LAT Sat. 10/10 Brad Wilber

[magus]

While today's themeless puzzle was devoid of any cleverness in clung and the typical Saturday challenge, I enjoyed it for its wide range of subject matter.  By my count, there were:
5 = literature
4 = movies
1 = pop music
3 = economics
1 = sports
2 = TV
6 = science
3 = social science
1 = art
3 = geography

 
Seventh planeta   URANO

 
AEDES: "a large cosmopolitan genus of mosquitoes distinguished from Anopheles by the trilobate scutellum and short palpi of the female and from Culex by the pointed abdomen of the female and including a number of species..." [learned a new one]

[Eric Maddy]

So coverage of literature, movies, pop music, economics, sports, TV, science, social science, art, and geography is a good thing, but foreign language is a taboo?

For me, foreign language is one more thing on that list, not a negative....

[magus]

Eric---

Your point is well-taken, but these are puzzles in English, not other languages.  If Urano is acceptable in an English puzzle, would modismos also be acceptable?  Without some logical limit, any foreign word or idiom could and eventually would be used.

The logical limit, I submit, should be foreign words and expressions which are actually used in English but have not yet been formally adopted.  For example, uno, etat, herr, --- even if part of a place name as in Ocho Rios.

I certainly understand why a constructor would like to use another language, but I suppose I look at it differently as a solver.  And I am aware that it is easier to criticize than to do.

[Eric Maddy]

We'll just have to agree to disagree.

"Jeopardy!" often has foreign language categories as well. I'm curious how you night feel about that -- you know, since the show airs in English and all.