Michael Daly-Jones

Is Kiran Pandey new to creating crossword puzzles, or when it comes to constructing, is he an OG?

My father lived in Pittsburg, CA. I was able to travel there a few times before he passed away. He mentioned the connection to Pittsburgh, and today I learned about the temporarily-dropped H that occurred while Pittsburgh was founded. Being in the East Bay, it’s a nice ride on BART to San Francisco. Rides on cable cars and excursions to Pier 39 left fun memories. Pittsburgh itself is a temperate and driveable suburb. All the grandkids are within a couple of miles of my wife and me, so I’m not moving there. Mr. McCoy, thanks for bringing back some pleasant memories.

Given their tendency to invade other lands, Roman soldiers were certainly worth their salt.

Regarding 0!, one simple explanation is left out of the article linked to in today’s Wordplay column. Note that, for the first few factorials: 1!=1 2!=1x2=2 3!=1x2x3=6 4!=1x2x3x4=24, etc. Thus, we have: 1!=1 2!=1!x2=2 3!=2!x3=6 4!=3!x4=24, etc. Hence, conversely, 4!=24 3!=4!/4=6 2!=3!/3=2 1!=2!/2=1. and… wait for it… 0!=1!/1=1.