This crossword puzzle was adapted from a column that I wrote during the 1980s entitled, "The Unorthodox Glossary of Geological Terms" where I selected certain jargon and technical words from a geologist's dictionary, known only to earth scientists, and wrote whimsically twisted "definitions" to approximate what lay persons untrained in science might believe them to mean.

ACROSS CLUES 3.  Pretty good 6.  Geologists' favorite cuss word 8.  Group of French mobsters 11. Geologist's houseplant 13. Small black bird which builds its nests in outcrops of metamorphic rocks 14. Basic tool of the geologist's trade 15. Binoculars give you a view from ----. 17. Igneous rock that sometimes lives up to its name 20. Ridiculously simple 21. Sandstone deposit discovered by Noah - named after his boat 26. Sick pet rock 27. American musical form, combining old and new rock 29. Mushy sediment which you wouldn't want to step into 30. Name of the volcano in the Carribean named after a famous soccer player. 31. The only thing worse than an apparent dip is a ---- dip. 32. Lousy weather can be found by this symbol on a weather map. 33. When a fault refuses to budge, both sides are said to be ------ 36. Music that is lightweight or superficial (i.e. pumice, which some people lava lot) 39. Symptom of indigestion 41. The most happening place we know of. 42. Chicago has a lake; San Francisco has a ---. 43. What geologists exclaim when the sun comes up.

DOWN CLUES 1. The country that 1 out of 4 college freshman could not locate on a blank world map 2. Sodium chloride substitute, which looks more like pepper 3. Latest cleaning feature on high-tech washing machines 4. Rock that fails to break windows 5. Mushy, sedimental music with a laid-back beat 7. Music flavored by those inclined to be igneous, or just plain ignorant 9. Geologists who habitually eat camp food will get ---. 10. Measure of duration 12. Abbreviation of a city that lives on a fault line 13. One of the little men of the wetlands 16. The residue of incinerated insects 18. Abbreviation for the sunshine state 19. A good way to get lost, if you can't read one 22. Dark, fairly basic soft drink, low in calories 23. Ill-mannered Irish pet rock 24. Insufferably uninteresting drill hole 25. Senile old geologist 28. Shatterproof plastic 34. Have a gneiss ---. 35. This volcano's eruption may have originated the legend of Atlantis 37. No-no 38. Type of precipiation which can't decide whether it's rain or fog 39. One spin of Terra 40. "Soil" as pronounced in the southern U.S., or one of numerous germ-killing home cleaning products