In today's crossword by C.C. Burnikel, "Corporate identifier" is TRADEMARK. Nine answers -- ten, if you include TRADEMARK -- are phrases with the initials TM. Among them are TRACKMEET, TENNISMATCH, TEXTMESSAGE, TIGERMOTH and TREASUREMAP.
A trademark is a recognizable name, sign, design, phrase or logo which identifies a particular product or service, such as the CBS eye, the NBC peacock, the Nike swoosh, the Target target and the Apple Computer apple. A trademark which is considered "common-law" by virtue of its continued usage but has not been formally registered is identified by ™ and a registered trademark is identified by ®. Modern trademark laws originated in France in 1857. Information about trademarks is available on the United States Patent & Trademark Office website at
http://www.uspto.gov/"Per each" is APOP. Again. That phrase appears in two or three puzzles each week, along with ELHI, which means "elementary school through high school." I have never seen or heard APOP or ELHI -- or ASEA or AROAR -- other than in crossword puzzles. "Newspapers, radio, etc." is OLDMEDIA. Yes, I suppose so, but that answer is awkward, as well as a bit disrespectful. Many of us still
enjoy newspapers and radio. "Mama of pop" is CASS. Cass Elliot, born Ellen Naomi Cohen, was a member of the Mamas & Papas, whose 1960s hits included
Monday Monday, California Dreamin', Words Of Love, I Saw Her Again and
Creeque Alley. Cass died of a heart attack in 1974. She did
not, as a popular rumor claims, choke to death on a ham sandwich.
"Youngest ever Nobel Prize laureate __ Yousafzai" is MALALA. Born in 1997 in northwest Pakistan, Malala defied the local Taliban by demanding that girls be allowed to receive an education. The Taliban issued a death threat against her and then, when she was 15, shot her in the head. She survived and continued to speak out on the importance of education. She was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2013 and again in 2014. She was a co-recipient of the Peace Prize in 2014 along with education activist Kailash Satyarthi. In 2013, Malala wrote a book,
I Am Malala, which was banned in Pakistan's schools for "disrespecting Islam" and having a "negative influence." She now attends school in Birmingham, England, and continues to fight for women's rights. Details of her life and her goal of ensuring that all girls receive 12 years of education can be found at
https://www.malala.org/And thus ends today's discussion. Now I'm going to go practice my transcendental meditation. TM, get it? Never mind.
