Day: September 1, 2026

Bill’s time: 8m 34s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

10A River in which baby Moses was found : NILE

According to the Bible, the Pharaoh issued an edict that all male Hebrew children be drowned in the river Nile soon after birth. Moses’ mother saved her child by placing him in a basket and hiding him among the bulrushes at the edge of the Nile. The baby was found and adopted by the Pharaoh’s daughter.

15A Sword with a bowl-shaped guard : EPEE

There are two main types of grip used today in épée and foil fencing: the French grip and the pistol grip. There is also a less common Italian grip.

20A Conditionally released : 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.

21A Tropical fruit with black seeds : PAPAYA

The papaya (also “papaw”) tropical fruit is native to Mexico and South America. Female papaya trees produce just one, high-quality fruit per tree. Male plants produce several fruit per tree, but they are very poor quality. When cultivating papaya trees, commercial growers prefer hermaphrodite plants, which self-pollinate and yield high quantities of quality fruit per tree.

23A Some N.F.L. blockers: Abbr. : RTS

In American football, right tackles (RTs) guard the quarterback (QB).

24A Org. for Martina Hingis and Martina Navratilova : WTA

Former World No. 1 tennis player Billie Jean King founded the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in 1973.

Martina Hingis is a retired Swiss tennis player and former World No. 1 professional. She retired in 2007 after testing positive for cocaine during Wimbledon, although she denied using the drug.

Martina Navratilova is a retired tennis player who is thought by many to have been the greatest player of all time. Navratilova won the Wimbledon singles title a record nine times, which is one of many records that she holds. She was born in Czechoslovakia but asked for political asylum in the US in 1975 at 18 years of age. Navratilova was granted temporary residency in the US and as a result was stripped of her Czech citizenship. That Czech citizenship was restored in 2008, making her a dual citizen.

25A Noted magnate on the Titanic : ASTOR

John Jacob Astor IV was a member of the famous and wealthy Astor family of New York. Astor and his second wife Madeleine were passengers on the RMS Titanic when it made its fateful journey in 1912. John did not survive the tragedy, and was the wealthiest person to go down with the ship. Madeleine was picked up in a lifeboat, along with her nurse and maid.

26A https://www.hot-dog.org? : SAUSAGE LINK

Link sausages are so called as they can come in chains, with each sausage being a link in that chain.

A hot dog is a sausage served in a split roll. The term “hot dog” dates back to the 19th century and is thought to reflect a commonly-held opinion that the sausages contained dog meat.

33A Shakespearean father of three : LEAR

William Shakespeare’s play “King Lear” is one of his tragedies. Lear demands homage from his three daughters as he divides up his kingdom between them. The two older daughters, Goneril and Regan, pretend to be devoted to their father, but the youngest, Cordelia, refuses to be insincere. Goneril and Regan assume power, but turn on their father, who chooses to become destitute and goes insane.

37A Green sauce : PESTO

Pesto sauce is more completely called “pesto alla genovese”, i.e. pesto from Genoa. A traditional recipe calls for crushed garlic, pine nuts, salt, basil leaves, parmesan cheese and olive oil. Yum …

40A Split, as the Red Sea : PARTED

The Red Sea (sometimes “Arabian Gulf”) is a stretch of water lying between Africa and Asia. The Gulf of Suez (and the Suez Canal) lies to the north, and the Gulf of Aden to the south. According to the Book of Exodus in the Bible, God parted the Red Sea to allow Moses lead the Israelites from Egypt.

41A https://www.zillow.com? : HOME ADDRESS

Zillow is a company that is primarily known for providing a website and app the public can use to value properties.

44A Plants that have been around on Earth for 375+ million years : FERNS

Ferns are unlike mosses in that they have xylem and phloem, making them vascular plants. They also have stems, leaves and roots, but they do not have seeds and flowers, and reproduce using spores. Spores differ from seeds in that they have very little stored food.

53A Like Javan rhinos : RARE

There are five types of rhinoceros that survive today, with the smaller Sumatran Rhino being the most rare. The rhinoceros is probably the rarest large mammal on the planet, thanks to poaching. Hunters mainly prize the horn of the rhino as it is used in powdered form in traditional Chinese medicine.

54A https://www.congress.gov? : SENATE PAGE

US Senate Pages are 16- and 17-year-old high-school juniors who get to watch the political action up close in Washington, while doing the “gofer” jobs needed by the Senators and permanent staff. There are 30 Pages during the school year, 16 appointed by the majority party, and 14 by the minority. The list of former Senate Pages includes Amy Carter (daughter of the President), and Chris Dodd (who became a Senator).

56A Ilhan in Congress : OMAR

Ilhan Omar has been representing Minnesota’s 5th congressional district in the US House since 2019. At that time, she became one of the first two Muslim women, as well as the first Somali American, to serve in the US Congress.

59A Pickle : MESS

To be in a pickle is to be in a fix, in trouble. One of the first uses of “pickle” in such a context was William Shakespeare (who else?), in his play “The Tempest”. Here is part of the conversation between Alonso, King of Naples, and his jester Trinculo:

ALONSO:
And Trinculo is reeling ripe: where should they
Find this grand liquor that hath gilded ’em?
How camest thou in this pickle?

TRINCULO:
I have been in such a pickle since I
saw you last that, I fear me, will never out of
my bones: I shall not fear fly-blowing.

61A Writer ___ Rogers St. Johns : ADELA

Adela Rogers St. Johns was a journalist, novelist and screenwriter from Los Angeles. St. Johns’ father was a good friend of William Randolph Hearst, and she secured her first job working for Hearst as a reporter on the “San Francisco Examiner”. St. Johns was most famous as what was then called a “girl reporter”, in the twenties and thirties. Much later in her life, she was a regular guest on the “Tonight Show” hosted by Jack Paar.

Down

2D Dracula, for one : COUNT

“Dracula” is a novel written by the Irish author Bram Stoker and first published in 1897. Dracula wasn’t the first vampire of literature, but he certainly was the one who spawned the popularity of vampires in theater, film and television, and indeed more novels. Personally, I can’t stand vampire fiction …

3D Camping covers : TARPS

Originally, tarpaulins were made from canvas covered in tar that rendered the material waterproof. The word “tarpaulin” comes from “tar” and “palling”, with “pall” meaning “heavy cloth covering”.

4D Where Uzbeks and Uyghurs live : ASIA

The Republic of Uzbekistan is a former Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR). Uzbekistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia, and is in fact surrounded by countries which are also landlocked. This means that to reach a coastline from Uzbekistan, you have to cross at least two international borders. There are only two “doubly landlocked” countries in the world: Uzbekistan in Central Asia, and Liechtenstein in Central Europe.

The Uyghurs are a predominantly Muslim Turkic ethnic group primarily residing in Xinjiang, a region in northwestern China. In recent years, the Uyghurs have faced severe persecution and human rights abuses at the hands of the Chinese government.

6D Magnetic induction units : TESLAS

The tesla unit measures the strength of a magnetic field, or more precisely the magnetic flux density. It is named for the physicist Nikola Tesla. He was born in a village in modern-day Croatia, then part of the Austrian Empire, and later moved to the US. His work on mechanical and electrical engineering was crucial to the development of alternating current technology, the same technology that is used by equipment at the backbone of modern power generation and distribution systems.

7D Andy Taylor’s boy on old TV : OPIE

Andy Taylor is the main character in the “The Andy Griffith Show”. Taylor is the Sheriff and Justice of the Peace for the fictional North Carolina community of Mayberry, and he is played by Andy Griffith himself.

12D “Peanuts” girl : LUCY

In Charles Schulz’s fabulous comic strip “Peanuts”, Charlie Brown is friends with at least three members of the Van Pelt family. Most famously there is Lucy Van Pelt, who bosses everyone around, and who operates a psychiatric booth that looks like a lemonade stand. Then there is Linus, Lucy’s younger brother, the character who always has his security blanket at hand. Lastly, there is an even younger brother, Rerun Van Pelt. Rerun is constantly hiding under his bed, trying to avoid going to school.

13D This, in Tijuana : ESTA

Tijuana is the largest city in the Mexican state of Baja California, and lies just across the US-Mexico border from San Diego. Tijuana is also the most westerly of all Mexican cities. A lot of Tijuana’s growth took place in the twenties as tourists flocked south of the border during the days of prohibition in the US. One of the many casinos and hotels that flourished at that time was Hotel Caesar’s in the Avenida Revolución area. Hotel Caesar’s claims to be the birthplace of the now ubiquitous Caesar Salad.

18D HBO’s “The White ___” : LOTUS

“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 …

22D Locale of Coca-Cola’s headquarters: Abbr. : ATL

The exact formula for Coca-Cola is a trade secret. The secret recipe is locked in a vault. That vault is on public display in the World of Coca-Cola museum in Atlanta, Georgia.

26D Amy Poehler’s onetime partner on “Weekend Update” : SETH MEYERS

Seth Meyers is an actor and comedian who is perhaps best-known today for hosting his own late night talk show on NBC. Meyers might be described as a poker shark. He won the third season of Celebrity Poker Showdown in 2004.

28D Model Moss : KATE

Kate Moss is an English supermodel. Moss is reported to have earned $9 million for her work in 2007. In 2008, a gold statue valued at almost $3 million was made of Moss for an exhibition in the British Museum. It is thought that the work is the largest gold statue to have been produced since those made by the ancient Egyptians.

29D Four-term prez : FDR

The US president serves for four-year terms. George Washington, the nation’s first president, set a precedent by agreeing to serve only two terms. Subsequent presidents adhered to this custom, serving only two terms, until 1940 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed to run for a third term. Roosevelt was elected to a fourth term during WWII, after which the Congress adopted the Twenty-Second Amendment to the constitution, which bars anyone from being elected president more than twice.

30D Wife of Jacob : LEAH

According to the Bible, Leah was one of the two wives of Jacob, the other being Leah’s sister Rachel. Jacob’s intention had been to marry Rachel, but Leah and Rachel’s father “switched” his daughters and provided Leah as the veiled bride. Jacob married Rachel a week later, and lived with the two wives concurrently.

36D Fidget spinners and Labubu dolls, for two : FADS

A fidget spinner is a toy that supposedly can be used for stress relief. Sales of fidget spinners really took off in 2017, although versions of the toy existed back in the early nineties.

37D Rose Bowl city : PASADENA

Pasadena, California is famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game, as well as the related Tournament of Roses Parade. The name “Pasadena” was chosen somewhat arbitrarily. A missionary in Michigan supplied a list of translations of the names “Crown of the Valley”, “Key of the Valley” etc, in the Chippewa language when the locals were choosing a name. All of the translations ended in “pasadena” meaning “of the valley”. The word was liked, so it was picked.

47D Orion’s left-foot star : RIGEL

Rigel is the sixth brightest star in the night sky, and the brightest star in the constellation of Orion. If you can imagine the stars in Orion laid out, Rigel is at his left foot. The name “Rigel” is an abbreviated version of the Arabic term for “Left Foot of the Central One”.

48D “Norma” or “Tosca” : OPERA

“Norma” is an opera written by Vincenzo Bellini that was first performed in 1831. One aria from the work is “Casta diva”, which is one of the most popular arias of the 1800s.

Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Tosca” is famous for its dramatic plot and unforgettable arias, but it’s also notable for its compressed, real-time setting: the entire opera unfolds over less than 24 hours in Rome, during events related to the Battle of Marengo on June 14, 1800. The plot centers on the tempestuous opera singer Floria Tosca, her lover Mario Cavaradossi, and the sadistic Chief of Police Baron Scarpia, who lusts after Tosca. The opera includes intense scenes of torture, attempted rape, assassination, and suicide. Be warned …

51D Indigo dye : ANIL

“Anil” is another name for the indigo plant, as well as the name of the blue indigo dye that is obtained from it. The color of anil is relatively close to navy blue. The main coloring agent in indigo dye is a crystalline powder called indigotin.

52D Rolled out unannounced? : TPED

TP-ing (toilet papering) is a prank involving the covering of some object or location with rolls and rolls of toilet paper.