ShopBIG 217 Judge Sums Up
November 11, 2010 by The Judge
Filed under The Judge Sums Up
In the Goliathon at 151ac was the clue ‘Revenge, tit for …’ with TAT (not TOT) as the answer. It is interesting that a few entries had this wrong – probably our younger puzzle-lovers.
An eye for an eye, measure for measure, and quid pro quo are all similar-meaning phrases. Tit for tat dates back to the sixteenth century and means retaliate in equivalent measure. It is thought to come from ‘tip for tap’ i.e. blow for blow.
‘Upsurge (of public sentiment)’ at 13dn was GROUNDSWELL. A few of you struggled over this clue. Interestingly groundswell originally meant a deep ocean wave, from an archaic meaning of ground as a place covered by water. The usage suggested by our clue has been around for a couple of hundred years.
We received a query about NOTICEABLE for ‘Conspicuous’ at 145dn. Why is it not NOTICABLE? It is true that dropping the final e is most common when adding -able and some words can take either the -able or -eable ending (i.e. not drop the final e). An example would be LIKABLE / LIKEABLE. However in this case the final e is needed to maintain the soft ‘s’ sound to the ‘c’.
At 78dn you needed EDUCATORS not ERS and at 92dn KALEIDOSCOPE was correct, not KALIEDOSCOPE.
In the Bigcash at 8dn for ‘More cautious’ we expected WARIER but we also took CAGIER. We did not accept LAZIER.
‘Tribute’ at 12dn was EUOLOGY not ELLOGY and the ‘Early counting instrument’ at 81ac was ABACUS not ABACAS.
The Demon put on his waders and went angling with a CREEL to hold all his gear at 25ac. CHEEL was incorrect for ‘Fishing basket’. Usually made of wicker the name comes from the French for latticework.
A vowel swap resulted in errors at 76ac where ‘Hebrew script precursor’ was ARAMAIC not ARAMIAC.
FRIEZE comes from the Latin for embroidery. It was the answer to 81ac ‘Decorative wall band’. In ancient times a frieze was made using relief sculptures, in modern suburbia a frieze is more likely a stick-on strip, especially popular in children’s rooms. We did not accept FRIESE.
FUCHSIN as the name for ‘Magenta dye’ is thought to originate from the colour of the fuchsia flower, which took its name from the botanist Leonhardt Fuchs, and also from the German translation of the French Renard for fox, Fuchs. Whatever the truth, 97ac could not be FUSHSIN. Some of you found this as FUCHSINE. According to our references both words are correct but only one fitted the spaces.
A confusion of vowels again caused trouble at 111ac and103dn. The ‘Back-brushed forehead hair’ was QUIFF not QUAFF fitting with HAILE not HIALE for ‘Ethiopian emperor, … Selassie’.
The word bowdlerised is often misspelt and mispronounced as bowlderised. A way to remember this is that it comes from the name of a Mr Bowdler. In 1818 the prudish Thomas Bowdler and his sister Henrietta reproduced some of Shakespeare’s plays removing any expressions they considered ‘indecent in nature’. The term BOWDLERISED was born and it was the answer to 141ac ‘Expurgated’.
