Physics Nobelist Victor who discovered cosmic radiation / WED 2-16-11 / Anoint with sacred oil old-style / Georgia's capital in slang

Constructor: Michael Barnhart

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: 21 — five theme answers have "21" (or "twenty-one") somewhere in their clues...


Word of the Day: Victor HESS (10A: Physics Nobelist Victor who discovered cosmic radiation) —

Victor Francis Hess (24 June 1883 – 17 December 1964) was an Austrian-American physicist, and Nobel laureate in physics, who discovered cosmic rays. [...] Between 1911 and 1913, Hess undertook the work that won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1936. For many years, scientists had been puzzled by the levels of ionizing radiation measured in the atmosphere. The assumption at the time was that the radiation would decrease as the distance from the earth, the source of the radiation, increased. The electroscopes previously used gave an approximate measurement of the radiation, but indicated that higher in the atmosphere the level of radiation may actually be more than that on the ground. Hess approached this mystery first by greatly increasing the precision of the measuring equipment, and then by personally taking the equipment aloft in a balloon. He systematically measured the radiation at altitudes up to 5.3 km during 1911-12. The daring flights were made both at day and during the night, at significant risk to himself. // The result of Hess's meticulous work was published in the Proceedings of the Viennese Academy of Sciences, and showed the level of radiation decreased up to an altitude of about 1 km, but above that the level increased considerably, with the radiation detected at 5 km about twice that at sea level. His conclusion was that there was radiation penetrating the atmosphere from outer space, and his discovery was confirmed by Robert Andrews Millikan in 1925, who gave the radiation the name "cosmic rays". Hess's discovery opened the door to many new discoveries in nuclear physics.

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There's a certain looseness and kookiness to this puzzle that I admire, but the theme is pretty inconsistent (e.g. 2100 ≠ 21, "twenty-ones" = godawful plural, "JUMP STREET" = a partial...), and the fill in the big corners is particularly cruddy. I'm not sure why there wasn't another black square in the NW (and thus in the SE). This puzzle has only 72 words? Why not go to more words and make the fill (much) better? As it is, there's this very choppy, short-worded center-grid and then these giant corners, which, inevitably, show signs of significant stress. Right off the bat we have to choke on "old-style" ANELE, plus the plural name RENES, the awkward possessive ARTHUR'S, and the crosswordesey ESME. Things are actually worse in the SE, where not only do I have to suffer ADALE :( over RELED :( :( :(, but I also have to pretend that EROTICAL is a word ... and not even an "old-style" word. Just a word. And with the "OTIC" part crossing -OTIC? It's all a bit too much to ask. In the easier-to-fill, NE and SW, the constructor went with cheater squares to ease the burden, and the results are, not surprisingly, much cleaner. All in all, an entertaining wreck, but still a wreck. Moral: don't try to impress anyone with your low word count if you can't fill the puzzle well.

Theme answers:

• 17A: "Twenty-One" (TV GAME SHOW)
  
• 24A: 2100 (NINE O'CLOCK)
  
• 35A: 21 (DRINKING AGE)
  
• 51A: "21 ___" ("JUMP STREET")
  
• 59A: Twenty-ones (BLACKJACKS)
  

Toughest section for me was the NE, where I had no idea who HESS was, and couldn't get GILA or ELINOR with significant crossage. Thank god I knew the title "Quantum of SOLACE" (due to its being an answer in a puzzle before the film ever came out, causing me to grouse, causing me to remember the title). Forgot stupid UDAY's name, so that caused a bit of slowness in the NW. Never heard of MORO, but, thankfully, never even saw the clue (that SE was the easiest part of the puzzle for me, by far.

Bullets:

• 20A: First American magazine to excerpt "Moby-Dick" (HARPER'S) — I didn't know this, though was able to guess it off the "H." "Moby-Dick" is next on my reading list; I'll get to it whenever I finally finish the 1000+-page tome that is "The Count of Monte Cristo" (so good I don't want it to end).
  
• 30A: In no other place (HERE) — this seems all kinds of wrong. First, there's no reason this clue couldn't fit THERE. Second, something could be HERE *and* in other places at the same time. Oxygen, for instance. Or maybe I want a fence post placed HERE ... and there and there and there and there etc.
  
• 50A: Georgia's capital, in slang (A-TOWN) — hurray for inventive cluing. So much better than a ["Coming to ___ near you!"] or the like. Just glad I didn't have to see AHOLE two days in a row.
  
• 55A: 1950s tennis champion Gibson (ALTHEA) — a gimme for me, but I was surprised last time she showed up how many people hadn't heard of her, so maybe I'm just a bigger tennis fan than I thought.
  
• 7D: Parliament residue (ASH) — Parliament being a brand of cigarette. Nice misdirection. Ooh, I just noticed the other parliament clue, 15A: Where the Stoerting parliament sits (OSLO).
  
• 36D: Steve ___, 1990s teammate of Michael Jordan (KERR) — must have been at least somewhat tough for the sports-challenged among you, esp. considering KERR crosses another sports answer at the "E": LEN Dawson (40A: Hall-of-Fame QB Dawson). Ooh, just noticed the other Michael Jordan clue, 38D: Product pitched by Michael Jordan (GATORADE).
  
• 44D: Watchmaker with the first U.S. TV commercial, 1941 (BULOVA) — trivia! Interesting. But who had TVs in 1941?!
  
• 49D: The Stylistics' "___ By Golly, Wow" (BETCHA) — cute, but really Really would've preferred a Palin quote here.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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