wisecracker

Ploughing through its 325 turgid pages one is astonished to find that a man who is a noted wisecracker and raconteur had little to say that is either amusing or interesting.

Not exactly your grandfather's estate attorney (he's a scuba diver, tireless world traveler and irrepressible wisecracker), Gaylor nonetheless relates to his elderly clients with ease.

The crucial realization, for example, that Mark Twain ingeniously merged and modified two voices identifiable from an earlier period in American literary humor - the vernacular wisecracker and the reserved straight man - has been asserted by Henry Nash Smith, John C.

In two of the stories, he leaves her after a long sexual involvement; in the other three, they are just close friends, and no one "leaves.' Eleanor, a wisecracker like Benna, has different jobs but remains a constant personality in the four stories in which she appears.

Ben Case's WISECRACKER (3.45) is no joke in the Ross On Wye Handicap Chase.

Sherwood is a brash, chippy wisecracker, with a well-polished ego and a touch of the old-school little Englander about him.

While Sammy is an equal-opportunity wisecracker, there's no question he saves his most cutting remarks for Quebec nationalists, the folks still hoping the province will separate from Canada and make its way as an independent nation.

Comedian Dan Smith was known to be a bit of a wisecracker from an early age.

Inspired casting, it was not - swapping one tubby West Midlands wisecracker for another, well, tubby Northern wisecracker and trading in a toothy Celtic beauty for one with slightly shorter hair.

Albion Rovers defender Lumsden insists wisecracker Moore will be impossible to work with because he will either be lapping up victory or moaning about his side's defeat.

Yes, the 11th Tarzan sounded best and there were those who thought that, at 6ft 3ins, with biceps the width of thighs sweating in the sun, he was also the handsomest - possessing the most "flex appeal", as a Hollywood wisecracker expressed it.

William Mann's previous nonfiction books--Edge of Midnight: The Life of John Schlesinger (2005), Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood (2001), and Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines (1998)--have established a high standard of research and writing in Hollywood biography and history, and Kate does not fail to meet and surpass one's lofty expectations for this book.

Against virtually any other contestant, the effeminate wisecracker would be short odds himself, but he is taking on a strong rival in the Cambridge chain-smoker.

Based on William Mann's biography Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines, Hollywood's First Openly Gay Star, the film is produced and directed by longtime partners Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey (the gentlemen who brought us The Eyes of Tammy Faye).

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS WEE THINKER ACROSS: 7 Rainbow 9 Ethel 10 Cut in 11 Station 12 Duo 13 Accredit 16 Fountain 17 Ego 19 Mud pack 21 Croft 22 Hazel 23 Roe deer DOWN: 1 Precede 2 Virtuoso 3 Oban 4 Cetacean 5 Thai 6 Plonk 8 Wisecracker 13 Annually 14 Iced over 15 Pottery 18 Omaha 20 Daze 21 Chef QUICKIE ACROSS: 1 Home address 8 Saw 9 Was 11 Creased 12 Weigh 13 Odd 14 Moo 15 Firearm 17 Tan 19 Edge 21 Item 23 Tyne 25 Cola 27 Log 29 Premier 31 Amp 34 Fur 36 Relic 37 Undress 38 Two 39 Tee 40 Starstudded 8DA followed DOWN: 1 Hard 2 Owed 3 En suite 4 Dodgem 5 Rower 6 Swim 7 Sago 8 Scout 10 Shove 16 Men 18 Nil 20 Del 22 Tap 24 Yielded 25 Chart 26 Amount 28 Gorse 30 Recur 32 Mews 33 Plot 34 Fete 35 Used