Re: From an old Telegraph book

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Robert Briggs
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes
>Mark Gillan wrote:
>> Robert Briggs wrote:
>> > > > Robert Briggs writes:
>> > > >
>> > > > > What does the panel make of this one?
>> > > > >
>> > > > >     The Hispano-French girl?  (4)
>
>> > Now I'll make my original question explicit: which solution, ELLE
>> > or ELLA, is preferable, and why?
>
>> I think that I would have put ELLE as the answer to this clue. I have no
>> better reason other than the fact that in the majority of crosswords I have
>> attempted, 'the French' has been LE.  LA has come up several times, but not
>> as often as LE. So I'd just play it safe and go with LE - incorrectly, in
>> this case.
>
>I haven't noticed sufficient difference in the frequencies of LE, LA,
>and LES to make a decision on such grounds.  (LES is excluded in this
>context for other reasons.)
>
>> Perhaps if this were a prize puzzle, both answers would be accepted?
>
>The weekend's postings haven't made me think either is preferable,
>unless, of course, a prize depends on it.

If that's true, I haven't explained the reason for preferring ELLA well
enough.

There's a widely-followed crossword convention that says you can use the
name of a "class" to define members of the class, such as:
        Girl defines ELLA
        Dog defines SETTER
        Setter defines ARAUCARIA
This convention is followed in cryptic and plain definition puzzles, all
over the English-speaking world.

Conversely, most people count definitions as unsatisfactory when the
definition is just a word that's vaguely connected with the answer, such
as:
        Girl misdefines ELLE (except for Ms McPherson)
        Monk misdefines GREGORIAN - they may sing Greg. chant, but Gre.
is not a kind of monk
        Engine misdefines CYLINDER - a part of an engine
        Ella misdefines GIRL - you need to say "Ella, perhaps" or
something similar.

So, although the reason for ELLA being a better answer is crossword
convention, it's convention that's fairly easy to understand and apply.

Brian Greer's book on solving the Times puzzle has a good explanation of
what definitions are OK and not OK.

-- 
Peter & Jacqueline Biddlecombe ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Web site: http://www.biddlecombe.demon.co.uk