Guess the words and Fill in the crossword ! Pitcherwits®

Pitcherwits® are crossword puzzles where some of the clues are in pictures. Sound easy? It’s not called “Pit-your-wits” for nothing! The mixture of cryptic and picture clues, combined with Professor Rebus’ unique sense of humour, will keep you entertained for hours.

Across

9 Fed off fixated attempts to get back in the cab (4)

10 Alongside, in stretching out (4)

11 Stack can be safe with hospital treatment (5)

12 Pal in toxic, humble surroundings (4)

13 A while back, with a force to be excited about (4)

Down

2 Employment is a somewhat amorphous exercise (3)

3 Cut up, formerly (3)

7 Wish to happen from eternal springs? (4,3)

14 Personal boomerang post? (1,1,1)

15 Lotto ought to be reduced, also (3)

1 Took it out of the socket, but still stuck at it? (7,4)

5 Abstains from linking school head, say, with gum sticks (7)

14 What’s all this about clarets being red? (7)

1 Big cats hunting in the Alps for landfill nuisance? (7,4)

4 First red space, man? (4,7)

16 Resigned, maybe, like a transformer? (7,4)

6 Case is Mick’s: a bit earthshaking! (7)

8 Few took the earl to be in a state of general health (7)

This puzzles has been devised by the brilliant Professor Rebus. For more of his puzzles visit www.pitcherwits.co.uk

Grinling Gibbons was the most celebrated British woodcarver of the 17th century. Born in Rotterdam in 1648, to British parents, Gibbons completed his initial apprenticeship in the Low Countries before emigrating to London in around 1667.

After his arrival in London Gibbons quickly attracted attention – receiving commissions by the mid-1670s to produce decorative carving for two countryhouses in Hertfordshire.

Gibbons was given his first royal commission in 1675, when he was hired by Charles II to produce decorative carving for Windsor Castle. Over the next 25 years, he completed important commissions for Whitehall Palace, St Paul’s Cathedral and Hampton Court Palace. In 1693, he was appointed as master sculptor and carver in wood by King William III.

Grinling Gibbons’s highly distinctive style is characterised by botanical elements carved with hugely naturalistic detail, in very high relief. Gibbons worked with limewood –a material whose uniform but soft structure makes it particularly well suited to high-relief carving.

Gibbons’ limewood carvings were unpainted and unvarnished. They were designed to hang against oak panelling, creating a dramatic contrast between dark oak and light lime which worked to heighten the effect of their abundance, depth and incredible detail. The huge skill and delicacy of Gibbons’ work is perhaps best demonstrated by a limewood cravat, carved to imitate lace. Examples of his work can be found at Lyme Hall and Chatsworth.

Grinling Gibbons produced his decorative carvings via a large workshop in which different parts of a single design were completed by different carvers – many different hands would have worked on each commission. His style of carving, although unusual in Britain in the mid-17th century, was very quickly imitated by large numbers of contemporaries.

Gibbons died intestate at his home in Bow Street on 3 August 1721 and, on 10 August, was buried in London at St Paul’s, Covent Garden, where his wife had been buried two years before.

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