Day: June 21, 2026

Bill’s time: 20m 17s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Letters accompanying applications, for short : RECS

Recommendation (rec.)

5A Includes without others knowing, in a way : BCCS

Blind carbon copy (bcc)

17A Up to snuff : ABLE

The term “up to snuff” today means “up to standard”. It was introduced to us for the first time in 1811 in a play called “Hamlet Travestie” by Englishman John Poole. He used the phrase to mean “in the know”. It was perhaps a reference to the habit of taking powdered tobacco, a practice back then that was associated with the upper classes, the educated, those in the know.

19A Drove in an A.T.V., say, informally : OFF-ROADED

All-terrain vehicle (ATV)

25A Launch points in disc golf : TEE PADS

Disc golf is also known as Frisbee golf, and sometimes even Frolf. Believe it or not, disc golf predates the introduction of the Frisbee. The first game was played at a school in Bladworth, Saskatchewan in 1926. The participating schoolkids threw tin lids into circles drawn on a course they created in the school grounds. They named the game “Tin Lid Golf”. By the way, I try to play disc golf at least three times a week. Lots of fun …

29A Laptop mode : SLEEP

Sleep mode is a low-power mode for electronic devices … and crossword bloggers …

32A ID used for far more than its name suggests : SSN

The main purpose of a Social Security Number (SSN) is to track individuals for the purposes of taxation, although given its ubiquitous use, it is looking more and more like an identity number to me. The social security number system was introduced in 1936. Prior to 1986, an SSN was required only for persons with substantial income, so many children under 14 had no number assigned. For some years the IRS had a concern that a lot of people were claiming children on their tax returns who did not actually exist. So starting in 1986, the IRS made it a requirement to get an SSN for any dependents over the age of 5. Sure enough, seven million dependents “disappeared” in 1987. Today, a SSN is required for a child of any age in order to receive a tax exemption.

34A They’re just one problem after another : IQ TESTS

Although it is correct these days to say that the abbreviation IQ stands for “intelligence quotient”, the term was actually coined by German psychologist William Stern, and so is actually an abbreviation for the German “Intelligenz-Quotient”.

44A Belgrade resident : SERB

Belgrade is the capital city of Serbia. The name “Belgrade” translates into “White City”.

53A Long, hooded cloak that’s also an author’s name : CAPOTE

The larger-than-life Truman “Tru” Capote was an author and media personality. Capote is perhaps most associated with his novella “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and his true crime novel “In Cold Blood”. Truman Capote grew up in Monroeville, Alabama. There he met, and became lifelong friends with, fellow novelist Harper Lee. Capote was the inspiration for the character “Dill” in Lee’s celebrated work “To Kill a Mockingbird”. In turn, Harper Lee was the inspiration for the character “Idabel” in Capote’s “Other Voices, Other Rooms”.

59A White dwarf phenomenon : NOVA

A nova is a dramatic celestial event that results in a sudden and significant increase in the brightness of a star. The term “nova,” Latin for “new,” was coined because these events often make a previously dim star appear as a new, bright star in the night sky. Novae typically occur in binary star systems where one star is a white dwarf, the dense remnant of a sun-like star, and the other is a larger star like a red giant. The white dwarf’s strong gravity pulls material, primarily hydrogen, from its companion star onto its surface. Over time, this accumulated material heats up and becomes compressed, eventually triggering a runaway thermonuclear explosion on the white dwarf’s surface. This explosion causes a tremendous surge in luminosity, making the star visible to the naked eye for days or even weeks before it gradually fades back to its original brightness.

64A Vermont summer hrs. : EDT

Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)

The state name “Vermont” probably comes from the French “les Verts Monts”, meaning “The Green Mountains”.

66A Certain natural hairstyle : LOCS

Dreadlocks (often just “locs”) are matted coils of hair that are usually formed intentionally, although if one lets hair grow out without grooming then it naturally forms twisted and matted dreadlocks. The hairstyle is associated with the Rastafarian movement in which “dread” is a very positive term meaning “fear of the Lord”.

71A Popular browser for accessing the dark web : TOR

“Dark web” is the name given to content on the World Wide Web that requires specific software and/or authorization for access. It is a subset of the “deep web”, the collection of content on the Web that isn’t indexed by search engines. Dark web users refer to the regular Web that you and I access as “Clearnet”.

76A “Annual June 21 celebration of the animal depicted in this puzzle by connecting the circled letters from A to T and back to A” : WORLD GIRAFFE DAY

The giraffe is the tallest terrestrial animal on the planet. Its main source of food is acacia leaves that they eat from high, high up in trees, where other herbivores cannot reach.

81A Japanese audio brand : AIWA

Aiwa was a Japanese company that produced consumer electronics, mainly audio and video equipment. Sony bought Aiwa in 2002 and eventually discontinued the brand in 2006. The Aiwa trademark was acquired by a Chicago-based consumer electronics company in 2015.

82A Secondary account, in social media slang : ALT

An “alt” is an “alternate” social media account, a secondary profile used to navigate the Internet with a bit more privacy or a different focus than one’s primary persona. A concept that might be helpful or harmful, I’d say …

89A Hindu god with an elephant head : GANESHA

Ganesha (also “Ganesh”) is a Hindu deity usually depicted with the head of an elephant. He is widely revered as the “Remover of Obstacles” and the “Lord of Beginnings”. He is worshipped before any major undertaking, symbolizing wisdom, prosperity, and good fortune.

92A Satchel with a gendered name : MAN BAG

A satchel is a soft-sided bag, one usually with a strap that is often worn diagonally across the body. When we were kids in Ireland, we’d carry our books to and from school in a backpack satchel. Virtually every Irish school child had a satchel back then.

96A Indian royal : RAJA

“Raja” (also “rajah”) is a word derived from Sanskrit that is used particularly in India for a monarch or princely ruler. The female form is “rani” (also “ranee”) and is used for a raja’s wife.

104A Pizazz : ELAN

Pizazz (also “pizzazz”) is energy, vitality. There’s a kind of cool thing about the “pizzazz” spelling, namely that it is the only 7-letter word in English that cannot be played in Scrabble. You can get close by using the Z-tile with the two blank tiles to get to three of the required four Zs, but there’s no way to get to the fourth Z.

114A Honoré de Balzac’s “___ Goriot” : PERE

Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright from the 19th century. Balzac wrote a huge collection of related novels called “La Comédie humaine” (The Human Comedy). The work includes 91 stories, novels and essays, written from 1815 to 1848. Balzac also left 46 unfinished works as part of the collection.

119A Clergyman known for his verbal gaffes : SPOONER

Spoonerisms are errors in speech in which letters or sounds are switched from one word to another. Famous examples are “Three cheers for our queer old dean” (dear old Queen … Victoria) and “Is it kisstomary to cuss the bride?” (customary to kiss …). Spoonerisms are named after an Oxford don William Archibald Spooner, who was notorious for his tendency to pepper his speech with “spoonerisms”.

124A Habitat for [circled letters] : SAVANNA

A savanna (also “savannah”) is a grassland. If there are any trees in a savanna, by definition they are small and widely spaced so that light can get to the grasses allowing them to grow unhindered.

125A Starchy plant part in Asian cooking : LOTUS ROOT

The roots of the lotus plant penetrate into the bed of a lake or river, while the leaves float on the water’s surface. This behavior led to the use of the lotus as a symbol in the Buddhist tradition, as a symbol of purity of the body, speech and mind. The idea is that the lotus flower represents the pure body, speech and mind floating above the muddy waters of attachment and desire.

129A Something running at a bar : OPEN TAB

When we run a “tab” at a bar, we are running a “tabulation”, a listing of what we owe. Such a use of “tab” is American slang that originated in the 1880s.

130A Fateful day : IDES

In Act I of William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”, a soothsayer warns the doomed leader to “beware the ides of March”. Caesar ignores the prophecy and is subsequently killed on the steps of the Capitol by a group of conspirators on that fateful day.

131A Digital know-it-all : SIRI

Siri was originally developed as a standalone app by a startup company of the same name. Apple acquired the company in 2010 and integrated the technology into their operating system.

132A Debuted to stockholders, in Wall St. lingo : WENT IPO

Initial public offering (IPO)

133A Art museum that awards the annual Turner Prize : TATE

The Turner Prize is awarded annually by the Tate gallery in the UK to visual artists. The prize is named for the painter J. M. W. Turner.

134A Reindeer cousins : ELKS

The reindeer species of deer is also known as “caribou” in North America.

Down

1D Big name in the pasta aisle : RAO

Rao’s Italian restaurant opened in East Harlem in New York City in 1896. Rao’s also sells a small line of Italian foodstuffs in supermarkets, such as pasta, sauces and olive oil.

4D Colorful wrap : SERAPE

“Serape” is the English pronunciation and spelling of the Spanish word “zarape”. A zarape is like a Mexican poncho, a soft woolen blanket, but without a hole in the middle for the head. Most serapes have colorful designs that use traditional Mayan motifs.

6D Compound found in marijuana, for short : CBD

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a chemical extracted from cannabis plants that is used as a herbal drug. It does not contain the chemical tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is responsible for the marijuana “high”.

7D What sets the tone : CLEF

“Clef” is the French word for “key”. In music, a clef is used to indicate the pitch of the notes written on a stave. The bass clef is also known as the F-clef, the alto clef is the C-clef, and the treble clef is the G-clef.

11D National park in Utah : ARCHES

The gorgeous Arches National Park is located in eastern Utah, just outside of Moab. The main focus of the park is the preservation of over 2,000 natural sandstone arches. The arches are relatively fragile, and 43 have collapsed since 1977, mainly due to erosion caused by wind and rain.

14D Semiaquatic carnivore : MINK

There are two species of mink extant: the European Mink and the American Mink. There used to be a Sea Mink which was much larger than its two cousins, but it was hunted to extinction (for its fur) in the late 1800s. American Minks are farmed over in Europe for fur, and animal rights activists have released many of these animals into the wild when raiding mink farms. As a result the European Mink population has declined due to the presence of its larger and more adaptable American cousin.

15D Med. diagnostic : ECG

An EKG measures the electrical activity in the heart. Back in my homeland of Ireland, an EKG is known as an ECG (for electrocardiogram). We use the German name in the US, Elektrokardiogramm, giving us EKG. Apparently the abbreviation EKG is preferred, as ECG might be confused (if poorly handwritten, I guess) with EEG, the abbreviation for an electroencephalogram.

20D Closest living relative of the [circled letters] : OKAPI

The okapi is closely related to the giraffe, although it does have markings on its legs and haunches that resemble those of a zebra. The okapi’s tongue is long enough to reach back and wash its eyeballs, and can go back even further to clean its ears inside and out.

25D Golfer Yani : TSENG

Yani Tseng is a professional golfer from Taiwan. She was ranked number one in the Women’s World Golf Rankings from 2011 to 2013, and is the youngest player (male or female) to win five majors.

26D “The Jetsons” son : ELROY

“The Jetsons” is an animated show from Hanna-Barbera that had its first run in 1962-1963, and then was recreated in 1985-1987. When it debuted in 1962 on ABC, “The Jetsons” was the network’s first ever color broadcast. “The Jetsons” is like a space-age version of “The Flintstones”. The four Jetson family members are George and Jane, the parents, and children Judy and Elroy. Residing with the family in Orbit City are their household robot Rosie and pet dog Astro.

35D This goes in one ear : Q-TIP

Cotton swabs were originally marketed under the name “Baby Gays”. This was changed in 1926 to “Q-Tips”, with the Q standing for “quality”.

39D Term for groups of [circled letters] : TOWERS

Here are some colorful collective nouns:

• A pride of lions
• A shrewdness of apes
• A cloud of bats
• A bench of bishops
• A clowder of cats
• A waddling of ducks
• An army of frogs
• A knot of toads
• A memory of elephants
• A dazzle of zebra
• A tower of giraffe
• A crash of rhinos

56D Pennsylvania school, for short : PITT

The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) was founded back in 1787 as the Pittsburgh Academy. Pitt was a private school until 1966, but is now one of four Pennsylvania universities receiving state funding.

57D Diez minus dos : OCHO

In Spanish, “ocho” (eight) is “diez menos dos” (ten minus two)

60D Chicago’s ___ Planetarium : ADLER

Chicago’s Adler Planetarium opened in 1930, making it the first and oldest planetarium in the Western Hemisphere. The facility is named for Max Adler, a former Sears executive and philanthropist who provided the funds for construction.

63D Salt’s formula : NACL

Sodium chloride (NaCl, common salt) is an ionic compound. It comprises a crystal lattice made up of large chloride (Cl^–) ions in a cubic structure, with smaller sodium (Na⁺) ions in between the chlorides.

65D Threads around a forum? : TOGA

In ancient Rome, the classical attire known as a toga (plural “togae” or “togas”) was usually worn over a tunic. The tunic was made from linen, and the toga itself was a piece of cloth about twenty feet long made from wool. The toga could only be worn by men, and only if those men were Roman citizens. The female equivalent of the toga was called a “stola”.

69D Part of WASP : ANGLO

The not-so-nice acronym “WASP” stands for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. The term is used for Americans with a relatively high position in society, and who are usually of British descent.

70D “HAHAHAHA!” : ROFL!

Rolling on floor laughing (ROFL)

75D Where Ferrari is “RACE,” in brief : NYSE

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) can give some quite descriptive ticker symbols to companies, for example:

• Anheuser-Busch (BUD, for “Budweiser”)
• Molson Coors Brewing Company (TAP, as in “beer tap”)
• Steinway Musical Instruments (LVB, for “Ludwig van Beethoven”)
• Sotheby’s (BID, for the auction house)

The Italian sports car company Ferrari was founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1939. Ferrari built the most expensive car ever sold: a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO that exchanged hands for over $38 million in 2012.

79D Sneaker brand : FILA

Fila was originally an Italian company, founded in 1911 and now based in South Korea. It was started in Piedmont by the Fila brothers, primarily to make underwear that they sold to people living in the Italian Alps. The company started to focus on sportswear in the seventies, using tennis-great Bjorn Borg as their major endorser.

80D Political exile : EMIGRE

An émigré (fem. “émigrée”) is an emigrant. The term is French in origin, and particularly applies to someone who is a political refugee from their native land.

81D Tree whose leaves are eaten by [circled letters] : ACACIA

Acacia is a genus of trees and shrubs that is also known as thorntree, whistling thorn and wattle. The acacia is the primary food source for the giraffe in the wild, with the animal eating the leaves high in the tree, leaves that are inaccessible to competing species. The natural gum from two species of acacia tree is known as gum arabic, which is used in the food industry as a stabilizer.

86D Big garage, essentially : HANGAR

“Hangar” is a French word for “shed”. The French first started using the term to mean “shed for airplanes” in the very early 1900s.

93D Eight bits : BYTE

In the world of computing, a bit is the basic unit of information. It has a value of 0 or 1. A “byte” is a small collection of “bits” (usually 8), the number of bits needed to uniquely identify a character of text. The term “bit” is an abbreviation for “binary digit”.

102D Filter option : SEPIA

Sepia is that rich, brown-gray color so common in old photographs. “Sepia” is the Latinized version of the Greek word for cuttlefish, as sepia pigment is derived from the ink sac of the cuttlefish. Sepia ink was commonly used for writing and drawing as far back as ancient Rome and ancient Greece. The “sepia tone” of old photographs is not the result of deterioration over time. Rather, it is the result of a deliberate preservation process which converts the metallic silver in the photographic image to a more stable silver sulfide. Prints that have been sepia-toned can last in excess of 150 years.

106D Small superhero whose catchphrase starts “Up and at ’em” : ATOM ANT

Atom Ant is a cartoon character introduced by Hanna-Barbera in 1965. He is a tiny superhero who fights villains such as Ferocious Flea and a mad scientist named Professor Von Gimmick.

113D Start to take off, as a onesie : UNSNAP

A onesie is a baby’s one-piece bodysuit, and is a common gift at a baby shower.

117D Spelling bee? : COVEN

“Coven” is an old Scottish word meaning simply “gathering”. The first known application of the word to witchcraft came during the trial of a Scotswoman in 1662 accused of being a witch. At that time, “coven” came to mean a group of 13 witches.

118D Late singer Bryson : PEABO

Peabo Bryson was a singer from Greenville, South Carolina. Bryson was noted for singing hits on Disney film soundtracks, often duets. Examples are “Beauty and the Beast” with Céline Dion, and “A Whole New World (Aladdin’s Theme)” with Regina Belle.

122D “Star Wars” character whose species is never named : YODA

Yoda is one of the most beloved characters in the Star Wars universe, known for his wisdom and unique speech patterns. The character’s appearance and mannerisms were inspired by a real-life person: British motion picture make-up artist Stuart Freeborn. Freeborn designed Yoda’s facial features to be a caricature of his own, although the eye wrinkles resemble those of theoretical physicist Albert Einstein.

124D “You reap what you ___” : SOW

The commonly quoted line “As ye sow, so shall ye reap” is not actually a direct quote from the Bible, although the sentiment is expressed there at least twice. In the Book of Job is the line “They that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same”. In the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians is the line “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”.

126D Holiday whose name means “festival” : TET

The full name for the New Year holiday in Vietnam is “Tet Nguyen Dan” meaning “Feast of the First Morning”, with the reference being to the arrival of the season of spring. Tet usually falls on the same day as Chinese New Year.

127D Mork’s home planet : ORK

The sitcom “Mork & Mindy” was broadcast from 1978 to 1982. We were first introduced to Mork (played by Robin Williams) in a special episode of “Happy Days”. The particular episode in question has a bizarre storyline culminating in Fonzie and Mork having a thumb-to-finger duel. Eventually Richie wakes up in bed, and alien Mork was just part of a dream! Oh, and “Nanu Nanu” means both “hello” and “goodbye” back on the planet Ork. “I am Mork from Ork, Nanu Nanu”. Great stuff …