Sunday 8 June 2008

Cross Words

So there I was wondering what to blog about this evening when Himself reminded me of one of his most annoying habits. So I'm sharing it with you. Then you can be annoyed too. Is an annoyance shared and annoyance halved?

On Saturdays, the Daily Telegraph newspaper has a general knowledge crossword. It's a big crossword and, as the paper tries to aim itself at the more highbrow intelligensia of a Conservative inclination (not that we are, we just like the crossword), it's not always easy. In fact, we rarely finish it.

Now, Himself has the kind of mind that retains the sort of information that us normal people let in, register, and then let out again. In other words, he has a brain full of useless information. Which does, nevertheless, comes in useful for the crossword.

Woe betide anyone who attempts the crossword before he does. Apart from me. I am very graciously allowed to have a first look. You see, he takes this crossword very seriously and will continue to pore over reference books for the answers he doesn't have in his head already. He knows that my retention of general knowledge facts is hopeless and so I won't get far.

So I was allowed a first look this evening and began filling in answers. And therein lies the nub of his annoying habit. He can't just let me get on with it. He will peer over my shoulder and if I skip a clue, he'll start giving me clues in such a patronising manner that I end up chucking the paper at him and tell him to f***ing well do it himself.

Which is, of course, exactly what he wants me to do.


PS. Thank you all for your comments yesterday. Today dawned bright and cheerful and a friend and I went fundraising for Greyhound Gap and I got to snog lots of dogs.

7 comments:

  1. We go through crossword stages. Months will go by and NO ONE does it - then all of a sudden, EVERY ONE wants to do it. I have to wonder why it always times out that way...

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  2. Too funny! Now what you should have done was first whack him over the head with it and then burn it!

    I went through a cross word stage years ago, its amazing how when you stop doing them for a while, you forget all the answers. Now I occasionally do the cryptic ones.

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  3. Didn't see yesterday's post until just now cause I've been in a funk myself. Glad you're over yours; laughed out loud at the crossword puzzle story; it rings a bell here!

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  4. Hee hee. Hooray for dog snogging. :D

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  5. This made me laugh because embee does the telegraph crosswords and on a Sunday evening rings his sister to check out how she has done. However although he had a good general knowledge, he is getting a bit forgetful and as I'm tip tapping on the computer he will be asking me the clues he doesn't know. I love it as frequently I surprise him by giving him the answer~ without having to resort to google or the dictionary, which I notice he uses a lot lately!
    I normally only do the daily mail quick crossword!

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  6. my mind is full of crossword answers so if you ever need to know that a hawaiian goose is a nene, I'm your girl!

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  7. My MIL & her husband were like that ~ I have cast-off dictionaries from them annotated! My ex loved the cryptics & always did those.

    Could I send you my Stockings? I hate being licked on my face & Stockings (AKA Boyfriend Dog) is incredibly good at French Kissing ~ YUK. He is a Lurcher...

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