diff --git a/tinygrad/renderer/cstyle.py b/tinygrad/renderer/cstyle.py
index 2140abe6e7..e6d01bfc97 100644
--- a/tinygrad/renderer/cstyle.py
+++ b/tinygrad/renderer/cstyle.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 from typing import Literal, Callable, cast
 import os, math, sys
 from collections import defaultdict, Counter
-from tinygrad.codegen.opt import tc
+from tinygrad.codegen.opt import tc, axis_letters
 from tinygrad.uop.ops import GroupOp, Ops, UOp, PatternMatcher, UPat, range_str
 from tinygrad.helpers import strip_parens, getenv, prod, dedup, AMX, CPU_COUNT
 from tinygrad.dtype import ImageDType, dtypes, DType, PtrDType, AddrSpace, truncate
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ class CStyleLanguage(Renderer):
       # naming
       prefix = None
       if u.op is Ops.SPECIAL: r[u] = u.arg
-      elif u.op is Ops.RANGE: r[u] = "ridx"+range_str(u)
+      elif u.op is Ops.RANGE: r[u] = f"{axis_letters[u.arg[-1]]}idx"+range_str(u)
       else:
         prefix = {Ops.WMMA: "wmma", Ops.DEFINE_LOCAL: "temp", Ops.CONST: "const",
                   Ops.CAST: "cast", Ops.BITCAST: "cast", Ops.GEP: "gep", Ops.VECTORIZE: "cast", Ops.PRECAST: "precast",
diff --git a/tinygrad/uop/ops.py b/tinygrad/uop/ops.py
index 951bc4ce8d..322d713852 100644
--- a/tinygrad/uop/ops.py
+++ b/tinygrad/uop/ops.py
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ class UOp(MathTrait, metaclass=UOpMetaClass):
 
   @property
   def ptrdtype(self) -> PtrDType:
-    if not isinstance(self.dtype, PtrDType): raise RuntimeError("ptrdtype called on UOp without PtrDType")
+    if not isinstance(self.dtype, PtrDType): raise RuntimeError(f"ptrdtype called on UOp with type {self.dtype}")
     return self.dtype
 
   # *** uop shape stuff ***
@@ -1178,8 +1178,6 @@ pm_lower_index_dtype = PatternMatcher([
     lambda s: s.replace(src=s.src[:2]+tuple(u.src[0] for u in s.src[2:]))),
   # TODO: this is only triggering if they are all casts, correct?
   (UPat((Ops.SINK, Ops.NOOP), src=UPat().cast(dtypes.index), name="n"), lambda n: n.replace(src=tuple(s.src[0] for s in n.src))),
-  # TODO: this should be more general
-  (UPat(Ops.AFTER, name="x"), lambda x: x.replace(src=tuple(y.src[0] if y.op is Ops.CAST and y.dtype.scalar()==dtypes.index else y for y in x.src))),
 ])
 def _index_to_concrete_int(u:UOp): return graph_rewrite(u.sink(), pm_lower_index_dtype).src[0]
 
diff --git a/tinygrad/uop/symbolic.py b/tinygrad/uop/symbolic.py
index e9fec2ae9e..91cf8390e4 100644
--- a/tinygrad/uop/symbolic.py
+++ b/tinygrad/uop/symbolic.py
@@ -377,6 +377,11 @@ symbolic = symbolic_simple+commutative+PatternMatcher([
   (UPat(GroupOp.Binary, src=(UPat.var("x", dtypes.long), UPat.var("y", dtypes.long)), name="u"), lambda u,x,y:
     x.cast(dtypes.int).alu(u.op, y.cast(dtypes.int)).cast(u.dtype) if not any(v.overflows(dtypes.int) for v in (u,x,y)) else None),
   ((UPat.var("x", dtypes.index) + UPat.cvar("c")).cast(dtypes.sints, name="cast"), lambda x,c,cast:x.cast(cast.dtype)+c.cast(cast.dtype)),
+  # only RANGE/IF/STORE/KERNEL have side effects
+  (UPat(Ops.AFTER, name="x"), lambda x: x.replace(src=(x.src[0],)+
+    tuple(flatten([(y,) if y.op in {Ops.RANGE, Ops.IF, Ops.STORE, Ops.KERNEL, Ops.BARRIER} else y.src for y in x.src[1:]])))),
+  # after with 1 src is just src[0]
+  (UPat(Ops.AFTER, src=(UPat.var("s"),)), lambda s: s),
 ])+gep_pushing
 
 symbolic_flat = symbolic+PatternMatcher([