We have had a winter storm recently, with the first serious winds we’ve seen in a while. (It’s not Wellington without the winds.) But the weather has stayed generally mild, with high temperature records being set for several days in July (and some low temperature records as well, it has to be said – getting the sun for the former means some frosty nights too). It’s nothing like what has been seen in parts of the Northern Hemisphere, of course – but we’re getting spring flowers up a month or so early, with lots of lemons turning yellow, both things you’d expect in September. Meanwhile we have gathered a couple of very small feijoas today, so they still haven’t quite given up. One or two deciduous trees are discovering it isn’t so ingrained an attribute.
I have recently finished reading Derek Harrison’s collection of letters from Eric Chalkley (which you should order here). Derek did tell me I was mentioned a few times in it, and that makes for an interesting read. It’s a bit like discovering people have been talking about you (though I dare say there’s some witticism about that being better than their not talking about you). There’s even a picture – to be fair, I only spotted myself in a shadow because I knew was there. But apart from the sort of thing that is only really interesting to me, the book does have a lot to illustrate how epistolary friendships are made, with Derek and Eric’s growing links mirroring those forged by Apex and Ximenes (or Eric and Derrick, I suppose). There are some puzzles in an appendix at the end, though the binding of the book makes it a trial to solve them in situ, or to get them photocopied/scanned.
The puzzle this time is an Inquisitor from 2021 (which means there’s a setter’s blog to be found elsewhere on the site).There are a couple of puzzles in addition to the Friday regulars before the next update: a Telegraph Toughie on August 10, and a Times Quick Cryptic a week later.
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