Sticky Wicket

I had an algebra teacher in high school who always referred to a tough algebraic problem (they were all tough for me) as a "sticky wicket."

Standing at the chalk board, munching on the pieces of beef jerky that were his constant pacifiers, he repeatedly tossed his chalkstick into the air, caught it with the deft flair of an old lecturer, and pretended to be stumped for a moment over one problem or another.

Then he asked his students for help, or assigned one, like me, to help him (I never did).

"This is a sticky wicket," he would say, demonstrating why such was the case.  Then he would show us how to solve the problem.

As far as I can tell, that is what you have now in Egypt--a sticky wicket.  Someone, an Egyptian, needs to step up, like my old algebra teacher, and show us all how to solve the problem.

Before everybody flunks out.


TS