Good luck!

You may wish I was writing about something else: nevertheless, you can only really write about what you love, so it's Timeshift: How to Solve a Cryptic Crossword (BBC4). It was enchanting to discover that the first setter of the Times cryptic crossword, its only begetter and originator, was Martin Bell's father. Adrian Bell, an otherworldly figure, said: "I was sitting in the country ...

1 The swimmer’s silver or bronze (5) 6 People with land (5) 9 The chap grew old but could still run! (7) 10 Only one place is perfect (5) 11 It’s smart to be exceptionally fit in New York (5) 12 It grows on a rugged cape to the north (5) 13 “Sir” beat Ron to a pulp! (7) 15 The little woman (3) 17 Unsealed letters from Schopenhauer (4) 18 A good month, note, with the national theatre (6) 19 City ...

CARROLL COUNTY, Ga. -- A Carrollton woman has spelled her way to a $75,000 Georgia Lottery win. Connie Clark, 47, played the crossword-themed instant game $75,000 Cashword and won a top prize.

ACROSS: 1, Crocus 7, Covenant 8, Saga 10, Prison 11, Bobbin 14, Fed 16, Saint 17, Sits 19, Donor 21, Feral 22, Sleep 23, More 26, Cocoa 28, Rid 29, Amount 30, Rising 31, Omen 32, Decrepit 33, Assume.

Blanche Danick may be 86 years old, but she's pretty hip. She keeps up with all the latest health news, and a while back, she called her daughter wanting to know whether she should start taking the herb ginkgo biloba. She'd heard it might stave off Alzheimer's disease.

Mike Mussina took a secret to the ballpark every day this season. Maybe that's why he was so successful on the mound, so jovial in the clubhouse.

This is the answer to Today's Crossword, which appears on page 22 in Miami Today for the Week of November 20, 2008 puzzle. Turn here to see if you got it right — or to overcome a major hurdle.