Month: September 2026

Bill’s time: 18m 53s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

12A Mideast currency : DINAR

The dinar is the official currency in many countries, such as Iraq, Tunisia, Bahrain and Serbia. The gold dinar dates back to the early days of Islam, with the name deriving from the Roman currency called “denarius” meaning “ten times” (as it was originally a coin worth ten asses).

21A Practice taught in a dojo : KARATE

The Japanese word “dojo” translates literally as “place of the way”. Originally the term applied to training halls that were found in or beside temples. The teaching in a dojo was not limited to the martial arts, but in the Western world we use the dojo as the name for a training facility for judo, karate and the like.

23A Computer’s “brain,” in brief : CPU

The central processing unit (CPU) is the main component on the motherboard of a computer. The CPU is the part of the computer that carries out most of the functions required by a program. Nowadays you can get CPUs in everything from cars to telephones.

24A “Certain group of orchestral winds” : FLUTE SECTION

A flute is a woodwind instrument that doesn’t have a reed. Instead, sound is produced by blowing air across an opening. A flute player is often referred to as a flautist (sometimes “flutist”). Flutes have been around a long, long time. Primitive flutes found in modern-day Germany date back 43,000 to 35,000 years, which makes the flute the oldest known musical instrument.

29A Hook for a newspaper article : LEDE

The opening paragraph in any work of literature is often just called “the lead”. In the world of journalism, this is usually referred to as “the lede”. The derivative phrase “bury the lede” means to fail to stress the most important aspect of a story.

35A Rope in : LASSO

Our English word “lasso” comes from the Spanish “lazo”, and ultimately from the Latin “laqueum” meaning “noose, snare”.

48A Santa Fe automaker : HYUNDAI

Hyundai introduced the Santa Fe crossover SUV in 2000. Hyundai’s marketing folks position the Santa Fe above the Tucson compact crossover, and below the Veracruz mid-size crossover. That’s quite a North American road trip.

56A Sharp nail : TALON

A talon is a claw of a bird of prey. The term “talon” ultimately derives from “talus”, the Latin word for “ankle”.

61A ___ Simmons, founding member of Kiss : GENE

“Gene Simmons” is the stage name of musician Chaim Witz, who was born in Haifa, Israel. Simmons adopts the stage persona “The Demon” when performing with Kiss, the rock band that he formed in 1973 with Paul Stanley.

62A Missouri airport code : STL

Lambert-St. Louis International Airport has the IATA airport code STL. Commonly referred to as Lambert Field, the airport is named for Albert Bond Lambert, an Olympic golfer and aviator from St. Louis. Back in the 1920s, Lambert Field was the first airport to have an air traffic control system, albeit a pretty rudimentary one in which pilots received flag signals.

74A Celebration between Xmas and M.L.K. Day : NYE

New Year’s Eve (NYE)

75A Classic Dalmatian name : SPOT

The Dalmatian breed of dog originated in Dalmatia, in the Republic of Croatia. Here in the US, Dalmatians are known as “firehouse dogs”. This association dates back to the use of Dalmatians in firehouses to guard the valuable horses that pulled the fire engines.

86A Another name for Vishnu, translating to “the remover” : HARI

Vishnu is one of the main deities in the Hindu tradition, and is one of the Trimurti (trinity) along with Brahma and Shiva. Vishnu is usually depicted as having four arms and pale blue skin.

87A Broadway’s “Dear ___ Hansen” : EVAN

“Dear Evan Hansen” is a 2015 stage musical about a young man with awkward social skills and his efforts to make friends. The show was inspired by real-life events. The show’s lyricist, Benj Pasek, shared with the writing team the story of the suicide of a high school student in his hometown.

88A Mellow, in a way : ZEN

Zen is a Buddhist school that developed from Chan Buddhism, a tradition that was established in China back in the 7th century AD. “Zen” is a Japanese spelling of the Chinese word “chan”, which in turn derives from the Sanskrit word “dhyana” meaning “meditation”.

92A Largest zodiac constellation : VIRGO

The astrological sign Virgo is the sixth sign in the Zodiac, and is associated with the constellation of the same name. The Virgo constellation is related to maidens (virgins), purity and fertility.

94A Privacy doc : NDA

Non-disclosure agreement (NDA)

96A Material in reusable diapers : CLOTH

“Diaper” is another word that I had to learn when I moved to America. What are called “diapers” over here, we call “nappies” back in Ireland. The term “diaper” is actually the original term that was used in England for the garment, where “diaper” referred to the cloth that was used. The term “diaper” was brought to the New World where it stuck. Back in Britain, “diaper” was displaced by the word “nappy”, a diminutive of “napkin”.

99A Rihanna song with the lyric “Please, someone help me” : SOS

“SOS” is a dance-pop song released by Rihanna in 2006.

100A Tonsil doc : ENT

Ear, nose and throat specialist (ENT)

The palatine tonsils are located at the back of the human throat. The exact role that tonsils play isn’t completely understood, but it is known that they are in the first line of defense in the body’s immune system. They provide some level of protection against pathogens that are ingested and inhaled.

101A Baby fox : KIT

Kits are the young of several mammalian species, including the ferret and fox. “Kit” is probably a shortened form of “kitten”.

103A Pioneering premium channel : HBO

Home Box Office (HBO) is the oldest continuously-operating pay TV service in the US, having launched in 1972. HBO is a favorite of mine as I really like many of the HBO made-for-television movies and original series. Among the list of original series from HBO are “Mildred Pierce”, “The Pacific”, “John Adams”, “Big Love”, “Extras”, “The Wire”, “Sex and the City”, “From the Earth to the Moon”, “The Sopranos” and “Band of Brothers”.

106A Pole, e.g. : SLAV

The Slavic peoples are in the majority in communities covering over half of Europe. This large ethnic group is traditionally broken down into three smaller groups:

• the West Slavic (including Czechs and Poles)
• the East Slavic (including Russians and Ukrainians)
• the South Slavic (including Bulgarians, Croats and Serbs)

112A Plot feature of “Planet of the Apes” : TIME TRAVEL

The “Planet of the Apes” franchise of films is based on a French novel by Pierre Boulle called “La Planète des singes”. The book was published in English as “Monkey Planet”, but was re-released as “Planet of the Apes” when Hollywood had made its choice for a movie title.

114A Casals who popularized Bach’s cello suites : PABLO

Pablo Casals was a wonderful cellist from Catalonia in Spain. He lived at the time of the Franco regime in Spain. As a supporter of the Spanish Republican Government, he placed himself in self-imposed exile in 1938, vowing not to return home until democracy had been restored. Casals never again set foot on Spanish soil, and died in Puerto Rico in 1973.

124A Cousins of cobras : ASPS

The Egyptian cobra (Naja haje) is also known as the asp. That said, the term “asp” can apply to several species of snake, including the Egyptian cobra. Legend has it that Cleopatra committed suicide by enticing an asp to bite her. If that’s true, then that asp was probably an Egyptian cobra.

132A Cell network letters : LTE

In the world of telecommunications, the initialism LTE stands for Long-Term Evolution, and is a wireless broadband communication standard. In general terms, LTE improves broadband speeds. As I understand it, LTE technology allows a 3G network to perform almost as well as a true 4G network, and so LTE is sometimes marketed as 4G LTE, even though it’s really “3G plus”.

134A Co-Stooge of Larry : MOE

“Moe Howard” was the stage name of Moses Harry Horwitz. Howard was one of the Three Stooges. In 1925, he married Helen Schonberger, who was a cousin of Harry Houdini.

136A 1990s exercise fad : TAE BO

Tae Bo isn’t an ancient martial art, even though it perhaps sounds like one. The discipline was developed as a form of aerobic exercise in the 1990s by taekwondo expert Billy Blanks who gave it the name Tae Bo, a melding of “taekwondo” and “boxing”.

138A “Descended with rappelling ropes” : SCALED DOWN

What we call “rappelling” in this country is known as “abseiling” in the rest of the world (from the German “abseilen” meaning “to rope down”).

143A 1,000,000,000 years : EON

Geologic time is divided into a number of units of varying lengths. These are, starting from the largest:

• supereon
• eon (also “aeon”)
• era
• period
• epoch
• age

Down

3D Cornet lookalike : FLUGELHORN

A flügelhorn is a brass instrument that is similar to a trumpet and cornet, but with a wider bore. As the name suggests, the flügelhorn was developed in Germany, in the early 1800s from the English bugle. The German word “Flügel” means “wing, flank”. The instrument was first used by the leaders of hunts (Flügelmeisters) to direct the hunters on the flanks of the hunting party.

The cornet is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet, although it is quite a bit shorter. Despite the difference in length, the cornet and the trumpet have about the same length of tubing. The trumpet’s tube is coiled once, and the cornet is coiled twice.

4D Food assistance syst. : EBT

Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) is a system that allows government benefit recipients to access their funds through a debit-like card. It is primarily used for programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

6D Scampered away : SKEDADDLED

“Skedaddle” is a slang term meaning “run away”, one that dates back to the Civil War.

8D Jazz drummer Blakey : ART

Art Blakey was a jazz drummer and bandleader who was known for helping up-and-coming bebop musicians. In 1954, he formed the Jazz Messengers, a band that featured a rotating cast of young, up-and-coming musicians. Blakey led the Jazz Messengers until his death in 1990.

12D William and Harry’s mum : DIANA

Charles, Prince of Wales married Lady Diana Spencer in 1981 at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. The wedding was a huge television event, with about 750 million people tuning in worldwide. Although the event was billed as the start of a fairytale marriage, the couple separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996. Lady Diana died in a car crash in Paris the following year.

15D Japan’s largest carrier : ANA

All Nippon Airways (ANA) is a Japanese airline, one that is now larger in size than the nation’s flag carrier Japan Airlines (JAL).

25D Mabel Mora’s portrayer on “Only Murders in the Building” : SELENA GOMEZ

Selena Gomez is an actress and singer from Grand Prairie, Texas. Gomez’s first television role was in the children’s show “Barney & Friends”. She then played the lead in the TV series “Wizards of Waverly Place”. Gomez’s fans often refer to themselves as “Selenators”. Offscreen, Gomez made a splash as the girlfriend of Canadian singer Justin Bieber for a couple of years. More recently, she has been playing a lead role in the hit TV show “Only Murders in the Building” alongside Steve Martin and Martin Short.

“Only Murders in the Building” is a hit comedy-mystery series, co-created by Steve Martin. It stars Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez as three residents of an affluent Upper West Side apartment building in New York City. The trio bonds over their obsession with true-crime podcasts and decide to start their own to investigate murders in their building. The guest cast is essentially a Rolodex of Steve Martin and Martin Short’s real-life best friends and colleagues. The show feels like it is a group of famous actors playing in their New York backyard. I love this show …

27D Dallas baller : MAV

The Mavericks (also “Mavs”) are an NBA franchise in Dallas, Texas. The team was founded in 1980, and the Mavericks name was chosen by fan votes. The choice of “Mavericks” was prompted by the fact that the actor James Garner was a part-owner of the team, and Garner of course played the title role in the “Maverick” television series.

37D Concluding passage, in music : CODA

In music, a coda is primarily a passage that brings a movement to a conclusion. “Coda” is Italian for “tail”.

39D French film award : CESAR

The César Award is the national film award of France. The first César was awarded in 1975, named after the French sculptor César Baldaccini. The awards themselves are reproductions of an actual Baldaccini sculpture.

40D Reword, perhaps : EMEND

The verb “to amend” means “to change for the better, put right, alter by adding”. The related verb “to emend” is used more rarely, and mainly in reference to the editing of professional writing. Both terms are derived from the Latin “emendare” meaning “to remove fault”.

42D Child king of Egypt : TUT

“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.

45D ___ tai : 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”. The mai tai was officially designated as the official cocktail of Oakland in 2024.

55D Home of the Christ the Redeemer statue : RIO

The iconic statue of Jesus overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil is known as “Cristo Redentor” (Christ the Redeemer). The statue was constructed between 1922 and 1931. It is the largest Art Deco statue in the world, as it stands over 30 meters tall.

65D Computer covered by AppleCare : MAC

AppleCare is the hardware warranty and support service provided by Apple for its products.

71D What acids do when mixed with bases : REACT

The “opposite” of an acid is a base. Acids turn litmus paper red, and bases turn it blue. Acids and bases react with each other to form salts. An important subset of the chemicals called bases are alkalis, hydroxides of the alkali metals and of ammonium. The term “alkali” is sometimes used interchangeably with “base”, especially if that base is readily soluble in water.

77D Bird whose name comes from the Latin for “golden” : ORIOLE

The songbird called an oriole builds an interesting nest. It is a woven cup-like structure that is suspended from a branch like a hammock, dangling up to 30 feet above the ground.

78D Glittery holiday strands : TINSEL

Back in the mid-1400s, the word “tinsel” applied to cloth into which was woven gold or silver thread. The term came from the Middle French word “estincelle” meaning “spark, spangle”, which ultimately derived from the Latin “scintilla” meaning “spark”. By the end of the 1500s, “tinsel” described thin strips of shiny metal. The word “Tinseltown” wasn’t applied to Hollywood until 1972.

80D Sheeplike : OVINE

The Latin word for “sheep” is “ovis”, giving us the adjective “ovine” meaning “like a sheep”.

91D Shipmate of Spock : UHURA

Lt. Nyota Uhura is the communications officer on board the Starship Enterprise, and was played by Nichelle Nichols in the original “Star Trek” television series. The role was significant in that Uhura was one of the first African-American characters to figure front and center in US television. In a 1968 episode, Kirk (played by William Shatner) and Uhura kiss, the first interracial kiss between a White man and a Black woman on a major scripted US television series. Apparently the scene was meant to be shot twice, with and without the kiss, so that network executives could later decide which version to air. William Shatner claims that he deliberately ran long on the first take (with the kiss) and fluffed the hurried second take (without the kiss), so that the network would have no choice.

93D Pods in bhindi masala : OKRA

Bhindi masala is a dish in Indian cuisine that consists mainly of okra sautéed with onions and tomatoes.

96D Advertising award : CLIO

The Clio Awards are the Oscars of the advertising world and are named after Clio, the Greek Muse of History. Clio was also the recorder of great deeds, the proclaimer and celebrator of great accomplishments and a source of inspiration and genius. The Clio Awards were first presented in 1959.

105D Released with conditions : ON PAROLE

“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.

106D Topping for an apple crisp : STREUSEL

“Apple crisp” is the name used in the US for a dessert comprising baked apples topped with a crisp streusel crust. The latter is a crumbly topping made from flour, butter and sugar. Apple crisp is usually referred to as “apple crumble” in Canada and the UK.

117D Soft-serve request : TWIST

Soft serve ice cream was developed by John McCullough in 1938. McCullough was able to get his new dessert carried by a local ice cream store in Illinois. He and the store owner became so swamped with sales that they opened a store specifically built around the product in Joliet, Illinois, hence creating the first Dairy Queen outlet. There are now over 7,000 Dairy Queen franchises in 20 countries.

121D Weapon used by some chimpanzees : SPEAR

The common chimpanzee is a species of great ape, i.e. a member of the Hominidae family (along with gorillas, humans and orangutans). The human and chimpanzee branches of the Hominidae family tree diverged 4-6 million years ago, making the chimp our closest living relatives in the animal kingdom. There is a common misconception that chimps are monkeys, but they aren’t …

131D ___-free : SCOT

The phrase “scot-free” means “free from punishment, restraint or obligation”. The term derives from the Old English “scotfreo” meaning “exempt from royal tax”, with “scot” being a royal tax.

140D Dennis’s sister on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” : DEE

Deandra “Sweet Dee” Reynolds is a character played by Kaitlin Olson on the sitcom “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”. Ronald “Mac” McDonald is also a character on the show, played by Rob McElhenney. Olson and McElhenney met on set, and married in 2008.