ST×NLB Cross-References: Follicly challenged, colloquially
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Keeping a full head of hair can be a challenge in one’s later years.
ST PHOTO: JASEL POH
Sasha Tan
SINGAPORE – This week’s ST×NLB Crossword was constructed by National Library Board archivist Alif Zaini, who is part of a team of 40 volunteers from both organisations. Here’s his message to solvers:
Long time solver, first time constructor here. There’s a lot to love (and know) about Singapore and I’ve tried to celebrate that in my puzzle. While some of the words might be niche, I’d like to think solvers will walk away learning something new about Singapore. So, I would encourage solvers to look up any unfamiliar terms, places or people in my puzzle.
The first thing you’re likely to notice about the grid is its unusual layout, with a dense, crossing-rich core. This felt to us a bit like a cultural hybrid, in that while most of the grid uses a lattice pattern typical of puzzles in Britain, Australia and New Zealand, its centre resembles an American-style puzzle, where every square is part of both an Across and a Down answer.
While our ST×NLB Crossword puzzles typically follow the British style, this grid feels like a nod to puzzle-making traditions on both sides of the Atlantic. If that stylistic hop across the pond isn’t enough globetrotting for you, take some holiday inspiration from this week’s clues.
First, board a flight from our flag carrier SIA (33D). Singapore Airlines, that is; not to be confused with the Australian singer Sia known for her hit song Chandelier, or the Singlish particle “sia” that intensifies sentences.
More than 726,000 Singaporeans travelled to Japan in 2025, so TOKYO (8A) would be a popular destination of choice. If you visit the city, you might be touching down in Haneda Airport, or HND (22A) for short. Eager to turn this flight of fancy into an actual flight? The GO Share Japan Lah! photo and video contest is on from now till Sept 13 and offers prizes including return tickets to Japan and a two-night stay at the Imperial Hotel Tokyo.
After exploring the capital, two and a half hours on the Shinkansen will get you to OSAKA (1D), which avid tennis fans may recognise as the birthplace of women’s tennis world No. 1 Naomi Osaka. In a 2018 interview, she quipped that “everyone who was born in Osaka, their last name is Osaka”, in response to a question on why she did not share her Haitian-born father’s surname. When the bemused reporter evidently missed the joke, Osaka clarified that she bears her Japanese mother’s surname.
Asam laksa is often misspelt as Assam laksa, despite originating from Penang.
ST PHOTO: HEDY KHOO
Instead of Japan, tea connoisseurs could travel west instead of east, just beyond the perimeter of the ASEAN (29D) region, to ASSAM (7A), the [Indian state that sounds like a laksa variety]. This tea-growing region, the largest in the world, is pronounced almost identically to “asam”, a Malay term describing sour, tamarind-rich dishes like asam pedas and asam laksa.
Farther afield in the African continent, [Mummy’s home?] isn’t a parent’s cheerful entryway announcement, but the land of the Pharaohs, EGYPT (6D). We were particularly fond of this clue for the fact that every part of it changes meaning between its “surface reading” and its actual definition: “mummy” is a preserved body, not a maternal address; the apostrophe S is possessive, not a contraction of “is”; and “home” is a noun, not the state of being at one’s residence.
Keen to leave the planet altogether? Crack open the SPINE (33A) of a good SCI-FI (28D) novel and get lost in another universe. It is, after all, a [Genre that’s out of this world, often]. If you need recommendations, the What If? Singapore Science Fiction & Fantasy pop-up at the Central Library is a good place to start.
After taking you far and wide, there are also plenty of local clues this week to keep things close to home. Here are a few of our favourites:
Botak Jones founder Bernie Utchenik with his wife, Madam Faudziah Ali, in front of their stall at 118 Depot Lane.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
13A. The word BOTAK describes someone who’s [Follicly challenged, colloquially]. Foodies may find themselves picturing the faceless figure in the logo of the popular Western food stall Botak Jones, with naught but two auricular indications to distinguish him from a thumb.
20A. At the grid’s centre is [Singapore’s deadlift queen who has set 14 world records], FARHANNA FARID. In June, she lifted 220.5kg in the women’s 52kg class at the World Classic Open Powerlifting Championships, surpassing her previous record. Meanwhile, I was overcome by a particularly implacable jar lid midway through writing this column and had to resort to the old hot water trick.
3D. Familiar to many a happy couple here, the Registry of Marriages, or ROM, is Singapore’s quintessential [Knot-tying spot, in short]. Currently in Esplanade Mall, the registry previously stood just up the hill from the National Archives and will return to its Fort Canning location in 2029. Little wonder then that it found its way into an archivist’s grid.
9D. If you’ve ever found yourself searching for a word to describe folks behaving foolishly, Singlish offers a colourful array of possibilities, including [Bodohs] or GOONDUS. We’ll leave solvers to recall other options.
27D. Solvers who lived through the 2003 Sars outbreak may recognise this Sar-Vivor Rap refrain from beloved sitcom character Phua Chu Kang: “Sars is the virus that I just want to MINUS.” More recently in 2021, the iconic general contractor made a return in Get Your Shot, Steady Pom Pi Pi, a rap described by British newspaper The Guardian as offering “surprisingly detailed medical advice”. I enjoy educational disco rap as much as the next person, but I do think for continuity’s sake that we could have stuck with the mathematical-operator theme a la Ed Sheeran. My take: “Covid is the virus we shouldn’t let divide us”. Very #SGUnited, no?
Book recommendations
Let the week’s clues inspire your next read, courtesy of NLB. Follow the links to borrow.
8A. “I couldn’t really say I belonged to TOKYO and its coffee shops. But I had never felt this loneliness there. I could drink my coffee, read my book, pass the time of day without any special thought, all because I was part of the regular scenery. Here I had no ties to anyone. Fact is, I’d come to reclaim myself.” – Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami
4D. “An intoxication; the height-sick homesick drug of space. The simultaneous not wanting to be here and always wanting to be here, the heart scraped hollow with craving, which is not emptiness in the least, more the knowledge of how fillable he is. The sights from ORBIT do this; they make a billowing kite of you, given shape and loftiness by all that you aren’t.” – Orbital by Samantha Harvey
25D. “Like the vertebral column and bone, there is yet another vertebrate innovation that sits near the top of our list: TEETH. Teeth are that important.” – Bite: An Incisive History Of Teeth, From Hagfish To Humans by Bill Schutt
Don’t have the NLB mobile app? Download it now on the App Store or Google Play to enjoy more great reads.
Across
1. Timothee Chalamet and Emma Stone in 2026, e.g. (5,8): OSCAR NOMINEES
7. Indian tea region that sounds like a laksa variety (5): ASSAM
8. Its wards include Shibuya and Shinjuku (5): TOKYO
9. One of Singapore’s sovereign wealth funds (3): GIC
11. Much ___ About Nothing (3): ADO
13. Follicly challenged, colloquially (5): BOTAK
15. Since Jan 1, or day before today, in short (3): YTD
17. Chess rating (3): ELO
18. Like some Colonels (Abbr.) (3): RET
20. Singapore’s deadlift queen who has set 14 world records (8,5): FARHANNA FARID
22. Abbr. for an airport serving 8-Across (3): HND
23. SPF’s detectives, or a Tay Ping Hui drama series about them (3): CID
24. “Oh, and another thing…” in textspeak (3): BTW
26. Local stand-up comedian whose career spans three decades (5): KUMAR
28. Local tech conglomerate whose logo features three blue waves (3): SEA
31. Daughter’s husband, in short (3): SIL
32. What drivers navigate in the S-course (5): BENDS
33. Backbone or book binding (5): SPINE
34. It once housed transformers and independent artists (3,10): THE SUBSTATION
Down
1. Japanese tennis star Naomi, or the city of her birth (5): OSAKA
2. Watch brand favoured by NSFs (5): CASIO
3. Knot-tying spot, in short (3): ROM
4. Yearly round-trip? (5): ORBIT
5. Neither ante nor post meridiem (4): NOON
6. Mummy’s home? (5): EGYPT
9. Bodohs (7): GOONDUS
10. Singaporean rock band named after an African wild cat (7): CARACAL
12. Satu + satu (3): DUA
13. _____ (5): BLANK
14. Fermented milk drink (5): KEFIR
16. Blu-Ray’s predecessor (3): DVD
17. Unenthusiastic utterance (3): EHH
19. Little bit, to Brits (3): TAD
20. Month for valentines, in short (3): FEB
21. Post-secondary path for vocational training (3): ITE
25. Canines, e.g. (5): TEETH
27. “Sars is the virus that I just want to _____” (5): MINUS
28. Genre that’s out of this world, often (3-2): SCI-FI
29. Regional organisation associated with cross-armed handshakes (5): ASEAN
30. Concern of gamblers or statisticians (4): ODDS
33. Flag carrier, Chandelier singer, or Singlish intensifier (3): SIA
If you have any feedback, feel free to write to us at stgames@sph.com.sg. See you next week!