Back in @thetimes.com again today as Aenigmatifex. www.thetimes.com/puzzles/cros... Do please let me know what you think of it, especially if I ever taught you!

I will be making an appearance tomorrow evening at Seaways Cafe in Fridaythorpe if anyone fancies a game of CRYPTINGO. This will be themed around nostalgia and our great county of Yorkshire.

Guy Fawkes, eh? Well here's a little something I wrote about him once. Taken from: www.yorkshireauthor.com/SfYS/sonnets...

Thanatos The line extends Of friends, all gone. Up or down? Well let's admit both ways. Who let Alcestis go Won't give that boon To dearest Charlie, Pure-hearted friend. Oh Thanatos, Had I the power of Herakles, I'd bring back that line, Enjoy old times again. #classicstober

This was fun www.facebook.com/PocklingtonP...

Today marks the anniversary of Pompey the Great's birth in 106 BC. Here's a poem taken from my collection, Sonnets for Classical Stars. j-progs.com/SfCS/sonnets...

I'm back in @thetimes.com today as Aenigmatifex. I'll be delighted to have feedback, especially if you enjoy it!

And now for something completely different... ... a new book is imminent, with input from James Herriot.

Ah, Dickie Bird. A great man, for whom I wrote this poem a few years ago. He was kind enough to tell me he liked it too. RIP @yorkshireccc.bsky.social

I rather doubt the veracity of this but some folks claim that Euripides was born on this day in Salamis in 480 BC. It's up to you if you believe that or not but here's a poem I wrote about him earlier, taken from: j-progs.com/SfCS/sonnets...

Today we should be saying Happy Birthday to @brucespringsteen.net Here's a little something I cooked up for The Boss. mycrossword.co.uk/quick/296

Today marks the anniversary of Virgil's death in Brindisi, in 19 BC. Here's a poem taken from my collection, Sonnets for Classical Stars, to commemorate this wonderful poet. j-progs.com/SfCS/sonnets...

It's Trajan's birthday today, born in AD 53. Here's a little extract from my book Sonnets for Classical Stars to mark the occasion. Details can be found here: j-progs.com/SfCS/sonnets...

The nostalgia quizzes at Seaways Cafe have been scheduled and it appears that I am now officially able to call myself renowned! If you will be anywhere near Fridaythorpe, do drop by.

In position at the Malton Roman Festival.

I will be attending the Malton Roman Festival this weekend and will be delighted to meet anyone who comes to the stall in search of a puzzle book or a collection of sonnets. @romanarchaeouk.bsky.social www.maltonmuseum.co.uk/roman-festiv... www.j-progs.com

The External Examiner's Report This year's examinations are all done now and I am on my way home. My final set of orals took place in the European School of Karlsruhe, a place where I have spent very many happy hours.

Please feel free to email with your questions about the Imperium Latin Course. I am always keen to help and advise and I will certainly try to save you money if you are wanting to buy sets of books. www.imperiumlatin.com/student/stud... www.imperiumlatin.com/Teacher/Teac...

Books 1 and 2 contain so-called Moral Messages in an attempt to keep things ticking along and also to introduce the backbone of Book 3, a collection of Martial’s poems. These are fun to read and have the great advantage of being short. www.imperiumlatin.com/Books/Bk3/bo...

Other Latin courses use long lists of vocabulary, so progress can be hard. Imperium Latin keeps its word count to a minimum, though it was compiled to include the complete GCSE vocabulary list current at the time. The course also has its own grammar book. www.imperiumlatin.com/Books/gramma...

External examiner report English orals on Thursday and Friday this week in Munich. A much-enjoyed experience with thanks to all who took part. Special thanks to Thomas Hardy for writing Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

Each chapter of Imperium Latin has a section called sine qua non, which itemises clearly the things which are expected to be learned and known. As such, the course is very suitable for home learners and mature students. www.imperiumlatin.com/student/Self...

By the end of Book 1, Imperium Latin has introduced all cases in declensions 1 to 3 as well as all six person endings in the present tense of conjugations 1 to 4 and the verb to be. The book rattles by very quickly: one chapter per week is a realistic target. www.imperiumlatin.com/Teacher/34%2...

The Imperium Latin Course uses manipulation exercises in the early chapters and features Latin to English as well as Latin to English translations throughout. www.imperiumlatin.com/Books/Books/...

At this time of year I often post from places where I am working so here goes again. The external examiner looks down onto the International School in Manosque after some philosophical exertions there earlier today.

Language is presented in very traditional ways in the Imperium Latin Course. All explanations have been kept as short as possible with the intention of keeping the course moving along quickly. www.imperiumlatin.com/reviews/revi...

Imperium Latin gives only very small amounts of lexical help on pages where exercises appear. Chapter 2 is the last occasion in the course where vocabulary is glossed next to the Latin. Animals such as cats, donkeys and horses make regular appearances in the course. www.imperiumlatin.com

Each chapter of Imperium Latin comes with a background section. Most of these follow the life of the emperor Hadrian, from his early childhood to his death at the end of Book 3. www.imperiumlatin.com/Books/Bk3/bo...

Even in Chapter 1 of Book 1, Imperium Latin demands learning which will stand its students in good stead later on. Nouns are learned with genitives and gender from Day 1 and verbs are learned with all principal parts. www.imperiumlatin.com/Books/Bk1/bo...

Here’s the first exercise from Chapter 1 of the Imperium Latin Course. The printed books are designed for writing in but you can also download free of charge a pdf with all of the exercises from all three books at this link. www.imperiumlatin.com/resources/Do...

Time to learn Latin or thinking about teaching it next year? Imperium Latin can bring you a new challenge without spending any money at all. It’s a FREE Latin course, though there are plenty of resources you can buy to support things along the way. www.imperiumlatin.com

Always a favourite place to sit. The only object in northern England able to withstand the emperor Hadrian's building programme. (The rock, not the writer, obvs.)

The compiler's new socks, in the lead-up to Lupa's next Quick Cryptic crossword, due to appear in @thetimes.com on Saturday. @mickhodgkin.bsky.social

10/10 This is the final offering in my Easter 2025 giveaway, taken from Charles Dickens Puzzles. I hope you have enjoyed these pages but if you need solutions you'll have to buy the books, which are available online, at the Charles Dickens Museum and at the RSC. j-progs.com/CDP/CDP.html #Dickens

9/10 Happy Easter Monday and here's a page taken from my book William Shakespeare Puzzles: j-progs.com/WSP/WSP.html This one is at the more difficult end of things with a 5 Ass-head rating so it may take a while to solve. If you buy the book though, all the answers are in the back! #Shakespeare

8/10 To help you digest your eggs this Easter, here is something from my book Charles Dickens Puzzles. Enjoy. For details of the book, see: j-progs.com/CDP/CDP.html #Dickens

7/10 Happy Easter one and all. Here is a page taken from my book William Shakespeare Puzzles: j-progs.com/WSP/WSP.html Enjoy it over your eggs. #Shakespeare

6/10 As part of the Easter giveaway series from my Dickens and Shakespeare puzzle books, here is a page taken from William Shakespeare Puzzles. For details, see link: j-progs.com/WSP/WSP.html #Shakespeare

5/10 To mark Easter 2025, I am posting a set of pages from my books Charles Dickens Puzzles and William Shakespeare Puzzles. Here is one you might enjoy from the greatest novelist in the English language. For details of the book, see: j-progs.com/CDP/CDP.html #Dickens

4/10 As part of an ongoing set of posts for Easter 2025, here is a page taken from my book Charles Dickens Puzzles. For details, see: j-progs.com/CDP/CDP.html If you choose to buy the book, please note that the solutions are all given in the back. #Dickens

3/10 Here's a Good Friday treat for lovers of the Bard. Details of the book can be found here: j-progs.com/WSP/WSP.html It was a labour of love writing this collection and I hope some of you folks out there will love it too. #Shakespeare

2/10 Here's another something for fans of Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare. For the next 5 days I will be releasing some pages of my books of puzzles here on Bluesky. Here's one from William Shakespeare Puzzles. Details of the book can be found here: j-progs.com/WSP/WSP.html #Shakespeare

1/10 Here's a treat for fans of Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare this Easter. For the next 5 days I will be releasing some pages from my puzzle books here. To start off, here's one from Charles Dickens Puzzles. Details of the book can be found here: j-progs.com/CDP/CDP.html #dickens

Aenigmatifex is back in @thetimes.com again today. Have fun with my efforts! @mickhodgkin.bsky.social

Looking forward to the ARGO reception this evening @daisydunn.bsky.social

The Ides of March* today - and the Times paywall has been lifted for the weekend, so you can all have a go at the latest Latin puzzle from Aenigmatifex, even if you are not a subscriber. www.thetimes.com/puzzles/cros... *Not so BEWARE, see 10 Across

It's Martial's birthday! To celebrate that, here's a little something from Book 3 of the Imperium Latin Course, which uses a collection of 50 Martial poems as its backbone. To find out more, see link: buff.ly/rAW5hnw

www.change.org/p/save-cardi... Worth signing, all you folks out there...