I once broke a front tooth right off while I was in Northern Ireland on a historical re-enactment camp - I was eating a venison sandwich at the time, so we called it Bambi's Revenge! Fortunately, it didn't hurt, but I had to wait for nearly a week to get home and see the dentist. I kept the detached tooth in a little bag, and amused myself by grinning at small children to see if they screamed!
I subscribe to and print the DT Quick and Cryptic Saturday crosswords, which I then work on using ~CCTV. There is one compiler, however, who would seem to have a very high opinion of himself (I assume him!!) because he puts in red herrings which may be easy to spot by those who try to win the prize, but I think he's big-headed! This last Satirday's Quick was so hard that I could ony do half a dozen clues. So I think he jolly wel deserves a mention here!
I'm a huge fan of the Grauniad cryptic crossword - it's often quite devious (but in a good way) and unlike the Times and the Torygraph, it's free online.
I managed them both (although I needed help with one or two of the Cryptic clues) within the time limit, @SusanDoris - it may have been a new setter, Naughty Canine, according to Big Dave's Crossword Blog.
After some email advice from my dentist, I managed to bag the last tub of dental cement in south Edinburgh. Unfortunately it was a mile away. Otoh I was able to visit new and exciting shops like the Chinese supermarket and Polish deli, and procure essentials like coconut milk and packets of borscht.
Broken teeth are the worst. My front right tooth has been broken most of my life. A cap has never managed to affix properly, for some reason, so about 15 years ago I just quit and left it broken.
Sand spurs.
I know Satan must have something to do with these *things*. I spent the first few years in my home ridding the yard of these nasties. Lo and behold, there was a large clump that just appeared in my back yard. Some critter must have carried it and deposited it where nothing is growing until we get our rainy season. Well, the weeds don't seem to mind the dryness. They're pretty perky.
ps...the picture on the bottom of the page more resembles the spurs that were on the plant this morning. There are dozens of those on the plant which is sealed up and hopefully will never have the chance to reproduce.
I managed them both (although I needed help with one or two of the Cryptic clues) within the time limit, @SusanDoris - it may have been a new setter, Naughty Canine, according to Big Dave's Crossword Blog.
Ray T is my nemesis...
Mrs. S, long-term DT devotee
Thank you for that post - very interesting. There is one compiler whose Cryptic clues are just up my street, but the one this time definitely not! There are a couple of posters on R&E whom I ask for hints at times (I've tried Big Dave's blog but negotiating it with my software takes much longer), but I try not to google 'wordplay's' answers too often! There are still far too many empty squares so far this week, particularly 6 down - and I know I should know it.
Being able to do it with a time limit I think is much deserving of many compliments. I've been doing them now for over two years and it is certainly something I shall continue.
Have you come across the Fifteensquared blog? It discusses crossword solutions; no good for the Daily Telegraph, but covers the Guardian, FT and Independent crosswords.
It doesn't do it all that well. I will just have to get accustomed to the new oral landscape until the dentist reopens. At least it doesn't hurt to speak of.
Have you come across the Fifteensquared blog? It discusses crossword solutions; no good for the Daily Telegraph, but covers the Guardian, FT and Independent crosswords.
Thank you for the link - I've had a look but I don't think it is a site that will suit me. It sounds as if the forum members there are keen on actual discussions about crosswords too! I'll try and get a bit further with the current one later today, but it is a lovely day outside, so I'll be doing my 45 minutes of 170-step laps up and down the road at about 9:0.
TICTH the bastard who is responsible for my Girl Scout cookies not being delivered when the Fed Ex official e-mail said they had been. I assume my package has been stolen.
I am happy to say I have in fact gotten my cookies. The super brought them round this morning saying the were misdelivered. I am suspicious, as he says they were in front of the building, and I looked out the front door yesterday when I was looking for them and didn't see them. I think someone had an attack of conscience and returned them. There is a known problem of packages being stolen in the building, so it was not an unwarrented assumption to make.
Bloody mice. I just saw one scoot along the worktop. At least I found its exit point underneath and stuffed the gap with tinfoil. Let them chew through that.
VE Day celebrations with their plucky Britain trope. No, Britain did not stand alone, it stood with the Commonwealth. The E stands for Europe, not Britain. It's Victory in EUROPE day, so why the ever living fuck is the world covered in Union Jack bunting? I'm not objecting so much to the red, white and blue bunting, or the French, Dutch, Welsh, Irish flags, but much is jingoistic. I am very tempted to hang European flags to irritate make a point. Plus the idiots in the neighbouring road are still going ahead with their street celebration in the middle of lockdown.
Neither was it the end of the war, which continued across Asia for another 3 months. That's why VJ day is remembered in August, of which I was reminded by The Reunion this morning, a repeat of a VJ edition from August 2015. The preface potted history of the war stated Britain stood alone following Dunkirk and the fall of France. Which had me shouting at the radio that Britain was not standing alone, it stood with the Commonwealth, plus the Polish Air Force which had flown over here (lots of local Commonwealth graves with Polish eagles), plus various Norwegian fighters -there was a local division of Norwegian troops.
I'm with you on all that, and I made the point about it not being the end of the War on our local community FB page. And I think that the Americans might have helped a bit in Europe's liberation, too!
Do you ever get the feeling that many of these sorts of celebrations (which I detest) are not so much British as - at least to a degree - English?
The E stands for Europe, not Britain. It's Victory in EUROPE day, so why the ever living fuck is the world covered in Union Jack bunting? I'm not objecting so much to the red, white and blue bunting, or the French, Dutch, Welsh, Irish flags, but much is jingoistic.
For the same reason nobody flies Japanese flags for VJ day?
(I'm not disputing your claims of jingoism, but the idea that one should celebrate one's country's participation in a military victory with the flag of one's country is not usually a controversial one.)
Oh, it wasn't just the Union Jacks, it was Churchill's face on full size cardboard figures, on bunting and the written messages, with facsimiles of the Daily Mail front page from 75 years ago. I wasn't expecting a German flag, but would have liked to see more celebration of the countries who fought with us. Or any acknowledgement that we did not fight alone as plucky Brits against the rest of the world.
The Commonwealth Graves in the local cemetery, the one I wandered through on today's walk, has nearly half graves remembering Polish airmen. There are a lot more in the churchyard of the next village over, which is filled with serried ranks of international Commonwealth Grave tombstones, plus the nearest museum celebrates the WWII support from the Norwegian, Czech and Poles who flew out of the local airfields.
The Netherlands had a much more thoughtful liberation celebration on 5 May, with patchwork skirts and aprons remembering their freedom, to remind themselves that's all their forebears had to celebrate at the time.
With my local historian hat on, I looked up the local newspaper of the time to find out what my village / area did on VE day, and was surprised by the lack of jingoism. The newspaper seemed very aware that the Japanese had still to be defeated and there was a warning of ongoing food shortages.
A reporter from my village reported "decorous jollity prevailed and no-one was drunk." He also reported that singing of the Polish National Anthem surpassed the singing of the British National Anthem, because the Polish forces stationed locally sang it while drilling every day, and so it was more familiar than "God Save the King" (!!!) Apparently the celebrations in my village contrasted favourably with the celebrations in Aberdeen where, he claimed "I came away with the impression, created by the comments of my friends (in Aberdeen) that V day was the dullest day they had spent for a very long time. Apparently there was nothing to do but get drunk, and as most of my acquaintances are old enough to know better than that, they sat and brooded on the vanities of this life....(Aberdeen) was full of aimless and not very happy people."
This wasn't what I was expecting to find. Admittedly, this could be point scoring by "the Shire" versus "The City" but it was printed in the Aberdeen newspaper, the Press & Journal.
Adults who carry playground rules into places they do not belong, and who somehow have the idea that the church is a place for pecking orders and "putting people in their place" when they don't recognise this, ignoring teaching about not being like the leaders among Gentiles. Leaving misery, unacknowledged, in their wake. Or worse, enjoyed. So that other people have to pick up the pieces.
Comments
Good to hear it's still Hard, and Free!
Ray T is my nemesis...
Mrs. S, long-term DT devotee
Well, saves on buying new ones!
I've broken a few teeth myself, at various times. Generally from eating something hard.
I know Satan must have something to do with these *things*. I spent the first few years in my home ridding the yard of these nasties. Lo and behold, there was a large clump that just appeared in my back yard. Some critter must have carried it and deposited it where nothing is growing until we get our rainy season. Well, the weeds don't seem to mind the dryness. They're pretty perky.
ps...the picture on the bottom of the page more resembles the spurs that were on the plant this morning. There are dozens of those on the plant which is sealed up and hopefully will never have the chance to reproduce.
Being able to do it with a time limit I think is much deserving of many compliments.
Girl Guides here no longer sell biscuits
Or, it might attract them!
"Blessed are the cheese makers..."
@Pigwidgeon's extension of this - 'cheese (peace) makers' is both subtle, and chuckleworthy...
Still, thanks @Pigwidgeon for homing in on it! As I said, subtle, and chuckleworthy, if not entirely original...
Not that mice in the kitchen are chuckleworthy, of course.
Sorry! I just assumed people would be familiar with one of the greatest lines of 20th century culture.
Neither was it the end of the war, which continued across Asia for another 3 months. That's why VJ day is remembered in August, of which I was reminded by The Reunion this morning, a repeat of a VJ edition from August 2015. The preface potted history of the war stated Britain stood alone following Dunkirk and the fall of France. Which had me shouting at the radio that Britain was not standing alone, it stood with the Commonwealth, plus the Polish Air Force which had flown over here (lots of local Commonwealth graves with Polish eagles), plus various Norwegian fighters -there was a local division of Norwegian troops.
Do you ever get the feeling that many of these sorts of celebrations (which I detest) are not so much British as - at least to a degree - English?
For the same reason nobody flies Japanese flags for VJ day?
(I'm not disputing your claims of jingoism, but the idea that one should celebrate one's country's participation in a military victory with the flag of one's country is not usually a controversial one.)
The Commonwealth Graves in the local cemetery, the one I wandered through on today's walk, has nearly half graves remembering Polish airmen. There are a lot more in the churchyard of the next village over, which is filled with serried ranks of international Commonwealth Grave tombstones, plus the nearest museum celebrates the WWII support from the Norwegian, Czech and Poles who flew out of the local airfields.
The Netherlands had a much more thoughtful liberation celebration on 5 May, with patchwork skirts and aprons remembering their freedom, to remind themselves that's all their forebears had to celebrate at the time.
A reporter from my village reported "decorous jollity prevailed and no-one was drunk." He also reported that singing of the Polish National Anthem surpassed the singing of the British National Anthem, because the Polish forces stationed locally sang it while drilling every day, and so it was more familiar than "God Save the King" (!!!) Apparently the celebrations in my village contrasted favourably with the celebrations in Aberdeen where, he claimed "I came away with the impression, created by the comments of my friends (in Aberdeen) that V day was the dullest day they had spent for a very long time. Apparently there was nothing to do but get drunk, and as most of my acquaintances are old enough to know better than that, they sat and brooded on the vanities of this life....(Aberdeen) was full of aimless and not very happy people."
This wasn't what I was expecting to find. Admittedly, this could be point scoring by "the Shire" versus "The City" but it was printed in the Aberdeen newspaper, the Press & Journal.
Judging by the pictures on social media the locals swarmed the main square for the official thanksgiving: it was absolutely rammed on VE day.
The Queen did at least acknowledge the international element in her speech.