Sir, – In the 1970s I played in the Gaiety Theatre pit orchestra. Between playing we’d read books. Gaiety management asked us to desist as we looked bored. So we twiddled our thumbs for a couple of nights until one of the musicians, also a cruciverbalist, put The Irish Times crosswords in among the music on his stand.
I’d never tried a crossword but I followed suit, completing the Simplex but being utterly baffled by the cryptic. The cruciverbalist advised putting yesterday’s crossword and today’s solution side by side. Thus I learned. A year later I could complete both crosswords in under 20 minutes.
Then came Crosheir 10 years ago and I had to revert to clues beside solutions to figure him out.
Now you’ve gone too far. Sometimes it’s so bad that even today’s solutions shed no light on yesterday’s clues.
What is the National Gallery’s scanner that cost €125,000 and what would it be used for?
‘We grew up Irish Catholic’: How Nicola Coughlan got raunchy Bridgerton scenes cut
The Last Showgirl review: Pamela Anderson has found the right role at the right time
‘I’m 50 this year and feel a bit like a teenager with my problem. My best friend has fallen in love’
I am defeated and dejected.
– Yours, etc,
KEITH DONALD,
Rockbrook,
Dublin 16.
