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And now today, because every day, a new crossword clue. And today is a pipping 26 across: Utter ruin of Pantheon left by Napoleon I (7)

An ongoing crossword, now showing the clue for 26 across: "Utter ruin of Pantheon left by Napoleon I."
The answer is a seven-letter word, with fourth letter "N" and sixth letter "T".

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And then "carrying student ID", means the word "BET" carries the letter "L" - the identifying letter for a "student", or learner, driver. Thus: 21 D: One served with drink drive conviction carrying student ID (6) GOBLET

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"One served with drink" is the whole thing - GOBLET, served with a drink in it. Then the elements: "Drive" is "GO", your energy, your drive, your "go". "Conviction" is "BET", taken in the sense of "It's my bet that it will happen tomorrow" - It's my "conviction" that it will happen tomorrow.

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And we have a crossword clue to resolve. "One served with drink drive conviction carrying student ID (6)" And the answer was GOBLET (explanation follows)

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And now today's clue in the ever going crossword. And today is a merry 21 down: One served with drink drive conviction carrying student ID (6)

An ongoing crossword, now showing the clue for 21 down: "One served with drink drive conviction carrying student ID."
The answer is a six-letter word, second letter "O" and fourth letter "L".

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And there you are. 23 across: Went back to rock opera after skipping third movement (8) DIASPORA

An ongoing crossword, now showing the answer "Diaspora" to the clue at 22 across: "Went back to rock opera after skipping third movement."

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Then "rock OPERA after skipping third" means an anagram of "opera" without the third letter, which is "E", and thus "PORA". And putting it together, DIAS-PORA - the "movement" or dispersal of communities. Specifically Jews if used with a capital, but all letters are capitals in crosswords.

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Right. DIASPORA "Went" could be a bit tricky. The word you need is "SAID", as in colloquially, "She went, she said. I asked her for a date, and she went "NOoooooooooo!" So in that sense, "went" means "SAID" And then written "back" is DIAS

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Now the crossword. Yesterday's clue was 22 across: Went back to rock opera after skipping third movement (8) And the answer was DIASPORA (explanation follows)

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And now we have another fine clue in the ever crossword. Today is 22 across: Went back to rock opera after skipping third movement (8)

An ongoing crossword, now showing the clue for 22 across: "Went back to rock opera after skipping third movement".
The answer is an eight-letter word, with fourth letter "S".

Thus: 17 ac. Send back hot dog chopped up raw (6) NIPPY

An ongoing crossword, now showing the answer "NIPPY" to the clue at 17 across: "Send back hot dog chopped up raw."

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NIPPY: "Send back hot", means "IN", as in what's hot, trendy, fashionable, and written backwards becomes "NI" "dog" is "PUPPY", and "chopped up" means the word "UP" is removed, leaving PPY NI + PPY makes "Nippy", which can mean chilly, or RAW

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Aha! The answer to yesterday: 17 across: Send back hot dog chopped up raw (5) NIPPY (explanation follows)

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Fine, then. Another day, another clue, and today is 17 across: Send back hot dog chopped up raw (5)

An ongoing crossword, now showing the clue for 17 across: "Send back hot dog chopped up raw." The answer is a five-letter word with fourth letter "P".

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And so: 24 ac. Floor outline around somebody in the raw (5) YOKEL

An ongoing crossword, now showing the answer "YOKEL" for the clue at 24 across: "Floor outline around somebody in the raw."

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So, the answer was YOKEL "Floor" means KO, as in knock-out "outline" means a type of line written outside the letters KO. In this case the type of line you want is LEY line This gets you LE- KO-Y Then turn the whole construction around Y-OK-EL Somebody raw, uncultured

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Here we are. yesterday's clue was 24 across: Floor outline around somebody in the raw (5), middle letter "K". And the answer was YOKEL (explanation follows)

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And so today's clue in the all-weather crossword is a buff 24 across: Floor outline around somebody in the raw (5)

An ongoing crossword, now showing the clue for 24 across: "Floor outline around somebody in the raw." The answer is a five-letter word whos third letter is "K".

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Finally, "PUSH + KIN" gives you PUSHKIN - a Russian poet, and therefore a "foreign linesman." Thus: "Man dropping last try before foreign linesman" PUSHKIN

"Man dropping last" in this case refers to a chess piece missing its last letter. KING minus "G" leaves "KIN" "Try before" means a word meaning "Try" comes before the "KIN". "Try" can mean several things. Here it means "PUSH" , as in make an effort towards, appeal for, or "PUSH" for.

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Staedtler @staedtler.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

It's noontide, and what do we find? It's the crossword. yesterday's clue was 18 down: Man dropping last try before foreign linesman (7) And the answer was PUSHKIN (explanation follows)

An ongoing crossword, now showing the answer "Pushkin" to the clue at 18 down: "man dropping last try before foreign linesman."

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Right, with no regard to either my safety or anyone else's I've decided we're doing a new crossword. And to start us off we'll have a sinuous 18 down: Man dropping last try before foreign linesman (7)

A blank crossword showing the clue to 18 down: "Man dropping last try before foreign linesman."
The answer is a seven-letter word, with so far no letters to help.

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Staedtler @staedtler.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I got a Sharp TV like that from Tesco, of all places. It sounds just like what you're looking for. No, ai , no faff. Just wires up and plays. It's everso good.

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Staedtler @staedtler.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I always thought if we left Europe it would take about twenty years to get back in, and that's beginning to look like a fair guess. Brexit was an emotional outburst, but you can't maintain that outburst forever.

Staedtler @staedtler.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Of course we'll rejoin the European Union, and for the same reason we joined it before - it makes no economic sense to be outside it. Eventually we'll get an election where the parties are competing to get us back in, with just as much noise as they once competed to get us out.

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Staedtler @staedtler.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

In recreational activities, I have been repurposing some old clothes and I have invented a new sewing style which I shall be naming the "blood stitch"

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Staedtler @staedtler.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Listening to Michael Gove having opinions about economics is like listening to Michael Gove having opinions about economics

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Staedtler @staedtler.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

And one day my great grandchildren will ask mem what was it like before the internet. Oh, it was wild - I'll tell them - We all had to meet up in secret warehouses at midnight to exchange sarcastic remarks about the day's news.

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I could teach economics. You wouldn't get anything right learning from me, but life would be a lot more fun.

So like you said, inheritance tax is one of the best taxes because it means that what would otherwise have become "zombie" money gets back into the economy again.

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And then if every generation of pensioners add to the money with never spending it, then the whole estate becomes a lump of dead money that never does anything useful. Like a pass the parcel that's never unwrapped.

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Plus, a lot of inheritance is inter-pensioner money that never sees the light of a hard working pocket. Say you have kids when you're 25 and die when you're 85. And then they die when their kids are pensioners, and so on, and that money will never touch the "working" economy again.

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Inheritance tax is the best of all tax because it's only paid by dead people. If only every tax was like that.

I saw the Bayeux Tapestry, and I noticed William of Normandy setting off in France, and then later on being crowned in Westminster Abbey, and it's the same person, so he must have run all the way round the back to be tapestried again at the other end. Because that's how tapestries work.

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Can you check under the bread because I think I might have lost a glove there

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And all this is because David Cameron held a referendum to make Fartage go away.

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I'm so enjoying watching Fartage fuck up Labour and the Tories in exactly the way we all said he would if they went ahead with Brexit.

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It reminds me of Douglas Adams, though. The other parties said they weren't going to stand for that sort of thing, partly because it was a debasement of politics, but mostly because they weren't invited to those sort of donations.

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I'm sorry, I seem to have brought no opinions with me today, can I disagree with yours?

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And there, whether you want it or not, is the whole crossword finished. Be aware I'm likely to do this again at some point, and please keep away from children.

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And so: 18 down: Somebody's soulmate you interrupted in drag (6) VILIFY

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And then each of those three words VIP, LIFE, YE is "interrupted", which means they get cut off before the end, thus losing their final letter, thus: VI- LIF- Y To "drag", in modern parlance, or traduce, insult etc.

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What you have to do is take the first three words of the clue as three separate entities Somebody's / soulmate / you And you get VIP - A "somebody", or important person, a VIP LIFE - A word that accompanies, "soul", as in "life and soul" YE - An old word for "You" (continues)

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