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Malone

I loved 13A in the EV yesterday. I have often been accused of being the 5-letter English equivalent and have always wondered what the female version is. Now I will be able to reply "actually I'm a 13A"

Jigjag

I would love to hear about your next visit to the barbers. I have never been to one.

Grunger,

For 13 A, I expected you to lay claim to a version that would have one of the '-ess' endings?

I suppose we'll have to wait until lockdown is over before Jigjag has any hair-rasing (!) tales.

Malone

I thought just putting -ess on the end would be wrong, and to drop the e and have it end in -ress seemed even worse, so for once I am happy to speak French.

Yes, when Jigjag has let his locks down, he can raise them for us!

Boycott is not the only (occasionally) obnoxious Yorkshire cricketer who has irritated me. I recall watching a Benson and Hedges Cup match at Perth in the 1980s in which there were two tea intervals. The rule about the tea interval had been changed from a set time to between the innings. The then Yorkshire captain, David Bairstow (late father of the sainted Jonny), claimed that he had not heard in time and refused. Yorkshire posted a substantial total whereupon Scotland stopped for tea. Not long afterwards, at about 4.00, Yorkshire came off for tea. This meant, of course, that the Scotland batsmen, who were struggling anyway, had an enforced break and had to make a new start against the refreshed Yorkshire bowlers.
Sadly, owing to the collapse in the standard of Perthshire CC, the North Inch in Perth is no longer used for cricket.

Parallelogram

I`m sorry you have such a dislike of Yorkshire Cricketers - the umpires control matches and normally agree on the match regulations, intervals etc, with both captains and the groundsman.

I`ve never seen cricket in Scotland but have enjoyed televised games from there - one against Afghanistan, in Edinburgh I think, was brilliant.

Many Scottish people come to Headingley for Test Matches - last season I met someone who had come to Scarborough for the week to watch Yorkshire. Gavin Hamilton was a talented Cricketer who played for England briefly, won a Championship with Yorkshire, captained Scotland and played for Durham. I think he`s still playing club cricket for Guiseley - in short I`ve never encountered any animosity between Yorkshire and Scotland concerning cricket.

Speaking of which, this is from today's Telegraph crossword:

Game that's unfair if not in front? (7)

I know the answer though I don't quite get it. In fact one or two of the answers today made me scratch my head.

Orson, even though it's sport - and a specific sport at that - I can help you! If you stick 'It's not...' in front of the answer, that's a phrase meaning 'unfair'.

Thanks, malone, it's quite clear now. I tend to think of it as "it's not cricket" rather than just "not cricket", but Chambers does have the latter.

Thanks, Orson. I've never heard the phrase used, but know of its existence, though not the subtleties, 'it's..' or just 'not...'.

Re Yorkshire & cricket...
I was working in a hotel in Birmingham in the mid 80s. TThe general manager walked into the bar where I worked and asked me " You like cricket don't you ? " Yes, I said. " So you know what Fred Trueman looks like " Er, yes, I replied, of course. " Good, because he's in room 420 and we need to move him to another room " ! Seemed a very nice bloke.