Crypic Crossword #1

Cryptic Crossword #1 by Flintstonene

Across

1 Brute with small pair set to annoy…(7) 5 …and annoyed if he gets his (4) 8 Seaman without friends getting mollusc (7) 9 Thus, a ruler gets very wet (7) 10 Ingress for the choir (7) 12 Fractions slim between the poles (6) 15 Liquid burst around cleaning fluid (5) 18 Before Lent, push right in (6) 20 Pique a saint inside large dog (7) 23 Go under? Suffer the reverse! (7) 25 Fat around any cord (7) 26 Mark cross around to prohibit (4) 27 Made certain, trick around in the end (7)

Down

1 Mixed up aprons for the clergyman (6) 2 Behind the heart, confused without a list of duties (4) 3 At university, drunk and tense (7) 4 Boasts of scrap of cloth in nonsense (5) 5 Increase around right seed(5) 6 Love to surround a junction and find drink (8) 7 Pull apart chair around echo (5) 11 Suggests losing fib for these cheeky kids (4) 13 With this, stuff makes rubbish (8) 14 Trappers things around on the beach(4) 16 Follows performances containing publicity (7) 17 Blame about the stroll (5) 19 Dramatized pressman holding the spot (6) 21 Claim to be ready for final metamorphosis (5) 22 Confuse the issue for sweetmeat (5) 24 Seldom seen confused at back (4)

40

Someone forgot to tell them they couldn’t…

The big news in mid-September was the amazing results our Paralympians achieved.

We call them ‘our’ as if we had some part in their success. But let’s be honest – most of us don’t get to claim that privilege.

When Sophie Pascoe talked about her grandma, I had tears coming down my cheeks. I was so proud of her and for her. I felt the same for Liam Malone and Nikita Howarth. The funny part is, I don’t know them from a bar of soap. Never met any of them! Funnier still is you probably haven’t met them either and yet you felt the same feelings of pride I did.

Here’s the thing that strikes me… Someone forgot to tell them that they were (ssshh, come closer and I’ll whisper...) ‘disabled’. That they couldn’t achieve great things and would have to settle for a less-than existence.

As we say in the South, “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition!”

If anyone in these great athlete’s lives tried to tell they were less than, it didn’t stick. They have shown themselves to be of the highest calibre, physically able to beat many of those who qualified for the Olympics and seriously able to smoke me and you in any race, be it on land or water. As impressive as that is, their character is more so.

Then I think of my own children, who have none of those obstacles to overcome and yet can find excuses for choosing a lessthan existence. And then I look in the mirror and see where they learned that skill. Ouch! Hurts, don’t it?

So I ask myself: what are the areas in my life where I have a disabled mentality? Where can I achieve greatness? Maybe greatness is too hard a target… Ok, something better than mediocrity? What lame excuses have I been using to justify my slack attitude and less-than choices? More importantly, now that I am aware of it, what am I going to do about it? I’ll ask my children the same questions. I wonder if you’ll ask yourself and your children?

Inspiration + Motivation + Perspiration = Elevation (Just made that up, but good, aye?)

It’s the perspiration part that gets us. But nothing great was ever achieved without hard work. Ask Sophie, Liam & Nikita.

Rechelle McNair Kidcredible Limited t/a sKids KingsWay