Tag: Sullen sort crossword clue

Bill’s time: 7m 06s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

11A Cave-dwelling flier : BAT

Bats are the only mammals that are capable of sustained flight. There are many, many different kinds of bats, and indeed they make up about 20% of all mammalian species.

14A Galactic cloud : NEBULA

In astronomical terms, a nebula is a cloud of dust and ionized gases (“nebula” is the Latin for “cloud”). Many nebulae form as gases collapse in on themselves under the influence of enormous gravitational forces. Ultimately these collapses can result in the creation of new stars.

15A Texas city that’s home to Baylor University : WACO

Baylor is a private Baptist university in Waco, Texas that was founded in 1845, making it the oldest continuously-operating university in the state. Baylor is named for US Congressman and Baptist minister Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor, who co-founded the school. The list of Baylor’s past presidents includes Ken Starr, the independent counsel whose investigation led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.

17A *Forever : AD INFINITUM

“Ad infinitum” is a Latin phrase that we use in English to mean “endlessly”. A literal translation is “to infinity”.

20A Brad of 2025’s “F1” : PITT

Brad Pitt’s first major role was the cowboy hitchhiker in the 1991’s “Thelma & Louise”. Pitt’s life offscreen garners as much attention as his work onscreen, it seems. The tabloids revel in the series of high-profile relationships in which he has been involved. He was engaged to Gwyneth Paltrow for a while, married to Jennifer Aniston and then to Angelina Jolie.

21A “In case it’s of interest …,” in brief : FYI

For your information (FYI)

24A Bugle tune : TAPS

“Taps” is played nightly by the US military to indicate “lights out”. It’s also known as “Butterfield’s Lullaby” as it is a variation of an older bugle called the “Scott Tattoo”, arranged during the Civil War by the Union Army’s Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield. The tune is called “Taps”, from the notion of drum taps, as it was originally played on a drum, and only later on a bugle. The whole tune comprises just 24 notes, with there only being four different notes within the 24, i.e. “low G”, C, E and “high G”. Minimalism at its best …

A bugle is a simple brass instrument, one that usually has no valves with which a player can alter the pitch. The altering of pitch is achieved by changing the way that the lips interface with the mouthpiece. Bugles evolved from wind instruments made from animal horns. “Bugle” is an abbreviation for “buglehorn”, an earlier name for the same instrument. Indeed, the term “bugle” comes from the Latin “buculus” meaning “young ox, heifer”.

25A *One of a kind : SUI GENERIS

“Sui generis” is a Latin expression meaning “of its own kind”. The term can be used in a number of fields, and in philosophy it refers to an idea which cannot be included in a wider concept, and idea of its own kind.

28A Bronx-born congresswoman elected in 2018, familiarly : AOC

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a politician who is often referred to by her initials “AOC”. A Democrat, she was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 2018, representing part of the Bronx and Queens in New York City. When she took office in 2019 at the age of 29, AOC became the youngest woman ever to serve in Congress.

30A “Great Red” feature of Jupiter : SPOT

The Great Red Spot oft seen in photographs of Jupiter is actually a huge storm in the planet’s atmosphere. It is believed that this storm has been raging for at least 360 years, and it’s not certain if and when it will abate.

31A *Masterwork : MAGNUM OPUS

“Magnum opus” is a Latin term meaning “great work”. The magnum opus (sometimes just “opus”) of a writer or composer perhaps, is his or her greatest work.

44A SoCal sch. whose teams are the Aztecs : SDSU

San Diego State University (SDSU)

48A Ball-___ hammer : PEEN

The peen of a hammer is on the head, and is the side of the head that is opposite the striking surface. Often the peen is in the shape of a hemisphere (as in a ball-peen hammer). More often than not, the peen is replaced with a claw, primarily for removing nails.

51A *Reciprocal exchange : QUID PRO QUO

“Quid pro quo” is Latin for “something for something”, i.e. a swap.

62A Water, in Juárez : AGUA

The Mexican city sitting across the border from El Paso is more correctly called Ciudad Juárez. Juárez used to be called El Paso del Norte (the North Pass). It was to be the younger settlement on the northern side of the Rio Grande which would retain the “El Paso” name.

63A ___ chi : TAI

More correctly called “t‘ai chi ch‘uan”, which translates to “supreme ultimate fist”, tai chi is a martial art that is mostly practiced to improve overall health and increase longevity.

69A Gem mined in Australia : OPAL

The largest opal ever found, and the most valuable, is the Olympic Australis. It was discovered in South Australia in 1956. That same year, the Summer Olympics were being held in Melbourne so the newly discovered stone was given the name “Olympic Australis”.

71A Sleep cycle inits. : REM

“REM” is an acronym standing for “rapid eye movement”. REM sleep takes up 20-25% of the sleeping hours and is the period associated with one’s most vivid dreams.

Down

3D Locales for the late news? : OBIT PAGES

Our word “obituary” comes from the Latin “obituaris”. The Latin term was used for “record of the death of a person”, although the literal meaning is “pertaining to death”.

6D Innocent sorts : NAIFS

A naïf is someone who is naive, as “naïf” is the French word for “naive”.

7D Hypothetical (one hopes!) global conflict, for short : WWIII

One has to wonder …

8D Beanie or beret : HAT

A beanie is a knitted, close-fitting hat with no brim. The name probably comes from the slang term “bean” meaning “head”.

The beret is a type of hat that is believed to have originated in ancient Greece, where it was worn by shepherds.

10D Italian cheese : ROMANO

Pecorino is a family of hard cheeses from Italy, with the name coming from the Italian “pecora” meaning “sheep”. The most famous variety here in North America is Pecorino Romano, which we often refer to simply as “Romano”.

12D Condiment with lots of garlic … and vowels : AIOLI

Aioli is a French sauce made from garlic, egg yolks, and olive oil. The word “aioli” comes from “alh”, the Provençal word for garlic, and “oli”, a Catalan word meaning “oil”.

18D Greenwich Village campus, in brief : NYU

The main campus of the private New York University (NYU) is located right in Manhattan, in Washington Square in the heart of Greenwich Village. NYU has over 12,000 resident students, the largest number of residents in a private school in the whole country. NYU’s sports teams are known as the Violets, a reference to the violet and white colors that are worn in competition. Since the 1980s, the school’s mascot has been a bobcat. “Bobcat” had been the familiar name given to NYU’s Bobst Library computerized catalog.

26D Fighter pilot’s garb : G SUIT

A G suit is needed when astronauts and aviators are subject to high accelerations. Such acceleration can cause blood to pool in the lower part of the body, reducing the supply to the brain and possibly leading to a blackout. A G suit is basically a special pair of tight-fitting pants that are fitted with inflatable bladders. The bladders inflate during high accelerations (high g forces), tightening around the legs and abdomen, reducing the amount of blood pooling. So, a “G suit” is more correctly referred to as an “anti-G suit”.

27D ___ salts : EPSOM

The Surrey town of Epsom in England is most famous for its racecourse (Epsom Downs), at which the Epsom Derby is run every year, one of the three races that make up the English Triple Crown. We also come across “Epsom salts” from time to time. Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate, originally prepared by boiling down mineral waters. Epsom was indeed a spa town at one time. The town is also home to Epsom College, an English “public school” (which actually means “private, and expensive”). One of Epsom’s “old boys” was the Hollywood actor Stewart Granger.

34D City that’s home to the University of Maine : ORONO

The town of Orono is home to the University of Maine that was founded in 1862. The college is actually located on an island (Marsh island) lying between the Penobscot and Stillwater rivers. The town of Orono is named after Joseph Orono, a chief of the Penobscot Nation. The school’s athletic teams are named the Maine Black Bears.

38D “All for ___ and ___ for all!” : ONE

“All for one, and one for all” is a motto associated with the title characters in the Alexandre Dumas novel “Three Musketeers”. Actually, it is the motto of the Three Musketeers along with their comrade d’Artagnan …

42D “Pronto!” : NOW!

The Spanish and Italian (and now English) word “pronto” is derived from the Latin “promptus” meaning “ready, quick”.

45D Fancy coif : UPDO

A coif is a hairdo. The term “coif” comes from an old French term “coife” describing a skull-cap that was worn under a helmet back in the late 13th century.

49D Literary afterthought : EPILOG

Our word “epilog” (also “epilogue”) applies to an addition at the end of a play or other literary work. The term ultimately comes from the Greek “epi-” signifying “in addition”, and “logos” meaning “speech”.

51D Mideast nation ruled by the House of Thani : QATAR

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.

53D “Talk turkey” or “eat crow” : IDIOM

The phrase “to talk turkey” means “to discuss frankly”. The term originated in colonial times, when it had a different meaning. Talking turkey back then was talking about something pleasant, but in a silly manner. I guess the “silliness” was an allusion to the “silly” gait of the turkey.

The phrase “eat crow”, an alternative to “eat humble pie”, perhaps refers to the fact that cooked crow may be edible, but is not a great food choice.

59D Weapon that stuns : TASER

Victor Appleton wrote a novel for young adults called “Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle”. The company that developed the TASER electroshock weapon partly named its product as a homage to the novel. The acronym “TASER” stands for “Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle”.

65D Tail-less primate : APE

The tailless primates known as apes (also “hominoids”) are divided into two main branches: gibbons (lesser apes) and hominids (great apes). The hominids are the great apes, and belong to the family of primates called Hominidae. Extant genera that make up the family Hominidae are:

• chimpanzees
• gorillas
• humans
• orangutans