Day: January 7, 2026

Bill’s time: 8m 19s

Bill’s errors: 2

• TAO (Tau)
• SHO’ (shu)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Actress Pinkett Smith of “Girls Trip” : JADA

Jada Pinkett Smith is an actress from Baltimore, Maryland. Pinkett Smith’s most famous role is the human rebel Niobe in “The Matrix” series of movies. Back in 1994, she auditioned for the TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, to play the girlfriend of the character played by Will Smith. She didn’t get the role but did get Will Smith, as the couple were married in 1997.

“Girls Trip” is a 2017 comedy movie. I haven’t seen this one, but I hear good things about it. It was chosen as one of the top 10 films of 2017 by “Time” Magazine. The four “girls” that go on the trip are played by Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Tiffany Haddish and Jada Pinkett Smith.

10A “Great” animals : APES

The tailless primates known as apes (also “hominoids”) are divided into two main branches: gibbons (lesser apes) and hominids (great apes). The hominids are the great apes, and belong to the family of primates called Hominidae. Extant genera that make up the family Hominidae are:

• chimpanzees
• gorillas
• humans
• orangutans

15A Subject of 2001 bankruptcy headlines : ENRON

After all the trials following the exposure of fraud at Enron, several of the key players ended up in jail. Andrew Fastow was the Chief Financial Officer. He plea-bargained and received ten years without parole, and became the key witness in the trials of others. Even Fastow’s wife was involved and she was sentenced to one year for helping her husband hide money. Jeffrey Skilling (ex-CEO) was sentenced to 24 years and 4 months. Kenneth Lay (CEO) died in 2006 after he had been found guilty but before he could be sentenced. The accounting firm Arthur Andersen was found guilty of obstruction of justice for shredding thousands of pertinent documents and deleting emails and files (a decision that the Supreme Court later overturned on a technicality). But still, Arthur Andersen collapsed under the weight of the scandal and 85,000 people lost their jobs (despite only a handful being directly involved with Enron).

16A “That’s crazy!,” on the internet : WOAH!

“Woah” has gradually become an acceptable spelling for the word “whoa”. Annoying …

17A “Wing woman?” : TINKER BELL

Tinker Bell is a fairy in the “Peter Pan” story by J. M. Barrie. “Tink” is a minor character in the original play and novel, but evolved into a major character in the many, many film and television adaptations of the tale.

23A They have pH’s below 7 : ACIDS

As we all recall from chemistry class, a pH of 7 is considered neutral. Anything less than 7 is an acid, and anything above 7 is a base.

25A “Cover girl?” : NANCY DREW

The “Nancy Drew” mystery stories were produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate. The founder of the Syndicate hired a team of writers to produce the “Nancy Drew” novels, but listed the author of each book as the fictional Carolyn Keene.

31A Org. with a 3-1-1 rule : TSA

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) loosened the ban on liquids, aerosols and gels in carry-on baggage in 2006, From that date onwards, passengers had to abide by the 3-1-1 rule, i.e. 3-ounce, now 3.4-ounce, or less containers (3), in a one-quart ziploc bag (1), one bag per person (1).

33A W-9 fig. : SSN

IRS form W-9 is a Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification. It is used by businesses to obtain the Taxpayer Identification Number of independent contractors or freelancers to whom they are paying non-wage income.

34A San Francisco or San Antonio : CITY

The California city of San Francisco takes its name from the Presidio of San Francisco and the nearby Mission San Francisco de Asís that were founded in 1776 by Spanish colonists.

The city of San Antonio, Texas was named by Spanish explorers. They came upon a Native American settlement in the area on 13 June 1691, the feast day of St. Anthony of Padua, hence the city’s name.

35A “Homecoming queen?” : DOROTHY GALE

Dorothy Gale is the protagonist in L. Frank Baum’s book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”, and indeed a major character in almost all of the “Oz” series of novels. There is a suggestion that the young heroine was named for Baum’s own niece Dorothy Gage, who died as an infant.

48A “Sister-in-law?” : ELLE WOODS
51A Witherspoon who played 48-Across : REESE

“LEGALLY blonde” is a 2001 comedy film starring Reese Witherspoon as a girlish sorority president who heads to Harvard to earn a law degree. “LEGALLY blonde” was successful enough to warrant two sequels as well as a spin-off musical that played most successfully in London’s West End (for 974 performances).

“Reese” is not actually actress Witherspoon’s given name. She started out life as Laura Jeanne Witherspoon. “Reese” is her mother’s maiden name.

53A Smurf elder : PAPA

The Smurfs are little blue people created in 1958 by the Belgian cartoonist who went by the pen name Peyo. The Smurfs became famous in the US when Hanna-Barbera used them in a children’s cartoon series. The characters are largely a group of males. The original lineup included just one “Smurfette”, who is wooed by almost all of the boy Smurfs. Later, another female was introduced into the mix called Sassette, and still later along came Granny Smurf.

56A Hot stuff : 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).

57A “Cat lady?” : HELLO KITTY

Hello Kitty is a female bobtail cat, and a character/brand name launched in 1974 by the Japanese company Sanrio. Folks can overpay for stationery, school supplies and fashion accessories with the Hello Kitty character emblazoned thereon.

64A Rapper ___ Elliott : MISSY

Melissa “Missy” Elliott is a rap artist who was childhood friends with fellow rapper Timbaland.

Down

1D Circadian dysrhythmia, less fancily : JET LAG

For many years, I had to deal with jet lag almost every couple of months. I swear by the diet supplement melatonin, which you can buy over the counter here in the US. But, I am no doctor so don’t listen to anything I say …

6D With all judges present : EN BANC

“En banc” is a French term, translating as “on a bench”. It refers to the cases in which all the judges of a court hear a case, as opposed to a case heard just by a panel, a subset of the full complement. The phrase is sometimes written as “in banc” in the US.

7D Grilled cornmeal cake : AREPA

An arepa is a cornmeal cake or bread that is popular in Colombian and Venezuelan cuisines in particular. Each arepa has a flat, round shape and is often split to make a sandwich.

9D “Black Jeopardy!” show, in brief : SNL

NBC first aired a form of “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) in 1975 under the title “NBC’s Saturday Night”. The show was actually created to give Johnny Carson some time off from “The Tonight Show”. Back then “The Tonight Show” had a weekend episode, and Carson convinced NBC to pull the Saturday or Sunday recordings off the air and hold them for subsequent weeknights in which Carson needed a break. NBC turned to Lorne Michaels and asked him to put together a variety show to fill the vacant slot, and he came up with what we now call “Saturday Night Live”.

10D Nobel, for one : AWARD

Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist and businessman. He is famous for the invention of dynamite during his lifetime, as well as for instituting the Nobel Prizes by providing the necessary funds in his will.

22D “The Bear” actress Edebiri : AYO

Actor, comedian and television writer Ayo Edebiri gained prominence for her role as Sydney Adamu, the young sous-chef in the very successful Hulu series “The Bear”.

“The Bear” is a comedy-drama TV show that started airing in 2022. It stars Jeremy Allen White (of “Shameless” fame) as a chef from a Michelin-star restaurant who heads home to Chicago to run his family’s sandwich shop after his brother dies. I really enjoyed this one …

24D Clear up, as a windshield : DEFOG

What we know as a windshield here in North America, is referred to as a windscreen on the other side of the Atlantic. In America, we use the term “windscreen” for a mesh or foam device placed around a microphone to limit noise caused by wind.

27D Savory rice porridge : CONGEE

Congee is an Asian dish. It is a gruel prepared by cooking rice in water for an extended period, long enough for the grains to practically disintegrate.

36D Purple boba choice : TARO

Taro is a staple in many tropical regions, and is believed to be one of the earliest cultivated plants. There is evidence suggesting its cultivation dates back over 10,000 years in Papua New Guinea.

Bubble tea, sometimes called “boba tea”, is a tea-based drink from Taiwan. The “bubbles” are chewy tapioca balls that are usually added to the drink.

37D Travel option that serves 46 states : AMTRAK

“Amtrak” is the name used commercially by the National Railroad Passenger Corporation. It comes from a melding of the words “America” and “track”.

39D Virus of sorts : MALWARE

Malware is software and program code that is created to intentionally disrupt and exploit computer systems. Viruses, worms, trojan horses and spyware are all covered by the term. “Malware” is short for “malicious software”.

43D Chain email abbr. : FWD

Forward (fwd.)

44D Biblical collection of 150 poems : PSALMS

The Greek word “psalmoi” originally meant “songs sung to a harp”, and gave us the word “psalms”. In the Jewish and Western Christian traditions, the Book of Psalms contains 150 individual psalms, divided into five sections.

45D Kitchen grinder : PESTLE

I’ve loved the sound of the words “mortar” and “pestle”, ever since I was first introduced to them in the chemistry lab. The Romans called a receptacle for pounding or grinding things a “mortarium”, giving us “mortar”. Mortarium was also the word for the product of pounding and grinding, which gives us our “mortar” that’s used with bricks to build a wall. And further, short stubby cannons used in the 16th century resembled a grinding bowl and so were called “mortars”, which evolved into our contemporary weapon of the same name. As far as the pestle is concerned, it is also derived from its Latin name “pistillum”, which comes from the word for “crush”.

46D Kutcher of “That ’70s Show” : ASHTON

Ashton Kutcher played the character Michael Kelso on Fox’s “That ‘70s Show”. Kelso was Kutcher’s breakthrough acting role. Kutcher then starred in the sitcom “Two and a Half Men”, replacing the “disgraced” Charlie Sheen. In 2009, Kutcher became the first user on Twitter to get over 1 million followers.

49D Clear, as a whiteboard : ERASE

The modern whiteboard (also “dry erase board”) was invented by photographer Martin Heit in the 1960s. He noticed that ink from felt-tip pens wiped off photographic negatives easily, leading to the idea of a non-staining writing surface.

54D Small bouquet : POSY

“Poesy” was the name given to a line of verse engraved on the inner surface of a ring. The related word “posy”, for a bouquet of flowers, arose with the notion that giving a posy might be a message of love, just as a poesy inside a ring could have the same meaning.

58D Lilly of pharmaceuticals : ELI

Eli Lilly is the largest corporation in the state of Indiana. Founder Eli Lilly was a veteran of the Union Army in the Civil War, and a failed Mississippi plantation owner. Later in life he returned to his first profession and opened a pharmaceutical operation to manufacture drugs and sell them wholesale. Under Lilly’s early guidance, the company was the first to create gelatin capsules to hold medicines and the first to use fruit flavoring in liquid medicines.

59D Dr. Seuss’s Sam-___ : I AM

Dr. Seuss’s famous children’s book “Green Eggs and Ham” was first published in 1960. The text of “Green Eggs and Ham” has a lot of “I am” going on. It starts with:

I am Sam
I am Sam
Sam I am

and ends with:

I do so like
green eggs and ham!
Thank you!
Thank you,
Sam-I-am