VICE VERSE

Strange fact: the greatest writer of limericks, Irishman Edward Lear, had likely never heard the word LIMERICK used as a name for his poems. The term was coined after his death in 1888. These five-line poems owe their name to a party game played during Victorian times. Players in turn would recite their verse, following the AABBA rhyming pattern. Each recital would conclude with the question—‘Will you come up to Limerick?’—before another player launched into the next ditty.

So why was Limerick chosen for this singsong? Word sleuths can only conclude that this Munster city on the Shannon River must love a good CRAIC (pronounced ‘crack’), Irish slang for a fun time, from Middle English crak, or boastful talk.

CLERIHEW, another style of nonsense verse, preserves the maker’s middle name. Made of four ragged lines, with an AABB pattern, the clerihew was pioneered in the early 1900s by English humorist Edmund Clerihew Bentley. Genuine clerihews must open with a notable person’s name, and then cheekily summarise that person’s life in the remaining three lines. Such as:

Edward Lear

Bizarrely had no idea

His limericks would later go by that name.

What a shame.

1. Mixed up, LIMERICK makes a mini shopping list: RICE, MILK. Can you scramble the two items below into a new list of three common items? (No brand names appear. Letters can only be used once.)

CLARET, ASPARAGUS

2. Each of the following answers comes complete with an inbuilt TV. Limerick (5,5), for example, is LIGHT VERSE. Now switch on the following.

(a) European nation (6) ________________

(b) American state (4,8) ________ _____________

(c) satiric US novelist (4,8) _______ ____________

(d) op-shop ‘owner’ (5,7) ______ _________

(e) Pompeii’s scourge (5,8) _________ ____________

(f) Witherspoon movie (13) ____________________

(g) the X of exasperation? (7,4) ___________ ______

(h) cardiac parts (3 answers: 5,5; 4,9; 5,9)