Worker to turn back on Abbey ceremony? The bounder!All the days off mean that I have got behind with this part of my daily ritual on the bus on the way in to town (yesterday’s crossword, that is, not cartwheels), so only yesterday got round to the fun of last Friday’s crossword, whose theme – which is mainly in the cunning of the clues, not the answers – soon became clear.
Examples:
Leaves home, being bridegroom at last – moving is great [migrates]
No countryman is to allow breaking what they do to the knot [townie]
And, a bit too near the knuckle,
Young lady who’s worked hard to pull [oarswoman]
Even so I would have missed another clever touch had it not been highlighted, as if with a yellow marker pen, in the solution published in Saturday’s paper; the words William and Kate read across two of the rows of unchecked lights. I might not have noticed anyway, but it would be impossible to notice something written in the squares which I never fill in.
I developed this habit some years ago, partly out of laziness – why bother writing redundant letters? – but then because I realised that it actually adds an edge by making the completion of the whole puzzle that little bit more of a challenge, especially when, as occasionally happens, I make a slip & fill the wrong letter in a checked light, making it hard to find the right answer to that clue.
For me, the crossword should be one of life’s small pleasures, a game I know I can play, a gentle challenge, reassurance that the old grey cells can still cope. Too easy & I feel cheated, too hard, just not on my wavelength, makes me grumpy & cross. About half an hour of my time is ideal – fills the bits of the bus journey not filled by looking out of the window. And it should contain the odd joke to make me smile at least once.
And it sure beats having to do the driving.
