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Constructed by: Rebecca Goldstein

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Dress Code

Themed answers are each an outfit (“fit”) suitable for the activities cited in the corresponding clues:

• 17A Fit to eat? : LOBSTER BIB
• 38A Fit for a king? : PAJAMAS
• 62A Fit for work? : SUIT AND TIE
• 11D Fit to a tee? : GOLF SHIRT
• 34D Fit for service? : CHOIR ROBE

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

Bill’s time: 8m 08s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Diminish : WANE
32D 1-Across opposite : WAX

The verbs “to wax” and “to wane” come from Old English. To wax is to increase gradually in size, strength, intensity or number. To wane is to decrease gradually.

15A Bay area on the East Coast : TAMPA

Tampa Bay is a massive natural harbor on Florida’s Gulf Coast. The name “Tampa” is believed to derive from the Calusa Native American phrase for “sticks of fire”, which is perhaps a fitting moniker given that the region is the lightning capital of North America.

17A Fit to eat? : LOBSTER BIB

The word “bib” comes from the Latin “bibere” meaning “to drink”, as does our word “imbibe”. So, maybe a bib is less about spilling the food, and more about soaking up the booze …

20A Uno e uno e uno : TRE

In Italian, “uno e uno e uno” (one plus one plus one) is “tre” (three).

21A Arabian aristocrat : EMIR

A territory ruled by an emir is an emirate. There are two independent states in the Middle East that can be described as “emirates”, namely Kuwait and Qatar. There is also a confederation of emirates that make up a state: the United Arab Emirates.

24A Nintendo princess : ZELDA

“The Legend of Zelda” is a whole series of video games. First released in 1986, I hear that it is very successful …

26A Archrivals : NEMESES

Nemesis was a Greek goddess, the goddess of retribution. Her role was to make those individuals who were either haughty or arrogant pay a price for their attitudes. In modern parlance, one’s nemesis (plural “nemeses”) is one’s sworn enemy, often someone who is the exact opposite in character but someone who still shares some important characteristics. A nemesis is often someone one cannot seem to beat in competition.

28A __ Minor : URSA

Ursa Minor (Latin for “Smaller Bear”) sits right beside the constellation Draco (Latin for “Dragon”). Ursa Minor used to be considered the wing of Draco, and was once called “Dragon’s Wing”. The tail of the “Smaller Bear” might also be considered as the handle of a ladle, and so the constellation is often referred to as the Little Dipper.

33A Single ant, say : SCOUT

A scout ant has a solitary role in the social structure of a colony, venturing out alone to locate food sources or new nest sites. Scouts are often the older and more experienced worker ants, and navigate terrain using visual cues and memory rather than relying on their peers. Once a lucrative food source is discovered, the scout returns to the nest while laying down a chemical pheromone trail to be used by other ants.

36A “Proud Mary” singer Turner : TINA

“Tina Turner” was the stage name used by Anna Mae Bullock, the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll”. Turner always loved Europe and moved there in the eighties, splitting her time between her homes in England, France and Switzerland.

“Proud Mary” is a song written by John Fogerty and recorded in 1968 by Creedence Clearwater Revival with Fogerty singing lead vocals. The song was famously covered by Ike and Tina Turner in 1970. The “Proud Mary” in the title is a riverboat, with a “big wheel” that keeps on turnin’.

38A Fit for a king? : PAJAMAS

That would be a king bed.

41A Nero Wolfe creator Stout : REX

Nero Wolfe is a fictional detective and the hero of many stories published by author Rex Stout. There are 33 Nero Wolfe novels for us to read, and 39 short stories. There are also movie adaptations of two of the novels: “Meet Nero Wolfe” (1936) which features a young Rita Hayworth, and “The League of Frightened Men” (1937). One of Wolfe’s endearing traits is his love of good food and beer, so he is a pretty rotund character.

42A Book jacket blurbs : BIOS

The use of the word “blurb”, to describe a publicity notice on a book jacket, dates back to 1907 when it was used by American humorist Gelett Burgess. Burgess used a picture of a fictitious young woman named Miss Belinda Blurb on the dust jacket of a limited run of his 1906 book “Are You a Bromide?” That jacket proclaimed “YES, this is a ‘BLURB’!” The term persists to this day, without the young damsel.

47A Masterful demonstrations : CLINICS

One use of the word “clinic” is to describe a medical facility at which one diagnoses and treats outpatients. Ultimately, the term “clinic” comes from the Greek “kline” meaning “bed”.

49A Capital city with a Museum of the Viking Age set to open in 2027 : OSLO

The most famous exhibit in Oslo’s Viking Ship Museum is the completely intact Oseberg ship. Named for the farm where it was discovered, the Oseberg ship was excavated from a large burial mound that dates back to 834 AD. The interment is an example of a “ship burial”, in which a ship was used as a container for a dead body and associated grave goods. The Oseberg ship included the bodies of two elderly females, one of which may have been included as a human sacrifice.

50A Home body? : REALTOR

“Real estate agent” is a general, generic term. “Realtor” is the name given to a member of the trade association known as the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The NAR has gone so far as to trademark the term “Realtor” in the US.

52A Diving aquatic birds : LOONS

The common loon (also “great northern diver”) is the provincial bird of Ontario, and the state bird of Minnesota. The loon once appeared on Canadian $20 bills and also appears on the Canadian one-dollar coin, giving the coin the nickname “the loonie”.

56A One sister in “King Richard” : SERENA

Richard Williams is a former tennis coach and the father of tennis players Venus Williams and Serena Williams. He has been credited with helping to shape the careers of Venus and Serena Williams, and he is a major reason why they are considered two of the greatest tennis players of all time. Richard was portrayed by Will Smith in the hit 2021 film “King Richard”.

60A D.C. MLBer : NAT

If you attend a Washington Nationals baseball game, held in Nationals Park, you’ll see the Presidents Race in the middle of the fourth inning. Individuals dressed like six former US presidents, each sporting a large and cartoonish head, have participated in the races over the years. Those runners are:

• George (Washington)
• Abe (Lincoln)
• Tom (Jefferson)
• Teddy (Roosevelt)
• Bill (Taft)
• Herbie (Hoover)

61A The whole shebang : A TO Z

The word “shebang” is probably a derivative of “shebeen”, which is an Irish term describing a “speakeasy”, an establishment where liquor was drunk and sold illegally. In English, a “shebang” was originally a “hut” or a “shed”. Just how this evolved into the expression “the whole shebang”, meaning “everything”, is unclear.

65A Broccoli __ : RABE

Broccoli rabe is perhaps better known as “rapini”, and is a vegetable often used in Mediterranean cuisines. It is quite delicious sauteed with garlic …

66A Law of __: trigonometry equation : SINES

The Law of Sines is a trigonometric principle stating that the ratio of a triangle’s side length to the sine of its opposite angle is constant for all three sides, expressed as a⁄sin A = b⁄sin B = c⁄sin C.

67A Mud : JAVA

Back in 1850, the name “java” was given to a type of coffee grown on the island of Java, and the more general usage of the term spread from then.

Down

3D Prize first awarded in 1901 : NOBEL

Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist and businessman. He is famous for the invention of dynamite during his lifetime, as well as for instituting the Nobel Prizes by providing the necessary funds in his will.

4D Slow start? : ESS-

The word “slow” starts with a letter S (ess).

7D Color gradient technique : OMBRE

The adjective “ombré” describes a color or tone that is a blend of one into another. “Ombré” is French for “shaded”. A softer and more gradual shading of one color into the other is referred to as “sombré”.

8D News initials : UPI

Founded in 1958, United Press International (UPI) used to be one of the biggest news agencies in the world, sending out news by wire to the major newspapers. UPI ran into trouble with the change in media formats at the end of the twentieth century and lost many of its clients as the afternoon newspapers shut down due to the advent of television news. UPI, which once employed thousands, still exists today but with just a fraction of that workforce.

9D Rehearsals a cast generally won’t stand for? : TABLE READS

A table read is an organized event in theater, film, or television production where the cast and production staff gather, usually around a table, to read the script aloud. This is often the very first time the script is heard in its entirety with the actors performing it. It’s a way to see how the dialogue sounds, if the story flows, and if any lines need changes.

10D Reason to look one’s best? : EYE TEST

The commonly used eye chart (that starts with the letters “E FP TOZ LPED”) is called a Snellen chart. The test is named after its developer Herman Snellen, who introduced it way back in 1862.

12D Central Asia’s North __ Sea : ARAL

The former Soviet Union decided to divert the two rivers feeding the Aral Sea in order to irrigate food and cotton crops. Once the fourth largest lake in the world, the Aral Sea began to shrink dramatically in the 1960s due to the loss of water. Today, the Aral Sea is no more. Instead, there are two relatively small bodies of water labeled as the North Aral Sea and the South Aral Sea.

35D Comic book onomatopoeia : BAM

Onomatopoeia is the naming of something by vocally imitating the sound associated with it. Examples of onomatopoeia are “chirp”, “clash”, “click” and “hiccups”.

37D “SVU” network : NBC

“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” is a spin-off from the TV crime drama “Law & Order”. “SVU” has been on the air since 1999, and holds the record as the longest-running primetime live-action series in American television history.

48D “What We Can Know” novelist McEwan : IAN

“What We Can Know” is a 2025 novel by British author Ian McEwan. The author himself classifies the story as science fiction “without the science”, and takes place in the year 2119 in a climate-ravaged, partially submerged Britain.

49D Pontificates : ORATES
51D Pontificate : OPINE

To pontificate is to issue dogmatic decrees with a pompous air. Back in 1818, the verb “to pontificate” had the more literal meaning, “to act as a pontiff, pope”.

56D Singer-songwriter Bareilles : SARA

Sara Bareilles achieved success with her 2007 “Love Song” with the help of the iTunes online store. In one week in June of that year, iTunes offered the song as “free single of the week” and it quickly became the most downloaded song in the store. It was her debut single, and earned a couple of Grammy nominations.

59D Paper money : CASH

Our word “cash” comes from the Middle French “caisse” meaning “money box”.