SINGAPORE \u2013 This week\u2019s ST\u00d7NLB Crossword<\/span><\/a> was constructed by my puzzle co-editor, NLB librarian Sasha Tan, who is part of a team of 40 volunteers from both organisations<\/span><\/a>. Here\u2019s his message to solvers:<\/p>\n For this puzzle, I had a lot of fun weaving in clues submitted by other folks in the team. From SUGARCANE to SECRETLAB, it\u2019s nice to have a whole community of contributors with their eyes and ears out for anything that might make for a good entry. Enjoy!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This puzzle almost makes me feel like I\u2019m back in Social Studies class, learning about NOTABLE (7D) moments in Singapore history.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n These included pepper and gambier plantations<\/span><\/a> in Pearl\u2019s Hill, coconut plantations stretching from Fort Road to Dunman Road, and SUGARCANE (25A) plantations in Balestier<\/span><\/a>. Incidentally, these places were named after plantation owners from those times: Captain James Pearl, Thomas Dunman and Joseph Balestier.<\/p>\n The outbreak of World War II would trigger the next significant chapter in our history, starting with the painful years of the Japanese Occupation.<\/p>\n The Straits Times cover page dated Aug 10, 1965.<\/p>\n PHOTO: ST FILE<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n 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. \u201cSingapore is OUT (10A)\u201d, the front-page headline in The Straits Times reported the morning after Aug 9, 1965.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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<\/span><\/a> as Singapore transitions to a new satellite-based ERP 2.0 system.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n Illustrator Sonny Liew at his studio, with various editions of his acclaimed 2015 graphic novel, The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye.\u00a0<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n 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).<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n The idiom of an albatross hung on one\u2019s neck symbolising a heavy burden originates from Samuel Taylor Coleridge\u2019s The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, showing how Goh viewed the merger as a burden that Singapore was bearing.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a few more terms you might not learn in Social Studies.<\/p>\n 8A.<\/b> If you\u2019ve 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 \u201cNO LOWBALLERS\u201d on many an item description.<\/p>\n 9A.<\/b> 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 \u201cbelanja a meal\u201d 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: \u201cI forgot my wallet. Belanja me a Milo, can?\u201d<\/p>\n 23A.<\/b> 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 \u201cmy learned friend\u201d, especially in passive-aggressive tones during tense moments of disagreement.<\/p>\n 16D. <\/b>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\u2019s election Budget as a \u201cbonanza Budget<\/span><\/a>\u201d. The word is also often used in event titles to signal an elaborate or lively atmosphere, as in SAFRA\u2019s Football Bonanza events where World Cup matches were screened.<\/p>\n Let the week\u2019s clues inspire your next read, courtesy of NLB. Follow the links to borrow.<\/p>\n 22A.<\/b> \u201cInsanity hovered close at hand, like an EAGER waiter at an expensive restaurant.\u201d \u2014 The God Of Small Things<\/span><\/a> by Arundhati Roy<\/p>\n 6D.<\/b> \u201cWhen I open them, most of the books have the SMELL of an earlier time leaking out between the pages\u2014a 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.\u201d \u2014 Kafka On The Shore<\/span><\/a> by Haruki Murakami<\/p>\n 18D.<\/b> \u201cSeeing 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?\u201d \u2014 Stolen Focus: Why You Can\u2019t Pay Attention\u2014And How To Think Deeply Again<\/span><\/a> by Johann Hari<\/p>\n 1. Illustrator known for The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (5,4): SONNY LIEW<\/p>\n 6. Every Singaporean ___ (local documentary about basic military training) (3): SON<\/p>\n 8. Offer insultingly little, as on Carousell (7): LOWBALL<\/p>\n 9. Belanja (5): TREAT<\/p>\n 10. Singapore is ___ (Straits Times headline on Aug 10, 1965) (3): OUT<\/p>\n 11. Well-known gaming chair manufacturer, ironically (6,3): SECRETLAB<\/p>\n 13. Negligent (13): IRRESPONSIBLE<\/p>\n 17. Goh Keng Swee\u2019s dossier named for a bird symbolising a burden (9): ALBATROSS<\/p>\n 20. At this very moment (3): NOW<\/p>\n 22. Raring to go (5): EAGER<\/p>\n 23. Scholarly (7): LEARNED<\/p>\n 24. ___-man (servile sort) (3): YES<\/p>\n 25. Drink-stall juice option that’s neither fruit nor vegetable (9): SUGARCANE<\/p>\n 1. Opening _____ (first volley) (5): SALVO<\/p>\n 2. Reclaimed refreshment (7): NEWATER<\/p>\n 3. What birthday candles represent (5): YEARS<\/p>\n 4. Down with something (3): ILL<\/p>\n 5. One who saw a crime unfold (7): WITNESS<\/p>\n 6. Scent (5): SMELL<\/p>\n 7. Worthy of remark (7): NOTABLE<\/p>\n 12. It takes a toll, motorists might say (3): ERP<\/p>\n 13. Literary descriptions that evoke the senses (7): IMAGERY<\/p>\n 14. Surgical threads (7): SUTURES<\/p>\n 15. Entries in a sudoku grid, briefly (3): NOS<\/p>\n 16. Treasure trove (7): BONANZA<\/p>\n 18. Phoney (5): BOGUS<\/p>\n 19. Component of a flight? (5): STAIR<\/p>\n 21. Chunk of cheese, perhaps (5): WEDGE<\/p>\n 23. Gamer’s bane (3): LAG<\/p>\n If you have any feedback, feel free to write to us at stgames@sph.com.sg<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/a>. See you next week!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n SINGAPORE \u2013 This week\u2019s ST\u00d7NLB Crossword was constructed by my puzzle co-editor, NLB librarian Sasha Tan, who is part of a team of 40 volunteers…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/93872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/picture><\/div>
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