#crossatwords — Public Fediverse posts

Tonight I am #CrossAtWords that are obscure or use alternate spellings in #crosswords.

ern - a sea eagle which is usually spelled erne
viand - archaic English for food, but my francophonic brain wants a final E again
anele - obsolete for anoint

This word is cool though:
adit - horizontal entrance to a mine, so perpendicular to a shaft

And I also learned that Adar is a month in the Jewish calendar.

#definitions #WordMeanings

Today the only clue deserving #CrossAtWords was a spelled out letter S. But I do want to commemorate my new vocabulary from today's post-breakfast crossword puzzle:

sarod - Indian guitar
stere - cubic meter (!?)
ret - soak flax/hemp
tret - obscure shipping term for a waste allowance
eft - a newt (I've seen this word in several puzzles now, and this time I actually remembered it!)
bur - a prickly seed husk (aka a burr)

#crosswords #definitions #english #WordMeanings

Today's #crossatwords of bad crossword entries: "spacial", a very uncommon alternative spelling to "spatial". It apparently peaked in usage around 1980 and is about 1000 times less common than spatial. And it will cause you to question your sanity while working on a tricky corner of a puzzle 😡

I am not cross at all these words (some I am even glad to learn!) but a few earned an angry face drawn next to the clue.

smew - a small duck I am unlikely to ever see myself 😢
amah - nursemaid in India
erose - eaten away (suspiciously thin entry in Wiktionary)
sloe - aka blackthorn, a wild plum (relative of roses!)
ameba - who spells amoeba this way!?
rale - crackling noise from the chest, though seldom used in singular

#CrossAtWords #crosswords #definitions #WordMeanings #EnglishLanguage

Just finished a crossword. These are the answers to the clues I am "cross" about. That is, obscure (to me) words. So new hashtag: #CrossAtWords

olio - a stew
olla - a jug
brocket - type of deer
sera - crazy plural for serum
transom - crossbar of a doorway or window (in addition to many other meanings)

My wife wanted "transom" to be a way to describe a really attractive trans-masc person. We may start using it that way.

#WordMeanings #definitions #EnglishLanguage #crosswords