A recent New York Times Sunday puzzle included the "Cate Blanchett role, 1988" for ELIZABETH I and "Judy Dench role, 1997" for VICTORIA.  What more could I ask to launch a column devoted to The Royals or Royal Personages who are frequently used by crossword composers?  We're all aware, of course, that the chance of either ELIZABETH I or VICTORIA showing up in many other puzzles is extremely remote, but just which Royal Personages do turn up frequently in various and sundry crosswords?  Once again, surprise!  The Tudors and the Stuarts and the Windsors are few and far between, with the clear winners being from the Far East and Russia.

With one exception, that is.  Thank goodness for...

ANNE... She's "one of the Windsors", "the Princess Royal since 1987", also known as "HRH the Princess Royal".  And in recognition of the international coverage of her youngest brother's  royal wedding, she is also being clued as "Edward's sister".  Then, too, we have "_ _ _ _ Boleyn"  or "Henry VIII's 2nd wife", Anne Boleyn, as another British Royal popular with cluemeisters.  Keeping  to the Tudor line, "Henry VIII's 4th wife" provides us with still another Anne, this one "_ _ _ _ of Cleves", giving the crossword composers a multiple choice of clues, all royal Annes.  Excellent biographical material on all three of these ladies can be found by a mouse click on their pictures.  Crossword composers are also not neglectful of American royalty, and we are often given additional clues for ANNE such as "actress Archer" and "Bancroft or Jackson".
 

Now we come to one of the trickiest tricks in the cluemeisters' lexicon.  There are four eminently useable puzzle words, all of which seem to be defined by the same or very similar clues.  Dictionaries generally list these words as synonyms, and all four are included in many a crossword.

AMEER...The most recent clues I've seen are "Bahraini bigwig" and "Arab leader".

AMIR....It was clued as "Abu Dhabi bigwig" and "Moslem prince".

EMEER...This one we were told is a "Sheik's peer" and it, too, is a "Moslem prince" and an "Arab leader".

EMIR...Seemingly the most popular of the four, among its many recent clues are "mideast bigwig", "Arab title", "Islamic prince", and "Eastern VIP".  It also has exclusive rights to "descendent of Fatima", Fatima being the daughter of Mohammed.  It's a clue which doesn't seem to apply to any of the other three.

Just to show what a modern "Islamic prince" looks like, here's a picture of the EMIR of Qasar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.  A click on the picture will take you to the website which provided the picture and it also includes further information about the EMIR.
 

SHAH... The Shah of Iran is a "bygone ruler", a "deposed despot" who was the "Ayatollah's predecessor" and "Iran's ruler to 1979".  Again, just click on his picture to go to an excellent page of information about his life and his rule.
 

We shift now to Russia and...

TSAR...If there is a Crossword Hall of Fame item in this particular column it would have to be TSAR.  Whether it is the "former Russian ruler" who was "Lenin's predecessor" or a "bygone despot" such as "Ivan, for one", the clues for this word seem almost endless.  Definately a "monarch of yore" would be "Nicholas or Peter".  Another spelling for the word is CZAR, but almost without exception, the cluemeisters prefer TSAR.  Let's give a great big hand to the clue writer who decided he'd run out of royal clues and settled for a simple "star anagram".  Most famous of all the Russian tsars is most likely Nicholas, the last of these Russian rulers.  You can click on his picture here to find excellent portraits of Nicholas and his family along with biographies and other information.
 

NERO... If ever there was a "despotic emperor of Rome" it must have been NERO.  Although I haven't found any direct reference to it, clue writers love to refer to NERO as the "Roman fiddler" or "fiddling Roman arsonist", along with many a variation on this theme, and I'm sure that many of us tended to grow up being taught that NERO was the Roman emperor who "fiddled while Rome burned".  It is possible, of course, since there is definite proof that his artistic aspirations resulted in his appearing on stage and singing for audiences.  He has also been clued as "Agrippina's slayer", and there is  an indication that he was at least aware that his mother was being murdered.  To be brought up to date on all of the lurid details of his lurid life, click on the picture.
 

Our final royal references take us to Egypt, first to MENES and then to TUT.

MENES...He was the "first Egyptian king" in addition to being the "founder of the city of Memphis".  It is also interesting to note that the clue writers seem to be missing a bet in the fact that MENES is more commonly known in Egypt as King AHA.  AHA is a very frequently used word in crosswords, but the clues for AHA all tend to be things like "just as I thought" or "'Caught you!'" or "sound of triumph".
 

TUT...The "Egyptian boy king" has been a crossword favorite now for nearly seven decades.  After "his tomb was discovered in 1923" his fame exceded that of every other Egyptian royal, and with the museum exhibits of the treasures from his tomb all around the world in addition to the extensive newspaper and magazine coverage of the opening of the tomb, the "boy king" who was "Ramases' predecessor" became a continual puzzle favorite.  For trivia addicts there are always clues like "Pres. Hoover's dog King _ _ _" to amuse and entertain.  Click on any high-lighted words for more about King Tut and his tomb.
 

Anything else you want to know about crosswords?  You should be able to learn about it through one or another of Ray Hamel's crossword puzzle links.  If you haven't looked into his link page recently, I think you might be in for a big surprise.  He's rearranged the page to list daily, weekly and monthly internet puzzle links up front followed by the dozens (or is it now hundreds) of other crossword links.

If you are into online crosswords, and have a Java-powered browser, try Timothy Parker's Universal Crossword.  Juse click on the logo below.

Copyright 1999 C. Schnebel
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