diff --git a/tinygrad/codegen/uopgraph.py b/tinygrad/codegen/uopgraph.py
index 4e4c926f48..2ce7b4ee99 100644
--- a/tinygrad/codegen/uopgraph.py
+++ b/tinygrad/codegen/uopgraph.py
@@ -418,10 +418,6 @@ expander = PatternMatcher([
   (UPat(UOps.CONTRACT, name="con"), do_contract),
   # vectorize DEFINE_ACC
   (UPat(UOps.VECTORIZE, src=UPat(UOps.DEFINE_ACC, name="acc"), name="v"), lambda acc,v: acc.replace(dtype=v.dtype)),
-  # remove EXPANDs from SINK
-  (UPat(UOps.SINK, name="root"),
-   lambda root: UOp(UOps.SINK, root.dtype, a, root.arg)
-    if len(a:=tuple(flatten(x.src if x.op is UOps.EXPAND else (x,) for x in root.src))) != len(root.src) else None),
   # BARRIERs aren't actually expanded
   (UPat(UOps.BARRIER, src=(UPat(UOps.EXPAND, name="ex"),)),
    lambda ex: UOp(UOps.EXPAND, dtypes.void, (UOp(UOps.BARRIER, dtypes.void, ex.src),)*len(ex.src), ex.arg)),
diff --git a/tinygrad/ops.py b/tinygrad/ops.py
index 528f08243f..790254b13c 100644
--- a/tinygrad/ops.py
+++ b/tinygrad/ops.py
@@ -285,7 +285,9 @@ class UOp(MathTrait, metaclass=UOpMetaClass):
   def __bool__(self): return self._eval((dtypes.bool,), bool)
   def __int__(self): return self._eval(dtypes.ints, int)
   def __float__(self): return self._eval(dtypes.floats, float)
-  def substitute(self, dvars:Dict[UOp, UOp]): return graph_rewrite(self, _substitute, dvars)
+  def substitute(self, dvars:Dict[UOp, UOp]):
+    with Context(TRACK_MATCH_STATS=0):
+      return graph_rewrite(self, _substitute, dvars)
 
   # *** uop syntactic sugar ***
 
@@ -554,8 +556,10 @@ class UPat(MathTrait):
   def any(*src): return UPatAny(src=src)
 
   @staticmethod
+  @functools.lru_cache(None)
   def var(name:Optional[str]=None, dtype:Optional[Union[DType, Tuple[DType, ...]]]=None): return UPat(dtype=dtype, name=name)
   @staticmethod
+  @functools.lru_cache(None)
   def cvar(name:Optional[str]=None, dtype:Optional[DType]=None, vec=True):
     return UPat((UOps.CONST, UOps.VCONST) if vec else UOps.CONST, dtype=dtype, name=name)
   @staticmethod
@@ -1023,7 +1027,8 @@ symbolic_simple = PatternMatcher([
   (UPat.var("x", dtype=dtypes.bool).logical_not().logical_not(), lambda x: x),
   # ** zero folding **
   (UPat.var("x") < UPat.var("x"), lambda x: UOp.const(dtypes.bool.vec(x.dtype.count), False)), # x < x -> False
-  (UPat.var("x", dtype=dtypes.ints) != UPat.var("x"), lambda x: UOp.const(dtypes.bool.vec(x.dtype.count), False)), # x != x -> False (only ints)
+  (UPat.var("x", dtype=dtypes.ints) != UPat.var("x", dtype=dtypes.ints),
+   lambda x: UOp.const(dtypes.bool.vec(x.dtype.count), False)), # x != x -> False (only ints)
   # x*0 -> 0 or 0*x -> 0
   # if x is nan or inf it should render the nan value.
   # NOTE: this can be wrong for loaded NaN
@@ -1034,9 +1039,9 @@ symbolic_simple = PatternMatcher([
   # ** COMMUTATIVE flipping **
   *[(UPat(UOps.ALU, arg=op, name='x'), lambda x: x.replace(src=x.src[::-1]) if x.src[1].tuplize < x.src[0].tuplize else None) for op in COMMUTATIVE],
   # bool MUL is AND, ADD/MAX is OR. prevents other rules to rewrite bool ADD/MUL incorrectly
-  (UPat.var('x', dtype=dtypes.bool) * UPat.var('y'), lambda x,y: x&y),
-  (UPat.var('x', dtype=dtypes.bool) + UPat.var('y'), lambda x,y: x|y),
-  (UPat.var('x', dtype=dtypes.bool).maximum(UPat.var('y')), lambda x,y: x|y),
+  (UPat.var('x', dtype=dtypes.bool) * UPat.var('y', dtype=dtypes.bool), lambda x,y: x&y),
+  (UPat.var('x', dtype=dtypes.bool) + UPat.var('y', dtype=dtypes.bool), lambda x,y: x|y),
+  (UPat.var('x', dtype=dtypes.bool).maximum(UPat.var('y', dtype=dtypes.bool)), lambda x,y: x|y),
   # *** cast ***
   (UPat(UOps.CAST, name="root", src=UPat.cvar("c")), lambda root, c: root.const_like(c.arg)),
   (UPat(UOps.CAST, name="root"), lambda root: root.src[0] if root.dtype == root.src[0].dtype else None),