XYZ
X
Xiomara
110 "very young local girl" Windust married in Guatemala;
Y
Yaponchik
141 - Vyacheslav Kirillovich Ivankov was a notorious member of the Russian Mafia who was believed to have connections with Russian state intelligence organizations and their organized crime partners. He has operated in both the Soviet Union and the United States. His nickname "Yaponchik" translates from Russian as "Little Japanese," due to his faintly Asian facial features.
Yenta Expresso
4 - dating service on Tail 'Em's floor
Yentas With Attitude
41 - Maxine belongs
YIDDISH
kvell, 4; Yenta Expresso, 4; mitzvah, 17; mashgichim (a Jew who supervises the kashrut - Jewish dietary laws - status of a kosher establishment), hechschers (a Rabbinical Product certification qualifying items (usually foods) that conform to the requirements of Halakha (Jewish law)), shaygetz (a non-Jewish boy or young man), 24; putz, 26; fresser (one who eats ravenously), 33; shtupping, 38; frosk ("slap"), 98; obsessive Yenta syndrome, 103; plotz, 109 - to collapse or faint, as from surprise, excitement, or exhaustion; shviger 137, Yiddish for mother-in-law; zaftig (pleasantly plump), 177; yenta, 178; fress: to eat copiously and without restraint; to snack frequently, 197; zhlub (a crude person lacking in social skills along with insensitivity, clumsiness and a lack of manners), 238;
Ying, Dr.
4 - herb specialist and acupuncturist on same floor as Tail 'Em
Youngman, Henny
217 - comedian
Z
Zabar's
148 - Famous deli in Manhattan, NYC
Zagat
65
Zapf, Otto
61, black leather bosses' chairs
zapper
87 - An automated sales suppression device or zapper is a software program that falsifies the electronic records of point of sale (POS) systems for the purpose of tax evasion.
Zermelo's Axiom of Choice 109 An important and fundamental axiom in set theory. It was formulated by Zermelo in 1904 and states that, given any set of mutually disjoint nonempty sets, there exists at least one set that contains exactly one element in common with each of the nonempty sets. The axiom of choice is related to the first of Hilbert's problems.
zhlub
238 - a crude person lacking in social skills along with insensitivity, clumsiness and a lack of manners; Recall Richard M. Zhlub from Gravity's Rainbow
Ziggy
1, Maxine's oldest son; 32
Zima
45, "bitch drink of the nineties" "wildly popular novelty beverage"; 48, Zimartinis;
Zimbalist, Ephram, Jr.
100 - Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. (born November 30, 1918) is an American actor known for his starring roles in the television series 77 Sunset Strip (1958 - 1964) and The F.B.I. He is also known as recurring character "Dandy Jim Buckley" in the series Maverick and as the voice behind the character Alfred Pennyworth in Batman: The Animated Series and its numerous spin-offs.
Pynchon's reference here is to Zimbalist's character Stuart ("Stu") Bailey, an Los Angeles Private Detective, in the TV series 77 Sunset Strip. Here's a clip of Kookie (Ed Byrnes) and Zimbalist, from the 2nd episode of the first season:
zircons
3 - Zircon (includes hyacinth or yellow zircon) is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates. The natural color of zircon varies between colorless, yellow-golden, red, brown, blue, and green. Colorless specimens that show gem quality are a popular substitute for diamond and are also known as "Matura diamond."
Zizmor, Dr.
46, Jonathan Zizmor (born 1945) is an American dermatologist from New York City famous for his television commercials and prolific, colorful subway ads promising that "Now you can have beautiful clear skin!" Zizmor received his MD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Wikipedia entry
zona
137 - The word Gulag was not often used in Russian — either officially or colloquially; the predominant terms were the camps and the zone (zona), usually singular — for the labor camp system and for the individual camps.
Zorba the Greek (1964)
44 - film based on the novel Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis. The film was directed by Cypriot Michael Cacoyannis and the title character was played by Anthony Quinn.
Zwillman, Longy
67 - Abner "Longie" Zwillman (1904 - 1959), known as the "Al Capone of New Jersey," was an early Prohibition gangster, founding member of the "Big Seven" Ruling Commission and a member of the National Crime Syndicate, who was also associated with Murder Incorporated.
