Crossword 2.0
"Midrash" by Tom Williams and George Barany (December 2013)

1. Know Your Net

Many popular Web 2.0 services follow a naming convention of misspelling a word related to the service's purpose. Google is a misspelling of googol (because they index large amounts of data), Etsy is a misspelling of etc. (due to the potpourri of goods sold on the site), and Disqus is a misspelling of discuss (as they provide discussion moderation tools).

In this puzzle, the names of several companies following this trend are used to spice up some common phrases:

• TABOO_TOPIX (Full phrase "taboo topics" made wacky by Topix)
• THE_BIG_DIGG (Full phrase "the big dig" made wacky by Digg)
• FLEA_FLICKR (Full phrase "flea flicker" made wacky by Flickr)
• ROCK_TUMBLR (Full phrase "rock tumbler" made wacky by Tumblr)

As a bonus (and somewhat of a reveal), the first across is WWW and the last across is COM, so that the URL of each Web 2.0 service is given by wrapping these two around the final word of each of the four theme entries.

2. Right and Proper Nouns

There are a number of names in this puzzle that might not be familiar to everyone.

* Ed KOCH: Mayor, film critic, and posthumous figure of documentary [and prior to his citywide office, GB's Congressman for the Silk Stocking District, who we saw regularly campaigning at the 77^th Street stop of the Lexington Avenue IRT]

* The CREE: A people and a language

* The KAHNS: Louis the architect and Madeline of the silver screen.

* MILOS Forman: Director of many a critically-acclaimed hit, including Amadeus, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Man on the Moon.

* Rapper and actor Mos DEF

* Sacha Baron Cohen character ALI _G

* Actress EVA Green of Casino Royale

* Comedienne SARAH Silverman

* America's largest inland port, LAREDO, Texas

* Mo and Vince VAUGHN

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