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Private Eye 381

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philologist | 06:23 Sun 28th Dec 2008 | Crosswords
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Last clue! Pretty good for an ignorant Yank, eh?
57 Preferred dated number vocalised by Brenda? (4)
F_V_
Is it "five"? If so, why?
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Hi philologist

It is indeed "five". You have to know that Brenda is Eyespeak for our own dear queen (God bless her), whose strangulated vowels render "five" as "faive" (sort of), which is fairly close to the way most of her subjects pronounce "fave", a dated synonym for preferred.

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Helveticus
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Thank you, Helveticus! That explains the "why."
But doesn't the clue then lead to the entry 'fave' rather than 'five'?
Agree with you Ahearer. I took 'Preferred' as the definition i.e. fave, as derived from the wordplay given by 'dated number vocalised by Brenda'
Agrree it's FAVE. 'Preferred' is the definition, and FAVE is how the queen would pronounce FIVE. Not as hard this year as last year !

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