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
Behind The Stage Name
The stage names of famous people, which we use in our crosswords, are often not the names our stars were born with. There are many reasons why their original names are not used. In Stewart Granger’s case, his birth name was James Stewart, which was already being used by that other fine actor. Singer Katy Hudson felt her name was too [more…]
Rhyme Without Reason
I’ve said before that if you grew up speaking English you are one of the lucky ones, because it’s a mighty difficult language to learn as a second language. Trying to get the pronunciation right is a nightmare for most foreign learners.
All the more surprising, then, that it was a Dutch writer who composed an excellent poem about the subject.
Born in [more…]
Behind the Words
Sometimes a word comes your way which makes you realise that there’s a whole different world of activity out there that you never dreamed of.
I saw the word tribology recently, made a note of it as I always do with a new word, and looked it up. It looks like the perfect word for the study of tribes, but it is [more…]
Words on Paper
Before paper was invented, information was recorded on various surfaces such as clay tablets, papyrus rolls, stone, bamboo or wood block. Parchment was made from the untanned skins of sheep and goats, vellum from calfskin.
Paper was invented in China around the first century AD by Chinese court official Cai Lun, who made his paper by mixing finely chopped mulberry bark, hemp [more…]
Heroes & Highwaymen
You’ll meet some very interesting but deadly characters within the clues of our crosswords. For instance, the answer to the clue ‘Legendary Swiss archer’ is William Tell.
While there is no definitive evidence that he ever existed, some accounts attest that this folk hero was real and lived with his family in a Swiss village in the 14th century. He was a [more…]
Mind and Manners
Almost the first words we teach our children when they are learning to talk is please and thank you – “Say the magic word!” These words are so basic to our lifestyle we couldn’t imagine not using them regularly. The English word please is short for ‘if it pleases you to do this’, similar to the French s’il vous plait ‘if [more…]