A beautiful, much-admired woman marries so that she may become a society leader.
Here is another novel by Chetwynd (seeNovel 80); though not free of sentimentalism, especially at the end, it features some excellent studies of changing characters.
“The plot is very ingeniously constructed. . . . The husband . . . and the wife . . . are both highly individual characters, and exceedingly well drawn.” Academy, December 17, 1892
“We do not often get such good, careful work. . . . From the first to the last page it is well written, and worth reading.” Spectator, January 28, 1893
Thomas Benjamin Kennington, Serena, Found of Savages
Among the many human proclivities that baffle me is the love of racing—of doing a thing, or of watching somebody or something do a thing, faster than some other body or thing. It honors the tyranny of Time, that inexorable force which impels us all helplessly towards apparent annihilation. It upsets the restful calm for which we ought all to strive, as both an aesthetic and a moral ideal. Rather than be in a hurry, I’m happy to come in last.
A man of towering intellect resists the power of love.
Ellen Georgiana Clutton-Brock (1845-1894), née Eyre, wrote two novels, of which this is the first. The first volume is good, and the second excellent, as complex characters make believable mistakes; the third, in which Providence intervenes to reward and punish them, is not so disappointing as to ruin the the whole.
“The author of ‘James Gordon’s Wife’ has succeeded by sheer cleverness of writing in making readable, and occasionally really interesting, a story which in less able hands would probably have been insufferably dull.” Athenaeum, May 27, 1871
“The story is an ordinary one enough, with the incidents too obviously arranged to suit a moral; but it is told with a force and a liveliness which altogether redeem the book from the charge of being dull.” Spectator, September 2, 1871
John Atkinson Grimshaw, Reflections on the Thames, Westminster
Though the inspiration for this puzzle was 64 Across (see my remarks on “The Star Spangled Banner” accompanying Crosswords032and033), I’m proudest of 38 Across, which I recommend to any statistics-compiling social scientist stuck for a topic.
Here is another novel by Aïdé (see Novel076), with a good plot and some striking characters.
“‘Penruddocke’ is a novel which shows a certain amount of power”; several characters are “well enough drawn to raise a story, in other respects carefully told, above the ordinary level.” Athenaeum, July 5, 1873
“Even the most blasé of novel-readers would find in this tale a plot sufficiently interesting to arouse his jaded senses, and yet it contains, at the most, only two incidents that can fairly be reckoned ‘sensational.’ It mainly depends for its interest on the clever way in which the plot is worked out, nothwithstanding the presence of an unusual number of dramatis personae.” Examiner, July 5, 1873
“Mr. Hamilton Aïdé has given us another of his carefully written and interesting stories. Without anything remarkable in power or new in incident, Mr. Aïdé always succeeds in engaging and holding our attention. . . . The plot is carefully worked out. . . . And he is careful in his writing; his English is simple, correct, and elegant.” Spectator, July 19, 1873
James Jacques Joseph Tissot, The Ladies of the Cars
This puzzle, moving as it does from the ridiculous (gag gifts) to the sublime (church music), is calculated to lift you above sordid cares on a kind of celestial crossword chariot. It’s part of my ongoing project of making the world a better place, one solver at a time.
An ambitious, intellectual woman seeks to arrange her friends’ lives.
Jane Octavia Brookfield (1821-1896), in the 1840s a very special friend of William Makepeace Thackeray, wrote four novels many years later, of which this is the second. Oddly clumsy in some ways (especially in its narrator’s intrusions), it nonetheless has some vivid, interesting characters.
“A novel of character which, if not deeply exciting, or suggestive of any new aspects of feminine human nature, is original in plan, and not ineffectively executed.” Athenaeum, January 21, 1871
“Influence at once makes itself felt as a book of character. There is no danger of confounding it with the ordinary run of novels, there is no danger of forgetting it. . . . The conversations are well managed, and, though there is no pretence at a plot, the story is interesting. Altogether, Influence is a good novel.” Spectator, May 20, 1871
Like other hip crossword constructors of today, I ask myself that question over and over again, as I decide on each word: not “will it be known to the average solver?” but “is it in?” Only the hottest new celebrities, the coolest TV shows, the freshest slang, will do. To be sure, the French painter in today’s puzzle died in 1665, and its “mild oath” was in use as early as 1815: but they’re fadding—wait, I mean trending—now!
Three sisters react to the return of their wealthy and distinguished cousin from India.
This novel provides a generous sampling of its author’s characteristically deft social comedy (see Novels018,066,121), despite a sometimes annoying plot.
“There is a resemblance in the manner of handling to Miss Austen’s manner, especially in the first volume; and when it is said that Cousins does not come too discreditably out of the comparison, we need not say that a very high compliment is thereby paid to the author.” Academy, July 26, 1879
“It is, in part at least, a very good novel—one of the best that we have read for a long time. The situation . . . upon which it turns is . . . novel and . . . has great capabilities. . . . Its great attraction lies in the delicacy of the character drawing, in the charming domestic sketches in which it abounds, and in the natural and easy dialogue which is so rare an accomplishment with novelists. The first volume, which is far the best, will remind many readers of Miss Austen’s work, and it would be impossible to give it higher praise.” Manchester Guardian, August 18, 1879
Its “success is, in our judgment, decided”; it is “as careful and honest as it is modest and pure. The purpose of the story is kept in view throughout; there are no tricks of style or language, and there is no padding.” Saturday Review, August 30, 1879
This week I continue my ongoing attempt to render in crossword form the lighter side of all possible human afflictions. Next week I might try to take the sting out of intake manifold runner control system malfunctions, unless something better occurs to me in the meantime.
Frederick Edward Joseph Goff, Westminster and Westminster Bridge from the River
Two unhappy young people meet by chance on Westminster bridge.
Best known for The Damnation of Theron Ware (1896), expatriate American journalist Harold Frederic (1856-1898) wrote ten other novels before his death in middle age, one of them this brief, light-hearted love story set in London.
“We can thoroughly commend the book as an easily read piece of fancy.” Athenaeum, July 4, 1896
“Mr. Harold Frederic gives the reader of ‘March Hares’ a shock of delightful surprise. . . . he is captivating, amusing, a playful companion.” His characters “are simply human beings flung into the grotesque whirl of such a sequence of situations as only a riotous imagination could devise, but which such a keen intelligence as Mr. Frederic’s finds no difficulty making thoroughly natural. We use the word intelligence, because . . . Mr. Frederic seems to be exercising the mere gymnastical faculties of his mind, whipping along the dialogue with so much animation, so much fun, so much ingenuity, that the effect of the tale is not unlike that of the conversation of original and clever people. . . . It has art of the genuine sort, not mere silly craftsmanship and pretense, but the dignified art which means a quiet mastery of the subject in hand. There are few novelists to-day who could have taken such a gossamer theme as that of ‘March Hares’ and left it so well worked out as it has been in the present case.” New York Tribune, December 20, 1896
Thomas Sidney Cooper, Fording a Brook, Suburbs of Canterbury
Having last week endured the city’s seething strife, we flee this week to the sedative sameness of the suburbs—but—oh no!— what’s that right in the middle of everything at 39 Across? Is there no peace on this side of the grave?
A scheming banker has little sympathy for his family.
Here is another excellent novel by Gore (see Novels012,072,118), filled as usual with shrewd social satire.
“A very clever, and what is more, a very readable novel; clear, rapid, fluent, abounding in pointed sentences.” Spectator, September 16, 1843
No living author “possesses greater power in the delineation of character.” Sunday Times, September 17, 1843
“The ‘name’ of its writer, first as that of a woman, and secondly as that of a popular ‘novelist,’ will long keep it out of the hands of those ‘grave and reverend signors,’ who are the chief dispensers of that reputation which they cannot compass for themselves, and who . . . will never be satisfied that a woman has been gifted with faculties of observing . . . nature.” Morning Post, October 1843
If you’re longing for the hustle and the bustle, the hurry and the scurry, the hurly and the burly, the hub and the bub, of a big city (and don’t happen to live in one), you’ll save a lot in plane fare and hotel fees if you just do this puzzle.
(NB: It’s such a big city puzzle I had to make two extra rows!)
A girl, raised to the age of twelve in the Italian Alps by the widowed daughter of a Jewish silk-merchant, is on her mother's death adopted by her English uncle.
About Cecil Clayton nothing is known, except that two novels appeared under this name, Effie’s Game in 1873 and this one three years later. It has some excellent characters, a good style, and a pleasantly untroubled plot, as though the author were too soft-hearted to inflict much pain on her (or his?) creations.
“Azalea is a story which, without having anything new either in plot or characters, is distinctly easy and pleasant to read, in consequence of its thoroughly cultured and well-bred tone.” Academy, September 9, 1876
“People whose nerves have been shaken by overwork or anxiety, people who wish to forget that there are such things as passion and suffering in the world, should read this smoothest of all smooth tales, and enjoy the society of the innocent persons. The worst characters in Azalea are sometimes flippant or a little peevish, but their failings are never allowed to interfere with the tranquil happiness of the hero and heroine.” Saturday Review, September 16, 1876
When I test-solved this puzzle, I found I’d clued 35 Across “Jacob’s brother” and 55 Across “Seth’s son.” This seemed like too many Biblical relatives, so I substituted two “hidden-in” clues, which are more fun anyway—not that modified homonym cliché-based animal pun phrases aren’t already more fun than anybody ought to be trusted with.
A common soldier inherits a fortune from a miserly uncle.
Here is yet another novel by the great Braddon (see Novels004,061,115).
“Miss Braddon . . . tells her story with a brisk straightforwardness, and the working is compact and consistent. And it is no small or common talent to be able to construct an interesting tale, and then to tell it in good language, without affectation or egotism. Several of the characters are very well sketched, but in the beautiful heroine Miss Braddon has done more than draw a mere colourless outline. A good-humoured, simple-hearted, and spoiled young lady is easily drawn, but to change her gradually, and without melodramatic violence of nonsense, into something very different, requires more than mere smartness and ordinary skill”; her growth is “described with great ingenuity and force.” Saturday Review, May 27, 1865
“Only a Clod . . . is a fresh proof of the vigour and fertility of the mind which produced . . . ‘Aurora Floyd’ . . . and ‘The Doctor's Wife’. . . . As a whole . . . the book will be eagerly read as a powerfully written and admirably constructed story.” Manchester Guardian, June 13, 1865
Today’s crossword sets records for this site, in number of entries (80), number of 3-letter entries (39), and number of black squares (54) for a 15 x 15 puzzle. Maybe you’ll agree that the dazzlingly unusual theme is worth it all. Maybe you won’t. In either case, it’s too late to do anything about it now.
An orphan girl, adopted by a London doctor, has rival lovers.
Arthur Locker (1828-1893), a journalist and editor, published five novels between 1863 and 1874. This one begins in Australia, where the author spent some years, but is mostly set in middle-class London.
“Those writers of prose fiction who season their pages with mysterious crime and repulsive vice, should study the modes by which Mr. Locker captivates the imagination of his readers with scenes alike humorous and innocent. Instead of making them endure his characters by rousing a morbid curiosity as to the sequel and result of a startling commencement, he leads them to enjoy his story by inspiring them with personal interest in its characters. From first to last the book is fresh with nature and unconstrained pleasantry. The actors are neither tame nor commonplace; the incidents bear no resemblance to the conventional arrangement of story-tellers; and yet the drama impresses us with a sense of its fidelity to human nature and society in such a manner that we seem to encounter old friends and familiar faces in every scene. . . . The world described is that of the middle and lower grades of our great middle-class—the world of professional men and merchants, clerks, and petty tradesmen; and with never-flagging humour does Mr. Locker set forth the ways and tempers of the various persons who are made to illustrate this comparatively humble life.” Athenaeum, November 10, 1866
“The author . . . has produced one of the most agreeable, if not one of the most instructive, tales of fiction of the season. It is graceful and unpretending. It discloses no profound philosophy, displays no erudition, professes no high moral aim, but amuses and delights by the natural exhibition of character under varied circumstances and unexampled situations. . . . Mr. Locker weaves his love story with gentle tissues. There are no wild flights of passion, no desperate deeds of vengeance, nor suicides; all is natural, fluent of feeling that is subdued and rational, and issuing in results probable, pleasing, and in harmony with the means employed. One of the charms of Mr. Locker’s novel is its realism, with sufficient sentiment and fancy to link the real with the ideal.” Morning Post, December 11, 1866
You’ve heard of MP3, a format for compressing recorded music files to a convenient size, and MP4, a format for compressing movies to a convenient size. Now here’s MP5! It isn’t a format, and it doesn’t compress anything to a convenient size. It’s just a crossword puzzle. Nevertheless, in its quiet, unassuming way, it makes its own tiny contribution to the sum of human achievement.
