Comments on: Guardian 25182 / Shed

By: Tony Davis

Tony Davis — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 13:42:53 +0000

Duncan, thank you for your gracious acceptance of my gentle criticism. I am of course a devoted admirer of Lynne Truss

By: Ian W.

Ian W. — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 09:42:09 +0000

Helen, I’ve been asked not to defend myself and to move on, but I have to point out that tribadism is none of the things described in the poem, and I have never suggested in any event that it is the word itself that is objectionable — it is the subject matter. Would you really feel equally comfortable discussing various sexual positions and practices with small children, grandparents, strangers and colleagues? I just can’t believe the repeated suggestions of some here that any topic using any words is commonly accepted in all settings. That is patently untrue, and there are lots of subjects as well as vocabulary that all crossword setters, editors and solvers would agree are inappropriate in certain settings. It would also appear that Shed is alone among Grauniad setters in thinking that tribadism and felate are acceptable, or we’d see them all the time.

Nuff said.

By: Helen Sarah

Helen Sarah — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 21:00:59 +0000

Just a p.s. to the ridiculous argument above – settled some 80 years ago by D.H.Lawrence in his poem ‘Conundrums’ viz:

Tell me a word
that you’ve often heard,
yet it makes you squint
when you see it in print!

Tell me a thing
that you’ve often seen
yet if put in a book
it makes you turn green!

Tell me a thing
that you often do,
when described in a story
shocks you through and through!

Tell me what’s wrong
with words or with you
that you don’t mind the thing
yet the name is taboo.

nuff said!

By: Shed

Shed — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 18:57:40 +0000

Thanks to all. I’m surprised that 2dn has caused so much controversy, when I was half-expecting to be (unjustly) accused of homophobia for 18dn. (Swinburne didn’t invent the rondeau, by the way, but he did write a lot of them.)

Re 20ac, I fail to understand how ‘[or] its victim’ can be construed as SHOT. ‘What its victim has been’, perhaps, but not ‘its victim’.

But Leighton Orient in 23dn was inexcusable and I do apologise.

By: Duncan Shiell

Duncan Shiell — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 14:18:53 +0000

@48 Tony Davis

I have now consulted the most authoriative text, Fowler’s Modern English Usage, and the more recent book by Lynne Truss entitled Eats Shoots & Leaves.

Mea culpa.

Next time, must try harder!

By: Admin

Admin — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 12:05:44 +0000

Ian W.
You have laboured your point and we are all fully aware of your opinion. Please drop the subject now and move on.

By: Ian W.

Ian W. — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 11:45:28 +0000

Ha ha ha! Well someone at least agrees that language can be offensive. The inoffensive content of my deleted message as that I hadn’t realised that tone and context were no longer subjects of interest to language lovers, nor that language had lost its power to offend (apparently not).

For the record, I am not offended by the word tribadism, but I find its use in a newspaper crossword inappropriate. Surely we can all agree that we all use different vocabulary and refer to different subjects when we are, say, talking among friends, giving a talk at work, telling a racy joke, speaking to the vicar, etc. It is one thing to say that anything goes because only adults do crosswords (though I dispute the underlying fact), but quite another to claim that “there are no offensive words” or subjects we do not expect to have to explain unexpectedly to our children over our morning coffee instead of at the time and place of our choosing. If this is not the case, why aren’t all crosswords (Private Eye excepted) riddled with more colourful language all the time?

By: Tony Davis

Tony Davis — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 11:37:15 +0000

Maybe I’m weird, but I’m far more shocked by Duncan’s rogue apostrophes – two uses of “it’s” as a possessive – than by Shed’s use of an obscure word denoting a sexual practice. A pity, because this was otherwise an excellent blog – and I liked the clarity of the innovative layout. Perhaps the offending apostrophes were simply typos …

By: Ian W.

Ian W. — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 10:12:49 +0000

Admin: This comment has been removed due to the use of offensive language.

By: Brian Harris

Brian Harris — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 09:37:12 +0000

One of the many joys of doing cryptic crosswords is regularly learning new words. Today was a perfect example. I’ve now been explaining “tribadism” to all my work colleagues, which has been very entertaining. Thanks, Shed.