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Hi, Rusty!
Oh, I did find the crossword difficult, Rusty........but fortunately (mostly) "doable"!
And it was definitely much easier for me than was yesterday's puzzle.
"One man's meat......"!
Yes, I can see how those two clues work, now that you have kindly explained them to me....but I couldn't make it there on my own.
I don't know "apocope" , so I've looked it up..... but does anybody really speak like that?
I am trying to think of an example?
Re the parsing of 7d...the only "University Challenge" that came to my mind was the Quiz show, first hosted by Bamber Gascoigne, and then by Jeremy Paxman!
I never gave a thought to the Boat Race!
Yes, a walk would be nice....enjoy the fresh air!
Wither shall you wander?




Sorry, Chris, I have only just seen your post.
The clue is "Parody about flower company's final omission (7)
I didn't copy it out, as I knew that Rusty would have it.
The answer is "apocope", meaning missing off the endings of words.
I cannot think of any examples ....do people really talk like that?

Where I lokked it up had an example of "cuppa tea".

Hello, Elle!
The puzzle certainly took me much longer than usual!
"Apocope" was new to me, but looking at what the word means, it seems to me that most folk I know (including me) use apocopes in their everyday language.
How about these, zoo(logical), photo(graph), mag(azine), runnin(g),
typo(graphical error).
Do you agree?
There will be heaps more, I'd say?
The setter was hoping you'd think of "University Challenge" as a quiz show, that was his cunning ploy!
I did not get too far on my walk.
Got gossiping to a neighbour at the end of the lane!

Hi, Rusty!
Hi, Rusty!
I expect you enjoyed the chat with your neighbour, even if it resulted in a shorter walk!
I, too, popped out for a short while with the dog, but I made sure we were safely home before the likelihood of any fireworks being let off......
There are a lot of bangs..... and phut-phutting noises...... going on now!
I am not sure that I agree with you about "apocope"?
According to Chambers, the word means "the cutting off of the last sound or syllable".......
I would consider zoo, photo, typo, and similar to be "abbreviations"?
Perhaps "runnin / jumpin" might be "apocopes"?
Certainly the last sound (the hard "g") is missing there.
But I really do not understand the term?
And when I looked for an example, I found "cuppa tea" offered, as Chris has said.
Now, that doesn't make sense to me either, as what sound or syllable is missing there?
Rather, it would seem that "a" was substituted for "of" in that instance?
This is beyond my comprehension?

Sorry for the double salutation, Rusty!
I'd typed it in... and then it "disappeared"......but two addresses were there after I'd posted!

The F of "of" (implied) is missing, elle.

Much commoner is missing the hard consonant off the end of words (which really irritates me!). "Doan" rather than "don't" for instance.

Hello, Elle!
Yes, I had a good chat with my neighbour.
He had a new hip recently and is doing away fine with it.
I hear fireworks already! Awful things!
Now, this "apocope" shenanigans!
Collins has missing final "sounds" plural.
But, Elle, you know English and grammar etc, much better than I do, so your views on zoo etc are probably correct.
"Cuppa" does not make sense to me, too, but I confess to getting beyond my depth here!
Another example I saw was "barbie" for "barbecue", and that does not look right, to me!
And there is a word for the first part of the word being missing, but I have forgotten what it was....thankfully!

Good evening, Rusty!
I think we should put "apocope" behind us, as an unpleasant experience!
I do not understand it......but then neither do I think I use it?
So.... I shall just ignore it!!
The fireworks are very loud....the dog is most upset......
I shall put "Eggheads " on for her in a minute...we can listen to it a bit louder than usual to drown out the bangs!
Let us hope that the firework "letters -off" retire early!
Have you heard from your son today?



Chris , so why isn't it "cup o' tea" then?

Hi elle
I think "doan" is probably a better example.

Good evening, Elle!
I agree, leave the bafflin' apocopes in the past!
I think you may well use them but do not realise it.
I am pretty sure I do.
I hear from my son in the morning mostly.
Heard from La Bamba too.
She wants to go to Pine Cone tomorrow, so that is something to look forward to.