Comments on: Financial Times 13,863 / Jason

By: duncanshiell

duncanshiell — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 07:59:03 +0000

Ilippu @ 3

I agree that none of the scholarly dictionaries define ‘undertake’ as ‘overtake on the inside’, but WordWebPro does give that definition under both its ‘Wordweb’ tab and its ‘Wiktionary’ tab. See undertake

After reading your comment I did a bit more research. The concept of ‘undertake’ in the sense I suggest has generated quite a lot of debate about the difference between:

passing in the inside lane without changing lanes such as in lines of congested traffic moving through roadworks or an accident scene on one hand, and

cutting up a middle lane road hog on a motorway tootling along at 50 mph or less by passing on the inside at 80 mph and then returning to the middle or outside lane on the other.

It will be interesting to see if the definition of ‘overtake on the inside’ enters mainstream dictionaries over the coming years.

By: Ilippu

Ilippu — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 01:39:48 +0000

Thanks, duncanshiell.
On 16a, I’d say overtake = pass, so ‘pass on the wrongside?’ is ‘undertake’ esp with a ?.
Not quite a double definition, more of a wordplay, guaranteee being the answer. A bad overtaking is never called ‘undertaking’.

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:19:04 +0000

Thanks for a great blog. Got them all except 2dn during a 40 min lunchbreak in the pub.

By: crypticsue

crypticsue — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:42:55 +0000

I struggled a bit with the NW corner of this one but then this was the last of today’s six cryptics so perhaps the grey matter was feeling a little jaded. Thanks as always to Jason and Duncan.