Has anyone else heard this one

[munchlet]

Committed Puzzleheads

That's how Bret Fetzer at amazon.com describes the target audience for Wordplay, a documentary for crossword solvers as well as curious observers of said species.

The linguistic ballet of the crossword puzzle and the obsessive minds that wrestle with them are a source of delight in the charming documentary Wordplay.

Thanks, Bansai, for the heads up here. A must see. Long ago, before I started working Sundays, Will Shortz and his weekly puzzlers on NPR's "Weekend Edition" were a Sunday morning highlight.

http://www.npr.org/programs/wesun/puzzle/will.html

[Shortz] is the only person in the world to hold a college degree in Enigmatology, the study of puzzles, which he earned from Indiana University in 1974.

Chicago Sun-Times reprints the New York Times crossword (on week days). I can handle Monday's and Tuesday's puzzles... might take a stab at Weds. After that, fuhgeddabout it!

[munchlet]

P.S. Most informative article (1998 revisited)

Please note Bansai's link above: a short [fascinating] bio of Will Shortz, NYT crossword puzzle editor.

The double solution for Election Day, 1996, was absolutely awesome. How ingenious. What talent, first to think of the idea and then design a puzzle around it. All my life I've wanted to think that way but to this day remain relentlessly linear in my thought patterns. What a rut.

Andrea

[maradnu]

Multiple answers to crypto

It depends on how much divergence you are looking for. There are puzzles on this site which can have a word or two which could be any one of several words, which make equal sense. This is particularly true where there are words with one or more letters used only once in the puzzle.

[momof6]

pain patches

Hi!

Not very educated in these matters, but I just read about a cancer patient that used patches for pain relief.

[bansaisequoia]

Seen it before

I've seen such pain relief patches before, too, momof6. I know they exist. There's even a girl who frequents my bar who has any number of maladies who has them prescribed by her doctors. She has dermal patches that slowly medicate her with oxy-contin, among other things. I only wish they had over the counter patches that would allow ulcer sufferers to take aspirin. Maybe one day.

[imported_kat]

pain relief

interesting. I have been concerned since the allergic reaction I had due to motrin. Like the feedback. Curious, Bansai, "My bar", hmm... The bar you frequent? And the poor girl who has any number of maladies? Well, curiosity/Kat Go figure. It's late.

[bansaisequoia]

I had one of those

...have you tried Tylenol # 1 with codeine...

Actually, poots, I don't have a condition for which a doctor might prescribe codeine (or is that over the counter for Canucks?) And I rarely need an analgesic when I am not under the care of a doctor for a particular malady. What I really miss about aspirin, is that nothing picks one up more and alleviates minor hangover symptoms more than good old acetylsalicylic acid. In addition, it's actually bad for people (especially men), to use acetaminophen (Tylenol) for hangover symptoms.



That's why I want them to develop an over the counter dermal aspirin patch!

[bansaisequoia]

Things that make you go hmmm...

"My bar", hmm... The bar you frequent? And the poor girl who has any number of maladies? Well, curiosity/Kat Go figure.

Actually, kat, my bar is a place I frequent. However, at one time this same location was a restaurant where I was employed. Actually, I've worked at three different restaurants over the years, here at this same location. That's how fast restaurants and bars come and go here in my crazy Palm Beach County community. As I've told you in an earlier private message, I spent 23 years in the restaurant/hospitality industry. That's why I've gone completely insane.



As for the girl with any number of maladies?



They no longer serve her. One evening she fell off a bar stool right next to me. Alcohol/Oxy-Contin/Driving don't mix. Am I conceited if I say I think she had a little crush on me? (Why can't I meet a normal girl?)

[munchlet]

A patch for every purpose...

(shrugs)

How long have birth control patches been approved for use (by prescription)? For three weeks female hormones are efficiently absorbed through one's skin directly into the blood stream -- resulting in 60% greater exposure to estrogen (so says Ortho Evra's web page), presumably because the digestive tract has been bypassed.

So I'm wondering why NSAID patches are not available OTC -- and remember that Vioxx (used to treat arthritis) was pulled by Merck in Oct 2004 due to potentially lethal cardiovascular side effects: heart attacks, stroke. Damages from Vioxx-related lawsuits have totaled $4.5 billion... and just last October Pfizer promised $894M for claims against Bextra (Celebrex only, in the same class of Cox-2 inhibitors, remains on the market).

Would that be the reason... you think... that something as simple and effective as a pain patch is still not available OTC? Too risky for big pharma's big pockets...



Andrea