Wednesday, 23 February 2011

What Clues May Mean When They Say "Nothing"

sweet-fanny-adams

Independent 7598 (Anax): Fight about nothing, having run into girl (6) AFFRAY
FA (nothing) reversed, R (run) in FAY (girl)

Times 23634: Move nothing at all to turn up demons (6) AFRITS
STIR (move) FA (nothing at all), reversed

The clues above equate "nothing" and "nothing at all" with FA. Why?

FA stands for "Fanny Adams". The expression "sweet Fanny Adams" is British naval slang for "nothing at all"; the expression is sometimes shortened to "sweet FA" or "FA".

The phrase has a really gruesome story behind it [link].

Solve These

A few more clues that refer to Fanny Adams/FA. Enjoy solving:

Guardian 24510 (Arachne): Absolutely nothing's insignificant to a serious newspaper - on the contrary (5,1,1)
Guardian 25075 (Orlando): Gangster eliminating Fanny Adams is hard to find (6) S____E
Times 23452: Old linesman from FA introducing short film (4) __ID

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4 comments:

  1. SandhyaP23 February 2011 at 22:46

    Guardian 25075 (Orlando): Gangster eliminating Fanny Adams is hard to find (6) S____E
    SCAR(-fa)CE

    Times 23452: Old linesman from FA introducing short film (4) __ID
    {O}{VID}

    ReplyDelete
  2. Raghav24 February 2011 at 12:19

    Guardian 24510 (Arachne): Absolutely nothing's insignificant to a serious newspaper - on the contrary (5,1,1) SWEET F A
    S WEE (A FT)<-


    Guardian 25075 (Orlando): Gangster eliminating Fanny Adams is hard to find (6) SCARCE SCARFACE - FA

    ReplyDelete
  3. Shuchi24 February 2011 at 19:22

    Very well solved, Sandhya and Raghav.

    ReplyDelete
  4. D25 February 2011 at 08:27

    Thanks Shuchi. Didn't know Sweet FA, something new learnt today.

    ReplyDelete