Puzzling

In December 2011 my co-author and I published A Guide for Adults with Hip Dysplasia ,  a world-first book for adults with this condition. We've just sold over 500 copies, and it continues to help patients all around the world. This week I've started work on a new medical book, on neurosarcoidosis . Anyway. It will have a few chapters on the current understanding of this rare disease (my estimates based on the research papers is there are only around 140,000 – 280,000 people with this disease in the whole world), how it's diagnosed and treated, and some chapters on proactive strategies for living with it. The second part of the book will be collected patients' experiences, arranged by topic. ETA: Submissions from patients have now closed.

I've had an enjoyable job these past few weeks, creating a promotional crossword for the HotHouse Theatre . It's themed around the myth of the Minotaur, and facts about their upcoming play, The Bull, The Moon, and The Coronet of Stars  by Van Badham , and starring Silvia Colloca and Matt Zeremes . If you live in the Albury/Wodonga region, you can get a hold of a copy of The Border Mail today, solve the crossword, and enter the competition. And you can still have a go at the crossword here ! Enjoy!

This is my explanation of the clues from the Gemini Cryptic Crossword #6639, from The Canberra Times  yesterday (6 June 2013). As usual, the definition is underlined, except in cryptic definition and double definition clues. My new app, CrypticGuide, in use ... it will be ready for release in a few weeks. Stay tuned! Across 1) A Royal in Canadian capital surrounded by a crowd (8) = PRINCESS Nothing to do with Ottawa! A container clue — put IN + C (the capital letter of Canadian) inside ( surrounded by ) PRESS ( a crowd ). 5) Book of plays (4) = ACTS Cryptic definition, of sorts. I guess Book  might refer to the Bible, and Acts of the Apostles. And of course, plays are written in acts too. 9) As you can see it forms a ring (5) = ATOLL Charade, A + TOLL ( ring ), as in the tolling of a bell. And an atoll does form a ring. Maybe an &lit clue? What do you think? 10) Twice mother holds the hat for a revered sage (7) = MAHATMA (Ghandi) Twice mother = MA + MA