Day: October 4, 2025

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Constructed by: August Miller

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: None

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

Bill’s time: 12m 11s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

16 Paramore genre : EMO

Paramore is a rock band that formed in 2004 in Franklin, Tennessee. The band members were very young when they signed with their first label. Lead singer Hayley Williams was 15 years old, and drummer Zac Farro was only 14.

17 Event that may feature gate crashers : GIANT SLALOM

In downhill ski racing, the main difference between slalom and giant slalom is the spacing of the gates. This space dictates the skier’s speed and the size of their turns. In short, slalom involves quick, tight turns at lower speeds, while giant slalom features wider, smoother turns at much higher speeds.

18 Letter before upsilon : TAU

Tau is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet, and the letter that gave rise to our Roman “T”. Both the letters tau (T) and chi (X) have long been symbolically associated with the cross.

19 Cards that reveal who’s who and what’s what : IDS

Identity document (ID)

20 Brad Paisley’s “__ Everything” : SHE’S

“She’s Everything” is a 2006 song by Brad Paisley with lyrics that pay tribute to his wife, actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley. However, the song’s co-writer, Wil Nance, originally wrote it as a Valentine’s Day gift for his own wife, Holly. When Paisley heard the demo, he asked Nance if he could personalize some lyrics to better fit his own life.

21 Figure in Celtic folklore : DRUID

Druids were priests of Celtic Europe during the Iron Age. Historians rely on accounts of the beliefs and practices of druids recorded by the likes of ancient Romans and Greeks, as it is believed that druids themselves were prevented from recording their knowledge by their belief system.

26 “Measure for Measure” antagonist : ANGELO

“Measure for Measure” is one of William Shakespeare’s plays, ostensibly a comedy. The title “Measure for Measure” is actually a quotation from the Bible found in the Gospel According to Luke.

29 Maggie who wrote “On Freedom” : NELSON

Author Maggie Nelson’s work is known for blending genres, like personal memoir, poetry, and critical theory in the same work. For example, her 2005 book “Jane: A Murder” features the 1969 unsolved murder of her aunt Jane while attending the University of Michigan Law School. The book is a hybrid of poetry, prose, and excerpts from her aunt’s own diaries, serving as both an investigation into the murder and a portrait of the aunt she never knew.

30 Tie-breaking method : GOLDEN GOAL

In some sports, a tied game or match is decided in overtime, with the winner being the first team or player to score a point or a goal. That game-winning score might be referred to as the “golden goal”.

32 “c ya” : TTFN

Ta-ta for now (TTFN)

35 Company that sells nudes : OPI

Opi (originally “Odontorium Products Inc.”) is a manufacturer of nail polish based in North Hollywood, California. One of Opi’s marketing coups was the introduction of a line of Legally Blonde 2 polishes, which featured in the film. Opi also launched a collection of nail lacquers inspired by the hit Broadway musical “Wicked” in celebration of its 10th anniversary on Broadway.

36 Start to wrestle? : SILENT W

The starting letter in the word “wrestle” is a silent letter W.

41 Technique often used to make 3D images appear in the style of a comic book : CEL SHADING

Cel shading is a computer graphics technique that makes 3D models look flat and hand-drawn, similar to a classic cartoon or comic book. The “cel” is short for “celluloid,” the transparent sheets that animators once used to create traditional 2D animation.

43 Mortise inserts : TENONS

One simple type of joint used in carpentry is a mortise and tenon. It is basically a projection carved at the end of one piece of wood that fits into a hole cut into the end of another. In the related dovetail joint, the projecting tenon is not rectangular but is cut at a bias, so that when the dovetails are joined they resist being pulled apart. You’ll see dovetail joints in drawers around the house.

45 Congo forest dwellers : OKAPIS

The okapi is closely related to the giraffe, although it does have markings on its legs and haunches that resemble those of a zebra. The okapi’s tongue is long enough to reach back and wash its eyeballs, and can go back even further to clean its ears inside and out.

The Congo Basin (sometimes just “the Congo”) is home to the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest, surpassed only by the Amazon. Often called one of the “lungs of the planet,” it is a vast forest spanning six African nations.

46 Clarence of the E Street Band : CLEMONS

Saxophonist Clarence Clemons was a founding member of Bruce Springsteen’s backing group, the E Street Band, playing with them from 1972 until his death in 2011. After his passing, Clemons was replaced in the band by his nephew, Jake Clemons.

60 Space-age revolutions? : LUNAR ORBITS

The first human-made object to successfully achieve a lunar orbit was the Soviet Union’s unmanned probe, Luna 10. The spacecraft entered orbit in 1966, more than two years before America’s Apollo 8 carried the first astronauts around the Moon.

61 Prefix with center : EPI-

The epicenter is the point on the surface of the Earth that is directly above the focus of an earthquake.

62 Antarctic predator : LEOPARD SEAL

The leopard seal (also “sea leopard”) primarily inhabits the Antarctic pack ice. It lives very close to the top of the food chain, with only the orca (killer whale) being a natural predator. It has a spotted pattern on its back, hence the use of “leopard” in its name.

Down

1 Online resource for home renos : ANGI

Angie’s List is a website used by consumers to rate and research local businesses. The “list” was founded in 1995, originally as a call-in service and publication with reviews, by William S. Oesterle and the eponymous Angie Hicks. Angie’s List moved to the Internet in 1996, and by 2013 had 70,000 subscribers. A rebranding exercise in 2021 resulted in Angie’s List becoming “ANGI”.

Renovation (reno)

3 STEM project fundraisers, often : PTAS

The acronym “STEM” stands for the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. An alternative acronym with a similar meaning is MINT, standing for mathematics, information sciences, natural sciences and technology. The acronym STEAM adds (liberal) arts to the STEM curriculum.

4 “Mulan” soldier : HUN

“Mulan” is a 1998 animated feature film made by Walt Disney studios. The film is based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, a woman who takes the place of her father in the army and serves with distinction for twelve years without reward. Disney’s lead character was given the name Fa Mulan. Donny Osmond provided the singing voice for one of the lead characters, after which his sons remarked that he had finally made it in show business as he was in a Disney film.

7 Novelist Raskin : ELLEN

Ellen Raskin was a children’s author and illustrator who is perhaps best known for her 1978 mystery novel “The Westing Game”. She illustrated many books for other authors, including the 1968 version of “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” by Dylan Thomas.

8 Creative degs. : MFAS

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

9 Early ISP : AOL

AOL was a leading internet service provider (ISP) in the 1980s and 1990s. The company finally discontinued its dial-up service in 2025.

10 Head across the pond? : LOO

In old sailing ships, the toilet area for the regular sailors was located in the forward part (the head) of the ship. As a result, the term “head” has been used since then for any toilet on board a boat.

11 Some club bookings, for short : EDM DJS

Electronic dance music (EDM)

14 Julie who won two World Cup titles with Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain : FOUDY

Retired soccer player Julie Foudy played for the US national team from 1988 through 2004, and for the last four years of that period serving as team captain. She was a member of the World Cup-winning team twice, in 1991 and 1999.

23 Club __ : MED

Club Méditerranée is usually referred to as “Club Med”. It is a French company that started in 1950 with a resort on the Spanish island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean. It was originally a “club” with annual membership dues. Now it is an operator of numerous all-inclusive resorts located all over the world.

25 House call? : ALL THOSE FOR

That could be the US House of Representatives, for example.

28 Many 6-Downs : GLITTERATI

“Glitterati” is a melding of the words “glitter” and “literati”. “Literati” refers to the well-educated, literary elite, and “glitterati” was coined in the 1940s to describe their glamorous, celebrity-focused counterparts, the fashionable jet set.

33 Kaput : FINI

“Fini” is French for “finished”.

“Kaput” is a familiar term meaning “incapacitated, destroyed”, and comes to us from French (via German). The original word “capot” means “not having won a single trick” in the French card game Piquet.

40 Tourney game : SEMI

“Tourney” is another word for “tournament”. The term comes from the Old French word “tornei” meaning “contest of armed men”, which itself is from “tornoier” meaning “to joust, jilt”.

44 Farming method that helps preserve soil structure : NO-TILL

The principles behind no-till farming gained widespread attention in the US as a direct response to the ecological disaster of the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. Decades of intensive plowing had left topsoil exposed, leading to catastrophic erosion.

51 Bend in slippers : PLIE

The French word for “bent” is “plié”. In the ballet move known as a plié, the knees are bent. A “demi-plié” is a similar move, but with less bending of the knees. A fondu is similar to a plié, except that only one leg remains on the ground.

52 Crumb : IOTA

Iota is the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet, and one that gave rise to our letters I and J. We use the word “iota” to portray something very small, as it is the smallest of all Greek letters.

53 Sports org. with the Royals : NWSL

National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL)

The Utah Royals of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) was founded in 2017 as the Utah Royals FC, following the folding of FC Kansas City. The Utah Royals FC played in the league from 2018 to 2020. Then, that Utah Royals FC team also folded, and its players were transferred back to Kansas City to form Kansas City NWSL, which eventually became the Kansas City Current. Finally, the league awarded a completely new expansion franchise to Utah that began play in 2024, reviving the Utah Royals name.

56 40 weeks pregnant, e.g. : DUE

The normal gestation period for humans is 280 days, a little over 9 months. The gestation period can be a little shorter, or longer. Back in 1945, a pregnancy was confirmed at 375 days, which is just over 12 months.

57 “Who Has Seen the Wind?” singer : ONO

“Who Has Seen the Wind?” is a song by Yoko Ono that was released as the B-side of the single “Instant Karma!” by her husband, John Lennon. The opening verse is from a poem by 19th-century English poet Christina Rossetti:

Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,

The wind is passing by.