I Wonder ...

Here An Aside -
Normally we wait for a few lines before diverging wildly, but what the heck, I like to mix things up a bit every now and then.
     Conrad's mind has been compared to a skip, and very truthfully.  Art?

 - excuse me whilst I go Tazer Art -

     Perhaps I should have used the South Canadian idiomatic "dumpster".  Our resident Neanderthal couldn't possibly mistake that for anything else.  Anyway - has your skin stopped smoking, Art? - a skip -

A skip.  Notably stationary and not gambolling about.

     Okay, I think we've established that metaphor.  Your Humble Scribe's mind throws up odd stuff all the time - take "Abimilech" for instance.  What is it?  Did he feature in the Bible?  Can you snort it?  Does it make an acceptable substitute for Sprong in light industrial manufacturing? 
     Back to today, and - "Catapult Armed Merchantmen".  I really don't know why this floated to the top amidst all my mental flotsam, and it's emphatically not what you're expecting.

WRONG!

     No, indeed.  You see, we are back at the Second Unpleasantness again, and the convoys that sustained Perfidious Albion.  Being an island, Perfidious Albion required a whole lot of sustaining -
     - you might want to go put the kettle on, this is going to take a while -
      - and in the early years of this fraught period, there were not enough aircraft carriers around to protect convoys.  This was important, since the Teutons would send out big reconnaissance or bomber aircraft to shadow said convoys, either attacking them directly or vectoring in U-boats to send in a volley of torpedoes.

The Focke-Wolf Condor

     Now, the British being both devious and inventive, they realised they needed a way to get a fighter aircraft aloft in order to tackle these Bosche behemoths.
     "I know!" said someone.  "A rocket-assisted catapult!" because - er - yes - well, just because.
     And so a number of merchant ships - the "Merchantmen" you were wondering about - were equipped with a horizontal set of rails - the catapult of same - along which a single Hurricane fighter would be propelled at breakneck speed, that it could both take: to the air and; the fight to the Bosche.
     I can tell what you're thinking: how did the aircraft land once it had biffed the Boche for breakfast? 
     It didn't. The pilot got back close to the convoy, baled out and was hopefully picked up by one of the ships.
     I think it's about time we had a picture of one of these catapults.  Art?  Oh stop whining, go put some salve on it -

Did I mention the "Rocket-Propelled" yet?

     Today's article did begin with the title "I Wonder", but since I also wander (figuratively) Your Humble Scribe did contemplate another aircraft launched by rockets from a rail -

When was Gerry Anderson born?

     Ol' Ger would have been about 13 when these things were put into use, so I wonder, I wonder ...
     They were only used in action 9 times, but they were pretty damn effective, since they also shot down 9 Teuton bombers, and it was far better to trade one aging fighter for a whole convoy.
     Now, motley, we have been smiting this ant-hill with a stick for a good thirty minutes, so we'll just take your hood off and - why, yes, you are duct-taped to that chair, and also - oops! clumsy me, I just spilled jam all over you.

Art!  Are you going for how many times you get Tazered in one day?

     Wow, another long Intro.  You can't complain, it's not as if you even have to pay to read this scrivel.
Conrad - In Touch Or Hopelessly Hep-less?
That was a rhetorical question DON'T ANSWER IT.  Once again a Cryptic Crossword provides grist for BOOJUM!'s insatiable jaws, and yes I know I'm mixing metaphors, because I'm a rock 'n' roll rebel at the Gates of Daw.*
     Anyway, the answer was "Raffles" and part of the clue referred to an upper-class thief as well as selling tickets for prizes.  Your Humble Scribe got it straight away, because I was aware of Raffles, who was the invention of one E. W. Hornung.  Art?

A title susceptible to misinterpretation in today's sordid world

     The stories date from the very early years of the Twentieth Century, when the Boer Unpleasantness was a hot news item, and feature the aristocratic A. J. Raffles, who is both a swanky swine and a burglar of rare talent and ability; this is how he keeps the wolf from the door.  The very thought!  People in positions of power and privilege stealing from the public -

O noes!  How - how did Politics get in here?

     Hmmm.  Thus the stories might have a little less Zing than they did a century ago, and please note that they have absolutely nothing to do with the illegal pharmaceutical "Crack" as the strongest stuff AJR partakes is brandy.
     Now, the question is, am I impressively well-read, or just an antediluvian old fossil?




"Grist"
As one thing begets another, so does one item here generate another, and if I had infinite time, patience and no need to sleep, I could probably generate enough items to keep going until the next century, non-stop.**
     So - Grist is the inner content of a grain, where the external husk (or "Chaff") has been removed.  You can then process the grist and grind it exceedingly small, into flour for example.  Art?

Grist.

     The idea behind the saying is that a canny miller could turn a profit from whatever he was presented with by his customers.
     I think that's enough of milling.


Finally -
Being self-referential - yes, again - Your Humble Scribe simply had to go look up Abimilech, because I am a completist and anorak of either the best or worst kind (delete where applicable).
     He, for we are talking about a member of Hom. Sap. here, was a king of the Philistines back in Biblical times, specifically King Abimilech of Gerar.  There were a few other such prominent people as apparently the Philistines were extraordinarily dull and unimaginative when it came to names.  Art?

Ol' Abi

  And now - goodbye!





*  No, not "Dawn".  "Daw".  The publishers.



**  The world is probably not ready for this