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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 South American dances: SAMBAS

The samba is a Brazilian dance that is very much symbolic of the festival of Carnival. Like so much culture around the world, the samba has its roots in Africa, as the dance is derived from dances performed by former slaves who migrated into urban Rio de Janeiro in the late 1800s. The exact roots of the name “samba” seem to have been lost in the mists of time. However, my favorite explanation is that it comes from an African Kikongo word “semba” which means “a blow struck with the belly button”. We don’t seem to have a need for such a word in English …

7 Cumin, for one: SPICE

Cumin is a flowering plant native to the region stretching from the eastern Mediterranean to East India. Cumin spice is made from the dried seeds and is the second most common spice used in the world (only black pepper is more popular). Cumin is particularly associated with Indian cuisine and is a key ingredient in curry powder. Lovely stuff …

15 Nile cobras: ASPS

The Egyptian cobra (Naja haje) is also known as the asp. That said, the term “asp” can apply to several species of snake, including the Egyptian cobra. Legend has it that Cleopatra committed suicide by enticing an asp to bite her. If that’s true, then that asp was probably an Egyptian cobra.

19 “Seinfeld” character: ELAINE

The character Elaine Benes, unlike the other lead characters (Jerry, Kramer and George), did not appear in the pilot episode of “Seinfeld”. NBC executives specified the addition of a female lead when they picked up the show citing that the situation was too “male-centric”.

20 Church instrument: ORGAN

The organ that we often see in churches, synagogues and concert halls is a pipe organ. Sound is produced by pressurized air driven through particular pipes selected by keys on a keyboard.

26 Lawn care brand: TORO

Toro is a manufacturer of lawn mowers and snow removal equipment that is based in Bloomington, Minnesota. The company was founded in 1914 to build tractor engines.

36 Dream stage: REM

“REM” is an acronym standing for “rapid eye movement”. REM sleep takes up 20-25% of the sleeping hours and is the period associated with one’s most vivid dreams.

38 Jedi played by Daisy Ridley: REY

British actress Daisy Ridley hit the big time when she landed the role of Rey in the movie “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, a role that she reprised in several subsequent “Star Wars” films. Some might recognize the family name “Ridley”. Daisy’s great-uncle was Arnold Ridley, who played Private Godfrey in the hit Britcom “Dad’s Army”.

40 Long-snouted animals: TAPIRS

All four species of tapir are endangered. Even though the tapir looks much like a pig, it is more closely related to the horse and the rhinoceros.

56 Caramel candies: ROLOS

Rolo was a hugely popular chocolate candy in Ireland when I was growing up. It was introduced in the thirties in the UK, and is produced under license in the US by Hershey. I was a little disappointed when I had my first taste of the American version as the center is very hard and chewy. The recipe used on the other side of the Atlantic calls for a soft gooey center.

57 Lion voiced by Moira Kelly and Beyoncé: NALA

Moira Kelly is an actress from Queens, New York. Kelly provided the voice for the female lion cub Nala in “The Lion King” and its direct-to-video sequels. I mostly remember her for playing a White House media consultant in the first series of the wonderful TV drama “The West Wing”.

2019’s “The Lion King” is described as a “photorealistic” remake of 1994’s movie of the same name, which was made using “traditional animation”. The voice cast for the 2019 film is different from the 1994 version, with one notable exception. We hear the magnificent voice of actor James Earl Jones as Mufasa in both productions. In fact, the lines spoken by Jones are almost identical in both films. Other cast members are Donald Glover (Simba), Seth Rogen (Pumbaa) and Beyoncé (Nala).

58 Superfan: STAN

“Stan” is a song by rapper Eminem (featuring Dido) that was recorded in 2000. The title refers to a fictional Eminem fan named “Stan” who becomes obsessed with the rapper, and who grows irate when his letters to his idol go unanswered. Stan’s final act is to make a voice recording as he drives into a river, with his pregnant girlfriend locked in the trunk. One of the legacies of the song is that “stan” is now used as a slang term for an obsessed and maniacal fan.

63 Golden Arches sandwiches: MCRIBS

The McDonald’s McRib sandwich is based on a pork patty. There isn’t any pork rib in the patty though. It is primarily made up of pork shoulder meat reconstituted with tripe, heart and stomach tissue. Enjoy …

68 “Is this actually a vegan burger?”: BEYOND SUSPICION

Beyond Meat is a producer of meat substitutes that are plant-based. The company was founded in 2009, and is based in El Segundo, California. Beyond Meat’s beef substitutes incorporate red beet juice to mimic the appearance of blood.

87 Apple variety: GALA

Gala is the second-most popular apple cultivar in the US, after red delicious. The gala apple tree originated in New Zealand in 1930, and is a cross between a golden delicious and a Kidd’s orange red.

89 Wealthy family on HBO’s “The Gilded Age”: ASTORS

John Jacob Astor was the patriarch of the famous American Astor dynasty. He was the country’s first multi-millionaire, making his fortune in the trade of fur, real estate and opium. In today’s terms, it has been calculated that by the time of his death he has accumulated a fortune big enough to make him the fourth wealthiest man in American history (in the company of the likes of Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Bill Gates, Henry Ford and John D. Rockefeller).

“The Gilded Age” is a period drama created and written by Julian Fellowes, who also created the hit drama “Downton Abbey”. The former show is set in New York City in the 1880s, when the nation was enjoying an economic boom.

94 “Beauty and the Beast” villain: GASTON

The screenplay for Disney’s 1991 animated film “Beauty and the Beast” was written by Linda Woolverton. She included the hunter named Gaston as the antagonist, even though no such character exists in the original fairy tale. Apparently, Woolverton based Gaston on her past boyfriends.

95 Snack introduced in 1912: OREO

The Oreo cookie was introduced in 1912. It was intended to be a competitor to the very similar Hydrox cookie, which had debuted four years earlier. The Oreo won the resulting battle on the grocery store shelves …

96 “You, Me and __”: rom-com starring Owen Wilson: DUPREE

“You, Me and Dupree” is a 2006 romantic-comedy film starring Owen Wilson, Kate Hudson, and Matt Dillon. The story centers around newlyweds Carl and Molly, whose life is disrupted when Carl’s best man, Dupree, moves in with them and overstays his welcome.

97 Director Roth: ELI

Eli Roth is one of a group of directors of horror movies known quite graphically as “The Splat Pack”. I can’t stand “splat” movies and avoid them as best I can. Roth is also famous for playing Donny Donowitz in the Quentin Tarantino movie “Inglourious Basterds”.

101 “Houdini” singer Lipa: DUA

“Houdini” is a 2023 song co-written and recorded by Dua Lipa. It was the lead single from her 2024 studio album “Radical Optimism”.

103 “It’s ‘abracadabra,’ and not ‘hocus-pocus,’ right?”: SPELL CHECK

The incantation “abracadabra” has a long history. It was used as far back as the 2nd century AD in ancient Rome when the word was prescribed by a physician to be worn on an amulet to help his emperor recover from disease. “Abracadabra” is Aramaic, and roughly translates as “I will create as I speak”.

There appears to be a lot of speculation about the origin of the magician’s phrase “hocus pocus”, but nothing stands out to me as being very definitive.

112 Hawaiian coffee region: KONA

Kona coffee is cultivated on the Big Island of Hawaii, on the slopes of Mauna Loa and Hualalai, two of the five volcanoes on the island. Coffee plants were brought to Kona in 1828 and late in the 19th century, coffee became a viable and worthwhile crop. Today Kona is one of the most expensive and popular coffees in the world.

115 Connections and Spelling Bee publisher, for short: NYT

Connections, published by “The New York Times”, is a daily word puzzle that challenges players to find the common threads linking four seemingly disparate words. Each puzzle consists of sixteen words arranged in a grid, and the goal is to group them into four sets of four, where each set shares a specific category or connection. I play this game almost every day, and it looks very, very similar to the Connecting Wall on the superb BBC quiz show “Only Connect”.

Spelling Bee is a word puzzle game published daily by “The New York Times”. Players are presented with seven letters, one of which is a required “center” letter, and must create as many words of four or more letters as they can using only those seven letters. Words must include the center letter. Any player who finds all of the words available earns the title “Queen Bee”. This is another game that I play every day to exercise “the little gray cells” …

117 Jessica of “Fantastic Four”: 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.

“Fantastic Four” is a 2005 movie about the band of comic heroes made famous in Marvel Comics. The Fantastic Four are:

• Mr. Fantastic (played by Ioan Gruffudd)
• The Invisible Woman (played by Jessica Alba)
• The Human Torch (played by Chris Evans)
• Thing (played by Michael Chiklis)

119 “How many Grammy Awards has Ms. Nicks won?”: STEVIE WONDER

Singer Stevie Nicks came to fame as the lead singer of Fleetwood Mac. She has a very distinctive voice, heard at its best (I think) on the famous 1977 album “Rumours”.

122 Snorkeler’s spot: REEF

Our word “snorkel” comes from German navy slang “Schnorchel” meaning “nose, snout”. The German slang was applied to an air-shaft used for submarines, due to its resemblance to a nose, in that air passed through it and it made a “snoring” sound. “Schnorchel” comes from “Schnarchen”, the German for “snore”.

124 “Understood”: ROGER

The term “roger”, meaning “yes” or “acknowledged”, comes from the world of radiotelephony. The British military used a phonetic alphabet in the fifties that included “Roger” to represent the letter “R”. As such, it became customary to say “Roger” when acknowledging a message, with R (Roger) standing for “received”.

125 Cactus bud: AREOLE

Areoles are bumps on the side of cacti from which grow clusters of spines. These areoles are one of the features of cacti that distinguish them from other succulent plants.

126 Cry from a bad driver?: FORE!

No one seems to know for sure where the golfing term “fore!” comes from. It has been used at least as far back as 1881, and since then has been called out to warn other golfers that a wayward ball might be heading their way. My favorite possibility for its origin is that it is a contraction of the Gaelic warning cry “Faugh a Ballagh!” (clear the way!) which is still called out in the sport of road bowling. Road bowling is an Irish game where players bowl balls along roads between villages, trying to reach the end of the course in as few bowls as possible, just like in golf!

Down

1 Min. portion: SEC

We use base-10, the decimal system for our numbers. Base-60, the sexagesimal system, was used by the ancient Babylonians. This ancient usage gives rise to our 60 seconds in a minute, and 360 (6 x 60) degrees in a circle.

5 Singer DiFranco: ANI

Ani DiFranco is a folk-rock singer and songwriter. DiFranco has also been labeled a feminist icon, and in 2006 won the Woman of Courage Award from the National Organization for Women.

9 Tropical lizard: IGUANA

An iguana is a lizard, and as such is cold-blooded. There are times when pet iguanas need heat from an IR lamp to maintain body temperature. They can also be very large lizards, sometimes growing to a length of six feet.

11 Doc who treats sinusitis: ENT

The suffix “-itis” is used to denote inflammation, as in laryngitis (inflammation of the larynx), otitis (inflammation of the ear), tendinitis (inflammation of a tendon), tonsillitis (inflammation of the tonsils) and sinusitis (inflammation of the sinuses).

12 Conference with Providence and Villanova: BIG EAST

Providence College is a private Roman Catholic school that was founded in 1917 in Providence, Rhode Island. It is the only university in the US that is administered by the Dominican Friars, and indeed the college’s sports teams are called “the Friars”.

13 Physicist Newton: ISAAC

Sir Isaac Newton was one of the most influential people in history, and the man who laid the groundwork for all of classical mechanics. The story about an apple falling on his head, inspiring him to formulate his theories about gravity, well that’s not quite true. Newton often told the story about observing an apple falling in his mother’s garden and how this made him acutely aware of the Earth’s gravitational pull. However, he made no mention of the apple hitting him on the head.

24 Earl __ tea: GREY

The Earl Grey blend of tea is supposedly named after Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey who was Prime Minister of the UK from 1830 to 1834. Earl Grey tea has a distinctive flavor that is largely due to the addition of oil from the rind of the bergamot orange.

29 Netflix series featuring track stars: SPRINT

“Sprint” is a documentary series that delves into the world of elite sprinting. It offers a behind-the-scenes look at the lives and careers of some of the world’s fastest athletes as they compete in prestigious events like the Diamond League, World Athletics Championships, and the Olympic Games.

35 Fashion designer Paloma: PICASSO

Paloma Picasso is a fashion designer based in Paris. She is the youngest daughter of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso and French author and painter Françoise Gilot.

39 Law firm abbr.: ESQ

The title “esquire” is of British origin and is used differently today depending on whether one is in the US or the UK. Here in America the term is usually reserved for those practicing the law (both male and female). In the UK, “esquire” is a term of gentle respect reserved for a male who has no other title that one can use. So, a mere commoner like me might receive a letter from the bank, say, addressed to W. E. Butler Esq.

44 Nickname used by Shaggy: SCOOB

“Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” is a series of cartoons produced for Hanna-Barbera Productions, first broadcast in 1969. The title character is a great Dane dog owned by a young male called Shaggy Rogers. The character’s name was inspired by the famous “doo-be-doo-be-doo” refrain in the Frank Sinatra hit “Strangers in the Night”. Shaggy was voiced by famed disk jockey Casey Kasem. Shaggy and Scooby’s friends are Velma, Fred and Daphne.

47 Weaving device: LOOM

There are many types of loom used to weave cloth, but they all hold parallel threads in tension in one direction, while allowing the interweaving of threads in the perpendicular direction. The threads held under tension are the warp threads, and the “woven” threads are the “weft” threads.

51 7UP nickname, with “the”: … UNCOLA

7UP was introduced to the world as “Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda”, and was a patent medicine that contained lithium citrate, a mood-stabilizing drug. The introduction of a mood-stabilizing medication was pretty timely, as the 1929 Wall Street Crash happened just two weeks later. 7UP’s “Uncola” advertising campaign dates back to 1967.

54 Surfer’s subwindows: TABS

A web browser is a piece of software used to access the World Wide Web. The first web browser was called “WorldWideWeb” and was invented in 1990 by Tim Berners-Lee, the man who created the World Wide Web. The browser known as Mosaic came out in 1993, and it was this browser that drove so much interest in the World Wide Web, and indeed in the Internet in general. Marc Andreessen led the team that created Mosaic, and he then set up his own company called Netscape. Netscape created the Netscape Navigator browser that further popularized the use of the Web starting in 1994. Microsoft responded by introducing Internet Explorer in 1995, which sparked the so-called “browser war”, a war that Microsoft clearly won. As Netscape floundered, the company launched the open-source Mozilla project which eventually led to the Firefox browser. Apple then came out with its own Safari browser in 2003. Google’s Chrome browser, introduced in 2008, is by far the most popular way to view the Web today.

60 Divine drink of Greek mythology: NECTAR

In Greek mythology, according to Homer anyway, the drink of the gods was nectar, and their food was ambrosia.

63 “Smoove Jones” R&B singer: MYA

“Smoove Jones” is a 2016 album released by R&B singer Mya. It was released online, through iTunes and Apple Music. If you wanted a physical copy of the album, you had to use Mya’s official website.

64 Santa Fe, for one: SUV

Hyundai introduced the Santa Fe crossover SUV in 2000. Hyundai’s marketing folks position the Santa Fe above the Tucson compact crossover, and below the Veracruz mid-size crossover. That’s quite a tour of the American Southwest.

69 Dad joke reaction, perhaps: EYE ROLL

I tell dad jokes all the time, just to annoy the kids …

• I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. It’s impossible to put down!
• If you see a robbery at an Apple Store, does that make you an iWitness?
• A termite walks into a bar and asks, “Is the bar tender here?”
• Two guys walk into a bar, the third one ducks.
• What’s the best part about living in Switzerland? I don’t know, but the flag is a big plus.

70 Herb in some rituals: SAGE

The burning of sage is known as “smudging”. It is a ritual that originated with many Native-American peoples, although similar practices are found around the world in other cultures. The most common type of sage used in smudge sticks (sage bundles) is white sage, Salvia apiana.

74 Tuscan tower town: PISA

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world. It is known for its nearly four-degree lean, which is caused by an unstable foundation. The tower was built in the 12th century and began to lean during construction. The lean worsened over time, and by the 1990s, the tower was at risk of collapse with a lean of 5½ degrees. A major stabilization project was undertaken in the 1990s, which reduced the lean to 3.97 degrees.

81 A side of pawns, in chess: OCTET

It is believed that the game of chess originated in northwest India. It evolved from a 6th-century game called “chaturanga”, a Sanskrit word meaning “four divisions”. These four (military) divisions were represented in the game:

• Infantry (now “pawns”)
• Cavalry (now “knights”)
• Elephants (now “bishops”)
• Chariots (now “rooks”)

85 Continent that’s home to Victoria Falls: AFRICA

Victoria Falls is located on the Zambezi River, right on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The falls were named by Scottish explorer David Livingstone in honor of Queen Victoria of Britain. Victoria Falls isn’t the highest waterfall in the world, nor is it the widest. However, the total “area” of the sheet of falling water is the largest in the world, so it is usually recognized as the largest waterfall on the planet.

90 Official chocolate bar sponsor of the NFL: SNICKERS

Snickers is a candy bar made by Mars. When I was growing up in Ireland, the same candy bar was sold as a Marathon. The name was changed in Europe to Snickers in 1990. 75% of the world’s Snickers bars are made in the Mars factory in Waco, Texas.

99 “Wednesday” actress Jenna: ORTEGA

Actress Jenna Ortega has been in the entertainment industry since she was a child. In 2014, she found her breakthrough role as young Jane in the CW comedy-drama series “Jane the Virgin”. She went on to star in the Disney Channel series “Stuck in the Middle”. Ortega is quite the sports player. Apparently, she almost gave up acting to pursue a career playing soccer.

“Wednesday” is a dark and comedic supernatural mystery TV series, and part of the classic “Addams Family” franchise. The show follows Wednesday Addams, played by Jenna Ortega, during her time as a student at Nevermore Academy, a school for outcasts.

104 Prefix with -lithic: PALEO-

The prefix “paleo-” means “prehistoric, primitive”. It comes from the Greek word “palaios” which means “old, ancient”. The prefix “neo-” would be the opposite, meaning “new, recent”.

105 Bonfire remnant: EMBER

Back in the mid-1500s, a “bonfire” was a fire used for burning bones, a “bone fire”.

110 Baltimore’s __ Harbor: INNER

Baltimore’s Inner Harbor was once a major gateway for immigrants to the US, second only to New York City. In recent decades, the Inner Harbor has been transformed from an industrial area full of dilapidated warehouses into a major tourist destination and commercial district, with some very expensive real estate.

114 Freestyled, perhaps: SWAM

The front crawl swimming stroke is also known as the Australian crawl or American crawl. It is the fastest of the front strokes, and is invariably used for freestyle competition, in which competitors can choose any stroke. As such, the front crawl is often referred to as “freestyle”.

119 __ Lanka: SRI

The island nation of Sri Lanka lies off the southeast coast of India. The name “Sri Lanka” translates from Sanskrit into English as “venerable island”. Before 1970, Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon, a name given to the country during British rule.

120 Minecraft block: ORE

Minecraft is a video game that was released in 2011. It is the most popular video game of all time, with well over 200 million units sold.

121 Checkers side: RED

“Checkers” is yet another word that I had to learn moving across the Atlantic. In Ireland, the game is called “draughts”.