Day: June 19, 2026

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Constructed by: Elizabeth Duker-Gold

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme (according to Bill): Professional Domains

Themed answers are common phrases reinterpreted as email addresses, with @ represented by “AT”, for celebrities with new jobs:

• 18A To: Comedian Michael, bedding salesman <__.com> : CHEAT SHEETS (che@sheets.com)
• 24A To: Athlete Jackson, lawn products salesman <__.com> : BOATYARDS (bo@yards.com)
• 36A To: Broadcast journalist Anderson, surgical supply salesman <__.com> : COOPERATORS (cooper@ors.com)
• 50A To: Actor Cheadle, chemistry lab supply salesman <__.com> : DONATIONS (don@ions.com)
• 57A To: Singer Bruno, bulletin board salesman <__.com> : MARS ATTACKS! (mars@tacks.com)

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

Bill’s time: 6m 35s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1A Jaguar or Charger : CAR

Auto manufacturer Jaguar started out as a manufacturer of sidecars for motorcycles back in 1922, when the company was known as the Swallow Sidecar Company (SS for short). The company changed its name to Jaguar after WWII, because of the unfortunate connotations of the letters “SS” in that era (i.e. the Nazi paramilitary organization).

The first Dodge Chargers came off the production line in 1966. One of the more famous Chargers was the General Lee, a 1969 model that was painted orange and driven by the title characters in “The Dukes of Hazzard”.

4A Orchard basket : BUSHEL

In the imperial system of weights and measures, a bushel is a unit of dry volume made up of 4 pecks. In the US system, a bushel is a dry volume of 8 gallons. We have used the term “bushel” to mean “large quantity” since the 14th century.

14A Bullpen stat : ERA

Earned run average (ERA)

18A To: Comedian Michael, bedding salesman <__.com> : CHEAT SHEETS (che@sheets.com)

Michael Che is a standup comedian from New York City. Che had worked as a writer for “Saturday Night Live” (SNL), and then started to appear in front of SNL cameras in September 2014. He became co-anchor for the “Weekend Update” segment of the show, alongside Colin Jost. They make such a great team …

20A Jazz great James : ETTA

“Etta James” was the stage name of celebrated R&B and jazz singer Jamesetta Hawkins. James was an acquaintance of civil rights activist Malcolm X. For ten years, she was a member of the Nation of Islam, and used the name “Jamesetta X”.

23A ThirdLove purchase : BRA

ThirdLove is a supplier of lingerie that was founded in 2013 by Heidi Zak and her husband David Spector. Zak was driven to found her company because of the difficulty she had finding bras that fit comfortably, and that also were stylish. Much of ThirdLove’s early success came with supplying bras in half-cup sizes.

24A To: Athlete Jackson, lawn products salesman <__.com> : BOATYARDS (bo@yards.com)

Bo Jackson is a former professional baseball and football player. He was named All-Star in both sports, becoming the first athlete to be so honored.

30A Queerplatonic orientation, briefly : AROACE

Someone described as aromantic asexual (“AROACE” for short, is an individual who experiences little to no sexual or romantic attraction to others.

Queerplatonic relationships (QPRs) are close, committed partnerships that are not romantic but go beyond typical friendships in their emotional depth and significance. Individuals in QPRs establish boundaries and levels of commitment that can resemble aspects of romantic relationships, but without the romantic attraction. Even though the term QPR emerged from the aromantic and asexual communities, anyone can form a QPR, regardless of their romantic or sexual orientation.

31A Dirge : LAMENT

A dirge is a slow and mournful piece of music, like perhaps a funeral hymn.

36A To: Broadcast journalist Anderson, surgical supply salesman <__.com> : COOPERATORS (cooper@ors.com)

Anderson Cooper is a respected news personality on CNN and on various shows around the dial. Among my favorite appearances of his, although he would call them trivial I am sure, was as host of a great reality game show called “The Mole” that aired in 2001. Cooper’s mother was fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt.

39A Mil. no-show : AWOL

AWOL (absent without leave)

41A Haberdashery purchase : TIEPIN

Back in the 14th century, a haberdasher was a dealer in small wares. By the late 1800s, the term had evolved to mean a purveyor of menswear, and in particular was associated with the sale of hats.

44A Dillydally : LINGER

To dillydally is to loiter, delay. The verb “to dally” also means “to linger, dawdle”, and so “dillydally” is simply a duplication of “dally”, one that dates back to the mid-1700s.

50A To: Actor Cheadle, chemistry lab supply salesman <__.com> : DONATIONS (don@ions.com)

Don Cheadle is a Hollywood actor who is perhaps best known for his lead role in the 2004 drama “Hotel Rwanda” that deals with the harrowing subject of genocide. Since then, Cheadle has been very active in campaigns to end genocide in Darfur, Sudan.

54A Beloved, in Bordeaux : CHERI

Bordeaux is perhaps the wine-production capital of the world. Wine has been produced in the area since the eighth century. Bordeaux has an administrative history too. During WWII, the French government relocated from Paris to the port city of Bordeaux when it became clear that Paris was soon to fall to the Germans. After the Germans took France, the capital was famously moved to Vichy.

56A Set that might have an OLED screen : HDTV

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are light-emitting diodes that are often used for digital displays. They utilize organic compounds to produce light when an electrical current is applied. Unlike traditional liquid-crystal displays that rely on backlights, each pixel in an OLED emits its own light, enabling deeper blacks, higher contrast ratios, and more vibrant colors.

57A To: Singer Bruno, bulletin board salesman <__.com> : MARS ATTACKS! (mars@tacks.com)

Bruno Mars is a singer-songwriter from Honolulu who has been active in the music business since 2006. “Bruno Mars” is a stage name, as Mars was born “Peter Hernandez”.

The 1996 science fiction-comedy movie “Mars Attacks!”, directed by Tim Burton, was inspired by a series of Mars Attacks trading cards. Apparently, Topps released the cards under a fake company name (“Bubbles, Inc”) because of the graphic nature of the images. One card, #36, “Destroying a Dog”, depicted an alien vaporizing a family pet as a boy looked on in horror. Parents were so outraged that Topps stopped production. The limited run of the card resulted in collectors paying over $500 for a bubble gum pack that originally sold for 5 cents.

65A Smart home system by Google : NEST

Google Nest is a line of smart home products. The brand started out as Nest Labs, a company founded in 2010 by two former Apple engineers. The first product was the Nest Learning Thermostat, followed by smart smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Nest was acquired in 2014, less than four years after its founding, by Google for a whopping $3.2 billion.

67A Homer’s neighbor : NED

Ned Flanders lives next door to Homer Simpson on TV’s “The Simpsons”. Ned was married to Maude, with whom he had two children Rod and Todd. Maude died in an accident involving a T-shirt cannon. Ned is voiced by actor Harry Shearer, and has been around since the very first episode aired in 1989.

Down

3D Motley : RAGTAG

“Ragtag and bobtail” is a colorful phrase that’s used to describe the lowest classes, or the rabble. A “bobtail” is a horse that has had its tail cut short, a word that goes back at least as far as Shakespeare as he used it in “King Lear”. A “tag” is a piece of cloth that is torn and hanging, which was readily combined with “rag” in the original phrase “tag, rag and bobtail”. This idiom, perhaps originally quoted from Samuel Pepys in his diary in 1659, referred to the lower classes as “tag, rag and bobtail, dancing, singing and drinking”. The phrase evolved, giving us our contemporary word “ragtag” meaning ragged and unkempt.

Something described as motley is mottled, marked with different-colored spots. The term probably comes from the Old English word “mot” meaning “speck”. We can use the term “motley” figuratively to mean “diverse, heterogeneous”.

4D Pen name : BIC

Société Bic is a company based in Clichy in France. The first product the company produced, more than fifty years ago, was the Bic Cristal ballpoint pen that is still produced today. Bic also makes other disposable products such as lighters and razors.

11D Cutesy name for paw pads : TOE BEANS

The squishy, pink pads on the bottom of a cat’s paws are known as digital pads. More casually, they are referred to as toe beans.

25D Texter’s encouragement to try something new : YOLO!

You only live once (YOLO)

30D __ the Hun : ATTILA

In his day, Attila the Hun was the most feared enemy of the Roman Empire, until he died in 453 AD. He was the leader of the Hunnic Empire of central Europe and was famous for invading much of the continent. However, he never directly attacked Rome.

32D __ fun: noodle dish : MEI

In Chinese cuisine, rice noodles are referred to as “mei fun”. The thinner mei fun are commonly known as rice vermicelli or rice sticks.

33D Bard’s before : ERE

The original bards were storytellers, poets and composers of music in medieval Britain and Ireland, with the term coming from the Old Celtic word “bardos” that described a poet or singer. I guess the most famous bard was William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon.

34D Suede quality : NAP

Suede is leather made from the underside of an animal’s skin, usually the skin from a lamb. As such it is very soft, although not as durable as leather made from the exterior skin. The soft leather was, and is still used for making gloves. Back in 1859 these gloves were called “gants de Suede” in France, or “gloves of Sweden”. So, the name “suede” comes from the French word for Sweden.

39D Local guy in The Onion headlines : AREA MAN

Area Man is a persona used by the satirical newspaper “The Onion” in articles that are written in the style of local news. Area Man is a generic individual, like Bay Area man, Dallas man, Peoria man, etc.

40D “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” poet Stevens : WALLACE

“Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” is a poem by American modernist poet Wallace Stevens that was first published in 1917. It comprises thirteen haiku-like stanzas each of which refers to a blackbird in some way.

45D Research org. with facilities in Bethesda : NIH

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) organization is made up of 27 different institutes that coordinate their research and services. Examples of member institutes are the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Aging.

46D Jake Gyllenhaal, to Jamie Lee Curtis : GODSON

Jake Gyllenhaal’s most famous role has to be as co-star with Heath Ledger in “Brokeback Mountain”, but he has also had lead roles in big movies like “The Day After Tomorrow”, “Jarhead” and “Rendition”. Gyllenhaal has a pair of celebrity godparents: Paul Newman and Jamie Lee Curtis. His parents are in the movie industry; his father is film director Stephen Gyllenhaal and his mother is screenwriter Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal.

48D Answered, in a way : RSVPED

RSVP is an initialism derived from the French phrase “Répondez s’il vous plaît”, meaning “Please respond”. It’s a polite way to ask your invited guests to let you know if they will be attending your event.

55D URL intro : HTTP

“http” are the first letters in many Internet links. “http” stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol. More secure and “safer” websites (like this one!) use links starting with “https”, which stands for “http secure”.

59D “KPop Demon Hunters” voice actor Jeong : KEN

Ken Jeong is an actor from Detroit who is perhaps best known for playing the gangster Leslie Chow in the “The Hangover” series of films. Jeong isn’t only an actor; he has an M.D. degree and is a licensed physician in California.

“KPop Demon Hunters” is a 2025 animated musical film. The plot centers on a chart-topping K-pop girl group named HUNTR/X who lead a secret double life. By day, they are global superstars, but by night, they are elite demon slayers. Their main antagonists are a rival K-pop boy band, the Saja Boys, whose members are secretly demons trying to weaken the barrier between the human and demon worlds. Yikes …