Daily Mail 13029

[SpiderPig]

Last two

11d Dash ! It sounds like rain ?U?E

2d Sudden increase reported in tough material

SURGE or SERGE - I think both fit

[topspin]

11d. Rule (reign)

[topspin]

2d. I would go for SERGE

[SpiderPig]

I thought that - but didn't think dash was a good synonym for rule. Thanks for the confirmation.

[SpiderPig]

Both fit thought, don't they.

[SpiderPig]

though !

[topspin]

Hi, SpiderPig, sorry but I can't see the relevance of Dash
either but can't for the life of me think of anything else.

[SpiderPig]

I'm away from my reference books today, and didn't use any on-line dictionaries. I suppose there may be some link somewhere ! Ah well, it's in the envelope now, so no matter !

[novalis]

Dash could refer to what you do when it rains.
Probably serge with reported ( sounding like ) referring to sudden increase. That sort of clue is always awkward.

[johnalex]

11d Rule . . . . sounds like reign

Apparently means a long Dash in punctuation:

"The em dash (�), also known as the em rule, indicates a sudden break in thought�a parenthetical statement like this one�or an open range (such as "John Doe, 1987�"). Its name derives from its defined width of one em, which is the length, expressed in points, by which font sizes are typically specified. Thus in 9-point type, an em is 9 points wide, while the em of 24-point type is 24 points wide, and so on. (By comparison, the en dash, with its 1-en width, is 1/2 em wide in any font.)"

[SpiderPig]

I think that's a tough clue for a Daily Mail crossword - I usually sail through them. Thanks johnalex.

[johnalex]

Thanks SpiderPig - I agree with your views although of course there may be a simpler answer which we're missing.

I've since discovered that 'em' simply means letter 'm' which is twice as wide as 'en', ie letter 'n'. This then gives us two lengths of dashes, although the short one is still longer than a hyphen. I guess we have to draw the line somewhere . . .

Regards, ja