Cricket and Cryptic Crosswords

My first memories of getting madly hooked onto cricket are from during the 1992 World Cup. I remember that all that I could talk about during that period was about what transpired in yesterday's match and what prospects tomorrow's match held. Unable to bear my incessant commentary on cricket, some of my classmates even starting avoiding me!

7 years on from then I entered IITM and within a month, I was totally hooked onto cryptic crosswords. Picking up the nuances of cryptic crosswords sort of became the mission of my life during the first semester then. Almost throughout my four years there, I used to do the Hindu crossword daily during the break we had after having finished lunch at 12:30 before heading to the next class at 1pm.

And even now, these remain two of my favorite pastimes. Whenever I get a chance, I do the crossie from The UK Times over lunch. And, we (the desi students out here at UW) manage to sneak in a couple of games of cricket on weekends when we are spared the usual Seattle showers.

Anyway, to cut the long story short, all these memories of mine were evoked because I was just enlightened about the similarities between cryptic crosswords and cricket by this great post. After reading this, the reason why I enjoy Test cricket more than ODIs makes complete sense!