Crossword Blog & Answers for April 7, 2025 by Sally Hoelscher

Constructor: Bill Conner

Editor: Anna Gundlach

Random Thoughts & Interesting Things

• BEST (4A: The “B” of BFF) BFF stands for BEST friends forever.
• OREO (14A: Twisted-apart cookie) Today our crossword friend OREO is making its second appearance of April, and its tenth appearance of 2025.
• PIANO (15A: Instrument played by Tori Amos) Tori Amos is a singer-songwriter and PIANO player. She has been composing pieces on the PIANO since she was five years old. Earlier this year, Tori Amos released a surprise album, The Music of Tori and the Muses, as a companion project to her illustrated children’s book, Tori and the Muses.
• MEME (16A: Tariq Tull singing “It’s Corn,” for example) In August 2022, a young boy named Tariq Tull was interviewed about corn. The interview quickly went viral, as Tariq’s enthusiasm was hard to resist. This led to the creation of multiple MEMEs, including a song by The Gregory Brothers that remixes portions of the interview.
• MATISSE (23A: “The Green Stripe” painter Henri) Henri MATISSE (1869-1954) was a French painter and sculptor. The Green Stripe is a 1905 oil painting Henri MATISSE did of his wife, Amélie Noellie Matisse-Parayre. The title is a reference to a vertical green stripe that runs down the middle of the face of the painting.
• OAHU (41A: Honolulu’s island) OAHU is Hawaii’s third-largest island. The state’s capital, Honolulu, is located on OAHU. 
• RAINIER (50A: Washington mountain also called Tahoma) Mount RAINIER, also known as Tahoma, is the centerpiece of Mount RAINIER National Park in Washington. Mount RAINIER is the tallest mountain in the Cascade Range.
• ANNE (64A: “Interview With the Vampire” author Rice) and ERIC (5D: “Interview With the Vampire” star Bogosian) ANNE Rice (1941-2021) was the author of The Vampire Chronicles series of books. The first book in the series, Interview with the Vampire (1976) was her debut novel. It was adapted into a 1994 movie of the same name starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. The TV series Interview With the Vampire premiered on AMC in 2022. ERIC Bogosian portrays journalist Daniel Molloy (who interviews the vampire).
• LEDS (67A: Energy-efficient bulbs) and DIODES (44D: Plural of the “D” in 67-Across) LEDS are light-emitting DIODES.
• MAMMAL (1D: Mole or vole) There are many MAMMALs. I appreciate that the examples chosen for this clue are two burrowing MAMMALs whose names rhyme.
• TOMCAT (3D: Male meower) My cat, Willow, is not a TOMCAT, and is too busy being cute to comment on this entry.

• NAOMI (20D: Tennis star Osaka) I’m always delighted when I know the answer to a sports clue without the help of crossing answers. I admire NAOMI Osaka not only for her sports ability, but for the way she uses her platform to raise awareness and advocate for others. During the 2020 US Open, at the beginning of each of her seven matches, Naomi Osaka wore a mask displaying the name of a Black person that was a victim of police or racist violence. In 2022, NAOMI Osaka joined forces with Modern Health to raise awareness of and destigmatize mental health care.
• SHE’S (24D: “___ Gotta Have It”) SHE’S Gotta Have It is a 1986 movie directed by Spike Lee. A 2017-2019 TV series of the same name was based on the movie.
• LEE (39D: “To Kill a Mockingbird author Harper) Harper LEE (1926-2016) wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird (1960). She also wrote Go Set a Watchman, which was published in 2015.