Comments on: Financial Times 12,780 – Flimsy

By: Uncle Yap

Uncle Yap — Thu, 29 May 2008 09:33:38 +0000

Of course, Mr Squires, you are absolutely right. I am confusing the two Ronnies (Barker and Corbett)with Morecambe and Wise. All great comedians.

By: Rufus

Rufus — Thu, 29 May 2008 09:13:38 +0000

Regarding 25 acr.: which Ronnie has the hairy legs? Possibly this refers to another great comic duo, Morecambe and Wise, Morecambe “the one with glasses” and Wise “the one with hairy legs”.

By: C G Rishikesh

C G Rishikesh — Thu, 29 May 2008 08:37:59 +0000

How did I get into crossword solving? Way back in the early Sixties I and some half a dozen cousins were sitting on a swing (a large wooden plank hanging from the ceiling) in the verandah of our grandfather’s palatial house here in Madras and taking part in what R. K. Narayan would call a palaver. The topic suddenly veered to crosswords with the eldest among the group mentioning a clue for ACID and anatomising it. That was when I came to know what a crossword was.

Over the next few years I bought a copy of an eveninger and did the cryptic crossword in it. (I later came to know that it was a lift from a London eveninger.) At first I would get less than half the number of clues but each day I checked the solution assiduously and worked out the answers for all the clues that I did not get. Those were the days when no crossword aids existed and so I had to do lot of dictionary work.

Alas, that cousin who introduced me to the enchanting world of crosswords is no more. I could hardly share my joy with him for within a short time thereafter the IAF officer died in the treacherous north-east during a war with a neighbouring country.

By: C G Rishikesh

C G Rishikesh — Thu, 29 May 2008 08:00:22 +0000

Re 13ac: Chambers has “sheltered housing”: flats or bungalows designed specially for elderly or disabled people, especially in a safe enclosed complex, allowing them to live as independently as possible, but with a resident warden.

In the dd clue, one definition appears to be left dangling.

Would rewriting the clue “Cosy sort of housing for the elderly” help, I wonder.