Tag: Jargon in a video game chat maybe crossword clue

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Constructed by: August Miller

Edited by: Patti Varol

Today’s Theme: None

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

Bill’s time: 11m 23s

Bill’s errors: 2

• FIFA (FAFA)
• MAMI (Mama)

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

16A “Farewell, mon amie” : ADIEU

“Adieu” is French for “goodbye, farewell”, from “à Dieu” meaning “to God”. The plural of “adieu” is “adieux”.

17A Literary figure who rings a bell : QUASIMODO

The title character in Victor Hugo’s novel “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” is Quasimodo, the hunch-backed bell-ringer. Quasimodo falls for the beautiful Roma girl Esmeralda, and eventually rescues her just before she is due to be hanged. He carries Esmeralda into Notre-Dame crying out “Sanctuary!” There is some recent evidence that a hunchbacked stone carver, working at Notre-Dame at the same time Hugo was alive, may have been the inspiration for Quasimodo the bell-ringer.

18A Remote spots? : SOFAS

“Sofa” is a Turkish word meaning “bench”.

20A Beach Soccer World Cup org. : FIFA

The Beach Soccer World Championships were launched in 1995 on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro. The host nation (Brazil) won nine of the ten tournaments that were played, with Portugal taking the top spot in 2001. The event was replaced with the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, starting in 2005, and the hosting of the annual event has since moved around the globe. Despite the tournament’s expanding geographic footprint, Brazil remains the undisputed king of the sand, holding the official record for the most FIFA titles.

21A Overly caffeinated : WIRED

Caffeine is a naturally occurring stimulant that is found in several plants. The chemical serves as a natural pesticide by paralyzing and killing certain insects that would otherwise feed on the plant. Caffeine is the most widely consumed psychoactive drug that is consumed by humans across the world.

22A Nancy Drew chum : BESS

In the “Nancy Drew Mystery Stories” series of books, Bess Marvin was introduced in the 1931 novel “The Secret of Shadow Ranch”. Bess is Nancy’s best friend, and provides a contrast to Nancy’s fearless, athletic, and logic-driven character. The sidekick is bubbly, fashion-conscious, and romance-loving.

24A Lab infestation : FLEAS

Flea collars are designed to release insecticides or insect growth regulators onto an animal’s fur. Some studies suggest they can be helpful in reducing flea populations, particularly around the neck and head, but their ability to provide full-body protection is often limited. The active ingredients tend to concentrate in the areas closest to the collar, and their spread can be uneven.

26A “Foxy Brown” do : FRO

1974’s “Foxy Brown” stars Pam Grier as a character similar to her breakthrough role in 1973’s “Coffy”. “Foxy Brown” was originally written as a sequel to “Coffy”, under the title “Burn, Coffy, Burn!”, with Grier playing nurse turned vigilante Flower Child “Coffy” Coffin. At the last minute, the studio decided it did not want a sequel, so Coffy was renamed to Foxy Brown. References to the character working as a nurse were also dropped, but there wasn’t time to establish a new job for her. As such, Foxy just retains the vigilante persona from the original movie, and we don’t find out how she spends her time when not punishing criminals.

31A Cousin with floor-length hair : ITT

In the television sitcom “The Addams Family”, the family has a frequent visitor named Cousin Itt. He is a short man with long hair that runs from his head to the floor. Itt was played by Italian actor Felix Silla.

They’re creepy and they’re kooky,
Mysterious and spooky,
They’re altogether ooky,
The Addams Family.

”

36A Some transformations : CHARACTER ARCS

In a story, say a novel, characters usually develop in what’s known as a character arc. Traditionally, character arcs are divided into three phases:

1. The Beginning: life before the story’s main events take place
2. The Middle: the character grows and evolves in response to situations encountered in life
3. The End: the new status quo of the character after they develop and grow

38A Mackey of “Ella McCay” : EMMA

French-British actress Emma Mackey’s career really took off with her first paying acting job, playing the street-smart teenager Maeve Wiley on “Sex Education” (an excellent TV series!). She was born in Le Mans in northwestern France to a French school headmaster and a British charity worker, and grew up in a rural community speaking French as her first language. Mackey only permanently relocated to the UK as an adult to study at university. She speaks like a native-born Englishwoman playing Emily Brontë in 2022’s “Emily”, and like a native-born Frenchwoman co-starring as Gustave Eiffel’s childhood sweetheart in 2021’s “Eiffel”.

39A “Ceci n’est pas __ pipe” : UNE

“The Treachery of Images” is a painting by René Magritte. It is a very simple image of a pipe that one might smoke, with the words “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” (This is not a pipe). Magritte’s point was that the painting wasn’t a pipe, but rather an image of a pipe.

40A Confidentiality doc : NDA

Non-disclosure agreement (NDA)

44A Some “Call the Midwife” figures : NUNS

“Call the Midwife” is a BBC drama about midwives working in the East End of London in the late fifties and early sixties. I must admit, one of the reasons I am intrigued by this show is that I can well remember the midwife coming to our house in the East End of London in 1959 for the delivery of my younger brother. I am sure the attending nurse was a wonderful person, but I remember being scared every time she pulled up outside our flat on her bicycle!

54A Essential fatty __ : ACIDS

Essential fatty acids are fatty acids that we humans must ingest for good health, because our bodies cannot synthesize them. In that sense, essential fatty acids are like vitamins, being essential to the body but in very low quantities. In fact, the only two known essential fatty acids (alpha-linolenic acid and linoleic acid) were classified as “vitamin F” soon after they were discovered in the 1920s.

58A Like some high-flying performers : ACROBATIC

An acrobat is someone who performs gymnastic feats. The term “acrobat“ comes into English via French from the Greek “akrobatos” meaning “going on tip-toe, climbing up high”.

60A Jargon in a video game chat, maybe : LEETSPEAK

Leetspeak originated in the 1980s as a clever alphanumeric cipher for early hackers to bypass automated text filters. This digital “slang” substitutes standard letters with visually similar numbers and ASCII symbols, such as replacing “E” with “3” and “A” with “4”. In this manner “LEET” is often written as “1337”. The modified spellings found their way into today’s online gaming community, where words like “n00b” (newbie) and “pwn” (own) are common.

Down

1D Muslim face covering : NIQAB

Some Muslim women wear a hijab in the presence of males outside of their immediate family. It is a veil covering the head and chest. As part of the hijab, some also wear a niqab, which is a cloth that covers the face. Other Muslim women wear a burqa, which covers the whole body from the top of the head to the ground.

3D Nannies and kids : GOATS

Male goats are bucks or billies, although castrated males are known as wethers. Female goats are does or nannies, and young goats are referred to as kids.

5D Work wk. conclusion : TGIF

“Thank God It’s Friday” (TGIF)

6D Term of affection para una chica : MAMI

In Spanish, “mami” is a colloquial term of affection used among friends, family, or partners, perhaps “para una chica” (for a young woman).

9D Italian scholar Umberto : ECO

Umberto Eco was an Italian writer who is probably best known for his novel “The Name of the Rose”, published in 1980. In 1986, “The Name of the Rose” was adapted into a movie with the same title starring Sean Connery.

10D “On the __ of Sex”: 2018 biopic : BASIS

Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) served on the US Supreme Court. Justice Ginsburg was the second woman to join the Court, and was nominated by President Bill Clinton. She was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1999 and underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. During that time she did not miss one day on the bench. In 2009 Justice Ginsburg had surgery for pancreatic cancer, and was back to work 12 days later. She had a left-lung lobectomy to remove cancerous nodules in 2018, which forced Justice Ginsburg to miss oral argument in January 2019, for the first time since joining the court 25 years earlier. She finally succumbed to pancreatic cancer in 2020. Much of Ginsburg’s life is recounted in the excellent 2018 movie “On the Basis of Sex”.

11D Baking soda target : ODOR

“Baking soda” is a common name for the compound sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3).

12D Chi : LIFE FORCE

In Chinese culture, “qi” or “chi” is the life force in any living thing.

13D Cocktail party attire : TEA DRESS

Today, a tea dress is semi-formal attire, a comfortable dress that has a flowing finish with a hemline that falls between the bottom of the knee and the lower calf. The design traces its roots back to the mid-19th-century Victorian “tea gown”, an uncorseted, lightweight indoor garment for entertaining close friends in the private parlor.

14D Kinda sketch : SUS

The slang term “sus” is a shortened form of “suspicious” or “suspect”.

23D Source of siroccos : SAHARA

A sirocco is a warm, dry and often dusty wind that originates in the Arabian or Sahara desert, and blows across the Mediterranean onto the Southern European coast.

25D Journalist Payne known as the “First Lady of the Black Press” : ETHEL

Perhaps most notably, Ethel L. Payne was the Washington correspondent for “The Chicago Defender” newspaper. In that role, she earned the title “First Lady of the Black Press” by asking blunt, civil rights questions that the rest of the 1950s White House briefing room completely ignored. In 2023, Joe Biden’s White House named its briefing lectern the Dunnigan-Payne lectern in honor of Payne and Alice Dunnigan, the first two Black women in the White House press corps.

30D Hall of Fame figures : STATUES

The first Hall of Fame (HOF) established in the US was the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, an outdoor sculpture gallery located in the grounds of Bronx Community College in New York City. Completed in 1900, it is an open-air colonnade featuring the bronze busts of renowned Americans such as President George Washington, author Henry David Thoreau, musician John Philip Sousa and inventor Alexander Graham Bell. The Hall of Fame of Great Americans was inspired by the Ruhmeshalle (“Hall of Fame” in German) located in Munich, Germany that exhibits busts of important people from Bavaria.

32D First poet to perform at the Super Bowl : GORMAN

Amanda Gorman made NFL history in 2021 when she became the first poet to perform at a Super Bowl. During the Super Bowl LV pregame broadcast, she delivered an original piece titled “Chorus of the Captains” via a taped video message. The poem served as a tribute to three honorary game captains: an educator, a nurse manager, and a Marine veteran. All three were recognized for their frontline service during the COVID-19 pandemic.

36D Gathering that celebrates DC icons : COMIC-CON

San Diego’s Comic-Con was founded in 1970 as the Golden State Comic Book Convention. Held over four days each summer, it used to be the largest show in North America. Venue constraints in San Diego have allowed New York Comic Con (NYCC) to top the table in recent years.

DC Comics takes its name from what used to be a highly popular series called “Detective Comics”. The main competitor to DC Comics is Marvel Comics, and between the two companies, they command 80% of comic sales in the US market. Nowadays of course, a lot of company income comes from movies that use the most popular characters from the original comics.

42D “Siddhartha” novelist : HESSE

The 1922 novel “Siddhartha” by Hermann Hesse focuses on the spiritual journey of a man called Siddhartha. Even though the Buddha’s name was Siddhartha Gautama before he renounced his former life, Hesse’s Siddhartha is a different character, but one who lived around the time of the Buddha.

43D “We __ because we care”: Monsters, Inc. motto : SCARE

The animated feature “Monsters, Inc.” was released in 2001, and was Pixar’s fourth full-length movie. It’s about cute monsters, and that’s all I know other than that the voice cast included the likes of John Goodman, Billy Crystal and Steve Buscemi.

46D “Russian Doll” protagonist : NADIA

“Russian Doll” is a comedy-drama TV show starring Natasha Lyonne as a woman who is caught in a time loop on the day of her 36th birthday party. She dies on that day, and spends each repeat of the day to figure out exactly what happened to her. I haven’t seen this one yet, but it does sound very interesting …

51D Spielberg quartet : EGOT

Steven Spielberg achieved the much-respected EGOT awards combination in 2026 by winning a Best Music Film Grammy as a producer for the documentary “Music by John Williams”. His other honors include Oscars for “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan”, a Tony Award for producing the Broadway musical “A Strange Loop”, and multiple Emmy Awards for TV miniseries including “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific”.

54D De Armas of “Ballerina” : ANA

Ana de Armas is an actress from Cuba. Having attended the National Theater School of Cuba, she moved to Spain at the age of 18. There, she made a name for herself in a Spanish TV series called “El Internado”. De Armas moved to Los Angeles in 2014, after which her performance opposite Ryan Gosling in 2017’s “Blade Runner 2049” earned her critical acclaim.

“Ballerina” is a 2025 action-thriller film that is a spinoff of the “John Wick” series of movies. It stars Ana de Armas as a ballerina-assassin who seeks revenge for the murder of her family. The film is set between the events of “John Wick 3” and “John Wick 4”, and Keanu Reeves makes a few appearances, reprising his role as John Wick. An entertaining film, I thought …

55D Actor Mineo : SAL

Actor Sal Mineo’s most famous role was John “Plato” Crawford, the kid who was in awe of the James Dean character in “Rebel Without a Cause”. Sadly, Mineo was murdered in 1976 when he was just 37 years old. He was attacked in the alley behind his Los Angeles apartment and stabbed through the heart. When an arrest was made it was discovered that the murderer had no idea that his victim was a celebrity, and that his plan was just to rob anyone who came along.