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Constructed by: Matthew Luter

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: None

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

Bill’s time: 13m 48s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5A Allegro : RAPID

The tempo (plural “tempi”) of a piece of music is usually designated with an Italian word on the score. For example, “grave” is slow and solemn, “andante” is at a walking pace, “scherzo” is fast and light-hearted, and “allegro” is fast, quick and bright.

10A Improvise : VAMP

To vamp is to improvise musically, usually on a piano. A vamp is often an accompaniment to a solo.

14A Podcaster’s software option : GARAGEBAND

Apple’s GarageBand is a digital audio workstation (DAW) for music creation that was released in 2004. Even though its primary focus is music, GarageBand has found a home with podcasters, as it allows them to isolate host and guest audio on separate tracks, making it easier to adjust individual volume levels, and edit out mistakes.

16A Cricket field shape : OVAL

The laws of cricket do not call for fixed dimensions for the playing field, requiring only that it form a continuous, generally oval shape. That shape led to the naming of one of the world’s most historic grounds, “The Oval” in London, which hosted the first-ever international Test match in England in 1880.

18A Work with Python, say : CODE

Python is a computer language, apparently one that my computing son uses quite often. The developers of the language tried hard to make it fun to use, and even chose its name from the comedy show “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”.

24A Hybrid punctuation mark : INTERROBANG

An interrobang is a punctuation mark comprising a question mark superimposed on an exclamation point. As the character is nonstandard, it is often written with the individual characters side by side, in either order (“!?” & “?!”). The name “interrobang” comes from “interrogative point” (alternative name for a question mark) and the “bang” (printer’s jargon for an exclamation point).

29A Jane in a suit? : DOE

Though the English court system does not use the term today, “John Doe” first appeared as the “name of a person unknown” in England in 1659, along with the similar “Richard Roe”. An unknown female is referred to as “Jane Doe”, and the equivalent to Richard Roe is Jane Roe (as in Roe v. Wade, for example). Variants of “John Doe” used outside of the courts are “Joe Blow” and “John Q. Public”.

30A Pantheon honoree : DEITY

A pantheon is the set of all gods in a particular religion or mythology. The term comes from the Greek “pan” (all) “theon” (of gods). “Pantheon” is also the name given to a temple dedicated to all deities.

31A Cereal with a vanilla-flavored Confetti version : CHEERIOS

Cheerios breakfast cereal has the distinction of being the first ready-to-eat oat-based cereal introduced into the market, hitting the grocery store shelves in 1941. Back then, Cheerios were known as CheeriOats.

35A Kleptocracy ruler : THIEF

Kleptocrats are corrupt rulers who use their power to their own benefit, stealing resources from their realm and exploiting their people. The word “kleptocracy” comes from the related term “kleptomania”. The Greek word “kleptein” translates as “to steal”.

36A “The Mystery at Lilac Inn” sleuth : DREW

“The Mystery at Lilac Inn” is the fourth volume in the series of “Nancy Drew Mystery Stories”. It was published in 1930, and underwent a massive structural rewrite in 1961 to modernize outdated language, reduce the number of chapters, and significantly sanitize the grittier violence of the original. I would love to compare the two versions …

38A Setting of Frank McCourt’s “Angela’s Ashes” : LIMERICK

Limerick is the fourth-most populous city in Ireland, after Dublin, Belfast and Cork. It is located on the Shannon Estuary, in the west of the country. Limerick has quite a history, having been founded by the Vikings way back in 812 CE.

“Angela’s Ashes” is a Pulitzer-winning memoir by Frank McCourt. It tells of McCourt’s upbringing in an impoverished family in Limerick in the west of Ireland. The final and only word of the last chapter of “Angela’s Ashes” is “‘Tis”. McCourt then used that word for the title of the sequel, i.e. “‘Tis”. The second memoir brought things full circle, as “‘Tis” ends with the spreading of “Angela’s ashes”, the ashes of Frank’s mother Angela.

41A Wanders in an airport? : TSA

Transportation Security Administration (TSA)

42A Sportscaster Patrick : DAN

Dan Patrick is a sportscaster and radio personality. He is host of “The Dan Patrick Show” on the radio and is co-host of “Football Night in America” on NBC television.

44A Absolute noob : RANK AMATEUR

“Noob” (sometimes “newb” or “n00b”) is a not-so-nice, slang term for a “newbie”, and often refers to someone who is new to an online community.

49A Pretty penny or bad penny : IDIOM

A tidy sum, a pretty penny, a considerable amount of money.

The phrase “a bad penny always turns up” might be restated in modern parlance as “what goes around comes around”. The essence of the idiom dates back centuries. The idea is that someone who creates a bad (counterfeit) penny will find himself or herself being cheated with the same coin before long.

52A Dreamcast maker : SEGA

The Dreamcast is a video game console released by Sega in the late nineties. It was to become the company’s last game console. Since then, Sega has focused on producing video games as opposed to hardware.

57A Kathryn of “WandaVision” : HAHN

Kathryn Hahn is an actress and comedian who is perhaps best known for playing grief counselor Lily Lebowski on the crime drama show “Crossing Jordan”. In 2002, Hahn married fellow actor Ethan Sandler who is known for playing Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Brandau on the same show.

“WandaVision” is a TV miniseries featuring characters from Marvel Comics. The title characters are Wanda Maximoff (aka Scarlet Witch) played by Elizabeth Olsen and Vision played by Paul Bettany. I am by no means a fan of screen adaptations of comic characters, but I might take a look at “WandaVision”. Wanda and Vision are living in suburbia, trying to conceal their superhero identities. Each episode progresses the storyline through several decades, using situations encountered in TV shows of the day. Episodes use the format of shows such as:

• The Dick Van Dyke Show
• I Love Lucy
• Bewitched
• I Dream of Jeannie
• The Brady Bunch
• Good Times
• The Mary Tyler Moore Show
• Full House
• Malcolm in the Middle
• Modern Family

Sounds very intriguing …

60A Pernod flavor : ANISE

The drink usually called just “Pernod” is a French beverage more correctly called “Pernod Anise”. The brand name was created by Henri-Louis Pernod in the late 1700s when he opened an absinthe distillery in Switzerland.

61A Headphones maker based in Milwaukee : KOSS

Johann Olav Koss is a former speed skater from Norway, widely considered as one of the best speed skaters in history.

Down

1D Actuarial stat : AGE

In the world of insurance, an actuary is a person who works out the appropriate premium based on risk.

2D Quaint transmission : FAX

A facsimile is a copy. The term comes from the Latin phrase “fac simile” meaning “make similar”, with “fac” being the imperative form of “facere”, to make. The term “fax” (as in “fax machine”) is an abbreviated form of “facsimile”.

3D Word with pop or op : … ART

An artistic work in the pop art style includes images taken from popular culture, perhaps from the news or an advertisement. The pop art movement started in the mid-fifties in Britain and emerged in the late-fifties in the US. One of the more famous pop artists was American Andy Warhol.

Op art is also known as optical art, and puts optical illusions to great effect.

4D Like an Inverted Jenny stamp : RARE

The “Inverted Jenny” is a legendary 1918 US 24-cent postage stamp featuring a Curtiss JN-4 biplane accidentally printed upside down, largely due to a rush to print stamps for the newly established airmail service. Only a single sheet of 100 inverted stamps was ever discovered, famously purchased at a Washington, D.C. post office by collector William T. Robey. The post office clerk who sold the stamps later admitted that he did not notice that the plane was inverted, because he had never ever seen an airplane!

7D 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year Bueckers : PAIGE

Paige Bueckers is a WNBA player who was drafted by the Dallas Wings in 2025. She played college basketball for the UConn Huskies, and led the team to a National Championship win in 2025.

8D Something that may be on display while playing D&D : INNER GEEK

Dungeons & Dragons (D&D, DnD) is a complex role-playing game (RPG) introduced in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules Incorporated (TSR). Dungeons & Dragons was probably the first of the modern role-playing games to be developed, and the most successful. It is still played by lots of people today, including my youngest son …

9D “Silent Spring” subj. : DDT

DDT is dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (don’t forget now!). DDT was used with great success to control disease-carrying insects during WWII, and when made available for use after the war it became by far the most popular pesticide. And then Rachel Carson published her famous book “Silent Spring”, suggesting there was a link between DDT and diminishing populations of certain wildlife. It was the public outcry sparked by the book, and reports of links between DDT and cancer, that led to the ban on the use of the chemical in 1972. That ban is touted as the main reason that the bald eagle was rescued from near extinction.

10D Informal lexicon : VOCAB

A lexicon was originally just a dictionary, but we tend nowadays to use the term “lexicon” more often to describe a vocabulary that relates to some specific area of activity.

11D Vegetarian sushi option : AVOCADO ROLL

The avocado roll was a creation of Ichiro Mashita, a sushi chef working in LA’s Little Tokyo in the late 1960s. He was looking for a substitute for out-of-season “toro” (fatty bluefin tuna), and opted for the rich, oily texture of a ripe avocado.

12D Beggared belief : MADE NO SENSE

To beggar belief is to be unbelievable. I recall the phrase “beggar belief” as being quite common when I was growing up on the other side of the Atlantic, but I rarely hear it in the US. In this context, the verb “to beggar” means “to exceed the abilities of”. Something unbelievable might “beggar belief”, and something indescribable might “beggar description”.

15D Turn into a competition, say : GAMIFY

Gamification is a way of encouraging participation in something. The idea is to add game-like elements to make the task more enjoyable and enticing.

21D Trampoline park gear : PADS

The first modern trampoline was developed in 1936. The apparatus was given its name from the Spanish “trampolín” meaning “diving board”. Trampolines were used during WWII in the training of pilots, to give them exposure to some spatial orientations that would be encountered during flight. Trampolines were also used by astronauts training in the space flight program. The sport of trampolining became an Olympic event starting in the 2000 Games.

23D Bar exam setting? : TRIVIA NIGHT

Trivia are things of little consequence. “Trivia” is the plural of the Latin word “trivium” which means “a place where three roads meet”. I guess the idea was that folks would meet at road junctions and chat, exchanging (trivial) snippets of news. Now that’s what I call a trivial fact …

25D Utah’s Capitol __ National Park : REEF

Capitol Reef National Park in south-central Utah was designated as a National Monument in 1937, and given National Park status in 1971. The name is a reference to the park’s white Navajo Sandstone cliffs, many having a dome shape reminiscent of white domes often seen on capitol buildings.

31D Neighborhood that may contain a paifang : CHINATOWN

A paifang (also “pailou”) is a traditional style of Chinese architectural arch or gateway. Today, we can see many a paifang serving as a welcoming entrance marker to modern Chinatowns in major cities across the globe.

32D Minute Maid brand : HI-C

Hi-C orange drink was created in 1946 and introduced to the market in 1948, initially in the south of the country. The name “Hi-C” was chosen to emphasize the high vitamin C content in the drink, as it contained added ascorbic acid (vitamin C).

In the mid-forties a process was developed to concentrate orange juice into a powder, the intent being to make it available to the armed forces. When WWII came to an end, the government’s need for the product went away, so Florida Foods Corporation was set up to market orange juice concentrate (rather than powder) to the public. This new concentrate was given the name “Minute Maid” implying that juice could be prepared quickly by simple dilution.

41D Country star Yearwood : TRISHA

Trisha Yearwood is an American country music singer. She married country music legend Garth Brooks in 2005. The pair had met early in their careers while recording demos, and were friends for many years before becoming romantically involved with each other.

45D Zen riddles : KOANS

The concept of koan appears in the Zen Buddhist tradition. A koan is a story, question or perhaps a statement that is used as an aid to meditation. It often takes the form of a problem or riddle that has no logical solution and is intended to help the meditator break free of reason and develop intuition.

46D “The Wrestler” Oscar nominee : TOMEI

Marisa Tomei’s first screen role was in the daytime soap “As the World Turns”, but her break came with a recurring role in “The Cosby Show” spin-off “A Different World”. Tomei won an Oscar for her delightful performance in “My Cousin Vinny” in 1992.

“The Wrestler” is a really hard, gritty movie from 2008, and a comeback film for actor Mickey Rourke. Rourke stars as an over-the-hill professional wrestler, with Marisa Tomei playing a faded stripper, and the love interest. The film received really strong reviews, but I found it to be a tough movie to sit through.

53D Mamdani political org. : DSA

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) formed in 1982, and is the largest socialist organization in the US. I would say that the most famous DSA member to hold federal office is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, elected to the US House of Representatives in 2018. The most famous DSA member to hold local office has to be Zohran Mamdani, elected Mayor of New York City in 2025.

54D Bath lav : LOO

Bath is a beautiful city in South West England of which I have very fond memories. It is an old Roman spa town, and the city’s name comes from the Roman baths that have been excavated and restored.

56D Org. that oversees 41-Across : DHS
41A Wanders in an airport? : TSA

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created in 2002 after the September 11th attacks. Today, the DHS has over 200,000 employees making it the third largest department in the cabinet (the biggest employers are the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs). The formation of the DHS was the biggest government reorganization in US history, with 22 government agencies drawn into a single organization.