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Crossed Wires March 2011

A Penny For Your Thoughts
Which of the following countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Serbia or Tunisia has the dinar as its currency?

The answer is all of them.

The dinar sometimes crops up in our crosswords, and may be clued as Middle East currency. It comes from the Roman coin denarius which means 10 [more…]

Hello – March 2011

Names of well-known music bands and singers often crop up in crosswords, and the origins of some names are quite interesting.

Uriah Heep is named after an insincere fawning character in Charles Dickens’ novel David Copperfield and the rock band Utopia is named after Thomas More’s 1516 novel, his view of an ideal world.

60s band [more…]

Newsagent in Focus – Warrick Hosking

Warrick Hosking, NewsXpress Gympie. How long have you been a Newsagent and what awards have you won...

Help the Lovatts boys raise money for cancer research

The 'Ache and Brake to Wallis Lake' - help the Lovatts boys raise money for cancer research...

Hello – February 2011

As crossword solvers, you will be only too familiar with the synonym, the most common form of crossword clue, a word that means the same as another. Big and large, small and little, topic and theme or field and paddock.

But it’s been said that there’s no such thing as a completely synonymous synonym [more…]

Luckier than most

Well golly gee what can we say
Another prize from Lovatts has come our way!
The first prize last year was out of the blue,
The prize this year is just tickety-boo!
The compilers of puzzles are both clever and wise,
With so many prizes we just can’t believe our eyes!
We haven’t written this poem to brag or to [more…]

Puzzle addict and dictionary collector

You have indicated that you enjoy getting feedback so here is some. People who buy your books probably do so for many different reasons. I began years ago with Colossus. I wasn’t particularly good at crosswords then but, my son and I would sit and struggle through some clues at the breakfast table before [more…]

Hello – January 2011

I hope all our Lovatts onliners enjoyed Christmas and I wish you all the best for 2011 – health, happiness and the best of luck if you’re entering our puzzle competitions!

The New Year is a good time to look at new words entering the dictionary, and they come from all different sources. We need [more…]

Christine’s Christmas Hello 2010

Exchanging presents at Christmas is a tradition that dates back to the 4th century. Bishop Nicholas of Myra was born into a wealthy merchant family in the village of Patera in the south of Turkey. He was known for his many kind and generous deeds, including throwing gold into the houses of the needy [more…]