09.24.12 — Cirrus Aviaticus

 

Cirrus aviaticus — Engine exhaust condensation trails (contrails) photograph by Joe Thomissen

 

Contrails or vapor trails are long thin artificial clouds that sometimes form behind aircraft. Their formation is most often triggered by the water vapour in the exhaust of aircraft engines, but can also be triggered by the changes in air pressure in wingtip vortices or in the air over the entire wing surface. Like all clouds, contrails are made of water, in the form of a suspension of billions of liquid droplets or ice crystals. Depending on the temperature and humidity at the altitude the contrail forms, they may be visible for only a few seconds or minutes, Persistent contrails are thought to have a significant effect on global climate. ~ Wikipedia

 

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Monday, September 24, 2012

 

Puzzle by John Dunn / Edited by Will Shortz

VAPOR TRAILS (59A. What airplanes leave in the sky … or what 17-, 23-, 37- and 48-Across have?), along with STEAM, FOG, CLOUD and GAS trailing at the end of four entries, constitutes the interrelated group of this Monday crossword.

PICK UP STEAM (17A. Gather momentum)
THE VELVET FOG (23A. Mel Tormé‘s nickname)
GET OFF OF MY CLOUD (37A Rolling Stones hit whose title follows the words ‘Hey you”
STEP ON THE GAS (48A. “Hurry up!”)

Other — ADAGES, AGATHA Christie, ARENAS, ARGYLE, CASINO, HORNET, END OF STORY (11D. “Nothing more to say”), LOTUS-EATER (28D. Daydreamer encountered by Odysseus), NAUGHT, OSPREY, POLITY, RAMROD.

Five-letter — A-BEAM, ESTEE, GRUEL, H-BOMB, ID TAG, “I REST my case!”, PESTO, SHEAF, SHELL, TAPIR, TEMPO, TIARA.

 

Short stuff — ALEE, AMT, ANON, APE, ARA and ARE, ARIA, Jean AUEL, CAPS, DST, EAU de cologne, EER, EPI, ESPY, EVAC, FIDO, FOR Your Eyes Only”, FRAN Tarkenton, HEAT, IFS, INK, IOTA, ITE, LOG, MDSE, NED Beatty, ONE-A, OPT, ORES, PAGE, PEA, PRIM, SAT, SECT, SERB, SHEA, SODA, SSTS, SUV, TAM and YAM, TINO Martinez, TOE, VARY, VPS, “WAS it something I said?”, WING.

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Click on image to enlarge.

 

Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES — Crossword Puzzles and Games.

Remaining clues — ACROSS: 1. Vegas attraction; 7. Catch a glimpse of; 11. Prefix with dermal; 14. Stadiums; 15. Old home for Mr. Met; 16. Actor Beatty; 19. “Spring ahead” hours: Abbr.; 20. Parked on a bench; 21. Meager fare for Oliver Twist;22. Greek “I”; 26. System of government; 29. Ventnor and Baltic in Monopoly: Abbr.; 30. Soon, to a poet; 31. Pageant headwear; 34. Scottish headwear; 43. They may need refining; 44. Root beer or ginger ale; 46. Diamond-shaped pattern; 53. Radiator output; 54. Perpendicular to the keel; 66. Tennis’s Novak Djokovic, by birth; 67. Old saws. — DOWN: 1. Baseball headwear; 2. Operatic selection; 3. Religious faction; 4. Toner, e.g.; 5. Nothing; 6. Fish hawk; 7. Cosmetics maker Lauder; 8. Taco exterior; 9. Pod item; 10. Thanksgiving vegetable; 12. Sauce with crushed garlic and basil; 13. Item on a dog collar or suitcase; 18. Chevrolet Equinox, e.g.; 22. Suffix with meteor; 23. Ex-Yankee All-Star Martinez; 24. Fluctuate; 25. Emergency exodus operation, briefly; 26. One of 15,490 in the first edition of the O.E.D.; 27. Most eligible to be drafted; 31. Stubbed digit; 32. Conditions; 33. Quantity: Abbr.; 35. “the Clan of the Cave Bear” author Jean; 36. Retailer’s inventory: Abbr.; 38. Pal of Rex or Rover; 39. Tarkenton of three Super Bowls; 40. Lincoln ___ (building toy); 45. Choose to participate, with “in”; 46. Christie who wrote “Ten Little Indians”; 47. Muzzle-loading tool; 48. Bundle of wheat; 49. Speed kept by a metronome; 50. Rhinoceros relative; 51. Test ban subject, briefly; 52. Suffix with ballad; 55. Flier’s flapper; 56. Sheltered, at sea; 57. Retired fliers; 59. No. 2s; 60. “___ you serious?“, 61. Coach Parseghian.