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Ps & Qs

2 March, 2016

Quibbles persist about the origin of the phrase, to mind your Ps and Qs. The prevalent theory arises from the old-world typesetter's studio. Working with movable letters, an apprentice needed to know his lower-cases ps from qs. 

Other possible origins include a taverner’s need to distinguish pints and quarts, or a child’s burden to master handwriting, or possibly the curtailment of ‘pleases and thank yous’. 

Whichever the source, the Storm is dead simple. Choose any word or phrase that contains both P and Q (propinquity, Qantas pilot) and equip your selection with a clue. Let's see who wins the plaque for the quippiest!

(And for a bonus point, is there any word where P and Q are interchangeable? The best I can offer is SUQ - a Arabic market. The quaint puzzle is making me querile!)

EQUIP - Supply drug, crack

[E/QUIP]

SQUARE UP - Justify text: BOUT OPENING

[DM]

What are you waiting for? Get quadrophonic.

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If you missed my riddle chat with Richard Fidler, then feel free to slurp the podcast at http://ab.co/1I9t1x5

Text-speak is creeping into Scrabble. Where do you sit?
OBVS I'm fine with it
Entrenched stuff - like LOL and OMG - but no more.
Words With Friends, maybe. Scrabble, no
Let the 'real' dictionaries decide first
Just the handy stuff, like FAQ and EUW
I mean, WTF?! No way
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