Guardian Cryptic 27,419 by Qaos

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27419.

A cryptic definition, and a bunch of double definitions – and this is Qaos. I stated off well enough, but slowed to a crawl by half way through, and there were three or so parsings that took some work after completing the grid. Also as an afterthought, I did spot the pervasive theme, based on 14D 12A, CANTERBURY TALES; each character is a 15A PILGRIM, and many of them appear in the answers: 7D MILLER, 24D REEVE(s), 26D COOK, 1D WIFE of 3D BATH, 31A CLERK, 2D FRANKLIN, 10A PHYSICIAN, 21D PARDONER, 19D PRIORESS, 16D MONK(s), Nun’s 23D PRIEST (who might also serve for the Parson), and 17A CANON’s Yeoman; the Knight gets an honourable mention in the clue for 20A. In all, quite a workout, so thanks Qaos.

Across
9 AUREI Roman coins and dinosaur Einstein excavated (5)
A hidden answer (‘excavated’) in ‘dinosAUR EInstein’.
10 PHYSICIAN Professionally, I say pinch boil to get better (9)
An anagram (‘boil to get better’) of ‘I say pinch’, with a (slightly improbable) extended definition.
11 HINDERERS They obstruct retired NHS doctor, wasting time (9)
An anagram (‘doctor’ – the word order is odd for the grammar) of ‘re[t]ired NHS’ minus the T (‘wasting time’).
12 TALES Stories are cliched from beginning to end (5)
STALE (‘cliched’) with the first letter moved to the last (‘from beginning to end’).
13 POLICED Protected and paid to be free of bugs within? (7)
An envelope (‘within’) of O LICE (‘free of bugs’) in PD (‘paid’).
15 PILGRIM Good girl travels with male traveller (7)
A charade of PI (‘good’) plus ILGR, an anagram (‘travels’) of ‘girl’ plus M (‘male’).
17 CANON Catholic soon to be 23 (5)
A charade of C (‘Catholic’) plus ANON (‘soon’).
18 DIP I would take back pawn with pawn … (3)
A charade of ID, a reversal (‘take back’) of I’D (‘I would’) plus P (‘pawn’).
20 RIPEN … to develop rook first, then knight, following training (5)
A charade of R (‘rook’, chess notation) plus I (‘first’) plus PE (‘training’) plus N (‘knight’, also chess notation).
22 TOP GEAR Show best speed, perhaps? (3,4)
Definition (the BBC TV ‘show’) and literal interpretation.
25 IMPARTS Contributes Qaos and Tramp’s puzzles (7)
A charade of I (‘Qaos’) plus MPARTS, an anagram (‘puzzles’) of ‘Tramps’.
26 CLIMB Conservative member gets to rise (5)
A charade of C (‘Conservative’) plus LIMB (‘member’).
27 EARTH HOGS Aardvarks are very hard to confine in storage building (5-4)
An envelope (to confine in’) of HH (‘very hard’ of pencils) in EARTOGS, an anagram (‘building’) of ‘storage’. THe answer is a translation of the derivation of ‘aardvarks’.
30 OBSERVERS Paper’s reporters (9)
Double definition.
31 CLERK 23, 100, 50, er … 1,000? (5)
A charade of C L (‘100, 50’ Roman numerals) plus ‘er’ plus K (‘1000’).
Down
1 BATH It’s held by club at Hull City (4)
A hidden answer (‘it’s held by’) in ‘cluB AT Hull’.
2 FRANKLIN Soul sister‘s founding father (8)
Double definition: Aretha and Benjamin.
3 WIFE Partner (or partners) provided within (4)
An envelope (‘within’) of IF (‘provided’) in W E (‘partners’ in bridge, say).
4 SPLENDID Piddles all over the place — take in note, it’s impressive! (8)
An envelope (‘take in’) of N (‘note’) in SPLEDID, an anagram (‘all over the place’) of ‘piddles’
5 HYSSOP Henry’s bouquet wrapped up small flower (6)
An envelope (‘wrapped’) of S (‘small’) in H (‘henry’, SI unit of inductance) plus YSOP, a reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of POSY (‘bouquet’).
6 PISTOL GRIP You can get hold of a piece with this (6,4)
Cryptic definition.
7 MILLER Novelist whose work is a bit of a grind? (6)
Henry, with a punning reference.
8 ANTS Workers‘ tirades: “Right To Strike” (4)
[r]ANTS (‘tirades’) minus the R (‘right to strike’).
13 PICOT Fancy topic: Embroidery Stitch (5)
An anagram (‘fancy’) of ‘topic’.
14 CANTERBURY Agree to massage back after jog in Kent (10)
A charade of CANTER (‘jog’) plus BUR, a reversal (‘back’) of RUB (‘massage’) plus Y (yes, ‘agree’).
16 MONKS IMHO, snakes regularly become religious figures (5)
Alternate letters (‘regularly’) of ‘iMhO sNaKeS‘.
19 PRIORESS Head of convent earlier was miles away from confusion (8)
A charade of PRIOR (‘earlier’) plus [m]ESS (‘confusion’) minus the M (‘miles away’).
21 PARDONER Old queen admits: “Executed? I’ll forgive you” (8)
An envelope (‘admits’) of DONE (‘executed’) in PARR (Catherine, the last of the wives of Henry VIII, ‘old queen’).
23 PRIEST Clergyman most sorry to lose key (6)
P[alt]RIEST (‘most sorry’) minus ALT (‘to lose key’). The answer was obvious, but it took me a ling time to come up with the right key, even though it is staring me in the face!
24 REEVES Local officials, historically, turn up on drugs (6)
A charade of REEV, a reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of VEER (‘turn’) plus ES (‘drugs’).
26 COOK Heat? It’s freezing over — absolute zero! (4)
A charade of CO, a reversal (‘over’) of OC – that is, 0ºC (‘freezing’) plus OK, similarly 0ºK (‘absolute zero’, in degrees Kelvin).
28 HOCK Remove lid from jar to serve wine (4)
A subtraction: [s]HOCK (‘jar’) minus its first letter (‘remove lid from’).
29 SAKE Benefit of drink? (4)
Double definition.
completed grid

68 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,419 by Qaos”

  5. Just wondering how many people today will own up proudly to completing the puzzle but ‘once again’ missing the theme. I sometimes fail to notice themes myself, but this seemed very much ‘in your face’. Enjoyably so.

  6. Thanks PeterO for an early and helpful blog. I was rather carried along by the theme which occurred to me following early solutions of 7dn and 12dn. Parsing of 23dn eluded me completely. A very clever puzzle that made insomnia almost enjoyable. Kudos for Qaos

  7. I thought that I was going to struggle badly, but familiarity with the theme, once spotted, helped considerably. A tour de force from the setter, and, ultimately, very enjoyable.

  9. Thanks, PeterO.

    A really lovely puzzle. I suspected  the theme after MILLER and CLERK, then PARDONER clinched it. [It helped having done the Prologue for A Level all those years ago.]

    Lots of great clues  – most enjoyable.

    Many thanks, Qaos.

  11. quenbarrow @5:  OK, well someone has to go first.  Hand up…missed it completely.  Staggered that I finished at all.

    Trovatore @1:  Please explain, I still don’t see the def.  Does ‘dip’ mean to pawn?

    EARTH HOGS was very clever, lovely hidden anagram.

    I always thought the PRIORESS was below the abbess, so not the head of the convent, but perhaps someone really knows.

    Super puzzle, many thanks, Qaos.

    Nice week, all.

  13. I was excited to see that Qaos was the setter, and this puzzle did not disappoint – I really loved it. Knowing there would be a ghost theme, I had the great fortune to solve MILLER first, followed by TALES (like hillwalker @6, I believe), and *boom* there it was. The theme absolutely aided me, as I then began looking for CANTERBURY and the names of tale-tellers as possible answers. On top of the theme itself, I thought there were many great and clever clues, including EARTH HOGS, POLICED, BATH, PALTRIEST, and my favorite, COOK. I was not familiar with the word AUREI, but it was gettable from the clue and the crossers. Many thanks to Qaos, PeterO, and the other commenters.

  15. The novelist Tom SHARPE gives a shortened sharpen (grind).I wrote this in confidently which held me up for a while. And no Qenbarrow, I didn’t spot the theme even when I had worked out Pardoner – shame. But a very good puzzle for which thanks Qaos. And thanks Peter O for elucidating the mysteries.

  16. Me @13 –
    I meant to mention that there was almost a Nina running down the uncrossed middle of the puzzle, with HRIAR. I was wondering if Qaos had been trying to work in an F into the to square, in 10ac, before deciding that it wasn’t worth sacrificing another themed answer, with PHYSICIAN. 10ac was doubly brilliant because the surface evoked another character, the Cook, who had that large pus-filled boil or sore on his shin (and a pity it was, too, since he could make blanc-mange with the best!).

  18. @copmus, I think that should be CANTERBURKO.

    Isn’t a pistol grip a handle for something other than a pistol, shaped like the handle of a pistol?

  20. Yes, an excellent crossword. I also had the theme early on, but from a different set: WIFE, MONKS, PARDONER and CLERK.

    I got PICOT (a little loop) from my experience of tatting some 60 years ago; however, it turns out it is rather different in embroidery. Does anyone tat these days?

     

    Thanks Qaos and PeterO

     

  21. Excitement over getting the theme meant I didn’t parse some answers, as I filled in several of the characters without fully understanding the word plays eg 10a PHYSICIAN and 23d PRIEST. So thanks to PeterO for these and other explanations. I put in in DIP 18a thinking it must be something to do with pickpockets (“I take”), but unsure why the word “pawn” was in the clue twice. That was an unfamiliar synonym for “pawn”, and the Roman coin at 9a AUREI, also unfamiliar, had to be cross-checked via Google after I saw the hidden.

    Held up for a while in the SE by writing in EARTH-PIGS (unparsed) instead of EARTH-HOGS. Fortunately when I thought about a clue in a recent puzzle for which “PARR” was the solution, I twigged to 21d PARDONER, which of course gave me another Chaucer character…

    I saw WIFE as “provided “= IF inside WE (“partners”) – as in two people – you and me – forming a partnership. But the bridge reference was much cleverer, and il principe dell’oscurita is going to be really pleased that playing bridge helps with this answer…

    Thank you for the puzzle, Qaos, I really enjoyed some clever clues such as 15a PILGRIM and 2d FRANKLIN.

  22. Thanks to Qaos and PeterO. I usually have great difficulty with this setter, but this time I stumbled on the theme early on. I thought I knew most Roman coins but had to check AUREI, had trouble with DIP, and like Julie in A. started with EARTH pigs, not HOGS. I confess that by the end, after getting CANTERBURY, I went looking for TALES without parsing it (my LOI). Lots of fun.

  23. I’m another regular theme-misser that got this one early: BATH, WIFE, PILGRIM, MONKS. Never read the book, but it’s permeated enough to lend a hand to others I might have struggled on, eg REEVES and PARDONER. It meant a far quicker, and relatively untroubled, solve than otherwise might have been. A good thing? Well, helps me get on with the day I suppose.

  24. Thanks to Qaos and PeterO. Found this tough going and did not see the theme until quite late on (therefore no real help). Nearly gave up a few times but persevered and got there in the end. That said quite a few parsed after the event, and a couple I could not see the parsing at all. (E.g. cook which as a complete guess. Therefore thanks again PeterO for the clarification and of course Qaos for what I thought was a tough, but as it turned out, solvable puzzle.

  25. Back from a long weekend in Dublin at a wedding full of love and joy.
    For once I got the theme, and like Eileen having done the prologue at A level helped some solutions to come via this GK and then be parsed. That said FRANKLIN was still my loi despite having thought of the great Aretha early on. I needed to come here for the parsing of TALES, PRIEST (how did I miss the now standard ALT?) and COOK which I think is a bit contrived. Having PARDONER in kept me out of the PIGS trap, but I needed Mrs W to steer me from DOGS to HOGS. Favourites were the theme clues and IMPARTS (I like it when other setters are referenced) and ANTS.
    Thanks to Qaos and PeterO.

  26. I got the theme, I got the theme!  I got it last night, and then this morning I spotted some more pilgrims I’d missed.

    Hadn’t seen AUREI before, but it was clear enough.

    I loved COOK!

    Thanks, Qaos, for a wonderful theme and PeterO for a lucid blog.

  27. **pedant alert**

    Franklin would have to spelt with a y to belong in the theme, unless you’re using a modern translation.

  28. I was at my dullest today, as there were some answers I bunged in without understanding the wordplay, or in the case of 18a DIP, the definition.  I still managed to enjoy the crossword, though – despite also missing the theme.  Not all clues were brilliant, but I agree with DaveMc @13 that “there were many great and clever clues”.

    My favourites among these clues were 10a PHYSICIAN, 14a POLICED (once I understood it!), 15a PILGRIM and 21 PARDONER.  In 22a TOP GEAR I saw ‘gear’ meaning ‘speed’ in either sense – a drug or a [gearbox] ratio.

    I really should have spotted the theme from CANTERBURY, PARDONER and PILGRIM.  I could then have found other themed answers among the clues already solved and those still to be solved.

    Thanks to Qaos and PeterO.

  29. I have read the Canterbury Tales (in Coghill’s translation – though I’ve manfully struggled through his shorter works in the original), but, yes, as always, I missed the theme. Ended with COOK, which was my favourite even when I understood only half. Even better now I know the Kelvin connection.

  30. WhiteKing @25

    You asked, regarding 23d PRIEST, “how did I miss the now standard ALT?”.  I can’t explain that, of course, but I can offer moral support, because I actually tried the familiar ‘crossword’ keys ESC, ALT and DEL and just could not form the word which reduces to PRIEST!  (But I did say I was at my dullest today.  That answer was one of my ‘bungs’.)

    [Glad you enjoyed that occasion in Dublin.  Mrs B and I hope to visit both Dublin and Cork this year, which will be our first visit to Ireland if it happens.]

  31. Saw the theme for once, well with CANTERBURY TALES it would have been hard to miss, though i do seem to miss obvious themes a lot.

    I also did not find the right key on PRIESTS.

    Not sure I’ve seen first=I before, I’m used to seeing first=IST, which had me wondering where the I came from – so many thanks PeterO for these bits of parsing, and thank you Qaos for an enjoyable puzzle

  33. Found this easier than usual for Qaos – the theme was apparent very early and helped quite a lot. AUREI and PICOT were new to me but easy enough to check.

    Thanks to Qaos and PeterO

  34. Thanks both,

     

    My experience was the same as PeterO’s: started well but then ground to a halt for a bit. 2dn only fell after a wild card search.

  35. Well, I was another one who missed the theme. I don’t object to themed puzzles, but I can’t say they excite me much one way or the other.

    I see that Catherine PARR had another outing today 21d. We saw her recently as the “fishwife who survived” in Paul’s fishy offering.

    I liked CLERK and COOL. It must be the numbers and physics connection that appeals to me.

    Thanks to Qaos and PeterO.

  36. Howard March @27

    The Hengwrt manuscript gives (I think) FRANKELEYN, but there is a dot over the Y, which seems to be used interchangeably where we would use an i or a y. If there is anyone out there who actually knows what he or she is talking about, please weygh in.

  37. Thanks, Qaos and PeterO.
    Just a thought – is it just me or might there be 2 punning references to MILLER? There is the novelist’s name and there is also his subject matter.

  38. “Whan that Qaose wyth hys puzzeles soote,/The cross-wordes of ye Grauniade hath perced to the roote….”

    OK enough of that.  Three of my first five in were CANTERBURY, REEVE and PILGRIM, so it wasn’t hard to suss out the theme at once!  Naturally I then went hunting around for a WIFE, a BATH and a MILLER (though not necessarily in that order!) and was not disappointed.  Everything fell into place eventually.  My partial non-parsers were PRIEST and COOK, had to wait for the blog to fully understand those (oddly enough I got the “0K” at once but the “0C” just wouldn’t click – I was thinking of ‘Occitan’ and trying to make it work…)

    For MILLER I was fixated for a while on Arthur, not Henry, but couldn’t recall whether the former ever branched out into novels besides drama.

    AUREI and PICOT were new words to me but easy enough to write in.

    Thanks to Qaos and Peter.

  39. Yes this one was fun ! Seeing that it was Qaos I was expecting a theme, and thankfully this one didn’t so much slowly reveal itself as leap out from the page and slap you around the face with a wet fish. Thanks to Qaos and PeterO.

  40. Thanks to Qaos and PeterO for the enjoyable puzzle and enlightening blog.

    Note to self: check for themes even when the puzzle is unravelling satisfactorily.  I missed it completely – it seems that a theme doesn’t yet occur to me as a possibility.  Except that’s not quite true as the aardvark had me scouting around for other possible ant-eaters even though I now know, thanks to baerchen, that these are the pre-occupation of the estimable Puck.

    I enjoyed CLERK and COOK.  I found PISTOL GRIP a little unsatisfactory – anybody have an answer for James@18?

     

     

  41. Thanks for blogging, Peter.

    I found this an interesting solve.  I’ve never studied The Canterbury Tales, but know enough about it for it to have helped.  I find its Middle English fascinating as an insight into Modern English.  Usage changes: when Chaucer wrote The Wyf of Bathe, he wasn’t referring to someone married; wyf was just the word for ‘woman’.  Aardvark also was interesting – as Peter says, it ultimately comes from the Dutch words for ‘earth’ and ‘pig’, aarde and varken (so I entered EARTH-PIGS to begin with).  And the Dutch for potato is aardappel – apple of the earth, whence (I guess) pomme de terre in French.  English is just stuck with ‘potato’.

    That’s enough of that.  Thanks to Qaos (and contributors) for the entertainment.

  42. James @18, Alphalpha @40

    Certainly, PISTOL GRIP can refer to a pistol-like handle, but if, for example, you search ebay for pistol grip, you will find a whole lot of … grips for pistols.

  43. Thanks Qaos and PeterO

    Late to this great puzzle. A couple of unfamiliar terms confused me – I know “pop” as “pawn”, but not “dip”, and I was another who knew “earth pigs” but not “earth hogs”. I also didn’t see where the Y in CANTERBURY came from.

    Minor point, but we might as well have it right. The “degree symbol” is not used for Kelvin temperatures; absolute zero is just 0K, the freezing point of water is taken as 273K (actually a few fractions higher).

  44. Laccaria @38

    “Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages / And solvers for to seken straunge words…”

    Hi dutch @31 – think regnal numbers: actually more logical than IST = 1st.

  46. AlanB@38 – thanks for the moral support. Dublin and Cork are great cities to visit and you (one) would have to work hard not to enjoy them with the friendly welcome that seems to be part of Irish people’s way of being.
    And whilst here again, I withdraw my “contrived” judgement on COOK and see that the shortcoming was mine not Qaos’.

  47. How I failed to see this theme after solving PARDONER quite late in the proceedings I don’t know, but so it was! It’s a long time since I read The Canterbury Tales but even so! I didn’t know DIP = pawn but Chambers has it. Anyway, from the clue it couldn’t be anything else. Same with AUREI. I was another EARTH PIG until the aforementioned PARDONER put paid to that. Good fun.
    Thanks Qaos.

  48. @Kathryn’s Dad (41+)  Here in the wilds of Jutland, Denmark, potatoes are called after the German ‘kartofler´ and ‘brunede kartofler’ are an essential for the Christmas Eve traditional menu.  More here…

  49. I of course missed the theme despite PARDONER and REEVE reminding me of Chaucer which I studied for A-Level.

    “Missed” is in fact the wrong word as it implies that one is actually aiming for something which I am not as themes don’t interest me so I don’t look for them.

    In fact on the odd occasion I do spot a theme it can spoil the puzzle as it assists too much in it’s solving as the definitions shout out the answers without the need of the cryptic part of the clue.

    Less themes please. 😉 (I blame the “snowfalkes”)

     

  51. We too enjoyed this crossword very much. We didn’t need the obvious theme to complete it, although our last two entries, HYSSOP and PHYSICIAN, were quite tricky. As to the latter, we agree with PeterO (thanks for the blog!) about the ‘improbable definition’, not sure whether ‘to get better’ is part of the anagram indicator or part of the extended definition. While, as I said, the theme was obvious we only looked for it at the very end (knowing that Qaos is the master of ghost themes).

    At times, Qaos’s puzzles can be quite iffy (sorry mate), in this case meaning not precise enough to my taste. Like, for example today, the use of ‘doctor’ in 11ac (explained in the blog!) or the use of the past tense ‘wrapped’ in 5d which is not how purists like to see it. I am not a purist, therefore this is only a footnote. So no real complaints.

    We forgot about parsing PRIEST …. Only thought of it after reading the blog!

    As a Dutchman I initially opted for EARTH PIGS (for the reason Kathryn’s Dad provided), then for EARTH DOGS (thinking perhaps HD is a pencil code) and finally for EARTH HOGS.

    Today’s crossword was once again a puzzle in which the name of a confrere appeared (25ac), something that happened quite frequently recently in several newpapers. No problem, just an observation.

    I would perhaps not have written this comment if Eileen hadn’t replied to Dutch’s question about I=’first’: think regnal numbers: actually more logical than IST = 1st. I have no problems with it (at all) but I do think that in this case I=’the first’ is even more logical than I=’first’.

    Anyway.

    An enjoyable hour of staring at a printed version of the puzzle with a cup of coffee in hand, another solver sitting nearby with the actual newspaper wanting to beat us (he did, 30 minutes) and ‘discussing’ another Brexit farce.

  52. quenbarrow @ 5:  I missed the theme. I always miss the theme. Even when there’s a little blurb above the puzzle that says THERE IS A THEME!, I’ve forgotten by the time I finish reading the first clue.

    PeterO @ 19: Thanks for your clarification re DIP. I had already formulated the theory that they were both just terms for people being taken advantage of. “Tool” was the common definition I had in my head.

    I’ve always thought Afrikaans/Dutch terms endowed animals with a bit more panache than their English equivalents.  Earth pig, tree snake, moose and jumping goat just don’t hold your interest like aardvark, boomslang, eland and springbok.

  53. I think any points I’d make have been covered. Not only did I miss the theme but this was a DNF for me (about 6 clues). BUT, I didn’t use the check button at all! A bit frustrated because some of the ones I missed were close but still I’m pleased with what I managed and so far this week I’m sort of keeping up. Thanks Qaos and PeterO.

  55. Simon S @50

    Sorry I have a mental problem distuingishing between fewer and less. (Although I studied English Lit to A-Level)

    Bizarrely it’s the only constructionI have a problem with but I certainly never “hear” it. As I’ve got to 63 with this problem and still survived you’ll have to lump it. You’ll always get “less” from me.

  57. Eileen:

    “And specially from every shires ende/Of Crosse-worde-lond to Fyfeteyne-Squarde they wend/

    The hooly blisful Bloggyre for to seke/That hem hath holpen whan that they were stucke…”

    Nevertheless I hope none of the Bloggyres meet Thomas-a-Becket’s fate…. 🙂

  60. Howard Mark @27, pedants’ corner.  Qaos must have been working from a modern translation, or those represented from the PILGRYMAGE would have been not only the FRANKELYN but the PRIORESSE, the DOCTOUR OF PHISIK, the REVE, the MILLERE and the WIF of Bath. (Not to mention the Knyght, the nonne, the somnour and the haberdasshere, to name a few more.)  These are all from the New Cambridge complete Chaucer.

    Eileen @44 on regnal numbers:  The English film The Madness of George III came out in the US as The Madness of King George, because (I heard somewhere) the producers were afraid Americans would otherwise think the film was the third in a series, like Godfather III.

  61. Valentine@60 – the film-makers could have got around the confusion by titling it The Madness of George the Third – OK for both British and American audiences – but I suppose no-one thought of that!

    In the case of France (which boasted quite a lot of kings, up until you-know-what happened), you must never use the ordinal when referring to a king by number. Always the cardinal.  It’s quite incorrect to say “Louis Quatorzième” – you can only say “Louis Quatorze”.

  62. My mental tape recorder confirms that — Louis Quatorzieme (even with the accent, which I can’t manage online) sounds just wrong.  But do you say “Louis Un”?

  64. Muffin @56

    It’s easy enough, lurkio. If you  can count them it’s “fewer”.

    That’s a little patronising if I may be so bold.

    Of course I’m aware of the rule. However that doesn’t help in conversation as one doesn’t have the time to stop and think “is this countable?”.

    By the way the rule isn’t actually set in stone and less is fine for countable objects  (ask Byron). (just “non standard”)

     

  66. Valentine @63 – good of you to be nice about my (and Eileen’s) ‘mutilation’ of the incomparable Mr Chaucer!

    Although no expert, I am rather fond of Middle English, has a nice ‘lilt’ to it – although the best-known other example (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight) which is in a different dialect, is rather impenetrable!  With the Tales, I find it easiest to make sense of, if you read it out loud* – you can probably find help on Youtube as to how to pronounce it.  Reading it silently, one tends to run aground in places…

    *Probably not the best idea in a crowded bus or train….

    Lurkio/Muffin – Peace! 😮  It really doesn’t matter, in my view, whether you are didactic about the “fewer/less” debate, or happy to leave things be!  I believe it all started in the supermarkets: “10 items or less”.  So many pedants made a fuss about that!

  67. Laccaria @66

    My mother taught English. She was doing The Canterbury Tales with a class of 13 year-olds (goodness knows why!). One put her hand up and asked

    “Did they talk like that when you were young, miss?”

  68. Growing up with an English professor father, I was raised on Middle English.  He used to make guests follow the texts of the Canterbury Tales while he read them aloud, on the assumption that hearing them and seeing them are both helpful in different ways and when combined lead to comprehension.

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