Annette, I think you deserve all five. Ana, I don't think I can email my puzzle. I used crossword-making software that is free to try, but you can't print with it until you buy it. Maybe I could email a screenshot. I'll check it out. Cynthia, I'll bet it's not beyond you. I could never make a crossword puzzle all on my own, and I'm amazed by people who can. I'm using a program that makes the word fill a lot easier. It will give you a list of possible words for whatever position you need to fill. You pick one, and go on. When you get the grid all filled in to your satisfaction, you write the clues, which is the fun part for me. It still takes time, but not nearly as much. You can even have the software completely fill in the whole grid for you in about one second, but you'll end up with lots of odd words and abbreviations. I think the pros almost all use this kind of software now, though they probably don't have to. TM

HereâÂÂs BearâÂÂs explanation to the Aussie newspaper The Age, in an interview in 1978. âÂÂThe odour comes from oils and other materials given off by plants and animals during dry periods. âÂÂWhen it is dry, the soil loses its moisture content and absorbs these compounds. âÂÂThen, as rain approaches, the humidity of the air rises. The pores of the soil fill up with water and the compounds are displaced from the soil.â Bear and Thomas figured out the connection by experiments in which they alternately baked soils to simulate the intense Australian heat and then raised the humidity, releasing organic compounds from the soil. They published their work in the journal Nature. The 1964 article is called âÂÂNature of argillaceous odour;â argillaceous means related to clay, and the duo found that this phenomenon happens mainly in soils with a lot of clay. In a later article they found that the oil prevents seeds from germinating. They hypothesized itâÂÂs a mechanism used by plants to delay the germination of their seeds at times of drought, when seedlings arenâÂÂt likely to survive. They published that in Nature, too. This is another in the series, the Science of Summer that our local paper has run over the summer. Kind of sun, but hard to find as they put it in different places and run it on different days. So, for Bobbie: For TM, you were almost there: Thanks for playing - see you all next week!! Nancy.

Well, good for you all!! It is the cross-word puzzle. Not as ancient as I thought!! The title for the world's first crossword puzzle is disputed based on whom you ask. The first puzzle that was called a "cross word puzzle" was written in 1862 by Our Young Folks in the United States. The first "cross word" was "dream". Crossword puzzles are said to be the most popular and widespread word game in the world, yet have a short history. The first crosswords appeared in England during the 19th century. They were of an elementary kind, apparently derived from the word square, a group of words arranged so the letters read alike vertically and horizontally, and printed in children's puzzle books and various periodicals. Although Maleska is usually credited with the first crossword phrase in The New York Times, an 1862 puzzle in the Lady's Book had phrases that are considered modern such as the expression "I did it". Crossword-like puzzles, for example Double Diamond Puzzles, appeared in the magazine St. Nicholas, published since 1873. Another crossword puzzle appeared on September 14, 1890, in the Italian magazine Il Secolo Illustrato della Domenica. It was designed by Giuseppe Airoldi and titled "Per passare il tempo" ("To pass the time"). Airoldi's puzzle was a four-by-four grid with no shaded squares; it included horizontal and vertical clues. On December 21, 1913, Arthur Wynne, a journalist from Liverpool, England, published a "word-cross" puzzle in the New York World that embodied most of the features of the genre as we know it. This puzzle is frequently cited as the first crossword puzzle, and Wynne as the inventor. Later, the name of the puzzle was changed to "crossword". In 1925, the New York Public Library reported that "The latest craze to strike libraries is the crossword puzzle," and complained that when "the puzzle 'fans' swarm to the dictionaries and encyclopedias so as to drive away readers and students who need these books in their daily work, can there be any doubt of the Library's duty to protect its legitimate readers?" The first book of crossword puzzles appeared in 1924, published by Simon and Schuster. "This odd-looking book with a pencil attached to it" was an instant hit and crossword puzzles became the craze of 1924. So, for Annette, TM, Bobbie, Cynthia and Garden Gal: Thanks to all for playing, see you all next week!! Nancy.

woohoo...is it my turn to post one now? :-)