Day: June 18, 2026

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Constructed by: Zachary David Levy

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Good Counsel

Themed answers combine a literal interpretation of wording in the clue with a synonym of “guidance”:

• 60A “Say ‘aye’ forcefully and project confidence,” e.g. : PRO TIPS
• 7D “Hug the shore until you reach the ocean,” e.g. : SOUND ADVICE (Waterway-based pun)
• 29D “Pair it with thyme or rosemary,” e.g. : SAGE WISDOM (Herb-based pun)
• 31D “The cinnamon version tastes better than the original,” e.g. : LIFE LESSON (Cereal-based pun)

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

Bill’s time: 7m 13s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Completely smitten : GAGA

“Smitten” is the past participle of “to smite”, meaning “to inflict a heavy blow”. We tend to use “smitten” to mean “affected by love, love-struck”.

5A Iraq port city : BASRA

Basra is Iraq’s main port, and is located in the southeast of the country, just 34 miles from the Persian Gulf. Access to the gulf is via the Shatt al-Arab waterway, a river that discharges into the gulf at the tip of the Al-Faw Peninsula.

10A Policy chief : CZAR

The term “czar” (also “tsar”) is a Slavic word that was first used as a title by Simeon I of Bulgaria in 913 AD. “Czar” is derived from the word “caesar”, which was synonymous with “emperor” at that time. We tend to use the “czar” spelling, as opposed to “tsar”, when we describe a person today with great power or authority, e.g. “Drug Czar”.

15A Cacophonous : AROAR

“Cacophony” is such a lovely word, a word used to describe a harsh or jarring sound. The term arises from the Greek “kakos” (bad) and “phone” (voice).

17A Kiss, in Cancún : BESO

Cancún is a city and island on the east coast of Mexico, on the other side of the Yucatan Channel from Cuba. The city is growing rapidly due to its booming tourist business. Cancún is the center of what’s often called “The Mexican Caribbean” or the “Mayan Riviera”.

18A Piano composition : ETUDE

An étude is a short instrumental composition that is usually quite hard to play and is intended to help the performer master a particular technique. “Étude” is the French word for “study”. Études are commonly performed on the piano.

20A Email option since 1997 : YAHOO!

Jerry Yang and David Filo called their company “Yahoo!” for two reasons. Firstly, a Yahoo is a rude unsophisticated brute from Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels”. Secondly, Yahoo stands for “Yet another Hierarchical Officious Oracle”.

22A Genetic messenger molecule : RNA

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA. An added complication is that small changes in the sequence of amino acids specified by DNA sometimes takes place in a process known as RNA editing. This RNA editing occurs after the nucleotide sequence has been transcribed from DNA, but before it is translated into protein.

23A Big name in the school supply aisle : ELMER

Elmer the Bull is the iconic mascot for Elmer’s Glue, although he wasn’t originally created for glue at all. He was introduced in 1940 as the husband of Elsie the Cow, the advertising mascot for Borden Dairy products. For years, Elmer appeared in Borden milk ads, often “fixing things” for Elsie, which made him a perfect fit when Borden launched their new glue product in 1947.

30A Longtime Buick model : LESABRE

The Buick Special was a car produced by General Motors in various forms from 1936, making a final brief appearance in 1975. The Buick Special was given the name “LeSabre” in 1959, and a “Skylark” option was introduced in 1961. The engine was changed from a V8 in 1962, making the Buick Special the first American production car to use a V6.

31A Acid rock’s acid : LSD

The musical genre known as acid rock is a subset of psychedelic rock. The term “acid rock” comes from the influence of the drug LSD (acid) on some compositions in the early days.

35A Share an office workstation : HOT DESK

Offices that use the concept of hot desking make work spaces available for any worker, rather than assigning spaces to specific workers. The term “hot desking” probably comes from the “hot racking”, the system used by navies in which sailors on differing watches (shifts) use the same bunks in order to make more efficient use of available space.

37A “Casablanca” star, affectionately : BOGIE

Humphrey “Bogie” Bogart’s breakthrough movie was “The Petrified Forest” from 1936, but for me nothing beats “Casablanca”. That said, check out the original “Sabrina” from 1954. It’s a real delight. Bogie was nominated three times for a Best Actor Oscar, but only won once: for “The African Queen”.

“Everybody Comes to Rick’s” is a play by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison that they wrote in 1940. Before it could be staged, Warner Brothers bought the play and adapted it into the hit 1942 movie “Casablanca”. There was to be no stage production of the play until 1991, when it ran for six weeks in London.

43A Cars singer Ocasek : RIC

Ric Ocasek was an American musician of Czech heritage. He was the lead vocalist of the Cars rock band.

44A “What’s Your Country Song” singer Thomas : RHETT

Thomas Rhett is a country singer-songwriter. “Thomas Rhett” is a stage name used by Thomas Rhett Atkins Jr., son of country singer Rhett Atkins.

59A Anxiety-related med. condition : OCD

Apparently, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is the fourth most commonly diagnosed mental disorder, making it about as prevalent as asthma.

64A “Chandelier” singer : SIA

“Chandelier” is a 2014 song by Australian singer Sia. I don’t know the song myself, but it sounds like it’s a bit of a downer, dealing with alcoholism, addiction and excessive hedonism.

65A Ipanema’s city : RIO

Ipanema is a beach community in the south of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The name Ipanema is a local word meaning “bad water”, signifying that the shore is bad for fishing. The beach became famous worldwide following the release of the song “The Girl from Ipanema” in 1962.

66A Medicine derived from the bark of the willow tree : ASPIRIN

Medicines have been made from the bark of the willow plant for centuries, to reduce fever, pain and inflammation. The active ingredient in willow bark is salicin, from which can be synthesised acetylsalicylic acid. In 1897, German chemist Felix Hoffmann produced a stable form of acetylsalicylic acid for the drug manufacturer Bayer. Bayer sold the drug as “Aspirin”, with the “A” standing for “acetyl”, and the “spir” a nod to the “Spiraea ulmaria” plant, which contains the same salicin found in willow bark and leaves.

70A Sudoku figs. : NOS

Number puzzles similar to our modern-day Sudoku first appeared in French newspapers in the late 1800s. The format that we use today was created by Howard Garns, a 74-year-old freelance puzzle constructor from Connersville, Indiana and first published in 1979. The format was introduced in Japan in 1984 and given the title of “Sūji wa dokushin ni kagiru”, which translates to “the digits are limited to one occurrence”. The rather elaborate Japanese title was eventually shortened to Sudoku. No doubt many of you are fans of Sudoku puzzles. I know I am …

Down

4D Cool and distant : ALOOF

I suppose one might guess from the feel of the word “aloof” that it has nautical roots. Originally “aloof” meant “to windward” and was the opposite of “alee”. A helmsman might be instructed to stay aloof, to steer the boat into the weather to keep a distance from a lee-shore. It is from this sense of maintaining a distance that aloof came to mean “distant” in terms of personality. Interesting, huh …?

7D “Hug the shore until you reach the ocean,” e.g. : SOUND ADVICE (Waterway-based pun)

Ships might travel through a sound, which is an ocean inlet or a wide channel connecting two bodies of water.

8D Blip producer : RADAR BEACON

A radar beacon (sometimes “racon”) is a transmitter-receiver assigned to a specific navigational mark. Unlike a passive radar reflector, a radar beacon identifies itself directly onto a ship’s radar screen by responding to a radar pulse with a specific Morse code character.

11D Google Meet alternative : ZOOM

Zoom is a videoconferencing app that was introduced in 2013. The company now known as Zoom Communications was founded by former Cisco engineer Eric Yuan as Saasbee in 2011. Yuan was inspired to create the platform by the ten-hour train rides he took as a student to visit his long-distance girlfriend.

23D Marvel assassin played by Jennifer Garner : ELEKTRA

Elektra is a female ninja assassin in the Marvel Comics universe. She first appeared in print in 1981. Elektra has been played on the big screen by actress Jennifer Garner, in the 2003 film “Daredevil” and in 2005’s “Elektra”.

25D __ 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”.

27D “Mamma Mia!” band : ABBA

The hit musical “Mamma Mia!” was written to showcase the songs of ABBA. I’m a big fan of ABBA’s music, so I’ve seen this show several times and just love it. “Mamma Mia!” is such a big hit on the stage that on any given day there are at least seven performances going on somewhere in the world. There is a really interesting film version of the show that was released in 2008. I think the female lead Meryl Streep is wonderful in the movie, but the male leads … not so much! By the way, one can tell the difference between “Mamma Mia” the ABBA song and “Mamma Mia!” the musical, by noting the difference in the punctuation in the titles.

31D “The cinnamon version tastes better than the original,” e.g. : LIFE LESSON (Cereal-based pun)

Life breakfast cereal was introduced by Quaker Oats in 1961. Back then, Life contained just whole grain oats. Today’s recipe includes added sugar and flour.

48D Scandinavian inlet : FJORD

A drowned valley might be called a ria or a fjord, and both are formed as sea levels rise. A ria is a drowned valley created by river erosion, and a fjord is a drowned valley created by glaciation.

49D Saint __: Lesser Antilles island : LUCIA

The Caribbean island nation of Saint Lucia has a population of less than 200,000. Remarkably, it has produced two Nobel Laureates: economist Arthur Lewis and poet Derek Walcott.

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.

53D City southeast of Alexandria : CAIRO

Cairo is the capital city of Egypt. It is nicknamed “The City of a Thousand Minarets” because of its impressive skyline replete with Islamic architecture. The name “Cairo” is a European corruption of the city’s original name in Arabic, “Al-Qahira”.

Alexandria is the largest seaport in Egypt. As one might tell from its name, the city was founded by Alexander the Great, in about 331 BC. Alexandria was the capital city of Egypt for almost a thousand years and was one of the most famous cities in the ancient world. It was also famous for its lighthouse, which is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The lighthouse was located on the island of Pharos, just off the coast of Alexandria, an island which gave its name to the lighthouse.

58D “Teach Your Children” gp. : CSNY

“Teach Your Children” is a song released by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (CSNY) in 1970. For the recording, there was a deal made by CSNY with Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. Garcia agreed to play pedal steel guitar for “Teach Your Children”. In return, CSNY agreed to help the Grateful Dead with their vocal harmonies.

62D Actor Meadows : TIM

Actor and comedian Tim Meadows appeared for ten seasons as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live” (SNL). He also played a character named John Glascott on the sitcom “Schooled”, and the same character on “The Goldbergs”.

63D 401(k) kin : IRA

A 401(k) account resembles an IRA in that contributions can be made from a paycheck prior to the deduction of income taxes. It differs from an IRA in that it is an employer-sponsored plan, with payments taken by the employer directly from an employee’s paycheck. Additionally, contributions can be fully or partially matched by an employer.