24 Comments
May 15Liked by Rebecca Holden

Thank you so much for enclosing those dangerous apostrophes in a box, I was unprotected and unprepared at the time of opening the email 😂😂

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Lol

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LOL Punit!!! 🤣 Glad to have kept you safe!

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May 15·edited May 15Liked by Rebecca Holden

Serious tea-user reformed (7) - R-E-B-E-C-C-A? 😄 Love the "while" signs and that pothole picture is amazing. I'm inspired to draw! Great post, as always, Rebecca. (Understanding a tiny bit about the tea discussions of loose vs bag, my answer to "serious tea-user reformed" is all in fun, btw.)

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Mary, it's a cryptic clue. That is, the clue has two parts: a definition, ie the meaning of the word or phrase that is the answer, and an indication of how to work the answer out. I will say no more

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Mary's only joshing, Terry - but I have to say that yours is the best, most concise definition of a cryptic crossword clue that I've seen. Very helpful!

I lost a friend (aged 95) last year, and every time I do a crossword I think 'gosh, I'd love to run this clue past P'. He first introduced me to cryptic crosswords when I was a tiny child, and never, EVER told me the answers, but made me work them out for myself. 'Flower' isn't flower, Rebecca, but 'flow-er', as in the name of a river. THAT one's a down clue, so when it says 'beneath', that means that that part of the solution is at the END of a word....'

He was brilliant. Even towards the very end of his life I'd ring him up and say 'I'm doing the crossword, and I've KNOW this is the answer to THIS clue, but I don't know 100% WHY it's the answer', and he would drive me nuts by still making me work it out - and he'd laugh and get exasperated and make me do it myself! Happy memories. 😊

P was the one responsible for the frogspawn in my welly. You might remember the story:

https://rebeccaholden.substack.com/p/77-fishing-for-frogspawn

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I thought she was, but wasn't sure. One of my favourite clues is: a little lower on the farm (4) and also: farm butter (3) <snigger>

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I'VE GOT THEM BOTH!!!

I'll e-mail you my answers so as not to spoil things for others wanting to work them out too!

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Ah!!! Thank you!!!!!

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That's an excellent answer, Mary - in fact, I prefer it to the Telegraph's own version! 🙌

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Laughing over the ramen/Austen analogy. Priceless.

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Me too, Prue! 🤣

The chap who'd come up with it, Rickie - a college baseball player - hadn't really been all that into Austen, according to Smith, author of 'All Roads Lead to Austen':

'Rickie liked my teaching style and signed up for something with me every semester. That fall, the only course that fit his schedule was Jane Austen. He'd sighed and registered, braving the taunts of his teammates the entire semester for reading "chick lit" (getting drafted by the Cleveland Indians shortly thereafter no doubt dulled the pain).'

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May 15Liked by Rebecca Holden

Such a fun letter, Rebecca! I am for sure joining in with Terry's magic marker punctuation police. A cause I can really get behind! And I learned a new word. Specialism. Must be British usage. I've never heard it used here. We would most likely say "specialty" - pronounce in three syllables: Speh'-shall-tea, as opposed to the five syllables of England: speh-shee-al'-it-tea!

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Thanks, Sharron!

Gosh, don't you have 'specialism'? That's really interesting. As you say, we also have 'speciality', but that has a different nuance. A specialist doctor has a specialism, not a speciality, but a café might have a sign outside saying 'Cream teas are our speciality'.

The differences in our shared language never cease to amaze me! 🇺🇸🇬🇧

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I have to admit I’ve never run into ‘specialism’ either. I’d just assumed it to be a made-up word like ‘marker’s’…. (I never know which bits of these letters are sarcasm, humour or fact. Reading them at 3am because I can’t sleep probably doesn’t help…)

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Oh, I’m sorry you’re not sleeping well, Beth. Sending love. It’s a compliment though that your reading of our correspondence hasn’t sent you to sleep, though - not that that helps your insomnia, of course!

As for identifying which bits are sarcasm, humour or fact - to tell you the truth, I’m afraid that I’m not sure either! 😉🤣😁

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Austen is to Top Ramen as Hardy is to tripe boiled in whole milk, lightly spiced with a dash of salt (from my tears).

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Oh Bryn!!!!!!! 🤣

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I wonder -- have we been looking at potholes all wrong? Perhaps they are repositories, like Gringotts Wizarding Bank, for all the things that disappear, like socks from the laundry, or the sunglasses we were sure we had just yesterday. Maybe there's a subterranean economy built around the wallets we humans "misplace." 😂

That Top Ramen line needs to make its way to a movie!

Thanks, Terry and Rebecca.

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Elizabeth, your Gringotts analogy and the idea of a subterranean economy are priceless! 🤣

I’m going to view potholes in a very different light in future… and might just borrow a metal detector to see what I can find in their murky depths! 💰

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Someone needs to make a sock detector. :)

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YES!!!!!!!! Now that’s an idea for Dragons’ Den - or Shark Tank, as I think it’s called across the pond! You’ll make megabucks, Elizabeth! 🙌

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😂

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I love the Ramen story. Particularly because I love the Austin stories. I reread them every few years. Thank you as always for this!!!

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