Thursday 22 December 2011

Why is Horse = GG?

GG-horse In British cryptic crosswords, GG is often used as an abbreviation for 'horse'.

FT 13588 (Orense): Move from side to side in horse riding trick (6) WIGGLE
GG (horse) riding i.e. being carried by WILE (trick)

GG or gee-gee is a word for horse used by children or in colloquial speech in UK. The internet provides different explanations for its etymology. Wikipedia says that the term "Gee-Gee" is taken from horse-racing where a Gee-Gee is the first horse out of the starting gate. Other sources say that GG is short for the command given to horses to go: "gee up". I'm not sure which is the actual origin of the word, comments that can shed light on this are most welcome.

In any case, for solving cryptic clues, it is sufficient to know that horse = GG and that the term is mostly used by children.

Have a go at these clues that use horse = GG:

Independent 7746 (Anax): Pushes horse in front over (4, 2)

Guardian 24635 (Enigmatist): Less diminutive horse in nursery found in the final frame (6)

Guardian 25476 (Boatman): Startling horse eaten by naughty goblin (8)

Related Posts:

If you wish to keep track of further articles on Crossword Unclued, you can subscribe to it in a reader via RSS Feed. You can also subscribe by email and have articles delivered to your inbox, or follow me on twitter to get notified of new links.

at

11 comments:

  1. Anonymous22 December 2011 at 08:55

    E(GG)S ON<-, nose=front
    BI(GG)ER, bier, final frame, for coffin
    BO(GG)LING*

    Luckily, it was not much of a

    Conflict for including horse in road law (8)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bhavan22 December 2011 at 09:18

    Independent 7746 (Anax): Pushes horse in front over (4, 2) E(GG)S,ON<-

    Guardian 24635 (Enigmatist): Less diminutive horse in nursery found in the final frame (6) BI(GG)ER

    Guardian 25476 (Boatman): Startling horse eaten by naughty goblin (8) BO(GG)LING*

    ReplyDelete
  3. Raghunath22 December 2011 at 19:31

    1. {E(GG)S-ON} <-

    2. BI(GG)ER. GG in coffin.

    3. BO(GG)LING*

    ReplyDelete
  4. Venkatesh22 December 2011 at 21:31

    1) E(GG)S ON<- GG in NOSE<-
    2) BI(GG)ER GG in BIER
    3) BO(GG)LING* GG in GOBLIN*

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wayne Jones23 December 2011 at 00:51

    Anax clue: EGGS ON (GG in NOSE rev.)

    Enigmatist: BIGGER

    Boatman: BLOGGING

    ReplyDelete
  6. raju umamaheswar23 December 2011 at 17:26

    GG: The etymology is for gee, gee to spur a horse in a race or a carriage or a rodeo show to speed up or get a move on.

    One must have heard giddeyap or giddap in western novels by Max Brand or Zane Grey etc or movies
    featuring Humphrey Bogart, Jack Palance or John Wayne or TV shows like Pondorossa etc.

    Those wild west novels and movies were popular in the 60s and TVshows of the 70s.

    Cryptic crosswords have kept such words alive .

    Thanks for taking me back to my college days, when I used to gorge on such Wild West novels and movies.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous21 March 2012 at 17:44

    I got an idea from one of the clues mentioned in this blog!

    Diamonds hidden in country? Quite the opposite!(5)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Shuchi21 March 2012 at 23:15

    INDIA?

    But for that, the clue would need another 'in' - Country hidden in [IN DIAmonds].

    ReplyDelete
  9. Unknown10 October 2015 at 18:12

    if a horse runs really fast people exclaim gee whizz!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Unknown29 December 2015 at 17:35

    GG - Gentle Giant

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous27 February 2017 at 16:17

    Hungry Horse in 4 letters = MTGG

    ReplyDelete