Day: June 23, 2025

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Constructed by: Janice Luttrell
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Turn! Turn! Turn!

Themed answers each start with a synonym of “TURN”:

• 56A The Byrds No. 1 hit whose lyrics come from Ecclesiastes, and what can be found at the starts of 20-, 27-, and 48-Across : TURN! TURN! TURN!

• 20A Soaker with jets : WHIRLPOOL TUB
• 27A Unexpected change in circumstances : TWIST OF FATE
• 46A Public relations pros, informally : SPIN DOCTORS

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

Bill’s time: 5m 32s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Olympic diver Louganis : GREG

Greg Louganis is an American Olympic diver. Louganis won gold medals at the 1984 and the 1988 Summer Games. He wrote an autobiography in 1996 called “Breaking the Surface”.

17 Word puzzles involving quotations : ACROSTICS

An acrostic is a word puzzle. One part of the puzzle is a quote, which has been rendered unreadable by replacing each letter with a number. The second part of the puzzle gives clues (like a crossword) that reveal the numbers needed to unmask the quote.

20 Soaker with jets : WHIRLPOOL TUB

“Jacuzzi” is one of those brand names that has become so much associated with the product that it is often assumed to be a generic term. The Jacuzzi company was founded in 1915 by the seven(!) Jacuzzi brothers in Berkeley California. The brothers, who were Italian immigrants, pronounced their name “ja-coot-si”, as one might suspect when one realizes the name is of Italian origin. The company started off by making aircraft propellers and then small aircraft, but suspended aircraft production in 1925, when one of the brothers was killed in one of their planes. The family then started making hydraulic pumps, and in 1948 developed a submersible bathtub pump so that a son of one of the brothers could enjoy hydrotherapy for his rheumatoid arthritis. The “hydrotherapy product” took off in the fifties with some astute marketing towards “worn-out housewives” and the use of celebrity spokesman Jack Benny.

23 Clodhopper : OAF

Our term “clodhopper” is used to describe a clumsy and coarse person. Back in the 1600s, a clodhopper was someone who worked on plowed land. Clodhoppers are also strong, heavy shoes.

36 Capital on the Willamette River : SALEM

Salem is the state capital of Oregon. It is thought that the city takes its name from the older city of Salem, Massachusetts.

The Willamette River in northwestern Oregon is a major tributary of the Columbia River. The Willamette flows through the state capital of Salem, as well as through Portland, Oregon’s largest city. Today, the Willamette Valley is home to over 500 wineries and is often called “Oregon Wine Country”.

37 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.

38 “Let’s Make a Deal” choices : DOORS

Here is the text of the puzzle known as the Monty Hall problem:

Suppose you’re on a game show, and you’re given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what’s behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, “Do you want to pick door No. 2?” Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?

The answer is: switch to door No. 2, always. In this situation, you started with a ⅓ chance of choosing the right door. By showing that a goat is behind door No. 3, the odds of the car being behind door No. 2 jump to ⅔.

42 Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor : SONIA

“My Beloved World” is a 2013 memoir by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. It covers her life from childhood through to 1992, and so does not deal with her time on the Supreme Court bench. Here is some advice that Sotomayor offers in the book:

…you cannot value dreams according to the odds of their coming true. The real value is in stirring within us the will to aspire.

46 Public relations pros, informally : SPIN DOCTORS

We use the term “spin” to describe an attempt to influence media reporters, with the term “spin doctor” describing a public relations person who is spouting such “spin”. Apparently, the use of “spin” in this context was popularized during the Reagan administration, when White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan was known informally as the “Director of Spin Control”.

50 __ alai : JAI

Even though jai alai is often said to be the fastest sport in the world because of the speed of the ball, golf balls usually get going at a greater clip. Although, as a blog reader once pointed out to me, you don’t have to catch a golf ball …

51 New Haven Ivy Leaguer : YALIE

The city of New Haven, Connecticut was founded in 1638 by Puritan immigrants from England. Famously, it is home to Yale University. The city also initiated the first public tree planting program in the country. The large elms included in the program led to New Haven being called “the Elm City”.

56 The Byrds No. 1 hit whose lyrics come from Ecclesiastes, and what can be found at the starts of 20-, 27-, and 48-Across : TURN! TURN! TURN!

There aren’t many pop hits that have lyrics taken almost entirely from the Bible. Pete Seeger took some words from the Book of Ecclesiastes, and set them to music in 1959, using the title “To Everything There Is a Season”. He recorded the song in 1962 for one of his albums. It wasn’t until it was recorded by the Byrds as “Turn! Turn! Turn!” that the song climbed the charts. It’s a nice contemplative song, I always think …

The Byrds were a rock band that formed in Los Angeles in 1964. The band’s most successful songs were cover versions of earlier hits i.e. “Mr. Tambourine Man” (Bob Dylan) and “Turn! Turn! Turn!” (Pete Seeger).

60 Ballet leaps : JETES

A jeté is a leap in ballet, with the term “jeté” coming from the French word “jeter” meaning “to throw”. A “jeté en avant” is a “leap to the front”, towards the audience. A “grand jeté” is a long horizontal jump, a split in the air, leaping from one foot to the other.

63 Tricolor feline : CALICO CAT

Domestic cats with a white coat and patches of brown and black are called calico cats in this country. Back in Ireland, and the rest of the world I think, such cats are called tortoiseshell-and-white. “Calico” is not a breed of cat, but rather a coloring.

64 Major shindig : EVENT

“Shindig” is such a lovely word, I think. It describes a party that usually includes some dancing. Although its origin isn’t really clear, the term perhaps comes from “shinty”, a Scottish game that’s similar to field hockey.

66 “Whose __ Is It Anyway?” : LINE

The American improv comedy TV show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” is a spin-off of a very successful British show of the same name. The British TV show is itself a spin-off of a BBC radio show that I well remember. Lots of fun …

Down

1 Chews like a chipmunk : GNAWS

Chipmunks are rodents found almost exclusively in North America. It has been suggested that the name “chipmunk” comes from the Ojibwa word “ajidamoo”, which translates literally as “head first”. The idea is that the chipmunk was viewed as a red squirrel noted for descending tree trunks “head first”.

2 La __-Posay: L’Oréal brand : ROCHE

L’Oréal is a French cosmetics company, the largest cosmetics and beauty company in the world. Here in the US, L’Oréal runs a “Women of Worth” program that honors women who volunteer in their communities. The phrase “Women of Worth” underlines the longstanding L’Oréal slogan “Because I’m worth it”, which evolved into “Because you’re worth it” and eventually “Because we’re worth it”.

5 Link letters : HTTP

“http” are the first letters in many Internet links. “http” stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol. More secure and “safer” websites (like this one!) use links starting with “https”, which stands for “http secure”.

6 Cleveland’s state : OHIO

Cleveland, Ohio was named after the man who led the team that surveyed the area prior to the founding of the city. General Moses Cleaveland did his work in 1796 and then left Ohio, never to return again.

8 Places to pick up kittens : SCRUFFS

The scruff is the nape of the neck.

9 Chicago paper, for short : TRIB

“The Chicago Tribune” was first published in 1847. The most famous edition of “The Trib” was probably in 1948 when the headline was “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN”, on the occasion of that year’s presidential election. When it turned out that Truman had actually won, the victor picked up the paper with the erroneous headline and posed for photographs with it … a famous, famous photo, that must have stuck in the craw of the editor at the time.

24 Starter course, often : SALAD

Our word “salad” comes from the Latin “salare” meaning “to salt”. The Latin “herba salata” translates as “salted vegetables”, which I guess could be a salad …

25 “SNL” alum Cheri : OTERI

Cheri Oteri is an actress and comedian who is best known for her work on “Saturday Night Live” (SNL). Before she became a famous comedian, she worked as a cocktail waitress at the comedy club The Improv, where she was inspired to pursue a career in comedy.

26 Arabian Sea country : YEMEN

Yemen is a country located in the southwestern part of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, Oman to the east, the Red Sea to the west, and the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea to the south. Yemen has a population of over 30 million people and its capital and largest city is Sana’a.

The Arabian Sea is an arm of the Indian Ocean that lies off the coasts of Oman, Yemen, Pakistan and Iran. It is bounded in the west by Somalia, and in the east by India.

29 Stock exchange launch, briefly : IPO

An initial public offering (IPO) is the very first offer of stock for sale by a company on the open market. In other words, an IPO marks the first time that a company is traded on a public exchange. Companies have an IPO to raise capital to expand (usually).

32 Smart-alecky : SASSY

Apparently, the original “smart Alec” (sometimes “Aleck”) was one Alec Hoag, a pimp, thief and confidence trickster who plied his trade in New York City in the 1840s.

33 Overused plot device : TROPE

A trope is a figure of speech. The term “trope” comes from the Greek word “tropos” that has the same meaning. The term has evolved in meaning to also describe a common or overused device or theme.

34 Rock legend Joplin : JANIS

Famously, the singer Janis Joplin died from an overdose of heroin when she was just 27 years old. That puts her in the “27 Club”, a group of famous rock and blues musicians who died at the same age. In the club along with Joplin, are Brian Jones (of the Rolling Stones), Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse and a few others.

35 “Riviera” actress Lena : OLIN

Lena Olin is a Swedish actress, and someone who has acting in her blood. Her mother was the actress Britta Holmberg and her father the actor and director Stig Olin. Olin had a very successful career in Sweden, often working with the great Ingmar Bergman. Olin’s breakthrough international and English-speaking role was playing opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” released in 1988. Way back in 1974, Miss Olin was crowned Miss Scandinavia in a beauty pageant for Nordic women held in Helsinki, Finland. Olin’s most famous performance was in “Chocolat” released in 2000, and then she won an Emmy in 2003 for Best Supporting Actress in the TV show “Alias”.

“Riviera” is a TV drama created by Irish director Neil Jordan that started airing in 2017. The show centers on an American art curator (played by Julia Styles), who is trying to uncover the truth about the death of her billionaire husband. It’s all set in the French Riviera, hence the title. Haven’t seen this one, but it looks interesting …

39 __ Speedwagon : REO

REO Speedwagon is an American rock band that formed in 1967, and is still going strong. The band’s biggest hits are “Keep On Loving You” (1980) and “Can’t Fight This Feeling” (1985). The founding members chose the name for the REO Speed Wagon flatbed truck. Note that the band’s name is one word “Speedwagon”, whereas the vehicle’s name uses two words “Speed Wagon”.

45 “No Strings Attached” boy band : NSYNC

NSYNC’s third studio album, “No Strings Attached,” was released in 2000, and was a defining moment for the boy band. Just prior to the release, the band separated from their management, and the title of the album is an allusion to puppetry, and their newfound independence. More specifically, the title was inspired by the song “I’ve Got No Strings” from the Disney film “Pinocchio”.

48 __ de Mayo : CINCO

The celebration known as Cinco de Mayo is observed all over the US and in parts of Mexico. Cinco de Mayo is not, as some believe, Mexico’s Independence Day. Independence is celebrated on September 16, whereas Cinco de Mayo is celebrated on May 5th. Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

52 Ring-shaped reef : ATOLL

An atoll is a coral island that is shaped in a ring that encloses a lagoon. There is still some debate as to how an atoll forms, but a theory proposed by Charles Darwin while on his famous voyage aboard HMS Beagle still holds sway. Basically, an atoll was once a volcanic island that had subsided and fallen into the sea. The coastline of the island is home to coral growth which persists even as the island continues to subside inside the circling coral reef.

53 Holy namesake of a Lesser Antilles island : LUCIA

There are only two sovereign nations named for a female. The island country of Saint Lucia in the Caribbean was named after Saint Lucy of Syracuse. The island country of Ireland (“Éire” in Irish) was named the goddess Ériu from Irish mythology.

The Antilles islands are divided into two main groups, the Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles. The Greater Antilles includes the islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. The Lesser Antilles are made up of the Leeward Islands, the Windward Islands and the Leeward Antilles, and lie just north of Venezuela.

54 Tehran native : IRANI

Tehran is the capital of Iran and is the largest city in the Middle East, with a population of about 8.5 million. Iran has been around a really long time and Tehran is actually the country’s 31st national capital.

58 Peter Fonda title role : ULEE

“Ulee’s Gold” is a highly respected film from 1997 in which Peter Fonda plays the title role of Ulee. Ulee’s “gold” is the honey that Ulysses “Ulee” Jackson produces. It is a favorite role for Peter Fonda and he has shared that playing Ulee brought to mind his father Henry Fonda, who himself kept a couple of hives. So if you see Peter Fonda in “Ulee’s Gold” you’re witnessing some characteristics that Peter saw in his father.