Letter to Rebecca 24-15

(and no mention of the weather -- oh OK then)

In which Terry effortlessly solves Rebecca’s crossword clues, talks about maps, and reflects on an art course.

Dear Rebecca

Thank you for your letter. I have decreed that the weather be mentioned and abandoned almost immediately. I’m allowed to decree things because this year it’s my birthday. On Saturday morning I left the house wearing a winter jacket, and by the time I wended my way home in the late afternoon I was in the middle of a heatwave. The author Ephraim Kishon put it best I think. In one of his books he said that Britain has four seasons just like every other country, only all in the same day.

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I liked the London tube and walk map you showed:

Illustrations by Rebecca Holden

You mentioned that the company does an all-in-one map so I looked it up:

I have to say, I quite like it, even though you need a microscope to actually use it. It reminds me of the sort of maps provided (free of charge) by the then-London Transport, except that they seemed more practical.

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Was there a full moon, Rebecca, when you came up with that stuff about there being a full moon only ten times a year? As far as I know, there is one every month, and as there are twelve months in a year, there must be twelve full moons. I rest my case.

Mind you, given that a person with a real name, Tim Kuznia, explained the discrepancy on Quora, I thought I’d look him up. According to his website, Tim developed an interest in astronomy at an early age, so he clearly knows a lot more about all this than I do. Weird though, innit?

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My crossword clue answer: stand by for the big reveal… ¹

The clue, you will recall, was:

Grasping leg shown by sailor with sex appeal, you may be this! (7,2,1,3)

Thanks for showing me your workings out. You were tantalisingly close to the answer. Here it is.

We are looking for an expression of some kind, probably one that is used in banter. This is suggested by the facts that (a) the answer comprises several words, and (b) the presence of an exclamation mark.

The words “you may be this” tells us that the reader/solver might be whatever the expression says. That means we have to build the clue up from the other words. Incidentally, this type of clue is known as a charade. Here goes.

Grasping: a synonym could be getting.

Leg: I worked out the answer before I understood this part, so let’s come back to this in a moment.

Sailor: This is usually either tar, Jack or AB (short for able).

Sex: In crosswordese this is a clue for “it”, as in the song Venus:

“She’s got it, ooh baby she’s got it”.

Putting all this together, we come to the answer:

Getting ? AB it….

… Getting on a bit

I looked up the word “on”. Apparently it’s a cricket term, as in right leg on, meaning (in this case) that the batsman’s right leg is facing the bowler.

My answers to your clues. You wrote:

I’ve got TWO clues for you, rather less complicated than yours, and both, I think, more quite fun.

GG SE (9,4)

And the second – unrelated to the first:

Horse, badger (3)

I tackled the second one first. The answer is nag, because it’s a double definition clue, ie it consists of two words, each of which could be the meaning of the answer.

I had to mull over the first one for a day or two, and it suddenly came to me when I was explaining to a friend of Elaine’s how crosswords work.

For example, an anagram might be indicated by a phrase such as ‘all over the place’, or a word like ‘scrambled’ —

The answer is scrambled eggs. It’s what is known as an &lit clue, which is one in which the definition and the wordplay are the same. In this case, the letters of the word ‘eggs’ have been scrambled to form ‘GG SE’.

Now it’s my turn <snigger>.

This was in The Times a few weeks ago:

Cut iron? (8)

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Thanks for the link to

Bryn Robinson

’s blanket. It’s very nice. I looked at it, and in so doing discovered that I wasn’t subscribed to her newsletter, which is strange because I did subscribe ages ago. 🤔

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I agree with what you said about people writing, in the context of my saying that most of the people who do writing courses are, in my experience, female:

“Well, whoever we are, it’s great that writers are writing.”

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Finally, I did an Art course recently, in which we visited a different small gallery each week. Before the course started, I was one of those people who don’t know much about art, but know what they like. Well, the course was a complete eye-opener for me. Now, I still don’t know anything about art, but I know what I don’t like. Progress!

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To anyone reading this missive, you can see the whole archive here. Rebecca should reply next Wednesday, so make sure you don’t miss that by subscribing to hers.

Thanks for reading!

1. The sound effect was provided by yours truly, using a Suzuki Tremelo harmonica in the key of C.