Phi Crosswords

phionline.net.nz

  • About me
  • Types of cryptic crossword
    • Solving crosswords
    • Outlets
  • APEX Crosswords
  • My other puzzles
    • BBC Music Magazine crosswords
    • Beelzebub Crosswords
    • Church Times puzzles
    • Enigmatic Variations
    • The European crossword
    • Independent Inquisitor
    • Independent: newspaper
    • Jumbos
    • Magpie
    • Other puzzles
  • Setter’s blogs
  • Book Reviews
  • Cats

Apostrophe S

I thought I’d write a few words about the apostrophe-s construction.  I observe a range of editorial views on the issue, and I’m not entirely clear why some of them are held.  So here’s my take.

Consider the following extract, perhaps from sone pulp thriller:

“He’s got a gun! He’s going to shoot!”

“Let’s run for it! That gun’s accuracy is only good over short distances”

[Yes, that was a shot you heard during that last long sentence.  C’mon – it’s fake pulp.]

There are four examples of “‘s” in those two lines, which I presume were negotiated seamlessly.

“He HAS got a gun! He IS going to shoot!”

“Let US run for it! That gun HAS AN accuracy THAT is only good over short distances”

The usual use of apostrophe-s is to blur the distinction between HAS and IS, often as a link-word.  The structure of the clue would be:

[Definition] HAS [wordplay]

(naturally, the puzzle I have to hand has not a single example in it, dammit)

with the surface reading of the clue inclining towards the IS (or, less often, the possessive).  Given the seamlessness above, this sort of misdirection seems fine to me.

The US interpretation remains underused.  It always catches me out when it does occur, and I never remember it when I’m writing clues myself!  Nevertheless apostrophe-s strikes me as an example of everyday usage that people are surprised by when required to look at it more closely.  As such, it should be in the armoury of the clue-writer.

Share
Tweet
Pin

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Phi RSS feed

  • RSS - Posts

About me

This is the website of Paul Henderson, who sets crosswords for The Independent (London) under the pseudonyms Phi, for the Daily Telegraph (London) under the pseudonym Kcit, and anonymously for The Times (London) amongst many other outlets. For a more detailed biography see the About Me page.

Blogroll

  • Alberich Crosswords
  • Alchemi's puzzles
  • Anax Crosswords
  • Azed slip
  • Big Dave's Crossword Blog
  • Boatman Cryptics
  • Crossword centenary
  • Crossword Centre
  • Crossword Club
  • Crossword Unclued
  • CrosswordMan: Crossword construction software
  • Crosswords by Chameleon
  • Crosswords by Hasslethymi
  • Fifteensquared
  • George vs The Listener crossword
  • Guardian Crosswords
  • Hoskins Crossword
  • Hubble Crosswords
  • idothei
  • Independent Crosswords
  • Listen with Others
  • Listener Crossword
  • Magpie Crossword Magazine
  • One Across
  • Peter's Cryptic Crossword Corner
  • Telegraph Crosswords
  • The Stickler Weekly
  • Times Crossword Club
  • Times for the Times
  • Undisclosed Enumeration

Comments

  • William F P on Covid strikes
  • Phixwd on A forthcoming loss
  • David Thomson on A forthcoming loss
  • Erin on A forthcoming loss
  • Tim Myall on A forthcoming loss

Copyright © 2022 · Beautiful Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in