GLO

“Day-Glo” is a registered trademark used for an ink or paint that glows when exposed to a black light in a darkened room. When Day-Glo paint is viewed in daylight, the colors can look particularly vivid because they respond to UV light present in sunlight.

20A “Garfield” dog : ODIE

In the “Garfield” comic strip, Odie is the less-then-smart beagle. The strip’s creator, Jim Davis, based Odie on a character he created for a local car dealership advertisement before he came up with “Garfield”.

22A Typical “Survivor” locales : ISLES

The reality show “Survivor” is based on a Swedish television series created in 1997 called “Expedition Robinson”. The American “Survivor” is widely considered as the leading reality TV show. It was the first highly-rated reality TV offering to become very profitable.

24A Rapper ___ Uzi Vert : LIL

“Lil Uzi Vert” is the stage name of rapper Symere Woods from Philadelphia.

25A Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi, for two : JEDI MASTERS (short dime)

In the “Star Wars” universe, the members of the Jedi Order progress through six ranks:

1. Jedi Youngling
2. Jedi Padawan
3. Jedi Knight
4. Jedi Master
5. Jedi Master of the High Council
6. Jedi Grand Master of the Order

28A Fish that may have an electric charge : EEL

Electric eels are so called because they are capable of delivering an electric shock that debilitates their prey. They are also able to electrolocate their prey. They do so by generating a weak electric field. The prey causes a distortion in this electric field, which is picked up by the eel’s electroreceptor organs.

31A What each U.S. senator represents : STATE

The US Senate comprises 100 senators, with each of the fifty states being represented by two popularly elected senators. US senators were appointed by their state legislators from 1798 through 1913, until the Seventeenth Amendment called for popular elections.

33A Raggedy ___ : ANN

Raggedy Ann is a rag doll that was created by Johnny Gruelle in 1915 for his daughter, Marcella. He decided to name the doll by combining the titles of two poems by James Whitcomb Riley, “The Raggedy Man” and “Little Orphan Annie”. Gruelle introduced Raggedy Ann in a series of books three years later. Sadly, Marcella died at 13 years of age with her father blaming a smallpox vaccination she was given at school. Gruelle became very active in the movement against mass vaccination, for which Raggedy Ann became a symbol.

34A Breyers competitor : EDY’S

Breyers ice cream was introduced by William A. Breyer in 1866, in Philadelphia. Always known for using all-natural ingredients, Breyers products made in recent years contain more and more food additives in an attempt to cut costs in a competitive market. In fact, most Breyers products can’t even be labeled “ice cream” anymore as they don’t contain enough milk and cream and so are labeled “frozen dairy dessert” instead.

35A Some exams allow them : OPEN NOTES (short penny)

The official name of our smallest denomination coin is “cent”, and our use of the word “penny” is just a colloquialism derived from the British coin of the same name. In the UK, the plural of penny is “pence”, whereas we have “pennies” in our pockets in the US.

39A Cops, slangily : PO-PO

“To cop” was northern-English dialect for “to seize, catch”, and is still a slang term meaning “to get hold of, steal”. This verb evolved in the noun “copper”, describing a policeman, someone who catches criminals. “Copper” is often shortened to “cop”.

43A Yoga pose : ASANA

The word “asana” comes from the Sanskrit root “as”, which means “to sit” or “to be present”. In ancient yogic texts, “asana” primarily referred to a stable and comfortable seated position for meditation, rather than the array of physical postures that we associate with modern yoga practice today.

52A Overly fussy : PERSNICKETY (short nickel)

The 5-cent American coin known as a nickel is actually made up of 75% copper and 25% nickel. The first nickel was introduced in 1866, and was named the Shield nickel due to the shield design on the front of the coin. The current design is the Jefferson nickel, which was introduced in 1938.

54A Bit of forensic evidence : DNA

Something described as forensic is connected with a court of law, or with public discussion or debate. The term comes from the Latin “forensis” meaning “of a forum, of a place of assembly”. We mainly use the word today to mean “pertaining to legal trials” as in “forensic medicine” and “forensic science”.

55A Pink ___ (rock band) : FLOYD

Pink Floyd was an English rock band founded in 1965. The band’s most famous albums are probably “The Dark Side of the Moon” and “The Wall”.

56A Singer DiFranco : ANI

Ani DiFranco is a folk-rock singer and songwriter. DiFranco has also been labeled a feminist icon, and in 2006 won the Woman of Courage Award from the National Organization for Women.

65A Playwright Chekhov : ANTON

Anton Chekhov was a Russian writer of short stories and a playwright, as well as a physician. He wrote four classic plays that are often performed all around the world, namely “The Seagull”, “Uncle Vanya”, “Three Sisters” and “The Cherry Orchard”. All the time Chekhov was writing, he continued to practice medicine. He is quoted as saying “Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress.”

66A Kind of lamp that’s energy-efficient : LED

Light-emitting diode (LED)

67A Easily irritated : TESTY

Somebody described as testy is touchy, irritably impatient. The term “testy” comes into English from Old French, ultimately deriving from “testu” meaning “stubborn, headstrong”, literally “heady”. So, our word “testy” comes from the same root as the French word “tête” meaning “head”.

68A Romeo and Juliet, agewise : TEENS

In Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, it is explicitly stated that Juliet is 13 years of age, and the assumption is that Romeo is perhaps a little older.

Down

2D Doing keto, perhaps : ON A DIET

A ketogenic (also “keto”) diet is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet. When a body consumes insufficient carbohydrates to meet the need for energy, then the liver converts fat into fatty acids and ketone bodies in order to make up the energy deficit. An elevated level of ketone bodies in the bloodstream is known as “ketosis”, a term that gives rise to the name “ketogenic diet”. Medical professionals sometimes prescribe a ketogenic diet in order to control epilepsy in children. A condition of ketosis can reduce the frequency of epileptic seizures.

3D Creator of Firefox and Thunderbird : MOZILLA

Firefox is an open-source web browser produced by Mozilla. It was developed in 2002, and is in effect the successor to Netscape’s groundbreaking Navigator browser. Firefox was extremely popular in 2009, and challenged the domination of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer before succumbing to Google’s Chrome.

4D Woodworking tool : ADZE

An adze (also “adz”) is similar to an ax, but is different in that the blade of an adze is set at right angles to the tool’s shaft. An ax blade is set in line with the shaft.

7D Wispy clouds : CIRRI

Cirrus (plural “cirri”) clouds are those lovely wispy, white strands that are often called “mare’s tails”.

9D Harper ___, author of “To Kill a Mockingbird” : LEE

Nelle Harper Lee was an author from Monroeville, Alabama. For many years, Lee had only one published novel to her name, i.e. “To Kill a Mockingbird”. That contribution to the world of literature was enough to earn her the Presidential Medal of Freedom and a Pulitzer Prize. Harper Lee was a close friend of fellow author Truman Capote who was the inspiration for the character named “Dill” in her novel. Lee was all over the news in 2015 as she had published a second novel, titled “Go Set a Watchman”. The experts seem to be agreeing that “Go Set a Watchman” is actually the first draft of “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Lee passed away less than a year after “Go Set a Watchman” hit the stores.

10D Monet or Manet : ARTIST

French artist Claude Monet was one of the founders of the Impressionist movement, and indeed the term “Impressionism” comes from the title of his 1872 painting “Impression, Sunrise”. That work depicts the port of Le Havre, which was Monet’s hometown. Later in his life, Monet purchased a house in Giverny, and famously installed lily ponds and a Japanese bridge in the property’s extensive gardens. He spent two decades painting the water lily ponds, producing his most famous works. I was fortunate enough to visit Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny a few years ago. A beautiful place …

Édouard Manet was a French painter whose works are mainly classified as Realist and Impressionist. Manet was friends with Impressionists masters like Edgar Degas, Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir and greatly influenced the Impressionist movement. The list of Manet’s marvelous paintings includes “Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe”, “Le Repose”, and “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère”.

12D Reaction to pollen, e.g. : ALLERGY

The pollen of ragweed is the most common allergen of all pollens. It seems that the pollen season has been lengthening in recent years, probably due to global warming.

25D Cherokee maker : JEEP

The Jeep Cherokee is an SUV with some legs. The original SJ series Jeep Cherokee was produced from 1974 until 1983, and derivative models are very much alive today.

26D “The kissing disease” : MONO

Mononucleosis is a viral disease that is also known as “glandular fever”, or simply “mono”. The virus that causes the disease can only be contracted through direct exposure to infected saliva. As a result, mono is often called “the kissing disease”.

27D Em, to Dorothy : AUNT

In the children’s novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum, Dorothy Gale lives with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry.

33D Word after fire or carpenter : … ANT

Fire ants are stinging ants, and many species are known as red ants. Most stinging ants bite their prey and then spray acid on the wound. The fire ant, however, bites to hold on and then injects an alkaloid venom from its abdomen, creating a burning sensation in humans who have been nipped.

Carpenter ants can wreak havoc in a wooden structure. They burrow into damp wood creating galleries and pathways that form a complex network of nests. Unlike termites though, carpenter ants don’t feed on the wood.

36D Actor Morales : ESAI

Esai Morales is not only a successful actor, he is also a trained martial artist, having studied the Korean martial art of taekwondo since he was a teenager.

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41D Released from jail early : PAROLED

“Parole” is a French word that we use in English, with the French “parole” meaning “word, speech”. Of particular interest is the French phrase “parole d’honneur” which translates as “word of honor”. In the early 1600s we started using “parole” to mean a promise by a prisoner of war not to escape, as in the prisoner giving his “word of honor” not to run off. Over time, parole has come to mean conditional release of a prisoner before he or she has served the full term of a sentence.

44D Pasta preference : AL DENTE

The Italian expression “al dente” literally means “to the tooth” or “to the bite” and is used to describe not only pasta, but also vegetables that are cooked so that they are tender and yet still crisp.

53D Gold standard : KARAT

A karat (also “carat”, the spelling outside of North America) is a measure of the purity of gold alloys, with 24-karat representing pure gold.

57D Scourge : BANE

Today, we tend to use the word “bane” to mean “anathema, a source of persistent annoyance”. A few centuries ago, a bane was a cause of harm or death, perhaps a deadly poison.

62D Beanie or bowler : HAT

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

The bowler hat is so called because it was originally designed, in 1849, by the London hat-makers Thomas and William Bowler. The Bowlers created it as an alternative for the top hats then worn by gamekeepers. The gamekeepers needed a tight-fitting hat with a low and rounded crown so that it would stay on their heads as they rode by horseback through woodland with low-hanging branches.