Crossword-puzzle constructors often employ words with a vowel-consonant-consonant-vowel pattern, or VCCV. That’s the cruciverbal inspiration Quiz Guy John Chaneski’s VCCV puzzle. For example, if the clue is teen woe, what’s the four-letter answer...
Emily in Fort Worth, Texas, asks why a peanut is called goober, and why her sister uses the same word for homemade peanut butter and jelly swirled together. Goober comes from African languages, apparently including Bantu languages of Central and...