The Worst Videos of All Time About knowledge management solution

Posted by Atilano on June 13th, 2021

SUNDAY PUZZLE — There is an adorable and potentially life-threatening point in a small child’s speech development where they are unable to pronounce digraphs, which are two characters put together to form one sound, like the “t” and the “h,” which can be combined to form the “th” sound. Most of the time, the mispronunciation is cute, but occasionally it can get you chased to your car, toddler in tow, simply because there are people who don’t realize how supposedly cute it is.

The reason I know this is because at the age of 2, my eldest could not pronounce the “tr” sound. The closest she could get was an approximation of the “f” sound. I’m sure you see where this is going.

We were playing happily in a crowded playground sandbox when a fire truck roared by, sirens screaming. This was very exciting for my daughter, who loved trucks. She stood up, quivering with excitement, pointed in the general direction of the truck and yelled, “Hey, look at that big truck!” at precisely the moment a man passed through everyone’s field of vision.

Well. You would think people would be more understanding about the linguistic failings of a 2-year-old child, or at least have knowledge sharing process a sense of humor, but apparently we were not living in that society at the time. I grabbed my daughter and our stuff and we ran for our car.

This is why I believe that crosswords are better — or at least cheaper — than psychotherapy. I’ve been holding that in for 20 years, and along comes a nifty crossword by Will Nediger that enabled me to get it all out.

Thank you, Mr. Nediger and, as I’ve said before, you just can’t get that from Sudoku.

If you haven’t already guessed, Mr. Nediger offers us a sound change theme where the “th” sound is swapped out for the “f” sound. Even the title of today’s puzzle gets in on the action: The common phrase “Thirst for knowledge” gets changed to “First for Knowledge.”

The star theme entry here is FELONIOUS MONK, a play on the name of the jazz great Thelonious Monk, and clued as “Brother who’s a criminal?” Mr. Nediger places it in the center of his grid and adds five more theme entries to the mix.

The only Down theme entry, SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN OFFER, was a bit of a stretch in terms of the clue to me (“With 44-Down, half-dozen real estate agents?”), but it works. I was also impressed with Mr. Nediger’s grid design. He was able to space his theme material out very well and still make use of that long Down space without sticking in an extra black square and cutting it up.

■ 15A: Today I learned that the AMANA brand of refrigeration appliances was once a cult. Sorry, my mistake: it was a utopian colony in Iowa that lived by strict religious principles, including the holy rite of digital temperature control.

■ 114A: British spelling in the clue, British spelling in the answer. That’s why the answer to “Said ‘C-O-L-O-U-R,’ e.g.” is SPELT.

■ 28D: “Plain dwelling?” doesn’t refer to an undecorated abode today; it refers to a dwelling that is on the plain. The answer is TEPEE.

Your thoughts?