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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

9 Indian state along the Himalayas : ASSAM

Assam is a state in the far northeast of India, and just south of the Himalayas. It is noted for its tea, as well as its silk.

14 Largest organ in the human body : SKIN

The skin is the largest organ in the human body by surface area. The largest organ by mass is the liver.

19 Big name in syrup : KARO

Karo is a brand of corn syrup, an industrially manufactured sweetener derived from corn. The brand was introduced in 1902 by the Corn Products Refining Company.

20 Dessert you might top with gummy bears and chocolate chips, informally : FROYO

Frozen yogurt (“froyo” or “fro-yo”)

25 Place for a bob and weave : SALON

A bob cut is a short hairstyle in which the hair is cut straight around the head, at about the line of the jaw. Back in the 1570s, “bob” was the name given to a horse’s tail that was cut short, and about a century later it was being used to describe short hair on humans. The style became very popular with women in the early 1900s (as worn by actress Clara Bow, for example), with the fashion dying out in the thirties. The style reemerged in the sixties around the time the Beatles introduced their “mop tops”, with Vidal Sassoon leading the way in styling women’s hair in a bob cut again. Personally, I like it …

Hair weaves are used to add length and body to hairstyles. Extensions, made from human or synthetic hair, are usually clipped, glued or sewn into natural hair to achieve the effect. Most of the human hair used in extensions comes from India and China, with a lot sourced from religious institutions. In some traditions, the believers shave their heads as an act of devotion, after which the temple sells the hair at auction.

27 Sky safety org. : FAA

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

30 Key above a tilde : ESC

The escape key (Esc) was originally used just to control computer peripherals. It was a key that allowed the computer operator to stop what the peripheral was doing (cancel a print job, for example). Nowadays the escape key is used for all sorts of things, especially in gaming programs.

31 New York × paper : PRODUCT OF THE TIMES

“The New York Times” (NYT) has been published since 1851, and is sometimes referred to as “the Gray Lady”. These days a viable alternative to buying the paper is to read the news online. NYTimes.com is the most popular online newspaper website in the country.

36 James who wrote the screenplay for “The Night of the Hunter” (1955) : AGEE

James Agee was a noted American film critic and screenwriter. Agee wrote an autobiographical novel “A Death in the Family” that won him his Pulitzer in 1958, albeit posthumously. He was also one of the screenwriters for the 1951 classic movie “The African Queen”.

40 “Strega ___” (classic children’s folk tale) : NONA

“Strega Nona” is an illustrated children’s book by Tomie dePaola that was first published in 1975. The title character is a kind of witch doctor who lives in southern Italy. “Strega Nona” translates from broken Italian as “Grandma Witch”.

43 Arjuna’s skill, in the “Mahabharata” : AIM

“Mahabharata” is a Sanskrit epic of ancient India that is the longest epic poem known, from anywhere in the world. It comprises about 1.8 million words, making it about ten times the length of the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey” combined. It is only about four times the length of another major Sanskrit epic, the “Ramayana”.

49 Encyclopedia filler : FACTS

An encyclopedia is a compendium reference work containing summary information about a branch of knowledge, or about all knowledge. The word “encyclopedia” comes from the Greek “enkyklios paideia” meaning “general education”, or literally “general rearing of a child”.

56 Brush wolves, by another name : COYOTES

The coyote is a canine found in most of Central and North America. The name “coyote” is Mexican Spanish, in which language it means “trickster”. In Native-American folklore, the coyote is an important character, one often playing tricks and defying conventional behavior. Coyotes can sometimes mate with domestic dogs, creating hybrid animals known as “coydogs”. Coyotes can also mate with wolves, creating a “coywolf”. South Dakota named the coyote its state animal in 1949.

59 Post-spring cleaning event : TAG SALE

A tag sale is a sale of household belongings, so called because the prices are usually marked on tags attached to the items for sale.

63 Essential ___ : OIL

Essential oils are concentrated liquids containing volatile chemical compounds that have a smell or odor. The term “essential” oil comes from the fact that it contains the “essence” of a plant’s fragrance.

65 Nashville neighborhood known for its many recording studios : MUSIC ROW

The Tennessee city of Nashville was founded in 1779 near a stockade in the Cumberland River valley called Fort Nashborough. Both the settlement and the fort were named for General Francis Nash, a war hero who died in combat during the American Revolution.

72 Many humanitarian grps. : NGOS

Non-governmental organization (NGO)

73 ___ Khan : AGA

“Aga Khan” is a hereditary title of the Imam of a large sect within the Shi’a Muslim faith known as the Nizari Ismailis. The current Aga Khan is Shah Karim al-Hussayni, who has held the position since 1957.

74 Turkish travel stops : IMARETS

Imarets were inns or hostels used by pilgrims throughout the Ottoman Empire. The network of imarets was set up to provide food to anyone in need, so they also served as soup kitchens, as it were.

77 Like the presidency of Martin Van Buren : ONE-TERM

Martin Van Buren was the eighth President of the US, and also served as Vice President and Secretary of State under President Andrew Jackson. Although Van Buren was the first president who was born a US citizen, he was the only president whose first language wasn’t English. Our eighth president grew up speaking Dutch.

82 (Pixar movie)2 : SQUARED UP

“Up” was the tenth movie released by Pixar studios, and features the wonderful animation that we have come to expect from Pixar. The film earned itself two Academy Awards. The main voice actor is Ed Asner, whose animated persona as Carl Fredricksen was created to resemble Spencer Tracy, as Tracy appeared in his last film, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”.

88 Pickleball venues : COURTS

Pickleball is a sport invented in the 1960s that combines elements of tennis, table tennis and badminton. Originally marketed as a game for children to play in backyards, pickleball is now played on purpose-built courts by many, many adults, but mainly in North and South America.

91 Dove calls : COOS

Taxonomically, doves and pigeons are the only members of the order Columbidae. The terms “dove” and “pigeon” are often used interchangeably. Scientifically speaking, dove species tend to be smaller than pigeon species. Colloquially though, many refer to doves as the white or nearly white species in the family.

95 Studio with an iconic lion : MGM

There has been a lion in the logo of the MGM studio since 1924. The original was an Irishman (!), a lion named Slats who was born in Dublin Zoo in 1919. However, it wasn’t until Jackie took over from Slats in 1928 that the roar was heard, as the era of silent movies was coming to an end. The current lion is called Leo, and he has been around since 1957.

99 ∫ workout routine : INTEGRATED CIRCUIT

Remember doing calculus at school, and all those derivatives and integrals? Well, you probably also remember that an integral calculates the area under a curve (for example), and a derivative calculates the slope of a tangent at a particular point on a curve.

107 Burrowing rodent : MOLE-RAT

The naked mole-rat is an ugly-looking creature, I must say. Native to parts of East Africa, the naked mole-rat has very little hair and lives much of its life underground, hence its name. One reason that scientists are very interested in naked mole-rats is that they are exceedingly resistant to cancer. Discoveries made while studying the species led to the journal “Science” declaring the naked mole-rat “Vertebrate of the Year” for 2013.

109 Like some parking and poetry : METERED

An early patent for a parking meter, dated 1928, was for a device that required the driver of the parked car to connect the battery of his or her car to the meter in order for it to operate!

The meter of a poem is its rhythmic structure.

123 Gridiron positions : ENDS

We never used the word “gridiron” when I was growing up in Ireland (meaning a grill used for cooking food over an open fire). So, maybe I am excused for taking two decades living in the US to work out that a football field gridiron is so called because the layout of yard lines over the field looks like a gridiron used in cooking.

Down

2 Leaders in Qatar : EMIRS

Qatar is a sovereign state in the Middle East occupying the Qatar Peninsula, itself located in the Arabian Peninsula. Qatar lies on the Persian Gulf and shares one land border, with Saudi Arabia to the south. The emirate has more oil and gas reserves per capita of population than any other country in the world. In 2010, Qatar had the fastest growing economy in the world, driven by the petrochemical industry.

5 Aspen, for one : SKI AREA

Aspen, Colorado used to be known as Ute City, with the name change taking place in 1880. Like many communities in the area, Aspen was a mining town, and in 1891 and 1892 it was at the center of the highest production of silver in the US. Nowadays, it’s all about skiing and movie stars.

6 Hugo-winning sci-fi author Bacigalupi : PAOLO

The Hugo Awards are presented annually for excellence in science fiction and fantasy writing. The awards are named for Hugo Gernsback, founder of the sci-fi magazine “Amazing Stories”.

8 Ding-dong : DOOFUS

“Doofus” (also “dufus”) is student slang that has been around since the sixties. Apparently the word is a variant of the equally unattractive term “doo-doo”.

12 Actress Edebiri of “The Bear” : AYO

“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 …

13 Transmogrify : MORPH

To transmogrify is to alter something to an extreme, often with humorous or grotesque intent.

14 Staying power : STAMINA

The Latin word “stamen” translates as “thread”, or more specifically “warp in an upright loom”. The term was used figuratively to describe the thread woven by the Fates, the length of which predetermined the duration of a person’s natural life. This idea evolved into the idea that a person had several vital capacities (“stamina”, plural of “stamen”) that contributed to the duration of a life. Over time, “stamina” came to be used in a singular sense, describing a person’s capacity to endure. Quite interesting …

15 It’s been called “the roof of Africa” : KILIMANJARO

Kilimanjaro is a dormant volcano in Tanzania, and is the highest mountain in the whole of Africa.

29 Philosopher Descartes : RENE

The great French philosopher Rene Descartes made the famous statement in Latin, “Cogito ergo sum”. This translates into French as “Je pense, donc je suis” and into English as “I think, therefore I am”. Anything pertaining to the philosophy of Descartes can be described by the adjective “Cartesian”.

32 Females 35-44, e.g. : DEMO

Demographic (demo.)

33 English translation of the Irish “aigéan” : OCEAN

Oceanus was a mythical figure and the personification of the enormous river that the ancient Greeks and Romans believed encircled the world. It is from the name “Oceanus” that we get out modern term “Ocean”.

34 Post-embryo stage : FETUS

The word “fetus”, used for an unborn young animal, comes from Latin as one might expect. “Fetus” is the Latin word for the act of hatching or bringing forth a young animal or child. The mistaken spelling “foetus” is seen occasionally, but there’s no historical basis for adding that “o”.

41 Mixed martial arts org. : UFC

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is the largest promoter in the world of mixed martial arts competitions. I think the idea is that competitors fight each other in various disciplines to see who is the “best of the best” …

42 Iconic Warhol subject : MAO

Andy Warhol made a famous series of portraits of Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong in 1973. An exhibition of Warhol’s works toured China in 2012 but the images of Mao were excluded, apparently at the request of the Chinese government.

44 Letters before “.gov” : IRS

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was set up during the Civil War to raise money to cover war expenses. Prior to the introduction of income tax in 1862, the government was funded by levies on trade and property.

48 Nature’s fishhook, you might say : TALON

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

50 Tamp down : STIFLE

To tamp is to pack down tightly by tapping. “Tamp” was originally used specifically to describe the action of packing down sand or dirt around an explosive prior to detonation.

52 Sleipnir’s rider, in myth : ODIN

Sleipnir is an eight-legged horse of Norse mythology, the steed that was ridden by Odin.

55 Pokémon with a catlike appearance : MEW

“Pokémon” is the second-biggest video game franchise in the world, second only to the “Mario” franchise. “Pokémon” is a contraction of “Pocket Monsters”.

60 Like about 60% of the world’s population : ASIAN

Most of the world’s population lives in Asia (60%), and Asia is the largest continent in terms of landmass (30% of the world). Asia also has the highest population density (246 people per square mile), and the most populous city on the continent is Shanghai, China.

61 One of the “holy trinity” ingredients in Indian cuisine : GINGER

It is the root of the ginger flowering plant that is most prized, as it is used as a spice and a folk medicine. Almost half of the ginger consumed across the world comes from India.

62 Real pain in the butt? : SCIATICA

Sciatica is pain caused by compression and inflammation of one or both of the sciatic nerves that run from the lower back down to the lower legs.

65 Personal approaches, in brief : MOS

“Modus operandi” (plural “modi operandi”) is the Latin for “mode of operating”, a term we’ve been using since the mid-1600s. It’s often used by the police when referring to the methods typically employed by a particular perpetrator of a crime, and is usually abbreviated to “M.O.”

66 Coins made primarily of copper : DIMES

The term “dime”, used for a 10-cent coin, comes from the Old French word “disme” meaning “tenth part”.

68 ___-Japanese War : RUSSO

The Russo-Japanese War was fought between the empires of Russia and Japan. The opening action was a surprise attack on the Russian Eastern Fleet by the Japanese Navy in 1904. After 19 months of fighting, hostilities ceased with the Treaty of Portsmouth that was brokered by President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt was awarded the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize for his success in negotiating a deal to end the war.

69 S-shaped molding in architecture : OGEE

An ogee is a type of S-curve. Specifically, it is a figure consisting of two arcs that curve in opposite directions (like an S) but both ends of the curve end up parallel to each other (which is not necessarily true for an S).

71 Evergreen variety : FIR

Firs are evergreen coniferous trees, with several species being popular as Christmas trees. The most commonly used species during the holidays are the Nordmann fir, noble fir, Fraser fir and balsam fir. We also see a lot of Douglas fir trees at Christmas, but they’re not actually true firs.

77 Nail polish brand : OPI

Opi (originally “Odontorium Products Inc.”) is a manufacturer of nail polish based in North Hollywood, California. One of Opi’s marketing coups was the introduction of a line of Legally Blonde 2 polishes, which featured in the film.

78 What few people know : ESOTERICA

Something described as esoteric is meant only for a select few with special knowledge. The term “esoteric” comes from the Greek “esoterikos” meaning “belonging to an inner circle”.

79 Old-time film studio : RKO

The RKO Pictures studio was formed when RCA (RADIO Corporation of America) bought the KEITH-Albee-ORPHEUM theaters (and Joe Kennedy’s Film Booking Offices of America). The RKO initialism then comes from the words “Radio”, “Keith” and “Orpheum”.

80 Things eds. edit : MSS

An editor (ed.) might read or edit a manuscript (ms).

83 Bail : QUIT

The phrase “to bail out” (sometimes just “to bail”) means to leave suddenly. We’ve been using the term since the early thirties, when it originated with airline pilots. To bail out is to make a parachute jump.

84 “Semper Fi” grp. : USMC

“Semper Fidelis” (often abbreviated to “Semper Fi”) is the motto of the United States Marine Corps (USMC). The phrase is Latin and means “Always Faithful”. The US Marine Corps isn’t the only military unit using “Semper Fidelis” as a motto. It’s also used by the Portuguese Marine Corps, the Republic of China Marine Corps and the Swiss Grenadiers.

88 Michael of “Barbie” : CERA

Michael Cera is a Canadian actor who played great characters on the TV show “Arrested Development”, and in the 2007 comedy-drama “Juno”. Cera is also quite the musician. He released an indie folk album titled “True That” in 2014.

100 “Visions” singer/songwriter Jones : NORAH

The beguiling Norah Jones is the daughter of famed sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, and is one of my favorite singers. If you haven’t heard Jones singing her song “Come Away with Me”, you just haven’t lived …

101 Company whose logo is said to resemble Mount Fuji : ATARI

The logo for now defunct gaming and computer company Atari has a very simple design. It has been interpreted as a letter A, or perhaps a representation of Mount Fuji. There is also evidence that the designer intended it to evoke the graphics in Atari’s first game, “Pong”.

102 Evergreen variety : CEDAR

Cedar is used for the manufacture of some wardrobes and chests as it has long been believed that the fragrant oil in the wood is a moth-repellent. However, whether or not cedar oil is actually effective at keeping moths away seems to be in doubt.

103 Cried foul, perhaps? : UMPED

Back in the 15th century, “an umpire” was referred to as “a noumpere”, which was misheard and hence causing the dropping of the initial letter N. The term “noumpere” came from Old French “nonper” meaning “not even, odd number”. The idea was that the original umpire was a third person called on to arbitrate between two, providing that “odd number” needed to decide the dispute.

106 Pastoral poems : IDYLS

An idyll (also “idyl”) is a short poem with a pastoral theme, usually depicting the scene in romantic and idealized terms. The word “idyl” comes from the Greek “eidyllion”, which literally translates to “little picture” but was a word describing a short poem with a rustic theme.

115 Season of 2024’s Jeux Olympiques : ETE

When Paris hosted the Summer Olympics in 2024, it became only the second city to host the Olympics three times (London hosted in 1908, 1948 and 2012).