Calenlass

@Isabeau I spin and caught that, too. Mistaken understanding of niche hobby items (and/or historical paraphernalia) seems very common recently, as in last week's puzzle when "corset supports" inexplicably solved to STAYS.

@ktel There is a trick called "sleeping", where the yo-yo is stationary at the bottom end of the string while it spins in place. Gravity is what keeps it in place, though, which is why it doesn't work on the ISS.

@Wes If you speak a Romance language like Spanish, it's a no-brainer: "ave" (bird) "avión" (airplane) "avispa" (wasp) "volar" (to fly) "vuelo" (flight) "volador" (flying, as in "flying fish", and the phrase "no volador" that is used to describe ostriches, emus, and penguins)

@pmom As a one-time linguistics anthropology major, I have to agree that the clued syllable is only a schwa in certain accents, of which mine is not one. I doubt I've ever said "sy luns" in my life. However, once I realized what they were probably going for, I could fill it in easily enough. There have been a number of factually incorrect clues lately, or at least ones that are 'close enough' (like SPIN having anything to do with crochet, or claiming last week that STAYS were part of a corset) that it seems to be becoming a trend.

@Steve Because scientific themes and technology are not central to the plot, and because the stories focus instead on magic (the Force) and good vs evil, it is generally considered fantasy. For example, changing the setting from Space in a galaxy far far away to, say, 18th century pirates on the high seas wouldn't require changing the plot, only accessories (cutlasses instead of light sabers, clippers and galleons instead of spaceships, cannons with Greek Fire instead of Death Star lasers). You'd still have all the same magic and themes. To contrast, Star Trek is solidly SciFi because technology is the basis of quite a lot of plot and drives much of the story progression.

@Michael Since you said BITTE, I'm guessing you didn't get the theme? I only ask as that wasn't the full answer.

@James would you care to share why? No improvements can be made if there's no constructive part of the criticism.

@Jane Wheelaghan I've never heard anyone refer to them that way! I guess I've learned something new. I wonder if it's possibly a regional thing as well. Corset supports are "bones" or "boning", as they were once made from whalebone (baleen), but a pair of STAYS is a separate garment that actually predates the corset. From the late 1400s right through the Regency (Jane Austen) period, women wore undergarments called "stays" meant to provide bust and back support, disperse the heavy weight of many layers of petticoats and farthingales, and smooth the torso into a conical shape to best display expensive dress fabrics and embroidered stomachers. They were stiffened with dried reeds, cording, and wooden busks, and there was no way to really compress the waist, as is famously associated with the corset, so most women actually liked wearing them (most women liked corsets in the 1800s, too, as tight-lacing was something of an upperclass fad and not a common practice). I can see where some might call a corset "stays" (and quite a lot vice versa), but as the third generation historical costumer in my family, I can say from experience that if you were to try and find corset-making supplies online, "stays" will take you to options for that older style I mentioned, like wooden busks or rolls of Oval Reeds and Round Reeds. If you want the flat steel or spring steel that has replaced whalebone, that is "boning".

@KS My husband is dyslexic, so we don't play Scrabble, but we do play lots of other board games together, and normally he's great. However, it's Rummy the card game where he is THE WORST: the smack talk is neverending, the bragging is insufferable, and if he wins the game? You can bet I'll hear about it all week! (And yet for some reason I keep deciding to play with him, haha!)

@Jane Wheelaghan Quite a lot of Americans don't have electric kettles (many haven't even heard of them!) and, if they have one at all, use the stovetop variety that whistles.

I started out studying oceanography in school (eventually switched majors). Never heard of OCEANOLOGY before today.

@Bill And in England, that is known as a "college", which is distinct from a "university". Also worth noting that English "public schools" are private institutions with exclusive rosters and requiring a tuition fee.

@Ms. Billie M. Spaight I have also always seen it this way. In this light, Ghandi and MLK Jr were both "antifa", so I don't mind sharing the label with them.

@T Jones I've never read or heard anyone use it that way, only in the first definition sense of "overcome".

@Barry Ancona because it's a Natick.

@George If it's Tom Waits you didn't know, you might be in for a treat! His voice can be polarizing, but he's a pretty good songwriter (kind of how I feel about Bob Dylan).

@Barry Ancona I do not REST ON difficulties when I surmount them, I *overcome* them. This is not a correct usage of "surmount".

@Francis Linguist here! The rule came to English by way of Norman French and still mostly applies to words of French origin. I assume there were some perfectly good s-words in Old English that may have been altered by various attempts at spelling reform over the years, as there are many other spelling rules that have done exactly that (see the examples of blue (nee 'bleu') and imbue ('imbeue') vs clue ('klew') and hue ('hew')), but curiously I can't remember any off the top of my head, and Google's AI summary of every search query is "helping" (i.e., getting in the way).