eye fluid

Hi mumtime

The answer you're looking for is RHEUM

One of Lovatts harder questions.

Thank you

aqueous humor is the fluid behind the iris/lens, between all that and the retina. It may be the more correct answer, in contrast to tears that wash the eyes from the front.

Rheum?

OK, I checked. Rheum, so called, is not the main water in the eye --
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheum

The eye is not just the bit you see in the mirror.

but, of course it fits the puzzle -- so there you go.

I beg your pardon for being tetchy... I've never heard an m.d. call tears 'rheum'.

I agree with you ossobuco "aqueous humor" is the correct medical term for "eye fluid", however the clue in this extremely difficult crossword calls for a different answer, and only "rheum" will fit and is the correct answer. Lovatts have used it previously and the Cosmic Eagle remembered it.

Rheum is a watery discharge coming from the eyes , nose or mouth.

Watery mucus discharge from the eyes.

The critical term is "mucus" not "watery".

My quote comes from the Encarta Concise English Dictionary.

Sheesh, you guys! Dutchy is absolutely right, of course. Crossword puzzle clues seldom pay any heed whatever to precise definitions, especially medical definitions. Miller and Osso seem to think that if it isn't biologically correct it can't be the right answer. You guys don't do a lot of crosswords, do you? When you do a crossword, you have to figure out not so much what would be the correct answer but, rather, what did the puzzle maker have in mind.

Anyone with a knowledge of opthalmology knows I'm right.

Actually, I used to do crosswords in ink (NYTimes Sunday - that could get fairly messy). Not lately though as I don't get the paper and don't particularly want to pay for good online puzzles.

But you're right, MA, re the crossword mode.

In a good crossword, the correct answer is never the right answer...

Nobody said you're wrong, Miller.

But what's 'right' on an opthalmology final isn't necessarily the 'correct' answer in a crossword puzzle, the asnwer the puzzle maker s looking for. I've seen more clues in a crossword that I consider totally and ridiculously misapplied than you can shake a stick at. * Point is, the person who wrote the puzzle was trying to puzzle us, not educate us.

*case in point: today's Sunday Globe puzzle has a three-letter word with the clue "explosive stick." Answer turns out to be TNT. TNT is not a stick; it's a nitroglycerine-based chemical compound. Trinitrotoluene. It's the main ingredient in dynamite, which would be the "stick." So the puzzle maker is "wrong." But why would I quibble as long as I can come up with the answer that;s being sought?

Once, while attempting a cryptic in one of our dailies, I came across a clue
along these lines:

Swine time; a race of Ancient Greeks.

"E" was the 4th letter in a 6 letter solution leading me to "ERA" as the final
three letters. Wasn't there some Greek legend involving a person or place
called HOGERA? I convinced myself that there was and dutifully wrote it
in.

Feeling somewhat smug, I checked the solution the next day. The answer
was PIGEON.

<I just now got it...>


The LA Times crossword puzzle (sundays) used to be rather like that, at least for some words. Plus, there tended to be a theme of some sort.

Lovatts, where most of the questions come from on a2k, are a great site for puzzles, see www.lovatts.com.au
Have been doing them for years, love them, keeps the old grey matter active!