Holly Bough crossword and Diffney quiz: Winners and solutions

There were hundreds of entries from Holly Bough readers for this year's Diffney Quiz and crossword competitions

Mail containing all the entries

The winner of the 2023 Holly Bough €250 crossword prize was Elaine Kennedy.

Press here to see the answers of the 2023 crossword

Across

1. Indicator
6. Tally-ho
10. Any
12. Our
13. Hover
14. Aga
15. Eel
16. Rectangular
17. Ahakista
20. Mary
21. Train set
22. Noh
24. Eleven
26. Sneem
29. Eying
31. Honest
32. Glasheen
33. Angel
34. Begin
36. Killeagh
38. Herald
39. Lying
42. Delft
46. Scampi
48. Folly
49. Aunt
50. Admiring
54. New Romantic
57. Obi
58. Ret
59. Segue
60. Ski
62. Peridot
63. Boxing Day

Down

1. In Heaven the bells are ringing
2. Deviated
3. Corgi
4. Toast
5. Roar
6. Tricky
7. Lava
8. Youghal
9. Opulence
11. Yule log
18. Sin
19. Amen
21. Toy
23. Higgledy-piggledy
25. Edison
27. Ell
28. Mislead
30. Mesh
32. Grip
33. Acetic acid
35. Glistening
37. Gel
40. Gift wrap
41. Ivy
43. Fota
44. Impinged
45. Fly over
46. Sum
49. Artist
51. Detox
52. Ibsen
53. Doll
56. Crib

The winner of the €500 Diffney Quiz prize was Miriam Collins.

Press here to see the answers of the 2023 Difnney quiz 

1. 100 Cent in a Euro;
2. The 1 and Only;
3. The Good Friday Agreement Signed 10/4/1998;
4. 5 Go Down to the Sea?;
5. 180 the Highest Score in Darts;
6. 100 Degrees Fahrenheit = 37.778 Degrees Celsius;
7. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1;
8. 8 by Billie Eilish;
9. 9,789 Kilometres between Cork and Tokyo;
10. 01/01 New Years Day;
11. 7 Wonders of the Ancient World;
12. The Royal Cork Yacht Club Founded in 1720;
13. Firing on All 4 Cylinders;
14. 15 Players on a Hurling Team;
15. 01/02 Lá Fhéile Bríde;
16. The River Maigue is 62 Kilometres Long;
17. Extraction 2;
18. 1 Last Time by Ariana Grande;
19. 5 Letter Words in a Wordle;
20. Capricorn (December 22 - January 19);
21. Ménage à 3;
22. the San Francisco 49ers;
23. 11/4/1912 Cobh, the Titanics Last Port of Call;
24. 1 Size Fits All;
25. 6/7/1946 Bunaíodh Clann na Poblachta;
26. And Darling, I Will Be Loving You ‘til We’re 70;
27. You Only Get 1 Bite of the Cherry;
28. Actual Life 3 by Fred Again;
29. October 26th - October 30th 2023, the Cork Jazz Festival.
30. Room 101;
31. There’s Only 1 Street in Drumcolliher;
32. 90 Degrees in a Right Angle;
33. 27/5/2023 Munster 19 - 14 Stormers;
34. Aconagua is 6,961 Metres High;
35. 60 Seanadóir in Seanad Eireann;
36. Every Home Should Have 1;
37. The Last Kingdom: 7 Kings Must Die;
38. 2 Ghosts by Harry Styles;
39. The Treaty of Rome signed 25/3/1957;
40. Bus Route 209, Lotamore to St. Patrick’s Street;
41. The Wrong Side of 40;
42. Beethoven’s 3rd Symphony, the Eroica;
43. 2,4, 6,8 Who Do We Appreciate;
44. An Bhearú, an Fheoir agus an tSiúr, an Triúr Deirfiúr;
45. 1185, the 1st Cork City Charter;
46. 9 Counties in Ulster;
47. Talk 19 to the Dozen;
48. 6 Feet Under by Billie Eilish;
49. All Ireland Camogie Final, Cork 5-13 , 0-9 Waterford;
50. Full Fathom 5 thy Father Lies;
51. 42,195 Kilometres in a Marathon;
52. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3;
53. 13 Cards in a Suit of Cards;
54. The 12 Apostles;
55. 4 Ducks on a Pond, a Grass-Bank Beyond;
56. The Beara Way is 206 Kilometres Long;
57. 24 Hours a Day;
58. 2001: A Space Odyssey;
59. 1, 2, 3 O’Leary;
60. 8/11/1960 Ambush at Niemba.

Welcome to the 2023 Holly Bough

The 2023 Holly Bough is now on sale!

An integral part of the Cork festive season since it first hit the streets 126 years ago, in 1897, this year’s edition contains another veritable feast of fascinating articles for your delectation, a publication packed with stories to move you, amuse you, amaze you, make you laugh and... yes, maybe shed the odd tear too.
All human life is here, and more!

Christmas is a time of family, and the Holly Bough is an annual reminder that those born into and adopted by the Cork family have won a prized ticket in the lottery of life.

Some highlights from the 2023 edition: Find out what was making the news headlines in Cork in the 1750s; read about the gran who had a luckless old life until she won the Irish Sweepstakes jackpot; or how about the Cork guy whose life was saved - by a tombstone of all things! And what will you make of the time a volcano destroyed Kinsale? 

2023 Holly Bough Cover

In our brilliant Food & Drink section, you can recall exactly what a 1970s Christmas dinner was like in Ireland, while top local chefs share their finest gravy recipes.

Our fictional short story section is led off by the acclaimed Cork writer Amy Cronin, while our Junior Holly Bough has a feast of entertainment for the smallies, including six pages of puzzles, plus a prize colouring competition.

We also pay tribute to cherished members of the Cork family who left us in the last year, including GAA great Teddy McCarthy in our bumper sports section.

Of course - how could we forget! - there is the Diffney Quiz, the prize crossword, and so much more: truly something for everyone in the audience is packed into the Holly Bough’s 164 pages.

Enjoy! And a merry Christmas to one and all.

John Dolan Profile Picture

John Dolan

Editor of Holly Bough

Memories of a very 1970s Christmas dinner in Cork

Folklorist Shane Lehane (centre) with the Holly Bough along with, from left, Gráinne McGuinness, editor of The Echo; Fiona Foley, artist who designed the 2023 Holly Bough cover; John Dolan, editor of the Holly Bough; and Karen O'Donoghue, managing director of the Irish Examiner and The Echo. Picture: Dan Linehan

Folklorist Shane Lehane (centre) with the Holly Bough along with, from left, Gráinne McGuinness, editor of The Echo; Fiona Foley, artist who designed the 2023 Holly Bough cover; John Dolan, editor of the Holly Bough; and Karen O'Donoghue, managing director of the Irish Examiner and The Echo. Picture: Dan Linehan

HALF a grapefruit and a prawn cocktail in a glass for starters, an electric carving knife for the turkey, a trifle for dessert...
These were just some of the ingredients of a classic 1970s Christmas dinner in Cork.

Folklorist Shane Lehane takes a step 50 years back in time in this year’s Holly Bough, and recalls with unerring accuracy exactly what was on the festive tables in that decade.

“The table was laid with a white tablecloth in the dining room, as opposed to the kitchen where we always ate. It was the only time we ever ate in that room,” he says.

Shane then lists the ingredients.
“The starter was half a grapefruit with a Chivers’ glacé cherry cut in two and placed at its centre”. For the prawn cocktail, “the shrimps came directly out of a tin, strained and mixed with salad cream which had already been mixed with tomato sauce, and perched on a few lettuce leaves.”

The turkey has not gone out of fashion, but the electric carving knife has!

“The ’70s was the era of the electric carving knife,” remembers Shane, “perhaps the most inefficient contraption ever invented, and many a wonderful ham was reduced to a mangled sawdust of meat by the oscillating blades.”

As for the veg. “ On Christmas Eve, before going to bed the kettle would be boiled, the big white tablet placed in the bowl and the small green box of Batchelor’s marrowfats would steep in the hot water overnight. When boiled, they turned into a metallic-tasting mixture of green goo, some shredding their outer skins like a reptile - they were not greatly relished, save by my father.”

The mains was accompanied by Lea & Perrin’s Worcestershire Sauce, “necessary for the over-boiled, watery, mini-cabbages of brussels sprouts - never a universal favourite”.

One thing that hasn’t changed, says Shane, is the over-abundance of food on Christmas Day.

“My main recollection from the 1970s was the inadequacy of the size of the plate in accommodating the enormous surfeit of food. Eating Christmas dinner was tantamount to an archaeological excavation, digging through the layers for treasures at the bottom of the pile.”

However, there was always room after for both a plum pudding, drenched in Hennessy brandy and served with spoons of whipped cream, AND a dessert of trifle in typical 70s style.

All washed down with wine for the adults, but as Shane recalls, the choice here was Pedrotti, Chianti, Mateus Rosé, Blue Nun or Black Tower. That was it.

“To be honest, one barely knew what colour wine was going to come from the bottle. Such was the rarity of wine, that the bottle was often kept as an ornament or candleholder, or in the case of a bottle of Chianti, to make a lamp.”

For the kids, of course, the drink of choice was Cork’s very own Tanora, or a Raza – sure, it’s me daza!

The feast continued with home-made mince pies and Christmas cake, goodies from a US Biscuits tin, a boat of dates. And a few hours later…

“There is something quintessentially Irish about what happens next,” says Shane, “Someone asked, ‘Would anyone fancy a turkey sandwich?’ And for some inexplicable reason, there was room for more food, and nothing tasted better!”

Folklorist Shane Lehane and Holly Bough editor John Dolan

HOW many of those iconic buildings on this year’s stunning Holly Bough cover can you identify?

Artis Fiona Foley and Holly Bough editor John Dolan

The beautiful Christmassy scene - a composite view of some of Cork city’s most famous landmarks - was designed by local artist Fiona Foley.

Based in Toames, near Macroom, her trademark style is to draw “higgledy-piggedly” buildings and she adapted that to dazzling effect for this year’s Holly Bough cover art.

As well as the distinctive steeples of St Fin Barre’s Cathedral and St Anne’s, Shandon, Fiona drew a host of timeless city landmarks - the English Market, the Everyman, Beamish & Crawford, The Long Valley, Firkin Crane, the old Echo and Examiner offices - more than 30 in total!

Even the little houses dotted around are actual properties, situated near the Red Abbey and Shandon, while, naturally, the Echo Boy, Mangan’s Clock, and the tree of remembrance make an appearance. And did you clock that the famous lying timepiece of Shandon is telling the wrong time?! How very Cork...

Fiona said: “I hope these buildings and the scene might evoke nostalgia for Holly Bough readers. I was delighted to illustrate it.
“We grew up with the Holly Bough in our house and I always love the cover. There are loads of outstanding Cork artists, it has always been something I have dreamed of doing.”

Holly Bough editor John Dolan said the tradition of a local artist designing the cover, and the big reveal to readers every year, have really captured the imagination of Corkonians. “Fiona’s beautiful artwork is a superb addition to that tradition,” he added.
In this year’s Holly Bough, you can see a key to all the buildings that feature in the 2023 cover.

You can hear artist Fiona Foley talk to Holly Bough editor John Dolan about how she came up with the cover, and also about her life and career, in a podcast here

Artis Fiona Foley and Holly Bough editor John Dolan

Submit a photo or story

If you have a story to submit to the Holly Bough, or a photo for the Holly Bough Picture Gallery, you can do it here

Echo Boy Selling Papers on Lavitts Quay 1953

Echo Boy Selling Papers on Lavitts Quay 1953
©The Echo Archive.

0

Thousand readers wordwide 

0

Years the Holly Bough is a Cork tradition

0

Pages bursting with photos and stories

No.1

Christmas publication in Cork

Now you can access past editions of Holly Bough online

Holly Bough Cover 2021
Holly Bough Cover 2021
Holly Bough Cover 2021
Holly Bough Cover 2021

A treasure trove of Cork history lies within the pages of every Holly Bough - and now you can access past editions of Cork’s favourite Christmas publication at the touch of a button.

This year, the publication was digitised and is available to view online on the Irish Newspaper Archives (INA) website - www.irishnewspaperarchives.com Ireland’s largest digital newspaper archive, the website stores hundreds of thousands of pages of past newspapers, including the Echo and Examiner, and provides easy access to more than 300 years of history.

Holly Boughs dating back to 1924 up to the present day can now be viewed online.

Jonathan Martin, of the INA, said: “We are delighted to have the Holly Bough Christmas magazine on board our website. The Holly Bough has been a wonderful Christmas tradition in Cork city and county since 1897.

“The INA believes this title offers a great snap-shot of times gone past, illustrated beautifully in the photos and articles that capture Ireland at its traditionally happiest time of year.

“We hope that you enjoy reading the archive as much as we did digitising them.

“If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us at info@irishnewspaperarchives.com”

Holly Bough Cover 2021
Holly Bough Cover 2021
Holly Bough Cover 2021
Holly Bough Cover 2021

Here, you can view all the Holly Bough covers available on our archives, and from the archives of Cork City Library, from down the ages

"Written by Cork people, for Cork people"

The Holly Bough has been an annual tradition in Cork since 1897.

In that time, it has become a staple of the Christmas season in city and county, and among the diaspora around the world.
It has appeared in all 126 years since it began, apart from a few years during the world wars, and in 1948, when there was a paper shortage. The oldest copy in Cork City Library is from 1924.

The Holly Bough contains a plethora of historical stories and photographs about Cork and its people, as well as festive articles, a food & drink section, a junior section including puzzles, fictional short stories and poems by local people, and a sports section. 

The magazine is now larger than it has ever been in its history – 164 pages.
Editors down the years have included Stephen Coughlan and Walter McGrath, and the current editor, John Dolan, has been at the helm since 2002.

He attributes its continued success to hard work by generations of people, from writers to in-house journalists, editors and photographers, from printers to distributors, advertisers to contributors. The latter are the backbone of the Holly Bough. “The Holly Bough is written by Cork people, for Cork people” he says.

Grand Parade 1930 Christmas

Christmas decorations on Grand Parade. In centre is Berwick Fountain, which was designed by Sir John Benson and paid for by Judge Berwick 15/12/1930 ©The Echo Archive.

Contact the Holly Bough

on email at: 

 or by post at : Holly Bough, The Echo, Linn Dubh, Assumption Road, Blackpool, Cork

Holly Bough Cover 2023

Holly Bough 2023

Produced by

The Echo Logo