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Hello, Elle!
Amazing! You are correct....again!
I would never have got that.
Never heard of Henry King and but vaguely of Hilaire Belloc.
There was another answer that puzzled me, but I forget the clue.
The answer was "The Seven Lamps of Architecture"
Do you know about that?
You would like these ancient Jumbos.
A high percentage of clues are to do with Literature.
Very different from the modern Jumbos.
No good for me though!
The cycling was excellent today.
The race was won by Jakob Fuglsang, a rider I like.
Fuglsang means "birdsong" in Danish.
Federer is playing in Stuttgart tomorrow.
How is your toe getting on now?

Hello, Elle (Clever clogs)
Try this one from Easter 1974.
"Exhibition of London's home-made home?" (4,2,3,5,4,4,5)

Hi, Rusty!
Now admit it .......you are deliberately trying to fox me!
I am not sure if I am permitted to look things up?
But as I had never heard of "The Seven Lamps of Architecture", I did Google it!
Seemingly, it is an essay by John Ruskin.
Now you are not going to believe this....but there is a John Ruskin Sixth Form College in Addington Village, Croydon........ and coincidentally, our son attended lectures there for a time!
How about that!
I cannot tie it in with your possible clue though!
I shall ponder the "Exhibition of London's home-made home?"
No bells ringing as yet though.
I may have to concede defeat.......
I've one Everyman clue still to parse, too.
My toe?
Well, I found some paste (I'm not sure how old it is) that is for infections...so I have ladled some on to my toe "just in case" and stuck a big plaster over it!
We shall wait to see whether my toe drops off.......

Uhm, Rusty......
You mentioned "Easter".... was that a subtle hint?
"hot cross buns " would be 3, 5 and 4 letters.......and could be "home-made"?
No, I think I am up the creek without a paddle!

Hello, Elle,
"This is the house that Jack built."
Jack London, I suppose?
The Seven Lamps I have no idea about, but that is the standard of clues/answers that were in use in the cryptics back then.
This is another.
"____"(L.L.Lost) (27)
The answer is "Honorificabilitudinitatitibus"
Now this is supposed to be a cryptic clue!
I have no idea what it means, though it is in my Chambers, and I have taken the easy option of throwing the books of Jumbos in the bin!
They are not for folk like me!

My favourite poem when I was little started

Lord Lundy, from his earliest years,
Was far too easily moved to tears

Also Hilaire Belloc.

Hi, Rusty!
These are more like General Knowledge crosswords, don't you think?
Or at best, a cross between GK and cryptic?
You are right in saying that one couldn't work out the answers without some specific background knowledge.
According to Google.....

"Honorificabilitudinitatibus is the dative and ablative plural of the medieval Latin word honorificabilitudinitas, which can be translated as "the state of being able to achieve honours".
It is mentioned by the character Costard in Act V, Scene I of William Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost".

This is surely a GK question?
As such , one would expect to have to do some research.
In the "olden days", that would mean getting out the encyclopaedias!
I do not think that many people would know that out of hand....
I certainly wouldn't! (and didn't !)
Oh dear! I think I need a strong coffee to stimulate my brain cells!




Hello, Chris!
Yes, it's interesting how phrases from Hilaire Belloc poems pop into one's mind!

Hello, Elle!
Now I am a very simple man and know nothing about datives and ablatives!
This "h" word appeared in The Times Jumbo Cryptic Crossword Book 1, at Easter, 1971.
I read that quite a few years ago, the editor of The Times, told the setters to produce crosswords that ordinary people could do, and to get away from the clues being all to do with Greek poets and Literature etc.
The modern ones are far superior to the old ones in my opinion.
In the olden days, before I had a computer, I had a Chambers Dictionary, a single volume Encyclopedia, a Brewer's, and a Road Atlas of the British Isles.
And I managed fine!
How is your dodgy digit getting on?

Hey, Rusty!
I was only introduced to the computer at the beginning of the new millenium, when my daughters dragged me ( kicking and screaming) into the twenty-first century!
Before that, like you, whenever I did a crossword - although in those days I only did General Knowledge ones - I used an Oxford Dictionary, an atlas and a Thesaurus.
Oh yes, and an early (almost prehistoric) edition of Brewers!
I nearly always finished the puzzle!
My toe is still painful and swollen, but I guess whatever it is will take time to subside.
I looked up gout but have no reason to see why I should have it?
I don't appear to fit into any of the health "hazards"?
I shall give the "dodgy digit" (I like the alliteration!) some time.......see how it is in 24 /48 hours........
I'm not sure about going to the GP......I don't like taking medication!
Right...time to phone my cousin (I think it's my turn?)

Hello, Elle!
You have had a computer quite a bit longer than me.
I got one 6 years ago.
I think crosswords were more fun in the days before computers became popular.
Now, Elle, if one of your daughters, for instance, had a toe like you have, you would be chasing her along to her GP, I'm sure.
I think you should get it checked over.
As Pigale did!