What do these two comic titles (suggested by Patrick Leigh Fermor) mean? [migrated]

I read these sentences in a book named The secret life of books

The library at Chatsworth – home of the Dukes of Devonshire and one of England’s greatest stately homes – includes doors covered with painted books that conceal the stairs to the library gallery. They have comic titles that give the game away.

When another door was added in the 1960s, the Duchess of Devonshire approached her friend Patrick Leigh Fermor, asking him to come up with some more joke titles. His suggestions included Intuition by ‘Ivor Hunch’, and Consenting Adults by ‘Abel N. Willing’.

Because English isn't my native language, it's really hard for me to understand English jokes. I tried to google these two titles, but got no explanation.

Can anyone please explain it to me?


The books don't actually exist. The joke is in the relationship between the titles and their "authors":

  • Intuition, Ivor Hunch: read that as "I've a hunch" — "A feeling or guess based on intuition rather than fact" (Lexico, my emphasis)
  • Consenting adults, Abel N Willing: read that as "Able ’n’ Willing" — "Having the power, skill, means, or opportunity to do something;" and "Ready, eager, or prepared to do it". "Consenting adults" usually has a sexual connotation, and in fact Lexico explicitly lists it: "An adult who willingly agrees to engage in a sexual act".