Comments on: Guardian 24,444/Quantum

By: Ygor

Ygor — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:53:01 +0000

18D “Con” is still used as a noun in the US Navy to denote the duty officer in temporary command on the bridge, usually in phrases like “take the con” or “He has the con.” It is also the root of “connng tower.”

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:18:26 +0000

Yes, nature=sort as in phrases such as “crosswords and other puzzles of that nature”.

By: Speckled Jim

Speckled Jim — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:11:19 +0000

So for 2d, you are saying that nature = sort?

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:57:53 +0000

Octofem, I’m sure you’re right about “lot”: much more obvious than my convoluted reasoning.

Peter, thanks for your confirmation on military anterooms.

By: Peter Owen

Peter Owen — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:49:03 +0000

7 down - I’ve never been an army officer but I have stayed in an officers’ mess and I can confirm that the sitting room in the mess is called an anteroom.

By: Octofem

Octofem — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:02:29 +0000

29 across - surely the ‘lotte’ comes from the sound of ‘lot’ meaning many - a good deal of difficulty, for example?

By: Rich

Rich — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:43:34 +0000

Thanks guys!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:26:09 +0000

I’ve always thought OS stood for OutSize, describing clothes for the “fuller figure”.

By: beermagnet

beermagnet — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:19:50 +0000

OS is an acronym/abbreviation for oversized, in my experience used in libraries for OS books, but also used generally I believe.

By: Rich

Rich — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:15:15 +0000

Can someone please explain where the ‘OS’ comes from in 1d?