Rory

@Mark I'm 20 and I can assure you that corner took some deal of thinking. Who is Uncle Remus??? Got it eventually with most the acrosses filled in and a vague memory of someone called Brer Rabbit.

@Steve L Interestingly the 're' in 'republic' also comes from 'res', ie matters of the people (res publica)

@Oikofuge what does your username mean? Home Escaper?

@Grumpy The months with the Ides on the 15th were 'full months' (plenus mensis) with 31 days, and those on the 13th 'hollow months' (cavus mensis) with 29 days. Except February with 28, which was shoehorned in alongside January by Numa Pompilius to account for the winter. Apparently the choice for which months were full or hollow is not massively understood but to do with a lunar calendar they inherited from the Greeks, so the position of the Ides was originally to mark the full moon. Lots of calendar reforms means this wouldn't have been the case by the time of the Roman Empire though.

@The X-Phile Amusing musings.