Day: June 30, 2025

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Constructed by: Amie Walker & Darby Ratliff
Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Keyholder

Themed answers each include a hidden KEY HELD within:

• 52A Manager who opens up a shop, or an apt description of 20-, 25-, or 42-Across : KEYHOLDER

• 20A Place to see some spectacles? : GLASSES CASE (holding “ESC”)
• 25A “Abbott Elementary” star : QUINTA BRUNSON (holding “TAB”)
• 42A Coach at a health club : PERSONAL TRAINER (holding “ALT”)

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

Bill’s time: 4m 40s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Fashion mag known for quizzes : COSMO

“Cosmopolitan” magazine was first published way back in 1886! It started out life as a family magazine, then as a literary publication. “Cosmo” took its present form as a women’s magazine in the 1960s.

9 Fan out, as toes : SPLAY

The verbs “to splay” and the noun “display” are linked through the idea of spreading out or presenting something openly. “Splay” usually implies a spreading or extending outward, particularly of limbs or fingers, to occupy a wider area. Similarly, “display” suggests the arrangement and presentation of items for viewing, effectively spreading them out for public attention.

16 Self-assurance : POISE

Back in the early 1400s, “poise” meant “quality of being heavy”. We’ve been using the term to mean “steadiness, composure” since the mid-1600s, in the sense of being equally “weighted” on either side.

17 Media watchdog org. that focuses on queer inclusivity : GLAAD

GLAAD is a non-governmental media monitoring organization that was founded in 1985 as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. The organization changed its name to GLAAD in 2013 to reflect the organization’s efforts to support the whole of the LGBTQ+ community.

18 Big boat that held animal pairs : ARK

Genesis 6:19-20 states that Noah was instructed to take two animals of every kind into the ark. Later, in Genesis 7:2-3 Noah was instructed to take on board “every clean animal by sevens … male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth”. Apparently, “extras” (7 rather than 2) were needed for ritual sacrifice.

19 Answers an invite, briefly : RSVPS

“RSVP” stands for “répondez s’il vous plaît”, which is French for “answer, please”.

20 Place to see some spectacles? : GLASSES CASE (holding “ESC”)

The escape key (Esc) was originally used just to control computer peripherals. It was a key that allowed the computer operator to stop what the peripheral was doing (cancel a print job, for example). Nowadays the escape key is used for all sorts of things, especially in gaming programs.

23 Korean car company : KIA

Kia Motors is the second-largest manufacturer of cars in South Korea, behind Hyundai (and Hyundai is a part owner in Kia now). Kia was founded in 1944 as a manufacturer of bicycle parts, and did indeed produce Korea’s first domestic bicycle. The company’s original name was Kyungsung Precision Industry, with the Kia name introduced in 1952.

24 Pizzeria order : PIE

Pizza was invented in Naples, where it has a long tradition that goes back to ancient Rome. During an 1889 visit to Naples, Queen Margherita of Savoy was served a special pizza that was created with toppings designed to mimic the colors of the Italian flag. The ingredients of tomato (red), mozzarella (white) and basil (green) can still be found together on menus today, on a pie usually named Pizza Margherita after the queen. I do love basil on my pizza …

25 “Abbott Elementary” star : QUINTA BRUNSON (holding “TAB”)

Actress and writer Quinta Brunson got her artistic break on Instagram, with a much-watched, self-produced series of comedic videos titled “Girl Who Has Never Been on a Nice Date”. A few years later, she produced a single-camera pilot that she called “Harrity Elementary”, which had a storyline based on her own school experiences. ABC picked up that pilot, and it started airing as “Abbot Elementary” in 2021.

Like many features on our computer keyboards, the tab key is a hangover from the days of typewriters. When using a typewriter, making entries into a table was very tedious, involving lots of tapping on the spacebar and backspace key. So, a lever was added to typewriters that allowed the operator to “jump” across the page to positions that could be set by hand. Later this was simplified to a tab key which could be depressed, causing the carriage to jump to the next tab stop in much the same way that the modern tab key works on a computer.

33 Neckwear worn by Mickey Mouse at Aulani Resort : LEI

Aulani is a Disney-owned, Hawaiian-themed family resort located on Oʻahu in Ko Olina. Opened in 2011, Aulani is not a theme park, but guests can still meet Disney characters throughout the property, amidst the Hawaiian setting.

34 Ladybug feature : SPOT

The insect we know as a ladybug (also “ladybird”) has seven spots on its wing covers. These seven spots gave rise to the common name “ladybug”, as in the Middle Ages the insect was called the “beetle of Our Lady”. The spots were said to symbolize the Seven Joys and Seven Sorrows, events in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary called out in the Roman Catholic tradition.

36 Laser tag sound : PEW!

The name “Laser Tag” is really a misnomer as lasers are rarely used in the game. The “guns” actually send out infrared light, and not laser light, that is picked up by infrared detectors worn by the players.

42 Coach at a health club : PERSONAL TRAINER (holding “ALT”)

The Alt (alternate) key is found on either side of the space bar on US PC keyboards. The Alt key evolved from what was called a Meta key on old MIT keyboards, although the function has changed somewhat over the years. Alt is equivalent in many ways to the Option key on a Mac keyboard, and indeed the letters “Alt” have been printed on most Mac keyboards starting in the nineties.

46 Beat in a hot dog contest, e.g. : OUTEAT

A hot dog is a sausage served in a split roll. The term “hot dog” dates back to the 19th-century and is thought to reflect a commonly-held opinion that the sausages contained dog meat.

48 Tax season helper: Abbr. : CPA

Certified public accountant (CPA)

51 “__ la vie!” : C’EST

“C’est la vie” is French for “that’s life”.

63 Vanilla __ : BEAN

The flavor extract that we call “vanilla” comes from the pod-like fruit of climbing orchids belonging to the genus Vanilla. Genuine vanilla is a relatively expensive spice, second only to saffron, due to the amount of work required to grow and harvest the fruit (also called “beans” and “pods”). Spanish and Portuguese explorers came across the Vanilla orchid while exploring the Gulf Coast of Mexico. They gave it the name “vainilla” meaning “little pod”.

64 Humidor item : CIGAR

A humidor is a box or room that has a controlled environment optimized for the storage of cigars, cigarettes and pipe tobacco. The main factor to be controlled is “humidity”, hence the storage area is called a “humidor”.

65 __ sago: tapioca dessert served hot or cold : TARO

Taro sago is an Asian dessert, particularly common in Hong Kong-style cuisine. It typically features soft, starchy chunks of taro root and chewy tapioca pearls (often mistakenly called sago pearls, though true sago comes from a different palm) in a creamy, sweet coconut milk base.

66 Karaoke selection : SONG

“Karate” is a Japanese word meaning “empty hand”, and the related word “karaoke” translates as “empty orchestra”.

68 Dutch semisoft cheese : EDAM

Edam cheese takes its name from the Dutch town of Edam in North Holland. The cheese is famous for its coating of red paraffin wax, a layer of protection that helps Edam travel well and prevents spoiling. You might occasionally come across an Edam cheese that is coated in black wax. The black color indicates that the underlying cheese has been aged for a minimum of 17 weeks.

Down

2 Hooting bird : OWL

“Hoot owl” is an informal name for the barred owl. Barred owls have dark stripes running up and down the underside of their bodies, hence the name “barred”. They also have a very distinctive two-phrase vocalization, hence the name “hoot”.

4 HelloFresh product : MEAL KIT

HelloFresh is a company based in Berlin that provides meal kits to its customers, all over the world. Founded in 2011, by 2024 it was the largest provider of meal kits in the US.

6 Samosa vegetables : PEAS

A samosa is quite the tasty appetizer. It is usually a triangular-shaped savory that often has a vegetarian filling. The word “samosa” is primarily used on Indian menus, and the name comes from “sanbosag”, the name for the dish in Persia.

7 Land measure : ACRE

At one time, an acre was defined as the amount of land a yoke of oxen could plow in a day. Then, an acre was more precisely defined as a strip of land “one furrow long” (i.e. one furlong) and one chain wide. The length of one furlong was equal to 10 chains, or 40 rods. An area of one furlong times 10 rods was one rood.

8 Pans that might require special burners : WOKS

“Wok” is a Cantonese word, and is the name for the frying pan now used in many Asian cuisines.

9 Wrist injury : SPRAIN

Sprained ligaments are graded on severity:

1. Grade 1 (Mild): Slight stretching, some pain and swelling, but you can still walk.
2. Grade 2 (Moderate): Partial tear, more pain, swelling, and bruising, making walking difficult.
3. Grade 3 (Severe): Complete tear, significant swelling and bruising, unable to bear weight.

12 Nile snake : ASP

The asp is a venomous snake found in the Nile region of Africa. It is so venomous that the asp was used in ancient Egypt and Greece as a means of execution. Cleopatra observed such executions noting that the venom brought on sleepiness without any painful spasms. When the great queen opted to commit suicide, the asp was therefore her chosen method.

22 Apple core, for short : CPU

The central processing unit (CPU) is the main component on the motherboard of a computer. The CPU is the part of the computer that carries out most of the functions required by a program. Nowadays you can get CPUs in everything from cars to telephones.

25 Largest borough of New York City : QUEENS

Queens is the largest borough in New York City, and is today coterminous with Queens County. Queens is an amazingly diverse location in terms of ethnicity. There is a population of over 2 million people, with almost 50% of that population being foreign-born. Apparently there are over 130 native languages spoken in the area. Queens was named for Catherine of Braganza (from Portugal), Queen consort of King Charles II of England.

27 Penne __ vodka : ALLA

Penne alla vodka is a pasta dish with a sauce made of vodka, cream, tomatoes, onions and sausage or bacon.

37 Canadian honker : GOOSE

The Canada goose has quite a distinctive coloring, with a black head and neck broken up by a white “chinstrap”. They thrive in parks that are frequented by humans, and are so successful that they are considered pests by some.

38 “Life of Pi” director Lee : ANG

Ang Lee made history at the 74th Academy Awards in 2002 when he won the Best Director award for “Brokeback Mountain.” He became the first Asian person to win the award and the first non-white person to win in the category.

The 2012 movie “Life of Pi” is based on a 2001 novel of the same name by Yann Martel. The “Pi” in the title is an Indian boy named Pi Patel who finds himself adrift for 227 days in a small boat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

40 Sriracha, for one : SAUCE

Sriracha hot chili sauce is named for the coastal city of Si Racha in eastern Thailand, where the recipe likely originated. Here in North America, we are most familiar with the Sriracha sold in a red bottle with a green that is made by Huy Fong Foods in the city of Irwindale, California. The manufacturer was founded by Vietnamese refugee David Tran, who escaped from Vietnam in 1978 on a Taiwanese freighter called the Huey Fong, after which he named his new company.

43 Satisfying, as thirst : SLAKING

To slake is to satisfy a craving, as in “slaking one’s thirst”.

44 Say over and over : ITERATE

The verb “to iterate” means to repeat over again. The verb “reiterate” means the same thing. One might suspect that “reiterate” is one of those words that has crept into the language due to repeated (reiterated?!) misuse. Well, that’s not quite the case, but close. Back in the 1400s, “iterate” meant “repeat”, and “reiterate” meant “repeat again and again”. We lost the distinction between those two definitions over time.

49 Father of many, many puppies in “101 Dalmatians” : PONGO

The 1961 Walt Disney animated film “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” is based on the 1956 children’s novel of the same name by Dodie Smith. Both movie and novel tell the story of Pongo and Perdita, two Dalmatians whose fifteen puppies are dognapped by the fur-obsessed villainess Cruella De Vil, who plans to make them into a fur coat.

50 Ms. Marvel, for Kamala Khan : ALIAS

The comic superhero Ms. Marvel was introduced through the character of Carol Danvers in March 1968. Carol Danvers later officially became the first to use the “Ms. Marvel” codename, gaining powers in January 1977 as a female counterpart to Captain Marvel. Since then, the mantle of “Ms. Marvel” has been held by several characters in the Marvel Universe: Sharon Ventura in May 1986, Karla Sofen in March 2009, and Kamala Khan, who debuted as the newest Ms. Marvel in February 2014.

53 Org. with a pool, often : YMCA

The YMCA (the Y) is a worldwide movement that has its roots in London, England. There, in 1844, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was founded with the intent of promoting Christian principles through the development of “a healthy spirit, mind and body”. The founder, George Williams, saw the need to create YMCA facilities for young men who were flocking to the cities as the Industrial Revolution flourished. He saw that these men were frequenting taverns and brothels, and wanted to offer a more wholesome alternative.

54 Truth alternative in a party game : DARE

The party game truth or dare has been around a long time. A variant from the early 1700s as attested as a “Christmas game”, under the name “questions and commands”.

57 Beach vacation souvenir : TAN

A souvenir is a memento, a token of remembrance. We imported “souvenir” from French, in which language it has the same meaning. The term comes from the Latin “subvenire” meaning “to come to mind”, or literally “to come up”.

62 Snack, cutesily : NOM

“Om Nom Nom Nom” is a slang expression that indicates satisfied eating.