Day: November 5, 2025

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Constructed by: Terry Sun & Shannon Rapp

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Club Sandwich

The inside of themed answers is SANDWICHED between two halves of a CLUB:

• 62A Triple-decker lunch, or what can be found in 18-, 25-, 41-, and 52-Across : CLUB SANDWICH

• 18A “Little chance of finishing soon” : NO END IN SIGHT (giving “N-IGHT club”)
• 25A Chicken soup or ginger tea : COLD REMEDY (giving “CO-MEDY club”)
• 41A Performer who often plays a protagonist’s best friend : CHARACTER ACTRESS (giving “CH-ESS club”)
• 52A Without wheat, rye, or barley : GLUTEN-FREE (giving “GL-EE club”)

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

Bill’s time: 6m 50s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Name in fairy tales : GRIMM

The Brothers Grimm (Jacob and Wilhelm) were two German academics noted for collecting and publishing folk tales. Among the tales in their marvelous collection are “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, “Sleeping Beauty” and “Cinderella”.

6A Tropical fruit tree : PAWPAW

The papaw (also “pawpaw”) tree is native to North America and has a fruit that looks similar to a papaya. Papaw probably gets its name from the word papaya, but papaw and papaya are two distinct species.

12A Occupant of a virtual city : SIM

SimCity is a very clever computer game. Players build and grow cities and societies by creating the conditions necessary for people (the Sims) to move in and thrive. SimCity was launched in 1989, and to this day it is consistently ranked as one of the greatest computer games of all time.

15A Ancient Greek region of Asia Minor : IONIA

The geographic region called Ionia is located in present-day Turkey. It was prominent in the days of ancient Greece, although it wasn’t a unified state and rather a collection of tribes. The tribal confederacy was more based on religious and cultural similarities than a political or military alliance. Nowadays we often refer to this arrangement as the Ionian League.

24A Cards swiped at work : IDS

Identity document (ID)

29A Accessibility law, for short : ADA

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)

30A Indent key : TAB

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.

34A Hoppy beer : IPA

Hops are what give beer its bitterness, and IPAs are relatively bitter because extra hops are used when brewing. Different types of hops have different levels of bitterness, and brewers can choose how much to add to make their IPA more or less bitter.

37A Lake that feeds the Mississippi River : ITASCA

Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota is the main source of the Mississippi River. Known by Native Americans as “Elk Lake”, the name was changed by Henry Schoolcraft, who led the 1832 expedition to find the source of the Mississippi River. The name “Itasca” is formed from the Latin words for “truth” (ver-ITAS) and “head” (CA-put).

52A Without wheat, rye, or barley : GLUTEN-FREE

Gluten is a protein mixture found in foods processed mainly from wheat. The sticky properties of gluten are used in making bread, giving dough its elasticity and making the final product chewy. “Gluten” is the Latin word for “glue”.

56A Café __ leche : CON

In Spanish, one might have “café con leche” (coffee with milk).

57A Ginger cookie : SNAP

Ginger snap cookies are known as ginger nut biscuits back in Ireland where I come from …

61A Stir-fry pan : WOK

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

62A Triple-decker lunch, or what can be found in 18-, 25-, 41-, and 52-Across : CLUB SANDWICH

The club sandwich is a double-decker affair with three layers of bread and two layers of filling. This style of sandwich has been around since the end of the 19th century, and some say it was invented at an exclusive gambling “club” in Saratoga Springs, New York. For all of us pedants, the club is a “double”-decker because it has two layers of filling, or a “triple”-decker because it has three slices of bread. Take your pick …

67A Contacts on Discord, e.g. : IM’S

Discord is a social media platform designed primarily for voice, video, and text communication. Originally popular among gamers, Discord has expanded to encompass a wide range of communities, including artists, musicians, study groups, and general interest groups.

69A Magic lamp dweller : GENIE

The “genie” in the bottle (or lamp) takes their name from “djinn”. “Djinns” were various spirits considered lesser than angels, with people exhibiting unsavory characteristics said to be possessed by djinn. When the book “The Thousand and One Nights” was translated into French, the word “djinn” was transformed into the existing word “génie”, because of the similarity in sound and the related spiritual meaning. This “génie” from the Arabian tale became confused with the Latin-derived “genius”, a guardian spirit thought to be assigned to each person at birth. Purely as a result of that mistranslation the word genie has come to mean the “djinn” that pops out of the bottle. A little hard to follow, I know, but still quite interesting …

70A __ culpa : MEA

Many Roman Catholics are very familiar with the Latin phrase “mea culpa” meaning “my fault”, as it is used in the Latin Mass. The additional term “mea maxima culpa” translates as “my most grievous fault”.

72A Mystery writers’ award : EDGAR

The Edgar Allan Poe Awards (“Edgars”) are presented annually by the Mystery Writers of America. There are several categories of awards. For example, the Ellery Queen Award honors “writing teams and outstanding people in the mystery-publishing industry”. The Raven Award is presented to non-writers, who contribute to the mystery genre.

Down

1D Negroni liquor : GIN

The negroni is a lovely cocktail, one that hails from Italy. A classic recipe calls for equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and Campari. According to legend, the drink was first made by bartender Fosco Scarselli at the request of Count Camillo Negroni, hence the name. The count wanted a stronger version of an Americano, and so Scarselli dropped the Americano’s soda water and replaced it with gin!

2D Small resident of the Hundred Acre Wood : ROO

In A. A. Milne’s “Winnie-the-Pooh” collection of stories, Pooh has many friends in the Hundred Acre Wood. Besides Christopher Robin, who doesn’t actually live in the woods, the list includes Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, Tigger and Owl.

6D Many a dad joke : PUN

Here are a few dad jokes that I use to annoy my kids:

• When does a joke become a “dad joke”? When it becomes apparent.
• I had a happy childhood. My dad used to put me in tires and roll me down hills. Those were Goodyears.
• It’s a shame that the Beatles didn’t make the submarine in that song green. That would’ve been sublime.
• I told your mom she needs to start embracing her mistakes. So she hugged me
• When your mom is depressed, I let her color in my tattoos. She just needs a shoulder to crayon.

7D Photographer Adams : ANSEL

As an avid amateur photographer, I have been a big fan of the work of Ansel Adams for many years and must have read all of his books. Adams was famous for clarity and depth in his black and white images. Central to his technique was the use of the zone system, his own invention. The zone system is a way of controlling exposure in an image, particularly when there is a high contrast in the subject. Although the technique was developed primarily for black & white film, it can even apply to digital color images. In the digital world, the main technique is to expose an image for the highlights, and one or more images for the shadows. These images can then be combined digitally giving a final photograph with a full and satisfying range of exposures.

14D Rummikub action : MELD

Rummikub is a tile-based game that was created in the 1940s by Ephraim Hertzano in Israel. Hertzano’s game combines elements of mahjong with the card game rummy. Rummikub was the best-selling game in the US back in 1977.

19D Tawantinsuyu resident : INCA

The Inca Empire was known as the Tawantinsuyu, which translates as “land of the four quarters”. It was a federal organization with a central government that sat above four “suyu” or “quarters”, four administrative regions.

24D The Potato State : IDAHO

Idaho has the nickname “Gem State”, mainly because almost every known type of gemstone has been found there. Idaho is also sometimes called the Potato State, as potatoes are such a popular crop in the state. I’d go for the potatoes over the gems, but that’s probably just me. Oh, and Idaho license plates have borne the slogan “Famous Potatoes” for decades …

26D Memorial piece : OBIT

Our word “obituary” comes from the Latin “obituaris”. The Latin term was used for “record of the death of a person”, although the literal meaning is “pertaining to death”.

27D __ Games: Fortnite developer : EPIC

Fortnite is a very, very popular online game that was released in 2017. There are several versions of the game, including the original Fortnite: Save the World.

28D Guts : METTLE

“Mettle” is such a lovely word. It means “courage, fortitude, spirit”. “Mettle” is simply a variant spelling of the word “metal”.

36D Preferring platonic relationships, informally : ARO

“Aro” is a common shorthand for “aromantic”. An aromantic person is someone who experiences little or no romantic attraction. It is distinct from asexual (“ace”), which refers to little or no sexual attraction, though some individuals identify as both aromantic and asexual.

38D Cast iron coat : SEASONING

The “seasoning” on a cast-iron pan has nothing to do with salt or pepper. It’s a layer of fat or oil that has been heated to the point of polymerization, which transforms it into a form of plastic that is molecularly bonded to the metal, creating a natural non-stick surface. Take that, Teflon!

39D House coverage network : C-SPAN

C-SPAN is a privately-funded, nonprofit cable channel that broadcasts continuous coverage of government proceedings. The acronym stands for “Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network”.

43D Church recess : APSE

An apse of a church or cathedral is a semicircular recess in an outer wall, usually with a half-dome as a roof and often where there resides an altar. Originally, apses were used as burial places for the clergy and also for storage of important relics.

52D Garden figure : GNOME

In English folklore, the fairy’s anti-hero is the diminutive gnome, an evil ugly character. Although the characteristics of gnomes vary in folklore, typically they are described as diminutive humanoids who live underground. Over the centuries, the gnome has become more lovable. We now have garden gnomes, and even the Travelocity Gnome.

53D Coconut milk noodle soup : LAKSA

Laksa is a spicy noodle dish that is popular in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. It usually comprises thick rice noodles in a rich coconut broth with a chicken or fish topping.

54D __-optic cable : FIBER

Optical fibers are lengths of glass or plastic that are slightly thicker than a human hair. They are usually bundled into cables, and then used for transmission of data signals. Optical transmission has advantages over electrical transmission, especially in terms of interference and loss of signal strength.

57D Triathlon part : SWIM

Apparently, many triathletes try to kick as little as possible during the swim portion of a race. The goal is to conserve leg strength for the cycling and running events, so they rely almost entirely on their arms for propulsion, using just a minimal kick for balance and stability.

62D Margaret of “Fire Island” : CHO

Margaret Cho is a very successful stand-up comedian, and also a fashion designer with her own line of clothing. Cho acts as well, and you might have seen her in the John Travolta/Nicolas Cage movie “Face/Off” in which she played John Travolta’s FBI colleague.

“Fire Island” is a 2022 romantic comedy about a group of gay friends taking a vacation on Fire Island on the South Shore of Long Island. The film’s storyline was inspired by Jane Austen’s classic novel “Pride and Prejudice”. I really enjoyed this one …

63D Arwen player Tyler : LIV

Actress and model Liv Tyler is the daughter of Steven Tyler, lead singer with Aerosmith, and Bebe Buell, a celebrated model and singer. Apparently, Buell hid the fact that Tyler was Liv’s father until Liv was 8 years old. Buell wanted to insulate her child from the rock-and-roll lifestyle. Liv Tyler plays the Elf maiden Arwen Undómiel in Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.