Welcome to my Desk, where you’ll find all sorts of items to hold your interest. Unlike my real office desk, which is cluttered with books, files, news cuttings and the remnants of my lunch, this Online Desk will be efficient and easy to navigate.
Learn some of the tricks of solving those weird cryptic crosswords on my tutorials page.
If you wonder about the origins of some of our wonderful English expressions, Words & Phrases is the place to find out more.
Read about the puzzling but positive effect Lovatts has on your health in Puzzles & your Health. We’d love to hear from you, so write a letter to Christine’s Mailbag. You might want to comment on my regular column @ Christine’s Hello.
There’s something for everyone here, so come on in!
Latest Posts
A Toast to Burns
Anyone with Scottish ancestry will know that 25th January is a very special day, the birthday of Scotland’s favourite son, poet and songwriter Robert Burns. This day is celebrated more widely than the official national day, St Andrew’s Day. It is known as Burns Night and all around the world, Burns Suppers are held.
You may have come across a clue in [more…]
Puzzling Out the New Year
Although birthdays and Christmas are probably the biggest celebrations in our year, many cultures around the world don’t celebrate birthdays or Christmas. The festival that is observed in the most areas of the world has got to be New Year – although not necessarily on the same date as ours.
The earliest recorded festivities for New Year date back to ancient Babylon, [more…]
Tinsel And Tension
It’s not long now until the jolly season of yuletide, when the extended family traditionally gathers together peacefully to celebrate the birth of Christ.
Nowadays, who takes any notice of tradition? It’s more often than not a season fraught with shopping for food, writing cards or racing around the shopping centre.
In fact, the stress of finding the perfect present for your loved [more…]
Yule Be Late
It says a lot about our tendency to procrastinate that the word presently in the late 14th century meant ‘immediately, in the present time’, but by the 1560s it had relaxed into ‘soon’. In fact, soon also used to mean ‘at once’ and eventually came to mean ‘within a short time’. Anon is one of those words you hear in Shakespeare [more…]
A Gift Too Many
I sometimes think of the English language as a living, breathing creature that devours new words and spits out the obsolete ones. New words are added all the time, and existing words are given new meanings, which is what makes the English language so wonderfully diverse.
The word ‘gifted’ means ‘blessed’ or ‘talented’. When used in the expression ‘gifted and talented’ [more…]
Tragedy Plus Time
When did drama first start? It’s always been a part of our lives, not just our own personal dramas but also those in literature, stage and film.
We don’t know exactly when humans first started re-enacting life stories, but the ancient Greeks were very keen on performing in public, telling stories. The Greek audience loved it and the theatrical culture flourished. In [more…]