Crossword 281: Bending Down

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Were you ever told, perhaps in a “physical education” class years ago, to bend down and touch your toes?  I was, and I still resent it: I found the operation not only painful but undignified; and it just didn’t seem worth doing—there are obviously much better ways of accessing one’s toes, if that’s what one wants to do.

Anyway, if you want for some reason to perform a “bending down” exercise but lack the strength, or the agility, or the will to do it with your body, this puzzle lets you do it, like a rational creature, with your mind.

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281-Bending-Down.puz

281-Bending-Down.pdf

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281 Bending Down

Novel 281: F. Anstey, Vice Versâ (1882)

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A staid middle-aged merchant is made by a magic stone to exchange bodies with his schoolboy son.

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F. Anstey, born Thomas Anstey Guthrie (1856-1934), wrote regularly for the humor magazine Punch, and twenty works of fiction, most based, like this one, on fanciful comic premises.

“A perfectly sober and serious book, in the reading of which a sober man may laugh without shame from beginning to end.” Saturday Review, July 15, 1882

“It is a long time since we have read anything more truly humorous.” Spectator, August 26, 1882

“A capital bit of sustained humor.” New York Times, October 29, 1882

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https://archive.org/details/viceversaorlesso00anst

Crossword 280: Haunted by the Past

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Five answers in today’s crossword are haunted by the past in one sense; I, as its constructor, am haunted by the past in another.  For this puzzle is, in a way, a revisiting of Crossword 48, from 2018, against which it may be said to reverberate across the dimension of time.  When you finish it, you will want to solve Crossword 48 again so as to admire the interplay between them. Like two black smudgy squares in two Rothko paintings, they might at first seem more or less identical; however, closer study will reveal in them, as in those paintings, subtle variations of shading and nuance that reflect, in ways that transcend paraphrase, the full range of the human experience, in all its tragedy and triumph.

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280-Haunted-by-the-Past.puz

280-Haunted-by-the-Past.pdf

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280 Haunted by the Past

Novel 280: Mary Elizabeth Braddon, To the Bitter End (1872)

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A rising barrister, on a country vacation, falls in love with a farmer’s daughter.

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For Braddon, see Novels 004, 061, 115, 170, 222, and 223.

“It is carefully written, and even rewritten, and yet is full of all the old rough vigour and dash, the keen sense of the many pleasures and enjoyments of life, the love of green fields and blue skies, and pleasant gardens, and the quick impatience of all that is hollow and conventional.” Athenaeum, September 21, 1872

“Its plot, not ill-conceived, is well worked out, and told with appropriate humour and appropriate pathos.  Several of the characters are clearly defined, and . . . there is originality and fresh vigour in its presentment.” Examiner, October 12, 1872

A contrasting view:

Braddon’s “admirers will probably run through the work with a certain vacant satisfaction, while ever and anon, like dim reminiscences of a previous stage of existence, will dawn on their misty consciousness a vague idea that they have seen all this before.” Manchester Guardian, September 25, 1872

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https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/f/89vilt/oxfaleph014626003 (Right-click (or control-click, if you have a Mac) on the “view digitized copy” links to download the novel’s three volumes in pdf form)

Crossword 279: Language Acquisition

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As I’ve said before, like all the best crossword constructors these days, I see my task as primarily one of social reform and human betterment.  And so, more than two years ago, in April 2020, I turned my attention to international affairs, with the purpose of promoting world peace (see Crossword 180).  But then I let the better part of a year go by without any further world-peace-promotion efforts, and in February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine.  I ask myself now—why didn’t I do more? Am I not partly to blame?  So today I’m doubling down with a two-part crossword (replacing the multi-part series of years past) promoting the cause of international communication. I just hope I’m not too late!

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279a-Language-Acquisition, Part 1.puz

279a-Language-Acquisition, Part 1.pdf

279a-Language-Acquisition, Part 2.puz

279a-Language-Acquisition, Part 2.pdf

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279b Language Acquisition, Part 1

279b Language Acquisition, Part 2

Novel 279: Lucy B. Walford, The One Good Guest (1892)

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A young sister and brother encounter social difficulties on their country estate.

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Here is yet another novel by Walford, for whom see Novels 018, 066, 121, 174, and 227.

“The tale is told with the spirit that always characterizes Mrs. Walford’s stories.” Critic, July 16, 1892

“A thoroughly interesting story, a trifle sensational, well written, full of life and movement.” Independent, September 8, 1892

A contrasting opinion:

It “is not markedly original, amusing, or attractive to our thinking.  The young folks and their doings do not greatly interest one, though there is some freshness about them, and, in their fashion, they are natural and human enough. . . .   The story is slight, the treatment slighter, but it will pass.” Athenaeum, September 24, 1892

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https://archive.org/details/onegoodguest00walfgoog

Crossword 278: In Outer Space

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Two weeks ago, you’ll recall, I headed off for my native planet, from which, some years ago, I was sent in an effort to save the terrestrial crossword from becoming a dreary echo-chamber of self-congratulatory hipster citation, tribal signaling, and celebrity fandom.  My mission was to lead by example away from such folly.  I did my best, but I’m afraid I’ve failed. Someday maybe I’ll go back and try again. Meanwhile, here, via the interstellar internet, is another puzzle.

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278-In-Outer-Space.puz

278-In-Outer-Space.pdf

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278 In Outer Space

Novel 278: Mrs. Alexander, A Choice of Evils (1894)

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A poor gentlewoman makes what seems a perfect marriage with a local squire.

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Here is another fine novel by Mrs Alexander, for whom see Novels 001, 063, 113, 168, and 221.

“Mrs. Alexander . . . draws the portrait of a woman with a fine if not sympathetic nature, and her graphic pen sketches with clever ease the varied characters that surround her central figure.” Morning Post, October 30, 1894

“Mrs. Alexander is a story-teller who thoroughly enjoys her work. . . .  She evidently believes in the vitality of her stories, has her people clearly before her eyes, and does her work in so unflagging a manner that the reader perforce resigns himself into her hand, takes a hearty interest in her performance, and has a good time of it. . . .  ‘A Choice of Evils’ is an entertaining book, because of its clever telling, and the people in it behave naturally, and grapple with the remarkable facts of their lives in a sensible manner.” Standard, November 28, 1894

A contrasting view:

“In spite of the ability of the book, we do not feel attracted by it.” Spectator, October 27, 1894

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v.1 https://archive.org/details/choiceofevilsnov01alex/

v.2 https://archive.org/details/choiceofevilsnov02alex/

v.3 https://archive.org/details/choiceofevilsnov03alex/

Crossword 277: Outer Space

Alfred Fowler Patten, The Child and the Star

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Had enough of this blighted ball, this suffering sphere, this ghastly globe?  Fly with me to outer space!  It’s time for me to confirm what you’ve long suspected.  How, you’ve asked yourselves and each other, could any mere earthling come up, fortnight after fortnight, with such brilliant puzzles?  In fact I come from the planet Lapnet—a happy place, where hipster slang, and euphemism, and jargon, and brand names, and paid athletes, and Hollywood celebrities, are unknown.

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277-Outer-Space.puz

277-Outer-Space.pdf

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277 In Outer Space

Novel 277: Coulson Kernahan, Scoundrels & Co. (1899)

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A writer accidentally joins a group of professional terrorists and frustrates their plots.

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John Coulson Kernahan (1858-1943), a journalist and critic as well as a novelist, wrote a dozen or so works of fiction; this one is notable for its rapid succession of thrilling incidents and its witty style.

“A most ingeniously imagined series of adventures.” Bookman, August, 1901

“Mr. Kernahan’s detective stories are rather different from anyone else’s.  This sort of literature usually attracts either by being very horrible or by being very ingenious—or by both.  Mr. Kernahan is not quite either; he seldom tries to be blood-curdling, and then generally fails; while both his characters and his incidents are too frankly impossible to earn him a reputation for ingenuity.  What, then, is the secret of his success?  It appears to lie in his briskness and geniality, in the attitude of tolerant alacrity with which he is always ready to oblige . . . his readers.” Manchester Guardian, March 27, 1901

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https://archive.org/details/scoundrelsco00chicgoog

Crossword 276: Not Now

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Not now!  I’ll try to think up something to say about this week’s crossword eventually, but right now I’m just too busy.  It seems like everybody needs me all the time.  This person wants me to help with this thing, and that person wants my advice on that thing, and this other person hasn’t seen me in ages, and that other person thinks she may as well cancel the party if I don’t come.  People are counting on me, and I can’t let them down.  So I’m sorry—I’ve got to go right now; but I hope you like the puzzle anyway.

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276-Not Now.puz

276-Not Now.pdf

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276 Not Now

Novel 276: Clementina Black, Orlando (1880)

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A good man loves a good woman betrothed to a bad man.

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Clementina Black (1853-1923), whose sister was the translator Constance Garnett, was a feminist and labor activist as well as the author of a dozen or so works of fiction.

“There is a pathetic charm in Miss Black’s stories which must compel the sympathy of her readers”; this is “distinctly a clever, wholesome, and affecting romance.” Athenaeum, January 17, 1880

“We can . . . speak well of Orlando, and, but for certain longueurs in it, we could speak very well. . . .  There is some freshness about most of the characters. . . .  The book is rather one of those which one reads with a pleasant and equable feeling of satisfaction than one of those which deserve the terms ‘enthralling,’ ‘entrancing,’ ‘engrossing,’ or any other of the usual laudatory participles.  But of its kind it is very far from unsuccessful.” Academy, January 24, 1880

“Miss Black has woven an interesting and touching story out of simple and natural materials.” Saturday Review, April 10, 1880

Download this fortnight’s novel:

v.1 https://archive.org/details/orlando01blac

v.2 https://archive.org/details/orlando02blac

v.3 https://archive.org/details/orlando03blac

Crossword 275: Alien Invasion

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I pity the poverty of imagination that forces so many crossword constructors to draw on other people’s movies and television shows when they want to add to their puzzles some of the excitement of interstellar warfare.  Here, in the constraints of a 15 x 15 puzzle, with no outside assistance, I create my very  own science-fiction universe.  I expect an avalanche of Hollywood sequels, and commercial tie-ins, and fan-fiction sites, to follow in due course.

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275-Alien-Invasion.puz

275-Alien-Invasion.pdf

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275 Alien Invasion

Novel 275: Oswald John Frederick Crawfurd, The World We Live In (1884)

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After five years in Baluchistan, a man returns to Scotland to pursue the woman he loves, now widowed.

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Oswald John Frederick Crawfurd (1834-1909), aside from writing some ten novels, was British consul at Oporto from 1866-1890.

“A very good story, told with skill, taste, and what in music is called brio. . . . The talk is excellent, various, natural . . . ; characteristic, so that we know the talkers, and make mental portraits of them.” Spectator, July 5, 1884

“A capital novel.  It is lively and sparkling throughout, and one can only regret that it is so short.” Athenaeum, July 5, 1884

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https://books.google.com/books?id=qvEaAAAAYAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=crawfurd%20the%20world%20we%20live%20in&pg=PP10#v=onepage&q&f=false

Crossword 274: Specialists

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I am often asked, “Why are your crosswords so much better than other people’s crosswords?”  The answer—specialization!  As I’ve said before, “I” am (is?) not a single person, but a collective, diverse in age, and race, and gender, and everything else imaginable, including skills.  So there is a specialist for Down answers, and another, altogether different, specialist for Across answers; there are specialists for clues, for blocks, for partial phrases, for abbreviations.  An entire department, with its own vice-president, handles the crosswordese.  There is a letter-addition team and a letter-subtraction team, a punning team and a parsing team.  Doesn’t this cost a lot?  Sure it does!  But you the solver deserve the best, and here at David Alfred Bywaters’s Crossword Cavalcade and Victorian Novel Recommender, the best is just what you always get.

Special thanks to test-solver Charles Montpetit for coming up with some of the theme material in today’s puzzle.

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274-Specialists.puz

274-Specialists.pdf

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274 Specialists

Novel 274: Thomas Bailey Aldrich, The Stillwater Tragedy (1880)

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In a New England town plagued by labor troubles, a detective searches for a murderer.

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Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907), editor of the Atlantic Monthly from 1881-1890, published a dozen or so works of fiction, in addition to much poetry and criticism.  The Stillwater Tragedy features a murder mystery and a labor strike.

“The faithful potrayal of life in a manufacturing village; the distinct and vivid etchings of character; the graceful turns of fancy and humor; the simple and wholesome love affair; the naturalness, purity, and equipoise with which the story is told, all mark it as one of the best of Aldrich’s prose performances.” Louisville Courier-Journal, September 3, 1880

“The book is something much better than a novel of the familiar detective class. . . .  the plot is not used as a mere framework on which to display the delicately drawn pictures by which Mr. Aldrich has long been known and admired; the incidents of the story are used not only to illustrate but to develop the characters of the chief personages. . . .  The book has a symmetry of form and an evenness of texture which show the hand of the true artist.” New York Tribune, September 12, 1880

A contrasting view:

“It is all very clever, astonishingly clever.  But it is a kind of cold, cynical brilliancy which in a short story may be very entertaining, but which in a novel soon palls upon one’s taste.” Scribner’s, November 1880

Download this fortnight’s novel:

v.1 https://archive.org/details/stillwatertraged01aldriala

v.2 https://archive.org/details/stillwatertraged02aldriala

Crossword 273: Running Short

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What with supply-chain issues and some strategic downsizing, our store of words has been sadly depleted.  A long course of severe weather has shut down the mines from which we imported most of our homophones. And of course a small concern like ours can’t hope to compete with the big players while the global anagram shortage keeps driving up prices.  So for now we’re going to have to make do with fewer theme answers and smaller words, such as you’ll find in today’s puzzle.

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273-Running Short.puz

273-Running Short.pdf

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273 Running Short

Novel 273: Peter Hay Hunter and Walter Whyte, My Ducats and My Daughter (1884)

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The poor nephew of a Scottish industrialist pursues a career in journalism.

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I can discover nothing about Walter Whyte. Peter Hay Hunter (1854-1909), a minister in the church of Scotland, wrote some seven novels. This one is particularly interesting for its carefully realized setting, a badly polluted Scottish industrial town.

It is “both in point of conception and execution . . . above the average of the ordinary novel”; “the style is vigorous and unaffected” and the author “possesses a considerable fund of shrewd humour.” Athenaeum, May 17, 1884

“It is written in clear, flowing, idiomatic English; the plot, without being trite and commonplace, is consistent and probable; there are three or four very well drawn characters in it.” Academy, May 24, 1884

“It is evidently written by a man who knows the world. . . .  The style is sufficiently lively to keep the reader wide awake. . .   The more finished characters are carefully and consistently drawn.” Saturday Review, July 12, 1884

A contrasting view:

“While the book is amusing, the story is ill-constructed, and its materials of almost venerable antiquity.” Spectator, July 12, 1884

Download this fortnight’s novel:

v.1 https://archive.org/details/myducatsmydaught01hunt

v.2 https://archive.org/details/myducatsmydaught02hunt

v.3 https://archive.org/details/myducatsmydaught03hunt

Crossword 272: Out of the Past

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Have you seen “Out of the Past”—the 1947 movie directed by Jacques Tourneur, starring Robert MItchum, Jane Greer, and Kirk Douglas, adapted by Daniel Mainwaring from his 1946 novel?  If not, do so right away!  It’s one of the best movies ever made!  I had to watch it half a dozen times to figure out its plot (and there are still some points I’m not quite clear on), but I enjoyed it every time.  I’d have hired the same cast and director for this puzzle, if puzzles had casts and directors, and if they weren’t all dead.

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272-Out-of-the-Past.puz

272-Out-of-the-Past.pdf

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272 Out of the Past

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A crossword of mine appears Friday, March 17, in Universal Crossword

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Novel 272: Catherine Crowe, The Adventures of a Beauty (1852)

John Everett Millais, The Farmer's Daughter

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A farmer’s daughter secretly marries a baronet’s heir.

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For Crowe, see Novel 023.

“There are few writers who possess an equal ability with Mrs. Crowe, of throwing her characters into complications, and dextrously disentangling them.” Bentley’s Miscellany, January, 1852

It may be “enjoyed as one enjoys the feats of a conjuror who can make a card fly out of the pack into a gentleman’s pocket or a lady’s reticule, and restore it to its proper place.” Westminster Review, April, 1852

Download this fortnight’s novel:

https://archive.org/details/10892458.1980.emory.edu