Madam, - All hail to Derek Crozier, without whom I probably would never have known the meaning of words such as: chela, melismata, desipient, paregoric, algedonic, usufruct, brummagem or lucubration. His gentle nudging propelled me in the direction of deturpate, palperbrate, resile, raceme and ambigu. Without his erudite guidance, I would almost certainly have gone to my grave without discovering fescennine, revenant, costive, afflatus, esurience, factitious, gulosity or gravamen.
And I would have been that much poorer. Floreat! - Yours, etc.,
GERRY O'MALLEY, Old Conna Village, Bray, Co Wicklow.
Madam, - I was delighted to read the feature on Derek Crozier in your edition of March 12th. His crossword is the main reason I buy the paper every day and I freely admit it. - Yours, etc.,
FRANK KELLY, St Peter's Terrace, Glenageary, Co Dublin.