And now the book!
Fans of the Grahamstowngrown South African Cryptic Crossword published weekly in Grocott’s Mail are invited to the launch of the book here next Friday. The crossword is among psychologist and educator George Euvrard’s enterprises to help people to expand their minds and terms of reference.
The co-founder of the Polar Plunge – Grahamstown’s midwinter swim across Grey Dam – and the Indlela yoBuntu pil- grimage from Grahamstown to Cape Town, Euvrard partnered with Grocott’s Mail to pilot the crossword – as far as Grocott’s or Euvrard knows the first of its kind – in August 2015.
The series recently marked its century, with 100 crosswords published in Grocott’s Mail. The puzzles are now also published in the Mail and Guardian.
“I’d been looking at the crosswords published in papers across the country and I noticed that all of them were syndicated from England,” Euvrard said in an interview earlier this year. “They were London-centric in identity, culture and worldview”.
Over the past few years Euvrard has been researching and developing a uniquely South Africanised cryptic crossword that is in the classic English genre but with a proudly local identity and outlook in terms of people, heritage and language.
JDE The Original South Afri- can Cryptic Crossword – a compilation of these groundbreaking puzzles – will be launched on Friday 20 October 2017 at 5pm in the Senior Common Room at Rhodes University.
Guest speakers will be Sandy Balfour (international crossword aficionado and best-selling author) and Professor Russell Kaschula (NRF SARChI Chair: Intellectualisation of African Languages, Multilingualism & Education).
“Bring a pen or pencil,” Euvrard advises.