Dear Sir,

I find it most disheartening and somewhat depressing when I pick up your esteemed newspaper. I am not talking about the news that Halliburton are about to take over Iran; I am, of course, referring to the Quick Crossword. I turned to it the other day to find that four of the clues were about classical music. 16's 3rd 6 was one of them, I believe.

I can't remember the last time there was a clue or answer that related to "modern" music. For example 50 Cent's most popular tune, "In Da Club", is only 2-2-4 letters long and contains very few unusual letters and so would fit nicely into a crossword. Keane is also an anagram of "A Knee".

What I am suggesting it that there could be some warning signal so I don't get my hopes up that today will be the day when I can finally finish a crossword without resorting to cheating of one form or another. I suggest maybe changing the mast head or placing a subtle red triangle in the top left corner of the front page. This will stop me getting false hope and getting giddy when I turn to the crossword.

This warning sign could also be used when the crossword contains clues about other subjects I know nothing about - such as literature, Latin names for flowers, Kings and Queens of England and what women really want. Of course this triangle would not be needed on a all occasions. It could be left off if the answers are "Marcel Proust"*, "Ficus", "Richard III" or "Rimsky-Korsakov".

Yours,

MB

* - I learnt most of what I know about Marcel Proust from the "Seaside Summarise Proust Competition" sketch on the Monty Python CDs. So I know he wrote a la recherche du temps perdu and that he also owned a Haddock.