When he returned from his stroll, he related this to my mother (who was even more devoid of formal education than him, and totally uninterested in anything not directly beneficial to herself), and remarked that it couldn't have been Latin, for some reason or other, but that he had divined its meaning anyway ...
I was reminded of this incident by a recent letter to The Times (Mon 2 Jul 2018).
The Times cryptic crossword (and, on occasion, its lesser cousins in other newspapers) has been a personal solace ever since my mid teens, as will eventually be outlined in an article-in-waiting.