Hello – Colossus 218

Many words have changed meanings over the years and there’s usually an interesting view of history behind the words. Here are some words from ancient Greece.

Paraphernalia, for instance, comes from the Greek para alongside and pherne dowry. In ancient Greece, when a bride moved into her husband’s house, she took her personal property with her, cooking utensils, jewellery, cosmetics etc which she was allowed to keep. If they got divorced, which was quite common then, the woman was allowed to keep her paraphernalia, while the families sorted out the lands, cattle, house and money.

In those ancient days, the world as they knew it was surrounded by the great river Oceanus, for it was generally considered that the world was flat. If you failed to return from a voyage on the dreaded River Ocean, you must have fallen off the edge. Oceanus gave its name to ocean.

A long, arduous and eventful journey can be described as an odyssey, which also comes from ancient Greece. The Greek poet Homer wrote the long epic poem Odyssey about the Greek hero, Odysseus (known as Ulysses to the Romans) and his long journey back to Greece after the fall of Troy.

The Trojan War lasted ten years and it took him another ten to reach home. His wife Penelope was still waiting for him, fighting off her many suitors, with the help of her son.

Marathon runners might be interested to know that the village called Marathon, north of Athens, was the spot where the Persians invaded Greece, about 2,500 years ago. The Athenians defended and the battle raged on in Athens, resulting in a win by the home side.

A Greek soldier, Pheidippides, who had fought all day, was ordered to tell the people of Marathon that their city was saved. For some reason he ran all the way, about 43 kms, delivered the good news, and dropped dead from exhaustion.

This distance of 43kms, or 26 miles, is now the standard marathon distance run, thanks to poor old Pheidippides.

Happy Puzzling!

Hello – Colossus 215

Some time ago I wrote about my favourite place, Bere Island in Bantry Bay, Ireland, where my mother came from. Readers have since asked to hear more about its history and whether I’ve been back there recently.

I return every year and have just spent the summer there. It has a fascinating history. It lies opposite Berehaven Harbour and got its name, according to legend, from an Irish chief Owen Mór who was defeated in battle, fled to Spain and married Princess Beara. When he returned with a great army and navy, he named the area Berehaven in honour of his wife.

The prehistoric inhabitants of Bere Island left behind an ancient legacy of their time – a megalithic wedge tomb built circa 2000 BC, ringforts and a spectacular standing stone over 3m tall, which stands in the very centre of the island. At the eastern end of the island Lonehort Beach was once a Viking harbour, where a breakwater was built in the Scandinavian style.

Berehaven is the second deepest natural harbour in the world (after Sydney) and the deepest in Europe, and the scene of many a naval clash. Bere Island belonged to the O’Sullivan Beara Clan since the 14th C, but was taken at the The Battle of Dunboy in 1602, when Gaelic chieftain Donal Cam O’Sullivan Beare was defeated by Sir Carew and his people massacred.

The French Invasion of 1796 led to the need to build defences and four Martello towers were built on the island, each with a gun battery. Two towers still remain and afford commanding views of the island and bay.

Due to the strategic position of the island, the British maintained a military presence on the island from 1898, when tenants were cleared from the East End and seven gun batteries in all were brought in to protect the British Dreadnoughts when in port. A moat was built to surround the fortifications, prisons and army barracks, some of which can still be seen today. The British army departed in 1938 and in the 1950s the islanders were finally allowed to buy their land back.

The inclement weather has caused many shipwrecks, with ships smashed on rocks and islanders involved in courageous rescues over the years. Fishing has always been the main occupation, and the local fishermen risked their lives many times to ply their trade. Despite the fishing, the island population was greatly reduced by the Famine in the 1840s and later by emigration. In 1841 there were 2,122 inhabitants. Nowadays there are just over 200 permanent residents, although this number swells in the summer with visitors.

Much of the information here comes from Bere Island – A Short History by Ted O Sullivan. His account of the ingenious prison escapes is highly recommendable reading.

Happy Puzzling!

Hello – Colossus 214

From Christine’s Hello in Colossus No.214

It’s very hard to write about Charles Dickens and keep it short enough to fit in this column space, because there’s so much to say about the man.

Who knows what sort of world we would be living in if it hadn’t been for Dickens and his focus on social reform? He didn’t make changes single-handedly but he certainly forced people to look at the injustices of his time – and not just English people.

Workhouse conditions, capital punishment, child labour, reform of the legal system, and, in America, slavery, all deeply concerned Dickens. He shocked his readers by depicting Victorian society as being industrialised, greedy and self important.

Many consider Dickens to be the greatest figure in English literature after Shakespeare, and like him, appealed to both popular and sophisticated levels. His works have been translated into practically every language. His novels were written in weekly or monthly instalments in newspapers, with regular cliffhangers creating suspense and keeping the reader coming back for the next exciting episode.

Dickens’ characters are some of the most memorable in fiction and he often based them on people he knew: Wilkins Micawber and William Dorrit on his father and Dickens’ own mother, Elizabeth Dickens, was the model for the always confused, comic Mrs Nickleby. Sometimes Dickens got into trouble, as in the case of Miss Mowcher in David Copperfield, based on his wife’s dwarf chiropodist.
Scrooge has become synonymous with ‘miser’ and may be clued in our crosswords as such. Who has never heard of poor little Oliver Twist asking for more? You may find ‘umbrella’ clued as ‘gamp’, after Mrs Gamp, the alcoholic midwife in Martin Chuzzlewit who always carried an umbrella with her, so that gamp came to mean umbrella. Bill Sykes and the Artful Dodger are well-known thieves from Oliver Twist and Uriah Heep’s name is used to describe an insincerely humble person, known even by those who have never read his novels.

For all his earnest endeavour in making the world a better place, he also had a great sense of comedy. His unique blend of humour, pathos and humanitarianism resounds throughout all his works, which have been a huge influence in the entertainment business. Countless movies and musicals have been made based on his books.

As Tiny Tim the poor invalid boy in A Christmas Carol
would say:
“God bless us, everyone”

Happy Puzzling!

Hello – Colossus 212

From Christine’s Hello in Colossus No.212

When television was invented, film producer Darryl Zanuck predicted that people would soon tire of staring at a plywood box every night.

In 1986, George Bush made the same prediction about the Internet.  Yet both facilities are here to stay, whether we like it or not.

In countless ways, the Internet has changed our lives in the short time it’s been around. More and more of life’s living is now conducted online.

Emails have become firmly entrenched. How easy it is to write a quick note to family or friends and get an instant answer back.

The Google search engine has become a well-used verb – if you need to know something you find out by googling it, usually ending up with Wikipedia.

Anything you want to buy or sell can be found on eBay, or one of the specialised sites like Amazon for books and DVDs.

Contacting long-lost friends is now possible with sites such as Friends Reunited.

Booking tickets for the cinema, theatre or concerts is so much easier online through sites such as Ticketmaster. In some cases, the only way to book in advance is online.

Travel arrangements can be made on local rail travel sites or airline sites. Hotels are easy to book on lastminute for example. Studying for a university degree, finding recipes…the list is endless.

By the way, I’m not getting a fee for plugging these sites – these are just some of the online facilities I’ve used myself recently.

The Internet has been available in Britain since at least 1993 and the man known as the Godfather of the Web, Sir Tim Berners Lee, was named in 2004 as the greatest living Briton. While working as a physicist in Switzerland, he turned an elite collection of military and academic computer systems into an international network.

The younger generation can’t imagine a world without emails, Internet and text messaging. For the older generation, it has been (and still is) a learning curve, a challenge and in some cases something to be feared.

My father didn’t take to it instantly. My brothers set up a computer for him and did all they could to encourage him to send emails. When he had run out of reasons not to, he mastered the new technology and now he can’t wait to log on and find out what’s happening in the world.

He’s only a youngster of course, at 86. Some of our online puzzlers are well over 90 and have taken to the Internet like a mouse to cheddar.

Readers occasionally berate me for using clues that can only be found online and I must reiterate that this is definitely NOT the case.
Most answers to our crosswords can be found in dictionaries or encyclopedias. It’s just that you can probably find them more quickly by using a search engine.

This is the way the world is going and we have developed our own websites for puzzlers. Write and tell me your online experiences –  I’d love to hear from you.

Happy Puzzling!

Sleep solves cryptics

Why is it, when I do a cryptic crossword,
I get stuck on a word,
I go to sleep,
and when I awake, I can solve the clues very easily,
then I repeat it again the next night,
it works for me,
why is it?

Diana Saunders

The Catchphrase – Hello 211

Welcome to our new-look website.  Our Webmaster has been slaving day and night to make it more user-friendly and including ways for our loyal readers to contribute more to the site.  You can now read the latest news about Lovatts Magazine titles and have your say in the Mailbag by providing comment on other readers’ letters or submitting your own letter. You can order your subscriptions online and now play even more online puzzles.

We love the way it looks and hope you do too.

From Christine’s Hello in Colossus No.211

The catchphrase, which we sometimes use in our clues, is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “a well-known sentence or phrase, especially one associated with a particular famous person”.

Winston Churchill’s phrase Blood, Sweat and Tears was only one of his many stirring wartime quotes. Lord Kitchener urged millions of young men to enlist with the slogan Your country needs you. US president George Bush made the promise Read my lips and Martin Luther’s I have a dream has inspired many a speaker to repeat the phrase.

Back in the 60s, I remember Norman Vaughan’s Swinging, dodgy and Roses grow on you. Expressions such as Dick Emery’s You are awful … but I like you, Mr Humphrey’s I’m free and Baldrick’s I have a cunning plan are still thrown into a conversation. You dirty old man! said Harold Steptoe to his father every week.

TV comedy shows are still a rich source of catchphrases. Catherine Tate introduced Am I bovvered? and What are you like? Little Britain gave us Computer says no.

Groovy baby said Austin Powers, and who could forget Here’s looking at you, kid, when Rick says goodbye to the love of his life in Casablanca? Dirty Harry encouraged felons to commit crimes with his line Go on punk, make my day.

It’s funny what sticks in your memory. I can clearly remember that sporting chant dedicated to footballer Cyril Knowles Nice one Cyril which became an advertising slogan for bread. Beanz meanz Heinz was so popular it made a comeback. Don’t be vague Ask for Haig and Guinness is good for you also stand out in the trivia department of my memory.

Have I left out your favourite catchphrase? Write and tell us. But first, see if you can you remember the film or TV show that the following catchphrases came from (answers in Colossus 211 magazine):

• You talkin’ to me?
• Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn
• May the force be with you
• Don’t mention the war
• Book ’em Danno
• Good thinking 99
• Shaken, not stirred
• Hasta la vista, baby.

Happy Puzzling!

CALkuro Video Tutorial

Introducing CALkuro by Lovatts – a puzzle designed to make you smarter!

CALkuro (inspired by the Japanese KenKen®), is two parts Sudoku to one part Kakuro. Add half a part of Addoku and a splash of Shapeshifter…

Before you tackle your first puzzle, watch this brief tutorial by Christine Lovatt then click over to YouPlay to be among the first to sample and solve this CALculated challenge for CALculating minds.

»Click here to play CALkuro on YouPlay

Christine’s Cryptic Tutorial

Join Cryptic Queen, Christine Lovatt, as she walks and talks you through a simple cryptic crossword – clue by clue.

Each clue is animated to demonstrate the rules behind these devious, but not-so-difficult, puzzles. You’ll be an expert in no time!

Unique Blocks

UNIQUE BLOCKS are essential tools for solving Kakuro and Addoku puzzles. For example a total of 4 in 2 squares is a UNIQUE BLOCK. It can’t be 2 + 2 because each line of numbers can contain only one of each numeral. So the two squares can have only 1 or 3, though you don’t know in what order the 1 and 3 go until you look at the other sums around them.

This table gives you all the Unique blocks between 2 and 8 cells in length.

TOTAL	SQUARES	POSSIBLE NUMBERS	CAN’T HAVE
3	2	1,2	3,4,5,6,7,8,9
4	2	1,3	2,4,5,6,7,8,9
16	2	7,9	1,2,3,4,5,6,8
17	2	8,9	1,2,3,4,5,6,7
6	3	1,2,3	4,5,6,7,8,9
7	3	1,2,4	3,5,6,7,8,9
23	3	6,8,9	1,2,3,4,5,7
24	3	7,8,9	1,2,3,4,5,6
10	4	1,2,3,4	5,6,7,8,9
11	4	1,2,3,5	4,6,7,8,9
29	4	5,7,8,9	1,2,3,4,6
30	4	6,7,8,9	1,2,3,4,5
15	5	1,2,3,4,5	6,7,8,9
16	5	1,2,3,4,6	5,7,8,9
34	5	4,6,7,8,9	1,2,3,5
35	5	5,6,7,8,9	1,2,3,4
21	6	1,2,3,4,5,6	7,8,9
22	6	1,2,3,4,5,7	6,8,9
38	6	3,5,6,7,8,9	1,2,4
39	6	4,5,6,7,8,9	1,2,3
28	7	1,2,3,4,5,6,7	8,9
29	7	1,2,3,4,5,6,8	7,9
41	7	2,4,5,6,7,8,9	1,3
42	7	3,4,5,6,7,8,9	1,2
36	8	1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8	9
37	8	1,2,3,4,5,6,7,9	8
38	8	1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9	7
39	8	1,2,3,4,5,7,8,9	6
40	8	1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9	5
41	8	1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9	4
42	8	1,2,4,5,6,7,8,9	3
43	8	1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9	2
44	8	2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9	1

Download a printable PDF version

Kakuro Video Tutorial

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