Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

20d letters 3 to 5 are the date, but it's far from a date! Another very poor clue - the Arabs wouldn't appreciate it. In fact, 19 and 20 make this a very poor crossword...

I thought 20D was an ok clue, the etymology being "someone who can't afford proper socks"

i could be more specific, but not without spoiling

Agreed 19 was weak and also question the usage of the "date" term in 20. Presumably Chambers provides a justification for the latter, but I don't have that dictionary.

NSOED validates the usage of "date" in 20.

it might do, geeker, but i'm not having it - "date" is far, far more specific.

I've definitely seen the same word with definition "date" recently as part of a clue in a guardian crossword, but I can't locate the exact one I'm afraid.

OED “Date - the period to which something ancient belongs”

I also found 13A heard to parse, but I suppose it is "essentially" as in "only the letters in the very middle of two of the words".

Oh and I see that was what she did carry around as well after a quick google :)

In Response to (ParadigmShifter)
Ah I see then Jono, van meaning "front letter of".

Pauly, it is a type of scan I suppose, I think it came up the other week as well for date (as in "long/ongoing time period")

Aah, ok. despite doing these for over 30 years (I won the watch back in the early 90s) I still haven't got my head properly around crosswordspeak.