The Guardian Newspaper yesterday identified Stephen Fry as the originator of the well-known Piers Morgan 'countryside' joke. But I'm sure I first heard it on Clue, where it was a new definition for the Uxbridge English Dictionary by - Graeme Garden.
Doesn't make it any less funny, though.
Showing posts with label Gnats Crotchet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gnats Crotchet. Show all posts
Sunday, 13 December 2009
Sunday, 31 May 2009
Casting Shadows
(Spoilers here - don't read if you are embroiled in last Saturday's cryptic crossword in the Guardian).
This puzzle (by Puck) was one of those with a linking idea. Lots of the clues included an unexplained capital "B" and the puzzle was headed by the rubric that "Almost all the B's have the same significance".
So we tackled it, and eldest got the first solution out (to a clue without a B), which meant that I had a letter which helped me to solve 13 down (nicely positioned, straight down the middle of the grid). For the record "B-butcher three times lonely? Humph! (9)" - which had the solution "Lyttelton".
So we put that in and pondered what B might be. "Broadcaster" of course! All of the B answers would be respected broadcasters - perhaps all of them from Radio 4 (they wouldn't just limit it to R4 comedies would they?)
So we started looking for Nauchtie and Humphries, Parsons and Perkins, Cooke, MacGregor, Redhead, Ross (even) and Reith.
Not a jot. Not a tittle.
Turned out finally that B was "Bandleader." Which is fair enough as a theme, and Humph fits either, but now having completed the grid I am stuck with a shadow crossword in my mind - populated by a completely different group of people. Not Count Basie and Duke Ellington, but Clive James and Eddie Mair. I can't get it out of my head.
And I think I rather prefer it.
This puzzle (by Puck) was one of those with a linking idea. Lots of the clues included an unexplained capital "B" and the puzzle was headed by the rubric that "Almost all the B's have the same significance".
So we tackled it, and eldest got the first solution out (to a clue without a B), which meant that I had a letter which helped me to solve 13 down (nicely positioned, straight down the middle of the grid). For the record "B-butcher three times lonely? Humph! (9)" - which had the solution "Lyttelton".
So we put that in and pondered what B might be. "Broadcaster" of course! All of the B answers would be respected broadcasters - perhaps all of them from Radio 4 (they wouldn't just limit it to R4 comedies would they?)
So we started looking for Nauchtie and Humphries, Parsons and Perkins, Cooke, MacGregor, Redhead, Ross (even) and Reith.
Not a jot. Not a tittle.
Turned out finally that B was "Bandleader." Which is fair enough as a theme, and Humph fits either, but now having completed the grid I am stuck with a shadow crossword in my mind - populated by a completely different group of people. Not Count Basie and Duke Ellington, but Clive James and Eddie Mair. I can't get it out of my head.
And I think I rather prefer it.
Saturday, 29 November 2008
Not the World's Best Book About Radio 4
So anyway I’ve been reading Simon Elmes’ book (And Now on Radio 4: A Celebration of the World’s Best Radio Station, London, 2007), and I have to say that although I agree with the general premise (World’s Best… etc), it is a somewhat disappointing book to actually read.
Elmes is an insider, a documentary maker at the BBC, and he writes like one. Although he discusses the programmes and the characters, what he seems most interested in is the schedule – the logic of what show follows which, and why. As a result the book is peppered with references to papers and reports from the 60s and 70s (and beyond) regarding how Radio 4 should be shaped, what and who it is for, and what should be done about it. His heroes therefore are the controllers and managers.
Which is more than a little annoying – as, pace the write-in campaigns and complaints that exercise the middle-England listeners when a favourite programme like The Archers or Gardener’s Question Time is shifted by a gnat’s crotchet – this is quite dull stuff. Hard to get through. And its embedded in the book - gives it its' structure. It also results in an abiding emphasis on the news and current affairs strands on the network, which punctuate and to a degree give form to the Radio 4 day – but which for me are not the shining jewels.
The feel of the book is dry, managerial, dare I say bureaucratic. As a result it is miles away from the tone of the network itself. Sigh. A sad, missed opportunity. Doubtless there is a role for a book like this, but it isn’t the one I wanted to read.
Elmes is an insider, a documentary maker at the BBC, and he writes like one. Although he discusses the programmes and the characters, what he seems most interested in is the schedule – the logic of what show follows which, and why. As a result the book is peppered with references to papers and reports from the 60s and 70s (and beyond) regarding how Radio 4 should be shaped, what and who it is for, and what should be done about it. His heroes therefore are the controllers and managers.
Which is more than a little annoying – as, pace the write-in campaigns and complaints that exercise the middle-England listeners when a favourite programme like The Archers or Gardener’s Question Time is shifted by a gnat’s crotchet – this is quite dull stuff. Hard to get through. And its embedded in the book - gives it its' structure. It also results in an abiding emphasis on the news and current affairs strands on the network, which punctuate and to a degree give form to the Radio 4 day – but which for me are not the shining jewels.
The feel of the book is dry, managerial, dare I say bureaucratic. As a result it is miles away from the tone of the network itself. Sigh. A sad, missed opportunity. Doubtless there is a role for a book like this, but it isn’t the one I wanted to read.
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