Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

I'm with old lady following Diana, perhaps - sole members of Pedants Club (6,3,6)

Pedants must point out all errors in clue and title. Amendments may be submitted to the judges, who are looking for accuracy and humour.

Chambers is NOT recommended!

I'm afraid my sensitivities mean I can't contribute to such a poorly-titled thread. I was too busy wincing to read on any further....

Perhaps the phantom apostrophe painter became over-enthusiastic, malone....

A few years ago, I was in a short film which included several characters with seemingly strange interests. My favourite was The Apostrophe Lady. She carried a thick black pen, inserting them when missing, eradicating when incorrectly included or misplaced. I wish that was a real paid job!

post #5 reported (spam, for when it disappears)

SteveA6000 - my dream role, The Apostrophe Lady!

Be careful what you wish for, malone, as apostrophes can be a minefield! This reminds me of when Private Eye started a Pedants Corner in the magazine. It gave rise to so much argument over where, if at all, an apostrophe should appear that it is now called Pedantry Corner. The logic for having no apostrophe was that "pedants" could be thought of as merely describing the sort of corner it was.

In a similar vein, The Guardian's style guide says not to put an apostrophe in Magistrates Court, and indeed there was a front-page headline this week that showed that. And yet most people, including Chambers do use one. The Guardian's reasoning is that we don't say Crown's Court. "Magistrate" and "Crown" simply identify the court, rather than implying any sense of ownership.

And finally, it was originally Chambers's Dictionary. Now of course it's simply Chambers Dictionary because, after all, we don't have The Oxford's Dictionary.

Thanks, Orson. I think it's the greengrocer's/greengrocers' apostrophes which most irritate me - 'Banana's 95 pence, grape's £1...' I've seen the adjective/possessive stuff (pedants, pedants' corner) being debated - that can be a bit of a minefield!

The 2 fully-paid up members of the Pedants Club (R & M) are meeting tonight to consider recent contributions. They are hoping to be joined by renowned compiler “asetter” who has been delighting solvers with his accuracy and wit on another thread.

Several pedants, including Chri’s pointed out the missing apostrophe in the title, and it is thought that “----51” may have got his friend to hack in and remove it. It could though have been the film star Steve, who played a key role in the classic “The Apostrophe Lady”. Malone was his able understudy.

A few pedants felt that the word “sole” was doing double duty in the clue. But this cannot be so, as that would require the “members” to be singular, which would not make sense.

Many pedants complained that there was no person called Diana who was famous enough to appear in the clue. This was a fair point and the judges will no doubt amend the clue to include supreme/supremely.

The panel welcomed the entry from Or’son who explained the difficulties with apo’strophe’s, and they will be studying Chamber’s for clarification.

All entrants are thanked for their contributions, as they displayed the accuracy and humour that solvers demand. In the spirit of true pedantry, nobody will attempt to solve the clue until all “issues” are resolved.

Thanks for that, jigjag - nicely entertaining! I tried really hard to amend the original clue but could not come with a version that any pedant, let alone the super-pedants who pop in on the Forum, would accept.