Dt 28712

[chalky2850]

1a Being in last stage at home secured by lock (10)
19d Food with a bit of cloth not to be considered(6)

[vetuste_ennemi]

tr(end+in)ess

[chalky2850]

Thank you

[Davemano]

19 RagOut

[Jackdaw33]

I get the wordplay but not the definition.

[Jackdaw33]

That was to 1a.

[chalky2850]

Thanks

[vetuste_ennemi]

Being in.

[Jackdaw33]

Well, I never!

[vetuste_ennemi]

nil desperandum (gerundive), Jackdaw.

[vetuste_ennemi]

And a good evening to you both, by the way.

[Jackdaw33]

I must admit I am partial to the odd gerund or gerundive.

[vetuste_ennemi]

For the whole of my life until I found out from a BBC4 program I was watching recently, I was convinced that Ovid got himself into trouble for (amongst other indiscretions) for the work "Ars Amandi" which I think would be the gerund. Turns out the work was called "Ars amatoria". Where did I get the wrong title from?

PS: I wasn't drinking in those days.

[Jackdaw33]

Ars Amandi sounds OK, the Art of Loving. Ovid, however, was a bit of a loose cannon, which is why he was exiled.

[Jackdaw33]

BTW I'm no expert on Ovid. Vergil and Catullus on the other hand...

[vetuste_ennemi]

Think some of Catullus' poems were one of my A-Level set books. "odi et amo...", and "women's promises are writ in water" (though memory of that doesn't stretch further than "mulieres")

[Jackdaw33]

A funny story re Catullus. Most of the texts were published in Victorian times and reprinted. Asterisks abounded. When asked the reason for asterisks there were two stock replies:
1. It possesses no artistic merit
2. It is a lost fragment.

One day we were reading ode 58 in which Catullus bemoans the loss of his love, Lesbia. The last two lines were starred out. I was not satisfied with the above explanations so went to the local Lit. and Phil. library who kept a range of classical works. There I found the last two lines; they were obscene. You should have seen my Latin master's face the next day when I supplied them.