Guardian Prize

[RogerBear]

...and why is QUEEN (I think) "A piece of slate"?

[Buenchico]

From the OED:

Queen:
A large roofing-slate, measuring approximately three feet by two feet (approx. 0.91 by 0.61 m). Now chiefly hist.

(The queen was originally the largest size in a standard system developed at the Penrhyn quarry near Bethesda, Caernarvonshire (now in Gwynedd), in the 18th cent.; its exact size varied at different periods and between different quarries).

[RogerBear]

Oh dear, how tantalizing! I wonder if it's perhaps rhyming slang?

[Buenchico]

^^^ Unlikely in Wales, I would think!

It's probably akin to modern bed sizes where, perhaps surprisingly, a 'queen' is larger than a 'king'. (i.e. it's simply an indicator of size).

[RogerBear]

Superb answer, thank you! In the US, though, a king-size bed is considerably larger than a queen.