. . . Well, at least up until now.
[ul]
[li]Adit[/li][li]Anil[/li][li]Esne[/li][li]Etui[/li][li]Olio[/li][li]Raree[/li][li]Seraglio[/li][/ul]
Sere. (Though I actually heard it used in an NPR report the other day.
(When I saw your question on the list, my first thought was, “Mine Entrance!” (Adit)
Olla
Rue
Irk
Ria
Eton
Nene! Also Oona, although that’s a name.
Isn’t it oleo?
[QUOTE=LunaV]
Isn’t it oleo?
[/QUOTE]
that’s margarine.
Olio is a mixture, an assortment, a jumble of many things.
Not too common, considering the board’s spellcheck has it underlined in red…
I know there are more but this is all I can think of right now:
Lisle - a kind of fabric
Erne - a sea eagle
Sere - austere
Rurideconal - Of or pertaining to a rural dean - only ever used once in the history of English, in James Joyce’s Ulysses I believe, until this damned crossword. Luckily it was an anagram clue so possible to work out.
Then again, I read somewhere long ago that a TRULY good crossword constructor avoids those kinds of words if at all possible, because (s)he KNOWS that only crossword fanatics would know them.
But I guess that if it’s a choice between using one of those words, and messing up an otherwise elegant puzzle, the choice seems clear.
Some of these I have used in scrabble, but never in conversation (unless it was about a scrabble word during a game)
Twee: Artificail cultural or artistic value, often applied to antiquities
Alee: Leaning against
Aper: Archaic, “regarding an amount”
Aa: Molten rock, lava
Smit: A small, airbourne piece of soot
Clidal: A special type of horse shoe nail
regards
FML
Asea (at sea). I don’t think I’ve ever even heard it in a sailor’s chantey.
Epee
Sten (an old British gun) seems exceptionally attractive to crossword puzzle designers.
[QUOTE=Leaper]
Then again, I read somewhere long ago that a TRULY good crossword constructor avoids those kinds of words if at all possible, because (s)he KNOWS that only crossword fanatics would know them.
But I guess that if it’s a choice between using one of those words, and messing up an otherwise elegant puzzle, the choice seems clear.
[/QUOTE]
The first half of your post is correct; the second is incorrect. A good constructor will rip out and redo as much as possible to get rid of this crap. Crosswordese is just lazy construction.
My contribution:** anoa**
twicks, former xw editor
[QUOTE=twickster]
A good constructor will rip out and redo as much as possible to get rid of this crap.
[/QUOTE]
Why do I find this so appealing?
Tet: a Vietnamese holiday
Cwm: glacial valley
Erg: unit of energy
Fast flier: SST
With “out,” just get by: EKE
Ano start: ENERO (sorry, I cannot get the tilde above the “n” in “Ano.”)
Paris summer: ETE (an even sneakier clue is “Nice summer.”)
I know that ENERO and ETE are likely often used in the daily life of Spanish and French speakers, respectively. But in the spirit of the OP, I must admit that I have no cause to use these words in my everyday English-speaking life.
“Lea” - for meadow or pasture or the like
And 2 church related ones “nave” and “apse”
twickster, I’m curious what someone in the business would think of Wordplay. I was surprised that a movie about crossword puzzles and crossword aficianados could be so fascinating.
[QUOTE=Full Metal Lotus]
Some of these I have used in scrabble, but never in conversation (unless it was about a scrabble word during a game)
Twee: Artificail cultural or artistic value, often applied to antiquities
Alee: Leaning against
Aper: Archaic, “regarding an amount”
Aa: Molten rock, lava
Smit: A small, airbourne piece of soot
Clidal: A special type of horse shoe nail
regards
FML
[/QUOTE]
alee doesn’t mean leaning against. It means towards the leeward side of whatever.
and, it’s an odd puzzle that features ‘aa’
Sere means arid.
My contributions:
ogee – a type of molding
oast – a kiln used in beer making.