Madam, - I was sorry to hear of the death of Ben Kiely. About 20 years ago I was supping a pint in a pub near Baggot Street bridge one Saturday afternoon when a white-haired, late-middle-aged man who looked familiar came into the bar. Noticing that I was doing the cryptic crossword in The Irish Times, he came over to me and advised me to try to solve the four big clues at the top, bottom and sides of the crossword first. He said that if I managed to solve them I was well on the way to solving the entire crossword.
I didn't recognise him at the time but realised later it was Ben Kiely. Such is the power of association that every time I do the Crosaire on a Saturday I think of the writer from Omagh. - Yours, etc,
JOE PATTON, Chapelizod Court, Chapelizod, Dublin 20.