Hello - BIG May 2013

How much difference does one little letter make in a word?

Take the T in egotism for example. You might think that there’s little difference between egoism and egotism, and they do have their similarities. But there is a major difference.

Egoism is an excessive concern for yourself. Egotism is an inflated sense of your own importance.

What separates them is that egoism is just plain selfishness whereas egotism is a view of yourself that is out of touch with reality.

It comes from the Latin word ego meaning I, or self. We all have an ego, it’s the way we see ourselves. It’s like a fingerprint - no two are the same. Some egos need restraining (the loud, boastful types), some need a boost (the shy, wallflower types). Going on an ego trip is doing something that enhances your self-esteem.

Narcissism is excessive vanity, and is named after the beautiful youth in Greek mythology called Narkissos, who fell in love with his own reflection in a pond and was turned into the narcissus flower.

Unfortunately it seems that narcissism is becoming more prevalent in western society, possibly because of the way children are given excessive admiration by their parents without being balanced with realistic feedback.

Solipsism is a word you don’t see very often in our crosswords, but next time you’re tackling a Goliathon or Demon, remember it’s another word for selfishness, or the view that oneself is the only thing that definitely exists. It comes from the Latin solus ‘alone’ and ipse ‘self’.

Megalomania is a delusion about one’s own power or importance. The megalomaniac differs from the narcissist by the fact that he wishes to be powerful rather than charming, and seeks to be feared rather than loved. According to Bertrand Russell, many lunatics and most of the great men of history were megalomaniacs. The word megalomania is derived from the Greek megalo ‘large’ and mania ‘madness’.

Leaders who may have suffered from megalomania include Adolf Hitler, Napoleon, Benito Mussolini, Alexander The Great, Josef Stalin, Mao Ze Dong, Idi Amin, Franco, Juan Peron, Kim Jong-il, Saddam Hussein, Caligula and Genghis Khan.

Happy Puzzling!

CHRISTINE’S HELLO appears every month in
Christine’s BIG Crossword magazine.
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Hello - BIG April 2013

When we hear something we don’t understand, we say “It’s all Greek to me”. This might be closer to the truth than we realise, because about a quarter of the words we use originally came from ancient Greek, either directly or through Latin and French.

‘Brotherly love’ in Greek is philia, and the opposite is phobia, or ‘fear’. Phobia came from the Greek god Phobos, son of Ares, god of war. In ancient times, blood sacrifices were made to appease Phobos before battle.

Both philia and phobia are suffixes in words like technophilia, an affinity for computers and the internet or technophobia, a fear of the same.

In English, phobia now means an irrational fear and is a suffix to many words. There are some very strange phobias people suffer from, such as alektorophobia, a fear of chickens or xanthophobia, fear of the colour yellow. Most wars are caused by xenophobia, fear of foreigners.

Some of you may be melissophobic (afraid of bees), phasmophobic (afraid of ghosts) or even hippopotomonstroses­quipedaliophobic (afraid of long words).

Or you may be a glossophile, (lover of languages), a bibliophile, (lover of books) or even an arctophile (lover of teddy bears). A heliophile is attracted to sunlight and an oenophile likes a glass of wine.

Philosophy comes from philia ‘love’ and sophia ‘wisdom’ so a philosopher is literally a ‘lover of wisdom’.

The name Philip comes from philia and hippos ‘horse’ – a friend of horses. Anthropos is Greek for ‘mankind’ so a philanthropist is a generous donor to causes such as developing third world countries.

Happy Puzzling to all you logophiles!

CHRISTINE’S HELLO appears every month in
Christine’s BIG Crossword magazine.
» More info here

Hello - BIG March 2013

The word Saracen comes from the Arab word sharq ‘east, sunrise’.

It originally referred to desert people who were not Arabs, but by the time of the Crusades, which ran from 1096 until 1272, it had come to mean Muslim Arabs – in other words, the enemy. A Saracen was a Muslim soldier who defended his territories from the Crusaders (illustration below).

With the huge benefit of hindsight, it seems quite extraordinary that tens of thousands of people, both rich and poor, travelled a thousand miles, from all over Europe, to go on the First Crusade.

The Crusades were a series of military campaigns, in the name of religion, ironically enough, with the main aim being to seize the Holy Land for the Christian world.

When you’re solving the Demon in this issue, you may find this information useful.

It’s interesting that our English word admiral, meaning ‘highest-ranking naval officer’ comes from the same source, from the Arabic amir–ar-rahl ‘chief of the transport’.

In fact Arabic has been a major source of vocabulary for many languages. Over 3,000 of our standard English words and 5,000 of their derivatives have some connection with the language of the Qur’an, many of them everyday words such as mattress, guitar, magazine, zero, scarlet, jar and cork.

The Crusaders also returned with the names of the exotic materials they brought back - cotton, gauze, mohair, damask, muslin and sequins.

New foodstuffs were introduced, like coffee, sherbet, dates, apricots, lemons, limes, oranges, sugar, tuna and spinach, all of which had Arabic names, which eventually became anglicised. For instance, lemon, lime and orange were límín, lím and nãranj.

Unfortunately the Crusaders plundered ruthlessly as they travelled through the Eastern lands, as was their custom, and they found that in many ways, the Arabs and Turks were more advanced than the Europeans. As well as new words, new food and materials, they discovered new ideas, medicines, advanced building methods, and vastly superior mathematical knowledge. Algebra was invented by the Muslim mathematician Al-Khwarizmi.

But one other important idea was courtly chivalry, which would have been encountered in the Islamic poetry of the time. The French court adopted the concept of chivalric codes and elevation of femininity, and it spread to England and other parts of Europe, which had a civilising effect on the male-dominating ethos of the time.

Happy Puzzling!

CHRISTINE’S HELLO appears every month in
Christine’s BIG Crossword magazine.
» More info here

Hello - BIG February 2013

I read recently that the most common word in the English-speaking world is no, with okay as a runner-up.

But what about the most commonly used word in the world – English-speaking or not?

Words such as radio, bank, café, chocolate and beer are understood in many countries even though they may have their own word but taxi is the word used by natives themselves. Apart from English-speaking countries there are at least 30 that use taxi, probably many more.

Taxi is an abbreviation of taxicab and this in turn is an abbreviation of taximeter cabriolet.

Taximeter is from Latin taxare ‘appraise’ and Greek metron ‘measure’, because of the automatic meter that records the distance and fare.

Cabriolet is a French name for a covered, horse-drawn carriage with two wheels. The French named it after the Italian capriola, which in turn came from capri, a he-goat, as the lightness of the carriage reminded Italians of the lightness of goats leaping along the rugged hills of Capri.

And here’s the coincidence for me… my favourite ever taxi ride happened in Capri, last September, from the ferry terminal up to Anacapri at the top.

Sitting in the back of a white luxury convertible - the Capri taxis are part of the island’s tradition – makes the occasion feel very special, being driven up winding roads with an amazing and constantly changing view. That is one experience I will always remember.

Happy Puzzling!

CHRISTINE’S HELLO appears every month in
Christine’s BIG Crossword magazine.
» More info here

Hello - BIG January 2013

A mocha coffee, for instance, is named after the seaport of Mocha in Yemen where the arabica coffee was shipped from.

The word bungalow, meaning a single-storey house, comes from India, from the Hindi word for a low thatched house, bangla meaning literally ‘Bengalese house’.

A sturdy fabric called serge, made in the French town of Nimes, was known as serge de Nimes, but was soon shortened to denim, the jeans fabric we know so well.

The word jeans comes from the Italian word genuense meaning ‘of Genoa’ because the denim was used here to make sails, and then, because of its durability, clothes for peasants.

The city of Manchester in England was at one time the most productive centre of cotton processing and the world’s largest marketplace for cotton goods. It was dubbed Cottonopolis during the Victorian era. In Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, the term manchester is still used for household linen.

What we call china was originally ‘porcelain imported from China’ and the root vegetable swede was first introduced into Scotland from Sweden.

The twilled table linen damask is named after the Syrian capital Damascus and manila envelopes are made from manila fibre grown in Manila in the Philippines.

The long-distance running event we call a marathon was named in honour of the Greek soldier who ran 240 km in two days, to announce the Greek victory over Persia in the Battle of Marathon.

Smooth cajoling talk, known as blarney, comes from kissing the Blarney Stone, in the castle of Blarney, a town in Co Cork Ireland.

The duffel bag and duffel coat are made from a thick cloth made in Duffel, a town in Belgium.

All these words add to the richness and variety of our English language, as well as linking us English speakers to the rest of the world.

Happy Puzzling!

CHRISTINE’S HELLO appears every month in
Christine’s BIG Crossword magazine.
» More info here

Hello BIG December 2012

As I sit down to write about Christmas, as I do at this time every year, it occurs to me that my Christmas as a celebration is gradually changing.

As a child, it was about the Nativity scene, about singing carols, the delicious aromas in the kitchen where Mum was cooking turkey and mince pies. About making presents for the family and opening presents for myself.

As a mother it was about filling the stockings, dressing the children up as angels and shepherds for the school pageant, and cooking the turkey and mince pies. Writing cards, putting up decorations, attending school pageants – and a thousand other things

By the time the children were adults, Christmas seemed to have become a lot more commercialised, bombarded by non-stop ads for various merchandise, whose panic strategies make you feel uncomfortable if you haven’t ordered your turkey yet or wrapped your presents by the beginning of december.

A wave of stress overcomes many households in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Is this what it’s all about? So much for the peace we wish each other. We’re often tearing our hair out trying to keep up with a punishing schedule.

But it’s self-inflicted. Nobody is holding a gun to our heads saying this is how you must celebrate. ‘Tidings of comfort and joy’ should describe our lifestyle and not just be a message in the cards we send out.

These days, I’m trying to simplify Christmas in our home and make it a celebration of peacefulness and joy. I’ll try not to get swept along with the TV ads or the shopping centre signs urging us to show our loved ones how much we love them by spending vast amounts of money on gadgets, etc that we don’t need.

How much better to give our loved ones this message – turn off life’s distractions, take a deep breath, and relax. Listen to your favourite version of Silent Night and reflect on how lucky we are to have loved ones. And spare a thought for those who do not.

Happy Christmas to all our puzzlers and their loved ones.

CHRISTINE’S HELLO appears every month in
Christine’s BIG Crossword magazine.
» More info here

Hello BIG November 2012

A mascot is a person or thing that is supposed to bring good luck, especially one linked to a particular organisation or event. Some of our clues for mascot include ‘Lucky emblem’, ‘Lucky symbol’ and ‘Team pet’.

The word mascot is derived from the French term mascotte meaning ‘good luck piece’, which ultimately came from the Occitan word masco, meaning witch.

French composer Edmond Audran popularised the word when he titled his 1880 operetta Le Mascotte, translated into English as The Mascot. The operetta tells the story of a farm girl who was a lucky charm for anyone who possessed her, and so a mascot came to mean any person, animal or thing that brought good luck.

The concept of a mascot dates back to ancient times when tribesmen wore animal masks and created totem poles depicting symbolic animals to incite successful hunts. They believed that creating likenesses of powerful animals would help them take on the animals’ power.

Today, you rarely attend a sports event without being entertained by a sporting mascot.

Organisers of the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, devised a cartoonlike figure of a skiing man and called him Schuss as an emblem of their Games.

Munich, West Germany adopted the idea and created the first official mascot for the 1972 Olympic Games, a dachshund named Waldi. The Olympic Games has had its own distinctive mascot or mascots ever since, mainly characters or animals associated with the host country.

The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games mascots were called Wenlock and Mandeville. Wenlock was named after the village of Much Wenlock, the place that inspired Pierre de Coubertin to launch the modern Olympics in 1890. Mandeville was named after Stoke Mandeville hospital in Buckinghamshire, the birthplace of the Paralympic Games.

Aimed at connecting with children, they were like two shiny steel aliens, each with one eye and a yellow light on top of their head. The yellow light is the London Taxi sign, the friendship bracelets represent the Olympic rings and the one eye represents a camera lens so they can record what they see.

Many companies use mascots as corporate logos or advertising tools. One of the oldest corporate mascots, recognisable to most of us, would be the Michelin Man who has been promoting tyres since 1898.

Perhaps we should create a mascot to represent the Lovatts Puzzles identity? Any suggestions?

Happy Puzzling!

CHRISTINE’S HELLO appears every month in
Christine’s BIG Crossword magazine.
» More info here

Hello - BIG October 2012

Crossword lover Dorothy Lyall recently asked me how I compile crosswords.

I start off with the black and white pattern of squares which we call a grid. This grid has to be carefully designed so that there are no two-letter words, not many very short or very long words (ie a reasonable number of words of different length), and all the words must join up of course! It’s not as easy as it sounds.

I usually start in the most difficult part of the grid, with an inspiring word that I’ve either come across recently or haven’t used for a while. I then fill in the spaces that are connected to that word and so on.

When I’ve filled words into the whole grid I then write the clues. The exception to this is when I’m compiling cryptic crosswords, in which case I write each clue straight away before I put the next word in.

I try to make the clues challenging but also as accurate and brief as possible.

Once I’ve finished writing all the clues, the crossword is then checked for errors and sent to the art production department.

The artists lay out the puzzle on a page ready for publication and it then comes back for another check.

After a final third check, it is sent off to the printers and the next thing that happens is that you will be solving it in a Lovatts magazine.

Happy puzzling!

Like some additional crossword compiling tips? Check out our crossword compiling tutorial

CHRISTINE’S HELLO appears every month in
Christine’s BIG Crossword magazine.
» More info here

Hello - BIG September 2012

When it comes to writing crossword clues, we have to be very careful when describing a word, especially when there’s another word with a similar meaning. Fortunately the other word is usually of a different length and wouldn’t fit the clue space.

However, we try to be as accurate as possible, and there are some pitfalls out there when it comes to precise descriptions. The difference between two words of similar meaning is sometimes very subtle.

We sometimes clue canoe as ‘kayak’ and vice versa but we know they’re not exactly the same. The traditional kayak is decked, ie there is a cockpit to sit in and decks over the ends which are sealed shut to provide flotation. This means it’s highly seaworthy and will not sink, whereas the traditional canoe is hollow inside and has little flotation – if capsized it may sink and is difficult to empty and re-enter if you capsize in deep water. Also the kayaker uses a double-bladed paddle whereas the canoe paddle has only one blade.

The answer to the clue ‘disease-spreading agent’ is virus, which comes from the Latin noun virus, meaning ‘poison’ - not to be confused with bacterium (from Greek bakterion ‘small rod’). Both cause disease but viruses are non-living and need a living host to multiply while bacteria are living organisms and can grow on non-living surfaces. Antibiotics can be used to treat bacterial disease but not viral disease.

You’d think it would be easy to tell the difference between a fruit and a vegetable, but we would get into trouble if we ever clued tomato as ‘salad vegetable’, because it’s a fruit. More fruit that we think of as vegetables: cucumbers, squash, zucchini, capsicum, peapods and pumpkin. A nut is also a fruit. Technically, a fruit is the sweet ripened ovary of a seed-bearing plant. A vegetable is a herbaceous plant cultivated for an edible part such as seed, root, stem, leaf, bulb, tuber or floret. Fruit are sweet because they contain more fructose than vegetables.

These are just three examples of some of the problems we face keeping clues accurate. Luckily we are in the business of entertaining, and the main purpose of a clue is to lead the reader to the answer, and remember that a clue is just that…a hint!

Happy Puzzling!

Like some additional crossword compiling tips? Check out our crossword compiling tutorial

CHRISTINE’S HELLO appears every month in
Christine’s BIG Crossword magazine.
» More info here

Hello- BIG August 2012

We hear some amazing real-life stories from our readers.

Here’s the story of Lynette Anesbury, who used our crosswords to retrain her brain.

Lynette has been doing crosswords since she was ten. A family friend introduced her to crosswords in the paper. They started having races to see who could finish the newspaper crossword first. She used to do the cryptic crossword in The Independent newspaper, until her son bought her a Lovatts book. From then on she was hooked.

When she was 31 she was diagnosed with epilepsy. She had two kids at the time.

They operated on her temporal lobe, and had part of her brain removed, which caused her to lose her short-term memory.

When she went back to crosswords she found she couldn’t think of the answers at first. And if she did think of the answer, she found that in the few seconds it took her to look from the clue to the grid she couldn’t remember the clue number, and would have to say it aloud over and over, “seventeen across, seventeen across…etc”.

She gradually trained herself to remember, by doing our crosswords and bit by bit she was able to remember more and more. She says: “I’ve always been a word-lover and I find doing crosswords has given me my confidence back. doing crosswords and having a strong faith have been the two things that have kept me going.”

We wish Lynette all the best and thank her for sharing her story with us. We love to hear from our readers, so if any of you have stories to share, please feel free to write in.

Happy Puzzling!

CHRISTINE’S HELLO appears every month in
Christine’s BIG Crossword magazine.
» More info here