NYT Thursday Puzzle – August 1, 2013

Theme: Physics Formulas (60-Across: What the three sets of circled squares in this puzzle represent)

17A. With 22-Across, fail to cope with difficult circumstances = Crack under force/Area
27A. With 35-Across, highway sign meaning “slow down” = Reduce distance/Time
45A. With 51-Across, Monaco has the world’s highest = Population mass/Volume

I’m totally physics-challenged since I didn’t take physics in school. So, it’s beyond amazing to me that I was able to complete this puzzle at all – much less do so without any errors. However, once done, I had no clue what the formulas represented. Fortunately, Rex Parker provided the explanation (for which I thank him!):

In familiar phrases, “Pressure” “Speed” and “Density” are represented visually in the grid by their formulas (FORCE over AREA, DISTANCE over TIME, and MASS over VOLUME, respectively)

With regard to 17-Across, I do think the usual phrase is “Crack under pressure, but whatever….

There are a lot of interesting fills:

20A. _____Diruna (daily Roman notices). Answer: Acta.
movies.
23A. Tolkien’s Dark Lord of Mordor. Answer: Sauron. I’ve not read the books nor seen the movies.
41A. British poet laureate _____ Day-Lewis. Answer: Cecil. The father of actor Daniel.
64A. Too much. Answer: De trop. Knowing French helped here.
68A. Greek night goddess. Answer: Nyx.
10D. Sif’s husband in myth: Answer: Thor
12D. South America’s _____ Trail. Answer: Inca
28D. Old A.C. Gilbert toy. Answer: Erector set
43D. Golfer Poulter. Answer: Ian.