Regular readers will be well aware that The Times' crossword competition is now a regular feature of the Mind Sports Olympiad. But did you know that over 50 years ago there was a crossword competition with a difference? The challenge was to complete The Daily Telegraph crossword puzzle in less than 12 minutes. Twenty-five entries were taken and the competitors were asked to report to The Daily Telegraph offices one Saturday in January 1942.

Unfortunately, the first player complete the puzzle, Vere Chance, who took only six minutes, was disqualified for spelling a word wrong. However, four of the other entrants did manage to complete the puzzle in less than 12 minutes and they, along with one or two of the other participants who came close were later interviewed by MI8. Those that were successful in the interview were then recruited by the Armed Forces to work at Bletchley Park to crack wartime codes.

Who's a Clever Boy Then?

A pet thief was recently convicted at Harrow Crown Court on the evidence of ... the parrot he stole. When the real owner appeared at Wembley police station to identify the parrot, the bird said 'Hello Primrose', thereby identifying itself as Primrose and not, as the thief had claimed, Bill. Primrose, a lesser sulphur-crested cockatoo worth £1,000, was a favourite with children and had been taught to say its name and phrases such as 'Hello darling' and 'Sasha', its owner's name. It was found one month after vanishing from a pet shop in Ealing and has now been reunited with its real owner.

Risking Triskaidekaphobia

Are you triskaidekaphobic - afraid of the number 13? Apparently 1 in 10 people in Britain are, a phobia they share with Napoleon, Herbert Hoover, Mark Twain, Richard Wagner and Franklin Roosevelt, among others. Indeed Roosevelt appears to have had a particularly severe case. He would never allow 13 around a dinner table and avoided going out on the 13th of each month. An exception is World Chess Champion, Garry Kasparov - 13 is his favourite number!

By a bizarre quirk of numerology, it has actually been proven that the 13th of each month is more likely to fall on a Friday than on any other day. But what is so special about the number 13, that it strikes terror into the heart of a tenth of the population? According to Dr Thomas Fernsler of Mansfield University, the origins of this phobia may lie in the arithmetic 'awkwardness' of the number 13, lying just above the complete number 12, which appears in months of the year, signs of the zodiac, gods of Olympus, tribes of Israel, apostles of Jesus and days of Christmas. Fernsler suggests that it has probably had evil overtones ever since 13 people attended the Last Supper.

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