A spur to completing the cryptic crossword in the paper each day is the knowledge that the solutions may provide inspiration for a piece of prose. Today, for example, having cracked the Guardian Crossword No. 24,862 set by Brummie, I find myself considering if any useful embroidery can be done with this:

In Dartmouth, against a background of shamanic doo-wop, a supine organism watched as Splotchy Astrid, the reproachful spinster, clambered up the wall of a marl-pit.