03.18.13 — Le Système International D'Unités

 

The standard wooden ruler in which inches mingle freely with centimeters says a lot about the state of the U.S. measuring system. ~ Jupiter Images/liquidlibrary/Thinkstock

The International System of Units (abbreviated SI from French: Le Système international d'unités) is the modern form of the metric system. ~ Wikipedia

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Monday, March 18, 2013

Puzzle by Daniel Landman / Edited by Will Shortz

SI UNITS (38A. Basic physical measures … or a hint to 17-, 27-, 48- and 63-Across), SEMINOLE INDIANS, STATEN ISLANDER, SECRET IDENTIFY and SPLIT INFINITIVE constitutes the loosely interrelated group of this Monday crossword.

Despite America's long history with SI units, measuring remains a mess in the States. A football field traffics in yards while most footraces prefer meters. Mechanics measure the power of an automobile engine in horsepower (foot-pounds per second), but express the same engine's displacement in liters. Air pressure is denoted in all sorts of ways: pounds per square inch (or psi) for tire pressure, inches of mercury for surface atmospheric pressure and millibars for air pressure aloft. ~ William Harris, How Stuff Works

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THE NEW YORK TIMES — Crossword Puzzles and Games.
 

Remaining clues — ACROSS: 1. Book after Jonah; 6. Droops; 10. Floating arctic mass; 14. Spitting ___; 15. Opposites of departures: Abbr.; 16. Lens holders; 17. Native Floridians; 20. Leave in, to a proofreader; 21. Sir’s counterpart; 22. Creepy; 23. “Uh, excuse me”; 25. Open ___ of worms; 27. Denizen of the least populous New York City borough; 33. Tendon; 34. Relatives of egos; 35. Fleecing; 37. ___-la-la; 42. “Cat ___ Hot Tin roof”; 43. 18-wheeler;45. An A student has a high one, for short; 46. The Great Lion in “The Chronicles o Narnia”; 48. Clark Kent vis-à-vis Superman; 52. Shade akin to beige; 53. Casablanca” heroine; 54. Take unrightfully; 57. Latvia’s capital; 59. Winnebago driver, informally; 63. Stickler’s grammatical no-no; 66. Sean of “Milk”; 67. Southpaw’s side; 68. Board game insert; 69. Love letter abbr.; 70. Häagen-Dazs competitor; 71. Laid out, as cash. — DOWN: 1. Start of a pageant winner’s title; 2. “How ___ Your Mother”; 3. Showed up; 4. Rile up; 5. Rooster’s partner; 6. Deli meat; 7. Zone; 8. Ruling house of Monaco; 9. Taxpayer’s ID; 10. Sitcom with the them song “I’ll Be There for You”; 11. Word repeated before “pants on fire”; 12. Prefix with present; 13. To be, to Brutus; 18. Portent; 19. Academic overseer; 24. Chops; 26. Players in a play; 27. Booming jets of old, in brief; 28. Michelins or Goodyears; 29. “What’s in ___?:; 30. The Bible’s Mount ___; 31. Troublesome food bacteria; 32. Charged; 36. Word repeated before “moons ago”; 39. Disney chief Bob; 40. Like a snob’s nose; 41. Without: Fr.; 44. Place to see a Zanboni; 47. Fledgling business; 49. Proof of purchase: Abbr.; 50. 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.; 51. Pizazz; 54. Org. with stamps; 55. Emit, as lava; 56. Arm bone; 58. Not definite; 60. Revolting; 61. Like 2, 4, 6, 8, etc.; 62. Lie down for a while; 64. ___ de France; 65. Agcy. That gets a flood of mail in April.