Comments on: Guardian 24,778 / Brummie

By: enitharmon

enitharmon — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:58:26 +0000

I suppose quite a lot of things I’ve used all my life might be dialect – possibly picked up from my mother whose parents came from West Cumberland and who still slips the odd dialect word into her discourse. “A clout round the ear” seems mainstream to me but might be strange to others, I agree. It was years before I realised that ‘daft’ wasn’t universal English!

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 14:31:41 +0000

enitharmon

It was in the ‘hit’ sense that I was wondering if ‘clout’ was dialect. I shall file away the nail definition.

['Clouts for sail'?]

By: enitharmon

enitharmon — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 13:05:30 +0000

When I was in B & Q yesterday (after completing the crossword) I saw clouts for sail amongst the nails. I don’t think it’s dialect and I do think it’s been a good crossword word for yonks.

By: mhl

mhl — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 12:33:36 +0000

Congratulations, PJAJ

By: PJAJ

PJAJ — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 21:21:26 +0000

Thank heavens! After a few near misses, this is the first guardian cryptic I have completed. As answers such as ‘pigs might fly’, ‘never’, and ‘in your dreams’ began to emerge, it really felt like the setter was goading me.

By: Derek Lazenby

Derek Lazenby — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:45:22 +0000

Well there are several meanings of clout. Ye olde worlde dodgy internet sources generally don’t indicate any regional usage in general, although one or two are so marked, depending on which source you are looking at, but they then totally fail to say which region or dialect. So maybe you were thinking of one of those meanings.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:34:19 +0000

Hi Bogeyman

Thanks for pointing out the rhyme in 6dn. I’d been trying to make a connection between ‘clout’ [which I thought might possibly be a Northern expression, though it's used down here in the Midlands, and found that it wasn't, specifically] and ‘nowt’.

I agree that it seemed easier [and I'm not complaining, since it was my blog!] than your usual Brummie.

By: Bogeyman

Bogeyman — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:00:18 +0000

Fun crossword – seems easier than the last Brummie I attempted, which I struggled with. I liked the misleading surface of 16d, and the rhyming 6d.

By: johnson

johnson — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:34:31 +0000

This was a bit disappointing too, with THAT WILL BE THE DAY being a low-light! Bliminy. Who says ‘That will be the day!’? And the Lions aren’t British either, with the ***** now integral. The Irish have got it right really, with their national team including anyone from the island. Brits r still hung up on those boundaries.

* offensive slang edited out. Gaufrid.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:03:43 +0000

Thanks, mhl. I’ve now updated the blog to include the explanation!