You can’t spend all your waking hours working on gender political issues, you’d go mad. My diversions include cryptic crosswords. They’re particularly popular in the UK, where they originated in the mid-1920s, about a century ago. Once you understand how they work, and therefore how you move from the clue to the solution, they become much easier. Without that understanding, they’re impossible.

Both my late parents would solve the Daily Telegraph every Saturday and I try to solve the online versions most days. The paper offers two online subscription options – 12 months for £4.99 then £49.00, or a month for free then £4.99 per month. You can cancel the auro-renew before the subscription expires and try to negotiate a better deal for the next term.

My father’s favourite Daily Telegraph clue, which he solved, was this:

H I J K L M N O (5)

The five-letter answer is WATER (H2O or ‘H to O’, the chemical formula of water).

A recent crossword contained the following clue, which stumped me, even when I had three of the constituent letters of the solution:

He’s one (7)

The solution is ELEMENT. “He” is the chemical symbol of helium, an element.

The Telegraph publishes an excellent guide in paperback and Kindle editions, How To Solve a Cryptic Crossword: Mastering cryptic crosswords made easy. Two months ago the paper published The Telegraph Cryptic Crosswords 15: A new edition of 100 cryptic crosswords.

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