This week's Google Doodle tells us that crossword puzzles are a hundred years old this month, so I thought I'd resurrect some oldies, both here and in Mysteries.
Here we have a Lynne Truss ("Eats Shoots and Leaves") docu about cryptic crosswords, so near to the heart of our British cousins. Then we have another docu by the author of an excellent volume on crossword history. Finally, we offer a one-hour TV laying out solution methods for cryptics.
From Easy to Cryptic - 100 Years of the Crossword
Lynne Truss
2012
Famous for her own love of word play, Lynne Truss decodes a bountiful archive of clues, answers, interviews and puzzles to celebrate the centenary of this resilient mind teaser. The first crossword appeared in the New York Times in 1913, devised by a Liverpudlian called Arthur Wynne. He was the first of many setters whose cryptic clues and clever answers encapsulate the cultural and social agenda of their age. MI5 interrogated the Telegraph's first setter in 1944 when his crossword solutions suggested he knew too much about military operations. Lynne learns that code breakers selection for Bletchley Park was based on their prowess for cracking crosswords.
In an internet age of gaming and quick access to information, Lynne Truss learns why scientists argue that the hardy crossword keeps the mind agile and listens to the sounds of the setter and crossword solver at work, pondering the trickiest clue.
Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose
Why do nearly two million people do the crossword on a Saturday morning? What is the mysterious allure of these little black and white squares - and what do they tell us about ourselves? Sandy Balfour unravels some clues to our national identity.
We do them in planes and trains, in the doctor's waiting room, over a cup of tea in a café, in our own living room. Anywhere, in fact, that offers space to unfold a newspaper. The crossword is generally regarded as a British institution, if not a British 'disease'. It has even been described as 'the unacknowledged conscience of our time.'
Since moving from his native South Africa to Britain, writer and television producer Sandy Balfour has come to love crosswords, particularly that class of cryptic puzzle found in the British broadsheet press. Falling in love with crosswords has mirrored the process of falling in love with the country which he now calls home.
In this programme he meets the newspaper editors who publish the puzzles, the ordinary folk who do them with almost religious fervour, and the people who compile the cryptic crosswords, giving us clues like 'Potty Train' = 'Loco' - and of course 'Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose', the answer to which is 'Rebelled' - what else?
Crosswords are compiled all over the world. In the United States they are immensely popular but are more literal and less quirky than they are here. In France, on the other hand, crosswords rely on elaborate puns and word-play. Puns - very often weak puns - do play a large part in British crosswords but because there are so many more words in the English language than in any other, the opportunities afforded crossword setters are limitless. The richness of our vocabulary is very much part of who we are as a nation.
Crosswords inform and reflect our cultural references. Today there's a body of received knowledge very different to that of fifty years ago. Classical references still loom large in crosswords but so do clues like: 'Victoria's favoured berth' (4). The answer? 'Posh!'
Contributors to the programme include Sunday Times puzzles editor Barbara Hall, columnist David Mckie, translator Anthea Bell, and compilers Araucaria, Shed, Paul, Enigmatist and Spurius.
The music is specially composed by Barrington Pheloung: a crossword addict as well as composer for the Inspector Morse series on ITV.
And finally:
How to Solve a Cryptic Crossword (BBC Timeshift 2008)
Please look in Mystery for the other offerings.
Replies
Thanks Sir, may you enjoy a Wonderful Holiday Season with family and friends. Joyeux Noël ---------------- R