Cross words for axed tabloid's bosses

Disgruntled staff at the doomed News of the World took out cerebral revenge on their former bosses with a series of pointed clues and answers in the newspaper's final ever crosswords. Compilers used their two puzzles to slam News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and lamented the actions of previous employees who created the phone-hacking scandal which brought down the 168-year-old title. Cryptic clues included "Woman stares wildly at calamity", which led to the solution "disaster" and "Stellar student follows a star incorrectly". Brooks has been a favourite of News Inernational owner Rupert Murdoch since she joined the paper as a 20-year-old secretary. Clues in the quick crossword included "Brook", "Lamented", "Prestige", "Stink", "Catastrophe" and "Criminal enterprise" while answers included "Tart" and "Stench". In a more rueful vein, the cryptic clue "Repel odd change that's regretted" gave "Deplored" while 18 across, "String of recordings" appeared to recognise the paper's guilt over the hacking of public figures' voicemail messages. On a defiant note, 8 across read "We're off to get a jug", echoing editor Colin Myler's statement on completion of Sunday's final edition that all the staff were going to the pub for a last hurrah. Murdoch announced on Thursday that he was closing the title in an attempt to build a firewall between the crisis and the rest of his media empire.