Wednesday 20 October 2010

Cryptic Clues And The Effects Of Drinking

slurred-speech There may be good reasons why you shouldn't drink so much as to lose clarity of speech, but don't blame the crossword setter for not pointing them out to you. How else would the setter produce clues of this kind:

Times 24245: Rather frail partners holding hands getting a peck from a drunk (7) WEAKISH
W E (partners holding hands, in the game of bridge) A KISH (peck from a drunk)

'peck' is KISS, which a person in inebriated state would pronounce as KISH.

Times 24592: Pal, shy when drunk? (4) TOSH
TOSS (shy), sounds like TOSH when slurred.

Generally the indication of drunken pronunciation in a clue converts the 'S' sound into 'SH'. Have you come across any variations? Do leave a comment about it.

One for you to solve. Cheers.

Guardian 25033 (Araucaria): Foolish girl being drunk won't make up her mind (6-6)

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8 comments

Albatross said...

Shilly shally :)

dram said...

Nishe one Shuchi.

Shilly Shally.

Hooray, I got one!

VJ said...

LOL... funny clue.

if S = SH, the answer's gotta be S(H)ILLY S(H)ALLY.

This reminds me of Sean Connery's accent. Whether drunk or not, I don't think he'd have pronounced it any differently.

SandhyaP said...

Foolish girl being drunk won't make up her mind (6-6) {SHILLY}-{SHALLY}

maddy said...

Foolish girl being drunk won't make up her mind (6-6)

Shilly-Shally (~silly sally)

Anonymous said...

Nice.

Rural person endlessly makes a drunken sound (3)

Anonymous said...

Oh, I forgot to shign off my previous post.

Kisore (ash pronounced by a person who hash had one too many)

Shuchi said...

@Kishore: A c-hic clue!