Day: April 7, 2025

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Constructed by: Jill Weiskopf Brufsky & Rachel Fabi
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Side Salad

Themed answers each start with a kind of SIDE SALAD:

• 62A Dish that may accompany a main course, and what can be found at the start of 17-, 25-, 38-, or 53-Across? : SIDE SALAD

• 17A Permanent resident’s document : GREEN CARD (giving “green salad”)
• 25A Patch for some squash, say : GARDEN PLOT (giving “garden salad”)
• 38A Part of many a sorority’s name : GREEK LETTER (giving “Greek salad”)
• 53A Divisive political topic : WEDGE ISSUE (giving “wedge salad”)

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

Bill’s time: 5m 22s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Vatican-related : PAPAL

Vatican City is a sovereign city-state that is walled off within the city of Rome. Vatican City is about 110 acres in area, and so is the smallest independent state in the world. With about 800 residents, it is also the smallest state in terms of population. Although the Holy See dates back to early Christianity, Vatican City only came into being in 1929. At that time, Prime Minister Benito Mussolini signed a treaty with the Holy See on behalf of the Kingdom of Italy that established the city-state.

14 “Rolling in the Deep” singer : ADELE

“Rolling in the Deep” is a 2010 song by Adele that she released on her incredibly successful album “21”. The single was Adele’s first #1 in the US.

16 Self-serve dessert choice, familiarly : FROYO

Frozen yogurt (“froyo” or “fro-yo”)

17 Permanent resident’s document : GREEN CARD (giving “green salad”)

A green card is more correctly called a US Permanent Resident Card. The informal term “green card” harks back to the period between 1946 and 1964 when the document was indeed green in color. After dropping the green for many years, the Permanent Resident Card was changed back to a green color in 2010.

20 Alley-__ : OOP

An alley-oop is a play in basketball in which one player lobs the ball close to the basket for a teammate who usually scores with a slam dunk.

21 Chef Colicchio : TOM

Tom Colicchio is a celebrity chef and restaurateur who turns up a lot on television. He is a judge on the Food Network reality show “Top Chef”, and he has also appeared on “Iron Chef America” and “The View”. Colicchio made it into the news in 2009 when he saved the life of someone choking, by using the Heimlich maneuver. The person choking was cookbook author and food journalist Joan Nathan.

25 Patch for some squash, say : GARDEN PLOT (giving “garden salad”)

Squash is a versatile and diverse vegetable that comes in a wide array of shapes, sizes, and colors. Examples are the familiar zucchini and pumpkin, as well as the more exotic butternut and spaghetti squash. These gourds are typically categorized as either summer or winter squash, depending on when they are harvested.

32 Apple assistant : SIRI

Siri is a software application that works with Apple’s iOS operating system. “Siri” is an acronym standing for Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface. Voice-over artist Susan Bennett revealed herself as the female American voice of Siri a few years ago. The British version of Siri is called Daniel, and the Australian version is called Karen. Also, “Siri” is a Norwegian name meaning “beautiful woman who leads you to victory”, and was the name the developer had chosen for his first child.

35 Tee-toter’s org.? : LPGA

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) was founded in 1950 by a group of 13 lady golfers, and today it is the oldest ongoing women’s sports professional organization in the US.

37 Unagi protein : EEL

“Unagi” is the Japanese term for” freshwater eel”, and “anago” is the term for “saltwater eel”.

38 Part of many a sorority’s name : GREEK LETTER (giving “Greek salad”)

What we know as a Greek salad here in North America evolved from the horiatiki salad from Greek cuisine. The name “horiatiki” translates as “peasant, village salad”. A typical horiatiki salad consists of tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, olives with a slice of feta cheese on top. It also includes a dressing made from Greek oregano and salt in olive oil. Notably, the original dish does not include lettuce.

43 New York canal : ERIE

The Erie Canal runs from Albany to Buffalo in the state of New York. What the canal does is allow shipping to proceed from New York Harbor right up the Hudson River, through the canal and into the Great Lakes. When it was opened in 1825, the Erie Canal had an immediate impact on the economy of New York City and locations along its route. It was the first means of “cheap” transportation from a port on the Atlantic seaboard into the interior of the United States. Arguably it was the most important factor contributing to the growth of New York City over competing ports such as Baltimore and Philadelphia. It was largely because of the Erie Canal that New York became such an economic powerhouse, earning it the nickname of “the Empire State”. Paradoxically, one of the project’s main proponents was severely criticized. New York Governor DeWitt Clinton received so much ridicule that the canal was nicknamed “Clinton’s Folly” and “Clinton’s Ditch”.

47 Milky Way maker : MARS

The Mars confectionery and food company started in 1911 with Frank C. Mars making and selling buttercreams from his kitchen in Tacoma, Washington. He moved to Minnesota and had his first hit with the Milky Way bar in the 1920s. The company relocated to Chicago in 1929, and really took off after introducing iconic candies like Snickers and 3 Musketeers. Frank’s son, Forrest, joined the business and played a key role in expanding the company internationally and developing M&M’s.

Having lived on both sides of the Atlantic, I find the Mars Bar to be the most perplexing of candies! The original Mars Bar is a British confection (and delicious) that was first manufactured in 1932. The US version of the original Mars Bar is called a Milky Way. But there is a candy bar called a Milky Way that is also produced in the UK, and it is completely different to its US cousin, being more like an American “3 Musketeers”. And then there is an American confection called a Mars Bar, something different again. No wonder I try not to eat candy bars …

49 Gear for goalies : MASKS

Hockey goaltenders wear protective masks.

56 Cabbage dish : SLAW

The term “coleslaw” is an Anglicized version of the Dutch term “koolsla”, which in itself is a shortened form of “Koolsalade” meaning “cabbage salad”.

57 Paper bundles : REAMS

A ream is 500 sheets of paper. As there were 24 sheets in a quire, and 20 quires made up a ream, there used to be 480 sheets in a ream. Ever since the standard was changed to 500, a 480-sheet packet of paper has been called a “short ream”. We also use the term “reams” to mean a great amount, evolving from the idea of a lot of printed material.

58 Word after sports or training : … BRA

The original sports bra was known as a jockbra. It was co-created in 1977 by Lisa Lindahl, Honda Miller and Polly Smith. For that work, the trio were admitted into the US National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2022.

65 Fall flower : ASTER

Apparently, most aster species and cultivars bloom relatively late in the year, usually in the fall. The name “aster” comes into English via Latin from the Greek word “astéri” meaning “star”, a reference to the arrangement of the petals of the flower.

66 54-Down email ending : .EDU

The .edu domain was one of the six original generic top-level domains specified. The complete original list is:

• .com (commercial enterprise)
• .net (entity involved in network infrastructure e.g. an ISP)
• .mil (US military)
• .org (not-for-profit organization)
• .gov (US federal government entity)
• .edu (college-level educational institution)

69 Bunion spot : TOE

A bunion is a deformity that can develop in the joint connecting the big toe to the foot. A similar condition that affects the little toe is referred to as a bunionette, or Tailor’s bunion. The latter name arose when the affliction was attributed to sitting cross-legged, a posture adopted by many tailors of old.

Down

1 Tiered temple : PAGODA

Pagodas are tiered (“storied”) towers, found in various parts of Asia, that are usually built for religious purposes.

2 Skillful : ADROIT

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.

3 Tree frog with a chirping call : PEEPER

The spring peeper is a small frog that is native to North America. The frog gets its name from the sound that it makes, a chirping call.

4 Beverage in a stein : ALE

A stein is a type of beer glass. The term “stein” is German in origin, and is short for “Steinkrug” meaning “stone jug”. “Stein” is German for “stone”.

5 Church season that begins on Ash Wednesday : LENT

In Latin, the Christian season that is now called “Lent” was termed “quadragesima” (meaning “fortieth”), a reference to the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert before beginning his public ministry. When the church began its move in the Middle Ages towards using the vernacular, the term “Lent” was introduced. “Lent” comes from “lenz”, the German word for “spring”.

In the Christian tradition, the first day in the season of Lent is called Ash Wednesday. On Ash Wednesday, Palm Crosses from the prior year’s Palm Sunday are burned. The resulting ashes are mixed with sacred oil and then used to anoint worshipers on the forehead with the shape of a cross.

6 Healing figure in some cultures : SHAMAN

A shaman is a supposed intermediary between the human world and the spirit world.

7 “__ Flag Means Death”: Max comedy with pirates : OUR

“Our Flag Means Death” is a historical comedy television series that reimagines the life of Stede Bonnet, a real-life aristocrat who abandoned his privileged life to become a pirate. I haven’t seen this one, but I hear very good things …

9 Brand of nasal spray : AFRIN

Afrin is a nasal spray made by Bayer that has oxymetazoline as an active ingredient. Oxymetazoline is a topical decongestant.

12 Building with little curb appeal : EYESORE

“Curb” is another of those words that I had to learn when I came to the US. We park by the “kerb” on the other side of the Atlantic. Oh, and the “pavement”, that’s what we call the “footpath” (because the footpath is “paved”!). It’s very confusing when you arrive in this country from Ireland, and a little dangerous, when one has been taught to “walk on the pavement” …

13 Mayday call : SOS

The term “Mayday” is an emergency codeword that is used internationally as a distress signal, especially when making a radio transmission. “Mayday” comes from the French phrase “venez m’aider” meaning “come to help me”. When used properly, the term is repeated three times in a row: “Mayday Mayday Mayday”.

24 J’adore fragrance maker : DIOR

The Dior perfume called J’adore was introduced in 1999. The list of spokespersons for the fragrance has changed over the years, and includes: Estonian models Carmen Kass and Tiiu Kuik, South African actress Charlize Theron, and Barbadian singer Rihanna.

30 Protected, nautically : ALEE

Alee is the direction away from the wind. If a sailor points into the wind, he or she is pointing aweather. The sheltered side of an island, for example, might be referred to as the “lee” side.

34 Skin layer with hair follicles : DERMIS

The dermis is the middle layer of skin and lies beneath the epidermis. It’s a complex network of connective tissue, blood vessels, nerve endings, hair follicles, and sweat glands. This layer provides skin with its flexibility and strength, thanks to the presence of collagen and elastin fibers. The dermis also regulates temperature through blood flow and sweat production, and its nerve endings enable us to perceive touch, pressure, pain, and temperature.

38 Alton Brown cooking show : GOOD EATS

Alton Brown is a celebrity chef who is behind the Food Network show “Good Eats”, and who is the host of “Iron Chef America”.

39 Souls and Rios : KIAS

The Kia Soul is a compact car produced in South Korea, although it was designed by Kia here in the US, in Irvine, California. Yep, the Kia Soul is made in Seoul …

The Kia Rio is a subcompact that has been in production since 1999, and has undergone several updates and redesigns over the years. The Rio was designed by Kia’s chief design officer, Peter Schreyer, who previously worked for Audi and is credited with designing the iconic Audi TT.

42 May who was prime minister during Brexit : THERESA

Theresa May won a leadership election to become UK prime minister in 2016, following the resignation of David Cameron immediately after the nation decided to withdraw from the EU (“Brexit”). As such, May became only the second female prime minister in the UK, after Margaret Thatcher.

46 Banded stones : AGATES

Agate is a micro-crystalline form of quartz (and so is related to sand/silica). Some agate samples have deposited layers that give a striped appearance, and these are called “banded agate”.

48 Tamp down : SUBDUE

To tamp is to pack down tightly by tapping. “Tamp” was originally used specifically to describe the action of packing down sand or dirt around an explosive prior to detonation.

50 Winding ski race : SLALOM

“Slalom” is an anglicized version of the Norwegian word “slalam” that translates as “skiing race”. There is a longer version of the traditional slalom that is called giant slalom

51 Sport with belts : KARATE

Practitioners of judo and karate proceed through a series of proficiency grades known as the kyu-dan system. At each progression, a different colored belt is awarded.

52 All four members of ABBA, e.g. : SWEDES

Only three members of the quartet that made up the Swedish pop group ABBA were born in Sweden. Anni-Frid Lyngstad was born in Norway just after the end of WWII, the daughter of a Norwegian mother and a father who was a German soldier and a member of the German occupying forces during the war. The father returned to Germany with the army, and in 1947, Anni-Frid was taken with her family to Sweden. They left fearing reprisals against those who dealt with the German army during the occupation.

54 Atlanta university with an Oxford campus : EMORY

Oxford College of Emory University is the original campus of Emory College, located in Oxford, Georgia. The school was founded there in 1836 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, and named for Methodist bishop John Emory. Emory College moved to Druid Hills, Georgia in 1915, when it was rechartered as Emory University.

59 On the briny : ASEA

The briny is the sea, with “brine” meaning “salty water”. The term “briny” was originally used for “tears”.

64 Theater chain with ads featuring Nicole Kidman : AMC

The AMC theater chain used to go by the name American Multi-Cinema Inc., hence the initialism “AMC”.

Nicole Kidman is an Australian-American actress whose breakthrough role was the female lead in 1989’s “Dead Calm”. Kidman was actually born in Hawaii, to Australian parents. As a result, she has dual citizenship of Australia and the US. Famously, Kidman was married to fellow-actor Tom Cruise from 1990 to 2001, and is now married to New Zealand-born country singer Keith Urban.