Listener 4268

[crosswhit99]

23 down must be ANT as it appears in ???ant???, but why ?

I can see the wordplay ANT(I) and that it's a social insect, but why only one in some Amazon societies ?

The whole clue is as follows:

Endless indication of opposition - there's one in some Amazon societies (3)

Many thanks !

[dannyk13]

There is a species called Amazon Ant.

[crosswhit99]

Thanks Danny, but why only 'one' ? - millions, surely !

[jim360]

Well yes, but "ant" is singular, so "an ant" might be "one of the millions in the society of Amazon Ants".

[crosswhit99]

Thanks Jim - my point is that the definition is inaccurate and therefore potentially misleading. You wouldn't say 'there's one in Parliament' to define an MP for example.

[jim360]

You would in a crossword.

[dannyk13]

I agree with Jim.

[crosswhit99]

It just seems a bit loose - there's one queen ant/Speaker, but many other ants/MPs. You might be hard pushed to find other examples in good quality crosswords.

[jim360]

I don't agree that this is a loose definition at all. An ant is "an insect that lives in a colony with many other ants, examples including the Amazon Ant." What's wrong with that? And less obvious than "Insect's endless indication of opposition"...

[dannyk13]

A poet is granted a certain amount of licence in his verse. Can't we grant a little of that to the crossword compiler?

[NickorWan]

If asked for a spoon, one might say 'there's one in the drawer" but it wouldn't of course mean that there is only one!

[crosswhit99]

... yet if you defined a utensil by saying 'there's one in the drawer' , would you think a spoon would be a more likely answer than a whisk ?

[NickorWan]

I think that is fair comment, except that he has given you the wordplay so it is a bit like saying 'Snoop around there is one in the kitchen drawer'!

[shoota]

AmazoN socieTies