Huh 11
Your brand-new chance to out-compile the compiler. Seven clues drawn from a batch of British sources, all of which need a little ray of light.
Series of dramas with monarch and pistol = DERRINGER [Times 8452]
For Spooner, essential father leaves here = TEA CADDY [Paul]
The Mae West Club = LIFE PRESERVER [Times 8466]
Investing in nothing, no merchant banker! = GOOSE [Mudd]
Feign slap = MAKE UP [Sleuth]
Top edge to slip, possibly, makes one very down = VNECK [Times 8474]
Language almost dead, going by name = LAOTIAN [Times ???]
September 15th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
Hmm. DERRINGER could refer to Wagner’s Ring cycle (I guess in German DER RING – but could a German speaker please check the gender of der definite article, and wouldn’t it rather be opera than drama?) + ER for monarch, natch.
The clue for TEA CADDY just seems a dad off, er, I mean a tad off. Knowing Paul’s style, is it possible this is just a slip? Or perhaps he speaks some variety of English that’s neutralised the voicing distinction in word-initial stop consonants?
Re GOOSE: I think GSE is one of the many TLAs to do with the GFC and suchlike, but seeing as how I tune out as soon as I realise the topic is economics I fear I can’t appreciate the &litness of this one in all its plumpness. What a banker!
September 16th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
MAKE UP – a double meaning.
= feign (as in make up a story etc.)
= slap (slang term for cosmetic make up)
September 16th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Assuming TEA CADDY comes from Key Taddy…
“essential” = key.
“father” = taddy, which is slang for tadpole, which is slang for sperm.
Spoon “key taddy” and you get TEA CADDY.
Yes? No? Anyone?
September 16th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Damn that Wagner – never saw DER RING on the bill.
As for GSE, I’d almost prefer GSEG – the old rebus for scrambled eggs.
Neither Macq nor Collins has SLAP as make-up. Until I’m sold on a source I’m accusing old Sleuth of rummaging in his own vanity box.
Taddy = tadpole = sperm = father. As both a Dad and one-time frog hunter, I’ve never heard the likes of it. But thanks to you all, with Mae West and a Laotian sweater to go….
September 16th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Life preserver – Life preserver is a slang term for a cosh (or club), and a mae west is a term for a life preserver vest.
September 16th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
The “Mae West” was WWII slang for a life preserver because it gave the wearer a curvy build. No idea where the “club” fits in.
September 16th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Slap is most definitely slang for make-up.
Here’s an example.
September 16th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Sometimes I have to just accept there are whole fields of knowledge I know very little about, like economics or maritime safety, and that no amount of linguistic examination will ever yield obscure facts about the world, such as life vests in the 1930′s having been called “Mae Wests” on account of bust-like similarity. The trick for me is recognising the fights I can win, and surrendering the other sort (like this one) to a good encyclopeoadic dictionary.
September 16th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Of course, it’s the “club” part that earns this clue its place in Huh, huh? Well, we have surf lifesaver clubs, perhaps in the UK they’re called life preserver clubs?
September 16th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
I’ve always loved the buxom subtext of a Mae West preserver – can’t you just HEAR those RN lads coining the naughtiness?
No troubles with West the vest – is it rhyming slang as well? – but an AWOL post from Mr X suggests the same Hollywood bombshell is also a billyclub, or truncheon. Anyone find a reference?
And thanks TT for the slap-up. Sorry, heads-up.
September 16th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
So apparently, a “loaded staff or knuckle-duster for self defence” is called a LIFE PRESERVER (http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/li/life+preserver.html). But you didn’t hear it from me …
September 16th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
The term “life preserver” for a cosh was apparently fairly common in the 19th century. Amongst other literesry references, it made an appearance in the Sherlock Holmes story “The Bruce Partington Plans”. Here’s a quote from an annotated version of that story.
“Oberstein had a short life-preserver (16). He always carried it with him. As West forced his way after us into the house Oberstein struck him on the head. The blow was a fatal one.”
“…a short life-preserver.” (16)
A “life-preserver” is not the familiar ring thrown to drowning sailors, but a club, used as a weapon of self-defense.
http://sherlockholmes.stanford.edu/2007/notes9_1.html
September 16th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
V-Neck: the top edge of a slip (article of clothing-wise) may well be a v-neck
very=v down=neck (?) (possibly in the sense of both being synonyms for an act of violence)
September 16th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Laotian – A bit of a stretch but “name” could indicate a “sounds like” approach for:
low – “almost dead” as in a battery
shun – “going by” (although that should be go by)
September 16th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Re LAOTIAN – I’ve been wondering if LATIN is ‘almost dead’….? SOmehow gaining an O and A along the journey.
Your LOW/SHUN theory is eye-catching, Mr X, but where’s the homophone signpost?
And kudos for your Sherlock reference too. The master sleuth may well be needed to crack these last two.
September 16th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Could almost dead be LAT(E), and name be IAN? That still doesn’t explain the O tho’.
September 16th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
How solid is LAOTIAN? Could it possibly be LATVIAN?
September 16th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
It must be LATVIAN!
almost dead = LAT (thanks Simon L)
going by = VIA
name = N
LATVIAN!
September 16th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
Now, that works. Well done, Robski.
September 17th, 2009 at 6:37 am
VALIANT work, robskee. And well done Simon for warming up the lightbulb. Does anyone know ‘doh’ in Latvian?
(Makes me wonder if VNECK is BURQA now – )
September 17th, 2009 at 8:57 am
or TUNIC
September 17th, 2009 at 9:13 am
So, ah, how solid is VNECK exactly? Could it be TUNIC ( sounds like “to nick”) or even EIDER (E “top edge” + rearranged RIDE (e.g. clothes riding/slipping) = “down” ??
September 17th, 2009 at 9:40 am
Alas, the Times in question has hit the vertical file, but I swear the clue’s enumeration read as (1-4).
But wait, eureka, yes, I think: to down is to neck (think that first stubbie of summer). And V = Very, as in VHF. Making the definition element not just ‘Top’ but:
‘Top edge to slip, possibly’ [creating the false cricket trail]
Hard, but it’s there.
September 17th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Phew! It’s over. Life inside my head can resume as normal.