Nutmeg, not at her toughest, ends the week with her customary elegance and style. Lots of lovely clues, as always: I‘ll leave you to name favourites.
Many thanks, Nutmeg.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Half area ignored by Liberal Party, in effect (5,3,4)
FIFTY PER CENT
An anagram (liberal) of P[a]RTY IN EFFECT minus a (area)
9 Female lost to prettier maiden (5)
AIRER
[f]AIRER (prettier) minus f (female) – I didn’t know ‘maiden’ meaning clothes-horse
10 Noted West Indian crop unruly mob gathered (3,6)
BOB MARLEY
BARLEY (crop) round an anagram (unruly) of MOB – I have ‘Two Three (thanks essexboy@48 😉 ) little birds’ as an earworm now
11 Agreed European parting leaves nothing (5,2)
QUITE SO
E (European) in (parting) QUITS (leaves) + O (nothing)
12 Challenged when given the job (5,2)
TAKEN ON
Double definition
13 The material placed in cathedral, as if from heaven? (10)
ETHEREALLY
THE REAL (material) in ELY (cathedral)
15 Double clues rejected (4)
SPIT
A reversal (rejected)of TIPS (clues)
18 Chaps abroad losing the odd schilling (4)
BODS
Even letters of aBrOaD + S (schilling)
19 Chant stopped by goal, poor result of on-field foul? (7-3)
SENDING-OFF
SING (chant) round (stopped by) END (goal) + OFF (poor)
22 Burrowing animal can hide all over the place (7)
ECHIDNA
An anagram (all over the place) of CAN HIDE
24 Long-distance travellers step right aboard (7)
SPACERS
PACE (step) R (right) in SS (on board)
25 Pocketing ten quid, retired banker set forth (9)
EXPOUNDED
A reversal (retired) of DEE (banker) round X (ten) POUND (quid)
26 African capital city running administration at outset? (5)
ACCRA
Initial letters (at outset) of African Capital City Running Administration
27 Pal drops in at random after lunch (12)
POSTPRANDIAL
An anagram (random) of PAL DROPS IN AT
Down
1 Coat I relinquished keeps last of men supplied (9)
FURNISHED
FUR (coat) I SHED (I relinquished) round [me]N
2 Antecedents, one more than Goldilocks had spoken of? (8)
FORBEARS
Sounds like (spoken of) ‘four bears’ – one more than Goldilocks had: I was sure there was a spelling mistake here (I should have known better) and was surprised to see that both Collins and Chambers give this as a variant spelling of ‘forebears’ – I would pronounce the two (or three, actually) differently, too
3 Contrary lad with personal problem? (5)
YOBBO
A reversal (contrary) of BOY (lad) + BO (personal problem) &lit
4 Struggling English master played like Bradman, bagging 50 (9)
EMBATTLED
E (English)+ M (master) + BATTED (played like Bradman) round L (50)
5 Offbeat position in city’s banks (6)
CRANKY
RANK (position) in C[it]Y
6 Fabric, unknown line no Parisian’s stocking (5)
NYLON
NON (Parisian’s no) round (stocking) Y (unknown) L (line)
7 Frustrated participants in superhuman quest (6)
MANQUÉ
Contained in superhuMAN QUEst
8 Small seal picked up young swimmer (6)
CYGNET
Sounds like (picked up) ‘signet’ (small seal)
14 A country invaded by former queen, nominally great ruler (9)
ALEXANDER
A LAND (a country) round EX (former) + ER (queen)
16 Established peace, banishing monsieur from a French region (9)
PROVENÇAL
PROVEN (established) + CAL[m] (peace, minus m – monsieur)
17 Soccer bosses in working gear in India, taking a break (2,6)
ON SAFARI
FA [Football Association – football bosses) in ON (working) SARI (Indian gear)
18 Offspring, it’s said, turned to drink (6)
BREWED
Sounds like (it’s said) brood (offspring) – the drink could be beer or tea
20 Budgetary control initially fails disastrously (6)
FISCAL
C[ontrol] + an anagram (disastrously) of FAILS
21 Change bill by a whisker (6)
ADJUST
AD (bill) + JUST (by a whisker)
23 Native African transported by ship, possibly (5)
HIPPO
Contained in sHIP POssibly
24 Rising American prosecutor joining northern state (5)
SUDAN
A reversal (rising, in a down clue) of US (American) + DA (District Attorney) + N (northern)
Typo in 16 D, should be PROVEN I think. Thanks for the blog.
Philip Kerridge – thank you: amended now.
Fairly straightforward for Nutmeg. Last ones in were 17 and 19, both involving football. Everything I know about the game, I have learned from crosswords! The did seem very faintly familiar. I thing it’s the type of airer that hangs from the ceiling and is raised via pulleys.
Thanks to Nutmeg and Eileen.
Oops! Lost the word “maiden” and it should be “think” not “thing”. Grrr!
Loved it. Thanks to Eileen for a great blog and to Nutmeg for a most enjoyable puzzle with no curly bits. I had lots of favourites, so thanks for the opportunity to name them, Eileen. As I revise them I like them even more: 10a BOB MARLEY, 22a ECHIDNA (naturally), 2d FORBEARS (which also looked a bit “funny” to me, Eileen), 3d YOBBO, 4d EMBATTLED (another parochial choice), and 14d ALEXANDER.
Lovely puzzle as always from Nutmeg. Hard to choose favourites, but I did enjoy POSTPRANDIAL, ON SAFARI and YOBBO. Somehow couldn’t parse SENDING-OFF. Many thanks to Nutmeg and Eileen.
A joy to complete. I have vague recollections of finding Nutmeg’s last offering slightly less enjoyable than usual but she is back to top form today for sure. As an avowed lover of smooth surfaces, I find she really does come in at the head of the table. I particularly enjoyed the quirky definitions: ‘nominally great ruler’ for ALEXANDER and ‘turned to drink’ for BREWED. I loved the simple and neat assemblage of ON SAFARI, PROVENCAL, EMBATTLED, SENDING OFF and ETHEREALLY and the clever anagrams for POSTPRANDIAL and the delightful FIFTY PER CENT. YOBBO is a lovely &lit (at least, I thought it was but I’m not confident in asserting it until someone else has confirmed so thanks for that Eileen). I appreciate there will be criticism for 2d (as there is on the Guardian site) but I ‘got it’ immediately and it made me laugh so I’m in forgiving mood.
Nice to see ECHIDNA, another favourite element of crosswordland fauna, pop up again. Although it’s a regular, I can never remember how to spell it!
Two minor tweaks to the blog, Eileen: English shouldn’t be underlined as part of the definition in EMBATTLED and there’s a missing N from PROVENCAL in your explanation.
Thanks Nutmeg and lucky Eileen
[9a AIRER was the only one that gave me grief, as it was unfamiliar. Glad I was in good company there, with that unknown meaning of “maiden”.]
I didn’t know that maiden was a clothes horse either. Otherwise, not too much to say about this puzzle. It all went in smoothly, nothing to moan about.
Thanks Nutmeg and Eileen
I thought FORBEARS was wrong as well when I completed this in the early hours so thanks for the clarification Eileen. A surprisingly quick finish for a usually tricky Nutmeg but lots to like. Almost a NINA. but the Z eluded me. Liked BOB MARLEY but couldn’t find hidden songs. Ta E & N
There were no entries when I started typing my note @7, so apologies for doubling up on the missing ‘N’.
BTW, I recall my mother referring to a (standing as opposed to suspended) clothes horse as a clothes maiden. I haven’t heard the term in years and suspect it’s now politically incorrect.
Thanks Nutmeg and Eileen
Lovely puzzle. I laughed outloud at FORBEARS.
I did know the AIRER, but I missed the BARLEY in 10a, inexplicably.
Oops Pangram!
Thanks Eileen for helping me parse 24dn; couldn’t see it. And I didn’t know 9ac either. I especially enjoyed 1ac and 10ac but I really really hate homophones.
Thanks Nutmeg for the challenge.
Cute stuff from Nutmeg as always. FIFTY PER CENT was nice and deceptive and I’ve been waiting ages for someone to do the obvious Goldilocks gag.
However, best for me by far was the ‘it’s not a hidden word’ fake-out in the NYLON clue, followed immediately by an actual hidden word in MANQUE. That’s some smart crossword psychology right there.
Definitely the most enjoyable puzzle this week, and thanks to Eileen for deconstructing.
This was deceptive in that first-pass (that’s cup-of-tea number one at 07.00) yielded 2d, 6d and 10a but nothing else. Cup-of-tea number 2 (suppose I should say #2 as I’m glued to election coverage from t’other side of pond) and just about everything fell in place.
As with PostMark @7 always fun to snuffle up to an ECHIDNA and given that I live in Crawley YOBBO is never far from my lips.
Good Friday fun – thanks Nutmeg and Eileen!
AlanC@13 – haven’t counted – just missing “Z”?
PostMark @11 I thought I’d forestalled you @2! – rogue underlining (don’t know where that came from) deleted now, thanks.
I think the first time though I had about four solutions, and thought this was going to be a long morning. But it steadily came together, with quite a few clues raising a smile for their ingenuity and not a single one feeling loose or unfair.
I didn’t know a maiden could be a clothes horse (there is an appalling quip in there about overdressed young females, I suspect) and was surprised by the spelling of FORBEARS, though as others have pointed out it’s in Chambers. But a crossword which gently feeds you a couple of bits of useless knowledge you didn’t previously have is probably doing its job.
Grateful thanks to Nutmeg and to Eileen.
Unlike other solvers, for me AIRER was the first one in! I failed to parse FIFTY PER CENT and PROVENCAL.
One of the very best examples of “it doesn’t have to be difficult to be fun”. ETHEREALLY was my favourite, but SENDING OFF came close. Is there a new trend for teasing us with almost pangrams?
This morning’s fare was ‘just right’. Like my porridge after I Stir It Up.
Lovely crossword. Many favourites, mostly been mentioned. I knew MAIDEN as an airer (don’t know how or why) but I was unfamiliar with SPACERS as space travellers. 6D LINEN as a hidden word immediately jumped out but haha, I didn’t fall for it. 26A ACCRA – would this be classed as an ad lit? I can see it isn’t really but I don’t think I’ve seen a clue like this before where the definition also forms part of the getting to it. Many thanks Nutmeg for a great puzzle and Eileen for help with several parsings.
NeilH @19; I’ve heard a disparaging use of “clothes horse” to describe a lady who looks pleasing by the way she dresses but is intelletcutally an empty-vessel – in other words “she’s just a clothes horse.” I’m from Southend-on-Sea in the county that gave us TOWIE; need I say more?
Smooth offering from the SpiceLady as usual.
Loved finding out about the maiden and, while I was in the dictionary, looked up SPACER which went in easily enough but couldn’t quite believe it.
Not really comfortable with defining Ely as cathedral. Feels a bit like saying London buses are red; tomatoes are red; therefore buses are tomatoes.
Only ever used CRANKY to describe youngsters in urgent need of a nap.
Lovely stuff and thanks for the excellent blog, Eileen, needed you football skills.
Nice weekend, all.
MaidenBartok @24: Curious…we often seem to post around the same time…hope that doesn’t mean you’re as dim as me.
Penfold @22 – thanks!
William @25 – I nearly commented on ELY =cathedral, as I remember there being objections to that before. Funnily enough, I don’t remember ever seeing any against the much more frequent ELY = ‘see’. 😉
Auriga @3. Granny had a clothes-horse – she would stand the maiden in front of the coal fire. She also had an airer hanging from the ceiling just as you described. It was called ‘the rack’.
Both airers with their charges of damp clothes made Mondays spent in her kitchen a miserable experience.
Delightful xword experience today. Ta Nutmeg and Eileen
Always a delight when I can complete and completely parse without aids – a crossword you could do on a train journey without a computer.
Loved it – thank you Nutmeg.
[I’m lucky to have one of those pulley airers and an old wooden fold up one]
MaidenBartok @16: Southend, Crawley…you do get about! Not so sure about snuggling up to an echnida – but entered the term into Google for a laugh and here’s a picture of someone snuggling up to an echnida! Mind you, the first picture I looked at, on closer examination, delivered somewhat of a surprise. Sensitivity alert: this might not be to everyone’s taste but does reveal just what an odd creature it is.
[Penfold@22. Do you have it wi Jammin?The old jokes are the best.]
Quibbles – 3a is not an &lit because a YOBBO doesn’t necessarily have a personal problem, but a social one. In 27a, “random” helps to make a pleasant surface, but it is the opposite of an anagram indicator, where a very precise order is required. And I am not a fan of the trick of inserting thing into SS, as required by 24a, particularly here as “aboard” does not give sufficient indication that a ship is intended (could be a train, a plane, etc) and that you are inside.
[Petert @31 Yes and I hope you like jam in too.]
Later than usual post, due to a 27ac drop or two then a nap (ditto non-post yesterday, in which I found the subtractives a bit Lego-ish, but loved all the thee/ye discussion). But yes, neat as ever from the spice lady today. Like others, meeting that particular maiden was, er, my first. And, while a crank can be obsessive, and ergo maybe offbeat, cranky to me means ornery, irritable…hey ho, regional colloquialisms…Nice Friday fun, thanks Nutmeg and Eileen.
[Eileen @27
Not long ago I got upset over Arlington being described as a “cemetery”, rather than a place where a cemetery is sited.] A similar logical fallacy!
When I saw it was Nutmeg I thought this is going to be hard. But FORBEARS leapt out at me (and made me smile) and once I had worked out POSTPRANDIAL so did HIPPO and I was off. I see from the comments that this was an easier one of hers so that helped. It still took me ages but I really enjoyed it and managed to work out lots of answers just from the word play – much more often than usual. As said above lots of the clues were lovely – all my favourites have been mentioned.
Thanks to Eileen and Nutmeg.
Nice puzzle, though I nearly convinced myself that if I had been in a French bar the answer to LOI 18d might possibly have been BIERES, as in (sounds like) “be heirs”. But of course BREWED it had to be…
Took the G-threaders’ word re the the legitimacy of the ‘missing’ e in forebears. And, re PostMark @7’s love of smooth surfaces, I’m so missing Arachne.
‘Nutmeg’ always says to me ‘tricky but witty and fair.’ Comes a very close second to Arachne for me. And where is Arachne these days?
Thanks both.
Not heard of MAIDEN in that context, makes a change from cricket.
SPACERS also threw me – can you have TRAINERS and CARERS?
[William @26: I can assure you that I am much dimmer. Either that or we’re the same person? I’ll check.
PostMark @30: Nuffink wrong wiv Sarfend (that couldn’t have been cured by Wernher von Braun). “…snuggling up to an echnida…” let me introduce my ex-wife.
(Plenty wrong with Crawley at the moment grace-a the tautologous “global pandemic” and 41% unemployment in the town).
Of course, your subsequent Echidna link reminds me that it’s Paul tomorrow.]
The clothes maiden seems to be a regional thing – Lancashire or Yorkshire? It has appeared in a Guardian crossword before and caused similar confusion.
Snap, Journeyman.
[I think I heard that Arachne has been quite poorly.]
Arachne is fine but has other concerns at the moment.
gladys@42 We are both from the South originally though adopted Mancunians now, and quite familiar with clothes maidens. It maybe more of an age thing.
Thanks for that Eileen @45, very relieved to hear!
Eileen, you done Bob out of one of his birds! 😉
(Well, somebody had to post the link.)
I loved the four bears, almost as much as the four candles.
Many thanks N & E
I always look forward to a Nutmeg puzzle, and this one didn’t disappoint, with BREWED, FORBEARS (had to check with Collins for the spelling) and EMBATTLED bringing smiles. Like some others above, I had very little after the first pass, but everything gradually yielded afterward. I didn’t know AIRER = maiden, BODS = chaps or SPIT = double, but the clues pointed clearly to the answers. Thanks to Nutmeg and Eileen.
[essexboy @48 – Doh! Many thanks, especially for the video: I hadn’t seen that one. It seems an appropriate song just now.
I think it’s been said here before but did you know that there were four candles on the altar at Ronnie Corbett’s funeral?]
Yes, maiden is probably an age thing. Mine has always been called a Flying Maid – and is a joy.
Usual high-quality and enjoyable crossword.
William @25; I’m not sure if I understand your objection; buses are not tomatoes but Ely is a cathedral. I think category names are often used to include the members, so ‘dog’ would give a number of different types. Isn’t that allowable?
Thanks Eileen and Nutmeg.
Since no one has commented about the enumeration of 1ac, am I safe in concluding that PERCENT as one word is an Americanism? You almost never see it as two here.
Great link essexboy @48, All [in]hale the wolves!
mrpenney @53; Chambers has PER CENT, and the Oxford dictionaries give PERCENT (British PER CENT). However, as a Brit I would always spell it as PERCENT.
I understand the objection to Ely=cathedral. Ely is a cathedral city, and a bishopric (so “see” is fine). And there is a cathedral in Ely. But the cathedral itself is not named Ely, and if you just say “Ely,” would anyone assume you meant the cathedral rather than the city?
[Muffin, the similar objection to Arlington isn’t quite as robust though, since “Arlington” is a common way (via metonomy) to refer to the cemetery. “He’s buried at Arlington” means Arlington National Cemetery, and not any other random churchyard in Arlington. [Fun fact: the cemetery was formerly Robert E. Lee’s plantation; the Union made it a war cemetery with intentional irony.]]
I don’t think I’ve written either per cent or percent in donkey’s years! Every keyboard I use has a percent/per cent sign (I’m not going to type it in case it turns out to prompt an emoji 😀 ) and I’d certainly write the sign rather than the words.
mrpenney @56
I don’t see the distinction – Ely is a place where there’s a cathedral; Arlington is a place where there is a cemetery.
[I have a remote connection to Arlington. My godmother had great friends there, and she visited frequently. She was once stopped by the police for going for an early morning walk – apparently it simply wasn’t done!]
Nice puzzle, and not easy, but would have liked it to have been a bit harder (those of us in US need every distraction we can get right now).
A question about ON SAFARI. Isn’t it something one does on a break, rather than being the break? Suppose you’re the tour guide, then it’s not a break at all. Didn’t stop me from filling it in, but just curious.
Thanks ladies.
Favourite was MANQUE: but this is mainly because of failed attempts to turn conversations around towards religious vocations in order to allow me to offer that I have often thought of myself as a Capuchin manqué.
Some day perhaps.
It was a bit discomforting to bash through the crossword, feel proud on completion, then turn to the blog and see Eileen considers that Nutmeg was ‘not at her toughest’. Ah well. Sometimes it goes the other way but not often.
This one worked from the bottom up for me – my scan of the acrosses took until ECHIDNA before a result. Things from then weren’t too bad before a delay with BODS / BREWED, which in retrospect should not have been so awkward. Still, quality stuff which got the brain cells ticking.
Delighted to see “forbears” as it brought back happy memories of Basil Brush.
As a small girl I was the proud possessor of a Basil Brush LP. Towards the end there’s an episode in which our hero finds a small lost bear in the woods. So he rescues him, gives him supper and puts him to bed, settling him to sleep with a story and a lullaby*.
The story was “Goldilocks” and it took me a couple of years to get the joke “The three bears were my ‘four bears'”. I like to think it was because I was so young but I was probably just on a very shallow learning curve.
We loved today’s offering – many thanks to Nutmeg and Eileen.
*Probably the only television star of the 70s who could get away with doing that without causing all sorts of investigations now…?
Alphalpha @60: do you not aspire to a higher position? Primate perhaps? Or does less responsibility give you more chance to monkey about?
[PostMark @63 and Alphapha @60; I often get told not to wear that manque old jumper in public…]
I could be wrong, but I think that the intersection of MANQUE (7d) and QUITE SO (11ac) is the first appearance of Q in a Guardian puzzle since Carpathian’s Pangram of 12th October. Now we’ll probably see several more Qs in the days ahead – that kind of fluctuation does happen.
[MaidenBartok @64: I suspect you paid peanuts for that joke… Sorry. Will stop now. Just trying to use up all the bad puns before Penfold pops in again.]
Robi @52: Thanks for the response. I didn’t want to make too much of this gripelet for risk of marring an excellent crossword, but you may have missed my point; Ely is not a cathedral – it’s a cathedral city…isn’t it?
[muffin passim
The logical fallacy is yours. Just because there are cases where it is wrong to call A a B just because AB is a B, it doesn’t follow that it is wrong to call C a D (given that C is a CD) just because A is not a B. In my recollection, you lost the argument about Arlington, thanks in part to mrpenney making the same point then that he is forced to repeat now.]
For my mother in Blackpool in the 40s and 50s – and for her mother before her – a ‘maiden’ was a two or three gate-leg wooden construction to put before the open fire to air – not dry – clothes.
mrpenney @56, William at 67; following mrpenney’s example, if you said: “He’s buried at Ely” I think everyone would interpret that as at the cathedral (graveyard) and not in the city.
I was brought up (in Cheshire) calling it clothes maiden, a folding wooden frame that stood like an open book. My Yorkshire husband called it a winteredge (that turned out to be winter hedge). We also had a wooden rack on a pulley in the ceiling. I’ve still got one although nowadays the slats are plastic. I wouldn’t be without it.
For some reason I found this crossword hard work. It took me ages to get 50%. Thanks to all
[Robi @70: it depends who you are and when you died. Famous personages are within the cathedral; others who died before 1855 were buried at Holy Cross (next to the cathedral); since then journey’s end has been Ely cemetery.]
DNF for me… but greatly enjoyed regardless! Struggled re some Britishisms/obscurisms, and at the very end defeated by BREWED; stared at the xers for ages… just didn’t click, but loved it instantly (no pun) on reveal!
Interesting, the different CRANKY colloquialisms… lexico says eccentric is British usage, while irritable is North American… who knew?
AIRED was first solved or nearly so, from easy wordplay… but nearly LOI as DNK the meaning so didn’t trust the answer.
Lots of great clues overall. Thought FIFTY PER CENT particularly creative and fun. But COTD, hands down, goes to ECHIDNA, in part for a nice clue, but also just cuz, well, echidnas are cool! 🙂
Hats off to Nutmeg for a fine puzzle… and thx also to our blogger and commenters.
Re AIRER: The wooden rack on a pulley in the ceiling is also called a maiden or maid – apparently it was rebranded as a Sheila Maid in the 1980s, by a woman called Sheila Johnston who put it back into production. At least, that’s what it says on t’internet, but I’ve not really checked how reliable it is. I remember hearing it called a Sheila in the 90s, but assumed it was a traditional name.
[PostMark @66. The rising pun count has not gone unnoticed. The firing squad have returned after a well-earned rest and they have itchy trigger fingers.]
Re. 25A can anybody explain why Dee is a banker?
OddOtter @73. I also failed on BREWED. I thought of BREWER from the crossers (amongst a host of even more hopeless ideas) but instantly rejected it without further exploration. I can remember a book by Rumer Godden where a large family were referred to as The Brood, but this didn’t come to me until after reading Eileen’s blog.
tony smith@75. A river has banks…
Tony Smith @ 75. Dee is a river and a river has banks.
Thanks, gives an awful lot of possibilities though doesn’t it.
tony smith @79: at least severn…
Tony Smith @75
It’s one of those definitions frequently found in crosswords but used loosely. The only justification I have ever found for it is as description of a river when it is breaching its banks, causing flooding. The Dee in Cheshire for one, has flooded in the past so I guess it qualified as a banker at that time but maybe not today.
Lots of fun. I think I enjoyed SENDING OFF and ECHIDNA the most.
I also wondered about PER CENT as two words, and POSTPRANDIAL as one. In 24d (SUDAN), American is doing a little double duty (to help clue DA) or at least time and a half.
I went looking for the pangram too, once the Q appeared. So close… It’s jolly tempting to believe that Nutmeg engineered the first part of row 6 (from the top) as an intentional Nina just for today ;D .
Thanks, Nutmeg and Eileen.
sheffield hatter: you got closer than I did! I thought of beer, which partly fit; tried various riffs on that for a while but nothing gelled. Might’ve got it if I’d stepped away for a bit… but was already late to the game here and knew it’d be a fun blog so didn’t want to wait. Was happy to get as close to finished as I did 🙂
Thanks ever so, Eileen. Enjoyable as usual. This late in the day all my quibbles are already quibbed. And thanks to Nutmeg as well.
[Eileen @45: Thanks for the news that Arachne is fine. It’s so easy to think the worst these days. I will always hold a place for her in my heart; my 1st entry in the FT prize contest ended up being a winner and it was a Rosa Klebb crossword that did the trick for me.]
James @68
I’m fairly confident that my godmother wasn’t staying in a cemetery (see 58).
As an American I’m ignorant about such things, but Wikipedia says it’s called Ely Cathedral. Perhaps one of you should correct the article?
Rose W @87
Yes, but what is called “Ely Cathedral”? Ely Cathedral, perhaps? There’s a lot (well, a bit) more to Ely than the cathedral. “See” works, though, as “the see of Ely” is inclusive.
Is this another American/British difference? In the US, PERCENT (1A) is never two words. Is percent 2 words in the UK?
[muffin @88; I’m not sure there actually is much more to Ely than the catherdal – it’s a very small town with a stonkingly huge cathedral. Went to a string quartet performance there once and arrived so late that I was sitting in the last row of the pews and it was as much as I could do to see the performers let-alone hear what they were playing… And it was February and therefore freezing.]
[MaidenBartok @90
Some friends and I walked to Ely from Cambridge once. It’s not that small (latest estimate of the population about 20,000) though certainly not city-sized, and (rather like Lincoln) the cathedral does dominate the view from a long way away. It was limited in size by what would fit on the hill rising out of the surrounding bogs. (We got the bus back!)]
glenn @89
Yes, usually, two words over here (as is logical, if you think about it). “Percent” isn’t unknown, and, as someone said earlier, “%” is by far the commonest representation.
…though it’s always “percentage”!
[muffin@ 93: As is the MaidenBartok manner I have just railed against the R4 report where a commentator was stating that the difference between Biden and Trump in GA was “a half of one per cent.” What’s wrong with “half a per cent?” We don’t have half of one pizza or half of one brain cell? I sometimes write “per-cent” (with hyphen) but never “percent” because that looses the meaning.]
I’m surprised no-one has balked at 16 down. To say Provençal is a French region is like saying English is a country in the U.K.
I’ve just reread 16 down « from a French region » Doh!