ShopWeird Spellings – MEGA 2 Contests
November 25, 2009 by The Judge
Filed under The Judge Sums Up
Ban is the family name and Ki-moon his given name. In Korean families it is usual for married women to retain their own names but for children to inherit the father’s family name. For example, the son of Ban Ki-moon and Yoo Soon-taek is Ban Woo-hyun.
The other spot for confusion was at 36ac where the ‘Sex determinant (1-10)’ was the Y-CHROMOSOME. A couple of you tried to fit PHEOROMONE, while a few had the misspelling CHROMOSONE.
In the Stinker we had a query about COUNTERSINK or COUNTERSUNK at 65dn for ‘Recess (bolt)’. We expected COUNTERSINK, reading ‘recess’ as a verb, but see that it is possible to read it as an adjective and therefore we accepted either answer.
At 1dn PATOIS and not PATIOS was the answer to ‘Jargon’. The word comes from French. In France patois has been used in a slightly derogative sense to refer to non-Parisian French. English dialects, pidgins or creoles such as those spoken in the Caribbean are also called patois. In fact patois is used to describe any non-standard language. In an article from London’s The Times newspaper about animals having regional accents, the birds in Buckingham Palace were said to be ‘developing a distinctly urban patois’.
At 59ac was the unpleasant sounding clue ‘Lethal nerve gas’. SARIN was developed by the Nazis during World War II. It made it into the news again in 1995 when members of a Japanese sect called Aum Shinrikyo, used it in a terrorist attack in the Tokyo subway, killing eight people and injuring thousands.
TARIN and SABIN were incorrect. TABUN is a nerve gas but didn’t fit with DISLIKE at 55dn.
On a brighter note, if you have seen the film The Devil Wears Prada starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, you might remember a scene at a function where the junior assistants have to provide their boss with the names of any famous folk before conversation begins.
This is the role of a nomenclator, or ‘name crier’. In Ancient Roman times a slave announced visitors and prompted his master with the names of people encountered.
Nomenclature was a list of names, then a system of naming and now means the ‘Terminology used in a particular field’. Clue 41dn required the answer NOMENCLATURE not NOMENCULTURE.
No pain no gain, and the Stinker can be a bit of a ‘Painful journey’ (120dn), or via DOLOROSA at times, but of course is always a very rewarding experience. A few entries had DOLOROMA. The Via Dolorosa, or ‘Way of Sorrow’, was the path that Jesus followed to his crucifixion. Oxford also lists via dolorosa without initial capitals.
Mighty Mega clue 45ac ‘Lens opening’ needed APERTURE not APETTURE and 100ac was GAWK not GAUK for ‘Gape stupidly’.
Clue 106ac was ‘An OLDIE but a goodie’ – some of you didn’t remember this expression and put an ODDIE, perhaps thinking of TV Goodie, Bill Oddie.
We accepted both DEMILITARISED and DEMILITARIZED at 159ac (but not DEMILATARISED) and both FAMILIARISE and FAMILIARIZE for 132dn. At 58ac ‘Drench’ could be either DOWSE or DOUSE.
A slip of the pen at 76dn saw a couple of you put RENIMISCE instead of REMINISCE for ‘Remember’ – oops! Similarly BLANCMAGNE appeared at 36dn when BLANCMANGE was correct for ‘Wobbly dessert’.
Enjoy the new MEGA! challenges, with best wishes to all for a happy and peaceful festive season.
