ST×NLB Cross-References: It takes a toll, motorists might say

SINGAPORE – This week’s ST×NLB Crossword was constructed by my puzzle co-editor, NLB librarian Sasha Tan, who is part of a team of 40 volunteers from both organisations. Here’s his message to solvers:

This puzzle almost makes me feel like I’m back in Social Studies class, learning about NOTABLE (7D) moments in Singapore history.

During the 19th-century colonial era, Singapore was ruled by the British and used mainly as a strategic trade hub for sea shipping. Aside from the area surrounding the port, the island was sparsely developed then, with much land being used to grow cash crops. 

These included pepper and gambier plantations in Pearl’s Hill, coconut plantations stretching from Fort Road to Dunman Road, and SUGARCANE (25A) plantations in Balestier. Incidentally, these places were named after plantation owners from those times: Captain James Pearl, Thomas Dunman and Joseph Balestier.

The outbreak of World War II would trigger the next significant chapter in our history, starting with the painful years of the Japanese Occupation.

This led directly to the struggle for self-determination, first through our initially EAGER (22A) but ultimately short-lived merger with Malaysia in 1963, and then to independence through separation. “Singapore is OUT (10A)”, the front-page headline in The Straits Times reported the morning after Aug 9, 1965.

Then came the introduction of compulsory national service in 1967. Every Singaporean SON (6A) would be required to enlist for two and a half YEARS (3D) of military training to ensure we would be able to defend ourselves against external threats.

And finally, in modern Singapore, we have high-tech innovations like NEWATER (2D) to bolster our water security and the Electronic Road Pricing system, or ERP (12D), to manage the car population on our limited road space. Physical ERP gantries will soon be phased out as Singapore transitions to a new satellite-based ERP 2.0 system.

Social Studies was admittedly not my favourite subject in primary school. It felt dry and dull learning about these facts and events that seemed to have happened so long ago. But when I got older, encountering the same narratives through new perspectives gave me a new appreciation for what I was taught in school. 

During university, I was blown away by the allegorical retelling of merger and separation in the acclaimed graphic novel, The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye by illustrator SONNY LIEW (1A).

And more recently, the declassification of the ALBATROSS (17A) file, compiled during the merger and separation years by then-Minister for Finance Goh Keng Swee, reshaped how many of us understood that period of history. 

The idiom of an albatross hung on one’s neck symbolising a heavy burden originates from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, showing how Goh viewed the merger as a burden that Singapore was bearing.

Future cohorts of Social Studies students will be taught that Singapore was not suddenly and unilaterally expelled from Malaysia (as was the prevailing narrative before) but rather that separation was the result of secret talks and coordinated action between both sides to deliberately present the separation to the public as a fait accompli. 

Here’s a few more terms you might not learn in Social Studies.

8A. If you’ve ever tried to sell something on Carousell, you might have received a LOWBALL offer, or an insultingly low price being offered by a prospective buyer. One learns to expect this by experience, as evidenced by the inclusion of “NO LOWBALLERS” on many an item description.

9A. The Malay word [Belanja] refers to an expense, but is used colloquially to mean giving someone a TREAT, such as a meal or drink. Hawker centres in several places around Singapore have a “belanja a meal” programme where lower-income residents can redeem free meals. One might also hear the word uttered in the school canteen during recess as a request: “I forgot my wallet. Belanja me a Milo, can?”

23A. LEARNED is not only the past tense of learn but also an adjective (pronounced lear-ned) meaning [Scholarly]. This form of the word is perhaps most often heard in courtrooms, where opposing lawyers frequently refer to each other as “my learned friend”, especially in passive-aggressive tones during tense moments of disagreement.

16D. A BONANZA is a mining term referring to a rich mineral vein but has come to be used as a general term for a [Treasure trove] or a source of riches. My colleague Vikram Khanna described 2025’s election Budget as a “bonanza Budget”. The word is also often used in event titles to signal an elaborate or lively atmosphere, as in SAFRA’s Football Bonanza events where World Cup matches were screened.

Book recommendations

Let the week’s clues inspire your next read, courtesy of NLB. Follow the links to borrow.

22A. “Insanity hovered close at hand, like an EAGER waiter at an expensive restaurant.” — The God Of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

6D. “When I open them, most of the books have the SMELL of an earlier time leaking out between the pages—a special odor of the knowledge and emotions that for ages have been calmly resting between the covers. Breathing it in, I glance through a few pages before returning each book to its shelf.” — Kafka On The Shore by Haruki Murakami

18D. “Seeing this as a debate between whether you are pro-tech or anti-tech is BOGUS and lets the people who stole your attention off the hook. The real debate is: What tech, designed for what purposes, in whose interests?” — Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention—And How To Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari

Across

1. Illustrator known for The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (5,4): SONNY LIEW

6. Every Singaporean ___ (local documentary about basic military training) (3): SON

8. Offer insultingly little, as on Carousell (7): LOWBALL

9. Belanja (5): TREAT

10. Singapore is ___ (Straits Times headline on Aug 10, 1965) (3): OUT

11. Well-known gaming chair manufacturer, ironically (6,3): SECRETLAB

13. Negligent (13): IRRESPONSIBLE

17. Goh Keng Swee’s dossier named for a bird symbolising a burden (9): ALBATROSS

20. At this very moment (3): NOW

22. Raring to go (5): EAGER

23. Scholarly (7): LEARNED

24. ___-man (servile sort) (3): YES

25. Drink-stall juice option that's neither fruit nor vegetable (9): SUGARCANE

Down

1. Opening _____ (first volley) (5): SALVO

2. Reclaimed refreshment (7): NEWATER

3. What birthday candles represent (5): YEARS

4. Down with something (3): ILL

5. One who saw a crime unfold (7): WITNESS

6. Scent (5): SMELL

7. Worthy of remark (7): NOTABLE

12. It takes a toll, motorists might say (3): ERP

13. Literary descriptions that evoke the senses (7): IMAGERY

14. Surgical threads (7): SUTURES

15. Entries in a sudoku grid, briefly (3): NOS

16. Treasure trove (7): BONANZA

18. Phoney (5): BOGUS

19. Component of a flight? (5): STAIR

21. Chunk of cheese, perhaps (5): WEDGE

23. Gamer's bane (3): LAG

If you have any feedback, feel free to write to us at stgames@sph.com.sg. See you next week!