Re Roger Frisby’s experience in Morrisons (Letters, 23 August), at the start of September last year, the first aisle in our nearest big Tesco had a “back to school” sign above it, but the shelves were filled with special-offer booze, cut-price wine, spirits etc, which had replaced the stationery and backpacks. I drew the conclusion that it was aimed at teachers.
Shelagh Hubbard
Nottingham
• Thank you for publishing my occasional letters, the most recent one on the difficulty I now have with the cryptic crossword (23 August). I have loved the Guardian and its history since I was a student in the 60s. I am now severely deaf with very debilitating tinnitus (my hero was Jack Ashley, as indicated in a previous letter), and when the lovely young Harry rings to say a letter is under consideration, a somewhat dark day becomes considerably brighter. He has become a part of my family!
Jean Jackson
Seer Green, Buckinghamshire
• Cryptic crossword? I used to complete the quick crossword over my muesli. Now I struggle to finish it by teatime.
Dennis Ruston
Derby
• It’s not just the cryptic crossword – the Suguru has taken a step up in difficulty recently, too.
Dave Denison
Lichfield, Staffordshire
• Here is another Olympics statistic (Letters, 24 August): Wales’s tally of 10 medals was their best ever. It is almost a sixth of the UK total, yet from a population that is only a 20th of the whole UK’s. Wales has outperformed England yet again, as its team did in the football.
Dr Paul Tench
Cardiff
• As an occasional visitor to the Isle of Wight, I have never seen any evidence of inbreeding (Ofsted’s Hoare quits over Isle of Wight ‘inbreeding’ slur, 24 August) except during Cowes week.
Ted Watson
Brighton
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
