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Constructed by: Sala Wanetick
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): This and That

Themed answers each comprise two identical words, except that the second has a letter I replaced with a letter A:

• 18A Drag one’s feet : DILLYDALLY
• 27A Idle banter : CHITCHAT
• 40A Indecisive : WISHY-WASHY
• 57A Mixed bag : MISHMASH
• 69A Tchotchke : KNICKKNACK

Read on, or jump to …
… a complete list of answers

Bill’s time: 6m 57s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6 Hiker’s snack mix : GORP

“Gorp” is a name sometimes used for trail mix, particularly by hikers. It’s not really known for sure how this name came about, but some say it stands for “good old raisins and peanuts” or perhaps “gobs of raw protein”.

10 New England fish : SCROD

Scrod is the name given to fish that has been “scrawed” i.e. split open, dried and then broiled.

15 Tunisian couturier Azzedine __ : ALAIA

Azzedine Alaïa was a high-end fashion designer from Tunisia who moved to France and became very influential in the Paris fashion scene in the 1980s.

17 __ Troopa: Mario Bros. turtlelike foe : KOOPA

Koopa Troopas are turtle-like creatures that appear in the Mario video game franchise. “Koopas” are known in Japan as “Nokonoko”.

18 Drag one’s feet : DILLYDALLY

To dillydally is to loiter, delay. The verb “to dally” also means “to linger, dawdle”, and so “dillydally” is simply a duplication of “dally”, one that dates back to the mid-1700s.

21 Italian sub slice : SALAMI

“Salame” (note the letter E at the end) is an Italian sausage that is traditionally associated with the peasant classes. The meat in the sausage is preserved with salt, and it can be hung and stored for as long as ten years. The name “salame” comes from “sale”, the Italian word for salt, and “-ame”, a suffix indicating a collective noun. Our English word “salami” is actually the Italian plural for “salame”.

22 Unleash (on) : SIC

To sic on is to let at or set on. The verb “to sic on” comes from the attack command given to a dog: “sic ‘em”.

24 Seeking, in ads : ISO

In search of (ISO)

25 Organic lip balm brand : EOS

eos Products is a company that was founded in 2006 in New York City. eoS sells beauty products such as lotions and creams, and is most famous for its lip balm. The initials “eos” stand for “Evolution of Smooth”.

30 Cabinet-level div. : DEPT

In the Westminster system, the Cabinet is a group of sitting politicians chosen by the Prime Minister to head up government departments and also to participate collectively in major governmental decisions in all areas. In the US system, the Cabinet is made up not of sitting politicians, but rather of non-legislative individuals who are considered to have expertise in a particular area. The Cabinet members in the US system tend to have more of an advisory role outside of their own departments.

35 Petro-Canada rival : ESSO

Petro-Canada started out as a government-owned corporation in 1976. “Petro-Canada” is now a brand name of Suncor Energy.

44 “Silent Sunday Nights” cable network : TCM

“Silent Sunday Nights” is a block of programming on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) that airs on Sunday evenings and features films from the Silent Era.

56 Knitting loop : PURL

As all of us knitters know, the purl stitch and knit stitch are very similar, one being sort of the inverse of the other. Yes, I’ve knitted a few sweaters in my day …

62 NYC bus org. : MTA

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has public transportation responsibility in the state of New York (as well as part of Connecticut).

68 Hybrid piece of flatware : SPORK

“Spork” is the more common name for the utensil that is a hybrid between a spoon and a fork. The same utensil is less commonly referred to as a “foon”.

69 Tchotchke : KNICKKNACK

“Tchotchke” is a slang term meaning “cheap, showy trinket”. It came into English from a Slavic source via Yiddish.

71 Neutral shade : TAUPE

Taupe is a dark, gray-brown color. The word “taupe” comes from the Latin name of the European Mole, which has skin with the same color.

73 Aerie nester : EAGLE

An aerie (sometimes “eyrie”) is an eagle’s nest. The term “aerie” can also more generally describe any bird’s nest that is located on a cliff or a mountaintop.

74 Counterpart of “ser,” in Spanish : ESTAR

The Spanish verbs “ser” and “estar” both translate as “to be”:

1. Ser: Used for permanent or essential qualities (personality, origin, time). Think “what” something is, e.g. Soy alto. (I am tall.)
2. Estar: Used for temporary states or conditions (location, emotion, condition). Think “how” something is, e.g. Estoy cansado. (I am tired.)

Down

1 Less photogenic angle : BAD SIDE

When the word “photogenic” was coined back in the 1830s, it had the meaning “produced by light”, and came from “photo-” meaning “light” and “-genic” meaning “produced by”. Back then, the new technology of photography was referred to as “photogenic drawing”. “Photogenic” evolved into the current meaning of “photographing well” in the 1920s.

4 __ monster : GILA

A Gila monster is a venomous lizard found in the southwestern US and northern Mexico, and is the only venomous lizard native to America. Gila monsters move along at a snail’s pace so aren’t normally a danger to humans. The name “Gila” is a reference to the Gila River Basin in the American Southwest, where the Gila monster was prevalent.

6 Smallest state in India : GOA

Goa is the smallest state in India, and is located in the southwest of the country. The Portuguese landed in Goa in the early 1500s, at first peacefully carrying out trade, but then took the area by force creating Portuguese India. Portugal held onto Portuguese India even after the British pulled out of India in 1947, until the Indian Army marched into the area in 1961.

7 Parliament birds : OWLS

Here are some colorful collective nouns:

• A pride of lions
• A shrewdness of apes
• A cloud of bats
• A bench of bishops
• A parliament of owls
• A clowder of cats
• A waddling of ducks
• An army of frogs
• A knot of toads

8 Piece of history : RELIC

A relic is something that has survived from the past, reminding us of that past. In the world of religion, a relic is an object revered due to its association with a saint or martyr.

12 Fruit from a flowering shrub : ROSE HIP

The fruit of the rose plant is known as the rose hip or rose haw. I remember drinking rose hip syrup when I was a kid …

14 Who __ Nation: New Orleans Saints fans : DAT

The entire community of fans of the New Orleans Saints are sometimes referred to as the “Who Dat Nation”. The name comes from a popular chant heard at a Saints game:

Who dat?
Who dat?
Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?

19 Pop diva Celine : DION

French-Canadian singer Céline Dion first came to international attention when she won the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest, in which she represented Switzerland in the competition that was hosted in Dublin, Ireland. She is now the best-selling Canadian artist of all time.

26 Food that may be served via conveyor belt : SUSHI

The first conveyor belt sushi restaurant, in which food is delivered alongside tables on a conveyor belt, opened in 1958 in the city of Higashiōsaka, Japan. The inventor, Yoshiaki Shiraishi, also came up with a robotic sushi restaurant, but that idea has caught on (yet!).

33 Texting farewell : TTYL

Talk to you later (TTYL)

42 Former home of the Mets : SHEA

Shea Stadium in Flushing Meadows, New York was named after William A. Shea, the man credited with bringing National League baseball back to the city in the form of the New York Mets. Shea Stadium was dismantled in 2008-2009, and the site now provides additional parking for the new stadium nearby called Citi Field.

44 Actor Holland : TOM

Tom Holland is an English actor whose big break came when he was cast in London’s West End production of “Billy Elliot the Musical”. Several years later, Holland landed the part of Spider-Man, starting with the 2016 film “Captain America: Civil War”. Tom’s father is Dominic Holland, who is quite a successful stand-up comedian in the UK.

45 Mexican state bordering Guatemala : CHIAPAS

Chiapas is the most southern of the 31 states of Mexico, and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. As a border state, Chiapas neighbors the country of Guatemala.

Guatemala in Central America became independent from Spain in 1821, first becoming part of the Mexican Empire, and then becoming completely independent two years later.

49 Riffle (through) : RUMMAGE

The verb “to rummage”, meaning “to search thoroughly”, has an interesting history. Back in the 16th century, a “rummage” was the act of arranging cargo in a ship. In the early 17th century, the verb “to rummage” was introduced, originally meaning to search thoroughly (the hold of a ship). It should be noted that rummaging usually involves moving things around. The first “rummage sales” were used to sell off unclaimed goods at docks. Over time, rummage sales became opportunities to dispose of unwanted items, usually in aid of a charity.

53 Ethnic group native to Nepal and Tibet : SHERPA

In the Tibetan language, “Sherpa” means “eastern people” (sher = east, pa = people). Sherpas are an ethnic group from Nepal, but the name is also used for the local guides who assist mountaineers in the Himalayas, and particularly on Mount Everest.

58 Fermented brews often served warm : SAKES

We refer to the Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice as “sake”. We’ve gotten things a bit mixed up in the West. “Sake” is actually the word that the Japanese use for all alcoholic drinks. What we know as sake, we sometimes refer to as rice wine. Also, the starch in the rice is first converted to sugars that are then fermented into alcohol. This is more akin to a beer-brewing process than wine production, so the end product is really a rice “beer” rather than a rice “wine”.

65 Latvia’s capital : RIGA

Riga is the capital city of Latvia. The historical center of Riga is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, declared as such because of the city’s magnificent examples of Art Nouveau architecture. In fact, Riga has the largest collection of Art Nouveau buildings in the world, with over 750 buildings in the city center designed in the style.

67 Onesie feature : SNAP

A onesie is a baby’s one-piece bodysuit, and is a common gift at a baby shower.

68 Sault __ Marie : STE

“Sault Ste. Marie” is the name of two cities on either side of the Canada-US border, one in Ontario and the other in Michigan. The two cities were originally one settlement in the 17th century, established by Jesuit Missionaries. The missionaries gave the settlement the name “Sault Sainte Marie”, which can be translated as “Saint Mary’s Falls”. The city was one community until 1817, when a US-UK Joint Boundary Commission set the border along the St. Mary’s River.

70 Winter hrs. in Tulsa : CST

Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma (after Oklahoma City). Tulsa started out as a settlement established by the Loachapoka and Creek Native American tribes in 1836. These early settlers called their new home “Tallasi” meaning “old town”, and this name morphed into “Tulsa” that we use today.