Fans of the TV series Inspector Morse and the books may remember that as well as listening to opera, the detective's other hobby was doing The Times crossword.
This is not surprising, given that for many years Morse's creator, Colin Dexter, wrote a crossword for The Oxford Times. He was Codex Co(lin)Dex(ter) while former editor Bill Hudson was Jehu HeHu(dson) and John Chavasse, who also worked here at Osney Mead, was Ichabod I Cha(vasse) bod.
The team was later supplemented by eminent Oxford cruciverbalists such as Don Manley, known as Quixote, and ancient history don David Stockton, Mastodon.
In the Chambers Book of Morse Crosswords (£6.99), Colin Dexter has collected 100 of his puzzles, previously published in The Oxford Times, taking out local references unlikely to be known by the general public. Regular readers may find them a little more challenging than today's crossword.
There is also an Inspector Morse themed crossword, plus the introduction which reveals that Sergeant Lewis, Morse and many other Dexter characters are named after crossword clue writers.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article