Once self-supported by conscience, once embarked on a career of manifest usefulness, the true Christian never yields. Neither public nor private influences produce the slightest effect on us, when we have once got our mission. Taxation may be the consequence of a mission; riots may be the consequence of a mission; wars may be the consequence of a mission: we go on with our work, irrespective of every human consideration which moves the world outside us. We are above reason; we are beyond ridicule; we see with nobody’s eyes, we hear with nobody’s ears, we feel with nobody’s hearts, but our own. Glorious, glorious privilege! And how is it earned? Ah, my friends, you may spare yourselves the useless inquiry! We are the only people who can earn it–for we are the only people who are always right.

I liked the gently misleading surface to 5a, Acton being on the west side of London (even though there’s a tube station called East Acton!)

Checking this out on Imdb, I see that Vera Miles also was in The Man who Shot Liberty Valance, another of the best ever.

And BTW if you wanted to read a good book, Adam Bede is worth a look…

I think it’s good that you’re making an effort to solve cryptic crosswords, but you seem to resent it when a puzzle expects you to know about anything you’re not already familiar with. Maybe it’s time you and your colleagues expanded your horizons just a bit. Plenty of interesting people lived more than 50 years ago and quite a few interesting things happened before you were born. If you’re interested in science, would you dump Galileo or Newton for being pre-1960?

I too had no idea that the VERA was the Miles from Psycho; but if you have a V for your starting letter then that’s what the answer had to be and if you can be bothered to look it up then you’ll be able to parse it fully. Fifteensquared is a great site, but it makes you lazy in one way, because you know that the blogger will always explain it to you.

I too had never come across THE MOONSTONE; but again, it can’t be much else. ADAM BEDE might not be the best known novel ever (although it’s not unknown), and if there’s a (4,4) answer with ‘book’ or ‘novel’ as the answer, it’s usually my first port of call.

I suppose the thing about cryptics is that it’s best to have knowledge that’s five miles wide and five foot deep. But as eimi says, if you learn something …

On googling I see that Psycho is 1960 -over 50 years ago. I’ve heard of the name but never watched it.Even if my colleagues have seen Psycho (and I ‘m home now) clearly the name of an actress didn’t stick.

I think crosswordland assumes everyone is interested in and knows lots about literature. I see that Flashling also hadn’t heard of the Moonstone either.

Bring on the science!