LONDON. - Residents of the small Suffolk town of Sudbury don't really know what to make of a large crop circle which was recently discovered in a wheat field by a local farmer, and later filmed and photographed by plane once word of the mysterious formation began to spread.

The crop circle, measuring just over 87 metres at its widest point, appears to spell the word "sexsmith", with the letters circled by three perfect oval rings. One of the first to discover the curious inscription, local resident Sam Garner, 26, a engineering student, musician and big fan of the critically acclaimed but still relatively little known Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith, was keen to talk to media and told a reporter that he believes some form of higher intelligence is trying to tell the world something important. "Ron Sexsmith is one of the best songwriters around these days. He's a very rare talent. Melodically, no one can really come close to him. I think other more advanced civilisations may have caught on faster than we have and they're now trying to help us catch up."

Mr Garner was also keen to add that Sexsmith's new cd "Blue Boy", and his first, self-titled, release are "about as good as music gets", and that "his other two were almost just as good."

Many local residents aren't so convinced however. Kelly Donald, a close neighbour of Mr Garner commented, "I don't believe in flying saucers, and as for Sam, I doubt he does either. I think it's funny he's been so interested in coming forward. I don't want to point any fingers though. He's a nice guy and he's got a sense of humour. He also loves his music," she said.

"As for this Sexsmith fellow, I've been told he's actually very good and that some of his biggest fans are Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Elton John, that Costello guy from America and also a young English band named Radiohead that my brother listens to, so he certainly does have admirers in high places. I doubt he'd be my cup of tea though. Is he a good dancer or anything like Ronan Keating from Boyzone?"

UK music critic Ken Glass agreed with Mr Garners sentiments. "If there are such things as UFOs, then they certainly have good taste in music." He also noted that the occurrence had some similarities to when in 1966, Andrew Loog Oldham, the manager of the band the Rolling Stones, took the unprecedented step of placing full-page advertisements in the music press to announce that the Beach Boys new album "Pet Sounds", which was set to flop in Britain, was the greatest album ever made, and that the main creative force behind the band, Brian Wilson, was a genius. Somewhat like he has been toward Sexsmith more recently, Beatle Paul McCartney was similarly effusive in his praise of Wilson at the time. What made Oldman's gesture all the more remarkable was that he had no contact with or financial interest in the band or its record company.

"The only motivation was a sincere care and admiration for good music and well written songs - something that sadly often appears to be lacking in the industry today," said Mr Glass. "That they [UFOs] may have chosen to express their admiration for Ron Sexsmith and his music on someone's wheat rather than more conventional forms of media is regrettable though," he said.

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