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Apr 5, 2008

A Few Updates

1) Yesterday (Friday, April 4)'s GETTING ON puzzle constructor Robert A. Doll is a real person, not a pseudonym as I originally thought. Orange just blogged about his Washington Post puzzle on March 16, 2008.

2) Blogger comments glitch: It turns out that people have been experiencing similar problems in other blogs too (Rex Parker's NYT for example). I was worried that I did something wrong with my settings. Hope Blogger fixes this problem soon.

3) My gripes about OTT, OTTO, ODIUM and RADIUM: Here is Orange's take: "I don't think it's clumsy to have similar strings of letters in multiple answers, as long as they're not forms of the same word. OTT and OTTO are different, and ODIUM and RADIUM are entirely different, too. The big no-no is repeating the same word with the same root, like having OUTOFTIME and TIMER in the same puzzle."

4) My complaint about Sapporo sash clue: Orange said "many constructors and editors like short clues to rhyme or have alliteration. Thus, [Pig's digs] for a STY, and [Sapporo sash]. [Tokyo sash] basically means the same thing, but the clue doesn't have alliteration. Not sure why they're so fond of it!"

So, some of my grumblings are not on sold ground, and sometimes they are not right. But I am writing honestly about what's really going on in my mind.

If you disagree with my view, or spot any mistake, whether it's typo, clumsy theme summary, or wrong entry (I typed in Calls on the RED carpet for yesterday's CHIDES clue, did not realize it 'til Orange asked me), or incorrect grammar (I had this big past tense & present perfect confusion until Hugh Brown sent me a detailed explanation in mid March), please don't hesitate to let me know. I am willing and eager to learn.

Thank you for swinging by every day. I've learned a lot from you guys.

C.C.