I enjoy cryptic crosswords. They are excellent sources of brain food. As an infrequent participant in attempting to complete them, I am not that good at them though. I enjoyed sitting on the setting side of the fence devising the clues for my adult rated weighty interrogation (Xmas Quiz). Hope it nourishes as much as your celebratory dinner and does not leave any hangover effects.
The First Annual akikana Newsletter Yuletide Third Degree:
This year’s theme is ‘not pronounced as spelled’. I’ve previously written about the preponderance of English words pronounced not as spelled. It’s not that surprising when you understand how English migrated from spoken to written. Those typesetting monks tried their best to match letters to sounds. Mother Time then helped nudge it along through a natural changing of how we Brits speak: we converge to the lazy.
The pronunciation of the words which answer the following clues differ from what their spelling would suggest, except one. To add to the festive cheer, one answer’s pronunciation is as written, but with a subtle change in syllable stress you can get another meaning from the word. Enjoy!
Enfield’s first double-barrelled cheese? (12 letters)
No alpine summit finish in this yellow-jerseyed Somerset town. (5 letters)
Beautiful mountain photography! Line up to view. (11 letters)
The strenuous fenland hike left them out of breath here. (9 letters)
The ultimate mispronounced word…? (7 letters)
… nah, I’m much more impressive than the previous answer! (9 letters)
Answers next year. Until then, seasonal felicitations and take care.