Four letters in his first name. Four in his last name. Apparently the temptation was too great and Mr. Perl sneaks his name into today's Tuesday May 27 puzzle (answers) in the first and last Across clues. This takes a certain amount of ego and even superego, it seems to me, but he makes up for it by dropping the ID. Still, that's chutzpah.
Oh, he's a tenor. That explains it. PhillySolver sent me this link where you can read something about Mr. Perl's performance history. He played the lead role in a stage production of Mr. Natural in Ithaca. Not content to just be a star, he also owns an Antique Shop. (There's just no privacy on the Internet, is there?) I wonder how any of this background affects his crossword work. Well, here's one way. Only an antique TV would have a TINT control. Not sure modern lockers have PINUPs either.
We know for sure he didn't sneak his middle name in. The puzzle is G-less. Try harder next time, Adam!
Mr. Perl's previous puzzle brought back childhood memories with its Superman theme. Today's gimmick wasn't as charming but it still made for some humorous answers. There was a fair amount of early-week crosswordy fill but some twists too. Can someone explain the difference between et ALIA and et ALII? They're both plural, right? I need to find a native Latin speaker to set me straight.
Finally, I was amused by TEN being described as "our base system." As oppose to whose? Computer's? Martian's? It would, of course, have been far more convenient if we had settled on base twelve instead of ten, thereby allowing exact decimal representations of not just 1/2 and 1/4 but 1/3 as well. Maybe it's not too late to change. I think I'll start a petition.
Update: There's a detailed explanation of the et alia vs. et alii question in the next day's post.
