Month: December 2025

Bill’s time: 9m 04s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Dawdler : SLOWPOKE

Back in the early 1800s, a “poke” was a device attached to domestic animals such as pigs or sheep to keep them from escaping their enclosures. The poke was like a yoke with a pole, and slowed the animal down, hence the term “slowpoke”.

16A Kitsch : LOW ART

“Kitsch” is a German word, an adjective that means “gaudy, trash”.

18A Cracked wheat used in tabbouleh : BULGUR

Bulgur is a cereal made from the groats (hulled kernels) of wheat, usually durum wheat.

Tabbouleh is a Middle Eastern dish made from tomatoes, and chopped parsley, mint, bulgur and onion, along with olive oil, lemon juice and salt. The name “tabbouleh” comes from the Arabic “taabil” meaning “seasoning”. I love tabbouleh …

19A One whose beauty is on the inside : GEODE

A geode is a rock in which there is a cavity that is lined or filled with crystal formations. The crystals inside a geode form when mineral-rich water seeps into a cavity in a rock, leaving behind dissolved minerals that gradually build up over time. Some of the largest geodes ever discovered have been as big as a room and can take millions of years to form.

20A Whole kit and caboodle : GAMUT

In medieval times, the musical scale was denoted by the notes “ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la”. The term “gamma ut”, shortened to “gamut”, was used to describe the whole scale. By the 1620s, “gamut” was being used to mean the entire range of anything, the whole gamut.

In the idiomatic expression “the whole kit and caboodle”, “caboodle” (sometimes spelled “kaboodle”) is an informal term describing a bunch of people, or sometimes “the whole lot”.

26A Since Jan. 1, on a pay stub : YTD

Year-to-date (YTD)

27A Tuesday, in French : MARDI

In French, “lundi” (Monday) is the day before “mardi” (Tuesday), which is the day before “mercredi” (Wednesday).

28A Song commonly performed outdoors : CAROL

The word “carol” came into English via the Old French word “carole”, which was a “dance in a ring”. When “carol” made it into English, about 1300 AD, the term was used to describe a dance as well as a joyful song. Around 1500 AD, carols that were sung came to be associated with Christmas.

30A ___ Tuesday (end of the pre-Lenten season) : SHROVE

To shrive is to obtain absolution by confessing and doing penance. The past tense of “shrive” is “shrove”. The verb gives its name to Shrove Tuesday, the day before the season of fasting known as Lent. Shrove Tuesday is named in recognition of the early Christian tradition of confessing the week before Lent.

31A One toeing the line? : TIGHTROPE WALKER

Tightrope walking is also known as funambulism, from the Latin “funis” (rope, line) and “ambulare” (to walk). While tightrope walkers use a tensioned wire or rope, slack rope walkers use a rope that is simply anchored at either end.

39A Down Under bird that scientists are working to “de-extinct” : MOA

Moas were flightless birds native to New Zealand that are now extinct. The fate of the Moa is a great example of the detrimental effect that humans can have on animal populations. The Maoris arrived in New Zealand about 1300 AD, upsetting the balance of the ecosystem. The Moa were hunted to extinction within 200 years, which had the knock-on effect of killing off the Haast’s Eagle, the Moa’s only predator prior to the arrival of man. Moa were huge creatures, measuring up to 12 feet tall with their necks stretched upwards.

43A Origin story family in DC Comics : KENTS

Superman was sent to Earth in a rocket as a child by his parents, who remained on the doomed planet of Krypton. On Earth, the child was discovered by Jonathan and Martha Kent, farmers who lived near the fictional town of Smallville. The Kents raised the infant as their own, giving him the name Clark, which was Ma Kent’s maiden name.

45A Certain care provider, for short : EMT

An emergency medical technician (EMT) might administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

47A It might be marked with an X : PORNO

The word “pornography” comes from the Greek “pornographos” meaning “writing of prostitutes”.

52A Harden and become resistant to change : OSSIFY

To ossify is to become rigid or inflexible in attitude. The original and alternative meaning of the verb is “to cause to harden like bone”, from the Latin “os” meaning “bone”.

54A Old coin with a picture of Generalissimo Franco : PESETA

The peseta is a former currency of Spain and was also the de facto currency of Spain’s neighbor, the Principality of Andorra. The peseta was replaced by the euro in 2002.

Francisco Franco was dictator of Spain from 1936 to 1975, a reign of 39 years that made him the longest-ruling dictator in the history of Europe.

Down

6D Broad band? : OBI

The sash worn as part of traditional Japanese dress is known as an obi. It can be tied at the back in what is called a butterfly knot. The term “obi” is also used for the thick cotton belts that are an essential part of the outfits worn by practitioners of many martial arts. The color of the martial arts obi signifies the wearer’s skill level.

9D Professor Dumbledore : ALBUS

Professor Albus Dumbledore is the headmaster of the school for wizards called Hogwarts, in the Harry Potter universe. Dumbledore’s specialties are nonverbal spells and alchemy. Author J. K. Rowling chose the name Dumbledore as it is an Early English word for a bumblebee. Apparently she pictured him wandering around, humming to himself.

11D Bevy : quail :: parliament : ___ : OWL

Here are some colorful collective nouns:

• A pride of lions
• A shrewdness of apes
• A cloud of bats
• A bench of bishops
• A parliament of owls
• A clowder of cats
• A waddling of ducks
• An army of frogs
• A knot of toads

12D The world’s end, in Norse mythology : RAGNAROK

“Ragnarök” is the name given to a set of events in Norse mythology that resulted in the deaths of many famous gods, including Odin and Thor.

14D Baby sitter? : STROLLER

The baby carriages that we know as “strollers” over here in North America are more usually referred to as “pushchairs” or “buggies” in Britain and Ireland.

21D Half of a classic rum cocktail’s name : MAI

The mai tai cocktail is strongly associated with the Polynesian islands, but the drink was supposedly invented in 1944 in Trader Vic’s restaurant in Oakland, California. One recipe is 6 parts white rum, 3 parts orange curaçao, 3 parts orgeat syrup, 1 part rock candy syrup, 2 parts fresh lime juice, all mixed with ice and then a float added of 6 parts dark rum. “Maita’i” is the Tahitian word for “good”.

24D Component of a nautilus shell : NACRE

Nacre, also known as mother-of-pearl, is the strong iridescent material laid down by some mollusks on the inside of their shells, and it’s also what makes up pearls. The creature lays down nacre as a defensive mechanism, protecting the soft tissue of its body from the rough surface of the outer shell. Similarly, it uses nacre to encapsulate harmful debris or a parasite that penetrates the shell, and that’s how a pearl is formed. Cultured pearls are made by inserting a tissue graft from a donor oyster, around which the nacre is laid down.

The marine creature called a nautilus (plural “nautili”) is referred to as a “living fossil”, as it looks just like the spiral-shelled creatures that are commonly found in fossils. The spiral shape is a great example of the Fibonacci series defining a natural phenomenon, as the spiral is a Fibonacci spiral, described by the famous series of numbers. The nautilus moves using jet propulsion, by ingesting water at one end and then squirting it out at the other.

25D Eric who wrote and illustrated “Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me” : CARLE

Eric Carle is a very successful children’s author and book illustrator, with over 100 million of his books sold around the world. Carle’s most famous title is “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”, and it alone has sold 30 million copies.

27D Stick by a fireplace : MATCH

A strike-anywhere match will ignite if struck against almost any dry, hard, rough surface. The match head comprises two chemicals that are necessary for ignition. In order to minimize the chances of accidental ignition of matches, the safety match was developed. The safety match is safer because the match head only includes one of the chemicals necessary for ignition. The second chemical is included in a special striking surface provided with the matches, usually along the side of a matchbox.

30D Like the pope’s guards : SWISS

The Pontifical Swiss Guard is a small force of about 110 men responsible for the safety of the Pope. To join the Swiss Guard, a recruit must be a single male citizen of Switzerland who has completed basic training with the Swiss military. The commandant of the Guard suggested in 2009 that the force might be open for admission to female recruits one day, but that would be well in the future.

34D Great illustrations : EPITOMES

The more common meaning of “epitome” is “perfect example of a group, quality, type”. An epitome is also an abstract or summary of a book or article.

39D Sister of Moses : MIRIAM

According to the Bible, Miriam was the sister of Moses and Aaron. It was Miriam who hid baby Moses in a basket at the side of the river to avoid being killed as a newborn Hebrew boy.

43D Nation dubbed the “cradle of mankind” : KENYA

Kenya lies on the east coast of Africa, right on the equator. The country takes its name from Mount Kenya, the second-highest peak on the continent (after Kilimanjaro). The official languages of Kenya are English and Swahili.

49D Casting need : DIE

Injection molding is a manufacturing process in which a molten material, such as a plastic, is injected into a mold. The molten material cools, and adopts the shape of the mold. The related process of die-casting involves the pouring of molten metal into a custom-shaped die.