I Cryptic 2146

[Ripper]

1/2 down: Poetry or music say, mother's not found in tabloid (4,4)M??? N???
10 across: Bridge player's call ard to finish (5)????H 9 down: Could not progress without beginning to look exhausted (6-2) ?A?H?D-?P
Thanks in advance.

[Mamyalynne]

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/mass_noun

[Ripper]

Thank you everyone. I hope you all have a WONDERFUL Christmas.

[mikey4444]

Neither have I Jack !

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=mass+noun&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBGB707GB707&oq=mass+noun&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.4695j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

And I am still none the wiser how it fits the clue !

[Jackdaw33]

Well that's a new one on me. Never heard or read of the term, even when I was teaching English.

[Mamyalynne]

Have a great Christmas Ripper.x

[Jackdaw33]

Ma's no, inside Sun (tabloid).

[Mamyalynne]

Poetry/Music are Mass Nouns

Ma's S no un

no in Sun

[Jackdaw33]

Some people must be far better educated than me. My two degrees and two post-graduate diplomas are clearly worthless.

[mikey4444]

With you there Jack....this clue couldn't have more convoluted and obscure if it tried !

[Mamyalynne]

No university education and only experience of teaching has been of a domestic nature with children and grandchildren.

Still learning every day and that's what's fun.

[Jackdaw33]

When I was taught, at a prestigious grammar school, there were three types of noun: common noun, proper noun and collective noun. Mass noun was never mentioned.