Saturday Times Prize Crossword 4788 Sunday March 4Th 2018

[Metaphysicalus]

Sunday Times 4788.
Sex never good? That's unknown,_Nooky.
Mayer has sunk to a new level of offensiveness. Crudeness should not be a part of the Sunday Times Cryptic.

[Tilly2]

No, ok. :-)

[fiction-factory]

Ha.

[fiction-factory]

And Y is the unknown (algebra- yeah!)

[Metaphysicalus]

Of course I knew what Y signifies. I have M.A. from university.

[fiction-factory]

I'm sure Dean Mayer has had sex before (in his crosswords that is)= usually calling it 'it' or relations

[Togo]

Hard to bear.

https://thumbsnap.com/i/DBFWUBG0.jpg

[Mamyalynne]

Whatever next?

How's your father?

[Metaphysicalus]

I doubt that he has had much though.

[writesbad]

Nooky" is one of so many code words for "it", the natural congruence of men and women. I want to be sympathetic to M's concerns, and perhaps he would be kind enough to explain why, he thinks, that this is offensive, and therefore crude, in a crossword puzzle. I do wish to understand

[goodgoalie]

You must be easily offended. And what has it to do with the Saturday crossword?

[Metaphysicalus]

Thank you Writesbad for your reasoned response. I do not personally like the word. I do like the photo of your cute pet - very nice.

[Mamyalynne]

He was on site earlier, probably hasn't seen this - not that I personally think it's a problem.

Paul in the Guardian can get quite carried away at times.

[anaxcrosswords]

It's OK, I can understand it when solvers find a clue reference to be beyond the pale.
I can only offer the reassurance that, as setters, we check dictionaries to see if a word goes beyond slang (which is deemed acceptable) into vulgar, and 'nooky' doesn't. Even then, the clue goes into the hands of the crossword editor. There have been times when a word/reference HAS been rejected because, despite dictionaries, it's considered to have unacceptable connotations, in which case it will be changed. On this occasion there were no problems.

[goodgoalie]

Dinna worry, Anax, on AB it's just one complaint after the other :)

[Metaphysicalus]

Thanks anaxc. That's good to know. I will use it often now in the knowledge that I'm not offending anyone in my company.