Edgar Allan Poe is best known for his tales of the macabre and mysterious. He is said to have invented the detective fiction genre.
Edgar Poe was born in Boston and within two years of his birth, his parents – both actors – had died. He was taken in by John Allan, who never legally [more…]
Extract from BIG Crossword Magazine No.191
Thanks for all your clues for bedrock and motive. More than one of you clued bedrock as home of the Flintstones, fundamentals, basics, hard mattress and solid foundation.
For motive, many of you offered reason, cause, incitement and purpose. I liked Psychology which arouses an organism to action toward a [more…]
Extract from Crossed Wires BIG 190
Here are some interesting facts about the traditions of Christmas:
The Christmas cracker is 161 years old this year. It was invented by English baker Tom Smith, who first sold wrapped sweets and added mottoes into the wrappers. When he heard the crackle of a log in the fire, he [more…]
I often write about interesting new words coming into our language, but they come at a cost. Theyre now jostling with our older words for space in our dictionaries, the oldies being threatened with eviction.
In September 2008, the lexicographers at Collins dictionary started preparing for their forthcoming new edition and found that over 2,000 [more…]
Extract from Crossed Wires BIG 189
The last day of November is the feast day of St Andrew, a Jewish fisherman from Bethsaida and younger brother of St Peter. Obviously popular internationally, he’s the patron saint of Scotland, Russia, Romania, Greece, Amalfi, and Luqa in Malta. The Scottish flag features St Andrew’s X-shaped cross.
The name [more…]
Ive often said that the new words created in any era give us a snapshot of that time. Our present preoccupation with green issues is perfectly reflected in the latest additions to most dictionaries.
Collins Dictionary is obviously environmentally aware, with new phrases such as carbon footprint: a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide [more…]
Extract from Crossed Wires BIG 188
With all the coughing and sneezing going on in the office, I looked into the origins of these words, and found that cough comes from German keuchen ‘to pant’ and wheeze from Old Norse hvaesa ‘to hiss’.
Hiccup, once called hicket or hyckock, is named after the sound of the [more…]
You cant cure a cold or flu but everyone has their own method for relieving the symptoms. In fact, ask fifty people and youll get fifty different answers.
When our family came down with colds recently, we were given all sorts of advice regarding home remedies, but we find the old family favourite always works [more…]
Interested in becoming a crossword compiler?
You’re in luck! Hidden beneath the dust bunnies during a recent spring-clean we discovered a typewritten aid for compiling crosswords written by none other than Crossword Queen, Christine Lovatt. And much to our surprise and delight the advice contained therein still holds true.
So, if you want to try [more…]
