Semiquincentennial Crossword

 So, yesterday's Prize crossword in the Grauniad by Kite had a timely theme.  

Tricky, as we missed it!  

But fun.

RHDR Centenary

 A few days ago, on the 26th May, was the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Light Railway.

From the supporters association:

100 years ago - 26th May 1926, the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway was granted a Light Railway Order by the Ministry of Transport.

As the proposed route of the railway would cross public roads and create a need to purchase land from multiple landowners, a Light Railway Order was required - this was applied for in November 1925.

Once granted, this incorporated the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Light Railway Company as a statutory public utility undertaking, gave it powers to construct and work the proposed railway and also included compulsory purchase powers over the land required (which ultimately had to be used to acquire six plots of land on the proposed route).

Below are photographs of construction during 1926/27 with No. 4 The Bug operating Permanent Way duties.

And also, nowadays:

30,000 Redux

 Well, we think we solved it all...

30,000

 So, today's Cryptic Crossword in the Guardian was number 30,000.  

For which the paper prepared a real challenge.

Note:  There are many spoilers below!

...

....

Crossword No 30,000 was by Arachne (aka the Spider Woman).  Having solved it, the answers at top and bottom point the solver to the perimeter of the Quick Crossword.


...

Which is a Nina, presenting a cryptic clue.

...

Solving which points you to today's Editorial (The Guardian View).  Which is a lovely piece, worth reading, about the Guardian Cryptic Crosswords in particular, with lots of links (eg to an old interview with Arachne).

But that isn't all...

...

One of the answers to Cryptic 30,000 is "Acrostic".  And the first letters of each paragraph of the Editorial form an Acrostic.

Which reads:

...

LAST THIRTY FIVE PRIMES.

...

And then (this from a post by "Askival" to the estimable Fifteensquared Website):

 If you look at the bottom row of the cryptics whose numbers are the 35 primes before 30,000 (going all the way back to 2/1/2025!) you get:

29581 WELL DONE
29587 BRAVO
29599 HERE
29611 IN CONCLUSION
29629 IS OUR F
29633 INAL CH
29641 ALLENG
29663 E ARE YOU
29669 KEEPING UP GREAT
29671 THERE WI
29683 LL BE A WON
29717 DERF
29723 UL PRIZ
29741 E BUT FIR
29753 ST YOU M
29759 UST ENT
29761 ER A RAC
29789 E NOT A N
29803 ACTUAL ATHLETIC
29819 RACE OF C
29833 OURSE TH
29837 AT WOULD
29851 BE WEIRD
29863 NOT THAT
29867 IT’S A CER
29873 EBRAL RA
29879 CE IN THE
29881 FORM OF A
29917 CROSSWORD PUZZLE
29921 IT’S A GEN
29927 IUS PUBL
29947 ISHED AT
29959 NOON BST
29983 TOMORROW
29989 GODSPEED

So this has been planned for well over a year, and continues with a GENIUS puzzle tomorrow.
They are notoriously hard...

Another Anniversary This Year

 In addition to the anniversaries mentioned earlier, it is perhaps worth mentioning that it is 80 years since the first of the Reverend Awdry's Railway Series.

Asimov's Empire

A few days ago, I shared a link to Nature which cited Isaac Asimov with deep approval, on the occasion of the centenary of his birth. 

However, he wasn't exactly a nice man to about half of the population.  This piece redresses the balance somewhat.

Doctor Crossword 2013

Not only does November 2013 mark the 60th Anniversary of the first Dr Who, but this year it is 100 years since the first crossword.  See Paul's Web site for more info...

The trees around Nunhead

It was John Major who infamously spoke about going 'Back to Basics' and the last person I would like to emulate is that Tory prime minister, the very rotter who oversaw the privatisation of the railways.

Nevertheless, for this post only, Basics is exactly where The trees around Nunhead is going back to.

Nunhead has lots of roads whose names derive from trees. But I don't think there are many lindens (limes) on Linden Grove, Limesford Road nor Limes Walk. I haven't spotted any. Hollydale Road may have some holly, however, and I'm sure somewhere on its long length Ivydale Road boasts some ivy.

This small specimen, which is none of the above, can be found on the corner of East Dulwich Road and Peckham Rye (W):-
Turning the other way, there is this huge horse chestnut: Some of you may recall my posting of 11th March (Just what it says on the Tin) where I wrote about a huge tree on Nunhead Green that 'after some heavy-handed topiary... dominates the Green today. Huge, menacing, with blunt fingers grasping at the sky'.
Well here is what it looks like now. The blunt fingers are covered with greenery and a lot of the sense of menace has gone. Perhaps the topiarist knew what she or he was doing after all:-

Just around the corner, this strange growth stands guard over Nunhead Library:
There are quite a lot of these strange spiky trees (bushes?) in the area. Maybe they were fashionable once?
This poor shot of the roundabout at the junction of Clayton and Consort Roads at first seems pointless in the current context.
But closer up, you can see a mature Aruacaria or Monkey Puzzle Tree.
Elsewhere in Nunhead, these trees stand outside Ivydale school (unsurprisingly, on Ivydale Road):-
And this is the entrance to Nunhead Cemetery from Limesford Road:

Finally a photograph of the unusual house that stands near the south-east end of Peckham Rye, opposite the old tram stop:
So. I've beaten the bounds of Nunhead (sort of), photographed some trees - some for the first time - and gone Back to Basics.
And I feel all the better for it.
After all, people might otherwise wonder about the title of the blog and what it was all about, and I wouldn't want that.
Oh, and I felt it would be appropriate.
This has been my hundredth posting.