Day: February 16, 2025

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Constructed by: Jill Rafaloff & Michelle Sontarp
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: Wide World of Sports

Themed answers are common phrases reinterpreted with reference to SPORTS stars cited in the corresponding clues:

• 24A Perfect serve by Serena Williams? : POINT OF NO RETURN
• 37A Asset for Simone Biles during a beam routine? : OUTSTANDING BALANCE
• 51A Patrick Mahomes’s responsibilities on the football field? : SNAP DECISIONS
• 63A Lindsay Vonn’s secret to winning the super G? : GOING DOWNHILL FAST
• 83A Makes like Richard Petty in a NASCAR race? : GETS UP TO SPEED
• 93A What the Reds had when Johnny Bench was behind the plate? : HOME SECURITY SYSTEM
• 112A What Rory McIlroy does to practice his golf swing? : TAKES A TEST DRIVE

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

Bill’s time: 17m 23s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6 Yogi demonstrations : ASANAS

“Asana” is a Sanskrit word that translates literally as “sitting down”. The asanas are the poses that a practitioner of yoga assumes. The most famous is the lotus position, the cross-legged pose called “padmasana”.

A yogi is a master practitioner of yoga. A master practitioner who is female might be referred to as a yogini.

12 NMSP qualifying exam : PSAT

The National Merit Scholarship Program (NMSP) is an academic competition that recognizes and rewards high-achieving high school students. The top performers in the competition are awarded scholarships of varying amounts, up to the full cost of tuition. The list of NMSP honorees includes:

• Ben Bernanke: former chairman of the Federal Reserve
• Bill Gates: co-founder of Microsoft
• Mae Jemison: the first African-American woman to travel into space
• Elena Kagan: associate justice of the US Supreme Court
• Jeff Bezos: founder of Amazon
• M. Night Shyamalan: film director
• Stephenie Meyer: author of the “Twilight” series of novels

16 Black Mission fruit : FIG

The Mission (also “Black Mission”) fig is so called because it was introduced to North America by Franciscan missionaries. They planted the first Mission figs in this country in San Diego, in 1768. The number of plantings grew as the order opened more and more missions up and down the California coast.

20 Dynamite roll filler : SHRIMP

The dynamite roll is a popular sushi roll that typically features tempura shrimp as the main ingredient, often combined with avocado and cucumber.

24 Perfect serve by Serena Williams? : POINT OF NO RETURN

Serena Williams is the younger of the two Williams sisters playing professional tennis. Serena has won more prize money in her career than any other female athlete.

31 Anxiety-related med. condition : OCD

Apparently, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is the fourth most commonly diagnosed mental disorder, making it about as prevalent as asthma.

37 Asset for Simone Biles during a beam routine? : OUTSTANDING BALANCE

Artistic gymnast Simone Biles holds many, many world and US records. In 2022, President Joe Biden presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, making her the youngest person ever to receive the award.

43 Clip art? : BONSAI

The term “bonsai” is used more correctly to describe the Japanese art of growing carefully shaped trees in containers, although it has come to be used as the name for all miniature trees in pots. “Bonsai” translates literally as “tray planting”.

47 Singer/actress Rita : ORA

Rita Ora is a British singer who was born Rita Sahatçiu in Pristina, Yugoslavia to Albanian parents. The family name “Sahatçiu” comes from a Turkish word meaning “watchmaker”. Rita’s parents changed their name to make it easier to pronounce. So, the family name morphed from “watchmaker” to “time”, which is “ora” in Albanian.

51 Patrick Mahomes’s responsibilities on the football field? : SNAP DECISIONS

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes joined the Kansas City Chiefs in 2017 as the 10th pick in the NFL draft. He is involved in more than American football, and became a co-owner of the Kansas City Curren women’s pro soccer team. Mahomes himself played soccer professionally, for the Icelandic club UMF Afturelding. He is also an accomplished golfer, and appears quite regularly in celebrity golf tournaments.

60 Paul David Hewson’s stage name : BONO

Irish singer Bono is a Dubliner who was born Paul David Hewson. As a youth, Hewson was given the nickname “Bono Vox” by a friend, a Latin expression meaning “good voice”, and so the singer has been known as Bono since the late seventies. His band’s first name was “Feedback”, later changed to “The Hype”. The band members searched for yet another name and chose U2 from a list of six names suggested by a friend. They picked U2 because it was the name they disliked least …

61 “You’ve got mail” company : AOL

The iconic phrase “You’ve got mail” was first used by AOL in 1989. The greeting was recorded by voice actor Elwood Edwards. Edwards has parlayed his gig with AOL into some other work. He appears in an episode of “The Simpsons” as a doctor who says the line “You’ve got leprosy”. Edwards also worked as a weatherman for a while and got to use the line “You’ve got hail” …

63 Lindsay Vonn’s secret to winning the super G? : GOING DOWNHILL FAST

Lindsey Vonn is a World Champion alpine ski racer from Saint Paul, Minnesota. She is one of the few women to have won World Cup races in all five alpine racing disciplines: downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom and super combined. In fact, Vonn is the most successful US ski racer in history.

Super Giant Slalom (Super G) is an alpine skiing event introduced in 1982. The Super G isn’t as fast as its sister event the Downhill, but is faster than the more technical Giant Slalom.

70 “The Iron Claw” actor Zac : EFRON

Zac Efron is an actor from San Luis Obispo, California. Apparently, Efron is a heartthrob to “tweenyboppers”. His big break came with the hit Disney movie “High School Musical”.

“The Iron Claw” is a biographical sports drama film that tells the tragic story of the Von Erich wrestling family, Fritz Von Erich and his six sons. The firstborn son died aged 6 in an accidental drowning. The other five sons followed their father’s career, and became professional wrestlers. Four of the five wrestlers also predeceased their father, one dying from enteritis, and three commiting suicide.

79 Crude content : SMUT

“Smut” means “dirt, smudge” and more recently “pornographic material”. The term comes from the Yiddish “schmutz”, which is a slang word used in English for dirt, as in “dirt on one’s face”.

83 Makes like Richard Petty in a NASCAR race? : GETS UP TO SPEED

Richard Petty earned the nickname “The King” on the NASCAR circuit. He is retired now and won the NASCAR Championship seven times, a record that has only been equaled by Dale Earnhardt. Richard Petty is part of a famous family of racers. Richard’s father was Lee Petty, winner of the first Daytona 500 in 1959. Richard’s son is Kyle Petty, a well-known driver, and Richard’s grandson was Adam Petty, a driver killed racing in 2000.

87 Eighth planet from the sun : NEPTUNE

Neptune is the farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The existence of Neptune was predicted as early as the 1820s by mathematics based on observations of the orbit of Uranus. The planet was actually first observed in 1846.

93 What the Reds had when Johnny Bench was behind the plate? : HOME SECURITY SYSTEM

Johnny Bench is a former Major League Baseball catcher who played for the Cincinnati Reds. After a career as a baseball catcher, his natural hip joint was in bad shape and so he had replacement surgery in 2004. Bench then became a spokesperson for the Stryker Corporation, the company that made his hip implant.

100 “His Dark Materials” actress Wilson : RUTH

English actress Ruth Wilson really hit the big time when she played the title role in 2006’s “Jane Eyre”, the BBC’s excellent adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel. She gained widespread recognition for her role as Alice Morgan in the BBC crime drama “Luther” and for her portrayal of Alison Lockhart in the Showtime series “The Affair”.

“His Dark Materials” is a fantasy television series based on the epic trilogy of novels of the same name by Philip Pullman. Not for me …

105 Golden calf, e.g. : IDOL

According to the Book of Exodus in the Bible, Moses’ brother Aaron made a golden calf as an idol for the Israelites to worship while Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments. When Moses returned, he became angry on seeing the calf and destroyed it.

112 What Rory McIlroy does to practice his golf swing? : TAKES A TEST DRIVE

Rory McIlroy is a very successful golfer from Northern Ireland. McIlroy is a relatively young man and a former world number one on the circuit, so folks can’t help but compare him to Tiger Woods. He was the first European to win three different majors. Along with Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, McIlroy is one of only three people to win three majors before the age of 25.

117 “The Office” actor Wilson : RAINN

Rainn Wilson is an actor best known for playing Dwight Schrute on the US version of the sitcom “The Office”.

118 Crumbly topping : STREUSEL

Streusel is a crumbly topping made from flour, butter and sugar that is baked on top of pies, breads and muffins.

119 Winner’s wreath : LAUREL

In the Ancient Olympic Games, the winner of an event was awarded an olive wreath. When the games were revived in 1896, the winners were originally given a silver medal and an olive branch, with runners-up receiving a bronze medal and a laurel branch. The tradition of giving gold, silver and bronze medals began at the 1904 Summer Olympic Games held in St. Louis, Missouri.

120 __-Roman wrestling : GRECO

Greco-Roman wrestling was contested at the first modern Olympic Games, back in 1896. Back then there was relatively little regulation of the sport and Greco-Roman contests were noted for their brutality. Bouts also took a long time to finish, often lasting hours. In fact, two competitors in the final round of the event at the 1912 Olympic Games fought a match that lasted 11 hours and 40 minutes. The victor was so exhausted after the contest that he was unable to compete in the final bout.

Down

2 Castelvetrano, for one : OLIVE

Castelvetrano olives originate around the Sicilian town of Castelvetrano, hence their name.

3 Poetic name of Scotland : CALEDONIA

“Caledonia” was the name the Romans used for the northern part of the island of Great Britain, roughly corresponding to modern-day Scotland. The Romans never fully conquered this territory, but they did build fortifications like Hadrian’s Wall to mark the boundary of their control. Caledonia remained a distinct region with its own tribes and cultures, separate from the Roman province of Britannia to the south.

7 “Scandal” producer Rhimes : SHONDA

Shonda Rhimes is the creator and head writer of the TV shows “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal”. She also serves as executive producer for the crime shows “How to Get Away with Murder” and “The Catch”. Rhimes also runs her own production company called Shondaland.

“Scandal” is a political drama TV show centered on a former White House Communications Director named Olivia Pope, played by Kerry Washington. Pope has a complicated relationship with her ex-boss President Fitzgerald Grant, and therefore a complicated relationship with the First Lady. I haven’t seen this one …

8 Like the McMurdo Dry Valleys : ARID

The McMurdo Dry Valleys are located in Antarctica. They are remarkably free of ice and snow despite being surrounded by ice. The valleys form one of the most extreme deserts, and one of the driest places, on the planet. Scientists use the environment as an analog to the surface of Mars.

9 Writer Anaïs : NIN

Anaïs Nin was a French author who was famous for the journals that she wrote for over sixty years from the age of 11 right up to her death. Nin also wrote highly regarded erotica and cited D. H. Lawrence as someone from whom she drew inspiration. Nin was married to banker and artist Hugh Parker Guiler in 1923. Decades later in 1955, Nin married former actor Rupert Pole, even though she was still married to Guiler. Nin and Pole had their marriage annulled in 1966, but just for legal reasons, and they continued to live together as husband and wife until Nin passed away in 1977.

12 French door piece : PANE

French doors usually come in pairs, and have glass panels throughout the body of the door.

14 __ Lingus : AER

Aer Lingus is the flag carrier airline of Ireland. It was founded in 1936 by the Irish government to provide air service between Ireland and the United Kingdom. The airline’s name means “air fleet” in Irish. In the 1950s, Aer Lingus became the first airline in the world to introduce a duty-free shopping service on board its flights.

18 __ therapy : GENE

Gene therapy is an experimental technology used to treat disease. The basic principle is to transplant genes into a patient’s cells in order to cure a disease caused by the absence of those genes.

22 Three-star mil. rank : LT GEN

Historically, the rank of lieutenant general (lt. gen) dates back to medieval times, when it was subordinate to a captain general. The latter was in command on the battlefield, and the former was his “lieutenant”, his second in command. Today, the rank of lieutenant general usually falls below general, and above major general (despite the fact that a “major” outranks a “lieutenant”).

25 __ shui : FENG

Feng shui is the ancient Chinese tradition of arranging objects, buildings and other structures in a manner that is said to improve the lives of the individuals living in or using the space. “Feng shui” translates as “wind-water”, a reference to the belief that positive and negative life forces ride the wind and scatter, but are retained when they encounter water.

27 Electron’s antiparticle : POSITRON

The positron is the antimatter counterpart of the electron. So, the positron has the same mass as an electron, but a +1 electric charge. The discovery of the positron in 1929 marked the first evidence of antimatter, the corresponding particles of ordinary matter.

35 Jai __ : ALAI

Jai alai is a game that derives from Basque pelota, and is known as “cesta-punta” in the Basque language. The name “jai alai” translates from the original Basque as “merry festival”.

38 Mai : cocktail : TAI

The mai tai cocktail is strongly associated with the Polynesian islands, but the drink was supposedly invented in 1944 in Trader Vic’s restaurant in Oakland, California. One recipe is 6 parts white rum, 3 parts orange curaçao, 3 parts orgeat syrup, 1 part rock candy syrup, 2 parts fresh lime juice, all mixed with ice and then a float added of 6 parts dark rum. “Maita’i” is the Tahitian word for “good”.

39 Big Board abbr. : NYSE

The roots of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) go back to 1792 when a group of 24 stock brokers set up the New York Stock & Exchange Board. They did so in an agreement signed under a buttonwood tree outside 68 Wall Street. That document became known as the Buttonwood Agreement. Today, the NYSE is located in a National Historic Landmark building with the address 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City.

42 Hudson of “Ghostbusters” : ERNIE

Actor Ernie Hudson is perhaps best known for playing the “fourth” member of the “Ghostbusters” team in the original 1984 movie.

1984’s “Ghostbusters” really is an entertaining movie. It stars Bill Murray and Harold Ramis, and was directed by Ivan Reitman (a trio that also worked together on 1981’s “Stripes”). The first draft of the screenplay was written by another star of the movie, Dan Aykroyd. Aykroyd originally envisioned “Ghostbusters” as a vehicle for himself and John Belushi, but sadly Belushi passed away before the project could be realized.

43 Crosstown transit option : BUS

We use the term “bus” for a mode of transportation as it is an abbreviated form of the original “omnibus”. We imported “omnibus” via French from Latin, in which language it means “for all”. The idea is that an omnibus is a carriage “for all”.

44 Baseball great Mel : OTT

I wonder if Mel Ott had any idea that he would turn in crosswords so very often?

50 Bowen of “Wicked” : YANG

Bowen Yang is an actor and comedian who joined the cast of “Saturday Night Live” in 2019, after working for a year with the show’s writing staff. When Yank became a cast member, he was the first Chinese-American to appear regularly on SNL.

“Wicked” (2024) is the first installment of a two-part film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical of the same name. It stars Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda, and shows the events that lead them to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good. I skipped this one, because I am scared of flying monkeys …

52 Piglet’s pal : POOH

Here are a couple of engaging lines spoken by Piglet in the “Winnie-the-Pooh” stories:

“The things that make me different are the things that make me.”
“If you weren’t you, then we’d all be a bit less, um…we.”

53 Surrealist painter of “The Elephants” : DALI

Salvador Dalí’s 1948 painting “The Elephants” is a surreal landscape featuring two elephants. Notably, the elephants have impossibly long, spindly legs, and carry obelisks on their backs.

57 Zeus, e.g. : GOD

In Greek mythology, Zeus served as the king of the Olympic gods, and the god of the sky and thunder. He was the child of Titans Cronus and Rhea, and was married to Hera. Zeus was the equivalent of the Roman god Jupiter, who had similar realms of influence.

62 __ Antonio : SAN

The city of San Antonio, Texas was named by Spanish explorers. They came upon a Native American settlement in the area on 13 June 1631, the feast day of St. Anthony of Padua.

63 Sea cave : GROTTO

A grotto is a cave or cavern. “Grotto” is a word that we have imported from Italian, in which language it has the same meaning, or can describe a vault.

65 Rice University athletes : OWLS

The sports teams of Rice University in Houston are known as the Rice Owls. The “Owl” name comes from the three owls in the university’s crest.

67 Generative AI tool : LLM

A large language model (LLM), is a type of artificial intelligence that’s trained on massive amounts of text data. This training allows the LLM to understand and generate human-like text, and answer questions in an informative way. I think of it as a really advanced version of predictive text. Instead of predicting the next word, an LLM predicts entire sentences, paragraphs, or even articles. Two examples of large language models are ChatGBT and Gemini.

68 Bird on the Canadian dollar coin : LOON

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”.

69 Handled adroitly : FINESSED

The French for “to the right” is “à droit”, from which we get our word “adroit”. The original meaning of “adroit” was “rightly, properly”, but it has come to mean dexterous and skillful. Someone described as “maladroit” is unskilled and awkward.

76 Pear variety : BOSC

Bosc is a cultivar of the European pear that is grown mainly in the northwest of the United States. It is named for French horticulturist Louis Bosc. The cultivar originated in Belgium or France in the early 19th century. The Bosc is that pear with a skin the color of a potato, with a long neck.

77 Narrator of “The Book Thief” : DEATH

“The Book Thief” is a 2005 novel by Australian author Markus Zusak. It tells the story of Liesel Meminger, a young girl living in Nazi Germany, who finds solace and strength in stolen books. What makes the story particularly unique, both in the book and in a 2013 film adaptation, is that the narrator is Death.

79 Barrel-wearing dog : ST BERNARD

The St. Bernard dog originated in the Italian and Swiss alps, and was indeed specially bred for rescue. The breed dates back at least to the early 1700s when the dogs worked from the traveler’s hospice at the St. Bernard Pass in the Alps between Italy and Switzerland. The breed took its name from this famously treacherous route through the mountains.

80 Prepared for burial, as in ancient Egypt : MUMMIFIED

We use the word “mummy” for a dead body that has been embalmed in preparation for burial, especially if done so by the ancient Egyptians. The term “mummy” comes from the Persian word “mumiyah” meaning “embalmed body”.

81 Sea urchin on a Japanese menu : UNI

Sea urchins are globular, spiny creatures found just about everywhere in the ocean. The “roe” of a sea urchin is eaten as a delicacy in several cuisines around the world. In a sushi restaurant, the sea urchin roe is called “uni”. The term “roe” normally means “fish eggs”, but in the case of the sea urchin it refers to the gonads of both the male and female.

82 Lunar New Year : TET

The full name for the New Year holiday in Vietnam is “Tet Nguyen Dan” meaning “Feast of the First Morning”, with the reference being to the arrival of the season of spring. Tet usually falls on the same day as Chinese New Year.

85 City on the Arno : PISA

The city of Pisa sits right on the Italian coast, at the mouth of the River Arno. The city is perhaps most famous for its Leaning Tower. The tower is the campanile (bell tower) of the city’s cathedral, and it has been leaning since it was completed in 1173. Just shows you how important good foundations are …

94 Disorderly fight : MELEE

Our term “melee” comes from the French “mêlée”, and in both languages the word means “confused fight”.

96 Cook (up) : RUSTLE

To rustle up or scare up something is to find it by searching, by using some effort.

109 Unadon fish : EELS

“Unadon” is the Japanese word for “eel bowl”. “Unadon” is actually a contraction of “unagi no kabayaki” (grilled eel) and “donburi” (rice bowl dish).

116 “Ay, there’s the __” : RUB

A rub is a difficulty or obstruction. The term comes from the game of lawn bowls in which a rub is a fault in the bowling surface. The most famous use of “rub” is in the “To be or not to be” soliloquy from William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”.

To die — to sleep.
To sleep — perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub!