Public editor: What irked readers this week

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Globe readers are a sharp lot and not without a sense of humour. One wrote this week about a photo caption with a story on the sale of JFK memorabilia. It included a photo with this caption: "This undated photo showing late U.S. President John F. Kennedy, right, his wife, Jacqueline, middle, and sister-in-law Ethyl Kennedy was among the items auctioned by the family of David Powers."

Did you spot the error? A Montreal reader did and said "Ethyl? It's Ethel Kennedy. She is not the boozer of the clan."

That was a silly mistake and is being corrected in tomorrow's paper. More readers, though, were rightly very upset that the clues for Fraser Simpson's famous cryptic crossword that ran in Saturday's paper did not match the puzzle grid. This is the second time this has happened in the past few months and is frankly inexcusable. The corrected version ran in Tuesday's paper. Puzzles are a great mind workout and a bit of fun after you've read the paper and I understand their annoyance. We are very sorry this happened and I hope the process has been reviewed.

One reader wrote in to complain that there had been nothing in the paper as of Wednesday on the tragedy of the overturned fishing boat off the coast of Nova Scotia. The reader said, "[this has] devastated an entire community and [is] being felt throughout this province. I'm shocked that there has been no mention of this event within [The Globe's] pages."

While the story has been published on globeandmail.com, it has not been in the paper and I think the reader is correct. It is a tragic national event. The plan is to run an article in Thursday's paper.

If you see something that you think the paper or website has missed, please send a note. If you want to comment on this or any other issue, please do so below or send me an e-mail at publiceditor@globeandmail.com