Busted By the Cryptic

ONCE AGAIN, I'd pulled an all-nighter to finish a paper for English professor Brenda Silver. My topic: the use of chiaroscuro in Wilkie Collins's Woman in White. I had read about half the book by the time I sat down at midnight to construct this paper. I skimmed the remainder, highlighting any mention of the words "white,' "black," light," or "dark." "I strung a load of B.S. together—any undergraduate English major would acknowledge that this is an art form in itself. But I'm no artist. Needless to say, my effort was weak. I turned in the paper the next day, hoping upon hope that Brenda wouldn't catch on. When I got the paper back, my grade was a B-minus. Brenda's comment was something like, "Your premise is vague, but because of your usual cryptic style, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt." Her underlying message, however, was anything but cryptic: Busted!

Silver:Who's kiddingwhom, Val?