The letters, some written by O'Brien and some not, continued under a variety of false names, using various styles and assailed varied topics, including other earlier letters by O'Brien under different pseudonyms. The letters were a hit with the readers of "The Irish Times", and R. M. Smyllie, then editor of the newspaper, invited O'Brien to contribute a column. Importantly, "The Irish Times" maintained that there were in fact three pseudonymous authors of the "Cruiskeen Lawn" column, which provided a certain amount of cover for O'Nolan as a civil servant when a column was particularly provocative (though it was mostly O'Brien.) The managing editor of "The Irish Times" for much of the period, Gerard "Cully" Tynan O'Mahony (father of the comedian Dave Allen), a personal friend and drinking companion of O'Brien, and likely was one of the other occasional authors of the column, was typically one of those pressed for a name, but was skilfully evasive on the topic.