Morse loves cryptic crosswords. It's a wonderful way to spend the evening at home, listening to opera, enjoying a glass of his favourite 'Samuel Smith's Old Brewery Strong Pale Ale', and solving these crosswords.

He's also very good at making them himself.


When Adele Cecil, who's a neighbour of the murdered victim Rachel James in the episode "Death Is Now My Neighbour (S8E3, 1997)", asked him for his first name, he gave her an anagram to solve:

Morse: "How can I make it up to you?"

Adele: "Well, you could start by telling me your name."

Morse: "Morse. Everyone just calls me Morse. I do have a first name, of course, but I'd have to know you better."

Adele: "You won't know me better, if you don't tell me."

Morse: "Right. My whole life's effort has revolved around Eve. Nine letters. And that is the truth, the whole truth."

Adele: "Have another, while I work it out."

Morse: "I'd love to, but..."

Adele: "Better be off, then."

Adele solves it, although she isn't reallly sure if she's right:

Adele: "This anagram, 'around Eve', I've tried and tried, but all I can come up with is 'Endeavour'. And, no one's called Endeavour. Surely?"

Morse: "I, I told you my mother was a Quaker, and Quakers sometimes call their children names like Hope and Patience. My father was obsessed with Captain Cook. And his ship was called Endeavour. Why aren't you both laughing?"

Lewis: "You poor sod!"

Adele: "I'm not calling you Endeavour."

Lewis: "Call him sir. He likes that."

Adele: "Oh, no. No. I'll stick to Morse, like everyone else."

Morse: "Cheers!"

Side notes:

• Colin Dexter (author of the "Inspector Morse novels") , himself, was a crossword setter.

Dexter named Morse after Sir Christopher Jeremy Morse, former chairman of Lloyds bank, former chancellor of the University of Bristol and a fellow of All Souls, who had defeated him many times in the Observer's Ximenes and Azed clue-writing competitions.

Lewis was also named after another setter: "Mrs B. Lewis"; this was a pseudonym for Dorothy Taylor, compiler of the Observer's Everyman crossword.


• In this episode the actor Roger Allam played Denis Cornford, who is a rival of Dr. Julian Storrs to replace Sir Clixby Bream as Master of Lonsdale College.

Allam later played DI Fred Thurday in the spin-off prequel "Endeavour (2013-)".


• Guess in which episode of "Endeavour (2013-)" there was also an anagram given with Morse's first name (hidden)?