Crossword Blog & Answers for April 8, 2025 by Sally Hoelscher

Random Thoughts & Interesting Things

• TESTY (19A: Like someone who is “hangry”) The word “hangry” is a portmanteau of “hungry” and “angry.” It is used to describe the feeling of being TESTY because one is hungry. I feel like I only learned the word “hangry” a few years ago, but Merriam-Webster Dictionary informs me the word has been in use since 1918.
• SKIPPED ROPE (20A: Did some double Dutch) Double Dutch is a jump ROPE game involving two ROPEs turning in opposite directions. One or more players can jump at a time, and jumpers sometimes perform tricks while jumping. I SKIPPED ROPE a lot when I was younger; it was a favorite activity at recess when I was in elementary school. However, I have never used more than one jump ROPE. I’m not sure I’m quite coordinated enough for that.
• ROUGH (27A: Like a cat’s tongue) I know you can’t feel it in this photo, but trust me, my cat, Willow’s, tongue is indeed ROUGH.

• MOO (46A: Cow’s greeting) Whenever my husband and I are going somewhere in the car and we pass cows, I always helpfully announce, “MOO MOOs!”
• OUIJA (64A: Board featuring letters, numbers, YES and NO) and TAROT (8D: Deck with the Queen of Cups) This puzzle is ready for some fortune telling.
• BALI (67A: Indonesian island) BALI is a province of Indonesia that includes the island of BALI and a few smaller islands. 
• NEST (73A: Get ready to bring a baby home) We’ve seen the word NEST in the puzzle a few times recently, clued in reference to a bird’s home, which is perhaps the most common meaning of the word. I appreciated this clue referencing another meaning of the word. Many parents NEST – go through a process of preparing a nursery, buying baby supplies, etc. – in preparation for a baby’s arrival.
• APRIL (3D: Month when Independent Bookstore Day is celebrated) Independent Bookstore Day has been celebrated annually since 2015. The celebration is organized and promoted by the American Booksellers Association. It takes place on the last Saturday of APRIL, which is APRIL 26 this year. Shoutout to my local bookstore, Prairie Lights Books in Iowa City, Iowa.
• ODE (10D: “___ of Girls’ Things” (Sharon Olds poem)) Sharon OLDS won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 2013 for her poetry collection, Stag’s Leap. You can read her “ODE of Girls’ Things” at the Academy of American Poets website.
• AMSTERDAM (11D: City home to the Anne Frank House) AMSTERDAM is the capital of the Netherlands. The Anne Frank House in AMSTERDAM is a museum created from the building and annex in which the Frank family hid during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Anne’s diaries, which her father published as The Diary of a Young Girl (1947), was one of the few items recovered from the annex. Anne Frank’s father, Otto, was the only member of the Frank family to survive the Holocaust. I still have the paperback version of The Diary of a Young Girl that I read when I was just a little younger than Anne was when she wrote it. (Anne began her diary on her 13th birthday.)
• YOKO (33D: Activist and singer Ono) YOKO Ono is an artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Here’s a fun fact that I learned when looking for information to share with you about YOKO Ono that I hadn’t shared in previous posts. In the Japanese detective manga series Case Closed by Gosho Aoyama, there is a character based on YOKO Ono. The character is a young pop star named YOKO Okino.
• SARA (61D: “Waitress” composer Bareilles) Waitress is a 2015 musical written by Sara Bareilles. It is based on a 2007 movie of the same name. I have seen both the movie and the musical, and if you haven’t seen them and are planning to, my advice is to not watch them if you’re hungry. Pie – all kinds of pie – features prominently in this story.
• A few other clues I especially enjoyed:
  • IDEA (15A: What a cartoon light bulb signifies)
  • ROCKY (2D: Like many of Maine’s beaches)
  • HUMID (30D: Like summer in St. Pete, Florida)