As this is our Christmas issue I am going to try and stick to writing only about words that make us feel good.
Our clue for HALCYON was ‘Golden (past)’ but the word came from a Greek myth about a bird (no not a partridge) and has a Christmas association.
Alcyone, daughter of Aeolus, who controlled the winds, was married to Ceyx. When Ceyx drowned in a shipwreck, Alcyone threw herself into the sea and the gods took pity and turned them both into birds. Aeolus calmed the winds over the winter solstice (around Dec 17-27) so that the birds could nest. HALCYON came up a number of times when we surveyed readers’ favourite words a few years ago, however some still spelt it incorrectly at 48ac replacing the Y with an I.
The notion of an ideal place has always captured the human imagination. When in 1516 Sir Thomas More published his book mocking the English political and social system, he called his fictional perfect place, Utopia, from the Greek for ‘no place’.
Stories of a utopian place on earth have been around as long as literature and in 1933, British author James Hilton created such a place in his novel Lost Horizon and he called it SHANGRI-LA (Demon 141ac). Shangri-la is a hidden Himalayan valley of happy, long-lived people.
If you lived in Shangri-la I am sure you would not be concerned by the misspelling SHANGRA-LA but our Demon is not so laid back and forgiving.
Interestingly we had PARADISE in the same crossword at 12ac for ‘Heaven’. Of Iranian origin, it means ‘a wall enclosing a garden’. Greek soldier and historian Xenophon, who appears in our crosswords from time to time, used the word paradeisos to describe the large gardens of the Persian rulers. Centuries later it was used for the biblical garden. From there it gained momentum and we use it for everything from amusement parks to retirement homes to holiday resorts to casinos. Perhaps it’s time we had a Paradise Puzzle!
I wonder if they have the ‘Black diamond’ in paradise. It sounds like a most desirable thing -something that might be stolen in an Indiana Jones movie, but in fact the CARBONADO is used in industry to make drill bits and grinding and cutting tools. The name is easily explained as diamonds are chains of carbon. The word came into English from Portuguese. At 20ac in the Demon CABBONADO and CARBANADO were incorrect.
Star ANISE is a terrific spice to add to your Christmas pudding. Our clue at 110ac ‘Fruit, star …’ confused some who thought it should perhaps be apple. The fruits of the Chinese evergreen tree are star-shaped, hence the name.
As Christmas celebrates the birth of the baby Jesus, I thought I’d bring to your attention a nice crossing of words in October’s Demon. LULLABIES at 62ac met up with LAYETTE at 63dn. Layette comes from Old French for a box or chest of drawers and was traditionally all the items a mother knitted and sewed during pregnancy.
In the Goliathon we got in early with the first clue ‘Christmas month’ for DECEMBER.
At 103ac ‘Eccentric’ had as its answer one of my favourite words, BIZARRE, unfortunately easily misspelt as BAZARRE or BAZAARE, if confused with the Middle East market, or bazaar.
Another lovely word was at 129dn, but this one did not cause trouble to you wacky readers. ‘Wackiness’ was ZANINESS and zany comes from an Italian nickname for Giovanni, a common name for clowns in the Italian commedia dell’arte.
Christmas can seem like a lot of rush and fuss but I am sure once the New Year routines settle in we all look back on these as ‘halcyon days’.
Peace and goodwill to you all this Christmas.
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