GIANT CROSSWORD
CHOOSE cryptic or quick, answers are the same. SOLUTIONS IN MONDAY’S PAPER
CRYPTIC CLUES ACROSS
13 New caller is excited to go round current drinks store (4,6) 14 A tip created by local essentially to make pudding (7) 15 Return of colour in grass in blooming period? (6) 16 Status might come with this drink for minimal attendance (6) 17 Objection with dear French meat seller (7) 18 Support at home for intellect (5) 19 Carry something on a camel (4) 20 Archdeacon with much drink open to bribery (5) 21 Beer is spilt on front of this cap (5) 22 Doctor tried to suppress a bout of invective (6) 23 Group of burly men energised on reflection as hostile force (5) 28 PA fully relaxed becomes frisky (7) 30 Cut honey out after getting rid of ordinary condiment (7) 33 Any new top when torn is of little value (3,1,5) 36 Normal small room missing latest package (6) 38 Unusually big eel left out is pale brown (5) 39 Substitute for kiss by unknown character (5) 40 Ron if swimming with energy is performing well (2,4) 42 Line broke close to waterfront in bay (5) 43 Plaintive sound about tune played for a long period (7) 44 Part of a beach by a lake for open footwear (6) 46 Tuneful song from lair lots regularly detected (4) 49 Female U.S. singer on radio gets criticism (4) 51 Acclimatise party thus at intervals with Tyneside (6) 53 A boffin shortly working to save time is ill-mannered (1,3,3) 55 British competition for couple (5) 59 Wet day with morning by enclosure (6) 60 Accommodate condition for returning money (3,2) 61 Foolish way in which debacle ends? (5) 62 Mum and Sid chomped Chinese food (3,3) 63 Verbally abuse large retired chap in awful places without power (4,5) 65 Reveal terrible devil with gut almost (7) 66 Luck favouring melody (7) 70 Deceptive type cracked code by yard (5) 71 Accompany coaster at sea leaving area (6) 73 Straightforward proposal to tour India (5) 75 Slim boy removing jacket in uncertain state (5) 80 Notes a ritual partly in Indian dress (4) 82 Ribs are found in this strong box (5) 83 Meat is cooked around back of joint occasionally (2,5) 84 Family in newspaper with a slant? (6) 85 German enters British Museum in last place (6) 86 Mention advice for assembly (7) 87 Things with wine possibly waiting in reserve (2,3,5)
DOWN
1 Weaken revolving top on pickup truck (6) 2 Prepare to move eg trade over year (3,5) 3 Jack gets U.S. award for tool (5) 4 Strike gear (7) 5 Twist in legal document on case of homicide (6) 6 With day gone, get rid of Yankee that’s irritating? (5) 7 Enthusiasm one found in northerly journeys (6) 8 Assail drab mob when reassembled (7) 9 A fancy award varied clubs missed in huge degree? (3,3,4) 10 Plaintive cry in port, perhaps, heard (5) 11 Asian martial arts actor with cold blocks extra accidentally (2,6) 12 Tranquil part of local museum (4) 24 Mike has peculiar role to restrain no good dog (7) 25 Put down what’s in French on two lines (5) 26 Try to enter a motorcycle race essentially (2,5) 27 Old man only upset about priest in full array (7) 29 Discover part of real earnings (5) 31 Raise this when upset about Oscar (5) 32 Observe especially base in country (4) 34 Mind deplorable spectacle (6) 35 Couch up to now reduced (4) 37 Investigate report of Pole’s neighbour at college (5,2) 41 Pivotal point in fine sort of club mostly on Scottish island (7) 45 Two following in wild ride vary (6) 47 Deny profit for example (7) 48 Old boy, cruel, no longer in charge? That’s evident (7) 50 Ale a keg spilt? It might come from this (7) 52 Crazy enthusiasts (4) 54 U.S. writer, not one with good nasal tone (5) 56 Clubhouse is given tea container and milk can (5) 57 Opponent in lean times (4) 58 Official papers on Greek character, not a fool (5) 60 Lavish address? It’s part of a democracy (4,6) 64 Examine terrible lot in book dismissing Britain (4,4) 67 Be ambitious biking freely after this is gone (5,3) 68 Outline from Conservative when visiting? (7) 69 Hairy eccentric with ruse to lose weight (7) 72 Type of roof hidden by path at Chester (6) 74 Clear problem when walking I had cut down (6) 76 Kindly group’s leader in African country (6) 77 Rascal from second group (5) 78 Stem latest sign of distress with discussion (5) 79 It’s taken by waiters in command (5) 81 Hold up test on a particle (4)
bombing, was that Manston-Green would be killed. The thought that he would die in action and be remembered as a hero was intolerable, but I need not have worried.
He joined the RAF, but not as a flier. Those coveted wings were never stitched above the breast pocket of his uniform. He was a Wingless Wonder, as I believe the RAF called them.
I think he had something to do with equipment or maintenance and he must have been effective. He ended up as a Wing Commander, and naturally he kept the rank in civilian life. His sycophants called him the Wingco — and how he revelled in it.
IT WAS in 1953 that I decided to begin taking active steps towards his elimination. The shop was modestly successful and I had a manager and an assistant, both reliable. My part-time job was an excuse for short absences and I could confidently l eave them in charge.
I began making short visits to Stonebridge, a prosperous town on the fringes of the commuter belt where my enemy lived. Perhaps the words ‘held court’ would be more appropriate.
He was a member of the local council and of one or two charitable trusts, the kind that confer prestige rather than making unwelcome financial demands, and he was captain of t he golf club.
Oh yes i ndeed, he was the ‘Wingco’, strutting about the clubhouse as he must once have strutted in the Mess.
By then I had discovered quite a lot about Keith Manston-Green. He had divorced his wife, who had left him, taking their two children, and he was now married to Shirley May, 12 years his junior. But it was his captaincy of the Stonebridge Golf Club that gave me an idea how I could get close to him.
I COULD tell within five minutes of entering the clubhouse that the place reeked of petty suburban snobbery. They didn’t actually say what prospective members would be welcome, but I could tell that there was a set of clearly understood conventions designed to enable the members to f eel superior to all but the chosen few — most of them successful local businessmen.
However, they were as keen on increasing their income as were less snobbish enterprises and it was possible to pay green fees and enjoy a round, either alone or with a partner if one could find one, and to take lessons from the pro.
I gave a false name, of course, and paid always in cash. I was exactly the kind of interloper that no one took much notice of. Certainly no one evinced any desire to partner me. I would drink a solitary beer, have my lesson and quietly depart.
The undersized, ordinarylooking, bespectacled boy had grown i nto an undersized, ordinary-looking, bespectacled man. I had a moustache but there was otherwise little change. I had no fear that Manston-Green would recognise me but, taking no risks, I kept well out of his way.
And did I recognise ManstonGreen when I first saw him after so many years? How could I fail to do so? He was a grown-up version of the tormentor of my childhood. He was still tall but stout, carrying his stomach high, redfaced, loud-voiced, the black hair sleeked back.
I could see that he was deferred to. He was the Wingco, Keith Manston- Green, prosperous businessman, provider of jobs and silver cups, slapper of backs, dispenser of free drinks.
And then I saw Shirley May, his second wife, drinking with her cronies at the bar. Shirley May. She was always called by that double first name, and behind her husband’s back I occasionally caught their salacious whispers, ‘Shirley May, but on the other hand, she may not!’
He had got his trophy wife, blonde, though obviously not naturally so, voluptuous, long-legged, a second-hand film-star vision of feminine desirability. Even to look at her, standing at the club bar flirting with a group of bemused fools, made me sick.
It was then that I first began to see how I might kill her husband. And not only kill him, but make him suffer over months of protracted agony, just as he had made me suffer for years. The revenge wouldn’t be perfect, but it would be as close as I could get.
The months I spent leading up to action had to be carefully planned. It was important that Manston-Green did not see me, or at least not close enough to recognise me, and that he never heard even my false name. That wasn’t difficult. He played only at weekends and in the evenings. I chose Wednesday mornings.
Even when our visits had coincided, the Wingco was far too important to cast his eyes on undistinguished temporary players only permitted on the greens because their fees were needed.
It was important, too, that I didn’t become even remotely interesting to other members. On the few occasions that someone condescended to partner me, I played badly. That took some skill: I naturally have a very good eye.
I had my story ready. I had an elderly and ailing mother living in the neighbourhood and was paying occasional dutiful visits. I embarked on boring descriptions of her symptoms and prognosis and would watch their eyes glazing over as they edged away.
I kept my appearances infrequent; I did not want to become an object of gossip and curiosity even if both were dismissive. I needed to be too anonymous even to be regarded as the club bore.
Firstly, I needed a key to the clubhouse. For a locksmith that wasn’t difficult. By careful watchi ng I discovered that three people had keys: Manston- Green, t he club secretary Bi l l Caraway, and the pro Alistair McFee.
McFee’s was the easiest to get my hands on. He kept it in the pocket of his jacket, which he invariably hung on the door of his office. I bided my time until one Wednesday morning, when he was occupied on the first green wi t h a particularly demanding pupil, with gloved hands I took the key from his pocket and, locking myself in the lavatory, took an impression. On my next visit, surreptitiously, I tested the key. It worked.
I then began the second part of my campaign. Late at night alone in my London office and wearing gloves, I cut out words from the national newspapers and pasted them onto a sheet of writing paper, the kind sold in every stationer’s shop.
The messages, which I sent twice weekly, had small variations of wording but always the same insinuating poison. Why did you marry that bitch? Don’t you know she’s having it off with someone else? Are you blind or something?
Don’t you know what Shirley May’s up to? I don’t like to see a decent man cheated. You should keep an eye on your wife.
Oh, they had their effect. On subsequent visits to the golf club when, carefully distanced, I watched them together I knew that my carefully calculated strategy was working.
There were public quarrels. Members of the club began to edge away when they were together. The Wingco was rattled — and so, of course, was she.
I GAVE that marriage no more than two months. Which meant that I couldn’t delay. I fixed the actual date two weeks ahead.
Only one other thing was necessary. I made sure that the new clubs I purchased were the same make as his, a necessary extravagance. I substituted my driver for his driver, handling it always with gloves. It was his prints I wanted, not mine.
I made sure my final messages were received on the morning of the crucial day, his by post, hers pushed under the door when, watching, I saw him drive away for work. Hers said, ‘If you want to know who’s sending these notes, meet me i n the clubhouse at nine tonight. Burn this note. A friend.’
His said the same, but gave a time ten minutes later.
I realised, of course, that neither might come. That was a risk I took. But if they didn’t, I would be in no danger. It would simply mean that I needed to find another way of killing Manston-Green. I hoped it wouldn’t be necessary.
My plan was so perfect, the horror I had planned for him so wonderfully satisfying.
I won’t distress you with details; they are not necessary. I had my keys to the clubhouse and I was waiting for her, her husband’s