I started a column on Crossword Initials some time ago and became so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of initials used by all of the crossword composers that I ended up with an abbreviated column on the initials of Government Agencies only.  Just click on the highlighted words to check out that column.  As I pointed out there, almost any combination of three or four letters seem to become initials for a clue writer's use.  How about "Air Force One passenger" for CIC (Commander in Chief)?  There's also the cluemeister who decided that BVD should be clued as "boxers' letters".  Now that I've had some time to dig deeper into the subject it does seem like a good idea to take the "Government Agencies" route and break the column up into various categories.  This time we'll go with Time & Travel Initials.

The number of initials in this category alone will give you some idea of what is in store for us.  Admittedly, there are only a few examples in each category which will be recognized as "often-used" in crosswords, so to show how crossword designers have come to rely on initials in puzzles, I'm going to list as many examples as possible from recent crosswords.

SST... The Supersonic Transport (SST) has been recently clued as "J.F.K. arrival", "Orly arrival", "Fast Atlantic crosser", "Mach+jet" and "booming jet" and in puzzles past we've seen "transAtlantic flier", "rapid transit?", "European streaker", "swift plane" and "Air France flier, for short".  Click on either the picture or on the high-lighted SST to take you to an About.com article on the SST turning 30.
 

GTO...   It might appear as an "old Pontiac" or an "old car with Tu rbo-Hydramatic", but more than likely we'll be clued with "car of a 1964 song" or "car in '64 song" or maybe just "Pontiac of song".  As it turns out, the history of that song is nearly as interesting as the classic car itself.  "G.T.O." was written by Bucky Wilkin in his high school physics class and later he was part of the Ronny & the Daytonas group who recorded the hit song.  You can read Daniel Cooper's article by clicking on the picture at the right (that's Bucky seated in the middle).  For further word on the GTO Pontiac car click on its picture and on the high-lighted initials GTO at the begining of this paragraph.
 

UFO...  Who isn't interested in Unidentified Flying Objects?  The cluemeisters certainly are, with clues such as "space sighting", "space saucer", "eerie sighting", "space saucer, briefly", etc., etc., etc.  The internet seems to be brimming with pictures of sightings along with tales of abductions by aliens and other accounts of various and sundry eerie exploits.  Click on the picture to be led to more of the same taken in 1987 in Gulf Breeze, Florida by Ed Walter, and then click on the high-lighted initials UFO at the top of this paragraph to discover another site with a list of many more UFO links.
 

SSE...  When they want to give us directions, the clue writers twist us around a bit.  Clues for South South East might be "compass dir." or "map abbr." or "weathervane abbr." or "vane dir." or "wind dir." or "vane letters" or "compass pt." or "course dir."  We've also seen "yacht heading", "helm heading", "ship's heading" and "ship's course".  As we all know, all of the preceding clues are equally acceptable for ENE, ESE, NNW, NNE, and SSW.  Happily, there's been a recent trend to less generalization and more specificity in clues for these initials.

SSE..."K.C. to Little Rock dir.", "Macon to Miami dir.", "Atlanta to Tampa dir.", and "Opp. of NNW" have been in recent puzzles.

ENE..."Tampa to Orlando dir." worked for this one when the direction was indicated.  When "ene" is not used as initials, the clue might be "Chemical ending".

ESE..."Reverse of NWN" fills the bill here.  For a non-initial variation there is "Language suffix".

NNW...This would be the "Houston to Dallas dir." as well as the "opp. of SSE".

NNE...It's the "Butte to Great Falls dir.", the "Austin to Waco dir." and a "SSW U-turn".

SSW..."London to Lisbon dir." puts the cap to our directional initials and clues.
 

The following pair of initials which also relate to travel have been moderately popular with the puzzle makers.
 

ETD...The Estimated Time of Departure (ETD) has been most recently clued as "train schedule abbr.", "LAX monitor info" and "train sta. posting".

ETA...The flip side would be the Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA), and there we find as clues "end of flight, perhaps: Abbr.", or "Station notation".  I've also seen "LAX info", "LAX listing", and "LAX posting" (all of which suggest cluemeisters often fly in and out of Los Angeles), as well as "landing info".  Otherwise, we may be reminded that ETA is a "Greek vowel", the "Seventh Greek letter" and the "Zeta-theta separator".
 

Initials for time zones are equally popular with the cluemeisters, and we often see the following which all turned up in a month of puzzles.
 

EST...Eastern Standard Time appears to be the favorite of the puzzle designers with clues such as "NY minute?", "coastal time abbr.", "NYC time abbr." and "Hrs. in Quebec" among its indicators.  It has also been described as a "superlative suffix" which serves as a "warm or cold ending".  Both of these clues have nothing to do with time zones or even initial clues, of course.  We've also been given "ballpark figure" and "approx." as clues for EST, but someone is going to have to help me out with what the initials stand for in this regard.

EDT...Eastern Daylight Time would be the "summer hours" or to be more specific "D.C.'s summer hours".

PST...Pacific Standard Time is accurately described as an "L.A. clock setting".  Time zones aside, PST also appears as an "attention-getter".

PDT...In one of the puzzles we were told that PDT (Pacific Daylight Time) is an "LAX clock setting".  There they are again, flying into Los Angeles, which is not only on PDT but also on PST.

MDT...Mountain Daylight Time would, as the puzzle says, be "Denver summer time" (obviously a change of plane stopover en route to LAX).

DST...Daylight Saving Time (DST) turns up in recent puzzles as "August hrs." and "Spring forward system" along with "NY summer time".
 

While we are still on the subject of clock settings and time, you might want to CLICK HERE for the official U.S. time.  In the spirit of this column, I have chosen the setting for the current time at LAX, but you can easily adjust it to wherever you wish.

Our month of crosswords give us just a few more initial items to round out the Travel and Transportation category.  None of them could be said to be in "frequent use" in puzzles, but they are all easily recognizable from their clues.
 

MPH...Miles Per Hour is most definitely answerable to "speedometer info" as the clue.

RPM...Revolutions Per Minute is a "tach reading" and for those pre-CD puzzle composers (and solvers) still happily living in the past we'll have to admit that, yes, it could also refer to "33 or 45, e.g.".
 

TWA...Trans World Airlines seems to be the only airline which uses an initial logo and also registers with the cluemeisters as a good possibility for their puzzles.  I'm still seeing "'Up, Up and Away is their slogan" (although I'm not certain they use it any more), and "Ambassadors Club carrier" also was a recent clue, although with airport changes in place since the World Trade Center bombing we might soon be getting a different brand of clues relating to TWA and all the other airlines.

Well, that does it for TIME AND TRAVEL INITIALS.  Still to come are

and that ever popular catch-all

Some day, but not now.
 
 

Among the thousands of websites about Crossword Puzzles, I've found two that are especially helpful both to the novice as well as the veteran puzzle solver.  You might enjoy checking them out.

If you are into online crosswords, and have a Java-powered browser, try Timothy Parker's Universal Crossword.  Just click on the logo below.

Copyright 1999 C. Schnebel
All rights reserved

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