Henry Stacey Marks, Where Is It?
I don’t know. . . . I’m completely at a loss. . . . I’m pretty sure I was about to say something—something pretty important, too—but I just can’t remember what it was.
Novel 183: Bithia Mary Croker, The Cat's-Paw (1902)
Sydney Prior Hall, The Maharani of Cooch Behar
A virtuous young lady, orphaned and unwanted by relatives, is lured to India, where she has diverse adventures.
Here is another novel by Croker (see Novels 013, 073, 129), with a good (if somewhat episodic) plot, sharply defined characters, and a vividly realized setting.
The novel presents “the conditions and circumstances of Anglo-Indian life . . . as well as authors who take themselves more seriously. . . . The best part of the story is the picture of a third rate boarding house.” Athenaeum, March 1, 1902
“The book is fresh and vivacious; the pictures of Indian life are vivid and convincing.” Saturday Review, March 15, 1902
Download this week’s novel:
Crossword 182: Extraordinary Cooperation
Charles Robert Leslie, Children Playing at Coach and Horses
Why can’t we all just get along? What’s wrong with people, that they’re always fighting about one thing or another? I blame irresponsible crossword constructors. How many times have you, gentle solver, awakened in the morning full of warm, happy feelings about the entire human race, and then, in the course of solving your daily crosswords, encountered some word that made you hate everybody? I can’t be sure I haven’t included such a word in the puzzle below (it’s hard to predict just what might set a person off—for me, it’s “alii”), but if I have, I hope to have counteracted the effect with my theme, which fosters a whole new kind of cooperation.
Download this week’s crossword:
182-Extraordinary-Cooperation.puz
182-Extraordinary-Cooperation.pdf
Solve this week’s crossword online:
A crossword of mine appears Thursday, May 20, in Universal Crossword
Novel 182: Richard Harding Davis, The King’s Jackal (1898)
Charles Dana Gibson, Cosmopolitan Magazine Cover November, 1910
A dispossessed petty monarch cynically plots to extort money from his country and from an American heiress.
Richard Harding Davis (1864-1916), an American journalist, editor, fashion leader, and crony of Teddy Roosevelt, had time for only a few short novels. The characters in this one, though hardly complex, are entertaining, as is the action-packed plot—which features the unexpected but crucial intervention of a dashing young American journalist.
“It is a very pleasant story, and . . . it is written with not a little brightness and literary skill. Indeed, as a mere teller of a story Mr. Davis has nowadays few superiors: for he can always produce his effect with a few strokes of the pen. He is never diffuse, and consequently never wearisome.” Speaker, September 3, 1898
“Mr. Harding Davis’s new story is very slight, but it has charm. . . . It is extremely well conceived and arranged.” Academy, September 17, 1898
Download this week’s novel:
Crossword 181: Digital Waste
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Beautiful Hand
Are you aware that, in the course of a lifetime, the average American adult discards enough ones and zeros to fill seven virtual football stadiums? It’s just one more way that technology is making our world into a dystopian hellscape. I’m thinking of doing my part to reverse this trend by etching my crosswords in stone the old-fashioned way and delivering them by ox-drawn carts. Subscription fees may rise, of course, but won’t it be worth it? What can equal the sound, the smell, the tactile thrill, of entering your answers in granite, with a chisel?
Download this week’s crossword:
Solve this week’s crossword online:
Novel 181: David Christie Murray, First Person Singular (1886)
Edmund George Warren, Lost in the Woods
An Irish politician pursues an heiress, while a Polish anarchist and his Tsarist opponents plot against each other.
Here is another novel by Murray (see Novels 009, 068, 127) with vivid characters, some of them remarkably unprincipled, and a thrilling, if implausible, plot.
“Secret societies and Polish and Irish patriots are not as a rule very promising subjects for a novel, and Mr. Murray has increased his difficulties by making his story a study of character first, and only secondarily a tale of exciting incidents. But the chief person is . . . excellently presented, and the plotting is . . . cleverly contrived.” Athenaeum, February 6, 1886
“It is hardly needful to say that the book is thoroughly readable, and a piece of skilled workmanship.” Academy, February 13, 1886
Download this week’s novel:
Crossword 180: Globalization
James Jacques Joseph Tissot, Young Ladies Looking at Japanese Objects
For me, crosswords aren’t about wordplay, enigmas, and such contemptible stuff, they’re about making the world a better place. Here’s a puzzle that not only mentions good things (many other constructors justly praise themselves and each other for that), it actively promotes cultural exchange, global understanding, world peace, united human progress towards a brighter future! Solve it and become a better person!
Download this week’s crossword:
Solve this week’s crossword online:
A crossword of mine appears tomorrow, May 2, in Universal Crossword (on that day, an Across Lite version may be downloaded here).
Novel 180: Mrs. Thomas Erskine, Wyncote (1874)
Benjamin Leader, Parting Day
To support her ailing father, a virtuous young lady becomes a paid companion on an English estate.
Nothing is known about Mrs. Thomas Erskine except that she published four novels, of which this is the second. Its quietly interesting plot and striking characters ought to have led its author to a more prominent career.
“In the sustained fidelity with which the characters, few and simple as they are, maintain their consistency and distinctness, Mrs. Erskine shows . . . care and minuteness of observation.” Athenaeum, November 21, 1874
“It is admirable for observation, for humour, for pathos; it is refined without affectation, and interesting without effort. Even the subordinate characters—the supernumeraries who only cross the stage—are carefully studied and full of life.” Academy, December 1, 1874
Download this week’s novel:
http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/f/89vilt/oxfaleph014400822
(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 179: Midwestern-State-Sponsored Terror
George Caleb Bingham, Landscape with Fisherman
I have already mentioned on this site that my crosswords promote human betterment by mentioning those things we ought to pursue (“good,” for example, has appeared in six of my puzzles) and those other things we ought to shun (“evil” has appeared in eight).
But lately I’ve been exploring the crossword form as a vehicle for soul-searching confessional autobiography. So this is the second puzzle based on U.S. States in which I have lived (see Crossword 128). Like much autobiography, it’s designed not just to indulge the writer but to give a voice to others with similar life experiences—in this case, to solvers who have lived in one or more U.S. States. They will, I’m sure, “relate,” and feel gratifyingly “validated” in consequence.
Download this week’s crossword:
179-Midwestern-State-Sponsored-Terror.puz
179-Midwestern-State-Sponsored-Terror.pdf
Solve this week’s crossword online:
A crossword of mine appears tomorrow, April 25, in Universal Crossword. (The usual link is not operable; you may download an Across Lite version here.)
Novel 179: Mary Louisa Molesworth, She was Young and He was Old (1872)
Sophie Anderson, Portrait Of Young Girl
A virtuous young lady marries a middle-aged attorney to please her dying mother.
Here is another novel by the other Molesworth (see Novel 100), with well-defined characters placed in a carefully developed, interestingly uncomfortable situation.
“We have read it with a pleasure which is due partly to the inherent interest of the subject, hackneyed as it is, but mainly to the quiet dignity of the style, and a certain sub-acid flavour discernible throughout.” Molesworth has “hit off many of the weak points of provincial life.” Athenaeum, January 27, 1872
“The author . . . is an exceedingly graceful writer, with a good deal of literary taste. Her pair of sisters have evidently been a work of love, and some pride as well. We may congratulate her on a success.” The main character “is certainly made so life-like that we have learned to look at her with her creator’s partial eyes.” Saturday Review, June 15, 1872
Download this week’s novel:
http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/f/89vilt/oxfaleph014012488
Crossword 178: That’s Thats
George Frederick Watts, Echo
This puzzle celebrates the versatility in English of the terminal “s”—which can indicated plurality, possession (either singular or plural, depending on apostrophe placement), or nothing in particular (as in the name “Bywaters”). It can also (with an apostrophe) indicate an elided version of the common word “is,” but I'm saving that for another puzzle, in which I’ll celebrate the versatility of the English apostrophe.
Download this week’s crossword:
Solve this week’s crossword online:
Novel 178: Mrs. Henry Chetwynd, A Brilliant Woman (1892)
Lord Frederic Leighton, Girl in Green
A beautiful, much-admired woman marries so that she may become a society leader.
Here is another novel by Chetwynd (see Novel 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
Download this week’s novel:
v.1 https://archive.org/details/brilliantwoman01chet
Crossword 177: Coming In Last
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.
Download this week’s crossword:
Solve this week’s crossword online:
A crossword of mine appears Wednesday, April 14, in Universal Crossword
Novel 177: Ellen Georgiana Clutton-Brock, James Gordon’s Wife (1871)
George Goodwin Kilburne, Penning A Letter
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
Download this week’s novel:
v.1 https://archive.org/details/james-gordons-wife-1
v.2-3 http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/f/89vilt/oxfaleph014384326
(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 176: Parliamentary Divisions
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 Crosswords 032 and 033), I’m proudest of 38 Across, which I recommend to any statistics-compiling social scientist stuck for a topic.
Download this week’s crossword:
176-Parliamentary-Divisions.puz
176-Parliamentary-Divisions.pdf
Solve this week’s crossword online:
A crossword of mine will appear Friday, April 9, in the Los Angeles Times.
Novel 176, Hamilton Aïdé, Penruddocke (1873)
William Holman Hunt, The Old Church at Ewell
A younger son is badly treated by his mother.
Here is another novel by Aïdé (see Novel 076), 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
Download this week’s novel:
https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma990146524130107026
Crossword 175: Chariot
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.
Download this week’s crossword:
Solve this week’s crossword online:
Novel 175: Jane Octavia Brookfield, Influence (1871)
Richard Westall, Lady Hamilton (as St Cecilia)
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
Download this week’s novel:
Crossword 174: Is It In Or Isn't It?
William Shayer Senior, A Halt at the Inn
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!
Download this week’s crossword:
Solve this week’s crossword online:
Novel 174: Lucy B. Walford, Cousins (1879)
Edwin Longsden Long, The Cousins
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 Novels 018, 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
Download this week’s novel:
v.1 https://archive.org/details/cousins01walfo