Who's Minding the Store?

Happy Monday!

Today's puzzle by Gail Grabowski is called "What's in Store?" Here are the theme answers:

20A: One doing blackjack arithmetic (CARD COUNTER). Of course, when one thinks of counting cards, we think of that famous casino scene from the movie "Rain Man."

38A: Official Journal of the United States (FEDERAL REGISTER). I am all too familiar with this journal, which contains most routine publications of the U.S. Federal Government. I work on a product that provides SEC updates and annotations. We are at the mercy of the Federal Register for effective dates and other changes.

52A: Attorney's closing statement (I REST MY CASE). No explanation necessary here.


News from Cyberspace:

Elementary, my dear Watson: Remember when that nasty computer beat the human contestants on Jeopardy last year? This year's ACPT will have a new contestant, a computer named Dr. Fill. Read more about it here.

Wanna know Who's Who of Cruciverbalists (that's a fancy word for Crossword aficionados)? You can find all the names on Best for Puzzles. Did you know that Stanley Newman uses two secret pseudonyms when he constructs crosswords? They are "Sally R. Stein" and "Anne Stiga". The letters are rearragned to spell something pertinent. Find the answer here.

It's also a well-known fact that doing crossword puzzles helps with one's memory during the aging process. Here's an article from The Aiken Standard.

What's an anagrind? Will it become an acceptable term in the latest crossword puzzle dictionary? Hugh Stephenson from The Guardian voices his opinion.

Here's an excellent article about the ACPT from Saturday's Newsday (note: you have to pay to subscribe to this newspaper).

That's all the news for today. Till tomorrow. . . .

Signing off,
The Puzzlechick