Listen With Others

Thanks Aedites for your gently enjoyable reminder of the days when I knew the names of every (FCO-recognised) country and their capitals. Alas no more! Nor did I check whether you’d managed to capture a full set of equally-long country and capital names (I’m not that retentive). But anyone who can shoehorn OUAGADOUGOU into a crossword deserves a medal.

Lots of meaty, challenging clues, of which 31dn stood out: “Begin the drama and cease in the middle” (GHANA). Even when I’d got the answer from ACCRA, it took a while for the penny to drop. The biggest smile though arose from the rubric: “Some answers … are thematic and must be fully capitalised” – nice one.

My only regret is that it was over too quickly. However, hiding the instruction in a message may have made it too difficult so I’ll gratefully accept it for what it was – an enjoyable interlude on a very agreeable theme in what was otherwise a slightly pompous and very ceremonial weekend.