LYNNE TRUSS, TALK TO THE HAND — [M]anaging our relationships electronically … makes it … confusing … when we … discover … other people’s behaviour can’t be deleted with a … one-stroke command or dragged to the trash icon. … [C]licking buttons is … bad training for life.
[Many aspects of our screen-bound lives are bad for our social skills because we get accustomed to controlling the information that comes in,] managing our relationships electronically [, deleting stuff that doesn't interest us. We edit the world; we select from menus; we pick and choose; our social "group" focuses on us and disintegrates without us. This] makes it [rather] confusing [for us] when we [step outdoors and] discover [that] other people's behaviour can't be deleted with a [simple] one-stroke command or dragged to the trash icon. [Sitting at screens and] clicking buttons is [a very] bad training for life [in the real world].
| A. | Item not free of charge, ideally | LAPTOP |
| B. | New York university with a dress code | YESHIVA |
| C. | Use for a sextant | NAVIGATION |
| D. | 1976 movie with the line "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" | NETWORK |
| E. | Kooks, oddballs | ECCENTRICS |
| F. | Opening for a soprano? (2 wds.) | TREBLECLEF |
| G. | Bit of red in a salad | RADISH |
| H. | Identifier more often typed than uttered | USERNAME |
| I. | Measurement of depth; tolling | SOUNDING |
| J. | Modern subject of parental limits on kids (2 wds.) | SCREENTIME |
| K. | Spasm, jerk; gaming platform | TWITCH |
| L. | Targeting formula for a search engine | ALGORITHM |
| M. | Wither, droop; suffer neglect | LANGUISH |
| N. | Polish sausage | KIELBASA |
| O. | Horizontal menu | TOOLBAR |
| P. | Out of operation for now | OFFLINE |
| Q. | Leader of the pack (2 wds.) | TOPDOG |
| R. | Genetically predisposed (hyph.) | HARDWIRED |
| S. | Creative use of punctuation? | EMOTICON |
| T. | Wrangling; tending | HERDING |
| U. | Advocate; squabble | ARGUE |
| V. | School supplies, both old and new | NOTEBOOKS |
| W. | Gulf, divide; unplug | DISCONNECT |