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I once struck up a conversation with Will Shortz, back when his email address had to do with “Celebes ox.”

The city of 120,000 people is connected to the provincial capital, Manado, by a winding two-lane mountain road with commanding views of the Celebes Sea.

Sulawesi Island, once known as the Celebes, has 18 million residents spread over six provinces in an area that’s roughly the size of Florida.

Did they proceed to overrun that island, just as they had already overrun the big mountainous islands of Celebes, Borneo, Java, and Sumatra?

The Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia plan to police the Sulu and Celebes Seas, a vast area prone to piracy and kidnappings.