How did I get to Government Agencies as a subject for a column? Well, I started with the idea that Abbreviations might be an interesting topic to pursue. Just think about all of the puzzles you've solved containing clues that call for an abbreviation. After a little research I quickly realized that, considering the number of clues calling for abbreviations, I might easily be stuck with a twenty page column . Next, I decided to narrow it down to abbreviations which are initials. You know what I mean. Medical references such as AMA and DNA plus a lot more in that category. Then there were all of the monograms -- TSE and DDE and TAE (remember, that's the "Menlo Park monogram"). And how about the entertainment field with everything from CBS to HBO to TNT? Military references turn up all the time with clues for USAF and USNA and AWOL, to list a few. Education? Well, there's the "home of the Bruins", UCLA, or do you prefer the "home of the Mustangs", SMU? And then there seems to be a never-ending group of "vane directions" or "compass points" and even "yacht headings" -- SSE, NNW, SSW, NNE, etc., etc., etc.
There are far too many initial abbreviations for one column,
but I'm too deeply into this thing to stop now. How about government
agencies? Since tax time is a yearly event in the USA (initials
that have been clued with everything from "land of liberty" to "Canadian
neighbor" to "Dos Passos trilogy"), I'll start with that ever popular "collection
agency", "taxing group", "government department", the IRS, and
continue on with such favorites as CIA and FCC and TVA.
As
it turns out, there are plenty of government agencies in frequent use in
crosswords to fill this column, and I can save all those other initial
abbreviations for future use. Do you know what I think I may have
discovered in all of this? I think that when a crossword composer
finds himself/herself cornered with almost any combination of three or
four letters, there is probably some abbreviation for it that can be clued.
...The
Internal Revenue Service is probably the most popular of all government
agencies with the cluemeisters, especially in March and April. As
indicated above, the clues range from "collection agency?", "tax org.",
"government dept." and "taxing grp." to "Apr. 15 letters". You can
click on their logo above to reach today's edition of The Digital Daily
which
is their very own online newspaper, updated daily.
AEC....The
Atomic Energy Commission doesn't even exist anymore, but that doesn't seem
to detract from its popularity with the crossword composers. All
they have to do is add the word former to their clues. "Former
govt. grp." and "former nuclear agency" are in current favor. A click
on the high-lighted AEC above takes you to the Department of Energy's
page on the history of the AEC. Now that these initials are up for
grabs again, they've been quickly commandeered by the Australian Electoral
Commission among others.
CAA....The
Civil
Aeronautics Authority is yet another agency which now has to be clued
as "former", "former aviation agcy," or the like, having evolved into the
present day Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). If you
absolutely insist on a more "now" designation for CAA, how about the Canadian
Authors Association? If you think I'm making that up, check it out
on your favorite search engine. The CAA had a 20-year life span (1938-1958)
before the FAA took over, and you can read all about it in the FAA history
by clicking on the high-lighted words above.
CIA....
There doesn't seem to be anything too shy or secretive about the Central
Intelligence Agency, considering their logo here. Do you suppose
there is anything significant in the fact that the watch tells us the time
is 01:04:27? We'll have to decide for ourselves whether it is a.m.
or p.m. Cluemeisters are fearless in how they choose to refer to
the CIA. Clues include everything from "spy org." to "The Company"
to "cousin of M16 in spy stories". Click on the logo above to go
to the CIA home page or on the high-lighted initial letters for some general
information about the CIA.
DEA....
The Drug Enforcement Administration
turns
out to be just one little corner of the U.S. Department of Justice, but
it is big enough to command its very own web page on the internet which
proudly displays its narcs' badge against a Washington, D.C. backdrop (click
on either the picture of the badge above or on the high-lighted words or
initials to take you to a larger picture on their home page). Clues
such as "Narcs' org." and "Narcs' employer, abbrev." for DEA appear in
puzzles quite often, but I can't recall ever seeing something like "DEA's
parent agcy." or "Reno's Dept." (now updated to "Ashcroft's Dept.") for
DOJ or USDOJ.
DOE....
Okay, so we're more likely to see this one clued as either "Bambi's aunt"
or "Bambi's mother", but just as I've seen "DOE forerunner" for AEC, I've
also come across "AEC successor" for the Department of Energy (DOE).
As usual, a click on either the logo or the high-lighted initials will
take you to a web home page.
EPA....
The Environmental Protection Agency is another special favorite of the
puzzle plotters. Along with the ever popular (and unspecific) "Govt.
grp." as a clue we are given such gems as "clean air agcy." and "wetlands
watchdog" in addition to many, many more. Click the logo or high-lighted
initials to visit their websites.
....The "Govt. flight regulator" and "CAA successor" is the Federal
Aviation Administration which was established in 1958 and has been
a regular item in crosswords ever since. The high-lighted words
above will give you a brief history of the FAA, and a click on the FAA
logo will take you to its home page.
FBI....
This one used to be especially crossword puzzle friendly back in
the days when we were told it was "J. Edgar's domain" and "Hoover's home",
but with his death in 1972 the man who had been the FBI's Director since
1924 was no longer viable in clues for the Bureau. Today we are more
likely to run across "home of Most Wanted lists" or "agcy. of special investigators".
Click on the logo above to investigate the FBI home page, but don't expect
to find out anything about J.
Edgar Hoover there. After nearly 50 years as the agency's Director
for all of the presidents from Coolidge to Nixon, there is barely a mention
of the man even in the 90 year history section of the FBI's website.
If you are curious as to why that might be, click on Hoover's high-lighted
name above which takes you to a comprehensive and enlightening biography
of the man by Marilyn Bardsley.
FCC....
If you are asked to fill in the name of the "TV watchdog" or of the "ABC
and NBC overseer" or maybe "govt. overseer for radio, TV and cable", these
are the three letters you are seeking. The above logo links to their
web home page.
NASA....
You can click this logo to go to the home page of the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration, but you'll have to dig a bit to discover that
that is NASA's complete nomenclature. With clues like "space org."
and "U.S. rocket launchers" along with "the govt.'s space jockey club"
and "home of the astronauts", we readily seem to be able to arrive at NASA
as the answer. If you click on the high-lighted initials to the left
of the logo you will find what they have to say about their history.
OSS....There's
not a great deal of information to be found about the Office of Strategic
Services which is actually a big favorite of the cluemeisters. This
"former govt. grp." is a "hush-hush grp." which is most often identified
as the "CIA's forerunner". It was active during World War II until
January 1946 at which time it was dissolved by President Truman who then
went on in 1946 to create the new group which eventually became the CIA.
Read what the CIA site has to say about it by clicking on the high-lighted
OSS letters above.
SSS....
The Selective Service System was
signed into existence in 1940 by President Roosevelt and has been a never-ending
source of material for crossword composers from that time to this.
Whether we come across "draft org.", "draft letters", "draft card issuer"
or "draft agency", we quickly understand that we can fill in with SSS.
Click on the logo for their website or on the high-lighted words above
for a bit of history about this agency. Incidentally, there have
also been clues such as "unhappy crowd sound" and "puncture sound" for
SSS.
Last,
but far from least as far as the cluemeisters are concerned, we have the
Tennessee Valley Authority,
that "dam building org." and "power org." which was the "Norris Dam's project:
Abbr.". As usual, you can click on the logo for the home page and
on the high-lighted name for a page on the history of the project.
That's it for Government Agencies. I might have
included the FDA, the FHA, USDA and even FDIC, but none of these and the
dozens of other Government Agencies can really be classified as often-used
words (in this case initial abbreviations) in crosswords. However,
don't be surprised when any of them show up in your puzzle. All abbreviations
seem to be an excellent way out of the problems which our crossword composers
come up against.
Anything else you want to know about crosswords? You should be able to learn about it through one or another of Ray Hamel's crossword puzzle links. If you haven't looked into his link page recently, I think you might be in for a big surprise. He's rearranged the page to list daily, weekly and monthly internet puzzle links up front followed by the dozens (or is it now hundreds) of other crossword links. You could easily spend most of your computer time there.
If you are into online crosswords, and have a Java-powered browser, try Timothy Parker's Universal Crossword. Juse click on the logo below.
Copyright 1999 C. Schnebel, Revised 2002
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