OK So First: CERTS Aren’t Candy

OK, so first: Certs aren’t candy Will Shortz, NYT Crossword editor.  Last week the NYT crossword ran the clue “discontinued candy” and the answer was Certs.  Certs were never candy.  They were  a mint.  If someone offered you candy, and you said “what are the choices?” and they said “Snickers or Altoids” you would say “Altoids are a mint, they aren’t candy.”  And here’s the kicker: Certs weren’t just a mint.  Certs were two, two mints in one.  Because they had Retsyn.

Now of course Certs were discontinued because of Retsyn.  The active property was copper gluconate, hence those specks in Certs, but the activation was through unrefined cottonseed oil, which is toxic.  Non-candy Certs fun fact: Certs, on their (now defunct) website, once boasted they had a Center for Extended Retsyn Technology.  Huh.  That’s a topic for CBC’s Under the Influence with Terry Riley.

 

Anyway, shame on Will Shortz.  He gets paid a lot of money to be an editor!  Certs: mints, not candy.

 

Where were we?  Yes, last day in Auckland was really a lot of steps through parks and neighbourhoods, some good food, a few chores, and an afternoon by the pool.  But what follows is of course just that sentence in a few pictures.