Month: March 2026

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Constructed by: Patti Varol

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): The “Ite” Stuff

Themed answers are common phrases with a word ending in -IGHT, but that ending is changed to -ITE:

• 20A Ceremony that adorns dollar bills? : RITE ON THE MONEY (from “right on the money”)
• 26A Try to find pen pals in monasteries? : WRITE BROTHERS (from “Wright brothers”)
• 44A Lo-cal beers from Canada? : NORTHERN LITES (from “northern lights”)
• 52A Terse review of a wonky web page? : NOT A PRETTY SITE (from “not a pretty sight”)

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

Bill’s time: 9m 33s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

6A Chi-town paper : TRIB

The “Chicago Tribune” newspaper was founded in 1847, and used the phrase “World’s Greatest Newspaper” on its front page for most of the 20th century. Those words gave rise to the call letters of the city’s WGN radio and television stations, once owned by the newspaper. The headquarters of the “Chicago Tribune” and the WGN broadcasting companies moved into their own building, Tribune Tower, in the 1920s. Tribune correspondents from around the “world” brought fragments from famous buildings that were incorporated into the tower’s facade, including pieces from the Great Wall of China, the Parthenon, the Palace of Westminster and the Alamo.

15A New York university named for a Scottish isle : IONA

Iona College is a Roman Catholic school run by Christian Brothers in New Rochelle, New York. The Brothers named the college for the island of Iona off the west coast of Scotland on which is located Iona Abbey, which was founded by St. Columba. The school’s sports teams are called the Iona Gaels, and the team mascot goes by the name “Killian”.

16A Tudyk of “Resident Alien” : ALAN

American actor Alan Tudyk is from El Paso, Texas. He is perhaps best known to audiences for playing Hoban “Wash” Washburne in the TV show “Firefly”. Tudyk also plays Eric Morden (aka “Mr. Nobody”) on the superhero TV series “Doom Patrol”.

“Resident Alien” is a comedy-drama, sci-fi TV show that is based on a comic book series with the same title created by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse. The title character is an alien who crash-landed on Earth, and takes on the identity of a physician. His secret mission is to wipe out humanity, but he develops scruples.

17A Condiment served with biryani : RAITA

Raita is a condiment served in Indian restaurants that is made from yogurt flavored with coriander, cumin, mint and cayenne pepper.

Biryani is a mixed rice dish found on the menu in many Indian restaurants. It typically features basmati rice layered with marinated meat (like chicken, goat, or lamb), aromatic spices, and often vegetables or eggs.

18A Survivor’s struggle, briefly : PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

25A Dove home : COTE

The Old English word “cote” was used to describe a small house. Our modern word “cottage” comes from “cote”. We now use “cote” to describe a small shelter on a farm for sheep or birds. In an urban context, a cote is more likely to house racing pigeons.

32A “I mentioned the bisque” “Seinfeld” character : ELAINE

The character Elaine Benes, unlike the other lead characters (Jerry, Kramer, and George), did not appear in the pilot episode of “Seinfeld”. NBC executives specified the addition of a female lead when they picked up the show, citing that the situation was too “male-centric”.

35A Intl. broadcaster since 1942 : VOA

The US began shortwave propaganda broadcasts in early 1942, just after America entered WWII. The first broadcast to Germany was introduced by “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and opened with the words:

Today, and every day from now on, we will be with you from America to talk about the war. The news may be good or bad for us — We will always tell you the truth.

That first broadcast was called “Stimmen aus Amerika” (“Voices from America”), and gave the fledgling broadcasting operation its name. VOA is still going strong today, and was a station that I used to listen to as a teenager back in Ireland in the early seventies …

36A Quash : VETO

The verb “veto” comes directly from Latin and means “I forbid”. The term was used by tribunes of ancient Rome to indicate that they opposed measures passed by the Senate.

42A Old Testament collection : PSALMS

The Greek word “psalmoi” originally meant “songs sung to a harp”, and gave us the word “psalms”. In the Jewish and Western Christian traditions, the Book of Psalms contains 150 individual psalms, divided into five sections.

48A Santa __, California : ANA

Santa Ana is the county seat of Orange County, California and takes its name from the Santa Ana River that runs through the city.

56A [I like these scritches!] : PURR!

In common parlance, a scritch is a calming scratch given to a pet, to show affection and give pleasure to the animal.

59A Designer Schiaparelli : ELSA

Elsa Schiaparelli was an Italian fashion designer, and a great rival of the perhaps more famous Coco Chanel. Schiaparelli was most successful between the two World Wars, but her business closed in 1954 as she failed to adapt to changing tastes after WWII.

63A Michelin award : STAR

Michelin is a manufacturer of tires that is based in France. The company was founded by brothers Édouard and André Michelin in 1889. The brothers were running a rubber factory at the time, and invented the world’s first removable pneumatic tire, an invention that they used to launch their new company. Michelin is also noted for rating restaurants and accommodation in its famous Michelin Travel Guides, awarding coveted Michelin stars.

64A Hoped-for Match.com outings : DATES

Match.com is an online dating service. The company was started in 1995 and claims to have over 20 million members worldwide, in the ratio of male to female of 49:51.

Down

1D Small donkey : BURRO

“Burro” is a Spanish word meaning “donkey”, and a term that we’ve imported into English with the same meaning. In turn, “burro” comes from the Latin “burricus” meaning “small horse”. Burros originated in North Africa and around the Mediterranean, and were brought to the Americas by Spanish explorers.

3D Kayaking challenge : WHITE WATER

There is a type of boat used by Inuit people called a “kayak”. The term “kayak” means “man’s boat”, whereas “umiak” means “woman’s boat”.

4D Instrument in a Vermeer painting : LUTE

The lute is a stringed instrument with a long neck and usually a pear-shaped body. It is held and played like a guitar, and was popular from the Middle Ages right through to the late Baroque era. A person who plays the lute can be referred to as a “lutenist”.

Johannes (also “Jan”) Vermeer was born in the city of Delft in 1632, and died there some 43 years later. The name “Vermeer” is a contraction of “van der meer”, which translates as “from the sea/lake”. I just love Vermeer’s paintings, and his wonderful use of light. A great example of such a work is his “Girl with a Pearl Earring”. If you haven’t seen it, I thoroughly recommend the 2003 movie “Girl with a Pearl Earring” starring Scarlett Johansson as the girl in the painting, and Colin Firth as Vermeer. The movie is based on a novel of the same name by Tracy Chevalier, so it’s all just a great story as opposed to a documentary. The way the movie is shot really reflects the qualities of a Vermeer work of art.

5D Temple where Chan Buddhism began : SHAOLIN

The Shaolin Monastery is a Buddhist temple in China that was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010.

Zen is a Buddhist school that developed from Chan Buddhism, a tradition that was established in China back in the 7th century AD. “Zen” is a Japanese spelling of the Chinese word “chan”, which in turn derives from the Sanskrit word “dhyana” meaning “meditation”.

7D “Divergent” trilogy novelist Veronica : ROTH

Author Veronica Roth is best known for her “Divergent” series of young adult novels. She wrote the first of that series while she was relatively young, in her senior year at Northwestern University, and sold the publishing rights before she graduated in 2010. Just four years later, the first of the “Divergent” series of movies hit movie theaters.

10D Middle Eastern dairy product : LABNEH

Labneh is food served in some cuisines from North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It is a dairy product made by straining the liquid from yogurt so that it acquires a consistency similar to soft cheese.

11D Cream ingredient : ALOE

Aloe vera is a succulent plant that grows in relatively dry climates. The plant’s leaves are full of biologically-active compounds that have been studied extensively. Aloe vera has been used for centuries in herbal medicine, mainly for topical treatment of wounds.

21D Post-it scribble : NOTE

The Post-it note was invented at 3M following the accidental discovery of a low-tack, reusable adhesive. The actual intent of the development program was to produce a super-strong adhesive.

22D Miranda of “Homeland” : OTTO

Miranda Otto is an actress from Brisbane, Australia. Perhaps most notably, she played Éowyn in “The Lord of the Rings” series of films. I remember her playing the wife of the Tom Cruise character in the 2005 film “War of the Worlds”. She also played a pivotal role in several episodes of the excellent espionage thriller TV series “Homeland”, portraying the chief of the CIA’s Berlin Station (and double agent … spoiler!).

27D Carnival city : RIO

The Rio de Janeiro Carnaval is the largest carnival celebration in the world. The city hosts about two million celebrants on its streets for the six days of the festival.

32D __ Williams bourbon : EVAN

Evan Williams is a brand of bourbon whiskey. It is named for a Welsh immigrant who settled in Kentucky and started distilling in 1783. However, the Evan Williams brand isn’t that old, having been introduced by Heaven Hill Distilleries in 1957.

33D Toy company that acquired the online marketplace BrickLink : LEGO

BrickLink.com is the world’s largest online marketplace for buying and selling individual Lego bricks, minifigures, and retired sets. It was founded in 2000 by Lego fan Dan Jezek. He originally named the site “BrickBay”, but he was forced to change it to BrickLink in 2002 following a challenge from eBay. The LEGO Group acquired BrickLink.com in 2019.

40D Former home of the Mets : SHEA

Shea Stadium in Flushing Meadows, New York was named after William A. Shea, the man credited with bringing National League baseball back to the city in the form of the New York Mets. Shea Stadium was dismantled in 2008-2009, and the site now provides additional parking for the new stadium nearby called Citi Field.

41D Cozy spots : TEAPOTS

A tea cozy is an insulated cover for a teapot, something to keep the tea hot. I don’t know what I’d do without my tea cosy/cozy …

51D “Oh, for __ sake!” : PETE’S

“For Pete’s sake” is a minced oath, meaning it’s a milder version of a less pleasant expression. “For Pete’s sake” probably came from “for God’s sake”, and maybe even refers to St. Peter.

54D Mediterranean volcano : ETNA

Mount Etna, located on the island of Sicily, is one of the world’s most active stratovolcanoes and one of the most frequently erupting volcanoes on Earth. It has been active for at least 500,000 years, with historical eruptions documented for over 3,500 years.

55D Game company with a hedgehog mascot : SEGA

Sonic the Hedgehog is a title character in a videogame and the mascot of Sega, the computer game developer. Sonic was set up as a rival to Nintendo’s mascot Mario.