Crossword Castle

Paula Xiberras

In a world where a stray alphabet letter carries great import, it might be forgiven for concluding crossword champ Chris Astle lost the ‘C’ from the beginning of his surname. ‘Castle ‘just seems the correct calling for this king of crosswords.

David Astle is a frequent visitor to Tasmania. The keen bush-walker and word-smith gets to Tassie at least once a year. For over 30 years he’s been bush-walking and has explored the South West Track, Central Highlands and The Walls of Jerusalem among others. He thinks Tassie is a great place to visit whatever your stage of life, single or with family, he enjoyed visits here with his wife when she was his girlfriend and he enjoys family trips here now he has children.

So it is that David’s other passion the crossword in all it’s combination has something for everyone.

Over 100 years ago newspaper man Arthur Wynn was literally on to a winner when he was asked just before Christmas to find ‘something’ to fill a small space in the paper. It was a Christmas gift to word-smiths everywhere that continues to challenge and even guard against dementia by keeping the mind supple.

David’s new book ‘Cluetopia’ demonstrates that following through the range of clues to solve a crossword is very much like detective work.

In the business of crosswords there are two types the conventional ‘quick’ crossword and the ‘cryptic’ crossword.

Some of the clues in crosswords are ageless but others have become lost in time as their reference has become outdated.

One such case and one that is David’s favourite is the clue he found in a Yorkshire Post Crossword in 1927 which simply stated ‘young hostess’ after research David discovered the answer was ‘Ishbel’ who was the daughter of prime minister Ramsay Macdonald. Ishebel took on the role of hostess for her father when her mother passed away from blood poisoning. So well known and popular was she in her day that her name became a definition for any young woman in her situation. David bemoans the fact that Ishbel never had any children of her own because he says ‘she would have made a great mum’.

Another daughter takes prominence in a clue that has lasted. ‘Nina’ is a word to describe a hidden clue and is when a secret meaning or code is somehow woven into the crossword. The origin was from a real life ‘Nina’, the daughter of cartoonist Al Hirschfeld . Al would put his daughter Nina’s name into all his cartoons.

Some cryptic gems include the clue ‘Bradman’s famous duck( six letters)’, the reference of course to Walt Disney and Donald!

Also, the clue to answer the baffling question of TV favourite Inspector Morse’s first name. A cryptic clue is provided by a quote of the Inspector himself

‘my whole life’s effort has revolved around Eve’. From this clue can be found that

The inspectors name is ‘Endeavour’.

Anagram master David Bourke discovered more subtext in rearranging the letters of the clue to have the last word on the Inspector’s name as ‘report: name is uncovered’.

There’s a number of references in the cryptic clue ‘lean man with bad feet’. The solving of this clue encompasses the bible reference of Nebuchanesser’s feet of clay to Shakespeare Cassius of ‘the lean and hungry look’ to sport’s Cassius Clay. The reference to Cassius Clay is one that defies time and is as relevant now as it ever was and entering our language as the former name of Muhammed Ali.

This intricate clue which draws on the world of the Bible , Shakespeare and sport might be considered one that only a person with a well rounded general knowledge could solve but not all cryptic crosswords are so heavily laden with diverse references. David says you don’t have to be an Einstein to solve cryptic crosswords. A lot of cryptic crosswords concentrate on double meanings of words and are, as David says ‘a beautiful way at looking at words and can be enjoyed by everyone.’

Cluetopia is out now published by Allen and Unwin.