Word of the week: "haplography." From the Greek for "single writing," it's the accidental omission of a letter or group of letters that should be written more than once, such as "Missippi" instead of "Mississippi." The opposite of haplography (more or less) is dittography, which is the incorrect duplication of letters or a group of letters that should be written only once.

The Write Stuff? We happened to come across a rather old Eberhard Faber Blackwing pencil, displaying proudly that it's "woodclinched." With an Internet search, we were able to find plenty of references to the word "woodclinched" relating to pencils, but no explanation of what the word means. If you can help, please let us know.

What people in Italy call Bracchio Di Ferro (Iron Arm), Americans call:
A) A forklift
B) The Eiffel Tower
C) Popeye the Sailor
D) A food processor

Previous answer: Containing 200 kilograms of gold, the highest-value coin produced by the Royal Canadian Mint has a face value of $1 million. While conceived as a promotional device, it is legal tender in Canada, produced only upon special order.

TRIVIA FANS: Send the trivia questions you've always wanted answered, or original TriviaBits ideas of your own, with your full name and hometown, to Stan Newman at StanTrivia@aol.com or on a postcard to P.O. Box 69, Massapequa Park, NY 11762.

Stanley Newman is the editor of the Newsday Crossword and author/editor of more than 125 books on crosswords, word games and trivia, including "15,003 Answers: The Ultimate Trivia Encyclopedia" (Random House). To find out more about Stanley Newman visit StanXwords.com, or e-mail him at StanTrivia@aol.com.
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