Is Too Many Tamales A Good Novel For Kids?

If the clue in your puzzle literally reads 'Tolkien monster' with an enumeration like (3), my mind instantly goes to 'orc' — it's the crossword staple. I tend to trust short enumerations: 3 letters almost always point to ORC, because Tolkien's orcs are iconic, appear across 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit', and fit neatly into crowded grids. But cross-check the crossings: ORC can be forced or ruled out by even a single letter that doesn't match. For longer enumerations, there's a nice spread of possibilities. A (6) spot could be BALROG or NAZGUL (often written without the diacritic in grids as NAZGUL). Five letters opens up TROLL or SMAUG (though Smaug is a proper name and some comps avoid names), four letters could be WARG, seven might be URUKHAI if hyphens are ignored, and very long ones could be BARROWWIGHT (11) or BARROW-WIGHT if the puzzle ignores the hyphen. Puzzlemakers vary on hyphens and diacritics, so what's allowed will change the count. My practical tip: check the enumeration first, then scan crossings and the puzzle's style. If the grid seems to prefer proper nouns, think 'Smaug' or 'Nazgul'; if it sticks to generic monsters, 'orc', 'troll', or 'warg' are likelier. I usually enjoy the mini detective work of fitting Tolkien's bestiary into a stubborn grid — it's oddly satisfying.

If you're doing the math, here's a practical breakdown I like to use. An 80,000-word novel will look very different depending on whether we mean a manuscript, a mass-market paperback, a trade paperback, or an ebook. For a standard manuscript page (double-spaced, 12pt serif font), the industry rule-of-thumb is roughly 250–300 words per page. That puts 80,000 words at about 267–320 manuscript pages. If you switch to a printed paperback where the words-per-page climbs (say 350–400 words per page for a denser layout), you drop down to roughly 200–229 pages. So a plausible printed-page range is roughly 200–320 pages depending on trim size, font, and spacing. Beyond raw math, remember chapter breaks, dialogue-heavy pages, illustrations, or large section headings can push the page count up. Also, mass-market paperbacks usually cram more words per page than trade editions, and YA editions often use larger type so the same word count reads longer. Personally, I find the most useful rule-of-thumb is to quote the word count when comparing manuscripts — but if you love eyeballing a spine, 80k will usually look like a mid-sized novel on my shelf, somewhere around 250–320 pages, and that feels just right to me.

Wow—150,000 words is a glorious beast of a manuscript and it behaves differently depending on how you print it. If you do the simple math using common paperback densities, you’ll see a few reliable benchmarks: at about 250 words per page that’s roughly 600 pages; at 300 words per page you’re around 500 pages; at 350 words per page you end up near 429 pages. Those numbers are what you’d expect for trade paperbacks in the typical 6"x9" trim with a readable font and modest margins. Beyond the raw math, I always think about the extras that bloat an epic: maps, glossaries, appendices, and full-page chapter headers. Those add real pages and change the feel—600 pages that include a map and appendices reads chunkier than 600 pages of straight text. Also, ebooks don’t care about pages the same way prints do: a 150k-word ebook feels long but is measured in reading time rather than page count. For reference, epics like 'The Wheel of Time' or 'Malazan Book of the Fallen' stretch lengths wildly, and readers who love sprawling worlds expect this heft. Personally, I adore stories this long—there’s space to breathe and for characters to live, even if my shelf complains.

Vintage toy shelves still make me smile, and Mr. Potato Head is one of those classics I keep coming back to. In most modern, standard retail versions you'll find about 14 pieces total — that counts the plastic potato body plus roughly a dozen accessories. Typical accessories include two shoes, two arms, two eyes, two ears, a nose, a mouth, a mustache or smile piece, a hat and maybe a pair of glasses. That lineup gets you around 13 accessory parts plus the body, which is where the '14-piece' label comes from. Collectors and parents should note that not every version is identical. There are toddler-safe 'My First' variants with fewer, chunkier bits, and deluxe or themed editions that tack on extra hats, hands, or novelty items. For casual play, though, the standard boxed Mr. Potato Head most folks buy from a toy aisle will list about 14 pieces — and it's a great little set for goofy face-mixing. I still enjoy swapping out silly facial hair on mine.

I get a little nerdy over molecules like this, so let me walk you through it step by step. Xenon difluoride, XeF2, has 22 valence electrons total: xenon brings 8 and the two fluorines bring 7 each, so 8 + 14 = 22 electrons, which is 11 electron pairs. Two of those pairs form the Xe–F bonds (one pair per bond), leaving 9 pairs as lone pairs. If you break that down by atom, each fluorine wants a full octet and ends up with three lone pairs (6 electrons) in addition to its bonding pair. That’s 3 lone pairs on each fluorine, so 3 + 3 = 6 lone pairs on the fluorines. The remaining 3 lone pairs (6 electrons) sit on the xenon atom. So xenon has 3 lone pairs, each fluorine has 3 lone pairs, and the total number of lone pairs in the Lewis structure is 9. I like to visualize the electron-domain geometry too: Xe has five electron domains (two bonding pairs and three lone pairs), which corresponds to a trigonal bipyramidal electron geometry with the lone pairs occupying the equatorial positions to minimize repulsion. That arrangement is why the molecular shape is linear. It's a neat little example of an expanded octet and how noble gases can still be surprisingly sociable in chemistry — I find that pretty cool.

If you’re trying to get a neat tally for 'Black Clover' including everything beyond the regular weekly TV run, here’s the quick math I usually go with: the TV anime itself runs 170 episodes (that classic 2017–2021 stretch), and when fans talk about “including specials” they commonly add four extra OVA/special episodes — bringing the commonly quoted total to 174 episodes. Those four extras are the kinds of short or bundled pieces that didn’t air as part of the main weekly broadcast schedule but were released as OVAs, festival shorts, or bonus episodes alongside home releases or events. Different streaming services and databases sometimes list those bits separately, so when people add them in the grand total you’ll often see 174 as the combined figure. Beyond the raw numbers, it helps to know what’s usually being counted and what isn’t: the 170 is the full TV series count, chronological and story-complete for the anime’s original run; the “specials” that push the count to 174 are side material that gives little character moments, gag shorts, or promotional story extras. The theatrical film 'Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King' (released later) is not part of this episode count — it’s a standalone movie, so don’t fold it into the episode total. If you’re using a streaming service or a collector’s guide, double-check their episode list because some services separate out recap episodes, special clips, or bundled OVA content in different ways — that’s usually why you’ll sometimes see slightly different totals across sources. Personally, I love counting the specials because they give tiny, delightful detours from the main plot — the kind of extra scenes that let you grin at silly squad interactions or see side characters get a moment to shine. If you’re planning a binge, think of the 170 episodes as the meat of the journey and the four specials as little appetizers and post-credits scenes that make the world feel fuller. All told, 174 is the number most fans toss around when someone asks for the complete episode + special tally, and that’s the figure I usually tell my friends when we trade watchlists. Happy watching — the ride with 'Black Clover' is a wild, loud, and oddly heartwarming one, and those extras just make it feel more cozy to revisit.

I’ve gone through 'Red Dead Redemption 2' a few times and love talking about its structure — the big-picture is pretty tidy. The game is divided into six main numbered chapters (Chapters 1–6) that contain the core story missions that drive Arthur Morgan’s arc. On top of those, there are two epilogue sections, often called Epilogue Part 1 and Epilogue Part 2, which also contain major story missions that wrap up the larger narrative and bridge into the events of 'Red Dead Redemption'. So if you’re counting every block of the game that presents primary narrative missions, you’re looking at eight story blocks total: six chapters plus two epilogues. Each numbered chapter contains multiple main missions — some long set-pieces, some quieter character beats — and the epilogues function like short chapters of their own, with several important missions each. Players sometimes debate whether to call the epilogues “chapters,” but functionally they offer major story missions and a conclusion you don’t want to skip. There are also many side quests, stranger missions, and post-launch additions that are separate from these main blocks. For me, that eight-block layout is one of the things that makes 'Red Dead Redemption 2' feel so deliberate: the pacing shifts as you move from chapter to chapter, then the epilogues give you that final, bittersweet coda. I always appreciate how the game treats its ending like a proper chapter of story, not just an afterthought.

Booting up 'Red Dead Redemption 2' still hits me like a warm, rugged punch to the chest — and the simple factual part is this: Arthur Morgan appears through the Prologue and Chapters 1–6, so if you strictly count numbered chapters he’s in six of them. I like to spell that out because people trip over the prologue and epilogues. The game has a Prologue, then Chapters 1 through 6, and then two Epilogues where the focus shifts to John Marston. Arthur is the playable lead from the very start (the Prologue) all the way through Chapter 6 when the story turns—so in terms of the main numbered chapters, it’s six. After Chapter 6 the narrative moves into the epilogue territory and Arthur’s story reaches its conclusion; you feel his presence later in graves, photographs, and the way others talk about him, but he’s not the active protagonist. If you’re counting every section where Arthur shows up in any form, you could say he appears in the Prologue plus Chapters 1–6, and then his legacy lingers through the Epilogues. For pure chapter counting though: six. Still gives me chills thinking about his arc and how much weight those six chapters carry.