Saturday, November 14, 2009 - Astronomy 101

Introduction

Today's puzzle by Cox and Rathvon presents a pantheon of astronomers and related scientists.

Today's Glossary

Abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions found in today's puzzle that may be unfamiliar, especially to overseas readers

tosspot - a drunkard

Today's Astronomers and Other Scientists

Hipparchus - (second century BCE) Greek astronomer who mapped the position of 850 stars in the earliest known star chart. His observations of the heavens form the basis of Ptolemy's geocentric cosmology.

Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus) - (2nd century CE) Alexandrian astronomer, mathematician, and geographer who based his astronomy on the belief that all heavenly bodies revolve around the earth.

Nicolaus Copernicus - (1473-1543) Polish astronomer who advanced the theory that Earth and the other planets revolve around the sun, disrupting the Ptolemaic system of astronomy.

Galileo Galilei - (1564-1642) Italian astronomer and mathematician who was the first to use a telescope to study the stars. He was forced by the Inquisition to recant his support of the Copernican system.

Johannes Kepler - (1571-1630) German astronomer and mathematician. Considered the founder of modern astronomy, he formulated three laws to describe how the planets revolve around the sun.

Sir Isaac Newton - (1642-1727) English mathematician and scientist who invented differential calculus and formulated the theory of universal gravitation, a theory about the nature of light, and three laws of motion.

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

12a Boozers as far as southern locales (8)

I'm not sure if the British use tosspot in the sense of drunkard, a meaning which seems to found in pretty well all of the American dictionaries. The word is not to be found in the online Oxford, Chambers or Macmillan dictionaries. However, it is in the Collins which gives the following definitions, "1. Archaic or literary a habitual drinker" and "2. Brit slang a stupid or contemptible person".

Solution to Today's Puzzle

Legend:	"CD" Cryptic Definition; "DD" Double Definition
	"*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed
	"( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted

Across

1a NEWT|ON - ON (running) after NEWT (amphibian)

4a F(J)ORDS - J (jack, in a deck of cards) contained in (goes into) FORDS (shallow places)

9a P(OTHER)B - PB (chemical symbol for the element lead) containing (about) OTHER (additional)

10a G|ALI|LEO - G (general, military rank) ALI (boxer Muhammad Ali) LEO (name of numerous popes)

11a R|OUST - R (right) OUST (boot)

12a TO|S|SPOTS - TO (as far as) S (southern) SPOTS (locales)

13a HIPPARCHUS - HIP (cool) and PARCH (dry) US (American)

15a I|DO|L - I DO (exchanged vow) with L {first letter of lady (lady at the front)}

18a TAP|E - TAP (knock) E (English)

20a COPE(RN)ICUS - COPE (manage) ICUS {Intensive Care Units (hospital wards)} containing (engaging) RN {Registered Nurse (nurse)}

23a CAST|A|NET - CAST (registered) A NET (profit)

25a MERIT* - anagram of (new) TIMER

27a PT(O|L)EMY* - O (nothing) L (left) contained in (in) anagram of (plastic) EMPTY

28a A|R(CAN)UM - contained in (in) A RUM (form of liquor), CAN (preserve)

29a CINEMA* - anagram of (reworked) ICEMAN

30a KE(PL)ER< - PL (place) contained in (in) KEER {REEK (stink) reversed (reversing)}

Down

1d NO T|RUMP - NOT (other than) RUMP (bottom)

2d WHEAT|EAR - WHEAT (some cereal) and EAR (some corn)

3d OR|BIT - OR BIT (routine)

5d JA(LOP)Y - LOP (cut) contained in (into) JAY (bird)

6d RE(LATE)D - RED (communist) containing (about) LATE (past)

7d S|TOW - S (small) TOW (tug)

8d OP(E)RA H|A|T - E (error, baseball term) contained in (in) OPRAH (talk show, hosted by American television personality Oprah Winfrey) A T (true)

10d GESTURE* - anagram of (excitedly) GREET US

14d CLO(ONE)Y - CLOY (get treacly) containing (about) ONE (single); CLOONEY (movie and television heartthrob George Clooney, actor in Ocean's Eleven)

16d L(O|SE T)IME - O (hoop) SET (placed) contained in (in) LIME (green)

17d INIMICAL* - anagram of (novel) I (one) CLAIM IN

19d PLATO|ON - PLATO (philosopher) ON (active)

21d COR(O)NER - CORNER (angle) containing (about) O (cipher)

22d STREAM* - anagram of (dancing) MASTER

24d T|RACE - T {last letter of (end of) great} RACE (contest)

26d EPIC - hidden word (in) found in "thE PICture"

Signing off for today - Falcon