Day: November 12, 2026

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Constructed by: Chris Gross & Zhouqin Burnikel

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Reveal Answer(s): Chopped Lettuce

There is a different variety of LETTUCE hidden in each of four rows of the grid, but CHOPPED in two by a black square:

• 37A With 40-Across, salad staple, or what a black square creates in rows 3, 5, 11, and 13 of this puzzle? : CHOPPED …
• 40A See 37-Across : … LETTUCE

• 17A First experience with screen sharing? : FILM DEBUT
• 19A Semesters and quarters : TERMS (BUT-TER lettuce)

• 22A Heads or tails, e.g. : CHOICE
• 25A Citrus flavor in Earl Grey tea : BERGAMOT (ICE-BERG lettuce)

• 52A Curry dish with potatoes and cauliflower : ALOO GOBI
• 54A The U.K.’s oldest TV network : BBC ONE (BI-BB lettuce)

• 60A Scent : AROMA
• 63A Comment after a big meal, perhaps : I NEED A NAP (ROMA-INE lettuce)

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

Bill’s time: 5m 51s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

9A Coding shortcut : MACRO

A macroinstruction (usually shortened to “macro”) is a set of instructions in a computer program that are abbreviated to one simple command.

14A Home of the “American Gothic” house : IOWA

The iconic Grant Wood work titled “American Gothic” was painted in 1930. It depicts a farmer holding a pitchfork standing beside his spinster daughter. Grant used his sister as a model for the daughter, and his dentist as a model for the farmer. You can see “American Gothic” on display at the Art Institute of Chicago. You can also visit the house depicted in the painting, in the city of Eldon, Iowa. Perhaps predictably, the house is located on what is now called American Gothic Street.

16A Filmmaker Coen : ETHAN

Ethan and Joel Coen, often referred to as the Coen Brothers, are a pair of very successful movie directors and producers. For many of their early films, including “Fargo”, the credits listed Joel as director and Ethan as producer, even though they co-directed every aspect; this was a way to bypass certain guild rules at the time. They later began receiving joint directing credits.

19A Semesters and quarters : TERMS

“Semester” is a German word from the Latin “semestris”, an adjective meaning “of six months”. We use the term in a system that divides an academic year into two roughly equal parts. A trimester-system has three parts, and a quarter-system has four.

21A Multnomah Falls st. : ORE

Oregon’s Multnomah Falls is the tallest waterfall in the state, plunging 620 feet down the basalt cliffs of the Columbia River Gorge. The lower section of the cascade is spanned by the Benson Footbridge, a viewing arch commissioned in 1914 by Portland businessman Simon Benson.

22A Heads or tails, e.g. : CHOICE

The two sides of a coin are known as the “obverse” and the “reverse”. The obverse is commonly referred to as “heads”, as it often depicts someone’s head. The reverse is commonly called “tails”, as it is the opposite of “heads”.

25A Citrus flavor in Earl Grey tea : BERGAMOT

Earl Grey tea is a black tea flavored with oil of bergamot, a citrus fruit. The tea is named after Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, who was British Prime Minister in the 1830s. The popular story is that he received a gift of tea flavored with bergamot from a Chinese mandarin, which he liked and asked for it to be blended specifically for him, though the exact origins are a bit murky.

33A Writer/actress Rae : ISSA

Issa Rae rose to prominence with her highly popular web series “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl”, which premiered in 2011. This led to her co-creating and starring in the acclaimed HBO comedy series “Insecure”, which garnered her multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. She’s also expanded into film roles and has her own media company: Hoorae.

35A World’s largest peninsula : ARABIA

The Arabian Peninsula (also “Arabia”) is part of Western Asia that is located just north-east of Africa. It is bordered to the west by the Red Sea, to the northeast by the Persian Gulf, and to the southeast by the Indian Ocean. Most of the Arabian Peninsula is taken up by Saudi Arabia, but also included are Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen. And, it’s the largest peninsula in the world, covering about 1¼ million square miles.

46A One-named New Age singer : ENYA

New-Age music is created to provide a relaxing and stress-free atmosphere. The New Age movement is often said to have begun with the release of an album called “Spectrum Suite” by Steven Halpern in 1975.

47A Guarded areas in soccer : SHINS

Soccer players wear shin guards, padding that’s worn inside the socks protecting the shin.

49A Condo management gp. : HOA

Homeowners’ association (HOA)

The terms “condominium” and “apartment” tend to describe the same type of residential property, namely a private living space with facilities shared with others residing in the same building or complex. The difference is that a condominium is usually owned, and an apartment is rented. At least that’s how it is in the US. The word “condominium” comes from the Latin “com-” (together) and “dominium” (right of ownership).

52A Curry dish with potatoes and cauliflower : ALOO GOBI

Aloo gobi is a very tasty vegetarian dish in Indian cuisine made from potatoes and cauliflower, flavored with traditional Indian spices. “Aloo” translates to “potato” and “gobi” to “cauliflower”.

54A The U.K.’s oldest TV network : BBC ONE

BBC One is the British Broadcasting Corporation’s flagship TV channel. BBC One was launched quite a few years back, as the BBC Television Service. That year was 1936, making it the world’s first regular, high-image resolution television service.

57A Ballerina’s hairdo : BUN

The title “prima ballerina” is the second-highest awarded to a female dancer in a company. The more prestigious “prima ballerina assoluta” is only awarded to the most notable dancers.

58A Venue for shucked oysters : RAW BAR

Almost all of the shellfish consumed at a raw bar is not only uncooked, it is also still alive.

To shuck is to remove the husk from (say, an ear of corn) or to remove the shell from (say, an oyster).

63A Comment after a big meal, perhaps : I NEED A NAP

Me too …

67A Small bouquet : SPRAY

A spray is a specific type of flower arrangement in which a single main stem branches out to display multiple blossoms and leaves. Unlike a traditional round bouquet, a spray is typically designed to lay flat against a surface and be viewed from one side.

70A Shiitake Happens nail polish brand : ESSIE

Essie Cosmetics is a company that was founded by Essie Weingarten, and which is now owned by L’Oreal. Apparently, Queen Elizabeth II would only wear Essie’s Ballet Slippers color nail polish. Well, that’s what Wikipedia claims …

Down

1D Animated pic : GIF

The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) is an image format developed in the 1980s by CompuServe (remember CompuServe?). GIF images are compressed, reducing the file size, but without losing information. So, the original image can be reconstructed perfectly from the compressed GIF version. But, and it’s a big but, GIF images use only 256 individual colors. This means that GIF is a relatively poor choice of compression for color photographs, while it is usually fine for logos with large blocks of single colors.

2D King, in Marseille : ROI

Marseille (often written “Marseilles” in English) is the second largest city in France, after Paris. Marseille is also the largest commercial port in the country. I used to live nearby, and can attest that Marseille and environs is a great place to visit …

3D Tool used in manual lockstitch sewing : AWL

The lockstitch is the fundamental mechanical stitch used by almost all sewing machines. It uses two separate threads that meet and intertwine in the middle of the fabric layers. The dual-thread system utilizes an upper needle and a lower rotating bobbin. Ideally, overlap of the two threads forms in the center of the material, so it’s important to balance the tension of the upper and lower threads.

4D Thumper’s deer friend : BAMBI

Thumper is a rabbit in the Disney animated feature “Bambi”.

6D Jessica of “Machete” : ALBA

Actress Jessica Alba got her big break when she was cast in the Fox science fiction show “Dark Angel”. Alba had a tough life growing up as she spent a lot of time in hospital and so found it difficult to develop friendships. As a youngster she twice had a collapsed lung, frequently caught pneumonia, suffered from asthma, had a ruptured appendix and a tonsillar cyst. On top of all that, Alba acknowledges that she suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder as a child.

The 2010 exploitation film “Machete” was born from a fake promotional trailer created for the 2007 double-feature “Grindhouse”, shown before the first feature film “Planet Terror”. “Machete” qualifies as an exploitation film because it intentionally relies on sensationalized themes like excessive gore, gratuitous nudity, and hyper-violent action to attract audiences rather than high-art storytelling.

7D Pipe pro : PLUMBER

“Plumbum” is Latin for “lead”, explaining why the symbol of the element in the Periodic Table is “Pb”. It also explains why the original lead weight on the end of a line used to check vertical was called a “plumb line”. And, as pipes were originally made of lead, it also explains why we would call in a “plumber” if one of those pipes were leaking.

8D Cosmetician Lauder : ESTEE

Estée Lauder was a very successful businesswoman, and someone with a great reputation as a salesperson. Lauder introduced her own line of fragrances in 1953, a bath oil called “Youth Dew”. “Youth Dew” was marketed as a perfume, but it was added to bathwater. All of a sudden women were pouring whole bottles of Ms. Lauder’s “perfume” into their baths while using only a drop or two of French perfumes behind their ears. That’s quite a difference in sales “volume” …

11D Safari alternative : CHROME

Google’s Chrome is the most popular web browser by far, with Mozilla Firefox in second place and Apple’s Safari in third. I find Chrome to be much, much more user-friendly than Safari, and more featured than Firefox. Chrome also works very seamlessly with other Google products and with Android phones.

Safari is Apple’s flagship Internet browser, one that is used on its Mac line of computers. A mobile version of Safari is included with all iPhones.

12D Muzzle-loading aid : RAMROD

A ramrod is a stick that is inserted into the barrel of an older firearm in order to pack the bullet or ball tightly against the charge of gunpowder. A ramrod can also be used to push a cleaning rag through the barrel of a gun. We use the verb “to ramrod” figuratively, to mean “to force acceptance”.

18D Mo. for Advent calendars : DEC

In the Christian tradition, Advent is the season of expectation prior to the Christmas celebration of the birth of Jesus. The term “Advent” comes from the Latin “adventus” meaning “coming”. In non-religious contexts, an advent is a coming into being.

24D __ buco : OSSO

Osso buco is a traditional Italian dish that is typically made with veal shanks that are braised with vegetables and herbs. The name “osso buco” means “bone with a hole” in Italian, which refers to the marrow-filled bone in the center of the veal shank. The marrow is considered a delicacy and is often scooped out and served with the dish.

26D __ Goldberg machine : RUBE

Rube Goldberg was a cartoonist, engineer and inventor who became famous for designing overly-complicated gadgets to perform the simplest of tasks. Goldberg produced a famous series of cartoons depicting such designs. Such was the success of his work, the Merriam-Webster dictionary accepted the phrase “Rube Goldberg” as an adjective in 1931, an adjective meaning “accomplishing something simple through complex means”.

28D Banded rock : AGATE

Agate is a micro-crystalline form of quartz (and so is related to sand/silica). Some agate samples have deposited layers that give a striped appearance, and these are called “banded agate”.

31D One-named smooth jazz singer : SADE

Singer Sade’s real name is Helen Folasade Adu. Although born in Nigeria, Sade grew up and lives in the UK. She was the lead vocalist for the English group Sade, and the band adopted her name. The band’s biggest hits were “Smooth Operator” (1984) and “The Sweetest Taboo” (1985).

36D Silicon Valley city Palo __ : ALTO

The city of Palo Alto, California takes its name from a specific redwood tree called El Palo Alto (Spanish for “the tall stick”) that is located within the bounds of the city. The tree is 110 feet tall and over a thousand years old.

38D Signal : PING

In the world of computer science, a ping is a test message sent over a network between computers to check for a response and to measure the time of that response. We now use the verb “to ping” more generally, meaning to send someone a message, usually a reminder.

42D One shade in the CMYK color model : CYAN

“Cyan” is short for “cyan blue”. The term comes from the Greek word “kyanos” meaning “dark blue, the color of lapis lazuli”.

Four-color printing uses four different color inks: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The black ink is also known as the “key”. The first letters of the colors (with black being ‘key’) give the more common name for four-color printing, namely CMYK.

45D Tuscan red : CHIANTI

Chianti is a red wine from the Chianti region of central Tuscany in Italy. Historically, it was stored in a characteristically bulbous bottle wrapped in a straw basket. However, the pragmatists have won the day, and regular wine bottles tend to be used nowadays.

59D Dominic of “The Wire” : WEST

Dominic West is an actor from England who first came to national attention in this country playing Irish-American detective Jim McNulty in “The Wire”. West is the first cousin once removed of Thomas Eagleton, an American politician who was briefly the Democratic vice presidential nominee under George McGovern.

61D Juin preceder : MAI

In French, the month of “mai” (May) comes before “juin” (June).

64D Persona __ grata : NON

A persona non grata (plural “personae non gratae”) is someone who is not welcome. The phrase is Latin for “an unacceptable person”. The opposite phrase is “persona grata”, meaning “acceptable person”.