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Solving => Today's Puzzles => Topic started by: magus on November 28, 2015, 08:59:41 AM
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THEME: none; 32 blocks
GOOD ONES:
Hard-to-find hardware? SPY CAMS
Remote setting MIDDLE OF NOWHERE [why did I think TV remote?]
Homework initials? DIY [Do It Yourself requires work, mostly at home]
Eye site POTATO
Letters associated with Z's REM [Rapid Eye Movement in a dream state]
Small in a small way LI'L
BTW:
"Out ___?" OR IN [it's "in or out": don't ask why]
Juillet's time ETE [both the clue and the answer are poor: French has no -'S as a possessive, and time = temps]
Firenze friends AMICI [but not in Washington, DC]
Telephone greeting ALLO [not in England]
RATING: ;D ;D ;D (despite it's being themeless)
Three grins = Loved it; Two grins = Enjoyed it; One grin = A bit bland for my taste; One teardrop = Not much fun
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The word "crunch" dates from 1706 and is a variant of "craunch," which dates from 1631 and is echoic of the sound made when someone bites into something hard. One of the modern definitions of "crunch" is "To perform mathematical computations on: numbers crunching."
Today's crossword clues DATA with "It may be crunched." Since "data" is the plural of "datum," The clue should say "They may be crunched."
I know everyone expects me to make another bad pun but I don't always make puns on a data-day basis. :)
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Numbers are crunched. Data is numbers. Therefore, data (are) is crunched.
Since data is a collective term it makes sense to use the singlular "is".
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"People" and "animals" and "automobiles" are also collective terms and I never hear anyone say "people is funny" or "animals is hibernating" or "automobiles is for sale." I prefer "The data show an increase" to "The data shows an increase" but I checked several language and grammar websites and whether the word "data" is treated linguistically as a singular or plural seems to be a matter of personal preference. Merriam-Webster says the word "data" is a "plural noun but singular or plural in construction." Wikipedia---always an excellent site to quote from---Wait, what?---says the word is more commonly used as a singular than as a plural but adds, "The debate over appropriate usage continues." The Los Angeles Times treats "data" (and "media") as plurals. Mignon Fogarty, who writes the Grammar Girl column, responds to the question "Is data singular or plural?" by insisting that "both usages are standard."
So....I say "are." You say "is." Are, is. Is, are. Oh, let's call the whole thing off. (My apologies to George and Ira Gershwin.)
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What matters in the end is that the solver understands the clue...and since clues are not always sentences...whatever gets the job done.
Data is is more common speechwise.