Today's Wiki-est, Amazonian GoogliesAcross1. Man-goat of myth : PAN
In Greek mythology, Pan was a lecherous god, one who fell in love with Echo the mountain nymph. Echo refused Pan’s advances so that he became very angry. Pan’s anger created a “panic” (a word derived from the name "Pan") and a group of shepherds were driven to kill Echo.

4. "Make it snappy," on an order : ASAP
As soon as possible (ASAP)

14. Media inits. since 1958 : UPI
Founded in 1958, United Press International (UPI) was one of the biggest news agencies in the world, sending out news by wire to the major newspapers. UPI ran into trouble with the change in media formats at the end of the twentieth century and lost many of its clients as the afternoon newspapers shut down due to the advent of television news. UPI, which once employed thousands, still exists today but with just a handful of employees.

16. Mike Nichols's comedy partner ___ May : ELAINE
Elaine May film director, screenwriter and comedian who is best known for the comedy double act she had in the late fifties with Mike Nichols. Nichols and May routines were hilarious sketches or skits, sometimes with substantial amounts of improvisation. The comedy team split up after only four years, in 1961 at the pinnacle of their fame. May went into film directing, with mixed success. May wrote and directed “Ishtar” in 1987 starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman. “Ishtar” is often cited as the epitome of a box office failure. May never directed another film, but continued writing. She wrote the script adaptation for the wonderful 1996 film “The Birdcage”.

17. Abba-inspired hit musical : MAMMA MIA!
The hit musical “Mamma Mia!” was written to showcase the songs of ABBA. I’m a big fan of ABBA’s music, so I’ve seen this show a couple of times and just love it. “Mamma Mia!” is such a big hit on the stage that on any given day there are at least seven performances going on somewhere in the world. There is a really interesting film version of the show that was released in 2008. I think the female lead Meryl Streep is wonderful in the movie, but the male leads … not so much! By the way, one can tell the difference between “Mamma Mia” the ABBA song and “Mamma Mia!” the musical, by noting the difference in the punctuation in the titles.

24. River of the underworld, in myth : STYX
The River Styx of Greek mythology was the river that formed the boundary between the Earth and the Underworld (or Hades). The souls of the newly dead had to cross the River Styx in a ferry boat piloted by Charon. Traditionally, a coin would be placed in the mouths of the dead "to pay the ferryman".

25. Movie starring Lon Chaney Jr., with "The" : MUMMY'S TOMB
“The Mummy’s Tomb” is 1942 horror film starring Lon Chaney, Jr. in the title role. The 1942 movie is a sequel to 1940’s “The Mummy’s Hand”, and was poorly received by the critics. For close-up shots, it took up to eight hours to get Chaney suitably wrapped as the Mummy.

28. Footnote abbr. : IBID
Ibid. is short for the Latin word "ibidem" and is typically found in footnotes and bibliographies. Ibid. is used to refer the reader to the prior citation, instead of giving the same information all over again (title, author etc.).

30. ___ of Wight : ISLE
The Isle of Wight is the largest island in England, and lies about five miles off the south coast of the country. The Isle of Wight is its own county, and is the smallest county in the whole of England, but only at high tide! At low tide, the island’s area increases so that it becomes larger than the landlocked county of Rutland in central England.

34. Suffix with buck : -AROO
The American English word “buckaroo” meaning “cowboy” comes from “vaquero”, the Spanish for cowboy.

36. "Since ___ My Baby" (1965 Temptations hit) : I LOST
The singing group known as the Temptations used to be known as the Elgins, and was formed in 1960 in Detroit. The group is still performing today, although only the second tenor, Otis Williams, was part of the original quintet. The Temptations were very much associated with their “sister group”, the Supremes.

40. Washington rally of 5/14/00 : MILLION MOM MARCH
The Million Mom March was a rally held on Mother’s Day 2000, taking place mainly in Washington, DC to promote legislation to tighten gun control. The publicity surrounding the event attracted a counter-demonstration by a group that called themselves the Second Amendment Sisters who advocated protection of gun rights.

45. False god : BAAL
The name “Baal” was used for several gods and sometimes human officials by ancient Semitic peoples. In the Hebrew Bible, Baal is notably cited as a false god. As a result, we sometimes use the term “baal” today to mean a false god or an idol.

52. Dogpatch matriarch : MAMMY YOKUM
Mammy Yokum is the mother of Li’l Abner Yokum, the main character in Al Capp’s comic strip “Li’l Abner”. Mammy Yokum was born Pansy Hunks, and married Lucifer Ornamental Yokum, who became Pappy Yokum.

The cartoonist Al Capp set his classic comic strip "Li'l Abner" in the fictional community of "Dogpatch". According to one of the "Li'l Abner" strips, Dogpatch was located somewhere in the state of Kentucky.

62. Baseball's Hammerin' Hank : AARON
The great Hank Aaron has many claims to fame. One notable fact is that he is the last major league baseball player to have also played in the Negro League.

63. Many a corporate plane : CESSNA
The Cessna Aircraft manufacturing company was founded in 1911 by Clyde Cessna, a farmer from Kansas. Cessna is headquartered in Wichita and today has over 8,000 employees.

70. Mal de ___ : MER
"Mal de mer" is French for “seasickness”.

71. Al and Al Jr. of auto racing : UNSERS
The Unser family seems to have racing cars in its blood. Al Unser, Sr. won the Indy 500 on four occasions. Al’s brother Jerry was the first of the Unsers to compete at Indianapolis. Al’s other brother Bobby, won the Indy three times. Al’s son, Al Junior, won the Indy twice. Al Junior’s son is also a racing driver who competes at the Indy Speedway.

72. Puerto ___ : RICO
Puerto Rico is located in the northeastern Caribbean (in the Atlantic Ocean), east of the Dominican Republic. The name "Puerto Rico" is Spanish for "rich port". The locals often call their island Borinquen, the Spanish form of "Boriken", the original name used by the natives.

73. Suffix on juice drinks : -ADE

Down1. Mountain cats or sneakers : PUMAS
The mountain lion is found in much of the Americas from the Yukon in Canada right down to the southern Andes in South America. Because the mountain lion is found over such a vast area, it has many different names applied by local peoples, such as cougar and puma. In fact, the mountain lion holds the Guinness record for the animal with the most number of different names, with over 40 in English alone.

Puma is a German company that sells athletic shoes worldwide, but is most famous for producing soccer boots.

3. Leonard who played Mr. Spock : NIMOY
Leonard Nimoy played the logical Mr. Spock in the original "Star Trek" television series. Spock has to be the most popular character on the show, and he keeps popping up in "Star Trek" spin offs to this day. Nimoy first worked alongside William Shatner (Captain Kirk) in an episode of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." (I loved that show!), with Nimoy playing a bad guy and Shatner playing an U.N.C.L.E. recruit.

4. Medium in bio labs : AGAR
Agar is a jelly extracted from seaweed that has many uses. Agar is found in Japanese desserts, and can also be used as a food thickener or even as a laxative. In the world of science it is the most common medium used for growing bacteria in Petri dishes.

5. "Uncle ___ wants you" : SAM
The Uncle Sam personification of the United States was first used during the War of 1812. The “Uncle Sam” term was so widely accepted that even the Germans used it during WWII, choosing the code word "Samland" for "America" in intelligence communiques.

6. Boxer Muhammad : ALI
The boxer Muhammad Ali is recognized on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the greatest sports figures of the 1900s. In 1999, Ali was named “Sportsman of the Century” by “Sports Illustrated” and “Sports Personality of the Century” by the BBC.

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

9. Pie ___ mode : A LA
In French, "à la mode" simply means "fashionable". In America, the term has come to describe a way of serving pie, usually with ice cream, or as I recall from when I lived in Upstate New York, with cheese.

10. Long, thin cigar : PANATELA
A panatela is a long thin cigar. It is a about the length of a “regular” cigar, but is not much wider than a cigarette.

11. Mottled horse : PINTO
A “pinto” is a horse with patchy markings of white mixed with another color. “Pinto” means “painted” in American Spanish.

22. Brit. record label : EMI
EMI is a British music company. The company name is an acronym that originally stood for Electric and Musical Industries.

25. Artist Joan : MIRO
Joan Miro was a Spanish artist. Miro immersed himself in Surrealism, so much so that Andre Breton, the founder of the movement, said that Miro was "the most Surrealist of us all". Miro painted "The Tilled Field" in 1923-24, a work that is regarded as Miro's first Surrealist masterpiece.

26. Japanese soup noodles : UDON
Udon noodles are made from wheat-flour and are very popular in Japanese cuisine like tempura.

29. Barnum's circus partner : BAILEY
James Anthony Bailey collaborated with P. T. Barnum to establish Barnum and Bailey's Circus. It was Bailey who negotiated the deal to buy a famous elephant from London Zoo in 1882, the one called "Jumbo". It was the exposure that Jumbo got in the circus that brought into common usage our term "jumbo" meaning "huge".

32. "I Will Follow ___" (1963 #1 hit) : HIM
"I Will Follow Him" was a hit for Little Peggy March in 1963. The song is a translation of a French tune called “Chariot” that had been a hit for English singer Petula Clark.

33. Mont Blanc, e.g. : ALP
Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in the Alps. The name "Mont Blanc" translates from French into "white mountain". The mountain lies on the border between France and Italy, and it has been generally accepted for decades that the summit lies within French territory. However, there have been official claims that the summit does in fact fall within the borders of Italy.

35. White House financial advisory grp. : OMB
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the successor to the Bureau of the Budget, formed in 1970 during the Nixon administration. The main task of the OMB is to prepare the budget for the federal government, and the Director of the OMB is a member of the Cabinet.

37. Surgery sites, for short : ORS
Operating room (OR)

38. Educ. facility : SCH
School (sch.)

39. "___ will be done ..." (Lord's Prayer phrase) : THY
The Lord's Prayer is a central prayer in Christian religions, and is found in two places in the New Testament. In the version in the Gospel of Matthew the last line of the prayer is "deliver from evil". In the Gospel of Luke the last line is "lead us not into temptation". The last words of the prayer as it most often said today are:

For thine is the kingdom,
The power, and the glory,
For ever and ever,
Amen

42. Honolulu's home : OAHU
Honolulu is the largest city in Hawaii, and the state capital. Located on the island of Oahu, the name “Honolulu” translates from Hawaiian as “place of shelter, calm port, sheltered bay”.

48. Bird mimics : MYNAHS
Some species of myna (also "mynah") bird are known for their ability to imitate sounds.

51. Metal waste : SLAG
The better lead ores are processed in a blast furnace, to extract the metal. The "waste" from this process is called "slag". Slag does contain some lead and it can be processed further in a "slag furnace" to extract the residual metal. Slag furnaces also accept poorer lead ores as a raw material.

52. ___ Picchu (Incan site) : MACHU
Machu Picchu is known as "The Lost City of the Incas", and it can be visited on a mountain ridge in Peru, 50 miles northwest of the city of Cuzco in the southeast of the country. The name Machu Picchu means "old peak". The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu originates about 50 miles from Cuzco on the Urubamba River in Peru. It can take travelers about 5 days to trek the full length of the trail, passing through many Incan ruins before reaching the Sun Gate on Machu Picchu mountain. The trail was becoming greatly overused, forcing the Peruvian government to limit the number of people on the trail each day to 500. Book early …

55. Official language of Cambodia : KHMER
Khmer is the language of the Khmer people, and is also the official language of Cambodia.

59. Tennis's Agassi : ANDRE
Renowned tennis professional Andre Agassi wrote an autobiography called "Open", published in 2009. An amazing revelation in the book is that Agassi's famous head of hair was actually a wig for much of his playing career. Can you imagine how hard it must have been to play tennis at his level with a rug stuck on?

62. Bullets, BB's and such : AMMO
A BB gun is an air pistol or rifle that shoots birdshot known as BBs. Birdshot comes in a number of different sizes, from size 9 (0.080" in diameter) to size FF (.23"). 0.180" diameter birdshot is size BB, which gives the airgun its name.

64. Co. that makes A.T.M.'s : NCR
NCR is an American company that has been in business since 1884, originally called the National Cash Register Company. The company has done well in a market where new technologies seem to be constantly disrupting the status quo.

67. McDonald's Big ___ : MAC
The iconic Big Mac sandwich was introduced nationally by McDonald's in 1967. It was the creation of a Pittsburgh franchisee who offered it on the menu as a response to the very similar Big Boy sandwich offered by the competing “Big Boy” restaurant chain.

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About This Blog

This is the simplest of blogs.

I do the New York Times puzzle online every evening, the night before it is published in the paper. Then, I "Google & Wiki" the references that puzzle me, or that I find of interest. I post my findings, along with the solution, as soon as I am done, usually well before the newsprint version becomes available.

About Me

The name's William Ernest Butler, but please call me Bill. I grew up in Ireland, but now live out here in the San Francisco Bay Area. I am retired, from technology businesses that took our family all over the world.

Crosswords and My Dad

I worked on my first crossword puzzle when I was about 6-years-old, sitting on my Dad's knee. He let me "help" him with his puzzle almost every day as I was growing up. Over the years, Dad passed on to me his addiction to crosswords. Now in my early 50s, I work on my Irish Times and New York Times puzzles every day. I'm no longer sitting on my Dad's knee, but I feel that he is there with me, looking over my shoulder.

This blog is dedicated to my Dad, who passed away at the beginning of this month.