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Grunger

Sorry, I forgot to remark on your earlier post. 'Maidservant' was what I'd come up with - simply maid +servant... and a reminder that I'm not a great fan of straight crosswords!

Malone

re Dellers and fame

I was able to recall the Alfred Deller Consort without looking it up, but did not remember the Deller darts player's first name, Keith.

I think the Times cultural profile is more concert hall than the beer swilling Lakeside, Frimley Heath.

I also wonder if the Times is reluctant to use living persons within a solution or clue, just as it eschews them in the final solution. By the way, Giscard d'Estaing did finally die recently - he was referred to on this site as a Times crossword solution when he was still alive.

Hope it's OK to go back to "Scouse". I went to school in Liverpool (taking the furry across the Mersey. It's also the shuggar plume furry)
I wouldn't have minded being called scouse, though my mother would have been mortified. We also called hot-pot "scouse" (though not at home) or, if no meat, blind scouse.
I don't think the word was derogatory

Insead of "Pardon, my good man", correct Liverpudian at the time would be "Yer wot, wack?"
My favourite scouse saying (other than the rude ones) is an exortation to a football player "Ger yer leg out the one knicker".

RIP Gerry Marsden.

Indeed mpfs

Rosalind

Lovely to hear from you. My mum always called it hotpot too, she would never cook "scouse". Nice to be reminded of "Yer wot..." followed by wack or la'

My father had no trace of a Liverpool accent though he lived there for most of his life. He always pronounced "book" and "cook" to rhyme with Luke. Was that common?

Mpfs

I liked Gerry and still have a couple of his singles. Sad news.

Paul

Yes I remember you referred to G d'E a few months ago, and an apparent mistake by the setter to include a living person. I suppose that's why they could not use the darts champ, rather than for cultural reasons. I have seen words like "innit" in it. You would not hear that at Frimley Green!

Malone Paul

It was in the Saturday Mail magazine and I have been doing the crossword for a few weeks. Not cryptic, but symmetrical and you have to fill in the blanks. Clues are mostly synonyms, and include "modern" words, so i was surprised when I solved maidservant. There was no reference to the bible or Miss Marple.

The Times quiz yesterday referred to "bachelorette", apparently used in the US. I have not heard of it here, but I disapprove of it like "ladette". What is wrong with the -ess suffix, or the correct word, spinster?

grunger

It was kind of you to jokingly put me up there with Tom Baker and George Melly, I thought TB was the best Doctor Who and he featured in a Miss Marple story the other night (filmed about 10 years ago I think).

A (much younger) work colleague commented to me that David Tenant was the best Doctor. I said that if you meant the reboot, you have a case, although I would go with Matt Smith. However, I told her, the best ever Doctor was Tom Baker. Didn't know he was from Liverpool though.