Day: August 25, 2026

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Constructed by: Victor Fleming

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer: Aha Moment

Themed answers each include the word AHA hidden within:

• 61A Puzzle solver’s breakthrough, or what the answers to the starred clues have in common : AHA MOMENT

• 17A *Broad-brimmed topper made of straw : PANAMA HAT
• 24A *Dry-cured meats from Smithfield : VIRGINIA HAMS
• 39A *Seattle NFL player : SEAHAWK
• 50A *Joe Biden’s vice president : KAMALA HARRIS

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

Bill’s time: 5m 38s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

14A 2026’s “The Odyssey,” for one : EPIC

2026’s “The Odyssey” is an epic fantasy movie written and directed by Christopher Nolan. The stellar ensemble cast includes Matt Damon as the Ithacan king Odysseus, and Anne Hathaway as the king’s wife Penelope. It is the first feature film shot entirely on IMAX 70 mm film cameras.

15A Workplace inspection org. : OSHA

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

17A *Broad-brimmed topper made of straw : PANAMA HAT

Panama hats are traditional headgear from Ecuador, and have never been made in volume in Panama. The “panama” moniker came about as many of the hats were shipped to the Isthmus of Panama for transportation by sea to the rest of the world. Authentic panama hats are made from the leaves of a palm-like plant known locally as the jipijapa palm.

19A New Zealand native : MAORI

The Māori are the indigenous people of New Zealand. They are eastern Polynesian in origin and began arriving in New Zealand relatively recently, starting some time in the late 13th century. The word “māori” simply means “normal”, distinguishing mortal humans from spiritual entities. The Māori refer to New Zealand as “Aotearoa”.

20A Olympic swimmer Torres : DARA

Dara Torres is a US swimmer who has won twelve Olympic medals. Torres is also the only American swimmer to have competed in five Olympic Games, and is the oldest swimmer to have made it onto the Olympic team, at 41.

21A Mauna __: Hawaiian volcano slightly taller than Mauna Loa : KEA

Mauna Kea is a dormant volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii, the peak of which is the highest point in the whole state. Mauna Kea is in effect the tip of a gigantic volcano rising up from the seabed.

24A *Dry-cured meats from Smithfield : VIRGINIA HAMS

Country ham is a variety of cured and smoked ham produced in parts of the Southeast, the most famous of which is probably Virginia ham, with Smithfield ham being a premium variety from the town of Smithfield in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia. The Virginia General Assembly passed a statute in 1926 defining a “Genuine Smithfield Ham” as one processed, treated, smoked, and cured exclusively within the corporate limits of Smithfield for a minimum of six months.

30A Chatted privately online, for short : DM’ED

Direct message (DM)

31A Greek god of war : ARES

The Greek god Ares is often referred to as the Olympian god of warfare, but originally he was regarded as the god of bloodlust and slaughter. He united with Aphrodite to create several gods, including Phobos (Fear), Deimos (Terror) and Eros (Desire). Ares was the son of Zeus and Hera, and the Roman equivalent to Ares was Mars.

32A Owlet’s home : NEST

A baby owl is an owlet. The term “owlet” can also be used for the adults of the smaller species of owls.

39A *Seattle NFL player : SEAHAWK

The Seattle Seahawks joined the NFL as an expansion team in 1976, along with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Seahawks have enthusiastic fans, often referred to as the “12th man”, a reference to how well their support can buoy the team. The Seahawks fans have twice broken the Guinness World Record for the loudest crowd noise at a sporting event.

42A Coffeehouse flavor : MOCHA

Mocha is a port city in Yemen on the Red Sea and was once the principal port for the capital city of Sana’a. Mocha was the major marketplace in the world for coffee until the 1600s, and gave its name to the Mocha coffee bean, which in turn gave its name to the mocha brown color, and the flavor of coffee infused with chocolate.

45A Torso bones : RIBS

“Torso” (plural “torsi”) is an Italian word meaning “trunk of a statue”. We imported this term into English to describe the main part of the human body, or a figure lacking its appendages.

48A Art studio stands : EASELS

The term “easel” comes from an old Dutch word meaning “donkey”, would you believe? The idea is that an easel carries its load (an oil painting, say) just as a donkey would be made to carry a load.

50A *Joe Biden’s vice president : KAMALA HARRIS

Kamala Harris was a US Senator for California starting in 2017, after serving for six years as the Attorney General of California. In early 2019, Harris announced her run for the Democratic nomination for US president in the 2020 election. Although she dropped out of the race, she was chosen by eventual nominee Joe Biden as his vice-presidential running mate. When the Biden-Harris ticket won the election, Harris became the first female US vice president, and the highest-ranking female politician in the history of the nation.

55A Grumpy pal : DOC

In the original Brothers Grimm fairy tale called “Snow White”, the seven dwarfs were not given any names. The names were added for the 1937 classic Disney film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. The seven dwarfs are:

• Doc (the leader of the group)
• Grumpy (that would be me, according to my wife …)
• Happy
• Sleepy
• Bashful
• Sneezy
• Dopey

56A Respiratory organ : LUNG

The human lung is essentially a sprawling respiratory tree that receives inhaled air and expels exhaled air, swapping oxygen for carbon dioxide in the process. The tree consists of bronchi that branch directly from the trachea, microscopic bronchioles at the ends of the bronchi, and millions of air sacs, alveoli, at the end of the bronchioles. It is in the alveoli that the gas exchange takes place.

65A Maker of soccer and rugby gear : UMBRO

Umbro is a British manufacturer of sports equipment, particularly soccer and rugby sportswear. The company was founded by Harold and Wallace Humphries in 1924, and the name “Umbro” is kind of a portmanteau, using “um” from “Humphries” and “bro” from “brothers”.

69A Raggedy Ann, e.g. : DOLL

Raggedy Ann is a rag doll that was created by Johnny Gruelle in 1915 for his daughter, Marcella. He decided to name the doll by combining the titles of two poems by James Whitcomb Riley, “The Raggedy Man” and “Little Orphan Annie”. Gruelle introduced Raggedy Ann in a series of books three years later. Sadly, Marcella died at 13 years of age with her father blaming a smallpox vaccination she was given at school. Gruelle became very active in the movement against mass vaccination, for which Raggedy Ann became a symbol.

Down

3D Writer/actress Fey : TINA

Comic actress Tina Fey has a scar on her face a few inches long on her left cheek, which I was shocked to learn was caused by a childhood “slashing” incident. When she was just five years old and playing in the alley behind her house, someone just came up to her and slashed her with a knife. How despicable!

7D Tan kin : KHAKI

“Khaki” is an Urdu word that translates literally as “dusty”. The term was adopted for its current use as the name of a fabric by the British cavalry in India in the mid-1800s.

9D Racial justice movement letters : BLM

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement started in 2013 after George Zimmerman was acquitted in the shooting death of African American youth Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida. Three civil rights activists, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, originated the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.

12D Skin care product : SERUM

Skin serums are liquids designed to be absorbed quickly and to deliver high concentrations of compounds that can address common skin conditions. Most serum formulations are intended to have an anti-aging effect, and are said to be more effective than using moisturizers and/or sunscreen.

25D Russo of “Major League” : RENE

Actress Rene Russo is a native of Burbank, California. Russo went to high school (with actor/director Ron Howard), but dropped out in tenth grade. At seventeen, she was given the opportunity to train as a model and within a very short time appeared on the cover of “Vogue”. As her modeling jobs slowed down in her early thirties, Russo made a career change and studied theater and acting. Her debut role was in the 1989 film “Major League.”

“Major League” is a 1989 sports comedy about a new owner of the Cleveland Indians who assembles a roster of misfits, intending for them to lose so she can move the team to Miami. Even though the movie is set in Cleveland, it was primarily filmed in Milwaukee. The filmmakers used the Milwaukee Brewers’ old County Stadium as the stand-in for the Indians’ home field.

27D Totally wild : AMOK

The phrase “to run amok” (sometimes “to run amuck”) has been around since the 1670s and is derived from the Malay word for “attacking furiously”, “amuk”. The word “amok” was also used as a noun to describe Malay natives who were “frenzied”. Given Malaya’s troubled history, the natives probably had a good reason for that frenzy …

28D Creme-filled sandwich : OREO

The Oreo was the best-selling cookie in the 20th century, and almost 500 billion of them have been sold since they were introduced in 1912 by Nabisco. In those early days the creme filling was made with pork fat, but today vegetable oils are used instead. If you take a bite out of an Oreo sold outside of America you might notice a difference from the homegrown cookie, as ingredients can change in the overseas versions to give a different taste.

29D French dessert with fruit and ice cream : PEACH MELBA

Peach Melba is a dessert comprising peaches and raspberry sauce with vanilla ice cream. The dish was the creation of chef Auguste Escoffier, who introduced it at the Savoy Hotel in London in the 1890s in honor of Australian soprano Dame Nellie Melba. Escoffier later developed Melba toast, also in honor of the singer.

34D Slender candle : TAPER

I used to think that the word “taper” was used for a slender candle because said candle was “tapered” in shape, but it’s exactly the opposite. It turns out that our word “tapered” comes from the candle. “Taper” and “tapur” are Old English words meaning “candle”. From these nouns arose the verb “to taper” meaning “shoot up like flame”. This meaning evolved into “become slender” from the idea that a candle’s flame has such a shape.

39D Catamaran feature : SAIL

A catamaran is a boat that has two hulls. Catamarans have been around a long time, with the design having been used by the Ancient Greeks. Notably, the design was used by the locals in the Bay of Bengal and it was this design that was adopted by European boat builders. The name “catamaran” comes from the Tamil language of southeastern India, with “kattu maram” meaning “logs tied together”.

45D Job applicants’ submissions : RESUMES

We sometimes use the terms “résumé” and “curriculum vitae” (CV) interchangeably. However, résumés tend to turn up in the corporate world, and CVs hold sway in the realms of academia, science, and medicine. A résumé (French for “summary”) is a concise, one-to-two-page document tailored to highlight specific skills for a job. A curriculum vitae (Latin for “course of life”) is an exhaustive, multi-page listing of an individual’s entire academic and professional history, including publications and honors.

49D Rural storage tower : SILO

“Silo” is a Spanish word that we absorbed into English. The term ultimately derives from the Greek “siros”, which described a pit in which one kept corn.

50D Broken beyond repair : KAPUT

“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.

57D Reef-dwelling Pixar character : NEMO

“Finding Nemo” is a 2003 animated blockbuster from Pixar. The film was the winner of the Oscar that year for Best Animated Feature. Believe it or not, “Finding Nemo” is the best-selling DVD of all time. It was also the highest-grossing G-rated movie until 2010’s “Toy Story 3”.

58D African antelopes : GNUS

The gnu is also known as the wildebeest, and is an antelope native to Africa. “Wildebeest” is a Dutch word meaning “wild beast”.

63D Blanc who voiced Bugs : MEL

Mel Blanc was known as “The Man of a Thousand Voices”. We’ve all heard Mel Blanc at one time or another, I am sure. His was the voice behind such cartoon characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Woody Woodpecker, Elmer Fudd and Barney Rubble. And the words on Blanc’s tombstone are … “That’s all folks”.

64D Chinese menu general : TSO

“The Search for General Tso” is a 2014 documentary about the history of Chinese food in the US. Much of the film explores the life of Zuo Zongtang, the Chinese military leader who gave his name to the very American dish known as General Tso’s chicken.