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Telegraph GK - alt sp?

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JRB | 10:37 Sat 08th Apr 2006 | Quizzes & Puzzles
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As a regular addict of this crossword I am sometimes bothered by the addition of "at sp" to a clue when it does not seem to matter. For example in today's puzzle 3a the answer could be cowrie or courie but neither affects any other answers. Any ideas why MM does this.
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I put cowrie, and it was always my understanding that if it didn't affect the rest of the xword then either spelling would do.




As this is a linked clue it will be interesting to see whether it becomes Madame or Marie Curie or Cowrie Shells on Monday?

I also out cowrie as oppose the other spelling given by on line dictionary of cowry
I think MM uses Chambers and I can't find courie in mine. It IS given in Collins, but as a Scottish dialect word meaning something else entirely.
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In Scots "courie" has a variety of meanings (depending, I suppose on the area it comes from). It can mean :- to snuggle down : a three-legged milking stool : a farthing.


Solon has a good point in that Marie Curie can be spelt Marie Courie - several, mainly French, sources spell it that way.

the only link with cowrie is tiger cowrie which are a type of the snails that the clue today refers to

I think MM does use Collins (21st Century Edition) as this gives cowrie or cowry.


1. any marine gastropod mollusc of the mostly tropical family Cypraeidae,......etc. 2. the shell of any of these molluscs esp. the shell of Cypraea moneta (money cowry) used as money in parts of Africa and S. Asia.


Chambers gives cowrie or cowry and similar definitions. I think MM uses Collins as his clues are often worded very close to their definitions. Neither of them give courie.

Argee is right in saying that MM uses Collins

I have simultaneous access to Chambers, Collins and umpteen others online and virtually all the clues are extremely close to the definitions privided by Collins.

He also shows a fondness for using Encyclopedia Britannica (including the various online versions) for more specialised questions. Once again, the clues are very close to the EB definitions.
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Webster's gives "courie" as alternative to "cowrie"

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