Today's crossword by Jeffrey Wechsler includes this clue: "How perfume is sold." The answer is BYTHEOUNCE -- and have you ever figured out what any particular brand of perfume would cost if it was sold by the pound? Yikes! Or printer ink? Yikes! But I digress. The puzzle's theme answers are familiar phrases altered by the addition of OZ:
Musicians given to tippling? BOOZYBAND
Doughnut order from a king? LIONSDOZEN
Occupants of a well-insulated nest? COZYYOUNG
Set of data within an atmospheric analysis? TABLEFOROZONE
Denton True "Cy" Young pitched for five major league baseball teams, 1890-1911, and set several records which still stand, including the record for most wins, 511. In 1889, Young tried out for the Nadjys, a minor-league team in Canton, Ohio. He called himself Dent but when the other players saw how he could throw fastballs toward the ballpark's wooden fences with enough force that they'd shatter the wood, they gave him a new nickname: Cyclone. It eventually was shortened to Cy. A year after Young died in 1955, the Cy Young Award was created to honor each year's best pitcher in the major leagues. Since 1967, there have been
two annual Cy Young Awards, one for the best National League pitcher and one for the best American league pitcher.
Now.....why is "ounce" abbreviated "oz"? That's a good question -- I'm glad I asked it. The ancient Latin word was
onza. In modern Latin -- if, indeed, there
is such a thing as "modern Latin" -- the word is
uncia. Our abbreviation for pound, "lb.," comes from the Latin
libra. The symbol for the British unit of money known as the pound -- £ -- is essentially an L with a crossline and also comes from the Latin
libra.
"Pisa possessive" is MIO, which is not used in English. "MDX ÷ X" is CLI. This is 2016. It is not the first century and we are not in Rome. "Pet that needs a sitter?" is LAPCAT. Cute. "Amtrak option" is ACELA. Acelas are express trains which operate during morning and afternoon rush hours and serve New York, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington DC and other nearby cities. In 2021, Amtrak will replace the existing trains with 28 new "next-generation high-speed" trains.
https://www.amtrak.com/acela-express-trainThat's all for today. I resisted the urge to call Jeffrey Wechsler the Wizard of OZ. That would have been too easy and too obvious.
