2/16/25 - Square to Begin 🟦

🏁 Solve –> Square to Begin by John Kugelman

20A | The masses

HOI POLLOI

Meaning "the many" in Ancient Greek, hoi polloi (pronounced "hoy-puh-loy") originally carried a positive connotation, as it was the masses who were the bedrock of Athenian democracy.

In modern times, however, the phrase is often deployed in a disparaging manner – signifying those who are considered to be at the bottom of the social hierarchy.

52A | Body of water that was once the world's fourth-largest lake

ARAL SEA

In the 1950s, the Soviet Union devised a plan to transform the desert region of Uzbekistan into farmland for growing cotton – a cash crop they could export to other countries. To accomplish this goal, water began being diverted from the two rivers feeding the Aral Sea in order to irrigate the newly formed fields.

As a result, the Aral Sea – which at one time covered 26,000 square miles [67,000 square kilometers] – began to shrink to the point where today it only measures about one-tenth of its original size and has been split into two separate bodies of water: the North Aral Sea (located in Kazakhstan) and the South Aral Sea (in Uzbekistan).

Although much of the surface area of the larger South Aral Sea remains dried up, the smaller North Aral Sea has seen a revival due to the construction of a dike completed in 2005 with funds provided by the World Bank.

👉 BONUS BIT: Earth's largest lake is the Caspian Sea (Asia), which at 149,000 mi² [386,000 km²] is greater in size than the next seven biggest lakes combined. Lake Superior (North America) and Lake Victoria (Africa) are 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

60A | Souvenir from the Sea of Tranquillity, say

MOON ROCK

The Sea of Tranquility, a basin located in the Moon's Northern Hemisphere, served as the July 20, 1969 landing site for the Eagle lunar module carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on NASA's Apollo 11 space mission.

While on the surface, Armstrong and Aldrin collected 47.5 pounds worth of rocks and soil (known as "lunar regolith") to bring back to Earth for examination.

But it wasn't all take, take, take. The pair also left behind some parting gifts, including an American flag, a plaque bearing the inscription "We came in peace for all mankind," and assorted debris (tools, a tv camera – even the tube the flag had been rolled in) to lighten the load for their return flight.

77A | Yo-yo-like toy with a devilish-sounding name

DIABOLO

The diabolo is a contraption involving an hourglass-shaped object that is manipulated using a string attached to the ends of two sticks. A modified version of the Chinese yo-yo, it was introduced in Europe at the onset of the 19th century.

There remains some debate as to the origin of the name, but one likely explanation is that it derives from an older designation – the "devil with two sticks." ["Diabolo" was not adopted until the early 1900s.]

"Devil sticks," meanwhile, now refers to a different game wherein a person uses two sticks (one held in each hand) to keep a third baton aloft.

80A | Michael Jordan's nickname, with "His"

AIRNESS

The sobriquet "His Airness" was bestowed upon basketball legend Michael Jordan in the wake of winning the Slam Dunk Contest – held as part of the NBA's All Star Game weekend – in 1987 and 1988.

To secure both victories, Jordan pulled off the gravity-defying feat of completing a dunk after jumping from the free throw line. These iconic slams further enhanced a high-flying reputation that had already been commodified via his Air Jordan shoe collaboration with Nike and its affiliated "Jumpman" logo.

(Ironically, in the photograph from a 1984 Life magazine shoot that was used as the basis for the "Jumpman" silhouette, Jordan is wearing New Balance sneakers.)

98A | Weapon whose name is an acronym

TASER

The TASER, a nominally non-lethal weapon, was invented by Jack Cover – a nuclear physicist who worked on the Apollo space project. In 1974, Cover received U.S. patent #3,803,463A for his device which –

includes a harmless projectile that is connected by means of a relatively fine, conductive wire to a launcher which contains an electrical power supply. The projectile is intended to contact a living target without serious trauma and to deliver an electric charge thereto sufficient to immobilize.

He called his device TASER, an acronym standing for Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle. The name is an homage to a series of children's adventure/science-fiction books that feature a young boy hero (Tom Swift) whose brilliant inventions are central to each story's plot. [Unfortunately, Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle; Or, Daring Adventures on Elephant Island (1911) is generally condemned for its racist depictions of Africans.]

Originally classified as a firearm because it employed gunpowder as a propellent, in 1993 Cover introduced a version that fired electric darts using compressed air, thereby paving the way for more widespread use by law enforcement agencies and the general public.

6D | Count seen in the breakfast aisle

CHOCULA

Count Chocula (a punny reference to Count Dracula, the famous literary vampire) is the cartoon mascot and namesake of a General Mills cereal comprised of corn meal and marshmallows – both chocolate-flavored.

The brand first hit shelves in 1971 alongside Franken Berry (a strawberry-flavored option) and later expanded to include several other monster-themed concoctions such as:

• Boo Berry (blueberry)
• Frute Brute (unspecified "fruit")
• Fruity Yummy Mummy (again, the "fruit" is not named)
• Carmella Creeper (caramel apple)

👉 BONUS BIT: The first sketches of Count Chocula were produced by George Karn, the same illustrator who drew the Trix Rabbit.

12D | Equivalent of a billion years, in geology

EON

While the word "eon" is often used to invoke an extensive – perhaps infinite or immeasurable – period of time when employed in everyday speech, on the geologic time scale it specifically denotes the longest segment that time can be divided into.

Within eons, time is further subdivided into eras, periods, epochs, and ages.

At present, we exist in the:

• Phanerozoic Eon - 540 million years ago to present
• Cenozoic Era - 66 million years ago to present
• Quaternary Period - 2.5 million years ago to present
• Holocene Epoch - 12,000 years ago to present
• Meghalayan Age - 4,000 years ago to present

⚠️ FYI: In March 2024, the IUGS (International Union of Geological Sciences) officially denied a proposal that sought to formally define a new epoch as the Anthropocene, a term that has gained popularity for its acknowledgment of the impact humans have had on our planet.

94D | Currency in seven American countries (and one Asian)

PESO

A peso – meaning "weight" in Spanish – is similar to the U.S. dollar in that its value is 100 cents (centavos).

Currently, the peso exists as a unit of currency in Argentina, Chile, Columbia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Uruguay and the Philippines (the sole Asian nation), though other countries have previously minted pesos at various times.

Although the name is the same, each country's peso is uniquely issued and their exchange rates vary on the international market. For example, as of this writing, 1 Mexican peso is equivalent to $0.05 USD, while a Chilean peso is only worth $0.0011 USD.

95D | Van ___ (beard type)

DYKE

The style of facial hair known as the Van Dyke – in which a man shaves their cheeks, but retains a mustache and goatee – was fashionable across Europe during the 1600s. The eponym is an anglicization of the name of Flemish artist Anthony van Dyck, who, along with many of his portrait subjects (most notably King Charles I of England), sported the look.