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Even Viz is doing it, see the Viz 333 thread:

Talk about dirty videos, man!

?A?N

More evidence that chess is "jumping the shark" if it hasn't already. ;-)

Guardian 29,312 (Paul)

13 Where bishop might have to move quickly, sermons about five hundred seconds (5,5)

Just seen that one. Rather good.

Separately, I saw the term “cook” (noun) used couple of days ago in the blog for a Brendan puzzle. Apparently this is a term from chess puzzles that refers to “an acceptable solution which is not the intended one”. New to me, and rather useful, though I’m curious as to why “cook” would describe such a thing.

From the blog (credit to Goujeers) “Alec Robins (formerly Custos in the Guardian, Zander in the Listener) in Teach Yourself Crosswords (reissued as the ABC of Crosswords) suggested borrowing the term “cook” from chess puzzles, where it is used for a correct answer that was not the one intended.”

The clue in question was…

25 Is highly moving in theatre part (5)

… a double definition which could be answered as FLIES (intended) or WINGS (not intended and therefore a “cook”)

jono, "cook" is usually used in the context of "endgame studies" or "chess problems". Hard even to define those, but they have an aesthetic element that elevates them above mere "puzzles".

I don't know the etymology of "cook" in this context. In practice it's unfortunate, as cooks are typically discovered long after the study in question is published (or even wins prizes), and arguably negate the justification for publication.

Couple of references:
https://www.edcollins.com/chess/cooks.htm
https://en.chessbase.com/post/study-of-the-month-2021-04

Thanks Geeker, very interesting.

I found this on E.B Cook who was suggested as the origin of the term by the article in your first link…

http://www.edochess.ca/batgirl/cook_nru.html

…the final paragraph suggests an alternative explanation. Intriguing :-)

Great find jono, thanks!
"batgirl" is a super chess historian/researcher, her items are always interesting (well, to the "enthusiast" at least ;-) ). She used to post a blog/column at chess.com but seems to have stopped.

Today’s Azed…

In chess I’m ultra displaying grandmaster’s stunt (5)

Basic clue but I didn’t know this abbreviated term was in the dictionary with a specific ‘chess’ definition.

Thanks, jono.
Nice surface but extremely easy clue. I don't follow Azed.