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Congratulations, jigjag - 800 not out! That'd be a terrific cricket score, wouldn't it? I'm glad your appreciative reply reached a nice/significant-looking number.

It's good that you like the -ista ending. Maybe we'll see it everywhere now, and we'll know that it's truly entered the vocabulary when it appears as a crossword clue. (I'm sure all of today's setters have been working hard on ways to clue 'woke', in its present meaning.)

Is Caffe Zero extra-special? The extra 'f' in its name leads me to all sorts of random thoughts... I don't mind Stardeer/Starbucks/Stardoes too much as I feel they started the move away from weak, watery coffee in British places that were called things such as 'The Kopper Kettle' . That in itself was a massive leap forward.

I was at a party last Saturday, which in many ways was excellent. But the musicista! (there must be a better word). O me miserum. Lost my voice, which must be a first.
The next day I went for a peaceful walk along the cliffs, until I met a party of twitcheristas. And then a (female) gymnosophista appeared on the beach below, causing a certain amount of binocular swivelling. Had she seen, she no doubt would have complained loudly. No-one could do any useful complaining, no phone signal.

Rosalind

I love those words! Well done. I was hoping the -ista endings would flourish. Could you have called a telephonista?

Malone

I missed the significance but yes, 800 would indeed be a great score. I must visit one of these new coffee places. I was told yesterday to "smell the coffee" which was a bit odd, but I will give it a go.

Thanks, Rosalind, I enjoyed that! I felt the 'gymnosophista' was a bit on the clunky side, but that was offset by the wonderful 'twitcheristas'.

Jigjag, sorry I overlooked your post. I was, am, very impressed with 'telephonista', definitely a much more 21th century term. I think you might have been half asleep when the 'smell the coffee' remark was made...

Apparently gymnosophists were Hindus who didn't wear much clothing. This lady was actually entirely naked. Is nudista better? Wish I'd thought of that before!

Rosalind, thanks for the further information, interesting stuff. The word itself is unlikely to pass into common parlance - and perhaps that's a good thing, it's exhausting just reminding myself of how to pronounce it! I think your 'nudista' is much better - it's shorter, is easier to say and is much more likely to be understood.

Rosalind

Yes I should have liked to have seen the nudista in your story. I mean I wished I had seen the word, not the lady.

It is a lovely word - so much better than naturist or naturista - or whatever these people call themselves.

Why not, jigjag? at the risk of getting into trouble, she was well worth looking at!
I actually know two nudistas and will not be joining them at their "sun clubs".

Getting back to cricket, I'm not keen on seeing The Oval in print. I think the Oval looks better. Would we write The Houses of Parliament, or The Crossword Help Forum?