#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

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