Here was a Caesar . . .
Sir: With very many other readers of the Spectator I mourn the passing of JAC, though I am delighted to read in your non-leader 'Notebook' that reports of his demise are greatly exaggerated and that he will be confounding us all again from time to time.
During JAC's ten years' inquisitorial tenure with you, I have each week rejoiced to set my mind against his and agree unreservedly with your description of him as 'utterly reliable and meticulously accurate' — rare virtues in these drab days for civilised crosswords. Dear JAC is in the true tradition of Torquemada and Ximenes, and I can give no higher praise.
For some years, a friend and I have often asked ourselves, 'who is the man behind the mask of JAC?' His penchant for seemingly bawdy clues leading, ultimately, to whiterthan-white solutions has, sometimes, led us to conclude that he must be a highly erudite defrocked clergyman — getting his own back, so to say.
But now, sir, all is revealed. 0 happy Keighley to have enjoyed such a Town Clerk! —from the very beginning a 'Just and Consistent' red (herring) setter (3),to whom my sincere thanks for 500 challenging weekends.
Cryptic to the last, does his acronym, JAC prefix Julius (for J) before the superb 'Caesar'? If not, it should, as befits this Emperor of crossword compilers!
David Pugh 24 Aylmer Square, St. Austell, Cornwall
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