Ken Follett does not promise literary paradise. No glorious paeans of praise will be sung for his works, but he is the Deicide of WWII fiction. We have all the formulaic elements needed to make a thriller wor, in Jackdaws. There is the French resistance, comprised of brave people who are fighting for their beleaguered [...]

Continue reading...

Three-word phrases. Yep, that’s right. “Book ‘Em Danno”, “Need A Lift?”, “It’s For You”, “Like A Rock” and “Pick Up Lines” formed the theme of this cruciverbal conundrum. Not particularly hard, just somewhat trifling at times. The usual proper noun problem presented itself, with “Leila” being the answer for “Hyams of 1920s-30s Films”. Ugh, who [...]

Continue reading...

If you’re all thumbs, this crossword’s for you. The thematic pillars are “T’s One’s Nose”, “Under My T”, “T Through”, “Opposable T”, “Sore T”, “Tom T”, “Ts Up” and “T Nail”. Yep, you guessed it. Simply replace the word “Thumb” with its initial in ubiquitous phrases and Robert’s your mother’s brother. A pretty interesting theme [...]

Continue reading...

This crossword had nothing that really stood out. Perhaps you can find a theme in “Box Office Hit”, “Suits to a Tee”, “Finish Strong” and “Felt Itchy”. At first, I thought it might have special significance for those into sports, especially the spheromachical kind. But no such luck prevailed. May the next one have a [...]

Continue reading...

You’d have to be a jack of all trades and a master of none to get this one. Okay, maybe not, but the theme was “Jacks”. Referring to “Male Donkey”, “Lifting Tool”, “Plug Insert” and “Playing Card”. The rest was alright, with nary a clue to hold us back, except for the one new word [...]

Continue reading...

“It’s freezing up here. What did you use to keep warm?” “Indignation,” said Michelangelo. “Best fuel I know. Never burns out.” These lines describe Michelangelo Buonarroti, one of the finest sculptors to have ever lived. Irving Stone‘s The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo portrays Michelangelo as a man driven by his [...]

Continue reading...