A few weeks ago I mentioned the perplexity expressed by
certain American subscribers to The Spectator at finding references to the paper's extravagant award of a. guinea prize for the .first correct solution of the weekly crossword puzzle systematically blacked out. The matter has since been probed to its depths, and it appears that this most law-abiding of journals is in fact making itself responsible for an offer which " falls within the inhibition of the United States postal laws - governing certain classes of prize schemes." Worse than that, there is every reason to believe that the crossword puzzle, thanks to that demoralizing guinea, comes into the category of " Unmailable Matter," which embraces " all matter concerning any lottery, so-called gift-concert, or other enterprise of chance, or concerning schemes devised for the purpose of obtaining money or property under false pretences." But whatever its delinquencies in the matter of crosswords, I am convinced The Spectator could never have a gift-concert on its conscience. * * * *
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