Day: April 9, 2025

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Constructed by: Catherine Cetta
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Mad Scramble

Themed answers each include a synonym of “MAD” hidden within, but the order of the word’s letters has been SCRAMBLED:

• 57A Frantic, last-minute rush, and what can be found in each set of circled letters in this puzzle? : MAD SCRAMBLE

• 18A Nerf squirt gun in the National Toy Hall of Fame : SUPER SOAKER (hiding “SORE” scrambled)
• 24A Emergency evacuation rehearsal : FIRE DRILL (hiding “RILED” scrambled)
• 38A Inequality in access to technology : DIGITAL DIVIDE (hiding “LIVID” scrambled)
• 51A Piano larger than a spinet : BABY GRAND (hiding “ANGRY” scrambled)

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

Bill’s time: 4m 56s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

4 Frittata ingredients : EGGS

A frittata is an omelet dish from Italy. The word “frittata” is Italian, and comes from “fritto” meaning “fried”.

8 Words to live by : MOTTOS

“Motto” came into English directly from Italian, and is ultimately derived from the Latin word “muttire”, meaning “to mutter, mumble”.

16 Wayward : ERRANT

Someone described as errant is roving around, especially in search of adventure, as in “knight-errant”.The term “errant” has come to mean “behaving wrongly” and “straying outside the bounds”.

18 Nerf squirt gun in the National Toy Hall of Fame : SUPER SOAKER (hiding “SORE” scrambled)

The Super Soaker brand of water gun first went on sale in toy shops in 1989. Since then, over a billion dollars worth of Super Soakers have been sold.

The National Toy Hall of Fame was established in Salem, Oregon in 1998, but was relocated to Rochester, New York in 2002. There were seventeen original inductees, including:

• Barbie
• Etch A Sketch
• Frisbee
• Hula Hoop
• Marbles
• Monopoly

23 Himalayan Bigfoot : YETI

The yeti, also known as the abominable snowman, is a beast of legend. “Yeti” is a Tibetan term, and the beast is fabled to live in the Himalayan regions of Nepal and Tibet. Our equivalent legend in North America is that of Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch. The study of animals whose existence have not yet been substantiated is called cryptozoology, and a cryptid is a creature or plant that isn’t recognized by the scientific community, but the existence of which has been suggested.

The sasquatch (also “bigfoot”) is our North American equivalent of the yeti, the ape-like creature said to inhabit the Himalayas. Bigfoot is supposedly hiding out mainly in the Pacific Northwest of North America.

29 Texas team in the American League since 2013 : ASTROS

The Houston baseball team changed its name to the Astros (sometimes “’Stros”) from the Colt .45s in 1965 when they started playing in the Astrodome. The Astrodome was so called in recognition of the city’s long association with the US space program. The Astros moved from the National League to the American League starting in the 2013 season.

33 Dawn goddess : EOS

In Greek mythology, Eos is the goddess of the dawn who lives at the edge of the ocean. Eos wakes each morning to welcome her brother Helios the Sun. The Roman equivalent of Eos is Aurora. Rather delightfully, Homer referred to Eos as “rosy-fingered dawn” in both “Iliad” and “Odyssey”.

34 Kia crossover SUVs : SOULS

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 …

36 Instant noodles option : RAMEN

Ramen is a noodle dish composed of Chinese-style wheat noodles in a meat or fish broth flavored with soy or miso sauce. Ramen is usually topped with sliced pork and dried seaweed. The term “ramen” is also used for precooked, instant noodles that come in single-serving, solid blocks.

42 Place of refuge : OASIS

The most famous oasis in the US is … Las Vegas, which is located in the middle of the Mojave Desert.

43 Bioengineered food initials : GMO

A genetically modified organism (GMO) is one with genetic material that has been altered by genetic engineering. One might argue that the oldest form of genetic engineering is selective breeding, the use of animals or plants with desired traits for the creation of the next generation.

44 Sp. woman : SRA

The equivalent of “Mrs.” in French is “Mme.” (Madame), in Spanish is “Sra.” (Señora) and in Portuguese is also “Sra.” (Senhora).

49 Christian period after Carnival : 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”.

The celebration of Carnival comes right before the Lenten period in some Christian traditions. It is thought that Carnival perhaps arose from the need to “eat and drink up” any excess food and drink before the beginning of Lent.

51 Piano larger than a spinet : BABY GRAND (hiding “ANGRY” scrambled)

A grand piano is one with the frame supported horizontally on three legs. An upright piano has the frame and strings running vertically. Grand pianos come in many sizes. For example, the length of a concert grand is about 9 feet, a parlor grand is about 7 feet, and a baby grand is about 5 feet.

“Spinet” is the name given to a smaller version of keyboard instruments, such as a small harpsichord, piano or organ. Spinets are still made today, as cheaper versions of full-size instruments.

55 Pre-K sequence : ABC

Pre-kindergarten (pre-K)

63 For the time being, in some titles : PRO TEM

“Pro tempore” can be abbreviated to “pro tem” or “p.t.” “Pro tempore” is a Latin phrase that best translates as “for the time being”. It is used to describe a person who is acting for another, usually a superior. The President pro tempore of the US Senate is the person who presides over the Senate in the absence of the Vice President of the US. It has been tradition since 1890 that the president pro tem is the most senior senator in the majority party. The president pro tem ranks highly in the line of succession to the presidency, falling third in line after the Vice President and the Speaker of the House.

68 Thumb drive port : USB

Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard dealing with how computers and electronic devices connect and communicate, and dealing with electrical power through those connections.

Down

1 Stroke that some fonts are “sans” : SERIF

Serifs are details on the ends of characters in some typefaces. Typefaces without serifs are known as sans-serif, using the French word “sans” meaning “without” and “serif” from the Dutch “schreef” meaning “line”. Some people say that serif fonts are easier to read on paper, whereas sans-serif fonts work better on a computer screen. I’m not so sure though …

2 National park near Bar Harbor : ACADIA

Acadia National Park in Maine was created in 1919, although back then it was called Lafayette National Park in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette who famously supported the American Revolution. The park was renamed to Acadia in 1929.

Bar Harbor is a town on the Maine coast that is a popular place to visit in the summer. Cruise ships are a common sight in the harbor from May through October. One of the town’s more famous sons was former US Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, who was born there in 1908.

3 GoFundMe contributors : DONORS

GoFundMe is a crowdfunding website, and is based in San Diego.

4 The last of us? : ESS

The last letter in the word “us” is a letter S (ess).

5 Bearded beast : GNU

The gnu is also known as the wildebeest, and is an antelope native to Africa. “Wildebeest” is a Dutch word meaning “wild beast”.

6 Banana Republic parent company : GAP

The Banana Republic clothing retailer is owned by the Gap.

7 Hex : SPELL

“Hexen” is a German word meaning “to practice witchcraft”. The use of the word “hex” in English started with the Pennsylvania Dutch in the early 1800s.

8 Home of two Cactus League stadiums : MESA

Professional baseball teams head to Arizona and Florida for spring training. Arizona-training teams are collectively referred to as the Cactus League, and the teams in Florida are known as the Grapefruit League.

The Arizona city of Mesa is home to two baseball stadiums used by MLB teams for spring training. Sloan Park hosts the Chicago Cubs, and Hohokam Stadium hosts the Athletics.

9 __ y plata: Montana motto : ORO

“Oro y Plata” means “gold and silver”, and is the state motto of Montana. The motto was written in Spanish, apparently because “it had a nice ring to it”.

19 Move, in brokerese : RELO

Relocate (relo)

25 iPhone alternatives : DROIDS

The Droid is a smartphone from Motorola that runs on Google’s Android operating system.

26 Networking device : ROUTER

In the world of computing, a router is a device that helps direct traffic, as it were. A router in a house is often found in combination with a modem, and directs traffic between the Internet and the computers in the home.

27 Land in the agua : ISLA

In Spanish, “agua” (water) flows in a “río” (river) and surrounds an “isla” (island).

31 __ Kreme donuts : KRISPY

The Krispy Kreme chain of doughnut stores was founded in 1937 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The company introduced the Whole Wheat Glazed doughnut in 2007, which is great news for folks looking to eat a healthy diet, I am sure …

32 Building a nest egg : SAVING

A nest egg is an amount of money laid down as a reserve. This is the figurative use of “nest egg” that originally described an artificial egg left in a nest to encourage a hen to lay real eggs in that spot. So our financial nest egg is set aside in anticipation of continued growth, more eggs being laid.

38 Natural brown sugar : DEMERARA

Demerara sugar is a type of raw cane sugar that is known for its large golden crystals and its molasses-like flavor. It gets its name from the Demerara region of Guyana, which was a major sugar-producing area in the 18th and 19th centuries. Demerara sugar is still produced in Guyana, but also in other parts of the world.

40 Apply haphazardly : DAUB

Our word “hap” means chance or fortune. It turns up combined in words like “haphazard” and even “happen”. “To happen” originally meant “to occur by hap, by chance”.

43 Stays in a luxury yurt, say : GLAMPS

“Glamping” is “glamorous camping”, camping with comforts and amenities.

A yurt is a wood-framed dwelling that is used by nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. Although a yurt is a substantial structure, it is also extremely portable.

45 “Mamma Mia!” band : ABBA

The hit musical “Mamma Mia!” was written to showcase the songs of ABBA. I’m a big fan of ABBA’s music, so I’ve seen this show several times and just love it. “Mamma Mia!” is such a big hit on the stage that on any given day there are at least seven performances going on somewhere in the world. There is a really interesting film version of the show that was released in 2008. I think the female lead Meryl Streep is wonderful in the movie, but the male leads … not so much! By the way, one can tell the difference between “Mamma Mia” the ABBA song and “Mamma Mia!” the musical, by noting the difference in the punctuation in the titles.

47 Eden in Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan” : XANADU

“Kubla Khan” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is my wife’s favorite poem. He wrote his masterpiece one night in 1797 after a vivid dream heavily influenced by opium.

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree :
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

48 Govt. securities : T-NOTES

A Treasury note (T-note) is a government debt that matures in 1-10 years. A T-note has a coupon (interest) payment made every six months. The T-note is purchased at a discount to face value, and at the date of maturity can be redeemed at that face value. A Treasury bill (T-bill) is a similar financial vehicle, but it matures in one year or less, and a T-bond matures in 20-30 years.

53 Nerdy type : DWEEB

“Dweeb” is relatively recent American slang that came out of college life in the late sixties. Dweeb, squarepants, nerd; they’re all not-nice terms that mean the same thing, i.e. someone excessively studious and socially inept.

55 Navy’s college football rival : ARMY

The first Army-Navy football game took place in November 1890. The annual event is most often played in Philadelphia, as the city is about the same distance from the USMA at West Point, New York and the USNA at Anapolis, Maryland. One of the more memorable Army-Navy games (to trivia lovers) was played in 1893. That’s because Navy Midshipman Joseph M. Reeves wore a helmet, marking the first time a helmet was used for protection in a football game.

58 Animation buff’s collectible : CEL

Back in the early 1900s, a buff was someone (usually a male) who admired firefighting. The term “buff” was a reference to the buff-colored uniforms that had been sported by volunteer firefighters in New York City since the 1820s. The use of the word “buff” spread over time to describe a person who was enthusiastic about any particular subject, e.g. film buff, WWII buff.

60 Gymnast Suni with six Olympic medals : LEE

Suni Lee is an American gymnast who won the women’s artistic individual all-around event at the 2020 Olympics. A few weeks after her victory in Tokyo, Lee competed in the 30th season of “Dancing with the Stars”, finishing in 5th place.