Q.E.D (02/18)

Middle of Q.E.D – I can not begin to tell you how many times this shows up in a crossword. However, I can tell you that I never remember what it stands for.

(Perhaps by posting it here I will never forget again.)

Q.E.D. is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase quod erat demonstrandum,which literally means “that which was to be demonstrated”

(it also means that 2 DOWN is erat)

Here are some other acronyms solved:

FREDDIE MAC Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation

FANNIE MAE Federal National Mortgage Association

GUDD Gold up, Dollar Down

NASDAQ National Association Of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation

SOP Standard Operating Procedure

LOL Laugh out Loud (Hey, I know some people who have thought otherwise)

58 across: Portuguese man-o-war (01/30)

Once again, I am working on a crossword and I get stuck. Except this time I know that I know the answer or knew it before, but I was blocked.

I tried to go to the next clue but I couldn’t do it. It was as though I couldn’t move on without looking up the clue which I will share with you now:

Portuguese man-of-war

The 9 letter answer: jellyfish

The interesting thing about that answer is that it is NOT a jellyfish, although it is often mistook for one.

Looks can be deceiving...

Here are some facts thanks to National Geographic:

Anyone unfamiliar with the biology of the venomous Portuguese man-of-war would likely mistake it for a jellyfish. Not only is it not a jellyfish, it’s not even an “it,” but a “they.” The Portuguese man-of-war is a siphonophore, an animal made up of a colony of organisms working together.

The man-of-war comprises four separate polyps. It gets its name from the uppermost polyp, a gas-filled bladder, or pneumatophore, which sits above the water and somewhat resembles an old warship at full sail. Man-of-wars are also known as bluebottles for the purple-blue color of their pneumatophores.

The tentacles are the man-of-war’s second organism. These long, thin tendrils can extend 165 feet (50 meters) in length below the surface, although 30 feet (10 meters) is more the average. They are covered in venom-filled nematocysts used to paralyze and kill fish and other small creatures. For humans, a man-of-war sting is excruciatingly painful, but rarely deadly. But beware—even dead man-of-wars washed up on shore can deliver a sting.

Muscles in the tentacles draw prey up to a polyp containing the gastrozooids or digestive organisms. A fourth polyp contains the reproductive organisms.

Man-of-wars are found, sometimes in groups of 1,000 or more, floating in warm waters throughout the world’s oceans. They have no independent means of propulsion and either drift on the currents or catch the wind with their pneumatophores. To avoid threats on the surface, they can deflate their air bags and briefly submerge.

Why does the fact that it’s not even an “it,” but a “they” still creep me out?

Word of the Day (01/20)

I think it’s safe to say that I do at least (or at least attempt to) do one crossword a day. It can be enjoyable and relaxing, but other times I haven’t the faintest idea on what they want from me. For instance, how am I supposed to know what is ‘not decumbent’ when I don’t even know what decumbent is?

So to help you (and me) in future crosswords and/or life here is the definition:

decumbent
adjective Botany
(of a plant or part of a plant) lying along the ground or along a surface, with the extremity curving upward.

ORIGIN late 18th cent.: from Latin decumbent- ‘lying down,’ from the verb decumbere, based on de- ‘down’ + a verb related to cubare ‘to lie.’

(by the way, the answer to this crossword clue was – erect) Use that tid bit any which way you please.