First Names First
"Midrash" by George Barany (October 2012)
This puzzle was distributed at a social function held on Sunday October
14, 2012 for faculty, spouses, children, and special guests associated with my academic home, the U of M Chem. Dept. (34-Across). The central
conceit of the Sunday-size (21x21) puzzle is embodied in the proverb: "Where
there's a will (23-Across) there's a way (80-Across)." The reception introduced our most recently
hired faculty member, Assistant Professor William Pomerantz (113-Across), whose
formal first name is shared with our Department Head Bill Tolman (55-Across)
and a former faculty member Bill Lipscomb (97-Across) who went to Harvard and
got a Nobel (102-Down) Prize in 1976 for work he did while he was still at
Minnesota. Note that Pomerantz goes by "Will," Tolman goes by
"Bill," and Lipscomb, I think, went by "Bill" – but even
if it were otherwise, I would still leave the puzzle as it is now.
Furthermore, I was able to work in the names of our two most recent senior
hires, Laura Gagliardi (47-Down) and Theresa Reineke (15-Down), who amazingly
have the same number of letters in their names. Then, I noticed that
THERESA (the name) is the first 7 letters of both 23-Across and 80-Across.
Finally, I noticed that our longest serving faculty member, Wayland Noland, who
goes by "Way," supplies the last three letters of 80-Across.
As a
bonus, I have it on good authority that the movie Casablanca (76-Down) played
an important role in the courtship and subsequent happy marriage of two more of
my faculty colleagues, Doreen and Ken Leopold. Additionally, I worked in
the first name of long-time, now retired departmental receptionist Kathy
(64-Down) Ross, the fact that the first name of Chris (10-Across) occurs three
times (Cramer, Douglas, Lundby) among the current faculty/staff, and the names
or nationalities of several additional past or present colleagues (have fun
finding these yourself). Finally,
as is typical of puzzles this size, certain words and phrases pop up, e.g.,
lead role (29-Across), bis (37-Across), ester (51-Across), meso (93-Across),
air (95-Across), ions (105-Across), iodine (109-Across), precaution (3-Down),
at. wt. (38-Down) , Urey (62-Down), ELISA (92-Down), and cyano (103-Down) that
can be clued opportunistically to further the overall "chemistry" of the solving
experience.
The photo on the main page for this puzzle is believed to have been taken in 1936. Fourth from the left in the front row is Lillian Cohen, for many years the only woman on the faculty. We have certainly come a long way!
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