Comments on: Guardian 25,872 – Arachne

By: Paul B

Paul B — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 17:17:40 +0000

Minced head though Betty: phwoar.

By: rhotician

rhotician — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 13:09:16 +0000

While I was there the scandals were public knowledge and I doubt that I gave rise to gossip in The Trusty.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 12:53:54 +0000

Pints with the hircocervus then? But no gossip, presumably.

By: rhotician

rhotician — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 11:09:06 +0000

Minstead, in the New Forest.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 01:59:16 +0000

Betty, thanks. Which Ampshire village did you live in?

By: rhotician

rhotician — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 23:59:45 +0000

Many years ago I lived, briefly, in a Hampshire village. Of the people I met, in the village and beyond, those brought up in Hampshire were a small minority and some of them had somehow lost their accent. It was a rare pleasure to hear an ‘ampshire speaker. Quite sad that. Happily I have yet to meet anyone who speaks RP.
I wonder have you kept your accent.

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 23:15:31 +0000

Rhotician, for what it’s worth, apparently I am one of the prominent criticasters of the homophone used in the Spoonerism. Actually, as a non-Brit I am rather insensitive to homophones. That said, the pronunciation of English words is certainly influenced by what I hear at the BBC, at my workplace and when talking to my PinC. In all these situations ‘pass’ doesn’t rhyme with ‘gas’. As it is used here, it’s sounds American to me.
But as I said, I am not an expert in this area, and just because my PinC wasn’t convinced either, I called this homophone “dodgy”.

Arachne is going to be married next Saturday, so the final clue of this crossword was just stunning (including exclamation mark), I thought.
It was also a very good clue from a cryptic POV (OK, with a Guardianesque liberty).
I was just surprised that nobody saw the relevance of it.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 19:17:02 +0000

Well you know me, Betty: I can be very fussy. But it’s not my puzzle.

I try to be aware as much as I can, which I’m sure is not always enough, to try and remember that most people do not talk like someone brought up in a Hampshire village. Indeed people in the next village, as I recall, spoke in some unintellgible dialect, which is part of the reason we used to bake them alive in clay every Easter.

By: rhotician

rhotician — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 18:41:01 +0000

Thomas99 @43.
“The preferred pronunciation of the solver is not relevant”. “People…have mostly given up complaining about clues being in the wrong accent”. Andrew, Sil & Partner, solvers all, are complaining. I agree that their preference for RP is not relevant.

PaulB @44.
The discrepancy in this case is between a small area of England and the rest of the English-speaking world. Even within the Home Counties class is a factor in pronunciation. But if we must pay deference to RP no doubt you can suggest an “appropriate indication” for the clue in question.

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 09:54:06 +0000

Inspired! Ridiculous number of brilliant/entertaining clues. Thank you, Arachne.