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
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…]
Clue Me In
Once our wonderful crossword and puzzle magazines are shipped to your door, or placed on store shelves, it’s not long before our puzzlers write in to share their thoughts and questions. Here at Lovatts, we encourage your feedback, and we love talking about our clues. I thought I’d share my findings inspired by a recent clue query.
In this case, the clue [more…]
Fly Like An Eagle
There is an old legend that eagles are the only animals that can look into the sun. According to the translation of St Augustine, “The sun invigorates the eyes of eagles, but injures our own.”
It is certainly true that eagles have very special eyesight, estimated to be 4 to 8 times stronger than a human’s eyesight. An eagle can spot a [more…]
Keeping You Posted
One of the great pleasures of life, I feel, is receiving a letter in the post. I mean a friendly letter of course, not a bill, a speeding fine or a sales catalogue. When I first arrived in Australia, many moons ago, phone calls were only used in case of emergencies and the post played a huge part in communicating with [more…]