“In the online edition of the Herald under the Culture header, the lead article is about Barbie,” notes Denis Cartledge of Tenterfield. “Where have we gone so wrong?” Dunno, Denis, but Granny did notice that the headline for the Rolling Stone review read: “Barbie May Be the Most Subversive Blockbuster of the 21st Century”.
“I wonder if anyone else has noticed the uncanny resemblance between Ryan Gosling’s Ken and Glenn Robbins’ Kel,” posits Kate Sommer of Berry. “Could there be more of a relationship between Barbie and Kath than just blonde hair, hunky handbags and an aversion to cellulite?”
While Caz Willis of Bowral thinks that anyone who gets volunteered for a task, always ‘gets the guernsey (C8)’“, Brian Collins of Cronulla says “my grandfather was a Wallaby who converted to the new fledging rugby league back in 1908. I remember him oscillating between jerseys and guernseys. I wonder if it was a union vs league distinction?”
“You threw a clue when you said ‘Channel your Thoughts’,” says Warren Mitchell of Mosman. “Jersey and Guernsey both being Channel Islands and the similar garment designed to help insulate from the local climate. So, both are acceptable, though one more common than the other depending on location.” Stands to reason.
Peter Ware of Cheltenham suspects that “George Zivkovic’s (C8) geometry is a little obtuse. The original name of Circular Quay was ‘Semi-Circular Quay’ when construction work commenced under Lieutenant Colonel George Barney. So, the name does fit the geometry.” Not so much the one pondered by Jack Dikian of Mosman: “Sydney’s Taylor Square is marked by three roads that make an equilateral triangle.”
“I was interested to read of Jan Robins’ interest in the ‘Time Taken’ feature (C8) of the online crossword,” writes Greg Oehm of Robertson. “I have been pondering this myself, particularly since I achieved a PB of 10 minutes and a few seconds for a weekday cryptic recently. It got me thinking – is there a nominal time one should take for a cryptic crossword? I’m prepared to accept ‘days’ for one of David Astle’s Friday horrors.”
We’re about to call time on the great many football team designations (C8), with the final ones going to John Atkins of Newcastle who nominates touch football team The Grafton Corruption and Fran Kirby of Castle Hill who likes the rugby league club in central Queensland called the Augathella Meat Ants.
Column8@smh.com.au
No attachments, please. Include
name, suburb and daytime phone