CROQUET

in 10920 the “ either ball’ law was first included in the croquet assn. year book, although it had been played and tested before that date. since then all cham- pionships and competitions have been played under that law. since 1922 no, 2 setting has also been used. in this the turning peg is omitted, the winning peg is equi-distant from the four cor- ners and the two central hoops are placed on the central line seven yards on either side of the winning peg. this has made the game more difficult than formerly, and with 33-inch hoops, peeling is not so easy as formerly. the croquet assn., which has 200 clubs and some 1,600 asso- ciates in membership, is a large and growing body, and at its headquarters, roehampton, and in different parts of england, tournaments under its auspices are held during every week of the croquet season, april to october. for many years an open championship and a ladies’ championship have been carried on simultaneously, but in 1925 a men’s championship was instituted, which was played for in one week with the ladies’ championship and the mixed doubles championship, the open championship and open doubles championship being contested the following week, another competition, the champion cup, which is com- peted for by the 10 best available players chosen by the council of the croquet assn., is played on the american principle, each compctitor meeting each of the other competitors twice, thus playing 18 games in all. great interest was taken in the australian team which visited england in 1925. three test matches were played comprising the best of three singles and doubles, england winning all three tests and losing only one double in the last match. brbl1iography.—lord tollemache, croquet (1914); c. d. locock, modern croquet tactics (1920); g. f. h. elvey, tegel oe, ' 2 dra: crossword.—this form of puzzle became very popular in the united states and great britain after 1923 and many daily and weckly newspapers made a feature of their crosswords, which were also used for advertising purposes. the crossword begins as a diagram, of varying shape, divided into squares, some blank and others blacked over. each of the blank squares is intended to contain a letter and each letter forms part of one or two words. the words read both downwards and across, so that most of the letters must form part of two words. the clues to the words are given and are numbered to correspond to numbers on the diagram. the aim of the solver is to find out the words from the clues, so that each letter fits in with the others. a glance at the illustration in the next column will make this clear. the figure most commonly used is the square of 15, but other forms are frequently adopted. some figures contain spaces arranged in uniform design, whilst others are irregular, the ob- jection to the former being the necessarily more frequent intro- duction of certain words, the repetition of which in puzzle after puzzle becomes monotonous, e.g., to take onc initial only, eden, ego, eke, em, emu, ena, eno, era, erin, erse, eton, eva, eve. when the puzzle is built up irregularly, it can more easily bear on a certain subject, topical or otherwise, and words containing 8, 10 or 12 letters, which are difficult to cronje—crowder use if uniformity is a first consideration, may be introduced without any trouble. the history of the crossword puzzle is comparatively modern. it probably originated in england, but very quickly lost favour because no definite rules of construction were observed. it was taken up more successfully in the united states, where it was mm e) fe = 3 exg >| = oo 2|-|>|2 across down 1. hopeless. 1. connected with respiration. 8. mottntain nymph. 2. thus. 9. place where. 3. spoil. 11. cathedral city. 4. a fish. 12. yes (ital.) 5. lines of light. 13. fentreat. 6. the present era (abbr.) 15. nine inches. 7. rising above others. 17. possesses. to. runson a railroad. 18. an order (abbr.) 12. cavalry sword. ig. get up. 14. patient animal. 21. elegant plant. 16. wrote ‘the raven.” 22. indefinite article. 20. scandinavian mythology 23. colour. 21. exploit. 23. and (fr.) 24. affirmative. 26. notions. 26. preposition. 28. abode of monks. 27. point of the compass. composed on certain stated lines, and the clues were less ambigu- ous. it is still open to improvement, especially in the definitions, which are often too meagre and too vague. the author, whose object is to entertain as well as to instruct, avoids as much as possible (a) technical terms, (6) obsolete words and provincial- isms, (c) isolated letters—known as islands—which are sur- rounded by black squares on three sides and (d) the repetition of such threadbare words, as aden, isis, oasis, og, etc. the black spaces should not exceed 20% of the whole, and the defi- nitions or clues should receive particular care, for on these chiefly depends the ease or difficulty with which the puzzle is deciphered. it should be remembered that the newspaper reader, who is not always gifted with the patience of the student, feels more satis- faction in finding the solutions than the author in constructing the problem. (e. wt.) crowder, enoch herbert (1859- ), american soldier, was born in missouri april 11 1859. he graduated from the u.s. military academy in 1881, and while detailed as com- mandant at the university of missouri took the law course there (ll.b., 1886). he was appointed judge-advocate in 1895. he served in the philippine is. (1898-1901), was observer with the japanese army in manchuria (1904-5), and was in cuba as secretary of state and justice (1906-8). he was a delegate to the 4th pan-american conference in july roto, and visited chile on a special mission in sept. of that year. ie became judge-advocate-general in 1911. he was_ provost-marshal- general from may 1917 to july 1919, and as such had full crowe—crystallography control of the u.s. machinery of conscription in the world war. he was re-appointed judge-advocate-gencral in 191g. gen. crowder was recognised as an expert in military law. in his book, the spirit of selective service (1920), he describes the method whereby within 18 months after america had entered the world war 2,000,000 men were in france, almost as many more were in cantonments, and altogether no fewer than 24,000,000 had been registered and classified. he served as personal represen- tative of presidents wilson and harding in cuba from dec. 31 1920 to march 5 1923, on which latter date he became ambassa- dor of the united states to cuba. crowe, sir eyre alexander (1864-1925), british civil servant, was born at leipzig july 30 1864. educated at diissel- dorf, berlin and paris, he entered the foreign office in 1885, be- came counsellor of embassy in 1907, and assistant uncler-secre- tary of state in 1912. he was a british delegate at the second hague conference of 1907 and at the international naval con- ference held in london in 1908. he conducted the british case in the arbitration of 1911 regarding the recapture in france of the indian agitator savarkar, and was created k.c.m.g. though his mother and wife were german, he was a vigilant critic of german foreign policy and before the war prepared an impressive memorandum for the cabinet on the subject, whilst his scheme for seizing german shipping in british ports was adopted when the crisis came. he was one of the committee of six who drew up for great britain a draft convention of the league of nations. he was an outstanding figure at the paris peace conference and assisted mr. balfour, the british representative, to revise the treaty with austria. he also rendered valuable services as a member of the territorial commission of the con- ference. in 1920 he was promoted g.c.m.g. and became per- manent under-secretary for foreign affairs. he died april 28 1925. croydon, england (see 7.520), had an area of 9,012 ac. and a population of 190,877 in rg2r. the whitgift hospital or alms- house (15096) in the centre of the town, was only saved from de- struction in connection with a road widening scheme in 1925 after a protracted dispute involving parliamentary action. the government civil customs acrodrome, operated by the civil aviation department of the air ministry, is at waddon, two miles to the southwest of croydon town hall. it is officially known as the london terminal aerodrame, croydon, and is one of the busiest air ports in the world (see aerodromes). three com- panies, imperial airways ltd., the french air union and the dutch k.l.m., operate direct regular services on well-organised air routes to several of the leading continental capitals, air connections to more distant european cities being obtained by special interworking. crozier, william (1855- ), american soldier (see 7.520), was detailed in 1912 as president of the army war col- lege. and the following year was reappointed chief of ordnance with the rank of brigadier-general. he was made major-general and chief of ordnance, u.s. army, in 1917, and major-general of the linc in 1918. he was a member of the war council, and in the discharge of this office was in france and italy for the first half of 1918. for the remainder of the year he was com- mandant of the n.e. dept., u.s.a., retiring from active service dec. 31.