Comments on: 4th March – the bad http://datrippers.com/2009/03/07/4th-march-the-bad/ "A force for good", David Astle (DA) Sat, 04 Feb 2012 23:32:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: TH http://datrippers.com/2009/03/07/4th-march-the-bad/#comment-596 TH Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:36:59 +0000 http://anagrammatically.com/cryptic/2009/03/07/4th-march-the-bad/#comment-596 Yes. The point is that "to egg on" is a phrasal verb that has an entirely different meaning to "to egg", as anyone who's endured the last day of school at a private school will attest. You'd no more use "to egg" for "to encourage" than you'd use, say, "to get" for "to overcome" (which it can mean, but only as a component of the phrasal verb "to get over"). Anyway... Yes. The point is that “to egg on” is a phrasal verb that has an entirely different meaning to “to egg”, as anyone who’s endured the last day of school at a private school will attest. You’d no more use “to egg” for “to encourage” than you’d use, say, “to get” for “to overcome” (which it can mean, but only as a component of the phrasal verb “to get over”).

Anyway…

]]> By: MF http://datrippers.com/2009/03/07/4th-march-the-bad/#comment-595 MF Sun, 08 Mar 2009 19:53:44 +0000 http://anagrammatically.com/cryptic/2009/03/07/4th-march-the-bad/#comment-595 But that's the point! A good cryptic clue has to both read well AND be correctly constructed; and that makes it hard. You've said it yourself: "egg" and "egg on" are different verbs. But that’s the point! A good cryptic clue has to both read well AND be correctly constructed; and that makes it hard. You’ve said it yourself: “egg” and “egg on” are different verbs.

]]> By: RB http://datrippers.com/2009/03/07/4th-march-the-bad/#comment-593 RB Sun, 08 Mar 2009 13:21:38 +0000 http://anagrammatically.com/cryptic/2009/03/07/4th-march-the-bad/#comment-593 Sheesh! You guys are hard to please! I reckon you should cut DA a bit of slack. My Shorter Oxford shows one meaning of egg is indeed to encourage, although it adds that this meaning is obsolete except with "on". But, in any case, to have added the word "on" to the clue would have made it too easy and ruined its simple elegance. Sheesh! You guys are hard to please! I reckon you should cut DA a bit of slack. My Shorter Oxford shows one meaning of egg is indeed to encourage, although it adds that this meaning is obsolete except with “on”. But, in any case, to have added the word “on” to the clue would have made it too easy and ruined its simple elegance.

]]> By: MF http://datrippers.com/2009/03/07/4th-march-the-bad/#comment-577 MF Sun, 08 Mar 2009 01:18:30 +0000 http://anagrammatically.com/cryptic/2009/03/07/4th-march-the-bad/#comment-577 I agree: "egg" is a crap definition for encourage. "egg on (v)" would have been ok as a synonym for encourage, but "egg (v)" definitely is not. An error. I agree: “egg” is a crap definition for encourage. “egg on (v)” would have been ok as a synonym for encourage, but “egg (v)” definitely is not. An error.

]]>