Accurate or not, being able to use 'alternative' to clue OR does make life easy for the crossword setter. OR comes up frequently in grid fills and it helps to have a synonym for it that can be placed flexibly in the clue.
Enjoy these clues in which 'alternative' points to OR.
Everyman 3416: South American republic holding alternative view (8)
NIE (Rufus): Best alternative under the sun (7)
FT 14029 (Loroso): Worry about question over alternative north-south divide? (7)
Guardian 25555 (Boatman): They may be right; the alternative is to embrace evidence, ultimately (8)
THC 10452 (Neyartha): A form of frozen water is no alternative to licorice that is well-cooked (6)
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9 comments
Everyman 3416: South American republic holding alternative view (8)PANORAMA Anno: PANAMA+ OR
THC 10452 (Neyartha): A form of frozen water is no alternative to licorice that is well-cooked (6)ICICLE Anno: no alternative =LIC(OR)ICE - ICICLE
I've searched far and wide to check how 'alternative' could mean OR, but without success. So, although it has become quite common in cryptics, I'm not a fan of this usage. For me, OR is Alternatively / As an alternative.
Does the equivalence happen in software circles? As in,
- The (alternative/OR) condition in the program was wrong.
1) PAN(OR)AMA
2) (OUTDO)(OR)
3) {E(QUA)AT}{OR}
4) {THE}{OR}{I(E)S}
5) {LIC[-or]ICE}* = ICICLE
Panama holding alternative OR --PANORAMA= VIEW
ICICLE-- no alternative in licorice (remove OR) anagram of LICICE brings in ICICLE- a force of frozen water
You have an alternative OR alternatively-- a question of parsing the sentence?
This or that?
The alternative is your choice !
I am also not a fan of alternative for OR. don't forget we also have gold or golden at our disposal.
FT 14029 (Loroso): Worry about question over alternative north-south divide?(7)
(Solved this like a geography question)
What is the anno for this? OR is there ,EAT for worry?
@Vinod Raman: With you on this.
@Shyam: It's not usual to replace OR with 'alternative' when we talk of a software program. But point taken, a fair defence for a setter who uses it.
@Nadathur Rajan: You're on a roll, all correct answers again. A small typo - your annotation for #3 has an extra A.
@eXternal: Oh yes...'gold' for OR used to be a big source of confusion to me in my early days of solving. I have been meaning to write something about the ways in which 'gold' gets used in cryptic clues. Thanks for reminding me of it.
@Lakshmi Vaidyanathan: Eat = worry as in, 'What's eating you?'
The annotation is: EAT (worry) around QU (question), (OR) alternative.
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