Keep proper nouns out of crosswords
YOUR cryptic crossword setters have provocatively exceeded my elastic limit so that I have snapped and send you here one or two cross words.
As a keen cruciverbalist I have always believed, and until recently found by and large that the cryptic crossword (and the clue is in the title) should depend largely if not entirely upon the solvers’ (and setter’s) verbal knowledge and dexterity and decoding skills alone and not much if at all upon general knowledge. In particular the use of proper nouns/names should be taboo unless they have been largely absorbed into the language as “ordinary” words by common usage, for example Hoover for vacuum-cleaner. Indeed, even the words used should preferably not be too obscure but “common” so that they can be readily hit upon merely from the clue cryptically given and deciphered.
Your Fridays’ setter, NKD, is a counter-example par excellence and his efforts of late would more appropriately grace your sports pages as a general knowledge quiz with the emphasis on “football clues”.
On Friday last (December 6) for example the solutions include the following proper names (the first six with sporting connections and the latter four with Scottish connections): Chris Hoy, Ferguson, Lennox, Grainger, Nilsson, Denis Law, Andrew, Robert the Bruce, Glasgow, Chambers. As regards the clues themselves references alluded to: Sleep (the dancer), famous resident of Springfield Ohio (comic character), Lisbon Lions (football team), Scottish Olympic star, Scottish dictionary, Sean Marshall (who he?) etc.
Clue: No more Popes ran – nothing to lose for a change! (2,6,5)
Thank you, that feels much better.
Darrell Desbrow,
Dalbeattie.
AND so President Trump, a few years into his presidential career, is likely to turn a duet into a trio, with him becoming the third President of the United States to be subject to impeachment, after Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 (“Trump facing impeachment trial as Democrats unveil the charges”, The Herald, December 11). The charges against the present President are, however, on a higher and more damaging plane. President Andrew Johnson sacked Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War in his Government, which largely led to Johnson’s unsuccessful impeachment. President Clinton’s impeachment arose in the main because of some of his sexual adventures and his descriptions of them. The attempt against him was also unsuccessful. President Trump is being accused of abuse of power and obstruction of justice, high up the pecking order of potential offences.
The impeachment procedure in the US is somewhat arcane. There appears to be some uncertainty about what kind of offence is
YOUR “On this day” entry for the 1945 opening of the Waterloo Bridge over the Thames (The Herald, December 11) states that it was “designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott”. This is only partially true.
Scott was indeed involved as the architect, so no doubt had a say in its appearance. But the real designers were the consulting engineers, Rendel, Palmer & Tritton. It is thanks to them that the many people who cross the bridge each day do not end up in the Thames.
Sadly the key role of civil and structural engineers is far too often overlooked. Even when it comes to supposed to be getting dealt with. Is the procedure unable to deal with offences not indictable under federal or state law or is that exactly what it is supposed to be addressing in an indictment?
In any event, what it amounts to is politicians, with all the baggage they have in tow, passing judgment on another politician. There have buildings, where the architect genuinely is the lead designer, it is the structural engineer who has the (sometimes challenging) role of designing the most cost-effective structure to make the architect’s (often bizarre) ideas actually stand up.
Alistair Easton,
Edinburgh EH12.
AT this time where the behaviour of too many politicians and their aides is at an unprecedented low, it is good to know the people of
Glasgow are still caring.
A young chap got off the bus this morning (December 11) followed by an older chap with a walker. The been successful impeachments in the US with regard to government officials, but there has never been one of a President. The current proceedings will almost certainly also be unsuccessful because of the lack of the necessary majority to convict in the Senate. The rationale behind these proceedings, in all probability, is being driven not by young one made sure the older one was safely off the bus before he walked away.
Coming home, I was having real difficulty stepping on to a fancy new bus. A younger couple managed to get me on – and made a point of waving when I got off.
Yes, people do make Glasgow. Anne Mackinnon,
Glasgow.
I BEG to disassociate myself from Neil Mackay’s review of the doomster documentary by research agency Revealing Reality, (Screen Grab, BBC Scotland), which shows the antisocial impact of addiction to social media and use of digital the prospects of success, but rather by the opportunity to cause damage to the Republican Party in advance of the next presidential elections in November 2020.
Ian W Thomson,
Lenzie.
DR Charles Wardrop (Letters, December 6) praises President Trump.
It may be that the office of President of the United States of America deserves respect, but the present incumbent of that office merits no respect, admiration, courtesy or homage. He is not a statesman nor a diplomat, he shows a lack of understanding of simple manners. This is the man who ordered babies to be torn from the arms of mothers and put in cages. These children will never get over the adverse childhood experience Donald Trump has inflicted on them and their families. His language and behaviour are offensive to women, ethnic minorities and many other groups too numerous to mention. Margaret Forbes, Kilmacolm. devices (“Why the screen in your pocket is turning you into a total idiot”, The Herald, December 10).
My ipad and mobile phone are mostly switched off and have never harmed me.
I was a cultural Philistine long before the invention of these gadgets.
R Russell Smith,
Kilbirnie.
WHY has “who” disappeared from the language? In print and on the BBC people are continually referred to as “that” (as in “the man that does something). I despair of this misuse of English.
WG Stark, Glasgow G76.