s.pock

@Teresa , when some of his flock fell ill, the papal bulletin could say "The sixth Sixtus's sixth sheep's sick." And when he himself followed suit: The sick sixth Sixtus's sixth sheep's sick. I couldn't help it. No disrespect to the sheiks who originally inhabited this phrase.

@DIVAS IVLIVS , Away out west they have a name For rain and wind and fire. The rain is "rain". The wind is "wind", And they call the fire "fire". The emus get called "emieux" When they're highly enchantèe

@Judith Fairview, I'm pretty sure cryptic puzzles don't need to be British; I loved doing them in high school in the US. Was it the New Yorker that featured them regularly? Harper's? Atlantic Monthly? My reach in high school didn't extend to international press — or to the NYT either. Anyway it would be mighty fine to see them make a comeback.

@Lewis: *Its (I know, you were just checking to see if anyone's paying attention.) (Anyone besides emus, that is.)

@Phishfinder, I remember that binomials were Professor Moriarty's specialization, which became funny when it turned out that he and his brother, Colonel Moriarty, had the same first name. Sir Arthur clearly didn't expect his readers to pay much attention.

@Max, you seem to have been inspired just a degree short of the insight that there's no E sharp or F flat (or a couple of others). Ahh the mysteries of music 🎶