What The Papers Say

[stevezodiac]

Help needed! There are two clues in this crossword I just cannot solve. To be honest it doesn't make sense. 25 down must be AGEISM but they have obviously spelt it AGISM. Their clue suggests the word GISMO (gadget reduced) but I always thought that was spelt GIZMO. If it is GISMO that means 26 across is W_G. But what word with those letters solves the clue "Grace buys a comic"? Anyone out there with a better brainbox than me?

[stevezodiac]

This iconic photograph was in today's Metro. I have seen it a few times. The reason it means something to me is that I live right under the bomber - the arrow points to my road. I have liver there since 1958 and my parents and grandparents come from there too. The plane is actually over the Surrey Docks. My mum was bombed out of a house in Trundleys Road, Deptford and in Park Buildings in Rotherhithe (both in the photo). Who knows it might have been that actual bomber that victimised her. My junior school is in the picture as is Millwalll football ground.

[Phoenix]

agism is an acceptable variant spelling, Steve. The word across must be wag, but the cricketer Grace's initials were W.G. not W.A. so that may well be where the mistake has been made by the compiler.

[Peter Gray]

-In George Gently the young cop was reading I think Look and Learn
On Thursdays episode

[philcom55]

agism is an acceptable variant spelling, Steve. The word across must be wag, but the cricketer Grace's initials were W.G. not W.A. so that may well be where the mistake has been made by the compiler.

I think they must be using 'buy' in the general sense of 'acquire'. Thus WG (Grace) acquires the letter 'a' to become a wag - ie a 'comic'. Sounds a bit desperate to me though: give me the Times crossword any day!

- Phil R.

[Phoenix]

WG (Grace) acquires the letter 'a' to become a wag - ie a 'comic'.

I hope I didn't really need to explain that the reason I said 26 across was wag was because I knew that wag was a colloquial word for comic in the sense of comedian. The problem always was the ridiculous choice of the word buys in the clue, suggesting that the compiler was desperately close to a deadline, and that his or her brain had shut down for the night. How difficult would it have been for the compiler to think of gets or, as Phil suggests, acquires?

[Kashgar]

I think buy is acceptable as a substitute for get or acquire. There was
a lot of buying it in the war years.

[philcom55]

...There was a lot of buying it in the war years.

Unfortunately the whole thing later turned out to be a fraudulent pyramid scheme. Each soldier was told that his ultimate sacrifice would 'buy the farm'; what they didn't realize was that they were effectively buying the same farm, so that when it was divided up between them all anyone actually received was a tiny plot of land just large enough to lie down on!

- Phil Rushton

[Phoenix]

I think buy is acceptable as a substitute for get or acquire. There was
a lot of buying it in the war years.

So there was, Kashgar, but only in the sense that a plane had been shot down, and the crew could be said to have bought it. But in that specific use, the words got or acquired could not be used as substitutes, ergo its use in the present tense with your meaning doesn't work either. I can though just about see a link between buys and gets in a sentence like 'We give our Fred his pocket money on a Saturday, and he goes straight down the shop and buys/gets his comic', where gets implies the handing over of some money, but I still think the clue is unnecessarily confusing because when you have got all the rest of the clues, all you are effectively left with is a choice between wag, weg, wig, wog, and wug.

[Lew Stringer]

That must be quite a fascinating but chilling photo for you Steve. Did you write to Metro with your story? It'd make an interesting follow-up I think.

[stevezodiac]

My mum also tells of her and her classmates going into the playground of her school (Childeric) in New Cross and the teacher shouting "get down" my mum looked up and saw a german plane bearing down and spraying the playground with machine gun fire - she said the bullet holes are still in the playground walls. I went there a couple of years ago but didn't dare go into the playground in case someone got the wrong idea. She remembers the bomb in Trundleys Road as my granddad was stretchered out on a door singing "An old soldier never dies" all he suffered was a broken toe. The bomb landed on the house opposite killing all the occupants. When the Surrey Docks was ablaze my dad's dad was told to go to a local school and shelter there (with my dad) it was very crowded and he decided against staying there - the next day it was discovered the school had been hit by a bomb with many deaths. I don't like crowded trains and lifts and must have inherited that trait. Found a website that shows all the hits from the first day of the blitz - none of the entries mention fatalaties.

252 .18:02. Trundley's Road, Deptford, SE16, London, UK IB 9 privates houses damaged

Also found this on a forum:

7/8th Sept 1940 was a dreadful night for Bermondsey as Surrey Docks was ablaze and thousands of tons of wood went up in smoke. That night the Germans targeted the docks both sides of the river, West Ham Power Station, Beckton Gas Works and the Woolwich Arsenal. Further tragedy struck in Bermondsey as those evacuated from Surrey Docks went to various rest centres. The one at Keatons Road School was hit later by a high explosive bomb, killing and wounding many

My mum and dad - years before they met - were both experiencing the terror of the first day of the blitz. My secondary school in the 70s was in Keaton's Road - Scott Lidget School. It was brand new and had its own swimming pool.

[philcom55]

With so many enemy bombers passing overhead wasn't it dangerous to have that large arrow pointing at your house Steve?

Looking at that Heinkel reminds me of the impressive images of the blitz that Ron Smith drew for 'The Heroes of Paradise Rd.' in Beezer (at a time when the War was still fresh in most people's memories):





My dad once tried to shoot a low-flying Dornier down with his rifle - and nearly got blown apart when somebody on board instantly returned fire with a high-calibre machine gun. Sometimes it amazes me that we won the war at all!

- Phil Rushton

[stevezodiac]

There is a street in Rotherhithe (where I live) called Paradise Street and I have often wondered if Paradise Road was influenced by it. Max Bygraves lived in my Mum's flats in Rotherhithe at the time. He was called Wally Bygraves as his first name was Walter.

With regard to the crossword - I've been doing cryptic crosswords for decades and its the first time i've come across "buy" as including a word or letter. I'm annoyed I didn't get that one. It was AGISM and GISMO that threw me. Perhaps I should complain as the compiler was obviously cutting corners to make the word fit.

[Phoenix]

the impressive images of the blitz that Ron Smith drew for 'The Heroes of Paradise Rd.' in Beezer (at a time when the War was still fresh in most people's memories)

Hardly that fresh, surely, Phil. The serial started in 1961, over twenty years after the Blitz.

[stevezodiac]

we played on a huge bomb site in the sixties (Trident Street) but I don't think I once stopped to think how it came to be there.