Mum's The Word

I love the sexual references. Keep 'em I say.

A good week to bring this up seeing as I stumbled across a very hilarious moment on the British version of Letters and Numbers, which, if you don't like certain four-letter words, is best unwatched.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-IYk7YVW80

Would that make it on to Letters and Numbers on the SBS?

You know it's a stunt, right? The rules of Countdown, like L&N, insist on at least three vowels. Not to mention the director's discretion on any recorded show, to revise anything ribald.

But my esteem climbs for the tigrish Carol V and host for playing the prank so po-faced.

I had my suspicions.

Absolutely hilarious nonetheless.

I'll keep my eye out, DA.

I recently had to censor myself when penning a clue for SLAG. (I was going for the 'loose gals' angle).

Made a rare visit to the Guardian last night, and lucked out to get that one. Lots of fun, but doable.

Bonkers was hysterical. I even showed my wife.

Of the three there, I'm fine with #2. The first one is hard to avoid sexism with that word; the third seemed unnecessary, and not worth it.

Oh, and often, it's not sexism you have to worry about. Sometimes you run across a clue that's so clunky, it's like the pinata is still wet papier mache in the glue bucket, with the framework half assembled. That's, I dunno, solver-ism! Body Mick comes to mind from recent days. (And if you didn't see that particular crossword, my apologies - the clue had many more words, but those two were enough to know the answer without reading it anyway)

Hmm, that will be an interesting read, DA.

Just checked out Araucaria's offering - very Rumpole.

As I see it, there are two aspects to the issue - the lexeme and the clueing.

Personally I don't have any problem with any lexeme whether sexual or otherwise (I note that Scrabblers regularly play the F and C words as well as a host of other taboo words). But obviously, those sorts of words won't ever appear in the daily broadsheet.

To me it's more about the clueing. Within the clueing, like most I'm sure, I don't have a problem with professional setters using sex-related concepts, so long as there's no denigration of either sex (or any person on the basis of their sex including orientation or proclivities). And whether a clue crosses the line is essentially a judgment call for editors.

I don't know much about newspapers' policies in this regard, but all that editors would need to do is see whether the clue would be satisfactory having regard for their own office guidelines on sexual harrassment.

All that said, dunno how Mudd's SCRUBBER got past the subbie on this basis of the clueing. At my high school at least, one meaning of that word equated to 'slut' and that's how Mudd chose to define it in his double def clue. Definitely out.

I reckon you are right with the difference between sex and sexism, and care should be taken.

Then again, I was the one who came up with the 'Kinky plaid skirt' clue of recent times (and co-wrote a novel with a heady mix of explicit sex and violence, if it comes to that). I may or may not be deemed biased. For what it's worth, I reckon your #1 and #3 examples are pretty dodgy.

Here is a clue I wrote long ago, for one of my embryonic puzzles:

Loki and Pan's cavorting with underage girl (8)

At the time I was sort of hesitant on the grounds of taste, but went with it. Now, especially after more details were released fairly recently, I probably wouldn't.

Some great responses - thanks. Nobody wants to feel squeamish, or grubby, doing a puzzle. It's all part of the Sunday breakfast test, and there's no room for bigotry or abuse.

That said, my favourite setters (Anax and Paul for two) love some nudge-nudge. I reckon Paul invented that golden phrase 'pinching X's bottom' - a fresh command to incorporate the last letter of X.

As it says on the bottle: Use With Caution.

I thought that both SAFE SEX and BONKERS were within the good taste test, but maybe I just have low standards.

What I find really clever is when a clue looks a bit "blue" on the surface, and promises great things, but the answer has no sexual connotation whatsoever. The MISSUS example is a bit like that, but there have been others in recent times (none that spring to mind at this minute, sadly), that are more misleading.

As for a recent example of sexist (+ tasteless) clueing...over on the Meh 10 I had a go at spoonerising PEER GROUP to come up with "feminist motion", upgraded by JPR to-

"Spooner says, "Feminst crap! They're all the same!"

There you have it. Sexism, criticism of minority groups, and to top it off, vulgarity from a man of the cloth!

SK, ha not to mention the scatological reference...

I'm fine with the SAFE SEX and BONKERS clues. I wouldn't be surprised though if some different subset people were upset by the slightly pejorative tone of the word bonkers with respect to mental illness. While I think BONKERS is fine personally, I have come across crossword answers in the past that are skirting closer to bad taste in this sense.

As has been mentioned above though, the worst examples are when the bad taste is in the clueing.

I think the responses so far have been mostly, if not all, from the male side of the gender divide, so I will give you one female's perspective.

For a start, if you're doing a cryptic crossword you should know that the clues are not to be taken literally (&lits excepted!) otherwise you're going to have a pretty hard time solving them.

The clues also aren't the 'voice' of the compiler, although I guess they can at times reveal their interests and preferences. Mudd isn't saying that all women are scrubbers. I don't have a problem with this clue at all because the word 'scrubber' is used by some people to describe 'easy' women.

'Feminist crap' on the other hand, would be offensive to me, as it is making a value judgement.

The MISSUS clue is great and again, I don't see it as sexist at all. And I think men come off looking worse in the OGLER clue.

And as for BONKERS and SAFE SEX, they have been two of my favourite DA clues of recent weeks. It makes a nice change from all the staid clues in the Times.

This morning, going through some iffy clues I've collected over the journey, I came across a lewd Anax effort. And annoyingly, I can't solve it -

Sorry, don't have any letters, or length, but how would you 'tackle' this customer:

Bird sees bloke's balls

(As last resort, we could ask Loroso himself. But first let's keep the quandary inhouse.)

Poppycock.

After tiptoeing through the minefield of woodpeckers, tits, cock robins and swallows I stumbled upon flycatcher. Could it be?

Cockatoo? Cuckoo? Both have the balls but otherwise aren't too convincing.

If POPPYCOCK is right, that makes bird, or girl, Poppy (which seems random), as right as the answer feels. Good get, Boniface. Any other bids?

And while the team's on fire, I struck a second clue with a similar answer, though I can't quite dismantle the wordplay. Any leads:

Make love with nurses in bunk = NONSENSE

Nurses could be SENs (State Enrolled Nurses) in None (love/nothing)

Make love = nose
nurses = ns, en (enrolled nurse)
bunk = nonsense

A pretty good clue I thought.

Actually, I think I like Peta's better, maybe nose = love is a bridge too far...

I was leaning toward's Peta's too, but isn't the 'make' redundant?

I believe there is a bird called a 'nuthatch'. Could that be it perchance?

There are also the following Collingwood players, who often all play at the same time, that would be great for a blue crossword clue:

Luke Ball
Brad Dick
Steele Sidebottom
Tyson Goldsack.

And, of course, the immortal Graham Johncock, who plays for Adelaide.

Never been game to touch John Wadsworth Longfellow in a grid, let alone Misty Hyman or Dick Pound. Some names seem so custom-made for innuendo that the nudge is hardly worth making.

A late bid for the Anax mystery - PAGEANTS. At least it makes use of the 's in the clue.

The trick is, no doubt, to clue them without any mention of sex at all.

Swimmer was nostalgic for party drug, he said (5,5)

There's a couple of overlapping issues - sexism and sexiness. The second is probably best addressed by the publishing newspaper's criteria. If they allow, say, "bonk buddies" in a story it should be OK for the crossword.
Sexism is a more subjective thing. Some people think Benny Hill is a sad old sleaze, others that he's part of a grand music hall tradition. Self-censorship is tricky. It's probably best for a compiler to go with what they're comfortable with rather than try to second guess the audience. The key pointwould be that you're compiling for a paper or magazine whose audience are more or less on your wavelength.

Another related issue, should this ever be rescued from the filter, is sensitivity towards mental health matters. "Mad" and "crazy" are long established anagram indicators and I don't think would be regarded as a problem. However, I don't think too many compilers or solvers would be comfortable with, say, "retarded" or "spastic" being used in the same way. In between is a bit of a grey area. For example, would "loony" be accepted ?

I really like the MISSUS and SAFE SEX clues. Another Loroso clue that made me laugh:

Some lifting affects boob (5)

Sexual references are fine by me so long as they feel "organic", not forced into the clue in a desperate attempt at humour. A risque clue can be funny, but a clue isn't funny just because there is sex in it.

As you say, there is a difference between sexual references and sexist references. The next two clues are beyond the pale in my book -

From The Hindu: Fine radish woman discarded for lady's fingers (4) OKRA [OK + RADISH - DISH (woman)]

From The Sunday Times: Seating place that's been avoided by married lady? (3,5) THE SHELF

Great to hear from you Schuchi, and love your Unclued blog as well. Keen to explore the archives further, and set up a link, as well as other overlapping discussions and challenges in the future, if you're keen. Your Du Maurier tribute is a lovely post.

In today's Taupi in the Canberra Times was:

Dowdy from beginning to end (5).

I confidently put in D (beginning of dowdy) REAR (end)

It was only when I wanted the middle letter to be a "U" rather that an "E" that I realised the answer was F (from beginning) RUMP (end)

While dowdy as an adj is gender neutral, as a noun it only refers to dowdily dressed women or frumps.

In the same puzzle, "coitus interruptus" made an appearance:

Coitus interruptus after, we're told, a sea of sound. (8)

I dont think 'dowdy' as an adj is gender neutral

Thank you DA! I enjoy your articles very much too and the comments by your readers. Have set up a link already.