Day: August 6, 2026

Bill’s time: 15m 39s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Singer Braxton : TONI

Toni Braxton is a very successful R&B singer, but one who seems to have trouble managing her financial affairs. After two highly successful albums, she had to file for bankruptcy protection in 1998. She recovered and had even more success, and then had to file for bankruptcy again in 2010.

5A Like some winter windshields : ICED

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.

9A ___ Bauer (brand of outdoor gear) : EDDIE

The Eddie Bauer clothing chain was established in Seattle in 1920 by an outdoorsman named Eddie Bauer (unsurprisingly!). Bauer was the man who patented the first quilted down jacket, in 1940.

17A Spirit of the Caribbean : JAMAICAN RUM

Rum was first distilled by slaves on the sugarcane plantations of the Caribbean in the 1800s, with the tradition being that the very first production came from Barbados.

20A Creamy dish made with arborio rice : RISOTTO

Risotto is an Italian rice dish that is usually served as a first course in Italy, but as a main course here in North America.

Arborio is a short-grain rice that originated in the Italian town of Arborio in the Po Valley.

21A Angela on “The Office,” e.g. : PRIG

Actress Angela Kinsey is best known for playing accountant Angela Martin on “The Office”. Although Kinsey was born in Louisiana, she grew up in Indonesia, and occasionally speaks Indonesian.

23A Four-time N.B.A. M.V.P. : LEBRON JAMES

Basketball player LeBron James (nicknamed “King James”) seems to be in demand for the covers of magazines. James became the first African-American man to adorn the front cover of “Vogue” in March 2008. That made him only the third male to make the “Vogue” cover, following Richard Gere and George Clooney.

31A Evil computer of classic film : HAL

In the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey”, Dr. David Bowman (“Dave”) goes up against the spacecraft computer known as “HAL”.

32A Kind of seeds found in a basket in King Tutankhamen’s tomb : SESAME

The sesame is a flowering plant that is cultivated mainly for its edible seeds. The seeds are a source of oil, and indeed, the sesame is the oldest known oilseed crop.

“King Tut” is a name commonly used for the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun. Tutankhamun may not have been the most significant of the pharaohs historically, but he is the most famous today largely because of the discovery of his nearly intact tomb in 1922 by Howard Carter. Prior to this find, any Egyptian tombs uncovered by archaeologists had been ravaged by grave robbers. Tutankhamun’s magnificent burial mask is one of the most recognizable of all Egyptian artifacts.

35A Alternate nickname for the “Hollywood of the South” : HOTLANTA

“Hotlanta” is a nickname for the Georgia capital, Atlanta, blending “hot” and “Atlanta” and reflecting the city’s notorious hot and humid summers. More positively, the moniker is used to highlight Atlanta’s “hot” music culture, with the term popularized by the Allman Brothers’ 1971 song “Hot ‘Lanta”.

40A Wednesday a.k.a. ___ day : HUMP

The phrase “hump day” is very North American. It refers to Wednesday, which is the middle day (the hump) of a typical work week.

41A Like some fat : RENDERED

The hard fat extracted from the loins and kidneys of beef and mutton is called suet. Untreated suet decomposes at room temperature quite easily so it has to be rendered, purified to make it stable. Rendered fat from pigs is what we call lard. Rendered beef or mutton fat is known as tallow.

46A Joan known for his “dream paintings” : MIRO

Joan Miró was a Spanish artist. He immersed himself in Surrealism, so much so that Andre Breton, the founder of the movement, said that Miró was “the most Surrealist of us all”. There are two museums dedicated to Miró’s work. The Fundació Joan Miró is in his native Barcelona, and the Fundació Miró Mallorca is in Palma de Mallorca, where the artist spent much of his life.

51A Juicer’s “juice” : ROIDS

Steroids are found commonly in nature, with familiar examples being cholesterol and testosterone. The controversial class of drugs called anabolic steroids (known informally as “‘roids” or simply “steroids”) are artificially produced chemicals designed to mimic the effect of the male sex hormone, testosterone. They are termed “anabolic” as they build up cellular tissue (particularly muscle) in a process called anabolism. Taking anabolic steroids can be termed “juicing”, and the aggressive behavior that can be a side-effect is known as “‘roid rage”.

56A Shade provider along Central Park’s Literary Walk : ELM TREE

The man most associated with the decision to develop Central Park in New York City was William Cullen Bryant, the editor of what today is the “New York Post”. He argued that the growing city needed a large, public open space, along the lines of Hyde Park in London and the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. Most of the park’s construction took place between 1860 and 1873. Much of the clearing work was accomplished using gunpowder, and it is often noted that more gunpowder was used in Central Park than in the Battle of Gettysburg.

63A Force felt on Earth, for short : ONE G

The force of gravity (g-force) that we all feel is referred to as “one G”. As gravity is an accelerating force, acceleration is measured relative to that force of gravity. So, if we are sitting in a vehicle that accelerates at 3G, then we are experiencing a force that is three times that which we feel from the gravitational pull of the earth. Zero G is weightlessness that is experienced when in a spacecraft that is in a continuous state of free-fall around the planet. And yes, I know that gravity is really NOT a force, according to the Theory of General Relativity. We’re Newtonian here …

64A Goddess whose name is an anagram of her mother’s : HERA

In Greek mythology, Hera was the wife of Zeus and the goddess of women, marriage, family and childbirth. She was noted for her jealous and vengeful nature, particularly against those who vied for the affections of her husband. The equivalent character to Hera in Roman mythology was Juno. Hera was the daughter of Cronus and Rhea.

In Greek mythology, Rhea was one of the Titans. She was the sister and wife of Cronus, and together they had six children, the last of which was Zeus. Cronus swallowed all of his children as soon as they were born, except for Zeus, whom Rhea managed to hide from her husband.

66A Volcano seen on HBO’s “The White Lotus” : ETNA

“The White Lotus” is a comedy-drama TV series about the fictional White Lotus chain of resort hotels. The first season is set in Hawaii, and was filmed there during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. That meant the cast and crew were effectively trapped at the Four Seasons Resort Maui for the entire shoot. A white lotus flower is symbolic of purity and innocence. Most of the guests and staff at “The White Lotus” are far from pure and innocent. Very enjoyable television, I think …

67A Port in 50-Down : ADEN
50D Arabia Felix, now : YEMEN

Aden is a seaport in Yemen that is located on the Gulf of Aden by the eastern approach to the Red Sea. Aden has a long history of British rule, from 1839 until a very messy withdrawal in 1967. A native of Aden is known as an Adeni. Some believe that Cain and Abel are buried in the city.

Down

6D Number for December : 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.

7D Bird with noted calf muscles : EMU

Even though emu meat is classified as a red meat because of its color, it has a fat content that is comparable to other poultry.

8D Short blue person? : DEM

On political maps, red states are predominantly Republican and blue states predominantly Democrat. The designation of red and blue states is a very recent concept, only introduced in the 2000 presidential election by TV journalist, the late Tim Russert. In retrospect, the choice of colors is surprising, as in other democracies around the world red is usually used to describe left-leaning socialist parties (the reds under the bed!), and blue is used for conservative right-wing parties. In election cycles, swing/battleground states are often depicted in purple.

26D Tempting words on a Wonderland cake : EAT ME

In Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, Alice follows the white rabbit down a rabbit hole and finds a bottle labeled “DRINK ME”. When she drinks the contents, it causes her to shrink. She also sees a cake adorned with the words “EAT ME” written using currants, and when she eats the cake she grows so big she finds it hard to stand up. After eating the cake, she utters the words, “Curiouser and curiouser”.

29D Legal mulligan : RETRIAL

There doesn’t seem to be a definitive account for the origin of the term “mulligan”, which is most often used for a shot do-over in golf. There are lots of stories about golfers named Mulligan though, and I suspect that one of them may be true …

33D ___ Ferrante, author of the “Neapolitan Novels” : ELENA

Elena Ferrante is an Italian author, best known for her 4-part series known as the “Neapolitan Novels”. What is very interesting about “Ferrante” is that the moniker is a pseudonym, and no one seems to know the author’s real name. There is some speculation that “Elena” is in fact a man.

39D Münster man : HERR

Münster is a city in the northwestern part of Germany, in the Westphalia region. Münster is noted for being the most bicycle-friendly city in the country with almost 40% of all traffic in the city being cyclists.

44D Northern Italian city known for its cheese : PARMA

Parma is a city in northern Italy that is famous for its ham (prosciutto) and cheese (parmesan). The adjective “Parmesan” means “of or from Parma”.

50D Arabia Felix, now : YEMEN

Yemen is the only republic on the Arabian Peninsula, a unique status that distinguishes it from the surrounding monarchies.

53D Fortune 500 company started by a blacksmith, informally : DEERE

John Deere invented the first commercially successful steel plow in 1837. Prior to Deere’s invention, farmers used an iron or wooden plow that constantly had to be cleaned as rich soil stuck to its surfaces. The cast-steel plow was revolutionary as its smooth sides solved the problem of “stickiness”. The Deere company that John founded uses the slogan “Nothing Runs Like a Deere”, and has a leaping deer as its logo.

54D Civic’s class : SEDAN

The American sedan car is the equivalent of the British and Irish saloon car. By definition, a sedan car has two rows of seating and a separate trunk (boot in Britain and Ireland), and in some models the engine can be at the rear of the car.

Introduced in 1972, the Honda Civic is the second-oldest brand of Japanese car made for the US today (only the Toyota Corolla has been around longer). Today’s Civic is a compact car, but the original was smaller, and classed as a sub-compact. The first design had a transverse-mounted engine and front-wheel drive to save on space, copying the configuration introduced with the British Mini.

57D Sports org. with a Tour : LPGA

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) was founded in 1950 by a group of 13 lady golfers, and today it is the oldest ongoing women’s sports professional organization in the US.

58D Open show of intimacy, for short : PDA

Public display of affection (PDA).

60D Mud : JOE

It seems that no one really knows why we refer to coffee as “joe”, but we’ve been doing so since at least 1930.

61D Tiny “farmer” : ANT

“Formicary” is another name for “ant nest”, and comes from the Latin “formica” meaning “ant”. The phrase “ant colony” describes the ants living in an ant nest. A formicarium is similar to an aquarium, and used to house an ant colony perhaps for study. The phrase “ant farm” is usually reserved for ant nests built by an ant colony in a formicarium.