ST×NLB Cross-References: Pandemic era app or token
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During the Covid-19 pandemic, a certain app or token was required to enter many places such as shopping malls and eateries.
ST PHOTO: ONG WEE JIN
SINGAPORE – This week’s ST×NLB Crossword was constructed by ST Features Correspondent Grace Yeoh, who is part of a team of 40 volunteers from both organisations. Here’s her message to solvers:
Constructing this crossword, as well as playtesting others before they were published, has been a surprisingly effective check on my blind spots. Clues I found obvious sometimes weren’t to others and vice versa. A good reminder that even within a small grid, let alone a small country, who we are shapes how we see. Have fun playing.
How time flies. It’s been more than a month since we launched this crossword series. Before we publish each puzzle, we playtest it in our working group and with friends and family to make sure the clues are fair and not too full of obscure references. It’s always interesting to see how different people draw different associations from the clues and it’s not always possible (or desirable) to avoid including a reference that at least some people won’t understand.
For instance, I chuckled and got the answer immediately when I saw that old joke, popular among academics, that pursuing a postgraduate Doctor of Philosophy degree or PHD (1D) causes permanent head damage. But Sasha, my crossword co-editor, had not heard it before and had to infer the answer from the clue. Another playtester who didn’t know the joke found the clue slightly perplexing.
Similarly, a friend with an interest in sports science instinctively knew that [Treatment before treatment, in short] was PREHAB (D4), while several other playtesters had never heard of the word. Prehabilitation refers to care initiated before a major surgery, while rehabilitation, the more familiar term, takes place after.
Some might also know the word from serving in the Singapore Armed Forces, where Prehabilitation Exercise (PX), introduced in 2021, refers to a set of daily stretching and strengthening drills meant to improve mobility and reduce injury.
Another one that might divide solvers by age or operating system preference: The [Key that unlocks many shortcuts?] is CTRL (18A) or Control. On Linux and Windows computers, it is the quintessential key for many shortcuts like Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste (Ctrl+V).
But MacOS users might more readily think of the Command (⌘) key for these shortcuts. And those who use only mobile phones or tablets might not have keyboard shortcut keys in mind at all.
Oh well. It’s always good to break out of one’s ECHO CHAMBER (10A). We encourage you to share and discuss the puzzles with your own friends and family. Which clues did they find easy or difficult? We’d love to hear from you, tell us by writing to stgames@sph.com.sg
16A. A GAG ORDER is an [Instruction to keep quiet, in a way]. A JUDGE (11D) might impose one to protect the identities of victims of certain crimes. The order carries legal force and breaching one can result in a fine and/or imprisonment.
2D. It wasn’t so long ago that we all needed to have the TRACETOGETHER app installed on our phones or carry around a Bluetooth-enabled contact tracing token to enter shopping malls or eateries. The technology was used to help the authorities trace connections between groups of people when a new cluster of Covid-19 cases was discovered.
Don’t call 999 to complain that the sun is too hot.
ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
6D. SPF can stand for the Singapore Police Force or Sun Protection Factor. We pondered the phrasing of this clue for quite some time before settling on the double meaning of [Units safeguarding society or skin?] to describe both police units and the units of measurement for sunscreen protectiveness.
12D. Ah “revert”, the bane of many a language purist. The word means to return to a previous state, as in the headline: CHIJ Toa Payoh primary and secondary schools to revert to full original names in 2027. But many use it incorrectly (especially in e-mails) to mean REPLY, as in “Please revert to me as soon as possible”.
17D. The word calefare is a neologism peculiar to Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong (and perhaps other places with Cantonese speakers). It is reportedly a corruption of the Cantonese term for background actors or EXTRAS, kelefe, which is itself a loanword from the English term “carefree”. The 2008 Channel 5 comedy series Calefare lampooned the struggles of bit-part actors trying to make it big in showbiz.
Book recommendations
Let the week’s clues inspire your next read, courtesy of NLB. Follow the links to borrow.
10A. “Democrats couldn’t understand how anyone had voted for Trump, given that their Facebook and Twitter feeds didn’t promote as many posts from the other side of the political spectrum, creating… a digital ECHO CHAMBER.” – Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture by Kyle Chayka
11D. “Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they JUDGE them; sometimes they forgive them.” – The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
12D. “If somebody says, ‘I love you,’ to me, I feel as though I had a pistol pointed at my head. What can anybody REPLY under such conditions but that which the pistol-holder requires? ‘I love you, too.’” – Wampeters, Foma And Granfalloons by Kurt Vonnegut
Don’t have the NLB mobile app? Download it now on the App Store or Google Play to enjoy more great reads.
Across
7. Purchase from Mr DIY, say (8): HARDWARE
8. Twist out of shape (4): WARP
10. Ideological bubble, especially on social media (4,7): ECHO CHAMBER
13. “Do ____ others...” (4): UNTO
14. Apt descriptor for one who wears others down (8): ABRASIVE
16. Instruction to keep quiet, in a way (3,5): GAG ORDER
18. Key that unlocks many shortcuts? (4): CTRL
20. Common quality of graduates from the School of Hard Knocks (6-5): STREET-SMART
23. Rose’s support (4): STEM
24. One who looks young for their age (4,4): BABY FACE
Down
1. Permanent head damage, some jest (3): PHD
2. Pandemic era app or token (5,8): TRACE TOGETHER
3. Avian attack (5): SWOOP
4. Treatment before treatment, in short (6): PREHAB
5. First in class who’s last to speak (13): VALEDICTORIAN
6. Units safeguarding society or skin? (3): SPF
9. Underhanded campaign tactic (5): SMEAR
11. Arbiter (5): JUDGE
12. Revert, erroneously (5): REPLY
15. Goreng (5): FRIED
17. Calefares (6): EXTRAS
19. TV’s night of top honours, in the US (5): EMMYS
21. It used to be 7 per cent (3): GST
22. Precious mall in Jurong East? (3): JEM
If you have any feedback, feel free to write to us at stgames@sph.com.sg. See you next week!
