Talk:Crossword abbreviations

Merge With Cryptic Crossword?

I think this article should be merged with Cryptic crossword. I will do so in a day unless I hear objections. -- Cyan 19:16, 26 Sep 2003 (UTC)

It's a couple of years later, and so I doubt Cyan is likely to merge anyway, but just for the record, I don't think the two articles should be merged. The cryptic crossword article has a decent enough explanation of what crossword abbreviations are. A lengthy list of crossword abbreviations (hopefully rivalling the excellent http://www.btinternet.com/~ed.xword/AbbrevA_C.html as a resource ) seems better off in a separate article to me. KeithD 18:45, 17 July 2005 (UTC)

Extensive list of crossword abbreviations

I've just added the extensive list of crossword abbreviations to the article. As you'll see from my previous contribution to this talk page, I hoped that this article would eventually rival http://www.btinternet.com/~ed.xword/AbbrevA_C.html

That website was my inspiration for creating the list, and indeed a reference point once I was done, to ensure that I'd not left out anything vital, or missed out any synonyms for words that should have repeated definitions (queen, monarch, etc). I use the list at EJ's Crossword Showcase often when struggling with crossword clues. Indeed, the two crosswords I do with any regularity (Private Eye and The Guardian are often set by the author of the webpage). The 'crossword language' I know is very much that of the author of the webpage.

All of which means there are likely to be similarities between the two lists of crossword abbreviations, but I'd argue that would be the case of any extensive alphabetical list of crossword abbreviations - particularly as the definitions can only be one or two letters. Hopefully the differences between the two lists will highlight this more than the similarities do. My list, for example, is nowhere near as extensive as the other at the moment.

I do feel that I've stayed on the right side of the line between research and plagiarism (plagiarism doesn't take as long as it took me to create the list!) However, I can see that there might be some doubt, so thought I'd better explain here on the talk page. KeithD (talk) 22:24, 19 August 2005 (UTC)

If the list is intended for crosswords in general, the Private Eye stuff (Brenda and so on) doesn't belong. It should be clearly marked as "Private Eye only" or in a separate list.

references

This would be a useful resource but don't Wikipedia pages require references for all assertions? There are two links provided on this page; one is defunct and the other does not support all the abbreviations provided on this page. It's not a matter of the accuracy of the information, but rather Wikipedia policy. This looks like "original research." Danchall (talk)

*Head - bj (blowjob)

I removed *Head - bj (blowjob). I don't think it is an abbreviation in respectable use but I am prepared to be proved wrong. Bobblewik 10:06, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

Capitalisation

Puzzled by use of (e.g.) "ny" for New York. Cryptic xwd answers are traditionally in caps, so I'd put all abbrevs in caps except those like etc. or e.g. that are traditionally lower case. PeterBiddlecombe 22:36, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

one = I

Right now this page says

One - i (the letter I looks like 1) or rarely a, an (not normally used in British crosswords)

BUT

Fifty - l (Roman numeral (lower case L))
Five - v (Roman numeral)
Four - iv (Roman Numeral)

and so on. Shouldn't the explanation for "one = I" be that I is the roman numeral for one instead? (By the way, how should I format longish snippets of the article text like these?) colfulus‽ 13:47, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

Change corpse to model Sailor not the best on list?

Convert the body to a table, so readers can sort on the abbreviations. Wakelamp d[@-@]b (talk) Wakelamp d[@-@]b (talk) 13:34, 9 November 2023 (UTC)