Wednesday, May 03, 2006

The End of the World As We Know It (with apologies to REM)

Okay, once again, I exaggerate. Still, as someone who comes from a line of crossword addicts (the gene for this from my grandma, Mayme), I must point out some serious end-time omens.

The first was two weeks ago, the last time I did a puzzle (see, I'm doing pretty well, having cut back from daily doses).

The editor in me complains when I find things misspelled in the newspaper. It complains a little louder when those mistakes are in the crossword. When the error's not in the clues, but in the puzzle grid itself, that inner editor just plain howls!

So this morning, when I decided to have a paperwork clean-up day, the crossword seemed the perfect excuse for more procrastination. Only what did I find, but yet another of what I deemed as an error.

The clue was something about running ______, which I took to call for amok. But there were five squares not four, so it worked out to have to be the much-uglier amuck.

A dictionary search informed me that this is an acceptable spelling. Grudgingly, I have come to accept such things.

But I still can't find an excuse for the error from that other puzzle, the inexplicable acquistions. To me, its definition, purchases, suggests a word with another 'i' in its midst, acquisitions. See why I'm in such a sweat?

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